As per our new tradition post Covid-19 lockdown, I met the sales team day before yesterday, al-beit virtually. This time around we were not in full strength, with one team member recovering from a recent operation and another busy on a client meeting which stretched beyond our team meeting.
We first discussed how ‘Supply Vs. Demand” effect product prices and how the same can be elaborated in the service industry concept, more so in the terms of Brainium. This was an important discussion so that the team understands the logic of when to offer discounts and when not to. When to negotiate hard and when to take a step back and be silent so that the customer comes back to us. Also when one is winning too many projects but there is a lack of resources then automatically we need to ensure that we don’t negotiate on prices. The prices should automatically go up because in this case the demand is more and supply is less. There were some counter views on how to keep the momentum going and how this logic of supply and demand doesn’t work in our business model but then it was important to know that we need not win each and everything and sometimes the art of saying “NO” acts as your biggest negotiation tool.
We also discussed equality in the workplace when it comes to thought sharing and idea sharing. How it’s important for a company to be a Great Place to Work, one needs to reduce the ego and have more patience. This culture according to me should be imbibed throughout the organisation with everyone being treated equally and no one feels entrapped under seniority.
With the monologue completed, we moved on to a new game for the week. People who have been following my posts must have seen that every week we play some game for relaxation purposes. Today with my monologue taking a longish time, we had to wrap up the game session quickly.
Today’s game was a little modified version of “Pictionary”.
First I divided the group into 2 teams.
Team 1 had Bikash, Debarghya, Ashish & Rudra
Team 2 had Sujit, Azhar, Bias, Aditi & Abhishek
The concept was that I will give a word to one of the team members of 1 team and that member had to draw a picture related to that word. After that he or she needs to show the picture to all of us and his team members have to guess the word based on the picture drawn. Ofcourse the drawer had to be silent. This way the game would continue for a preset number of rounds and at the end, the team which guessed correctly most number of times would be declared the winner. Ofcourse there was a time limit of 1 Minute to draw the picture and about 1 minute to guess it. Due to the paucity of time we kept it to only 2 rounds.
The first person to be given the word was Bikash. After Bikash drew the picture and put it up on the screen, his team members started guessing the word. First of all, he didn’t follow the rules of the game because he put up names in his image but I gave him the leeway because this was the first time we were playing this and probably because of paucity of time I didn’t explain the rules properly. One of his team members guessed the image as a colleague but then another one guessed it correctly by saying, “Friend”. “Friend”, indeed was the correct answer.
Next, I gave the word to one of the members of Team 2, Azhar. Azhar of course draws well and I expected him to come up with a good image which he did within the specified time. In a super quick time the word was guessed correctly by his team members. The right answer was “Fight” and Azhar did draw the image really well which made his team members’ job easier.
Then I went back to Team 1 and this time the “word” was given to Debarghya. His first reaction was, “I don’t draw well”. Bikash suggested to Google an image and show in that case. Ofcourse that was against the rules so he had to draw it. So, he came up with his image and the guesswork started. His team mates started blurting out words like, Growth, Triangle, Graph etc but no one could guess the correct word which was “Slope”. One probably can’t blame his team mates because the way he drew the images, it was highly difficult to guess the correct word.
So we were right at the end of the game with the onus firmly on Team 2 to guess the correct word & win the game. The word was given to Aditi and she drew an excellent image which was guessed correctly in a few seconds. The correct answer was “Mouse”.
Due to paucity of time we had to stop the game there with Team 2 being declared the winners but Ashish was of the opinion that I acted like Modi and Team 1 was Bengal and Team 2 was Gujarat and hence I gave easier words to Team 2. His analogy made everyone laugh and I promised that it will be equally hard for both teams next time around when we play this game in full strength. Hopefully it will be during our next meeting.
With that we wrapped up the session and I look forward to meeting the team again next week!
I was not a movie buff during my childhood but became one during my Bangalore days especially during the period 1995/96 – 1999/2000. In these 4-5 years I used to be a regular visitor to movie theaters especially to Swagath theater which was the nearest cinema hall from where we stayed. Watching movies those days used to be starkly different from what it is today. To get tickets for superstar movies would mean standing in the line for hours and if you were not lucky enough then you needed to be dependent on the blackers.
The cinematic experience those days used to be very different. The howling and shouting by the audience as the star made an entry onto the screen used to be deafening to the ears. It used to be part of the fun and all were used to the system. As I moved on from college to professional life, I hardly went to the movie theaters. The world of cinema meanwhile kept changing as well. Single screen theaters got replaced by multiplexes. My first experience watching a movie in a multiplex was in 2005 when I went to watch Bunty Aur Babli. Later on, I went to many movies in various properties owned by PVR, Inox, etc.
