The other day, i was travelling by our very own Air India. Though i must admit, I was as sceptical about the flight as I should be with the recent spate of goof ups that the national carrier has been so infamously known for.
The ground staff really didnt care to make many announcements informing the passengers and when they did, people responsibly headed where they were told to. Possibly it had nothing to do with the passengers being more sensible, but simply the fear of being left behind by the already slagging staff. Indeed, time wasnt really a bother for anyone associated with the airline, leading to a delayed start. Though such things come to fore, so do the facial expressions of the staff. The same was just expressionless. Be it welcoming you on board, or showing you your seat. The same was done with simply no emotion on their faces, making you feel as if they were doing you a favour flying you to your destination.
I must admit though, the air craft was one of the best that I had flown in. Not in terms of interior, but surely in terms of the smooth flying. Possibly it was the pilot but then there were simply NO air bumps, no sudden turns pushing you from one end of your seat to the other. So also as with all national carrier aircrafts, the seats too were spacious. The best thing about the national carrier which I was to find out later, was the food. Though not 5-star, it surely was steaming hot and reasonably fresh (as fresh as airlines can serve) The staff, though with the same demeanour were kind and accomodating to all passengers. With extra food being carried, the passengers surely filled up their tummies to last them quite a while. Tea and coffee was unlimited and served over again as requested by the passengers. Though it did feel nice to be treated nice when it came to food, but at the same time it felt as if I found one more reason for the national carrier not even breaking even. With an added delay during the flight, we ended up nearly 45 minutes late. All in all it was not a bad experience as I really didnt mind reaching a little after my scheduled arrival time. But, if at all the carrier wants to still run.. it has to
1. Be on time and get energetic people on board so as to make people more oomfortable at check-in to the time of boarding.
2. Make sure that you sell tickets at rates which are at par with the other airlines and not necessarily always a tad higher than most in the same sector. You simply prevent most from flying the airline in the first place.
3. The routes you travel need to be increased and so should the timings be in sync with business requirements.
4. Surely provide good food but care must be taken so as not to increase per person consumption.
5. Lastly, teach your staff to atleast smile if not anything else !!!
It surely would require much more than money to keep the National Airline afloat. Most of all it needs to realise that simply asking more money is not the solution. It is a long upward journey from here on. We the people are with you, but surely you cannot waste our money as and how you think to. Be judicious and you surely would come out of these difficult situations as well.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Married life
More often than not my friends ask me, "Howz married life man?" There are few things that can described in such cases. I mean, how do they expect it to change ? You sure cant stop going to the loo first thing in the morning nor would you take a break from work simply coz you not feeling like it.
But then, its surely not like it was before. You had to answer to only some one person (your mum or dad) and then u were scot free. It was routine for something like 25 years and hence the effectiveness for obvious reasons had been declining ever since u thought u had wings to fly high and reach and achieve everything you would lay your sights on. Now though there is someone who waits for you when you come back home. (and in the case of some, u wud have to wait for to come home :P)
Things change, your likes, your dislikes.. your wishes and much more. You want to eat this and she despises it(More often than not its the case), now you realise why someone said that opposites attract. She is someone who loves you the utmost with the purest of heart and hates u with equal intensity when you decide to stay longer on tour, or when you are away from her. Its that ferocity of emotions which are new, something you gotta get adjusted to.
A few years of courtship would be more than sufficient to understand your partner and then there is really a sweet simple nice smooth ride ahead of u. There are friends who are really depressed at the fact that they cant stand up to their spouses and then there are quarrels. Isnt it only compromise which allows for peace. Oh yes, she loves masala papad and i love mushrooms. It takes sometime to accept it and go with the flow.. :)
But then... it surely is a nice feeling. SOmething that I am sure is difficult to express correctly in words(sans jokingly).
