Author: Uttam Pegu

I always knew KFC for its crispy chicken wings. But sadly, I experience in KFC, Udaipur has not been very good so far. I went to KFC only once, though. It has opened recently, so may be after few months, it will have better quality product.

KFC has visible signboard inside it where it mentions clearly that it cooks its vegetarians items in separate utensils! Most probably, that is there in order to attract large vegetarian community in Udaipur. Now a days, it no longer surprises me to find vegetarian items in any foreign chain of restaurants serving vegetarian in its outlets in India.
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There is always a cost for learning a new thing. Today, after spending Rs. 1050/- I got a very good lesson and I am thinking to share it with you all for free! This is one of the reasons why I like internet.. and blogging!

As I came back to Udaipur after almost two months from Assam, I found out that both our water closet ( WC ) were not working properly and I had no clue how to fix it! So, I had to call a plumber. For one WC, he advised to replace the water tank itself as there were few leakages too. I had no option, but to accept his recommendation! The exact situation one finds when they visit a doctor and doctor prescribes hell lot of tests before giving any concrete consultation, and one has not option but to get those tests done!
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Most probably, not many people will travel from Udaipur to Jamnagar unless they have some work in Jamnagar, specifically refineries of Reliance or Essar. But if some one wants to to Jamnagar from Udaipur in shortest time and low cost with comfort, best is to go to Abu Road Railway station and take a overnight train to Jamnagar.

I traveled to Jamnagar on 17th July 2012 from Udaipur. We decided to drive down to Abu Road by car, park the car at Abu Road junction for 2 days and come back from Jamnagar, pick the car and drive back to Udaipur!

NH76 is in very good shape and one can easily drive at 120KM per hour. This four lane high way has less traffic. Look out for falling stones at some places though!
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Back in India, one of the rare commodity is trust, and trust in strangers in almost extinct. To be fair, trust is not that rare in western and eastern part of India, though it seems almost extinct on the plains of Northern India.

And this is story about trust in Nepal. Specifically, in a place called Malekhu, a small town 71KM west of Kathmandu, on way to Pokhara. It is famous for fish in Nepal and many people from Kathmandu visit this place for local fish of Trishuli river. Previously, local fishes from Trishuli river were available here, but after tasting some fish here, I do not believe that local fishes are available any longer!

While coming back from Pokhara to Kathmandu by car, me and my friend Yam ran out of cash and we had to have lunch at a hotel at Malekhu. We went to an ATM there to withdraw some cash, but the ATM was out of order! We had lunch at the same hotel, named Shravan Hotel on our way to Pokhara some three days ago. So, Yam told me, we will eat at the same hotel on credit! Being in Northern India for last 14 years, I was laughing at the idea but I was hungry and did not show my disbelief.

We went and Yam ordered the remaining whiskey quarter bottle which he could not finish on our previous journey to Pokhara. The same bottle was produced instantly. After finishing the bottle, he informed the hotel owner that we have no money to pay. The owner instantly agreed for the credit and asked us to eat what ever we want!

I ordered a beer for me instantly and also some chicken fried pieces. Finally, me and Yam ended up drinking four bottles of beer and stomach full of Nepali Thali. One of those best lunches I ever had on any road trips!

There were two gentlemen who were sitting on a table next to us and they were trying to pay less than their bill by bargaining with the hotel owner. At that moment, we stood up to leave the hotel and informed the owner. She let us go and just informed the amount of the credit, some NPR 2000.

Then Yam overheard the conversation where those gentleman asked the hotel owner, how come they are allowed to leave without paying for food ?

Yam went back to hotel, asked NPR 100 from hotel owner. She took out a 100 Rupee note and gave to Yam and asked he wanted more. Yam refused and left the hotel.

Those two gentlemen kept looking at us.

