Irritation

I am a bit irritated today - Partly because today things did not go the way I planned and partly because of the slow pace at which things have been progressing at my end. This reminds me of an interesting incident I encountered.

A Punjabi man entered the cabin. Without any introduction, he sat on a chair opposite the person in charge and beside me. He looked like a well-informed person and a well-networked individual. After asking the hal-chal of the person in charge, the man started talking about the India-Pakistan match which is supposed to take place in a couple of days at Mohali. He looked very passionate about cricket and at length started discussing about the weaknesses of the teams and other stuff which appeared in the morning newspaper (Hindustan Times to be precise). He talked about the security arrangements and the possible outcomes of the PM meet at the stadium. Then he completely started showing off by talking about some influential in the Income Tax department at Pune. Then after some discussions about the upcoming courses at my institute, he left. The total time he talked was around 20 minutes. As soon as he left, the person in charge of the office asked me "Ye kaon tha?". I had no idea about the person and we had a big laugh. 20 minutes in the conversation and there was no introduction from his side. The person in charge also didn't bother to ask since there was no value addition from the conversation. Such an irritation.

This is just one of the many experiences I've had when the person who starts the conversation doesn't introduce himself. I have encountered a lot of such calls where the person calling assumes that I have his/her number and goes on with a general conversation (where we don't need to know specific things) for minutes together. After the initial 30 seconds into the general topic conversation, it also becomes awkward to ask him his name. So, we let the conversation drag on without knowing whom we are talking to.

A remedy to such an irritating experience is that we need to be wise enough to ask his name before getting into the conversation.
Moral of the story : Please introduce yourself when you talk to a person at a high post or when you talk over the phone.

Journey conversation and thought

It has been quite sometime I've posted something on the blog. My laziness, the mess I've subjected myself to, the vast number of scams (reading which I consume most of my online time), and the facebook are some of the reasons for it. 

So, I was travelling from Pune to Sangli via a non-stop bus (glad to get it as soon as  I reached bus stop) and I had a young farmer as my fellow passenger. After the initial hour, which I spend sleeping and smsing, we began talking. I don’t know why every conversation with an unknown Maharashtrian begins with the place one hails from and this was no exception. Even before we exchanged our names, we exchanged our hometowns and current location. After the initial discussions about the places around Karad and Sangli, the conversation went to farming.

Here, I was astonished with the knowledge level of the person. He explained me the different techniques of sowing sugarcane seeds which improved the yield levels of the sugarcane production per hectare, the two methods by which the fertilizers should be put on plants and the use of new concentrates which will yield more crop per hectare land. I knew about these things only superficially but thanks to this young individual, I think I have a better insight on this subject now.

The conversation then went to multi-level marketing and Amway when I saw a spark in his eye. He had been waiting for this opportunity and he started with the multi-level marketing concepts, the royalty concept and other things which Amway is known for. The passion with which he felt Amway will be a successful FMCG (which Is no doubt the fastest growing FMCG company currently) and the level of enthusiasm he shared was really contagious. I, personally, am not a big fan of multilevel marketing and Amway. I feel that the products are unnecessarily expensive and are dumped on to an individual to sell. When I explained him my reservations against this concept, he reluctantly agreed and  told me that he spent only 2 hours of his leisure time for Amway daily and he invested a low level of capital in it. He showed me detailed calculations which showed a revenue of Rs. 5 lakhs per month + some 4% royalty in case he convinced 25 people to join Amway and told that it was always worth a risk to try out for such awesome levels of returns.

He then went about describing that agriculture will only take him to a particular level and to rise from mediocre to higher, he needed to do something additional and he found Amway as a best way to take him to that level.

Though I do not approve of Amyay, I was really impressed by his thought of doing something to rise from the ordinary to the extra-ordinary. Hope that others also think along the same lines and find out different ways to rise out of the ordinary. If only that happens, India will scale new heights.

