Not necessary to be the First

It is perfectly OK to be competitive.

It is fine to want to be the best and the first in the world. No question about that ambition.

India wants to become the world’s third largest economy in a short span of 9 years from now, by 2020. There is no problem.

But are we going to achieve that by trampling over each other, pushing our way up by shooting people ahead ? Definitely not.

Indians must learn to work together as a team to achieve the country’s ambition and vision to become a top player in the world, not just in terms of economic muscle, but in terms of political weight at the high tables of international diplomacy. The U.S. and China have that kind of power. Do we have ?

Long way to go. There is more internal fights and scandals in the government and outside, which are being witnessed on a daily basis. Even in something as mundane as sports, there are fights between the government minister and sports bodies. In fact, these days the newspapers and TV channels have become more of scandal mongers than true disseminators of news and news analyses.

When there are fights and internal differences which cannot be bridged, then you start to see cracks in the manner in which we approach problems and resolve the same. There will be long delays with attendant loss of business and growth. There will be weakening of the fabric of civil society. There will be dogmatic fights between political parties. And, so on and so forth.

At the end of the day, the achievements will speak for themselves. And these achievements will not happen if we fight.

One can see how the people push and climb over each other in simple queues even when there is no trouble, and that push is symptomatic of what happens in other avenues. For long, India has been a “shortage” economy, crippled by shortages of key consumption items. The tendency to push and climb over others arises from that mentality.

But we have now arrived at some better stage – we are one of the top 10 economies in the world. We do have poverty which is still widespread. We have a government which defines poverty line as something below INR 25 earnings per day, which is nothing short of ridiculous – the limit should have been at least INR 100 in today’s highly inflationary economy. But whatever are the numbers, India is far better today than it was in 1990.

But culturally, are we moving ahead towards a refined society ? We don’t have to be first always, we don’t have to beat the Chinese, we should realize that we are still admired all over the world for various accomplishments not the least of which is the strength of our democracy, et al.

As Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore once said – I do not have the exact quote, but he said something to the effect that Singapore would find the true character of its citizens when a famine strikes the country – then we would know how the multi-racial, multi-ethnic society survives by helping each other. The same thing applies even more strongly in the Indian context, wherein we have a great many number of races, religions, cultures, etc., It is important to take cognizance of this fact of working together in nation-building for the long-term instead of rushing past and lose one’s character.

Some rambling this is, but nevertheless I have written what has been on my mind for some time,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
24th Sept 2011
Mumbai

Escape from Windows

I mean, escape from Microsoft Windows here.

Again, my new home laptop has started giving the “hanging” problem. It has and Intel i5 CPU, 4 GB RAM and 500GB HD, and runs Windows 7 Home Premium version. There is no reason why it should hang.

Today my daughter complained so much that I had no option but to sit down and diagnose the problem. At home, probably they think I am a “Windows Doctor”. Of course, the other side that they don’t fully know is that I keep experimenting with performance improvement of the system, to make it run faster and start up smoothly in less time !

Well, those experiments could be a problem. However, I do not think the system should give trouble when all that I have done is to download and install a standard Windows application, not an unauthorized program. Any software application that I had ever downloaded was after extensive research and from reputed companies.

So why then my friend Windows 7 is hanging repeatedly ?

May be to commit unintended suicide !

When I spent some time on the system this morning, I took some tough decisions – uninstall of several applications not required for the system, allow the Windows Operating System to take more control of the laptop and what applications start at the start-up, run the Anti-Virus Scanner for a deep scan of the computer, apply all the Windows Updates that were pending for download installation, at least four restarts, and other stuff.

After some 45 minutes work, the system looks like improving, but alas, it hung again – the Windows Updates could not get installed automatically. So, though the system warned that I should not shut off the computer while the updates were getting installed, I forcibly shut off the system, as the spin wheel was not spinning !

After all this, the laptop seemed to return to some stability, and started working all right.

However, I am now awaiting the stress test results from my daughter – not that she was going to stress the system out physically. But youngsters have a way of running a computer very differently from the organized manner in which we run the system. It may be better they do the testing rather than the diagnosis !

