Friday, May 24, 2013

Looking for a Win-Win Result!

I was returning to home from work in the evening, last week. The bus stop in Pallavaram was so crowded that myself and my friend decided to go by share-auto to reach Pammal.  We boarded a share-auto that was bound for Pammal. The driver was waiting for others to board his vehicle.  I heard another share-auto driver shouting "Sankar Nagar, Pammal" twice.

Share auto in Chennai
Share Auto
                                 
I turned to my friend and said,"Hey, shall we go by that share-auto? That would drop me near to my house".

My friend said,"No, we shouldn't. The driver of this share-auto might yell at us." It sounded ridiculous to me. Why would the driver get angry if I board another share-auto that can take me near to my home?

The driver read my mind, it seemed. He said,"No, I will not get angry. I will not allow you to board my share-auto if I see you next time".

I was so surprised that I opened my mouth to ask him to justify his words. My friend pressed my hand and motioned me to not to talk. I didn't utter a word but was still annoyed and surprised.

Why wouldn't he think about a win-win situation? If I travel in his share-auto, I will have to get down one and a half mile away from my home and have to cover the distance walking. If I travel in a share-auto bound for Shankar Nagar, then I will have to walk only five minutes to reach my home after getting down. He could have told me to travel in his share-auto to Pammal and then take another share-auto to Shankar Nagar from there. Or he could have let me to travel in the other share-auto that was bound for Shankar Nagar, if he found another person to replace me. Don't you agree with me that, that would be a win-win result?

Here is another incidence. Yesterday evening I came across a share-auto driver who didn't allow a fat lady, to board his share-auto. She wanted to go to Shankar Nagar. The share-auto was bound for Shankar Nagar. I asked the driver, when I found myself alone with him, about himself refusing the lady to let her in.

He said,"I thought other passengers will have to sit uncomfortably. Hence asked her to not to board my share-auto". He saw that I didn't buy this.

He added,"The other day that fat lady waved at me to stop my vehicle. Then she saw the town bus coming and told me to leave. Instead of getting into my share-auto, she boarded the bus. She is so rich that she can hire an independent auto for herself rather than relying on a share-auto. Why did she refuse to get into my share-auto after waving at me to stop?"

I asked,"So, tit for tat?".

He said, "Yes, we wont let those persons, to board our share-auto, who don't behave properly to us."

By saying 'we' he meant the entire share-auto driver community.  And what does "properly" mean to them? Is there any auto service provider out there, who feels the same?

And what would be a win-win result for this instance? Guess there can't be a win-win situation all the time. What do you say?

Photo credit: khanster  shared via creative commons (CC BY-ND 2.0)
 
Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

My Eldest Student

Ms.Pradhani Hiran is my eldest student. I teach computers to her. She is a Bhutanese, staying with her daughter and grandson. She is the student am very proud of. She is 85years old and very active despite suffering from osteoporosis. She is a very keen learner and interested in learning to use Internet. She uses Skype to get in touch with her kith and kin who lives abroad. I met her last weekend and we had a little chat about her husband. She let me record her words.


I added the "Title" and "Credit" using Windows Movie Maker. I wanted to remove the annoying noise of the UPS ,at the end of this video, using WMM, but I just couldn't do it. Sorry about that. I shall try to find an audio editor to remove the beep sound, so that the video gets better. Any suggestions?

Learning to use Windows Media Maker. One baby step at a time. I thank her for being my subject.

This is the original video.



Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer