The nonsense that was Quick Gun Murugan

Posted: September 6, 2009 in Uncategorized
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Like now that there is a theatre close to home, and time is always scarce, if we feel like a movie, we give in to the urge and just ‘dance on the chance’. Which was how I landed on the seat at 8-45 pm, having thought about a movie at 8-25 pm, and watching Quick Gun Murugan.

And at the end of 1.5 hours, and 2 Gold Class tickets and expensive coke and popcorn later, I felt like how most advertisers feel these days. Negative ROI. Did not get money’s worth!

Can you make a movie – even if it’s like a short one – on the strength of some one-liners alone? And not all of which are that funny too?! Did I lose it somewhere in the translation? Would it have been more fun for a Tamilian? Maybe, I guess! Would it have been more enjoyable if I had been a fan of the character from TV? I don’t think so. It was pathetic whichever way you see it. So all in all, what do I feel about this kind of cinema? Well, “I mind it”!

Love Aaj Kal: a fun film, but just about..

Posted: August 2, 2009 in Uncategorized
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In the film business, success makes one more insecure and hence superstitious, I’d believe. Take the title of the film, Love Aaj Kal, for example. Imtiaz had his earlier hit, Jab We Met. 3 letters with Hindi-English mix. Worked well that time. Repeated in Love Aaj Kal! Well, so be it.

I never saw Jab We Met in the theatres, and saw it in bits and pieces, when it came on TV, few times. So I never had a great view on Jab We Met, though I know many, including few in the family, who absolutely loved it.

For me then, Love Aaj Kal was my first Imtiaz Ali experience.

And I liked it.

It had it’s shares of good and bad, so I will not call it fabulous, but it’s a decent return on your investment of Rs. 500 (2 pax, tickets, predictable popcorn and cola) + 4 hours of time!

So let me just slice down the good and the bad.

First, the good:

1. It’s the timing. When no good films are coming in, anything with a semblance of goodness works.

2. Deepika. She looks good. She doesn’t sound good. For that, refer to the ‘bad’ list below.

3. Saif. Keen actor. As producer too, he tries hard. Actually quite predictable. But scores points for trying. Don’t ask about the creases and the age that’s showing now. That too is in the ‘bad’ list below.

4. Rishi Kapoor. Makes his presence felt nowadays, in all these character roles. Singing and dancing in his hey days probably never did justice to his acting abilities. He is shining now, in these interesting roles that he gets.

5. Story and direction. Manages to hold you to your seat. Does not get boring. You don’t start seeing your watch.

6. Locales. Yes, everyone’s learned from Yash Chopra now. Show people great scenes, take them around the world, and they’ll like it. Works here too. Love some of them London and California shots. Delhi’s a bit overdone.

7. Coup de grace: I like it when directors come up with a creative stroke of brilliance. Farhan Akhtar did it in Dil Chahata Hai, in the way he created “Woh Ladki Hai Kahan..”. In Love Aaj Kal, Imtiaz does it in the way he has shown the young Rishi Kapoor (will not tell more, as don’t want to spoil it for those who have not seen the film). It was new and different and creative. Liked it.

And now the ‘not so good’ parts (‘bad’ may not be very politically correct!):

1. Deepika. Can directors please have her voice dubbed? Nothing wrong with her voice, it’s her accent that is so jarring. Be it English or Hindi. If Katrina could have it dubbed, why not Deepika?

2. Saif. The creases are showing. The effort to keep looking like a 25-year old is showing up.

3. Saif. Does not carry the Sikh look well. Passable. But there are scenes  where he looks and acts very un-Sikh-like!

4. Music. Nothing to write home about.

So it’s a 7-4 verdict and which is why the final pronouncement was a “fun film” tag.

And yes, to carry the pun ahead, I saw it at Fun cinema in Chembur, which is now a walking distance from home.

Also saw the preview of Kaminey. Have not been a big fan of Shahid Kapoor (like many are) but eagerly waiting for this one, on account of one of my favorite film makers, Vishal ‘Maqbool’ ‘Omkara’ Bhardwaj!

Thoughts on an Entrepreneur’s after-life: After success, I mean..

Posted: July 26, 2009 in Uncategorized
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The thought has been in the head, ever since Nandan Nilekani decided to take up the position to head the UID project.

That has life turned a full circle for him again? Starting as a developer, then perhaps leading software projects, then teams, then company, then success, IPO, more success, being CEO / MD.. and now again, leading one project?! Albeit, a large one, for sure.

