Final Transit

From notebooks and workbooks in primary school to machines and chemicals in engineering.
From a kid who fumbled with his underwear in kindergarten to an executive who is trying a perfect tie for his formals.
From the time you prided yourself on writing a book report to the time when you were skeptical about that project report.
From the days when you walked your way to school to save a couple of rupees for the evening snack to the days when you had lavish parties with glasses of booze and all the junk food.
Things change so fast, and no sooner than you start understanding them, bang! they change again.

Tomorrow is my last day at work before I take a 2 year break for higher studies. It’s been a memorable journey of three years as a Planning Engineer, starting from Aker Kvaerner and ending at Tecnimont ICB.

I’m going to miss the life of a [tag]work[/tag]ing man. I surely am.

I’m going to miss the bus ride to office, I’m going to miss the [tag]cubicle[/tag] and my [tag]desk[/tag], I’m going to miss the free telephone, printing and scanning facilities, I’m going to miss the arguments and discussions, I’m going to miss the endless [tag]meetings[/tag], I’m going to miss the pressing deadlines, I’m going to miss the bar charts, I’m going to miss the occasional pizza with the [tag]project[/tag] manager, I’m going to miss the long chats over cups of tea, I’m going to miss my colleagues, I’m going to miss the receptionist.

But the most important thing I’m going to miss is – my [tag]paycheck[/tag]! (No points for guessing this)

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aka the Fourth Seat

Benches in [tag]Mumbai[/tag]’s [tag]suburban[/tag] [tag]local train[/tag]s have a fundamental flaw. They accommodate 3¼ persons each. Usually the trains are crowded and the entering commuters are on a mission to grab a place to sit. It takes monumental effort to snatch the first 3 places on the bench. But the mission doesn’t stop there. There is an equal urgency to occupy the balance ¼^th piece of real estate – the fourth seat, erstwhile known as ‘request seat’. The fourth seat means compromise and submission to constant brushing against outgoing and incoming commuters. And whats worse, you just get to rest your butt partly.

Me standing on the footboard while the train chugs into the next station.
Hypothetical situation: Three passengers are sitting on the bench and there is a tiny strip of empty space.

This [tag]commuter[/tag] enters the compartment and frantically searches for a place to sit.

The meek: Realizes that this is a request seat. Asks the other [tag]passenger[/tag]s politely, “May I sit here?” These kinds are usually senior members, or those who are new to Mumbai and shy.
The frequenter: “Please move, I need some place to sit”. This is considered to be a plain ‘no-nonsense’ request typical to Mumbai. Most of the Mumbaikars belong to this category, and this is a part of their daily life. They know that its not possible to get anything without asking it, albeit he is polite.
The imposer: “Hey, move, I want this place”. The ill mannered consider the half seat as their birthright. They will often enter into arguments with others if they don’t give sufficient space to sit. Many people in this category are those who are some weeks new into the city, or the infrequent travelers.

Now lets look at the passengers who are already sitting on the bench.

The liberals: These people crunch and make space for accommodating the fourth person even before he requests it. Again, they are typical Mumbaikars, who realize that some day they would be the ones looking for a seat. These people are comfortable with ‘The meek’ or ‘The frequenter’. However, the moment they encounter ‘The imposer’, they get converted to ‘The unyielding’.
The reluctant: This group shows extreme reluctance to crunch. They are very lethargic and often the fourth person will have to repeat his request to get some concession.
The impostor: On request from the fourth person, he will make a token gesture of moving. This person is unwilling to cede any space. He is also confrontationist and short tempered.
The unyielding: These are the people who flatly refuse to accommodate the fourth person unless he is ‘The meek’. Often a gang of friends returning after a exhausting day at work fall in this category. They are not interested in confrontations and will simply ignore the fourth person.

Something worth mentioning is that the ‘fourth seat’ exists only in second class compartments. The fourth person can remotely be described as being comfortable, Tapan and full2faltu, write more about it. Vishy describes how the fourth seat is an ignominious position… lol

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I work as an [tag]Engineering[/tag] [tag]project[/tag] [tag]Planner[/tag]. I plan, schedule and coordinate activities for a task force of 60-80 engineers. Primary responsibility of my work is to monitor the [tag]schedule[/tag], resolve the bottlenecks and make sure the tasks are executed on time. Here is a typical conversation between a lead engineer from Mechanical Engineering (LE) and me.
Snapshot from ‘[tag]Primavera[/tag] Project Planner (P3)’… P3 is the software all planners swear by. ‘Microsoft Projects (MSP)’ comes next.
Me: Can you release the technical recommendations by Monday?
LE: No.
Me: Why not? We have received the final offers for all the pumps.
LE: Your schedule says Friday.
Me: The schedule is indicative. If the offer receipt is delayed, don’t we extend the duration for tech recos accordingly? Similarly here…
LE (interrupts): But I can’t allocate [tag]manpower[/tag] all of a sudden.
Me: Let’s allocate XYZ to this task. Currently he is working on the Blowers, which are not [tag]critical[/tag]. (The planner is usually aware of what the engineers are doing.)
LE: But I still can’t proceed. I have to get inputs from Process Engineering.
Me: What inputs?
LE: I just spoke to the Project manager. Ask him.
Me: Is it a major issue? Tell me again please.
LE: It’s regarding pump hydraulic network calculations.
Me: Oh, I already spoke to Process Engineering about it. Surely not all pumps undergo hydraulic loop checks. How many are the critical pumps?
LE: umm 5, I guess
Me: So can we work on the balance 20? (I try to bring him on my side by saying ‘we’)
LE: Ok, but I will need 2 clear days after I get the calculations for the balance pumps.
Me: Fine. So can we target Monday?
LE: Ok Monday is fine. The critical ones may be a day later.
Me: Okay. I’ll issue the [tag]forecast[/tag] schedule with those dates. Thanks

