Living with Bangalore Roads !

Lately I also developed a software disease called back pain ! but this has nothing to do with my working in IT industry. This is an unrefusable gift from Bangalore authority to every two wheeler rider living in the city. Sometimes I feel as if I am living in a city of bumps and potholes. Just to give you an example,there are 12 speed breakers in the stretch  of around 1.3km from my apartment to Sarjapur main road and these doesn't include two present inside the apartment ! I have also not counted strategically placed potholes and manholes which you can say decorates most of the Bangalore roads.I have read somewhere that presence of sorrow reminds us the existence of God , which is very true but presence of potholes reminds me the existence of Bangalore authority more than anything else.
Human mind is more strange than we think. The roads from my society to my office is so well carved in my mind that I recognize each and every jewels on the road so as soon as I approach them my brain starts acting as a military strategist and quickly calculates its height-width-depth and if some gap on either side of it is available or not and based on all such data decides the optimum speed needed to overcome this enemy and  fires commands to its infantry to stop  acceleration pull the clutch change the gear and finally hit the break and slowly get through it such that it doesn't get a chance to retaliate.! Amid such chaos some part of my brain enjoys MJ Pruthvi's morning show on FM radio and some other part of it prepares the to-do list for the day ! Such an amazing gift from god to the mankind !! 
I had almost forgotten the existence of such never ending stream of potholes and bumps until last week when I , somehow , missed one such extended pothole which was royally encroaching the main road. It is not like this was a new addition to the already exploding population of potholes on Bangalore roads, actually I had known it since its infancy but somehow I underestimated its rapid growth. I forgot that BBMP periodically provides food for their growth in the form of stones. Whenever I see such potholes, freshly filled with needle shaped stones, I get a feeling as if it is smiling at me and telling me that "look, whoever you are and whatever you are, I don't care. I have the power to not only stop you and break your backbones but I can also kill you if ever try to disrespect  me!". That one innocent mistake of disrespecting that pothole gave me at least two-three sleepless nights !! The day I missed it was very terrible,  it hurt my back so badly that I was not even able to sit  properly. I was constantly thinking that which one of 33 vertebrae it broke !
Thanks god it turned out to be a muscle pull and I got recovered in two-three days. But this incident taught me a lesson that no body is going to think about our safety, we only have to take care of ourselves because as I always say its a human nature to take something for granted if it is available in abundance and in our country its us , the people , who are available in abundance so there is no value of us!
At last my Hindu upbringing helped me to accept and tolerate whatever is thrust upon me and I finally made peace with the Bangalore roads and now I enjoy Bangalore like never before !!!

-Parikshit Gohil

Bidding Adieu To The First Decade Of The Century

Its new year again ! Time to celebrate..  !

In India we have n number of new years in a calendar year ! each with its own cultural/religious importance but the calendar new year doesn't have any cultural significance it is not associated with any historical event (as far as I know) and that is one of the reasons why I don't feel very excited about it .

Its my  28th new year, at different stages of life the significance of new year changes; when I was school going kid, I felt very excited about new year because I  used to think that I will start writing dates on my notebook with different year and will innocently make mistakes in writing the year sometimes, that feeling used to excite me ! In college, New Year means party, during those days the party meant fully unsynchronized free style dancing in hostel corridor on some age old music system playing Punjabi/English songs whose lyrics I never used to understand, and best part of those parties was, people used to dance for 3-4 hours without any intoxication, it used to be a totally dry party  no alcohol no girls :( .  Gujarat being a dry state ppl had to enjoy with Thumbs Up and Pepsi and we dance with each other only !!  . After entering professional life the meaning of  New Year means to review the achievement and mistakes of the last year and again attending office parties and some time go out on new year and yell on roads with no reasons. Parties have become costlier and gives less enjoyment. I don't enjoy new year parties anymore .
It has become a custom to take a resolution, though very few people keeps it for more than one day, on new year day. Every year I take a resolution that I will not take resolution this year because I don't feel that I have to wait for New Year to take up any resolution . Anyway that's my thinking which many people do not agree with.

