I don’t know if it is the similarity regarding the way you say the names of these two cities or what – Mangalore / Bangalore. The similarities with incidents seem to have just followed.

Last week, a group of women were attacked on the rest house road, just off Bangalore’s happening Brigade road. I happened to speak to a friend of mine who was in someway connected to someone in the group that was impacted. This was a group of middle aged working women, pretty independent in their careers who decided to have a night out in a watering hole. They had finished paying the bills and were waiting outside for a few of their friends to return, some smoking a cigarette when the unimaginable happened.

A group of hooligans in a spanking new Audi SUV came tantalizingly close to hitting them while they were waiting outside. Bangaloreans know how wide our roads are! Being pretty independent women who have never been bullied, they protested. Their protest didn’t go too well with the men inside this millionaire toy! They came out cinema style hurtling abuses and not even hesitating to man handle / misbehave with these women! People attempting to help these women are beaten up, fear grips the place and everyone becomes a by stander including a patrol cop.

As the trauma for these women continues over the next 20 minutes as a cop van finally arrives. The hooligans apparently claim that the trouble was started by these women and ask for them to be arrested. Guess what? The cops comply and these poor women and the people who attempted to help are in the nearest police station. The arrested group realizes that the cops in the police station know these hooligans. The inspector refuses to accept a complaint from the lady impacted most,  on the grounds that she was drunk and couldn’t speak to local language forcing another “not so drunk and local language speaking” lady to lodge the compliant.  Accepted with resistance and jeers from the hooligans, the situation calms down to re-start the next day.

Being fairly “connected”, some of these ladies reached out to their  friends in the media, some to other friends in a position of influence overnight and through the early part of the day. A 6 hour stint at the police station with both parties, an audience for the local MLA with the head of the station and an audience for the affected ladies with the constables, it all happens before someone decided to accept a complaint and file an FIR – needless to mention, the complaint one sided! The rest is history and the numerous forwards doing the rounds say it all. For a change, the media did a good job to get some facts to light – from getting the number of the car published to identifying the names of the folks, they did it all. But guess where the hooligans are? Not in jail!!

Why does one have to protest so much to have an FIR registered? Aren’t all citizens equal under the law? How does it matter how high up you are? So much of hell for these poor women who just wanted to have a nice evening outside together!

I compare this situation with something I recently saw in the States. I was walking from my hotel to the office and there were two cars parked on the road. They had an accident and there was so much calm. The two people involved just sat calmly in their cars and waited for the police to arrive. As a curious Indian onlooker, I hung around to see how the situation was being handled. I was amazed to see the way the whole issue was handled – calm, composed and quite. The only noise was that of the EMS vehicle!

If lives are lives around the world, why does our system treat them differently? Being connected or having the money means nothing if you are guilty – period. If protests and connections are an absolute pre-requisite to get an FIR lodged, welcome to living in Bangalore. I am sure the scene is the same wherever we are in India. It may be a Bangalore today – who knows what’s up tomorrow.

Image Credit: Mamchenko

Popularity: 14%

Pune is and will always remain special to me, I fall more in love with this city every time I visit it, and luckily every time I visit it, I discover a new facet of the city, sometimes known and sometimes unknown. This time I had the opportunity to visit National Film Archive of India and spend a couple of days there, thanks to a friend who goes there to do research for the film he is making.

National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established in 1960s by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, to preserve the heritage that is being created in the form of cinema both national and international, to be a source for research on cinema and to disseminate film culture in India and to promote Indian cinema internationally. It is headquartered in Pune with regional centers in Bangalore (I never knew this was next door in Koramangala), Kolkata and Trivandrum. In Pune it is located on Law College Road road, a relatively serene area, in an old bungalow with an add-on building. It was initially a part of FTII (Film & Television Institute of India), but is now an independent organization by itself and is one of the leading film archives in the world.

NFAI is a repository of films of importance, award winning films, popular films from India and abroad. They are preserved in a basement facility, where the required temperature and humidity are maintained for the old films. A new facility is being planned for the new films as well. What is interesting is that all these films are regularly tested manually for any damage. There are 8 tables where 8 people can test 8 films in parallel. It is interesting to see how they do it, wish I could take a picture of it, but it is not allowed to take pictures inside.

There is a well stocked library with all possible books and periodicals on films. Most of the books are put of bound for the visitors, so I could not go through and feel the books. There are popular and more recent books that are in the outer shelves of the library which you can take from the librarian. You can refer to popular magazines in their earlier versions. I went through some of them published more than a decade before I was born and it was a pleasure to read them.

