Bangalore has received a lot of bad press for the recent spate of rains. Infrastructure, apathy etc.

We have a neighboring layout, Ferns Paradise, which is a little higher than our layout - Doddanekkundi has a lot of gentle mounds - our gate is the lowest lying point between the neighboring layouts and apartments. They have been lax in managing their excess storm water and just let everything out into the street. All our requests to manage it within their premises have fallen on deaf ears. Naturally all water collects at our gate. We have ensured we properly treat sewage and also connect to Rajakaluve as per norms. But when there is a cloud burst like what we have had since two days, there is just too much water and the Rajakaluve is unable to drain it away fast enough. The night of last year's Diwali, when we had a similar outpouring, water had come up to our compound wall. But not further. Yesterday, thanks to two days' worth of onslaught, we were seeing water come up to our gate. This has never happened before.

There are also a lot of new homes in our layout which have connected their entire storm water profile to the sewage. Despite repeated requests, this problem largely still remains unattended to. As a result, the sewage chambers outside our home overflow when there is heavy rain since they just cannot hold all that storm water. Normally, the sewage water drains into the storm water drains but yesterday it just had no place to go since the drains were already overflowing.

Thanks to us, as a layout, being strict with keeping storm water drains clear at all times, our usual experience is that once this heavy downpour lets up even a little bit, water drains away nicely.  We were unsure yesterday how much longer the onslaught of rain would last so as a precaution, we moved our cars to the upper part of our street and also sealed shut our water sump with packaging material.

Luckily neither precaution needed to kick in. The Rajakaluve did it's usual magic and once the downpour let up a bit, water drained away as usual and this morning, when I ran on the layout streets, my shoes didn't even get wet.

The takeaway from this - a little less civic apathy as communities and as individuals, goes a long way. Unfortunately, this is not to be. We continue to see people push back when asked to follow rules. So, the saga repeats.

But I do have great faith in Bangalore's citizen activism. Within our community, we have been able to use the threat of stopping work to keep our storm water drains free from construction debris, for example. Hopefully, we can continue to exert pressure on the neighboring layout to manage their excess storm water without just letting it out onto the street. At a city level, we have solved many problems despite the government inefficiencies, hopefully, over time, we will take care of this too!

 

 

Closing 2015

Every year, we shut down at work for about 10 days, take PTO by force, (although, I would anyway do it) and have a good time. Since Rohan was born, and was old enough, I have been using the shut down time, to explore the city a bit more. We do spend most shut downs in Bangalore, thanks to Subhash being in retail and December not being a very friendly season for him to take off, it being the commercial-riot time and what not!

This year, I think we spent it very well too. Friday, Christmas - we went to the hitherto unexplored Gopalan Signature Mall on Old Madras Road in the evening. Oh and this was after I did my annual kitchen cleaning ritual all in the morning! Yay! Mall was very average and very crowded - no loss by not visiting further. I think except UB City and Phoenix plus both Forums, I don't like any other malls I've visited so far.

Saturday - December 26 - another long pending check list off - Bannerghatta National Park. I must say we were very happy with the zoo, the animals were aplenty (whatever varieties they had), monkeys were roaming all over the zoo, but kept to themselves, and all the animals very very active. Singapore Zoo on the other hand was highly over rated, all animals were heavily drugged and we had to wait ages to catch glimpses of some of them.

Monday - Dec 28 - the customary annual watch maintenance round - took watches which needed straps and batteries and drove to Indiranagar, took the metro ride from there to MG Road, walked around MG Road, Infantry Road, Brigade road etc, Rohan held up very well. Father in law was meeting some batch mates of his in MG Road so we went together, then we got back to Indiranagar, and did some timepass there waiting for him to get back by the Metro, then came back home together. Time. Well. Spent.

