Swine Flu effect in Tirupathi ?

For the first time in my life, I completed a Balaji Darshan in about 30 minutes flat. For the usual, I should say it was Scant crowd yesterday at Thirumala. A special mention though has to go to IRCTC through whose one day packaged tour facility did I make my visit.

I had been to Tirupathi before through the one day tours organized by APTDC and TTDC, usually in AC/Non-AC buses. Looks like IRCTC has jumped into this business from nowhere. At least I didn’t know of their services until I booked my tickets a week before. We started our trip at about 5:30 in the morning and reached back home by 6:30 PM. The earliest I had reached until yesterday through TTDC or APTDC buses was about 10:30 in the night. Reason could be any or a combination of the below said:

1. IRCTC operates only Tempo Travellers (12 per van) and not buses which keeps the crowd (and their interdependence on Tonsuring,Assembling etc.) minimal* (catch explained at the bottom). Another side benefit is, we booked the entire van (12 people) for our family and hence it was more like a private family trip than a packaged tour. You can negotiate (I paid Rs.600) with the driver for a pick up and drop at your house in this case. Otherwise you have to board near TTD temple in Venkatnarayana road, T.Nagar at 5 in the morning.

2. The Tempo traveller takes you all the way to Tirumala whereas with TTDC, ITDC and APTDC buses you have to get down at Tirupati foot hills and board another Ghat bus to travel to Tirumala.

All of the above saves time in reaching Tirumala for Darshan. Having started at 5:30 AM, we were put to queue at 10:30 AM. The crowd from buses on the other hand would have reached the queue only at about 11:30-11:45 AM if not later. Problem with that timing is, Kalyanotsavam starts at about 12 noon and the crowd/queue gets stuck for at least 3 Hrs due to that. This explains the delay in arrival time to a greater extent. So, the moral is, the earlier you reach the queue in the morning, the better (on a packaged trip).

Regarding the cost, following were the options with me:

ITDC volvo bus – Rs. 1000/- per head
ITDC Non AC – Rs.800/- per head (not sure)
TTDC and APTDC buses will also cost about the same.

IRCTC Tempo traveller – Rs.1045/- per head. Yes, it is expensive than a Volvo with a fraction of its comfort but still very effective in the achieving the main goal – QUICK DARSHAN.

Now about the title of this post – Swine Flu effect in Tirupathi. Well that is another possibility that we had scant crowd and a quick darshan. I know I could as well have titled it as “IRCTC services to Tirumala”, but then Swine Flu fetches much more attention these days.. so following the Indian Media tactics here

* There are 4 Tempo travellers with IRCTC deployed for this packaged tour daily. All the 4 vehicles sync up as they reach Tirupathi foot hills from Chennai for Breakfast. There is only one guide for all the 4 vehicles. Meaning, you are still dependent on 48 people (about the volvo bus strength) in the worst case to sync up for Darshan. But thankfully, we had just 2 vans (the other too only partially filled) travelling yesterday. So, all said and done, my experience might be a once in a blue moon type too. So, consider this a rider if you eventually reach at 10:30 in the night only even if you travel through IRCTC

Credit card over limit charges

Until yesterday I was in an understanding that the banks would deny/disapprove attempts on swiping Credit Cards over and above the credit limit on the card. Looks like either my understanding was wrong or things have changed. My Father has a credit limit of Rs.X. Last month he had made two separate transactions. The first one was within X but when he swiped for the second time, the total amount went greater than X. Under normal circumstances as per my understanding, the second transaction shouldn’t have been approved knowing that it overshoots the credit limit. But no such denial or intimation was made. This month’s billing had a “Over limit Fee” of Rs.500/- (add Service Tax, Cess etc. to it) added to it (in fact that is when my father came to know that he had overshot his limit). Called the Customer care only to learn that, thats how things work. The person has replied that the bank doesn’t know under what circumstances the transaction was made and hence approves the transaction even if it overshoots. He also informed that Over limit fee wouldn’t have been levied had the excess amount been paid to the bank before the billing date. Now there is no other option but to pay the charges, looks like..

Courier services adopt Windows Mobile

Not sure if its just me but I saw this for the first time yesterday at my residence. I was used to signatures in delivery sheets from the courier boys the last time I received a courier on hand myself at home. I was taken by surprise yesterday however when a courier boy handed over the Airtel mobile bills.

The moment he handed over the courier to me, he put his Windows Mobile smart phone in hand to use and tapped a few entries using the stylus and with a couple of seconds handled over the mobile to me for my signature. I had to sign using the stylus on the mobile screen. It had a comments section too. Checked with the guy and learnt that it was a custom software built by the courier company itself(though I doubt that its a third party solution).

Mobile is definitely the future !

Buying a Home appliance – Brand outlet vs Dealer outlet

I am sure most of you would have had experience buying a home appliance (TV, Fridge etc.). Every time I go to a Brand outlet (like Sony World etc.) I wonder how they make business. I am assuming everyone knows that the cost for the same product is higher at such outlets than other Private dealer outlets like (Vasanth, Viveks etc.). More often then not, they blindly quote the MRP stuck on the product. Another plus point in approaching the private dealers is that you get to pick and choose from a variety of brands.

If my understanding is right, those Brand outlets also work under dealership – meaning, they are not setup by the brand companies themselves. Not sure what their business model/strategy is like. It certainly calls for some understanding between the brand owner and the outlet.

