He is a large amiable boy who smiles at breasts as if they are acquaintances. He suspects he is good looking, and he probably is, especially when he is quiet. A pretty white girl walks into this London pub and he nudges the elbow of a friend. As his eyes follow her to the far corner, his face assumes a sudden seriousness. He then takes her pictures with his phone camera. He tries to meet the eyes of any woman in the pub so that he can flash a smile. He has heard that white women are broadminded. “I like to hear white women scream under me,” he says. A Bengali sitting beside him says he must become a midwife then. Everybody laughs. He stares at the Bengali who is a much smaller man, and he slaps him a few times. Others now rise and try to drag him away. He growls, not metaphorically but really growls. And he says, “I’m a baaad guy, I’m a baaad guy.” He is, of course, a jat from Delhi whose matrimonial ad had once said, accurately, that he is from a good family. He has travelled the world. He studied briefly in the First World, even. There are thousands like him in Delhi, the natural habitat of a kind.
Delhi is a vast medieval town of indisputable botanical beauty, spectacular red ruins, Sheila Dixit, and other charms. Its women, rumoured to be high maintenance as if there is another kind, take so much care of themselves that one would think the men are worth it (but they make a gesture that suggests puking when asked to confirm). Space is not compressed here. Everything is far from everything else. There are real gardens where you do not see the exit when you stand at the entrance. It has sudden small parks that in Bombay would have been called, ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Mini Forest’. Homes have corridors, and they are called corridors, not half-bedrooms. Yet, Delhi has a bestial smallness of purpose.
Those men there who drive the long phallic cars, sometimes holding a beer bottle in one hand, there is something uncontrollable about them. Even for a man, it is hard to understand their mutation. What is the swagger about? What is the great pride in driving your father’s BMW, what is the glory in being a sperm? And what is the great achievement in stepping on the accelerator? It is merely automobile engineering—press harder on the pedal and the car will move faster. Why do you think a girl will mate with you for that? It is somehow natural that the contemporary version of Devdas, Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D, would be set in Delhi, where a man can debase himself because life does not challenge him, he has no purpose, whose happiness is a type of sorrow. This motiveless Delhi male, you can argue, can be found in Bombay too, where not all BMWs are hard earned. But that’s not very different from saying Bombay, too, has bungalows.
Like a rich man’s son, Delhi is a beneficiary of undeserved privileges. That is at the heart of Bombay’s contempt for Delhi. Bombay is a natural city, like all great port cities of the world. It was not created. It had to arrive at a particular moment in time, it was an inevitability caused by geography, shipping and shallow waters. Bombay eventually earned its right to be a financial force through the power of enterprise, which created a system that allowed, to some extent, anyone to stake a claim at wealth through hard work. That culture still exists. It is the very basis of Bombay. That is the whole point of Bombay.
But Delhi as a centre of power is an inheritance, a historical habit. An unbearable consequence of this is the proximity of easy funds for various alleged intellectual pursuits which has enabled it to appropriate the status of intellectual centre. It is a scholarship city, a city of think tanks, of men who deal in discourse, debates and policies. And of fake serious women who wear the sari the other way and become leftists, nature lovers and diurnal feminists.
Delhi, often, confuses seriousness with intelligence and humour with flippancy. People will not be taken seriously here if they are not, well, serious. There is much weight attached to the imagined sophistication of talk, of gas. It is a city of talkers. There is always The Discussion. When you are in Delhi, you have to talk, and then they talk, and they appear to be solving an enigma, they seem headed towards achieving some revelation. But then, you realise, they were peeling an onion, an act that leads to more peels and at the heart of it all, there is nothing. Delhi is an onion. It is a void-delivery device.
Of course, all this is a generalisation, but then generalisation is a form of truth. One of the most repulsive images I bear in mind of Delhi is a scene in JNU, when Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez delivered a special lecture. It was like a rock concert and Chavez, who is a scion of the same imbecilic philosophy that once destroyed the great economies of South America, was the star. As students pumped their hands in the air and cheered him for his anti-capitalist calling, I looked at their faces. I knew those faces. They were from homes that once profited from India’s socialist corruption, and then from Manmohan’s revolution. They were hip. They would, of course, later join MNCs and chuckle at their youthful romanticism. That moment in JNU was despicable because it captured a meaningless aspect of Delhi’s fiery intellectuality, and also laid bare the crucial difference between intellectuality, which is borrowed conviction, and intelligence, which is creativity, innovation and original analysis.
It is for the same reason that the greatest misfortune of Indian journalism is that it is headquartered in Delhi. Needless to say, like in any other city, Delhi has astonishingly talented editors, journalists and writers, but there is a Delhi mental condition which is incurable—a fake intensity, a fraudulent concern for ‘issues’, the grand stand. Readers, on the other hand, have many interests today apart from democracy, policies and the perpetual misery of the poor. But the Indian media, based in Delhi, refused to see it until recently and very grudgingly, when The Times of India proved it. It is not a coincidence that The Times Group, the most profitable media organisation in India, is based in Bombay. It is not a coincidence that the game changer came from here. In Bombay it is hard to convert air from either side of your alimentary canal into cash. You have to do something here. You have to work. It is appropriate that the National School of Drama, with its phoney distaste for money, is in Delhi. And commercial cinema is in Bombay.
It must be said though that in recent times Delhi has become somewhat more endearing. This is partly because of Bombay’s own degradation and its loss of modernity, and partly because of a remarkable cultural irony. Bombay’s films were increasingly becoming pointless because, like Delhi has those silver sperms in BMWs, Bombay’s film industry, too, suffers the curse of the privileged lads whose fathers were something. As actors with no real talent they could still survive, but some who did not look so good could do nothing more than remaking movies about love and parental objection. Then two things happened. The flops of the brainless boys from the film families gave opportunities to talent that had arrived from all over the country, including what is called North India. They were waiting, and when they got a chance they created a new kind of commercial cinema in which Bombay was not necessarily the focus. That resulted in the startling revelation here that Bombay is a culturally impoverished, rootless setting compared to Delhi. What films like Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Dev D have achieved as hilarious, poignant and self deprecatory narrations of the North Indian way of life, has changed Hindi cinema, probably forever. So Delhi is being seen a bit differently in Bombay, with some affection too. Though, the best thing about Delhi will always be its winter. When there is this mist. And you do not see its people.
Source : http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/it-s-a-city-of-undeserved-privilege
Showing posts with label delhi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label delhi. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Thursday, July 02, 2009
The Leh Road Trip SAGA - Prologue & Preparation
Prologue:
I have been itching to go to Leh on my bike since i bought my bullet around 4 years ago. The problem was that it was difficult to find anyone to accompany me - out of my friend list ofcourse. Around 3-4 months ago - a friend of mine suggested a bike trip that he was trying to materialize. But after trying for a month or so, he finally gave up. But this news had upped my spirits and hopes and i had again started planning for the trip. When he gave up, i had two of my friends who were ready to go - but not on bike - by hired cab. I was like - what the hell - lets make it atleast. Maybe i would join the royal enfield himalayan odyssey next year to satisfy my biking desires. After lots of ifs and buts finally the trip was finalized and the members finalized. We booked a hotel in Leh - fearing that due to peak season, we might have difficulty in getting one. Rest - we left to fate. The characters in this tale are ->
1. J : me, the enthusiast who wants to do the trip at any cost. Who wants to cover everything leaving nothing.
2. N : jayant's wife - who will be accompanying him - a member of the trip.
3. R : A friend who is also willing to cover everything on this trip. He is even enthusiastic to take his bike.
4. B : Rajneesh's wife
5. L : He is the lonely batchelor who has been dying to make this trip.
6. Guddu Khan : The driver and the angrej - not english but angrej.
Disclaimer : The dialogues and characters may be mismatched. Any irregularities are pure co-incidential. There might be some dialogues and scenes to make the tale more spicy.
Preparation:
At first we were trying to get a Scorpio for our trip - cause we had heard that the road was very bumpy and we needed something with really good ground clearance and lots of space. But the driver we had booked for scorpio backed away the day before we were to leave - leaving us in the
middle of nowhere.
L : yaar, this guy is backing off. If we press the cab owner, he might force the driver to go. But do you want a arrogant and complaining driver.
R : No yaar, we wont enjoy the trip if we get such a driver.
J : Lets ditch the girls and hit the road with out bikes.
L : I cant go on bike man. Firstly i dont have a bike and secondly it would be very tiring - believe me.
J : Ya, i believe you - it could be very tiring. But it would be enjoyable as well.
R : Lets look for other cab drivers.
J : Ya, lets ask around. We would prefer someone who has already been there before. Lets meet back in some time and discuss the situation.
After 2-3 hours
R : I talked to a cab owner, the one we hired for going to railway station (refering to J). He has 4 innovas, but all the drivers are not willi
ng to go. They say that the road is closed due to heavy snow fall.
J : Bull****, I talked to a cab owner who had taken Deepak and all to Chakrata. His feedback is good. He says that he has been to leh before. They are 2 brothers but both of them are out of town now. One is in manali and another is in Agra. The manali brother says that he would be here by evening and would pick us up tomorrow for the trip. But i am not sure whether he would be able to go on without rest on such short notice.
L : Should i ask the scorpio owner again.
J : No man lets wait and watch. I will call this man tomorrow morning and see his status.
R : Lets get lots of food and water for the way. I have read that there are not enough shops on the way.
J : And i would take printouts of all travel guides from www.bcmtouring.com. As well as a printout of a map.
R : Please pack your bags and bring it to office. We would leave from here only. It will save time.
Now, lets wait for the next day and see what happens.
The initial plan was:
19th : Delhi to manali -> 500 kms - [10 hours]
20th : Manali hotel -> stay and freshen up - [4-5 hours]
20th : Manali to Sarchu -> 250 kms - [7 hours]
21th : Sarchu to Leh -> 250 kms - [7 hours]
22nd : leh to pangong lake and back -> 340 kms to and fro - [8 hours]
23rd : Leh to nubra valley via khardungla -> 130 kms - [4 hours]
23rd : stay in nubra valley/desert safari
24th : nubra valley to leh -> 130 kms [4 hours]
24th : leh local sight seeing - magnetic hill, shey palace, patthar sahab
25th : Leh to kargil -> 225 kms [6 hours]
25th : stay overnight in kargil
26th : kargil to srinagar -> 220 kms [6 hours]
26th : stay in house boat in srinagar
27th : srinagar to chandigarh -> 800 kms [14 hours]
27th : stay overnight at R's place
28th : chandigarh to delhi -> 250 kms [5 hours]
29th : join office [:(]
I have been itching to go to Leh on my bike since i bought my bullet around 4 years ago. The problem was that it was difficult to find anyone to accompany me - out of my friend list ofcourse. Around 3-4 months ago - a friend of mine suggested a bike trip that he was trying to materialize. But after trying for a month or so, he finally gave up. But this news had upped my spirits and hopes and i had again started planning for the trip. When he gave up, i had two of my friends who were ready to go - but not on bike - by hired cab. I was like - what the hell - lets make it atleast. Maybe i would join the royal enfield himalayan odyssey next year to satisfy my biking desires. After lots of ifs and buts finally the trip was finalized and the members finalized. We booked a hotel in Leh - fearing that due to peak season, we might have difficulty in getting one. Rest - we left to fate. The characters in this tale are ->
1. J : me, the enthusiast who wants to do the trip at any cost. Who wants to cover everything leaving nothing.
2. N : jayant's wife - who will be accompanying him - a member of the trip.
3. R : A friend who is also willing to cover everything on this trip. He is even enthusiastic to take his bike.
4. B : Rajneesh's wife
5. L : He is the lonely batchelor who has been dying to make this trip.
6. Guddu Khan : The driver and the angrej - not english but angrej.
Disclaimer : The dialogues and characters may be mismatched. Any irregularities are pure co-incidential. There might be some dialogues and scenes to make the tale more spicy.
