Desicritics Category: BizTech: Consumers

Indian Union Cabinet Passes the Foreign Education Bill

Ashish — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 06:34:16 EDT

Just a few days back, the Union Cabinet passed a Bill called the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010 which empowers Foreign Universities to setup their campuses in India. This is a Bill that seeks to regulate the functioning of these Foreign Universities in India, something that was not on the cards, given some of the challenges that the Government was facing in its other legislative actions. And, this is a sensitive subject, with a lot of opposition to the Government in this action, from the Communist Parties, from other parties, and from within the Government itself.

There was a plan to bring the Bill to Parliament in the first term of the UPA, but given the dependence of the Government on the Communist Parties, the Bill was dropped at that time, and the concept had been in cold storage ever since then.
The Bill will allow foreign educational institutions to set up their campus within India, and be treated as private universities. They will have certain freedoms to make it more attractive for them to set up shop here in India, such as:

- The foreign institutions will be allowed to set their own fees, like other private institutions; this should enable students who want to get the level of teaching in these institutions to get this cheaper by joining the India campus rather than making a beeline for the foreign campuses (it is expected that the fees here will be cheaper than in the US or other countries)

- They will not be subject to the various quotas such as the SC/ST and OBC quotas (one would think that would have been a major demand by the educational institutions)

There is of course a fear by other colleges (including the premiere ones such as the IIT's, the IIM's, the ISB's, and others) that if some of the more prominent institutions (world renown) come to India, then they will become an attractive hunting ground for professors at many of these local institutes who would look at joining these new institutes (with the expectation of a much larger salary).

One of the expected opposition to the Bill is likely to be in the form of criticism of this forming an elitist education approach, meant only for the creamy layer who can afford the high fees. India suffers primarily from huge dropouts in the area of primary, middle and secondary education, and the effort to increase the schooling rates needs to remain the primary effort area for the Government.
However, this does not mean that the Government should not also focus on higher education. In higher education, there are massive concerns around the area of ensuring that the level of education is relevant, that syllabus are updated to remain uptodate, and that the overall level of quality of teaching remains poor for a vast majority of the higher education institutions. Getting in more quality education institutions can be a good movement ahead.

Tag me a Price

Halima Khan — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:04:12 EDT

Nothing in life comes without a price attached to it not even life itself. Does anyone beg to differ? Then I suggest you need to go check with your parents how much giving you life cost them. However, I am doubtful if you are interested in that so here are some tags, which might be more relevant to your existence:

The first in this category has to be phone connections, from luxury, they have become a much desired and sought out need. In the last few years, we have become lucky with choices; from pink and blue Telenor tawk shawk to red Jazz to bright orange and green Ufone there is also the blue and white Zong. The telecommunication has become so increasingly aggressive recently that other than pricing strategy they have to be very creative with marketing too. Well no one is complaining about that for sure; after all, it is a delight to get to see ‘bootilicious’ models dancing to irritatingly catchy tunes.

The sim cards are widely available now and at affordable rates too. It does not come as a surprise that everyone has to have two or even three nowadays, especially with dual sim phone sets gaining popularity. Nonetheless, it is major good news that governments finally realized its responsibility and the NIC copy as a requirement to issue sims is being strictly followed. The standard sim rate has been 500 with either free credit or talk time or a limited number of sms or all three in some cases. The summers wavered the sim prices for instance Warid sims are available at Rs.150 only. Ufone is giving three sim options, two are priced at Rs.130 only, and one costs Rs.150 only. Zong is the only phone company offering a phone set and a sim combo deal under Rs.2000 only. However, no need to rush this offer is valid for limited period which doesn’t end.

Prepaid service gives us ample choice in selecting the billing system that suits our calling requirements. There is the one-second billing, the thirty seconds billing, and the regular one-minute billing. In addition, there is also per hour billing packages with all services charging approximately Rs. 5 per hour. However, most of these low call rates apply to the same network calls. This trend has changed recently with phone services becoming more consumers’ friendly than ever.

Phone is not just a communication gadget anymore it is a whole entertainment parcel. Voice quality and connectivity is very important for cellular service providers, but to keep pace in this cutthroat competition value added services are of keen significance as well. Mobile TV, radio, web browsing, chatting, song dedication, quizzes, games, competitions, lucky draws and so on and so forth. Viola, your very own Pandora box!

Be it lovers sighing their nights away or friends trying to catch up on lost time or socialites sniffing for the up and happening or employees trying to do their job cellular services have definitely proved bigger blessing than nuisance. Moreover, it is a relief to see this blessing becoming progressively more affordable.

