Recently, I have come across many news articles where the Traffic Police officials have been quoted, saying that they have stepped up the action against traffic violators. Its a good sign for any city indeed. The kind of chaotic traffic, which Delhi NCR has been witnessing for last few years, a strict action from Traffic Police was indeed necessary. But one has to see that at what cost are we achieving this normalcy in traffic.
I am afraid but in last couple of months, the role of traffic police officials has been nothing short of pathetic. After having received a free hand from their seniors, the on ground traffic police personnel have gone berserk in stopping any and every vehicle at their will. This piece of writing is not only based on my personal experiences but also of some of my friends and relatives, with whom I have had detailed discussions. Here are some incidents, which after reading, you would be able to pick out at least one incident which has happened to you in last couple of months.
1. It was the day when merely a couple of hours of rain had halted the traffic completely in Delhi NCR. The government's laxity was visible in the pools of water which had accumulated in most roads. A friend of mine was stuck in the traffic jam, and decided to call home to tell his mother that he would be late. This is when a traffic police guy jumped out of nowhere and informed him that he just broke a traffic rule. My friend was completely shocked. The car was at a complete standstill on the middle of the road. Even though technically he might have been at a fault, but logically it was far from being a traffic violation. Even though there was such heavy chaos on the road, the traffic guy was more interested in making my friend realise his mistake. Result: A argument without any conclusion. My friend was willing to pay the fine, but the traffic police guy didn't have the Challan Book.
2. It was a saturday night. I was coming back from Delhi to Gurgaon. I was in the queue at the toll bridge waiting for my turn. This is when I saw that there were police guys probably checking for drunk drivers. I felt relieved that I was sober. The police guy walked up to me and I pulled down the window. He asked me where was I coming from, where was I heading to. What is his business. Anyways. I answered the questions. He asked me how many beers had I consumed. I said none. He said it was difficult to believe that a guy on a saturday night is not drunk. What logic? I told him that I wasnt drunk and they can have my breath analyser test done. He agreed and asked me to accompany him to the Thana. This is when I lost my head. I refused to accompany him to thana and asked for the test to be taken there and then. These guys were searching for drunk drivers without the breath analysing kit. After a heated discussion, he let me go. For him it was an opportunity to make a quick buck. But sadly enough for him, I wasnt the kind of catch he was looking for.
3. A friend of mine was driving back from work. A police official waved and stopped him. He slowed down and stopped after a few meters. He was surprised as to why he was stopped. He got out of the car and walked back towards the Traffic Police guy. The traffic police guy told him that he wasnt wearing his seat belt. He felt damn irritated because now there was no way he could prove that he was wearing the seat belt. He tried convincing the traffic guy, that he was indeed wearing the belt. The traffic guy asked for all his papers, which he politely showed. Then he asked for his mobile phone. My friend was a little hesitant but handed over his phone to him. He started checking the recent calls list to check if my friend was on the phone when he was caught. There were no calls in the last few minutes. Finally after the traffic guy was over with all the 'routine' check ups, my friend was told that he was free to go. He didn't even find the traffic guy worth arguing with and left that place.
I would like to clarify that I am not trying to look down upon the good work the Traffic Guys are doing, but some traffic police personnel see it as an opportunity to earn an easy buck. There is no reason why these guys should not be equipped with the Breath Analyser or the Challan Book. They know that many people end up paying cash to them as an escape measure. Also, the practice of traffic policemen stopping cars without any valid reason has gone up drastically. I have been stopped atleast 4-5 times in last one month, for no rhyme or reason. Maybe because I have a Rajasthan registration number, or maybe because they were hallucinating. The senior traffic police officials need to realise that the good work of most of the good on ground officials is undone by a small number of inefficient traffic guys who are doing nothing but holding the traffic for ransom...
Sunday, August 23, 2009
BJP Heading Towards Dark Ages?
This one is a quick one.
Jinnah left Indian shores on 14th August 1947, but his ghost still haunts Ashoka Road in New Delhi. Thats where the BJP National Head Quarter is located.
