India's first online Health-care community - RxQure.com

In India Health-care is still quite unorganized. There is no major national chain of hospital, every state have their local hospitals which are good for certain treatments, for an outsider like me who wants to look for treatment options in a new city he doesn't know where to look for reference. I often end up asking my local friends & colleagues; if they or their acquittance had undergone treatment before they are able to help, if not than I have to try my luck with them.

Same is the case with local physicians, at-least with the coming of Practo we are now able to get some review for them. But still there is a huge gap when it comes to information related to health-care in India, also there is no online forum where you can take advice from fellow patients in India and also share your experience to help others.

Recently I was happy to know that a friend of mine has come up with an online forum for Health-Care in India called RxQure.com, you can visit it here: http://www.rxqure.com/
The layout is very neat and the users have already started shooting their queries and sharing their experiences, I can see in few years it will have invaluable content for any body looking for hospital review, health-care advice or even tips to stay fit & healthy.
Make sure that you also sign-up in RxQure.

Why do we do business?

Why do we do business?

The most common answer would be business of business is to make money, but that's not the correct answer its just the end result.

I came across two excellent links one article and a video which sums up the answer very well.

"It's not about exiting for millions of dollars or going public. It's about changing the game. It's about seeing something that's not quite right in the world, and deciding you want to fix it. For me, personally, it was observing that marketing is broken. Most people hatemarketing. we want to transform marketing into something people love. It's hugely ambitious, but I have this feeling, deep-down inside, that we're right." by Dharmesh Shah on his blog

"The goal is not to sell people what you have but the goal is to sell people what you believe. That's what great organisations do. If you can't show people why you are doing, chances are they willn't buy your product" by Simon Sinek on TED

A Perspective on Economy of Agartala

Since liberalization in the early nineties the economy of India has seen tremendous growth which was not stalled even by the dot com bubble burst in 2000 and the recession of 2009. But the economy of Agartala has not been developing in tandem with the economy of the country. The development has been quite slow; though lot of consumer brands in telecom and retail have entered Tripura but that would be mainly because the markets in tier 1 and tier 2 cities have saturated and they are looking for new territories to expand their business.

Entry of MNCs and the rise of Indian giants have provided the perennially cash starved middle class with higher disposable income, but Agartala seems to have not benefited much from it. There are handful of private companies in the state so majority of the people have govt. jobs which until recently was not very high paying. So the population with high disposable income is very low in the state.

The young population between the age group of 23 – 40 are major spend thrifts; they also constitute the major part of the Indian population. In Tripura major chunk of the young population leaves the state for higher education and they never return. Those who stay back to study in NIT, Tripura medical college etc can’t spend much as they are students and when they graduate, a major chunk again leaves for job in the big metros of India. This large scale migration of educated and talented people has not helped the economy much. One might argue that the expatriates send money back home for their parents, but the parents being from the pre-liberalisation era don’t spend more than what’s necessary.

We all know that the economy develops when the spending of the population increases, this was the reason behind the booming of American, Japanese or Korean economy. Even the Indian cities like Mohali, Surat, Coimbatore etc sees high consumer spending and are doing good.

The buying pattern of the consumers of Agartala haven’t evolved much; the major buying takes place once a year during Durga puja while the rest of the year buying takes place only for occasions like marriage, birthday etc. The buying is pre-decided and the instances of impulse buying are very low. The retail space of Agartala is such that it doesn’t encourage much of impulse buying. The shopping malls are major places of hang out for both young and old, lot of people of who go to malls to do window shopping and pass some time end up buying something. The city centre at Agartala is a poor substitute for a mall, to me it resembles more like Battala super market.

So does it mean that the retail brands don’t have much hope in Agartala? I would say No, I don’t see a reason why mass brands like Reebok, John Player, Lee will not do good here. The people of Agartala have high aspiration the reflection of which we can see in the buying pattern of cell phones and 2- wheelers. The retail brands have to just educate the consumer about themselves; they have to incentivize them to spend more than the planned shoppings. I believe discount stores like Loot, Brand Factory will have good prospect in Agartala.

