Better Customer Service

One of our passports is due for renewal & had to visit the Indian Consulate last week. We had two options to do this. One – was to complete the various application forms, take a token & wait for the electronic lady to call your token number. This could easily take a good three hours.

The second – was to go the online way – register at the consulate website, complete & submit the required application online. Once this is done, you will get an email indicating – when you should visit the consulate with a hard copy of the applicataion that was completed online, photographs etc.

Obviously we decided for the online option.

Two days later we received an email confirming receipt of the online application & a date for the appointment to visit the consulate & submit the application (hard copy). So far… so good…

So we reached the consulate on the said date with all the documents & met the person concerned. To our dismay the documents which we had printed & carried with us were not the correct one. The rules & method had changed & since it was mentioned neither on the website nor on the email, no body was aware of it. Moreover, to our surprise, the rules had changed a month back & still it was not indicated on the website.

Most of the online applicants who were there that day were in an agitated mood. They were asked to go back & resubmit the application on a later day. Some were rushing to the nearest internet café. Those who were successful were the second timers.

A visit to the Indian Consulate is an extremely difficult & gruelling task. People have to leave home very early ( 5:30 or 6am) to avoid traffic & the queue, take a day off from work, parking is a nightmare, extreme procedures & numerous applications, long waiting time & the worst of all the attitude of the staff – appalling.

So, I then wonder –

1) A very large Indian population resides in Dubai – from blue collared to white collared workers & from entrepreneurs to business tycoons. The number probably could be the highest outside India & not to forget the revenue. So why can’t they offer a better service & facilities?

2) India Shining, Brand India etc etc – At a time when India is emerging as an economic giant, is this the image we would like to portray visitors coming to India for business or pleasure?

3) A visit to a private sector organisation, for example a bank, can prove what customer service is all about. So why can’t the government service improve? Is it lack of accountability & decision making?

4) India has plenty of world renowned IT companies who are developing software for various organisations locally & globally, but our consulate can not have a good & proper system in place. Why?

Outlandish Predictions

Financial/ economic predictions are quite interesting.

When the crude oil prices started its rally, it was predicted that it will touch 150$, 175$ and even 200$. Reason was supply-demand theory – booming economies like China & India, supply disruptions (Iran, Nigeria, Cyclones), US inventory etc.

But nobody predicted its steep fall of 20% with in 4 weeks of touching its all-time high of 147$ in mid-July. If the price increase was based on supply-demand theory - demand has not fallen by 20 % in 4 weeks. Supply disruptions have suddenly vanished! Now when it has started tumbling, new figures like 100$ & even $75 have started coming out.

So is the case with other commodities like gold & even the recovery of US$.

For every rise & fall, there is an analysis & a plausible explanation. The ‘how’ of it. But there is no explanation on ‘why’ & prediction of ‘when’ these will happen.

If the steep price increase was due to excess demand, demand can not drop by 20% in 4 weeks. Where has the supply fears disappeared? Then aren’t all these explanations baseless & these rise & fall mere speculations.

Another classic example is the US sub-prime crisis. With thousands of experts working with world renowned financial behemoths, they could not predict this crisis which started in the US & has become a full blown financial crisis with repercussions globally.

An Attitude of Gratitude

There was a nice article titled “Being Thankful” in the weekend magazine. It was written by a career expert Daniel Ough, who had also taken some points from R.T. Kendall.

A lot of people fail to see the wood for the tree, when it comes to their jobs. They conveniently forget about the benefits & instead choose to moan about their problems like work pressure, unreasonable boss, irritating colleagues, work too hard & paid too little, office politics etc etc.

There are thousands of people out there who do not have a job and would like to have one… Then there are scores of people whose working conditions & environments are worse than what one can imagine… So think of all the good & positive aspects & this will help us to like our jobs & perform better.

While as children, we are taught to be polite & say “please” & “thank you” on the appropriate occasion, we are not specifically taught to be thankful, thankful to life. The key is to develop a sense of gratitude towards life, to be thankful to life for giving whatever it has given each of us…

Have an “attitude of gratitude” in life.

Hanging 'Meals' & Life’s toil…

Some time back I had to visit a construction site coming up at the ‘Downtown Dubai’. ‘Downtown Dubai’ is a concept similar to that of ‘downtown’ New York or London. In a period of 2~3 years it will become the central business hub of Dubai. The visit was a part of my job to resolve certain technical snags. The project is a huge apartment complex with over 600 apartments & other modern amenities.

During the visit, I happened to pass by a makeshift wooden stand, on which some polythene bags were hanging. This was in the in the basement parking area & the palce was already in a mess, strewn with construction waste, equipments, material etc. Since these bags were of different colours it attracted my attention from far. It made me inquisitive & on closer look, I realised that these were the food parcelled & brought by the workers on site. This sight made me really heavy-hearted. Reason…

The working conditions of these workers are terrible. They work in the scorching heat, where temperature in summer hover around 50-55’C & with high humidity. They are poorly paid ($250p.m) & rarely on time. They have long working hours & very few holidays. They also work on holidays so as to earn ‘OT’.

