e-Nagar

July 22, 2010

Plight of Paying Guest in Metros

Filed under: Thoughts — Ankur Aggarwal @ 10:20 pm

In terms of accommodation, I think that no demographic segment of Indian population has a shorter view (in terms of time horizon) than Single working women who are staying away from their families. Most of them are fresh out of under-graduate colleges and are uncertain if they want to pursue higher education (MBA) or not, how long they would be working, which city would they be relocating after marriage, would their parents/spouse allow them to continue to work or not. This coupled with the fact that their impending marriage is going to be very costly translates in a remarkable reluctance in owning assets or even furniture and improving the living conditions.

A lot of shady landlords recognize that and exploit the plight of these women. They would rent a 3-4 BHK room; put 4 bunker beds into each of the bedrooms and living room. They would convert the house into a chaul (cramped Mumbai style housing with no privacy or living space) and charge 3,500/- to 4,500/- rent from each of the girls. This translates into 50,000/–70,000/- rent collected from a 3bhk house (about 3 times more than what is the rent for a similar furnished apartment)

Government of India provides very lucrative deals for anybody constructing working women’s hostel. They would be providing 50% of the cost of the land and 75% of the cost of construction for free.

Even the permissible maximum rents that can be charged are quite reasonable.

1. rent for single room (without bath or kitchen) = 2,400/-
2. double sharing basis = 1,600/-
3. Dormitory: 1,200/-

However the hostel is allowed to charge extra for electricity, water, furniture, food and other services provided. Considering that about 60% of the cost are borne by the government and the fact that lower rent translate into higher occupancy, any NGO/organization can make a decent return on their investment. Details of this program can be found here and the list of hostels already operational.

What is more surprising is that the restrictions that government has imposed are also quite liberal and understandable:

1. The hostel needs a resident warden and a security guard.
2. The hostel would be open to all working women and cannot discriminate amongst potential applicants on the basis of color, creed, language, caste etc.
3. No women under any circumstance can be allowed to stay for more than 5 years.
4. At least 30% of the hostel at any given point of time needs to be occupied by women (single or married (with or without kids)) earning less than 16,000/- per month. Out here we are talking about take home salary (or salary declared in Income tax returns) so 16,000/- per month of salary (without bonus/commissions) would translate into about 2.5L CTC. This is actually a reasonably high remuneration for a fresh college graduate.

I wonder why in spite of all the lucrative offers, so many NGOs and organizations have availed this scheme.

July 11, 2010

The Two of Me

Filed under: life, Thoughts — shobhendrasrivastava @ 11:28 am

There are moments in our life where we stare at defeat and difficult times.
We are at the crossroads – we do not know what to do.
At these times, our inner self seems divided in two – our I and You.

We stop , listen to both and we think……….
Then
Some of us follow the I
and
Some of us follow the You.

Two of Me

The Me – I

A fear hides in the heart
That dreams would die only as dreams
Unfulfilled ambitions yet
And soul would depart
Body would lay satisfied
But wanting soul would still scream.

Even then ,
No more dreams now I strive to pure
No new dimensions I try to explore
Too many constrains the free will found
It killed the dreams, I lived to bound

Past boundaries have punctured the heart
More failures may rip it apart
So I live now this vegetative life
Daily chores and no delight
No excitement in life for sure
But at least pain I bear No More !

The Me – You

You may fear to die,
You may not – I cannot say
But you fear to live
One by one you kill each day

Intense pain is better
Slow pain to death – Never!
Dormant life is sin for sure
So precious life is
Vegetation is no cure .

Attempt and action
Coulld bring joy
Could bring sorrow
But they bring an alive tomorrow
Dream and decision
May give pain
May give gain
But they make you live again.
Inaction is state of defeated mind.
A champion lives each moment
All the time.

Today you vegetate
By taming your soul
Tomorrow the body
With age will tame you old
Before you decay
Yourself you cure
One life, Do More !

July 2, 2010

The Full Cycle

Filed under: life, Thoughts — shobhendrasrivastava @ 10:09 am

Mari – Have you ever ridden a cycle in your life?
Sam – Yes
Mari – Do you still ride a cycle?
Sam – No

If we reflect upon our life and try to recollect the most cherished moments that we have experienced so far in our journey, we would discover that the majority of these moments were part of our childhood phase. Those indeed were the good old days! And if we dig a bit more into the cherished moments of our childhood, we would, without doubt find that a few of these incidents have a bicycle embedded in it.

The cycle and its cousins have a very special relationship with us. They touch and shape every stage of our life.

We might not realize, but the cycle; in its various forms influences us in so many ways——-

When we are born, a distance relative of the cycle – The Cradle surrounds us with its protection. The Cradle helps us to journey around the world even before our legs take up that responsibility.

With the passage of time, we grow out of the cradle and climb on the Tricycle. It is our first independent vehicle. It is we who control where to take it and with what speed to drive it. It is a friend which helps us explore the world, a friend which rides with us through impossible curvy and crooked places, a friend which takes many a falls with us but a friend which always is ready to go wherever our infant imagination wants to take us.

