Delhi we care!!! Why??

China to set up 85,000-km freeway network - The Economic Times

2010-11-09T01:56:00.000-08:00

China to set up 85,000-km freeway network - The Economic Times

Delhi/India needs to learn. We need to move much much faster than our current speed.

Corporate bigwigs to make inroads into Delhi bus services - The Economic Times

2010-10-31T23:37:00.000-07:00

Corporate bigwigs to make inroads into Delhi bus services - The Economic Times

Delhi desperately needs more good ways of commuting. The metro is a great start, but it now is almost always full. It needs more bogies and more trains.

Delhi Roads

2008-09-05T00:31:00.001-07:00

Delhi has MCD and PWD to maintain the roads, however the corruption is so rampant in both of these organizations, that even a junior level engineer owns a 10 lack plus car and lives way beyond his means and nobody seems to bother. The roads once broken are not mended till years past. Repaired roads break down again next day or max last for about a month...WHEN WILL MCD BE PRIVATISED???

Car seat cover v.s. Life

2008-04-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

Whats more important? Car seat cover or a persons life? It's unfortunate that for most of the people of Delhi the seat cover is more important and thats why a person bled to death last night near Ashram.

I hope that people who think like this, be on the other side of the fence, or someone whom they care for goes through such an experience. Are we humans anymore? Such situations really make me pity myself of being a part of this city,....the city of dead conscience people.

Delhi Bus rapid transit

2008-04-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

Just saw the picture in the morning TOI of the bus Rapid Transit and the Jam there. Why is that a chaos, was very evident from the pics.

in the already slow lane for cars we have the commercial autos- which carry heavy weight and are slow.
There were tempos in the car lane in peak time.

The slow traffic like the Auto's and big vehicles like the tempos need to be banned to make this route work. However delhi traffic pathetic now and high time we added just more and better buses to all routes, so that people can just shun the cars and go easily in the buses. We need decent A/C buses, who ply on fixed time and fixed routes. I am sure this can work out, but who cares for a simple solution for the Delhi traffic mess?

DBM XXIII

2008-04-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

http://dbm23.eventbrite.com/

Please use the above link for registration

Date: Sunday, 20th April, 2008,
Time: 5pm-8pm

Venue: The Attic, 36, Regal building (first floor), Connaught place, New Delhi - 110001 , Tel : 2374 6050, 5150 3436

Directions:

The entrance to The Attic is on Parliament Street ( Sansad Marg ), on the left side, after Imperial Hotel. It is just above the erstwhile pub DV8.

By Metro – get off at Rajiv Chowk ( Connaught Place ) station on Line 2 Central Secretariat to Vishwa Vidyalaya ( Delhi University )

Parking - In Palika Parking, Near Jantar Mantar or Hanuman mandir.

Please note that this meet is contributory with 50/- as the contribution per person. We would be served tea and biscuits at the venue. We are also trying to get a dinner sponsored for us. More details on this soon.

Agenda :

Primer on Blogathon India .
We are glad to announce that our group is supporting the Delhi leg of Blogathon India.

As some of you may already know, Blogathon India (www.blogathon. in) is a week long, group blogging online event, to be held from the 20th to the 26th of April 2008, being organized by various blogging communities in India. Ours is the community partnering from the capital. This would be an ongoing endeavour and not just "a one time meet" in a series of Blogathons. The purpose of the event is to raise awareness about social issues amongst bloggers and other internet users (including non bloggers). Bloggers from all around the nation are expected to blog about topics which fall under six categories - infrastructure, politics, media, sport, cinema and gender. And best blogs will also be awarded by a jury of eminent experts. The topics in these categories are:

Infrastructure: Sunday, 20th April 2008
How can we improve the traffic condition in our city?

Politics: Monday, 21st April 2008
How do we change the focus of politics from caste/religion to grassroot issues?

Entertainment: Tuesday, 22nd April 2008
Does Bollywood overshadow regional cinema in India?

Media: Wednesday, 23rd April 2008
Why are Indian news broadcast channels not as mature as their International counterparts?

Gender: Thursday, 24th April 2008
What are the challenges that society faces in accepting the concept of alternate sexuality? How can we address them?

Sport: Friday, 25th April 2008
Are `media' and `commercial interests' in cricket the only reason that are killing other sports in India?

At DBM XXIII, apart from the usual networking and interaction, we will have a discussion on the how, what, when and where of Blogathon to help us maximize our participation in this event. We would also be re-announcing the specific topics for all the categories and would also take feedback on how to conduct further blogathons. We are also expecting non-bloggers there, hence we would be helping them setup blogs and would encourage them to participate by creating their own blogs.

Delhi Jal board

2008-03-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

Delhi jal board is still one of the archaic and outdated government departments of Delhi which fails itself miserably in all that it does.

Quality and quantity of water is very questionable..
You never know when water will come or when it wont.
the water tankers they claim to send when there is scarcity, is a lot tough to catch.
Loads of wrong billing
No easy way of making payments. There is no online way to make payments.
Website sucks bigtime. outdated bills, no details on bills. multi browser support not there, and works failingly even on IE.

