False Alarm

This post is written as an epilogue to the post I had written exactly a month back. It was about my exams and my apprehensions on whether I will be able to handle the exams well.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm. The examinations were such a damper, that after writing a couple of papers, most of the students actually lost interest in the exams. There were two particular reasons for it, maybe three.

Firstly, the question paper was printed in the answer booklet itself and after each question, there was a limited space to answer that question. And with that kind of space limitations, you cannot simply beat around the bush. Your answer needs to be specific, precise and to the point. This was actually appreciated by the faculty and majority of the students as well.

Secondly, some of the papers were so simple that it was nothing more than elementary fill in the blanks. One paper was even so straight forward that some people were actually wondering if there was any hidden catch in the paper. Few other papers tested the concepts and that did not obviously require lengthy descriptive essays to be written. So the exams were a case of ‘either you know it or you don’t ‘type of questions.

Third comes the grading system. Though it’s said that relative grading is followed, it’s not truly relative or normally distributed. In a normally distributed grading system, someone ought to get the highest grade and someone ought to fail. Our system gives more weightage to the class average. Based on the class average, if you are in certain bands above or below the average, you get a certain grade. Now, what happens in a very easy paper is that everyone scores well. The average is very high. And to pass, one needs to score atleast 70% of the class average. Which usually happens quite easily. And to get the highest grade of 4.0, one needs to score atleast 125% of the class average, which becomes difficult in the case of a high scoring paper.

The paper itself is so easy that it ensures nobody fails and also ensures that nobody gets the top grade!! When the college public realized this, nobody even bothered to study properly. Cricket was the most famous pastimes during the exams. Something which I had not seen even once during the last 5 odd months, had become so common in the last couple of weeks. Some other people kept themselves busy by watching movies and some more slept their way to glory.

I remember only a couple of papers where I sat in the exam hall for the entire duration of the exam. With a major part of the evaluations already done internally, there was no real motivation to study. Plus when you have a question paper where you need to answer 3 questions for 20 marks each and each question has a maximum of two blank pages to be answered, how long can you actually sit in the exam hall? Time was never a constraint anymore, only the space was!!

And for people who have seen work pressures earlier, the last 10 days were probably the most chilled out in the first semester.

An experience called Airavat

‘Airavat’, in ancient Hindu philosophy is the name of the six headed elephant which used to be the vehicle of Rain God Indra, the ruler of Swarga. The description itself is sufficient to denote the type of luxury associated with the name Airavat.

The Airavat I wish to talk about here, is the Volvo service run by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Started in the early years of this decade, this Volvo service is truly one worth its weight in gold. KSRTC has over the years improvised on its existing fleet and is today one of the biggest customers for Volvo India Pvt Ltd.

The B7R and the lately introduced B9R buses from Volvo itself are a revelation in the Public Transportation Sector. With the infrastructure in the terms of good roads complimenting, Volvos have certainly taken off in the right direction. Of course the more recently introduced luxury buses from competitors of Volvo have been successful, but Volvo has clearly got the early bird or the first mover advantage.

Over a decade back, the journey to Mumbai from my place Udupi used to take atleast 24 hours. Starting at 9 in the morning, it used to drop us in Mumbai at not before 9 the next day. But today, given good roads and weather conditions, an Airavat covers the same distance in hardly 15 hours .

Of course, all these doesn’t come cheap. Airavat is definitely a bit expensive than some of its competitor state run Volvo services or even the private operators who run the same. But with the benefits that an Airavat offers, that extra bit of an amount seems like peanuts. Without a doubt, I can say that the Airavat Volvos are the best maintained Volvos today. An Airavat Volvo which has been running for the last 2 odd years will still be as good as a new one which has just rolled out of an Assembly Line (For that matter, any vehicle owned by KSRTC is better maintained than its respective counterparts from other competing State Transports). Be it the suspension or the AC, be it the steering or the power, be it the seating comfort or the cleanliness in the maintenance of the interiors, be it the accessories provided or the quality of the AV system, an Airavat beats everything heads down.

Part of this goes to the wise decision by KSRTC to forge an Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) with Volvo India Pvt Ltd. KSRTC also ensures that the vehicles are driven by only those handpicked drivers who are trained properly by Volvo itself.

The popularity of Volvo was risen when Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the younger brother of KSRTC became the first to introduce Volvos for City Transport also. Yes, Bangalore is the first and probably the only city in the country to have Volvos running on all major routes. And this became a feast for frequent flyers, when the Bangalore Airport was shifted outside the city and BMTC introduced special Volvo services from various points in the city to the Airport at a very very nominal cost. And the beauty of this service is that these buses are specially built by Volvo for BMTC and have enough space for the luggage as well. Other than most of the top businessmen and executives, majority of the flyers actually take this service.

