A day’s ride on the City Bus.

Travelling by bus is a great feeling, it gives me time to think and gives you a peaceful travel to work without having to pay attention to the crazy drivers and notorious traffic. This also reminds me of the days I used to go to School taking the bus. It was an hour long ride. I used to spend that time observing things around me. That’s what I do all the time.

The conductor who always shout ‘ticket ticket’ and scribble the change on back of the ticket.  He seldom offer you the change, unless you pester him every other minute.

A daily wage worker with his tools including a spade, boards. He places the tools under the seats. Takes out his cellphone and checks something.

The young lad with earphone squeezed into his ear blasting ‘94.3 Radio One’ on his cell phone. Everyone including the pedestrians on the road can hear the music.

The IT guy armed with his tool (read laptop) board the bus. The white earphones clearly says that he has an ipod. He nods his head at each beat.

The 60+ year old shows his id card to prove that he is a senior citizen. Quietly sits at an empty seat and pays the fare. He open the day’s edition of Times of India and starts reading.

Three college goers board the bus, laughter. Discussions in Kannada, english..laughter again.

A man in his late 20’s board the bus. He is wearing  a tie and neatly pressed clothes. Might be a salesman. Asks the conductor for a day pass.

“Change illa ” says conductor seeing the 100 Rs note that he extended. “iradu rupaiya kodey”. The salesman checks his shirt pocket for change.

The 40 year something old lady boards. She opens her purse, takes out a bunch of cash. She counts through the five hundreds, hundreds, fifties and finally hands a ten Rupee note to the conductor. “Majestic” She said.

She kept the rest of  the money ’safe’ in her purse.

A shabbily dressed man walks in. He looks drunk. His breath angers the conductor. “At this time of the day?” The conductor might be thinking.

A young mother along with her kid board the bus, she scans the bus for a seat, finally found one at the centre. Made her talkative kid comfortable. Answered the kid’s curious questions every 5 mins.

A young female talking on her phone. She got down from the bus, crossed the street and boarded an auto. She talked on her cell all the way.

And then there is a silent guy sitting at the back, looking all around. That would be me.

I guess you would have seen one of these characters on any city bus.

The Discrimination

I visited Mysore yesterday with my partner from the US and two other colleagues. The weather was good with occasional drizzling and a cool breeze. We reached Mysore palace after visiting the Sri Ranganatha Temple at Srirangapatna and Tipu Sultan’s fort. The board at the entrance fee read ” For Adults Rs 25, for Foreigners Rs 200″ !!!!

When we crib and cry about our treatment in other countries I think we should step back and change our system. My colleague from the US said “Woah, everywhere tourists are charged more, thats natural. But this is the first time that I am seeing it written on a board”.

I guess if I go to the Newyork Museum and the board reads  US Nationals $5 others $10 ” I would feel discriminated. (Does any other country charge for other Nationals? Not sure.. Do comment).

May be its a goverment’s way of making quick money but then I would say its not the right way to treat foreigners in the land where we proclaim ” Athidhi Devo Bhava”.

 

noreply@customerservice.com

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.” Mahatma Gandhi

All companies boast of customer support. They have dedicated lines, toll free numbers, website links and email ids to help customers at the time of product dissatisfaction, service, complaints and feedback. With more people preferring the email and web way of raising their complaints,  most of the companies have options to help the customers the eway.

I raised a complaint regarding bad service and rude staff behaivior at a Spencer store in Bangalore. I wrote my feedback down on the book they have kept at the store, on page 37( this is important read on..). After a week I visited the store again and out of curiosity opened the book only to find that page 37 is missing. All the other pages with customer feedback was there except page 37. I talked to one of the staff and asked them on the missing page for which she replied “I did not tear it”.

Me “I didn’t say you tore it off, was just asking on where the page is. Now I am sure someone tore it off”

She “I did not tear it”

Me “Can I see your manager?”

Out came the same person who was rude to me the week before that and introduced as the manager of the store. I asked the same question.

