Weekend trip to Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu

I get lots of insights on travel reading from blogs. So, thought why not spice up my blog with some travelogues!
So, it was February 2015 – we planned a trip to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu. As I’m based in Bangalore, it’s a 12-13 hours travel by bus or little less if by car. We chose the option of a sleeper bus from the KSRTC bus depot in Bangalore. Always get thrilled by the thought of getting down at the highway Dhabas and having roti tadka.

We reached Kodaikanal by 7.30 am in the morning – the bus was late by hour owing to visibility issues because of fog. The hill slopes were steeper than I expected. It was really refreshing to breathe in the fresh and cool air of the hills. Could easily make out when entering Kodaikanal that it had a British feel to it – it used to be the winter retreat of the British living in and around Chennai.
Had a good and heavy breakfast in our hotel – mostly dhosa, idli and poori sabji. Quickly contacted our tour operator and got on the car that would take us through Kodaikanal.



Our first stop was Coaker’s walk – it’s a 2km long walking stretch along the hill sides. It overlooks a valley surrounded by mountains and thus, during most part of the morning, you will clouds/fog trapped. It was a beautiful sight.



Don’t forget to get to buy some chocolates which you could enjoy throughout the day. Homemade chocolates of Kodaikanal were awesome.Next we headed towards the Upper Lake View point – it gives you a marvellous view of the Kodai Lake.



Our 3rd stop was another view point. It’s a wonderful where you can literally feel yourself moving through the clouds or vice versa. Misty and cold – it was mysterious too! Through the day we went to places like Pillar Rocks, Pine Forest and Guna Cave. Pillar Rock is rocky outgrowth on a mountain wall – one could huge boulders hanging without any support below. Pine forest is a wonderful pine treat spread across sq.kms. Guna is a shooting spot for South Indian films – great part is one can literally walk through the moving clouds on the way to the cave.

Our next stop was the Kodaikanal lake – it’s a pretty big lake with a road of around 6 kms along it’s perimeter. Once could take a bicycle ride or horse ride around it. We visited few other places after that and then back to the hotel.

The next morning, we started towards the Berijam forests – heard, it had a wonderful lake in the middle forests where deer come to drink water. We were not lucky enough to spot the animals but it was an awesome place – cut off from the hustle and bustle of the kodai. It was as if we were in a lost world. The weather suddenly changed and we were forced to make a hasty return to the Kodai city. It was marvellous driving through the forest with heavy rain.

All about networking

In the world of consulting, "networking' is always the buzzword. From day one when a batch joins the organisation, they are encouraged to build their network. In the consequent leadership meetings the seniors leaders advice you to network. After interacting with the level 1 analysts and consultants, one feels they are little confused as in how to build the network.

Some questions that come to their minds are:-

1. How would the Director or manager feel, if I directly barge into their office? What if, they brush me aside saying with a smile "Hey, can we talk later. Lil busy now"

2. How do I approach that female colleague. How would she feel about my "reach out gesture" for the sake of networking. Hope she does not get me wrong?

3. I got so many contacts in my Lync account. How do I leverage my network?

And so on. Amidst all this. There's this dilemma - what matters more the size of the network or the depth of the relationships in our network? In other words what matters more - "Who you know or what you know". Or is it what you know about who you know. Do not expect me to answer the questions. I have never been a yes or no person. If you ask me for a suggestion, I would advise you to deal with the scenario as per the situation. The best answer may lie somewhere between black and white.

It has been found through research that if you are looking for a job change, the size of the network is more influential. On the other hand, if you are looking for your dream project within your organisation, it is the depth of the relationships with whom you network matters. And there are many other situations.

It has also been found that females network less than their male counterparts. This is one of the reasons why there are lesser women in cXo roles in the top Fortune 500 companies. Womens think that the additional 'hi/hello' as part of their networking can be perceived by some men as sexual advances. Hence, women tend to maintain that distance.

