By now all of you must be aware of the Terror Attacks in Mumbai starting 26/11 [Photos]. it’s been one month since then and the actual persons behind it have still to be caught.

This post isn’t about them, but actually about something that I experienced in the last two days. Yesterday, as I headed into town and today on my way back home, I got stuck in traffic that stretched for a few kilometers. Couldn’t figure out why exactly this was until I saw the nakabandi (i.e. roadblocks in Hindi) with police checking taking place.

The result of this was a huge highway being halved in width and a traffic jam a few kilometers in length. Those of you have been to or have lived in Mumbai will know that the jams out here are extremely close knit with a four-lane road actually becoming a five or even six lane one!

While I do understand that a roadblock helps in better checking, but what I don’t understand is how will it prevent a bomb blast.

A traffic jam packed with vehicles stretching across a few kilometers means tonnes of ready-to-explode petrol tanks and several hundred people.

I’m not sure how possible this is, but can’t a single bomb exploding start a chain reaction?

So, is that roadblock helping us stop a terror attack or just increasing the intensity of it?

The last time we had a major terror incident in Mumbai was when the bombs rocked the train in Mumbai in 2006. Mumbai is no stranger to violence when in 1993, we were hit by a series of blasts all across the city.

However, this time things are different. I reached home at around 10.30 last night after having dinner at Dynasty with Lil white mouse. She informed me off a shooting incident at Leopold in Colaba. I switched on the news to read about the incident and within the next hour realized that it wasn’t just a stray firing but what would turn out to be a full fledged terror attack.

It started off with Cafe Leopold at about 9.30pm and then the Taj Mahal hotel, Hotel Trident, CST Station, Vile Parle, Mazegoan, Cama Hospital and Jewish Headquarters. Read the Terror Roundup on IBNLive.

Incidently, I passed Vile Parle about an hour, if not less, before the blast hit. The taxi blew up below the flyover I had passed over.

The terrorists have taken people hostage at Taj Mahal Hotel, Hotel Trident as well as at Nariman House. Reports currently state that the hostage situation at Taj is resolved, though there are still several persons trapped in the building and it is believed that six terrorists are at large.

The last time we saw such an hostage situation was on Indian Airlines Flight 814 on Christmas Eve 1999.

Reported casualties are 101 killed and several hundred injured, including Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and several police officials. However, I’m sure this is not the final count as police are continuing to find bodies in the hotels.

You can check out some photos of the attack on IBNLive.com or view their Live Streaming.

Who approves of the riots that the MNS rages in the name of Maharashtrians? Definitely not any of those I know who strictly condemn them. Are even Maharashtrians safe from this? Apparently not.

In Goonda Raj, Marathi manoos and Mumbai Mirror editor Deepak Lokhande has related his experience of Tuesday where he bore the brunt of Raj Thackeray?s zeal to ?save? Maharashtrians!

My Dad sent me an email today of an online system to address grievances in India. The mail goes like this:

Can you imagine this happening in INDIA ?

Government of India has an online Grievance forum at http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/

The government wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc.

I know many people will say that these things don’t work in India , but this actually works as one of the person working in CSC found. The guy I’m talking about lives in Faridabad . Couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dug up the newly laid roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents including this guy. But it was only this guy! Who used the above listed grievance forum to highlight his concern. And to his surprise, BSNL and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad was served a show cause notice and the guy received a copy of the notice in one week. Government has asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it’s clear that both the government departments were not in sync at all.

So use this grievance forum and educate others who don’t know about this facility.
This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about the ‘ System’ in India

After Alister Pereira was left of with a sentence of just six months after having killed seven labourers, the Mumbai High Court has taken charge of the case and has asked the police to submit all the evidence in the case. Without doubt, the police have been really sloppy in the investigation and a lot of people were enraged with this. What was really pissing off was his lawyers stating that the sentence of six months was harsh!

You just got to love our country for its lazy government officials, useless college staff and i-sit-on-my-ass-all-day-long-and-think-i-am-king clerks.

