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Showing posts from April, 2014

Traffic woes- Bangalore

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Bangalore is a wonderful city to live in. I'm not the first one to say it and won't be the last. But there's always a caveat to that sweeping statement. Bangalore is a wonderful city to live in. BUT the traffic drives me crazy.  Again, I'm not the first one to say it and certainly won't be the last. With a huge  population that is only growing, the traffic situation in Bangalore is only going to get worse. Many months ago, I decided to do a satirical piece on Bangalore's traffic. And so I began observing it closely. And slowly I began to understand that this wasn't an issue you could laugh away. Somewhere in the mad rush to success, development and modernisation, Bangalore's traffic has gone from being accidentally maddening to being deliberately cruel. People have lost the ability to judge right from wrong. There is only one rule on Bangalore's roads- the one that suits you. Jumping signals, drinking and driving, motorcyclists riding on footpaths, s

Traffic woes- Bangalore

Image
Bangalore is a wonderful city to live in. I'm not the first one to say it and won't be the last. But there's always a caveat to that sweeping statement. Bangalore is a wonderful city to live in. BUT the traffic drives me crazy.  Again, I'm not the first one to say it and certainly won't be the last. With a huge  population that is only growing, the traffic situation in Bangalore is only going to get worse. Many months ago, I decided to do a satirical piece on Bangalore's traffic. And so I began observing it closely. And slowly I began to understand that this wasn't an issue you could laugh away. Somewhere in the mad rush to success, development and modernisation, Bangalore's traffic has gone from being accidentally maddening to being deliberately cruel. People have lost the ability to judge right from wrong. There is only one rule on Bangalore's roads- the one that suits you. Jumping signals, drinking and driving, motorcyclists riding on footpaths,

Bangalore's Shame.

There are things worth getting upset about. Like the state of the nation. If you're not getting worked up about where this nation is headed, it's time for some introspection. In any case, I'm no one to judge. There are other things worth getting upset about. Like how utterly unconcerned your fellow citizens are about the future of the nation. Bengaluru. Familiar to most as Bangalore, the IT hub of India. Our very own silicon valley. The garden city (or what used to be the garden city). Home to the Royal Challengers Bangalore. In many ways, Bangalore is India in a nutshell. The diversity in it's population in terms of language and religion is a true manifestation of the diversity of India. One can not speak of Bangalore without speaking of two things. Bangalore's weather (Oh the beauty of it!) and Bangalore's traffic(Oh the terror!) . Bangalore is beautiful city with beautiful people. But today, Bangalore deserves none of those accolades. Bangalore deserves a rap

Bangalore's Shame.

There are things worth getting upset about. Like the state of the nation. If you're not getting worked up about where this nation is headed, it's time for some introspection. In any case, I'm no one to judge. There are other things worth getting upset about. Like how utterly unconcerned your fellow citizens are about the future of the nation. Bengaluru. Familiar to most as Bangalore, the IT hub of India. Our very own silicon valley. The garden city (or what used to be the garden city). Home to the Royal Challengers Bangalore. In many ways, Bangalore is India in a nutshell. The diversity in it's population in terms of language and religion is a true manifestation of the diversity of India. One can not speak of Bangalore without speaking of two things. Bangalore's weather (Oh the beauty of it!) and Bangalore's traffic(Oh the terror!) . Bangalore is beautiful city with beautiful people. But today, Bangalore deserves none of those accolades. Bangalore deserves a ra

Voting Day

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It's a beautiful summer morning. It's 7 in the morning- the sun hasn't woken up fully yet. Far, far away on the horizon, he's just peeping to see if anyone else is awake. In no time, he's going to be up and ready to warm the earth's graceful soil and thankless humans with his radiance. But for now, a soothing breeze has got here first. She flies around playfully, bringing some short-lived yet much needed relief to the people who don't realise how fortunate they are to be there and experience it. By the roadside there is some activity, unusual for this time in the morning. People running around busily, wearing scarves and shirts that have printed on them symbols of political parties. Other people walking into a building, a school. Again, unusual for this time in the morning. Slowly the crowd increases. A young lady walks out of the school and smiles at me. I smile back. And then she showed me the finger. No. Not that finger. The one that was marked with indel

Voting Day

Image
It's a beautiful summer morning. It's 7 in the morning- the sun hasn't woken up fully yet. Far, far away on the horizon, he's just peeping to see if anyone else is awake. In no time, he's going to be up and ready to warm the earth's graceful soil and thankless humans with his radiance. But for now, a soothing breeze has got here first. She flies around playfully, bringing some short-lived yet much needed relief to the people who don't realise how fortunate they are to be there and experience it. By the roadside there is some activity, unusual for this time in the morning. People running around busily, wearing scarves and shirts that have printed on them symbols of political parties. Other people walking into a building, a school. Again, unusual for this time in the morning. Slowly the crowd increases. A young lady walks out of the school and smiles at me. I smile back. And then she showed me the finger. No. Not that finger. The one that was marked with i

College Nostalgia- What? WHY?

This has happened to me a few times now- Random older person you're talking to discovers that you're in college. "Ah. College life. Don't waste them man. They're the best days of your life". And I'm just standing there thinking, "Yeah bro. Cool thought. Want to write my record and observation for me? Due to tomorrow. 22 programs, algorithms and results". Then I thought about it. Why would anyone say that they miss college? So here's the top 5 reasons, according to me, why people tend to get nostalgic about college life. (This post is entirely satirical. That automatically implies that no offence should be taken. Then again, I'm in college. I'm entitled to make fun of older people and get away with it).  So here goes. 1) Their current job sucks.         When I say that, it must be really bad. Let's face it, sitting in theory class is the most boring thing in the life of a human being. If you've landed yourself a job that's

College Nostalgia- What? WHY?

This has happened to me a few times now- Random older person you're talking to discovers that you're in college. "Ah. College life. Don't waste them man. They're the best days of your life". And I'm just standing there thinking, "Yeah bro. Cool thought. Want to write my record and observation for me? Due to tomorrow. 22 programs, algorithms and results". Then I thought about it. Why would anyone say that they miss college? So here's the top 5 reasons, according to me, why people tend to get nostalgic about college life. (This post is entirely satirical. That automatically implies that no offence should be taken. Then again, I'm in college. I'm entitled to make fun of older people and get away with it).  So here goes. 1) Their current job sucks.         When I say that, it must be really bad. Let's face it, sitting in theory class is the most boring thing in the life of a human being. If you've landed yourself a job tha