The woes of traveling by Hyderabad Metro Rail - Part IV

The last and final part to the topic on Hyderabad Metro Rail.
This post contains a list of miscellaneous things that bother me…and also some good things about the metro.

Smart cards: Are they really smart?
You buy a smart card for traveling by the metro train every day.  Once the money is used up, you recharge it. There is no upper or lower limit to the recharge. You deposit Rs.100/- when you buy the card. The advantage is not having to stand in queues every time you buy a ticket. There is also a 10% discount on your ticket whenever you take a ride. That translates to a mere Rs. 4/- off on a Rs.40/- ticket.
If, God forbid, your card is lost, and you have no record of the long id number on the card, you are doomed. You have lost the deposit money plus whatever you have recharged it with.
If you plan to return the smart card, you are refunded only Rs. 60 of the 100/- deposit. Why? Tax, it seems. Remember, you are not warned of these charges when you buy the card. At the time of purchase, you are told that the deposit is returned when you surrender the card.
I think Metro should also think of linking to a bus commute after one gets off the train.

Lack of neatness:
Look at the thin film of dust on the staircase railings, dirt and pigeon shit on stairs, dirt on train floors…its everywhere.
In the initial days of metro travel, when the train was sparkling new, I boarded the train at Ameerpet and saw to my horror that someone had left large puddles of pickle oil on the floor. People were very nonchalantly stepping into it and spreading it everywhere else. I quickly grabbed some tissues from my bag and mopped up the oil so that it didn’t spread elsewhere.
A few tissues later, I saw that I was not only mopping up the oil but loads of dirt along with it! For me, it was mana metro, mana Hyderabad, but looks like this sentiment isn’t shared by the metro personnel. 

The value of time:
Time isn’t really valued much in the metros. We aren’t really aware of when the next train arrives. There is a display at random about the arrival of the next train but then there is no strict adherence to that timing.
The duration of 6.30 minutes, though an improvement on the earlier 15 minutes, can still be improved. If a train is missed, waiting for nearly 7 minutes for the next one can delay your office-reporting time by those many minutes. And time is valuable in the morning hours. 
Those elaborate, international-airport-like security checks…are they really necessary? Many a time, you hear the train overhead leave when you are trying to do several activities at the security gate: remove water bottle--push your luggage through the scanner--put the water bottle back—gather your bag—lug it back on your shoulders--take out the smart card---swipe the card--put it back and then… trot across the concourse---ride up the escalator. By this time, the train is gone. And all you want to do once you reach the station, is scram across the floor and quickly into the about-to-leave train.

The crowds: 
The crowds are thickening now as more and more people start traveling by the metro. The crowds add more noise.
Also, several outlets are set up at Ameerpet station. They make the station appear more crowded.
Does the regular commuter, think of stopping to buy something at the end of the day? All you think of is, when does the next train come and when do I get into one and go home as soon as possible?
The jostling to get into the available 3 coaches has started happening as there is no queue system; the scramble to get into the lifts has also started.
At times, the non-functioning air condition in the train, especially at night times puts the burgeoning crowds to great inconvenience.
Autos are lined up at the water tank side of Tranaka metro station in such a way that they obstruct the travelers from entering the station area.

Some good things: 
The ticket issuing system is smooth. The ticketing staff has always been pleasant to interact with.
Lost property found: I lost and got back my umbrella which I had left in the train while getting off at Ameerpet.
Very thoughtful of them to build a FOB at Paradise station. Getting off or onto the station becomes very easy!
The entire infrastructure is very beautiful. The area around the station, the station, the train, the platform, the drivers… all are world-class. Some stations are kept very clean (like Tarnaka).
Area around Miyapur is like a park where you want to go to relax.
It is heartening to have a commute in Hyderabad which doesn’t make you wait too long and normally sticks to the 6.30 minutes wait time. It is also one of the fastest modes of transport on Hyderabad roads.

Waiting eagerly for HMR to extend the services to Hi-Tech city. It will be a great blessing to thousands of people commuting from the other end of the city.
All my 4 posts regarding different aspects of the Metro are for providing feedback so that if these teething issues are taken care of, we can anticipate smoother operation when the routes are extended.

The woes of traveling by Hyderabad Metro Rail - Part III

The third in the series is one on NOISE in metro station and the train.

How we Indians thrive on noise!

By the time a person reaches Ameerpet station on the last leg of his daily commute, after 8+ hours of work, 3+ hours of commute, at the end of a tiring day, he meets this scenario…

Ameerpet is an interchange station and therefore more crowded than the other stations.

But that still doesn’t warrant the continuous cacophony from the pervasive speakers. You wander if you are in a metro station equipped with the latest infrastructure or in some village fair.

A regular commuter, laden with a bag weighing 5+ kgs on his back, tired, wanting to go home cannot expected to be tolerant of the continuous announcements from the mikes placed all around Ameerpet metro station.

Please do not touch unclaimed baggage. If you see one, report to the authority.

Travel beyond what you paid for is a punishable offence.

Please do not cross the train tracks. It is a punishable offence

Now you have bike facility at xxx metro stations.

