When was the last time you visited an RTO office

Schools teach us so much. So many subjects. So many lessons. GK. maths. language. sports. But they miss out something very important to survive in India. The art of getting work done in a government office.

I belong to the proud majority, the majority who have vast knowledge on how the 2G scam happened, why is US behind Libya, which is the best place to have authentic chinese food in Chennai or who was the latest actor to apply divorce... but do not know how to cancel hypothecation in the Registration Certificate (RC) of a vehicle.

It so happened that for my previous vehicle, TVS Pep, the showroom where I bought it offered to do the procedure for a sum of some 300 rupees, approximately 5 years ago.

This year I had to cancel the hypothecation for my Kinetic Flyte (it was Kinetic when I bought it), the Lokpal demand was rising high, and the Anna Hazare bug bit me so I decided to get it done myself.

In my first visit, I easily located the RTO office of my area. (It was on a once-upon-a-time lonely place, where I used to learn driving.) Accompanied with my father, who claimed he had plenty of time post-retirement, I did a preliminary investigation on how things need to be done.

The people in the office were as cooperative as how people would respond if a policeman asks has anyone seen this murder.

Finally, someone gave the details seeing my father. Sometimes, age helps in getting things done.

So, here are the steps to be followed.

There is a cancellation charge of Rs. 150, which needs to be paid in the cash counter. You may have to do little donation for flag day.

The original RC, letter from the bank saying there is no default and the loan has been repaid in full, the latest vehicle insurance copy and pollution certificate copy along with a form duly signed by bank manager and the owner of the vehicle must be attached.

All these papers and the receipt should be submitted in the Tapal section.

The hypothecation-cancelled RC book can be collected after minimum three working days.

You may encounter responses like "the official has gone an inspection. Come tomorrow" or "your papers are not ready yet."

In my case, the person was pre-occupied with important task of showing his watch presented to him by some foreign-returned friend/relative of his to colleagues.

It will also be good if there is a father or anyone who can volunteer to visit the office four times.

Ignoring the money spent on fuel for visiting the RTO office four times, I was happy that I did not spend a paisa as bribe. Maybe, now I have the moral right to ask for an effective Lokpal.

P.S: I enquired the same showroom to know the current rate for this service. The man who answered my call said Rs. 450 as service charges and no receipt will be given. Now does this "service charge" come under tax evasion?

Shameful political game!

The English television channels are screaming about a gruesome rape attempt on a Kanpur-girl. Her fingers were chopped as she screamed for help. The poor girl is fighting for life at a local hospital. While the prime accused is still at large, police have managed to nab his accompanies.

There is a growing instance of such news in recent times. Less than a month ago an Uttar Pradesh MLA was accused of raping a girl and sending her to jail by lodging a false complaint. The MLA's wife was ready to do anything to save her husband. She claimed her husband "could not do anything" as he is under medication!

Both the victims are from Uttar Pradesh, a backward state, ruled by a woman chief minister, who is pre-occupied with erecting her own statues and taking on her male opponents.

Local politicians have already visited the victim's place and have given bites to channels. Congress party's 'youth face,' Mr. Rahul Gandhi is expected to pay a visit today.

It is overwhelming to see the humane face of these politicians, but sadly they are not human. Somehow, the victim is projected more as a dalit than a hapless poor woman. Would she be more secure, had she been an upper-class woman? Well, crimes against woman prevail in all sections of the society.

Also, the junior Gandhi visits Dalit households in U.P., Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Why not in Rajasthan? The Congress-ruled State is notorious for child marriages. The youth icon doesn't seem to comment on it at all. Maybe, he is waiting for the BJP to come back.

Paying visits, offerign sympathy, setting-up fast track courts, announcing compensations... Will these politicians ever realise they are all just reactionary and short-term solutions?

Crime against woman need a permanent solution. Rapes, especially, needs a psychological study. Some of these rapists are educated. How come education failed to teach him to respect woman and womanhood?

No matter what the bureaucrats or NGOs or social workers do, its these politicians who are the decision makers. When will they leave cheap political tactics and start addressing the root of the problem?

Manmadhan Ambu - Disappointing

Before I start saying why the movie was a disappointment for me, I confess I am a die-hard Kamal fan since my childhood. This may sound typically like a Tamil cinema, the first movie I saw in the theatre was Nayakan - when I was less than three-years-old. All I could remember from that movie was that song nan siricha deepavali... and the actor, Kamal Hassan. (I lost count on the number of times I watched this movie later). Thus I go to a Kamal movie with tons of expectations.

Now, let me say why the movie was a disappointment.

Firstly, the trailer and the movie was such a mismatch. The trailer projected Manmadhan Ambu as a comedy, something like PKS or Panchathanthiram types. But, its a drama, with tinge of humour spread across the movie. This was the first disappointment.

Then, there is a huge star cast like any other Kamal movie and most of them wasted. Ramesh Arvind, Oviya and Usha Uthup especially. I don't think Usha Uthup acted in any other movie before. If this is her debut, I feel sorry for her.

