As a ritual, every afternoon, I go to a restaurant which is located at a swanky mall in our tech park to have lunch ( These days I rarely have food at my office canteen).Not because the food there is very tasty but the walk upto the mall is a nice exercise to a person who spends most of his time sitting in front of a computer. The mall has half a dozen restaurants each offering from Chinese to South Indian. There is a stiff compitition between each of them because of the "Techie" crowd that doesn't mind spending a little more than the usual price you find in any darshini-kind of hotel inside the city.Each hotel, in the mall wants to make best use of this opportunity.
The past few days have been quite eventful for them. A cockroach was found along with the food provided by one such 'over-priced' hotel . Nothing happened, as the customer, funnily, didnt bother to demand an explanation. He simply showed the hotel-worker what he had served along with his veg biryani and the hotel guy ,trying to sound apologetic mumbled something and the whole incident was played down.
I went to one of the busiest hotels in the mall today for lunch and ordered Pudhina Pulav ( I love anything made of Pudhina and was surprised to see it on todays menu !). After 10 minutes when I walk up to him to take my order, I get suspicious looking at the dish he had just served. It didn't look like Pudhina Pulav at all ! It resembled more like plain Veg Pulav. I just ask him again if he was sure if it was what i had ordered and he answers me in affirmation. I decide to quietly take my order to my seat, just to confirm from my colleagues, before I question the hotel guys again . I ask them to taste it to see if they also felt it was Pudhina Pulav. They burst out laughing, saying it was just plain Veg Pulav.
With the suspicion cleared, I walk up to the hotel guys and tell them what they had served.
To my surprise, one of the hotel guys blurts out that it was indeed Pudhina Pulav ! I tell him that if this was Pudhina Pulav then why wasn't it green, the very essence (and confirmation) of pudhina ! That guy started arguing foolishly and as if it wasnt enough, he was soon joined by his cronies . Finally, one of them blurted out that as i looked like a gentleman he wouldn't want to talk in a rough manner . I was shocked ! First of all he was on the wrong side and on top of that he wants to warn me that if I continue my argument things would get messier !!!
I just wanted to break his head right there !
Anyway, people can go to any extent to do business (like serving some other dish in the name of some thing else).
I see this "conning" almost everywhere these days in Bangalore..be it the autos, or the vegetable vendors and now even inside eateries in swanky malls !
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
My first official post in the third official blog
I always believed that my first post in every blog should always be something that's close to my heart. Well, its not about Auto-wallas or about some movie review (though you should expect milions of billion posts on them in the coming future..).
I have been keenly following all that hoopla about the BRIC countries. Though it's almost certain China would be the next super power after US & A, can we say the same thing about our country, INDIA ?
Well, the much talked about BRIC report( that's almost turning out to be a Bible for all the market analysts and investors) throws out all kinds of statistics to prove the point.But, I believe the 'road ahead' is far from easy...sometimes even IMPOSSIBLE ...
As i write this, people might write me off as an unthinkable pessimist or an un-patriotic brute.
But are we doing anything to sustain the 8-9% GDP growth that we have been witnessing in the recent past ?
Let me not get into the statistics and technicalities. I am sure, everyone agrees that ours is still largely an agriculture-based economy. Our farmers are still largely poor when compared to their counterparts in Brazil, China or Russia. Whatever the government has done to agriculture, farmers in particular, has just not been enough to put them on the same platform as the rest of the BRIC countries . Though we stand among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of GDP, we still largely are a poor nation. What an irony !
I have been wondering for quite sometime about how our country would have behaved to a communist setup. I know its not easy to imagine India being a communist country ! But, I have slowly started believing that implementing a law in a democratic setup is NOT at all easy . There are so many examples to support this theory.
