"Pennywise and Pound foolish" ... goes the old English proverb ...
But thats what most of us are these days !
There is a store in Bangalore by the name Pennywise whose main USP is the "upto 50%" discount it offers. This is enough for crowds to throng the place.
Ofcourse the discount we realise is not 'flat' 50% , but a variable one with max of 50% for a few select items of clothing which no one wud buy even if it was given 100% discount. But then many ppl since they took the effort of stepping into the store , decide to buy something or other at a discounted price. Though in reality they may not actually need the stuff, just because it is available at a discount price ppl end up buying it !
Infact some stores have this tag line "Buy more,Save more!" what an amazing logic!!!
This seems to be a sureshot success strategy for all brands , though a good price for certain item of clothing wud be 'X'Rs , hype up the brand and put the price tag at '2X' or more and make it appear that the brand is out of reach for mere mortals.
The more highly its priced (though quality wise it may not be worth it) , the more awe it creates. But thats not all , the clever bit comes in when u sell it , you can't obviously make much money if u sell it at the marked price of '2X' Rs.
So u sell it with a special banners indicating some reason like "end of season Sale" (only the season lasts the whole year! ) and sell it at a discounted price of 20-40% over the hyped up marked price !
Which still means u make much more than the correct price "X" for the product !
Now Im firmly of opinion that the culprit here is not the clothes manufacturer but the end consumer who is more than happy to pay 1.2X for some brand which offers supposedly 'huge' discounts over its marked price rather than pay the correct price for another brand which makes same stuff and which has proper marked price 'X' and no discount but in reality 20% lesser (correctly priced infact)
In Tamil Nadu at this time of the year we see something called "Aadi Sale" with clothes vying with each other to offer tempting discounts and consumers enthused with the prospect of saving more with each purchase and loosening the purse strings ! The trend started with textiles and now have extended to Electronic goods shops also offer steep discounts during this time and volume of sales makes this the best season for them.Infact shopkeepers say that their sales see a 50 to 75% inc during "Aadi" month when compared to ordinary days.
Though I may be mistaken, but from what i remember 'Aadi' is an inauspicious month for Tamil ppl and hence in olden days ppl were not buying anything during that time and so the shop owners had to resort to the discounts and freebies , but today its the busiest season of the year !!!
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Friday, July 07, 2006
Minority Report
Politicians are one class who never cease to amaze you , though they do the same stuff over the years. Its the way they keep refining it which takes you by surprise.
Even Robert Langdon can't crack their code.
How else can you explain the banning of Da Vinci code movie in a few states in India on grounds that it cud hurt religious sentiments.that too when it is released in all Christian majority countries (even vatican too , I believe ! )Now the film is based on a book which was a best seller in all (christian dominated) western countries...
Now the book was just plain fiction and nothing so great that ur faith cud be challenged...
something so trivial was enuf for some netas to bend backwards to ensure the minorities (read their votebank ) are not hurt .
Since the movie is not shown for free/shown on television , if you want to watch it you have to go to a cinama hall (or rent a vcd/dvd) on your own free will. So where does the hurting of minority sentiment come in ?
Obviously just a gimmick to 'please' minorities !
now what next will they confiscate our copies of the 'Da Vinci code' book also ?
On a related note , there was a big controversy over women entering Sabarimala temple. whether its real or not is debatable. But this had prompted a TV news channel to come out with a debate on whether the practice is rite or not. It was an age old practice and there were reasons for why that was followed. Whether it is correct or not is another issue
But what irks me is the fact that a couple of politicians alleging that the temple is violating constitution by nott allowing women to enter....
But no such allegetion will be levelled against minority communities whose treatment of women is well known.
So why the apparent double standards in handling majority and minority ?
Now who is majority and who is minority ?
Latest update(13-7-06): After Mumbai blasts , SIMI a muslim student organisation was one of the prime suspects. In comes the UP chief to their defence , saying u cant accuse them (minorities) without evidence . Now the question is why shud UP chief be involved in an incident in Mumbai ... well apparently in a few months there is gonna be elections in UP and muslims form 10% of poulation and hence a valuable votebank !
When will they learn to treat all ppl as equals ? Why do we still vote for those who still see ppl as hindus , muslims and all ?
(Will be updated pretty frequently...)
Afterthought :
In Kerala , we have a holiday for "Avani Avittam" what that means most ppl in TN wud probably know ( its an annual ritual for us Tam Brahmins , where we change our sacred thread) but believe it or not , though there is no holiday in TN or any other South Inidan state. There is a holiday in Kerala which I believe has the least no: of brahmins in whole South !!!
Now this is precisely my point in Kerala , Brahmins are a minority and hence are a consolidated votebank , so too woo them (their votes) the state govt had to declare a state holiday for festival which has meaning for 1% of state's population !
That is the power of minorities in this country !!!
Even Robert Langdon can't crack their code.
How else can you explain the banning of Da Vinci code movie in a few states in India on grounds that it cud hurt religious sentiments.that too when it is released in all Christian majority countries (even vatican too , I believe ! )Now the film is based on a book which was a best seller in all (christian dominated) western countries...