Ten days in a village school

After my final trimester exam I had plans of going on a pan India tour. But then I saw an email from the social responsibility forum of my college, the mail was from an NGO looking for a volunteer to teach computer at a school near Lonavala for a week. For the last 9 years I have lived in big cities, I always wanted to see the rural life in India. So I decided to take up this opportunity. I cut short my trip by 8 days and mailed them confirming my participation as a volunteer.
The school is run by an NGO named SAMPARC, providing education to around 300 students from Std V to Std X. It is also the only school till Std X for the neighboring 10-15 villages. It is a completely residential school for both boys and girls. The school is located in a village named Bhambarde about a 35 kms from Lonavala. Only 4-5 buses go there in day, there is no other means of transport. The school is in a valley surrounded by hills on four sides, making it an extremely beautiful place but the hills also obstructed mobile signals. After reaching there I realized I will not have any mobile connectivity during my stay here.
Teaching there was an amazing experience, I was training the teachers on MS-Office, internet and few other basic things. Most of the teachers were quite elder than me, the school had only two computers donated by students of IIT but that didn’t stop them from learning. They would always pose me with questions regarding the problems which they faced while using computer and my solutions would make them happy like a child. Their joy on sending their first email made me immensely satisfied.
I was given accommodation in their school guest house; the room was twice the size of bedroom in Mumbai. The food at their hostel mess was quite good. Every evening after teaching I would go out to explore the area, I discovered a small hill where I could get little cell phone signal. So every evening I would climb that small hill to get in touch with the outer world. I also went to the villages along with one teacher, the villagers are extremely poor, most of them are farmers but due to lack of irrigation facilities they can grow crop only once a year. The NGO is doing amazing work over there; they have provided a health centre which is the only one in that area, they have provided tube wells. The education, hostel facility, food, books, clothes everything is provided for free by them. The school has hundred percent pass record, the students regularly win prizes in sports and science exhibitions. It is regarded as a model school in that district. Without this school most of the children would have ended up as child labour. The NGO has few more schools like this in different parts of India and all the expenses of running them are raised by donation every year.
On my last day I was given a shawl and a letter of appreciation for my small contribution. While leaving I felt sad as I would miss their love and hospitality, I would miss the kinds who were my company in that one week, I decided to come back again later this year.

Journey of two years

Today with the last exam I completed my two years of MBA. It seems just like yesterday when I had shifted to Mumbai on a rainy evening, and before I could realise the two years are over. These two years were worth all the sacrifice and hardship. When I joined MBA I was confident and ready for any kind of challenge but I was tested in very different ways, it grounded my confidence and built it all over again from the scratch to a height taller than ever before. And now I feel I am ready to take on the world.

Another thing which contributed a lot to my learning was the city of Mumbai. I came to Mumbai with lot of apprehensions, as I had heard different versions about this city from different sources. I had lived in Bangalore, Chennai and had traveled to other metros like Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata etc. Its needless to say that each city has its own characteristics and is different from the other. But Mumbai is perhaps the most different from the rest, unlike other cities it doesn't leave you alone, it takes you in its folds and before you can release you turn into a Mumbaikar. It is perhaps the most civilised among all the other Indian cities, among all the chaos there is a discipline which keeps the city running. From local trains to the queues for movie tickets there is an order followed by everyone, without which the city would have come down crumbling. This city hardens you and makes a man out of a boy. This city and its spirit is addictive, once you get a hang of it you will never be able to leave it.

I always wanted to go back to Bangalore again or some other city like Pune but now I am glad that I am placed in a company based in Mumbai. I am now really excited about coming back to Mumbai after the two months break for a new beginning...

Random thought

I am returning to my own blog after a long time(I also blog in ADvent). The last three months have been the busiest of my life. Exams, competitions, events and not to mention three trips to Hyderabad kept me really busy. It's not that I didn't try to blog in the mean time, infact there are two unfinished posts saved as draft; I couldn't finish them later as I was not in the same frame of mind in which I started.
For the first time in the last 3 months I am free, our business fest Paragana got over last week and now I have some time before our placement process starts. This period of inactivity is killing me, I had realised before also that I need some work to occupy myself and keep my brain cells excited. Sherlock Holmes used to take morphine injections to keep his brain active when he had no case to solve, for me I guess it is blogging which is helping me right now. May be I should utilize this time to learn the new video making software which I had isatlled last month but couldn't learn it due to time constraints!

