The vicious circle of life

Post inspired by this tag done by Rekha

I am not sure about the future but if I had complete power to script my future I am sure it wouldn’t be like this! If I had some more control I would left more room for hope and happiness.

10 years back

He stared blankly at the books piled in front of him. All the chapters by tonight, his mother had said before she went out to water the plants. Uff! How was he supposed to finish reading, oh no, memorising all those chapters by tonight! Day dreaming was so much fun and he was surely missing doing it now! No he couldn’t regret the time he spent day dreaming now, it was too late. After all, the exams were starting tomorrow, there was no time to spare. He sure hated maths and science but well, thats the way of life. One has to go through the worst – things one wouldn’t otherwise do – just so that others trust in his talents. He had to do it. Back to the books, back to the invisible walls that held him back from being what he actually was – a 11 year old kid who wanted to watch TV, play cricket and have some fun.

Present

He couldn’t believe he had spent one and a half hours travelling mere 20 kms – thanks to Bangalore traffic and the slow buses in the city! Why did he have to live so far and that too when he didn’t have a bike or a car. There was no one to blame, he sighed. Frikkin pollution, he said to himself as he tried unsuccessfully to wipe the dust which now  made his face look like those naughty English kids Enid Blyton wrote about. Smudged with dust and a frown which would put a bull dog to shame, he stood there in front of the mirror. May be a few splashes of water might help, after all this month’s been not all that bad. He had got a new job offer. Soon he would be working in a different organisation and well earn a little more too.

10 years later

“Oh shit!”There was no need for him to hide the frustration actually there was no way he could have hidden it. He was definitely balding. For a guy who was also complimented by his special-somebody for having such nice hair, it was a jolt – more than a jolt. “Nah she is not going to leave me for something as petty as that,” he reassured himself. Now he could see junior playing right outside the window with the dog. “He is spending too much time playing these days. May be I should tell him to study now,” he thought

“Junior….” he called for his son. Junior sure knew what was coming his way. “Why can’t I have some fun. Why can’t parents just let me be,” he said. The dog just blinked

Filed under: Tag, chupchap , Education, family, Future, Life, Past, Present, thoughts, Work

Champions trophy dates shifted

Image via Wikipedia

After England, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and West Indies expressed fear over the security conditions in Pakistan, ICC decided to push back the event by a year. Good decision or bad decision? Irrelevant decision I would say.

Why? Because, Champions trophy never made sense to me, there is World cup which happens every four five years, there is T20 world cup which started just last year and yes there is a ICC Trophy through which two associate countries are selected for the world cup. So why is there a Champions Trophy?

The tournament which began in 1998, and was a big hit because of the shorter duration and the knock-out method of elimination. Now if that style is so cool, then why not get rid present system followed in cricket world cup and use this method there? ICC wouldn’t do that because they stand a chance of earning big-moolah from the tournament!

The only who people who have lost something because of the tournament are Pakistanis. This is not the first time Australia and other “western” cricketing powers have raised objection in playing in areas in the sub-continent. Australia refused to play in Sri Lanka during 96′ WC, they later on canceled a tour in Pak last year (or the year before that) and now they have successfully postponed a tournament which I suspect will happen next year either.

The main reason, Pakistan is still facing a threat of political instability in spite of Musharraf stepping down form his post of President. Now lets say things don’t improve, what then? Will they postpone the tournament indefinitely or would they want the tournament to be held in India? How safe is India, sure army is not going to do a coup-de-tat, but hey we do hear of a bomb explosion in some part of the country or the other. Even we are at war with terrorists every day, so why is Pakistan looked down upon while India is looked upto? Are we in good books just because we are the money minting machine of the ICC, or is there a more political reason to it?Michael Atherton agrees with me

No tears need be shed for the ICC Champions Trophy, a misnomer of a tournament conceived out of pure greed. Like most things with a solely monetary value, it is a worthless affair.

On the other hand Pakistan Cricket Board seems pretty okay with the decision

“We are naturally disappointed but in a way the postponement is a victory for us. Under these circumstances there were only two solutions: either to relocate the event to Sri Lanka or postpone it. “Had it been relocated it would have deprived us of the hosting rights,”

Chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi said

This kinda response is very lame coming from one of the top guys of Pak cricket. Is organising the event all that maters? How about some self respect, would you let a few countries dominate which all tournaments are organised in your country? What would India have done if countries refused to tour India. I am sure we would have started a new tournament and provided solid entertainment for Indian viewers something on line of the recently concluded IPL.

