TTI advertising on IRCTC

Well that TTI isn't Travelling Ticket Inspector; it is Trick That Idiot.

This style of advertising on the net must have a nice academic name.  Unfortunately I am unaware of it so I am using the non-pedantic TTI.

As you know, we love apps, we love music and we love books.  And we love them even more when they can be had for free.  Our search for such freeware often takes us to sites that employ TTI.  So, they will give you a download link for the stuff you are looking for. But it will not be so prominently displayed as another big Download button that will download something very different from what you are looking for.  And because of this visual design, you are more likely to click on this button instead of the one that you intend to.  Now it doesn't take a great marketing guru to figure out that this other Download button must have been placed there by someone who has paid for it.  It is paid TTI advertising.  Similarly some websites, notably the Readers Digest site, present content in the form of slide shows.  When a slide is presented you will find back and forward arrows for navigating the show.  Alongside other and more prominent arrows will be placed prominently on the screen.  These are TTIs that will take you not to the next or previous slide, but somewhere where the paying advertiser wants you to go.  I am sure you have experienced this TTI yourself and I would be happy to know what name you have given to them.

You may not mind being tricked when you are looking for something for free.  After all, the fellow maintaining the website has to seek revenue from somewhere.  But it does come as a nasty surprise when such TTI is embedded on an e-commerce website like IRCTC where the visitor is paying for what he wants from the site.  Let me narrate to you what happened today morning.

Someone approached me for online booking of train tickets from Mumbai to Lucknow in the sleeper class for her journey 120 days later.  She was very insistent that I sign into the website before 8 am so that I can initiate the booking as soon as the clock strikes eight.  Each second counted.  I was ready with the train and the class selected at 7:59 am.  However there was no link to book.  Then I noticed this huge "Book a seat" button and clicked it.  It took me to Bla-Bla car website.  I thought this was IRCTC's way of keeping you amused till 8:00 when the booking will open.  So I kept closing the popped up ad and clicking on the said button.  By the time I noticed that a row in which availability and booking link were displayed, had appeared on the screen, I was late by those few critical seconds.  I also think that I was under the impression that the same button which opened BlaBlaCar ad will open the booking form at eight.  By the time I noticed the actual booking link, all berths (449) had been taken and RAC had started!

Of course, I have learnt the lesson now.  But the question, dear reader, is whether it is fair for IRCTC to go for this TTI style advertising?

Holy Cow

“Milk Comes from a Grieving Mother” ~ leaflet by Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary

In terms of the airlines menu categories, we are a family of lacto-ovo-vegetarians: Ovo is only occasional.  We love cows, relish dairy products and find the thought of eating beef rather sickening.  My son is planning to go vegan and do away with the prefix lacto-ovo.  He feels that cows are the most exploited animals.  We milk them thereby starving, at least partially, their calves and we also slaughter them when they go dry: He lives in USA where beef is staple.  Most of the calves also end up at the slaughter house.  He feels that he wont be a party to this sinful treatment if he gives up dairy products.

I have spent part of my childhood in a village.  I have seen cows being treated with love and care.  Male calves too were taken good care of.  They were castrated and they powered the agriculture at that time.  A cow or a bull was fed and taken care of till the end of its life.  Once it died, the body was taken away by people who specialized in removing the skin and bones for various commercial purposes.

In those days the cows were milked but not to the last drop.  Some was left behind for the calf too.  Such milk could be considered fit for drinking by vegetarians.  But these days dairy has turned into an industry.  The industry treats cows as merely milk producing automatons and there are few ethical considerations, if any.  It is not a gentle industry.

Further, bulls are no longer needed as draft animals.  Religious cow owners let go of the calves and these turn into stray cattle.  Only a few are needed for reproduction.  The rest must be getting caught and ending up in slaughter houses.  The religious owner likes to think that he has not partaken of the sin as he didn't sell the calf for money.  The dairies, of course, are not bothered by these considerations.

