Category: regular

Carlton Fire Accident – will we ever learn?

 

 

(Image courtesy : http://www.mynews.in )

 

The whole city was buzzing with the news of the unfortunate fire accident at Carlton towers, a well known landmark in East Bangalore near the bustling Indiranagar Flyover. There are too many loose ends as usual to the story. No setbacks to the building, all emergency exits were locked (astonishing part of the irony), fire tenders could not reach more than fourth floor, no water nearby and only fire tender in Karnataka to have hydraulic ladders. Neither did fire alarms did not go off in the building, and nor did the water sprinklers.

This was a recipe for perfect disaster and disaster it was – or should I say a shame to the government with due respects. 108 is a great effort by the CM as a nice service to have. Believe me I have personally used 108 and found it ultra effective. Its free as well. But what about FIRE ? The fire engines, equipments, and firemen all belong to 1980 era. Unfortunately no government has spent any money on upgrading the fire handling infrastructure and this is a biggest shame for an IT capital of a country like ours. What more can I say if a water hose does not reach more than fourth floor of a building.

I am totally disqualified to talk of people within that building on that day since I can only feel bad about what they went through, but then one of the basic steps during a fire is to lie low on the floor, with a wet handkerchief around your mouth and nose and start crawling towards the nearest exit. Alas, the biggest cruelty in this accident was to keep the emergency exits locked and the person responsible for this act must be handed the highest sentence as a lesson to learn. If punishment brings about education, then thats what we need today.

The firemen did their best, risked their lives, and are also in the ICU thanks to no gas masks!!! Dear Yeddy, what we need is an urgent order for gas masks of the highest technical capability for our firemen. If they cant help us, we cant help ourselves as well. Even as you read this blog post in every corner of every sub registrar’s office one property violation is being overlooked every 10 minutes. And the blatant fact is that these offices of impurity tell us that “the government has fixed charges for this deal” – may I know what is the meaning of charges here?

Yeddy I know you are a person who feels bad if something happens to the 10 crore people of Karnataka. Well, in the Carlton case, it was only 10 people. Which should still make you feel bad, and lose your sleep. Take the same action what you would if these 10 people were from your own family. Punishment is only one remedy. Enhancement of fire fighting capabilities is the NEXT BIGGEST CHALLENGE. Are we geared up for this?

Picture this: As the fire alarm sets off in my company, and I proceed to take the nearest emergency exit, some people continue working as though nothing happened, some people hear to the alarm as though its AR Rahman’s next pop hit, and some people say “they get annoyed” asking the security to switch it off as soon as possible. And some go to the cafeteria to take a break. Reason given: Its a usual occurence !!

It takes half an hour for fire to engulf entire floors. And suffocate you to death. The next time an alarm rings – GET THE HELL OUT OF THE BUILDING, it would be well worth an attempt. Atleast you can come to office the next day.

 

Mysore – Chennai Shatabdi – evolving change – then and now

I recently had an opportunity to go to Chennai, using the already famous shatabdi express from Mysore to Chennai. I thought it was worth a blog post considering some nice changes that have taken place. So it finds a mention on the Bengaluru Blog.

Initially the Shatabdi’s looked to be just a variant of normal trains. The insides were plastic cushioned seats of blue colour, which were at best described as being reasonably though not ultimately comfortable for a long journey. For what was served on the train as food, you can see it yourself here.

 

 

Since then, this train has now metamorphed into something similar to European train standards in terms of the service, compartments, general cleanliness etc. The entire compartment set looks flashy, and of high grade design, with much larger windows to see nature at your heart’s content. One look at the new compartment and you realize the country has had some major technological and manufacturing advances recently. The seats are now plush green velvet feel, which makes it all the more swanky in terms of design.

The toilets have undergone some major upgradation in terms of look and feel, though I would personally feel that a doormat or two, some tissue paper for hand towel use, and some high grade soap could alter the perception of the loo standards dramatically. For now you have a press button flush, and a decent looking wash basin. One thing I still hate though is the fact that the door would open right on you leaving you with no space to come out properly and this is unacceptable design.