Now the book was just plain fiction and nothing so great that ur faith cud be challenged...
something so trivial was enuf for some netas to bend backwards to ensure the minorities (read their votebank ) are not hurt .
Since the movie is not shown for free/shown on television , if you want to watch it you have to go to a cinama hall (or rent a vcd/dvd) on your own free will. So where does the hurting of minority sentiment come in ?
Obviously just a gimmick to 'please' minorities !
now what next will they confiscate our copies of the 'Da Vinci code' book also ?
On a related note , there was a big controversy over women entering Sabarimala temple. whether its real or not is debatable. But this had prompted a TV news channel to come out with a debate on whether the practice is rite or not. It was an age old practice and there were reasons for why that was followed. Whether it is correct or not is another issue
But what irks me is the fact that a couple of politicians alleging that the temple is violating constitution by nott allowing women to enter....
But no such allegetion will be levelled against minority communities whose treatment of women is well known.
So why the apparent double standards in handling majority and minority ?
Now who is majority and who is minority ?
Latest update(13-7-06): After Mumbai blasts , SIMI a muslim student organisation was one of the prime suspects. In comes the UP chief to their defence , saying u cant accuse them (minorities) without evidence . Now the question is why shud UP chief be involved in an incident in Mumbai ... well apparently in a few months there is gonna be elections in UP and muslims form 10% of poulation and hence a valuable votebank !
When will they learn to treat all ppl as equals ? Why do we still vote for those who still see ppl as hindus , muslims and all ?
(Will be updated pretty frequently...)
Afterthought :
In Kerala , we have a holiday for "Avani Avittam" what that means most ppl in TN wud probably know ( its an annual ritual for us Tam Brahmins , where we change our sacred thread) but believe it or not , though there is no holiday in TN or any other South Inidan state. There is a holiday in Kerala which I believe has the least no: of brahmins in whole South !!!
Now this is precisely my point in Kerala , Brahmins are a minority and hence are a consolidated votebank , so too woo them (their votes) the state govt had to declare a state holiday for festival which has meaning for 1% of state's population !
That is the power of minorities in this country !!!
Saturday, June 10, 2006
ITs Looting !
Bangalore city may not have sky scrapers , but if you plot a graph of
the increase in property prices over the last few years you will surely get
huge sky scrappers.
Same is the case with house rents , Bangalore house owners are ones who
have made most of the 'IT' boom , whether IT really boomed or not for us poor techies who came into the scene late , the rents have certainly boomed.
There is an increase of 50 % over the normal rates if a house
owner comes to know that his prospective tenant is an IT guy ! Also a min of 10 rent advance to it ... Thats literally the ground reality
in the IT capital.
Everyone blames IT guys for the increase in rent ! What will we poor
non-IT guys do they always ask/tell me . his was one complaint which we
keep hearing again and again. But I would say its not really fair to
blame IT ppl for the increase. this increase happnes because of the
perception that these guys earn a lot and hence wont mind paying.
A couple of years back a few friends of mine were hunting for a house
in B'lore and they saw a 2 bedroom house for which the previous tenants
had paid 5k per month. This guy met my friends and told them that rent
would be 7500 ! They were shocked as the guy was suggesting 50 %
increase , when asked why such a huge hike . The owner seemed surprised
that these guys were making noise for a small inc ; "you are making a
lot of money, right?" he asked. "I dont think the increase is huge for
ppl of your standards", he continued. Then my friend asked him "How
much do you think I earn in a month?" , the owner smiled and said he is
not very good at guessing these things and siad it was common knowledge
that software guys make a lot of money compared to men like him. Upon
further prompting , he said he will hazard a guess and added that he
was just making a conservative guess "Maybe 1 or maybe 2 Lacs?"
My friends were shocked and told him they make 10-15 % of the amount.
he guy wouldn't believe it , no way he kept repeating , I always read
about techies getting shares and being millionares ...
That seems to be the general perception , and the reason for this huge
increase in house rents in some areas of B'lore generally preffered by
software guys.
Another big reason for the increase in rents is the stupidity of ppl of
our ilk , there are some ppl who pay whatever is asked without checking
the general trend and the rates in that area , when one guy starts
paying others are expected to follow the suit and then automatically
the rent in that area increases. The reason why some pay is that they
usually take a house for rent as group of 4-6 , since the rent is
divided between them an increase of 1000 means just an inc of 200 to
each one so they dont mind.
Also the owners just jack up the rent so that even if ppl negotiate
they get a big increase over previous rates.
A friend of mine was looking for 3 bedroom house in Koramangla ,B'lore.
After seeing an ad in papers he called up the house owner.
This is what happened.
my Friend: "I heard you have a house in Koramangla , im interested , is
it available"
the Owner : "Actually a few people have come and seen it , but it is
avaiable as of now , are you interested"
F :"I want to know more details , like the rent and facilities .."
O : "Where did you come to know about this house?"
F : "from my office bulletin board , there was an ad , but no rent was
mentioned , can you please tell me the rent"
O : "oh you work there ... , the rent is ... 15000 "
F : "WHAT 15000 .....!!!"
O : "Hmm 12000 (?) ..."
F : "WHAT 12000 !!!"
O : :"Ok , 10000 then..."
