Happy Deepavali!

Here's wishing all the readers of this blog a Happy Deepavali!

(If you're wondering why I'm wishing folks 2 days into it, I've been too busy bursting crackers and shopping! :D)

The BMIC, hurdles and shoddy Governance

The BMIC, or Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project was conceived around the mid/late 90's and work started in the late '90s. It intended to cut travel times between the two cities from 3-4 hours to about 2 hours(with 1 1/2 hr on the highway). At conception it was intended to house 5 townships along the highway/corridor as well - to decongest the city.

Among the big initial concerns were:

1. The highway cutting across highly arable land - and requiring lots of it
2. The cost of the project
3. The concern over the need for another expensive project(it came on the back of failed Enron), when doubling railway tracks, and the existing highway was undergoing upgradation(now completed).

From the start the project has been enveloped by controversy. The initial concerns listed above had environmentalists up in arms against the project and suggesting various other measures - including expansion, upgradation of the existing highway(since been completed).

It was then followed by the Environment Ministry & High Court allowing for land acquisition for the highway but not approving the same for building the said townships.

Even as that was barely resolved, and the project near getting back on gear came the allegation of misuse of land, by Mr. Deve Gowda (against the S M Krishna Govt.). This was followed by denials, the subsequent change of government and finally litigation. The litigation was quashed by the Karnataka High Court, and then the Supreme Court - with an exemplary fine and castigation of the Karnataka Government for, as the honourable court put it, frivolous litigation.

And then the BMIC said this:

With the Supreme Court giving the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project the green signal, project promoter Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) said it is ready to commence work on the expressway from the Mysore side also if the government allotted the land required.

Things one would like to see change for the better:

1. Transperancy.

The Right to Information Act has enable some amount of transperancy in the deals, but has not been implemented. A lot of the confusion and litigation over the BMIC could have easily been avoided if the data was made available in the public domain - the environmental impact analyses for example. The reasons for denying approval to the townships, etc.,

2. Acquisition of Land.

Why should the Government acquire the land from the people? It should be the private parties who should acquire it - and, as a safegaurd, notify the local authorities, who are anyway better placed to handle any conflict of interest or litigations arising from that. That would ensure that there are no political agendas driving for excess land acquisition or accusations of the same! It would also ensure that the land owners themselves are NOT forced to sell, unlike now.

3. The speed of case disbursal.

It is nobody's case that the courts are facing huge number of cases, and backlogs. Issues that affect thousands of people - millions, even, should take the highest priority, and be disposed off, asap. The BMIC also involves a link road from Hosur Rd to Mysore Road - and the speed of activity in the days since the SC approval has been tremendous.

4. Continuity in policies.

There has to be a set mechanism that allows for continuity, and consistency in policy regarding on-going projects. In a democractic form of government, we will see changes in governments - so there has to be a mechanism to address continuity as well as for changes in policy. Most often, all we see is the 'Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram's ensuring policies change with each change of government - and that is ridiculous!

(Most links obtained was via Google. Yahoo! search proved rather unreliable)

Paanch. And 60 Crores.

Here's the tip of the corruption iceberg. Deccan Herald reports:

Lokayukta sleuths raided the houses of five police officers including one deputy superintendent of police and four inspectors of police on Tuesday and seized over Rs 60 crore worth properties, cash, gold ornaments, share certificates, bank accounts and other valuables alleged to be disproportionate to their known sources of income.

Read the full report


Tag: Indian Politics, Karanataka Politics, Karnataka , India.

Playing the perfect neta, while in power.

H D Kumaaraswamy is becoming quite adept at playing to the current gallery, whatever be the platform. It would be good - and fun to listen to - if it werent for the fact that he is Karnataka's Chief Minister.

Which complicates matters. Greatly.

Saying he will improve Infrastructure and that IT industry wont have to complain in one meet and going ahead to take potshots at it at another doesnt behove of a good Chief Minister.

Now the people do not know what he is upto, and what he supports anymore. Unlike his father or Dharam Singh, Mr Kumaraswamy wants to sail in both boats, apparently. One wonders if in trying to sail in 2 boats he's gonna hit the water, and take the state with him.