Will report later, but I am slowly moving away from Windows………may be the iPAD2 is good enough for normal computing !!

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
08 May 2011
Mumbai

366th Blog Post

This is my 366th post in 208 weeks (I started my blogging venture towards end of 2005 in Singapore).

That works out to some 1.75 blog post per week. The original ideas was to do just one piece per week, then I accelerated after the move to India, with so many things to write about, as compared to Singapore ! Suffice to state that I am still discovering a lot about India !!

I did not, and am not writing for any mass consumption. I always wrote to release my views in writing to me, as I believe this enhances my grasp and understanding of a global view on a subject matter vis-a-vis my own view on the same matter. Most of the time, my views have been partial or unique in their own ways. I have experimented in articulating on a wide variety of subjects, as you can see from the drop-down list of “Categories”.

In between, I wanted to convert my blog to a photo-blog, inspired from an ex-colleague’s beautiful photo-blog. I did upload a lot of photos to my blog, but always as part of a theme. But soon, I lost interest in photo-blogging, as that required a keen sense of photogenics, and access to camera all the time. I still upload some photos, of quite mediocre quality, as I am not interested to invest more like some of my friends do. Happy with a simple digital camera that I bought 5 years ago !

I received a lot of comments (and spam of course) on my blog posts. I enjoyed reading and digesting each one of them, including the spam ! I found technical ways to enhance my blog, increase the traffic, post advertisements on my blog, etc., tried out briefly, and then abandoned these tools as the purpose of my blog is not commercial. I even bought a web domain from Bluehost for two years, did some technical work on populating the site, etc., but now happy to continue with WordPress, which has become even better over the past few years for amateur bloggers – probably the best out there.

I have now experimented on how to convert my blog into a book. Amazing how technology allows quick and effective expression of human thoughts/ideas and remains as a true beacon of entrepreneurship.

At the finish of the first decade of the 21st Century, full of eventful 10 years, I am at a crossroad. Do I continue to invest time during Saturday late evenings to continue blogging, or call it a day ? Watch this space !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
30th December 2009
Mumbai

How to tackle a feeling of being shortchanged

Just ignore it !

Well, what else to do to avoid getting depressed ? Depression is not a good status.

Ofcourse, there is another way.

Recently, I went through such feelings, obviously imposed……the danger in such a situation is that, apart from feeling “low”, there are fleeting images of the oppressor crossing one’s eyeballs many a time in a day. Which is again not a good thing, as the oppressor tries to dominate one’s feelings by visual imagery.

Well, I am not saying anything new here, am sure that most readers have encountered such feelings or devastation one time or the other. The key learning for me was to tackle the oppressor visually, kill him/her (like in a PlayStation), and then banish the thought or feeling forever. It does not happen that easily, but I find it better to assume a younger or boyish role and fight it out.

Then, the mind becomes a bit freer, the feelings become more neutral, and attitude improves towards others. Not an easy thing again, but it is worthwhile attempt to get back control of one’s feelings. You could have been shortchanged, accused, incorrectly blamed, punished, tagged, or characterized publicly or even privately by the oppressor. However, it is critical to disassociate one’s feelings of wronged, from one’s own being for a moment. If that is not possible, it is better to become a “feeling aggressor” or a “bio dominator” – a sort of mental aggression to tackle the feeling, and get out unscathed.

Also, I found it is better to speak out with someone very close to gain back a modicum of sense into one’s own mind and behaviour. I strongly believe that there is no point in losing composure for no fault of your own. It is important to realize that you have not committed any crime and the punishment is either incorrect or way beyond normal measure.

The mantra is “Don’t React” and “Gain Control”. I have been following this principle for quite some time, and it has been working out for me. And, I am sure it would work for most people. It is relevant to state here that the usual method of quick retaliation is not the way to go, as it would lead to loss of peace and self-control.

So folks, “Gain Control” over your feelings and yourself !

Cheers, and Have a Great Week Ahead,

Vijay Srinivasan
15th Nov 2009
Mumbai

Word Count on Blog Posts

Wow, that’s a new topic, and I hope my friend who commented on my earlier post on “Aspartame” reads this one !

