The Log Of My Life - Blog by Chandan Malvankar

This birthday, I had decided to treat myself in a lavish way and so, for the first time, I decided to go to my aunt's place in a Meru cab. Anticipating the meter fare to go somewhere in the range of 600-700 bucks, I was carrying cash in surplus of two thousand bucks with me.

I called up the Meru Call center at 1315 hrs and booked a cab for 1400 hrs, which arrived a good 15 minutes before time at the spot. That's where I started liking the services. As I got into the cab, I got many more reasons to prefer this services over a normal cab, cool cab or any other cab from a similar service provider (Mega Cabs, Easy Cabs, etc.).

As I entered the cab, the first thing I notice was the printed pledge along with the driver's identity on the dashboard. I read through the list and cross-verified it at the same time.

Apart from these, the chauffeur should also know how to speak, read and write in English. Pretty impressive that the chauffeur, Mr. Anwar Azad, passed with a ten-on-ten.

This made me curious to know how Meru functions, leading to a series of questions to Mr. Azad, which ended with a conclusion as to how Meru's modus operandi creates a win-win situation for Meru, the chauffeur and the customer.

Meru has a simple rule. Each chauffeur will pay 850 bucks per day to Meru no matter what. The cab can be used in two ways: 1. By taking the bookings made via the Meru call center and 2. If no bookings are currently allocated, then the chauffeur can pick up any one on the road in need of a Meru cab or any previous customer that call him at that time. But whatever the case may, the chauffeur gets a booking or the cab is empty the whole day, he has to pay 850 bucks to the company. Besides, a security deposit of R 10000 is collected from every chauffeur. Furthermore, the chauffeur is also penalized for not abiding to any of the points mentioned in the pledge.

This means that the profit Meru has a constant profit margin and this is not dependent on the number of bookings it gets per day/month. It has a fixed amount of expenses too, which helps maintain the profit margins.

The chauffeur has to take care of the following expenses.

The maintenance of the car is taken care by Meru.

After hearing this, initially I got the thought that the chauffeur would hardly be saving anything. But Mr. Azad told me that after taking out the above expenses from the earnings (an average of R 1500 daily), he can still manage to save 12000 to 15000 bucks per month, which is twice the average salary you get as a driver in Mumbai.

Apart from that, there are many other advantages that keep the chauffeur happy.

The most basic necessity of a customer in this case is timely service, and a Meru cab has to be the obvious choice over all the other cab services for the following reasons.

Meru has more than 1400 cabs in Mumbai itself that cover Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and the outskirts like Karjat, Pen and Alibaugh. Mumbai has over 2000 kms of road. This means, on an average, there is one Meru cab at every 1.5 km. This makes it possible for the cab to reach in 30 minutes after the booking. Moreover the large number of cabs increases the probability of finding an available cab for your booking.

The competitors are not even close to the count. Mega Cabs has around 500 cabs and Easy Cab has hardly touched the count of 300 cabs.

The meter charges for a Meru cab are R 20 for the first kilometer, and R 14 for every subsequent kilometer. These rates are same across the other private cab service providers.

However, if you think a Cool cab (Blue and Silver) is cheaper, the you are terribly wrong. Cool Cab charges a fixed price to travel between two points. For example, the charges from Borivali to Dadar are R 600, whereas if you take a Meru, it would hardly go beyond R 400. What's more is that even our normal black-n-yellow cabs are expensive for long distances. These cabs charge R 16 for the first 1.6 kms, and R 17 for every subsequent kilometer.

Here are some of the facts of different cab services for your comparison. Facts speak for themselves.

When I was inquiring for this information at their respective call centers, everyone was friendly and open enough to give out the information, except for Mega cabs. Here is the conversation I had with their representative, mind you, some senior executive.

Me: Hi, I need some information about Mega cabs.

Exec: Yes sir, where do you want to book the cab for?

Me: No. I just want some information regarding your services.

Exec: Sure sir, go on.

