eCommerce : The evolving story.....part 1

I was introduced to eCommerce in 2006 in Melbourne when I bought a Handycam from eBay...from then onwards it has slowly become a buying mode for household / personal needs - be it Groceries, baby toys and diapers, Apparels & shoes, Fridge, washing machine, hard drives, furnitures and books offcourse! - the total value of my eCommerce purchase since 2010 is around 3.5 lacs INR - if not more!

We all have seen the Indian eCommerce industry grow leaps and bound in the last 2-3 years...presently Flipkart is valued around USD 12 Billion dollars, Snap deal around 6 Billion dollars and so on....

I personally had a chance to get involved in eCommerce while working for a retail conglomerate and I was awed at the complexities it had and at the same point of time the endless possibilities that we could provide to the customer through this channel...

Today eCommerce is no more a game where you build amazing websites - it has moved out to smartphones, the strategic focus now pans across the bandwidth i.e. providing amazing customer buying experience to amazing fulfillment / delivery experience - the whole idea has not only evolved technologically but also emotionally...

     Picture Courtesy: All the eCommerce websites that have been mentioned.

Today, consumers look beyond convenience & discounts, for the following features :

•  More options across the price bands across different catalogues
•  Same day delivery - if not within next 4 hours delivery !
•  High quality experience guarantee - not only for the product but the whole experience i.e. packaging, delivery, home trials, hassle free & no question asked returns, customer support, ease of payments
• Value add services like:
• priority consumers getting the first option to shop for New season launch, 
• all monthly updates on new products, or 
• priority members only offer!

Today customer needs have changed, they now want to step up and get more emotionally connected with the ecommerce experience....the experience revolution that shopping malls gave the consumers in the start of this century is happening a decade later...but this time it's just from the flick of their fingers!

So, what's in store for the future of eCommerce in India?

Though most of the eCommerce organisations are bleeding at the moment and the focus is more on customer acquisition; but moving forward, say in next 5-6 years, there will be only 3 or 4 major players left in the whole eCommerce field in India. Major consolidations across catalogues and across different offerings will happen and the end winners will be those who stay focused on the customer need and they only will become profitable over a period of time...

Is there a strategy behind elections ?!

Now that we are over with the exciting 6-7 month long election process and we have for the first time -almost after 3 decades - a single party majority government in India ...One question that pushes me - "Is there at all something called 'Strategy' in politics & elections?"

I am not sure what Arvind kejriwal was thinking when he and his party resigned from the Delhi Government...I thought strategically he is the best .....IIT -IRS tag!  But alas!!
- Did he not for single moment think that people of Delhi had vested so much faith on him and that he CANNOT just resign because Congress & BJP are not falling on-line regarding Jan Lokpal bill. Arvindji you could have done so much for Delhites...I am sure you learnt your lesson....

I am not sure what was strategical about Congress giving a ticket to Pawan Bansal  and Rahul Gandhi to be portrayed as the prime ministrial candidate?
- I am sure a class 3 student can make you understand what I am saying.

What strategy was BJP thinking when they tied up with Ram sene guys in Mangalore?
- You just mended on time...this would have been very self-defeating

The list goes on....I believe for quite long, the political parties have taken people of India to be emotional fools and have tricked us by having alliances, creating vote banks, assuring populistic measures and what not....

What is so Hindu about being an Hindu or Muslim about being a Muslim ?- when one cannot afford to feed their kids and have to live in a slums a life that animals live!

Why do we have a good feeling of getting a stable government? - When we see so many child beggars on the traffic signals- isn't it their age to go to schools?

What is so good to get a honest Prime minister? - when his cabinet is filled with Theives!

When I speak through my blog, I believe I speak for most of the Indians...and I wanted to tell all those folks who think we are emotional fools...."Yes we are Emotional fools....don't think that with your strategy and tricks you will be able to woo us....we believe that it is our right to have good governance.... yes we will believe you quick (Like we did for AAP in Delhi) but we will "Kick" you out quick as well ( like we did with Congress & AAP) ...if you do not give us what we need or what you promised for"

So  Be-Aware of the Indian Citizens....your strategies will go for a Toss!

The lives we Live!

