We started early morning at 7 am (now thats too early for anybody who prefers not to wake up before 10am on week ends) from Pune, boarded Sahyadri Express, the only train from Pune that stops at Neral Station. We reached Neral station at 10:15 am.
Now the major attraction in Matheran is a 100+ years toy train that takes you from Neral to Matheran, 2 hour journey uphill. Lady luck was probably not on our side that day. We missed the 10:15 am toy train (Thanks to some search results in Google which gave us an outdated time schedule of the toy-train). Toy-train being a major attraction, people had queued many days in advance to get the tickets & the only option left was to buy a FIRST class ticket for a whooping Rs 210/- (v/s Rs 37 for 2nd class). But since this didn't fit in our SST factor (Sundar, Swast, Tickaoo), we decided to take a taxi to Matheran.
Matheran is the only city in the world (after Venice, Italy) which is a vehicle-free zone i.e. No vehicles are allowed inside Matheran. The only options to roam about are - horse rides & human-driven carts. We decided to follow a trail up the hill (remember the SST factor ??). The first thing you notice after arriving in this hill station is the thick green cover of trees embellished with conspicuous red sand. You will also be greeted by monkeys who will follow you along the trail, at times irritating you (I had to sacrifice a slice of cucumber to get relieved from them).
We had our lunch - an ok gujarati thali at a local restaurant & headed to Khandala point. God knows why its called khandala point. I find the original Khandala much better than this.
Other major tourist spots in Matheran are - Louis point, Khandala point, Market & Charlotte lake.
After roaming for some while we headed back to Matheran station & tried our luck at getting the Toy-train tickets. Probably lady luck was in a good mood. We got the tickets without much ado. After getting the tickets we heaved a sigh of relief and were elated to see all our efforts paying off.
Narrow lanes of the train, hilly terrain, steep valleys and brown,dry grass cladded mountains made for the need of a picturesque climax to our Matheran journey.
Matheran
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
India growth story ...
India Rising- is an oft quoted statement in media these days. Every faucet of media is show casing the booming industries in India, its self reliance & non-dependence on US economy per se. But how much & what growth has been rising ? Lets try & ponder upon this for a while.
Here are some significant events in recent past which may reveal some startling statistics.
1) India flies high in the aviation space. More & more companies wish to fly overseas. Aviation ministry is promoting licenses for domestic flights.
Stats: Where are these flights going to land ? With the exception of metros all the cities have only 1 runway.
For the last 1 week even IGI Delhi airport is experiencing delay in flights. Who is responsible?
Mumbai International airport does not have a direct internal connectivity to the domestic airport at Vile Parle. All major cities of the world have this simple commonsensical facility.
2) Reality industry is growing by leaps & bounds.
Stats: What is the quality of such construction? Does the govt provide any regulation on the safety norms & quality in this madness to rake in money by builders?
There seems to be a race to fool an ordinary man.
3) Telecom ministry wants to release more spectrum for pvt players.
Stats: Every 1 person in 5 gets a wrong bill from these telecom companies. The billing systems of one telecom company is so smart enough that they change your plan without informing you & start charging you an additional Rs. 25-30 for the new plan. You are easily taken for ride by their billing systems
4) Do not call registry has been implemented by govt just few months back.
Stats: I have registered on most of these directories. In spite of this i get telemarketing calls. Whats the way out?
5) ICICI bank is the largest pvt bank in India
Stats: Recently ICICI bank was slapped with 55L fines for misbehavior & causing inconvenience to its customers. Another case of fine has come up in todays newspaper.
ICICI bank seems to be desperate to break its own record of paying fines.
Thousands of cases are pending in consumer courts against ICICI bank's scrupulous means to recover money.
Yet Mr. K.V.Kamat makes a proud presence in every Business lunch or party or media in general. I think its high time ICICI bank takes some moral responsibility.
6) IT industry always shares an uncanny limelight when India growth story is spoken
Stats: Most of the Indian biggies are no doubt good enough. But their BPO counterparts seem to spoil the party miserably. Recent rape & murder 'well executed' by a BPO cab driver simply underscores the fact that our BPO industry believes in employee exploitation. There is no check whatsoever on the kind of nuisance these BPO cabs are causing on the roads these days. They are simply NO-NO in a civilized world. But in India as they say 'sab chalta hai'
We need to wake up in the REAL sense of the term. Some amount of moral policing should be enough to judge our actions. Its a collective effort from govt, industry & we citizens of this yet to RISE INDIA.
Here are some significant events in recent past which may reveal some startling statistics.
1) India flies high in the aviation space. More & more companies wish to fly overseas. Aviation ministry is promoting licenses for domestic flights.
