Walking around Chandigarh - still not too smart

Returning to Chandigarh after almost a year, Rose Garden is a bit of a shock. There is huge section dug up for the underpass. I assume it is meant for cars as I find it hard to comprend that this large a space could be needed for pedestrians alone. A few days later I come across this article on the same underpass calling it a waste of money.

The markets have barricades along the sidewalks. They may have been intended as a way to save pedestrian spaces but I find them a nuisance and ugly. Barricades may be useful for crowd control but hardly the tool to prevent encroachment of the sidewalks. Are we as a people so insensitive or not able to learn that we have to install such ugly and inconvenient options?

Pedestrian crossings, especially in 17 sector, are blocked by metal railings on one side or both sides. Either jump over the railing, which is becoming harder and riskier as I age, or walk along the road from an opening and cross and again walk along the road till an entry can be located.

Did anyone design or authorize this? Will that person ever accept credit for this weird solution?

At least it made me blog after a long time!

Courteous Driving Resolution - will the effort last even till the new year?

Traffic rules in India seem to be against our social norms. My grandsons make me acutely aware of the cultural difference between the west and our environment. They do not let me even start the car till every person has tied his/her seat belt!

A couple of days ago, the 3 year old was complaining after I used the horn a couple of times - "Mommy never uses the horn". I explained to him that the people were driving in the wrong direction on a one way street and I was upset by them. Yesterday also I used the horn on the same road, which is narrow and very steep.

Today, he and his 5 year old brother were playing and I heard them blow horns and say, "What are you doing? You are on the wrong side!".

I decided that I must start practicing courteous driving, whenever it is "safe" :)

I let people merge or turn at least half a dozen times today. The only minor fear occurred when I let some pedestrians cross. Just as I started, a man ran in front of me. Fortunately, I could stop in time but it gave me a scare.

The courteous driving did not delay me at all as the brief delay hardly mattered given the flow of the traffic.

I, though, still have to retain my composure when a two lane road merging into a single lane for a bridge turns into a 3 lane road. I become a bit aggressive and try to prevent the 3rd lane from merging.

It seems obvious that the optimum solution is that alternate vehicles from the two lanes move into the single lane. Yet we don't do it. Each person from the, now three lanes, tries to squeeze in. Why - even I find myself doing it for fear that I will be stuck and people behind me will blow the horn :(

Need to practice meditation at least on such occasions :(

Am I Stingy?

A recent incident made me feel guilty and question my avoiding taking gifts when visiting people. My rationale has always been that the people have so many possessions already that our token gift is  not going to be of any value. Gifting cash seems vulgar, except for social obligations like weddings and birthdays.

A second point has been that I never remember the gifts except the ones we did not want and did not know what to do with them. However, I valued each visit of relations and friends for making the effort and time to meet us. I remember the cousins who visited us in Goa. I, especially, valued their visits to my parents in Chandigarh in their last days. (There is a lingering hurt of people who promised to visit but didn't. Showing up for the funeral was of 0 value to me.)

I suspect that possibly because  of the birthday party in my childhood when no invitee showed up, I have valued showing up so highly.

I have welcomed a cake or a bar of chocolate and am happy to share them when visiting. Anything else seems like a probable waste of money. Does that make me stingy?

There is one gift I will never forget - Information :)

Over 40 years ago, a friend suggested that I may enjoy The Outsider by Camus.  And later, he suggested Crime and Punishment. This has been a gift of unbelievable value. It has led to everlasting pleasure I have got from the European literature. Were it not for his suggestions, I may never have explored it.

Why don't you open the bank account in Margao?

As I thought about the bureaucratic hassles in day to day life, I recalled trying to open a bank account in Goa.

The proof of residence I seemed to have was not enough for the bank. The officer was very happy that my passport had a Goa address and suggested that I open an account in their Margao branch. Thanks to computerisation, it just wouldn't matter for my normal usage.

It did not matter that I did not stay in Margao anymore! I could give them the proof they needed to complete the paperwork.

RTO Agents - Not Touts but Service Providers

I paid still another visit to the RTO office. I expected it to be the last but it wasn't. If I look back, I have not faced any deliberate delay. In fact, most of the time, the people involved have been helpful.

There has not been a single occasion when I felt that any attempt was being made to delay the work and re-enforce the impression we have. It is just that the process is needlessly complex and pointless.

