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Friday, September 26, 2008

More expensive than London, worse off than Patna

The reason for Gurgaon’s power crisis is simple: it needs 1700 MW of electricity but gets a little less than 1200.

The effects of this three-digit shortfall – altogether 525 MW – are more complicated. It means that the 16 lakh residents of Millennium City have to go without electricity for 6-8 hours everyday .

Most residents are helpless, but those who can afford it, opt for captive power plants. And pay through their noses: “We cough up Rs 11.40 per unit for uninterrupted power. As honest taxpayers, we feel short-changed by the government,” says Rajender Sharma, a businessman living in DLF Phase IV .

The more than 250 national and international Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms in the city, as also the 2200 industrial units, also have to depend on diesel gensets.

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Friday, January 25, 2008

Love in the time of call centres

WORKING LONG, odd hours at a BPO, sleeping away the days and travelling some 30 km to work and back had 23-year-old Pranjul Dogra declaring, "I have no time for love." But then Cupid struck, and Dogra was soon seeing her cab companion - another call centre employee still working long hours, but with love as a convenient side effect. Cab romances are now a common trend in the BPO industry When five to seven people are confined to the seats of a Qualis/ Tavera/ Innova for an average of two hours a day, bonds will invariably emerge, says Dogra. In a cab is where Himani Bahadur, 28, often dated her now ex-boyfriend. They even changed BPO jobs to be able to work - and go to work - together She says their relationship was very much out in the open, with their friends in the cab often teasing them about their constant handholding. The couple's cab driver would even offer good-natured advice to the two - who come from different religious backgrounds and whose families are opposed to the alliance. Laughs Himani, "Our cab driver would tell us ma-baap toh man jayenge, maine bhi bhaag ke shaadi ki thi; meri biwi bhi toh alag jaat ki thi, par bacche ho kar sab maan jaate hain (parents always come around, even I eloped with a girl from a different caste, but once the kids come on the scene, all's well) "In my Thursday-Friday cabs, a couple started seeing each other based solely on their cab interaction," says Sarthak Bhatt, 23-yearold Am Ex employee. While working at Convergys, Pritika Bajaj was witness to a few cases of puppy love.

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To read the complete e-paper click here: epaper.hindustantimes.com
Image and Article source: Hindustan Times
Article taken from the issue: 25 Jan 2008

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