Ahead of Holi, the festival of colours, I visited a banker friend for lunch over the weekend. He lives in a modern housing society in Mumbai. A majority of its residents are finance professionals - commercial and investment bankers, treasury managers, senior executives of insurance firms and mutual funds.
Quite a few of them were invited to the lunch hosted at his sprawling apartment, flaunting a lovely balcony overlooking the sea.
I hadn't even tasted the delicious-looking achari paneer tikka and sweet potato pineapple dahi puri chaat (it was a vegetarian meal) when an ear piercing alarm sounded.
Oh God! Just a few weeks ago, a massive fire had broken out in a building near Grant Road Station, a bustling neighbourhood in south Mumbai. Half a dozen fire engines had rushed to the spot. Before that, in the last week of January, a massive blaze had erupted in a seven-story timber market in the same area, causing death and destruction. It had taken the fire brigade 18 hours to douse it.
I was about to rush out when the community of bankers asked me to relax. It was a routine fire drill conducted by the society at regular intervals around the year.
The housing society plans this drill meticulously, with multiple steps: The residents are alerted; the evacuation procedures are laid down; and there are designated safe assembly points. Such alarms are used to conduct a trial evacuation over lazy weekends every once in a while. The emergency exits are checked to ensure they're not obstructed.
To prevent these drills from becoming too "routine" an affair, they also switch the evacuation scenario. At times, someone stands at a particular exit with a sign reading "Exit Blocked" to simulate a potential situation and force the residents to react.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 26, 2024-Ausgabe von Business Standard.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 26, 2024-Ausgabe von Business Standard.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
India-Pak WC clash could fetch $4,800 a second in ad spend
Global firms are splurging on advertising for the upcoming cricket match between India and Pakistan to be held in the US, tapping into the spending power of the South Asian diaspora.
Bureaucracy braces for change with hope and apprehension
Officials fear re-emergence of coalition politics may lead to delayed or disjointed decisions
'Tax origin not suitable to measure budgetary devolution to states'
Using the \"origin of tax collection\" as an indicator to decide the budgetary devolutions can further accentuate the already high levels of fiscal inequalities among the states, a recent study published in The India Forum journal says.
DISCREPANCIES IN TECHNICAL BIDS - Govt likely to give two weeks to ACC PLI applicants
The central government is planning to give a two-week window to the applicants of the 10 GWh tranche of the Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to submit all the necessary documents, Business Standard has learnt.
Moody's flags concerns over coalition challenge
Says reduced political stability might erode investor confidence
ET Money suspends transactions in Quant MF schemes
Online mutual fund (MF) distribution platform ET Money on Friday said it had suspended fresh lumpsum investments and SIP registration in Quant MF schemes owing to pending 'business and operational integration' with the fund house.
Mirae Asset mulls $150 mn infusion into Sharekhan
South Korea's financial services major Mirae Asset Capital Markets plans to infuse over $150 million into retail broking arm Sharekhan for expansion into wealth and portfolio management business, said sources.
MARKET CRASH AFTER POLL RESULTS - Plea urges SC to direct govt, Sebi to investigate
A lawyer has filed an application before the Supreme Court \"to direct\" the government and the market regulator to give a report on the share market crash and loss to investors after election results Tuesday.
Markets make sharp recovery but a third of stocks still in red
PSES, Adani, infra stocks among laggards
Sebi plans to open CDS market for MFs
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning steps that will increase participation and allow greater flexibility for mutual funds (MFs) in the credit default swap (CDS) market.