“Can you see the red-capped person at the corner of the street you’re in?” I respond with a ‘Yes.’ “Good. Walk towards him.” I do, and mobile phone communication is alive, so I am not lost. “Now, take your left.” I do. “Can you see me?” I don’t. …

The lobby at Hotel Zuri, Whitefield, hardly two kilometers from the Daimler Truck Innovation Centre, is quiet. “Can we meet over breakfast?” asked Phaniraj Murti, a decade-long friend in the logistics domain, over the phone within hours after he noticed my arrival notice via the Indian Logistics Club WhatsApp group…

The look on 40-ish Uday Veer behind the counter at the Badshahpur Post Office on Sohna Road, Haryana was as if a bolt from the blue had hit him. The entire staff in the tiny post office inside a narrow gully with a seven by 3 feet single shutterable entrance…

Dear Arun, Greetings. Now I have moved into your neighborhood: Gurugram. Until recently, we were 50km away from each other. Now 10km. So, the chances of one-on-one mulaqat is high. Let’s catch up over coffee! I remembered you this morning (9 November 2023) while reading Daniel Knowles’ Carmageddon: How Cars…

I was punch pleased to notice the burst of enthusiasm, eagerness, and commitment shown by Indian Oil and some of its dealers to make the fatigued long-haul truck drivers’ lives less miserable. How? Pumping in huge dollops of money (90%) to build paved truck parking at its Swagat retail outlets…

Fifty-six-year-old Subrahmanyam, steering a 14-wheel Leyland from somewhere in Tamilnadu with coconut for Kathmandu, Nepal, is pissed off. Ethani sonallum, namm thirundha mattom,” (We don’t listen to reason) says the long haul trucker from Sankakiri, in Tamil, over the WhatsApp call. I cottoned onto him when he ranted through a…

Distractions are welcome, said Sudershan Popli over a self-made dipped milk-less but hot tea and some Britannia cookies on a Saturday afternoon in a Delhi suburban location. Did I hear him correctly? Why this confusion? Popli is a renowned Road Safety expert. Not the type that looks at road safety…

These panch Pandavs are from the land of Lalu Prasad Yadav. ITI Diploma holders in fire safety. In their early twenties from Darbanga, Samastipur, and Siwan. Joblessness drove them to the National Capital Region. I found them ensconced in the airconditioned conference room of Signo, the start-up that attempts to…

The roads, rather passages, are so narrow that Fortuner or that size SUV would find navigating them arduous. With one 5-degree deviation on either side, the vehicle would derail in the sugarcane or paddy fields and get stuck until assistance arrives. Green in front. Green on the left. Green on…