What I saw.....

Date : 28th May 2013, Place : BLR, Time : 8 AM to 6 PM


These are different scenes what I saw on this day and started thinking what will be running behind these scenes & minds....

Disclaimer...People whom I saw are real but scenes are imaginary...

Security guard at the apartment: Making note of the vehicle which came in and taking necessary signature in the entry book...with no expressions on the face except that why is the pen not writing properly.

A coffee boy : Making tea coffee on continuous basis...fed up with long standing....thinking when is his next coffee break !!!

Office assistant lady : Cleaning the table in the cafeteria at her best ....thinking when will her gold chit will finish

Team lead calling his team member on the cell : When will you finish that report which I had asked ? We need to discuss on it once you are ready....everybody wants to fill their PPT.

Manger walking unprepared for a meeting : Covering up the mess as he knows he has run past the dead line... WIP, we have looked in the data and have asked for additional details

Vegetable vendor : Mixing and arranging the old and fresh vegetables on the shelves in such a way that old items should be sold as well......raining the price of carrot 5 rs per KG as soon as a person came in car to buy the same....

Interviewee : A young chap has come a technical servicing help desk job...has finished his two rounds and waiting for the results....standing in the bay and praying his favorite god as the interviewer is shortly announcing the results.

Supplier : A pantry supplier making an invoice, listing out all the items required and making rough calculation about the money....thinking why so much milk is been consumed by coffee boy...suspecting any fishy act...

Client visit : A group of clients visit the IT giant delivery center and pass through the floor...glaring at the folks who work for his account....think how secure our data is & how much more we can save by outsourcing...

A smoker : Taking a deep puff and enjoying the moment...but brain calculating something and helping him to decide something....he nodding the head in agreement with the brain....

Life goes on...one more day crossed in the calendar....

Good to read Websites

http://www.ted.com :
This has videos and articles on new technology, ideas, innovations, management tips & speeches from inspirational personalities. Really worth visiting than sitting and gossiping man

http://www.fastcompany.com/
This is a new site which I came across. I wonder who does so many analysis and come up with articles which amazes. Normally more of companies and business articles and for sure calls out for a visit.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
Pure gossip and time pass website as per my view. when I am mind blank i try to visit this and take a lungful of air. Makes me wonder where does people have so much time to make blunders.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/
This is an amazing site to put yourself across different self defining tests. Visit to experience something different. Example tests : Get yourself hired test, Morality test, Money test. make sure you are prompt enough to get correct results ...lol

http://kannadaprabha.com/editorial
If you can read Kannada, the editorial columns are real worth reading. Try it.

Update me with your list..Chief

10 Rs Note

10 Rs Note Recently my colleague handed over me a crisp and fresh 10 Rs note which grabbed my attention and i started noting down few things....

The note has :

I) 1 signature from the RBI Governor Subbarao. Gandhi's name is written in Hindi & English
II) 2 images of Gandhi
III) 4 animals : Tiger , Elephant, Rhino & Lion
IV) Tiger has 8 teeth
V) 2 symbols - a ) 4 lions b ) RBI symbol of tiger standing next to a tree
VI) 3 + 6 is the serial number naming convention followed
VII) The note is guaranteed by the Central Govt of India
VIII) Numeric 10 written 8 times IX. Denomination of the note is written in 15 regional languages + Hindi + English

Many of the precious things in this world are available free

This is so so true. It’s one of the dialogues from the movie which I was watching recently. It made me really think again and felt like how come I never observed. We never paid for any of these services but ended up paying a huge price due to our greediness. Let’s see some of the things which came free without any price tag. Water: In many forms and names, River, rain, ocean, pond, lake. As we polluted everything, shelling out hell a lot of money to buy pure bottled water, Shame. Light: Sun light, moon light. We build house as shells as cities are so crowded and ended up using tube lights. Air: Very poor condition. We are surrounded by air condition. Minds and lungs getting filled with carbon di oxide. Selling our carbon print value to other nations so that they can go ahead and pollute a bit more. Look at some of the activity which we can do with no bills : A walk / jog : Even to the nearest shop we take out our bike or car where as we pay good amount and join gym and like to walk on the tread mill. Talking: This I think we over use. We don’t talk when its required, talk on a length when its not required. Sometimes just for the sake of it and end up hurting someone. Funny Smiling: We laugh at others but hardly smile at people we come across. Without any reason we carry a stiff face. Common guys, smile it out, you will get it back. I am thinking how best I can change myself for the betterment. Constant improvement exercise.