At the end of the day it hardly matters what code proceeds your number till you have a mobile set in your hand to flash in people’s faces especially if you have a pair of car keys dangling in your other hand. Yes the ultimate dream that every prestigious member of ever generation thinks obligatory to pursue, and thank God, for economies of scale that it is not a too far off possibility. There is no limit to how much you can spend on shoes and bags, agreed? Unanimously, of course! Conversely, I insist there is no limit to how extravagant you can get with your car too. Sky is the limit with how luxurious technology can make your four-wheelers.

Honda is a beauty but undisputedly it is the most unaffordable beauty in the market especially for just starting-off youngsters. The Accord 2.4 I-VTEC is quoted at Rs. 3,599,000.00; there is no way in heaven or hell that I am adding only to that figure. That one is for recommending to your daddy especially if he can afford the ever-rising petrol prices. If you plan to pursue this extravaganza, you had better hurry since ‘the unit price is subject to change without notice & at the discretion of Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited.’ Though I am sure the helpful salesperson will remind you that the price prevailing at the time delivery of the vehicle will be charged. The luckiest you can get at Honda showroom is at Rs. 985,000.00 and you just bought yourself a City (manual transmission).

The new Corolla that hit the market just this year has four models including Altis1.8 VVTI (AT) and 2OD Saloon diesels, all four supporting sunroof, and they fall between Rs. 1,600,000 and Rs. 1,800,000. Toyota has fairer economical cars to its credit as well; there is Cuore available between Rs. 400,000 and Rs. 500,000 only depending on which color and model you pick.

Suzuki is not far behind in sales and car quality. There is the good old Mehran, even though it’s a little old fashioned it’s as reliable as ever. Then there is also the Cultus, which goes slightly higher but is in keeping with evolving trends. It costs around Rs. 700,000 only. Alto is available at an affordable Rs. 500,000 approximately. Even the slightly luxurious Liana is priced averagely at Rs. 900,000 only. The sporty jeep is the Suzuki car to cross the Rs. 1, 000,000 mark and that too only slightly.

Most banks offer leasing opportunity nowadays at fairly easier terms, if none of the above fit your budget.

Whichever models of whichever brand you end up buying its essential to remember, that with great power of that key comes great responsibility. Being careful on the road is part of your civic sense just as carefully taking care of your car’s maintenance is. This is not just for your safety but also for everyone else’s. Like every other product, the handbook that comes with it is important. Go through the warranty manual and fully understand your consumer rights to avail the after sale services to your best advantage.

Oh a point of information please morally all cars should come without horns.

Well by now, we have painted the picture with the mobile and a set of car keys but it’s not complete yet now is it? To be perfectly equipped for survival in this current age plastic money has become an important ingredient, cannot stress the importance enough so I will move on to what alternatives are available in the ‘sabzi mandi’. International banks have long realized how fruitful Pakistan is as a potentially very ripe sales base. The security threats are nothing compared to how rewarding the gullibility of people here can be. No offence in being an easy prey is there.

ABN now known as the Royal Bank of Scotland has been in the market for quite some time now. They are the only ones co branding their credit cards. There is the collaboration with Air blue which gets you free air travel when you mange to reach required reward points. Then there are also Ufone benefits of free talk time and line rent. HSBC has the standard silver, gold, and platinum credit cards. However the major incentive that using their card has is the more you use it in your shopping, traveling etc the more the bank saves for your child’s education. That is definitely a tempting reward point system. MCB bends more towards the debit card options so you get to spend only what you have. Hardly any fun eh! HBL follows the market trend with the green card and the gold card. The credit card acquiring process has no doubt simplified a great deal and the terms are more convenient with greater stress on wider opportunities for its users.

Most banks share the benefits they offer; also, there are more or less standard features. Even the credit card membership fees are as good as same with the option being Rs.2000/- and Rs.4000/-. However, the Platinum Card fee ranges from Rs. 5000/- to Rs.15, 000/- depending on what limit the bank has assigned you. The fringe benefits on credit cards are more or less regular as well with insurance given especially on travel and with discounts offered with redemption partners.

With wants and needs switching sides, fast price tags have taken a relative connotation; only you can decide what your budget accommodates. Nevertheless, there is definitely something for everyone now. Happy affording!

An Unpleasant Experience at the Local Big Bazaar

DeeptiA — Sat, 6 Mar 2010 17:43:59 EST

As part of a renewed quest for attaining fitness, we decided that we should have all the equipment available, so a Yoga mat was needed. On a Saturday evening, we were resting at home, and decided that we might as well go out and do some shopping, and the motion was passed in record time (although hubby was somewhat reluctant, but without a good reason, was squashed).