One suggestion in building your network is to meet the person face to face first and then carry forward the relationship online. In other words, Offline then online will add more credibility to the relationship and give us more returns than online followed by offline. Also, one feels, we need to manitain sustained connection with our network which means we need to be visibile to each other online, offline or otherwise. The visibility or recall is generally driven by some exceptional traits we possess or the memories of that first meeting.

I would share more thoughts on the topic in the later posts. For now, stay tuned and Happy Networking!

The Rise of Xiaomi

The Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is setting itself up to take on the world market after achieving a sizeable market share in South-East Asia. Xiaomi has the second largest market share in China next only to Apple. Xiaomi largest market, outside of China, is India.


The ambitious CEO, Mr. Jun Lei is never short of saying – “Apple and Samsung are gone” – mark his confidence! “Even a pig can fly if it stands at the center of a whirlwind,” he says. After several years in semiretirement, “one day I woke up and thought, ‘I’m already 40 and I’ve achieved nothing,” he says. “I had a dream when I was young to found a global, first-rate company.”

In April 2010, he founded Xiaomi with Bin Lin, a former Google and Microsoft executive. The name means “millet,” a Chinese staple that is nutritious but inexpensive. While consumers in China at the time could buy expensive foreign smartphones or cheap Chinese knockoffs, there was a void between that Mr. Lei decided to target. Xiaomi sells its high end 64 GB Mi Note Pro at $489 in China vis-à-vis Apple which sells iPhone 6 at $950, while Samsung sells Galaxy S6 at around $800. According to users, Xiaomi phone provide value for money.

Xiaomi is one of the most valued startups in the world. Privately held, experts put its valuation at $46 billion. Xiaomi though still a disorganized startup. It does not have the inventory of patents like its rivals – Apple and Samsung. Experts put Xiaomi employee count at 8,000 and that it has a very flat work culture for a start-up. Employees frequently cite Xiaomi’s egalitarian management structure, in which even junior employees meet with vice presidents and each department has high autonomy. “The flat management is one of the great things about Xiaomi,” says one former employee. “Everything operates on trust.”
Xiaomi keeps the marketing cost low by spending largely on cultivating a fan base instead of advertisements. It holds fan parties every few weeks in a different city, where executives meet enthusiasts and give gifts. It has an army of employees to interact with consumers on social media. Xiaomi sells the majority of its phones online, where prices don’t need to include a profit margin for retailers.

Xiaomi’s big test would be now when it’s making a foray into foreign markets – where regulations and consumer preferences are different. For example, in India, still a large section of the customer prefer purchasing their mobile devices from brick and mortar stores where they can touch and feel the device before buying it. Xiaomi has hired former Google executive Hugo Barra as global vice president to assist them with foreign market entry strategy. Let’s see how Xiaomi performs across the world!

Generics In A Tight Spot

Pharma- How generics drug industry is facing stiff competition

There is a growing trend which has been noticed in the pharmaceutical industry for the last couple of years. The phenomena can be attributed to the growing pressure on the generics segment from both the originators( who develop the drugs) and the generics manufacturers who produces the drugs in a large scale after it goes off space. What is the phenomena?

There is a growing shift of interest towards the specialty drugs and biosimilars, away from the generic drugs. The shift is more pronounced in the European markets. The specialty drugs comprises inhalable products such as eye drops, certain injectable therapies and topical treatments. Biosimilars are follow on versions of original drugs produced after the expiration of the patents is supposed to have same effect on usage. The experts attribute this to mainly four forces - increasing cost pressure from the consumers, powerful distributors and pharmacies, sustained pressure on the free production of generics and finally, fragmentation of the generics industry.

The manufacturing of specialty drugs and the biosimilars involve complex processes. Even after the drugs go off patent, the originators strives to hold onto them using a mix of commercial, regulatory, legal and product development strategies and hence, it is difficult to be easily replicated by the generics industry. The percentage market share of the originators after the drugs have gone off-patent in the generics, specialty and biosimilars segments are 55%, 70% and 85% respectively. This shows how the originators are trying to hold onto the last two segments and this is where the fight is going to be in the coming years as far as pharma industry is concerned.





