Just finished reading highlights of the Rail budget (sorry! I am little slow); here are some forward looking initiatives I noted. Prabhu is doing a good job! Draft Bill on regulator - Restructuring Railway Board on business lines  Sale of platform tickets through ticket vending machines both cash and card compatible  Facility of cancellation through the 139 helpline using ‘One Time Password’  ‘Clean my Coach’ service through SMS  Periodic third party audit of stations of A1 & A category  Cold storage facilities on vacant land near freight terminals  Rail side logistic parks and warehousing Appointing Key Customer Managers to liaison with our major freight stakeholders  Hourly booking of retiring rooms to be allowed instead of the existing minimum of 12 hours.  Baby foods, hot milk and hot water to be made available on stations  Changing boards for babies would be provided in train toilets.  CCTV cameras would conti...

In response to my previous post my friend Payal (who had forwarded me the video) - sent me an email. Her email is almost a blog post in itself - so I thought it would be a good idea to post it here. Here you go ... [ previous post ... there is many a slip between the cup and the lip.] I understand all those pitfalls... all I am saying by that link is that the image of India is getting better in the outside world. I am happy about it ... but I wish there was more substance to it ... Its not just what meets the eyes (infra) that needs to be developed, there are softer concerns too like security and resilience of justice system not to mention corruption and the lack of trust in offices and general life. ऐसा नही है कि US में 2 hours 'stuck in traffic' नही होता, but India में it is more often than not... you know when NRIs come back to India, they always see the "progress" in India.. big malls erected, flyovers etc and think "Hey! India is really shining...

A friends of mine who is in the US, sent me this YouTube link: While this India rising story is fast becoming a cliche, the video nevertheless makes things look quite amazing. And so many Indians abroad seem to be getting more and more sold on the India story. I however believe there's more to it than meets the eye!! :-) The troubles of working (or operating business) in India are quite irking - for example I was stuck for 2 hours today in Ghatkopar - fortunately the habit of having a book in my bag helped me - but imagine the amount of morning productive time I wasted! The stock market which went up and was hailed to stay put even as the US melted under sub-prime, has finally crashed today [ last reported it fell 1300 odd points]. The real estate prices which have been rising in speculation are already falling in smaller cities and while they have stayed put in metros - the whole urban dream seems to be crumbling because of the inability of the governments to be able to suppleme...