My experience at Hubli Station on 29-Dec-2014, starting from 3:30 AM........

This is the second part of my daybreak outing at Hubli which revolved around staying at and discovering Hubli station. The first part was centred around the old KSRTC bus station of the city and it can be found here, just in case you care to read about it

I decided to walk to the railway station in that unearthly hour, as I had no choice; it occurred to me that I could take a retiring room at the station and was hopeful yet again. I've never stayed at a retiring room so far and thought of discovering it.

I had visited the same spot of Hubli about 8 years back and knew that the station was close to the old bus station or in particular the Rani Chennamma statue. But the statue is positioned at a junction of 3 roads and hence I was unable to recollect the exact route. I took my phone out to find the way to the station, only to discover that its battery had run out of power; I had'nt turned off my data network in Goa, made some calls and did some Whatsapping too....I was bearing the brunt of it now as there was no one around to even ask for guidance; I had the entire city centre of Hubli for myself...."These smart phones are dumb in the sense that they consume more power due to their features", I thought.

It was just 3:25 AM in the morning and I was stranded near the Rani Chennamma statue; for a moment I regretted my decision to book a train as the new bus station had conductors and drivers calling out the Bangalore bound passengers. But it was too late and I had no choice.

I was preparing myself mentally to find the way to the station by trial and error method as it was the only option left before me. But, "Huttisida devaru hullu meyisde irtana"??? In the middle of the daybreak, the sound of a railway locomotive honking at the Hubli station, could be heard near the statue and it took just some normal ears to decide the direction from which the sound came. I walked along the road that houses the Hubli-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike office. The road had many good hotels but all of them were shut; the city lacks hotels that offer round the clock check-in and check-out facilities unlike Mangalore, I thought.

It was about 3:35 AM when I arrived at the station which looked really good at night; there was a railway bridge towards my left and it was then, that it occurred to me. The elderly person in the bus had actually asked me to alight near this bridge as it would be very close to the railway station. But as I had failed to decipher him, I had alighted at the old bus station and walked. All the buses bound to Gadag from Hubli, could drop you at the railway bridge, from where Hubli station is a short walk.

I was greeted by the sight of a whole lot of people sleeping on the floor at the station; this is what happens if there are no special waiting rooms for general class passengers, I felt. The people at the enquiry counter led me to the Chief Ticket Inspector's office on platform 1 where the retiring rooms are generally allocated. But I had no luck even here....The person there told me that the rooms are allocated only between 8 (PM or AM) to 8 (AM or PM). I told him that I would'nt mind paying extra and would go for the 24 hour slot, but the man there said it was a waste of money for me as 8 hours had already elapsed. My willingness to spend MY OWN MONEY, cut no ice with that man!!!! Strange......

I was sat on the benches for a while, walked along the platform, up the footover bridge etc. Hubli station has only 5 platforms and the yard seems to be located almost right beside platform 5. I would expect a zonal headquarter to have a much bigger station. After all this, I went to the sleeper class waiting room where there were just 2 people both of whom were in deep sleep snoring. Except for bathing, I finished my morning chores there as I was in no mood to wait for 4 more hours. Later I charged my cell phone fully.

An hour passed somehow...I was bored of playing with my phone too and was worried about how to kill the next 3 hours; it was only 5 AM then. But an idea fired off in my mind, when I heard that Rani Chennamma Express bound to Kolhapur was scheduled to arrive on platform 1 at 5:35 AM. "Why not take a ride to Dharwad"?, I thought. There was nothing that I could do in the waiting room as I would'nt sleep on the floor like how the other 2 occupants had. Brushing and looing itself was uncomfortable as I had never done anything of this sort before. Bathing was fully out of question there. So a trip to Dharwad would be the best way to kill time, I thought.

The strange thing was that a 21 KM ride cost me 30 rupees, something I had'nt expected. But nevermind, the money has gone to the government and not into the clerk's pocket. The train departed at 6:05 AM and reached Dharwad by around 6:30 AM. Dharwad was more like a small town compared to Hubli. I walked around the station for a while and returned to the station by around 7:05 AM, only to find that a train to Hubli that was expected at 6:55 AM was yet to arrive. I decided to go for it and bought the tickets and reached Hubli by around 7:50 AM.

But the night shift guy at the ticket inspector's office was in a mood to logout and asked me to wait for the next person to login. My bad luck had'nt ended there...there were 2 old men seated and they had taken away the only 2 retiring rooms that were available. The day shift guy arrived at 8:30 AM (although his login time was 8) and asked me to get a photocopy of my ID proof.

