Nuclear Power – Past Current and Future

Whenever we speak about nuclear power, the first incident that comes to our mind is the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the end of World War II, that killed millions. Even today there are many who are facing the after effects of the incident. This has been the prime cause of opposition for nuclear energy around the world. But the technology in itself is not good or bad. It is only the way the it is used by the human beings that makes it good or bad. Let me give you an example. You can use a match stick to light a stove and cook food. But you can also use the same match stick to burn your house. Now if somebody uses the matchstick to burn the house, then can we blame the matchstick?????????  No – Right??????. Well same is the case with nuclear technology.

Filed under: Nuclear Power - Past Current and Future , chernobyl, enrico fermi, IAEA, leo szilard, nuclear energy, nuclear power, otto hahn fritz strassmann, otto robert frisch

NELSON MANDELA – THE MOST SPECIAL LEADER IN THE WORLD

The first President of Democratic South Africa turned 90 on July 18th, 2008. Before his presidency, he was an anti apartheied activitist and the leader of the African National Congress and its armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. He spent more than 27 years in prison much of it on Robben Island on convictions for crimes that included sabotage committed while he spearheaded the struggle against apartheid.

Mandela has received more than hundred awards over four decades, most notably the Nobel Peace Price in 1993. Mandela has frequently credited Mahatma Gandhi for being amajor surce of insiparation in his life, both for the philosophy of non violence and for facing adversity with dignity. A look then into the life of this leader who has become synonymus with compassionate leadership all over the world.

Filed under: Legends, NELSON MANDELA - THE MOST SPECIAL LEADER IN THE WORLD , african national congress, anc, apartheid, nelson mandela, south africa

Dabbawalas – Simple People Great Work

tiffin tray

Food is one of the most important aspect of human beings life. And if given a choice, most of us would prefer home made food to restaurant food or junk food. But what does one do if one is working at office? Well then there seems to be no choice then going to the restaurant or ordering a pizza. Also during the peak hours, it is difficult to carry tiffin in the local which most of the people used to commute to office. But hey just dont loose hope. For if you happen to live in Mumbai, then the choice comes in the form of a friendly dabbawala, who will not only pick up the tiffin from your house and deliver it to your office but will also ensure that your food is served hot and is also delivered to you on time without fail.

History

The service originated in 1880 when the British were ruling India. Later, Mahadeo Havaji Bachche, a migrant from Maharashtra, started a lunch delivery service with about 100 men. In 1930, he informally tried to unionize the dabbawallas. Later a charitable trust was registered in 1956 under the name of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust. The commercial arm of this trust was registered in 1968 as Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association (MTBSA). Nowadays, the service often includes cooking of foods in addition to the delivery of foods.

Achievements

Most of the dabbawallas are illiterate. Then what makes them so special you might ask????
Sample this:-

When the Royal Prince came Visiting:- Prince Charles with the Dabbawalas

Six Sigma Rating:- According to a recent survey, there is only one mistake in every 16,000,000 deliveries and the system has registered a Six Sigma performance at 99.999999 rating. And that too without any documentation

ISO 9001:2000:- By the Join Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand” – JASANZ

Lecturing At the Top Business Schools and IIT’s:- Logistics is the new mantra for building competitive advantage, the world over. Mumbai’s dabbawala developed their home grown version long before the term was even coined. Just to understand the complexities involved, many top business schools invite them for lectures.

No Striking Work:- The dabbawallas have a legacy of 116 years. And to date they have never struck work. An acheivement indeed.

Fans from Across the Word:- Wouldn’t it be called an acheivement if Prince Charles makes a change in his schedule just to meet these Dabbawallas?. They also made it to the Royal Wedding in London. Sir Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic, spend an entire day with them.

Delivery at All times:- Be it rain or sun, the dabbawallas deliver the tiffin to their destinations on time and without fail.

Team Work and Timing – The Ingridients to Success

Sir Richard Branson - Chairman Virgin Atlantic with the dabbawallas

A usual day for the dabbawalla begins by collecting the tiffins from their respective homes. They are then taken to the nearest railway station and then sorted out according to the respective destinations. A simple Colour coding system doubles as an Id system which marks the destination and recipients. They are then loaded into the trains. The tiffins are then off loaded at their respective destinations where a new group takes over and then delivers the tiffins to their respective destinations. The entire process goes into reverse mode in the evenings, where the tiffins are collected fromt the offices and delivered back to the homes. The entire process goes on for the entire week. They only have an off when the office is not functioning ie on Sundays and other national holidays. Team Work and Timings are very crucial for successful functioning of the network.

