My tussle with IRCTC tatkal booking

IRCTC has always been in center of controversy for its tatkal booking. As a result of which government has done lot of amendment to improve it for the benefit of the masses. Latest being Tatkal booking will be open to masses from 10am to 12pm (for online users), during this period agent will not entertained.

Sree wanted to book ticket for his hometown, he had already procured a bus ticket but wanted to try for train. He asked me if I could help him or not. I told him let me try because booking ticket for tatkal quota is a tough nut to crack.

Next day I logged to IRCTC at 9.45am wanted to keep the things ready and book it at the earliest, sree was trying from his end. We didn’t wanted to take any chance. I entered the date, location , quota and then pressed the search tab. All I could see was it trying to review information, a circular movement in screen. I waited for 15 min then I was logout of the page automatically stating “Timed out”.

Again logged in, this time I  was finding difficulty in location column, the website had become too slow by then. Somehow after 5 mins I was able to reach the option to book tickets and there were some 25 seats available by then. Immediately I click the book tab for taking me to the next page but again got stuck with the rotatory movement, which ended up in page timed out for the second time.

Post that I tried to log in 3-4 times but circular motion was the only, thing which prominent on the screen than anything else. I made my last attempted since it was 11.20 am. This was I was able to clear all hurdles, just to find out that the confirmed tickets were sold out and waiting list was available. During all these me and sree were in constant touch with each other.

Finally he told I should have gone to the counter to procure tickets rather than wasting time in front of laptop trying to book ticket online.  I have never stood in queue to book tickets under tatkal quota but have heard people come a sleep overnight at stations to be the first in front of the booking window, when it opens up to booking next morning.

Though the current facility has benefitted masses to a great extent but something more prominent need to be for helping people who can’t make it to the railway stations.  

Wanted the same auto driver for my next ride

Auto ride in Bangalore is pretty expensive and often lead to verbal brats. Hence people try to avoid it as much as possible. But it doesn’t mean people don’t use autos to commute, they do it since they don’t have many choices in hand. 

Biggest problem with auto drivers here is that very rarely they will go by meter. In case the distance is short they won’t go or charge Rs 50/ whereas the minimum is Rs 25/. When you get out of auto, change is something they will never have, we end up paying more than the actual meter reading. Some auto drivers drive auto very rashly as they need to find another customer, such drives can lead to accidents at times.

Last week me and 2 of my colleagues we boarded an auto from Lavelle road to Lifestyle close to garuda mall. 2 auto guys declined to take us as the distance was short, then 3rd auto agreed to take us on meter, we were happy and got inside. At a signal where other auto drivers would have taken a quick turn, he waited for the signal to green and then proceed further. We were impressed by it and a feeling of safety engulfed us.

Soon one of my colleague pointed out that the auto driver is handicapped and praised his effort in driving the auto cautiously.We reached our destination, meter reading was 33 bugs, we handed over 50 bugs to him. To our surprise he handed us back 20 bugs, I bet nobody will ever come across such situations in Bangalore. Very rarely you will find auto divers like this man. 

We didn’t wanted to wave off 3 bugs, so we checked our bags to give him the change, we found it and gave it to him. We just wished one thing that whenever we hire auto next time, we should get an auto driver like this man, so that we have a peaceful mind post the ride.

Gifts from my secret Santa

Most organizations secret santa during Christmas, where in every employee of the organization will get a chit, which will contain his / her secret santa. They need to get a gift for that person during the duration of the game. The gift needs to be placed secretly, so that nobody finds it out, till the finale date.

In Summit office also we played this game of secret santa, 1^st day I got a key chain with a chocolate in the first half of the day, during the second half I got an idol of ganesh ji. People in office were like, lucky guy got 2 gifts on the same day. Even I was wondering who the person was. I knew one thing for sure, that this person knows me well.

I started looking out for my secret santa and the first clue was in the gift wrap, that person’s handwriting. Handwriting was good and the ink used was black, then what, I did a surprise visits to all the desk to check the handwriting and the ink. 5 people were shortlisted but it was difficult to pin point, so waited for the second gift to come.