This New Year has a special significance, Its an end of decade also.10 years....Wow !!! Its a long time. when I close my eyes and rewind my memory by 10 years I see myself in total despair completely dejected by my disappointing performance in one of the most critical exams of student life, not knowing what is lying ahead in life somehow I took a decision to leave my janmbhumi and started my journey, to search my destiny, which lead me to Vallabh Vidyanagar. In last 10 years I became man from a boy ! The first 5 years of the previous decade were most exciting and unforgettable , I termed it as a platinum period of life, it shaped my life and my career. I learnt a lot, the experience of living alone has its own pros and cons.I made some best some good and some not so good friends during this period . It was the first time I felt that experience is the best teacher. Once out of college, the world becomes totally different, the people sees you in a different way and raises their expectation level and you have to find your own place in the society. Last 5 years were life changing, I started earning and spending my own money and became part of the India growth story.I experienced the sinusoidal nature of the IT industry. I changed 3 jobs and was fired from one of them. I am married since last two and half years now and am enjoying my golden period.

Last year was, particularly, very good for me, I got a chance to re-prove myslef, saw the foreign land for the first time in my life and purchased a dream home. I can't ask for more. Hope this year too brings some goodness in life.I am waiting for the challenges and opportunities of the coming year.

Hope 2011 will be even better than 2010 and I will get a chance to explore myself as well as the world more, on this note I would like to wish you all a very Happy and Progressive New Year 2011,  !!!!!

-Parikshit Gohil

બેંગલોર માં બીજી નવરાત્રી

ગુજરાત છોડ્યા બાદ ગુજરાત ની સૌથી વધુ યાદ તો  નવરાત્રી ના સમય માં જ આવે. નવે નવ દિવસ ગરબા ની રમઝટ ગુજરાત ના દરેક નાના મોટા ગામ તથા શહેરો મા જોવા મળે છે. તાળીઓ ના તાલ નું સ્થાન હવે ઓરકેસ્ટ્રા એ લઇ લીધું છે અને નાની નાની શેરીઓ અને ચોક મા થતી ગરબી હવે મોટા પાર્ટી પ્લોટ માં થવા માંડી છે  પરંતુ લોકો નો જુસ્સો ઉમંગ અને ઇંતેજારી એવી ને એવી જ છે. હા,  કેટલાક લોકો ને આ નવ દિવસ કદાચ ઘોંઘાટ જેવા લગતા હશે, પરંતુ બહુમતી થી ચાલતા ધર્મ નિર્પેક્ષ્ એવા આપણા આ દેશ માં એવું તો ચાલ્યા કરે.  પરંતુ એક વાત તો નક્કી છે કે જયારે ગરબા ગાનાર ના  સૂર ઓરકેસ્ટ્રા ના તાલ સાથે વાતાવરણ માં ગુંજે છે ત્યારે કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ એનામા તલ્લીન થયા વગર રહી સકતી નથી.

એવું નથી કે બેંગલોર માં ગરબા રમાતા જ નથી, એ વાત મા કોઈ બેમત નથી કે  દુનિયામાં જ્યાં જ્યાં ગુજરાતી વસ્યા છે ત્યાં ત્યાં એવો એક પણ તહેવાર નહી હોય જે ઉજવાતો ના હોય, બંગલોર મા પણ ઘણી જગ્યા એ ગરબાઓ થાય છે અને અમુક જગ્યાએ નવે નવ દિવસ થાય છે પરંતુ મુશ્કેલી એ છે કે બેંગલોર માં બધુ ઘણું દૂર દૂર આવેલુ છે અને બીજે દિવસે ઓફીસ જવાના ચક્કર મા રોજ રોજ જવું  ઘણું મુશ્કેલ  બની રહે છે. પરંતુ દિલ હૈ કી સાલા માનતા હી નહી ! નોરતા આવે એટલે ગમેતેમ કરીને, નવ દિવસ નહી તો કઈ નહી ૧-૨ દિવસ તો, ગરબા રમવા જવા જોયે જ ને!