Me: Can you tell me the approximate count of cabs you have in Mumbai?

Exec: Eh ... Actually sir we cannot give you that information. It is against company policy.

Me: As a customer, I am trying to find out the best cab services for me, for which I need this information to make a decision. Don't you think it would help your services grow too?

Exec: Yes sir, but it is against the policy. We are not authorized give out this information.

Me: Ok. Can you find me a person who is authorized to provide me this information.

Exec: No sir. It is against the policy.

Me: What? Finding an authorized person is against the policy?

Exec: No sir. Giving information.

Me: Ok. Can you give me your Chairman's name?

Exec: No Sir. Against company policy.

Me: Even the chairman's name cannot be given out? Are you running some kinda CIA services?

There are some upcoming features in Meru that will make it more convenient and luxurious for traveling: Credit card payment and music system. Some cabs have this already in place. The others will be ready soon, that too, at the same cost.

So, in conclusion, Meru prevails as the best cab service in Mumbai.

I rest my case!

My friends are going to laugh at me when they read this saying 'Oh No! Not Again!'

I know you want me, You know I want you ... That was the kind of confidence with which I walked towards her. But as it has always been the case, and no matter how cool I suppose to be, I am not cool in such situations. The words leave my dictionary, my mouth is like a drought affected land, my tongue is way back in my mouth speaking to my tonsils and my bowels go missing somewhere behind my intestines. I've been so ... always!

It's sad! Really sad! And what's surprising is that I can flirt with many other girls. But when it comes to this one special girl who has pressed the right buttons on my telephone (no pun intended) and made a connection, I am dumbstruck. I have been fortunate in the past to have girls in my life despite this disability. But I don't think I have done enough good things in life that god will be that graceful again.

Here is my situation. There is a girl I met recently and I can't (rather I won't) take her out of my head. I don't know what really clicked for me, but it was probably the way she dances. Wow! Like a Greek goddess. You, you and you too, should just watch her dance once. It might seem that I am being pretty shallow, and probably I am, but consider the fact that I have known her since just a few months, so I do not know much about her. I really have no clue if she is the girl I want to bring into my life. But I wish to explore that horizon and find it out. This time, more in depth study, 'coz I don't wanna hit the ground face first, again. How? I have no damn clue!

I was speaking to one close friend today and she tried giving me ideas to strike a conversation. And now I know that I wasn't that close to this close friend of mine. I didn't know that she didn't know that the ideas she gave me are not to attract girls but to drive them away by giving an impression that I am an orthodox, narrow-minded person. Let's just leave it to that without discussing her ideas. So here I am again, trying to find ways to meet her, to talk to her, to know her better.

Does this girl like you? Well, not quite sure. I have tried to give her subtle innuendos whenever we have met (even when we met the first time), however I don't know if they were conspicuous enough for her to pick them up, though I fancy my chances and I like to believe that she did.

So far the status quo is that it's 2AM, the sleepless eyes are wide open, yet dreaming of her dancing in her own sensuous way, and I try to push things on tomorrow. What I am afraid of is what if tomorrow never comes and I never get to say it to her. Hopefully I'll end my quiet-until-she's-gone mode and express what I feel for her, soon.

I'll do it girl! I'll find a way to you, if it kills me! ... No, I did not say the last part. I take it back ... I'll just find a way to you somehow :P

Hello All,

This mail is addressed to a few chosen ones, who have similar beliefs and opinion about this stinking part of the corporate world.
And if you differ, please ignore the mail. :)

I have seen eight inglorious years at Patni, from 2003 to 2010.
I was surprised to learn that even companies grow like human beings, from a fetus to a baby, a baby to a toddler, a toddler to a teenager, a teenager to an adult, an adult to an aged.
But I didn’t know then that even companies can catch a cold, or in extreme cases, a plague or a cancer. Yes! It is true. I have seen the rise and fall of Patni.

