ideas for Diwali gifts

The office boy just walked up to me with a tray full of dry fruits. I picked a few and asked whats the occasion? "Sir Jee... Diwali" he said. Didnt actually listen to him and started working on my computer. Suddenly, I realised that in my previous office I used to get a pack of sweets from office and out here just a few pea nuts...sorry pistacchios.

Questioned my neighbour...fortunately she was from HR and she told me the whole story. At CL (Career Launcher...the organisation I work for), all the sweets and eatable recieved by any employee as a Diwali gift are put in a pool and shared with the whole staff. I was impressed...what an idea.

I have worked in numerous offices before this and I am sure many employees must be recieving these sweets...but it was never put in a pool and distributed. Which means all the sweets went to an employees home. May be people never got this idea...its actually an HR idea.

After all the truth is that an employee gets a sweets box from a vendor or client just because of his position in the organisation. So, technically the sweets belong to the organisation and not to the employee.

Wonderful...feels great to be part of this organisation.

The HR friend further told me that all the non-consumable gifts are used by respective teams and cannot be taken home by any employee. Wow!

Let this be the norm everywhere this Diwali.

Considering the anti-corruption movement of Anna...arent the crores spent on Diwali gifts actually veiled corruption...if used for personal cause.

Queues at public places

How many times has it happened to you while standing in a queue at a public place? After waiting for hours...finally you get to reach the window to buy that cinema ticket or order something at a jointor at DU admission counters. And then somebody comes and tries to reach for the counter from both sides of you...confidently putting his hand forward with some money. Damn...its so irritating.

I was at a HDFC bank the other day and was fascinated by their new system of queue. I dont know when did they start it as I myself visited the bank after many years. These days with the advent of internet banking and plastic cards...one doesnt need to go to the bank.

Anyhow...just similar to the drill at the security check up at airports, where one has to wait for his or her turn to be frisked, HDFC bank has put a ‘keep off’ line. Only one person is allowed beyond the line ...the person who is getting service at the counter. The next person in line is a good 4-5 feet from the counter...thus avoiding confusion and irritation at the service window.

It was nice to see how people behaved themselves. Perhaps its time to adopt something similar at serive windows in public places...bus stations, railway stations, ticket counters etc. May be its not so difficult to implement as we think it is.

Flowers on my road

One main road adjoining the Ambedkar University in Sector 9, Dwarka has an amazing look these days. The road divider is full of flowers...its blooming.

I dont know of any other road divider in Dwarka, which has so many flowers. In fact its a sight much better that any of the roads in Lutyen's Delhi.

I wonder how is this possible...may be because there is a DDA nursery down the road.

Everytime I have travelled to the developed world, i have felt jealous of the flowers in the remotest alleys, jumping out of pots or a little piece of earth. Why couldnt we do the same in India.

And here I find it happening right now in my locality...Dwarka. Had it been somewhere in Lutyen's Delhi...it was ok...but its happening in Dwarka...which means its possible everywhere in Delhi and India.

May my wish come true.

Lane swapping

Now this is going to be a bit difficult to explain without graphics...but anyways...I will give it a try.
Roads in cities have road-dividers or medians in between. Onward vehicles on one side and backwards on the other side. While driving to office...I find that the road on my side is always full of traffic, while the other side is completely empty. In the morning, the side of the road going towards the city is completely jammed and the other is just the reverse. In the evening, its exactly the opposite.
Transport planners would understand that its the trend in all cities and if I remember that there is a concept in Population Geography about mobile population. City centres having the maximum population during day time and almost nil during evenings. Its just the same concept reflected on the roads.
The idea which I am proposing is that why dont we swap lanes during peak hours. Borrow a lane or two from the 'leaner side' or the side which is empty. The result is extra lanes to the jammed side. Now, i know this is not the sustainable solution. Sustainable solution is perhaps to have better public transport...but nevertheless its a solution.
Its not that an easy solution to implement, though.

The problem in implementation is that most of our road dividers are permanent in nature. If only they could be movable then we could do this swapping easily. This cannot be done in places where road dividers have street lights or house trees (I am not in favour of cutting trees). But on raods where they dont exist, some sort of an electrical device could demarcate the lanes by small pegs which come out of the road surface. Just like the jammers at five star hotels these days. Pegs which go up and down at the press of a button. These could be just one foot in height and no more.
I think at many places the Delhi Police is using such methods...but it may work. I also think if transport planners sit together...something more workable could be created through lane swapping.

Cop Uniforms

If you were asked to wear clothes and shoes, in which you are most comfortable in outdoors... and are able to perform (physically and otherwise) at your best...the likely answer would be something like this.

- Jogging or good sports shoes

- A comfortable trouser and may be a t-shirt or shirt

You may or may not agree to the above...but I thought I will give it a try. The point I am trying to reach is that if a person has to spent some time on the street, that person has to be comfortable.

Now imagine a cop/policeman on the streets of Delhi. He first has to wear a beret (a very uncomfortable head gear), a well fitting pant and a full sleeve shirt (even in the Delhi Summer). Apart from all this the policeman has to wear hard soled black leather shoes. I wonder if that policeman had to chase a thief or traffic offender, the cop would barely be able to run. It would be a much comfortable chase in joggin shoes. (By the way the same logic holds true for school school shoes as well. Read my entry on school uniforms here)

How about a cool T- shirt and trousers for the cop- obviously with logos of the police? They will still look policemen. And lets have good sports shoes for them to be able to go about doing their duties on Delhi roads.

And I am sure we can look at cops wearing nice caps with the Delhi police logo rather than those unmanageable berets, which do not even give sun protection. Berets could be used at formal functions.

I think, we are still following what the British gave us...those uniforms. Its high time our cops are in casuals and perform. It will be so much easy on them.