Culture

The word culture has a broad meaning within it. It includes everything what our ancestors left us to follow in terms of  formalities, activities and guidance. But everybody has the right to think and decide his method of adoption for any of his functions.

There were numerous superstious activities our ancestors use to follow and now they are void.We do not believe in them as they do not have any basics behind. We also  do not conduct the marriages, engagements and various other functions exactly as per our so called ‘ culture’. May be partly. We have changed according to the time and made many additions and deletions to these formalities itself. We will teach the same thing to our children but the generation next will also modify.it goes on... We cannot just avoid it. Because, things change with change in Technology. New fashion comes,new design comes..People will find it interesting and inclined towards it.

Lastly, the culture is not a Law to follow. It is a guidance, but it is up to you to follow or not. I believe in this. It is rubbish to force someone to follow specifics. According to constitutional rights, everyone has the right to do anything under the law.

Just missed accidents

1.       I think year 1998: Myself  and Naveen Lobo went to attend the school day at Rosa Mystica, kaikamba. We went by Local bus from Kaikamba and got down at Rosa Mystica bus stand.I was excited to get in and started crossing the road blindly. There was a Ambassador car coming at high speed from Mangalore was at little distance from me. Since it was night, headlights of the car were on and i could not gauge the speed of the car.I crossed 30% of the road more or less and realised that the car was coming at high speed and decided to run. But... at that moment Naveen realised that i will end up trouble  pulled me back to the same end by holding my hand  swiftly. I realised only seconds after that i missed an major accident.

2.       Coimbatore: It was 2006 and i had TVS star city motor bike. As a young lad, there was always a passion to ride the bike at high speed.But this case happened when  i was moving slowly otherwise, i think this blog would not have been created for you to read.

The express buses in Coimbatore are a disatster. They  drive so recklessly and one has to be very cautious  while driving on highways. I was riding perfectly on the left side of the road which is my lane and  now saw a bus overtaking another bus in front of me. I switvhec on he  the lights but it never made any impact on the  bus driver. He was rushing to overtake the bus and i was almost right in front. There was lot of grass to the left of the road and i had no other option but to suddenly move the bike  towards the grass. Luckily  it was not drainage and  was a flat area. This averted another major tragedy.

My mom at 60

After 42 years of long teaching career, my mom retires from the work as she turns 60 today. She is satisfied today for the work done and teaching the fundamentals to the kids in Pompeii Higher Primary school Gurpura- kaikamba for 32 years and last 10 years at Parochial Higher primary schools at Bajpe.

We are joyful and proud today for having you as our mother and pay our sincere gratitude for growing us up with great values, providing education and career.

We wish you peace, happiness and good health in your retired life. Be happy and cheerful.

With Warm wishes,

Pimmu, Jesu and James

Probable solution for arresting black money

1.       All the purchasing/selling above 20,000 Rs should be through the bank only and cash transaction should be banned.

2.       With this method, we end up routing all the financial matters through bank and it is easy for to find out the net income, taxes and so on.

3.       All the bank transactions should have PAN card number necessary on it for tracking purpose.

4.       When you transfer the plot/house from one person to another person, the registrar should demand for the money transfer details to ensure the white money usage.

5.       The RBI should hence limit printing the cash.RBI should keep the equivalent amount of gold as a safety for the money released.

6.       Option should be given to convert all the black money to white money by paying the tax  for the black money involved. The names of the people should be kept confidential.

I am confident, this will solve 60-70% of the problems. Please implement  this atleast in one small state like Goa  to understand the effectiveness and impact

Nature photos taken by me-2

Nature Photos taken by me-1

Terrible Journeys-1

1.       Diwali 2007 in general class trip from Coimbatore to Mangalore:

I was working in Coimbatore and my usual practice during holidays to go to Mangalore. But this Diwali was never planned. I was thinking to stay back in Coimbatore. But 3 days of holidays gave me a temptation to go to Mangalore. But it was too late to get a berth in the train. Train was an easy option to reach home. I took risk and decided to go by general class and prepared myself for a terrible journey.

First of all, there was no place to get into the train for almost 3 minutes after the train stopped in Coimbatore Junction. I had a bag behind me and overall i was finding it difficult to fight against the crowds pushing and pulling me. I succeeded to put my one foot on the step and made enough fight to land second one too just in time and the train started moving.