I have been made conscious about the fact that I am too verbose when it comes to writing articles. Some people do complain that I am longish when talking to people or addressing a group of people. I have strived hard to correct this second complaint, and I have discovered to my pleasure that I am indeed able to limit any consequential damages by limiting the word count which flows out of my mouth. Collateral damages could continue however.

When it comes to writing about my own personal exploits or commentaries on world affairs, I am finding it tougher to limit my word count, despite pressures from well-wishers like the friend I referred to above. While I am not enamoured about his writing either, I have to say that he is more savvy and marketing-oriented rather than self-centred when it comes to expressing his thoughts. However, I am writing for my own pleasures, and I have belaboured many a time to mention this aspect to my friends who insist that they will come by and drop into my blog. Well then it is their problem, I guess.

I think it is important to express oneself lucidly with abundant clarity and the English language offers fabulous opportunities for the same. I am not confident about other languages though. I am not a cartoonist who can express figuratively what I have in mind. My mind is complex, and so no choice but to cull out of my brain what it is thinking and trying to tell me. I hope my friend realises that this a truth that even he has to face sometime.

Given this kind of complexity, and also given the fact that life is far too complex to solicit brevity of any kind, I have no choice my dear friend except to write lucidly and test the reader’s patience. If you have come this far, it shows that my language skills are good and adequate to keep your mind focused on what I am trying to communicate.

Well, I must be the only person who has written so much about “word count on blog posts”. Please leave my blog now and enjoy the start of the weekend. And my friend, I was not able to connect with you even though I was in Singapore, I am now returning to Mumbai this evening ! Sorry about that, next time will arrange to meet with you and have Char Kway Teow in East Coast !!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
7th August 2009
Singapore Airport

Picking up While on the Road

Strange title, indeed !

I discovered that I do a lot more reading while travelling, than while I am on home ground. My reading is more to do with current affairs, trying to keep abreast of the happenings around the world, rather than reading management or fiction books. I love finishing off all the newspapers I can get, and all the magazines that are available.

So impressed am I with the quality of the articles on some of these media, that I feel the urge to be able to read these everyday, but that is not to be ! For instance, the International Herald Tribune is such a wonderful newspaper that it entices me to read just about all that has been published on a day !! Great international news coverage, news analysis, general articles of current relevance, geo-political affairs coverage, et al.

I have abandoned the Asian Wall Street Journal which tends to be strongly one-sided when it comes to political news coverage and analysis. It is just good for financial analysis and corporate coverage.

The other aspect of being on the road is internet. There is Wi-Fi everywhere these days – almost. I do not trust the security of Wi-Fi networks established by coffee shops or even hotels. Their networks are basically designed to be “open” and connectable easily. Not secure at all. So, I use my high-speed data card which is simply great – getting speeds upto 3 MB in many places. So, one gets to read the news from Google News ! Absolutely brilliant, no hidden agendas here – it is just a news aggregator. Ofcourse, here my favourites are Times of India and New York Times. Sometimes, I go to Businessweek.com and Fortune.com.

Well, yet another “people” connectivity option is the LinkedIn and Plaxo. Again, very useful for tracking what one’s network of friends is doing around the world – professionally, and sometimes personally. Facebook is another get option – if someone does not have a Facebook account, it appears that he or she does not have a “face” in today’s world. Twitter – well not yet there for me as yet !

Skype – well how can one forget the impact that Skype has had ? An outstanding solution for chatting and talking to friends and relatives. Of late however, I see very few friends trying to connect via Skype. May be it is banned in corporate setups, or they are just too tired of too much connectivity.

Finally, SMS – wow, this is absolutely the deadliest instrument devised to be on touch. Only it is expensive, while most others are free. SMS should be basically free, but it is a great revenue source for telecom companies. Keep messaging, and they keep making loads of money !

So, that is the life of the road warrior today. Ofcourse there are those multiple phone calls on the mobile streaming in constantly. Apart from business calls, there are those unwarranted and unsolicited direct marketing calls which keep pouring in from insurance and banking/financial companies.

It is great to be on the road doing business, but one is never far away from anyone around the world, or even home base !

