A day in RTO Indiranagar, Bangalore

Place: RTO Indiranagar, Bangalore.

Mission: To get International Driving Permit (IDP) without help of any agent.

After a very long time, I had to get some work done from a government office and that too RTO. I was going to Bali, Indonesia and thought it would be good to get International Driving Permit (IDP) so that I can drive there freely. So I decided not to go to an agent and try this without bribing. RTO Karnataka website has all the information regarding the same http://rto.kar.nic.in/IDP-PROCcss.html also I browsed internet for more info and found that following are things one need to get an IDP-

1. Original Driving License (1 photocopy)
2. Passport + Visa + Air Ticket (1 photocopy of each)
3. 4 recent photographs
4. Filled Form CMV4-A (available of RTO website).
5. Medical certificate in form of CMV1 and CMV1A (available of RTO website).
6. Address in the driving license MUST fall in the jurisdiction of that RTO. This can be checked here http://rto.kar.nic.in/Jurisdictioncss.html 
7. IDP fee of 500/-

So I got everything ready except the medical certificate. I had read in some blog that there is a doctor just outside RTO who'll sign this certificate for just 50/-. His job is just that :). So I was all set for it.

Next day I reached BDA complex Indiranagar. Before I could park my bike there, I was surrounded by agents asking what I had come there for. I just asked one of them how much they charged for IDP. 2500/- INR was the answer. So I started my search for doctor who could sign my medical certificate. Even after 20 minutes search I could not find one. So I went to an agent and asked if he could get my medical certificate. He first asked if it was for DL or IDP. I told him IDP and he asked me 300/- INR. I said that was more for medical certificate. He said and I quote "Kya saar vides jaa raha and itna bhi nahi de sakta"... Finally I negotiated for 250/- which seemed more but I didn't have much time as I had to go to office as well. He took 250/- and my filled CMV1 & CMV1A forms and said that he'd be back in 10 minutes. I forgot to take his contact number. He did not show up even after 30 minutes and I started getting worried. I went to another agent who was with that guy and asked if he had his number. That guy refused and said "wo to bhaag gaya" and was laughing. I decided to wait for some more time as didn't have much choice. After another 15 minutes he appeared with medical certificate.

I took everything and went directly to RTO. There one lady was at help desk who I asked for IDP office and she directed to room 6 after getting challan of 500/- . I took the receipt of 500/- and went to the IDP desk and handed all my documents. He looked at them one by one slowly signing every photocopy. He asked where the Visa was and I told it's Visa on Arrival. He again asked if there's any valid Visa and I showed him USA one which still was valid. He asked to get a photocopy of that which I immediately did. After that I again he started scanning all documents one by one. He asked where the 1000/- Rs NSC (National Savings Certificate) was. I was not at all prepared for this. I told him that there was no mention of this on your website. He told if you take the form from RTO, it clearly says that you have to provide one 1000/- Rs NSC. There was no crowd so I tried arguing with him for sometime. Finally he told me to take all documents and get it signed by his boss who was sitting in some other room. I went to his boss who again scanned all the documents one by one and asked where 1000/- Rs NSC was. I again explained the same thing and this guy understood and signed the docs without NSC. I went back to the IDP desk and gave him all the docs. He asked me to come back after 5 days to collect the IDP. I had read that it's ready the same day and I didn't have that much time as I was going to my home place and after coming back I was flying. So asked him if it could be done earlier citing all the problems I had. But he simply refused telling that they are short-staffed. I finally asked if I can authorize someone to collect it on my behalf. After some hesitation, he got ready for that and took my signature stating that I already received IDP :D. I left then to office at 1:30 PM.

I asked my good friend Paurush to collect IDP on my behalf after 6 days. He went there and after waiting for around 1 hour, he received it!!! So I got it all done in 500/- + 250/- Rs only. Of course lost half working day of mine and some hours of my friend but should we all not do this?

Just in 5 minutes...

What can a person probably do in just 5 minutes? Surprisingly, I get a feel that everything!! At least that's what they seem to "say". Call a person with whom you have a meeting which was supposed to have started by now and s/he will say "will reach in just 5 minutes" even if person is probably going to take more than half an hour to reach you. Go to any restaurant and ask how much time it will take to get that dish and you get "bass 5 minutes sir". Look around you and you will get a feel what I am talking about. 