4 by 4 Shops

We all have seen it. At least once in this life time we have visited them. Around 85% of them don’t have names, 50% of them run by families who work in shifts & around 25% of them owned by a single guy who stays in the shop only. They are called convenience stores, as they are located normally in the corner of a road and operate on a very local basis. Opens at 5 AM & closes at around 11 PM, even the breakfast and lunch will be consumed in the shop only. If you observe, most of these shops operate in a very similar model. Normally that guy will have a TVS moped or updated to Honda active bike. Gets all his goods from the market and sells it at a small profit. Shampoo to sun flower oil, blade to biscuits, you get most of the things which required for your daily life. Milk, news paper, chocolates, cigarettes, coffee and tea powder, banana, bottled water, coconut oil, tissues, tomato, green chilies, eggs, tea, soft drinks, bun, bread, pan masala, note books, pen , pencil, eraser, rubber bands, plastic covers, tooth brush, tooth paste, tennis ball, facial creams, plastic plates and spoons, noodles, readymade mixes, chips and snacks of all sorts, bubble gum, curds, lemon, band aids, balloons, scissors, bindi packets, crocin, cockroach killer, mosquito coils, peanuts, battery cells….list goes on……… And the normal scene around these shops are like A guys walks in surrounded by few dogs, who will buy bun or biscuits and gives away to the dogs A gang of 5 to 6 collage goers, sitting near the shop, bikes parked and smoking continuously. A middle age man comes and buys a milk packet ,no feelings on the face. A kid comes with handful of change and ask for a chocolate and the shop keeper counting the coins. Shop keeper busy arranging the stuffs We all been there. We all have bought something or the other….

Bus to Work

I thought of coming to work by bus today and did so. It’s the first time I tried to come by bus to EGL location from my new house. I was hesitant to come by bus all these days thinking it will be difficult, but it was not as I thought. Whenever I was passing through the bus stand I was feeling guilty of not using it and today somehow I thought of coming over it and it worked. For sure it’s cheaper than coming by car. All it asked for is a little bit more discipline and timing. Only negative thing was being scared of pick pocket and mobile theft throughout the journey. It gave me a good time to think and relax. Lot of observation was possible which one can’t do while driving himself. Building looked new and was able to observe things in details. Route was different so came to know some new roads. And the scene inside bus was also pretty happening. People going to work, students going to college, pretty old people don’t know where they were going. For some it’s a usual route so they were either off to sleep or had a face with no feeling. Some were asking addresses and looking out of the window just to make sure they don’t skip there station. People who were dozing were pretty fun to watch they were falling off in all the directions. Bus driver was totally not in to what is happening inside the bus and was driving the bus like a robot with no feelings. All his worry was to reach the station safely, which is what really needed. He looked as if he did this daily from past so many years and might do for some more years to come. I was thinking how we crib about routine work and felt that I am playing unfair. I got down in my stop. Bus moved on ….. Life moves on….

Funny Questions

On day to day basis a lot of questions will be thrown at us by the people whom we meet. For some we will have ready answers, for some we think and answer, some will be yes or no types, some you can’t answer, and some you don’t want to answer, some you will ignore. For some of the questions, you will literally would like to answer in a different way but will hold your tongue and end up saying something. Below are such questions and answer and I wish I could say so:

You will go to someone’s house and they will ask “Oh you came just now?” Then what, why will I come yesterday only and sleep in their footpath and get up and visit them now? We will foolishly end up saying “Yeah” and give a half moon smile.

On a weekend, you would have gone to watch a movie and might come across a friend during the interval. He will for dam sure will ask “Oh, you have come to see the movie ya?”. Boss what do you think I am doing in the theater? Do you think am selling Pop Corn here?

May be you will be visit some place and from some corner of earth one of your known guy will jump in front of you and ask ‘ Oh , how come you here?”. You will feel like saying - What do you mean chief? Is Am not supposed to come here? Is it a crime to come here? If so what are you doing here?

Take Away : Don’t simply shoot question. You might have the answer already.

