No public toilets

Almost once every year, every one faces this problem. One is travelling and one urgently wishes that the vehicle halts right besides a public toilet so that they can relive themselves. The urge is so strong that mind cannot think on any other lines. The message of the bladder is very clear. It cannot sustain the pressure anymore.

Aamir Khan in one of the advertisement of Incredible India shows that it is so pathetic to urinate in public. On one end it sounds so correct: one should not pee in the public. However, the entire scheme of not urinating in public is very preachy. How can one teach a 9-yr old toddler to fight the urge in middle of the highway? How can one blame the truck drivers from taking a break while they are driving long distances? The ad indirectly means the following: Urinating in public is bad. There are no public toilets. So learn bladder control.

There are almost no public toilets on the eastern express Highway. If one gets luckier and finds one, the next bigger issue is cleanliness and hygiene. The only reason one would ever step into one of such hell-like places is because one has no choice. During monsoons the scene becomes even grimmer.

During such moments I always feel like saluting the women power. They don’t have the liberties that guys have. While men are shameless in that they do it wherever they can when the pressure is high, women cannot afford to have that luxury. They are always at the mercy of the public toilets.

I remember an instance where I was the victim of urine infection. In this disease one has to frequently pee. Luckily I was travelling along the Gujarat highway and the driver was extremely merciful. He had to stop the car exactly 9 times in a 5 hour journey and not once did we find a public lavatory.

Moral of the story is that in India they are focusing on building huge towers, buildings, parks and what not. No one is talking about building more hygienic public toilets…

Business of Charity

Business of Charity

Charity has always been a very tricky topic. Where does the money for the charity come from? Where does the money for the new temples come from?
How does the business of the NGO run? What are the intricacies of charity?
It’s a fascinating topic that we are going to uncover today.

Charity is a business. If someone donates 100 k to a school he wants his name to be mentioned in the local news magazine that he has donated. This is basically the expectation part of the charity. You are expecting something in return. Charity is not supposed to be done by keeping expectation in mind.

In social circles charity is used to gain moral upper ground. For example, the owners of Manickchand donate in millions in religious places. On one hand they spoil health and on other hand they want to butter the God. They are segregating their business from religion.

In Gujarati circles, charity is used as a tool for gaining a reputation. During arranged marriages both the parties cross examine as to how much charity does one do to please the God.

The ironic point is that no one contributes to teach the kids, they do it to please the God. I thought kids were the form of the God

PS: We sincerely thank our secret followers; Good to know people like our blog. Thank you.

Train from Boston to Bombay

Train from Boston to Bombay

Disclaimer: I am a customer and I can demand anything that money can buy.

Planes are supposed to be the rich vehicles. I mean compared to car, rickshaws etc, planes are superior vehicles. But many of my friends and me have a lot against planes. I will specially focus on international flights.

Lot of my engineering friends go to US for pursuing their higher studies. Every December when the holiday season in US is at peak, everyone wants to come back to Bombay (I am purposely using Bombay and not Mumbai…I am politically neutral as such!!). They want to come back to the happening city. They want to eat WADA PAV, visit Marine drive, Haji Ali, Nariman Point. They want to meet friends, relatives…have all the fun that the three weeks allow them to.

However, during these times airlines start acting pricey. Adding insult to injury, many of my veggie friends feel that food in the airlines is not worth it. Many of my non-drinking friends feel ripped since they don’t drink tons of whiskeys which Pakistani flyers do to get their moneys worth. There is no standard set for the prices of the airlines. One has to keep on browsing internet daily to find the cheapest deals. Luggage is always an issue. Guajarati junta generally finds this as the biggest issue because invariably they have a lot to bring because invariably they have a hug relative-friend circle. One cannot sleep in plane except for Business class. It’s too much to expect the cattle class to travel in business class. Spaces are cramped. Air hostesses are good but I won’t spend 50 K tickets for that. I would rather become the member of Naughty America. There are n numbers of issues and planes suck.

I want Sonia Gandhi and Obama to start a railway line between Boston to Bombay. They should build underground pillars to support railway tracks. There are a couple of oceans and few thousands of kms. Why to spend so much on NASA? Spend on something useful. As such also NASA’s success ratio is lesser than my mathematics score which was thankfully not in negative. We can use African laborers. We will get cheaper labor. We should primarily target employees from Zimbabwe and…OO..OBAMA KNOWS better than me which countries to target!! The speed of the train should be better than that of stupid planes. Its ok if we don’t have air hostesses…we will serve our own food and water also. We can have all the features applicable in Indian railways. R A/C , Waiting Lists, reservations for old. I also want student discount. All the folks from Boston will book tickets in September.

I am a customer and can demand anything money can buy…and if Obama and Manmo..sorry…Sonia agree folks at Northeastern University, Boston are going to throw a party for me…the only purpose for the article!!

Young and Socially Sensitive

Though the article which we are going to post at this moment is not very creative, it talks a lot about the power of creativity. We are redirecting links to a sister body named aarambh-diaries;

Link 1: Young and Socially Sensitive :
http://aarambh-diaries.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html
After 2 years Link 2: Winds of change:
http://aarambh-diaries.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html

Both articles have been written by Jay G.

Marriage Obsession

Today I went to attend the reception of my good friend. While I was at this ceremony, I managed to meet many people. Most of them had only 1 thing in their mind. When shall my elder brother get married? Everyone had at least 2 good contacts for my brother. Well, I don't have issues with people being interested in playing Cupid. I as just wondering how our society is obsessed with marriage...

All I shall do in this blog is post 10 things that aunties had to say in that function

1. Son, now you have got all settled...When will you get married?
2. Do you already like some one?
3. You will not get good girls!
4. Your x cousin's y's Aunt's Son-in-lAW's father-in-law has a beautiful daughter...
5. Your hair is getting white!
6. If you dodge these things you may end up being bachelor
7. Your parents are so tense about you
8. It's ok to be nervous...even your uncle was nervous..
9. You need to start somewhere...why not start in this shaadi itself!

Supremely Hypothetical

10. Are you gay???


I shall end this blog on just one note...
An idle mind is a devil's workshop but an idle aunty's mind is a marriage bureau.
- Jay