Category Archives: Corruption

A Journalist burnt alive in Uttar Pradesh

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What could be worse punishment for writing against a minister in Uttar Pradesh? Must not be anything because constitution of India gives us freedom of speech and expression but Uttar Pradesh Minister of Dairy Development Mr. Rammutri Verma hated it so much that he ordered the local police to set Mr. Jagendra Singh, a journalist from Saharanpur, on fire and kill him only because he wrote against him on his personal facebook page. Policing, bad governance and vandalism of ministers and ruling party members is nothing new for Uttar Pradesh but situation becomes worse as soon as Samajwadi Party comes in power. The whole party is full of bullshit, the only thing they do is caste and religion based politics to stay in power somehow.

The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Mr. Akhilesh Yadav distributes free laptops but his own website is still under construction even after his three years in office. His father and chairperson of Samajwadi Party Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav claims that women are super safe under his party’s rule but when asked about rapes he says that “boys are boys and they make mistakes sometimes” . These are the people who are ruling the state so I never hope for anything else from them but situation seems really horrible when we hear about incidents like Mr. Singh’s murder and it becomes more horrible when such criminals are not even arrested. What was his fault? Media was pressurizing the Samajwadi Party to take action against the minister but they wanted to prove it as a suicide whereas Mr. Singh’s statement was recorded on camera while he was dying in this hospital. Here is his statement-

He clearly says in the video that Police came and they first started to beat him asking why does he write against the Minister Verma and finally burnt him up. Even after this statement the Samajwadi Party never admitted that their Minister and Police was involved in this murder. In fact his son also explained the whole thing on TV, his son also said that now he was getting threats from the Minister, they were also offering him money but the administration did not take any action against Minister Verma, they did not even register any Police complaint against him. Finally they just suspended two Policemen and that’s all. I know that people of Uttar Pradesh have made a huge mistake by choosing such criminals to run the state but I do have a hope that they will take revenge of all the sins Samajwadis have been doing in 2017 when we have our next elections. Jai Hind.

Police in Varanasi

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Corruption is a very big issue in India nowadays, and everyone is talking about it. We even saw the results in the Delhi state assembly elections, where the Aam Aadmi Party changed the government solely on the issue of corruption. I was very excited after seeing the results of the Delhi elections, but sometimes things happen that make me feel like there is just no way to kill corruption in this country. Last week, I attended a friend’s wedding in Varanasi. After the wedding was finished, all of my friends returned home, but one of them parked his motorbike right in front of his home on the main street, which is usual in a city like Varanasi where there is no parking space available  anywhere.

At 2:30 AM, I got a call from the same friend saying his bike was missing. He called me seeking help to find the bike. We went together on the street asking people if anyone had seen our bike, and a person told us that he had seen two policemen taking the bike. We went to the nearest police station, and the officer there said that the bike was found unattended and hence sent to a bigger police station about a kilometer away from my place. At the big police station, we found everyone asleep except for one person standing by the entrance. We asked him about our bike and he confirmed it was there but said we needed to talk to the officer.

We went to the officer and found him sleeping on his chair. We tried to wake him up, but he was in a super sound sleep. Finally, after several attempts, he woke up. We explained our situation, and he said we would have to go to court the next day, pay a fine of Rs. 10,000, and only then would we get our bike. We knew he was lying. We requested him repeatedly to give us our bike back, and he finally agreed after talking with the policemen who had brought the bike from the street. He asked us to go back on the street to look for those policemen.

We had no idea where to find them. We requested the officer to kindly confirm their location by talking with them on the phone, but the officer just didn’t want to help us. He always seemed more interested in his sleep. Anyway, we returned to the same location and luckily found those police officers. We explained our situation and they were cooperative. They asked us to go back to the police station and have the officer talk with them. Back at the police station, we again found the officer sleeping. It was a serious pain to wake him up, but the mission was successful. He opened a register, looked at a few pages, and found the page where he had written the bike number.

Then he asked for the bike registration papers, which we did not have. The papers were with the friend who owned the bike. We tried calling him, but he did not respond. We went to his home, woke him up, brought him to the police station with all the papers, and waited. Right in front of our eyes, the officer closed the register and again fell asleep, asking us to wait. We didn’t know what to do. I laughed in anger, and we started talking among ourselves, like “This is our great India, this is the system,” things like that.

The awake policeman who was listening told us, “Now you are laughing too much, but imagine what would have happened if a thief had stolen your bike.” I didn’t know what to tell him, but I replied that we were laughing only because our bike was safe with the police. After waiting 15 to 20 minutes, we asked the awake policeman to wake the sleeping officer. Finally, the officer woke up, looked at the documents again, and asked for Rs. 500. We all looked at each other and asked why he needed Rs. 500. When we asked this question, he got upset, closed the register, and fell asleep again, asking us to go to court the next day.

