I am finaly a true Delhite!

Finally the city has got me. Yes! I have lost my humanity! I have lost my feelings! And I have lost compassion for others. I have turned selfish, self centered. If something happens to others I am not at all bothered. Why should I? It’s not affecting me buddy! It’s your problem brother. Go and find a solution yourself. I am not with you.

I was not like this. Five years back when I came from my home town in Bengal to Delhi I was shocked to see the city, its people. How can be they so heartless? And now I am a person without a heart! I am a pure Delhite! All these years I used to believe I am not like them. I am still my old self who was always ready with a helping hand whatever the situation is. But I just deceived myself.

Yesterday while coming back from office I had this realization. As usual I and my travel writer friend were coming back together in his car. As we approached our society gate we found a Dog sitting almost in the middle of the road. Going nearer we found that a puppy was lying dead, crushed. She has lost her child. The dog was looking at our car intensely! Maybe she was trying to figure out if this was the car that murdered the puppy. Her eyes didn’t have vengeance but had a fatalistic look! This was her fate! We slowed down a bit, discussed how hard it must be for this mother to lose her child and drove off. So did I do any wrong? Apparently no. But if this scene would have happened five years back when I was in university I would have reacted differently. I would have tried to get some help and remove the puppy and the mother from the road. Maybe would have tried to console the mom. Would have tried to make her a bit cheerful! And I always thought I love animals! How wrong I was! I don’t love them! I am just a heartless guy just like you all, the big city people.

School time Hits

I have found out recently an extremely good therapy to recharge myself when I am depressed. I just listen to those songs which were extremely popular during our school days. And these songs make me feel light and make me happy. These songs have a therapeutic effect. Songs which you have listened while growing up remains dear to you throughout your life. I greup listening to Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet and Udit Narayan. And I have a weakness for them and I am sure this will last till my last breadth. “Bazzigar o bazzigar” or “Sexy Sexy mujhe log bole” (The adult song of our time), “Tip Tip barse pani” from Mohra, “Pehela Nasha” from Jo Jeeta wohi Sikandar and “ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga” – I can listen to these songs unlimited times. These were super hit songs during our school days. And I remember how I used to save money and buy blank cassettes to record these hit songs for Rs 1 each. Original cassettes were costly. Thanks to MP3 and my computer – I have almost every song in my collection now. I have named them “School time Hits”. And I listen to these hits when my mood is off. And I recover quickly with a big smile. You should also try this. Identify your most favorite songs when you were in school. And keep them in your ipod. And when you feel the blues listen to them. You will recover in a jiffy!

Going Nude for India!!

Today I read an interesting news at Dailymail UK online. Http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1228689/Internet-entrepreneurs-bare-charity-calendar-prove-just-geeks.html ) Top Internet Entrepreneurs in UK are going nude in one calendar as a charity gesture. This calendar will sell for £10 and the proceeds will go to Take Heart, a youth charity which sets up IT projects in India. Amazing way to contribute! I appreciate these entrepreneurs’ efforts but at the same time feel sad for my country. Are we so helpless that people have to strip to earn some money, which will help India get more access to IT? I think the big three IT companies of India must do something asap. The recent Haryana elections saw so many millionaire MPs. Even if those netas contributed 0.01% of their black money to this NGO, those entrepreneurs could have kept their dress intact. Why cant the Indian public strip these rich MPs who are just interested in votes and nothing else. I strongly suggest that Kingfisher should come up with a Nude Political Calendar where all the netas will pose naked. Mawayati, Mulayam, Mamta, Amar Singh, Sonia, Rahul and the others. It will be a funny sight if not so lovely as these net entrepreneurs. And we Indians are ready to pay for Fun.

Say no to cheap!

