Fearandhope

Credit limit aka status???

2009-05-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

On a Sunday afternoon, I got a call from Gurgaon which surprised me. It could only mean that Percy was in office, what for? But alas, it was a practiced voice validating my details before they can execute a option. How cheeky!! the guy on the phone was selling a crediit card.

Why cant they just say I am selling a credit card, it will deliver value to you?

Instead the guy went about how good is StanC for giving me an option to enjoy my life on credit.

I needed a card and so I went about asking usuals

- Is it free?

- What do I need to provide to get it?

- What is the limit?

and I had the longest conversations with a stranger for extending my limit as I thought I deserved much more than the guy was offering. But why?

I don't use card that often and the limit he was offering was many times my monthly bill. Now that the weather is cooler and I have nothing else to do than writing a blog, I am thinking why did I insist on a higher limit.

I think its got something to do with my own perception about my self worth. or maybe its just something I need higher that my peers !!!! (aka mine is bigger than yours)

Whatever the case, I am going to be cautious with this time wasting habit of arguing that leads to no useful result. And yeah, I will diligently take out printouts for that guy tomorrow. and maybe i will get my Manhattan card soon.

Pimp my ride....

2009-05-23T05:13:00.001-07:00

...or atleast advise me on what to buy. I am (or was) looking for a car to own. A new one. So how do I start, with the wallet on the table. I was looking for what is available in the price band and then identify what is the best car for the price range in consideration. So, here it goes.

Band of Rs. 3 - 4 Lakh.

- Santro Hyundai (Petrol/CNG)

- Maruti Wagon R

- Chevrolet Spark

- Maruti A Star

- Tata Indigo CS (Diesel)

We have a Santro already and dislike Wagon R. I took a test ride of A star, it rides fine except that the car is crampy. Spark did not spark any excitement (trying my witty side).

Tata Indigo CS gives the cheapest option of a sedan (I like sedans) but the drive is pathetic. It drives as if the hand brake is pulled midway.

Band of Rs. 4-5 Lakh

- Maruti Swift Petrol

- Hyundai i10

- Tata Indica Vista

Everyone's been telling me that if buying swift, then only diesel makes sense. It takes 6 (SIX) MONTHS for Maruti to deliver this. That too during the economic slowdown. i10 doesnt look any better than Santro. Indica Vista has got some decent reviews from Kash. Waiting for a test drive of Kash's Vista.

Band of Rs. 5-6 Lakh

- Maruti Swift Dzire

The stretch is only for accomodating Dzire. I really like the car.

Band of Rs. 6 - 7 Lakh

- Fiat Linea

This is courtesy the pseudo bengali from my B school. The limit has been extended to fit Linea into consideration.

As of today, me not buying anything. And yeah, after all this consultation Percy is buying A star.

Discovering myself

2009-03-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

No introspection, no analysis. I was browsing on Facebook when I saw an invite from a friend for "WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK OF YOU AT FIRST SIGHT?" quiz.

Normally, I would just ignore such a request but yesterday night I was really looking out to do something. And I took the quiz. And here is what it did to me by putting up a posting on my wall.

Now this is an analysis which I want to show to my boss who always opines that I am not aggressive.

He, and my last boss always used to add to my appraisals that I need to be aggressive.

The possibilities could be as follows:

1. I am not aggressive: conflicting opinions

2. I am aggressive: conflicting opinions

3. I am aggressive selectively: possibily, as I tend to aggressive with people I am comfortable with as I think they tend to understand my view point without getting bothered with the verbiage

4. I was not aggressive and have become aggressive: possible, as my hunger for success and recognition has crossed a threshold

