Abhishek Deshpande

Category: General

Its general – Purely General

  • Card says “Not Valid for payment in foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan.”

    What brought it to my attention:
    Last month I was about to travel to Nepal, for WordCamp Pokhara. I was going through a couple of articles on the web about travel in Nepal. Found out there is conversion charge applicable on cash Withdrawl from ATM in Nepal. The cost was somewhat around 300 – 500 Rs per Card Swipe Transaction.

    In India, we are getting used to with Paying even 100 Rs. By Card for Coffee. So if I have to Buy Coffee and pay by card in Nepal, it would become a 400-600 Bucks coffee. So Paying in cash is the only Open Option. So I checked for Nepali Currency, here’s what happened:

    1. Forex Exchange:
    None of the FOREX Operators in India had Nepali Currency available. All Operators said Indian Currency Works in Nepal.

    2. State Bank of India has Branches in Nepal
    There’s Nepal SBI, Branch of State bank of India, and I do have an SBI Card. But Article has special Note about, Check with your branch if your card is valid in Nepal or not. So I just visited my Home Branch and got with the Scenario titled.

    Note: for those who have no idea about SBI, It is a government-owned Bank in India, where you have to treat SBI staff as Boss to get your things Done. You can google “Why SBI is painful” and learn about how bad things can go at SBI. Luckily My Home Branch has some sensible staff, except one Jerk on Helpdesk. Things go smoothly at SBI for me.

    At SBI, I Went to international banking Section. IB Lady Told me to check the back of Card. Usually, on back of Card where you find CVV Code, in Small fonts, it is mentioned whether your card is valid for the International transaction or not. So I just checked my All Cards, and each of them was having the same line. “Not Valid for payment in foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan.”. so she offered me a Form for Traveller Card – Kind a Prepaid Card, which I need to get activated from Nagpur’s Main SBI Branch on Kingsway.

    While heading to Kingsway, I Tweeted my Lovely Banks, Which reverted me after I reach Nepal, and Vodafone gave me no network so my query must be still pending in their systems.

    At Kingsway Branch, Lady told me to carry cash, as Traveller cards also have the Same line “Not valid in Nepal and Bhutan”.

    So Carrying Cash was the Only Option. But On 8th Nov 2016, Old 500 and 1000 Notes was removed from Indian Market. Thus People in Nepal are cautious about Indian High Denomination currency. So carrying Cash was not a Good Idea, Especially in 100 and Lower denomination as it was Trip by road. As for the last option, I paid things online and took a couple of variants 10,20,50,100,500 in my backpack.

    On Reaching Nepal
    The plan was to Exchange Indian Currency in Nepali Currency on Indian Border. But Co Passenger told me about Standard Conversion rule in Nepal. If you are buying a thing for Nepali Rs 160, then you have to pay INR 100 only. 1:1.6 is the standard Conversion ratio for Indian currency to Nepali Currency. So converting money would be creating two new issues mentioned below, so I skipped it.
    1. The Size of Bundle of Currency would increase as I was carrying high power one.
    2. I’ll be losing my money to pay a conversion fee. As Exchange is a Business, and they charge a percentage for conversion.

    People based near Border accepted New 500 and 2000 notes. But in Interior of Nepal, even in Kathmandu, People refused to take it. In City, I Paid with 10,20,50 denominations, very few stores accepted those, few didn’t. Indian 100 Rupees note is the widely accepted Indian Denomination in Nepal.

    So as I was low on 100 rs notes. I tried one of the Nabil Bank ATM near my hotel, Voila! My International Debit card was accepted, with Highlighted notice, that bank will add Fixed Cost NPR 500, to the transaction. For the first trial attempt, I withdrew NPR 2000, so bank added NPR 500 as Charges, so my card was billed NPR 2500, Indian equivalent was around INR 17XX which is far better than carrying a bundle of notes while travelling or trekking.

    Closure:
    If you are an Indian Traveling to Nepal or Bhutan and you just found your card is not valid for payment in foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan. Don’t Panic. My International Visa Card Worked in Nepal despite having a Not valid line on the back of it. Bank Charges might vary, but it’s not like you won’t get cash in these countries.

    Happy Traveling 🙂

  • November – My month of Travel is here

    From past few years, November has always become Month of travel for me. Most of the times it’s for work or family trips.

    November 2018 has many things and journeys in the bag. I will try my best to share my experiences in a blog post for almost every trip. Here’s My tentative Itinerary for November

    1. Kochi, Kerala – 1st Nov to 5th Nov
    I’ll be visiting Kochi, Kerala for WordCamp Kochi 2018, the Second WordCamp in Southern Part of India. Speaker Lineup is excellent, I’ll be on Happiness bar at WordCamp Kochi. If you have any queries regarding WordPress, Blogging, Websites feel free to drop by.