F : (sensing that his incredulous reactions were working ) "10000
?!!!"
O : "ya , i cant reduce below that"
F : "Its too much sir"
O : "Not really , there was a guy who was ready to pay 9500 , im sure
i will get someone for 10k"
F : "Best of luck sir , bye"
Acc to my friend the correct rates in that area would be around 8-9 k
mark but pretty soon it would touch 10k , coz some fool would think
owner wanted 12k and would negotiate for 10k. Sure enough , today 1 yr
down that lane you wont find a house of that size in that area for less
than 10k !!!
Another area where these owners make profit is the painting clause in
the agreement. An amount is specified in one corner of the agreement as
painting charges , it gets charged wherther you vacate after one year
as expected or much before (which happens most often than not , for IT
guys coz of job switches , onsites etc..) . Even if you vacate house
after just 2 months , though ther is someone ready to occupy the house
the same day you move out (thats the kind of demand ! ) still the owner
will charge you for painting , though he never does the painting is
another fact which never gets noticed.
Last month i vacated the house i was staying for last 1.5 yrs and moved
to a new place. We had never caused any roblem to the owner so we didnt
expect any hassles when we went to collect the advance . But it was not
to be , the guy who was always around to collect the rent , turned out
to be very busy when we wanted to get our advance (10 months rent )
back ! Atlast one month after i moved out we managed to get an
'appointment' with him . He cribbed a lot about not beinf able to find
a tenant since we had not given enough time and all then told us we
will have to pay for the painting or get the painting done ourselves.
The agreement had Rs 4000 approx as painting charges . He said that the
word aprrox was there and that by agreement we were supposed to take
care of painting. then he dropped the bomb by showing us some estimates
ranging from 10k to 8k. The cheapest option was 8k , so pay that.
Me n my roomie looked at each other with disbelief , "that sis 100 % inc
sir" , we protested, But the man would not budge after a long round of
negotiations and lot of talk about you big 'IT' guys , we small house
owners and all such things we settled for 1000 more than the orignial
4000 as we intended. Atlast he calculated the balance amount he had to give us and wrote it down and asked us to verify , i checked it and handed it to my roomie , whose eyes seemed to be glowing as he went thru the figures , after that he took charge and quickly counted the balance money (all in cash!) and asked to get moving ,we told bye to him and as soon as we stepped outsid my roomie burst into laughter and said the guy made a totalling mistake lets get out of sight before he realises and then we ran !!! That occasion GOD was on our side as the owner made
a calculation mistake and gave 1000 extra to us , so in effect we ended
up paying the same amount as we intended !!!
But not everytime u get that lucky , i shudder to think what will happen if
i have to vacate my current house . Its not the extra money that hurts
, its the tendency or that feeling there is nothing wrong in getting a few extra bucks from guys who earn a lot , which hurts ...
Dont know what name ppl keep fot this tendency , I call it looting !
the increase in property prices over the last few years you will surely get
huge sky scrappers.
Same is the case with house rents , Bangalore house owners are ones who
have made most of the 'IT' boom , whether IT really boomed or not for us poor techies who came into the scene late , the rents have certainly boomed.
There is an increase of 50 % over the normal rates if a house
owner comes to know that his prospective tenant is an IT guy ! Also a min of 10 rent advance to it ... Thats literally the ground reality
in the IT capital.
Everyone blames IT guys for the increase in rent ! What will we poor
non-IT guys do they always ask/tell me . his was one complaint which we
keep hearing again and again. But I would say its not really fair to
blame IT ppl for the increase. this increase happnes because of the
perception that these guys earn a lot and hence wont mind paying.
A couple of years back a few friends of mine were hunting for a house
in B'lore and they saw a 2 bedroom house for which the previous tenants
had paid 5k per month. This guy met my friends and told them that rent
would be 7500 ! They were shocked as the guy was suggesting 50 %
increase , when asked why such a huge hike . The owner seemed surprised
that these guys were making noise for a small inc ; "you are making a
lot of money, right?" he asked. "I dont think the increase is huge for
ppl of your standards", he continued. Then my friend asked him "How
much do you think I earn in a month?" , the owner smiled and said he is
not very good at guessing these things and siad it was common knowledge
that software guys make a lot of money compared to men like him. Upon
further prompting , he said he will hazard a guess and added that he
was just making a conservative guess "Maybe 1 or maybe 2 Lacs?"
My friends were shocked and told him they make 10-15 % of the amount.
he guy wouldn't believe it , no way he kept repeating , I always read
about techies getting shares and being millionares ...
That seems to be the general perception , and the reason for this huge
increase in house rents in some areas of B'lore generally preffered by
software guys.
Another big reason for the increase in rents is the stupidity of ppl of
our ilk , there are some ppl who pay whatever is asked without checking
the general trend and the rates in that area , when one guy starts
paying others are expected to follow the suit and then automatically
the rent in that area increases. The reason why some pay is that they
usually take a house for rent as group of 4-6 , since the rent is
divided between them an increase of 1000 means just an inc of 200 to
each one so they dont mind.
Also the owners just jack up the rent so that even if ppl negotiate
they get a big increase over previous rates.
