APAC and the beginning of Bachelorhood 4.0!

The global nomad travels again. Not to the US or Europe,but this time to APAC.Enroute to Australia on an assignment for my organisation. I am sure this stint is going to be one of the best  from a professional and personal standpoint. I will give it my best shot - to bring in growth and streamline operations in my role.

The wait at Bangkok airport is instrumental in me getting back to blogging through this short blog! I am spending almost 6 hours in Thailand,without enjoying the beautiful country - by being just at the airport! What a pity! Will explore it some time.

Bachelorhood 4.0 begins today - May 29th, till Wifey joins me! Till then so - long!

Mumbai Musings – Plastic Bags

Plastic bags are seen everywhere. Try buying half a kilo of tomatoes and the shopkeeper will put those in a plastic bag while giving it to you. You will end up putting this plastic bag holding tomatoes in another bigger bag – which will again have other groceries. There are high chances that this bigger bag might also be made of plastic. In short, the plastic bags are everywhere and we use them very leniently, just because they are available aplenty for free.

With the chants of environmentalists reaching the ears of the governing bodies world over, small initiatives taken in different parts of the world will help curb this menace of over consumption of plastic bags. In India,  one of the very good initiatives we have in shops all over Mumbai (and i hope its the same in other states and cities as well)  is that you cannot get plastic bags for free. The bigger plastic bags, which hold a lot of items are no longer free and you need to pay for them either at the grocer’s store or even at the cloth shop. You end up paying anywhere between Rs. 1/- to Rs.20/- to the shop owner , depending on the size of the plastic bag you ask the shop keeper. Though this initiative is adding onto the margins of shopkeepers (they no longer print plastic bags for free as it is a revenue generating opportunity now) but also helps consumers plan to shop by brining their own cloth/ jute bags or unused plastic bags at their house which now are being re-used.

Though i did not find any statistical measure that measures the reduction in the number of plastic bags consumed in India, i am sure this would be a substantial number. The reason is we Indians like anything that is freely available. If we have to pay for a plastic bag, we will as well plan and save that money and use it somewhere else! I rememeber in Norway as well we had to pay a miniscule NOK 1/- or NOK 2/- for plastic bags at KIWI, RIMI or Coop. I hope UK follows on India and Norway’s footsteps. The likes of TESCO’s, Sainsbury’s, M&S Food,  Morrisons still give out tonnes of free plastic bags to millions of Brits! It will help to charge money – maybe GBP 0.10 or GBP 0.2 per bag and help Brits  “TO STAY CALM and CARRY THEIR OWN PLASTIC BAGS”!

Mumbai Musings

It is about three weeks now that we are back in aamchi Mumbai. The soaring heat in Mumbai was initially too hot to handle for us pseudo Brits (since we got accustomed to the rain and cold of Britain in the last 16 months). However,  since we have been born and brought up in this great city, all it takes is a little over two weeks to stop fretting and start enjoying the heat!

Summer time is the time for Mangoes, Coconut Water, Kokam Serbet, lot of buttermilk / chaas, Neera, Aam Panah and a host of other coolants and local food that helps keep the body cool, when the sun bakes you mercilessly at 35 degrees celcius for nine hours a day, with no weekends off!

These experiences always unravel a part of you that was perhaps lost in your memories for a long time.   

The people watching,  bumper to bumper traffic, autorickshaws driving you from one point to the other, the AC buses chugging strongly under heavy sunlight all make you feel at home in your own country. 

In spite of the hurdles or challenges – the overall optimism in people, the confidence and energy they bring to their everyday lives is indeed an eye opener if you are looking for any motivation in life.