Recently I went to Delhi for some work and I called a friend who was in Gurgaon and asked to meet up. He asked where I was and told me that the place is very near to his house and he would be picking me up from that place in 10 minutes!!! I was ready and reached the place in 10 minutes. Now 10 minutes became 15, 20 , 25 minutes and he didn't show up. I didn't call thinking he might be driving and got stuck in traffic. Then I received a call and he said he was just starting now!!!!!! Ok, I get the point that you cannot predict everything but reaching in 10 minutes to starting itself in 30 minutes doesn't seem to be right from any perspective.

This kind of confuses me. If you have an appointment with somebody, how much extra time you should consider when you are asked for this kind of 5 minutes and how do we know if this is "that 5 minutes" or a genuine one. After all there are people whose 5 minutes are exactly 300 seconds measured by crystal clocks. I always wonder. A very good friend of mine told that his Baraat procession would start by 8.00 PM. I would have reached there by that time and probably be staring at empty hall and chairs had my other friend not told that 8.00 PM means at least 9:00PM... Even after keeping that much margin we were early and it actually started at around 10:15PM!!! 

I never understood why we cannot keep a tab on time. I'm sure we can know in how much we are going to leave for something or approximately how much time we are going to lose in traffic jams. After all it's daily business and we can give times taking care of all this extra factors.. Or is it that we get some pleasure in making people wait. As some idiots say "bade log to late hi jaate hain... jisko wait karna hai karenge..." but I feel it's not just that rich and powerful who make people wait. Others do it too. So what is it that makes this a habit in this part of the world? Do we take everything easily and slowly and we enjoy every moment and lose track of time??? This also doesn't seem to hold good when I look at the traffic signals, honking and fighting for every inch of ground at the signal so that you can be the first to go through it. Look at the long queue when you land at the airport. The travelator is not put yet but more than 90% people are standing impatiently looking at their phone, calling frantically someone, looking busy like hell. So if we look always busy, why can't we keep the promised time? Do we not care for other's time? There may be some but not all. So probably we say just 5 minutes so that the other person is happy thinking the wait is only 5 minutes!!  Is promising 5 minutes and not keeping that any better than saying plain simple truth? I don't believe so. I feel it's more irritating that simply hearing 30 minutes and then showing up in 30 minutes. Hope others too will start liking this idea and we don't have to guess how much time is actually a "5 minutes" of time...

Moving on...

Subject: Last few words till we meet again!

Hi,
After 4 years and 9 months of exciting and memorable stint with Broadcom, it’s really a mixed bag of emotions writing this mail. I am little sad about leaving you all wonderful people who always helped me, encouraged and supported me, laughed with me or at me or otherwise ;) and at the same time I am really excited about the new challenges and the opportunities my new appointment promises me. I made some really great friends here and have wonderful memories that I shall cherish forever.

Today, I am not going to just say that I learned a lot here. Everybody learns something or other in that much time and I am no exception. What I say today is that I loved those late night discussions with xxxx about transcode, FW/HW issues, audio scheduler, TSM or any other topic under the sun, had fun night-outs with xxxx and xyxy for making Raaga system stable, enjoyed the weekend/late-night firefighting for the DVD projects and all these helped me evolve professionally as well as personally and made me a better person today.

I will miss the lunch table bakaitii with xxxx, xyxyx, yzyzyzy, zxzx and xcxcx, will miss the foosball games, xyxy's passion for it and xxxx/xyxy's champion jodi for the same and I will miss the team lunches and outings, will miss the "sweets/chocs at my desk" mails and running for it before anyone else... I loved playing TT here and learned the game a lot and I thank abcd and xyza sir for the same :). I can go on and on saying these but in short I will miss every other person who I directly or indirectly interacted with.

Though today is my last working day here at Broadcom, this is not a goodbye mail. Through this, I want to thank each and every one of you for making me feel like what I am feeling now and I want to say "see you later".
 

You can continue sharing your jokes/FYIs/thoughts/ideas at my personal email address hahaha@mainhoonyahaan.com (also CC'ed in mail), phone number +91-99999-99999 and you can connect me at facebook or at linkedin.

Wishing you all success in all your future endeavors.

Cheers...

Ashok

Hogenakkal trip..