My first vote

Feeling really great to have exercised my right to vote for the first time in my mother land – India, yesterday. There was an unexplainable sense of pride and responsibility in casting my vote and I enjoyed the moment as anyother important occasion.

The temperature was soaring (42 degree Celsius) in Chennai yesterday and if there was one thing that I dreaded about my voting, it was the long queue that I anticipated at the polling booth. It turned out to be an anti-climax in the end as it was the polling officers who were waiting to see someone turn up to get some work. Very peaceful and easy as it ended.

One interesting observation – There were 3 EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) kept side by side as there were too many contestants for our constituency. Though the voting machines were confined to a corner of the room with Cardboard sheets raised around them to make way for secrecy, it was quite possible for the polling officer sitting a few feet away to easily predict the voter’s choice. He could actually give a good exit poll result with a high level of probability. Here is how – Firstly, it would be easy for him to know which among the EVM was accessed (left, right or center) by the direction of our hand  while voting. Secondly, given the direction (the EVM that is), it is easy to guess the choice made, by the position of the hand (ie. towards the card board enclosure or farther away). I am not saying that he can exactly say whom we voted for but atleast he can say that I voted for someone in the top, middle or bottom section.

Overall, I am happy to have exercised to my voting rights (to say that I am an Indian).

Everyone takes a leadership role

Thats what John Buchanan seems to have said in press conference while announcing his new “untried” approach in taking through Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL2. CNN-IBN promptly pounced on the news by phrasing it as – Dada shown the door. Looking at Dada’s gestures during the press meet, it almost echoed like “Oh God, why does it always happen to me” . Looks like all coaches from Australia have a grudge on him..

Back to Buchanan’s point, he feels, the team doesn’t need a standard captain. Check what he has to say about his ideas :

Buchanan had told Cricinfo he was keen to change the whole approach to captaincy and leadership in cricket. “I really think in the course of this 20-over tournament we have the capacity to have the team coach, Matthew Mott, running the batting side of things. If we have to change the batting order or change personnel to fit a certain situation, then that is something that could fall under his control. “Once on the field, we have some very good leaders there in Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Brad Hodge and Sourav Ganguly. The laws of the game state that you need a captain for certain formal roles, such as the coin toss, but that aside, I see there is scope to challenge the way teams have been run in the past.

To me, this looks absurd to say the least. Why should a coach decide the batting order during the course of the game ? Disaster waiting to happen…

From here:
http://content.cricinfo.com/ipl2009/content/curren t/story/396703.html

Setmax (Sony) is spoiling the party

This is more of a personal ire for quite sometime now. Starting with Mandira Bedi, Setmax (Sony) has done more bad than good to Cricket. I know at this level its all about money but this channel is killing Cricket viewership. Take for example the ongoing NZ series. Adding to woes like matches starting when its time to hit the bed (yes, some go to bed even that late) or asleep and matches being predominantly played on weekdays, Setmax has come up with this superb highlights schedule (7-8PM for one dayers. I didn’t even bother checking the timings for the Test).

If it were Star or Neo (or even Ten sports) there are good chances you wouldn’t miss the highlights (some day or the other). Now, these videos are going to sit in Sony’s coffin dead and buried for ever. May be we need a people’s representation to ban Setmax (or any non-24 hr sports channel for that matter) from taking such telecast rights..

I know the above said is not practical/possible but then, that doesn’t stop me using this blog as a vent for my frustration. I really missed Sehwag’s record innings of 125 not out.

Btw, I am happy BCCI and Sony are having a tug of war on IPL telecast rights and I sincerely hope, BCCI wins.

If not for “Jai ho” ..

… Rahman deserves the award for the unbelievable other scores he has produced over the years, which I am sure the westerners wouldn’t have chanced upon.. OK, that is just to say, if Oscar is the prime that an artist can get, there are other better songs to represent Rahman than “Jai Ho”..

My all time favorites of Rahman in Hindi and Tamil :

“Pyar ye Jane kaisa hai” from Rangeela and “Nahin saamne yeh alag baath hai” from Taal

“Minnale nee vandhadhenadi” from May Madham and “Evano oruvan” from Alaipayudhey

There are a lot more other songs that are close to my heart but the ones above are stand outs..

Heres wishing Rahman on his success!

Have fallen in love

With the V-Day fast approaching, can’t think of a better title

My reference here though is a master piece from Ilayaraja which, I am still ruing to have missed for so long (almost a couple of years now since it is out). Shreya and the Maestro rock in “Baatein Hawa hai saare..” from Cheeni Kum.. The original of this song in Tamil is one of my all time favorites (Kuzhaloodhum kannanukku kuyil paadum paattu kekkudha…) and this doesn’t disappoint either.

Long live the Maestro’s magic !

Happy New Year 2009

Life has been pretty busy since 2009 began and it has been really good so far. The first thing people talk about at the start of a new year is – “Resolutions“. So, what have I got for 2009 ? I am not sure if I can call it a resolution but there is one thing I wish to do this year (and hopefully carry forward subsequently).

Cut down on visits to Restaurants.

I invested (note that I haven’t said wasted) a considerable amount of Time and Money being to a variety of restaurants in 2008 which not only burnt my pocket but also health.

Here’s wishing you all a very happy and prosperous 2009 !