That special request

Few Weeks ago, my nearly four year old said to me, "Daddy, my shoes have become very dirty! Can you please wash them?" ! I said that I'd do it on the coming Saturday and made her happy. Eventually two weekends passed and i was reminded in a complaining voice on each Sunday evening. Finally the third weekend arrived when my daughter reminded me of my promise yet again. And i had to give in to her request. It was just a 10 min job and the shoes/sandals started shining under the sun!

One thing i learnt from this small incident. Your kid has a much smaller world. That is simple, small, and much more beautiful than your own. Your world on the outside is huge, chaotic, worrisome at times, and very occupying. But don't let that chaos affect your happiness in apparently smaller things at home. It doesn't matter who you are in the outside world, back home, you are a Dad and you have promises to fulfill to keep your family happy. Find time for the family. Live to see your little ones smiling, laughing, walking, jumping around, talking and growing. That is happiness. Everything else is ordinary!
Cheers. 

Bad Conductor

Last Wednesday, i happened to take this bus (in picture) from Silkboard to HSR Depot (Depot-25 officially). Bus wasn't much crowded as its holiday season and afternoon time. Conductor too, was a bit relaxed and welcomed me with a smile and asked for my destination. i handed him a 10 Rupee note and told "HSR Depot". 

Normally, a conductor would print a ticket and hand it to you. This guy just turned around and started walking towards the front door. Angry but not surprised, i chased him, "give me a ticket please" i said politely yet little loudly. He turned to me and and VERY UNWILLINGLY printed the ticket. 

But the very next passenger paid 50 bucks and said some stop, this conductor returned him some change and said the same thing "i will give in some time". 

Not perhaps in the Volvo city busses, but what i said above can be experienced any time in any of those non-AC city busses. Especially so, if you are travelling a short distance, say one-or-two stops from the boarding point. The ticket is usually 8-10 Rupees. Passenger gives 10, conductor returns 5 and no ticket is issued. The 5 goes in to "his" pocket. Passenger is happy to save some, conductor is happy to pocket the free money. If a conductor takes Rs.10 from 10 passengers in a trip, he is making 1000 per day in 5 round trips. 30000 per month - Tax Free!

i want to ask BMTC, "Are you not in loss"? You are being robbed off your money by your own conductors. With all the number of busses and all the trips they make in the city, i leave the calculations of your loss to you. Please note that i don't say that all the conductors are bad. Certainly there are many of those honest guys out there with you.

This problem needs a solution from both, the BMTC management and, the passengers. 
Why doesn't BMTC increase the number of Ticket Checking Squads and fine heavily a passenger without ticket and the conductor also who hasn't issued a ticket? Look at Pune. i have seen people and conductor both, in an equal amount of urgency, asking for the ticket and issuing one, respectively.

And of course, we, the people who take the busses. Next time you don't ask for a ticket and save a petty 4-5-10 rupee in your pocket, remember, you are bribing the conductor. IT IS A CRIME. And also, you have just lost the right to question the Quality of Service of BMTC. Please be responsible and and Ask For a Ticket next time.

Bon Voyage! Cheers. 

Hinjewadi...Punctures, lies and patches

Have you ever been to a puncture shop to have a check on the tyres and ended up paying 2000-3000? That's what has happened with me in Pune last year. This time i was more cautious and saved money (relatively) while visiting these puncture shops.

3 shops on this road. 2 on one side and one on another. take my word: Avoid'em all!

10 points PSI!
There are several problems with these shops. To start with, the boys over there have a trick to show you that one of the tyres is riding low. The most common pressure i promise that you'll see is 10 points (PSI)! The next thing that happens is a trick. This guy shows that he's trying to fill some air in the low-pressure-detected tyre but isn't working. His solution: remove the tyre and check for punctures. But since filling-the-air exercise has failed, the valve is judged as faulty by him and even before you realise, he removes the valve and replaces with a Rs. 480 (price varies between 380 and 480, your luck) "original" MRF valve! Now the tyre is ready for the air and the following inspection for punctures.

The soap water bath
The further success of the puncture man there lies in a bottle, filled with soap water! Yes, that's what is poured on your tyre to detect a puncture (many actually). So, wherever there is a bigger bubble, this guy declares a puncture and uses his hand sue (or the drill) to plug the puncture with the strip. (price of the strip also varies from 100-120). This goes on for anywhere between 3 to 10 times). And with each puncture, know that your bill is shooting up. The problem in here is you don't even know how many punctures are gonna be there, before actually getting them fixed!

The passionate patch
Now comes the biggest con of all in this drama. The boy tells you that since you are going a long distance or going off-road and to improve the life of the multi-puncture tyre, a patch must be applied on the inner wall of the tyre. Cost? Invariably around 400 a piece. Remember how many punctures were 'detected' by the boy? 7? (your bill is 480 + 800 = 1280 already). And two or three patches take your bill past 2000. While the patching might help you in the city speed limits of 60 Kmph, you will experience a lot of vibrations in the car when you cross 80 Kmph. I have suffered this agony big time in my last year's return drive from Pune. Know what? A tubeless tyre doesn't need a goddamn patch, ever! Yet all of those puncture boys insist on the patches so passionately that you feel scared to reject installing them.

I have tried all the 3 shops on the road mentioned earlier. 2 of them, almost opposite to each other (near Siesta LXIA hotel) are run by the same owner! One is right outside the Indian Oil Fuel Station. And they all work the same way and charge the same way too! All this puncture fixing happens at a lightening speed. And you don't realise that you are cheated big time until you arrive at another puncture shop with an honest guy.

In my last drive to Pune a couple of weeks ago, coincidentally i stayed in Hinjawadi again. But i was very cautious with these guys and saved myself quite well from a loot. So what do you do to keep from burning a hole in your pocket?

Here is a piece of advice.
The best thing to do is to STAY AWAY from these 3 puncture shops". I am sure you will find many once you reach the service road of NH-48 or go across the highway (which is hardly a couple of minutes drive from these shops). IF you are not sure of it or are in a hurry, do insist on finding how many punctures are there in the tyre first before actually plugging any! This is where it hurts the puncture-man! Tell him not to fix any puncture unless you know the number. Ask him to use plain water and not soap water. Offer him your water bottle if he pretends to not have plain water. He might get really pissed off at you. Stay calm! See how drastically the number reduces then. See carefully and don't let him use his hand sue until all punctures are found. He might tell you that glass piece or nail is stuck somewhere. Tell him to mark it. Finally if the number of punctures is high, ask him to stop the whole thing and replace the tyre with the spare one. He might insist to fix the punctured tyre, with all the imaginative reasons you wouldn't have heard of. And Say a big no for patches! No. Do not fall for them!

i remember that last year a friend in my Facebook list had shared a similar experience. Don't remember if it was from the same place in Pune! Please spread this word of caution against these fraudsters.
Drive safe.