Preparation:
At first we were trying to get a Scorpio for our trip - cause we had heard that the road was very bumpy and we needed something with really good ground clearance and lots of space. But the driver we had booked for scorpio backed away the day before we were to leave - leaving us in the
middle of nowhere.
L : yaar, this guy is backing off. If we press the cab owner, he might force the driver to go. But do you want a arrogant and complaining driver.
R : No yaar, we wont enjoy the trip if we get such a driver.
J : Lets ditch the girls and hit the road with out bikes.
L : I cant go on bike man. Firstly i dont have a bike and secondly it would be very tiring - believe me.
J : Ya, i believe you - it could be very tiring. But it would be enjoyable as well.
R : Lets look for other cab drivers.
J : Ya, lets ask around. We would prefer someone who has already been there before. Lets meet back in some time and discuss the situation.
After 2-3 hours
R : I talked to a cab owner, the one we hired for going to railway station (refering to J). He has 4 innovas, but all the drivers are not willi
ng to go. They say that the road is closed due to heavy snow fall.
J : Bull****, I talked to a cab owner who had taken Deepak and all to Chakrata. His feedback is good. He says that he has been to leh before. They are 2 brothers but both of them are out of town now. One is in manali and another is in Agra. The manali brother says that he would be here by evening and would pick us up tomorrow for the trip. But i am not sure whether he would be able to go on without rest on such short notice.
L : Should i ask the scorpio owner again.
J : No man lets wait and watch. I will call this man tomorrow morning and see his status.
R : Lets get lots of food and water for the way. I have read that there are not enough shops on the way.
J : And i would take printouts of all travel guides from www.bcmtouring.com. As well as a printout of a map.
R : Please pack your bags and bring it to office. We would leave from here only. It will save time.
Now, lets wait for the next day and see what happens.
The initial plan was:
19th : Delhi to manali -> 500 kms - [10 hours]
20th : Manali hotel -> stay and freshen up - [4-5 hours]
20th : Manali to Sarchu -> 250 kms - [7 hours]
21th : Sarchu to Leh -> 250 kms - [7 hours]
22nd : leh to pangong lake and back -> 340 kms to and fro - [8 hours]
23rd : Leh to nubra valley via khardungla -> 130 kms - [4 hours]
23rd : stay in nubra valley/desert safari
24th : nubra valley to leh -> 130 kms [4 hours]
24th : leh local sight seeing - magnetic hill, shey palace, patthar sahab
25th : Leh to kargil -> 225 kms [6 hours]
25th : stay overnight in kargil
26th : kargil to srinagar -> 220 kms [6 hours]
26th : stay in house boat in srinagar
27th : srinagar to chandigarh -> 800 kms [14 hours]
27th : stay overnight at R's place
28th : chandigarh to delhi -> 250 kms [5 hours]
29th : join office [:(]
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
An auto ride in Delhi
I have been coming back from baroda and it was around 7 AM in the morning. The train was already 2 hours late and would stop at new delhi railway station in some time. I was ready with my backpack. As soon as the train stopped, i got down and proceeded to the exit (Ajmeri gate side) to catch an auto for noida (my residence).
As soon as i came to the road outside the station and almost half a kilometer from the auto stand, as usual i saw lots of people who were asking me for auto and taxi. The taxi agents came first - yes i called them agents cause they try to catch you first and take a commission from the auto/taxi. The quotes i got for noida was 250/-. I was like WTF!!! I said no to all of them and came out and approached the auto stand. There were tons of auto but only a few were going to noida and their fare was 200/- min. Officially the fare is around 120/-. Then i saw this man who was shouting "noida, noida", and i asked him for a quote. He told me 150/-, I bargained and finally we froze at 130/- I went to his auto and saw that it was already full. There were two good looking ladies in the back seat and i was supposed to ride with the driver. The "ladies" were paying 250/- for the trip to noida. So the auto was going to make 380/- for this ride. Ghosh!!!
I had avoided the prepaid booth cause of the long queue over there. As we rode out of the stand a white clothed police man stopped us and asked the auto wala for his prepaid receipt. Usually the prepaid booth issues a receipt which i have to give to the auto at the destination, and the auto wala presents this receipt to the prepaid booth to collect his payment. Since this auto was a totally self arranged one, we did not have any receipt. So, instead of issueing a receipt for us (convenience for passenger), we were asked to get down and another couple who had a receipt were asked to board the auto. I was again like WTF!!!. After half an hour of bargain, i get an auto and the police man simply hands it over to someone else.
Well, so i thought, why not get a receipt from the prepaid booth. I stood in the queue for 15 minutes and got a receipt for 140/- to a place known as ashok nagar which is on the border of noida & delhi. If you would ask, why not into noida to my destination, i would say that the prepaid booth does not provide service to U.P. It was just that i remembered the name of the place and got the receipt. Now, the police man who was assigning passengers to autos were not visible. I stood for some time and looked around and i spotted a crowd. The crowd would move to an auto and the auto would depart with passengers, then the crowd would move to the next auto. I went near "the crowd", and saw that it was a junior policeman surrounded with lots and lots of passengers all havine prepaid receipts. Everyone was trying to put his receipt on priority and the policeman was enjoying the attention he was getting. He would go to an auto, assign it a passenger, scold the auto-wala and then talk on his mobile and then move to the next auto - all at his liesure. He had to do this whole day, and it seemed he was enjoying his work.
Finally, the policeman saw my receipt and assigned me an auto. I jumped in, glad that finally i am going to get home. It was almost 8:30 - 1.5 hours to get an auto. We departed. But my adventure does not end here. As soon as we were out of the auto stand and on the road, the auto wala turned his head to me and asked me where was i going.
Let me try to paint a picture of the auto wala. He is a male, 40ish, with black and white hair. He is very untidy and smelly. It seems that he has not bathed in few days. He is smoking a bidi (an indian version of ciggerate) from the side of his mouth. And he has an attitude - "i am the king of the road".
So, i told him that i have to go to sector 12 in noida, but he can leave me at ashok nagar and i will take a manual rickshaw from there, if he wants. the auto wala says from the side of his mouth (he has bidi on the other side). He will drop me at my place - sector 12 noida, if i pay him 100/- extra. I was a bit shocked. After spending 1.5 hours in getting an auto i am still at the same price. I told him that i will pay him 40/- extra. After everything, we finally bargained a deal at 200/-. And, i finally relaxed on the back of the auto.
No sooner had i done this that, a bus overtook the auto from the wrong side and at a very close distance. I jumped up. The auto wala was cool. I asked him whether he had given indicator or not. And he showed me his foot which was sticking out in the direction where we were about to turn. I said "wow...".
Now, i began to notice the way the auto was being driven. We were exactly in the center of the road, in such a manner that no car can overtake us from the right side. If a vehicle has to overtake us, it has to do it from the wrong side. There were lots of honking behind us. A car was getting frustrated. We were moving at a constant speed of 35, and the car was trying to overtake us from the right side, but the auto would not give way to it. Finally the car overtook us from the wrong side. The car-driver glared at the auto-driver but the auto driver did not look at him.
We were half way and suddenly the auto started struggling. It coughed and died. I got down and pushed the auto to the side of the road. The auto-driver got out a bottle and put in some oil in his tank. I asked him what is this oil, and he told me it is kerosene. The auto was started and i could see the whitish black and smelly smoke from its exhaust. I got back in and we continued our journey. Now we were climbing a flyover and the auto's speed dropped to 15 kmph. It was not able to pull me up but the auto driver was very persistent, so we finally made it to the top.
Again we were in the middle of the road and some car was trying to overtake us. I looked to my side and i could see another auto just next to mine. Both autos were at their top speed i.e. 20 kmph and both were trying to race. There was a smile on my auto-driver's face because he was an inch ahead of the other auto. Behind, i could see cars and busses trying to adjust to this low speed and honking, so that they would be given side for overtaking. The flyover ended and so did the race (i think) and my auto driver won.
As soon as we entered noida, we started jumping red lights. Delhi traffic police are a bit strict and you cant jump red ligts there, but in noida, there are hardly any police at the red lights. Anyways, after saving his auto from 2-3 near collisions, we finally turned and parked the auto at my place. I handed over the prepaid receipt and another 100/- Rs. And the auto driver got out 40/- and paid me back. So, after a delay of 2.5 hours and after spending 200/- rs, i was finally home.
As soon as i came to the road outside the station and almost half a kilometer from the auto stand, as usual i saw lots of people who were asking me for auto and taxi. The taxi agents came first - yes i called them agents cause they try to catch you first and take a commission from the auto/taxi. The quotes i got for noida was 250/-. I was like WTF!!! I said no to all of them and came out and approached the auto stand. There were tons of auto but only a few were going to noida and their fare was 200/- min. Officially the fare is around 120/-. Then i saw this man who was shouting "noida, noida", and i asked him for a quote. He told me 150/-, I bargained and finally we froze at 130/- I went to his auto and saw that it was already full. There were two good looking ladies in the back seat and i was supposed to ride with the driver. The "ladies" were paying 250/- for the trip to noida. So the auto was going to make 380/- for this ride. Ghosh!!!
I had avoided the prepaid booth cause of the long queue over there. As we rode out of the stand a white clothed police man stopped us and asked the auto wala for his prepaid receipt. Usually the prepaid booth issues a receipt which i have to give to the auto at the destination, and the auto wala presents this receipt to the prepaid booth to collect his payment. Since this auto was a totally self arranged one, we did not have any receipt. So, instead of issueing a receipt for us (convenience for passenger), we were asked to get down and another couple who had a receipt were asked to board the auto. I was again like WTF!!!. After half an hour of bargain, i get an auto and the police man simply hands it over to someone else.
Well, so i thought, why not get a receipt from the prepaid booth. I stood in the queue for 15 minutes and got a receipt for 140/- to a place known as ashok nagar which is on the border of noida & delhi. If you would ask, why not into noida to my destination, i would say that the prepaid booth does not provide service to U.P. It was just that i remembered the name of the place and got the receipt. Now, the police man who was assigning passengers to autos were not visible. I stood for some time and looked around and i spotted a crowd. The crowd would move to an auto and the auto would depart with passengers, then the crowd would move to the next auto. I went near "the crowd", and saw that it was a junior policeman surrounded with lots and lots of passengers all havine prepaid receipts. Everyone was trying to put his receipt on priority and the policeman was enjoying the attention he was getting. He would go to an auto, assign it a passenger, scold the auto-wala and then talk on his mobile and then move to the next auto - all at his liesure. He had to do this whole day, and it seemed he was enjoying his work.
