Hats off !!!

India has a vast geography. Some areas are hilly, marshy, forest covered, deserted, snow covered etc. So no one can say that he had seen or been to almost all parts of the country. But we regularly come across legends of Indian Postal Service, Election Commission of India, Indian Railways, SBI for providing services to virtually inaccessible locations of India. Being state units they have to cater demands of all Indian citizens no matter where they are sitting.

But there are some private companies as well who are doing equally better job. Even in village of population less than 300 there are certain Indian brands which are available. These brands are:

1) Dabur Red Tooth Powder.
2) Parle-G Biscuits.
3) Wills Cigarette.
4) Lifebuoy Soap

Also there is a Maruti service station at a height where there is not even a restaurant (in Ladakh).

Although it is generally perceived that private companies don't go to places where there are no profits. But catering to such a remote inaccessible locations is commendable endeavor of such companies where they actually loose in logistics (transportation of goods). So when many foreign companies are standing at the door of India and ready to enter anytime, such Indian companies need not have to worry because their customers are sitting at such a locations where many other companies would not even dare to go. Hats Off!!

Iridium: Geography is History

Creativity Quotient [CQ]

India is great and Indians are greatest. Indians would probably score highest on creativity part when it comes to find strange uses of seemingly normal products. Here are few examples.

1) The Indian city of Varanasi is getting through around 600,000 condoms a day, but this is no population control exercise. The weavers of the holy city, home to the world-famous Banarasi saris, have made the contraceptives a vital part of garment production. The weaver rubs the condom on the loom's shuttle, which is softened by the lubricant thus making the process of weaving faster. The lubricant does not leave any stain on the silk thread which might soil the valuable saris.

2) In Kutch region of Gujrat villagers have used condoms as disposable water containers to transport water from one village to other.

3) India's military have covered gun and tank barrels with condoms as protection against dust.

4) Farmers’ wives in Punjab would use the washing machine to churn curd and make lassi.

5) Godrej hair dye is used for buffaloes to enhance their market value, while paints are used on cattle horns for easy identification.

6) Horlicks was used as a health drink to fatten up cattle in Bihar.

7) Iodex is rubbed on animals to relieve their muscular pain after a hard day's work.

Passing Thought: If fate doesn’t make you laugh then you just don’t get the joke.

Napoleon

Few days back I came across two strange facts about Napoleon.

1: Napoleon used to keep chocolates in his pockets during the war time to keep the motivation of fellow army men high. This shows his kind attitude towards his subordinates.

2: Once upon a time Napoleon has to convey some message in the countries of his dominance. He asked Chief of Army to get him the most idiot man in his country. The reason for this was, Napoleon wanted no confusion regarding the clarity of the message in the mind of his people and he said that if he could explain the message clearly to that idiot, the same message will be clear to all other people as well. From that the term Napoleon’s Idiot came into usage.

Time pass: What is the commonality between Kingfisher's Spirits and Airlines business? Both take their customers to heights.

(I am) Devil's Advocate

Who is devil on late evenings and on weekends in a B-School? Well the answer is simple, visiting faculty from industry. Most exciting thing about these professors is that everyone says that they are coming out of their own interests and all. But is this the sole reason? Definitely they must be having an interest in teaching otherwise no one will come and teach smart B-School students, but there is something more to it.

Some people want to continuously learn till the end of their life and when you teach, learning is two fold. You prepare for the lecture and also during the class discussions students add to your knowledge.

Some people come just to ensure some sort of engagement even after they retire.

It is well known fact that how so ever you may earn, you will (or might) end up in some crisis during your post retirement phase and no one is going to hire you without any teaching experience after you reach 60's and best way is to plan early.

Also some people have dream of starting their own teaching institute or head some institute. This stint at B-School may help them achieve that goal.

While there are some who are really interested in imparting their experience to others which they have gained after so much of hard work over the period of time.

So don't hate your visiting professor. He can become your revenue model for post retirement period till the government of India starts Social Security Scheme.

Piracy Vs Hypocrisy

With the advent of sophisticated technology music piracy has become an issue of greater concern to the associated people. But lets first find out the real causes behind it. I think there are two main driving factors behind it. First is a cheaper CD/DVD writer available in the market and second are compressed formats like MP3, Real etc. But IPOD is bigger brother of above two.

You can store songs up to 20GB (min) and play it as per your wish wherever you want. They are quite handy and also weightless. Why governments of the world are not putting ban on such technology which is mother of all piracy means. Also company like Sony, who shouts loud against music piracy, being in the business of music CDs, also makes MP3 players and products similar to IPOD's. Have we ever seen any official MP3 CD from any music company on new releases? Then how on earth are they selling MP3 players. This is just like selling cars in market and putting ban on petrol and diesel. Now with the arrival of Video IPOD's in market what do they expecting people should watch?

Lasting Longer…

Do you remember the days when wrist watches were required to key after every 24 hours to keep them running. It was as if, we had to keep watch of our watches. But with the invention of quartz the problem got solved. Now we have to think of recharging (changing cells) them once in 2-3 years. Can we extend the same logic to mobile phone which need to be charged almost everyday. In the fast moving world it becomes difficult to keep in mind to recharge our mobile phones almost daily. Some people also keep two batteries to avoid that. But that is not the ultimate solution to any technological problem. Can't we have something which will keep our mobile phones charged for one month or year? Cellular companies are you listening that?

End Note: If thinking is an intellectual response to the problem,then absence of problem leads absence of thinking.

The Missing Ink.

Have you ever wondered "How Ink-Pens vanished from our lives?” It is five stage process:

1: Dip Dip Dip: Initially nibs of ink pens were dipped in ink-pots every time they were used for writing. They were in trend for a long time but non uniformity of flow of ink was a problem in those pens.

2: Fountain Pain: With the development of ink-pens with ink storage facility, problem of carrying ink pen got over. Also those pens were fairly uniform as far as ink flow was concerned. But spillage, refilling of ink from time to time and cracking of nibs were some major problems.

3: Polka Dots: With the invention of refil pens all above problems got resolved. But people started missing the free flow of ink. Also some people felt that refil pens leave dots which are irritating.

4: An-Gel: Gel pens are solutions of all above problems. It has got free flow like ink pen and reusability like refil pens. Only problem was cost. They dig big holes in the pocket.

5: Hi Five: Now-a-days stationary marts are flooded with cheap gel pens without even compromising on their quality. Just pay 5 bucks and whole world is at your pen tip.

So what should we expect next? A gel pen that will last for one light year.


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Placement Season

Placement season is going on all B Schools in India.

Irony of the episode are students, who have slept so less in past 1.5 years, been asked about their dream jobs. How can one dream without sleeping ?

This means real achievers are day dreamers because they toil in the night.

End note: Everyone says life is a dream, then who the hell is waking me up.