The Small Wonder

After a long hype and much furore, the Tatas have drawn the curtain off the much awaited "Car of the people". The dealer price being Rs 1 Lac, the buyer just has to pay the extra VAT and other taxes. Apart from the standard edition, two more variations will be manufactured, one of them being air-conditioned. Though the critics suspect performance issues and declare it "not-safe", the Tatas have enough facts to dodge the criticisms.
Expected to make the market debu in mid 2008, the "Nano" has already created jitters in the automobile world. It boasts almost all the features of a modern car and is still priced much less than the other "small-car" variants of different companies.

The 'Nano' is expected to intensify the race in the already competitive automobile market of India. Other companies such as Maruti and Hyundai will certainly come up with something matching. After all, if Tatas can do it, so can someone else. In the end, its the consumers who are going to benefit from this bid of the automobile giants to tap the hitherto neglected section of consumers - "the lower middle class". People are having apprehensions regarding the performance and so am I. Remember the time when reliance phones were launched, priced at Rs 500? "Kar lo duniya mutthi mein (Grab the world in ur fist)" . Dhirubhai Ambani's dream to give the cellphone in common man's hand. It started with a band and a much publicized hype, but the bubble burst soon. The boat has steadied a bit now, but soon after it's launch, the issues came to light - bad network, poor connectivity, and a hundred other complaints.

But I prefer be optimistic and hope for the success of this latest "popular" venture of Tata Motors. I hope all goes well and Mr Tata is able to deliver his vision to many of those families, one of which - a family of 4 he saw dangling on a two wheeler and for which he dreamt to provide a much safer a affordable means of personal mobility - gave him the idea for his latest product.

An extra "Phera"

For those of you not informed about the rituals of a "Hindu" marriage, I will provide an introduction to just a small part of it, which is in context with what I am going to write after that.

In a Hindu marriage (you may say North-Indian or Brahmin, because I am not really informed about the rituals in other parts of the country, so excuse me if I am wrong ) during one of the rituals, the Bride and the Groom are supposed to make seven rounds of the holy fire in order to complete the seven important vows of married life. Each round is called a "Phera". So, in all, there are 7 Pheras. Now, let us come back to the topic.

In Alwar, Rajashtan, in all the 800 marriages which took place last month, the couples took 8 Pheras. The extra phera they took was for a noble purpose. The 8th Phera was taken as a vow against sex-determination tests and female foeticide. The trend was encouraged by an NGO and people willingly followed in all the community marriages.

I hope such initiatives will help us increase the ever worsening male to female sex ratio in the country and spread awareness among the people. I wonder why such things never make news.

Death of "Appu Ghar"

I think most of us would have heard about the famous amusement park in Delhi, The Appu Ghar. I first heard about it when I traveled to Delhi for the first time at the age of 6. Then, I was able to catch only a glimpse of it from outside. I never managed to persuade my parents to take me inside. :) I still remember the excitement I felt when I saw it for the first time. The place seemed to be a dream world for me and I just wanted to "live" inside it.

I got my first chance to be there after a long gap of 7 years, when we moved to Delhi. Though I was much older now but the excitement was still young. I spent the whole day inside and quenched my long pending thirst. The place was nice and since my first time, I have been there at least 10 times more.

Today I was reminded of the place again when I read the newspaper. Appu ghar is going to be demolished, following the orders of the Supreme Court. The degradation of the place started when Metro Rail entered Delhi. They occupied a part of the premises for the construction of the Metro corridor. Now, they are taking it fully. The reason - Land is needed for construction of SC's lawyer's chamber and for expansion of Delhi Metro.

Appu ghar is not simply any other amusement park. It is a historical landmark. One of the oldest amusement parks in India. Named after the 1982 Asian games' mascot, it attracts scores of people each year. Most importantly for millions of people like me, it a something to be associated with.

Govt fully supports the court's decision and has not proposed any alternative site for shifting. It seems to be the end of the road for the 'only' and the one of the most 'loved' landmarks of the Indian capital. Maybe this is the price the city has to pay for the increased pace of development.

Asian games of 1982 led to its birth and Commonwealth games of 2010 is going to be the cause of its death, which surely will be a painful one.

Of India & Indians

There is so much pride we Indians associate with our country. But you will be surprised to know the outlook of people who see the country from outside it’s borders. These people don’t belong to the uneducated or ignorant lot, but are those who hold masters degrees in finance, who are heading the entire finance departments of big firms, who listen to news daily and are well aware of the world-affairs. Just have a look at some comments I came across on my beloved country & some questions I had to answer, that too patiently.