In the meanwhile, there have been some improvements in some places on infrastructure, but nowhere near anything to say that Mr Kumaaraswamy is keeping up his promises or doing well.

Tag: Indian Politics, Karanataka Politics, Karnataka , India

Volvos on Bangalore roads

So BMTC proves yet again why PSU public transport companies can be customer-friendly even when faced with little or no competition and for the first time on Indian roads, we see the Volvos on city streets. Its on a pilot basis, hopefully, it will succeed and we will see a lot more such (comfy) city buses. Currently doing duty on only one route - the one towards electronic city.

Had a peek at the buses today. The buses looked like the ones at the airport terminals, although more swanky than those in Indian airports anyhow! The bus had a very, very low ground clearance, I wonder why? Does the BMTC expect Bangalore roads to be suddenly smooth all over the city? Or maybe its going to run only where the roads are smooth?

One thing must be said about the bus - it was incredibly quiet (it was idling by the way)- the only noise I could hear was my vehicle's engine as I passed by!

Bangalore Lions win the PHL.

Amidst all the sports stories, there is one snuck in that reports that the Bangalore Lions have won the PHL, or Professional Hockey League.

The Bangalore Lions triumphed in the second edition of the Premier Hockey League after a brace by Hari Prasad helped them down local favourites Chandigarh Dynamos 2-1 in a pulsating third match of the best-of-three finals.

reports Sify.

Well, while yours truly is not a huge fan of sports that involve "goals", well done Bangalore Lions.

Harish Bijoor on Bangalore's renaming.

Harish Bijoor wrote this for India Today's Simply Bangalore* supplement:

Bangalore! Bengaluru!
What’s in a name? Plenty! Shakespearu was wrong!
For a start, the name is a brand. The brand is a name. And the name is a very important starting point in the voyage of discovery of a brand.
...

Bangalore is a thought. A thought that is just about in the midst of a debate that seeks to re-christen the city to a name that aspires for the vernacularisation of an anglicized Bangalore to a Kannada-ised Bengaluru!
...

There are really two Bangalore’s. One is what I will call “Real Bangalore” and the other “Virtual Bangalore”. Real Bangalore is really excited about the name change proposal from the 1st of November 2006.
...

Marie Antoinette would be a very happy woman today. It they don’t have bread, let them eat cake.

The name change debate is an excellent opiate for the masses of Bangalore. Let’s discuss, let’s debate. Let’s forget all our other woes for the moment. If our bodies can’t be satisfied, let at least our minds be.
Personally speaking, I welcome the name change. Bengaluru is the city I was born in. Bengaluru is the city that I grew up in. Bengaluru is the city I want to be in.

I would of course be very, very happy if, along with the name change you gave me better roads, better safety for my friends who work within BPO outfits and make Bangalore roads a 24X7 affair with no closing time, a planned city where my friends in the low lying areas don’t have to drown and use a boat to work, a better system of traffic management that does not have my clients from Germany and France stranded on Airport Road for two hours at a stretch, cursing the city in native German or exciting French!

(excerpts, all emphasis mine)


I'm as much a part of the "old" Bangalore as the newer one. And Harish's arguments are perhaps the best articulated ones I have seen on the Bangalore becoming Bengaluru.

One reason I did not post much on the renaming saga is precisely because (as Harish says) the debate would suit this State government better, as it will deflect attention from their lack of administration.



*India Today does not allow a search or even a link-to on its online edition for non-subscribers(even though I PAY to get the mag). The excerpts were obtained thanks to Harish Bijoor.

Bangalore to have more Radio stations

Finally Bangaloreans will not be subjected to just 2 decent radio stations and will have the choice of a few more. Deccan Herald reports that Bangalore will see 6 more radio stations join the existing 3 FM stations.

I wonder if someone was reading my post on Radio City (Akon).

Sakkat South Indian (tamilian) Meal

Today I took a friend of mine named Abbas to Sri Krishna Kafe @ koramangala. I recommend it as the best place to get typical south indian "tamilian" vegetarian meal in bangalore. He loved it. Thought, I should blog about this place today.

