Category Archives: General

Selfie, Pouts & Potholes

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Hey babes, did ya chck thz meme out?

selfiemoon1

 

So fny, ain’t it totally rockin’? So ‘Us’ na! Mah bae sent it to moi. Am toh totally rofling ovr it since morn.

Now, tell me you haven’t heard somebody around you do this?! Don’t lie haan dear. 😉

Woh chhodo chalo, look at this:

selfiewithdeal selfiewithmodi selfiewithtruck

 

Ok..fine…ye thoda zyada ho gaya…a little ‘too wack’. Chalo, we don’t do these kinds, but we can’t deny that we do click a ridiculous number of selfies each day. Sitting-idle-at-home selfie, Driving selfie, Hanging-out-in-a-mall selfie, chilling-with-ma-bestie selfie etc etc….

We wonder, if we can take selfies at an avg rate of 20 selfies per minute (ok..fine …that’s made up), why can’t we click a single picture per day of an issue around us. These issues are practically everywhere around us. No need to scout for them.

Imagine each one of us clicking a picture each day and uploading it on www.ChangeBhai.in or atleast tagging ChangeBhai on social media, how much difference would that make collectively. Accha, selfie hi leni hai? Thik hai bhai, selfie le lo issue ke saath. Pothole selfie, overflowing garbage dump selfie, bad traffic signal selfie. In fact, somebody had launched this initiative in Bangalore, #selifi withpothole after PM Modi launched #selfiewithdaughter. The citizens were told to take a selfie with a pothole and mark the BBMP on social media.

Courtesy: Bangalore Mirror
Courtesy: Bangalore Mirror

Of course, nothing happened because who will take the issue up? But, in this case, there is ChangeBhai to take up your case!

Socho. Kaam toh aayengi tumhari selfiyan.

So here’s a call to all the baes and boos, babes and loves, darlings and dudes, Pls click atleast one picture of an issue around you each day and report it on www.ChangeBhai.in. Ye hoga sahi ka ‘cool stuff ’, kya bolte?!

 

Our National Flag – Our Pride, Our Identity

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Pingali!

Wondering what is this?!

pingali-2

Well, before we answer this question, let us first correct the question itself.

The right question is ‘Who is this?’

So, here’s the answer,

Pingali Venkayya is the person who designed our National Flag. For those who had not heard about him, he was an agriculturist and a freedom fighter from Andhra, who presented a version of our present day flag to Gandhiji.

We strongly believe that our flag is more than just cloth and ink. It is the history of our nation, and is marked by the blood of those who died trying to create a free India. Don’t you agree!?

This independence day, we speak about our beloved tricolour, our pride, our identity.

It is so really incredible to see the various changes that our National Flag has gone through since the beginning.

flags

The first version in red, yellow and green was hoisted on 7th August 1906, in the Green Park , Calcutta.

The second version hoisted by Madame Cama and her team of exiled revolutionaries in 1907 was almost similar to its earlier version, but seven stars denoting the Saptarishi were added.

The third version with the Union Jack (!!! Seriously, kaun dala ye) was hoisted by the renowned freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak and Dr. Annie Besant.

The fourth version in red and green came about in 1921. The red and green was said to symbolise the two major communities of India, Hindus and Muslims. Gandhiji recommended adding a third colour white, that was to symbolise the remaining communities and the spinning wheel to symbolise the progress of the Nation. Hmmm.

10 years later, in 1931, a resolution was passed to adopt tricolour flag as our national flag. It was declared that the colors bore no communal significance at all. Ah! That’s a relief indeed!

Later on, in 1947, the Ashoka Chakra replaced the spinning wheel, and thus our present day National Flag came into existence.

Isn’t it amazing how the evolution of our national flag reflected the political developments in the nation in those times!

Team ChangeBhai is proud to be Indian and wishes a very Happy Independence Day to all fellow Indians! May we value our freedom!

Vande Mataram.

Source of Facts : www.knowindia.gov.in

Potholes in the sky?! Yes. Yes. Yes. Possible. Eee dekho tanik.

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Holy moly guacamole!! If you thought the title of this post was misleading, then you my friend, are so wrong. Mumbai has never and will never cease to surprise us. Check this snapshot from a CB user on twitter below:

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Source: ChangeBhai Twitter Account

What the eff is happening, eh, The B the M the C?! Roads ka chalo jabardasti samjhe hum ki tum bole traffic bahut hai n all that. But son! potholes on the skywalk!

