Good to be greedy

It is so hard to pen down your thoughts when they are so many and boiling inside. No matter how hard I try to sort them out , think them over and over there is no definite answer or solution in sight. I guess being an Indian I have not only a right but a born responsibility to think which I have always done  but the way I have done it has changed over the years and given me a new perspective. 

Year was 2008 and when I came back from Japan due to a personal emergency. On my way home from Chandigarh I had to take a train. Not that I had done it first time in my life. I had always travelled by trans and buses in India for we had no car at home back then. But the train journey for the first time in my life seems excruciating tiresome and killing. I realized for the first time how difficult it is to travel by public transport in India is. and I also realized that I had never thought of this way before. I wished it was as good as it was in Paris or Tokyo. But then I thought it is not fair to compare them with us. It is simply outrageous. 

But coming to think of it, I realized many months later. Why it is not fair to compare Tokyo to Delhi or Chandigarh. It is unfair to expect a good nice transport or cleaning water. Why we have come to think of Air conditioned travel as a luxury and not a necessity for everyone. Oh I am damn out of my mind, you think so? don't you. It Will be way too expensive, would make it not affordable for common people, right. Well I ask, why so. Why do we want to restrict quality of good life only to selected few. Well I have maths to support my views here. Say a normal non A/c Bus costs 12 Lacs a piece. How much do you think it would cost to shut all its window panes and put an A/C in it and install vents in the whole damn bus. I reckon not more than 203 lacs. Now coming to additional running cost, I bet the extra fuel cost for running the bus on AC would not be 20%. So I say here, would not everyone ready to pay 18 instead of 15 rupees for a 45 minute comfortable travel? I bet mostly would. I still dont understand by which mathematics they have priced AC bus fare to be 3 times that of normal ones when the normal fare is no subsidized either.

The thing is these things are made as a luxury by us, in our mind. The age old Indian philosophy which advises us to be satisfied with whatever be our means; is a good way to lead a content life but may not be a good way to improve it. Why it has to be a 80 Lac INR Volvo to make it air conditioned. Why cant a Indigenous Tata or Ashok Leyland bus be made air conditioned. No one tries it because the thought of needing something itself is outrageous and makes us outcast. 

Look around you. There are plenty of things which can be made better with very little to little additional effort and money. All we need is a idea and more than that to be little greedy. Trust me it is not as bad as our Indian philosophy would tell us. It is no longer good to be content. 

Berlin I love

There are many things I hate about my job, well who does not. Money, work, boredom etc etc. But there is one thing I love about my job is it takes me to places. Place I would not have either afforded to go to or many be would not have thought of going to. So whenever I geta chance I like to travel.
This time my work has taken m to Berlin. The capital city of Germany and symbol of its culture and heritage. Indeed, the cty is a mavel to live in. Though it  is the largest city in Germany by population it is not crowded. almost all the buildings are no more than 5-5 story tall which gives it a very uniform skyline.
One thing I found common about Paris and Berlin is the feel of old city you have when you are waling in the streets. The streets are still laid with small stone pavements which they had back in days of horses and carts. Buildings are of Victorian era architecture giving visitor of actually living in a real life museum.
All said above, the buildings and streets dont make a city. It is the people of city which give it its distinct flavor. People are friendlier than i expected and they most understand and speak English. People i general have found are not straight jacketed and all too particular. You can easily find people crossing roads in your neighbored from all directions; which one can say is indiscipline but in another way is nice. German people by no standard are careless or reckless when they are at work.
So I am enjoying wonderful weather, nice people, plethora of choices in dining, beer and not to mention writing my first blog today.
Another thing I forgot to mention. It has been 16 days since I landed here and I have not found a single man who is as short as I am at 5;6" and barely a few girls. Quite an admission to make, eh?