For example, the proof of residence was not one of the accepted ones. So, I needed to give an affidavit on a stamp paper that I stay where I say I stay.

Are our rules so bad that if give wrong information to the RTO, it does not have any legal implications. For me to be penalised, I have to re-iterate the wrong information on an affidavit?

I had expected in 2005 that Manmohan Singh make day to day life easier. I don't think I will ever understand why he did not or could not.

The Union cabinet, chaired by PM Manmohan Singh, decided to constitute a group of ministers to finalise the terms of reference of the body that will be set up to prepare a blueprint for revamping the public administration system acr-oss the country.

I am retired and stay not far from the Chandigarh and Goa RTO offices. However, I am convinced that it would have been economical even for me to go through a tout, rather, a very valuable Service provider!

Andher Nagari Chaupat Raja - Software to The Rescue

Finally, a closure to closing a bank account! I was reminded of it by the title "Impersonal Government is Good".

I had resubmitted the papers again. I had visited the bank branch two days later before leaving Chandigarh, but the officer concerned was on leave. Obviously, no one else could help.

I hoped the officer would honor the commitment.  What else could I do anyway. She didn't as I found out online a few days later.

Fortunately, I found a form to submit a complaint. It took a few days but I got a call from the branch in Chandigarh asking to speak to my late mother!

After a bit of explanation, I could over-hear her talking to the officer concerned - "But it is in my CRM". Anyway, she told me it wasn't done but will be by next day and it was.

So, may be Manna should indeed be THE solution for Indian public services.

Andher Nagari Chaupat Raja - just doesn't end

I returned after about 8 months and decided to check why the money from my mother's account was still not in my account.

As expected, the person handling the closure of accounts was now different. She said that there were no pending papers with her!

She checked the account and found that it was still active. She informed me that there is a 'lien' against the account and it cannot be closed. I was directed to the pension staff.

The person in-charge had no clue of why. He was waiting for a colleague to explain why the lien had been put. I waited and finally left. The first officer I had seen promised to find out about the lien and the missing papers and get back to me.

A week later, obviously, no feedback.

I go again and am redirected to the pension officer. This time his assistant is there and helps him navigate the computer system! The officer himself had put in the lien. It appeared that after my mother expired, the excess  pension deposited in her account had to be re-claimed. He put in the 'lien' as well as withdrew the amount but did not remove the lien.

Today, that problem solved, there remains the problem of missing papers. I have been given the form again with having to go through the same process again.

It is incredible the bank asking for documents of third parties aside from mine to 'prove' who I am when they have gone through all that process when opening my account. The officer's explanation - the other papers are bound and filed. So, I have to submit one more set (for them file and store).

However, I find it very embarrassing to ask for copies of documents from my neighbours which in principle could be used for identity theft. It is pointless trying to explain that to the bank. All I can do is to close the account once the money is transferred and never visit that bank again.

The Birthday Party

My sister celebrated her birthday at my maternal grandparents' place. I want to celebrate mine. It is not a convenient time.

My grandmother is being operated for cataract on the same day. A room has already been cleaned and green curtains installed. We are not allowed to enter the room. The operation is to be done at home. (I wonder why I never asked my parents about it, especially why it was at home and not at a hospital.)

My parents give in to my stubbornness, as I normally do not ask for anything.

There are 4 students in my class who travel by the same school bus. Two are already in the bus and two board the bus along with me. I decide to call them.

On the day, I am waiting anxiously. No one shows up. I walk nearby where one of the students stays. The house is closed and  no one is home.

A second boy lives a little farther away. I walk and find him playing cricket with his friends. I drag him home. We play a while and go through the motions.

It is not a total disaster. Many of my aunts and uncles have come to visit my grandmother and they join in the celebrations.

I still get very nervous if guests are late :)

Who is really harassing the pensioners?

It is really painful when I come across news like this:

Don't Harass Pensioners: Government Tells Bank

Even a moment's reflection makes it obvious that the only person who CAN be held accountable in this whole process is the bank officer who signs off. If the bank official is fearful and excessively cautious, it is hard to blame him/her.

We as a society are so absorbed by the process of submitting forms that we never think of them as being redundant, pointless, wasteful, etc. etc.

Obviously, far fewer pensioner die each year than not. So, efficiency would suggest that the government get certificates from the people who are dead. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy has not found a way to do that. So, the rest of us have to prove that we are alive.