આ વખતે બેંગલોર મા થોડા વર્ષો થી રહેતા એક દૂર ના જૂના પડોશી એ :)  તેમના એપાર્ટમેન્ટ ના પાર્કિંગ મા ગરબા નું આયોજન કરેલું હતું અને અમને આમંત્રિત કર્યા હતા. અમે લોકો પણ પુરા ઉત્સાહ થી મિત્ર મંડળ સહીત  શોભા મા અભીવૃધી કરવા સમય અનુસાર જગ્યા એ પહુંચી ગયા ! આયોજકો એ  આયોજન કરવા મા ખુબ મહેનત કરી હતી પણ વ્યક્તિ ના ઉત્સાહ ને જયારે કલ્પના ની પાંખો લાગેલી હોય અને કોઈ અચાનક એ પાંખો કાપી નાખે અને કેવી હાલત થાય ? એવી જ કૈક  હાલત અમારી થઈ જયારે  ત્યાં પહુંચી અમે જોયું કે ગરબા પાર્કિંગ ની બદલે કોઈ એપાર્ટમેન્ટ મા આવેલા ચિલ્ડ્રેન'સ પ્લે એરીયા મા છે અને ગાયક અને ઓર્કેસ્ટ્રા ની બદલે લેપટોપ પર વાગતા ગીતો પર ગરબા લેવાના છે. એમાં પણ લોકો જે ઉત્સાહ થી ગરબા લેતા હતા એ જોઈને મને ખરે ખર આનંદ થયો. (એ દ્રશ્ય જોઈ મને મારા કોલેજ ના દિવસો યાદ આવી ગયા જ્યાં અમે કમ્પ્યુટર લેબ માથી કમ્પ્યુટર લઇ ગરબા ની સી. ડી. ચળાવી અને   ગીત કોઈ પણ ચાલતું હોય , ગરબા લેતા આવડતા હોય કે ના આવડતા હોય  મેદાન વચ્ચે આમ-તેમ દોડા-દોડી કરતા હતા.). ટુંકમાં એવી કાઈ ખાસ મજા આવી નહી અને મને લાગવા માંડ્યું હતું કે આ વર્ષ ની નવરાત્રી સાવ ફિક્કી જવાની છે.

બીજે દિવસે અમે બેંગલોર મા આવેલા ઇન્દીરાનગર ગુજરાતી એસોસીએશન દ્વારા કોઈ મંદિર ના હોલ મા આયોજીત ગરબા મા જવા નું નક્કી કર્યું. આ વખતે કોઈ જાત ની અપેક્ષા રાખ્યા વગર જવું એમ  વિચારી  રાત્રે ૧૦ વાગ્યે નક્કી કરેલી જગ્યાએ પહોચ્યા.  જેમ પોસ્ટ માસ્ટર ટીકીટ ચેક કરી એના પર પોસ્ટ ઓફીસ નો સિક્કો લગાડે એમ બહાર બેઠેલી બે બહેનો એ અમર હાથ પર શેનોક સિક્કો લગાડી આપ્યો.  પોસ્ટ થયેલી ચિઠ્ઠી ની માફક અમે હોલ મા પ્રવેશ્યા. જગ્યા નાની હતી પણ નવરાત્રી નો માહોલ લાગતો હતો. લાઈવ ઓર્કેસ્ટ્રા હતું અને  મોટા ભાગ ના લોકો ટ્રેડીશનલ ડ્રેસ મા હતા. મારે તો કઈ રમવાનું હોતું નથી એટલે હું આમતેમ ખાલી જગ્યા શોધવા લાગ્યો. થોડી વાર પછી કેટલાક લોકોએ હિંમત કરી ગરબા લેવાના ચાલુ કર્યાં.  એમનું જોઈ ને બાકીના લોકો પણ જોડાઈ ગયા. જેમ હંસો ના ટોળા માં બગલા અલગ તારી આવે એમ અમુક લોકો અલગ જ તારી આવતા હતા. અમુક લોકો ને જોઈ ને મને પણ જુસ્સો આવ્યો અને લોકો શું વિચારશે એનો વિચાર કર્યાં વગર યા હોમ કહીને હું પણ કુદી પડયો.  અને બગલા ના ટોળા માં શામેલ થઈ ગયો. કોઈ પણ જાત ના તાલ મેળ વગર હું પણ ગરબા લેવા માંડ્યો. લોકો જયારે ડાબી બાજુ તાળી પડે ત્યારે હું ચક્કર ફરતો અને જયરે લોકો ચક્કર ફરે ત્યારે હું તાળી પડતો ! મને ગરબા લેતો જોઈ ને ઘણા લોકો ને પ્રેરણા મળી હોય તેમ વધારે લોકો બગલા ના ટોળા માં શામેલ થઈ ગયા ! કદાચ પહેલી વાર હું ગરબા આટલા દિલ થી રમ્યો હઈસ.  ખરેખર મજા આવી ગઈ.

