Wednesday, June 18, 2008

isi ko kehte hai jugad !!!!

I've done some crazy things in these 23 years on earth... stealing a freezer box( dead bodies are kept in a freezer box) in the middle of the night and converting into a Jacuzzi, chasing street dogs, having snakes as pets, traveling on the roof a car for over 3 hours. However, what I did today ranks first in my list of insane activities.



Waking up at 5 in the morning for a jog is not really my idea of fun. But hey ... I'm at SIMS. You are expected to be tough as a defence kid. After much dwelling, i wake up and assemble along with my batch. A short jog followed a really quick shower, the batch gives a business quiz. I'm ashamed to admit that as a potential corporate manager, my business knowledge is sad.



Class I E assembles in class. Kamath sir gives an intro and goes about describing our business task for the day!!! :-o We had to buddy up go to an unknown part of an new city and get employed for a day !!?? haha.. the best part is not to spend a single rupee during the day. That meant we had to tag along with some passing motorbike or car. The best part was not to tell our potential employers that we are students doing a business activity ?!!


My team consisted of Soumya "miss brains" Suresh and Kailash " tough nut" Jadhav. We hitch hike our way to individually and meet up at SNDT college. I changed four bikes.. from a rickety-about-to-break-down CD 100 to a fast and sleek Karizma. Soumya soon got employed at an opticians. Gah !! Not us :-(

Kailash and I walk down Karve Road. We go an ask a grocery store, an optican's shop. If it could work for Soumya..it could work for us. Alas ! that wasn't the case. Next a Bar !! Now this sounded killer . However, the owner told us to buzz off :-( Apparently, I looked like a kid nad kids don't serve alcohol. Later we go to McDonalds. The manager gives a stern look with a flat NNNOOOOOOO !!!!!

Finally, after much persuasion, we convinced a petrol pump owner. Mr Vijay Lodha was our employer. Owner of Kothrud Petrol Circle, he was real sweet and nice to give us an ear. He agreed to employ us for Rs 100/- per head for five hours. Sounds a good deal..ain't it ?!

My work was to direct traffic inside the petrol pump. Kailash was to get the vehicles for PUC check. Over the course of next five hours, I realized how tough is hard labour. I interacted with the people working at petrol pump.Drinking tea in their company was a special highlight. Mr Vijay was sitting in his cabin inside. Every 15 mins he would come out to make a phone call. My other friends have immense respect for this man. The moment he stepped out, these men would stand straight as if a rod was attached to their spine ?!

During these five hours, I made some very interesting observations. This petrol pump had a total of 6 pumps. Four for petrol pumping fuel into cars and four stroke engines and two for petrol mixed with Oil ( 2 T mix) . Now every time a customer drove into the station, he could have two looks. One being " hey.. I'm a regular guy here. That's my lucky petrol pump." This person knew for sure what he wanted i.e either a petrol Or 2T mix. The other customer had a funny countenance. He's thinking "I want 2T mix but where is it ? do they stock 2 t mix petrol." This is where I come into the picture. I had to make a quick call on the type of engine the two wheeler had inside it's body . 4 stroke engines were sent to the petrol section and the 2 stroke were sent to 2T mix section. Now this 2 T mix had two counters.. one for 30 ml of oil and the other for 50 ml of oil. From 12 noon 1 pm, it was buzzing with activity. I had a tough time directing traffic. At times, the petrol section had 3 rows of bikes and scooters.

The other interesting was how bemused the customers looked when greeted by a man in formal clothing with tie et al. Some simply smiled and thanked. The others looked stupefied. Now when do you see a well dressed man directing traffic in a gas station.

Kailash had a tough time. Now he was even filling petrol tanks. Customers yelled at his not-so-fast service. People losing their cool and the dust winds made it an intense situation .After 1 pm, the flow of vehicles was low. After 2 pm, it was back to business Oddly enough, during our entire 5 hours,we just filled tanks fo 6 cars. Now Pune city doesn't have cars huh ??!!!

Talking of Pune city, my friends always told me that Pune city had beautiful woman. Petrol stations are really an amaing place to your eyes :-D. All my hopes were dashed. The young women who came in had their faces covered with a scarf like cloth. The only visible portion was their eyes. Smartly enough, these eyes sported the latest shades for Versace, Gucci and Ray bans. This was a heart breaker for me :-(

Finally, the my watch struck 5. I never sat down during these five hours. No lunch, no water and and not a single break. When I set out this morning for this task, I wondered and laughed at myself . Why was I even doing this task ? How would it help ? What will I gain ? Trust me, it was back breaker and more importantly an eye opener. Working and doing hard labour is TOUGH. I've just realised as to how lucky I was to be born into a middle class family. For these workers, everyday is a fight..a fight for survival. Yet, I noticed all my new friends at the petrol pump laughing, giggling and smiling. Is this a MASK ? Honestly i don't know.

We collected our money from Mr Vijay and thanked him for giving us an opportunity to work at his pump. We shook hands with all our friends and bade goodbye. Met Soumya at our our proposed meeting point. Started asking lifts. This time we were lucky enough to a get a lift in a Honda Civic.. Wohoo.. talk about hard work pays sweet.

The whole class met at kamala nehru park. Kamath sir tells us to write a blog on this experience. Now as I sit and type my first ever blog from a small dingy and clustrophobic cyber cafe, I believe this has to be my craziest day in my life. The whole day revolved around JUGAD. I don't think Jugad has an equivalent word in English.. Coz Jugad is an hindi word and Jugad can happen only in INDIA.

As the famous comedian on the great Indian Laughter challnege says " Isi ko to kehte hai JUGAD"