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My Experience with Income Tax Return (ITR) Filing

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I once thought that if I know something (probably because I've learnt it somehow), I am saving money because then I don't have to pay someone to do that chore for me. This notion of mine has been smashed and boinked all around the place for the last couple of days. I am talking about filing my ITR (Income Tax Returns). Context In the past, during my school days, I have seen my parents getting irritated by the whole process. It was very cumbersome at that time- No online portals to make your work easy. ITR filing in India was a nightmare. I have seen my parents to delegate that task to professionals, who do it for a fee. The problem was, my parents never seem to mind that much about tax. I mean, they did moan about the atrocity that the Indian tax system is, but that's the extent of their outrage. I felt at that time, if they knew more on tax, they would be able to save more on taxes and also would be able to do proper tax planning. Oh boy, what a sweet dream that was! My Li...

Our Most Difficult Struggle

We are attacked; continuously and relentlessly. I am not talking about political or ideological attacks. What I want to discuss might even seem a bit ridiculous. But it’s true. And we are at a constant war with the environment. Our immune system is the barrier from us being consumed. And who are attacking us? They are numerous in numbers. There are billions and trillions of bacteria, virus, parasites, microbes and whole lot of things trying to get to us. Every breath we take, every surface you may touch every drop of seawater you might want to bathe in during vacation- all have this one thing in common.  The constant battle our immune system fights may not seem obvious in normal time, but it becomes super apparent when we are without it. If you ever have the chance to be involved or to have knowledge about bone marrow transplants (like for people with leukaemia etc.), you would know that the old bone marrow cells need to be destroyed- essentially shutting down the immune system. ...

Data Science and AI- Understanding the Terms

Intro Data Science and AI might sound like the coolest thing that there is right now. Whether you are a fresher trying to learn these skills or a seasoned businessman who want to implement AI in your workflow, you might have heard these terms thousands of times. But do you understand them properly? Do you understand the differences? Because they are some of the most basic concepts underlying. In this article, I’ll be hopefully able to answer the above questions. Definitions Let me start with saying, I am not a big fan of definitions. That is, I do not think anyone should ever try to memorize formal words describing or defining something rather than actually understanding it. So rather than giving formal definition, let’s see whether I can help you in understanding the concepts. Data Science literally means science that involves Data. Anything that you do with Data, comes under the umbrella of ‘Data Science’. And what is Data? Data is basically recorded information. We usually d...

Who should pay for our progress?

What we see of human civilization today is not achieved in a day or two. If we think ourselves as reformed, evolved, transformed and much more progressive version of what Homo Sapiens used to be 200,000 - 300,000 years ago (which we do!), then we also need to believe that we have really come a long way ahead in this time duration (which is not insignificant). Once, we were scavengers. We could only eat what was left off after big predators have their meals. Gradually, we became gatherers. We started gathering stuffs- mainly started with foods but time to time other things as well. And we understood, the only advantage we have compared to other animals of this planet is our brain. We became smarter and smarter. We learned things quickly. And then, we understood agriculture. We became producers (I know...we are really not ‘producers’ since it’s plants who still actually produce, but let’s not try to be complicated and technical here! 😝😝). Now, we have the ability to genetically enginee...

Points to ponder while buying your computer

Whether you are a student or working professional, the system that you use is of utmost importance in today’s world. Many a times a lot of us get confused by the plethora of options that are available or are advertised to us. Today, in this blog post, I would like to discuss very briefly about the kind of things that you should consider while you are going to buy your computing system. Just to point out, I would try to not name out any specific brands (Nobody gave me any money for endorsing them!😋) because there could be better or worse that I might not be aware of. Rather I would try to sketch out what things that might be pertinent to you before buying a laptop or desktop. The Purpose I know, it might sound cliche, but the main question you want answered is that for what purpose, you are buying your laptop/ system and you should forward from that answer. Let me try to give out few possible scenarios and then what should be the considerations. I am a Data Scientist in my working life...

WTB- What the Brain!!!!

We humans are pretty proud about our intelligence. We think that we are a superior species just because we are capable of complex things like art, poetry, calculus and what not. Have you ever thought that what exactly is behind all our complex activities? Even simple activities like walking, eating, talking etc. which might seem very easy far off, are not that easy at all. So, what is behind all these? Well, there are many things, but primarily I am talking about brains here. So, brain is the squishy organ, weighing around 3 pound or about 1.5-2 kilogram sitting inside all of our head. If you are reading my blog, a lot of parts in your brain are actively working to make it happen. Some are working in tandem with your eyes to read this stuff off your phone or laptop or desktop screens. But hold on. Even a simple act of reading is not that easy at all. If you think carefully, our eye is just a modern camera made up of biological stuff. It can do only what your normal camera is able to do...