The Candidate (a masonic poem.)

THE CANDIDATE

by RW Alan R. Heath, Grand Lodge of Maine

It was his dream to become a Mason,
Though he wasn't sure quite why.

So he made an application,
Then waited months for a reply.

No committee came to pay a call,
To meet him and his wife,
No invitation to Mason's hall;
Nor offer of advice.

Finally a postcard in the mail,
Said, "come Monday night at six,
And bring us twenty dollars,
If you want to see our tricks."

He made that solitary journey,
And entered by the door,
But not one hand was offered,
As he slowly crossed the floor.

They fed him beans and hot dogs,
And a piece of apple pie,
Then lead him to a little room,
With no explanation why.

The work was done with care and skill,
No one could argue that.
But, the candidate was forgotten,
As they patted themselves on the back.

He came to the lodge hall two more times,
And was raised to the third degree.
That was the last time they saw him.
What could the trouble be?

They scratched their heads and wondered,
As again they cried and moaned,
"Our time has all been wasted!"
"We should have stayed at home.”

It seems to me that they've missed the point,
But they need to understand.
It’s not just how well you do the work,
It's how you treat the man.

Because you can only be a Mason,
When you're a Mason in your heart;
And along with his jacket seams,
They had burst his dream apart.

So, if you get an application,
Please, call on that man at once.
Invite him and his family,
To tour your hall and share some lunch.

Answer all his questions,
Let him share your pride.
A Mason's work, is honest work;
That's not a secret to hide.

And when it's time to present him,
With the gift of a degree,
Remember, genuine friendship is,
The true gift of masonry.

Pick him up and take him home.
Isn't he worth the trip?
No candidate should come alone.
Please, don't ignore this tip.

All should rush to greet him,
As he enters by your door.
Extend your hand in friendship,
That's what a Mason's grip is for.

Remember your obligation,
As you lead him to the gate.
It's up to you to guide him through,
Not to hurt or humiliate.

Now armed with proper instruction,
Masonry's door will open wide,
Thanks to you, his best example,
Of what a Mason should be inside

And? thank him sincerely for coming.
Invite him back to his new home,
For a brother will not be a brother,
If he feels unwelcome and alone.
 

( reproduced verbatim from facebook.com/freemasonspage - for both the poetry and freemasonry. )

Pune Bus Day (1 Nov 2012)

Paud Road @8:30pm [Imagine!]

Sakal Times, Pune, launched an initiative Pune Bus Day [PBD] to convince commuters to use the PMPML bus services to prove that public transport would reduce traffic and that the logistics were possible.

Pune Station

Bajirao Road

On 1-Nov-2012 a good number of residents of Pune ignored the fact and set out on their privately owned vehicles or cabs or shuttles which did not help highlight the advantages. Many judgmentally decided that the website and Android mobile application did not help them and hence did not try to diligently explore the options.

Swargate [Seriously, no Jokes.]

I took the bus early 1-Nov-2012 and found the conductors to be most accommodating and helpful. Each bus I took had seats available to travel comfortably. This was largely possible thanks to an additional 1,500 buses being added to the standard fleet. Hinjewadi, which is where I commute to daily, did not have a remarked difference in Traffic. However other crowded places like Swargate Depot, JM Road had a remarked change in the traffic for almost all day.

The verdict is that Pune Bus Day was a success in terms of residents who wanted to use it and reduce the pains of using their own private vehicle.

1. Bus Routes could be looked up on Google, except following Google's instructions entirely took you to places that did not have Bus Stops - so this needs some work.
2. The Application is only a wrapper to the Website that merely gives you Bus Numbers and served no purpose when it was overloaded.
3. People seldom attempted to ask another person as to how to head to particular destination - a social malady amongst the new White-collar folk in town. Instead, on the first sign of failure they switched quickly to cabs and other forms of transport to reach their destination. Despite these stranded people who gazed at their maps without asking others who knew how to get to the destination, it was a success.
4. My Boss's Boss came to Office by Bus and was happy he could dispense off with his early morning e-mail while sitting in the bus (considering he is a Senior Vice President and spends all his time in Decision Making and Inputs toward that.) He admitted that he did some diligent understanding of the logistics before he tried it to avoid getting stranded.

The cons of the exercise were not actually too visible unless someone asked the hard questions:

1. Thursday is a holiday for many of the Industrial complexes especially those that comprise MIDC and other Industrial areas. Hence the bulk of the bus commuters were on leave.
2. The users of bus-services (the casual citizen/resident) was not educated (through newspapers, emails) thoroughly, that we all found shortcomings in the directions received. This was a huge discouragement.
3. We were told that members of the BJP, RSS would volunteer to help private vehicle commuters to get back home and then choose the correct route. This would have been welcome if they had waited at each bus stop and assisted people. Despite this being a behemoth of an effort, that would have landed us in total success.
4. It was a shame to see so many residents of Pune plying in their private vehicles as early as 6:45am when this was announced for the entire last month as Pune Bus Day. If people do not take any initiative, they have no moral standing in talking about bad-governance, corruption as they couldn't just participate in an initiative. 

This is wonderful, and I hope that each community, city and civic group will try initiatives on their own and not depend on governmental grants/funding/approvals to perform such exercises for a better tomorrow.

Yes, there was a lot of glitz, glam and Sakal advertisement/sponsorship on show, but that was outweighed by the community contribution it brought in.

Considering that mass commuters who use PMPML were on leave for Thursday (the weekly Industrial Holiday,) celebrations are too early. Another effort on a day when they too are commuting will test the infrastructure. Worse yet, by evening too many private vehicles entered the foray and almost spoiled the experiment especially in Hinjewadi where Company Buses also ply. This is part of another debate as to why a good number of Software Engineers have a tendency to give up when they believe there's not a single bus plying their route or it is too much time versus their two-wheeler driving capabilities.

Alike Chennai as my friend Annamalai Subramanian pointed out, it is possible to have a city's commute infrastructure working without the aid of "Local trains" or "Metros" if diligent planning is done. Ultimately it would still be a 'Mass Transit System" like an MRT that can solve the problem for a long-term. But these steps ought to be taken.

PS: The photographs were published on Facebook and were not taken by me. The copyright for these photographs stays with whomsoever took these photographs and agreed to share them with the "Pune Bus Day" Facebook page.