hawkers & bus conductors

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COMMUNICATION PATTERNS OF

HAWKERS & BUS CONDUCTORS IN

KOLKATA

By

Sudhish S. (09BS0002433)

Surjajyoti Biswas (09BS0002482)

Swarnabha Dey (09BS0002492)

Sweta Soni (09BS0002524)

Tanvi Drolia (09BS0002554)

Anand Gupta (09BS0003064)

{SECTION- E}

ICFAI BUSINESS SCHOOL, KOLKATA

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COMMUNICATION PATTERNS OF

HAWKERS AND BUS CONDUCTORS IN KOLKATA

By

Sudhish S.

Surjajyoti Biswas

Swarnabha Dey

Sweta Soni

Tanvi Drolia

Anand Gupta

Business Communication

ICFAI BUSINESS SCHOOL, KOLKATA

Date of submission: 11th August, 2009

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Authorization

The report is submitted as partial fulfillment of the

requirement of MBA program at ICFAI Business School,

Kolkata.

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Acknowledgements

First of all, we are immensely indebted to Mr. Ashim Ghosh, Director,

IBS Kolkata & Mrs. Sharbari Saha, Faculty Member of Business

Communication, IBS Kolkata for giving us the opportunity to work for

such an interesting project.

We would be failing in our duty if we do not thank our respondents who

gave their valuable time and answered the survey questions with

tremendous patience and understanding.

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Table of contents

Topic Page no.

List of illustrations 06

Synopsis 07

Introduction 08

Communication pattern of bus conductors 09

Communication pattern of hawkers 14

Conclusion 17

Recommendations 18

Attachments 19

References 22

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List of illustrations

The study does not contain any distinct illustration. The research

is based on interaction with a number of random bus conductors

and hawkers across Kolkata.

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Synopsis

This report analyses the communication patterns for bus conductors and hawkers in

Kolkata. The main focus is on the how the conductors and hawker communicate in

market to make the sale. We have tried to capture the common terms and different

modes of communication used.

To collect the data we have interviewed hawkers and bus conductors from different

parts of the city. The report also focuses on the problems faced by people in this niche

sector.

Hawking is generally considered as a “menace” or an “eyesore” that prevents the development of Kolkata as a world-class city. But this article explores the essential presence of hawkers in a city, which requires a critical understanding of the functioning of public space. The experiences of hawkers in Kolkata, as elsewhere in India, have taught them not to fear a regulatory state, but a predatory one, a state that constantly demands bribe sand threatens demolition, against which a license provides security. Bus conductors are people who are responsible for the sale of the ticket and

management of the crowd in the bus. We have tried to depict the communication

patterns adopted by them for interacting with the public as well as the driver of the bus.

Special focus is given on bus conductors in Kolkata. Bus conductors in Kolkata as

compared to the other states are more responsive and caring to the public.

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Introduction

The report has been prepared to understand the communication patterns and styles of two of the

most interesting groups in Kolkata, the Hawkers and the Bus Conductors. The study helped

remove a number of pre conceived notions about them and will certainly help understanding

them and communicating with them better.

Purpose, Scope and limitations:

The Purpose of this report is to list out the communication pattern of bus conductors and

Hawkers in Kolkata. Although the sampling has been carried out only in few places in Kolkata,

the general communication pattern is more or less the same all over Kolkata.

Sources and Methods:

Data collected is predominantly Primary data.

In preparing this report, we have interviewed conductors at several places which include Garia

(no.5) Bus Terminus, 45 bus Terminus, Patuli-Ramgarh Bus Terminu (Patuli), Bus no 71.

We interacted with Hawkers at places like Gariahat, Esplanade, Hatibagan, Ultadanga &

Chandnichowk.

Report Organization:

The report reviews the different kinds of conductors and hawkers in Kolkata, analyses the

different trends in their communication pattern, and summarizes them at the end.

Limitations:

There was time constraint as the research had to be done in a short time and Kolkata is a

big and diverse city.

Cost constraints were faced.

Scarcity of resources was a problem.

Only a limited number of hawkers and bus conductors could be interacted with.

