My ahmedabad jinx continues..
When ankit was here we went to some place by car and arya had to pay a fine for breaking the signal.. he was very sad.. he said "life mein pehli baar fine de raha hoon".. sobs.. then i said "this was not the first and will not be the last time you are gonna pay a fine.
But again yesterday when he was dropping me off the traffic police caugth him.. Is baar 100 ka fatka fir se.. though 2nd time galti nahi thi par he was very frustrated.. then i said "aaj second time fine de raha hai nahi??"
Moral- "jamta nahi hai rang jab milte hain teen yaar mein, gadi aur ahmedabad". This was the fifth time out of the 8 times that i have travelled, that i am invovled in a traffic panga.. :(
Friday, June 29, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The Ticket
Today I found out why e-booking is a real boon to the youngsters and the fast-track livers like many of us. (No offense intended to people who enjoy standing in long queues and experiencing the mix bag of “paseene ki badboo”)
I was sitting in my office during the lunch break and suddenly I was reminded that I was about to leave Ahmedabad and I had not booked my tickets. So I decided to check out the availability of the tickets. I also remember that the last time I tried e-booking it did not work as my debit card was not listed on the railway website. But now I had a credit card. So why stand in the long queues. Moreover I have noticed that stink is an integral part of the ticket booking process. Either you have to bear the stink by standing behind a tall guy’s armpits or over a short guy’s oily hair. Anyways I thought why not utilize this opportunity and try e-booking. I worked really well. Apart from the ticket I just had to pay an extra charge of Rs.10. Economical too. Then I thought why not book the ticket for my itinerary from Chennai to Trichy on the tenth of July.
All of a sudden now I was a big fan of the e-booking system. I also started cursing the normal ticket booking system. But then again I thought why not give it a last chance. May be there will be something more joyful about normal ticket purchase. Off I went, to the Gandhigram railway station which was near my office. As soon as I arrived at the station I thought may be I had made a wrong decision earlier.
It was a battlefield. Even after reaching the station people were running towards counter window; some were even without an application form. I am a typical Piscean, undecisive in small matters. So I spent about half a minute thinking which counter to join. The last time I stood in front of a counter for half an hour only to realize that it was not a reservation counter but only an enquiry counter. The instance before that I had waited for an extra half and hour as it was the sahib log’s lunch time. I was expecting some action to take place in the reservation centre which usually happens. (mostly for cutting lines and jumping forward). I was not disappointed as a SLAB had just walked in.
And yes, I hate SLABS. (SLABS stands for scrappy/shitty little aunties and behenjis/ bithches). They have an attitude of the nawabs and rajahs of the bygone era. They think the others are just jobless and simply standing in the queue for passing off time. They just walk into the reservation centre and directly head for the counter. Mostly they will be accompanied by small children and their husbands will be waiting outside the centre hoping that their spouses will do the job. I had studied such SLABS. The have a few standard tricks.
1) Public seduction- They will walk in and state that she had been here before there are some minor changes which she has to make and utmost will take only 2 second. They will also catch the hand the hand of the person while talking so that the man’s attention is strayed but only till she says the golden words “bhaiyaji”. Mostly this works and the man standing in the queue starts boasting about his humanity and helping nature to everyone else in the centre.
2) Exhibiting superiority- For women who are not blessed with beauty there is a second method. These women walk into the counter and just give their ticket to the counter attendant. When questioned they don’t answer and give looks as if it is not necessary to answer to such questions. And no one dares to question her further.
3) Abla nari nautanki- Some women come in and ask they man standing second in the queue to book tickets for her. If the man refuses they start crying or just shout out loudly. Both may result in the man being hospitalized for a few weeks. So the poor guy has to do the job.
So anyways in this station a SLAB just walked in and started arguing with the attendant who rightly refused to make her ticket. And after a ten minute long argument, during which the whole line had been stalled, there was a surprise ending. The woman was thrown out. And as per my “theory of SLABs” her husband was standing outside. It was one of the few moments in life when you could actually see “SATYA MEVA JAYATE”. The woman made a comeback then she came again and argued again. But this time, for a different reason. She said she was cheated as the attendant had paid back only 100 bucks but she thought she had to be given 200 bucks. But this time again we discovered that she was wrong. According to her, 500-400=200.
