PIN CODE PROBLEM....Interesting..!!!

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/residents-get-prickly-over-pin-code-change/article4513272.ece

K.S. Upadhya has lived in Thyagarajanagar for 42 years. In that time, he’s grown used to the area — located in one of the city’s oldest parts — and its pin code, 560028.

So when India Post recently issued a notice announcing that the Thyagarajanagar Post Office would be merged with the Banashankari II Stage Post Office, which has the 560070 pin code, Mr. Upadhya turned livid. “Lakhs of people are affected by this,” fumed the retired lecturer. “Why is only ours being changed? Is Basavanagudi’s pin code being changed?”

Mr. Upadhya isn’t alone; several residents of the area were anxious to retain their own pin code.

A group of them converged on Friday morning outside the Thyagarajanagar Post Office on Netaji Road. Led by the Basavanagudi councillor B.S. Satyanarayana, they signed their names to oppose the change, even stopping passersby to express their solidarity through their signatures.

‘We weren’t told’

Residents, who’ve been used to 560028 for the past 40 years or so, got to know of the change two weeks ago. They were as angry about the change as they are about the fact that they weren’t consulted. “It is a unilateral decision!” Mr. Upadhya said repeatedly.

Councillor Satyanarayana sent a memorandum protesting the change to Ananth Kumar, Member of Parliament from Bangalore South, who has forwarded it to the Chief Postmaster General.

Residents say the reasons for the change are unclear; beyond stating that it was done for convenience and efficiency, officials have not offered explanations.

The postal authorities have tried to convince residents that since the pin code (postal index number) worked essentially as an internal reference number for post offices, citizens would not be affected. The pin code itself (560028) has not been seized, said an official (who requested not to be named). “It is still valid, and people will still receive mail if they continue to use the 560028 pin code,” the official toldThe Hindu.

All that red tape

The main fear among residents is one that turns even battle-scarred veterans into quivering jelly: the paperwork involved in updating records.

A pamphlet produced as part of the campaign lists a series of documents that would need to be updated, including driving licence, passport, ration card, voter IDs and so on.

“We’ll have to run from pillar to post to get these updated now,” said Parthasarathy M., another retired resident of the area.

“A single spelling mistake in our passport leads to it being rejected, and now we will have to spend so much time with each record,” as Mr. Satyanarayana pointed out.

Others strike a more ambiguous note, pointing to the current lack of information about the merging. N. Vasudevan, a retired HAL official who has lived in Thyagarajanagar since 1974, said: “Since we haven’t been told exactly why they are changing it, I don’t know if it will be beneficial to us or not. If it is, I don’t mind.”

A ride to remember....:)

Never had been through such a series of incidents, a travel which I ought to remember...

My brother got me a travel ticket which would take me and my brother to Chennai on a multi-axle bus owned by a travels company and the booking was done on RED-BUS website.

It was around 9.30 pm on 13/feb and cab was at our door steps.Within one hour, our cab reached the Majestic area where the bus was supposed to departure. Bus did arrive as per schedule to bus stop and we got into the bus after all other passengers from Chennai got down except some six members.

After identifying our seats..we got settled to have a good travel nap. And the next moment there was an argument between those six people who had not alighted the bus with the bus driver.

We thought it to be a minor issue and dint care much about the incident. Bus was suppose to depart at around 10.45pm and it was 11.15pm. Argument still continued without any signs of settlement and we were getting late. With no other choice, we need to go to the spot and enquire into the details. 

Six people were supposed to travel to Pune, are you wondering about their travel in the bus bound to bangalore? I have the answer, the guys booked the ticket to pune via redbus and due to some confusion or greed of the bus travels, these guys were assured of a connecting bus from bangalore to pune as soon as they dropped at bangalore. But to the bad luck of the bus travels , the other connecting bus left the place as it was fully booked.

And the pune guys were left sulking. I really admired the quick action taken by those guys who called the police and took the bus driver along with the bus and us to the police station to lodge a complaint against the owner of the bus. 

At last, the bus manager had to pay for the greed and refund the amount to those six travelers for the inconvenience.And we on the other end were busy complaining to the bus driver about the delay.

After much hush and rush, bus did depart at around 1.00am....:(

So dear friends and travelers,  pl do travel in buses operated by standard travel company when it is about long journey..and this turns out to be the moral of the story...

Confusion is no excuse.!!!!

Tomorrow is a holiday and need to spend it in a worthy manner...Should I go to a movie, or visit a temple or get in touch with a friend?.Confusion.....

Ok! Let me spend the holiday by watching a movie.. but three cinemas have been released over the week..should I go for that or for this or third one?.Confusion...

