People – Page 3

What is Freedom for you?

Freedom is something that most of us has taken for granted. Most of us reading this have born in free India and had all the comforts and privileges offered by freedom. And we were thus shielded from an era where even things as personal as thoughts were controlled.

I was talking to few college students in Mumbai and I realized that most of us are disconnected with reality. Most of them think that its ok to accept western culture and leave our heritage behind. And then there are some who had their feet firmly planted in ground and want to first understand the past and want to plant careful steps in future.

I was wondering, is there a way to find out what everyone thinks about India as a country and what is their big idea of freedom and independence? For a lot of people freedom is an oppurtunity to pursue their dreams. For some it is their second nature. They look at it as a way of life. For some it is something insignificant for which all the freedom fighters lost their lives. Some are indifferent and haven’t really thought about freedom at all.

Which category do you fall under?

The Idea
This brings me to the idea. The Freedom Blog. What if Indians all over the world submitted one piece of work that they think symbolizes freedom? This could be an original thought, a blog post that you have written, an original composition, a link to a website, a photograph, a picture, a video, a music piece, an incident, a mashup or any other way that you think expresses your idea of freedom.

Post this submissions stage, all these submissions would be put on the Freedom Blog in context and publish them on a website or a blog on 15th August 2008 for everyone to scrutinize.

The result will give us a fairly good indication of what people really think of Freedom. How they perceive it and what it actually means to them.

Interested?

Few ground rules

Deadline for submission: 5th August 2008

How to submit: Email your ideas to saurabh.garg@gmail.com.

Ownership: You retain the ownership of your work. I will just re-publish them on the Freedom Blog with due credits.

Terms and Conditions: None.

How can you help?

Obviously you can help by submitting your work.

You can also help by spreading word about the Freedom Blog. You can post on your blogs, in your twitter streams, email to friends, share on social networks, call up people etc.

And finally if people do submit their work, you can help in filtering and putting things in context.

How did I stumble on this?
I happen to be a huge fan of collaborative experiments on the Internet. I have participated in quite a few myself and its about time I did something of my own. I was working on some other idea when I stumbled on this. Obviously serendipity plays a huge role in my life and it so happened that Independence Day is around the corner. And I thought If I started acceptance of media from 5th of July, people will have a month to ideate and create their work, I will have time to collect it and then I will be left with some time (9 days) to actually collate and make some sense out of it and finally release it on 15th August 2008.

What do I get out of this?

Satisfaction of actually being able to unite Indians into thinking like a group.

Understanding of the way people think.

Answer to the question “if people actually cherish freedom and independence”. Every submission would mean that entrant has indeed thought about freedom at some point in time and is aware of the comfort (and challenges) that freedom brings. Every person who spreads the world is an Indian at heart and is also seeking answers to these questions. Every person who reads is concerned and wants to enrich his/her understanding of Indians.

UPDATE: Someone has already asked if this is a commercial project. NO this is not commercial. This is not sponsored by anyone. There is no media coverage happening.

Obviously none of this is possible without help from you guys. Please let me know if this makes sense. Thanks for your time.

Happy Birthday PD

Its PD‘s birthday. Since I have been lazy and I lack serious creativity, this is how I decided to wish her.

Words cant express how important she is to me. May she has a wonderful year ahead and gets all that she aspires for this year.

P.S.: If you are reading this, please save some cake for me 😀

Bye Bye Bill Gates

Bill Gates

William Henry Gates 3, better known as Bill Gates is retiring from active duty at Microsoft today. This marks an end of an era. An era where a seemingly new line of business was created by Bill Gates and Microsoft. An era that symbolized new generation entrepreneurs taking over the world of business. An era that gave hope to millions of small time businessesmen, dreamers that its actually right to dream and chase them. An era when two young men can produce something that can rule the world some day. An era that envisioned a computer on every desktop. An era that changed the way we work and think. An era that made sure the world is on a rapid path to development.

For me, a computer is probably the most important invention after light bulb and telephone. It made tedious tasks lot easier, faster and fun. This is where Bill Gates played an important role. Gates made sure that a computer is accessible by even an ordinary man. He was the first person to have created an operating system that makes a computer easy to use as a personal tool. And rest as they say, is history.

From a humble beginning, Microsoft went on to become a huge giant in software space. They have an entire suite of productivity and office products. Its fantastic that a company commands a valuation of more than USD 250 bn and most of their revenues come from something that is non-tangible. Compare this with other businesses where at major chunk of valuation comes from tangible and fixed assets. For me, Microsoft is truly the first company that created an empire just on the pillars of information and productivity.

