Cycle Rickshaw v/s Auto Rickshaw

Hi! Another long pause... shit I must get out of this habit...

Anyways a lot has been up with my life, my last post came at the beginning of the semester and this one comes as it fades into the twilight of retrospection. Well not really, its still not over. So yeah the latest buzz first:

Prac on 10th gets cancelled as some big shot from Alstom plans to land his ass in DCE...

Better still it gets rescheduled to the 10th of December... postponed by a month!

Okay that's all that's coming to me right now... Heck! What do you expect a week before the exams. I have to be crazy to be posting this in the first place, I am not supposed to have time for all this.

Anyways we had an awesome discussion a couple of hours back, on how cycle rickshaws can be phased out slowly...At least that's what it started out as...

Well what I suggested was, they be replaced by auto rickshaws. As for the people pulling the cycle ones, better incentives can be pulled on for autos so they can move to them. In any case they'll be earning more than they were before. Mangal raised the argument that no auto driver would be ready to cover the short distances that are the forte of the cycle rickshaws. Well my argument to that is that the fare of an auto works as follows:

Starting Fare: Rs. 10

Subsequent Fare/km: Rs. 4.5

The little section of my brain which tries to handle arithmetic tells me that short frequent trips are much more profitable for the driver than long ones. Okay for people who are still not convinced (this includes you as well Scipio):

20Km as a straight drive would end up costing: Rs.100/-

20Km covered as short stints of 2Km each would amount to: Rs.190/-

90% more than a long stint. Now why would an auto driver not settle for that? The usual excuse of not getting a 'sawaari' at your destination also falls on its face.

After this the never-conceding Mangal argued that there are not enough lanes on the road for so many autos. Duh! I guess autos arent all that bigger than cycle rickshaws. In any case with all the cycle rickshaws gone, most of haphazardness on road would also be gone. Plus our roads would be safer sans them. I guess almost 30% accidents could be avoided if rickshaw pullers had any semblance of road sense.

Anyways coming back to the point, what would be needed to implement this is a structured manner of phasing cycle rickshaws out... Attractive incentives for buying autos... Regulation of autos to prevent the largely prevalent problem of overcharging...

Anoop raised a rather logical point about the increase in fuel consumption... If only bajaj could come up with a 100 Kmpl engine for auto rickshaws!

All in all this was the discussion, as is quite obvious its still not closed... You are requested to add your views...

Ciao!

'xgubr

Blog-o-mania

I have been off the blogging scene for a while now, and some interesting events have sort of brought me back. I bet anyone would be slightly unnerved when 5 people everyday inform him about their advent into the blogosphere. I guess in India whenever celebs start doing something, the general public rarely fails to copy them immediately. What with all the Bachhans and the Khans blogging their way into controversies, my comrades wouldnt want to be left behind would they?

So here we have every dunce in the world trying for front page glory by blogging about every sort of bull-crap they can come up with. Infact some of them are so atrocious, they are worse than child porn!

It all started out with the King of 'morons', Ravi Manoram blasting his way into the virtual world, armed with 7 posts and 70 advertisements. The charming fellow came to our college's student portal www.dcetech.com querying as to why his blog wasnt figuring on Google. Well you couldnt expect a blog which wouldnt even manage 4 hits in the whole year to figure on Google's search results, but would he listen!

His scandalous use of idioms coupled with his revolting grammar was good enough to give anyone a stitch in the side!

But the icing on the cake was the punch line for the blog 'This blog will change your life, because then you would want to'. The only thing i wanted after reading that was a 'hand'.

Anyways, some of the puritans on dcetech gave him some snippets of advice, which he promptly declared as bullshit. I guess that was reason enough to start taking him apart.

But i guess most of us gave it up as a futile attempt, the linguistics monster was as dead set against us as he was against punctuating. The arguements drew to an abysmal close with him declaring all of us nincompoops at english and declaring he wont post anymore. Sadly he has kept his promise till now :(.

It was awesome fun kicking some raw monkey ass though... ;)

Anyways enough of about Lundram, I did find some nice stuff as well. Saksham's attempt at blogging was quite commendable, I am sure he'll reach an elevated level of randomness soon. Medhavin's blog was really very nice, he has to be one of the most regular bloggers i have ever seen. Plus he writes straight from the heart (you know the sort of emo shit girls die for?). In any case his posts were written with an ingenuity i have not found often, kudos to him. I'll draw my post to a close, I have much to say but i'll save that for the following posts.

