I’m just a pothole. Did you hear this song?

Looking at the beautiful weather today, we decide to chuck our regular weekday issue related post and share something you will enjoy.

So Doston, here’s a beautiful song written and performed by an Indian blues rock punk fusion band called G2 Live sent to us by their lead singer Jiten about guess what…Potholes. What else did you think ChangeBhai will post a song about!?! Rainbow! Medak! Pakoda! Aashiqui-3 :)

G2 Live In Full Swing
G2 Live In Full Swing

But… but…hang on…if you think it will be a boring or a preachy kinda song, then you are so wrong!

Close your windows. Turn up your system volume and be ready for some serious head banging. #DhyanSeHaan

Audio clip and song lyrics below.

 

Song Lyrics :
Staring at the starlight
On a new full moon
Thinking of tomorrow
Same Old doom
Wondering in the daylight
Howz it gonna be
Hoping for an angel
To come n kill me

 I’m just a pothole
Wanna break down n cry
Im just a  pothole
Wud Somebody jus try
I’m just a pothole
For everyone to see
I’m just a pothole
Please set me free

 Woke up last summer
As  the sun shined away
Facing peoples anger
Till the  roller came that day
White linen men
Counting the bucks
Khaki clad workers
Toiled the stoned trucks

 I’m just a pothole
Wanna break down n cry
Im just a  pothole
Wud Somebody jus try
I’m just a pothole
For everyone to see
I’m just a pothole
Please set me free

 Shiny happy people
Forgot about me
Jus the clouds opened
Wont let me be
Back to the horror
People cursed away
Brakes n screeching torture
Mishaps every day

And after listening to this cool song, even if 10% of you guys go ahead and upload a pothole issue on ChangeBhai, this post will be worth it. Totally! C’mon, be an Angel and kill them. Arre..gaane mein likha hai aise. Angel waali baat.

Garbage, Crows, Murder and Mumbai.

Do you know what a ‘Group Of Crows’ is called?

A MURDER.

😐 No joke this, Boss. Google Kar lo. “English is a very phunny language”, as Amitabh Bachchan said in some movie. Namak Halal, me thinks.

Do you know where you can see maximum ‘Murders in Daylight’?

MUMBAI.

No. Am not referring to the underworld problems that this city faced in the not-so-distant past. Am referring to the ‘Crows partying on messy garbage bins’ issue which all Mumbaikars are so incredibly exposed to, that they have absolutely no problem ‘Living With It’.

But, not this user. Check  issue# A0450, Garbage with crows feeding. Do check the comment section to know the entire story. For those, who are in a hurry, here is the picture of the issue.

ChangeBhai Issue# A0450, Garbage with crows feeding

ChangeBhai Issue# A0450, Garbage with crows feeding

The user would witness this gross scene everyday on his way to work. After he reported it to ChangeBhai, we immediately flung into action. MCGM shared their side of the story, which was (yawn if you want):

‘We pick up garbage between 9 am-10 am but the nearby slum dwellers and restaurants throw garbage late in the night, which can be seen by office goers (including the user) before 9 am. Hum kya karein, aap batao??’

This issue# A0450 was strikingly similar to a lot of other garbage issues that we receive on a day to day basis. Check this one for example, issue#A0412, Garbage strews outside bins.

In all these cases, MCGM authority after expressing their helplessness asked us for suggestion on what to do about it. They also add that enforcing a fine does not work with the slum dwellers for obvious reasons.

After long discussions, here is what we suggested and got implemented:

Issue#A0412: MCGM placed a guard on their payroll near the bin to warn the slum people and ask them to throw the garbage in the bin and not outside it.

Issue#A0450: MCGM is placing 3 additional bins of 0.5 tonne capacity each in this densely populated area as it required minimum 2 tonne capacity bins to accommodate the garbage here.

What would you suggest we should have done in such cases?

A. Let the crows party #4BajGayeLekinPartyAbhiBaakiHai

B. Enforce penalties #JebDheeli

C. Do what we did #LageRaho

Do upload issues of your aas-padoss on www.ChangeBhai.in if you want to ‘pull the plug’ on such murders.

Note: As we always say,  most civic authorities including MCGM are willing to resolve our issues if we work ‘with them’ instead of ‘against them’.  Try it, we say, if you disagree.

WHY ARE WE IN LOVE WITH THIS MAN?

