Chennai Auto fares fixed after seven long years

We at Bhumi started a campaign on www.Change.org on June 25, 2012 to fix the auto fares in Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu. 16,632 people signed the petition and we met the government several times, it has all finally paid off

The government of Tamilnadu have announced the revised Auto meter fares today

I received a call from the Transport Minister an hour back (Aug 25, 10AM) with the following details

• Minimum fare for the first 1.8 Km is Rs.25, and for every additional Km is Rs.12.
• Between 11pm to 5am the charges would be 50 percent in addition to the fare.
• Waiting charges for 5 minutes would be Rs.3.50 and for an hour it is Rs.42.
• Complaint mechanism helpline 'like 108' will be established
• It's the first time in India that the GPS electronic meter is going to be used, which would record the details of the journey travelled and has a panic button, that if pressed by the customer would alarm the police.
• GPS electronic meter will be issued for free by the government free, at a cost of Rs.80-90 crores
• From the news: Drivers charging extra will get their licence suspended or the auto will be seized.
• From the news: The corrected fares comes to effect immediately and the final deadline to the fix meter is October 15th. 
• Reference - Relevant Government Order

Lots of people to thank: 

• Our Chief Minister Ms.J. Jayalalithaa
• The Transport Minister Mr.Senthil Balaji
• The officials of the state transport department 
• The 16,632 people who signed the petition to make this happen. Our voice was amplified 16,000 times because of you! 
• Members of the press, especially The Times of India - Karthikeyan Hemalatha
• www.Change.org - for creating the platform, esp. Surendran Balachandran for all the guidance & encouragement
• The awesome team at Bhumi, anything is possible as a team!

Halo around the Moon!

Canon Powershot: ISO200, Exposure 2 Seconds

 Canon Powershot: ISO400, Exposure 4 Seconds

Shot at 11pm IST today...More effects of pollution?

Adventures of a Chennaiite in Petrol illadha kaadu

(Jungle without Petrol!) (Read like Thanni illadha Kaadu:)

30 June 2008 9 AM: Me and Hari on the phone

Me: I need my camera to upload the pics of yesterday's BHUMI meet, at least 80-90 people must be waiting for it

Hari: I'll give it to you at Gandhi Mandapam at around 10 when I go to my office...

10 50AM, Call from Hari: Prahal see you in 20 minutes! (see the time this fellow goes to office and his punctuality)

1105 AM, Me travelling through Kotturpuram, Call from Hari: Hope you've not left home, cos I'm stranded on the OMR without fuel.

Me: So what you gonna do? Let me get fuel for you...

Then began the hour long search for Black Gold! I first bought a 1 litre mineral water bottle and started in search of the bunks near Adyar Signal to my surprise all were closed. When I asked the guy inside if there was some strike he said po po!

So I went in search of petrol bunks toward Thriruvanmiyur. Got caught in a major traffic jam near a petrol bunk on the way to Indira Nagar, so I started drinking the water not wanting to waste 13 bucks :P. Suddenly the traffic moved and the bottle slipped from my hand and started rolling towards the pavement. In cinematic fashion, it slowly rolled, escaping all the speeding vehicles to reach the pavement without a dent!

After a while I managed to get in to the petrol bunk wondering what to do with all the water, only to find a long snaky queue of people with all sorts of containers. as I passed around the water to all the waiting 'auto karans' I realised none of them knew why there was no petrol at other bunks or why they were trying to get fuel in large containers in preparation for doomsday! As I joined the long line of ignorant people cursing Hari, that 'Nanari payan' calls me to ask what's taking me so long :-/

After, half an hour waiting through conversations of 'expert' economists I finally got 50 bucks worth of 'black gold!'

Later learnt, it was only a supply chain disruption... But is the day when water and fuel will be rationed like this far away?

