Who is hoarding it… who is paying for it….

Got a chance to see a few BMC workers take down political hoardings. They then put the same in a vehicle which was already loaded with such more, which they seemed to have taken down from other places.

Political parties, Mandals and the likes, deface Mumbai with hoardings and then “conveniently” forget to take them down. And then BMC does the “job” of removing them.

But then was wondering of the expenses incurred in taking down these hoardings. Manpower, time involved, vehicle expenses etc. Does BMC actually take the charges from those who put up these hoardings? I hope so… but very seriously doubt the same. I doubt if all the hoardings are even paid for and official.

Why is the common man made to suffer by such defacement and also bear the expense of removing the same. After all BMC is not paying from its pocket but collecting it by way of taxes on the common man.

Why are such people allowed to go away with this… karre koi bhare koi…. who is hoarding it(and also reaping benefits from it).. who is paying for it !!!!

Ab ki baar ……

Exciting Day...had expected a victory for Modi...but this one surpasses all expectations!!!

Congress....Mayawati...Farooque Abdulla...Kapil Sibal....all shown their rightful value by WE THE PEOPLE.

They all had forgotten that we have elected them as our representatives to run the country. But the 'elected party' became 'ruling party'.

In which other country can u witness a bloodless overthrowing of a 'ruling party' by more than 50 crore voters.

This is the Power of the Largest Democracy!!

Salaam India.

Baki sab Theek hai…

The following are the experiences I have heard from numerous people, they are not figment of my imagination…….

Poojya Pradhan Mantriji

Namaskar.

Main ek aam hindustani hoon jo roj mehnat karke apna ghar sambhal raha hoon. Pichle mahine hi ghar ke ek sadasya ka mediclaim reject ho gaya, aapke IRDA ke paas bhi gaya, lekin kuch fayada nahin huwa. Ab doston se aur rishtedaaron se paise udhar leke hospital ka bill chukaya hai. Woh roj mujhse paise maang rahe hai. Kuch logg to naaraj bhi ho gaye hai. Baaki sab thik hai.

Bijli company ne rate badha diya. Bill pe likhke beja hai, pehle paise bharo phir complain karo. Kal notice aya hai, disconnection ka. Baaki sab thik hai.

Paani roj subah subah mil jaata hai. Jaldi uthke bhar dete hai. Hamare sone ke liye jagah thi na, bus udhar 3 drum laga diye hai. unn 3 drums pe ek gadha lagake main so jaata hoon…badi chain ke neend aati hai. Baaki sab thik hai.

Kal mere padosi ke biwi ka mangalsutra chori ho gaya. Do saal se paise baccha baccha ke kharida tha. Police station waalon ne usko gussa karr diya…Pata nahin kitni choriya ho rahi hai….itna keemti mangalsutra pehenke nikalte kyon ho….Baaki sab theek hai…

Dhanda chal raha hai, kha peeke, Sales tax, building tax, Professional Tax, Income Tax, Service Tax bharne ke baad, aapke sarkaari karmachariyon ke visit ke paise bach jaate hai…. baaki sab theek hai….

Gaon jaane ke liye train ke ticket nikalwane gaya tha….bees minute line main khade rehne ke baad maalum pada ticket nahin hai….line se nikalne ke baad agent ne ticket karwake diye….thode paise jyaada lage…lekin ticket paanch minute main mil gaye…baaki sab theek hai.

Gaon main hamari jameen Dam ke raaste aa rahi hai karke sarkaar humein paise degi aise maalum pada, main sab kagaz leke gaya, lekin mujhe kahan gaya ke kagaz barabar nahin hai… phir gaon ke aadmi ne kuch paise udhar dilwake cheque dilwaya…jitne milne the uske aadhe to mil gaye….baaki sab theek hai….

Ek builder aaya hai, kehta hai paise leke yahaan se jaao, mujhe yahaan tower banana hai. Woh jitne paise de raha hai, utne main to mujhe yahaan kuch milne waala nahin hai…maine usse manna kiya…lekin ab roj gunde bejta hai….police main gaya tha…woh kehte … negotiate karke khatam karr do…hum baat karre kya….baaki sab theek hai…

Bus…aise hi aapke likhne ka mann kiya…Baki sab Theek Hai!!

Western Express HIGHWAY(?)

Having been driving on the Western Express Highway of Mumbai since past 9 years now, I consider myself somewhat an expert of that road. So much so that I thought of writing this blog and also trying and making the Traffic Commissioner read this.

I have seen the highway grow…from a plain road to flyovers, from bottle necks to wide roads. But still its not enough. The traffic jams just do not reduce. Infact its a shame to call it a Highway anymore.

So let me rant off my wisdom…if anybody is interested…

I simply dont understand what is the use of flyovers when there are traffic jams at the exit ends…either because of Nakabandi by police(currently observed daily at the north end of Andheri flyover) or because BEST busstops are hardly 100 meters away from the end of the flyovers(south end of Malad flyover). These busstops dont only create a traffic jams because of buses stopping there, it also because of rickshaw drivers and other vehicles stopping there trying to woo the harried bus travelers who are getting late because the bus has not come in yet.

One more observation I have made is that the beginning of flyovers are being used by private buses as a collection point. This leads to a bottleneck thus leading to slowing of traffic.