However, reasonable levels of risk (not too high risks) should be taken. Else things could go wrong like in my case. :P

On Hostel Mess

If you talk to any person who has ever stayed in a hostel, 'mess' is a dreaded word. I am yet to see any person who says that he/she had good food at the mess during his school/college days. The Roti at any mess appears uncooked, there is always a significant amount of oil floating on the top of any vegetable, the dal always tastes bad and so on are some of the common complaints at most of the mess. In context of food, the word mess originates from some Italian word which refers to course of a meal put on table. However, we relate this word to the general meaning of mess i.e. chaos or confusion. The food over there is considered to be in a mess.

I've been living in hostel for quite sometime now and while I feel the same about the food many times, I sometime wonder about the possibility of making quality and tasty food for around 1000 thankless people everyday round the year. I feel that it is really a tough job to keep so many people happy every time.
I've concluded that because the food gets repeated after every 15-20 days; even though the food is good, people tend to get bored with the repetitive stuff and then start to complain about the food. Well, this cannot be helped then.

Apart from the food aspect of the mess, when I think of the mess, I remember the words of one of my professors (Man!. look at the number of degrees. A line isn't sufficient). He says that the mess is a 'great leveller'. No matter what the family background of a student is, he has to sit in the mess and consume food prepared by the cook. A great line of thought I should say, especially after this incident : P

For me, I have always considered mess as a great place to socialize. After from my room and the classes, the cumulative time I've spent in the mess has been the highest. I've had some of my most engaging conversations at the mess. I have started talking to a lot of people at UICT and SCMHRD because of the mess. Some of the people whom I first talked to in the mess are now some of my good friends. I've come to observe some of the most peculiar aspects about humans and human behaviours at the mess when I see future managers talking to the mess employees.

Thoda senti ho gaya w.r.t mess. Hope I am able to fast recover from the mess I've subjected myself to.

On relatives and conversations

Conversations plays a very important role in fulfilling the social needs of a human being. It provides a means for interaction between individuals. I believe that ladies have a greater need for conversations when compared to the males. This is amply proven by the way in which girls talk when they meet on roads or the way in which wives share their 'ghar ka rona' when they meet at the vegetable vendor or the amount of bitching done by fast friends.

I had been in Mumbai recently and got stuck up in a place where a lot of aunties and mamis had assembled for a function sort of thing. With no access to laptop, TV or a novel, I decided to listen to their conversations.

As is generally seen, the conversation went to the whereabouts of a person who has reached the age of marriage. A lady asked "Do you remember the name "Tamari Masi na Jeth ni Mama ni chokri?"" And in the next instance the name of the girl popped out from the mouth of the lady standing in front. I was awed by their ability to relate to people quickly.  Next I overheard somebody asing about " Pilwai wala Sumanbhai ni Bhanji na kakaji no 2nd jamai".

Upon hearing these terms, I realized how limited knowledge I have about my relatives. I know only a few of them. Hope to know many more and relate to them at a speed these ladies are capable of.

Hats off to all those Gujju Bens who are able to know so many far away relatives by names.

On meeting School Friends

I meet school friends intermittently whenever I come to Sangli. I make it a point to meet atleast some during each visit. (Though I meet Pavan everytime I come)  However, I happen to meet about 3 or 4 at max together. I do not meet all of them together. This was the first time around 11 of us met together after the school got over (after 9 years) all thanks to Shigen, Gaurav and Vishwanath for taking the initiative.

It felt great to meet everyone after such a long gap. Some of us looked the same (me included) and some of us had completely transformed into a new individual altogether. Some of us have now been married and a lucky one even has a kid. We had a chat for around 2 hours where we talked about all the major events happened at school and it was surprising that I wasn't a part of any, barring one incident of standard 4th. I found that there were some of us had a gala time at school harrassing the officials of the school and troubling the Principal of our school. Looking back I find that those pranks which I considered useless at that time made me laugh heartily tonight. We recalled most of our batchmates and our crushes at that time, had some pizza and lots of sandwitches. Finally, we talked what each one of us is doing with our lives and our future plans.