Selection of third one will introduce me to a next set of questions..there are two malls which are running the shows..one is nearest but is costly...second one is far away but sell cheaper tickets..Confusion

Selected the nearest mall, should I book ticket for only one or call the friends to join me.? Confusion

Called my friends and was reminded about the friends marriage..oh great!! all confusions put to rest..No options but only one direction to select...

Should I present a cash gift or something else.confusion :)))

Power of like :))

The power of like…

Have you ever observed in your life about an act committed by you willfully and differentiate it with a act committed just because of some external pressure. Well most of the people like to do easy things and get frustrated when they are given a task beyond their limits.

  

But my topic is not about the easy or difficult tasks but is more about the acts which we like to do but due to some reasons we find ourselves incapable of fulfilling those wishes. IT may as simple as dancing in a rain or as complex as inventing some new concepts in this world. But a wish is a wish and it keeps scratching our hearts to make us feel dejected.

 I would like to mention about the story of a person involved in carving statues of Gods. A good job, a happy family and a good talent. Guy was leading a heavenly life. Each and every idol carved by him was exhibiting divine look and this made people from far end to come in search of this great artist. Always busy was this good  and god loving human.

As usual involved was this gentlemen, another gentlemen introducing himself as a representative of a great kingdom reached out to the artist with an offer to carve a six feet idol of a goddess to be kept a temple being constructed by the king. Talented sculpture was very happy to accept the offer and started his work of the idol to be completed asap.

With great devotion and dedication sculpture completed carving of the sculpture out of most precious stone available with him and it was taken to the temple where it was to be kept for worshiping. On the inaugural day king was mesmerized with the artistic as well divine beauty associated with the idol. He was so much impressed that he ordered his minister to take him to the sculpture along with great amounts of gold and silver as a reward to the talent.

Artist was very happy to receive the king and accepted reward graciously. But the next moment he was stunned by a request of king. King’s request was to carve his image with same artistic sense as done with idol of goddess. Artist was left speechless, but was able to regain his balance and explained his position. 

Artist spoke,” Honorable king. I have been honored by your request but at the same time you need to understand that I have dedicated myself to carving of idols of God and Goddess, which happens to be the main reason of interest for me to be a great artist. I fear that I may not be able to get your image imposed on to the stone as perfectly as imposing the image of divine souls. I hence express by inability of accepting your request.”

King was polite enough to understand the feelings of artist but tried to incite the greed quality by offering one tenth of his property to him. Still the artist refused and king had to return empty handed.

When the artist's family came to know about the king's offer, they were so much excited that they began to pressurize former to accept the offer. Unable to convince the family about his sentiments, artist sent a message to the king about accepting the offer and requested for some of his paintings as reference to his carvings.

King readily sent the paintings and artist began carving the idol. But this time there was something missing from his end- dedication and devotion. He completed the carving and sent the idol to king.

King, who was eagerly waiting for the idol was quite happy to see the statue covered with cloth. He ordered the servants to the remove the shield. With all the members of the family present over there, when the shield was removed everyone began to laugh. 

The idol resembled to the brother of King than by king himself. King was much embarrassed by the idol; he immediately dispatched soldiers with a message composed by his minister.

Soldiers reached the place of the artist and read out the message:

Respected Artist,

I received the idol and I am sad to inform you that it doesn’t resemble an inch of my king. It would have been better if you had not carved the idol itself. I believe that a sense of greed prevailed on you in accepting our offer and made you commit a grave mistake of insulting my king by not acting in the right manner.

It is hence decided that you are hereby banished from our kingdom for a year as a reward for your mistake
.

After reading out the message, soldiers immediately asked him to vacate the kingdom and sent him and his family away from the boundaries.

It is a simple story to demonstrate that more than the money it is the interest and like associated with an work which has the ability to glorify it and nothing else can substitute the same..!!!

Stepping stone..

People become steps ..people become ladders..people become spotlights...they are known as Teachers. I often wonder about the reason about a person who knows something about a field and has the ability to earn much more in that direction stop himself/herself to transform into a teacher.

There may many reasons associated with that single decision of becoming a teacher but basically it requires quality of  understanding a subject in a way explainable to the students whom he/she needs to address.

Being a teacher is something like being a partial boss of a company without paying any salary instead you need to pay. H/she can command you within the limits and you cannot say no because s/he is ahead in the scale of knowledge and you cannot deny those privileges to teachers.

They teach you, they measure you, they grade you, they scold you, they may even incite you but all this is for those few years of union. A few years later and you visit him/her with a successful career in hand, it is that same teacher who will feel happy for the rest of the day thinking about you ..only you..!! LOVE THY TEACHERS..!!!

It's always wrong to take a wrong route....!!!!!!

We are moving ahead counting each second, each minute, each hour, each day.. with an idea in mind..with an expectation in eyes...with an act to be done from our end..!!