The Genius of Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski is one of my favourite poets. A genius and maverick, he is perhaps the most loved poet of our time. Below is the youtube link to my favourite poem The Genius of Crowd by Bukowski:

Pictures of Tripura - 2

The biggest advantage of being a student is that you get those long summer & winter vacations. This was the longest break I had in last 4 years. So I tried to use to the fullest by lot of traveling and clicking pics my new found obsession. I clicked some really nice pics in Trichy and lot of pics in Tripura but unfortunately the hard disk of my laptop crashed and I lost almost all my pics. Luckily I had few pics saved in my pen drive, which I am uploading here. I really miss the pics I clicked in Udaipur, the pics of the ruins of the old palace had come out really well, the pictures of river Gomati flowing in its full force was mesmerizing. There is no way I can get them back again :(

King of Bandra

How about going to college/office in an Auto rickshaw which has a TV where you can catch the morning news, read the morning newspaper with the option of reading from 3 different languages, a phone from where you can make local & std calls, charge your mobile phone. No I am not high on anything while I am writing this post. If you are doing any of the above things while traveling in an auto, you are probably traveling in Sandeep Bacche's auto.

Today while returning from college I took a ride in his wonder auto. His auto also has the daily currency conversion rates, mineral water, candies and what not.

The man who calls himself "The king of Bandra" is also king of heart. Every Sunday he goes to an old age home and distributes food, he offers discount to physically disabled people, he doesn't charge anything from visually impaired travellers.

When quizzed what prompted him to do all this, his simple reply was "Aadmi agar Chahe to Kya nehi kar sakta hai? Iye to bahut mamuli cheez hai."

Summer vaccation in Chennai

Chennai is definitely not the ideal place where you would like to spend the summer, but I am here again back to Chennai, the place where I did my engineering. Last time when I had come here to collect my Degree certificate I bade good bye to the city without knowing that I will be back here in a year’s time. Chennai is not among my most favorite cities but there are few things here that you will miss in other cities: the wide variety of non-veg foods, juice shop in every corner of the road, the smooth roads etc. The city has changed a lot since I left it in 2006. New buildings and companies have sprung up in outskirts of the city, the traffic has increased, things have become costlier the same juice which used to cost Rs. 10, now costs Rs. 25 and the autowallahs seem to have become little sober(though I still prefer bus over the overpriced autos). One thing that has not changed is that you need to have some knowledge of the local language to manage on your own, the Hindi speaking population is still very little, and of course you will find people who speak English more often that in any other city in India. This gives me another opportunity to enhance my Tamil speaking prowess.
climate is as hot as ever though the summer is still on the side but with every passing day the temperature is soaring and its promising to be a very hot hot summer.

Sports teams as Brands beyond performance in the field

Sports have certain qualities which our daily life doesn’t have. First it is finite. Most of what we are encountering today began yesterday and will not be resolved till past tomorrow. In sports nearly every game have has a winner and a loser- and real heroes, sportsmen who have swea

ted it out to get the glory. Throughout the history sport has played a part more th

an just entertaining. During the Spanish civil war FC Barcelona was the symbol of right wing movement, the wins of the club were taken as win over the dictatorship by the common people. Mohan Bagan’s win over a British side in 1911 IFA shield boosted the fight against British rule.

The passion that surrounds the teams of the major leagues in any sport is very strong. Football clubs from English premier leaguer, Serie A, La Liga are followed everywhere as they have created a loyal fan base through out the world. Unlike any other market, where the customer of a brand is potentially open to change, a sports fan gives his or her unconditional and perpetual allegiance to a team. The fans stick to their team eve

n when the team is not performing on the field. The biggest yardstick for the measur

ement of strength of a team is its fan base. Fans are the most important asset of a team. They are never listed in the annual report of a company of a franchise but at the same time has a profound effect on how well that franchise does at the end of the financial year. The relentless emotional and physical investment the supporters make in their teams; give those teams the strength to survive. Examples are Chelsea and their fans, A C Milan and their fans, Washington Red -skins and their fans. In all these cases the fans have supported their teams through thick and thin, while winning or losing. Fans connect not only with the team but with their sponsors as well. The loyalties of years show up on caps and Tshirts bearing the team logo, in coffee mugs and key chains all of which communicate to the world that he or she is true supporter of the team. Manchester United the second richest soccer club after Real Madrid is going to make an annual turn over of £ 300 million of which £ 23 million will come from their sponsor Nike. Nike in turn got the right to put their logo on Manchester United jersey and has the right to sell Manchester United merchandise.