I came to Nepal in a dramatic way with Yamnath Lamichhane via an interesting route. The road reads like Udaipur – Ahmedabad – Lucknow – Nanpara – Rupaidiha- Nepalganj – Kathmandu. The Udaipur – Ahmedabad stretch as well as Lucknow – Rupaidiha, were covered on road. The road from Udaipur to Ahmedabad were truely world-class while the road from Nanpara to Rupaidiha were, what we can call, India class ? Well that stretch was the worst road I experienced in my recent travel in India!

We crossed the India border at Rupaidiha at midnight around 12AM on 18th June 2012 and then entered Nepal. We traveled the distance of RUpaidiha to Nepalganj on a cycle ricksaw, aprox 3KM and spent the night in a hotel. The hotel was the worst kind of hotel I experienced in last 9 years.

Nepalganj airport is very small, terminal s non-AC ( a first in my life. I never had any experience of non-AC airport terminal before). It did not have any metal detector or security arrangements which are very common in Indian airports.

The flight from Nepalganj to Kathamndu took around 50 minutes and it was on an ATR by Buddha air. The experience of baggage collection at Kathmandu airport was also first of its kind experience for me.

I have not visited many places in Kathmandu yet. Just Patan square, Pashupainath Temple. Patan square UNESCO heritage site. I found many Korean tourists there. But then it is not the tourist season here at this time.

Kathmandu is humid at this time, though not very hot. After living in Rajasthan for few years, humidity makes you sweat a lot and make one uncomfortable.

I met few Nepalese people from the age of 18 to 55 in my short stay for last 12 days. It has been quite an experience. In many tourist places I visit, I am mistaken either as a Nepalese or Philippines! Some thought as Japanese but not a single person thought I would be an Indian! Well, I am used to it now!

I think, Nepalese people are honest, hardworking and very friendly. They dont seem to be aggressive though irony is they supply mercenaries to both Indian Army as well as British Army! If there is a war between India and England, chances are, Nepalese citizens might fight against each other for both India and England!

My general feeling is that, they do not like India much though India share an open border policy with Nepal. Many seem to resent openly that Indian government meddle too much in Nepal politics. Though Indian movies and Hindi is widely popular and spoken every where. Indian currency ( called IC) is accepted everywhere. Some places do not accept 500 and 1000 denominations though.

Nepalese people take pride in the fact that they do not have any day as “Independence day” as they were never actually ruled by foreigners. They say, Nepal may be poor country, but people here are rich. Well, a Tata Nano cost NPR 8 lacs in Nepal and I saw many cars on Kathmandu roads. Maruti 800 is ‘world famous’ car in Kathmandu, mostly used as taxis but costing around 17lacs NPR.

Kathmandu is mostly populated by a community known as Newar ( many opine Nepal comes from Newar). They have their own language and culture.

I traveled to Pokhara, 200km west of Kathmandu. Its a beautiful place. I will write bout it later. Once I am back in India, I hope to write more details about my experiences of Nepal.

Satyam Eva Jayate Or StyamevaJayate, a TV program has stirred up a hornets nest once against where gory stories of father, husband, father in laws, mother in laws are being told where every husband, brother, father, in-laws seems to bow their head in shame! But is this the true picture of India we are showing to the world on TV ? Are we equating aberration of some fellow Indians to be the norms of the society ? In our jealous enthusiasm for fighting social ills, are we punishing innocent husbands, fathers, brothers and in laws ?
When we discuss about honour killing, have we forgotten Rakhi where a brother promises to protect his sister from all trouble in the world ?

Have we forgotten the father who have started many businesses in their daughters name ? Have we forgotten the temples in the name of our female deities and the number of male visitors to them ?

Have we not fought among our friends to offer our chairs to the newly entering girl to our class ? Have we forgotten the our habit of throwing away our cigarettes as soon as we see a girl approaching us ?

Have we forgotten that a husband built Tazmahal for his wife ? Have we forgotten the thousands of fathers who celebrate their daughters ?
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It is almost 4 years now that I have been thinking to go back to my village and live there forever. To be honest, my desire to go back increased after I had Stone Problem in February 2008. So in while, I keep updating my Facebook Status, Twiter about my desire to retire and permanently go back to my village. I think many people do not like to believe that. But I surely want to go back. Still, I have not gone back yet, why ?

