My brush with a group of eunuchs

Have you dealt with a group of eunuchs hell bent on extorting money from you? I had to deal with a group of them few days back. I am narrating my experiences.

Hijda, as they are commonly called in Hindi, move around in groups, looking for victims which they can extort on the pretext of some auspicious occasion, like birth of a child or buying a house. This is very common in North India. I had seen that in Dehradun, but not in Delhi. As soon I had move to my newly acquired flat at Kaushambi, which is just across the Delhi border, I had realized that they have free reign in UP as well.

The group had come in search of me thrice. When they finally met me last Sunday, I first tried to dissuade them. There were three of them, accompanied by two fellows with dholak or drum. Two were quite aged and were well behaved. There was a young one who was threatening to take off cloths every now and then. This frightened my wife and little daughter. I told them to get inside the inner room and not to come out. It becomes clear that they will not go away or creating a ruckus. Thus I had to pay. I sat on the floor, face to face with one of the aged Hijda. They started their bargaining from 11000. I was told that people in the society had cough upto 5001. They think big. I started with 100. The bargaining went on for at least an hour. Many a times I lost temper, specially at the antics of the young Hijda who were threatening to take off cloths. I just stopped sort of saying him to dance naked if he/she wants. Despite that I kept my cool. The demand had come down to 3001 by then. It has almost been an hour. Finally I felt that it had gone too long and got rid of them by paying 2001. One of the aged Hijda told me before leaving that ‘tune mujhse bahut bulwaiya’ (You made me speak for a long time).

Most people pay fearing the curse of Hijdas. I do not believe in the curse. Other pays to avoid the ruckus they create. I paid thinking about safety of my family as I would not be there all the time to defend them. It is a new place and my wife will have to pick the kid when the school bus drops. Thus I become a helpless victim of Hijda extortion.

When confronted later, the guards say they are helpless as the Hijdas would not heed to their words. But what surprises me is that how they can pinpoint the exact flat where a new tenant has come. The most likely informer has to be the guard/s. I will have to take it up when the Residents Welfare Society meets next time. But we had fully understood our entry into a lawless place, though barely 1 KM from Delhi. Living here will be certainly a different experience then in Patparganj.

Wonder La experience : Bangalore weekend outings

During my stay at Bangalore from 8th to 22nd June, 2008, I had 3 weekend holidays to spare. As I had already done some local sightseeing, e.g., a visit to the famous Lal Baug and had also undertaken a trip to Mysore during my last visit, I could leave out these most common options. I had wanted to see Hampi. But that is too far from Bangalore and also requires time and so discarded. Some of my colleagues went to Mysore & Ooty and another group to Coorg. But both these involved hectic traveling over 48 hours. I was not willing to travel like that., at least not my concept enjoying a trip.

After a bit of Googling, I wanted to go to the Hogennekal falls. Then my old friend, Mr. Murli, whom I had met during the trip to Lakshadweep, suggested me that I should think of going to Sivansamudram falls rather than the Hogennekal falls. He told me that Hogennekal is facing water shortage and is worth visiting only if it raining which means more water is released into it. It is about 170-180 km from Bangalore. I had checked with the KSTDC site and found that they have a bus tour to Sivanasamudram which can be taken on weekend.

Somehow even this trip did not materialise. Therefore my brother decided to take us to one of the happening place near Bangalore -- the Wonder La amusement park.

Wonder La experience:
The park is advertised as the largest amusement park in India. It is also said to have the highest number of imported rides. Located some 28 km on the Bangalore -Mysore highway and then 2km off it. I thought that one needs a vehicle to visit the park. But I found there that one can take the BMTC city bus no. 226 from the Majestic (or the Kempe Gowda Bus Terminal) bus stand near City Railway Station. This bus ply between the majestic and the Wonder La. The park also runs a shuttle service from the highway to the park.

The 600 bucks entry fee (with taxes) for adults and 450 for child (above 90cm) on weekends is certainly not cheap by any means. But there was a good crowd which indicates that the park is a happening place and is doing good business. For your information, they accept cards at the ticket counters.

On entering the park, I found that it is well maintained. Signboard and displays were good and were put up in a thoughtful manner. Take the example of the Cloak room facility. It offers boxes in two size - small for 20 and big for 30 bucks. To help one understand the size of the boxes they have displayed samples at the counter. May be a very small thing, but thoughtful and very useful.

We started as per the map handed out at the entrance. The rides are categorized as normal, moderate or high thrill rides. We had enjoyed almost all the normal rides. After trying few moderate thrill ride, we decided to ride the high thrill ride called Drop Zone. Few seconds into the ride, I thought what bug had bitten me to do this. Thankful that the torture lasted barely 1 min. Drop zone is probably the least torturous of the high thrill rides. We wondered as to how people get into some of the high thrill rides like Twisters, Mixers, Hurricanes, etc. One will get dizzy by just looking at them. Just imagine getting twisted, turned up and down like being in a mixer! Other rides about which I still remember are the Dungeon of Horror- a visit to ghost castle, and Cine Magic - a virtual roller coaster train ride into a mine. There also was a laser cum musical fountain show. We enjoyed the dry rides till lunch so that we do not have to change cloths. Wet cloths are not allowed in some of the rides. Food is very reasonably priced. After the lunch, we changed clothes and headed for the wet rides. My little daughter really enjoyed being in the pool. We had finished the wet rides with the penultimate wave dance of the day. Changing into dry attire, we headed for the Skywheel, a giant rotating wheel stationed atop a 13 storied tower. It was dark by then. Summing it up, we had thoroughly enjoyed a full day.