So we went to a couple of sports shops, but were not satisfied with either the quality or price of the Yoga mats on offer. Then we remembered that the Big Bazaar nearby also had Yoga mats, and the car was turned in that direction; neither of us remembered that these were the 2 days where Big Bazaar had launched their scheme where you could turn in your old items for exchange, get coupons, and then use those coupons against new purchases. When we saw a queue that was longer than usual, some guesswork and some posters revealed the truth.
We gritted our teeth, decided to buy the Yoga mat, and also a few other items that we needed (after all, we were already here and might as well do some of the grocery shopping). After around 20 minutes, we were done and decided to get onto billing, hoping that the queue would have reduced. Well, no luck. The queue was the same length. We picked the queue that was the shortest, and stood, taking a look at neighboring queues to decide if one of them was shorter. You need to remember that we are fervent believers in Murphy's laws, one of which is that whichever line you are in, it will take the most time.

One elderly lady was getting her stuff billed, and the combination of the billing clerk and the lady were Superman in reverse, with everything seeming to happen in slow motion. I swear, it must have taken them 10 minutes after all the stuff was checked out, to just do the money transfer. She had coupons, she had exchange coupons, she had money, and was trying to use all three to pay, and the clerk was getting badly confused. The queue behind him was getting impatient, with some people starting to mutter. One could not figure out why, when Big Bazaar knew that a lot more people are going to show up, some of the billing counters were unmanned, and they did not have enough people to bag the sold stuff. Not good management.

Then the final disaster. Combine a lady prone to quarreling with some weird policies, and you get a disaster. Big Bazaar would give 2 kg of sugar free with every bill more than Rs. 1200, but if you handed in a bill of Rs. 2500, you still got only 2 kg sugar; this struck me as really weird. It did not take people long to figure out that if you got 2 bills made for Rs. 1200 and Rs. 1300, you would get 4 kg sugar, and this is what this lady was doing. Unfortunately, she did not split her stuff before reaching the counter, and at run time, was moving stuff into billing or away from billing, depending on the value (after all, getting a bill for a Rupee more than Rs. 1200 was a waste); at the same time, after every item was scanned, she would want to know the price, and the discounted price. You can imagine what this was doing to the time it took for billing. I was beginning to turn red and visualized screaming, but then hubby stopped me and counseled patience.

What really complicated matters was that some clothes allowed the exchange coupons, while for other clothes, the exchange coupons were not valid; and the salesman at the clothes counter had promised that all exchange coupons were valid at all items, while for the billing clerk, his machine did not show those offers, and he refused to mark those coupons against some of the items. At this point, clothes were flying here and there, and I was not sure whether any of them really knew which clothes had been billed, which not, and so on.

Then a man behind me decided to do the screaming act wonderfully, screaming at the billing clerk and the lady both; of course, the lady found a new target in the shape of this man, and soon had him a quivering wreck. All I wanted to do was to get out of there, and finally a new clerk arrived, announced that he could not do anything since he had to follow the offers coming on his computer, and practically shooed them out of the place; and would you believe the number of people admiring his actions, even though the mistake was probably with the store people.

Propaganda, Patriotism and Profits

Ruchi — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:28:07 EST

I was in a small village in Rajasthan on January 26, the Indian Republic Day. Children ran through the village shouting in chorus, “Mahatma Gandhi ki jai, mera bharat mahan” and the like. These are children who will see little opportunity in their life; barring exceptions, each will spend his life as unskilled labor, marginalized and exploited in a globalizing India. Yet they ran, loudly, overtly, persistently patriotic.

On a talk show on Maoism, the wife of the slain cop, Francis Induvar emphatically claimed that her husband’s blood bled for the nation and she will be proud if her son too joined the police. Newspapers regularly carry obituaries and reports of jawans killed in combat, the odd blast – the death in “service of the nation” bestowing martyrdom on them.

That the State is separate from the people is a given. That the state will work in the interests of the people is not. In fact, often, the converse is. Therefore overt patriotism is a poor and middleclass virtue because unquestioning allegiance is convenient: to maintain peace and an appearance of order and frame paucity of options as considered sacrifice for the good of the country.

Patriotism is not innate, but inculcated and institutionalized by the State. Inculcated through dogmatic education and embedded through whimsical handouts to indoctrinate the poor to see the State (and its actors) as benefactors. Corrupt incompetent buffoons are repeatedly elected because they are framed as patrons and not accountable representatives. It’s significant that in a patriarchal society, Gandhi is revered as bapu and Nehru as chacha, thus killing all avenues to question their decisions. Every aspect of the poor person’s life is circumscribed by some state handout. Grain is distributed in fitful spurts from a dysfunctional PDS, eligibility for which is summarily given or retracted. Education and health from dysfunctional state infrastructure is delivered with disdain. Further, the right to work comes with the Mahatama Gandhi moniker. Roads come at the behest of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. House to live in as Indira Gandhi Avas Yojana. The local MLAs and MPs spend tax monies but litter their constituencies with their name markers.