Tuesday - Dec 29 - Customary annual HAL Aerospace Museum trip - first time for Rohit, fourth for Rohan. Was a good one hour spent there :) Evening visited Subhash's office with Rohan and Father in law - BMTC Volvo and auto combined. Came back with Subhash. A happy child was Rohan when he realized how many modes of transport he used that day ;)

Wednesday - Dec 30 - again a long pending checklist item - Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium. Rohan enjoyed it. Me and father in law went with him, the show was pretty nice and there was a small sized science park outside which was worth a good 15 minutes in the sun :)

Thursday - Dec 31 - Again a Metro Ride on Rohan's demand - this time some mundane work near Cauvery Bhavan - so again the three of us, me, father in law and Rohan set off, took the car to Indiranagar, metro to MG Road, Auto from there to Cauvery Bhavan, back, rinse and repeat! He was happy again, Metro is his favourite velagiri in Bangalore.

Friday - Jan 1 - this was a repeat wish. CCD on Brigade road! Took mom and dad with both kids this time, Baiyappanahalli Metro to MG Road, CCD, some window shopping on Brigade road and back after buying Rohan a 3-D "Tower Bridge of London" Puzzle from a street vendor. He definitely was in high spirits the whole time, excited to be going with his younger brother and coming back with his precious gift!

So there, it is weekend again and from Monday we get back to routine, for another three months, till the kid gets his summer break!

The unexpected :)

On Friday evening, one of my engineers came to my office just as I was about to leave. He mentioned that the 5C corporate challenge was this weekend (he participates every year in TT) and they were short of one runner and if I'd like to run. It was a 5K run and given that I run 4K every morning, I thought I could manage even if at short notice. I said yes, and before I knew it, I was up at 5 AM this morning and driving to Sarjapur to participate!

As if that was not unexpected enough, I actually won the Gold for women's category. I was shocked, I mean, actually shocked. These were all marathoners and 10K runners all around. In fact I told the guy who was a seasoned runner (and won the men's gold), our team's lead so to speak and who was coming along with me, that I am not a great runner and he should not expect anything but a placeholder. I was fully prepared to be one among the last people to finish. Really, I am stumped.

Victory brings a lot of satisfaction and introspection. And the more I think, the more I thank. I just feel thankful to my body first :) It has always been a very well behaved one, never caused too much trouble, delivered two kids and still keeps going. I always think of my body as separate from my brain and today my brain truly said kudos to my body :) Is that weird? :)

And then I just felt thankful for the support at home. Subhash, my parents and father in law and even the kids! It all has to just work, if I am able to get out of the house at 5 AM and drive myself 25 KMS to just run!I can't ever say enough on this one.

Lastly always been and will be proud to be part of Cisco - my dream company. I cannot believe I've lived this dream for nearly 10 years already!! I was proud to wear that team shirt today. For sure.

All in all, it was fun, shocking, satisfying and a happy business :)

UPDATE: Cisco won the Champions Trophy for the third year in a row! For maximum medals tally!

Oh my passport!

The first thing I did today when I got frustrated in the passport office was to search my blog for the post I wrote when I was frustrated earlier. To my surprise I found none. I think I was very forgiving the first time! So anyway, here goes.

The Bangalore Passport Office on Outer Ring Road (Devarabeesanahalli) is one painful place to visit. You are given an appointment time which is usually around a month later from the date you book. Compare that to Hyderabad where appointments are available the next day!

Then, the appointment time has no sanctity. You go there at the scheduled time, or earlier, or later (for it does not really matter) and then wait in line for about an hour to get a stupid token! I mean, what the hell? Why go through the whole appointment process?!?!

At the token counter, today especially, BWSSB bill is rejected on the basis that it is an e-bill. Really? Are we hi-tech or what? I called Subhash and he came to deliver a paper bill, which (drum-roll!) is exactly the same as the e-bill but in colour! I told the guy at the counter - that they should really stop being ridiculous - and stop wasting our time. He said that is because e-bill can be modified by anyone. Really! That was news to me!! Phew.