Time to privatise DJB? Water might become expensive, but i think its one thing that people should not mind paying for. Good water will also save on medial costs. and probably will give more metal space to think and worry about other things in life.

crawl capital

2008-01-18T00:58:00.000-08:00

Crawl capital is what Hindustan times calls Delhi...FINALLY

I think all r waiting for the magic mantra of metro to happen and make allt he traffic woes go away, but till then Delhi will be crawl capital. But metro is already said to be packed on SHahdra stretch, what will happen in coming times?

Politicians too busy for public

2008-01-15T04:18:00.000-08:00

Finally it was left to people to inaugurate the flyover. Now i am eager to see that which politician is going to come forward to take the honor of inaugurating this flyover now. Who will show himself as the person who was too busy to do common man some good, give the poor commuters some relief.

Low floor buses

2008-01-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

Finally there is a start to add good quality buses.

The private buses in Delhi are a big pain with almost no leg room, no foam on seats and rickety noisy broken windows. Now we have started to add these new buses and i feel that along with metro, it might be a convenient option in the coming 2-3 years to go in public transport. However the rate at which the buses are being added is amusingly slow..Probably now with elections almost around the corner and commonwealth games fast approaching the speed is increased.

Price for bravery

2007-10-28T22:34:00.001-07:00

Delhi blasts braveheart wants to return medal

its sad to read such stories. Probably some of those 80 persons would come ahead to help him? Why cant he be suitably rewarded for his bravery so that others feel inspired and motivated by him..What are we missing here??

Delhi government grivience redressal

2007-10-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

http://delhigovt.nic.in/griev_red.asp is meant to be a site or place where you can complain to CM of delhi hoping for some action. A lot good has been written on tis page. Unfortunately there is no action. I dont know why they create such website and raise people expectations when they are not going to do anything anyways....

tractor trolleys

2007-08-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

Tractor trolleys are used for all commercial purposes in Delhi without any official permission. They dont pay commercial tax. Drivers are ill trained. They dont have brake lights. They cause so many accidents. I just hope they get banned soon in Delhi. Hope we dont need High court coming in here.

nuclear power

2007-08-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

Seems in all the politics we are losing on nuclear power and the fuel. All politicians want the right to explode bombs..how about providing electricity to all places in India 24*7. How far is the day when electricity becomes just another thing. We forget that electricity can ever go off..like in US.

Bluelines face HC heat

2007-07-11T00:00:00.001-07:00

Bluelines face HC heat

Why we went for the bus privatization in the first place need to be remembered. DTC buses did not stop at the stops, many buses were just out of order. Salary strikes by the employees and so on..

Why has privatization gone wrong..? There were more than enough signals. The courts and judges have woken now..but did they not see for themselves these buses driving rashly on the Delhi roads?

Now a wonderful blame game is to be played at the cost of the Delhiites...

Green cover on roads

2007-06-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

The Janpath other roads around the Lutyens Delhi were designed more than 50 years ago. Do we have another area so beautifully planned in Delhi? Why cant we have the tree cover on roads that we have there on the other big roads?

The immense Delhi heat and the whole talk on global warming and environment protection now a days makes me wonder, what is lacking? Money? Motivation? or Brains?

Delhi and its Autos

2007-05-07T04:51:00.001-07:00

Delhi has never had autos working on meters. There have been many raises in the fare and even the electronic meters. However nothing seems to change the fact that the auto wallahs ask for the money and many a times just plainly refuse. Another hike in the fare is proposed, will it improve anything?

I hope someone takes this to supreme court and like cars were challaned and made to follow rules and remove films etc, the auto wallahs are also fined and chalaned.

Interestingly delhi police takes the auto complaints on its website, however i am very skeptical if they actually take any action.

Road to Faridabad

2007-02-14T00:14:00.001-08:00

The road from Delhi to Faridabad is presently choked 24/7 around the badarpur border.

Don't know if it is going to be improved ever.

Moolchand underpass is finally operational but still there is a bottleneck. It has just shifted slightly towards lajpat nagar and slightly towards South Extension.

So funny, we wait for years for the underpass to be completed to figure out that is really does not solve any problem, but just shifts the focus,,

Calling 100--Sleeping Police

2006-12-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

Active Aseem: truck car wham bam

Misery goes on for India child workers

2006-12-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Misery goes on for India child workers

The problem of child labor needs more harsh rules and enforcement. I believe the humanity in us has dies when we employ and exploit these children as home servants.

But There are many families who keep domestic help children nicely and help them have decent lives. Atleast better than what they would have got in their villages and with their families..

MCD Departmentwise Complaints Breakdown

2006-11-03T04:14:00.000-08:00

Departmentwise Complaints Breakdown

check the dismal percentage of complaints that MCD resolves.

Holy Stray cows

2006-11-03T04:05:00.000-08:00

Coming and going from Noida everyday there are always few cows blocking the streets, some almost causing an accident. I use to wonder why the foreigners when they come to India are so anused by the cows on the roads. . These cows just should not be there...These cows cause injuries and accidents and eat rubbish and give milk which instead of being good for health is bad,,

Will the civic authorities at Noida wake some day??

CNG distribution in Delhi

2006-10-16T01:25:00.000-07:00

CNG distribution in Delhi is the monopoly of indrapstha gas limited. Therefore the people who are used to pampering and quick service at petrol stations, just forget that. Here the staff is rude. Customer service is not the mantra for them. The customer has no other option.!!

