Showing posts with label Noida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Noida. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Shockingly Surprising Experience At Noida Police Station

Today (20th March 2012) I had to visit a police station in Noida (U.P.). While I have nothing against the police personnel whom I had to interact with, what I found shockingly surprising was how every official work in a Noida police station is conducted in Hindi, with absolutely no option for English (even if a work entails a visitor who is not conversant in Hindi).

Despite being not very fluent in Hindi, I was forced to communicate with the officers in that language, as I was flatly told that I was not permitted to speak in English as "Noida comes in UP". Despite telling the officers that I cannot read Hindi, I was made to read a document written in that language, which I had to read with the help of an officer. Finally I had to write and submit a statement, and the officers told me that they could not permit me to write it in English, as they would then need somebody to translate it into Hindi (are those police personnel even unable to read English?) Ultimately I again had to take the help of a policeman who prepared my statement on the basis of what I said.

Do the Noida police people have any idea how terribly inconvenient the situation is for people with no or little command of Hindi? Even if it is OK to have verbal communication in Hindi, isn't it too much to expect a person from a non-Hindi speaking region to be able to read a document in Hindi, and then prepare his own statement in that language as well?

I just have one dream. One UP police officer needs to visit a Calcutta police station for some reason, and he is forced to read and write documents there in Bengali, while being told that neither English nor Hindi is permitted, as "Calcutta comes in West Bengal".

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Mr. Azad Gupta – The “Betrayer” Of Common Perception

We came to know Mr. Azad Gupta, or Guptaji (as we call him) just a couple of years back. He is a nice gentleman in his early 50s.

Since then he has been our companion every time we (me and my parents, and now my wife) need to go to Railway Station to catch a train. And sometimes it is again he who has kept us company on our way to home from Railway Station after we have come back to Delhi from outside. And he sometimes also keeps us company even when we go somewhere inside the Delhi itself, generally when we visit somewhere for a long time.

Guptaji is very polite and gentle in his communication. Apart from speaking Hindi, he is also fluent in English. And his favourite topic of discussion is spirituality.

Guptaji sent his children (one son and one daughter) to reputed public schools. His son is now studying Telecommunications Engineering at IIT Roorkee, while his daughter is now at class 12. Guptaji is very concerned about the education and career of his children, and discusses the same every time I travel with him.

Fine. But who is this Guptaji, after all?

Well, he is an auto driver. He is one of those infamous auto drivers (known for their rudeness and lack of culture) that we find in Delhi and Noida.

A rare species, right? A Delhite who will read this write up will understand what I mean.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Satyadev Sharma – The “Bollywood” Hero From Real Life

It was a spine-chilling scene that any “action hero” from Bollywood would love to enact on screen (and certainly not in real life).

It is a scene that witnessed an unarmed police officer challenging a pistol toting criminal, and grabbing and overpowering the latter while braving bullets.

The incident took place in the night of 12th September, in Delhi’s satellite town of Noida. Sub-inspector (SI) Satyadev Sharma, the in-charge of Sector 62 “chowki” of the town, was in the duty of checking vehicles at Nawada village. It was at that time that he saw three men approaching on a bike. The moment he tried to stop them, the two pillion riders started firing at him.

However, the gutsy police officer with a commando training smartly ducked the bullets, and even caught hold of one of those guys by his clothes, and finally managed to pull him down. He was soon joined by a police party – that arrived just in time – and passersby, and the person got caught. However, the other two persons in the bike managed to flee.

The scoundrel who was caught was later identified as Pradeep Negi, a dreadful criminal who was wanted by police in 11 cases. He is actually a sharpshooter in the infamous Jadeja gang. He had in fact come to Noida with the “mission” of snatching vehicles.

It is really heartening to know that our police force has cops like Mr. Satyadev. As a resident of Noida, I am both proud and relieved that there is at least one officer like Mr. Satyadev in the police force that is responsible for the protection of the Noida residents.