A friend of mine was looking for 3 bedroom house in Koramangla ,B'lore.
After seeing an ad in papers he called up the house owner.
This is what happened.
my Friend: "I heard you have a house in Koramangla , im interested , is
it available"
the Owner : "Actually a few people have come and seen it , but it is
avaiable as of now , are you interested"
F :"I want to know more details , like the rent and facilities .."
O : "Where did you come to know about this house?"
F : "from my office bulletin board , there was an ad , but no rent was
mentioned , can you please tell me the rent"
O : "oh you work there ... , the rent is ... 15000 "
F : "WHAT 15000 .....!!!"
O : "Hmm 12000 (?) ..."
F : "WHAT 12000 !!!"
O : :"Ok , 10000 then..."
F : (sensing that his incredulous reactions were working ) "10000
?!!!"
O : "ya , i cant reduce below that"
F : "Its too much sir"
O : "Not really , there was a guy who was ready to pay 9500 , im sure
i will get someone for 10k"
F : "Best of luck sir , bye"
Acc to my friend the correct rates in that area would be around 8-9 k
mark but pretty soon it would touch 10k , coz some fool would think
owner wanted 12k and would negotiate for 10k. Sure enough , today 1 yr
down that lane you wont find a house of that size in that area for less
than 10k !!!
Another area where these owners make profit is the painting clause in
the agreement. An amount is specified in one corner of the agreement as
painting charges , it gets charged wherther you vacate after one year
as expected or much before (which happens most often than not , for IT
guys coz of job switches , onsites etc..) . Even if you vacate house
after just 2 months , though ther is someone ready to occupy the house
the same day you move out (thats the kind of demand ! ) still the owner
will charge you for painting , though he never does the painting is
another fact which never gets noticed.
Last month i vacated the house i was staying for last 1.5 yrs and moved
to a new place. We had never caused any roblem to the owner so we didnt
expect any hassles when we went to collect the advance . But it was not
to be , the guy who was always around to collect the rent , turned out
to be very busy when we wanted to get our advance (10 months rent )
back ! Atlast one month after i moved out we managed to get an
'appointment' with him . He cribbed a lot about not beinf able to find
a tenant since we had not given enough time and all then told us we
will have to pay for the painting or get the painting done ourselves.
The agreement had Rs 4000 approx as painting charges . He said that the
word aprrox was there and that by agreement we were supposed to take
care of painting. then he dropped the bomb by showing us some estimates
ranging from 10k to 8k. The cheapest option was 8k , so pay that.
Me n my roomie looked at each other with disbelief , "that sis 100 % inc
sir" , we protested, But the man would not budge after a long round of
negotiations and lot of talk about you big 'IT' guys , we small house
owners and all such things we settled for 1000 more than the orignial
4000 as we intended. Atlast he calculated the balance amount he had to give us and wrote it down and asked us to verify , i checked it and handed it to my roomie , whose eyes seemed to be glowing as he went thru the figures , after that he took charge and quickly counted the balance money (all in cash!) and asked to get moving ,we told bye to him and as soon as we stepped outsid my roomie burst into laughter and said the guy made a totalling mistake lets get out of sight before he realises and then we ran !!! That occasion GOD was on our side as the owner made
a calculation mistake and gave 1000 extra to us , so in effect we ended
up paying the same amount as we intended !!!
But not everytime u get that lucky , i shudder to think what will happen if
i have to vacate my current house . Its not the extra money that hurts
, its the tendency or that feeling there is nothing wrong in getting a few extra bucks from guys who earn a lot , which hurts ...
Dont know what name ppl keep fot this tendency , I call it looting !
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Mind Matters
Dont know what to call it : sixth sense , ESP or just a set of coincidences , but it always happens to me during my Bus journeys to B'lore from my hometown.
Let me be more clear though im still confused , or in other words let me clearly expalin a confusing thing . Ok , Ok ... Well this is 'it' ... Almost twice a month I go home during weekend and when i travel back to B'lore by Bus , I always wake up when i reach near a particular place 8-10 Km from Outer edge of B'lore city on the (in)famous Hosur Road.
Now the most puzzling thing is that this particluar point on the highway is just near where my office is located. To put it more clear terms , I seem to wake up from sound sleep , when i reach a familiar strech on the road. My mind seems to sense the fact the surroundings are familiar and gives a signal for me to wake up.
Its really unbelievable , the power of human mind or is it Brain ?
Sample this , I saw this happen on 5 different trips to B'lore from my hometown , on all the occassions the time at which we reached this particular point was different , once it was @ 4:50 AM , then once at 5:25 and another occassion at 5:50 AM , still i woke up just when i reached this place on the Hosur Road , which is roughly near my office !!!
Discussed this with a lot of my frens , we had diff theories , one I liked the most was that I travel to office daily on a particular 10 Km strech and reach my office , so the pattern of the Road is imprinted in my mind and when it reaches that strech of the Road , it recognises it subconsciously and wakes me up coz I have to get down before the regular busstop . So unless i wake up i cant get down at a place near my flat , mind recognises this dire need and remains active and alerts me !