The CNG gas has the drawback that even big cylinders they claim to carry 14 kg get filled with max 10-11 Kg of gas. That forces one to go to the filling stations often. There are many filling stations in Delhi but they have not kept pace with time and now a days there are big lines at all the stations almost throughout the day.

I hope some action is taken and CNG gets encouraged more. With the increasing petrol prices CNG becomes a better option, but if IGL does not improve its service people will be caught between the fire and the frying pan...

Why it takes so long?

2006-09-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

Why it takes so long to construct flyovers and underpasses in delhi. The moolchand underpass has almost take 2 years. The snarlingly slow traffic jams at moolchand are a big pain.

The empire state building with about 100+ floors was completed in one month.

Think Delhi think!!!

Welcome to the Indiapost Web Site

2006-05-14T17:43:00.000-07:00

The post office claims to be dealing with the passport applications and i turned out to be one fool to believe them. Tried in 2 big post offices in delhi and both of them said they knew nothing about it. Will delhi wake up???

Read offical announcement at www.indiapost.gov.in/Ne...

Project Why

2006-05-05T22:22:00.000-07:00

Project why is doing some good work in Delhi inspite of many odds and challenges. Education can help remove many ills of society and improve delhi, india and the world as a whole. We should all take inspiration and try to join the fight against illiteracy...

DMRC takes private Route

2006-05-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

The private public participation is the way to progress. I just hope that more people learn from this. MCD is the one body that i want to be privatized at earliest. It is a big roadblock to development of infra in delhi. We dont have good roads, decent parking, illegal construction....all thanks to MCD.

From walled city to world city

2006-04-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

I just noticed this times campaign, though it conveys the optimism but when I see this campaign sitting from New York, I realize how far we still are.

Today I went and saw the Empire state building in New York. I was surprised when I came to know that one the tallest buildings in the world was just erected in One year and forty five days. In Delhi, a small project takes years to complete. Thanks to politics and other 1000 issues..

Delhi needs loads of infra before we can even imagine to be a world city, but I think we have made a start with Metro and newer airport.

mismanagement of garbage in Delhi.

2006-04-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

Found this article on a very valid and big problem.. Its time that the whole Garbage and sewer problem in delhi is handled properly to make delhi and the rivers clean.

Accidents and Ambulances

2006-03-25T08:32:00.000-08:00

Many a times I see ambulances blaring the horn and trying to get past the heavy traffic. The traffic is so jammed that even if people try they cant give the way. But I see many people whose conscience has died and who knowingly block the way of ambulances.

I hope the time comes when we have the Helicopter ambulance in Delhi. Now a days many people have medical insurance and maybe the high cost can be offset in the insurance policies and premiums.

In accidents crucial minutes can save a life.

With accidents I also recall the many instances when people have died on the road bleeding and nobody cared to call police/drive them to hospital. One of my friends had accident in the night many yrs ago and on reaching the hospital the watch and chain was missing along with the money in the wallet.

2006-02-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

In the previous post here Ankur has so very rightly raised a point...

why some people/NGO are trying to start a movement in parallel

The parellel schools also known as Non Formal Education Centers, which were being run by many NGOs untill few days back, now required to be taken away. Education is now a matter of right. Every child in the age group of 6-14 has the fundamental right to education and its the Government's duty to ensure this education. Setting up of NFE centers is rather a hindrance towards obtaining formal education. What is required to be done is rather simple. As Ankur has already expressed, "I hope we the citizens of delhi pick up one school at a time and work on its improvement" we all can do something about it.

The Right to Education Task Force (RETF) is a unit set up by Social Jurist for this purpose. It has helplines to register any complaint relating to violation of Right to education and to provide all possible legal help to such children.

The complaint may be about the problems coming in the way of realization of right to education, absence of government school in the locality, absence of basic physical and academic infrastructure including children with disabilities, absence of quality education, over crowded classrooms, harassment of students/parents, improper behaviour of teachers, illegal monetary demands, pushing out of students, existence of child labour in any of its forms, denial of admission of children of weaker sections under 25% freeship quota by the public schools which have been allotted public land and/or running of seperate school/classes for the children of weaker sections etc.

check out RETF's public notice here

RETF appeals to all the concerned citizens and the Media to volunteer their services to the Task Force in its efforts to eradicate the evil of child labour and to make the fundamental and human right to quality elementary education of the children a reality. The government school system is the only hope for the children of the masses and therefore, it has to be strengthened. The media has a vital role to play and it should start a nation wide campaing in this regard.

RETF helplines 011+23910014, 011+23962257, 011+20600384, 9810085910
Contact Person - Ashok Agarwal, Advocate
9811101923

Government Schools in delhi

2006-02-10T01:38:00.000-08:00

The Delhi government apparently has taken out a huge budget for the schools. This is the official site of the department of education delhi.

We all understand how important the education is to remove the many problems of delhi/India. At one hand we have massive population and at other hand the BPO and software industry is short of skilled manpower. Education would provide better avenues to the poor children who generally go to these schools. The department now has a management information system and so the attendance of teachers and the timetable etc is all online and updated regularly. The attempt is being made to improve it.

