DU admissions; Not less than a cultural ritual

Delhi university(DU) admissions have more or less become high voltage urban event.It is the last hurdle before you become an adult( that's what many delhites think!).The whole process can easily be compared with a religious ritual."It marks the start of summer". You need to stand in long queues. You need to visit almost all the campuses spread across the city(thanks to metro..it's lot more easier now).You need to be an expert in filling forms and lastly but not the least you must or atleast try ignoring the expectations of your parents, and the inquiries of your neighbours.

Well, visits to DU campuses are always kinda delightful, especially in summers;). I would like to talk about some stats...Not that stats..the different stats..Alright! Students from all over India want to be a part of DU. It has 54,000 seats in 83 colleges and it offers 162 undergraduate courses. But there is no comfort in these numbers. In 2009, the first day of the admission season alone recorded a sale of 26,000 forms. Whoa!! those are some stats...you can witness and experience many more stats if you visit any of the campuses..;)( My vote: Miranda House and Jesus & Mary college are the best)

With so many students vying for a limited number of seats, the biggest suspense is: “Will I get the admission in the college I want?” A few colleges seem to be the gateway to a glorious future. Fashion designer Rohit Bal is an alumnus of St Stephen’s College. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi studied in Lady Shri Ram College. Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan bunked classes in Hans Raj College. Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit went to Miranda House College. Priyanka Gandhi was a student in Jesus & Mary College. Which college will you go to?

These are torturous days. With every passing year the number of baffled students are increasing and so is the case with cut offs.The huge rush and over the top media coverage has given unprecedented publicity and coverage.It's definitely getting tougher and tougher to get into DU but this too shall pass and you will become a man (or woman). 

[The following pictures were taken in Delhi University's North campus during the admission season of 2010]

 

IX- 812 Crash: Probable Reason and more

Saturday 22nd May was supposed to be a happy day for many indian families but it in fact turned out to be the biggest air disaster india has seen till date. Air India Express, IX 812, inbound Mangalore from Dubai overshot the runway and fell in the ravine at the end on the runway and burst into flames. As per reports, only 8 people survived with a casualty of 158 lives. Investigators are yet to examine the Flight data recorder( Black Box) which will clear the picture.

But what could have been wrong? The ATC says that the aircraft was looking good and no distress signal was relayed by the pilot or co-pilot. At around 6:03 AM,4 miles out , the ATC gave a "clear" on touchdown.The pilot acknowledged. That was the last communication with the aircraft. The aircraft was a boeing 737 which is a very reliable aircraft. Mangalore runway is a table top runway above a plateau and is 8000ft which is more than sufficient to land a 737 liner.So it clearly shows that whatever happened- it happened after the touchdown. 

Let's look at the landing of IX-812.... A typical airliner like 737 uses ILS for landing. For those who don't know about ILS- It stands for Instrument Landing System- ILS has 2 main parts- LOCALIZER: which aligns the aircraft with the runway and  GLIDE SLOPE:which determines the glide angle or the touchdown angle. In every sense ILS is an precision approach system and with the most sophisticated equipment it can guide you right down to the runway- zero Decision-Height and zero visibility. When IX-812 was landing the aircraft overshot it's actual touchdown point by 2000 ft.So the pilot has got only 5000ft to bring the aircraft to halt and taxi it on the tarmac. This means that pilot was too steep during the touchdown, which also means that aircraft speed was very high.Pilot must have realized that after touchdown.He must have deployed "Hard brakes". But because the angle of glide was too steep and speed was high, the tyres could not take that pressure and burst-ed. Aircraft went out of control and rolled in the gorge.

Ofcourse this is an assumption and we need to get the exact airspeed, weight of the aircraft and runway condition.

There are many things which you can do to maximize the chances of survival during air crashes :

1) Safest Seat: The rear portion of the aircraft is the safest. Many people think that the mid position is the safest. That's not true. The mid portion has wings and engines. Modern aircrafts store fuel in the wings. The mid section of the fuselage also holds the main fuel tank  and fuel pumps.

2) Emergency Briefings: I have seen many people laugh at stewardess during those briefings. Don't under estimate it. Before the aircraft takes to air..locate the nearest emergency hatch.Don't just make a visual snap. Remember the exit door by counting the number of rows of seats. Iam asking to do this because in most air crashes the fuselage will be full of fire, fuel and smoke. So you may not see the door clearly.

3)Clothing: Never wear synthetic cloths. They catch fire. Panty-hose have been known to melt right into a woman's skin. Wear shoes. 

