September 16, 2012

Interesting People - 2

Hi Guys,

After the good response I received for the post Interesting People, I felt that I should revive back many such moments. So, here I again present of the moments when I had come across Interesting People.

Who are the important persons for running a Public Transport Corporation Bus? Of course, Driver and Conductor. Have you ever travelled in a Public Transport bus without a conductor? I have. This interesting incident happened just two months back. I and my cousin started to Express Avenue Mall. We got into a bus at Koyambedu. The bus started in 5 minutes. There were only 10 people in the bus and we were only people sitting in the back end.

After the bus started, my cousin asked me, ‘Where is the conductor?’ I said he must be somewhere in the front. Only after some 2 minutes, everyone started looking back and forth. We realized there was no conductor in the bus. The driver was alarmed and he stopped the bus. I thought that the driver might take a turn to the bus stand and got down. The driver was not even bothered about the incident. After some five minutes, the conductor arrived in another bus. As soon as he got down, a big fight started between the driver and conductor. The driver was abusing the conductor that he missed the time and conductor was blaming the driver for his irresponsible behaviour.

Whenever I see the ICICI Bank nearby Koyambedu Bus stand, this incident comes to my mind. This is where the incident took place. Isn’t it the driver’s responsibility to start the bus only after verifying with conductor?

Sometimes, you come across people who ask you genuine questions unexpectedly and you stand still not knowing what to answer. I and two of my friends were doing a project in a Manufacturing Industry a few months back. During the initial few days we were getting to know the working of the unit. There was a friendly worker in the furnace division. He was a contract labour and he was working there for the past two years. After explaining the working of the furnace, he asked us what we were doing.

 When we said we were doing Mechanical Engineering, he said that we people had a very high education. We said its nothing like that. Before we could say anything, he came up with the next question, ‘Your job is to remove our job. Isn’t it? You people automate things and decrease the Human work force’ He asked it directly in a soft tone and we were paralyzed not knowing what to answer. It seems that they were automating a process and hence from the next month they required only one worker instead of three. Whose mistake is that? Management? Mechanical Engineer? Worker? I don’t know.

That’s it for now.

Happy Reading!!!

September 5, 2012

Advantage Nokia?


Hi Guys,

It looked as if all the roads were closed for Nokia. From the days of being a very dominating player, they were pushed to an ordinary player whose smart phones were terribly failing in the market. Their unwillingness to switch to a different OS seemed perilous. When Apple came out with innovations and Samsung followed the path with comparatively cheaper phones, Nokia’s comeback strategy looked difficult.


Do you India’s most trustable brand? It’s Nokia. It has been in the number One place for quite some time. Nokia has been my favourite brand for a long time. It was the market leader in India’s mobile segment till last year. Even now, it has a dominating power among the lower income group. The stable and reliable lower price phones were the supporting factors. But when it came to higher end mobile, Nokia lacked market space and Samsung conquered it.

For the past few months, Nokia has been trying to innovate and come out with a new product. The initial Lumia models were quite average and didn’t perform as expected. 808 Pureview was promoted with Camera as the main product and that worked to some extent for Nokia. Camera crazy guys started to adore the Pureview.

But, Nokia needed something big to be back. So did Windows Phone OS. For both the players, the new product is nearly a ‘Do or Die’ product. After a series of hypes, the introduction ceremony took place today and the whole Twitter was trending with the tagline #switchtolumia

Nokia has succeeded to create the initial impact among the customer’s mindset. With Apple lacking innovations and Samsung caught in the copycat scandal, it is the best time for Nokia to breakthrough. Nokia seems to promote the product with the tag of Wireless Charging. Basically, you don’t need to plug in and charge but if you keep the phone on the charge pad it will get charged. How innovative is this? The technology is innovative, but the flexibility it will create depends on the convenience factor.

Also, the first phone with Windows Phone 8 OS creates some hype. After failures, there is a hope that Microsoft will come out with a better OS as it is very critical for the future of the mobile OS of Microsoft. Also the addition of Pureview seems to be an attractive feature as it promises better Camera than other smart phones.

The initial hype is great. With Apple phones getting stereotyped and Samsung facing troubles, the wind is blowing towards Nokia. Now it depends on how strong Nokia’s sail is. It’s Make or Break situation for Nokia.

Let us wait and see how customers respond.

Happy Reading!!!

September 1, 2012

Interesting People!


Hi guys,

Long time since I wrote. It is interesting how life turns out. When you are free, you don’t get any ideas to write about and when you are busy with loads of works piled on you, lot of ideas generate in your brain. I am experiencing it now and I have experienced it before too.

I don’t know why, but I was thinking about people and I started wondering how people are so different from each other. If you start observing you can get so much experience of how people react to situations.

A few days ago, I met a young boy who was 5-6 years old. There was a big cut in his face nearly like a line in between. I asked him what happened. In all my imaginations I didn’t expect the answer. He told me that he tried to take the eggs of a crow from its nest and the crow attacked him. After answering he ran away. I was wondering how a 5 year old boy was able to reach a crow’s nest and take its egg.

Sleep is one thing that always amuses me. The reason is quite simple that I can’t sleep for a very long time and I can’t sleep for a very short time too. So, when I find someone who sleeps always or a person who doesn’t sleep at all, I wonder how they do that. During my Engineering college days, there was this friend of mine who used to sleep often. He used to get into the college bus. Everyone will start conversing and he will start sleeping. I used to go to his house now and then. He will be sleeping and his mother will wake him up. If you ask him what you are going to do after going home, he will answer in one word ‘Sleep’. I don’t know how he manages to sleep so long.

And then there are few people who are so interested in calling others and enquiring. Again a friend of mine in my Engineering college days. Whenever exam comes he used to start calling us. He used to call some 4-5 friends and speak with each of us for at least half an hour. He will ask what to study, what not to study. He will discuss how idiotic the syllabus is, how poorly the subject was taken or how complex the things are. He will keep the phone, study for some time, then repeat the process. I used to feel that he should better become a professor and then analyze everything. The good thing he is already in the first step towards that.

And then there are few people who can’t stop giving suggestions. Once I had to travel from Nagercoil to Chennai in Train and then there was this guy travelling along. He was working in a leading newspaper and every minute he wanted to show off that he works in a newspaper. Whenever anyone started some topic, he used to jump in and say ‘You know, when we did survey we found out this’ or ‘there is lot of scope in this area. People don’t work’ It was turning unbearable.

And then there was an old man in the same compartment and he was going on talking with press guy. I was wondering how he managed to do that. At the end the old man asked ‘Can you give me your phone number?’ I knew why the whole conversation took place. The press guy gave his number and said, ‘If you have any problem call me. I know this person here, this person there……. I can sort out anything in the city’ I just wanted to ask him, ‘Then why the hell are there so many problems in the city, if you can sort out anything’ Anyway the best thing to do with these sort of people is to be unfocussed.

Looking back at what I have written, everything looks negative. Am I pessimistic? No, I won’t say so. But anyway these sort of things register quickly in your mind. I will follow this with a set of optimistic people whom I have met.

To be continued…

Happy Reading!!!