Hydro crisis..

The rains seem to have finally caught up with in the city after being a recluse for about one month. And as usual my loyalty towards the met department once again took a beating for handing over counterfeit dates about the early onset of monsoons this year..
Blaming the rain gods and the met dept. just seem to be the tip of the iceberg as far as the hydro management crisis in my household or in fact the whole city of Mumbai is concerned.

Unlike countries like Great Britain where the weather seems to the most important topic of discussion over a pint of beer,leisure takes a sorrow turn when our very own lakes start running dry..This now may start seeming more like a environment conservation documentary but the dilemma each monsoon puts us all Indians is certainly way beyond that friendly chilled pint of beer..

The pump machinery in my house ceases to suck in enough water through the pipes anymore and the water crisis deepens not only in the household but also the neighbourhood. To counter this challenge I end up installing an even higher capacity motor pump. But to my sheer disbelief the results are absolutely dismal. All I get is a higher electricity bill with the same old trickling droplets of water in the source pipes..

Just a today ago the harsh truth dawned upon me that about 20 percent of the water is actually wasted by leakage.Now that's comes down to a huge number considering the enormous amounts of the precious liquid consumed by us on a daily basis.At least now I know where exactly the bulk of the supply is getting wasted on the way to my house. Things are not going to improve till the rains play hide and seek with the inhabitants of the nation.Lest the human evolution undergoes a drastic manipulation of genes and enables us to consume saline ocean water,days of a big catastrophe would not be far from now..

Wish the rain Gods spare me and country from a drought and help avert a calamity in the making..For all those around please save water..The end might be near...

Bang on Target!!

Yesterday evening as I stepped outside my house for some household shopping (you tend to do such things when you are absolutely jobless or when you bored staying indoors within the confinement of the four walls(chaar dewarein), I was greeted with the surprise of a lifetime!

Early in the morning (I call 8.30 early), as I suffer from a compulsive disorder of browsing through the pages of our beloved national newspaper 'The Times of India’, the news of pre- monsoon showers on Wednesday by the IMD (Indian Meteorological Department) greeted me. Like any other citizen of the city, sweltering under the torment of our very own nearest star this news certainly brought a smile on my face.

And guess what, by the evening (out on a household shopping spree), I actually felt the impossible event mentioned in the newspaper taking shape. It turned absolutely dark and in a few minutes I saw the first rain droplets of the season come trickling down from the heaven.

Call it an overtly accurate prediction by the IMD or just a fortunate co-incidence for the weather prediction guys; it is definitely a respite for me and my fellow citizens. On an overtly optimistic note I certainly wish the IMD keeps predicting as accurately as they have done yesterday. Armed with Super Computers and the Doppler radars, I hope this wish turns out to be true in the near future and saves us from the deluge of July 2005.

And the loot continues..

Living in the garden city for more than two years has definitely brought myriad experiences to my life.Some good, the rest range from bad to worst.After spending my childhood in a major metropolis like Mumbai the so called pub (or garden city) either way u prefer to call it, does throw up a lot of challenges specially to an ordinary bloke like me who was neither a localite(i mean a Bangalorite) nor a member of the ultra rich luxurious life-styled hip crowd who are used to shopping regularly in malls like 'The Forum' or 'Garuda Mall'.

At this point of song singing about our Bengaluru(as it is called now owing to name changing ceremony held by some of our very intellectual politicians) lets face some harsh ground realities.For an ordinary citizen, from another part of our vastly divided India staying here was not a cake walk.

Starting with the Hosur Road series of flyovers which seems to be under construction since ages(It was my hearts desire to see them completed and zoom to the Electronics City campus in a Company bus in less than 15 mins).However,this dream remained one as I returned to the place where I belong.

Coming back to the main point which really perturbed me was the errant behaviour of the auto-rickshaw drivers.For a harmless travel to say M.G. Road(which is one of the best hang out spots for both the rich and not so rich) from a place called B.T.M(more than 50 % of the IT populace resides in this area) the average fare would be around 55 Rs.However, there is hardly any day of the year when you can actually reach your destination at this fare.Mostly, the auto-rickshaw drivers will negotiate the fare way before you commence your journey on the pot holed streets of 'Namma Bengaluru'.This renders the so called meters absolutely ineffectual.And mind you they seem to be the most intelligent people on the earth.They can recognise that you are not a localite just by looking at your face at first glance.