Of course, there is huge prestige involved, it’s a big one for the country and it is very honorable work that he has chosen to take up. I appreciate it wholeheartedly, and it is clearly a choice he made.

Which made me think about many other entrerpreneurs, some of whom I know personally, and others whom we read about, and their lives post-success. Where success, for the scope of this post, is defined as that first large piece of gain – IPO or being acquired for a princely sum, etc.

Let’s talk of the biggest icon of them all: Bill Gates. He’s only worked for one company all his life, his own, Microsoft. He lives it, breathes it, he is consumed by it. He has fought many hard battles, taken on strong competitors and enemies, the legal battles, and what not. And kept the flag flying high for many many years. And now, as he chooses to use his energies for other more noble pursuits, that is the choice he makes. Like a typical analytical mind, a well thought out, logical decision. To make use of all his resources – his time, his money, his connections, his skills – to leave the world a little better. Awesome choice. Except that he needs his “fix” too. He cannot quite completely disengage himself from Microsoft. So that one-fifth of his time, that opportunistic dig at Google whenever he gets a chance…that cannot go away.

So we know about Mr. Nilekani. What has the bigger Infosys icon, Mr. Narayan Murthy been upto? He has been offered or invited to get into politics. He has of course been the bigger visionary, one who can articulate his thoughts extremely clearly, who is clearly outspoken on issues where he has conviction. A huge inspiration to youth. It appears that between giving talks at various Universities, paying his respects to Infosys every now and then, perhaps doing a bit of venture investing and helping shape the lives of his children, he hasn’t quite found a true calling in the ‘after life’. It may yet come. And true to stature, it should be something remarkable. We wait and watch the space.

There are others, especially tech entrepreneurs, who have gone the traditional route – become VCs or work as VC fund heads. Quite the Silicon Valley way of things.

Only I suspect, they do get a little itchy sometimes, to get into the action all over again.

You can’t really keep an entrepreneur away from the action for long. There’s only so much golf and so much traveling that you can do, before you want “in” once more.

So I see a friend, who post-success went about investing in few ventures. But now spends serious time again, on his own new venture. Almost like startup days all over again. Just a little more comfortable, I suppose.

** At this stage, I remember Kanwal Rekhi’s thoughts. That a successful entrepreneur often does not make a good second-time entrepreneur. But perhaps, a not-that-successful first time entrepreneur makes a great second-time entrepreneur.

In case of the former, he is now used to a good car, a plush office, and other perks, which he believes he deserves. After all, having got the money, why should be continue in garages? But that often, also leads to a lesser “hunger”, a lower drive if I may. And that becomes an undoing of sorts. And Kanwal mentioned Sabeer Bhatia’s name as an example!

And how, for the latter, there is something left to prove. That how the first time might have been an abberation, and how they want to prove to their own selves first, and then to others, about their abilities. The hunger is far more.. **

That was a digression, though.

Coming back to this successful entrepreneur then, other than that additional comfort that he may be enjoying and the fact that the first success gives him that extra visibility, he is working on another major idea. Back to what he knows best. Working on creating an enterprise.

Then there is this other gentleman, who in addition to managing a great VC fund, seems to be now directing his energies to make India a better place. Not by joining politics or doing community service, but focusing on creating a nation and a people, that could potentially be more aware, more balanced in views, more questioning, more participative. And from there, would emerge a better nation. And I presume, like in his consumer facing venture, here too he knows, that nothing happens overnight. You have to chug along, get your first adopters, your first converts, and then gradually multiply.

Having gone through building a consumer business, that calmness and confidence of how numbers can grow and then multiply, should ensure that he doesn’t lose patience in this more noble venture. Again, a good direction of the inherent energies that exists within. And not conflicting with any interests, since entrepreneurs would be pitching their business plans to him every day (in his VC avatar) and going back to running a commercial venture, could have those sorts of risks.

So what will I do in that after-life? After my success? 🙂

Have a lot of thoughts, but have kept them all at bay. First things first. Get that significant success 🙂

Sunday Musings

Posted: July 26, 2009 in Uncategorized
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This has been a long break for a blog post here. Is it because I did not have things to say? Guess not.

a. Have been sharing small thoughts more regularly via Facebook and Twitter.

b. I have been very busy. Is this the most busy I have ever been? Not sure, but at least for a long time.

