Beep Beep Beep - Stuck in a Traffic jam

Stuck in a Traffic Jam

A big problem and there is no remedy to it, in big cities such as Hyderabad, is people stuck in traffic jams. When the Gachibowli flyover was under construction, during morning and evening rush hours, the roads were used to be jam packed. All the vehicles move at a snail's pace. Motorbikes sneaking peaking out the way in between the cars, autos and buses. Autos, cars, buses honking horns ready to overtake one another, even in such terrible traffic jams.

One thing which I experienced is that generally in such situations when all the cars, buses & other vehicles are lined up, then also the people behind are honking horns. What's the use of such honking? The people ahead cannot move until the road in front of them gets cleared. They cannot fly over the other vehicles or traffic. Everyone is in a tearing hurry and everybody wants to go first.

The drivers who are getting stressed out do not contribute anything positive to themselves - they are adding to their own woes, at the same time adding to noise pollution. This is my feeling however I feel utterly hopeless with the situation. Even though it does not help in any way still so many drivers are honking. In between some bike riders are trying stunt driving taking nasty turns and getting in between the cars in the smallest of area. They are trying to show as if only they want to go and everyone is there just for waiting in the traffic. Everyone wants to reach there destination whether be it home or office and no one is out there to have fun.

The traffic situation in big cities is not going to improve. In the same traffic situation at one place are people who understand that the situation will not improve with panicking and at the same time there are the hyper, angry folks who are raising the temperature of their own bodies and of the environment surrounding them by continuously honking. Although I agree that this time is testing our patience it is better to stay cool. What is the point in going it BEEP BEEP BEEP? Don't you think it is better for the traffic to clear up. What do you think???

WHY THIS KOLAVERI DI? WHY THIS, WHY THIS, WHY THIS KOLAVERI DI?

Hyderabad Real Estate?????

"Do deewane is shehar main, aabudaana dhoodte hain, ashiyana dhoondte hain.................."

IT Migrants as they say to the city Hyderabad, struggle with the questions - should we buy a home here? Would I get transferred on completion of this Project? How long will this Project last, what will happen after that? Would the home be in our budget? Would we be able to afford the EMI?

Once we decided that it is better to take a home of our own rather then keep shelling out huge amount of money to the landlord, we started looking out for suitable home for ourselves. The search focused on Gated communities with good builders and where the Project was almost complete or ready for possession.

We started our search by visiting some of the projects in the area surrounding Gachibowli - IT Hub of Hyderabad. We considered and researched many Projects - Aparna Sarovar, Aparna Cyber Commune, Manjeera Diamond Towers, SMR Symphony, NCC Urban, Ramky Towers, Mantri Celestia and some more.

SMR Symphony is having a very prime location and it is within walking distance of Infosys, ISB, Wipro and Microsoft. SMR Symphony is having flats of higher than 1400 S.Ft area and the per S.Ft being demanded is also very high. The builder openly says that the premium cost is due to the location advantage. The cost of the flats available will be a deterent for anyone with a constrained budget.

Aparna Sarovar and Aparna Cyber Commune are located about 8 kms away from Gachibowly IT companies. The total Flat area for these projects is also high and the total cost is going beyond the budget of 30-40 lacs. The are is also isolated at present and commute at odd hours may not be considered very. Being a little away the public transport is also not available.

Some of the other Projects - Ramky Towers, NCC urban, Botanica are having very big sized flats available and the total cost again goes beyond 80-90 lacs which not everyone can afford. Not everyone is having a pay package with which they can afford paying an EMI of upwards of 60,000 per month. The builders are not building smaller sized flats which more IT empoyees can buy. It is not clear who did the market survey and study while designing the Projects and deciding the flat specifications.
There are many disadvantages of a big size flat which will be there once you start living in it as well:

• Difficult to maintain and costlier to maintain. Daily cleaning and upkeep will need lot of time and effort even if you employ a maid.
• EMI to be paid every month will be a large amount.
• Electricity charges for power backup, air conditioning etc will be higher for larger size flat.
• If the EMI amount is so high and keeps on increasing what will happen to the other liabilities - education of kids, grocery expenses, utility bills, Petrol, car maintenance, etc.

It might be possible for rich land owners (olde farmers who owned lot of land), socialities, high flying businessmen, or Hyderabad film celebs to afford such high priced flats not for middle class, slogging everyday, IT employees.

Requirements of middle class people like us are very simple:

• Area of the home can be between 900 to 1200 Sq.Ft.
• Cost of the home is in the range of 30 to 40 lacs.
• The location should be near to the office area ( avoid traffic congestion, reduce petrol expenses, give more time to family).
• Easy EMI payments and easily available home loan.

These NCC Urban, Ramky Towers, Aparna Sarovar, SMR Symphony considered the "WOW" projects are not for medium class people, and are only for rich politicians, Tollywood actors, Sports celebrities, high-flying businessmen, or Business Executives having loads of money.

If we consider that smaller homes are available in other parts of the city like Miyapur, Kukatpally, we still need to consider the factors like - commute times, rising petrol prices. Traffic jams are bad for health and torturous.

We hope that the Real Estate builders/developers take heed of all these points and make more affordable homes near the Gachibowli IT hub and life easier for many folks like us. After all real estate will progress only if it caters to people's needs and makes more and more people happy.

Winter care for kids

The winter season has crawled in. All need extra care and comfort. But kids require more care than the adults. Cold and cough are very common among small kids as their immunity is low. This can be avoided by taking care of the hygiene. Washing hands frequently, specially before eating food is very essential, also covering up the body with warm clothes. Even after taking care, contagious diseases like cold, cough attacks.

What are the remedies for that?
For cold and cough: I always give honey and freshly prepared ginger juice (2-3 drops) mixed together. It has great effect and curb its further growth. After two or three days, the positive effect can be seen.

For vomitting and loose motions: For this I will suggest 3-4 drops of onion juice2 times in a day. It has magical effect, though it is very difficult to gulp in but as the effect is great so can be used. Another thing which we can give is Jayaphal (Nutmeg), Jayaphal is an Indian spice, it should be rubbed on to a stone, soak the Jayaphal with a few drops of water so that rubbing it became easy, then put the soft paste on kids tongue with the tip of the finger.

For skin rashes: In winters absence of moisture in the skin causes rashes, also popularly known as eczema. To avoid it apply moisturizer cream like Johnson's baby cream. After boilink milk, a layer of cream is formed on top of the milk. Take out that cream and apply on the skin, this is best for moisturizing the skin.