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I Support The Power Holiday

Noticed the daily power failures? It turns out that there is a power shortage in Tamilnadu and so the Electricity Board has decided to declare Power Holidays. This means that we get to enjoy a few hours of no electricity every day.

I fully support this decision to cut power every day because we live in an underdeveloped country. We can’t really expect the Government to properly manage our natural resources and generate enough electric power. How can we blame the Electricity Board for being incompetent? They have better things to do than their jobs. Supply of 24 hours electricity is a nice dream but it isn’t realistic.

We just have to accept that sacrifices have to be made in an underdeveloped poor nation such as India. Until then we should ask other countries that are on the same level as us (Nigeria, Sudan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia) for some tips on how to manage our resources properly.

Cursed Land of the Eternally Incompetent

Getting a passport is a ridiculously difficult task in this fucked up country.

Went to the passport office on Wednesday. Stood in the queue for 45 minutes. Came back since they didn’t accept my Airtel landline bill for address proof.

Went to the passport office today. Stood in the first queue for 30 minutes. Finally they tell me it’s the wrong queue. Stood in the second queue for 30 minutes. They close down for lunch. So I go back home and then head over there in the afternoon. I stand in the queue again but some policeman guy comes and asks me to get a sign from Deputy Passport Office. Stood in third queue for 30 minutes and got the sign. Then went to the fourth queue and waited there for 2 hours 15 minutes. They closed the counter down just as I got to it. I was the last person in the queue but the fat bald asshole at the counter refused to process my application. Even if I had managed to reach this counter in time the cash counter had been closed.

Queues everywhere. People wandering around clueless resorting to asking other applicants for help. Security personnel walking around and chatting without helping anyone. Indifferent government employees more interested in gossiping than processing the damn applications.

Add to this the traffic, the unbearable heat of Chennai and the lack of information or guidelines in the passport form or the passport office makes this one horrible experience I would not force upon my worst enemy. Well maybe Tamilselvan, Viswanathan and Narendra Modi but no one else.

All you people who say you like India, you’re just dumb. No one can like this dirty overpopulated disorganised place knowing everything people have to endure here. Me, I’ll get out first chance I get.

‘Current Off’ Day

Three hours without electricity. And in a furnace like Chennai you cannot survive without the ceiling fans. What possible excuse could they have for a three hour power cut in a metropolitan city? Do you still think that India will become a super power in a few years? Stop deluding yourself.

From 3.30 PM to 6.30 PM I sweated it out, entertaining myself by reading the book about tanks that I bought recently. Already we have to take two baths a day in this horrible weather and with no power I might as well sit in the bathroom all day immersed in a large tub of water.

The title of this post was inspired by Ganesh.

A Little Rain

It’s always nice when it rains. The temperature goes down and it’s a nice respite from the perennial scorching heat Chennai is cursed with. The lighting becomes gloomy and it’s easy on the eyes. It also makes it easier to sleep at night. On the other hand it’s harder to wake up in the morning but these days I don’t have to. (The last day of college was yesterday, you see.)

The only problem is all the mud, garbage and whatnot lying around the city turns into a disgusting slush that makes walking absolutely revolting. Sure, you can go by your motor vehicle… if you don’t mind having to send it in for a complete wash at the end of the rains.

My Epic OMR Equips

Above is a photo of me in full OMR travelling gear.

Sunglasses of the Shadow
+80% resistance to vision affecting effects
+2 luck

Skull Cap of Wisdom
+4 intelligence
-8 hair fall
Reduces effects of hereditary baldness by 2%

Face Scarf of the Earth and Sky
Immunity to Poison Gas and Dust attacks
-3 stamina

If you’ve travelled by the Old Mahabalipuram Road recently you would have seen the billowing clouds of dust that are generated everyday by the people ‘working’ on the road. To avoid a layer of dust settling into our hair, faces and lungs we have to come up with solutions like these.

The expected date of completion of the Old Mahabalipuram Road is 2142 A.D.

Madrasas In Chennai?

Arun and Harikumar alerted me to a Times Now news item about engineering colleges in and around Chennai passing off their bullshit rules as Tamil culture.

Regressive separation of the sexes?
In 21st century India, if you thought we had done away with archaic ideas about men and women, thing again. TIMES NOW has found that certain colleges in Chennai have forced male and female students to keep out of each other’s way, so much so that students cannot even walk on the same roads. This is all ostensibly in the name of Tamil culture.