Please note the change in metro timings from xxx to xxx on weekends and on weekdays.

You are under CC camera surveillance. Misuse of alarm is observed.

Do not lean on the doors.

Stand behind the yellow line till the train stops.

While boarding or deboarding, don’t get in while the doors are closing.

I forget the others. But this goes on….AND all these in THREE languages continuously in a loop.

People on mobile phone trying to talk louder over this noise…

The security personnel, especially at Ameerpet, talking to one another in loud tones.

The noise continues in the train with some commercials screaming at you inside the train, people speaking on phones, playing music and videos.

In one of the trains, the door behind the drivers’ cabin makes a chattering noise throughout the journey.

There are very few announcements cautioning people from playing music on their phones.They don’t care. But for a commuter, to be subjected to insensitive intrusion into their space, strict monitoring would certainly be helpful.

There is just SO much noise to put up with at the end of the day!

The woes of traveling by Hyderabad Metro Rail - Part II

The security system

Modern day dictum requires the use of security system at entrances to crowded and eminent places.
The system is a pain for anyone. Who likes standing at the entrances and be probed, patted, have pockets checked, bags searched…? You learn to grin and put up for the 1-2 times mall visits a month, or 4-5 airport visits a year.
But what when you commute by the metro and are subjected to this kind of checking twice a day? And what if rules keep getting added with the least concern for the commuter? And executed with the least politeness? Being treated with suspicion twice a day is no fun.
When I started using the metro for travel, I was asked to put the backpack which contains, a laptop, an extra pair of shoes I carry every day, a water bottle and my wallet, on the conveyor belt for scanning.
I used to carry my lunch bag in my hand and a slim 7"x 7" sling bag across the front containing change for Rs. 500/- for my daily commute, my office ID card and my cell phone.
All the travelers are asked to put their bags on the conveyor belt and have the luggage scanned. I comply to this.
A few days later, one of the security guards asked me to put my sling bag also on the conveyor belt. Containing just a little cash, a cell phone, the metro card and the house keys, the bag is just too thin to cause any suspicion of a physical threat. A physical examination would have been enough. But the guard insisted I put it on the belt. The cloth bag comes without a zip or a button and I ran the risk of the contents falling out in the transaction. Moreover, exposing my iPhone to the hazard of x-rays twice a day was unacceptable to me. I feared it would cause a damage.
So, now I have another piece of luggage to be added to the backpack...this sling bag.
Third, my lunch-box is made of several tiny plastic boxes containing tiny portions of various items, solid and liquid. Because it is plastic, it tends to topple over when I keep it on the conveyor belt.
The security guards insisted that I put it on the belt too. During the return journey, the empty set of tiffin boxes would be knocked off the conveyor belt and fall to ground because of its lightness. (Was a disaster when I tried carrying a pastry daintily back home one day).
The next item to be added to the backpack in addition to the laptop, shoes, a water bottle, my wallet and the sling bag was now this lunch box.
I start out from home now by holding the cell phone, the house keys and the metro card in my hand. Rest of the things are now stuffed into the back pack, to be placed on the conveyor belt.
The next set of instructions came a few days later. ‘Take out all the water bottles from your bags and hold it in your hand’. Ok. So now, I go to the conveyor belt, wait for a few seconds to take the water bottle out of its slot in the back pack, keep it in my hand along with the house keys, the metro card and the cell phone, enter the cordoned security area for a physical examination by the hand-held device, emerge on to the other side, collect my backpack, re-insert the bottle in the backpack, swipe my metro card at the entrance, run upstairs while balancing the water bottle, the metro card, the cell phone, the house keys and a heavy backpack on the back,  and with no hands left to hold onto the railings of the escalator, I risk my safety.
The new weight of the backpack, now also with an umbrella due to rainy season, is around 6 kgs.
When I start from office, I perch the bag on the table to enable me to push it on to the shoulders. Heaving it across the shoulders otherwise, causes the handles to graze the arms.
Security system at Ameerpet is a nightmare. The conveyor belt there is just a few inches above ground level. And one needs to pause in front of the belt, peel off the back pack, put it on the belt, bend down again on the other side to pick up the heavy backpack and put it back on your shoulders as there is no table or perch to rest your backpack on.
Another very dangerous thing one observes at some of the conveyor belts is that the they keep running and have no perch preceding or following the running belt because of which, if you wear a flowing dress, beware, your dress is likely to be caught. Second, there is no table or perch when the bags emerge on the other side and that’s why a security guard is allotted to collect your bags to prevent them falling off the belt.
The most ironic thing about the security is that as your bag goes through the x-ray machine, sometimes, there is no guard sitting there to watch the contents of your bag. You could put anything inside.
And sometimes the guard is busy doing important things like making calls as your bag is supposed to go through. And you emerge on the other side wondering why your bag hasn’t come through yet. You see that it is still sitting perched at the entrance to the conveyor belt as it is not pushed onto the belt by the guard. So you go back, push your bag through the entrance onto the conveyor belt and breathe in relief as the bag comes through this time.
To add to all these woes twice a day, is the utter lack of empathy and politeness by the security staff.
Why are we commuters subjected to such security system twice a day?
How are they going to manage when the crowds thicken due to extension of routes?

