Once, when travelling abroad, I saw the city-tour bus driver working as the tour guide too. He had a microphone situated strategically near the drivers seat and he spoke through it while he drove the bus. At the end of the day, he also took on the role of a sales person and spoke to us about various other tours and ended the day as a cashier receiving payments from people who opted for tours that he spoke about. He was not an individual tour operator but worked for a company and probably had to clean his bus at the end of the day. This was new to me and I was impressed enough to wonder why this was not done in my own homeland. Only upon a lengthy discussion with my fellow traveller, I realized that India being a populous country, the socio-economic structure required different people doing the job of a driver, cleaner, tour guide etc. On another occasion in another country, I found senior citizens, way past the retirement age in India, working full time jobs due to shortage of manpower. Better health facilities also ensured that the senior citizens were healthier to work even when older. What applies to one country need not apply to another. India can surely learn from other countries, from their successes as well as failures; but we cannot forget that ours is a diverse and large country that has its own social and economic construct. We need to modify our approach to suit our situations and needs.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 19:55:30 +0000