Kick movie poster
Kick movie poster

Sameer hawa ka jhonkaa.
Jab se aaya hoon, ye do naam hi sun raha hoon. Amar-Prem. Amar-Prem.
Hum yahan ke Robin Hood hain, naam hai Chulbul Pandey.
Radhey naam hai mera.
………………………………….

Show me an Indian who has not heard these dialogues and I will show you a liar.

The kahaani ka keeda:

While cleaning the utensils and listening to ‘Jumme ki raat’ song on her mobile, my kaamwaali bai Lata commented in the morning today,

“Didi, ye ChangeBhai idea aap logon ko Salman Khan se aaya na? Hai na?”

Half-sleeping-half-watching-tv-half-munching-khakhras, I just about managed to raise my eyebrow and give a puzzled wtf expression. She continued…

“Salman Khan!? Changeee?! Bhaiiii? Nahi samjha tumko”

I managed a faint “kuch bhi kya!”

After downing 2 cups of kadak desi chai, I managed to open my eyes and there she was again, sitting in front of me chopping onions and still obsessing over her Sallu.

“Didi, 25 july ko mein late se aayegi, hum log Sallu Bhai ka movie Kick* dekhne ko jaa rahe hain”

“Haan haan thik hai” I mumbled.

After she left, I began to think about the effect this man has on people across all strata of society. During the ChangeBhai conversation, Lata, of course was referring to his change making ways and his charities. He is just not another superstar for them. Speak to the street urchins on Bandra Bandstand and you will know what I mean.

Let’s do a fun task, the good ol’ Fill-In-The-Blanks.

Try filling these blanks.

  1. Dosti Ka Asool hai madam. No ______. No __________.
  2. Agar tum mujhe yuhi dekhti rahi, toh tumhe _________________________.
  3. Hum pe ek ehsaan karna, ki _____________________________
  4. Ek baar jo maine commitment kar di, toh __________________________.
  5. Hum tum mein itne chhed karenge ki ________________________-

Got a 5 / 5 kya ?. Being a true blue Sallu fan, I can answer these questions even in my sleep. :)

Now, let’s try this:

1. Name of the job portal launched by Salman Khan last month ________________
2. His charity brand Being Human works in the field of Healthcare & ___________________
3. Salman khan donated ______________ to the drought hit districts in Maharashtra last year
4. He joined hands with a leading hospital, Fortis to launch an initiative called __________________ to provide free treatment to children with heart defects.
5. He donated _____________ to young children who walked 5-6 kms to their school in Wai.

Kya score aaya? #NoComments. If we can follow this man’s movies religiously, why can’t we do the same for his change making ways and in the process, be a part of the change that he is envisaging. I say, let’s do our small bit and help Kick* all the problems out of our country. Do visit www.ChangeBhai.in and report some issues around you.

*Releasing on 25th July at a theater near you. @Kick Producers, hamara cut bhej dena. :)

Disclaimer: If you are a die-hard Shahrukh Khan fan, a bollywood hater or a wannabe online cribber, you may choose to jump straight to the last line. Oops. This is the last line. Should have placed it on top. Sorry.

No sorry. No thank you. Dosti ka assool.

 

LEAKED!: How Will GERMANY Stop MESSI.

messi changebhai

Weather forecast* says it is going to rain heavily this coming Sunday post midnight (chalo Monday le lo), which is when the much anticipated FIFA World Cup 2014 Final is going to be played between the much deserving Germany and every (chalo most le lo) Indian’s favourite Argentina.

Which means it’s going to rain ‘potholes’ whole night on Indian roads when it will be raining ‘goals’ back in Brazil . Arrgggghhhh. It is going to be very MESSI on Monday morning when all of us are supposed to go to work. Darn!

This is how Germany plans to stop Messi apparently.
This is how Germany plans to stop Messi apparently.

Taking a cue from The Guardian and ESPN’s football journalist Michael Cox’s top secret hush hush strategy (picture above) of ‘How Will Germany Stop Messi?’, I make my strategy on how will I reach my office on Monday morning. Apni apni strategy bana lo doston. Kaam aayegi.

Using historical data of the last 10 years to mark the spots where the possibility of ‘pothole formation’ and ‘garbage collection’ will be maximum post the showers, I am ready with my PLAN to reach office. Here it is:

This is how I plan to reach my office after the match.
This is how I plan to reach my office after the match.