Patriotism means love and devotion for one’s country. Yet how does one define a nation, when the concept is reshaped as soon as borders are redrawn? Pakistan and Bangladesh were originally part of India but their “otherness” now is unquestioned and the accepted account is that one is exporting terrorism and the other illegal immigrants to India. Scores of our first-line soldiers die unaccounted deaths, their death framed as martyrdom in shallow consolation. But whose beliefs are our soldiers defending? Enlistment in first-line combat positions is overwhelmingly an outcome of complete paucity of employment opportunities not the courage of conviction. What does conviction even mean in the context of an army? Even if individual wars have clear aggressor and aggrieved parties, what about the battles within and individual bullets exchanged? What when the US/UK pressure us to deploy forces in Iraq, the UN for “peacekeeping”? What about when we pit these cadets against our own people? Often the bullets and blows exchanged are not defending the sovereign concept of a nation or even a principle, but pitting the poor against the poor.

If earlier the State used patriotic fervor as an administrative tactic, big business is now co-opting national consciousness for private profit. Patriotism is love for the collective, an all-embracing identity and hence a unifying force. A patriotic populace is submissive, servile and now conveniently unified in a single market. With one stroke in 1991, the entire country unasked became a single unified market for global companies.

American consumer-products giant, P&G is envisaging ambitious growth based in part, by expanding into the Indian rural markets, a strategy mirrored by virtually all consumer-goods companies now that they’ve saturated the urban markets. Our obsession with cricket is now a private industry with global players. Sports and entertainment are moving from participative recreation to centralized consumption, all in the guise of Brand India. That SRK should choose anti-Muslim sentiment in the context of post 9/11 America and not the homegrown examples of the Muslim pogrom in Mumbai/Gujarat is an example of exploiting national identity for business profit. The Islamic identity in the former is fused with the Indian identity keeping intact the entire country’s potential as a market whereas domestic examples will inconveniently divide the national market, that too with the majority Hindu market on the wrong side of the marketing device.

Meanwhile, the rich and powerful are unencumbered by patriotism, having already graduated to becoming “world citizens”. They claim pride in their Indian identity but go about their business with distance, protection and right of way from their own people. The Indian identity is parlayed into a prerogative to direct and exploit national resources and expand sphere of influence outside of national boundaries. In a country riven by class inequities and appalling human development indicators, the poor cannot harness the collective strength of the country. Patriotism then is a bottoms-up centralizing force, used to subsume economically weaker class interests by more powerful state interests, and in neoliberal India by corporate interests.
Kennedy stirringly said, “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”. He was wrong – a citizen’s right to state accountability takes precedence over the state’s demand for allegiance.

Is The Apple iPad an i-Wash?

sufferingsocrates — Mon, 1 Feb 2010 09:31:37 EST

You could call it jealousy or plain refusal to acknowledge what Apple defines mobile technology to be. But I have come to admire, yet distance myself from the giant strides Apple has created in the vast technological space. No doubt, the iPod revolutionized what a mobile mp3 player should be. I have always admired the user friendliness of the iPod. But the key aspect about any Apple product is reliability. If you purchase an Apple product, you can place a safe bet that what they claim to work will work flawlessly and seamlessly.

On a personal level, I have always wished to own the not so well known brands. But which eventually still are very highly regarded in their own niche segments. Be it the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ7 (Panasonic Lumix cameras have now created a strong name, but not when I bought it in December 2006) digital camera, or the Cowon D2 mp3 player. The list of features these products give you are unbelievable. It’s just that, Apple's products are professionally done, and extremely reliable. While the Cowon D2 player for example, needs the user to be motivated and eager enough to explore and unearth the true value. And believe me you, it’s one helluva player.

Apple's announcements are so widely anticipated, that the latest one on their tablet pc, took the sheen off the CES event in Las Vegas last month. Google maybe slowly inching up to Apple in the mobile telephony segment, but the iPhone certainly has a cult following, with rapidly growing success. Expectedly, the announcement by Apple on January 27th last week in San Francisco was hyped up. Steve Jobs, who has epitomized the Apple class of products, unveiled the iPad to an audience wanting to be mesmerized. Without going into further details of the iPad, I have my doubts about the future for this segment of products.