I need more opinions on the same and will surely be observing people for their reactions to me

cleaning up my closet

2009-01-17T06:16:00.000-08:00

... literaly. Today was a activity filled Saturday. I had a bath. and there is a reason for the same. Somehow I felt like cleaning my books closet today. And I have found it as an interesting task. When you clean your books closet after a very long time, lets say, 5 years. There are some books that I always wanted to read and bought but could not. And there were some books that I read that I am now ashamed of buying in the first place. That makes me realise that there must have been changes in me since that time.
One very interesting thing that I found in the closet was a old flannel bound diary. It was given to me by dad since it was last years and of no use. I was in Standard VIII then. This diary was special because I used it to write poems. I am not a prolific poet or anything like that, but I liked to pen a few words in a rythmic fashion to express what I observed around.
That made me realise that I have changed, I dont like to read leave alone writing. But, I want to write. Something tells me that I will be lighter if I do.
So, beware if you are reading this because you will be hit "poetry". Excuse if you dont like it.

Trust !!!

2009-01-07T02:26:00.000-08:00

Its just 5 alphabets but means so much when not honored. I am thinking about this with a backdrop of Satyam's fraud that has horrified every shareholder in India. My nature of going overboard made me devise a rule never to trust a person who has done anywrong at any point in time or has not shown integrity in a situation of commercial loss.
This makes me go back to the B School class of Prof. Vinod Kalia. Prof. Kalia is an ex-VP sales and marketing of Escorts Farm Equipment. He gave us a case study which went as:
- A productive worker was found cheating the company for his commercial benefit.
- His supervisor is pressing charges against him and requesting for his dismissal from duty
- The implications of his dismissal are that the Union may go up in arms against the management and there would be some loss of production incase the person has to go.
Question for the management: Should he be let go?

We recommended that he should be let to continue as there would be a loss of revenue but should be given a stern warning. We were surpised by Prof. Kalia's verdict that the management should take a stand on either side and there is no mid-way when it comes to integrity. Although, we were not happy then as it costed us grades but in the hindsight the suggestion was good, to say the least.
It s the responsibility of the management to instill the belief in integrity, even at the cost of commercials loss. This is something that may be hard and harder to keep up with time. But, when you look in hindsight with an example of Satyam, unless you do that you have to make a bigger lie to cover the last lie. This lying will end only when the position will become absolutely unrecoverable. This may lead to loss of face, reputation, and disruption in the lives of many workers who have spent their time and sweat for the company.
So, in essence Integrity is not an option. Its a virtue that will make customers comfortable, employees loyal, management alert. So be it.

SaaS Gold Diggers

2009-01-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

Every peroid has its "El Dorado Gold Rush". Its a period when everybody is "irrationally optimistic" about his chances of finding gold and arriving home as a winner. The current gold rush in IT business seems to be a concept called Software as a Service or SaaS. If you dont understand what it is, its a service where all your business applications are delivered like Gmail delivers your email to you. And I did not mean free. Imagine this. You dont have install any software or hardware or networking. Identify the software (over web) that is good for you and buy (using credit card) an internet connection. Done.

Now the gold part - since its a web based service, all you need to do is to get a team together and write your own version of the software that a customer has been using for donkeys years. Be it a simple accouting software or a diary keeping software. You can create a business plan to achieve as much as you want. The calculation looks like this, there are X million users of this software @ Y $ per annum. I am providing the same service at 80% discount (since I dont have a massive marketing and sales engine) I can get atleast 1% of the market. Even this market will turn out to be in millions of users. And voila, you have numbers touching many millions. GOLD RUSH, incase you forgot.

The people who actually found gold were the people who were selling tools for digging, or hotels for diggers or even "professions soliciting services for relaxation". If that is true (assumption), then who are the probable gold finders in this scenario:

- Infrastructure providers:

- Data centres:

- Software: Billing and reconciliation

- Payment services: credit card services providers

- advertisers: I think Google

Leaving the thought open to explore who are these in today's world.