Any guesses who is going to lose ‘IN’ the Germany vs. Argentina FIFA world cup 2014 final. Ahem..if i may say..Ger..mm..mannyyy?

Am not guessing…rehne do…Baad mein joote padenge! @Blog Admin: Am I allowed to edit this blog after the match 😉

Any guesses who is going to lose ‘DURING’ the Germany vs. Argentina FIFA world cup 2014 final. Ju and Mi, eh?

 * This article assumes the weather forecast to hold true. *snigger*  :-) ROFL-LOL-LMFAO-all-in-one #ThisIsIndia

Moral of the ‘article’: Report Potholes & Garbage issues on www.ChangeBhai.in and avoid making the plan mentioned above for the rest of your life. Enjoy the match! :-)

Why Indians Will Not Forgive Maria Sharapova.

Maria Sharapova, the poor Russian tennis babe was whipped left, right and centre  last week by the netizens of India because bechaari revealed in a recent media interview that she did not know who Sachin Tendulkar is.

My own thoughts when the news came out:

Haye haye. Satyanaash. Kalyug aa gaya bhaiya. Ye kya bol diya isne. :-O

And of course, all hell broke loose in the Indian online space. Like they say, in these popular mythological serials “Charon taraf hahakar mach gaya”.

#WhoIsMariaSharapova was trending worldwide. Indians were trying to shame the Russian by treating her like she was a ‘Nobody’.

Kaun Maria Sharapova? Humein nahi pata. Na ji. Naam hi nahi suna. By God ki kasam.

Courtesy: Getty Images, Cricket Country
Courtesy: Getty Images, Cricket Country

Now we, at ChangeBhai, keep trying different tactics to ensure more and more Indian netizens log on to ChangeBhai and report their neighbourhood issues, toh ek aur chaal sahi because dude, this definitely seems to be working.

So, here we go – Trying to be totally ignorant about issues that are all over the place and are known to everybody.

Which traffic problem? #KaunSiTraffic

Where are the potholes? #KahanHaiPotholes

What is garbage? #YeGarbageKyaHotaHai

Child Labour in India? Naa ji naa. Ho hi nahi sakta.

DENIAL MODE ACTIVATED

Let’s see if it works. Don’t tell anyone. Ssssshhhhhhh….

Do you think this will work? If not, then  let’s ‘Deactivate the Denial Mode’ that all of us are in and upload issues on www.ChangeBhai.in. At least 1 issue each.

Disclaimer: We love Sachin Tendulkar aka apna Sachya to death.

 

They are doing their ‘Bin’ …Are you doing yours!

We have mentioned in our earlier posts how our entire team takes out a couple of days in a month and moves around their city speaking to people on the roads. Psst…The footage will make for some ‘enlightening’ YouTube videos (which we are in the process of making, by the way. Watch this space for that.)

The theme of this piece is inspired from the conversations we have had with people about the issue of ‘Garbage Bins’ in Mumbai; South Mumbai to be precise.

While most of the people said that there are no garbage bins in their city at all, some said they are not enough while a few said there are a lot of bins, newly installed albeit.

After getting varying response from the people of the same city, we decided to chuck everything else and check it ourselves. So, we went about town doing guess what… ‘BIN SPOTTING’ (Besides the point, but when my mother called me to ask where I was and I told her what exactly we were doing, I could hear a disappointing sigh from the other end with a faint ‘Is this why you did Engineering and an MBA’ followed by a click..Hota hai!)

We could see a lot of freshly installed bins which were nowhere close to the tattered bins we are used to seeing.

Cool stuff, municipal people! You did surprise us with these fancy, separate Dry and Wet bins (btw, our counterparts in other smaller cities could spot them as well…they are all over the place…like Hollywood would say… “Run..the bins are taking over” #BadJoke) Would be great if the authorities can run recurring campaigns to raise awareness on what type of kachra to throw in which coloured bin. And the colour coding, we suggest, should be universal across the country.

Trash bins in Mumbai
Newly installed trash bins in South Mumbai.

 So we come to today’s question:

They are doing their ‘Bin’ ..oops bit … but, are you doing yours!

Some key points to remember when you want to throw garbage :

1. 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)

 2. Just like we hunt for the nearest ATMs, STD-PCOs whenever we need one, we can do the same for bins as well. Always, always remember:

The next bin is not too far away

3. And if you think there are not enough bins –

Why not report it at www.ChangeBhai.in!

