Lead Kindly Light!

Another day of braving the scorching heat, another night of groping around in the dark, searching for a light!

Promises, they say, are meant to be broken and the Chief Minister’s assurance of 23/7 power supply wasn’t even worth the paper on which it was printed.

It’s hard to fathom why Bangalore, hailed in many circles as the Silicon City of India, still remains in the dark ages in matters which count the most.

Governments have come and governments have gone, plans have been made and laid, but they have all fizzled out before being acted upon and the situation stays the same.

Over dependence on ever depleting hydel reserves continues and when the rains fail, the reservoir levels fall and the lights go out.

Our thermal power stations are forever developing snags, because of which, they are unable to run at full capacity.

Coal shortages add further insult to injury.

We are asked to use electricity sparingly while street lights remain on during the day.

Complaints to the utility departments fall on deaf ears.

On being blessed with a gust of wind or a light drizzle, we are also bestowed with several hours of darkness.

Those amongst us who are fortunate enough to own inverters, are unable to use them due to the few hours of power supply being inadequate to charge them.

The only solace we have is that our energy bills are thoughtfully kept in check!

The future certainly seems bleak…and dark…

Snubbing out a wonderful life

Our lives were changed forever on February 9th, when my father, a Chartered Accountant, who had a penchant for brisk early morning walks, was struck down by a speeding vehicle in a hit and run accident.

He fell, knocking his head onto a parked scooter before hitting the ground, sustaining grievous head injuries and was left lying unconscious on the road until a good Samaritan who happened to pass by, noticed him, informed the police and rushed him to casualty.

Doctors in three hospitals grimly informed us that surgical intervention was impossible as there was bleeding all over his brain and that nothing short of a miracle could save him. All that could be done was to put him on a ventilator and wait and watch.

He was given a five percent chance of survival in the most primitive vegetative state but succumbed to his injuries the next day without ever regaining consciousness.

Life has become a rat race and in our urgency to go places, we lose our sense of virtues, caring for no one but ourselves and showing a callous disregard for human life.

My father might have had a fighting chance if the driver had stopped and taken responsibility for his actions.

But alas that was not to be, he was probably too busy saving his own skin.

There were no clues at the scene of the crime, nothing to help the law enforcement agencies nab the perpetrator of the offence.  They seemed to be more concerned about my inability to speak any language other than English than with getting down to brass tacks.

The saddest part was not being able to say goodbye.

I shudder when I see the state of our pothole laden and dug up roads. Two wheelers, Four wheelers and More wheelers zip by with scant regard for pedestrians and other motorists. Traffic rules are seldom obeyed. Road rage rules and one’s dictionary is forever enhanced by language which would make a sailor blush.

Residential areas are strewn with vehicles haphazardly parked on the streets because their owners have no space to accommodate them within their own compounds. Several of these vehicles end up being parked in front of their neighbour’s gates, preventing them from taking their own vehicles out and causing them substantial fuel savings!

One cannot even cross over to a supermarket without the fear of being mowed down by a cab or taxi driver who thinks he’s racing a Ferrari.

Gone are the peaceful days of yore when one could go for a leisurely walk around the neigbourhood. Where will be headed a decade from now? The mind boggles.

Team Spirit - Life in the B.P.O. Industry.

First published in 2006

Having joined the B.p.o. division of Polaris Software Labs in May 2005 and coming as I do, from a humongous 800 seater call centre where chaos is the order of the day and service levels are non-existent despite the high staffing, I found it hard to believe that a dedicated 30 member team could take on a million or more customers and deliver a service level that is close to 100 percent, day after day, come what may, thru the calm and the storm.

We have indeed come a long way from where we were when we went live on Supanet Bb. This was the beginning and we were then a handful of people, advisors and managers, sitting side by side, taking calls, doing nine hour or greater shifts to answer the queries that were literally pouring in. I didn't expect the assistant manager to don a headset and join his agents, taking back to back calls just to maintain the service levels! Neither did I expect him to take more calls than me!

This is team spirit. No matter whom you are, you put all that aside and work in the greater interest of what really counts.

It is team spirit that motivates one advisor to ask the others to come out of Aux, even when the team leaders are not present, when he sees that there are calls waiting in the queue.

It is team spirit that makes our well-meaning, team leaders drop by and when we are so engrossed in documenting the case on hand , click and release that Aux button, making us ready to greet the customer "who badly wants to talk to us"!

It is team spirit that makes us cover up the goof ups of the previous advisor whose customer has now come back to us roaring like a lion, sort out his problems and send him back satisfied and as docile as a lamb!

Again, it is team spirit that makes us log in that extra hour when there is a crisis, inspite of the fact that our day is done, just because of the knowledge that we can make a difference and our presence is so vital to the rest of our team.

United we stand, divided we fall, is I think, the true embodiment of what we as a team try to strive to achieve.