I have seen the PMS when it was a windows based application, before it was shifted online to ePMS.
I have seen people eLearning, then changing the PACE to keep up with the competition.
I have seen people LEAPing and LEANing, trying to PROPEL towards a higher goal.
I have seen people being lured into the so called glamour of the MS degree, who later realized that it was just the cheese hooked to a mouse trap.
They even put in lot of thoughts and iDEAS, but were slammed down in Talent Review and Appraisals. The KNOWLEDGE was good when it was at the CENTER. Now it is hardly XCHANGEd.
Patni did show some concern towards its employees by saying E-Care, if not I Care.

Then the light dawned upon them. They realized we need to do something else to keep our name.
Let’s bring a radical change, a change that will keep the employees wondering for some time.
And until they realize that the change is going to take them nowhere, we would have survived through the tough times.
So they TRIMmed the SDLC and came up with Patni PLUS. As the name suggests, it just PLUSed my already existing templates.

During the world wide slow down, Patni decided to make another announcement, this time a much bigger radical change … iChange!
The employees kept wondering for a long time what good is this change going to bring them now.
All the higher level organization structures were dismantled and reinstalled. The employees kept looking with their eye balls popped out and jaws dropped.
The changes at the top seemed like a tsunami wave growing bigger and bigger, adding to the excitement of the employees.
But as the wave came closer, it suddenly calmed down as a tamed pet or the waves hitting the mangroves hardly allowing them to reach the thirsty shore.

Patni has been trying to ECO-TRACK this ecological change. But the termites have reached the darkest corners and the deepest roots and I don’t see a chance of survival.

Last year, we had no choice but to live suppressed, coz it was your day.
This year, we have the chance to raise our head to the sunlight, above the garbage we have been buried under for years.
This year, I have realized I need to change …
And that’s why iCHANGEd!

I see the corporate world as a world full of Tamatar-walas.
The tamatar wala keeps showing you different tamatars, each looking nice and juicy from outside.
It’s when you reach inside, you get the real taste.
I don’t deny that some were indeed tasty inside, but that is a rare case.
For a long time, tamatarwala keeps bargaining and at the same time doesn’t let you buy tamatar from any other tamatarwala.
But you need to realize that bargaining is not the way to live, you’ll die hungry.
You need to buy some tamatar finally. If not from this tamatarwala then from some other one, but you need to eat.
And That’s it! I am hungry and I need to eat, and this tamatarwala is not giving me tamatar.
So I am changing my tamatarwala!

Don’t take it personally. It’s business!
All the best … to me and to you!

With no emotions at all.
From,
A hungry stomach and a wrecked up mind.

The next morning's plan was to wake up at 0400 hrs and go up the Narendranagar hills to Kunjapuri Temple (a.k.a. Kuchchapuri Temple). Why? For A) It is one of the highest peaks (1645 meters above sea level) surrounding Rishikesh from where you can see Rishikesh, Haridwar and Dehradun, and B) It gives you the most spectacular view of the sunrise. And indeed it was. We were expecting the sun to come out from behind the mountains. But, it's always the case that clouds form a band where the sky touches the mountains. Hence, the sunrise, that is the first rays of sun, is seen when the sun is at a good height in the sky. It's wonderful to watch how the night colors of the sky change to the daylight colors, and the rays tear apart the clouds and pierce through them to make their way towards the earth.


There are other reasons why this temple is famous, and these would really interest you.
1. It is one of the twelve sacred temples called the Shakti Pith (where your wishes come true)
2. It is Sati Devi's temple (consort of Lord Shiva)
3. This temple has the chest part of Sati Devi

The last point would obviously raise some questions like why just the chest part and how did that part end up there. It has a proper story in Hindu mythology behind it that I would describe here in my words. It goes something like this:

Apparently Sati's father was throwing a party to all the gods (Guys! The drinks are on me tonight!) and he purposely did not invite Shiva because a) He didn't like him, b) He was a Rishi and not god, and the party was strictly for gods only, c) he wanted to insult Shiva. Sati came to know about her dad's party and also that he didn't invite Shiva due to some unjustifiable reasons, and felt pissed off and embarrassed that her hubby was insulted, and in turn she was insulted. She could not take this embarrassment and destroyed herself in fire (that's how the Sati system came into picture). Learning that his wife has committed suicide, Shiva got angry, carried Sati's body along with him, and did his dirty dancing, the Taandav Nritya, because of which the world was about to get destroyed. (Death by dance it shall be!)

