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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Go Green!!


Image Courtesy: outdia.com
It takes me half an hour to reach the nearest shopping mall from my home on a weekend evening. But a couple of weeks back I was surprised to have reached the place in 10 minutes. Something was abnormal, the bus driver was no Schumacher and looked like he was driving it reluctantly with a frowned face as though he was late for a date. The roads looked empty too, wait a moment.....I don't hear the familiar "trrrrrrr...tot tot tot tot trrrrrr" sound at all. There is not a single auto plying across the busy highway and yes, now I get the reason for my astronomical speed in reaching the mall. Today is the city-wide auto strike. The strike stands from 6AM - 6PM. On my way back in the night I got into a waiting auto and as expected the autowallah demanded much more than what it would take. He seemed friendly though and spoke English too(Bangalore hain saab!!)

On my way, he told me why he was charging me more. He claimed he generally doesn't charge more, but today being a strike, he hardly earned his daily share. Being alone I struck a conversation with him and asked him the exact reason for their strike and henceforth what went on for 20 minutes was both sympathetic and a bit hilarious too. The Government wanted all the autos to be painted Green instead of their original Black and Yellow trademark. Their reasons primarily being, it was the first step in their process to convert autos to run on LPG. Secondly, Bangalore is the green city and green autos would make it look greener!!!(ROFL:D). Further they wanted digital meters to be installed, which seemed to be the only genuine demand as digital meters implies less scope for tampering. Re-painting the autos itself would cost them around 10-12k and the Government was offering them 1k as an aid.

Keeping aside my hatred to autowallahs for being taken for a ride many times, I think it's absolutely baseless for asking the owners to change the paint. Most of the autowallahs cannot afford such a huge sum. Instead those autos which already run on LPG be identified with a Government attested symbol. And further autos that would be rolled out from now, can be painted green. Painting his auto green, doesn't inspire the driver to change to LPG. Having realized the loopholes and facing the media and the auto unions' unanimous shout, the Government was quick in changing its stance, stating that they only wanted the 4-stroke autos that ran on LPG to change into green color so that people can identify these autos and travel in environment friendly autos and this would in turn open the eyes of other autowallahs in opting for LPG due to lack of customers. Sounds like a fairy tale, ain't it?? I pity the poor guys who happened to be wise in buying the 4-stroke LPG autos. They seem to have got a penalty to educate their auto-mates. C'mon CM, no one's gonna care if he gets into a green or black or for that matter even gay pink. No one wants to be late for his date and get bitch-slapped by the partner. Probably this is a cover up to still let your eyes feel green inspite of the quickly disappearing tree cover in the city :P

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14 comments:

Stuti said...

I really liked this post...I like your take on it..although I must say..why would you say the color pink is gay?? That to me is offensive..its a stereotype that pink is associated with being gay..just a point i wanted to make..but the topic of the post was pretty good :)..keep up the writing :)

PostMan said...

@Stuti
Thanks a lot for commenting. I purposefully mentioned it as "gay" pink....what i meant was "gay=bright/flashy" as in 'gay colors'....but i knew it also would point towards the other meaning too :P....i didn't mean to be offensive seriously :)

Matangi Mawley said...

:D... i think karnataka govt. completely missed the point of "Go Green".. wht would be nxt? all residents paint their houses green?

i m giving no ideas.. lekin.. kya karein.. yeh india hai.. aur yahaan pe.. sab kuch possible hai!

Ananth said...

Recently I found some fact to my wonder that number of ( trees cut down + trees yet to be cut in lalbagh (a case is going on in Banglr HC)) for namma metro is same as the number autos in the city :P. So our Yedurappa (Hon. CM, KA ;)) thot it would be a nice compensation if he do somethin to the autos in city. He was thinkin overnite and suddenly he rememberd about his nephew's paint factory which is running in losses. So "the IDEA" (which changes lives of auto guys n nephew's :P) strike him lik a lightning.. n tats it... auto guys startd cryin n creatd problem to the commuters. And for my wonder.. hey this is true... BMTC has plyed xtra routes n buses tat day. Usualy BMTC is wel known for its inefficient routin of buses in city. Or may be some good driver diverted his bus route. Actuly I dint ask many ppl on these xtra bus enroutment. My sister got a bus, in a way ther s no bus usuly n she takes auto. So coming bak to our cm, to get such a gr8 idea of coloring autos green, he is one among many stupid cm's, we cant help it ;).

Oh!! Teja wel written man... keep postin things lik this to reflect wats happenin in blr man.. !!

P.S: As u r my roommate I already knew wat u r goin to rite ;) stil its gud.

PostMan said...

@Matangi
Lol....kya idea hain....i will convey ur message to the Govt.:P

@Ananth
I think this is the first time someone has commented with "nested brackets":P . Anyways it was the BMTC that stepped up to help(as well as cash in) the people. Buses were directed even through the Railway station which was a very good gesture. U seem to have a good suggestion for Govt. and I think someone just would have laid the foundation stone for the paint factory :P....Thanks for the appreciation dude:)

Unknown said...

hi.. nice one...
but i would like to suggest that Govt should go for CNG instead of LPG. there is hardly difference in prices of LPG and CNG kit..
CNG are cheaper than LPG, so it will help poor Autowalas and cost per km will also be reduced..
hai na acchi bat..
pocket bhi save aur Enviornment bhi green..:)

Shrinivas said...

Hey nice eye opener..I knew about the government. But what i dint know was their extent of stupidity. Lets hope they dont ask us to paint ourselves green.. to "Go green"..They must realize that things cant be changed overnight..
and thank you for stopping by... :)

PostMan said...

@Pramod
Thanks for your view. I checked out the price of CNG and LPG and CNG costs roughly twice as much as LPG kit. But being a one time investment it could turn profitable on a long run. However changing into LPG (being cheaper) itself is laudable.

@Shrinivas
lol...that would create a Green Army!! :)

Bobinky said...

He..he.. seriously hilarious! Matangi has rightly said. Green houses, green clothes, green roads can also serve as 'Go Green' ideas ;)
An 'Idea' can change sirji.. but not this change!

Anonymous said...

hello.........
nice post...
I want to suggest you a few things.....
1. Your blog template is ok...But the background color is tooo sharp please choose light color so it will good for the eyes for the reader and so he will stay and spent more time on your blog.
2. plzz make sure that the post color suit your background tooo....

Other things are ok...
And keep blogging
:)

PostMan said...

@Bobinky
ok...enuf...we have had enuf greenery :P ....i think even the 'amazon' would envy bangalore if such ideas come into play

@ √♪נ汉Ψ
thanks for dropping by...:)....and also thanks for ur valuable suggestions. I did get a couple of similar suggestions.....I have changed the template...hope its better now :)

Neha More said...

I liked ur post and the way u have brought out the issue!!! i seriously feel tht sumthng concrete has to be done rather dan making blame excuses!!!
nice work :)

Ameya H Vaidya said...

yes its so stupid... instead of harping about the color, why doesnt the government make them LPG first....

and the First step towards LPG is painting ur auto green???

then we must start putting green color on everything!

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