Preemptive Planning

Local authorities and the govt are perhaps two of the most cursed things in India, after our very own legendary Ravindra Jadeja. Each and everyday, we end up cursing some or the other thing related to the administration, ranging from unfilled potholes or the roads which havnt been refurbished after the extended spell of monsoon that the city enjoyed. Yet, since the time I have come to Hyderabad, the HUDA (or whoever is the concerned authority) if it hasnt managed to be the best local development authority, then I would surely rank it above many places I have been to till date.

The whole life, according to me is nothing but a matter of balance, and it is in maintaining this balance that HUDA has more or less succeeded in the, almost 5.5 years I have spent in the city of Nizams. Sure, we shall always have our problems, the roads in old city will always be crowded and congested. The diversions in Hitech City, shall always be hijacked by a group of people, unable to quench their thirst of spending more hours working, taking (supposedly) illeagl shortcuts to reach office early. Still, with such problems which every major establishment shall face with the increase in population, specially the IT inspired population explosion that Hyderabad has experience in past few years.

Such a explosion is bound to fail all the existing systems of a city, yet somehow Hyderabad, much to its credit hasnt yet choked fully. You can still see open spaces, you can still find empty tracts of road, you can still travel 8-9 kms in 20 mins or so. Hyd, as I said, has been about maintaining balance, it hasn’t gone the Mumbai, Bangalore way and as a result making people spend major part of their days on road. Neither has it been lucky like Noida and specially Greater Noida, with having lots of space to extend and huge amounts of capital investment to support the impending infrastructure development. Greater Noida, when inhabited shall be a city to marvel, yet as of now, it just seems a lot of money invested to build lots of houses and lots of good roads, with no people to use them.

One major part of development of Hyd, since the time I have come here is the preemptive planning, a point, which, Not many planners around the country are taking into account. I still remember, once upon a time, the Nagarjuna Circle, used to be one of the busiest places in hyderabad, and was touted (perhaps misgivingly) as one of the busiest circles in Asia. Yet, just the construction of a simple flyover at the place, has decreased that problem by orders of magnitude. That was one example of taking action after encoutnering the problem, a strategy missing in almost all cities, where things are mostly allowed to Let It Be. Chandrababu Naidu, shall be thanked for inculcating a flyover culture in Hyderabad. After the construction of this flyover, the PVNR Express Way was also more of example of acting at the problem. The examples of preemptive planning are the new flyovers which have come up/are coming up in Hitech City and near Gachibowli (respectively). Agreed, the traffic at the Cyber Towers circle has increased exponentially in the last few years. But in no situation had the problem exaggerated to the extents of needing a new flyover. Similarly the situation at Gachibowli circle commanded even lesser attention than Cyber Towers, yet we do have a flyover construction in full force there as well, and, shall sooner than later, be welcomed by the sight of a new one. Yet, the most shocking part was, when I observed, what could only be the building blocks of new flyover near the Begumpet flyover.

I guess, for once we should thank the Authorities in Hyderabad, for trying to do their best in an endeavour to make the lives of us Hyderabadis simpler and more convinient.

Open Letter to Sun

Dear Mr. Sun,

At the onset I would like to thank you as a nation, as from time infinity (that is since India left the Antartic plate and crashed into the Asian plate), we have been very gratefully endowed by your sparkling rays which have been the constant source of energy and life for us. Unlike some of the countries in higher latitudes, we dont have months of night and neither do we have the inclement winters, and are allowed to live in a weather which wouldnt be termed gloomy.

Keeping in mind, all these points, there are somethings I wanted to discuss with you. Although, you are heartily welcome in our parts as and when you decide to shine upon us. Yet, as the adage goes Too much of anything is bad. As we keep moving to the southern parts of our country, your affinity also keeps increasing, and instead of 3 months in higher latitudes, and 7-8 months in northerm part of India, you keep increasing the months allotted to you.

All these years, circling around the earth (as we see it), you must have got to know humans quite closely, and humans as you might know, are rebellious creatures. No sooner do they get used to something, they rebel against the system. We living in Hyderabad, are quite used to bearing your brunt almost through the years. But, there are months in the Gregorian Calendar (mostly December and January) which are supposed to be free from your interference.

After waiting for the winters so long, we finally got something which resembled winter and you were neatly tucked behind a layer of clouds, giving us a nice charming comfortable feeling. Yet, true to your nature, you couldn’t stop showing your dominance and strength, and after a period of dormancy, you finally came up the cloud cover, with the usual dose of hot rays and skin burns (which is your primary weapon). Its only in light of the very recent events that I would sincerely like  you to

FUCK OFF!

I’ve had enough for you.

