Moments so Far ...

One possible walking route from Brigade Gardenia to Yelachenallai Metro (2.1 km) The Green Line was launched and I was waiting for an opportunity to jump into Namma Metro. Finally the opportunity came in one afternoon when I had a meeting in MG Road. Google Map helped locate Yelachenahalli to be about 2 Kms from Brigade gardenia in JP Nagar 7th phase. Took the following route to walk to the metro. Heard that parking situation was pathetic and did not have will to negotiate with autowallahs. Turned left on on Kanakapura road and realised that Metro station was on right. Then with spring in feet started moving towards the source station. Suddenly had encounter with two well built eunuch who blocked my way, one bypassed by sending a gesture, other one pinched beside shoulder, gave an abuse as I refused to pay them. Why can’t they work hard and make a decent living instead of wasting life with sexual innuendoes? Stepped into Yelachenahalli station a...

There was theft in Novadaya Nagar, Kothnur dinne road in IT capital of India, Bangalore. The owner of the house went out between 7 and 9 PM and the thief broke in through the back door, threw all the clothes around and took away a canon SLR camera and projector. Around 10PM the police control room was called. We had to wait in queue before the call was answered with the option to call few other numbers in rush. Finally, a lady took the call and the complaint. 2 policeman were swiftly in about 15 minutes. The owner went through the routine of how it might have happened. They kept on insisting that the theft was because there was bike which was not cleaned for many days, and was kept outside house. It has been there for so many months then theft should have happened every day, correct? We asked them to discuss the matter with the labours who were working in neighbouring site/building. They refused and said first file complaint with Mr Manjunath from Subramanya police station befor...

Happy Holi 2013 - to one and all The streets of Bangalore display the normal traffic. There are only few colored faces on motor bikes. Some colored faces stationed in some corner of street. The shops are open. The offices are open too. Even the school are open too. The schools even have exams. Can you beat that? One girl has gone to give exam in Brigade School and other man has gone to Aura Montessori. Yes, even the Montessories are open today. The Brigade gardenia owners apartment association sent an email restricting Holi होली festivities in the Brigade gardenia campus. I am sure other apartment/layout associations would have sent similar directive. Here's a sample for you to savor CELEBRATION OF  HOLI  INSIDE THE CAMPUS 1.         Holi Dahan on 26 th  March 2013. As there have been frequent fire mishaps the  Fire & Safety  authorities during their annual inspection and audit of...

The cooking gas prices keep going up. The subsidy rules keep getting amended. First there was linking with Ration Card and now linking with aadhar card. In between, it was mandatory to take the gas book. Every time the warning is "act immediately else your subsidy would be endangered". The fear of losing subsidy send tremors down our spine. These days, you need a dedicated resource just to manage your residential gas connection. We have been using the services of HP (Hindustan Petroleum) gas for last 10 years. They introduced automated system to book the gas using IVRS and it worked well so far. Last month it failed. True test of any service happens when it fails. All the spurious elements surface to kill your spirits. Yes, YOU the CUSTOMER. Imagine doing that to your customers. So we booked the gas on 15th January 2013. Immediately got SMS with booking number and agency name  as SLV Enterprises. On 22nd January an SMS came informing about cash memo number and ...

We live in enclave. It is easy to create an isolated world. Become insensitive to issues that bother us and are created because of us. There are some Neighborhood concerns to share: Uneducated neighborhood Disconnected neighborhood Dying and dirty lakes The community around has created a lot of support in terms of housemaids, security staff, car cleaners/drivers and more. There are few local issues to the enclave Pigeon menace Dog menace Ogling eyes  Public smoking/spitting and release Flowers/Leaves plucking speed biking  foul language from early age What can we do so that life has an equal distribution? Here are few ideas  Educate neighborhood -  value of girl child, prevent kid and female abuse (wife beating) Reach out - create common cultural programs (your cultural event can be theirs too) Rejuvenate neighborhood lakes  (poor chunchunghatta lake is a dirty mess) Create awareness on de-addiction (alcohol/cigaret...

BESCOM (The electricity utility service provider for Bangalore) has recently changed policy to receive the bills. They have a full fledged office behind Brigade gardenia where they were receiving electricity bills till November 2012. I stood in queue to pay bill in December 2012 for more than an hour. The electricity was not there (Yes, in the electricity office ) and therefore the queue was not moving. They did not have backup power to run a simple computer to receive bill. Finally, when my turn the lady service agent, smiled and said, we don't receive bills anymore here, you have to go to their base sub-station provider namely division S6. So the 1000 plus households of Brigade Gardenia and many more in neighborhood now have to go to JP Nagar 1st phase office or seek alternatives. I went to their recently launched website which asked for account ID on BESCOM bill, I found none so could not register and pay online. So, my research i...

Where is all the water going? Today, saw tankers lining up in front of Brigade Gardenia, an apartment enclave in JP 3 waiting outside gardenia been there for a while another has been releasing water for a while now another comes in from nowhere What can you do to bring back water back into your life? How have you misused and wasted water today? How have you used the water today? Water for your children. Who cares?

