“Saab/Madam, aapka location kahan par hai…. Main Cab driver baat kar rahaa hoon…”
Cabs are an essential part of almost every IT/ITES/BPO employee’s work life. Their reporting time at work is most likely dependant on it! So, I decided to have a look at these vibrant life-lines of the high tech industry.
Cab operators, known as vendors in the industry parlance, run fleets of automobiles – a high population of them is the Tata Indica(b), followed by the Tata Sumo and the Chevrolet Tavera – servicing the logistics of transporting employees in and out of the company they serve. Maintaining the fleet, overseeing operations on a large scale, ensuring rosters are optimal in terms of time and location, tracking movement of vehicles as they pick/drop employees one after the other and so on, is no mundane task. And agreeably, most operators do a wonderful job of it.
Barring a few occasional hiccups, most cab drivers/operators carry the day with élan. Providing employment to well over a hundred thousand, this industry does its work without much ado. While an employee would not hesitate to register a complaint at the slightest inconvenience, rarely would the cab service be complimented ‘on record’ for a job well done! Most of the city streets in India that looked desolate at the stroke of the midnight hour not very long into the past, are now bustling with these cabs, zipping to and fro on their errands!
Employees, on their part, consider cabs a great way to commute. Apart from the obvious savings on travel, they are also saved the hassle of negotiating through traffic gridlocks. Therefore, they arrive fresh as a dewdrop at work, and can also afford to catch up with a wink or two on their way back home, tired from the day’s (night’s) work.
Using the cab service also fosters friendship and bonhomie amongst colleagues – and is in fact, a great way to catch up with ‘offline’ information and gossip. Rotational shifts or route reviews bring new cab-mates from different departments/processes, and over a short period of time, they turn into good friends.
While there will be concerns of rash driving indulged in by some cab drivers, the general opinion is that the cab driver is a friend of the ‘greenback’ industry and will be around for quite some time to come. So, three cheers to the ‘one for the road’!