The shouting and howling have stopped these days. The prices of movie tickets have gone through the roof. Most importantly the food has also become very costly inside the theaters. The entire cinematic experience of an average movie-goer has changed over the last two decades. Gone are the days when you would get 3-4 shows a day. Today with digital projectors, one can exhibit many shows, and hence revenue is more. Over the past few years, more and more single-screen theaters have been taken over by big exhibitors like, PVR and Inox. But with prices increasing continuously, a threat was looming large.
What does an average consumer want? When one goes to the movie theater, he or she goes for entertainment with friends and family. As OTT started getting into everyone’s homes (we have to thank Reliance Jio for making Internet Data affordable for everyone), the middle class got an economical way to entertain themselves. Most movies started to have a digital release within 6-8 weeks of their theatrical release and this lead to me not going to theaters at all.
I had always been thinking that a big disruption in the entertainment industry was just around the corner and hence when the producers of the movie, Gulabo Sitabo decided to launch their movie on Amazon Prime bypassing the theatrical release, I was n
ot surprised at all. The next day when I saw the statement by INOX Group with a veiled threat, it felt a bit naive. These are big companies with big marketing honchos on the top. Didn’t they see this coming for the last one year? As more and more people started getting hooked to NetFlix, Amazon Prime, HotStar, etc, and with Jio Cinema planning to get movies directly to people’s homes, it was just a natural progression. Just like one-day single-screen theaters got pushed out, little by little these multiplexes will also start getting pushed out. Consumers want their needs to be fulfilled at the lowest possible price and OTT service is doing just that.
Quality content at a low price.
These high-cost multiplex business models had to innovate themselves. They saw it coming but I guess Covid-19 fastened the process. No use in crying over spilled milk.
I also think OTT service will bring the death knell to Cable TVs. These days, La Liga is streamed live on Facebook. So times are not far off when we will see live streaming of all sports events on these digital platforms. Why do I need to pay extra to Dish Tv and Tata Sky etc if I can get everything on my digital platform? I hope these companies understand that today the multiplex exhibitors are facing a rout, tomorrow they will be in the line of fire.
For any business to survive and continue to make a difference for decades and centuries, need to innovate and embrace technology. Change is the only constant and hence if you don’t change existing business models, one disruption and you could be out of business. Today, Covid-19 has made many businesses realise this. I hope people realise this and make changes in their thinking and how they implement digital technologies to make sustainable business models. Only those will survive who embrace change, realise mistakes, and adapt better.
For now, I am waiting for the release of Gulabo Sitabo on Amazon Prime, next month.
So what do you think? Will you go back to watch movies in theaters when lockdown gets over? Or will you prefer to watch it with family through digital media? I look forward to hear your views.
Take care, everyone! Stay Safe!
College Days in Bangalore were the best part of my life. The memories created years back still brings a smile to my face. Few of us used to share a flat together those days and the time spent were simply unforgettable. Over time, everyone moved on with their individual lives and got busy with their own family and professional lives.
In Early 2017, I came up with the idea to form a WhatsAPP group with the ex-flatmates. Having all of them in one platform ensured an immediate high for all of us. One of them, Sabyasachi Das lives in Angul, Odisha. Another, Shubhabrata Ghosh lived in Delhi, Shamsu Bhai lived in Bangalore whereas me and Asif are in Kolkata. Within one day of the group creation, the discussion regarding our old days were back and it was mutually decided that we will name this Group as ZNMD (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara). True to the name, an impromptu decision was also made that we will all make a trip to Bangalore and try and rekindle our old memories. This series is all about this trip which we now call as ZNMD trip. It was a memorable trip more so because all the 5 of us got together in Bangalore from various locations in India and made sure that we do the craziest stuff in the shortest possible time.
So, it was the second last day of our trip and one of our seniors, Pradipta Banerjee contacted Asif and planned a meet up. This was not in our set plans but since the last day was earmarked for shopping (The wives were back home you see) so meeting up for dinner was OK with all of us. Added incentive was to meet Pradipta Da. So late in the evening, we reached the venue. Over the years, Bangalore has changed so much that most of the things looked new other than our old favourite, MG Road and Brigade Road. Infact to lap up the environment we stayed in a hotel which was just off Brigade Road. More on that later.
The venue was Big Brewski located at Sarjapur Road. We took a Taxi to reach there and the plan was that Shamsu Bhai will drop us at night. We were punctual as usual. Dot 7 PM and we were there. Its a different matter that during college days we didn’t have much sense of timing but things change over the years. With the host being late we had no other option but to wait outside. The place looked exciting and we were itching to go inside. Pradipta Da with his daughter, Kiah and Mrs. Vani Sharma joined us soon enough and we entered the restaurant.
The look, the grandeur, the overall ambience of Big Brewski stuns you. The entire dining area is centred around a beautiful, well maintained pond. Lighting around the area was just perfect. As we moved onto the first floor to take our place in the dining area, I realised that it was a huge property and though it was just about 8 PM, the place was almost full. I am a teetotaler so I got busy browsing through the food menu as Subho and Pradipta Da concentrated on which beer to order. Big Brewski is famous for its beers and they have quite a few innovative choices for their guests. The food available at Big Brewski is mainly a combination of Continental and Indian. The food was good but I will remember this place mainly for the ambience which is just superb. When old friends meet after many years, food become secondary and here also it was no different. The 3 hours passed like a breeze and it was our time to say Good Bye.
