We have been long receiving email after email in espousing the virtues of going green and reducing carbon emissions. The email spoke about how travel is the prime contributor for carbon emissions. The email advises us to
i. Carpool - Imagine all the money one can save on petrol
ii. Cycle to work Apparently its good for your heart!
iii. Walk down. Smell the roses on the way!
Setting aside my reaction to this email and coming to the response, I believe that the email cannot be far from what is practical in an Indian IT context. The list above suits an European or an American office better.
Let me list down the obvious to state why the above list will not work in most Indian IT organizations
Car pooling
Yes, with the ever rising car population in India, this seems like a logical step. However the only fly in the ointment is that no Indian IT house works by the clock. This is not by choice, this is more by necessity.Each team works on different clocks and each individual's work hours are driven by the vagaries of their own work load, pull of the duties at home and what not. Given the state of affairs and without getting to the worn out 'Get your work life balance in order moron routine', we can safely state that the probability is very low that two or more workers who live in the same route would be able to synchronize the time they leave for home from work.
Its almost always a problem with returning home than arriving at work. I will go out on a limb and state that its almost feasible to expect pooling to work and next to impossible to pool on the way back for the above reason.
Given this fact, how does one expect to return home when the owner of the car is long gone. Its unfair for the entire pool to expect to stay back when one guy is held up. Doing so only works against the cause of pooling. The next time around you will promptly see people dropping off the pool. "Oh, never mind, I will use my car to work today' and before you know it, the pool is no longer one! I say this from experience.
Instead, if the corporate or the government introduce an efficient mass transport system that services key areas of the city and its suburbs or even the nearest railway station, it would be immensely feasible for the entire workforce to use the facility to hop to work and back! Located at MRC nagar, i would be immensely happy if my office operates a bus service that picks up and drops people from the nearest MRTS station and Mandaveli! I would just catch the next available train to Tiruvanmiyur and then a share auto home for less than twenty rupees per day which works out to be good value and not to mention savings.
Cycling to work and walking to work: I only have this to say. Have you tried this in Chennai and to work? I had a colleague almost 10 years back who used to cycle to work out of necessity and not choice. Problem? He stank of sweat all day. Majority of Indian IT houses that operate in the city do not have bath facilities in their buildings even if one wishes to cycle to work and wash up before starting. Given the hot Chennai weather, this is not going to work either.
I do not wish to be a naysayer for Green initiatives, my annoyance here is to do with the feasibility of the initiatives.
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