Obviously Bill Gates couldn’t have worked forever at Microsoft and he had to go at some point in time. What’s good about them is that he is leaving at a time when businesses are doing fairly well, obviously there are lots of challenges. Then they have been planning a succession for almost 2 years.

Now that Bill Gates is gone, what happens to Microsoft? I think they already see the company in uints like software, services, gaming and Internet. If at all I was at Microsoft, I would look it as a company that enables people to be more productive (Windows, Office), enables people to connect (FB, Internet, MSN), enables people to entertain themselves (xBox and gaming division) and enables companies to work better (developer applications, programming languages etc.). Moment you start thinking on these lines, there is so much more than your company can be rather than just another software company. You suddenly are playing on a different level altogether.

For a lot of people Bill Gates stands for control, closed-systems, authority and monopoly. Everyone is free to have opinions and if I could defend Mr. Gates, I will use only one line. That Bill Gates is trying to run a business. Everything that he has done was to make sure that his business grows. For me, Bill Gates stands for Entrepreneurship, Business Acumen, Vision, Execution and a Great Mind. Would love to pick his brain some day.

Bill, you will be missed.

Happy Birthday Divya Mathur

Today is Divya’s birthday. She used to be a classmate at Plato Public School in Delhi. Last I met her was sometime in 1997 when I was leaving the school for a bigger and better school elsewhere. Since then have thought about her a lot of times, tried searching for her on Orkuts and Facebooks of the world but could not find.

Wondering if a blog can help me find her. Her full name is Divya Mathur and last I know, she stayed in East Delhi and went to Plato Public School in IP Extension.

Please see if you can help.

Haasil – The Movie

Bollywood is known to release the maximum number of movies in a year. And most of them are forgettable. A lot of them go onto become big hits and send the cash registers ringing. And then there are times when a movie creates a whole new world. The way people think. The way people talk. They way people perceive cinema. One of them is obviously Sholay. The other one is Haasil. I cant really compare the two but Haasil deserves its place along side any other acclaimed movie in the history of Indian Cinema.

The plot is really simple. Its about a small town in India where people are happy go lucky and go about their own tasks. Its a typical story of a young guy. Its a typical story of a pesky father. Its a typical story of a guy in love with a girl and trying to express it. Its about a typical university in India where student politics is more important than the academics or anything else. Then its the typical story of hatred, envy, love, politics, corruption, anger, wars and other such things.

And this is where all the typicalality ends. The story is interesting and compelling enough to captivate the audience. The dialouges are impressive and more importantly their delivery makes every small scene a cult. To the extent that I will probably call each scene a conversation between two characters. Characters who are small yet giant. Who are incapable by themselves yet can do anything if situation demands. Performances by Irfan Khan and Ashutosh Rana that can put any other actor to shame.

Personally, for me, the best two conversations are “Pandit hum der na lagaenge maarne main” and “Hum to ShivJi kay bhakth hain, saara zeher humein hi peena hai“. Although I don’t support piracy, the entire movie is available here for watching online and free download.

Haasil fans, please share your stories. And please note that this is not a movie review.

Links
Orkut Community for Haasil Fans
IMDB on Haasil
Wikipedia on Haasil

Remembering Duck Tales

When I was growing up (I still am), on TV, there used to be just good old Doordarshan. And it was the time when Sundays were important. More important than anything else. I would not miss the Sunday for anything. I used to wait the entire week for Sunday. I would make sure I had done my homework on Saturday night itself. On Sunday, I would get up early, get ready, was bathed and powdered and my hair parted on the left side, I would sit in front of TV at exact 9, waiting for the clock to strike 10. I would be the perfect kid. I would give no reason to my mom or my dad to disturb me that day. It the most important time of my life.

At dot 10, Duck Tales with its awesome intro music would start beaming. And with it, I would get lost in a fantasy world of Uncle Scrooge, Beagle Boys, Magica, Launchpad and all the pranks played by Luey, Huey and Duey (I dont really remember the names). I used to wish I had an Uncle like Scrooge McDuck who would literally be flooded with money. I wanted to have brothers like Luey, Huey and Duey. I wanted to have a nanny like Mrs. Beakley. I wanted to have a friend like Launchpad. I wanted my life to be life that. Full of action, adventure, suspense, comedy and emotions.

Life was so perfect. There were no worries. No decisions to make – their was only one channel and hence the simple decisions. Moreover the ads were very limited. There used to be just one commercial break and the ads of Cadbury’s Tobu Cycles etc. were lot more fun that the ones right now. (Ok, not Tobu Cycles but Cadbury’s for sure).

