Interview with Traffic policeman

How long have you been working as a traffic police man?
I joined in 1979, and have been working ever since. After 19 years got promoted from constable to head constable.

How does the hierarchy go in the department?
It goes something like this, constable, head constable, sub inspector, inspector, and so on.

What are the working hours?
Generally there are two shifts 7am to 2pm and 2pm to 10 pm. The shifts keep changing.

How are the positions assinged?
Positions keep changing weekly. It does not matter which positions we work. more traffic or less traffic is the same. We have to work nevertheless. Even when rajkumar died, we had to work. We cannot escape.

Why did you join traffic police?
Not really by choice, there was the advertisement in newspaper, and i went for the interview and joined the job.

How many holidays that you get?
Generally we have to work seven days a week. Even the ragpickers get off on sunday but we do not get off. But we get around 60 days off. But the bad thing is that you dont get off when you want to. It is really subject to approval.

Are you happy with the job?
Pay is very less, after almost 26 years of service I earn around only 11k. Even the security guy in accenture gets around 10k with all the additional benefits of PF and all. Here no benefits. Initially when I joined I used to get a 250 rupees and now I get around 500.

Regarding job satifaction?
We cannot spend lot of time with family. the workign hours keep extending. Even though we get official off at 2pm, but that is not always the case. It takes quite long to get a promotion. when i joined one thousand people joined. and each year 100 people get promoted. But I am proud of the job that I am doing public service. and I am happy that I can manage my family and parents.

What about your kids?
I have a son and daughter. Son just cleared his 10th with distinction and he got some merit seat in shesadripuram college. My son had asked me to get whatever he wants if he gets good marks, but I feel sad that I cannot afford that much.

Where are you from?
Karwar but have been in bangalore for a long time

When asked about the best and worst times of job?
Not anything, everything is the same, we have to come and stand here irrespective of anything. When ministers come and all our time is extended. We have to work more for their security. Our heads just ask us to work without checking our personal commitments.

PS1:There was lot of sparkle in eyes when he said about his kids
PS2:I have also actually made quite a nice friends with this guy (name undisclosed at his request)

Parachute Jumping

When travelling back from delhi, last week, i was reading one of the supplements which was talking about Shital Mahajan.

From what little I read, she is from pune and she has taken a parachute jump over the Geographic North Pole on 18th April, 2004, from 2400 feet, in minus 37 degree celsius, temperature condition. Further she is planning to take a jump over south pole in antartica.

I always wonder, how do people get such off beat ideas about their careers and then they have the guts and determination to follow them. Growing up, I guess my most'est Weird'est idea about my future was nowhere close to it.

Hats off ......

You can read
Pune times report
She has a link to her home page as well, but now it is not working

Hand to hold.....

Another attempt at poetry,

Running for the bus,
Running for the train,
Rushing all the time,
For I have a lot to gain,

But One day when I paused
Too tired to run anymore,
Found myself standing naked,
Tired, weak, cold and sore.

In a hurry to reach somewhere,
Left some behind, some went ahead,
For some had no time to spare,
Some had even from memory fled,

Life is short, move on they told,
But now I wish, had a hand to hold.

Ten Nine Eight

On sunday I read this story about childline and Jeroo Billimoria.

Childline, as the name suggest is helpline for children. In the cities they are present they have a toll-free telephone number 1098 (ten, nine, eight), on which any child who needs assistance can call. Calls are received by childline representatives, who are trained to take these kind of calls, and they take appropriate action, like providing medical assistance, or performing a rescue operation, or just give some emotional support.

When I was coming from Hospet, and I was waiting at the busstand. There was this, small girl about 13, and her mother (I presumed she was her mother), was forcefully taking her somewhere, and she was wailing like hell. From the clothes I could figure out that they were very poor. I did not have a nice feeling about the whole thing, but I ignored it. Probably I did not care, or I just did not have balls to interfere. Had I read about childline earlier, I would have probably given a call to 1098.