Kamal has multi-tasked as usual by handling the story, screenplay, dialogues and penning the lyrics. There are some note-worthy dialogues like the one in which Trisha explains with anger why caravans have inter-connecting doors. Still, how come none in the crew spotted the cliches and questioned the logic in the script. Maybe because of KAMAL?

The Trisha-Kamal happy(?) ending was just like Mumbai Express. They fell in love for the sake of falling in love. It is understood that Ambu (Trisha) has sympathy for Major (Kamal). But why love? The movie doesn't answer.

Same with Madhavan's character. Would a suspicious fiance of an actress accept a divorced mother with two kids as his new lady love after the break-up? But Maddy stands apart with his class performance. Just like Anbe Sivam, Aayutha Ezhuthu and 3 Idiots.

Kamal's comedy movies ends with a chaos-filled climax. But, for how long? There are better ways to end the movie too. In the slow-paced Manmadhan Ambu, the climax is inappropriate.

Mr. Kamal Hassan, there is conservatism everywhere, why confine it to Brahmins?

It is said the actors underwent rigorous rehearsals before the actual shoot. After seeing many movies of Trisha and Sangeeta, the rehearsals have indeed helped them. But the crew, could have spent more time in the pre-production stage to create a flawless script.

Once in a decade exercise

The nation is still debating on what to ask and what not to ask in the census. But the first phase of it almost over in most parts of the country.

I was eagerly waiting for the knock of the census official. I was very curious to know what the census is actually about. The D-Day finally came last week. My neighbour gave me a form and asked me to fill it up. He assured me the census officer will come home the next day.

These were the questions asked:

Name
Age/DOB
Marital status
Present/Permanent Address
Phone no
Employment Details
Qualification
Father/Mother's names
Do you have a car/2-wheeler?
Gas/Kerosene stove?
What's the flooring of your house?
Do you have a computer/laptop?
Do you stay in own/rented house?
You get bore/metro water?

I still did not lose hope. I thought a bigger questionnaire will in be waiting. But the next day, the official collected the form and informed us to be ready for taking some biometric details soon.

I asked him if he was actually taking census? He showed his tag which read NPR!That's census... atleast for me.

What prompted me to write this? This news piece - "Make option of organ donation mandatory while issuing biometric cards"

Forget the philanthropy, the government is not even interested in known what is my gender!

Telangana by-elections: All for a cause

The Telangana Rashtriya Samiti has swept the by-polls conducted in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.K.Chandrashekhara Rao, actress Vijayshanthi and the TRS party can now say they are the sole people who are concerned about the region and now the people have understood that. The results would also be interpreted as the people's verdict for a separate Telangana.

This is also a major setback for the ruling Congress party. The usual pan-India trend is that the ruling party wins the by-elections, unless there is a terrible anti-incumbency factor. But this cannot be taken as anti-incumbency. The election was region-specific. Andhra CM, Rosaiah, did not even campaign for the by-elections. Also the party did not win a single seat in the Assembly elections in this region. The loss is actually not a loss to the party. But the defeat of APCC president D. Srinivas should be quite a concern to the party.

The TDP lost its lone seat in the region. Further, it lost deposit in all the constituencies. Chandrababu Naidu's protest against Babli project did not help him to fetch more votes. (The ex-TDP party candidate retained his seat by joining the TRS!)

Now, the so-called star - KCR as Mr Rao is popularly known.

If the scenario of the by-election can be recalled... It all started with KCR's sudden indefinite fast for securing statehood to Telangana. KCR came out of TDP and launched his own party in 2001 with the sole agenda - separate Telangana, which includes Hyderabad.

His fast was followed by violent protests by Osmania University students who supported TRS. The protest slowly spread across the state. All the MLAs of the Telangana region (11 TRS, 1 BJP and 1 TDP) resigned for the 'cause.' The Centre had to create a six-member committee headed by former Justice Srikrishna, yielding to pressure.

By-elections were announced and all the MLAs who lost their seats have now gained it. With Mr. Naidu and Mr. Rosaiah avoiding to be part of the campaign, the Congress' in-fight and TDP's confusing stand on the Telangana, this was a cakewalk for the TRS.
Vijayshanthi's arrest was the climax of the drama... and TRS-BJP alliance has swept the polls.

What has the state earned from the election? The margin of winning candidate has got nothing to do in our form of democracy. A person is declared won even if he secures one vote more than the person who stood second.

This would strengthen the stand for statehood, which the ruling Congress in both Centre and state is skeptical of giving. They may consider if TRS chooses to leave Hyderabad to Andhra Pradesh. The battle seems to be for Hyderabad more than Telangana.

The results have already kindled the emotions of pro-Telangana supporters. A protest that was hibernating for some time, is set to start again. Its a pity to hear that a college student has committed suicide today for the 'cause.'

In short, the by-election is just another case of wasting the taxpayers money. More money will now be wasted in the name of protest, agitation and dharna. But it is all for a 'cause.'

Revisiting Madras

A story set in pre-Independence era is surely not new to Tamil Cinema, nor the rich girl-poor man falling in love saga. But what is really special in Madraspattinam is meticulous effort taken by the crew to re-create the city, as how it was 60 years ago.

To film a recent history is a difficult task because many who of them who have seen that period of time is still alive. The flaws can be located in no time. Director Vijay needs to be appreciated for his bold attempt to narrate a story set in the background of pre-Independence era, that too just at the time of India’s Independence.

His crew, the art department, cinematography and editing especially has done a commendable job. Well done seems to be too little a word to praise them.

The story of Madraspattinam is that of Emy Wilkinson, an octogenarian British woman, who comes to Chennai in search of her long lost love, whom she never met after August 15, 1947.

The intelligent narration blended with humour makes the engaging. Cochin Haneefa’s broken English and his translations… his demise is surely a loss to Cinema. Every actor has done justice to their roles. The protagonist, Emy, is simply beautiful. It is unavoidable to re-call Lagaan and Titanic for the resemblance in narration.

Most of the movies based on pre-Independence era had polarized Indians as freedom strugglers or British supporters. But this one has shown another set of people, probably the majority, who are discontented with the British, support the struggle in principle, but are concerned about their livelihood, putting their family first.

Also new is the portrayal of washer men community, as a blend of Tamil and Telugu speaking people. (The dialogue writer could have done more in terms of accent. It just resembles the present day Tamil, with no or little English words.)

The sublime plot in the story seems to be the vast transformation of Chennai in sixty years. The slow death of Cooum is quite an embarrassment to the city. (A Brit refers to Cooum as Thames of Madras!) We have indeed paid heavily for this growth.

There are some trademark tamil film sequences. With a fusion fight of English boxing and Indian wrestling, redeeming an acquired land seems to be so easy! The British speaking in stereotype Tamil, even amongst themselves. An Indian in the other side comes in handy at the need of the hour. It can be waived off since it’s a work of fiction and not a documentary.

But the Tamil cinema clichés? The song sequence where the British protagonist sings in pure Tamil, (It’s a good melody, though) Emy identifying her lover’s friend in no time by just hearing the name, people of various communities joining hands during a song (It would have been a distant reality then!)

The most disappointing is the climax. It appears as though the climax was re-written due to some external pressure or in a hurry to finish off the movie. It plays the spoilsport of such a beautifully-made movie.

Madraspattinam is surely not a classic… but a little more effort could have made it one. It is a wonderful tribute to the three hundred odd year old metropolis.

Another kind of encroachment

Langs Garden Road — Does this name ring a bell? Well, it did not when I heard it for the first time. Even after the fact that I am using this road almost daily to reach my office. After a moment of embarrassment, I convinced myself saying this could be the fate of several roads in Chennai. Used by many but known to a few.

Langs Garden Road is a link road that runs along the Cooum river connecting the Chindaripet's stretch of Gandhi-Irwin Road (better known for having the Egmore station) and Pudupet's Adithanar Salai. (This road too has an Anglo name - please let me know, if u know it). Google maps says the road is much more longer. But this blog post is concerned about only this stretch.

Had the Cooum been the same as how it was a few decades ago, this road would have become a popular spot. The road is primarily a residential area with a few retail outlets, mostly an extension of Chennai's auto parts hub, Pudupet.

Once upon a time, I used to deliberately avoid this road, for the obvious reason, the Cooum bank. But it was the dwelling place for several landless urban poor. The road was reduced to a street as it was encroached by some people who lived here in their make-shift houses.

As a part of beautification drive these houses were demolished and after the usual protests, the people were evacuated. I hope they were given an alternative place to live.

It was after this clean-up, I started using this road regularly. In the beginning, I was surprised to see the width of this road. I should say, it is wider than some busy lanes of Chennai. (They must have been roads sometime ago.)

Then, the Chennai Corporation started developing a park along this stretch. I am eager to have a look at this park after its opened. I often think, de-silting Cooum is the need of the hour than a lavish park.

Soon after the evacuation, the road is again being encroached. This time its not the urban poor but the city's very own taxpayers (I hope they pay taxes), who own cars. More than the cars, it is usually travels vehicles and mini-lorries.

It is interesting to watch the encroachments cropping up. First, a dare-devil tries parking his vehicle on a temporary basis. If a police personnel or someone in the neighbourhood is too pushy with the parking, the road is safe.

Else, the confidence level grows and the space becomes his unwritten parking area. He soon earns more followers and the parking is so orderly. In some areas, heeding to the popularity, this parking is even endorsed by the Chennai Corporation, who appoint collectors and get money for parking.

Langs Garden Road has already become the haven for parking. This is encroachment in a different form. The government succeeded in removing the slum dwellers. Such a treatment cannot be anticipated to the vehicle owners. Or maybe this also a part of beautification drive. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Just that it does not look beautiful to me.

Langs Garden Road is not the first case in the city. It is obviously not the last case too. It is a continuous phenomenon. While patiently waiting for the Corporation to clear the encroachments sometime in the coming years, the little I can do is to not convert roads into self-proclaimed parking lots by parking my vehicle. I surely do not want to become a pioneer nor a follower too.