Manas Garg Speaks

Think about an Apple.

No – not the brand. I mean the fruit.

Think about a red, shiny, fresh apple, plucked from a green tree. Doesn’t it look good? This apple is a bundle of sweetness – full of that magical juice that will fill your mouth once your teeth bite into its dark flawless red skin.

Now think what happens when this apple is attacked by ants.

The color of the skin changes from the pretty dark red to muddy brown, the pearly white core following suit. There are narrow paths carved all around the surface, and the ants devour any portion of the apple they seem to like, leaving a trail of destruction behind. They gather in hordes covering the once pretty surface of the apple with their black insect bodies. The apple is no more fit for your consumption, and you feel disgusted picking up the same apple you imagined enjoying every bite of a little while ago.

I’m on a flight just now, and I looked out of the window. I saw the land cris-crossed with roads, houses, and towns made by us on our planet.

It somehow reminded me of what ants do to the apple.

Though I’m not very religious, I like to visit temples. I visited the temple of Chilkur Balaji with my dear cousin Harsh today. It is located approximately 20 km from Mehadipatnam, Hyderabad.

The interesting thing about this temple is that among other things, people come here to pray for Visa. They say that God grants an early Visa to all those who pray here. So much that this temple is now fondly called Visa Balaji’s Temple :)

There was something else that struck both me and Harsh - even though there were thousands of people in the queues, there was no Hundi in the temple! No provision for you to donate money! Also, there was no provision of a VIP darsan, where the so called VIPs can skip the queues and get easy darsan. All were treated as equals in this temple.

I have never seen a temple that did not encourage donations before. I am quite impressed. Way to go, God! :)

Here is a page that gives a detailed description of this temple.

What do you think of when you think about an auto-rickshaw driver? Tampered meters, wicked ways and bad sense of driving? Let me share one trip with you. I had to take an auto from Hyderabad airport to office - a long distance. I asked an auto wallah, and he quoted me the expected 250. That is their standard rate to go anywhere from the airport! I moved ahead, murmuring something to myself and looking for a better deal. I asked another one, and to my surprise this one said “I’ll go by the meter”.

Now, first of all, no auto driver in Hyderabad offers to take you by the meter. And if he does, it means his meter is especially tweaked to facilitate one way transfer of funds. I told him “Your meter must be rigged” He said “No Sir! This is an electronic meter - cannot be rigged”. I knew better - “Ha! Who are you kidding! I’m an engineer - I know that these can be rigged too” and went on to describe him how it could be rigged. I’ll spare you of the details of how to do it.

However, seeing no other better option, I hopped in.

Now, there is a simple way to determine if the auto meter is rigged or not. When the auto is running on a clean stretch of road at constant speed, if you observe the meter advancing, it should ideally advance after regular intervals of time. A rigged meter, on the other hand, doesn’t - sometimes it is normal and sometimes it is faster. I wanted to find out and so I tried observing as hard as I could.

Turned out that the meter was not rigged after all. Reached office and the meter showed Rs 114.60, which is the lowest I’ve ever paid. After paying him, I asked him -”So.. your meter is actually not rigged?” and he was like “Yes Sir - there is talk that the new meters get burnt out if you rig them - and moreover, its more satisfying to earn an honest living and  to drop off your passengers smiling!”

Wow, if only all auto-wallahs were like you my friend.. 

Ever wondered how much is the power of one?

I did.

Saifai is a small village in Uttar Pradesh. There was nothing special about it, but that was only until the one in this story - Mulayam Singh took birth here.

I visited Saifai last month, and it was a treat. A high rising government hospital that beat Apollo Delhi in looks with an emergency section made only of glass panels, A state of the art medical college, a brand new university campus, hostels with amenities unheard of in the best campuses in the country!

Roads that looked like runways - even the humble Santro managed a 145 km/hr

And a village fair that was blessed with 100% rebate in Sales Tax on two wheelers and farm equipment - More than 10000 motorcycles were sold in 4 days.

The power of One.

Had he been on Orkut, I’d have become his fan.

The other day, I was returning to Kanpur from New Delhi when I saw these five goods trains standing parallel to each other just before Kanpur Central railway station. Their engines were aligned and they looked ready to race.

That is not the interesting part. This is: One of the trains was carrying steel hoops, two were full with heaps of coal, another was a petrol carrier and the carogo of last one, which could not be made out, I imagined to be cement.

I suddenly felt proud of my country - its actually racing towards development. Its there everywhere.

Oh India - I love you so.