W.G.F.A. - Computer Science

CSTM-PUNE is now 169 KMS

2006-12-31T14:58:00.000+05:30

They say that PVL-KJT (through Chikale, Mohope and Chowk) is going to be operational soon for passenger services. They might use the BSR-DIVA diesel rake for the same. But what this will mean is that effectively CSTM-GTBN-CLA-VSH-BEPR-PNVL-KJT-MHC-PUNE is 169 KMS instead of the standard CST-KYN-KJT-MHC-PUNE which is 192 KMS. In any case old IR only presents what is known as "Chargeable distances" as against "Actual distances". What this means is that though your train travels only 5 KMS from say A to B, you see the A to B distance as 8 KMS, and likewise you pay for travelling 8 KMS. Even the milestones on the ground reflect only chargeable distances. Its only when you walk down to B from A, with your old school 12 inch scale in hand, that you will realise that you went only 5 KMS. The fare table is correct, so you dont have any reason to beleive that you are being gypped. Only that the original premise was wrong. You travelled only 5 KMS and not 8 KMS. Chargeable distances are supposed to recover additional costs such as infrastructure etc. And perhaps filling up a huge number of pockets, and at the same time depleting yours. Good examples are the routes on Konkan Railways.

2007

2006-12-31T14:57:00.000+05:30

Lets rejoice ... 2006 is still here. It will be 2007 tomorrow and 2008 the day after. So what ?

How Cuddapah got the station code HX

2006-11-15T16:36:00.000+05:30

Imagine a line which has been drawn on a map and all the stations on that line have been marked with an "X". The name of the stations have been written alongside their "Xs" . Now consider the case of Cuddapah on such a map. This would mean that the word "CUDDAPAH" and its corresponding "X" have been written next to each other if we assume that "CUDDAPAH" has been written to the left of its corresponding "X". Throw in a little inconsistency in spacing between the station name and the "X" and we can assume that the trailing "H" of "CUDDAPAH" and the "X" on the map are adjacent to each other. Now consider a clerk who has been assigned the enviable task to create codes for the stations on that line. The clerk is running through the stations one at a time along the line and creating the codes one by one (remember these were pre-computerisation times). Cuddapah comes along and the clerk sees the "H" and the "X" next to each other. Perhaps it was getting late in the evening.

And thereby we get an "HX".

:)

Plausible?

Mindscape

2006-11-15T16:29:00.000+05:30

This means that you are the only one existing at any time. What you see around is only a mindscape and everything else doesnt exist. There is really no such thing as life. A variation of this suggests that only what you see is what exists (seescape) . What you dont see doesnt exist at all.

Imaginable?

If ( rich ) { drink() ; drive() ; kill() ; } else { die() ; }

2006-11-15T12:23:00.000+05:30

Some rich kids go on a drinking spree in Bandra. This apparently is common place in this posh suburb of Bombay. Technically the kids went on what is supposed to be known as a "Bacardi Blast". This was at a five-star hotel in Bandra.

Then they drive and the booze takes over. And they run over people on the road.

Dont forget they are rich kids. So their rich parents pay off the authorities and buy them new bottles of booze.

And then .... Some rich kids go on a drinking spree in Bandra. This apparently is common place in this posh suburb of Bombay. Technically the kids went on what is supposed to be known as a "Bacardi Blast". This was at a five-star hotel in B ....

It goes on and on ... the police sure get richer ... and thats why probably no one is arrested. The only thing which remains to be done is to get a new lot of people to get run over by the next gang (or the same gang) of kids waiting to do the same.

BL has said it before .... K.F.D.

To the east ...

2006-11-01T16:17:00.000+05:30

I'm now off to the east. CSTM-HWH. Probably led by a HWH or SRC WAP-4. That should be from IGP, I guess since we need these AC/DC's here till KSRA at least. Return is HWH-R-CSTM. Anyway will be trying to travel on the RDR3 from R. Its a break-journey at R this time. Essentially do R-AVP-DTR-AVP-R. This will also give an opportunity to see the ZDM bio-diesels on the R-DTR route. Chattisgarh is perhaps the only place where bio-diesels are used by the railways. At approx. Rs. 10/litre its rather good.

You may want to see this and this.

Chinese Democracy

2006-10-18T11:40:00.000+05:30

Guns N' Roses

W. Axl Rose ( b. 6 February 1962, Lafayette, Indiana). This is supposed to come out in Nov. 2006. Who knows ? But gear up for some nice ones such as Madagascar, Catcher in the rye, Prostitute ...

Madagascar

I won't be told anymore
That I've been brought down in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
That I can't find my way back, my way anymore
Oh no I, won't be told anymore
That I've been brought down in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
That I can't find my way back, my way anymore
Oh no... I.. I..

Forgive them that tear down my soul
Bless them that they might grow old
And free them so that they may know
That it's never, too late

For the many times, what seemed like, a memory
I searched and found the ways you used to lure me in
Ooh, I found the ways,
Why it had to be
Mired in denial, and saw heart break / Mired in denial and so afraid

If we ever find it true,
That we had the strength to choose,
The freedom or the chains,
We held together

I'm gonna tell you a story
Stand up for righteousness!
What?
Stand up for justice!
What?
Stand up for truth!
How can a person grow up with all this around them?
You got to call on that something
Where does it come from?
That can make a way out of no way
All this hatred?
What we've got here is..
Fear!
That power that can make a way out of now no way
Failure to communicate
I tell ya I seen the lightning...I've heard the thunder roll!
Everybody's acting like we can do anything and it don't matter what we do. Maybe we gotta be extra careful because maybe it matters more than
we even know..
Sometimes...
Hatred isn't somethin' you're born with
I feel discouraged
It gets taught
Sometimes I feel discouraged
I felt this fear
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone, no never alone, no never alone!
Let's get something straight, alright?
Promised never to leave me!
This whole thing was fucked up
Never to leave me alone!
All men betray. All lose heart!
I don't want to lose heart!...I want to believe
Black men and white men
Together at the table of brotherhood!
I have a dream
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty!! WE ARE FREE AT LAST!!

I won't be told anymore
That I've been brought down in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
That I can't find my way back
My way anymore
Oh no I, won't be told anymore
That I've been brought down in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
That I can't find my way back
My way anymore
Oh no...

The electric Mumbai : -- load ; ++ bill

2006-10-16T13:37:00.000+05:30

Probably the (long time) residents of Mumbai dont know this : that their city is perhaps the only one in India where there isnt a power and water problem. People here have taken it for granted that just like the thunder, sunlight, wind and rain .. there is power and drinking-water too. But this "advantage" is now almost gone. Mumbai is turning into a Slumbai (not Shanghai). The city is now slowly facing power problems (lets not go into the reasons behind that) and soon you would prefer to buy beer instead of water.

Conversations of these kinds will be common:

In Bandra we get only 3 hours of power cuts daily, whereas Goregaon and Kandivali get 8 hours of load-shedding everyday. Vasai and Virar dont get any power ...
Our tanker guy comes everyday. In Borivali it comes every third day.

So get ready for load shedding and update your vocabulary with terms such as "Inverters" and "Generators". And if things continue the way they are going (which they will anyway)... then your electric bills are going to become double long floats. So you pay more for what you dont even get. Isnt that just great for the power companies. And you too ???

... we are living "fast" lives in a city thats already on life-support
Smart, no ?

Five times a day to good health

2006-10-12T13:48:00.000+05:30

Muslims who pray five times a day stay healthy. This is beacuse their routine of praying innvolves several yogic and breathing exercises. So this is what keeps them fit.

In addition to this is "the aazaan" ... thats essentially a breathing excercies workshop. It can only enhance your health.

Vajrasana - Those who sit in this Asana have a quite steady and firm pose. They cannot be easily shaken. The knees are rendered very hard. This Asana resembles more or less the Namaz pose in which the Muslims sit for prayer.

One of the most obvious correspondences between Islam and yoga is the resemblance of salat to the physical exercises of yoga asanas.

The meaning of the word salat is 'to bend the lower back', as in yoga; the Persians translated this concept with the word namaz, from a verbal root meaning 'to bow'. The genius of Islamic salat is to incorporate all of these in rudimentary form into a compact, flowing sequence, ensuring a thorough, all-round course of exercises for good health that is easy for everyone to practice.

Namaz .. five times .. fifty times ?

The supreme wanted men to pray 50 times a day, but when appealed for a less difficult routine, it was resolved that there should be five prayers a day. This has remained the practice ever since.

See these sites for some more :
http://www.penkatali.org/yoga.html
http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Namaz/id/221858
http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Asanas/id/23896

Drop box bus

2006-10-12T13:39:00.000+05:30

I have recently seen some BEST buses having a drop box fitted behind the drivers seat. This is only for the "Hutch" mobile bills. The notice on the box says that one should not put cash.

Now for some point to ponder :

When do they clear the boxes ? Who does so ? What if they forget ?
What about cheques which get mutilated due to scrap being forced into these boxes ?
What if the boxes get damaged ? They looked pretty "chillar".
Who will use it ? ... One doesnt board a bus expecting such a service ... and that too only for "Hutch" .... Cant the BEST start it for their own consumers to pay their electricty bills ?

NDLS trip

2006-09-30T14:08:00.001+05:30

Journey time ... off to the north for a week

BCT-BRC:BL=WCAM-2P
BRC-NDLS:GZB=WAP-5
NZM-BRC:BRC=WAP-4
NDLS-AGC-BPL:GZB=WAP-5

All about the BEST Rs. 40/- ticket

2006-09-27T13:33:00.000+05:30

Alt. title : 40.00 Rupay Daindin Pravas

You can buy this ticket on any bus route - all conductors stock them (sic) . Just say "chalees rupay tickeet" and he will give you a normal looking ticket (green) . It will say "40.00 Rupay Daindin Pravas". The left bank of numbers represents the day of the month and the right bank, the month. Numbers (i.e. stages for normal tickets) run from 1 to 26. For 27 to 31 they use the "Balak" , "Saman" column. So make sure you know the date. Else you are in trouble if a TC (blue-topi) gets to you.

The BEST conductors "ought" to have stocked some "chalees rupay" tickets in their boxes. Else I guess you should be able to undertake the journey for free. Or else the conductor should arrange to get you such a ticket by stopping another BEST bus or get some stock from a passing depot.

It can be used in any bus on the BEST network. Except AC buses (numbered as A-1 , A-2 etc.) and Express (also known as "Jald" and named as "EXP"). You can travel on all ordinary routes (white nos. written on black backgrounds), limited (red on white), special (numberd as SPL-1 etc.).

It can be used till 12 midnight of the particular day. I dont know what happens during the borderline conditions - before your the bus reaches your desired destincation, the clock strikes 12.

Preserve the ticket. Torn and mutilated ones can be rejected by the blue-topis. So laminate the ticket as soon as you get off from your first journey.

This scheme promotes "load balancing". You tend to take the bus thats empty or the first bus that comes in front of you. You know you can get in and get off at any stop. So know your routes and keep your eyes open at junctions, signals for other buses around you. People can tend to change 4 to 5 buses over a journey. This may mean advantages in either getting seats or faster travel - rather than wait for a single connection route thats empty - which might mean waiting all day at the bus stop.

Chargeable luggage has to taken care by another ticket bought for that particular journey. I dont know if you can buy a "chalees rupay" for your VIP Aristrocrat or POLO-SPORT and then lug it all over the city.

There are no concesssions for such ticket holders. You cant get in from the front door of the bus. No preferential treatment for seats inside. No bouquets or coolie service. No tea. No newspaper. No whiskey. You must show this ticket to the conductor when he punches his "metal ticket puncher" in the air in front of you ( i.e. asking you to pay up to buy your ticket) - tik tik tik.

The scheme saves you from lugging around the Nasik Mint in your shirt / frock pocket all day. Or carrying all those small tenners and fifty buck notes all the time.

The ticket doesnt have your name or sex. So lend it to others for small trips around the neighbourhood you are in. (Tumhee mumbai darshan free karoo kay ???). Make sure the bastards come back with the ticket in case you need to travel more for that day. Also, recover some cash at the end of your "yatra". Sell your ticket to some passenger who is about to board a bus. Ask him where he (or she) is going - calculate the fare - charge him (or her) lesser than that. He (She) can pay you and use the ticket for the journey. This idea may spread like wildfire and soon bus-stops in the evenings will turn into trading zones. Perhaps qualify for some preferential SEZ status later on.

The scheme benefits long distance travellers. And shouldnt it. More usage of a product or services should translate into preferencial treatment. Ask any MBA. Perhaps some have made it into the BEST.

Hope the scheme stays. Its one good thing that these guys have done after a long time.

Railway museums

2006-09-05T16:29:00.000+05:30

Rail museums exist at the following places in India

New Delhi - National Rail Museum, Chanakyapuri
Mysore - Rail Museum
Nagpur - Narrow Gauge Railway Museum
Howrah - Regional Rail Museum, Near HWH
Chennai - Regional Rail Museum, New Aradi Road, ICF Furnishing Div.

See this

Pondicherry

2006-09-05T16:24:00.000+05:30

Pondicherry has four parts

Pondicherry, which is 160 km South of Chennai
Karaikkal, a small town south of Pondicherry (in Tamil Nadu)
Yanam, again a small town near Vizag in Andhra Pradesh
Mahe, a tiny town in north Kerala between Cannanore and Calicut

CDT D. V. Ghorpade

2006-09-05T16:21:00.000+05:30

Alt. Title : Warrior Race

Three in formation. Waiting for the fourth. The behind one wishes.
Hey You ? What the is this ? Take a 20 to .
Single ? That’s when the cycle rides on you.
Juliet. Foxtrot. Echo.
Equestrian.
Peacock Bay.
Ronaldhino in the making. Fifty football fields.
Four minutes. No time. No food. One kilo ice cream and twenty gulab jamuns.
Three years.
Uniforms for each hour.
Oceans of blood, sweat and tears.

What is all this ? This is the way our boys (only boys, no girls) train to defend us. This is the way how young kids are moulded into the warrior race. It’s a story of orders and more orders. A rather serene and royal place that teaches you “THE” tricks of the trade. Its here that one learns to “manage”.

Beg, steal or borrow. But don’t get caught.

The place where ragging is official and sees no limit. And its part of the curriculum. And moreover - its imparted by the teachers themselves. The kids just dont match the profs.

Ten thousand bucks per kid per week.. And when there are twelve hundred kids inside, then it cant be a joke. As long as you stay inside you get the “boot” each day. If you cant sustain – you are given the “boot” – please pay and leave. Some lessons here for our IIT kids perhaps. The country’s resources aint free.

The best part – its untainted of reservation. No Arjun Singh. No Mandal. Hence no bundal.

Sounds interesting

2006-08-31T13:32:00.000+05:30

All this does sound interesting: Simple ways to fight pain.

Throat : If your throat tickles, scratch your ear : When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm. This spasm relieves the tickle.

Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? : Fantasize about Bips. Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won't feel as much discomfort.

Injections : Coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick.

Sinus: An easy, quick, and cheap way to relieve sinus pressure is by alternately thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger.

Toothache : Cure your toothache without opening your mouth : Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.

Too much booze : One too many drinks left you dizzy? Put your hand on something stable. The part of your ear responsible for balance—the cupula—floats in a fluid of the same density as blood. As alcohol dilutes blood in the cupula, the cupula becomes less dense and rises. This confuses your brain. The tactile input from a stable object gives the brain a second opinion, and you feel more in balance.

On a date: Trying to quell first-date jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing. It'll get your heart rate back to normal.

Headache : Press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can. Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing too. The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.