Finally, the policeman saw my receipt and assigned me an auto. I jumped in, glad that finally i am going to get home. It was almost 8:30 - 1.5 hours to get an auto. We departed. But my adventure does not end here. As soon as we were out of the auto stand and on the road, the auto wala turned his head to me and asked me where was i going.
Let me try to paint a picture of the auto wala. He is a male, 40ish, with black and white hair. He is very untidy and smelly. It seems that he has not bathed in few days. He is smoking a bidi (an indian version of ciggerate) from the side of his mouth. And he has an attitude - "i am the king of the road".
So, i told him that i have to go to sector 12 in noida, but he can leave me at ashok nagar and i will take a manual rickshaw from there, if he wants. the auto wala says from the side of his mouth (he has bidi on the other side). He will drop me at my place - sector 12 noida, if i pay him 100/- extra. I was a bit shocked. After spending 1.5 hours in getting an auto i am still at the same price. I told him that i will pay him 40/- extra. After everything, we finally bargained a deal at 200/-. And, i finally relaxed on the back of the auto.
No sooner had i done this that, a bus overtook the auto from the wrong side and at a very close distance. I jumped up. The auto wala was cool. I asked him whether he had given indicator or not. And he showed me his foot which was sticking out in the direction where we were about to turn. I said "wow...".
Now, i began to notice the way the auto was being driven. We were exactly in the center of the road, in such a manner that no car can overtake us from the right side. If a vehicle has to overtake us, it has to do it from the wrong side. There were lots of honking behind us. A car was getting frustrated. We were moving at a constant speed of 35, and the car was trying to overtake us from the right side, but the auto would not give way to it. Finally the car overtook us from the wrong side. The car-driver glared at the auto-driver but the auto driver did not look at him.
We were half way and suddenly the auto started struggling. It coughed and died. I got down and pushed the auto to the side of the road. The auto-driver got out a bottle and put in some oil in his tank. I asked him what is this oil, and he told me it is kerosene. The auto was started and i could see the whitish black and smelly smoke from its exhaust. I got back in and we continued our journey. Now we were climbing a flyover and the auto's speed dropped to 15 kmph. It was not able to pull me up but the auto driver was very persistent, so we finally made it to the top.
Again we were in the middle of the road and some car was trying to overtake us. I looked to my side and i could see another auto just next to mine. Both autos were at their top speed i.e. 20 kmph and both were trying to race. There was a smile on my auto-driver's face because he was an inch ahead of the other auto. Behind, i could see cars and busses trying to adjust to this low speed and honking, so that they would be given side for overtaking. The flyover ended and so did the race (i think) and my auto driver won.
As soon as we entered noida, we started jumping red lights. Delhi traffic police are a bit strict and you cant jump red ligts there, but in noida, there are hardly any police at the red lights. Anyways, after saving his auto from 2-3 near collisions, we finally turned and parked the auto at my place. I handed over the prepaid receipt and another 100/- Rs. And the auto driver got out 40/- and paid me back. So, after a delay of 2.5 hours and after spending 200/- rs, i was finally home.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
road rage
I have driven for hours in delhi. I have driven from noida to gurgaon in very heavy traffic which took me 3 hours to reach. Sometimes, it really becomes troublesome when you have a nature's call and you cannot do anything about it. At most of the places where jams are frequent, you could see vendors selling water and other stuff to eat. But there are no public toilets nearby.
Now-a-days, all cycle walas and rickshaw walas think that they are shahrukh khan. They ride in the middle of the road and try to over take your car, cutting in front of you - as if they are invincible. People on bike also believe that they are GOD. They think, they can jump red lights without getting into any accidents and ride in the middle of the road at a constant speed of 30 kmph - turning a deaf ear to your honking and not allowing you to overtake. And the best part is when you see circus like acts on the road with 3 people on a cycle or 3 people on a small bike. I sometimes feel mercy for the overloaded vehicles. And even think whether the people who had designed the engine of the bike had taken such situations into consideration.
This attitude does lead to some frustration. After driving for an hour to cover a 20 minute distance, trying to protect these people inspite of their own carelessness, you tend to get exhausted. And you also have to protect yourself from the buses which keep on zooming from
left and right both in wrong direction and right direction. What amazes me about these busses is how they drive by you with only 2 inches to spare between your vehicle and the bus, at full speed and still it misses you. Arent the bus drivers extremely talented.
And finally cows & dogs on the road. They would just stand there confused about where to go and what to do. The municipal corporation does not try to remove them from the road. Who cares, people would simply go around them.
And ofcourse, the most famous of all these are the tampos. Yup the green colored tampos which have CNG written on their back and still throw out tons and tons of black smoke. They are heavily overloaded and keep on ferrying people between points A & B. They dont go beyond 20 kmph and they always move in the middle of the road, so that all the traffic stay behind them. They always stop in the middle of the road and just at a crossing, so that they could create jams and make people acknowledge their importance by their honking.
When people encounter these situations, and are unable to arrive at a compromise, they simply blow up. Why should they care for people who do not care for themselves?
If i would have had a jeannie, i would have wished that it taught the people on the road to have more road sense.
Now-a-days, all cycle walas and rickshaw walas think that they are shahrukh khan. They ride in the middle of the road and try to over take your car, cutting in front of you - as if they are invincible. People on bike also believe that they are GOD. They think, they can jump red lights without getting into any accidents and ride in the middle of the road at a constant speed of 30 kmph - turning a deaf ear to your honking and not allowing you to overtake. And the best part is when you see circus like acts on the road with 3 people on a cycle or 3 people on a small bike. I sometimes feel mercy for the overloaded vehicles. And even think whether the people who had designed the engine of the bike had taken such situations into consideration.
This attitude does lead to some frustration. After driving for an hour to cover a 20 minute distance, trying to protect these people inspite of their own carelessness, you tend to get exhausted. And you also have to protect yourself from the buses which keep on zooming from
left and right both in wrong direction and right direction. What amazes me about these busses is how they drive by you with only 2 inches to spare between your vehicle and the bus, at full speed and still it misses you. Arent the bus drivers extremely talented.
And finally cows & dogs on the road. They would just stand there confused about where to go and what to do. The municipal corporation does not try to remove them from the road. Who cares, people would simply go around them.
And ofcourse, the most famous of all these are the tampos. Yup the green colored tampos which have CNG written on their back and still throw out tons and tons of black smoke. They are heavily overloaded and keep on ferrying people between points A & B. They dont go beyond 20 kmph and they always move in the middle of the road, so that all the traffic stay behind them. They always stop in the middle of the road and just at a crossing, so that they could create jams and make people acknowledge their importance by their honking.
When people encounter these situations, and are unable to arrive at a compromise, they simply blow up. Why should they care for people who do not care for themselves?
If i would have had a jeannie, i would have wished that it taught the people on the road to have more road sense.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Comparing delhi to baroda
As soon as you step down from the train in vadodara, you find that the station is comparatively neat and clean. And there are lesser people on the station.
Step out from the station and you find an auto charging you only 25/- rs to take you home. Well, you think, in delhi, the autowala wont even look at me if i say 25/- rs to him.
The distance from station to home is almost traffic free - even during the peak hours. In fact, no one has heard of even a 10 minute traffic jam. There are no traffic jams. Wow you say. You roam around and you find that reaching any place in baroda is not a big job. Nothing is too far off. If you travel for an hour you can cover almost the whole of baroda. You save all the travel time. Going to nearby grocery store is 5 min job. Going to the nearby mall is 10 min job and going to the nearby movie hall is 15 min job and going to the nearby maruti service station is a 2 minute job. Your gym is nearby. And you also have a big swimming pool 5 minutes away. Much cleaner than those in delhi.
So what you would say. Delhi has big malls and reliance fresh, pvr. What? Havnt you heard about the pvr and inox in baroda. Or adlabs. They are all here. There are huge shopping malls here too. And you have the street market too which is damn cheap. In fact you would be shocked to see that the shopping malls in baroda provide such discounts that the price comes down to that of the street markets of delhi. Cool and most of the products are branded.
So, you save on your travelling time. The people are friendly - cause they have time. You get up at 8:30 and leave for office at 9:30 And you are in office by 9:45. There is no rush. For the price of a 2 bed room flat in remote location in delhi, you would get a 4 bedroom tennament with private lawn and parking in the best locality in baroda.
You leave office at 6:15 and are home by max 6:30. You have time to talk to your friends and relatives. You make social visits. If you fill up 1000/- worth of petrol in your car and use your car daily, your petrol would last for the whole of the month. Wow - great savings on petrol. There is traffic police in almost all the places. And if you talk to them, you would find that they are friendlier and a lot less corrupt. They would give you a receipt for a fine you pay. And they do not demand a bribe.
Then why am i in delhi? Cause i get paid well there. Well, maybe i could move to baroda if i get paid half of what i am getting paid in delhi.
Step out from the station and you find an auto charging you only 25/- rs to take you home. Well, you think, in delhi, the autowala wont even look at me if i say 25/- rs to him.
The distance from station to home is almost traffic free - even during the peak hours. In fact, no one has heard of even a 10 minute traffic jam. There are no traffic jams. Wow you say. You roam around and you find that reaching any place in baroda is not a big job. Nothing is too far off. If you travel for an hour you can cover almost the whole of baroda. You save all the travel time. Going to nearby grocery store is 5 min job. Going to the nearby mall is 10 min job and going to the nearby movie hall is 15 min job and going to the nearby maruti service station is a 2 minute job. Your gym is nearby. And you also have a big swimming pool 5 minutes away. Much cleaner than those in delhi.
So what you would say. Delhi has big malls and reliance fresh, pvr. What? Havnt you heard about the pvr and inox in baroda. Or adlabs. They are all here. There are huge shopping malls here too. And you have the street market too which is damn cheap. In fact you would be shocked to see that the shopping malls in baroda provide such discounts that the price comes down to that of the street markets of delhi. Cool and most of the products are branded.
So, you save on your travelling time. The people are friendly - cause they have time. You get up at 8:30 and leave for office at 9:30 And you are in office by 9:45. There is no rush. For the price of a 2 bed room flat in remote location in delhi, you would get a 4 bedroom tennament with private lawn and parking in the best locality in baroda.
You leave office at 6:15 and are home by max 6:30. You have time to talk to your friends and relatives. You make social visits. If you fill up 1000/- worth of petrol in your car and use your car daily, your petrol would last for the whole of the month. Wow - great savings on petrol. There is traffic police in almost all the places. And if you talk to them, you would find that they are friendlier and a lot less corrupt. They would give you a receipt for a fine you pay. And they do not demand a bribe.
Then why am i in delhi? Cause i get paid well there. Well, maybe i could move to baroda if i get paid half of what i am getting paid in delhi.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
driving in noida - Part 2
In case you have missed my previous post, you can take a look at it here.