Oh, by the way, there is one interesting thing to share. Has this question struck into your mind that why was a police officer on duty unarmed in the first place? Well, the answer is, most of the Sub-Inspectors in Noida Police do not have a pistol to defend themselves, as there are simply not enough firearms with the police force. So it is very common for the S.I.s of Noida Police to run after armed criminals while being unarmed themselves. What a great infrastructure, right?


News Courtesy: The Times of India (15th September, 2009), Delhi Edition.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Mad Maruti Driver of Noida

Date – 13th January, 2009.

Venue – Sector 22, Noida, i.e. the area where I stay.

Time – Around 4:45 pm.

I had just gone down at the 12/22 bus stop of Noida, and was going to my home in the pocket G of Sector 22 of Noida. I was in front of the “Federal” bank branch of Sector 22. I was about to enter the lane that is located just opposite to the lane where the bank stands.

It was precisely at that time that I heard the sound of a car, or better to say the sound that one hears when a car moving in high speed suddenly applies the brake (kiiiiichhh). I turned round to see a white coloured Maruti Suzuki Alto (UP 16 R 7286), that was traveling in a speed extremely high in comparison to that narrow lane, and had to suddenly stop to avoid running over a cycle that came into its way. All the guys present there were as shocked and confused as I was, with the man on the cycle sporting a pale face, reflecting the shock of having a close shave.

However, the driver, a well built man in his 30s, was unapologetic. He was chewing something (probably Pan Parag, or something like that), with a defiant face clearly showing his callousness to other peoples’ convenience. He again started his car, took the lane that I was going to take, and crossed that narrow lane in a speed that I will use while traveling in a highway.

“Has he gone mad?” That was the first question that I asked to the man standing just beside me, after the car was gone. The man gave a smile that contained irritation, shock and displeasure, everything rolled into one. The same mood was being reflected by the body language of all the bystanders.

An uncultured family can overnight become rich through a stroke of luck (or may be by own caliber), and can immediately arrange for all sorts of status symbols – costly clothes, latest gizmos and gadgets, flashy cars, etc. Unfortunately, culture is something that cannot be bought from any shop, no matter how much rich you have become. It is something that a man from an educated family is born with, with the seed of culture and decency running in his blood. This explains why the “neo rich” people from uneducated (or semi educated) families are always so devoid of culture, even though they have all the apparent glossiness in the forms of costly homes, latest cars, glamorous life style, etc.

But do these neo rich elements at all try to develop some culture, in the first place? Do they at all understand the value of culture?

Monday, October 13, 2008

RTI Forum At Noida


Last evening (12th October 2008) I had the opportunity to attend RTI Forum, a seminar on RTI (Right To Information) Awareness. The venue of the seminar - organized by social activist organization Hai Ummeed - was the Community Center Auditorium adjacent to NR Windows Play School, sector 50, Noida.

It was an enjoyable event for me, given the fact that it was the first RTI seminar that I had the opportunity to attend. The seminar – which also included a short documentary on the RTI movement in India – was both informative and interactive in nature. One interesting aspect of the event was the presence of one Mr. Sushant, a software professional turned full time RTI activist. Members of the audience had the opportunity to discuss their various problems with Mr. Sushant, regarding how those problems can be solved through RTI provision. Sushant listened to each and every query with patience, and appropriately explained how the problem concerned can be solved through proper utilization of RTI provision. The problems were varied in nature, ranging from one related to the pension of a retired Army officer to that related to the non functioning of a neighborhood hand pump.

One key appeal (at least for me) of the event was the presence of Mr. Anil Shastri, the son of former Indian prime minister late Lal Bahadur Shastri. Well, it is not that I am a great fan of Mr Anil Shastri (though I have no disrespect for him either). Actually I am a huge fan of Lal Bahadur Shastri, undoubtedly one of the best prime ministers that my nation has ever had. And as I have never had the opportunity to meet him (as he died before I was even born), I could somehow reduce that pain by meeting his son.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Good Samaritan I Came Across Last Night

Last night (29th September 2008) I had a great experience, as I came across a Good Samaritan. It was around 2 am (in that sense it took place today, 30th September 2008), and I was returning to home from office.