As per our plan, we moved towards Shamsu’s car. Shamsu Bhai for some reason decided to hand over the car keys to Asif. Quite expectedly Asif was not so interested in driving since he was not sure of the route. Bangalore had changed so much from our college days that it was pretty difficult for all of us to navigate and that too at night. Shamsu took the navigator seat and said, “Main Hoon Na”. Fair enough! As Asif took the driver seat me, Das and Subho sat at the back. Me and Subho were busy discussing about our trip as Das dozed off. He had a flight to catch at 5 AM in the morning hence took a much needed power nap. After a while when Asif took a turn, Subho suddenly blurted out, “Hey, seems like we are back in the same place. Are we moving in circles?”
It had been 30 minutes we had started and hearing that we have lost our way in Bangalore, Das woke up from slumber.
“I just saw that same temple which we crossed half an hour back”, Subho continued.
“Gosh!”, Das said, “If I knew you guys were planning to get yourselves lost on the road, I better should have carried my luggage along, atleast I could have caught a cab and directly went to the airport”.
Hearing this Subho started laughing in his usual style.
“Shamsu Bhai loves you a lot, so he is ensuring that we stay together as long as possible”, said Subho and started singing, “Ei Poth Jodi na Sesh Hoi tobe kemon hoto”
Asif, our Mr. Cool driver got irritated and said to Shamsu, “What Shamsu, you have got us lost in Bangalore, a place where you have been staying for more than 20 years?”
Shamsu got full worked up by now and blubbered, “looks like you didn’t follow my instructions”
With rounded eyes, Asif looked at him, “what do you mean?”
In the meanwhile, I opened Google Maps and found that we are seriously near Big Brewski and our destination was on the opposite side. Subho was right and it meant we have to take a U-Turn.
Shamsu was not ready to give up yet and he continued in his inimitable style, “looks like when I said right turn, you took left turn and hence we might have messed up”.
Here I need to tell you, that Shamsu has a “Direction” problem. During our college days we saw this many times, that when we used to tell him to take right turn, he used to do the opposite. So basically though he was telling Asif “Right Turn” he meant “Left Turn”.
Hearing this logic, me and Subho had the laugh of our lives. Infact even today when we discuss this incident, we find it difficult to stop laughing. Hearing all this laughter, Das woke up once again and he wanted to know, what happened! Asif had a reaction less face and he didn’t know if he should laugh or cry! In one word, his expression was priceless just like our trip was.
As Asif took the nearest U-Turn and asked me to help him guide him using Google Maps, Subho continued explaining to Das of what transpired. As usual he added points to make it sound more comic which though irritated Shamsu made us laugh to the fullest.
As Asif parked the car at Brigade Road, it was past midnight. A 30 minute journey took us more than 1 hour and that too at late night. As we bade goodbye to Shamsu Bhai and trudged along to the hotel we realised we laughed to our heart’s content that day and such unbridled fun can only happen when you are with friends.
We still have that ZNMD WhatsAPP group and we chat daily. Though the 5 of us have not been able to meet together again and nor we could execute a plan to travel together again, we hope that once Covid-19 subsides we will do one such trip once again.
This trip has a lot of stories which I will share in the days to come. The trip consisted of Ooty & Kodaikanal other than Bangalore ofcourse. So a lot to tell!
Till then, keep safe, be happy and keep smiling!
My first blog on Kashmir and the topic is not the beauty of Kashmir but its about food. Strange isn’t it? But well, that’s how I am. I am a foodie and food gets a lot of importance from me. Whenever I travel outside, I always look forward to the various delicacies that are on offer. Sometimes I do the research beforehand or I find out about them after visiting the place. The Travel to Kashmir was not a very well planned one and hence, I didn’t get much time beforehand about the delicacies and I guess somewhere inside me, the beauty of Kashmir super ceded food.
Three of us, me, Asif and Subho went to Kashmir in late 2018. We were lucky to get a very friendly driver named Fayaz who doubled up as our guide throughout our stay in Kashmir. One day, I asked him about the most famous food of Kashmir (non-veg ofcourse) and he told me it’s Wazwan. Fayaz was a wonderful storyteller and he went about explaining about the delicacy and how without having Wazwan, our trip to Kashmir would remain futile. We personally were pretty mesmerized with all the beauty around us and frankly didn’t have any plans to have food outside our hotel since as I said earlier food was not a priority in this trip. But after hearing about Wazwan and how Kashmiri marriages aren’t completed without Wazwan we felt it was worth a try. It was a kind of challenge as well since according to Fayaz Bhai after having Wazwan, we will feel that Biryani is a distant cousin. I being a biryani lover took it as a challenge because according to me there is no better food than Biryani so I had to prove him wrong with an explanation which I can only do after having it.
