Auto Rickshaw : Clocking Out

I occasionally travel to Bangalore from Chennai. Usually, if I am the only one travelling, I will go looking for an auto. A yellow auto will stop, look at me and once I say station, he comes up with a flat rate of 250. I look at him aghast, he looks on at me with tired eyes and then the bargaining begins. By the end of it, I will be in the auto, and would have agreed to pay him 235 bucks. And yet he will drive as though he has lost the battle – all sulky face and making the wheel I sit on, go over a lot of bumps and potholes.

About two months ago, when I made the trip, however, I booked a taxi from TaxiForSure (For some reason I did not like the name Ola). The call itself was very courteous, but I was not convinced, as the Fast Track guy, who will also talk nicely, but turn around and charge 350 bucks for the same ride that I had to haggle with the auto driver for 235.

I got 2 sms messages – one about an hour before the booked time with the details of the driver and the car, and one after the ride has arrived. I get in and at the end of the ride, I looked at the bill and was dumbfounded!

156 only!!

The initial reaction was Woow and a solemn oath that I took, looking up at the starry sky, that I will swear by TaxiForSure from now on.

Naturally, when I made the trip again, I booked from the same company. This time, however, I engaged in a conversation with the driver. Murali, had switched to TaxiForSure only a month back from Fast Track call taxi. When I asked how the new place was treating him, he looked at me through the rear view mirror and said ‘Super Sir. You should see the office. Looks like an IT Company. We had training and there was free food during the training. It was very informative too. Learnt a lot of things I didn’t know before’. Then when I mentioned about my last trip’s 156 rupee bill, he said that for the same trip, the driver would have received the same amount plus an additional 30 bucks. I was puzzled and Murali was too.

How is TaxiForSure making money?

When you google the same, several theories came up. They can be summed up as follows:

·         Both Ola and TaxiForSure are stocked up on money from angel investors and venture capitalists that they can afford to bleed till they own a market share on both sides of the coin – taxis and drivers attached to them and the customer base.

·         They both make money from commissions they get from the owners of cars who have attached with their services for on-call taxi.

The list goes on. But I digress. The main question I had was ‘What Next?’

It has to be admitted that battle between Ola & TaxiForSure has triggered the much needed price war to take the call taxi market by storm.  But where will it go from here. Ola has already launched on call auto rickshaw and cabs serviced by women drivers. But it is worth pondering on the question as to whether this is the end of the auto rickshaw. The guiding question being why will I pay 230 bucks for an auto rick at the expense of my energy, when I can get a comfortable AC car costing me only 156 bucks for the same trip.

Of course, this is written in the context of cities like Chennai, wherein, the auto rickshaws never / don’t always use the meter. But even in cities like Bangalore where the meter is more frequently used, call taxis do pose a challenge to an auto driver’s daily revenue. Auto rickshaw and cars are for different consumer segments – auto being for the money minded or for short trips while cars are more for comfort seekers and longer and safer journeys. So an auto driver depends on more number of trips as compared to a cab driver. Add to this the summers getting hotter and taxi aggregators offering lesser fares for hiring cabs by the hour and the open windowed auto seems to be in for a tough ride. Rains play their role too in adding to their woes.

With Ola entering the on-call auto rickshaw, this may increase the auto’s appeal to a customer due to the clarity and transparency in pricing while reducing the cost of finding a commuter for the auto driver. But still the fact remains that the auto driver will have to depend on number of trips offered to earning a living, as compared to a call taxi driver. This can lead to more auto drivers becoming call taxi drivers and a lowering of demand for auto rickshaws. Also, to be factored in are the Volvo AC buses being rolled out for certain lines, at a slightly premium price, which also will eat away at the auto rickshaw demand.

Whether they will go extinct, No.

But Auto rickshaws may cease to play a role in the transportation, at least in the cities and metros, leading to taxis dominating the market, alongside public transportation. Auto could either go extinct or be innovative and offering ride sharing (like share auto in Chennai), but that too may be difficult to generate revenue. 