If you remember our blog about the ChangeBhai issue# A0431 ‘Lights not functional on Skywalk ‘ from Mumbai, you would remember this location. *drum rolls* The great (greater than Akbar, the great) Andheri Skywalk. The phatichar-est skywalk to have ever graced this city.

Pehle iska light nahi jal raha tha because the meter approval was pending. That we got fixed.

Phir paani was tapkoo-ing from its roof. That somehow got fixed temporarily with some jugaad.

Phir vaapis lights stopped working. Ye chal kya raha hai bhai?

Then these potholes plus hawker menace & a leaking roof again.

(BHAGOOOOO …….BHOOOOOOTTTT! Kidding….but ho sakta hai. We have shakk.)

Accha, doosri baat..Google Andheri Skywalk and you will see such fancy pictures of it, you will be amazed. Aisa to yeh, suna hai, launch pe bhi nahi dikh raha tha . Check out these amazeballs pictures:

Source: photobucket
Image Courtesy: photobucket
Image Courtesy: bollywoodscout.com
Image Courtesy: bollywoodscout.com

If you want more fun in your life (duh!), then keep watching this space. We are thinking of making a mainstream movie on this issue. Andheri Skywalk ki Madhur Kahaniyan.

Anyway, bahut ho gaya rona. We will get this resolved, that’s for sure. And if you spot a similar issue around you, do report it on www.ChangeBhai.in.

Tata. Byebye.

 

‘Ek Tha Lallan’ : Ek Fire hydrant ki Aatmakatha

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“Dear Municipal Commissioner Sahib,

Namaste.

My name is Lallan. I am a fire hydrant. I stay in Belapur area of Navi Mumbai. My life is over. How, you ask? Well, My parents have reported me as ‘MISSING’ at the local police station. Please tell them that am not ‘MISSING’. I am still alive,  but moving towards a slow death, being buried in my own grave.

When I was born, I was told that I am a hero, a hero who was born to save human lives in fire emergencies. I still remember the day I was placed here at my current location.

I was red in colour. Super shiny. Ready to take on the world. Fully alert to be in use, in case any emergency was to occur. *beams with pride*

Life was good. Of course, a minor glitch here and there but all good. A glitch like how, you wonder? Well, occasionally the neighborhood Tommy would come and take a leak on me. *facepalms* Children coming back from school would play around me. The local flower vendor Lata tai would hang her wares on me every weekend. But, that’s ok I guess. Part and parcel of being in an Indian public place.

But, one fine day the local administration decided to lay the long-tattered road in front of my pavement. I was jubilant. Thrilled that my surroundings were being beautified. But man, was I wrong!

The sleepy eyed road engineer messed up while taking the road measurements. He failed to even notice me. The contractor’s men came and poured tar on me a la Anarkali. :( And I thought I was a Hero. *sighs* Nobody loves me.

I wish I could have shouted for help. They should have put an alarm or some kind of a siren on me.

IMG_20150611_124904

So anyway, here I am. Most of my body is underground. I am now all black and totally useless. Useless even to Tommy who thinks am now too low for him.

Pls help me. If not for me, then at least for the sake of humans who reside nearby. They need me. *sobs uncontrollably*

Yours half-buriedly**,
Lallan Underground^
Near St. Josephs Church
CBD Belapur, Sector 8, Navi Mumbai

P.S. : Attaching pictures of my cousins from across the globe, courtesy their Facebook and Instagram accounts. *day dreams* ”

12233

If you manage to spot a ‘still living and healthy’ fire hydrant in your neighborhood, do upload a picture of it and tag us on facebook or twitter. If the fire hydrant is in a bad shape and is about to go ‘MISSING’ like me, do upload an issue on www.ChangeBhai.in under Civic category.

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**that’s not a real word btw.

^ Actual name changed to protect identity. Also, all characters in the story above are fictitious. Any similarity to a real person (under or above the ground) is purely coincidental.

Image courtesy:  architectureandbranding.wordpress.com,chicagoclout.com, agencythirtysixty.com in that order

“Where is Teja?” & “When Will He Fix Our Roads?”

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Three kids are arguing as to whose father is the fastest.

One says,
“My father is the fastest, he can overtake the arrow that he shoots with his bow.”

The second one,
“My father is even faster – when he hunts, he can shoot an animal with his gun and run up to the animal before it falls down.”