Now i was sure that i will reach Mangalore and i was sure that no seat will be available throughout my 9 hours journey. Palakkad is about one hour from Coimbatore. I was standing somehow and hoping that many people will get out the train at the pallakkad junction. My hope was true, there were 5-8 people got out of train. But my relief was there only for 2 seconds as i saw a small mob of 10 people are trying to get into the train at the same time. I was still in the passage, standing with great difficulty, now decided to push myself in the main passage hoping for a better situation. I was prepared to stand till the morning, but wanted to stand without any difficulty.

The train moved from Palakkad junction towards Calicut. I saw number of people sitting on the floor obstructing the main passage.I was thinking ‘ why i cannot also follow the same thing’. I searched for the place to land myself, removed my small towel spreading across the place where i am going to sit and slowly sat.

A great relief. My rest of the journey was with seeing people around and with breaking sleeps. The train arrived on time at 04:30 to Mangalore.

At the end i was happy reach Mangalore ‘somehow’

Since i was coming to Mangalore more often, sometimes every week if necessary, i chose this option as i was spending half of the money from sleeper class and learned some techniques to manage to get a seat.

2.       Bus trip from Coimbatore to Mangalore Via Mysore

It was in  2010 and i got bored going by train to Mangalore. I decided one day to go by bus Via Mysore. I went couple of times before but i had good planning  then. In this case  the decision to go to Mangalore took place around 4 PM in the  evening.I don’t remember exactly why i have decided.

I took bus from Gandipuram bus stand in Coimbatore at 7 PM and moved towards Mysore. Let me tell you one thing here. Travelling through the satyamangalam Ghat sections with steep curves and hair pin bends is a great experience

The bus takes 6 hours to reach Mysore and the time was 1 AM in the morning. There were no deluxe and premium buses available at this time. I had to make one more cut journey. I got a  bus  moving towards Madikeri and had no other option but to get into. The bus was full even though it  was just after midnight. I stood for 3 hours for my journey to Madikeri.When i was getting down, i came to know that the same bus is going up to Sullya. I took additional ticket and the bus moved through the Ghat sections.

Now my stomach started working and  i started omitting. I stopped the bus for 2 times  for completing the omission properly. I was relaxed by the time i reached Sullya. There was another government bus ready at Sullya bus stand to go to Puttur and  again no choice to but to get into yet another cut journey ( cut journey is my terminology ).

At puttur, there was a bus to go to Mangalore, but i opted for B C road as i can reach Kaikamba from B C road. Getting down at B C road, i  made a big mistake in my decision to go to Kaikamba via Kuppepadav. This was indirect way to go to Kaikamba. The usual bus travel time is 40 minutes where as this Bus took 1.5 hours from B C road to reach Kaikamba.i was not aware about this also never asked  the conductor.

 At last i got down at 09 35 Am at Kaikamba and my brother came to pick me up.

My house construction

With the cost going up day by day, we( me and my wife) decided to build a house in  our native place Gurpura kaikamba.  I never had any knowledge about the house construction process, but there were lot of decisions i  needed to take for the progress of the house. I have bulleted the process of my house construction and various thoughts towards my decisions on designs and selection of materials.

I hope the process and factors i have mentioned below will be helpful to you in the event you come up with building a house.

1. NECESSITY TO BUILD A HOUSE: Since there was already a plan to build house, i thought better make it sooner than later. Please make a decision based on your requirements.

2.PLAN: This is the most important step of decision making. I am sure everybody will have some idea how own house should appear. I made a draft plan and discussed with a  civil engineer consultant  and fine tuned it to my requirements.

I have a tip here inform. Listen to everybody’s ideas. See some houses for more ideas.But decide what you would like to have

1. Levelling:  make the plot  flat and clean. Since there were trees before the house, i have ensured that there are no roots on the area where the house will be constructed.

2.Marking: This is the most important step. Marking will be done as per the blue print.

3.Foundation work base work: The foundation will be made by digging the marking. Below picture will give an idea.

The depth depends on the height of the building. For a normal 2 floor building  the depth should be 3 ft. I had rock at 1.5 ft and after it was chipped using compressor.

