Best bus ETA

It always good to see when your city progresses and make things convenient for you. Today, india's best intra-city bus organization made me feel proud. Yes, BEST- Bombay Electric Suburban Transport, the pioneer bus service of India has gone hightech. Right from the smart card service, electronic tickets
to A/C service(although it annoys at times). Like every other day, i was waiting at the mithchowki bus stop to board my bus to office. It started drizzling so i quickly took shelter under the bus stop. To my sight came a one small sticker saying, ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). To know the ETA of a bus on this stop send an SMS to 46060 as BEST  BUS_STOP_CODE. BUS_STOP_CODE is a 5 digit code written in red color on the bus stop. Out of curiosity i tried it, was wondering how would it know that which bus i am interested in. To my surprise with in a minute or two i received an sms stating AC707 ETA 10.27. I was moved for a minute by the surprise. Surprise that it works. I believe it currenly provides update for only AC buses. But something is better than nothing. Years back i had written a similar post on my marathi blog about this and how best could use the GPS system to improve their quality and customer wait period. They have achieved it in slightly different way but its really a good news to see this improvement. I don't think many people are aware of this. So sharing this post. Please forward this valuable information to everyone.
Lets make the optimum use of this. For me, i would now check my bus status right when i step out from my home and i believe that would really help and make a difference.
Thanks BEST you are the BEST!

Hi-tech autowala

Met a high-tech autorickshaw guy today. My auto-rickshaw meter was reading 7.40. He replied its 94 sahab. I said how come? He said, aapke mobile mein bhi hoga, then he transferred an application to my mobile which has the following features... Autorickshaw fares, taxi fares, local-railway timetable, Mega block information, BEST timetable, PNR status. I was surprised after seeing his ease of use of the new mobile which he bought 2 days back as he said. Not only this, but also he taught me how to calculate the exact fare from meter reading. multiple the meter reading with 1.3 and subtract 2 rs. from the amount, this will be the approximate fare, which i neva knew since the autorickshaw fares had changed. So if the rickshaw wala is minting more fare outa you, you can easily teach him a lesson. This application is developed by mobond group. You can find more details over here... mobond.org

Different ppl, Different thinking: Humanity @ its best!

Since i have started working, travelling wd the mumbai BEST has become a necessity for me. Paps of yestrde who used to hate travelling by bus has left wd no option now. But travelling was always my hobby and the best thing i luv about travelling by public transport system (PTS) is you get to meet new ppl and discover their varied behaviour. One such experience i had on last friday when i was returning from office. It was 11pm i tuk 460 bus from Aarey market stop. At this hour of night, the buses are usually vacant with only handful of passengers and empty roads, as a result the drivers also feel as if they are Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button of F1. Even this bus driver was inspired by Narain Karthikeyan i guess. He was very aggressive. I love to watch BEST drivers driving furiously, so mosta da time i opt the seat very next to the driver (the single seat). The bus had just came outa da Dindoshi depot and the driver who was thinking that he is a pilot few minutes back was now transformed into a villager who is riding a bullock cart, yea the bus speed was cut off short. Reason, there was an insane walking right in front of the bus, the driver honked his typical BEST bus horn(pom pomm!) just couple of times and then kept driving the bus slowly and dint utter a single word. Ppl in the bus used their mumbaiyya slang language to remove their frustration on him. The driver was still quite. Atlast the man turned back and saw that he is walking right in front of the bus and slowly moved aside. He wasnt aware of what the passengers are talking about him. with his head down and an umbrella in his hand kept on walking.. Soon he moved outa the way the bullock cart driver transformed back into Schumacher. I laughed and said the driver, "Kai mansa astat na... Aikaila yet nahi kai tyala?? Tumhala raag yet asel na?? aslya lokancha??" (How foolish that man was! cudnt he hear the horn?? You guys must be getting pissed off coza such ppl ryt??).. Making sure that the speed has settled down to acceptable limit and no one on the road ahead the driver turned to me and replied, "Nahi bala, toh bicchara aaplya tension madhe asawa, Tyacha laksha nasnaar.." (No dear, that guy was tensed so he dint even notice the bus!) I was stunned by that reply, the Vin Diesel of TFTF had turned into a person who had so much understanding about ppl and their mindset!! He was simply gr8! If everyone of us start thinking like the bus driver then wont there be a happy world for us to live ??

Ale re Ale... Ganpati allee.....

With only two days left for Ganpati festival to begin, all the Ganesh idol artists are busy giving their final touch in their art-workshop. Last friday i went to one of such workshop near my colony. Since last one week i was very curious to go there and check out the kinda work they are involved in. There were hundreds of idols ready to take home and ganesh pandaals.. Few of them posted here.. I spent a few mins talking to them about their work. These artists start their work 3 months before Ganesh festival. The person whom i met is Mr. Vishnu Mestry who has been conducting this Ganesh idol-workshop since 15 years. He was very happy to tell me all the info i needed and showed me few of his master pieces. There was one Ganesh-idol colored totally in dark orange color and he asked me to take a snap of this. I refuse since its eyes were yet to be painted.. But he said, "its my master piece, i will paint them after i finish my sundry work. This particular idol is very dear to me. So i wanna do it in my idle time, Fursat se!" and he winked. I could see his dedication towards the work and attachment he had with each of his babies... (idols).. Explaining a few idols he said, "One always have to be in the best of his mood, since our mood has a gr8 impact on the things we do and the way we do it. A small mistake in the color combination and shading off the idols may entirely change the look of the idol." He then got busy wd something, so i went to another co-worker who was so excited to give a pose along wd the ganesh idol he was giving finishing touch. "What kinda colors do u use to paint them?" Trying to help him out i added "meaning.. plastic distemper, oil paint??" He laughed aloud and said, "NAhi mitra, dye che colors waparto amhi!" (No friend! We use Dye colors). All those idols were made from plaster of paris(POP), which actually is not environment friendly. On asking about this he said, "Now-a-days, people choose POP idols over traditional idol made from mud since POP are lighter and even we have to do less efforts. Even if we make mud-idols, ppl ask them @ the cost of POP. POP idols are much cheaper!" I m posting few stils on my photoblog. please feel free to chk em out. The "atmo" is all set for this bigggieeeee event in Maharashtra. Thanks to our gr8 gr8 freedom fighter "Baal Gangadhar Tilak" he started this event to bring all the Indians together. As an addon this year is very special since Monday onwards our Muslim brothers are celebrating Ramzan! So its gonna be double fun. I wish all Muslim frnz "Happy Ramzan" and "Ganpati bappa Morya!" or say "Kaaybalbati molya" in dhruv's language. Well, Dhruv is kiddo of Raut kaka from Chinchwad where i used to go for my dinner when i was studying in Pune. Dhruv unable to pronounce Ganpati bappa morya used to say "Kaybalbatti molya" hehehe.. But his excitement while saying those words was double then ours. He is choo cute.. miss u Dhruva.. With all the excitement ready to come our way in just a period of 2 days, m very happy and ready to see my fav god come home soon...
Ganpati Bappa Morya!!!!
or in Dhruva's language.. "Kaaybalbatti Molya"

Microsoft Live Search

Microsoft Live Search advertisement on a bus stand near Dindoshi bus depot (Mumbai). If you observe properly the flex hoarding is put up in a wrong way. I tell u, these placeholders are charged @ a very high rate on a per day basis. Hope Bill Gates see this. ;)