    2. Nagpur – 6th Nov to 11th Nov
    It’s Diwali time, This year we are celebrating Diwali at Nagpur. You are welcome for Diwali cha Faral 🙂

    3. Amravati – 12th Nov – 14th Nov
    My Cousin is getting married. I’ll be in Amravati City. I can quickly get some time for healthy discussions. If you are around Amravati, Ping me.

    4. Pokhara, Nepal – 20th Nov – 27th Nov
    It will be my first visit to Nepal. I’ll be speaking at WordCamp Pokhara 2018. I haven’t planned any itinerary in Nepal tour yet if you have any adventurous Ideas do let me know.

    5. Ahmedabad – 30th Nov – 3rd Dec
    Another WordCamp trip, WordCamp Ahmedabad is Last WordCamp of 2018 in India. I’ll remember my past two visits, Food in Ahmedabad is mesmerising, recommendations are welcome.

    If you are in any of the cities mentioned above on those dates, feel free to ping me.

  • MotorCycle Trip – Nagpur to Pune

    I know I’m posting after decades, these are some of my life events need to be logged on my blog.

    15 June 2013, Morning 5.30 Alone I Started my journeys towards Pune, 800Km drive in one day was the Objective with no idea of upcoming hurdles. hardly I’ve crossed Butibori Industrial Estate, heavy rain washed me out, Luckily I’d packed my baggage nicely(usually i don’t). You can visualize what kind of heavy rain it was in Nagpur that day, same evening Cities prime area was flooded. Video here

    Intentionally I decided to use state highway as National Highways has heavy rush. Decision was not wrong but I underestimated the power of wind as Dhamangaon to Malegaon is fully open agricultural land. I couldn’t drive my Pulsor 150 above 50Km/hr.

    Here’s route i drove

    Nagpur to Pune Route

    There are lots of places to enjoy your journey.

    • Kelzhar – Lord Ganesh Temple on hill, first stop you can have on 40 Km from Nagpur.
    • Wardha Bypass Route – nice scenary at Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (80Km From Nagpur)
    • Pulgaon – nothing much except ordnance factory & farms (couple more 30-40 km from wardha)
    • Dhamangaon – This town is known for railway station in this area, you can find nice Chai & kachori (20 Km from Pulgaon)
    • Karanja lad – religious old city, birth place of Nrusiha Saraswati, truely devine if you can catchup with Maha Prasad at Guru Mandir. Unfortunately I reached Karanja at 10.30 AM, Not good time for Lunch. (80Km from Dhamangaon). this town does make you feel you are back in Maratha Era.
    • Malegaon – more over industrial market place, refuel your engines 😛 (60 Km From Karanja Lad)
    • Mehkar – place with Famous Balaji Temple and Haunted Palace – Kanachani cha Mahal (not sure, but locals keep saying avoid that place). Also place has some British Construction to view. (60 Km from Malegaon)
    • Sindhkhed Raja – Home town of Jijau (JijaBai) – Mother of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, fort and Monuments in this city are truely amazing and really well maintained. (40 Km from Mehkar)
    • Jalna – Big city you reach after Nagpur Crossing around 400+ km in greenery,

    Rest 300 km route is all national Highway passing through Aurangabad, Devgad, Pravara Sangam, Ahmednagar, Shirur, Ranjangaon.

    Over all it was Great experience Riding 800+ KM Alone in a Single Rainy day. Food at Dhabha’s & talks with Chaiwalas It refreshed me from my daily work schedule.

     

  • WordCamp Pune 2013

    WCPune
    Second WordCamp of my life in my second hometown Pune (so-called hometown, I don’t even have 1% of Puneri effect in me 😛 )

    Thanks to Amit Singh & his team for organising such a fantastic 2-day event.

    Speakers Presentations for future references:

    &

    List of Plugins

    That I need to digg in the near future 😉
    JSON API
    JoeMobi
    WiziApp
    Native Apps Builder
    Duo Two Factor Authentication
    BulletProof Security
    Theme Check Plugin
    Debug Bar

    Data: theme Unit Test

    Looking forward to WordCamp Baroda 2014 in coming January

  • Happy New Year – My list of things to focus on in 2013

    New Year is already started; I usually don’t do New Year resolutions at least not like will give more time to family, no more long sitting in front of PC, losing weight etc. You can call it annual plan. 😀
    Here is the list based on Priority.

    Nagpur Sites Network
    Discussing & planning since last three years, partially executed. Now it’s time to start with new phase. Shortly will be announcing three more websites dedicated to my hometown Nagpur.

    Peenak – Team Development
    It’s been one and half year we started Peenak Solutions, Our Own office Building construction has started, hopefully to be completed by April 2013. We will be keen to work on team as our new ventures from Gulf Breeze, London, Pune & Mumbai are going to flood our plates.

    Opencart Contributions
    Last two month we are developing custom solution based on Open Cart – Open source PHP based shopping cart solutions. It’s time to contribute to community.

    Android Applications
    I feel it’s never too late to jump in Android Market, A Pending Application From Nagpur Hackathon is waiting to be finished. And some more Ideas in brain are waiting to come out.