Manager “It was there”

Me “Where is it?. I am sure none of the customers are going to tear it off “

Manager “I did not tear it, why are you blaming me”

Me “I want to talk to your Manager”

On this, the manager called the store ‘general manager’ who said he will take appropriate action on it.

I sent an email to the email id given on the spencer site. The last line read “I hope you acknowledge and respect my comments and not just send this email to thrash just like what happened to Page 37″

And they did. They sent it to thrash.

I sent a similar feedback to GK Vale customer care on how their store ruined the photoframe order that I gave. No reply.

I think many of these email ids should have warnings posted on their site as “Warning : Please do not sent emails to this id as it would go to an unmonitored mailbox.”

But some companies are prompt in replying to customer emails like Tata Indicom and Vodafone. Tata Indicom also has a forum where we can post our concerns and it would be addressed in 2 working days.

From all this I learned one thing, the snail mail still helps. All complaints send as snail mail would be read and acknowledged (read most of them). May be the customer service is been bombarded with customer emails that some of the emails are missed out. I think the customer support also consider snail mail as documentary evidence and take it more seriously than the emails. So next time you want to write a complaint out, write a snail mail.

Road Humps/Speed Bumps.

Okay, it may seem like a usual thing that you ‘bump’ into when you travel on road. But too many is too much !

The road (15 km route) that I take everyday in Bangalore to and from office has around 50-60 humps. I am thrown around 50*2=100 times every single day. Searching for humps on the internet I found that there is a group which actually discuss the pros and cons about it.

I guess the reason why we have so many humps in Bangalore would be to discipline the drivers who drive too fast/do not stop at signal(so a hump at every signal would atleast slow them down !!! ) .

The road humps at the signals slow down the traffic, also the humps in Bangalore are too high that you need to stop your vehicle(if it’s a car) and maneuver it very slowly so that you don’t scratch the bottom of the car.  The humps are also reason for many traffic accidents involving two wheelers as many humps are not marked and there are no signs warning of a road hump.

This also reminded me of a highway stretch in Kerala which was constructed by a Malaysian company. The stretch had warning signs 100mts before a road hump and the humps were properly marked, helping drivers during night drives.

I wonder why we have so many humps in Bangalore, aren’t there any other alternatives to control/discipline traffic int the city?

What’s with me and Bangalore now?

Pigs.

The pigs in my area have increased. The mother pig have given birth to atleast a dozen of them giving way (read garbage) to the new generation. They don’t seem to be scared of the flu.

The flyover.

The flyover near my place at HSR Layout is being constructed at a surprising pace. I can see new pillars everyday. I guess they just dig a hole in the ground and install a pre-fabricated pillar into it (like how we plant trees). The idea is to make the outer ring road signal free. I hope the idea should have been traffic free, with alternative transport projects.

New volvos.

There are many new volvos on the streets now. Blue ones, orange ones, a change from the previously dull red ones.

Well, the Hindu reported a month back that the transport minister of Karnataka visited the volvo facility in Sweden to lean more about Volvo and to discuss purchase of new buses for the BMTC fleet.  Update : (link to ksrtc site)

Ha ! That’s nice. Next time I buy a GM car, I might go all the way to GM in the USA(if they are still open) and inspect their manufacturing plant, if someone else pay for my tickets ofcourse!

Call it a holiday my minister or tell me what exactly you discussed !

I am wondering why the government is spending so much on a volvo bus when Tata offers simlar city buses for half the price. Did I hear BENEFITS???

The Unknown Rule.

The police is not supposed to stop you and ask for registration and license. The law allows them to stop a vehicle only if he is violating any traffic rule.

I guess the Bangalore police have not read their law books correctly, they still stop motorists and ask for papers. Moreover only police in the rank of Inspector can ask you for documents.

Swine Flu.

The scare was in the whole of last week. TOI have started selling N95 masks through times shopping. Rs 270/- each. You could pay via credit card. Visa/Master accepted.

