Chaos as announcement inside Namma Metro was in Tamil

Originally written for and submitted to the Faking News Forum.

Bangalore. Chaos on the opening day of the much awaited Bangalore’s Namma Metro as passenger announcement inside the coaches was made in Tamil. Most Bangaloreans who were eager to check out the Metro Rail on the first day were surprised to hear Tamil announcements. Ramesh, a Kannadiga by birth said “I was so confused that for a moment I thought I had boarded a Chennai Local Train”.

Recent survey has confirmed that only 33% of the total Bangalore population are Kannadigas. According to 2011 census, Bangalore’s population has ballooned in the past decade mainly due to the IT flourish. Majority of the migrants in the city are from Tamil Nadu. A clear indication as to why Chennai’s population is less than half of Bangalore’s.

“There is a huge raise in the number of Tamilians who have settled in the city and Kannadigas are almost an extinct species. If we have to win the next state elections, we have to support and encourage Tamil in Bangalore. Announcements in Tamil was a strategic move and was not a mistake. The 6.2 km stretch from Byappanahalli to MG Road is Tamil dominated. If Tamil helps a major chunk of the Metro travelers in this route, then why not?” asked Transport Minister R. Ashok to Faking News.

Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda also reacted by stating that talks were on to make Tamil as the official language of Karnataka and soon a bill will be passed in the next session.

Critics told Faking News that Jayalalitha’s visit to Bangalore on the day of the launch of Namma Metro was a wrongly publicized in the media. She was not supposed to answer questions at the court. Infact she had come down to Bangalore to record the next set of announcements for Phase 2 of the metro. “I am very happy that my fellow Tamilians in Bangalore will hear to my voice daily”, said Jayalalitha.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Visveswara Hegde Kageri told Faking News that steps will soon be initiated to introduce and mandate Tamil as the first language in all Government schools across Karnataka. “If today’s kids learn and understand Tamil, their future will be bright in Bangalore”, said the minister.

TCS, which has 10 offices in Bangalore has recently included Tamil in the language skill set for freshers in addition to C, C++ and Java. “4 out of 5 TCS employees are Tamilians. We are planning to rename our company to Tamil Consultancy Services”, said a senior HR Manager.

Vatal Nagaraj staged a protest on MG Road today demanding announcements to be made in Kannada. He also threatened to ride donkeys on the metro rails if the move is not withdrawn.

“Vanakkam”

A year on rails

No. It’s not Ruby on Rails. Gone are the days when the first thing that comes to peoples’ minds used to be the obvious. Google too isn’t spared. I don’t get the fruit when I search apple. I don’t get the fruit when I search blackberry either.

A year ago I decided to try something what most Bangaloreans think is far away being possible. Yes, I started using Indian Railways for my daily commute. In a city which has everything but roads you can ride on;  in a city which has everything but footpaths you can walk on – I have to travel 70km everyday to reach my workplace and back home. The first option, by default, any IT guy in Bangalore looks for is the company provided transport. Cabs pick you right from your door step and drop you at the office gate in the meanwhile you take a long 2 hour sleep. My company does not provide this. The second option is to use Public Transport. Unfortunately, over all these years Bangalore is connected by BMTC buses and Auto Rickshaws and nothing else. I, like every other IT guy started using the BMTC’s Volvo Bus service. 6 months later, I called it a day. Road is NOT the means to travel 70km every single day in Bangalore. And the only means of transport left to try was railways. I was as surprised as you are right now, when I first thought of this option. I decided to give it a try one day and trust me I’ve never looked back since. Here’s why.

Cost

Train is meant to be the transport for the masses. Can you remember the last time the train fare was increased? Way back in 2005. Train fare is no way comparable to BMTC’s Volvo Service. Just to put it on paper, One way fare from Majestic to Whitefield in a Volvo Bus is 60. So, a to and fro journey costs you 120 per day. You may ask why not purchase a daily pass which costs just 90. OK, then for 20 working days in a month it sums up to 1800. You may now ask why not purchase a monthly pass which costs just 1400.

Now the train fare. One way fare from Majestic to Whitefield is 4. Yes, four only. Why even bother to make a monthly calculation? Dirt cheap, isn’t it?

Time

Indian Railways is known for its never ending delays. But believe me, short route trains that I take is always on time. Not even a single day in the whole year that there’s been any delay. Now that allows you to plan your day effectively. Once it starts on time there’s no stopping it because there’s – No traffic signals. No traffic jams. No flyover constructions. No one ways. No speed breakers. No road blocks for functions and protests. The train is the king of its route in its time. Only 3 stops in a 35 km journey that does not take more than 35 minutes. Show me one means of transport within the city that can beat this. BMTC would give a full Bangalore Darshan and drop you after 2 hours. And yeah, rain doesn’t delay the train either.

