CA. Writing about my own experiences with personal finance, credit cards, travel, and a little lifestyle.
Bengaluru & Delhi
Joined September 2021
- Tweets1K
- Following221
- Followers440
- Likes1.5K
One wrong 4-digit code just cost me free flights worth ₹15,000+. ✈️
I bought a MacBook at Imagine Nexus, Koramangala, in my AEP month on the Axis Magnus Burgundy. I’m always careful with MCC on big purchases, but this time I got lazy. It’s an electronics retailer, what could go wrong?
The transaction came through as telecom/utilities. I tried everything to get it fixed. Even Axis couldn’t help. Zero reward points. 😫
Lesson: Always test the MCC even at a “safe” merchant.
Hello, I’ve been trying to book an Air India award flight using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, but I’m unable to.
I’ve checked Maharaja Club and seats are available on Air India, but they don’t show up on KrisFlyer. Any suggestions on how to get this fixed?
Some of India's most "Indian" foods are actually immigrants. ✈️🥔
🥔 Potato: Andes, South America
🍅 Tomato: South America
🌶️ Chilli: Central and South America
🌽 Corn: Mexico
🥜 Peanut: South America
🍍 Pineapple: South America
🌰 Cashew: Brazil
🍈 Papaya: Tropical Americas
🍐 Guava: Tropical America
🟤 Chikoo: Mexico and Central America
🍏 Custard apple: Tropical Americas
🫘 Rajma: Central and South America
🥦 Cauliflower: Mediterranean region
🥬 Cabbage: Europe and the Mediterranean
🍒 Litchi: Southern China
☕ Coffee: Ethiopia
🍵 Tea: China and other parts of Asia, with tea also native to northeast India
Many of these American crops reached India through Portuguese trade networks after the 1500s, as part of the Columbian Exchange.
Others arrived or spread through different routes and at different times.
The British later helped expand commercial tea plantations and popularised several European vegetables. 🚢
Your rajma chawal and masala chai have more complicated travel histories than most of us. 😂
Hello, planning a solo Europe trip for 2-3 weeks this December 👋 ❄️
Shortlist so far:
🇮🇹 Italy
🇷🇴 Romania
🇧🇬 Bulgaria
🇵🇱 Poland
Any other suggestions for places that work well for solo travel? Hidden gems, Christmas markets etc, all welcome 🙏
Already done most of Western & Central Europe, So looking for something new!
Krisflyer Spontaneous escape for November is now live.
30% off Saver award rates to selected destinations across the Singapore Airlines network.
15% off Economy Saver award tickets on selected Scoot flights. @SingaporeAir
Sourav retweeted
💳 How to get your FIRST credit card with no CIBIL score or credit history?
💼 If you're salaried:
Start with the bank where your salary gets credited. Your chances of getting an unsecured credit card are generally better since the bank can see your regular income.
The limit may be low, but that's a good start!
🏢 If you're self-employed:
Getting an unsecured card without credit history can be tricky. An FD-backed secured credit card is a good starting point to build your credit history.
📖 My first credit card story:
I started working at Patni Computers in 2010/11, and the company opened a Citibank salary account for us.
After 3–4 months of salary credits, I applied for a Citibank credit card, and it got approved!
I don't even remember the limit now. 😄
Back then, I had absolutely no clue about CIBIL scores, credit history or how approvals worked. Just applied to try my luck, and it worked!
💬 Your turn!
Which was your first credit card? How did you get it, and do you still hold it?
There are just too many tempting offers in the market, forcing me to break my 4-card rule repeatedly... 🤦♂️💸
Itching to get the Axis SpiceJet Black Voyage card... ✈️🤫 #Soon
HDFC Marriott Bonvoy offer was too good to resist.
So I broke my own rule: Never hold more than 4 cards. 😅
Applied for 5 cards across the family.
₹18,000 in fees → 2,40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points🤞
And the craziest part?
All 5 got approved instantly. 🤯 Thanks @ccg33k
An airline's loyalty programme can be worth more than the airline's entire stock-market value. 🤯
Look at the numbers:
✈️ American Airlines: $8.45B market cap
🎯 AAdvantage: $26.7B estimated value
✈️ United Airlines: $34.6B market cap
🎯 MileagePlus: $25.3B estimated value
✈️ Delta Air Lines: $53.77B market cap
🎯 SkyMiles: $31.7B estimated value
These aren't separately listed businesses, and the loyalty figures are model-based estimates. But they reveal just how valuable the loyalty business can be.
Sometimes, the real business is hiding in the frequent-flyer programme. 👀
The family behind your free airport lounge coffee also has a business distributing Marlboro cigarettes. 🤯☕🚬
32% of Encalm is owned by BBM Travel Retail, part of the Bommidala Group from Guntur — a family business with roots in tobacco dating back to 1920.