What i dont understand is why some people/NGO are trying to start a movement in parallel ,,specially in delhi where we already have so many govt schools. The problem i agree is the very lack of infra in these schools. The lack of infra is not because of shortage of funds but because of corruption. I hope we the citizens of delhi pick up one school at a time and work on its improvement. Work on to raise the issues to the right authorities and levels. Expose corruption.. Anybody eating the education fund is committing a great crime against the future of our nation and we should fight for it..

Personally i have also done nothing on this front.,...i wish i could do something,,,get that time and courage and determination...I hope and pray one day i will

Delhi – Ensemble of Power, Culture, Attitude and Modernity

2006-01-25T22:18:00.000-08:00

Delhi – Ensemble of Power, Culture, Attitude and Modernity

A nice and exhaustive written article about delhi

Getting a voters I card

2006-01-25T21:51:00.000-08:00

I generally try to get the things done online, specially coz its easier and more comfortable. I had to get the voters Icard made and needed the name to be added in the electoral roles. I found the website of the Chief electoral office of Delhi .

I submitted the form online for enrollment. Nothing happened on it for about a month so I sent an email about this to the email id mentioned on the site. I got a prompt reply on it. It took some email exchange to get the officials come out of their official state of mind of trying to postpone things and shifting responsibility to finally take ownership and do something about it. I got a December deadline ( after 2 months date) to expect the enrollment office to come to my place to verify the application form. As I expected nobody came. Finally I emailed again in Jan and to my amazement there was some telephonic enquiry from the election office.

This is a very good response from any government office till date. When I tried to complain in the passport (ministry of external affairs) the things felled on deaf ear. Same happens if you send an email even to the prime ministers office or the department of public grievance and the central vigilance office.

I just hope that more and more of the government offices begin to use and benefit from the power of internet.

I will update more as and when the actual voters card gets made.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 25 ,2005

After around more than 6 months the name in the election I card has not been added. I have the application number and emails to prove it. The election machinery seems to badly rusted, specially in delhi.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Anniversary of Delhi Blogger's Meet

2006-01-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

We are celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of Delhi Blogger's Meet on Sunday 29th of January @ Cafe Coffe Day, CP from 4 pm onwards.

We would be discussing the following

Blogging viz. Creative Writin
Blogging viz. Mainstream Media
Blogging viz. Adverstising Tool

If you are a delhi wala who blogs and you want to contribute on any of the above topics we would love to hear from you. All are invited.

For any weird, stupid or silly question that might arise at your mind regarding this meet contact Me at the comments section or write to me personally at samyukta_basu[at]yahoo[dot]com.

Hope to see you all there

Holy Yamuna

2006-01-16T22:12:00.000-08:00

Yamuna instead of a river is just a Naala (dirty water drain) in Delhi. I have read about many news over the years on the efforts to clean the Yamuna but don't see any improvements. Yamuna action plan was made by the government to clean the yamuna. What has come out of this plan is still unknown to me. Recently the MCD commented that yamuna cant be cleaned because of so many slum clusters along the yamuna bed and they let all the untreated waste go in the yamuna..I wonder what prevents the MCD from razing those slums??

The dam at kalindi kunj has so many pretty birds in spring, i just wish that Yamuna can be enthused with life again and we get the holy river back with clean water. The government can probably use the yamuna basin to create recreational parks and all and the money generated from there can be used to clean Yamuna..i feel something can be worked out but the willingness and determination of the government is lacking...

Demolitions in Delhi

2005-12-26T21:39:00.000-08:00

When u bribed to do something illegal,,,,the law will catch on sooner or later...I don't have any sympathy for people doing illegal land use...The roads gets clogged up because of shops and offices made on roads...There is office in bldg adjacent to my place and its a nuisance,,I cant sleep in the afternoons because of office people chatting loudly in corridor or talking loudly on mobiles.......

An extra floor means extra people,,,so more parking place,,more water and electricity usage for that area,,all this makes the facilities in the area crumble...

I think when u bribe to do something illegal knowingly,,then the law will catch on to u sooner or later, In the end the government officer in pressure from senior officers and law will just take the course of the law,,he wont give up his job coz he had taken the bribe earlier .. ( are we expecting some morals????) . If you feel the law is not correct, fight the law, there are ways to do that in a democratic and elite society...

-----------------------------------------
Note--those all putting in comments to the contrary to the post, ur comments are valued but please also leave some contact details....anonymous comments dont carry much meaning..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 2 on 10 january 2005.

Please lets focus on the demolitions in delhi and not on the great skyscrapers and facilities in Manhattan/New York. Why we cant make new delhi like New york,,that can be another interesting topic to discuss about,,but its a topic on which i am not very competent to write about,,,,,,anybody willing to write on this topic,,i willl publish it here ,,or link to the post,,,
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 3 on 20 Jan 2005

Any indecent language (Abuses) in the comments wont be tolerated. Dont blame me for deleting such comments.
------------------------------------------------------------------

IXth Delhi Blogger's Meet , 18th December, Humayun Tomb, New Delhi

2005-12-20T04:06:00.000-08:00

“Silence is Golden,
Beauty is Joy,
Laughter is Medicine and
Novelty, Life”

Here I sit to write about "how did the IXth Delhi Blogger's Meet go". Now the idea is to write in a way like we had the times of our lives and those who missed it missed an experience of a life time... Read on....