Map on www.koramangala.com

LINK : http://www.koramangala.com/gokora/default.asp Select Restaurants from the drop-down menu.
You will find Sri Krishna Kafe' in the list.
Click "Locate" to get its location in koramangala's map.

This is the scene there at around 1 PM:

Tables are all setup beforehand for the first round of lunch with empty banana leafs and a glass of water. People (many of them techies) occupy their places and clean their banana leafs with water in typical south indian style.

After most tables are occupied, the "SUPPLY CHAIN" begins. First comes side-dish guy and serves 3 to 4 side-dishes. Then the big pappad and the spicy fried chilli is served (any idea wat is called ?). The next guy serves (plain) rice. Then follows the hot pure ghee for the rice. Then follows the curry guy. First round of rice with sambar, next round of rice with mor kollamb (a yellow curd based curry) or rasam, final round of rice with curd. It ends with your belly full and one last sweet.

In between the meal, like a typical south indian marriage feast, there is one guy who is generally overlooking all the tables and tracking which items are needed and directs the rice guy/curry guy/side dish guy/pappad guy/water guy towards you. Sometimes, he comes to you and asks "How do you like the lunch today ?". Remember its unlimited, so have a light breakfast in the morning to completely enjoy the feast.

If you observe the crowd on a typical weekday. You can hear a lot of discussions on projects, technologies, office politics, job openings, business discussions etc.. Its bangalore's equivalent of silicon valley's pubs were VCs and techies hangout.

Happy New Year!

Hope this New Year is better than the last for you! Happy New Year from the SAM team.