Then there is three counters. A, B, and C. A is presumably TCS-staffed, 20 counters, reasonably fast and out. Then starts the struggle. All the 20 counters lead to 4 B counters. Which are staffed by government guys. This takes forever to get to. After waiting for about an hour, your turn comes. You go, he checks all the documents and signs off.

Then comes C. This is easily the worst part. All A and B counter folks crowding the very narrow space - and C has 4 counters but both times I went there, there was just one or two that were manned. So naturally, one more bottleneck leads to one more congestion. Not to mention by this time all kids are cranky, sleepy, hungry and what not. And after waiting for an hour or two to be seen by the counter C lords, all you get is about 30s of their time, that too while being pre-occupied with something else, talking to someone else on the phone, etc, they take a barely cursory glance at your documents, nod to their sub-ordinate (yeah they have a secretary) and ask you to go. I mean, is it worth two hours? I just do NOT get it. And to me, there is absolutely no difference in what B and C do, so consequently why there should be two entities there except for that the government wants to provide more employment to needless folks is just beyond my comprehension.

I hear appointments in Hyderabad hardly take 15 minutes. Why the hell does it take so long here? is it just this centre or is the story same everywhere in Bangalore? God only knows.

When I went for the younger one's passport, he was sleepy and cranky and I had to carry him all the while, imagine carrying a very active infant in your arms for about 4 hours - yes, you guessed it, sheer torture. He just wouldn't let me sit, I had to stand and carry him all the time.

Today was much better, older ones passport renewal. Simply because I did not have to carry him. But the guy doesn't eat anything outside, so he went 6 hours straight without a meal, and that was another kind of torture. He was hungry and sleepy by the time we were done - but thank god for him being a well behaved child - at least he didn't throw a fit or pester me about being bored!

I had called ahead of time and asked if minors really need to show up for applying - they said yes. And so all parents endure the torture of trying to hold their kids back in a government building for a few hours!

The cynicism kicks in when you are in your 30s ;)

It's been too long since I blogged. Cousins and friends have started asking :)

I had quite a few things to write about - incidents, feelings, milestones and what not. But the cynicism is to blame. Who cares anyway? How is writing about something going to change it? Etc etc. And also the overdrive thought process about writing diplomatically.

Well, whatever. Let me write now!

First let's get the pet peeve out of the way - parenting.

I was at the park a month or so (or perhaps even more) ago - there was this kid who starting bringing in sand from the sand pit by the handfuls and dumping it in Rohan's cycle basket. I told him very nicely, smiling, acting surprised, and in various other styles that he should not do that. He persisted for about 5 times before I said, well, this is not correct, let's clean it up now. Clean, the magic word. From thin air appeared a woman. Presumably his mom. And she asked me what he did. I said he's been dumping sand in the cycle. And she began to rant about how he is just a baby and he won't understand if I tell him and that she has been watching what I have been saying to him (really?!?!) , that I should not ask a baby to clean up and so on and so forth. First of all, the kid was no baby - he was a good 3 years old or more. And woman, what were you doing watching him repeatedly put sand in someone else's bike? I mean, what? And only when I asked him gently to come "clean" did you appear? I say, it is not the kid's fault at all. With a mom like that - he can't help but being a menace. What?

Then yesterday. In walks another mom - with two kids. Both presumably only half-Indian - they had blond hair. Father in law and I were sitting on a bench and chatting and watching some kids being rowdy, some quietly playing, some running around, some just being outright nasty etc etc. Then one of the lady's kids starts jumping up and down in a pair-swing on which he was standing - the mom went to enquire and turns out he wet his pants. All the way down to a small puddle on the swing. Thanks to the perforated pedestal of the swing, there was no much left on it but enough to get onto other kids shoes. The mom asks him how it happened, quietly consoled him, even let him talk to the other ladies with whom she was chatting and then just prepared to leave. I was watching for a full 10 minutes in the hope that she would clean up after her son. But no. I almost told her to please clean up, but thought the better of it - didn't want to sound rude and further alienate one more super-senstitive mom (really, what is with being so sensitive?). But I did what was next best - set an example to my own kid. Got up, took the bottle of drinking water I had (ouch, hate wasting drinking water, but was too lazy to go to the rest room at the other end and fetch some water), poured it over the swing pedestal till it was clean. Rohan asked me why I was doing that (he knows I hate wasting water, I never let him do it too), and I told him the kid peed, and his mom didn't clean up but we don't want other kids to soil their shoes/feet, so let's clean up. Done.

