TATKAL QUEUE AND TYPE OF MEN

Queues are one of the most common things around the world. There are queues for banks, movie tickets, electricity bill and for many other things. Although the revolution with internet banking and online payment has helped in shortening these queues but still it has a strong base to exist for longer period of time. Most of the people find queues to be very much interesting and boring because in a queue, you have to wait for long, sweating, forced to listen to others gossip, people trying to jostle in queue, pushing you back, fighting on how someone entered from that side but instead of all these problems if you will look at queues, you will find it one of the most interesting place to be.

Among all type of queues, I find the TATKAL queues to be the most interesting one. Between 10:00-10:30, queues of TATKAL are the most active place in world, leaving stock market, global political meetings and even cricket matches behind. INDIAN RAILWAY started this scheme of TATKAL to help people in getting reserved tickets just a day before journey but due to bad management and improper planning, it has become a headache for the passengers. People keep standing outside the closed gates of reservation counter from 7:00 PM, 6:00 PM and even from 3:00 PM till 10:30 AM of the next day. Whenever I see the railway employee behind the ticket counter, I feel very sorry for him not because he got that job but because he will be there to listen to all the slang and scolding by people standing in the queue to do it as fast as possible.

If you will look at the queue of TATKAL, you will find different types of men. These particular categories of men will be standing in every queue of TATKAL all over India. So I have categorized all the men standing in the a TATKAL queue according to their traits in the queue

 GURU JI (THE EXPERT ONE)- Most of the time you will find him standing at the first position but sometime they also stand at 4^th or 5^th position in the TATKAL queue. They keep on suggesting people on how to fill TATKAL forms, how to get your tickets done as fast as possible. Without any demand they keep their supply of suggestion high. They will ask for your form, have a look at it and will say “ID pe signature beta, ID pe signature’. The way they give suggestion, it looks like that he came in this world through a TATKAL ticket booked by his mother. Sometimes they are also 

AGENTS or DALAAL. They will keep on saying, always keep change, book and move, don’t panic you will get it done. In case of AGENT, they will look like suffering from malnutrition, wearing grubby shirts and trousers, smoking bidi but will be booking 1^st class AC ticket for RAJDHANI EXP.

KRANTIKARI (THE FREEDOM FIGHTER)-  They are one of the most active people in the queue. They are mostly found at the middle of the queue and keep on shouting. They make sure that no one enters in the queue from any side. They are wholesaler of slang and have contacts number of friends ready to arrive at the station to fight on their speed dial. They are the one from whom, the railway employees are most frightened of.  Standing in the queue if you let anyone stand in front of you , they will shout on you, if you will make it late on counter, they will shout on you, if you will move a little from the queue, they will shout on you. They do 70 % of  RPF’S and Local police’s work.

ABHAAGA(THE FRUSTRATED ONE)- He is the most irritated person in the queue. He is mostly found 8^th or 9^th position or even behind that. They don’t talk with anyone, keep on peeping to the counter, will make faces like they have been diagnosed with HIV positive. They know that they have only 50 % chances of getting a confirmed TATKAL ticket so they are one of the most isolated persons in the queue.

SIDDHU (THE TALKTIVE ONE)-  It looks like people of these category are in the queue not to get their ticket confirmed but to talk as much as possible. They will keep on telling you about their different TATKAL experiences and if your luck is bad, they will start the never ending discussion of politics. They know that they have to do something to pass the time and they find that talking is the best way possible.

KHOYA CHAAND (THE LOST ONE)- These type of persons don’t care what’s happening in the queue , how much time if left for opening of the counters, who is in front of them, who is behind them, they are just lost in themselves. They will keep on looking at the form, mobile phones, ceiling of the reservation room, list of train timing hanging at the wall.

UMEED (THE LAST MAN STANDING)- He is the last one standing in the queue. He knows deep in his heart that he is not going to get any ticket but he has belief in god, in miracle and that’s why he keeps on standing at the last position in the queue. They are standing in the queue on the basis of hope which results in returning home at 10:30 with empty hands and hope of getting it tomorrow.   

Election Result as School Result

There used to be three students in the class 5-C. They used to fight for the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd rank of the class. The class was having strength of 57 students. The name of these three students were- NAMO, AK-49 and SAHANSHA.