The greatest feature of these Airavat’s is their punctuality. They start on dot and more often than not, they reach the destination on dot. Hardly have I seen an Airavat reaching the destination more than half an hour late than the scheduled time under normal circumstances.

I became a fan of Airavat when I was put up in Hyderabad and needed to go to Bangalore very frequently. With train tickets availability at short notice being a big question mark, Airavat was a viable alternative. And with every passing trip, and with improvements on the NH 7, my love for Airavat always grew. Whenever I now look for travel options, if there is an Airavat available, it wins straightaway. Nothing else will even be considered. Every bit of the experience is enjoyable. You can relish every moment of the journey. And the best part is, even after travelling whole night, you can remain fresh enough to go to duty the next morning, completely normal.

If you have not experienced Airavat so far, I bet you have definitely missed one of the best experiences you can ask for in life.

Exam Fever

After an eventful fortnight, which comprised of a hectic week of Summer Placements followed by final days of classes, where we had on an average 2 internal assessments per day, the time is coming closer. The temperatures are rising. Not in the literal sense, but the exam fever is on.

After having spent a good four months on campus, now is the time for the real test. Though the course lays a heavy weight age on the internal assessment unlike the engineering days, the externals carry significant weight age too. The internals carry 60% of the course credits to facilitate continuous learning (Err!! What’s that?? ) and 40% of the course credits are dedicated to the externals. The main problem here is that one needs to clear both external as well as internal separately. This makes things slightly tougher, though not impossible. For people who have cleared 8 semesters of engineering, nothing is actually difficult.

These exams are going to be a tough test for many of us. It is not going to be a test of what we have learnt. It is more of a physical test as to how we are going to write continuously for as less as a hundred and twenty minutes to as much as a hundred and fifty minutes. For most of us, who have worked prior to coming here, it’s really going to be a race against time. We have literally lost the touch and the last I personally had written continuously for three hours was the last paper in my final semester of engineering. That’s over three years now and I am really struggling to hold a pen in my hands and write continuously. I observed the trailer of the same a few days back when I was writing a subjective internal assessment paper for 45 minutes. At the end of it all, I could barely manage to read what I had actually written.

Over the years after leaving college, I have hardly written consistently. I have never had the habit of maintaining a diary or a record. Whatever writing I used to do, was either one page handwritten reports or totally electronically written reports. Such was my inclination to the computer that, when last week I had to submit an assignment in a time crunched situation, I actually opened the laptop and started typing it to the surprise of many of my classmates. I was convinced that my typing was definitely faster than my writing, and also more legible too!

With this background and almost 55% of the batch in a similar situation as mine, the 10 days period from 22nd to 31st October is going to be challenging indeed. Though I am not explicitly worried about the subjects and the paper as such, I am definitely worried about what I am going to write in those hundred and twenty minutes.

Touring Troubles!!

I had joined TVS Motor Company as Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) in July 2006. After a few months of general orientation, I was placed in the Sales and Service Department. Then I was trained on specific aspects pertaining to the Sales and Service portfolio. On completion of the training, I was deployed to Hyderabad, where I was re-designated as Territory Manager – Service. My job was primarily to handle after sales service in the territory, which for the time being was limited only to the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. This was the place where I was first exposed to all the intricacies of the job and what was demanded out of me.

Once I had fit into the groove, and I had started showing sufficient progress in my career and significant results, my territory was expanded. It now covered the northern part of Andhra Pradesh which is better known as Telangana. This contained 6 more districts and 8 more dealers. So on paper, my responsibilities had been doubled. And covering the dealers in the districts meant that I had to start touring. This also meant waking up early in the mornings and reaching my destinations late at nights. I was prepared for that and eager for new experiences.

Fortunately for me, most of the places I travelled were connected well by train. Except for two places, which were not, the remaining places had good rail connectivity. With experience, I started planning my tours such that I covered all these places in one shot. I would generally leave on a Monday morning and return back on a Friday or a Saturday evening as required.

Telangana is well known to be a Naxal infested area. Though the troubles now were minimal or literally zero, it was one of the strongholds for them early on. On one such tours in this territory, I had to travel from a place called Karimnagar to Warangal. Though Warangal is a major railway junction between the south and the north, Karimnagar is not connected by train to any of these places. Fortunately, the road connectivity between Hyderabad and Karimnagar is excellent and even the road transport is good in entire AP.

When travelling from Karimnagar to Warangal, I was late. The two places are approximately 70 kms apart and it takes roughly 90 minutes to cover the distance by road. So I started from Karimnagar around 10 PM in the night, expecting to reach Warangal by 11:30 PM. The buses between Karimnagar and Warangal are not too great. One has to travel in simple luxury buses as they are known, but to this day I have not understood what is so luxurious about those buses.