3.Foundation stone construction:  The stones will be built sideways  as per below picture.

               

4.Filling the mud: The height of the foundation was around 3ft above the ground. The mud was filled as shown in photo. We had to ensure about the mud without any plastic, roots and other foreign materials.

I did this work in July during masons and hence there was no need for me to put water. I allowed the foundation to settle for 20 days.

5.Construction up to Lintals: Now the stones will be build along the length of the line. If you look close on the below photo, you will understand.

6.Lintel work: Lintel work will start after reaching 7ft height. Wooden planks will be prepared for concreting the windows side ways protector, sit out, work area, stair case.

7. Reinforcement rods for concrete: Beams will be made out of concrete. Size if the rods will be higher (16mm ) for beams and less around 8mm for  the other area.The rods intersections were tiled  with the wire for uniformity and tightness.

8. Lintels concrete filling: This was the photo of the stair case once the concrete mixture was put in.

We waited for one week before taking up the construction.

9.Built up to the terrace: The stones construction will go further up by 3 ft making it total 10 ft from the ground. I do not have pictures to show this.

10. Terace concrete preparation: This is another important milestone. Below pictures will speak better about  this.

11. Terace:The concrete  mix was made and terrace was built.below photo just after the terrace. The entire work of the concretisation has to happen on the same day. The terrace concrete work was completed around 1 PM and immediately plastering was done on the terrace.We kept the terrace with water for one month for curing.

12.Stair case room construction: Since i had  decided to have the staircase inside, it costed me additional 1.5 lakhs in 2011. The stair case room was constructed.

12. Electrical work and plumbing work: Before the plastering, the chipping work for the electrical work started.The electrical chipping work can start after 20 days from the  concrete day at the terrace.

I had to make a lot of thinking to keep the electrical appliances and make arrangement for the electrical points. I decided  the location of the refrigerator,washing machine,oven, electrical cooker, fans and lights, switch board near to the bed, the light positions outside and upstairs.

I also decided the toilets and bathrooms, the position of commode,shower, washing basins and so on.

13. Plastering: Soon after the chipping work, the plastering started. In order to save time and speed up theprogress of construction, the electrical contractor finished the chipping room by room so that the plastering can be started paralely.

Plastering of the entire house took about 40 days. This could have been reduced to 30 days, but there was a delay in work from masons.

13 a: An important matter is to fit  all the windows before the plastering.Masons will complete one wall on the same day.Another point is that plastering will commence from sealing and then on the walls.If you see the below photo, we can identify that the windows have been fit  at the time of plastering.Also we have to fit the  wooden shutter for the door.

14. Flooring: I decided to put granites  in the living room hall and stair case steps and bedrooms and the kitchen area will have the tiles. Selection of tiles was based on the color combination keeping in mind  of the color of the house, cost and the quality. I took one day off from the office for tiles and granite selections.

At this point of time, we had the temporary electrical power connection given to the house in order to carry out the tiling and graniting work.

15. Once coat of paint: One coat of white coat was painted in the mean time.

16. Electrical work: Complete wiring for the house was done after one round of coating was completed. Plumbing work was 90% completed. You can see the water connection pipes in the below picture.

17.Painting: I had chosen  redwine white color in side and creamish white outside.There were 7 people for painting and the painting work for the entire house including the doors and windows was over within one week.

18.Finshing work:This includes

·         Fitting of electrical lights and switch boards

·         Bathroom fittings

·         Show case readiness

·         Furnishing  according to your intentions.

Some of my house photos are below

quotes, facts that keep me moving..

A lot of thoughts of mine and  quotes heard at various occasssions

Ø  If you wanted to make your mark in this world, you have to strive hard.

Ø  It is easy to tell a fact, but hard to follow it.

Ø  Time is the essence of any business we are doing.

Ø  Formulate, establish,co ordinate and administer a  system when you introduce it.

Ø  A professional is the one who does his work without any supervision and will certify the work done by others.

Ø  “Insisting “ is the very important and effective quality of a manager.

Ø  Self drive required to become a successful manager.

Ø  A manager cannot be reactive. He has to be pro active in his work for managing successfully.

Ø  If we say “ we have too much work”, then we are not organising the work good enough.

Ø  If you are not able to finish the job within a stipulated time, you are not good enough.

