A month of car-pooling in Bangalore

20 working days, 40 rides, 103 people have shared the rides. That makes it 2.5 people (read it as 2 to 3 :-)) joined me every time i drove my car to office and back. i highly appreciate and recommend QuickRide app for daily commuters to office. In only a month's time, i have met 46 different people from a range of companies, profiles, places, and experiences. Each one of them was cordial, friendly and professional. We talked about traffic predominantly, and office, work, culture, schools, food, movies, music and what not... Its interesting to know different people.                    Quickride app is so intuitive to use. It's easy to offer or find rides, let people join your ride and take them along on the way! The in-the-app Map helps you know their pickup/drop points well in advance. And the best part is that a voice reads out messages, check ins from your partners when you are driving. So there's absolutely no need of using your phone while driving. Safe!                                                              And as i share more rides, i see that there are many groups already for different routes where people publish their rides! They know each other so well so that it's almost a social networking tool!                                                                    Well, when someone joins/requests to join, QuickRide app has a typical tone for notification. Yesterday i was in the lift of the car parking of my office, and the app's notification with the tone appeared on my phone. A guy standing next to me,  knowing what it was, smiled at me and said "Do you also use QuickRide?".

Try it. Cheers.           

PS: the screenshot from the app above shows the stats for the 40 rides i have done so far.                                        

Agara is the new Silkboard!

You Can Help!

Everyday scene at Agara-Iblur stretch. 

10 ways to help and reduce traffic jams in Bangalore

Do You drive a car to office every day? You don’t? Do you know someone who does?

And do you spend time in, and talk about, the traffic jams in Bangalore?

Here are 10 straight ways You could help to reduce the traffic in. Yes you. Please read on to know how!

 

1.      Use the transport provided by your office

Having used office transport for the most part of my career, I would say this is the best mode of commuting, for work. You reach office on time and leave on time, most of the times.

2.      Use BMTC busses  

Well, BMTC has one of the best connectivity in the country for office goers. Don’t believe it? Here are some names of the bus stops – Intel, JP Morgan, IBM, iGate, Wipro, Infosys, Manyata tech park, Prestige Shantiniketan. Get some clues? Volvos are a cooler way to travel. There are plenty of other alternatives too. So, put on your headphones and catch a bus.

3.      Use Namma Metro

Have you tried our new pride of the city. Mysore road to east bangalore in just 40 minutes (that otherwise takes, umm, I guess, ‘infinite’ time! You just need to check the routes, they are abundantly frequent enough. What’s more? Discipline followed (enforced by the security) for boarding a metro here is unmatched in the country. You will love the way it swiftly takes you to the destination.  

4.      Car pool

From a Whatsapp group to dedicated apps, you have everything to communicate and fill in your car with a fellow colleague (4-5 of them, actually). Offload the pain of driving through the traffic and kill the boredom of driving alone altogether.

5.       Offer lift to a stranger.

Well, I wouldn’t say a perfect stranger. But you could generously offer a ride to a colleague waiting for a bus or walking down the road. Lanyards will help you to decide if you should really offer.

6.      Ride a Motor Bike

If you are into motorbikes and love the breeze of cool and fresh air while riding, you are in the right place. Put on your helmet, wear your jacket and ride to office tomorrow. See for yourself how much time you would save that way.

7.      Use your Bicycle or even rent one.

Are you a fitness enthusiast and love riding a bike to burn calories, Bangalore’s weather is just perfect for you too. I know an ex-colleague of mine, who rides his bike to office keeping his swanky new Toyota at home, often. There are some bikes available on rent also, for a mere rupee an hour charge. Go for it.

8.      Use Flexi timing policy of your company

This is for those rich company employees who are offered flexi-timing options, officially. And if you are well in sync with your team, you could even have a timing of your own, unofficially.

9.      Walk up to your office.

This may not be for everyone reading this. But you can and should surely walk if your office is just a couple of kilometers away. Remember, a 20 minutes’ walk everyday keeps you a lot fitter than those who don’t walk at all.