Our cities are riddled with small scale illegal dairies.  The male calves born in these dairies turn into stray bulls that are a menace to the citizens.  Most of these dairies have no qualms about driving away the dry cows who roam the streets feeding on the garbage at the dumps.

With industrialization of dairy, male calves getting discarded and old cows and bulls being left to fend for themselves, it seems that our love for this animal is not reflected in the treatment meted out to them.

Perhaps the only conscientious way out of this guilt is to follow in the footsteps of vegans and give up diary products altogether.  This, of course, will not improve the fate of the poor animal.  But then, we can have the consolation of having nothing to do with the treatment meted out to it.

If this topic interests you and you have read this post up to this point you may also like reading this article: To-be-a-feminist-is-to-be-a-vegan.

How do you feel in the matter?

Support for the IronMan!

In his historical campaign, Mr. Modi projected himself as an Ironman with a legendary chest who will bulldoze all problems into magnificent solutions in one tenth of the time in which these were created.  There was much chest thumping amongst the followers who firmly believed that the panacea lied in Modi's victory.  Even fence-sitters like me were inclined to be charitable towards that belief.

In less than two years the tone and tenor of the discourse has changed.  The Ironman is being portrayed as a victim who deserves our fullest support because the whole world is conspiring against him.  There are posts in the social media suggesting that USA, UN Human Rights Commission, and Saudi Arabia are all after Mr. Modi.  It makes you wonder how could it be so after Mr. Modi's great thrust on international diplomacy, befriending Barack so as to be on first name terms with him and a most eloquent speech at the UN against terrorism.  And if you express your doubts on the social media the diehard fans howl at you.

Mr. Modi's Nepal initiative has failed miserably.  Fans say it is so because we cannot match the financial muscle power of China that has pumped in huge money to win Nepal over.  I don't claim any expertise in international affairs, but I do wonder why couldn't the billion dollar given to Mongolia, a little known country, have gone the Nepal way if this is the case?

Now the daal controversy is being blamed on traders who owe allegiance to Congress.  PM wanted India to be free from Congress. He knows for sure all the scandals that caused the public outrage that led to PMs victory.  With that knowledge and the fact of being in power, it should have been the easiest of the things to put Congress on the back foot by initiating action against it instead of preaching against politics of revenge.  Occasional noises are made about inquiry into Vadra's land deals and the National Herald case but it peters out quickly.  Any investigation into scams involving trillions of rupees are kept so carefully hidden that the public may be justified in thinking that all is forgiven and forgotten.  How is it that a party that has so much against it and is out of power is able to arm twist you through its cohorts without any fear of retaliation?  And then your supporters make big noise about bearing with the government in the distant hope of an golden era that seems to be getting more distant by the day.  Also how is it that the government machinery firmly controlled by you couldn't see the crisis coming and the game that the cohorts were playing?

Again, the current wave of protests against rising intolerance in the country is blamed on Congress and intellectuals who are all indebted to Congress.  It is as if Yogis, Sadhvis and BJP loudmouths are not to blame in the matter at all.  Or if they are, the Ironman is a victim of its own party and organization and we must show more understanding towards him.  As Arun Jaitley has said PM is the biggest victim of intolerance himself.

This call for more understanding and support is in stark contrast with the image projected for our PM whose mere presence in the seat of power was supposed to forcefully dispel all the gloom.  His own supporters are now portraying him as a hapless victim who needs greater support to be just able to withstand all the pressure being mounted on him from domestic and international spheres.

As a member of the voting public, I feel that our salvation lies in becoming more and more ruthlessly demanding and not in being compassionate towards the political class.  Is that unfair?

The Munshi Pulia Puzzle

Here is a puzzle set up by the traffic police of Lucknow.  As I do not have access to a helicopter for an aerial photograph, I have represented the puzzle diagrammatically.

For those who are not familiar with Lucknow, Munshi Pulia is a very busy road intersection on the Ring Road with a huge circle and lots of traffic.  The traffic also includes heavy vehicles passing through Lucknow.  There are no traffic signals at the chauraha.