Recently, it seems that the number of vehicles in noida has doubled. Specially the number of rickshaws and cycles. And if I am driving my car, i am doomed.
The choice is always between either kill someone or get killed. So if i drive a car, i am safe but other people may get hurt by it and i might land in trouble. On the other hand, if i ride my bike, i am not safe at all. And Other cars and specially busses might run over me and that might be the end of me.
The problem is that there is complete chaos on the roads. The traffic police try their best to control the traffic at red lights, but they don't seem to do a good job. And the road between two traffic lights is a mess. In noida, the red lights seem to come every 1 km. So after every 1 km, you have to relax for 2 minutes. And that adds to the frustration of people.
The cycles and rickshaws are the best. They move in clusters and in the center of the road, preventing the fast moving traffic to go ahead. Also all cycles and rickshaws do not have to look behind while turning. Neither do they understand signals (left/right turn indicators, or red lights). And they could squeeze in between the narrowest gaps between cars and rickshaws. Not caring if they scrape a car or a bike in the process. Ofcourse, they dont have anything to lose.
And then there are busses and tampos, which would stop in the middle of the road to load and unload passengers, not caring about the queue of vehicles piling and honking after them.
And the most unique feature of the roads in noida is the abundance of stray cattle and bullock carts. A friend of mine was once held behind 2 bullock carts racing with each other. He and ofcourse people behind him had to move at the pace of the bullock carts for about 30 minutes until the bullock carts reached their destination and one of them was declared winner. And there are cases where cows and buffaloes cross roads in a queue and hold up traffic.
The point i think is that no one cares. All want to move ahead, not caring if they are the cause of a traffic jam. There was a case once when i was at a red light held in a traffic jam - where buses and cars and rickshaws have just moved in the center of the road and other people were unable to move. I was just sitting and waiting for the jam to clear up, letting people ahead of me move more into the jam, when suddenly this maruti comes from the left and plunges in between the jam and my car. And when i honk at him, he shows his big eyes to me - as if i have committed the most terrible crime till date. Ofcourse, i had to wait till the car ahead of his car moved and he moved.
What do people get out of such abrupt action? More mess and more jams.
And then i remember this case in delhi, where a lady was hit by some other vehicle and she parked her vehicle in the center of the road blocking up the traffic and the cops surveying at leisure and getting all the details of the mishap from her while people waited in queue behind her.
And a similar incident in noida, just near my house where a maruti banged into a truck. No one was hurt. And from where i passed by, i could see that neither the car nor the truck was much damaged. But still the two vehicles were in the middle of the road and there was a big traffic jam behind it while the cops tried to find the cause and process of the accident at their leisure.
I think, i have been ranting too much. But the situation has gone from bad to worse. Maybe the situation was as bad earlier, but i did not face the peak traffic those days, cause i used to go early and come back late. But now, going on time and coming back on time matters. So...
I still love my bike and the way she could move in and out of such traffic.
Recently, it seems that the number of vehicles in noida has doubled. Specially the number of rickshaws and cycles. And if I am driving my car, i am doomed.
The choice is always between either kill someone or get killed. So if i drive a car, i am safe but other people may get hurt by it and i might land in trouble. On the other hand, if i ride my bike, i am not safe at all. And Other cars and specially busses might run over me and that might be the end of me.
The problem is that there is complete chaos on the roads. The traffic police try their best to control the traffic at red lights, but they don't seem to do a good job. And the road between two traffic lights is a mess. In noida, the red lights seem to come every 1 km. So after every 1 km, you have to relax for 2 minutes. And that adds to the frustration of people.
The cycles and rickshaws are the best. They move in clusters and in the center of the road, preventing the fast moving traffic to go ahead. Also all cycles and rickshaws do not have to look behind while turning. Neither do they understand signals (left/right turn indicators, or red lights). And they could squeeze in between the narrowest gaps between cars and rickshaws. Not caring if they scrape a car or a bike in the process. Ofcourse, they dont have anything to lose.
And then there are busses and tampos, which would stop in the middle of the road to load and unload passengers, not caring about the queue of vehicles piling and honking after them.
And the most unique feature of the roads in noida is the abundance of stray cattle and bullock carts. A friend of mine was once held behind 2 bullock carts racing with each other. He and ofcourse people behind him had to move at the pace of the bullock carts for about 30 minutes until the bullock carts reached their destination and one of them was declared winner. And there are cases where cows and buffaloes cross roads in a queue and hold up traffic.
The point i think is that no one cares. All want to move ahead, not caring if they are the cause of a traffic jam. There was a case once when i was at a red light held in a traffic jam - where buses and cars and rickshaws have just moved in the center of the road and other people were unable to move. I was just sitting and waiting for the jam to clear up, letting people ahead of me move more into the jam, when suddenly this maruti comes from the left and plunges in between the jam and my car. And when i honk at him, he shows his big eyes to me - as if i have committed the most terrible crime till date. Ofcourse, i had to wait till the car ahead of his car moved and he moved.
What do people get out of such abrupt action? More mess and more jams.
And then i remember this case in delhi, where a lady was hit by some other vehicle and she parked her vehicle in the center of the road blocking up the traffic and the cops surveying at leisure and getting all the details of the mishap from her while people waited in queue behind her.
And a similar incident in noida, just near my house where a maruti banged into a truck. No one was hurt. And from where i passed by, i could see that neither the car nor the truck was much damaged. But still the two vehicles were in the middle of the road and there was a big traffic jam behind it while the cops tried to find the cause and process of the accident at their leisure.
I think, i have been ranting too much. But the situation has gone from bad to worse. Maybe the situation was as bad earlier, but i did not face the peak traffic those days, cause i used to go early and come back late. But now, going on time and coming back on time matters. So...
I still love my bike and the way she could move in and out of such traffic.
Monday, August 27, 2007
The killer blue line buses in delhi
The blue line buses are everywhere. And from the everyday news, it seems that they are killing people on the fly. Crushing a pedestrian, or a cyclist or a motorcycle rider.
Some days back, i had the option of riding one of the buses. And i realized some things which though i had noticed earlier - but it did not strike me.
The problem - to me seems like more of an infrastructure & mindset problem than that of blue line buses. People in delhi think that they are invincible. They have the mindset that i am the king of the road and no one else could do anything to me. Instead of thinking about the situation as a whole, they would prefer to be at the top of it.
So what happens is firstly, there are no footpaths and pedestrians are forced to walk on the road. Earlier people used to walk at the end of the road, but now-a-days, people tend to walk more to the center of the road and since the number of vehicles are ever increasing in delhi and the roads always remain of the same width, people tend to drive more towards the end of the road. And lo, you have people being overtaken by honking cars and buses. And the people who dont look behind when they walk become the victims. If we would have had proper footpaths and pedestrian crossings then i think, the situation would have been much better.
To add to the ever increasing traffic and the narrow roads, now comes the Delhi-Metro, the construction of which makes the road even narrower - so narrow that sometimes it is even difficult for a single bus to pass through it. Of course - this would cause jams and increase the frustration level in the daily commuters.
The attitude of bikers and cyclists are even peculiar. Bikers tend to overtake you from the left - always. And they would zoom between buses and cars. All ads about zippy 150 cc bikes also show the same. I also confess that sometimes i would also zoom between cars, but ofcourse taking every precaution. But there are people who would like to squeeze in between cars and buses and zoom ahead. These are the people who neither care for their life nor for the life of others.
Recently i had an incident where an uncle on a scooter zoomed past the back of my car - collided with the back of my car and fell - in-spite of my constant honking. If he would have waited for 2 minutes or would have kept a bigger distance between my car and his scooter while zooming, he might have saved himself a fall and saved me another scratch on my car.
The problem to me seems that everyone is in a hurry to reach his destination. And the narrow roads and traffic jams, dont help a bit causing people to move ahead where ever they see a possibility. No one drives in a proper lane. Lane changing is very common. The only aim is to move ahead.
The bus i sat in a few days ago, was trying its best to avoid pedestrians and cyclists honking now and then to make space for it to move ahead. And still he had to brake hard for a hero on the motorcycle cause the hero overtook from the left and zoomed ahead from a very narrow space between the bus and some cyclists.
It is not the blue line buses which should be called "killer". It is the government and the infrastructure which should be called "killer". The government has given us smooth roads but the roads are too narrow for the kind of traffic delhi has. The government has not planned proper footpaths & pedestrian crossings. No one believes in staying in the same lane while driving.
No matter what you do, the autos always overcharge. They ask for thrice the fare and settle for double fare. And they deny driving to the destination, if they dont get at-least twice the fare. And this again adds to the delay in reaching one's destination. And frustration level keeps on increasing among commuters.
It looks more like a chaos...
Some days back, i had the option of riding one of the buses. And i realized some things which though i had noticed earlier - but it did not strike me.
The problem - to me seems like more of an infrastructure & mindset problem than that of blue line buses. People in delhi think that they are invincible. They have the mindset that i am the king of the road and no one else could do anything to me. Instead of thinking about the situation as a whole, they would prefer to be at the top of it.
So what happens is firstly, there are no footpaths and pedestrians are forced to walk on the road. Earlier people used to walk at the end of the road, but now-a-days, people tend to walk more to the center of the road and since the number of vehicles are ever increasing in delhi and the roads always remain of the same width, people tend to drive more towards the end of the road. And lo, you have people being overtaken by honking cars and buses. And the people who dont look behind when they walk become the victims. If we would have had proper footpaths and pedestrian crossings then i think, the situation would have been much better.
To add to the ever increasing traffic and the narrow roads, now comes the Delhi-Metro, the construction of which makes the road even narrower - so narrow that sometimes it is even difficult for a single bus to pass through it. Of course - this would cause jams and increase the frustration level in the daily commuters.
The attitude of bikers and cyclists are even peculiar. Bikers tend to overtake you from the left - always. And they would zoom between buses and cars. All ads about zippy 150 cc bikes also show the same. I also confess that sometimes i would also zoom between cars, but ofcourse taking every precaution. But there are people who would like to squeeze in between cars and buses and zoom ahead. These are the people who neither care for their life nor for the life of others.
Recently i had an incident where an uncle on a scooter zoomed past the back of my car - collided with the back of my car and fell - in-spite of my constant honking. If he would have waited for 2 minutes or would have kept a bigger distance between my car and his scooter while zooming, he might have saved himself a fall and saved me another scratch on my car.
The problem to me seems that everyone is in a hurry to reach his destination. And the narrow roads and traffic jams, dont help a bit causing people to move ahead where ever they see a possibility. No one drives in a proper lane. Lane changing is very common. The only aim is to move ahead.
The bus i sat in a few days ago, was trying its best to avoid pedestrians and cyclists honking now and then to make space for it to move ahead. And still he had to brake hard for a hero on the motorcycle cause the hero overtook from the left and zoomed ahead from a very narrow space between the bus and some cyclists.
It is not the blue line buses which should be called "killer". It is the government and the infrastructure which should be called "killer". The government has given us smooth roads but the roads are too narrow for the kind of traffic delhi has. The government has not planned proper footpaths & pedestrian crossings. No one believes in staying in the same lane while driving.