I reached the venue at 11.15 am and was preceded by Rajesh (silence). Since a small significant detail about the meeting point was missed out by the coordinators we had no choice but to stand in such a visible point and posture that any and everybody could identify us as none else but the Bloggers. However I couldn’t think of any such point and posture and Rajesh wasn’t a part of this thought process so we just moved around here and there for some 40 min before Asheeth (Novelty) and Pallav (laughter) arrived. As we all begin our chahal pahal a gentleman carrying a Nikon D 70 tried to intervene into the chahel pahel with an innocent question “err..the Delhi Bloggers?” Ah Guruji, aka Sanjay ‘Sanzen’ (Beauty) was here already to give us the photography Gyaan. we walked around some more time talking bout each other’s time and life, about this and that, blogging and photography etc. NOTE: the term WE doesn’t include Rajesh and all the while we were only hoping his silence would break at something…read on….

The meet actually kicked off with the arrival of Her Highness Twilight Fairy (beauty). With Sanjay being the guest of honor (well no matter what you've got to say Sanjay we'd call you the guest of honor) we were looking forward to an informal yet serious photography workshop. Though we can’t call it a proper workshop due to lack of participation but Sanjay did share a lot of trivia with us. The ABC s of Photography, the various types of film role, the lenses, if it’s a film wala camera, what should be the criteria to choose the speed of the film roll. What should be the settings on your digi cam when you are taking a moving picture and a lots more. We moved around the Monument taking pics and as we did so Sanjay kept giving us those little yet significant tips to get a better frame or lighting etc.

After the gyaan part, we all posed for Sanjay to have our shaadi.com photos which were taken by all sorts of latest technique (well the techniques are exclusively for those who attend the meet :D) and will have to wait and watch what happens thereafter on Shaadi.com...

Ajay (laughter) who is no more a married single (he is just married now) joined the meet at halfway through only on condition that we all raise slowgun (err slogan) for him “we want A j a y” and so it was raised and then he padharofied. A lot followed him...like, never told true account of how Humayun’s wife killed one of his mistress and buried her at a such a place from where….and how humayun was not a metrosexual guy so there is no question of there being any hidden treasure, and further how the tomb is the latest addendum to the DDA list.

Keeping in tune with Art and Architecture the meet then moved to India Habitat Center. Lunch at Eatopia was followed by Photo Exhibitions ongoing in IHC.

The Grand Finale of the meet happened in a roadside chai and paan bidi ki dukaan. You know for some people (only some not all) some things are not complete until you have that cigarette and that special chai. We actually drove around Lodi looking for a chai shop which also had our choice of cigs.

All these while one person continued to bring about a revolution with his silence and we never reached that point where he could break his silence. Except for once when Rajesh spoke few things about the latest model and cost of the Laptops.

So there we had the time of our life...well honestly, without everybody's support and company none of us can have the time of our life. Am sure not all of those who prefered to stay at home had the best sundays of their life...

We sure missed all of you who weren't there...particularly those who are the otherwise regulars, those who wanted to join but couldn't do so only cause you are out of town...you know who you are...Nevermind, there is always a next time...we have a long way to go with many such eventful meets...hope to see you all in the Xth DBM Meet.

Delhi Metro

2005-12-19T02:15:00.000-08:00

Delhi metro is one thing that came very late to Delhi, it should have been there about 20 years earlier. This realization came to me more when I visited the Manhattan. The Manhattan must have a higher density that any place in Delhi, with all the high rise apartments and offices, but there are very few vehicles. The people use the underground railway. It is fast and cheap and connects almost all of Manhattan from one end to another. Rest there are Taxi's and parking is very expensive. Delhi should have learned from New York long time back. The traffic mess we c in Delhi now could have been avoided.

The way metro has been executed with tight deadlines, minimalistic disruption in traffic is something very praiseworthy. In old Delhi they acquired properties and bug underground to create the marvelous system. I am just waiting for the day when they come to south Delhi and then I can go and visit my relatives in old Delhi.

2005-12-01T22:36:00.000-08:00

This is my first post to this venture that we hope will be a step towards the direction of curing or at least diagnosing Delhi’s many ills.
But people living in the "V.I.P" areas of Delhi probably haven’t seen to many of those problems.
areas like lutyens Delhi....where already smooth roads are paved over every year while the rest of Delhi wonder what killed their cars suspension and their back.
where "Distinguished" members of parliament reside in mammoth bungalows with massive gardens misused more than used. These "V.I.P's" disrupt traffic whenever they hit the roads, the police meant to protect us is instead used to protect these walking talking models of corrupt society. The sheer amount of facilities provided to them is mind boggling to say the least.We do not need to look far to find he problems that plague Delhi…they are right here eating our money robbing us of facilities and rubbing the humiliation in, the ill treatment of disabled children for the home minister is just one shocking example out of the many incident all of us have had to face every once in a while. WE need to improve delhi. WE know the problems. WE are the solution. WE must stand up to these politicians, Babu’s, and tell them how its done.

IITF ends in delhi

2005-11-27T22:07:00.000-08:00

IITF Ended in Delhi yesterday. I did not visit the IITF this year also even though I have very fond memories of it. When I was a kid, I used to visit it every year and go through the stalls of all states and some international ones as well. In those times, the crowd was decent at least on the working days and infact you could find few of the state stalls almost deserted.