Having a walk-through metal detector plus the hand-held one will give the commuter the freedom to to carry his stuff whichever way he wants to and also save him from the rules which change ever-so-often (about things that can go into or need to be removed from the bags).

The woes of traveling by Hyderabad Metro Rail-Part I

Walk…walk…walk

No sooner did we Hyderabadis revel in the advent of the metro, than we started witnessing its rapid deterioration!
You can refer here to the extreme glee with which I welcomed the metro. Anything that caters to increasing the level of urbane infrastructure in Hyderabad, warms the heart at the prospect of improved standard of living.
After the usual Hyderabad frenzy of initial rush, I took a casual trip one day. My heart was singing as I saw the well-planned infrastructure, the cleanliness, the sparkling newness and the near-empty spaces within and outside the train.
All this experience was short-lived as my new job entailed a commute of 25+ kms to Hi-Tech city. And that’s when I realised what I was getting into.
I figured a combination of routes and travel and finally settled on getting down at Ameerpet and opting for another transport from Ameerpet to Hi-tech city.  I was at peace at finding a routine.
Well, what do you know?!
Traveling by metro is strictly for the physically strong.
Prepare for walking…walking long distances and climbing up and down staircases.
A typical metro station has four entry points...two on each side of the road. On one side is a lift and the other side an escalator plus steep staircases to go up/ down. Climbing all these can be intimidating. Escalators/lifts may not be on the side of the road you want to get off on and therefore climbing down these steep staircases can be gruelling.
Watch out especially for metro stations on SP road, most of which have access only on one side of the road.
The example of Parade Ground station…
While traveling towards Uppal, you come across the first entry to Parade Ground station. And what have you here? A formidable climb up two steep flights of stairs to reach the concourse!
If you want to be smarter the next time and take the second entry point to the station, you walk 300-400 metres further and get to use the lift to go to the concourse. But after reaching the concourse, you keep walking and walking… seems like almost a kilometer… to reach the platform! And I imagine it to be so for all the stations on SP road which have entry point only on one side of the road.
Once you reach the concourse, watch out for all the floor space you need to cover to get to the platform!
At least the train floor is on the level of platform and one needn’t have to labor to get onto the train.
Okay, now here comes the not so funny part….in all stations, 2 of 4 escalators are kept closed ‘to conserve electricity.’ In few of them all 4 escalators are closed, and only lifts are in operation. So, once you get off the train, you need to walk some distance from your coach to reach the lift.
How do I know the pain of walking all these distances?
I had hurt my foot and was working from home for a week. The first day I returned to work, I had someone drop me at the station (very close to my home) and made an effort to get into the train by walking slowly. But when I got off at Ameerpet station and asked for a wheel chair to my waiting cab downstairs, I was asked, 'had you asked for the wheel chair at you starting station? If not, you don’t get it here either.’
Slow walking (and delayed healing as a result) for the next couple of weeks was my only recourse.
Conclusion: Senior citizens, physically challenged…keep away! The metro is not for you.

My Hyderabad, My Metro

When the Metro was announced in Hyderabad ten years back, I wasn't much affected by the news.
Ten years back the traffic wasn't this bad. My office was closer and the roads still good enough to allow commute by one's own vehicle. Once the offices moved far to the newly built Hi-Tech City, we traveled by the MMTS (running on train tracks). It had its limitations in terms of timings and frequency, but we managed with a combination of traveling to and fro from the stations in shared autos.
Then came the convenience of Ola/Uber cabs and we thought it was a blessing till we hit surge prices, and surge indeed they did.
In this scenario, the Metro comes as a big blessing!
Don't know why the officials even doubted its viability. There are people in Hyderabad and there is a great need for a convenient public transport. For those saying that the tickets are heavily priced, I say look at what you get in return...pollution-free AC environment with half the travel time. And isn't time equal to money these days?
I traveled the first time by the Metro yesterday, exactly one week after its inauguration.
I have been into Metros in India and abroad. Yet, seeing the Metro stations, the ticketing, the train, the entire infrastructure... I was super thrilled and lapped up all these sights greedily like a child. Everything that looked beautiful, everything that worked right filled my heart with delight. 'Mana Hyderabad!' said the heart with glee. A great closing gift of 2017 to the people of Hyderabad.
Okay, now for the actual experience:
I started at home at 12 noon and walked down to Tarnaka station. As I approached the station, I saw that the escalator was not working! Already?! I thought with a sigh, as I clambered up all those steep escalator stairs!
The station at Tarnaka was beautiful! It has been waiting for the last three years since completion...so why not?! There were personnel every ten feet waiting to help people, including a person beside the ticket counter! I queued up to buy a ticket to Ameerpet. At Rs.40, I felt it was a very decent deal considering that the same would have cost me at least three times that by a shared cab. As you get in, you and your bag are scanned. You need to press the issued token against the marked area on your right to allow the gates to open. And keep the token safely with you till you get down at the destination.Two kind of tokens are issued, red and blue ones for the two different routes.
 The idea was to just get into the Metro, have lunch somewhere and return by the same. This ride, covering a 12 km distance, took me 30 minutes. I stuck to the window trying to guess the position of the stations vis-a-vis the surrounding areas. (Not all the stations are on google map yet)
I inferred, Prakash Nagar stop meant Shoppers Stop; Rasoolpura stop is Fortune Manohar/Old Airport; Begumpet  stop is  beside Country Club/Life Style building/opposite Vinn Hospital at the beginning of SP Road. More trips and I will be able to decipher the location of the other stations better  and where they lead to.
Getting down at Ameerpet, I was pleasantly surprised to see people standing in a queue waiting to get in. I walked out of the station, down the stairs into a rubble of cement. Construction work is yet to be completed at the station and its  surrounding areas.
It was 1 pm and I chose to visit a restaurant in Kondapur.
Generally, I avoid going to a restaurant 26 kms from my home as, in shared cabs, by the time I reach through different pick ups and convoluted ways, I'd be famished. Even after having traveled half the distance by Metro, the 15 kms to the restaurant at Kondapur took me another hour by road. So, I reached the destination 2 hours from the time I started at Tarnaka.
Lunch and a couple of shared autos (30/-) later, I found myself at Miyapur station. Miyapur station, 10 kms away, is closer to Kondapur than Ameerpet is. So next time, in order to get to Kondapur, I need to travel directly to Miyapur to save, both, time and money.
Miyapur station is something we Hyderbadis truly deserve. Long, open stretches of greenery with families gathered around the aesthetically designed benches of  attractive hues all around was a heart warming sight---starved as we are for open spaces! Keeping in line with the pollution-free surroundings, were cycles available for rent.

