IotR stands for Idiots on the Road where I will be chronicling stupidity I see on Indian roads. Here is first one: I didn’t witness this, but it happened as a friend narrated it, on the Bangalore Outer Ring Road (a six-land road inside the city) near Doddanekkundi. There was this guy riding a Honda Activa scooter…
Kerala’s once-prosperous and mighty “Red Elephant” (aanavandi) is all but skin and bones today, but nursing it back to health is not Mangalyaan-science as explained in the previous chapter. However, there is a much deeper reason behind KSRTC’s present crisis than simple financial travails. Without fixing that, any kind of solution implemented will only be temporary. In the last…
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has a long and illustrious history that precedes even the state of Kerala or India. It starts in 1937 when the Travancore State Transport Department was constituted by HH Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the Maharaja of Travancore. The first buses were imported from England. Post independence the TSTD was incorporated as an…
The average front-engined bus in India is just a truck with seats mounted in its back and a roof over them as bus operators just buy truck chassis and build bus bodies on them. These are not just horribly inefficient but also uncomfortable and back-breaking. Almost everywhere in the world buses are always back-engined and operators buy real buses and…
There are some things that cannot be missed. For some people it is the first day first show of a movie, for some, it is the launch event of a new gadget, or a game of their favorite sports teams, a daily TV program and for some, it is the exact log-in time at office. For me…
When it comes to vehicles and general Indian populace, the saying “Little knowledge is a dangerous thing” acquires new dimensions in its meaning. Forget treating 800cc cars as a status symbol and defining masculinity as per your presence and command on the road and your ability to make all the World fall at your feet…
During times of the course of the day, the Earth’s rotation takes it to the other side of the sun plunging it and everything on it into darkness. Bereft of natural light, we miserable humans need artificial luminescence to see what lies ahead of us while we make our way forward through that deep, dark darkness….
What is the big deal about driving a car? A car is not much different from that 100cc bike we have been riding since we hit puberty. Sure, it is a bit wider, has two more wheels and position, size and shape of the levers, pedals and such controls change a bit. But it is…
For many, especially the neo-liberated Indian in small town India, buying a car is a dream come true, the process of acquiring it is a dream process come true and car salesmen are dream merchants. Whatever people might say, I believe that globalization and capitalism have liberated us. It it were not for it, you…
Much has been outraged about the autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore and their overcharging habits. People seem to be helpless in front of them trying to wring out a profit by hook or by crook, the law often being helpless. But sorry to say, many a time the naive passenger who has a chance to get…
A car is a must today. No doubt about that, especially when there is little effective public transportation in India. But the car ownership funda in our society is totally warped with “emotional” or perceived factors outweighing the logical and rational ones. India does not have a “driving culture” or an “automotive culture” save some…
A Shatabdi Express from Thiruvananthapuram to Bangalore? That will not happen in this Universe, where for various reasons known to everyone, the hallowed populace of Malluland has the distinction of being always ignored and at the receiving end of the stick of everything. But in terms of providing neglect to them, no institution comes close…