Filed under: Cricket, People, Terrorism , Australia, Cricket, ICC Champions Trophy, India, International Cricket Council, pakistan, Pakistan Cricket Board, Pakistani, politics, South Africa, Sports, Sri Lanka, T20

Just another day at PVR

Image via Wikipedia

My sob story with PVR just doesn’t seem to end. I know my blog is starting to look like a complaint box right now but hey am not the bothering type.

Location: PVR Bangalore

Me: Two tickets for XYZ movie

PVR: For xx:xx show?

Me: Yeah exactly

PVR: L10, L11 seats okay

Me: Perfect

PVR: So that would be Rs 300

Me: You accept card?

PVR: Sure we do,err it’s VISA right?

Me: Hmm nope Maestro, Cirrus

PVR: Sorry sir, we don’t accept

Me: But since when… hmm… never mind.. here is the money (good riddance)

Friend: Psst I think they read your blog.

Me: Thanks I couldn’t feel any better..

(now in mind)

Oh god why why.. in case they had to read my blog why that post.. couldn’t they read my auto-cribbing posts? sob sob

For those who are here for the first time: I had blogged earlier about how I was asked reveal my debit card PIN number while buying tickets there. I don’t know if it’s because of my post or not, they have stopped accepting Maestro cards (which require PIN number to be entered); they accept only VISA cards now!

PS: I guess I should stop giving myself too mcuh credit. May be they had some issue with Maestro after all

Filed under: Bangalore , Bangalore, Cinema, Cirrus, Credit card, Debit card, maestro, MasterCard, Personal identification number, PVR, Visa, XYZ

“We didn’t spam,” CNN

As soon as I finished my last post, I shot a mail to CNN feedback email id expressing my frustration. This was my mail

I never visit CNN website I don’t have an id there. Nor do I subscribe to any news from the
site. Why am I still receiving “news updates”?
From where did you get my email id and who gave you permission to send me mails which
I have no interest in! The funniest part is to disable these mails I need to create an id
now that was my WTF moment of the day. Please I need answers.
If you are not the right person please redirect me to the correct person. (email id pls)

….and to be honest I wasn’t disappointed, as I received a reply from them today morning

Thank you for alerting us to the spam you have received that purports to be from CNN.  As you may know, spammers often disguise or forge the source of their e-mail to give the impression that it derived from the CNN system.  In fact, this message is fraudulent and did not originate from CNN.  We suggest that you delete it, and any other e-mails you suspect to be illegitimate, from your mailbox.

So the suspicion most people raised as comments to my previous post were indeed true. Check this post made by CNN on their blog on this issue (thanks karmalove)

There is another improvement on the issue, Gmail is flagging those mails with warning notes

Check this screen

Filed under: Media , CNN, E-mail address, email, Gmail, Mail, spam

CNN is spamming my inbox

The first thing I do when I go online is check my mail. Why? Because I love reading those spam mails.. It’s interesting you know, someone wants me to sell Britney Spears porn DVD and some want me to sell pills (guess what kind!)

However for the past one week there is one more source trying to “sell” stuff to me. Its none other than media giant CNN who is “selling news” to me.. woah…

The mail says I subscribed to them. Hold on did I? hmm nah none that I can think of. So I decided to disable the alerts and reached the link given at the end of the mail to disbale them. I was redirected to a login page. Well I tried logging in with my email id and guess what CNN site figured!

Apparently my EMAIL IS NOT RECOGNISED.. really? Then how how you are spamming my mail with alerts and blah? Well at this point I was quite confused and didn’t know what to do. So I did the most logical thing under the circumstances – google search. And look what it threw up.

Also am not alone, many others are also being spammed! Any idea whats happening, how it happened?

UPDATE: PROGRESS ON THE ISSUE. CHECK THIS POST

Filed under: Media, chupchap , Britney Spears, CNN, E-mail, google, help, MTV, MTV Video Music Awards, Music, news, News and Media, spam

Money hai to honey hai

This is not a review of Money hai to honey hai, nor is it a post describing how much money one ends up spending on a girl; but more a post on how much money one ends up shelling out in Bangalore. Let it be auto, house or even a small thing as parking space, you have to shell out money, money and more money. I see no end to this lust for money and this is the one thing, which makes me hate this otherwise beautiful city of Bangalore.

credit: morewhat.com

I have lived in this city for more than a year now, I haven’t seen a landlord who demands a reasonable amount for a house, nor have I seen an autodriver who demands nothing more than what is shown on the meter (honest autodrivers exist but very very rare).

Why this greed for money? When did it all start?

