Raja & Friends – CBI Probe

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment


The heading in today’s Times Of India newspaper went like this – CBI raids Raja & Friends.It’s apparently done to wriggle out any evidence around 2G scam. I feel this Raja will be too smart for the CBI sleuths. By now he has enough time to cover it up in some far off hills.

Anyways, let’s see how CBI probe goes.
Swami and Friends
Well this headline took my thought to another group of friends. Swamy and friends. Swami the young fella and his mischievous acts, along with the child like curiosity still makes me go back to those time in my life.

Do you miss Malgudi times on Doordarsan? It came at time when we had handfull of serials which has real quality.

Now you can watch it at youtube or from other similar video sharing sites… Tenali Rama.

Auto Fare in Bangalore

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment

I dread bargaining, more with auto drivers. At the same time I hate being taken for a ride by auto drivers. We often read in news about how auto drivers con or use bad language on commuters.

Most fellas have unique technique to fool people who are new to Bangalore. Some auto drivers act ignorant of the place, or some take unwanted detour. All just to make meter run around.

Here is an instance when I got down at Banaswadi railway station. When the packed train off loaded mallu folks, it was the familiar scene at the railway station.

As mallus flow down this station, a large fleet of auto drivers wait to pounce on hapless newbies. Most of these fellas don’t go with the meter rate. They have their own rate card depending on your looks.

One auto driver I inquired of the rate to Cambridge layout said Rs 150/- without any expression. It’s just leave it or take it attitude. I took the logical way to walk up to Banaswadi main road. From that Banaswadi junction I got into an auto who took me for Rs 60.
I’m not alone. Many fellas walk towards to junction to get auto in a reasonable rate.
During my walk, I see lot of people leaving my auto or car alone. If at all there was a safe way to connect with people who are going to the same destination.
Can some widget connect people going to the same destination. Technology can save time, and money. It’s could be made something like a vehicle pool. Maybe some iphone application or some twitter kind of tool can help.
Any thoughts on this..

Hefty Rent Is Back – Bangalore

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Apartment Rent in Bangalore
After going through a glut in house rental, the old rent is back in Bangalore. This time the rent wave is getting on a more bigger. Sleeping brokers are back to their familiar turf with more glee. Haven’t u seen more these fellas look more glossier.

One of my colleague who is hunting for a rent around JP Nagar, HSR layout, shares the harrowing tale of hefty rent. It looks like a 2 bed room house is going on the lines of 12k+ and 10 months rent. Most house owners are not even willing for any negotiation – flat rent. Take it or leave it kind of attitude.
How on earth can some fella like afford a house in Bangalore. How do other folks like me sustain in this reality. Sometime, I feel like leaving B’lore to my country side house in Kerala. But it’s not an easy option considering my monthly payments!

Bangalore’s Cillin

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Glory to the December chill. Bangalore cool climate at this time of the year mellows the life with it’s idyllic weather. Despite the growing pollution, this season bring in the old charm.

I love wearing thick jackets to work or just to curl around in my thick blanket. Bangalore weather is quite reminiscent of the English weather ( kind of).

Love to drive early morning under the canopy of trees. The stretch of road near command hospital, Bangalore gives a whiff soothing smell from Eucalyptus trees.

Do you have something to share about this season?

Vacation to Spark New Ideas for Iife

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I had a great vacation with my wife. We visited sun streaked beaches in Goa and Gokarna. It was great in terms of discovering new places, and exploring new food, meeting few people. it

Today, I’m now open with new wave of energy to preform, to achieve goals in life. I’ve new dreams to set my life in the new orbit.

There’s no two thoughts about it. I need to put these dreams into practice or perish with it. Let this drive remain in me and push me till the goal is reached.

Yesvantpur is buzzing

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Living my life in the small pocket, the supposedly heart of Bangalore gives short sight on the development of Bang’lore. Last weekend, I passed by Yesvantpur, Rajaji Nagar and I was thunderstruck at the scale of new building and construction.

I saw lot’s of upscale apts mushrooming around this part of B’lore. So which side is B’lore growing? Which side is the reality prices shooting? Some time back, I checked the price of a small shop near Koramangala. I called to tel # and I got the immediate reply as 30K.
Can u imagine a small place, the size of a juice shop going for 30k a month? How can a shop owner get value for the money invested in this place. I don’t think it makes business sense to own a shop and sell small value goodies or eatables? How? Do you have the answer?

