Your Carry bags and the environment

Recently, in every super market, i see a notice that “Please carry your own carry bags. As per Govt. order, we are advised to charge for the carry bags. This is done to save/protect the environment. ”

I really don’t know how much percentage of carry bags usage, spoils the environment compared to plastic packed foods like Lays chips, packed fruits, milk packets, chocolates and many more. Most of the plastics packed foods are produced by large MNC’s. They are not being called to be part of the initiative.

my question to the government

• How much % of plastic usage can be reduced by this initiative?
• are these done due to politics behind?
• Why only supermarkets/garment shops are targeted for this initiative? what about other places / organizations

General public are forced to pay 1-3 rs for the plastic.

• Will paid carry bags reduce?
• why not government provide these supermarkets / garment shops, the paper bags at subsidized rates?

If the GOI is really worried about the environment, it should ask every public / private organization to follow and then only it can achieve Plastic-free India.

Customer Service in India

I am being a customer / consumer using many of the services in the country. I have been doing lots of observations related to customer services in INDIA and i will be writing about them.

I have come across lots of services both online and offline. the moment you go online, there are different set of tools for customer services. In offline, there are different set of tools.

Let’s see what is customer service?

From wikipedia

Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.

Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation

A Customer, always expects Value for Money or more for the money. For e.g. A Digit magazine associated with a Free CD / DVD.

Best Customer Service is one of the main reason in every successful companies we see. Providing customer care service is not that difficult. It is how we see it, matters a lot. When companies listen to their customers, they can build great products / services. Thats how many companies have become big and mints money.

Here are some of the questions i too ask myselves….

• How do successful big companies handle customer services?
• How are they able to engage with people?
• Are people sticking to these companies because they don’t find the better alternative?

I think there are lots of things like this if we want to discuss about customer service. Companies have to do lots of work if it wants to provide better and good customer service. Here is what i feel what a good customer services a company should provide to its customers.

• Respect and communicate to customer politely.
• Understand and listen to customer’s problems.
• Solve customer’s problems first than concentrating on the company revenue.
• Followup with customers with new services and value add services.
• Transparent in billing, update about new products / services.

our country is transforming into a consumer market, slowly i.e consumerism. we as consumers, need better consumer protections from companies who are cheating us. Going forward, i will write about companies in india and their customer service from my own experiences.

If you have any comments / suggestions, please write to me. Add your comments below too…

Two Men and a 500 Rupee Note

Below is the video I saw it some time ago that was shared like anything by many people. see the views count in youtube

Let me come to the title. There were two men in this world. Both were earning in their own way. But there was huge difference in their earnings. Each lived their own way.

One men works as a software ‘S’ and the other works as a cashier ‘C’ in a petrol bunk. the S guy went to the petrol bunk and got his bike fuel tank filled with petrol. He made a conversation with C guy as below.

S: Add xtra Premium petrol for 200 INR.
C: ok.
S: how much per litre?
C: 70.33 INR.
S: how much will come for 200 INR
C: (goes to take calculator and calculates.)2.84 Litre will be filled for 200 INR
S: Then fill 3 Litre.
C: Ok sir. (His assistant filled the petrol) Total is 211.
S: (gave one biggest Indian currency)
C: sir, you have any change?
S: (gave change of 10 rupee note + 2 rupee coin and got the change for biggest currency) i don’t have 1 rupee.
C: sir, I will give.
S: is there Air?
C: Yes. but that boy went to a nearby shop.
S: ok (then he left to attend some important meeting).

Meeting was so good and S learnt a lot along with his another S friend. While starting back to home, he realized that he gave a 1000 INR note but he got only 300 INR back. he is supposed to get 800 INR back. S told his friend.

This made him upset very much. That’s when he thought about this youtube video that i had posted above. S’ friend said that its high chance that S would get that money back. Given that its a 2 hours gap. S suddenly started towards that petrol bunk. On the way, he ways thinking all sorts of things both +ve / -ve of loosing 500 INR, whether he would get it back or not or how to convince that cashier (by arguing the total collection for the day) or about complaining to the owner about it.

when S went their, again there was a conversation.

S: 2 hours back, i came here to fill the petrol. but i didn’t get change of 500 INR.
C (some other): which side? this side or the other side?
S: that side..
C (some other): Ask that cashier then. He is the in-charge.
S: ok.
S: Sir, i came at 4 pm and filled the 3 Litre Xtra premium petrol. but i didn’t get the full change. i got only 300 INR. i need to get 500 more.
C: are you sure?
S: Yes. (there was a seriousness in his face. guilty feelings as well)
S: Remember, I asked you to put petrol for 200 but then asked how much it would come? then i asked you to put 3Litre…
C: Yes. i can remember. (he instantly gave me a 500 rupee note)
S: Thank you sir.(got it and very much feel relaxed and happy.)

S guy went to fill the Air and had a conversation with Air filler.