Cloudy, grey and cold

2008-12-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

I havent started about Delhi weather yet. But I am talking about the conditions around. You dont understand, ok here's a clue. Go to news.google.com and find the top stories in India. Look what I got:
- something something 26/11
- 'cash-for-trust-vote' scam
- Terror camps in Bangladesh
- IAF starting preperations for attack on Pak
- Mumbai terror attack
I should stop now, adhereing to the madrasi rule of 5 (read paanch with your palm out and fingers away from each other).
What's this to do with the year end that it has always started to be so gloomy? I really cant solve the problem of terrorism except for not sniggering when they check my bag thrice (THRICE) while entering PTI. I really cant solve problem of economy by buying an extra pair of jeans or something like that. I really cant solve the problem of jobs except for finding one that pays me a bit more. . . . So what should I do?
I think that I should imagine the good times and what I should do today to enjoy those good times even more. I blindly believe that the good times will come. Imagine this, after some time when you click again on news.google.com you may see something like this:
- Sensex at a record high in last 25 years. PM Mannu says that India is poised to run the world.
- Britney Spears suit "malfunctions" at the show in Delhi
- India Inc. still short of 110,000 IT people. Special focus for middle level managers.
- Indian does a clean sweep at Commonwealth Games
- Domestic flights become even cheaper

With a imagination like this in my head and a promise of JD to myself on a cold winter night, I am looking forward to go through these times.

Hope for life and fear as well

2008-12-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

This weekend was eventful. On the eve of Bakri-id, my cousin got 'processed'. He married a girl. To set the background, he is my maternal first cousin and a classical BE-MBA background. He got married to a girl who is a teacher in a school.
Like any Punjabi wedding, this marriage was fun and frolic. And ofcourse, full of dissatisfied relatives, loud noises, no adherence to time or care of discomfort to anyone. Sticking to the time (not as mentioned in the card), the baraat promptly arrived at 10:30 PM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glflgxstqss

Please watch the video above to set the context right and believe me this was no different a marriage. The guy and the girl havent arrived when the massi made a comment. "I shouldnt have come, we have no role to play. My husband has no milni" and then he got one.
All was going well, till the maternal and paternal sides of the guy started arguing as to who will get the first snap with the couple. . . and ofcourse it was settled that the women will go together from both sides for the "1st snap" and then men never matter.

After the jaimala, when both sides were having dinner. Half of the population left because they were not invited to the table for dinner. After dinner, nobody was left to witness pheras. What happens after that nobody knows. Hope all went well and wish that the couple have a blissfull martial .. oops .. marital life ahead.

Those ripples ....not again !!!

2008-11-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

Its a professional setting. I am meeting a customer and suddenly introduced to the heiress and daughter of the founder of the company. When she speaks, her lips get rippled which is kind of cute. But I batt my eyelids hard to make me remember, she is a customer and thats it only.
And those ripples made me remember someone else from the past. And these are not pleasant memories.
Anyways, I may be meeting the rippled lip girl sometime again next month.

Key for the open door

2008-10-29T21:48:00.001-07:00

Picking the cue from the last blog and White Tiger's lines:

While you were looking for the key,

the door was always open

I always hypothise that if I had so and so I would have done so and so

That would have made me happier.

Thinking on the lines above, maybe the option is always there

Desperately desire, strive for it and I will get it.

Time to get started with something that I desire. . .

Will post it once it is done.

Key for the open door

2008-10-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Read the statement:

While you were looking for the key,

the door was always open.

These lines make Balram into an entreprenuer. Thats the plot of the Man-Booker Prize awarded "The White Tiger" by Aditya Adiga. The same book that was gifted to me by SRK. For details, read the blog below.

My take on the book:

- Story is of a bihari called Balram. Raj will be upset.

- There is no entrepreneurship in the book. Its about a bihari driver killing his employer for money and labelling it social entrepreneurship.

- Good description of Delhi as a nice place to lead life

- Place to drink neat whiskey in car

- Where everybody bribes everybody

- Where everybody lives in bunglows

- Good description of Gurgaon for its waxed legged women

- Big and shiny malls.

ADITYA Are you a Bong Marxist????

That was my cynic self.

