Applying for Minor's Passport - It was so easy

I applied for my son's passport online. Got an appointment on 14th August and the passport was delivered on 17th August.
It sounds so simple, unbelievable but its true. I walked in the office on 14th August and was out of the office within 30 minutes. No queue for Senior Citizen and Minors. The Ahmedabad Passport Sewa Kendra must be appreciated for its courteous staff , cleanliness, prompt service and for making people feel special and welcome at their passport office.
You just have to visit 3 counters with original and photocopy of all the required documents and you are out of the office in no time.
This experience was never imagined considering the horror which I underwent at the Delhi passport office about 8 years ago.
Now the process is online, information given is precise and to the point. Easy to understand. SO we went there with our electricity bills, Saumitra Birth Certificate and our original passport . That's it !
No need for any agent , just follow instructions and your job is done.. no bribes ! Of course police verification was not there since passport was for minor, but I am sure in Gujarat that too should not be a problem.

Corruption shown the door - Karnataka State Assembly elections

BJP was decimated in a brutal manner by the people of Karnataka. One very obvious conclusion which is drawn by people is Corruption is no longer tolerated by the common man. This is a very obvious conclusion given the fate of BJP whose top political brass was hit with scam after scam under their Chief Minister Yeddyurappa. It was under immense pressure that BJP had to replace him. There is a very strong caste based division of the electorate in Karnataka and it wasn't easy for BJP to remove Yedu. But it proved to be a measure too little and too late. BJP lost an oppurtunity to showcase that they are different and do not tolerate corruption. Instead BJP chose to shield Yedu to the extent possible and finally agreed to remove him when things were going beyond control. Congress was the only other alternative which was available and they got the mandate with a clear majority. This gives Congress an opportunity after close to 14 years to rule the state with majority and implement reforms which were put in back burner. People have shown that fractured mandates are no longer a reality. Thankfully with this clear majority there is no scope for horse trading and regional parties and independents will have no role to play in decision making process.
A welcome change indeed. Let us hope that when elections at Centre take place, the existing government would be ruled out with same vengeance. Scams after scams have been rocking the UPA but there is no way that the opposition can dislodge them from power ...because they do not have the numbers.
We all hope that the Karnataka formula would replicate in the coming elections at Centre.

Budget 2013 - Game of subsidies

I wish my post is read by the experts and possibly implemented at least partially by our very dear Finance Minister. Abolish subsidies is the best thing which we could do at this point of time. The subsidies are misued to the maximum by the unworthy. SO better we abolish them altogether. The better part is people pay for what they use. The Govt can use this money to build better infrastructure , provide good quality roads, public transport, 24 X 7 electricity and much more. Today we are surely paying indirectly for these subsidies, then it is always better we do not indirectly but directly pay for what we are using.
The Govt can ensure that everybody is given work, so people below poverty line are also given some work and compensated in terms of monetary benefits or even better they are given food grains which are otherwise left rotting in the godowns or feasted by rodents.
This sounds very simple, but our coalition politics and the dance of democracy would surely not allow such things to be implemented.

IPL 2012 and Delhi V/s Chennai match on 24.05.12

Delhi ensured that they lose and move out of the finals.
1. Do not come to bat after you win the toss.
2. Drop your best bowler, Morne Morkel
3. Take Sunny Gupta, a club level player to make his IPL debut
4. Do not open the innings when you are faced with a total as huge as 222.
I must say Sehwag has tried to repay Dhoni in some manner so that he can sneak and retain his place in Indian Cricket Team.
If this isn't match fixing then nothing could be fixed. Blatant and shameless to the core. The ever useless and over rated Jadeja is yet to prove so now do not get surprise if he plays some all round knock in the finals against Kolkata and Chennai actually go on to win the match ! 

