Maintenance

What’s that lack the most on a Public property in India.. have you ever wondered ?

Maintenance, yes simply maintaining something that you already posses, sadly that's something grossly missing on any public property here in India. Buses, trains, train stations, office buildings, roads, medians, street lighting et all lack a good periodic upkeep. BMTC here in Bangalore ordered and had a large contingent of Swaraj Mazda vehicles which could seat about 30 people. The bus corporation used them as small shuttles. They would run swiftly and easily between two shorter destinations as against the larger buses. It was a brilliant idea and they ran well too, but for lack of proper upkeep these vehicles no longer are visible on Bangalore roads. When latches & bolts go missing, they were tied together with steel wires or shabbily welded together. The steel plates on the floor were all torn and they were not replaced, instead it was bandaged. A driver once told me that these vehicles needed good maintenance and a proper schedule needed to be adhered to. The corporation obviously never did these wholeheartedly

Street lighting is a big racket in itself. Light poles and its fittings are constantly replaced, rather than just maintaining it well. The best part is that new ones are installed and then they are left un-attended to. These lights may light up the roads for a few months at the best and when they are fused or something, its not looked into. Most recently new light poles and fittings were installed on the Old Madras road stretch from NGEF to Beninganahalli. They were supposed to illuminate the newly laid out broader road. However, yesterday as i passed through them, i found UNINOR ad’s fitted on these poles that were lit but not the lights. So much for the care authorities give to road users !

Railway stations or for that matter any Govt buildings get a do once in a lifetime it would appear. The Railways setup a automatic ticket vending machine at Krishnarajpuram station in Bangalore, these worked for couple of weeks and after which they were found not working. Now, they don't even exist there anymore. These machines during its good days provided an easy access to platform tickets, people didn’t need to wait at the counters

To have world class facilities is easy… procure them, set them up however to retain them in the same class the who’s who of governance have to make a change in attitude and approach. Isnt it cheaper to maintain than to keep setting up anew ?… it atleast would save the coffers of some un-wanted under the table payments

Presidents …. only from the North

Nitin Gadkari takes over as the President of BJP, the main opposition party in India, replacing Rajnath Singh

Yet again, there is another north Indian who is at the helm of a national party. I have never understood the real reason behind this choice. It may be because the party is largely based in the North, because after all north India is more populated than South and hence party follower ship also is likely to be more

Isn't it time that parties like the Congress and BJP think about getting people from the South to also lead it. Gadkari apparently was bought in to show the changing face of the party, its willingness to get young and in the process reach out to the growing constituency of a growing young India. This claim of the party is definitely good and for this reason, i would then like to know, why Mr Ananth Kumar a stalwart amongst its ranks wasn't considered. Gadkari is relatively new to the national scene and also quite unheard amongst its own people i am sure. Where as Ananth Kumar has been on the national scene for long, have held cabinet ranks and has been one of the key figures in the parties national arena

Congress we all know, cannot think of anyone – currently at least – to get someone other than the Gandhi’s to lead it. If there was a scenario, i am sure they are also going to get a person in charge that hails from the Hindi belt

60 years of polity in India and very few leaders at the helm from the South, time to get this trend reversed … let the change begin i wish

The amazing gap – Palakkad Gap

Palakkad Gap is something that would amaze anyone. It is a huge, wide low mountain pass in the Western Ghats, near Palakkad town in Kerala. It’s simply great to see from the picture below, how such an opening was left out when the mountains formed up. Look up the wikimapia and you can see the western ghats towering over the Kerala border right from the south all the way up north Kerala… its only here there is an opening and apparently its as wide as 30 km

The gap is the lowest pass through the Western Ghats. It is also the only break in that stretch of the western ghats,  that otherwise runs along the entire eastern side of Kerala separating it from the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. This gap is so well placed that Kerala has got a way to get into the other parts of India through plains, i must say. What amazes me is that man identified / discovered this so well and apparently this has been used by people since ancient times

Palakkad has a huge Tamil population, and its apparently so because Tamil folks en-masse moved in here from areas in South tamilnadu through this gap, which is a major entry point into Kerala. Rail and buses get into TN through here.