Among some other nifty and usable stuff are A/c charging points above every seat, and bright spot reading lights integrated with the luggage rack. In fact the luggage rack itself seems leagues ahead offering a transparent and/or mirror view which increases the swankiness quotient greatly. Emergency exits are marked on one of the windows making it highly integrated without any special fuss.

 

The attendants are neatly dressed and from time to time offer the prescribed food for the journey. The food is not exactly sumptuous but not bad either. I do have grouses in the fact that the journey from Chennai to Bangalore does not offer great tasting food and it can be done better. Another grouse is that the attendants converse in Hindi mostly on a South Indian train. With due regards to the national language, its a thought whether they can do better with English, Tamil or Kannada considering the context of the states the train passes through.

 

The ceiling of the compartment feels similar to an airbus or boeing plane and the quality of materials is top notch. Few notable things which add nice touch are the sun glare screens which are easy to use, and the near perfect temperature control which is soothing. In summary, the Shatabdi remains the popular icon of fast, reasonably priced smooth travel for many a set of people drawn from the young and old alike. The new changes effected only enhance the image of the service making it a great option to use instead of even an economy flight! With growing needs, the train is now equipped to add on wireless internet, and telephone services to augment what is already available. The railways seems to consider the Shatabdi as one of the important bread earners in their family of trains and is leaving no stone unturned to churn out better ideas as time progresses.

Finally, similar to the famous Harry Potter scene where Harry enters a platform number 9 3/4 th by running into it, to board the Hogwarts Express train, which is a mythical train, the Shatabdi too leaves Chennai from platform 2A (between platforms 2 and 3) though only in this case, this is a real platform that actually exists half way down in between platforms 2 and 3!

  

 

(Some images are copyrighted to their respective owners – they are reproduced here from the original web locations, and due credits are given to these)

Seasons change, as Bengaluru embraces Summer

 

(image source: from here)

This February has seen some unusual temperature variations. Bengaluru was ultra chilly at 12-13 degrees C. Added to this were few virii in the air, and everyone were down with viral fevers, cough, sore throat and other typical Bengaluru syndrome.

My case was similar and trying out different modes of treatment did not help much. What really then helped was a shift to summer which I was eagerly awaiting. And change did happen. The second fornight of Februrary is bound to see the minimum temperatures hovering around 17-19 degree mark, while the maximum temperatures feel like May really at 32 degrees and above with very little humidity levels.

Whatever happened, has happened for the good, and atleast we have sunny mornings these days! 🙂
Time to welcome the summer and its showers to cool us down once in a while. Enjoy your summer and holidays if any!

KHB Suryanagar 2nd phase allotment announced ! (Allottees list and other info added)

For those of you who have legitimately been thinking of owning a government allotted property in Bangalore here is some good news. The government has listed out in  Prajavani its intention to allot different types of sites/houses and apartments in KHB Suryanagar the most sought after and debated layout near Electronics city/ Anekal area.

 

(if you are looking for part 2 please click here)

 

 

The details are as given below:

  • 1633 sites are on offer which is meaningless compared to the aspirants
  • 487 built houses are on offer as well which are higher on the cost side – more below
  • 1577 apartments also on offer which might bring some succor to low income and middle income group people aspiring properties at lower pricing
  • Shopping complexes, hospital, school, playground, police station and parks are part of the layout.

Coming to the cost structure – this time its not going to come to you cheap.

