Meeting Tim Dutta was truly inspiring. Because he is one of those people who threw aside his career to find a miracle cure for his leukaemia-ridden wife, Pia. After a tough battle, they did find a cure, and guess what, they also found a cause!
A li'l bit of history first. Pia was just 27 when she was diagnosed with Leukaemia. Although she was declared cancer-free after several rounds of chemotherapy, she suffered a relapse in 2003. Doctors said her best chance of surviving the relapse was an aggressive round of chemotherapy, followed by a stem-cell transplant. Healthy stem-cells from donor blood would be transfused into her body to generate new healthy blood cells. This, after her own blood cells were destroyed by chemotherapy, to accept the new stem cells.
Finding a match for the stem-cell donation was a tough one, as very few South Asians were registered in the worldwide bone marrow registry. But Tim's perseverance paid off, when in 2004, Pia finally found a match. Pia and Tim spent six months in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and the match worked! Pia recovered!
Ever since, Tim has been trying hard to build a stem-cell registry for South Asians. And assisting him in this venture are various corporates in the country. If you want to more about matchpia and how you can help, click here!
11.12.06
The Mumbai Dabbawalas
In their classic white kurta-pyjama and Gandhi topis, they looked every bit from another era.
The Mumbai Dabbawalas...a name synonymous with perfection, efficiency and hardwork.
As a corporate, we wanted them to share their experiences of being experts in Six Sigma. As a journalist, I was just curious to know more about their lives. (Just when I'd thought I'd left my journalistic skills behind me, the pen came knocking...) Both Raghunath and Gangaram are third generations dabbawalas. In other words, for more than 6 decades now, their fathers and grandfathers have been carrying lunch-boxes around Mumbai, serving home-cooked to those in offices. Around 5000 men carry 2 lakh dabbas around 60-70 sqkm across Mumbai every day. All this with 0% disputes, 0% investment, 0% technology, but 100 % customer satisfaction.
No wonder then that that in 1998, the Forbes Global magazine, conducted a study on the Dabbawalas' operations and found that they made one error in six million transactions! They were awarded a Six Sigma efficiency rating of 99.999999. A three-hour interaction with them motivated me to activate this blog again (excuses~excuses).
How I wish I could write about their visit here, but Integrity policies of my organization bind me. However, would just like to say this. If you every get a chance to meet them, do not miss it! Even the Prince of England didn't make that mistake!
The Mumbai Dabbawalas...a name synonymous with perfection, efficiency and hardwork.
As a corporate, we wanted them to share their experiences of being experts in Six Sigma. As a journalist, I was just curious to know more about their lives. (Just when I'd thought I'd left my journalistic skills behind me, the pen came knocking...) Both Raghunath and Gangaram are third generations dabbawalas. In other words, for more than 6 decades now, their fathers and grandfathers have been carrying lunch-boxes around Mumbai, serving home-cooked to those in offices. Around 5000 men carry 2 lakh dabbas around 60-70 sqkm across Mumbai every day. All this with 0% disputes, 0% investment, 0% technology, but 100 % customer satisfaction.
No wonder then that that in 1998, the Forbes Global magazine, conducted a study on the Dabbawalas' operations and found that they made one error in six million transactions! They were awarded a Six Sigma efficiency rating of 99.999999. A three-hour interaction with them motivated me to activate this blog again (excuses~excuses).
How I wish I could write about their visit here, but Integrity policies of my organization bind me. However, would just like to say this. If you every get a chance to meet them, do not miss it! Even the Prince of England didn't make that mistake!
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