What is with us as a people and not cleaning up after ourselves? Really, dog-shit is a menace in our layout - in spite of many folks asking people to clean up after their pets, I have seen just one or two do it dutifully. We just think public property us ours and our pets to pee and shit on - no wonder our streets and public spots are in such a sorry state usually! Well, if there is one thing that annoys me endlessly, it is the so called educated, elite folks, behaving like absolute ruddy bumpkins. Spitting everywhere, peeing everywhere, trashing out of cars and what not.

There, I got it all out! Did it make a difference to anyone's life? Yet?

We went to a birthday party on Saturday night - my first ever with lights and music and a dance floor - yeah, ever, in my life! ;) I had a good time just observing people and soaking it all in. Our hostess, one of the most elegant women I know, Subhash's friend, had done a splendid job with organizing it. It was a late night party so fed both the kids, put one to sleep, left the other with parents and went. Didn't feel guilty about it too! :) Such a blessing to have parents and father in law around - not a day goes by when I don't feel thankful for it :)

So, well, hopefully I can shake off some cynicism and laziness now..
 

Thank you Mr President

So today Pranab decided to pay Bangalore a visit. And as is the custom with politicians, VVIPS and top bureaucrats, he landed in the middle of the city, next to our place - the old Bangalore airport. And as is usual when these visits take place, we are cutoff from 80% of the city for a great many hours, thanks to our cowardice as regards Bangalore traffic. So today I was muttering insinuations against the guy and thinking how these political landings should compulsorily be made at Devanahalli, when I realized that this was the reason that nightmare aka road outside Leela was repaired overnight! And I couldn't help but thank Mr President! Because notwithstanding Siddu's promise of a pothole free Bangalore road scene, we continue with life as usual.

I think I will dare Siddu to drive on the Wind Tunnel Road-Yamlur-Kariyammana Agrahara-Kadubeesanahalli stretch, that is what a hardened driver maketh!! It is a literal roller coaster!!

Woooohooo!!

Today is my Dad's birthday and also the eve of another anniversary of this day :) A dozen years since I left home, to immigrate to the US.

But this year is special. Finally, after a long long wait, my parents are going to shift base to Bangalore. And it's worked out the way I wanted, without either of them having to give up on their life and what they like doing most :) My sister is also here now, which makes it really complete (the older son is a great fan of his Puttu pinni! )

I have been so eagerly awaiting this for the past god-knows-how-many-years. To have both sets of parents (we will miss my mother in law sorely) around you all the time - I used to envy my colleagues who were Bangalore based, all elders around, etc. Now, no more!!

Ahh, life is good :)

People power?

We had not been getting Cauvery water at all for the past year+, BWSSB was making some excuse or another. We used to get their tankers, very rarely, after much calling and pleading and supply in the line was very very rare. Finally all the residents of this colony - this is a very old layout, 20+ years old, decided to form a residents association and take things into hand together rather than approaching them individually. For a long time BWSSB officials kept saying pipe problem, water problem etc. There were no rain last year so we kept quiet thinking it was a drought year but this year with the excess monsoon, there was still no water and that started to rankle.

So off they went as a group (Subhash represented our home), 17 people one fine Saturday to inquire about it. And were promised resolution in a week and these folks promised to go to higher ups in two weeks if water was not released. And lo! the third week water has started coming (people constantly kept following up with the BWSSB engineer). Initially on Monday, it was slow and only for 4 hours, but yesterday it came back to its normal supply.

