It's been a long time since I logged in. I normally write when I want to share a feeling with the computer. Whenever things go beyond control, when I see no other option, when I am not happy with my surroundings, when I am overpowered with emotion, I write.
Today I want to share with you my latest place of stay : Gurgaon.
Gurgaon is a perfect example of how a government has failed to scale up its resources alongside the tremendous development of MNCs here.
Let me start off with my favourite example : Infosys. A classic example of how to scale up. Starting from a small room in NRN's home, with Rs. 10,000 from Sudha Murthy, to 100000 employees spread over numerous campuses and billions of dollars of revenue and remarkable growth. When TCS sacked people because of recession in US markets, Infy actually gave its employees a 12% hike this year in their salaries : Now that's what you call employee satisfaction!
More importantly, the point I want to make is that Infy has not just done well because there was the oppportunity in the IT segment. Infy has done well because it always ensured that all resources and processes were in place when it tried to take the next big step ahead. Becoming 10 times your employee size in a matter of a few years shows that Infy planned ahead, looking at what all it will need to ensure they can maintain a strong unbreakable balance in their ecosystem.
Starting off with training, to induction into a unit, to project assigment, to onsite, and what not : If one thing goes haywire, Infy can have millions of dollars of losses. Yet, this does not happen. Why? Because they have ensured that everything is planned. When they hire so many people, they still ensure that everyone has a place to sit and a computer to work on. Everyone is part of a team, everyone is given a project. Speaking of other operations, the food courts never fall short of food, there's always room to enjoy even with the increasing numbers.
In short, the coming in of a flood of employees has not in anyway hampered an existing employee.
Now let's take a look at Gurgaon.
A few years ago, Gurgaon was a barren land, until the MNCs hit it. And with DLF puring in the money, buildings were built really fast. Loads of companies have now come in here. Loads of people have moved to Gurgaon from across the country to work here. Today's generation is completely mall crazy, so what did Gurgaon do? They built world class malls in Gurgaon. And trust me, it doesn't get better than this. You go into a mall in Gurgaon, and you actually find heaven.
NOw let's come to the ground reality - what are the basic needs of a human being today?
- Home food
- Shelter
- Water
- Electricity
- Transportation facilties
These, I classify as the fundamental needs, everything else is just on the periphery. The government has doen nothing, NOTHING, to improve this in Gurgaon. Instead, they have let more industries come in, depleting the already finishing resources of this place.
Let me give you an example of a normal day in Gurgaon.
You get up in the morning, in a furnace. Why? The AC does not work in the night without electricity. The electricity is not there because the inverter could not charge the whole of the previous day. The inverter could not charge because there was low voltage throughtout the daytime. So why not open the windows? Because the 15 feet high hot dust storm will enter your home and destroy you. Not to talk of the mosquitoes. What is the next option? Pour water all over your bed, and sleep on top of it, so that you get a relief for one hour. The water takes just that much time to evaporate. But, when I walk in to the bathroom to get water, I realize there's no water - it comes only from 7:30 am to 9:00 am in the morning. So, it's like a countdown from around 1 am in the night upto 7:30 in the morning, as to when I can get some freshness.
And being awake all night doesn't help office work much btw. Especially feeling sleepy in meetings is something which I hate.
The reason for lack of water and electricity is just that the government has not planned his city well. They have not scaled up along with the incoming MNCs. What's worse, there doesn't even seem to be an attempt towards that! Power cuts happen atleast for 6 hours a day, especially in the night, which is what makes it the worst part.
Another big thing that Gurgaon is missing is public transport. You will find alteast 50000 Innovas in Gurgaon, each literally taking 1 person from office to home. This is just a tragedy - so much of this non renewable resource petrol is being used up just because people don't care. There are no buses in Gurgaon; there are no autos in Gurgaon. The only other mode of transport (apart from owning a car) is the Cycle Rickshaw; something which I think should be banned because I feel it amounts to slavery.
If you want to travel from Location X to Location Y in Gurgaon - you don't really have an option. You have to take cycle rickshaws or book a cab for that. And the government has still not given a permit to autos to come into Gurgaon. I really dont' know why the government can't even be reactive (expecting proactiveness from the Indian government is like asking the Sun to rise from the West).
And so it is here. The most disgusting place I have ever been in my life. I always thought Chennai was bad - but frankly you can't blame Chennai for the worst thing about Chennai - the weather. What Chennai has excelled in, is ensuring excellent transport facilities in terms of a good connection of buses, and local trains. Bangalore and Mumbai are being overburdened. We need the Government of Indis to look at smaller places and make them metropolitans - not like they did with Gurgaon, but how Infy brought up ts empire.
