Odds of Odd Even Scheme....

Even Odd... the combination of these words  seem to have acquired a new meaning suddenly, at least in Delhi these days and is being looked upon as a potential weapon to prove a political point over opponents. The common people, who are expected to adjust their daily lives under the scheme, are the least important part of this game - they are the ones who have to establish their credentials of being good citizens by subjecting themselves to walking /running / suffering and paying (some times even looted) when not otherwise due.  Its a common office goer who has to answer as why he decided to take out his car on a day when not due, without any reference to the extreme social / official / personal commitments that he may be under. And of course he has no right to question as to why he does not have access to comfortable and efficient Public Transport in the city - and if he does - he must have joined the opposition political party or must be having plans to do so.

Initially announced under pressure from Courts (not an original thought of the group claiming credit for), the scheme had been tried in many cities of the world including Mexico City (Mexico), Bogota (Columbia), Paris (France), Beijing (China) and has had mixed results with debatable data of its success. Most of these experiments, however, have not resulted in any permanent solution for problem of either pollution or road congestion. In cases where even-odd type of arrangements were implemented for a longer duration, the benefits not only diminished gradually but also turned negative where people resorted to buying a second two or four wheeler to steer through the restrictions (Mexico City). So the scheme remains as a temporary experiment at best and not a permanent solution to the problems of air quality and number of vehicles on road. 

On the other hand, there are examples of cities that have very convenient and efficient public transport system where people themselves generally avoid using private vehicles (Seoul, Singapore, Berlin, Zurich). Delhi Metro is an example at home which has become so very popular from day one. In all such cases the public transport becomes a preferred choice of people, as inherently people loathe driving in the mad rush of a city like Delhi. General public, intelligent as they are, will always prefer a cost effective, efficient and convenient mode of travel. It is only in the absence of alternatives that they are forced to drive out privately on a daily basis.

Any long term solution, therefore, does not lie in forcing the scheme of road rationing down the throat of common man, but in providing an alternate means that people would automatically select. The government cannot divert the attention from its failure to provide public transport system that cares for its people by placing these hurdles in  an otherwise extremely challenging life of common man. Its the ruling class that has to answer for its corruption and ill planning that has shaped public transport in our cities and its very odd to even seek answers from common man as to how good citizen he is. 

Just a passing thought....

Remembering Prem Narayan Awasthi (Chhote Guru)

 

A picture of Shri Prem Narayan Awasthi from Family Album

 

 

On 08 Aug 13, received a sad news that Chhote Guru was no more... The news of demise of "Guru Chachcha" as many of us used to fondly call him, seemed to take away something very close to my memories..

 

I have always seen Sri Prem Narayan Awasthi (Chhotte Guru) associated with our family, from my childhood till now when I am about 40, and to me, memories of Kanchausi always appeared incomplete without at least a reference to Chhote Guru. My childhood is filled with memories where I played with and learnt many lessons of life from him.

 

If I recall correctly the stories told by grandfather, Guru Chachcha joined our family at a very young age, may be he was just 15 years or so when great grandfather used to run a business from Kanchausi. Chhote Guru used to help in all sort of odd jobs and that made him so valuable for our family. On the other hand, his father found it a useful association as it would keep him away from other destructive activities and gave him an opportunity to learn and earn. It was a marriage of convenience of sorts.

 

However, Guru Chachcha made himself increasingly valuable for our family by taking over greater responsibilities from driving a bullock-cart to fetching drinking water, from visiting the Paddy fields to checking the incoming mail at local post office, from keeping track of the train time to helping guests board the train and so on. I do not recollect a day when we could  do without his assistance irrespective of the fact wheather it was a business transaction or the domestic work. Grandfather and the ladies of the house found him equally helpful in discharge of their chores and he obliged most of the times. The tasks assigned to him, of course, were befitting his status of a neighbour and a Brahmin by caste.To my mind, he has been a symbol of loyalty and service to our family, so rare to find even for a fortune these days. He was indeed, the most trusted lieutenant of grandfather.

 

My personal association with him, mostly as a child, was of a person who was always available to talk to and also a person who would praise me for my small stupidities. I could catch him any time and share my childhood imaginations. I found him coming to my help at every stage when I would need someone to extend a helping hand to me - from helping me to learn riding a bicycle or taking us to Mela at Jamauli or bringing us back from school, my memories are full of his images. Even when  grandfather took me to Agra for sightseeing (my first visit for sightseeing), Gugu Chachcha was with us sharing the pleasures and the difficulties of the trip.

 

I do not recollect any family celebration, be it a Marriage or Winter Camp or House Warming, complete without him. He was always there somewhere in background extending his help to the event. I am sure most of us, except fourth generation children, would remember his presence in our marriages (Pandit Balram and Chhote Guru - two inseparable people in all celebrations).