Can the tech boom in the city be blamed entirely? Can the rising cost of living be blamed? Are people’s minds here so skewed that they try to cheat someone of his money at the earliest opportunity they get? Is it right to demand more money just because they earn at rates 10 times your salary?

Why do people who crib about “Bangalore changing” and relish good ol’ times, never reform themselves? Do they even reflect on their actions… at their hypocrisy? I say this because most ‘landlords’ I have met till now are pakka Bangaloreans.

Even govt seems to be doing nothing to help, we Bangaloreans shell out most for a litre of petrol; nor have they made any attempts to bring down land-rent rates. I know India is ‘experiencing inflation’ as of now, but this is artificial… manually created inflation.

I know I have raised questions without actually answering any of them.. that’s because I don’t have answers to them. These questions have haunted my mind for long and I wanted to share them with everyone, that’s all. Have answer to my questions? Please feel free to use the comments section…..

Filed under: Bangalore, chupchap , Bangalore, cheat, cost of living, Economic, greed, house, India, landlord, lust, money, petrol, price rise, rant

Another auto post – no cribbing ;)

Having lived in Bangalore for more than a year and having sufered more than a zillion times at the hands of auto guys I am left wondering how their psyche works, how they think. At times they are awfully sweet; at times they are worse than vultures but  hey without them Bangalore would have been a pretty boring, sleepy city. So to help out all confused Bangaloreans and the new comers to Bangalore I present to you a 21st cenury guide to Bengaluru auto driver’s psyche.

NOTICE: I have written way too much about/against auto drivers. This post is just an attempt at trying to understand the way an auto driver’s mind works. Yes, I am trying to justify auto drivers here. You must be thiking I am insane right? I know I surprised myself when I started writing this !

Imgae: wikipedia

Frustu sorts

They feel like the whole world is out to get them. It is his wife somedays, it is the rising fuel prices at other times. Whatever be the case, he has his customers on whom he can take out his frustration. Charging ten rupees extra from them is the norm for him, well yes, he can at least pick an arguement and distract his worried mind for a while at least. (Funda inspired by Fight Club)

The pirates

Life is pretty lousy — read: slow — in the outskirts, in the various hallis (villages) that surround the city we used to and continue to call Bengaluru. And everyone wants a piece of the action that is happening in the Indian silicon valley. So they hop on in their semi-kerosene powered autos and venture into the city making more sound than intended by designed. Once in the city, they catch up with city tradition of rigged metres and ‘double meters’ and pretty soon they are dodging traffic cops and making more dough than the auto guys with permits. But hey they do it only to feed their hungry families back in the ‘hallies’. (Funda inspired by American Gangster)

The PR folk

They don’t care about money, all they care about is developing autodriving into a respectable professional option. As if joining one of the top-brass auto unions in the city wasn’t enough, they make an extra effort to gell with the 2.0 generation. They learn english, give advice on best residential areas and even substitute brokers/house agents at times. At the end of the day, their life is just another mask they wear during various stages of their life.
(Funda inspired by Badsha / Aye Auto — partly)

Sneaky bast**ds

There are a lot of people who accept their fate and take it lying down. Then there is this special breed who want to beak free from all these limitations, and blow away the fate in speed. If one has to drive fast in Bangalore either he has be on NICE road or need to be riding an autorickshaw. These three wheeled vehicles have an uncanny ability to cut and nip acros even the most ridiculous jams. That reminds me of a joke I hear during my childhood. People used to keep their legs close together while waiting on he road side lest an auto pass through them! (eeks bad one I know!!)
(Funda inspired by real life auto drivers)

Home sick

It is very common that auto drivers refuse to go to a destination we intend to go. We are left at times rudely only to abuse them once they leave the scene. We hardly think what must be going through their minds. May be their home is in the opposite direction and they stand no chance of making a profit even after charging double the metre charge. Or may be he just misses his kids, his wife or may be he just wants to take a nap. It’s night after all just like all of us (BPO staff and air hosteses excluded) everyone wants to get home before mid-night!

Camouflage

Imagine you have an auto with tampered metre, the traffic police won’t let you live in peace and you are bound to get shouted at by almost all your passengers. What would you do? Enroll yourself in one of those prepaid stands of course! When there you don’t have to use your metre and still make a few extra rupees on the metre charge and make a good impression on the police. Once pally with a few policemen he can get away always by showing this proof. Sneaky indeed heh!

Well this is an attempt to empathize with auto drivers in Bangalore who we love to hate

Filed under: Bangalore, GTA , auto, Auto rickshaw, Bangalore, Bengaluru, Business process outsourcing, Camouflage, Home sick, India, transport, travel