Energy

No traffic means no strain. No strain means full of energy when you reach office or get back home. You’re as fresh as you were at home when you reach office and only as tired as you were at office when you reach home. People in Bangalore are almost dead by the time they reach home

Pollution

When you travel by road, you’re exposed to air pollution, noise pollution, light pollution, visual pollution, thermal pollution and what not. If you’re inside a air conditioned bus for 2 hours then you are exposed to deodorant pollution in the morning and sweat pollution in the evening. Instant protection from all this, if you’re traveling in a train. Health is wealth.

People

In India, train travel is always memorable. It’s in a train that people sitting opposite to each other start a small conversation and end up being long time friends. Your co-passengers are always interactive. They crack jokes so that you have your share of laughter for the day. They debate on current affairs so that you need not read the newspaper in office. What that makes is – keep you occupied for the whole of the journey as opposed to people ear-plugged and staying up to themselves inside a bus where nobody cares for each other.

Food

Woke up late – Skipped breakfast – Late to office? Doesn’t matter. There’s ready made food made available by IRCTC. There’s a vendor showing up every 5 minutes with Coffee, Tea, Masala Dosa, Omelet and lots more. Stayed late in office – Skipped snacks? Doesn’t matter. There’s Chilli Bajji and Sandwich. They’re hygienic and cheap. To add to this, there are villagers who travel to the city to sell fresh vegetables at throw away prices. So, everyday there’s one fresh veggie in my kitchen.

Excuse

Train can be a very useful excuse if you want to escape from office early. Once your boss knows that you use the train to commute, you can always tell him that if I miss this train, then there’s no other train and I cannot go home. Any boss has to buy this reason. But he always knows that the last volvo is at 11:30pm.

Switching to train for my daily commute is one of the best decisions I have taken in the past year. Do you think more and more people can actually try and adopt train as their mainstream transport means until Namma Metro gets underway?

conf.kde.in 2011

Folks, here it is. The Koolest Konference is Koming soon to the silicon valley of India. Block your calendars for the 2nd week of March 2011 and I promise, you’ll have the time of your life, interacting with some of Koolest KDE folks from India and elsewhere.

What is KDE?

KDE is an international team co-operating on development and distribution of Free, Open Source Software for desktop and portable computing. Tell me more.

What is conf.kde.in?

conf.kde.in is a platform for Qt and KDE contributors and enthusiasts to meet up, share their knowledge, contribute, learn, play, have fun and create limitless possibilities. Tell me more.

When and where?

9 – 13 March, 2011 at R.V College of Engineering, Off Mysore Road, Bangalore.

What’s it like to be a KDE-er?

This should explain.

See you there!

I’ll be there at conf.kde.in 2011, will you? Kome, Kode, Kontribute, Kommit and Kollaborate.

The AirTel Shocker

About a month ago I toured Hyderabad, a visit I would remember for a long time for many good reasons. But it was AirTel that gave me a shocker right at the start of the trip. Not long after I boarded the Kacheguda Express, I realised that my mobile was running out of balance and I needed a recharge desperately to be able to stay on Roaming in Andhra. Since there was no way I could recharge onboard, I requested my friend Pramod to recharge INR 200 for my number. Seconds later I got the recharge confirmation SMS from AirTel which made me say WTF!

WTF

MRP Rs. 200.00 for a talktime of Rs. 1.00?!?!?! What age are we living in? In the times where providers give full talktime or infact more than full talktime and have call rates at 29p per minute, this SMS came to me as a shocker. Soon after that the train went into out of coverage area which did not help me one little bit. I could not even call the customer care, nor have any talktime to make my calls or even send SMS-es. FMyLife at that time with me traveling alone amidst Tamil and Telugu co-passengers and having nobody to interact or call someone over the phone.

Travelling alone in a compartment with #Tamil and #Telugu co-passengers. FMyLife.—
Aditya Kavoor (@akavoor) December 23, 2009

Till today I do not know where the money has disappeared nor have any explanation for this. Surely the balance does not reflect upon balance enquiry. So, here is AirTel looting public money and thereby being the costliest mobile service provider in the world.

PS: I have filed a complaint with the AirTel Customer Care and awaiting a response.

Travelogue: Sharavathi Valley Backwaters

There are some amazingly awesome places in Karnataka which need the right guidance and facilities to attract tourists. One step forward in achieving this is made by Mr. Sampath who is responsible for the revival of tourists flowing into the Sharavathi Valley Backwaters. All you need to do is inform Mr. Sampath a week in advance, the number of people in your group and rest is taken care by him.

About the place: Sharavathi Valley backwaters is formed as a result of Linganamakki Dam constructed across the river Sharavathi which later flows down the hill and results in Asia’s highest waterfalls, the Jog. Due to the sudden rise in water levels because of the construction of the dam, many low lying areas around the path of Sharavathi are submerged resulting in formations of a number of islands. The slow flowing water provides the perfect platform for swimming, boating, kayaking and other water sports. A small hill of moderate trekking difficulty gives the aerial view of the wonderful backwaters.

Getting there: At a distance of about 300km from Bangalore, Sharavathi valley is a minimum of 2 days trip. Take a bus to Sagara and then hire a local taxi guy who takes you GubbaGodu, 20km from Sagara. Make sure you reach GubbaGodu well within 8 30am in-order to make the rest of the day enjoyable. Since our bus reached Sagara by 6 30am, we decided to view the Jog and proceed towards GubbaGodu. Heavy rains played spoilsport at the Jog and much to our disappointment, none of the gates of the Dam were opened.

Things to carry: Here is a list of accessories you *must* carry in-order to help yourselves during your stay in Sharavathi Valley.

1. A proper BackPack. (A bag which can be put on our back and other kinds of bags wont do).
2. A plate with a spoon for eating food. (Must)
3. One cup for drinking water, tea etc. (Must)
4. One light & thin bed sheet, Foam sleeping Mat will be arranged by them.
5. A small hand torche. (Must)
6. A 1 ltr. water bottle.
7. Well worn in sports/canvas shoes/sandals.
8. Toilet kit (toothbrush, toothpaste, comb)
9. Sun cap and Sun lotion.

Please carry only items mentioned here. Carrying extra stuff might just discomfort you.

Day 1: GubbaGodu – Mr. Sampath’s men were waiting for us with Hot steaming Idlis with Chatni and Khashaya. The experience of sipping hot Khashaya on the river banks is bliss. One thing needs a mention here. There are no basic facilities for freshening up in these islands. Be mentally and physically prepared to get yourself up and going amidst the woods. Atleast you can tolerate that to see nature’s heart. Boats were kept ready for us and we proceeded towards another island. Everything here is environment friendly and that means you should not expect motor boats. Rowing your way all through these islands is the only means. For the first half hour you would enjoy the rowing, but afterwards you need the villagers to take you through. I tell you rowing against the current is not an easy task. Half way through some of us dared to swim across the river and repented heavily for it. The distance what you see is actually way too much less than what it is, and we ended up swimming half the distance. By the time we reached the shore, there was nothing left in us. We could barely walk. Sampath’s men then setup tents for us and we took some time off to rest from travel fatigue and swimming disaster. In sometime Sampath’s men prepared lunch and for the rest of the noon we spent time admiring nature.

By 4pm we set out to another island which is said to have a wonderful sunset point. Again rowing ourselves through a rather calm Sharavathi we reached the place which is another treat to the eye. As the sun went down behind the hill we felt the much needed relief from city life. Took some amazing photographs and headed back to the camp island. To our surprise Mr. Sampath’s men had readied the campfire. Now you are in the an island lit by just the moonlight, pitch silence, campfire and surrounded 360 degrees by water admist a forest. This is pure awesomeness. Hospitality of the best of its kind when we served Hot tea and Mirchi(Chilli Bhajji) at the campfire site. Could not ask for more. Sung, danced and screamed like no one was hearing or seeing us and not to forget the heated argument on Rahul Dravid vs Adam Gilchrist. We were then served dinner and the tents were setup with mats for out sleep. Most of us just roamed around till midnight and just passed off.

Day 2: Awesome breakfast which included Ragi Dosa and Akki Rotti with hot Khashaya. We had boats ready for kayaking. Put on our life jackets and entered the water — fun unlimited. Half the day was already over when we were done with the water sports. Had awesome Pulav for lunch and left for the main Island near GubbaGodu. No sooner we reached there, we set off on another mission — trek the hill which gives a breathtaking aerial view of the backwaters with islands. With heavy backpacks we had to walk nearly 45 minutes nonstop to reach the base of the hill. After recollecting some energy we started the trek which takes not less than another 45 minutes to reach the top. I promise you every step is worth its weight in gold. The scene from the top is just not expressible. With some final photography with the lowest of batteries left after two full days of life with no electricity.

We literally ran our way down the hill to catch the last bus to Sagara and then headed back to Bangalore from there on. To say the least the effort of Mr. Sampath is just remarkable. The price he charges is very nominal. You actually feel that you really got more than what you actually paid for. Here are his contact details -

• Mr. Sampath Kumar
• prapancha@gmail.com
• facebook.com/prapanchas
• sharavathi.blogspot.com

For the complete photoset click here.