No matter what you do, the autos always overcharge. They ask for thrice the fare and settle for double fare. And they deny driving to the destination, if they dont get at-least twice the fare. And this again adds to the delay in reaching one's destination. And frustration level keeps on increasing among commuters.
It looks more like a chaos...
Monday, July 30, 2007
Driving in Noida (Delhi/NCR)
Driving in delhi/NCR is a unique experience. Specially driving cars. I never realized it until i got a car of my own. Riding a bike is better.
I had driven a car for 5 years before i got a car of my own in delhi. But looking at the condition of driving in delhi, i asked a motor driving school to give me 4-5 classes of driving in heavy traffic and thru narrow lanes. And it was there that i came to know that he had tons of students like me. People who were back from the US and were unable to drive in the crazy traffic of delhi/NCR.
Well, let me tell you about a day driving to office.
8:35 AM - I am already late. Generally i wish to be ready to go by 8:25. 10 minutes before time and i avoid the 8:30 traffic. Well - anyways, i start my car and look behind (i have to do a back to get out of my colony), and there are cars everywhere. Slowly take a reverse and move a little to the left and a little to the right and finally get to put my car between a pole and another car. Now all i have to do is take a 45 degree turn and then another reverse and another 45 degree turn before i am through with driving in reverse.
8:40 AM - Wow, it took only 5 minutes to get going. Good timing. Now avoiding the bush to the left and the small open drain at the right, i drive and again avoid the car on the left and another on the right and am finally on the main road.
8:43 AM - Oops, am stuck on the first red light which appears 100 meters from my home. Actually, i am not supposed to stand at the red light, since i have to take a left which is free. But there are so many people, so many cars and bikes and cycles and rickshaws that they have blocked the complete road and unless they move i wont be able to access my "free" left turn. And i look around. A cycle goes by wriggling between cars and bikes. Another rickshaw tries to wriggle but the hole is not big enough for him. I just hope he does not scratch my car.
8:45 AM - finally out of the red light and am driving at speed of 50 - heading straight for another red light. And i see a bike coming from the opposite direction on the wrong side. I move a bit to the right to avoid him and a car whizzes by missing me by inches and blowing its horn.
8:47 AM - Another red light. And buses lined up against each other covering the whole road. Arent they supposed to be on the left most lane. cycles and rickshaws are coming from all the roads in the crossing. The red lights are not supposed to mean anything for them. They are free to cross and create a mess at the intersection. And i patiently wait for the light to turn green. And lo, the light is green. I move ahead and i am behind a bus and a rickshaw. The bus jumps ahead, but the rickshaw moves slowly and no matter how much i honk, it wont let me move ahead. The light turns yellow and the thulla's eyes at the other end turns to dollars ($)($). But i manage to make it before the light turns red again. And the thulla turns sad. He catches hold of the car behind me.
8:50 AM - Another red light. After wriggling between cows standing between the road and 4 cycles (fast friends i believe) riding next to each other covering almost the entire road, and avoiding potholes and speed-breakers similar to small mountains, i am relaxing at another red light. The speed-breakers were terrible. They were not only meant to slow you down, but stop you completely - make you think twice whether they would scrap the car's underside and then drive over them. And now i am looking at another red light. Tons of cycles and rickshaws ahead of me. Some cycles are balancing 3 people on them. That's why circuses dont work in india any more. You get to see circus everyday on the road.
8:52 AM - The light turns green, but vehicles have not started moving. Oh, there is no thulla at the other end and the vehicles from the left side of the crossing are still moving across - even when their signal has turned red. Finally someone realizes and stops and my line moves ahead. The uncle in the santro ahead of me is on his cell phone and is blocking the whole road. He will either smash into me if i try to overtake him or smash into someone else. Better avoid him.
9:00 AM - Dropped my wife. Took a U-turn and am now rushing towards my office.
9:05 AM - Another red light. I respect it. There is a bus behind me. It starts honking. And now the bus conductor comes over and asks me to move a bit to the left so that he can move his bus ahead. What the heck, cant he wait for 1 minute till the light turns green and we all go. No, but he has to move 1 meter ahead of where he is now. No point in argueing, i move ahead.
9:10 AM - I am rushing. I will be late for office. Oops, there are bikes rushing too. Some from the left and some from the right. Bikes in india are meant to zoom, and thats what bikers do, overtake you from the left and the right. Another red light - and i am lucky this time - it is still green - i can rusht through. I give a right turn signal and move ahead - and ZOOOOM... a biker goes from my right side. I hit my brakes - trying to avoid crashing into him. Save a life.
9:12 AM - Now finally i am on the worst road on my route. Where there are more cycles and rickshaws that they cover the whole road. And there are cows in the middle of the road and cars coming from anywhere. I drive slowly. The driver behind me honks and then finally overtakes me from the left - pushing me to the right. I apply my brakes trying to avoid the car overtaking from the left and the car coming from the right.
9:17 AM - Now i am behind 2 rickshaws both trying to race. I honk, but both of them are SRKs. And are racing to win. There are cars and bikes coming from the other side and covering the road. I cant over take them. All i have to do is put the car in 2nd gear and just let the car move behind them. Another bike shoots by.
9:20 AM - The left turn to my office is near. Wow!! Honk for the people standing there to move by, so that i can drive on. They give me "The Eye" and then slowly move on. Hell, i am going to be late today.
9:24 AM - I am in front of the office and am parking. The guard tells me to move a bit ahead and then a bit left and then a bit right and then a bit back. And finally i am parked.
9:29 AM - I run and punch into the office...
Great na... If i had been on a bike i would have made it 15 minutes earlier.
Anyways, just hoping that when i return back home, there are no cars on the path to my parking place. And my parking place is still empty.
I had driven a car for 5 years before i got a car of my own in delhi. But looking at the condition of driving in delhi, i asked a motor driving school to give me 4-5 classes of driving in heavy traffic and thru narrow lanes. And it was there that i came to know that he had tons of students like me. People who were back from the US and were unable to drive in the crazy traffic of delhi/NCR.
Well, let me tell you about a day driving to office.
8:35 AM - I am already late. Generally i wish to be ready to go by 8:25. 10 minutes before time and i avoid the 8:30 traffic. Well - anyways, i start my car and look behind (i have to do a back to get out of my colony), and there are cars everywhere. Slowly take a reverse and move a little to the left and a little to the right and finally get to put my car between a pole and another car. Now all i have to do is take a 45 degree turn and then another reverse and another 45 degree turn before i am through with driving in reverse.
8:40 AM - Wow, it took only 5 minutes to get going. Good timing. Now avoiding the bush to the left and the small open drain at the right, i drive and again avoid the car on the left and another on the right and am finally on the main road.
8:43 AM - Oops, am stuck on the first red light which appears 100 meters from my home. Actually, i am not supposed to stand at the red light, since i have to take a left which is free. But there are so many people, so many cars and bikes and cycles and rickshaws that they have blocked the complete road and unless they move i wont be able to access my "free" left turn. And i look around. A cycle goes by wriggling between cars and bikes. Another rickshaw tries to wriggle but the hole is not big enough for him. I just hope he does not scratch my car.
8:45 AM - finally out of the red light and am driving at speed of 50 - heading straight for another red light. And i see a bike coming from the opposite direction on the wrong side. I move a bit to the right to avoid him and a car whizzes by missing me by inches and blowing its horn.
8:47 AM - Another red light. And buses lined up against each other covering the whole road. Arent they supposed to be on the left most lane. cycles and rickshaws are coming from all the roads in the crossing. The red lights are not supposed to mean anything for them. They are free to cross and create a mess at the intersection. And i patiently wait for the light to turn green. And lo, the light is green. I move ahead and i am behind a bus and a rickshaw. The bus jumps ahead, but the rickshaw moves slowly and no matter how much i honk, it wont let me move ahead. The light turns yellow and the thulla's eyes at the other end turns to dollars ($)($). But i manage to make it before the light turns red again. And the thulla turns sad. He catches hold of the car behind me.
8:50 AM - Another red light. After wriggling between cows standing between the road and 4 cycles (fast friends i believe) riding next to each other covering almost the entire road, and avoiding potholes and speed-breakers similar to small mountains, i am relaxing at another red light. The speed-breakers were terrible. They were not only meant to slow you down, but stop you completely - make you think twice whether they would scrap the car's underside and then drive over them. And now i am looking at another red light. Tons of cycles and rickshaws ahead of me. Some cycles are balancing 3 people on them. That's why circuses dont work in india any more. You get to see circus everyday on the road.
8:52 AM - The light turns green, but vehicles have not started moving. Oh, there is no thulla at the other end and the vehicles from the left side of the crossing are still moving across - even when their signal has turned red. Finally someone realizes and stops and my line moves ahead. The uncle in the santro ahead of me is on his cell phone and is blocking the whole road. He will either smash into me if i try to overtake him or smash into someone else. Better avoid him.
9:00 AM - Dropped my wife. Took a U-turn and am now rushing towards my office.
9:05 AM - Another red light. I respect it. There is a bus behind me. It starts honking. And now the bus conductor comes over and asks me to move a bit to the left so that he can move his bus ahead. What the heck, cant he wait for 1 minute till the light turns green and we all go. No, but he has to move 1 meter ahead of where he is now. No point in argueing, i move ahead.
9:10 AM - I am rushing. I will be late for office. Oops, there are bikes rushing too. Some from the left and some from the right. Bikes in india are meant to zoom, and thats what bikers do, overtake you from the left and the right. Another red light - and i am lucky this time - it is still green - i can rusht through. I give a right turn signal and move ahead - and ZOOOOM... a biker goes from my right side. I hit my brakes - trying to avoid crashing into him. Save a life.
9:12 AM - Now finally i am on the worst road on my route. Where there are more cycles and rickshaws that they cover the whole road. And there are cows in the middle of the road and cars coming from anywhere. I drive slowly. The driver behind me honks and then finally overtakes me from the left - pushing me to the right. I apply my brakes trying to avoid the car overtaking from the left and the car coming from the right.
9:17 AM - Now i am behind 2 rickshaws both trying to race. I honk, but both of them are SRKs. And are racing to win. There are cars and bikes coming from the other side and covering the road. I cant over take them. All i have to do is put the car in 2nd gear and just let the car move behind them. Another bike shoots by.
9:20 AM - The left turn to my office is near. Wow!! Honk for the people standing there to move by, so that i can drive on. They give me "The Eye" and then slowly move on. Hell, i am going to be late today.
9:24 AM - I am in front of the office and am parking. The guard tells me to move a bit ahead and then a bit left and then a bit right and then a bit back. And finally i am parked.
9:29 AM - I run and punch into the office...
Great na... If i had been on a bike i would have made it 15 minutes earlier.
Anyways, just hoping that when i return back home, there are no cars on the path to my parking place. And my parking place is still empty.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Indian railways
It has been almost 27 years since I was born and since i had been traveling in the indian railways. But with increase in time the indian railways has become from bad to worse. It is actually an ordeal to travel in railways. Then why am i writing the post today and not before. Well, i actually realized it yesterday.