• Snoozing on that 6:30 alarm and wanting to stay in your bed for a little longer - but you can't!
• Saying your kids - "Not this weekend - we will try for the next, have to be in office this saturday"
• Calling up your wife or Mother to say - "I will be late today, please have your dinner"
• Cancelling your tickets, to your planned vacation, at the last moment because something urgent or an important proposal has come up at office !
• How many times you could not attend a close relatives marriage and wished him over long distance call because you are posted in a far off country!
• How many times you felt that you are getting selish but you have to go on!!

 How many times have you experienced this, I am sure often.

 

Do not worry, most of us are going through this and slowly we are getting pulled into a situation where we stop doing things which are natural, which our heart wants.

 

Slowly we position ourselves in a place where we have walked far away from our families and so close to our work that it starts feeling 12 hours in office is better than 12 hours in home!

 

Where buying a longer car, a new watch or a new piece of jewellery brings in more happiness than eating together with the family or where trying to be on top of the societal hierarchy brings in more pleasure than helping others.

 

Is this the life we asked for?

 

I am sure your answer will be a big "No". So why not re-write the equations one more time. Equations which are net positive - positive for "Us - my family" and "Me"; where we take decisions not based on the value of the Pay Cheque but value of the relationship, where we talk freely and move with out boundaries !

 

Disclaimer: I do not want to mean that one should not be ambitous enough - but we need to see that at what cost!

Question to the Prime Ministers of India (Since 1947..)

Dear Sirs (Madam), I am just another "Aam Aadmi" of India and want to show my emotions regarding the way my country has been managed since last 66 years and is presently being managed. Apart from the voting rights, I (we the people of India) do not have any other means of reflecting these emotions, unfortunately that comes after every 5 years... and I do not believe in revolution because I ( as other common men) am very selfish and I want that someone else ( like Arvind ji or Anna ji) will take my fight up.......I (we) am happy watching heated debates on TV, happy watching my salary coming to my bank account on 31st (30th) of every month ( I also do crib about the tax during that time), I (we are) am happy staying in a posh residential building in India (which has been built by the Politico-Builder-Land grabber nexus).
But sir (s), on this occasion of 67th Independence Day, I want to take the help of not-so-famous blog of mine (read by some 30-40 people in next 7-8 days, who will forget very soon), to ask you just few questions - "Have you ,done good enough for my country?".

You have a definite right to  ask me back  - "what have I done apart from paying tax and voting every 5 years?".  But sir, as I said, that we citizens have become very selfish - we do not think much more than our family needs; because we do not see any hope. I do not see my country supporting me when I try to fight with street goons, corrupt officials  & politicos, when I see kids on the street selling Indian flags (It comes cheap - just Rs.10!) when they should have been in school, when I see states being divided for political gains, when I see corruption being pushed under cover to save the close ones of India's famous family, when I see scam tainted ministers (Cannot name them, as he list is too long) roaming  freely.
Sirs, time might have come now that you stop being so reckless about the position you hold. You and only you can lead this country and its citizens to a new defined glory.  Honestly, I do not care which party you belong to as long as you are strong, righteous and able earn back the prestige of my country.
Because, sir, if you do not do it soon, it might get late and you (all of you) will be questioned by the generations to come.

Jai Hind.

A meeting with a Friend and an Entrepreneur...

I met Mukesh way back in 2006 in Melbourne and during our association I always found an amazing amount of energy in him. An energy which was directed toward different directions, trying to achieve something....but it was way back then. Last month after meeting with Mukesh almost 6 years later, things have changed.

He is now a budding entrepreneur (http://autowale.in/ ), speaks with lot more focus and I felt a sense of satisfaction in him.
My first question to him was, do you sleep better now and for longer hours? and there came the answer - "Yes"- A 'yes' that was honest and had satisfaction oozing out...

We discussed about the challenges he is facing in spreading out from Pune to Bangalore. The huge exponential learning he has every day of his life and the way venture capitalists  work .

I am not sure what ingredients make an "Entrepreneur " - But one thing that you need in ample amount is  "Consistent Determined & Focused Energy". But there's no gaurantee that even after all these adjective-filled energy you will be successful and I believe good entrepreneurs know that....hence they are "always Hungry".

I am afraid to wish, Mukesh and other entrepreneurs like him, a grand success - because I fear that a grand success might make them complacent and we might loose out on this "Breed". So go on people you have miles to go before you sleep.....