How to remember things : Since most memory consolidation happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more likely to be encoded as long-term memory.

GBM-PVL

2006-08-31T13:24:00.000+05:30

Ganpati Bappa ...

Purcha ...

Its that time of the year when God is worshipped all over Bombay, Maharashtra and India in the form of Ganesh or Ganpati. Its a ten day festival and the city does sport a festive look if one might say. Perhaps some soccur from the glum and gloomy rainy days.

On a communal note : I read somewhere that the Mah. Govt. is considering to shift the main immersion point for the Jumbo Ganesh's to Bandra Bandstand from the existing Girgaum Chowpatty. Perhaps this will lead to increased communcal harmony.

Bombay's forts

2006-08-31T13:19:00.000+05:30

Bombay Castle (Fort area in town)
Castella de Aguada (Bandra fort)
Dongri Fort
Madh Fort
Mahim Fort
Mazagaon Fort (nothing remains of the fort)
Riwa Fort (Kala Killa in Dharavi)
Sewri Fort
Sion Hillock Fort (which used to be the governor's residence)
Worli Fort
Belapur fort
Vasai Fort - at Kille Bandar, Vasai

Fast Good Cheap

2006-08-24T15:55:00.000+05:30

At the most you can only have two of these.

Applicable to almost anything ... things, events, actions ...

Most of the time. Very few exceptions.

Lets blog ...

2006-08-17T14:56:00.000+05:30

Its been a long time since I wrote in these pages. Actually its been over a month now. Nothing too much done or that has happened over this time. After the bombs went off.

RANDOM BLOGS OF WOOD

Compensation

I had heard that the govt. was going to cut income tax from the compensation amount that was given to the families of those killed in the blasts. A nice way to rake in your own money. Its a double-edged thing - lessen the population and earn more. We do have a great finance minister.

Freedom

Independance Day. Flags fluttering. Speeches. Promises. Rain. And then go back to your sweat and pain. The flag does help.

Lies

Saw a website to detect lies. The last line was good : Be careful how often you use this with your friends. If you are always looking for lies, you may soon not have any friends. Use wisdom.

BEST Passes

The GFN (Good-For-Nothing) BEST has introduced a daily pass scheme. You can get a ticket of 50 bucks and roam around in any bus (except AC's and Exp.) till mid-night. Good scheme but likely to fail .... the passes will be available only at depots ( perhaps only Wadala !! ) - so first troop upto W and get your pass. That means having spent some 12 bucks and one hour (on an average) getting to W. So time and money wasted. Instead why cant the normal bus conductors issue the pass in the buses. Ask for a "Pass-Ticket" so that it can be used for the rest of the day.

Lets be positive

The BEST should also introduce monthly anywhere-anybus-anytime passes. Like the train boys have. But are we being too positive.

Water and 4.5 m and high tides

Its been raining. And no signs of stopping. Frustration all over. Floods. Drains. The BMC says that if the tide goves over 4.5 m the city will flood. This is because the drain flood gates are at 4.5 m and if the sea level goes over that level then water cant drain out. Now the thing is that a lot of people think that if its high tide it will rain heavily ( and vice-versa too !!! ) !!! . So the BMC plays it safe and cool. Johny and his boys go on drinking sprees while the city swims in flood waters. They just blame it on the tides and continue drinking. And by the time the city folks realise the truth ( after reading this blog ) , its already past the monsoon and has stopped raining. So Johny goes on his drinking spree till next June ... No wonder Johny is an IAS.

LNL

I had been to LNL some time back. Fortunatley it wasnt raining too much on those days and so could see around the place in considerable detail. It was nice going upto the viewing points and all. The entire place and the ghat sections were covered in green. This is indeed the best time to visit LNL. And another good decision was not to go on a weekend , for then LNL is more crowded than a BVI local. I was surprised to know that LNL is at around 600-700 MSL whereas SBC is around 900 MSL. LNL is a hill station.

BOMBay goes MUM

2006-07-12T10:42:00.000+05:30

Bombs went off in seven YFYS (suburban first-class and second-class composite) coaches on the WR line on 11 July 2006. This date will now be immortalised as 11/7 , 7/11 , 11 July etc. Close to 200 hundered innocent lives have been lost. They say its a terrorist attack, which it indeed looks like. Anger is written large over everyones faces. In 1993 about 250 lives were lost in the serial bomb blasts - this time the toll may be more.

But as I was reading just now - Dont lose courage, dont give in - dont surrender and then even the most hardened terror attack will not able to destablise things.

There is despair, sadness and frustration - but life goes on.

They say that Mumbai is back to business - its fantastic reslient spirit and other such fancy words. But if one sees the situation this morning, one doesnt see this "spirit". Most people have stayed away. Trains and buses are half empty. Traffic is less. People have indeed been jolted and jolted hard this time. It will take time to heal. Mumbai is more vulnerable than before and a possible reason is due to its current inhabitants.

Some things which we could do without :

Our Mumbai Police force - including RPF etc.
Our over enthusiastic TV channels and their good-for-nothing crew - filming the dead for their own survival. All in the name of providing "information". And they keep harping - "We were the first to show it on TV". Thats what matters for them at the end anyway.
Politicians. Some came in from Delhi. They could have seen it all to their hearts content on the TV's but still they decided to come to Mumbai nevertheless.

The BEST refund I ever got

2006-06-17T13:12:00.000+05:30

Route Number : 348 Ltd.
Regn No. : MH-01 LA 5440
BEST Serial No, : 3030
Conductor Badge No, : 32449

Conductor Reg. No. : 92703

Conductor Name (initials) : B.M.P.
Date : 6 June and 7 June 2006. 1720 hrs. on both days.
Boarding Point : Stage No. 8.
Destination : Rani Laxmi Bai Chowk a.k.a. Sion

We usually take the 348 Ltd. from here (Stage No. 8) to Sion. The fare for this journey is Rs. 6.00. Now the thing is that BEST’s conductors usually charge you Rs. 8.00 for this journey. The reason being that the stop has been relocated a few times by about 100 to 200 meters. This has caused some confusion amongst the conductors, though there is no reason to be confused since each stop has a specific stage number and all fares are calculated on the basis of these stage numbers. The stage numbers are supposed to be allocated in accordance with the RTO rules and regulations. So nothing can go wrong. But what happens when they over-charge ? The bus conductors apparently aren’t aware of the stage number that is painted on the bus-stop board. All they swear by is the fare chart that is pasted on the inner flap of their ticket boxes. It’s another story that the fare table for the same route will be different on most conductors ticket boxes. Perhaps they make them when drunk or they leave the task to their four year old kids back home. Anyway, to over come this fact we photographed the bus stop board and took the printout of the same.

The first day we had an argument with the conductor who had overcharged us. As expected he wasn’t going to deviate from what his little metal ticket box said. So all we can do is threaten the guy by taking down his badge number etc. Unfortunately we didn’t carry the printout that day so we couldn’t actually ‘prove’ our point. But the next day we were back at the same stop and at the same time and as expected the same bus with the same conductor pulls in. We hop in and then some surprises … the conductor obviously recognizes us and comes up towards us. He ‘apologizes’ for overcharging the previous day. He had apparently gone back to his depot and checked up the fares and had realized that the fare was indeed Rs. 6/-. And then another surprise … he refunded us the excess fare that had been charged the day before ! We then pulled out our printout to reconfirm with him that we hadn’t been wrong the earlier day. The conductor obviously was taken aback that we were armed with the picture of the bus stop board. He requested us to hand him over the printout, which we gladly did. He was to show it to his higher ups at his depot.

An unusual and unexpected experience on the BEST.

(This conductor is either a new recruit or perhaps just back after a stint at Arthur Road or Yeravada).

Sojourn into KR-SWR-SCR-CR

2006-05-26T18:02:00.000+05:30

Its time for another sojourn down south. Id be going into CR (MRJ) territory (CSTM-PA-LD-MAO) and into KR ( KAWR) regions ( MAO-KAWR-KUDA-UD).Thereafter might try and do the MYS-CMNR-MYS MG trip. This is the only MG section on SWR after the SMET-TLGP MG railbus (another trip for that sometime in the future). And my return from SBC-DMM-GY-GTL-WADI-SUR-PA-KYN-DR-CSTM. It should be good. Besides the CSTM-PA stretch its all deisels all the way. So perhaps lots of WDP's, WDG's and WDM's all over the place.

Images de Ile Panju

2006-05-20T11:33:00.000+05:30

This is the start of the Bassein Creek (South) bridge. To the left is the Bhayendar area of the main Salsette Island of Bombay. The Bassein Creek ( Vasai creek ) is about to start. We are facing towards the west where this creek opens into the Arabian Sea. The Ulhas river is the one that empties into the Vasai creek and this point is behind us right now. The older railway bridge (bult by the British) is seen running parallel to the new bridge on which our train is travelling. We have crossed Bhayendar and are moving towards Naigon - Vasai (on the mainland).

The Bassein Creek (South) Bridge. We are moving towards the right of the picture and will soon come to the Panju Island.
The Panju island is about to begin at the right of the picture. This island is in the middle of the creek and the railway line crosses both the sections of the creek formed by the island. The one we have just crossed is the South side and the next one will be the North side.
This is the Panju Island stretch. Its a small island and the local inhabitabts use the railway bridges (both old and new) to cross over to either Bhayendar or Vasai sides. There is not much of an 'economy' on this island. Most inhabitants are into fishing and travel essentially by boat to the Vasai side. The North section of the creek being narrower than the South one. This picture shows some salt pans on the island.
We are about to leave the Panju Island. This is on the left. You can see the boats idling on the island shore - these are used to cross over to the Vasai side (towards the right of the picture). The older railway bridge is continuing. The tracks on the island have been uprooted, though the older bridge structure remains - probably for pedestrian crossing.
The North Bassein Creek Bridge. To the left is the Panju island and to the right you can see the Vasai side. The old railway bridge running parallely to the new one. Its a matter of time before this historic bridge also gets dismantled or gets washed away.
We have now crossed the North Bassein Creek Bridge and are entering the mainland. The land area on the right is the Vasai side and the railway tracks no will lead us to Naigaon station. The old historic Bassein fort is somewhere beyond the parabola on the right hand side over the old railway bridge in this picture. You cant see the fort in this picture, though.

For more on Panju see this.

BDTS-DRD & a BL WCAM @ VR

2006-05-20T10:40:00.000+05:30

I happened to go to DRD the other day for some work. I took the Vapi passenger from BDTS in the morning. It wasnt too crowded but as we went along beyond BVI it did get jam packed. Surprsingly it was bang on time - it was at the DRD south cabin by 1158 (the scheduled arrival time at DRD is 1159) . Only that at the DRD cabin it waited for about 12 mins for the signal and hence got late. Anyway its not that the WCAM was doing a good job - its just that the IR has incorporated so much of slack time into their time-tables that almost every train is always bang on time - or even before time. A good justification to upgrade the slow-coach trains to a 'superfast' status and thereby extort more from the public. Very smart. The WCAM remains the same though. I guess tomorrow theyd get an old WDS to pull the rake and still charge superfast fares for passenger trains.

Anyway the DRD trip was good. I went to see the Dahanu beach in the evening. It was supposed to be great - but I got a feeling it wasnt that great. Just a medium sized expanse - with its quota of filth. Anyway the moment you are going to have more than a hundered persons visiting a place - filth is bound to accumulate. People in this region have little civic sense. Spitting is the norm here. Ptooooooooooo ........

I returned the next day by the Bhuj-Bandra Sayaji Nagari Exp. This stops at DRD and then a straight non-stop run till BVI and BDTS. It was running about 15 mins late (surprise) and so was able to catch this at DRD. But it was packed to capacity and I had to come standing in the general compartment the full way. But I was most impressed - we did DRD-BDTS in 2 hours flat. While going it had taken almost 3 hours.

The BL WCAM 21838 picture was taken at VR while on the way to DRD.

Red, Black, Blue ... now ... GOLD

2006-05-20T10:32:00.000+05:30

Id heard about JW's other colours and how Blue was supposed to be the best - well over $150 and all. Very exclusive and produced in limited quantitites. And now I got to see this one - GOLD LABEL. The surprising this is that I was told that it was only $70. So does the horse-piss that goes inside a Blue is better than the one in the GOLD ? ... No idea ...

But wait .... I just figured it out .... The JW company just hired some MBA's and all this blue-black-red-gold is their dim-wit.

Repeat. Aur jara accha wala chakna leke aana. Yeh itna naram laya tum.
(Piss is piss afterall)

J. D'Nazareth

2006-05-20T10:03:00.000+05:30

Did the big-J have kids ? You have to see this picture - some D'Vinci code for the answers. Anway we all know movies have the answer to everything in life. So take permission from the Church and go ahead and book your ticket and popcorn. Anyway just imagine if J-Junior comes to school and says - boss, J is my dad - he can <unprintable> you, he can <unprintable> you. The other kid would get shit scared.

BVI-BSR-VR boys unhappy

2006-05-20T09:39:00.000+05:30

Some work is being undertaken at BVI and as a result all the CCG-VR trains have been cancelled and even BVI-BSR-VR ones. So all the boys who stay 'that' side of BVI are roaring with anger. Im surprised to see that the BEST is running extra buses for the hapless commuters since their pretty trains will be languishing in the yards. What about the times when the BEST boys were themselves sriking work for more than two days - did the WR/CR run extra trains for the bus boys ? This city is full of double standards. Rake in your favorite agendas to strike a chord with those in authority. And then sit back and relax. The agendas that are popular these days in Bombay are:

The Maharashtra Maaza - Mee Mumbaikar - Jai Maharashtra - Marathi Manoos themes
Throw out all non-marathi populace from Mumbai
The Big-T (E) and his SS - I dont know if the outfit still functions
The Big-T (W) and his cricket bat. Probably time for him to do commentry for gully cricket now
Reservations in everything - from bus seats to IIT's and IIM's
Booze
Sex and drugs (this one and the previous one are perennial)

MMS, OBC, SC, ST and Infosys

2006-04-26T16:50:00.000+05:30

Alt. title : Reservations in the private sector

Our old PM, Dr. MMS has turned out to be a spineless scum of the highest order. In order to appease his Italian boss and the stupid Leftist elements that support him, he has announced that the govt. wants to impose reservations in the private sector. He has asked CII and other "soft" bodies to "work" out some arrangement to this effect.

I used to think that old MMS had some brains - he was from the IAS and an eminent economist in his own right. But in his old age the poor guy has to stoop down to satisfy some of his greedy and worthless cronies. Its rather sad.

AP of Wipro has stated right away that there was no place for reservations at his firm. People would be employed only on merit. BC or FC ...

So all of you reserved guys out there ..... rejoice ... just imagine .... get yourself an SC/SC or an OBC (the indian equivalent of the OBE - heh heh heh- perhaps theyd have some most favoured OBC calling themselves the MBC - the indian equivalent of the MBE - heh heh heh) - and then walk into NRM's shoes at Infy.

Just great. What next ?

Killer boxes

2006-04-18T11:33:00.000+05:30

Have you ever noticed the metal boxes that the BEST conductors use for their tickets. Most have dangerous twisted ends and/or are rusted. In a crowded bus, this can sure draw blood. And subsequently, the chance of sperading dangerous diseases like AIDs etc. Not to say of immediate injuries.

Cant this good for nothing BEST management, replace these with some fibre-graphite jobs, which also would be more lighter for the conductor and would also not be dangerous for the passengers.

After all whats the point in painting slogans such as "BEST is your own and any damage to that is like damage to oneself ... ". Loads of crap.

