BMTC System: Risky Bus Ride

There is a ban on using mobile phone while driving. A very good rule and a definitely a wise move as diverted attention can lead to accidents on the road. But it’s a tragedy that most drivers hardly care for this rule! We see most car drivers using mobile while driving! Its scary to see the two wheel riders using cell phones while riding.. It looks like doing some kind of circus!

What I am trying to highlight here is how the regulating authorities who made this rule of banning mobile use while driving could ignore the multi-tasking BMTC(Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corpn) bus drivers. Some drivers in some buses act both as drivers as well as conductors – the one who issues tickets to passengers! The obvious reason behind banning mobile use while driving was the diversion of concentration and possible accident due to multi-tasking. If so, why doesn’t this rule apply to the BMTC drivers?

I have observed the BMTC buses especially the “Pushpak” variety of bus service mostly do not have a conductor, but the driver himself issues the tickets to the commuters. Have seen the driver struggling with one hand over the steering wheel and other hand issuing tickets and giving change and to commuters! I am sometimes scared looking at him because he hardly has an eye on the road! But I thrust my faith on the almighty and board the bus! J

I am strongly against this system because –

1. This system is as dangerous as using a mobile phone while driving, or rather more dangerous.

2. Especially in the traffic of Bangalore, how much ever one is careful and skilled in driving there is always a chance of accident due to someone else’s mistakes.

3. This makes the journey delayed as driver does not move the bus till he issues the ticket to all, wasting everyone’s time.

In stead of saving one resource by eliminating the conductor’s role, I would suggest adding a resource and avoiding the risk! This in turn may provide some more employment opportunity to the needy!

Is there anyone listening out there?

Mohd Afzal: Controversial Plea for Pardon

Today I hear of the news that Mohd Afzal, the main convict in the 2001 parliament attack has sent a petition to Indian President Dr. A.P. Abdul Kalam for clemency from death penalty. Till now the requests for clemency were from his family and so called Human Rights activists and our great politicians who can shed tears to even to such gruesome culprit. Now it comes from the convicted himself (I never refer to him as “accused” but because he is already convicted). And he sympathizes for the ones’ killed in the attack and their families. I shout aloud that “I will sympathize for Mohd Afzal after his death”. Fair deal?

Mohammed Afzal Guru has been sentenced to death for his role in the attack on parliament on December 13, 2001. His execution was scheduled to take place on October 20. But the mounting pressure has pushed it forward and now the dates have not yet been scheduled.

The protests arouse across the nation and especially in Jammu & Kashmir stating that he should be pardoned! I ask the protestors that- Are they aware of his crime? He masterminded and executed the attack on the “Temple of Democracy” our parliament! And we proudly claim that we have one of the strongest democracies in the world. Of course we do! And we took 5 years to award a death penalty for such heinous crime! But I am yet happy that Justice was delivered. Better late than never!

By advocating capital punishment for Mohd Afzal, I am not a person who enjoys seeing a person dying or one who advocates violence! I am too for peace and prosperity, what makes me irked is the statements of our so called peace lovers and sympathetic politicians who can turn any situation to political mileage! Some even took a march to our president in person to pressurize Dr. Kalam. I am sure Mr. President is pressured from all corners.

What I am holding here is an stand which gives no soft corner towards terrorism.. If what India is suffering today, it is mainly due to soft approach towards terrorism. If we see Israel today, it stands strong only due to its tough stand as it is covered by all sides by enemies! If terrorists can kill hundreds and thousands of our innocent people and our brave men in uniform (may be police or army), why cant we hand one Mohd Afzal? Let’s teach them a lesson in the language they understand the best!

I am proud and revere Dr. Kalam for his libertarian approach, scientific contributions and able leadership. He showed his solidarity and inner strength by rejecting the bill “Office of Profit” profit twice! But our democratic system made him loose as he was forcibly sign the bill though he was against it! Such a president, if one in million and we are lucky to have him.

BUT…..