Fetish for Air Hostess

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment
One of my guilty pleasures go to do with my an uncanny liking towards Air hostess / Fight Attendent.

During late or mid 80’s I frequently accompanied my parents to Trivandrum Airport to say ta ta bye-bye to many of my American cousins and Gulf relatives. And it during such visits I got the first glimpse of these angelic, flawless, air-hostesses.Yes, these spotlessly fresh air-hostess at that age drove me an fetish that still lingers on.

Namaste Air Inida
During 80’s, only few women wore short skirt, and all carrier’s air hostess wore sari. A typical Air India air hostess would be seen in sari and an ubiquitous VIP hand bag. And when ever I’ve seen then, they were with handsome pilots, talking animatedly on some unknown topic. 🙂

And I used to wonder how they carried their daily life in these flying capsules. Years passes, I still carry these little puzzles, still unanswered. I wish I had an Air hostess friend to learn about their profession.

How’s life as an Air Hostess?
Many aspirants would wonder about a job as an air hostess? How’s their flying routine? Do they get ample breaks? Can they just call to take a leave? How do they become remarkable at their job? What are the irksome issues during their job? How do they deal or avoid perverts like me who deliberately touch as they move around the aisle? Do they fall in love with passengers or have crush with them? How do they do the routine job with passion?

I know there are many young girls looking out a job in Airlines Industry? Where do they get answers to these questions? As an air hostess, how do you get more people to join this job? 

So, what happened to air hostess from yesteryears? I have read somewhere that many old time flying beauties courted big business men, bureaucrats  industrialist. And many of them married these leaders. I wonder if such things happen today?

Well, now flying has become a middle class phenomena. Folks like you and me, scraping for a living are in the economy section.

More questions to ex-air hostess and flight attendants?

  • Once they retire, what kind of job is best for them?
  • Are they right candidates for hospitality business?
  • Is there a recruiting firm which specializes in recruiting these folks?
  • What other career openings are open to them? 
  • Where do most of the ex-airhostess join or work?
  • Is there an online community of these people? If not, can you moderate or start one?
  • How much does a air hostess earn in an year – domestic and international career?
  • How can air hostess upgrade the skills? What skills are easy to pick or the hard ones?

And what happened to the yesteryear glamour air hostesses?

Charles

Breaking News! Breaking Hearts!

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I’m broke of ideas, thoughts. It’s terrible when you run short of idea ammunition.But here comes a help from the popular news at 9:00.

Taking of news, I was watching the moderaton by Rajdeep Sardesai, the Editor-in-Chief CNN-IBN.. After watching his vocal gyrations with the pannel, I felt he is kind of drilling non-consequential items and making into a breaking news.

Yes, there are lot of corruption happening around. But why feed these issues to the public.
Thank God, I’ve stopped watching new kind of news. It’s not easy, but can stop those bad news in the idiox box. It’s high time, people move from watching news to something more meanigful.

Would be glad if you can join my clan!

My first Strawberry

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strawberry packet
I’ve seen Strawberry in the food shelves, but never tasted one. Today, for the first time in my life, I tasted this fruit. My taste buds woke up to a new flavor. Another first in my life.

That takes to the usual question for this weekend!

What did you cherish today? Did you taste a new idea, new food, discover a new place, touched a new thought, or just discover an unknown part of your spouse? Or did you try to discover yourself?

Public Utility Building Bangalore

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment
This was once the tallest building, before the swanky skyscrapers put this utility building to shame.

So how old is utility building? Why is it in a neglected state? Why is not utility anymore? How many floors it has?

Why is it sparsely occupied? Is it b’cos its living beyond its years? Or is it due to the lack of fire escape route?

Long back I went to the railway booking counter inside utility building. Its creaky lift took me across the desolate floors to the dull railway booking counter office on the 14th floor. When I reached there, I was keen to look around the view from the Public Utility building for a larger view of Bangalore.
Ullas Refreshment at Public Utility Building Bangalore
I’m not sure if railway has the booking counter now. The only place I like in utility building is the Ullas refreshment. It’s a large vegetarian restaurant with an open air seating facility. This portion faces M G road. Many times I had masala dosa and coffee from this sparely populated Ullas refreshment.
Next time you pass in front of Utility building, pls drop in to have coffee from Ullas refreshment from the terrace. Enjoy the cool breeze, & enjoy refreshing coffee.
Come, join me for a cup of refreshing coffee at Ullas refreshments? 🙂