Cab Service Exploitations

In today's busy schedule we all are scurrying from one destination to another. 10 years back the dependence was on public vehicles or the yellow taxis in the cities of India. With the advent of cab service providers such as Uber which came into existence in California, USA things became a lot more easier for the public. Several offers were given to promote the application. Soon it spread like wild fire all over India.
Initially for the first couple of years the service of cab companies such as Uber and Ola were satisfactory. With passing time the major problem which arose was the sudden and unexpected surcharges. Even when there are plenty of cabs around a particular area surcharges are levied on customers citing increased demand. Going for a 5km trip costs 150 or 200 bucks or more depending on the so called demand. It's really annoying for all to pay such ransom for such short trips.
Then comes another problem that is the addition of trip fare to the next trip even when you have cleared it by paying your
hard earned money to the cab driver or through online payment portal. I will share one of my experiences.
I was left aghast when I tried to book an Uber a couple of days back when the app showed that I have to pay an excess of 262 rupees withstanding from my last trip. For the record, I had paid 105 rupees for a distance of 5 km. I was left wondering how I could be paying the said amount. Even after reaching out to the Uber helpdesk i did not receive any reply to my satisfaction.

The next major issue many customers are facing is the little knowledge the drivers have of the city they are driving in. If you are in a new city it is sometimes very difficult to know the shortest route especially when you are in a hurry. It really helps if the driver has basic idea about the city routes. I have faced a similar problem in Hyderabad where the driver took  a much longer route to reach the desired destination at double the charge than was estimated during the start of the trip. Its absolutely bizzare. I find no logic behind these absurd fare that these cab companies are extracting from us in various tricky ways. They should look into these matters and stop exploting the customers.

Something needs to be done to address these issues or else we, the common man, will be the scapegoat.

Cabs are growing by the day in the cities and so are the unjustified fares

Please come forward and put forth suggestions as to how this growing problem can be solved to some extent.

shei somoi

১. ছোটবেলায়  কথা  মনে পরে  মাঝে মাঝে। এখন  বর্ষাকাল।  ঘন মেঘ করে বেশ উপরজোন্তেই  বৃষ্টি হয় নিজামদের শহর হায়দরাবাদে।  ছুটিরদিনে বারান্দায় দাঁড়িয়ে চা খেতে খেতে অনেক কিছুই  মনে পরে যায়।  অনেক স্মৃতি ছুটে চলে আসে নিমেষের মধ্যে।

২, ছোটবেলায় দক্ষিণ কলকাতায় আমদের ছোট ফ্ল্যাটে এই বর্ষাকালে বেশ আড্ডা জমতো।  কেউ না কেউ আমাদের বাড়িতে  রোজ আসতো। যেই দরজায় বেল বাজতো আমার মনটা আনন্দে ভোরে উঠতো - কেউ এসেছে - আড্ডা তো হবেই তার সাথে সেই সন্ধের পড়াশুনো টাও শেষ। উফফ সে এক দারুন আনন্দ।

 ভূত  বলে  নেই কিছু
ভয়  নেই তাই।
নিছক  গল্পের  লোভে পড়ে নেওয়া  চাই।
পড়ার   সময়  কিন্তু  মজা আছে ভাই
পড়ার  পরেই  সব  ভুলে  যাওয়া চাই।

এই ছড়া টা বাবা লিখেছিলেন। এরকম ছোট ছোট ছড়া ও ভূতের গল্প বৃষ্টির দিনে পড়তে আর শুনতে  কার না ভালো লাগে। প্রায়শই বসত গানের আসর। হারমোনিয়াম বাজাতেন আমার জেঠু ও তবলায় সঙ্গত দিতেন বাবা। রবীন্দ্রসংগীত ও পুরোনো দিনের আধুনিক গান গেয়ে ও শুনে সবার মন তরতাজা হয়ে যেত। বাইরে মুষলধারে  বৃষ্টি তার সুরে সুর মিলিয়ে বেজে উঠতো :

