Inhuman behavior of doctors at BHU

The hospital at BHU is the biggest ray of hope for millions of people from Purvanchal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Nepal and many other places in India. Patients from all of these places come to BHU to get medical treatment because it is the biggest hospital of this region but the management, staffs and doctors are so corrupt and cruel that they have become demons, no humanity at all. The people from Varanasi themselves have the feeling that BHU hospital has the best doctors and other medical facilities but if you do not know people personally there then don’t go. If you know people then things are easy otherwise its a serious challenge to get anything done at that hospital.

Everything is super difficult starting from registration till getting treatment, buying medicines or even getting subsidy which is the right of the patients. Lets start from the beginning, the first process is getting registration which mean you will have to be in a queue as there is no process of doing it online and the queue is so big that you might have to spend an hour or two just standing in the line. Second step is seeing the doctor which means again huge queue and corrupt system. If you know someone at the OPD then doesn’t matter how late you show up or even if you have registration or not, you will go and see the doctor directly but the people who showed up early, were in the queue waiting for their turn will have to wait.

At BHU OPD usually there is one senior doctor and may be 5-6 junior ones. Junior doctors are the ones who see the patients first and if they feel like needing help of the senior doctor only then they discuss the case with the senior one but again if you know somebody then senior doctor will see you first which really hurt others. If the doctor suggests some kind of blood test or CTscan or MRI then again problem. All the facilities are available at the hospital for cheap cost but the queue is so big that in case of an emergency it is impossible to wait for your turn. The appointment for CTscan or MRI could be even a week or two. In this case most of the people pay a higher price and get the test done at some private center where the doctors get commission.

If there is any emergency and the patient has to be admitted in the hospital then they don’t have beds available. Actually they always have beds available but only if you know someone working at BHU. It has happened with so many people whom I know personally that they were denied the admission first but when they approached someone powerful then immediately the patient was admitted otherwise the patient has to lay down on the ground in unhygienic condition while the treatment is going on. Forget about getting a room, it is a serious challenge to even find a stretcher. You will always see patient’s attendants running around here and there looking for a vacant stretcher. And when the patient is admitted then the real drama of commission business starts and I know it very well that it all happens with involvement of BHU staffs.

Actually different people who have medicine business outside BHU premises start approaching the attendants of the patients asking them to come to there shop and buy medicines from them. In exchange of it they promise discount which is nothing other than a scam because hospital pharmacy is a lot cheaper than any discounted rate offered by these outside shops. There is already a pharmacy inside the hospital premises where they provide subsidized medicines. In a lot of cases doctors themselves ask the patients to buy the medicine from some shop outside the hospital because they get huge commission. My personal most recent experience of such case was only about an year ago when a lady in my neighborhood went to the BHU to get treatment for her breast cancer. 

Doctors did biopsy and confirmed that she had 3rd stage of breast cancer and she needed urgent treatment. They recommended her chemotherapy first because her tumor was very big. The doctor herself asked the patient to go to a particular shop outside the BHU campus and bring the medicines from there only. But there was already an AMRIT store at the hospital which is a program started by Modi government in the year 2015 which sells cancer and heart related diseases medicine and implants for 50 to 90% cheaper than the market rate. Statistics indicate that Indians diagnosed with cancer are 700,000 every year. About 2.8 million people have cancer at any point of time and half a million die of the disease each year. The annual figure of women being diagnosed with breast cancer in India is 145,000, according to the World Health Organisation.

A significant number of patients (nearly over 50 per cent) stop visiting hospitals after two or three cycles of chemotherapy due to unaffordable costs. Hence, the aim to reduce the expenditure incurred by patients on treatment of cancer and heart diseases, has launched the Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) program. The patient went to the shop recommended by the doctor and asked the cost of the medicine. The shop owner said it would cost them around Rs. 17-18,000 which sounded very expensive because I used to pay around 5000 at TATA memorial hospital, Mumbai for my mother’s breast cancer treatment so I suggested the patient to inquire about the cost at AMRIT store inside the hospital.

The patient went there and was shocked to see that the same medicine’s cost at AMRIT store was around Rs. 4000. The patient came from a very poor family back ground and I was helping them to get some financial aid from the government but it takes some time and he she needed urgent help. So she decided to go for the treatment with whatever savings she had. They bought the medicines from AMRIT store but before starting the therapy they went to the doctor again to show her all the medicines because they could not believe that there would be so big difference of cost between the shop outside and AMRIT store at the hospital. The doctor looked at the medicines and said that everything was all right but suddenly asked for the receipt of the medicine.

They showed the receipt to the doctor and as soon as she saw the receipt of AMRIT she got super angry and started shouting at the patient. She was upset about why did they buy the medicine from AMRIT store when she had asked them to buy it from somewhere else. They explained the reason that it was almost 4 times cheaper at the AMRIT and they come from a very poor background that it was impossible for them to even spend that Rs. 4000 at AMRIT store, forget about paying 17,000 at some other store. But in any case why would I pay 17,000 for the same thing which costs me 4000?. But that cruel inhuman doctor did not want to hear anything. She threw the medicines away and told the patient that if she can not bring the medicine from that particular shop, where she wanted them to buy it from, then she can go anywhere she wants or start the treatment by themselves.

They were crying and requesting the doctor to start the treatment as they could not afford the medicine from outside but no result. It was not only my patient but several others also had the same problem. They were all complaining about the same thing. Now we had no idea about what to do because she needed urgent treatment. There was another cancer hospital in Varanasi run by Indian Railways where we did not really want to go at first because BHU had better facilities but there was no other way. Finally we decided to go to the Railway hospital, explained them all of the problems and the doctors there were so nice that they accepted the patient. They also agreed to use the medicines brought from AMRIT store but they were also shocked to hear the story.

Somehow her treatment started at the Railway hospital. Every time she needed a chemo we would buy it from AMRIT store at BHU but get the therapy at the Railway hospital. But sometimes you are too unlucky or maybe unlucky for a while with better future waiting for you. Only after three Chemos the Railway hospital was closed temporarily because TATA Memorial center from Mumbai had taken over it and they needed sometime to develop the hospital infrastructure and other facilities as per their own standards. TATA hospitals are very good, they have proper hospital management system, good doctors and subsidized medicines. On one hand we were sad that my patient’s treatment was going to be stopped but on the other hand it was also a happy news that future would be better.