If the by any chance our president Dr. Abdul Kalam gives clemency from capital punishment to Mohd Afzal, I will loose all my respect to such president who is revered by most Indians. I am sure lot of fellow Indians who think like me too will!

Lets wait and watch!

ICICI Lombard Insurance: A Sad Story

Let me share an experience of mine which shows “what not to with a prospective customer”

Close to two months back, I suddenly realized that my two wheeler insurance term had lapsed. I was in a hurry to get it renewed as any day I may be penalized for this reason by the traffic cops! To add to my misery, my work demanded spending lot of time at office and during weekdays it was impossible to go to insurance office. Insurance agencies like National Insurance, LIC are all don’t work on Saturday.

I was very happy to find ICICI Lombard General Insurance co’ was working on Saturday. I was further elated when I saw a bill board advertising behind a BMTC (Bangalore) bus that ICICI insurance can be availed online… so promptly visited their website to get one.. To my bad luck, this online facility is not available for vehicles more than 5 years old! But this clause is never mentioned anywhere in their advertisement! Fine, I found their e-mail address from the website and mailed them my requirement.

Within few minutes I got mail back saying we received your request and this is your Interaction ID XXX. I was impressed with their service.. But later only to realize it was an auto-generated reply! What ever, I was promised that a representative will get in touch with me and I m supposed to use the interaction ID given for communication. Whaw… I was pretty happy at their use of technology and customer service. This happened on Wednesday 6th Sept’06. I was waiting for their representatives’ call… Nothing happened till Saturday 9th Sept’06.

I was kid of disappointed, but yet with no other options left visited their office in Jayanagar, Bangalore only to be redirected to Residency Road, head office of ICICI Lombard General Insurance. The reason given was that two wheeler insurance is done only at that office. I went there. To a HO with no parking space! So had to park my vehicle at Globus parking lot by paying their fee of Rs. 20/ (will be refunded if I shop at Globus!).

When I reached up to the office only two see an unorganized office, with people crowding at the reception with insufficient seating arrangement. There is no one to guide you! The three receptionists seated where busy on their phones or took an opportunity to escape into office one after the other! All this was happening on 9th Sept, four days after I was promised that I would called shortly by an representative of ICICI.

Finally when I managed to get to receptionist lady to enquire she forced me to be seated without even listening to reason I came. Ok, I sat and waited only to see nothing happening! I waited there for more than 30 minutes. In this period got to see their real customer service. There was absolute chaos there. Everyone was impatient and one customer screemed aloud saying “Illi yaru Keluvavrilla, Ivrige customers jaasthi agidaare” (there is none to listen to us, now that ICICI has enough customer base, they no longer care for customers), a clear mark of customer feedback. A receptionist heard this and called that customer and asked him to be seated again and went in only to disappear!

After that there was some entertainment (!!?!!) of an employee and customer exchanging heated conversation and argument went ugly and literally to pushing each other!

Somehow after all this drama, I was impatient, and caught hold of an employee and asked about my problem only to be told that I should come on Monday between 4-6 in the evening to get my insurance. That’s the only time they issued it!

So by then, I had enough of ICICI experience and quietly walked off with their so called Interaction ID safely preserved in my pocket and knowing that nothing much they would do to help me!

And till date, i.e. 9th Nov’06, ICICI people haven’t contacted me! I am waiting to be called! (But I got my insurance done by our own trusted National Insurance Company)

Justice Denied

This is just an update on one of my previous blog post – “When You’ve The POWER, It Shows..!

It was regarding the issue of the brawl the super brats had created. I am referring to Nikhil Kumar, s/o Chief Minister of Karnataka and Adam Bidapa s/o Fashion guru, Prasad Bidapa. As I mentioned in my blog post, nothing much would happen out of the police case in these instances. And NOTHING much has happened too.

In case of CM’s son’s case even the victims were hesitant to proceed with case! Quit understandable.. ! The security cameras installed in the hotel where CM’s son ran ransack mysteriously had stopped working a week prior to the incident! But irony is that, initially it was told that they had recorded the scene and would help cops to track the miscreants.