I am hoping it will last.

Is this an example of people power? United we stand? Or a sad example of how we need to fight for even basic amenities in the world's most populous democracy? :) I prefer to look at it the positive way ;)

Amen to people power!

Behind the wheel!

Today I drove to work - exactly one week from the date of the C-section. I was thrilled to be able to do it.

We visited the doc for post-op follow-up last evening - and fully knowing what he was going to say - asked him if I could drive. He said you do whatever you please, no restrictions from my end. So off today I went with my mom, father in law and the new baby in tow - to work - to pick up Rohan from the child care center. I met a few friends from work in the parking lot hurriedly, (I wish I could have done it a little more leisurely :( )before going off to pick him up. The younger one was just waking up so I was anxious to get back soon, I asked them to hurry up with Rohan and send him out fast. He has to be brought out in the middle of his snack session (those that know him, know he and food do NOT mix at all) On hind-sight, I should have lounged in the parking lot for some more time, fed the baby and then gone up leisurely so that Rohan could also have finished his snack, I could have gone a little less fidgety and could have spent a little more time with friends. Well, you learn everyday :)

This works out well, without the headache of having to hire a driver. But the flip side is the new born is too young and taking him everyday is strenuous for him and leaving him at home is risky since his schedule is not yet set and my mom will be utterly helpless if he starts feeling hungry and crying for me while I am gone. And with Bangalore traffic, there is zero predictability on when you can get back given you are out once.

Some neighbors dropped in just when we got back from the trip to see the new baby. Both kids had gone to sleep in the car, and I had just finished ferrying them one after the other into the bedroom when the younger one started crying and I started to feed him. So I asked them to come in and sit with me, rather than make them wait. While discussing how we just got back, they referred a driver agency which is apparently very good. So I took the number and called the lady up and she has promised to send a person on Monday. If he turns out OK, that will be a good daily-basis arrangement, till the younger one has a settled routine, can hold his milk a little longer and I can venture out a little more confidently leaving him at home.

But the bottom-line, it was amazing to be back behind the wheel already and driving to campus. Felt a sense of freedom which completely eluded me in the surgery's depression last time around. This time, whether I call it experience or a determination to not let myself get depressed like last time, I have managed to not only stay happy for the past one week, but also surprisingly more agile and less handicapped :) Well, all is good so far. I have to thank my mom and father in law without whom I could not have done this at all. A hundred thanks to them!!

Happy one week birthday to the son!!

Please vote!

A while ago, a reader had commented that rather than voting and later claiming "I voted, did you?", it might be more useful to at least let the readers of this blog know any information upfront on upcoming polls, electoral lists etc.

The suggestion was a good one, and so, here you go. Please make sure if you are a resident of Karnataka, to enrol yourself to vote in the upcoming Assembly elections. Here is a link with the details:

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/4640-voter-and-rolls-rampant-deletions-in-bangalore-voter-rolls

We verified our presence and are (hopefully, if no one deletes going forward) all set :)

BESCOM

So, there was some goof-up by the bill desk folks and my Amex payments for the electricity bills did not go through this time. The bills had come up for presentment twice this month so I was a little suspicious on what was going on, but being in Hyd at that time, and not having the bills in hand, I could no cross-check and forgot about it when we came back.

The other day the meter-reading guy came, slapped some arrears and left saying if we don't pay, they will disconnect. The standard procedure. But since this is BESCOM I was going to deal with, for once, and for a change, I did not panic. I wrote to their MD and some other officials with whom I had corresponded earlier and they were very prompt in responding and we finaly identified that the issue was with BillDesk not processing payments.