All of the cases of Railway hospital were transferred to BHU and since it was done on the government level we did not face the same problem again. Rest of the Chemos were done at BHU and they also accepted medicines bought from AMRIT store. Now just imagine the cruelty of that doctor who had refused to treat my patient only because she could not afford to buy the medicines from the shop preferred by the doctor. And the reason why they send the patients to certain shops only because they get commission. Patients life, suffering, pain…. nothing matters to them. The only thing that matters to them is money. Being a local of Varanasi at least I could even think of other options but just think about the situation of those poor people who come from far away places……Just impossible to even imagine their situation.

Anyways, the reason why I am writing this post is because the media reported today about a similar case that happened at BHU. The report said that a patient from Aurangabad, Bihar who needed cardiac surgery was admitted at BHU in May 2017. Since they came from a very poor family they had applied for government help and the government had already sanctioned Rs. 1,75,000 for their treatment. Usually this kind of money is directly transferred to the hospital or the patient can get treatment, present the bills issued by authorized government pharmacy center and get the refund. The patient showed the documents stating that the government had approved 1,75,000 for the patient but again the doctor denied the treatment. He started making all the fake stories and asked the patient’s family to deposit Rs. 2,50,000 at a particular shop outside the hospital.

The patient’s family did not have that much of money so they mortgaged their agricultural land and somehow arranged money and gave it to the shop owner. The operation cost at BHU is almost nothing, I don’t know the present rate but I still remember that I had deposited only Rs. 500 for my cousin’s heart valve surgery around 10 years ago. All the major expenses are medicine cost. Finally the surgery happened and the patient was discharged from the hospital. They went to that medicine shop asking for the receipt of the medicines so that they could get a refund from the government but they gave them receipt of only Rs. 1,80,000 whereas they had given Rs 2,50,000. The family lodged a complaint against it to the Medical Superintendent of the hospital.

The MS called the shop owner and asked him to return rest of the 70,000 which he agreed but later denied but never returned that 70,000. Now another problem is that the patient’s family can get refund only if they can present the receipt issued by AMRIT stores because all the medicines at AMRIT stores are already highly subsidized but the doctor had sent the patients somewhere else and it was again done only because the doctor must have been getting commission by sending patients to that particular pharmacy. When I hear such stories, I don’t know what to say, the only thing I can say is that such people are monsters in human face. Just imagine the situation of that patient’s family.

They had to go to the government because they did not have money, they had to mortgage their land and now they can’t even get the refund from the government only because that evil doctor’s greed, their whole life is destroyed. And I  know it very well but it is not the only case, it happens everyday with several people but we only hear about a very few stories. I am not saying that all of the doctors are bad at BHU or it is happening only at BHU but its a fact which can’t be ignored. Its happening everywhere in India, everyday with so many people. I hope that with more and more transparency and online system this problem will solve in future but it seems like it is not going to be solved some time soon, we will have to suffer with this system in future as well but wish to see it completely changed before I die. I would like to thank to Mr. Modi for starting such project, I know how hard it is for him to solve this problem of corruption but I have a hope. At least he started something and we all know he is doing his best to fight corruption, Thanks for being what he is! Peace.

New Paper article

Cancer treatment in India

Healthcare services are in terrible condition in India and especially at government hospitals. I know that the situation is not same everywhere but its same more or less everywhere in this country. Government hospitals have either no facilities or they are super corrupt and private hospitals are so expensive that a regular person can not afford them. I know several people who have paid for vaccines or medicines at government hospitals which is supposed to be free. If I just have to talk about hospitals in Varanasi, which is the biggest center for health care services in entire Purvanchal (Eastern Uttar Pradesh which includes 17 districts), very big portion of Bihar state and Madhya Pradesh is full of patients all the time.

There are several government and private hospitals in Varanasi with Sir Sundar Lal Hospital at Banaras Hindu University or BHU being the biggest one. And even at this hospital seeing serious patients sleeping on the floor under open sky, doctors being not available or treatment being evil is never ever a big deal. I have heard of so many complaints where people say their patients just died because of bad services at BHU. In fact I have also personally experienced similar kind of behavior when I was there with a patient of four years whose head was broken, he was bleeding so hard and there was no doctor in the emergency ward. And when treatment started they did not have stitches. Anyways, it is still the biggest hospital of eastern UP and very big hope for a lot of people.

My most recent encounter with this hospital was when my mother noticed a small lump in her breast. We contacted a few doctors at some private hospitals or at doctor’s personal clinic and different ones had different opinion. But most of them said that it might be beginning stage of breast cancer and they will have to remove the whole breast which will be followed by radiation therapy and chemo might also be needed. It was a huge shock for me to hear that someone might be suffering with cancer in my family. Although my mother was absolutely fine with no pain in body or she just did not have any problem at all. I contacted many people and every one suggested me to at least see some doctors at BHU. We contacted oncology department at BHU and they advised FNAC test with mammography x-ray.

The results showed that my mother was suffering from first or second stage of cancer. I had no idea what to do. I was talking with many people, different ones had different opinions but most of them said that I should follow what doctors say at BHU. There is another cancer research hospital run by Indian Railways which is also kind of very famous in the area. A lot of people advised me to see the doctors there but I always had one thing in my mind I won’t start any treatment before getting advise of doctors at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. Tata Memorial Hospital is most probably the most famous cancer hospital in India. My mind had almost stopped working, I did not know what to do and there was a time when I thought that lets see what the doctors say at Railway hospital and I was preparing to go there.

At the same moment a friend of mine came at home and I told him that I was thinking to see the doctors at Railway Hospital today and then go to Mumbai tomorrow to see the doctors at Tata Memorial. But then he told me that if I am already planning to see the doctors at Tata Memorial why to even waste a day. Why not go there today. I also thought that I should not waste a day and I immediately arranged to travel to Mumbai. I have a few friends (I was expecting help especially from Alok and Yogesh) living in Mumbai and I informed them my mother’s situation and in fact one of them happened to know a doctor personally at TMC. Somehow Mr. Arun Pathak, who is like my elder brother and he is a social worker and a politician in Varanasi, also heard about my situation and immediately arranged my stay in Mumbai at an apartment which he had rented for himself.