They were focused on the stars and the popular cinema, but they still talked about the craft of cinema and the work done by the artist. They do talk about their personal lives, but in a very dignified way and within limits. There are in-depth articles about the changing times, and imagine in early sixties they had a series of articles talking about the deteriorating state of music in Indian cinema and there was a detailed analysis of each of the music directors and their work and how it has changed over last decade or so.

Apart from the preservation of material around films NFAI also does some other interesting activities like:
• Organize film appreciation courses regularly along with FTII and other educational institutes
• Run a film distribution library for members
• Provide a 26 seater preview theatre to pre-view the films
• Provide 350+ seater theatre for screening of films
• Be a venue for hosting the regular / theme based film festivals
• Run a film circle which has a screening of film every Saturday, for which membership is open to public
• Encourage study and research on films. They also offer fellowship for the same.
• Maintain censor records
• Provide basic search on Indian movies, though here I think they need to get savvy like IMDB.

NFAI invites everyone to contribute to the national archive. If you have any rare pictures, tapes, press clippings, song booklets, film posters or anything that should be preserved for the future generations, you can send them to NFAI and they would make a copy of it and make it a part of archive.

Thanks Sand for introducing me to this wonderful place.

Image Credit: Pedrosimoe

Popularity: 18%

Those were the days in Bangalore,
When Idli & Vada was the main fare;
It used to get cold in December,
And we all had to use a sweater.

Those were the days in Bangalore,
When Doordarshan was the only channel on offer;
The evening buzz was unmistakable in Jayanagar,
The scent of fresh flowers filling the evening air.

Those were the days in Bangalore,
When Kempegowda was the folklore;
BTM-Layout was the southern end of the city,
The horizon was too far to see Electronics City.

Those were the days in Bangalore,
When MTR was the most popular;
The roads were free of traffic,
With the trees that lined the streets making it idyllic.

Those were the days in Bangalore,
When Lalbagh was the attraction on tour;
The VidhanSoudha glistened in the dark,
Not too far away was the Cubbon Park.

Those were the days in Bangalore,
I miss it all for sure;
Shanghai, Geneva, Boston, Montreal – I have seen it all;
But none that satisfies the Bangalore call!

Image Credit: Melanie Molitor, Ramesh Meda, Bharatte

Popularity: 13%

Cartoons are probably the best and first read parts of a newspaper or for that matter for most publications. But after that first glace that often brings a smile on our face and a thought to our minds we forget the cartoon and the cartoonist. Over a period of time, we instinctively know the style of a cartoonist and his / her favorite characters, some of which are real life and some representative. I never gave a thought to the fact if these Cartoonists were formally trained in the art of drawing cartoons. For no reason I always thought that all these people are born with this talent of expression.

Then, one fine day I got to know about the Indian Institute of Cartoonists (IIC), based in Bangalore, through an exhibition that they did of the works of some famous cartoonists from across the country. IIC aims to promote the art of Cartooning in India. Brochure of the institute describes a Cartoon very well ‘A cartoon is a rare and brilliant creation of art that wraps aesthetics, portraiture and comment. While tickling the funny bone of the reader a cartoonist moulds public opinion, drawing his attention gently to the follies of our leaders and people around us’.

IIMc is located off MG Road, if you take the lane next to Kids kemp, it is about 50-100 meters down that road on the right hand side in the basement of a building called Midford Garden. You can visit it to view the cartoons, to read the literature about cartoons. IIC plans to have a cartoon library which will have cartoons and cartoons related literature, along with a museum of original cartoons and clay n wax models of cartoon characters. They would be organizing various cartoon competitions at various levels apart from regular exhibitions and cartoon related events across the country. Membership of IIC is open for anyone who wishes to be a part of its journey.

I was lucky to get a re-print of Ranga’s portraits of famous personalities, autographed by the personalities themselves, compiled under the title of ‘Profiles in lines’.

Did you know that David Low is considered to be the father of Cartooning and K Shankar Pillai that of Indian Cartooning?

Image Credit: Indi.Ca

Popularity: 26%

Navadarshanam is a 120 acre self sustained settlement, 50 km south of Bangalore. It is an experiment in alternative living, living in a way that does not disturb the balance of the nature around you, unlike what most city dwellers end up doing intentionally or unintentionally.

The Navadarshanam (ND) campus is something that probably many of us would wish to be in, but may not have the necessary courage to create something like this. In its 120 acres, it has few cottages made with eco-friendly construction methods, a small space to process, manufacture and sell health foods, a common kitchen that cooks on health food principles, a gobar (cow dung) gas plant that supplies cooking gas to the kitchen, a wind mill and a few solar panels that generate the electricity for the campus, a cow shed that houses a few cows, some fruit trees and tons of self generated greenery.