It has been a collaborative effort from both  BSNL(Government led telecom giant in India) and SBI (State Bank Of India) to cause hassle to pay their landline and broadband bill. SBI had a nice feature to make online payments for utilities like electricity and phone. I was using it for a long time. Once they delayed payment of electricity bill (BESCOM) and BESCOM promptly cut the electricity disregarding years of timely payments and loyalty. Anyways, with lot of effort and a little pain the BESCOM guys did turn up late in night at about 11 PM to fix the line, I ended up paying the bill three times over three different mediums. On top of that, they were asking money for chai-pani , a common term for corrupted officials to get extra payments. Recently, the their office in RBI layout has stopped taking payments from 1000 plus residents of Brigade Gardenia. They were able to take payments till last months, now we have to find the nearest Bangalore one center or go to BESC...

Trees are moving gently to the breeze Chairs are waiting for parents to seat Playground's corner is marked in white a sports day of local Montessori Traffic is rushing left right onto the street Towering eucalyptus going into the sky big apartment complexes covering the blue sky A city landscape is more and more buildings and streets Teachers are beaming waiting for games to start little toddlers coming in caretakers arms Parents have already said Goodbye as Papa has business meeting Mama needs to treat the house maid The Aya and the kid will only be on the sports fields listen to the first cut

Thank you Brigade gardenia apartments owners association and officials from BBMP for organizing the Aadhar Card Enrollment drive at brigade gardenia. I think you can also request them to do same at your apartment enclave or layout. Its free unlike the time when the drive to collect property tax is organized by some officials BBMP wherein they collect self-service fees. Day 1 I went there in the afternoon. There were few people in the queue so took the form, asked a few as is this the only requirement and they said yes. Then in the evening, armed with filled forms entered BMS hall (where the drive is currently stationed), the verification official said I needed a token. I stood in the queue from 4:45PM and this was told at 5:10PM. Went inside requesting for token. Another replied in Kannada, I said please explain in Hindi/English. He passed on the enquiry to another. In sincere, broken Hindi he said token cannot be given as it was already 5.  Then he said you ...

Christmas 2012 was on the horizon. The children's earnestness was glaring from their eyes, where will we go and what will we do? We were late but then  +Mayank Sharma  shared few ideas. The second one looked feasible and we decided to tag along to a homestay somewhere in Shimoga, Karnataka. A day before the departure the packing was in full swing. 2 of us were sick so the family discussion began with a concern from head of family. The head of family thought that the cold and cough will deteriorate as one was hardly able to talk and other's nose was running. The discussion was thought as an attempt to hijack and call off the travel plan. There were tears and accusations. In the end the family discussion fell apart and nobody knew if we were really going. We just hoped to get up in morning and go. Fortunately, we got up the next day and slowly it dawned on us that we were indeed going. We hit the NICE road from Kanakapura and for toll of INR 84 came out near Neela...

I was sick and resting on this Eid, a day before Ganesh Chaturthi, with blanket over my head. A call came on land line for me and my daughter gave the call to me. He : I am from Aditya Birla Group. [ I guessed he must one of those agents selling health insurance/ financial planning/ mutual funds or my latest relationship managers ] I :  Quickly tell me. He: I am from Income Tax department. [ By now I got confused and his temper went up in well rehearsed manner. I hope Aditya Birla is not training their troops to indulge in scaring unresponsive prospects.] He: I am SK Nanda, a senior income tax officer. Is this the way you talk to me? I am coming to your home. Is this your address? Is this your name? Tell me your house nearest landmark. [ I was really confused with the income tax stuff as Income tax department has recently sent notice for no reason, Our CA explained that with computerization the frequency of notice sending has increased and response ...

It was raining hard. I came back into the car. Something fell on top of car from above, not heaven. I wondered lightning and dared not to open the door. Is it safe to be inside or outside of car if lightning strikes on the tree under which your car is parked? After few secs opened the door and checked, found the tree shedding some dry weight. I was still twisting the key. For the first time in 5 years the twisting key did not start the engine of Maruti Swift. I had no clue in the world. I twisted some more. The wipers moved in slow motion. Stopped them. I ran to the security at the parking entrance seeking help. Do you have any cab driver around? Do you know somebody who can fix a car? Do you have umbrella? All negative. "Today is Saturday, Sir, Nobody is around, rest of the days there are hundreds of cab around". Somebody from behind quipped in "There's a Hyundai showroom on the main road, why don't you go and check with them for mechanic?" It wa...

First it cut through in front, coming from the side. Then I was stuck behind a stationary broken truck and was slowly turning to right of the road. It continued to honk. I heard a thud noise. The road was full of noise so I ignored the noise. Spouse wondered "Did something hit the car?". I said No. Then it allowed me to go to the right side. I crossed to left side after crossing the broken truck. It raced beside me to send me a message. The driver of the Meru cab was gesturing and waving. Even I got animated and told him "You did not see the broken truck or what?". He pulled down the windows and threw few abuses and went past. Again in super speed. I did not realize then that he had the guts to be aggressive post a deliberate hit. I am sure he would have graduated from auto and recruited by Meru. The cab has distinct identity from outside. I thought they recruited professional drivers but post this ugly incident I really doubt. In the business of making quick ...

