Wednesday, December 05, 2007

India shining

Struck in traffic? Well, I have got some thing to tell. I guess everyone of us have a tale to tell about the situations and the agony of getting struck in traffic for hours together some time or the other, especially people abode in these tire-1 and tier-2 cities. This is what I learnt to do these days when I am caught up in traffic, "OBSERVE", yes, you read it right! I keep observing people around me. Believe me its very funny. After peeping through my helmet at an eye catching hoarding at the stop, I remove my helmet to get a breather and to take a look at the hoarding which has a bevy of beautiful babes in beach apparel promoting Faber castle stationery (Well! I am said that is marketing) then I look around to see people venting out anguish in different ways, one getting chided for his bike kissing the other vehicle from back, one tapping his feat to the numbers from his ipod, one trying to find a way to make his bike climb the footpath to reach his office earlier on time, other, making her hubby talk on the cell phone by holding it from the pillion, another spending some quality time with his girlfriend on the back seat. Not just this but you also get to learn some Bizarre facts after tickling you brain cells with some stats on this desperation now turned profession.

Qualification: Not required
Eligibility: Anyone who can speak a few words
Timings: very flexible
Dress code: disheveled clothes preferably
Salary: 6 lakh per anum + incentives and fringe benefits.

Well, If you think that the people making a living on the road side and begging for money at the junctions are leading a precarious life in indigence, Thing again!
With a pragmatic approach to this, let’s take this case study, say you are struck in a traffic jam at the busy crossroads of Ameerpet in Hyderabd or at a Koramangala Sony world junction in Bangalore, You are bound to stay on your bike for at least 5-6 minutes at that jammed juncture. The traffic lights turn red from green and back to red again at least thrice before you cross them. For these 5 minutes there would be at least a minimum of 100 vehicles at the junction at any given point of time in the day. Now comes the real math, say out of these 100 commuters, being very pessimistic, begging fetches them at least 25 Rs. That is Rs 300/- per hour (they can go to the other side when these vehicles move, no complaints) and if they work for the regular 8 hours a day their daily earnings would be 2400/- which makes it a whopping 52800 rupees every month, that too when they work for 5 days a week and 22 days a month, and well, they get those additional performance bonus and incentives during peak hours of 8-10 AM and 5-8 PM, for working over time and also on weekends if I wonder they really work. If that is not lucrative enough, they have no tax to pay. No wonder why the Finance minister announced an economic growth of 10% in the next fiscal when you observe these figures. Don’t be awestruck if you come across an advert of a college offering courses in professional begging, or a company which issues an IPO with an intent to expand its firm "Importune Pvt Ltd" with a share value of anywhere between 800-1000 Rs, in near future after a begging boom. May be that is the reason I see more people even with out any physical disabilities imploring for money these days at the busy junctions. So from now if you come across a person begging at the crossroads, ask him for his bank balance before giving him a penny, the chance is, he may have more in his kitty than you :p, all said, I have to change my future plans now and put a full stop to my MBA exams preparation :)

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