Friday, March 23, 2012

TUM TUM SCENE IN WAKAD - Travelling to Hinjewadi


CHIVALRY AND THE IT NERDS
Techie Fracas for a TUM TUM at Wakad
By
VIKRAM KARVE


Every morning I go for a long walk, with my pet dog Sherry, towards the vast open spaces, off the Mumbai Bangalore Highway, near Wakad.

When we return, it is sometimes past eight, and there is a huge rush of traffic transporting the “techies” (as the IT Nerds like to call themselves) to their offices in the Infotech Park at Hinjewadi in Pune.

Most of these overly paid and pampered techie types travel in comfortable company buses (or in their own cars) but a few prefer to ride in the six-seater rickshaws (called Tum-Tum) which carry are always cramped and overloaded with much more than the stipulated six passengers.

Why these IT Nerds prefer the Tum-Tum I do not know – maybe they are from the smaller companies, who do not provide buses, or maybe they have missed their bus and are late to work, or maybe some do not want to avail of the bus facility and they cannot drive a car either, or maybe some crazy ones think travelling in a Tum-Tum is a substitute for a vigorous work-out.

That is beside the point. Let me tell what I saw this morning.

There were around twelve of these IT Techies (maybe seven boys and five girls) at the Wakad Chowk waiting for a Tum-Tum.

The moment a Tum-Tum arrived, everyone rushed towards the Tum-Tum and it was a chaotic situation, a free-for-all mêlée, a total fracas with each one trying to get inside and elbowing out the “opponents” irrespective of gender.

Two of the tougher girls managed to get in, elbowing out some of the “weaker” boys, while the three slightly fragile girls were not strong enough or agile enough to get the better of their male competitors. While two of these girls readied themselves up for the next encounter and looked eagerly for a Tum-Tum to arrive, one particularly dainty and delicate girl was on the verge of tears and seemed to have given up the fight, wondering whether she should go home or wait for a long time till the crowd became less.

I realised, that in today’s world, chivalry has disappeared. Maybe it is because men and women work shoulder to shoulder in the workplace and even compete with each other. Maybe modern women themselves have killed the concept of chivalry as they prefer equality with their male counterparts and do not want double standards. 

Can you expect a man, who has a tough woman boss who scares the hell out of him, to be chivalrous towards her? 

Can you be chivalrous towards a woman who you are afraid of, or a woman who dominates you? 

Well, I think that fear and chivalry are two different things. 

Chivalry implies that a man is supposed to be a “Knight in Shining Armour” always ready to rescue a “damsel in distress”.

Long back, when we joined the navy, we were expected to follow code of chivalrous conduct and to show respect, courtesy, honour and gallantry towards women. It was always “Ladies First”. We opened doors for women, stood up when a woman entered a room, never failed to greet or wish them, were protective and attended to their needs, and even saluted the Ladies. 

Chivalry meant graciousness, gallantry, courtesy, politeness and good conduct, especially from men towards women. Of course, with the arrival of Lady Officers in the Navy, things did become a bit quite confusing, with ambiguity as to whether woman officers ought to be treated as equally tough colleagues or dainty members of the fairer sex, but still, when in doubt we adopted the chivalrous approach.

I think this must be the same dilemma in most workplaces, and as women start equalling or even outnumbering men in the workplaces, especially in professions like IT, the concept of chivalry may become passé, a thing of the past.

So, dear young ladies of today, there are no gallant “Knights in Shining Armour” anymore. You will have to fight it out on your own.

VIKRAM KARVE 
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2012
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

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About Vikram Karve

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

Vikram Karve Academic and Creative Writing Journal: http://karvediat.blogspot.com
Professional Profile Vikram Karve: http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
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Email: vikramkarve@sify.com
vikramkarve@gmail.com

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
  

7 comments:

Viyoma said...

Well put, some parts i agree, some dont. Chivalry hasnt entirely disappeared. But that over- courteous approach is missing. And like u rightly said, many (women) - prefer it that way.
Changing work dynamics - may be!

P.S What Wakad calls Tum Tum, Aurangabad, calls Kali- Peeli.
(The usual ones dont have Yellow colour on them) :)

Anonymous said...

I would like to highlights severe pollution problem due to shared auto rickshaw that run every day from pimple Saudagar to hinjewadi area. As we all will agree on the fact, these vehicles are producing highly toxic/black exhaust and responsible for big share of pollution. One side we have green buses running on CNG, on traffic rule violation, first question traffic police officer ask is, where is PUC ?, all car are compliance to some Bharat Std. and same time we have such transport mechanism in city which really destroying city climate. My sincere request to you is only allow such transport mechanism, if they clear PUC certificate.

Amit said...

This only shows that Wakad is an important place to reside for people working at Hinjewadi as the travel time is reduced.

Unknown said...

Hi. your article fanttastic. thanks in informahie...office rental in pune

infotech park pune

Anonymous said...

Dear Author,
How do you say Techies are overly paid?
Do you even in know what work they do and what pressure they handle?

Anonymous said...

Dear Author,
Its not related to actual subject of your article.
How do you say techies are overly paid?
Do you even know what work they do and what pressure they handle?

Vikram Waman Karve said...

Dear Anonymous:
Of course Techies are overpaid as compared to other Engineers whose work is tough. That is why many Engineers (mechanical, electrical, civil, electronics and telecom, even some chemical and metallurgical engineers) don't like to work in their "core" specializations and prefer to become "Techies". Working in air-conditioned comfort with a 5 day week is any day better than working industrial routine 6 days a week on the shop-floor or on a project construction site in remote areas