10. Don’t go to office

Yeah. I mean it! If your company allows you to work from home, do work from home sometimes. A piece of free advice here, Do Work from home!

I leave it to the wise readers to take any of these points and help keep this city from merely being infamous for the traffic woes. Remember, one car less on the road tomorrow, you would be home faster. 

Bon Voyage!

What do you think?  

If you liked it, please do share & Post a Comment. 

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.

Congrats A & D

अभिनन्दन दगडे पाटील

The Joy of Teasing!

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When you were in school, How many times have you beaten up or were thrashed by someone for teasing. As we grow up, the attitude of opposing being made fun of, somewhere vanishes away and we enjoy being a part of that fun!

While traveling back to Bangalore from home on Sunday evening, I rang up Vikas, at around 11 pm. There was not genuine reason to talk to him as we had just met a day ago. Vikas is recently engaged and I did not want to miss the joy of disturbing him while he’s talking to his fiancee, which I knew was the most possible thing he would be doing that time.

Leg pulling is perhaps in our blood, we enjoy doing it. Of course one has to be lucky enough to have someone to be in sync with you. I am, I believe.

Stop Cutting them

That's from Road number 12, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.

Some time back I heard that US govt has a law by which cutting any tree without seeking government's permission is a punishable offense.

But by the fierce rate at which we see the cut down of trees, I'm afraid, by the time such law comes to us, we shall have trees only to be seen in pictures or museum.

I know, One alone can't change the system. But can definitely compensate for the loss. How?

Let's Plant a tree.
Please Don't Cut them.

Domlur Tree

A tree next to my office..

entire Domlur was decorated yesterday evening...

however the reason for this remained a mystery for me

What's common?

What’s common in school?
The run to avoid a cane on the palms for getting late, eating chocolates in interval using the change lifted from mom's purse, eternal wait for the sports hour- the most liked time in school, copying homework of others to avoid being expelled from the classroom the next day, jumping the compound wall to skip the boring post-lunch classes; the reason ‘feeling stomach pain’ to go home mid-day; keeping comics in text-books to hide from elders, quiver after seeing a question paper, 1st May eagerness to know the results. The excitement to go to college…

What’s common in College?

The soft ego “I also go to college”, friends with new faces in class, movies with friends, the freedom feeling of bunking classes, “no homework” happiness, night-outs copying the assignments, the last minute rush for submission, first crush, first break-up, rare patch-ups, the joy of first fag, beer, race on bikes with a bet, copying songs from PC to PC, proxy attendance, pleasure of doing freshers’ party, Cricket team politics, “who cares?” attitude, strong “I’m not made for this” feeling, loads of future plans – execution nil
What’s common in office?
Stronger “I’m not made for this” feeling, lots of forwarded mails – forwarded again, tea-time gossips, lunch time “away from machine” messages, Frequent “Out of Office” auto replies, 10 minute break extended upto half an hour –always, why me all the time?, why not me any time?, eternal wait for appraisals, “your boss is better” talk, sharing food, asking for parties for every possible reason, asking hows and whats to notice period mates, updating resumes and saying good bye one day.

Good Bye Hyderabad

Good Morning.
Finally the spree of having Hyderabadi Biryani gets over today! Yes, this is my last day in Hyderabad. Today evening I shall start to Bangalore where I am supposed to report to my office on Monday.

Looking back at my three and a half year stint in Hyderabad, I must say, the days had been wonderfully memorable. These years in my book have seen good work, amazingly great colleagues, reunion of old pals, numerous parties, and what not.

On the personal front, it was a distinct pleasure. Marriages of my beautiful friends in Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam, Aurangabad and my home town Nanded a number of times were wonderful journey for me. Many good news post-marriage followed, needless to say . Many tours with friends and colleagues (memorable more for the Popats) have been equally remarkable.

