Dubai....

So extending my maniac day trip culture to outside India, I did what counts in my books as a day trip to Dubai last week. First the rants :

1. No, not all people flying to "gulf" are malayalees...so don't assume I speak/ understand the language
2. So you probably got your job as an office in the customs department through reservation, bribing or sheer luck.....so if you don't understand what investment banking is and why I need to spend only a day in various countries after flying for hours together, its not my fault....its an existential question I ask myself too, but that doesn't absolve you of your dumbness
3. No, just because your bag is overloaded and mine isn't, I will not agree to carry your liquor and duty free stuff for you...yes we are all sons of the great mother India, but there ends our brotherhood...
4. And please someone tell me how can I break the jinx of sitting very close to a baby which feels like bawling every time I am desperate for sleep on a airplane? I love kids, and all that but please please please....

Ok now back to what I wanted to say....

It amazes me how the city has changed, I was there 2 years ago and boy it looks different. Billions ( trillions? don't think) of dollars have been invested and it shows. As my local contact said, Dubai offers western lifestyle, Indian culture, Arab belief in some things and proximity to India...better to stay there than in India...Has the downturn affected it, yes it has, you can feel it, but I am a believer in the sense that capital gets reallocated and infrastructure gets used - let others have access to it...and I think Dubai will go that way too....it will be back to its path to glory sooner than all of us scenario builders see it...

But the shock of completely illiterate/ low educated Indians going there in hope, the anticipation of redemption from a life of no hope in India to a better future, the knowledge that it might be back breaking work but visit home is just 2-3 years away and the scene back home will show the results of the hard work keep people going. Those last phone calls from the aero bridge, plane seat,the looks at the immigration stamp, the looks given to that boarding pass...I didn't realise what was a 4 hour trip for was a life changer to a lot of people...make it lot more back home who were related to those people....

On the return leg - the emotions were different - frantic buying at duty free, stuff for everyone without burning too much of the cash which can buy more back home, the 2 weeks/ months planned at home...it was a melee of emotions..

I found it very interesting, the range of human emotions, a cacophony of languages - the underlying thoughts seemed same. I was a snob in bits, the rants emerge from there, but as a person who has seen middle class life, I could not help but identify with some of those emotions. Have we failed as a country to educate this mass, create options to earn a decent living while living with loved ones, the quality of life .... but then those are questions I don't/cant/ want to answer...I am running my own race...

Narayan murthy, the Infosys founder, once said that it takes the sacrifice of a generation to uplift a family's standard of living, I would also add education and luck to that mix but I think what I saw was a plane load full of people who had sacrificed the happiness that proximity to family brings, the joy of being with people like you, walking the same streets with your kid as the ones you did with your parent to ensure the quality of life goes up for everyone....It was hope that one day you will return to what you love and this is a means to that end. Maybe not all felt that way, I am sure a few did...

End to an eventful year

whew that was quite a year...started on a very pessimistic note...life changed. I understood how it feels to stare at lack of job security, how to persevere and knock, knock and knock again and once more to get that business. How heavy the loan burden feels when you know mentally that it has a high chance of being around for the entire tenure it was supposed to stand in the first place....

Realised scenario analysis that we did never captured a lot of scenarios, new words like black swan, new normal, too big happened and I searched for a bailout myself...

Resolutions were to look at life in a different manner, lead a more balanced life, get some exercise, do good to others not so privileged but when it came to survival, that's all one did...

Learnt its so very easy to keep the morale high, take failure, try again, smile when other hit it well during good times and how self belief, esteem and faith are so important and only saviours when all chips down...

Learnt still not sure how to deal when loved ones fight their own battles without success and experience pain and you in turn feel helpless, when you lose loved ones, when you gain new parts in life...obviously growing old doesn't mean things come automatically ( it never felt that way, but thought it would be easier) , you still need to learn new tricks...

Learnt once more to join organisations and not people or teams - realized organisations are living organisms and evolve and kicked self for taking so long to understand when the Profs said so in the first class...

Bottomline - realized life is all about small events with people who matter, experiences which enrich. Salary slavery seems serious trouble...medium term goals required to increase things which matter.

Happy new year to you all and as most of the beautiful women in beauty pageants wish - AND WORLD PEACE!!

Bangalore International Airport - My view

Given I did about 70 flights out of Bangalore in the last year and the criticism I had in the past and in light of the review committee of the Karnataka State Assembly coming out with a damning report about the airport I thought I should come out with an update of my view.

The airport has improved from the initial days, its a smooth working, efficient airport and when I make this statement this is from the view of a business traveler who takes the first flight out, comes back by the late evening flight - I usually have a boarding pass and not much carry on luggage. So on the airside, I think the airport works beautifully. I can remember 4 instance when my flight was late and most of them were weather related. They claim 20 mins to get you out of the airport on landing (not sure where I read this but) and they do an awesome job most times. The CAT system to let planes take off in Fog have not been installed and you will find technical discussion why it is not and whose fault but that's a pain point.

The online security check of the baggage has removed a touch point and is now the norm in most large airports and I think works quite well. The baggage handling system is fairly good and I have never had too much trouble.

The biggest crib, trouble and pain point is the terminal - It just is too small for an airport of this size - The check in lines burst at seams now that travel is picking up. Its very messy with all those Queue control systems and I pity the airlines. The security check point on the domestic side is a major bottle neck - and when 8 flights with roughly 1000 people need to be checked through the system creaks. on days like the last few weeks when fog has descended on us in Bangalore- God help you if you are traveling - there is complete anarchy. The queues extend way beyond what BIAL has ever planned for, imagined or thought of I think. To be fair to them, I see the BIAL team managing the line along with the airlines gate executives but still, if someone tells me this airport can manage growth for the next 3 years- I am very doubtful. I think if something is not done about this, we will be back to the state the old HAL airport was with lines stretching to outside the airport.

