Why did I miss the bus yesterday?

So I as said in the topic, I missed my bus yesterday... Actually I missed it day before yesterday, but that wouldn't have sounded right in the topic...

Anyways, this is what happened...

At 10 am, I was told that some items needed in my project were ready at the yard and I was to deliver them to the contractor. The task took 20 mins. I just had to arrange a vehicle, get the papers ready and bring the items.

I asked the engg at the yard to get my papers ready and check the items, got permission for the vehicle from transport office. Now only thing remained was to go and get the items. Even then I couldn't do it until 5:10 in the evening and so missed the bus. Why?

1. I couldn't leave the site, so had to asked my subordinate to get the items. But he couldn't reach the driver on his cell neither did he tell me about this untill a 2 pm.

2. The driver had switched off his mobile.

3. Drivers of other vehicles were also unreachable. They all must be planning for a strike.

4. After making some 1024 calls, I found out at 4.15 pm that the driver (along with vehicle) was with my colleague. He needed it for 15 mins.

Great, now i had 40 min.. Can easily catch the bus...

5. The colleague didn't free the vehile after he had finished. Coz that lazy fellow didn't want to walk 100 m n asked the driver to take the longer route to offc.

6. Some idiot truck driver had parked his vehicle in the middle of the road. It took 10 min to find the truck driver and hence the vehicle to reach me.

Finally got the vehicle at 4:40... 30 mins left... Could be done...

7. When i reached the yard, it turned out that the papers weren't ready. A bit of running could do it in 10 min, I thought, can still catch the bus.

8. Now the big thing... The parts were not ready... WTF....

So I'll miss the bus, i thought. Somehow i got them done n returned by 5.15 pm.

But hold on, there was one bus left. It too got late probably. So I can handover the vehicle to the contractor n make a run...

9. The contractor wasn't there in his offc n neither were his men. Finally i unloaded the vehicle n while doing it, saw my last bus leave.....

Customer is equal to God

I was reading this article, 'Dont buy racism' by Jug Suraiya published in TOI.

The author says that the main reason for the increasing racist attacks on Indians is the envy that those people feel towards us due to their perception of us being in a better position in this time of recession. He also suggest that to tackle these attacks, we can exploit this perception of theirs and boycott their goods and sevices.

Now, let us leave the author's suggested reason for some other discussion and get on to the solution that he gave.

To tackle Australian Goondagiri with Indian Gandhigiri...

The whole world today is hit by recession. The pre-recession consumers (i.e. those from the developed world) are drowned in debts and can no longer afford to contribute to the demand. Thus the demand to keep these industries alive has to come from emerging economies. The consumer market in India is second only to China. Though china has registered the highest growth, its economy has been hit badly due to the countries export-orientedness. That makes the Indian market the biggest hope of these countries for their survival.
The countries are looking upon our vast and wealthy middle class and its increasingly brand-concious attitude.

Thus if we were to boycott any specific countries goods scarred , imagine the losses that country would bear. That would seriously threaten their economies and compel their govt to take action against attacks on Indians.

For this to happen, we have to stand united in our efforts. Our govt cannot get involved in this and ban their products. That step would severe our diplomatic ties with them. We just have to encourage everyone to boycott their goods.

It would also show that Gandhi's principles are still alive in our country and we are still that same nation that fought the British tyranny without picking any arms. Remember, fighting with peaceful methods takes a lot of strength and self-control.

We are the customers they desperatly need. Its time to show them the power we hold.

As Gandhiji once said, 'Grahak devta saman hota hai.' Translated, it means, Customer is equal to God.