Thanks Mukesh for the Lunch and Sushant for accompanying me

CommonMan to SuperMan

Recently there has been slew of new movie launches  - Like Khiladi 786, Dabang2 and Son of Sardar -one thing is common to all of these movies - The main protagonist of these movies i.e. the hero is less of a common man and more of a "Super Man"...

I do not think that their success in the box office is a success of the movie from an "artistic or creative" perspective. It is a success of how these movies have been able to capture the alter-ego of the "Common Man" of our country -who wants to fight with all the odds that are thrown at his/her way.....right starting from paying bribes to get a work done, fight with the local goons, those irritating rash drivers, those dirty politicians, those schools which focus not on education but on the fees, the mentality which has made India an unsafe place for the ladies and the list goes on and on....

The Common Man wonders that how many efforts like Satyamave Jayate are required ?, How many real life "Nirbhaya" have to lay their lives ?, How many real life "Anna and Arvind kejriwal need to raise their voice?"  - before the change happens. He / She feels very weak and wishes that he/she had the power to fight for righteousness and justice like the characters of the above movies.

Alas! there are no answers and there's just a hushed silence and hope that says - " Though the times are dark  but the revolution has started.....let's not look for an alter-ego but let's become one."

Coming Soon....

Very soon I would have some interesting and exciting posts/pictures about my Sydney experience and places I visited after coming back to India....so wait and watch for more on this space!

The Vacation 2011

Well we have been waiting for this vacation since 3 months prior to our journey date i.e. 30th Otober...We had leaves squeezed out and planned, gifts bought(after lots of discussions and roaming around malls), tickets booked...the wait was full of anxiety and was worth it....

The total journey time was 24 hrs! i.e. starting from my House in Sydney till I entered my elder Sisters House in Gurgaon. The flight was tiring ( 14 hrs is tiring isn't it?) but the joy of coming back and meeting your own people had taken a lot out of it....
Anyways I met my elder sister , my Nephew ('Bhanja') after almost 2 long years...and was amazed to fine he has grown taller than me! Alas! I had been so proud of my Average Indian hieght...
Had a hectic 2 days running from one relative to another...though we were able to have some good time eating 'Rosogullas and Samosas' where ever we went and had a relaxed dinner together. Me and my Bhanja did squeeze out some time to play table - tennis in the morning. During these time-cramped holidays you feel bad when you are not able to meet some of your closed relatives...well this is how life is, we need to move on and I made it sure that the next time we come in, we got to meet them first.
We took a train ride on one of India's most respected trains the 'Rajdhani'. This train runs between most of the State capital cities in India to the Capital City of India i.e. New delhi...and now I had my Mom accompanying us in the long train journey from New Delhi to Kolkata, which made the journey a bit more enjoyable as she had her own way of keeping us engrossed in her gossip and jokes...and some of the time was spent guessing what food would be served next by the Indian railways catering team (Not sure how much we liked it, but the railway food however bad it may be had its own charm).....

We reached Kolkata on the eigth day of the durga Pujo i.e. the Ashtami. I was hit by the Durga Pujo mood immediately. We had to travel down to my ancestral home in Bhadreswar which is suburb around 40 minutes and the next 4 days passed by in one of the most memorable ways...starting with the opening of the Mandap in the morning, then rushing off to the market to buy few things needed urgently, to running off to have family lunch in the last batch, to meeting relatives after long time, to listening to artists who performed in our Mandap...it was an incredible 4 days!! On the day of dashami, once we returned from the Bisarjan (Immersion of the Idol), it felt so empty...but we looked forward for assembling next year again to celebrate Ma Durga's victory over the mahishaasur in a bigger and better way....
While travelling back to Hyderabad, I had opened up my 'Tasks to Do' list which had been prepared since last 2 months...I was bit anxious whether we will be able to tick off all of them. Because we had just 20 days in our hands and Hyderbad was boiling over the Telangana seperation issue due to which most of the Govt. Offices where closed....