Ladies, ladies everywhere

2006-04-18T11:19:00.000+05:30

Blame this one on the BEST. Recently, for some strange reason, the seats reserved for ladies in the buses have been relocated. Thevy been moved to the right hand side row and the one for senior citizens have been moved to the left row. However this seems to be the case in only some of the buses and many still have the older format of reserved seats. Now what is happening is that the "word has spread" about the new relocated seats. And as communication passes from one girl to another, it has been made out to mean as if new additional seats have been reserved for them. So as a result what we are wintnessing each day, are pitched battles between commuters over the status of these seats. Chaos and confusion rules ... the other standees and the conductor and driver get some not-so-high-quality free entertainment. After all its free. So why complain over the quality.

Ten thousand a day

2006-04-18T11:06:00.000+05:30

Aapan share market madye ubhe rahilo, tar divasala daha te pandhara sahaj kamaoo. Aaple kevlya olhaki ahet.

This is a big one by Aflatoon. So next time you want to make 30 lpa just like that, you know whom to contact.

IIT's & IIM's get reserved

2006-04-07T11:23:00.000+05:30

If the current Congress govt. minister, Arjun Singh has his way, then we shall see upto approx. 50% of the capacities of the IIT's and IIM's being reserved for SC/ST's, OBC and a whole lot of other 'reserved categories'. What this means is that open generakl category students will have lesser number of seats available to them.

Reservation has been a pet policy of governments all throughout. What can be better than having coveted seats secured for you and only you. There is no need to compete with the masses and other 'general category' people. Just walk in. And in return drop in a 'vote' for the guy who brought paradise closer to you. It really doesnt matter if you dont know the difference between maths and biology - but then that 'crucial vote' of your has paved the way. Good no ?

The govt. has justified that they will increase the intake of students so that the meritorious can also get in. (See the concern for the brilliant students that our govt. has) . I guess tomorrow IIT and IIM campuses will be more crowded than perhaps Dadar station. Dont be surprised if you do see this scenario a few years down.

Reservations are a curse and will remain till its abolished completely. What needs to be done (and also said by NRM) is that the economically backward people should be helped in getting prepared to the standards that are necessary to study in such institutions. Dont give them an open ticket. But due to these faulty policies what is happening is that people having realised the benefits of reservations have started making all efforts to come under one of the reserved umbrellas. Who doesnt like an easy route ?

Want to buy publicty ?

2006-04-05T10:27:00.000+05:30

Bombay or Mumbai : Whats expensive here is property. Whats cheap here is publicty.

And when they build all these super tall skyscrapers - where do they expect all the crap coming out from all the residents to flow ? And will they fill their overhead and underhead tanks with Pepsi and Coke ? And where will these guys park their expensive cars ? Where will they drive them ?

Unstructured and random wrtings on things supposedly happening.

Cars

Too many cars in Bombay. Obvioulsy when you can get a car with just some coins in your pocket then what else can one expect. Loans. Loans. Kids are earning right when they get out of school. Anyway what will they do when all of the kiddie populace starts working in call centres. Who will call the call centers ?

Lata Mangeshi

Old LM has said that she never said what she was reported to have said about the Pedder Road flyover. The concerned newspaper sends tapes of her conversation. Anyway everyone gains in the process. LM and the paper get their much needed cheap publicty. The idle and lazy populace get thier daily fix of junk stories to be read in junk newspapers. Bloggers too can do their copy and paste tricks and fill up their never-to-be-read blogs. There is something in this for everyone.

Naked models

Some thing called a "wardrobe malfunction" happened recently. Well I would presume that the lock or latch to your cupboard got stuck or something or the door came off. But what is supposed to have happened is that some clothes (small peices of cloth that these girls 'cover' themselves with) fell of one such girl and the photographers and videographers soon got sore fingers from having clicked so many pictures. And now to entertain our lazy and perverted populace these MMS messages and exposed pictures from that show are filling up disk space all across the world. The police too jumped in and in the guise of 'investigating the case', they were able to satisfy their inner animal desires by watching the videos and pictures of the show. What more does one want - get to see naked women and get paid for it. Everyone gains - the models, the designers and the populace and the police and and the bloggers. Whats the difference between all of this and a sleaze joint or a dance bar ?

Wait for wait listed tickets

Remember when one came to Churchgate ot VT station the day earlier to stand/sleep in the queue to book rail tickets. We now have this internet booking facility (there is always some network connectivity failure at the server end) which has made things better (for a fraction of the ticket buying public) but the scene at VY and Churchgate pretty much remains the same. You are the first one in the queue on the opening day of booking and yet you get a wait listed ticket. Thats because the agents and the booking clerks are having a party at the four counters alloted for just them. And with each agent (earlier known as touts) carrying kilos of reservation forms , its no wonder that the helpless populace in the other normal queues get wait listed tickets. I cant wait for the day when the airline bookings go this way. This is summer vacation season when hoards of the temporary populace makes its way back to thier "muloook". The only sad part is that they all come back.

Stand during your your flight

Air travel has become cheap. Some start at Re. 1/- and for about 3k you can perhaps travel (fly) anywhere. Some airlines dont give you water, some dont give you chiken tikka and beer. Im waiting for the day when they will allow standees on a flight. And I'm also waiting for the spitters to paint their MF Hussains on the walls of the aircraft. And perhaps will strap extra luggage and suitcases over the aircrafts - fastened securely by thick nylon ropes - the way these inter-city private bus operators do. Lots of lessons to be learnt.

IIHM-A

Well this was a clever one by some private institute in Aurangabad. Cashing on the IIM-A looking script, theyve done the same to their shop too. The Indian Institute of Hotel Management at Aurangabad just hopes that some gullibles will fall for the similar looking abbreviation.

Rapes - Give me more.

Some drunken and perverted (most of them are both) cop called "More" raped a kid last year. There was a lot of outcry and More finally was sentenced to 12 years of luxury. He said he's innocent (More probably thought that his current life was more luxurious than the one that awaits him). The judge however said he's guilty. Anway the thing is that this perhaps gives some kind of incentive for more rapes ? Remember there was this ad - Give me more ?

When will things become worse ?

Flyover or me

2006-03-28T09:59:00.000+05:30

A famous crooner of yesteryears - Lata Mangeshkar (LM) has started making some ridiculous statements. She has done so in the past too. The bone of contention is a flyover which os to come up at Dr. G. D> Marg - popularly known as Pedder Road (named after a British Municipal Commisioner of Bombay - in olden times). Now old LM wants that the flyover should not be built since her home at Prabhu Kunj (near Cadbury house) would get covered by it (its value will go down perhaps). She has threatened to leave Bombay. Ive heard her say that her voice would also get affected (sic).

Now are we progressing in the city so that the likes of old LM can hang around ?

Does old LM own Pedder Road ?

There is this another band of bored housewives who operate under the name of Pedder Road Residents Assoc. - they too are shouting that they dont want the flyover.

Lets get some facts straight. Pedder Road is probably the most polluted stretch of Bombay after Sion. The fact that expensive Mercs and Porsches and BMW's move around there doesnt mean that there is no pollution. Its a major connceting road and hence traffic is heavy at all times. Come at 2 am and you will have to wait before you can cross the road. When the road has a strategic location, shouldnt all steps be taken so that it serves the city in the most effective manner - rather than pamper some old celebritiy residents of the locality ?

India beats England at Mumbai

2006-03-23T10:00:00.000+05:30

Alt. title : India loses to England at Mumbai

Whats this ? First its said that India won (which is apparently incorrect) and then it says that India lost. As we shall soon see - Indian players did win.

These are the days when everything is stage managed to precision. Matches are fixed to no end and the players and administrators both relish the situation. The players on the other hand need not sweat it out under the hot sun, for they can cooly throw their wickets and rush back to the cool climes of the pavillion to have their chilled beers. The players win.

If we look at the situation in a cricketing way what we observe is that the selectors are incompetent - blame Kiran More for that. The batsmen are old aging and getting rusted by the day - for example - Sachin Tendular.

The players are getting paid in lakhs for losing or not even playing (e.g Saurav Ganguly). In addition to this regular payment they rake in even more from the bookies - for having danced to their tunes while on the field.

And probably some good news - the big T is going to England to get some part of his aging body operated upon. He's been ruled out for the forthcoming matches. Probably a "polite" way of easing him out. The administrators dont want another round of brickbats which they received when they dumped Ganguly. They have learnt some lessons from that experience.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Sunrise. A new begining

2006-03-22T14:13:00.000+05:30

Sunrise from FP-II ITR/PXE

Bay of Bengal

Concrete sunset

2006-02-02T16:24:00.000+05:30

The other day I'd been to this tall sky scraper that is in Borivali (W). A part of the concrete that has become the part of everyones life in Bombay. Went upto the terrace and saw the sun setting. Nothing spectacular, though. After all every sunset of every day need not be spectacular. It was quite a view, though, from up there.

But when you look around in the sky the thing that strikes most is the huge amounts of dust and particulate pollutants that make the surroundings dull all the time. Vehicles and construction activity everywhere have caused this.

Sunrises too have to brave the pollutants and hence they too would also be dull views.

Misali Panshikar

2006-02-02T16:09:00.000+05:30

Id been to a place which Maharashtrians swear by. Panshikar. At Dadar. Bang in the midst of all the chaos and hoplessness of the area. A rather non descript place. I must have passed hundereds of times in front of it but never knew it was there till I went there with a friend the other day.

The menu and all is typical Maharashtrain fare. The 'regulars' always know what theyd be having and just have to snap their fingers or something and the dish thats there in their minds gets downloaded onto their table. As if by magic. The uninitiated, will pore through the menu etc. which gives even the dumbest of waiters the clue that the customer can be taken for a ride. The menu card is perhaps only for 'outsiders'.

Anyway my friend is a kind of regular so I didnt have to go through the menu. We had some 'farari misal' or something sounding like that. This is essentially a dish made out of things that one eats on days of fasting. (In this region I guess people eat more on days of fasting - surprising no ? ) And then we had something called 'Piyush'. Some kind of yellow flavoured lassi kind of drink. Piyush and Panshikar are synonymous with each other. The picture you see is of that misal.

Im not too fond of eating or anything, but still I feel its a place where one can go once in a while.

Endulkar

2006-02-02T15:52:00.000+05:30

One .. Two .. Three .... .... ....

... Nine ... Ten .... .

We waited. We counted. And now we've reached the count of ten. This is the end at ten. This is the End. Is this the end ? Is this the end of Tendulkar ? Yes perhaps.

He is (or rather was) a good player. Scored runs in tons. Broke records. Highest number of this and highest number of that. He did play some good innnings and he got the credit due to him. He appeared in commercials and was worshipped - but then why speak of his personal exploits. Let's speak about the game since now the game no longer speaks for him.

I read this caption in the news somewhere. I dont remember where. But its now a certain fact that Sachin Tendulkar is well past his prime. His place in the team should depend on his current form and not on past exploits. There are many youngsters who can do a better job than him as of today. So if we consider that the team is playing for the country then the best possible should be selected and not someone who "had played well earlier".

He was clean bowled this time and earlier took a nasty blow to his helmet from the Rawalpindi Express. Poor judgement of true pace. Age is not on his side and one does realise that his reflexes are not as they were when he cut his teeth in the grounds of Dadar.

So let him leave the game gracefully. One would not want him to become a spectacle like Ganguly - and in the process get ridiculed by everyone all over the country, save perhaps Maharashtra. His devotees there woudnt beleive a word of what I've just written, but then boys, this is the truth and we all know that the truth is always bitter. Lies are sweet.

Whos next ?

BEST to volvo ?

2006-01-18T11:30:00.000+05:30

It looks like that the BEST has some kind of plan to induct buses made by Volvo. Now in a city like Bombay can this work ? Think practically and you will ultimately figure out that the answer will be "NO". A knee-jerk reaction will lead you to a "YES". This is because you would have conjured up images of travelling inside the cool climes of an air-conditioned bus with interiors like an aircraft. Seperated from the dusty and filthy environs of the streets of Bombay. No more jam packed buses and co-passengers washing you with their sweat. But think again - when you have bus stops at every two minutes, is this cool-clime long lasting ? Volvo's are ideal for long inter-city highway journeys where the bus can hit 100 kmph for long durations. Not suited for stop and go traffic of Bombay.

And think again - the BEST had started "Air-Conditioned" services some time back (it still runs a few). Most routes were discontinued due to poor passenger patronage. Its another matter that the routes selected for the purpose werent representative of the "patronage" one would have wanted to gauge. And their fares were pathetically low. It is indeed a mistake to feel that Bombayites will not pay, especially when one sees the wads of notes emerging put of every second pocket.

Perhaps basic economics should guide the BEST. But then is the BEST management capable of being guided by economics in the first place ? Or perhaps theyre just like their good-for-nothing drivers. And when you figure out that the current bunch of drivers will be steering the Volvos - then youd probably realise that this "idea" is doomed even before it started.

Jimmy Driftwood

2006-01-13T11:17:00.000+05:30

20 June 1907, Mountain View, Arkansas - 12 July 1998, Fayetteville, Arkansas

Born as James Corbett Morris and was also known as Jimmie Driftwood.

I wouldn't have a single gal, the reason is plain to see,
I cannot find a single gal who hankers after me.
Jimmie Driftwood - I'm Young To Marry

He was an American folk musician, songwriter, teacher and folklorist.

His best known songs included "The Battle of New Orleans". The song, "The Battle of New Orleans", was written, in order to help Jimmy explain to his high school history students that the Battle of New Orleans was fought during the War of 1812 instead of during the Revolutionary War. After he achieved fame as a noted songwriter and performer, Jimmy used his influence to help the rest of America and the world discover the wonder and beauty of Arkansas Folk Culture, particularly in the areas of folk music and folk story telling, and to help preserve the environment.

Driftwood learned to play guitar at a young age on his grandfather's homemade instrument. Driftwood used the unique guitar throughout his career and noted that its neck was made from a fence rail, its sides from an old ox yoke, and the head and bottom from the headboard of a bed. This homemade instrument produced a pleasant distinctive resonant sound. He started writing songs during his teaching career in order to teach his students history in an entertaining manner.

Hear his version of the "Gallows Pole" titled "Slack your rope (Gallows Tree)". It goes like this:

Slack your rope hangman, slack it for a while
I think I see my father comin' ridin' many a mile
Father have you brought me hope or have you paid my fee
Or have you come to see me hangin' from the gallows tree?
I have not brought you hope, I have not paid your fee
Yes I have come to see you hangin' from the gallows tree.

Slack your rope hangman, slack it for a while
I think I see my mother comin' ridin' many a mile
Mother have you brought me hope or have you paid my fee
Or have you come to see me hangin' from the gallows tree?
I have not brought you hope, I have not paid your fee
Yes I have come to see you hangin' from the gallows tree.

Slack your rope hangman, slack it for a while
I think I see my brother comin' ridin' many a mile
Brother have you brought me hope or have you paid my fee
Or have you come to see me hangin' from the gallows tree?
I have not brought you hope, I have not paid your fee
Yes I have come to see you hangin' from the gallows tree.

Slack your rope hangman, slack it for a while
I think I see my true love comin' riding' many a mile
True love have you brought me hope or have you paid my fee
Or have you come to see me hangin' from the gallows tree?
Yes I have brought you hope, yes I have paid your fee
For I've not come to see you hangin' from the gallows tree.

He adapted the words from a fifteenth century British Ballad when any crime could be paid off with money right up to the last step of the gallows. In his version, the criminal is definitely a woman and her lover rides up and pays her fee.

This song seems to be based on a old english ballad, usually called "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" or "The Briery Bush". It documents the events of a person about to be hung and having friends and realatives arrive to try to either see the execution or have brought money to try to buy their freedom.

