I Am In Lucknow And The Smile Is Waning

I live in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh (UP) state in India.  This historical city is famous for its Chikankari (embroidery handwork), monuments from the British era and the era of Nawabs, fine cuisine and superb etiquette.  All these, especially the last two, are believed to be capable of making the face of any visitor light up with joy: And hence the adage "मुस्कुराइए कि आप लखनऊ में हैं!"  It translates to "Now that you are in Lucknow, smile!"

While the city takes pains to keep the ageing monuments in good repairs, little is being done to prevent erosion of its fine etiquettes and the accompanying moral fabric.  Things seem to have gone so far that business entities, especially those of online variety, are reluctant to do business with the residents and accord to them common courtesies accorded to a group of good customers.  I will give some examples from my own experience that bear this out.

I am an Airtel customer and my relationship with them is strong in so much as I subscribe to all their services, DTH, Broadband and LL as well as a mobile connection.  And so their response came as a shock to me when I contacted their customer care for activating international roaming (IR) on my phone.  They said, quite categorically, that this service is not provided to customers in UP (East) circle!  It is interesting to note that those in the UP (West) circle do not face this ignominy!

Then, again, while enquiring with airlines operating on the Delhi-Lucknow sector, I found out that passengers coming in to Delhi from an international sector and proposing to travel on the D-L domestic sector were not allowed any additional baggage allowance.  Though, such additional allowance was given by some airlines on such sectors as Delhi-Raipur!  Yet another case of discrimination!

The latest affront comes from Amazon (India.)  I used their app to order a Moto g plus phone with protective cover and screen guard.  The latter two, of course, are low value items while the phone is priced at INR 15K.  While the latter articles were okayed in my order, a message said that the first item could not be shipped to my PIN code.  I tried other PIN codes in Lucknow and even in Faizabad but in vain.  Correspndence with their customer care suggests that Amazon has stopped delivering high value merchandise in whole of eastern UP!  Amazon being the exclusive dealer for this phone I now have to give up my plan to purchase this phone!

I feel deeply hurt by these incidents and am wondering why are commercial entities are viewing the residents of this state as such unreliable and irresponsible louts?  I would also like to check with our state government and political leaders if they have any plans to check this loss of face and the waning smile.

Approaching ERP (Energy Rate Parity) between UP & US

If my last electricity bill had delivered a shock to me, this month's bill almost electrocuted me!  The steep rise in rates is having an ionizing effect on paying consumers' budget!!

I recalled a conversation with my son, settled in California, about his energy bill.  The prices had seemed quite reasonable, but I was not able to recall the exact figure.  So I Googled and found this chart that gives the average for the whole of USA - http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_5_6_a

The table says that the average price of electricity in USA in the month of June 2015 was USD 0.13. Taking the exchange rate at INR 66 = 1 USD, this translates to INR 8.58 per kWh.  The last bill from Lucknow worked out to INR 7.05 per kWh.  It seems to be slightly lower than the US rate.  But we have to keep in mind that a typical US household, with all its gadgets, heating and cooling, has a load of much more than 10 kW.  A load of that kind would necessarily have to be commercial in UP.  So the correct thing would be to compare our commercial rates with the U.S. domestic rate.  However I have a hunch that doing so may invite a sharp rebuke from our energy managers and politicians.  So we will stick to domestic vs domestic comparison, connected loads and total consumption notwithstanding.

So I feel it wouldn't take more than one more revision to bring the electricity price in UP at par with that in USA!  And that will be the day to celebrate our parity with USA on at least one parameter!

Only thing that may spoil the party is the thought that people in USA who have income parity with me at current exchange rates, are considered poor enough to receive grants from the state, are exempt from Income Tax and get free medical care!

And the only consolation for us is that we get twice as much voltage as guys in USA do.  In fact, not too infrequently, it goes up to 4 times as much leading to electrical appliances giving up the ghost out of sheer exhilaration!!

Endangered Spaces in My City - New Meaning of B2B

I had purchased my house in Indira Nagar, Lucknow, quarter of a century ago.  My sector in the huge residential colony has three types of houses - High Income Group (HIG), MIG and LIG.  All houses used to have a front yard, a backyard, parking for 3, 2 or 1 cars, and a side setback along the entire depth of the plot on one side.  The houses have a common wall on the other side along the depth.  The open spaces are quite adequate and provide lots of natural lighting and ventilation and keep you from feeling claustrophobic.

At the time these houses were built, false ceilings providing diffused lighting in the rooms and airconditioning that positively discourages ventilation, were not very common.  Thus these open spaces and the windows opening into those spaces were a necessity too.  To be fair, even at that time there was a group that felt that open spaces were sheer waste and attempted to minimize them by expanding out the structure using ingenious architectural tricks.

25 years is a long period.  Children have grown up and moved out of Lucknow and some the original occupants too are migrating to live with their sons and daughters or in flats.  The houses are being sold off.  When a sale takes place this is what typically happens.  The old structure is pulled down and a new house built with the maximum number of floors permitted in the area.  Currently rules permit three floors.  This would be considered a normal development but for what I am going to narrate now.

The new structures blatantly do away with all requirements of open spaces in the form of a side setback on one side, back and front yards, and parking withing the plot.  These structures are almost B2B (boundary to boundary!)  Backyard, if there is one, is just an air shaft for ventilating the kitchen and toilets.  I understand that the building bylaws have not changed in any significant way and yet these violation are either not noticed by the local development authority or deliberately overlooked (for a consideration?)  Rooms are liberally airconditioned and windows are merely decorative and seldom opened.

A major problem arises for the neighbor who still has a side setback.  The new structure next door, as described above, extends right up to the boundary.  These new kids on the block then cleverly have a opening into the side setback of the poor old neighbor.  They use the neighbor's setback for lighting and ventilation while they use all their space in the B2B manner.

Complaining to authorities can have one and only one result, that is, dangerously inimical neighbor relations for all times to come.  If you choose to have a level headed talk, you get just one response.  It goes like this - you may also construct B2B if you wish!  And if you do that out of desperation what is the result?  Both the neighbor and you have houses that extend into each other and / or total darkness and lack of ventilation for both.

Now that everybody is convinced that the neighbor will go for B2B in any case, those who have the advantage of constructing first try to preempt the neighbor by going B2B without even waiting to talk to the neighbor in the matter.

In the meantime authorities are planning a tax on vehicles which are parked alongside streets overnight.  Thus B2B has become a revenue earner for both the authorities and their officials.

B2B has become the new architectural norm in my city.  How about yours?