The police have erected a barrier as shown in the diagram.  Because of it the traffic flows in crazy ways.  I have shown the patterns in the diagram.  I decided against drawing the remaining flow lines as the diagram was getting too crowded.

When you are at or near the point marked "battlefield", you tend to get disoriented as traffic seems to be coming towards you from all sides except from up above and down under.  You draw a huge sigh of relief every time you are able to safely make it to your chosen road on the other side of the intersection.

Traffic police normally doesn't intervene.  I think they are convinced of the futility of doing so.

Some friends have guessed that the barrier has been erected to force the traffic coming in from the road at the bottom of the drawing and turning right to go around the circle.  Do you agree?

The question posed to you, dear readers, is this - is it possible that there could be some other deep unfathomable reason for the police to have done what they have?  And has it resolved the traffic problems or magnified them?  It might help if you stood at or slowly walked past the "battle point" while deliberating.  Do I hear you saying that it will be dangerous to do so?  Pedestrians routinely do that!

Letter to Dr. Dinesh Sharma, Mayor of Lucknow

Dear Dr. Dinesh Sharma,

I am persisting with my letters in the hope of catching your attention for the causes that our Prime Minister is espousing and where municipalities have a big role to play.

The PM is espousing the cause of smart cities.  Without the basic infrastructure in place there is no way to realize this dream.  However the current state of infrastructure even in the capital city of Lucknow shows that we are continuing in decades / centuries old ways and that there is little application of thought towards smart infrastructure.

A very mundane case in point is that of open drains (naali) for storm water that runs alongside boundaries of houses.  Some people use a strip of the sidewalk adjoining their boundary for gardening and quite a few of them fill this drain up with mud.  In many cases the drains gradually get choked up on their own.  The drains are not maintained nor are the sidewalks.  Though, sometimes we do see the unpalatable sight of drains being cleaned and all the stinking trash left on the sidewalks to find its way back to the drains.  In fact, the sidewalks are merely muddy strips separating house boundaries from the road. Thus all the mud and dirt and litter from the sidewalks finds its way to the drain and chokes it.  Many citizens have created an inlet into the sewers for draining the water that accumulates in front of their houses.

Further, there is no standard design for the sidewalk and the driveway from a house to the road.  Since the corporation is not doing the sidewalks many people are having it paved at their own expense in front of their house.  Now the question arises whether the pavement should be sloping towards the road or towards the drain alongside the boundary.  Since the drain has disappeared in most places most house owners keep the slope towards the road.  This leads to accumulation of water on the road and its consequent erosion.  Also, as there are no standard designs for the driveway merging into the road, many people make it so massive and steep as to totally block the sidewalk.

This was about the residential areas.  In marketplaces, the sidewalks simply become extension of shops forcing pedestrians out on the road.  As sidewalks are occupied entirely by the merchants, half the road gets taken up by motorists and bikers for parking thereby choking the traffic.

We know that in most countries there are no open drains, not even for storm water.  We know that footpath and driveway too have been completely standardized in more developed parts of the world and this makes life easy for all.

I would like to ask you is there anything that LMC is planning to do in this direction?  And, if yes, what and by what time?  Paving the footpaths may also pave the way to a smart city!  And concealed storm water drains will add both aesthetics and smartness to the infrastructure.

Regards,

AK Upadhyaya
18/428 Indira Nagar
Lucknow - 16.

Mob: 9044275658

Letter to Dr. Dinesh Sharma, Mayor of Lucknow

Dear Dr. Sharma,

Earlier I had written to you about the menacing levels of pollution resulting from widespread practice of burning garbage on the streets.

The letter today is meant to draw your attention to the menace of stray animals on the road that, unfortunately, include cows too that are loved by all of us.  This love is sometimes overshadowed by trepidation when we find a whole cowherd headed our way with two of them fighting with their horns interlocked.  People do get pushed and hurt.  The herds also have one or two bulls whose presence itself is menacing.

