for a far off friend

(Drafted for a friend's birthday e-card..)

"door hue to kya hua..
dil ke to kareeb hain.
Jeb se na sahi..
hum dil se to ameer hain.
tumhare liye hai hamare shubh kamnayen..
khush raho, abaad raho,
jinhe milo unhe har waqt..yaad raho!"

Admitted!

Hurray!
Wow!
Balle Balle!
Yahoo!
(does Google too feature in this list? In fact it does)

Finally got an MBA admission!
Long live the Queen!

Something to ponder upon- Gandhi to the rescue

I am sure that each one of us has, at least once, eaten the orange bar which the ice-cream hawker used to sell on the roads. Though the technology used to make the orange bar, the ice-cream hawkers and the way it is sold has changed, but what has not changed is the orange bar itself, our likeness for it and the way we eat it. We tear off the wrapper, wonder where to start from, once started gulp it down and finally throw the stick, which was holding the ice-cream firm on itself.
The exact same thing happens when, like an orange bar, some sugar coated truth is presented to us and the truth is left untouched. One of the many instances of the same is when our creative master-minds try to present the truth in the form of a movie. They try to coat the truth nicely with sugar, to the best of their abilities, so that at least some taste of what has been presented to the viewers remains with them after they leave the hall. However, what happens is well known to us - superficial things discussed, songs enjoyed, numerous felicitations and awards conferred upon. But what is not pondered upon is the real thought and the deep meaning associated with each one of the movies.
The most recent example is of the sequel of the block buster movie Munna-bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai. The movie has highlighted certain issues which, every Indian also feels, have faded with the times. The movie has tried to bring forward the beliefs which were once stressed upon by the one person to whom we owe our independence to, Mahatma Gandhi. Speaking the truth, following a non-violence way to get your things done, respecting others and above all, keeping patience are some of the great thoughts that the Nation’s Bapu felt strong about and advocated to people. He rightly said, “It is easy to hurt someone, but what is not easy is to ask for forgiveness.” According to him, it is easier to understand your responsibilities than to shoulder them.
I feel the movie has come at a very right time - just ahead of the Mahatma Gandhi’s 137th Birth Anniversary. Rather I would say that the producers have been intelligent enough to place it in front of the Indian audience at the right time, just to see if their efforts bear fruit.
Finally, I hope that we try to understand the real essence of the artistic presentation, and that this October 2nd is not celebrated just as any other holiday is, but is the beginning of something different.

(Original Blog @ http://something-to-ponder-upon.blogspot.com/)

1st prize in Story writing contest @ HP

Won a Story writing competition organised at HP. The response was so huge that I had to create a separate blog for the same @ http://something-to-ponder-upon.blogspot.com/

The IRRS

The title might have confused you!!! you might have asked yourself once-what is this all gonna be about!...But like always a slight tinge of uncertainty should be there, which should keep on giving oil to the flame of curiosity!!!

Agreed!!!

The IRRS is something, I am sure 95% of us might have come across atleast once...or should I say 100% because as I un-drape the curtains over the topic, the first thing that's sure is you all gonna curse (and/or swear-will u?) me & the second, that you'll say its 100%.

So with the hopes of no curses (and/or swears).......

The Indian subcontinent is one big not-easily manageable place. One thing that has helped in binding it, inspite of all these diversities and disparities existing, is The Indian Railways. Its such a big entity that it has a separate budget being presented for it, every year. But let the point of the allocated budget being amiably used a different person's concern, the point I want to bring out here is how easy it is to use this "people-connecting" means!!

Since half of the curtain has been un-draped, let me bring the topic into limelight..Its The Indian Railway Reservation System or IRRS for short.

This topic has been in concern to me since long until recently I saw something which just brought another side of the Garden City-Bangalore.

Being an Indian Railways patron for the past 5 years (once I tried being the pigeon in Indian skies also..read it at My First Air Flight @ http://my-first-air-flight.blogspot.com), the Indian Railways Reservation System has been one thing I have been coming across everytime I need to travel. I have been to Ludhiana, Chennai and a few more Railways Reservation counters apart from Bangalore and Calicut (Kozhikode of Indian Institute of Management & Regional Engineering College fame), which presented to me an entirely different scene and hence finally made me put down something which was in my head since long.

Talking about the Ludhiana and Chennai (as seen by me in October 2001), in the Indian Railway Reservation Office, there are different counters with a separate enquiry counter. All counters except the enquiry cater to reservation but you have to stand in long queues for hours with a reservation form in your hand for getting your ticket/seat reservered. At the Ludhiana station, I saw a separate counter for ladies and senior citizens but there too, was a long queue of the reservation seekers.

The Reservation Office I got a chance to visit in Bangalore, the one in Koramangala, had a similar situation but what similarity it bred was making it worse and painful for those in the queue; and a mere mock for those who saw it for the first time. As I wrote earlier, the Ludhiana and the Chennai counters had people standing in a queue, but here it was a mixture. There were very few chairs and few people of the queue were able to sit on those, the rest stood in a queue that continued once all the chairs were occupied. Everytime one of the counters got ready to serve another of the reservation seekers, the people seated on the chairs drifted by one place and now a person standing in the queue can seek solace on the chair....This process continued....I found this too too strange.

What kind of arrangement is this?

Just imagine yourself shifting from one chair to another as the persons ahead of you in the queue get served (or just been given the kind of treatment that can't be written, not here but I surely found that at the Ludhiana counter, where the reservation clerk didn't even consider that he has to be polite when he's talking to a lady). I underwent through that shifting and drifting....and that too to get a ticket cancelled....with not even the full refund being given to me for that!!!!-an hour and a half to be exact, around 1 hour in the queue and the rest sliding on the chairs (whatever amount I was getting, it can't be atleast left with the guys across the windows). I thought when my turn came, I wouldn't even leave a single penny with the clerk, which they very often tend to keep, in excuse of not having the change.

Now what picture I saw at the Calicut Railway Reservation Office, if is painted in the other offices too will lead to the redressal of general people's half grievances. There were four counters, out of which three used to be working (that's a rule), and a special counter for enquiry. For reservations, one needs to fill a form and then take it to the enquiry counter (which is the only one out of the five having a queue, which too gets cleared up real fast), where the clerk will give you a token number. Each counter has a token number being flashed along the counter window which tells the token which is being processed. There are limited chairs there also, but what is usually followed is, one can guess when his token will be called for service, taking into consideration the speed at which the tokens are being served at the counters. This allows you to go and finish off some of the other pending chores you have.

Now a question definitely arises, what if the token number is called when you were away?

Perfect. This too has been taken care of.... You can still claim your token if this has happened with you, but only within next 30 tokens (your token number +30 : should not have passed)....something done to avoid people to take tokens at the start of day and come at their leisure.

I don't think this has been implemented even in New Delhi Railway Reservation Office, when it is so successfully running in a town like Calicut (Kozhikode). There can be shortcomings of this system too, like everyone has...But what I see is immense convenience to the train-travelers in terms of time, energy & effort especially those who don't know/can't afford the method of online booking (available @ http://irctc.co.in with very nominal charges & doorstep delivery but only booking, no cancellation).

So what do you say, can be done, in this regard, so that the facities being given (like Train Reservation Counter), jaisa kaha jata hai.....Bhartiya Rail ke saujanya se (translated: like its said: courtesy Indian Railways), are properly utilized, little modified for better convenience of me, you and all others for whom the Railways is like a "lifeline".


(Original Blog @ http://irrs.blogspot.com/)