So on 2nd January, 2019 Fayaz Bhai took us to Mughal Darbar. It was a small restaurant in Srinagar but clean and well decorated. Fayaz bhai was kind enough to let us know that Wazwan is a multi-course dish so we should stick to 1/4 plate or 1/2 plate to share among ourselves, otherwise it would be too much for us. Good, he told us because we ordered 1/4 plate and the amount of food that came was difficult for us to share and finish.
Wazwan is a multi course meal served with 7 types of non-veg dishes topped with rice. The items include, Mutton Sheek Kebab, Two types of Chicken Kebabs, Mutton and Chicken Gravy Items and gravy items with meat balls in them. Just looking at the granduer and the quantity would make any person dumb founded specially when you think that what we ordered was only one fourth of the full dish.
We started eating and we realised it to be very tasty. We were wondering if we would have come to Kashmir during College days then probably we could have tried the full dish but at that moment it was getting difficult to finish 1/4 dish. Because of rich spices and oil heavy food it was highly difficult to finish all the items. We ordered a couple of Pepsis to help us gulp down the final pieces of meat. If I have to compare it, I think 1/4 plate of Wazwan is like 3 plates of Biryani if not more.
After we finished and came out of the restaurant, Fayaz Bhai was standing with all pride to get our feedback about Wazwan. We were truthful that yes it was a very unique and nice dish and thanked him for guiding us to the place but I personally couldn’t agree that it was better than Biryani. Wazwan couldn’t beat Biryani in my books.
One thing is for sure that if you visit Kashmir then Wazwan is a must. If you like Non-Veg, spicy and rich food then Wazwan is for you and you won’t be disappointed. Even if you don’t like spicy food, try it once, you won’t be disappointed.
So tell me, did you have Wazwan before? What is your feedback about the dish? Do you think our Kolkata Biryani gets beaten by Wazwan? Let me know your thoughts.
As has been our usual norm during the lockdown days, I met the sales team online yesterday. The good thing was unlike other days all were more or less on time. This could have been because the meeting was postponed by 15 minutes or could be because all were genuinely interested to know more about today’s game. So after a bit of talking about how things were going and how the sales pipeline is shaping up for the quarter, we moved into the game zone.
The 11 Members were segregated in 4 teams. Each team was given a topic based on which they needed to collaborate with their team members and draw an image which best describes the topic. Each topic was something related to Brainium. Once they draw the images, each team will present it in front of the other teams and the other teams will have to predict the name of the topic without any prompting. The team whose image gets the quickest and the correct answer wins the game. So another simple but unique game, customised the Brainium way.
Sujit & Abhishek were first up with Sujit presenting the image in front of us.
No one could catch the theme. All were busy discussing about the quality of the 3 hands in the picture. Ashish commented that the screwdriver drawn belongs to Zillu. Though the comments brought up, gave us a good laugh but unfortunately no one could envisage that what Sujit wanted to show is “Brainium” (which was his topic). With Sujit’s team failing, we moved on to the next team.
Bikash asked Sarmistha to show the image to all of us without realising that Sarmistha’s video is not working. So with Sarmistha unable to present the image, they decided to have Rudra present the same.
Since Rudra was on mobile, it was a bit difficult to get the full picture on screen but as soon as he presented it, Bias understood the concept and answered, “Services of Brainium”. It was a great catch and she got a round of applause for getting the concept so quickly.
The next team to present was Ashish and Debargha’s whom we call as Dave. Dave presented on behalf of his team.
Frankly no one understood the concept. Infact I felt the image was about some Corona Warriors but nothing looked like related to Brainium. One of our team mates told it was about Games but then Games is part of our service and that topic was already over. No body quite expectedly get the concept because the presenters themselves didn’t understood the concept unfortunately. The concept given to them was “Brainium Solutions” and when asked how this image is relatable, the ever quick witted, Ashish answered that the image depicts Zillu in fire fighting mode providing solutions to employee’s systems. It was one of the craziest answers I could have heard but then “Laughter and Fun” are the motto of our weekly meetings.
Moving on, the final presentation was given by Azhar with full confidence that their presentation will be understood the quickest and they will win the game easily.
Looking at the image, people started analysing the concept. Good thing was everyone was trying to understand and the individually they were getting it. Abhishek understood Time & Material but before that people were concentrating on point 3 and some hilarious discussion on who in the picture is being taken out from a group of people by the 2 hands. Once Abhishek realised Time & Material as Point 2, understanding Point 1 was easy (Dedicated Hiring) and then they guessed that the third point must mean FPC (Fixed Price Contract). The topic given to Azhar was “Billing Models of Brainium“. Though his first 2 points were well understood, no body could fathom the meaning of the third point and hence his over confidence of winning the game fell flat.
