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November 28, 2009

We are like that only...or are we?

Today, as I write this, is the 26/11 "day". There has been a gradual media build-up over the last week, culminating in today's intense newspaper focus. I presume this is true of the television networks as well, but I no longer bother watching. The print media is full of interviews, post-mortems, analyses, etc, among which, are a few articles comparing the "then and now" scenarios. How then a lot of us were angry, motivated and ready for action. And how now, all of that seems to have dissipated.

I have taken this little time off in the middle of my working day to think and introspect. The door is shut with "do not disturb" orders, the cell phone is offline and the landline is off the hook.

I was in Barcelona that day. I woke up at midnight to go to the loo and saw the smoking Taj on CNN on an in-loo television set. I called home and got the rest of the story. Though the company had decided to let its employees take the day off, we proudly kept all our set-ups open; there was seething anger and this was our way of answering the terrorists back and not letting terrorism win and cow us down.

I didn't join any group or cause. Though, I didn't know anyone directly who had died, we all knew someone who had lost a friend or family; during those days, most of us would have willingly given an arm and a leg to help and change things. Most people I knew were angry, especially at the politicians but more at the "system' itself.

A month later, a British friend wanted to see the "sites" and we took him to see Leopold and the Taj. These areas were teeming with tourists.

Then came the elections, where even though some candidates tried to capitalize on this incident, nothing much really happened. Voting rates were pathetic. I didn't vote as well.

And life went on.

A grueling 12 hour daily schedule, the commute, the social responsibilities, the kids, meetings, conferences, domestic and international travels...all of these eventually pushed all the November angst aside. The media in the meantime moved on to other issues as well; swine flu, elections, Koda and Shilpa Shetty's wedding.

The only reminders were the irritants; the inability to use Arthur Road because of Kasab's trial and the added security at the hotels.

Today’s newspaper coverage has brought back a little of that November angst, but it is highly muted. The blatant use of this occasion for self-promotion hasn’t helped the cause much. And the mudslinging among the police officers as well as between them and the politicians, which seems to have reached a crescendo today, has just made things worse. And I know that I am not the sole person in the city thinking along these lines… in fact, most people I know seem to be in the same boat as me.

Does that make us insensitive boors? Are we self-centered, insular creatures? Is this a typical Mumbai problem, or is this what happens universally, after events as shocking as these? During those rare moments where I am able to be with myself, without being disturbed by people, phones and email, I wonder...are our daily lives so filled with tasks that we forget to feel and act on those feelings? What is right? What should we be doing? Was a world without a "to do list" and where the word “multitasking” didn’t exist, a better one for empathy and caring?

I don't know. Do you?

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Posted by bhavinj at 07:23 AM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2009

Do You Know Who I Am!

Last Saturday, flying my favorite blue and yellow airline to Delhi, I was lucky to get an upgrade. I stretched my legs in the first row, in an attempt to sleep through the take-off and hopefully for a little while longer. I must have fallen asleep when suddenly I was woken up by a loud voice cutting across the cabin. When I looked back, it was some "politician-type" in white and white, shouting at one of the stewards. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but he kept repeating one sentence over and over again. “Do you know who I am?" The steward and the supervisor were unable to calm him, but he finally ran out of steam and stopped shouting. Then in a loud voice, he proclaimed to no one in particular, "You have to teach these people". During the lunch service, I asked the supervisor what the issue was. Apparently, the "white and white" wanted a non-vegetarian meal. By the time the steward reached him, all the non-vegetarian meals had already been ordered and there was nothing left for him. Therefore, he lost it. Over a measly plate of food! I asked the supervisor, whether she knew who he was. She said "no".

Obviously. If someone has to shout, "Do you know who I am!", it is almost certain that the person being asked this question doesn’t have a clue! If you are the type of person who needs to utter this sentence, i.e. if you are a DYKWIA, then rest assured, you are definitely not worth it.

There is a great piece on this subject by Stanley Bing, who pens a column on the last page of Fortune magazine. This has always remained stuck at the back of my mind and I promised myself then, that some day I would write about this. If you read that piece and find some borrowed ideas here, that would be because I completely agree with him.

The DYKWIA who says, "Do you know who I am?" or the more colloquial "Saala, tum jaante nahin main kaun hoon?” screws up the situation for everyone, including himself/herself. Since only insecure and self-important puffed-up shirts say this, the moment this sentence is uttered, the people around have already sized up this DYKWIA for what he/she is. The person being told off obviously does not know who the DYKWIA is and then gets badly stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. He could say "No, I really don't" and figuratively kill the idiot, but at the risk of getting into some trouble if the DYKWIA escalates this; or he could try and accommodate the DYKWIA, usually over someone else's head and then risk the ire of that third person who is being passed over. Which means that if the DYKWIA actually gets what he/she is shouting for, the others around the DYKWIA will also make a noise.

Either way, no one really wins.

Imagine if the steward or supervisor had requested someone in the first two rows to give up a non-vegetarian meal in favor of the "white and white". Someone in the sixth row could have then created a ruckus. This just doesn't work.

I still think though that the best response to this question, even at the risk of losing one's job or possible repercussions, should be, "I am sorry, I don’t. Can you please educate me?". Ninety-nine percent of the times, the DYKWIA will be some inconsequential insect. You can take a chance on the other one percent.

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Posted by bhavinj at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2009

Maximum Reaction in a Maximum City

When did we all become like this? Jittery, unsure, scared, afraid?