The photocopying facility was said to be available at the IRCTC food plaza in the station, but I found that it was not open then. I learnt that it does not open before 10 or 10:30 AM..... I walked down to another shop on the road, where the person asked me for a small change of 2 rupees which I did not have. I said I did not want the change back but asked him to accept my 10 rupees note, but he refused. That was when I ran out of patience.

I decided to leave things as they are and tore the dormitory request form that the ticket inspector had given me. I went for breakfast at a Kamat beside the station, bought a newspaper and spent the rest of my time in the waiting room reading it. At 12:50 PM or so, I went for lunch at a second Kamat located opposite to the station and when I returned, the Janshatabdi arrived on platform 1.

I struggled to keep my eyes open until one Hubli South station which seemed to be nestled amidst maize fields. The train did not stop there, but the TTE arrived. I showed my ticket and then crashed. I struggled to open my eyes at 4:40 PM when the train was coming to a halt at Davangere; closed my eyes and when I opened it again, the train had begun to chug out of Birur Junction.

On the whole, Hubli - Bangalore Janshatabdi express was a great train but still arrived 20 minutes late. The scheduled time of arrival at Bangalore City was 9:25 PM but it chugged in only at 9:45 PM.

My colleagues had a good laugh when I shared this with them on 2-Jan-2015, when I got back to work. So thought of sharing it with you all here, as well. Thanks for bearing with me through this long post

My experience of Panaji - Hubli bus journey between 28-Dec-2014 at 9 PM upto 3 AM on 29-Dec-2014.......

After attending a friend's wedding in Mangalore on the evening of 27-Dec-2014, I visited Goa to see the relics of St. Francis Xavier in the church of Old Goa. It took me 4 hours to get to the relic from the entrance to the new church and finally I was out. I used the free "ring services" arranged by the Government of Goa (Kadamba Transport Corporation) to reach a certain point from where a second bus of KTC took me to Panaji for a fare of rupees 10.

I had a train to catch from Hubli to Bangalore on the following afternoon. My initial plan was to stay at Hubli and discover the city a bit, but because I lost a lot of time in the church, the plan had gone for a toss. It was about 8:30 PM by the time I arrived at Panaji and walked into the Ruchi Restaurant for dinner. I was almost certain on going to Hubli the same night and hence preferred to have a light vegetarian dinner and refrain from meat and drinks (although it was Goa with New Year round the corner); I wanted no nuisance from my end to the co-passengers in the ghat route to Hubli.

After dinner, I did try finding an accommodation in Panaji. But a single non AC room on that day was priced at 3.5k per night. I saw no point in spending that money for a less than 12 hour stay so walked to the Panaji bus station.

In the bus station, there were 2 buses : Panaji - Rona and Panaji - Shirahatti, both Sarige services via Hubli. The one to Rona seemed crowded so I boarded the Shirahatti bus and found a place for myself on the last seat, very close to the exit. This apparently was the last service of KSRTC to depart from Panaji and it did so, at 9:30 PM sharp. The fare to Hubli was about rupees 176 and the conductor told me that the bus would reach the city at around 3:15 AM. After that, I dozed off...

It must have been around 11:25 PM or so when we had arrived at the Goa border checkpost where the bus stopped. Passengers' luggage (including my backpack) was thoroughly frisked by the officials to spot anyone carrying drinks illegally. The same procedure was carried out at the entry point of Karnataka, as well. This was something new to me as I had not seen such intense frisking near the Karwar border when I travelled from Panaji to Bangalore in 2012.

I was about to doze off again when the person beside me yelled using all his energy - "Conductre, ootakke elli nilsovriddirri??? Hotte bhari hasithati" (or something like that). No sooner had he said that than the bus deviated from the road to arrive at some dhaba kind of a place. I too alighted to see what it looked like...I was glad that I had dined at Panaji as this was definitely not a place I would really eat in. TV9 Kannada news channel was being played inside the dining area; I learnt of the Church Street blast in Bangalore through that.

I had dozed off almost immediately after the bus departed. When I woke up, it was about 3:10 AM and we were moving in a city, which I knew was Hubli. I saw a Big Bazaar towards my right and then to the left was a shop with a board that carried the address written in Kannada - "Gokula Rasthe, Hubballi". It was just a few jiffies before we arrived at the New Bus Station of Hubli City.

