I would begin by saying that there was no disrespect meant for the 'great Indian software industry'. It has done an extraordinary job of boosting Indian exports and job market.
But being in the industry for more than two years at the fag end of the IT (Information technology) ladder as a coder helped me develop a certain perspective. This was based on observations made while hunting for eateries around my office. Why so? Yes I know this would be the obvious question as almost all descent sized IT companies have their own cafeteria. But my dear friend when you are in IT and you spend more time in the office than with your family (assuming that your wife works in IT too, this family time could be reduced by a factor of 10). So, you having the same food more than twice a day at same place for months together does the trick of getting you bored to the extent that 'parathas' (Indian stuffed bread) outside the office below an asbestos sheet taste better than the claimed star service of cafeteria!
No wonder you go to any IT company in India you find a sort of fair going on outside the offices with people enjoying the lip-smacking parathas, chowmeins, chats (Indian savory) and coconuts water or cane juice, depending on the part of India you visit. I write about coconuts as I happened to work in the IT capital of India, Bangalore. The crowd is directly proportional to the size of office space and the one I used to work in was huge, and when I say huge I am thinking of HR numbers in excess of 20,000.
Standard law of demand and supply ruled. Demand was off the charts and suppliers were few so customers were at mercy of those miserable caterers who unlike the ones serving inside the campus did not know English but knew how to make money. During lunch breaks any odd shop would have long queues outside. I have spent many a days waiting in those for most part of my break and hogging all my food ASAP, lest a mail from my boss popped up asking something ASAP. My absence would have reflected pretty bad on my appraisal, which was of no use as such. Anyways that story some other time. Right now let us focus on selling coconuts, shall we?
Once upon a time, three frustrated friends got lucky enough to stand ahead of a meal queue and went through the process in no time as we could not control ourselves once the food came, due to our habit of eating fast (refer the ASAP line). We still had a lot of time as the aforementioned break was not over yet. It was hot outside so we decided to go for the Indian body coolant, the coconut water. While having it we were on with our favorite discussion on salary hike, appraisal rating, boss and job switch. I was casually sipping from the coconut shell and watching the seller expertly slicing coconut tops with a machete and serving at the rate of around 3 customers per minute and in the meanwhile collecting a cool sum of Rs. 12 per coconut. The same coconut cost around Rs. 5 near my home (in Bangalore itself).
Although limited by my wits, a clever thought ran through my mind. I thought that this person would have bought coconuts from a place that would be like the one near my home where all the coconuts were unloaded from trucks every morning. It was a sort of wholesale market. If the retailers there sell it at around Rs. 5, they must at least have a margin of Re. 1 per piece. That meant our office coconut guy earned a neat sum of Rs. 8 per coconut. Making rough calculations with the number of coconuts (about 150 which he had neatly stacked up below a tree) the figure came to Rs. 1200 per day. He sold all the of them daily and had to work for 20 days a month (to match the IT company work calendar of five days a week) and approximately 6 hours a day give or take. That means a sweet Rs. 24,000 profit without tax and any cost. I mean, come on do you think he would declare his income? He sold coconuts beneath a tree so no investment! Then I compared it with my salary at that time which was Rs. 18K give or take. Full Rs 6K short even after being an engineering graduate and working more than 10 hours a day and more than 20 days a month mostly (the 5 days per week is a myth)!
Then I turned my attention to the burgeoning catering cartel around the place and I could not even begin to wonder how much would they be earning. I was at one point of time seriously contemplated about my next job switch. You don't need three guesses to tell what options I had in mind. OK let me give a clue - outside the office, small shed, parathas, coconuts...
However something else happened and I ended up doing an MBA, spending more money I earned back in those days. After spending the whole two years I somehow find humor in it when I imagine myself slicing coconuts with a swish of a cross between knife and a home made sword. Hope you like it. See you.