We will get them installed for you, if there are none close by. What say you? Yes, no, maybe?

Know Why Lights Outside This Delhi Metro Station Were On During The Day.

A lot of citizens tell us that they really want to report an issue on ChangeBhai but haven’t been getting the time to do that. Fair enough. Happens with all of us.

To motivate us, here is an example of a user who saw an issue on his way to work and took out a bit of his time to report it on ChangeBhai. (He couldn’t even take a picture of the issue but was kind enough to take some a couple of days later and send it to us as the said issue was on his daily travel route.)

Click below to see the actual issue:

Issue #: A0363, Lights on during morning, Ramesh Nagar Metro Station, New Delhi

WP_001913

Just to give you an idea of how we work and the kind of updates you can expect from us after you report an issue, here’s an excerpt from our back end team’s Email conversation with the user over the last couple of days after he reported the issue on ChangeBhai.

CHANGEBHAI: We assume that the lights are within the premises and are a property of Delhi Metro. Kindly confirm the same. In order to expedite the process of closing the issue, kindly provide us a picture of the issue

USER: You are correct. The heavy lights are very much part of the property of the Metro Station since these lights are installed on the stairs wall. These remain lighted on all the four gates of Metro Stations in the morning,.(sic)

CHANGEBHAI: We spoke to Delhi Metro personnel Mr. Himadri today who said that the request for change in “timer set” of Ramesh Nagar Metro Station lights has been sent to the ground staff. The issue will be  resolved shortly.

USER: Really impressed with your wonderful take on with the problem. As requested by you, find attached the pictures of lights switched on even during day time.

CHANGEBHAI: This is to update you that  Shambhu Gupta- Station Manager (Ramesh Nagar Metro Station) is personally involved in resolving the issue. He also conveyed that from now onward, they will take care that no lights are on during the day time.

It was a simple case of the timer not being set after a change of season from winter to summer, which was rectified because of this user’s effort. Kudos to Delhi Metro staff as well for their eagerness to resolve our issues.

Do report an issue on www.ChangeBhai.in . That is all we need you to do.  Sharing this post with others to spread the word wouldn’t hurt either.

Do you know where is this place?

The Background (Kahaani ke Peeche ki Soch):

I remember watching an episode of Satyamev Jayate where they focused on the conditions in which the police force works in our country. I can vividly recall a police wallah speaking about how common it was  for electricity board to disconnect the police station’s power supply for ‘no bill payment’ and how they used their ‘contacts’ to buy fuel for their official vehicles as insufficient funds were given to them for the same vis-à-vis the requirements.

It was an eye opener of sorts for sleepy heads like me who had tuned in to the ‘early’ morning popular program to catch their favorite superstar Aamir Khan talk about important issues. That episode indeed created a good amount of public exposure which should have ideally brought in a lot of police reforms. I hope that actually happened.

Now, of course, ChangeBhai doesn’t deal with law and order issues and hence this point doesn’t really apply to us directly. But, since, most of the issues that we handle and receive on ChangeBhai pertain to Municipal Authorities, we wanted to take your views on a similar topic.

The Context (Andar ki Baat):

In our endeavour to remain connected to the ground realities, we regularly speak to random people on the streets about the civic issues that they face on a daily basis and how effective their local management is. We had covered multiple cities before this and were pretty used to hearing negative things until we reached the Vashi – Belapur area in Navi Mumbai last week. We caught hold of people on the streets from different strata of society i.e the kaamwaali bais, autowallahs, students, housewives, office waalas and even beggars (who mostly didn’t give a damn to what we were talking about). Spoke to more than 100 odd people over the last 2 days in this belt alone.

Now, everybody (include those beggars too :-O) had only nice things to say about their area. This took us by surprise and we tried being specific with them by asking

‘kya baat kar rahe ho? koi bhi problem nahi hai idhar..kachra?..bad roads…??’

and they were like

‘nahi..woh sab Mumbai mein hai..idhar Navi Mumbai mein sab thik hai..thoda bahut toh chalta hai’.

They also mentioned that this has been a recent phenomena and their municipal corporation has really ‘pulled up their socks’.

We did not believe them entirely but of course we could get the feel that people here were generally happy with their municipal corporation’s performance.