Now our CM has gone great lengths in supporting his son. As I read the newspaper today, I burst out laughing as I saw our CM blaming the opposition (Cong) to be framing his son! He went on to say that, since his governance was flawless, opposition took this method to bring him bad name!

In this context, I vaguely remember one of the teenagers responding to a poll on this case. He said, “I am too a teenager, I work hard to make my life, study well to make my career. This guy is disgrace to our efforts and would the CM say ‘Boys will be boys’ had I committed such a crime?”. Will anyone dare to answer this? (Mr. CM are you listening?)

Anyways, the case is closed! Another justice not just delayed, but DENIED..!

Cell phone Review: Motorola C168

I have been using this cell phone for last three months now. Prior to this I was using Motorola C350 with Nokia 1100 in between.. I must confess I actually backtracked in my choice! My Moto C350 was very good cell and gave me a good service for more than three years. It had very good reception and a very cute compact set. Probably this pleasant experience made me go to Moto again..

Now coming to Moto C168, got a good bargain for Rs 2800 from an authorized dealer! Pretty impressed I was…
As a good boy let me list its positives… apart from those polyphonic ring tones, MMS n stuff,

1. Good looks, sleek.

2. Very good battery backup.. Lasts sometimes 60 hours in normal usage.

3. Sufficient memory for phone book (1000 entries) and Messages (250 messages). A bonus for phone in this range.

4. FM radio if you wanna listen to music with loads of bakwaas in between.

Now my negative side takes over.. The drawbacks in the phone

1. Very slow responding phone, Takes almost 3 minutes if you restart it.

2. Messaging is further slow and unfriendly

3. The predictive dictionary can be annoying sometimes and contributes to the phone’s speed.

4. Signal reception is bad( a disgrace to Moto’s reputation)

5. The headset given with the phone looks so cheap with silver color. I am hesitant to use it in public ;-(

6. The most horrible drawback is there is no option to reset the time. So incase your cell phone shows a wrong time, you can’t reset it! Unbelievable? But true.. As a true Indian spirit, we have solutions.. You pull out the battery and SIM card and wait for 2-3 minutes. Then when you put these things back and restart the phone it asks for new time, here you got it! Set the time right now! This is new method for Motorola’s stable! And beware, suppose you mess this process and set a wrong time again, there is no way to reset it, but to do the above said self-invented method all over again.

This makes me so annoyed that I take extra care not to mess with the time! You know now we got so used to time on the phone that we tend to ignore our watches!

The bottom-line is, if you are a freaky who uses lot of messaging.. Then this phone is definite NO. I had to bring my typing speed down and adjust to the Moto C168’s speed b’coz the phone doesn’t adjust to my speed! But you are a person with normal usage, no messaging, stay at a place with good network coverage, want a good battery backup, then you can consider this… But I guess a NO to youngsters like me…!

So I am busy looking for the next cell… Then lemme come back with yet another review… Who shalt be that?

Helmet Rule: “Yes” or “No”

Helmet Rule for two wheeler riders is finally implemented in Karnataka state by the government with effect from November 1st, 2006. This decision came after lot of hiccups. There were several changes in the rule that was originally framed. The pillion rider was exempted from wearing one and the rule is not applicable for riders in Bellary district.

In fact, the delay in implementation of this rule made many skeptical about it. Hence many did not bother to be equipped with a helmet when the rule was implemented officially in November 1st, 2006. And the traffic cops too didn’t penalize them for it initially. Everyone was let go with a warning.

The helmet merchants rejoiced with this rule.. It was kind of situation like “make hay when it shine”. They had a big smile on their faces as people flocked their stores by the November 1st evening… One of the merchants said, he managed to sell 100- 110 helmets a day in contrary to sales of hardly 10 helmets! The cops had made it a mandatory rule to buy a head gear with ISI certification only… A good move though. But it does not mean that there weren’t many takers for helmets from road side vendors who sell cheap duplicated stuff. There were plenty who resorted to this source too.

