An electric car on a 900 km journey

Ever since I bought a brand new Korean-made electric car a few months ago, I was keen to go on a long drive with the family. 
Published: 16th December 2019 04:00 AM  |   Last Updated: 16th December 2019 02:20 AM

By G Krishna Kumar

Express News Service

Ever since I bought a brand new Korean-made electric car a few months ago, I was keen to go on a long drive with the family.  

Despite some opposition, I managed to convince my family members to take the electric vehicle (EV) from Bengaluru to Sirsi for attending a wedding. Sirsi is a hill station and a popular tourist spot in Uttara Kannada district. The overall trip of over 900 km seemed like a tall ask as there is no charging infrastructure along highways. This meant some serious planning for charging the car and I had to carry fast-charging equipment along with me.

A distance of about 285 km from Bengaluru to Shivamogga was covered comfortably. After charging the car overnight, it was an easy drive from Shivamogga to Sirsi (a distance of 150 km)  via the famous Jog falls. Nice roads, greenery and pleasant weather made it an enjoyable driving experience. Without any additional charging at Sirsi, we were able to drive back to Shivamogga. One more round of charging there meant a good time to catch up with friends and family and then it was back to Bengaluru, about 310 km (via NH75) with no further charging.  

The range an electric vehicle can provide greatly depends on the difference in altitude between origin and destination, quality of road and driving style. The range anxiety cannot be ignored due to the nonexistent public fast-charging infrastructure. The car had to be driven at lower than optimal speed and it was slightly disheartening to see smaller petrol and diesel cars zipping past the electric car. The journey was adventurous as we were solely dependent on personal charging infrastructure.

It was encouraging to see awareness of electric vehicles amongst people in places like Sagar and Sirsi. People’s curiosity about the range and cost per kilometre is worth mentioning. Many of them are keen to go for such a vehicle as it is known to be non-polluting.

While many new electric cars are poised to hit the Indian roads shortly, for them to be a true all-purpose family car, the charging infrastructure on highways and tier 2/3 cities should be established on a war footing. The government has done a great job in improving awareness about electric vehicles, reducing the GST on electric vehicles and providing income tax benefits to the buyer. But without good infrastructure, the job is only half done.

G Krishna Kumar
Email: Krishnak1@outlook.com

Spare a thought for the kirana store

By Krishna Kumar G  |   Published: 14th October 2017 04:00 AM  |  

Back in the 1980s, we moved into our own independent house in a newly-formed locality in south Bangalore. Those days, three factors were crucial for receiving any appreciation for the house. One, proximity to a bus stop, two, the ease of finding an autorickshaw and three, the distance from a kirana store.

In the current apartment-crazy and Uber-connected Bengaluru, I am fairly sure all the above factors won’t make the cut for any appreciation. My father was proud to have built a house. However, our relatives used to chide him for building a house outside the city as the house never fulfilled any of the three factors. However, things started to improve.

Although the bus stop was over 1.5 km from my house, a few routes were later added and that was enough to bring cheer amongst the residents. Getting an autorickshaw was always difficult. The sound of an autorickshaw near the house got us excited. Despite the well-known “refusal problem” with auto rickshaws, just a sight of the three-wheeler in the locality became the most enjoyable moment.

The most significant event to unfold was the opening of the first kirana store, “Nandi store” in the vicinity after a 10-year wait! We would purchase biscuits and milk to cater to unplanned guests at home. The humble Nandi store was very popular in the neighbourhood and also emerged as an adda for intense discussions on politics and cricket. The store continues to operate even today, with the owner’s son taking over from his father, However, the young owner is a worried man. The number of houses in the locality has grown manyfold over the past two decades, but his business has shrunk significantly.

This is attributed to the significant shift in the purchasing trend—online shopping and supermarkets. Between 2010 and 2012, Bengaluru witnessed a spurt in the number of supermarkets. I believed this would have a negligible on stores like Nandi. But I was wrong! With the rapid advancement in Digital India, where everything will be delivered at the doorstep, kirana stores are poised to vanish soon. Perhaps a few lucky ones may survive. Spare a thought for all the small kirana stores.

These self-made entrepreneurs, with no exposure to slogans like ‘Start up India’ and entrepreneurship training, could go jobless very soon. Well! Not really! They are the true blue-blooded entrepreneurs and let’s hope they find their way out with smart ideas. Wishing Nandi store and all the kirana-wallahs the very best!

Krishna Kumar G

Email: krishnak.krishnak@gmail.com

Indifference is our way of patriotism

Published on Thursday, 22 August 2013 16:25 Daily Post, Editorial page
G krishna kumar
What is the opposite of ‘love’? The most straight forward answer is ‘hate’, but ‘indifference’ is an equally correct answer. We (Indians) provide a good example of ‘Indifference’ when it comes to patriotism. Gone are the days when it was mandatory for school children to participate in the Independence day celebrations. Not that the children understood the speeches, but the enthusiasm was palpable. Doordarshan would have grabbed the highest TRP considering people’s interest in watching the Independence Day parade. Now, Independence Day means shopping time with heavy discounts in Malls and retail outlets. Patriotic fervour is limited to hawkers selling plastic flags at traffic signals.

I always wonder why Indians are desperate to live or work abroad even though the standard of living has changed significantly over the past few years. Most embassies in India are crowded as though people are seeking asylum. A cover story in a leading magazine reveals how people spend lakhs of rupees to try to illegally migrate to America. We don’t care about racism, Indians are the number one permanent migrants in many countries. It doesn’t matter if more countries consider us as ‘risky’ and impose bond amount for Visa, we simply are obsessed to live abroad. Even today parents are proudest if their children are abroad. Why are we not as patriotic or proud as Japanese?

