Back home

After a long stint in UK, I'm back in good ol' Bangalore. In my next posts, will write about my stay there, people i'd met and other things. Had my first winter experience of UK and it was pretty coooooooold! Poor souls, no wonder they fly out so much.. anyway they have the power of the pound:)

Heard that UK had a phenomenal summer this time. Just checked out the weather for London on www.bbc.co.uk/weather. Looks like it'll rain. So all's well & normal in that region after all:)

Never thought of travel this way!

Was going through a travel web site(www.writtenroad.com). Found this poem that impressed me very much. Never thought of travel this way.
You pass through places
and places pass through you
But you carry 'em with you
on the soles of your travelin' shoes."
--The Be Good Tanyas, "The Littlest Birds Sing the Prettiest Songs"

I must be the world's slowest blogger! And the internet speed here in my office matches it.Lets see if i can blog this poem i wrote - after suffering for 20 minutes to bring up a website. Its a geeky poem - dedicated to all the internet surfing(suffering!) normals folks out there!

Slooooow Internet

What do you do when the net is slooooow

When it takes ages to view a page

Arrrgh my patience ever so low

And my hair showing the true age!

Why did god give us the internet

But did not however give the Speed

Wish bandwidth was all for me - set

Oh! the feel when the url is keyed!

Alas, my geeky pretence comes to an end

The page is still loading

Back to the real - from pretend

Back to the ever suffering Bandwidth!!

Its Hot!

Hi:
Whats hot? No reference to the hep & happening in the City. No references to the City babes (sorry..all you guys out there:)). Its literally the heat, the temperature over the past few days in my beloved city. Yesterday it might have easily been 32-34 degrees in bangalore. Ok.. so what its the same in Goa..hotter in Chennai..but thats not the point.
The Bangalore I knew, never had this heat, it was green & full of shady trees. Before you start guessing, i'm one of the true blue banglorean but no..not 60-70 years old who think of the 'good old days'. In fact i'm one of the young brigade working in IT and brought up in Bangalore. One of the priveleged few who had seen the Church Steet with only houses, the old Majestic Bus Stop, development of BTM Layout, Koramangala, Indiranagar.
But whats happening now.. Depletion of Green Belt, New Extensions with no side walks(foot paths). More Flyovers .. i mean flyover constructions..choking the now huge traffic.. how can a city cope so much & stay cool! No wonder its hot!
Cmon this blog is not a tirade - or a debate - some ideas to improve the city go a long way. Atleast at an individual basis, you & me can do this i guess.
1. Everyone out there is building a house. Plan for Green Space..dont be hungry for concrete structures. Plant atleast 2 shady trees.
2. Plan for a garage. But dont cement out the basement and build a elevated structure.
3. Yes, everyone needs a borewell.. but lets not dig deep, we'll deplete the ground water.
4. Start walking short distances.. awareness of area and its conditions will increase.
5. Check pollution on the your vehicles. Lets not give our share of the pollution.

More ideas welcome.. lets improve our hitech city look cool:)

And i flew back home!

Hi,
Have you heard of an auto (its a three wheeled scooter), runs on a two stroke engine. Well, these are the costlier alternatives to a bus in bangalore or anywhere in India.
In Bangalore, auto fares run on meters (well meters..just do that..RUUUUNNN). In some blog i had read this australian had compared these autos' noise to an old lawn mower in adelaide:))
But thats not what i want to talk about. Last two days, i've been going back home from office in autos, so let me give you a sample.

First Auto
This prompted the title for the blog. The only thing lacking was a seat belt:) From the point i boarded, it just took off, no warming up, no runway, simply in the air! Suddenly jerked to a halt. Was about to ask why, saw the red signal. Oh this auto understands Red & Green. Here's richmond circle..1..2..3..4..5Lalbagh Road..1..2..3..4..oh we crossed it!
The whole traffic also seemed to be a great sort of hurry. Was our town flooded? Oh no, there'll be a dent on the new Corsa ..no..didn't touch. The CYCLIIIIIIIIIST, somehow managed.whew!
Shhhhhiiit..we hit the motorcycle guy. Did he fall, no he's beside us, fine & still flying. Why are everyone in such a hurry? Tried to look back..jerk...better look front. Then i had to assert myself. Hey SLOWOUCH DOWN..no hurrrrrrry. Good, we changed to a slower speed. i could see everything whizzing by instead of a blur and i'm still in Auto! Somehow made it.. fare Rs55/-

Second Auto
I took an auto back home the very next day. This guy was at peaaaaaaaace with the world. Let the whole world go by, i'm the King who rides last. I could literally see him moving forward physically when he accelerated the vehicle. Strangely, the traffic was also normal. Same route, same time, the entire traffic was at peace with itself, maybe a little ahead but still not rushing by! Everytime, the traffic changed from red to green, it took him 10 seconds to come back to his normal speed. We reached home a good 20 minutes late. fare..Rs 55/-

Now why did i write about this. after all being a native banglorean, i should be used to it. Well, it just made me think about road rage, the traffic as "we perceive". I was a passive traveller in both these rides, but somehow, my perception was so related to the drivers' attitudes.

Good Show

This is my 4th entry in the blog. Good, i'm beginning to feel that i'll blog like an ace! Yesterday it rained in Bangalore. Actually rain is an understatement. It POURED! not just cats & dogs but elephants too!
We heard a loud sound - like that of a building crash, but it was only thunder, thank God.
While the city looks green & verdant (almost like a hill station), the traffic is terrible. Mainly beacuse of the road condition. Really the city admnistrators should wake up. I mean, just take a leaf out of Singapore. These bureucrats go on foreign tours on Taxpayers' money, enjoy their lifestyle, the least they can do is repair the roads! Why Singapore, let them look at Hyderabad.
Clogged roads, unruly traffic, jams, take the pleasure out of the rains that quench the dry land.
However, inspite of the system, the Monsoons are always welcome. Something which an Indian loves but the European abhors:)
I remember, those childhood days, when we used to keep buckets outside to catch the rain water & then play with it. Something which used to bring immense happiness. Hmm, considering its been half an hour since i've been in this cool refresher,time to get back to work. Bye.

-pari

General Stuff

Hi,
Today has been a 'waiting' day. For all my friends who are curious, it just means is 'waiting for the customer's time'. We had to make a project presentation to a Customer at a specific time, and other engagements dragged on & on.. So we prepare, rehearse, redraft, rechange, prepare & wait wait wait. And the men in the conference room talk talk talk.
At the end of the day, the result might be that the Customer is very tired & he'll see our presentation through mail. Oh! how cheated we feel!
I'm always curiuos as to what happens inside these Conference rooms? Do they plot some sinister things, write a movie story or just joke & generally have a good time?
Same kind of curiosity comes up in many other scenes in one's mundane life

a) a bank teller keeps writing/typing things before giving a DD
b) conductor keeps writing numbers
c) the person at billing counter keeps talking over the phone
d) the airline staff does 101 things before she gives you the boarding pass ...& so on

What do they all do? Think about it while I wait..wait..wait