Ø  One has to agree that  it  is “ I also responsible for the failure of my sub ordinate”

Ø  For all the success in life, everything starts with the word “ Passion”

Ø  You should know where to get into the bus and where to get down the bus as a “ Manager”.

Ø  Discipline and motivation is the key for success.

Ø  We are in business and the business continues because “ everything has  life”

Ø  Education gives a lot of maturity when a person takes  a  managerial post. A person can be a manager without great qualification. But if he has to attain the same maturity, a lot of experience required.

Ø  Always learn to grab the opportunity. It may not come so often and later do not make it to feel.

Ø  Think ten times, before you take a job change.

Ø  Do not run from a company because of job pressure. Instead handle the pressure successfully and then make your decision.

Ø  Always try to find your passion and ultimate goal of your life. The earlier you find it, you will find more number of roads to get in there.

Ø  Love yourself maximum in this world. Take care of your health and upgrade your knowledge and focus on personality development all the time.

Ø  Take time to exercise, otherwise you will spend time for the illness.

Ø  Man earns money compromising health, and spends the same money to keep the health. How true isn’t it.

Ø  Read  for at least 30 minutes a day- general news and subjects of your interest.

Ø  Try to keep balance between three. Work, famlily and sleep. It will increase productivity.

Ø  Do not presume/assume anything. If in doubt, please ask. Assumptions may land you in the wrong path.

Mangalore

Mangalore.. It is my city.... it is our city.  It is the city of Angels, as someone rightly said. It is one of the most beautiful cities in India.  It is filled with people of tremendous talents. We are born here.  We love it and we want our Mangalore to be one of the best cities in India and later in the world too.

But the dream will not  become realistic just like that without any efforts and strong vision to work towards acheiving it.  If we look  at the present economic strength of Mangalore, we will be surely able to realise  and understand whether  Mangalore can be  one of the best places in India to live or not.

It is important for all of our NRI readers to know  and understand where Mangalore is leading and what we have to do to have a bright future for ourself.  This is important because many of us have invested our hard earned money in this city as businessmen and / or decided to live here after a period of time.

The capability of Managlore in the service industry, real estate,  properties, education, manufacturing, Information Technology, BPO  should be forecasted. If there is no growth, no demand, it will never be a good idea to invest  in the city.

As is where is condition:

 Below are the few points about present aspects of Mangalore.

1. Infrasturcure: In the last 10 years, there have been various efforts to upgrade the infrasturre of  city, but comparing to other  cities like Delhi and Chandigarh, we have a lot to do and work on.

So, Infrasturcture development is a core area needs to be addresed and actions to be implemented.

It is not that we do not have any facilities. The new Mangalore port is one of the major export ports in India at the moment.  The growth of the new Mangalore port has been excellent in the recent years and has created good amount of surplus.

Even though  we have Aerodrome from 1956, till now we have not been able to classify as a full-fledged International airport . We need to have cargo facility as soon as possible  for faster and reliable services of goods to and from Mangalore. Efforts  should be made to   connect to the major part of the city and the world.

Education:  As we all know, Mangalore and Dakshina Kannada Districts are the educational hub in India.  Students not only from All over the Country and also from the world over come here and build their future. We have to keep this credit and upgrade the education system every year to keep the status. Unitversities like Manipal, Nitte have really become famous for their quality education in terms of Medical and Engineering.

Banking : Mangalore is popular for the Banking sector.  Mangalore is having a strong presence in terms of Banking. The nationalsied Banks like Canara and Vijaya banks , Karanataka Bank, Sydicate Banks 

were established in  the region.

Information Technology: IT has not been that effective so far in the city, but after Bangalore, the companies are eyeing to set their operations in Mangalore.

 The information Technology has slowly getting diverted to Mangalore  may be due the fact of our strong base in  educational facilities. This is a good sign. Infosys is the first company who made its presence in the city. WIPRO also plans to set up its operations in Mangalore. Two IT parks are already  under construction - One near Ganjimatt and other one near Mangalore University.  Third one is under  construction at Thumbay by BA group.

Considering   this, Mangalore will be looking forward to become a serious alternative to Bangalore in the future for IT solutions. .

