In praise of the government departments...

We have been programmed to expect less from the government services but there is a change, am not sure what is driving it and God knows that the change can be faster but yeah my once in a blue moon interaction with them is not a pain anymore. I have been a critic far too often on this blog but let me be constructive once more....

BESCOM - the erstwhile KEB, ages ago I remember standing in long queues waiting to pay the bill, waiting for the engineer to order some staff to be sent over for some work when a meter had blown. Cut to a few days ago, one fine morning ( over a weekend, thanks for small mercies) - we realised only our home was without power, so went to the local BESCOM office and lodged a complaint. First, the lady at the counter insisted we should have called and not personally gone, 15 mins later a team arrived with tools and diagnosed that the cable from the pole to the house has given way and cant take the load. It would involve road digging et al which would take time, so immediately gave an alternate cable connection overhead and asked me to get the permanent thing done over the next few weeks. all in a flat 30 mins. Brilliant I thought, but the best was yet to come. Late in the night around 10:30 we got a call from BESCOM, a guy asking us what the issue was. We told him it was resolved in the morning itself. The said whoever took the complaint had forgotten to mark AM next to the time of the complaint and he had to attend it and not let it for the next shift. Brilliant, I was blown away. Guys in the S6 sub division, thanks for the brilliant service, I am amazed and pleasantly shocked !!!

A few days later I had to go pay my BWSSB bill, so post dinner, walk I took and went to the local office. They have an automated machine now, touchscreen and all...I had used my pessimistic logic that it might not accept old notes, so took new notes...but the machine refused to accept. A helper appeared from nowhere and said since not all people could get new notes, the system accepts old notes and new notes it usually rejects !! and then he pulled out old notes from his pocket, swapped my notes and voila work done...he thanked me for using the services and left....I usually have a ECS for most of my bills, this was the only one left but after this experience maybe I will take the walk every month

We shifted homes recently, so my BSNL connection had to be shifted, BSNL screwed up big time and my brother had to make visits across 4 offices twice and then it took ages before the connection came through. All this while, knowing we had shifted newly, both airtel and tata indicom guys had already visited us with a immediate connection and we had refused. So a day after the connection came, it got disconnected. I sent a stinker e-mail to the person incharge and voila next day connection is back.

Paying property tax used to be a shady affair. I remember days as a kid when the BCC, the earlier avatar of BBMP guys would land up and ask for a bribe to reduce the tax or else pay up and my father coolly telling them to levy the full tax and he would pay. SAS has helped, but the beauty this time was the online payment - went online, paid, receipt generated, work done - took me 3 attempts and 40 mins but it was done...They also got a reporting system for offenders and 4000 people were reported by neighbours for wrong reporting. All this was in a confidential way an I am given to understand, no harassment since the complaint was matched with the GIS records.

Could each of these interactions be better? they could, fine tuning the touch points, the interactions, the technology but they are light years of where they were. we are still behind developed countries, but yup sometimes even my cynical self and pessimism goes away...

Keep up the good work guys...

What does brand 'Me' stand for?

Straight out of B-school and the painful placement process we have in the IIM's ( its awesome in a good year and really bad in a bad year!), you are mostly bothered about the company you join, the pay and mostly other random things like location, will there be right accommodation etc rather than the role ( mostly standard job descriptions don't do justice to most roles in terms what they entail unless its a straight forward role like sales manager). But in days where you are likely to shift jobs, shift companies and shift careers I think it is very important for you to personally stand for something as a professional. If you are in professional services, more so as some part of the relationship stays with you and a large portion with the company but as you grow the ratio changes. So who "You" are as a professional and stand for what determines the interaction with the client too.

So I keep thinking what is it that I might stand for in the minds of my client after 5 years of being a service professional and what is it I might want to change to become a better one.

What I am currently -

1. Analytical approach : I am fairly analytical with what I do, have consistently looked at data and can wring stuff out of data. This has been a winner for me till now but I am sure once I grow further this might need to be more of looking at analysed data and coming up with insights. The transition is important and will be key to growth I think

2. Approachability : I am sure most clients will rate me high on this aspect. Most of my clients still are in touch with me and after our professional engagement have been friends and business acquaintances. This has allowed me to build a decent network and given the nature of work I intend continuing to do, I think this is an asset which should stand in good stead.