Air transport is still by far the safest mode of transportation.

Maoist: A problem and Opportunity

Every maoist attack in dantewada or else, shakes the nation. But the  most surprising issue is the inability and lack of foresightedness in new delhi. Monday;s mayhem has shown that states and centre are not working together on a plan.They are still "working" on strategies. Government don't want to use military against maoist. And That should be fine. Most of the people in country don't give much attention to this "Red problem". Why these people from the jungles of Orrisa,Chatisgarh and Bengal have beacome a problem?

Well It's a long story.To make it short it's the anguish and frustration, accumulated over years. These tribals were neglected for decades. Reds are not different, they are part of this nation.All they want is their right to live..live like humans.They don't have food,shelter,Health facilities,Clean water,education,jobs and many more things.They never complained for last fifty years. But the patience has dried up.Just last weekend, I heard my neighbor shouting and abusing the customer care agent over the phone. Reason, Because his broadband connection was working very slow and he was not able to download the Ironman movie. They are fighting for basic amenities. People on top don't want them to live like humans and neither they want them to fight.If you go by goverment developmental plans, these people should be getting govenment jobs pretty easily. why? because they fall under "scheduled Caste" and "Scheduled Tribe" category. Then what's the problem? The problem is local authorities sold SC and ST certificates to people who can pay for it.Developmental funds were allocated to the states for the betterment of these backward regions. What's the problem? No audits..no folllowups were done and ministers and bureaucrats ate up all the funds. India sure is a country of great contrast. One part of the country boasts of flashy malls and other part of the country eats ant eggs. Every article about maoist problem talks about "How to defeat them in war". I think it needs to be changed. People should start asking questions? Re-evaluate the development work and initiate plans. Bring these people in sync with the rest of the country.Show them the results. Make them feel that this is their home and they have equal rights to live and dream.but the big question is how to do that? Government will say- "No development before surrender." Start working on those areas...and drop the idea of asking to surrender. The maoist problem has grown out of proportion and is spreading fast. 

People in these areas are dying because of diseases like jaundice,malaria, dysentery.Lalgarh hardly has a proper hospital. Don't just sent police and paramilitary..sent doctors, teachers, agriculturists also. They won't kill them.They hardly have done any damage to civilian population. Government will have to abandon it's inflexible policies and take the "step of faith". Don't just talk about deploying army and air force. You are scaring them. Talk about rehabilitation, bringing their kids to state run schools and colleges,teaching them the basics of modern agriculture, connecting them with communities.and trust me these will show results.Publish success stories.Give them hope and a path to come back. Otherwise this would become like a cancer. We, as a country need to stop it.

Marketing Is Not Chocolatey Anymore.....

Hello All...

It feels good to be regular on blog-o-sphere. These days Iam spending lotsa time on xpressostill and in course reading lot about fundas of PR, SEO, New Age Marketing, Branding...that's a lot of thing. But it's good to be busy!!;)

Last two post were about building and strengthening the business plan.In the last post i talked about Social Media.I did more research and came to know that it is a complete profession..quite interesting..isn'it?? Managing business marketing through the internet is a very effecient and cost effective option. I also came across a term called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It's about optimizing the search engines like google to get more hits on the target webpage. All of us who are quite old in blog-o-sphere will probably know about it. Most blogger, including me have used these techniques to draw traffic and to get more hits on our blogs. But the specialized term is SEO and it's a full fledged profession now.

Anyways, i will talk about SEO later but today's post is on "MARKETING"..a very common term in business spheres. To make it real simple..It's about promoting something which can be a remarkable or unremarkable thing. (Wow..that should be included in Harvard business review). I remember that my dad used to say that If the product is good than you need not worry about it. Just sit back and relax. The product will climb on it's own. However if your offerings are not that good then you need to "carpet bomb" the market with lots of "makes shirt whiter" type campaigns.

When i see around , this age old thinking is no longer there. After reading lots of items and talking to people from branding,advertisements , sales and marketing i came to know that the paradigm has changed. Marketing, in itself, has become a very dynamic,flexible and fluid thing. dynamic because it is changing rapidly... thanks to changes in delivery (from TV to Online to Mobile) and segmented targeting( Product especially for kids,men and women). Somehow i feel that this is the result of recession. The tough times demand better and new measures to promote and sell services and products. New Engagement channels have been engaged and the business owner has to be more adaptive than ever.The game is changing and its changing very fast.Customer was always the king..but customer is the only end entity now.So it's better that businesses - small, medium or large keep up with the trends or they will fade away.