We all had a good laugh though and the meeting ended with congratulating Bikash’s team (Rudra, Sarmistha, Biswa & Bikash) for winning the game and a special mention to Bias for predicting the image in double quick time.
All in all another meeting, with another game with some unbridled fun & laughter.
Au Revoir!
This “Great Lockdown” has caught many people unawares. Many in India lived with a false hope that the virus won’t effect us. And this view continued till Mid-March and a little beyond that. This was the same set of people who felt that the lockdown will get over in 3 weeks time and life would be back to normal. I wonder the current state of mind of this category of people. With India now embracing towards the challenge of living with the virus, some may wonder what a futile exercise this lockdown was. But then improving the infrastructure and getting ready for deluge of fresh infections (Tests/Isolation Beds etc.) was the order of the day and for that to happen, we needed time and hence the lock down. Doubling rate of new Covid-19 cases at 10-12 days is far better than what some Western Countries were going through at a similar time.
Now, coming back to people getting caught unawares of the sudden lockdown – there were many people who got stuck at various places (Due to work, leisure or visiting extended family etc.). I came to know about once such incident recently. This article is about how the obstacle was overcome.
I have a friend by the name of Shubhabrata Ghosh. He is one of my dear friends with a daredevil attitude. A guy who doesn’t mince words when criticising a friend and did activities during college days which none could muster. The attitude in him remains a part of him even today. He is also one of those guys who stays away from family due to work but returned to Kolkata couple of days before the lockdown happened and has been stuck at Kolkata for the last 50 days and counting. So he has a neighbour, whose daughter had gone to visit her friend’s place at Jharkhand just before the lockdown began. With the lockdown getting extended every 3 weeks, things got tensed because she was unable to come back.
The father (Subhabrata’s neighbour) works in a Pharma company and he was able to arrange a Medical Pass which he could use to travel across the state of West Bengal. The challenge was that his daughter was outside Bengal. He approached Subho (We all call him by that name) and my daredevil friend decided to become his neighbour’s Sarathi to drive him to Jharkhand. So last weekend, early in the morning both of them hit the road.
With no traffic on the roads, the drive was smooth. All dhabas and shops were closed as both of them drove on. In between, the Special Medical Pass almost flew off from the car due to the wind near VidyaSagar Setu, which was somehow caught on time. If that pass went inside the Ganges, the trip would have ended there itself. Fortunately it didn’t and they drove on.
At each district borders they were stopped by the police and their standard answer was that they were going to Jhargram to attend to a medical emergency. With a medical pass in hand, they were let off without any hassle. When they reached the Jharkhand border, the pass didn’t cut ice any more because the pass was valid only inside West Bengal. They tried their best to convince that the location of their destination was just 5 Kms inside Jharkhand but the police was quite strict. The police was helpful though and they suggested to get the girl to the border from where they can take her after the mandatory screening. So they called up the family where the girl was staying and requested them to drive her to the border.
Once she reached the border area, she was screened and with the officer giving the green signal, the girl was transferred to her father’s car and they started their return journey. This whole activity of screening and transfer took more than one hour but then these are unprecedented times and one need to show a huge amount of patience and perseverance to get your work done. The best part was that the initial motto of getting his daughter back near him was achieved.
The challenge was now ofcourse the return journey back to Kolkata and with an additional person in the car, questions could be asked because of the rules related to social distancing. Fortunately for them, it was afternoon time and the police gets less active during this time and they passed through all the checkpoints without any trouble. They were stopped while entering Howrah but Subho’s neighbour being a part of the Pharma Industry with a medical pass in hand, they were allowed to go.
All of them returned home safe and sound before the sun set. I doubt how many people would have risked to go out on such a long drive during the lockdown when the emergency was clearly not your own. People these days have become so selfish but my friend, Subho is different and he proved it once again.
Hats off to him and it was great speaking to him once he came back and he was as usual in a chirpy mood. A long drive amid a pandemic with the nation in lockdown mode is something to savour for rest of his life. His experience also showed that people on the ground are maintaining the rules specified by the Government and the humane nature of Indians amid this crisis is also to be revered off. The Jharkhand police could have easily denied this transfer but they understood the problem, took the necessary precautions and helped them.
This lockdown is teaching us what we should be and how we should be in real life. I hope once this CoronaVirus becomes history, we do not forget our learnings and become Good Humans and remain so forever!
Till I write again, Take Care and God Bless!
It was around November 2011, when I got a call from one of my school friends, Sanjeev Das. He stays in Asansol and he called me to inform that the recently established Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate wishes to get a website developed and if I would be interested. We were a very small business at that time and an opportunity of this kind was like a Godsend for us. The very next day I left from Asansol to meet the commissioner, Mr. Ajay Kr. Nand. It was a brief meeting of about 45 minutes and in the end, he asked me to get back to him with some mock-ups of the proposed website and a proposal. The next week I was back again to Asansol to present him our proposal. Thankfully he agreed to our proposal, liked our mock-ups, and asked to get started with the work. The only catch was that we had to deliver it with full and updated data by the Middle of January.
