Twenty- five Seven

Celebrating Mother’s Day

May 12, 2013

Happy Mother’s Day

I don’t celebrate the Fourth of July,
I don’t celebrate Hallow’een
I don’t celebrate Ground Hog Day
Nor do I celebrate Labor Day, Memorial Day
or George Washington’s Birthday.

Actually I don’t even celebrate Mother’s Day
Since that’s not my mother’s birthday.

However since this is Anna Shetty’s first Mother’s Day, I decided to order in some flowers on behalf of Wow Dinga who doesn’t yet know the difference between one day and the next.

After 12 days of waiting for my maid Jyoti to show up, I was, as my friend Kay would say, gobsmacked when I opened the door at half past eight to find Jyoti hiding behind a gorgeous bouquet of Oriental
lilium, white and pink roses and a hint of baby’s breath. I almost missed the delivery man behind her ( he had another bouquet for another delivery) , so shocked was I at getting a bunch of flowers from my maid on Mother’s Day.

Seeing the confusion on my face further confused Jyoti who was quite unsure of her reception : Would I be irate at her 12 day long absence? Would I have employed someone else in her place?

Within minutes I sorted things out and put the flowers in a vase, wished Anna Shetty a Happy Mother’s Day and went back to my cup of creamy, frothy coffee, keen and ready to enjoy Mother’s Day!
LBT in place of Octroi

May 11, 2013
I think the traders are leading us citizens up the garden path. I read an advert by the Govt in the newspaper that the LBT is in place of octroi. As there were massive leakages in octroi, the govt abolished it and levied the LBT which is calculated on the value of the goods brought in from outside the city limits.

This would affect the big traders, because the small traders source most of their stuff locally. No doubt the tax levy would be passed on to the small traders when they made their purchases locally, and ultimately to the consumers.

BTW the LBT has already been in operation in other municipalities, and it will be introduced in Mumbai in Oct. To introduce this tax in Mumbai it needs to be ratified by the municipality and hence the present lobbying by the traders.

At present the traders fudge their sales, with the introduction of this tax, they will have to maintain records and pay taxes like every other business and individuals above the taxable exemption limit. K
My friend K sent me the above information putting things in perspective.

Thanks K for correcting my misconceptions. Obviously I do need to get my facts correct before making any judgements. So it would also seem that the small shop keepers who have not downed their shutters are actually decent tax payers who have the guts to stand up to the bullies who just want to continue with their unfair trading practices.

Well if that’s the case I’m all for the LBT.

This afternoon when I went down to get some groceries I was reminded of my childhood days when shops had empty shelves, shortages were the ord of the day and we had to make do with what we got. It is a darn shame that afte all these years nothing seems to have changed.

Related articles

Traders’ stir severely hits tax inflow in Nagpur

LBT: A lot more ‘Taxing’ than expected

Maharashtra traders shut shop against new local tax

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Posted By bellybytes to MUMBAI DAILY at 5/11/2013 08:25:00 AM
Maharashtra State Legislators and Mumbai Municipal Corporators to donate just Rs. ONE Crore Today

May 11, 2013
I had slept fitfully last night. I just about managed to get a dozen eggs and a small loaf of bread yesterday and was wondering how long my rations would last. Normally I buy my groceries at the beginning of the month but this month, preoccupied as I was with Wow Dinga and Anna Shetty, my schedule has gone for a bit of a toss. However, with my ever faithful local baniya ever willing to oblige, I was not really bothered. I must say though, that the Traders‘ strike ( I am all for them) has thrown a spanner in the works,

So this morning I woke up to the TV blaring and Arnav Goswami screaming

” Your channel TIMES NOW has a breaking news story where Maharashtra State Legislators and the Mumbai Municipal Corporators have decided to donate just a core of rupees each in order to make up the shortfall that the Local Body Tax would have generated. This”, he thundered, “was a true reflection of a Government of the People, for the People and by the People.”

I immediately jacknifed out of bed, unable to believe what I was hearing. Could it be true that finally our elected representatives had our interests at heart? After all a mere crore each couldn’t really put more of a dent in their pockets as an additional 10% ( I am assuming this figure as I have not really had the time to follow this story thanks to my new Granny duties) would in our home budgets. I began thinking that if every state minister, every MLA, local body representative and even high level Government employee donated just a crore of rupees each our exchequer would be overflowing. After all, who would have imagined that a humble Railway Official would be in a position to bribe a minister with TENS of Crores!!!!!

But then when I read the papers that two cabinet ministers were booted out, I realised that Arnav only came in my dreams and that the strike would continue for yet one more day…….

I wonder who has a longer breath …………..
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