We relocated to Pune, India exactly one month ago - after 6 years of living and loving Bangkok. Now That I am back, I am looking at several things with a fresh pair of eyes...nothing earth shattering, just observations of daily life here...
Today's post is about us hierarchical Indians - and how all of us want to be bosses.
I live in Ajit's employer's company guesthouse currently- in a tony neighborhood of Pune . For sake of my husband, I will employ discretion in taking no names here. The guest house is an old construction - 4 bedrooms - 2 at the bottom and 2 on the first floor. We occupy both rooms on the 1st floor. The house sits on a gigantic plot of land - a plot big enough to have 3-4 more equivalently large houses in its premises. There is also an elaborate servant quarters at the back - where 7 of the 8 staff that manage this 4 bedroom place live - with their wives, children, cars and everything else.
Did I say 7 out of 8 - yup you heard that right - 8 people manage this 4 bedroom place - that for much of the year has an occupancy rate of 50%.
The interesting thing to me is not that 8 people are needed to manage this place - the more interesting thing is how the org structure of these mighty eight operates.
There is one big boss - lets call him General Manager. GM's job is to source supplies and keep it under lock and key. And yes he writes the accounts and manages the books as well. How he manages that could well open a large can of worms, so we wont get into that too much here. Ajit tells me that GM has responsibilities beyond the realm of the guesthouse - and that he manages official parties and other engagements for the company - which is just as well- because he sure as hell does not raise a finger to do any work.
Because for work, we have the 7 others I suppose ? Ha ha ha, this is India remember ?
Next in the hierarchy are the 3 senior managers. Because these are a unionized work force, these 3 senior managers work in shifts - as dictated by the GM. Somebody handles the morning to lunch time shift, and then a second guy takes over from post lunch to dinner. The third guy appears for the morning shift the next day and so on and so forth. However, to be honest, I have not seen a clear pattern to the arrival and departure of these three- so I am guessing, GM moves them around based on A complex algorithm. What exactly do these 3 senior managers do - they are the customer interface - they lay the table and serve the dinner - and help make beds in the morning. They are the go to people who will answer when you call 'bhaiya'. But beyond laying the table, serving meals and making the beds,they don't quite seem to DO anything and are all often found relaxing on the couch watching tv. Which is just as fine, as we still have 4 more people to go, right ?
The next 3- the lowly managers - are the 3 cooks. Wow !! 3 cooks to cook 6 items each day ?. The chefs work in shifts as well..similar to the caretakers..and effectively each person cooks 7 meals each week. 7 meals could be a lot - depending on how elaborate the meals are - breakfast is toast with one other hot item. Some days, the cook gets lazy and asks you to make do with toast- like today.
Yellow dal is made in bulk once a day - and kept for lunch and dinner. There are 2 fresh vegetables served up each meal. And oh if you happen to be vegetarian - like -us - then god save you on the days chicken is served up. Given the enormity of the work involved in making chicken, only one vegetable Is made.
Admittedly, the cooks have a lot more work than the caretakers - they have to chop the veggies, cook meals and clean up the dishes with the help of the 8th employee- the only guy who has not yet made it to manager grade.
This 8th guy is the worker bee - he has to sweep and mop the whole house,wash the towels, do the dishes in the kitchen, clean the kitchen, wash the bathrooms , and sometimes help the cook chopping the vegetables as well.
The laundry appears to be outsourced ( sheets etc) and the garden -well what garden - is left to gow wild. is not part of then job description of any of these 8 to maintain the outside of the home.
So there you Are - 7 managers and 1 worker managing a 4 room house. The worker bee I am sure is waiting to become a manager as well- and move into the quarters with bag, baggage and family.
Today's post is about us hierarchical Indians - and how all of us want to be bosses.
I live in Ajit's employer's company guesthouse currently- in a tony neighborhood of Pune . For sake of my husband, I will employ discretion in taking no names here. The guest house is an old construction - 4 bedrooms - 2 at the bottom and 2 on the first floor. We occupy both rooms on the 1st floor. The house sits on a gigantic plot of land - a plot big enough to have 3-4 more equivalently large houses in its premises. There is also an elaborate servant quarters at the back - where 7 of the 8 staff that manage this 4 bedroom place live - with their wives, children, cars and everything else.
Did I say 7 out of 8 - yup you heard that right - 8 people manage this 4 bedroom place - that for much of the year has an occupancy rate of 50%.
The interesting thing to me is not that 8 people are needed to manage this place - the more interesting thing is how the org structure of these mighty eight operates.
There is one big boss - lets call him General Manager. GM's job is to source supplies and keep it under lock and key. And yes he writes the accounts and manages the books as well. How he manages that could well open a large can of worms, so we wont get into that too much here. Ajit tells me that GM has responsibilities beyond the realm of the guesthouse - and that he manages official parties and other engagements for the company - which is just as well- because he sure as hell does not raise a finger to do any work.
Because for work, we have the 7 others I suppose ? Ha ha ha, this is India remember ?
Next in the hierarchy are the 3 senior managers. Because these are a unionized work force, these 3 senior managers work in shifts - as dictated by the GM. Somebody handles the morning to lunch time shift, and then a second guy takes over from post lunch to dinner. The third guy appears for the morning shift the next day and so on and so forth. However, to be honest, I have not seen a clear pattern to the arrival and departure of these three- so I am guessing, GM moves them around based on A complex algorithm. What exactly do these 3 senior managers do - they are the customer interface - they lay the table and serve the dinner - and help make beds in the morning. They are the go to people who will answer when you call 'bhaiya'. But beyond laying the table, serving meals and making the beds,they don't quite seem to DO anything and are all often found relaxing on the couch watching tv. Which is just as fine, as we still have 4 more people to go, right ?
The next 3- the lowly managers - are the 3 cooks. Wow !! 3 cooks to cook 6 items each day ?. The chefs work in shifts as well..similar to the caretakers..and effectively each person cooks 7 meals each week. 7 meals could be a lot - depending on how elaborate the meals are - breakfast is toast with one other hot item. Some days, the cook gets lazy and asks you to make do with toast- like today.
Yellow dal is made in bulk once a day - and kept for lunch and dinner. There are 2 fresh vegetables served up each meal. And oh if you happen to be vegetarian - like -us - then god save you on the days chicken is served up. Given the enormity of the work involved in making chicken, only one vegetable Is made.
Admittedly, the cooks have a lot more work than the caretakers - they have to chop the veggies, cook meals and clean up the dishes with the help of the 8th employee- the only guy who has not yet made it to manager grade.
This 8th guy is the worker bee - he has to sweep and mop the whole house,wash the towels, do the dishes in the kitchen, clean the kitchen, wash the bathrooms , and sometimes help the cook chopping the vegetables as well.
The laundry appears to be outsourced ( sheets etc) and the garden -well what garden - is left to gow wild. is not part of then job description of any of these 8 to maintain the outside of the home.
So there you Are - 7 managers and 1 worker managing a 4 room house. The worker bee I am sure is waiting to become a manager as well- and move into the quarters with bag, baggage and family.
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