But the interesting part of the book is that people who are invisible e.g. guard at the security desk, conductor of the bus, the one serving you water in a dhaba, etc. are living beings. These people also have lives and may have interesting stories to tell, experiences to share. Readers of this blog may experiment one thing: When you are outside, look at a stranger in the categories mentioned above, try to think of his background, his family, his history. You will have loads of stories going in your head.

Afterall, you need to pass time till your friend comes over. :-)

Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish

2008-10-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

Dont suppose that the last part of the above statement is applicable to my decision right now. My decision - I am going home. Yes, today and for good, atleast for now.

Generally the going away experience isnt so good. But today was not. A few people who are worthy of mention on my blog:

Cherian: in his loud style and "I dont care a damn' attitude, he threw a 5G party for the whole sales team. Cant ask for more. and that too when I had beer in the day and so much food, that cant describe right now.

Nandan: Ok, both of us are straight and its nothing but male bonding. Inspite of what all Cherian says, Nandan is a good fella who likes his mug of beer. Hope Nandan remains the same inspite of all atrocities in this lungi ruled corporate

Gurpreet: with a smile and cute eyes, Gurpreet smirked that I am not saying good bye to the pre-sales team. Would not ever imagine of not saying goodbye to these people, afterall some of them will be persisting in this system for one Darwanian atribute - survival. But for Gurpreet, an attitude that can take her place if she wishes to, I say goodbye for now.

SRK: ok, its not about that 6 pack, suspicioned to be gay. Its the trio - Shilpa, Raj and Kapil who contributed their name initials to be written in that order. And thanks a lot to these guys for the beautiful cake they got with a motivational quote: Ab dilli door nahi. Amen!!

Thankfully, they got me a gift. A set of two books: Stay hungry and Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal and the ManBooker prize winning The White Tiger by Aditya Adiga. Could not resist reading the first chapter of the book, but whats interesting is the note Kapil left:

Oye Sumit,

We know you are hungry (for food, customers, ...) We think you are foolish (glass'full'ish Patiala ishtyle) We believe you will make it to the 'SUMmIT'. And on the cover of a book like this! :-)

DREAM ... ACHIEVE.... INSPIRE

S Shilpa

R Raj

K Kapil

23rd Oct 2008

Thanks guys, never been gifted before so dont know this feeling but I think it feels good. Was kindfa embarrased in the evening at the gates of office with half of my body on LBS Marg, so cut short your toasts in my praise. :-)

But guys, wish you something:

Shilpa: Dont know what you wish for in life. But wish you get all you ever wish for !!!

Raj: Mission UK, do what they did to us 200 years ago. Go to their home and amass wealth, and have a happy life with Shirin and Aanya. Atleast keep us posted.

Kapil: The dreamy eyed boy, its time you get to know about mascaras. So, want to see you get married before the reindeers come calling this winter.

All the guys I did not mention - You do deserve mention but I am kindfa out of fuel at 4 in the morning so logging off now till next time.

Honeybees of the roads!!!

2008-10-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

16 on 16th - sounds like a cool name for a blog. But what it tells you is the amount of time taken from my office in Vikhroli, Gandhinagar crossing to Sher-e-Punjab, Andheri(East). Yes, dear friends, it was fortunate for the people who have a transport of their own. For the first time, the auto strike acted like a bypass on a choked artery for the Mumbai roads. Let me describe the experience for those who are not from the city (!!) or did not have a heart to venture out.

The moment car left the office there was no honking or jam at the office gates, the first red-light was as clear as s'lariV mind. In 1 min (and not 10) we were on the JVLR, and thats when Kapil said that the celebrations are early because the moment of truth is the road besides Suncity apartments. And everyone's heart skipped a beat when it was as good as it was earlier. Crossed IIT in exactly 3 minutes (instead of 17) and straight off to Powai. Deepak was home early by 26 minutes and Taruna must have commented on his early arrival.