• Are women allowed to touch anyone else other than their husband, father & brothers?
• You have only one brother?? I have heard that each family has 8-9 children in India.
• India is land of 1100 million people, who share water, bedroom & bathroom. But apart from this over-crowding, it is a nice place.
• The govt spends most of the money protecting cows, then some on protecting other animals and whatever is left, on humans.
• People have to often leave the country for better development (note the word) and to feed their many children.
• India has the largest film production in the world, because the government spends most of its funds on Bollywood instead of feeding it’s people.
• Indian people eat only twice a day, have unsafe s*x and beat their wives daily.

Gone With The Wind

May18th 2007 – the day when we decided to have a trip to Pondicherry. I always had a hidden sense of adventure in my heart which was pushing me for long now, to have a long trip on a bike. So I thought this would be the perfect occasion to quench the thirst. We planned the trip and started for Pondy on 19^th afternoon. We were a total of 7 people, 5 in a car and two on the bike. I was traveling on the bike along with my dear friend Amir. We decided that half the journey Amir would be driving and the other half, I’d be speeding through. Soon we found ourselves speeding away on the ECR (East Coast Road), which connects Pondy and Chennai. The road is a gem of an engineering work. Being as smooth & inviting as Aishwarya’s cheeks, no matter how cautious a driver you are, it sucks you in its sense of adventure and literally forces you to go full throttle.

I’ve been driving bikes & scooters for the past 7 years now, but never in my life I dared to go beyond 80. When I started driving on the busy roads of Delhi after my 12^th exams, my Dad once told me “Son, it’ll never be on busy roads that you’ll meet with an accident. Open & free runways are what lure into danger”. It was not that I always pay heed to all his words, it was only because of the restrictions posed by the mechanical state of the 1990 Suzuki bike that I never speeded beyond 80.

So as it was destined, me and Amir were piercing through the ECR at a speed of 98+ km/h with Amir at the driver’s seat. The wind was hitting hard on our faces and I was taking photographs from his N73. It was hardly an hour and a half when we were half way through and decided to take a pit stop to ease our burning asses. Now it was my turn to drive. I go onto the bike and in a matter of seconds the speedometer was reading “100”. We were cruising towards Pondy, overtaking buses, sumos, cars and other petty looking two wheelers. It was a feeling of abnormal excitement, and an unjustified sense of pride (pride of driving at 100+). It was after almost an hour when that fateful turn came. It was a steep one and somehow ignoring the basics of safe driving, I maneuvered the turn at top speed. The combination of high speed and laterally hitting wind took its toll and the bike was immediately swept off the road. We crashed and skidded at 100 kmph with my body bearing the brunt of the crash. Before I could realize what exactly had happened I felt some pain in my hand and heaviness in my head. Next I heard Amir asking me “Pratosh, r u fine?” I stood up, saw Amir and the bike lying helplessly on the ground and tried to figure out what had happened. But my dizziness didn’t allow me to stand for long and the next moment I was lying down unconscious.

The next thing I remember was a shouting Amir trying to bring me back into my senses. I got up, drank some water brought by a kind stranger and saw my profusely bleeding hand. At that very moment remembered my father’s words, “Open and free runways are what lure you into danger”. I was literally able to see through my flesh and describe precisely how the bone looked. In Amir’s words “D00d, I think you have lost some flesh”. Immediately Amir took out his N73 and made a video, interviewing me about the experience of my first accident. I was subsequently taken to a hospital in Pondy where I had a minor surgery on my right elbow. I recovered from my injuries after 3 days of hospitalization in Chennai and took a week’s off from office.

Now that my wounds have fully healed and I am planning another bike trip to Pondy, I look back at the accident and remember the lessons I have learnt the hard way. As I have repeated many times in front of my friends, it was an “overreaction to excitement”. As a passer by would have thought while seeing us tumbling on the road, we were literally “Gone with the wind”.

Intelligent Advertising

Last Saturday I went to Satyam cinemas in Chennai to watch the movie "Kabul Express". Though the expectations weren't too high, the movie turned out to be a good one (Good for me, as I was the one who insisted upon watching the movie against my friends' wish). It was the "Interval" time when I got nature's call and i found myself heading towards the loo. After a minute's break I got an empty slot and without any further delay I got hold of it .The loos are very very crowded during the Intervals I tell you. Unless and untill Its an emergency I always avoid going at that time. And as if the crowd thing wasn't enough, you have 4 people standing on your head, waiting for you to get off. This enormous pressure sometimes makes the whole thing much more difficult for me. It seems likes ages before I'm done ....
Anyways, moving to the main thing about which this post is all about, as i was easing myself standing there i noticed something very intelligently thought of. Just above each of the standing places (this is the way they are in men's loo), right at your eye level, there was a small 40x40 cms area allotted for advertisements. This is one place where its the weakest probability of someone missing the Ad. See how cleverly they have thought about it. They know that whoever comes there will spend a min standing still, staring at the wall ahead of him, and there is no way he'll miss reading the Ad. I was amazed by this innovative idea. Advertising has certainly found new grounds, or one may say "new walls".