Adios!
'XGUBR

Wired v/s Creationism

Wired’s take on creationists…simply hilarious!

This has been a huge year for intelligent design research. We took a look back at some of the most important breakthroughs. Until recently, Wired has been too hard on the proponents of creationism. To rectify that, our science desk has hired a full staff of religious zealots. Here is their first story:

10. T. rex ate coconuts, according to experts at the Creation Museum, our favorite predatory dinosaur would have fit right in at Whole Foods.

9. The Earth is only six thousand years oldCarbon-13 and potassium argon dating are myths created by the devil to cast doubt on the existence of God.

8. Stem Cells are evilCuring terrible diseases is not worth the trouble of sacrificing some abandoned eggs from the deep freeze at a fertility clinic.

7. NASCAR is the official sport of the spiritually enlightenedSome forms of entertainment were meant for the pure of heart.

6. Guns were created by God to kill deerIt is our responsibility as humans to encroach on their habitats by building track homes and then blow the sweet crap out of them so that they don't starve to death in the winter.

5. Liberals are evilEven though most of the truly bizarre sex scandals have involved republicans, and democrats prefer to have affairs with women of legal age, left-wing politicians are morally more morally bankrupt than their conservative counterparts.

4. Civil Liberties are for sissiesUnder the benevolent Bush II theocracy, we don't need privacy. Like the Pope, he is in direct contact with God, so we can feel secure knowing that every one of his decisions will be fair.

3. President Bush can look directly into our souls. Bush II looked directly the soul of Russian President Vladimir Putin and saw that he is a good man!

2. Iraq had ties to Al-Qaeda, was enriching Uranium, and all that jazz. By bombing Iraq back into the stone age, then occupying it, we have protected our country from terrorism. Who cares if we destroyed our economy while in the process? Dubai is certainly not complaining.

1. Evolution is a myth. Just ask Ben Stein, evil academics suppress any luminary who dares to question the mounds of evidence that life evolved gradually. Get your facts straight. It took seven days to make the earth.

A Human Aspiration

Simple transgressions reveal,
if you are pure or if you are not,
Unseen actions can unveil,
if you are naive and are besot.

Fickle ideas can impress,
if you are timid and are not bold,
Uncertain winds can aggress,
if you refrain from the fold.

Inane visions can inspire,
if you can see, beyond the wall,
Placid voices will retire,
if you can think, and do not fall.

I want to see,
only how far I go,
and still be me,
I want to know
only what I can do,
against the flow,
I want to be,
only till death, but,
not, only be.

I want to run,
Just look in front,
and be the one,
I want to fly,
just spread my wings,
and soar up high,
I want to live,
Just close my eyes, but,
not, just live.

In every heart on God's Green Earth,
there burns a silent fire,
there's no exception to this rule,
Its just Human to Aspire.

Hey!

Hi!

The previous posts were copied from my last blog. Thanks for taking the time out to read my blog.

ciao!

Whats left of the Left

If there is one issue that has had more than its fair share of press, it’s the impending nuclear deal between the USA and India. And if there has been ever the most absurd of oppositions, it’s been by the left parties in India.
Loads of threats and coercive tactics…but will any of it ever come to actualization?
Is it a real possibility that the left parties withdraw support from the UPA government, leading to snap polls?
I doubt UPA’s current fear will ever come to pass.
The leftist ideology is a dying one; communism is being shown its way out.
The views of the left parties are eliciting consternation from even their strongholds. People in Bengal and Kerela are subtly disassociating themselves with the communist pillar of thought.
The very foundation finds itself on life support…
The only thing that can save the left for a while; is a continued assault on the public minds; just so that they are not forgotten.
The left needs to be in the news to have any chance of surviving these troubled times. Or the Leftist thought will fizzle out and be forgotten.
And the only way they can continue to be in the news is by staying in the government.
For inside the government they hold the key to majority, outside they remain a weak force.
Till the time they have the power to sway the political winds at the centre, they will continue to feature on news channels, on the front pages of the leading dailies…
The Left may collude with the opposition and criticise every move the government makes, but it will always stop short of withdrawing support.
The Left parties need Congress much more than the latter needs the former.
Despite of all these last ditch attempts to save themselves, not much is left of the Left.
They live on borrowed time; the nation seems intent on showing them the exit door.
I wrote this for an online magazine…Reviews and comments are as always welcome.
Picked an off-beat topic just to show how cosmic my repertoire of topics is… (Also gives me a reason to be vainer than ever).
Thanks a lot to everyone for the comments.
Au revoir!