We got down at Hyderabad (Secunderabad Rlwy station to be precise) in the evening of 9th of Nov; the hyderabad bandh was called off that day and had been postponed to next week...due to the Telengana agitation I expected the city to be a bit calm with Police check posts and agitations ; but to my surprise the city was as usual.... autorickshaws jostling for space, people on bikes (without helmets) overtaking from the wrong side, the huge APSRTC (Andhra Transport) buses; the decorations on the shops wooing customers for the up-coming Diwali and the Id celebrations...it was alive!
We had planned that my during our stay in Hyderabad my inlaws would come in and stay with us; so that we both spend a good time together.....in our humble abode. I was coming back to my house after more than 2 years and it immediately felt so good...not sure if its the EMI that we pay; but somehow we feel our house is in the best location, has the best sunlight and has the fresh air circulation... (I believe most of us feel so....)
For the next 20 days I gradually ticked off tasks one by one, and everynight we discussed what task we would need to do the next day? Where should we go for my bro-in-law engagement dress and ring?( ...did I forget to tell? yes My Bro-in-Law is getting married next year and the shopping has started, so that adds more excitement to this holiday...) or who are the relatives we should meet on priority? When should we take the doctors appointment for my mom's eye? where should we go for the Hyderabadi Biryani - Paradise or Bawarchi ..... slowly we drifted away from the other world we had in Sydney and we were totally drenched and soaked in the holiday mood....

The starting few days were spent running after the doctors for my Mom's and my other (better) half's health check up- sometimes I feel that today Doctors have become the most respected and rarely found beings of our society and Hospitals have become nothing less than 5****** hotels...but at the same time I was amazed to see some hospitals giving back to the society. Some days were spent, carrying the shopping bags (read it as driving - offcourse me and my Bro-in-law being the driver) from one mall to another. After entering the mall, my other half used to forget that money is a scarse resource , the only thing she remembered was the INR-dollar exchange rate :)

In the meantime something was breweing up , I had applied for my Mom's Tourist VISA and had requested the embassy for an early stamping so that my mom could come with us. We had very little hope, since the diwali holidays were knowcking on the door and we had very few days left...

I had one evening spent with my XL batchmates, where we became a bit nostalgic about the good old days spent in XL, the professors, some of our elite batchmates . Yes, we did discuss how our present job was the most boring yet the best because allowed us to come to a restaurant where one bottle of beer costed us 700 bucks!

Unlike Delhi, The 'meeting' list was almost complete in Hyderabad where I was able to meet one of my close friends ( meeting him after 4.5 years ), Visited my uncles new home and infact I met one of my engineering college friends after 8 long years!! ( See sometimes things just happen.)

We spent the Diwali evening on the terrace of our apartment with our neighbours, firing up crackers and enjoying every rocket that went up , closing our ears for every cracker that exploded and appreciating all the beautiful colours that illuminated the night sky. We had an amazing Diwali celebration together, the fun did not come from the excessive eating of sweets, or the loudest crackers or the gifts - but it came from being & celebrating together.

Alas, the saddest part of our vacation had come...the journey back. But sometimes certain things happen which make you feel good, My mom got her VISA on the last day just few hours before our flight - So the last item in the to-do list was ticked off!

We were coming back with the beautiful memories and the feeling that there's no place as good as good as 'Home' and that we would return back soon to spend more time together....!!

" Why do I want to do an MBA?"

" Why do I want to do an MBA?"
As the CAT season in india draws nearer many propsective students would try to pen down answer to the above question, in the most rich, verbose and intellectual sounding words.
But folks try to be honest and design your words such that it brings out an yearning for learning and growth.
Reasons could be many:
> - To understand the business intricacies at a holistic level
> - To understand the drivers of a Business
> - To understand how 'money' can be better utilised
> - To be in a better position to manage larger responsibilities
> - Last 9 years have been too focussed doing one thing, would like to expand my boundaries that I am flexible enought to do more.

Now some more Gyan:
People would genrally do an MBA because they believe:
> - It is a Short cut to More money
> - It is a Short Cut to more knowledge
> - It is a way of escaping the monotony of the present day work life
Everyone hopes, that MBA would be a capsule which would change the way life has been.

Honestly, it does change but few people are able to appreciate how it changes.
> - There's no gaurantee that it would change your take home salary
> - There's no gaurantee it would give you a promotion
But the thing that chnages is your thought process - the way you think . The way you look at problems and try to find a dolution.

