Austerity - What is this?

There is a new term that has been flashing almost all day on Indian news TV channels and that is "Austerity". The Indian Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee came in lime light after he introduced this term within the Central Indian Government and almost everybody seems to be thrilled. Personalities like INC Chief Ms Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi have started flying economy. It was a breaking news when Mr. Rahul Gandhi decided to travel by train than taking a flight. Great News indeed.

One of the dictionary meanings of austerity is enforced or extreme economy. By using this term, the federal Indian government wants all its ministers and elected representatives to use economy class when they fly and avoid unnecessary splurge of money, which is actually collected from the people of India in the form of taxes.

After almost 50 years of Independence, finally the Indian government is thinking about the people of India and their hard-earned money. I wonder why the Indian economists and the leaders who run the country took 50+ years to find this term. May be they have found the dictionary now and while going through its pages, they found this somewhat less used word "austerity".

Call it politics to regain power, call it publicity stunts or call it whatever you want, the hard earned money of the people of India is surely being saved for the much needed urban and rural development of the country.

I am sure Shri. Pranab Mukherjee must have earned a lot or praise with this drive.

If he wishes to be more popular, he must now show the reforms that he brings by wisely using the taxes for bringing the country up and above the rest.

Do you agree with me?

Have we forgot Lokamanya Tilak?

The recently concluded Ganeshotsav has raised several questions in my mind. The first question that is bothering me is "have we forgot Lokmanya Tilak?" My answer to this is a big Yes. We have indeed forgot our National leader and veteran freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak. This is because we have forgot his ideologies, we have forgot the very fact why he started a festival like Ganeshotsav and made it a public function, we have forgot the basic principles of our Vedas. We have even forgot the fact that the Ganesh idol we bring should be brought in with dignity, should not be too high in height and should be environment friendly.

Widespread campaigns are already on for an eco-friendly Ganesh Chaturthi festival to make everyone aware of the pollution and environmental damage caused by Plaster of Paris idols and chemical paints.

• Plaster of Paris (POP) is not a naturally occurring material and contains gypsum, sulphur, phosphorus and magnesium. The idols take several months to dissolve in water and in the process poison the waters of lake, ponds, rives and seas, thereby kiiling the flora and fauna within.
  
• The chemical paints used to decorate the Ganesh idol contain mercury, lead, cadmium and carbon and this increases the acidity and heavy metal content in the water.
• Careless dumping of Ganesh idols in water-bodies blocks the natural flow of water. This results in stagnation and breeding of mosquitoes and other harmful pests. The polluted water causes several diseases including skin diseases also damages the ecosystem, kills fishes and water plants.

Alternatives:

• Use eco-friendly clay idols painted with natural colors.
• Use permanent idols made of stone and perform a symbolic immersion and reuse the idol each year.
• Avoid public water bodies to immerse the idols, instead immerse idol in bucket or tub.

If we really wish to follow the ideologies set by veteran leaders like Lokmanya Tilak to make India a great nation, can we not follow such simple steps and remember to celebrate the next festivals as per the Vedas and Puranas of Ancient India.

Remember, more and more use of non-eco friendly material on Earth is creating Global Warming which is very much detrimental to us and our future generations.

Please SAVE PLANET EARTH.

Old Mobile Phones at INR 25000/-

I recently came across an article in local vernacular weekly stating that Nokia 1100 got sold on Ebay at INR 25,000/- or US$ 520. I was shocked to read this and this made me read the entire article. When I went on reading, I realized that this is nothing but a game the rich play.

Some mobile enthusiasts have developed the art (& science) of cloning the SIM card. by cloning the SIM, the entire information on the SIM, including your mobile number, operator information, address book, etc. can be duplicated in no time. Sophisticated devices are available in the market which do this job of copying data from one SIM to other, or cloning. Once the SIM is cloned, you simply insert the cloned SIM in any other phone and you will be able to track the interactions on the original SIM. For example, you have cloned your wife's SIM. by inserting her SIM in other mobile, you will be able to track all her interactions on her cell phone and actually listen to all the calls she makes or receives.