With rules on book and cops ready for the action, we see most two wheeler riders sporting a head gear while on road now! Personally I enjoyed wearing a helmet while riding always and made sure I wore one even before the rule was implemented… But do have friends who find it uncomfortable to wear a helmet while riding.

This kind of contrasting opinions delayed the implementation and removal of the helmet rule which existed years back. Lets see both the Pro’s & Con’s of this rule.

Pro’s

1. NIMHANS has been the institution which strongly advocated the implementation of this rule saying that riders are prone to head injury which can be fatal.

2. It is said that the independent study conducted proved that most deaths occurred due to riders no wearing a helmet when accidents occurred.

3. Head injury mostly becomes fatal or at least causes brain damage.

4. A helmet can prevent particles hitting the eyes and save the damage too.
Can partially help in filtering the smoke filled polluted air that the rider breathes.

Con’s

1. India being a tropical country and especially south India in hot and humid. So may cause discomfort for the rider.

2. The sweat formed by wearing the helmet is blamed to cause infection of scalp and hence baldness.

3. Helmets are claimed to block sounds and hence rider may not realize approaching vehicle from behind and leading to accidents again. (but ISI certified helmets allow adequate amount of sound to be heard)

4. People especially suffering from fractured collar bone and neck pains may find it tough to wear a helmet which is a genuine issue.

This way argument can go for long. I won’t be surprised if the next govt. withdraws this rule. I am of the opinion that people themselves should realize the importance and none has to force for one’s safety.

I would rather loose my hair and become bald (if so) than loosing my head

Movie Review: DON

A movie much hyped, much awaited was finally there this Diwali. It took a while for me to watch it since its release. This movie gained its importance since its plan as it was the re-make of super-hit DON enacted by the Big – B, Amitabh Bachchan. There were several doubts as to who would enact the role immortalized by Big B. It was also said that the director Farhan Akther had Hrithik Roshan in his mind when planning the remake. Some how finally Shah Rukh Khan, the King Khan donned the role!

Definitely, when Shah Rukh Khan accepted the role he was well aware of the expectations of movie as well as his role. This movie also had one of the scintillating and sensual number from then diva Helen. This is taken up by Kareena Kapoor who I feel failed to bring back the magic! Apart from these, the cast also includes Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Isha Koppikar, Boman Irani. The whole movie is the exact remake of original DON with slight change in the climax.

A close to three hour movie, I rate it a stylish with very good cinematography. The whole movie revolves around in Malaysia, giving the audience an insight into high life of Malaysia. When rating its story line, I am personally not satisfied, runs on the same Bollywood’s patented logic. I would definitely consider Shah Rukh Khan best suited for the role, but some how movie failed to carry or utilize him. There is something lacking in the story itself. But the twist in the tale is unexpected and is really a GOOD one!

The movie is all about drug mafia Don (Shahrukh Khan) who gets seriously injured in the police chase and police commissioner DeSilva (Boman Irani) replaces the original Don with his look alike Vijay to find out root of the gang. But commissioner DeSilva dies in an encounter. (and some twist here). And Vijay lands up in the jail with no proof which proves that he is Vijay not Don but he fights back to prove that he is Vijay.

The movie also stars Priyanka Chpora as Roma who plays role of Vijay’s girlfriend and Isha Kopikar who plays role of Don’s girlfriend. Arjun Rampal plays the character of Jagjit, who bumps into DON in another twist. He was just OK, nothing much in the role for him.
But it is not possible to compare the role of new age Don with the original one. Both are good at their own place. Farhan has tried to give a twist in the story but in this process the story raises few questions and unthinkable logics.

It was really impressive when Shahrukh Khan said “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai” but to make it meaningful, if can be change to: “Don ko copy karna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai”. By saying so I do not mean to say that the movie was bad but I am trying to say that comparing both the original and remake is not right. Compare oranges with oranges and not with mangoes.

