A relatively chill period on my current project and an irresistible urge to let my fingers loose on blogosphere has resulted in this post - ages after my previous one
Some things don’t change
- Mumbai’s commuting infrastructure still sucks: The average speed of commuting on Mumbai roads is 12 kmph – as much as a fast jog. Roads keep getting dug up in a heartbeat. The municipal authorities are like God . They are continually engaged in a cycle of creation-preservation-destruction of existing infrastructure.
In my opinion, the municipal authorities have a three step approach to ease infrastructure bottlenecks (yeah, yeah, 2 years in consulting does have its effects!) :
- Create bottlenecks first ("Ah... this stretch of road looks neat! Let’s say a nice big gash across the middle? After all, the city needs better telecom connectivity right?", or "Wow! This is a smooth bit of road... but wait, come the monsoons, it would be choc-a-bloc with potholes. What say we ‘concretize’ it just before the monsoons?" [Conversation with Road contractor: Psst... Psst...give me 10 crores and this baby is yours])
- Let commuters suffer for a few months (the following is an actual mail sent out by a large Indian bank to its employees)
"We have received information from MSRDC that work of the flyover at Santacruz Airport junction is in full swing and it is targeted to open the northbound carriageway of the flyover to traffic before the onset of monsoon 2008. Due to the construction of the flyover, there will be little more congestion on this stretch for the next 3-4 months.In view of this we request you to inform all passengers traveling to keep an additional margin of 1 hour for reaching the airport so that they may not miss the flight."
- Shift the bottleneck from the place of creation to some other place . I can just about visualize a ToI article like the one below "After the flyover was constructed over the turn towards Santacruz (Domestic) Airport, congestion near the Andheri flyover has multiplied enormously, with vehicles often having to wait over 1 hour to turn towards Andheri station from the highway. The authorities, however, are jubilant, saying that there are no more traffic jams near the domestic airport."
- IIMA Campus still rocks: I have been to campus multiple times for recruitment related activities, my most recent being on that most touted of days, Day Zero of Placements. Placement activities take place in the new campus these days and things have improved to a great extent since my placements took place 2 years back.
- For one, the greenery is beautifully spread across the new campus and the buildings just look amazing at night
- The eternal charm of the LKP is beyond description ... When I visit campus, I go there sometimes just to let the atmosphere and grandeur of the architecture soak in.
- Despite the supposed laxity which has crept into the current batches at IIMA, we still have facchas losing sleep over Operations Management, MANAC & WAC - guhahahahahahahaaaaaaa [Muggo Facchon Muggo! Short MANAC Quiz at 2.30 beckons :)]
- People still doze off in classes , only to get told off by DT or some other prof at IIMA
Came across some outstanding (as usual) pieces from Waterson - am posting them below for the greater good of society :)
Rest in next!