In 2005, Advani on his 'memorable' trip to Pakistan praised Jinnah for being a visionary and paid the price by losing his post of Party President. Jaswant Singh on his Academic pursuit ended up writing an entire book on Jinnah and in this process lost the membership of the party with which he was associated for almost 3 decades.
I wont go into the analysis of Jinnah's role in Partition, Jaswant Singh's view point and Congress's reaction to the book. I just wish to convey my feeling of shock and irritation to the expulsion of Jaswant Singh from BJP.
A Political Party which throws out senior people from its party just because he wrote a book on controversial issue, is surely looking down the dumps. It has lost its path and has forgotten its priorities.
If BJP has to reinvent itself, it has to rise above personal attacks, factionalism and has to look at youth. There is no way this ideology can help them in relating to 70% of population which is below the age of 35...
Continuing with yesterday's post... BJP listed down the following reasons for their defeat in Lok Sabha elections.. Neither does the list looks complete nor impactful. What measures are being taken??
Lack of unity among party leaders.: The whole world knows that
Failure to connect with youth.: Tried their best through social media
BJP failed to corner the Congress on 26/11. Instead the party let the Congress and the media divert the issue and bring in to Kandhar issue.: Terrorism cannot be politicised
Party's election slogans failed.: Bhay Ho song was so lame!
Varun Gandhi's hate speech also led to BJP debacle.: High Time they realise it. He is still a BJP MP and the only 'young' leader
Projection of Narendra Modi as the future prime minister damaged the party's prospects.: Is he not the next PM candidate anyways
Campaign should have been more meticulous, synchronised and effective.: A very general statement
Personal attack on Manmohan Singh did not go well with people.: This is because he counterattacked agressively
In Punjab the alliance partner’s attitude affected the performance of National Democratic Alliance.: Blaming others!! Your own sitting MPs like Vinod Khanna lost..
In Delhi the BJP lost the game even before it was played. : They can't win a seat in next 10 years..No leaders at all
In Haryana party failed to assess the popular mood.: wt#?
Break up of alliance in Orissa at the 11th hour left the party unawares.:What happened to the tall claims of going single?
Jinnah left Indian shores on 14th August 1947, but his ghost still haunts Ashoka Road in New Delhi. Thats where the BJP National Head Quarter is located.
In 2005, Advani on his 'memorable' trip to Pakistan praised Jinnah for being a visionary and paid the price by losing his post of Party President. Jaswant Singh on his Academic pursuit ended up writing an entire book on Jinnah and in this process lost the membership of the party with which he was associated for almost 3 decades.
I wont go into the analysis of Jinnah's role in Partition, Jaswant Singh's view point and Congress's reaction to the book. I just wish to convey my feeling of shock and irritation to the expulsion of Jaswant Singh from BJP.
A Political Party which throws out senior people from its party just because he wrote a book on controversial issue, is surely looking down the dumps. It has lost its path and has forgotten its priorities.
If BJP has to reinvent itself, it has to rise above personal attacks, factionalism and has to look at youth. There is no way this ideology can help them in relating to 70% of population which is below the age of 35...
Continuing with yesterday's post... BJP listed down the following reasons for their defeat in Lok Sabha elections.. Neither does the list looks complete nor impactful. What measures are being taken??
Lack of unity among party leaders.: The whole world knows that
Failure to connect with youth.: Tried their best through social media
BJP failed to corner the Congress on 26/11. Instead the party let the Congress and the media divert the issue and bring in to Kandhar issue.: Terrorism cannot be politicised
Party's election slogans failed.: Bhay Ho song was so lame!
Varun Gandhi's hate speech also led to BJP debacle.: High Time they realise it. He is still a BJP MP and the only 'young' leader
Projection of Narendra Modi as the future prime minister damaged the party's prospects.: Is he not the next PM candidate anyways
Campaign should have been more meticulous, synchronised and effective.: A very general statement
Personal attack on Manmohan Singh did not go well with people.: This is because he counterattacked agressively
In Punjab the alliance partner’s attitude affected the performance of National Democratic Alliance.: Blaming others!! Your own sitting MPs like Vinod Khanna lost..