Embarrassingly for the iPad, the name itself has been questioned for being eerily similar to what women might claim as being a technological advancement for guarding their biological cycle. To be fair to Jobs and his Apple colleagues, there could have been no sinful thought of offending the Eves of the planet. After all, where will all the Adams go if they possess an iPad and their Eves turn them down for being offensively tech savvy ?Surely, this can't be a deterrent to the sale of the iPads.

The other pertinent question that comes to mind, is the segment which the iPad wishes to target. Admittedly and expectedly, iPad has once again shown why Apple products are so sought after with their sleek finish. But, it seems like a confused business thought to embrace mobile computing with laptop computing. Surely, neither are women going to purchase the iPad inadvertently for their biological purpose, nor are there going to be individuals carrying an iPhone in one pocket, and the iPad in another. Unless, the iPhone is going to fade away due to the iPad.

I wouldn't want to hold the iPad to my ears for taking a call while I am walking! So, what is it? A phone? Or a MacBook ? Or an Apple Netbook ? Or is Apple trying to bluff the consumer into buying an iPhone AND an iPad? This is what leads me to believe the confusion around such an important technological advancement. If mobile computing is the way forward, then one might as well have a fully fledged laptop with calling facilities. Oh wait, Steve Jobs also claims and garners attention to the claim of the iPad being an ebook reader. So what happens of the Kindles at Amazon? Honestly, the Kindle will continue to enjoy its success, simply because, the Kindle is a not-so-confused e-reader as the iPad is.

Now, my only thought as to the naming of this confused device as iPad has to be because Jobs wanted it to remind people of a writing pad kind of mobile, light weight device. And what Apple has been doing with its mobile products, is prefixing an "i" before them. Thus came about the iPods, iPhones, iTunes and so on. So for Apple, "i" epitomizes mobility of a device, and fittingly enough prefixed "i" to give birth to the iPad. Its a different matter that the iPad will take more time to sink in as a recognized segment in mobile technology.

As the ongoing poll results beside suggest, that probably will be a wait much longer than anticipated by Apple. Note

: This is a snapshot from the poll currently run on CNET as on today. Go ahead and cast your vote here.

Post-liberalization India - A Free For All?

Ruchi — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:39:08 EST

My Airtel Broadband was down (second time in a month) so I called the Bharti Airtel customer service number from my Airtel mobile. For about two hours, I couldn’t get through ‘cause the “network was busy”. Finally four hours later when I tried again, I got through. By “got through”, I mean, I got through to the irritating menu system. I punched in my account number, reason for calling, type of problem and finally over five minutes of this annoying IVR later, a real live person came online. And her first question to me is, “what is your account number?”

What the hell is wrong with this company? All this song and dance on their stupid menu is just a delaying tactic? Why should the customer provide the same information twice? That too in its entirety! And lo behold, after giving my account number, she asked me the reason for my call. After being told that my broadband was down, her immediate question was when I last paid my bill, the snide implication being that perhaps my payment delinquency was the reason for non-service.

First, that may well be the reason. However, shouldn’t a telecom company of Airtel’s size have at least sorted out these basic customer service questions? Should these questions need to be asked to the customer instead of being shown on the customer service rep’s screen as soon as I call? After I told her to look it up herself, it took her a good minute to figure out that my payment in fact was not overdue. And then about seven minutes after I was connected, did she actually get to (attempting) to solving my problem. Attempt ‘cause problem was not solved. All I got was a reference number and an unapologetic four hour wait time. So about eight hours of work day downtime, pretty much the whole day.

Where’s the mea culpa? There’s none. This is the same company that will send reminder text messages for bill payments, even before the payment is due! And a day late will attract late fee charges. However, there’s no refund for service downtime. There’s also no refund if they add some “service” to your account without your permission. Those annoying “hello tunes” is a classic example. Suddenly callers are hearing some embarrassing song instead of the classing ring tone; yet can you get a refund without a ridiculously long phone call with some untrained newbie on the other side? The thing is, each such transgression costs the customer very little and thus disincents the long annoying phonecall; however, the volumes make a large amount of money for the company.

This kind of annoying in-your-face, bordering or outright illegal “marketing” and deterrent reparation processes is not isolated to Airtel. All service companies that have grown helter-skelter in the past few years, notably telecom and financial services companies have done so on the back of predatory marketing, ill-equipped infrastructure, and of course speed-trained (hence untrained) customer service representatives who are unable to handle even the slightest deviation from whatever crap script they get to read from. Where the customer is at fault either due to neglect or due to plain ignorance (in the case of many new users of service), customer will pay. If the company is at fault, even then the user will pay.