Conclusion- SLABS may be weak at mathematics.
The action was not over we had a fight in one the most unexpected places- the senior citizen queue. Two uncles started a verbatim with a third person who allegedly cut the line. But the third guy who had a real loud voice started shouting back that he had just gone ahead to check out an information board the railway guys had surprisingly kept inside the counter. The best part was that all the three oldies were holding their chests while shouting. For a moment I thought that someone amongst them might surely die today. The last hurdle before achieving victory in this war was that the guy standing just ahead of me was a travel agent. He had some 9 forms and since he knew the attendant they first started chatting for a few minutes before the attendant started making tickets. That guy alone took 15 minutes.
In the end I realized that I could have made the tickets sitting in my air-conditioned office and spending just 238 bucks. Instead I spent 270 bucks in all and I wasted a good 80 minutes. From now on it’s a total no for railway reservation centers.
“LONG LIVE E-TICKETING”
I was sitting in my office during the lunch break and suddenly I was reminded that I was about to leave Ahmedabad and I had not booked my tickets. So I decided to check out the availability of the tickets. I also remember that the last time I tried e-booking it did not work as my debit card was not listed on the railway website. But now I had a credit card. So why stand in the long queues. Moreover I have noticed that stink is an integral part of the ticket booking process. Either you have to bear the stink by standing behind a tall guy’s armpits or over a short guy’s oily hair. Anyways I thought why not utilize this opportunity and try e-booking. I worked really well. Apart from the ticket I just had to pay an extra charge of Rs.10. Economical too. Then I thought why not book the ticket for my itinerary from Chennai to Trichy on the tenth of July.
All of a sudden now I was a big fan of the e-booking system. I also started cursing the normal ticket booking system. But then again I thought why not give it a last chance. May be there will be something more joyful about normal ticket purchase. Off I went, to the Gandhigram railway station which was near my office. As soon as I arrived at the station I thought may be I had made a wrong decision earlier.
It was a battlefield. Even after reaching the station people were running towards counter window; some were even without an application form. I am a typical Piscean, undecisive in small matters. So I spent about half a minute thinking which counter to join. The last time I stood in front of a counter for half an hour only to realize that it was not a reservation counter but only an enquiry counter. The instance before that I had waited for an extra half and hour as it was the sahib log’s lunch time. I was expecting some action to take place in the reservation centre which usually happens. (mostly for cutting lines and jumping forward). I was not disappointed as a SLAB had just walked in.
And yes, I hate SLABS. (SLABS stands for scrappy/shitty little aunties and behenjis/ bithches). They have an attitude of the nawabs and rajahs of the bygone era. They think the others are just jobless and simply standing in the queue for passing off time. They just walk into the reservation centre and directly head for the counter. Mostly they will be accompanied by small children and their husbands will be waiting outside the centre hoping that their spouses will do the job. I had studied such SLABS. The have a few standard tricks.
1) Public seduction- They will walk in and state that she had been here before there are some minor changes which she has to make and utmost will take only 2 second. They will also catch the hand the hand of the person while talking so that the man’s attention is strayed but only till she says the golden words “bhaiyaji”. Mostly this works and the man standing in the queue starts boasting about his humanity and helping nature to everyone else in the centre.
2) Exhibiting superiority- For women who are not blessed with beauty there is a second method. These women walk into the counter and just give their ticket to the counter attendant. When questioned they don’t answer and give looks as if it is not necessary to answer to such questions. And no one dares to question her further.
3) Abla nari nautanki- Some women come in and ask they man standing second in the queue to book tickets for her. If the man refuses they start crying or just shout out loudly. Both may result in the man being hospitalized for a few weeks. So the poor guy has to do the job.
So anyways in this station a SLAB just walked in and started arguing with the attendant who rightly refused to make her ticket. And after a ten minute long argument, during which the whole line had been stalled, there was a surprise ending. The woman was thrown out. And as per my “theory of SLABs” her husband was standing outside. It was one of the few moments in life when you could actually see “SATYA MEVA JAYATE”. The woman made a comeback then she came again and argued again. But this time, for a different reason. She said she was cheated as the attendant had paid back only 100 bucks but she thought she had to be given 200 bucks. But this time again we discovered that she was wrong. According to her, 500-400=200.