 

With so much of involvement in our lives, he had become more like a family member than an outsider who was associated just for some remuneration. While all of us treated him with respect and like a member of the family, on his part, Guru Chachcha, very gracefully handled the delicate points in the relationship with us.

 

Though the association of his wife with our family was restricted to social occasions, his three children (Ramu, Guddi and Anju) played with us and we grew up together.

 

As he was not keeping well lately, a day before I received the news, I was actually thinking of asking Papa as to how was Chhotey Guru and was thinking of meeting him when I visited Kanchausi next. But meeting him one last time was not my destiny.

 

I would always remember him as person who was very closely associated with our family almost as one of us and especially for his time and energy that he devoted to me in my childhood days. He would be in my prayers to God for granting him eternal peace....

 

 

 

My Experience of Road Journey from Sirsa (Haryana) to Bangalore (Karnataka)

Once I got my marching orders in Oct 10, it was time to plan my travel from Sirsa to Bangalore. As I had just picked up a new SUV recently (read Tata Safari Dicor EX), my heart was all eager to drive by road, though other suggestions like sending the new SUV by truck also came up for discussion. But in the last, the heart won over mind and we commenced our journey by road from Sirsa to Bangalore, estimated to be about 2600 Kms as per preliminary research done with Google Maps.

All eager to set course

Final moments at VIP Cottage at Sirsa

Prayers before hitting the road

The Plan.
While contemplating to hit the road, I extensively searched the net and collected the data, mainly with the help of Google Maps and Map My India websites. While Google Maps is a good site, Map My India has more details as it is available commercially in India. The whole journey from Sirsa to Bangalore was broken down into convenient halts starting from  Delhi, Kanchausi, Satna, Jabalpur, Nagpur, Hyderabad and then finally reaching Bangalore. The esitamted expenditure on fuel was worked out to be around Rs. 10,000/- based on 2600 Kms with an average fuel efficiency of 10 Kms per liter @ Rs. 37/- per liter of fuel. We planned to drive only during the day and rest at nights. We planned dispatch our luggage by truck by 31 Oct 10 so that we could leave early in the morning on 01 Nov 10.

The Journey.
The first sigh of relief was that we could send our luggage on planned day (31 Oct 10) and truck was out of the Main Gate by late afternoon. However, as we handed over the house and shifted to VIP Suit at Officers' Mess, the exhaustion took over and all of us slept like dead log. The lethargy was so much that we decided to postpone our departure by a day (to 02 Nov). We had been generous in keeping personal stuff aside to carry it with us in car, not realizing that even space in our new SUV can run short. The next hurdle was to accommodate all the stuff inside car and still keep the rear view clear. The evening was spent in packing and re-packing bags so that the excessive luggage could fit inside the car leaving just enough space of kids to spread legs and keeping just enough space to see the vehicles approaching from rear. I had to use all my skills to finally close the rear door of the car.

As the departure was delayed by a day, we decided to skip stay at Delhi and directly reach Kanchausi so that we did not loose out on our stay with parents. We planned to finally leave Sirsa on 02 Nov 10 at 0400 h so that we could reach during day light. We got up in time and NCE Madan Lal also arrived in time to serve tea and collect the final mess bill.

Day 1 (02 Nov 10).  We finally set course at 0400 h from Sirsa. Once we started every thing seemed to be reminding us of so many good things / times that we shared at Sirsa. We thought of stopping at every building to take pictures, but then decided to continue. We were finally stopped at the Main Gate when the guard quickly ran inside rest room and woke up Cpl Kundan (IAF/P) who came running to pay his final compliments before we departed. And then we finally rolled out of Mcdonalds look alike gate of Air Force Station Sirsa.

 Our hearts actually were very heavy while leaving this beautiful place where we had spent some wonderful time. The reading in my odometer was just little over 1000 kms. The road weas empty so we just flew to Rohtak. From Rohtak we decided to turn towards Jhajjar and join NH 2 (Delhi-Kolkatta) near Palwal so that we could avoid congestion of Delhi.  Just after driving few kilometers on this road, we realized that we had made a terrible mistake. The road almost did not exist and its remains were mainly used by heavy traffic as turcks were not allowed inside NCR during day and this connecting road was only connection between Haryana and NH2. We had horrifying time negotiating moon like path-wholes on the road. We almost thought that the new SUV may actually breakdown and our journey may not be as enjoyable as we had thought. As music stopped and sun started shining brightly, the tempers inside car also rose and we had a little family fight as well. Nothing seemed to go our way. Absence of Dhaba / roadside restaurant shops also added to our woes. As if this much was not enough for us, we took a wrong turn near Bilaspur and turned towards Gurgaon on NH8. By the time we realised the mistake, the traffic and the road barriers did not allow us to take U turn. We had to travel to Gurgaon and then take turn for Sohna on our way to NH2 near Palwal.