At Miyapur station

The fare from Miyapur to Tarnaka was 55/-. Miyapur being the first station, I got to sit beside the window and watch the stations and the roads below.

My Metro, My Pride

There were halts every minute or so till we reached Ameerpet, an intersection and a signal to change platforms. This time there was no queue, resulting in a jostle with people trying to get in and get out at the same time. I got into the train headed to Nagole on the platform below. Like in the morning train, the crowd this time was okay too but only till another train full of passengers added to this lot! Then it got really crowded
The journey from Miyapur to Ameerpet took me 30 minutes. Once you alight, you drop the token into a provided slot to allow the gates to open and let you out.
Remember, A/B exits open to the road and enable you to go with the traffic and C/D exists to go against the traffic.

Exit & Customer Service Counter at Tarnaka

On things that can be improved:

1) We need to have queuing system, especially at busy intersections like Ameerpet
2) Lift to be strictly used by the senior citizens or physically challenged people. Right now it is used by all
3) Near the station exits, water is getting sold at Rs.2/-  per cup! Really?! Shouldn't this basic need be provided free of cost? What about the plastic waste being generated? 

Outside Ameerpet station

4) The frequency of the trains at 16 minutes from Nagole and 8 minutes from Miyapur needs to go up
5) Only three bogies are attached now. Double that number needed. Traveling standing all the time is not a pleasant experience.
6) Shorten run time. Now, it takes more than an hour to travel from Miyapur to Tarnaka.

Every time a government provides great infrastructure, it means that it respects the citizens and their needs. I would ask the government to continue to maintain these high standards of infrastructure and educate/help the people live up to these standards.
L&T has done Hyderabad proud in architecting this impressive world-class infrastructure, making it a prominent land mark in the city.
In turn, the people need to ensure that they safeguard this beautiful property as its custodians.

The Route Map

I look forward for the early completion of the other routes. Will greatly ease the Hyderabadis' commute.

Sikkim: Pelling

Sikkim provides the much needed succor to the urban eye tired of fast-pacing itself through concrete jungles and air-conditioned cubbyholes.
What you find is greenery in abundance, mountains, slopes, fresh unpolluted air and plenty of waterfalls.
Pelling is closest to Mt. Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain peak in the world.  The view is something to die for. No painter's hand can do justice to this scenic beauty.This is the view that you wake up to:

Kanchenjunga: view from our room

Kanchenjunga: another view from our room

And there are waterfalls of all sizes! There are so many that our car had to drive through one of them as we went to visit the Kanchenjunga waterfalls. A natural car-wash ! Here's the picture:

Driving through a waterfall

The swirling waterfalls, the regal mountain peaks and the lush greenery all around make Pelling a worthy trip.

Sikkim: Travel to Nathula Pass, a spine-chilling experience

Nathula, 55 kms from Gangtok, is a mountain pass through the Himalayas connecting India and China. It is at an altitude of 14000 ft above sea level.
To go to Nathula, one needs a permit from the Indian government. It is open to Indian citizens only on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. We were asked to submit two passport size photos and two photo ID proofs (our tour operator insisted on our passports towards ID proof).
We were there just two days after the roads were thrown open after a major landslide in September which had killed four people.

The road after the landslide

And the delayed monsoons ensured that the roads, if any, were full of mud and slush.