“The Opinion is Personal Again “

India: Sensex And the Fortunes

It’s bumper returns time for punters on Dalal Street, with the 1,000-point rise in the market that touched the 13,000 level making them richer by over Rs 3,00,000 crore in just six-and-half months.

Total investor wealth today soared to over Rs 34,000,000 crore, as the market finally scaled the elusive 13K peak for the first time in its history. Investors wealth stood at Rs 31,00,000 crore on April 20 when the Sensex first hit the 12,000 level.

Look at some of the Indian Biggies who made fortunes out of the Bull Run! The sheer numbers are spell bounding for some of us, but it’s the fact! Money begets money. In the past 12 months, Mukesh Ambani has earned Rs11.08 lakh a minute, or Rs6.65 crore an hour, including on Saturdays and Sundays.

Mukesh’s younger brother Anil has done only infinitesimally worse, earning Rs6.56 crore an hour. In dollar terms, that’s a shade under $1.5 million.

This is not about their salaries. They don’t matter. Even Rs25 crore annually for Mukesh, and a third of that for Anil, pale in comparison with what has unfolded for them on the bourses.

The 65 per cent growth in the Sensex in the past 12 months has added a phenomenal Rs2.40 lakh crore – or $55 billion — to the wealth of India’s top ten billionaires, thanks to the stakes they hold in their companies.

In Mukesh’s case, this translates into an addition of Rs58,236 crore in shareholding wealth, while for Anil the figure stands at Rs57,505 crore.

The wealth of India’s top ten billionaires has more than doubled — it rose exactly 133 per cent — in the last 365 days as the Sensex travelled from 7892 on October 31, 2005, to 13024.26 yesterday.

A surprise entry in this rarefied list is Ramesh Chandra, promoter of the New Delhi-based realty major Unitech. His 74 per cent stake in the company was worth Rs595 crore same time last year. It’s worth Rs23,970 crore today.Chandra earned Rs4.45 lakh a minute as demand for real estate soared. In the 202 trading sessions that the BSE has seen in 2006, the Unitech share has hit the upper circuit (set at 5 per cent or 10 per cent, depending on the value-at-risk calculus of the stock exchanges) an incredible 93 times, or nearly every second session, multiplying the share 39 times in value.

So, what about Kushal Pal Singh, doyen of DLF? He is worth more than Ramesh Chandra, but as DLF is not yet listed, his remains a story for another day.

The rest of the A-listers of the billionairedom are the traditional names, barring Dilip S Shanghvi, the man who scripted the rise of Sun Pharmaceuticals. He brings up the rear as his shareholding wealth rose 50 per cent from Rs7966 crore to Rs11,951 crore.Shanghvi earned about Rs75,000 a minute in the past year as his company’s strategy of focusing on global markets, especially North America, and research, paid off.

So “ It’s All About Money, Honey!”

Schumi ist Weltmeister!! (Schumi is World Champion!!)

The saga of Great F1 Driver Michael Schumacher often called “Schumi” has come to an end. This is a tribute to the great sportsperson and his absolute FAN..!

German ace Michael Schumacher is widely recognized as being the world’s best ever racing driver.  In 1995 Michael became the (at that time) youngest double Formula 1 World Champion (1994 and 1995 seasons) ever. He is also the 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 World Champion. This phenomenal record speaks for itself. In 2003 he beat Juan Manuel Fangio’s five championships from the 1950s, by taking his sixth! He has now retired from F1, at the end of the 2006 season.

The 2004 championship was secured by Michael before its conclusion, making it title number 7. He did it by finishing 2nd at Spa in Belgium, in Ferrari’s 700th race, to accumulate enough points to seal the deal.

Michael also holds the F1 records for: most career wins (91), most wins in a season, most career pole positions, most points during a season (148 in 2004), most consecutive world championships (5), most consecutive race wins (2004), most pdium gfinsihes (154), most laps leading, most fastest laps (76), plus several others!