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Communication pattern of Bus conductors :

Kolkata is very well connected by buses and some buses operate very early in the morning to very late in the night. However, Kolkata‟s bus system might take a little getting used to. Bus stops are often not clearly marked out and can be distinguished by spotting a group of people standing on the road side. There are no timetables and the routes aren‟t explained so the best thing to do is wait for a bus, hail it and ask the bus conductor if the bus goes where you are headed, if not, ask him which bus you should take instead. They are usually very helpful and almost always provide the right information.

The buses usually have open doors and are manned by two conductors on each door. We don‟t have to worry about paying at the door, once the bus starts moving, the conductor will spot unpaid passengers and ask you to pay. A flimsy paper ticket is given and unfortunately daily or monthly tickets are not available.

Payment can vary between Rs.2 and Rs.5 (US$0.04 to $0.10) for a trip, depending on

the distance travelled.

Classification of buses of Kolkata:

Buses of kolkata

Government undertaken (run by corporations)

CSTC

CTC

WBSTC

NBSTC

SBSTC

Private (public buses and mini Buses)

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The basic qualification criteria for becoming a conductor in the government

undertaken sector is Class 8th standard whereas there is no such criteria for the

private run buses. It largely depends on the owners of the transport.

The buses in the Govt. undertaken sector generally consists of a single driver and

a conductor (per bus) where as in the case of a private buses it varies between 3

and 4(1 driver,2 conductors,1 helper in case of a public bus and 1 driver,1

conductor and 1 helper in the case of a mini bus).

Conductors in both the service (govt. and pvt.) are required to obtain a license

from the Motor Vehicles .The conductors in the govt. service have a fixed duty

hour(8 hrs approx every day),6 days a week and they are required to serve either

in the Morning, Evening or in the Night Shift depending on their schedule and

requirement. The private conductors have no such fixed duty hrs. They generally

work for avg. 14-18 hrs a day (7 days a week).

The conductors are generally of two types (sub classification)-the trainee and

the permanent. In the private buses the helper is generally promoted to the place

of a conductor after he gets sufficient training and deemed fit for the job.

Function of a bus conductor:

They generally bangs the body of the bus or use the bell of the bus for

communicating with the drive

They collect the money (charge of the trip) from the passengers and keep them in

between their fingers after folding.

They shout at their topmost volume while interacting with the passengers.

Problems they generally face while interaction with the passengers:

Ramesh Prasad,a conductor of Bus no-71,who has been in the profession for 7 years

identified the following problems they face everyday.

They feel disgusted when a passenger gives them a 100 rs note for a 4 or 5 rs

ticket

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Sometime the passengers delays the payment for the tickets and gets down

without paying for the ticket

As this is their daily job or routine they normally don‟t indulge in argument

with the passengers

Their life is very hectic

They usually depend on the incentives for their living.

If the passenger tells the conductor to stop the bus in the middle of the

stoppage the conductors get irritated.

Political affiliation/union:

All the private buses in Kolkata have got political backings or are affiliated to either the

CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) as CITU or the TMC (Trinomool Congress).

e.g, all the private bus service in the Jadavpur area is affiliated to the CITU.

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Communication Pattern:

Calcuttans on the street, more than any other city, have a term or a phrase of their own

for everything under its scorching sun. No city can match it for orginality and

spontaneity when you talk of a roadside lexicon. No other citizen in the world has the

intensity, the passion and the sense of humor that the Calcuttan has. With his turn of

phrase he is an Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw and Sukumar Ray rolled into one.

Expressive, explosive and always exclusive. Following are a few jargons used by the bus

conductors in Kolkata-

Jargons Meaning

Handicap Handicap!! A bus conductor referring to a handicapped person.

baie ja,baie ja…

Conductor urging the driver to manoeuvre the vehicle to the left

Chepe daran,chepe basun!

Conductor urging the passengers to stand/sit more closely to give space to others.

Dada/Didi ticket ta baraben

Conductor urging the male/lady passengers to buy the ticket.

Jaldi/taratari uthun/namun

Conductor urging the passengers to get up/get down quickly.

Ringing the bell once/twice:

Implies to stop/proceed the bus

Peeprey

auto-rickshaws who are multiplying in hundreds and bugging one and all

Charpoka

Maruti 800

Haati

double-decker buses with a 'trunk' in which the driver sits; an almost extinct species

Matchbox:

Calcutta's first generation mini-buses that left you hunchbacked and stiff-necked.