Anathu, founder member and permanent resident of ND, explains how the barren land regenerated itself, and lakhs of trees germinated out of nowhere, including thousands of sandalwood trees. There are interesting exercising devices that generate electricity and water plants as you exercise. The periphery of the campus is a cool 4km walking track, ideal for a morning and evening walk. You can buy health foods from their simple store, these foods are also available through select Namdhari outlets and a couple of other outlets in Bangalore.

There is an interesting story behind the origin of ND, how some people who were all very highly educated, lived across geographies and were a part of a study circle, came together to create ND. As you listen about this story from Ananthu, you see the elements of destiny, some good intentions and most importantly the intent of actually doing something that people usually keep talking about. And the fact that an external agent in the form of a Swamiji came and put the action into what was being studied, was being spoken about, discussed and written about.

Swamiji in a way threw a challenge at this brilliant young team to actually create a space that lived by these principals that this team was inclined to explore. The story of the initial years, of being cheated for the land price and dealing with working on an absolutely new concept in an absolutely ambiguous situation. After all what do you do with so much of barren land, and nothing as your support system. I would like to sit with Ananthu again and explore their journey, because their ND journey is documented, but I want to know about the personal journeys that they have to tread, to create such a concept.

Team at ND is working primarily in five key areas:

1. Eco-restoration: Allowing the earth to create a cover for itself, with a belief that earth is alive just like us and has the power to regenerate for itself.
2. Natural farming: Farming without using any artificial chemicals and without destroying the ecosystem of the surroundings.
3. Health & Food: Research and production of foods that do not disturb the ecology of the body, by way of undigested food.
4. Energy: Generation of energy using wind power, solar energy, animal waste and Honge seeds, all of which are available in abundance.
5. Eco-housing: Construction of houses using the local material and labor, designed in such a way that need for energy is minimal.

ND is a completely Saatvik place, where a conscious effort is made to keep the Rajsik and Tamsik elements away. In that kind of an environment you feel one with nature and one with yourself. This is an environment that makes you question a lot of things that you are doing without questioning. It forces you to think about your purpose of existence.

The biggest question that I had in mind was, why we complicate our lives so much, when everything we need is available right there with the nature, why we keep running after all the gadgets and collecting all that we really do not need. I got reminded of my Bhutan visit, where there were no garment stores and people weaved their own clothes, and everyone there was as well dressed as people in any other part of the world.

Though Navadarshanam does not encourage more people visiting it, at least not more than what it can handle, but if this post rings a bell somewhere, it is definitely a place to visit while you are in Bangalore.

Image Credit: Anuradha Goyal

Popularity: 10%

Whenever people have asked me, or I’ve spoken of the “Indian culture”, I have always wondered to myself as to the single most important thing that defines my upbringing. I was looking too deep, trying to read too much into every part of my life, while it lay there all along – it was too simple to miss, and yet it was the quality that had the most profound impact on me. The differentiating attribute was the one I am grateful to my grandmother for ingraining in me.

While growing up in the Bangalore (Bengaluru just to the locals, then) of the 80′s, I had a penchant for fountain pens. There were various brands then – Chelpark, Bril, Luxor, etc at the lower end with Hero, Parker, etc making up the higher end price points. I had such a fetish that I was keeping track of every brand and model that came out – in hindsight, a very materialistic obsession with buying newer fountain pens. It was affordable enough for my parents and granny to buy me a few every year, but it wasn’t keeping up with the pace at which newer models were coming out!

To inculcate a lesson that would hold me in good stead for life, my grandmother seemingly came up with a plan: if I came in within the top-3 ranks in my class (the much berated Indian schooling system then, of monthly evaluations followed by a top-to-bottom ranking within the student populace!!), she would give me 10 rupees every month, as a reward. I could use this to fund my hobby, but it came with a rider – I could only take up to 5 rupees every month from her, for she would deposit the rest into my bank account for future use. I was too naïve then to be made to understand the benefits of saving, so this was her way of helping me understand and inculcate the saving habit. Her reasoning for stashing away half of the money was to enable me to upgrade to the next level of fountain pen collections i.e. the more expensive ones, but fortunately or unfortunately, I outgrew the hobby before I got to that stage.

For what its worth, if I remember correctly, her educational qualifications till date remain as having completed 3^rd grade of schooling. That had no bearing on her attitude in life, or what she has passed on to the next generations (that’s a new post altogether). She’s probably handed me by biggest lesson in life, and one that very likely defines a good part of the Indian / Asian cultures.