You should never buy cheap products. Specially those products which through aggressive marketing and jazzy newspaper advertisements promises good quality at very attractive prices. The best bet is to tick to reputed brands. Recently I got myself duped by buying a cheap keyboard from Intex. Few weeks back somebody had cut my keyboard wire making it completely useless. I suspect it to be a Rat, which has shown its vengeance on my keyboard as it was not able to find any meaningful food in my flat. My Compaq keyboard gone for a toss! I tried to change the wire but I could not find a single shop willing to do that. All advised me to buy a new one. “Keyboard koi thik nahi karta. Naya le leta hain”. What the hell!! Is this the example of India shining? Sab kuch phek do! Naya lo! Naya! So I was forced to look for new keyboards. I wanted something cheap as I believed I will be able to change my old keyboard wire. That keyboard is so nice, strong and fashionable. I wanted to use it again badly. Anyway I bought a Intex keyboard for Rs 240, normal PS2 one. This was the cheapest option available in the nearby shop. And after three weeks the keyboard is showing its true ‘cheap’ colour. The white colour of the alphabets and symbols are fading. In fact few characters have faded so heavily that I cannot make out what they are actually. For example “A” has vanished. It is just a key now. A black key with a light impression of “A” provided you look minutely! So when I am typing I have to rely on my instinct and experience to figure out that it is “A” and nothing else. So this is what happens when one buys a cheap keyboard. So I have decided to buy a Logitech keyboard this week. It will cost me Rs 600, almost triple but then the characters and symbols won’t fade. I have decided to say no to cheap! Hope you are already doing this!

Enid Blyton has no literary merit???

Today’s paper had an interesting story. BBC never promoted Enid Blyton and had infact virtually banned her writings from getting airwaves. BBC believed that her writing was second grade and devoid of literary merit. Now Enid Blyton was one of the most successful children's storytellers of the twentieth century. She is the author of Famous Five, Secret Seven and Noddy. Her books have sold around 600 million copies worldwide. Her books have been widely translated in almost all major world languages. According to UNESCO's Index Translationum she overtook Lenin to get the fifth place and is behind Shakespeare as far as translation of her writings is concerned. Now this is no small achievement. Such a widely read author has no literary merit? So what exactly is literary merit? I have read Joyce’s “Portrait of an artist” and honestly I did not enjoy it. But that has huge literary merit. I have read “War and Peace”. Again I did not enjoy it. That also has huge literary merit. But when I was in school I used to read lots of ‘Famous Five’ and ‘Secret Seven’ and I used to enjoy every single book. But those didn’t have literary merit. Now what I feel like asking BBC is what is more important? Writing that gives enjoyment while reading but no worldly knowledge or philosophies. Or writings that is full of philosophy, knowledge, viewpoints but has very less entertainment value. I know people will be divided on this. But to me any story that gives me enjoyment and makes me feel good has literary value. Satyajit Ray wrote “Pancha Pandav” loosely inspired by Famous Five (This is my assumption as I have read all Pancha Pandav stories). “Pancha Pandav” is a big hit among the young in Bengal. So if I have to apply BBC funda, “Pancha Pandav” by Satyajit ray should not have any literary value. Literature is a subjective thing and any debate is futile. But branding something as not having literary value despite been so hugely popular among the young is an insult to the younger generation. BBC could have done better. Shame on them.

Why Indians are not investing in Mutual Funds?

India has one of the highest savings rate in the world. The latest report by the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council expects the savings rate to be around 34.5% in 2009-10, which is extremely high. But despite such mammoth savings, Indians do not invest much in Mutual Funds. According to the ‘Invest India Incomes and Savings Survey 2007’, produced by IIMS Dataworks, one out of seven people in India with savings are aware of Mutual Funds. Penetration is still restricted to the top eight cities and about 3% of the Indian households have invested in funds. The major reason that is keeping investors away from the Mutual Funds is lack of knowledge.