Electikey Chalao:

a bus conductor's coded jargon, telling his driver to speed-break in order to jerk passengers further in, since they are all

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crowding near the entrance.

Dada, je akebarey daak-ticket hoye shetey galen:

sarcastic comment targeting Romeos who refuse to budge from the vicinity of the ladies seats, invariably getting 'stuck', just like a stamp on an envelope

Sandow maashi:

a tongue-in-cheek conductor's term describing a not-so-young lady wearing a sleeveless blouse, a la Govinda.

Langras:

three-legged tempos that limp along and handicap other drivers

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Communication pattern of Hawkers:

According to the survey conducted by the team in the five major marketplaces in

Kolkata (Ultadanga, Hatibagan, Esplanade, Chandnichowk & Gariahat) the hawkers of

Kolkata can be classified into many small segments depending on the parameters like-

activeness & behavior.

Classification of the hawkers on the basis of their activeness:

On the basis of the activeness hawkers of Kolkata are of 3 types-

1. Over-active hawkers:

This type of hawkers makes unnecessary noises in the marketplace. They

generally do excessive effort to attract people to them or their product. They

shout unnecessarily (sometimes with a microphone), make funny comments or

gestures to make their selling superfluous.

2. Active hawkers:

This type of hawkers doesn‟t overdo anything to sell their products. It doesn‟t

mean that they don‟t shout at all, they start calling the customers only when they

perceive that the customers are coming towards their stall or about to buy

something from them. They behave very politely & frankly with the customers.

This type of hawkers often succeeds in retaining their customers.

3. Inactive hawkers:

This type of hawkers prefers to remain silent; they don‟t do any considerable

effort to attract the customers. Even when the customers come to them to buy

something then also they hardly do any kind of interaction with them.

Composition of different hawker markets of Kolkata:

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Esplanade Hatibagan Gariahat Ultadanga Chandnichowk

Over-active

Active

Inactive

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Classification of the hawkers on the basis of their Behavior:

On the basis of the observed behavior the hawkers are classified into two classes-

1. Well behaved hawkers:

This type of hawkers generally wants to maintain a decent relationship with

their customers. They behave politely, softly to their customers & want to

avoid unnecessary arguments with the same.

2. Rude hawkers:

This type of hawkers deals their customers very badly. If, for any particular

reason, a customer leaves their stall without buying anything they get very

angry & start arguing with their customers with abusive languages.

Moving & static hawkers:

According to the ‘stability’ (i.e., whether the hawkers move from one place to

other place or whether they remain stick to one place to sell their products) the

hawkers can be divided into two classes, namely, „moving hawkers’ & „static

hawkers’.

Moving hawkers frequently change their positions or go door to door to sell

their products. This kind of hawkers has very good communication skills through

which they can easily make good relationship with the local customers.

But Static hawkers prefer to run their business in one space only.

List of Hawkers & their Pick-up lines:

Hawker’s Name Monthly Income (Rs.)

Items Seller or buyer

Type Pick-up lines ( in Bengali)

Meaning in English

Hariprasad Sahukar <2,000 Lemon seller Moving “Pati lebu Takay du khana”

2 lemons in 1 Rs. only

Basanti Bera ~3,500 Cooking utensils

seller Moving “Basooon…aeeee…basooon lagbe?”

Does anyone want cooking utensils?

Rajkumar Das ~2,500 Old newspaper, plastic goods, furniture etc.

buyer Moving “aeeeeeee…. Purana khata-boi bechbe? Purana shishi botol……aeee…kagoooozzz”

anyone wants to sell old books, newspaper, glass-bottles etc.??

Poritosh Mitra ~5,000 sweet seller Moving “nalen gurer sandesh Fresh sweets….

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milbe…gujiya, chandrapuli milbe milbe….tataka tatka mistiiiiiii…..”

Rocky Biswas ~6,000 Imitation jewelry

seller Static “ei j didi, boudi ra, notun notun design ache…”

Hey sisters!!! I’ve new designs of cloths.

Bilas Kishore >5,000 chaat seller Static “Jhalmuri, bhelpuri, paprichat….kheye jan.. kheye jan…ekbar khaben .. ..bar bar asben!!”

I sell different kind of snacks… If you eat once, surely u’ll return…

Biswanath pramanik ~4,000 ice-cream seller Static “aeeee… kulfi maalaai ache….”