2^nd gift was a chocolate and a lip balm, in whole office there was only I person who knew that I use lip balm and the brand preferred by me. I started checking his office notebook to verify my doubt, my doubt was kind of confirmed by now but still wanted to take a chance.

3^rd gift told the story it was he only, I got a pen and a thump ring. I don’t like pens with rubber grip, he was the only person who knew about it because I had spent one full day in getting a pen without rubber grip and had told him about it. The pen was without rubber grip.

I was happy that my secret was one of my colleague with whom I spent most of my time in office and we share the same cubicle as well. Before identifying his identity I used to discuss with him my doubts about my secret santa. He used to change his strategy accordingly in terms of placing the gift timings. He knew I have full doubt on him.

But his 4^th gift was beyond my imagination, it was a customized coffee mug. He took picture from my facebook account, selected some best, my family. That mug had pics of my full family, my parent and my wife. All office pals liked the gift and said this person knows you very well and has put in effort and time in gifting it to you.

My secret santa was Anirban, I will call it sheer luck that he got my name.

How safe are India’s metropolitan cities for women?

India is known to the world for its diverse culture, nationals from across the globe come here to witness it. Women in India are worshipped as “Lakshmi (goddess of wealth), Saraswati (goddess of knowledge), Durga, Kali to name a few. It’s shocking to see incidence of violence against women at large scale in India. It’s a shame to India’s diverse culture as well.

Registered rape cases in India are at all-time high. In a week we can easily read 1or 2 rape cases in newspapers. What happened to the victims or the convicts in the case in never told or covered? Reason could new case is ready to focus attention on. Where are we heading toward? When we live in a civilized society, should we not behave in that manner?

I feel rape is an inhuman act which can’t be tolerated in human society. It’s a shame to our society at large. Today’s women has proved to the society that, they are nowhere behind men in any ways. They have conquered all the places which were once held by men only. Despite all these developed they are not treated well. 

Women have to face uncomfortable situation wherever they go, be it workplace, public transport, shopping malls. No place is safe for women, even their home in some situations. What should they do now? Sit at home or be victim to harassments. Rape leaves an unhealing wound to the soul of the victim. It is very difficult for them to come out of it.

Recents case of delhi is the most cruelest to the victim, where she was thrown out of the bus, as if she was a commodity and not human being. Delhi is the capital of India, situation is no different in Banaglore, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkatta and Pune. Women who leave their home early in the morning to earn bread for their family have not surety , that they will reach home safely. These cities are best known of their development and the standard of living it offers to the residents.

Police arrests the convicts and court grants them bail. Despite doing such grievous convicts roam free in the society, adding terror to female population. In think government should come out with some stringent punishment for the convicts in rape cases. The fear of the punishment should deter people from even thinking about it. Until and unless it is brought in practice, rape cases are not going to end. We can read about it every morning.

Only solution to this problem is to implement the same law, which is followed in countries like Saudi Arabia.

Prabhu’s birthday in Summit office

Prabhu our office boy is an integral part of Summit. If he doesn't come to office a day, our life is at toss. Most of us will have to step out of office that day for getting lunch. If Prabhu is there, he will take order from us and deliver it to us by lunch time. He even suggests places from where we can order food and delicacies as well.

At any given point of time we can approach Prabhu and ask him to get what we want in office. He never say to NO to anybody, always takes our requirement with a smile.

It was Prabhu’s birthday last Friday, he came to office in full white dress including shoes, except a black half  coat. The moment I entered office and saw him, it reminded me of filmstar Jeetendra, he used to wear such clothes. I told him the same, then Prabhu told me its his birthday today. After some time, he offered sweets to everyone in office.

During lunch time, someone suggested to buy a gift for Prabhu.  All were ready to contribute and we started thinking about the gift for Prabhu. Deepak (colleague) made a wonderful suggestion that we buy a cake for him and celebrate his birthday. Our discussion concluded in buying a wrist watch with a cake for him. We decided to think about the cake on the basis of the money collected and the cost of the watch.