When I arrived in Mumbai Yogesh came to pick me up from the airport and dropped me at his place. At the same time Mr. Pathak wanted me to stay at his place which was the biggest luxury possible in a city like Mumbai where hundreds of thousands of people have to sleep on the street but I had two apartments to live there. I spent a few nights at Mr. Pathak’s place. I arrived in Mumbai without my mother and went to TMC but unfortunately the doctor my friend knew was basically dealing with mouth cancer. So we could not see him. Anyways, everything seemed super organized at TMC. I was really amazed by hospital management: everything seemed to be working in order, staffs were very helpful, all the services were computerized, things working very smoothly, it seemed like a hospital which had some sense of hospital management and care for patients.

They looked at the FNAC and mammography report and asked me if I would like to get treatment started at TMC or if I just needed advise. I don’t know why but I said that I need the treatment. There were two categories of registration – general patients and private patients. If I get registered under general patients category then the cost of the treatment was going to be ten times cheaper than if I get registered under private patient category. They mentioned it clearly at that same moment that there won’t be any discrimination or different in treatment whether I get treatment under general patient category or private patient category. The only different would be of the rooms. The rooms of patients under general category are basically shared basis whereas rooms for patients under private category are private. Doctors are same, treatment is same…everything same but some luxury.

They provide bed only when the treatment is happening like during surgery or when chemo is being given for two three hours. Rest of the time the patients have to take care of themselves and I literally saw hundreds of people sleeping on the street outside the hotel who were there go get treatment. Those people would go to the hospital whenever it was needed otherwise street was their home for rest of the times. Sometimes they just live on the street for the entire duration of the treatment which might be even six-seven months or even more. The hospital also gave me an idea about the cost of the treatment immediately which was around 30,000 if I get treatment under general category or around 2,50,000 if I get treatment under private patient. I thought for a while and chose the private category.

My mother had always lived a very relaxed life and I did not want her to be in any kind of stress. Although the cost of the treatment was out of my budget because it was not only about paying for the treatment but I knew that traveling between Mumbai and Varanasi and other expenses were also going to be there. But I still made the decision of getting the treatment under private category. They registered me and sent me to the breast cancer department. There was a very big line but again everything was very well organized so it was not a big deal because at least I knew what was happening. Finally my number came, I was really scared because I did not know what the doctor was going to tell me, and finally entered in a room where I saw a lady doctor waiting for me.

There was something really good that they see only one patient at a time and give proper time otherwise at BHU there is one doctor surrounded by hundreds of patients and you just don’t know whats happening. The doctors saw all the reports and stared asking some questions related with my mother which I did not know. I asked her if she would like to talk with her on phone but she denied. Anyways, I called my mother on phone and tried to answer her questions. The doctor said that she would like to see the patient and without meeting the patient it won’t be possible for her to say anything. She said that in some case doctors might advise or give some suggestions but in case of breast cancer it is necessary to see the patient personally because it is necessary to feel the lump and size of breasts also matter which they need to see. Finally I arranged my mother to come to Mumbai and brought her to the hospital after a couple of days.

The doctors looked at all the reports, examined my mother personally and advised a few blood tests with biopsy. They said that FNAC was not enough and biopsy test was also needed. And in any case they were not going to rely on BHU test reports if we wanted the treatment there. So actually they advised so many different blood tests and during the same time they also advised us to meet with the radiation therapy doctor. We saw the radiation therapy doctor also, she also looked at the lump and said we had two options- either have the full breast removal followed by chemo and radiation therapy or just get the lump removed followed by the chemo radiation. I did not know what to do and I asked her for some time. We contacted some other doctors and all of them suggested us that let the doctor make the decision. During this time we got biopsy and other tests done.

And when we went to see the doctor again they said that a surgery will be performed and since the lump was not so big it is also possible to just remove the lump and not the entire breast. They again gave us an opportunity to get the surgery done at TMC, have medical protocol prepared by the doctors at TMC but have rest of the treatment like chemo followed by other doctors at BHU because it could have been easier for us. When doctor gave us this option my mother was also present there who immediately refused it because she had also seen the condition at BHU. She wanted to get the treatment at TMC only. By this time everything was almost clear but there was only suspicion regarding chemo cycles. The doctors said that final decision will be made after the surgery is done because the number of chemo cycles are decided based on the reports of lymph nodes checkup which are done during and post surgery.

They gave us two options- either we get surgery done at TMC after three months because there were already so many patients in line or we get the surgery done within a week at their another research center located in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. This other center is also run by the same team but only the location was different. It was around 40 KMs from the old hospital. This new center of TMC was opened in Kharghar in the year 2002 and it was called Advanced Center for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer. I was still a bit confused and did not want to miss any opportunity of taking advice of as many people as people. One of my friends relatives in Mumbai suggested me to see the doctors at a charitable hospital located in Mumbai called Millat Hospital.

I decided to at least see the doctors at Millat and see what they say. When I met with the doctor there, he also said that surgery will  be done, chemo will  be needed with radiation therapy. But they did not have radiation therapy available at Millat. Finally we made a decision that we will get all the treatments done at TMC only. We contacted the doctors at TMC and agreed on getting the surgery done at Kharghar center. They prepared all the papers and transferred the case at Kharghar center. At first I went to Kharghar with a friend of Yogesh named Ashish who always a very big help. The biggest benefit of having Ashish was that he used to have his own pathology which meant he had some knowledge of medical field and other than that he was also a Marathi which means he could speak local language which is always a very big help.

And in any case it is very hard to find people like Ashish who are always willing to help others. He was not only helping to me but whoever wanted. I noticed him several times just going to unknown people at the hospital and asking them if they needed some help. Anyways, the doctors at Kharghar center said that they could perform the surgery in next four days. They gave me a date and asked me to bring the patient the evening before of surgery and get her admitted at the hospital. Finally I arrived at the hospital the evening before, doctors checked my mother and then the biggest blunder happened. They did not have any private room available, which the patients registered under private category are supposed to get. It was not possible for me to travel back home then return back at the hospital the next day at 7 AM because the traffic in Mumbai was crazy.