As we grow up a bit more, the tricycle becomes a thing of the past and out comes the Bicycle. The Bicycle is a big step in our life. When we dash on our bicycle, it gives us a taste of the speed, which is required by us to move ahead in life. When we fall down from our bicycle, it gives us a taste of the pains that life has to offer. When we complete our first bicycle ride without anyone’s support, it gives us a taste of thrill, freedom and confidence required to live.
Then as we grow up even more, we abandon the cycle and its relatives for the more comfortable means of commutation. The Cycle, from being a tool of discovery ends up being just a piece of decoration. And with time, the piece of decoration decays into a piece of debris for us.

Bicycle

We abandon the Cycle and throw it out of our house and out of our life. But the cycle, which was our best friend, is not able to come to terms with the fact that we have given up on the friendship. It desperately tries to come back to us, albeit in the form of a exercise equipment in the gym but there also it hardly gets any extended attention from us.

With time the Cycle realizes that it is not wanted anymore. It then waits patiently and watches us live our life. It watches and sees that the day has come when life has caught up with us, it sees the day has come when our limbs have began begin to fail us.

At this lonely stage of our life, when not many people want to talk to us, we can but only  sit down and reflect on our past days and realize that one friend is still waiting for us in the junkyard outside the house – Our old Bicycle.

But alas, when we could, we deserted it .Now, even though we want to, we cannot cycle anymore. Our body no longer has the strength to do so .We can only think about the time when we cycled and take pleasure in the vicarious thrills.

Our eternal buddy, the Cycle realizes our state. It stays aloof, as it is angry with us for we deserted it for years together. But eventually , for the sake of friendship it decides to come back to us and free us of our loneliness and helplessness — The Wheel Chair helps us to journey around the world even after our legs have given up that responsibility.

Mari – Have you ever ridden a cycle in your life?
Sam – Yes
Mari – Do you still ride a cycle?
Sam – No
Mari – Would you ride it in the future?
Sam -  I ………………

June 30, 2010

Someone Stop that Commercial !

Filed under: Humor, Thoughts — shobhendrasrivastava @ 4:08 pm

The context of this article refers to advertisements broadcast-ed in India.It may not appeal so much to the International Audience.

A saint once told me that – “Son, none of us are alone! All of us have Cosmic Energy Waves around us which surround us at each and every moment of our existence”. I don’t know about cosmic waves , but one thing that I know of is that – I am surrounded by stupid commercials around me at each and every moment of my existence. Hoardings, TV, Radios, SMS,Internet, Sales call – they are everywhere.
And so deeply have these ads affected me , that nowadays , I cannot even dream without commercial breaks in between.
Spending a lot of time analyzing these commercials , I have discovered that their behavior is not as stupid and random as it seems , albeit it is governed by well defined laws.

So ladies and gentlemen, let me present before you the Three Laws of Commercials.

Law number I
For our protection first there is God, second there is …….Pepsodent and Dettol

You don’t believe me ? Let me explain.
Just have a look at the Pepsodent Commercial–24 hour security, 24 hour defense, dishum dishum and what not! You are forced to wonder how humans survived all those prehistoric ages without the protection of Pepsodent.”

Now onto to Dettol -Unfortunately, I came to know about the powers of dettol quite late in my childhood.
You see, when I was a little boy , I used to fall sick before every school exam and my teacher used to scold me , ”You dumb head .You stupid boy. Exams make you fret so much that you fall sick.”
Well…., Medical Science was not so advanced in my childhood days. Little did my teacher know that the cause of sickness was not my dumbness but the fact that I do not take bathe in Dettol Soap.

Leaving my sad childhood behind, let me move on to the next law.

Law number II Where ever you go, our network follows

As I already mentioned, these ads will never leave you.
On weekdays, my primary activities in office consist of answering emails, typing some code and convincing sales guys on my cell phone that I am in no need of pre approved car and home loans.
Imagine, after 5 days of such hard work you are enjoying a deserving, peaceful Saturday afternoon sleep and as you are about to fall into deep slumber ,it at this precise moment that your mobile gives an SMS blast. Sleepy and tired, you somehow reach out to your mobile –– Whoosh – “SMS on 54545 to know your Class X th result.”Tell me , why the hell would I want to know my 10th board result at this age ??!!!!
Actually if I reflect upon my marks, I probably did not want to know about them even at that time.

I mentioned about this SMS problem to my friend Sanjeev, and he is like –“What’s the big problem, dude ? Keep your mobile on silent mode while sleeping! ”.
Life …my friends, alas, is not so simple. You see, Sanjeev does not have a girlfriend .But I have. And she calls me every 5 minutes questioning me , “Where are you , what are you doing ? What are you not doing ? What took you 20sec to receive the call ?”