ODETTA - The female Leadbelly

2006-01-11T17:24:00.000+05:30

Well I just had to write this post.

Odetta Gordon, born 31 December 1930 at Birmingham, Alabama. Also known as Odetta Holmes, and besides is also known with her stepfather's surname as Odetta Felious, is an African-American singer.

Odetta was born in Alabama and grew up in Los Angeles. She was training for a classical and operatic career until a visit to a San Francisco Bay coffee house featuring folk music awakened her interest. Pete Seeger once said, "The first time I heard Odetta sing ... she sang "Take This Hammer" and I went and told her how I wish Leadbelly was still alive so he could have heard her."

Folk singer and guitarist Odetta turned 75 this last New Year's Eve, and there's a 51 year span between her first album from 1954, and her latest, Gonna Let It Shine, released a few months ago. In those five decades, she's blown minds with her powerful voice and influenced many notables in the folk music business, including Joan Baez and Bob Dylan; Odetta gave Dylan encouragement early in his career (before he was in NYC), and her album Sings Ballads and Blues inspired him to switch from an electric to an acoustic guitar.

Odetta was known as the "female Leadbelly".

Just listen to her "Gallows Pole". This is from her 1957 album At the Gate of Horn, which demonstrates her impressive guitar chops. The person playing bass on that song is Bill Lee.

Divine.

The nymphs are running

2006-01-11T14:01:00.000+05:30

Alt. title : Mumbai Marathon 2006

Indian advertising has traditionally been boring and insipid. But of late I've seen some rather good ones. The one I'm writing about is on the Mumbai Marathon 2006, which i saw last night. It went like :

Q. What does a city which has Walkeshwar and Jogeshwari do ?
A. Run.

This Mumbai Marathon is on 15 Jan 2006. Hoards of people will be at the starting point and most will stop about 200-500 m from the start. The remaining few will flop down after a few kms. Only the pro's can complete it. Anyway think about it. If you can run from VT station to Bandra in 1 hour - then I think that beats all forms of mechanised transport systems. Of course be ready to sweat.

How can our two rivers be left out ? Theyve positioned themselves at Ground Zero already - as senior-voulnteer-organisers at the "Senior Citizens Run (5 or 7 kms)". And they are busy making arrangements for that event - doctors etc. and more specificially - the nurses. Anyway on D-day they like all others will stand and gaze at the sweat soaked nymhpets as they trundle down Marine Drive. And if you are lucky enough to get close to the starlets then youd have the privilege of bathing with them too.

BP Expressway

2006-01-10T18:07:00.000+05:30

This weekend I'd been to Pune with a friend. He's got this car and wanted to drive on the Bombay Pune Expressway. Anyway after negotiating Andheri-Kurla road and JVLR all day, one wants to get loose and perhaps let the old car also flex itself. The fifth gear notch might just get clogged with dust otherwise.

Anyway we zipped into Pune and by evening zipped back. The picture alongside gives some indication of what flexing we did while on the highway. It is indeed a nice bit of engineering done by India. Perhaps for once, the toll that we pay for using this road is fully justified. It is indeed safe and fast to travel by this route - PROVIDED - you follow the rules. And PROVIDED youve not soaked yourself in whiskey before venturing out.

A nice journey. We didnt have anything to do in Pune. Just went to NDA and Khadakvasla. Nothing special, expecpt that we met CHRS while there. We never knew him, neither did he know us ever. But it was nice meeting him. Hope his kids are better now. A post on him is due soon.

And as said earlier, there wasnt any particular reason to drive to Pune. The journey was our destination.

(The chase is better than the kill).

Richard Phillips Feynman

2006-01-06T12:12:00.000+05:30

11 May 1918 Far Rockaway,Queens,New York - 15 February 1988 Los Angeles,California

Parents : Melville Feynman and Lucille Phillips

There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician.

- Hans Bethe

Drive Rashly Week

2006-01-05T16:37:00.000+05:30

Since anyway people dont give any importance to these specially designated "weeks", so perhaps such a week would pay dividends to our hapless public. (Cant blame our public anyway). I had written something earlier on such a "week" and you might want to read it.

The WORST (Errr.. I'm sorry , I meant the BEST) has declared the week from 2 Jan 2006 to 8 Jan 2006 as a "BEST Safety Week". Perhaps it gives an opportunity to the Schumachers of their force to showcase their skills on the roads.

There was an Energy Conservation Week some time back. What this actually translates into is, that there would be load shedding at your home. And perhaps someone with clout has read my post on the issue, for theyve decided to continue having this Energy Conservation all the time - so that means load shedding at your home for the entire year.

No wonder that these geniuses are from the IAS and civil services. I have no ability whatsoever to come even close to them. Perhaps the UPSC wouldnt even accept my application - leave alone letting me appear for the prelims and passing the exams.

Caste is waste

2006-01-05T15:48:00.000+05:30

Alt. title : Reservations

If only the two words had rhymed .. it would have been perfect. But then like an imperfect rhyme and a similarly imperfect world - we have an imperfect policy about to unleash itself on India.

That our age old caste system is a major root of our problems, is well known. But it prevails today and I'd say it not just prevails but it rocks. Our politicans and administrators have milked this caste cow till the point at which it is producing just waste. We already have an array of reservations of all kinds - on caste, sex etc. etc.

Open category govt. jobs amount to just about 10% of the total available. The rest are occupied by the "reserved categories". If this is not bad enough, the govt. has recently threatened to impose this "law" onto private sector companies - if they dont voluntarily do so themselves. Obviously thereafter, appeasing those under the "reserved categories" becomes easier - and hence more votes - and hence ... - and hence ...

Imagine companies like Infy and corporate groups like the Tata's etc. advertising jobs - but only those who are in the reserved categories need apply. The presumed logic that one would attract only inefficiency in the process, is unjustified, for almost all of our populace tries its best to get into one of the "caste reservation umberellas". Those who cant manage that are plain old fools. The most recent one was the attempts of the East Indian community to get included into the OBC list - the advantages of which would trickle down for generations.

Only two options are left thus :

get into some reserved category - change your name, surname, caste, religion, language, residence, domicile, sex - just about anything - as long as you get included into the coveted "reserved category lists".
leave India and seek refuge elsewhere.

Caste and reservations have truly castrated India. Long live the 90% reserved ...

2007 - Here we come

2006-01-02T11:18:00.000+05:30

Its been a good day yesterday - that was the first.

Its two days into the month, and already you might have become tired and weary of the repeating the same old phrase to anybody and everybody. And more to come in the following days.

So take some time out and look ahead. Make no mistake, consider the year as gone. It just flew.

++ curr_year ;

2005-12-31T14:22:00.000+05:30

This is an oft repeated kind of statement used whilst programming. In this case what it signifies is that a few hours more and the statement would get executed all over the place and will then let us know that 2006 has come. People will start yelling out "Happy New Year" to all and sundry. People will have more drinks. People would prefer to get drunk to their gills. People would create a commotion in the middle of the night and would burst crackers, as if something is really remarkable in knowing that it is now 2006. And in the process, while driving theyd crash somewhere and a few innocent lives would be lost. Steve Harris and Bruce Dickenson indeed got it right when they proclaimed that there is "No Prayer for the Dying".

A friend has just informed me that incase one decides to go ahead and get drunk on New Years Eve at some bar or something, then its better to carry a "drinking permit" along. Else, ask the bar owner to issue a temporary one-day drinking permit that costs five bucks. It can be issued on the spot. It would probably save you from an awkward situation if a drunken posse of policemen barge in and demand to know why you are drinking. If you are certain that the cop is drunk then probably you can show your school ID-card to him and tell him its your drinking permit and then hed let you go. Or if he is really drunk then he's stop by at your table for a couple of drinks. And since youd be drinking with a cop, the bar guy woudnt dare bill you. So you can then go ahead and gulp down as many more as you want.

Irrespective of what you do, I think ill do what everyone else does on New Years Eve and thats wish you. So here's my :

Wish you all a very Happy New Year 2006

Murder at IISc

2005-12-31T13:19:00.000+05:30

Alt. title : Forthcoming events casting their shadow
(You may want to read the epic - King Arthur by Alfred Lord Tennyson, for the origins and understanding of this classic phrase.)

Terror has now struck the elite. Its no wonder that the proponents of terror now feel that if they attack the educated elite and the economic drivers of India, then their actions can have more impact than blowing up a crowd of fifty commoners out in the streets of a city.

Its rather sad that an IIT Delhi professor lost his life in the shootout at IISc on 28 Dec 2005. Also injured were a couple of more delegates at the conference at IISc, Bangalore. The delegates were proceeding to have dinner (or were having dinner) when the attacker struck.

One would have least expected that a peaceful place of education and research would be a venue for a terrorist attack. Likewise, security systems at such places are not so stringent about security. Back in Bombay, the immediate beefing up of security at the ongoing Mood Indigo festival (26 Dec to 29 Dec) , was a fallout of this attack.

Reports have come in that it had been somewhat anticipated that terror is likely to strike the technology centers (the current money spinners) of India. Bangalore is such a place. It has also been reported in todays papers that theres been an anonymous fax to the Karnataka CM's office that there would be attacks today at his residence and also at a prominent hotel - perhaps to target the New Year party goers.

Similarly, at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur , the three-day silver jubilee alumni meet of the Class of 1981 began today amidst unprecedented security arrangements. Clearly, the authorities were taking no chances after Wednesday’s attack at IISc.

It also been decided to step up security at IIT Guwahati, ahead of an international science conference next week following the terror attack in Bangalore. IIT Guwahati is hosting the "Heat and Mass Transfer Conference 2006", where some 500 scientists from all over the world are expected to participate.

Well, whats happened has happened and it is a rather sad event that marks the end of 2005. Having said that, I must also add that the old adage of "... forthcoming events casting their shadow ... " is somewhat true. I had mentioned in my post of 28 December afternoon (i.e. before the attack later that evening) , that the frisking being done at the Mood Indigo festival at IITB was probably uncalled for, since why would one want to blow up IITB. Im no clairvoyant, but then the old agade somehow holds.

This event has sure created fear at all research and educational places like the IITs and IIMs. May the soul of the departed professor, rest in peace.

Freedom

2005-12-30T17:43:00.000+05:30

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought

Pope John Paul II

Santoor and guitar at OAT, IITB

2005-12-28T15:53:00.000+05:30

Its "Mood Indigo" time at IIT Bombay. The most popular youth and collegiate festivals in all of India. Companies falling over each other to sponsor events at the festival (apparent from the hundereds of banners and posters that littered the green surroundings). They have many events at MI and one of them is the "Confluence Nite" - at which some top rated performers of classical music are invited to perform. This time it was Shiv Kumar Sharma (Santoor) and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohan Veena - acutally a modified guitar). The concert was at the OAT - Open Air Theatre at IIT Bombay.

I went with a friend, who is currently a student at IITB and hence he was able to get a pass for me. The pass said 6.30 pm and we were in the already-long-by-then queue by 6 pm. And as always by the time the first notes of the santoor were struck, it was already 7.30 pm. But not before frisking and all - probably they think people would want to blow up IITB and the kids in there. The pass said that theyd thouroughly frisk the ladies and their purses too - perhaps to let the kids of IITB have some first time lessons in womens handbags and their contents.

SKS

Ok, Shiv Kumar Sharma is a top notch player. As he announced - he's been playing for the IIT kids for the last 25 years - and how happy and all he is to be invited again and again (perhaps the MI guys pay him well for this 100-string knockfest). He also told some crappy story about how some kids in "America" came upto him after a concert in the US, and told him theyd heard him play at MI over 24 years ago. Long live America - thats the motto of IITB anyway.

He does play well. Infact his name is synonymous with the santoor. He played two peices - the first one being "Rag Yaman". The second one - I forget the name - but it was more for the live-uneducated-in-music-type-of-audience - since it was full of top speed riffs on his santoor and the speed play by the pakhawaj player ( Bhawani Shankar) and the tabla player (Viyay Ghate - who is indeed good) and all sorts of histrionics. It got them the desired applause from the kids and profs. What one also did notice was that everytime the kids went up in a roar of applause (perhaps after a speed demo or a subtle tring-tring) - theyd focus the bright flood lights on the crowds - so that perhaps old SKS and party can have a good look at the clappers.

SKS has this huge mop of stylish hair and this adds to his "brand value". Both the percussionists too sported long hair - all for the desired glamour flashes - jerking their heads and all while belting out 100km/hr beats on their drums. This feature and get-up is observed in almost all male classical performers. So that perhaps if they dont play too well, their get-up can compensate for their presence.

VMB

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt - of The Mohan Veena fame - was next. Only that he was along with a flute player - some Ronu someone. This Ronu guy seemed to be rather good at stealing the show from old VMB. He started off with one of his own "compostions". Actually what they were playing was "fusion" or "world music" as its called these days. This kind of music keeps a classical base but leaves out the "boring technicalites" of classical style and replaces that with the show-gimmicks of popular and rock-and-roll kind of music. Hence Fusion.

My personal take on this is that this music is rather a form of "fission" - netither here nor there - for it takes apart both the classical part as well as the rock part. But then if kids are willing to pay up and buy their music and attend their shows, then why blame Ronu and VMB. This is a business too.

Anyway VMB did play a few songs - named unimaginatively like "Song of love" or "Everlasting Love" or "Encounter" etc. - nothing related to the song perhaps. Maybe I'm being too critical of this type of musical fare, having not heard much of this myself. So in a way ive probably no right to comment on this. But still .....

VMB also played his Grammy winning peice - I forget the name. It was allright - but I really dont know what the Grammy boys were doing when they decided to give old VMB the award. Perhaps the other nominees that year were just banging plates and spoons.

Anway VMB pulled a big one when he said that IITB's MI was the answer to the "Woodstock" festival. Lets not get into this pointless debate but I must add a point of triviality. The IIT kids were frisking you like anything for cigarettes and "narcotics - as their pass said" . And whoever has any idea of "Woodstock" knows what happened there in the sixties. So much so for comparisions.

VMB also was almighty pleased that he was at MI again. (The green bucks speak for themselves). He also let out the trio war-cry leading with a "hip-hip" ... and "hooray" yelled out the kids and profs. After all he had just proclaimed that MI was the answer to Woodstock.

I thought VMB could be better. He's good at his instrument and it would be worthwhile if he plays more in the Indian style rather than leaning on foriegn names and personalities. A little good would be done if he leaves behind the "fusion" or "fission" style for sometime.

All in all, a good show.

(It was free !!!! ) The kids had written on their pass that the pass cannot be sold.

Mahim Urs

2005-12-28T15:30:00.000+05:30

I visited this place on the penultimate day of the "Mahim Urs" . It was the evening of 24 December, when myself and a friend went there. This is at the Dargah Sharif at Mahim. Its just about 10 mins walk from Mahim station. The complete name of the place / saint is "Darul-Uloom Hazrat Makhdoom Faquih Ali Mahimi". Now legend goes that this person was a kind of saint who lived eons ago at this place called Mahim. Hence the Mahimi appendage to the name. Im not sure if Mahim is named after him or vice-versa. People throng this place, especially during the "Urs" and ask for blessings and wishes. And just like the feast of Mount Mary at Bandra and at the St. Michaels Church at Mahim, people of all communities come here to be blessed and to ask for wishes.