So, there are three strategic options available for the generics industry:-

A. Fight it out in the highly competitive and commoditized generics segment using scale as a leverage and better marketing and distribution strategies.

B. Go for the more higher margin and profitable specialty and biosimilar segment by investing more in research and development activity.

C. Be present in both the segments.

The generics industry can learn from other industries like airlines, textiles, electronics, steel etc. and implement a similar business model.

For example, the airlines industry has a relentless focus on costs.
* They are focused on point to point travel
* They have standard fleet of planes to reduce maintenance and operational cost
* They have introduced online booking and checking

Similarly, the generics industry on these lines can focus on

* Reducing the number of SKUs (stock keeping units)
* Standardize manufacturing processes
* Focus on online and quick regulatory approvals

In textile industry, the focus is on fast changing consumer trends.
* They have systems and processes in place to monitor and identifying changing trends.
* The processes can easily prototype the new development and role out new designs and offerings in minimal time

Similarly, the generic companies need to have systems and processes in place to identify the latest developments in the sector and forecasting the demands in advance can go a long way to ensure profitability and early mover competitive advantage.

References:
Kreid, & Reeves. (2014). Transforming Europe's generics industry. Boston Consulting Group

The Online Consumer and E-tailing Trendz!

You want to buy that favourite USPA Red T-Shirt? And now you are confused, whether you want to shop it online or want to go to the retail outlet to purchase the same. You might be thinking of the saving in time and energy if online and against that you can try the T-shirt if you visit the store. Trust me, we all face the dilemma! And it has been found by the market research conducted that the preference to get it online or visit the shop depends largely on the products and to some extent on the psyche of the consumer. Products such are clothing & footwear, consumer durables are bought at the retail outlets whereas items as books, stationery, educational courses etc. are ordered online. So next time your confused, do not blame yourself!

There is an increasing trend of webrooming (browsing online and then going to a store to make purchases) vis-a-vis showrooming (go to a retail out to check the product first and then going online and comparing brands and prices before purchasing). Webrooming is especially relevant for electronics consumers. Are you a webroomer or a showroomer?

A study by a consulting firm revealed that consumers get a better price online as it is easier to compare prices and product features online. Etailers also offer better visibility and offerings when it comes to promotions. So one feels the best combination would be a retail outlet with an online presence rather than pure-play retail or online stores. Evidence to this observation is the growing popularity of the “Click and collect” services offered by some retailers where consumers can select and book the product online and drop by the store to collect it.

It has been observed that online customer experience can be largely categorized into the following steps – research, selection, supply, use and support. An illustration is provided below where the five stages are tabulated against the channels comprising the web, point of sales and customer touch points, social network etc.

Well, the above methodology is not all challenging the buying process as explained by the marketing Funnel but it is an online variation of the tradition marketing concept with the emergence of Web and Marketing 3.0. One feels that in order for the online consumers to have that seamless shopping experience, information and services should be integrated across all the five stages.

Yesterday I had an experience with a Customer Service department of a reputed domestic airline which clearly brings out the lack of information flow and integration across all the customer touch points. Seeing a special offer flashing on the website of an Airline (the ad occupied almost 20-25% visible area of the homepage), I called up the customer service for some clarification but was shocked and later amused that they were completely unaware of the offer and when I pointed them to their website, their supervisor promised me a call back. And it has been 48hrs, didn’t hear from them. Though, I clarified my doubt though some other means, the lack of co-ordination and flow of information for an Airline of that repute was strange!

Bangkok Trip!

What's in an MBA ?

Well this piece of article is especially for my non-MBA friends. I have been getting queries from quite a few of them if quitting an existing job for a MBA program is really worth it. Now that I am almost nearing the end of my MBA stint, so thought of sharing some experiences here! These are entirely my opinions!