The reasons for not going in the past few yr have been-

Lack of parking place around pragati Maidan- This was tackled by providing park and ride facility this year.( good effort)
Too much of crowd.

I believe the IITF duration should be increased so that the crowds ease out. Another way to partition the crowds is to have a higher ticket on some days so that only people who are serious about shopping go there. The current classification is only the business Hours and the normal hours and the ticket rates have a spiraling difference. Something in the middle needs to be thought out. When IITF turns out to become a picnic spot then it looses its focus and strength.

I think IITF is trying to innovate itself and grow; it is also getting a larger noticeability in the APAC region.

2005-11-26T01:35:00.000-08:00

This blog has been dormant for quite some time now. Ankur has been doing most of the activity here with me being too lazy. Meanwhile Amit had to leave the team for personal reasons. I am thinking lets have a fresh start. Inviting all the dilwalaas of Delhi to join this community blog and contribute. Let's make this blog a real happening one. I bet the idea is unique and to make it succesfully work out we need a lot of blogger's support.

Ankur is never short of ideas. He also started this other blog which is kind of a database for the various bribe rates in delhi. I just have put a post on that blog regarding the corrupt way Drving License is given in Delhi. Click here to reach there.

And Please give us your suggestion and Ideas. In case anyone has any information regarding bribery with any public official let us know...we'd put up here. It won't cost anything.

Run Delhi run

2005-10-30T13:28:00.000-08:00

Saturday, 30^th October 2005, 6.15 pm, I was on my PC writing a post for my blog and also doing some internet research for my work, when suddenly my sister came all panicky telling me do you something there is bomb blast going around, I looked at her and calmly asked, “you mean?” She got irritated by the cold attitude I had towards her panic. “what do you mean, ‘you mean’? I mean bomb blast, terrorist attacks.” She replied rather repulsively. “Ok.” I said and looked back at my PC and resumed my work where I left. She got furious now, almost started yelling, “how can you be so cold blooded, there are people dying, don’t you have any sympathy for them. How can you just go on blogging and surfing after you hear a news like that.

She has a point. I am ruthlessly cold to the latest bomb blast in Delhi. I don’t know why. I haven’t yet called up my friends to find out about them. I didn’t rush to the TV and start following everything that every biggies in town had to say about the incident.

When terror attacks we run for our lives. If a bomb happens to blast on my head I would run for my life no one else would run on my behalf. And so long as its not my life I don’t care. I know those who are running for their lives right now wouldn’t have cared either, had it not been their lives. Diwali, Eid…Tst Tst such a celebration time and such a tragedy. Well those who were about to celebrate didn’t bother for the ones who don’t even have blankets to protect them from the forthcoming cold when they live under the sky as their roof after they have lost their. Did they have a silent Dandiya in memory of the Qauke victims, a colorless Holi in memory of the Tsunami victims. The day Government of India Announces “ A day’s salary shall compulsorily go to the quake victims” one should see the long face I would make, you would make, these people who lost out all the fun of diwali due to the blast, would have made, had they been not busy running for their lives. Every year the Government appeals “Please have a pollution free diwali, who gives a damn. “Say no to crackers, child labour goes in it.” Not my child. Crores of money is senselessly burned on the occasion of Diwali. Some thousands of people die to do drunk driving. Women get raped on the occasion of Holi every year. Celebrations. What an Irony. What good is my concern gonna do to change the Irony? I stay in Dwarka. Do I or my sister who is being all-sympathetic, have the guts to rush to Sarojini Nagar and join hands with the rescue workers to pull out the bodies? We are not even gonna move out of the safety of our home as long as the terror knocks on our door.

Has anyone ever wondered what’s celebration anyway. Is it enough that a day of the calendar is being designed for celebration or do we need a good reason to celebrate.

I don’t celebrate any festival. When I am with my friends I eat, drink, sing and dance and have a time hell better than any celebrations. When I am alone any festival is just another day for me.

Run Delhi run.
Not for Hutch, but for your lives.
I too would run when it’s my turn.

Legalizing sex trade

2005-10-28T01:55:00.000-07:00

Cut out the sleaze

Finally something that might help in reducing the child prostitution and exploitation of sex workers. Additionally we may also get More tourism like Bangkok and Amsterdam.

Another implementation failure

2005-10-27T23:29:00.000-07:00

Right to Information Act stumbles in Mumbai

The right to information has been created with the best of intentions, but this again seeems to be going to become an implementation failure. This is also an example why the implementation is much more important than just creating the rules/rights. Once the initial euphoria dies down, this will again be a good law that did not work..

This reminds me of the rule that autorickshaw drivers should run on meters...but we know how many of them actually run by meters in delhi. Many just plainly refuse to take you. The few complaints that were made on the issue, even fewer led to challans as the initial owners had sold their autos to another third party since then.

Passport office troubles

2005-10-27T02:06:00.000-07:00

Applied for a passport about 4-5 months back, promptly the police office came for police verification after that, took his money and sent a positive report back. The passport office tells the status online and on phone and SMS etc. Normal time for delivery of passport is 5 weeks. Nobody picks the phone and the SMS to check the status does not gets delivered. The online status for months shows that there is delay because of unavoidable circumstances and the passport will be dispatched in a week. That week never comes. On approaching the passport office personally there is a huge line on the general enquiry and after the long wait, the same answer, we will deliver it in one month...NO EXPLANATION FOR THE DELAY. incase that’s not fine, go and talk to the public relations officer (PRO). The PRO has a line of 50-60 other people..