After coming back home, when I started to think about the life of each one of us, a strange feeling has gripped me. Most of my friends have either joined their fathers' business and have expanded their fathers business to a diffeent field. A friend whose father traded tyres has started a cafe at prime location of the city. Another one whose father has several factories has started a saree shop which sells high end sarees only. Another friend has expanded his fathers wholesale wheat trading business to a multi-distributor business. He now acts as a distributor to Wipro products, Vodafone products and a host of other major products in Sangli district. All of the above weren't very bright at studies in school. Yet, they have made the best of whatever they had and are now shoulder to shoulder with their fathers.

And here I am - still studying or trying to study and who is not clear what he wants to do in the future. I am in no position to overtake my fathers consulting firm (My brother who will do that hopefully and thankfully).
All I am going to gain after studying for so many years away from family is a job that too in some city that is not Sangli. : (
Out of the whole lot in school, I obtained decent enough marks to make it to UICT and then the journey to Herdillia and SCMHRD. Sometimes I feel that in case I had not obtained those marks, I would have been doing something here in Sangli like my friends with a certainity of what I would be doing in future.
Yet, I feel that I am so lucky to have experienced staying away from family, knowing a lot of new people from different corners of the country and learning a lot from them too. [Contradictory feelings together]
Hopefully, I soon figure out a right strategy in my life, get a decent enough job and eventually come back to Sangli with my own firm or a factory - with my school friends.

Wishing everyone a very happy Diwali and a Happy New Year.

Debit and credit card

Debit and credit cards have changed the way the urban India shops. More and more shopkeepers are now installing the magnetic strip credit card readers next to their billing counters. The advent of internet shopping and eticketing has changed the scenario of shopping and ticket booking for many especially in urban India.
Online shopping market in India is worth Rs 1,300 crore and the growth rate is upwards of 30%. (Reference). The online travel industry is expected to grow to Rs. 28000 crore.
More statistics about the ecommerce in India is available here, here and here.  Especially booking train tickets online has changed the way we plan for train travelling. No wonder 1/3rd of all the ecommerce transactions in India are through IRCTC.

It has been around one year since I have started making use of the eticketing facilities offered by irctc, msrtc, etc and I have been amazed by the convenience the service offers for a service charge of Rs. 10 to Rs 25. The whole experience of booking ticket has become cashless and ticket booking happens very quickly (Well, the internet speed acts as a bottleneck here).

While I am really happy with the convenience the service offers, there is something about the whole procedure that makes me a bit uncomfortable. The transaction being cashless doesn't give a feel that we have lost money. E.g: My last irctc transaction involved a sum of Rs. 2273. Now this is a huge amount and parting with such a huge amount under normal circumstances (when we book tickets through agents or ticket counters) and makes us feel that we are spending too much and should put a control on expenditure we make. But this eticketing experience did not give any feeling that I am doing a transaction involving a huge sum. Infact, I was tempted to book an alternative ticket just in case I couldn't make it to the train on that day. The idea that I will be locking in Rs 2273 again didn't bother me at all. The feeling of parting with ones' hard earned money (or parents' hard earned money) just doesn't come in. And this is what makes me uncomfortable.

It happened to me once - there was a book store cum library newly opened up in a town and I just went to see the shop and was really amazed by its collection. So, I was tempted to become a member. I was about to give my debit card to the store owner to register me as a member. But then I discovered that I had forgotten my card. So, now I had no other option but to carry out the transaction with cash. But as the feeling of parting with so much cash (around Rs 1000) creeped in, I decided against becoming a member. And now I am really happy I didn't become a member. (I have a great collection of ebooks to keep me busy for around 5 years alongwith a great library at SCMHRD). Had I brought that card on that day I would have surely been tempted to become a member and would have wasted Rs 1000 unnecessarily.

Because of such services, I feel that the savings of people will decrease and people will spend more and more even though there is no need. I've seen a lot of my friends and colleagues buying books from infibeam just because it flashed on their laptop screen without any need. (Temptation to buy). So, I feel that one of the major reasons why people in the USA have a lower savings rate when compared to the Asian nations is the wide spread use of debit and credit cards.

