Nominated for the Pepsi MTV Youth Icon 2008 Awards.

I have been nominated for the Pepsi MTV Youth Icon 2008 Awards. This was for the Free The Left Lane project. I had also won the Special Jury Award at the first CNN-IBN Citizen Journalist Awards in the 'Be The Change' Category.

A clip of my acceptance speech: http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/76805/10_2008/cj_awards2510_3a/cj-awards-step-forward-in-inclusive-journalism.html

I think the entire IT community should feel proud of this nomination, because it was a coordinated effort that included techies from different IT companies and it was only their dedication that made this project a success. This project was to show the people that if rules are followed on the road, driving can be a much better experience. I hope this gives a “normal”, “common” techie the inspiration that he too can bring about a change by getting up and taking charge of the problems faced by the society/city/country. Believe me, if you give up without a fight, then nothing will ever improve, but if you firmly believe in making a difference, then you certainly can – one citizen at a time!

I am one of the 30 nominees from all over India and the top 8 nominees (by votes) will be chosen as the Youth Icons and will have their faces printed on special edition Pepsi Cans. Getting nominated for the Youth Icon Awards itself is a big honour, but I'd also like to finish in the top 8 and for that I need your votes.

Online voting: Please vote for me here: http://www.mtvyouthicon.in.com/nominee.php?id=46566

Via SMS: SMS “Icon SM” to 56882 i.e. “Icon SM” to 56882

Spread the word! :)

The Traffic in Hyderabad on 18th Oct... phew

The Traffic was bad in Hyderabad today because of the Aviation Expo. Actually it wasn't bad, it was PATHETIC. The entire stretch of road from Punjagutta to Secunderabad was jam packed.
Here's my experience (unfortunately I didn't carry my camera today or I would have added some great pictures)

I drove from Whitefields, Kondapur to Paradise, Secunderabad and then from Paradise to Charminar.
First traffic jam was at the Greenland flyover. It was so bad that after getting stuck for about 30 minutes there, I took a u-turn from under the flyover and took the Necklace Road route to go to the Secunderabad Railway Station, the intended destination. The Khairatabad flyover was also pretty bad. The traffic cop present at the IMAX circle was not allowing the traffic going to the left (i.e. towards Eat Street) to flow while the traffic from IMAX side was moving-that was wrong. Then on the turn towards Minister Road, there was another traffic jam for no discernible reason and as usual people were causing most of the traffic snarls.
We could not go to the Railway Station so we asked our guest to meet us at Paradise because there was no way that we could have reached the station(a distance of less than 5km) in less than 30-40 minutes. At one of the side lanes next to Paradise (the Sindhi Colony main road) there was an actual deadlock. Traffic was not moving at all and nobody was making an attempt to break the deadlock.
After our lunch, we started again hoping that things would be better in the evening. Things were equally bad and I saw common citizens directing traffic at 2 crossings;trying their best to bring some method in the madness, but I could see them facing the same problems we used to face on the roads - indiffirent drivers who don't realize that these citizens were putting in their time and energy to help . I gave one of them a thumbs up as I drove by and the look on his face said it all - he felt so nice that somebody had recognised his efforts. It was a look of pride, happiness and accomplishment. Pride because his efforts were altruistic. Happiness because somebody else understood what pain he was going through. Accomplishment because he was doing what 99.9% of the other citizens present on the road were not doing and that is being the change he wants to see in others and that my dear readers, is a big accomplishment.

Strategy to counter the growing traffic problems in Hyderabad :In progress

{This is a work in progress. I thought of sharing it here to get your ideas, feedback and hopefully your involvement.}

What would be the best strategy to counter the growing traffic problems in Hyderabad? First, let's identify the various entities that contribute to this problem.

Autos
Cabs
APSRTC buses
Pedestrians
Citizens who use 4 wheelers and/or 2 wheelers to commute
Traffic Police
GHMC/APIIC depending on the area
Government/Political parties

Assuming that we have identified all the parameters, now let's see what would be the best way to deal with them.
First, create SMART goals such as 'Increase compliance with traffic rules' and 'Decongest major traffic junctions'. Lets call them HYDGOALS. These could be further broken down into sub goals that could be mapped to the entities identified above.
Create teams that would concentrate on tackling these areas, headed by a Project Manager. The team would create their own sub goals and then align those with the HYDGOALS. The Autos team would create goals such as ‘Get buy in from major Auto Unions to start following rules'. The APSRTC team would create goals such as 'Ensure buses stop within identified bus bays' and 'Ensure that the average time on routes is increased to reduce pressure on the drivers'.

All these subgoals would eventually roll up to fulfill a HYDGOAL, but by breaking them down, we make it easier to tackle and track them.

