Traffic police – why stand and deliver?

[Cross posted from Praja-Bangalore, comments off]
Was driving my F-I-L’s Santro the other day when I was stopped by one of those police parties. 5 of them, settled under a thick tree. Half of them waiting to stop unsuspecting vehicles, the other half busy ‘punishing’ the ’successful’ catches. I never get stopped when driving bigger cars, [...]

Meeting with Mr Tripathy, BMTC – Summary

[Cross-posting from Praja-Bangalore, comments are off]
So it did happen. Naveen, Murali sir, Vasanth, Praveen, myself got 30 minutes of Mr Tripathy’s time in his office. After introducing Praja etc, we were planning to present our (rather, Naveen’s) slides on single dedicated lane based BRTS idea. But Mr Tripathy said he was short on time, [...]

Traffic – Insurance laws to strengthen enforcement?

Over an year ago, I was driving not so fast not so slow, near the hard median of a road, when I spotted a bold biker riding on the ‘wrong’ side. Right around then, an impatient cab (Sumo) following behind decided to pass me from the left, the overtaking action putting him on a collision [...]

Shell outlets: shutdown coming?

Suman isn’t the only one. I too noticed that my neighborhood Shell bunk now sells only the premium petrol (Shell supreme or something), cost ranging from Rs 61 – 64 a liter over last month. The BP bunk nearby offers Rs 52 – 55 Rs/liter. 15% is a bit much premium to pay, though I [...]

Whats in a name?

No no. I m not talking about an IPL owner using team name to promote his brand (Royal Challengers). I have a slightly more fundamental question. Why is it that none of the teams have an Indian sounding name. Leave out Mumbai (Indians), but the other seven? Even in ICL, except Lahore Badshahs, its [...]

Immunization on death bed!

What would you say if someone started vaccination programs for 50 year olds, or an immunization program for those on the death bed? Wasted effort, too late, non sense? Pick your reaction. Now, I may sound like over-dramatizing the talk around reservations in IITs and IIMs. But media and politicos beating so much drum around [...]

Dignity of labor

Here is an MP’s take on the thing we call dignity of labor, which they say is about respecting another workman’s space and authority. I cut it out from a story today that talked about an IA pilot throwing a late MP out of his plane. (Asian Age, Zee News). This quote is from TOI:
“Rana [...]

Alpha dogs and blinking theory!?

Oh my god! I thought these guys were sportsmen. But for Mr Hayden, it clearly is more than that. Here is his answer to “Away from the field, how were the Indians?” question (full intvw here):
They were reasonably pleasant. At the end of the day, two alpha dogs are never going to sit in a [...]

The news: Jodha Akbar, Bus Permit etc

They spotted Bhajji eating bananas, and thus started the latest round of monkey gesture allegations. From now on, a program director from Animal Planet channel will accompany media-men as they keep watch on Bhajji, his habits and gestures. Bihar will boycott all movies made in Bollywood, and Raj Thackrey, in turn, will force Mumbai-wallahs to [...]

Ishant and Craig, 2008 and 1986

I don’t know why, but the the win today (Ind vs Aus), reminded me of a very similar ODI that was played in Brisbane, Australia about 22 years ago. India managed only 161, Australia surpassed that thanks to a nice 6th wicket partnership between Steve Waugh and one Mr Greg Mathews. Back then in early [...]