Indian Speed Bumpers

Speed Breakers in India are planned in a way to punish people who drive fast rather than as a warning for them to slow down. We won't find any signs of a speed breaker untill we are bumped off by them.

Same is the case with RBI rising the CRR. Though it was not completely unexpected, the recent hike has surprised many. A warning sign of interest rate hike would itself have slowdown inflation without toppling the growth rate.

A long term plan on interest rates announced well before would really help SMEs, in fact, everyone to plan better.

Prevention is better than cure

Very often I have seen people complaining about the Indian mentality. Ex. Rushing into the bus or train to find a seat for themselves. And they admire people from abroad for their discipline ex. Following a queue.

One of my colleagues from US wanted to have the great Mumbai train experience. The first day he wanted to wait for every one to board the time. The train will either be full or will leave before he decides to board. It took us more than 45 mins to just board the train.

The next day, his human instinct made him rush into the first train. He no more waits for every one to get in. It’s not about people being good or bad. There are lot more things that influences people.

I have seen people waiting in a long queue of more than 100 people waiting for the city buses in Mumbai. But the same people don’t follow the queue in railway station. All we need to do is make it a habit and knowingly or unknowingly people would start to follow it and then it becomes a habit.

What we have done for bus queues in Mumbai has to be done everywhere and in everything. Its better to prevent bad habits than to correct them.

Mumbai – The Pareto City

• 20 % space of mumbai trains (near the doors) carries 80 % of the people and the remaining 80 % carry 20 % of people.
• 20 % road space carry 80 % of the traffic and the remaining 80 % is either under everlasting construction/repair work
• 80 % of the airport land is under slums and the remaining 20 % is used by the air traffic.