Or it can end up being a part of history, for example, by offering an immersive experience of what it would like to ride in an auto rickshaw for travelers from abroad. That way at least, the Auto Rickshaw can avoid riding alongside a Dodo and ending up at the dead end.

Exodus: Gods & Kings

When someone tells me the name ‘Ridley Scott’, two movies come to mind – ‘Gladiator’ & ‘Robin Hood’. Both of them I would see any time of day and any number of times. So, when I came to know that Ridley Scott directed movie, titled ‘Exodus: Gods & Kings’, was coming to theatres soon, I couldn’t contain my excitement. Naturally, I checked out the trailer and found it stunning, I was waiting to just book the ticket and hit the theatre.

So, I went to the evening show today, dragging along my brother, who was well, not feeling well, but came along after seeing the trailer.

Characters:

Actor: Christian Bale

Past Credentials: Phew! Quite a list! Batman series with Christopher Nolan, American Hustle, The Machinist and so on

Identification of character in this movie: The guy with the beard, holding a stick and whimsical schizophrenia

Actor: Joel Edgerton

Pas Credentials: Elder brother of Tom Hardy in the movie ‘Warrior’

Identification of character in this movie: The bald guy with a good build, with an aficionado for gold

Actor: Ben Kingsley

Past Credentials: Gandhi, Shutter Island

Identification of character in the movie: The guy with the beard

Actor: Aaron Paul

Past Credentials: The right hand of Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, in one of the most awesomest series ever… Breaking Bad

Identification of character in the movie: The guy with the beard

Actor: Sigourney Weaver

Past credentials: The doctor in the movie ‘Avatar’ who joins Eywa in the end

Identification of character in the movie: One of the ladies in the palace

Plot:

The bald guy with the gold aficionado and the guy with the stick are raised as brothers. The gold guy has lots of slaves and he finds out that the guy with the stick is also from that tribe. They both take time out, go their separate ways, marry and raise a kid.

After a decade, the guy with the stick starts his schizophrenia, sees a bald kid (who looks like he auditioned for the lead role in ‘The Last Airbender’), has some alone time and self therapy sessions. During the sessions, he finds out that the kid is God who wants to free all slaves.  

The guy with the stick goes to the gold guy, warns him that God wants him to free all slaves and the request is refused. Then, all crappy things happen to the gold guy and he lets slaves go. Then, suddenly, at the mere insistence of the director, turns around, gathers troops and goes after them all for a battle.

After the chase, a standoff, happens between the gold guy and the guy with the stick face each other. In the end, patience notwithstanding, the water, in the form of waves, shuts them all up. The movie ends with showing that they both are alive and well and preparing themselves for a sequel.

Rating:

1/5

The rating one is only for the visuals and graphics, else there would have been no rating.

Parting Words:

If you have already seen this movie, I have been there and I am ashamed of myself too. If you have not yet seen this movie, go anywhere else.

Escape

I lay on the floor
My breathing was heavy and body aching
All the bruises lay open
Blood oozing out for the whole world to see

I noticed the slightly open refrigerator door
And inched towards the cold air
To numb my body from pain
With whatever I can, however long I can

Tears were rolling down
But no one was there to see
I could hear his footsteps pacing impatiently in the next room
And my heart trembled with fear

My fists were clenched with anger
To protect the last inch of my space
That very last inch, that was mine and mine alone

Rules of the society were falling away
My relationship with him now a distant memory

And then he came in
Bursting through the door
He had something heavy in his hand
That I could not see through my teary eyes

And then it hit me hard
The searing pain began all over again
I begged for him to let me go
But none of my words fell on his ears

Through the torrential waves of pain
I felt around the floor next to me
And finally found something

With all the strength left in me
I hit him hard with everything I had
And I stood standing...