If the passport office is short of people why don’t they hire more??? Why for basic things like a passport a person has to be troubled so much. There is a colossal waste of man hours standing in queues. If they need to charge more for a passport then rates should be hiked, but atleast a decent service should be provided. Just try going to any public office that deals with the common man and there are same issues. One has to wait for hours to get small peice of info. They are more than happy to put objections than to find ways to do the things. The email id's of the officers on the website never get a response..

its so frustrating sometimes.....arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Commandments for politicians

2005-10-17T01:01:00.000-07:00

Sonia Gandhi's 18 commandments to party bosses

This news came as a complete surprise for me. A shocker infact. Makes me rethink about Sonia and her role in Indian politics. Without a doubt, she has the power to change the face of

India

and Indian politics. She can promote good people and sideline the selfish and shady ones. Is she trying to so this slowly? Is this the first step?

I also could not find a reason what motivated her to come out with these guidelines. As always, the toughest and most ignored part will be implementation.

Let's Get Dirty...

2005-10-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Okay!
Ever since this community blog started, my name has been their on the column on right hand side of this webpage as a contributor. However today is going to be the first time when I am really going to contribute to this blog. There have been miscellaneous reasons why I could not post here earlier, but I’m not going to talk about them here.

This blog is for a different purpose.

A personal blogger like me who has always written about how my weekends passed or any incident in my life, or sometimes I have even gone ahead with posting my terrible poems on my blog. But even a so called *non-intellectual* blogger like me does think about the issues that our society, our locality, our city, our nation and our world faces. And this is an attempt to voice what i feel.

We all have so many expectations from everyone around us. How we want our city to be clean? How we want our society to be open minded and peace loving? And how we crib about the dirtiness all around us.. Be in people's thinking, be in their actions, and be in politics.

We crib, we discuss about this dirtiness, staying away from it and staying clean. We have been doing that for all our lives, and we have not seen anything improving because of our cribbing. The reason is that things won’t improve just by cribbing and complaining. We need to do something to make changes happen. We can’t expect someone else to take note of our complaints and give us a cleaner world to live in.

This blog is an attempt to make a difference. Only time will tell how successful this attempt becomes. But I am glad we are at least making an attempt.

In order to clean the dirt, we'll have to get down from our high clean platforms and get dirty ourselves. So come "Let’s Get Dirty" and clean this world off its evils, off its problems, off its prejudices.

All of you who want to be a part of this are welcome to join. Your posts, your comments are most welcome.

School Admission

2005-09-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

Whenever i hear stories from my friends of their struggle to get their kids into a good school, i just find myself dumbfounded. Why is it so tough? Why are there so less schools? In Delhi we have so many educated people wanting to work as teachers but not finding a place. We have parents who are willing to dish out money. We have government which offers subsidized Land for schools.

The interview of parents sound like saying that if parents are not smart enough, the children does not have the right to a good school; he may or may not be bright. I may agree to the parents interview, but what about the interview of the small children.. They get so much tensed. I read a story in TOI about kids who run low fever and stop talking because of all these pressures. I see parents trying to Cramp the ABCD and 1,2,3,4 in the heads of a 2 yr old, so that by the time he/she is 3, he clears the interview in some school.

Why should getting the children to a good school be a Herculean task???

Beggars

2005-09-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

When i drive i am forced to close my car windows else the beggars at the red light wont let you talk and would almost intrude inside your car. Long time back saw the traffic commissioner of police saying that we all public is responsible for the beggar menace. We give money that is the reason they are there. Sadly he was right, people give a few rupees to the beggars and feel great about it. Feel like they have done a great deal.

Today morning a small child 6-8 yr old started to beg at my car window. Generally i ignore, but today i just rolled down and asked,,"Where is ur dad?" "Why don't u go to school? Do u plan to beg all ur life at this red light?" He did not have answer to any of it, i don't think he understood, or the questions mattered to him.

Two things should be done to reduce this menace-

people giving money to beggars should be fined 500 Rs and that money should be given to a reputable NGO.
The parents who make there children beg at road junctions should be jailed and children should be sent to school, through juvenile homes.

Children are the future of India, and it is being ruined. These children today will become the criminals and thief of tomorrow.

Rains and traffic mayhem

2005-09-19T03:45:00.000-07:00

It rained non-stop on the entire Friday i.e. 16 Sept 2005 in Delhi and NCR. There were heavy winds and shower. The traffic situation turned chaotic in Delhi because of bad roads and traffic lights that just did not work. The problems get compounded by low visibility and drivers who cant wait for a moment at a crossing, but are OK with a Jam.

This is the condition after every rains. The roads get potholes and lights go out. The capital gets crippled after every rains. Cant we make cemented roads so that they last better during the rains. At least the main arterial roads which have heavy traffic should have better quality roads. Cant the lights have a small inverter, so that in case of power failure they continue to work?

But then if the roads tenders for maintenance are not given out every year then how will the government and MCD/NDMC officials get their cut???