Amongst everyone seated near me, the only person who was awake was an old man with whom I was really pissed off at Panaji for his manner of speaking to his pals. Although I had not spoken to him (nor had he to me), his ease of using vulgar vocabulary had irritated me a lot. In fact he seemed to be speaking Konkani or Marathi but the cuss words coming out were of Kannada..... I asked him whether the bus goes to the old bus station (the conductor had alighted then). He said 'yes' and asked me about my destination. I had to reach the Hubli railway station and I knew that the old bus station was closer to it. The old man was talking to me about a 'bridge', the bus going to the bridge etc. but honestly I did not understand much of it then. He was'nt entirely speaking in Kannada and I could not grasp his language much.....

When the bus arrived at the old bus station, he patted my back and said "Hale bus stand". I thanked him and greeted him with a smile; he pleasantly waved his hand.


Lodging at Old Bus Station - Hubli

As soon as I alighted the bus, I saw the board of one Akshaya Lodge (or so) inside the bus station itself. There seemed to be other good lodges on the road, but none of them were open. So I went up to the first floor hoping to find a room; I had a strange feeling when I saw too many people lying on quilts in what was supposed to be a lodge. I had never seen anything of that sort before in my life.

The person there saw me and I told him that I needed a single room until the following afternoon.

He had a weird question for me - "AttachedA, Non AttachedA????"

I was a bit taken aback. "My goodness, what's this guy even asking me??????". But almost instantly I surmised it to be about bathrooms but could it be???? Almost all households have rooms with attached bathrooms today,....would people in different rooms be allotted a common toilet in a lodge????????????????? The confusion persisted.

"Attached", I said. He said that none of the rooms were empty and that he could allot one only in the morning. Although I had no hope there, for curiosity I asked him whether the people who were lying on the floor with quilts spread out, had opted for the non-attached accommodation....

"Enu lodge nodiye illa anno haage matadthiralla. Idu bare bed ashte". I was confused even more. Are there lodges that give you just quilts and permit you to lie on the floor???????? That was weird....... But I was angry with the man's comments but did not react. "The idiot, does not know how to speak to customers", I thought. But the man himself did not look like someone educated, so chose to ignore him there. I'l see if I can find him on tripadvisor and avenge it all (but I am not at all hopeful).

My last hope lied with the auto drivers. But the one person whom I asked said "Railway station bali nodi. Alli nimage lodge sigabahudu". He did not seemed to be interested in showing me one himself, so my last hope of finding a lodge near the bus station, had crashed. I decided to walk to the station and that formed the rest of my "nightout" in Hubli.

The portion concerning KSRTC ends here. The next part revolves around the railway station and it can be read here.

A detailed account of my journey from Bangalore to Mangalore via Madikeri on 27-Dec-2014 (PLEASE PARDON ME FOR THE LENGTH!!)

I happened to travel to Mangalore from Bangalore by a Rajahamsa, during the day on the 27th of December, 2014. As the route via Mysore and Madikeri was being suggested by the authorities for the buses from Bangalore, I decided to take this route to reach Mangalore; I had never travelled along this road earlier.

As I was of the opinion that the number of buses on Bangalore - Madikeri - Mangalore route were low, I started off from home early. I thought of waiting for BMTC route number 60 series near my home, but after a 5 minute wait on the Bull Temple Road bus stop (near More Mega Store) I decided to walk upto Royan Circle in Chamarajapet from where all Kengeri / University / RR Nagar bound buses from Majestic and KR Market arrive. The ride from Royan Circle to Bapujinagar lasted less than 5 minutes and the fare was about rupees 8 or 9.

It was about 6:55 AM and my hopes of being able to catch a direct bus were high; I was of the impression that the buses on this route were low but was actually wrong; just that KSRTC does not advertise them. Although they are nowhere close to those plying along the Hassan - Sakleshpur route, the number of buses doing this route is not entirely insignificant. I was also surprised to see a Bangalore - Kasaragod Sarige service in the morning.

After blasting the urinal guard for lack of maintenance despite collecting a fee, I walked to the Mangalore / Madikeri platform. There were 2 buses bound to Mangalore waiting - a Sarige that terminated at Mangalore and a Rajahamsa headed to Udupi; I chose the latter. Although the original board of the bus (in Kannada) said that it was a Mysore - Udupi service, a second board beside it had "Bengaluru" written on it in Kannada. However, I confirmed with the driver before boarding the bus that it would take me to Mangalore (the driver and conductor were calling only Mysore and Madikeri bound passengers).