At indian railways, the trains are never expected to arrive on time. All trains run late. And if you are standing at one of the platforms, you will constantly hear - "train x which was supposed to come at time y is delayed by delta minutes/hours. The inconvenience caused is deeply regretted". And the announcer would never sound as if he/she was regretting anything. It is said in a matter-of-fact way - as if we are supposed to know that the delay was naturally expected - just like you expect corruption in each and every section of the government of like you expect to get ketchup free with your samosa.
Let me brief you as to what happened last night. Had been to the delhi station to put my mom on the train for baroda. First of all - it had been a long time since i had been to the railways. So i had to enquire about where the parking was. And very few people seemed to know where it was. And since there is no visible board giving directions - i had to run here and there to get the location of parking space.
Well next - get information about the platform where the train would arrive. And the only way to get this information is to stand in queue - after about 100 people and wait your turn. The uncleji at the enquiry window - does not give a shit about who is on the other side of the window. I had time to enquire - what about people who arrived late and need the info - can they wait in queue for 30 minutes to enquire about which platform they should go. It seems the situation in delhi was worse. Its better in baroda - where there is less crowd and the information is properly displayed on the general information board.
Now - since i know which platform i have to go, i will have to spend rs 3/- to get a platform ticket - so that any Ticket Checker cannot catch me and ask for a 50/- or 100/- ghoos for travelling without a ticket. They usually do. There has been so many instances with my friends where the TC simply asked for a Rs 50/- note to let them go. And the way to avoid this hassle is to get a platform ticket. And to get a platform ticket is another hassle. On new delhi station, it is really difficult first to locate the window which gives platform ticket. Officially platform ticket should be available on all windows. But it seems due to scarcity - its there only on one window. And the queue in front of the window is huge. Hmm, there are always queues at all windows on indian railway stations. It seems that the indian railways is very low on manpower. Well actually thats how Laalu prasad yadav - our respected railway minister brought the operating cost of Indian railways to 78% - the best in the world.
And after getting the platform ticket, we proceeded to the platform. Wow, what a place. It seems that people like to live on the platform. Everywhere - there are people sitting, chatting, boozing, gambling. You have to look for space to put your foot to move forward. I think, this is what they mean by population explosion.
What happens in baroda station is that there is a display on the platform which says where each coach will come for the train. So it becomes easy to move and get placed right in front of the coach. But in Delhi - the capital of india, the numbers on the boards are misplaced so that you have to drag your luggage and run in between the crowded platform to your bogie.
And then the trains are always crowded. It is difficult to get a ticket in a train in indian railways. There is always a waiting list and extra people on the train for whom it is important to reach their destination, but were unable to get a reservation. There are people sleeping on the floor, outside the loo and sitting on your berths.
60 years of independence, and indian railways - it seems - stays where it was.
At indian railways, the trains are never expected to arrive on time. All trains run late. And if you are standing at one of the platforms, you will constantly hear - "train x which was supposed to come at time y is delayed by delta minutes/hours. The inconvenience caused is deeply regretted". And the announcer would never sound as if he/she was regretting anything. It is said in a matter-of-fact way - as if we are supposed to know that the delay was naturally expected - just like you expect corruption in each and every section of the government of like you expect to get ketchup free with your samosa.
Let me brief you as to what happened last night. Had been to the delhi station to put my mom on the train for baroda. First of all - it had been a long time since i had been to the railways. So i had to enquire about where the parking was. And very few people seemed to know where it was. And since there is no visible board giving directions - i had to run here and there to get the location of parking space.
Well next - get information about the platform where the train would arrive. And the only way to get this information is to stand in queue - after about 100 people and wait your turn. The uncleji at the enquiry window - does not give a shit about who is on the other side of the window. I had time to enquire - what about people who arrived late and need the info - can they wait in queue for 30 minutes to enquire about which platform they should go. It seems the situation in delhi was worse. Its better in baroda - where there is less crowd and the information is properly displayed on the general information board.
Now - since i know which platform i have to go, i will have to spend rs 3/- to get a platform ticket - so that any Ticket Checker cannot catch me and ask for a 50/- or 100/- ghoos for travelling without a ticket. They usually do. There has been so many instances with my friends where the TC simply asked for a Rs 50/- note to let them go. And the way to avoid this hassle is to get a platform ticket. And to get a platform ticket is another hassle. On new delhi station, it is really difficult first to locate the window which gives platform ticket. Officially platform ticket should be available on all windows. But it seems due to scarcity - its there only on one window. And the queue in front of the window is huge. Hmm, there are always queues at all windows on indian railway stations. It seems that the indian railways is very low on manpower. Well actually thats how Laalu prasad yadav - our respected railway minister brought the operating cost of Indian railways to 78% - the best in the world.
And after getting the platform ticket, we proceeded to the platform. Wow, what a place. It seems that people like to live on the platform. Everywhere - there are people sitting, chatting, boozing, gambling. You have to look for space to put your foot to move forward. I think, this is what they mean by population explosion.
What happens in baroda station is that there is a display on the platform which says where each coach will come for the train. So it becomes easy to move and get placed right in front of the coach. But in Delhi - the capital of india, the numbers on the boards are misplaced so that you have to drag your luggage and run in between the crowded platform to your bogie.
And then the trains are always crowded. It is difficult to get a ticket in a train in indian railways. There is always a waiting list and extra people on the train for whom it is important to reach their destination, but were unable to get a reservation. There are people sleeping on the floor, outside the loo and sitting on your berths.
60 years of independence, and indian railways - it seems - stays where it was.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
corruption - part dwitia
It has been a long time since i have written anything - either technical or on any other topic. Hmm... Well, i was busy getting married....
I have just joined my office - a week back and am getting in the flow of going to work.
Had been on honeymoon and have been travelling. Have seen the different ways corruption works in india. Each and every incident involving corruption by government officials is worth noting. But right now i will list down some incidents that happened with me.
Incident #1
I am coming from sector 18 towards sector 16 in noida. I am on a red light and i dont see a "thulla" (in india all police officials are called thulla. They are always ready to take money from you and fill their own pockets) around. Well anyways, i still decide to wait till the light turns green. There is an auto coming from the left and he is also waiting for his signal to turn green. Still, every minute the auto moves 1 meter ahead. My red-light turns green and by that time, the auto is almost in the middle of the road - and there is still no thulla around. No one paying attention to him. So i start moving and am almost half way to the across when the auto decides to move still ahead and comes right in front of me. I stop and before i can turn and head across the crossing, my signal turns red.
The autowala gives me a frown and blows his horn. And from no-where a thulla jumps out and signals me to stop. Well, i shud have sped off. But, my mistake, i decide to stop and make him understand the situation. I am in hurry. I dont keep more than 400 in my pocket. The thulla asks me for my papers. I tell him that i dont have any. And that i live nearby - just across the road (I told him the truth). He tells me that red light jumping is 1000 Rs fine. And then sits behind me and asks me to ride to the nearby police station. And one most important point - he is not a traffic police. So i tell him that i am not driving to the police station. I dont have 1000 Rs fine and try to make him understand the situation. But he refuses to listen and tells me that he can let me go with around 400/- cash to him. I shut off my bike. Took the keys out. Hand it over to him and tell him to take my bike to the police station and i will collect it from there after paying the fine. The thulla just looks at me and lowers his offer to let me go to 300 Rs.
I argue with him - give him all the lies i can make up. Make him understand that i am a poor student and that i dont have enough money in my pocket. Eat his head for around 1 hour. The thulla is fed up and starts calling a crand to take by bike. I asked him "why dont you take it yourself?" And he tells me that he does not know how to drive a bullet. Shame on him. Finally people start gathering and looking at us. He starts shouting at them. I argue with him openly and tell him that 50 Rs is enough. He is still adamant and we finally settle for 100 Rs. I hand him my hard earned 100 Rs for something i have not done and he goes away happy.
Incident #2
This is a really nice one. We (me and my roomie deepak) used to live in noida sector 12 and we used to go to vasundra enclave for our diner. There is a small resturant over there which serves good food at low prices. And the best part of the resturant was that they did not levy sales tax of 12.whatever percent.
So one night after having a lavish diner, we were riding back on deepak's scooty. Both of us wearing helmet - cause there are thullas always ready at the border to extort money from you. Still, when we were crossing the border, a junior thulla stopped us. And asked us for the papers. Hmm and my romie depak had forgotten his wallet home. So he checked everywhere and finally told that he has forgotten his wallet home and he would need to go back home which was nearby - around 5 minutes from there to get his wallet and papers. This was reported to the senior thulla and he came and told us that if we dont have the papers, then we should pay the fine.
I thought that i would ask the question - fine for what. Well, but i didnt. It is better not to provoke a thulla. I told deepak - you wait here and i will get your papers from home. So i took a rickshaw and moved off towards home to get the papers. I had just reached home, when i got a call from deepak that the thulla has let him go and he is riding back home. And then he told me what happened.
The senior thulla told the junior thulla "dekh kar roko. Jinke pas paisa nahi hai unko rok kar kya faida". [look at the person before you ask him to stop. There is no point in stopping someone if he does not have any money]. Deepak was simply shood away - since he did not have any money on him.
Incident #3
This one is a very recent one - happened in gurgao while I had been to gurgaon to pick up my wife.
I started early from my office so i could reach her office on time. And when i reached there - there was a huge traffic jam outside her office. Inspite of that there were cars parked outside her office on one side of the road and there was a thulla looking around. It didnt seem wrong to me to stop on the side of the road and wait for her to come down. Stopping for 5-10 minutes should not be an issue. If the thulla thinks it is an issue, he can tell me and I can simply drive off.
So i have parked and put on my blinkers and am waiting when this thulla comes and knocks on the window. My mistake, i should have simply drove off. I open up the window and the thulla asks me for the papers. I tell him that i will move on if there is a problem. But he is adamant on getting the papers and wants to pose a fine of 400. Finally after some argument, he takes off my car keys.
I go to him with my papers and explain him that if he takes the papers then i will have to drive back from noida to here to collect my papers. So take the money now and let me off. And the thulla simply says that if you give the money now, it will go into my pocket. I tell him - then i could be led off at a much lower amount. He asks 300. I empty my pockets and give him all 10s and 20s - totalling around 100. The thulla says that there is an ATM in the nearby building, get the money from there. So i go and get 300 for him and hand it over to him and get my papers and drive off.
There are so many incidents with me - all almost similar. Maybe i get trapped cause i stop when the thullas ask me to stop.
I have heard incidents from my friends where one guy said that he told that he wont give the money now and would go to court. And he was disappointed cause there is no one to listen in court. All they assume is that we are murderers or maybe somewhat similar and we should pay double or tripple the amount fined on us. So it is better to not to go to court.
One really nice incident happened with one of my friend. He was caught jumping a red light and he paid the fine. He says that he emptied his heart out. Gave all the bad words he had ever came across to all the thullas there. Called them the worst things he could call. And then paid his fine and drove off. And he was happy. He says that it was worth paying the fine. Letting go of this frustration and driving off.