And obviously next day at school, at the lunch break, there were sessions where we discussed everything that happened during the show. We would talk about funny incidents. We debated about strategies that they should have taken.

And now, we have serials that started with TV channels and in all probability they would never end. There is no wait. Life moves at a snails pace. I happened to see Kyonki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi few weeks ago and they were still talking about Tulsi and Ba. I mean its been 10 years since Tulsi has been contemporary and is most talked about Bahu in the history of India.

Sincerely wish if those days could be back. Need to write another post on Tale Spin, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Zabaan Sambhaal Kay etc. And if you want to read more about TV shows from those times, read my earlier post here.

I have the sound tracks of both Duck Tales and Tales Spin. Please email me in case you need em.

Vodafone customer care

I make this trip to a Vodafone store every month to pay my phone bill. I dont have a credit card and hence this unnecessary evil. And its an awesome learning experience.

Anyways so this trip is to any Vodafone store in the vicinity and I stay there for five minutes on average. Its surprising that even in those five minutes I see at least two people shouting on poor and often clueless customer care executives. And this is not an one off incident. It happens every time without fail. Every time someone or the other is shouting about inflated bills, sudden disconnection, charges without consent or 1000 other things.

I wonder for a company that shouts out loud that it is Happy to Help (btw GE Money also prided itself with this Happy to help gimmick), the service levels are pathetic. Customer care executives are often clueless about things that you ask them. Half the times they cant speak English or Hindi. And the other half times they are busy fixing their hair or creases or drinking tea etc. All the money that they pump on advertisement (which in my opinion is top notch) goes for a toss moment customer screams in the store.

My heart goes out to all those customer care executives that face the wrath of these angry customers for no fault of theirs. Can something be done about this rather than wasting money on frivolous things like fliers and other innovative ways of charging a customer? Is the advertising agency and social media agency for Vodafone listening?

Anil Ambani vs Kishore Biyani on Big Baz(a)ar

Not caring for literary flowerification and language style critics around here, this is going to be rude post.

For people who dont know that specifics, Reliance ADAG is Anil Ambani and Reliance Industries is Mukesh Ambani.

Reliance ADAG has made clear their intentions on getting into organized retail. People might remember that ADAG and Reliance Industries had a non-compete agreement when Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani agreed to split in 2006. Terms of this agreement were not made public but how in the world can Anil Ambani get into organized retail when everyone knows about Reliance Retail and its hazaar different retail formats and more than 500 stores?

And if this was not enough, ADAG’s retail venture is called Reliance Big Bazar. Surprised? Not really. Shocking? Yes. What about Kishore Biyani’s company called Pantaloon Retail and their flagship retail store Big Bazaar?

Perfectly understandable that ADAG calls all their businesses BIG. Big FM, Big Music, Big Flix, Big Entertainment etc. but Big Bazar? I always thought that CGA will not allow you to name your company that confuses customer will an already existing brand. If there was small guy in some class C town in India doing the same thing, he would have been sued for his every penny for corporate lawyers.

If the name was stupid, the reason given by ADAG is even more stupid. They are saying that Kishore Biyani’s company is called Bazaar with two a’s and their’s is called Bazar with a single a. With even bad Photoshop skills, one can very easily make the two logos very similar and rest can be left to anyone’s imagination. They have said that they would not use the word “Bazar” or “Big Bazar” on standalone basis. They will always use “Reliance Big Bazar”. This saves some grace for them.

But overall a very bad move. And Isn’t this piggybacking on someone who has put in time and effort to create a huge brand? What about customers? Isn’t this a cheap way to get customers?

India asks Y.

Image Credits: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/142/349070891_d279d63b80.jpg

What is life?

Got this as an sms from a friend.

Life means : A winter evening, 4 friends, mild rain, 4 pegs of vodka.
Life means: 100 bucks of petrol, 2 rusty old bikes and an open road.
Life means: Maggi noodles, a hostel room, 3.25 AM.
Life means: 1 prep leave, 1 book, 8 duffers.

Now life means: old friends, separate cities, separate lives and endless sms to stay in touch..

He couldn’t have been more true.

You know its Delhi when …

After living in Delhi for 24 years, I moved to Mumbai last year. On a recent trip home (Delhi), I realized that there is so much there makes that place very special. Here is a list of 19 things that I could think of immediately.