So at the end of two days, we did see the line getting disconnected and I still haven't seen the refund come into my credit card but I am neither irritated nor extremely worried - and that is the magic of customer service. That is the difference it can make to end users. And coming from a government entity, it is all the more to be relished! The BESCOM guys came back today, we made the payment offline at a counter, everything was restored and I have the contact from BillDesk whom I can chase for the refund of what we already paid last month. We ended up paying a little bit extra (BangaloreOne charges etc), but still, the exercise was not nerve-wrecking.

BWSSB on the other hand has gone back to their old ways of no water, no responses etc. I called on Friday morning, and after two days of calling, finally the BWSSB tanker came today - but one too late, we already had a private tanker fill up last night, since we had run completely dry! If only I could see BBMP and BWSSB go the BESCOM way, I am sure Bangalore will be a more pleasurable place to live in!

Re-cycling

Yesterday I was unpacking a pickle which we had got from Hyderabad - the packaging is a recyclers' worst nightmare. All that oil and plastic and it won't wash off.

Which is when I realized, I never updated my blog with all the SWM stuff we do at home now. We were doing this to a certain level even earlier - maybe about 60%, now we totally segregate - after the Bangalore-wide initiative. Well, so to say, it was a BBMP initiative, but I hardly trust them to do their job, so instead I trust the raddi-wala shop (waste store) in the neighboring street. We generate very little organic waste now and give BBMP maybe a bag in 10 days or so (I want to eliminate even that, by composting, but that is for a little bit out into the future, when we have a little bigger garden etc). Every week the household help takes out the plastic and paper and sells it to that store guy - it gets her a pittance like maybe between 5 and 10 rupees but it is still in expert hands and I have reasonable confidence it gets properly re-cycled. Normally I take care to clean out the plastic waste and properly dry it (which is why the pickle packaging is a pain, see) before I keep it aside to dispose.

Then we also started re-using the waste water from the water purifier for washing the cars and watering the garden-patch and whatever clothes need to be washed by hand. So all in all, water wastage has also gone down considerably in the past few months!

It does feel good to live responsibly by the environment :)

It has been the fulfillment of a life-long desire to be conscious and waste-free. There is still a lot more that can be done, step - by - step. Little-by-little.

Oldies are goodies

We had some friends over briefly on Sunday. It had been ages since we met although we all live in the same city! I often feel bad about how rarely we meet up with friends post-kids phase :(

So we have known this couple forever now. Subhash and the guy were together in engineering and the girl and me were in there too, in the same batch, three years behind the guys. So it is an all-in-the-same-campus set of people. I have known them for as long as I have known Subhash. This couple also used to live in the same area (the guy was in the same street as we were) when we were in engineering - you get the drift. Long long long time pals.

We did not meet for very many years while we were in the US. Till they moved back to India a couple of years ago. That was a long gap. But as soon as we met - we were catching up like we had never parted. That is the magic of friendships that people so often talk about I guess! The other day when we met, we laughed over a few things, general life goings-on, common friends etc. And somehow we never laugh like that or let go that way with anyone else. At least I don't. It is mostly my 11th-12th std friends and engineering friends that I am able to truly have fun with! School friends - thanks to lack of prevalent social technology - we never managed to stay in touch like I was able to with this other set.

All said and done, I am thankful for the people who bring fun into an otherwise mundane life. Although we don't meet very often (in spite of some being in the same city, sigh!), when we do, it is like the time-lapse never existed! :)

A day of indulgence!

The salon at Leela has moved to UB City because the facility here is undergoing some much-needed maintenance. I was debating if I should go back to my old hair-dresser who is now in Koramangala or to just go to UB City. Finally figured, since we never visited UB City, might as well go there.

The mall is great. We loved the atrium area. Need to go back once again to check it out at leisure. Yesterday we were too much in a hurry to do anything peacefully. My monthly routine plus son's haircut plus mom's routine etc. Subhash was the ultimate in chivalry and indulged us all very patiently. My mom's pedicure was very well done and totally worth the time spent there. I loved the way her feet looked. I have always seen them with cracks and this was very neat, very nice.