He let out a scream and went down
He moaned in pain and then went quiet

A shriek broke the deafening silence
Turned around and saw my neighbour
Staring through the window, horrified

I didnt care
I went back to sitting on the floor
Next to the refrigerator
Trying to numb down the pain

After what felt like ages
I heard the screeching sirens
At last, someone had heard my cries of help
I stood up with what I had left
And went outside the door

There were so many cops outside
Standing safely behind their flashing cars
Their guns all aimed at me

I didnt understand and my brain went numb
I am the victim, I cried
But alas, they were not ready to listen

I turned around and ran
And they came after me
Laws of this earth were closing in on me
For I had done nothing wrong

My legs were failing me
And my body was giving way
I saw the open ocean below
The moon was shining brightly over the waters

I ran toward the rails and I jumped over
Crying all the way into her arms
For some solace at last
And everything went dark

Interstellar

Space, Time, Worm Holes, Black Holes, Singularity are all extraordinary concepts and the widest food for an imagination. Combine that with one of the master storytellers of our time and the boundaries of imagination are stretched.

First, the negatives.

The movie Interstellar is almost 3 hours. It is quite lengthy considering Nolan brothers’ reputation to keep screenplay tight and keeping audience continually engaged.

One must not go in with any expectations whatsoever. Especially, Nolan diehard fans. Interstellar cannot be compared with other movies of his like Dark Knight or Inception. Interstellar is a movie of a completely different dimension. And those who have seen this movie, you will agree. J

Few dialogues, mostly while Mathew McConaughey was still on Earth, sounded more like bumper stickers. Not of the usual Nolan quality.

And lastly, few characters were not allowed to essay much scope in this movie, especially, a versatile actor like Casey Affleck.

Now, for the positives.

Plot: The story revolves around a final space mission attempt to find habitable worlds for the future of human kind. Now, although this plot can be attempted by any director and any actor. This could be a Singham 3 script for Bollywood and for Kollywood, Vijaykanth would be the ideal candidate.

But, this is Christopher Nolan.  Naturally, it would be a whole different breed.

The movie is visually superb, just incredible. Top of the mind, would be the visualization of black hole and showcasing time as the further dimension was a superb treat. The second world that they visited was also superb. Although, similarities could be drawn between this and the stunning visuals of Alaska shown in the movie Insomnia. The robot TARS is also definitely worth mentioning.

All the characters in the movie have acted incredibly. And just when I searching for Nolan’s usual stamp of grey, Matt Damon and his role in the second world that the crew visits provided just that. It was really nice to see Matt Damon don a darker role than his usual characters in other movies of his.

And the last but not the least, the concept in itself is definitely worth pondering upon. Gravity cutting across space and time. What would a black hole look like? What would be like to go through it? Powerful stuff indeed.

Summing it up, if you are a dreamer, a thinker and a wanderer, Interstellar is definitely worth it!

Copenhagen Consensus Centre

Just now listened to a Freakonomics podcast titled ‘Fixing the World – Bang for the Buck’. In it, Bjorn Lomborg, a member of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, when asked what the Centre actually does, started with the following example,

If, $1000 is the cost for curing malaria in one patient, and $10000 is the cost for curing AIDS in one patient, then it can be translated that for the cost of curing AIDS in one patient, 10 cases of malaria can be cured.

He further explained that what the Centre works towards is for cost estimation and doing a cost benefit analysis for any program or initiative. This is done by commissioning top economists and field experts to do studies based on facts and figures and estimating the probable benefits and assigning a figure for the same.

While doing the Cost Benefit Analysis, at the rudimentary level, is assigning a real world value to a vision or a dream. It is definitely worth being part of a discussion than doing a discussion without it. As the speaker illustrated with an example, imagine sitting in a restaurant with all the items listed but with no prices against them. Now, the activity that the Centre does is like assigning a price for each item. Though you may end up ordering the champagne, you will at least understand the balance you may have at the end of the champagne for ordering dessert.

The Millennium Development Goals is an initiative by the UN to list down action items for a 15 year period and then tracking progress. Countries around the world use this as a fulcrum to design their long term initiatives and take them forward. The last set of goals was designed for the period 2000-2015 and they included Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, Improving maternal health and 5 others. With 2015 around the corner, it will be interesting to see the next set of goals for the year 2030. Definitely, sustainability, renewable energy, reducing carbon footprint, climate change will be among the contending topics. 