You know you are in Delhi

When you have honed your negotiation skills over the years by never ending haggling with the autowallahs and rickshawallahs over amount as minuscule as 1 rupee.
When you know more about your neighbors rather than your own family. And you see that your neighbors remember your aunt’s son-in-law’s birthday.
When bus passes and Metro cards become a currency.
When community buying becomes the norm and vegetable seller takes the place of the chaupal where ladies gathers to share gossip.
When U special buses are followed by bikes. And cars.
When any one wearing a skirt is stared at by everyone. Even the person wearing the skirt starts staring himself/herself.
When autowallahs simply refuse to go by meter. And they dare you to do anything about it.
When people drive as if the road is their personal property and they can do anything they want to on those roads. And they mean it.
When you have to bribe for any small government work. And to even pee.
When everyone knows someone big and throws attitude because they know someone.
When you spot a chole kulche bicycle in every nook and corner of the city.
When hanging from DTCs buses becomes a norm and your day feels incomplete without it.
When you use a student bus pass even after you have graduated from college 5 years ago. And you are ready to go any lengths to get it renewed.
When you boast of awesome infrastructure the city has all the while screaming profanities at Sheila Dikshit and Congress govt.
When spotting a celebrity adds to your coolness factor. And you weave stories around it and repeat them at every speaking opportunity.
When you buy and sell books at Nai Sarak and hope to spot girls doing the same thing, strike a conversation and leave as a couple.
When giving seats to old women and kids in Delhi Metro becomes a fashion statement. And then curtly asking them to hold your bags, suitcases etc.
When sealing and policing takes a new meaning altogether. Shops are sealed, de-sealed and sealed again.
When there is some sort of strike, procession, movement is being staged at Jantar Mantar and you start assuming that it was build to host these rather than tell time.

Obviously the list is incomplete and I shall keep on adding to it. Please drop in comments and help me make it longer.

P.S.: I love Delhi and there is no city like Delhi. The tone might sound derogatory but trust me its not meant to be like that.

Basic Human Needs – An Indian Perspective

I was reading this awesome text located here about Basic Human Needs. I am trying to draw parallels between that text and people in India as I know them.

The article says that there are 9 basic human needs. These are Security, Adventure, Freedom, Exchange, Power, Expansion, Acceptance, Community, Expression.

Following are my opinions and views on these 9.

Security – Most people I know tend to have this need. In fact if I can generalize things, most Indians would have a very high security needs.

For me, Security is not that big a deal.

Adventure – Again if I could generalize, most people would want to believe that they have high adventure needs, I dont think they really do have it.

And yes, I do have high adventure needs. And yes I have all positive aspects and a few negative aspects. Wow. This is accurate.

And I should not make friends with people with high needs of security.

Freedom – Again this is one of those things where people would want to believe that they have freedom but they dont really have it. They are cooking pre-cooked food.

As for me, I DO belong to the group of people who think they are free but they arent. We shall get into more details in subsequent posts.

Exchange – Yes, most people around me have high exchange needs. From things as mundane as recipes to things as involving as gossips, people do exchange things around me. But somehow we dont really make good employees. I think its because we are most bothered about “self” than the group.

Me, I think I have high exchange needs. I express them by participating in discussions etc. Actually, come to think of it, I have high recognition need rather than exchange need.

Power – People tend to think that they have high power needs but they lack initiative. Most of Indians around me tend to wait for orders. They love passing buck.

And I am also lazy. I dont think I have power needs but as I said, I have very high recognition need.

Expansion – I did not understand this one.

Acceptance – Very much. Most of the world around me has high acceptance needs. Probably can be attributed to the way we are raised in India. Every small achievement if praised and highlighted and as we grow up, we grow used to appreciation. We need acceptance for our efforts.

I also have high acceptance needs. I think acceptance and recognition go hand in hand.

Community – People say that Japanese have strong communities, I would say Indians have stronger communities. We might not be as loyal as Japanese but yes we tend to stick to our clans. We are still divided in Baniyas, Shudras, SCs, STs etc.

I personally want to break free of these communities but knowing myself it will be a difficult task.

Expression – I think I confused this one with exchange. I think people want to express themselves in India but because of way we are brought up (keep secrets within a family, women often dont have the opportunity to speak up etc), most of us dont express. Although when we start expressing, we can be very good at it.

I love the concept of expression. In fact one of the things that I want to do in life is to express myself. I have used images, text, videos in the past and I would love to experiment with other things.

Anyone wants to share their opinions?

Guiding principles for a company

Symbionese Liberation Army was a terrorist organization based out of USA.

Their philosophy came from the seven principles of Kwanzaa (a seven-headed snake), with each head representing a principle. They are: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith).

I think all these are awesome principles to create a company on.