What struck immediately was the orderly fashion in which the crowds conducted themselves. No hint of tensions and communal strife anywhere. It was rather crowded but later on I was told that the crowds that day were nothing compared to what it would be on the last day, i.e. Sunday. Also to be noted was the large police presence. Infact, if one is to beleive folklore, then its said that ages ago the police were helped by an old man in the area in order to nab some smugglers. Later on it was said that the "old man" was Makhdoom Baba himself. The police station close by , ever since has strong affilication to this place. Infact during the "Urs" the police are the first ones to place the "chaadar" inside the dargah. The police station also houses some old relics of the baba - all of which is safely tucked away in a cupboard at the police station. The police station iteslf is around 200 m away and at this time we saw that the festive lights and atmosphere was also to be seen at the police station.

Inside the dargah there were seperate entrances for males and females (many of whom were in a trance after perhaps some religious utterances of the in-charge inside). It was a rather solemn atmosphere and people did conduct themselves well.

And as is true of all religious fairs and places and events - the huge number of beggars - comprised mostly of young girls - is omnipresnet. They get after you to partake some cash - and narrate stories of hunger and misery. All this perhaps is part of an organised begging-network as every hardened Bombayite knows. One need not melt at their sight and stories. Outsiders would perhaps fall into the traps of these beggars.

Lined up outside teh dargah were a large number of stalls selling foodstuff, toys etc. and "chaadar sets" for the devotees who were going inside the dargah.

MRDPA

2005-12-26T14:57:00.000+05:30

This is not another road and development authority like our MMRDA. This is a brand new Mithi River Development and Protection Authority. 26 July gave a lot of fame to this gutter (now fondly called a 'river') - and hence this fancy new authority.

The state has decided to clear the banks of the flood-prone Mithi River of all slums and other encroachments by 31 May 2006.The decision was taken at a secret meeting of the Empowered Committee of the MRDPA.

The thing to be noted is this empowered committe. That the committee has been christened with such a name, it suggests that there are several other commitees that dont have any power whatsoever. They'd probably call them Powerless Committees of the MRDPA. Another thing to be noted is the 'secret meeting' that took place. Some big spy-vs-spy detective game going on, perhaps. Must be a lot of fun.

Source

Sachin Tendulkar

2005-12-24T11:30:00.000+05:30

Alt. Title : It's supposed to be a team game

I agree the kid plays well. He's 32 or 33 or something. He's made a lot of runs , I guess over ten thousand and has also scored 35 centuries. He's also played the maximum number of games, probably more than anybody else. He's earned billions. Every aspect of his life, both on the field and off it has been documented. People worship him (I still dont know if theres a place of worship in his name anywhere yet).

His hard core fans (many crores of them) have all claimed that the kid would hammer out 50 centuries or 75 and some over enthusisatic die-hard fans even have said he'd hit 100 centuries. (Bradman did hit those many in first class cricket. But then he was the Don.)

But .. keep in mind that the machine is getting old by the day. Earlier it used to be the back that gave problems, later on we heard something called the "tennis elbow" was giving problems. (Shouldnt the guy be playing cricket, instead of tennis, especially since "state" money is being pumped into the machine). He's also been in and out due to these "injuries". Injuries by the way are a part and parcel of any physically demanding sport - no one can escape the injuries, except the selection board people.

So how many more "tons" will Sachin score ? My over-optimistic and realistic guess is that his total tally of test cricket centuries wont go beyond 40. (Unless our BCCI decides that we play only against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe for the next 5 years).

I havent said or written that he's a bad player. He is indeed a good cricketer.

Forty.

By the way how many matches did India lose when Sachin scored centuries ? Or how many matches did we win when he didnt score the centuries ? Or for that matter any other player. Cricket is a team game and the team should always come first. In earlier years we'd heard that old Kapil Dev was given more overs to bowl so that he could get his record of taking maximum wickets and later on too Anil Kumble was given the chance of taking "10 wickets" against some team. In the process some players "dropped" catches off the bowling of someone else, just so that old Anil could bag them later on and complete his record. If records come along the way then its fine but dont get onto the field just to play for them.

(This post will be offensive to most persons.)

NRM on education

2005-12-23T11:28:00.000+05:30

I was reading an article by Infosys Technologies chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy, in which he has said about freeing higher education and making it accessible to all. He's given suggestions of tripling capacity of the IIT's etc. Usually one hears people refererring to doubling of capacity - but perhaps in order to differentiate, NRM used the word "tripling". It was good, though none of the suggestions were extraordinary. The suggestions become extraordinary when NRM says so, not when you or me do so. (Unless the "you" is NRM himself, and if so, im privileged that NRM read this - "Hello Sir, How are you ?")

Allright, this apart, there was something that didnt go down well. And this was when he's mentioned that all the hot shot's join the software industry and the laggards go elsewhere to the other general industries. Now considers this - of the biggest hotshots that we have (lets for the moment assume that these kinds are the AIR-1 rankers or the 9+ CPI ones at the end of the IIT graduation) , how many join an IT company or go into software ? Youd find that most get into higher research and probably in diverse areas such as Physics and Mathematics - but not IT and software. Yes, many do go into Computer Science, but then thats different from what the IT and software industry does. How many Dijkstra's or Knuth's or Feynman's has India produced ? Ans : ZERO. What we excel in is, IT and software - and thats the part that comes into play after its decided whats to be done - we just go around doing whats to be done - we dont figure out in original terms as to whats to be done or how its to be done. This part is handled by the Dijkstra's or Knuth's or Feynman's.

If NRM thinks that all the hot shots get into software and the laggards do other things, then he is mistaken. You do fine hoards of IITians who study civil and metallurgical engineering (the so called laggards of the IITs) and then do software jobs.

We are not even considering the biggest drain that results from the IIT system - kids learn here (lakhs being spent on spoonfeeding them) and then go on to serve other nationalities. India thus becomes a labour supplier, that only benefits the kids, their families, and the administration who came up with these policies in the first place. To some extent, NRM has realised this when he says that higher education should not be subsidised and that higher education should be freed form the shackles of the state.

Perhaps, NRM wants all the hot shot kids to join his industry. The better the kids, the better the output. The better the output, the more the profits, and subsequently more sops and grants and favours from the government. After all who wouldnt want to hire or want the very best of whats available ? However, in order to sound appreciative and considerate of other "general industries" he's gone on to mention that the hot shots should look at jobs in the general industry too. This too works in the favor of the IT and software boys - for essentially IT and software are "services" to other main and more important "nation building industries". If tomorrow, everyone starts coding and crunching superficial excel sheets, then who will build the nation ?

BEST and "Straight Lines"

2005-12-23T11:14:00.000+05:30

Alt. Title : BEST's penchant for "Straight Lines" and Right Angles

If one observes all of what comprises the BEST then one would probably come to this conclusion. Now this concept or idea thats being written about is rather hard to describe since its a pretty much of a mind abstraction activity, so perhaps readers might not know whats going on in this post.

Observe the BEST and you see right angles , 90 degrees and Straight Lines all over the place. Be it the buses or depots or buildings or breakdown trucks or reconnaissance vehicles. In a way this geometric similarity and the move towards simplicity is to be appreciated. Perhaps this stems from the old British hangover which this fine organisation has. The present day management (though ineffecient on practical fronts) has done well to keep this tradition, if we may call it. Who knows perhaps the future generations of its management might go the Volvo way - (which is perhaps the opposite of the "Straight Line" concept or theory).

Well at least something that the BEST has done well.

The new MH-01 LA 5[0-9][0-9][0-9] series

2005-12-22T13:54:00.000+05:30

BEST has got itself a new batch of buses from Leyland (their preffered supplier). These most likely have found homes at the Deonar and Ghatkopar depots. Their outer look is quite similar to the older buses, except that the grey band that ran through the bus in the center has been replaced by a white band. The bus says its a part of the MUTP and it proclaims itself to be Bharat-III compliant. (Bharat-III being an unimaginitive alternate name for the Euro-III emission standard. Perhaps the locals didnt like it being called Euro. Or since we are in Bombay or Mumbai - perhaps the locals would have preffered Maharashtra-III or Shivaji-III. I should get an award for this fantastic suggestion.)

Coming back to the buses. Some points to be noted :

The suspension of the buses is indeed good. Not that of a truck. I wouldnt say its like the Volvo's, but its far far better than what weve been subjected to earlier.
The pickup is excellent. This perhaps is the reason why Ive already seen two of these buses involved in collisions - perhaps the power steering and pick up havent sunk in well with the drivers (who are anyway good-for-nothing - they should have stuck to driving tempos and lorries and bullock carts).
The interiors have two extra rows of seats. That means 4 more standees can sit now. But this is at the cost of reduced space in the front exit areas. But this is also good since the BEST staffers cant now just get in and stand next to the exit door, blocking the whole crowd all the time.
The bus pulls along smoothly and doesnt look as if its taking a lot of undue effort in doing so. Perhaps the diesel engines inside are more powerful. And its pretty silent for a bus. I would say on the highways the bus almost 'cruises'.
The bus has a mirror above the entrance door. I dont know for what. Perhaps to allow the conductor and other sex starved passengers to have a wide angle look at the girls inside. Of late however these mirrors have been removed. Thats good.
The bus has a rear display of the bus route number. Probably to let the 'late lateefs' know which bus they are running after. This is however not needed - since one can usually make out the bus route number (if one has travelled extensively on BEST buses before and has kept ones eyes open while doing so in the past) by looking at the 'depot code' (e.g. D, G, SN, BB, V, DH, MLV, OSH etc. ) of the bus thats painted on the rear.
The windows have a additional sliding latch that helps to keep the windows halfway closed. But I doubt anybody would avail of this feature. As it is its problematic to get the windows opened or closed in the first place and expecting the latch to align with the hole in the window frame is I guess asking for too much from the BEST.

By and large a good bus. But it now all depends if the maintenance staff can keep them in good condition (thats a tall order indeed) - else they too would rust in peace in a few months.

Changed identities

2005-12-22T12:27:00.000+05:30

Ive stayed here all my life. I still stay here at the same place. But now suddenly I dont know where I live.

Several cities in Karnataka have undergone changes in their names. Some are:

Bangalore-Bengaluru
Belgaum-Belagaavi
Mysore-Mysooru
Mangalore-Mangalooru
Hubli-Huballi
Bijapur-Vijapura
Gulbarga-Kalburgi

Theyve claimed that the current names were imposed by the British and the ones they are changing them to, are infact the original names. For example, its been said that Gulbarga is anyway known as Kalburgi and Mysore is always called Mysooru in Kannada. The name change of Belgaum has however not gone down well with the Maharashtrians. Now Belgaum is on the border of the two states and inside Karnataka. There has been a long tussle between the two states over who it belongs to. One side says that since the majority of the populace of Belgaum is Marathi speaking, hence it should belong to Maharashtra. The other side makes its own similar claims. The battle howver rages on. The new name Belagaavi does away with the 'gaum' or 'gaon' - its pronounced as Belgao - so this is a deviation from the Marathi sounding name. Hence the protests. Anyway since its legally part of Karnataka, the Maharashtra government can do little in this regard.

The name changes get effected from Nov 2006. So till then its Mysore and not Mysooroo or Mysooru or anything else - perhaps Maheshasooroo would have been better choice.

Other cities have undergone name changes in the past too. Some of them being - Bombay, Calcutta, Madras. Delhi and Hyderabad have been spared till now. Not for long I guess. Delhi would become either Dilli or Dehelvi or Dilly or something equally silly.

By the way one of our two rivers has said he's off to Belgaum. But infact he would be spotted at Changi Airport.

Dangerous boxes

2005-12-19T15:17:00.000+05:30

Any ride on a BEST bus is dangerous. Now we are not commenting on the poor driving skills of the good-for-nothing BEST drivers. We are discussing the old run down metal boxes that the conductors (called "Master" by passengers and staff) use to store tickets. A close look at them and youll find that most are twsited and worn out. The sharp metal edges would be a sure shot tool to draw blood when the bus is packed and the conductor moves around. It is inevetible that this box would be touching you and the sharp broken metal edges of this box could injure you rather badly. Throw in the fact that every tenth passenger has infected blood and hence the consequences of a small cut from these boxes are horrendous.

Its time that the BEST pitched all of these rusted steel jobs and replaced them with more convenient, light and un-harmful fibre-graphite-carbon boxes. At least for the safety of the passengers.

Cricketier G

2005-12-17T11:29:00.000+05:30

Some of you might have visisted the area around Portugese Church - Gokhale Road - and might have seen a bylane there by the name of Cricketier Vijay ... someone. This is indeed a relevation for we didnt know that those who play this game are not cricketers but are cricketiers. Anyway this small aside, gives us the title for this post.

We all know why Cricketier G has been dropped from the Indian cricket test team. Its simple. The requisite material didnt reach upstairs. When everything in the world revolves around money and sex, then how can a puny old game like cricket and its cricketiers be left out. Many feel its a matter of camps changing - the Marathas coming in place of the Bongs and thereby flushing out the other camps' players. Now one would wonder why ABC managed to stay in the team for so long. Perhaps he was keeping people happy. This is feasable to some extent for all of us know that the ABC stays in a small flat (all flats are always supposed to be small, even if they have 36 bedrooms) and not a bungalow (all bungalows are always supposed to be big, even if there is only place for the watchmans cabin). Sometime ago we had heard that ABC's wife had been spotted as she huffed and puffed her way up to the x'th story of her building (since the lifts were not working). Now one wonders that why would the wife of such a great celebrity cricketier, wash her own clothes in her own sweat, when probably the guy has enough money to rent a helicopter to fly her up to her flat when there the lifts are out of order. The reason perhaps is simple. Perhaps ABC doesnt have enough to rent the helicopter. So where did the money go ? Where did it go ? Where ... ?

Ans. : (This paragraph has come full circle).

Cricket administration and selection is a lethal and lucrative business. Dont sweat it out in the hot sun, trying to make it to the Indian team. Instead, get yourself into the selection commitees. Money will just pour in while you see the sweat pour from the cricketiers wives.

By the way we were supposed to be talking about Cricketier G. Anyway he's now gone. The selectors have found new sheep. Perhaps if G plays in some games too, it wont make much of a difference. Anyway when the thunderbolts from the Australians and Pakistanis come raining down on our boys - we know the result, irrespective if Cricketier G is in the team or not.

The media does indeed entertain us always. What would we do without them.

I have nothing against ABC and others. This post is meant to highlight the fact that money rules in all quarters of life - be it a game. The fact that a game and some of its proponents were mentioned, is just incidental. The helicopter story is just a media fairytale. Thats what they do best - spin tales. And the public does what it knows best - lap up these tales.

Not a WGSCNY, but a WDM-1

2005-12-17T10:38:00.000+05:30

Now many will wonder whats a WGSCNY and a WDM-1. The former is a vestibuled self-generating second-class 3-tier sleeper coach and the latter is an older version of the WDM class of diesel locomotive. Now this picture shows the rear of this WDM-1 and it does look like the vestibued end of a regular passenger coach. Probably at stations, some unsuspecting people might want to board the engine iteslf, while looking for seats in the train. The WDM-1 is now removed from service and can be seen only at the National Rail Museum, Delhi. (Thats also where this picture has been taken). These days, however, the WDM-2 class are the most preferred locos on non-electrified routes.

While you are looking at this post, Id suggest you click the picture for a bigger view. You'll notice that the side guard rods (which are usually placed next to doors) are at a place where there doesnt seem to be any inlet or door. (There is a climbing ladder, though beneath it). Nor is it leading up to the top of the loco - its not a ladder also. So for what are these things for ? Just for fun perhaps - or for villagers to hang on to the loco for a short free ride till the next halt.