There was hardly anyone in the bus at that hour. I could hardly remember 12-15 people in the bus. By the time the bus had crossed the town limits and started moving on the highway, it had around 20 people. Half way through, I was trying to catch some sleep. The bus was travelling through a dense forest, with literally no human inhabitants for miles together. Suddenly, the bus stops and a mob get into the bus. I start cribbing to myself about the driver, public transport and God knows what else. I was too sleepy to realize what was happening. Slowly the noise started becoming louder and people starting yelling at each other, something which I could not realize.

After a good three minutes, I was fully awake. It was then that I realized that we were being held hostage! People around were shouting, crying, pleading, yelling at each other, blaming the driver and there was chaos all around. The mob which had got into the bus, were also shouting at each other and only panic was ruling the situation. They all had some crude weapons in their hands which they were pointing at people in the bus and trying to recover something. I was not sure if they were drunk, but they were definitely behaving as if they were. I was sitting somewhere in the last few seats, waiting for the drama to unfold in front of me. And was indeed sleepy to think properly and react.

One of them finally came to me and shouted something to me in Telugu. I did not understand that and I did not react. And from his reaction, I was sure that he did not know anything other than Telugu. But from his gestures and body language I understood that he wanted to rob me. Within no time, two more joined him. I was probably the richest and well to do person they could find in the bus at that hour. I was still in my company uniform and wearing the company badge. The weapons in their hands were indeed frightening. I was not sure what to do.

Luckily for me, I was not having any ornaments or valuables. And fortunately, I had forgotten to even wear my watch that morning. My MP3 player, which usually accompanied me on most of my tours, had also been betrayed this time around by my absent mindedness. I was just carrying a few clothes and a few office papers in my bag. The only valuable that I had was probably my mobile, a Nokia 1200. So I fancied my chances.

I told in Hindi that I don’t have anything with me. One of them started speaking to me in crude Hindi. He asked me to show him whatever I had. With the limited options that I had, I opened my bag. No sooner that I had opened it, the three men pounced on it. They emptied it outside on the nearby seat, only to find nothing of their use in it. Another person started frisking me in anticipation of finding some valuables, only to be unsuccessful again. One of them laid hands on my wallet, which had a few notes of tens and twenties, a few coins, my driving license and a Debit card. They probably did not know what it was. Angrily, they threw it back at me. He then laid his hands on my mobile, but my 1200, was too old fashioned or cheap for him. So the mobile too met the same fate as my wallet did. Everyone in the bus was eagerly anticipating for something to happen.

Suddenly someone shouted from outside, and they all emptied the bus in a hurry and vanished behind the trees. Within moments, the driver started the bus and we were back on our way. I was sitting and wondering whether it was a dream or it had really happened. Within a few minutes, I got a call from the manager from my Warangal dealership, who had booked a hotel room for me. He was worried why I had not reached yet, as I had informed him when I had boarded the bus. I spoke to him in broken Telugu, and told him that the bus had got punctured. I told him I’ll reach in another half an hour or so and asked him to inform the hotel and not wait for me. The gentleman sitting in the seat ahead of me was watching me in awe.

To this day, I did not know who they were. At times, I felt they might have been the Naxals, but then Naxals would have been much more professional. They would have carried much more standardized weapons. I thought they might have been some local villagers who were most probably drunk. I even at times thought that the entire episode might have been masterminded by the Driver and the Conductor. But I did not put much thought behind this possibility, because I have always believed that it’s wrong to point fingers at someone without having concrete evidence. The most surprising part was that nobody was actually harmed physically or assaulted in the whole process.

Whatever it is, I would say I was fortunate enough that I was not wearing something valuable. Fortunately or unfortunately, I was not having much money in my wallet. Luckily, I had forgotten my watch and MP3 player at home, and the mobile that I was using was simply too old and outdated. And most importantly, better sense prevailed on me to not converse in Telugu with them and act dumb, which probably was one of the reasons for me to have escaped safely. God knows how many times I had cursed myself that morning for having forgotten to get the MP3 player and the watch. But then, it was just another example for “Whatever happens, happens for a reason!”

I reached Warangal just after midnight and checked into the hotel. Next day, I went to the dealership, completed my duties, took the train in the evening and returned back to Hyderabad. On Monday when I met my boss, I explained to him whatever had happened. Till then, I had not told it to anybody. By the time I was done, my boss and a couple of my colleagues who were listening to me were simply dumbfounded. Their reactions could be very well judged watching their wide open mouths.

After this incident, we at the Area Office took a resolution that whenever we are on tour, we will not travel after 8 PM. Wherever we are at 8PM, we will halt there itself and travel early next morning to our destinations. Though this was taken seriously for the next few months, all of us including me forgot it and found exceptions to the rule when the work at hand was more important. Even after that, there have been lots of instances when I have reached Hyderabad late after midnight, or even some other places. But I made a point to at least not travel the Karimnagar Warangal route so late.