Knowing this, some rich people decided to use this technology to their advantage to track their husbands and wives. Instead of hiring private detectives for this job, they simply purchased cloning device and cloned the SIM of their loved ones(?) With this, they were actually able to understand what is going on. Interestingly, since the cloned SIM works only with Nokia 1100 as of now, this handset is so much in demand nowadays, that it got sold at INR 25,000/- on Ebay.

This article raised my eyebrows and made me think.

Are we using the technology in the right direction or we are mis-using it to kill our love and affection towards our own family members?

All About Swine Flu: Symptoms, Precautions, Treatment

Although the name 'swine flu' brings up a lot of extra fear and worry, it is important to note that swine flu is just an influenza A H1N1 virus. The big difference is that the current swine influenza A (H1N1) virus has components of pig and bird influenza viruses in it, so that humans don't have any immunity to it. That is what made it more likely that it would become a pandemic virus (have the ability to cause a global outbreak) because it could easily spread from person-to-person.

The Swine flu has been compared to other similar types of influenza virus in terms of mortality: "in the US it appears that for every 1000 people who get infected, about 40 people need admission to hospital and about one person dies".

Symptoms of swine flu infections can include:

• Fever, which is usually high, but unlike seasonal flu, is sometimes absent
• Cough
• Runny nose or stuffy nose
• Sore throat
• Body aches
• Headache
• Chills
• Fatigue or tiredness, which can be extreme
• Diarrhea and vomiting, sometimes, but more commonly seen than with seasonal flu

Signs of a more serious swine flu infection might include pneumonia and respiratory failure.

Swine Flu High Risk Groups -

Swine flu high risk groups, people who are thought to be at risk for serious, life-threatening infections, are a little different and can include:

* pregnant women
* people with chronic medical problems, such as chronic lung disease, like asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and immunosuppression
* children and adults with obesity

Precautions to keep swine flu at bay -

The deadly Swine Flu has reached the Indian shores following the global outbreak and now, claimed one life. However, Swine Flu is certainly one of those diseased where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Here are five tips for you to keep away from the pandemic.

1. Wash your hands frequently
Use the antibacterial soaps to cleanse your hands. Wash them often, for at least 15 seconds and rinse with running water.

2. Get enough sleep
Try to get 8 hours of good sleep every night to keep your immune system in top flu-fighting shape.

3. Drink sufficient water
Drink 8 to10 glasses of water each day to flush toxins from your system and maintain good moisture and mucous production in your sinuses.

4. Boost your immune system
Keeping your body strong, nourished, and ready to fight infection is important in flu prevention. So stick with whole grains, colorful vegetables, and vitamin-rich fruits.

5. Keep informed
The government is taking necessary steps to prevent the pandemic and periodically release guidelines to keep the pandemic away. Please make sure to keep up to date on the information and act in a calm manner.

Treatment -

If a person becomes sick with swine flu, antiviral drugs can make the illness milder and make the patient feel better quicker. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within 2 days of symptoms). The U.S. CDC recommends the use of Tamiflu (oseltamivir) or Relenza (zanamivir) for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza viruses; however, the majority of people infected with the virus make a full recovery without requiring medical attention or antiviral drugs.

Vaccination -

WHO does not expect the swine flu vaccine to be widely available until the end of 2009, noting that current production "yield" was only about half as much as expected and would cause timeline delays. There is also concern that countries which produce vaccines, 70 percent of which are in Europe, may delay sending swine flu vaccines to other countries as they may come under "tremendous pressure to protect their own citizens first," note some experts.

Many countries are planning full blown large scale vaccination camps by the end of the year.

Note: The information above is compiled from various sources. Readers are however, advised to consult their medical practitioner for exact treatment on Swine Flu.

Ganapati Festival - Yesterday & Today.

