Tuesday 19 July, 2011

Sorry Doesn't Help


Sorry doesn't help,
I did not make you feel happy
but I never wanted to be the reason for your sorrows

Sorry doesn't help,
I know it wont cheer you up
but it was never my intention to let you down

Sorry doesn't help,
I couldn't live up to our promises
but dont make your dreams any smaller

Sorry doestn't help,
I may have broken your trust
but dont let it shake your confidence

Sorry doesn't help,
I failed to take you forward
but dont you shy away from starting afresh

Sorry doesn't help
I know this wont do any good now
but it is the only way to tell, I still care

Sunday 10 April, 2011

Fastrack of the Chennai

That is one of the radio call taxi operator in chennai, in case you do not know. So, of all the things in Chennai, you will wonder why am I writing on Fastrack. Simple answer, customer experience, it can not be bad than that. If it were not the 'ever-demanding' autorickshaw wala of chennai, these radio cabs would have shut their shops long back. Imagine paying the same (sometimes higher) amount for a ride by autorickshaw than that by a AC cab. The other factor is ofcourse the preference of language used on city buses, so all buses start from and travel to the same stop for me.

Besides the wonderful ecosystem that is fueling the radio cabs business in chennai, you also get a totaly unfriendly tele sales staff who takes your calls. Yes the tele sales staff just hangs up the phone is he/she is not able to understand where you want your cab. And if you are expecting that you will get a call back cause that tele-sales executive has to get business for his company, forget it, because that executive will definitely forget you. If you call them again, dont start by saying that your call was dropped and dont even hope that you can save some time by not providing the details that you have already provided because doing that would only ensure that this call will also get dropped.

More amazing is their CRM system, I am sure the Mckinseys of the world would have advised them to install one, but they fail to mention that train your staff on it. Being a business traveller, I stay at hotels, so the hotels and room numbers keep changing, but instead of repeated request, my address in their record is still room number 106, hotel vestin park. Try and explain them that it is a hotel room number and not my PAN card number, you know what will happen next? The executive will hung up the phone. Now comes the next and most important part, providing the service to the customer, in short Mr. Driver comes into the picture. So, the driver will get the details about where and when you want the cab, he will ask you for any landmark near your place and then you expect him to reach on time. The story has a bollywood climax with a tollywood villian. If you are lucky he will be on time, if you are not then you have to call the driver back to check where he has reached. He will politely tell you that he was not able to locate the house and he has parked his car at some random place and is waiting for your call. You relax your arms, take a deep breath and guide him to your place again, yes you dont have a choice. Now the cab will surely reach you, and there is nothing that can go wrong, you will get into the cab and reach your destination. Wait, don't doubt on the creativity of your old friend, the tele-sales executive. 1 out of 5 times you would realise that the cab isn't the type you had asked for. You may have asked for a Indigo but you see a nice old indica whose bonut is smiling at your misery.

What do you do next, you call the tele-sales executive just to check why is this so and no point in guessing what happens next. He hungs up the phone. Good Bye !

Friday 25 February, 2011

To the street lights

Looking at those yellow lights on street, i ponder
Its been long since i stayed in office any longer
The streets are asking me where have i been
That i did not meet them so often, missing the sheen

Will meet those street lights everyday, scared i was in dreams
That i belong to a rare specie that the media call creme de la creme
Days have passed while i work and leave in the familiar daylight
And the arrival of stars in my sky is like the trees turning green

Of all the hopes and ambitions that you water like seeds
Just to end up in a populist job doing those regular deeds
And the ever siftling of endless jobs and careers you always do
Of this and that from every tin and can, trying to make ends meet

I wonder if you also play the same role like we always pretend
Or am I the only one juggling these goals, making amends
Not looking for an answer, not so early in life
As there are more surprises waiting for me, to comprehend.

Thursday 23 September, 2010

CWG Scam - the untold story

The real reasons of CWG mess aren't the ones you read on newspaper, actually they are the following:

Post elections, the Indian economy needed another fiscal stimulus, but because of international pressure the Indian government could not give it officially and therefore decided to allow CWG committee members as much leeway as needed to spend handsome amount of money for the benefit of the economy. The government is successful as Indian Capital Markets have outperformed all other indices worldwide.

The CWG contracts weren't given to big and reputed companies under the pressure of MINGCCO (minorities group of construction companies) following Indian secular model extended to the corporate world to minimise the gap between the haves and have-nots of the Indian Industry.

Applying the rule of equitable distribution of resources, the organising committee asked the elite group of hotels for personal benefits stating that the CWG organised by them will benefits these hotels in a big way and hence they need to give it back in some way or the other. However, The elite group of hotels together decided that they will not mend to the ways of CWG committee members and hence to teach them a lesson organising committee ensured that no-one actually comes for the game.

The CWG committee had hired world renowned consultants to advice them on how best to improve India's chances of getting more medals. The consultants applied their IPR protected model 'ATRC' (Attack the root cause) and after extensive primary research and in-depth expert interviews, the consultants came to a conclusion the root cause if better skills of foreign athletes. Therefore it was decided to somehow make them not come to the venue. The consultants did not charged for their services.