Before I post here why I have not gone back, I would like to list why I want to go back:-

1. I want to go back during summer

Summer in Rajasthan ( where I presently live) is too hot. The sun is way too bright. It is very tough going outside during day. The hills are not green or blue for most of the time in a year. It looks rocky and harsh.

Finally, it does not rain enough. I feel like ages where I have seen rain properly. The rain here are like few sprinkle of water which last few seconds!

2. I want to go back during winter

Winter is better. But its so short lived! And then you do not have woods to start bonfire at night, roast some pork or other meat and enjoy with family back in my village. I miss it badly and often ask myself, am I sacrificing too much living away from my village ?

3. The jungle are full of thorns
Yes, I tried roaming around jungles and feel wilderness in jungles of North India, Western part of India. They are full of small bushes which have lot of thorns! You just can not hug them, fall on them just like that! I miss doing those becoming one with the jungle, nature!

4. I can not swim in rivers

Most of the small rivers I visited are either too dirty and no depth or no current where I could take a bath or swim around for some time! How I miss rivers in my village!

The lakes are good, I often think of swimming there. But I have not been able to do that! Most probably, some day I will try to swim and may be I would like it.

5. Only work, no leisure at all

Six days a week, it is just work, work and work! No leisure at all! In the name of leisure, it is just watching a movie, going out to some bank of lake, drink coffee.

I miss playing football, volleyball, badminton (ok, I played badminton for few days with great difficulty), walking in vast paddy fields aimlessly.

6. I miss stars in sky

Yes, sometime, I look up to the sky and miss the billions of stars there! Here I can see just few thousands up there in the sky!

Some time, I miss it very much! It is very difficult to get to see blue sky full of stars here were I live!

7. I miss pork

I do not get to eat pork here. When ever I get to eat, they are not tasty. In the name of meat, I just get to eat broiler chicken which I almost hate !

I do not like the smell of fish here! I miss the fun of catching fish on my own eat at my own leisure!

There are few more reasons why I want to go back to my village! But still I have gone back yet. I know why I have not been able to go back yet. I will post about that too.

I will also post other reasons when I want to go back to my village!

Finally, I thought I would publish some pictures of birds which I captured here and there in Udaipur. I was not very keen to take pictures of bird, majorly because I did not want to invest in lenses required for bird photography. I started with Nikon 55-200mm Non VR lens and after getting frustrated for few days, I could improve a bit. And finally ordered 7-300mm VR lens.

VR ( Vibration Reduction) is a feature which reduces camera shake to the equivalent up to 4 shutter stops. It is a huge advantage.

Here are few Bird Pictures, I thought I would share. I normally upload my pictures in my photography blog.

I thought I would share few experiences with Indian bureaucracy and its grievance redress system. First of all, I must tell you that, the “grievance redress system in Indian bureaucracy” is firmly in place, and it works mostly to the satisfaction of the complainant. But if you read news paper, watch TV News, one may believe the other wise!

Well, I think, Indians treat their problems more emotionally then logically. So when, most of the time, when they seem to have been treated unfairly by the bureaucracy or the system, they seem to love to play victim than trying to get justice using the built-in “Grievance Redress System” in place. Yes, I do agree many people are not aware of them, or many are too afraid to approach them fearing aggravating their problems.

But, I had no such fear and thanks to Google God, I am confident of information about grievance redress system and like to use them.

1. Keep written record
The most basic thing to remember while trying to get justice in any Grievance Redress System is not to get emotional about the issue, but be reasonable and arm yourself with facts and figure. Also, Indian bureaucracy can not work verbally ( rightly so), so one has to keep written record of following of the procedures. Including all the official correspondence, courier details, speed post or registered post records etc. Bureaucracy has no space for personal emotions, so avoid getting angry, use of abusive languages, shouting at counters etc. Trust me, they do not help your cause.

