A Letter to Chief Minister (UP)

Anil Upadhyaya

to cmup
7 hours ago

Details

Sir,

I am writing this on behalf of my son who is an NRI currently working in USA.  My son and daughter-in-law booked a flat in Riverview Apartments in Gomati Nagar Extension in Lucknow in the year 2010.  The scheme was announced in 2009 by LDA and delivery was promised in two years.

The following facts will give you an idea of the suffering and losses that all allottees, and more so NRIs, have gone through and are still going through:

• As against promised period of 24 months, the flats were declared completed after 5 years in 2014 and, in fact, are yet not habitable.
• Though it was promised to restrict any escalation in costs to 5%, the escalation was to the extent of 5 lakhs against the declared price of 29.43 lakhs.  This amounts to 15% !!  Aggregate payments to LDA for this flat amounted to 38.33 lakhs after adding the escalation and extras.
• Additional charges have been taken for parking slots.  I understand that in many states the law prohibits sale of parking space.  The parking space belongs to the society which manages and allots them to the residents on a round robin basis.
• The parents of NRI customers went through great hassles as the General Power of Attorney held by many of them were rejected on such flimsy grounds as the instrument being very old.  This was done notwithstanding affidavits by concerned parent stating that the POA has not been revoked.  I had to get a special POA from my son and daughter-in-law from USA at considerable cost.
• As stated there was exorbitant delay by LDA in completing the project. During this period stamp duties went up on account of increase in DM circle rates.  The increase was more than 100% and each allottee had to pay more than two lakhs extra on stamp duties.
• Even though LDA has declared the project as complete and started registering the properties in 2014, even today the property is in a bad shape and not habitable at all.  A letter sent to LDA in this regard is appended.

You will agree that this shows the state of affairs in our state shows it in not too flattering a light.  At a time when you are putting your best foot forward to attract talent and capital to our state for our betterment, such stories about a government body can do a lot of damage.

I request you to kindly intervene and instruct LDA to complete all unfinished tasks and start maintaining the building properly.  They have collected 3 years maintenance charges from all allottees in advance and a substantial portion of this period has already passed without any maintenance whatsoever.

Regards,

Anil Kumar Upadhyaya

18/428 Indira Nagar,

Lucknow - 226016.

Mobile: +91 962 152 6956

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anil Upadhyaya <anil.upadhyaya@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 1:45 PM
Subject: Maintenance of Rapti Apartments
To: contactuslda22@gmail.com

Dear Sirs,

I have taken possession of flat number I-105 in Rapti Apartments three months ago and would like to occupy the flat soon.

I am perplexed to find that absolutely no maintenance of the apartment is taking place and that common areas are lying dirty and full of filth.  Some sewer manholes are lying without a lid and others have ill-fitting lids that can cause accidents.  No landscaping has been done nor any trees planted in the compound.  The basement is full of overflowing water.  Parking slots are yet to be marked out.

This is a serious matter in view of the fact that the owners have paid maintenance charges in advance.  Kindly look into the matter and the resolve the problem expeditiously.

Regards,

Anil Kumar Upadhyaya

for Anupam Upadhyaya

18/428 Indira Nagar,

Lucknow - 226016.

Mobile: +91 962 152 6956

Beware, This Fraudster May Be In Your City!

It feels bad to get cheated and it feels worse to publicize the fact.  And yet it is one duty that the cheated owes to friends who may be at similar risk.  Hence this true story.

This story is about an young man, swarthy and scrawny with a boyish and intelligent look.  He claimed to be an architect and came across as one who was not only well versed in his profession but was willing to undercut the competition for gaining a foothold in a new city.  He was introduced by a businessman friend who was in the middle of constructing a marriage hall and chanced (?) upon this young man.  The young man gave him new ideas and enlightened him about cost effective and elegant substitutes to traditional materials.  He engaged this boy on a retainer and also introduced him to friends.

I have managed to get hold of a photograph of this young criminal and am appending it below:

This fellow was always ready with a laptop or an i-Pad and would demonstrate his points conclusively.  He generated designs quickly and communicated through email, Whatsapp and usual SMS.  He was frank about the discounts that he got on purchase of material and was willing to liberally share it with clients unlike other practicing architects in Lucknow.

He was introduced to my group which consisted of allottees of flats in a new enclave developed by Lucknow Development Authority.  He generated designs for modular kitchen and cupboards for the flats which had similar layouts and gave a quote to the group that was nearly 40% below the market rates in this area.  He said he was willing to pass on part of his discounts in exchange for getting a large clientele.  He also invited some of us to his rented flat for a cup of tea.  We found that he was living there with his family that consisted of his wife and a 3 year old daughter.  His wife who had a diametrically opposite complexion, claimed to be an interior decorator.  The boy claimed to be from Gujarat.

He collected advance form all of us in the group.  He had also been able to win over a few others who either had a new house to be constructed or an existing one to be renovated.  He also procured a couple of sets of fittings for the kitchens and showed them to us by turns creating an impression that he had bulk procured for the whole group.  After this he requested for a second tranche of advance to get molded cabinet doors.  He said that advance payments to suppliers yielded better discounts. He had also procured advance from those who had engaged him for construction or renovation of houses and also had some material delivered.