We knew well that if we went to court, we’d have to bribe maybe 10 people, because everything is super corrupt at the courts too. It was already 4 AM, and we had no hope other than bribing him. We finally gave him Rs. 500 and got our bike back. But when I think about that policeman’s behavior, it makes me feel like our police exists to torture us and nothing else. The policeman had no interest in helping, always tried to make the situation more complicated, and was very rude, corrupt, fat, lazy, sleepy, and a bigger thief than regular thieves. And I have never met any policeman better than him. I have also never met anyone who said they found a helpful policeman.

I think it’s definitely time to dismiss the entire police system and bring in fresh people with different training. I’ve heard that our police are trained the same way as in the British Raj days. The police were trained to fight locals back then, and they are still trained the same way today. Our political system has never had time to improve the police system because they are also involved in looting the country. I’m sure this problem could be solved by bringing a new police act and using more technology, but I don’t see much hope, especially for my state of Uttar Pradesh, where governments come to power by playing caste and religion politics.

I have always believed that Indian police are somehow responsible for every problem we have, and if things don’t change soon, I guarantee the dream of India becoming a superpower will remain just a dream forever.

Blogging

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I started to blog about six years ago and I have always enjoyed it so much. In fact blogging changed my whole life: it improved my writing, my thinking, increased my social networking and got me a lot of attention. In the beginning I was just writing about anything, even my guests staying at my guesthouse but later I took it more seriously and I started writing about social issues, tourism, corruption, politics etc. But now I have been going through really strange situation ever since my blog has gotten good ranking on google. I never paid any money or put any extra efforts to get good ranking on google, it all happened automatically and I was always so happy and proud of my blog.

But ever since I have been getting good ranking on my blog, I have also started to get threats from different people who are upset with my writings. It was the first time last year when I had to remove one of the posts I wrote about a very famous TV show filming in Varanasi. I just wrote about my views on how they contacted me first, wanted to offer me the assignment but when I asked my salary they said that they did not have a fancy budget to pay my salary. Later I introduced one of my friends to the team and he agreed on working with them. When the crew arrived in Varanasi, I was surprised to see how big budget they had. And finally the producer asked my friend to get him some empty receipts so that he can fill some crazy amount and get money for it.

It was a very strange experience for me because I had already worked with so many TV channels from all over the world and none of them ever asked for such thing. I finally wrote about it and it became a serious problem for me because the producer sitting in Mumbai office found my post way before the show was ever on TV. The crew started calling me several times a day and threatened me by saying that they know so many people in Varanasi, they will go to the court against me etc… Finally under pressure of the crew and my friend who worked with them, I had to remove that post and it was a very upsetting moment for me. It took me more than a few weeks to recover from that incident.

Anyways, something similar again happened with me last week. I wrote a post about a guesthouse in Varanasi based in my person experience about how stupid the guesthouse staff and owner were in dealing with their guests. Actually one of my groups was staying at this guesthouse in the year 2011 and I got a call from the guesthouse owner the same day the group arrived saying that I should tell my group that I can’t provide any services to my group. I was surprised to hear it and I asked him if he was sure what he was talking about and he said that if I provide any boat, taxi or tours to my guests then they would kick the group out of their hotel. The owner also suggested me some stupid excuses like I can tell my guests that I don’t know anything about Varanasi.

Anyways, I informed my group about it and they also talked with the hotel owner, they had a little fight but later everything was fixed. But the guesthouse owner had threatened me by saying that I am new in the industry, I don’t know the rules, I should not try to be so smart and he will see me. I decided to write about it on my blog and same thing happened what had happened with that TV group. They started calling me, sending me emails and such things. Finally I got a call last week from a dude in my neighborhood who asked me to remove that post. I thought a lot about whether I should remove that post or not and decided to ask the group what they thought. I was surprised to see that the same group was going to stay at that same guesthouse in their next trip to India.

They said that it is convenient for them to stay at the same place because it is the closest guesthouse to the building where they have all of their business in Varanasi. I was kind of upset after hearing this but thought what can I do if even the group is not supporting me. So finally I removed that post also. All these removal of my posts and similar incidences all across India have raised a serious question about whether I should still write about corruption or not. Recently a writer was arrested and sent to jail because he made a comment on Facebook about some politician. Where is the freedom of expression and freedom of speech? At a moment I had thought to take help of Police but later realized that Police is definitely more corrupt than any the camera crew or the guesthouse owner.

I don’t know if I will ever write about corruption issues on my city level because I feel threatened by these local mafias. I have a family and I need to think about them as well. And in any case I never feel like having enough time to become part of bullshit politics. Peace.