The third,

“You actually don’t understand what speed is. My father works in municipality. He finishes work at 4:30 pm, but he’s back home by 3:45 pm already.”

Jokes aside, let me begin the article with all due respect to the municipal authorities who have been going all out to resolve citizen complaints. Most of them do. And then there are the others. There is this super annoying thing which is incredibly common in the case of certain municipal corporations.

Frequent Employee Transfers.

Last time when we were so confused about ‘transfers’, we were watching Mr.Bajaj and Teja getting transferred in Andaz Apna Apna.

teja

For the uninitiated, ChangeBhai maintains an extensive employee database of all parties it works with. Needless to say, the database is updated frequently (weekly). Mostly, the moment a citizen issue comes in, we first forward it to the right ground level employee (junior-most) and then work our way up, if not resolved. But, one could have never speculated about the frequency with which the junior most employees are being transferred for certain cities. It is like the guy sitting on top is getting sadistic pleasure in doing so. No kidding. This does happen in India. Read about this case where MD of J&K’s Road Transport Corporation was frequently transferring class iv employees ‘just for a li’l fun’.

Refer to issue #A0561 “Road hasn’t been made for decades”. After visiting the issue site and being assured of resolving the issue by a certain Mr.Safif, nothing happens! Why? Because the gentleman got transferred without any hint or information about his replacement. Seriously, eh?

Now, one has to just wait to hear from the replacement while the road lies in tattered condition. Sheesh. We so wish the new guy comes in and identifies himself like Teja as soon as the confusion begins.

*drumbeats*

TEJA MAIN HOON. MARK IDHAR HAI.

 

Dustbins walking up to you?!! We knew this day would come.

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We remember writing a sarcastic piece last year on our collective inability to walk up to a dustbin and throw garbage in it. An excerpt from the article below:

Bins are not capable of walking up to you
(we are hopeful that with growing technological advancements such a day would come as well :) #IndiansNeedWalkingBins)

But boy!, little did we know that the Mumbai city administration was dead serious about the prospect of having dustbins walk up to you. This is why we say that contrary to popular perception, our administration is not that averse to all these fancy ideas.

Don’t believe it? Then read this..

BMC is planning to introduce Dustbin Robots all over the city. They have already installed one for a pilot study in Dadar.

Dustbin Robot in Mumbai!
Dustbin Robot in Mumbai!

The dustbin can travel 350 meters after being charged for four hours. It boasts of nine sensors and will be able to sense human presence . It can collect 80 kgs of trash in a single run.

Some people (like me ;)) would smirk at the idea and say “uth jaayegi ye ek raat mein hi“. The dustbin apparently has a three tier security system. f the dustbin is moved of the assigned area, it will shut down and an alarm will intimate authorities about its removal from the said zone. It doesn’t end there though as once the dustbin shuts down, text messages will be sent automatically to three emergency cellphones, informing them of its location. Whoaa!!

Now, of course, it doesn’t look as fancy as this Italian one called Dustbot below, but for Indian conditions it’s definitely a great start! What say you?

DustCart Robot in Italy, photo courtesy: alternativeconsumer.com
DustCart Robot in Italy, photo courtesy: alternativeconsumer.com

Till the time this robot comes to your city, do report all garbage related issues on www.ChangeBhai.in!

@BMC, tab tak puraani dustbins hi khaali kardo bhai. Check hundreds of issues similar to this latest one we received on ChangeBhai, Issue#A0563, “Garbage bin outside society gate”.

Ek Tha (ne) Lion.

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No, we are not referring to a potential sequel to the Salman Khan starrer movie Ek Tha Tiger. :)

If you remember,  there was this widely circulated video of a lion roaming on the roads of Thane around two months ago. Going by the number of bad road related issues being uploaded from Thane, we can only guess why the lion was roaming around Thane like it was on a vacation. Looking at the roads of Thane, it probably thought it was in his jungle and not in a city. lol.

Actual snapshot from the viral video
Actual snapshot from the viral video

Btw, thank you Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) for resolving issue#A0551 ‘Road in Bad Shape’ in record time for the first time ever. 15 days! Not bad considering your historical data. That too without bugging us for issue pictures from different angles & directions like these roads are in a remote Chambal valley village and not in your own city. Hmmm… think we will need drones to send the kind of pictures these municipal corporations sometimes ask for. Absurd.

So, ya, thank you TMC. You saved us some major energy and time as the user had never uploaded an image. Bach gaye!