Thank You

Yours Sincerly
Himank Sharma
(Earth)

And the day…

…shall always be remembered with happiness, sadness, ecstasy, disapointment. Every person in India was glued to the tv screen or cricinfo if the Tv wasn’t available. It was a day when all the cricketing noobs around the world got a taste of Godness of a particular person, besides getting to know the fundes of Powerplay, free hit amongst others. It was a day when a mere mortal took it upon himself to perform a deed which even the Gods couldn’t think of. This was the day when this particular person transcended the boundaries which the Gods have defined for humans, a performance which would be marked as scintillating even by those who observe us from skies above. Had such a feat been accomplished in Mahabharata or Ramayana, the associated imagery by the authors would have been of Gods coming down to Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad and garlanding the master or showering him with flowers from the skies above.

20 years have passed, many moments, many memories have passed, there are matches which almost every fan has by heart. It all started with Karachi in 1989, when the world saw the youngster for the first time, there was that mastery in Old Trafford in 1990, Sydney 1992 (arguably his best innings), Hero Cup 1993 where he showed the first signs of his magical side, 1996 WC where he started to take serious strides towards becoming the best in business (which btw was the time I started watching cricket), 1998 Sharjah aka the time when we knew that we werent witnessing some ordinary mortal, instead it was the God of cricket who was charming us, Chennai ’99, the epitome of disappointment, 2003 WC, where he again stamped his authority on the spot of the Best, that 186 against the Kiwis in Hyd. Almost any other player would be content to have one such match associated with him like the 281 by Laxman or the Adelaide test which belonged to Dravid and yet this man has been doing it for the  past 20 years. He set a benchmark in 1998 and now 11 years later, he comes up with something which could be termed as spectacular if not better than that one.

Everybody knows that there have been 2 Sachins who have played international cricket, one who was a youngster back in 90s whose name was synonymous with terror for bowlers, Shane Warne, arguably the best spinner to have graced the game would definitely agree with that. His innings used to be flashy, commanding,  flamboyant, he was jumping out of crease, he was slapping the bowlers for sixes, the pulls that he played were audacious, the last thing on mind when playing a drive was whether its in air or not…

…

And then came the Tendulkar of 2000s, a guy who in his late 20s was supposedly the senior most member in the side, a guy who was held responsible for every defeat although similarly cheered for every victory. A guy who didn’t have the cushion of someone like Azhar who was his senior to fall back upon. One who had to effective instead of attractive, his injuries also playing a role in this transformation. The whole of India was flummoxed at this transformation, where was that cherubic boy we loved and adored, instead he was replaced by some sincere statesman of the game. We slowly got used to this new avatar. After all we Indians are used to listening stories of 9 avatars of Lord Vishnu, this God had took just a single new form. Slowly we begin to love him, because although the stepping out to spinners wouldn’t be there, but the gorgeous cover drives were still there with cheeky shots behind the wicket replacing those straight sixes and he was Great as ever and more effective than earlier, when there was always a risk factor associated with his innings. We started thinking its ok, we don’t miss the previous avatar that much now.

BUT, deep within our hearts there is always a collective desire to see him back in 90s mould. We always loved sights of him traumatizing the bowlers, him stepping out of the crease to play that shot straight over the bowler’s head or that pull which would deposit the ball on the roof of the stadium. Although admitting something like this would be a sin, but deep within our hearts and minds, the greed is still there, the lust factor always prevails, each time he comes to bat… there is a secret desire… a wish in our minds and a prayer on our lips that we will get to see the first avatar of the God today and not the latest one.

5th Novemeber 2009 was one such night, you could sense that something speical was in store when he threw the ball on ground in disgust after the last ball of Australia’s innings, after all how many of us have seen him displaying his emotions. I have never seen such a mad rush of people on twitter, FB, Gtalk Statuses. I was always of the view that  I must be a bit different to be such a big fan of this person but last night was the night when he dispelled all those notions, guys n girls (yeah girls), cricket fans as well as amateurs, all of them were reciting just one name and there was only one number which people were concerned about i.e 200!

I have always wondered what it must be to be The Beatles but I guess this guy’s life must be more extraordinary than those of those 4 individuals combined. In my living memory, i havnt seen a real life scene as dramatic, awe-inspiring as this one. This is one of the nights I will always remember for the rest of my life , and even though all of India can still feel the pain of last night, but such is the quality of the man, that some years later, this match wouldn’t be remembered as a failure of India, instead it would be seen as the triumph of a man over all things earthly. When Sachin plays in the manner he did last night, the results are mostly inconsequential ( although they definitely count).

Its just a sense of respect for the man which lingers in your mind, a sense of previlige on having witnessed something as Godly as this from a man, who walks the earth and devours the grains just like we do. Frankly speaking I consider myself ill-equipped to be the narrator of events such as this..

Would just end the story here with a line by Rohit(a college batchmate FYI) which describes almost everything which happened last night.

