IT Babus ki Motorcade

February 29, 2008 

This article titled “IT Babus ki Motorcade” was published in Time Of India’s (Pune Edition) supplement on 27th Feb., ‘08.

I don’t look at my watch, but I know it is 8:00 a.m. My 11 month old son and I, are on our customary morning walks as we pass by the bus-stop. The bus-stops along our walking route are no different from any other morning. Its regular occupants - a lady in her early twenties dressed in a Allen Solly trouser and striped shirt; identity card dangling from her neck; hair dripping wet; a file of papers in one hand and a stylish handbag that can hold nothing hangs on her other shoulder while she is lazily talking on one of those Rs.10 K+ cell phones. Another lady, a little conservatively dressed in Salwar, is seated on the clean, just broomed road-side pavement; clutching tightly to a flashy Orange plastic bag (which in all likelihood contains her lunch dabba) from Pyramyd Mall. There is only one gentleman at this stop this morning which is otherwise teeming with a dozen people. Maybe, after-festive season blues! The guy, in quite contrast to the ladies, doesn’t have any accessories to clutch on. With one hand fidgeting in his pant pocket while the other is mindlessly pressing some random keys on his cell phone, he is restlessly looking towards the long empty road awaiting the bus that would transport him to his workplace.

The bus arrives; they all hop in and after the fifteen second stop it’s about to leave when you can see a frenzy of activity; a relay race sorts with perfect coordination between a person in the bus on the phone helping his friend on the bike who has just missed the bus make it to the next stop. The scene inside these buses is unlike your metro; hardly anyone talks to the other person with most of these sleep-deprived people napping. The story repeats itself the next day.

When I see these people every morning in the bus, I am reminded of Ayn Rand’s book, Anthem and its protagonist - Equality 7-2521. With our house located on the IT corridor, I witness tens of buses of every organization plying in an hour’s gap every morning and evening. The color of the buses and the small sticker on the front glass of every bus stating the company’s name and route maybe different; but its occupants are all the same category - Zombie - 2290-A, Zombie- 4450-Z who make even the day shift seem like a chowkidar shift.

These gentlemen and ladies represent the millions of India’s booming IT industry. Yet, step a little closer and you’ll see they are all so similar, stereotypical in aspirations, behavior, spending etc. Until a year ago, I stood in one of these stops every morning rushing in the last minute to make it to the bus just-in-time, when the motorcade lost its dedicated passenger of seven years to motherhood. Now, I am a spectator but their journey is all the same. I get nostalgic, but it’s time to get back home.

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Comments

One Response to “IT Babus ki Motorcade”

  1. Anand on March 2nd, 2008 3:00 pm

    Hi,

    Nice one, commenting here after a long time. Hope all’s well.

    Anand.S

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