Have a wonderful weekend,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
25th July 2009
Mumbai

Electronic Talk at Breakfast

This morning I met my spiritual mentor-friend for breakfast at Singapore.

He chose a nice Indian restaurant near a temple – small and cute. We had Idlies, Pongal and Onion Rava Dosas !

We talked about many things – spiritual, philosophical, religious, blogging, twittering, writing books, lbgt issue, parents, etc., It was illuminating as I discovered a few topic areas for me to continue blogging !

One of the things we discussed is about hi-fi music systems available in the market. It was fun to talk about such things, though we were getting distracted every now and then. I observed that cars in Singapore are still newer as always, but did not share the same with my friend, as he was still running his old car. Singaporeans continue to spend money on expensive cars, so where is the economic turmoil that people talk about ?

The thing I did share about the economy was about my surprise when I went for dinner last night at The Regent Hotel with a colleague. Apart from the hotel appearing to be very busy, with wedding going on et al, I noted with sarcasm the fact that the restaurant we chose turned us away as they were “full”. What do you mean, I thought – the world is in a turmoil and mostly in trouble, and you are saying there is no space in your restaurant for two people ! Well that is Singapore – there is always a demand, a type of demand which is different from the “normal” demand. We had to go looking for some alternative restaurant, somewhere around !

This time in Singapore I also observed that the taxis were in use, instead of lining up at the taxi stand waiting for customers – definitely a sign of some economic recovery, though modest.

Well getting back to the breakfast talk, my friend suggested that hi-fi music systems that are getting to be popular are the iPod-driven Bose system types…….why don’t I take some time and go take a look ? Yes, will try to do that. He said that the cute Bose Wireless Speakers are great in performance, though very expensive.

Overall it was an enlightening talk, providing fodder for my thoughts. I also learnt why his blog gets thrice the number of hits that mine gets. Well that is a secret !

It was great reconnecting after 4 months with the mentor-friend, who asked me whether I was still feeling religiously and spiritually tugged, and I had to be honest with him. He got my undiluted response.

Well, good day, and great weekend to all of you,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
11th July 2009
Camp : Singapore

Schick Vs Gillette

Last weekend, I walked into Hyper City, that famous shopping haunt of the Western Suburbs of Mumbai, which I have frequented over the past 2.5 years. My wife went on her usual shopping round at the same place, and I was bored pushing the trolley. So, I investigated what they had in the personal care “rows” and shelves.

The moment I walked into the shaving products section and started looking at the stuff, pops up a salesman who had sized me up. He immediately started talking about the virtues of Gillette Mach 3 Turbo and the special package on offer for Rs 310 with a shaving lotion thrown in free. Extra blade set of 8 blades now comes free with an additional 2 blades for Rs 772, et al. I calculated that I have to spend nearly Rs 1100 (SGD 37 or USD 23) for such a purchase !

I am an investigative buyer, not an instant buyer, so wanted to see all the other products on display. I noticed the Gillette salesman moved away after a couple of minutes even though there was no other shopper. I looked at the other “weaker” brands, picked a Schick Quattro Titanium (with 4 blades !) and turned around to the salesman, asked him what he thought about Schick in comparison to the Gillette. Obviously I feigned ignorance about the fact that he was a Gillette salesman (there was no name/company tag on his person, apart from the Hyper City identification). He shocked me by saying that only the Mach 3 Turbo is proven in the field, the Schick is unknown and unproven, he was not sure about it.

This clearly demonstrated the power of the Gillette Brand (similar to other global brands like Coke and Lays’) and the resultant market share it enjoys in the Indian market place, atleast in the upper middle class target market. I am a long time Gillette user, and was obviously tempted to pick up the Turbo with all its offers and walk away. But, I thought, wait !

There was something more interesting about the Schick brand. It was better packaged, though there was no special offer. It occupied small but prominent shelf space, unlike the full takeover of a complete rack of shelves all around by the Gillette. The technical stuff written on the packaging of the Schick was more informative and looked more credible unlike the “marketing” only description on the Turbo pack. And, finally, the “white” colour design of the razor with its seemingly more aggressive grip, appealed to me.