It is something like this...Why shall I got to school, I can learn a lot from Common sense, my parents and the world around me...but end o fthe day we still go and find it very useful, don't we??
, 2011

Tipping point...

Well how many point did we witness in the past recent years?
1. The crash of global economy - Lehman Brothers and several others R.I.P.
2. The Arab crisis - Democracy is good but at what cost?
3. Indian Cricket team winning the WorldCup becoming the No.1 team in the world. - how long?
4. USA's Credit rating being downgraded - does it matter?
5. The Japanese Tsunami - the Fukushima Nuclear reactor damage and the cascading effect on questions raised on teh future of Nuclear reactor - What feasible alternative?
6. The elimination of Osama Bin Laden - would there be a new one ?
7. The Riots in Britain - So much so for a developed nation!
8. The Anna hazare movement - Does Violence matter....
Looking at the list makes me feel and think that are we sitting on a tipping point from where we might it see an all together new world tomorrow!

Crocodile Organisation

I recently visited a Crocodile sanctuary in Cairns and I was amazed to know that Crocodiles apart from Cockroaches are the oldest inhabitants of this planet. This has been possible only because Crocodiles have an amazing biological and anatomical structure which is best suited for the changes around and it can face the harshest conditions and environmental changes with ease.
Seeing this, what came to my mind is how we can build an Organisation which behaves exactly like a crocodile; stands the test of time and adapts to any changes across its environment without losing the competitive fieriness?
So, I thought of drawing an analogy between the two:

In case you are not able to read the tableail me kaushik_kc@hotmail.com and I shall send it across to you.

Uncertainity.....

Unrest in Middle East....

Earthquake & Tsunami in Japan....

Earthquake in New zealand and China...

Natural disasters across the world.....

Crude prices spiraling up....

Inflation hardening its grip over Asian countries.....

US yet to recover from the recessionary and Un-employment grip....

These sign do show that the world is slowly moving towards another uncertain and chaotic period.....

Has 'chaos' really becoming an inherent nature of this world?

Looking back in past ....I strongly believe and hope you would agree too, that last 10 years have been most dramatic.

We witnessed two world Economy slumps, due to reasons which are very close to human character - Religious fanaticalness (9/11) and Greed (2008 - Credit default swaps).

We witnessed countries getting run over by more powerful due to reasons which no one is fully sure of - Iraq, Afghanistan...

So where are we heading to..the more we ask this question the more we tend to get paranoid.....

Well this post is not all that negative, I think we tend to look at the negatives around us a lot more.... So next time you read a post like this, just don't read it....instead pass your 5 minutes, that you have already wasted, invest in something that makes you and people around you more happy.....after all life is beautiful, enjoy it and to end I quote the famous economist Keynes said..."in the long run we are all Dead!"

A changing Tide ...

The crisis in Egypt, has got all of us thinking that are we witnessing a tipping point in the history of the world; where the progress of a country is not decided by the politicians or religion biased fanatics but by its people.

Its high time, the policy makers of a country understand that it can no longer make policies which does not involve the citizens, it cannot have policies which benefits only a small mass of the whole community.

If we do not understand this now, the entropy amongst the masses would keep on increasing and very soon it would be out of the hands of the country rulers, politicians, dictators or Monarchs and nothing would matter then, neither the Queen nor Obama!

WikiLeaks...does it have any impact?

I appreciate that Wikileaks is the best that could have happened to international Journalism, but at the same time is it worth the scoop?

I believe 'No' and wouldn't mind if you disagree with me.....

To Support my belief, I would have to introduce you to a very important concept in strategy - the Nash equilibrium, named after John Nash, is a set of strategies, one for each player, such that no player has incentive to unilaterally change his/her action. Players are in equilibrium if a change in strategies by any one of them would lead that player to earn less than if he/she remained with his/her current strategy. For games in which players randomize (mixed strategies), the expected or average payoff must be at least as large as that obtainable by any other strategy.

Did I confuse you?

If yes, to put it in a nut shell, what I mean is the secrets that have been leaked out by wikileaks are nothing but information, which is of no use now or in future.

It could be exciting to hear that 'Australia thinks China as a big Problem for world peace, even though when Australia has good economic ties with China' or ' When Rahul gandhi says that he is concerned more about Hindu terrorism rather than any other form of terrorism'; but honestly this set of information holds no value.