Hospitality industry in India

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I work in hospitality industry and I have been trying to learn about it ever since I started working. I had already heard about India having so many problems for tourists but never realized how serious the problem was. Every once in a while I heard about something but it was not possible for me to realize how big the problem was and how easily we could solve it and make more money and send our guests back with a positive impression about India. The biggest problem I was hearing all the time was the issue of forced shopping and I was seriously upset with it. For whatever reasons I was never ever interested in it but I was still happy with the money I was given for my services.

Now when I am back after my first trip out of India, my industry seem shockingly in terrible condition and I feel very sad about it. I traveled in Europe for 14 days and to be honest I was traveling ever hour of the day, except when I slept. I was just not at home at all. I went to all almost all kinds of tourist places possible in Europe and I was really surprised how easy everything was and how the government and people were so nice and welcoming for tourists. The only difference was the cost but its not an issue because life was very expensive in Europe and they definitely need to charge more.

And the good thing was that at least you get what you want after paying for it. Its just not possible at all to buy good services in India. I am not saying that its impossible to get good service but its very hard. I have no idea why such things are going on and why not government and the people of my country are serious about it. We need to understand that Tourism in India is relatively undeveloped, but a high growth sector. It contributes 6.23% to the national GDP and 8.78% of the total employment. A World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) report says that by 2020, tourism in India could contribute Rs. 8,50,000 crores to the GDP. In other words, every man, woman and child could become richer by Rs.7,000. India has yet to realize its full potential from tourism.

The Travel and Tourism industry holds tremendous potential for India’s economy. It can provide impetus to other industries and create millions of new jobs. But we won’t be able to make this dream come true if we don’t organize our tourism industry. The major problems tourists face in India is the lack of basic infrastructure, behavior of people working in tourism industry (tourists guides, drivers, hotel staff, restaurants etc), unorganized services, people on the street targeting tourists etc. To be honest I don’t really think that we need to make huge changes, we can organize tourism only by making little efforts.

A few things happened with me in recent times which made me write this article. At first my Europe trip which was like an enlightenment for me other than that the first attraction with a foreign tourist after returning back to India. Actually it was going to be my first work after returning back to India. I was going to work with a Dutch family. I was going to take them on the boat ride. This assignment was given to me by a travel agency, the only agency I work with in whole India. Usually I talk with my guests the evening before the working day. I called the hotel several times but no one responded.

In fact they were staying at a very nice hotel in Varanasi and I was just not expecting such behavior at all but it happened. I wanted to talk with the guest just to reconfirm the timing and other details. I went to the hotel and met with the guest. The guest seemed seriously upset when I met with him at first. He told me- Thank you so much for coming otherwise I was not hoping to see anyone. I was really surprised why he told me such thing. I started talking with him and he said that he was traveling with his wife and daughter and he had requested his travel agent to provide them either a triple bed room or two different rooms but today he was provided only one double bed room.

And when he asked the hotel where would he sleep, the hotel said that they could give him a blanket and he needed to sleep on the floor. He was so upset with it and told me that his dog sleeps on the floor and he always sleep in his bed. He called his agent in India and they said that this is Indian way. Finally he decided to booked another room and paid from his pocket. He had already paid for everything but here he had to pay for the mistake he was not responsible for. The guest was so upset that he said he was very well aware the hotel guy and the travel agency guy sleeping in the bed but they did not care at all about him. I was really sorry for him but…

Anyways, I needed to discuss about my work with him next morning so we just sat together and discussed about the next morning. He said that he did not want to go on any boat ride as he was already super exhausted by traveling for 14 hours on a train and then having all the crazy experience at the hotel. He asked me if I could arrange his boat ride for the evening. As a tourist guide working for someone else it was not under my power to change his boat ride. As per the rules of the travel agency I was working with he needed to pay again because he was the one who wanted to cancel the tour. And in any case we would have to pay the boat guy doesn’t matter whether use him or not after making a booking.

He also seemed fine with this and asked me the price but when I told him the price he was again upset. He said that it was a rip off. I could easily see that he was prepared to tell this way before I told him the price because he was seriously upset with everything. He had no idea what I was asking for but he had developed this mentality that I was going to cheat him. I had asked him for Rs. 1200 per person and this is the rate travel agency in Varanasi charge. He had paid almost three times more to his agent for the morning boat he canceled but still Rs. 1200 seemed like a rip off to him.

I could easily see how upset and angry he was and I was the one who was dealing with him alone. I was seriously scared but I knew how to make Dutch people happy:) I have worked with many Dutch people already but the most important thing is that I have worked with a very popular TV channel called VPRO from The Netherlands. All the Dutch people I ever met know about this TV channel and they all way that they like this channel a lot and follow their programs as they are very progressive channel. And when I tell them that I have already done so many assignments and research for VPRO they become very interested in me and seem so comfortable and happy with me around them.