Most importantly, the additions in my friend list is the highest valued thing I take from Hyderabad. Selfless, Laudable friends is perhaps the biggest achievement I consider in one’s lifetime.
There is lots more to write, shorter is the time.
So here I thank everyone associated with me, for even a shortest period of time, who were selfless with me.
Good Bye Hyderabad. Keep in touch.
With Love,
Ajay.

What Makes a Great Leader Great?

Some of my friends are aspiring Team Leads in near times. Many of them say, “Ajay, what one should have, to be a good team leader?” And we discuss this over many times to bring out something. Of course, there is no one-fits-to-all solution to this quest, below is what I think is what makes a great leader great.



Experience and Expertise
I believe, a good leader has substantial amount of experience in the domain his team works. For experience unfolds the intricacies of the domain and brings an expertise in the person to be a leader.



Empathy

A true leader is always humble in nature. That brings authority automatically. His understanding of and care for his team creates a stronger bond within the team and brings a recognition for both, team and the leader, beyond that team itself.



Vision and Strategy

Being experienced, having seen ups and downs in the organization (which requires a longer commitment with the organization, in my opinion), a good leader has a clear vision and can define a robust strategy to guide his team towards a new horizon. A leader has the volition to decide upon what is good and what is not for the goals of the team.



Growth Oriented Optimism

A leader has that inherent characteristic of sensing an opportunity before anyone else does. And not stopping there, a good leader capitalizes the opportunity by walking hand in hand with each member of the team. This helps every individual grow. That’s what makes a great team great.



Motivation
For large and complex tasks at hand, a leader consistently instills motivation into his team members. That ensures that the work reaches the goal and the zeal with which the work started remains till the end.



Conflicts Resolution

Conflicts are bound to occur in a team which is diverse in nature (for diversity is very much required to have a creative environment. Monotony does not create or nourish ideas well). A good leader is very good at managing conflicts without downplaying the values of either of the parties in the fight. Nor he allows any compromise with a single aspect of the goal of the team.

One year on Blogger :-)

Hi. I just realized one thing while surfing through my blog list. This blog turned 1 year old this October, the 14th. Though for various reasons I could not be consistent on posting articles, hereafter I shall try to be.

I think Saturday Mornings are the best times to write. Holiday gives a good spare time too. Also a good way to utilize time than sleeping till late in the afternoon!
What’s more? I find this as one of the best ways to stay connected with you pals. Your feedback and comments are of high value to me.

Let’s celebrate.Cheers :-)

World Obesity Day

While reading the newspaper yesterday, I found one more interesting Day-celebration, World Obesity Day, October 24th! It left me wondering about how people solemnize, if that’s the correct word, anything in their life. And that article forced some introspection upon my brain encased in my slightly overweight physique.

And while eating spicy & delicious egg curry in the lunch, I decided to diet from tomorrow, as usual! In such events, I don’t know what happens to my resolute decisiveness. It does not take much time for the resolution to get diluted, friends are to blame for that!

I am now, here in Hyderabad for only few more weeks. My friends know that. As the sun said good bye for the day, my friends wanted me to make chicken for dinner! My friends call me as the best cook among the circle. And I'd dare say, the Chicken curry I do, especially, is famous globally!

Thanks to myself, the plan was decided to be executed from TOMORROW! Albeit relived, 8 hours after the resolution, I picked up a leg-piece from the curry.

Life is like that. After all, Tomorrow Never Dies!

How long have you waited for a train?

“How early do you reach the railway station to catch a train?” could be a curious question. I have some more! “How long have you waited for a train?”. Not good enough. Here’s one more. “Have you ever tried to sleep on a bench at a railway station’s platform to kill time?”

My last journey from Nanded to Hyderabad made us wait for 5 hours! Would you believe it? The delay for the special train from Akola to Tirupati was announced to bea of 2 and half hours and turned out to be double of that.