Anyway, this is not about how busy I have been and why. This is about other random thoughts for a Sunday.

Like without the cricket season, without tennis, besides cricketers, the sport journos may as well take a break. What’s there to write about? And who cares what is written out there these days!

Like I have not got into the details, but would love to be enlightened about how the Railways could go from excellent profits and cash reserves (so Lalloo claimed) to empty coffers (as Mamata claims now) in a matter of weeks??

Like isn’t it a terrible terrible shame, the amount of hours and days that we, as a nation, spend on absolute trivialities of life? And which come at the cost of more important things that we do not do hence?

And I am not just speaking of politicians and party members (they are leaders on this ground, of course – statues and protests, name changes, why Kalam was frisked etc. etc. being prime examples!), but we, as a people, in general!

So many times, I want to stop conversations – personal and on phone – because they are meandering on nothingness. And yet we go on and on. And lose those seconds, those minutes of our precious life. I am not saying we should only talk shop. Far from it. I am just against “fretting the small stuff”!

Like slowly but surely it seems that everyone I ever knew in life (and in 45 years, you know a LOT of folks) might connect with me on Facebook. We are not quite there, but we will approach it (remember school maths: ‘tending towards infinity’ etc.!) in the foreseeable future. Isn’t that creepy?

Here’s the thought : in this crazy time-and-space scheme of things, life is like space travel. So the entire set of experiences that you are to go through in life, are already there in space. And you, like a bus go from one stop to the next, also referred to as say, childhood, youth, middle age, and so on. And each time, experience those different “bus stops” which were already there anyway.

And now, suddenly, with Facebook, all those damn bus-stops merge into one, and you are there, perhaps travelling together, with bus-stops and all! Yeah, crazy scheme of things.. isn’t it?

Coming back to saner stuff, where’s Sanjay Leela Bhansali? Long-time-no-see.. his movies, I mean! Waiting for some good ones.

And a last few thoughts about the Air Travel industry and it’s challenges:

Like historically, almost no airlines has managed to make consistent profits, most in fact, have lost money. And yet, people keep investing and putting up new ones. And hoping to make a lot of money. There must be some lure, perhaps an ego kick, about “owning an airline”.

Like with the low cost carriers serving food at cost in the flight, air hostesses have more work to do. Take orders, serve, take money, give change. All in the matter of the 1-2 hour flights on most domestic sectors. I am sure this is at no extra pay for them, in fact, with the recession and job losses, many might have taken a pay cut! But that is a representation of the recessionary times. Work harder, make lesser, survive!

Like, what’s the big deal about Kalam getting frisked? If privileges of security check waivers are given to all-and-sundry (and this is nothing personal about Kalam – he is a phenomenon), just because they have been in certain positions or are married to the positions, it only poses grave security risks, to the passengers on board. TOI reported that Robert Vadra, son-in-law of ex-Prime Minister, also grandson-in-law or ex-Prime Minister, besides other unofficial power connections, is exempt from being checked at airport security. The same Mr. Vadra, on whose farm house, his father was “found dead”, a news bit which was totally clamped down in the press. And he has security check waiver. Wonder which other ‘privileged’ folks have similar benefits?? You still want to fly on them planes??

Many questions, no answers. Like a typical Sunday. Like a typical life. By the Monday, I’d have forgotten these questions exist, and would have got back on the treadmill… C’est la vie. Cheers.. !

India Today: A Lesson in “how NOT to do customer service”!!

Posted: June 5, 2009 in Uncategorized
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Fans feel sad when their loved brand is going down the drain.

You flinch when you see Saurav-da struggling against young fast bowlers. You feel bad if Amitabh plays some silly role – after all, you have seen him in all fanfare.

Such is the case with India’s premier magazine, India Today. We have grown up reading that magazine, and seen its transformation into a lively mouthpiece on affairs of India.

And now, as I experience one of the most pathetic forms of customer service from this magazine, I feel frustrated as well as sad. How the mighty brand has sunk to a low-low!! In continuation with my earlier post on the subject, I would like to reproduce the chronological details of the sorry saga. The conversation over email, with my communications (ME) and those of India Today (IT) with dates and details is as under:

ME on Jan 11, 2009: conveyed that I had sent my subscription amount and had not received magazines so far, nor the gift that was part of the promotion. Asked them about both.