@ChangeBhai users: Pls try and upload an image against your issue. Makes our job much easier.

Also, a shout out to the user sagarkanade for intimating us of the issue resolution as and when it was resolved by the authorities. We really appreciate active participation by the ChangeBhai users post uploading the issue.

Encouraging and timely mesgs from users such as sagarkanade (his comment under the issue copied below) keep us going. Really.

Sagarkanade            26 Feb 2015

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Hi Team Changebhai,

The road problem seems to be solved . It has been re-layed with additional tar.The only concern that remains is the haphazard way rickshaw drivers stop in the middle of the road for passengers to get in.

But I would like to thank you for reporting the issue and also thanks the authorities who acted on this and got this resolved.

Thanks a ton and keep up the good work.

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Also, a big thank you to users like Shobhana Anil who have been patiently updating us regarding their issues via Facebook.

We request all our users to keep bugging us regarding the status of your issues. Doesn’t really matter if you issue is pending or gets resolved. We will ensure we pull up our socks and get to work on your issue if it has been pending from our side.

And ya, keep uploading new issues on www.ChangeBhai.in.

NDTV, Why are you telling us to clean our neigbhorhoods?

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We were all greeted by a huge  full page NDTV ad titled  INDIA’S BIGGEST CLEANATHON in the newspaper today. Sponsored by Dettol, the campaign has a tagline ‘A toilet for every Indian’.  Wonderful initiative, indeed!

But, think NDTV also couldn’t resist the whole ‘Why don’t you guys clean up your neighborhood and send us videos of you doing it so that we can make some good content out of it‘ bit that is all over the place after our honorable PM Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Campaign. We are sure that NDTV was tempted to add this bit in their fantastic Cleanathon campaign which was mostly aimed at the ‘A toilet for every Indian’ concept. Check their ad below.

NDTV Cleanathon Ad in TOI
NDTV Cleanathon Ad in TOI

Dear NDTV Special Projects team,  Awesome campaign! We are sure it will do well considering the amazing PR resources and budgets you have.

1. But, why are you telling me to clean up my neighborhood myself? Yes, I am part of the educated Indian middle class who you are targeting through your ad campaign. I repeat, I am the one who is the ‘target’ of your fancy campaigns and also, am the one who is into this ‘shooting videos and uploading it online’ thingies. Not an average person on the street who doesn’t give two hoots about your well branded campaigns.

2. Do you know that we are not responsible for dumping waste on the streets? We segregate and put it neatly outside our apartments, which is picked up by our society staff. So, why do you expect us to clean up the mess ourselves after working hard for the entire week? Or, even clean it once to send you the video for your 12 hour telecast. To set an example for others, eh?

3. Chalo maan liya ki aapki baat sun ke we start cleaning up our neighborhood on our single weekly holiday.  Koi na, 2 weekly holidays pakad lo. Then, do you think those ‘people’ who are clearly not your target segment and are the ones dumping the waste will stop littering thinking ‘Arre these poor educated types will have to clean it up, lets not throw it’.

4. Don’t you media waalas think you should be rather launching specific campaigns using available technology to help citizens like us (ahem..your target segment) to report these neighborhood garbage dumps to the authorities rather than picking up a jhaadu ourselves.

Please just give us structured platforms to report these dumps. Don’t tell us to clean our neighborhoods and send you videos. Not done. #NahiChalega

You could have asked us to send you videos of people peeing on the road or stretches where there are no public toilets or something similar to go with your theme. We would have rather done that. Sending videos just to make your campaign appear successful. #NahiChalega

The Big Question: Are You Cool With Picking Up A ‘Jhaadu’ To Clean Your City?

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'ChangeBhai Mobilizes Swachh Bharat Abhiyan'
‘ChangeBhai Mobilizes Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’

Let us get straight to this question that has been running in our heads since one of the most talked about campaigns was launched recently by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yes. The very very popular and high buzz creating ‘SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN’.

Let’s gather our collective thoughts and start with a small survey involving all of you.

WHAT WOULD YOU RATHER DO TO PARTICIPATE IN THE 'SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN'?

View Results

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While we await results of this poll to be declared on 23rd November, let me at least introduce you to our campaign ‘ChangeBhai mobilizes Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’. No, it is not about telling you folks to hold a placard that says ‘I pledge to be a part of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. (Well, it does make for a good social media campaign but doesn’t work, does it?). Neither are we inviting essays or soliciting votes from you.