Support for a team is etched in stone, often passed down through generations. It can start with a father taking his son for a soccer game or listening together to a broadcast of cricket match over the radio on a hot summer night without power. Dedication towards a particular team often starts with an early exposure normally with parents, a brother or sister, or sometimes friends. Fans see their team as an extension of themselves, for them team success is personal success and team failure is personal failure. Sports may have started more simply as recreation mostly for those who participated, with spectators being an after thought, but that is history. Fans and their devotions have been the primary cause of this evolution, and an entire industry has been created because of them.

A team’s market share is linked to the actions of two categories of individuals: fans going to the stadium and fans following the broadcast of matches, and sympathizers who care only occasionally about the team’s fortunes. The former group shows enduring, life-long fidelity to the team’s brand. On the other hand, the latter group of supporters is more easily swayed by the acquisition of an international ace or success in a major international tournament. It is toward this segment that professional clubs orient most of their efforts. In this age of digital a

ge the followership of sports team has crossed all barriers, teams which once used to be city specific now has followers all over the world. An Indian wearing a Manchester united t-shirt or an Australian wearing a New York Yankee baseball cap is a common site. Teams are now trying to gain international fan base. Perugia in 1998 recruited Japanese footballer Hidetoshi Nakata to gain additional exposure and attract sponsors in Asian markets. Signing of fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza last year was an attempt by Kolkata knight riders to gain popularity in Bangladesh.

Every team have their own brand image. A variety of factors shapes the brand image of a team-- the city in which the team is based, the way they play the game, the culture in the team, the behaviour of the fans etc. Sports team like hockey clubs in ice hockey league have become one of the most important part of pop culture in Canada. Cricket is a big industry in India, Cricketers here are more popular than Bollywood actors and their image is avidly sought by advertisers. BCCI’s turnover of more than RS 700 crore proves that it is one industry which is recession proof. A major chunk or BCCI’s revenue comes from Indian Premier League. Indian Premier League teams within two years have created their own brands which have high recall value even among kids.

At present it is frequently said that success of a business is crucially determined by endowment in intangibles, sports team as brands are validating this statement.

Quiz after a long time

I hosted a quiz after a gap of almost 2 years. Last one was in 2008 in Yokogawa; since 2002 every year I have hosted a quiz the only exception was 2009.

Though it was just an intra college event still it felt great to be back among the questions, the audience and the excitement.

I have uploaded the question here, for those who are interested: http://mantavya-nmims.blogspot.com/2010/01/quizzatics-finals-questions_31.html

Hopeless Sports Management

The news of olympic medalist Sushil Kumar being ignored for the padma awards didn't come as a big shock to me. The sportsmen of our country has always been treated shabbily by the government and the sport bodies alike. Sushil Kumar represents majority of the Indian sportsmen, a guy from humble backgrounds made it big in international level but the sport he represents is not popular in India, neither he is proficient in English nor does he has the Adonis like looks of Vijender Singh. It is another discouraging signal sent to the budding sportsmen.
In fact the development in different sports in the last few months was not very encouraging for some one who wants to take up sports as a future profession. The national hockey players were offered a meager sum of 25,000 for representing India, Gold medalist Abhinav Bindra is not allowed to play in Common wealth games as he didn't participate in national camps, Leander Paes didn't play in Chennai open as he was not given the appearance he wanted. The root cause of all this is the same, the sports bodies which control the respective sports think that they are bigger than the sport and the sportsmen. People with magnanimous egos run this organisations. Until and unless there is a major change in the attitude of the management the sporting scene of the country looks bleak as ever. May be this organisations should start recruiting managers from B-schools, I know quite a few of my friends who wouldn't mind giving up a hefty a pay package for a career in sports management.

