Discovering yourself

For a change let me move out of the usual topic of our country . Shall discuss about the worldly things we encounter often . Today after a long time , probably after 2 months i had gone to a restaurant to have some good food . I went alone as usual . some people find it odd if u go alone , but i really do enjoy going alone , becoz u notice others n it gives a moment to think of yourselves and the surrounding u live in . I see people working at restaurant to prepare my food . I see a waiter , i see his condition . Thought of him for a while what could have pushed him to this job . I see all dressed well with all good manners . He wishes us n makes us feel good with all warmth . Suddenly this thing struck my mind , i just thought of the air hostess in a plane , the way she always smiles n wishes without getting sick of it . How is it possible ? Does it happen naturally or do they force themselves ? Customer service people do need a lot of patience . i mean u just think of a moment when u are frustrated with something else n show that anger towards these ppl if u happen to encounter . There is no mistake on their side . It just needs a lot of training to deal with your mind .

i moved out of the topic . So , i m in the restaurant having my cup of milk shake all alone . I notice ppl sitting besides me . Towards my left i see a group of college girls having fun , guess kinda of get together . I had become too old for such things . I just thought of it , will i ever be able to make myself to such kinda of get together . No , was the reply i got from myself . I guess i had crossed such stage . No more room for such kinda of fun . Probably i guess i had become too serious with life . On the verge of my career , these things doesn't happen to amuse me . I see to my opposite a couple of families with kids . Is this the next stage of your life ? i don't have an answer now . I see them all happy with their kids . So then i started thinking what this is all about . I see ppl complete graduation n getting married . Some love marriages and some arranged . Some marriages out of compulsion , do they really wanna get married or is it just to please their parents ? how much will u please others ? how long will u please them like that ? aren't ppl living for themselves ? why s that we take decisions for others ? cant we live our life on our own terms ? at least i will try my best to do this .

Now what s all this 'happiness' about . Do ppl really feel it . I see many ppl living just for the sake of living including myself . We live n die . whats the purpose between birth n death . What are u supposed to do ? should u go behind money , power , position to lead a better life ? how do u define a better life ? is it living in a posh 3 bed room apartment or in a villa of ur own with all amenities ? i see a quite a lot a questions arising out of me when i look at this world . To seek answers i m looking at my life . I keep myself questioning the purpose of whatever happens to be conventional n traditional . What s the purpose of humans on this earth ? well scientifically its just to live n lead your next generation (sustain the human species) . Are we able to do it ? well tats what happening in this world , though in different manner . we ride on top of other ppl to live . We always race ahead of others to live . we compete among ourselves n prove to this world , i m fit to live . Everytime u have to prove n keep winning . Actually u r always fighting against something to live . Even the small bacteria , viruses u encounter .

What s the purpose of life we live . Many ppl have different answers for this . Some want to become a billionaire , some like to be powerful , for some its just to lead small contented life . Each one have their own answers . I guess for me , i m yet to find an answer .

Let me stop it here .. will let u know once i find an answer . I m all in a web of questions with no answers to arrive . I m still on the path of shaping my life the way it shd be .

forced to give a bribe ?

we know living in india means bribing has to be done at all levels to avail any government service even if it is legal . So has corruption and bribing has become the norm of the day ? while we look at 60 years after freedom ,we find corruption has evolved even faster than any other phenomenon . The present day society where we live in seems to have accepted this as a normal thing . Do we , as citizens have a zero tolerance approach to bribing and corruption ? We turn ourselves as a blind person whenever we come across such occasions and in some instances we ourselves are willing to bribe the officials to avail a service in the shortest time possible and to skip around some legal obligations that might be required . Is this unique to india alone ? well we can comfort in this aspect , it is part and parcel of any developing society . Our powerful and notorious neighbour , china, is struggling to root out corruption from their society . when we talk of china , the communist party of china is supreme . The party elects leaders among themselves so if u want to be a part of government then u have to join the party . Its a single party system . The state controls every service provided to citizens . More importantly the media . Once u control the media then u can shut the eyes and ears of the citizens . But , thanks to the internet revolution , the people have become more aware of the happenings , infact every individual pours out his discontent against the malfeasance committed . who can forget the infamous Tiananmen square protest of 1989 . It has been two decades and according to chinese government records the event never occurred . For me atleast china becomes synonymous to the state depicted by George orwell in his 1984 novel . This i'm reminding to all those people who like to compare india with china . So be proud that u r living in a free democratic country where u can voice ur opinion through blogs like this .

well , now lets come back to topic , corruption and bribery. so as we can see corruptions exist in all countries . what is required to root out bribery ? First of all its the 'no give' will of the citizens. In this decade of huge economic growth , people dont mind spending extra few bucks to avail a service easily . Many times people who in the upper strata have started availing their service through brokers . Any broker who gets your service done will definitely be forced to bribe . Infact the public servants demand bribe openly from such guys . Take , for instance your driving license through driving schools . If u encounter such situations where u r forced to bribe , capture those instance in your mobile . Send it to media houses , all it requires is a mail . These days medias are news hungry , they need such sensational news . so that is one easy way to root out corruption . I m not gonna suggest other means to end this , its little hard and would eat our time.