It was a tough deadline but we knew, we had to deliver and we did it right in the nick of time. Later on 21st January 2012, the honourable CM of West Bengal, Ms. Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the website. The relationship that started with ADPC in 2011 has continued to date as we keep giving support to them in Web & Mobile Applications. Mr. Nand was later transferred but we still keep a very cordial relationship and even spoke a few days back after the Lockdown got implemented.
In early 2019, ADPC was headed by Mr. Laxmi Narayan Meena. As is the usual norm, we always kept cordial relationships with all commissioners of ADPC and Mr. Meena was no different. In fact, our relationship with Mr. Meena continued when he got transferred as commissioner of Bidhan Nagar a few months back.
This is where the flashback ends and the real story starts.
Working from home has its own set of challenges. One of them is managing the hardware systems. With no system support other than some remote help, it gets extremely difficult if the computer or laptop crashes. And that’s exactly what’s been happening with many of our employees. With remote support, some were able to get back to work but a few others were facing a lot of difficulties. When the Government of India decided to ease the lockdown on 3rd May and started allowing IT/ITeS services to start operations in a reduced manner, we thought that though we will continue with Work From Home, we can at least try and get the spare machines delivered to the homes of employees who were facing difficulties.
Based on this plan, I applied for E-Pass through the Government Portal on 4th May. We waited for 4 days but the application remained in the status quo. Finally, we decided to write a self-attested latter on the reason for vehicle movement and asked our driver and one of our system admins to go to the designated 4 places and deliver the items. We, of course, ensured that both were taught about social distancing measures and also to wear Caps, Masks, and Gloves to ensure safety. Sanitizer was kept in the car as well. Earlier in the morning today, our driver left with our car to deliver the machines. He went to Behala first to pick up our system admin and from there they went to their first destination, Keshtopur.
And, our car was caught by the police. Both our employees got tensed and with police saying that they have done illegal work of trying to break lockdown, things went a bit crazy. The attending police officers were not ready to look at the self-attested letters and nor were they interested in looking inside the car to understand the reason for our team being on the road. The police was adamant and seized the car and made both our employees wait at the police station.
As time passed, both of them got tensed. There were frantic phone calls made by them to me as well to my co-directors. Whatever we told them didn’t cut ice with the police. We then thought to call up one of our landlords who happens to stay at Keshtopur and requested him to try, if he can help us to wriggle out of the situation. In the meanwhile, we contacted Mr. Meena since we knew that Keshtopur area falls under the Bidhannagar commissionerate. Though he was personally busy, he ensured that a call is placed to the Police Station at Keshtopur and within 5 minutes, our car was released and both the driver and our system admin were free to move out. It was a huge sigh of relief. Though we lost close to 2 hours in this situation, finally getting both our employees out from imminent mental breakdown was a big relief. It was only possible because we had direct access to the commissioner’s office and that was only made possible because we provided personalised service to all his software requests. Just another example, that you provide the best of your services to the best of your abilities and one day the return will be back in kind. That’s exactly what happened today. A big Thank You to him from the entire team of Brainium and a big round of applause to our teammate, Sujit who made the facilitation happen.
After this incident, our driver and system admin went to 3 other places, namely, Kankurgachi, Saltlake, Garia, Bagmari, and BT Road, and they were not harassed anywhere and they finally returned home before 5 PM. It was an adventurous 10 hours for the two of them but all were satisfied at the end because the work was accomplished and our production team will work at 100% from tomorrow.
It was a show of great team spirit and an equal commitment to getting the work done at all odds which makes today’s work so noteworthy. It would have been easy for both of them to return home right after the Police Station incident but they showed great spirit in continuing with the commitment of delivering the hardware to the planned places before returning home.
I did have a great laugh with my driver Bablu after he returned and he was equally happy to actually go out and drive after 45 days. All in all, it was a khatta-meetha experience but as the saying goes, All is well when it ends well.
Good luck everyone. Stay Safe and Keep Smiling!
I have a friend by the name of Md. Shamsuddin (We call him Shamsu Bhai) who I think is an epitome of customer service. He might not be a great trainer but if one works with him will learn a lot at his way of providing exemplary customer service. He was of course the person who first gave me a break in an UPS manufacturing company as a sales executive where he used to work as a manager back in the year 2000. While working with him, I learned a lot. Over a period of time both of us have moved on. I am settled in Kolkata running my own business while he is settled in Bangalore running his own UPS manufacturing business.
Approximately 3 years back, few of our friends met up at Bangalore on a nostalgia trip down the memory lane. On the final day of our trip one of our seniors, Pradita Da arranged a get together where Mrs. Vani Sharma also joined us. There she was explaining to us what a great piece of work Shamsu Bhai was doing. She was explaining that not only was she happy with her personal UPS that Shamsu Bhai has delivered but also the exemplary service he provides to even her friends where he has installed machines.