3. Industry knowledge : Given my commerce background, I claim no or very low deep understanding of any industry ( I think if you as an engineer or a pure science graduate choose, you can get a slightly deeper understanding of atleast one industry), but I have worked in a host of industries - Auto components, Jewelery retailing, General retail, FMCG, Power equipment, Government advisory - and I have some insights in most of these industries which gives me a broad range of frameworks to work with when I am trying to grasp newer industries

4. High ethics : I still remember the orientation at IIMB which cemented my position on this - when Prof RT Krishnan said the simple test for most things is to figure out if you would be comfortable doing an activity if someone else was watching it. Positioning is different from lying I think. Use facts to strengthen your arguement and stay your position is what I follow. In the longer run, standing up for the right way pays off ( I hope, dont know for sure :) but it has not hurt me till date)

5. Organisation : When I work with a company, I have usually high affiliation with what it stands for, I might not like so things ( fairly par for course) I make it known, try to be constructive but external, you can be sure I will put my best foot forward to be what my organisation stands for.

What are areas I need to work on :

1. Time management : I still think I am poor at managing my time and that is mostly linked with my own efficiency cycle - which swings. If I could stamp out my own inefficient cycles, I think it will be better in terms of what I can do and achieve.

2. Need for sounding board : I need a sounding board at the beginning of large tasks where I can set a broad set of objectives and plan my tasks planned out, most organisations are bad in this and this leads to me needing time to get a cohesive package together - I need to figure out a way to work internally on this and get an algorithm together

3. Multi tasking - My 2 years in investment banking now has helped on this, but I can be a lot better - I still don’t use the right tools for this I think. Need to get this right

Words....

One of the gifts my father gave me was my love for reading. For me even textbooks were more reading material and I used to read up all text books of my neighbors the day the books were issued at school (ok don't call me a freak and wipe the smug smile). I started reading magazines and would read most weeklies and the graduated to reading anything I could lay my hands on in the library....although now work and general tiredness have cut down on my reading ( I surely don't read as much as I did or as much as lets say Dhammo), I still do...

I can think, read and write in 3 languages - Kannada (my mother tongue and a beautiful language), English and Hindi. I can read and understand Sanskrit but I don't think in that. Can understand lil bit of a lot of other languages.....and I have read in all these languages and some words stick for the beauty and the depth of meanings that they can conjure...some that really stick in my head are : (short list across languages)

Kannada :

Daaridra Vyraagya : It literally means the renunciation felt when poor..such an awesome concept. You can renunciate when poor, when its not so much of a choice and its easy...renunciation when you have everything is what is difficult. Which is why Rahul becoming the Buddha is such a powerful act, or Ashoka quitting after Kalinga war or Bahubali giving up when he has his brother Bharata at his mercy. I read these words first when I was reading Mankuthimmana Kagga by DVG and I think I spent a day thinking about this word. By the way if you are a Kannadiga and can read, please read Mankuthimmana Kagga, its an enriching experience.

Nityotsava : literally translated means Daily celebration but can mean eternal celebration. Such a strong concept - life is an eternal celebration, to wake up every day to celebrate it. I heard this in Nissar Ahmed's Nityotsava - where he speaks of the evergreen forests being the daily celebration in honour of the motherland. Such an awesome word and concept

English:

Aeon : Maybe it is us Indians who can appreciate the depth of time and the continuum that brings with it. Wikipedia says the Indian mode of measuring time is probably the most articulate amongst. Maybe we Indians can take more crap doled out by life due to the karmic view, the length of time we understand, the cycle of life you are tuned to believe. Aeon is an indefinite period of time...

Pedantic : means to be ostentatious in ones learning. The day i heard this definition from a dictionary, I said what does ostentatious mean and then spent days thinking if one could be ostentatious in learning anything? - coming from a culture where you are expected to respect vastness to things to learn and learn humility about ones shortcomings in knowledge, I never understood this concept :)

Sanskrit:

Dwirepha : is what Kalidasa calls a bee. It literally means two "Ra kara" and is derived from the word Bramara - the two "ra karas" in the word. Its such an awesome concept to take a word and play on the word construction to create a new word

Paadapa : means a tree, means someone who drinks water from the feet - shows a brilliance of understanding the structure of the subject referred to derive the word to represent it. I also think it shows the depth of scientific understanding which existed in our culture, because I think the western world conducted experiments where plants were sequestered and fed water to the roots, shoots, leaves separately as late as a few centuries ago to conclude that it was indeed through the roots plants took in water....we had a word maybe 3000 years old to represent the same concept...

Sukhashayanpruchikka : is another word by Kalidasa from Abhigyana Shaakuntala - this world literally refers to the person who wakes you up to find out if you slept well. Its such an awesome notion I cant even voice what I feel about this word, think of it, a peaceful nights rest, to be woken up someone with a concern of how well you slept and if you were comfortable.....so different from the random noises my alarm makes bringing in thoughts of how the day would turn out to be.