Equities are high risk, high reward product and majority of the people with savings are not fully aware of the equity market. Mutual Funds are the safest bet for anyone wanting exposure in equities. One can easily beat the inflation and earn decent returns provided one picks the fund well and stay invested long term. Despite all the benefits of Mutual Funds, the sector is yet to develop and the market is growing very slowly. The recent melt down of the equity market triggered by the global financial crisis has only made the task more difficult. Although the stock market is improving, getting investor faith back in equity is a Herculean task. And adding to the exiting woes is the latest SEBI directive abolishing the entry load that the Mutual Fund houses charged. Investors are no longer required to pay any upfront fee or entry load if they buy mutual funds directly from the fund houses. Mutual funds are generally sold by various agents and distributors. The bulk of the entry load charged by the fund houses was passed on to the agents as commission. Now with its removal, the fund houses are finding it difficult to pay the agents and distributors. And with the removal of incentives, agents seem to be no longer interested in pushing Mutual Fund to the customers. They are looking towards other financial products.

The Mutual Fund sector in India remains untapped. The fund houses need to do more to increase investor knowledge and must reach out to the small towns and rural areas. They should also solve the agent commission issue urgently. Agents and distributors are the backbone of this industry. Without their active participation Mutual Penetration cannot improve. The fund houses need to look at Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to get inspired. A LIC agent is present in almost every village and most of them with some basic knowledge of Insurance. This is not the case with Mutual Fund. Somebody needs to take the lead.

Invest the SIP way

Mutual funds are equity based products with the potential to offer high returns but only if one invests properly and stay invested long term. Most of the investment in Mutual Funds in India happens during the year end as part of the tax planning. Most people end up buying units at one time basis depending on the market prices. If the stock market is high they end up buying units at high price and if the markets are down they get the units at a low price. So it’s all a matter of chance.

Majority people in India are not much aware regarding the functioning of the stock market. And investing directly into equities without proper knowledge is dangerous. The safest way to gain exposure to equity is through mutual funds. But buying units of mutual fund at one time basis makes little sense. The best way is to acquire the units over a period of time. And one can do this through the SIP (Systemic Investment Plan) route. All Mutual Funds offer this facility to the investors. SIP allows you to invest a certain amount per month/quarter in Mutual Funds over a period of time. This investment can be as low as Rs 500 and there is no maximum limit. So when you buy the units through SIP route you do not have to worry about timing the market. In SIP method, you buy the units regularly on the prevailing unit value. And this gives you the benefit of rupee-cost averaging. Under rupee-cost averaging your monthly SIP amount buys more units when prices are low. And when the markets high, you end up buying fewer units as the prices are high. This is a good discipline since it forces the investor to commit cash at market lows, when maximum investors are tensed and are exiting the market. Through SIP your entire capital is never at risk. And over a period of time your average price paid per unit also comes down. SIP allows you to use the inherent volatility of equity prices to enhance your returns.

Investing in Mutual Fund through SIP might not offer you a terrific rate of return but in the long run it offers more return than conventional savings schemes like bank deposit and post office savings. And the risk is also significantly less.

Ecommerce – Is India following the footsteps of US?

Ecommerce – Is India following the footsteps of US?

In the US, Ecommerce is a huge market and is one of the few segments which did not witness any drastic slowdown despite the financial crisis. The reason is the convenience it provides to the buyers and the sellers. The buyers can shop from the comfort of their homes. The seller finds it extremely cost effective to host a virtual store than a brick-and-mortar one. Although industry analysts have cut growth estimates for Ecommerce in 2009 compared to 2008, most of them believe that ecommerce growth will return in 2010 in the US. A recent Forrester Research report has indicated that total US online sales is expected to touch $176.9 Billion in 2010 compared to the projected $156.1 Billion in 2009.

