The Great Train Robbery

The latest sensation in namma singara Chennai is the hijack of a train from the Moore Market station,i.e our Chennai Central EMU service track.How comical is that an unauthorised person is able to sneak into the driver's coach,start a train and take it for a jolly ride just like kids do with other kid's bicycles?

To say that this depicts is the poor state of affairs of security,authorisation procedures and overall accountability is an understatement and words probably won't do justice to the anguish of the relatives of the people who have been killed(I will not say they died because spiritually dying means you are ready to leave the world behind on your own accord and these people  certainly were not).Now don't mistake me for bringing spirtuality and philosphy into this serious issue at hand but just that it makes more sense when you see it from that point,atleast for me.

Everybody can point hands at one another and play the blame game,which is what usaually happens but spare a thought for the people injured and killed.What can offer them solace?Bringing the CBI into the fold of things might seem like a big step forward but what is to be noted is the sheer indiscipline in following regulations that should have been second nature to the guys in charge.

The need of the hour is to bring into force a stricter implementation of policies and safety regulations(all it requires is personal dedication and the thought in the back of the mind that if the work is not carried out properly it may reult in mishaps and people can get injured ).

Whether it was a prank gone horribly wrong or a calculated execution of pre-laid plans,we may or maynot never know.But the sheer thought that something like this can happen to anybody sends shivers down the spine.

Temptations

Having given myself to the regimen of taking a walk in the early morning on the basis that it is healthy for your life,I have found its side effects.Now talking of walking side effects may bring ankle sprains and leg cramps to the imaginative mind but the answer is no.Not any one of these.

My side effect is sleep.Yes SLEEP.Waking up at 5 in the morning takes a good 2 hours off my time devoted for sleep and while I would love to crash on my bunker when I return from my walk it is totally off limits as that would result in a nice archanai from my mom.So while I'll be able to ward off the remaining sleep in the morning hours,when it comes to the late afternoon say between 4 to 5, I would be totally washed.It would be like I have gone without sleep for 2-3 days and my eyes close on their own accord.That is also the time when everybody is busiest because it is near to office closing hours and naturally all would like to show that they are hardworking just as the office ends.Imagine my plight trying to keep my eyes open while having to concentrate on the work on hand.For a good understanding, try to remember your most boring professor's class just after lunch.You will get the point.

Hence not only am I tempted to catch a quick shut eye but my body metabolism also seems to gone into overdrive with my stomach grumbling every time i think of food since I started walking as an exercise.And on way my back home,the biggest task is to force my legs away from the chat shop near my house and mentally pound myself to think of  chapathis and dal instead of the sinfully good bhel puri or the delicious pani puri that the guy can whip in a jiffy.Sigh!Sigh!Sigh!.I really wonder how people try to attain nirvana when the simple task of keeping yourself healthy and monitoring your junk food consumption is taking a big toll on my senses.That is why maybe those enlightened ones are called mahans.

Exams

Attended my ISRO exam yesterday and it was actually fun to write a competitive exam, you know it makes those grey cells work a wee little more and the feeling of working with your mind rather than physically as we do in our daily jobs 90% of the time is immensely satisfying.It gave me almost an "on-the-top-of the world feeling"  because recollecting the wonderful time I had spent in college learning while going through the question paper concotes a heady mix of inexplicable enjoyment that just makes you want to grin at everybody.

All in all,a very nice Sunday I have had in a long time which would otherwise have been spent on waking late and whiling away the time on the idiot box and its cousin,the PC.

Of Hot Summers and Power cuts

When the Tamilnadu EB announced that there will be very less power shortage this year and as a result there will be fewer power cuts,I was the most happiest person in TN,believe it or not as I am one of those guys who would even on a chilly winter night like to have the fan running at full speed.

But I don't use the AC because my bronchus is a little bit sensitive to chillness that the AC produces.Hence however sweltering it may be I would like to sleep just with the fans on and the windows open. 

However for the last week or so,there has been a regular power cut in our flat especially between 10.30 and 11.00 in the night.When contacted the EB told that they were not carrying out any maintenance work.Left with no option we called them  to come and check our mains.After an hour one guy finally decided to show up.

He came,he saw and he proclaimed "Fuse poiduchu saar".As pompous as Julius Ceaser when he spoke those 3 immortal words "Vini,Vidi,Vici" .

After changing the fuse we paid him the usual amount that is mandatory unofficially.I could have kicked myself for that but the flat association saw it fit to pay him what he asked so where is the opinion of one person going to hold water.The reason "Ippo kudukulana adutha vatti vara mattanga".

Hollering about bribes and overcharging will take this post quite of context which is not what I intend to do.

Anyway the next day,the same thing happened and the same routine was enacted.The same guy came,said the same thing(why am i using so many "same"s) and fixed the fuse. 

Day 3. Repeatuuu

Day 4. Repeatuuu

Now, before you think I am going to proceed till 365, hold your horses because this where the proverbial twist in the story takes place( God, I sound like an amateurish screen play writer).

The next day the events repeated themselves(haha,I have not used "same" for 40 words) and in my sweat filled anger I felt like putting my fists through the mains a la Jackie Chan in some kung fu movies that they show in Vijay TV on Saturday nights,which I gratefully did not because the only result would have been shattered knuckles.

Fortunately, the EB officials were alerted due to the curious repeat of the same problem over and over again and they decided to send a senior technician.

The guy who ambled over to our flat said that in his analysis(yes!! he used the word analysis),the issue was overloading of the mains,the reason for which was the use of AC's in all our 12 flats in the compound.This sounded ridiculous as last summer there was no such issues and I told him so.

Naturally, he got angry, said I didn't understand how the power transmission works and et al. before I finally waved my engineering tag before him and shut him up for good.Man, that felt sweet, you know to shut up someone who acts like a know-it-all with that one remark "I AM AN ENGINEER".

That night the problem was temporarily fixed and the next morning they promised to send someone to look into the issue.The next day,3 people actually turned up and went through the rigmarole of looking at the connections from the transformer to the pole and from the pole to the flat mains and that was where the culprit lay.

You see,the week before we started having this phenomenon of isolated power cuts the Corporation people had dug up our road for laying out pipes for the storm water drains and they accidentally had punctured one of the cables going to our flat mains,which in reality had caused us to have only 2 phases rather than the 3 phases which is normal and this was responsible for the overloading as the load of that phase had been diverted to be shared by the other two.

As the problem had been identified,it may seem it was a simple matter of replacing that cable and setting things right but alas it was not to be.The difficulty in moving ahead was that though EB had the power to change cables overhead, if they wanted to do something with cables that ran below the ground, you(meaning the person who has the problem not the EB) have to take the permission of the Corporation by giving them a request letter in writing for digging the road.After it was approved,the EB would then carry on their work.

Funny how two wings of the corporation act like separate autonomous bodies with no communication between them.Anyhow that is the state of things and it wasn't until two days ago that the problem was totally rectified be relaying that cable.

My nights have been much better since then and I have actually managed to blog regularly,which given my predisposition to slacking is quite a feat by itself.Not that blogging is a feat,but trying not be a slacker is.