Vishnu came to the rescue of the world with his Sudarshan Chakra and cut Sati's body into three parts, viz. the head, the chest and the rest. Now Shiva was carrying all these parts of his dead wife with him and trying to find a cure. On his way he happened to stumble (or couldn't balance all the three pieces) and dropped one piece of her body at every sacred location where there is Sati's temple today. One of these locations is Kunjapuri, where rests the chest. Interesting na?

We had been giving our guides enough hints that we wanted to try the one thing people come to Rishikesh for. Baba Ka Prasad! So they gave us a taste of how it is. Atop the Kunjapuri hill, they handed over a cigarette filled with tobacco and Ganja (Marijuana) to us. We lit it and had a couple of drags. The smell was peculiar and the taste was good, but the effect was negligent (may be they added just a small amount of marijuana). Looking at this the guides told us that they'll get better version of prasad in the evening for us.


The First Boredom

The sunrise view was to be followed by a 16 km downhill trek through the Narendranagar hills. Manish's leg was sprained and so he, along with Roopali, took the car back to the hotel. Gayatri and Faheem had not joined us for the sunrise, so the downhill trek was done by Pedro, Nanu, Gaury and me, and the two guides. This trek was horrible, since it involved just walking down the hill. No hurdles and, to add to the frustration, the whole path was covered with small chipped stones that made the ankles twist every now and then. Gaury came down with a swollen leg and we teased her saying she is carrying the disease of Elephantiasis. That's about the trek. I don't wanna describe it further.


The 'Cloud 9' Feeling

We had told are guides that the last event had been a complete mood spoiler. So do something that will cheer us up again. Bring some good Baba ka Prasad for us (We always like to try different stuff that makes people go woo. We just try such stuff once, so don't think of us as Charasis). They came back with the real thing. Charas! Radhe prepared five cigarettes, with every successive cigarette having double the quantity of Cannabis in it. The volunteers (or the people interested in trying) were three from our gang (including me) along with Vijay and Radhe.

First round begun. It begun with Radhe doing some ritual with the cigarette and remembering Lord Shiva. It was funny to see that these villagers remember God even before having a Sutta (by the way, Shiva used to smoke weed. FYI!). The smell was quite differentiable from other cigarette and marijuana. And of course, the taste was strong too and it tickled the taste buds.

First round was easy to handle. The next one begun. Now the kick started coming in. My palms had become cold and sweaty. I turned to Batla Danny (name changed ... LOL!) and saw his face was getting reddish. I turned to my other side and noticed Shahrukh's (name changed ... again) eyes were red. Second round complete. Shahrukh decided to throw the towel and sneaked out making an excuse of dinner. Third round begun. My hands were completely cold by now, and I was feeling hard to pull up my eye lids and keep my eyes open. It was like some 100 grams of weight hanging from my eye lids. Since it was my first experience (and I swear my last. Don't want this experience again) with Cannabis, I decided to quit after the third round and went in to have dinner. As I got up, I realized that I was as high as I am after two-three large pegs whiskey (that is not much for me, my friends know that). I quietly sat in a corner of the bedroom, to analyze how much high I was, and started to eat my dinner. Soon after the fourth round Batla Danny gave up and came in to have his dinner. His face was red like an apple. He kept saying that he wasn't that high, but everyone could see how he was completely focused on his biryani and he finished one whole plate in six to seven minutes.