People may argue that the Asian economies are no different today when compared to the Western ones; my counter to that would be that we live in too small a world economy today that its hard to be isolated from international influences. Dug deeper, the saving mechanisms would probably be the grace factor or the deterministic index of how wide the schisms are, or in simpler and more common terms: how big a bail out we need!

Image Credit: Gemma Amor

Popularity: 10%

I happen to work out of a fancy office complex built by one of Bangalore’s leading real estate names. The complex boasts of a host of convenience factors – the international chain of Gold’s gym, a GK Vale counter to cater to the last minute traveler, a food court with 8 vendors serving the world’s cuisine on a plate, a Coffee Day joint, Food World, Daily Bread – a baker and more to come! A lot of well known brands!

Step out from this super world of convenience and you see what many term is a disaster! – the space outside the complex is a bottleneck for traffic – so bad that a simple U turn from the complex to get back home can take anywhere from 15 – 45 minutes!! I am serious!! The Krishnarajapuram railway underpass is “world famous” in Bangalore for its traffic jams! There’s this huge 4 lane road leading into a loin sized railway underpass that let’s traffic in a single file!

Times of India ran a Bangalore specific initiative, “unlock Bangalore” about 8 months ago and guess what the first featured article was? Yes – this very same bottleneck and it’s ramifications including reader comments on what to do. The magazine went on to contact the area MLA and he promised to escalate the matter to the higher authorities. In an all too familiar sequence of events, nothing happened as well. Time went by and the problem persisted. Frustrated commuters went to the extent of hiring bombers to blow up the underpass in a hope to ease traffic.

The recent few months have suddenly seen free moving traffic in this space! Did someone actually blow up the bottle neck or did the MLA act? None of them happened. Someone just re-laid the stretch of road and this meant that vehicles could move freely without having to stop to negotiate pot holes and hence resulting in a pile up! What was seemingly a big fix was resolved with a fundamental fix – good roads!

Here’s another perspective to good roads: Bangalore – Chennai. The physical distance is about 350 KMs and driving the driving time used to be nearly 7+ hours a few years ago. The fast and furious would argue that you could do it in 6 hours. Recent travelers have been talking of 5 hrs and the fast and furious, me included say we can do this is 3.5 hrs ( out skirts to outskirts). How? Take the expressway and you will see what a pleasure it is to drive. This however comes at a price – Toll roads. A drive up costs you around Rs.130 odd in toll. I was happy to pay and burn some rubber on my last trip there.

Sadly, this and a whole lot of toll roads in and around my city get debated. There’s a general sense of “why pay toll?” feeling doing the rounds and forums to vent frustration around the same – needless to mention, the parties that claim to be domicile to this land erupt with joy when what I believe are trivial issues like this come up.

I strongly believe that convenience comes at a price – just like every other thing that touches our lives. We live in an age where we look for “branded” products – from underwear to eyewear, everything seems to be branded. The brands are across the pyramid with the top of the line brands like Versace and Hugo Boss leading the way! If you are willing to pay top dollar and buy products like these more often than not, why crib to pay toll and enjoy the convenience? (If you are not looking at the top line, are you in the next rung, if not, a rung below? If not another rung below? Unless of course, you want to by “unbranded” stuff),

If we can pay a few bucks more for those “good” things in life, why are roads any different?

Image Credit: Nicholas T

Popularity: 10%

This being compensation season, I had to get to work today despite the fact that today was a holiday!!

I gave the gym a miss, piling on the excuse that I’m not at my fittest best today. I left home a little beyond my standard time and was bracing myself up for the hour and a half ride to work.

As I passed the by-lanes to get to the main streets, I was greeted to lesser than usual traffic. WOW! What a pleasure it is to drive on days like this. Turning on my music, I started cruising, enjoying the great Bangalore weather and the pirated MP3.

There was a sense of nostalgia.

The not-so-crowded roads took me back to my teen days, when my cousin and I could go from one corner of the city to another, in pretty much no time. Bangalore used to be a blissful place to drive around – cool all through the year, disciplined drivers, an odd honk here or there and a lot of green.

How I wish this could last forever!!!  I went to the extent of proposing legislations that make governments declare two days a month as days when people have to stay home and I could get to work enjoying my drive, maybe IT organizations need to have everyone work from home and that can take the traffic away and then this screechy sound of metal touching metal!