It will be even more interesting if the aforementioned Copenhagen Consensus Centre is part of this discussion to gravitate the achievability of probable topics that are currently being discussed for finalizing Action 2030.

Quoting from an excerpt from an article in the Tribune on August 8th, 2014, by Dr. Pervez Tahir,
"The selection of goals and targets for 2030 needs to be more focused than they were for 2015, with prioritisation of key areas of weaknesses. An example of this has been provided by the Copenhagen Consensus Centre by prioritising the possible goals on the basis of cost-benefit analysis. It recommends only five goals - nutritional supplements, expanded immunisation, anti-malaria programmes, control of intestinal worms and the prevention of tuberculosis."
Let's wait and see the Millennium Development Goals 2030.

Purattasi Sanikazhamai

Waking up at 4 am, we were dressed and out of the door by 4.45. The roads were totally empty, except for the usual one or two vehicles plying at this hour, and the crescent shaped moon that was shining in the black sky. We entered T.Nagar in a quarter of an hour, and as we entered the Venkatnarayana Road, the whole scene was different than the one we started from and the ones we travelled through. The Venkatachalapathy Temple was beautifully lit with the words “Om Namo Narayana” visible from either of the street end. And so begins the first Saturday.

For those who do not know what the title means, Purattasi is an important Tamil month usually from mid-September to mid-October, the prime deity being Lord Venkatachalapathy (Yes, the Dude in Tirupathi). Temple going on Saturdays (Sanikizhamai) is auspicious during the four weeks in this period. And if, the temple is stamped by TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam), then it takes the endorsement to a whole new level. But, these Saturdays, are a gold mine for the silent observers, as a whole plethora of characters and idiosyncrasies are always in store.

Anyways, so we reach the temple, and its bustling with activity. Police personnel are everywhere, police cars are parked on either side of the road, with those red and blue lights blinking non-stop to turn a passerby blind. Barricades are lined up, and the people on the side of the barricade, stretched the queue away from the main road, into Ramanujam Street adjoining the Oxford School. My parents hopped off, I parked the car at a point further away and walked back to join them in the queue.

Many types of people can be found here – ardent believers, disheveled souls, charioteers and the crowd in the queue was a healthy mix of them all. Husbands who parked their bikes away were trying to find their wives in the queue with newly bought flowers in plastic bags for offering to the Lord and the wives, adorned with sarees, with washed hair neatly tied up and jasmine flowers pinned, were shouting out to their husbands to make recognition more easily possible. The queue started moving only after a good 15 minutes.

As we reached the main Road, and inched our way ahead, more sights awaited us. People were standing in the middle of the median, putting the elevated platform to good use by getting a darshan of the Lord. This middle standing crowd mostly involved the active morning walkers, who probably were not in a mood for an early morning bath and will probably visit the temple later in the day. And then the bus no. 13 from Triplicane made its way slowly through the Road, promptly stopping in front of the temple for a few good seconds, as the morning travelers peeped through the window for a glimpse and murmur of prayers. And then there were the flower sellers, the slipper safekeepers, and then the guy who sold coffee from his parked bicycle.

As we made our way inside the temple, ‘volunteers’ neatly dressed in pattu veshti and pattu sattai were guiding the crowd towards the exit, who were more interested in getting more of the Darshan, rather than walking towards the Exit.

After the darshan, as we made our way out, the overpowering smell beckoned. The laddus from Tirupati had arrived and were being distributed. Promptly, we bought our packets and moved out. As we were walking towards the car, my mom nodded satisfactorily and said “Very good and satisfying darshan” and my dad, the dutiful husband agreed. The words cheered the charioteer. We got to the car and drove away from the building up traffic and the never ending queue and the Temple.

One Saturday down, Three more to go… Happy Weekend Folks ! 

A Sad Parody

Anish joined a company last year and was assigned to a project which had high visibility. He was part of a very small team and he worked very hard in implementing the project and making the project live. He was thenceforth actively involved in the implementation of new requirements and other modules.