They asked me to sleep at the hospital guesthouse which is basically lodging facility patients getting treatment under general category which did not seem to be a big issue and we thought that we will sleep overnight there. After all it was only about a night but once we arrived at the guesthouse room I said to myself that it was not the place where my mother could sleep. The biggest problem was that there were eight beds at a distance of hardly two feet from each other in one room and all of them had patients whose surgery was already performed. Most of them had either mouth or throat cancer and would was visible. I had full sympathy for the patients but I did not want my mother to be scared of surgery or be stressful the night before her surgery.

I think they should keep the pre-surgery patients separated from post surgery patients because the cancer wounds are very scary and it might scare the patients going to get surgery. The other problem, which was the biggest, was that the windows of the room were kept closed intentionally so that already sick patients do not feel cold. There was terrible smell of medicine without any ventilation in the room. I saw at my mother’s face, she did not say even a single word but I knew that she was not comfortable at all. I immediately decided that I was not going to stay there over night. Fortunately I had another friend from Varanasi who was in Mumbai those days and he had a relative living somewhere in Kharghar. I called him and explained the situation at the hospital and finally he arranged for us to sleep overnight at his relative’s place which was happened to be hardly 10 minutes drive from the hospital. It was such a big help.

Anyways, I could not sleep the whole night because I was tense about the surgery the next day. I was just laying down and thinking about the next day and suddenly I noticed the sunlight. I prepared myself and we headed for the hospital. The doctors did some basic tests and asked us to wait outside the surgery room. During this time different doctors and nurses were coming, asking us different questions and one of them asked us what patient has eaten or drank since morning. My mother had nothing other than a tea but when I informed her about it, she asked milk tea? I said and then they said that we have to wait for another four hours minimum because the tea my mother had contained milk which is a solid food product as per their science. And if there is any food in the stomach then it can cause serious respiratory problems during the surgery.

Actually the doctors had advised my mother the evening before to not eat anything after walking up on the day of surgery but we did not think that milk could also be a problem. The doctors sent me to deposit the surgery fee which was kind of unexpected. They asked me to deposit 50,000 immediately. I had around 20,000 in cash with me and hardly 40,000 in the bank account. The worse thing was that sometimes ATMs do not allow to withdraw more than 25,000 a day. Anyways, somehow it worked, I had money and I deposited it. By the time I returned back at the surgery room, my mother was already inside the operation theater. The doctors had told me that there are two kinds of radiation therapy- internal and external. Internal radiation therapy can be given in case if the lymph nodes are not infected with cancer cells and they might at least put a tube inside the breast during surgery for internal radiation if the case was in favor.

In case if the lymph nodes are also infected then only external radiation was the possibility. The doctors told me that they take a tiny peace of flesh from the lymph node and send it for testing while the surgery is going on, which is basically just a quick checkup, which only gives a quick sense whether lymph nodes are infected or not. The final treatment is planned only after the detailed report which might take up to a week.  The doctors had also said that the final decision about whether to remove the whole breast or just the lump will also be made during the surgery after seeing the level of infection. I think it was the most tense moment of my life when I was sitting outside the operation theater waiting to hear anything regarding what was going on inside. Suddenly a doctor came and said that they have sent the lymph node samples to the lab and the result will come soon and they will inform us.

And then another doctor came and he said that there was no need to remove the whole breast because lump was not so big and the infection was also not serious but the internal radiation was not possible because there was some infection in the lymph nodes. They also said that in such case chemo might be needed, 90%, the final decision will be made once the detailed report has come. By this time my elder brother, Chandan, also arrived from Delhi which was actually a very big psychological support for me otherwise I was going crazy. Chandan is a very matured man and deal such situations better than me. Finally the surgery was finished and I they brought my mother outside the operation theater but she was still kept on the other side of a glass door. I saw her sleeping, actually she was fainted due to anesthesia. Now they asked us to bring some medicine from the dispensary.

Something that I liked about this hospital a lot is that there was no cheating. They make a smart card for all of the patients, when doctors prescribe any medicine then the data is  automatically entered into the smart card. Money is also deposited in advance in the smart card. You just go to the dispensary, put the smart card on a card reader, the people at the counter know what medicine to give, money is also automatically deducted from the smart card, very nice system. Otherwise at BHU it is a very famous scam, and everyone is aware of it, that the doctors give you a list of medicine the evening before of surgery but the real drama starts while the surgery is going on. Different nurses and staffs come, give you a peace of paper and ask you to bring more medicines. They pretend to be in hurry and very serious which is nothing other than an emotional blackmailing.

People have no idea what these medicines are for and its a very human thing that nobody would question those nurses. Families want to do their best by having faith on the doctors and other staffs but in fact they are cheated and looted. Later all those medicines are sold. And its not only the case at BHU but at all the other government and private hospitals in Varanasi and in other cities. Two years ago one of my friends father needed a heart surgery and the nurses at BHU told us that they had all the medicines available with them at the hospital which they were willing to sale for half the printed rate. This is how they use those extra medicines that they get from the patients family while the surgery was going on. Luckily there was no such system at TMC.

Finally we brought all the medicines for my mother and by this time she was already shifted to ICU. The doctors kept my mother under observation for 24 hours and then discharged her from the hospital and advised to see the doctors at the old center of TMC in Mumbai after a week. They had also implanted a surgical drain to drain out the fluid of the wound and we were supposed to have a written record of how much fluid was drained everyday. She was taking medicines, getting better everyday and finally the surgical drain was also taken out after fifteen days or so.

My mother was called at the hospital the very next day of the surgery for a physical exercise training session. In my opinion it was not only for physical exercise but it was also to boost up the moral of the patients through psychological training. They taught some physical exercises to my mother and other than that there were a few volunteers who shared their stories and I think that was very important. They were basically telling all the positiveness about their treatment which helps a lot to prepare the patients for the treatment. By this time the detailed report of lymph node test was also available and doctors had an idea about the treatment. They advised us several other tests which also included whole body bone scan and CT scan.