Michael is the highest paid racing driver in the world and second highest earning sportsman in the world, earning a reputed $80 million US in 2004 ($40m of which was his salary from Ferrari). His younger brother Ralf became the third highest paid driver in Formula 1 in 1999, when his pay after the 2000 season was raised to $15.5 million US.

Michael was an absolute treat on the F1 track, brought a new dimension to the race against checkered flag with his style, wits and extraordinary driving skills. The new comers never could actually sniff his strategy of races which made watching F1 a delight.

The Lights Turn Green…  

Michael Schumacher started out his racing career in the same way as all the great drivers, in karting.  At four years old his father built him a kart and soon after enrolled him in the local kart club Kerpen Horrom. Michael’s problem was that in Germany the regulations stated the minimum permissible age to obtain a kart license was 14. To get around this he obtained a Luxembourg license (obtainable from the age of 12). However in 1983 he obtained his German license and the year after he won the German Junior Kart Championship. From 1985 Schumacher drove for Eurokart dealer Adolf Neubert and once again took the title.

In 1989 Michael signed with Willi Weber, whose team WTS he would drive for during 1989 and 1990 in the Formula 3 Championship. Weber paid the costs for both seasons (approximately 1 million DM). In the 1989 season Karl Wendlinger was champion, with Michael finishing 3rd behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

During 1990 and 1991 Schumacher moved into sports car racing, instead of the more usual step up to Formula 3000. Many managers believed this would block his progression to Formula 1, but Weber believed that exposure to professional press conferences and dealing with the cars of 700bhp would be beneficial.

Chronicles of Formula One..

The Belgian Grand Prix of 1991 at Spa was Michael’s debut in the world’s top racing series.  His lucky break came as a result of Bertrand Gachot being imprisoned for spraying CS gas into a London taxi driver’s face. Qualifying 7th, he unfortunately retired on the first lap from this race with clutch failure of his Jordan-Ford.

Subsequent to this Michael moved to the Benetton team, replacing Roberto Moreno. He competed in five more grand prix that season with Nelson Piquet as team mate. In 1992 Schumacher was partnered with Martin Brundle and his first victory was 1 year after his debut at Spa. Michael’s second win came at the 1993 Portuguese GP.

In the 1994 season with an under powered Ford Zetec V8 he took his first Driver’s Championship, after the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola. It came after a season of several run-ins with the FIA and he was disqualified from the British and Belgian Grand Prix. Michael was also put under a two race ban during the Italian and Portuguese GP that year. The race bans were a result of not adhering to a black flag (driver disqualified) at Silverstone that year. Instead of coming in, he continued on to win the race – the team had hoped that a later appeal would overturn the disqualification and hence keep the victory he obtained. The disqualification was a result of Michael overtaking Damon Hill on the parade lap, a seemingly psychological maneuver. In a controversial last round at the Australian GP Michael entered leading Damon Hill by one point. On the 36th lap Schumacher made an unbecoming mistake and banged the wall, damaging his rear suspension. He made it back on the track and as Damon Hill came to pass him on the next corner, Michael turned in on the Williams car. Hill’s front suspension was badly damaged and both cars were out of the race. Hence Michael gained the crown.

The 1995 season was just as successful. Schumacher now had Renault power, to match the Williams and he dominated the season. Having taken 9 GP wins, Michael finished the season to take his second Championship.

The 1996 season saw Michael move to Ferrari with a reported salary of $30 million He stated the need for a new challenge as his reasoning, it being to return Ferrari to the pinnacle of motorsport. Eddie Irvine moved from Jordan to become his team mate in the same year. The Ferrari F310 car had poor handling and it was a testament to Michael’s ability that he managed to gain three wins. One of his wins, at the Spanish GP of that year was a wet race and is regarded as one of the best drives ever. His method of attaining time from the car resulted in somewhat flamboyant and uncharacteristic driving, with over steering et al.

In 1998 the McLaren’s dominating the season convincingly and Michael was the only driver to come near them to provide a challenge. Michael gained 6 wins and 5 other podiums. With the later outlawed mini sidepod wings the Ferrari’s took an historic 1-2 at the Italian GP at Imola that year.