Sites:

  1. For weaker sections of society – sites are distributed at 300 rupees per sq.ft
  2. For Low income group – 500 per sq.ft
  3. For middle income group – 550 per sq.ft
  4. For HIG – 1 (god only knows who today falls in this category!) – 600 per sq.ft
  5. For HIG- 2 it totals 650 per sq.ft

Houses:

  1. For LIG a 30×40 house is 15.5 lakhs with 3.87 lacs of initial deposit
  2. For MIG a 30×50 house is 18.25 lakhs with 4.56 lacs of initial deposit
  3. For HIG – 1 a 40×60 house is 29.5 lacs with 7.37 lacs of initial deposit
  4. For HIG – 2 a 50×80 house is 43.75 lacs with 11 lacs of initial deposit

So Where do you get the application forms – Each form is Rs.50/-

The following bank branches are giving out application forms:

  • Axis Bank – Jayanagar, Sanjaynagar, BWSSB complex, Electronics city
  • Syndicate Bank – BWSSB complex, Avenue Road, Chandapura Marasuru
  • Vijaya Bank – Chandapura
  • Canara Bank – Chandapura
  • ING Vysya Bank – KG Road Bangalore branch

Phone numbers for enquiries which will never work 😉 — 9448070227, 9448671002

If you want more information and you know how to read kannada, click on the attachment below:

Last date for application forms submission is

06th March 2010

UPDATE:

I m adding the notification that appeared in the newspapers on 11/11/2010 for everyone’s benefit:

CLICK FOR LARGER VERSION:

Update 2: Here is the link for the eligible allottees now uploaded onto this post.

Alternatively click on pic below for a bigger version.

Update 3: As per information received from Pavana, the eligibility list for LIG as published on November 22nd, and MIG on November 23rd as provided below

Update 4: According to Mahesh, though, the list puts up potential allottees, the status in the list still says that these people stand in UNALLOTTED category. This may be due for update soon, and here is the official link for you to observe as often as you need.

Photos from KHB venue:  You can visit http://www.tinyurl.com/suryanagar to see photos from allotment venue.

Update 5: Photos of layout (thanks to jagadish who sent this in, click for larger versions)

 

For part – 2 please click here:

NOTE: This blog post is updated as and when new information is available. However in some rare cases, the information here may not be as accurate as what is present in KHB website itself. Hence this information is to be used as indicative information and is put up here for the benefit of readers.

Hippo try pleasing you – the war of non fried chips

India is finally getting competitive, and one can see it even in chips that we eat. These are the days of no-oil chips, those that are  baked instead of fried. Aliva crackers, Smart chips are some of the more famous ones who advertise like there’s no end on the idiot box. While aliva is only masala, Smart chipse could have been better called as masala-fied biscuits.

This is where I tried Hippo and I must say I am impressed. With the way they attract customers, their pricing, and needless to say their taste. With atleast 3-4 flavours the chips are something to get easily addicted to. Tangy tomato, Yoghurt and mint (the maharaja’s recipe), Italian pizza, chinese Manchurian and other varieties have been lined up by Hippo to tickle your taste buds.

One thing with these non fried chips is that they dont exactly feel like chips, but rather biscuit-ish. But then the taste is equally close and enjoyable too. What mattered to me most was the way in which they gel with IT techies who are workaholic and how they show they care for such people with proper food items.

So Hippo atleast try, will you grant Hippo a chance?

Longest Solar Eclipse begins its reign, Bengaluru sun feels strange

Today is the longest solar eclipse for this millenium. The next time you can view such a celestial episode is by 3043, and surely you will not be alive by any means by then 🙂 Rameshwaram and Kanniyakumari were two places where the eclipse looked great. Take a look at this video from Times Of India (Video has been removed).

The Bengaluru sky looked very overcast with no sunlight until almost 8am, and beyond that the sun tried peeking out of the clouds slowly and steadily. The atmosphere was one of some kind of devastation. No traffic on the roads, and no one to be seen doing their usual duties. The temples remained closed and by about 11am, the sun started showing up. The flare of the sunlight was brighter than usual, and most obviously even harmful too. Even with so much of sunlight, still the outdoors looked like being viewed with a tinted glass! There was a subtle amount of shade within the sun rays and even through office windows, the sunlight was pretty harsh.

Here are a few snaps I took of my crappy Blackberry 8520! Enjoy.

So when is the next such eclipse ? How about when you are married and have kids? Yes, its in 2020!

ING Vysya Bank (Koramangala) : heralding the next revolution in banking?