AK-49 was a student of lower class 2-A where younger sisters and brothers of Sahansha and NAMO used to study. In that class, Banna Hazare was the best friend of AK-49. In the final exams of 2-A, AK-49 topped the class by using notes of Banna Hazare and then later on he lost his respect as the topper because of his lots of bunking in class which he said was a revolt against the school system. He then thought of directly going into the class 5-C instead of going to 3-A. He applied for it and got the permission and left his best friend Banna Hazare behind.

Sahansha was from a very rich family. He used to bring imported pen, pencil, sharpener, notebooks from Italy. He used to come to the school by BMW but he was very childish. He told his mother that he doesn’t want to compete in 5-C and just wants to play with his toys but his mother forced him to take admission.

 NAMO was the one who believed in hard work and dedication. He was from a very poor family and was able to get scholarship and other benefits from his hard work. He was also from a lower class 2-B. But he didn’t apply for going to 5-C but the school, themselves promoted him directly to compete and study in 5-C.

When they all came in 5-C, the name of the class teacher was ‘INDIAN CITIZENS’. From many years, the class teacher used to give 1^st rank to Sahansha’s elder brothers and sisters. There used to be a very bright student who was able to top the class once and his name was KATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE. Everybody said that the class teacher was not doing good and giving first rank to Sahasha's family but the class teacher was waiting for a bright student.

Everybody was expecting that Sahansha will continue his family trait. Before him, his friend Funmohan Singh who never used to talk in class was the 1^st rank holder with some help of Sahansha’s mother.

Sahansha was very childish. He used to poke others, jump on the tables, threw his lunchbox at others while AK-49 used to say that his class monitor whose name was “MEDIA” was a liar and should be expelled from the class. Many students of other section used to take ragging of AK-49 and many times he got slapped by them also. On the other side, NAMO was a hard worker, he used to study for hours with dedication and was having awesome presentation skills. Everybody said the NAMO will top the class this time but AK-49 said that it’s just a hoax.

Exams ended and the result came. Namo got the 1^st rank, Sahansha got the 2^nd rank and AK-49 was nowhere. Sahansa accepted his defeat while AK-49 went home and wasn’t seen from then.

AREA 51: Real MIB or a myth?

You must have seen the movie MIB (MEN IN BLACK) in which a secret organization works on aliens, UFOs and all other interesting things, the existence of which is a matter of discussion from long. What if I tell you that there is such a thing in reality?

It hasn’t been proved yet or it is not 100% correct, it is still just a conspiracy theory but it is the way government is dealing it and representing it in front of the world which is giving people a chance to raise such questions.

I am talking about AREA 51 and if you haven’t heard about it yet, it will give you goose bumps for sure.

According to the government statement it just supports development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. It is also called as Nevada Test and Training Range and Groom Lake. It got its name from 1950’s era map in which area was divided into grid with different number in which 51 was also there. It was established in 1955 by CIA in which they mostly worked on unmanned air crafts.

At till this is points it looks ok as just a military extension but what if tell you that some of the retired employees of AREA 51 said that they have worked on reverse engineering of alien spacecraft, people have witnessed number of UFOs near the site and many more related things with UFOs and aliens?

In 1989, Robert Lazar, a nuclear physicist who was an employee at AREA 51 said that he has worked on reverse engineering of alien spacecraft which can be used in military air crafts. He said that he came through a strong alien energy source called as ELEMENT 115 which used to power UFOs.

Around the perimeter of AREA 51, motion sensors detect people approaching on foot. Many views site of AREA 51 from where AREA 51 could be seen have been restricted.  Armgaurds called as camo dudes help protecting the secrecy of AREA 51 by guarding its perimeter. One of the reporter said that when she entered into the restricted area of AREA 51, arm guards called as camo dudes came from nowhere and just within a second, a helicopter came from the blue. She said that they try to scare people off. But this is not just about scaring people off, the warning board at AREA 51 says 

“ USE OF DEADLY WEAPON AUTHORIZED”.

US government was refusing its existence from long but in August 2013, Jeffery T.Richelson, a researcher at Washington D.C based NATIONAL SECUITY ARCHIVE was able to obtain declassified documents about the development and use of U-2 and OXCART. It is stated in the document that US spy planes targeted China to help India between 1962 and 1967. The document was obtained under FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.

It was also said that the moon landing was staged atAREA 51 but hasn’t been proved yet.