If you visit the border of Kerala & TN around Walayar, you would be able to literally see the opening up of the mountain. The huge opening in the western ghats bring arid air from Tamilnadu side into Kerala and also rain bearing clouds from the Arabian sea reaches places like Coimbatore in TN through this opening. If not for this gap, i am certainly sure Coimbatore and areas around this place would have been totally dry …

At times, we have to simply give it up to God… his ways of doing things are marvelous…. truly superb !

Another year ending

December it is and 2009 is going away. Its rather going away very quickly i feel

Most of us would have made pledges for the new year and its now time to walk the talk backwards to understand, if we really did adhere to those pledges we made. It’s important we do this because, the next year is already on us and we will need to approach it with a newer perspective and newer pledges

Its also a good time to remember of positives. God has kept me safe and i am sure you the reader too are alive and safe. More often than not, we tend to forget the goodness of God’s mercy. Its new every morning as the Bible says.

 

What was our influence on this society… a good question to ask ourselves. Shouldn’t we be doing some good for other people rather than be inwardly focused?

17 yrs on… an un-repentant BJP

Today in the Indian Parliament, the Justice Liberhan commission’s report on the Ayodhya carnage of December 1992 was tabled and debated upon by the Members of Lok Sabha. The Ayodhya issue has been one of the most heated events in Indian history which was also unfortunate.

The Liberhan commission has at last published a report of findings, which to every common man in India was a known thing for these many years. Now its upto the elected members to debate it and then for the elected government now in power to act on it. I sat watching the debate on TV and it was quite evident from the speakers that they were waiting for such a long time to be able to speak on this topic

Its but obvious that any accused would only try to shout out accusations against him, in self defense. The case as i observed on TV was no different. Non BJP speakers were constantly hassled by the BJP members and they were bringing up Point of Order as well against Jagadambika Pal a Cong MP, since his name featured on the report. Though this Point of Order was invalid, they kept on harping on until it was told by Rajnath Singh that the Jagadambika pal on the report was indeed a Karsevak and it wasn't the congress MP.

Rajnath Singh belted out his defense of the party and his tall leaders in chaste hindi. The man i needs an appreciation, that he stuck largely to faulting the technicalities of this report which most others didn't do. However, he spoke in no terms that would showcase a re-think on BJP’s part about this incident and what it has done to country thereafter. ‘ Ram mandir they, Ram madir hain aur Ram mandir rahega ‘ was what he affirmatively said as part of his speech. This is clearly what keeps BJP out of the people and they are yet to understand it i guess. We all know that Advani started this as a philosophy to shore-up the BJP’s prospects but what they didn’t, was to realize this claim when they were in power. That was clearly a double padded approach on their part.

The report was about ‘What circumstances lead to the demolition’ and that was getting debated by the members, however Rajnath went far too deep into stating that Babur demolished a temple there in AD 1528, to build a mosque there and additionally that since many decades this mosque has been dis-used. What if this mosque wasn't used would be a question that you may ask, but Rajnath babu feels that its a disused monument and Muslims should not bother about its demolition. What he probably doesn't understand is that with this act many a questions are being raised against his party men and also we as a nation have spend loads of time & money trying to quell this needless fire. It did also destroy faith on a secular India, that which has made our country far, far worthy than other countries in our neighborhood.

Justice Liberhan says in his report that for once this act doesn’t seem to be an instant reaction but something that has been in the planning. This is a fact that Rajnath and his co are conveniently trying to cover out. Kar Sevaks, - a word hitherto not known to the larger India – were mobilized and they bought bricks to built the temple. Leaders like Advani, MM Joshi pepped up the frenzy, who can forget the rath yaatra of Advani. All this was lost in the speech of Rajnath Singh, he instead blamed the police and the other law enforcement agencies of not having foreseen and pre-empted this attack. Even after all these years, Rajnath doesn't like to think that the forces were almost blocked out by these people.