"মন মোর মেঘের সঙ্গী ,
উড়ে চলে দিগ্দিগন্তের পানে
নিঃসীম শুন্যে শ্রাবণবর্ষণ সঙ্গীতে
রিমিঝিম রিমিঝিম রিমিঝিম।"

৩.  কাঁচের সার্সি দিয়ে বৃষ্টি ভেজা ঘুমন্ত শহরের নিয়ন আলোয় ছবিটা অন্যরকম। মাঝরাতে বসে আকাশ কুসুম ভাবা আমার অনেকদিনের অভ্যেস। সময় তো আর থেমে থাকে না বয়ে চলে নদীর মতো। আজ ৫ মাস পরে বাড়ি যাবার পালা।  জিওলজিকাল সার্ভে অফ ইন্ডিয়া র ট্রেনিং র মাঝে ছুটি।  তাই আজ খুব ভালো লাগছে দিল্লী এয়ারপোর্ট এ বসে অপেক্ষা করছি ফ্লাইট র  জন্য। পাশে একটি ইন্ডিয়ান ফুড কাউন্টারে বাজছে সেতার নানা রাগ ভিন্ন গতে।   নানা রকম অভিজ্ঞতা নিয়ে দেশ ঘুরে বাড়ি ফিরছি। ভালো লাগছে।  শেষ কিছু মাস কোথা দিয়ে বেড়িয়ে গেছে  বুঝতেই পারিনি। পুজোর সাজে দেখবো কলকাতা কে। অপেক্ষা শেষ হবে।

Problems

Do you feel sad?
Is the world trying to bring you down?
Are negative thoughts clouding your mind?
Do you feel down for no reason?

Look up, my friend
Look up at the sky so vast
The stars that are light years away are looking over you!
Don't be perturbed by your problems
Bigger questions lie unanswered in the Universe!

Life is a journey riddled with twists and turns.
Don't fear it, rather embrace it.
Let the light fill up the heart!
Why live in fear and in a shell when you are born free?
Conquer the world! Its waiting out there to be conquered!

The troublesome day shall pass too!
Problem and its solution lies in the mind itself.
So chin up and face the world head on
Every problem has a solution.
Remember my friend,
Problems kneel down in front of a stubborn heart!

Spread your wings and fly high!

Making of Jack Daniels

We all have heard of the legendary Jack Daniels whisky and its rich taste and aroma, but how is this exquisite whisky really made? Where is it made? Who was the pioneer for developing this masterpiece?

Jack Daniels was  a extremely talented man born in 1950. He opened his distillery and produced whiskey. The speciality of jack daniels is its unique charred flavour. The Jack Daniels unaged spirit is poured into a series of pipes where they are fed into vats(72 of them).

These vats contain sweet mash charcoal(wood burned in jack daniels ethanol). The spirit in the pipes run down 10 feet of charcoal into the vats and come down the bottom of the vats. this reduces the pungent and conc whisky to a much lighter and sweeter variety. This is half the job.

barrels containing the Jack Daniels whiskey ageing a the warehouse

the rest is done in the special wooden barrels in which JackD is stored.
The barrels are specially built and burned from the inside for 25 seconds which makes it black inside giving the woody charred flavour to the JD whisky.

The whisky is stored in this barrel and kept in the warehouses for 5-7 years before it is sent out for supply.
The best are the barrels kept at the highest racks in the warehouse where the evaporation is max. This is known as the angels meeting. They are hardest to keep and turn out to be the best.
One of the finest whiskey with good company is another definition of a happy life!
 Cheers!

Cheers!

Tastes best on the rocks!