There is always a very big line for any service at TMC because they have patients have from over India, in fact from out of India as well. Hence the line for bone scan and CT scan was also very big. We got the date for bone scan after five days but nearest date available for CT scan was after 18 days. There was a possibility of getting these tests done at some other hospital but we did not want any excuse so decided to get the test done only at TMC. And in any case my mother was on other medicines and it was not urgent to get those tests done. Finally both of the tests were done, we contacted the doctors again, they looked at the reports and prepared the final medical protocol.

They advised eight cycles of chemo therapy (with two different medicines, four each) at an interval of every twenty days and twenty cycles of radiation therapy with Linear accelerator technology. They have advised five sittings of radiation therapy each week which means it will take around one month. After planning the medical protocol they again asked us if we would like to continue the treatment at BHU but again my mother refused it. By this time she was scared of BHU because during these days she met so many other patients who came from either Bihar or eastern UP (where we come from) and most of them had similar stories that they got their first treatment in their own cities of Bihar or other cities of eastern UP, the doctors immediately removed both breasts, gave several chemos and finally said that the situation was not under their control and they should see the doctors at BHU. And when these patients went to BHU then their case was refereed to TMC.

The other option for us to get treatment away from Mumbai was Delhi because my elder brother lives there. Mumabi was not a big problem for us but it is always the best to live with the family. So we were looking for options where my mother could stay with the family while getting treatment. My elder brother, Chandan, contacted AIIMS in New Delhi but there was a very big problem that the line to get treatment was very big, our number would have come after six months or so. Another thing was that the doctors and other staffs at AIIMS, whom my brother knew personally, said that they did not understand the reason behind bring the patient from TMC to AIIMS when it was possible to get treatment there. They said that TMC is so better than AIIMS that when any case is out of their control then they send their own patients at TMC.

They said that the best thing with TMC is their huge research data which in fact no other hospital in this country has. The other option of getting treatment in Delhi was at some private hospital. Chandan contacted a very big private hospital near to his home called Dharamshila Hospital in Noida. We were shocked to hear that the treatment there was around ten times more expensive than at TMC. The cost of chemo medicines at TMC was around 8,000 each but the cost of the same medicine at Dharamshila was around 60,000 each + other expenses like room charges, doctors fee etc. The cost of radiation therapy at TMC was around 25000 but the cost of the same radiation therapy at Dharamshila was around 2,00,000. Many people told us that these private hospitals always tell you less amount, if they are asking for 7,00,000 then their total final bill would never ever be less than one million.

It was insane, how come someone could be this selfish. Anyways, after reviewing everything we realized that TMC was the best option possible for us and we decided to get proceed with the treatment there only. Anyways, we contacted the doctors again at TMC and informed them about our decision but I still had suspicion in my mind about how chemo would react on my mother’s body who was 67 years old. I asked the doctors about it and just like any other time they gave me proper time and explained everything. They said that age does not matter in getting chemo. The thing which matters the most is the general health of the patient and my mother was perfectly fit. She did not even have diabetes or high / low blood pressure. The doctor said that sometimes they give chemo to even 80 years old person if he is fit and sometimes they can not give chemo to even a twenty years old one if he has health issues.

It was very relaxed feeling to hear getting chemo was not a complicated issue in my mother’s case. Finally they gave all of the dates for chemo and radiation. The date of first chemo came, we arrived at the hospital, deposited the money and proceeded with the medical procedure. The first thing that happens on the day of chemo is a blood test which is called CBC (complete blood count) which is basically a general test that gives information about the cells in the blood. Just like any other service at TMC, the result of this test also takes around 4 hours and we have to meet with the doctors who examine the blood test and then approve getting chemo. After getting approval of the doctors we had to go to the ward where they give chemo. Here the process was not so long, it took around an hour of waiting so that they could prepare the medicine.

In most of the cases chemo is given as an infusion into a vein and my mother’s chemo was also given by inserting a tube with a needle into a vein in her arms. The first chemo was kind of fast, it took hardly 30 minutes and now the doctors asked us to take patients back home. They advised us to see them back after a week. They said that the most common side affects of the medicine given to my mother were upset stomach, vomiting, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, headache and hair loos. They also gave her medicines for upset stomach but advised to not start it if it was needed. Since it was the first chemo they wanted to see how her body was reacting. The first twenty hours were absolutely fine, she was just like any other day but then she felt some problems which were not so big. A little bit of stomach ache sometimes and cramps.

When we saw the doctors after a week they said that was a very normal side affect and there was nothing to worry about. She also started to feel better everyday and finally we brought her back to Varanasi after a week. We did it only because we wanted to her to live close to her friends and family rather than getting bored with my friends in Mumbai. Other side affects were gone but one thing was constant- loosing the hair and the speed was really rapid. We also had to change her diet completely. The doctors advised us to give food full of fiber mostly. We sent her back to Mumabi again a day before the next chemo. The next chemo was also done last the first one. CBD first, then doctors approval and then chemo. But this time my mother made a mistake because of some confusion. She did not take the medicine which was given to her for upset stomach. She was taking some other medicine and the result was serious upset stomach with ache and nausea. 

She was living with my friends and I was in Varanasi because my friends had told me that they would take care of her and I did not need to be present in Mumbai. Actually I make most of my by working in tourism which is a seasonal business in Varanasi and my friends advised me to at least work so there is no problem in finance hence I had sent my mother alone to Mumbai and was hoping my friends to take care of her. Our plan was that she would go to Mumbai, get chemo with help of my friends and then return back to Varanasi after three-four days. Suddenly she called on the third day after getting chemo that she was not feeling good at all. She had serious cramps in her stomach all the time. I went to Mumbai the very next day, spoke someone at the call center of TMC and they asked me if she was taking both of the medicines. I asked my mother the same and she said that she took only one of them.

She had left the one which was good in case of upset stomach. Those people at TMC advised me to give her that medicine. She took the medicine that night and she was absolutely fine the next day. So the whole mistake was that she did not take the proper medicine. After getting second chemo we could easily see how she was loosing her hair very fast. Finally four cycles of first medicine were completed in total of twelve weeks (each chemo is given at an interval of three weeks) and we realized that she does not feel anything abnormal for first twenty four hours, everything stays normal but the she starts getting side affects which could be avoided if post chemo medicines are taken properly. She was a bit sick for a few days and then she was fine, she traveled between Mumbai and Varanasi during the gap between two chemos. In fact she also went to Delhi and Pune once so traveling and staying away from Mumabi was a good decision.

