Hop ON & Hop OFF in Chennai MTC

It was a usual day, usual office but unusually I decided to use the public transportation. It was not a bad idea, but due to the fact that I was forced to use it since my ‘high command’ took the car, I was rather infuriated. I was in office formals with a backpack. The images of jam packed chennai MTC buses, ‘open to sky’ bus stops, rusted seats traumatized me. The ‘Baby Nagar’ bus stop was just 10 mts walk from my apartment and the bus stop was, in reel sense, an excellent handwork of the state ‘Public works department’.

The MTC has introduced several AC VOLVO buses in major routes and I’m habituated to count the passengers inside these buses whenever I happen to see them. I saw a Volvo bus (Route 570 towards CMBT) approaching and I thanked my stars for saving me from an otherwise horrifying experience.

I got into the bus and to my surprise it was full, barely a seat or two left unoccupied. All the passengers had a quick look at me, not sure whether they do this profile screening on all boarding the bus. The conductor came to my seat (In Chennai, these people stick to their designated work place, usually near the exit gate & the passengers have the responsibility to collect the tickets) & addressed me ‘Sir’. Awe struck by his politeness, I physically controlled myself from falling off the seat. The window pane was huge and chennai looked really sexy through the lens of these Volvos. They played some nice melodies, sans those honking noise the journey was pleasant and refreshing!

Most of the Volvo patrons are youngsters who either lost themselves in ‘Iphone/Ipod ‘ or seen baffled with their gal friends. MTC should have done aggressive marketing of their AC services as an alternative for personal vehicles. They should fully utilize their ‘Global positioning system’ by providing the timetable through SMS or internet. Making them as Gen Y’s style symbol would have made these services a huge hit. The profits earned from these services can then be used to subsidize the ‘white board’ (normal) services.

I had to get down near ‘Race course’ junction since the bus took a detour from the ‘five furlong road’. The reality struck me immediately and I was completely drenched in sweat within minutes, thanks to the hot & humid climate. I trekked on the pavements. The air was filled with odor from the overflowing sewage, people were seen jumping, rowing on the stagnated pool. The ‘Kai Endhi Bavans’ (Road side food shops) were busy selling their ‘mid day Thali’ in the same vicinity. An auto driver was seen negotiating the rates from his prospective customer in his own style. One drunken man was crossing the road, swinging, cuddling his co-drunker. A group of middle aged people were coming out of ‘Guindy railway station’ most likely returning home after their shift.

This is India and this is Chennai. Behind the huge shopping malls and commercial skyscrapers there lies my society. This bus ride helped me to reconnect with my society. I travelled by foot thinking about what did I ever give back to my society. The reduction of carbon footprint on that day was the smallest contribution though!

Yours,
Hari

Ten Teething reasons why I should quit?

On a serious note, this has to be read with a ligheter vein

Interviews have become difficult to crack, I mean exit interviews. Thanks to acute talent crunch and ever increasing hiring and attrition costs, Indian companies are coming with divine ways to control attrition. Some of them give hefty salaries & provide stereotype targets with psychopath bosses. Some give moderate salary and provide the luxury of sitting on bench. (Few may not allow this option to perish) Some make a balance between Salary and work.

I decided to quit my company which falls under the last category. I decided not to face any humiliation from my boss, super boss and HR manager. Hence, I listed down issues which I believe none of the HR manager can retaliate. Some of them are given below:

1. My office websense (firewall) blocks Facebook and Naukri site thereby depriving my fundamental right.

2. My mobile phone with 10MP camera & 4GB memory is not allowed inside the ODC (Overseas development centre) due to security reasons. I was dismayed to note the double standard policy of my company which allowed the security team to install the CCTV!

3. There is no gender diversity in my process which has only male employees. I was embarrassed to face questions on 'oomph quotient' from my clients.

4. My office laptop does not recognize Blue ray/movie DVDs. The system even crashed once when I tried to copy Rajnikanth’s Sivaji from my pen drive.

5. My office bulletin board has no information on new releases.

6. My office has a 1000 seater cafeteria which does not serve liquors/cocktails. There are training halls but there are no party halls. The party animal within me has already gone on a “LTA”.

7. My office is just 5 km away from airport but 50 km away from the city. I need to commute in a non air-conditioned taxi daily. Since our nativity to the place where the office is located is questionable why don’t they provide the guesthouse accommodation within the same campus?

8. I could not doze off properly even during a good 'full meals day'. My office system has an admin controlled screen saver which says 'Work, Don’t stare' if my mouse is untouched for a minute. Worse, the screen saver scrolls in bold yellow 'DO NOT DISTURB. PRINCE HARI IS SLEEPING' if the mouse is untouched for 2 minutes.

9. My company follows US timing, US holiday, bill the customer in Dollors but pay us in Indian Rupees. Damn!

10. My office is situated in a Tropical place (Chennai). But the dress code is so strict that the tropical wear is not allowed inside the premises.

Im sure the reasons mentioned above can be appreciated by every Independent young Indian of the New India. The president of United states, Mr. Obama once spoke of shipment of jobs from Bangalore to Buffalo. Mr. President, ask the Indian IT companies when will they start treating their employees like holy cows !!!

Hilariously yours,
Hari