There Kapil offered a bet for the time it will take till I get dropped at Greenfield apartments. Being a cynic, I called 9:13, Vivek was for 9:10 and Kapil took a middle of the road 9:11. The clock started ticking from 9:03 onwards and Shabir driver stopped the car and started looking in tently at me at 9:09. Now, faced with a dilemma to get down early and letting anyone else win the bet, I chose to get down while agreeing that vivek won. Afterall, this may not be the last hitch hike from him.

This was by far the best drive I ever had in Mumbai!!!!

AUTOWALLAS, when is the next time you will strike? I like Mumbai roads without you.

I quit !!!

2008-10-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

Dont worry guys, I am still with the stodgy Tamil Company. What I quit is the tradition of smoking !! And its not a health fad, I am kindfa fed up with restrictions of smoking after Oct2. Let me detail the point:

- you are at the panwallah and ask him for your fav brand. He hands you over a fag and then looks intently at you. You signal him for the money in front of him but he shakes his head, you are confused. Is this guy straight of something is wrong with his mind. What this panwaala wants to say is that even though he is selling tobacco, you cant light in front of his shop. WTF.

- you are at a Jugheads / Poptates (btw, why not Bettie or Veronica!!). You order for your drinks and snuggle a fag onto your lips. Suddenly the chattering stops, the music is blaring but you know everybody is silent as if someone died. The bouncer comes over and tells you 'polietly' to go out for a smoke. Ohh, I forgot about Oct 2nd - says I and quietly push the cigg back in the box.

- you are at the pitstop at office for a quick fag. A smeared forehead (read Tamil) comes and asks if it is still allowed. You wonder whether he is asking for salesguys defrauding businesses of money or my Tamil Company allowing another quarter's salary. But no, he makes a sarcastic remark about us smoking.

Not any more, cant bear it ! So I quit !!!

NOTICE: If you see me smoking, smack me on the head and loudly say fearenhope.blogspot.com. What I achieve is keeping some promise and promotion of my blog.

Predictably Irrational - My co. Style

2008-10-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

I have been reading a book lately - Predictably Irrational by dan ariely (Author prefers to write his initials in small letters, maybe because he is irrational !) Let me describe the book. The book has an interesting photograph. Looks like by a sales guy with a multi-colored pen in his hand keeping himself busy while listening to the engineering and product design teams in a 2 hour tele-conf session.

Well, dan would know the details on that. What I know is that there is a lot that I dont know about the company and its associates I have been working with for last 4 years. Imagine this, the company spent its startup capital of 25 manyears (roughly 25 X 5,00,000 INR or $300,000) on recreating software that is available for free on the internet. Some say its creative destruction, I call it simply stupid.

And when the push comes to shove, the "management" goes to the commonsensical team of 22 guys and asks to replicate a product in 6 months (btw, the best in class took 100,000 manyears to develop the product and its still improving by the hour).

The next level of irrationality is that when challenged by this team, they are told that they are creating history by doing a seemingly impossible task. Thats not where it ends all, the management is right now focussed on atleast 1000 customers by year end. Ofcourse thats possible, afterall the 10 salesguys we are, we can easily get a customer every 2 days. I forgot to mention that it takes 15 days to write a contract!

dan, do you work for my company by some other name. Afterall, seems that you had us in mind while coming out with your blog - Arming the Donkeys!!!

Interesting business model

2008-09-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

In one of those "nothing else to do car rides" to my place, I asked Kapil a question " All this Social Networking stuff is good, but what is it selling. I havent got the answer yet but the video attached gives me some indication. See for yourself. . . . http://in.youtube.com/user/SethComedy

My favourite so far is Mario saving princess . . . .

About the name

2008-09-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Its one of those diamond in the broomstick kind of words that remained with me. The words were said to explain the situation in workplace but somehow it seemed like a summary of life so far.
There is a fear of something going wrong but there is this blind hope that something will happen that will turn the bad situation into a pleasant one. But, alas there is none so far at the workplace. . . for life I am hoping. ........