In the mean time he was devoting a lot of time to the marriage hall and kept telling others that the projects may get only slightly delayed on account of a deadline for completion of the hall.  He took large amounts of advance from the owner of the marriage hall under construction.  Of course, he had some material delivered and took the project forward.  He had also shifted from the flat to a makeshift house in the marriage hall compound to save time on commuting.

Then one fine morning he disappeared in thin air.  His family was gone too.  And then when everyone started taking stock, it turned out that he had procured all material on credit and had not even purchased enough sets for the orders he had booked!  Some lost nearly a lakh of rupees and some lost more.

This fellow called himself Hirachand L Solanki.  He had a bank account and a driving license.  It turns that all the KYC for these was bad or forged.  His mail account still exists.  As expected he has discarded his phone numbers.

This chap must now be in a another city trying to chat up potential victims.  Hence this post.  Be warned yourself and share this widely in your circles to save others from falling into this trap.  Share with friends abroad too.  This fellow claimed to have worked in Dubai too for some time!

Stress and Newton's Laws of Motion

I had a boss who was a bully, a heavy smoker, a moderate but regular drinker, very fond of sweets and constitutionally very strong.  We often used to joke about him as an ideal model for a cigarette advertisement and a living testimony to smoking hardly affecting one's health!*  The other joke was a standard one -  a bull in a china shop!

When complimented on his robust health and asked for the secret he would often attribute it to just two factors.  One was to eat well.  The other was not to let anybody or anything cause stress to you while ensuring that you cause stress to all and sundry.  They put it very pithily in Hindi - "stress (or tension) lene kaa nahin, dene kaa!"  It has almost become a modern day mantra.

The first part may sound elementary.  Yet we all know how difficult it is to practice.  This gentleman always had his guards up against anyone causing any stress to him.  I recall once he had some health problem.  When someone remarked to him that he looked a little weak, he immediately retorted, "Are you trying to induce stress in me?  I am perfectly fine!!"

The second part of the statement is rather puzzling and even counter-intuitive.  I have always felt that the Newton's third law of equal and opposite reaction operates in the realm of human interactions too.  So it is hardly possible to cause stress to another person without suffering the reaction in terms of some stress being caused to you as well.

The answer perhaps lies in the Newton's second law.  It essentially says that the effect of a force on a body is inversely proportional to its mass.  The same force will have greater impact on a less massive body and a lower impact on a very massive body.  This is why mass is a measure of inertia too.  Think of two moving bodies, one very heavy compared to the other.  If the two collide, the light one will suffer strong deflection while the massive one will continue almost unaffected.

Inertia has a role in human interactions too.  We may think of emotional inertia (EI) as one's sensitivity to people and goings-on around one as well as one's own inner turmoil.  Those who are very sensitive can be said to have a much lower inertia and vice versa.  So to be able to cause stress to others while remaining almost unaffected yourself, you must have a very high emotional inertia or very low sensitivity towards other people and perhaps your own self.

In physics a high inertia helps a body in persisting in a linear motion unless the disturbances are too heavy.  In human affairs those with high EI can do the same; move doggedly to a goal along the shortest path.  Sycophants, known as chamchaas in Hindi, also have an important role here.  They add to the (emotional) inertia simply by sticking to a person and further acting as a shield against induced disturbances.

On the other hand, those with low EI, that is, high sensitivity are very likely to be easily thrown off a linear path.  This is why creative people who are generally characterized by low EI, hardly fit into conventional leadership positions.

This perhaps also explains why many of the people in leadership positions are almost always insensitive and callous and tend to surround themselves with sycophants.
≠======================================
*Statutory warnings apply.

HS18 Getting Too Big To Care

I write this post to share with fellow consumers my growing disappointment with HomeShop18 that used to be my favorite till recently.

Being an IT enthusiast I have been trying out most of the online shopping sites since long.  Some like Indiatimes and Rediff were a disappointment right from the first transaction.  But HomeShop18 (HS18) was a site that I loved for their prompt response, quality of merchandise and, above all, wonderful post sales service.  It was for this reason that even if a merchandise was a little expensive on HS8 compared to other sites, I would prefer to shop from HS18.

What I said about post sales service is based on two incidents.  In one case a neighbor complained about bad stitching in an outfit bought from HS18 and not only did they refund the amount but also apologized profusely.  In another case a defective item was to be returned by me.  As I was going to be away, they even agreed to pick it up from another address.

But things have changed now.  HS18 has grown big, perhaps too big.  Sometime ago one of my relatives purchase a dinner set that was being offered at a discount.  She kept it in packed condition for gifting it to a friend.  Later on she learned from the recipient that one of the casseroles was found broken.  When she lodged a complaint with HS18 they refused to replace the defective item on the pretext that a complaint must be lodged within 48 hours.  Mind well; they say 48 hours and not two days!!  They insist that this clause has been there all along but it is only recently that they have started invoking it.

On another occasion they offered premium rice at a heavily discounted price on purchase of 10 packets of 1 Kg each.  The advertisement running on the TV proclaimed that they will accept a return if the buyer didn't like the produce.  However when my wife called up for placing the order and sought confirmation on the proclaimed return policy, they negated the advertisement!  Despite this she went ahead and placed an order.