This is a good example of my laziness... I started writing this one around 1 year back and left in between... Now I dont remember all the details so well... so posting by just adding some pics :D

This trip was not at all a planned trip. My friend Shoubhodeep's was getting married in Coimbatore and we were going there to attend the function.
We were eight people Atul, Body, Harry, Manoj, Rocket, Vimal, Vinay and Me... Marriage was on Monday but the reception was scheduled on Sunday... and we started our journey on Saturday morning itself.
We had hired one Innova for this. that has place for only 7 but we adjusted... We started at 7 in the morning from Takel's apartment... Road was the same familiar NH7 and steering was in Body's hand. Good road and fantastic weather, there was no stopping for Body and that reflected in the speedo when it was crossing 160km/hr so many times...
We took our first break after Hosur at Adyar Anand Bhavan (A2B) and had breakfast... We tried Masala Dosa and Idli bada there... was kinda ok... didn't find anything special...
After breakfast, we again hit the road. In the meantime, we were discussing where to go.... One option was that we go to Coimbtore and then try to cover Kodaikanal and other option we thought was Hogenakkal.
We chose Hogenakkal because it was on the way and we could cover it on the same day and next day would be free. So we took the diversion to Hogenakkal and what a place it was.
The falls there were really amazing. We took coracles (that's what they call the local form of small boat ;)) to go around the water there.
One more very interesting thing of the place was little kids... who would jump off from so much heights in the water for just 10/- and leave you open-mouthed.
Some more pics are here.

Tenosynovitis 2....

Well, it's been a long time since I wrote first part of this problem... Ok, here I am again to tell what happened next...
After my visit to Hosmat Hospital, I returned home and searched internet for this word "Tenosynovitis" and found out that this could be cured by just giving the hand full rest. I bought a bandage and tried it for a week, left riding my bike, thanks to Dorjee for giving me lift everyday for my office.. But after 1 week, there was no improvement. So decided to goto some other doctor... Again google told me that Ossicare is the nearest orthopedics center from my house... Got appointment and met the doc.
Doc: Hi, What happened to you?
Me: I have pain in bending my wrist and thumb.
Doc: Ok. Show me your hand...
(took my hand and inspecting something) looks like some liquid accumulated... we have to do an X-ray।

Me: sir, X-ray is done.
Doc: Oh...
Me: (showing him the reports got from Hosmat)I went to Hosmat and there the doc told me that I have to undergo surgery and I wanted to check other options so I am here.
Doc: Ashok, this is a very common problem nowadays... in most cases you dont need a surgery.. I'll give some medicines and a splint that will keep your hand from hurting again and you will have to come for Physiotherapy daily..
I started as doctor had advised. In Physiotherapy, they were doing some ultasound massage and wax bath... This continued for 15 days... I felt some improvement.. so doctor said that it would be ok in next 15 days.. In next 15 days, same treatment kept going but i found no improvement. Now in this appointment with doc....
Doc: So how is your hand now?
Me: I dont feel much improvement from the last time visit.
Doc: Ek kaam karte hain Ashok, Operation karwa lo...
Me: (ohhh f**k) hmmm.....
Doc: You never had surgery? It's normal to be afraid of... but it's really small one... it will take only one day of hospitalization.
Me: hmm... Is there no other option?
Doc: See, we tried so much... and I feel pity for you that you are struggling for so long by this..
Me: OK. Done. Let's do it on this saturday.
Doc: Ok. before that you have to undergo some tests..
I had blood test, urine test and X-ray of chest that day and got one appointment letter of Manipal for surgery.
Next day, I went to clinic to collect my test reports and met the doctor again.
Me: Sir, What if I dont go for surgery now... Will it be worse?
Doc: So, you dont wanna go for surgery. Ok... let's see for some more time. I will give you some injection and let's see if it improves...
Me: Thank you sir.
From that day, my physiotherapist changes his therapy a bit. In place of ultrasound massage
, now he was giving me some shock therapy. And after 1 week, I felt a lot of improvement. 15 days after when I met doctor...
Doc: How is your hand now?
Me: I think it's fine now...
Doc: So waiting for some days paid you. No pain now?
Me: Only in extreme stretching condition.
Doc: That's fine. Now just take care for atleast one month. Dont stress it too much... no gripping, no grabbing, no ball throwing.
Me: Ok sir. Thank you very much.
I thanked the physiotherapy guy and walked happily. It's almost a month now but still sometimes I bend my thumb just to check if there is pain...