We have to shamefully agree that majority of the people including the literate populace in our country do not understand the meaning of our National Anthem. This is indeed unique to India. Perhaps we are in this state due to lack of emphasis on basic aspects of nationalism in the education system. Instead of politics dictating the curriculum, can we inculcate true nationalistic spirit among the children? Can we make it mandatory for every student above 5th standard to understand the meaning and thereby learn to respect the national Anthem?

Military personnel are undoubtedly most patriotic. Can we learn from them? How about implementing mandatory military service for say six months? This will certainly improve respect for the country and make youth far more disciplined. Considering the population it may be a tough ask to implement this. But, can we at least provide an opportunity for every student to interact with military personnel be it Army, Navy or Air Force to understand and appreciate how the armed forces are ensuring a safe India? Such inspiring touch-time programmes may also motivate students to join military service.

Bangalore is swalpa kahi, jasthi sihi

G Krishna Kumar

The New Indian Express, 29th July 2013, Bangalore Edition

I consider myself extremely fortunate to be living in this city since birth. And it’s not just locals, but also people who move here from elsewhere, who fall in love with this city so much that Bangalore becomes their ‘home’ city for the rest of their lives.
Over the past few decades, I have seen this tranquil city transform into a cosmopolitan, yet slightly lazy city. We can attribute the laziness to the climate we enjoy.
I am not sure if any one with great foresight could have predicted such hyper growth. Bangalore is soon going to be in the 10 million population club. Isn’t it amazing that this city, home to about half a dozen public sector companies just three decades ago, has rapidly grown in many sectors providing job opportunities to so many people in diverse areas? It is overwhelming to see Bangalore continue to be the number one IT city in the country, despite all the infrastructural woes.
Bangalore is certainly a foodie’s paradise, especially if vegetarian. From darshinis, “western” looking vegetarian restaurants to the traditional city restaurants, Bangalore offers such wonderful variety of food that is hygienic and largely affordable. I am sure people who have travelled outside Bangalore, even to other states, would appreciate the food options in namma city.
Notwithstanding the recent garbage crisis, I have found Bangalore to be much cleaner compared to other metros in the country. Of course, we cannot compare Bangalore with Singapore. Yet, there is absolutely no doubt that BMTC (earlier BTS) buses are by far the cleanest in the country.
While most people complain about the traffic and pollution, I think these are unintended consequences of the growth we have witnessed. We are not Shanghai to impose restriction on people migrating into our city. Neither can we have any restriction on addition of new vehicles. Even the most organised city in the world has traffic woes. So, I think it is tad unfair to constantly complain about our traffic problems. I think we should live with this.
If I compare attitudes towards compliance with traffic rules in Bangalore with other cities in India, I can confidently say we are the best. But the big question is if this is good enough. Although the traffic police is doing a great job, we Bangaloreans should learn to be patient and be considerate to fellow motorists especially during traffic jams.
I hate to see two-wheelers using the footpath during traffic jams causing trouble to pedestrians and creating more traffic chaos.
While I find Bangalore a very peaceful place, it is rather unfortunate to see violence every time the news of a popular film star’s death is announced. This is very disturbing and maybe the police should be better prepared in handling such incidents going forward.
Bangalore is undoubtedly a great city. Of course, there are a few things needing improvement, but that’s fine. For me Bangalore is swalpa kahi, jaasthi sihi.
 

Reading this, you enjoy double subsidy

Dailypost India , Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Krishna Kumar

It is a fact universally acknowledged that children imbibe habits from their parents. My father rose every morning and looked for the news paper, the first thing he did each morning. I too have grown into the habit of reading the newspaper first thing each morn.

Over the past few years, I wondered if the Indian news papers will vanish due the ever increasing breaking news TV channels and online news content. It is however heartening that the newspaper Industry in India seems to be thriving.

I really only appreciated the value of Indian newspaper only when I started travelling across the world. Thanks to my work as a software engineer, I have had the opportunity to visit many countries and live in some places abroad.  There are parts of the world wherein finding an English-language newspaper can be hard. Not always I had an English newspaper delivered to my room while living abroad.

When I first started travelling the world, I would think to myself that the cost of just one newspaper in some countries would fetch me my newspaper back home for the whole month! In course of time, however, I dropped the currency-conversion habit and began to buy a paper.

I've found that in the West, many newspapers are heavy on local content. Even so m given that the world is now a 'global village', it is never hard to comprehend the news.

While abroad, I pose questions to my foreign colleagues to get a sense of whether i'm forming impressions that they share. I would ask my colleagues if they knew that India has more daily newspapers than any other country in the world. Twenty of the world's top hundred newspapers are printed in India.

My colleagues tell me that they are not surprised that such a large number of newspapers come out of India;after all it is such a populous country!

I have also sometimes compared the cost of a newspaper to a litre of petrol. In most countries, the cost of the newspaper is almost the same as a litre of petrol, even though there is no direct co-relation between the prices of these two items. Only in India is there such a vast difference.

 Come to think of it, in India, inflation or not, the price of the newspaper has remained stable. There were even a few years when newspapers were available for just one rupee, due to cut-throat competition.

I've wondered how Indian newspapers were priced so low. An editor of a leading newspaper recently mentioned that while printing a newspaper costs at least Rs 12, it is sold at a heavily subsidized price.

As an average Indian, I enjoy something of a 'double subsidy'. I get a subsidised newspaper, and when I sell my stack of raddi, I get nearly 30 percent of what I spent on my already subsidized newspaper right back! The low pricing is possible thanks to advertisements.

Indian newspapers are rich in content are attractively priced. But not so many Indian readers will appreciate that they are truly lucky, to have such attractive newspapers priced so low! Long live the Indian Newspaper!

Krishna Kumar is an IT professional based in Bangalore