So as childline website puts it

• Call 1098 when to see any child in distress

• Tell every vulnerable child you see about CHILDLINE 1098

By the way childline is very much present in Bangalore...

Flying Kiss

Yesterday night I was waiting at the Hospet Bus Station to catch a bus back to Bangalore, it was quite late and there were hardly any people at bus-stand. I had brought a orange with me, because i like eating oranges when I travel. I was sitting all alone on the bench, when I saw this very old begger, walking towards me, looked very hungry, and was making the signs, you know the way beggers do when they are hungry. I felt sorry for him because he was quite old and really looked hungry and was walking with the stick. So I extended my hand and gave him half the orange. He took the orange in one hand and then with the other hand, he put two fingers on his lips and started moving them in front of his lips as if giving me a flying kiss. I got really alarmed, All of sudden I started feeling afraid, probably that person was a Gay, and there was hardly anyone at the busstand, probably there were some other people too, and I had lot of luggage and could not break for the run, I was also all alone on the bench, and I did not want him to come and sit next to me. Neither had my bus come yet, which meant I could not go anywhere else too, crazy thoughts started running. I was also getting embarrassed at myself being frightened by this very old man.

Not knowing what to do, I just looked away from him, started observing the flooring for the heck of it, hoping that he would disappear, and later when i looked up thankfully he had already past my bench, and felt glad. But when the trumoil in brain had subsided, a little thought with clear mind, I realized that he was probably asking me if I could lend him a smoke because it was also a very cold night. Anyways I dropped his thoughts, and started thinking of something cheerful.

But after couple of minutes or so I again spotted him, he was sitting somewhere in corner, eating a orange and with a "bidi" in one hand. Probably some smart enough fellow had understood his flying kiss...

Back from home.....

My blog has been silent for a long time, but had such a good vacation back home.... that did not find time to blog.

Nothing interesting, except that when i was taking an auto to station, I happened to talk to this auto guy (this has now become my habit, as soon as i get in to auto, I ask "Bhaiya aap kahan se ho?" and then it goes on...). This fellow studies in college and autos in the evenings to get his finances. He did not even charge me for extra luggage, and his attitude was amazing. Inspiring. I wish I could have got his phone number.

I really feel sad when I hear people cribbing about autowallas. Most of the autowallas I have come across have been really nice poeple. I think we completely miss the point that it is very easy to be good mannered and nice to people when you earn 30k a month sitting in AC office, but I guess it would difficult to be nice and cool when you are earning harldy 10k a month and driving all day on bangalore roads, getting harrassed by traffic police man and what not.

Give them a break yaar..Smile..Talk and the auto'ing experience would be nice..

Cheers

Something more about MEEEEEEEEEE...

Dude prasanna tagged me to write something about myself....

• The earliest vivid memory that I have of myself, was my very first day at school. Pa had left me and disappeared somewhere, and since there were more than one rajesh in our class, teacher was asking me my surname. And I did not know it. And I was feeling so afraid and imagining all the dreadful things that might happen to me. Was getting so angry at my parents for not telling me my surname and sending me to school to face this. I dont remember what happened after that..
  

• After 10th I qualified fora railway recruitment board exam, according to which i was to undergo a diploma in railway college in mumbai and then i would get a job as a booking clerk or a TC. Everyone in my social circle was like you wuld get a government job at 18 cool, and that my life is set and so on. Even I was happy. BUT there was no hostel available and I was supposed to stay in Bombay alone, and this was not at all agreeable to my mom. So I stayed home, did 12th appeared for JEE and so on....Now I feel so glad about it.

• I was a very sober guy in my hostel days, known only to my batch mates and wing mates. But there only sprouted the PJ devils in my mind. Our room was called a PJ room. I remember once when someone came to our room

"Do you have scissors?" he asked
"Do you want small scissors or big scissors" back went the reply
"Big ones" he said
"We dont have it"
"ok give small ones"
"that also we dont have" went the reply

• Ofcourse IIT hostel was fun, but then after IIT, moved in to bangalore and started staying at Mulani Mansion. That was awesome fun for two and a half year which included going for long drives on outer ring road (airport road was great in those days), and late night teas at IISc teaboard, also police catching us for putting TV at high volume. The christmas party that we had staged there just before we were leaving, was a grand conclusion to a memorable stay.