Even searching for a pensioner's record on a supercomputer and entering a 'y' in one field takes time. However, in our process, it is far worse as the bank has to collect the papers. Very likely the bank catalogs them to make sure that they have proof of having sent them. Recipient clerk will need to make an entry for having received them and forwarded them to the correct department, which in turn, ... (I have to find out where did my life certificate disappear or just give another and hope that it doesn't get lost again.)

Trust the pensioners and their families instead. I can't imagine any person(other than brain-dead) waking up enthusiastically every morning to work on life certificates! Focus the effort and energies of the bank officials and government staff freed from this dumb work to detect frauds. As this example illustrates, such frauds can only exist only because the staff is too busy doing dumb work to notice. If it is corruption and collusion, how on earth do life certificates help?

Getting Lost on the Highway - Again!

After the previous experience of getting lost, we were far better prepared. I had looked at the maps, estimated the times, noted the small town names to make sure that we did not take the wrong path.

Our problems were compounded by a poor choice the data network supplier. I had incorrectly assumed that one supplier would be a reliable alternate and backup in the interiors. I had also not realised how expensive data usage with maps is if you are roaming on a 'partner' network. Our balance in the prepaid account had been exhausted even before we found our hotel in Jaipur.

Maps mention routes by the highway numbers - even paper ones if one find one these days. Often there are multiple numbers for the same highway, especially the state highways. However, I don't recall seeing many highway signs with highway numbers. Certainly not at the junctions. Why is that so hard? May be as a programmer, a simple code as a key is the obvious first choice and I can't see the administrative and decision taking complexities involved :)

My preparation helped. We were on our way from Udaipur to Anand. About midway, there was a turning for a highway to Vadodra bypassing Ahmedabad. The road was 'straight' after that.

When expected, there was a turning. However, all the signage mentioned was - 'Modasa'. There was no mention of Vadodra. Obviously, there was no mention the state highway number. Because of my planning, I knew 'Modasa' was on the correct route! So, we took the turning and were pleasantly surprised by an excellent highway. Once we got on it, we knew it was headed towards Godhra and Vadodra!

I didn't realise it but somewhere the highway turned! The road was excellent and we knew we were moving fast in the right direction. And then the realisation came. There was a small sign which indicated that we were still on state highway number 5! In the absence of data connection, we relied on the good old network of asking people. Their directions were remarkably clear and precise.

We kept asking for directions at suspicious crossings. In a small town, even a slightly wider road may be the highway you want. We reached an hour later than expected but enjoyed the experience of asking for directions. Especially, just near the end.

One person was very confident and asking us to turn in the direction from which we had come! Fortunately, the shop owner knew better and gave us the correct details. As we moved, we could hear him still explaining to the enthusiastic, helpful by-stander!

I hope someone in the highway planning department wakes up and realises that putting highway number of exit signs does not require much space and may even help his family and friends one day :)

Getting Lost on the Highway

After a 2400 Km drive spread over 8 days, I can say that the road travel in India has become far simpler and safer with divided highways.

On the highways (NOT in the towns we passed through), driving shows greater discipline and courtesy than I would have expected. But one has to accept that it is perfectly safe, or even safer, to overtake from the wrong side:) The driver should just accept it and not feel any guilt for violating the road laws - no policeman in India is likely to give a ticket for it.

I got lost once but it was my own stupidity. After Jaipur, the next convenient halt was Bhilwara. I got on the road to Ajmer. I was pretty sure I was on the right route - it was going to Udaipur and the route I had selected, thanks to Google maps, was the shortest/best route to Udaipur from Jaipur. After a while, I noticed signs indicating the distance to Beawar - it seemed a little nearer than I had expected Bhilwara to be.

My mind had made a discovery - given the fondness of our politicians to change names, Bhilwara's name must have been changed to Beawar. I was so convinced about this discovery that I did not think it worthwhile to stop and confirm it. I had not noticed any major turning, so this route had to be right.

On reaching Beawar, I tried to find the hotel, only to discover to my embarrassment that I was a 100Km from where I was supposed to be. A state highway connected the two - it was narrow, often very rough road, occupied frequently by goats.

I had missed a turning - there was a sign for going to Shrinager. But how was I to know that it was not an exit to a small town but a exit to a highway?

A lesson learnt!