{will keep adding more stuff here}

Why do cab drivers drive rashly? First hand account

Yes, I'm talking about the white Indicas that ferry the ITES crowd to their offices. Just today while going to office, on the Durgam Cheruvu road(near the manhole that is spewing out water), this cabbie first cut into the opposite lane by bypassing the speed breaker (Mistake1) and then on seeing an oncoming vehicle it tried to cut into my lane and almost hit my car (Mistake2) where as the cabbie should have slowed down and come in behind my car. I had to break hard to avoid getting hit.
Now this got me furious, not because of what happened to me, but because next time somebody else's car could actually get hit or worse a pedestrian could get badly hurt because of this cabbie. I drove ahead and asked the cabbie to stop;pulled him to a side and asked the passengers (all ITES chaps) which company they were from (won't malign that company be naming it here) and then asked the name of the transport company (forgot the name). To my surprise, the passengers actually got angry..... with me. Imagine that. They had seen how this cabbie had driven, they knew it was this cabbie's fault and yet they started picking a fight with me. Then another cab carrying employees of this same company stopped and those guys who had no idea of what had happened (esp this bald guy who thought he could bully me into submission) started shouting at me.
Then one of the passengers of the original cab said that they didn't expect this from an educated guy. I tell you, I could have garlanded that guy. I said this was exactly my point. "You are educated and you saw how this guy drove, yet instead of making sure that the cabbie drives properly, 10 of you are ganging up against me and telling me that I shouldn't have stopped you this manner". Then this another passenger said... and this is hilarious... he says "I'm a senior manager . What are you telling me about rules"? I almost laughed in his face. How does being a senior manager make you an authority on traffic rules? He was this typical, I'm-a-manager-so-I-will-show-off kind of person And I'm pretty sure that bald guy was this senior manager's direct report because he said "We don't have to talk to these kind of persons, sir. Let's go". I mean hello!!!!! You weren't even there when it happened, Mr Bald Guy.

These are the kind of people we try to save from accidents. I told them that the only reason I stopped the cabbie was to make sure that he doesn't cause anybody else harm. I said that what if he had hit somebody known to you. Your father? Your mother? Would you wait until that happens or will you stop this cabbie from hurting someone before hand?
When things like this happen, you feel hurt and disappointed. For these same people we had stood in the sun to Free the Left Lane;for these same people we put in OUR TIME and EFFORT to solve traffic issues;then these guys just go and let you down so badly. All you are expected to do is do the right thing, to drive safely and to ensure that people around you drive safely. Is that so difficult?

Unbelievable experience. My stand that the people may be engineers/MBAs but may not be educated is exactly because of these kind of people.

Special Jury Mention Award Winner @ the first “Citizen Journalist” Awards

The IBN Network has announced a path breaking editorial initiative of CNN-IBN and IBN7; the Citizen Journalist Awards. This is the first ever Citizen Journalist Awards and I have been chosen for the Special Jury Mention Award in the "Be the Change" Category.

Selection process:

The selection process for the CNN-IBN Citizen Journalist awards is a two-tiered one:

• Editor’s Call: The Editorial heads of Network18 decide the best out of the top 5 entries in each category.

• Jury: Jury votes by eminent citizens

The jury comprises of the following eminent personalities: Dr Kiran Bedi, Madhu Trehan, Neelam Krishnamoorthy, Nandita Das, Rakesyh Mehra, Arvind Kejriwal and Prasoon Joshi.

The awards will be presented on 16th Oct and I will be in Delhi to receive my award.

Here are the links:
http://features.ibnlive.com/features/cjawards/
http://features.ibnlive.com/features/cjawards/bethechange.php

Using Twitter for user generated traffic updates

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Now that I've copy-pasted that from the Twitter website, let me explain how Twitter could be used by users to generate traffic updates. Let's say you're driving through Mehdipatnam and you see a traffic jam because of an accident or because of some road works in progress. You decide to warn other drivers about this by sending an sms to 556511. People who "follow" you will receive your sms via Twitter and they can then choose to leave early or take another route.
Before GPS enabled maps with real time traffic data becomes more popular, I guess this could be an effective way of creating user generated "traffic maps".

If you like this idea, then create an account at Twitter.com and register your mobile device. Send me an email to let me know you have done this. My email id is available on my blogger profile. I will also send out an email to the Google group and find out if people are interested in trying out this idea.

Some photos sent in by a citizen - Kukatpally (JNTU)-Cyber Towers Route

These photos were sent in by Sundar Paul. This is the stretch of road from JNTU to Cyber Towers. This road was a one way for about 3-4 months and just recently the second lane was reopened.
Many thanks, Sundar!