Even if we leave the conspiracy theories like aliens, engineering rework on UFOs, moon landing staged at AREA 51, the spacecraft testing and development is also very surprising. The OXCART, developed at AREA 51 cruised at 2200 miles per hour. On sep.1, 1974, an SR-71 flew from NEW YORK to LONDON in 1 hour 54 min. 56 sec. When Area 51 was chosen as the testing site for the OXCART, a new, 8,500-foot runway had to be built. So as not to draw attention, contractors worked under cover of night. The A-12 OXCART required special fuel in order to fly at such extreme speeds and heights. The fuel was made to withstand extremely high temperatures and would not ignite even if someone threw a match into a barrel full of it. The A-12 OXCART consisted of more than 90% titanium.  It was the world’s first titanium plane.

If you want some more interesting images of AREA 51, you can look at 

 

http://www.catholic.org/news/technology/story.php?id=53155

POLITICS THROUGH MANAGEMENT GLASSES

Banners, pamphlets, rallies and speakers on chowk and on the edge of  the street. These were the traditional tools of promoting political parties during election in India. People used to get irritated from the loud speakers (with tone on its maximum level without any base) on which a person with a revolutionary but irritating voice, narrated the manifesto of his respective party. On the street, there used to be long lines of small pamphlets hanging on a rope and huge crowd summoned up in those rallies when the climate was at its worst condition. The most exciting part used to be the helicopter which used to arrive at the rallies. Children used to rush to their roofs to see the helicopter and then by seeing the helicopter, parents used to say “Here comes XYZ”. Just to get a glimpse of their favorite leaders, people used to jostle, to make their way to the front row.

But things are changing now. With the advancement in technology and change in preferences of people, every field is changing and political parties are also not an exception. What I said about gathering, it’s still the same and if you don’t believe, take a look at the Hunkar rally by BJP. 

But there has come a drastic change in the tools of promotion being used by the political parties in India and these changes came this year only. From television, outdoor to radio and print, every tool of promotion has been well utilized by political parties. Political parties have realized the power of youth and social media. They have realized that there exists a virtual world also which very much easy to target and influence. They have realized that giving ads on Facebook, tweeting about current situation is a much effective way of communicating message to a mass audience than any other alternative. They have used STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning), they have SMM (Social Media Marketing), they have done everything necessary from management point of view to make their campaign successful.

Playing an android game and getting notification “VOTE FOR BJP”, logging on to twitter and getting tweets from leaders of political parties like Narendra Modi who is very much active on twitter, scrolling down to your Facebook notification and seeing a pic from recent rally of Rahul Gandhi and comic portrayal of Arvind  Kejriwal , these things are very much common these days. People are even making trolls of these campaigns and thinking they are smart but my dear trolling friend, one way or another you are promoting the parties for free.

  

You must have seen those ads in world cup T20. The ads by BJP were very much related and innovative while the ads by Congress were very generic and not much effective. Both of the parties invested huge amount of money to get their spot in the advertisement slot in world cup T20. They also tried to get it IPL but the proposal was rejected by the IPL committee.

Many sources are saying that the total advertisement expenditure of BJP is more than 5,000 crore. People are also blaming them for outsourcing foreign advertisement groups at a very high rate. I ask just a simple question to them, what’s the problem in it? If taste and preferences of the mass is changing then political parties should also get adjusted to it. Like “MODI” or “NAMO” has become a brand with the tagline “ABKI BAAR, MODI SARKAAR”. According to me, these days, this tagline is having more recalling power than any other top brand’s tagline like “DESH KA NAMAK” or “TASTE THE THUNDER”. Political parties are becoming brand with a very unique tagline like that of AAP “AAP KI SARKAAR” which has a dual meaning and fits like a glove to the saying “ek teer se do nisaane”. I still get confused whether they are saying it’s “AAP(the political party)” ki sarkaar, or just aap(the citizen) ki sarkaar.

All these political parties have also done STP of their market well. Like Congress has done the segmentation on the basis of caste like dalit and have targeted mainly the lower caste. They have positioned themselves like a party who believes in equality and centralized power with their tagline “Har haath shakti, Har haath tarakki”. BJP has done a very generic segmentation- HINDUSTANI and have targeted the same. They have positioned themselves as a party who will bring revolution in the country and will try to do what Modi did in Gujrat. AAP has segmented the market on the income basis or we can say on the basis of social class of people like Business tycoons and common people or middle class family. They have targeted the aam aadmi or we can say the middle class and below the middle class families. They have positioned themselves as someone from the crowd and very common people.

I am not here to judge the marketing strategy of any party and I am also not showing my views and support for any party. No matter what’s the result of this 2014 election will be but one thing is for sure that the elections and campaigns will not be the same again.