On Wednesday, the weather guys said that there could be a possible problem with cyclone Phyan. The BMC immediately went into overdrive with their advisory. Consequently, schools were let off early. Offices shut down in the mid-afternoon. By evening, literally and figuratively, parts of Mumbai looked like ghost-towns; dull, dreary, wet, grey and empty.

During the just-ended Monsoons, such knee-jerk reactions were not uncommon. The moment there was some extra rain and flooding, panic-buttons would be pressed and schools and colleges would shut down and people at work would want to rush home immediately. Television channels would start shouting and talk of how "Mumbai has again gone down-under" and show stock-shots of swirling water in one of the flood-prone areas of the city.

Is this what one July 26th has done to us? We have forgotten that for decades, parts of Mumbai have always flooded, depending on the rains and the tide situation? That once every Monsoon, the city will shut down, irrespective of whatever precautions we have taken and our level of preparedness? That getting stuck and having plan Bs in place to deal with the situation has always been a part of life during the rainy season?

And now? We see 1 cm of rain on the streets and everyone wants to run home!

In the olden days, when there was a "flu" epidemic, people fell sick. They tucked into bed, took leave for a week or two, went to their GPs and life went on. They didn't go around looking ridiculous, wearing masks that were of no use at all, avoiding anyone who had the slightest fever and jumping away the moment someone sneezed. Authorities didn't en masse shut shopping centres and schools and create ridiculous questionnaires at airports, which in any case you could bluff your way through.

When did all of our responses become knee-jerk and asinine?

Like after one person puts a bomb in his shoe, countries like the US penalize millions and millions of passengers by making them remove their shoes each time they have to get onto a plane!

Like after some people try to create bombs from liquids, we suddenly stop everyone from carrying anything more than 100ml of fluid and mothers with infants are made to pour away all their milk!

Like after one November 26th, all our hotels start looking like fortresses! As if, this would seriously stop someone who was really determined to go after one of these hotels!

All around us we see this! Over-reaction to everything! Someone cuts in front of us, we fly into a rage and want to bludgeon the person to death. Someone blocks our building gate and we deflate his tyres or scratch his car doors. Someone uses the word "Bombay" instead of "Mumbai" and some sections of the city start raging. Someone's strap breaks during a fashion show and all hell breaks loose!

The fabric of the city has changed. We used to be more balanced and reasonable with far more common sense. We were much less flappable. Today, it doesn't take much to unbalance us, to scare us and to stress us out. We no longer seem to be in control of our lives; everything now seems to be about reacting to events, rather than taking control of the events themselves. And it is from here that the intolerance, the rage and the maximum insecurity that is now tearing the city apart, starts!

The worst part? I don't think this process is stoppable.

Posted by bhavinj at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)

November 06, 2009

Service Follow-Ups

Following the two consecutive pieces that I wrote related to problems with service-oriented companies, early this week, Sanjay started a thread on his blog to describe his travails with a particular brand of router and the local service partner...he went through a lot of angst, but it thankfully finally ended well. 

People are not perfect. And despite whatever Six Sigma may say, systems are not perfect, simply because they are run by people. Things can go wrong in the best of places and situations, but what distinguishes an average company from a great one, is the way in which it handles problems when they arise and when things go awry and wrong. 

Just to recap. Two weeks ago, I ranted about my problems getting credible answers from the dealer and the parent company regarding the delivery status of the Nano. Then last week, I penned a "tongue-in-cheek" piece about the poor service in a prime Goan hotel, where I ascribed the service issues to Goan "sossegado".  

Here are the follow-ups! 

At 11.00AM on the Saturday that the "nano" piece was published, the same junior executive who I had fought with before, left a voice-mail on my cell telling me that the car had already come and would be ready for delivery as soon as some paper-work formalities were completed. Eventually the car came home this Monday. The problem is that I had never asked for an "out-of-turn" allotment of the car. All I had wanted was for someone in the dealership or the parent company to address the late-delivery issue and to give an intelligent explanation without stonewalling, with some idea of the expected delivery date. In the end, even though I have my sunshine yellow Nano, the taste in my mouth is still bitter. No one has yet called to answer the questions that I had raised! 

In the meantime, I had also sent a link to my "sossegado" article, to the customer service department of the hotel chain that had given us poor service in Goa. Within 48 hours, a senior-level customer service manager emailed me, apologizing profusely. She was quite clear, as many of my friends and readers had been as well, that "sossegado" or not, the service levels of any hotel chain, whether in Goa or Mumbai or New York, should be the same. She assured me that the group was serious about solving the problems that I had enumerated and even though I had not asked for any compensation, she added a few points to the hotel chain's loyalty card! 

My family feels that I am too picky, while I believe that most of us are actually too docile. For a variety of reasons, the majority of us take too many things lying down, perhaps because we have been used to such atrocious levels of service for so many decades, that people of my generation and those older have probably developed a thick-enough skin. So whether it is the terrible service that I occasionally encounter at a leading Central Mumbai five-star hotel or with the black and yellow cabs or when dealing with cellphone companies...unless we make a noise, service providers will keep thinking that they can get away with rubbish! 

And yet, there are examples of exemplary service, even in India. Ask yourself why Jet Gold or Platinum members seldom fly any another airline! 

And it definitely shouldn't take a newspaper column to make a company sit up and take some action! A phone call or an email should be given equal importance.

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Posted by bhavinj at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)