Who are the dabbawallas?

.

Mr. Raghunath Dondhiba Medge - President of MTBSA

They are mostly the descendants of soldiers of the legendary Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and belong to the Malva Caste. Most of them are illiterates except Shri Raghunath Medge, the president, who is a graduate in Arts. Education till seventh standard is a prerequistie. There is no concept of employers or employees in the organisation and each and every dabbawalla is treated as an equal share holder. So like any bussinessman, a dabbawalla has to bring some capital with him. The minimum investment is two bicycles,a wooden crate for tiffins, at least one white cotton kurta pyjama and a gandhi topi.

Competitive Collaboration

Mr. Gangaram Laxman Talekar - General Secretary

MTBSA is a remarkably flat orgainsation with just three tiers:- the governing council (president, vice president, general secretary, trasurer and nine directors), the mukadams and the dabbawallas.

Dabbawallas are divided into sub-groups of 15 to 25, each supervised by four mukadams. Experienced old timers, the mukadams are familiar with the colors and codings used in the complex logistic system. Their key responsibilities include sorting tiffins, maintaining records of receipts and payments, acquiring new customers and triaining new recruits. Each group is financially independent but coordinates with others for deliveries. Earnings by a particular group are divided equally amongst the members

From his earnings of between Rs. 5000 to Rs. 6000, every dabbawalla contributes Rs. 15 per month to the association. This amount is utilised for the community’s upliftment, loans and marriage halls at concessional rates. All issues are usually resolved by association officials whose ruling is binding. Meetings are held in the office on the 15th of every month where particular emphasis is paid to customer service. If a tiffin is lost or stolen an inquiry is intiated and customers are allowed to deduct costs from any dabbawala found guilty of such a charge.

Before looking into the internal disputes, a token amount of Rs. 100 is charged to ensure that the cases handled are geniune and the officials donot waste time discussing petty issues.

What we can learn from them?

Its courage and determination that keeps these people going. The attitude of competitive collaboration is equally unusual. The dabbawallas compete with each other in bringing new customers but there is no competition at the delivery end. Their busienss model is worth replicationg in the digital age.

All images are taken from mydabbawalla.com official website of the dabbawallas with inputs from the wikipedia.

Filed under: Dabbawalas - Small People Great Work, Salaam Mumbai Series , dabbawala, gangaram laxman talekar, manish tripathi, mtbsa, price charles visiti to mumbai, raghunath medge, richard branson

Mumbai Local – The Lifeline of Mumbai

History

Date:- 16th April, 1853 Time:- 3.35 pm Location:- Boribunder Station .

This date holds an important place not only in the history of India but also in the history of Bombay (Now Mumbai). A train with 14 bogies and around 400 guests and hauled by three steam locomotives – Sultan, Sindh and Saheb-left Boribunder Station (Our very own Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus) for Thane admist 21 gun salute. The journey took over an hour and fifteen minutes and was the first commercial run of a passenger train in India. At that time nobody would have imagined how strong the bond between the Railways and people of Mumbai would be. More than 200 years later, the bond has grown stronger and both are inseparable. So much so that the Railways, and more specifically, Mumbai Suburban Rail Network, is called the “Life Line of the Megapolis”

Present

Today signs such as ‘BO-6:50 S’ or ‘N-12:40 F’ are an integral part of the life of Mumbaikars. While the BEST bus services links various parts of the city and the suburbs, the suburban rail network (called LOCALS in local parlance) links the city to far off places and upcoming townships. Outside the city limits, where BEST buses donot operate, the locals are the only means of transport for the public for making it to their workplaces which is located in the town. The state buses are also present but are unreliable because their frequency being less.

The Suburban Railways, which is the Part of Indian railways, operates under two main zonal railways with its headquarters in Mumbai – The Western Railway (Headquartered at Churchgate) and the Central Railway (headquartered at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus)

Between the two zones, three main corridors of suburban railnetwork are operated – two by Central Railway and one by the Western Railway.