As an icing on the cake,if it rains then God only save you from the wrath of the drivers.The moment it starts pouring, which is quite common in Bangalore even when its not our usual four month rainy season ,the rickshaw fare just doubles up.That means now a journey that I mentioned before would cost you a cool 100 Rs.Now that's what I call a pure act of day light "Looting". The same also applies when its night time when its actually "Party Time" for the drivers.Whether you belong to the filthy rich section of the society or some ordinary guy working in an ordinary IT Company in an even ordinary designation of Software Engineer,not a single soul is spared.

The main psychology that drives business in the garden city is that "If you cant pay me, someone else will" and definitely you don't deserve my services and better look out for something else that might suit your wallet.

Lest the rickshaw drivers come to know of Mr. Barack Obama's latest policies the ordinary (aam aadmi) as you call them continues to suffer and be at their mercy.
Tata Nano here I come.......

The least we can do...

Not less than two weeks back when Mumbai went to the polls, I decided that unlike last time I would go on to vote.
The polling booth was just a stones throw from my house.I got up early in the morning so that I could avoid standing in the long queues which is a phenomena that we Indians are pretty habituated with by now.It took me just 5 mins to reach the booth and a further 2 mins to register my vote and in the next 5 mins I was back enjoying breakfast at my home.
And I seemed to be delighted.Here I was so proud of my country which was holding the largest democratic elections in the entire world.The long indelible blue ink mark on my finger reinforced the patriotism in my heart as never before.And I thought such a great service I had done to the nation by exercising my franchisee.

Off to West Bengal,a small enclave called Tero Ghoria.For those who don't know what an enclave is,they are territories that are bound on all sides by a foreign country. There are at least 100 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and some 90-odd Bangladeshi enclaves in India, which came into being at the time of Partition.

A sixty year old lady along with 42 other people crossed 2 canals and 7 km on foot to reach the Indian mainland.No, not to earn a living but to vote.Yes, now this is what I call true patriotism.

Coming back to Mumbai,what could we do for the Country on the D-day.We could just like our bindaas attitude manage a meagre 54 % voter turnout.It's an utter disgrace for a society like ours especially for the people of Mumbai where we cant even do the least that we can for our country.The outrage,the rallies, the anger have all dwindled and we are back to what we do best.Move on!

The most common excuse given by us is "The candidates are not good enough".People tend to forget that we do not live in a perfect world and imperfections are bound to creep in to any system.Why shy away from our duties when it comes to exercising our votes and electing the most deserving candidates out of the least deserving ones.

On a personal front,I have decided be it the general elections or be it the local municipality elections I am not going to sit back at home and give out lame excuses like these.Its the least that I can do for the country and the society I stay in.

Tata guns for the middle class again...

Closely on the heels of the launch of the Worlds cheapest car and getting a record 2 lac plus bookings for the 1 lac Nanos, Tata is back again.But this time its something more unique though once more they are after the middle class segment.Last week Tata has launched houses in the low cost segment in a township at Boisar which is 35 km from Nerul,a Mumbai suburb.

For decades the India middle class has been growing and defeating the upper class and the super rich at their own game.From advancing from a two wheeler to a four wheeler Nano now the Tata's have launched homes in the range of 3.9 to 7 lacs.Now that might sound really cheap considering the fact that these are full ownership homes to be bought that too at a place near the Mumbai suburbs.In a city where flats sell in the range of 30 lac plus range,this surely seems to be one more winner from the Tata stable.

According to initial estimates,Tatas expect to sell these houses in the next couple of years for which booking forms have already started selling.And as the sentiment of owning a house which is quite close to the heart of many Mumbaikars this offer is surely up for grabs!
This township from the Indian conglomerate comes at a time when the Global as well as Indian real estate market is going through its roughest patch in past several decades.And ,Tata is still reeling under the pressure of manufacturing Nano cars and delivering it to the customers along with the additional burden of ill timed last years acquisitions of steel maker Corus and luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover units.Recently,Ratan Tata has also admitted that the acquisitions were indeed made at a time when the global markets were at their peaks.After which due to the world wide recessions the same units are worth a lot less than last year.

Coming back to the low end housing scheme, I believe its not that rosy a picture as one would expect it to be.
Firstly,the place chosen is quite far from the mainland City.This would prove to be a bad idea for people who in this case would have to travel around 100 km daily to reach their offices.Second,the infrastructure that we all complain about in the city is even worse as there are not proper roads.Imagine buying a house and then struggling daily to reach there after a tiring day at work.Also Boisar being a manufacturing hub would mean more pollution as compared to some of the greener suburbs of Mumbai.

The fate of this new scheme is something that only time will tell.But as far as Tatas are concerned, till today they have already managed to sell around 3500 forms with each form costing Rs.200 plus a Rs.10,000 booking amount !!