Once post the security, if I am traveling with Kingfisher, my favourite airline (I seriously think they have pampered me silly, every time I travel abroad I am reminded of how much they have raised the bar on both inflight and ground treatment) - am blissfully unaware of the chaos since I am in a cozy lounge. Else welcome to chaos country. They have opened more toilets, not sure if they are still sufficient but have never had trouble. But charging points is still an issue - they have these weird stands with plug points - not enough mister when there are 3- 4 guys jostling for the point since they are badly placed. The chairs are grossly not enough. There are far too many stores, great - you want me to go give business to your retailers, but you are also taking land given by the government who also are funded by tax rupees...so if I don't want to give them business, please give me a seat to sit. It will be very kind of you.

On the Taxi front, they have managed to crack it, its a fairly efficient system, but you should hand it to the BMTC vayu vajra service, it is simply superb. Although I am still unsure why the heck they can put something which tells me when the next bus is leaving so that I can make the decision before the trudge all the way to the bus stand.

Also give the employees, the cops, the support staff some place to eat. I keep seeing this shanty type eatery and have heard people crib about it.

On the international side, the airport has managed to clear much of the chaos I think. The immigration process is smoother and the whole process seems far streamlined.

Overall, I hate the terminal side interaction if I am not in the lounge, the airside seems to be good since it seems majorly efficient...if only they could do something with the terminal, BIAL would be a fantastic world class airport from the good airport it is in my books.

And last piece - would I like the name to be changed, the local culture to be depicted - I would say "do it now" - not because of jingoism or regional chauvinism but we have a great medley of culture and rich history in India. Every single touch point we use to depict it, generate curiosity, teach about it to others, will allow us to develop better as a soft power....go on, depict the glory of stone we have in aihole, pattadkal, badami, the greenery in uttara kannada and dakhsina kannada, the wild life of bandipur, nagarahole, the tibetan monastery, single rock cut statue at sharavanabelagola, the basadis, the dome at bijapur.....we are a rich diverse state...lets help people explore and learn, let BIAL be the door to introduce some curiosity.

Portfolio update

I am an active investor - try to stay invested in the long term and have 2 portfolios - one a mutual fund portfolio and the other an active stock portfolio. I have in the past updated about the progress, so on the threshold a Samvat 2066 an update how both did over the last Diwali to Diwali period.

My MF portfolio has gained 93%, while the stock portfolio is up 137% - I have always maintained that my stock portfolio has a higher Beta than my MF portfolio since the stocks I track are usually mid caps, high growth, high risk stocks, while my MF portfolio is more balanced. So the higher return is good. ( slight technicality - I havent adjusted both for dividends received - so these numbers are off by that- but I dont expect the result to alter drastically)

I enjoy investing and some day hope to invest to make a living. I think I haven't spent the kind of time I usually like to do before I invest in a stock. And I am getting better at building a pyramid on the stock and also not jump when I see huge price movements. Watching stocks one picked go down by 70% was gut wrenching but believing in the company and averaging has helped my portfolio to creep close to good gains. This gives me confidence in my stock picking. I still need to experiment with larger amounts of capital ( more to see my behaviour when the market tanks - I want to understand how I will react).

My themes for the next year - Agri inputs, Hotels, Shipping and a few stock specifics. I am getting concerned with the infra, banking and power sector valuations. I have no clue about pharma and have a slightly vague view about auto ancs and IT. Keep a watch, will post a 6 month review.

Does a customer matter?

This is a result of a chat I was having with Dhammo...

With most government services in India, it has been my experience now but I had not joined the dots to see the pattern. Getting enrolled into a new service is a breeze but try making a change or something which is slightly out of ordinary with a government service and wham the Gods of red tape get invoked and woe betides you.. let me give you examples....

1. So you have a landline with BSNL and now want to change it from your fathers name to your name - Why would anyone want it - I can think of countless reasons - You want to setup a ECS from your account to pay the bills, you want a proof of address are a few - end of matter, you will visit the office a few times, fill a few forms and then follow up. But try surrendering the old phone and getting a new one - it will happen in a few days and very efficiently

2. So you have a gas connection and want it shifted : you should hear to what Dhammo is going through - they will want a proof that the transfer order you got is genuine, but try getting a new connection - should be lot simpler

3. You want to change you rag tag paper book Driving licence to a smart card : ( for this I want to give out my villainous laugh!!) - try applying afresh ( still hard to get a licence - not cause of your driving skills but due to the random processes)

I can go on but you smart readers have got the drift. I think this is because, the customer orientation is very low in most of these places. There is a pressure to streamline processes which have the maximum impact and footfalls, new customer acquisition is a thrust area where you directly compete with private sector - so those processes get streamlined sooner, get watched for complaints and efficiency but those odd jobs get lost. Prof. Thiru, my marketing prof at IIM-B used to tell us that the real customer orientation and service should be checked by testing these out of ordinary requests. ( His favourite for a hotel was - call late night - ask for curd rice to be prepared from 'not hot' rice, fresh curds, with a little garnishing within the next 20 mins!!)

While I think the government has a long way to go in this matter, the private sector also struggles. 'My manual says so' is the attitude I run into. So all you consultants out there, doing BPR - keep this in mind the next time. Pareto is ok but the rest 20% also matters in customer service..

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