I haven’t mentioned much of my brother on this blog, infact to many of you, this may be news that I got one!

My brother suffers from an eye problem from birth. It’s called lazy eye or amblyopia.

At all the major exams, we have applied for extra time, i.e. get gets an extra half hour for each paper. With his T.Y. B.COM exams starting from next week, this week we decided to go to the university and apply for the same.

My mom (who gets tensed easily) made atleast two visits to the university to find out the details and came back with conflicting information courtesy the dear clerks or officers or what-so-ever they call themselves.

Since, I’m sitting at home bekaar, I’m the obvious candidate to get the work done and so Saturday involved me taking a trip to the university with my brother for the extra time.

The first step in the entire process is to stand in a long line till 11am to collect your entry pass. After this you wander through the corridors finding the room. It is interesting to note that the numbering of the rooms has no fixed pattern. You can’t assume that the room after 25 is 26.

We did manage to find our room. The area outside was cluttered with thousands of papers of some application form or exam. The room inside was an equal mess.

We ventured in and asked the man closest about the extra time. He asked to wait for the senior person who would accept our application and so we waited for a while for the same. The senior person sent us to a madam who would help us, but she very kindly sent us back to the first guy.

This person accepted the application and went back to the senior person, all the while I’m cursing under my breath at this inefficiency.

The senior guy tosses it back to the first person who asked us to wait for “half an hour” to collect the letter.

After 35 minutes I sent my brother in to collect the letter and he was asked to wait for “sometime”. We waited for another half hour and asked to wait for some more time.

At around 1am (a good 90 minutes since we were asked to wait for half hour) I realized their breaking for lunch. So I rush in and managed to get the letter signed from a person who was supposed to. The letter goes back to the madam who very conveniently told us that it was her lunch break and I should be back by 2pm.

Ofcourse, I don’t eat lunch, now do I. Anyway after a good wait of another hour, in which I busied myself in playing sudoku on my cellphone and taking that single photo when I had the chance, we were called in and given the letter!

The first man, who was the nicest of the lot apologized for making us wait. I said thanks for atleast getting the job done, took the letter and ran away before they make us wait some more!

This is a follow up of my post How not to get an ECNR. I was meaning to write this on Saturday but was kind of tied up in things.

Went last Monday to the passport office. This time I was armed with everything that was needed, viz. Ration Card, University Certificate, Final Year Marksheet, Bank Statement and Bank Passbook and two copies of all these.

This time we went a bit later i.e. around 10.00am instead of standing out there at 8am as we did last time. Didn’t take us long to enter in and stand in the line there.

The counters timing is from 10am but they never open before 10.30am! We stood in seperate queues to see who reaches first. She did and I followed ten minutes later.

What is interesting to note is that the person at her counter took all the documents I mentioned above, while the person on my counter returned my bank documents :O

One important point to keep in mind when you visit the passport office is to open your mouth and ask! I didn’t do that this time and hence the reason this post is today and not last Tuesday!

The notice for receiving the passport with the stamp states:

Collect it on the 2nd day

I assumed that the 2nd day would be the second day after you submit the passport. Turns out that they actually meant the next day!

So the Mouse and I went to the Passport office on Wednesday, and patiently stood in a long queue for over and hour, reached the counter to be told that the passports were already sent via Speed Post!

Speed Post is rather slow I realized when it comes to delivering your passport. What normally takes two days took four!

But on late Saturday afternoon I finally received my passport with the ECNR stamp in it

I’ve been silent over the reservation row that has (en)raged this country for nearly a year now, until today…

Today the Lok Sabha passed the OBC Quota Bill. The Bill proposes 27 percent reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Central Government-aided higher educational institutions, including premier institutions like the IIMs and the IITs. What is even worse is that this will include the Creamy Layer which in simple terms means the well-to-do OBCs.

The reservation row started when one old man Mr. Arjun Singh decided to create controversy. And what better method that to divide our already fragile country. He picked Rervations!

I am totally against reservations, but understand at times that this can help. However, what is beyond me is why do reservations have to be caste based. Why can’t they be economic based?