The son's haircut sessions become more and more haircute! He looks so sweet perched on top of that salon chair with pillows etc with the cape around him and patiently getting his hair cut. It overwhelms me like little else. Yesterday his session took 45 minutes since his hair-dresser had to hop between appointments as he started late with him. Yet, the son sat in his chair and waited and got it done all very nicely. Proud!

And in all that crowd at the M&W UB City, I was happy, I mean genuinely happy and delighted when I saw my usual faces - the Leela staff. Now, I've been going there for three years and it is a far cry from where I started with this post. Now they are more friends, recognize when I call for an appointment and in general make you feel welcome. Maybe I have turned Page3 now? ;)
 

Guilty!

So a colleague recently came back from the US and kept getting us Lindor Truffles everyday. Day before yesterday, I was feeling fattened by them, so I decided to keep them in my office to eat later. There was also a Ghirardelli Square (86% dark, let's just call it GD)

Yesterday morning, I checked and both Lindors were gone, along with my bag of raisins, which I normally stock (mostly for eating with Lindt 90% dark chocolate - if you have not tried it, you are missing something). The GD and the bag of dates were intact.

So I sent an email to campus security, notifying them of this incident. Since I assumed, the folks who ate the other stuff were not interested in the dates and GD that they left behind, I let them be where they were.

This morning, those also were gone. I sent them an email again and lamented the incident. In 15 minutes, two officers were in my cabin, explaining that the night cleaning crew had admitted to eating stuff. Normally they are accompanied by security officers while the cabin is unlocked and cleaned. Apparently the food was shared with generous good-will amongst everyone (partners in crime). And they also informed me that both parties were terminated. Terminated! I felt a jolt and a pang of guilt. I just caused two folks a job-loss :( I repeatedly asked the security officers if they cannot just let them go with a warning. They said they cannot :(

This is the classic dharam-sankat. On the one side, there is the argument that this time it was food, next time it can be something more precious (I have lost photographs earlier when I was occupying a cube, since which I stopped putting anything outside, till I moved into a cabin, assuming that since I lock it, the stuff is safe). Or that it was the right thing to do so more people don't start seeing thefts. But then on the other side, was a little bit of food worth a job for a couple of men? :(

I guess the midde-ground is that I stop stocking any food, so I don't tempt anybody into flicking it off in the first place. Is that a win-win for everyone?

Oh god!

What a waste!

Literally. Please take a moment to read about Bangalore's trash woes and BBMPs impotence and arrogance as a civic body here.

And they are also going to raise the garbage cess this year. How sad!

For the past four days, garbage has been piling up in front of homes, on streets, everywhere. Everywhere I drive, I see the trash collecting and mounting in heaps. This is pretty much the only thing BBMP has done about the stay issued WRT Mavallipura - we cannot dump, so we stop collecting. Or at least it looks like that. How pathetic can it get!

Water finally?

After four full months, we saw the BWSSB supply yesterday finally! It did fill only half the storage sump but still, it is something!! I am hoping, it is not a one-off incidence and finally we will get back to routine water situation.  Rains are still eluding Bangalore big time and it has now reached a very worrisome situation :(

A lovely lovely Saturday evening

Had an appointment for the son's haircut at 4.30 this evening. Subhash was visiting some friends so I was looking forward to an evening out with the son :)

We got ready pretty much on schedule when the water tanker showed up and we got delayed by some 20 minutes because of that. Finally we made it to Leela around 5.

I took the appointment with the usual guy and the son was the epitome of maturity:) He sat there quietly while the guy went about his job - he wanted to give the son a funky haircut - I said anything is OK so long as it is short, so he trimmed and cut and in the end also gelled his hair!