We have seen many banks since a decade. With the pioneer Citibank deciding to set shop in India, its been no looking back for many banks since then to start enticing their customers in many different ways to retain them. The public sector banks too realized this down the line and banks like Canara Bank, SBI and Bank of Baroda have now quickly upgraded their service level to be both personal and professional to the extent that it matters.

If you have seen the Samsung advertisements their caption reads “Next is what?” This is the caption they have set as a vision to themselves to continually innovate all the time. So then can there be a banking experience similar to this? Today I had the pleasant experience of opening a savings bank account at ING Vysya Bank which I wanted to share with you for those whom it would matter. Read on.

I was an existing customer of ING who recently happened to close my account. I went to SBI to open a savings account. But the kind of reception I received there, and the kind of forms I had to fill put me back a little. I decided to give ING a try again. One has to understand that you can currently use your ATM card in other bank ATM’s upto 6 times a month free. But with ING’s Orange Savings Account and a minimum balance of Rs.10000, you can use their card at will at all possible ATMs for free unlimited number of times. Reason enough to try out ING again.

Now here comes the surprise. I walk into the branch. I stand next to counter 1 where there was some customer being attended to. Within ten seconds, the official asks me what I need and when I said Savings account, in less than a minute I am offered a seat, and a form to fill up. And if you thought I had to fill up thousands of details, you are wrong. I signed at relevant locations, gave him one photo, put in my nominee’s name and my mother’s name and bingo – its done.

The next thing I know is I am seated with the manager Ms.Shweta, who introduced herself and after some talk, I am given a welcome kit – yes then and there all in a total of less than five minutes. Can you believe what all the kit had? You won’t if I tell you – it had the debit card, the cheque book, the ATM Pin, the internet username and Pin, instructions on all types of account charges, mobile banking Pin, customer ID and account number details, and a visiting card of the manager for further queries! 🙂 I was just DUMBSTRUCK at a loss for words. I could not believe that in ten minutes, I am walking out of the bank as an account holder with nothing more required than the details already provided.

One word – “Awesome!”. In the past ten years, never did I receive this kind of service from Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, SBI, Bank of Baroda, ICICI, Canara Bank – none. Well done ING. Your customer service requires a blog post. I am more than pleased to invite others to meet you.

And as we all know managers make employees, not the other way. Ms.Shweta is proactive, informal, and inculcates a sense of belonging into all the bank employees, who do things in a right way in a very involved fashion. This is what is called zero-effort marketing. ING Vysya Bank, Koramangala is definitely an example of a well managed bank branch.

I will stick with ING as long as I can, just due to this one experience with many more to come. If you want me to describe ING Koramangala in one word – PROFESSIONALISM. Check it out yourself. And with the experience I have had at ING, there is no doubt that they will not realize their mission statement specified at the top of this post! 🙂

You can contact Shweta here:

The Madikeri Sipayi is no more. Vishnuvardhan 1950-2009

Today morning, it was a shock to understand that our very own Kannada Superstar Vishnuvardhan was no more. He had died of a cardiac arrest in Mysore at an early age of 59 years. His movies are still etched in my memory right from my childhood and has brought cheer to many a fan in the state. No wonder then that his demise has brought about sudden shock to the state. With him, two superstars including Rajkumar are no more. Hopefully we will be able to educate our children about our great heroes of yesteryears!

You can read all about Vishnu here. Do listen to the song above, I really liked it as its not only great sounding, but also shows Vishnu in traditionality of Coorg in terms of dressing and choreography.

May his soul rest in peace.

Ready for some “OYE” treatment in our very own Bengaluru?

Bengaluru has not been called cosmopolitan for no silly reasons. Moreso, the cosmopolitization has further gnawed into Bengaluru’s very own IT locality – Koramangala. The locality is already known for some 300 odd good restaurants to eat in, and just when you thought it may not grow further, the Punjabi’s decided otherwise!