For those who haven’t read my blog earlier, I am a Catholic from a middle class family. I have always fallen in the Open Category. This has meant that throughout my life I have had to struggle to achieve even the bare minimum.

I remember very distinctly in SSC (Tenth) when filling up the forms how out of the blue several off my classmates turned out to be from reserved categories. It was strange because when they took admission they were in the general category.

These same persons today passed out from premier institutions because of or relaxed rules for reserved category students. It was (and still is) really frustrating because I always performed better them.

Our country received its freedom in 1947, i.e. nearly 60 years ago. Reservations were started some time later and were to be held for a period of 10 years. When will those 10 years finish?
If the persons in the reserved category still haven’t progressed, do you think that they will progress today?

With the passing of the Bill today what I expected indeed came through. Afterall who cares about the millions of students slogging it out everyday? Who cares about the General Category anymore?

I would really like to see reservations for us Open Category students. Atleast that way I will be assured of a seat.

And if you think that things won’t get worse, the same old man now intends to introduce a bill that will enforce quotas in unaided institutions as well as Private Sector companies.

There goes our Country down the drain. Or should I say watch it continue going down? X(

And they wonder why everyone is leaving the country and running away!

If you are looking for help in getting an ECNR, documents required, countries you need it for or for any thing else, this is NOT the place to ask. So, your comment below will not receive a reply.

One thing that pisses me off the most is the lack of organization. And government “organizations” are known for this.

I have to get the Emigration Check Not Required (ECNR) stamp on my passport.

Emigration Check Not Required [ECNR] stamp is not required for visiting Bangladesh, Pakistan and all countries in Europe (except the Commonwealth of Independent States) and North America. Protector of Emigrants can grant emigration clearance to certain categories of skilled/semi-skilled workers for a period of six months if application is made through authorised recruiting agent and there is a valid employment visa. In case, the person concerned is leaving the country for non-employment purposes, he can obtain suspension from emigration clearance for specified country and for the specified period from Protector of Emigrants.

As detailed on the website, the documents needed for ECNR are photocopies of your passport, attested photocopies of the “proof” that you are eligible for ECNR, in my case I’m a Graduate and originals of the same to show.

Firstly they don’t mention who needs to attest it. Only when you enter the passport office do you come to know that these need to be self-attested.

This is still managable. However, what is not managable is when you need extra documents.

On reaching the counter I was informed that I needed to have my Marksheet and I also need address proof.

I find both these requirements extremely stupid.
For one, proof of being a Graduate is the Convocation Ceritificate from the University. You only receive this if you are a graduate. Is a marksheet required in this case?

The only way to get your passport is after your address is verified and you go through a Police Verification as well.
For the ECNR, you have to submit your original passport to get stamped. Your address is clearly written on it. Why do you need address proof?

What’s even more stupid about the system is that the Ration Card is not sufficient address proof. It has to be accompanied by a bank statement or some other proofs.

I found out that these discrepancies, lack of information and total mismanagement are a bane for many visitors to the passport office. I came across atleast five to six persons who had to go home and come the next day because they fell short of these unneeded documents.

Well, it happens only in India! X(

I haven’t been blogging about this, but for a good number of weeks we have been facing a severe water shortage.

This water shortage is strange because only my lane has that problem.

The problem has been getting even worse daily with even lesser water coming every day.

Today, I guess temperatures of all the people in the area had reached a limit and I just got reports of a major rasta-roko early this morning.

The case got out of hand I hear, so the police had to be called in. They were followed by the BMC, which is the most pathetic organization in Mumbai. And I am sure every person in Mumbai will agree with me.

My mother found the story behind the water shortage. The local municipal corporator has been allegedly directing the water supply to their club which is located on the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road.

The people in the rasta roko ensured that the line wasn’t shut of today and so we got water till 3pm.

Manmade and sheer abuse of power. First they beg to be voted and when they are there they abuse the situation.

In this country, if you don’t have money and power you are nobody. And the best way I guess to gain attention is to create a scene.

Politics I tell you!