I knew it would make him happy and comfortable if I tell him about my relations with Dutchland so I shot my arrow and it worked. He was kind of shocked at first and later so happy and comfortable. He invited me to have a beer with him. We went on the roof top restaurant of the same hotel and ordered beer. We were just talking and talking about my work with Dutch people and what he could do the next day in Varanasi and already passed more than 20 minutes but no beer. Neither I nor the guest had any idea why the service was so later as beer is a packaged drink, the hotel did not need to produce it.

I asked the waitstaff again about our order and he said, it will come soon. I asked how soon and he said ten minutes. I asked why and he did not answer me. At this moment I thought maybe they went out to buy the beer and we started talking again. After ten minutes I again asked the waitstaff about our order and he just open the refrigerator right next to our table and gave the beer to us. The refrigerator was literally right next to our table, so close that I could easily opened and taken the beer out without leaving my chair. I just did not understand why he made us wait for 30 minutes???

Impossible to imagine but this is what happened. I can’t even imagine why they did not serve our order on time. Were they worried about me? Were they personally upset with the guest? Or do they just don’t care about their guests at all? Didn’t they care about the money we were going to give them by buying their goods? In any case if they did not want to entertain us then they should have just told us about it. Even after doing it no one said sorry or anything. No one explained why they were so late even when we asked them. Why such things happen?

Such kind of thing is just an example which happened recently with me otherwise I encounter something crazy every time I am working and I know it very well that most of the tourists must be facing similar problems, or maybe bigger, when they are in India. I spent fifteen days traveling in Hungary, Austria and Slovakia and I hardly noticed such things two three times but the problems I noticed in Europe was different and was not as extreme as here. It happened only once in Budapest when someone approached me trying to sell an iphone but it was very easy to avoid him. I noticed a problem second and time in Bratislava, Slovakia where a waitstaff at a restaurant did not speak any English and was dealing with customers.

We ordered something else and got something different. Other than this I just can’t think of any problem I noticed during those fifteen days. Now I wonder why can’t we also have similar kind of services here in India? I know that Indian government is crazy and I just don’t have any hope at all but what about services offered by people? Our attitude for tourists? At one hand we are so proud of saying that as per Indian culture the guest is like God (अतिथि देवो भव्) and on the other hand I am very well aware of such incidents where foreign guests were not treated even like a human? And it happened only because they were our foreign guests.

I have a strong feeling that the people not working in tourism industry are very friendly and nice and all the tourists like them a lot but unfortunately a lot of people who are working in tourism industry are really strange. They just don’t have any sense of tourism or hospitality at all. Another unfortunate thing is that the tourists don’t really get to meet many local people and mostly they interact with their agents or other people working in tourism where they develop strange ideas about India and I am not surprised at all. I would also develop the same mentality if such thing happened with me.

I still don’t forget the way my driver in Himanchal Pradesh had cheated me for only Rs. 100. The amount was nothing for me but that experience of being cheated changed my whole idea about him and I started to hate him and was not feeling secured at all. If we just look at any online travel forum about India then the forums are full of negative stories about India. In fact there are warnings. I know that a few people might be offended with my thinking about tourism industry in India but to be honest I experienced the difference and whatever I am writing is a bitter truth.

We really need to realize that there are problems. If we don’t admit that there are problems then we just won’t be able to solve them. Internet is changing the world. Now we can easily learn a lot about the any place in the world without visiting. We can talk with people without meeting them, we can share ideas and if India is getting negative impression online then we are going to be in huge problem. People read about India before coming here. We need to change otherwise one thing is very sure that we are not right track and things are not going work this way for very long.

I know that everyone is not the same and there are so many people who have real passion for tourism and they do really nice work but it is very likely to get a bad experience in India. I hope we change such things soon.

Passport office in Varanasi

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Government has been trying to make the passport application process easier and they opened a passport office in Varanasi hoping that it will solve a lot of problems. I got my passport two years ago and I still remember that I had to wait for 11 months after applying for it. When I heard that we have got a passport office in Varanasi, I was so happy because earlier there was only one passport office for whole Poorvanchal region of UP state which was in Lucknow. I got to visit this office with my friend who wanted to apply for a fresh passport. The building looked new and organized and definitely it had all the unnecessary formalities which we usually find at Indian offices.

They did not even allow carrying any bags inside, no camera, helmet..The office looked hi-tech and full with young employees. Later I learnt that first step document verification and other inquiries are done by Tata Consultancy which was very good because private companies always work better than government. We did some inquiry about the process of applying the passport and asked for the form. They told us that there is no system of filling up the forms manually exists anymore and now everything is done online. You apply for the passport online by filling up the form and booking an appointment on their new website.

