My letter to Hindustan Times

Yesterday Hindustan Times carried a three page feature article on colleges in Mumbai. 20 colleges affiliated to the Mumbai University were written about. The article carried a huge image of St. Xavier’s College. Todays edition of the paper carried a front page article stating that the college was the most sought after in all streams i.e Arts Sci and Comm which is very far from the truth. The college Arts faculty is known to be good but the Sci and Comm sections are like just another normal college and are nothing to speak much about. There are better sci and commerce colleges in Mumbai. Here is a copy of the email i wrote to the editor of the Hindustan Times today.

Dear Sir,
I have been a reader of your newspaper since the time of its nception in Mumbai and have never seen bias as so clearly shown by the newspaper in the last two days. Your article that appeared in yesterdays edition and a continuation of it in todays paper is clearly biased against one college. How can you say that St. Xaviers College is the most sought after college for Commerce and Science. Firstly Xavier’s doesn’t have a junior college section for commerce. The commerce degree section is meant only for working students and is hence held only in the night. Most commerce students prefer other south Mumbai colleges like HR, Sydhenam or even KC. Xavier’s is traditionally known for its Arts section only. Even the science section is not so much of a star studded attraction it doesn’t offer any vocational subjects offered by other south Mumbai colleges like KC and Jai Hind. Even the first part of the article that appeared on Tuesday clearly showed your affliction for Xavier’s as u had a big picture of it printed in your newspaper and also front page coverage for it.
As your newspaper’s Tag line clearly states Let There Be LIGHT I hope you print this article in your newspaper and bring light to your readers!

Yours sincerely,
Berges Malu

A view of the KC auditorium which is in dark contrast to the old and outdated auditorium at St Xavier’s College

Maharashtra’s Power Woes!

Recently there’s been a lot of talk in the media about the sad situation in Maharashtra and how many villages are going without any power! Since i Live in Downtown Mumbai a place that has been thankfully been spared such power cuts (a.k.a Load shedding) i haven’t experienced this sad fact of life however on my recent trip to Nashik i had a first hand Experience and now as i live with my cousins in a Kalwa a distant suburb of Mumbai i am yet again Reminded about the sorry state of affairs in the state and the city.
In Nashik for some odd reason during my entire stay the power would only be cut for a few minutes or maximum an hour but the power would rarely go beyond period of time. However as i travelled thru other parts of Nashik District i found that power situation was much worse and that in some places there was almost non existent power supply. On my visit to Ambhatta a village near the border of Maharashtra and Gujarat power comes only at night and that too for about 4 hours only the power supply starts at 1 and the power is cut again at 4 so all pumps for water must be started at this time so also all mobiles charged and all other works to be done with the help of Electricity all done in the night. On the border of the two states its sad to notice that Maharashtra has no power while neighbouring Gujarat has 24 hours power supply the difference in power being that the Gujarat govt supplies single phase power and Maharashtra triple phase.

What exactly prevents the government from starting power projects in the state when it can be clearly seen that demand for electricity is increasing and the current gap between demand and supply is not being met is very absurd to me! The government is still dilly dallying on granting new projects the Go ahead.

Here in Kalwa the power shortage is very acute. Today the power went at 9.20 in the morning and returned only at 1 and then again went at 3 and returned at6 so for most part of the day there is no power that too as the city faces a temperature of almost 35degrees Celsius!

I am waiting as soon as i can get back to my flat in south mumbai where i can switch on the Air conditioning and keep my laptop on continuously instead of staying in this Oven.

All i can say is God please hear the  prayers  of the citizens of this power hungry state!

Subiksha mera ahdikaar peaceful shopping!

 

There’s been a lot of hype about Subiksha the new “supermarket” which claims to give the best discounts . Its tag-line states that getting a saving is my right! But today on my first visit to this place gave me a hellish experience and i wouldn’t want to experience such a bad shopping experience again! Here is a step by step account of my experince at this hopeless shopping place

Firstly the place is smaller than a local vendor’s shop they didnt have more than half the items i had come looking for! the security guard at the entrance tells me that the place is the cheapest but i wudnt take tht claim more seriously than a drunk man telling me his wife was a great person…lol the mangoes which they claim to be selling at rates starting from 120 are not there instead they have only two ranges the ones selling at 150 and 180 and both are hopeless the mangoes are at the verge of rotting! i think subiksha believes tht every potential customer is also a potential robber and so there is a lady folllowing me in watever i do the minute i pick up a bottle of shampoo she tells me the price and shows me a different brand of shampoo and ask’s me to buy tht one! then a man comes up to me and says “aap ko kya chahiye sahab?” (what do u want sir?) i was so pissed with the management havin a camera look at u doin ur shoppin is ok but a lady followin you as u try to concentrate on havina gr8 shoppin experince is Pathethic especially one who speaks only in very fast and undecipherable marathi! when i went to the counter the lady looks at me gives a smirk and tells me to pay up 158 like i have to pay some kind of a fine! i was soooo enraged at her i felt like throwin the money on her sad and rotten face! there was no inclination tht the people there valued their customers at any point! I guess customer satisafaction is the last on the minds of the subiksha managment. I hope somebody reads this and takes remedial action or I am sure this company will not remain in the indian market for long and will fizzle out soon