A big blue BTS bus just went past touching my car, just enough to cause a blue scratch mark from the boot to the two doors! The damage in Bangalore terms, 3rd degree – something that is not carnage enough to cost you a bomb, but something that can cause a bit of carnage to the heart! The guy didn’t bother to stop – he just kept going on and on. I was game for a fight and said, let me chase him down and started racing! Within moments, I gave up. Not because my car didn’t have the vroom or the guy I was going to pick up an argument against was too powerful – I’ve seen many such non value adding fights on the streets before – they are a waste of your energy and poke a little hole to your pocket as the bus driver is not going to pay you any money!

I pulled up to the sides to look at my most recent addition, the big blue scratch in addition to the other dozens of scratch marks & dents that adorn the body of my car. I’m not alone here and I see this on every other car – The brand new Civics, the Audis that recently hit the road and the good old 800s – they are all there to give me company! I’m on that ever growing list of people who believe that these minor things are best left unattended to!

Five years ago, I’d bought a brand new Zen. The car had a few “medals” and I was off to the showroom in a hurry to fix this. I spent a good 8K change and got the car to the office – the car looked like mint and I walked up feeling good. In less than 5 minutes, a security guard called me at my desk to say that a stray dog entered the office car park and damaged a car – it just lifted its legs and scratched my car bumpers; thankfully, it couldn’t get higher. I came down running to check my damages and a migration manager who came along was laughing out loud, feeling sorry for me within (as he claims). So much for getting my car fixed. I’ve sworn since, never to fix these minor issues.

Back to today, I was wondering if I did something wrong. Like every other driver, I can swear and say that I was the best and never put a foot wrong. I continued driving to work and while driving, it dawned upon me that maybe the “extra space” was what caused the incident. There are days when I can drive in bumper to bumper traffic and still get home without anyone touching the car, but it’s the suddenly freely available extra space that make drivers lose control. Look at what driving in bumper to bumper traffic means to us!

Popularity: 11%

If there is one thing I am known for among my friends, it is my love for Bangalore. The place I love, where I was born and grew up. I wonder if there is something about this place or is it just my comfort zone? It felt great to be back here after three years in Hyderabad but now I am not so sure.

Things have changed drastically over the years, makes me wonder if the pace we are moving at is a good thing or bad? Bangalore was a beautiful laid back city, safe and clean a long time ago. I don’t ever remember people cribbing about how bad the roads were, about the traffic or how unsafe our children and senior citizens are. These are the things we read about every other day in the papers now!

We crib about the government doing nothing about the infrastructure in a growing city like Bangalore but I would like to know how many of us contribute to this. When I walk past residential areas I have seen garbage thrown around, gutters turning into dust bins which obviously clog the drains and one heavy shower all of us are cribbing about why we pay taxes and how useless our government is? Isn’t it our responsibly to keep our surroundings clean? How much effort does it require not to throw stuff on the roads or into gutters?

Our government definitely lacks the will but what is stopping us as citizens? Why can’t we put in our efforts where possible?

How many of us car pool? We may be neighbors with kids going to the same school or working around a certain area but each of us will crib about the lack of public transport and how bad the traffic is, how bad the roads are in etc.

To me as an old Bangalorean, it almost feels like I am in a new city, with the old beautiful buildings being replaced by grand malls. People from other cities fancy Bangalore; to some of us it’s depressing to see all those old building like the Victoria hotel, Lido Theater; all gone welcoming the huge and hip malls. Pangs of a growing city I guess. Bangalore has been my home, and all of us see it changing. But for better or worse, I am not sure. This is not the Bangalore I grew up in; this is not the Bangalore I want. Bangalore – I MISS YOU

Popularity: 13%

I started working about a decade ago and bumped into this pretty girl from a state in India called Gujarat. She was hired to work for me and I must clarify that I had no role in her selection…these were early days you see!!

We got chatting about our lives one day when I asked her the question, “What gets you to Bangalore?”. She didn’t pause a second to think and replied pat saying “I am looking for a bright career in the IT industry”.

I was real cocky those days – cocky about the fact that my city was considered the Silicon Valley of India and was a real magnet in terms of attracting all these young people from different parts of the country. I’ve had countless conversations when I’ve raved about Bangalore and ridiculed her state for being “under developed”. I’ve even gone to the extent of ragging her saying “do you guys have roads, public transport etc back home?”.

Gujarat’s transformation from being one of those under developed states about a decade ago to being a top draw for investments has been phenomenal.

How did all this happen?

One man and his desire to make things happen – Narendra Modi. Here comes a leader who like most of his counterparts says, I will do X, Y & Z and unlike his counterparts goes on to deliver all of them. The result – public loves them and want more. To do what he did with the Tata’s to bring in the Nano was probably the tipping point in this state’s ascendancy.