Anyways, am sure there are millions of words in the many languages I know, their usage by those wordsmiths, the poets and gifted writers, which I will never learn or know....but some words stick with you...let me know a few you have spent time flipping in your mind, rolling your tongue and using to communicate a thought...

Buying health insurance - India

The cost of treatment will keep going up, I think that is a statement that one can make safely. There are multiple reasons why one should budget a larger sum in the course of your life planning - lifespans have tended to increase - Average lifespan for Indians is ~65 (check data?), while lifestyles have changed to better - they have also brought lifestyle diseases, diagnostic tools and medical procedures have improved and are far widely available - so even if by a stroke of bad luck if you were to end up with one - chances that you will be treated and most probably survive are higher - bottomline - you might live longer, get treated for diseases and might spend money on medical procedures.

Research has shown that one of the reasons why families stay in abject poverty or take major knocks on income levels is a sudden spend on medical expenses - given the poor social security net that we have in India - The ESIC does a good job I must say, but for a majority of middle class urban public who will want to get treated in a good hospital ( quick diversion : while the government has nearly exited the health space by proxy, it still is active and some of the hospitals I have seen serve the poor and needy extremely well - whatever the drawbacks in the system, it is serving some purpose and can go a long way still), the cost can be very high. A few days stay, a few diagnostic procedures, 2 visits by the specialist, a minor surgery can lead a healthy bill, if not a healthy person!!, of 30-40 k today. A major illness will notch up bills upto 2-3 lakhs - ok enough of the obvious what am I trying to say - don’t gamble with your health, stay healthy and plan for the worst - go buy health insurance

Why you should not depend on the health insurance provided by your employer :
So your kind employer has tried to be concerned about the business of your health and has provided a group insurance and covers your family too, it’s a good beginning…but go out and buy a good health insurance independently….reasons :
a. When you shift companies, you lose the cover - any event in between two stints is not covered - in the era of job hopping this is a reality which you cannot ignore, with my healthy regard to the angels who dwell human resources land, you can expect to be without a new cover for a few weeks or months
b. No claim bonus accrual : a healthy record leads to no claims bonuses which get accrued to you, in a company scheme this accrues and gets distributed, a good long record goes a long way in getting you a best deal -while some insurers allow you to shift no claim bonuses, most don’t - so start early build a case
c. Some insurers will not cover pre existing illnesses or will cover only post a period of look out - so if lets say you have hyper tension, then for a period of 3 years this will not get covered or a partial cover is given. So if you have aged parents, then while the company usually arm twists and get pre existing illnesses covered, the cost of that is built into the premium you or the company pays - so an early starts ensures you get covered
d. Buying health insurance in India, where the insurers are acting like the spawn of satan and denying the benefits or playing dirty when it comes to elderly people is very painful. You will usually find conditions like the whole family needs to buy a cover, or the highest amount is capped, or the illness get excluded -the list of woes is long - bottomline build a case, buy early - problem with company cover is you can never carry it through
e. Buying insurance after you have had a major illness is next to impossible - start when you are healthy, the insurance company will be decent enough to atleast remember the hard earned money you parted in good ole days and humor you for sometime without being spawn of satan
f. Usually company provided schemes do not qualify for tax breaks - this is a perverse incentive - go figure
g. The cover will expire when you retire, see if you can ever buy cover at that time….build the history..thats my theme….

So go buy a health insurance, I bought it from Star Health insurance and am fairly happy, although I think I underestimated the cover I need. Dhammo in his post came up with a large number - 20 times annual earnings - I think the insurance company will think I will be drug company specimen if I ask for such a large cover. My approach - estimate 30-45 days stay in a hospital + a specialist visitation fee + medicines at similar amount and some more - for a city like Bangalore this number is like 6 lakhs I think - go buy that first for your parents - you can start at half that if you under 30, and increase it to that level by the time you 40. This is my broad thumb rule

(I had resolved to post once a week this year- its been 5 weeks now without a post - the market mayhem and general conditions playing a havoc on mind, time and life... it will be slow coming...please keep visiting, there shall be posts! Thanks for being around)

It must be a wretched feeling....

This is a theme I have been feeling for the last few days and I had to blog it more for personal record and in the middle of a working week, I must be mad to be doing this...