I for one was not very surprised because of my previous experience of working with him. I was of course very happy to hear that because when customers show genuine happiness at your service quality it means you are on the right path towards a sustainable business.
I got another example of his customer service quality a year back.
In the year 2005, when I was employed with IndiaInfo.com, one day Shamsu Bhai called up. He had taken up an agency with LIC and was telling me about the benefits of the same. We decided to meet up the next day to discuss the possibilities. I didn’t have any LIC policy till that time and with a new born son, it seemed the correct time to get a policy done.
I went ahead and purchased a policy (Jeevan Anand) through him. Thereafter, I left Bangalore after a few years and we all got busy with our individual lives. We didn’t meet for years. In the meantime, I kept paying the premium, transferred my billing address to my home address at Howrah. And frankly with everything available online, I didn’t need any future service or support from Shamsu Bhai regarding this policy. In 2019 when my father passed away, I was making a replan of all the finances and that time, I thought of making an excel sheet with all my insurance policies’ maturity dates for proper planning. As you can imagine it was 14 years, I had bought that policy and what Shamsu bhai explained about the policy, I didn’t remember at all. This Jeevan Anand – Plan 149 has since been discontinued by LIC as well. The problem was that in the receipt I saw that the maturity date is 2076. I was like, “WOW”, I will be 100 Years Old at that time. What kind of a policy is this which doesn’t give me the benefit of “Zindagi ke Saathi Bhi”? I knew Shamsu Bhai is no longer with LIC so I can’t really turn to him for help after so many years & after all, it’s my duty to remember all the clauses before purchasing a policy. But, still I sent him the policy and asked him what’s this all about?
Frankly, I didn’t expect an answer in a few days. But to my surprise, he answered in less than half an hour, sending me an explainer via WhatsAPP letting me know how the policy works and how at the end of the policy premium period, the policy holder will get all the benefits but even after all these benefits the policy will keep running till the policy holder turns 100 years old. It was so reassuring to hear that and in my mind I kept blaming myself for not remembering what I paid for 14 years back. And Shamsu Bhai being Shamsu Bhai, followed it up with a phone call to explain it to me as well. All this with him not being with LIC any more. Many people might feel that after all he is a friend so it’s not a big deal but let me tell you not everyone does this. His instinct of great and exemplary customer service is what makes him unique.
Successful and Sustainable businesses run on great people management (Employee management and client management). During these unprecedented times of Covid-19, the companies who follow the above motto will come out trumps. Exemplary customer service during a crisis sets you apart from competition and hence whoever follows this will come out better after this crisis.
This current lockdown has all kept us connected via WhatsAPP and I hope we again meet soon in another joyride through Bangalore. I hope this current crisis passes away soon and we meet again on another trip down the memory lane.
Till then, Take Care and God Bless!
So once every week I get the sales team together in the evening via Zoom or Google Meet and have a chit chat. This has been a ritual from the time the lockdown started due to Covid-19. The activity was purposefully kept very informal in all our meetings. Quite understandably all are working in a controlled environment and so informal meetings where we talk less of business and more of fun gives relaxation.
Sales teams as in all organisations work in a very high pressure environment. With Covid-19 kicking in the pressure has only increased. So it’s important that we allow some fun moments so that people can chill. In the last 6 weeks of lockdown, we have had 5 such meetings. One meeting was with one of our sales team members doing a stand up comedy. It was good fun and he promised for more such acts in the coming weeks but unfortunately its yet to happen. We are still waiting for his script to get ready. Looks like a blockbuster evening is coming soon!
Another meeting was just “Chai Pe Adda”. Everyone got their Zoom on and we just chit chatted with a cup of tea in hand. Tea Over! Meeting Over. Cool isn’t it?
So this time, I planned something different. Purposefully I kept my plans under wraps and disclosed the same when the entire sales team logged in at 6 PM yesterday. I planned to play a Psych Game. A game of Predictions and how much you really know about your colleague. Quite understandably many were not aware and hence logged in from their mobiles for the meeting. Unfortunately they had to borrow a spare mobile phone from one of their family members (thankfully that was not denied). Personally, I am pretty bad at these online games but a few days back, my son showed me this game (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wb.goog.ellen.psych) and I found it to be pretty cool. So I thought of playing it with the sales team members.
After everyone downloaded the game, to make it more fun I asked all to log in with some crazy or pseudo names (The predictability gets creepier). This is a game where the players become the game. Various real questions would be thrown up with one of the players as the central character and all the players have to give an answer. In the second step, all have to choose their favorite answer and finally who gets maximum votes for his or her answers is declared the winner.
So we were 12 of us with 12 crazy names and the games began. It was a 10 round game with loads of fun. First of all, some of the names were so funny that all of us got busy to predict who is who. Then when the questions started coming the answers were equally hilarious. Discussing those answers were itself a lot of fun. Add to that where a couple of players took forever to answer and the entire team waited and kept getting frustrated. Unfortunately the game was such that till everyone is on board it won’t move to the next step. Probably the guys who were delaying, were themselves allowing the fun to continue a bit longer.