The best thing about corruption is that the corrupt officials wont be paying any tax on their "under-table" income. Maybe government should put tax on all such incomes. Or maybe make money paid as corruption - exempt from tax. If i would have earned 100 Rs, i would have paid 30 Rs as tax and would have got to keep only 70 Rs with me. The under priviledged common man.
Now the government is increasing the fines for all the penalties that tend to happen. Indirectly raising the cut for all the thullas. I could now-a-days see the thullas drooling at the sight of people driving. And their drool increases with increase in the number of vehicles and the raise in penalties.
The problem is not with the corrupt police officials, but with the management/the government. They have created situations so that corruption prevails. There is no proper management of traffic signal timings. The thullas are underpaid - i think so. And the thulla will always catch you if you start crossing the traffic signal at green and arrive at the other end when the signal is red. And this usually happens cause the time for yellow light is so low that there is almost no yellow light. And the red light does not work for cycle or rickshaw. So cycle or rickshaw can jump as many red lights as possible and create as much confusion as possible on the road.
After all, this is INDIA...
I have just joined my office - a week back and am getting in the flow of going to work.
Had been on honeymoon and have been travelling. Have seen the different ways corruption works in india. Each and every incident involving corruption by government officials is worth noting. But right now i will list down some incidents that happened with me.
Incident #1
I am coming from sector 18 towards sector 16 in noida. I am on a red light and i dont see a "thulla" (in india all police officials are called thulla. They are always ready to take money from you and fill their own pockets) around. Well anyways, i still decide to wait till the light turns green. There is an auto coming from the left and he is also waiting for his signal to turn green. Still, every minute the auto moves 1 meter ahead. My red-light turns green and by that time, the auto is almost in the middle of the road - and there is still no thulla around. No one paying attention to him. So i start moving and am almost half way to the across when the auto decides to move still ahead and comes right in front of me. I stop and before i can turn and head across the crossing, my signal turns red.
The autowala gives me a frown and blows his horn. And from no-where a thulla jumps out and signals me to stop. Well, i shud have sped off. But, my mistake, i decide to stop and make him understand the situation. I am in hurry. I dont keep more than 400 in my pocket. The thulla asks me for my papers. I tell him that i dont have any. And that i live nearby - just across the road (I told him the truth). He tells me that red light jumping is 1000 Rs fine. And then sits behind me and asks me to ride to the nearby police station. And one most important point - he is not a traffic police. So i tell him that i am not driving to the police station. I dont have 1000 Rs fine and try to make him understand the situation. But he refuses to listen and tells me that he can let me go with around 400/- cash to him. I shut off my bike. Took the keys out. Hand it over to him and tell him to take my bike to the police station and i will collect it from there after paying the fine. The thulla just looks at me and lowers his offer to let me go to 300 Rs.
I argue with him - give him all the lies i can make up. Make him understand that i am a poor student and that i dont have enough money in my pocket. Eat his head for around 1 hour. The thulla is fed up and starts calling a crand to take by bike. I asked him "why dont you take it yourself?" And he tells me that he does not know how to drive a bullet. Shame on him. Finally people start gathering and looking at us. He starts shouting at them. I argue with him openly and tell him that 50 Rs is enough. He is still adamant and we finally settle for 100 Rs. I hand him my hard earned 100 Rs for something i have not done and he goes away happy.
Incident #2
This is a really nice one. We (me and my roomie deepak) used to live in noida sector 12 and we used to go to vasundra enclave for our diner. There is a small resturant over there which serves good food at low prices. And the best part of the resturant was that they did not levy sales tax of 12.whatever percent.
So one night after having a lavish diner, we were riding back on deepak's scooty. Both of us wearing helmet - cause there are thullas always ready at the border to extort money from you. Still, when we were crossing the border, a junior thulla stopped us. And asked us for the papers. Hmm and my romie depak had forgotten his wallet home. So he checked everywhere and finally told that he has forgotten his wallet home and he would need to go back home which was nearby - around 5 minutes from there to get his wallet and papers. This was reported to the senior thulla and he came and told us that if we dont have the papers, then we should pay the fine.
I thought that i would ask the question - fine for what. Well, but i didnt. It is better not to provoke a thulla. I told deepak - you wait here and i will get your papers from home. So i took a rickshaw and moved off towards home to get the papers. I had just reached home, when i got a call from deepak that the thulla has let him go and he is riding back home. And then he told me what happened.
The senior thulla told the junior thulla "dekh kar roko. Jinke pas paisa nahi hai unko rok kar kya faida". [look at the person before you ask him to stop. There is no point in stopping someone if he does not have any money]. Deepak was simply shood away - since he did not have any money on him.
Incident #3
This one is a very recent one - happened in gurgao while I had been to gurgaon to pick up my wife.
I started early from my office so i could reach her office on time. And when i reached there - there was a huge traffic jam outside her office. Inspite of that there were cars parked outside her office on one side of the road and there was a thulla looking around. It didnt seem wrong to me to stop on the side of the road and wait for her to come down. Stopping for 5-10 minutes should not be an issue. If the thulla thinks it is an issue, he can tell me and I can simply drive off.
So i have parked and put on my blinkers and am waiting when this thulla comes and knocks on the window. My mistake, i should have simply drove off. I open up the window and the thulla asks me for the papers. I tell him that i will move on if there is a problem. But he is adamant on getting the papers and wants to pose a fine of 400. Finally after some argument, he takes off my car keys.
I go to him with my papers and explain him that if he takes the papers then i will have to drive back from noida to here to collect my papers. So take the money now and let me off. And the thulla simply says that if you give the money now, it will go into my pocket. I tell him - then i could be led off at a much lower amount. He asks 300. I empty my pockets and give him all 10s and 20s - totalling around 100. The thulla says that there is an ATM in the nearby building, get the money from there. So i go and get 300 for him and hand it over to him and get my papers and drive off.
There are so many incidents with me - all almost similar. Maybe i get trapped cause i stop when the thullas ask me to stop.
I have heard incidents from my friends where one guy said that he told that he wont give the money now and would go to court. And he was disappointed cause there is no one to listen in court. All they assume is that we are murderers or maybe somewhat similar and we should pay double or tripple the amount fined on us. So it is better to not to go to court.
One really nice incident happened with one of my friend. He was caught jumping a red light and he paid the fine. He says that he emptied his heart out. Gave all the bad words he had ever came across to all the thullas there. Called them the worst things he could call. And then paid his fine and drove off. And he was happy. He says that it was worth paying the fine. Letting go of this frustration and driving off.
The best thing about corruption is that the corrupt officials wont be paying any tax on their "under-table" income. Maybe government should put tax on all such incomes. Or maybe make money paid as corruption - exempt from tax. If i would have earned 100 Rs, i would have paid 30 Rs as tax and would have got to keep only 70 Rs with me. The under priviledged common man.
Now the government is increasing the fines for all the penalties that tend to happen. Indirectly raising the cut for all the thullas. I could now-a-days see the thullas drooling at the sight of people driving. And their drool increases with increase in the number of vehicles and the raise in penalties.
The problem is not with the corrupt police officials, but with the management/the government. They have created situations so that corruption prevails. There is no proper management of traffic signal timings. The thullas are underpaid - i think so. And the thulla will always catch you if you start crossing the traffic signal at green and arrive at the other end when the signal is red. And this usually happens cause the time for yellow light is so low that there is almost no yellow light. And the red light does not work for cycle or rickshaw. So cycle or rickshaw can jump as many red lights as possible and create as much confusion as possible on the road.
After all, this is INDIA...
Monday, June 19, 2006
life as usual...
Have not been able to write anything for a long time...Well, i had been a bit buzy with unwanted work...
Had to go home last weekend on an urgent work. Was unable to get any reservations in the Indian Railways, and so had to take a flight - "go-air" home. The interesting thing that happened is that the flight was priced at 2000/- for Delhi-Ahmedabad and 800/- for Ahmedabad-Delhi. And the next day when i was about to purchase the ticket, it costed me 3000/- for Delhi-Ahmedabad and 2000/- for the return. :-(
I landed at ahmedabad and then took an auto to the ST bus depo and from there went to baroda on the bus. Total cost came to be around 6000/- for flight(with taxes + fuel surcharge) and 400/- for the auto+bus travel from and to baroda.
Thennnn, i have been a bit buzy with the work at office. RESDEX, "my product" went live on saturday - 17th june. Though i almost dont do anything in it now, but still in case of emergency, i am supposed to do a bit of fire fighting.
And on sunday, i went to the railway reservation counter to cancel some of my train tickets. Well, after standing in queue, i realized that i had forgotten to bring the tickets which needed to be canclled. So... did nothing.
Currently reading a novel "Bag of Bones" By "Stephen King"...
Am planning to write an article about the amount of tax an indian pays, but i need to do some thinking on this and am not getting time :-( ... Well hope to write it by this weekend...
Had to go home last weekend on an urgent work. Was unable to get any reservations in the Indian Railways, and so had to take a flight - "go-air" home. The interesting thing that happened is that the flight was priced at 2000/- for Delhi-Ahmedabad and 800/- for Ahmedabad-Delhi. And the next day when i was about to purchase the ticket, it costed me 3000/- for Delhi-Ahmedabad and 2000/- for the return. :-(
I landed at ahmedabad and then took an auto to the ST bus depo and from there went to baroda on the bus. Total cost came to be around 6000/- for flight(with taxes + fuel surcharge) and 400/- for the auto+bus travel from and to baroda.
Thennnn, i have been a bit buzy with the work at office. RESDEX, "my product" went live on saturday - 17th june. Though i almost dont do anything in it now, but still in case of emergency, i am supposed to do a bit of fire fighting.
And on sunday, i went to the railway reservation counter to cancel some of my train tickets. Well, after standing in queue, i realized that i had forgotten to bring the tickets which needed to be canclled. So... did nothing.
Currently reading a novel "Bag of Bones" By "Stephen King"...
Am planning to write an article about the amount of tax an indian pays, but i need to do some thinking on this and am not getting time :-( ... Well hope to write it by this weekend...
Monday, April 24, 2006
Party@sunday
Had a party at one of our collegue's place. Name's Udit. Lives at Rohini - north delhi. Me another collegue started off to his place on sunday around 10 am. And it took us 90 minutes to reach his place. And then we came to know that we had come by the looooong way. If we had taken the shorter route, we could have reached in 45 minutes. But whatever's done is done...
Next we sat down in his room saw and heard his home theater system that he had plugged in, saw a few scenes from James Bond movies. Had some snacks.
Here is where the story actually starts. The snacks were really very good. We had french fries, potato smileys for veggies and fish fingers and chicken lolipops for non-veggies. And there was lots of mayonese.
I just love fish. I dont know why. May-be it is the way they swim in water....
In the mean time, people were still joining us. So the final group had me, deepak, sujith (we 3 roomies), amresh, noopur, amardeep and of-course udit. Had lunch at around 2:30 pm. There was dahi-vada (with nice fillings), rajma, mutton and nutri-palak. Food was gud. The way it was served was better.