You the just supposed to bring all the documents on the appointment date and go for the interview. They have a website with the name Passport Seva Porta with all the information available on it. This new system sounded beautiful but I don’t really think that this is a good system for whole India, especially my region of Poorvanchal where thousands of villages still don’t have electricity, just forget about having computers or Internet. There are so many places where they have got computers but there is no Internet or if there is Internet then people just don’t know how to use.

And in any case the website is in English which is a huge problem for a lot of people. I was discussing about this issue with a few people and they told me that the people who don’t even have electricity or the ones who do not speak English or don’t know how to use Internet won’t ever need passport. But the fact is that there are thousands of uneducated but skilled laborers from Poorvanchal who go to Arab countries to work every year. If fact when I think about the people I saw at the passport office, it seems like most of them wanted to go to Arab countries to work and they were having huge problems with applying for passport online.

All of them were having some kind of problem. The website says that you need to bring certain kinds of residential proofs, identity proofs and other documents but the website doesn’t say that they don’t only need the original documents but they need a print out of the same document from the concerned government office website. When I had applied for the passport only my PAN Card was enough but now they want the original PAN card, a xerox of it with the print out of information available on Income Tax Department ‘s website about my PAN card. The same thing was there with all other documents.

Now they don’t entertain any document which has no record available online. For example driving license is not accepted anymore. All these formalities sounded like a huge problem even for a person like me who uses Internet all the time. I was thinking about all those people who had never used computers before. At the same time I met a gentleman who needed an urgent passport for his wife. He was working abroad and wanted to bring his wife also with him. He had his ticket booked after 15 days or something. Government promises to provide urgent passport within a week by charging some extra money.

He booked the appointment online and his appointment was issued for Varanasi office. He showed up at Varanasi office and they told him that Varanasi office is not authorized to take applications for urgent passport and he needed to go to Lucknow only which is like 10 hours by train from Varanasi. He went to Lucknow the same evening where he was told that since his appointment was issued for Varanasi office he needed to go there. He again came back to Varanasi office when I met with him. And again the same story. The people at the Varanasi office were saying that they were not authorized to take applications for urgent passport.

Now this guy was so angry, he was asking if they are not authorized to take the application for urgent passport then why do they issue the appointment and no one had any answer. They were kept saying that they could not help him and he needed to go to Lucknow only. Now this guy wanted to talk with some big officer and they were kept asking him to wait. He passed more than an hour waiting for some response and finally they said that no one would meet with him and he can do whatever he wanted. I was kind of scared after looking at all these conditions and was not sure whether one should apply the passport at the office or go to some agent.

I started asking to my friends if they knew some reliable passport agent and they told me about a person named Rehan Bhai who has got his office in front Diamond Hotel, Bhelupur. I went to him and he seemed thousand time more helping than anyone working at the passport office. He charged me only Rs. 1000 as his service fee but he offered me a lot in exchange of it. At first my friend did not have to fill up the form or anything. He informed us about the documents which were accepted nowadays by the passport office. We just provided him all the documents and he took care of the rest. He booked the appointment as well. He went online and printed the online records of his documents, booked the appointment, prepared all the documents in order, kept them in a file and handed it over to us. Now we just needed to go to the office on appointment date.

It hardly took us 2 hours to complete everything and yes, he promised that he will us the passport within two months because he had some connections with the officers working at the passport office. My friend reached to the office on the appointment date then everything was very professional. All the problems that we had to face were in the beginning stage. At the office he was sent to a desk where people were sitting with their computers. All the computers had two screen- one facing to the computer operator and other one facing to the applicant so that applicant could also see what information was filled in.

They asked my friend after filling each page to confirm if all the spellings and other information was right which was a very good system because in the past so many people had problems with the name or address printed wrongly on the passport  and with such system I don’t really think that it will happen any more. After this he had to meet with three different government officers who verified the original documents. It was really funny that one of the recognized that we were taking help of Rehan Bhai only by looking at the file. I asked Rehan Bhai about it and he told me that he writes some secret code somewhere and that is why the officer was able to recognize it.

Anyways, all the formalities were done. My friend hardly spent 30 minutes inside the office which was very impressive for me because I still remember the time when I had applied for my passport. But the most important thing is that we saved all the time and everything was so smooth for us only because we were taking help of Rehan Bhai. It would have not been possible to get the work done that easily without his help. Finally my friend received his passport also only within 2 months But I still feel sorry for all the those people who were at the office facing all the problems. Government of India has always been crazy and I definitely have no hope from them but I was not hoping for them to be this stupid of ending the entire system of filling up the forms manually. I think they should keep the both systems alive and have a help desk to fill up the forms for uneducated people.