The start of disillusionment with Delhi Metro

I just returned from Delhi. In my last trip, I was amazed at the ease with which I could visit my relations using the Delhi Metro and at my age. It was particularly impressive to see young people get up without being prompted and offer me a seat - seeing my grey hair - for the seats reserved for old folks. Only once did I need ask(I was tired and the journey was long) but the guy pretended not to listen. Sadly, the person sitting next to him gave me the seat and it did not seem appropriate for me to insist that the impolite guy get up.

I did notice crowding at times. However, on this trip, at 12NOON on a Sunday, I found the train packed like the Mumbai local. I just could not have gotten down at, say, Rajiv Gandhi station. A youngster just ignored the senior citizen standing close to him. It is very difficult to be polite if there is no standing room :(

The congestion seemed significantly worse just after a few months.

Given the goodwill of all Delhi citizens for the Metro, I can't think even a single person would object to an additional charge on petrol and diesel to compensate the Metro for making the citizens' journey more comfortable.

I was surprised that the train frequency is not being increased. On many routes not all trains are 8 coaches. Why not make them even longer? Why do we need to have people packed like sardines? Is maximising the money from public transport so important a consideration?

My disillusionment grew by this news today about a scandal in the order for Metro trains.

At an internal meeting, Naidu was of the view that the contract be cancelled immediately, but sources said that Secretary Shankar Aggarwal explained to him that cancelling the tender would delay the project by at least two years, which would reflect poorly on the government.

These are coaches for the 3rd phase! If an improvement in frequency is desired for existing phases, we should expect a minimum gap of two years after a decision is taken.

Meanwhile, I ended my journey by taking an auto to go to the station. It was 4PM, office traffic would have started and I just could not take the risk.

I have never liked Delhi. Our old area reminds me of a prison with gates and fences on public roads.

I am even less inclined to visit it even as a tourist in the future. I will let the money in my smart card lapse.

 I will probably not praise and brag about the advantages of Delhi Metro to any one any more - and I feel extremely sad about that. 

Road to Simla - thoughtless design

Last week, we took a road trip to Simla. I did not enjoy the scenery on the route. The driver had been told in advance to be conservative. He was. However, my mind was pre-occupied by trying to estimate whether it was safe to overtake.

It is my belief that at no point after the two lane highway started was it ever safe to overtake. Each time a vehicle overtakes another it depends on the following three to varying degrees:

• Ability to fall back to one's lane in case needed
• Faith that the other driver will be considerate
• Plain and simple luck

What did the highway planners expect? Consider an example of speed limits:

• Cars 40 KM/hour
• Trucks and buses 25 KM/hour

Unless the traffic is remarkably low, especially of heavy vehicles, it is obvious that there will soon be a convoy of vehicles. Even if we assume that the trucks and buses will not be overtaking each other (I know it is a ludicrous assumption), car drivers will get impatient. The longer a convoy gets, the riskier the overtaking becomes and, worse, more impatient the drivers get.

 

If there cannot be a well defined 3rd lane for safe overtaking at reasonable intervals(separate locations for uphill and downhill traffic), why not enforce movement of convoys of trucks at fixed time slot with no higher speed limit for cars.

 

Incomprehensible Customer Service

One more bank tries to make me happy :)

"Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

I found that I could not carry out online transactions.

I had recently disabled sms alerts as it bothered me that they started deducting quarterly for SMS alerts without any intimation. From the branch, I came to know that the procedure for getting rid of SMS alerts is to delete the mobile number!

So, online transactions need me to enter a number sent to a mobile phone, which never reaches me as there is no mobile number! Ah, the system assumes that the phone number exists and no need to check.

I had to call the call center about a solution to this dilemma. How to carry out online transactions without subscribing to sms alerts?

It took a while for the call center employee to appreciate my predicament. The complaint is registered and I got a complaint number. Then came the solution which was beyond anything I could have imagined.

"Call back after 7 days. Tell your complaint number and we will let you know what the solution is".

I suggested that the call center can send me an email - they do not have that facility.

Simply amazing.

I would definitely achieve happiness if I succeed. I have already made a lot of effort. I will have to make some more effort and I am sure, I will need of creativity to get around their system :)

Oh, the site has an email option and, now, even a grievance monitoring option. So far my experience indicates that these services are connected to a black hole. I have never got even an automated acknowledgement.