In Delhi the BJP lost the game even before it was played. : They can't win a seat in next 10 years..No leaders at all
In Haryana party failed to assess the popular mood.: wt#?
Break up of alliance in Orissa at the 11th hour left the party unawares.:What happened to the tall claims of going single?
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Bagle's Cafe Gurgaon: Disappointing
For a place which opened last month with good reviews all over the print media, my trip to Bagel Cafe, Gurgaon was nothing short of a disaster.Before visiting the place, I did a quick google search and visited the website (www.bagelscafe.in). The website offers a refreshing mix of colours and further raises your expectations from the place.
As soon as you enter the cafe, you feel a bit cheated. The ambience of the cafe is more like a CCD or a Barista and does not offer anything better than a routine neighbourhood cafe. The ambiance and the interiors do not do any justice to colourful logo,menu cards and the websiteThe staff did greet us with a happy smile initially, but alas, that happy feeling on their faces also begins to fade away in some time.
We ordered Plain Cream Cheese Bagel, Cafe Lattes and Country Style Stew with Chicken and Sausages. When you order a Cheese Bagel, you don't expect the cheese layer to be as thick as the Bagel itself. Well, We did find our way out by removing half the layer of the cheese, but the stale 'cream cheese' didn't do any good to us. It was just not edible.When we made the staff aware of the stale cheese, they simply handed us a feedback form and asked us to leave our comments.
The Chicken and Sausage Meal in the Bowl was at best average and could have been better, had it not been so bland and full of Cream Cheese. It seemed that the staff knew that their Cream Cheese was getting stale and wanted to exhaust the entire thing on that evening itself.Coffee also does not need any special mention. A specialised cafe like this can work harder on the aroma of the coffee.
I am being a bit too critical about Bagel's Cafe only because of the good reviews it had received during the week of its opening. One tends to question the integrity of the Food Reviewers which the major publication houses employ. To make the matters worse, the pricing is also not something to write home about.
Details:
Name: Bagel's Cafe
Location: Shopping Mall, Arjun Marg, DLF 1
Phone: 0124-4284742
Website: www.bagelscafe.in
Cost for 2 people: Rs 500-600
Verdict: Disappointing
P.S. I am glad that some of the Gurgaon people whom I follow on Twitter have a similar opinion of the place
As soon as you enter the cafe, you feel a bit cheated. The ambience of the cafe is more like a CCD or a Barista and does not offer anything better than a routine neighbourhood cafe. The ambiance and the interiors do not do any justice to colourful logo,menu cards and the websiteThe staff did greet us with a happy smile initially, but alas, that happy feeling on their faces also begins to fade away in some time.
We ordered Plain Cream Cheese Bagel, Cafe Lattes and Country Style Stew with Chicken and Sausages. When you order a Cheese Bagel, you don't expect the cheese layer to be as thick as the Bagel itself. Well, We did find our way out by removing half the layer of the cheese, but the stale 'cream cheese' didn't do any good to us. It was just not edible.When we made the staff aware of the stale cheese, they simply handed us a feedback form and asked us to leave our comments.
The Chicken and Sausage Meal in the Bowl was at best average and could have been better, had it not been so bland and full of Cream Cheese. It seemed that the staff knew that their Cream Cheese was getting stale and wanted to exhaust the entire thing on that evening itself.Coffee also does not need any special mention. A specialised cafe like this can work harder on the aroma of the coffee.
I am being a bit too critical about Bagel's Cafe only because of the good reviews it had received during the week of its opening. One tends to question the integrity of the Food Reviewers which the major publication houses employ. To make the matters worse, the pricing is also not something to write home about.
Details:
Name: Bagel's Cafe
Location: Shopping Mall, Arjun Marg, DLF 1
Phone: 0124-4284742
Website: www.bagelscafe.in
Cost for 2 people: Rs 500-600
Verdict: Disappointing
P.S. I am glad that some of the Gurgaon people whom I follow on Twitter have a similar opinion of the place
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