On the eve of Labour day this is my humble tribute to the invisible true workers of the Indian society. Their service is noble and they need our love and affection as they sacrifice their life for us. I am sure the limelight on May Day  will be on the visible workers who will be in the streets, the political union members, politicians, the public sector and government employees.

Let me go on nostalgia and  share my  experience about a few special people of our lives.

Milkman

First  about this milk boy Annamalai.  He always used to get fired every day for bringing diluted Milk and in spite of the daily Archana by the elders he will still bring the same mixture. We used to ask him everyday whether he mixes water with milk or milk with water.

My God I realized what type of person is this Annamalai after coming to US .He may be illiterate but he is Padikkatha Methai (Illiterate Genius) You know why?

What he has been giving every day was 1/2% Milk (2% Fat and 3% Saturated Fat)

What we wanted him to give was Vitamin D Milk (13% Fat and 25% Saturated Fat)

We run around here now in US for Organic Milk (1/2%) at any cost  which is what my milk man had been giving as Cows milk there in India.

Had he given this Vitamin D milk every day all these years our heart would have been full of cholesterol and we may be diagnosed for the rest of the life with high BP.  I did not know all this then.

How much we have insulted you my dear milk boy! You took everything with a smile for the sake of our good health. Annamalai you are Imaya Malai! (Mt Everest)

Newspaper delivery

I am reminded of this incident .We used to live in the multi storeyed apartment (Krishi) in Vikaspuri Delhi during 1995. It has quite a few  10 storeyed buildings within the housing complex.

This newspaper delivery boy my hero, will park his cycle in front of the building early morning and he used to throw the Paper from down and believe me he used to vary the speed such that it falls correctly on the balcony of his customer. He has perfected the variation of speed and distance such that it would never fall at the wrong balcony. Such is the precision of his throw. I used to get up each day early just to watch this spectacle. That type of boys should be sent for the Beijing Olympics. We always send the wrong people to Olympics and return with a near perfect sc0re.

These Paper Boys work on BPO time. They had to come out early morning at 3am when the delivery van arrives. Are they paid anywhere close to BPO salary? Not even 10% of that! If anyone wants to study how supply chain network functions efficiently in India you can learn from the news paper distribution. Once downloaded from the van like playing cards the papers will be spread all around in the platform At first level of sorting (around 4am) the complete paper will be assembled by adding the main sheets and the supplements. At such high volumes it will be Six  Sigma quality. The paper boys then collect their various papers and magazines and leave the place around 4.30am and deliver on time all before 6am in their neighborhood.

See the contrast today with what we are going through now in US. First of all there is very little choice of newspapers. We do have door delivery option. However the volume of paper is so much that we need to search for the items of our interest. Also the newspaper disposal is not an easy task as it starts accumulating every day. So we normally look at newspaper mainly on the weekends and for that we had to go out to buy  the Newspaper. What about that  boys from their stores in India who come home and take the old paper and also offer a attractive rate. Well that money would help us also to tide over the month end crisis. Why am I carrying all these old papers now to the thrash here and why nobody takes anything even free? Have you thought of the service provided by thesepaper boys?

Generally from my experience I find that these Paper Store owners are different from others. These Maaliks  who come for collections every month would be always Polite.We can accumulate our Subscription for more than one month without any Penalty or late fee. I used to tell the summary for the month and he will subtract pro rata from the monthly dues all the misses and still accept with a smile.

Retail Kiranas

There are 50 Lacs shops all over India. For every 200 People there is a Shop. This is the highest shops per person in the World.95 % of them are Kiranas. These 5 Million Outlets generate the turnover of 400K Crores. (8 Lacs Rs average from each store). These 5 Million Shops Account for 8% of total employment. My God 8 Crore People get employment from these Kiranas.  A much bigger Walmart  gives only 10 lacs people Jobs. So the Walmart Model is not suited for India

When I think about the Service provided by these Indian petty Kirana shops it is Amazing. I should give complement to the young boys who work for these shops.

I remember we used to order provisions in these Kiranas and ask for Home Delivery the same day.  This young Nadar ( Nadars are enterprising business community from south Tamilnadu who own most of the Kiranas )boy will come with the complete list in the bicycle.

 We would ask for replacement of a few items for a different brand name. He will go back to shop and come back in another 20 Minutes. This time the little one will suddenly remember that she needs one rubber. Customer satisfaction is more important for this boy. He will go back without grumbling and this time knowing this customer he will not only amend the bill but also come with the balance for 100Rs.The only attraction for this boy is the Top20 Countdown Show running on our TV. 