Some humour on the way to saying 2k5 goodbye

English Band	Karnataka Version	Complexity
ACDC	CurrentuByattree	High
Aha	Oho	Killer
All Saints	Yella Saadhugale	Low
Audio Slave	Dhvani Gulaama	Low
BabyFace	MaguMaka	Low
Back Street Boys	Hind beedhi huduguru	Low
Bad Boys Blue	Neeli Poli huduguru	Medium
Bad Company	Kettu Kharkane	Medium
Baker Street	Iyengar Raste	High
Bananarama	Devuru Baalehannu	Killer
Barenaked ladies	Nagnavaadhu Hengusuru	Low
Billy Idol	Bekkina Vigraha	High
Black crowes	Kappu Kaagigalu	Low
Black Sabbath	Kari Sabbakki bathu	High
Blind Melon	Kurudu Kalangri	High
Chemical Brothers	Rasayane sodharegalu	High
ColdPlay	ChaliAta	Low
Collective Soul	Atma Chow Chow	High
Color me badd	Kettudage banna haki	High
counting Crows	Enuso kaagigalu	Low
Creed	Vichara	High
Culture Club	Samskaradha Ispet Kendra	Killer
Cutting Crew	Hajam Nan makalu	High
Deep Blue Something	Aallla Neeli eno	High
Def Leppard	Kivdu Chirute	Low
Dire Straits	Sakkath Ayomaya	High
Duran Duran	Maadu Ood-dha Maadu Ood-dha	High
Eagles	Garuda	Low
Everything but the Girl	Figar bittu bere yalla	Medium
Faith Hill	Nambike Betta	Medium
Faster Pussycat	Bega bekku	High
Fine Young Cannibals	Valle yuva nara-bakshakaru	High
FireHouse	Benkimane	Low
Fools Garden	Huchura udhyanavana	Medium
FourPlay	Nalaku Jana Aadodhu	High
Garbage	Kachada	Low
Gipsy Kings	Lambadi Raja	Killer
Go West	Paschima Hogi	Medium
GodSmack	Devuru Kapala	Medium
Goo goo dolls	gugoo (peddu) gombegalu	Killer
Grateful Dead	Aabhari Sattavaru	High
Greenday	Hasuru Dhina	Low
HoobaStank	Yarappa bittidhu?	High
INXS	Solpa Jaasthi Aithu	High
Iron Maiden	Kabna-dha Kanya	Medium
Journey	Prayana	Low
Kansas	Krishnan maavan-dhu	Killer
Linkin Park	Jodso Udyana	High
Little River Band	Chikka Nadhi Baaja	Low
Lou bega	Ousara	Killer
Matchbox 20	Benkipatna ippathu	Medium
Maxi Priest	Langa-ony Poojari	High
Meat Loaf	Mamsada thundu	Medium
MegaDeth	Vishaala-Saavu	Medium
Metallica	Kabna-nekkan-a?	High
Modern Talking	Aadunika Maathu	Medium
Moody Blues	Neeli Feelingu	Medium
Naughty by Nature	Modhlinda Thunturu	High
NickelBack	Childre vapas	Medium
No Doubt	Anumanane illa	Medium
Noble Savages	Punyathma baddi makalu	Killer
Papa Roach	Jirle appa	Medium
Pearl Jam	Mutthina Gojju	High
Pet Shop Boys	Saakuva Praani Angadi Huduguru	High
PM Dawn	Sandhye-ne Bellagge	Killer
Radio Head	Aakasha Vani Thale	Medium
Rainbow	Indradhanusu	Low
Red Hot Chilli Peppers	Bisi Bisi Kempu Menasinkai galu	Medium
Red Nex	Kempu Kathu	Low
Roxette	Yella Thara Kallu	Killer
Rush	Bega	Low
Salt N Pepa	Uppu Kara	Low
Scorpions	Chhelugalu	Low
Seal	Mucchu	Killer
Simply Red	Sumne Kempu	Medium
six pence none the richer	aaru kaasu astay saaku	High
Smashing Pumpkins	Vadadhuhogthairo Kumblekaigalu	Medium
Smashmouth	Moothi vadee	High
Snoop Doggy Dogg	Thika-nai-mari	Killer
Soul Asylum	Atma ke Lodge	High
Spice Girls	Sambhara Hudigiru	High
StarShip	Nakshatradha Dhoni	Medium
Stone Temple Pilots	Kallidha Devasthanada Pushpaka chalakaru	Killer
Take That	Thogo Adhu	Medium
Tears For Fears	Bhayake Kaneeru	High
The Byrds	Pakshigalu	Low
The Police	Hoysala	High
The Who	Yaaru	Low
Third Eye Blind	Moorne Kannu Kurudu	Medium
U2	Ninu kuda?	High
UB40	Mallya Nalavatthu	Killer
Uncle Cracker	Vadiyo mama	Medium
Uriah Heep	Shagni Kuppe	Medium
Weather Report	Vaathavarna Soochane	Medium
wet wet wet	vadday vadday vaddy	Low
Yes	Howdu	Low
Bands banned in Karnataka, Translation Problems.
Jamiroquai
Jethro Tull
Antharax
Queensryche
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Credence Clearwater Revival
Bands that have always been welcome, (Names already sound like kannada)
Beck	Cat	Pre-Trans
Nelly	Tap	Pre-Trans
Madonna	Shall we?	Pre-Trans

via RVINST

Bangalore on Terror Radar

When I read the news that Delhi police had foiled plot of terrorists to strike software parks in bangalore, I remembered what Thomas Friedman wrote in the bestseller book "The World is Flat". Quote from the chapter "11/9 versus 9/11":

A south asian muslim friend of mine once told me this story: His Indian Muslim family split in 1948, with half going to Pakistan and half staying in Mumbai. When he got older, he asked his father one day why the Indian half of the family seemed to be doing better than the Pakistani half. His father said to him, "Son, when a Muslim grows up in India and he sees a man living in a big mansion high on a hill, he says, 'Father, one day, I will be the man.'. And when a Muslim grows up in Pakistan and sees a man living in a big mansion high on a hill, he says, 'Father, one day I will kill that man.'" When you have a pathway to be the Man or the Woman, you tend to focus on the path and on achieving your dreams. When you have no pathway, you tend to focus on your wrath and on nursing your memories.

I agree (hopefully), that not all are this way, but I hear a large number of people support such a view.

I only wish our long lost brothers across the border grab the oppurtunities of the global market rather than be brainwashed by the so called crazy "true islamists".

Related link : BangaloreGuy on the terror attack in Bangalore

Sampada

I just got to know of Sampada today. Sampada is an online Kannada community, focused more on the literary aspects of it. The good news is that if you log-in you get your own blog, bookmarks, syndication etc., Whats more its bi-lingual.