I would like to share mobile no. of Mr. Rehan Bhai so that if someone looking for an agent or information regarding passport office in Varanasi, reads my post may contact him directly. His mobile no. is- 9415291050. He has an assistant also named Deepu whose mobile no is- 9336633322. Feel free to contact them as I already have their permission. I hope this post will help people wanting information about getting their passport without any hassle. Please don’t think that I am advertising for Rehan Bhai, his services were really awesome.

Won Citizen Journalist award

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I had exposed a scam in ticking at Sarnath in Varanasi with help of CNN IBN in September 2011. There was a huge scam of reselling of entry tickets was going at Sarnath and I exposed it and as an impact of my report the corrupt government officers were suspended and a reliable system of ticketing was introduced. For this work I was nominated as Citizen Journalist of the year and finally won the award. The selection process of journalists was divided into two parts- First Phase – when the IBN18 Editorial Board generates a list of nominees in the category of Citizens against corruption and Second Phase – which was based on an online voting on www.ibncj.com.

The award event was organized at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi. CNN IBN arranged my flight tickets, hotel and other facilities in New Delhi. The Taj Palace Hotel was just awesome, I was really surprised to see the luxury. Anyways, the event was nicely organized and chief guest of the program was Vidya Balan. When I looked at her first, I just thought that I had seen this girl somewhere because there was a huge difference between the face I see on TV and face sitting in front of me. It again proved that there is a huge difference between real and reel life:)

The event was a delayed by an hour and half but I was not surprised at all as I experience such thing all the time. There were other people also who were nominated and I got to talk with a few of them. It was nice talking and listening to the people who were fighting against corruption. There was a guy from Sonbhadra who was shot, but luckily survived, only because of his fight against corruption in government schemes. I met one other guy who from India-Pakistan border area in Rajasthan who was attacked and beaten so hard that he could not walk properly anymore.

It was a shock to see what could happen if you start fighting against corruption. Anyways, finally my turn came. They showed my story on a big screen, called me on the stage and gave me an award for my fight against corruption in tourism industry. The award was presented by Vidya Balan herself. It was really a nice feeling to get such honor. I had never thought that such thing would ever happen with me. The award motivates me to keep my fight on.

Nandan and Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan gives me the 2012 Citizen Journalist award

 

Shiva Ganges View Guesthouse, Varanasi

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Shiva Ganges View guesthouse is located near Manmndir ghat in Varanasi and is also well known as red bungalow as the whole building is painted red. The location is very nice as it is situated right along the river side and is walking distance from Harishchandra Ghat, the cremation ground. I had a French guest staying there and told me something about the guesthouse which made me write this post. In fact he was staying at Hotel Haifa before meeting me but changed the hotel only because of my report about corruption at Hotel Haifa and I really appreciated it.

Anyways, it was my first time when I got to enter the hotel and my first impression was very good. The hotel is run by an old man named Mr. Tondon whom I saw greeting his guests and doing all the formal things. After a while he asked me about what I do and when I told him that I am a tourist guide, he asked me to meet with him later personally. He said that he has a lot of work for tourist guides and would like to work for him. I knew that I would not be able to work for him as they do not even pay the real wage of tourist guides decided by government of India but I just agreed on meeting with him later.

I knew that if a tourist guide ever gets an assignment through any guest house or budget class hotels then they have to give a cut from their wage to the hotel and I just don’t do this. And in any case, since I charge more than the government rate he would have not been able to afford me. I went to the hotel several times while my guest was staying there and every time I had a positive impression until the day before my guest left. He asked for the final bill and bill indicated the amount different than what they had agreed before the guest checked-in the hotel.

When the guest moved there the first day, Mr. Tondon, the owner, asked for Rs. 3500 per night but on the last day he gave the bill of Rs. 4000 per night. When the guest asked about the difference of Rs. 500, he said that he was not sure about the room he was going to rent. It was crazy, how come a hotel could the tariffs? And in any case if they agreed on Rs. 3500 then it means Rs. 3500. It could not be Rs. 4000 without informing the guest. The guest was very upset and tried to convince Mr. Tondon that it was his fault and he needed to charge Rs. 3500 but Mr. Tondon was very profession in saying that it was not a fault of anyone but it was just a mistake that happened unintentionally.

The guest decided to give up as he just wanted to relax and did not care about Rs. 500 extra but it was really disturbing for me. This behavior of Mr. Tondon made me curious to see the room. I went to see the room of my guest and it just did not look worth Rs. 3500 or 4000 per night. The architecture was old and unique but walls were dirty. It had a strange golden color on ceilings. The washroom was also dirty and I just did not get any feeling of staying there. I would never ever give Rs. 4000 per night for such a room. I often have to book the hotels for my guests and if their budget is over 3000 per night then I prefer Hotel Ganges View, Palace on Ganges or Rashmi Guesthouse.