Rebelling against rebels

Hi! Again a delay of over a month!
I have proved myself to be the laziest ass to ever breathe this world’s holy air.
Still, better late than never I s’pose.
Well this time the topic I picked is…’the mind of the rebel’.
Sounds impressive eh? Like a bestseller’s name.
My dad told me all kids start rebelling around this age, and any difference in opinions that I may formulate, may solely be attributed to these time-honouring misgivings.
(Did that hurt your ego? It did hurt mine :P)
Ah! No we of course can not analyse something and come up with our own beliefs.
At 19 years old I am still a kid.
I can not deduce, I can not discern. For all that remains the elder’s dominion.
I do not wish to prod you into rebellion, but well let’s say I think its time the whole issue got some proper de-layering.
The society’s ethics, formulated by the wise and old, still hold strong for our parents.
Why do they hold on so tight to these ancient beliefs?
Why would they never let you question God?
Why are you not supposed to date someone?
Why indeed must you comply with your parent’s decisions in fields they know nothing about?
The beliefs they grew up with, aided them well in their journey towards maturity.
These beliefs, engrained in them are what provide them with stability. Because in their shelter have they touched the altars of success. And in gratitude, they have pledged themselves to following these beliefs unquestioningly.
As far as I am concerned this is their only fault.
Unwavering devotion is not very divergent from blind faith.
There exists only a faint demarcation.
They wouldn’t question themselves, first out of their indifference to younger wisdom and second out of insecurity.
Insecurity which stems from the fear of their beliefs being proved flawed.
They would never stand up to a discussion over them.
You see nothing can destroy a man as conclusively as seeing his long treasured beliefs being shattered.
It seems logical in such a case that the ‘elders’ change themselves. But it’s not as simple.
The day we start following this doctrine unquestioningly we would be in danger of committing the same sin.
The day we brush aside their advice, considering it to emanate from a set of defunct principles; we ascribe ourselves to sharing a spot on the dunce’s chair.
Being a rebel is not the aim; our aim is to develop our own set of ethics and beliefs, which can successfully govern our life.
We must not be rebels without a cause!
I just spent 70% of the article talking about parents and their mistakes.
It seems slightly off-topic, forgive me but it is there so we may not be mistaken in the same manner.
It is there in the hope that we may learn and pay heed to the dangers of blind trust.
A rebel who resists and defies with the sole motive of desisting a set of beliefs, is no intellectual.
A true rebel must never be afraid to debate; his belief standing taut, he can not lose.
And if he does, he has the grace and the wisdom of acknowledging and amending his flaws.
Almost every great man has had to move away from the shackles society imposes, but they did it out of curiosity, out of a thirst for wisdom; not for the fame they later encountered.
Socrates paid a price for his beliefs, his fame came centuries later!
There were many who never touched their statues…many who found what they seek and still didn’t chance upon fame.
Let wisdom be your goal and none less.
I wish we all prove ourselves to be true intellectuals and not falter in our search.
Au revoir!

Exonerating my angst

Ahoy! th’r sailor iceberg oft starboard…
Greetings to all Homo Sapiens.
Finally exams are over and I am free from the usual bouts of procrastination, finally free to utilise *read waste* my time as I please
Well I couldn’t help but take another stab at the whole nations pet peeve.