To start with as well all know, we need to crack the Common Admission Test (CAT) more popular as CAT. And of course, we have the XAT, SNAP, NMAT, CMAT etc. for some of the other reputed colleges. Once, you are into a B-School, your initial days would comprise outbound tours, bonding sessions, personality and effective communication workshops etc. This is more of the fun part when we meet new fellows from diverse backgrounds be it academics, nationality, work etc.

In tier I – III B-school the pedagogy is almost similar. In the first year one studies general management with topics like business statistics, fundamentals of management disciplines – Finance, Marketing, Sales, HR, Operations, IT, international business etc., Strategy, tools like Excel, ERP, databases, foreign languages and so on. The idea is to equip oneself with a generalized skill-sets required by a manager.

At the end of the first year, we go for a two-month long internship program. The area of internship is generally the specialization we want to opt for in the final year. Though, there are cases where students do opt for a different specialization after the internship experience. Your internship may or may not have a stipend depending upon the company you are in. This is where top B-Schools have an edge over tier II peers. Around 70% - 100% of the students get paid internships in the top ten colleges of our country. Good performance during the internship can help you bag a pre-placement offer from the company.
Post internship, when we are back, it’s time for our specialization. The batch is restructured into Finance, Marketing, Supply Chain (Operations), Human Resources and Information Technology (offered in some colleges). I will take you through the specializations.

One needs to keep in mind that during the middle of the final year, the companies start visiting the campuses. So, the first six months of the final year is the most crucial and the toughest part of your MBA program.

On academic front, if you have opted for Marketing – you would come across areas like sales, integrated marketing communication, consumer behavior, international marketing, online marketing & social media, services marketing etc.
In finance, one would study corporate valuations, banking, capital markets, financial derivatives, investment banking - Mergers and acquisitions, private equity, hedge funds, bonds etc.
Human Resources would help you study industrial relations, managing performance, talent management, organizational structure design, negotiation, conflict management etc.
In Supply Chain, one studies Retail supply chain, materials and quality management, procurement, warehouse management and so on. As I had told before, the course structure is very similar in most B-Schools, the subjects might have a different name here and there.
One also gets an opportunity to purse exchange programs where in you generally go to a B-school in Europe, Singapore or US for a six to twelve months stint.




Now coming to the most important part, placements and return on investment. The fees in a decent B-School (top 30) vary from 10 lpa to 18 lpa. The median salary would be from around 7 lpa to 13 lpa. If you are working in a company and earning 5 lpa, do not ignore the opportunity cost i.e. 10lakhs for the two years you invest in a MBA program. But yes, with a MBA you get a broader perspective and can rise up the corporate ladder faster. And yeah, you are friends with some 100-200 influential peers.
Having said that, some other things which a placement report might not say – you can consider these both as positives or negatives. Trust me, it varies from person to person.

• It is difficult for people with high work-ex (3 yrs or more) to change their domain. If one is hell bent, he/she may have to be contend with a salary given to a fresher.
• Mostly marketing profiles are sales oriented.
• Only a few handy people land up with a investment banking profile.
• In a college, HR profiles are provided the lowest CTC.
• There would be a sizeable bonus or variable component in your salary.
• There is considerable difference between MBA academics and industry. Hence, it is advisable to pursue live projects to bridge the gap.
• Very few people receive the highest packages.

Apart from the academics and placement, there are whole lot of things that goes in a B-school which turns one into a global professional. There are committees – Corporate, Public & Alumni Relations, Fest committees, Food Committee, Clubs which provides a great exposure other than academics.

Hence, weigh your options and make the decision.

For any queries, you can write to me at d.santanu1@gmail.com.
You can also connect with me at
www.facebook.com/das.santanu or http://in.linkedin.com/in/santanudas1

Ad Campaign: Be Different

Wacky Ad Campaign: Delete 10 Facebook friends and get a Burger!