Palace on Ganges or Ganges View rooms are expensive but they are worth it but Shiva Ganges View rooms were not worth Rs. 4000 per night for sure. Another complaint about Shiva Ganges View was noted by a Hindi teacher named Mr. Binit Mishra who had a student staying there. On the very first day Mr. Tondon asked him for 50% as commission but Mr. Mishra immediately denied to give him anything. Mr. Tondon said that if he doesn’t get any commission then he won’t allow Mr. Mishra to enter in his hotel. Finally Mr. Mishra informed about it to his guest and the guest checked out the hotel.

It is really strange behavior from hotel owners in Varanasi and I often have to encounter through such situation but I never understand how a business owner can do it. What do they think of the business? Do they know anything about how the world is changing and it is becoming easier to find information online? Anyways, it was such a stupid behavior of Mr. Tondon and I hope someone gets to read this post before staying there. I have already made a few reports about other crazy services in Varanasi. But it doesn’t mean that I am trying to target certain people. I believe that it is better to take action than being quiet or keep complaining. And I will be keep writing about anything weird like Shiva Ganges View guesthouse. Peace. Thanks.

Impact of my CJ report

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Sack Replaced with a Metal Box

Today, I feel genuinely happy and proud that my citizen report was taken seriously by the government and that action was finally taken against the corruption at Sarnath. When I visited the site to make a follow-up report, I was honestly shocked to see the scale of changes. Some of my colleagues had already mentioned improvements at Sarnath, but I was not expecting such a significant transformation. The first change I noticed was at the ticket counter itself. The staff was different—especially the main person involved in the earlier scam, who has since been transferred and later suspended (though I am not entirely sure about the suspension yet).

Sack is replaced with a metal box

New Tickets with Barcode and Unique Number

When I bought my ticket, I noticed the second major change: the ticket design. The new tickets now had a barcode and a unique serial number, making them traceable. The third change was at the gate, where the ticket checker was also a new face. He carefully tore the ticket into two parts, kept one half, and returned the other to me—exactly as the law requires. The fourth change came as a surprise. My camera was checked to determine whether it was for still photography or videography. Since filming requires an additional fee of Rs. 25, they were making sure nobody was shooting videos without paying.

new tickets with bar code and unique number

Metal Box Instead of Sack

The fifth and perhaps the most important change was that the old sack used to store tickets was gone. It had been replaced with a locked metal box. Once tickets went inside, there was no way to take them out and resell them. As I walked inside, I noticed more changes. There were more security guards on duty, and this time they were actively working. They patrolled continuously, stopped people from walking on the ruins, and even helped visitors. Everyone seemed alert and professional. The monument itself looked cleaner than I had ever seen it before. After spending about an hour walking around, I sat near the entrance gate to quietly observe the system. Every single ticket was checked, torn properly, and placed into the locked box. Another new rule was being enforced as well: people were not allowed to bring food inside. This has clearly helped reduce littering, keeping the site cleaner.

tickets were teard off

A Surprising Photograph

I wanted to document the new employee, but I wasn’t sure how to ask for his photo directly. So, I made a small plan with my friend. As I approached the exit, my friend pretended to ask me to get photographed in front of the entrance gate. While I was posing, something unexpected happened—the ticket checker himself called me over and asked to be photographed with me! He smiled, shook my hand, and posed happily for the photo. He had no idea that I was the person behind these changes. He didn’t know that his transfer to Varanasi was because of my report. He didn’t know that his chance of earning illegal money by reselling tickets was gone because of my work. I couldn’t help but laugh quietly to myself.

shaked hand happy cause he did not know that I was the who exposed the curroption

Feeling Proud

For a moment, I was nervous about being recognized, but none of the staff knew me since they were all new hires. In the end, I felt incredibly proud and relieved. Seeing real change on the ground made me believe in the power of speaking up.

Stupa at Sarnath

CNN-IBN broadcasted my follow-up report, and once again, I was reminded that raising your voice against corruption can make a difference.

Scam in ticketing at Sarnath exposed

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Exposing Corruption in Varanasi: My Experience with CNN IBN

A few weeks ago, CNN IBN contacted me regarding corruption stories from Varanasi. They explained that they run a program called Citizen Journalist, where ordinary people step forward as reporters to expose crimes and irregularities. I was already familiar with the show, as it’s quite popular in India, and I decided to contribute. They had found me through my blog, where I had previously written about several corruption cases. Like many other Indian citizens, I had witnessed corruption at almost every level of society, but now I finally had a platform to bring these stories to light.