India is going to the dogs!!!
India sucks!!!
etcetra etcetra

This is MY blog, I guess i can write whatever crap i feel like here… ;)
So bear with me and go through this one. Now this wont be a philosophical ranting, nor a treatise on writing techniques. It’s just another sorry soul ranting its heart out on something it can do nothing about.
But then I just can’t help it, I am completely sick of this nation. Rather the people of this nation.
Thats true I hate, despise, detest, dislike, loath Indians, atleast most of them. I have finally come to the conclusion that Indians are a race of sadistic, uncouth, perverted hypocrites…
We the next leaders of the world…??? What a sham…!!!
People who are not adept at managing themselves, incapable of logical deduction, who are bloody casuists…!!! leading the world…??No sir, no thanks.
Lets take an example,
Look at the roads…!!! A basic task such as driving evades even moderate competence in Indians. Cyclists, bikers, pedestrians they all hold their own on the rightmost lane of the road. Even death doesn’t scare these swashbucklers…The ones who walk the top societal echelons are no better, after all the law is theirs. No one understands what lanes are for, traffic signals are just fancy lights in the night. I guess more people die of high BP and hypertension because of these on road antics than in accidents.
If there is one thing common to most Indians, it’s lack of traffic sense.
Another example, I am sure you have heard about everyone’s grievances about racial discrimination.
‘Oh! westerners discriminate against Indians’
'Being coloured is a bane’
What crap is this…??? Are we not being such big hypocrites…???
What do you call an african-american/african you chance upon…???
‘Oye wo dekh kaala ja raha hai!’. Is this sin alien to you?
Colour of skin is as much a factor of consideration for us as it is for the other races.
The whole gamut of casteism, communalism and other such social tumours is all a direct manifestation of this discriminatory behaviour.
Does this not prove us hypocrites, whenever we taste our own medicine, we cry foul. Can this be justified?
What about the fabled Indian mantra of truth and courtesy?
I am surer of the falsity of these notions than i am about the colour of my underwear.
Who are we trying to fool? 99 people in 100 would not give up their seat for an elderly person or a woman in buses and trains. A macho bunch of guys aren’t we?
And are we courteous oh boy! Only in India is a tourist raped every other day. Shopkeepers! they look at all foreign tourists as excrement carrying a heavy money bag lightening which is their moral obligation.
The basal problem is with the Indian mentality. We are a sadistic, corrupted lot. And nothing wonderful can happen to this nation till the mindset is not altered.
I am sure many a people will comment,
‘ ’tis you who has to change‘…this is what i call PIG SHIT. Do you seriously think, me doing something the right way will matter when a 100 million decides to opt for the alternative? Ohh and by the way, being all good leads to just this, frustruation. What varies is the time you take to get sick of it all.
Okay, I am tired of this now…!!!

I’ll wrap it up now, my beer belly requires filling…
So cya all later

Au Revoir

Newton's 4th law

BEWARE PESSIMISTIC BULLSHIT UP AHEAD…

Hi…!!!

Well it’s been a while since I posted…had my exams and all…so was keeping fairly busy. Anyways that’s all over now so I am back with another post. My last blog entry was pointed out as an incongruous bit of writing on an equally absurd topic :P.
Well then I’ll try and do better this time. Am dealing with something far more serious in this post…something which delves deep into our lives.
A couple of days ago during one of my numerous inane wanderings on Orkut…I came across this quote on a friend’s profile…
Newton’s fourth law — “If you run around a tree fast enough, you can fuck yourself.”
Now before the ethical ones stone me to death for such a corny joke…I beg of you guys to read till the end…at least I’ll be ready for any tomatoes tossed at me by then.
Well some of you would have recognised the aphorism incognito that it is. Yet there maybe many ways to interpret it (the more exciting ones being the literal ones), but as I sifted through them, I couldn’t help but pick the one i am about to dissert on.
Now I am sure that many of you, through the course of your lives, have been let down by people most trusted by you. People who you loved, people who you trusted. But then life is not a bed of roses and you have to descry your own share of thorns. Some of the most stinging gashes, are I believe residuum of betrayal by your best friends. But then what can we do about it, stop making friends…??? No I don’t think that is an option. But is it right to put so much trust in someone that you might falter in life, were you let down by them. No it is most bigoted to be subjected to such potholes in life. But then no one tells you what to do about it, alas they all say c’est la vie. Well one of the ways about it is, limit the people you trust. Let none be indispensable for you. And thou shalt not be disillusioned. But then is this way not too pernicious, too inhumane.
Instead of this one can take a more middle path. Don’t do more than you are required to, if you are bent upon being a saint, then don’t expect payback. All deeds done should be done without an expectation of having the tables turned someday. It’s best to not expect your friend to be as faithful as you are. You give your heart to the relationship but your friend does not reciprocate, it’s bound to hurt, no human being is above such feelings. Don’t do so much that you are disheartened, if your efforts go unacknowledged. You do not deserve to be treated to such agony (and believe me it really is hurting). I am not asking you to be treacherous; I am just advising you to not run so fast that you end up getting hurt. And it is a general rule in life, something which I have learned the hard way, don’t give anything so much that you are disappointed at the returns. I am writing this post in the hope that maybe you will take heed and not commit yourself to a life fraught with disappointments. Time runs short, I’ll take leave early this time, hope u can forgive me for the abrupt ending.