Last month, he was reviewed by his Head as to what his rating should be, on a scale of 5. He said that he expected nothing less than 4. Clearly surprised, the Head asked him why he should get a 4. To which Anish replied that he was there since the beginning of the project, right after the requirement finalisation stage. He went on to explain the role he played in the implementation of the project. The Head nodded his head in defeat and said “I Accept. You have done a lot. I will give you a 4. But lot more has to be done and I am expecting you to do a lot more.”

Elated how the discussion went, Anish went home to his parents and shared the good news and told them that with a minimum of 1,00,000 coming his way, he will be able to contribute significantly to this month’s house expenses.

Time passed, and finally the day of salary credit arrived. After seconds ticked by like hours, Anish finally received an sms that salary has been credited. He opened it and was stunned to find only 40,000 was credited.

Confused as to what could have happened, only one conclusion he drew – that HR had made an error while calculating his incentive. But when he showed his salary slip to his friend & colleague, his friend quickly suggested that Anish’s rating was 3. A one-to-one mail from the Head to Anish stating that his final moderated rating was 3, only confirmed Anish’s worst fears.

Rife with anger and betrayal of how his Head could backstab him like that, he reached office the next day. His immediate supervisor, Sandeep, who had returned after an official trip, received Anish’s grief in full.

Once listening to Anish’s account fully, Sandeep asked if he had paid attention to the word “moderated” in his Head’s email. Looking at the quizzical look on Anish’s face, Sandeep explained that after discussing the ratings with the employees, the final collection of all the ratings is put before the board. And then they decide, depending on the funds available, what the rating of each employee should be. And one of the parts of the “moderation” is where the tenure in the company comes into play.

If it has been less than 6 months since an employee joined, then the maximum rating he/she will get is 2. If its more than 6 months and less than a year then the maximum rating he/she will get is 3.

i.e. what is being implied is even if a guy/lady works their butt off and are eligible for 5 rating (implying Outstanding performance), if he/she has joined just 5 months back, then he will get a rating 2 (implying below Average performance).

Companies & Corporations need to be aware of the message that they are sending out, for their each and every action has dozens of implied interpretations. While I give it that a company has to budget the money it hands out for performance bonuses, it should not be at the cost of lowering performance ratings. Say, for example, a company is a bit tight on financial front; it doesn’t mean that the highest rating that can be awarded can be lowered to 2 instead of 5. This will prove disastrous, as the company is clearly sending out a message that no matter how hard the employees work, they will be rated either average / below average.

Even more heinous model of performance rating is that of a bell curve, where it states that for every employee getting a 5, there has to be an employee getting a 1 rating to balance and form a beautiful bell curve. The messages that are clearly sent out are as follows:

• ·         All employees cannot perform above average, by rule
• ·         Even if all employees do perform above average, the company will lower your rating and declare your performance as below average or unworthy of accomplishment

The above mentioned problems arise from the urge to use a single index/scale to evaluate performance and also to hand out bonuses.

Rather, the two can be separated, and brought together through quantified rules. Say, for example, an employee can be awarded 5 for outstanding performance, but since his vertical is yet to make revenue for the company, bonus rating can be given as 2. Those companies obsessed with time spent with the company can also include the same as a factor to calculate bonus awarded to an employee. Then a combination of the above mentioned factors can be used to calculate bonus. (Example: (5/5 – performance rating)*(2/5 – bonus rating)*(11/12 – time associated with company)*(variable pay allocated in the CTC)

Lot of thought is required while drafting a company’s policies, for every policy clearly stands for a message a company believes in.

Sadly, the companies like the one Anish works for, will beat their chest about the transparency in their company while clearly ignoring the messages that are being sent out for the world to see.

As the year end came near, a questionnaire was sent out by the company to all its employees, along with a mail from CEO. Anish opens the email only to find that it’s a “Great Places to Work” survey with the CEO’s message opening with a one-liner “Let us make our company proud.”

I wonder what the results of the survey will turn out to be.