IT on Jan 13, 2009: Apologized. Confirmed the subscription period from 19th Jan onwards. Confirmed that the first copy will reach my in 24-48 hours. And conveyed (for the first time) that the gift will be despatched in 8-10 weeks after processing of the subscription!! Requested me to ‘bear with them’ till then!!

ME on Apr 3, 2009: conveyed to them that long time had passed and I had yet to receive the gift. Enquired.

IT on Apr 3, 2009:

Dear Mr. Metha,

This is with reference to your e-mail.

We regret to inform you that the dispatches for the subscription gift of “Mystery gift with Bag” are held due to certain logistical reasons. These gifts are currently in the process of being shipped in and the replenishments are expected to be with us within 3-4 weeks. Hope you shall bear with us in the interim.

Please feel free to get back to us for further assistance/clarifications.

Assuring you of the best possible services, always.

ME on Apr 3, 2009: conveyed that this was unbelievable. What kind of logistics challenges are those that in today’s age, first need 8-10 weeks to process a gift, and then need another 3-4 weeks to get it ready. That it was not acceptable to me, etc.

ME on Apr 6, 2009: enquiring for a further reply to the email.

IT on Apr 7, 2009:

Dear Mr. Mehta,

This is with reference to your e-mail.

We are sorry that you have had to write to us repeatedly due to non receipt of gift. We do understand you have every reason to be vexed with us. However, we would like to inform you that we are in process of sending gift which shall be delivered to you within 2-3 weeks time. Kindly confirm the receipt of the same. Hope you shall bear with us in the interim.

Please feel free to contact us for any further assistance/clarification.

Assuring you of our best possible services, always.

ME on Apr 7, 2009: conveyed that this was not acceptable. However conveyed that this is the LAST chance that I will give to India Today. If the gift is not received by Apr 30, 2009, then I would not like the gift. That I would like full refund for the entire subscription amount, and still have the subscription continue till end of the period. Or in short, if I did not receive the gift by April end, then the subscription had to become a free subscription.

IT on Apr 9, 2009:

Dear Mr. Mehta,

This is with reference to your e-mail.

We sincerely regret all the inconvenience caused due to non receipt of gift.

We assure you that all possible care shall be taken from our end, so as to ensure safer delivery of gift within 2-3 weeks time. Kindly confirm the receipt of the same. Hope you shall bear with us in the interim.

Please feel free to contact us for any further assistance/clarification.

Assuring you of our best possible services, always.

ME on Apr 9, 2009: Conveyed that the above mail from IT was to be construed as a confirmation that if the gift does not arrive by Apr 30, then the subscription will be considered free.

ME on May 1, 2009:

You surely MUST change your email id, from “WeCare” to “WeDontCare”!!

April has ended. I have not received my gift.

As committed and confirmed in the email interaction herebelow:
1. I expect immediate 100% refund of the subscription money paid for India Today, for the year,
2. I expect the subscription to continue till end of the year, free of cost.

There is no other choice, and I am afraid, there is NO MORE TIME LEFT for getting the gift!!

If you do not comply with the above, I am afraid that I will have to complain for fraud, malintention, swindling customers, false promises etc. against India Today and its senior management.

…<snip>…

ME on May 8, 2009: conveyed that there was no response, nor refund cheque. Waiting for the same.

IT on May 11, 2009:

Dear Mr. Mehta,

This is with reference to your e-mail.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused to you due to the non receipt of the magazines in spite of our assurance. We do understand you have every reason to be vexed with us. We request you to kindly reconsider your decision to cancel your subscription and allow us another chance to continue servicing you.

As per the status received from the department concerned, we would like to inform you that earlier the dispatches for the subscription gifts were held due to certain unavoidable reasons. The dispatches have now recommenced and are presently underway. We request you to kindly allow us 3-4 weeks so as to enable us to do the needful. Hope you shall bear with us in the interim.

We would also like to inform you that our subscription gifts do not contains any commercial value with it and are only complementary along with the subscription copies. Hence, we regret that we shall not be able to extend your subscription in lieu of the subscription gift.

Please feel free to get back to us for further assistance/clarifications.

Assuring you of the best possible services; always.

Note: ** For the first time, there is an attempt to belittle the gift. That they are of no commercial value and are only given as complimentary. While pushing for subscriptions, these are put up ahead as the big lure, but when it comes to non-delivery of those, they are made to appear to be of no commercial value, with a clear intent to sneak their way out of any commitment on those!! **

ME on May 11, 2009: conveyed that this was not acceptable and that I would not take anything less than a full refund. I did not care about the gift anymore.