And before I leave, I guess to add my individuality lets say…don’ run ‘round the tree so fast, that u end up fuckin urself.

Peace…!!!

Dumbfuck writers!

Hmmm… Hi…!!!
I guess I ought to greet my readers; though I never came across such a protocol whilst my numbered wanderings amongst various blogs. And seeing that I remain a newbie to the blogging concept, I’ll remain content with blabbering about whatever comes to my mind. (I am pretty sure someone is disappointed at my indecision as regards to which of my marvellous views I should unveil here). Well I just gave this whole thing a thought. What is a blog meant for? What do I write on a blog? And as any practical person would ask, what do I get from this? Alas, answers to most still escape me.
Well now that I have set out to write one, I can as much as share my thoughts about the art of writing. I had the misfortune of reading some posts written by a person I thought of as indeed a very able writer, but even more as a very intelligent individual. I was indeed in for a big disappointment. I shall like to illustrate one of the many phrases in the particular piece of writing that invited my ire: ‘I feel like I’m soaring into the sky atop a rocket called Exhilaration’.
Now where did the person go wrong? Let’s see, one thing that struck out was the use of, an extremely abecedarian in nature, form of writing, which some may crudely call as ‘flowery’. Well you surely do agree with me that writing pretty does not imply that you are actually writing well. Excessive use emotion depicting words sure does piss me off. Writing is indeed an art, and only a few befit the category of good writers, I daresay I mightn’t meet one in this lifetime. For me writing is about connecting with the reader not overwhelming him using a very poetic writing style. Again it’s best if your reader knows your nature and your basic emotional tendencies well enough, no point being mysterious. As far as my case goes I can only affirm, this germ of an idea currently in your mind, that Lucifer here is arrogant, full of himself, a chauvinist etcetera. Now that we are done with this preliminary necessity. We may move forth on our journey towards discovering what writing is all about. I came across this quote somewhere “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come”, if such immense is the fabled power of an idea, then why do so many of us fall prey to a much lowly predator- a good vocabulary. Now hold it, I am not condemning having a good vocabulary, because of my obvious lack of one, I am merely suggesting that semantics cannot make up for the lack of ideas. Of course a brilliant writer may have a classy control over language, but that is not what makes him brilliant. I’ll just put a question to you, would you frankly prefer reading an article where in you have to set the cogs inside your brain in motion, every two minutes? Even most linguistics professors won’t enjoy that. Because the only words that can inspire awe are guaranteed not to be commonly used in a normal interaction between two normal people. Then what is the point in using them. I am sure my readers are themselves proficient writers, don’t you think that fluency of thought and ease in understanding are pre requisites to good writing? I am sure you do! Then why do some of us time and again forget the essentials and meander off course? That may be attributed in part to the Human nature; it should not be any of my concern to examine the nuances of psychology when I still have an article to finish. Getting back, I hope my ramblings shall not go waste, and some of my readers are reminded of the un-chartered pledges they took when they embarked on a journey up this lane.

For my friends who did not want to take the pain of going through the whole article, here is the idea in a nutshell:
Write simple, write fluently and most of all make your reader enjoy your work instead of making him ruffle up his hair in frustration over what the heck are ‘russets’.

I am in no way perfect so pray let me know of my shortcomings, and of course what use is a writer who can’t refine his views, all criticism invited after all where would the world be without its share of cynics.

Ps: I also want to apologize for my constant repetition of the word “Well”!

Au revoir.