Finally the last 3 rounds went quite quick (I guess client calls were getting delayed) and at the end, can you believe it, we had a tie. Sales Team’s A & A won the game jointly. Quite understandably as the game suggests the 2 most jovial and hilarious guys won it.
All in all it was good fun and I look forward to many more such fun filled meetings with all Brainites in the future.
Till that time, take care and God Bless!
India remains in Lockdown due to CoronaVirus. The official lock down in India started on March 25th and today marks the completion of the 40th Day. From tomorrow LockDown 3.0 begins for another 2 weeks though I prefer to call it Exit Plan 1.0. There are 2 groups of people as I see it and specially during my interactions with various people on Social Media. One group of people wants the lockdown to be removed and alternatively there is another set of people who believes that lockdown should continue. I am of the opinion that the lockdown should be lifted. I give my reasons below.
Lets first look at the major reasons of deaths in India which is connected to any kind of disease.
Heart Ailment: 15.4 Lakhs
COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) : 9.6 Lakhs
Cancer: 7.8 Lakhs
Stroke: 7.3 Lakhs
Diarrhoeal Diseases: 7.2 Lakhs
50% of all Indian deaths every year are due to the above 5 causes. As I was browsing through various data, I came to know that close to 2 Lakhs Indians lose their lives due to road & rail accidents alone. So why am I discussing this?
Simple, because a big percentage of Indians have become fearful of this virus. Yes, life after Corona Virus won’t be the same again. Didn’t all our lives change after 9/11? So we have to accept that Corona Virus is dangerous and we need to be careful and try and live with it. Indian Corona Positive cases is one of the lowest in the world after 10 Lakh tests. The percentage of Indians getting infected by Corona Virus is 4%. Just to bring things to perspective in USA, the rate is 18%. Add this to the current Indian mortality rate of 3% due to Corona Virus and we get an approximate figure of deaths which would still be less than what we have for heart ailment.
So why not make a phased out proper exit plan rather than lockdown? Many people will disagree with me but my point of view is that the after effects of this Corona Virus is too gloomy. Auto Industry, Aviation Industry and Travel & Tourism industry will not see almost any business in the next 6 months to one year. These 3 industries together contribute close to 19% of the Indian GDP and employs close to 4.5 Crore people. Even after lockdown eases these industries wont be able to get back to pre-corona days for another 2 years. One can understand that Aviation and Travel & Tourism will remain affected but why not start the rest of the industries? We need to come out of this fear factor otherwise we will have severe ramifications in Indian economy. Its not that, the country opens after 5-6 months and things will get normal in 2 weeks. It will take 3 times more to bring us back to normal. Hence its better to accept this new normal and create a proper exit plan. My ideas on the same are given below. Most of it are supposed to be followed in Green zone districts across India but I think all zones should be opened because if the major cities remain closed then over all functions will remain too low.
1. Decentralise monitoring control with the local administration in full charge.
2. Containment zones to be properly and effectively monitored.
3. The entire population of senior citizens above 60 years of age to remain at home.
4. Activities which can continue by staying at home should continue in the same mode.
5. All offices and factories should be given SOP (Standard Operating Procedures).
6. Other than Containment areas, rest of India should be open to work.
7. Airlines, Trains, Malls, Theatres, Stadiums, Education Institutes, Religious Congregations etc should remain closed.
8. SOP should be provided for all Bus Operators and Taxi Operators and local administration should strictly follow all protocols.
9. All e-commerce activities should be allowed.
10. Testing should continue as usual and all positive cases should be isolated.
11. As citizens, all need to follow the rules and if feeling sick one should remain at home.
This way, we will be starting to roll the wheels again. Physical connection with unknown people will still be less because one is mainly going to office and coming back home. When a person meets a less number of people and continues to meet the same circle daily then if one is not infected, then the others won’t be infected as well. So with a little bit of planning, proper execution and support from the citizens will help the Indian economy to come out of slumber faster than other global economies.
Yes, there is a possibility of spiking of positive cases but as my above data showed, the percentage of asymptomatic cases being high and mortality rate being low, we just need to be a little careful and things will be OK. Ofcourse there will be some people who won’t be comfortable with this arrangement and they can continue to stay at home.
I do believe as India partly opens tomorrow, all people who will be stepping out after 40 days follow the set protocols strictly. I also hope that the panic surrounding Covid-19 needs to stop. This is not helping anyone. More than 80% of the Indian population is struggling today and there is no one to help them. They have to help themselves and for that to happen, work must start.
If Exit Plan 1.0 doesn’t move to Exit Plan 2.0 in the next 2 weeks then India will be looking at an economic crisis which will be far graver than what happened before 1991. Hope good sense prevails!