Festivals are an integral part of human cultural life. From ancient times they have been celebrated not only in India but also in different parts of the world. 'Olympian' celebrated by Greeks, 'Pithian' to promote poetry writing and 'Nimiyan' to exhibit skills in martial arts are, to name a few, some of the festivals celebrated outside India in ancient times. The Ganesh festival, which has its origins in Maharashtra in India, has been celebrated for over a century.

After the end of Peshwa rule, from 1818 to 1892, Ganesh Festival remained a family affair in Maharashtra. Emulating the example of Peshwas, princely states of Baroda and Gwalior too involved common people in the Ganesh festival. Lokmanya Tilak was witness in 1892 where he saw the grand scale on which the festival was celebrated in Gwalior and the enthusiastic participation of people therein. This alone inspired him to make the Ganesh festival a public event in Maharashtra. However it needs to be mentioned here that social and political conditions of those times seemed ripe for making such a move.

Tilak wished to bring about social change for political reasons too. He was convinced that social change was the key to political awareness. The country was under a foreign rule. It was necessary to arouse the masses to oppose the tyrannical British Rule. It was necessary to stir the masses and mobilize public opinion for national ends. He wanted his ideas to reach the common people, make them aware of British Govt.'s oppressive policies, inculcate a strong sense of nationalism and the need to attain Swaraj that is freedom from the foreign rule.

To achieve the desired result it was necessary to awaken the masses and what else would be fit than the already popular Ganesh festival? It is in these circumstances that in 1893 he appealed to the people to make it a festival of masses.

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Maharashtra. People invoke the blessings of Lord Ganesh for prosperity and wisdom and pray for his help in removing all obstacles. Tilak's appeal had a miraculous effect and people responded positively. 1893 saw the beginning of Ganesh festival as a public and popular event with Shri Bhau Rangari, Shri Khajgiwale, and Shri Ghotwadekar in Pune and residents of Keshavji Naik Chawl in Mumbai acting as pioneers.

In 1894, the festival spread to other places throughout Maharashtra. Year after year, the number kept increasing. His writings in Kesari and Maharatta and his public speeches had great influence in making the festival a truly public and participative event.

Festivals unite people. Ganesh festival provided him a necessary platform to arouse them to oppose the reign of terror. His ideas propagated through speeches and writing commanded wide attention forcing the British Govt. to sit up and take notice.

It is always easy to criticize. However, in the eagerness to criticise one must not lose the sight of the constructive work done by various organisers of the Ganesh Festival. One would be doing injustice to them. One cannot overlook the fact that many celebrities from the cultural fields such as Theatre, Film and Music had their initiations in the programmes presented in the Ganpati Festivals. Increasing number of Ganpati Festivals also brought with it economic activity for Artists, Pandal Contractors, Decorators etc.

It can not be denied that a situation has to be created whereby the Ganpati festival which played a pivotal role in winning the freedom for the country can also help in making it a welfare state. However, this is possible only if the educated and enlightened class once again start actively participating in the conduct of Ganpati Festival and restructures its activities. This is the need of the hour.

Maybe we need another Tilak-a true visionary-to refocus on what such festivals can and ought to do.

Are Start-ups good to work with?

In these days of so-called "recession", I have seen a lot of start-ups coming up and struggling for their existence. These start-ups are typically started by those who do not understand the domain, but have an urge to do something. Such companies often will attract the unemployed talent (or the ones not happy in their present jobs), offer them an hefty pay package and once their work is done, ask them do leave. Are such start-ups really good to work at?

I am a start-up specialist and have worked with excellent start-ups like Cleartrip, iSmart Panache to name a few. These companies are founded and driven by professional and industry leaders and that is why they are still in business. But, others have just made a quiet exit and are not even heard about. I really wonder about those who have joined such start-ups which are there in the business for 6 or 12 months and then fade away. Aren't we risking our career and putting it at stake by joining such organizations? My answer would be yes. If so, what should we do to sustain in the current economy?