ME on May 13, 2009: reminded about the reply that had not come and wanted to see if the cheque had been mailed out or not.

ME on May 18, 2009: again reminded to check about action from their end, as I had not heard anything from them.

IT on May 22, 2009:

Dear Mr. Mehta,

This is with reference to your e-mail.

At the outset, please accept our sincere apologies for all the inconvenience caused to you due to the non receipt of the gift in spite of our assurance. We are sorry for the inordinate delay. We do understand you have every reason to be vexed with us.

We would like inform you that we are taking up the matter with the concerned person to expedite the delivery of the gift. We are arranging to send you the gift and the same shall be delivered to you within 10-15 days time. Hope you shall bear with us in the interim.

We also request you for your kind understanding and co-operation and promise you that the gift will be delivered to you within the given time frame.

Further, we would like to inform you that your subscription is still active in our records. We request you to kindly reconsider your decision to cancel your subscription and allow us another chance to continue servicing you.

Please feel free to get back to us for further assistance/clarifications.

Assuring you of the best possible services; always.

Note: ** Yet another 10-15 days. Although for a gift that I had refused to accept now! They are accepting the ‘inordinate delay’. Not much to offer besides sweet and polite sounding apologies. They are confirming that my subscription is active, which I had never questioned!! I had NEVER asked for the subscription to be CANCELLED. I had asked for the same to be converted to a free subscription!! **

ME on May 22, 2009:

Which part of the following statement is not understood by India Today?? What language should I write in?? Why do you insist of causing exasperation and frustration with your subscribers???

Please read again, and don’t come back with same old story again and again:

I AM NOT INTERESTED IN RECEIVING THE GIFT ANYMORE.
I WANT FULL REFUND OF MY SUBSCRIPTION AMOUNT AS IT WAS A FRAUD THAT YOU HAVE INFLICTED BY TAKING THE SUBSCRIPTION ON PROMISE OF GIFT WHICH NEVER GOT DELIVERED.
I NEED THE CHEQUE FOR FULL SUBSCRIPTION TO COME TO ME IMMEDIATELY. I EXPECT THE ACTUAL DELIVERY OF MAGAZINE TO CONTINUE TILL THE END OF THE YEAR, IN ANY CASE, EVEN WITH THE FULL REFUND.

ME on May 31, 2009: complaining about not having received anything yet. No cheque for refund!

ME on Jun 5, 2009: again reminding them on non-receipt of any response from their end!!

Some interesting thoughts in this regard:

  1. Subscription paid in early January, 2009. Now, in June, 2009, that is about 5 months later, no sign of gift!!
  2. When they have no clue what they are doing, why are they offering gifts?? Why don’t they just stick to the business of making a magazine??
  3. Note the delays: originally, 8-10 weeks asked for delivering a simple gift, then in early April, additional 3-4 weeks asked for, then on May 11, another 3-4 weeks asked for, then on May 22, another 10-15 days asked for. Of course, so far, there is no sign of gift nor of refund. So let’s see, how much more time goes by. Does India Today have ANY VALUE OF TIME?? (Pun unintended)
  4. I am sure that few people pursue a matter the way I did, with them. I did so, to understand a customer service case from an academic point of view, as much also on account of the fact that I was using a calendar program that kept giving me next dates of reminder, and I just had to push off emails each time! If they had any kind of authority delegated to them, someone could have just purchased a gift from somewhere and mailed it to me. It would have ‘shut me up’ at least. But they had no authority apparently, to do so. And here I am, writing the saga of the story and burning their reputation down, some more!
  5. Amongst the funniest parts of the story are the fact that their email id is “wecare@..” (I assure you that they don’t care!!) and that each of their email always ended with “Assuring you of the best possible services always”. Now isn’t that a ROFL statement??

I will continue to edit this story with updates. Let us see where this one ends up.. !!

** Edited on June 6, 2009 **

The episode gets funnier by the day. In fact, I am more amused now than I am angry. To see how pathetic a brand like India Today can get!! I conveyed this blog URL to them on email yesterday. Told them how I am making the entire saga public now. And here are the latest episodes in the India Today soap opera now:

IT on Jun 6, 2009:

Dear Mr. Metha,

This is with reference to your e-mail.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused to you. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you. Due to some unavoidable circumstances we could not dispatch the gift earlier to you. We assure you that this time the gift shall be delivered to you within 15-20 days time.