So what did he do? Well, first let me give some background.



The background

Last night when my reporting head Mr Abhiram Mishra released me for the day, it was 9 pm. I could have easily caught a bus from the Mathura Road bust stop in front of my office, and come back at my Noida home by at most 10:30 pm. But I tried to act smart. My colleague Sachin was also supposed to go in my route (his home is not far away from mine), and he was going to have the office cab. So I felt it was better to wait for Sachin to be through with his work, and go back home with him in the same cab that had been assigned to him. I asked Sachin how long he would take, and he said it would be at most 1 hour (i.e. 10 pm).

I started waiting, and suddenly I realized that it was already 11 pm. Though I was impatient, that time it was not even possible for me to go by bus, as travelling in bus at that hour is not a safe option in Delhi.

So I continued waiting, now as a compulsion. And it seemed to be unending. From 11 pm it became 12 am, then 12:30 am, and then 1 am. And still Sachin was not through with his work.

Now I was completely at my wit’s end. On one hand I could not wait any more (there were constant calls from my home), and on the other hand I had no other option (as the option of travelling by bus had already got closed).

I was restless, I was excited, I wanted using my entire intelligence (whatever little I have) to dig out a solution, when I suddenly found that my boss Mr Abhiram Mishra was still there in his cabin, busy finishing some work. (Oh, I doubt whether I have ever felt so happy after seeing him). I straightway entered his cabin. Stunned, he asked me why I was still at office. I explained everything, and he said that he would give me a lift (incidentally, he stays near my home) while going back home after around 30 minutes.

And ultimately, it was Mr Mishra who took me in his car, and dropped me at a point near my home while on way to his own home.


Now, the actual drama

My home is just 15 minutes walk from the point where Mr Mishra dropped me. But crossing even that short distance at 2 am (in fact, anytime after 11 pm) is a nightmare for me. Why? Muggers? Ghosts? Nopes. Then? Well, the problem is stray dogs.

Well, you may find it very funny. But honestly, I am terribly afraid of stray dogs. The moment I find a single stray dog in the road I immediately change the route provided I have any alternative. This is even when it is broad daylight (when stray dogs are less tending to be suspicious of passersby) and the road is full of other people (who can ensure that the dog will not have sole attention on me). So you can understand how I felt when I found that I was supposed to pass through a lane which was likely to have a huge number of stray dogs. And moreover the time was late night (when stray dogs tend to be very suspicious of passersby), and there was not a single other person.

And I had no other option. There was another route to go home, but that would make me pass through a similar lane (i.e. full of stray dogs), and would also take more time.

I was wondering what to do, feeling the same helplessness that I was having while waiting for Sachin to get through with his work. I was standing so near my home, and yet ……


The arrival of the Good Samaritan

I was making fruitless effort for mustering courage to proceed, when suddenly a car (a white car the model of which I did not notice) came near that lane, flashing its left indicator that showed that it was going to enter that very lane that I was supposed to enter. I desperately shouted -"Bhaisaab!"

The car stopped, and the driver (the only person in the car) peeped outside through the driving side window. A man in his late 20s or early 30s, the driver was dressed in shabby clothes, and showed every sign of belonging to the so called “lower strata” of the society.

“Will you go this way?”, I asked him desperately.

“Yes, I will. Why?” The man was visibly surprised, understandably.

“Well, actually, I have to go this way. Can you please give me a lift? There are full of stray dogs.”

“Really? Ha ha! OK, get in Sir”.

The man took me inside the car, and entered the lane. We passed through half of the lane, when he said that he would turn left.