2. Do not be afraid.
The officers are no more qualified than you. Always remember, the all powerful collector, IAS/IPS officers are just graduate in education just like you but smarter than you to clear UPSC. The same is true for every government officers in any bureaucratic setup. The incidents like “Ruchika Girhotra – ex DGP SPS Rathore” are extreme cases and rare. Normally such thing will not happen to you. Majority of the Indian officers are God fearing, hones, work honestly and follow rules.

3. Be patient, do not give up
Yes, do not give up. Keep following up. Now a days, following up is just an Email Away or FAX. Or one may send follow mail through speed post or registered post. They help as they maintain date and time stamp. These correspondences are important as they are in written format and bureaucracy love them and never lose them.

4. Follow procedure
Now a days, there is a deadline to close any application within a fixed period. Learn them and follow them. After that accelerate the complaint to higher authority. Yes, they work.

By following above tricks, I have been able to get my grievances redressed in many government departments. Some of them are :-

1. State Bank of India
a. In Guwahati, I could get Rs. 18 as interest for delay of Cheque cleraance for one day. To be fair to them, all bank officers were on strike.
b. I got my SBI account opened in the second day in Jaipur. On first visit, my documents were not complete. On second visit documents were complete but the officer simply refused to open our account and asked to come back next day. I protested and called the grievance Telephone number displayed int he branch and my account was opened after 10 minutes.

2. North Eastern Council
Complained to DONER ministry by email about broken bridge on NEC funded road with images of the road. New wooden bridge was constructed in 3 months time.

3. Director General of Civil Aviation in Udaipur Airport
This is experience my my friend Ankit who was wrongly charged parking while standing in queue. He emailed DGCA authorities. Now no car is charged for waiting in queue to pass the toll gate. He also got an written apology for his inconvenience.

These were some of the experiences. I have many other similar experiences in Railways, Collector office, Municipality office, Government Hospitals, Police Stations where I thought I was not getting proper treatment of service as per my privilege as a citizen, I complained to citizen grievance cell and got my issues fixed ( sometime quickly, sometime it took time).

I have not failed to get my grievance addressed even a single instance. Yes, some time it took time, I had to visit offices and attend meetings with officials etc., but at the end, truth always prevailed.

When I first started blogging in August 2008, I thought I would be able to make a lot of money with Google AdSense. For that, I did many silly things including searching for ‘high paying’ keywords and try to put them in some useless blog posts.

Everyday, I used to check Google AdSense account for the money accumulated! Sadly, I never crossed $4 a day! I even tried asking my friends to click on AdSense advertisements on my blog. I also used to click on theirs in return.

I used to spend lot of time Googling “how to make money online”, “How to increase Google AdSense” revenue. I also searched for bloggers making lot of money and used to read those lists of bloggers who make thousands of dollar per month! How I wanted to make such money by blogging!

Finally, I gave up trying to earn from AdSense. Luckily, I started enquiries from my blog for some serious work. So, I continued blogging.

Meanwhile, unique visitors to my main blog on IVR (Interactive Voice Response) System started increasing. I had also started getting more and more business enquiries.

Eventually after two years, I found out, in order earn enough from Google AdSense, one needs lot of visitors, that too from western countries like United States of America, Canada etc. If one gets click from there, then only one earns enough. Clicks from India and other “third world countries” earn hardy few cents per click!

Three years is a long time to make a blog popular. Most probably, If I spent my time in popularising, I would have generated more visitors and there by making good amount of money from Google AdSense. Instead of doing that, I spent time in finding out short cut to increase clicks on Google AdSense. So eventually, I could not make money from Google AdSense.

Also, most probably, choice of topic for the blog is important to make it popular with more people. Some topics which have large audience, should get more visitors than a blog with very niche topic. According to me, without getting many visitors or being a popular blog, I should not have tried any trick to make money from Google AdSense.

But one thing I am happy that, if I have to start over again, most probably, in two years time, I would be able to make money from Google AdSense by building popular blog! Also, I will not expect serious revenue if I am not a full time serious blogger.