Pune Trip

So i got back from my Pune-trip a few days back.





I had a really "wholesome"-holiday there!





a photo of Parwati Lake...what is now the Parwati Darshan area


There is a distinctly different vibe to the city....totally unlike Bangalore. Or maybe like the Bangalore of old- when Banagalore WAS still a 'Pensioners Paradise'.

Anyway Pune has its own sobriquet- 'Oxford of the East'. And its a moniker thats completely valid... coz it a SUCH a YOUNG-CITY! I mean it...It's like a Lord Of The Flies scene!

Whereever you look there's young-people.... And i dont mean chunnu-munnu's and age-29-not-old-by-oldies-standards-but-not-young-by-teen-standards crowd.... i mean College-going, Midriff-baring, Goatee-sporting 20-somethings.

The place is full of them...i mean...full of us!

(A few more praise posts on Pune coming up....)










pune university uilding










st.pauls church..still stands today shaniwarwada...peshwa dynasty

More Quota thoughts

The quota-debate will never bacome a national movement. Coz there's a distinct difference between the North & South.

Why? Well according to me...

• Coz the South has learned to live with quotas, and has made its peace with them.
  
• Coz the ‘Hartal’ culture is not really a part of the protest-process in the South.
• Coz the Supply-Demand equations (as far as seats are concerned) are much more favourable in the South.
• Coz the OBC’s are not as marginalized in mainstream society as in the North.
• Coz caste-politics is far more active and more of an issue in the North.
  

BSNL - Aggro is just a call away.

(Ok...I decided that the next best thing to do when your internet connection is down is to spend the bore-time getting up to speed with your blog material.)

A couple of days back my telephone-line went dead....BSNL, naturally. So no broadband.

Now you all know that the Dataone-service has a separate Data-line that accompanies the Voice-line...a 'line pair' (that’s what I was told). Naturally I didn’t know that; I’m a Dentist after all. Within 48hours my voice-line was restored and all I thought all was fine...until I turned my modem on and stared stupidly at it for 5mins wondering why the correct lights weren't coming on.

It turns out, the BSNL guys these days don’t actually fix a broken wire and shit, when a phone conks out....they just assign a new wire to the line and the phone is brought back to life (that’s what I was told). Now, if your have a broadband connection, your data-line should accompany your voice-line when it gets reassigned...that is, if the BSNL linemen actually realize that you have a Dataone connection. They didn’t. (That’s what I was told). So I had a new voice-line and the old (and still dead) data-line arriving at my home. So while my landline was functional, my internet connection remained dead.

Naturally I didn’t know this; I’m a dentist after all. So for the next 3-4 days I kept turning on my PC and staring stupidly at my modem for around 5mins each time, till I finally had the sense to call up BSNL and lodge a complaint. My complaint was duly noted, I was given a docket number, promised repair within 36 hours, made to feel (a) generally pleased, and (b) to answer a prompt "YES….NO" when asked if I was "satisfied with the interaction, and was there anything else I could be assisted with?"

Time travel 3 days forward and my response to the same question has now changed to

“NO! …YES!”, since I am NOT satisfied with the interaction and YESS I can be assisted with something else. This is because, INSPITE of duly noting my complaint, giving me a docket number, promising me repair within 36 hours, and even making me feel generally pleased…my Dataone connection is still flat lining. Aaaarrrrgh!!!