Later on in the night, when the guides ate the dinner and left, I came out in the hall and slept on the couch. My throat had gone completely dry and I felt the urge for water in my body. I drank almost 1.5 liters without having to pee even once. I knew that my bladder would be about to burst by the morning. As I was sleeping on the couch, I started feeling depressed and sick. It was like I am in a hospital bed down with some illness. It was one feeling I never wish to have again. But it was fun trying it out.


The Second Boredom

Next day we went to Rajaji national Park, where the majorly cited animals are wild elephants and leopards. But our luck with wild animals has never been good. All we could see was deers and elephant shit. When we came out, the driver of our rented car told us that it's all just hoax. You can see some elephants, but leopards? Never. 'Sab paise kamaane ke dhandhe hai!'. True. We wasted around more than Rs. 2000/- for this ride to see nothing but shit. If you decide on a visit to Rishikesh, safely remove this place from your list. No further comments.


The Camp

From the Rajaji NP, we went to our Camping area at Shivpuri. We were loving this place very much as it was just next to the river stream, on the other side of which was a volleyball court. The weather and the scenic beauty of this place added more taste to the stay. We had already started getting positive vibes about the place and everyone was sure that tonight's gonna be a good night!



The evening started with a couple of hours being spent playing volley ball. The volley ball court was on the other side of the river stream (just a couple of bamboos kept as a bridge to cross over it). We played many rounds with even the local team joining in to show their talent. It was amazing.


We then headed to the camping area where we played some other activity games until the dinner was served. There was chicken for dinner. Yes, since this was a camp area, away from the buzz of the Rishikesh city, you do get non-vegetarian food on request. The food was good and spicy. The dinner was done under the moonlight in the warmth of the bonfire. We had been allotted four small tents, each with two beds. The tents were cozy and the blankets were good enough to make you survive through the night.

The next morning we first headed uphill, some 12-15kms upwards. We stopped at a rock, some 25 feet in height. This would be the rock where we would try our skills at rock climbing. It was a team effort! Though each of us was climbing the rock individually, the support from the others on the ground watching played an important factor in everyone's tasks of rock climbing and rappelling, without which it would have been a much difficult task to climb the rock.


After the rock climbing session, we headed towards our final ascent in the mountains of Rishikesh, the starting pint of our 30 kms Rafting. This time we had eight of us, plus two guides Vijay and Radhe, plus two Rafting guides Veeru and a new chap. In all 12 people in a raft for 10. The raft was already carrying double the weight form the last one we tried a couple of days ago. On top of that, we had 2-3 people without a row. So they were just going to sit in the raft doing nothing, just adding more wight to the raft and making it more difficult to row. The first half of rafting route hardly had any rapids. But we did enjoy ourselves in the free surfing area. This is the area where the water current is swift and without any obstacles. You just have to dive into the river, and let yourself float with the support of life jacket. Even though the water was icy cold, it was quite relaxing. Even Roops dared to dive and get a feel of it.

The next half was the adventurous part. It had more rapids and we had already tried it once. It was a repeat telecast for us, while the new comers (Gayatri, Faheem and Gaury) got their first shot at the splashing cold waters of the Ganges.


Note: There is nothing great about the 30 kms rafting route, except for the fact that it has a longer free surfing route. Most of the rapids are on the second half of the route, which are covered in the 17 kms rafting route. So our suggestion would be go for the 17 kms route. You would not miss much.

After the end of rafting we spent some time to some Indian music played on guitar and flute by some foreigners near the river bank. A cute firangi chic and and one Indian kid were dancing to the music. Later on, we went to our rooms, took a bath and headed out to the market for dinner. This time we wanted to try something new. So we went to a restaurant called Tip-Top, opposite the Topiwala restaurant. It serves a good variety of cuisines from around the world. That too, at affordable prices.