Somthing similar happens to me when i have to get early for some emergency , for eg if i keep Alarm clcok for 5:00 , i gen wake up at 4:55 or something in time to switch off the alarm !
How and Why ? Just dont know and Dont Mind ! Thats mind ...
Let me be more clear though im still confused , or in other words let me clearly expalin a confusing thing . Ok , Ok ... Well this is 'it' ... Almost twice a month I go home during weekend and when i travel back to B'lore by Bus , I always wake up when i reach near a particular place 8-10 Km from Outer edge of B'lore city on the (in)famous Hosur Road.
Now the most puzzling thing is that this particluar point on the highway is just near where my office is located. To put it more clear terms , I seem to wake up from sound sleep , when i reach a familiar strech on the road. My mind seems to sense the fact the surroundings are familiar and gives a signal for me to wake up.
Its really unbelievable , the power of human mind or is it Brain ?
Sample this , I saw this happen on 5 different trips to B'lore from my hometown , on all the occassions the time at which we reached this particular point was different , once it was @ 4:50 AM , then once at 5:25 and another occassion at 5:50 AM , still i woke up just when i reached this place on the Hosur Road , which is roughly near my office !!!
Discussed this with a lot of my frens , we had diff theories , one I liked the most was that I travel to office daily on a particular 10 Km strech and reach my office , so the pattern of the Road is imprinted in my mind and when it reaches that strech of the Road , it recognises it subconsciously and wakes me up coz I have to get down before the regular busstop . So unless i wake up i cant get down at a place near my flat , mind recognises this dire need and remains active and alerts me !
Somthing similar happens to me when i have to get early for some emergency , for eg if i keep Alarm clcok for 5:00 , i gen wake up at 4:55 or something in time to switch off the alarm !
How and Why ? Just dont know and Dont Mind ! Thats mind ...
Monday, May 15, 2006
Whose line is it anyway ?
There was a popular TV show by this name , but the line im talking about is'nt the spoken one but the ones in which you stand in or atleast supposed to stand in also known as Queue. But tis a sad fact that ppl these days hardly recognize a Q even when they see it. Guess govt needs to promulgate some spl law to save this dying practice !
One explaination i got for this phenomenon is that Its a fast world where no one has time and everyone wants their way , hence the lack of respect for Queues. But if some ppl start following Queues then others will automatically follow was the gen opinion at my office.
One day we had a big discussion on my office bulletin board about such behaviour , some suggested a course in courtesy towards fellow employees as part of training to freshers (majoriy of offenders were new joinees) , but then majority opinion was that such things need not be taught in training , but infact should have been part of the life when ppl join the organisation , consensus was that the best way to get it enforced is to drive home the point to the offender in public that what he/she is doin is wrong so that the message is heard loud and clear and such incidents dont get repeated.
I always used to get upset when ppl broke Qs but cud never muster courage to shout at the guy/gal who did it and always used to end up cursing them under my breath or cribbing to my frens. One day i decided enuf was enuf i had to act. Then it happened ...
We were standing on a looooong Lunch Q in a horribly mismanaged office canteen which had been newly opened and hence (as ppl hadnt really tasted that food much! ) was having a huge turnout resembling a first day first show of any blockbuster movie. Three of us (each one of us big cribbers) were standing in that Q and cribbing about everything under sun esp the size of the Q , the huge delays and all ... and finally we thought the ordeal had come to an end as my friend who was standing before me in the line was about to buy the food coupon ...
Suddenly one guy, who seemed to be man in hurry, appeared out of nowhere and handed a Rs.50 note to my friend who was about to buy the coupon , and cooly said " Buddy , please get me a Roti Curry". My friend , controlled the urge to put the Q breaker to proper place and decide to give him a cold shoulder and procceded to gaze vacantly somewhere else while counter guy was issuing him the coupon .But this man was not one to give up , he repeated his order/request again. This time my friend cudn't stand it and with gr8 restraint told him strenly to go and stand in the Q like everone else.
The guy still wont give up , " C'mon it wont affect you , just get my coupon after you get yours " , he suggested.
At this point i lost my cool and I shouted at the guy " But i will be affected" , the decibel levels had gone up considerably and ppl around had turned to look at us . Sensing a good chance with my adrenalin levels at an all time high , I continued in full volume "You think all of us standing in Q are idiots? If you want to get a coupon you can join at the back of the Q".
The guy stared at us as if we were some aliens from a distant planet in the outer rim of the galaxy and with shake of his head he moved away. Meanwhile we were thrilled at having achieved a sort of moral victory and resolved to continue our crusade for bringing orderliness in our surroundings. After this I have always been a crusader for maintaining Qs and these days find a lot of ppl like us on that day doin the policing !
One explaination i got for this phenomenon is that Its a fast world where no one has time and everyone wants their way , hence the lack of respect for Queues. But if some ppl start following Queues then others will automatically follow was the gen opinion at my office.
One day we had a big discussion on my office bulletin board about such behaviour , some suggested a course in courtesy towards fellow employees as part of training to freshers (majoriy of offenders were new joinees) , but then majority opinion was that such things need not be taught in training , but infact should have been part of the life when ppl join the organisation , consensus was that the best way to get it enforced is to drive home the point to the offender in public that what he/she is doin is wrong so that the message is heard loud and clear and such incidents dont get repeated.