Manufacturing :  Any country to be developed or potential for the development can be estimated by understanding its manufacturing capability.  On the other hand, when we apply  this to the city or the district, our Canara district should be able to produce and create  income and the employment.

Just compare to the city Coimbatore which is now has  become Industrial Hub in south India.

International Market leaders in Valves, pumps sector are setting up the offices as well as the operational plant to cater the  fast growing Indian Market. The TN  government is supporting industrialization in the state which  has made them attractive for FDI.

Similarly,  the entrepreneurs and businessmen should come forward  in investing money in our city and make our city too  be competitive.

At the moment, our dear city is not producing so much. The industries are not  more and hence   not creating income and the employment.The MRPL and MCF are the major industries at the moment available at the large scale level.  It is good news that ONGC is planning to invest 35000 Crores in newly forming MSEZ.

 Mangalorean firms have been famous  for Beedi, Coffee, Tiles  and Cashewnut Industry.  However, the tile industry is in decline due to the popularity of concrete base buildings.

Mangalore is also famous for the production of Leaf springs for automobile sectors which are used as shock absorbers. There are currently 6 units in Baikampady industrial area  catering to replacement market of South India.

The latest development in the Mangalore special economic zone has created a new potential future in Mangalore. The SEZ was announced in the year 2005 and  since these five years  the commencement of this zone has happened in slow pace. There may be people who need to evacuated, but need to be done for the benefit of our country and our region. Otherwise, where is the growth, and again,we will end up in remaining as second tier city for long time.

Now, MSEZ officials have announced that  this year the zone will become operational. If this becomes true without any further  delay, we can strongly say there are lot of opportunities in terms if business and employment in Mangalore.

Students after education need  not travel to Gulf countries, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad or Bangalore in search of  jobs.  Instead they can work in their own city and enjoy the benefits of being in Mangalore  with the comparable salaries. Over a period of time, people from other parts of India should also think to come down to Mangalore for the job opportunities.

Real Estate:

Once we  become competent in Education ( we are already), engineering, service, manufacturing and other sectors there is no  doubt that Mangalore will be the next city to eye on. With living cost 20-30% less than that of Bangalore and other Major cities, Mangalore is the ideal place for the investment.

The real estate price will go high relatively and foreseeing this, it will be good idea if  you are planning to invest in Mangalore

Tourism, Hotel Industry:

When  your city do not create business,  the tourism, hotels, travel  also will not forsee the expotential growth as movment of businessmen and related officials will be less to the city. The   heavy mansoon from June to September

Anyway tourist places in Mangalore and in the district are quite good and this is keeping  the industry in good go.But we have to work towards making the available places for attractiing the tourist. The beaches have to be made clean and with more facilties attracting the tourism.

Before to  conclude:

We  should aim and work for more  FDI (Foreign Firect Investment) to happen in Mangalore to know the city potential to the world. Once more and more  companies and businessmen know about the city growth, more the FDI it can attract.

The government of Karnataka also should work  towards as this is  the only Major city in Karnataka  having good Air, Rail and Port sea connections.More the export, better is the  revenu .

Concerns:

Considering that present facts we have a strong opportunity which we should make use of without succumbing to the politics.

For a better Mangalore, we need to have  the following

Roads to suit the business requirement of future. The flyover plans to be speeden up and new ones to be constructed wherever necessary.In the last 6 months, there has been significant improvement in  upgrading the roads within the city. The authorities shoud now check the present status of roads in the outskirts of Mangalore and make plans to connect to the city with minimum  traffic.

Cargo  facility in Mangalore Airport to be established.  Airport connecting to Major part of India, middle east. As the business goes up and up,  the airport should invite the private airlines like Emirates,Qatar airways  for the air travel from Mangalore.

The railway stations both Kankanady and Mangalore central should be upgraded.

MSEZ and IT Partks: As mentioned before in this artcile, all the efforts should be made make these project to become realistic.

Conclusion: We can forsee at the moment a bright future for Mangalore.Various projects development plans (Mainly MSEZ) have been made and upon implementation, we can see a Mangalore which  will be shining in Karnataka and India.So it is now the  job of varous authorities of the region to ensure the implementation of the projects at the right time facilitating the business.

And one request to a common man: PLEASE keep the city clean and help Mangalore to

becme a model for other cities.