Phewwww…

Believe me my friends , the only thing more dangerous in this world than a GPS tracking enabled girlfriend is the Internet Pop UP ads . The Devil could not be everywhere – so he made them. These Internet pop ups have a tendency to pop up at the wrong place, at the wrong time and with the wrong content. (Boys would know all about it : ) )
For instance ,when I surf the net and no one is around , the pop-up will always try to find the perfect bride for me. It has been trying the same for the past 5 years. But when I surf the net and my father is around, the ‘Matrimonial Pop Up’ is always replaced by the ‘Get Blind Date with Hot Mumbai Girls PopUp’.
One of two more of these Pop Up incidents ,and I am sure to thrown out of the house by my father.

Anyways , popping on to
Law Number III – Impossible is Nothing.

Impossible is nothing for the ad makers. For them, the sun rises in the west. You have no idea what they will end up teaching you in their ads.
Let me give you an example,

Remember the surf excel ad ?
A young chap comes up in a cap and says “Stains are good ?”.
Young chap, you say stains are good!! . Obviously you have not met my mother!

HDFC Child investment plan
Remember , 4 year old, giving investment advice to parents ? “Papa grow up I want to be an astronaut. So do some investment” I wish I was so intelligent as a 5 year old. My family would have been so rich, and, I would have been an astronaut. Better to be on Mars than in this Mumbai traffic. Any day .

One more instance -
Radios are at another level. Before following cricket commentary on radio I used to believe that Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman that India has. But now after following cricket on radio , I have realized that it is actually BSNL. Sachin only takes 1s and 2s , it is BSNL who hits all the 4′s and 6 ‘s.
”Aur ek laga ek aur BSNL Chauka ”

Those were the three laws, ladies and gentlemen.

I have figured out the laws that govern these commercials but I am yet to figure out how to escape these commercials. It does not seem like happening during my lifetime, In fact, I fear that even after death when I ask the Almighty upstairs -”God , am I going to get heaven or hell. What are my chances.? “ The Almighty would just stand there eating a Britannia biscuit and smile “Son , its 50/50”

June 16, 2010

The End

Filed under: Poem, Thoughts — Tags: — shobhendrasrivastava @ 10:53 pm

Imagine a day when Mother Nature would be disturbed beyond the brink  ,
when Environment would refuse to sustain us any more
and extract its revenge on us.
On this last day ; everything would end, We all would end.
On this day , anyone of us could be left behind to live a few moments
more and suffer the agony of our mistakes a little longer than others .

On this day , anyone of us could be left behind to
remorse the destruction which
we all caused to our planet.and the destruction
which the planet replied to us……………….

<poem>

For there might still be a green grass bed
Hence I keep dragging my feet ahead
Burning wind beats my skin to death
Air in my lungs sting with every breath
But I keep dragging my feet  instead ,
For there might still be a green grass ahead.

Longs my soul for a flower
Just to rest my eyes;
Longs my soul for a bird chirp
Just to bless my ears.
The forests I still can see
But Concrete grows now for Trees
The lakes I still can feel
But its now dry and Dump-Sealed.

The color of rivers once blue is now so red
Still swim in them the humans but now as dead.
But I do not swim yet;but drag my feet instead ,
For there might still be a green grass ahead.

And now it seems so simple
How we missed it then ;  I dread —
” If trees do not give us food
Industries would  never give us bread “.

And now my time draws a die
No one around but yet I scream ;
Not for help —-
But with  Hope
that now I shall be clean.
But with  Prayer in my heart
That if by chance some human alive walks across my bones
Before he dies , he covers me up just with a few stones.’
But with with Joy in my soul
For in the new place I shall now tread
There might still be a green grass bed.

June 3, 2010

Coffee’s Priority

Filed under: Thoughts — Skabeesh @ 12:52 pm

From a forward email:

A professor of philosophy came into his class with a glass jar, some rocks, pebbles, sand and a cup of coffee. Then he asked his students if all the ingredients would fit in the jar. Looking at the entire ingredients, most of them replied in the negative.

The professor proceeded to fill all the rocks in the jar. Then he took the pebbles and poured them in, while shaking the jar. They fit in the gaps between the rocks. The professor then looked up and asked what the students thought of it now. They had started smiling. The professor then proceeded to fill in the sand. It too, fit in between the pebbles. Then finally, the professor poured in the coffee, a perfect fit. One of the students got up and asked him the meaning of the experiment.

The professor replied – “The jar represents your life. The rocks represent your basic needs, the pebbles your secondary needs and the sand is tertiary needs. If you want to have everything in life, learn to prioritize correctly. If you go for your basic needs first, like family, friends and happiness and then for secondary needs as job and salary, you may be able to get even your superficial needs as societal position, recognition etc. Prioritize them wrongly, and your life isn’t enough to hold all of them.”

After a round of applause, another student said – “But professor, what about the coffee?”

“Oh that,” said the professor with a smile, “that just shows that no matter how full your life may be with your needs, always find an evening for a cup of coffee with a good friend. It fits in with everything.”

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