Shocked? You think my gray cells are going wierdoplasmic? Well, it is not so. I am speaking with all my intellect intact & vasanas tamed. This is the marketing campaign of the Burger King.

The promotion looks like this:

What would you do for a free WHOPPER? Now is the time to put your fair-weather web friendships to the test. Install " Whopper Sacrifice " on your Facebook profile, and we'll reward you with a free flame-broiled burger when you sacrifice 10 of your friends.
We need to install the Facebook app – “Whopper Sacrifice” for the hamburger.

Then, what we need to do is unfriend 10 of our friend’s .You delete them one by one and upon deleting the 10th friend you would get a Whopper coupon. The coupon entitles you to a free flame-boiled whopper. The best part is the sacrifices shows up in the daily activity feed.


For example,
Zanyam sacrificed Zantanu for a free Whopper.

Zanyam sacrificed Zarthak for a free Whopper.

Funny, huh? Well, I am sure you are thinking of unfriending your friends and adding them back again. Again and Again. Watch it because unfortunately you just have one burger per account! The promotion is just limited to one coupon per account.

You must be wondering if Burger King is promoting negativity in human relations like friendships. The fact of the matter is, it is just the opposite. According to them, the app increases our Facebook experience. It intends to filter out fake, spam profiles & acquaintances that are least important and indifferent to us and our lives. No wonder if we are to remove some one from your profile, we know whom to. That’s the concept Burger King wanted to promote. With the free coupons, you are increasing the footfalls in your store. Sale of side dishes, drinks & other items are going to go up. Brand recall coefficient is going to skyrocket. You are going to be back at Burger king.

Win-win model for Burger king & customers, right? Yes, it is but please spares a thought for Facebook. In fact, the promo was an instant hit. It is reflected by the jump in top line of Burger King as well as increasing number of footfalls and branding comes along. During the “Whopper Sacrifice,” 234,000 people were trumped for free burgers .

Coming back to Facebook, their profit rank algorithm is driven by the number of the interconnected profiles. More friends, family & network, faster spread their ad messages & apps. Damn!!! Zuckerburg scrapped the promo app, citing spread of negative emotions in advertising as the reason. Abrupt ending?

“UNFRIENDER” Rachel Heavers, with her daughter, Ellen, removed a lifelong pal in “a hormonal moment.” Now she says, “I really, really regret it.”


The article was inspired by my college friends - Zarthak , Zanyam & Zaran . Watching them having burger tonight in my room , I searched ‘burger’ in Google and bingo !!!. Found this unorthodox marketing strategy .

References : www.google.com
www.bk.com/


( Written by Santanu Das , studying MBA International Business at SIIB , Pune . You can mail your feedback to santanudas@siib.ac.in )

Facebook Afterlife

Mandatory assumption : There’s life after death. Ghosts (co)exist.

With social networking becoming such an integral part of our daily lives , can we ever do without it ? What if FB/twitter is available to us even after death. Imagine social networking for the dead like say ‘Facebook Afterlife’ for the perished , I mean the ghosts.

Wouldn’t it be great to see Mahatma Gandhi tweeting – ' Hey Ram' and airing his views on non-violence and Anna Hazare Inc. Steve Jobs launching the new iPhone GhostEdition which allows ghosts to call their live kiths & kins from the heaven(or hell). Imagine apps like Ghostville and angry souls doing rounds. Can you imagine the likes of Don Bradman cheering – KayKayRRR! A Nargis item number going viral . The victims of the Titanic coming to the ghost premiere of James Cameron’s Titanic 3D . Mother Teresa expressing solidarity with the victims of land acquisition .