Stats: Where are these flights going to land ? With the exception of metros all the cities have only 1 runway.
For the last 1 week even IGI Delhi airport is experiencing delay in flights. Who is responsible?
Mumbai International airport does not have a direct internal connectivity to the domestic airport at Vile Parle. All major cities of the world have this simple commonsensical facility.
2) Reality industry is growing by leaps & bounds.
Stats: What is the quality of such construction? Does the govt provide any regulation on the safety norms & quality in this madness to rake in money by builders?
There seems to be a race to fool an ordinary man.
3) Telecom ministry wants to release more spectrum for pvt players.
Stats: Every 1 person in 5 gets a wrong bill from these telecom companies. The billing systems of one telecom company is so smart enough that they change your plan without informing you & start charging you an additional Rs. 25-30 for the new plan. You are easily taken for ride by their billing systems
4) Do not call registry has been implemented by govt just few months back.
Stats: I have registered on most of these directories. In spite of this i get telemarketing calls. Whats the way out?
5) ICICI bank is the largest pvt bank in India
Stats: Recently ICICI bank was slapped with 55L fines for misbehavior & causing inconvenience to its customers. Another case of fine has come up in todays newspaper.
ICICI bank seems to be desperate to break its own record of paying fines.
Thousands of cases are pending in consumer courts against ICICI bank's scrupulous means to recover money.
Yet Mr. K.V.Kamat makes a proud presence in every Business lunch or party or media in general. I think its high time ICICI bank takes some moral responsibility.
6) IT industry always shares an uncanny limelight when India growth story is spoken
Stats: Most of the Indian biggies are no doubt good enough. But their BPO counterparts seem to spoil the party miserably. Recent rape & murder 'well executed' by a BPO cab driver simply underscores the fact that our BPO industry believes in employee exploitation. There is no check whatsoever on the kind of nuisance these BPO cabs are causing on the roads these days. They are simply NO-NO in a civilized world. But in India as they say 'sab chalta hai'
We need to wake up in the REAL sense of the term. Some amount of moral policing should be enough to judge our actions. Its a collective effort from govt, industry & we citizens of this yet to RISE INDIA.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Orkut Updates
Some months back I stumbled upon this new feature in orkut - Orkut Updates coming 'freshly made' from Google labs. It allows you to see a list of updates made by your friends in their profiles.
This feature is particularly popular among indians who get a chance to go abroad. They make it a point to change some thing or the other in their profile so that it catches their friends' attention. Either a photo/video is added OR a jazzy title (in place of name) is mentioned. This is also used as a handy feature to remind your friends about you & that they should think about visiting your profile.
Nevertheless, its a good feature from Google's basket of new tools, easing the lives of many people by doing REALLY sane things.
This feature is particularly popular among indians who get a chance to go abroad. They make it a point to change some thing or the other in their profile so that it catches their friends' attention. Either a photo/video is added OR a jazzy title (in place of name) is mentioned. This is also used as a handy feature to remind your friends about you & that they should think about visiting your profile.
Nevertheless, its a good feature from Google's basket of new tools, easing the lives of many people by doing REALLY sane things.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Reality of (Un)reality shows ...
Fridays & Saturdays are the worst days for yours truly, for all the channels beam some talent show or the other. Some are finding Indian Idols while some are choosing Voice of India. And still others are showing their 'moves' on the dance floor. With the spate of talent shows on the horizon, the poor audience finds itself helpless among the Harshits, the Prashants & the Rakhi Sawants of this reality fever.
One look at the number of such shows will give you an estimate of the lack of taste in media these days -
Star - Nach Baliye, VOI
Sahara - Bathroom Singer, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
Sony - Indian Idol (Thank God this is over now !! ), Bol Baby Bol, Jhalak Dikhla Ja
Zee - Saregama
Now all these beam on Fri & Sat. To top it all, in the same time slot, 8-11 pm.
Lets understand why so many shows ? Well, no points for guessing-its all because of we audiences. Since we watch them, these shows are 'manufactured' incessantly. People often get carried away by the jingoism of caste or region or some XYZ reason. An unparalleled competition to see the candidate from your region in the final round
ensues. Consequently, millions of SMSs flow the telecom highway to fill the pockets of already rich telecom service providers.
So in a nutshell, herez the recipe for a perfect silly (un)reality show -
Ingredients :-
3 months of eliminition rounds
4-5 episodes of cries & sorrow (for not getting selected in the show)
2-3 episodes of altercations among the judging community
1 round of WILD CARD entry
Lots of SPECIAL guests who come either to promote tomorrows budding stars(read as Rajveer Kapoor & Sonam Kapoor) or to promote their films.