Have you ever thought what it must feel to be lonely? to not be able to say your thoughts out? the only sounding board available is self? I was watching this movie, 'stardust' and a part goes where the guy says who wants to be immortal, it must be lonely.. when the Kraken is found dead in Pirates of the Caribbean, it supposedly has a sad look in its eye, one of the characters says, it must be sad to one of your kind...Ice age 2 , the mammoth goes into a melancholic mood when he discovers he is probably the last of his kind....A friend came back from a Vippassanna (Spell right?) and was in total silence for 7 straight days, it isn't being lonely, but still for me communication is atleast a part of not being lonely....

When ever I keep thinking of entrepreneurship, this theme haunts me....the idea is your baby, you need to believe it to the hilt, you might be the only person to believe it first, convince a team who trust your vision and deliver and then go to the butchers of such dreams - the VCs/ the bankers/ consultants who will try to see the risk and caveat any upside....scared of the success that they might get right by accident...

It must feel lonely, it must be a wretched feeling.....one wise man told me when i was lot younger - prove yourself and your ideas to self, for you will spend a longtime proving it to others....right now I am others...I need to keep moving to the other side..

The problem of clutter....

In the corporate world, the cost of complexity and clutter is underestimated. It is captured in various cost lines, in various forms of inefficiencies that show up and the sub optimal decisions which are made...

Let me give you an example : one of my previous clients had manufacturing plants in nearly each state. The dynamics of the product were such and also the tax laws had necessitated that but then the contracts had a take or pay clause with contract manufacturers, so to avoid paying for products not taken, managers fear saying that you see, they would produce and then pay and transport the product half way across the country, when the closest plant was in the next town. And since you could not transport half a truck (the SKU had low volume) they would also transport a SKU which was in the made in the plant itself!!! The managerial bandwidth that went away in managing all this nonsense was so high, by the time we were trying to unravel it, no one knew why any of those activities were even happening.....so complexity had its costs and led to lack of clarity in thought process...

Why am I rambling? right now I am feeling the clutter killing my thought process...multiple streams of flux is killing my bandwidth and that leaves a lot to be desired in the end result...blogging is already suffering, i mostly snap and walk around dazed....need to declutter soon....results will follow...Its time to revisit fundamentals and ask hard questions from self....

THIS TOO SHALL PASS....

what an year it has been...it truly drove home the point the little prayer tries to make - give me the strength to change what I can and to accept what I cant...as one of my friends said : Macro eco is the luck factor you cant change in your life and if you are from the finance field, all I can say mates is the moral of that story we should remember all times - "THIS TOO SHALL PASS"

But to create a personal note, this year probably has driven home a lot of points in life, the highs of closing large deals, agony of things falling away, best laid plans coming to a naught, the insignificant feeling and the lack of control on lots of things but yes, as the year comes to a close, as I told a few people, for the first time, clarity has occurred in career life : Simple truth realized : acquire skill sets, make great friends, deleverage, build capital, enjoy the journey while moving closer to the ultimate goal of starting out by self....I dont have an idea, but the scare of being on own in the unknown without trappings of an organisation behind self is gone...yes the map is not the terrain but yeah hopeful this surrogate pain will show way...

Personally I always told myself : one day I shall create an organisation which will provide employment to 10000 people - 50000 lives touched - but starting small (driven home by the humility felt in this mayhem) I think I should try to change atleast 1 life : My favorite cause has been education and I have been regularly donating money, Come new year : let me see if I can do more...

When I was 25, the goals I set myself as Prof Ramc would call : ghosts to set at rest by 35 : Tick off basic assets accretion, Investible surplus of 1 cr, work for self, be a role model to atleast 1 person : all slightly superfluous goals but on way for 1, nowhere close to 2, clearing mental cobwebs for 3 and not started on 4...so 5.75 more years....looks like i stand a decent chance :)

and more easy events to tick over the next 18 months:
1. See the pyramids
2. Get involved in the community - will probably assist some school build some assets - a library maybe - I hopefully know enough people who will buy me books :)
3. Plant a tree - a small anecdote about this...when this thought came to my mind, my mind immediately did a ROTI - Return On Time Invested- i realized I had sold my soul to the banker in me - A tree is to me my version of being able to think about someone else other than me...being able to measure growth in cms/ inches in a year and not seconds/ days - my penance in patience
4. Get back to playing chess - a game which I stopped playing since it brings back very painful fond memories
5. Scan all the photos in my home : memories are too precious to be let to the mercy of the elements

So ask me how I did a year from now...

Till then, its just another BRN ( big round number!!) 2008, hope there is peace, joy and happiness all around..