Defintely related!: Subsidising Regression

Only in Chennai: Centres of Faith

We're so religious that we have pictures of god(s) all over our home, places of work and education also. Children and enterprises are named after god(s). We carry images in our vehicles, key tags, purses. Maybe this is why they say GOD IS EVERYWHERE!

Why leave out the roads somebody thought and now we've a roadside temple in every area. With progress and an ever increasing human and vehicular population these unapproved structures built on public roads invariably become hindrances to the free flow of traffic. By the time the government wakes up to the traffic snarls in the area someone or the other considers the deity 'powerful' and becomes attached to it and the invariable protest when removal of the illegal structures is ordered. With successive governments that have single mindedly pursued power and votes such temples have flourished for fear of antagonising those who are attached to the temple.

While most people are familiar with roundtanas / traffic parks in the middle of roads, but temples?! Only in Chennai do we find such centres of faith occupying not only the centre of our hearts but also the roads too! While visitors to Chennai gape in wonder, this is one of those things that sets Chennai apart from the rest of the world!.

East Coast Road, Thiruvanmiyur

Kotturpuram

As has been the trend recently, it's most often the judiciary that has come to the rescue of the harassed common man. Last year when the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court ordered the demolition of all structures (more than half were temples of course!) that interfered with flow of traffic, many had hoped for similar measures in Chennai, but the wish has remained unfulfilled. A glimmer of hope last week when the courts ordered the demolition of a temple in the middle of the road in Ashok Nagar, we hope for the sake of Chennai that there's many more such orders to come.

NOTE: If you don't understand my disgust of this Chennaiist, try living on a street with three road side temples and a Church!

If you had only 'Four Hours In Chennai'

Newsweek, the second largest weekly in the USA, in it's International Edition has a section '4 hours in' featuring what not to miss in a city when a traveller is in Transit and has only a few hours to spare. The issue dated June 18 features, namma Chennai. Read through this interesting piece reproduced from the Newsweek which tells what a traveller can do to get the essence of Chennai. Do you think something important has been missed out? Do leave your comments.


Four Hours In Chennai - Jason Overdorf
Once known as Madras, India's fourth largest city is known as the unofficial capital of the jasmine-and-sandalwood-scented south.

VISIT the ancient Kapa-leeswarar temple, devoted to the Hindu god Shiva (Kutchery Road, Mylapore; 4 a.m.-noon and 4-8 p.m.).

EAT tiffin, the all-purpose south Indian meal of idlis (fluffy steamed rice cakes), dosas (slightly sour pancakes made from fermented rice and lentil flour) and vadas (tiny, spicy doughnuts) at Saravana Bhavan (77 Usman Road, T. Nagar; saravanabhavan.com).

STROLL through the botanical gardens of the Theosophical Society, which include a 400-year-old banyan tree once thought to be the largest in the world (Adyar Bridge Road; 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2-4 p.m., Monday-Saturday).

SHOP for silk saris at Sri Kumaran Stores (45 Usman Road, T. Nagar; srikumaransilk.com) or Nalli (100 Usman Road, T. Nagar; nallisilk.com).

Source NewsWeek
Photo: The Kapaleeshwar temple with it's pond in all it's splendor thanks to the recent spell of Rains and Rain-Water Harevsting!

When Hutch Pulled the plug on me

Day Before yesterday evening, suddenly calls wouldn't go through, messages failed. Thinking something was wrong with my phone I dozed off, but the problem remained in the morning. No amount of re-inserting the SIM or fiddling with my phone had any effect. Even though I knew I had a balance of over Rs.700 and at least 5 months of validity I couldn't check that either. Calls to Customer Care wouldn't go through either. Convinced that something was wrong with my phone, I called Hutch care from my land line just to check.