After learning about the delay, some clever heads caught another available train. Some nappers (including me & my friend Vishal) tried to find a peaceful (!), fan-over-the-head(!!) and clean (!!!) place to rest the spinal cord and some even succeeded at it (I could not, for, one, I don’t like full lights and second, mosquitoes singing full-on while I sleep). The wait for a train perhaps teaches you more than the journey itself. This wait taught me how to kill time by counting number of bogies of a goods train. Some Railway officials also showed how water is supplied to a train and how a bogie is connected to an engine, with a practical demonstration. Hands-on was avoided only for the reason of lack of energy!

Later half of the story saw some “lost and found” happiness & conversation of few people who apparently were colleagues of each other. Some sweet exchange of words with the railway manager was done. Some clever brains who didn’t catch the earlier train now found another train to Hyderabad and went by that train, by general class. I and Vishal did not dare take it; 6 hours journey, sitting on a wooden bench, starting at 3:40 AM. Don’t imagine in the wildest of dreams.

Climax of the journey began with the arrival of special Train in Nanded station at 4:00 AM (5:15 AM was, supposedly, its arrival time in Hyderabad). And happily, station after station, waiting for signals, blowing hardest whistle it could, finally, the special train reached Hyderabad at 9:45 in the morning.

On the spot I took a decision. Hereafter I’ll be faithful to the generic 563 and 564 (numbers of the trains which we Nanded-Hyderabad regulars take). Earlier also, I was in the soup while boarding one such special train (Krishna Express – Mudkhed- Secunderabad – 12:40 AM). Perhaps it was the curses by 563-564 which gave me strange experiences whenever I took another, special train.

And we experience the same, seemingly comic, yet very serious delays in train schedules, only to expose the casual behavior of the System.

So, How long have you waited for a train?

Happy Dussehra & NavRatri

Good Morning...
Wish you all a Very Happy Dussehra (विजयादशमी / விஜயதசமி / విజయదశమి / വിജയദശമി ) in advance.
I'll be back soon.

Wanted …………… A Laptop

Yes…. I have decided to buy a Lappie now. This thing has been lingering around in my mind from a long time. My 3 year old Desktop is fast becoming rusty. It is not that it is no more useful to me. I still use it a lot. It has well supported my Linux based work and somehow pulls a little Symbian stuff on Windows too, thanks to the new motherboard and RAM.

Yet I want to buy a laptop for the reason I travel home frequently. And it has occurred to me a number of times that I find myself stupidly helpless. Here is an idea that will be very effective in office or here is a new plan that will change the course of the task, here is the program that shall do great, How the hell do I translate, my ephemeral, brainy, creative thought into something I shall be able to use and reproduce the next morning? I run around, helpless, for finding a pen and piece of paper to jot down the idea. And in the effort to do so, my voltage in the brain neurons go down and that, ought to be effective, great idea is erased from the memory cells! And you don’t want to be in such situation time and again.

Now looking at the current personal financial conditions and the market situation, I do not want to shell out more than 30K for my maiden Notebook. Actually, the market situation has nothing to do about my thought. And current personal financial conditions is little glorified, my current pocket and bills payment is the matter of the fact.

And yet, with that budget, I still have some insistence on some of my specs about the Notebook I want. For example, the screen should be minimum of 14 inches(TFT, LCD or LED type of screen, does not matter). In other specs 2 GB RAM, any amount of HDD is okay, Intel or AMD does not matter, Mac not needed (as I’m not familiar with Mac, do not want to waste time in struggling with the menus to put in my invaluable (ought to be) thoughts.

While doing the survey another confusing cat appeared out of the bag. That is a Netbook. But looking at all available brands and their hardware specs I’m hardly willing to for a 10.1’’ screen Netbook.

Another important thing is that I’m ready to buy a used Laptop also (in working condition, not older than 2 years). This will save me some bucks. Anybody in Hyderabad, Pune or Bangalore has one such good machine can contact me on +91-9885911832 or write to me at ajay.sontakke@yahoo.com .

All right, that is that. I would like you to share your ideas and suggestions on this whole issue. You know after all, An Idea can change your life! (my pals with Idea cellular shall smile on this idea :-)).