sena - hypocracy

Shiv Sena can not tolerate Indians other than maharashtrians working / settling down in Mumbai.  They expect Australia to be sensitive towards Indians in Australia. 

highway to hell...

This was published earlier on 24-Nov-08....and is still relevant!!!!!!!!!!
I drive quite a bit between Chennai and Bangalore - I mostly take the NH4-NH46-NH7 route, which is part of the golden quad.

As the roads are quite wide and are seperated by a median, there are a number of vehicles that drive in the wrong side of the road, putting both themselves and their co road users @ risk.
I can understand the sheer arrogance with which a heavy vehicle (bus / lorry) driver drives in the wrong side and does not bother about oncoming traffic (I am in no way empathizing with these nut cases or justifying their action).
I can not understand what prompts drivers of smaller vehicles (cars and bikes and even cycles) to do the same without bothering about either themselves (I guess it is better these elements do not exist) or the other road users.
It is even more sad to note that the cops who man these highways do not even stop and re-direct these mad men to drive on the correct side of the road, let alone take any action against these offenders.
- will authorities do anything to stem this menace? I doubt it!

Autos in Chennai...

I was driving along VaalluvarKottam the other day and a slow moving auto was ahead of me. I usually 'let out' a small polite beep to let the vehicle ahead become aware of my presence, only because the road ahead (of the auto) seemed quite free. However, despite 3-4 small beeps the auto refused to budge.

I got a bit irritated and kept pressing my horn till such time that bloke let me pass by. There was some traffic ahead and i was stationary for some time and this guy managed to park beside me. One of his passengers (seemed to be his buddy) and him started their volley of expletives. I told them that it was a wide road and since he was driving slowly he could have gone along the side of the road rather than the center blocking the traffic. However, the tirade of expletives continued for some time.

I realised (once again...having driven in India for over a decade) that here is no point in being polite and trying to talk sense. I too gave back a barrage of 'unmentionables' and drove off as the traffic eased, with the satisfaction of having shouted as much or better than the offender.

(This was earlier published on 6-Nov-08)

bajaj - bikes - service sucks!

I have a pulsar 180 that I gave for service at Kivraj Bangalore recently.  The service in-charge or what ever his designation is asked me to fill out a form and make an entry with the security at the gate.  This was done and I had to wait for almost half an hour for that guy to come and have a look at my vehicle - shameful.

While taking delivery of the vehicle too, I experienced the following problems -

a. They do not accept credit (or debit) cards - how better is it than a roadside mechanic???

b. You have to wait for at least half an hour before one of the two accounts staff attend to you - especially if you are taking delivery in the evening when most others who work also would be taking delivery.

-The account executive not only gets the bill settled, but in many cases has to follow up with the shop floor to get the bill details despatched to him to get the billing done.  In some cases the customer is asked to go to the shop floor and get their job card and come back to have the bill made.

Pathetic service and no regrets that the customer is made to wait.

I have read about this and now I write about it too!  I'm quite flabergasted that a group known for its business ethics - Bajaj - is not particularly bothered about service - a stream that generates quite a bit of income for them and their dealers.  Shame!