If you can read/write Kannada, I strongly recommend this site - even if you are not a blogger! :-)

Oh, btw, I do have a blog there too* - its present here.




*I almost never seem to run out of blogging options. O3, blogger, wordpress and now Sampada! Aargh!

Garbage Collection

No.. I am not writing about GC in Java. This one is a bit of a stinking topic.

I had a heated discussion on what the right strategy for garbage collection should be in bangalore with my colleagues. So I thought, I'll throw the debate open here.

Can people get away with littering the roads with the excuse that there are no dustbins?

I agree, many public places do really need dustbins like even MG Road etc. However, being a bangalorean forever, I have seen the problems plaguing the system with dustbins only for garbage collection. I think, the current system of door to door garbage collection was a major improvement to reduce the garbage in the city.

An article on Bangalore's own "Deccan Herald" with some statistics on this issue. Hoping you are not part of the 7.3 % dumping garbage on the roadside.

But, I certainly agree bengalooru has a long way to go to improve the system, may be also privatise it and bring in some global best practices. Until then, Swalpa Adjust Maad Beddi..

Do comment on this issue.

Aerosports Jamboree

I had been to the Aerosports Jamboree on Dec17, 2005 (saturday) at Jakkur Airfield. Two of the microlights were on Kashmir-Kanyakumari Marathon (not sure if the word was marathon..) and couldn't make it. Hence, very few tickets(worth Rs.600) were sold for flying on the microlights. However, all the 100 tickets available were sold-out for both saturday and sunday on saturday morning itself. That was a major downer for the event.

Anyways, I had a chance to do parasailing, which was a first for me (Rs.200).

Links for the event:

Anurag Jain's blog
ToI's Bangalore Edition

Adventure Sports Links:

http://www.careadventure.com/
http://www.teamadventure.info/
http://www.karnatakatourism.org/sites/company.html
http://www.dreamroutes.org/
http://kstdc.nic.in/wild.htm
http://junglelodges.com/
http://www.indianadventureportal.com/

FYI, "GETHANAA" is the major organisation that promotes adventure sports in Karnataka.

GETHANAA - General Thimayya National Academy of Adventure State Youth Centre,
Nrupathunga Road, Bangalore - 560 001. Karnataka, India.
Tel: 080-2210454

Name Change.

So Bangalore is going to be Bengalooru or Bengluru(as you'd hear it pronounced mostly). This is to be succeeded by Mangalooru and Belagavi.
While I was somewhat okay with Bangalore being renamed, I am quite sure, renaming more than one city in Suvarna Karnataka Year is more than going overboard. And worse - its not even symbolic.

A case of taking Swalpa Adjust Maadi too far.

Bangalore Habba is here!

Bangalore Habba(Kannada for festival) started today. Its official site is here
The Habba is a cultural fest that I have been unfortunate to miss for the last couple of occasions. It generally showcases the rich culture and arts from in and around Bangalore - from folk to modern, contemporary art. Theatre, Dance, Fashion, Yakshagana, Music concernt - the works.

Its happening at a range of places across Bangalore - the Chitrakala Parishat to a Cafe Coffee Day outlet. The reviews I have read of it, when I wasnt in Bangalore were very laudatory - and I was sore that I had missed it! I'm hoping to catch on at least a couple of theatre or dance shows. If you're around then, let's catch-up there!

One thing I forgot to mention - the main sponsors this time are Bangalore Central(Pantaloon Group). Its great that a large retail group is sponsoring this. This makes a good business case for them to sponsor, as well as gives a good boost to the Habba.

See you at the Habba!

Deve Gowda - on Bangalore, Infosys, and of course, Infrastructure

In the rediff interview here, he says:

Your main emphasis is on agro industries and not on the IT sector?

So many other issues. Why only agriculture? There is horticulture, sericulture. What have you done for each of the family of landless labourers?

The IT sector has created only three lakh (300,000) jobs. I must complement those who have not taken a single gunta of land. Let them enjoy all tax benefits.

They are running in private buildings. Can any tall IT man say he requires 3,000 acre, requires 1,500 acres or 800 acres? Has Wipro taken any land?

He seems to have a huge crush on Wipro. I wonder why.
And then he asks the clincher:

There is a lot of talk about Bangalore's infrastructure not being good. What is your solution?