An idea in 200 words

2005-12-13T17:36:00.000+05:30

The following letter was written by Eric Hoffer on the importance of being precise:

Wordiness is a sickness of American writing. Too many word dilute and blur ideas. An average American book is twice as long as a British book on the same subject. The same is true of articles. (Compare commentary with encounter).

There is not an idea that cannot be expressed in 200 words. But the writer must know precisely what he wants to say. If you have nothing to say and want badly to say it, then all the words in all the dictionaries would not suffice.

Do not count a, of, the, and, etc. Averaging the number of words in a line is O.K.

Tsunami is here again

2005-12-13T17:28:00.000+05:30

I'm in the midst of a tsunami right now. Its been raging (or rather trickling since lunch) and has covered quite a bit of area. I only hope that it dosent reach the electrical equipment , for then we may be in for some unwanted "fireworks". Telephoning has not helped so far. Our evening visitor from the Kamlistan Studio is also very very happy that the tsunami struck. It couldnt have been a better evening. If it goes on for some more time, I guess ill have to visit the Star Trek studios, upstairs, for the important tasks.

Pay 6 rupees for a 8 rupees ticket

2005-12-09T16:20:00.000+05:30

Well, this happened on the BEST (where else?). The other day I was travelling in the bus and as always there was a discrepancy in the fare known to the conductor and what it actually is supposed to be. Anyway we were pretty sure as to how much we are going to pay. Tucked inside our bags was the printout which would have been conclusive proof anyway. The conductor punched the 8 rupees ticket, thought over for a while over what we told him, and then took 6 rupees. Probably no scope for asking further questions.

I wonder how many other cases of this kind take place all day. It must be amounting to quite a decent sum. This would anyway go a long way in helping the BEST pay those hefty bonuses to its good-for-nothing staffers. Also theyve to pay several crores to the BMC or the MMRDA - for using the flyovers. Thats beside the point that only two routes out of 350 use the flyovers. I guess when the authorities decide to do things illogically, they do so with will, or as Mumbaikars would say "wholesale me".

MBA is not Management

2005-12-07T11:35:00.000+05:30

This should be obvious.

MBA stands for Master of Business Adminstration. This means you are an expert in adminstering or conducting a business. So where does the "management" part come in ? Adminstering a business is like doing something thats told to you by somebody else - probably the lalaji or goon who runs your company. He's the leader and you are the servant. Management doesnt figure anywhere in this scheme of things. To become such a person go ahead and get yourself an MBA degree. These degrees are also distributed under different names such as PGDBA (by our fancy IIM's) - Post Graduate Diploma in Business Adminstration. Agreed, that the IIM thing is most valuable even if they call it anything else. (Whats in a name after all?). But the subtle difference being that its a diploma and that too in only adminstering a business.

The scope of an MBA thus is limited to only adminstering businesses. No Management.

Now lets get to what needs to be done if you want to be a Master of Management. Now for this go to IIT Bombay and pick up one. They give these Master of Management degrees. And this, mind you, is not business adminstration. However, if you are a master of management, then handling and adminstering a business should be childs play. Else if you dont get the IIT thing, then the next best thing is to get the Master of Management Studies (MMS) from the University of Bombay. Avoid the deemed places, unless its TISS - for then you get a MA in Personnel Management.

And after you are a master of management - you can "manage" things - anything, be it a WAG or a Bofors Gun. Not just finances and excel sheets. And as I said earlier adminstering a business would be childs play.

Move over Ravi Shankar (or The Double Shree)

2005-12-05T12:13:00.000+05:30

For now we have this "Triple Shree"

We now have "Shree Shree Shree Pa. Pu. Shree Shivdutt Swamiji Maharaj". Yes, thats the full annotation of the name. Move aside Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (of the youga and Art of Living fame). I saw a poster of Triple Shree just this morning. Looks like he's just commenced operations and his publicty material has just reached the walls of bus stops. If you observe the promotional posters carefully, you see a rather simplistic and dull looking guy with a beard and all - a kind of ascetic look , perhaps to draw in crowds. These guys do have a rather fierce marketing group working for them - and this is essential when you have to differentiate yourself from the rest of the godmen who have already got respectable market share. Like any business, this line too has cut-throat competition. Triple Shree is attempting a entry into the market with his Triple Shree nomenclature - thats his USP perhaps. (Whats UPS , sorry USP ? Maybe the MBA's know).

I was in a hurry write this post, lest I forget the lengthy name of this character. Im not fully aware of the "Pa. Pu." salution abbreviations in the name. This translation is direct from the devnagri scripted poster, so perhaps people in the know about these things can help clarify what it might be standing for.

I had a friend who was interested in godmen and was doing a series on them. Perhaps clicking some links on this page should get you to his blog. You might want to read his take on them too.

(I'm told Pa. Pu. stands for Param Pujya , meaning adorable or respectable)

Electrical Safety - only for a Week ?

2005-12-03T16:12:00.000+05:30

In order to create awareness about observance of Electricity Rules and Regulations, the Industries, Energy and Labour Department of Maharashtra State os observing the Electrical Safety Week from 1 Dec to 7 Dec 2005 as per directives from the Central Electricity Board, New Delhi.

The leaflet distributed on this occasion mentions that on an average 1500 fatal accidents occur in Maharashtra State due to electrical shock. It makes no mention of the time span in which these 1500 took place - was it one month, one year, one day .... nobody knows, except probably the smart MBA/IAS officer who drafted the leaflet. And perhaps he or she decided to keep that piece of information to himself. Must be a brand new MBA.

Ive seen many agencies having these "safety weeks". The BEST too has some kind of safety week where perhaps the drivers are urged to drive safely, if only for a week. I thought safety was supposed to be continiuous - at all times - not only during some designated week decided by some IAS officer in Delhi. I know all this is for information and spreading the knowledge about safety, but then shouldnt this disbursement of safety knowledge take place all through the year ? Why should our populace have to wait for this one single wonderful week to be made aware of safety methods etc. ? And the BEST drivers, shouldnt they be driving safely ALWAYS ?

Good Evening and LHB problems

2005-12-03T09:58:00.000+05:30

The journey from BCT to NDLS had just started on the 2951 at 1655. Soon the waiter came up to us in our LWACCW (thats the code for the new 2AC LHB coaches). He greeted each passenger with a warm "Good Evening" and gave us the days newspaper. It was good that they gave each one a different one, so that we could share more papers, rather than having the same copy all over the place. I got a copy of "The Hindu". He then proceeded to take our preferences for veg or non-veg dinner and the next days breakfast. I was sure surprised that such courtesy is shown on the Indian Railways. This beahviour is probably reserved for only the Rajdhanis and Shatabdis (they charge more too, and probably the greetings are therefore not free too). I also observed that they were all wearing IRCTC uniforms. On other trains the in-coach service is all out-sourced and those waiters and attendants dont give a damn.

Now about the LHB coaches. LHB stands for Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB, now part of Alstom). Some German company perhaps. A few observations about them:

The electrical machinery in the coaches takes so much of space that theyve reduced the number of toilets from 4 to 3 in each coach.
The space between two LHB coaches is about 15 inches, as compared to over three feet thats there between other regular passenger coaches.
The LHB coaches have no buffers but have a large number of pipes connected between two coaches. (more than 10 perhaps).
The LHB coaches sure seem to shake more. We would have these two strong jerks everytime the train notched up speed. But this could also be due to a faulty WAP5. For I observed these "jerks" only on the way back between NDLS and BRC (the stretch thats taken care by a WAP5).
Theyve got electrical charging points near the upper berths for people to charge their mobile phones.
The toilets are something new - they have this aircraft kind of doors and the urinating area also leads to some kind of storage chamber. Which invariably gets clogged. On my journey, at least once I saw the toilet overflowing with urine. This cant happen in the older style of toilets where the urine and other things fall down on the tracks. It could never "flood" up. Talk of modernisation - perhaps this is the Laloo way of being modern - have overflowing toilets on the Rajdhani.
For drawing water in the toilets, you have to press a illuminated green button. Then wait. Soon a trickle of water commences and you need to do your thing in that duration. Probably a controlled quota of water for each request to the "Water Server". It sometimes looks as though you might get a electrical shock or something, since the water is coming out of a geyser kind of contraption. I wonder what happens when all of this electrical gadgetry fails. There wouldnt be an alternate way to draw water. Perhaps theyd fill up drums in the passageway of the coaches and keep a sign up there which says "Sorry for the inconvenience".
The windows and look and livery of the coahes is sure to be admired. Also the space between the two linings of glass on the windows is quite less, compared to an inch in older AC coach windows.

These LHB's have been made at Kapurthala (in Punjab) and not in Germany. It looks as if the LHB's have some basic design flaws and probably have not been adapted for Indian conditions. Or else our boys havent understood the "modern" design and hence have goofed up during maintenance and/or manufacture of the same designs at Kapurthala. In the recent past, too there have been several reports of problems on the LHB rakes - coaches getting decoupled, small fires below the coaches etc. These are serious issues and can lead to safety problems in the future, if not tackeled at this stage.

And in the 2951/2 the attendants wouldnt let you open the doors while the train is in motion. Else theyd pile up the beddings and trash near the doors (there doesnt seem to be space allocated for beddings and trash elsewhere in the coach) , so you cant open them easily.

Delhi Metro - Mera Metro (Mumbai ka Paisa se)

2005-12-02T13:46:00.000+05:30

Alt. Title : Delhi MRTS : Delhi Metro

Delhi has been given this swanky new metro rail service. It is still under construction and in the end (maybe in 2010) it would cover most areas of Delhi. Right now there is this underground service (Central Secretariat - Kashmere Gate - Delhi Vishvavidyala ) and an elevated stretch ( Rithala - Kashmere Gate - Shahadara). The elevated route is probably called the "Red Line" and the underground one is maybe called the "Yellow Line" or "Blue Line". This naming probably comes from the notorious Red Line and Blue Line buses that they have in Delhi. Hpwever, the pic alongside is at "Welcome" station (imagine the announcer saying "Welcome to Welcome" - this happens only in Delhi) which is just before Shahadara. Most Delhiites have probably not used this service, probably becasue they associate travelling by a local train as something undignified. Or probably they own cars or scooters. The vehicular population of Delhi is perhaps more than the human population.

A look at the "Economic Implications" in the pic above is rather hilarious. I dont know how these newly minted MBA's manage to come up with these figures of accidents and injuries prevented. They also say that the number of buses would go down, but I'm told that the success of the metro would only be possible when they start feeder bus routes from the metro stations to inner areas of the city. This would obviously mean more buses and not less. You can expect an MBA to come up with such absurdities.

Now most of the stations are extremely clean and well maintained (hardly anyone uses it). Lots of sign boards and directions all over the place and helpful staff all around. You have to buy a "token" (i.e. a ticket) (at a max fare of Rs. 11 it is indeed dirt cheap) and proceed towards the gates. You swipe the token and the barrier opens and you walk through. You then enter the platform areas. A smiliar swipe at the destination allows you to leave the platform. All this fancy things are fine if a few people travel- I dont know what would happen if 500 people/min. turn up. I had been told by a co-passenger on the 2951 that you should quickly get past the barriers since they close pretty fast. He also added that it does help if you are on the slimmer side, else you might get squished between the barriers. And a second swipe wont work, for the contraption would have recorded your passageway and the second swipe would be taken as a "misuse - of trying to travel twice". Nobody would believe that you had luggage and that it took a few seconds more to pass through the barrier, or that you were overweight and hence took longer than the programmed time. Anyway if you do get into this situation you have to call and plead with the supervisor - who after a lot of verifcation etc. would allow you to proceed on your way. (Perhaps keeping some 500's would be helpful here as is the case in any Govt. controlled area in India - especially Delhi) .

The services are punctual. This ought to be the case since the elevated and underground sections dont allow any scope for tresspassing and level crossings etc. which generally casue delays. The trains are also good - fully AC with doors opening and closing at stations. Also the trains have these LED indicator boards / Announcements that tell you which station is coming up and on which side. Infact you can see the entire stretch of the rake once you are inside the train. (People say that its just like the trains aborad - but the main intention of making such statements is to let you know that theyve been abroad and not you).

Delhiites also say that there was minimal obstructions to road traffic while the metro was being constructed. They say that many were unaware that such a large project was being built underneath. Infact theyve gone pretty deep inside and built the metro even below the foundations of most of old Delhi areas. Perhaps our MMRDA can learn some lessons on how to go about infrastructure construction activity without inconveniencing people. Im told the metro is being constructed by some Japanese company.

All this is very good. Perhaps it makes Delhi a showcase city of India. (They've got to get in shape before the Commonwealth Games - thats another reason). But lets get to the finances part and pose this question.

Q. Where did all this obscene amount of money come from ?
A. From the tax paid by Bombayites or Mumbaikars, who rough it out - day in and day out - in the super dense crush loads of the Karjat Fast, Dombivili Slow, Virar Fast, Churchgate Slow and CST Fast.

Short cut to the other side

2005-12-02T12:20:00.000+05:30

The location shown alongside is somewhere near the Delhi-UP border. This is on the UP side and the area is rather seedy looking and not much of development has taken place. The road coming from the left of the picture terminates somewhere near the tracks. This is the track stretch between Anand Vihar (near NDLS) and Ghaziabad ( you are looking towards Ghaziabad). Towards the right of the picture is the Sahibabad Industrial Estate. This road is frequented by many people all through the day and you find numerous people crossing over all the time. Amongst those who take this quick route are cyclists, cycle rickshaw walas and also scooterists. It might also be added that the train traffic on this main line is pretty heavy too. And the trains travel at a pretty high speed on this stretch. This way of crossing the tracks is rather dangerous especially if you are lugging your rickshaw or scoooter across. The over bridge is at quite some distance so nobody has any incentive to go upto there to just cross over. Maybe this place is in need of an underpass - this is quite feasable since the tracks are at quite a height above the level of the road. It would save the botherations and dangers of a level-crossing. We have anyway a large number of deaths at both manned and unmanned level crossings. And this current way of crossing is certainly many more times dangerous.

Sojourn headed by a WCAM2P and a WAP5

2005-11-25T17:47:00.000+05:30

Another sojourn to cooler climes is up soon. I'd be in the company of WAP's , WAM's and WAG's, since this is an electrified route all the way. Not much chance of diesels, though occasionally there may be some from ED or KZJ or AJJ from the south, which might have ventured into these areas on account of long hauls. Here would be mostly the TKD and GZB locos.

Im told that the 2951 gets a BL WCAM2P from BCT to BRC and a GZB WAP5 from BRC to NDLS. I remember in the older twin-WDM days, there used to be a changeover at RTM. We used to see the "Ratlam" sign on the loco while we walked past the loco on leaving the platforms. But these days its all electric it seems on this route. Those twin-WDMs too did a good speed job, - after all in those days it had to keep up the reputation of being the "fastest train". I dont know who or which is currently the fastest .

So for the next few days I'm off towards the north. Avid readers can however utilise this "break" to recoup their thoughts and lives.

The butcher's wife

2005-11-24T12:23:00.000+05:30

We had some free entertainment yesterday. The bus was crowded and a man who was standing next to a seated girl got a mouthful from the girls companion (another woman). Now this firebrand started accusing him of harrasing (or molesting or raping , if she would prefer) the girl. She was showering the choiciest of expletives at high volume and all along demonstrating how the guy was going "like that" , "like that" - all this to draw ready attention from the rest of the passengers. (You can conjure an image of the actions she was making, for its difficult to describe those in a few parliamentary words). The guy pleaded innocence. And most passengers also knew that he hadnt touched a fly. But the woman was in no mood to relent and also went on to chide other female passengers on how meek and submissive they were and also mocked the "theory of female unity and power".