I think God doesnt want Sachin to be God, so he keeps doing such things to him

I Wish

So am finally into the grind of corporate life. The life seems to be quite interesting as of yet New things, new thrills everything seems new quite enjoying and ofcourse life beside work is also exciting these days
So coming to the topic of the post, a wish of mine, which I would love to see being implemented. Everyday while coming to office, i see these obnoxious auto wale who throw out black fume like anything. There is no pollution check for these guys, no traffic police guy checks these guys for their papers or Pollution check papers coz they know they wont be able to extract any money from them and that’s why these people drive on comfortably without any fair.

Since time immemorial, i have always wished that there be some number or some site where I could give the Number of such a vehicle and traffic police could try and catch hold of these guys but unfortunately nobody in India seems to care about such petty things as pollution and we just go on like this

Song of the Day -: Brain Damage by Pink Floyd

Felicity 08.. Its Here!!!

Finally Felicity ’08 is here and its here in a rocking style and set to rick your world to the core. Finally after months of planning, hard work, disagreements and arguements, we are presenting to you
Felicity ’08 — Celebration in its entirety.

Already ripples have been created in the ocean with Hindu, Deccan Chronicle, Enadu publishing articles about Felicity.. Gemini Tv, Maa TV and TV 9 have covered a rally as which was a part of the Felicity with interviews of IIIT guys coming on TV.

We have one of the biggest Politician of India, Mr. Sitaram Yechuri coming to give a talk. Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant is also coming to give a talk, Mrs. Karuna Gopal, one of the Lead India finalists is also going to be here and special mention for all the people active in the blogosphere, Mrs. Rashmi Bansal of youthcurrry fame will also be here. She is alo the editor of famous youth magazine, JAM.

Coming to Cultural, we have Indian Ocean coming and performing (that too with free entry unlike some others.. ). We also have the most famous Rock Band in Hyderabad, Sledge coming and performing in one of the most famous Rock Shows in Hyderabad city.

We have a plethora of events to satisfy the need and talents of each and every person. Ranging from the Most famous talent and personality show in Hyderabad “Mr & Miss Felicity“ , we have the Dance event with the most participants Danca(Western Solo), Grupentanz(Western Group) & Nrytaka(Classical), We have two-2- tango a hugely popular event last year, Of course the music buffs need not be disappointed.. We have Raaga, the singing competitions, and obviously the most popular game “Antakshari” can’t be missed when you are organising a fest, Instrumental talents are also welcome to display their talent and be called virtuosos in their fields. Radio Mirchi is also associated with a RJing event… Radio Ka Badshah!!!

By now you must be thinking that this is a blog and there is nothing about Literary events, SO here it comes. We have it all here, Ranging from Creative Writing (you bloggers can score sum gud points here), JAM, Group Discussion(CAT aspirants take note!! No better place to hone your skills), DumbC, Whats the Good Word to Ship Wreck.Quiz buffs also have their maal here.. With the reputed Felicity Quiz and also Catch the Clip being organised to satisfy their hunger.

The people with “Drawing ka kida” and lots of imagination and innovation can find their heaven in Kalakshetra we have events from the usual painting and sketching to the more Hip events like Graffitti, Tattoo Making & T-Shirt Sketching and the traditional Rangoli Making to the child’s play for adults,CLAYtivity where you can satisfy all your urges of playing with clay without being scolded by mom.

For all the geeks who were bored by these Events, We have already conducted Hugely successful Code Craft with participation from 59 countries on the last count. Mathematika, an event organised first time in Felicity got particpants from 56 countries. Events like Equity Pulse, Kode Konundrums and Cache In got more than 1000 participants.
But, but, but my friends dont be disappointed that these events have been conducted… We still have got Quick and the Dead, Debug the CBug , Java Jargon for all the coding enthusiats, We have very interesting events being conducted by Microsoft & CA. Adding to the list of heavy weights, Google is also here with Spin the Web. For the gaming enthusiasts, we also have Sculpt , the game design competition.

And ofcourse, we have Zombie Zone, the biggest gaming event in Hyderabad with games like Counter Strike (CS), FIFA, Need For Speed (NFS) Carbon and Warcraft 3:DotA….

And of course  no celebration is complete without a DJ.. So we have all the top DJs of Hyderabad for the honours in a competition. So just lose your inhibition and worries and have a blastttttttt…

Prizes worth more than 3.5 lakhs to be won along with oppurtinities to work with some of the major companies..

Its all in here, you just have to come here and have a blast….

Song of the Day-: Bande by Indian Ocean (Felicity Fever)

PS1:- Already pretty tired and have to get up early tomorrow, so bbye for now!!!

But Felicity mein Jalool Jalool Ana!!

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Tags: Felicity, IIIT, Hyderabad, IIT-H, Fest, College