Month: September 2008

Early morning walk – Park story

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment

My love for walking has taken me to few parks in Bangalore. Of these the favorites are the ones close to my home. The closest one is the one behind ESI hospital. It’s just 10mts walk from Cambridge Layout, a distance that I choose to go with my scooter.

This park is maintained by BDA and I’m happy with the maintenance and the green cover it provides. There is a temple in this park and the path cris cross the rectangular piece of ground.

Who are the regulars and my timing

I’m a lazy bum and hence my daily walk starts at odd timings. Dressed in yellow or red shorts I would reach there between 8:00 and 8:30. Still then I get sufficient time to walk anti- clock wise in the park.

All sorts of people flock in here. There are young nubile ladies, married men and women and also very young mothers with the babies in the walkers. It’s a pleasant sight to see the regular people and how they carry themselves in their little world.

Often in the park I think about their private lives and occupation. Just a strange apparition about how and what there are in this small around me.

Hardly any one spares me a second look and I just continue my walk listening to my kind of music, ranging from Bob Dylan, Carpenters, Floyd or Fleetwood Mac or what ever there in on Rainbow 91/9 FM.

Yes, I would like to describe the people I see here, may in another blog at another time.

Yes, people are strange when you are a stranger….. so goes the Doors song and I better wind this up here.

Dead letter

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Found this dead letter from the BBC site. Just image the recepients and what she must have gone through after reading this letter. Did she have a forethought of such bad incidents?

It used to be a time when telephone was not very popular. Letter was the main way of communication and imagine how such letter brought pain to the faimily.

Wonder how the family look forward to any letter from the Army informing about their loved ones.

Now these are replaced by telephone calls. Often I hear of Army personnel falling in terror attacks.. Again the bad news is informed with voice. Does the caller inform it at one shot or do they pass a comforting call before speaking the ultimate news?

Carbon footprint

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment

Yes, women thesedays lean on with studs producing the maximum greehouse gases. Bigger 4 drive vechile, larger living room, fashy electronic gizmos, world wide traveller and offcourse with a fat pay cheque.

So, what’s with guys like me at the other side of the divide. Are we supposed to be spectators all the way and watch the game from the sidelines.

I think every living soul get’s a fair chance, jsut play along in the game of life and you’ll have more than good share of fun.

Seasoned life

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With aging life get’s seasoned. Opinions, vision, thoughts and ambitions ringing high at young age slowly mellow down. Yes, majority of people I know have changed with the change of time.

Life is 20’s is vividly different from life peeked at the 30’s or in 40’s. As life progresses it also accumulates new layers and unwittingly we start living on the new deposit.

While every one changes, it’s interesting to watch how life moves high and down in each of the people around you. Yes, when I look around I see people moving from energetic line to dull and sultry sober lifestyles. Can’t blame, for age brings in security issues from shelter, clothing, expenses ….etc..

Apart from these, we tend to see people falling out of our life.. Death as an eye-opener makes us see life in a different perspective. Big daddy’s and uncles fade away leaving and making you wonder how they leave you in the lurch… Dominant faces in life quietly moves away… cause me to look at the meaning of life & opinion.

One question spark up after all these, ….. “ Can we afford to take seriously”

My answer would weigh more on the “No” side. Why NO?

Do you have an answer? ….

Life’s material plane

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Remember this popular hit from the Album “Like a virgin” by Madonna.
“ We are living in a Material world
and I’m a material girl, ….

When Madonna sang it in 85, it was at a time when digital age was still at it’s infancy . Now two decades has passed and world has become more richer and deeper in materialistic idealism. Thanks to globalization or outsourcing, we too have now become the part of the digital pancake

Most of us wake up each day with one solitary goal- earn more and gain more. Even the present day kids are preached aggressive lifestyles & behavior. Old values has lots it’s sheen in the race to reach first.

So, how can we see the future through the simmering glass of today’s rat race? I feel we ‘ll soon end up as digital ducks waiting for digital solace and digital companionship. Relationships are rooted on shallow grounds, yes, marriage or longer union will be history and society will be a singular world.

Sounds odd to think but that’s what we all are cruising and it’s an endless freeway with no turning back.

Before a rail journey – Trivandrum – Bangalore

~ bjcharles ~ 3 Comments

Great train story

Kanyakumari express departs daily from B’lore by 9:45. Now it’s Onam season and in spite of extra trains, all the trains are overbooked. Not to mention about the private busses out there making quick bucks.

