wat an IDEA sirjee

Long back when i first saw the IDEA Cellular ad campaign of Abhishek bachan, i was quite impressed with the concept. The Series was based on a social upliftment platform. Sometime later i came to understand that the total series was conceptualized by none other than Balki(he also has the movie Cheeni Kum to his credit).


While Jr.Bachan added the much required glamor quotient to the ad, it was the engrossed message which paved the way for the Ad from On screen to off screen discussions.

I liked the one wherein the Village head brings in a new initiative into the village that required everyone in the village to be addressed by his/her number (which obviously was an Idea Cellular number, the brand for whose survival has this ad been made)instead of their respective names.

A week back when i heard that Government of India has brought the idea from Reel to real life implementation by specially constituting a Department to start allotting Unique Identification numbers to every citizen of India. So from here on if you come across more than one Vamsi in your life, i shall be different from them by way of unique ID.

Something on similar lines to US's Social Security numbers.

While initially i was not sure how gud progress would this effort make when we are referring to a country where we already have many numbers starting from Roll numbers in class to Driving license to mobile numbers.., etc

At the same time since this Initiative shall be spearheaded by Mr. Nandan Nilekani to prove his mettle with the humongous task ahead him my expectations raised a few notches high.

Wat an IDEA Sirjee.....

I want more for my Money

Today while standing in the Queue at Bigbazar to make the payment, the person before me was murmuring with the billing fellow over the Quality of the goods that are being sold at the store. I didn't bother to checkup which brand made him so upset but all the while i was making the payment i was pondering over the Consumer Vs Producer perspective.

A Consumer's version of "I want more for my money"..VS "Iam giving you the best" of the Producer

While it is true that few of the consumer goods currently available in the market are not meeting the standards of durability, it would also be worth while to emphasize the role of consumers as well.

Consumers today no longer want the same product again and again. They are looking for new options and wide range of choices to choose over. This preference by consumers has sparked off an intense competition among the producers of consumer goods. Producers have expressed their anguish at various public forums that there isnt any guarantee that Consumers who buy a product once will for sure return to purchase the same product again. Since they knew their competitor is trying to woo this consumer with another interesting feature.

Also the latest innovations in technology have drastically cut down the Production times and the introduction of concepts like Lean, Sixsigma and JIT-Just in time, brought in the importance of maintaining less inventory as a result producers no longer maintain huge quantities of same variant of product as they used to do a decade back.

While Consumers complain that they are not being given their value for money in terms of durability the producers are trying to reduce costs day in and day out to attract more consumers towards their product.

For example many Shopping malls have now started to the usage of Paper bags in contrast to plastic bags which were used earlie. Though Plastic bags have longer life as consumers wanted more durable products, but the time they take to decompose is longer and they contribute to environmental pollution leading to global warming.So producers have come up with novel concepts like Jute and paper bags.

Also these products once they wear out, are subjected to recycling, to be processed as raw material for production purposes without leading to any wastage. This particular effort has paved the way to conserve and effectively utilise our natural resources and is also economical to consumers.

There are many Standard bodies which oversee this process and certify that a particular product is worthy enough to be spent the amount it is being quoted to. Hence there are tough standards to be complied to bring a product into the market. They ensure that a product is not touted to be used beyond its durability to ensure consumer safety.

Subject: Reg Education Loan for my Kindergarten Kid

Subject: Reg Education Loan for my Kindergarten Kid

 Recently the parents of kids studying in Delhi Public School of Hyderabad branch protested against the school management for a drastic Hike in School fee upon a short notice.

 I was shocked to know that the School’s of that genre  (which go with out saying like premium schools with facilities like AC Classrooms/AC Buses/ Swanky School Uniforms .,etc)are charging a near to 5 digit figure for kids upto 5^th Standard.

 A 5 Digit figure that tooo for a kid who has not even completed his 5^th Standard. My 4 year Engineering fee’s doesn’t even make upto half of what they are charging.

 If such situation prevails I guess I have to raise Education loan to join my kid when I have one to admit him into a Kindergarten. Poor fellow will be forced to pay his initial 5 years salary assuming that they are working as a Bonded Slave to repay the Loan.

 Thankgod they can atleast claim full income tax exemption with out botching up like I do at the last minute every February.

Will my Vote count??

This was the question that was lingering in my mind even when I was standing in the Queue to exercise my vote. Though I advocated everyone to vote and I knew all the reasons as to why should I vote, the moment I stood in the Queue for 1 hour to caste my vote(mind you that too in the scorching Sun at 12.30 PM) I in quested myself as to Will my vote make a difference.

I stood in the queue for 1 hour brooding over the same thought.

Finally I casted my vote and returned home. We all discussed about the Election fever in our colony had our lunch and after that it was followed by our regular routine.

Today morning, after the successful conduction of Phase 3 Polling, I noticed an article in the newspaper. The article mentioned that the Election Commission created history by conducting Polling at a centre in a District amidst a Forest. All the Security arrangements along with the Polling Officers have been sent to the village to ensure free and fair elections

Guess you are also wondering as to what is the reason for this article to be placed on Main page and what History did it make.

Well this particular polling Station had only ONE VOTER.

Yes this particular Polling Station had only one Voter who was the Local Temple priest. All of the Polling Officers went to collect his VOTE and stayed back until evening 5 PM as they had to wait according to their rules.

All this Setup to record ONE VOTE.

Having the Luxury to vote at my nearby place I was wondering if my Vote matters to anyone apart from me , with the indication of an Indelible mark on my Finger for the next 15 days to remind me that I Voted for a change leader.