The FB Afterlife profiles may contain new information fields like say

 Day of Death (errrr...i don’t know how ghosts will wish each other on this day)
 Cause of death
 Mode of disposal : cremation / burial / buried at sea / Yet to be disposed
 Number of Affairs
 Worth of property bequeathed
 Would like to be reborn as : Human/Animal/Insect/Aquatic Creatures/Others
 Unfulfilled desire

Sample FBAfterlife ticker –

Rabindranath Tagore likes Noblechor.
Rabindranath Tagore likes Charulata.
Charles Darwin likes X-Men.
Jesus and Buddha are now friends.
Bose updated his current city.
Adolf Hilter commented on Mussolini status , ‘ The Audi A8 is too cool.Armani sucks’
UttamKumar >> Paoli Dam : Hoyto tomari Jonne
Uttam Kumar likes Autograph
Rajnikant joined FacebookAfterlife .
RajniKant updated his status – ‘ I am still alive ‘


Disclaimer : Please take the article in jest . No offences towards any personalities. The article is a work of fiction . Happy Reading!

Laziness Personified

The Modern Beggar

Beggars . They are everywhere. Portfolio of ills – men , women , children in tattered and dirty clothing , some without arms , some without legs , victims of leprosy , scurvy or polio walking on their hands or rolling down the crowded sidewalks in skate- carts .Their legs twisted behind them .

At first I gave money to anyone who stopped at our door or stretched out his arm as I passed the streets.Later , I realised the misery of the beggars is endless and infinite . So , I tended to be more selective with my finite wealth .In the process , learnt to calibrate the extent of misery and donate accordingly. I do not give them anything now. Years have made me realise I might be playing into the Great Indian Begging scam .

I call it scam because begging is carried out in well organised groups now. Teamwork and collective responsibility makes us easy prey for them . For a certain territory , the beggars deposit a significant share of their earnings to a ring leader or the local goon . Beggars choose not to work because they make more money from begging .

Popular begging scams include renting baby from their mothers to give their begging more credibility. In Kolkata (near the Indian museum) in particular, visitors are often approached by a child or woman wanting some powdered milk to feed a baby. You will be taken to a nearby shop that sell tins or boxes of such lactogen. But the milk will be priced much higher than actual and the shopkeeper and the beggar will simply split the proceeds between them.

Begging is prevalent where there are tourists – railway stations , monuments , religious sites and even major traffic intersections . Their target segment – vehicles while the lights are red .

If you are the very generous and caring NGO guy with a heart and pocket of golds , you may give them old clothes , towels , bed sheets and food too . Giving them money is worthless because they would spent that up in alcohols or drugs . You may also direct their children to local NGOs and schools for education.

Next time you come across a beggar , I am sure you will recollect this post . How to deal with them is ofcourse your personal choice .

UP Politics

Mulayam's Puttar


UP election saga was quite interesting. I was tempted to give it a second look to seek the finer aspects.


Achilles oops Akhilesh is clearly the winner. He defeated competition within and outside of his party. Now, he is ready to take the beacon of leadership from his dad. So what made him standout – Well, his choice. He chose not to abide by conventions. Instead, generation Y inside him brought closer to the voters. He was committed to clean the party image by dropping veteran goons. Tech-savvy image of him carrying laptops & iphone backed by intensity and km-driven campaigning helped his cause. He travelled more than 3000km campaigning for the party. A sitting MP, he strengthened his connect with the aam junta and emerged the strongest. SP veterans (some unwillingly, though) projected him as the CM. Well done Akhi. Law & order is your biggest challenge now.

In a victory, the winner’s virtues are equally important as losers’ vices. I will take the losers one by one. First, the BSP . You can it on the anti-incumbency factor. Although , law & order improved drastically and efforts were made to revamp the administration , but the support of the Muslims , upper castes and may be even dalits could not be sustained.Mayawati did not do anything special to let people give her a second mandate. She was never a Modi or Nitish. The resurgent SP, multi-cornered politics, infighting and disconnect with the people buried the nail into their coffin. But going by numbers, they still remain a formidable opponent.