But then, its surely not like it was before. You had to answer to only some one person (your mum or dad) and then u were scot free. It was routine for something like 25 years and hence the effectiveness for obvious reasons had been declining ever since u thought u had wings to fly high and reach and achieve everything you would lay your sights on. Now though there is someone who waits for you when you come back home. (and in the case of some, u wud have to wait for to come home :P)
Things change, your likes, your dislikes.. your wishes and much more. You want to eat this and she despises it(More often than not its the case), now you realise why someone said that opposites attract. She is someone who loves you the utmost with the purest of heart and hates u with equal intensity when you decide to stay longer on tour, or when you are away from her. Its that ferocity of emotions which are new, something you gotta get adjusted to.
A few years of courtship would be more than sufficient to understand your partner and then there is really a sweet simple nice smooth ride ahead of u. There are friends who are really depressed at the fact that they cant stand up to their spouses and then there are quarrels. Isnt it only compromise which allows for peace. Oh yes, she loves masala papad and i love mushrooms. It takes sometime to accept it and go with the flow.. :)
But then... it surely is a nice feeling. SOmething that I am sure is difficult to express correctly in words(sans jokingly).
Saturday, March 12, 2011
TNPY
Yet again, am in Tamil land (No, please dont take me wrong. They are nice people, just a little different). Well, enter South India and there are a couple of things that strikes you. The weather, the language and possibly the people. I thought that the whole of India was one, but then I would be a little incorrect in that inference.
As you land at the Chennai airport and walk out, you get a call. Its your driver who has come to pick you up. "Sir, me waiting, you outside". And you had assumed that the South Indians know better english than most of the Indians. Doesnt matter you think. As you move out of the airport, you try and grasp the place, breathe in the city and try and understand the city. But then, you really cant read much. Its all only in Tamil. You tell the driver you want to stop for tea somewhere. He shakes his head and you have to say it again. He shakes his head again only to say "coffee". The car stops, you enter the restaurant and order tea (without looking at the menu card, you assume its there) and lo ! in sometime there is ... "coffee". "Very good coffee sir, this place", grins the driver. Whoa!! but then, there surely isnt much you can do about that. On the way you see the factories of Ford, Nokia and many more such engineering companies. But then, if you think you can read anything but the name, you are grossly mistaken. Thanks to the NHAI, which has made the roads, you do find certain place namecards on the sides of the road. Reach the premises and you are greeted by the Project Manager of the organisation. You start chatting with him in english, understanding that you dont know Tamil, and Hindi is hated like Hitler hated the Jews. You could be lucky, but mostly its luck against reality, the reality being different. He surely can speak english, just that the verbs and nouns can be interchangeable and be used in place of the other. But then, when with the workers or with anyone else, its either "Seri seri" or ille ille that one has to do. Or its the best language that comes to our aid and thats the SIGN language. The language barrier continues and one wonders /worries if he would be able to speak decent, grammatically correct english when he is out of the T land ? The news channels to the cartoon channels are all dubbed in Tamil and you search the 90 channel televisions for the 12 Hindi ones :)
I had always thought that India was a country of oneness, where people would learn new things and grow. Hindi we were taught was the national language. English we thought was the business language. But then, in absence of this for most of the population and the workforce, how does one grow? How and why do MNCs of the likes of Nokia, Ford, ABB, Godrej and many more come down to Chennai? Its possibly thanks to the nature of the people of TN. While on many of these trips, you learn from the driver, that many few people really want to shift to the cities from their villages/towns. Very few people are really interested to learn english as everything is available in Tamil, even movies are in Tamil and they arent like any other language movies. They are an industry in itself. Something that could give the bollywood a run for its money. But then, there it is that the secret of their success lies.
As bad as it may seem the very fact that the people here dont want to change enables them to attract the manufacturing units to their state.
Lets look at it this way, what does a manufacturing unit look for? It looks out for a stable and steady workforce. Who would be happy working and doing nearly the same thing every single day. They want a work force which would stay with them for long. Someone who wouldnt really want to jump and jump and move. The people here love their town, village and so on.. and undoubtedly so they prefer to stay there. Not move. Language barrier as there is doesnt allow them to go out of their state and so also makes it good if companies are very much in their own place. They get to stay at home and still work and earn a good living.
Most of the people in TN either go to South east asia (where they have tamil as a language being taught in school)or stay in TN. Never have i seen any other state with so many people working within the same state. Most of the states have their people going out and working. Businesses are again something that arent so popular amongst the middle class and seems like its kinda reserved for the higher class.
