Swine flu, schools and parents

With Pune turning out to have the maximum number of people infected with swine flu and with 2 deaths that I last heard/read of, the scare seems to get closer home.

While I & the hubby continue going to office without second thoughts, sending peapod to school has become a discussion topic everyday after we scan through the papers.
Untill friday, we were of the opinion that we were ok with her going to school as long as she is doing well and we aren't infected, and the teachers at her school confirmed they were admitting only kids who are perfectly fine (no cold, cough or soaring temperatures). We didn't see a point in grounding the child, since it didn't seem like it was going to end soon. Also, since both of us were going to work and were meeting all sorts of people, touching all kinds of knobs and surfaces at work.

There was a parent-teacher meeting on Saturday. The principal & teachers discussed their rationale behind keeping their school open and it seemed reasonable. Parents can choose to send or not send their kids. Parents were requested not to send their kids if they even had a mild cough or cold. On Saturday, through a voting mechanism by the parents we voted to keep the school open untill the government sends out a notice. This morning,unusually, peapod was in a very peppy mood. She brushed and bathed and actually wore the clothes I put out for her without a fuss(that is a first). Did not scream her lungs out when I brought out the talcum powder. She did not complain about combing her curls and stood still for a good 2 mins untill her Dad was combing. She was ready 10 mins before her van actually arrived(that is a first again). When the van honked right below our apt, P went around to drop her but there wasn't a single kid in the van. I quizzed the driver from our first floor balcony about the kids he plans to pick up from the next block. He said, of the 6 kids he picks up after the peapod, 5 have already called in to say they weren't coming. We chickened out. We got the peapod out of the van immediately. I called up her school and of the 30 kids only 5 turned up today. I do not mind her staying back home for a week or 2 or even more but I did not want to panic or get paranoid where not necessary. For now, we have decided to keep her off school for 2 more days. We'll see how the days and weeks progress with the swine flu update.

This meeting was also my first interaction with the other parents. The peapod can name about 10 friends from her class. I manage to remember a few names and probe her everyday and we do have very interesting conversations about who did what and kinds. Anapandey was one of the names that I remembered. Turns out, the name is "mangal pandey". I met mangal pandey's mom who was sitting next to me in the meeting. She was the paranoid mom, angry at the teachers for not shutting down the school, angry that her son would fall ill every 2 days when he comes to school, angry at the principal because she asked her to get a medical fitness certificate from her pediatrician since she hadn't sent her son to school for the past 1 week, angry at the van guy because her son who is 3yrs was hit by an another younger child and so on. Generally dis-satisfied with the whole thing. After 5-10 mins I wasn't sure I could say anything to her because ofcourse I probably was one of the kinds that had no complaints. Peapod enjoys school and is a constant source of amusement to us with the varied tales she brings home. And "touchwood" she isn't the one to sneeze & cough every second day. And I love when she goes to school because there is so much to talk and tell at the end of the day. The other kind of parent was the one I had usually read about on MM's or Kiran's blog but I had never encountered in real life. They were the parents the teacher went on to address very harshly, " We do not like being taken lightly. When we call up some parents when their kid is running a 102deg temp, the response we get is, I am in a important meeting, can you please handle it at your end and then they switch off their phones..on.&.on". I was dumb founded to say the least. WHO DOES THAT??? WHAT EARTH-SHATTERING MEETING ARE YOU IN??

Over cautiousness and quick to panic kind-of attitude trouble me big time but I did take that any day over "I don't give a damn" kind of attitude. That gives me nightmares.

Meanwhile I hope the government does something to get the situation under control. And I wish the health minister would stop talking totally because that would then save him the time & energy to go about apologizing & explaining.

Just Gup-Shup

There is no way I am going to be able to complete this blogathon that I declared on myself without much thought. I was on a 1 week leave. At home. Totally rested. Mom's off to kerala to attend the little boy's baptism along with my sister. I and my other sister couldn't make it. But my other sister, the Jellybean's mom is in Pune while mom is away. The peapod and the jellybean are having a great time. Lots of sweet conversations. I wasn't feeling very great and hence took a week off with my sister in town. I was totally rested. Slept mornings and afternoons, only to be woken up for food, tea and some niceties and our general gup-shup. Sisters totally rock and so you should have atleast one ;).