એ દિવસે હું એટલું રમ્યો કે બીજા બે દિવસ સુધી પગ દુખવા લાગ્યા ! અને ત્યારે નવે નવ દિવસ ગરબે રમતા લોકો પ્રત્યે ખરેખર માન ની લાગણી થઈ આવી અને એ વાત નો અહેસાસ થયો કે આઇ.ટી. ઇન્ડસ્ટ્રી ની ભેટ સ્વરૂપ બેઠાડું જીવન થી ભવિષ્ય માં શું શું થઈ શકે છ.

-પરીક્ષિત ગોહિલ

નોંધ : ૧૨ સાયન્સ ની પરીક્ષા પછી આ પહેલીવાર આટલું બધુ ગુજરાતી માં લખ્યું છે એટલે ભૂલ-ચૂક સુધારી વાંચવા વિનંતી. :)

Experience with Bangalore Traffic Police - "Bhagvan Bachaye in se" !!!

Corruption in different departments of the government is not a new thing, giving/taking bribe has become so natural that many a time people do not even realise  that they are doing something wrong/illegal. The whole corruption system is well organized, agents are placed at every stage and acts as a channel for money transfer from bottom (aam aadmi) to the top(politicians) .


Being at the bottom of this corruption pyramid, I have been exposed to corruption quite a few times (knowingly or unknowingly), but last Friday's experience with Bangalore Traffic police was very shocking, I couldn't believe that somebody can be so shameless.


I went to Kormangala (in Bangalore)  for some work and parked my bike near side-walk where few other bikes were also parked. I checked for no-parking sign but couldn't found any so I thought this is the safe place for parking. After finishing work, when I came back after an hour, I couldn't found my bike. I immediatly understood that my bike has been towed away. I inquired with near by traffic police and he confirmed my fear and showed me the way to traffic police station from where I can retrieve my bike.


It was around one and half kilometer from the point where I left my bike and by the time we reached there it was very dark and I was hardly able to see anything clearly.  We went to their self-declared parking space and found my bike there. One police officer (I doubt if I should give so much respect to this fellow) was standing near towing vehicle.

After seeing my licence, he asked for 300Rs. I thought it must be the penalty for parking a bike in non-parking zone and I was ready to pay the fine for my wrong-doing. I didn't had 300Rs in loose , so gave him 500Rs note and my wife asked for a receipt. 


