140 KM cycle track

HT reports that MMRDA plans to build a 140 KM corridor with a cycle track on the side.This corridor is to be built between Alibaug and Virar. Knowing the geography, I wonder how they plan to build this. Will it be an elevated track or only on paper or is the plan prepared by the same folks who planned bicycle tracks in Pune which are npon existent One should ask the MMRDA chief whether they are also planning a "tour da mumbai" knowing our politicians penchant for French stuff

Lyrics which touch you

There are a large number of songs which we have hear many times in our life but never paused to think of the meaning being conveyed through them. Came across one such song while watching one of the chatshows on television. The song in case on "Itni shakti hume dena data" from Ankush (1986). According to the director of the movie this song is sung in number of schools in the morning and is no longer in his domain. The sheer brilliance of the words are inspiring when one is feel is feeling despondent or lost while trying to pursue one's goal

Car or Human Body

Car of one my acquaintances has a coolant leakage from the engine. He has shown it to number of garages including the dealer, but no one yet has been able to find where the leakage is from.
One can just draw parallels to human body which is suffering from an ailment and no doctor is able to diagnose :-)

I had created this blog on 02/23/2003 . Over a period of time the enthusiam to post died down , however an urge to write has developed again to plan to post

testing

Getting Apologies from ICICI Bank

All of us have heard of stories of ICICI Bank goofing up and making a mess of things either in loans, account statements etc. etc.

Last month it was my turn. One of my relatives wanted some money urgently and they sought my help. I decided to use the web request at ICICI Bank website for creation of draft. I was duly informed through a mail that it will be delivered at my home in 5 working days. The system showed the AWB number and the courier agency through which it was sent. First goof up was by the courier guys who did not deliver in one week. We followed up with them and they informed that address mentioned by ICICI is not clear hence it was not delivered and they promised to deliver the same day. The address mentioned was correct.

First shock came when on checking the draft we noticed that instead of being payable in City A it was for City B. As the concerned folks were in urgent need, decided to send across the draft to them hoping that ICICI being well networked should be able to honor it.

Second was, when the draft on being presented in city A, the bank informed that it needs to be sent to city B and it may take around 15 -20 days for it to get cleared.Meanwhile,as I was out of the country, I decided to raise a complaint on the ICICI website, threatening them with closure of account and raising the issue with bank's ombudsman.As usual, they sent an automated mailer saying they would get back in 48 hrs. After a day, I received another mail stating they did try to reach my cell at a particular time , but it was unreachable and they requested to send the draft back to them for correction. On informing that I was out of India, they rang up my residence and asked for the draft and my contact number abroad.

Couple of days passed by , I again got a mail from one of their folks stating that they are sorry and they are following up with concerned department. Meanwhile, my folks informed me that they have received the money in their account.

However today morning, I received a call from Hyderabad .One of the ICICI managers was on the other end apologising profusely for the mistake and explaining how it could have been resolved earlier and promised that such mistake would not happen in future. He also informed, that he had tried to reach me earlier on my cell phone but could not. In the end, he again was sorry and wished in the new year they will continue to give better service.

In future if anyone faces similar problem, my advice is to use the complaint link on ICICI website and use some strong words in the complaint.

More on Paris Syndrome

I had blogged about this earlier. Here is another article. Looking into all these customs, our concept of "Athiti devo bhava" appears to be in a different world

Ideas for our politicians


Polish politicians can surely give some ideas to our politicians.If they can think of annointing Jesus as king , we have a long list and surely this can be used by our folks for fighting elections

Paris Syndrome


Came across this intersting word , in this article

Will this word in future be in vogue to represent something , when something doesnt live upto one's expectations.

Christmas Bonuses


A lot is being written in the British press about the Chirstmas bonuses being paid to High Street bankers, prominent amomg them being Goldman Sachs , where on an average employees will be getting a bonus of 320000 GBP. Googling came across some links on the life and kind of money being paid.