So finally we hit NH 2 around 1200 h. Once we reached NH2 the journey was enjoyable and very comfortable. We stopped at Mcdonells near Mathura to have lunch and then hit the road to complete remaining part of our journey. Due to time that we lost in the morning, we could reach Kanchausi only around 1900 h. It was fully dark when we reached Kanchausi. Generally parents fall asleep by that time, but they were awake and waiting for us. Every one was so happy to meet each other after a long time. I never realised when I fell asleep after going to the bed that night. We had driven just about 800 kms on day one.

Visit to Deokali Temple.

While we enjoyed our stay at Kanchausi, we decided to give entire family ride in our new possession and took them to Deokali Temple near Auraiya. I visited this temple after many many years and that too with entire family. As it was not a day of any festival, there were not very many people in temple. We could peacefully visit the temple and also spent some time in front of the Shiva statue. Papa, Mummy and Bua Ji were very happy.

Deokali Temple Auraiya

Deokali Temple Auraiya

Deokali Temple Auraiya

Deokali Temple Auraiya

Deokali Temple Auraiya

Deepawali at Kanchausi.


Next few days were very relaxing and enjoyable. Papa, Mummny, Bua Ji, Namita and kids were very happy. While ladies caught up on lost gossip, I met friends and slept to my heart's contents.

Tanav trying his hand in Head Massage

Deepawali Pooja

Deepawali Pooja

Deepawali Pooja

Crackers

Crackers

Deepawali Pooja

Technical Problem with My New Safari Dicor.

We also went on rides to nearby places during our stay at Kanchausi. While we were coming back from one such ride, the engine power suddenly dropped and an error message was flashing in the dash board. My heart sank and I really did not know what to do in such a remote place. Next day I spoke to TATA Safari's much boasted helpline with lots of expectations. But the response from Tata Safari helpline was extremely disappointing. Like many other places, Tatas have set up this helpline with a bunch of sub-standard telephone attendants who are poorly educated and lack basic common sense in handling issues.

Left with no choice, I decided to slowly drive the SUV to Kanpur where I could get it attended in authorised workshop. Before I did that I decided to start the engine couple of times and give full race. It seemed to have worked and while I drove to Kanpur on 08 Nov 10 slowly, the engine performed to its potential. The vehicle was attended at Society Motors and the vehicle was diagnosed not to have any major issues. There was some error in computer system of the vehicle which was quickly fixed. The vehicle was professionally attended to and I was fully satisfied with the work. 

Day 2 (08 Nov 10).

Day 3 (09 Nov 10).  We finally left Satna at 1400 h and started towards Jabalpur. As we had driven on this road about six months earlier, I was confident that the journey would be fine. The journey from Satna to Maihar was fine, the road was good though little narrow. However the road after Maihar till Jabalpur had actually deteriorated significantly and it was motorable in patches. We took little over five hours to cover a distance of about 200 kms. The average speed itself indicate the state of the road.

To be continued.......

First Ownership Review on Tata Safari Dicor EX

Well Friends.. finally the moment arrived and I was handed over the keys to my new Tata Safari Dicor EX 2.2 VTT (4X2) Pearl White at Telmos Motors at Hisar (Haryana) on 08 Oct 2010 (happens to be AF Day and first day of Navratri as well). In fact the thought of owning this wonderfully looking SUV had begun a long time back, but finances and domestic opposition to the idea were reasons to keep the decision pending. The discussions and persuasions were made now and then. Over a period of about six months things fell in place gradually and we booked the vehicle on 23 Sep 10 by paying booking amount to Mr Heera Singh of Telmos at Sirsa (the owner of Telmos at Sirsa and Hisar is same person). The final impetus was given by 10% DA hike announcement recently.

The cost of the vehicle through CSD was Rs. 8,07,139/- and the sum was arranged by sale of old Tata Indigo, some personal saving and a loan from SBI. Though the cheapest CSD purchase is available from Ahmedabad at Rs. 7.92 lakh, the cost of going there and driving it back rendered it more economical for me to pick it up from Hisar. Among the other costs the Registration will cost Rs. 9,000/- and insurance will cost Rs. 13,000/- (transferred from my old car with 50% NCB).

On 05 Oct 10, I sent across all necessary documents to CSD Depot Hisar through one Mr R Grover (the Accountant working with local AF Canteen). He got them processed and handed over the Release Orders of the SUV to Mr Subhash of Telmos at Hisar.

