Category: Reality Bytes

Why are drivers on Indian roads so undisciplined?

Indian Traffic(Photo Courtesy flickr | Alex Graves)

For a long time, I believed that the chaos on Indian roads can be explained with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Most drivers on Indian roads are yet struggling to address basic physiological needs. How then can we expect them to even think of a greater good of disciplined traffic?

I am now convinced of my wrong belief that Maslow could explain this.

On my return from a recent Sri Lankan vacation, I found myself telling people that SL was quite a bit like coastal India with a few differences. The biggest being that traffic is a lot more peaceful on SL roads. I observed that a lot more people follow rules, there is visible empathy to fellow road users, there are fewer incidents of road rage & pedestrians have the right of way! While my visit was short & limited to just one province, my observations were validated & reinforced by many others who have experienced SL roads. I have heard similarly impressive stories about many African nations (though I haven’t experienced it first hand).

So, why are drivers on Indian roads like the way they are?

Update: Check on the next post on this topic Drivers on Indian roads are so undisciplined because …

Ric Elias – Lessons From A Plane Crash

Ric Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. Through this TED talk, he shares what went through his mind as the doomed plane went down & the invaluable lessons he learnt from the experience.

Lesson #1: It all changes in an instant. I no longer want to postpone anything in my life.

Lesson #2: Decided to eliminate negative energy from my life. I no longer try to be right, I choose to be happy.

Lesson #3: I was given another gift, to be able to see into the future and come back & live life differently. How would you change to be the man you want to be? What would you change today to live the life you want to live? What would you get done today that you are waiting to get done because you believe you will be here forever?

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B-Schools & Start-Ups

Nice post at avc.com & a few insights that might be useful to many:

  • Early in a start-up, product decisions should be hunch driven. Later on, product decisions should be data driven.
  • Hunches come from being a power user of the products in your category and from having a long standing obsession about the problem you are solving.
  • Ideas that most people derided as ridiculous have produced the best out comes. Don’t do the obvious thing.
  • If you have an idea that you can’t get out of your head, do a start-up. Otherwise join a start-up.
  • Take risks when you get out of business school. If you don’t take risks, you won’t find yourself in an interesting job and career.

Read the full article at http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/02/mba-tuesday.html.

YES To News, NO To Paper

Newspapers_Jaymi Heimbuch(Photo courtesy Jaymi Heimbuch)

A lifestyle experiment brings in an era of no newspapers at the Shub household.

It first started with my early-to-office routine to beat the dreaded Bangalore traffic. The start was so early, that I missed the arrival of the day’s newspapers on most days. The news reading routine got relegated to the evening. Though I found myself in the dark on some topics over coffee table discussions, I didn’t really miss the newspaper much. 

Another phenomenon that enhanced the disillusionment with newspapers was “commodity journalism”. Non-newsworthy items becoming front page articles. Lack of expertise & perspective in reporting. Internet articles making it to print 2-3 days later. More & more items are worth skipping (amongst the newspapers I read, Mint was an exception).

Finally, the pain of storing old newspapers in a small metro apartment was the clincher. Space & cleanliness issues (roaches love the old paper storage area) were just not worth it. Good riddance. 

So, the beginning of the new year witnessed an astonished newspaper vendor being told to stop the delivery. It is an experiment yet. During this time, we will switch to laptops, iPhone & the Kindle to access our news. Through these channels, news is more current, we get to pick & choose what we want to consume, and maybe save a few trees being felled to print “Page 3” kind of a crap. We sure will miss the weekend routine of reading newspapers over a lazy cuppa. But I am hoping we will get used to the switch. 

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