Infinite thoughts

It was time to meet one of Meghana's classmate - Deven - while we were in Bengaluru. We decided to meet at CCD in Jayanagar. The store was easy to find and nicely located on a first floor at a junction. When we entered the store was almost full except for 2-3 tables. We occupied one that was comfortable enough for three and close to the main door so that Deven could locate us very easily. Within few minutes Deven reached and we got involved in conversations varying from Meghana's school to Deven's profession (Merchant Navy) and shopping in Bengaluru and many others. In due course, we ordered some coffee and snacks for ourselves. While enjoying those snacks, something very weird happened. Suddenly two kids - one boy and a girl - entered the store. No, they were not customers. Each of them started approaching every table and started begging. Being very close to the main door, we were the first ones to be approached. The boy was not so persistent and at a wave of a hand ...

After not so satisfactory trip to Bandipur (more about it a little later), we returned back to Bengaluru to my sister's place. We had 2-3 days at hand and were wondering what to do in those days. Conversation led us to two interesting locations in Bangalore - Nehru Planetarium & Science Park and Snow City . A quick search on google informed that there is a English show at 12:30 PM. Unfortunately there is no provision for online booking and some reviews suggested to reach the venue at least an hour in advance as there are limited seats per show. The trio (Meghana, Mrunmay and myself) didn't want to miss the show and hence rushed to the Planetarium located in Vasant Vihar.  The booking was yet to be started and there didn't seem to be much rush. So we decided to take a stroll in the park in the same premise. It turned out to be science park and that too well designed!! We started with the principle of lever and Mrunmay was amazed to see the difference in the force...

After a long time, Meghana and I decided to go to Barbeque Nation @ Deccan on Saturday afternoon. And unfortunately it turned out to be a not-so-great experience.  We felt really lucky when we were given a table in just 5 minutes as against the usual unavailability at Barbeque Nation , both at DG and at Sayaji. The seating was on the outside covered area, but at least they had those overhead sprinklers for cooling the air. The kebabs included 1 Mushroom, 1 Soya, 1 Pineapple, 1 Paneer along with a Tikki and some preparation of half-baked potatos. The peel of the potato wasn't cooked enough and was spoiling the entire taste. Salt was overriding the taste of pineapple kebab. Paneer had gone hard. After having eaten the Paneer dishes at multiple places, it was obvious that the Paneer that was being served wasn't good and we had to tell it to the staff there. The staff asked their chef to talk to us. We told the experience to the chef and he said he'll get us better prepa...

With so many vehicles on the road, parking is ought to become a problem for city like Pune. It is no surprise that the old part of the city has huge problem of parking space, but it is surprising to see that even the newer localities are being developed without much consideration towards the parking requirements in coming years. Nevertheless, here are some points which would be applicable to almost all the areas: Need explicit marking where the parking starts and where it ends. Board like "No parking 15 mtrs on both sides" makes no sense to me as it is very difficult to know where 15 mtrs start and where it ends. Better way could be marking the no parking area using two boards indicating start and end of the parking/no-parking slot.  Wherever there's dedicated parking for four wheelers, marking the space for individual vehicles. It is not so uncommon to see haphazard parking, which ends up wasting the valuable space in between the two parking spaces, adding to the p...

Set in the beautiful islands of Bali, this movie is meant to entertain the kids. But unfortunately adults may not find it that interesting.  As usual, when Bheem along with his gang and King of Dholakpur reaches Bali, they find that Bali is in danger. Apparently, Bali's Queen is King of Dholakpur's sister and were invited for crowning ceremony of the prince Arjun. Upon arrival, Bheem and the team found that everything is devastated in Bali and there's no trace of Royal family including Arjun. After much of a search, Bheem finds the Rajguru (Royal Priest) who had helped the prince escape the wrath of the invader - Rangda.  The story line is pretty much predictable and there are no surprises till the end. Bheem needs to be the ONLY savior and it turns out to be that way. (This actually is a problem for children mentality, but I'll save the thoughts for some other time.) Overall animation is similar to the serial and there didn't seem to be any attempt...

Pedestrians form a huge chunk of Pune's traffic. You'll see all kind of people walking the street - students, college crowd, working men-women, senior citizens. It's time to support them with right infrastructure. Pedestrian Crossing (Zebra Crossing) At many signal junctions these are present, and at others they are missing. Wherever they are present, most of the times the vehicles stop on the crossing and hence leaves no place for the pedestrians to use the space. It is rare to see a policeman at the junction enforcing this, although there's a recent drive to put up the signboards across major junctions to keep the Pedestrian crossing unoccupied. A frequency of the pedestrian crossing needs to be defined on long stretches where there are no signals. If there are no accessible zebra crossings, pedestrians tend to cross the road wherever they feel like, causing much of a problem for the ongoing traffic.  I believe crossing the road needs to be simplifi...

While driving through the city, I keep on thinking about the changes those could help improve the traffic in various localities. Some are generic thoughts, while remaining are very peculiar to a specific location - road, junction or a combination thereof. By no means this is an expert opinion, but simply is a wishlist of a person who follow the traffic rules and would like to see various things facilitating the law-abiding citizens!! Today's listing is about traffic control signals. The signals at the junctions seem to be having varying patterns and there's little consistency.  There are places where there are specific signs for allowing U turn, at places there are no such signs. It gets confusing when right turn is not allowed. Does "No right turn" means "No U Turn" as well? Many signals do not have the countdown timers. It becomes impossible for a driver to know if the signal is about to change or not. Moreover, it would help the conscious citizens...