Hutch Care (Automated Voice): Hi Welcome to Hutch Care, English/ Tamil, Enter your Mobile phone Number
Me: Beep Beep Beep Beep
Hutch Care Call Centre Operator (HC): My name is Y..., May I have your name & Telephone number please
Me: I just entered it... What was the point of all that
HC: Hmm... May I have your name & Telephone number please...
Me (Reluctantly): Dr.Prahalathan, 9884188018

HC: Yes Mr.Prahalathan, what's your problem?
Me: Call / Msg not goin
HC: Did you submit Photo identification
Me: Yeah, last week at Hutch Shop
HC: Your details are incomplete
Me: What? I submitted Copies of Driver's License & Medical Council Registration
HC: You have to re-submit Photo Identification
Me: What?
HC: It has Chennai-18, but no Teynampet
Me: Both Driver's License & Medical Council Registration mention Teynampet, Chennai - 18
HC: No sir, there is no Teynampet
Me: How can that be missing in copies of both documents?
HC: You have to re-submit Photo Identification
Me: Chennai- 18 is Teynampet, What seems to be your problem?
HC: Sir, You've to re-submit...

Banged the phone and started off to the Hutch Shop

The place had just opened, only one Hutch Care Executive was there, yet there were at least 10 irate customers before me. I joined the queue and added my number to the growing list. The executive (HCE) couldn't handle the numbers, she called a Manager (HCM)
HCE: All these people have submitted forms, yet got disconnected
HCM: We have lakhs of customers, they may have missed a few forms
Crowd: If you cant handle, then why do you get new customers? We can always go to some other company...
HCM: hmm... Not like that, We tried calling your numbers must have been unreachable
Crowd: We get Spammed with Caller Tune and other messages and calls from Hutch
HCM: Calm down, We tried calling your numbers must have been unreachable
Me: So you're implying your network is bad, mobiles are unreachable within city
HCM: hmm...
Me: When u can send us all the crap as Spam Messages, can't you message us that you will be disconnecting?
HCM: We tried calling your numbers must have been unreachable
Me: £$%^, When are you gonna re-connect
Crowd: Almost 15 now, all yelling
HCE: Now, I'm releasing all lines...

Note how the Hutch Care Call Centre Operator and the manager kept repeating their lines... Do they teach these people to mug up standard lines?
My phone started ringing, I walked out without bothering to thank them, as more people joined the crowd...

Vintage Car Rally @ Chennai

The largest collection of Cool Cars that belong to a generation gone by. Austins, Fiats, Fords, Morris, Volkswagens... Some as old as 1929. I snapped a whole lot of Pictures at the Vintage Car Rally that took place on January 7 from Beasant Nagar Beach to Anna Nagar Club.

Pictures posted @ my new photo blog

Who has the right of way?

It used to be a common sight in our city to see Ambulances in a desperate attempt to save lives speeding on the right side of the road (the wrong side!) to jump the traffic. But as our city's infrastructure and roads have improved Medians have sprung up on every road preventing any such actions.

With the grade separator coming up at the Kathipara Junction, traffic jams have become the norm for the stretch of Mount Road till Halda Junction. The 1.5 km stretch taking up to 15 minutes to negotiate on most days! Ambulances no exception of course.

Some time back on a typical week day evening I was caught among the traffic near SPIC Building. There was an ambulance among the sea of vehicles, after about 5-7 minutes and three signals later the Power of the Siren and flashing lights could get it only as far as my motorbike could wiggle. We turned into the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Road and the situation didn't change much. We missed another signal though I was a little ahead near the stop line, so I called out to the traffic police man standing there, who went behind and removed the barricades allowing the ambulance to change lanes and race ahead of the traffic. Whether the life was saved or not God only knows...

Mount Road Halda Junction & Barricaded Sardar Vallabhai Patel Road

It's a common sight nowadays to see Motorists squiggling uncomfortably in their seats as Ambulances wait with the traffic Siren blaring and lights flashing...


It's also a very common sight to see motorists waiting restlessly for long periods at traffic junctions as the traffic policemen hold up traffic to ensure a free passage for politicians.


So Who has the right of way?

I've also posted on Chennaiist. Thanks for the listing DesiPundit