They're also involved in distributing Philip Morris products, including Marlboro, to duty-free shops across the Indian subcontinent.
Another 51% of Encalm belongs to a subsidiary of Dubai-based Gateway Fund.
So you walk past the duty-free cigarettes, swipe your card for lounge access…
…and discover that the businesses behind both are connected through the same family. 👀
The kind of hate @elonmusk is getting on his own platform is mind-boggling.
Indians be like “ghar mein ghus ke maarenge.”😂
The ridiculous arguments by Ambani’s army of Internet shills make no sense
On the one hand, they say Starlink couldn’t possibly compete with the amazing low prices offered by Ambani’s de facto monopoly in India and then, in the same breath, they essentially claim that Starlink would be too strong of a competitor! This is absurd hypocrisy and hyperbole.
The reality is that competition would greatly benefit the average citizen in India by giving them more choices, as it always does. Ambani’s profits will be lower, but he is not going out of business. And, obviously, if Starlink is too expensive in India, no one will buy it, so SpaceX will need to make pricing affordable.
Planning to swipe your Indian credit card for Casino chips or betting abroad? 🎰
Think twice. 🚫
RBI rules under FEMA prohibit certain transactions, including remittances for lottery tickets, football pools and sweepstakes etc.
But the rules don't explicitly settle every scenario involving casino chips or betting abroad.
What you should watch out for:
🚫 Transactions may be declined under issuer policies.
💸 Cash-advance fees and interest may apply, depending on how the transaction is processed.
🎁 Rewards may be excluded under your card's terms.
⚖️ FEMA implications depend on the specific transaction.
Check your card's terms before you swipe. Don't assume gambling transactions qualify as regular purchases or earn rewards. 💳
Met with a bike accident, and blacked out for a couple of seconds.
The first thing I did on getting up was check whether my body was still lying on the road. ☠️🤯
Not how I planned to test “out of body experience.”😂
A few years back, I took my mother on her birthday trip. Her first-ever Business Class seat 🙂
Bangalore → Bali in Business on @SingaporeAir for just ~43,000 miles + ₹3,700 🤯
She was excited about everything: the lounge, the food, the seat, Changi, even the little things I don't notice anymore. ❤️
Then it was just the two of us in Bali. Absolute blast.
The best redemption isn't always the one with the highest ₹/mile.
What's your best travel or miles story?
HDFC may have accidentally created a replacement for Amex Platinum Travel 👀
Here’s the comparison:
Amex Platinum Travel:
₹7L spend → ~54K Marriott points + ₹10K Taj voucher
HDFC Marriott Bonvoy:
₹2.5L spend → ~48K Marriott points (incl. 15k FNA)
₹2.5L vs ₹7L spend.
That’s almost the same Marriott haul for just 36% of the spend 🤯
That too at a 40% lower annual fee (₹3,570 vs ₹5,900).
For Marriott-only, this looks like the better stack.
HDFC Marriott Bonvoy offer was too good to resist.
So I broke my own rule: Never hold more than 4 cards. 😅
Applied for 5 cards across the family.
₹18,000 in fees → 2,40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points🤞
And the craziest part?
All 5 got approved instantly. 🤯 Thanks @ccg33k
Small clarification on my HDFC vs Amex post:
Amex Platinum Travel has been devalued, so it isn't a like-for-like comparison anymore.
The post is for folks who used PT mainly to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and miss it after the devaluation.
If that's you, HDFC Marriott Bonvoy is the closest replacement I've found for Marriott-only earning.
Went down the InterGlobe rabbit hole.
I ended up discovering a hotel empire hiding behind the IndiGo airline group. 👀
Besides ibis, IndiGo group has ownership in -
🇮🇳 Pullman New Delhi Aerocity
🇮🇳 Novotel New Delhi Aerocity
🇮🇳 Novotel Bengaluru ORR
🇮🇳 Novotel Chennai OMR
🇮🇳 Novotel Chennai SIPCOT
…and several others across India.
Then the rabbit hole gets deeper internationally:
🇫🇷 Miiro — Paris
🇪🇸 Miiro — Barcelona
🇨🇭 Miiro — Gstaad
🇬🇧 Miiro — London
🇦🇹 Miiro — Vienna × 2
K+K hotels across:
🇨🇿 Prague
🇭🇺 Budapest
🇩🇪 Munich
Plus:
🇳🇱 Sheraton Amsterdam Airport
🇩🇪 Reichshof Hamburg
🇦🇺 Quincy Melbourne
We all know the IndiGo empire in the sky.
Turns out InterGlobe is quietly building another one on the ground. ✈️🏨