We also request you for your kind understanding and co-operation and promise you that the gift will be delivered to you within the given time frame.


Please feel free to get back to us for further assistance/clarifications.

Assuring you of the best possible services; always.

ME on Jun 6, 2009: Conveyed my amusement. Rejected the gift and pointed them to the blog again!

Notice the assurance of the best possible service always.. lol!! They never miss that!!

Watch this space for the developing further episodes… 🙂

*** Further and final update now: ***

IT on June 10, 2009:

Dear Mr. Mehta,

This is with reference to your e-mail.

We would like to inform you that as per our records, your subscription gift has been dispatched through AFL Courier vide docket no 203810806262523 recently and hence the same is in transit right now and we ensure that the same shall be delivered to you within 3-4 working days. May we request you to kindly confirm the receipt of the same.

Further, we would like to let you know that we tried to contact you at 022-xxxxxxxx but unable to get through.

We assure you that we are here to solve your query so that in future you don’t face any kind of problem with our services.

For any complaints/query please contact our Customer care no-0120-2479900, Toll free no -1800-1800-100.

Assuring you of the best possible services, always.

I must add that in between I tried to send my saga details to their top boss, Mr. Aroon Purie. Althouth I did not have his direct email id, I took a chance with some generic email id structures. One of them bounced back, but the others did not. And chances are that one of them must have reached him. Because after the 6th June email asking for 15-20 days more, this email confirming despatch on 10th June was unusual. Also it came from a different email id. From “WECARE”, it became “TODAYCARE”!! Anyway, I got the intimation. Story does not end there.. 🙂

In fact, on 10th itself, I got a phone call, from India Today, asking me if I had received the gift. I conveyed that I had not. She was very surprised. She said, “but it has been despatched by so-and-so courier and it should have reached you”! I conveyed that well, it had not reached me! Disappointed, she put the phone down.

Thereafter, on 11th June, in a proof of their left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, I got ANOTHER email from that old “WECARE” email id, and which was:

Dear Mr. Metha,

This is with reference to your e-mail.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused to you.

We are arranging to send you the gift and the same shall be delivered to you within 10- 15 days time. Hope you shall bear with us in the interim.

We also request you for your kind understanding and co-operation and promise you that the gift will be delivered to you within the given time frame.

Please feel free to get back to us for further assistance/clarifications.

Assuring you of the best possible services; always.

Meanwhile, the gift actually arrived. On June 11, 2009. Yeah!! AND the “TODAYCARE” folks were tracking it over phone all the time. Quite likely, as I suspect, under the direct command of their top boss, Mr. Purie, who might have got a copy of the email! Because inspite of the above mentioned email that claimed that it will take 15-20 days more, and which was received on June 11, 2009, this girl was tracking the shipment delivery and called to confirm the same.

And then from “TODAYCARE”, I received this final email on June 11, 2009:

Dear Mr. Mehta,

This is with reference to your e-mail and our telecon with Mrs. Mehta on 11.06.2009.

We would like to thank you for confirming the receipt of the subscription gift “Mystery gift with Bag”. We appreciate this opportunity to be of service.

For any complaints/query please contact our Customer care no-0120-2479900, Toll free no -1800-1800-100.

We assure you that we are here to solve your query so that in future you don’t face any kind of problem with our services.

Please feel free to get back to us for further assistance/clarifications.

Assuring you of the best possible services, always.

And thus the saga ended, with their assurance to me, of their best possible services, always!!!!

Whew!

Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2009: Some Management Lessons

Posted: May 19, 2009 in Uncategorized
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There have been jokes in plenty about the KKR’s disastrous IPL season. Till date, I have also been involved to that extent only – had fun at their expense!

But an article in India Today, probing an analysis of the KKR performance got me thinking. One of the comments made by an ex-Australian cricketer (who is not named in the article) mentions that high profile coach John Buchanan was good to fine tune a team of brilliant individual cricketers (as in the Australian team that he coached then), but he would not be able to handle a team that has disparate and somewhat mediocre cricketers too.