S: what was the cashier’s name?
A: ‘Raju’. why? to complain with the owner?
S: no. why will i? he returned my 500 INR rupee. i won’t.
S: (thought within that he should do some thing for this honest person. not sure how and what to do.)
S: i don’t have 2 rupee. I have only one rupee. can you fill the air?
A: will you give 1 rupee extra next time?
S: yes. sure. (then left from there and reached home)

S was thinking about the honest cashier and his customer service. He could have taken this 500 INR note without any issue. but somehow it belong to S and that’s why S got it.
S immediately called the S’ friend and told that he got that 500 back. S’ said that you were lucky… but S said this
Money, if you earned it truly and honestly, It will always stay with you.

somehow, the above statement is true. I too agree and i think about it many times. S guy is none other than me Last few days, my mind and soul is thinking some thing else and hence i need to be careful when dealing with money especially when i am not in job.

I still remember and will never forget the stuff said by a director of a company where i left my job recently…
Be careful with the money… otherwise, you are going to loose it.

Let’s see whether i will do some thing for that Raju or not. I thought of sending a letter to that owner or Indian oil company. Will update it soon.

What I learnt:
Its not the fault of the cashier… because 500 and 1000 rupee note do not have much difference. Its my fault. I need to be careful when dealing with the money. Keep my mind sharp and concentrated where ever i go. Also this 500 is a big amount for that cashier compared to me. so learn to spend the hard earned money in a good manner. Also watch the above video again.

StartUp Idea #1: Making Marriages live via portable device connected to internet

Its a festival season in India starting from September to January. Apart from these, lot of things happened in my life as well. I celebrated my Nephew’s First birthday at my granny’s house. It was a awesome function after a long time for me. i enjoyed every part of it because its the next generation in our family

Read the conversation below and you would understand the rest of the posts…
Sister-in-law:whether i could show this event to a uncle who is in USA.
me: I could try…but i am not sure.

Later that day, i opened up my laptop and browsed through the ustream.tv which i know for a long ever since they became popular. Its a site which you can use to live stream any event happening at your place. I logged in and immediately broadcast the event.
I sent the invite to my uncle, family relatives, and of course friends. All those people who could not reach to the event, enjoyed by watching the live streaming of the event. I also happen to record the event after my brother’s request. All this was the first time and i thought its a beginner’s luck.

my granny house had BSNL broadband unlimited with wireless modem and it was good enough to live stream the event. Everyone at home was happy and all my friends and relatives appreciated my intelligence of using computer and internet

I then downloaded the stream and saw it again and enjoyed. one of my uncle who was not able to watch the event when it was live, did watch the recorded one after i published the recorded one.

Now that, this is over.
Exactly after 1 month, one of my cousin got married at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Since i was there, my brother and sister in law asked me whether i could live stream the marriage event…?

I said i cannot. it is in public and people would think of something. this has not happened in India before and people think that i am creating a scene. Also worried about laptop condition as it might get broken if it falls.
But later i did got the laptop and we took the risk. we setup before the marriage stage and there was no internet in Marriage hall. we tried to use the Tata Photon+ and to my surprise it worked.

the marriage was live streamed and couple of my relatives who could not make it watched it live. it was the happiest moment. one of my uncle who is in USA watched it live and enjoyed. we even recorded. only 4-5 people would have watched. but it was worth the try.

you can do things which will make people happy. your friends, family relatives and other people… After that marriage live stream, reception happened. same thing happened… guess what…? we did the live stream again…. I don’t know whats the bill for tata photon+ i should ask the cousin

Since that event, it struck with me the idea of live streaming the event via internet for people to watch. why not make the marriages live stream? if you are getting married, you friends might be in abroad or in some other location. they can still connect with you via this stream.

but does laptop is the right choice? can everyone afford for the laptop with decent webcam? i guess no.
what can be done is that, we could create a small portable device with a webcam which can connect to internet to the site and live stream the event. you can use either Justin.TV as specified by ycombinator.com in their The Request for Startups series post titled New Ways to Use Live Video

But this post title suggests “Making Marriages live via portable device connected to internet”. the reason why i suggested marriages because, its the big event that happens in Indian families. Lot of marriages happen every day… and by selling the device to the video camera people, you can actually make money.

Also with the site, you can put ads on it. you can develop a social site where you can live stream only the marriages happening in india only to a set of closed people by protecting the privacy. I guess you should get the idea….if not, comment for explanation.

bye for today.

Twitter provides update service via SMS for India too

there was one reader of my tamil blog asked me on how to update twitter from mobile phone free of charge. after instructing him through a reply comment, i happen to notice in the twitter help.
i.e they provide update service via SMS for India too..? Twitter sees India as an emerging user base of twitter?

What are the Twitter phone numbers?
We currently have three short codes and one long code for those who twitter internationally.

* In the US, use 40404.
* In Canada, use 21212.
* In India, use 5566511.
* Anywhere else, use +44 7624 801423

this is the first time i am seeing that a service from US supporting India locally. most of the time i think that all these web 2.0 stuffs are only for US. but there are folks who copy the thoughts from their and try to create Indian version of it. i appreciate them if it happens for good and for niche market.

any way i am happy that twitter is local to India too..

You can view the Twitter help page here.

After #mumbai #terror attack, twitter gained lots of attention from India and worldwide. some even say that twitter is a kind of news source which is faster than any other traditional news provider.

whats your thought on this? is this the sign of India moving ahead in online world?