Being part of History

Yes it was nothing less than being part of History being made. India winning the ICC World Cup 2011. It was during Holi, that our building people started having a discussion of seeing India Pakistan Match together. At that stage no one was sure, if they will be meeting in the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals or if at all.

But we were in for a very Big Game!!!. India Pak were to clash in nothing less than Semi Finals. Our frentic efforts to get a projector screen failed, since we were making our plans at the last moment. Most screens were booked, and those who had a few left were charging exorbitant rates. So all of us sat at our individual homes cheering our Team Blue as it won the semis to enter the Finals.

The talk of watching the Final again gained a lot of momentum. One of our member offered his 42 inch LCD, I offered my Sound system, one more offered his cable connection from his first floor flat. And all this just on the morning of the finals, a good 2 hours away from the toss. What to say, the idea was accepted like fire and we were all set in a few hours. Chairs were brought in from various flats, popcorn, colddrinks, bhel, etc…whatever one could get flowed through out the matches.

At the start of the game we were around 20-25 odd people, but the national anthem set the mood, when all of us stood along with the crowd at the stadium, ending the national anthem with shouts of Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki jai. Young and old alike, we all sat for seeing History in making. By the end of the match the crowd had grown to over 100 people.

The re-toss itself was a reason for us to raise our voices, shreesants bowling, jaheer khans 3 maidens, Tendulkar coming to bowl on a Mumbai pitch, everything was going crazy, every dot ball being cheered, every wicket being shouted at, whistles, dhols, daflis, horns.

The lowest point of the match was Tendulkar getting out immediately after Shewag got out. Silence. It was like everything had collapsed. But no, not a single person moved out. The general consensus was, if we are going down, better go down fighting. And then started Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli’s innings. The situation was that even their singles were being greeted by the loudest cheer. One of the member announced that in this world cup, Gambhir is due for a good inning, Virat is due for a good inning….but DHONI IS OVER-DUE!!!!!!

And overdue Dhoni was, when he walked out to bat there was a collective shout of expletives, as to why he didnt send Yuvraj. But the overdue was paid with lots of goodies along and Dhoni finally managed to play a Captains Knock in the all important game. During the last over, most of the elders didnt even get to see Dhoni hit the winning six, because all the people had already jumped out of their seats and were standing right in front of the tv screen.

And the celebrations…..Koli style dancing in circle, shouting WORLD CUP …..WORLD CUP……exhalting in front of the TV screen to Dhoni…..that was a scene to see, and will always remain in my mind for ever….the kids were bowing to Dhoni’s Image on the screen…..everybody was so happy……

and me?….well I was dancing on  the compound wall with the whistle in my mouth, throughout the last over, because by then we were all confident that we are going to win…i didnt see Dhoni hit the winning Six!!!!!!!!

The victory celebrations later spilled on the roads, with all being packed in 4 cars with the tricolour and shouts of Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jai!!!!!!

Dear Mr. Finance Minister

Sir,
I was listening to your budget speech and was not able to control myself from swearing out loud when you said that the Refund process is been made faster and simpler.
My wife is waiting for her Income Tax refunds of more than 5 assessment years. I have personally been following up with the department since more than 7 months now and have been able to get only refund till date.
This week I had the opportunity to sit with the Officer for more than 2 hours and the experience brought back memories of my travails over the past 7 months. The system is very clear. A person who comes asking for his refund the very first time is heard, his data checked and sent back saying that the refund will be released after a month. A person who comes back after a month is told that the refund should have come out by now, since it hasnt, it is better to put in a request in writing. On followup after giving the request in writing, the papers which are stored in “Bundles” are to be found. After one more visit to the Department, the Bundle is found, and the papers are found to be “Missing”. Next step is file an affidavit. Once the affidavit is filed, the person is again asked to come back after a week or so. During all these visits, I am not accounting the number of times the peon or the officer is not to be found on the table. Finally after a year the refund is released, if at all.
Btw…let me clarify, I am still to receive the refunds. The receipt of refund experience I am sharing of others.
Sir, you have not made e-filing mandatory for quick and easy refund. But even after e-filing the papers are still to be couriered to the Department in some place of our Country…as far as I know..to Bangalore.
These e-filing data’s are not “available” to the Income Tax officer for reasons best known to the department. My wifes last years returns are still not being shown on his computer, inspite of filing the returns electronically.
So all in all, some loophole is still there in the latest system also.
Yes I had the opportunity to visit an Higher Authority last week. He was very helpful. He has asked me to write a letter to the Department. So my saga continues………

Yours faithfully
A Citizen of India who is paying is Taxes so that your Department people can draw their salaries as per 6th Pay Commission

Jai Hind

Friends

Who are they?????

The one who holds your hand in a crowd, which is against you and says
“Tu tension mat let. Apun sambhal lenge sab”
The one who taps your back, when you are wrong and says
“I knew it, aise ghaple bus tu hi karr sakta hai”
The one who does everything for you, but then refuses to take thanks and says
“Abbe yeh formality ka natak mat karr”
The one who message you saying
“Abbe reply to karr”
The one who make you smil and stops your tears and himself starts crying and says
“Aankh me bhi abhi hi kachra girna tha, aur tu saale band karr ab apna ye Radio”

FRIENDS ------ Dont ever forget them :)

Transit camps in Mumbai

Mumbai is seeing a lot of Slum Redevelopment or chawl redevelopment. What the redevelopers are doing is building Transit Camps for the residents, breaking down their old houses, and constructing new buildings, before shifting them back to the new place.
However there is new trend nowadays…these transit camps are made of Iron girder framework and have cement sheets as walls. Not sure how safe they are. On top of it, these structures are going up as high as 7 storeys!!!!
Yesterday I saw one more such structure with shops on the ground floor. One of the shop was a Marble shop. I shudder to think what will happen if the load of Marbles fall on the side wall….will the cement sheet wall and iron girders be able to handle the weight of the marbles then or will the entire structure of seven storey fall down like a pack of cards. God only can save the people staying in transit there.

TV killed the Radio Star…….

This was once a very popular song. Come to think of it, over the years so many things have vanished. The VCR by CD player, which in turn by the DVD player, the rotary telephone by modern day push button phones, the CRT TV by LCD and LED, the type writer by computers. I have blogged about this before also. So why am I writing abut it again???

Simply because I am missing out on Emails from friends and family. I miss the attachments in emails, the jokes, the pictures, the news from them. No my friends and family are not busy…..but they are doing the same thing on social networking sites. I am kept updated by them over there. So there you are……Social networking is slowly killing the Email…………

Dont know if I am writing about it a bit early….but I feel I will be missing out on emails soon………….