Well, good or bad thats the way it is here in the superstar's land. It gives you a feel that everything happens as if its meant to be.
All in all, its a nice green place with decent roads. Just that its a little too hot and sticky, but its nice to have food on a banayan tree leaf :P
Reminds me of Mani's Lunch home and the sunday lunches we've had there.
Heart with Japan.
of being not so one hits u. The scene outside the airport is still more unique. U cant read a thing !!! Its Tamil the driver smiles.
As you land at the Chennai airport and walk out, you get a call. Its your driver who has come to pick you up. "Sir, me waiting, you outside". And you had assumed that the South Indians know better english than most of the Indians. Doesnt matter you think. As you move out of the airport, you try and grasp the place, breathe in the city and try and understand the city. But then, you really cant read much. Its all only in Tamil. You tell the driver you want to stop for tea somewhere. He shakes his head and you have to say it again. He shakes his head again only to say "coffee". The car stops, you enter the restaurant and order tea (without looking at the menu card, you assume its there) and lo ! in sometime there is ... "coffee". "Very good coffee sir, this place", grins the driver. Whoa!! but then, there surely isnt much you can do about that. On the way you see the factories of Ford, Nokia and many more such engineering companies. But then, if you think you can read anything but the name, you are grossly mistaken. Thanks to the NHAI, which has made the roads, you do find certain place namecards on the sides of the road. Reach the premises and you are greeted by the Project Manager of the organisation. You start chatting with him in english, understanding that you dont know Tamil, and Hindi is hated like Hitler hated the Jews. You could be lucky, but mostly its luck against reality, the reality being different. He surely can speak english, just that the verbs and nouns can be interchangeable and be used in place of the other. But then, when with the workers or with anyone else, its either "Seri seri" or ille ille that one has to do. Or its the best language that comes to our aid and thats the SIGN language. The language barrier continues and one wonders /worries if he would be able to speak decent, grammatically correct english when he is out of the T land ? The news channels to the cartoon channels are all dubbed in Tamil and you search the 90 channel televisions for the 12 Hindi ones :)
I had always thought that India was a country of oneness, where people would learn new things and grow. Hindi we were taught was the national language. English we thought was the business language. But then, in absence of this for most of the population and the workforce, how does one grow? How and why do MNCs of the likes of Nokia, Ford, ABB, Godrej and many more come down to Chennai? Its possibly thanks to the nature of the people of TN. While on many of these trips, you learn from the driver, that many few people really want to shift to the cities from their villages/towns. Very few people are really interested to learn english as everything is available in Tamil, even movies are in Tamil and they arent like any other language movies. They are an industry in itself. Something that could give the bollywood a run for its money. But then, there it is that the secret of their success lies.
As bad as it may seem the very fact that the people here dont want to change enables them to attract the manufacturing units to their state.
Lets look at it this way, what does a manufacturing unit look for? It looks out for a stable and steady workforce. Who would be happy working and doing nearly the same thing every single day. They want a work force which would stay with them for long. Someone who wouldnt really want to jump and jump and move. The people here love their town, village and so on.. and undoubtedly so they prefer to stay there. Not move. Language barrier as there is doesnt allow them to go out of their state and so also makes it good if companies are very much in their own place. They get to stay at home and still work and earn a good living.
Most of the people in TN either go to South east asia (where they have tamil as a language being taught in school)or stay in TN. Never have i seen any other state with so many people working within the same state. Most of the states have their people going out and working. Businesses are again something that arent so popular amongst the middle class and seems like its kinda reserved for the higher class.
Well, good or bad thats the way it is here in the superstar's land. It gives you a feel that everything happens as if its meant to be.
All in all, its a nice green place with decent roads. Just that its a little too hot and sticky, but its nice to have food on a banayan tree leaf :P
Reminds me of Mani's Lunch home and the sunday lunches we've had there.
Heart with Japan.
of being not so one hits u. The scene outside the airport is still more unique. U cant read a thing !!! Its Tamil the driver smiles.
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