ஆத்தா நான் பாஸ் ஆயிட்டேன்

ஆயிட்டேன்.... ஆயிட்டேன்... ஆயிட்டேன்

Finally i located my name in the voters list. i am one step away from owning new voter id card in Republic of India...

technology a(e)ffects

its recession days... people have more time to fwd emails :-)
sharing one interesting email fwds... effect of cloud computing

jaago re #2

Date:- Friday, 20th March 09 (2 weeks after my Form 6, submission)

I called up their information center yesterday morning,

me:- Madam, 7th march, Form 6 kodithini. osa list name bandhitha..
Govt Rep:- Gottigere la indha list bandhithu.. phone alli haelakagala sir. nera banbidi...
my smarter nervous system become active.. decided to visit the voter facilitation office yesterday evening itself to avoid crowd over the weekend. in the evening i left office early in this regard..
After i showed the govt representative my acknowledgment copy. they searched the full list twice.. believe me, two persons scanned the entire list and told me that my name is not in the list. Thanks to visiting them on a weekday.... Fully disappointed me,
Govt Rep:- List alli name illa sir, Gottigere Panchayat lindha next list barathae, 10 days amaela banni..
me:- osa list baratha madam?
Govt Rep:- Ovudhu
me:- Gottigere Panchayat contact details idhiya...
she asked her neighbor and then this request went to their boss...

Govt Rep Boss:- Enayuthu sir..
me:- Sir, march 7th, osa form 6 kottidhini... (i repeated my story once agian) GRB:- Panchayat office alli Putta patta swami irudhara, avaradha list iruthae.. EPIC number thogabanni..

the case was almost dead there. i know i am going to have more fun the next day...

i waited for my bro to submit his form... with some new thoughts, i went back inside...
me:- madam, osa Form 6 thiruga accept maduthira?
GR:- illa sir, neevu panchayat office alli mathudu bidi.. innondhu form 6 kodbeda...

may be i also thought at the back of mind, somehow it will happen...

on the way back, i noticed panchayat office in gottigere was open due to recent property tax collection. decided to try my luck...i went there directly...

me:- sir, march 7th, voter form 6... (repeatuu) Panchayat
Rep:- (after listening to the full story) sir, pakathalli revenue office idhae, alli putapattaswami iruthurae, avurae in charge, 10-1PM irutharae, mathudubidi...

i was fully convinced, there was no neighboring building apart from hanuman temple... with full of doubts i walked out of the panchayat office... in the darkness, i located it, it was a small buiding behind the temple, something like guest house for hanuman temple...

decided to visit that office today morning...

Today, Saturday, 21st march 09,
10.45 AM, i went to the panchayat office (Oops Hanuman temple guest house).. it was locked. its small building, i wasnt sure if it was occupied by any one, ie. i was wondering it it can be an office for some purpose.. i stood there for a while. temple poojari was very busy with devotees...

me:- Sir Putta patta swami idhara? Poojari: Anjanayae swami idhar.. P.P.Swami election kelsa madutharae, avaru thumba busy.

Once again i repeated my sad story with poojari.. he pointed me to one advertisement put up there regarding electoral voters list preparation. i told him, engae kannada arthagalla sir.

He then took me to the door near sanctum, i was hoping for prasad atleast thilak which he was applying to all devotees, he rather showed me photo of hanuman pasted on the door... and then told me, here is his mobile number, and asked me to contact PPS directly.

i called PPS, happy to reach him in the first dial itself. looked like he was in his home.. wanted to ask him, sir you should be at your office to help people get their voters card.. but i m an incumbent looking for voter id card in karnataka soil. explained him the story one more time (repeatuu).. to my sadness, poojari had started his audio system... it was full of sound, that the temple guest house was bombarded with some high frequency sound waves.. i now know why our PPS was away from his office... i courteaously told him, that sorrounding is full of sound, i will call him again.. i came back home.. called him back only to hear the bad news. it seems sir has rejected my application becz i gave Feb month Telephone bill, if u remember one of the criteria laid by these folks and i thought i bypassed it in my smarter way by giving my katha xerox along with it. Damn it!! he suggested me to apply again... before i came to my senses, i realized my Form 6 copy was with my bro and i need to take print out again.. it was 11.20 PM. i had 40 minutes to go there and stand in queue...

I landed in B.Sankari taluk office.. as expected it was 5 times longer queue than friday evening's queue. didnt know where the tail of the line was... stood somewhere in a 3D plane... some funny conversations...

Govt Rep:- yavu area
Applicant#1:- hmm
Govt Rep:- yavu area
Applicant #1:- i do not undersand kannada...
Govt Rep:- which area?
Applicant#1:- kanakapura road
Govt Rep:- left side or right side?
Applicant#1.. hmm!! (he probably did not hear the question properly due to noise around or he did not understand the question)
Govt Rep:- I am asking u.. which side of kanakpura road.. left side or right side? Applicant #1:- right side.
GR:- How many applications?
Applicant #1:- 3 in total

then GR said something with which the applicant became angry.. he said talk polietly to applicants.. you are not doing any service.. just doing your duties.. i know u guys are working hard.. but treat others descently... he roared and left the queue..

By this time door for the facilitation center is closed for new comers.. i was still in the queue...

GR:- Yaavu area.. Applicant #2:- Begur sir..
GR:- Bommanhalli Voter facilitation center ogu baeku..

GR:- Ondhae line alli barelli...
there was atleast 5 quueue pointed to him...