Then we went to the coffee shop there, ordered a baguette and a Tiramisu. The son actually surprised me by eating almost all of the Tiramisu till when I told him that his Dad was back home and he got up from his chair all ready to go home and meet Dad (he was missing him since morning). We paid, walked to the valet and waited for the car, got in and stopped by my tailor's on the way back and got home by 7. In general did all nice grown up stuff on our evening out.

Sometimes I wonder was this the kid that was barely fitting in my arms not so very long ago :)

I look forward to this grown up time with the son alone always - he is truly my new BFF ;)

The week that was

This past week was very eventful. My parents visited for a week along with my cousin from Hyderabad. Then, my father in law left Hyderabad and arrived in the US safe and sound.  So it was a bustling week.

Now it is back to an empty house with just the three of us..

One thing to check off as a highlight, at least from my vantage point, was that I was finally able to cut my mom a break in 30 odd years from doing any housework. Although I could not completely keep her out of the kitchen (which resulted in my favourite akki roti and heerekai tovve being made, so I am not complaining), I still managed to cook and go about pretty much the usual routine like when no one is around. She did complain about getting bored, but I think she richly deserves a break after so many years of working so hard - she still doesn't keep any household help to-date and does all chores herself. I hope she went back happy :) She inspires me as a person - so much enterprise in one human being - if I am 1/10th as bold and enterprising as her, I think I can do a lot of things ;)

My cousin was very visibly perturbed about leaving. She was feeling awfully sorry to go - and it was flattering in some sense - but I did feel sorry for her. She is at a stage in life when every decision is painful since you do not know the long-term consequences of it. And every choice seems right and wrong at the same time. I hope she finds happiness in whatever she does, she really is a very sweet girl.

It is always nice when people come a-visiting and say they do not want to go back, makes you feel like you have created a home where not just you but other people also want to live in :)

My father-in-law is slowly getting adjusted to a new life in the US. Tomorrow is my mother-in-law's monthly ceremony and it will be the first one without him and Subhash and I are a tad bit nervous about shopping etc - he used to shop for the vegetables and everything else needed for that day when he was here. Hopefully it goes well without a hitch!

Comments again

Once again there were comments on the previous post which triggered a rather longish response from me -

Anonymous said...

I am not sure how different the MLC elections are but people are vexed with elections in general and I don't think that situation will change until you give them an option to scratch their vote as opposed to picking the best of the worst. Bottomline: people believe that they will reap the same no matter what they sow.

Thu Jun 14, 11:04:00 PM IST

Anonymous said...

Not widely publicized !!! How to get registered was not mentioned anywhere

Fri Jun 15, 12:58:00 AM IST

DivSu said...

@Anonymous - I do not buy the absurd argument about scratching the vote or the null vote or whatever else one chooses to call it. What would you achieve by it? A re-election spending few more crores? And who will stand in that re-election? Some other guy with enough muscle - then again you will go scratch your vote - then what? Another election and .. you can see how absurd that argument is? Or maybe you want to be ruled by the President in the absence of a clear leader - have fun being ruled by Pratibha Patil. And are you saying that the 80% graduates in Bangalore who did not get out to vote on Sunday, read through manifestos of everyone and decided no one was worth it? I beg to differ. There was one guy at least who was worth taking the trouble to vote for and now we've lost that chance too. Today when I came to work on a bad road with no water at home, I felt I am paying for the indifference of those 80% people who just will not care. I do not understand this attitude - people are willing to go shout slogans in an anti-corruption rally and feel good (and jingoistic) about it, but the same people are not willing to make a difference when they actually can (I am sorry, all that sloganeering did not make an inch of difference to the corrupt system today). People have to realize, exercising the vote is the only step you can actually take which will make any difference. If you cannot find anyone good, go to vote at least to keep the worst guy out. Hopefully some day you will have an actual good guy to vote for.

@Anonymous2 - If I could figure it out, so could you :) You just need to keep your eyes and ears open for information :) In this day and age of connectivity, I find that hard to buy from anyone who uses the internet for at least a few hours everyday.