Conclusion: While credit and debit cards have made transactions convenient, we should restrain from using it unnecessarily out of temptation and try to do cash transactions (part with ones' hard earned money), wherever possible, so as to value money (eventually save more).

Partying

The meaning of the term "Partying" has been in a state of change.

Right from childhood the term partying has been in a constant state of evolution.
In school during primary days, partying meant an evening snack at some friends' house with some games like Housie lotto or musical chair hosted by the mother of the party giver. Birthday parties used to come with return gifts. Based on the return gifts, we used to rate the birthday parties. A bulkier return gift meant a better party.

As I evolved, the idea of partying also started changing. Now in my secondary days, parties did not mean celebration at anybody's home. Parties had to happen at a restaurant where the group had to have dinner followed by a desert. It was no longer cool to be hosting party at home.

As days passed and I got out of my junior college, the birthday parties lost a bit of significance. Now, party meant visiting a hill station or another town so as to help friends spend a lot of time together. Still the restaurant pattern did not change.

As I joined my first job, the idea of party remained more or less like a restaurant party but with only one change - The party needs to have booze. Infact, the term 'partying',  in my office and also in my B-school, is now synonymous with booze. The food aspect of the party is forgotten and now the site selection for party involves a place where good booze alongwith a proper ambience is present. As I started interacting with more and more people around, I have now observed a different trend. Now, partying means to spend an evening in a pub (in a huge group) where people get to dance around alongwith beer, wine. etc and then after getting tired, have some food in a restaurant if there stomach is still asking for more.

Thus, partying has evolved significantly - from the innocence of house parties to restaurants to the boldness of drinking at pub. Wonder what will be its meaning in the future.However, for me, one thing remains constant - a party means to spend quality time with friends and colleagues.

PS: The above post represents the view point of most of the people whom I go partying with does not necessarily mean that I drink at parties.

On Festivals

The fact that I stay outside home has led me to miss a lot of festival celebrations with my family members. Not only me, but most of the young people who stay outside their homes for work or studies tend to miss a lot of festivals.
During festivals when I am not at home, I tend to visit the heart of cities (or what we call the old city part of the town) to see how the festival is celebrated in the city. Today was such an occasion. Today was Dassera and so I had been to the old part of Pune (Deccan and nearby area) to see how the festival is celebrated. I was very happy to see the automobile stores, mobile shoppes and other shops geared up for the Dassera shoppings. [Hope that they have a good sales today. (Rain clouds lurking around)]. I saw a lot of people in traditional dresses but yet I felt that the feeling of festival was missing amongst people. The festival feeling was just like superficial. It was as if there had to be some ritual on Dassera because it was done by ancestors. The rituals are considered as a pain during the cosy holiday by most of the modern day nuclear families living in tier 1 or tier 2 cities.
I had observed the same during the festival of Ganpati - Most were invloved with worshipping their own at home idols.
When I look at why these festivals were started, I find strange to observe such kind of behaviour. These festivals were started for bringing people together. E.g: Lokmanya Tilak started Ganesh Festival to help people get together and plan for the freedom movement. I do not know who started Dassera but it also means the win of the good or the right v/s the evil or the wrong. So, ideally during these festivals people should meet together and discuss issues surrounding them. As such festivals should be an occasion of a get-together between people.
Yet more and more people, during these festivals, are opting to celebrate the festivals with their own families. People consider festivals as an occasion to be a time to be with their families.

So, I believe that there has to be a serious thought given on the reason why the festivals are celebrated - Is it because of our parents, ancestors [tradition] or are we seeing any value in it (other than, ofcourse, a holiday)

Dassera - I am missing the distribution of those apta leaves and taking the wishes of parents and elders.
(An interesting link of why the Apta tree leaves are distributed in Dussera. Click).

Wish everyone a very happy dussera.