Michael’s accident at the British GP in 1999 killed his chances of taking the title. However he returned to drive the second two races of the season and astounded the paddock with his speed, leaving the pack behind. Excuses from drivers such as Coulthard and
Irvine included that he’d had a nice rest at home and they were tired out after a full season of races.

Few Milestones ….

Karting History
1984	1st	German Junior Kart Championship
1985	1st 2nd	German Junior Kart Championship Junior World Kart Championship
1986	3rd 2nd 3rd	German Senior Kart Championship European Kart Championship (North Zone) European Kart Championship Final
1987	1st 2nd 1st	German Senior Kart Championship European Kart Championship (North Zone) European Kart Championship Final

Single Seater History
1988	1st 2nd 6th	German Formula König Championship European Formula Ford 1600 Championship German Formula Ford 1600 Championship
1989	2nd (=)	German Formula 3 Championship
1990	1st DQ	German Formula 3 Championship European Formula 3 Cup
1991	2nd	All-Japan Formula 3000 Championship

Sports Car History
1990	DNF 5th (=)	German Touring Car Championship Sports-Prototype World Championship
1991	DNF 9th (=)	German Touring Car Championship Sports-Prototype World Championship

Formula One History
1991	12th (=)	0	F1 World Championship
1993	4th	52	F1 World Championship
1994	1st	92	F1 World Championship
1995	1st	102	F1 World Championship
1996	3rd	59	F1 World Championship
1997	2nd (DQ)	-	F1 World Championship
1998	2nd	86	F1 World Championship
1999	5th	44	F1 World Championship
2000	1st	108	F1 World Championship
2001	1st	123	F1 World Championship
2002	1st	144	F1 World Championship
2003	1st	93	F1 World Championship

With Schumi’s retirement, his fans will never seem him behind those hot wheels of Ferrari, his conquests on the race track will be ever green. His name would be a benchmark against which F1 will be measured for times to come.

Information Source: http://www.mschumacher.com

When You’ve The POWER, It Shows..!

This isn’t in reference to Hindustan Petroleum’s Power fuel variant tagline, but what we are seeing now in society. This applies quite well in the few recent situations in Bangalore. Did you guess what I am speaking about?

Yeah, about two cases involving two super brats! One Mr. Nikhil Kumar s/o H.D. Kumar Swamy , Chief Minister, Karnataka State and other Mr. Adam Bidapa, s/o Prasad Bidapa, Fashion Designer. Both have had tussled with the city cops and considered themselves above the law and regulations.

Thanks to the media coverage and in both the cases the police are investigating. Result? The humble citizens are well aware of the outcome. Nothing great is gonna happen. Few days and these mischievous high profile kids will be on their next prowl.  One accused ran ruckus in one of the city hotels while the other assaulted to the officer in uniform.

The background of these kind of issues reveals that “ When You’ve The POWER, It Shows..!   The power of status, political authority, money gives them an Artificial Arrogance, says a psychologist. And the common one-liner from Rich and Famous – “Do you know I am? “. This is the first refuge of these people when held for breaking the law.

It was a great attempt from TOI to exhibit the flamboyant life style of the teen age son of Chief Minister of Karnataka. A common man would be shocked to his spine when he know this kid drives some of the costliest set of wheels, Hummer, a close to ten  million rupee SUV and Porsches. When he wants to watch a latest blockbuster movie, books the entire Gold Class PVR cinemas, (note that each ticket here costs Rs. 500), goes shopping to Mumbai, Dubai!

After all these revelations, the family still claims of agriculture income and humble lives, publish photos of CM lying down and resting on floor during one of his so called “village visits” in news papers. If so, where does the money come from? Does it grow on trees?

One must wonder at sheer will power of today’s businessmen and entrepreneurs who with such politicians around have made a mark for India in the world! Hats off! Had we had a supportive corruption free society, alas, what height we would have reached?