Learning to admit one's mistake - primary lesson to be taught

Last week, I'm told we had the unfortunate and unpleasant task of having to let go of an individual in India for lack of propriety / matter of trust. When I walked through the scenario, I found that the real issue was one of personal ego : as simple as admitting that there had been a mistake on the individuals' part.

What transpired was not at all good for any of the teams involved, neither the end customer, nor Inatech or the individual involved offshore.

What started as a simple mistake that could have been handled quite simply with a "Sorry, we made a mistake" ended up being a standoff. The standoff progressed to a level where "honesty" and "trust" were put up as table stakes. This, IMHO is a no-win game.

What are we doing in schools and colleges if we cannot teach the young that it is "ok" to make mistakes, that, it is "ok" to admit that an error has been committed and an solution / alternative has to be worked together as a team ?

Instead, we end up with a LOT of posturing, threats of walk-outs / resignations etc. When will people learn that there are NO shortcuts in life when it comes to values like "TRUST" ?

Investing in park and share facilities : eg BIAL travel

I think it is time that we started to explore the options available for Park and Share facilities. If we consider the new services available for travel into BIAL from the city - eg. The Vayu Vajra, Airlift etc. All of them have a basic problem and that is of the last mile connection.

I have read about the last mile taxi option in the Vayu Vajra booking site, but, must confess that I do not want to test it. What would be good is if there were park and travel options at key places in the city. This will certainly reduce the amount of people trying to commute / traveling all the way to the airport in their own vehicles just because there is no option in the city for this.

I would love to be able to park (for example near Mekhri Circle) and then take the bus over to the BIAL airport.

Options ? Maybe time for private participation or even influencing BMRTC to think of an option (as they do have parking on top of Shivajinagar bus stand ?)

The loss of a "left luggage" option - Airports in India

The day before yesterday, I lugged my baggage across to Mumbai and back just because the new airport BIAL has no left luggage option and all the airlines do not accept check-in more than 2 or 3 hours before travel time.

The problem arose as I had to fly out to Mumbai and back before I caught an international flight late in the night / early next morning.

In the end - I had to check in my baggage to Mumbai (waste of fuel / energy). Get to Mumbai to realize that they too do not have a left luggage !. Lug the bag in the boot of the taxi and ask for a "left luggage service" from the taxi driver :-)
I checked it back in the evening - unopened.
How I wish my travel bag had a frequent flyer option :-)

I did enquire and was given the standard "Security reasons sir" reply, but, that does not cut ice !

Contrast this to the left luggage desks you get in most railway stations in Europe. Infact, in Germany, the major stations have an "airline style" check in for left luggage. The bags are x-rayed, tagged and bar-coded before being sent to storage on a conveyor belt.

I think it is time people stopped repeating banal reasons as to why something is NOT workable, but, work towards providing solutions. Anyone for teaming up to provide left-baggage service as an entreprenuership option for BIAL ?

Plastic Waste : Carry Bags .vs. Small Sachets

Last week, some of us were chatting about "waste" collection and disposal. This was in relation to what gets done in the UK and India.

While we, the Indians at the table spoke at length at how our culture of "Raddi" / "Kabadi" wallas automatically provide a recycling solution, I was forced to contemplate on what is the rising problem ? Surely the "plastic" menance is not just the less than 40 microns carry bags that is banned ?

Surely the real menance is the new found favour in small packaging / sachets ?

Everywhere (even while trekking in a rural / reserved forest setting), I come across empty small plastic sachets. These would have held either Gutka, chewing tobacco, sweets or even Rs. 1 packs of Shampoo and coconut oil !

These are too many in number and too low a form factor for anyone to pay attention. Therein lies the problem.

If we are serious about controling the use of plastic packaging, IMHO, we should start at the bottom of the pyramid. We should look at a new packaging material (or even an age old one like waxed paper) that is more degradable than the LDPE / HDPE sachets.

Ideas anyone ?

Common sparrows : A lost sight in Bangalore : BIAL has some !

Another post related to BIAL (Bengaluru International Airport) and this one has NOTHING to do with the facility, size, baggage handling etc. This is to do with the sighting of a number of common sparrows !