A stretch of the slippery road

What was truly a spine-chilling experience was traveling on these roads or non-existent roads. The roads become very narrow in places, sometimes just as much as the width of the vehicle that you are traveling in!  The waterfalls which exist everywhere in Sikkim wash away the roads. Where there is a strong waterfall, it is not possible to have a road, and your vehicle actually rides over the stones to travel across. All the slush on the roads jeopardize your travel further, as you never know when the vehicle could simply slide 14000 ft to the valley below. Though there is lovely scenery and nature filled with trees, mountains and waterfalls all around, you are rudely brought back to the real world with all the rocking and rolling of the car. Most of the time you sit through the journey praying and hoping you make it through. At one place, we waited quite some time for the crane to clear away huge boulders from the route which had come rolling down due to landslide. People are known to be stranded overnight for this very reason. And while returning, unless you manage to climb down before 5 pm, the diminishing visibility only makes things worse. Not for the faint-hearted, this experience!

The road can get as narrow as this

Visiting in winters is ruled out as temperatures can drop to below minus degrees. Visiting in the rainy season is ruled out as heavy rainfalls cause massive landslides. So that leaves a narrow window for visits. While we were there in October-mid, we were shivering from cold. It is necessary to wear shoes, and cover yourself head to toe to save yourself from the biting cold.We also saw some ice falling around us...not snow...just some random pieces of ice here and there.
The vehicle drops you at the bottom of the steps leading to the border and it is a steep climb up around 50-60 steps. Not an easy climb, especially due to lack of oxygen at that altitude.
After you catch your breath, it is time to get breathless again as you open your eyes to what you see around you: The Indo-China border and the beautiful mountain ranges all around you. Is this Yash Chopra's Switzerland, you wonder?
Patriotic feeling surges through you when you see the Indian soldiers guarding the border. And a quiet, reverent moment when you see the Indian War Memorial with names of all martyrs.
 The Chinese soldiers are busy clicking our photos and we theirs. They helpfully pose for us, with us. It is heart-warming to see their friendly nature. I was told that the Indian soldiers do the same when the Chinese visit the border, which is three hours before us as their time is ahead of us. Perhaps, this is the only international border which doesn't have a no-man's land.

And...the China post

Nathula Pass is a must-see.

Vinayaka Chavithi/Ganesh Puja: my angst

After the puja is performed, new clothes worn, sweets eaten, it's time for Ganesh immersion. Went to Durgan Cheruvu the day after puja for the immersion with a grim warning from son: "Bring the plastic covers back. Don't throw them into the lake." The environmentalist that he is! Not that I intended to, anyway. When I went there to immerse my Vinayaka idol, there was something that was heartening and something that was distressing.
What really cheered me was the sight of many idols of mud and clay that would not harm the environment but blend into the lake bed. Yet to see the lakefront teeming with swaying plastic covers, in which the puja material like flowers and leaves were brought, was appalling.
And this was on the very next day of the puja. It's frightening to think how many more covers would be carelessly dumped on the shores in the ensuing days of celebration as more and more people would be bringing the idols for immersion!
I wish there was someone appointed there just to ensure that a bin is provided so that people dump the plastic covers in it.

Another incident that saddened me was the power cut. Hyderabad, which rarely used to have power cuts, has now become like other Metros where there is a huge lacuna between demand and supply. To bridge this gap, the government has resorted to power cuts of three hours a day. I was fervently hoping that at least this day be spared, but it was not. Sharp, at the appointed hour, the power was shutdown :(  I am sure that this would have proved to be a very frustrating experience for all the worshipers in the city. With most of the factories/organizations closed for the holiday, didn't the government have enough to provide uninterrupted power for this day?
To ensure that we were worshiping the right God, and offering the right offerings, we switched on the emergency light to complete the puja.
I hope the next year, these things are taken care of.

Showing respect: the Indian way?

From an article in TOI
1. The 49-year-old, Gurgaon-based CEO of a software product company was in for a rude shock some months ago when one of his young employees peeped into his spacious cabin with a beaming smile and said: "Hey, your cabin's goddamn big... What fun man!" The irritated chief executive instantly summoned a senior hand, a 52-year-old, to check on what could be done about the cheeky geek. The senior executive told the CEO, "We have an army of such guys, how many can you reprimand? It's their style."

Another instant: 
2. A guy wrote an extremely anguished mail on a forum seeking suggestions when he found "an extremely junior and subordinate staff" address his boss by first name in her mail. He feels she should not have addressed someone very senior  (age and position) by first name. He wanted to know how he should advise or warn her to follow proper etiquette while addressing seniors?
(This was written in such atrocious grammar that had I reproduced it as it is, it would have been incomprehensible)

Another instant:  
3.  A well-known food blog says that unless you show respect by addressing as ji/garu/shri/shrimati/Mr./Mrs./Ms., your comments will be ignored...

