Moments so Far ...

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 ...

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 ...

A nation which had given up. A nation which had no hope in the system. A nation which believed in nothing. कुछ नहीं हो सकता , क्यों वक़्त बर्बाद करते हो, सौ रुपये दो और आगे बड़ो,  ज़िन्दगी मैं और भी गम है,  यह सौ रुपये बचा के क्या करना,  फालतू की कीच कीचक क्यूं करना.  Senior citizen narrated their times of less corruption. Youth wondered was there ever a time of less corruption.  The common man sweats and burns his blood everyday of his life.  He wants a little money to buy some bread. He wants a little money to buy some education for his kids.  We created a generation of whales who learnt only to gulp big money.  Huge monsters. You dare not raised your voice against them.  They were your representative. They were your killer too.  Murderers. More than the money they made you hopeless.  More than the society they forced you indoors.  You just bothered about your life.  You just cared to meet both ends meet.  What ...

Rajdhani express leaves Jhansi at 01:20 towards Bangalore. I saw my ticket a thousand times and wished that it was really 00:20 or 23:20 or 22:20. My uncle and their family was kind enough to entertain me till about 23:00. Then the power and mosquitoes took over the reins of mind and allowed it to lose patience. He asked me "Why are you so uneasy?". I gave a lame "I dont want your night to be wasted because of me." We went to Railway station and I found a cybercafe offering Rs 25 per hour. I said "I want for 10 mins, Will you reduce the price? There is noone inside, atleast it will give you some business." He was adament and said "It will not be compromised. You will have to pay in full, in advance" and he showed me the notice that said "Even if there is a link failure your money will not be refunded". I checked email and forwarded the BSNL bill copy to my brother so that he could go to BSNL office and show it to them as proof of me hav...

I was taking about turn in front of Sagar Apollo hospital near Bannerghatta road. I have done so on many occasions and was free of incident. Today unfortunately was a day to obtain content for this article, so listen. A karnataka state department Jeep with green license board was in front and decided to take the omnious about turn. He could not complete as the HUGE shoulder in middle of road had eaten up 20% of road space. Another 20% was eaten up by car in single and double parking on both side of road. That leaves less than 20% space on a thin and heavily traffic road on each side. If a person decides to take a U then there is no space for traffic behind to move beside and go by. But this adventurous frustrated dear auto wallah belonged to a different breed that is high on animal instincts. He dragged his auto through and in the process broke the rear side plastic protection (guess the name) and scratched few thick black lines and was urging me to go. The government vehicle in front ...

The autos are parked outside the security gate on right side of Brigade Gardenia, a residential locality in RBI Layout in Bangalore. A person went to drop his visitor to the so called visitor parking. The autos had formed a line behind the visitor's car. He screamed at the group of auto wallahs who were whiling away their time, chit-chatting or sleeping in their autos. Generally having a good time. He thought that they would not listen to his request calmly so he hoped that the shout will work. They started to tease and call the old man whose auto was parked behind the car. Meanwhile another one commented saying this place is ours and we will park the way we want to. The person asked him what made him think so. The auto wallah said this land belonged to them, this air belonged to them and they were here since their childhood and had every right to loiter around. The person asked for a government permit to park the auto on this side of the road. Nor he could locate any sign from gov...