Cold Ice-cream…

Montu pal ~6,500 Cloths seller static “ekta kinle 100 aar duto nin 150 takay.

Buy 1 @ Rs.100, Get 2 @ Rs.150

Raju Mondol ~6,000 Cloths seller static “Ek ka Do” Bye 1 get 1 free

Some special Characteristics:

The time when a hawker is dealing with his first customer of the day is known as

“Bouni ka time”. Usually in this time he/she doesn‟t bargain too much with the

customer. At this particular situation, the hawker behaves very politely to the customer &

doesn‟t argue too much as he/she may lose his/her 1st customer of the day.

Though the maximum numbers of hawkers of Kolkata are not literate enough & they are

not comfortable in speaking English, it has been observed that they can easily bargain

with the foreign customers. Usually they communicate with the foreigners with broken

English. For e.g.

Foreigner: How much is this?

Hawker: 900 rupees sir.

Foreigner: no. no. it‟s too much!!!!

Hawker: it good… sir. Take na sir!!! Take….

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Conclusion

On the basis of above discussion it can be concluded that both bus conductors &

hawkers of Kolkata have a very interesting communication-skills.

Communication pattern of the bus conductors consists of the components like-

1. Communication with the driver 2. Communication with the passengers. They

communicate with the driver through bell, or banging of the walls of the bus etc. They

also use some special kind of jargons to communicate with the driver or other

conductor(s). On the other hand, in case of communicating with the passengers only

oral media is effective. Their life is very hectic. They feel very irritated when some

passengers give them 100 rupees note for a 4 or 5 rupees ticket or delay the payment etc.

But they don‟t normally indulge in arguments with their passengers.

On the other hand communication pattern of hawkers have more variety than that of the

bus conductors. Different hawkers have different levels of activeness. The level of

activeness of the hawkers varies from one market to other market & it also depends on

the personality of the hawkers. There are some hawkers who behave rudely with their

customers, as well as, there are some hawkers who behave very politely with their

customers. This type of hawkers generally uses many interesting pick-up lines to attract

their customers.

So, in the city of joy, Kolkata it is an absolute pleasure to watch the activities &

behaviors of the hawkers & bus conductors. Their language, their behavior have become

an integral part of the culture of Kolkata.

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Recommendations:

It has been concluded from our research that there is a lot of pre-conceived notions

against bus conductors & hawkers.

We have the following suggestions for the parties involved-

Parties Recommendations

Bus Conductors They should have little patience. They should be able to understand and speak in Hindi also as a lot

of non – localites are availing the bus services

Passengers They should talk politely to the conducters They should carry change and if possible be aware of the tickets cost

in advance They should be ready with the money when required

They should get up and off the bus only at prescribed bus stands They should understand that the conductors are just doing their

jobs, therefore, cooperate with them

Hawkers They should always have a smile on their face as it affects the

customer‟s response

They should negotiate politely They should not force or pounce on passersby They should not block the road

Should not sell unethically

Customers They should not behave in a snobbish manner They should talk politely to the hawkers

If not interested in buying, then atleast not misbehave One should understand that the hawkers are trying to earn their

living, so please treat them like just another human being

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Attachments

I. Questionnaires for the survey:

FOR BUS CONDUCTORS

Name Average income per month No. of family members Problems faced while interacting with passengers

Political affiliation (if any) Any jargons How do u communicate with driver? How do you communicate with the drivers?

FOR HAWKERS

Name Average income per month How do you communicate with customers?

Type of products sold Pick-up line How do you communicate with foreign customers?

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II. Pictures of hawkers & bus conductors:

Hawkers of Ultadanga market

Hawkers of Gariahat market

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A hawker, selling oranges at the

footpath of Park Street.

Picture of a bus conductor

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Picture of a bus conductor

References

1. http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/215/512642704_f614f

a6c0d.jpg%3Fv%3D0&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/arindam_thokder/512642704/&usg=_

_JHmcimzFyn9w01lOgOLzHAGjTw=&h=335&w=500&sz=90&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=hgagVvcnTGi

cDM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkolkata%2527s%2Bbus%2Bconductor%26g

bv%3D2%26hl%3Den.

hawkers & bus conductors

Business

icfai business

bus conductors

communication

baie ja

swarnabha

anand gupta

surjajyoti

average income