Scare us out on front page and sell masks on the last page. Way to go !

‘Call In’ Rama Sena

 

Yesterday in Channel 9 (which is a Bangalore based English news channel) was featuring a call-in program where the viewers could ask questions to a gentleman from Sri Ramasena.

 

Caller #1 “Why are you saying that we should not celebrate Valentines Day?”

Gentleman “Why do you want to celebrate love on only one day? Why can’t you celebrate 365 days?”

Caller #1 “Why do we then sir celebrate Independence Day on one day?”

Gentleman visibly pissed off! “What are you taaking man, that is what we are say ,  we need to celebrate all day. Why are we celebrating one day?”

Caller #1 verbally confused hangs up.

 

Caller #2 “Sir, what is your definition of Indian culture”

Gentleman “Respecting Indian culture is Indian culture. Not pub culture. Indian culture is respect”

Caller #2 “Okay, so do you think beating up girls is Indian culture?”

Gentleman “What are you talking? We apolized ! WE APOLIZED ! So what are you saying madam. What you saying? WHAT DO YOU THINK?”

Caller #2 “You say you are a social worker, don’t you think there are much more important issues to handle than silly issues like Valentines Day?”

Gentleman “We are helping people, the other day a man took a girl and stayed for 2 months. Our sevaks married that girl after wards. We are doing social work!”

Caller #2 did not have words, I can’t blame her.

 

 

Caller #3 an elderly gentleman in his 50’s “Who do you think you are to control our girls?. WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT?? …….”

Gentleman from sena “ WHO DO YOU THINK ….”

Caller #3 “WHO DO ….”

Gentleman “MIND YOUR LANG….”

And it went on and on.

 

I guess this program was recorded as the phone number to call them was not displayed on the screen.

If I had a chance I would have called them and my conversation would go like this.

 

Me “Hi I am from Bangalore, I have a question”

Gentleman from sena “Go ahead ask me”

Me “Not for you sir, for the channel and the producers of this show”

Gentleman “??”

Me “ Why do you want to air something of this irrelevance and put a man who claims himself as the moral god on the show who talk nothing to talk but bullshit?”

Gentleman “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU……………”

 

 

 

 

Note: The typos in this post was intentional. 

 

 

 

Hyderabadi Biriyani

Hyderabadi biriyani (Recipe) and the first thing that comes to my mind are the spices. The biriyani is very spicy with adequate cashewnuts, fried onions and huge chicken pieces. Well thats what they served when I went to Hyderabad few years ago.

With this in mind, I went to a restaurant called ‘Hyderabad house’ at Koramangala, Bangalore (opposite The Forum). I didn’t know the chef had other plans.

The steward was not courteous and was not ready explain why they have Chicken Biriyani (regular) and Chicken Biriyani(large). I just wanted to know whether the regular is the Half biriyani we get at other restaurants and the large the normal one. But since he was not really interested in explaining things to me, I thought of going for just one Regular Chicken biriyani, not knowing what to expect.

The dish was served and the quantity seemed to be the same as that of the full Chicken Biriyani terminology other restaurants use.

But the quality was another thing. We had rice and then there was chicken and some masala. I was not sure if I had to make biriyani myself or thats the way it was served in that restaurant.

If some pieces of chicken, some rice and little masala could make a biriyani then they served me the wrong dish when I was in Hyderabad.

I called the waiter and asked

“What all spices did you add???”

“err.uh.emm”

“Did you add cashew? I cant find one!”

“err.uh.emm”

He went back to the kitchen and brought me some more masala+rice mix, which tasted awful !

Enough is enough and I walked out without leaving a tip.

For those who are in Bangalore it would be best if you go to some smaller restaurants to get the real taste of biriyani. It would cost half the price and you would go home smelling biriyani.

It rained and then I want to MOVE OUT !

Okay I admit, I don’t like my landlord. No it’s not just because of this but, because of the ‘showering display of water’ all over the place where I live.