I read Amit Varma's "My Friend Sancho". Its an easy one day read. Since I have been reading him for almost 2 or more years, I think I would just like anything he wrote. While the story is pretty interesting but it kind of ends like many Malayalam movies do, leaving the audience to figure out what could have happened. And like his posts there were a couple of thought worthy lines and scenes.

I started reading "Not without my daughter" and god have I been glued to it. I couldn't put the book down untill after 1am y/d. I do not think I can rest untill I know how she pulled it off. I can only thank God I have been born in India for whatever its flaws are atleast I know I have a right and stand a chance to justice even if it might mean I may have to take to the streets, a signature campaign, a hunger strike, a candle light march, dharna, whatever it takes.

I am really happy the UPA won the elections with good majority. I hope they deliver. I did not have half a hope in any other contesting parties.

Roads are being built-rebuilt all over pune. Specially the one I take. I hope its done in time before the rains. The construction work all around gives a lot of hope that it will adorn a look it really deserves. Suresh Kalmadi has been talking about the metro project for a long time now, its high time to put a proper local transport system in place. The 4-wheelers and 2-wheelers are screwing up the traffic, the roads and the environment. How I wish I had a bus or a metro to take and had 30-mins of reading time to-n-fro. I had a 45 mins bus ride during my last job. It used to be hopelessly crowded but I enjoyed that 45 mins reading even if I was standing on one foot. I hate this driving business, I am just not made for it. Specially city drive.

That is all for now.

There ought to be a law against driving with High beam headlights

I am not sure if it is all around, but in Pune, people believe, motor vehicles are suppose to be driven with high-beam headlights. People who drive know, how killing this can be. Specially for people who drive 2-wheelers back home (like me ofcourse) at 8-8:30pm. Trucks, Buses, SUVs, Cars with neon lights drive with their high beams as if they did never heard of a low-beam headlight. Yes Yes, there is a low beam. Can you go back to your vehicle and please check and please keep it there.

The high beams at night are very very offensive. It blinds you totally. Most city roads in Pune are well-lit and pretty crowded too. Everyone can very well do with their low-beam headlights.
We need better laws and regulations than the petty penalty of Rs 100/- for "Using High Beam where not required.".

So when is the high beam supposed to be used?

Will Quote "Zack" from yahoo forums to answer that. I think he says it pretty well. Plain common sense actually.

"High beams are meant to be used to give you more visibility at a greater distance in front of you. A driver is supposed to keep them ON as long as he needs to be able to see that maximum distance, EXCEPT when another car approaches in the opposite direction, or, when comming upon another car, ahead, going the same direction.

The lights should be dimmed to prevent blinding the other drivers with the glare of the high beams.

In the case of the car ahead of you, HIS headlights will illuminate the road ahead of him, so you won't need your high beams to do that.

Similar reasons apply to a car approaching yours from the opposite direction. His headlights illuminate the road between his car and the extent of your regular beams."

First Showers

It rained today. I saw the rains through the window but forgot about it and went by my job. Latter in the evening, I see a message from the hubby that said "Heavy rains, you think the peapod would be fascinated or afraid?". And that is when I remembered about the hailstones 2 weeks back. Yes, it rained hailstones here in Pune. The kids it seems had only been bathed and so were locked inside while they watched the little ice cubes land on our balcony through the sliding glass doors. The Uncle & Aunty upstairs were too excited and they kept calling out to the kids while throwing all the ice cubes from their balcony to ours. The duo were totally confused as to what was happening but nevertheless kept yelling out to uncle and aunty, "Veenum Veenum" (You will fall), something we keep telling them when they get over-excited. A very lovable couple and they indulge the kids as much as is possible from balcony to balcony.

I replied back to the hubby saying "Fascinated definitely". When I left office at 8pm, it was drizzling and I thought I should be able to make it home decently. By the time I was a km or so from the office, it stating pouring. The first rains and ofcourse I hit the traffic jams. In the 10km stretch from home to work, the roads have been dug up at 3 places. One is a road widening project, second is a piping project and third I am not sure what are they doing blocking the entire road creating major traffic scenes during peak hours. I am ok with all these projects and the inconvenience caused, as far as, by the end of it, we have decent wide roads and no drainage issues during monsoon. Since I was on my 2-wheeler, it was easy to wade through the traffic. By the time I reached home, I was totally drenched from head to toe. I changed and hugged the peapod tight since I was cold and she was very warm. Mom says, they watched the rains, the thunder, the lightnings running around the house, watching it from each room, each window. They were very very excited.