Babu, Erica, Chitra and I

The Stories I Shared

I provided CNN IBN with four stories:

  1. Corruption in MNREGA implementation

  2. Corruption in Varanasi’s drinking water supply

  3. Irregularities in sewage treatment plants

  4. Encroachment of sacred ponds and the scam in ticketing at Sarnath

To strengthen these stories, they asked me to find people directly affected by these corrupt practices. Through Lok Samiti, I identified villagers suffering under MNREGA corruption. I also contacted Shanti Lal Jain, a social worker who had worked extensively on Ganga issues, to speak about sewage treatment plant corruption. For the ponds, I reached out to a retired engineer who had used the Right to Information Act to reveal illegal encroachments and obtained a High Court directive ordering restoration of ponds captured after 1957. The last story, however, was something I had personally experienced countless times—the scam at the ticketing counter in Sarnath.

explaning the corruption

The Scam at Sarnath

At Sarnath’s excavation site, ticket collectors were pocketing entire tickets instead of tearing them in half as required by law. The untouched tickets were then resold, generating illegal revenue. This practice was carried out openly, with the involvement of government employees and even some tourist guides who received a share of the profits. I was repeatedly offered participation in this scam but had always refused. As a guide, I have many opportunities to earn through commissions, but I have always believed in honest work.

This time, however, I saw a chance to do something meaningful. Still, I was worried about the risks—ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) could easily retaliate by canceling my tourist guide license. To be safe, I consulted my brother, who also works in the tourism industry. His advice was blunt but motivating: “Go and expose them.”

Collecting Evidence

CNN IBN asked me to gather proof before the crew arrived. My friend Babu and I went to Sarnath, where we filmed ticket collectors directly dropping tickets into a sack instead of tearing them. Later, when the CNN IBN crew reached Varanasi, they worked on the other stories first. Each story created an impact: the woman affected by MNREGA corruption received her salary, and the administration began looking into pond restoration.

new tickets with bar code and unique number

For the Sarnath story, I needed volunteers to act as tourists. I advertised on Couchsurfing and eventually chose a British couple staying at my guesthouse. On the filming day, we staged a visit. From a distance, the crew captured footage of the collectors keeping tickets whole. When we had enough evidence, we confronted them on camera. As soon as the ticket collector saw the camera, he hurriedly tore the ticket and returned half to the volunteer, trying to cover his tracks. We immediately checked the sack and found over 500 fresh tickets—clear evidence of resale.

volunteer Erica

The Confrontation

Soon after, an ASI employee from the ticket counter arrived. When questioned, he gave absurd explanations, claiming Sri Lankan tourists and young couples often discarded tickets, which staff collected and tore later. These excuses were laughable, especially since I had witnessed them reselling tickets myself. Later, a female ASI employee openly admitted on camera that the scam had been happening for years and that every government employee at the excavation site was involved. This confirmation gave me immense relief and confidence. We also attempted to speak to the officer in charge of Sarnath, but he literally ran away upon seeing us.

the officer in charge’s office

Public Support and Aftermath

Filming at the entrance drew large crowds. At one point, I was surrounded by nearly 100 people chanting slogans against corruption. Their support gave me strength in what was otherwise a very tense moment. The next morning, every local newspaper reported the story, though none mentioned me or CNN IBN directly. The officer in charge claimed ignorance and promised action, which I knew was just a cover-up. Nevertheless, I urged CNN IBN to escalate the matter to ASI’s regional office in Patna and the head office in Delhi.

filming

I now feel more secure, especially since an ASI officer herself admitted to the scam on record. For me, the greatest reward was not media recognition, but the overwhelming public support and the satisfaction of exposing a system that had been cheating tourists and staining the reputation of Sarnath for years.

show recording

Interview with Mr. Rajendra Singh

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I had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Rajendra Singh, a renowned water conservationist often referred to as the Waterman of Rajasthan. He is one of the distinguished members of the National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA), the apex body formed by the Government of India to oversee policies and programs for the rejuvenation of the Ganga. I met him during my visit to his NGO, Tarun Bharat Sangh, where I was undergoing training on the ecology of rivers, with a special focus on the Ganga.

Mr. Singh is widely celebrated for his pioneering work in reviving several rivers in Rajasthan through traditional water harvesting techniques, most notably the construction of small check dams called Johads. His grassroots approach has transformed arid regions, restored groundwater levels, and brought entire river systems back to life. Over the decades, his efforts have influenced water conservation projects across India and inspired policies on community-led river management.

During my time with him, I recorded two interviews. The first focused on his critical perspective on why the Ganga Action Plan, launched in the 1980s, turned out to be a complete failure. The second explored his thoughts on the ongoing work of the National River Ganga Basin Authority, where he emphasized the importance of genuine community involvement, scientific planning, and strong political will. It was a truly enriching experience, and I felt honored to document his insights on issues that are central to the future of India’s rivers.

Rajendra Singh talking about the complete failure of Ganga Action Plan-

2nd interview of Mr. Singh where he talks about the National River Ganga Basin Authority-