Let me explain. It was a great Sunday morning, dressed up in freshly pressed clothes we were off to the Church, a bit late, but then it’s better late than never.

That’s when it rained. No it’s not rain. There was no thunder. It’s was not cloudy. It’s my landlord again! She was busy cleaning the stairs and then she went showering the entire place and ME (who was unfortunately standing on the ground floor about to get into my vehicle)with water.

The spray spoiled my shirt. I refrained myself from calling her names, after all am off to the church.

My questions are, why does she have to clean the stairs every day? Every single day? Even when it rains?

Why why why why? Why does she have to clean the steps and drench my bike with water every day? Every single day? The bike sits there miserably under the stairs when the water falls rushing down on it. It can’t move nor take cover from the sudden downpour. Well you can’t blame the bike, I couldn’t judge the sudden downpour as well.

And then the dust starts to accumulate on the bike.

 

The dusty bike and a car that would be all left. Thanks to the showering display of water. And the lady says she is cleaning. Trust me, it’s not a very good feeling to be drenched with dirty water one fine morning. And my poor motorcycle is tortured every morning.

 

Aaaargh !

 

Its time we move.

 

So off I go to office, and announced my plans to move, one of my colleagues narrated his experience, when he was in search of a house two months back.

 

He found an advertisement on the local newspaper about a house which was available on rent. One saturday morning he went to see the house. He couldn’t locate the place and requested a vegetable vendor who was near the locality to help him. The vegetable vendor asked my colleague to follow him and pointed out to a house. It was around 100 meters from his vegetable stall.

 

My colleague went in and talked to the owner regarding the house. Once done and all settled he was about to return to his car, when he found the vegetable owner waiting for him outside the house. The vendor approached my colleague and asked

“So are you taking the house?”

Colleague : “Yes”

Vendor : “My commission?”

Colleague : “Whaaaat???”

 

Vendor : “I showed you the house. So I need commission for that”

Colleague: “I just asked you for directions. I had the address with me already”

 

Vendor : “I showed the house and so that qualifies me as the broker”

Colleague : “Get the ()*#@()*# off my face”

 

And he drove away.

 

Next time you ask for directions in Bangalore, make sure you don’t mention that you want to rent out the place. If you do, you will find instant brokers.

Better buy a GPS enabled phone. Or as an alternative, take a print out of Google maps (this is what I do).

But my landlord……………..aaaarghhhh !

 

 

 

 

Un-’Real’ Estate

At Koramangala, Bangalore.

Read this before you ‘jump into’ conclusions.

(Post Inspired from Bangalore Blues)

Untitled Blog post.

Everyone is asking me on whether I got my parking space. It’s a BIG NO !.

Getting a car is not a luxury, but a parking space is !

 

My landlady is back with her new excuse on why she is not giving me the garage. She is planning to start a Tution centre at the underground garage. She might kill some children there (due to suffocation of course).

Somewhere down the line in our conversation she did mention about her ‘almost’ renting out the space for 5000Rs/month.

I mean even if I have an S class benz I will have to shell out 60,000Rs per year. I can get the car repainted every year and still save some money.

 

My landlady,

Is greedy.

She is an old lady

But still greedy.

 

—- 

I recently had a chat with a friend of mine who is now on a business trip in Greece. He says language is a big problem to him. According to him ‘everything sounds Greek’ .

—-

 

Fame lido mall in Bangalore employs one of the best use of parking space, they use lifts at each parking spot and lift the car up to accommodate one beneath. I parked my car there this weekend, when I came back and took my car out an Indica blocked my way. The driver was trying to park his vehicle at the spot next to mine. For the first time in the history of Bangalore he allowed to me to go first and moved his car a bit. And then the lift at his parking space broke and the huge metal frame came crashing down. Although the cars parked next to it escaped unscarred it was the little good deed that saved the Indica.

 

Now what’s the moral of the story?

 

Don’t park cars at Fame Lido.