Electricity Problem

2005-09-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

Madan lal khurana makes me remember of one of his interviews on TV when he was CM, saying "DESU (DVB) mein to corruption hai hee,,,,he he he he" He, like his usual self; ended with the dumb laugh. I was thinking that when your leaders/ CM in power has accepted the defeat and fatality of the situation, then can it change??? People wanted the electricity to be privatized but he did not allow it.

Electricity situation has improved after privatization, but not as much as we had hoped. The reasons behind it are again politics, according to me, The illegal connections to slum clusters, cant be disconnected because the votes these clusters generate. During my electrical engineering we were taught that the transformers just cant burn out/get damaged just like that. They have life of many yrs, Even then in Delhi we see so many Transformer failures. The transformers have 2-3 alarms or flags that indicate the impending disaster and reflect on its health. But is their any periodic checking of the transformers done??? is any maintenance activity done? Electricity they say should be like any other commodity that's man made. You use more you pay less. But the situation is exactly opposite. To top it up the willing and dutifully paying public also does not get the electricity 24*7.

Private parties are ready to setup generation units, but the state electricity boards cant assure them the money for the electricity they use. The whole electricity problem is easily solvable, just needs concerted effort for a few years and less political interference. The engineers and the private companies can bring a revolution, only if the government let them do it.

The Plight of Ganesha

2005-09-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

These days I, with mom and dad are looking out, in and around of Delhi, for a piece of land with or without a structure on it, which we can call our own, which is where my retired dad hopes to spend the remaining of his life. Before our search commenced we were warned by our friends and well wishers that its getting more and more difficult to get any space in Dwarka, which happens to be our preference (don’t ask me why). Seems like DDA’s Dwarka is hotter than Krishna's Dwarka. The prices are rising at the same rate at which delhi’s mosquito breed.

So, anyway while our search was on and we were passing by one of those well-maintained service lanes in Sector III pocket 16 in dwarka I saw something…something, which washed away all my sorrows that had cropped out of non availability of a space which we could afford.

I saw plight of Ganesha…
if this could happen to him…we are but mortals…

And that's him, sitting, watching, waiting, thinking..."me and my this plight"

Rising Oil Prices

2005-09-07T01:14:00.000-07:00

The oil prices have been raised in India by Rs 3 on petrol and By Rs 2 on diesel. The world prices are falling down after the initial hike.

I don’t understand that when the petrol price is America is 3$ a gallon (4 liters), why the petrol is so expensive in India? The American price comes out to be around 30 Rs per liter. First the government can’t provide decent public transportation, roads and parking and then it charges a high tax on the petrol.

Petrol prices can’t rise very high, as in the American elections the price of gas (petrol) is an important issue. Government can loose the power if the prices go high. Also if the petrol prices rise very high the development for Hybrid cars and alternative fuels will become even faster, this might bring an end to the era of dependency on petrol (oil) for transportation.

Auto LPG is a fuel that is good for the engine and also cheaper than petrol/diesel. It seems only some supreme court decision will make the government think about it.

Another thing is why don’t we add more busses to the routes that run on full capacity almost all day? And why can’t we improve the quality of the buses that run. For e.g. running an AC in the bus won’t raise the cost of transportation by more than 20%. So why not Raise the ticket cost by more 20% and introduce better buses??? Better buses will make those people shift to buses that go in their cars.

More courts in india

2005-09-07T01:10:00.000-07:00

It has been always said that justice late is justice denied. India has a large number of pending cases at all levels in the courts. People dont want to approach the courts for fear of the cases going on for years together.

Why cant we have more courts to settle out the cases. I dont think there is any dearth of talented and experienced lawyers in india.

Indian progress focussed only in metros

2005-09-07T01:09:00.000-07:00

Deepan saw the Prime ministers address to the US congress joint session and writes his analyses and thoughts on it.

Quote: Hello Uncle Sam

One important thing that has been raised is that much development is focused in the metros and has not spread to the entire country. I see the metros as the Nodes from where the development will spread to the entire country. But the metros are not growing fast and healthy; they are instead growing like weeds. The slums are increasing; the transportation, parking, transportation etc become a bigger problem with every passing day. Why the metros lack the vision for 50-100 yrs is sad.

Deepan also raised the issues about media sensationalizing and distorting facts. I also find that media to be more entertainment that anything else. Increasingly the fight is to increase the TRP and to get more advertisements. Media allows politicians to say different things at different times and get away with that.

Media is increasingly exposing corrupt politicians and officials but the things are seldom taken to conclusion. No retrospection is done after 6-12 months. Media and judiciary has a big role to play in the indian growth.

Mansi has done some NDTV bashing and written about credibility of media.

Samajvaad not found

2005-09-07T01:06:00.000-07:00

This space was born out of discussion on yahoo grp of delhi bloggers that what impact does blogging have on politics? can it have an impact?

The discussion started when Ankur posted to the group about the supposed blog of Samaajvaadi leader Amar Singh. This blog has now been pulled down. We also thought that whether it was the man himself or some imposter. This blog was written in hindi and to me it appeared genuine.

Also came across the UP govenment website and their IT Policy. We have our office in Noida (U.P) and getting electricity in the office has been a pain. Office has to run literaly on generators only. I wonder how the IT will progress without electricity!!!!.

Local transportation is also a big problem here in Noida with a limited number of buses. What Noida has are good roads. I just wonder how much development is possible when there is a struggle for even the basics i.e. Water, Electricity and transportation.

More later.....