We will just need to keep the towels and cameras handy to dance on a chance.

Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) Bills

I think it was some 3-4 years back, sitting on the terrace of my previous office with a notorious gang over tea we were discussing why the bloody hell is the MSEB bill printed in Marathi. The scenario is still the same. Marathi is the local language of the State. Most of us then part of that discussion were people who did come to Pune for work and were not born and bought up in this part of the world. So most of us did not understand Marathi. The MSEB bills are printed in Marathi and thankfully the figures are in English, which reminds me to thank for God for little mercies.

I can understand the importance of the local language. I can understand the sentiment of wanting to keep it in marathi but I don't understand the stubbornness of keeping every written word in marathi ALONE except for the title 'Maharashtra State Electricity Board'. It is the case with the property tax bill as well. Amount and the pay-date are in English but everything else on that piece of paper is Marathi. I am not sure about MTNL bills but BSNL has labels and instructions in English & Marathi.

Pune is gearing up to be the next IT hub after Bangalore, if it has not been qualified so already. There is so much activity going around, be it building roads, BRT buses, special BRT routes, brand new PMC & PCMC buses, signals working (except on weekends), fly-overs or better sanitation options to just build better infrastructure and facilitate the boom. Ofcourse all this isn't happening for a whole new generation of Puneris ALONE. Ofcourse the State is planning on immigrants, rather banking on people from the north, south, east, and west to come and make Pune their home. Pune also has its share of international students who come in for their choice of education. Then why this bias to the local language on something as important as the MSEB bill (or are you suggesting we don't pay the bills and the 'friendly' Puneris will chip in) .

The people I tried arguing this with gave me 'Chennai' as an example. Though chennaites have their arguments about 'Hindi' they do have a secondary language 'English' which would help most immigrants get through most printed government documents/bills etc. Pune is worse with no secondary language at all. I am not sure about Mumbai but I am guessing the metro should be having a secondary language on the bills unlike here.

I think Pune is a beautiful place to live with the pleasant climate and no-nonsense attitude of most people but with the cosmopolitan status its acquiring, the State needs to change the typical 'Puneri' attitude and be more welcoming and willing to accommodate. Coming back to my lame point, please please print your bills, documents with English or hindi as well along with marathi ofcourse and save us ignorants of the tedious exercises trying to figure out meter readings and consumption units with out confusing one with the other.

Gulmohur

Come Summer and Pune has Gulmohurs in full bloom all around. The Gulmohur, which is the view from our windows, stands tall over 2 old cottages with huge clusters of red-orange flowers, the brown flattened pods and green leaves. It is a beautiful sight. We sip our morning & evening teas sitting on the window sill, watching the Gulmohur in all its majesty, while Joyce plays peekaboo with the tall french windows & tries to look for birds that make strange noises. I love the Gulmohur. I just can't have enough it.
I fell in love with the Gulmohur back in school. My school had 2 Gulmohurs on both sides of the Gate. Many a Games and PT(physical training) periods were spent underneath it. Lots of garba(a Gujarati folk dance) & dandiya practises have been performed underneath. Lots of breaks and rests in-between long jumps and high jumps have been under the tree. Lots of tiffins were gulped admist laughter and jokes underneath. Have played the 'love-me-love-me-nots' with thoes beautiful green leaves. In short lots of memories of the Gulmohur.
I tried clicking a couple of pics of the Gulmohar outside our window but just couldn't do justice to what I see. I had a similar feeling when I visited the 'Lake district' in UK, a couple of years back. Have you ever felt so or do I need a better camera? This is a pic I clicked that absolutely doesn't do justice to what we see there. Serene and Captivating.

Holkar Bridge

The Holkar Bridge in Pune is atleast 150 years old. It is built over the mula river. I pass this bridge to & from work everyday. You will invariably get into a traffic jam during peak hours around this place. The alternate route to this bridge is to travel around the city. This little bridge has side pavements & railings on either side. Other than the normal 2-wheelers & 4-wheelers, all kinds of heavy weight vehicles including buses, trucks, and military vehicles use the Holkar Bridge mercilessly. Most 2-wheelers use the side pavement and that truly in effect have turned out to be the fastest lane.