The Night Laughs

After dinner, we headed to our hotel rooms for a final nap at Rishikesh. Our nights never end without something funny happening to one of us. It is always a good laughing session before we finally doze off and go to sleep. This time it was again provided by Pedro. Remember I described his ability to be at the wrong place at the wrong time? He somehow managed to do it again and keep up to his reputation. This time he was sleeping at the end of the bed, which was facing the wall where all the electrical switches were mounted. He had to get up twice to switch on/off the lights and increase/decrease the fan speed.

Just the previous day, when he was sleeping in Manish's room, he woke in the middle of the night from a nightmare saying 'Mujhe Chhod do! Mere paas paise nahi hai!'. Manish shook him to wake him up and asked what happened to which Pedro said, 'Kuch nahi. Kisiko bolna mat mai sapne me bol raha tha. Yeh room ki baat isi room me rehne de.' But we all like to screw and take each other's case, so now, it's known to the world.


All good things come to an End

The next morning we woke up early to board our last rented vehicle of the trip, from Rishikesh to New Delhi. We were surprised and happy to see that our guides had arranged for a 12-seater vehicle, with loads our luggage space, at the price of a 8-seater vehicle. It was actually a goof up that benefited us. We had enough room to stand and walk around in the vehicle to free our legs, and also stretch our legs while sleeping.

GaribRath Yuva

We boarded our train to Mumbai. the train was Garibrath Yuva, which is a completely Chair car train. We had switched from Paschim Express to this train because Yuva would reach Mumbai in 15-16 hrs as compared to 29-30 hrs taken by Paschim express. but we did not considered the fact fact that it is still too much time to sit at one place, which would swell your ass to twice its original size. Within two hours, we started feeling the pain in our asses. And we were starving too.

Note: Garibrath Yuva is the worst train to travel in because:
1. It only has Chair car seating arrangement.
2. Luggage space is lesser that what we have in the local trains in Mumbai.
3. There is no Pantry.

The train does not stop at any station for more than two minutes. It was just the Kota junction, our last hope to get food, where the train was going to make a stop for 10 minutes. We made up a plan and decided who will get what from the station. We proceeded towards the head of the train, so that even if the train starts while we are buying stuff, we could still make it easily to our compartment, which was sixth or seventh from the engine. What we discovered was an oasis in the desert. There were three consecutive compartments that were completely empty, without a single booking. We asked the TTE and he told us that there was no Tatkaal booking at all for this journey. We were overjoyed. We had our dinner in one of the empty compartments, after which we secretly moved all our luggage from our jam-packed compartment to the 3 BHK spacious compartment. Each one of us then had three chairs to sleep on. It was a lottery. Gentle advice! Don't take the chance of traveling in this train hoping to find an empty compartment. It was sheer luck for us.


Last adventure before the End

The Garibrath Yuva has just 5-6 stops between Delhi and Mumbai. The first stop at Mumbai was Bandra. most of us stay in Borivali and were praying that the train hits a red signal somewhere near Borivali. The train hit a signal at Dahisar station. As the train was slowing down at the Dahisar station, Roopali got off the running train, since we were not sure whether the train would stop again at Borivali. Just as she got down, the train started picking up speed. Now we had no choice, but to somehow try and get off the train, along with our luggage.

I was standing a door behind the others. Faheem, Gayatri and Gaury were getting down at Bandra. So we took our chance. Manish and Pedro threw a couple of bags down on the platform. Meanwhile I jumped off the train and started collecting the bags thrown. Then Nanu, Pedro and Manish, all of them got down since the train was catching up speed. There were some bags still left in the train. But with the help of Gayatri and Faheem, we managed to get all the bags thrown on the platform. This stunt came with a warning: These stunts are performed by professionals. Do not try this at home!

Sachin came to pick us up at Dahisar station, and that ended the trip. It was a great trip and I hope you enjoyed my narration. My lack of work at office has played a big role in allowing me to find time and finish this write-up, covering most of the events during the trip.

We are planning our next trip to Bangkok, somewhere in November 2010 and Leh-Ladhak in July 2011.
As always, everyone's invited!

See you then! Adios!