Corporations, hiring and background checks, need of the hour

Ma generally calls me in the evening. It’s my daily routine. So, today’s call was not an exception until she shared what had happened in our lake-town residence. The narration scared the shit out of me.
My sister in law (Jhilik) ordered food via Swiggy on tuesday. It was a COD mode of payment. She paid and took the parcel.
Today at around 2pm in the afternoon, the same delivery guy knocks the door and informs her that because of some billing issue, he needs to have a copy of the invoice.
She didn’t have the copy of it but in her mail she had a soft copy. While she was doing her search, the guy was inside the room. On showing the invoice, he further requested her to get him a glass of water.
Generally such requests are never turned down. She took out the bottle from the refrigerator and headed towards the kitchen to pour water in the glass.
Meanwhile, the guy went to the kitchen and took out his knife. The fellow held the knife to her neck, covered her mouth and dragged her to the drawing room. The motive was to steal her jewelries.
The guy kept threatening her that if she shouted, he will kill her. Asked her to take out all her ornaments.
My two year old nephew (Swachho) was sleeping in the room adjacent to the drawing room.
Suddenly, he woke up to the sound of an unknown guy and comes out. He started crying loudly on seeing his mother caught up like that. Immediately the guy held Swachho’s hand and started threatening her that if she did not keep quiet, he will kill both of them. Jhilik somehow made a narrow escape and pulled Swachho towards her. At that moment, Jhilik started shouting ‘help help’
The guy then pushed both of them and made an escape.
After all that had happened, my brother came back, and spoke to the manager of Swiggy. The manger sent them an image for identification. Jhilik readily identified him, as did the neighbors who saw him running.
Swiggy’s manager has shared his government ID proof with us. FIRs will be lodged at the local police station against the delivery guy. Swiggy has also come forward to lodge a FIR against their employee.

This incident teaches us one thing, how casual the corporates have become today in their selection and hiring process. Does possessing a government id only a condition for hiring? Why there’s a lack of exhaustive background check?

Today when home delivery services are becoming the key factor for any successful business transaction, why is the hiring approach so callous? Why there are no safeguards?
Anything could have happened to my family. A cautious hiring could have saved my family from the trauma!

Please be careful! We depend so heavily on home delivery services that we have to think wisely over who are we going to allow in our house!
Comfort of home delivery can have damaging repercussions! Please make it harder for crime to happen in your residence. Swiggy

 

Personal experience of Sumagna Bhowmick, PhD scholar, TISS and a childhood friend of the author. Published with her permission.

Pic- dreamstime.com

Need for two different time zones in India

Being born and brought up in Arunachal Pradesh which is the easternmost state of India, I think I need to answer this question.

The picture above speaks the whole story.

I have spent my whole childhood watching the sky getting dark at around 5–6 pm. Then when I moved to North India for further studies, I was astonished to see sun even after 7 pm sometimes. So, that’s how much variation in the time exists in our country.

So Yes, we really need a different Time Zone for North-East Indian states. A time zone which should be an hour ahead of the rest of India, i.e. GMT+6:30. Currently the entire India follows GMT+5:30 timezone, which is not at all efficient for a country that extends 2933 km from east to west. The “Dong” village of Arunachal Pradesh sees sunrise 2 hours before “Guhar Moti” village of Gujarat. The actual timezone of North east is about an hour ahead of the GMT+5:30 which in turn results in wastage of a lot of daylight, thus affecting the productivity. Many government and private offices are forced to open even when the daylight gets low, which results in unnecessary power wastage. By changing the time zone, they will be able to make most of the natural daylight.

Countries like United States, Australia already have multiple time-zones. Moreover, the concept of “Daylight savings” is used in United States in which they reset the clocks for different seasons.

Its high time we should get multiple time-zones.

 

This answer has been written in quora.

The link of the answer is:

https://www.quora.com/Should-India-have-multiple-time-zones/answer/Narayan-Sharma-27

 

Meghalaya, abode of snow…

Meghalaya is an extremely beautiful place to visit. Capital Shillong is a hilly city, extremely congested, but very picturesque.

I will be uploading my trip to Meghalaya pics in a few installments.

In my last post I published a pic f Mawsynram. Today I am publishing a few pics of Umiam Lake and the road trip from Shillong to Mawlynnong & Dawki.

Umiam Lake

En route Mawlynong & Dawki

A small hamlet (village) en route Dawki.

The pictures are breathtakingly beautiful. The place is mesmerizing and charming.

The cloud is extremely naughty and gets into the car if the window is kept open. What seems like fog or smog is actually cloud.

Meghalaya is a must visit for travel enthusiasts.

Mawsynram

 

Mawsynram in Meghalaya

Two years of Blogging in WordPress.com

I started my tiny little steps of blogging more than 3 years ago in blogspot.in, but I was not a regular one there. Two years back I opened a wordpress.com blog and from that time I try to blog at-least 1-2 articles a month.

Today I completed 2 years in wordpress.com and wordpress has send me a congratulatory note. I hope to look forward with this association and continue blogging in future also.

Thoughts of Bob Marley

Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life

The Fern and the Bamboo

The Fern and the Bamboo

One day I decided to quit…I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality…

I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

“God”, I said. “Can you give me one good reason not to quit?”

His answer surprised me. “Look around”, He said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”

“Yes”, I replied. “When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.

I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth.

Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed.

But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.

And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed.

But I would not quit. The same in year four.

Then in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.

Compared to the fern, it was seemingly small and insignificant.

But just six months later, the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

It had spent the five years growing roots.

Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.

I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.

“Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots?

I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you.

“Don’t compare yourself to others.” He said. “The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern.

Yet they both make the forest beautiful. Your time will come”, God said to me.

“You will rise high.” “How high should I rise?” I asked.

“How high will the bamboo rise?” He asked in return.

“As high as it can?” I questioned. “Yes.”

He said, “Give me glory by rising as high as you can.”

I left the forest, realizing that God will never give up on me.

And He will never give up on you.

Never regret a day in your life.

Good days give you happiness; bad days give you experiences; both are essential to life.

Source: http://www.frtommylane.com/stories/God/heart/fern_bamboo.htm