Packing off ...

Song for the mood: Times like these - Foo Fighters

I'm moving to a different place tomorrow. It's a few miles away from here, bit closer to my office. I won't be missing the current place much though; never really liked it. Multitude of reasons ... but am looking up as far as the new place is concerned! Of course, what problems characterize the new one, only the next 11 months can tell :)

I have packed my bags ... I think I have; the bags look filled ... but I can still see a lot of stuff lying around. Guess I'll just dump it in tomorrow morning. The one thing I really wanted to do was to have a huge sack; I just place it near my desk and slide all the stuff in it ... you see, most of my stuff is never in the cupboard, it just lies around on this teeny-weeny desk and a chair that's beside it. I sometimes wonder if all this stuff is alive because I'm pretty sure it organizes itself! In a messy way, of course, so that innocent humans like yours truly never suspect what's really going on ... but after dumping stuff for so long I'm really starting to see a pattern ... every time I thrust my arm in, into that being, to find something (something, anything) wallah! It just comes into my hand! It's like I pretend I'm reaching for it ... but actually 'it' reaches for me ... spooky! Brrrr ...

Well, I'll be packing off between 10:00 - 11:00 tomorrow morning. Leaving behind a lot of scraps of paper, non-disposed wrappers of biscuits and chocolates and a huge stack of plastic bags that I prefer to think I'm leaving as a welcome gift to the next occupant, whoever he or she maybe, I'm also letting go of a much more personally valuable item; this blog.

I've been scribbling for nearly 2 years; it's been fun! I've written a lot of personal experiences, some poetry, few jibes at friends along the way, criticisms, vented my anger out at times ... lotsa stuff ... it was all good. Somehow I just don't feel like adding to it anymore ... it's has become like one of the packed bags that I can see next to my desk right now. If I dump even one more item I'll have to sit on the bag so that the zip can be closed ... pretty much the same for this blog too ...

Not to say I won't be blogging/scribbling anymore. It will just be a different one, somewhere else. I just hope all the good friends I've made along the way who have taken the time to read this indescribable nonsense that I love to ramble on about will continue reading more indescribable nonsense somewhere else ... wherever it might be :)

Until next time ... adios!

Buses, rains ... leaks ...

So, it's raining. In Bangalore. Heavy rains mind you. Not the kind where eager but cautious parents dress their kids in thick rain coats and an umbrella so the kids can splash in puddles and use the upturned umbrellas as boats in little gutters ... proper rains, there's even lightning.

So if it's raining this heavy, would you get drenched? Of course! Stupid question, moron. Ya, but what if you have a raincoat or an umbrella (or both, you might be the cautious kind) with you while it's raining? Then maybe you won't get drenched but you could still get a lil' wet, right? Strong winds could blow away your umbrella (that is always a funny sight, a complete cracker!) blah blah so there is a still a chance you could get wet. Hmmm ... what if you are traveling in a bus? Could you still get wet? No you can't get wet. You can, however, get drenched.

My office bus leaks! From all over the place; the window edges, the roof and the sunroof just point your finger to a part of the bus and it will be leaking. Guaranteed. It leaks so much I have to sit wearing my jerkin, no matter which seat!

I dunno if the BMTC (it is a BMTC bus) has given some serious thought to this, but this could be an amazing business idea. Don't fix the leak, just put bath fittings wherever there is a small/big hole. Sell the idea of a shower bus; tubs instead of seats and so on ... it might sell, who knows? Or even better, make sure the water only leaks in and doesn't get out of the bus. That way when it fills up it will looks like a traveling aquarium, what with all the passengers swimming around inside ... put a few dim lights and you're done! Put some plants in one corner and you're better! It will sell like hot idlis! A splendid tourist attraction, only one of its kind. Or maybe not ... I'm sure half the buses that BMTC has leak in the same way.

I spotted one of my colleagues when the bus left the office campus yesterday. He was standing under a small shed to escape the rain. I think he saw me too. It was raining, he didn't have an umbrella, but he was ok. I was in a bus and I was soaking wet!

50 cars < 1 bus?

Song for the mood: Second Love - Pain of Salvation

A car on the road carries on an average 1.2 people. 50 cars worth of passengers can fit into ... wait for it ... 1 bus! A good bus leaves a carbon footprint equivalent to just 4 cars traveling over the same distance. Although these stats are true for Europe, where this awesome awesome video-ad has been made, I think a similar group of numbers would hold true for large Indian metros like Bangalore and Mumbai among others.

I have blogged on similar lines in the past. Maybe if enough of us mobilize in such a cause we can do something similar here. It wouldn't be trouble free but then there's no free lunch right? ;)

De-congesting the cities will go a long way in improving a lot of things. Money saved on just building larger and even larger roads can be directed towards need-of-the-hour issues like public sanitation, restoration of forests, effective waste management etc. Maybe I'm getting a lil' carried away here, but to me it seems very realistic.

Another little thing I'm pumped up about; I'm buying a bicycle! Yes, I'm gonna use it for my everyday commute to office. More on that once I get my bicycle, which should be very very soon!

Thanks to Copenhagenize.com for the video. By the way, if you are thinking about getting into bicycling and need a reason to convince you why it's great, do yourself a favor and check that blog :) What the heck! Check it anyway!