Whatever...

We hate profiling or typecasting. We all do. We cry our lungs out when a Muslim is singled out for 'questioning' at an air-port or denied a rental flat in a building. We despise stereotyping women or South-Indians or anything that involves the Aam Aadmi. Then why are we so eager to pick up brooms to hit any politician? When you are in public life (and for long), stones will be thrown at you - by people, opponents and media alike. Sometimes these allegations may not be true and may not even stand a chance in the courts. But if someone's name is thrown up enough number of times for the wrong reasons, his 'public image' is bound to take a beating. I am sure there are hoards of politicians who are as clean as you and me, but have fallen prey to the game called politics. Whether it is allegations of corruption, criminal conduct or anything else, common man does not have the means and patience to verify them. Hence, the 'image' plays a vital role in how we per...

Today, I was writing the address on an envelope to be sent to the Income Tax PAN services in Pune. The address runs into 6 lines and has more characters than twitter or SMS allows. I am sure this address must be receiving thousands of letters everyday. Why can't the Indian Post think of a way of shortening such popular addresses - something like tinyurl of the postal address? This will save a lot of time for individuals, reduce errors and lead to customer delight! The post box service is one way of looking at it. But it is limited by resources (space available for post boxes) and also latency on part of the addressee. However, a service that shortens the postal address can be driven by an alpha numeric code and is virtually unlimited.  This can be monetised by charging either the sender or the receiver. The receiver may be issued this code at an annual fee or the sender may be asked to paste a premium postage stamp (marginal premium of Re.1) for a shortened address letter. ...

Very unlike me, I am going to write a review about this Royal Enfield Service Station in Gacchibowli, Hyderabad without availing any service from them. I was really happy when Royal Enfield came up with a service station nearer to where I stay. But this happiness was short lived. I have been trying to get my Bullet Standard 350 serviced from these folks for past 1 month. First of all, it is located in a weird place. About 200 metres from the main road, you have to ride a unmade road through dust, slush and garbage. Then the staff seems to be more than unwilling to accept your vehicle for service. The first time I went there, they told me that they have enough vehicles to keep they busy for next 4 days. And I was asked to come back after 4 days. This was about a month ago. When I visited them after 4 days, the service station was closed! Then I called them last Friday to check if I could have the vehicle serviced now. I still get the same reply. I am advised to come on the followi...

Disclaimer - there are airlines and travel agencies mentioned in the post that follows. This is merely for information purpose and not a promotional mention. The experiences mentioned here are my personal and to each his own. We have been living in Hyderabad for last 4 years. I was here for another year and half before that. That is a long enough time period to advise people on how to get from Hyderabad to Goa by various means. I have been to Goa by train, air and road (there is no water route :-) ). To save you the jhigjhig  of going through the entire article let me put forth some rough guidelines for travel to Goa. Taking a Volvo bus is currently the best alternative for travelling to Goa. Flights are freaking expensive. Trains take an eternity. If you are travelling with kids who can't tell they want to pee or want to go 'outside' If you are on a budget, take the train If you have enough money, fly Now, having set the basic premise, let us get into the d...

I just switched jobs a month ago. Along with other things, my new employer is a huge supporter of working from home. While my previous employer wanted me to be in office for 9 hours 15 minutes (I know, it's a weird number!), now I am pretty much by myself. This is a drastic change in work environment, schedule and methodology. Not just for me, but for my family as well. It has it's merits and demerits though. On the positive side, I save time and money on commute, get freshly cooked lunch, can help my wife with chores and plan my evenings better since I know when I will be home from work(!). On the flip side, there are challenges like being taken for granted, assuming your availability all the time, domestic distractions (kids, food, sleep, guests, salesman, TV etc.), infrastructure issues (electricity, Internet and telephone) and personal lethargy. I badly wanted to overcome the challenges because I began to feel that my productivity while working from home was worse than wh...

A status message on Facebook by a friend, a reply from me and comments by others in the known made me sit up and think on this subject more deeply. So the post that follows, is what I actually think about religion - Let me make it clear at the very beginning - 'I believe in the concept of religion and feel that it is necessary for mankind'. Now, if you are liberal enough to accept that people can believe in their religion and also the existence of other religions, please read on. If not, you are exactly the kind of person for whom a religion is badly needed. :-) To begin with, in whatever way life started on earth, I am sure there wouldn't have been any religion. There were people, geographically separated and who would be classified based on their build, language they spoke etc. They would all have their own life style considering the environment they lived in. For the generations to come they would have to set norms, a sense of what is right and what is wrong, some sor...

Have you ever observed what your father wore to a picnic when you were young? Or what he wore when he occasionally played cricket with you? What were his 'casuals'? Remind yourself what your mother wore at home! Casuals, as we call them today, were old clothes then that could not be worn to functions or office. Faded, repaired or possibly even misfits! But now, we have got into the habit of buying casuals. And I am trying to figure out the reason. Every time we choose clothes, the first classification is - formals or casuals? So while the previous generation used and re-used a lot of their clothes, our old formals never end up being casuals. Not that they would cause any discomfort as casuals, but we buy equally expensive clothing for that 'casual' look. Isn't casual supposed to mean ' I don't need to be too particular'? Then why are we so particular? Me thinks, our parents got the real essence of 'casual'.

It feels different to be a father. But it is a whole lot different to be a father in the 21st Century, specially in India. The fatherhood of our generation is remarkably different from that of our father's or grandfather's. There are many aspects of this state that were unheard of in earlier times. We live in a far open and socially volatile environment now. We need to make constant decisions, break the stereotypes and set new rules at a faster pace. As if it was not difficult enough to do this for self, we also need to do this for our kids now. What the child should eat, how much of TV is ok, what kind of friends is one allowed to have, should we communicate in mother tongue etc. I could write pages about each of these, may be later. But these decisions put us in a spot every now and then. Secondly, we live in an era of gender equality. The lady and the man of the house share the responsibilities when it comes to household and the kids. This increases the dependence of the ...

Yesterday as I was driving back from a lunch with colleagues, I was shocked to see an old man sit right in the middle of the road - a busy road. Long white hair, similar beard, torn shirt; he sat there with his back to my car. Vehicles zoomed passed him on either sides. It was a narrow road and he was an obstruction to the traffic. Vehicles swirled by to avoid hitting him. Just as my car passed him, I glanced at the side of the road, where I assume he must have been sitting otherwise. There was tree,under which there were a few clothes, a rug to sit on, a polythene bag with his meagre possessions and...crutches! I zoomed past, like may other vehicles. Now I could see his face in the rear view mirror. He looked calm. Possibly even smiling! How did he land in the middle of the road? Did someone put him there? Did he get there himself to fetch one his precious possessions that may have rolled off? Only he knew the answer And the simple question I ask myself which only I can answer...W...

Back to blogging. Again! Earlier I used to set aside time for blogging. With a new home (another post on that), a child (yet another post on that after Being a Father I) and career moves, now I need to start squeezing time out of the schedule. E.g. right now, as I type this, I am waiting for the Water heater to heat the water for bathing. :) Expect more action here.