Finally i reached him.. he never asked me why i was in line for the third time.. he quickly accepted my form and gave me its acknowledgement...

as i started back, i had less hope.. but this time, i will track my application. With hanuman's wishes and his guest house office rep (aka PPSwami) support, i am hoping to conclude my ordeal of getting my voter id done...

சிங்கார சென்னை

This weekend i had been to Chennai on a personal trip... ore mokkai trip... A trip filled with power cut, reality show tv programs and lots of Sleep miles (if at all such an item exists)..

TN continues to face power short shortages. On Saturday, power was off for almost 6 hours in my uncle's house. TN goes to poll coming May, i hope it is one of the deciding factors for this year elections for this state, if not, its high time people who vote in this state decide the most disturbing basic feature in their daily life. The govt provides tv, gas cylinder n all.. where is the power at home? No signs of big election already in Chennai. people still survive with serials and reality shows. at least in my uncle's home locality. I always wonder who watches those dance reality shows... i knew few door numbers now!!!

it was my first trip to city Chennai in last 2 years. The city infrastructure is growing day by day along with its growing population. After Delhi, i believe it is one of the well planned city with respect to transportation. huge straight roads, lots of new bridges, well planned bus / train services, i saw bus running between T.Nagar to Chengalpattu :-). it will be difficult quiz question to know where Chennai city border ends.. do you know??

Thanks to my bro, i had carried எங்கே பிராமணன் with me and it was good break from regular fictions. Although it is perfect recommended sleeping pill, it can dose you off easily... if not this book, i would have been crucified with TV programs...

They have opened new counter of Ratna cafe in Central. tried the usual combo of 2 idly with extra sambhar. பாவம் மௌலி, ராத்திரி 2 மணி வரை பேசிண்டு வந்தோம் ரயில்ல, நான் நிறையா, அவன் கம்மியா :-)

இப்படியாக என்னுடைய மொக்கை பதிவை நிறைவு செய்கிறேன்

jaago re!

It was my third awakening after 2 failed attempts to get my voter id done in Bangalore.

Believe me, its too high-fi with all the information available in web.

http://www.jaagore.com/ - With support from Tata Tea, volunteers across have setup India setup this portal to share the Voter ID registration process, share election related news. Its so unique and helpful, after my registration, they gave send me my Form - 6 application, to be registered with Election Commission of my Bangalore constituency. They have been sending constant reminders for me to enroll.

http://ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in/indexw.asp - Official portal of Karnataka CEO. It provides each month the latest updated Voter information. Some portion of it is in Kannada, but its search will do the purpose.

Back to my story, i believe if we want to create our India, exercising right to vote is must. For that, entry ticket is voter id card :-). i wanted to solve this conundrum for sure by myself. Despite providing my application through local panchayat from our apartment in the past, my name was not their in the latest list.

They were distributing voter id cards to those who haven't collected from the Govt in the neighbouring Law college. There was feeble queue for this. Here is quick gist of my conversation with the person in charge for this.

I:- Sir, Voter ID card bandhilla
Govt Rep:- Sir, list idhae, nodi...

He gave me some printouts containing the list of names recently added/modified. It was segregated based on some regional divisions (they call id part number).

I:- Sir, Nandi Park part number yavudhu..
GR:- Gothilla.. Adhae full list..

Phew! i stood their for a second expecting better answer from him. He said, next :-( i went through all his part number list, each part number contained 10 sheets of voter data. I was clueless. back to him again,

I:- Sir, list alli name illa. Oasa application kotidhini.. List alli name bandhilla.
GR:- Gothilla sir.
I:- Oasa application elli kodu baekku
GR:- Bansankari Taluk Office
I:- Saturday work aagathaa taluk aapice.
GR:- Yes, sir, Monday rajaa

By the time i left Law college, there was sizable queue to collect their voter ids. Happy me, another puzzle to solve the crystal maze. This time in Bansankari.

On reaching, i enquired few auto fellows to know the direction to Taluk Office. One friend while i was leaving Law college, told me its near to Bansankari temple.

I:- Sir, Bansankari Taluk office elli..
Auto driver1:- Gothilla Sir... Mundhae hogi kaelbidi..

I:- Bhayya, Bansankari Taluk office elli...
Auto Driver2:- Haan! yavu area

by the time a passer by in the road asked me what i want, he showed me neighboring building as the taluk office... Go straight inside... He said and continued his walk... May be it was hot, Auto drivers were waiting for customers for a while... they have not changed in these years when you ask for direction...

Finally... reached the right place.. little queue again... Reached the desk of the person collecting form... He verified my list of applications and said..
GR:- sir, 2008 phone bill copy baekku... 6 months older bill.
I:- sir, nan manae gottigere alli idhae, ogi barubaeka ondhu arai agathae... dhaya maadi..
GR:- Illa sir, agalla... next :-(


it was almost 12 noon... i was thinking about my bad luck... did think about the freshness of the address proof i carried. Read what jaagore rule book said.. it never mentioned about 6 months old address proof... then i did another smarter think of carrying copy of my house katha certificate. with a hope of trying again, i approached same Govt representative..

Sir.. Nanthra Katha xerox idhae.. nodi..
He gave the application list to his boss...
GR:- Sir, osa address proof, katha kotidharu...

GR Boss scanned my application fully and then gave it to the girl who was listing in a register to include my application form also... She added to her list and gave me an acknowledgement and asked me to contact the office after 15 days...

Happy me!! they say Never stop trying... as i walked out the office, Govt representative was asking everyone to leave as it was closing time... Lucky me...

I need to call them in 15 days to know my application status. with these success, i know if it was bad news, i will make another attempt..... Why sleep again... i am already awakened!!