By this time, the salesman has completely moved away from me, taking note of the fact that I was reading every line of the description – he probably had hardly seen a guy who reads everything on a pack of shaving blades ! But, I had time to kill, and further really wanted to buy something this time, instead of just walking around or watching the shopping habits of the other well-heeled Sunday morning shoppers in their jogging pants.

Finally, I bought the Schick for the first time in my life. Ofcourse, I am keeping my two old Mach 3 razors as well. But, in comparison with Mach 3, Schick is far ahead in its usability – I am using it for the past one week. May be Mach 3 Turbo gives a good competition to the Quattro Titanium, don’t know that yet. However, the Schick was not cheap either – - it is very comparable in pricing to the Gillette.

Well, many excellent products with world-class technology are a distant second to the market leader (like in this case, with Gillette being the global #1). I thought it is always better to investigate atleast the no. #2 in almost all the personal products one buys, based on this experience. The #1 premium if it does exist (almost always there is a 5 to 10% premium), may not be worth our while from the experience point of view – it only goes to consolidate further the brand’s #1 position.

Well, that is my experience !

Have a wonderful weekend !!

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
14th Feb 2009
Mumbai

Phone Banking

What a topic to write on ? Looks like there are no more “worldly” thoughts or global wisdom to offer from my side !

Well, I often write blogposts based on some actual experience, or some event occurrence which has repeated atleast twice involving me. This is such a blogpost, offering no wisdom or advice, but just describing what happens to almost everyone using Phone Banking.

I have long had reservations about the use of Phone Banking from my days in Singapore. The “Interactive Voice Response” System is generally misguided and not based on focus group experience emanating from actual bank account users. It is sold by some IVR vendor and operated generally by a BPO contractor in most cases. There is no proper escalation matrix when a customer wishes to solve a problem on the phone. Such incidents were generally common in Singapore for a fairly long time, but then the banks over there continued improving the system based on customer feedback, and removed most of the kinks in the system. A customer who has had a long relationship with the bank could be at a certain “premier” stage and dealt with in a faster manner, with minimum waiting time.

In India, my best phone service experience has been with Jet Airways, and not with any of the banks. Almost all the four banks with which I do business have poor customer handling over the phone, but ICICI Bank fares the worst. Even for a Platinum customer, they do not have separate phone number to contact ; one gets to use the same Phone Banking number which is user unfriendly, and laced with annoying background noise (music) which makes it harder to listen. To access a Phone Banking Officer, it becomes imperative to have your Telephone PIN. At the point wherein you are asked for the PIN, if you do not have the same, the system loops back, and does not inform you that it is indeed possible to proceed forward with your date of birth. This I found out after actually speaking to an Officer !

Even after you provide all the details asked for, the Officer will again ask your details verbally, and I asked him why they are asking to repeat when I have already keyed in all the data. He did not have an answer.

In the case of a credit card dispute, the Officer puts you on a hold, in turn to connect you to the Complaints Department. After I was on hold for nearly 10 minutes I lost my patience and asked the Officer why he could not register my complaint : he stated that he can’t ! Only the other Dept. can handle complaints. This is not acceptable – the bank can easily email the Complaints Form to me and ask me to fill up and send back. This is what Singapore banks do.

Finally, there was no resolution – I was asked to talk to the hotel which double-billed my credit card and sort out the problem. I then realised that in India one has to fight all the way on his or her own. There is no recourse for the common man. Ofcourse, if one flexes his muscles as a powerful industrialist or businessman or politician, then all rules will be inevitably broken to accommodate them – the internal justification could be “he or she is too important for us to apply all rules as per the book”. No one can dispute that this is the case, and it is nothing but moral corruption.