What do you think of these instances?
If I was in the place of the CEO in the first instant, far from getting irritated, I would have smilingly waved him in and  invited him to explore the cabin as he seemed to have liked it so much. Why and for what he should be reprimanded is beyond me. He hasn't shown any disrespect towards me with those innocuous remarks. On the other hand, he has openly expressed that he liked the place. He might be considered disrespectful if there was an important meeting going on and he had intruded.
If only the seniors more experienced know how to harness this abundant energy of the youth without impeding their thought process, without ridiculing their ideas however implausible they seem, without denting  their self-esteem through discouragement, but work in unison by giving a positive direction to the yet-uncontaminated minds, they can achieve wonders.

In the second instance, I was quite befuddled by the query. What is the meaning of "an extremely junior and subordinate staff"?
A dictionary search threw this meaning for Junior: of lower rank or standing and this meaning for subordinate:  belonging to a lower order or rank/subservient or inferior. Do I infer then that being in a lower rank permits one to consider the person as being subservient or inferior? 
If the criterion for showing respect is age, then should I respect Osama who is older to me? And if the criterion is position, there is the once President of Uganda, Idi Amin. Again, I do not understand what did this person want to "warn" the subordinate about? Mind you, the content of the mail wasn't mentioned anywhere. So my assumption is that there was no issue there.

In the third instance, I do not understand how tagging the blogger with ji, or garu or Ms. or any other title portrays respect to the person.To be able to give a detailed and simple step-by-step guidance to cooking and to have so many clicks on the You-tube, is truly an amazing accomplishment and inspires respect for the work. But to demand ( "I expect and insist") respect through such tags takes away something.
I have read blogs by many senior citizens of India...people in their 60s and 70s who have hundreds commenting on their blogs and addressing them by their first name. (Zephyr and Gappa to name just two). I respect these really senior people, not because of their age but that despite their not-so-robust health and advancing years, their yearning to keep blogging and be able to keep up with the times (as evidenced in their writing on contemporary topics...topics which people of all ages can relate to).

On the personal side of relationships, in India, the touching of feet is considered the ultimate sign of obeisance. But then whose feet does one touch? Any person who is older to you or the one who inspires in you that reverence towards him/her? And looking at the way these Pairi Paunas (feet-touching) happen, I wonder whether they are paying their respect or playing out a farce. A quick 30 degrees bend forward and sometimes side-ways, your hand brushing against the legs just beneath the knees is Pairi Pauna? Personally, I don't allow anyone to touch my feet. I am not God I say, and am as imperfect as everyone else is.

'Respect' is 'to show regard or consideration for.' Every person's being, his space, feelings and thoughts deserve to be respected irrespective of his age, position or status.
Respect is a two-way street. Authoritarian ways never beget respect. One of my favorite authors in Telugu, Chalam, said that in a society that believed in the children being indebted to their parents, he proclaimed caring for and bringing up of children as the fundamental duty as parents. To all those parents who demand respect through unquestioned obedience, I ask:
If Ji/Garu are signs of respect then why Pithaji, aap but Ma, thum ( in Hindi) Nannagaru, meeru but Amma, nuvvu (in Telugu)?

Water, water everywhere...

When Amir Khan telecast his program on "water" and contamination, I thought to myself...'no, it is not applicable to this safe corner of Hyderabad'. In the last five years I am at Tarnaka, I never had any issue of water...lack/contamination. That was till last week.
About ten days back we noticed slightly muddy water from our taps. We waited awhile and filled our water filters. I had very naively scolded the building watchman when he didn't let water into the overhead tank. I told him that we can take care of our water requirement as we have Pureit at home which would purify any and all kinds of impurities.
 On 20th, son complained of feeling feverish. He declined any food. I had a Maggi and went to bed. From the time I hit bed, I had this intense churning in the stomach. Vomiting followed. 21st morning, I too had fever. So, the whole of last weekend, we spent in bed, too weak to get up, or eat-- only spewing fluids from both ends. This continued for three days. When it stopped, the discomfort in tummies continued for another four days. Meanwhile, we bought this water bubble and had the mineral water for a week. I came to know that a few more households in our apartment were effected too!
And, we have Pureit in our home.
When you see the ad wherein the guy pours in water from every drain and river into the Pureit unit and claims it to be 100% germ free, he should have picked up a glass full from my home too. I was furious to see their tall claims fall by the way side. Their claim of 1 crore challenge remaining unclaimed for two years is also fake. Because, when I logged in to their website to actually write challenging the water purity, this is what I found:

 

The way they advertise on TV misleads us into believing that they claim that the challenge is for providing 100% germ-free water but the challenge for the one crore claim is actually to see if you can find a unit from any other company providing the features that Pureit does!
With a six monthly mandatory battery replacement for even a small family like ours, we need a serious re-think on whether it is prudent to go for this, especially when it fails you when you need it the most. Wonder whether the whole Germ-Kit (@ Rs.750) that they provide is merely a placebo!
Why is it that more and more we find that the enthusiasm with which a product is sold, does no longer match with the quality or service provided?