Compared to the US, currently India’s e-commerce market is painfully limited with a slow growth rate. Ecommerce is a tough nut to crack in India. Approximately 50 million people in India have access to Internet but just two million have broadband connections. And ecommerce needs broadband to thrive. With credit cards being forced into the hands of customers by banks, yes, there are tremendous possibilities. And with broadband penetration increasing every day and computer prices going down, one cannot help but be optimistic about the growth of Indian ecommerce market. But the biggest hindrance in the ecommerce uptake is perception. Indians are so used to touching and feeling the thing before making the purchase that despite having some of the best ecommerce portals we still prefer the old way of buying. This is a cultural thing which takes quite some time to overcome. But still it will be worthwhile for businesses in India to take a serious view of the nascent ecommerce market. The scenario is improving albeit slowly and increasing your company’s online visibility can yield significant results. So that when the tide turns you are ready to sail!

Startup Time

I am planning to buy a Digital SLR shortly and lot of research is going into it. Whenever I buy something I research. I have got duped a couple of times due to lack of research so these days I am extra careful. My research for DSLR camera has thrown an interesting concept called ‘startup time’. In digital cameras this matters a lot. You press the ‘Power’ button in the camera and then how fast the camera is ready to shoot determines the start up time. This is very important if you venturing into some serious photography because photographic opportunities come suddenly and thereby you need a camera whose response time is super quick. And Digital SLRs have generally a startup time of 0.2 second, which is pretty fast. But never had I realized that this startup time will apply to my life also when I go for a pee in my office bathroom.

I work for a pretty big IT giant. They have eight offices in Delhi/NCR. Out of these eight offices, seven are built in huge premises with every modern facility. Cool Swanky! You feel like working when you enter these buildings. I have worked in five of them and I can say by experience that productivity is directly proportional to the kind of office building where you work. Now the office in which I am working currently is not like the other seven. It’s a blot on the reputation of the company. This building is almost 20 years old and looks like a godown from the front. The air conditioning system is historic and so is the furniture inside. Everything gives you the feel of a senile old man desperately trying to survive. God knows why they have not renovated this office.

There are two bathrooms in this office, one in the ground and the other on the first floor. I always use the first floor bathroom despite having my seat in ground floor. The ground floor bathroom is chaotic with only 2 peeing stations, two wash basins and two latrins or as I generally call them Nirvana Chambers. The First floor bathroom has four peeing stations, two wash basins and two Nirvana Chambers. This bathroom is bigger and has less rush compared to the ground floor one. I use this always unless my stomach requires some very fast Nirvana where I have no other choice but to the rush to the ground floor bathroom. Off late the peaceful first floor bathroom is having many visitors. I guess the reason is the front corridor, which in winter gets abundant sunshine and draws lot of employees for “Dhup Shekna” session. After getting warm they quickly enter this bathroom for the release session. This has created a nuisance in my life. I am a private guy. I hate peeing when others are also simultaneously peeing beside me. Its not because I have some defect or something else. It’s because there are a lot of guys who while peeing looks down at the other’s person’s peeing activity. This is extremely irritating and extremely embarrassing. Wish I could tell them “Concentrate on your instrument please. Mine is working fine. No need of extra concern brother”. But somehow I adjusted myself to this problem when a new problem popped up. One of the wash basin tap refused to work any longer. I our company it takes a lot of time to get things rectified. So it’s already two weeks but the tap is still out of order. As a result there is a rush at the wash basin. And here comes the concept of startup time. Suppose four people enter the pee area simultaneously. Now the one who finishes the pee session faster will have the first access to the only tap available. Rest three have to wait in a line. And some times, as most people will agree that despite having the instrument positioned it does not pee instantly. It takes a few seconds to deliver. Now whoever has the most responsive instrument starts the pee faster and concludes the session before the others and thereby gets the first access to the basin. Few seconds delay in pee delivery means waiting at the wash basin, which is such a big time waste. And as the bathroom is not cleaned often the wait become more intolerable. So in order to avoid the wait I am googling a lot on how to make the pee instrument respond faster to the call of duty. And you never know. My instrument may just become the fastest peeing machine in the whole world. What say?