BEST is Best
The best bus services in Mumbai are a boon to the city. The city could not have been better than the 2 pillars of transportation the railways and the Best bus.
They have a varied history to it and have retained thier look and services over the years.
The reason i write about the Best bus services as i read a lot of negative publicity and falk being received by this service. It is by no way close in comparision to the blueline buses of Delhi which are called the killer buses. Read more
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Ducks Quack , Eagles Fly. A paradigm shift in thinking.
No one can make you serve customers well. That’s because great service is a choice. Years ago, my friend, Adam, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.
He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Adam noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a khakhi shirt, e, and freshly pressed khakhi slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Adam .
He handed my friend a laminated card and said:
“I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.”
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Skills for PowerPoint presentations
Some Do’s
1. Take contrast background with font colour. e.g. Use dark background and white fonts.
2. Always keep a margin.
3. Do a spell check and grammar for the entire presentation.
4. Start by saying I am presenting and not I present.
5. Address the senior person and if possible by name, designation, address ladies too.
6. Start bullet point with capitals.
7. A slide should ideally not exceed 5 bullets per page.
8. Bullet no more the 6 words
9. Always rephrase a sentence, don’t reproduce it verbatim.
10. Only one picture per slide.
11. Keep space between the bullet and first character of word.
12. Know the meaning on new and heavy words, in short all words used in slide.
13. Remember the full form of all acronyms.
14. Flow and continuation should be ensured between slides.
15. If you have something on the next slide indicate on previous slide that it is going to be continued on the next slide. Repeat the heading and part in brackets add (Continued).
16. Give example for points to make a better explanation of point.
17. The main bullet should be darker the sub bullets.
18. No single word of a large sentence should come on the next line.
19. Smile, always show positive outlook.
Some Don’ts
1. Never say anything negative. Rephrase to make it positive or in better light.
2. Never start with open-ended conversation. Asking questions which may have multiple correct answers. What are your likes?
3. No discrepancy in data.
4. Don’t repeat same words again and again. E.g. The something, The that thing, The everything
5. Always make bold, don’t underline.
6. Can’t have everything (text) in capitals.
7. Don’t give borders to the slides.
8. No slide should be without header.
9. You do not end a statement in bullets with a full stop. You can only end sentences with a full stop.
10. Should not have repetitions
e.g.: One minute manager.
One minute promises.
One minute keyword.
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Think of a ‘Plan B’ !
A pretty woman was serving a life sentence in prison. Angry and resentful about her situation, she had decided that she would rather die than to live another year in prison.
Over the years she had become good friends with one of the prison caretakers. His job, among others, was to bury those prisoners who died in a graveyard just outside the prison walls. When a prisoner died, the caretaker rang a bell, which was heard by everyone. The caretaker then got the body and put it in a casket. Next, he entered his office to fill out the death certificate before returning to the casket to nail the lid shut. Finally, he put the casket on a wagon to take it to the graveyard and bury it.
Knowing this routine, the woman devised an escape plan and shared it with the caretaker. The next time the bell rang, the woman would leave her cell and sneak into the dark room where the coffins were kept. She would slip into the coffin with the dead body while the caretaker was filling out the death certificate. When the care-taker returned, he would nail the lid shut and take the coffin outside the prison with the woman in the coffin along with the dead body. He would then bury the coffin. The woman knew there would be enough air for her to breathe until later in the evening when the caretaker would return to the graveyard under the cover of darkness, dig up the coffin, open it, and set her free.
The caretaker was reluctant to go along with this plan, but since he and the woman had become good friends over the years, he agreed to do it.
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Towards a better Mumbai
We all talk about the problems we mumbaikar’s face. Here is my attempt to come up with solutions to the problems then just listing problems and you are free to put up your ideas / comments. Lets built a good city for all. Maybe if we have someone from the bureaucracy listening, we can see some change too.
We the citizens of India are always basking in the past glory of our ancestors and our rich history. We are doing strong financially and economically but fail where we are looking for better services from the public sector namely the government. The current coalition government of Congress and NCP is doing quite good and hope the people support them in their endeavor.
There are lots to be done and each one has to start by doing their bit. It could be like doing selfless community service. By this I do not mean giving alms to the beggar as it just kills the drive for them to earn a living of dignity. We should build the system of enterprise.
As far as the traffic congestion is concerned, I take it as the topic for discussion for today. Lets look at the example of Calcutta. They have banned hand pulled Rickshaws. It came under a lot of flak but finally the government decision prevailed and for reasons than not it was a good decision. It has taken off the slow moving vehicles that were a roadblock in the movement of fast moving vehicles.
Comparing this with the scenario of Mumbai we are no less different. If we consider ourselves the financial capital then we have to do away with slow moving vehicles, man and animal pulled vehicles for transportation. There are a no of handcarts that ply in Mumbai and they add more to the traffic and congestion rather than ease of life. They will allow faster movement of big vehicles, they shall not hinder in occupying parking hazardously or traversing the lanes in the wrong direction.
We can also bring about pneumatic vehicles which if required can replace hand pulled carts. They will be faster, easier to manage, maneuver. We are also just increasing our dependence on just plain vehicles for movement of goods. We could also look at removing the animal pulled carts. The animals don’t deserve this inhuman treatment and their services could be used best elsewhere. We could still keep the old-fashioned horse carts as they add to nostalgia of the old ways or a leisure ride.
I am sure, banning of handcarts and animal pulled carts will bring a lot of respite to our woes.
Lets look forward to a better Mumbai!!
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