* People Are Talking And Talking Continuously

This is probably the biggest and most visible change from "Now" and "Then". This is especially important for small business like mine. Big houses are still to acknowledge the power of "People". The balance of power has completely shifted to customer or client and will continue to remain there.

When your product first launches, the first people your customers will talk to about it will be probably your next customers. If your products are rotten and your service is schmuck and it ends up taking the mickey out of them, do not expect to squelch them at consumer courts. Because they will make hate groups in Facebook and Orkut, they will tweet the pains and d-sat about your product and services. They will blog about you, your company, your services till the cows come calling. And there is nothing you can do about it.I have seen people staying online to their social media 24/7. They are highly unlikely to miss any updates. Welcome to the age of "Negative real time Interaction". This is very dangerous and can tarnish the brand value and image of the brand. "Not the exact number of Photograph prints"..Bad news buddy..because the 80 million people on tweet-o-sphere are potentially going to hear about it. "Pathetic Services and overcharged"?? You are about to lose customers in Mumbai who read tweets about how you overcharged for covering a wedding in Delhi.
Social Media can bring down governments( Recent Google and Chinese Government Face off), so your business is small change.Interaction with customers and clients is the key - this is how you are going to manage and do fluid marketing. Building relationships are important and this will help in building an army of loyal clientele and customers. These customers might turn into your "Unpaid Agents" who will promote your "Good Offerings" to their circles. A la "Word Of Mouth Marketing"

* Old School Honesty Still Rocks

Just few days ago i came across a survey which asked "Buying a Reliance product against a TATA product, which one will you go for? Mostly people selected TATA. In fact there were many comments which showed that even if the TATA products are slightly expensive, the customer is still likely to go for it. People prefer the clean,honest and transparent image of TATA. What does it mean? It means TATA is more socially favorable brand than Reliance. It also means that the age of "we say so" is over. Today the customer is in-charge and he will decide how authentic is your pitch and service. It's not easy to pull money from persons pocket. From your side the consumer will always look like bit skeptic. The brand and owner has to be clean, transparent and honest about his and product's capabilities and prices. Then only you can expect some brand loyalty and advocacy. Honesty and transparency are not a sprint race, but a marathon which you must run patiently.

* Value Over Vavoom

The recession has brought another change in the buying style. India is a country where a "reason" is always there with every buy. The customer asks "Do i have any need for this product"?. That helluva a simple question but it has huge importance. As a business owner, what exactly is the "reason"?..It's the value. India is growing and sure buying power is increasing.I have seen people buying stuffs which they don't need or have never planned for. I went in the mall to have a KFC burger but ended up buying that superb lookin T-shirt. But talk about the general Indian middle class. The "Do i have any need for this product" question is still there in the mind of customer and it has become a global consumer thinking, after recession. Let's go back one generation - our parents bought only those things which are important or in times extremely important. In tough markets like india, consume will continue to give more importance to "need" than "desire". The thing is, if your are a new business owner, always remember that the client will look at how you communicate and elaborate the point "Value For Money".

In businesses like Photography it's always important to know the special needs of the consumer and tailor the services accordingly.Assessing the competitors to judge the pricing and packages are also a good idea. I did that to know and research the market rate for wedding photography packages.

Let's Check these amazing marketing campaigns...

1) If anyone wants to know how social media can help business, look no further than DELL....The company generated a revenue of almost $6.5 Million through it's twitter presence.Shocking.. isn'it???

2) Jatra is a 400 year old traditional folk theatre from west bengal. Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL)'s Clinic plus brand is a well known shampoo brand in india.Clinic plus hires local artists and integrates brand communication with the jatra play. The jatra is highly publicized through extensive van or cycle promotions in very small villages. All the posters and banners carry Clinic Plus information and image. the local artists add nuances to the brand's message and elaborate it within the play. The result???? well...a single jatra attracts somewhere around 5000-1 lakh people. That 's a mob! and we indians know the power of mob..;). a perfect example on how to tab the unexplored, traditional and tough market .

Business Relationships= Personal Relationships

Relationships are very important- In personal lives and in business lives also. All of us live many lives in our life. Life is about connecting ..about relationship(Inspired by nokia!). Relationships play important part in businesses and work also. Many times it happens that the best of business relationships are not transactional in nature- they are rather based on trust,respect,generosity etc- which are kinda attributes of personal relationships.

Take two situations...

1) Moving from Business to Personal Relationships

We all have seen or experienced this. When we help the new trainee girl in arranging her cubicle and at the end invite her for a cup of coffee at barista. This is sure an act of ..umm..testosterone . But it is also an act to push the business or work relationship to personal front. This gives more strength, comfort and joy at workplace.All of us know the importance of being the "choice of masses" at workplace.