Congress. The less said the better. Its struggle at the centre was reflected in the UP elections. Not only was it demolished badly, dynastic politics gain hit a road block. Rahul Gandhi’s prime ministerial ambitions will be finished for now. UP proved again the lad’s failures to assess politics & mood at the ground level. He could not capitalize on the mileage he gains by the virtue of being Gandhi scion. Other congress leaders were also relegated to sidelines.


BJP would never learn. Its brand of core competency no longer works. Proof? Look at the Goa elections where the party gave tickets to Roman Catholics. All of them won. Development, infrastructure and industry , finally , a refreshing leader is what BJP needs . Hope , BJP will learn from itself only. When will the winds of change blow!!!


Overall, elections in UP is arguably the toughest polls. With, four parties fighting in nearly all seats, SP did a splendid job. Kudos to them!!!

Doing Business in Bharat

It had been a long time since this blog saw a post . I have redesigned the look and feel of the blog with a promise of regular postings . Today I took up - Entrepreneurship in India .

Becoming an entrepreneur is one of the most cherished dreams of all ambitious people . Consider India and it is a Herculian task .For those who find it hard to believe , let us look at the stats. As per ' The ease of doing business ' ratings , India ranks a dismal 132 out of 182 countries( ref : http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings ). Just to give you an idea of what rank 132 means , look at these rankings of our neighbour : Nepal 107 , Bangladesh - 122 , Pakistan 105 . Shocked ? Well , I was shocked too !

You might wonder about government creating policies to remove hurdles but for each hurdle removed , another is added (dekhna hoga na policy kyu ban raha hain - votebank or business) and let us not forget the kickbacks and patronage networks.

Leftists do shout that the business policies in India are highly skewed towards big businesses but then , did they not rule one famous state of eastern India for 30 years and the results are there for every one to see (No offence please).

Businesses are money churners for governments in the form of taxes , excise , VATs - but people even don't know where , how and even why to pay taxes. And so not so surprisingly , India ranks 147 in terms of 'Ease of paying taxes'. Our governments are not even eager to collect the same. Don't remember last time when Indian budget showed a surplus! Can anyone tell me what are they doing in the administration ? Maybe hereditary or some other hidden motives ( hey , I'm not talking about ministers watching porn:P:P).

Before we shout - ' FDI FDI FIIIIIIII ' , we need some good policies . Reforms . Policies that would would act as a bait to start businesses. Millions of Indians would be able to stand on their own feet and it also offloads the subsidy or reservation burdens off the shoulders of the government. Silent reforms may not grab the newspaper or TV headlines as say , Volkswagon wanting to invest in Bengal but people would be empowered to buy one of those cars .


( You can mail me your feedbacks to santanudas@engineer.com )

Vodafone & Airtel in India

Not bad - the Endless Goodbyes and Street Performer ads.In its bid for the emo connect, airtel succeeded this time too.Might be that airtel has brought the 'firangi' connect in its ads , but then lets not forget the Zain acquisition . Airtel has gone international now .
Nevertheless , the new ads are making way into ringtones and desktop wallpapers meaning they are high on the publicity and emotional connectquotient .Isn't that emotions is the primary factor that drives purchase , impulsive or not .Reasoning and logic , are only after thoughts of purchase .We all know, 80% of decision-making is emotional. Only 20% is rational. Reason leads to conclusion, emotion leads to action . So next time , when you go to buy something you might recollect these lines . But I am sure , you will give in to your impulse and see the point proved .Humans we are !

not so-different logos



With Vodafone and Tata Docomo , closing on the heels , the rebranding was necessary. To critics , the rebranding could have been on the 'desier' side , given airtel has a customer base of 200m only in India ! But then change is the constant , especially if intercontinental providers like vodafone storms into your bastille and grabs your pie .



Zoo zoos...Endless Goodbyes...Street Performer...Do the new... Flatteners at work!
High mobile density and penetration , lower rates , 3G services ..good for India and the world!