And finally the fifth chemo came when the medicine was going to be changed. I was again worried this time as I did not know how her body would react to this different medicine. Rest of the procedure was same but since the medicine was different, it also took longer than the first four ones. The first four ones hardly took 30 minutes each but the fifth one took almost two hours. They said that the quantity of medicine is same but this one is given slowly. The side affect of this medicine was also different and since it was a different medicine the doctors asked bring the patient back at hospital after a week for followup which means we could not bring her to Varanasi this time.

The doctor said that the side affect of this medicine would be mostly pain in the muscles and it was exactly the same. My mother did not feel any problems with her stomach but felt serious pain in her body, mostly in the legs, around 24 hours after the medicine was given. Since they wanted to see the side affects they did not gave any medicine. They said if there is any problem bring the patient immediately to the hospital. And this pain was so strong that my friends had to bring my mother at the hospital only on the third day after chemo. They again gave two different pills and it was all right. She is getting her sixth chemo today in Mumbai and I hope that it will be all right. Now there are two more chemos left and then radiation therapy will start from 29th of February.

My mother first noticed the lump in her breast sometime in the last week of July and I went to Mumbai on the 12th of August. Its already 11th of January today and my whole experience dealing with this situation was sometimes full of anger, sadness, hopelessness, confusion, weakness, stress and sometimes it was full of hope, satisfaction and strength. I was hopeless, angry, sad and confused until I was in Varanasi consulting BHU or other doctors in my city but I was full of hope and satisfied as soon as I arrived at TMC. The only time I was not comfortable at TMC was when they asked me to sleep at their guesthouse in Kharghar the evening before surgery. The helping behavior of my friends, especially Yogesh, Ashish, Alok and Babu,  gave me so much strength that really helped me and my family to deal with this hard time. Mr. Arun Pathk’s generosity of providing his apartment in Mumbai and his cousin (Sandeep) welcoming and helping nature was also huge help for me.

I will never ever forget all the help of my friends. In Hindu philosophy we have a belief that owe something to someone but can not repay in this life then you do it in your next life and I am sure that I can not repay my friends in this life for sure, especially to Yogesh. Maybe I will have to be reborn, maybe more than once, to repay only my friends. Since the treatment is still going on, the article does not finish here. I will be keep writing experience of dealing with this situation and my only intention behind writing this post is that others might also get benefited otherwise I usually never write about my personal stories. But I have advise for anyone seeking cancer treatment that if you do not have money to go to really big private hospitals then don’t waste your time, just go to TMC and they will take care you. There is no one better than them.

 

What should be the requirement to become a Police?

What kind of Police do we all want- honest, educated, helping and polite, right? But when we think about Indian police, UP police for sure, the first thing we think about them is their cruelty, corruption, no sentiments for people and no politeness at all. I don’t know any person who would ever like to go to the Police station because of their such qualities. In fact nobody has any faith in them. There is no work done at any Police station without taking bribe. Even if someone wants to register a complaint they have to pay a bribe. I read so many articles in the news paper when media reports about how they do not even register the complaints for even serious crimes like rape or murder.

It happens all the time and everyone is very well aware of it but it has become so much part of the system that people expect for such kind of behavior by Police. The only thing UP Police is expert in is how to torture people and loot their money. I think the biggest reason behind it is bad governance and this is the reason why the condition of UP Police is getting worse and worse everyday. There are two political parties which have been ruling the state of Uttar Pradesh for long time. One of them is Bahujan Samaj Party and the other one is Samajwadi Party. Bahujan Samaj Party does the caste based politics all the time but policing is better during their time. They are good in controlling the criminals but no difference when it comes to control the Police.

Samajwadi Party is the worse political party ruling the state of UP in my lifetime. They do the politics of religion and caste both. During their times Muslims and Yadavs (a Hindu caste) can do anything they want. As soon as Samajwai Party comes in power they immediately put only Yadavs and Muslims on all of the higher rank jobs in the state does not matter whether they deserve it or not. They also recruit a lot of Police but they are also either Yadav or Muslims. They do all these things only to get attention of their vote bank which is enough to keep them in power. Police reform is a very big issue and everyone wants to see honest and helping police and I think it will be the biggest gift for us if anyone can make it possible.

But it seems like these political parties like Samajwadi Party want to make the situation worse. Its impossible to believe but the Chief Minsiter of Uttar Pradesh Mr. Akhilesh Yadav announced that there won’t be any written exams for Police recruitment in the state. He believes that only physical test along with the marks in tenth and twelfth class is enough. I was shocked to hear it. I believe that whatever Police does is because of political pressure and their training but still education is needed. And the situation becomes more horrible when a government like Samajwadi Party makes such announcement which is known for allowing cheating in the exams. The whole of nation knows how the percentage of students passing the tenth and twelfth grade exams increase dramatically as soon as they come in power.

In fact a lot of people from other states come to UP to pass tenth and twelfth grade exams during the Samajwadi Party rule because cheating happens openly and it is also very common practice that students won’t even participate in the exams, they just give some money to the school or the teachers and they will arrange someone to write the exam for them. One of my friends who was living in Mumbai literally came to Varanasi to pass tenth grade exams because he tried it three times but not succeed but now when he heard that Samajwadi Party is back in power, he came to UP and got his tenth grade certificate. In his case he went for the first two tests but then the teachers came to him saying that why he tortures his fingers and mind by writing the paper, they had another option of having someone else write his papers for a few hundred rupees.

He liked this idea, just gave some money to the teacher and was sitting at home watching TV and passed the exams. UP government wants to recruit Police on the basis of merit and I wonder what does merit mean if everyone is openly cheating the exams??? It scares me to think what will happen in future when we will have such uneducated Policemen? The situation is already horrible but future seems more dark. I still remember when I was talking with a friend who is a Policeman in The Netherlands and he said that the general impression of Police in his country is that Police is friend but here they are already our enemy. I think that an educated enemy is thousand time better than an uneducated enemy and its very sad UP government wants to create a whole force of uneducated enemies to torture us.