And yes every Vote matters. Its only drops that make a Glass full, few glasses make a Pot full and few pots make a lake full. (sounds like a Moron Old saying but cant help it…since it’s the truth)

Sachin didn’t become the highest Run maker only with 4’s and 6’s. His Singles also counted for his victory.

Every single run/drop/VOTE counts.

 

 

Teacher i forgot my Homework

School days shall have a special set of stories that are wounded up in everyone’s minds. Every one has their own version of their Heroic (or rather specifically termed as Idiotic) acts.

Over lunch today I and my colleague were discussing our school days. Good old funny days.

I hated my School the most but had to land up there every morning (or else mom would accompany me and I shall have my daily dose started there). All the way to school I wished that one of my teacher falls sick so that I can escape that boring class and ask my PT sir to allow us to play in the ground.(till day iam not sure what PT means :-( ).

Being the Class leader I had the authority to maintain silence in the class. As the teacher was busy with her work I would be THE PUNISHER, to note the names of chaps who would talk to one another (and the list had the people who didn’t share their snacks/lunch/pen/labels with me and they used to bribe me with them to erase their name). I enjoyed it a lot.

As a CL I was supposed to collect every one’s homework books and take them to Staff room.(Didn’t realize that I can skip my homework book.) Many a times would end up saying "Teacher i forgot my Homework" for which the reply was "Did you forget ur Lunch box?? No right then Why did you forget this " (Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Till 5th Standard, we used to have a period for SLEEPING. Immediately after lunch there was session to take a royal siesta. Never did I sleep in any sleeping period rather ended up playing. (Now in office I understand the importance of Sleeping Hour)

While returning home again would wish that my tuition teacher goes out on some personal emergency or she falls sick or her relatives. (I just wanted to bunk my tuition as I would never do my homework).

Everyday by the time Mom was making her way back home from a hectic day at the Office I used to invite her with a smile -kneeling down in the balcony for not doing my Tuition Homework. After that heroic act of mine how could Mom let me have my dinner without serving my STARTERs?

Days used to start at 7 AM and end at 9PM with an afternoon break to sleep.

Envied to be like all those elder brothers who used to ride Bikes, go to movies every time a new flick was released and all this answerable to none.(But now I realize that these are just the tip of an Icing on the cake called responsibilities). 

I really long to have those days again.

Operation Shoe……

Looks like every one has their own reason to protest. When a Journalist can throw his shoe at Ex-president of USA Mr. Bush how can that practice be far from being emulated in India.

Elections seem to have tested the patience levels of several at a very personal level. This is evident from the fact that, most of the high profile politicians have been tasting the wrath of general public who no longer could digest their INACTIONs.

 A Sikh Journalist expressed his dissension by hurling his shoe at Mr.Chidambaram’s Press conference as soon as the Congree declared the 1984 Sikh riot accused Tytler as a party candidate.

 Yesterday another angry young man hurled his shoe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to record his sentiment (while the actual reason is not yet known as to what made the young man take the bold step)

 Opposition party leader mr. Advani seems to be the most liked person to be hurled by Shoes. Just 2 phases of elections completed and his count stands at 4 (4 Shoes hurled at him at different instances), and he has 3 more phases to go by.

 On a Funny note why cant Shoe companies like Reebok,Nike,Adidas or for that matter our own Bata sign up our much liked politicians as their Brand Ambassadors.

 That way the politicians shall no longer feel shy when someone hurls a Shoe/Sandal (with grease,mud stains) at them. They can start making extra bucks along with their celebrity status being intact.

 What say Mr.Politician???? 

Where is Recession????

Recession…Economic Crisis…..Layoffs…seem to be the words of the season. Every one seems to chat around the same lines or atleast every conversation being ended up on the same lines.

 Xcept Gold Shops!!!!! I have been accompanying Mom to a famous Gold jewellers showroom in Hyderabad and to my utter dismay I found there people buying Gold with all smiles JJ

 For a moment I forgot that I am in Hyderabad one of the city affected by the recent economic slump. The reason they tout now is “Akshaya Trithya” a pious occasion to bring gold home.

 Though I also went to the Shop murmuring , explaining mom that it is recession and no sane person would step into a gold store that too at a time when Gold price is soaring high. But it didn’t work out.

 As the Sales fellow brought in the models my eyes were hooked on to only one Tag (the red one which made my heart pound heavily every time a saw a 5 digit figure on it). With an infectious Smile the sale’s fellow offered his best service by bringing all models worth out of my budget.

 We went into the store with a budget. And as he finalised the bill, the price landed at 2.7 times what I planned for. Unwillingly I accepted the bill and pushed myself to the billing counter waiting for a signal from mom to Abort the mission.

 But I guess she was in no mood to observe my lacklustre face in front of the illuminous glittering models. The Billing Queue was also lengthy enough, I prayed to god that some miracle happens and they put up a board saying HOUSEFULL (unfortunately they always had enough to sell unlike first day movie tickets).

 While I was in the queue which had only gents with a sobering smile on their face regretting as to who the fellow discovered a special day to bring Gold Home.

 I happened to overhear a conversation infront of me, where an Uncle was discussing about a 50% Off on making charges for today. That raised my curiosity to lessen the bill by atleast a few pennies.

 As my turn came up at the Billing counter, before handing over my credit card I enquired about the 50% offer with a 100watts smile for which the billing fellow answered that it was already discounted in my bill , my last hope disillusioned and I felt as if lost the last train to home.

 With heavy heart I signed on my bill copy , while the billing fellow smiled and my smiles waned away as the waves on the shore.