• As a kid I played a lot of "Ghar Ghar" with one of my cousin, wherein we used to act as couple. Till today we share such a nice bond, feel happy seeing her.
  

• I hate my name rajesh, i wish i had amore funky name like ronit, rohit, rahul etc. I love GOLI instead. Somehow Goli seems to have some personality and Rajesh looks commomplace and bland.

• My earliest heart throb was some girl in my school, she used to be the "headgirl" and I "headboy". So we did lot of things together. Before entering IIT, I had this sweet dreams of marrying her and so on, but first semester in IIT, I got so engrossed in the world of brotherhood and homohood that i completely forgot her.

• I do feel that for me always right things have happened at right times, I have been very lucky. I have made great friends, even though lots of times I crib about people and things, but at the bottom, I have always had friends doing lot of nice things for me and lot of nice things to feel happy about. :D.

Now to propogate things further, would like to tag the following
anant : He writes/quotes lot of nice urdu stuff and I absolutely love his blog.
Prits: I guess noone can beat him at the frequency of blog. There is always something nice to read.

Memory Speaks : An autowallah about Bangalore and girl from Baneras

"I have been driving auto from last foury years. There was no signal in bangalore during those days. Around 1970 the first signal came at corporation. Minimum fare during those time used to be 40 paisa, and used to have the turn over of about 10-12 rupees per day, house expensewas about 5 rupees.

In those days education was not considered important so i studied only till 5th class, and whatever I studied i did fine, but spend my childhood doing nothing, just played, therefore had no other choice but to drive autos. I still regret that. We used to go for movies once in a while and wahida rehman was my favourite heroin. Apsara was the first airconditioned cinema in bangalore.


Got married at 22, but i did have an affair with one girl, she had come from baneras and used to stay next door. She used to sing very well and we used to sing songs together. Never got to kissing her. We used to hold hands and roam in a park in bysandra. This itself was a big thing in those days. She left for baneras one fine day and then we used to communicate via letters, there were no phones then. She used to write in hindi, but i did not know hindi (I only know urdu), so i used to get the letters read and written from one of my friend. But slowly it died down. Eventually I got married, my wife found out those letters after marriage and burned them, but I have kept one photo preserved. The funny thing is that the girl returned after 20 years and now she stays quite close to my place, she also has her kids and I also mine. But we dont talk about the past.

I still cherish the time I spent with her, woh baat hi kuch aur thi,

Have got my son to study in english medium, because i do understand the importance of education. And he is doing a job in government office now.

"
There was a glow in his face when he was talking about his lost love and lot of pride when he told me about his son doing a government job. And when finally I got down from the auto near my house, he took my phone number. He said "I do come for a hair cut at the shop next street, when I come next I will get her photo, and you can take a look".

I could not help but smile at him. Went home feeling happy. :D

Piyo Glassful Doodh

I had always been facinated by this song from Kunal Ganjawala. Some time back he had sang this song on radio city with a guitar and it sounded great. I would also like to do this song once on stage with a guitar :D.

Sing it aloud, I think you would like it.


Doodh doodh doodh doodh doodh hai wonderful
Pi sakte ho roz a glassful

Doodh doodh doodh doodh doodh, wonderful doodh,
Piyo glassful

Garmi me dalo doodh me ice
Doodh ban gaya very nice
Piyo daily once or twice
Mil jayega tasty surprise

Doodh doodh doodh doodh doodh, wonderful doodh,
Piyo glassful

Doodh hai must in every season
Piyo doodh for healthy reason
Rahoge phir fit and fine
Jiyoge past ninety-nine

Doodh doodh doodh doodh doodh, wonderful doodh,
Piyo glassful

Charon aur, mach gaya shor
Give me more, give me more!

Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme wonderful doodh
Piyo glassful doodh

To do or not to do..

When I joined creative writing class recently, I was wondering if at all I should indulge in such a thing, and ofcourse there were lot of people around who would just laugh at the very idea. (How can someone teach creative writing, and grrr grrr and blah blah). But now I think that it was a great thing to do. It is not that I have become a great writer, or great poet, but the exposure has been great. These days when I read a book or poetry, subconciously have started appreciating metaphors, rhymes, use of language etc. While watching a movie, I have started noticing camera moments, angles etc . It just makes the whole experience much more richer. And probably someday I will too write a "one milllion copies in print" wala book.

I do believe that our mind has infinite capacity, just need to give time to cultivate and nurture.
Would like to quote Biju, he had put the same thoughts beautifully

"I believed that talent is inherent in an individual that stems out, get some nourishment and evolves to add some meaning to what we call life gaurded by the rules of nature. But i learnt that above talent sits thought. Deep inside in some corner, every thought lives a life, in a same way we live. The more u give time to each thought, the more it lives. Thoughts which don't get time will eventually die. Your body speaks the language that ur mind understands and it can really stretch to any limits you desire. In short "nothing is impossible".."

Wonder if it could be put in a more better way, (I absolutely like Biju's writing and wish he would blog more).

I also do remember the following quote which I had read long time back, somewhere, and it has just struck with me. Just sharing in a hope that you too may find it as appealing as i find it.

"If you do something, that turns out to be wrong, you can almost always put it right, learn from it or at least deny it. But once you have missed out on something in life, its gone. There would be a girl you never got to say right words to, the band you never got to see alive, the winning streak you never got to cheer, the brilliant retiring processor whose class you never took, the relative you never got very close to, it is long list. No matter what, try tokeep it as short as possible. "

So just plunge in, Happy Tuesday..... :D

.....will soon be forgotton

(Picture: courtesy Jisnu )

"My achievements may weigh a ton,
Might have many a battles won,
But like him, and endless many,
I will too, soon be forgotten"

(first attempt to write a poetry... :D )

Why should I be afraid?

Recently I have joined a creative writing class at CFD (Center for Films and Dramatics). Not that I have become a great writer, but the exposure to various froms of prose and poetry has been great.

Came across this poem, found it very touching....

If day in its dying,
Produces such splendour,

If light in its leaving,
blossoms with glory,

if stars in their shining,
have need of the darkness,

if life in its losing,
becomes a new finding,

Why should I be afraid?

Have a good week ahead... :D

Haiku

I have recently got introduced to form of japnese poetry called Haiku... and have been quite facinated by it.

Haiku is a short poem, which has 17 syllables (5-7-5) originated in Japan, I really liked them. Because so much is expressed in so less words.

Just to put some examples the following are two haikus, from Basho, one of the most earliest known (17th century) Haiku writers.. (Note: Since these are translated they may not be of 17 syllables)


Clouds appear
and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.


Moon-light flower field
Daylight gives it back again
to a cotton farm.

I also tried my hand at one haiku.. and here it is

Momentary lightning,
Trembling thunder, Brings downpour
And a New Green World

The above is 17 syllable :D

How to fold a Tshirt

Non Stop Goli had become Full Stop Goli, until I came across
http://www.howtofoldashirt.net/
It started from a discussion at lunch table regarding the history of shirts and it ended at this. Same thing also uploaded at
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4776825453418327083

I tried it and it works, works really good :D

Happy Tshirt folding on coming Independence day.

Me and Myself

Chander passed me this tag so continuing with it...Idea is to know people..

I am thinking about...
my friend birthday that is coming on sunday.... and of my first product that is coming.

I said...
Dont ever move on in life leaving unmended relationships..."moving on" is a nice term to describe that you dont have energy to solve the problems.... Dont give up on anyone, anything...Most of the time it is the small little extra step that you have to take to preserve relationship..

I want to...
to take a year off from work and travel around india...