Organising the CWG is the most expensive marketing campaign taken up by the government of India in association with Election commission of India to create a buzz, big enough to reach the farthest of the corners and make people realise the repercussions of not voting during the time of elections and to prevent the repeat of something similar to CWG people would be forced to vote.

After RBI failed to control the inflation in the economy, the CWG was the last resort left in front of the government to siphon-off big chunks of money to SWISS banks accouts so that it can not return to further heat up the economy. CWG was the only way to make the money disappear without creating any real assets in the economy and therefore the effiency achieved is one of the best.

With the consistent failure of Intelligence Bureau to prevent terrorist strikes in the country, the threat of terrorist strike on CWG was real lest the games itself become so uncertain that the terrorist organizations do not even make plans for it, thereby the satisfying the DOE (Damage on Explosives) expectations of the shareholders of these terrorist organizations. The CWG OC should be credited for perfectly planning this 'unplanned' picture of the games.

The honourable MLAs of Indian democratic system had all joined hands for the first time for one aim, to ensure CWG becomes the monster of all issues, just to divert attention from their failure with regards to Ayodhya Issue, Bhopal Gas, Inflation, IPL Controversies, Rotting of Food Grain, Suicide of Farmers et.al. Mr Suresh is just being made scapegoat and therefore, is paid handsomely.

Wednesday 25 August, 2010

O my heart !

O my Heart! Listen
I know you like to Dream, It’s your way to zoom past all the inhibitions
When you see a friend proudly exhibiting his sport car

I know you want to jump in the sky, want to achieve new heights
When you see a friend enjoying a roller coaster ride

You want to lend a helping hand, give meaning to my achievements
When you see a friend involved with a NGO

To express those emotions that does not want to be confined by words
When you see a wonderful portrait made by a friend

And you want to stretch the boundaries, reasserting your belief in me
When you see a friend receiving new laurels

O my Heart, Listen You may keep dreaming, aspiring
But remember you are not alone, get along my mind, my soul

Still, keep dreaming, keep asking for more, keep pushing
Confront my intellect, don’t let it settle for less

Imagine what my eyes fail to see, hear what my ears ignore
Don’t you know, you still rule my world

Monday 23 August, 2010

All about CWG

I am modifying this post to include this another link shared by a friend - http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/the-times-of-india-and-commonwealth-games/ 

The CWG story is getting interesting every day. If you have not followed it up so far, you may read this collection of news as it appeared in print media for you and I will keep updating this. Full marks to Mr. Iyer who started the controversy by wishing failure to CWG but it made people to question and probe further. Let’s see how far the story goes.

July 17 –
July 18 –
July 23 –
July 25 –
July 27 –
July 28 –
July 29 –
July 30 –
July 31 –
Aug 1 –
Aug 2 –
Aug 3 –
Aug 4 –
Aug 5 –
Aug 6 –
Aug 8 –
Aug 9 –
Aug 10 –
Aug 11 –
Aug 12 –
Aug 13 –
Aug 14 –
Aug 16 –
Aug 17 –
Aug 18 –
Aug 19 –
Aug 20 –
 Aug 21 –
Aug 22 –
Aug 23 –
Aug 24 –

Wednesday 11 August, 2010

Teaser Campaign - Peepli Live !

Aamir Khan is at it again, the buzz that he is able to create before a movie release is always the best. When I saw the teaser campaign for the first time, I thought those campaigns are just a hoax, and that the movie is on a different topic altogether. I thought people will get a big surprise when they go and watch the movie on the first day and then it will generate another round of buzz which will spread by word-of-mouth. The idea is to completely catch people off-guard and push the un-decided ones to buy the tickets. Clearly, it is unheard of, in bollywood. I do not have sufficient knowledge about Hollywood, so am unable to comment.

Now, I feel that Peepli Live teaser campaigns were not a deception but were actually a snapshot of what the movie is all about. Okay, let us just leave it to the fact that consumers in india may not be ready for such teaser campaigns. You may have already heard of the ambush marketing by HUL for its Dove brand that completely over scored on the buzz built by P&G. So, may be Aamir Khan has learnt a lesson and he did not wanted to create an opportunity for someone else to score.

But there are still many things that differentiate peepli live from other bollywood releases, the theme of the movie, the relevance of it to rural india, the use of unpopular small-time actors, the use of village music group for one of the songs. Clearly it is a big name, backing a small budget film which can become profitable in the very first day of its release. Releasing just one movie per year is another trick that pulls the crowd to the theatre, exclusivity demands a premium, isin’t. At least the property rates of peeli village are going up due to this movie, some benefit for the villagers, hope you read the news regularly. :)

However, I am still waiting to see who will be the first production house that will experiment with a hoax teaser campaign to generate buzz for a movie release, the question is are we ready yet? The answer is difficult to put unless someone tries the same.