Pictures of Tripura

A search in the Google for "pictures + Tripura" resulted in maps of Tripura and a few pics of Ujjyanta palace. Thats horrible if a state wants to promote it as a tourist destination. So I decided to upload some of the pics which I took on my last visit to Agartala in Oct'09. These are not pics of Ujjayanta palace or Neer mahal, but the open paddy fields, the dense jungles, lush green tea gardens, village roads and the zigzag roads through the hills. Happy watching.(If your speed is slow it might take a few seconds for the pictures to download)

If you drink we'll drive

If you are wondering what the title of this post means? It is the latest marketing drive of Easycabs.

People of Bangalore and Hyderabad are quite familiar with Easycab and Merucabs. This were the only two taxi service providers who were given the license to operate in the international airport of Hyderabad and Bangalore. At the time of opening of Bangalore international airport(BIAL) the number of cabs of both this companies were the same. But by 2009 the number of Meru cabs doubled and the number of easy cabs remained the same. What went wrong? I don't know exactly. From my experience I can say that Meru gave a better customer service. The first time I had to go to BIAL, I first called Easycab, the reason was the name was more english and the number was easier to type. I didn't had a good experience talking to the lady attending the call, there was constant noise and cacophony at the background and I had to shout to talk to her, being irritated I cut down the call and called Meru cabs and ever since I have been always using Meru cabs.

This christmas when I went to Bangalore I saw billboards with "If you drink we'll drive" ads all over the city. Easycabs also tied up with Radio One for on air promotion. As a student of marketing I liked this strategy by Easycab. They have repositioned the Easycab in a whole new light. It was very much necessary for easycab to survive with increasing competition from local taxi cabs also. Bangalore has a huge number of pubs and drunken driving incidents are quite rampant here. The cops laso make good money as bribes from this drunken drivers.So Easycabs will not run out of customers for sure.
This Christmas-New Year parties must have been a good source of revenue for them.

Farewell letter to my team

I wrote this letter to my team on my last day in Office, it was very hard for me to say good bye to all those people with whom I had spent majority of my time of last three years. When I read their reply it makes me miss them even more.

Here are both the mails below.

From: Som
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 11:15 AM

To: Team ESD

Subject: Farewell, My Team, Adieu...

Dear Team,

Today is my last day in office and I am writing this mail with bag full of emotions, for the last 3 years I have been entirely involved with the team ESD. I have seen this team grow from a team of 4 to be the team which handles all the Safety projects in exports, I have taken every success of the team as my own success and every failure of the team as my own failure. My team I can say is the best team in any sense, technically as well as creatively; being a part of this team I always felt a sense of ownership and responsibility towards my assignments. Today when I am leaving most of you are not here at the office so I am writing this open letter though I would have loved to say this personally to each of you.

Vinay Sir:

I learnt my first lessons of teambuilding and leadership under you and today when I am going to do my MBA these will help me a lot. In my tenure in Yokogawa I have worked with a lot of lead engineers but you are the best I have ever worked with. Be the way you are never mind what others say, as I am assuring you that your team loves you. I am sorry if couldn’t live up to your expectations.

Sachin:

Your discipline and dedication to work is exemplary. So many times it has inspired even me to put that extra bit of hard work which in the end made the difference. I will miss a good friend like you.

Chandana:

I still remember the day when you were put into the team and I was assigned to teach Pro-Safe to you. Today I can proudly say that you have learnt everything about Pro-Safe without any of my help. You have all the requisites of an excellent engineer keep working the way you are doing now.

Arnab:

I have not enjoyed working more with anyone else than you, it’s simply because the sense of sharing you put into it. My only piece of advice for you would be: don’t mix emotions with work, finish your work and don’t expect any rewards, your only reward will be satisfaction that you will get from successful completion of work.

Ranjith:

I will miss your company and your jokes. Your presence itself lifts the mood and spirit of the team. My advice for you will be same as I had given to Arnab: don’t mix your emotions with work.

Arpitha:

You are one of the smartest members of the team, I like your fighting spirit, keep it alive. I will miss your advices and good luck wishes.