I wish...
I had a wavy hair, so that i could do head banging when i play guitar


I hear ...
to music all the time... I love music


I wonder...
why people do things which they know would hurt other people..


I regret...
sometimes expecting a lot from life/people..... and not caring to appreciate what I have


I am...
GOLI


I dance...
very rarely... because i get very concious of my waist which refuses to move...


I sing...
badly, but i love to sing.. and am lookout for audience


I cry...
a lot...I think it vents out all emotions..


I am not always...
laughing, I want to learn to do that, "laugh no matter what"


I make with my hands...
a paper boat whenever i find a piece of paper in my hand..


I write...
postal letters to my sister......scribble some notes once in a while..


I confuse...
a lot with spelling like between "license" or "lisence" or between "advice" and "advise"


I need...
lots of things, space is not sufficient, starting with some mad damsel who would like to be with me, some more money, good guitaring skills etc etc...


And finally...
to pass on the tag to
Lohith: He has just started blogging...
prasanna: He writes good, I especially loved his last post :D..
pritesh: First guy to put me on his "blogs of note"...
Alistair: would like to know him

Innovative Business Idea -> The Million Dollar page

I got to know about it yesterday. I thought I have to blog about this.

This is the story of Alex Tew, he needed money to study in university, so he came up with the idea of creating a webpage with one million pixels, where people can put in their ads. He would charge $1 for each pixel of space, that the advertisers use. So for one million pixels he made one million dollars!!!!!!

I dont think I have to write more, you can read the following link, it is a good reading,
http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/faq.php#2

And ofcourse the million dollar page is
http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

Wonder when will "a million dollar idea" strike me......

WISE and otherWISE

Recently for a change I have been reading lot of books, "Memoirs of Geisha by Arthur Golden", "Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand", "Wise and Otherwise by Sudha Murthy". All are very different kinds of books.

But I would like to mention about WISE and otherWISE here. Found the book really good. It is just the collection of short incidents/stories as experienced by Sudha Murthy (Narayan Murthy's wife). The book does not preach, does not try to decode complicated emotions, does not talk of philosophy. The book illustrates the power of simple human values in our day to day life. It also illustrate how get oursleves too busy and complicated and do not follow simple common sense rules of life and invite frustration. And everything through a simple story. It just brings you out from out glittering and complicated IT world and look at life in a very simple way.
I would recommend to read if you can get hands on it.

Does it make you feel good?

You would have probably received this a hunderd times before on a mail. But it is funny that everytime I read them I just feel happy. So I am just putting them for the record.

Think about them one at a time before going on to the next one . .

• Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
• Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
• Finding a 2 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
• No lines at super market
• Hearing your favourite song on radio
• Midnight phone calls that last for hours
• Having someone play with you hair
• Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
• Knowing that somebody misses you.
• Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
• Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.

Adios.... have a good week ahead :D

Can yu identify the movie from the tag line -> Answers

The answers to the previous post are as follows,

1. Jurassic Park (The adventure 65 million in the making)
2. Independence day (We have always believed we weren't alone, on July 4th we wish we were)
3. Shrek(he greatest fairy tale never told)
4. Crash (Moving at the speed of light we are bound to collide with each other)
5. Brokeback Mountain (Love is a force of nature)
6. War of the worlds (They are already here)
7. The Lost World (something has survived)
8. The Unusual Suspects (In the world where nothing is what it seems you have to look beyond)
9. Brave Heart (Every man dies not every man really lives )
10. Matrix (Believe the Unbelievable )


The feedback I got was that this was very difficult, will try to put up something better next time.

Some more FYI

Yesterday watching Aaj Tak, I saw a news report on this 5 year old guy from orrissa called Budhia. Budhia is a marathon sensation as it seems, and he can run about 45kms.

Read more at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4241958.stm
(I wonder if he is a marathon sensation or, his so called coach is torturing him with the stick in his hand to run all the time)

I also found the below story very good

http://www.goodnewsindia.com/index.php/Magazine/story/jaipur-foot/

I like goodnewsindia, their stories are good and inspiring, makes you feel good about India.