Let us look at one such recent law that was involved in much controversy about Banning cigarette smoking in Cinemas . It came as the most blatant attack on the film fraternity, so much so that some even felt that their fundamental right was violated. The media declared the law as "outrightly dumb " , Ambumani Ramdoss' (Health Minister)name became sinister overnight and the proposed law continues to be debated(like always). If the same law were to be implemented in China, it would have just passed as yet-another-government-policy;No one would have lifted their voice...no hue and cry ...
Every single law, no matter how good it maybe always faces a stiff opposition in our country.
Every time a person suggests a solution, there will be another person to turn it down, so that a solution more favourable to him comes out.
The weapon called 'Democracy' helps to reject easily as much as it does to propose .
So you finally have an atmosephere where "no one listens to anyone" : UTTER CHAOS .
Lets take another example : Have you ever wondered why our surroundings are not as clean as our homes ? I am sure you must have . You would have also gone a step further by thinking of a solution. But, how far have you taken that idea towards implementation ? Chances are the idea would have collapsed as easily as it came up. That's because you almost always know that no one would listen to you if you happened to ask someone not to spit or throw garbage on the road. You would probably have to face a remark like " what right you have to tell me that " .Some people would try to add a logical point of view to their acts saying " you know, there's no place to throw garbage these days" . But when the govt. realised that and implemented a garbage-recovery system, the people still continued to treat the roads as dust-bins .... so you still have garbage piling up.But, if you go back and read those remarks again, you will see that never would they accept their mistake and take back the garbage.
If we had a law ( i know its too much to ask for) to fine anyone who litters, things would have been a lot better. But, you may forget any such thing to happen as some random guy would challenge it saying "what if the person who litters is a poor man.You can't expect him to pay up fines for such things ". Phew !
There was another incident that sparked off a lot of controversy in the recent past. It was about the PM's statement about big business honchos leading an ultra-lavish lifestyle. He asked them to tone it down a little bit. But, the next day itself , all the business class was up in arms against PM saying he had made an unfair remark and they cannot simply live the way he dictates.
All that the PM said was " We are still a country where poverty is ramphant. If the so called business-class live so extravagantly, what signal does it send out to those millions of people who struggle to have even one meal a day ! It only shows how apathetic the business class is when they should be concerned about nation-building along with their balance-sheets.
And, then there was the media which as if behaving as a neutral spectator took sides against the PM.
Such a thing wouldn't have occured in a communist setup where you put stringent limits to anyone who tries to increase the rich class-poor class divide. This ensures that you put Nation-building before individual prosperity.
Communism has always been portrayed in bad light ...
To be continued....
I have been keenly following all that hoopla about the BRIC countries. Though it's almost certain China would be the next super power after US & A, can we say the same thing about our country, INDIA ?
Well, the much talked about BRIC report( that's almost turning out to be a Bible for all the market analysts and investors) throws out all kinds of statistics to prove the point.But, I believe the 'road ahead' is far from easy...sometimes even IMPOSSIBLE ...
As i write this, people might write me off as an unthinkable pessimist or an un-patriotic brute.
But are we doing anything to sustain the 8-9% GDP growth that we have been witnessing in the recent past ?
Let me not get into the statistics and technicalities. I am sure, everyone agrees that ours is still largely an agriculture-based economy. Our farmers are still largely poor when compared to their counterparts in Brazil, China or Russia. Whatever the government has done to agriculture, farmers in particular, has just not been enough to put them on the same platform as the rest of the BRIC countries . Though we stand among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of GDP, we still largely are a poor nation. What an irony !
I have been wondering for quite sometime about how our country would have behaved to a communist setup. I know its not easy to imagine India being a communist country ! But, I have slowly started believing that implementing a law in a democratic setup is NOT at all easy . There are so many examples to support this theory.
Let us look at one such recent law that was involved in much controversy about Banning cigarette smoking in Cinemas . It came as the most blatant attack on the film fraternity, so much so that some even felt that their fundamental right was violated. The media declared the law as "outrightly dumb " , Ambumani Ramdoss' (Health Minister)name became sinister overnight and the proposed law continues to be debated(like always). If the same law were to be implemented in China, it would have just passed as yet-another-government-policy;No one would have lifted their voice...no hue and cry ...