His leadership and the state are raved about today. And why not?

A recent corporate summit had Sunil Mittal and Anil Ambani suggested that Modi’s prowess should get him the big job in the country soon – being Prime Minister. What baffled me the following day were the reactions that were expressed for Industry leaders making that remark. The party that he is a part of, itself, was in arms, needless the mention the Congress and the other numerous fingers and toe parties that are around the country.

That gets me to ask the question… WHAT THE HELL?

Here’s a guy who has done what he said he will – that is the fundamental principle of good governance and people like it. All that they want is someone to focus on development and do what he/she promises to do. India over the last 12 months has clearly seen and recognized this – If Modi won a second term and Sheila Dixit a 3^rd, it’s just the fact that the work they do speaks volumes for them. It’s a known fact that no politician is clean and I don’t want to even go there.

What people want is good governance, tangible signs of development and keeping up of promises.

As leaders running businesses, it is extremely frustrating to see the lack of this across the country. Case and point to this is what’s happened to Bangalore over the last decade. While Gujarat was on it’s upswing, the Congress with Dharam Singh and the Son of the s(p)oil, Deve Gowda but Bangalore and Karnataka into reverse gear.

Bangalore bursts at its seams with little to no development in the last decade – the results here to see in the form of crippled infrastructure, no new industries coming in and of course, traffic jams turn this city to a standstill at pretty much any time of the day.

I consider myself fortunate for not having to bump into that pretty girl often these days – she must be dying to give back to me some of the hell that I gave her!

Is it unfair for the people of India and the business leaders to ask for someone who’s proven himself at governance and delivering on his promises to lead them? I think we’ve had enough of the days of Presidents who can’t walk and Prime Ministers who can’t talk (we’ve had exceptions alright, but the need is for exceptions to become the rule).

Come on… these requests are not unfair at all – it’s not about being favorable to one party or the other.. it is picking someone who is the right man to drive the bus, and drive it forward of course!

Popularity: 15%

On Sunday the Government released a statement saying, Public sector banks will shortly announce a package for borrowers for home loans in two categories — for loans of up to Rs 5 lakhs and Rs 5-20 lakhs  The housing sector has been in trouble in the last 6 months with very few takers for houses.

With this bailout package, the government is going to subsidize the banks providing housing finance.  I believe, instead of doing this, it should try to control the price set by the builders. 

Tell me in which Indian city will you get a flat for 5 to 10 lakhs?  It is not possible in Tier I and Tier II cities.  Or only those who have 15 to 20 lakhs cash in hand will benefit from this package.  If you take a look at the top cities in India, the real estate prices are ridiculous. In cities like Hyderabad, it is almost impossible to find a flat which is less than 30 lakhs.  If you want a flat in the city or near the city it will not cost you less than 50 lakhs.

No government employee will ever earn more than 50,000 rupees a month and 90 % of private sector employees earn less than 25,000 rupees a month.  These people would never be able to buy their dream houses if flats are available only at such astronomical prices.

Have you ever tried to calculate the cost of construction?  I know a couple of builders and I got these figures from them.  For a super deluxe flat, for a square foot, cost of construction (including the land price) will be between Rs 800 to Rs 1400.  This might vary a bit depending on the land cost.  So if an sft is costing Rs 1400, have you ever seen builders selling it for 1600 or 1800?  They will never sell it below Rs 2500. They almost make 100 % profit.

Also remember that the prices of steel and cement have come down but flat prices wouldn’t come down in the last 6 months.

If government really cares for middle class people, they should set a cap on the profits made by realtors.  Like cement and sugar, regulate the prices of houses.  Ask the builder to provide the cost of construction and allow him to make a maximum of 30% on construction cost.

Providing cheap loans to people for buying houses is a failed American policy. 

The government is encouraging realtors to keep their high margins and using the tax money to subsidize loans.  I urge the Government to increase the affordability of houses.  In all the metros there should be at least 30 to 40 % reduction in the prices of houses and apartments.

Right now the sentiment is low and reality sector is under correction.  Please allow the correction so that it can regain its health. A correction in these overhyped cities will eventually bring down the prices.  Don’t coerce it to gain artificial health by spending tons of people’s money.  If people don’t buy flats for another 6 months, and we can see the prices drop by 30 to 40%.

In the last few years, people panicked and purchased houses, as they thought the property prices might further increase.  But what people forgot or didn’t notice is that in any economy nothing can keep increasing for ever.  It took a big crisis (subprime) in a big economy (America) to prove it.  Not just the people but even banks missed this simple truth and got into trouble.