The fare was about 543, if I am not wrong. Although the scheduled time of departure was 7:15 AM, he unwillingly moved out of the bus station at 7:30 AM. This was my second journey on the Bangalore - Mysore route by a Rajahamsa in the recent times and on both the occasions I felt that there were not many takers for Rajahamsa service between the 2 cities. Almost all the passengers in the bus were headed to either Kushalnagar or Madikeri.

I guessed that the bus would stop for breakfast at Maddur in one of the 2 bus stations that are located opposite to each other, as it actually did. I skipped breakfast as I had had it at home. A few passengers bound to Mandya boarded the bus at Maddur. as you may all know, the first commercial halt for Rajahamsa buses is Mysore; Mandya bound passengers were dropped off at some point near the railway station. It was about 10:20 when we arrived at Mysore for a brief halt of 5 minutes.

The bus was almost if not entirely full at Mysore. I expected him to go past Irwin Road take a left at JLB Road and then right towards Hunsur Road, which is also known at Vinoba Road in Mysore City limits. But he went through a slightly longer route to cover all the boarding points within the city (but again, there seemed to be no takers for Rajahamsa services on Mysore - Hunsur / Periyapatna etc. routes).

Rajahamsa has no stops at Hunsur and Periyapatna. The first stop after Mysore was at Kushalnagar bus station and it lasted about 5 minutes. I was expecting him to stop here for lunch, but he did not. A few people alighted at Suntikoppa and then finally the bus reached Madikeri at around 2:50 PM where we had time for lunch. The food was below average at the restaurant inside the bus station, but I had no choice; the luxury of time to explore restaurants was missing; I really wondered how the drivers and conductors manage with such food on a regular basis.......

The bus moved effortlessly and fast through the Sampaje Ghat section. The road was entirely good within Mysore and Madikeri districts but repair works were going on in Dakshina Kannada district. The next stop was Sullia and then Puttur; the town of Sullia is fine, but Puttur is one messy town. It was almost 6 PM and Mangalore still seemed far to me (although it was'nt really as far.....)

I got my life back when we arrived at the NH 48 junction at Mani, but the drama was yet to end...a few metres ahead, there was a traffic jam and all vehicles had come to a halt!!!!!!! For the next 5-6 Kms the bus just crawled and about 40 minutes went down the drain. Apparently there was some car festival at Kalladka which was responsible for the mess.

By the time we arrived crossed Kalladka, the driver indicated that the lack of adequate fuel to reach even Mangalore let alone Udupi and hence we drove into the BC Road depot for fuel. I was seated at the right side and could see everything....

The person at the depot asked the driver : "Udupi - Mysore gaadi thaane??"

Driver (in their characteristic casual tone) : "Howdu. Aadre Bengalurige extra trip madidvi. Eega Bengalurinda bandiddu naavu"

Depot person : "Raatri matte trip ide alva??"

Driver : "Raatri 10:45 ge. Namdu naale off ide, adakke ivattu namdenu duty illa"

Depot Person : "Hey 20 litre haaku".....the probably the rest of the fuel needed for the night departure, would be filled in the Udupi depot. After this, the driver had to enter the details of the bus in a register and sign. There was another form, which only the driver had to sign. Conductor played no role here.

Finally we arrived inside Mangalore City and just after the Pumpwell stop (Mahaveer Circle) I just woke up from my seat as I could no longer sit. The conductor said "Sir inna kutkoli, bus stand doora ide". I told him that I had to alight at Jyoti Circle. The road that the KSRTC buses take to reach the Bejai bus station had been closed for some reason due to which the bus dropped me at a certain point before Jyoti circle, from where it deviated to the right; it was 7:45 PM then (12 hours and 15 minutes from Bangalore to Mangalore!!!!!!!). I do not know the exact name of the point where I was dropped off but I knew that I was not far from Balmatta Road where my hotel was located. I boarded a local bus and alighted near the Syndicate Bank stop on Balmatta Road and walked to my hotel..........