It would seem that these cows are owned by people in the embedded villages in the colony and they have trained them to roam around for food and return to them for milking.  Religious minded people do keep on offering food to these cows reinforcing their behavior.  They are also attracted by the uncollected garbage that lies around at dumping centers as mentioned in my previous letter.

The bigger threat is from bulls that accompany the horde and are apparently not owned by anybody.  These must be those few male calves who could manage to escape the cattle smugglers or have been protected for reproduction purposes.  They are aggressive, look menacing and cause hurts to pedestrians.

Monkeys too have become a terror and are routinely visiting residential areas and doing substantial damages to gardens, cables, overhead tanks and also biting people.  Street dogs too are a menace.

If we want Lucknow to be a modern city, we must free the city of stray cattle, monkeys and dogs.  The LMC will do good to proactively comb the residential areas for stray cattle instead of waiting for a complaint.  Many a times these cattle come out after dusk when the offices are closed.

I am sure that the matter will receive your attention and lead to some action on the ground for making the city safe and clean.  This will also be a step towards making a smart city as visualized by our Prime Minister.

Regards,

AK Upadhyaya
18/428 Indira Nagar
Lucknow - 16.

Mob: 9044275658

A Letter to Dr. Dinesh Sharma, Mayor of Lucknow.

To:
      Dr. Dinesh Sharma,
      Mayor, Lucknow.


Dear Dr. Sharma,

I am writing this open letter to you for two reasons.  The first reason is the call by our Prime Minister for a Clean India.  The second is the ever diminishing space available to those who try to keep healthy by taking walks in the morning: I am a senior citizen and belong to this group.

I find Prime Minister's call for स्वच्छ भारत being interpreted merely as a call for not littering and for not peeing or defecating in the open.  However enlightened people like you would agree that it goes far beyond this.  I will illustrate this.  People in my locality are quite hygiene conscious and have engaged an agency, Chamaacham Lucknow, for garbage collection.  They come in a rickety thela rickshaw and take away the kitchen garbage and the recyclables.  Sometimes, if the garbage is voluminous, they protest and mumble about no or inadequate space allocated to them for dumping the garbage.  I do think that it is the municipal corporation that is finally responsible for processing and disposal of all garbage even if they don't collect it from each household.  Some open dumps used by these garbage collectors are in the residential areas itself.  There is one on the Picnic Spot Road leading to Kukrail forest too.  The garbage rots there giving off foul smell till municipal dumpsters collect them.  The garbage also attracts cows, pigs and dogs who feed off it.

But in this letter I would like to draw your attention to yet another class of garbage.  It is in the form of fallen leaves and plant trimmings and also littering on the road resulting from a habit that the PM is fighting against.  A contributing factor for such behavior is almost total lack of public trash cans too.

This last category of trash is swept into small mounds in the morning and then lighted up.  There is hardly any park in Indira Nagar where you will not find a smouldering garbage dump spewing dark smoke. This has made morning walk absolutely unhealthy and many people are thinking of either giving up morning walk, or to go for a walk before dawn and arrival of the sweepers, or drive to a faraway park like Lohia or Janeshwar Park.  These mounds of garbage emitting smoke can been seen throughout the city including the market areas.

The sweepers maintain that this is the only possible way of disposing this class of garbage and that even if they were to carry cartloads there is no place to dispose it off.

I wish to underscore that if the PMs Swachchh Bharat mission is to succeed, municipalities have to gear up and put in place arrangement for efficient collection and disposal / processing of garbage.  Without this arrangement in place, it is but bound to fail.

As the mayor of the capital city of UP and as a political figure who is loved by the citizens, you are just the right person to take a lead and blaze the trail for all other municipalities to follow.

We look forward to your initiatives to galvanize Lucknow Municipal Corporation into becoming a model for attaining the cleanliness visualized by our beloved PM.

Regards,

AK Upadhyaya
18/428 Indira Nagar
Lucknow - 226016.

Mobile: 9044275658.