This is an interesting thought, really. I remember during our college days, we had the Agrawal Classes in Mumbai, which had an amazing record at the IIT-JEE exams (and also the class XII HSC exams). The fact was that it restricted admissions to the absolute best-in-breed students and simply honed them to write the perfect exams. There were questions asked those days that if Agrawal Classes were really that good, can they take average performers and make them winners?? And the jury was out on that question. And we have seen others, such as the Super 30 – IIT group out of Bihar, where the not-so-perfect group has been converted into winners! Lagaan and Chak De India told similar stories. In real world sports teams, captains Mike Brearley (England), Warne (Rajasthan Royals) and Dhoni (India and Chennai Superkings) have done similar work. They have not necessarily had stars in their teams, but they have transformed average players into winning ones. Unlike John Buchanan!!

Could the same concept be true with CEOs? Would some CEOs succeed only when given star teams, whereas others manage to convert average performers into winning groups? Which is a better captain / coach / CEO to have? Buchanan or Brearley??

Another related and interesting thought with respect to sports teams is shared in the recent book, “Simplexity“. It talks about why good teams often lose against bad teams. The concept mentioned there is with respect to the ‘single line of fault’. With all the best players and strategy at a team’s disposal, how critical is a dropped catch in the 20th over?! Or a no-ball bowled or a wide given or a batsman giving away his wicket to an indiscrete shot at the very end?

That ‘single line of fault’ can undo all the great work of the great team, and which is the difference between winning and losing.

Like sports teams, companies are equally vulnerable to such ‘single line of fault’. There is a lot to learn from Mortaza’s wide in the 20th over to Rohit Sharma losing his wicket when just 4 runs were required in 4 balls. That could easily happen to your company too.. !

The con job that is India Today magazine subscriptions!!

Posted: May 8, 2009 in Uncategorized
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India’s leading magazine, India Today, may have a great reputation on the content side, but they are a perfect fraud with regards to their promises on the subscriptions front.

I must share a rather pathetic experience that I have had.

At the time of subscription purchase, there are a lot of lures. Free gifts and the like. I went ahead and subscribed. An email of confirmation came sometime later. Interestingly it was from an email id that was called “WE CARE”. That must be the biggest irony. The more appropriate one should have been “WE DO NOT CARE”!!

It was at the point of receiving this email that I discovered that the ‘free gift’ with the subscription will only come 12-14 weeks later!! Can you imagine? In this world of e-commerce, courier delivery etc., they need 12 to 14 WEEKS to deliver the gift?? What world are they living in?

I realized later that their game was about subscribers forgetting that a gift was ever promised. I mean, how many of us would remember after 12-14 weeks? And in that assumption that people will not remember, is their business model, perhaps!

Well, when I read that long delivery schedule and having a calendar handy (Google Calendar), I put a note for myself. And after the full 14 weeks had gone by, there was no sign of the gift. So I decided to write back to the “WE CARE” (lol) id of India Today. They must have been surprised that someone actually remembered about the gift! Taken by surprise, they kept a polite facade and proposed that it will take another 4-5 weeks to deliver. Okay! 12-14 weeks was obviously not enough. They are not tuned in for “express delivery” it was clear 🙂 So they needed another 4-5 weeks.

I was not happy. I made it amply clear. The oh-so-polite “WE CARE” chap apologised a plenty, and promised that it will reach definitely in 4-5 weeks. So now as I write this post, those 5 weeks are up. And there is certainly no sign of the gift. Looks like someone has seen through their game. They did not have any plan for any gift at all, after all?!

With the holier than thou reputation that the magazine claims to have, we now know the goings on behind the scene. What shocks me is the absolute lack of fredom to act, for their executives. I mean, how many people are likely to take up the case for a gift as strongly as I did? All it took was to find a way to send a gift across to me, even if it was completely out of the system, just to “shut me up”. But that liberty was obviously not given to them.

Clearly an old economy company which does not get the new realities. I read recently a report that quoted Aroon Purie, head of India Today, saying that they do not expect to make more investments into Digital media. Obviously not. They don’t get it!

Vote Thoughts: Musings on Election Day

Posted: April 30, 2009 in Uncategorized
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A question posted by a Facebook friend on his status got me thinking. He asked “give me a good reason why I should go and vote tomorrow?”. With all the extensive mobilization and promotion of our duty to vote, that such questions still remained, made me wonder.

At the outset, I came up with this one answer to that question, “Voting gives you the right to crib for the next 5 years. If you don’t vote, you can’t crib.”

Having said that, why really, does the thought of not voting come up? I have been there, in previous elections. Sometimes because I was frustrated by the system. Sometimes because I was giving an excuse to myself (“cunning intelligence”) while actually, I wanted to take a holiday, or was too busy at work. Those times, I had also asked similar questions, “Why should I vote? What good does it do? Finally the government is decided by rural votes..” and thoughts of that kind.