When I think of Customer Satisfaction these Kirana  Boys comes first in front of me.

I don’t know from where he came to that shop and where he lives. Maybe  as a group in a portion of a house provided by the owner. We don’t know whether he gets proper bedding or proper food.He is there fresh at 7am in the shop and is there till late evening with an unmatched service all for the paultry sum. He may be an illiterate but still he is an expert in Maths.He doesn’t require Calculator.He does not require Bar Code Readers to know the price like in US. He knows every item’s price by heart and he uses his memory register which is more accurate than the Electronic Cash Register. He can serve multiple Customers same time in the shop. For one he will be bringing the item, for the second he will be collecting the money and for the third he will be clarifying. He is full of life and enthusiasm.

He will  be provided only pocket money by the owner. Rest of the money will be accumulated and given at the end of the year to his Parent. His Parents if they are good use it wisely or else that money  will be spent by the father in the Arrack shop.

Nevertheless these Kirana Boy's skills are Unmatched. His dream will be to occupy the owner’s place. These enterprising boys soon spread their wings in a new locality with the full support of the owner and become the owners themselves.

I don’t want to talk about child labour and all that because the reality is that it is the question of survival for these families and they had to find the way out. It is for the government to do something !

Outside Vendors     

What about that Vegetable vendor who comes  outside the house. Well those few minutes could very well be the best time for the daughter in law to get the whiff of fresh air and to avoid the nagging mother-in-law!  Well it is the opposite here in US. This girl will be watching the empty road from morning to evening looking for human life through the windows and the whole day passes in silence. This home alone could be worse than that monster-in- law! Same with that iron man who provide all day service from that black charcoal box.No such luxury in US. Many of us started wearing casual dresses for this reason.

In House People

Let us move from outside to inside. What about those loyal car drivers who join us and get sentimentally attached to the family members. We use them for every other work. Sometimes I wonder whether these people’s  loyalty could be better than the IT Professionals. If Wipro offers a few lacs more than Infosys the IT Professional would be tempted overnight to change Mantra, from this Murthy  to that  Premji .This  car driver does not know the tricks of the trade and  will reject all other offers because he got sentimentally attached to this home.

Same  thing with servant maids and cooks. They get attached to the children and becomes sometimes low paid nanny in addition to their assigned jobs.

We realize the service provided by these people in India now. India thy name is Service!

US Scenario

In US we have no choice but to do all the household chores ourselves.  You may have the best dish washer, washer drier, vacuum cleaner etc but we are the maids here. Husband has to bend eventually as there is no choice here!

Dignity of Labour

While India offers Service the developed countries offer dignity of labour.

No job is mean and every job has value attached. In US minimum payment of 6$ per hour  is mandatory for every job skilled or unskilled. This makes every profession honourable. A truck driver gets the same amount per hour (50$ per hour) like the software engineer. Due to this there is no mad rush for the American to get into specialized field like software. The Americans who are not interested in professional courses  will drop out after school  to get certification for truck driving and leave the IT Profession to the immigrant. His thinking  could very well be that let this MS graduate toil inside the closed room while we explore the nature from the truck !

Like truck driving other professions like barber (12$ per haircut) , plumber or electrician gets  a  respectable pay. Even the waitress would be proud about her profession as nothing is below dignity.Girls don’t choose their partner  based on the profession as every profession is decent. The difference in pay between the best (for example Lawyers and Doctors) and the worst could be a factor 5 to 10 times. In India an experienced  IT Professional gets 10 to 15 Lacs per annum whereas how much does the  invisible worker gets?. The difference in pay could be easily a factor of 100.

Due to disparity in income the education and work status of the boy  becomes an  important criteria in the choice of  life partner by the parents or the girl. I wish all the professions  get their due recognition so that people can work with pride. In order for that to happen the minimum wage has to be increased drastically. India cannot afford 6 $ per hour,  but how about 6$ per day for the lowest paid job (250Rs per day or 7500 Rs per month).This will ensure that every one can lead a normal life  whether they live in cities  or rural. 

In my opinion it would be more appropriate to adapt the cheer labour culture from the west than the cheerleaders culture!

I am attaching the audio clip of Main Awara hoon song  digitally remastered from EMI.

                Bhaiya Tujhe Salaam

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