Simply the best

I was just observing a person in my office today. I don’t know his name. His job is to take care of all the plants inside the building. I am sure he is been asked to come in neat dress, shaved and well maintained hair cut as this is a corporate building and has lot of customer visit. Believe me I was astonished. He was in his best attire, doesn’t mean he was wearing expensive stuffs but whatever he was wearing he had done his best. I am sure he might be reaching the office through the public transport and I think he will be travelling from a longer distance to reach the office considering the high rental near the business park. He was very shy walking through the desk. Mainly he had concern of not to disturb the people on the floor. While watering the pots he had utter care not drop any water outside and making sure not to make any noise. He was simply best in his job and feel lot to learn from him.

One Minute, One Moment...........

It was around 11 PM, Saturday, 9th April 2011. TV was on and nothing interesting was coming through. Fan was in full swing as it was bit hot. Bruce was playing with his toy plane. Without my knowledge I stated recollecting the whole day’s event. It was a quiet and normal day with no major achievements and happenings.

Then this thought came to me,

How can we pass that one particular minute / moment / incident without really saying what we never wanted to say, without doing what we never intended to do. Just that particular minute which is so crucial which changes our thought, image, respect, patience and make us regret what we did.

It might be because of wrong bench mark, example, company or place. It’s just that we have to win over that particular moment and it makes a lot a difference to the whole situation. How do I do it? If I am able to answer this, I think I will win the match of life. Is it to ignore? To flee from the place? Argue and win the argument? Act like Buddha ?

This is what Dr Stephen Covey has said:

If someone says something negative about you, do not be a sponge. Let the attack roll off like water on glass. You do not have to let the negative comments affect you.

React properly and it will not ruin your day. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, or getting stressed out.

How do you react if someone cuts you off in the traffic? Do you lose your temper? Pound on the steering wheel? (a friend of mine had the steering wheel fall off), Do you curse? Does your blood pressure skyrocket? Who cares if you arrive 10 seconds later at work? Why let the cars ruin your drive?

It only takes willpower to give ourselves permission to make the experience. Absolutely everything we do, give, say, or even think, it's like a Boomerang. It will come back to us.

If we want to receive, we need to learn to give first. Maybe we will end with our hands empty, but our heart will be filled with love. And those who love life, have that feeling marked in their hearts.

Well said isn’t? After all he is Dr, Stephen Covey. Difficult to put this is in to practice but not Impossible !!!

Anna Hazare Sir - Jai Ho

Dear Anna Hazare Sir,
What a move for the Nation. Tons of salutes to you sir.

Common man as usual ignorant, observer, sympathizer and sitting quite. We are all affected, frustrated, and shameful by corruption but Silent. But this time a slight change is seen around. People are coming out giving complete support. Thanks to Anna sir. Will this solve India’s corruption? I don’t think so, but definitely a good move towards stopping corruption.

If we want to see our nation a Super power in a decade or two, corruption has to be addressed and a fair system to be in place. We all know India is doing slow and steady move in Science & technology, supplying Skilled Human resource to the whole world but at the same time corruption is all over us. Parliament, Hospitals, Schools, Govt Offices are breeding and breathing corruption. We are ruled by Raja, Lalu, Jayalalitha, Sharad Pawar, Yeddi, Gowda of this world who are hungry & shameless with a great digestive system to swallow the breakfast, lunch and dinner in one shot, wash the plate and be ready for the next meal.

We all have a role to play, directly or in directly.

Common Man: Spread the awareness. Talk about Anna Hazare. Make him your Role model. Educate kids on corruption. Communicate and motivate people through blogs, face book, mails, Hand outs, participate in any movement or protest happening around you.

Media: World Cup is over. Please give some attention to Anti corruption movement . Live Telecast, Conduct forums, talk shows. We have seen enough advertisements and stupid reality shows.

Politicians: I don’t know what to tell you guys cause neither you will listen nor you will understand.

Celebrities: You are also a Common Man. Follow the common man for a change.

What is Jan Lokpal Bill?

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/what-is-the-jan-lokpal-bill-why-its-important-96600

Just like that.........

1
Sab Dikane ke liye !!! We are living a reality show………..
pad ke dikao, karke dikao,
kamake dikao, achive karke dikao,
usko dikao, issko dikao,
bada banke dikao - Offcourse we all grow !
nam roshan karke dikao - switch on the lights mate
what is the Limit, damit
2
Zindagi roz hamare class lethi hi !!!
small quiz, quick question,
some FAQs, some never heard,
...few don't have answers, few will just fly above the head,
kam karo, kalo, sojao,
break ke bad..............Zindagi roz hamare class lethi hi !!!