The best thing was the ice-cream. I have never tasted any better ice-cream in my life. My guess is - it had - perk, biscuit, some dry fruits and lots of things. And the taste was just great. Wish i had not eaten other food so much, then i wud have just had a few more helpings with the ice-cream.
We finished off the party with a movie "Pyare Mohan". Another of bollywood flops. But we did not have another option, since there was no other movie at that time worth watching. It is like the saying "in a desert even the cactus is a tree" or something like "Andho mein kana raja".
Finally, me and my roomie - deepak rode back to our room at noida via his place at naraina.
Anyways, had a great time. I had a long drive on my bullet - something around 150 kms and around 3 hrs of drive in delhi. Just a wish that this would have been on a highway and then i wud have enjoyed the drive even more...
And i know that i am not that good at penning down these types of events. But am trying and with practice like this, some day i will be a gud event writer.
Next we sat down in his room saw and heard his home theater system that he had plugged in, saw a few scenes from James Bond movies. Had some snacks.
Here is where the story actually starts. The snacks were really very good. We had french fries, potato smileys for veggies and fish fingers and chicken lolipops for non-veggies. And there was lots of mayonese.
I just love fish. I dont know why. May-be it is the way they swim in water....
In the mean time, people were still joining us. So the final group had me, deepak, sujith (we 3 roomies), amresh, noopur, amardeep and of-course udit. Had lunch at around 2:30 pm. There was dahi-vada (with nice fillings), rajma, mutton and nutri-palak. Food was gud. The way it was served was better.
The best thing was the ice-cream. I have never tasted any better ice-cream in my life. My guess is - it had - perk, biscuit, some dry fruits and lots of things. And the taste was just great. Wish i had not eaten other food so much, then i wud have just had a few more helpings with the ice-cream.
We finished off the party with a movie "Pyare Mohan". Another of bollywood flops. But we did not have another option, since there was no other movie at that time worth watching. It is like the saying "in a desert even the cactus is a tree" or something like "Andho mein kana raja".
Finally, me and my roomie - deepak rode back to our room at noida via his place at naraina.
Anyways, had a great time. I had a long drive on my bullet - something around 150 kms and around 3 hrs of drive in delhi. Just a wish that this would have been on a highway and then i wud have enjoyed the drive even more...
And i know that i am not that good at penning down these types of events. But am trying and with practice like this, some day i will be a gud event writer.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Looking for rented accomodation in Delhi - an incident
I will try to narrate an incident that happened when we (me and my room mate) tried to get a rented accomodation in delhi. I have been living in Delhi/NCR for 5 years now.
I came to delhi on 11th june 2001. The first place that i lived in was a small dark room with attached toilet and kitchen for 2800/-, single bachelor accomodation. There was a single small window thru which some light used to come into the room. Well, I was new to the city and so had no other choice than to live where-ever there is availability. I had to concentrate more on my job. To cut the story short and get directly to the point, i shifted 3 houses in a span of 4 years after the first one and now i am in the fifth house. So 5 houses in 5 years.
One of our room mates is getting married, so he will be moving out. Since then the cost per head will go up, me and my other room mate(the one who is NOT getting married) started looking for other options.
We got some information about a property from some of our collegues who were also looking for rented accomodation. We went down to the concerned property dealer and enquired about the same. On saturday that is 8.4.6 we were shown the house. The story starts from here.
The property dealer told us that the flat is of 5000/- pm rent, with 2 month deposit and 1 month advance to be paid at the time of signing the lease. Also the property dealer would take 1 month rent as his commission. Which was coming down to 20,000/- going out of our pockets in one go at the time of signing the lease. This looked manageable to us. So, went to take a look at the house.
Standing outside the house, the house owner talked to me and my room mate and enquired all about our family backgrounds and other stuff... Something around 30 minutes of interview. Then, we saw the house. It had 2 rooms, kitchen and a good balcony. Almost all switches were broken. No bulbs were there and blades of the fan were bent. OOPs!!!, we thought, we will manage that, since the rent was quite low.
Later, the house owner and us decided the sign up the lease that day itself. So we called him to the property dealers office at around 4:30 pm. And he came down at around 6 pm. Oh well big men are generally busy....
Then other things started coming into picture. Entry fees into the society was around 1000/- And monthly maintenance was around 200/-. Well, we agreed. And signed the lease. And then the main thing came into picture. They had written a rent of 6000/- on the lease. And we had signed the lease.
Oh well, the property dealer changed his words on the fly. Told us that he had told us that the rent was 5500/-. And then he took off. Made some excuse that there was some client waiting in his office. Left us and the house owner to fight over it. And we did argue over it. For a long time.
The house owner was a sick man. Tired to lease us the house for 5600/-, else would go to the court with the lease. If we did not agree then we will have to pay him at least 6000/- one month rent. He stood to gain 6000/- out of the deal by just getting us to sign the lease agreement. Well, we said that if the property dealer did not take his commission, then we will agree to the 5600/- rent per month. After a lot of haggling, we agreed and called up the property dealer to tell him about our agreement and about his NOT getting the commission.
I was 101% sure that the property dealer would never give up his commission. Well, still the house owner said that, they knew people who would NOT let the property dealer create a mess later. He was just bluffing big time. The property dealer was not there. We re-did the lease. Changed the rent amount and signed everywhere.
We took the money out from our pockets and were about to give the house owner when the property dealer came into the picture. And he said that there is no way he would give up his commission. And we kept the money back in our pockets. Now, the house owner and property dealer had a fight. And we came to know a lot of things.
-> The previous resident of the house had not been given back his 2 month deposit.
-> There are certain complaints against the house owner in the local police stations.
-> The house was not worth more than 5500/-
-> The house owner would have created a lot of problems later.
Well, when ego comes in the picture, lots of things change. The house owner tore the lease agreement. And we became free of any bondage or legal implications. If you look at it from an audience point of view, you would see that the moment when the property dealer came into the picture was exact. If he would have been even a second late, we would have handed over the money to the house owner and would have hence been doomed/caught in the web. If he would have been early, we would NOT have altered the agreement and would still have been bound up by the lease and would have had to shell out some money.
This incident taught us a few things...
-> There are people in this world who could do anything for money. The house owner had his own businesses. Drove a big car. But would argue over Rs 50/- worth of lease paper. He got the Rs 50/-, he spent for the lease agreement from the property dealer.
-> NEVER sign any paper without reading the contents thoroughly.
-> Do not trust property dealers. Or for the matter any dealer. A marketing/sales person would do anything to sell.
-> Property dealers do not have any character. They never stick to their word. After promising also, the property dealer did not return the 300/- advance we had given him.
-> Believe only in written facts.
-> Never give any advance to any property dealer or any dealer. No matter what
happens, the money would not be returned.
We did learn a big lesson that day. Saw the true face of people. And by chance escaped someone, who maybe, would never have had lost a deal.
I came to delhi on 11th june 2001. The first place that i lived in was a small dark room with attached toilet and kitchen for 2800/-, single bachelor accomodation. There was a single small window thru which some light used to come into the room. Well, I was new to the city and so had no other choice than to live where-ever there is availability. I had to concentrate more on my job. To cut the story short and get directly to the point, i shifted 3 houses in a span of 4 years after the first one and now i am in the fifth house. So 5 houses in 5 years.
One of our room mates is getting married, so he will be moving out. Since then the cost per head will go up, me and my other room mate(the one who is NOT getting married) started looking for other options.
We got some information about a property from some of our collegues who were also looking for rented accomodation. We went down to the concerned property dealer and enquired about the same. On saturday that is 8.4.6 we were shown the house. The story starts from here.
The property dealer told us that the flat is of 5000/- pm rent, with 2 month deposit and 1 month advance to be paid at the time of signing the lease. Also the property dealer would take 1 month rent as his commission. Which was coming down to 20,000/- going out of our pockets in one go at the time of signing the lease. This looked manageable to us. So, went to take a look at the house.
Standing outside the house, the house owner talked to me and my room mate and enquired all about our family backgrounds and other stuff... Something around 30 minutes of interview. Then, we saw the house. It had 2 rooms, kitchen and a good balcony. Almost all switches were broken. No bulbs were there and blades of the fan were bent. OOPs!!!, we thought, we will manage that, since the rent was quite low.
Later, the house owner and us decided the sign up the lease that day itself. So we called him to the property dealers office at around 4:30 pm. And he came down at around 6 pm. Oh well big men are generally busy....
Then other things started coming into picture. Entry fees into the society was around 1000/- And monthly maintenance was around 200/-. Well, we agreed. And signed the lease. And then the main thing came into picture. They had written a rent of 6000/- on the lease. And we had signed the lease.
Oh well, the property dealer changed his words on the fly. Told us that he had told us that the rent was 5500/-. And then he took off. Made some excuse that there was some client waiting in his office. Left us and the house owner to fight over it. And we did argue over it. For a long time.
The house owner was a sick man. Tired to lease us the house for 5600/-, else would go to the court with the lease. If we did not agree then we will have to pay him at least 6000/- one month rent. He stood to gain 6000/- out of the deal by just getting us to sign the lease agreement. Well, we said that if the property dealer did not take his commission, then we will agree to the 5600/- rent per month. After a lot of haggling, we agreed and called up the property dealer to tell him about our agreement and about his NOT getting the commission.
I was 101% sure that the property dealer would never give up his commission. Well, still the house owner said that, they knew people who would NOT let the property dealer create a mess later. He was just bluffing big time. The property dealer was not there. We re-did the lease. Changed the rent amount and signed everywhere.
We took the money out from our pockets and were about to give the house owner when the property dealer came into the picture. And he said that there is no way he would give up his commission. And we kept the money back in our pockets. Now, the house owner and property dealer had a fight. And we came to know a lot of things.
-> The previous resident of the house had not been given back his 2 month deposit.
-> There are certain complaints against the house owner in the local police stations.
-> The house was not worth more than 5500/-
-> The house owner would have created a lot of problems later.
Well, when ego comes in the picture, lots of things change. The house owner tore the lease agreement. And we became free of any bondage or legal implications. If you look at it from an audience point of view, you would see that the moment when the property dealer came into the picture was exact. If he would have been even a second late, we would have handed over the money to the house owner and would have hence been doomed/caught in the web. If he would have been early, we would NOT have altered the agreement and would still have been bound up by the lease and would have had to shell out some money.
This incident taught us a few things...
-> There are people in this world who could do anything for money. The house owner had his own businesses. Drove a big car. But would argue over Rs 50/- worth of lease paper. He got the Rs 50/-, he spent for the lease agreement from the property dealer.
-> NEVER sign any paper without reading the contents thoroughly.
-> Do not trust property dealers. Or for the matter any dealer. A marketing/sales person would do anything to sell.
-> Property dealers do not have any character. They never stick to their word. After promising also, the property dealer did not return the 300/- advance we had given him.
-> Believe only in written facts.
-> Never give any advance to any property dealer or any dealer. No matter what
happens, the money would not be returned.
We did learn a big lesson that day. Saw the true face of people. And by chance escaped someone, who maybe, would never have had lost a deal.
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