Traffic police

Have you ever noticed this person in white and khaki uniform called traffic police? Well, I'm not talking about those fat-ass policewalas standing near their cars with an alcohol-meter in some one-way road and stopping all bikes, checking for papers and boozes and making money... I'm talking about this hapless guy standing right in the middle of the cross-roads where dust, dirt and honking noise is so much that you get irritated in just 2 minutes waiting for the signal. But this guy stands right there with probably a nose mask and tries to control the traffic or let's see what exactly he is doing...
There is this cross-road on outer ring road where the employee from Eco-space tech park cross the ring road to go for Marathahalli or people coming from other directions cross this ring road to go to eco-space. There were some plans to make the service road alongside the eco-space one-way, but that was a total flop-show resulting in big traffic jam.
Ok, so here I'm waiting on my bike on service road for our hero to stop the traffic on ring road so that I can cross it. Our hero is standing in front of me waving the traffic on ring road to pass. Suddenly there is this cab came from my behind and stands besides me ( I always wonder about these cabs how there driving precision is always in centimeters). Now this cab starts inching on the ring road while our policewala is still signalling the ring-road traffic to pass. Slowly this cab has covered half of the ring road and the traffic of ring road is taking a curve path to pass this a**h*le cabbie. Now suddenly the cabbie finds gap in the ring road traffic and crosses it. Behind him, goes another cab and then another. I also cross behind these cab and after crossing I looked at our hero, now he was waving the traffic on service road to cross the ring road. He hand signal direction has been changed. Did that cab change the direction of his signals?? I'm driving my bike still confused about that and I reached another cross-road. There again is another traffic police standing in the middle of the road controlling the traffic and also perhaps controlled by it.

Autowalas

Anybody traveling/living in Bangalore must be aware of a phenomenon called auto short for auto-rickshaw. These yellow and black 3 wheelers are meant for public transport, to help public reach their destination conveniently. But sometimes, I wonder who are the people traveling by autos and how on earth could they negotiate the fair fare if at all they could convince auto-wala to go to their desired place. In Bangalore, its better to ask autowalas where he is going and if you happen to go somewhere in the way, its ok else look for another auto. And for the fare, I have already seen a rise of 40% in their fare in last 2 years.

Yesterday, I had to take an auto or bus to reach my office as DK with whom I used to go office after my wrist problem has gone to his home. Sometimes back, I had tried auto to go to office and it costed my 90 bucks one side. From my apartment's parking to office's parking measures around 11.2 kms according to my bike making a proper auto fare of 11.2*7 = 78.2. That too from my apartment's to office's parking. But 90 was all that I could negotiate with. So yesterday I thought of using bus but to get to HAL bus stand I have to travel around 2 kms. I asked one autowala. 30 bucks was the answer. bhainch**... next to that auto was another one without meter. He was going to HAL for 5 bucks only but would take more passenger than you. That was good, I reached HAL for 5 bucks only with other 2 persons and we could have accommodated 1 more person without any problem. While returning from office, it was 6:30 in the evening when I reached HAL. There were 3 autos waiting. Here's my conversation with them-

ME - Bhaiya, BEML chaloge??
Autowala1 - 50 Rupees.
ME-(to myself: behench** ek hi din mein ameer hoga kya be!) - Kyon bhaiya. 2 kms to hai. 15 rupaye lagte hain.
Autowala1 - saar rain hone wala hai..
ME-(to myself: to haraamkhor kya ship ya boat mein le jaayega) - abhi to nahi ho raha hai na bhaiya...
Autowala2 - saar abhi traffic bahut hai udhar..
ME - lekin bhaiya 15 ka 50 to bahut hai. kuchh to kam karo...
Autowala3 - theek hai saar 40 de do.. chalo.
ME-(to myself: mada****d, saale, &*@*%$^&*(# )

So I waited there till it started raining and got drenched. Then came one auto that got ready for 25 bucks.... I reached home saving my 25 bucks... Feels good.:)
Same day I went to doc and asked if I could drive my bike. Doc said yes if it doesn't hurt you. So now I am riding my bike for office, of course its not hurting more than the process of autos.