I always used to get upset when ppl broke Qs but cud never muster courage to shout at the guy/gal who did it and always used to end up cursing them under my breath or cribbing to my frens. One day i decided enuf was enuf i had to act. Then it happened ...
We were standing on a looooong Lunch Q in a horribly mismanaged office canteen which had been newly opened and hence (as ppl hadnt really tasted that food much! ) was having a huge turnout resembling a first day first show of any blockbuster movie. Three of us (each one of us big cribbers) were standing in that Q and cribbing about everything under sun esp the size of the Q , the huge delays and all ... and finally we thought the ordeal had come to an end as my friend who was standing before me in the line was about to buy the food coupon ...
Suddenly one guy, who seemed to be man in hurry, appeared out of nowhere and handed a Rs.50 note to my friend who was about to buy the coupon , and cooly said " Buddy , please get me a Roti Curry". My friend , controlled the urge to put the Q breaker to proper place and decide to give him a cold shoulder and procceded to gaze vacantly somewhere else while counter guy was issuing him the coupon .But this man was not one to give up , he repeated his order/request again. This time my friend cudn't stand it and with gr8 restraint told him strenly to go and stand in the Q like everone else.
The guy still wont give up , " C'mon it wont affect you , just get my coupon after you get yours " , he suggested.
At this point i lost my cool and I shouted at the guy " But i will be affected" , the decibel levels had gone up considerably and ppl around had turned to look at us . Sensing a good chance with my adrenalin levels at an all time high , I continued in full volume "You think all of us standing in Q are idiots? If you want to get a coupon you can join at the back of the Q".
The guy stared at us as if we were some aliens from a distant planet in the outer rim of the galaxy and with shake of his head he moved away. Meanwhile we were thrilled at having achieved a sort of moral victory and resolved to continue our crusade for bringing orderliness in our surroundings. After this I have always been a crusader for maintaining Qs and these days find a lot of ppl like us on that day doin the policing !
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Meter Down ...
"Meter down ... down down down ..." goes a latest chartbuster song rendered by Adnan Sami ,But the song doesnt mean much in Tamil Nadu. No , its not because they dont follow Hindi songs , but coz such a thing as meter doesnt exist in the autos over here ! You wud have heard of the word motor mouth (for a talkative guy) , but in these parts of India be prepared for 'meter mouth' ie mouth is the meter , Whatever the auto driver says is the rate for ur trip. Ofcourse u can haggle , yes u r expected to haggle, so he always says 100 when he expects 60 bucks , u offer him 50 , then after a few rounds of negotiations when the hot sun gets to everyone , we settle for 60. The going rate is roughly 10 Rs for a km , double of meter charge , but still that seems to be the norm. Since i use the auto on rarest of rare occasions this impression of mine cud be wrong , it mite be worser than this !. After living in 3 southern states and not owning a vehicle at places other than my hometown of Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) , i have fairly decent idea of this unique 3 wheeler vehicle and the unique folk who sit in the drivers seat and rule the roads with their own brand of rules.
Having spent most of my life there , i thought i will begin with Gods own country.
In Kerala my to and fro auto trip is well etched in my memory of early school days.
I think they are by far the best Auto drivers down south ... no hassles with them !
But my 3 years in B'lore and some time in Mysore have all been full of complex negotiations n fights with Autowallas. They have meter , but once they know u r an outsider most ppl try to get something extra out of u , which sucks ...
There are good guys , but some rotten ones are enuf to give a bad name to the enite lot ,once they find that u dont speak kannada , the attitude changes.
I learnt bits n pieces of Kannada , just for dealing with Autowallas , I always found that once I give direction in kannada , the guy wud be willing to settle for the exact meter fare. Though acc to rules from 10 PM to 5 AM they can charge 1.5 times normal , anytime after 9 at night or before 7 in the morning becomes 'one and half ' time for the auto guy , similarly any place whhich has bad roads are 'one and half' journeys ! unless u r ready to shell out more money u wont find anyone willing to take u there. Similarly any place which is not on main road means 5-10 Rs extra !
Most of my trips to railway station ( after 9 @ nite ofcourse) means most often than not they guy will expect more than meter fare and an arguement will ensue. Almost everytime I get into arguement over the extra fare demanded and unfortunately end up cursing that guy and resolving to take the bus next time . Only to resolve to forget all that while waiting on the platform for the train which never arrives on time. While waiting on the platform i suddenly realise that the poor guy also has a family to feed and all and feel bad for gettin angry.
So last weekend as i was leaving for my trip home I waskinda prepared for this cycle of fighting and later regretting.I got into the Auto and noticed that the details of the driver including his name address and all were displayed in one corner , good going by authortites , I feel. As the auto approached Railway station , i shot a quick look at the Meter and at my watch , Rs42 and 9:55PM , the latter meant a possible verbal showdown as the time was close to 10 and so auto driver wud announce "sar , one and half fare ". Was ready with mental math and was prepared to settle for Rs50 and I was gettin ready to shout my response incase he asks for more than 50. I extended the Rs.50 note to him , he shot a quick look at the meter , here we go , i thought as i waited for him to go into the now familiar its late nite i need more / the gas rate has increased etc .. dialogue
But was pleasantly shocked when the guy gave me 8Rs back , with great struggle i managed a smile and uttered a relieved Thanks ! as i realised that good autowallas do exist in real life also not just in films !