In one year, has the infrastructure disappeared all of a sudden? Was everything OK during the five-year rule of Krishna? Within 60 days after Dharam Singh took over, the infrastructure disappeared?

Yes, Mr. Gowda, because of people like you, it has, almost. And because of leaders like you, there are people living side-by-side with garbage and sewage in their houses - 7 days after the flooding, with no help from your government.

Flooding

If you have been affected by the flooding my sympathies. Its been a terrible 2005 so far. Started with a disaster, moved on with disasters and now heading towards the end with disasters.

I live in one of those areas more affected by the Bangalore flooding, thankfully, my part of the area isnt, but most parts of my area through which I generally connect out to other parts of the City are. And that is really pissing off - because the flooding is due to inadequate infrastructure and less due to the quantity of the rain.

To give you an idea : A Storm drain 20 feet wide and of the same depth runs for some 4 km along my layout - for the whole week, the lowest I have seen that is about half-a-feet away from its brim. It overflowed spectacularly on Sunday, and Monday.

Till Wednesday parts of Hosur road and most adjoining areas were abounding with at least 3 feet deep water. If you are as shit scared of water as I am*, you'd be petrified, no matter if you were in a bus or whatever.

The fire engines out removing water on Monday disappeared later on. I have heard of NO relief agencies/ NGOs working anywhere. The government is still posturing, and Deve Gowda woke up from slumber to say he'll "wipe the tears of the poor" - of course, conviniently forgetting that it was he that *caused* them to cry in the first place!

Due to the resulting chaos, I have only been able to post now. If someone is looking to help these folks I am willing to join up

Update: Blogger Abhishek has pics posted up here, and more places in his blog

*(courtesy no swimming skills and twice almost drowning)

Conspiracy Theory in Bangalore

Mr. Dharam our great CM asks "Why am I targetted ?" (for bangalore's ever worsening infrastructure).

Dharam Ji, its a great conspiracy that is going on. A small survey reveals possible conspiracy theories:

"Its the martians man.. they are threatened by the inspiring leadership of our CM. What if, he takes over the Earth and declares war on Mars ?? "

Happy Independence Day!

Keep the flag flying high.

Its been raining like there's no tomorrow.

in Mumbai, Gujurat, etc.,

The blogosphere has been active - and it again brings to light what importance such a media holds for smaller, less connected towns.

more updates when i find a lil more time.

Yavaag Foreign Ge ??

[English Translation - When are u going to some Foreign country?? ]

This has since been attributed to this blogger, Jagadish. And he has his post here

The familiar sentence is arguably one of the most frequently asked questions , losing only slightly to the even more grave one "...yavaag maduve ?", (when is your marriage?) to someone who unluckily happens to be in the IT Industry and in Bangalore . There was never a better conversation topic for the older generation to suck every drop of blood the poor bloke manages to save despite working as a techie.

It's a wave that everyone wants to be part of, and everyone wants to show they know. The word computer is now a house-hold name. A good relief for many topic starved aunties and uncles, but our poor techie gets stuck like a nail that's half into the wood when it's head decides to painfully break lose.

The popular following that IT has gotten in recent years has been more due to the lucrative travel, than what the techie believes is due to his work. This time it is the uncles who have the upper hand in ! making a conversation, owing to some 'extra' knowledge, thanks to 'external' contacts. Aunties resign to just asking "...yenappa computer aa ?" ( literally means " are u a computer ?", but it is supposed to be "Are you working in the IT field ?". One must be ready to field a volley of smirks and barrage of questions, if the victim answers a "no", though it would be the right answer for such a question. For if you are not part of the bandwagon, then you'd rather term yourself a foolish old crackpot and be happy with that, than get a loathesome look from the omnipresent aunty.