2) Moving from Personal to Business Relationships

Trust..love...respect ..rapport is there..but here we are venturing into an uncharted territory. Watching Real Madrid playing against Barca at the nearest pub and sharing jokes over the beer table is fine but starting a business and investing money is something different. Not many people have this experience and it's not that easy. Life is not Rishta.com( Am a big fan of the show). But Rishta.com shows hows personal relationships can be molded to make way for business relationships.


Everyone gives lots of importance to personal relationships. But how many of us give importance to our business relationships. That's right ..Not many!!!
What exactly is the Business relationship for you- It is the "Pay for a Sandwich at Subway" or it's a "Life time Value" thing.

In businesses like Lifestyle Photography, Relationships hold a lot of meaning. That's what we are supposed to capture. The client needs to have confidence and trust on you.To let people allow you and document their important affairs like engagement or wedding, it takes more than fancy portfolios and big lenses. It's important to build beep and meaningful relationships.Photography , by nature, is a very personal and intimate art form. Many would disagree with me. But that's good. Humans have unmatched capability of bringing out different aspects of the same thing. It generates the variety. I know that when businesses are inclined more on the personal front, expectations and obligations alter. But i think it's absolutely possible to connect with customers and business contacts in a way that can generate trust and generosity, while still keeping things on a business level. It builds customer loyalty and is a great way of generating further referrals. It's keeps the phone ringing. Of course, you have to deliver on your promises and deliver results, but working with current customers and new ones that have been referred to you is always much easier than converting cold calls into new business.

I aim for a business where i can bond with my clients and share a cup of coffee or pitcher of beer with them. A kind of relationship where my clients can say "Meet, Rakesh...He's a friend actually and he's also a Lifestyle Photographer." For me It's like a bonus. Money is one thing but at the end of day i would rather love to sit down with them..cook some nice food..have some nice conversation. Just to have a "Well Lived Life".











(coutsey: about.com)

Leap Of Faith..

It's not easy to become entrepreneur..

Before you start fighting and possibly winning the world..you need to fight yourself and win too.That is definately important! When an aspiring business owner decides to move ahead and starts a new venture, conventional wisdom says that the first thing he needs to do is sketch  a business plan. But i decided to differ, not because i deny the "conventional wisdom"..it's just that i cannot afford to or say i am unable to draft a formal business plan. Starting a lifestyle photography venture came as a small idea. I was afraid to share it with my folks and friends. I thought people would laugh at me.But after walking two years in the corporate bandwagen and finding logics into illogical things has turned out enough for me. I decided to pull it all by myself. I am very slow these days..trust me!! very..very slow.Iam full of contradictions and debates right now, which are getting solved at snail's speed. But i like that- This way iam making sure that i will survive with that venture.I always thought that apart from money what are the other factors which will keep me grounded. Well you got to find a different thing- passion,peace ,love..can be anything which can keep you rooted in tough times.

Anyways, back to venture, the first few things which the mind asks- Is it Viable? Is there enough market?? Will i be able to charge the market to get some profit?? Can i personally pull it off?Do i have experience,knowledge or resources to make it?? Phew...score is 5-0.

From my personal experience, the first thing should be a quick and "dirty" assessment of the concept. Don't have to be detailed but , you know, some bits to make something meaningful and sustainable.Once you are fixed on the concept, other things starts rotating- I need a camera..Cannot afford a high end DSLR and its lenses but can definately save some money and go for Bridge cameras, which would be fine for the job. I figured that ventures are a strange thing- It's like a dream- First you see that one wheel is rotating-then you see two wheels are rotating..then three..four..five and so on.After i decided on the Lifestyle Photography venture i saw two wheels moving- One is arranging the resources and secondly handling PR..ya!! don't laugh..I know that word is used for large MNC and conglomerates but can be implemented well into small personal businesses as well. Improvisation is the key. 

Now i don't have much finances so obviously cannot hire a PR and design team to market my services. But who the hell needs marketing agencies?? The business is still tiny and when will facebook,orkut,hotmail,Blogger and live space will come into picture? I have always known the power of e-media,from the summer days of 2001 when i was coding HTML for Computer Pride in a small flat in Diamond Park, a southern suburb of Calcutta. The progress is real slow.and so are the responses but again Lifestyle Phtography is not a household term in india.

Iam also clear about some things now, like,

1)It's not always neccessary to have a formal, drafted business plan but to have a sound plan is really important.