State of SETC

SETC is the sole transport corporation which provides transport service within and neighbouring TN state. Even though off late there has been an emergence of other govt transport corporations, it has a long way to go. SETC which connects Chennai with other cities in the state and neighbouring state has not been able to deliver the quality of service what people. It’s no wonder that it has been running in huge losses. Among the four southern states SETC fairs extremely poor in all parameters. The emergence of new Govt. Transport corporations has posed challenge to might of SETC which once was the only transport corporation in TN to provide the push back seating in buses. Though during weekends and festival seasons it has been able to run without vacancy, but it has to be noted that people are reluctant to board SETC because of the poor quality seating and maintenance.
I remember my college days where I used to travel in SETC. I knew the seating is bad and sometimes ppl might feel to puke at condition of the buses. An alternative to SETC is KPN and other private operators. The private operators have the pricing either double or triple the actual rate of the service. So I generally don’t go for it. Even though the SETC is able to keep the pricing low, it has never taken steps to maintain the quality of seating and other passenger amenities. When I was in my final year, I was felt happy that a new variety of Ultra deluxe buses were introduced. These new semi sleepers were first of its kind in TN buses. The pricing was also fair when compared to private operators. SETC in next two years replaced almost all old buses with this new variety of buses. It’s a welcome move which provided a much better upgraded passenger service. I had thought the era of abusing SETC is over n thought there is really some development that is happening with SETC. Then I moved to Bangalore, where I made use of SETC buses to travel from Bangalore to pondy. Then month after month I noticed the condition of these buses. There happens to be the same old kind of arrangement that has been going on with SETC. The seat cover looked like it had never been washed since the day the bus came newly into the fleet of SETC. I don’t understand, why they don’t maintain these good buses. If it’s just a matter of cost they could charge an extra of 10 or 20 rupees from each passenger to maintain them. Generally there is only one service for these buses. Usually there used to be only two services per day. It has got an ample amount of time to clean these buses and wash them. If they are able to do it at least once or twice in week it would be good, but it doesn’t like they washing or cleaning the buses at all. The state of these buses has become really pathetic. Now that they have destroyed the quality of these Ultra deluxe buses they have moved to do the same with the new variety of AC buses. I hear from ppl that these buses stink. How long will they carry on this insensitive attitude towards the maintenance of buses. If the govt is not able to maintain these buses wats the need to introduce new type of services and ruining their brand name.
I definitely have to compare this service with the other neighbouring states though it may not be fair to compare with the Private operators. Let’s take KSRTC; I guess there is no one to beat them in bus fleet and services they provide in Karnataka. Look at whole variety of buses they have in their fleet. Airavat, the best among them. Costly, but really good service. Then u can say mayuri which again is an AC bus service which is relatively cheaper and good. Then u have meghadoot, rajahamsa, ordinary push back seating and so on. When it comes to long distance buses there is nothing among the southern states to beat their fleet of buses. Rajahamsa can be compared with our SETC ultra deluxe buses. Our SETC ultra deluxe buses are no match to rajahamsa. I remember once travelling from Trichy to Bangalore through rajahamsa. Initially we booked SETC to travel from Trichy to Bangalore, but we cancelled it during the last minute after coming to know there is a KSRTC service. I still remember the guy in SETC counter who pleaded with us not to cancel the tickets. He knew we were about to board in KSRTC. SETC was pathetic then (even now).
APSRTC is also has whole variety of fleet of buses in AP. Though it may not match with KSRTC, it definitely fares much better than SETC. I don’t understand wats the problem with SETC. What prevents them from providing a hassle free journey to passengers? SETC has to go a long way in understanding and restructuring their administration. They need to invest some money in maintaining the quality of the buses in their fleet. The driver and conductor in the buses need to be thought how to behave with passengers. I know most them are rude with passengers. They don’t understand that they are dealing with a customer. Ticketing system too has to be changed. They haven’t introduced online ticketing facility to the public. It’s still with SETC counter in bus terminuses. The list goes on; there are a whole lot of things which has to be changed with the functioning of SETC.
KSRTC stands to be best example to all other transport corporations. It’s completely market driven. As a person hailing from TN I’m looking forward for a much better and relatively cheaper service from the govt of TN to provide a joyful journey to passengers like me .