IT has such a popular following here, most do not know what they are following, but just drift along to be 'seen'. Our aunty gets into her form, and asks our techie, "you computer, my son also computer" ...our techie, just out of a ctrl-alt-tab-enter, has no idea how to respond to this inhuman potrayal, by the aunty, of her son. He just smiles and says "wonderful aunty, which company ?" and is hardly inte! rested in what he hears. The aunty carries on.. " nun maga sapoo"...the indianised MNC becomes "sapoo" from SAP, while our techie replies back, "i work for GE"..aunty is a bit concerned on hearing that, and blurts out "is it a good company ? didnt u get in infosys ?"...techie is at his wits end to explain; aunty is in no mood to understand. aunty's techie son is blushing ear to ear.

while the general social understanding of an IT company hovers between Infosys and Wipro, some good souls give respect to "Vorakal" too. So aunties are generally happy if one is from any of these companies. The other companies will only mean a detailed interrogation about the techie's academic credentials, past criminal record, if any, and a sure minus point as a prospective groom.

It is the conversation between aunties that is the most funny and amazingly astonishing. Recently one of my cousins went onsite, and i being the scape goat , who still 'had' to be in India , was the butt of all discussions.

aunty1 : " foreign ge yaavaga ivnu hogodu ?" ( when is he going onsite ?)
aunty2 : "gothilla, innenu swalpa divsdalley hogthaaneno" ( He might go in some days !)
aunty1 : "hmmm...they say only brilliants (sic) are sent onsite"
aunty2 : "that's true !"

I was being murdered inch by inch, neat and clean. My reputation in tatters.

This is even bearable, but get this, if a techie manages to stumble on an onsite travel but is cancelled on that last millisecond, then his future i! s doomed, for aunties will have a field day disecting him and nailing him for not working well at the office. I have been most unfortunate in this case, so much so that if i had got a call to abort the travel 2 seconds later than what i got, i might have had to jump off the plane mid-air.

aunties started flowing in from early evening that day, some trying to stay oblivious of the situation, some trying hard to keep a straight face, and a few more giving their own versions of my story, which by the way i never told anyone !...well one aunty even had the nerve to ask me "did you have a fight with your manager ?"..well i was kind enough to say "no aunty, project got scrapped ", only to realize that the aunty had no idea what a project meant, and instead pressed me to agree that i had indeed done some mistake...finally she let me go when i blurted out "my manager had a fight with the airlines"....well that was enough for me to roll over on the floor and laugh at her, despite the 'humiliation' of not going onsite.

uncles are not far off, and are ever more eager to learn 'computers'. One uncle was particularly curious to know as to why we guys were paid for playing computer games !...apparantely he was of this view after he had seen his 9 year old son only playing games on his newly bought comp. I knew better than to explain, so i told him that it was because if we won, the company would get money. uncle's spirits rose, and in all probability he would have gone home and pestered his innoncent 9 year old son to teach him to play games in the hopes of joining a IT company in future !

uncles are a little more "knowledgeable" though. One uncle came to me one day, when i made the suicidal mistake of attending a social gathering full of aunties and uncles, and asked me as to which company i worked for, and i answered him hoping he would stop there. however , uncle had no such intention and carried on " yaav language ?"...though stunned, i rep! lied back "c sharp uncle" ...uncle's face glowed and then he said " nun maga Java , c# bidhoithanthey!" (My son works on JAVA, C sharp has long fallen from grace) .. In most uncles view, languages are like company shares, the value of which keeps fluctuating on an hourly basis.

Though salary is something of a sensitive issue, uncles don't give didly-squat about that and continue questioning the techie on the same. I was ripped apart when i told my uncle that my gross was 25k, to which my uncle in suspended euphoria exclaimed that his son earned 2.5 lakh per month at onsite. Having no room to argue, i kept mum, when my uncle went off again "why dont u ask your manager for a raise".... I told him i would consider his advise and ask, though my manager was bit of a dragon, unlike my uncle's son's manger, who was a saint just short of a halo!

Even more weird is the funny way in which people take those mails managers send to tec! hies and their team, as to the good work being done. one of my cousins who recently joined my company got such a mail from his manager, and he thought it was a good idea to take a print out and show it to his father, a folly he still regrets to this day. My uncle not only read the copy, but made a hundred photocopies and distributed it as pamplets to his near and dear ones. My dad got one too, and i had to field some intense questioning at home, since i had not managed to get one such letter even once ! i had even gone to the extent of thinking about printing one on my own just to escape the 'humiliation'.

while it's often funny to listen to the weird misconceptions people have about IT, it gets irritating if it goes too far. It would be a boring place without the aunties and the uncles, but it would be a wonderful place, if they knew better than to draw conclusions about one's work, of which they know so less about !