Having spent most of my life there , i thought i will begin with Gods own country.
In Kerala my to and fro auto trip is well etched in my memory of early school days.
I think they are by far the best Auto drivers down south ... no hassles with them !
But my 3 years in B'lore and some time in Mysore have all been full of complex negotiations n fights with Autowallas. They have meter , but once they know u r an outsider most ppl try to get something extra out of u , which sucks ...
There are good guys , but some rotten ones are enuf to give a bad name to the enite lot ,once they find that u dont speak kannada , the attitude changes.
I learnt bits n pieces of Kannada , just for dealing with Autowallas , I always found that once I give direction in kannada , the guy wud be willing to settle for the exact meter fare. Though acc to rules from 10 PM to 5 AM they can charge 1.5 times normal , anytime after 9 at night or before 7 in the morning becomes 'one and half ' time for the auto guy , similarly any place whhich has bad roads are 'one and half' journeys ! unless u r ready to shell out more money u wont find anyone willing to take u there. Similarly any place which is not on main road means 5-10 Rs extra !
Most of my trips to railway station ( after 9 @ nite ofcourse) means most often than not they guy will expect more than meter fare and an arguement will ensue. Almost everytime I get into arguement over the extra fare demanded and unfortunately end up cursing that guy and resolving to take the bus next time . Only to resolve to forget all that while waiting on the platform for the train which never arrives on time. While waiting on the platform i suddenly realise that the poor guy also has a family to feed and all and feel bad for gettin angry.
So last weekend as i was leaving for my trip home I waskinda prepared for this cycle of fighting and later regretting.I got into the Auto and noticed that the details of the driver including his name address and all were displayed in one corner , good going by authortites , I feel. As the auto approached Railway station , i shot a quick look at the Meter and at my watch , Rs42 and 9:55PM , the latter meant a possible verbal showdown as the time was close to 10 and so auto driver wud announce "sar , one and half fare ". Was ready with mental math and was prepared to settle for Rs50 and I was gettin ready to shout my response incase he asks for more than 50. I extended the Rs.50 note to him , he shot a quick look at the meter , here we go , i thought as i waited for him to go into the now familiar its late nite i need more / the gas rate has increased etc .. dialogue
But was pleasantly shocked when the guy gave me 8Rs back , with great struggle i managed a smile and uttered a relieved Thanks ! as i realised that good autowallas do exist in real life also not just in films !
Saturday, April 29, 2006
A journey to remember
No , its not a trip to some fantastic place or a farway island or anything remotely resembling such stuff. The journey was essentially a simple one deviod of any gr8 incidents and was a simple auto trip from my house in B'lore to the Private Bus terminus. But it showed/highlighted the biggest flaw in me : I postpone things till last minute and dont do any planning. I was supposed to catch a bus @ 9 (as per ticket) and go home for looong weekend. But here i was watchin some interesting stuff on TV , discussing some nonsense which i dont even recall now with my roommate till 8:15 , then i went and packed my bags for the journey home and at 8:30 i step out of my house. Then slowly i open the ticket and lookep up the time and instead of the normal 10:00 , Departure time : 9:00 PM was staring at me ! and here i was just stepping out of my home at 8:30 , the place was 8km away and with Bangalore traffic it could take a real long time !
Luck seemed to be on my side as i spied on an auto as soon as i stepped into the street (normal days it cud take anythin b/w 10-15 to get an auto) and the guy agreed to come to the busstand. He was a middle aged guy and immediately started conversation with me in Kannada , my Kannda vocab being very very limited and the guy speaking nonstop , i stopped pretending to listen after a while and just supplied the "Yeah , Yeah" , occasionally to give him an impressiont that he had a compassionate audience willing to listen to his crubs against govt , fellow motorists and a few others whom i cudnt make out!
After a while I felt it wud be prudent to request him to go quicker as time was running out for me. "No way" repsonded the guy , "its impossible to make it by 9" he told me (in Kannda ofcourse) , he gave some explaintaion for it , which unfortunately i cudnt understand but got the bit about 4 signals standing in between me and my bus @ 9 .
My hopes slowly began to drain out of my as i started cursing myself for being so careless and irresponsible (i stop here as i the person all this being directed to is me) and swore that i will keep this a lesson and will defintely blog it as lesson to remember for myself . by now i was sure that i wud miss the bus ...
Then i started reminiscing about all the close shaves with buses and trains i have had , invariably something will happen which will delay me while i was in college and i wud be running and just ctaching the bus /train when it was moving most of the times ! Though always i wud promise myself that this kind of thing wil never happen. then one day i missed a train and after that i always used to be on the platform 30 min before ! i had been kinda following that for last 3-4 yrs but of late my old self had been resurfacing , and here i was sweatin , worried and tensed waiting for green light to flash at the first signal , with 3 more ahead...
