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

———

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.

———

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.

Thank You Team “10,000 startups”, a NASSCOM initiative!

Updates, , , , ,

ChangeBhai is proud to be a part of 10,000 start-ups, a NASSCOM initiative that aims to aggregate ecosystem resources and opportunities onto one platform and helps the start-ups get mentor and enterprise connect as well as accelerator support.

cb_nasscom

10000_startups-changebhai

A big thank you to all the ChangeBhai users. Keep reporting issues of your neighborhood 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

Loading ... Loading ...

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.

———–

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.

 

Zzzzzzzz. This is all I do when it rains. And You?

Civic gyaan, , , , , , , , ,

Heylo ChangeMakers!

Am sure you saw our video Rains, Love, Chai, Pakodas …And?, which was launched last week. No, you haven’t? Click here to watch it.

Dunno about you of course but I could so relate to the paper boats and the frogs bit in the rains. As kids, we used to go crazy with these thingies when it rained. Some solid timepass!

But, know what..what I didn’t see/hear people referring to in the video and what I totally do in rains nowadays is this one thing:

Sleep my ass off till it hurts. :)

Comment below if you agree with this.

sleep

Neways..

Wo kya bolte hain..Watch the first drop of rain fall, feel the breeze, stop by, notice the smiles, smell the roses. Sorry, ye thoda zyada ho gya cuz all of us know what it smells like when we walk on the roads in rains. 😐

The video rekindled many fond memories but know, what the sad bit is, it’s just not the same anymore. The rains just doesn’t bring that cheer it used in the earlier days. The mess , the bad roads & the traffic just screw up the whole ‘rain’ experience, which by the way, you can report on www.ChangeBhai.in.

Check User Issues# A0481 “Pathetic roads” & A0516 “Drainage” & do report similar rain related problems in your area. And, if you have no issue to upload then do share the post to spread the word.

Issue#481, "Pathetic Roads"
Issue#481, “Pathetic Roads”
Issue#516 "drainage"
Issue#516 “drainage”

Indian Traffic Sense = Non Sense. Proved.

Civic gyaan, , , , , , , , ,

parking1           parking2

Can you think of anyone, like any-freaking-sane-person to whom these parking spaces (pics above) will appeal? No?! Lemme tell you. To these guys here. Grrrr.

ChangeBhai Issue#A0417,#A0485
ChangeBhai Issue#A0417,#A0485

They will love it. #SlurpSlurp #WhaddaChallenge

The civic sense of us Indians is legendary and traffic sense is not to be left behind either. These terms mentioned below, for example, are clearly alien/french/greek to most Indians.

Right of way. Kyun jaane doon main kisi ko. #MardangiPeKalank.

Excessive honking. Hamara horn. Hamaari marji.

Lane Discipline. Kaun banaya ye @#$%&@#* rule.

Speed Restriction. Nayi gaadi li hai bhai ne.

And the worst of all.

Parking Discipline. Chup be! Time nahi hai faltu.

By the way, the image above was uploaded by a Mumbai user, refer ChangeBhai issue#A0417 “Double parking caravans on main rd”. The issue was resolved by the Changebhai team with a lot of help from Mumbai Traffic Police. Do not forget to check out the lengthy resolution comments below the issue description.

The buggers were shooed away from one spot and they changed their location to another spot closeby. Check ChangeBhai issue#A0485 “Double bus parking still happening”. Thanks to the Mumbai traffic police Constable Wakde for helping us resolve this menace. Work in progress. Phew.

So, if any of you see similar traffic offenses on your way to work or in your neighborhood, you know what to do. No, you don’t?!?

All you need to do is take a picture, log on to www.ChangeBhai.in and report the issue. Supra eazy!

Ok. So, I still have some word limit left for this blog. Joke time. Old joke this one:

Santa parked his truck in ‘No Parking’.

When he returned he saw a note on his truck. “Parking Fine”

Santa writes “Thanks for the compliment”.

Mein Saal Mein Do Hi Baar Aati Hoon. Guess Kaun?

General, , , , , , ,

Mere baare mein zyada mat sochna.
Main dil mein aata hoon samajh mein nahi. Kaun?

Salman Khan. Ahem..dialogue from his latest movie. Am sure you would have heard this.

Mere baare mein zyada mat sochna.
Main saal mein do hi baar aati hoon. Kaun?

Deshbhakti.

Just lol ji.

On a serious note, just remember. No nation is perfect. It has to be made perfect.
Let’s strive each day to make ours the most ‘Perfect India’ we can imagine.
Let’s be a part of this change. Upload an issue today.

www.ChangeBhai.in

Happy Change Making. Happy Independence Day. Jai hind.

gandhi

 

How to Give Ganpati Bappa the Best Welcome This Year?

Civic gyaan, , , , , , , , ,

Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudchya Varshi Laukar Yaa!

(Translation: Glory to the Lord Ganpati! Come again soon next year)

We invite Lord Ganpati to come back to visit us year after year, but shouldn’t we ensure his trip is comfortable and worth it. :)

By the way, the Ganpati Mandals in Mumbai mean serious business this time and to ensure our beloved ‘Bappa’ has a smooth ride on the Visarjan day (September 18), they have given a list of 2113 potholes and a deadline of September 16 to their municipal corporation to fix them. They say if they fail to do so, then all the mandals will use their reserve funds and carry out pothole-repair work. Wah! What spirit!

Image Courtesy: Rediff
Image Courtesy: Rediff

This was about a case of ‘good spirit’. A case study from ChangeBhai’s issue database about ‘not-so-good intent’ below:

Check out these issues uploaded by two ChangeBhai users:

Issue# A0429 ‘Huge Pothole outside SaiPalaceHotel’

Before
Before
After
After

Issue# A0418 ‘new potholes on recently made road’

Before

Before

 We are awaiting post resolution image of issue# A0418 from the user

In both the cases, the roads were newly made and had developed potholes shortly after they were repaired. Of course, we got the potholes repaired but the question is ‘How long will they last?’ Having worked with them closely, we can see that BMC is trying to do what they can at the moment, but the backlog of repairs and resource constraint are two issues which make the problem bigger and bigger with each passing day. Koi Sujhaav?

And ya, tab tak,koshish jaari rakhte hain . Do upload similar issues on www.ChangeBhai.in to ensure Bappa’s trip is totally worth it, this time. :) Ganpati Bappa Morya!!

Facebook. Check. Twitter. Check. ChangeBhai. Aaaaa…

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Image Courtesy: SimplyZesty
Image Courtesy: SimplyZesty

Explaining Social Media vis-à-vis ChangeBhai.

facebook  : I like Change

twitter : I want to bring a #Change

instagram : Here’s a picture of the word Change

youtube : Do check out my video ‘How To Spell Change’

linkedin : I am good at bringing a Change

google + logo: Let all my friends be a part of a Change

ChangeBhai :The issue I reported yesterday got Fixed. I Acted & brought a Change!

Bhaiyon..beheno..we all know who’s worse than a person who cribs about the issues around him all the time. A person who gets pissed off with him but doesn’t do anything himself.

I know we really really wish but, these issues that plague our country will never ever take offence and leave if we don’t pay attention to them. 😉 Do ‘pay attention’ to these issues, report them on www.ChangeBhai.in and take a ‘real’ step forward.

For the uninitiated, ChangeBhai is not a social awareness website. It is an online ‘Social Issues Reporting Utility’ to get a fixed set of public issues resolved. It will take less time to upload an issue than it took you to read this post. Try it!

And do share this post.