Because, secrets are good as long as it is kept a secret and as long as it has value. So, information flushed out by Wiki leaks is niether a secret nor has any value, so it is nothing more than exciting information.

I know you might say, that wikileaks did bring out the American side of the Iraq or Afghanistan war which is very dirty and not acceptable to any human standards. But how does that change things, it happened in Vietnam war and it has hapened again.

So let us take it this way, every country has its own secret strategy to play which we can call as Plan A and als has more than 2 back up Plans called B and C up its sleeves to take care for events like wikileaks!

So, now I bring you to the most important concept in Strategy, which even mother nature agrees to - "Survival of the fittest".........

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Refer to the following link for more info on Nash equilibirium: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

I turned 30!.......

As I was returning from my office, in evening, I was observing the city lights pass by the window in the train .....and could not stop myself from recollecting, how fast these last 30 years have been for me....all the people I met, I worked with, interacted with, My family members, friends, My teachers, My juniors, the amazing life changing moments.....just awesome, how everyone and each moment has a played a part in my life... Honestly, if I pause today and try to remember each one of them, it would be a hard task for me to get all their names....and I sincerely apologize for that..never the less, I thought why not try to get the list of such people and events....

1. My family: I believe my family has been a source of inspiration since my childhood, the way my parents toiled hard, so that we got the best education and resource. Their patience, honesty and the fighting spirit is something that I look forward to. My sisters have been my guiding angel throughout, without them, I might have wandered off.....

2. My experience in NDA SSB: It was in 1998, that I first came out of Raurkela, Orissa to appear for my SSB process in Bhopal. I came across 50 other guys from different parts of India, and I could see so much confidence in those guys, so much to learn, so many things on which I can get better.....I think that event made me more rational in my thought process, a very humbling experience.

3. My engineering college days: Well, I cannot write down a novel as Chetan Bhagat did, but I believe that most of us love our college days and wouldn’t mind in branding those days as "The golden days". It was a total life changing experience for me. I was able to make friends for a life time, it gave me the confidence of performing in front of a filled auditorium, it taught me stand up and fight for a good cause and the most important I met my soul mate there!

4. My Professors / Teachers: "Thank you "....is the only thing that we could convey to them, nothing makes you so much indebted as them. They come hold your hand take you from an ignorant world to an enlightened and go away....So selfless!! and all through that, we keep cribbing not understanding what a wonderful and amazing thing they are doing for us....until we are done with our classroom days..."Thank You Sir/ Mam"

5. My Soul mate - Ohh! I think that's one of the best things and most beautiful thing that has happened with me, She is an amazing person....I was fortunate to have her in my life and she indeed has been an amazing partner in this journey till now...and with her I would love to go another 30!...thanks Dear.

6. Professional World- Managers: I came across some inspiring and amazing managers; they were so caring yet pushed across their point so easily. There were people for whom you would like to come over and work and help even if it was a weekend...they were so damn convincing, honest and smart!

7. Friends / seniors / Juniors: hey...that’s another group of people who will push you over the mountain and then jump along with you and glide through the air with you and then land with you again...I cycled with them to the school, I danced with them, I drank with them till the morning sun, I cried with them, I bunked classes with them....you all are an amazing bunch folks....keep the fun running!!

I am sure there are many more....and I shall keep adding them....but looking at this list, I feel I am blessed, fortunate and Indebted.....!!

589 kms....to be precise!