Then suddenly it happened , things started swinging my way the autowala started driving fast (somewhat fast) and suddenly lady luck seemed to be firmly on my side as we somehow cleared all the signals without spending anytime waiting at 9:00 sharp i was at the bus terminus and cud see the my Bus still parked.
With an immense sign of relief and after thanking all the Gods i cud remember at that instant and the auto guy also for his part, i collected my luggage and glanced at the meter which stood at Rs 45.50
Feelin kinda happy at having made it inspite of not so fast auto ride , i gave the auto walla 50 bucks. "70 Rs" he announced , i was clearly shocked , "for what?" i asked , "Bhaiyya , meter is only 45 ".
The explaination he gave was a real gem
point 1:
"If not for me , you wud have missed the bus and wud have lost a lot of money, so i saved you money rite , cant u give extra"
Point 2:
"i drove fast for u" , i refuted that (cudnt control my laughter !) then he bettered that explaination with this one :
"But I helped you, I took the shortest route ,so that u cud reach faster and on time"
Now this really was startling ,the guy had admitted that he had planned to swindle me by taking a longer route and hence earn more money but now has not done it and was demanding money for being good !
Amazing logic... havent heard such a shocker for while , imagine a robber goin to a bank and negotiating for a few lakhs which he had planned to steal , but saved effort for everyone concerned by not doin it really ! ok im streching it too far , but this seemed a bit similar to that. Along with things like be responsible ,punctual , plan in advace , added 'avoid autos' also in things to remember for future !
ofcourse i dint pay him anything extra , but this trend of auto drivers demanding more than meter was not unusual , i guess i have enuf of such incidents for a seperate blog.
Now coming back to my original story , I rushed to the ticket counter and flashed my ticket , guy had a look at it and calmly announced "the bus is 10, there is a sofa here ,you can sit and wait here" !!!
Luck seemed to be on my side as i spied on an auto as soon as i stepped into the street (normal days it cud take anythin b/w 10-15 to get an auto) and the guy agreed to come to the busstand. He was a middle aged guy and immediately started conversation with me in Kannada , my Kannda vocab being very very limited and the guy speaking nonstop , i stopped pretending to listen after a while and just supplied the "Yeah , Yeah" , occasionally to give him an impressiont that he had a compassionate audience willing to listen to his crubs against govt , fellow motorists and a few others whom i cudnt make out!
After a while I felt it wud be prudent to request him to go quicker as time was running out for me. "No way" repsonded the guy , "its impossible to make it by 9" he told me (in Kannda ofcourse) , he gave some explaintaion for it , which unfortunately i cudnt understand but got the bit about 4 signals standing in between me and my bus @ 9 .
My hopes slowly began to drain out of my as i started cursing myself for being so careless and irresponsible (i stop here as i the person all this being directed to is me) and swore that i will keep this a lesson and will defintely blog it as lesson to remember for myself . by now i was sure that i wud miss the bus ...
Then i started reminiscing about all the close shaves with buses and trains i have had , invariably something will happen which will delay me while i was in college and i wud be running and just ctaching the bus /train when it was moving most of the times ! Though always i wud promise myself that this kind of thing wil never happen. then one day i missed a train and after that i always used to be on the platform 30 min before ! i had been kinda following that for last 3-4 yrs but of late my old self had been resurfacing , and here i was sweatin , worried and tensed waiting for green light to flash at the first signal , with 3 more ahead...
Then suddenly it happened , things started swinging my way the autowala started driving fast (somewhat fast) and suddenly lady luck seemed to be firmly on my side as we somehow cleared all the signals without spending anytime waiting at 9:00 sharp i was at the bus terminus and cud see the my Bus still parked.
With an immense sign of relief and after thanking all the Gods i cud remember at that instant and the auto guy also for his part, i collected my luggage and glanced at the meter which stood at Rs 45.50
Feelin kinda happy at having made it inspite of not so fast auto ride , i gave the auto walla 50 bucks. "70 Rs" he announced , i was clearly shocked , "for what?" i asked , "Bhaiyya , meter is only 45 ".
The explaination he gave was a real gem
point 1:
"If not for me , you wud have missed the bus and wud have lost a lot of money, so i saved you money rite , cant u give extra"
Point 2:
"i drove fast for u" , i refuted that (cudnt control my laughter !) then he bettered that explaination with this one :
"But I helped you, I took the shortest route ,so that u cud reach faster and on time"
Now this really was startling ,the guy had admitted that he had planned to swindle me by taking a longer route and hence earn more money but now has not done it and was demanding money for being good !
Amazing logic... havent heard such a shocker for while , imagine a robber goin to a bank and negotiating for a few lakhs which he had planned to steal , but saved effort for everyone concerned by not doin it really ! ok im streching it too far , but this seemed a bit similar to that. Along with things like be responsible ,punctual , plan in advace , added 'avoid autos' also in things to remember for future !
ofcourse i dint pay him anything extra , but this trend of auto drivers demanding more than meter was not unusual , i guess i have enuf of such incidents for a seperate blog.
Now coming back to my original story , I rushed to the ticket counter and flashed my ticket , guy had a look at it and calmly announced "the bus is 10, there is a sofa here ,you can sit and wait here" !!!
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