Conclusion- SLABS may be weak at mathematics.
The action was not over we had a fight in one the most unexpected places- the senior citizen queue. Two uncles started a verbatim with a third person who allegedly cut the line. But the third guy who had a real loud voice started shouting back that he had just gone ahead to check out an information board the railway guys had surprisingly kept inside the counter. The best part was that all the three oldies were holding their chests while shouting. For a moment I thought that someone amongst them might surely die today. The last hurdle before achieving victory in this war was that the guy standing just ahead of me was a travel agent. He had some 9 forms and since he knew the attendant they first started chatting for a few minutes before the attendant started making tickets. That guy alone took 15 minutes.
In the end I realized that I could have made the tickets sitting in my air-conditioned office and spending just 238 bucks. Instead I spent 270 bucks in all and I wasted a good 80 minutes. From now on it’s a total no for railway reservation centers.
“LONG LIVE E-TICKETING”
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Ahmedabad - a slow Mumbai
Since the past few weeks this thing has been lingering in my mind. I always wanted to find out whether Ahmedabad is really as great as Mumbai. Well frankly speaking 'yes' and 'no' (may be a few more "no's" than yes')
As far as shopping malls, food outlets, lifestyle etc go ahmedabad is as good as Mumbai. But the fast food in Ahmedabad is really slow. I had to wait for 20 minutes even when there was no other customer. The cook will first exercise as if he has to climb Mt.Everest and then he will talk to his friend on the phone, light the gas.. The whole process is so so so slow. But the point is the food taste's as good as it does in any other city. This is where Mumbai scores over others; TIME. I have to face a lot of criticism from friends who say that Mumbaikars like me don't have emotions, they can't socialize etc. But I can't help it. I have never done it. I have always preferred watching a movie or reading a book rather than hanging out. Although I do hangout but thats once in a while.
Another area where Mumbai scores over Ahmedabad is social security. People in Ahmedabad are more concerned about Hindu-Muslim fights. Suppose a fight or a riot breaks out in India, inevitably it will spread to the old city area of Ahmedabad. I still remember the gujrat government keeping thousands of blackcats and RAF jawans when the Hindu's had a "rally for their Gods" and they purposely wanted to go through the sensitive areas. Similarly the Muslims prefer to sacrifice a cow rather than a goat cause it will hurt the Hindu's more..
Kya chaat hai baap?? Shanti se baitho na!! Every shop in Ahmedabad will be filled with hockey stick not because the sport is picking up (lol) but for security reasons..
Ahmedabad also scores over Mumbai in a few aspects like helping people but I think because they enjoy life more and have time at their disposal. Anyways I have concluded that Ahmedabad is a small and slow version of Mumbai.
As far as shopping malls, food outlets, lifestyle etc go ahmedabad is as good as Mumbai. But the fast food in Ahmedabad is really slow. I had to wait for 20 minutes even when there was no other customer. The cook will first exercise as if he has to climb Mt.Everest and then he will talk to his friend on the phone, light the gas.. The whole process is so so so slow. But the point is the food taste's as good as it does in any other city. This is where Mumbai scores over others; TIME. I have to face a lot of criticism from friends who say that Mumbaikars like me don't have emotions, they can't socialize etc. But I can't help it. I have never done it. I have always preferred watching a movie or reading a book rather than hanging out. Although I do hangout but thats once in a while.
Another area where Mumbai scores over Ahmedabad is social security. People in Ahmedabad are more concerned about Hindu-Muslim fights. Suppose a fight or a riot breaks out in India, inevitably it will spread to the old city area of Ahmedabad. I still remember the gujrat government keeping thousands of blackcats and RAF jawans when the Hindu's had a "rally for their Gods" and they purposely wanted to go through the sensitive areas. Similarly the Muslims prefer to sacrifice a cow rather than a goat cause it will hurt the Hindu's more..
Kya chaat hai baap?? Shanti se baitho na!! Every shop in Ahmedabad will be filled with hockey stick not because the sport is picking up (lol) but for security reasons..
Ahmedabad also scores over Mumbai in a few aspects like helping people but I think because they enjoy life more and have time at their disposal. Anyways I have concluded that Ahmedabad is a small and slow version of Mumbai.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)