It was almost 7 when we had started for home. Traveling via the NICE road, we had good measure of what Govt apathy towards development can mean. I was told that the NICE road, a proposed toll road, could not be made operational even after many years because of the might of Devegowda clan who had ruled Karnataka for last five years, apparently for they have not got their share of bribe. The road is complete except for that kilometer or so stretch near Bannerghatta road for which land has not been made available. Maneuvering the one kilometer non existent road in the darkness was a nightmare. Despite our care, we could not avoid hitting a protruded boulder. Fortunately no damage was done to the bottom of the vehicle and we reach home safely on time for dinner.

Bangalore

The only place one feel comfortable in Delhi is right under the fan. Temperature is just 30 degrees. But humidity is 80%. There was hardly any summer this year by Delhi standard. In fact Delhi had only a few, may be a max of 5 really scorching days this summer. Yet the weather is not pleasant by any means.

I was spared of this torture for last 15 days. These 15 days were spent in the fantastic weather of Bangalore. All my colleagues from Delhi could not stop appreciating the beautiful weather at Bangalore. Even in the peak of summer, one can sleep without fan; forget about ACs. It was cloudy, but rains were sporadic. But the best aspect was that there was no humidity.

This was my second visit to the Silicon Valley of India. The first was in 2004. This time I landed 50 km off the city at the new BIAL airport. It probably is more near to Kollar than Bangalore. The trip back to the city by the AC Volvo Bus service of BMTC, called the Vayu Vajra, was pleasant. One can take this buses to the nearest convenient point. It is comfortable and economical. It cost me only 150 rupees to Sarjapur Junction on the Outer Ring Road. The cabs charge @Rs.15/- per km. A cab ride to the city will cost you at least 700 rupees.

The urbanization in Bangalore has been very rapid. Take for example the areas on the outer ring road. When we visited Bangalore in 2004, the outer ring road was a deserted place. In these 4 years many housing and SEZ projects have come up in that area. This has changed the landscape of the area drastically. This rapid urbanization has also brought massive traffic congestion, even at the reasonably wide enough outer ring road. Same was the condition at the inner ring road and the Bannerghatta road. Bangalore needs flyovers. It fact it needs many of them. Unless something is done on this, it would almost be impossible to drive. There seems to be no traffic planning in Bangalore.

To compound to the woes of traffic, Bangalore do not have a good public transport system. I was fleeced by the autowallah on day 1. The ones standing on the auto stands would straightway ask for 1.5 times of the metered fare. The ones you catch on the running will not charge that much and often go by the meter, rounded upwards to next multiple of 5. It cost me nearly 300 rupees on my to and fro trip between Sun City at Sarjapur junction and Domlur on day 1. But then I became wise and decided to give the BMTC buses a try. In the next 9 days that I had traveled between Suncity and Domlur, the lowest I had spent was 23 rupees. In fact, I found that the BMTC bus service is not as bad as it appears. The bus transport system is complemented by the staff vehicles of IT companies. I had liberally used the staff buses doubling up as city buses on its return journeys. The drivers of these vehicles make quite a lot of money this way. I am told that many companies prohibit this practice as they pose serious security threat to the employees and also the organization.

Anyway, like all good things the pleasant stay at Bangalore has also come to an end. Back in Delhi, it is terribly humid. Even at 30 degrees we had to keep the AC on overnight to cut out the humidity.

Chardham Yatra : useful helpline numbers

Feeling good to be back in my blog after such a long time. It has been a hectic month. So much was the work pressure that I finally succumbed to a recurrence of spondylosis after a couple of years. I hope that the worst is over.

The month of June always reminds of the first visit to Badrinath. The pilgrimage routes to these shrines was thrown open around mid May. The period till monsoon is the peak season. However, the unprecedented rains this May has certainly hampered the peak yatra season. Travelling in the hills during rains is no fun and is full of potential dangers. One can get stuck anywhere, anytime. Uttaranchal tourism seems to have undertaken few measures to facilitate the yatra season, which is the main source of income to many locals and also to the tourism industry. Here is some of information that may be useful to you :

Emergency medical vans are made available in the entire route. Emergency contact no. is 108.
Disaster management teams in case of mishaps and natural calamities. Emergency contact no. 1070.
In case of any other emergency call the following nos :
Helpline : 0135 – 2722323
Disater management Center : 0135-2710334 / 335
BRO contact nos : Rishikesh – 0135-2430109, Gauchar – 01363-240605,

Pipalkoti – 01372-266518, Joshimath – 01389-222820

Driving holidays

While returning from office, I was wandering about driving abroad. From what we see in movies or TV, it appears to be pleasant experience. The thought of exploring a state on wheel is something unimaginable here. Everybody jostles for space on the clogged highways. You are caught in a virtual race of autos, two wheelers, bullock and horse carts, thelas and ricksaws.

I had explored the scene of driving holidays abroad. Take for the example of France. The suggestion I came across is to avoid large cars as they can be very unwieldy and it often makes sense to just park and then use public transportation. This indicates that the situation though better is not free from all headache. Priorité à droite - the old French system was to give priority to all traffic coming from the right.We also have the same rule writen at all traffic roundabouts. But who cares here! One travelling on the major roads has priority in France. But not here

We had probably borrowed many of the systems. But do not want to follow them.Roads in France are classified into following three types :

1) Autoroute, also called Motorway / Freeway. These are generally toll roads.

2) National road, which probably is similar to our National Highway (NH)

3) Departmental Road

We do have more type of roads, but fewer real good roads. There are no real Motorway or Freeway. But few expressways have been built around Delhi, e.g. the Delhi-Noida Expressway. But lack of traffic sense and reckless drving results in tragedys every now and then on this expressway. Just think of a road where you can drive without worrying about the stray cattle or cyclist. Just think about driving from Paris to Bordeaux to Toulouse to Merseilles choosing to stay in plenty of accomodation options offered on the way. There is no surprise that Paris is the top tourist destination in the world according to the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).