Clean India Challenge

A contest of this kind should not be only for housekeeping companies. Even hotels would like to participate in it,” said Usha Ramalingam, Corporate Executive Housekeeper, The Rain Tree, Chennai, one of the judges at the Clean India Challenge held on the second day of the Show. “Why just hotels, even the students of the Cannon School of Catering and Hotel Management will participate in the Challenge,” said V. Shantha, Professor and second judge at the Challenge… The third judge was Krishnan Vaidyanathan, Manager-Facilities, Aspire Systems, Chennai, who said that such contests boost the morale and put to test the soft skills of the housekeeping personnel.

Not just the judges, the hotel staff, students, housekeeping companies and visitors alike were excited as they watched, the contestants of the Clean India Challenge go through rounds of quizzing.

The panel of judges had difficulty in choosing the winners from the three final teams. ISS Integrated Facility Services Pvt. Ltd bagged the rolling trophy emerging as the overall winner followed by PCI Environmental Services which topped in the question-answer session.

With Pioneer Education as the knowledge partner, the Challenge was steered by Saji Sebastian, Director, Pioneer Hospitality Services. The two-hour competition which began with the teams warming up going around the exhibition hall so as not to miss out on any details which the quiz master Saji Sebastian was sure to quiz on. The Challenge was equally challenging for the spectators as random questions were opened to students sitting in the audience.

The Challenge ended to a nail-biting finish with ISS receiving the trophy and a cheque of र 10,000. The team paraded proudly around the exhibition hall to a rising applause.

On conclusion, Jeneish M.K., Manager, The Dusters, the third team said: “This is the first time any of us took part in such a competition. Hence, we were all nervous, which is probably why we lost. Besides, we provide FM services to software companies and the questions at the Challenge were related to the hospitality industry. We neither had any experience or answers to them. What we liked best about the Show and the Challenge was that we got to see so many machines, meet new people and also hear about the use of different machines. Even in the Gulf, from where I just returned, I have not come across such a Show. The Challenge was a wonderful opportunity for us and we have learnt a lot. We look forward to the next Challenge and hope to win it this time.”

His team mates included Mohamad Ibrahim-Supervisor, Santosh-Janitor, K. Venkatesh-Janitor and Sambatham P.- Janitor

Commenting on their victory, Vinoth Kumar, Asst Training Manager, ISS Integrated Facility Services Pvt. Ltd team, said: “The Clean India Challenge was an exciting opportunity and a wonderful experience for the boys. Winning the Challenge was like winning a jackpot for them and has instilled a sense of pride in them. Ever since they have come back from the show, they have been riding on the CIC wave and have been discussing points they lacked and have been talking about bettering their performance for the next Challenge. They have been talking about their experience of not just being part of the CIC but also the entire show to their colleagues and how good it was to see other companies and new products. They are now awaiting the announcement of next year’s Challenge. Taking part and then winning the competition was a moral booster for the team and for all the boys in the company as a whole.”

Vinoth Kumar’s team included Balaji-Supervisor, Velu-Janitor, Riaz-Janitor and Satya-Janitor.

Satish Laxman, Manager, PCI ES, felt that his team could not score in the first half but in the rapid question round they went far ahead on the score board. “Though we scored well, we lost in the overall performance just because we did not ‘argue’. The first lesson that we are taught in FM is not to answer back or argue with either our superiors or clients. We just answered to what we were asked and listened to what we were told. We did not go to clarify or explain over and over again. May be next time we will also emphasise on our answers and clarify our stance to the judges.” The others in his team were Rajeev Sharma-Supervisor, Sugukumar-Janitor, Malesh-Janitor and Riyaz-Janitor.