Sujavna 2:22

It is 12 noon on 27^th May 2012.

What would a world that comprised of only women as the homosapien species? Which of the existing industries will become extinct (the valentine day card industry?) and what new industries will be spawned? How will the healthcare and skincare industry be impacted? How will religious institutions adapt and evolve? Will the world be a much better, environmentally-more-responsible, more democratic and more inclusive (or more autocratic? More exclusive) place than it is today?

These are some questions that we all need to seriously ask ourselves, because, as was recently reported, we are very close (probably in the next 20 years) to the goal of “virgin-reproductions” – a  reproductive process wherein two ovarian cells can be fused to create an embryo which is transferred to the uterus for producing a girl child. Innovations in reproductive technologies are making this a reality, so it may be time that we also seriously thought of innovations in sociological systems to prepare ourselves for such an eventuality and ensure that what may be lost in terms diversity is compensated in terms of a more wiser society.

I leave you to ponder on what these innovations need to be and wish you a great weekend and a greater week ahead.

It is 11am on 20^th May 2012.

A year ago, I had blogged on the theme of “un-deifying” our TV news readers, making them more human to TV viewers and also bring out excellence in humour (which Indian audiences surely need more of!)? I had then wondered and asked - how about getting all the main news readers of various Indian TV channels into a room once week, and ask them to read the breaking news that they had reported during the week, but using a different context and making a parody of the situation!.

But a year later, I am wondering if I have been far ahead of our times! The furore, last week,  in India’s Parliament over a cartoon that was published 60 years ago lampooning some statesmen of those times, makes me doubt if we do indeed have the maturity and the sense of humour to implement my suggestion. Perhaps, it requires more lateral thinking to win over our politicians and get them to show more maturity and have better sense of humour!

Yes, Robert Frosts’ words are as true today as they were when he penned that he still has miles to go before he sleeps. I think we need many many more cartoons drawn and jokes shared before we learn how to laugh at ourselves.

Wishing you a great week ahead.

Sujavna 2:20

As the clock strikes 5pm on 13^th May 2012,

I keep wondering if there isn’t a less complex way to celebrate the excellence in teamwork or crown the individual skills and  the perseverance of our sportsman and athletes, than getting them all to participate in what has become a “once in 4 years” extravaganza called the Olympics!

I do acknowledge the quintessential debate of expenditure versus development and expenditure versus public diplomacy that usually accompanies such large-scale global events, but my interest is in knowing if there could be other innovative ways by which the world can achieve the Olympics ideals and objectives?  Isn’t it time to start the debate about what changes in the Olympics “business-model” and “organisational-model” can actually help reinforce and reinvigorate nations to achieve these ideals and objectives in a 21^st century context? And how can any future Olympics Organising Committee ensure that the benefits from Sports are truly widespread and how can it make the Games truly “inclusive” – that all nations and peoples can comfortably aspire to participate in an “equal” manner?

I leave these thoughts with you for the week ahead. Hope you are having a great weekend.

Sujavna 2:19

At 1000am on 6^th May 2012,

My mind is obsessively dwelling on an observation that I have been making while inside the aircrafts on the past several flights that I have undertaken. It is about the awkwardly clumsy manner in which flight attendants attempt to serve in-flight food/snacks to passengers, especially if the flight duration is short. Don’t airlines look at innovations and use lateral thinking to make the lives of their cabin crew and those of their customers better?

Firstly the design of the container boxes that are used to stock the food trays and transport them along the aisles! It looks like these were designed many decades back when air travel was undertaken by far fewer numbers, all cabin crew were agile and nimble “twenty somethings”, and customers more patient. And then to the whole process of serving food! Today one is more likely to see mid-aged flight attendants call out across to another colleague across the aisle for a replenishing a particular type of food packet (veg / non-veg), or rush towards the end of the flight to nervously pour tea or coffee into a plastic cup. It is also a common sight to see the clumsiness and long-winded process for collecting the trays and cups back, and putting them away into the container boxes. This also leaves very little time and flexibility for the cabin crew to serve in other ways to passengers who may need help (to think that for a whole 45 minutes that food is being served, passengers are dissuaded from walking up or down the aisles even to go to the toilet!).       

So where is the solution or set of solutions?

To begin with, I strongly suggest that the day for re-designing of the container box to accommodate for easy storage, retrieval and reloading of food trays, at chest height of the cabin crew, clear labelling of tray compartments using colour codes, as well as automating through a system of levers and pulleys, the internal movement of tray compartments so that the physical back-breaking efforts of cabin crew (to withdraw trays or load back empty trays) are minimised, has arrived. It is all not rocket-science and would not be capital intensive.

There could be other sets of solutions that are employee-friendly, customer-friendly and environment-friendly. All it needs is for all stakeholders to think laterally and collaborate.

Hoping that airlines are already working at such solutions, I wish you all a more comfortable and pleasant flights in the future. Wishing you also a great week ahead.