The outskirts of Chennai are home to scores of engineering colleges where discipline it appears is an obsession - sometimes even bordering on the ridiculous. Some rules even bar students from talking to the opposite sex.

Read the entire article here and click ‘Play Video’ at the bottom of the page to see the news item.

This is what we have to put up with. The colleges mentioned in the video are the extreme cases of course but this is the management’s approach in most engineering colleges. Now who’s at fault? It’s the bloody parents who support their ridiculous rules. Now how can students revolt when their own parents won’t support them?

Also, why does the news article claim that this happens only in deemed universities. What about the hundreds of colleges under Anna University that have banned cell phones on campus simply because of some misguided fellow?

Retards On Roads

Today, I was driving towards Adyar signal from the Adyar Depot side and was on the left side of the road slowing down for the left turn. There was this short dark chap that was walking well away from the pedestrian area of the road and refused to get out of my way. I went straight at him and he eventually moved away but at the last second he hit me on the chest and continued walking. What the hell?

I wasn’t going to let that pass so I kicked out the bike’s side stand, left the bike (engine still running) and ran after him. He didn’t expect that and so didn’t see me coming. I shoved him hard from behind and he stumbled a bit and ran away across the road before I could do anything else. As I walked back to the bike I could see him cross the road again further away, smiling to himself. What a nutcase! I should have punched his face in.

State Bank of India - Not Bad, For A Nationalised Bank

I went to the Besant Nagar branch of State Bank of India today to open a Savings Bank account. I took Ragha along in case there was a sudden zombie apocalypse in the city.

I presented the documents to the assistant manager (I think) who promptly sent me home to fetch my driving licence (the photocopy would not do, he said). After seeing the licence he glanced at the other details and signed the forms and let me deposit Rs. 1000 (the minimum balace for SB account with cheque book). After that I got the welcome kit with the debit card, the cheque book and some brochures and stuff in an envelope. A few minutes later I signed a log book for the passbook (which was ready by now) and then got the PIN for the debit card from the manager. Finally I filled up and submitted the form for internet banking.

All this was over in about an hour! I was very impressed with the service. They got things done quickly and ultimately that is all that matters. None of the staff nitpicked on the details of the debit slip or any other forms like they do in other banks.

The only worrying thing is that my account number ends with 27. I am sure this is the work of Ragha who has some secret connections with the bank staff. Will my money be safe?

Travelling With Ragha (Part 2)

Barrelling down a road with Ragha driving.

In the mad dash to Mount Road, we saw some interesting things. I asked Ragha to slow down to take pictures.

UN license plates! Never seen them before. (Ragha insisted that I take a photo of the car’s occupants but I didn’t.)

I didn’t recognise the flag at the front of this car. I checked the Internet and found that it was the Chinese flag.

I saw another strange license plate but the car went away before I could get a shot of it. Was there some kind of international conference going on in the city?

Rock Show - IIT Saarang

The two bands this time were Firebrands and Prestorika. Alayan was going to come with me but he cancelled out since the results were announced and he wanted to attend a recruitment drive the next day. I met up with Suren and his friends outside the Open Air Theatre (OAT). George was hanging about somewhere and came into the OAT only later.

Firebrands opened the show. They were some band from Singapore that had two guitarists, a lead singer, a drummer and a DJ. And they sucked. They sucked so bad!

The lead singer was a fat guy with zero stage presence, an uninspiring voice and he didn’t sing! He either spoke or yelled out the lyrics. It was totally lame. With all his marching around waving the mike stand he resembled Cartman (from Southpark). Give me my money back!

Next up were Prestorika. All I heard for the next hour or so was noise. Heavy beats, distortion and screaming. It was really really loud. Suren says they were good but I didn’t think much of them.

Prestorika did manage to play Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark at the end really well. I wonder why they choose to play deafening music instead of songs like that.

After downloading some songs from their site I conclude that the sound was just turned up way too loud. They sound pretty good in the studio recordings! I should buy some earplugs to wear to these concerts.

Prestorika opens for Megadeth later in March this year. An interesting thing is that Prestorika are licensing their work under a Creative Commons licence as seen on the downloads page.