This raises a serious question. In a country where the population is not previously exposed to organized retail and/or service, who should bear the cost of educating and organizing the customer? Post-liberalization, large multinational companies flocked to India salivating at the prospect of one of the world’s largest consumer base. However, since per-capita incomes are so low here, profits are driven by volume as opposed to high margins. This means that the marginal value of each customer is very little and hence, it makes dollar/rupee sense to reduce after sales-service to a bare minimum to the point of ignoring the customer. However, it is not acceptable for these companies to reduce their after sales service standards (to reduce costs) to such an extent that a new user would almost surely get lost in the maze. If adequate levels of customer service are not profitable, then they shouldn’t be in the business; taking advantage of an unexposed and unorganized populace is pure predatory.

Haagen-Dazs Not Allowed in India

Deepti Lamba — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:24:24 EST

Indian netizens are in a tizzy although the rest of urban India has yet to catch up on the news. At Select City Walk in Saket, New Delhi, the new ice cream parlour selling Haagen-Dazs ice cream put up a sign: Preview Only For International Travellers.

The individual who took the photograph and holds an international passport was also not allowed in since he was an Indian. The franchise owner who happens to be an Indian took the sign down and claims the signboard never existed but the photograph proves otherwise.

The Twitter crowd has already taken the protest banner under the hashtag #HaagenDazsucks. The news is spreading like virtual wildfire to ensure the fiasco is known to as many people as possible. After #chetanblocks and the 'Cow' moment of Shashi Tharoor, it appears, Indian Tweetizens have come of age, as far as virtual protests and mobs are concerned.

An apology from Haagen Dazs is not enough. Pressure should be put on Select CityWalk not to renew the ice cream parlour's lease. What's more people can peacefully picket outside the CityWalk mall in protest.

This is obviously a sensitive issue for Indians and a direct reminder of the Raj period when Indians and dogs weren't allowed into clubs and other 'white' places.

Times of India writer Rajesh Kalra summed it up well under the headline, Sorry, Indians Not Allowed,

Then I felt, why not use the power of the social media? Next thing I knew was that I had put up a few pictures on facebook, added a caption and also sent out a tweet with a request it be retweeted. In a few hours, it had turned into a viral and I started getting messages from angry Indians all over. Why just Indians, even friends in international media wrote to say “this is the stupidest thing they have seen in a long time”.

I didn’t stop at that. I ended up calling a few MPs I knew I could speak to bluntly and told them about it, taunting them about it.

I don’t know what finally worked, but it seems word did get around to the outlet’s franchisee and they started claiming there never was any restriction on anybody entering the outlet.

While this may be considered a victory for people power, I am still unable to figure out who in his right senses would have advised the dessert company to do something so stupid. Was it a way to generate controversy for free publicity? Did they think it will work subliminally on Indians mind that now that it has been ‘certified’ by international travelers it would be good for them too?

Whatever it is, it is idiotic. I checked later and found that the franchisee is an Indian company based in Delhi and the man incharge is also an Indian.

I have often maintained that we ourselves are our biggest enemies. Our mentality is that of slaves and we think anything is good only if its approved by foreigners, or the “holders of international passport”.

Unfortunately what Rajesh said happens to be true for many urban Indians until they do go to the US or Europe and realize its much ado about nothing. The well-lit Pizza Huts with impeccable service in India are no more than little holes in the wall, one of the many Pizza joints in strip malls along with Domino's and Papa John's. But let's give them their due - they have gone somewhat native and have lots of items for the Indian palate and like McDonald's are quite successful in India.

Designer bags and shoes are a dime a dozen and the best time to buy stuff in US is during the Thanksgiving and After-Christmas sales, from stores like TJ Maxx, Marshalls and from regular outlet malls. Exposure to the West is important for it takes away the glamour some Indians suffer from.

The issue is not about boycotting foriegn brands people can buy whatever they like but racist brands deserve to be boycotted and thrown out of the country. There is no other way of looking at it. I am not indulging in some chest thumping patriotism but stating a fact.

Some things are unforgivable.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream
(Wallace Stevens, 1923)

(Image, Times of India)

Shave India? Proctor & Gamble's Sexist Advertising in India

Sumanth — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:34:56 EST

Historically, sexism against men was passed off as something hilarious. Moreover, men in general tend to focus on bigger and riskier things in life, often ignoring the smaller issues, where constraints are slowly built up against them. This has resulted in increased stress, discrimination, choice-less and powerless lives for men. Now, the hate has gone so deep inside the society, that disrespecting men or masculinity is almost considered as a social norm.