Lehman Brothers in $8.7 billion bonus payout

A big,big bonus at Goldman Sachs

The Firm: Inside Goldman Sachs

What To Do With Your Goldman Sachs Bonus

Reading these one can just feel envious, because most of the people in software industry in India also are putting in 60-70 hrs, but its just the case of being at the tight place at the right time

Balancing five balls

Rediff has an article on Management lessons you learn from real life. The analogy for 4 glass balls and 1 rubber ball is very nice

Height of ignorance or stupidity

BBC reports that a man in South Africa was fined for taking leave after submitting a certificate stating he is pregnant

UK Crazy Country - II (Police Officer suggests giving drugs to addicts to reduce crime)

One of the police officers has suggested prescribing heroin to criminals to cut crime. This will obviously at the tax payers cost. Then why arrest people for drug peddling. Like other doles being offered to people here , govt should go ahead and start giving this allowance to whoever needs it.
In bollywood movies we have seen cops aiding in carry a drug consignment for mafia, so should we say if implemented this will be a precussor to real life following reel life

UK Crazy Country - I (Compensation for being forced to stop drug usage in prison)

I intend to make posting on some of the idiosyncarices which I observe in UK

Today, I came across this news that six prisoners and inmates who were were forced to stop taking drugs in prison have been given compensation by the High Court.The claimants have claimed compensation on the grounds that their human rights were violated due to this practice.

I am sure tomorrow somebody will claim compensation on other grounds for which he has committed a crime

Boards in Marathi

Till now it has always been the Sena which has been flashing the marathi card , but now it the NCP Congress govt. itself. A notice has been issued by the labour department that under the Bombay Shop Act and Maharashtra shop Act all shops , commercial establishments should have a marathi signboard which should be bigger in size than the English board otherwise the owners would be fined between 1000- 5000 bucks.
This news has not been covered in the local English media but the marathi media (Sakal) has given prominent coverage to it.
From a market perspective one fails to understand how a board in local language will be helpful.

Persistence of Placement Consultants

It has almost been a year since I have stopped considering a job change, but having regsitered ( and later deregistered ) on a job site last year, I still keep getting calls from placement consultants.
Today was another such day. The consultant called me on the cell and wanted to know if I was still working in the organization where I was working previously. When I replied in negative , he wanted to know the present organization and went into a spiel that he has a opening at some place. On expressing my reluctance , he switched mode to find out if any of my friends/ex colleagues were interested and if I can share their names. On expressing my inability to share such information , he went on wax eloquently about benefits about moving to that particular city and how things are improving there inspite of the image being presented in the media.
I would like to appreciate him for his persuasive skills and wish I have skills similar to him

2 minutes

Yesterday evening I left office at around 6:45p.m. At the same time I saw many others leaving for the day. One of those guys from my office, decide to take a short cut to reach a petrol pump which is on the road to the office. Infact he took the wrong lane, was hit by a truck and lost his life. He is survived by his family and a small kid.
Today morning when I read this through a mail, I felt very sad for the guy and his family.

Many times we see people taking a short cut to save 2 minutes or even 2 drops of fuel. We fail to realize these 2 minutes could be the last 2 minutes of ones life as was with my office colleague.
While driving or taking such shortcuts we should keep in mind that this life is not only ours but a life of all the people around us, the people whom with we spend our lives.

Exasperating

It is really exasperating when a professional organization promises to send you some document by a certain date, but even a week after the committed date they don’t send. Do they expect everyone to follow up using personal contacts to get the documents? Why can’t we have a law to sue such careless, lethargic organizations?

Probably they might be behaving the same with their employees and when employees quit, the managers or higher ups try to cajole them with carrots
God save such organizations

First Day at School


Today was the first day of my son at school. Probably he being too young too understand the importance of this day in life did not show any excitement, but we being parents were preparing him for the day. Though the first day lasted for just 1 hour he seems to have enjoyed it, especially the new environment.

The school administration did give us some clear cut instructions like that since they don’t want any child to bring a mobile phone to school at any time, parents should also ensure that their cells are off, not even in silent mode in the school. They made it clear that for children to be disciplined, it is essential that parents to follow the same.

Living beyond ones means

All of us, might have encountered this situation some or other time. Why is it that people we employ to do jobs for us (like watchman, cleaner, maid etc) come to us and ask for a loan or advance which is in fact couple of times their monthly salary.
Ever wondered what might be the reason? Is it their poverty or living beyond the means or simple ignorance of financial planning? One can understand if there is a medical emergency but most of the times that is not the case. At most of the places where we work, we do have the concept of salary advance, and the amount is usually equal to the number of days completed in the month never is it 4-5 times the salary. If we say no these guys, they get annoyed, so one needs to be diplomatic in answering them.

As a matter of personal principles I have decided never to give a salary loan to these guys even if the guy stops working for me