Centralizing address and phone.

I shifted my residence. There is a change in my residential address now and also my fixed line telephone number. I then had to update my new address and telephone number with:
1. My company
2. My mobile phone service provider
3. Insurance company
4. Another insurance company
5. My friends
6. My relatives
7. My passport
8. I had to cancel my voter's ID card and get a new one in my area
9. My bank
10. My another bank
11. My credit card provider
12. My home loan finance provider
13. etc,
14. etc....

My colleagues, who are bachelors, keep shifting their house every few years or so. I wonder how they manage all this. I asked them and they say the address is changed as and when the need arises.

What is necessary is maintaining a central database for addresses and telephone numbers. I control which service provider, friend, relative can see it. Of course, address for passport and other government related orgs can get it by default.

It should take care of permanent residence address, temporary address and office address. For telephone numbers I should be able to provide my fixed line number, my mobile number and mobile numbers of other members of my family. I should be able to link to my neighbour's, my friends, my colleagues and my relatives address and telephone number as well.

All the service providers can pull the address and telephone number from the database to contact me. In case of emergency, they can reach me through my neighbours, friends, colleagues or family members.

For security reasons, I should be able to control who can link to me (my address and/or phone numbers) and who all can see this data. I should be able to alter this info at any time. The telecom company should have the facility to verify this updates. For addresses, maybe the policy should be involved to verify.

There should also be a mechanism to prevent telemarketing callers from making those pestering calls.

Implementing this may not be very difficult compared to making entries for all existing people and educating everyone from using it....

The Last Mile of travelling

There was a time when Bangalore did not have any one-ways. But still the traffic was not mentioned in any news. Now with so many one-ways its still in the news.

When the number of commuters increased, the public transport (BMTC) did not wake up. People started buying and using their own vehicles. Now it has woken up and introduced very nice services. But people are not going to change because:

• We have gotten used to the convenience of using own vehicles.
• We can now afford to buy/run/maintain own vehicles, despite increasing fuel and steel prices.
• We don't have time to walk the last mile of polluted streets after getting down from a bus.
• The buses are never on time. Thats because of the amount of traffic.
  

I was very happy when BMTC introduced Volvo buses. I hate driving in Bangalore and would love to go by the Volvo.

But there is a major problem. The nearest volvo bus stop from my home is 2kms away and the nearest volvo bus stop from my office is 1km away. I tried going by the normal BMTC buses to cover for that distance. But the timing is always not right. I've to wait for a normal bus near my house and then wait for the volvo bus. Too much time wasted in waiting. I even tried walking the 3kms.

They had introduced the YI services for some time. It would show the current location of the bus you are interested in by SMS. That way you can plan your travel to the volvo bus stop. This service has been discontinued now :(.

BMTC had also introduced Gramantara bus services. They were minibuses which would go to remote and less populated areas. The advantage was that they could go through narrow and winding roads of villages. Now I see very few of those buses.

That did not work out and I'm back at using my two wheeler :(.

I read an article in the newspaper today (22nd Dec) that BMTC is introducing taxi services for those going to the new Bangalore Airport. The taxis will pick up the passenger from the house and drop at the nearest Vajra bus. Vajra (volvo) buses are being planned to pickup/drop commuters from and to the new airport to different locations in Bangalore. They are planning to use GPS to synchronize the taxis and the buses.

Now that is a brilliant idea. That covers the last mile of traveling to the airport!

If they could introduce something like that for local transport as well....

Aesthetic Pollution

What is Aesthetic Pollution?

Spoiling the visual beauty. Its also called Visual Pollution.

Advertisements on buses, bill boards, overhead wires, buildings etc, cause Aesthetic Pollution. Its hard to define what causes Aesthetic Pollution as beauty is in the eyes of the.. err. spectator .. observer.. .. whatever. Ask the company which put up the bill board and they'll definitely tell you that the bill board is adding to the Aesthetic Beauty. Of course, its the money speaking. Isn't it always the money which is speaking? How many businessmen (or customers!) have ever heard of Ethical Business Conduct?

I remember there was a plan to build a larger building next to Taj Mahal. It came up in the news, became a controversy, some blame games and then all news channel fell silent. The point raised was that it'll spoil the beauty of Taj Mahal. Valid point. Apparently the project was dropped.

One of my friends recently visited Badami. He says, as you enter the town you can see the beautiful and ancient caves and buildings along with three mobile towers in the background! That totally spoils the beauty. No photos taken!

Why don't we think of beauty being spoilt in our city or in our neighborhood? I was just reading another news: São Paulo has banned outdoor advertising. Many other cities around are considering the same.

Can we do that in our cities as well?

Well, we don't even have decent roads or footpaths. For the last one week, Times of India has been showing pictures of bad roads all over Bangalore and nothing is being done. We have garbage dumped all around the bins. Nobody throws wrappers in the dust bins. I don't see a sense of cleanliness itself.

I saw an ad of a property developer which said something like "are your neighbours spoiling your happy moments?". The accompanying picture has a cute little girl in a fairy dress posing for a photograph and somebody is fixing a dish antenna in the balcony of the flat of the adjoining building in the background.

People take a lot of care of their house, their personal looks, their cars, their 'happy moments'. Its just a mater of extending the same concept a bit more....

We have to first understand the importance of Aesthetic Pollution. Its a new concept around here and it'll take some time before people accept that its not a nice thing. It'll take even longer to take any action.

We definitely have a long way to go....

Child Proof Computer Table

I have been searching for a computer table. I have visited many furniture shop and online furniture shops as well. But I have not found any that meets my requirement.

One of my main requirement is : The computer table must be child proof!

I have a one and half year old hyperactive kid in my house. Currently, I spend a lot of time keeping the kid from destroying my computer and the accessories.

About the tables I saw at different furniture shops, everyone tells me the same thing: "these computer tables are imported (from Malaysia) and we just assemble and sell it". I wonder who designs these computer tables. They are highly non-ergonomic!

• The keyboard tray must hold both the keyboard and the mouse. Many of them say, keep the mouse on top of the table.
• Some models have the monitor at an angle to the sitting position. You have to keep your head turned at an angle to look at the monitor.
• Many of them do not bother about the wirings and cables. They show the printer being placed at the top, but there is no provision to run the cable to the computer. The assumption is that the computer table should be placed two inches away from the wall and you can run the cable behind the table.

We take so much care in ergonomics for our office tables and chairs. But why don't we think about this for our home tables? Surprisingly, all the furniture-walas say, their computer tables sell like hot cakes!

Well, I spend considerable time in front of the computer from home. Most people use it just to browse. Well, I wouldn't want to settle for a poorly designed table just for browsing.

Well, you don't require a very creative brain to design an acceptably ergonomic, child proof computer table. I designed a couple of them myself. I decided to hold off when I found that the custom made tables cost more than 3 times the assembled ones...even if they use same amount of wood.

I don't know what to do...