Towards the cooler climes

I looked with trepidation towards a trip to Kerala the last week for a celebration in the family at Trivandrum.
The notorious humid weather of Kerala didn't really encourage me to pack my Kanjeevarams. Packed some  heavy-duty cotton stuff instead. Two days at Trivandrum saw me having a nondescript meal at the South Park on the first day; the second day when we had the actual function at home, we were in for a surprise traditional Kerala food which was truly awesome with its four chutneys, kootus, butter milk preparations and the awesome payasams.
After a packed 2 days' schedule, we left for Munnar. As I stepped into our hotel, I was dismayed to see the absence of an AC in the room. Later, we realized that the temperature of around 23° didn't really warrant one. On top of this, rain the next day brought down the temperature by several more degrees. So, there I was enjoying a pleasant weather while back home Hyderabad was blistering under the scorching sun .

Early morning view from our room at Munnar

View from Munnar Dam

We drank in all the greenery that we could and headed to Tekkady. All the breath-taking scenery in the world seems to be showering its blessing on the Munnar-Tekkady route. Greenery, greenery and more greenery! A day at Tekkady, which again had quite a decent weather, and then back to Cochin.

Tea plantations on Munnar-Tekkady route

 Got addicted to the 'Kutten chai' in the four days there. Don't know whether it is supposed to mean 'cutting chai'. It is a weak black tea preparation and was great to taste. Not to be had at the restaurants but at the little road side outlets (for Rs. 5/-).
Brought home the exotic spices, teas, the famous kerala eats like chips, halwas, and the amla preparations.
Only four days away at the cool hill sides, but was it worth it?!

Of Anna(s) and Events

There is one Anna sitting in fasting in Delhi protesting against corruption. It is amazing to see how he swept up and touched people across the country! The middle class, the (largely) honest tax payer was hurting as scam after scam of unimaginable proportions was hitting headlines. Looking back, Harshad Mehta’s 4000 crore scam seems diminutive now! The latest one, the 1.76 lakh crore scam befuddles most of the middle class minds who don’t really know how many zeros the figure contains. Many of them are busy commuting to work, working, taking care of family and inevitably paying the taxes through salary deductions. Caught up in this loop and unable to do little else, they only can be frustrated and helpless when they see their hard earned money warming some undeserved pockets. That one voice, therefore, garnered gigantic waves of support. Like everything else these days, Anna’s movement also is seen through eyes of cynicism. Plenty of voices have FBed and Twittered, both for and against the agitation.

Just about a week ago, the crowd frenzy took a different dimension. History repeated itself on the 2^nd of April. The underdog of 1983 had now become the favorites for the 2011 World Cup. The difference between 1983 and 2011 also is the pervasion of cricket into many more homes via TV screens. In a country where a wooden plank, three sticks and a ball make cricket, where you find kids playing cricket on every road and gully, where the children may not remember the Math formulas but cricket stats are quoted confidently and accurately, Dhoni came close to displacing Sachin from the position of Cricket God with THE SIX which made history by bringing the world cup back to our country after a 28-year long wait.

And then we have the Annas of Telangana. [Yeah, men usually address each other as ‘Anna’ in the Telangana regions of AP]. One of those Annas went on a fast for independent state of Telangana last December. Hyderabad has seen several bandhs in the last one year seriously disturbing the life of general public. People closer to the OU were practically imprisoned in their homes as the Annas and their followers resorted to stone pelting and destruction of public property. These protests gathered momentum and led to the so-called Million March on the 11^th last month. People gathered in droves defying the police, breaking through barricades to join in the protest, wreaking havoc, breaking the statues that lined the road, throwing the desecrated and broken statues and cameras snatched from the journalists into the murky waters of the Hussain Sagar.

We witnessed crowds, enthusiasm, hullaballoo, cheering, stomping, sloganeering, madness and mayhem…all within the last one month.  In the first event, the fight is against the common enemy of the middle class—the greedy government official. In the second, it is India against the rest of the world. In the third, it is one Telugu against another Telugu. While the first event caused people to connect emotionally and fight as one single entity with a enemy within, the second brought tears of great joy and goose bumps as we, irrespective of class, creed, religion and language celebrated our—India’s—moment of triumph over the world, the third had us frightened by the sight of the noisy mobs silencing the streets with their acts of violence and mayhem.

I do not know what motivates someone like Anna Hazare to speak for the people. But right now, I, as a middle class person will rather submit to the optimism that the voice beckons, be swept away in the euphoric success story of Indian cricket than be intimidated by pessimistic, destructive and divisive forces.                                                                

CRICKETTTTTT!

Yes, that is me shrieking in exasperation. And before you men out there dismiss it with a shrug and say, “Women...what do they know of sports,” let me tell you I was a great fan of cricket. Though not able to quote statistics at random, the interest in cricket was held fastidiously till the infamous match-fixing allegations in the famous year of the century, the Y2K. That’s when I lost faith in cricket and gave up watching it.

The world cup was therefore obviated from my radar as were all previous cricket matches including the supposedly very thrilling 20-20s. Yet, it was not to be so this year. I could not but submit abjectly as I found myself swathed, swamped and smothered by an all-pervasive delirium.