High tech company: Wrong emails containing wrong email address to contact if a problem

I got a very cryptic and confusing email from a mobile company. It took me a while to confirm that I had never had a sim with the mobile number mentioned. So, I was the wrong recipient. I ignored it.

I got a second time the same email. Wanting to be helpful, I tried the following:

1. Replied to the email. It bounced.

2. Noticed that there was a helpful message to forward the email to mailman... in case it is not meant for me. Guess what. It bounced as well :)

It can't be that hard to make sure that a 'helpful' message attached to each email contains correct information.

I kept getting financial statements for a loan by someone in a small town. Since no one bothered to do anything about the replies I sent, I added a filter to direct all mails from that company to the bin.

Should do that for this company as well!

We don't need enemies. An anonymous blogger will do.

I am reminded of a cartoon in my professor's office ages ago on reading this news about violence in Pune. The cartoon was of a scientist stabbing himself in the back and the caption read, "No one else can do a better job".

The sadness of such mob behaviour does not  even need the justification that a peaceful society needs tolerance of free speech as a safety valve.

Anyone with even minimal skills can write anything on the web by creating pseudonyms or anonymous posts. The person may be a resident of Timbuktu or may even be a bot designed for flaming.

What does bewilder me is that how does the mob come across such posts? May be the mob leader has set a google alert for them?

For anyone with any doubt about what a bot can do, Turing test passed!

"The Turing Test is a vital tool for combatting that threat. It is important to understand more fully how online, real-time communication of this type can influence an individual human in such a way that they are fooled into believing something is true... when in fact it is not." (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10884839/Computer-passes-Turing-Test-for-the-first-time-after-convincing-users-it-is-human.html)

Indian Elections and a Definition of Insanity

Can election results get rid of corruption?

The expenses on elections are visible. What is not visible is the amount, its source and the givers' expectations. So, what can zero tolerance for corruption mean?

But I still vote. Oh, well, the following quote helps :)

Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way & expecting a different outcome. Attributed as Chinese Proverb

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#zvOUo5Ds6Pquw5gh.99

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#zvOUo5Ds6Pquw5gh.99

Roundabouts in Chandigarh

The following statement in "Like parliamentary democracy, roundabouts are a great British export with a risk" struck a chord:

Yet roundabouts tend to work only when motorists observe the British virtues of fair play and stick to the rules. Alas, this is not always the case.

I will never forget the policeman scolding me for not barging in to the traffic at a roundabout. I waited as I did not wish to create a deadlock by blocking traffic in the circle which needed to exit the roundabout.

The policeman may have been right. I may never have been able to enter the roundabout but by shoving and being rude :(

Update: The surprising pleasure of not being rude

I stopped at a pedestrian crossing. I had to request the pedestrians to continue walking as they had stopped in the middle of the road upon noticing my car.

I am surprised at how nice it felt. However, there was no car behind me. How often can I expect that?

Loving mankind is fine but what about its constituents?

What can one say about people? Here was a news item about ambulances -  Meant to ferry patients, road rage victims themselves - an example:

In Balasore district's Hathigad area last month, an ambulance was called for a victim of snakebite. When the vehicle arrived, at least five relatives of the victim tried to get in. When a member of the ambulance staff pleaded that they could not accommodate more than one attendant, he was beaten until he was nearly unconscious. All five relatives of the victim forced themselves in.

A couple of days ago, I found that a car had parked so that the row behind was inaccessible. My anger at the driver's stupidity subsided soon as I had just seen James Flynn: Why our IQ levels are higher than our grandparents'. I wondered instead why a large part of the Indian population seems to think at the level of great grandparents or even worse. How do people learn to think? In schools or the general environment? Either way, we seem to be failing badly :(

The following sentence from Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov has stayed with me for about 40 years now -

 “I love mankind, he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.”

Headline I'd prefer - Ban Marriage to Curb Dowry Deaths

The following headline in the Tribune made me want to throw-up - Ban same-gotra marriages to curb honour killings: Khaps.

What can one say about the following sub-headline in the same article -  Ban on wearing jeans - because it is the

 'root cause' of rising incidents of eve teasing

I would like to see the Khaps being made to take a course in biology followed by watching at least the first episode of Richard Dawkin's documentary series "Sex, Death And The Meaning Of Life" - http://www.youtube.com/user/BBUK0001 WITH their family.

It is depressing that a newspaper exposes the Khaps' ignorance (ancient wisdom?) on front page without it being a satire.