We started from Hyderabad on the morning of 11th July, 2010. It had rained heavily throughout the night and the morning was colder. Me and my family had planned to travel down to Bangalore and experience our first long drive on our vehicle which is a Maruti Alto - The 'lets Go' car!
....From Hyderabad to our House at Bangalore its around 600Kms....The highway for most of its part is very good...except for some small diversions (60-70 kms stretch). We started at 7 in the morning and reached our home in Bangalore by 6:30 PM.......it took us 1:30 hrs to wade through Bangalore traffic! ...
The travel through the highway i.e NH7, was an amazing experience. Recent monsoon showers had opened up in front of us lush green mountains, with picturesque green farmlands and it seemed so tranquil away from the city noise....Remember this was the sceneray that we saw while driving at 90-110 Kms/hr!
After reaching Bangalore...we all took some rest...and went for dinner in night at 9:00 in one of the Bengali speciality restaurants in Kormangala.
So at this point you might think that my narration of the whole episode should end, but there was more masala (spice) to it.....
While returning, one of the front tyres got punctured around 100 mtrs from our house at around 11 in the night (fortunate that it was near our house)...so me and my brother-in-law changed the tyre and then we bought the car to our apartment ...it was 11:45 by then...but that wasn't how the ordeal ended....the final cherry was put when we locked the key inside the car, the duplicate key resting peacefully in Hyderabad at my in laws home....though we had the option of going to bed and forget about it till next morning, but unfortunately we had kept the stereo and lights on, which would have drained the battery overnight and would have added to our woes in the morning....it was 12:00 in the night!
We tried what ever we could,...and then a bright idea came to me..I called up the Maruti roadside service and to my surprise they came within 25 minutes...and everything came to an end by 12:45 in the night...fortunately my wife served us with hot tea and then we watched the FIFA worldcup final till 2:30 in the morning.....!!
So the saying goes.....the journey matters and at times its exciting till the very end.........

The last one year - 2009-10

I must agree that this blog should have been published at least 2 months back....but somehow, couldn't complete it till now. Well, better late than never.....

The journey started some where during the fag end of summer in 2008...the world had just woken up to the shocking demise of Lehman brothers and the good story was slowly turning sour...My work life had started showing signs of the same and it was getting dull day after day. This is when I thought that I should give a shot to my dream of doing a MBA from a reputed college.....in India off-course, wanted to be at close proximity with my family. Though everyone of us wants the best, but somehow God has his/her (not sure of the gender!) own ways to decided who gets what, and so I was given a chance to get my B-degree from XLRI, jamshedpur.

Talking about XLRI, it's one of the oldest colleges started in India in the year 1949 and has consistently been rated among the top most B schools in India. I was selected for a 1 year business program where the group size was 97 with average work exp of 7+ years. We had a diverse group of people in our batch coming from backgrounds like medicine, Army, Airforce, Architecture, Banking, Sales, Core engineering and off course the omni-present IT!
We started off with a three day preparatory program, which did give us a flavour of the subjects and the days to come ahead.....and believe me it wasn't a rosy one!

The next one month we started off with subjects like MAN(i)AC , QTMD (Quite Torture Mental Disaster) , MCN (ahh!) etc which were an eye opener for most of us....and we started gearing up for more sleepless nights and sleepy classes ahead....then in July we did get a break from the classes in the form of Village trip and the TSAF (Adventure Trip). The village trip was an amazing and humble experience, where we met village folks near a place called Jamadoba in Jharkhand and saw some amazing entrepreneurial spirit amongst them, in spite of the difficulties. Seeing them I realised how fortunate we are to get such opportunities...after that we had an exciting adventure journey with TSAF, where each one of us irrespective of their age and gender did all kinds of adventure tasks, starting from mountaineering, rappelling, boating..and what not.....I believe by the end of the 3 day adventure trip we all must have lost at-least 3-5 kilos and grown darker by a shade or two!