I personally feel to take the good, old approach taken by our father and grandfather. Join a large conglomerate which is there in the business for atleast 10 years, and tay there, till you retire. These large companies are largely driven by process, people and performance and often value the people strength as true Human Capital. In the bargain, you may draw a lesser salary than a funky start-up, but at the end of the day, if you count the hidden benefits that you get, it is really worthwhile to work with a large organization.

Having said all this, the choice is finally yours only.

Tough Times Never Last.

There is a book titled "Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do." I am a big follower of this book and always read through its pages when I find myself in tough times and difficult situations. I am yet to come across a single human being (or a living species for that matter) who has not had tough time in his life. But, I salute those people who always keep smiling despite of all their problems and difficulties they are facing and never reveal to the World that they are not happy. Such people are hard to find though.

I strongly feel that everyone of us must develop a strong habit of smiling all the times, come what may, as that would keep not only you happy, but will also keep others in the family happy, thereby helping us to quickly get rid off our problems and come out of tough times. We always feel that we have lot of friends & relatives who will help us in our tough time, but trust me, there are only a few of them who actually show courage to help you, support you and extend financial help, if required when you are in problem. I salute such friends and relatives as they are the people who actually keep you alive and take care of you when you have nothing left in the life. Repaying the help extended by such people is undoubtedly the most difficult part, I suppose.

So, unfortunately, if you find yourself in tough times, please do the following.

1. Read "Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do" by heart and follow the principles therein.
2. Do Count on your close friends and relatives as they WILL stand-by you and support you.
3. Never forget the Almighty, The God, as He is actually testing you and making you strong enough to face such tough times.
4. Always be with you family, your wife, kids as they will be the first one to answer your distress call.

Mumbai Flood Warnings

A meeting of the Disaster Management department of Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for pre monsoon preparations took place recently which was attended by officers’ from Police , Government, army, CRPF, Meteorological department, Central & Western Railway, western railway and other government departments.

Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) published the 19 days of high tide as Red letter days in the rainy season between June 22 and September 21 for this year, which means when the crest of waves at high tide is over four meters and there is heavy rain at same time , the possibility of the city flooding is very high.

The dates of high tides – June -22 to 27, July-21 to 26 , August – 19 to 23 , September – 18 to 21

Floods in Mumbai are attributable to simultaneous occurrence of rainfall and high tides. If, the rainfall is in excess of 200 mm in a day (24 hrs), floods can occur anytime irrespective of tides. However, if there is moderate rainfall but the tide is in excess of 4.50 meters at the same time, the city of Mumbai is sure to get flooded. Accordingly, heavy floods are anticipated on the following days in Mumbai, if there is excessive rainfall at the time of high tides, since the tides are extremely high on the following days.

24 June 2009 Wednesday 1:41 PM 4.95 m high tide

25 June 2009 Thursday 2:24 PM 4.97m high tide

23 July 2009 Thursday 1:23 PM 5.01m high tide

24 July 2009 Friday 2:03 PM 5.05m high tide

24 July 2009 Friday 2:03 PM 5.05m high tide

BMC has already planned to keep the schools closed on 24 July 2009 since the tide level is record high of last 100 years on this day.

Mumbaikars are, therefore, requested to cooperate with the administration by restricting their movements and certainly not to take their vehicles out on the roads these days.

There are speculations about very high waves on 22 July 2009 due to solar eclipse. Public should, therefore, keep away from the beaches that day.

Request you to advise your friends and relatives outside Mumbai not to plan a trip to Mumbai around these days.

All associates need to avoid low-lying areas that appear to be flooded, “extremely cautious” when driving or walking during periods of flooding. Please exercise caution while moving out and monitor local media reports. Among other sources, weather forecasts are also available at:

http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Mumbai/forecasts/latest

and at

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=mumbai.

Issued in the interest of Mumbaikars, fellow Indians and those traveling to Mumbai. Please refer to local newspapers, TV & Radio Channels for more information.

Why Some People Have All the Luck

Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve?