2) Apart from money there should be another driving factor.

I will keep on fighting till the time i can and i wish XpressoStill will not die before or with me but will Outlive me!!!

Iam putting up a new section in my blog - THE VENTURIST MIND. I would be posting ideas, questions, answers about entrepreneurship in general and experineces from my own venture. Ideas about marketing,sales, PR, Using social Media are always welcome and would be really entertaining.

Funny scribbles from this busy life…

 

1) “ Doctor, u coming to office right ?

      “Nah, I am tired..i want more sleep.moreover it’s Saturday.”

“Come on, get up! don’t be on the bed for long..only prostitutes earn money there.”

“huh..uh.”

 

2)  In the board room

“Boss, yadav’s are supposed to be dudh walas…how come you become a manager ?”

 

3) “Wassup…why are u calling me so early?”

“Doctor, M not comin to office today.”

“What!!..we need to close the deadline.”

“I know, But my stigmata’s acting up.”

“Oh Man! at this hour! But why are u telling me ..tell ur boss”

“I Can’t, She a woman…You tell her.”

 

4) In the routine SKEP meeting…

“Doctor, You know we consultants are like prostitutes.”

“Geez..I hate to think it that way sir…But how’s that?”

“We work odd hours..we are not proud of what we do…when we go to see the client, we look great but return looking like hell…people often ask us..”what exactly you do and we don’t have a short answer..we spent lot of time in hotels…we don’t have job satisfaction”

“Hmm..that sounds pretty much like them”

Specs are not boobs…right!

For the last two days my right eye is giving me lot of trouble.There’s slight pain when i blink and sometimes(during team meetings) it becomes really irritating.As far as visiting a doctor is concerned, well, kinda hate hospitals.But one of my colleague was good enough to convince me to visit a ophthalmologist. Well, before leaving the office, i fixed an appointment through the net (thanks Internet, for making life so easy!). I reached the hospital at 6 pm.

“Mr. Mahato, I was waiting for you.”

“Umm..how do u recognize me?”

“Well, Your company ID card is still hanging around your neck”

“Oh..Coming straight from office and you are..”

“I am Dr. Neeraj Jain!

“Ofcourse, Ofcourse! so how are u sir?”

“I am good and i think you have some problem with your eyes”

“well ya! The right eye is kinda not doing good.’

(after all the examination and assessing my day to day activities)

“looks like minor infection, will heal in 3-4 days”

“Good, Actually it happened at a bad time.I was thinking about getting contact lenses.”

“I would suggest not to.Give me one good reason to switch to contacts”

“well, some of my friends are using it and they say that it kinda brings stability to vision.As the distance of specs from eye changes often, u know, when you walk or u eat..the specs comes down a bit and we all push our specs frequently. it good to go for contacts”

(i thought that was valid point)

“what! I have never heard anything stupid like that before…These are specs we are talking about ….not big,curvaceous boobs ”

(that was ,ahem, i was taken aback!..)

“Do you have girlfriend, Mr. Mahato ? Probably u couldn't pick my point. Specs are not boobs.”

“well sir, i totally understand your point”

“good!”

In these busy times and hectic schedules we all tend to neglect some of our important things.Health is one such thing..But ‘health’ is a pretty broad term and includes everything which happens or affects our organs from head to toe.One of the most prone organ is eye. It’s so important to take care of eyes, but many of us don’t think about it very often. But as they say it’s never too late to start something good.

No matter how much you workout , if your eyes look tired or lackluster, it will show.I have experienced it myself. The eye muscles feels stiff and rigid, the under eye puff remains for a longer time, eye gets dry frequently- occupational hazard! I understand. Now cannot leave the job, could i ? We all tend to ignore basic and plain symptoms like increased and prolonged headache, tired or burning eyes etc.

A healthy eye needs regular doses of Vitamin A,C, E (balanced diet…easier said than done;).it’s tough).

Vitamin A: Carrots and carrot juice, sweet potato, winter squash, spinach
Vitamin C: Citrus fruit, orange juice, guava, cantaloupe
Vitamin E: Wheat germ, peanuts, eggs, cucumber, corn oil, green leafy vegetables

It’s also important to take short,frequent breaks to help ease the eye muscles (again not an easy thing…deadlines are the only things in sight)

And of course regular visits to your Ophthalmologist .

Take good care of the windows to the soul!

(Oh..wah wah)

Some lines are just…don go away!!!

 

“…just like deserts don’t know rain

yet they yearn for it day and day after…”