    Meetups
    In 2012, I missed Meets a lot. Meeting new people, sharing ideas, recharges me. This summer I need meets in Nagpur. Or I’m going to travel for this 😀

    Blogging
    I know my writing skills are too poor, unless I write how I am developing my writing skills. So at least someone can understand what I’m trying to say.

    Nothing wrong with spending more time with the family! It’s just that I don’t believe in making those kinds of promises at the turn of a new year. 🙂

    So, now that I’ve written my plan for 2013 down on paper and published it for the world to see, all that remains to do is do it!

  • Indian Solar Calendar – Saur Dindarshika

    Sounds weird?

    Ever heard or read like १ सौर चैत्र शके १९३२???

    It’s Solar Calendar system that was approved in 1956 by India’s First Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It’s used in day-today activity, listen your FM, Doordarshan carefully dates are still mentioned in same format along with Western Calendar (Gregorian Calendar).

    How about using Indian Solar calendar in your windows system?

    Get it Downloaded from Shrii Softwares

     

    Nice Application by Mr. Mandar Bartakke, Just an taskbar icon, on hover you get date, can have more usability. But yes its too good to have it on Desk.

    Supported on : Windows with .net Framework 2.0

    Must Give a try.

     

  • India Against Corruption – Civil (Jan) lokpal

    In India, it’s said, a clever should not step in Police station or judiciary.
    Then for whom these stuffs are made for??

    For those who have not yet understand difference between Government lokpal and Anna’s Civil lokpal, take a look at following document.

    For those who want to read more about current govt. lokpal get the scanned document available at India against corruption’s Download Section.

    Do you know why did government ban 25paisa coin?
    Ek Anna toh sambhaal nahi sakte, 4 Anna kaha se sambhaalenge.

    Well it’s not time to pass such jokes, it’s time to act, find activity in your city.

  • Life is Moving Ahead

    Trying my best to attain my goals, home in pune is no more my dream, it came to reality. Finally. yes finally deal is done. Almost all legal formalities are about to finish by this weekend. Soon will be having all religious activities there. may be a 1 more month I’ll be busy in Nagpur – Pune Journeys.

    “Perform your obligatory duty, because action is indeed better than inaction.”
    – Srimad Bhagavad Geeta

    All rest task are still in pipeline.

    Events around me :

    CakePHP workshop @ Nagpur PHP meet up
    CakePHP – one of widely used PHP framework over the web. Abbas sir had a great workshop this month. Read more at blog entry by Abbas sir.

    Time Please Club
    “Time please” usually used while playing childhood games, Everybody used it some time, just due to responsibility or our laziness we had no time for child inside of ours. Time Please Club is made to dedicate a time for that child. Creative initiative by Subodh Dada. Till now our Club is open by invitation, so any Sunday morning you can join us. just Contact founder members for an Invite. we do have Special Page for Time Please Club on Subodh Dada’s Website.

    Discover Yourself Workshop by Ilabs, Nagpur
    Creating your own robot is not easy but with proper guidance its great to achieve. Ilabs is having workshops on Robotic systems for engineering students. No Idea about Pass outs like me for sure this will be a great team work, who ever participate. Get more info from Ilabs Website
    (more…)

  • Some Future Plans

    Life is now some what in smooth track, here are some of my future plans for next three months :

    1. Chidimar & WPpanda :

    Chidimar is just a Chidimar blog now !! WordPress tutorials are moved to WPpanda. WPpanda will be coming up with new resources and some contribution to WordPress repository soon.

    2. Revamp of Directory :

    My directory Network will be redesigned and re-ordered. I am planning to buy paid version of PHP LD may be in 2nd week of Next Month.

    3. New Resale Home :

    Yey !! I’m planning for a new home in new city. exactly Pune is not new for me or my family. Still the lifestyle is quiet different as compared to Nagpur. Will be visiting Pune on 20th Dec till Christmas. I’m Looking for some resale home. Instead of home should say FLAT. Will be Posting an official Ad on BolCityBol.com – Indian Classified.

    My terms will be :

    • No Brokers.
    • Locality : Suse road, Pashan, Aundh, Pimple Saudagar/Nilakh near by area
    • New Constructions are also welcome.

    Any way my ad will be live on free india classifieds soon. Till that anyone having some offering contact me .

    4. Environment Club, Nagpur :

    Me and my mates had some meet in last few month, will be online soon before launching at hometown. This will be targeted to ecosystem, global warming and Astronomy.

    5. My MBA Studies :

    Exams are in April, so sorry won’t think i will be opening theoretical books these day.

    Will be getting some new stuff also may be redesigning this space too.

    Lets watch what happens.

    UPDATES :

    – WPpanda is coming up with complete blogging Guide next month stay tuned.

    – Repeating No Brokers. I got one mail 2 days ago. sorry brokers I’m not looking to pay your fees.

    – Environment Club : finalized the name “Club Tarangan”

  • Happy Diwali !!

    Wish you a very happy & prosperous Diwali !!

    Image Credit