Yesterday while returning from work, in my 4-wheeler, at the onset of the bridge, I noticed the traffic to be moving at snail speed on the fastest lane. While I was wondering if we were getting into a traffic jam ahead, I saw a pretty young lady walking on the pavement and the 2-wheelers trying to keep their balance on the narrow pavement behind her. It is a dicey feeling to drive over that pavement because in all probability, the railings are also 150 yrs old and with the least help might find ourselves in the river below. Don’t worry, even if it is so, the river right now has enough water to cushion the fall so you might not break a bone or two just that you will emerge with dried flowers, plastic covers (from the flood last year) & algae all over, looking like a pretty little Christmas tree but smelling like shit. Everyone on the road were throwing her looks as if she was the sole reason for all the traffic jams in the history of Holkar bridge and only after she steps down from this pavement can they begin any improvement work and they have been waiting for it for the past 100 years. She realized the awkwardness and jumped on to the road. Now to say of the road, the extreme right & left sides of this lane is occupied by the 2-wheelers and also the gaps in between the bumpers of 4-wheelers. The precision & unsaid discipline is such that an ariel view would probably suggest VVIP vehicles moving. As soon as the confused lady jumped on to the road, the extreme left lane of motorist was all disturbed and started honking. Suddenly she started running, not knowing what to do next. I couldn't help but laugh at the sudden turn of events. So much for the rights of pedestrians & use of pavements.

The Holkar Bridge is under the cantonment administration & that is often used as the excuse for the bad maintenance of the bridge. Our finance minister Mr. P. Chidambaram, last year during his visit to the city is also quoted to have asked

"Which defence authorities' clearance is awaited? It is not the Russian defence authority. It's is our defence ministry."

Do we expect any changes this year?? Will keep you posted. Meanwhile "Long Live Holkar Bridge"(only then I will survive....yeah yeah selfish selfish me)

PWD v/s Rains in Pune

The weather in the last couple of days in Pune can be best compared to that of UK. The day starts with a very sunny morning, sweating afternoons, windy evenings and rainy nights. Yes its pouring here in Pune for the last 3 days and pouring hard.
Of the many things thatz falling apart, its the Roads that the PCMC has just started to repair/build.
I pity the PWD because they waited this long to begin with, which I am assuming is to be 200% sure that the rains are over. In the past because of public protests they did start work only to be outdone by the immediate rains and the roads would be all potholed all over again and only worse this time with the gravel all over the place. It was attracting all the
bad publicity possible for the Shoddy work. They waited long enough but the rains dont seem to be in a mood to oblige and nor are puneries in a mood to accept any shoddy work anymore.

Potholes - For A Cause

Potholes in Pune is such a mundane topic. Nobody discusses it. Because of them my ride from home to office & back have increased by a good 10 mins if not 15. So according to my research which goes on while I am driving trying to dodge potholes I conclude

Potholes is the PMC's answer to "Naturally" curb population and traffic.

Curb population has been a slogan since times known, but these feminists group and human rights group do not allow sati or killing of the foetus and modern science is all about prolonging life. So how would the PMC curb population???? .... So Potholes

1) If you hit one well, therez a good chance you gonna be bedridden for quite sometime so you and your vehicle off the road.

2) If you die, no one's to be blamed .... you cant put a bloody porthole behind bars

Smart move .... And you thought they just werent listening.

Honk Honk

While driving my Honda Activa around here in pune, I never get to honk and I wonder why does it need a horn. I know many of you might be actually raising your eyebrows ...does she have her license yet?? ...does she know to drive?? ...can she take a u-turn ??... ignoring all those I_have_nothing_better_to_ask ppl out here .....I think two-wheelers shouldnot have a horn at all.

let me explain, first of all, Why do we honk?, ok it probably means "Excuse me pls" but do you really get excused is the question. Now who do you think will excuse you? lets start with the famous cyclists ....these are the ones who are never listening and these cyclists usually come in all sizes but the most are in between the age group 8-18 years(the ones who cannot get a license and whoz parents are arrogant enough to get you into trouble if you happen to even touch them) and so you will be actually taking immense care not to bang into them, so even if you honk or not you take all the precausions anyway. second are the fellow-two-wheelers, they dont care and anyway when you hear a honk you have no idea, is the guy gonna pass thru your left or right so after I hear a honk all I do is keep driving as I am driving and leave it to the honker to take over. Thirdly the four-wheelers, they dont give a damn and might choose to honk at you in return ...like some kind of a honking languagge ...