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Mobilize (a verb)

/ˈməʊbɪlʌɪz/

make (something) movable or capable of movement.

————

The intent of ‘ChangeBhai mobilizes Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ is simple. To mobilize the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan into a movement to achieve the seeming unachievable task ‘To make India litter free’. A movement that is well structured, uses the latest usable technology and will lead to mass participation by the people of our country.

People like you me and everybody who will not pick up a broom and set to clean their city. (or are we wrong? Let’s wait for the poll results in that case)

No photo-ops. No speeches. Let’s reserve them for our film stars and politicians.

Just Action.

Watch this space for details on this campaign. Till then, click here and create a ChangeBhai login ID if you are ready to participate in ‘ChangeBhai mobilizes Swacch Bharat Abhiyan’.

 

What exactly does ChangeBhai do?

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Hi Changemakers!

It gives us super duper immense pleasure to say that a lot of active citizens are using ChangeBhai to upload issues of their neighborhood. A lot of these users are from Mumbai (though we handle issues from all over India : metros, tier-1 & tier-2 cities. Buck up rest of India. Get your issues resolved. Give it a shot at least, we say :)).

PicMonkey Collage

Just wanted to share a few things about how we do what we do.

Firstly, a short note about us. We are a young team of active citizens who have launched this initiative to ‘assist’ the citizens in getting their issues resolved & are not liable to resolve any issues.

Unlike a lot of portals which tell the user to sign petitions or just upload an issue and spread the word around amongst their social media friends to create a buzz around it, we just do this one thing.

GET YOUR ISSUE FIXED. Period.

Ok, now…

Who should not upload issues on ChangeBhai?:

  1. If you have that keeda inside you to prove that ‘everyone and everything else around you wrong’
  2. If you have always nurtured an ambition to migrate to a phoren land just because you think ‘things can never change in India’
  3. If a careful and deep analysis of your social media posts shows that more than 70% of your posts fall under the category of ‘cribby’ or ‘deprecatory’
  4. If the first instinct you have when you come across somebody trying to change things around them is something like this, instead of trying it at least once.

                        Kya faltu velle hai ye.

                        Kuch nahi hoga inse

                       Main isse acchi website bana sakta(i) hoon*

What all to expect when you upload issues on ChangeBhai

    a. Each and every issue uploaded correctly will be put into process and forwarded to the authority no matter how important or minor it is.
    b. We always share the name and the number (mostly mobile) of the staff member with whom we are coordinating to get the issue resolved. In many cases, even the ward office address where he/she sits. You are free to call them too, if you want.
    c. No matter what, you will always get regular updates from us. You will always know at whose end (authority and employee name) the issue is stuck.
    d. First non-automatic email that goes to you will ask you to confirm the location and ask for landmarks. Do respond to that. This is being done because many a times we and the authorities have gone round and round because the map tagging was done inaccurately by the user. This affects our credibility in front of the authorities, so we are just being sure.
    e. In cases where there is a location confusion or the issue is of recurring nature, we give the ground staff’s contact to the user as that works better than going ‘to-and-fro’ between the user and the authority. You will agree that our collective aim should be to get the issue resolved and not get stuck in process formalities.
    f. You will be given a ‘Resolution Tip’ in rare cases where the issue is recurring in nature on what exactly to do and whom to contact to report the issue in the future.

The whole concept is to ‘work together’ and get these issues resolved. We get you the right contacts, we escalate wherever the issue gets stuck etc. Of course, we cannot get all the issues resolved, but we put each and every issue into process and make repeated contact for follow up. To give you a figure, roughly around 20% of the issues get stuck for more than a month.

IMP Note for the Procrastinators : In cases where our operation team has already sent 2 follow up emails for pending information or issue closure confirmation, the issue will be tagged as Fixed/Closed on the 7th day of receiving no information from your side. You may however choose to reopen the issue by sending us an email on now_or_abhi@changebhai.in.

Our process might not be perfect but we are improving with each passing day based on citizens’ feedback and our experiences with the authorities. Knowing how we work and the limitations of working with authorities, do give us constructive inputs. We would love to incorporate them wherever possible. But first: Upload 1 issue on www.ChangeBhai.in at least.

And do pass the word around to encourage others to upload issues if you agree that ‘getting ChangeBhai to bug the authorities with repeated follow ups‘ is better than doing ‘nothing at all’.

Happy change making!

* If you think so, email your web development portfolio to now_or_abhi@changebhai.in. We are looking for php & app developers.