The ordinary train journey

Working 12 hours a day in the laboratory for the past 7 days to finish off some pending work of Zircon processing I head home for a day before again field work follows. I sit in Black Diamond Ex.in the middle seat sandwiched between two fellow passengers. Utterly bored listening to my playlist repeatedly I turn to writing to pass the time.
When I was young I would listen to the radio, when it played my favourite tune I would smile. It seems so far ago now. Those times were simpler and while listening to the songs now I feel happy turning back the clock would be so great. But alas stuck in this train I can't go back nor forth.
Reaching my destination would take another hour and till then I would try to paint the picture of my journey in this ordinary train of the extraordinary railways of this country.
The woman sitting next to me seems to be of a dominating stature. One who loves to rule the roost and everything ready at her beck and call. She is dressed in a conservative fashion in saree  and the hair done in a bun adding to her domineering personality. She seems organised and confident but is arrogant in the way she talks and glances at the fellow passengers. The man next to me is dozing off on my shoulder while I try to nudge and keep him awake. Opposite to me the seats are occupied by a newly wed couple. Mostly keeping to themselves and talking infrequently. Next to the couple is an elderly man well into his sixties with grey hair and rectangular spectacles in formal attire. The old man is with his colleagues probably from work who embarked the train at the same station and are about to get off the train. Ahhh! My destination still an hour to go.
The lady in white saree chews on 'jhal muri' and keeps typing on her iphone while the others gaze on aimlessly, bored I guess.
The couple gets ready to get off as the pretty wife signals her quiet husband to get the luggage from the luggage stand.  What a relief with their departure I occupy the window seat. After having a hearty cup of tea and a couple of samosa I feel refreshed.
Time passes so quickly. We rarely give value to the present moment we are in. Opening our senses to the surroundings and concentrating on the present might bring the best out of us and more importantly keep us much more happier than usual. Life is like a un unplanned train journey. We should watch out and be on the look out. You might never know when your station might come! Live the present as now is the best time.
Adios! I have reached and would be catching a cab.

Rain, tea and pakora

What a relief! The rains have finally arrived and quenched the thirsty lands of eastern India.
The frogs and toads have come out of their burrows to welcome the rain. The perched river bed breathes a sigh of relief as water again flows through its veins.

Tea and Pakora

The relationship between tea, pakora and rain is an old one for most Indian household. Having hot crispy pakoras of onions, potato or brinjal with a cup of tea and the rain pouring outside is just pure bliss. Firstly, its a great relief from the sweltering heat wave that comes to a stop for the time being. The connection though between pakoras and rain is kind of inexplicable. The amazing sensation of crunching on a plateful of pakoras and sipping tea cannot be expressed but just experienced. 

The sense of happiness as the rain comes to greet our tropical lands is something that we might have inherited long time back from our ancestors as they too might have felt the same sense of joy when the rains arrived.

Sitting by the window of my room and watching the rains pour down is something I have enjoyed since childhood. The pakoras and tea used to be ready and Maa used to serve them at home. Here, though far from home, I had a similar feeling of happiness while eating the pakora and tea while watching the rain and lightning-thunder show which was presented by Mother nature.
In a flash, I was a boy of eight again sitting by my window and watching the eucalyptus tree dancing in the rains at my hometown.

Watching the rains from the windows- bliss

The lazy life

"Wake up, wake up it's a brand new day"- that's my alarm ringtone that blares at full  volume every morning at 8am. It is just so  depressing to hear this. End of sleep, go to work that's what the brain keeps shouting. Me on the other hand feel like staying on bed for another good fifteen minutes. But eventually I wake up to go to work. Somedays, I just dont wake up and am late. I feel anxious at first as to what the boss is going to say if I'm 1 hour late but trust me the lazy weekdays are the best. Makes you come alive and feel more optimistic.
Let me come to the main point here. Simply put in words is that I just love to sleep. There's no better thing than taking a good old nap. No worries no tension, just lay back and doze off. I think people who can sleep a lot are more happy than who sleep less. I can sleep whenever I want- be it day, night, afternoon.
Life has so many facets and dimension and what do we keep doing? Keep running to work and keep jamming our heads with profits and losses. Take a seat! Relax! Have a few days off and live the lazy life. There's no better way to unwind.
I dream of having a house in the hills with nothing to do but write and watch nature, listen to classical music and oh yes take naps. Live the lazy life. It's important in today's world. Give some time for the world to heal itself and stop that damn car engine.
The lazy life beckons me.
Goodbye folks. Signing off to take a nice nap.
Happy napping!