A psychologist says he has discovered the answer. His study in his own words:--

Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck. I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune. I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.

Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, I have interviewed them, monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments.

The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behavior are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: "Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50."

This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.

As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else.. They go to parties' intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

Towards the end of the work, I wondered whether these principles could be used to create good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person.

Dramatic results! These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80% of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.

The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky.

Finally, I had found the elusive "luck factor".

Here are Professor Wiseman's four top tips for becoming lucky:

1) Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right

2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine

3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well

4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.

Have a Lucky day and work for it..

The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things

By Professor Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire, came to me in one of the forwarded emails and found very useful in these hard times.

To survive, join MLM?

I have been a follower of Network or Direct Marketing, aka MLM, for a long time now. I started following MLM way back in 1991 when a set of Encyclopedia was being sold in India at a price of INR 15,000/- or US$ 300.00. These MLMers were going door-to-door to sell their products and increase their levels or chains to earn more and more. I then saw a mushroom growth of such products and companies coming to India and offering the "distributorship" of their products to those who want to earn an extra income and be a leader. These products range from household goods, toiletries, microwave-proof utensils, herbal products and even mattresses (costing INR 100,000/- or so).

After getting into one such MLM as a distributor, I realized that the one at the top ( the one who starts early) is the one who is benefited the most. The ones who join late in the chain often end up in just slogging without earning a penny.

Recently, I came across a different Direct marketing concept called Binary Marketing Plan. I found this plan to be better that the traditional MLM as this required you to introduce to only two people. Also, there was no re-purchase or trading required to earn commissions. but being based on "binary", your chain goes on increasing in the multiples of two, thereby you having a potentially great earning opportunity.

Like any other business or even if you are salaried, any of these plans work well and get you more money only if you strive hard to earn a lot. Potential does exists in all the systems, it is only you who need to explore the same and get going.

In these days of recessions and instability in business and job market, I strongly feel that MLM is the only ray of hope to survive and earn that much-required extra income to support our family.

Comments please....

~ Sudheer Bag,
spbaag@gmail.com

CRM : A Software or A Culture

Much is written and discussed about Customer Relationship Management (CRM in short) and its implications on the business of any organization. CRM has also led to a large number of organizations developing software for the specific needs of their customers who would use their CRM applications to manage and maintain Customer Relationships.

In the age where customer is the “Emperor”, CRM has become inevitable and the use of the same for any corporate cannot be just ignored. However, CRM is not just a software or a tool to be installed and implemented enterprise-wide. CRM is a culture, a culture that needs to be inculcated from top to bottom and within every employee of the organization, either facing the customer or working at back-end.

Indian industry these days is becoming sensitive to its customers. Thanks to global impacts and to some extent government initiatives to protect consumers and customers. In the world where competition in fierce, it has become very important not only to attract new customers but to retain the existing ones.

This has also demanded the use of a good CRM application properly implemented across all major functions within the organization. Major players like Siebel, Microsoft, Talisma, Oracle have already established their presence in the Indian market and are having large installations for big organizations. However, the cost of software, installation, implementation, customization and training becoming a major deterrent factor for many SMEs, an open source application like SugarCRM (I am a big fan of this tool) and vTiger are also worth considering. These open source tools are free to download and are also easy to customize and implement.

Technology has always been at the center of CRM in practice. For some CRM worked very well while for others it didn't. Those for whom CRM did not work, did shout a lot and blamed the technology or even the concept of CRM, or the CRM vendors, or the users, or all of them.

CRM is not something companies buy. CRM is something companies “do”. Any CRM application is meant for companies to “do” CRM. CRM is also not a fad. It is an underlying principle of interacting with existing and potential customers and it is something all organizations should “practice”. All the employees of any organization need to understand CRM as a Corporate Strategy and not just another box bought in by the CTO.

Author can be reached at spbaag@gmail.com

This article was also publised at www.linkedpune.com/2008/06/crm-software-or-culture.html