We the people of India should understand how the economy works and make wise decisions while a buying house. 

So whom is this policy going to benefit?  Definitely not the people in Metros and Tier I cities. It will benefit Tier II and Tier III cities.  Our infrastructure is not able to handle the current growth. Cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad have become costly. This will force builders, IT, manufacturing, and other investors to invest in tier II & III cities.  People in these cities will start investing in Houses. 

This is the only solution to offer a competitive price to the world for our product and services.

I hope one day we will have a world class infrastructure like US or Europe.

Image Credit: Kevindooley

Popularity: 17%

I read this article on CNN IBN yesterday and I was shocked to say the least. 

Dog’s got more pride than wanting to be in your lines, Mr. Achuthanandan !        

Honestly, how else can you react at these politicians ? What the hell is wrong with the Kerala CM Mr.Achutanandan ?

Mr. CM, the family was better off without your condolence visit, if that was what it really was. How could he have said

“If not for Sandeep Unnikrishnan even a dog wouldn’t have seen that way (their house in Bangalore) ?”

Sometimes you wonder where these regardless people come from and leave alone their sorry existence we elect them into government. What a shame!! And he doesn’t even feel sorry for what he said. So much for communism and communist party ways! His leader at least had the decency to regret the comments made.

Someone gave his life for our well being. A brave soldier, worship his parents if you can. For he was who he was because of them.

What audacity to insult them?

A grieving father might have felt ignored and I’m not surprised that he did with the way you behaved, Mr. Achuthanandan.

Let me remind you Sandeep Unnikrishnan and his family are role models to the entire nation, but you Mr. CM are a disgrace we wouldn’t want to own.

The same MNS chief who once called Hemant Karkare a traitor of Marathas has no words today. Why don’t they ever think before they open their lean mean mouths? The sacrifices made by these great men will never go in vain. But when leaders for their own selfish needs try and demean the sacrifices made, we as citizens with a social conscience must let them know where to draw the line.

So to all those leaders who think mouth lashing is an indulging hobby, let’s see you walk on the roads without your top class security, without those bullet proof cars and without a fear in your eyes when you see a stranger approach. I’m sure I’m asking for too much of these men and women.

At least stop lashing out like mmm sorry which living being can we compare this act to ???

None I guess, exclusive to immoral politicians you see

Image Credit: Safvan Mohammed

Popularity: 13%

In a very interesting move some Bangalore techies have come together, formed a club called RideACycle and are now planning to pull a la Tour De France. It is called “Tour oF Nilgiris” (TFN) and is one of its kind in India.

As per their official blogsite

The Tour of Nilgiris is a 7-day, 919-km bicycle ride across the famed Nilgiri mountain range in South India. The Tour of Nilgiris takes off from Bangalore on 25^th December 2008 and ends on the 1^st  January 2009. As the name suggests, it is a tour and not a race. On the tour you get to ride with 40 like-minded riders on what could be the journey of a lifetime

The main sponsor is 91.9 FM - One of Bangalore’s leading FM stations. Interestingly, the organizers have reduced their journey from 1000 kms to 919 kms – No prizes for the right answer.

Ultimate Objective ?

• Promote cycling. Go green, become less fuel dependent
• Promote Nilgiris as a safe place for cycling enthusiasts
• Promote bio-diversity
• Make one more step towards nature
• Generate respect for environment
• Get proximity to culture, cuisines and history
• Promote fitness and camaraderie
• And of course – Ride with like minded people

Some Unique Selling Points (USPs)

• Availability of a qualified Doctor in Sports & Exercise Medicine on board for the whole tour
• Free SMS alerts and reminders
• A great team of experienced cyclists
• A movie on the run by Flaunge

Check their FAQ for further details. Also visit their site – tourofnilgiris.com for a good dope of what is in store.

Some food for thought, huh ? Or is it Road to Nirvana ?

Story Credit: Santhosh !

Popularity: 20%

In the late 80s and early 90s Narendra Modi  was virtually unknown. He fought very hard to accomplish the tasks given to him by the Senior Leaders of BJP. Towards the later part of the decade, we saw a belligerent Modi moving closer to his political ambition of becoming the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

In 2001, Narendra Modi became the Chief Minister of Gujarat, got promoted to the office at a time his predecessor Kesubhai Patel lost the by-elections. In July 2007, he became the longest serving Chief Minister.  Later the same year, he was re-elected for the third consecutive term as the CM.

