The Urge Within...

There is always a trigger for me in life to go ahead with something! This time it was this movie “3 Idiots”. Don’t worry, I am not going to describe the story here and reveal it to the world even before they watch it!

I always believed in this concept of “Listening to the heart” (though I did not do it). The urge within you to achieve something makes you really love it!! I should admit the fact that the last one and a half years have been really a paradigm shift for me in life where I have gone running behind my dreams. Though I have stopped temporarily, the urge within me still exists. The fire still burns. I still get goose bums!!

Let me get into the market realities. How many entrepreneurs had we seen when we were children? You could count them on your fingers (I am considering entrepreneurs to be as people who start companies here though I am wrong in assuming this note). And how many do we see today? Any thoughts of why this transition has happened? Any idea where were all these bloody brilliant ideals and bloody nerve before? They were all inside you! Inside your own mind and inside your own self!! Here are my few thoughts on this… They are pretty straight forward infact!

India has always been a land of opportunities. This is the case with most of the developing nations (not that developed nations are not!). Due to the onshore-offshore model which was introduced by the software industry, people in this developing nation started to become financially independent. Since it has been quite an amount of time since the advent of this industry and considering the fact that the competition is building, the growth at the top started to stagnate. So, the only choice left was to quit and start! This is the case with a selected few though!

Then came a set of highly motivated young professionals who wanted to prove to the world that they are different (please not to mistake this as their ego quotient). They were young, did not bloody care for money! Had confidence of winning this world! Had the motivation to slog their ass out in the market. Had the perseverance to sustain in the market even after getting royally raped in it! They also had the ideas with them and the courage to innovate! Now, does this sound like a perfect combination to you all? Well… if you ask me its not! Out of all these bunch of guys, only those went ahead who actually had the urge in them! Who had the passion for whatever they were trying to do! For doing what ever they found was good and not the world! This is what is required guys… Even if you don’t have the best of the degrees, even if you are not having the best of the ideas, even if you are not out of a tier 1 college, it doesn’t bloody matter!! Only thing that matters is the nerve that drives you crazy about one small thing! Go for it guys!! Just go for it!! (Yes, you would need patience for people to accept it as at the end of it, they are going to pay for it!)

Thanks to Aamir for this one more breath taking movie!!

Importance of transportation for an economy

Was on my way to visit the economic model which India copied from (initially ofcourse...). Yes, you guessed it right; in UK for a short assignment. Had heard a lot about it having one of the best plans with respect to the city transport and one of the very well marketed tourism department. Got an oppurtunity to see it first hand now. So, here going my thought process on it...

My flight to London was boring initially. But later discovered that the person next to me was the owner of a company. So talks began about discussions on a few business models. Since I was involved in a few startups since more than an year, I was more curious about things; the "do's and dont's" etc... Our discussions entered into one of my areas on interest; "The tourism department". Well... its a known fact that the Indian tourism department is not basically well marketed. Also, there is not enough support from the transport department to fill the gaps of the tourism department. Though this is majorly controlled politically, there is still a lot of scope where there can be a lot of improvement which can brought in by the private players. "Guys like you should plunge into it and not just talk about it." Those were the exact words the other guy said in the due course of the discussion. The discussions carried on with a few other things... But this thought of tourism stayed back with me and I wanted to observe a bit more closely while in UK (also considering travel is more close to my heart...)

Then came the day when I landed in London. Right after I landed, I knew where to go (well managed directions...). Went right into the counter of National Express to get tickets to Bristol (This is where I am staying now... till Jan'10). I could see boards all through the travel. Every small town; every small station had directions well before we actually reached there. I am not saying that this isn't there in India. This is very well there especially if you travel via NHs or SHs. Even in Bristol station, I exactly knew where to get down. This is one thing which is backed up very well by technology. There are automated announcements (not sure if its completely automated and linked to the navigator in the bus or it is driver controlled though...) which makes the life easy even for a person who has not travelled before.

Days went by and I was travelling down to Slough... I had to take a train (rather 2 trains) to reach Slough. This was again a first time experience for me as I did not know where to go in a station. Again, there were no hastles. Everything was well directed. Just that you as a traveller needed to have a little bit of common sense :). While at the parway station at Bristol (where I reached an hour early), I again did not have any problems. The customers are informed almost 45 mins prior to the travel with ample amount of information with enough time-time updates. Even if there is a last minute rescheduling, it is very well taken care and every system is interconnected so that there isn't any wrong information and the customers are not taken by any surprise. Even the train collision etc is managed well through proper information sharing... This took me back to MIS classes though. This is where the discussion with the CEO in the flight became more practical. Things were more clear... But this will require a lot of financial backing as well.

Going back to the parkway station... unlike the Indian booking system, UK has a concept of a lesser pay in the booking if the booking is early. Now this is pure ECONOMICS and an intelligent way to implement it as well. Not really sure if the money which is paid earlier is used for getting returns out of it... but its a really amazing concept and a win-win situation as well... Also, there was a lot of marketing in the train stations as well... all the offers for the new year with a guide book... travel book... reach etc etc... We (Indians) should seriously learn from their marketing methodologies now. Now that we have copied their Law, a bit of tourism and administration... its not a bad idea to copy this as well if it results in earning a few bucks :)...

Well... though it might not have been something different if I had written it if I hadn't come here; just that it is more authentic now as I am having the first hand information... Signinging off as of now... Until next time... Keep inventing... discovering... innovating... digging!!