In search of a Mentor

From many days I am in search of a person – a master who can direct, teach, share, scold, make me listen, convince with facts, enlighten, destroy the evil in me and make me more sensible, productive, knowledgeable, humble, richer and happier.

I think each of us at one point of time get stuck where we become kind of brain dead. We will struggle to take even a smallest decision. Sort of dead end where nothing flashes. No matter what you do, how much ever u think, no use. That’s when the mentor / master will come in to picture. Who can see the situation as an outsider, analyze, use his experience and give us the helping hand, show us the direction. Just like someone throws a big rope when you are getting sucked up in the Quick sand.

Sometime when we are supposed take some big decision in our life, which can change your life, put you on to some new road, a new direction ,a new world all together, make you prosperous, healthier, happier and proud. Then your mind will say “ Why don’t you take a second opinion ?”. Stuck, Big time. Whom to ask ? Who can think out of the box ? Who can think in your favour and still be non jealous? Who can guide you properly? Who has already done this? I think that’s when we need the mentor / master whom we can simply believe and go ahead.
I am greatly in search on one. Don’t know when I get? Where I get ?Will I ever get ? . Think time is the answer. Till then the search is on.

Anyway there is a link in which you can register yourself for the Mentoring activity. I tried once and for sometime the link was down. I should try again.

Lets share what we have, Lets gain by sharing.

https://mentortogether.org

The More I think..........

The more I think, more I get lost, more I get lost, more questions comes to the mind. Questions make me think again and again. On many times it’s so strange that we try to get our mind out of something but we end up getting sucked up more in to it. Like a quick sand.
I had a long gap from writing as I was getting stupidly busy every weekend. Many things came to my mind to write up , but never worked out. Now a days I am in the loop of Constant improvement, after getting inspired by reading an article on KAIZEN, a Japanese technique for constant improvement. I believe we can easily adopt it to any scenario of our life and see good results. Currently I am taking one step at a time and doing the internal study of myself and analyzing improvement points. Long way to go.

Also I am trying to make few smaller changes in my life style and for sure seeing lot of changes helping me to do things better, live better & think better. As a first step I am trying to eat how much ever is required than how much is left & this is for sure helping me stay alert and quick.

Now a days I am lacking big time on self motivation which is resulting in STAY order on my small dreams of learning Flute, Namaz & Swimming. Need to shake and shake up and wake up and start doing things. Also I am not meeting new people, not making new contacts, new friends and before this I have to refresh my current contact list at least with a friendly call.

I recently got this message and I think it’s a good one:
Always two bulls will be fighting in our mind. The Good and the Bad. The one which wins is the one you feed more .True isn’t?

Why don’t you read this mate !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_Improvement_Process

End of the World

I am not sure ( I think no body is !) the " End of the world" incident happens or not at 2012 but I believe in the concept of Whatever happens , happens for good. And more over I think, we are all waiting for a change, wishing for something to end, dreaming of some new things to start and if this is what 21st Dec 2012 offers, don't you thing we should welcome this with a smile ? I am all exited.

My request / pray to God is " Please let it happen ". We have seen enough crime, discrimination, hate, pollution, population, cry, poverty. Its not that the present world has nothing to offer good things. Of course we have many good things happened and happening on the daily basis. The concern is that , bad things taking over good things, bad people ruling good ones, rich treating poor as nothing.

I get exited when I think of life after 2012. what if we all born again , going back to Stone age, we hunt to eat, no pollution, walk long distance, drink pure water from the streams, stay together as a community, start to learn things , no cheating , no hate. Of course there will be no movies, no IPL matches, no sofas, no coffee days for which we are so used to. That's fine, we never had it when we started. My biggest concern is , there won't be medicines available. My theory to console my self on that point is we will not be having so many deceases as well.

Take Away : Whatever happens, happens for good.

What Keep us going …………….

A cup of coffee
Lightly made, sizzling hot, smelling nice
In front of you, when you open your eyes in the bed

A News Paper
Not very jazzy, not full of lies & gossips
Some meaningful headlines, special articles and mirror view of what’s happening

Healthy Walk
20 or may be 30 mins some time
Feeling the cold wind, a brisk walk which sweats you away

Hot Bath
Not very hot, not very cold
Shower on & it rains on you, washing you and taking all the worries away

A light breakfast
Healthy, tasty (Stupid how can it be healthy & tasty as well ) & ready when you enter the kitchen
Not that you have to cut veggies, u have to fry, you have to mix and no time left to eat

No traffic
No honking, no exchange of words
Green signals, happy traffic cop, wishing you morning & showing the way !!!( too much isn’t?)

Office
Not many mails, not many meetings without any point without any decisions
A tight schedule with regular break, timely pack up, going home with a satisfaction

Many of these
small things, which is not impossible, which doesn’t cost much
keeps us going, waiting for the next day
Sunday, Monday , Tuesday passes away
Leaving a mark of anniversary, b’day or a simple day

Whom to Blame ?

This is my first Short story on the blog. All characters , in fact only character in this story is fictional and if there is any resemblance to yourself , then please consider yourself as fool.
It’s the Sunday, 17th April 2011. Very windy, cold & quite Weekend for most of the people in the small town of Middleborough placed North East of England. Just an Hour drive from the city of Newcastle. But Bob was sweating & smoking continuously throughout the day. His mind was running in many directions, thinking & thinking. He was unable to sit or do anything other than roaming inside the small one bed room house.

First Call
It all started a year ago when he got a call offering Gold Credit Card from NatWest Bank. He was in no mood to take it but got excited when the advisor explained on the 5 % Cash Back offer, 250,000 Pound Credit Limit, 60 Days no interest period, EMI facility to pay back, Transfer of present credit from other cards !!!. He was like, “Let me have one” & signed up the deal. Within a week, the card with his name printed on it arrived to his communication address. He just opened the seal and put it in his card folder in his drawer. If it was only this, there was no need for him to face this day !!!
All was fine until he visited the Hartleepool Electronic Fest over a week end. He saw a Laptop with all the features he ever wanted. He already had one but it was bit slow as it was fully loaded with data & applications. He worked out his financials and realized he will not be able to afford this with his current savings and will take minimum 3 – 4 months to make it up. He lost his peace and then realized he has the brand new Gold credit card ready to swipe & shine. Next day with a single swipe he bought home his dream child laptop and I wish I could have said “He happily lived ever after “.
He did the repayment very promptly but got in to the habit of swiping. His mindset itself changed to an extent that he was ready to afford anything and everything. Thanks to NatWest. Bob bought many more things, some out of necessity and some as an up gradation. As he spent more, he owed more. What he owed was less than what he earned. In his savings he can’t pay back complete due amount. As he dint pay, interest of 17% was thrown on him. He skipped some payments. Extra interest and huge processing fee was added. The total amount was growing & growing. But not the salary. Bob doesn’t play Lotto also!!!

Calls after Calls
When he filled the form initially to apply for the card, with the best of his hand writing skills he has filled his mobile, home and residential numbers as all these were mandatory fields. Now he is repenting what he did. Now he is contactable on his mobile or house landline or Office extension. They call and give deadlines & abuse when he fails to meet. They visit his office during office hours and his home during late nights.
He is wondering what to do !!!


Some of the tips on how to use the Credit Card :
Source : http://www.credit-card-debt-info.com/Tips-for-Using-Your-Credit-Card-Wisely.html

Be credit smart. Applying for a credit card application means you are ready to assume the responsibility for paying your credit. You and only you - not your parents, spouse, or whoever - is responsible for that.
Use your credit cards wisely and sparingly. Remember: Paying goods and services using credit cards are more expensive than using cash or checks. Credit payments include interest and other fees. Use credit cards as sparingly as possible. If you really need to use credit cards, carry only the cards that you will actually use.
Use credit only if you are sure you can repay it fully at the end of the payment cycle. Paying your debt on a credit card using another credit card does not count.
Avoid impulse shopping on your credit card.
Use credit for money emergency only.

Credit Card Facts:
Typical credit cards ask for a number of charges, including:
A finance charge, which is an interest charge for the unpaid portion of your monthly bill;
An annual membership fee;
Or if you're paying after the deadline, there is also a late payment fee which could have a higher interest rate.

Buliding the Life

Building the life :
Recently I read this small story which I would like to share it with you all. Thanks to the unknown author.

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurely life with his wife and enjoy his extended family. He would miss the paycheck each week, but he wanted to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go & asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but over time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career. When the carpenter finished his work, his employer came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-door key to the carpenter and said, "This is your house... my gift to you."The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then, with a shock, we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we would do it much differently.But, you cannot go back. You are the carpenter, and every day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Someone once said, "Life is a do-it-yourself project." Your attitude, and the choices you make today, help build the "house" you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, Build wisely!

How I relate this:
I feel that this story is written for me or by seeing me. If I look back, I have a combinations of hard work, stupidness, ignorance, mistakes, helplessness, over smart, dumb, something different & over friendly characters which has made me what I am today. Most of the time I feel I should have not done something or should have done differently, many times I dint had a clue what I am doing. Was stuck many times to decide “ is am I doing it right or wrong”. Always I wished I had a god father, who could have guided me hour by hour, day & night, Monday to Sunday and I would have simply followed, but that’s not called Life isn’t ?

A small poem from my side: ( OMG, you have to bear a poet as well !!!)
I wish I had an eraser,
really big one,
so that I could have gone back and erased few mistakes,
I wish I had a pen,
very nice one,
so that I could have written something’s very differently,
I don’t have both today,
But my mind says, I can always buy one,
For the rest of the life is the shop called “ Hope”
which never closes & never out of stock !!!

Ganesha Banda.............

Most of us know the story behind the Ganesha festival becoming “Street Friendly “ , if not, a quick briefing : During THE freedom struggle, THE British Raj banned people gathering as a technique to prevent them from getting together and protesting against them. As all issues have a work around, our freedom fighter Mr. Baal Ganghadara Tilak, came up with a smart idea to gather people and pass on the message of freedom by making ganesha fest a public event.
Since childhood, Ganesha has always been a fantasy and a very appealing god to me may be because of the elephant look and being foodie, also two days holiday in a row and the story tales of him made him a superstar god to us.
During my school days, in our whole area, there used to be one or two public events of LORD Ganesha, held for 3 to 7 days attracting a large crowd. We never used to get permission to attend these as we were very little and my mother would always used to fear that we would get lost in the crowd. Once during this festival, as part of the entertainment, they had arranged a film screening in a park and I happily went with my sister without telling at home resulted in my mom searching for hours and at last found me in the crowd, ending in a beating session and I walked out, eyes brimming with tears and a running nose.
So when I was in 6th or 7th standard, all my friends (a gang of around 30 guys), decided to celebrate the event in our street. A guy called “Harisha” became our leader (Qualification: Older than the rest of us& a rowdy) and started giving us instructions on the things to be done. To raise funds we had come up with a lottery system, offering a Mixie, A Table Fan, and Steel Boxes as the prizes. All of us were given a book of 50 chits to sell, each ticket costing RS. 5. As one more technique of fund raising , we had Golkas ( Piggy bank) prepared using old talcum powder and tooth powder boxes, shaking them in front of the pedestrians, not leaving them until they put some money in to it.
As the event was nearing we went to each house on our street for collection, and people gave whatever they could afford to. Had a lot of work to do like cleaning up the area, digging the road for the pillars, getting the idol on a pushing cart, decorating the street with color papers. Guys had such high level energy that each one of us was like built to kill. Any work and every work, no break, no food.
The event was for 3 days and had the orchestra program on the second day, which was the favorite day among all. The last day was the idol immersing day, with a grand procession, where we used to dance and chill for the whole 3 – 4 hrs.
With such a small budget and resources we used to have so much fun, but now we are kind of fixed to a routine life. Most of the guys are in a job earning a decent salary and it’s not a very tough job to do such an event, but we all end up claiming we have “no time” (even then we had 24 hrs only in a day) and act busy. Idea of sharing all this with you came to my mind when last week in Mysore, some guy approached me to buy a lottery ticket for Ganesha Festival. The whole story came to my mind as a piece of nostalgia.

Easy Investment !!!

I was just thinking on this by comparing myself with my nieces and believe me we really came up as a very easy investment to our parents. I know, it’s the matter of time which has made such a huge difference in our life style. Just A few years ago, things which were “really expensive to us, which were in the “can’t afford” list or “why we need that” list are more or less moved in to “very much needed” or “very cheap” or “unable to survive without this” lists.