Visit Mt. Abu and waste valuable time of your life

I visited Mt. Abu  from 9th March to 11th March, because I had too. My wife wanted a break and I love her so could not disappoint her. Initially her brother Vishwas was to join us with his family but he could not. SO we went there with our Son Saumitra. Mt. Abu has absolutely no scenic beauty to enjoy, just few very peculiar points, like the ever boring sun set point, some rock which apparently looks like a frog so you have to agree to it.Few temples scattered around which are supposedly monuments of Art. Yes, I forgot to mention that it also has a lake with boating facilities. ( Big deal, Ahmedabad also has Kankaria Lake !) However the toast is taken by the Dilwara Temple, supposedly built by businessmen from Gujarat in memory of somebody. They keep on harping and advertising that there is no money taken as entry fee. Then you have a long queue which is then taken inside by one Brahmin / Pundit who keeps on babbling and the main focus is how XXX Crores of Rupees were spent in constructing this part of temple, and then he makes you roam behind him, explaining how many more cores of rupees were spent in constructing some other part of the temple. The way of explaining things tells you the focus of this religion..money money and more money. All the time he keeps on giving you mundane and unverified figures of money spent , even the barely visible boards start with mention of how much money was spent. They do not even bother to focus on the purpose (may there was nothing ) of erecting these temples. The sole purpose of erecting those temples was to keep on telling generations how much money this gentleman had. So this nonsense finally terminates when the Pundit / Brahmin makes you cough up money, apparently out of you own wish before he allows you to squeeze out of narrow opening to end your ordeal. When you move out, the person who had kept your mobiles, cameras and bags asks for random sums of money for returning your goods. Now here also there is no pre defined amount, which is written visibly and let the people know the applicable rates for keeping these goods in custody.  The same story repeats when you go and ask for your foot wear. Money money and more money. I am okay with paying money but they should display it, collect the same amount from everybody. Lack of transparency and deceitfully  making money is another nature of the Jain Community which is on display here. You feel sick and like vomiting by the time you reach the outskirts of this temple. They could have been very upright and honest, put up an entry fee board ( for feeding the Brahmins ) , fees for keeping your belongings and footware. But then it would have been very much unlike the Jain Community today. They continue to milk people in deceitful manner. So folks enter this Dilwara temple at your own risk and cost.
Then there are more boring points like the Honey Moon point, from where you just stand on a cliff and watch nothing below you. You go there just because it is a spot and you are taken by the tour operator. The view is more or less identical when you are about the land or take off from a flight is some second tier city.
I did not even bother to go to the  most boring of all sun set points, which is on display every day beautifully from my house !
Achal Garh, Guru Shikhar and Arbuda Devi are some other places of religious importance. They are just like any other temple which are in abundance across every village and city around every corner. SO it does not really make sense to expend your energy in going at these places.
Mt. Abu does not even have any scenic beauty like the Himalayas to boast of, just barren land and the old weathered Aravallis, that's it. So folks if you are just going for the weather, then give a second thought. You might sit in your Air conditioned Bed Room whole day, go for stroll with your wife and watch sun set from the terrace of you building and have candle light dinner. It would be surely more enjoyable.
But all said and done, if you wife asks you to take her to Mt. Abu then do take her despite whatever I have written. Making her happy is more important than anything else !

Budget March 2012

The budget is now round the corner, an important occasion which is going to decide the future of our Country. We have a very able Finance Minister who can present the budget in a unbiased manner, given the fact there are two full years for the elections to come. The next budget is obviously going to be a populist budget with an eye on the forthcoming elections. We now have the best possible chance to present a balanced budget and keep India shining. My expectations from the budget are very simple, invest invest and invest more in infrastructure and education sector. This is one sector where we are lacking and several decades behind the developed nations or for that matter even the developing nations.
We need to focus on the education sector which is now about to become defunct and redundant, else we would have a moronic generation coming up with little ability to take the nation forward.
Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, are you listening to me ? I want better roads, 24 X 7 power and drinking water, my child and all his peers want world class education. Are we asking for too much.
This common man urges you to focus on these two sectors, every thing else would fall in place automatically. Trust me , we have neglected these sectors since last 60 years, we are still using the infrastructure built by the British, we still follow the same educational system which was designed to produce clerks, but now it high time that we wake up, please its an earnest request.

Sreedharan Retires - Visionary beyond doubt

This post is small tribute to the visionary called E Sreedharan who retires on 31st December 2011 as the Head of Delhi Metro. He would hand over the reins to Mr. Mangu Singh, a great responsibility to shoulder I must say.

E Sreedharan changed the way people travel in Delhi, a visionary who laid foundation of one of the finest piece of infrastructure at the most appropriate time. It was hard to imagine Commonwealth Games without Delhi Metro ! Delhi had a virtually non existent public transport system which was evident from the dubious record of  highest number of four wheeled vehicles across all Metros in India. The only public transport were the Blue line Buses and DTC Buses which were not preferred by the elite or babus of Delhi.

The greatness of this man is not in his Engineering acumen which is by far the best but also the administrative skills demonstrated by him to handle bureaucracy across state and central governments in Delhi. Issues like land acquisition which are the prime constraint for any form of development were solved by him at mind boggling speed.

We must also salute the Indian Railways who gave him an opportunity to hone his skills as a Civil Engineer in his younger days. We must not forget that the bulk of team members from the Delhi Metro have come from Indian Railways. We have the necessary skill set, it just takes a man like E Sreedharan to bring out the best in them and an opportunity to show case them.

I take pride in the fact that I am amongst the select few who has seen this man face to face and shake hands with him. This opportunity was bestowed upon me while I was part of the team which executed the Civil works for Mandi House Metro station. He would surely not remember a lesser mortal like me but his presence was highly inspirational and motivated the entire work force.

To top this achievement we have his impeccably and  unblemished image. Not a single allegation of corruption or improper way of managing funds worth crores of rupees. We have many things to learn from great men, he showed that we can change things in India as well. Nothing is impossible, we only need tremendous will power and ability to think beyond horizons.

India produced one of the best Civil Engineers in the world Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya and I have no hesitation to add that E Sreedharan is second only to him. One thing I must say, he failed to develop a successor who could shoulder his legacy and carry forward the good work done by him.