While leaving, we took a photo of the spanking office building of New Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC). Here it is:

Navi Mumbai Mahanagarpalika
Navi Mumbai Mahanagarpalika

As I drove by, I, in my head, started comparing this structure to the other bigger municipal corporations I have been visiting for meetings. Crowded dirty places full of files. No electricity. Cranky people all around. Shabby toilets. Dark passages. Computers that looked like they were from ‘prehistoric times’. (and am referring to the municipal corporations of big cities and towns by the way).

The Points Raised (Aapke vichaar):

Now, do you think municipal employees need reforms that should improve the conditions in which they work? Will that indirectly work in increasing their efficiency and creating our cities liveable? Or this is not related?

I don’t really have the answers to these questions. Do you?

Why India is Not Playing in the FIFA World Cup 2014?

Saurabh: Spain versus Netherlands ka match hai aaj bhai…kiske ghar dekh rahe hain? Kya plan hai?

Diljeet: Daru main laata hoon. Jagah tum batao?

Punit: Rohit ke ghar chalte hain..bada TV hai uska..Aur uski biwi bhi nahi hai..

Rohit: Haha..Deal hai bhai log..

Diljeet: Apni apni T-shirt pehen ke aana..mazaa aayega..

Am sure this conversation sounds familiar to most of you. If not, then you have been probably hiding in an igloo near the South pole or you just don’t give a rat’s ass like me ..:)..Jest keeding…# ILubPhutball #CristianoRonaldoIsHawwt

The World cup fever has struck almost everybody in our cricket crazy nation. With due respect to the genuine fans, let me throw in my assumed statistics again. Around 90% of these naye naye football fans who throw in historical facts and names of players have no Effing clue about any of the things they are talking about. Tips to locate these fans in a crowd.

a. They will be using their phones slyly throughout the match. Psst…Googling You See..

b. Also, beware of the men (wearing a footballer’s jersey -mostly messi, van persie, ronaldo, neymar and knee length shorts) who are going completely gaga about the world cup. Fakes of the highest order. I have met a good enough sample size in the last 20 days to back my point. #BegaaniShaadiMeinAbdullahDeewana

TRPs of global football games are steadily climbing and ‘viewing’ interest in the sport has never been higher. But, seriously, like me, have you ever wondered why India, though super duper high on the ‘viewing’ interest,  sucks at the game. Not many Indians are playing this game at the ground level.

Quoting some facts from a recent HT article by Rajdeep Sardesai:

1. India has never participated even once in the 84 year old history of the football world cup. (Irrelevant point but apparently, we were almost there in 1950 but had to withdraw because we were not allowed to play barefoot. *eyeballs popping out* That was in Brazil as well, by the way.)

2. We are ranked 154th in the world

(Pakistan is ranked 169th if that helps. I felt kinda nice to hear that. #LoserMentality #IamADumbass)

Saala even Honduras is playing. #HolyCrap #YeHondurasKahanHaiBhai

Courtesy: Rediff News
Courtesy: Rediff News

Coming back to the question, I think it’s because we are so incredibly obsessed with Cricket that we do not have any more space in our head to get into any other sport even from a recreation point of view. For me, all this boils down to the same thing. We are HAPPY doing the same things over and over again. We LIKE to be in our comfort zone. We HATE to change. We just LOVE to talk about Change and DO nothing. #AllFartNoShit

Otherwise what else would explain thousands of visitors browsing the pages of www.ChangeBhai.in each day but just a handful of them actually uploading issues of their neighbourhood? Sad but true. Hey! Are you one of such visitors? If yes, then #ShameShame.

Here’s a chance to redeem yourself. Upload an issue TODAY.

I Bet my A** on it. Indians can’t Lose this Game. Ever.

No Indian worth his roti- sabji (add idli, dhokla, daal baati,sarson da saag, maach bhaat and the likes..jo bhi) can lose this game. Dost, daily practice naam ki bhi ko cheez hoti hai ki nahi?

So, all of you are hereby challenged to try  your hand at this game and prove me right.

DODGE-THE-POTHOLES GAME :

<This game has been deactivated on 28/06/2014. It was too noisy. >

#KhelKhatamPaisaHajam

And for those of you who think, I should not be making a joke of a serious issue like potholes : You can upload the issues of your neighborhood on www.ChangeBhai.in. Chalo, get to work.

Tab tak, let me get my score further up before any of you overtakes me. *smirk followed by an evil laugh*

P.S: My score is currently 5000. :-) Dude, I have stayed in more than 10 Indian towns and cities. What do you expect? I am a certified Pothole dodger.