Soon, the first semester came tumbling our way and by the time we finished up with the gruelling 7 days of exams , the 2nd term started without any break...and then came even more tough subjects.....soon we were done with the second term (the fastest and the most gruelling term) and were getting ready for the international Immersion...By this time the whole batch was trimmed and grounded....people who were flying high the first day where grounded, people who were speaking in a low voice were debating like they have been doing this all their life....The placecom was elected and the brochure team was racing against time to get them out and send it through the various corporates......We had our part to play by posing for the photo shoot for the brochure and trying to give out the best look we had. By end of October we were off to different destinations across the world for our international immersion. Some went to US, some to Germany, few went to France and I accompanied the team which went to Manila, Philippines. International immersion was a great experience for everyone, specially for people for whom these was the first experience abroad. They not only experienced world class universities and professors but also world class cities, industries and other experiences !! . As soon as we were back, we were gripped by the placecom fever....there were debates , debates and yet more debates.....Placecom guys were trying to make both ends meet. On one hand they were trying to woe the companies and on the other hand answer the questions of the students. People gave advises and went ahead to help the place com. Also, there were others who gave advises and went ahead to their rooms....By the end of Feb most of us had their concentration on the placements rather than studies, professors gave in their best to rope in companies through their contacts. In these hard times we did experience some very good subjects (electives) and professors, and my personal experience was that if given some more time, I would have loved to take a few more electives!(though some of my batch mates might disagree with me.) Some of the students amongst us were instrumental in Strengthening the ties between us and the students of other flagship courses in the college, between the batch and the professors. In these hard times we saw some amazing leadership capabilities from some of batch mates and their true colours were inspiring...In the fourth term we went ahead to Mumbai, bangalore for placement week and we were fortunate enough to place most of our batch mates by the last day of our 4th term exam (April 25th)....and by the day of our Convocation (mid may)we had almost everybody placed or in line.. this was one of the greatest achievement for the placecom, for the batch, for the faculty and for the college....The convocation was presided over by the MD of Tata Steel, Mr. HM Nerurkar ..... we ended in a happy note... after all that is what matters, isn't it?
After 2 months, of that journey, as I write today, I strongly feel that the last one year was worth the investment and it wouldn't have been possible to go on that journey alone; fortunately we all got the support of our family, friends, fellow GMPians and Faculty.....and today we all remain highly indebted to them and have to prove that their effort and sacrifice didn't going vain....So all the best to the batch of 2009-10 GMP.....Go conquer the world.....!!

How to Go ahead? ...After a Failure...

After listening to the apology speech of Tiger woods, I was wondering as to what are the different ways people try to mend their ways after a failure (Self inflicted or otherwise). I could find only three ways:

1. Fight Back and turn your story into a success story;a story which would inspire.

Roger federer is one of them - he lost to Nadal when people thought him to be the invincible. He cried, licked his wounds and came back with a bang.

2. Get frustrated and depressed; get lost into the pages of history. Just fade

Paul Gascoigne: Just one missed penalty shot in the finals of 1998 world cup, turned his career. Drinking has taken heavy toll on him and he would eventually fade out....Sad, people say he is a player who had the potential to bring home the world cup for england!

3. Go about life as usual, with a feeling "who doesn't make mistakes? " or " show me a person who has never failed?".

Politicians: What better example then these group of people. We have innumerable of them.

So, thinking from neutral point of view, I strongly believe and suggest that one must keep fighting...Because you just don't wan't to fade out or die dirty!

The IPL fever...Back in India- 2010!

I was going through the advertisements of IPL 2010. The underlying theme that comes out clearly is - "Last time it was in South Africa and this time its in India, So expect a bigger and better show".

Its true that , last time players might have missed on the Indian playing conditions, teams have missed on the Indian cricket frenzy crowd - or should we call them 'The audience', management missed out on the opportunity to mint more money and the Cricket lovers of this sub-continent missed out on the excitement.

Things have started rolling on a positive note this year, except for the fiasco between IPl and Players from Pakistan. The IPL ads that have come up this year have been conceived by JWT and features all the team captains with the punch line " We missed you" - i.e. we missed the excitement of playing in India. One exception being KKR where, "dada" (Saurav Ganguly) says "Dada ne bhi aapko miss kiya" rather than saying " Humne (we) aapko miss kiya"...So you see example of a strong leader overshadowing a team!

Anyways what ever the situation may be I am looking forward for the excitement and My best wished with 'Dada'..... oops! KKR!

Links to the IP ads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQYE72TLCoY

Organisation Intelligence:The data to Information to Pattern shift...

In the business environment today, the difference between survival and extinction often rests on a thin edge of higher efficiency in reacting to complex business situations and providing the basis for improved business decisions. This all is dependent on how we collect, assimilate and interpret credible data and it is here that Data mining and Data warehousing comes into picture. It helps us in improving the quality and effectiveness of assimilating data and interpreting it for future business decision-making process. Proper implementation of Data mining can help an organization achieve high return on investment decisions by exploiting one of the enterprise’s most valuable and often overlooked assets—DATA!

The basic function of Organisation Intelligence is:

Collecting Data -> Formatting it -> Converting it into useful information -> Trying to capture a pattern. This pattern helps the organisation to take a decision in devising a new strategy.

Through the diagram below, I have tried to capture the essence of this above statement: