Try Us - Bangalore Autorickshaws

Bangalore has been a home for me for that last two years. But I still don't possess a bike or a car and not even a bicycle. So, the only option for me to do all my traveling is either by BMTC buses or the Autorickshaws. Well, my office is not very far, I normally walk to and from the office (a total of 4kms of walking daily). Any Bangalorian would agree with me, that for short distances (<4kms), walking is the best option. You can save time, money, energy and most importantly your mental peace.

But, what if, in Bangalore, you want to travel to a place which is more than 4kms? Which would be the best option for you then? Buses!!!! Naaaah!!!!! They are over-crowded.

What about autorickshaws??? Well, they are plentily available everywhere, all the year round, 24hrs a day waiting for people like us, who don't want to sweat or get wet in the slight drizzles, or just want to reach home as soon as possible.

Here are some of the conversations that I have had with the Autowalas of Bangalore during my stay here. The conversations are mostly in Hindi, since I don't know the local language very well. "Kanada Gothilla".

Act 1 Scene 1 -
Me : Bhaiya, MG Jaoge??
Autowala : Nahi.
Me : Kahan jaoge??

Act 1 Scene 2 -
Me : Bhaiya, Kormangala jaoge?
Autowala : Saab, One and a half meter lagega. (At noon ????)
Me : Bahiya....Half meter me chaloge to bolo.

Act 1 Scene 3 -
Me : Bhaiya, Airport chaloge?
Autowala : Kaunse raste se jaana hai?
Me : Aapko rasta nahi maalum?
Autowala : Malum hai, 200 rs lagenge.
Me : Kyun, Airport to 10 km hai, to 70 ke aas pass lagne chahiye.
Autowala : Saab, wahan se koi aata nahi wapas . (Incoming band hai kya!!!!!!!!!)

Act 1 Scene 4 -
Me : Bhaiya, Marathalli chaloge?
Autowala : Meter pe 20 rs extra lagenge.
Me : Kyun?
Autowala : Saab, baaki sabka analog meters hain, unke meter me har km ke 50 paisa kam lagta hai, mera digital meter hai, ekdum perfect reading deta hai.

Act 1 Scene 5 -
Me : Bhaiya, Kitna hua?
Autowala : 45 rs.
Me : Par meter me to 42 dikha raha hai.
Autowala : Saab, itna traffic tha.

Act 1 Scene 6 -
Me : Bhaiya, Brigade jaoge?
Autowala : Meter pe 30 rs extra.
Me : Kyun? Abhi to 10 bhi nahi baje.
Autowala : Kya saab, aap to itna kamate ho. 30 rs aapke liye kya hai.

Act 1 Scene 7 -
Me : Bhaiya, Commercial chaloge?
Autowala : Baithiye saab.
Me : Kitna loge?
Autowala : Meter pe saab.
In scenes like this, I always make it a point to tip the autowala. And I enjoy my ride as well, without cursing the traffice, the autowalas, the government, the people but instead, looking forward to meet the friend who is waiting for me at Commercial Street.

Some facts -
1. Banglore autos charge the most, Rs 7 per km.
2. The rates become One-half of the meter after 10pm(Officially).
3. The autowalas don't accept 50 paises. Most importantly, we don't have them.
4. Pre-paid autos are costlier, though most people think otherwise.

I am planning to buy a bike very soon. Even though it would add to the traffic, increase pollution, add to the green house gases, increase India's carbon-footprint, raise the temperature of the earth or just to tease those autowalas who took advantage of me not having a bike. What about petrol prices?? Lets see. If riding a bike will be a costly affair, those autowalas won't go anywhere, I can always switch back.

On Bench

The first week on bench was really a bliss. No more waking up early in the morning, no more getting stuck in the traffic, no more managers to report to, and the best part, no WORK!!!!

And the second week, I got the news of my promotion. Though I did not get a substantial hike in my pay, but it was more than what I was expecting. So I was happy, and spent the whole week restructuring my finances, as to where should I spent that little extra amount.

I applied for leave for the whole of the third week, and getting it approved was not much of a problem. Any lame excuse would have worked, since I was basically not doing anything. The whole week, I slept and slept and slept, and did some studying, which was the basic purpose for which I had planned this 5-day off. Studying 10 hours a day is not a child's play.

And now, its the fourth week, and I am writing this. It is Tuesday, and I don't know what I will be doing for the rest of the week. 15th (Friday) is a national holiday, great!!!! Some more hours of sleep will not harm anyone. I just have to see off these 2 and a half days, and then the Weekend will finally wake me up.

Great Election Campaigns

What kind of an advertisement is this? Is the Government doing favours when it devises policies for the welfare of people? This ad appeared in The Times of India. I was really shocked as to how the Government is portraying and publicizing their work. Is this their "Gift" to us?

I am not a supporter of any specific political party, but it really pains me to see such ads appearing everywhere. Every party has the right to do bring out campaigns for the upcoming elections, but don't they need to be careful. In another article published in a well known newspaper, there was a photograph of yet another leader distrbuting food to children, and a long write-up mentioning how kind the Government is. Is this how the Government wants its votes?

Yahoo Chat's BOTs

I don't remember when was the last time I had logged into Yahoo Messenger.

Recently, I deleted my Orkut account. Duh....Feel so bad about it, but anyway, had to do what I had to do. I can feel the difference in my life without Orkut.
"When I open up my browser, I now always have to think for 2 minutes, which site I should go for. LOL....It had always been Orkut, but now, I don't want to give the Googlers, no more "Ad-Revenues". "

Well, isn't "Blogger", a trap by Google to earn more money just from "Ads". And what about "Gmail", "iGoogle", etc, everything associated with Google also has those unwanted and un-friendly ads coming up before you.

But Google is flourishing, and so is its "Ads" business. And I am not against Google's strategies or its sources of income. What I wanted to talk about actually was about "Yahoo Chat Rooms". All these things about Google just surfaced inside my brain, and I thought I would club these thoughts with this post, thus reducing the number of blogs I write, and thus reducing Google's revenue. LOL

Ok...Now about Yahoo Chat Rooms. Today, each and every chat room is contaminated with "BOTS" and only "BOTS". What a place it used to be some 5 years ago. A perfect place for "Netizens" for perfect Time Pass.

A perfect place of anonymity: for youngsters who wanted to make new friends, video chat, voice chat and so on. I also tried all these for a few days, but it didn't interest me much. But, there were lots of my friends who were completely addicted to these things. But when I logged into one of the rooms, I was horrified at what I was looking at. BOTs everywhere!!!.....It took me around one hour and lots of different rooms to find just 1 real person there....What a pity....Yahoo has lost this unique place on the NET to these damn BOTs.

With the “captcha” stunt also, Yahoo still hasn’t been able to fend off even a single BOT.

Please don’t log onto Yahoo chat rooms. If you ever happen to enter those rooms, just for a break, I would suggest you should stop looking for real people there. Rather, I found it quite funny and interesting to have a chat with BOTs. And if you want to make it a playground, just try separating the BOTs from the REALs based on your chat conversations with them. And if you happen to find a REAL one at-last, you will definitely feel ecstatic.

But what about Google? Google doesn’t have a chat room. Well, that is one of the things which Google doesn’t have and Yahoo does. Shouldn’t Yahoo try to make these chat rooms more “REAL” and keep its users before Google comes up something like this. Please Yahoo, try hard, before Google reads this post.

And it RAINED!!!!!

It has been a long and tiresome summer in Bangalore. And at-last, the rain Gods had waken up. The heat and the sweat had become unbearable for me. Though I have seen much severe summers than this in the north, Kurukshetra, the heat just doesn't suit me.

As I walked out of the AC encloser of my office, it was still hot outside. But suddenly, everything changed as I descended down the last stairs of the office building. The sweat dried up in seconds. Chilling winds, lightening, and the dark sky belittled all the tension and exhaustion that had gathered in me after 10 long hours of monotonous and futile work. I wished the rains to come down with full vigour and not stop for days. I wished I had a bike and go back up home riding, getting wet. I wished I would stop somewhere, all drenched up, to have a hot cup of tea. I wished when I reach home, someone would open the door, and shout at me for getting wet. I wished, wished and wished for 5 minutes. But, I had to return back to the reality.

I had a phone in my pocket which should be protected from the rain. I had some important official documents(not so important) that would have been destroyed if I had to ride back on my bike. And then, there will be nobody at my PG to open the door for me and shout at me for getting wet. Though I was happy that it was about to rain and I wished I would stand under the rains and embrace the rain drops, simultaneously, I was thinking about the consequences of getting wet. I also had a minor cold which would have aggravated if my wishes would have come true. I had to come to office the next day in any case for some important work(not so important).

And then I realized, they all were wishes. None of them could have come true today. Even if I wanted to get wet, I couldn't have, since I had to board my office shuttle to go back home (13kms), I couldn't have walked that distance. I didn't have a bike and I was in Bangalore, away from home, nobody waiting for me at home.

When I boarded the shuttle, it started raining heavily. And inside the shuttle, it was hot and humid. Everyone had closed the windows. They obviously didn't want the rain, at-least not before they reach their safe homes. And in minutes, I was completely drenched in sweat.


Weren't my wishes very simple? Would anyone have lost anything, if my wishes were to be fulfilled? Would anyone have felt good, if my wishes were fulfilled? Would anyone have felt bad about it? I can think of only one answer to all these questions, "NO".