It was rather entertaining. She also pulled out a mobile phone and pretended to call the CBI or something (I guess Ab. Sal. has influenced a lot of our public). And then she declared that she was not alone and there were "males" in her house too - and that she was a butcher's wife.

We later observed that the duo was headed towards Cheetah Camp.

I was dissappointed that nobody threw some coins. We would have had a repeat of Hiroshima then.

374 Ltd.

2005-11-24T12:04:00.000+05:30

I usually travel from A to B by 374 Ltd. A colleauge travels with me from A to C, which lies on the way to B. Now the BEST has this curious way of charging/overcharging. Sometimes I pay Rs. 10/- for the journey and sometimes Rs. 12/-. Like wise colleauge pays Rs. 8/- or Rs. 10/-. The BEST conductors each time swear that the fare is correct. Perhaps theyve made the fare charts (on the inner flaps of their ticket boxes) themselves. Perhaps the ambiguity is due to the "stage number" missing at the "A" bus stop. (See picture alongside). This omission gives the BEST the authority to charge what they like. Its time they correct this. But then on second thoughts, they have to recover money from the public, so that they can fund the outrageous bonuses that they give to their good-for-nothing staff. After all what else can be expected from an organisation thats run by such people.

The PRO at BEST is such a nincompoop. He wouldnt know the difference between a single decker bus and a double decker one. Leave alone addressing issues related for the benefit of the public, for which the BEST is supposed to be for after all.

A rather pathetic scene.

Kurla Valley - closer to reality

2005-11-21T14:38:00.000+05:30

I was right.

The BMC has reportedly proposed a beautification plan on the banks of the Mithi.

We had identified the Mithi river to be a potential time-bomb even before most people even knew that it was called the Mithi River. Infact old time residents of Kurle/Bailbazaar narrate how in the good old days people used to drink water from the river since it was sweet. (Hence the name).

Think of doing so today. You will have convulsions.

Sania and pre-marital publicity

2005-11-19T11:53:00.000+05:30

It had been reported that old Sania Mirza had backed the concept of having pre-marital sex. Well the media boys need to earn their living too, so its no surprise that such things float around. Now later its been also reported that old Sania Mirza has said that she didnt say anything of that sort. She was also quoted/miquoted of bringing in some kind of religion-based judgements on the issue. Perhaps she supports only post-marital sex. But, lets leave the sex part for the time being.

What needs to be understood is that the publicity generated this time around is perhaps more than if she had picked up a few WTA titles or gone a few notches up in the rankings. And wouldnt Team-Sania be the most obvious benefeciary of a little round of publicity ?

Its better if she lets her game speak. It would do her good if she shuns publicity (a bit of a risk at this stage of her career) and thereby preventing our idle-minded media from going overboard. Not to be left out, the politically active boys have jumped in too. A Muslim personality and the issue is about sex - a lethal combination that gets you straight into the TV sets. The ABVP is suppsoed to have burnt an effigy of SM at Vijayawada and Guntur. It however wasnt important for them to know who Sania is or what tennis was.

Ptooooo - a lack of civic sense

2005-11-19T10:30:00.000+05:30

Alt. title : Citizens on short fuse

Bombay city is full of people. They come here to make money and fulfill dreams. Lets see what this money making is and what these dreams are. An insight into daily life on the roads should be enough to have a nice view of whats inside people's minds (and mouths).

Crowds mean more people jostling for the already scarce and poor infrastructure of the city. These crowds dont know what "quality" means so that helps. When you spend huge amounts of time just getting from one place to another - thats wasting time. And look at the trouble and planning needed to get simple things done. No wonder, people are always cursing and swearing. Petite, docile girls when behind the wheel are said to be a bagful of curses. Just see the way they curse and swear while driving. You wouldnt have imagined that they could be like that. I guess getting behind the wheel and trying to negotiate your way around gets you into the cursing mode automatically. And this develops a 'dont care for others' attitude - after all if you if you have to make your way ahead - then this mode is necessary in Bombay. And as far as making money is concerned, well look at the money spent in doing simple things and travelling and health. Most of what you earn gets drained in this process. (We are not talking about gangmen, politicians and the film and entertainment types).

As far as civic sense is concerned, i guess Bombay is the biggest spittoon on earth. Just see the tons of guthka and paan that shoots of the mouths of its citizens everyday. God forbid, if you travel on a bike, or drive with your car windows open or sit behind another man in a bus. I guess wearing a red shirt would always help. All this again, for the same reason. People have (for survival) developed a "dont care attitude".

Just makes one wonder, what all one needs to do for "survival sake" in Bombay.

And short fuses are something all people have. All the media reports about "the spirit of Bombay" etc. is total humbug. Lurking inside every ones mind is this "fuse" waiting to be blown off at the slightest of all incidents. And once a fuse is blown, we all know what happens. No wonder that we have this army of godmen and yoga fiends all over who make money just trying to convince people that they are harrassed and need to calm down. Its all at a price, though.

Another thing to be kept in mind is that people who throng Bombay are not for keeps. They are here for a quick buck. So since they are temporary they dont feel that they are responsible for their surroundings (people and infrastructure). But the greater problem lies when they stay in this temporary mode and dont go back. I guess they should all go back from where they came - be it Parbhani, Akola, Sawantwadi, Asansol, Gorakhpur, Tiruchillapalli, Nagapatnam, Ambala, whereever ....

So, after all what can such people dream of .... nothing much I guess. Its just a spittoon. Im referring to the mind. So why peek into one to see whats inside. Ever seen the insides of one ?

After all the mind is indeed a terrible thing to taste.

God is right inside

2005-11-18T15:03:00.000+05:30

Yesterday evening I was roaming in the streets of Madras, along with a friend. We happened to get inside a shop called GTA. It was stocked with all kinds of things that would appeal to the spiritual and religious minded person. Huge collections of books on the Vedas, Upanishads, the epics and numerous other religious topics. Books in English, Tamil, and other south Indian languages. Books on learning Tamil using Kannada, Malayalam using French etc. All possbile combinations of langauge learning options are available there. The shop also has all the material that one would require to conduct any kind of religious ceremony or pooja at ones home. Also stocked are large collections of cassettes, CD's of religious hymns and classical music. In a few words, Id say if you visit the place a few times, you are guaranteed to become a true-blue "South Indian". (People from the south tend to be more knowledgeable in Indian religon and Indian culture, and this was pretty apparent from the kind of things available in the shop). The fact that it is located in Madras is also not surprising, since this locality has been traditionally inhabited by people from the south, for decades.

No wonder that this shops slogan is "God is right inside".

Later went to Mysore Cafe for Mysore Masala and Khotto Idli and then to AB for some genuine coffee. Im told that the AB's coffee is the strongest - and perhaps better than Cafe Madras or Mysore Cafe.

All this in Bombay ?

(Yes, in Bombay ... Not Madras, Not Mysore, but at good old Kings Circle [ also known as Maheswari Udyan to the BEST staffers ] i.e. Matunga)

Perhaps education is the problem

2005-11-16T11:45:00.000+05:30

Travel in a crowded bus or train and you will hear all kinds of harrassed, disgruntled commuters who will be busy swearing and more importantly "theorising" on the reasons for all the rush and inconevniece in Bombay. Amongst the popular reasons that are given some are : UP/Bihar has downloaded most of their natives into Bombay, Bangladeshis roam freely in the guise of being Bengalis, traffic is too much, IR is cancelling trains at will etc. In the heat of these moments , during rush hours, many times during a tiff with co-passengers one also hears such statments like - "itne padhe likhe hone ke baad bhi itna akkal nahi hai kya tereko"( "Dont you have basic sense inspite of being educated") or some variation of this "padhe likhe" ("education") theme. These comments are usually reserved for the "white-collared" kinds of lookalikes.

Now think again. Perhaps education is the problem itself. Assuming that the white-collar was indeed educated and thereafter has put himself/herself in such a situation, then it does mean that perhaps the white-collars education must have had some "influence" on the behaviour of that individual. Many times you see that apparently uneducated looking people keep their cool and senses better than the "padhe likhe" types. There used to be a t-shirt that urchins usually wore and which said - "i was born intelligent but education killed me" or something like that. Perhaps, a lot of sense in those words.

So, having a B.Tech or a D.Litt against your name doesnt automatically gift you with the powers of sanity and civility. You still have to make a hell lot of effort to stay civilised and to live life without doing anything stupid or harming others. It does take some effort to do that.

Perhaps it would help if B.Tech and D.Litt curricula are so amended so as to keep these breeds safe. In other words the "padhe likhe" safe.

Former 7 times national champion

2005-11-16T11:39:00.000+05:30

A few days back I had the opportunity to meet a former seven times national champion who also represented India at several topmost events. It was a good meeting. The champion was rather unassuming and was modest - no airs or anything. Its been years since the player stopped playing professionally, but still is involved with the game, by way of coaching youngsters on a full time basis.

River flows back from the south

2005-11-14T13:41:00.000+05:30

The more adventurous of the two rivers has just returned from a small vacation to Pondicherry and Yercaud. The river felt a little incomplete since the unseasonal heavy rains in the region didnt give too much of scope for photography (only 5 rolls exhausted - he still hasnt gone digital and swears by his old Nikon SLR). Going by the initial descriptions of the trip - it sure looks like Yercaud is a place worth visiting. You need to get to the nearest railhead - i.e. Salem (SA) - and then go up to Y by bus. Its supposed to be a relatively unexplored destination - given that its not on the radar of "normal" touristers. So in a way the scanty crowds are welcome. Did he say scanty ?

The next sojourn is already under planning. Infact initial meetings for the same were held on the 1014 (CBE-SA-CSTM) LTT express itself. Its an obsession with this gang. Its been going on for well over a decade now.

FYI - SA is just about 50-60 kms from ED - thats ERODE, which for some might be a "destination" in itself. With such a large fleet of WDM's, WAP's and WDP's there - it also sure is a place "worth" visiting, besides Y.

Sania T-shirts

2005-11-12T13:56:00.000+05:30

Sania Mirza (you can refer to an earlier post about her) is now I guess in the top 31 in the WTA rankings. Thats good. Being a girl from under-developed, mal-nourished, poverty-striken, land of tigers and snakes., third-world - INDIA. This makes the accomplishment even more significant. Should I say Congratulations ?

Just the other day at Kurle, I saw this kid (must be 14 or 15) - who was wearing this Sania Mirza T-shirt. He looked as if he wouldnt be tell the difference between cricket and tennis - but still was wearing the t-shirt. What is apparent that the marketing guys have gone into their overkill mode. For they too know that old SM exists for a short while only. The same with the media boys. This is just their raw material and they need it to feed themselves. They make a person and thereafter break the same person, when the person has no commercial value left. (See what happened - or will happen - to old Saurav Ganguly) . For by that time some new raw material has come on the scene. Its pretty tough being a celebrity in India.

Make hay while she play.
When she play and if she win, then you make more hay.
And if she has really played then mix her sweat with the hay.
And then the hay will sell for even more.
Its all about making hay, anyway.

Id suggest to the media and the MBA style marketeers - let the poor girl be herself and play and enjoy her game. Dont interfere for heavens sake. You are killing a nation, perhaps, by this process.

BEST bus jumps a stop

2005-11-12T13:28:00.000+05:30

Another case of a BEST bus driver deciding to skip a bus stop.

Date and time : 8 Nov 2005, 7.34 pm
Place : R Centre , Raj Kapoor Chowk
Route No. : 505 Ltd. (Bandra Stn. to CBD Belapur)
Direction : Going from Telecom Factory towards Agarwadi
Bus Reg. No. : MH01-L-8383

What these guys do is that they stop way ahead (more than 100m) of the bus stop in case someone has to get down. Here too the guy did the same thing. Sometimes the driver looks behind to see if someone is yelling or more importantly "writing down" something (most probably the bus reg. no.). In such cases the bus sheepishly stops ahead and they wait for the passenger to run up to the bus and board it. Obvioulsy they are scared of hearing a mouthful later during an enquiry (if it takes place). Though most BEST staffers would urge you to go ahead and "do whatever you like" - and boast that nothing can ever harm them. But in their insides they are churning. Most BEST staffers are too timid to indugle in such daring acts - but they act as if they are Hollywood stuntmen. Quite a pathetic and incompentent bunch of people we have here who run the BEST. And thats something that could change - if we want some improvement in services.

If they sight a blue-topi at a stop - they HAVE to stop. And most recognise the blue-topis even if they are in plain-clothes. But then this is not too much of a detterent. After all blue-topis were also conductors and drivers I guess, in their earlier fitter and healthier days.

Now that I have this data, I plan to proceed ahead and see what comes of it - if I submit a written complaint. The BEST is after all not anybodys private domain. And they are defenitely not doing a favour by plying their buses.

Only if its a marathi speaking passenger

2005-11-12T13:15:00.000+05:30

This is in continuation to my previous post on left luggage in autos. A significant point that came up during discussions with auto-men was that they would only take the trouble to "return" documents and other unimportant (to them) things , only of they figured out that the passenger was a Maharashtrian (assuming a son-of-the-soil was at the wheel). In case its some Southie, or UP-Bhaiyya, or Bonglo, or Far-East 'Chinese' type, or Gujju - then forget even that consolation. But its certain that if money is found then even their own brethen dont get the 'benefit' of their benevolence. I dont know if the natural corollary to all of this - i.e. , for e.g. if its a Gujju driver then he would consider returning things to his Gujju passengers.

Next time you sit in an auto and plan to leave your bags behind, start blabbering in the lingo of the driver. It might just help.

It helps to be a linguist.

(I dont know of any female auto drivers in Bombay. Perhaps their outlook towards left luggage might be a bit more lenient. I guess we should have some female auto drivers in the city. It would perhaps give some female passengers a sense of safety.)

An unscrupulous but honest rickshaw driver

2005-11-09T11:05:00.000+05:30

The other day a relation of one of my friends, was travelling in a rickshaw. After the journey she forgot her all important purse in the vehicle, but remembered to take her hand bag that only contained clothes. This fact however dawned later when the purse was found to be missing.

My friend obviously upset, started making rounds of rickshaw stands and police stations and even asking random rikshaw drivers. As expected nothing came of all this ....

I later was speaking to one of these rickshaw drivers. On hearing the incident he said that consider the purse gone for good. There was no chance of its recovery. He said that most drivers would gladly keep the valuables and money. If there is a hint of honesty in them, theyd probably call up the passenger (if some number is found somewhere in the left behind belongings) - but that too only if it contained some important looking documents like passports etc. Else , in most cases they keep the cash and the stuff. He went on to say how often it was that mobile phones are left behind by passengers. The cases we hear that an honest guy returned the stuff - are all very very rare. It almost never happens. He also said that there was no concept of depositing left luggage in their Auto Union Stands or anything, as compared to perhaps Taxi drivers. Most arent affiliated to any. And if someone does narrow down on them and questions them - they would invariably say that the next passenger might have picked up the bag. Obviously they are not going to risk a vacation in jail for owning up.

He was also candid enough to say, that if it were his own ricksahw - he would do the same. He said that even old clothes left behind are not spared. Most drivers would try to use them or if possible sell them of somewhere. Mobile phones are almost always sold off. It fetches a pretty decent price - and thats a huge bonus for the drivers. He also went on to say that 9 out of 10 drivers - do the same. The rare honest driver - is perhaps just that - RARE.

So ... next time, if you plan to leave your bags behind in a rickshaw - leave a small Greeting Card / Best Wishes Card / Congratulations Card for the driver. It would absolve both of you of any kind of guilt or sadness.