“Now I will go left. Where is your home?”
“At the end of this lane.” I said nervously. Then I asked him again, “Can you please drop me at the end of the lane, please?”

“OK, no problem”. The person proceeded again, and dropped me at the entrance of our neighborhood, from where my home is just 5 minutes.

I gave him lots of thanks, and came down from the car, and……

A group of stray dogs are standing there, looking at me with ferocious (so it appeared to me) eyes. And within seconds they started barking.

I had just turned into a statue. I knew that now I could not even ask the person to give me further lift in his car, as there was a huge iron gate at the entrance of our neighborhood. This gate is kept open throughout the day, and is shut down after 11 pm by the local guards.

I was almost in tears, when the man came down from the car and stood beside me. “Come, I will help you”. He held my hand, and started escorting me through that small army of dogs. And what surprised me was that the dogs immediately stopped barking – let alone charging us - the moment the guy came down and accompanied me.

The guy escorted me for almost the entire distance that remained, when there appeared a night guard.

The guy requested him to accompany me for the rest of the road (only few steps were remaining), and now said good bye.

“You are really great!” My voice was chocked with gratitude. “I will never forget your help”.

“Ha ha, it is OK. It is perfectly OK. Good night!” The man turned round, and left.

The guard accompanied me to the gate of my building, and I finally entered home after a memorable day (or shall I say night?).


The final conclusion – the world is not that bad as we often feel it to be

I am genuinely touched by the gesture of that person, who was in every sense a so called ordinary person with very ordinary life and habits. His appearance and way of speaking made it very clear that he was either a driver or a car mechanic or something like that, and by all means not very educated.

But the man has humanity. He did not hesitate to stop his car to respond to my call, though it was 2 am, and the road was completely empty (I myself would not have stopped probably). And he also gave me a lift, and even took the trouble of escorting me through those stray dogs.

I do not know his name. I do not even properly remember his face (I was too excited to notice it properly). But I will always remember the way he helped me at the time of my need. I accept that the situation might not be that serious for everybody. I know that a lot of people would have easily reached home without bothering about the stray dogs. But that is a different issue. It was a serious problem for me, and he helped me at that time.


29th September 2008 (officially 30th September, as it was 2 am). I will always remember the date. No, not because of this so called nocturnal adventure. But because on this day I have met somebody from a rare species, the species we have termed as “Good Samaritans”.

Monday, May 19, 2008

The Recent Spate Of Frequent Power Cuts Has Made Life Miserable In Noida

The recent spate of frequent power cuts has made life miserable in Noida, the high-flying satellite town located in the outskirts of New Delhi.

Despite being small in size, Noida enjoys a prominent position in the entire India for various reasons, like being the host of the offices of various reputable companies, both Indian and MNCs. In fact a particular area of Noida, viz. Sector 62, is well known in the entire National Capital Region (NCR) for the offices of various prominent IT companies located in that area. The town is also known for the presence of famous educational institutions, like V.V.Giri Labour Institute, Amity University (one of India’s top private universities) and the Asian Academy of Film & Televisions (one of the top film schools in the entire Asia).

Another key feature of Noida is its Software Technology Park (STP), one of the best STPs that the country boasts of.

Moreover, Noida is perceived as a great place to stay, with lots of people buying/constructing flats/houses here without opting for proper Delhi. It is a trend that has been boosted by a host of favorable factors, like a comparatively cleaner environment, tranquility, greenery, abundant water supply, etc.

However, the recent frequent power cuts experienced by the “Noidaites” are seriously hampering all the pleasures of staying in this beautiful town. It is of course not a charming experience to find the lights going off when one has just started his dinner, just ten minutes after coming back to home from office where he had a grueling day. It is equally frustrating to miss a favourite programme on TV in Sunday noon, or to have a bad sleep in the night with the fan unable to comfort you because of the lack of electricity.

I hope that the concerned authority is very much aware of the inconveniences that the Noidaites are facing, and will take all the suitable steps soon.