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Saturday, October 10, 2009

God's Own Curry v1.1

Note: After a series of discussions with bloggers and members of the community, we have decided to edit and remove certain excerpts on this blog which refers to any particular cities, communities or individuals and which probably hurts sentiments of people who are working for the progress of their cities or communities. Unfortunately, the truth remains and let us all try to change that! Also, one must realise that Engish is a funny language that includes sarcasm and humor and you should learn to accept English the way it is!


The very "concerned" hypocrites
A boat carrying tourists capsizes and drowns 45 human lives in the famed Thekkady lake in Kerala. The news attains "national" status primarily coz of the many Northies who died in the tragedy. Investigations ordered. The boat driver and someone called the Chief Inspector of Boats who apparently licensed the boat are arrested.

On the flip side, 1000s die every year on bad roads in the state of Kerala. More die due to bad drivers and gruesome accidents, like those caused by the state-run bus services. Does the Thekkady style of law enforcement apply to the PWD and KSRTC? Will the same responsible State arrest the drivers of those buses or the engineers, contractors and other workers who designed and laid our roads meant for one-night stands?

Or will the Delhi media take up every death caused on the road just like they did with the ferry tragedy? No, they won't and people will die simply because we lack good infrastructure.

The Metro Impact!
Yesterday, the Metro Manorama (supplement in Kerala's leading newspaper) displayed pictures of vehicles carrying fancy-looking registration plates. For the next few days, the traffic cops will fine every other car on the street not following the registration plate guidelines. Metro Manorama will proudly call it "Metro Impact". Rightly so and good work!

But, all the enthusiasm will die down when either a so-called Citizen's NGO goes on strike against the fines imposed on their dear citizens or when the son of a higher-up is given a ticket for the same. Disobedient citizens or just puppet cops?

Of Fanatics & Patriots ...

Removed - Reason: Trying not to be a fanatic myself :)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

God's Own Craters - here to stay!

Note: After a series of discussions with bloggers and members of the community, we have decided to edit and remove certain excerpts on this blog which refers to any particular cities, communities or individuals and which probably hurts sentiments of people who are working for the progress of their cities or communities. Unfortunately, the truth remains and let us all try to change that! Also, one must realise that Engish is a funny language that includes sarcasm and humor and you should learn to accept English the way it is!




My morning walks have resumed. I decided to take the healthy route to hell (whenever that comes). Unlike my earlier running outfit of just a t-shirt, shorts and running shoes, I have taken to track pants and all-terrain shoes. With superior road conditions in place, the only road without potholes is nearly a mile away. But to get there, I would have to take a road which resembles Craters, Valleys, Cliffs, Rocky Mountains and some very huge ponds.

All that terrain means you get yourself a good pair of all-terrain running shoes. I looked around the city for all-terrain shoes and not having found suitable brands or models, thought it might be wiser to actually run to the nearest shopping mall which unfortunately is 200 kilometers away. Again to get to that "mall", I would have to take a day off work, take a long weekend, do some shopping, spend time with family and cousins up there, eat and drink! All that would cost me the equivalent of 3 pairs of shoes, at least. Not a good idea!


Ultimately, this wannabe jogger, had to go the e-way to fetch a pair of shoes. I logged on to amazon and had a pair of shoes shipped across the seas.


Yes, my running comes at a cost. The craters can cost you your life and of course the shoes just keep getting harder and costlier.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Japan, Barcelona et al! - P.S: We are Optimists!

Note: After a series of discussions with bloggers and members of the community, we have decided to edit and remove certain excerpts on this blog which refers to any particular cities, communities or individuals and which probably hurts sentiments of people who are working for the progress of their cities or communities. Unfortunately, the truth remains and let us all try to change that! Also, one must realise that Engish is a funny language that includes sarcasm and humor and you should learn to accept English the way it is!

I am sure most of you out there would have heard of the twin city concept.

This city, for quite some time now, has been making vain attempts to resemble a little bit of Japan, a little of Barcelona etc. A few years back, she was trying to twin herself with some English town. Can't remember which one? I guess that one was just for the newspapers. I dunno how far this is true but I hear the city has twinned with a local suburb which hosts the state's IT Hub. Thanks to IT, the city has changed her sleepy government town image.

In recent years, the Japs stepped in to provide everything (except the water) that is required to carry water from one end of the city to the other without pipe bursts. Unfortunately, the pipe bursts continue, the roads have become open canals, we do not need pipes no more. Thanks to the Japs and mostly inefficiency at the local level, we have Kerala's best road network with separate lanes (oda in Malayalam) for two-wheelers and joggers. Another reason why I quit the morning walk, lest I fall into an Oda, they would say I was trying a drowning lesson.

As if all this was not enough, we have some wisemen comin up with ideas like making Barcelona our new twin. Awesome! Brilliant! Seriously!!! Imagine having those wide open grounds, 10 meter wide sidewalks, Catalonian architecture, tree-lined boulevards, a Camp Nou, wannabe-Messi kids, motorways, tourism, cheese, fashion, real beaches ... wow!

This attempt at making this city a Barcelona is absolutely amazing and welcome as long as it does not remain an "attempt".

FYI and your enlightenment, Barcelona has already a few twin cities, the likes of Dubai, Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Shanghai and imagine having this city in that crowd of megacities! Way to go!!!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Random Curry For Ya!

Hi,

Here we shall strive to bring you the best curry from the best places and people.
Curry - sweet, hot, red and yellow.

You might or might not like it. If you have a brain and an open one at that, please stay back and refresh yourself.


If you are more like the "how can he say that about my..." kinda guy with a stuck-up brain, you better get goin' coz we do not plan to entertain whiners.



We shall also strive not to use your name, your street name, your ex-girlfriends' name, your employer's name, your dog's name, your city's name and any other name you might find offensive to your culture, religion etc. In case, we do use names that sound familiar to you or to your family or even your community and country or names that are similar to that you have, a 1000 apologies is all we can say. We really cannot do much about it, neither are we gonna try doing something about it. Especially, with the Internet around, it is a small world out there!



This is our first truly random post and we hope to randomize you with as much crap as you can take.