Method :-
Mix all the ingredients above in ANY order & you get a Reality show.
End result is BIG NOTHING - people have sent SMSs, telecom service providers have made money, winners go with hefty prizes, shows get sponsors & AUDIENCE get nothing.
One look at the number of such shows will give you an estimate of the lack of taste in media these days -
Star - Nach Baliye, VOI
Sahara - Bathroom Singer, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
Sony - Indian Idol (Thank God this is over now !! ), Bol Baby Bol, Jhalak Dikhla Ja
Zee - Saregama
Now all these beam on Fri & Sat. To top it all, in the same time slot, 8-11 pm.
Lets understand why so many shows ? Well, no points for guessing-its all because of we audiences. Since we watch them, these shows are 'manufactured' incessantly. People often get carried away by the jingoism of caste or region or some XYZ reason. An unparalleled competition to see the candidate from your region in the final round
ensues. Consequently, millions of SMSs flow the telecom highway to fill the pockets of already rich telecom service providers.
So in a nutshell, herez the recipe for a perfect silly (un)reality show -
Ingredients :-
3 months of eliminition rounds
4-5 episodes of cries & sorrow (for not getting selected in the show)
2-3 episodes of altercations among the judging community
1 round of WILD CARD entry
Lots of SPECIAL guests who come either to promote tomorrows budding stars(read as Rajveer Kapoor & Sonam Kapoor) or to promote their films.
Method :-
Mix all the ingredients above in ANY order & you get a Reality show.
End result is BIG NOTHING - people have sent SMSs, telecom service providers have made money, winners go with hefty prizes, shows get sponsors & AUDIENCE get nothing.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Mesmerizing Mysore...
Last week I had an opportunity of visiting the Sandalwood City of India - Mysore, a city having so many sobriquets to its credit (others being Silk City of India, Palace City of India). After being in Pune, Mumbai, Baroda & Goa, travelling to Mysore was a pleasant experience. The quiet, serene roads of Mysore enchant you the most. The traffic snarls observed in other cities is conspicuous by its absence in Mysore. The Mysore palace, Gumbaz - Tipu Sultan's burial place, Swaminarayan Temple, Nandi Temple, Phenomela Church, Brindavan gardens are some of the tourist attractions of this city.
It was quite a different experience to stay in the sandal wood city of India. I hope to visit Mysore some time in future with the hope that industrialization won't tarnish the serenity of this city.
Here are some of the snaps from my trip -
Mysore
It was quite a different experience to stay in the sandal wood city of India. I hope to visit Mysore some time in future with the hope that industrialization won't tarnish the serenity of this city.
Here are some of the snaps from my trip -
Mysore
Sunday, August 05, 2007
The wonder years ...
A very Happy Friendship Day to all of you ...
On this particular day, a tv channel showed a special friendship episode of an old program .. 'The Wonder Years' and i was fortunate enough to see Kevin, Paul, Winny once again after 11 years. This special episode 'transported' me to those good old days when satellite (cable) tv had just arrived in India. With a few tv channels beaming at specific times (before they became 24*7), i feel that the quality of programs shown was truly exceptional. Today in this era of sas-bahu family dramas there is 'no room' for characters like Kevin, Doogie Houser, Winny in the tv room. There is no single program meant to entertain the youth per se, we either have shows to entertain the gossip queens or the kids. But the poor adolescent does not find even a single program to relieve from the day's hectic work. Programs (like Banegi Apni Baat, FRIENDS, The Wonder Years, Doogie Houser M.D.,et al) targeting the youth is a need of the hour. I just hope that some responsible person from 42 odd tv channels reads this post & makes something for us ... :)
On this particular day, a tv channel showed a special friendship episode of an old program .. 'The Wonder Years' and i was fortunate enough to see Kevin, Paul, Winny once again after 11 years. This special episode 'transported' me to those good old days when satellite (cable) tv had just arrived in India. With a few tv channels beaming at specific times (before they became 24*7), i feel that the quality of programs shown was truly exceptional. Today in this era of sas-bahu family dramas there is 'no room' for characters like Kevin, Doogie Houser, Winny in the tv room. There is no single program meant to entertain the youth per se, we either have shows to entertain the gossip queens or the kids. But the poor adolescent does not find even a single program to relieve from the day's hectic work. Programs (like Banegi Apni Baat, FRIENDS, The Wonder Years, Doogie Houser M.D.,et al) targeting the youth is a need of the hour. I just hope that some responsible person from 42 odd tv channels reads this post & makes something for us ... :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