In 2001, just when he took office Modi was given the task of rebuilding Gujarat. This was in the wake of the biggest natural calamity India had seen – The Gujarat Earthquake which killed nearly 20000 people and another 170000 injured.  Modi was a man on a mission

In 2002, he faced the biggest test of his life – There was a communal riot in which Hindus and Muslims killed each other following a Godhra train incident. The riot killed nearly 2000 people and about 150000 were displaced.  The entire nation was pitted against him and some even went to the extent of terming the Godhra incident as an attempted genocide, a largescale massacre.

Modi did not sit quiet. What followed was a successful stint – one after the other. In his first term as the Gujarat Chief Minister, the economic growth touched 10%. In 2007, the growth touched a stunning 11.5% reducing the fiscal deficit of the state economy by a stunning 50%.

Other noticeable achievements included infrastructural developments, electrifying rural Gujarat, the Narmada success story etc.

Narendra Modi’s leadership and his extraordinary capabilities made him the darling of media. And soon a brand called Moditva emerged. Modi translated excessive criticisms and a burgeoning popularity into mass votes which made gave him a landslide victory in his third time.

Advani once said about Modi

A leader who, after being subjected to a malicious and prolonged campaign of vilification, has been able to impress even his critics with his determination, single-minded focus, integrity and a wide array of achievements in a relatively short time.

The year 2008 saw Modi take a complete u-turn with industrialists and politicians alike yearning for a piece of the pie in the Gujarat success story. Budha’s pain was Modi’s gain. Under the leadership of Modi, Gujarat opened the doors for Tata and Sanand became the Nanoland.

Modi did not stop there. He continues to woo Bangalore based IT and BPO companies to set up their units in Modiland. 

If this was not enough, Modi surprised all his critics as late as last week. He embarked on a demolition drive of “illegally built temples” in Gujarat including that of a Sai Baba and a Hanuman shrine. Facing the axe are another 161 illegally constructed temples.

Modi invited widespread criticisms for his actions especially from VHP – the erstwhile ideological partner of the BJP. In fact Ashok Singhal, of the VHP compared his government to that of Aurangazeb’s. Modi loyalists however argued that he was painting a picture of a Nationally acceptable, Secular Leader

Read the words once again – “Nationally Acceptable, Secular Leader.” Wow !!!

That made me think a dozen times before I wrote this article.

Is Narendra Modi really trying to lead by example ? Your comments please…

Popularity: 22%

Yesterday I was scouring Internet and stumbled upon something, which read “Paul Merton in India“. The title caught my attention and I dove right into it. Well it is about a British Comedian, Paul Merton, and his travel to different cities in India. I watched a few episodes of this series on the Channel 5 website. I was certainly not happy of what I have seen.

Why was I unhappy? Here’s why.

The show lands in Delhi and visits Eunuch extortionists, there ends the matter with Delhi, moves on to Rajasthan to show us a temple filled with rodents, meet sadhu’s who worship Lord Shiva and hang heavy stones off their genitals. The show then moves to south, hits Hyderabad to show a 20-minute coverage of Friends of Snake society, where they catch snakes in neighbourhood.

Travels further southwest goes to Bangalore and guess what the show cover? Visits a jail and shows the details of

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

caterer supplying food for a jail. Shows the condition of the jail, cramped people taking some strange dance classes. Get’s on a train and sets off for Chennai, meets an artist on train who paints with a brush in his mouth.

Episodes next week will cover the show will visit to Chennai and Mumbai and from what preview shows me, they will be on beach filming people fight, meeting Mumbai railway children who spent their life on platform and a record holder father who gets his genitals kicked by his son.

If this fair is supposed to seem funny, then well it at least did not seem funny to me. What leaves me baffled is purpose of this program? What is it trying to explain to people of Britain? Is it educating them about conditions in India? I disagree; it shows things that give an impression that the land of the country is full of street performers, snake charmers and other lot.

While it mentions cities as IT Capitals, Tourism spots, what follows the description is some content, which will leave a the same image of the country. Any person, who is shown such content, will carry a wrong impression of the country.

I am not denying that what has been shown happens in India, it does. However, I would have been glad for people to see all this along with the magical sculpture works of Belur and Hallebeedu of Bangalore, mind blowing palaces of Rajasthan, all those festivities, culture and lives of people, which depict other side of India. I feel showing only one side of the coin, is not right. People who have visited India might spot the difference, the rest might have a permanent impression and truly tag it “Incredible India”.

I hope Channel 5 comes up with something else, which will show India in true colours, rather than this portrait painted only in grey!

Do watch an episode or two on this Channel 5 and let me know what you think. For me my instantaneous reaction was, “There is more to India”.

Popularity: 16%