And the most compelling part of the story is about people around and the way we get treated or we treat them during the course of  the task completion do matters in this journey of life.

A practical incident is revealed for you. A need for caste and income certificate took me to Tahsildar's office situated at K.G. Road of Bangalore. News Papers did publish about single window counter which would receive application for my need at the center. A step into the premises, I was greeted by a long queue of people waiting for their turn. Standing in a queue is nothing new for me, a I do it before an ATM,in banks etc, but I had to think about the documents required from my end, so that the same can be submitted to a gentlemen who receives the people in queue.

A query was raised about the documents before a person who was ahead of me in the series. He asked me to get a form downstairs and  a TC as well as income proof. I could buy the form but a TC was missing from my file and procedure for income proof was burdensome. In a confused state, I shared about the problem with a guy who was selling forms and he said, "I can do the job for you for some extra money." The need for certificate was urgent and I had no time to hang around doing some experiments with an highly disordered system. I paid!!!

In any part of world, customer is treated as God but in a black market customer is treated like dog. The treatment goes as follows: Said amount was paid and date was informed on which I was assured of the certificate. The guy shared his phone number and  asked me to call to confirm about the readiness of the certificate with him. Exactly after two days, I made a call and there was an excuse for the delay which postponed the deadline to two days later. Once gain, I made the call and the tone changed from courteous to irritating mode and he asked me to call back in the evening. A call in the evening greeted me with some complaints and he asked me not to disturb for two more days. 

Certificate was needed for an urgent requirement and that was the reason which compelled me to pay that EXTRA AMOUNT. But the delay in receipt of certificate had put me in a tight situation. Went to the person who had collected the money and tried to explain about the urgency. He was reluctant who blamed on the faulty machines for the delay. I could not complain as the route selected by me wasn't legal nor could I  demand my money back as he wasn't ready to pay back. With no way to settle the situation, I had to maintain patience. After two to three visits to the guy, he wavered the certificate before me.Ah!! my joy knew no bounds..as the certificate served my purpose.!!

Task was simple..but much effort was invested for the same. And I was made to wait like a nut with no room to complain before the guys who are not even graduates.!!

Well to skip one round I paid, I got rebuked ..!!! So never ever go for shortcuts guys..They suck..!!!

Gandhi Thatha ki jai....

Today is a holiday and we owe this free time to Shri Mahatma Gandhiji. Is it not?? This is a very small reason to be happy about Gandhi but much more can be drawn from the pockets of this thin bodied, scantly dressed, bald headed, with spectacles for his eyes and a stick of support in his hand...yet he his Mahatma..a great soul..named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi..

His life can never be understood by the one who believes in getting the acts done fast without worrying about others..and wish to enjoy the fruits from a tree without even waiting for the fruit to get ripened..!!!

One such practical instance is wrt queue system in a bus stop..not practiced by us but if done can surely bring about major change in our mentality or our respect to a life based on order..Well.. there are reasons for  people not following this queue based system..

1. There is no one to supervise the queue 
2. Young people who are healthy want to test their strength in entering a bus
3. Buses do not stop at a bus stop in a proper manner etc

Above are few reasons which we have for not maintaining an order at bus stop.. and hence resort to other way i.e crowding..a bus comes and everyone pounce on it..even without allowing the one to get down..!!! Now no one questions the root i.e. transport corporations which is expected to increase the number of buses and its frequency as we have no time/energy to spend in this direction and we are busy managing the crowd..!!We are still travelling but without any order or understanding..

The above story can be linked to Mr. Gandhi.. it is because of him we got an independence in ORDER...in a way which changed the WORLD's VISION about life.. which was till then based on power politics ( Read about the world wars and the reason for which they were fought). And it was because of this little man, WORLD could understand that Human's existence should be based on Human values i.e. LOVE,CARE and DIGNITY devoid of any political or economical power associated with them.

Now, do you want to imagine the world without the Gandhiji or his precious thoughts about respecting human values...You need not imagine it, just have glance about the happenings in our neighboring country and you will realize that INDIA HAS ESCAPED FROM HELL..because of GANDHIJI... 

WE WOULD HAVE GAINED INDEPENDENCE LIKE OUR NEIGHBORING COUNTRY HAD.. BUT OF NO USE...!!!!

GANDHIJI -A GOOD SON, A GOOD LEADER, A FREEDOM FIGHTER, A STATESMAN, A SAVIOUR

 I Love Him.....And I am proud to be an Indian because though we do not give importance to an order in bus stop BUT WE HAVE BEEN INTELLIGENT AND KIND ENOUGH to understand the message of NON-VIOLENCE from this old person called GANDHI...!!!!