IR mixes it up at Uroli

2005-11-08T16:38:00.000+05:30

Uroli is near Daund, when you move towards Pune. I had earlier mentioned that IR had religiously follwed the policy of the station board naming by putting the local language name on top and then the Hindi and English scripts below. But in the case of Uroli the Marathi name is below. You can see this on the platform on the northern side of the tracks. Not many might have noticed or given any importance to this "error".

Blame it on a cow-belt-native painter perhaps ?

(One of our two rivers might be mighty pleased on seeing this.)

SSJ : Raconteur par excellence

2005-10-31T11:34:00.000+05:30

I'd been to KPHI last week and met a hyper active personality - lets call him SSJ. This post is about him. Now old SSJ is truly what one would call multi-faceted. He can be a doting family man at one moment and an all-out-daring-baring street ruffian at the next. We met him as soon as we reached KPHI by bus. He was all welcoming and all and immediately got down to arranging necessary things. Scooting here and there with high levels of energy - thats SSJ.

He is involved with so many activities that he doesnt have time to tell us all about it. He just goes on and on ... and one cant stop listening to him. He can enliven even a dull place like KPHI. All this stems from his love for life and doing things - keeping busy in both the important and the trivial. This sustains him to the fullest.

He indeed did go out of the way to make our stay rather comfortable. Selfless in a way.

After all what can you cay about a person who ....

... loves the good decent things in life
..... can create a ruckus on the street and also can give his bullies their due - no one dare take him for granted , given his small built.
.... likes gardening - has maintained the garden with a lot of care in his building
... likes to cook - can dish out rather tasty stuff
....... drives like a maniac - but carefully enough so as to not send anybody up
... loves drama - he has even acted in a family pantomine
............ can draw crowds to hear him recite meditation and religious mantras
.... pull off all activities which religious priests do - infact in his town his is sought after during the Ganesh festival
.... can down many lethal alocoholic concoctions at a go - and still walk straight on the road dividers
..... has good command over his computer - and can dish out simple but effective solutions - inspite of the omni-presence of SAP systems in his company
.. loves his friends and goes out of the way to make them comfortable
..... can serve ice-cream to his friends at 3 am at the deserted city bus depot.
.... loves his family and kids
........ converts his disadvantages to his benefit with good effect

... and a lots more - of which I still dont know ....

A nice person to know.

(Thats why they say - develop varied interests - dont get stuck with just your job - or just one thing or vice - theres a lot more to be seen and done that what you already have)

IIT Bombay's Vikrams

2005-10-25T14:34:00.000+05:30

Alt. title : Rust in peace

IIT Bombay used to have these electric three-wheelers that used to run all over the campus. You could halt them on the way by waving your hand and travel to any part of the campus for two rupees. A private contactor used to run these services. It was convenient to the inmates of IIT and since it was electric powered, it was non-polluting. All of a sudden about two years back, the service was suspended. People said that there was some problem with the RTO. Now I dont understand what the RTO has got to do in this. Besides, IIT is also in a way a state controlled place and not anybodys private domain. Anyway the service stopped. And it was back to talking the noisy polluting regular autos - the Bajaj three-wheelers.

Now two and a half years later, I spotted these at the Kurla S.T. Depot, Nehru Nagar, of all places. They were in terrible condition, compared to what they used to be. It was rather dissappointing to see them in such a state. After all they had served the IIT for a good cause and in a good way. This is however the outcome of narrow minded beauraucratic beahviour.

Let the Tum-Tums or Vikrams or whatever you may call them ... let them rest (if not rust) in peace. At Kurla (E) S.T. Depot.

Visit to KPHI (Girivihar)

2005-10-25T10:40:00.000+05:30

KPHI in language of the Indian Railways means "Khopoli". This is a small non-descript town about 80 kms from Bombay (CSTM). Its at the start (Bhor Ghat) of the ghats section of the old Bombay-Poona highway. Khopoli is mainly a small town which serves as a halt for travellers on the Bombay - Lonavala section. Its got a few rudimentary hotels and eating places. Of the business establishments / industry there (i.e., economy of the place) - the prominent ones are the Tata Hydro Electric Power Station (that also provides power to the Railways. Tata's are good - hence the railways do a fine job. God forbid, if the other pvt. player in Mumbai was supplying to the Railways), MUSCO - Mahindra Ugine Steel Co. - that makes steel from scrap iron/steel or something. They have a rather polluting and noisy (at least it looked like that) plant. I really dont know how well this company is doing or what its fate is going to be. After all they run SAP. Another thing about this place is that there used to be a company called PEPCO or something, that was there many years ago here but has now closed down. That company did do a lot for the place. Khopoli was known as "Girivihar" in earlier times. Not much is known about how the name "Khopoli" evolved.

Anyway I was there this Sunday.

I also visited the railway station. A feature of this is that from Palasdhari (PDI) (on the KJT-PA) line to KPHI its a single line track. This is the only section on the entire Mumbai Suburban Rail Netowrk that has a single line. This route was built over 75 years ago, when the TATA's set up their hydro-electric plant. This is the final station on that link. Trains go no further than KPHI. Also, the frequency of CSTM trains from here is quite few (just 2 or 3 in the full day). Totally there are just about 15 services from KPHI, and most operate as shuttle services to KJT.

Aflatoon and Alfatoon

2005-10-21T13:42:00.000+05:30

Aflatoon is a guy who comes over to our place at lunch time to solve crossword puzzles on the net. Alfatoon is a guy who comes over to our place at lunch time to sleep. Alfa has recently got himself a Coolpix 5600 from Alfa, hence the name. Aflatoon gave us two meanings (i. a muslim sweet dish loaded with ghee ii. dhaasoo) of "aflatoon", hence the name. Now one day Alfatoon told Aflatoon that he does the crossword puzzles so fast during lunch only because he has already solved the same puzzle in the mornings - after having spent hours poring over it. Now this hurt Aflatoon so badly that old Aflatoon has stopped solving the puzzles in front of us during lunch, how much ever we try to convince him that Alfatoon didnt mean no harm and it was just said in jest. Alfatoon on the other hand hasnt stopped giggling, ever since. So this is the story of Aflatoon and Alfatoon. The crossword controvery rages on unabated ....

(Alfatoon is one of our two rivers)

Christianity and Islam

2005-10-21T10:28:00.000+05:30

There are lots of similarities between these two religons. One can say they are the same, differing in only the name perhaps. The main controller of these two streams also have similar traits and stories behind them. The preachings are similar - visit your church or mosque or else ... The events of both religons are also similar - fasting in Ramzan and Lent. Both have a single holy place - one is in Jerusalem and the other at Mecca. Both have single books to lead their followers - Koran and Bible. Both are based on a modern day man leading them - Mohammed and Jesus , who actually roamed around in recent times. Another thing is that when both of them were around there was no such thing as Islam or Christianity. They got developed after they vanished. Both preach that intoxication is prohibited. We dont actually know if in earlier times the Big J and the Big M actually indulged in them. (Other religons are pretty candid about their gods taking substances.) Christians dont actually forbid alcohol, but they wouldnt like people to get drunk. Anyway when the church itself dishes out a peg or two to its visitors, this is not surprsing. And visit any Catholic-oriented club like Willingdon Club or Bandra Gym - and see the rivers of booze that flow there. Most Muslims take alcohol on the sly. Both religons have pretty strict practices as far as following their religon is concerned. Both religons readily embrace the practice killing of animals for food.

Their names are also similar.

David -- Dawood
Joseph -- Yousuf
Samuel -- Ismail
Abraham -- Ibrahim
Jacob -- Yakub
Alexander -- Sikander
Mary - Mariam

The KJM WDG 3A 13034

2005-10-18T09:58:00.000+05:30

I was at the door of a WGACCW. Our train had halted for a crossing , somewhere after Belgaum. This is single line territory so trains have to stop by on the loop lines to let others pass. Sometimes you wait, sometimes the other. Soon this train came thundering in. It was powered by a series of 3 WDG's the first one being the one shown alongside. It was a goods train. Engine drivers have been given this light blue shirt / dark blue pants uniform - and most wear them. This guy was waving the green flag as the train passed. You think he saw me. Not at all. At least not while going at above 120 km/h. I was seated at the doorstep, the camera in my hand. In fact I clicked about 0.25 secs late. Anyway next time it will be better. Belgaum - Arsekere is single line and pure WDG/WDM/WDP territory. You see all the HUB locos and the KJM locos zipping around.

Pure Diesel from Krishnarajpuram. (Near SBC).

(I had written in an earlier post that Ill be surrounded by WAG's and WAM's. It should have read WDM's and WDG's. This is deisel territory. No electrics here.)

Bhavi Sule

2005-10-17T12:19:00.000+05:30

I saw Bhavi on the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka. It was a bright sunny day and the wind was blowing in the trees and the vast expanse of green fields. Now there is also supposed to be somewhere close her sister, Dhavi. Im also told (by the Ganges) that Bhavi does cook up a mean idli and wada meal. But when I saw her there was no idli or wada. There was nothing, only Bhavi.

Maybe Bhavi and Dhavi Sule are close relatives of someone I know closely. Maybe. Maybe not. Not all Maharashtrians and Kannadigas know each other. But at the borders they might just do.

Till then, whenever you cross the Maharashtra border , wait for Sulebhavi and Suledhavi and then take a deep breath.

DVD Coach

2005-10-17T11:04:00.000+05:30

Ive just returned from Pune, where Id gone to see someone. I went by a private bus operator ( Neeta Volvo) which is immensly popular on the Bombay-Pune route. The journey takes more than four hours, of which 1.5 hrs are spent in getting out of Bombay. Its only after Panvel when you hit the expressway that you are truly on your way. These Volvo buses move at a speed of over 110 km/h on the expressway, which is something that was unheard of earlier. At least some quality infrastructure in place. And the steep banking of the expressway on turning, indicates the speeds that vehicles go on this route. Anyway for 250 bucks its quite allright. Luckily the bus pases right in front of the place Im supposed to go in Pune, so it was good. I returned by Konduskar, another private bus operator running Volvo buses on this route. Neeta Volvo runs 30 services each way, all day. I just hope that the quality of travel and the maintenance of the buses remains good, else the business is likely to crumble.

All these buses show some current Bollywood flick on the way. Earlier this used to be a novelty - to see a film on the buses' VCR and so many transporters had christened their buses as "Video Coaches". Transporters have moved along with technology and now many have DVD players for the films. And correspondingly have re-christened their services as "DVD Coach" etc.

If one doesnt particularly like Bollywood films (like me) then the film playing on the bus can be a bit of a pain, but then in a 3-4 hr. journey its tolerable.

Also lucliky they didnt stop for too long at the malls and food courts when they have a halt to fill diesel. Maybe they have a tie up on the percentages with the malls/foodcourts on the purchases by our compulsive-spending public. So they are likely to have a long halt at these places. After all its the bucks that are pouring in.

Happy Dassera

2005-10-12T09:39:00.000+05:30

Here are some greetings for those who like to be greeted. The festival is also known as Vijayadashmi (victory on the tenth day) It also marks the end of the "exploits" of young boys during a nine-day Navratri (nine nights) festival - in which they sweat for hours with the girls. They have a licence to do so during this time and most make the most of it.

Happy Dassera
Happy Dasara
Happy Dushera
Happy Dasera

This is a festival where according to some story, a guy called Ravan was killed by another guy called Ram and his brother Laxman. They did so after hunting out old Ravan who had taken Rams wife away or something. So when old Ravan was killed, they celebrated this festival. Ravan was supposed to be bad and Ram was supposed to be good. So I guess that just leaves Laxman as the frustrated one.

This reflects reality .... we have three types of people in real life ..

The Good
The bad
The Frustrated (Frustoos)

Do see the Ravan's go up in flames. People do get a kick seeing this one. As if your sworn enemy is in there.

Ahmed Ali and Rizwan

2005-10-12T09:17:00.000+05:30

Last week on my way back I met these two giants on the train in the Udyan WGACCW coach. Their built, language and the way they conducted themselves was intimidating (to put it mildly). Ahmed Ali is a kind of guy you wont want to mess with even if you yourself are the leader of some gang or something. And his companion (fondly called Chote, meaning small) was equally ferocious. Later as the journey progressed it turned out that they were pretty polished and that their aggresive exterior was not a reflection of their way of life.

Anyway ill be posting lots more on these two.

To be completed.

Idlis of Arsekere

2005-10-10T17:48:00.000+05:30

Arsekere is a railway station when you go from Bombay to Karnataka. From there two lines branch out - one to Bangalore and one towards Hassan and thereafter towards Mysore. Now, last week, I was travelling in this 2AC coach and with me was this jerk (who I had tolerated all this while right from Bombay). He had kept harping about how delicious and great the idlis were at Arsekere station. No wonder, that as soon as the train halted at Arsekere, Jerk rushed out to get his idlis. He yelled out to me to come along too. Since I had nothing better to do, I too went. Jerk got himself two plates (bowls made out of folded leaves) of idlis, i.e. 8 in all. With chutney and all. I got a plate for myself too. I agree they were indeed good. Then when he had cleaned his plate, he started telling me that this time the idli's were not that "hot" and the chutney could have been better. Anyway by looking at the way people were rushing upto the stall to get their idlis, I could tell that it was something to look forward too. In any case old Jerk at least introduced me to the "Idlis of Arsekere" and so next time if I happen to pass the place, Ill get myself a plate without fail. (It also depends on where your coach lands up on the station - with trains having more than 15 coaches these days, you can be far off from this stall. And with a stoppage time of just under 5 mins. it can be touch and go.)

So next time if you too happen to pass by Arsekere, look out for the idlis, and have a plate. they have medu-wadas too, though.

(4 idlis for Rs. 10, or 2 idlis and 2 medu-wadas for the same price)

WAG and WDM

2005-10-04T15:40:00.000+05:30

The rest of the week will be spent near WAG's and WDM's. So till next week I'd suggest that you re-read the WGFA posts and recuperate your thoughts (from my earlier posts, obviously) , to be ready for the forthcoming onslaught of posts and pictures.

Station naming controversy

2005-10-04T15:15:00.000+05:30

(This post may be offensive to some sections of society)

One of the two rivers is a staunch "localite". He has been harping on the fact that railway stations in Maharashtra write the name of the station in Marathi, below the Hindi (national language) text. This was proved to be outright incorrect, since the Indian Railways has the policy of wrting the name of the station (on top of the board) in the local language and the Hindi and English texts follow beneath. Now the river was not able to understand this. He was insisting that the non-Maharashtrain influence has led to the railways here to write the names in Hindi on top, and in Marathi below. Anyway even after sufficient pictorial proof of station boards in Maharashtra, the river was not ready to chew his words. All across the country the same rule is followed by the railways - the name of the station in the local language script on top, followed by the name in the Devanagri and English scripts. (If anyone can provide proof of this rule being violated anywhere in Maharashtra, please do so).

Looks like the self styled locals are begining to feel the heat. With our country becoming more and more cosmopolitian by the day, you see a eclectic mixture of communities residing next to each other. And this cant be helped. Locals feel they are getting upsurped, and maybe rightly so. There was a post on prominent Maharashtrians, and the list was not long at all. That itself is sufficient proof. The bottom line is do something constructive that will outlast time - the locals should get that ingrained in their minds. Dont just sit and worship false heroes and politicians by looking upto them whenever you are out in the cold.

After all the real true authentic original Bombay insiders are the ones (like meeeee !!!!!!) born on the BOMBAY island (of the seven original Islands of Bombay). People from anyplace else, be it Salsette, Trombay dont qualify.

(The word "locals" in this post is to be read as "self-styled locals")

He He Heh Heh Ho Ho.