TV news channels are taken over by well-known Mademoiselles, thrusting mikes under people’s noses asking, “What do you think about tomorrow’s match?” “Do you think this match will really benefit the peace process in India-Pak relations?” Switch channels, and you have another equally popular Anchorji doing his best balancing between comments of Indian/Pakistani cricketers and audiences. Bites, bites and more in every channel. Perhaps the India and Pakistani cricketers are making more giving these bites than what they did during their playing careers back then. Even the equable DD news channels submit to this frenzy interviewing people chanting pro-India slogans.

At office, the mail exchanges stopped at 2:30 pm. A ticket assigned to a (guy) network administrator gets transferred to a lady associate. A coincidence? 95% of people are missing after lunch. They are licensed to absent themselves today as the office has giant screens set up to enhance the watching experience. Every few minutes, loud shrieks told us that one of the Indian batsmen had scored. I left office early and found that, thankfully, the trains were running half empty too! Who would want to leave the match and spend one hour traveling?!

At home, the family is stuck to the TV, forbidding me from touching the remote...my saas-bahus are relegated to repeats! :( When I could lay my hands on the remote for a few seconds during the break, I turned to the Telugu news channels. Unmindful of the sober news of the death of a very prominent actor, cricket updates were running gleefully in the scroll below.

Even when I was away in the kitchen, loud cheers and bursting crackers outside told me when a Pakistan wicket fell. Stony silences were indicative of a Pak batsman’s 4 or a 6.
The last over was crowned by the deafening sound of crackers accompanied by loud cheers from youngsters zooming past on their bikes.

Sanity prevails as the key match of this world cup is over!
Now you know why we Indian women cannot remain impervious to the world of cricket! :)

BSNL Billing Woes

In the month of October 2010, I attempted to pay my BSNL bill through its website (portal.bsnl.in). Normally my bill amount varies between 800 to 1000 rupees a month and now I saw a total of Rs.1600+ in one single bill showing that one month's payment was still due. Upon checking I found that the previous month's amount that I paid on the due date was not updated. The BSNL site has NO option to select/type the amount that you wish to pay. You are compelled to pay the sum mentioned there.

I went to the BSNL office to ask them to update the information so that I could pay the 900+ amount due for the month. Both people in charge in the Tarnaka BSNL office do not know how the BSNL website works! I demonstrated the same to them patiently. The lady who was in charge, Suvarchala, called up the person responsible for  the internet payments and asked him to rectify the amount showing online. He replied that he could not as the govt. employees are on strike! So, for some strange reason, whatever amount I had paid in the previous month (albeit on the last due date) remains un-updated for a month. I HAD to pay  my bill that day itself as it was the last day for paying for the bill generated for October. To further my misery, I was not carrying enough cash and offered to pay by card. The typical answer( I should have expected this) was that the machine that swipes the card is not working. Now, the only option left for me was to pay 1600+ amount for September ( which I already paid in the previous month) and that of October which was due this month. Suvarchala  assured me that if I pay the bills for both months, in November the amount paid in advance will be deducted and only the balance will reflect. Reluctantly, for no fault of mine, I paid double amount of September ( again) and that of October.

Is that the end of the story...what do you think? In the month of November, I again get a bill of 900+! Why? because the online payment has not been updated again (so, what's new?)..On calling Suvarchala, she checks and tells me that only 9 (nine) rupees is now due and not the 900+ reflected in the site. I, of course did not pay this time again as I obviously cannot choose the option of paying Rs.9...and guess what? The next month, in December 2010, I am fined an amount of 15 rupees towards late payment (actually non-payment of those 9 rupees)! At least, the January bill was ok and I could pay the right amount :)

This month (for the February bill), the website itself doesn't work. So what do I do? The safest thing and the only comprehensible thing as per BSNL requirement...haul myself to the BSNL office and pay them cash and get a hard copy of the receipt. I didn't carry my BSNL bill that is sent home every month. They have no qualms about  generating a duplicate bill (waste of paper). Second, waste of man power when you have hundreds of people queue up to pay their bill in person. Third, the physical receipt that is generated for every payment (waste of paper again).

All this wastage is acceptable for BSNL and not the easy and convenient online payment. Hail BSNL! Hail govt.!

The three greatest maladies afflicting India

I was traveling back from work in the local train. And as I was minus my MP3, I was forced to connect with the world around me. Rarely would I bother to indulge in conversation with the minority community...but I did.
What I noticed...
The solidarity with another member of the same community & the quick bonding...
There was another lady who had got separated from her family and didn't even know which station she was supposed to get down at. This lady was anxious and found immediate solidarity with the family sitting beside me who not only sought to assuage her worry but also adjusted to give her place to sit.
I started conversing with the lady sitting beside me...I pointed out to the two children in front of her and asked her whether those two were her kids. She confirmed and also said that there are three other older children at home...'three mard bache'...she proclaims...5 children between the ages of 21 and 12!
I pointed to the girl asking her what she was studying. The reply was that she was married. When asked for age, the reply was she was 16!
I asked the daughter now, what had she studied. It seems she had not even done her tenth!
When asked why doesn't she continue her studies...there was no reply.
Here…in this small cross-section of India I found the three greatest maladies persisting in modern India:
1. Early Marriage of girls
2. No education
3. Enormous Population.

If this is how it goes on...how does India progress?