I think if they want to solve the problems then they should better end the system of interviews because that is the place where major corruption starts. The people wanting a job in the Police have to bribe the officers taking their interview and if they get a job after bribing a huge amount of money then they will be needing it back as well. And who will repay it? We the regular people ! I don’t have any hope from people like Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav or Akhilesh Yadav who have been ruling the state for long time. The only way to get some relief is by kicking them off the power completely but it seems very very hard because of the vote bank politics. Muslims and Yadav will still vote for Samajwaadi Party and all people coming from lower castes will still vote for Mayawati does not matter if they can bring any change in their lives. But I never loose hope, I still hope that people of UP will not forget corrupt and communal governance of Samajwaadi Party and will throw them out of power in the next elections of 2017. Jai Hind.

My car accident, Police and Insurance company

I had bought a car in September 2014 for my business purpose which had an accident in May 2015. The car was going to airport, with guests in it, when an over speed bus hit it from the back. The street from Varanasi city to the airport is a two lane highway and an over speed bus which was trying to take over the car hit it and my car came right in the middle of the street and a motorbike coming from the front hit the car from front. The accident was so serious that the lady sitting on the back seat of the motorbike, which hit the from front, hit the front windshield of the car from her head and broke it. She did not have any serious injury but the person driving the bike had serious injuries and he was admitted in a hospital.

The driver who was driving the bus left the bus on the street and ran away from there so I never got to see him. The bus did not only hit my car but it also ran over another motorbike. The motorbike driver somehow survived, actually he reached right under the bus so did not get any injury but his bike was damaged completely. The trunk and hood of my car were completely damaged. The accident also caused some mechanical problems in the car. Luckily nothing happened to the car driver and guests sitting in my car. I was at home when the accident happened and the driver, Mr. Sanjay, informed me about it. The accident spot was around 20 KMs from home so it took me almost an hour to reach there. During this time the Police came and sent my car and the bus to the Police station.

After arriving at the Police station I first asked Mr. Sanjay and he said no one other than the bike driver. I tried to get some information about him but it was not easy. Finally I went to see my car and suddenly I noticed that LED screen for rear view was missing. I asked Mr. Sanjay what happened to it and he was also surprised to see that it was not there. I went to see the back camera and it was also missing. Now I checked my car and noticed that all of the external car accessories (some wires, mobile charger etc) + a few CDs, jump drives, my glasses and a few documents were also missing. While we were just talking about it suddenly a person standing next to us said that he had seen Police taking everything out of my car and carrying it to the Police station. This gentleman had a shop next to the Police station.

Now I was kind of relaxed that at least all of those stuffs were with Police. After inspecting the car we went to the Police station and asked for all of those stuffs. Two Police officers present there said that they did not know anything about it. I went back to that person who had seen Police taking everything and asked him it again. He said that he was cent percent sure that a Policeman took everything and kept it inside the Police station. He in fact knew the name of that Police officer as well. He said that the Policeman who took everything was Mr. Sonkar. Now we returned back to the Police station and asked them where was Mr. Sonkar and they sent me to a small house which was right behind the Police station.

We went there, knocked the door and a person wearing shorts opened the door. I asked him if Mr. Sonkar was there and he said that he himself was Mr. Sonkar. I asked him about my car accessories and he said that he had kept them in safe at the Police station. He sent me back to the Police station and asked me to take help of other Policemen there. I returned back to the Police station and told them that Mr. Sonkar has kept everything in a safe. They opened all of the safes in front of me but found nothing. Now they sent me back to Mr. Sonkar. We again knocked the door and this time Mr. Sonkar got angry on us. He was angry because he was taking a nap, while on duty, and we were disturbing him.

We requested him to give our stuffs back and he said that he did not know anything about it and locked the door again. Now we were waiting for him at the Police station, he showed up again after two hours but his response was still the same. He said that he had kept everything in the safe and if it is not there then it means somebody stole it and he was not responsible for it. It made me really angry but I could not do anything. I was talking about it with another Police officer there and after a while he also confirmed that Mr. Sonkar had taken everything to his room. I was angry and sad both and told that Policeman that I was relaxed when I first heard that all the accessories were with the Police because I knew that everything was in safe hands and then the response of that Police officer literally shocked me. He laughed and said that who told you that Police is not thief.

I did not know what to say so I just gave up. During this time I also called the New India Assurance insurance office in Delhi and gave me contact number of someone Mr. Singh in Varanasi. I called Mr. Singh and he said that first try to take the car Police and then call him. I also asked him if I should register an FIR with the Police and he said that if we register an FIR then the process will be longer to better settle everything on mutual consent. He said that if the case is registered then there will be hearings for months at the court and I won’t get my car back until the hearing is finished. So I told the Police station that I did not want an FIR to be lodged but they said that they won’t give my car back until and unless they have not heard that the bike driver admitted in the hospital is safe.

Their excuse was that in case if something happens to that driver or if they register a case from their side then the case has to be registered. So now the only option I has was to wait. Finally after a week I got a phone call from the owner of the bus who said that the bike driver was safe and he also wanted to settle the case without registering any complaint. I agreed on meeting with him at the Police station the next day. When I arrived at the Police station he was already present there, there was someone from the family of that bike driver as well and we all wrote a letter to Police saying that we did not want the case to be registered and finally I got me my car back.

Now I called Mr. Singh, Insurance officer, again and he said that just bring your car to any authorized Maruti dealer and leave it there. They will repair it and we will pay for it. The shop where I had bought the car was AGR Automobiles in Varanasi so I just brought my car there. They took some pics of my car, did some documentation work and said that it will take them around 10 days to repair my car which sounded absolutely fine. They also said that they did not have all the parts available so it might take 3-4 days more. Now I started going everyday to the service center and everyday they had a new excuse but one thing was common everyday that they have already ordered the parts but they don’t have it yet and they are already overworking.

