LABOUR INTENSIVE

With  mechanisation everywhere in the West, machines are taking over a whole variety of jobs - cinema tickets are available from a machine, automatic drycleaning, internet banking, even passport control is now being done by machine.  But not so in India.  With its huge population, people are in constant supply.  At the hairdresser for example, one person will hold the hair dryer, another will hold the brush and two people will just watch.  But on my journey to Goa recently, I was amused to find that at Mumbai Airport, rather than make an announcement regarding flight departures, staff patrol the three huge floors of the Departurres Terminal, individually finding passengers for flights !  I was hailed by a whistle from an official on the gallery of the floor above me, who then used sign language to tell me that my flight was departing from Gate 5 and the direction in which I should go.  That must be the great strength and novelty of India, the personal touch,   A far cry from Europe, where interacting with a person is becoming increasingly rare in an impersonal society.  In India, a smile really does reach the eyes.