Adding to this poor plight is their living conditions. They live in dormitories or more popularly called as ‘labour-camps’ located out side the city limits. These labour-camps are crowded & cramped with little ventillation. The trasnsport, to & fro from the site would be on buses with no air conditioning. There families, if they have, would be back home in their native countries.

Now let me move away from this dismal state of affairs. Each of these apartments that were being constructed were being sold at very heavy prices ($400,000 ++) & even higher in the secondary market. Rentals on these apartments were also quite high compared to market standards & were expected to fetch around $40,000 +p.a. To my surprise most of the apartments were ‘sold-out’. At the time of writing this, the above figures, from a Dubai perspective are exorbitantly high. So who are buying these? Indeed Dubai is a place for the rich & famous.

By the time people start living in these apartments enjoying the comfort & luxuries of life, people who built them would have moved on to yet another project continuing a life of hardship.

Moral of the story: The high price paid by the end-user does not percolate down into the system to reach the needy & improve their quality of life.

Vivid Memories

When I go down my memory lane, reminiscencing, a few things have left a lasting impression in my mind. One of them is my days at MIT, Manipal- where I did my bachelors in engineering. It was one of those few good things that happen in life. It was definitely a wonderful experience, which I revere & is full of memories to cherish with.

It was August 1989, the college reopened for the new academic year amid light rain. During the initial days at MIT, I had a mixed feeling. On one side there was a sense of feeling good. I was going to be an engineer soon. New milieu, new friends and distanced from parents. On the other hand the prospect of ‘ragging’ loomed large from day one. It could happen any time and anywhere and this caused fear & uncertainty. You never knew what was in store. I certainly believe that ragging makes you a tougher person as long as there are certain limits. What are the limits & who sets them? Is this act of servitude unwarranted? This can be debated, may be some other time...

Taking a leap into the last few days at MIT- it was busy with project work, graffiti days, farewell parties and pondering about the future. Finally, in June 1993 the exams were over & I said good-bye to MIT. As I boarded the early morning 'Day Express' train back home with a pang of nostalgia, I never knew what the future had in store for me.

Highways or Parking lots ?

Traffic congestion has become a perennial problem in Dubai & Sharjah and has become a topic of conversation with all. The traffic snarls on the Sharjah – Dubai road is the worst, may be diabolical. In a city where car is a compulsion, highways look like long parking lots. Business appointments are no longer at 9:30 or 11. We will meet between 9 & 9:30 !

Just to illustrate the gravity of the problem for those who have not experienced this extreme traffic congestion – it can take over two hours to travel a distance of 15km. Normally it should take only 25min. People spend around 4 to 5 hours commuting to office & back every day. It is a grief that is gripping every individual who is living in Sharjah & working in Dubai.

Traffic congestion causes delays & waste of time. This has an impact on the business & personal life. It is estimated that the loss due to traffic congestion for the business sector is around AED4.6billion, as per the figures from the authorities. On the personal front it causes stress, ill health & less time with the family & for social life. These, however, cannot be quantified.

So what are the causes of this extreme traffic woe? There are many- lack of infrastructure (road networks), unprecedented economic activity and exponential growth in the floating population, lack of public transport, improper town planning, ‘bottle-necks’ on the road, road works, improper driving & accidents.

Just to give some figures (2006) :
Population in Dubai – 1.3m
Number of cars registered – 650,000
Cars per 1000 residents – 541
Estimated economic loss – AED4.6b ($1.25b)

Traffic congestion is a fact of life in modern & busy cities. But an interesting phenomenon in Dubai is the unpredictability of the traffic congestion. Generally in modern cities there is traffic congestion during the peak time, when people go to office or leave office. But in Dubai, often peak time can be the whole day.

People are increasingly becoming despondent & so is there a respite in the near future? The answer is negative! But the good news is that the authorities are making a conscious effort to reduce traffic congestion. Huge investments (25b AED) have been made to improve the road network & also the construction of metro project. The first phase of the metro system is expected to be complete by end of 2009. Until then let patience be a virtue in us all...

A Thank You from the heart…

Thank you, congratulations, good luck, all the best, take care, happy birthday…

We all use these words & phrases, and many more, very often on different contexts. But the point is – are we saying these genuinely, from our heart in its true spirits?

With a multitude of people or most of the times, I believe, it is not. It has become purely mechanical, a mere ritual to utter them. Over a course of time it has evolved as an instinct in us. Or it could be just me.

When you meet an acquaintance & the person tells you that he has an exam on that day, you immediately & automatically say ‘best of luck’ – a classic example of the ‘response to stimuli’ principle. From this stems the following points that need to be pondered.

a) Are we saying this genuinely or consciously ?
b) Even if we do so, will it create an impact ?

Nevertheless since it is not innocuous and might help pep up the person, why not continue until we find the answers.

Random Thoughts

I wanted to give some expressions to my thoughts & freeze them in time. So decided to dabble into blogging. Hence opened an account & named it 'Random Thoughts'.