I'm not sure how many people remember the time in Bangalore where one would sight sparrows, mynahs and the "did you do it" ? bird in abundance.

I'm told that the increase in the crow and the grey pigeon / dove has almost wiped out the sparrow population in the city.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear loud "chirping" in the arrival hall of BIAL on monday. I stopped, looked around to validate that the noise was NOT from an "electronic bird" and was awarded with the sight of a small sparrow flying from one girder to another !

I stood looking around for more of these and as I was looking around, I also noticed a BIAL official with a Motorola "Walkie Talkie" also looking up and around. He was inside the arrivals area and I was already out of the security area. If not, I was going to go up to him and have a chat about his intentions !

I fervently hope that he was not looking around to chase these sparrows away !. That would certainly be a shame and a loss of opportunity for BIAL in terms of a redemption :-)

Noise pollution : Making normal citizens aware of this ?

This morning, being a Sunday, I was hoping for a late sleep-in. Unfortunately, it was not to be : I was woken up before light, approximately at about 4:45 in the morning by some idiot in the apartment complex with his noisy audio "reverse" indicator.

Listening to the loud "beep-ep beep-ep" at that time of the tranquil morning, I was forced to imagine all the things I'd do to this person / car if I were the violent kind.

What is it that makes people think they have the right to make as much noise without remorse ?

This is not the first time that I've noticed / commented or even lamented on the noise level of our Indian roads. However, I'm exasperated. I think we should not have only "honk-free" days but, "honk-free" weekends for a start.

Other instances that I'm sure will strike a chord with my fellow citizens
- Honking by a person in the back while you (and the whole world) is waiting patiently for the traffic lights to go from "red" to "green"
- Honking while overtaking even when one knows it is better to wait for another 50 m to get a good sight of the road ahead
- Switching on the "reversing" audio with various options on tunes
- Even making loud "Beep-Beep" when locking / unlocking the car or vehicle

Is this an attitude or is it education ?
Why is it that people do not use the "silent" option available in most autolock / autocop versions where the instrument can be "muted" ?

Dubai : The local watering hole in the Gulf

Last week I spent an evening out in a restaurant close to the Dubai International Airport. The whole set / sequence reminded me of a trip I had made to Daman about 20 years ago and I thought I'd document both the set.

On a bored weekend, a few friends and I decided to take off from our shared flat in Andheri, Mumbai and head to Daman. We left on a Saturday morning and were in Daman by late afternoon. We checked into the hotel, went out for a late afternoon lunch. There was really no beach to speak of and bored, tired and sleepy after a heavy lunch, we decided to nap till evening. All of what we had seen until then was a sleepy town with hardly anyone in the street and very little activity.

We were in for a contrast. At around 6:30-7:00 most of us came awake at growing noise outside in the road. By the time we washed up and came down to the front of the hotel lobby, there was a sea change. The roads were filled with people, cars and two-wheelers and generally the place looked as though there was a Mela about.

As the evening progressed, this sleepy town went through a transformation that'd put Las Vegas to shame !. There were brawls in pubs / bars and restaurants, there were people walking the streets with liquor in-hand or upto their eye-balls.

As it turns out, Daman is the closest "drinking hole" to Gujarat (DRY!) and the floating population was just that - float in and out over the evening. It almost seemed as though all the people who'd want a drink in Gujarat had gravitated to Daman !

Now, cut to Dubai.

There were just 2 of us who wanted to have a quiet drink and catch up on business developments. I had about 2 hours to kill late in the evening having already checked in and with my boarding card. As we went into the local bar, we saw some people, but, not much.

As the evening / night progressed, I realized that my "Daman experience" was being replayed. Everyone around was drinking more than they could carry and were pretty boisterous. All the frustrations pent up was being spent in a binge. This even led the person with me to comment that all of them seemed to be "Dharam-Bhrasht". To add to this, I even saw a person with the beads of meditation in one hand and a drink in another. Talk about immediate salvation ?


In Daman, by the next morning, the roads were empty of people / traffic, but, crammed with junk and garbage. In a way am glad I was not going to be there the next morning in Dubai