TW: Honk Honk ..."Excuse me pls"
FW: HONNNNNk HONNNK .... " What the hell, you arent suppose to be driving in this lane

so on ...u c ... you can have some pretty creative honking language with the length of each honk and no of honks and most puneites are very familiar with it . Long honks usually invites a look behind and calls for explanation that too thru the mirrors. if caught in a traffic jam, these can be pretty entertaining too.


Once at a signal with a friend who was driving, there was this guy who kept honking ... now thatz a single long honk ..so ofcourse he was calling for attention ..so my friend told him to pls fly over thru the mirror ofcourse.


And lastly the demonly buses and truckwalas of pune, you wouldnt dare honk at them anyway and even if you do ....you actually invite more trouble than space for yourself.


so why do you need that honk ...oh you would say the pedestrains .... and I would want to laugh the famous amrish puri laugh ...ha ha ha ha hee haaa haa haa ....who are you kidding.


So honking is basically something you do to get satisfaction out of driving, like while in the US, where honking is rude, every desi surely would have been honked at and you wait and wait till you get a chance to honk back and you do it with grace and mumble couple of your favourite ryhmes too and thus take your revenge on the country.

After scratching your brains further you might add ... the herd of buffoles or donkeys ...oh yeah, they.... they do stop midway ..look at you.....acknowledge your honk......probably even nod at you if you stand longer and then continue by then you would anyway have to slow down and wait for the dirty-ugly-fat-black buffalo to cross the road.

Now the "DIRTY-UGLY-FAT-BLACK BUFFALO" reminds me of a fierce discussion we had over coffee couple of years back on the terrace of my previous office. I think it was bcoz someone took offense at calling a nice healthy buffalo as dirty-ugly-fat & black.And that explains the "Previous office" for most who were part of that debate.

Get angry, dammit & stay so

How can I not write about the roads of Pune after travelling through it for the past one week. Have been travelling on these roads for the past 7 years but last one week has been different. It is so frustrating driving on any of these roads. It is been the talk of the town since the rains but what do we do about it. The helplessness is even more frustrating. The Media has been making this a big issue but ultimately its gonna move from the Headlines to just news on the front page and then to the second and so on. With every big issue starts a even bigger & entertaining blame game drama.....which gets played ridiculing us actually, though they might not seem so.

What we probably need is not a government change or change of ministers or a ruling party change (doesnt help an iota) but just a sure shot mechanism to make the system more answerable to the masses. Is there a way to make sure we get good roads in Pune ASAP. Would any morchas help?? would fasting help .....or dig out the road in front of the minister's house .... what ..what exactly needs to be done to get good decent roads to drive on in Pune. What system would prevent bad road construction that wouldnt stand the heat nor the rain of the region.Why dont I see any morchas anywhere like the ones we saw in banglore for the Miss universe contest and the ones we saw bcoz some film posters had a sexy dame featured.

It took almost a year and more to construct the bbay pune stretch between the enggineering college and Khadki (not to mention the inconvience caused then and the number of accidents due to lack of construction signs in the night)......... the construction is hardly over, probably just 3-6 months and if u see the state of that road today .... it seems like its been a decade.

You live in a society of 10 houses. There is a chairman and maybe 4 people in the committee. You pay the society a fix amount a year and expect a decent surrounding & basic amenities and you know whom to go where to raise your voice if you dont get the worth of your money. But in the bigger picture its all so more weird and blurred as to whom do we goto and how do we get the worth of our money.

I guess the reason we dont see the kind of anger or fury or fire balls being hurled at the authorities for their so so poor performances is only bcoz we are all waiting for a direction (who & where).

I hope we'll figure it out soon before the slow paced puneities get back to their lives and sometime in 2020 we'll hear some Raju guide saying "The roads of Pune looked so amazing after the flood of 2005 that we have preserved them as national monuments".


http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/01guest.htm