See, the problems are simple to address at a local level instead of dragging them into the interdisciplinary meetings. Half of these would never arise should the concerned people speak to each other. But they never do.

Here’s another situation.

LE (utterly frustrated): Is this planning?
Me: uh… what’s wrong?
LE: The schedule says I have to finish piping study by Friday next week. But the [tag]Project Manager[/tag] says I’m holding up Civil Engineering work, and I should finish it a week early.
Me: Oh. Is that possible? You are also working on the Layouts simultaneously, isn’t it?
LE: Yes. That’s the philosophy we agreed with.
I rush to the PM with him.
Me: Sir, the Piping LE says…
PM: Yes, he is working on the studies too slowly. We should finish it earlier; else it will delay Civil work.
Me: Sir it won’t. The civil contractor mobilization at site is not until next month. The site will require the foundation drawings at least a fortnight after mobilization starts. That’s a long time away.
PM: But he can finish early, can’t he?
Me: He is doing some other activities parallel to the studies.
LE: I’m also working on the layouts simultaneously. Although this is slow, it will avoid the rework at a later stage.
Me: Plus, we have sufficient time with us. Even if the guys finish a week later, we keep a 10 days [tag]float[/tag] for civil activity.
PM: Then why not give them another week?
Me: That would affect the 3D model work which is already on the [tag]critical path[/tag], and also passing of loads to Civil for preliminary column and beam calculations.
PM: Okay then Let’s stick to the schedule.

People sometimes have this nasty habit of interfering in others’ work. If my schedule has been checked thoroughly and approved, let me handle it from there. I may not know the invoices, costing and client relations – something that the PM looks after, or technical engineering work – which the disciplines do, but I know what goes in, what goes out and the sequence of operations surrounding any activity in the project.

Ah how dearly I am going to miss these wonderful days.

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Yay its [tag]Friday[/tag] ! Happy [tag]weekend[/tag] everyone,
It took so long for the weekend to come.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,
Work pressure made me cry, night and day.

Enough of planning the projects and making S-curves,
These project review meetings are getting on my nerves.

I wish there was another Friday in the week, I’m not insane,
You may give me some more [tag]work[/tag], I won’t complain.

-Priyank, June 2005

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My idea of [tag]shopping[/tag] is simple – avoid it. Avoid it until the situation becomes alarming. Even when I have to, I can buy a pair of trousers or a shirt in ten minutes flat. All ready-made [tag]clothes[/tag] fit appropriately on me and I don’t have to wear a trial piece before buying. There is nothing called ‘that particular dress’. And I look good in anything that I wear (ok keep those naughty thoughts away).

Now that I’m moving to a phoren country where [tag]apparels[/tag] are supposedly very heavy on the pocket, I have been instructed to buy as much as I can in India itself. For this is the land of plenty, cheap and quality clothing, the place from which developed markets source their goods. Hmm. Okay, whatever.

For the first time in my life I toured so many [tag]shopping malls[/tag] in one single day. Inorbit mall (Malad), Nirmal Lifestyles (Bhandup), R-Mall (Mulund) and even the newly opened neighborhood Gopi Cine mall (Dombivli). This was just a pleasure trip and some market survey. I was simply checking out the goods, the labels, big brands and their exorbitant prices. This happened about a month back.

Finally, by the end of it, I had all numbers on my fingertips. I could tell the prices of various [tag]brands[/tag] and various types of clothing. Trousers – cotton or otherwise, jeans – boot cut straight fit or shrink fit, shirts – full sleeve and half sleeve, formal and informal, T-shirts, jackets, cargos, and such. Not just the external clothing, but I could produce prices of various brands of underwear and tell which pack offers the most discounts. Phew!

So crammed my head was with all these figures, that I could casually look at anyone passing on the street and tell the cost of his clothes. I started seeing invisible price tags on people’s clothes. In fact, I almost started judging the strangers based on the brands they wear!

“How much does this shirt cost?”
“400 Rupees.”
“Nah, then its no good.”
Hey! Do I really believe that quality is directly proportional to the price??

I also started noting how people dress – an area where I never paid attention before. I observed carefully the low rise, high boots, and long laces on shoes, broad collars, designer buttons and so many other features. I’ve researched virtually everything available in the big malls, and I’m happy with the result.

I’m a self-proclaimed shopping expert now. Ask me anything.
Nice.

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