Maybe the terror attacks, maybe some ‘wisdom’ (??) over the years, has ensured that I don’t ask that basic question, about voting.

But there is a feeling amongst the intellectual classes that their vote does not matter. That there are vote banks, and they vote en masse, on account of certain factors – be it caste, be it money, whatever..

My thoughts on this subject are:

1. Maybe vote banks ARE big. Maybe they ARE influenced. Maybe they ARE manipulated. Or MAYBE NOT?! Maybe the so-called vote banks have seen through the manipulation. Maybe they have realized that election-after-election, when they voted together, it did not really deliver them any kind of salvation to their woes. So MAYBE they take their own calls, and vote differently. Or at least SOME do. And we see a shift. Perhaps a small shift.

2. If OUR chosen candidate does not win, if say a Meera Sanyal does not win, and an apparently lesser mortal wins, then do we sense frustration? If we get say, a 3rd front or 4th front emerging ahead at the center, do we again feel cheated? Do we resign ourselves with the thought that “vote banks at work again”? Hey, ever considered the fact that what we want, may not be the popular vote after all??

3. Elections finally are about popular vote. We “intellectuals” (and I include myself here) think that we know what is good for the country, and if things do not happen our way, then things are really wrong. Well, going down high-speed elevators, driving our air-conditioned cars, and having cups of coffee at 5-star coffee shops, gives us a certain view of the country. The real India may be different. In their own limited intelligence, they may have a view of what is good for them. And maybe we just do not identify with it. Gandhiji reached his sphere of influence after traveling the country, by road, by train, by being with people, by empathizing with them completely. If he was a practising barrister in England or South Africa or even Bombay, and from that pedestal, if he had preached about what is good for the country, we might still have been a British colony!

So, let what happen, happen. Lets believe that we have a system which is largely clean, at least as far as the process goes. And lets accept the verdict that we get. As the real popular vote. If it happens to be what we also wanted to see, great. If not, tough luck.. !

Just for the record, I have had my share of depression about the system, even during the run-up to this election, as you can see from this earlier post!

Streetsmart – and how?!

Posted: April 12, 2009 in Uncategorized
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The other day on way to office, I was at a traffic signal on the way. It was a little earlier than my usual time, and hence it was closer to start of school time, for a nearby school.

At the signal, I noticed 3 school kids, well dressed, carrying a small satchel each (must be exam time, so not the full bag), and from middle-class families, by the look of it. As distinct from very poor families, please note. They must have been in class IV or V.

As vehicles stopped at the light, they made their quick observations and ran separately towards specific cars / bikes that their eyes zeroed in on. To basically ask for a “lift” to their school. I saw them look at me and my car, and chose to not bother me. They knew their lower hanging fruit, in terms of who would agree to give them a lift. Perhaps empty cars with just the chauffeurs. Or whatever other means they used to filter the set of vehicles at the signal.

They were verycomfortable zipping around in the middle of the traffic (of course, traffic that was at a halt). It appeared like they were very familiar with the drill, and this might have been a daily routine then, I suspect.

They had not got a lift by the time the signal turned green and I moved on. But the incident stayed in my mind.

I contrasted this to my kids. Who still (in class XI and IX) have most times, a car drop them. Or who otherwise, would take an autorickshaw or a cab or a bus. But who largely traveled in a lot more comfort. Kids who were not allowed to cross the road on their own, till they were much older, and who we would keep reminding, to watch for the cars on the road, even after they started going on their own.

Compared to those kids who I saw on the road that day, our kids seem almost pampered. Maybe that is not the right word. Maybe it is a question of circumstances and all that.

I do not say that our kids should have also been left loose or asked to hitchhike their way to school.

But what I AM saying is how different the preparation for the world, those kids are getting. They would be “streetsmart” in the real sense of the word. They zip around on the road without fear, they do not hesitate to ask complete strangers to give them a lift, they would reach school on time with all those challenges. Perhaps they get a bus allowance, but by hitchhiking, they save that money, to use it for something else?!

They probably live quite close to where we stay, but in all other ways, it’s a different world that they live in! Our kids probably get better education and facilities, and may be “ahead” in that respect, but our kids will need time to catch up with those kids I saw on the street, in terms of street-smartness!

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