On 06 Oct 10, I got a confirmation that the vehicle had arrived at Hisar and I can pick it up any day. The news was discussed with friends and it was planned that we will visit Hisar on 07 Oct 10 to inspect the vehicle and to discuss the accessories that we can fit. The visit was successful as we could get a good deal with complimentary Seat Covers (Rs. 5000/-), Body Cover (Rs. 2000/-) and Teflon Coating (discount of Rs. 800/-). In addition I could also claim loyalty bonus of Rs. 10,000/- as I was already owning Tata Indigo. On our request the vehicle was brought from the Godown for our inspection. The first look at the SUV was not so impressive as the vehicle was dirty and tyres gave impression as if the vehicle was used. However the Odometer read 23 Kms only. Otherwise the vehicle looked fine. Here are some pictures taken on 07 Oct 10.

So finally the day came when after taking oath (remember 08 Oct) in the morning, We rushed to Hisar to pick up the vehicle. When we reached Telmos, the documentation and the vehicle were ready for delivery. Namita and kids inspected the vehicle and were seen trying to come in terms with the feeling of owning the SUV.

We had taken one Mr Sant Lal with us who was a help in checking the vehicle. He pointed out some problems with power windows with the rear windows that was quickly fixed by replacing small electrical parts.

After settling all the dues and collection of documents, it was finally the time to drive the vehicle home. We were handed over the keys formally by My Subhash who was dealing with me through the process of booking, negotiations and delivery. The vehicle was given HR99FS TEMP 1833 as its temporary Registration  Number.

So finally it was time for me to take the steering and drive my new Tata Safari home. When I entered the vehicle and moved it forward - my first feeling - it was huge and tall SUV with so much of space. Kids were just freaking out and jumping from middle row to the rear row. As per my son, the ride in bucket seats (jump in seats ) in the rear was good and enjoyable. Due to dual air-conditioning, the rear row of the vehicle was also cool and comfortable. The quality of interiors was very impressive. Contrary to the view of many, I found that even the quality of plastic used was much better than previous (before 2010) models of the the vehicle. The front console with wooden finish looked very attractive. And of course I also tried to hear sounds from doors (as experienced by many in previous models) and I could detect no extra sound. The seats and backrest were like sofa and very luxurious. While taking the test drive of the vehicle, I had found that the gear shift was little hard. But in the vehicle that was delivered to me, the gear shift was better and may be it would become even smoother with vehicle running-in. The remote controlled Alpine CD Player music system installed was good. It does not have provision to play cassettes, but iPod can be attached with slight modification (cable has been given with the system).

The journey from Hisar to Sirsa is about 90 Kms and we were very excited about the experience. The fact that the vehicle provides a taller seating space, the perspective of the traffic and road is totally different. I could see the vehicles much ahead of me and could drive more safely and smoothly. The pickup was really good. Though as per the manual, during running-in period (about 1000 kms), I should not make sudden accelerations, I tried overtaking few vehicles in one attempt and could easily and confidently do it even with traffic available from opposite direction.

Will continue...

11 Oct 10

In last few days I have driven around late during evenings and enjoyed the ride. Even during night driving when overtaking is generally is not very comfortable, with this vehicle it is much easier and comfortable as the high beams of oncoming vehicles do not bother much and the height also gives better view of the obstructions on the road. The illumination of instrument panel gives a very soothing feeling with its bright and clear lights.

As we are driving this vehicle, with each passing day, it just grows on us and we fall more in love with it.

However we still miss our old car Tata Indigo. I must share that Tata Indigo served us very well and never let us down at any point in time. We travelled  far and wide without ever getting any problems with the vehicle. All of us and especially Namita is really finding it difficult to reconcile with the fact that our dear car is no longer with us. Here are some pictures of my Tata Indigo.

Last few family pictures with our old Indigo

Car keys handed over

Our dear car being driven away..... it is still shining and looking almost brand new

Sirsa Stay

Recently Aamir Khan was on a tour to Haryana. While he was going back, I could catch up with him.

The Beginning

These days, the "blogging" is the in-thing. Everyone seems to be blogging and it has come to acquire a "status symbol" kind of place. So in this new year 2010, I also thought of taking the initiative and am experimenting with this tool. Like everyone told me, creating a blog, was very easy - just click of few buttons and its ready and working. But then comes the bigger challenge - what to put on the blog. Believe me, this not an easy question, as most of the "articles of interest" seem to have already been taken. Well then I thought of putting some thing on the blog which is unique to our family and may interest all our family members.

So now on, I will put our family circular - Home News on this blog and will make our family members aware of its availability. Subsequent topics can be added later as they come by. Who knows may be a collection of Home News may be worth publication as well some time in future.