The three corridors that are operated are as follows:-

Inside the Same Local

The Western Line:- Links Churchgate to Virar (operated by Western Railway)

The Central Main Line:- Links CST to Kalyan and then bifurcates to two:- one goes to Kasara and other links Karjat and Khopoli (operated by the Central Railway)

The Harbour Line:- Links CST to the Panvel via the eastern docks of Mumbai, sharing a common station at Kurla on the central line (operated by Central Railways) The Harbour line again bifurcates from Wadala with one set of lines going all the way upto Andheri on the Western Line. The line again bifurcates at Vashi with one line linking Vashi to Thane on the Central Line. A large section of the harbaour line is elevated

Together, these three corridors account for almost 6 million passengers daily which is the highest for any suburban rail network in the world.

Services

Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus - Headquarters of Central Railway

At present, there is a frequency of four minutes between two trains which goes upto 10 mins during non peak hours. Some trains stop at all stations while some stop at selective stops only. All trains beyond Kalyan on the Central Line and Borivili on Western Line, however run slow. All services on the harbour line operate as slow services. The first train starts at 4 in the morning and the last train leaves at 1 in the night. The trains operate non stop in between carrying passengers to and fro. Trains are generally known to maintain their times unless faced with some technical difficulties like during the rainy seasons due to flooding of tracks and so on.

Terror Targets.

These lifelines of the city has been targetted by terrorists quite often. Due to the enromous load on these trains, it becomes difficult to maintain a check on the activities in the train. The blasts that occured on 11th July, 2006 which killed around hundreds are just one of them. But then true to the spirit of the city, they were back on tracks the very next day.

The Lifeline of Mumbai

The Mumbai Suburban railways is indeed a shining, perhaps, unparalleled, example of efficient, punctual, pollution-free and speedy service, backed up by a desire to continually improve technologywise or passenger convenience wise. It is therefore not without reason that they are called “The Life Line of Mumbai”

Filed under: Mumbai Local - The Lifeline of Mumbai, Salaam Mumbai Series , mumbai local

BEST – Interconnecting The City 24*7

Best Buses

A city as large as Mumbai needs quick and efficient means of public transport to stay connected. The BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport) is the organisation that operates the buses in the city. The red buses that carry millions of passengers are very much a part of the city. The organisation also takes care of supplying electricity in the city and the suburbs.

BEST buses are known for their efficiency and excellent track records. Let us now briefly look into the history of this organisation.

Filed under: BEST - Interconnecting The City 24*7, Salaam Mumbai Series

Salaam Mumbai – A tribute to the City that never Sleeps

Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is not only the capital of Maharashtra, but also the Financial capital of India. This city is the center for all major institutions in the country like The RBI, Atomic Research Center, Army, Navy and Airforce headquarters and many others. The city, unlike others, is known to be tolerant towards all. The city is also historically important as the Indian National Congress, which spearheaded the Indian Freedom Movement was founded here. Also the Quit India Movement was started from here.

The city has a large heart and has always welcomed strangers with open arms. It is also heartening to note that whoever has the will to work hard can earn enough to feed himself.

Such is Mumbai – The city of dreams, The city that never sleeps. The city where I live.

In the following series, I have just tried to highlight different aspects of the City that keeps it running. From the BEST buses and Local Trains, to the Dabbawallahs and the local newspaper vendor, they all contribute to the City of Dreams.

So I hope you like this small series. All your feedbacks are welcome. My mail id is pradeepmenon89@gmail.com

Filed under: Salaam Mumbai - A tribute to the City that never Sleeps, Salaam Mumbai Series , financial capital of India, maharashtra capital, mumbai, spirit of mumbai

Bio Fuels:- The Facts and Myths

Bio Fuels

Prince Charles has converted his 38 year old Aston Martin (a 21st birthday gift from the queen) to run on biofuel made from surplus wine. Not only that, he has converted his other vehicles which includes several Jaguars, an Audi and a Range Rover to run on biodiesel fuel made from used cooking oil. These steps have helped him to reduce his travel related emissions by 18 per cent [Read the Full story here]

We all know that we have limited energy reserves (what we call as fossil fuels like petrol, diesel etc). They are not renewable (which means that we cannot replace them). Secondly, they add to the greenhouse effects which harms the environment. So it becomes imperative that steps be taken to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and switch over to some other means of fuel that is less polluting and reduces the carbon emissions, like bio fuel

Filed under: Bio Fuels:- The Facts and Myths , alternative fuel, bio fuels, ethanol, gasoline, global warming, price spikes