Enter “OYE Amritsar”. The very own Punjabi joint to tickle your palates one step further. We decided to check out on this restaurant for lunch a couple of days ago. It was an office team lunch and time to dig into what OYE had to offer us. After a good long walk, we reached the place. Thinking it would be like any other restaurant, I walked in. And the first thing I notice – is the language. Punjabis are known to misspell English and as far as they put forth the point, they don’t really care how the language is used. My apologies to the grammatically correct Punjabi friends, but this misspellings are the things that make OYE an interesting place to eat in.

The food is only half the story. The shiny old Lambretta scooter at the front, the BarBar shop shutters depicting the types of hair cuts offered, the references to bollywood, London, and finally the big bold Sardar with his Kudi depicted on the walls – everything is part of the dining experience. One word – this place is a must go, since its mood changing. It has the potential to uplift even people with the worst of moods to uncover the grin on their faces.

Coming to the food, the customary drink was I think Jaljeera, but it was so intriguingly tangy with twists in every sip. Now a drink must leave you wondering, and thats what it was at OYE. The usual salads later, came the rotis and rajma dal, with butter panneer masala without which its nothing is a complete Punjabi restaurant. Some sweets and ice creams, and after a heavy dose of meals, came the knockout punch for those who dared it – sweet lassi. I would say this lassi alone is enough for lunch. Drinking it along with the buffet means you are either a hardcore punjabi, or you’re sure to swoon into a heavenly nap after the lunch.

And for those whose stomachs cant hold more, there is always the TOLET, oops – I mean the toilet for the JENTS and LADISS.

If you guys and gals want something seriously different for the first visit, OYE Amritsar is the place. In short its full paisa vasool. Just ensure someone’s around to drive you back home, coz I dont think anyone would want to attend office after something like this as a meal. The charges are reasonable as well, so nothing incomparable with other restaurants. Eat your fill!

And while you are there dont forget to notice the posters, subtly hinting that our current prime minister is also a singh, RELAX SINGH to be precise 🙂

Our infrastucture experts lag by a decade – KH road flyover mess solved

Ask a small kid and he would have given the solution. Ask an old man and his wiseness would have manifested as a solution. It took the Bengaluru infrastructure experts a few years to come up with a solution to the (stupid) KH Road flyover. What is wrong with the flyover many people might ask. Well I would ask – what is exactly right?

  • Its the world’s only flyover with a signal light at the center

  • Its the world’s only flyover where a cop sits managing traffic at this signal light

  • Its the world’s only flyover which is mismanaged to such an extent that it has made proper roads crooked just because it exists

  • Its the world’s only flyover (perhaps) which can crush an entire road beneath it and the people on it to death in seconds

  • Its the world’s only flyover where the span of the column can be considered so huge to cause regular traffic jams

  • Its perhaps the world’s only flyover that looks like an X in shape!

Yes we are talking about the great Double Road flyover. Finally atleast the mess it has created has been solved to some extent by keeping things the way they must be. See for yourself: (picture courtesy TOI)

Now for some questions on this way of traffic flow:

  • Isn’t one of this enough either mission road to residency road or double road to richmond road, why both ways the traffic now needs to flow on the flyover?

  • Is that design not silly ?

  • The bigger question is whether this flyover is now required at all once you see the traffic flow 🙂 ?

  • If they do decide next to remove this flyover, will it solve any issues if one ways are created accordingly?

  • Must a small stretch of road between richmond circle and VGP junction on double road make life hell ?

  • Will we never see architectural marvels in flyover making at all ?

  • What about the maintenance of such a flyover, what will be its state after say 10 years more ? Would you travel on it or under it ?

The issue is not with building flyovers. The issue is with people designing them and the limited scope of the needs of such a construction, that these people have in their narrow mind. Money flow aside.  Any guesses what the next great architectural marvel would be ? How about an underpass on both sides of this flyover ? Or better still a metro train running under this flyover ? Infrastructure planning is an art. Experience must speak by itself, without even a single question asked. You want an example, see for yourself the better part of Bengaluru infrastucture:

Image courtesy: BMIC – NICE