Guys, please pardon me for the length of this post. I know it got excruciatingly long . But thanks a lot for reading and kudos to your patience if you have really read upto this point

Coalition Government : A constitutional boon that was successfully turned into a bane

After having witnessed the political developments in various regions across my country, I do not really think twice before concluding that a hung verdict in an election that eventually leads to the formation of coalition governments, is almost synonymous to the halting of progressive activities in the region. The exercises that the political parties indulge in, at the time of formation of the coalition government is quite likely to leave any responsible citizen of the country, disturbed. The steady decline in the ethical values among the parties, both national and regional, could be directly attributed to this. The parties involved in the formation of a coalition government are always loosely bound to each other as one party always expects to have its word being honored by the other. Also, the parties are often plagued by a perception of being correct all the time, because of which there is ample scope for in-fighting among the members of the cabinet. The threat of the government collapsing always persists in a coalition government as parties are likely to withdraw their support to the government as and when they feel that 'improper treatment' is being meted out to their candidates (though in most of the cases, members of both the parties are no where closer to being morally correct). Collapsing or the untimely dissolving of a government for any reason, calls for a re-election or the "Switching of Loyalties" by the elected representatives, calls for by-elections so on and so forth ; the after-events of a coalition government are never pleasant in most of the cases, because of which spending huge sums of money in the name of elections, has turned inevitable. The problems associated with a coalition government are plenty and it is this aspect that prompts one to find an alternative it.

The motive behind the framers of the constitution, while incorporating the concept of a coalition government in the governance of the country, was a noble one. The reason was that people from a considerable (2/3rds the total) number of constituencies in a given region, must be represented in the government. The representatives of the remaining constituencies, which have not been represented in the government would be seated in the opposition, which plays an extremely important role in a democracy ; these representatives would demand the legitimate share of funds for the progressive activities to be taken up in their constituencies and duly oppose any wrong policies of the government. However, in the case of a hung verdict where-in one party secures more seats than the others but not enough to form a government on its own, the party is forced to poach in the representatives from different parties (either to join their own or to form a coalition government) or the independent candidates who often demand a heavy price to support the government. In the case of coalition government, the members of the supporting party usually demand "plum" portfolios, meaning the ones which offer adequate scope for making money for themselves. The party which had called for support has no choice but to comply with the demands of the supporting party, which has only made a cheap bargain. Though the party which won the greater number of seats appears to be the one forming the government, the supporting party plays a key role in the formation process, as it is instrumental in meeting the required numbers, without which it is impossible to form the government. Needless to say, these governments are always unstable. Garnering the support of a minimum number of representatives to form the government has been spurring the business of horse trading, where in the politicians strike bargains amongst themselves, with the sole intention of increasing their personal assets. An end has to be put to this and what follows is a suggestion from my end.

As far as I can think, there are 2 ways in which the problem can be tackled. One, allowing the party which has singly obtained the largest number of seats, to form the government. As for the regions which are not represented, the government can think of nominating one person from the corresponding region, based on his contribution to Arts / Science / Literature / Social Work / Sports / Education etc. to the Governor. This is similar to the nomination of the members of Rajya Sabha or the Members of the Legislative Council. This person would assess the needs and requirements of the region in various fields and inform the government, the same on a regular basis, so that the needs could be addressed. No portfolio as such would be given to him though in practice, he would be holding all the portfolios for that particular region. The government on its part would be mandated to accord special priority to the recommendations of this person, based on the review of the same by the Governor. 

The other means of addressing the problem is to allow the party with the largest number of seats to form the government. The elected representatives of the regions in which the ruling party has lost, would be joining the government, as it is necessary to presume that the progress of their constituencies is of prime importance to them, for which they are prepared for a 'sacrifice' as small as switching the party. This would mean a greater honor to the decision of the people belonging to that region for whose progress, the government is expected to rise above party-level politics. There is little scope for lobbying by the 'outsider' for the portfolios as he is bound to join the government to live up to the expectations of the people who elected him to power. In case, the 'outsiders' demand 'plum' portfolios, the demands could be accepted or rejected. In case, the person declines to support the government, the MLC's or other persons of eminence, who may be nominated from that region, may function as development supervisors. Their duty is to make sure that the government takes up projects in the corresponding region based on the needs and consent of the people and not out of favoritism. In short, the departure of elected representatives should mean no threat to the government as long as the number existing within it is greater than that of the departed. The outsiders would be free to join any party after the completion of their term office.

 The role of the opposition party would continue to be the same. Every member of the opposition party would be in his rights to protest against the injustice, if any, being meted out to people, in any region in the state / country. Measures such as these would not only prevent corruption within the ministers forming the coalition government but also spare the country of several unnecessary expenses due to mid-term and other untimely elections, though it may not root out corruption in its entirety.