Coming back to the banks, they better improve their IVR system and evaluate user feedback for appropriate incorporation into their system redesign. They need to improve the problem addressal capability of their Phone Banking Officers. Further, they have to provide separate toll-free numbers for their most important customers measured by the number of relationships they have, or by the volume of business that a customer does with the bank. In case such efforts are not taken, the customer has only one option – “hit below the belt”, which means he or she moves away. Banks think that it is very difficult for individuals to move away, but it is not always so. Anybody who puts his mind to the problem cited above, and is determined to improve such experiences, does have options. HDFC Bank is much better option for instance. Citibank has been good so far – can’t say what will happen in future though. I understand even public sector banks like Bank of India are improving their customer service ! Banking is essentially a service industry and service level is the basic yardstick to be used for measuring a bank’s effectiveness.

I am sure most readers have encountered such problems, but I found some time to write about my experience. Hope this jells !

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
21 December 2008
Mumbai

Plight of the Pedestrians

It is a real pity to witness the daily struggles of the poor pedestrians on Mumbai roads (not much different in other major cities of India), one feels really sad that India has still not arrived as a civil society and a developed nation. Ofcourse, many of the readers would contend that India is still only an emerging or a developing country at best, and so could be excused from having to follow or adopt “developed country” rules and regulations, or human rights practices, etc.,

That would be just hogwash. Countless number of accidents happen on Mumbai roads everyday because we have foolhardy and rash drivers who do not respect any authority. There is a complete absence of civic sense, even on the part of the car owner-drivers, or even on the part of car owners who are driven around by their drivers. One gets the feeling that they couldn’t just care less about the plight of the ordinary pedestrians who are forced to use the roads (over 90% do use the roads as pedestrians).

On one side, you get bombarded by taps on your car windows by beggars, and especially beggar-children, who are deployed on the roads by unscrupulous beggar-parents who may not unfortunately have any independent source of income. It is sad to see very small children being pushed into oncoming traffic at the traffic signals, who pounce once the cars come to a stop. If you feel sad, and open your wallet, then there is a concerted attack by a whole host of beggars at your car asking for money. This in itself is heart-rending, you could see small children precariously positioned on narrow dividers in the middle of busy traffic junctions. One shudders what would happen if there are heavy lorries with protruding girders passing by. This is absolute breakdown of governance and poverty-alleviation programmes. How can governments ignore the plight of the homeless people ? What actions are being taken TODAY ? One can only wonder, may be aloud to one’s spouse or friends. The matter gets forgotten after a while, but one gets reminded every day on the roads. Gradually, it is only but natural that we grow accustomed to this situation and become immune to any beggar trouble. But, as responsible individuals, we must cause some actions to be taken by the government of the day.

How do we do that ? A big question. I don’t have any ready-made answers.

Further, normal pedestrians who need to cross when the signals turn red, or at a zebra crossing, can never be sure they would not get hit by a vehicle driven by stupid drivers. The white line which should be the marker for vehicles to stop at the signal is almost never there for anyone to see, and almost every driver keeps inching beyond the signal thereby disrupting traffic flow on the perpendicular road. Pedestrians have to be extremely careful while crossing, and if you observe their faces you could see the tension. Especially when they are crossing with small children. When there is a free left turn at a signal, no driver respects the pedestrians using the zebra crossing. It is the pedestrians who stop and wait for a break in the flow of vehicles rather than the drivers. Is this a developing country mindset ?

Why can’t the government take decisive action against errant motorists ? How come the traffic in South Mumbai appears to be more orderly and better regulated (though not upto developed world’s standards) but breaks down once you get into the suburbs ? Why is there acceptance of the lack of discipline on the roads, both by other users of the road and the traffic police ?

There is hardly a traffic cop on Singapore roads, or in most European Countries’ roads. In Mumbai, there is a traffic cop in almost all major intersections, sometimes on two or three corners waiting to nab drivers who make illegal turns. But despite their presence, irregularities take place constantly, or should we say with their connivance ? Or just apathy on their part. One can only surmise.

Law Enforcement should do their job without fear or favour. Motorists should be “delicensed” upon repeat offences. Cops should be issued with blackberries for tracking motorists (like what they have done in Bangalore). More traffic cameras are required to be installed. The RTO database has to be lined to the traffic police on the roads.

Progressive mindset is lacking, though we have one of the best set of professional managers in Mumbai, living and working mostly in third-world conditions.

I am sure something can be done and should be done expeditiously.

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
29th September 2008
Mumbai