Beg, Borrow, Steal

Or just use public transport.

Realizing I had forgotten my card at home, I decided to try my luck with 40 bucks to return from the Hyderabad Airport to Kondapur.

1 .Using the Free Shuttle service to transfer to the APSRTC bus stand, I got into the first bus that was moving.

2. The bus was okay, stopping at 3 points in about 20 kms it covered. In my opinion this was as fast as the RGIA one as well. Ticket to Aramghar cost Rs 9.

3. 10 seater autos/tempos from Aramghar are heavily stuffed with people, but since I was at an off hour, I had the luxury to spread my legs. The ride was long, slow and a little bumpy. But nevertheless, it cost me another Rs 9 for 10 kms for about 20 minutes/half hour.

4. Tempos from Rethibowli to Kothaguda were a faster ride, though were a little more stuffed than my previous ride. 15 minutes and Rs 9 for another 7-10 km.

5. Shared auto from Kothaguda to Office cost me Rs 5 as usual.

Good !

1. The trip was managed in 32 bucks, using no free rides or taxis. This means, it is possible to get to/come back from airport cheaply, in case you are in a fix.

2. I took the number of APSRTC airport stand master, just to find out more info about the schedule later. Here it is 9959224493.

3. APSRTC metro buses are clean, and well managed(atleast the ones from airport). I don't know why I am explicitly stating this, but someone might find this info useful.

Caveats

1. You can always get a cab, if you lose/forget your card, and pay the guy later when you reach home. I just used Public Transport for curiosity.

2. Public transport is slow, it takes about 1 hr 45 mins for me to reach Kondapur, against 45 mins from RGIA bus. You would reach faster by waiting for the RGIA bus, than to depart early using the Public route. In my case, the bus speed was comparable, but the route difference and auto/tempo speed accounted for the extra 1 hr.

3. There are other transport options besides RGIA bus, payperkm cab, public transport, that I have yet to try. You can hop on to returning cabs paying them a 'tip' to drop you on the way. A good idea could be to wait on the airport highway.

Gv's giving back plan

What's up next?

There are a lot of poor artists who sit along the roads from Kukatpally to Miyapur, who sell different stuff(Sculpture, furniture). I am planning to organize some event which can spread awareness about they live, make money, educate their kids etc). Tentatively it should be as follows.

1. We go there and they will tell us what they do.

2. They help us MAKE what they make, we can use our own creativity here. (Who knows we might have some talent in us :P)

3. We buy our own creation and pay them some money for letting us do it.

Why are we doing this?

I believe that the first step in solving any problem is making ourself aware of it. And then go about solving it. One of the problems I am interested into is why are people not keen to make their kids study(like our moms did, I should acutally be using Force instead of keen). The key to educate India is instill solid value of education in the parents. For this I want to identify segments of population which don't send/force their kids to study, and organize a campaign to spread awareness on what they do. Once we are aware of their situation, we can find out

1. How could I, if in their positions would have achieved more? If we can use our education, it will make sense for them to use education too.

2. If I couldn't have achieved more, what changes in the education system would have helped me acheive more?

3. How can we help them? If we can help them in any way, we are living proof that education can help them.

Another segment I aim to target apart from the artists are fishermen. Though I have no idea, what we will be doing. (It can be also go there in a group and build a boat). I will be heading out soon to talk with these segments, volunteers and organizers are most welcome to join :)

Your plan

This is about my plan. Ask yourself, what is yours.

If you don't know how to begin or what to do, join GOAL. There are a lot of things you can do. If you feel like doing something else you want to do and you feel lack of support/cooperation, Start alone. Don't wait for GOAL, or a lot of people to join. People will join you, when they start understanding your purpose(Yes, you need to maintain a blog about it). And it is more important to be with the right people than being with a lot of different thinking heads. Personally, I would be more than happy to help you in any way I can. Just keep in touch with me.

Food

Each time you throw food just ask yourself

- Was it because I estimated what I would eat incorrectly?

- Is there a pattern in what I don't eat, still I take?

- Can I do something about it from now on?

When throwing a paper cup ask yourself

- Why couldn't I use a water bottle instead?

- Can I do something about it from now on?

Animals rescue

- Turn vegetarian. (Atleast for 1-2 days in a week). Each animal consumed by you, creates a demand for killing another animal, who had eaten almost a forest before dying to serve you. By choosing not to eat, you help diminish the demand to clear forests for animal farms.

Jute Bags

-Hang Jute/Cotton shopping bags behind your main door, in your car and bike. Use these jute bags whenever you want to go out for shopping.

-Use different dustbins for

1. Plastic & Paper. Somewhere visible on top of the plastic put the sticker "Could I have avoided using this plastic/paper?" Whenever you throw plastic in that dusting, ask yourself the question and identify the change in habit that could do so.

2. Combustible garbage

-Recycle the plastic bags/paper, (or let us know we will organize drives for it) and donate the money to some waste management org :P

Save the Rocks

How do we help save the rocks?

Thank you for thinking about it. I have a few ideas, though the better idea will come from YOU.

-Begin with understanding: Join Save the Rocks society at http://saverocks.org/TheSociety.html.

Fencing the area: This requires talking to different sponsors(may be Google) who might contribute money for fencing the preserved rock sites.

-Map it all: The maps to these preserved sites are currently hand drawn by Ms Frauke Quader, and can be more useful if they are on Google maps. I picked them from the web site, and tried to map them here. You can take more sites from the page, and add them. (Better still, we can plan an excursion to those sites, and then we can mark them on the map)

- Spread awareness. Link to this post, post your blog links about the rocks, hang out with friends and look for other mediums to spread the awareness(eg media)

Pictures: If you know how to click a photograph, you can help. Click good photos for these rocks and then we can put them at saverocks.org

Board: Usually even the construction guys don't know that they will be sued for what they are destroying. A great way is to put a board that says so. Let me know if you are interested in having some activity planned where we can paint such boards, and go and put them at the rock site.