[received as mail forward: let us know if you know the origin of the article]

Ruling over Kannada Cinema

The Sunday saw matinee idol Dr. Rajkumar being felicitated on completing 50 years in Kannada films. From Bangarada Manushya to Bhakta Prahalada to hislater movies, there has hardly been a contribution as singular, prolific, and notable as his. Of course there have been notable stars like Vishnuvardhan, Anant Nag and others, but none to parallel Annavaru as he is fondly known. We congratulate Dr. Raj for his accomplishments and contribution to Kannada movies.

B'lore Traffic - Spiritual Classroom

What has the bangalore traffic taught me ??
Hmm..

1. Frustration doesn't add any value.. only patience.. patience..
2. There are no shortcuts in life.. shortcuts take you nowhere..

Swalpa Adjust Maadi !


PS. Inspired by a survey done by Radiocity (very popular radio station) few months ago..

RAIN TIMINGS

Just an observation about the monsoon..

Lately its been this way. Now and then, it does rain in the daytime. But for some reason, the rain always peaks during the night-time. So in the morning, the weather is pleasantly cool and fresh..Its as if the rains just schedules itself so that we can get out the house, go to work and get back. (mind you, get back early by about 7pm, after that there is no guarantees, no mercy)

Swalpa Adjust Maadi !!

Rainy Season.

As someone who has lived in Bangalore all his life (except for a brief hiatus to other cities in India) I am really perplexed when people talk of a monsoon season(vis-a-vis Bangalore). Throughout my childhood I have seen Banglaore being showered with rain almost all through the year. And I am sure there are others who will confirm to the same.

Depression over Bay of Bengal - Orissa/Andhra/Tamil Nadu? well, expect rain in Bangalore.
Depression over Arabian Sea? Expect Rain in Bangalore.
Monsoon approaching Kerela/West Coast? Rain in Bangalore
Retreating clouds from the Peninsula? Rain in Bangalore.
Summer? Expect showers in April/May.

So almost throughout the year, you can expect rain in Bangalore. The fact that a single quarter of the year is denoted as the rainy season is irrelevant.

Just Enjoy the rain. (and if Bangalore ever returns to its former Green state, you might even get quite a few hailstorms in Summer)

Till then Swalpa Adjust Maadi !

This post was partially a response to this one by Jonathan.

Bad, Bad way of handling a newspaper!

Does the Indian Express have nothing better to do than get accounts from relatives and friends of celebrities? And whats worse, it puts a huge photo of Deepika Padukone, when the article is on her father. Those who read "The New Indian Express" will know what I am talking about. In its Sunday Magazine section (Sunday being the only day anyone from my family can tolerate its horrible newsprint) there is a full page article on Prakash Padukone, the Badminton Icon from Karnataka, by a friend of his.

Prakash deserves the full page, but what was his daughter's photo doing there? No Idea. This was preceded by another article by a celeb's relative - Narian Karthikeyan's aunt. Cant the express really get people to cover the celebs?

New Bangalorean

Welcome to bangalore.

Stop cribbing (if you are) about infrastructure etc. in bangalore. Instead try contributing and stop being a burden on our city.

Swalpa adjust maadi !!

Bangalored !

"Swalpa Adjust Maadi' - to anyone familiar with Bangalore that is the catch-all phrase.

• Coffee not too warm/strong? "Swalpa Adjust Maadi"
• Going on the bus, and three sitting on a two-seater - "Swalpa Adjust Maadi".

To me, its what defines Bangalore - its what makes Bangalore like Bangalore - garden city, Silicon city, pensioner's paradise are all just names, its the phrase of "Swalpa Adjust Maadi" which makes it all possible.

My Co-blogger Sumne, will surely have more to say on this.

PS: on the "Bangalored" slogan and the reported tees that say "My job got Bangalored and I'll got was this lousy tee", well, my job got Bangalored too, and all I got was a lousy tee!! :-D Swalpa Adjust Maadi !