Auto Booth System on MG Road Metro Station in Gurgaon: The Perfect Option

In a post written before, I had told about the unavailability of the meter in Gurgaon due to which people have to pay arbitrary fares imposed by the auto drivers. But, there are some other options that are the perfect options. One of them is the booth system. Near MG Road metro station, you find a booth of Gurgaon police. Two queues can be found on the counters of the booth, among which one is of the auto drivers and other is off the passengers. You are required to tell the destination on the booth, where you need to go. A slip will be given to you by the police official (in civil dress) sitting inside the booth, with the cost and the name of driver. The driver will take you at your desired destination, and you are required to pay the amount printed on the slip. Sometimes, the amount remains very low as compared to the self-willed costs of the auto drivers. It really saves a lot of money of the people, especially of the newcomers who are unaware of the auto rates in Gurgaon.

Some people may ask if there are the other metro stations where this booth system is available. One auto driver once told me and my friends that there is also one near Huda City Center metro station, but I am not sure about it. You can check after reaching the station.

No Meter System in Auto Rickshaws in Gurgaon, a Major Employment Hub of India

It is a known fact that Gurgaon has become one of the employment hubs today. A number of youngsters have relocated themselves in Gurgaon as they have acquired a good job there. Moreover, a number of individuals everyday visit from Delhi to Gurgaon. Till Delhi Metro has reached the Gurgaon, the rush of Delhiites has been increased.

These days, I am also looking for a new job. I have to visit Noida or Gurgaon daily for this purpose. I have visited several times to this wonderful city. It will be significant to mention that this city is not new for me. A number of my relatives live in Gurgaon and I have been going there to meet them since my childhood. But, in the childhood, I had never thought that someday I would go there in search of a job. In the past few years, a lot of growth has been witnessed in this city, and that’s why has generated the employments.

But, there is a little problem that I have seen. When we reach IFFCO Chowk or any other metro station of Gurgaon, we find a lot of auto rickshaws picking the people and taking to their destination in the city. The problem that I have seen is that none of them has meter unlike Delhi. So, the drivers are free to demand the charge as per their desire. In that case, the person who doesn’t know how far the place is, is unable to judge whether the driver is charging correct or double of the original fare. I had to hire auto rickshaws several times for reaching the interview venue on time. I personally felt that the venue was not so far as the driver has charged. But, I had no way to judge. Some friends will say that I can search on internet. But, it is not so easy to understand the route and the charges accordingly. I can easily know about how many kilometers the venue is, but this is not enough.

Is anyone listening? Will Haryana government ever start the meter system? Time will tell.

Modi Government Has Come, Let’s Wait and Watch

Finally, India has got a new PM. It is Narendra Damodardas Modi, popularly known as Narendra Modi. This is why BJP and allies (NDA) has got 336 seats, which is really first time in its history. It is required to see now what happens next. The people of India have a lot of hope from him. Perhaps, government of Dr. Manmohan Singh didn’t fulfill their expectations.

When  Singh became PM, the people were very hopeful for him. He is the same person, whose work is remembered as finance minister at the time of the government of Late P.V. Narsimha Rao. But, it is said that this time, Singh was completely under the control of family of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.

But, this is not the topic of my blog post. I am only thinking about new government, and whatever I am thinking, I am writing in this post.

So, I was talking about the people’s hope from Narandra Modi, nicknamed as NaMo. It remembers us the stories, which we used to see long time ago in the television that suddenly a good king has come, and now there is greenery all around; there are the waterfalls, which are the symbols of happiness. I pray to my Eeswhar for good of my nation. I have read a lot in the last few months about Narendara Modi on Facebook, and observing the people’s hope from him. I have kept a silent approach towards it till date. But today, I also hope for some good.

I have heard a lot about his development work that he has done as a chief minister of his state, Gujarat. Of course, opposition has criticized it, but there are the people from whom, I have personally heard about the good condition of Gujarat. So, hope is quite obvious. It is also true that he won the elections in Gujarat thrice with the support of common public.

But, what happens next is still to watch. Only around one month has gone, but Mr. Modi has started facing the criticisms. The major reason is the daily power cut of electricity and many more.  But, still I would like to wait. It is very difficult to improve the condition within a month. Let’s wait and watch.

Education System of India – Subject of Mammoth Deliberation

Education system is a subject to debate from ages. After independence, a lot of amendments have been made in order to make the system better. But, who knows whether the system is becoming better, or it is declining in some aspects. Some time ago, grading system was introduced up to X standard instead of marks. The logic behind this was given that it is in order to reduce the burden of the students. The suicides of some children are taken for the instance of burden. The idea of decreasing the load is OK, but is it a right way to accomplish the purpose?

Well, I do not make any conclusions as it requires a lot of homework. But, still there are pros and cons of the system which are needed to be considered. Many argue that the tensions of the students have been eliminated up to a great extent. But, there is one facet which is required to be considered. Now, there is no fear of getting failed, which may be considered as pro. But, if you think it in another way, you can see it as a con now. Some teachers argue that the standard of education has been declined now. Many students are not taking the education seriously as it used to be some years ago.

What should be done in order to maintain the standard of education and to keep the children burden-free simultaneously, it is the subject of great deliberation. At present, I feel it arduous to conclude whether the grading system is right or wrong. In one way, it is the easiest possible way for accomplishing the aforesaid task. But, keeping the sad incidences of suicides of children in mind, I would say that it may be satisfactory step at the initial level, but the educationists should not stop here. What should be done in order to compensate the cons of grading system, it should be thought on priority basis. Or, what can be the alternative system for maintaining the education as well as for keeping the children away from extra-burden; it should be planned carefully instead of sticking to the system which is going on for sake of convenience.

Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein

Source: http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~cheshire/EinsteinQuotes.html



* Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
* "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
* "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."
* "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
* "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
* "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
* "The only real valuable thing is intuition."
* "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."
* "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."
* "God is subtle but he is not malicious."
* "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."
* "I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
* "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."
* "Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."
* "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
* "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
* "Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."
* "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
* "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
* "Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."
* "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
* "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."
* "God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically."
* "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."
* "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
* "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
* "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."
* "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
* "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
* "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
* "Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."
* "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."
* "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
* "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
* "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
* "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."
* "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
* "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."
* "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."
* "Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves."
* "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"
* "No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
* "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
* "Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever."
* "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."
* "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."
* "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
* "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
* "The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."
* "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
* "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
* "One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."
* "...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought."
* "He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
* "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
* "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

Copyright: Kevin Harris 1995 (may be freely distributed with this acknowledgement)

A Marketing Stunt of Some Travel Websites

I am very sad today. The reason behind this is that I could not go to Mumbai on April 1 in one of my best friend’s marriage. We were friends from six year. However we used to talk on phone but still we were very good friend. But I am not writing this blog to tell you about my pain. I am going to tell you about some of my experience which I faced due to my effort to go to Mumbai. Here I am going to discuss one of the irritating things regarding airlines I faced.

First of all, I booked my train in Paschim Express from New Delhi to Mumbai. But the waiting list was very long and I could not get reservation in the train. That is the reason why I could not go to Mumbai. I thought other about other alternatives as well. At present spending Rs. 5000+ on airlines is not feasible for me. Still I decided to consider some airlines which offer low fares.

It is quite obvious that airlines cannot reduce their costs more than a certain limit as they have to pay several taxes. But still I was shocked to see the marketing stunts of websites offering air tickets which are even cheaper than a box of sweets. About four or five years back I listened in some news that some airlines are offering Delhi to Mumbai travel in just Rs. 1/-. I know those who are reading this blog will laugh to read this. And, they are very true and I support them.

Let us come to the point I was searching for the low cost airlines. I read about several similar plans in some sites, as mentioned in news some years back. For instance, Bangalore to Mumbai in Rs. 1/- airfare, Delhi to Mumbai in Rs. 251/- and so on. This was really unbelievable for me, but still I was thinking that if airlines were so cheap then why I should go through train in which I shall had to spend whole day . A popular website namely Yatra.com is promoting it in attractive style. Its wording is “It’s Hard to believe but Yatra.com brings Rs. 1 airfares from Delhi to Mumbai. Book your Domestic Flight tickets with Yatra to avail this tempting offer.”

I explored several other sites and found several similar offers. When I started exploring them first thing I found is that the air travel on low rate is available only on some specific days under some special offers. But that is not the major thing. As I told imparting taxes is necessary for airlines. So these offers were like Rs. 1/- + taxes. Do you know how much are the taxes? These are 2300+. So, total fare is 2500+.

Now here major thing I think is that isn’t it like making the people fool. I am not saying that the cost of Rs. 2500/- is high according to air travel. Of course it is low and I congratulate the airlines for them. There is no doubt that instead of paying 5000+, one is required to pay on 2500+ which is half than the original cost of the air tickets. But my major concern is about common public whom these websites owners are attracting by giving vague statements. Whatever is the total airfare should be transparent from the first page. But on these websites we get the ad in the manner as they are offering the air tickets just by getting a coin or Rs. 1/-. After exploring the website, disappointment comes in the hands. Some people still have to think several times before spending Rs. 2500+ on a travel. If there is some transparency then people will waste time on such schemes only if they are able to pay the amount. Rs. 2500 means 2500, there is no meaning whether it is tax or something else. The entire amount one has to pay from his or her hard earned money. I request the websites only to make it clear whatever they are offering.

Another Face of Racism

About three days ago from writing this blog (October 17, 2009), a report published in The Times of India, Delhi edition, page 20 – “Official says no to black-white marriage in US”. According to the report, a white Louisiana justice of peace, Mr. Keith Bardwell refused to issue a marriage license to a black-white couple. Mr. Bardwell tried to defend himself by saying that he is not a racist, but he dosn’t believe in mixing of races in this way. According to him, these marriages are not long lasting. He stated that he has many black friends who come to his house, use his bathrooms, blah blah blah. He further stated that the children of such couple suffer.

Above is the view of a chief official of a so-called most developed nation in the waorld. The thing which is very much horrifying here is the way Mr. Bardwell tried to justify his views. But here the question which is still unanswered is that if there is any problem in whites and black in US, due to which the children of such couples are suffering, then why Mr. Bardwell is encouraging it? If Mr. Bardwell is so concerned about the problem of children born from black and white couple, then why instead of creating awareness, he is helping the racists indirectly. On the other hand, if a couple has decided to marry then it is its sole responsibility to take care of its children. It depends on person to person how he or she manages it. Why is Mr. Bardwell unnecessary interfering in the decision of a couple? Isn’t Mr. Bardwell making the couple suffer by refusing its marriage?

The logic given by Mr. Bardwell is totally indigestible. Instead of trying to understand the problem of those children about whom he is talking about and then solving them, Mr. Bardwell making it an all time problem. Stopping the interracist marriage is not the solution of anything, but it is just encouraging the problem. In some of the nations, women face problems if they go to school for education. Should those stop to go to school and taking education as they are facing the problem?