Ranjith’s Castle

Last Weekend, We went in for a Workshop in the IT Department of Rover Engineering college @ Perambalur. We stayed @ a motel Ram Inn, in Siruvachur. Siruvachur is 2 KM next to Perambalur, if you drive down the sub continent from Chennai and the motel is on the left of the road before we enter Siruvachur.

When our host said, it was a motel, I was little annoyed as we all know motels down the GST were all commercial and no good food and poorly maintained. But when we entered the motel, I understood that  no bus alight here. Ram Inn is meant for only people who move down on Cars with Family. There were  around 6 rooms and they provide a 24 hours check out term. The rooms were properly maintained. The main attraction to this motel is the Siruvachur temple. The food and the hospitality were very good.

If you are driving down and need a halt in between for a night stay or a good food, you can alight here.

Cheers - Ranjith

For the past couple of weeks, whenever I did a post on my blog, I use to add the URL as status to Facebook , Orkut and my gtalk.

Thanks to integration between facebook and Twitter, I was able to update my facebook and twitter in one shot. Just tweet the post and it will get automatically updated as your facebook status. It is not only blog posts but all your tweets.

For this to happen :

1. You need to add twitter to your facebook account.
2. Also use the option available in facebook for allowing twitter to update Facebook Status.

Thanks to Vijay for initiating this thought.

I tried searching for such an app for orkut. It does have some application but not a tight coupling like the one in FB.

Cheers - Ranjith

Last week on a business day, we were at Trichy and wanted to move from Chatram bus terminal to Perambalur.  We  were waiting for the bus to arrive. There was a good amount of crowd waiting for the bus, mostly college students moving to a college next to Samayapuram. The bus arrived with the doors locked. It was a public transport corporation bus. The conductor opened the front door alone and stood next to the door and started tearing tickets for the passengers. He did not allow the students to get into the bus. He waited for all the seats to get filled and then let the students to get in. All students commuted the bus standing in pathway and a few were left behind without having enough space in the bus.

The fact is that the students are not going to pay any money to the conductor as they had monthly passes and the conductor is most focused on the collection he is going to hand over to his higher official at the end of the day.

When you see the number of students boarded the bus from the terminal to the college, Government can provide a special trip from the terminal to the college. I also feel that the bus will not stop near the college in the evening to pick those students back into the town.

Cheers - Ranjith

An important thing that gets missed in the railway station is the restrooms. A month back, I visited Egmore station for a send off. I was in need to use the rest room. With a philosophy not to use the ones in the trains parked at the station. I went to the near by shop and inquired about the presence of one in the platform. I was asked to go to the end of the platform. I walked for around 100 meters to see a Pay and Use toilet which is properly locked and sealed. I walked further down the track to complete my job in the Indian way.

Similar is the case with the Dustbins too. You have got no other choice than throwing it on to the track.

We should have at least

• Three to four restrooms [pay and use / Free ] for every platform.
• Dustbins should be placed every 10 meters.

Egmore has got an escalator for moving the passengers across. But the basic toilets were missed.

Cheers - Ranjith

We went for a day visit to Trichy. We usually go by Car. We will not have much worry on where we stay and how to go around. This time we moved in by Train and we had a tight schedule too. We were little worried about where to stay and our local travel to accomplish our work. As we are stepping out of the Trichy Junction, we noticed a board “Rooms and Dorms” at the Station entrance. We thought of checking it up and went up stairs. I was little worried on how IRCTC is maintaining this rooms and how they are going to look like. To my surprise the rooms were kept in a nice way. The corridors too looked clean and mopped with nice cleaning agents.

The deal too was very good. For Rs 750, we got a Non-A/C room for three. The room was around a 20′ X 15′ feet and an additional dressing and bath room measuring around a 12 X 15 feet. The beds and pillows were kept clean. The room had all facilities like table, chairs, dressing table, additional mirror, wooden Almirah, and all required amenities except a TV Set. Lighting were good and roof was decorated with POP.  It was like a suite. You know the room of same size in the city will cost around 1,200 to 1,500 bucks for three.

As per the information available at the reception, If you are traveling by a Train [you need to produce the ticket for booking], then you can stay there for a couple of days. The second day charge will be 25% extra of the first day charge. They have Dorms and A/c and A/c Deluxe Suites in Trichy junction. The facilities and the quality of maintenance available seems to vary from junction to junction.

I would advice you to consider the Trichy junction rooms before you check other options in the city.

Cheers - Ranjith