Rajnath still holds LKA, ABV & MMJ in high esteem, well that’s good, for these trio did a lot to bring name albeit a negative name to BJP. Their communalist stance for sure got them a government at the centre. BUT why did they not get a temple constructed then…? who has the answer to this. Today this party is out to prove that Liberhan commission’s report is doctored… well why did they not get the commission bring out its findings when Vajpayee was the PM… ?

I don't think they still want to put the Ram Janmabhoomi - Babri Masjid incident behind them and look forward. The Triumvirate of Vajpayee, Advani and Joshi are soon fading, age getting the better of them, will this at least cause a change in its stance, not really i guess since BJP is closing in on being the pseudo face of RSS !

Kochuveli jinx

 

Kochuveli is a place near Trivandrum in the state of Kerala. Given its proximity to the Trivandrum Central railway station [TVC], Indian Railway is keenly developing the Kochuveli Railway station to be an alt terminus to TVC and as such there are many new trains that originate and terminate here

Of the many trains that originate here, three head to Bangalore City, the IT capital of India, which includes the new Super-fast that was introduced yesterday. These trains are to serve the purpose of transporting the Malayali based in Bangalore, however for two reasons I feel they don’t serve that purpose very well. [1] They are non daily and that means it’s got a limited run, audience etc when there is a huge population which definitely needs a daily train. [2] They are stingy when it comes to stops within Bangalore Urban & Rural – these trains must have more stops within Bangalore city than stops outside it, if the purpose is to be well served

Bangalore’s malayali population are all settled in the East of Bangalore and hence it’s a need that these trains have stops at Bangalore Cant [BNC], Krishnarajpuram [KJM] and increasingly Whitefield [WFD] is also becoming a host to a large malayali populace.

1. 6315 / 6316 – Kochuveli – Bangalore Exp :: After Bangalore city, it stops only at Salem
2. 2777 / 2778 – Kochuveli Super-fast :: After Yesvanthpur, it stops at Bangarpet which is 70 km outside of Bangalore
3. 2257 / 2258 – Kochuveli Garib Rath :: Just one stop at Banaswadi after Yesvanthpur [in Bangalore ]

Is this a Kochuveli Jinx on Bangalore?

Jinx - a person, thing, or influence supposed to bring bad luck

Tech savvy in Bangalore

 

When in Rome, be a Roman… ! hmm that seems to be the mantra off late adopted by civic bodies in Bangalore is what i must believe

Bangalore as a city has been the fore-runner with all IT & ITES, this means that there are all sort of tech & non tech solutions that are either designed, implemented or manufactured here. This definitely meant that its all here !

That said, any Bangalorean will only grimace, about his experience with a civic body here. You could almost get nothing at any of these departments done from home either on phone or computer. To even understand a policy, we would need to visit an office and then get it clarified

Its 2010… well the year 2009 is over… ! The change is here for us to see and believe. You may say its not entirely done.. but an optimistic person would agree that its all happening

 

BBMP – Complaints Registration

Spandana – This is a novel scheme started by the Bruhat Bangalore City Corporation.  Commissioner BL Meena should be lauded for bringing this eternally un-reachable service closer home. I was going through the site and found a link ‘ Grievance Redressal ‘, this i thought would be some contact details and procedures galore or at the best another web form to capture some complaint details. Well, it took me by surprise when i actually went through it. Yes, it was a form but with more customization. The app wanted your ward details, address, Dept to which the complaint would relate to and finally the actual complaint / issue. The best and the most sophisticated part was, this portal generates a security tag to avoid any auto-logging cases possibly, which i felt was too much… anyways aspirational.

Here comes the most interesting part… On clicking finish, my mobile phone buzzed receipt of a SMS, it was the Unique Reference number of the complaint that i logged with BBMP. All in all – isn’t that something fantastic. At-least give it that the start is fabulous, lets hope BL Meena & Co keep it rolling with actions after the Unique Ref No.. !

 

To log a complaint with BBMP - Spandana Portal