So, it's obvious that, the marketing managers of Gillette India (an arm of Proctor and Gamble - P&G), never thought that they will be in serious trouble, when they started a campaign to enroll women to coerce men to shave. In short, Gillette tried to piggyback on women's empowerment theme to improve its sales.

The Gillete Campaign website ( Shave India says:

Women on the warpath! Women from various cities across the country have decided to come out of their man's shadows. They have joined forces to form an active change group called W.A.L.S. - women against lazy stubble. These women, joined by glamorous leading ladies like Neha Dhupia, Minissha Lamba and Mugdha Godse, have a single point agenda - to get their man to shave and come clean! If they are doing so much to look after themselves, it's time men responded too!

The Press release says:

Sonali Dhawan, Associate Director, P&G Beauty & Grooming, P&G India commented on the company's support of the campaign, "When we conducted a survey with AC Nielsen last year, we found that over 85% of Indian women prefer the clean-shaven look. W.A.L.S came about to let men know that women prefer them clean-shaven so it is about time that they got up and started shaving. We will do everything to support and scale it up to reach all like-minded women across the country. We have even introduced a new Gillette Mach 3 at an affordable price of only Rs 125, so men no longer have an excuse to not shave."

What?? Gillette (P & G) paid AC Nielsen to conduct a survey and would like to force the findings of that survey on the whole country?

Imagine, a company offering breast implants conducts a survey by paying AC Nielsen that men prefer women who have breast implants, then starts a campaign called "Men on War Path" and terms all women, who do not have breast implants as "ugly".

It is well established that capitalists have used women and women's issues to convert men into donkeys and free ATM machines. In an Advertisement by ICICI, a husband is called stupid by his wife in front of his small daughter, when he asks, if he should pay the premium of his insurance policy. ICICI is headed by a woman. Now, the story fits. One can understand why there is such a big hue and cry about diversity and women not breaking into the glass ceiling. Corporates promote radical Feminism to further their own narrow ends.

It is clear that women empowerment will increase consumer spending and will boost the economy. However, will it create fulfilment, satisfaction or happiness in lives of men and women, as they start leading choiceless lives as business establishments and Credit Card companies control their lives?

Imagine a scenario, when real estate developers, banks, Car makers and other companies start employing Nielson and other agencies to conduct surveys, which will establish that:

1) Women prefer their men to buy a big house or apartment in a big city.
2) Women prefer to change their car every 2 years and would like their husbands to pay for it.
3) Women consider husbands to be a dishonest, if they do not insure themselves enough.

Just imagine the consequences, when these findings are forced on to the society as women's issues.

It is interesting to observe the behaviour of feminists, when sexism and hate is directed against men with wordings like "women on warpath". They either ignore or downplay the issue. None of the leading feminists in India starting from Shobhaa De, to Shabana Azmi or Indira Jaisingh have spoken against this campaign. May be they are jealous that Gillette employed Neha Dhupia, Minissha Lamba and Mugdha Godse instead of employing them.

When it comes to my own feelings to this sexist campaign by Gillette, my reaction is: "How the hell you call me lazy, if I do not shave? How dare you lay your hand on my choices in my life and use media to propagate a meme that men who do not shave are lazy?"

Needless to say, angry responses from men from all over India poured into mailboxes of managers of Proctor and Gamble and spilled over to Internet (Stubble India) . Men celebrated December 7th as "National Stubble Day".

Vineeta Pandey writes in DNAIndia,

Wearing a beard or staying clean shaven is a man's prerogative. But a new campaign by Gillette is making some men feel this "fundamental" right is being violated.
Thousands of men have ganged up against the latest Gillette campaign -- Shave India Movement, Women against Lazy Stubble -- terming it mental harassment. Some of them have lodged a protest with the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). They have also called for a boycott of all Gillette products to "discourage" companies from creating campaigns that "spread hatred among genders" and "hurt religious sentiments." Terming the campaign in bad taste, the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid said, "Sikhs and Muslims wear beards due to religious reasons. But their wives do not complain. Companies should be careful of religious sentiments before running campaigns," said Bukhari.

Mid-Day writes, an MNC cannot make fun of masculinity.

"All India Men's Welfare Association (AIMWA), celebrated December 7 as the National Stubble Day and has sought a public apology from the company. "We want Gillette to withdraw the advertisement and furnish an apology in all national dailies. The advertisement is sexist in nature and calls men lazy for not shaving every day," said Virag Dhulia, founding member of AIMWA from Bangalore. "The advertisement is derogatory and tantamount to domestic violence against men," said Swarup Sarkar, coordinator of the NGO Save Family Foundation (SFF), who is spearheading the movement against Gillette's promotional feature."