We are a major city with no facility of immediate removal of breakdown vehicles or vehicles involved in accidents. Neither have we demarked any service lane to move such vehicles. Some vehicles are allowed to be repaired right in the middle of the road, which is one more reason for the jams.

Driving slow in the fast lane is one more headache. There are various kinds of drivers in this category…the rickshaw drivers, the busy on the mobile drivers, the lady drivers. They take pride in keeping the lane ahead of them totally empty, leader of the pack of the long line of cars behind them. The busy on the phone drivers are still ok as they wake up from their slumber moment the call is over and speed up again…the remaining two…less spoken of the better!!! Our Traffic department knows of only asking for fine for overspeeding not for underspeeding.

Oh forgot the old uncles, who are out there in the fast lane to protest against the fast cars. No matter how many cars overtake them, they drive at their own leisurely speed, reminding us of their times when cars never used to touch even 50 KMPH!!! ( I dont think they understand my sign of middle finger also )

Dedicated public crossings seem to be decided not by the traffic departments, but by the public and the local politicians. Dividers disappear overnight, barbed wires are effortlessly cut to create a new gap for the local public to cross. Forget public crossings, at some places U-turns appear overnight creating trouble to the cars.

Sigh!! I can go on and on and on…..

I know the traffic department alone is not to be blamed , even we as the citizens are responsible for most of this mess. But then when rules are implement strictly( and not just to pocket the money by enforcers), things can change….but who is going to bell the cat….

Missed the Bus?

Happy to see that young Akhilesh Yadav is going to be the new CM of UP. He is one good example of not missing the bus.

Seriously, I am not much into politics, but even a layman can understand that the Political Bus never waits for anybody. L K Advani gave up his chance(for whatever reasons) to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and has till date not been able to catch the bus again. Age and the changing political scenario is going to make it very difficult for him. Even if his party does manage to pull up a miracle in the next Elections, there are many PM candidates in the wing, and he might find it difficult to stake his claim.

At state level, Raj Thackeray himself proposed the name of his cousin Uddhav, who till then was not interested in  politics. He missed the bus, and today has formed his own party. He might be doing good in terms of politics, but if he had the bench strength of Shiv Sena, it would have been a different ball game altogether.

The biggest loss in missing the bus currently I feel is Rahul Gandhi. If now his party loses the next Elections in 2014(if there are no mid-term elections), he will lose the chance to become the PM for the next 5 years. A very Important bus to miss, considering his age now.

The game is simple….climb the bus when you have the chance, dont think that there are many buses behind…hit the iron when it is hot……

The murder of Lokpal bill

Lokpal Bill was like a newborn on ventilator,whose doctors kept arguing about the line of treatment and kept the Ventilator off. RIP Lokpal.

This is what I have tweeted after seeing the disgusting debate on Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha on 29th of Dec, 2011.

It was a shameful display of the dirty politics which we keep on hearing about. The intention was clear midway thru the debate, that our politicians were just killing time and by the end of it nothing is going to come of it.

188 amendments demanded for by various parties….is this a joke…here you are to finalize the bill after so many months, and now you come up with not one or two but 188 amendments!!!

If there was a need for amendment, the bill could have been passed, and slowly after seeing the practicalities involved amended for better working. But no, the main intention was not to pass the bill itself…there was absolutely no political will.

Just by saying, we are For the bill, but we want these changes, does not make these politicians a Saint.

By passing the bill, they could have saved the newborn on Ventilator, and then carried out the correct treatment, unfortunately this was not to be…This was a cold blooded murder…

Baba Academy

I am actually quite impressed by Baba Ramdev’s Assets of 1100 Crs. Though I would like to own similar of more of such assets, I am not interested in becoming a BABA. So another Idea has surfaced in my head.
I can start an Institution for Baba Aspirants. Train the students on how to become a Baba!! Instead of becoming a Baba and earning, why not train thousands and earn crores ;)
The training will involve various classes including Yoga, Accounts, Public Relations, Public Speaking etc.
The course will include providing minimum 100 followers( u scratch my back , i will scratch yours – students), who will attend the the Baba’s discourse, sing his praises, If the Baba aspirants wants, his photos can also be garlanded(even if he is alive) at all his followers homes(at an extra cost though). This process should fetch the aspirant another 100 followers and so on and so forth.
If the aspirant is willing to shell out more money, than a few aspiring TV stars, out of work film stars, a few politicians can also be added to the followers list with full media attention. This will ensure more followers.

*this blog was written by me a long time back and today because of @rameshsrivats article in Outlook, I dug it out from the drafts. Its incomplete…….maybe will finish it off one day :)))) . I am posting it today to express my liking to his article in Outlook where I did not comment because I was not in a mood to register myself on a new site*

The Emperors New Clothes

We have all read or heard the the story of Emperors New Clothes. Indian Governments current situation is similar….everybody is able to see the corruption around except our leaders. Even a small child is taking part in the support of Anna Hazare and know that corruption is bad, but our shameless politicians are still undecided over the future of Lok Pal Bill.
Anna Hazare has acted like a small child in the story of Emperors New Clothes and raised his voice by declaring that our Government System is Corrupt…….and now everybody has come out into the open by supporting him.
In the story the Emperor realized his folly but will our Government do the same????????
I dedicate this blog to Mr. Bimal Maskara who tweeted this to me…