"We always gave receipt, aamaa" He told to my wife.
I was happy thinking that 'chalo this is an honest officer and there won't be any further problem'.
He asked us to follow him in front of his towing car to give us receipt and remaining change, he went inside and did something for 5-10 minutes. After that he gave me some receipt and asked me to sign. It was so dark there that I couldn't read anything,but it looked like a parking ticket so  I just signed. (I still regret signing it without reading, though it was just a traffic challan )

After wasting few more minutes he gave back my licence and told me to take my bike. 
I asked for remaining 200Rs. 
"I already gave you" he told. I was shocked. But I thought, there must be some misunderstanding.
"No you didn't give me any money." I argued 
" You check you purse saar, I am telling you I gave your money"
I showed him my purse and argued with him that he didn't give me any money back.
"200Rs mai hum koi bungala banayenga kya ? I told you mai ne aap ko de diya hai vahi pe" pointing towards my bike he told. 
Now I was loosing my temper but was still showing politeness as I didn't wanted to create any scene so I again repeated the same thing with some more politeness. and as we were arguing, one of his aide came and interrupted our conversation and started his own.
"I saw saar gave you money therea , he gaves money therea only not herea" 
This time my wife shouted at them "You did not give us any money, You asked us to come here to give the change and now you are saying you have already given??"
As we were having this heated argument with him, somebody came and asked for his bike. As soon as officer saw his innocent face he immidetly gave us our 200Rs (may be thinking that he will recover it from him), which were lying on the dashboard of his vehicle.
I took the money and when I was returning he told me "Bhagvan Dekh lega tumko" !!!
How can he be so shameless ??? Just imagine, If he had already returned 200Rs to me then is it possible that a cop  will give money from his own pocket ? Can he be so innocent ? and moreover when I checked the receipt I found that he gave a receipt of only 200Rs not 300Rs which he took from me !!!
Bhagvan Bachaye in logo se !!!

The first Dominos Pizza outlet in Jamnagar

After U.S. Pizza, Jamnagar has its first Dominos pizza outlet recently opened near Tarak Society.

I am not a big fan of Dominos Pizza since I first tried it 4-5 years back in NOIDA. The only reason why I would go to Dominos is either someone is giving treat or I am dying of starvation and nothing else is available near by.

This time the occasion was my friend's wife's birthday and I agreed to go to Dominos because I really wanted to see the public reactions on this newly opened outlet.

It was Sunday evening and as expected place was over crowded. It looked like they will break even in first month itself!!! The place was full of excited customers (though I had expected the staff to be excited), few of them were visiting such place for the first time and you can clearly see their anxious faces,the fear of doing something embarrassing was making them extra conscious, some people were acting like coming to Dominos and having dinner is their daily affair! few were baffled by the exorbitant price set by Dominos but it would be very embarrassing for them to go back so they were looking for the lowest price options.

I found the place very chaotic, nobody was there to manage the tables, you really have to fight for the place.The staff was not trained properly and they were even not fully aware of what they are offering. My wife read on the menu card that with one medium size pizza you will get a plate of cheese sticks free, but they were not aware of it! I asked them to confirm and their manager told us that you need to have some yellow coupon with you (and that was not mentioned in the offer). The arrangement was very frustrating - first you have to place an order at the cash counter then you have to register your name in the waiting list and then you have to wait, for your order as well as the place to get vacant. Finally after waiting for 5-10 minutes in queue we were able to place some order. We order two medium size and one regular size pizzas along with one cheese stick plate and 3 cakes. The final bill was over Rs 700.
Somehow we found a table for four people. After waiting for about half an hour my name was called and I raised my hand to indicate my location! A poorly dressed waiter came and put 4-5 boxes containing our order. I was surprised, they were serving us in their home-delivery boxes!!
There were no plates no knife no fork no spoon no water glasses no sauces... thank god they gave some oregano powder and some chilli flakes. I had to ask 2-3 times to get the tomato sauce and some spoons.

The over all experience was OK but it is not-value-for-money.I believe that they will improve over the period of time, they are in very initial stages and if they spend some time and money on training the employee they would get more satisfied customers.