Tiger Drinks Gatorade for Accenture

sufferingsocrates — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:45:52 EST

Note: Some portions in the post may be offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised

To follow and know more about gossip on news channels can be quite addictive. The more spicy the news, the more eyeballs it gets. Rather sadly for Tiger Woods, its not his growls on the golf course, but his groans and moans of an otherwise guarded life which is being heard more. He may have hit a good ball with a golf stick, but he didn't need more than a pair of them to hit a dozen birdies. And birdies which have not ceased tumbling from the nests he secretly flew to. Birdies which were so free to fly anywhere but found great comfort in building nests in Tiger's Woods.

Isn't it the easiest thing on earth to have a chance to point fingers at someone? It sure is, and when it is something sensational, media and bloggers like me feel it is our right to frame a celebrity as a scandalous man, an ill-worthy sportsman, and never a role model. Internet publications are attracting huge traffic, riding on the Woods controversy. On a self confession note, I wouldn't be too far behind either.

But I would like to acquit myself of using the controversy and ponder over what led the Tiger to moan in the birdies' nests and not growl in his own den. First and foremost, it goes without saying that his flings brought him a zing in his life, which probably helped him win 14 majors. Besides, he may have felt that he had to prove to himself of being a major (the adolescent one, silly) and so visited the birdies. On an empathetic note, one cannot blame a normal guy to not be visiting nests of experienced, bootylicious birdies, when there is a bottomless wallet to boot. If he hadn't been attracted, he may have been stamped as gay!

It could even be, that he was literally testing the waters to see if Gatorade as an energy drink does work. After all, one sweats more in a bed course than a golf course. Unfortunately, the energy drink only helped in invigorating him more, and left him with enough energy to last more than a handful of birdies. Result being, Gatorade ditched its loyal tester, the Tiger and withdrew a 5 year $100 million contract. The objective for Gatorade was met. It sure DOES work. And for(e) many plays too!

On the other hand, Tiger did prove true to Accenture's ambitions of using his celebrity status for their caption, High Performance Delivered. For while Gatorade only supplied him the necessary energy, the delivery was left all to Tiger. And if he had birdies numbering 10 or more, Accenture sure did choose the right sports candidate to prove its tagline. After all, only a high performance delivery can bring about 10 birdies.

Oh, BTW. What does the post title signify? Read as follows: Tiger drinks Gatorade (energy drink) for high performance delivery.

IIM CAT Snafu Continues - Mismanagement and Inconvenience

Aaman Lamba — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:19:45 EST

The first online Common Admission Test (CAT) for the Indian Institutes of Management presented a poor showing for the institutes and the company conducting the test, Prometric, as problems continued to plague some test centres, impacting a number of students across the country.

Problems started on the first day of the CAT, which runs up to December 7th, with students being unable to log in to the test, and a variety of excuses being made by the test centres and IIMs, ranging from hardware problems and virus attacks. Test examiners and invigilators did not appear to have been well trained. Often, computers hung while tests were underway, creating an unfair advantage for the student. The central server is reportedly affected by a virus or malware, and it is strange there was no backup server. Fail safes and alternatives did not seem to have been sufficiently planned, and students were mostly left in the lurch with little to no clarity about students taking the test at alternate dates. Many students travel across the country, take leaves, and generally prepare mentally for the test, thus new slots might be inconvenient in various ways, and affect the general outcome.

Over 50 out of the 360 labs were reportedly closed and problems have continued on day 3. A press conference convened by the IIM Convenor and Prometric representatives seemed to have nothing concrete to offer, apart from platitudes and promises to accommodate all the unfortunate students who had faced problems. The convener seemed to have not taken care of even basic courtesies like turning off his cell phone before the conference and provided generic answers to questions, before trying to pass the buck to the test vendor, Prometric, not best practices from a management institute. As the Wall Street Journal put it, the IIMs need to practice what they are supposed to preach,

The weekend CAT fiasco, in which 50 of the 360 centres had systems fail and students could not take the test, has reinforced the perception of poor coordination and collaboration of IIMs. Going by feedback from some of the candidates who took the test , it seems they not only failed to manage the technical aspects of the test but also did a bad job in training the staff present in various centres. If good management is about reducing uncertainty and systematic errors, then the IIMs have failed that test .The way the coordination committee of the IIMs reacted to the fiasco is also a matter of concern.

The HRD Ministry, under whom the IIMs function, has sent a letter to the IIMs and the CAT Convenor, Professor Satish Deodhar, asking for a factual report on the disruptions of the Test.

The CAT fiasco also creates a problem for broader adoption of computer-aided testing, that is expected to be a major growth industry for test-happy India.