Collection was done immediately as everybody was ready with the money. All these started post 3 pm. By 5 pm I left office with a colleague (Lokesh) to get the gift. We asked Archana (office admin) to ensure that Prabhu doesn’t leave office before we reach. Luckily we were able to get a watch and a cake for him.

No sooner we reached office we celebrated his birthday and gifted the watch to him. He was too happy as he didn't except any such thing from our end. The smile on his face was more than enough for us.

Deepawali at home with parents

It was a sweet delight to be with my parents this deepawali  after  8 years.  Last time I celebrated deepawali was with my parents in Varanasi (which I still miss). My first one in Kerala, since we settled here.

Deepawali in Kerala was quite different from that in Varanasi. Beginning of the day was as usual, early morning wake up with loads of work on head. After breakfast I was assigned my task, to clean the area near ceiling and high end corners of the house (best reward for being the tallest member of the family). Mom was the commander in chief, who would assign task to people with stipulated time period.We had to complete our work on time to ensure evening pooja is done before its too late.

Once cleaning of house was over, I had a new task in hand, make battis to be put in the diyas. I actually ended up making lot more than what was expected. I was doing it by watching TV, because it was a boring task. You can give me any boring task with an access to watch TV and I can do it.

It was 5 by the time battis got over now I had to put diyas all around the house and helped mom in pooja arrangement. Dad and my wife poured oil to the diyas and got dressed for the pooja.  Mom did pooja in pure north Indian style, myself, dad and wife was sitting around here.

After pooja it was time for celebration first task was to lit the diyas, then firewoks, we didn’t buy much crackers, health issues and no interest in bursting crackers. It reminds me of my childhood days, when I used to request dad to get me more and more crackers for 2 days (in north deepawali is celebrated for 2 days). As I grew up, my interested got shifted from bursting crackers to watching people burst crackers.

My wife and dad were busy bursting crackers, me and mom were looking at them enjoy the fun of festival. Then it was time to enjoy sweets, 2 types of laddo and kaju barfi, dad just loves it. Suddenly power went off, it was a spectacular view to watch the house with bright light being

It was good to be at home with parents to celebrate deepawali. Being with your loved one, makes any festival special and brighten their life as well. Looking forward to celebrate more such festival with loved ones in the days to come.

Skyfall Review

Bond series is the most awaited action movie from James Bond 007 series. People wait eagerly for the movie to hit multiplexes. Main attractions of James Bond movies are the gadgets, cars, storyline, mission and the action packed stunts.

Beginning of the movie was average, where Bond is on a mission to retrieve vital information about their undercover agents, which has been taken over by terrorists. Its a chip, which contains all vital information. In the process of getting the chip, Bonds assistant shot him accidently. As we know Bond can’t die, he comes back but takes his own sweet time to report to work.

His mission still remains the same to get the chip for the safety of agent and integrity of the nation. Q gives him only 1 gadget a radio transmitter and a gun (which Bond couldn’t use in the movie). Bond leaves for the mission, till this point of time movie is able to retain your attention.

Post interval movie becomes is damn slow and confusing. Bond’s discovers his real mission now. For the first time gay factor was introduced in movie, where as a guy try to seduce Bond. But he shows he loves women more than men.

Bond’s real mission is to save M from an ex Bond agent, who has become psychopath by now. He wants to kill M at any cost to settle his personal scores. Suddenly M becomes the main attraction of the movie on one hand her life is at stake on the other her professional credibility and efficiency.

Bond takes his mission seriously to save M all alone without any gadgets or assistants. Climax of the was totally unpredictable not expected from Bond at all.

I had lot of expectations from Skyfall but it didn’t meet my expectations. After watching Skyfall I feel “Casino Royale” was much better than this. I don’t know but somehow I feel Daniel Crag is not able to maintain the Bondism in Bond series.  Pierce Brosnan’s action scene are still fresh in our memories, he had the charm and elegance to do justice to every shot whereas Daniel  action or romantic scene both are same without much expressions.

Am not sure will I ever go to next bond series featuring Daniel. I feel its high time production house focus on getting a new bond. Movie was total disappointment, with wastage of time and money.