My parents never had much of A problem raising us. We were so undemanding, not fussy, affordable and content. Our school fee was never a burden. I still remember paying 7RS / Month as fees when I was in 7th Standard. (7 *10 = 70 was the annual fees! Bingo!! And my niece is 5th STD and pays roughly 30K / Year). Parents never had to drop and pick us from school as it was just 2 roads across. They never had to sit with us and make us do home work.

We never had a luxury of owning something ourselves as we always used to get things on sharing basis. It might be toys, bicycle, story books, geometry box, badminton bats, so many things. And being the youngest was literally a curse as things will come to you as 3rd or 4th or 5th ‘handed’ but still I was waiting to own them. I remember having a Hero Rally bicycle, which was used by my father, then passed on to my brother and later given to me. The Cycle was handed over to me with lots of instructions on how to use, when to use, where to take, where not to take, oh many restrictions, but all conditions were agreed by me as I badly wanted the cycle. I was allowed to take the cycle to school only when I came to THE 9th STD !

Later, my sister’s 2nd hand singular seat Luna Kinetic came in to my possession (For some reason I still remember the registration no: CTH 2859). Believe me, I was feeling ON top of world. I used to go for rides only in the evening as my sister used to take it TO work in the day time. I used to agree, to go to the ration mill or to the shops or agree to pay utility bills only because I was allowed to use the Luna for that period. Picking and dropping anyone in the family was also part of my service, to get my hands on the Luna. I had put a sticker on the Luna which was a cartoon face of Azaruddin. The day my dad decided to sell it off as it was not giving much mileage was one of the saddest days in my life.

The other eagerly awaited event in those years was, Diwali. We were never bothered even if we don’t get new clothes (as looks hardly mattered) all we needed was Crackers and only crackers. One day before the fest, my dad used to get the crackers and I don’t know why but he used to arrange them over shelves and curtain boxes, which was AN eye candy for us. He used to distribute the “Anae Pataki” among us (normally comes as a pack of 100, and used to get around 30 as my share) and bursting them by making them double was the most adventurous event for us.
Take Away: To be content.

Letter to CM

Dear CM, Karnataka State,
Hello Sir, I would like to start this letter with my warm regards and respect. I am one among the millions of common people who work hard to earn a decent meal. As a responsible citizen I thought I will write a letter to you, specifying what are our basic requirements and what’s that we look forward and expect from you. I know you have a very busy schedule and thousands like me write to you daily. I would be asking for too much if I expected a reply for this but this is a small exercise to start as a campaign, so that if many like me write, may be due to the huge volume, it might catch your attention.
As Indians, we are all very much used to adjusting with what we have and what I am putting forward here are the basic things, in fact very basic things and all it needs is an honest effort and proper planning.

Our Requests are :
1. Water, decent roads and electricity: There is lot of illegal connection and wastage. If these areas are addressed, the shortage can be met. Awareness program on usage will also add a lot to solve the problem.
2. Basic health centers – Without any expired medicines and with well staffed
3. Public Transport: On time buses, Metro rail in cities and good connection points from one place to another will encourage a lot of people to take up public transport. If you see the trend, now a days lot of people are using the City Volvo services.
4. Cut down your’s, your ministers’ and officers’ travel by introducing Teleconferencing, they are very user friendly to use and saves a lot of your time.
5. Run your Cabinet as a company : Conduct monthly and surprise meetings, review issues and achievements, tag action items to ministers and chase them to close it.
6. Don’t give false statements, fulfill what you have promised: it’s the credibility issue. People are very smart now a days.
7. Bangalore is not Karnataka : Don’t restrict all your visits and plans to only Bangalore & Mysore. North Karnataka and the rural areas are waiting for the basic requirements from A long time. Improvement of those areas and moving some of the administrational works and promoting industries to come up in 3 Tyre Cities will for sure help the localities and automatically reduce the thick cluster of population in and around Bangalore.
8. Staying in Villages : Idea of CM staying in Villages, introduced by Mr Kumarswamy, is a wonderful concept. Request you to continue the same.
9. Education : “ Bisi Oota” and “ Sarva Sikshana Abhiyana” are the currently running very successful programs and request you to continue the same. Also need to urge on improving the quality of education in Govt schools by introducing close to the reality concepts. ( 90% of the things what we studied in school , we never use in our daily life and work, at least not me)
10. Rain Water Harvesting: To be made compulsory at every house, Govt premises, parks ( literally in all the possible places) as we are nearing the water shortage era very soon.

This is what I can think as a very small element of this system.