Shaheen:

I have never seen anyone as passionate about work as you are, don’t let the world kill your passion, whenever it feels that you have reached the bottom of everything just remember that it’s the beginning of another high.

I can go writing on and on but the space is too small so I would stop here. Please stay in touch with me through Orkut and Gtalk . Before I sign off I would like to recite this poem by Rabindranath Tagore,

Poem

Will Miss you all,

Som

From: Vinay
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 11:15 AM

To: Team ESD

Subject: Re:Farewell, My Team, Adieu...

Dear Som,

That was a very heart-warming mail from you.

We will really miss your presence in a very big way. The organizational skill (can be trip or any other thing) and the dreamy look of yours will be missed for a very long time to come. Not only the ESD team, people outside this team will miss you a lot J. In fact we were planning for an outing after the complete team finishes their assignment, alas now we will miss our key resource planner.

I really appreciate your contribution and a very heartfelt thanks for being the pillar of this team building process. Without active co-operation and help from all the members we would not have come to this position today.

Don’t worry you have lived up to most of my expectations, but do remember that you have a very long way to go. I only hope that the lessons you have learnt here, shall be of good use for your journey of life.

All the very best and keep in touch. Do let us know when you come down to Bangalore, we would like to have a get-together and a belated farewell party. I am very sorry that we are not able to give you one at this moment of time as most of us are outside.

That’s it from me.

Dear Team,

“THREE CHEERS” - for one of the best member of our team.

Regards,

Vinay.

AD-Quiz

Here is the link to an advertisement quiz which I compiled for Adverb-The advertising cell of our college.

http://adverb-nmims.blogspot.com/2009/09/ad-q-quiz.html

Ad treasure hunt

We conducted this online treause hunt as part of our fest Paragana'09.

Try it out here:
http://adverb-nmims.blogspot.com/2009/11/1st-step-towards-grail.html

5 things I am enjoying and missing

I am student again and becoming a student again come with its fair share of advantages and disadvantages.

Five things that I am enjoying the most being a student again are:
1. Getting up late: for some one who had to get up regularly at 6 for the last 3 years, getting up late now is like a blessing. Sleeping late and getting up late is integral part of college life.
2. Bunking Classes:Now I don't need to ask anyone when I need a day off. I can bunk classes at my onw wish.
3. No responsibilities: No more projects, no more meetings, no more deadlines.

4. Vacations: Becoming a student again means summer, winter and Diwali vacations.

5. Student concession: Now I can ask any one for discount as a student.


Five things that I miss about not being employed:
1. Salary at the end of the month: A salary at the end of the month was a safety net which I miss a lot. Now I have to think twice before I spend every rupee.
2. Friends at work: I miss my friends and colleagues the most. They made my 3 years memorable.

3. Travelling: My work gave me the opportunity to travel four different countries.

4. Allowances: Going home has become difficult as I don't get any travel allowance now. Miss the Diwali and dussera bonuses, they rescued every time I was in need of cash.

" I want peace", M C Mary Kom

"I want peace for Manipur. It should move ahead like the rest of the country. It should be one India with Manipur in it," said four-time world champion woman boxer MC Mary Kom.
"I have myself experienced it (the volatile law and order situation). My father-in-law, who came to Delhi to support me during the 2006 World Championships, was shot dead in December that year. I still don't know why it happened. I don't know who did it," she recalled.
Mary Kom getting the Khel Ratna is the best thing that has happened to Manipur in long long time. Sports has always worked as a great unifying force and sport persons have proved to be the most successful messengers of peace. Mary Kom hails from that part of India which has been a victim of central apathy for more than five decades. This helped the land to become a hotbed of terrorism.
But inspite of the insurgency issues North-East India has regularly produced sports persons of international repute, the latest in the list being Somdev Devvarman of Tripura.
All of them achieved success not because of the system but because of their own grit and determination. It makes me wonder had there been a proper infra-structure for sports in NE, how many world beating players India would have had?
Football is the strongest force holding Manipur together, football is one weapon for which even the terrorists of Manipur has no defence. May be the government of India should focus on improving the sports infrastructure in NE as one of the resorts to curb terrorism here.