Every single law, no matter how good it maybe always faces a stiff opposition in our country.
Every time a person suggests a solution, there will be another person to turn it down, so that a solution more favourable to him comes out.
The weapon called 'Democracy' helps to reject easily as much as it does to propose .
So you finally have an atmosephere where "no one listens to anyone" : UTTER CHAOS .
Lets take another example : Have you ever wondered why our surroundings are not as clean as our homes ? I am sure you must have . You would have also gone a step further by thinking of a solution. But, how far have you taken that idea towards implementation ? Chances are the idea would have collapsed as easily as it came up. That's because you almost always know that no one would listen to you if you happened to ask someone not to spit or throw garbage on the road. You would probably have to face a remark like " what right you have to tell me that " .Some people would try to add a logical point of view to their acts saying " you know, there's no place to throw garbage these days" . But when the govt. realised that and implemented a garbage-recovery system, the people still continued to treat the roads as dust-bins .... so you still have garbage piling up.But, if you go back and read those remarks again, you will see that never would they accept their mistake and take back the garbage.
If we had a law ( i know its too much to ask for) to fine anyone who litters, things would have been a lot better. But, you may forget any such thing to happen as some random guy would challenge it saying "what if the person who litters is a poor man.You can't expect him to pay up fines for such things ". Phew !
There was another incident that sparked off a lot of controversy in the recent past. It was about the PM's statement about big business honchos leading an ultra-lavish lifestyle. He asked them to tone it down a little bit. But, the next day itself , all the business class was up in arms against PM saying he had made an unfair remark and they cannot simply live the way he dictates.
All that the PM said was " We are still a country where poverty is ramphant. If the so called business-class live so extravagantly, what signal does it send out to those millions of people who struggle to have even one meal a day ! It only shows how apathetic the business class is when they should be concerned about nation-building along with their balance-sheets.
And, then there was the media which as if behaving as a neutral spectator took sides against the PM.
Such a thing wouldn't have occured in a communist setup where you put stringent limits to anyone who tries to increase the rich class-poor class divide. This ensures that you put Nation-building before individual prosperity.
Communism has always been portrayed in bad light ...
To be continued....
Why another blog ?
If you are wondering why on earth i am back to blogging, there are many reasons.
Firstly, its been more than 1.5 years since i blogged and these 1.5 years, especially the last 6-8 months bear special importance to me. Why ? Its simple : I moved from college life into the so called "Corporate" life (or atleast i am supposed to believe so). The transition, obviously, hasn't been without some minor hiccups. But, nevertheless its been a huge learning experience.
Secondly, I just felt like blogging again .
and thirdly, yeah you guessed it right, I couldn't just say NO to all those requests and mails from fellow friends(read fans) to re-enter the Blog-Oh-Sphere !
Guess all of you are eager to read my blog as much as i want to write them ...
So fasten your seat-belts and let the blogs take over !
Cheers !
PS: For people who wish to get a peek into my previous blog, here's the link : www.idlivadesambar.blogspot.com
Firstly, its been more than 1.5 years since i blogged and these 1.5 years, especially the last 6-8 months bear special importance to me. Why ? Its simple : I moved from college life into the so called "Corporate" life (or atleast i am supposed to believe so). The transition, obviously, hasn't been without some minor hiccups. But, nevertheless its been a huge learning experience.
Secondly, I just felt like blogging again .
and thirdly, yeah you guessed it right, I couldn't just say NO to all those requests and mails from fellow friends(read fans) to re-enter the Blog-Oh-Sphere !
Guess all of you are eager to read my blog as much as i want to write them ...
So fasten your seat-belts and let the blogs take over !
Cheers !
PS: For people who wish to get a peek into my previous blog, here's the link : www.idlivadesambar.blogspot.com
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