"I hid at different places, but everyone found me. They all were telling 'Your father photo came in newspaper today'. The words of 7 year old kid whose fathers photo came in newspaper courtesy @ ourhousehelp . She went to the furthest park and played there. Kids do not like too much attention, I guess. She was getting ready in the morning when the first call came from Bhavna. Sunil, her husband has seen the photo and wanted her to call us even though they knew we would be busy with packing kids to school. But sometimes happiness overflows and it showed. Its good to let it flow. Its infectious. The poor paper was lying outside till then. With the call the paper was brought in and we opened the page number 2 of Bangalore Mirror. The photo was indeed there. Never before did I hold Bangalore Mirror with so much regard. Janki called up and shared her happiness. Srinis father informed them in morning and she came to know from Srini. Reetesh, the meta guy from Vrce , work...

The BDA complex at Jayanagar 4th block, Bangalore is where most government related offices are. It also has RTO offices on 3rd and 4th floor. Another discovery for the day was parking on terrace of BMTC building right opposite BDA complex. The charges are Rs 20 for around 4 hours. You have to travel 4 levels to reach the level. It was afternoon so was easier to go up and down but I am sure during peak hours it will be quite challenging to get the car up and down. I was greeted by a stranger on Ground level. "Do you have work in RTO?" I said Yes. What is it? Show me your RC book? Come to our office at basement. I said I heard the office is on level 3. NO, come down and we will get everything done. I managed to ask him for the charges for hypothecation cancel and he quoted Rs 650 and delivery by evening. When I started moving the rates dropped to 600. I was greeted by similar people on almost all levels till I reached level 3. Another agent inside the RTO office dis...

Will you go to Hotel Ashok on Kumar krupa road? 10 rupees extra sir Can you go by meter? Okay, sit ---after the auto starts and in motion--- You will have to pay rupees 30 I will pay by meter, if you dont want it then please stop the auto and I will get down Sit sit ---reach a traffic signal, a beggar comes on the side I dont have a rupee, can you give him a rupee? Even I dont have a rupee See sir, a truck struck me from front and i have almost lost a eye, thanks to god that I have survived, since then I earn and eat well but also give needy when ever I can. ---i check for money but the least amount that comes out is 10, he takes the 10 and obtains a change of 5 from beggar and puts it back into my hand, the signal becomes green sirr, do you know kannada? No How long you have been here? 6-7 years ---then he starts teaching me kannada, the below in double quotes is in kannada next time when you meet a auto driver tell him "I am kannadiga, dont cheat me" -- i...

Once again the time comes to pay tax to government . I called Mr. Shivappa who offers his services after office hours to residents of Brigade Gardenia. He asked me to come to the newly constructed BBMP help center in RBI layout, behind Capital School on 2nd Main. I could not locate it the first time and the good old postman on the Luna asked me to sit behind him and turned back from his onward journey of dropping letters to show me the place. To our dismay the help center was right in front of us after 2 sec ride. Mr. Shivappa who had explained me the address of the place and also asked me to come there with previous two years receipt, khata and blank cheque . I requested him to disclose the amount so that I can pay it online. He did not. He asked my the flat area and then ignored my bodily existence. When I was in front of him requesting the same information he suddenly stopped understanding my Hindi and English . A good samaritan who was standing nearby explained to him that...

I was standing in front of Everfine when I saw a jeep playing something in kannada. I could make out that they were aspiring for greener and cleaner Bangalore and launching door to door garbage collection in separate bags after segregation. I went into RBI layout and the jeep was in front of me in middle of road. Some vigorous honking and it gave me some side. An initiative has been started by Divya in Brigade Gardenia Complex. She is supported by few others families till she is able to generate enough volumes to get association interested and make it mandatory for rest of association. The garbage is segragated into three separate recycles plastic bags   which she brought from Chickpet. She also gave us nice one page laminated sheet detailing what goes under metal/plastic and paper categories. The garbage is collected on Saturday 2PM by Samartham trust. Thank you Divya for making us part of noble initiative. I hope BBMP really takes it far and wide across bangalore and ...

Viveks personal had given up and said the LG technician would only come on Monday. I decided to try my luck with LG's customer's care service. I called them yesterday and they promised the technician will call me today at 11 AM. It was obvious that the call would not come. I gave a grace period of a hour and called them at 12:30 again, empowered by the complaint number. The lady said she has already informed the technician and he would have called by now. I could have said Pinch me to believe that. Again I held my sanity till 5:30 PM and called them back. Now showed some impatience and anger. He gave me the technician number and said he would come by 6 and that he would call me back now. I gave 5 mins grace period now and called back the number provided. You guessed it, the phone was busy. I started to believe's Vivek's prophecy as they would know LG better. To my surprise the technician did call me at 5:50 and told me he was at Marathahalli and would take about an ...