Bangalore is now fast becoming a hot seat for young Mallus looking out to start a career. Apart form the young ones, there are plenty of biz opportunities – target the large pool of boozing and fish, beef & pork eating mallus.

Why Bangalore

Thanks to the snail pace planning and development of Kerala, people go out of town leaving family to earn a professional life. In Trivandrum it’s Technopark that has brought some measure of employment for techies and from outsourcing. If it can work in Techonopark why cant they clone this success to other parts or even more such units?

Train travel

Coming back to Kannyakumari Express, it’s again a perfect example of how long a train can take to reach two destination separated by 700 odd km. The time taken is roughly around 18 hrs… Don’t know what name to call for this long time in the train. One miserable feeling I get when I board the train from Trivandrum is that I have to sacrifice my homely lunch. This train leaves Trivandrum by 12:55 and for that I’ve to leave by 12:00, too early to have a great fishy food.

Compare it with bus service, which leaves by 3:30 or 4:00, which gives ample time to have food and have a sweet talk. Well, I detest bus travel but due to this time difference between these two modes of travel, I’m but forced to sit tight in a bus.

Talkal reservation

This time like every time, I failed to book in time and instead I choose the expensive way to book by talkal. Here I woke up early( painfully) and reached Indira Nagar B.D.A complex for ticket booking. Reached there by 7:00 but already there were smarter people waiting by the shutters.

Railway reservation opens at 8:00 and since I was in the front lines, I got the Talkal ticket. Wow, what a pleasure to hold on a railway ticket ( Rs 480 )

Cambridge Layout to Magestic – Auto fare

This day I had to drop my sibling to the Magestic Railway station. We left the house around 20:40, + 3 bags and one cardboard box of vegetables. We got into an auto who agreed to take us to Magestic with fare + 20 Rs. In spite of fairly thin traffic, the ride took around 40 mts. Cambridge Layout to Magestic 40 mintues by auto. I think, to be on the safe side, it’s better to keep 1 hr window of time to reach Majestic.

Auto meter was showing 59 and I paid 80 bucks to the auto chap. No sooner we kept the 4 bags, one potter came and offered to take to the Kanyakumari Express platform. I didn’t ask the rates and I assumed it to be around 30.

Potter & rates

After he walked few steps, he handed the goodies to another potter and in the exchange I heard him saying Do souv ( 200 bucks in Hindi. ). Damn, I then asked him the rates and he coolly said Rs200. I was adamant and said 50 but he came to Rs 100 and then to 80. I got hold of another bag and I stood to Rs 50.

The train was in the 3rd platform and we took the underpass to reach.

Well, I’ve flooded this blog with so many details( The talkal price, auto fare from Cambridge layout, Railway potters rates at Magestic). I hope some one will get some benefit with details.

So much detail for the Train trip. After seeing her off, I walked to the bus stand and took a bus to HAL. Driver stopped the vehicle near Command hospital and off I went to my home alone and tired.

Hilarious coment by Dr Marc Faber’s – u’ll enjoy

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment

Dr. Marc Faber concluded his monthly bulletin (June 2008) with the Following:

”The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer /software it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I’ve been doing my part.’

It’s hilarious to read this.. One of my colleague forwarded this to me and I forwarded it around. So, why are we so happy joke so much about Uncle Sam. Probably we humans have a tendency to ridicule the top dogs.

I write web copy

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment

I write web copy for living. Often when I say about my profession it invites cold blank stares. Can’t blame the folks. Not too far ago I too was in that ignorant lot. Time has rolled and now I happen to drone the cloak of web copywriter. Now as a half baked online writer, I’m just climbing the stairway to the online word of words that sell.

What’s a web copy…

“Web copy simply means the words that make visitors to your website pull out their credit cards and buy your product or service”.

Now, it’s clearer. Words propel action/ customer acquisition. Yes, it’s interesting domain, which involves have repository of skills like writing skills, language, marketing, human psychology and all aspects in bits and pieces.

Having said all these, I’ve miles to go before I can scale the pinnacle of this profession, which I really love to reach…

Yes, it involves plenty of reading, writing and learning from the masters. It’s art, so be it; I’m willing to learn… Any web copy writers from Bangalore willing to trade content writing skills ?

Pls do call up @ 9900114982 & ask 4 charles