It took them almost two months just to get the parts and more than three weeks to repair my car. It was very frustrating but there was not even a place where I could complaint about it. The car was ready and it was the time to settle the bill. I was supposed to pay only a processing fee of Rs. 1,000 but I was given a bill of Rs. 35,000. When I asked them why the bill was so big they said that the insurance does not cover any fiber parts, scratches and some other smaller parts but still the bill seemed so big. I also notice that the insurance company was paying only Rs. 31,000 which did not seem fair at all. I bought the insurance but insurance company was paying less than the customer??

They asked me to contact Insurance company and their excuse was such a nonsense. They said that in case of accidents spot photography (photography of the car at the place where accident happened) is necessary which was not done hence I have to pay more. I asked them why did not they do spot photography and they said because I did not ask them to do so. I was like what the fuck is this, how come you can expect me to tell you your job? It was your job and you should have done it but they just did not want to hear anything. I called Mr. Singh and he was also telling the same thing. I reminded him about what he had said when I spoke with him the first time but he completely denied it, in fact he started shouting at me.

I told him that I will take the case to consumer forum court and he said do whatever you want but we won’t pay even a single ruppe more than the amount already sanctioned. It clearly seemed like he had already done such thing several times and he had no threat of consumer court at all. I had already lost a lot of business and money due to this car accident and I did not have any money left but now I had two options- either I spend more money on going to the court, wait for endless time for judgement to come (India has most number of legal cases pending in the whole world) or pay the money he wanted and start my business again. I contacted many people from different fields such as insurance, travel agents, lawyers and all of them told me that these things happen all the time, there was nothing new what happened with me.

I thought a lot and again surrender before the corrupt Police, government and judiciary. I borrowed some money from my friends and family and paid the amount they wanted so that at least my living starts. This whole experience was so horrible that I changed that insurance company and still think what kind of justice is there or if it is really possible for a normal person like me to get justice? I know that corruption is everywhere in India but UP and Bihar always tops the list. Police should be more responsible than government because they are the ones whom people like me deal with but it is more than 100% corrupt in UP and it becomes worse as soon as Samajwadi Party comes in power. Police stole all my car accessories, Maruti took almost three months to repair my car and Insurance company did not pay…and still I can’t think of any place where I can complaint about them.

After going through this experience it reminded me of a very famous Bollywood movie dialogue when Nana Patekar says सौ में से अस्सी बेईमान, फिर भी मेरा देश महान (80 out of 100 are cheaters but still my country is great) ! I have a hope from the central government but I know that it won’t be easy for them to finish this corruption soon because the political parties which have ruled India destroyed this country so much that corruption has become part of the system and depending on different states sometimes there is some help and sometimes no help at all. Jai Hind.

A Journalist burnt alive, is there any freedom of expression in Uttar Pradesh?

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

Corruption is a very big issue in India nowadays and everyone is talking about it. Even we saw the result in Delhi state assembly elections how Aam Aadmi Party changed the government only on the issue of corruption. I was also very  excited after seeing the result of Delhi elections but sometimes such things happen which make me feel like there is just no way to kill corruption in this country. It was a friend’s wedding last week in Varanasi and I went to attend it. After the wedding was finished, all of my friends returned back home but one of them parked his motorbike right in front of his home on the main street which is very usual thing for a city like Varanasi where there is no parking space available anywhere.

It was 2.30 AM and I got a call on my mobile from the same friend saying that his bike was missing. He had called me seeking help to find that bike. We went together on the street asking people if someone saw our bike and a person told us that he had seen two policemen taking our bike. We went to the nearest police station and the police officer present there said that the bike was found unattended hence it is sent to big police station which was about a kilometer away from my place. Now we went to the big police station and found everyone asleep other than one person who was standing by the entrance.

We asked him about our bike and he confirmed that our bike was there but we needed to talk with the officer. We went to the officer and found him sleeping on his chair. We were trying to wake him up but he was in super sound sleep. Finally he woke up after our several attempts. We explained him our situation and he said that we would have to go to the court the next day, pay a fine of Rs. 10,000 and only then we will get our bike. We knew it very well that he was telling a lie. We requested him so much to give us our bike back and he finally agreed on doing so after talking with the policemen who had brought our bike from the street. He asked us to go on the street looking for those policemen.

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

Now he asked for the bike registration paper 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 and brought him to the police station with all the papers and asked us to wait. It was crazy to see that right in front of our eyes, he closed the register and again felt asleep asking us to wait. We just did not know what to do now. Now I laughed in anger and we started talking with each other like this is our great India, this is the system…things like that. The awake policemen who was listening to us told us that- now you are laughing too much but imagine what would have happened if a thief had stolen your bike.

I just did not know what to tell him but I told him that we are laughing only because our bike is secured with the police. Anyways, after waiting for 15-20 minutes we asked the awaken police to wake up the sleeping policeman, hahaha. Finally the officer woke up, again looked at the documents and now asked for Rs. 500. We all started looking at each other and asked him why he needed Rs. 500. As we asked this question to him, he got upset, closed the register and again went asleep by asking us to go to the court the next day. We knew it very well that if we go to the court then we will have to bribe to maybe 10 people because everything is super corrupt at the courts also.

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 the behavior of that police guy, it makes me feel like our police is formed to torture us and nothing else. The policeman had no interest in helping us, he was always trying to make the situation more complicated. He was very rude, corrupt, fat, lazy, sleepy and a bigger thief than regular thieves. And I have never ever met any policeman who was better than him. I have also not ever met any person who said that he ever found a helping policeman. I think it is definitely a need of the time to dismiss entire police system and bring new fresh people with a different training.

I have also heard that our police is trained in the same way as it was trained during the British Raj time. The police was trained to fight against locals those days and they are trained the same way even today also. Our political system never had any free time to make police system better because they are also involved in looting the country. I am sure that this problem could be solved by bringing new police act and using more technology but I don’t see any hope especially for my state of Uttar Pradesh where governments come in power by doing caste and religion based politics. I have always believed that Indian police is somehow responsible for each and every problem we have in this country and if things do not change soon then I can grantee that the dream of India of becoming super power we stay only a dream forever.

Blogging

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

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.

Won Citizen Journalist award

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. Here is the video of the show:

Shiva Ganges View Guesthouse, Varanasi

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.