When ten one-kg packets of rice arrived, we found that except one packet all others had a small cut along the crease and plenty of rice grains were lying scattered around in the box.  The rice turned out to be of exceptionally low quality and wasn't worth even half of the discounted price.  We gave a feedback to HS18 and they chose to remain silent in the matter.

The latest incident is about about a set of six bedsheets, pillow covers and towels that we purchased from them.  As the sheets were taken out one by one we found that one of the pillow covers was torn in one place.  A complaint was sent to HS18 and replacement for only the defective item was demanded.  A photograph of the torn pillow cover was attached to the mail.  HS18 had just one curt reply - the complaint has not been lodged within 48 hours!!  The goods were delivered on 03/03/2015 and a complaint was e-mailed on 12/03/2015.

This brings out the following:

• HS18 has gone very lax on quality control while upping advertisement decibels.
• They are hiding behind a 48 hour clause to avoid liabilities on defective goods sold on their site.
• Their attitude has gone from helpful to callous, and
• They now feel that they are too big to care for an individual buyer.

Hope this feedback will be found useful by the readers.  The link is also being sent to HS18 and their reply, if any, will be posted here.

Things Lost Easy & Quick (TLEQ)

Losing anything makes you feel bad.  Following the incident you are often counselled not to lose heart.  Mere counselling may not be enough if you lose your mind too.  And even if you do not lose your mind and heart, who likes to think of himself as a loser?

In good old days people had little to lose except, perhaps, their pen, wristwatch and reading glasses.  Later, electronics added laptop and mobile phone to the TLEQ portfolio of travelling executives.

If you are thinking in terms of money, in good old days you could only lose whatever you had in your wallet.  Now that the society is going cashless and you have very little money in your wallet, you can potentially lose the whole of your balance in the bank.  And if that is not bad enough, you may also lose any remaining limit on your credit card.

But none of these losses are as probable or frequent as the loss of a recently purchased Vicks inhaler.  It seldom lasts in your possession for the duration of one attack of common cold virus.  And if you are so lucky as to find one you just cannot be sure if it is the same one that picked up your cold viruses or one with more potent swine flu viruses from someone else.

So hold on tight to your inhaler while I go and get a replacement for myself.  It indeed has the highest TLEQ quotient for me.  How is it in your case?

Why ban India's Daughter?

Once someone asked Luqman, the wise, the secret of his exceedingly nice and pleasing manners.  Luqman told the questioner that he had learnt it all from ill mannered and boorish people - by watching them and avoiding what they do.

Going by this anecdote, the best way to help our citizenry to avoid the pitfalls of criminality will be to offer them a glimpse into the minds of criminals.  This will help them avoid the beliefs and attitudes that lead to criminal behavior.  And hence I find it bewildering that a documentary on the convicted criminals of the Nirbhaya case is being banned and a hue and cry is being raised about its telecast by BBC.

I have tried to find out some details about the documentary.  It comes out that, surprisingly, many of the beliefs and doctrines subscribed by the convict closely match those held by Khaap panchayats, Islamic hardliners and some pseudo saints.  I think this is where the embarrassment lies and this is what is pushing some of our leaders to call for a ban on the documentary.

For this very reason it is important that the documentary be shown to the widest possible audience.  It must be highlighted that it is the orthodox discrimination against women that is leading to this country being called the rape capital of the world.  To be sure, there are other factors too that combine with the discriminatory belief system to aggravate the situation.  But then that can hardly be a justification for suppressing and censoring the documentary.

Shed all your pretensions - It's Holi!

Holi is a wonderful festival.  It provides us an opportunity to shed all our inhibitions and more than that all our pretensions and acknowledge the fact of being a human - a human with all his / her weaknesses and follies.

In the everyday life we are terribly busy being a parent, a daughter, a spouse, a breadwinner, a homemaker, a boss, an employee, a winner, a loser, a persecuted one, a persecutor, intelligent, smart, worldly wise et al.  We hardly have the time to be our own selves, our own selves with all the social programming set aside.  Holi provides the opportunity to do so.  Holi is the time when we celebrate being a fool, a weakling, a lout and even lewd. It is time to see ourselves and others as they really are and celebrate the fact instead of feeling bad about it.

And since everyone is going to be so vulnerable, the only rule that we need observe during the festival is that we shall not exploit that vulnerability and hurt any one.  With this rule firmly in place, Holi is an occasion to get rid of all burdens, negative emotions and look at the multi-hued world around us with the wonder and joy that it always wanted to elicit in us.

It is a pity to find that many of the roles and the associated social pecking order, do creep into the festival and protocols emerge that detract from the free spirit of the festival.  Let the slogan for this Holi be LET GO!

May Holi lead to brilliance of self-realization and be filled with joy.  Here is a beautiful bhajan saying that the Lord was alone and wanted to experience the joy of being many and so he manifested himself in multitudinous forms for a grand Holi!  Enjoy.  Holi hai !!!


PS - Have you noticed that Holi day is always a Holiday!!  :D :D