Ever being paranoid about losing your passport while travelling abroad? This idea came to me while I was recently at the Rome airport checking in my luggage and a hassled passenger jumped in front of me, breaking the line to my annoyance. The agent smiled at him and gave him his and his family’s passport. Apparently, they had lost their passport a couple of days ago. The relief on his face was so obvious that it left me wondering.
Chew on this:
• You use your passport to enter a country and have to stay there for a few days before returning back to your country or visiting another one.
• Rather than carrying your passport and risk losing it, you deposit it to a ‘passport bank’ after immigration, before leaving the airport.
• The passport bank makes a copy of your passport and your finger print and stamps the copy as valid – one that you retain to use at hotels and other occasions.
• You travel freely for these days – even if you lose your copy, you can come back to this office validate your finger print and get another copy, while your original passport is safe.
• While leaving the country, you can collect your passport after paying the fee.
• A reasonable fee may be equivalent to a dollar a day, with a minimum of $5.
Now the business proposition:
There were approximately 840 million international travelers in 2006 according to World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Out of this, 45% are air travelers and 7% are thru sea. For this exercise, we will consider these lots only since these are legitimate travelers. Out of these, close to one-third could be travelers not required to carry a passport and half of these could be discounted as same traveler doing a to-fro journey. That leaves us with 210m travelers. Assuming only a fourth of these use the service, we are talking approximately 50m travelers. If these people travel twice a year, five days per tour, on an average, we are talking about revenue of half a billion US dollars. If we have this service in about 1000 locations/airports around the world (most touristy/travelled) and cost of managing each location is 30000 dollars per month on an average, then the annual cost of the service is $360 million.
The success of this can depend on how trustworthy or reputed the institution is. A good bet could be a reputed bank, a credit card service or an airline. All it requires is a small, but well guarded office at most air and sea ports around the world. If an airline opens it, they can use their existing space. Most processes could be automated to save further on costs.
I understand that there are lots of assumptions in this back of the envelope plan. For example 50million travelers may be a high estimate – perhaps, but 50m by the third year of operation is not unconceivable. What about trust? A credit card company may score well here given that they already have a lot of your information anyway. Security? Yes, but then it is probably safer there than with the traveler. There could be more concerns. However one thing is very clear that there is a need, which means that logistics and math can be helped by technology to make this a business success. Buyers anyone?
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
10 things to know when doing market research in India
10 things international clients should know when doing market research (MR) in India
1. India goes beyond metros – Most research studies done by international clients are restricted to larger cities. They assume that if they have Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore covered, they have pretty much represented the country. This is of course incorrect for mass market products but is also not true for high-end products like multi-function devices, servers, watches etc. Though these three cities coming from three different zones house the who’s who, given India’ s size and complexity, the mini-metros and other cities can be ignored only at the marketers’ peril. So even if budgets are small, take one or two smaller cities to make the results more representative. If you have budget for just one city, consider a mid-rung city that is closer to being nationally representative for the product. E.g. Ahmedabad, Pune, Cochin, Kolkata or even smaller ones such as Kota, Asansol, Mysore etc
2. Sampling – Coming from a background of phone or web surveys, international marketers do not really care about sampling. Questions you could ask your vendor to ensure a representative sample include how would you select households/offices to be surveyed, what kinds of localities are represented, how will sample be spread out across the city and so on. Questions like these will ensure that the vendor is not doing surveys close to his office location for the sake of convenience. Given that more than 90% of all surveys in India are still face to face, sampling matters.
3. Incentives – Most MR surveys in India do not offer incentives to respondents. This is especially true for the consumer segment. Even if the MR companies budget and charge the client for it, many times it does not reach the desired end. Understandably, the quality of survey is low. Respondents do not co-operate leading and those who do initially, back out mid-way thru the survey. Clients should ensure that incentives are budgeted and disbursed as agreed.
4. Length of survey– Unlike many international vendors, Indian vendors would rarely cost the study based on survey length. They would claim several ‘experiences’ of conducting face to face quantitative surveys of 40 minutes to an hour. Whereas this may be true for some, it is hard to imagine respondent co-operation for that long a duration. Keep the survey length small (20 minutes ideally) even if your vendor claims he can pull it off.
5. Web surveys – Those clients who want to save costs doing web surveys should chose this methodology very carefully in India. Net penetration overall is less than 5% and even in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore is less than 20%. Further, the term ‘net penetration’ in India is not comparable to that of, lets say, US. In US if one is a net user, there is a high likelihood that he is using it frequently, at least a few times (3-4 times) a week. However the numbers for India could be misleading. Most large scale surveys define net usage as ‘used in the last one month’. If you drill down to frequency of usage, you would find that there are very few users who use it three to four times a week or more leading to a much smaller ‘potential universe size’. Therefore, unless the product is for an up market youth or middle/junior executive in professional firms, this methodology may not work.
6. The top 1% of Indians by income are comparable to the top 1% of the population in even the rich countries. Getting them for a survey is very very difficult. They cannot be motivated by financial incentives (Hansa has had moderate success by enticing them to donate on their behalf to choice of their organizations like CRY, AIDS relief, Cancer Funds etc). Clients should look here for the quality of the interviewer (more on this later). He/She should not only be fluent in English, but also be very well groomed. To know whether the vendor can deliver on this audience, look up the quality of the key account reps who interact with you. Are they good? Could they pull off these interviews? Do not fall for the ‘we have MBAs on our payroll’ carrot. Most of these so called MBAs cannot even write a simple letter on a piece of paper without at least seven typos or grammatical errors!
7. Income data in India is not very stable. Given it is a male dominated society, homemakers, usually women, who are addressed this question, have limited understanding of the full household income. What they often report is what is given to them to spend on household groceries and utilities. Further there are some societies that over claim their incomes and some that understate making the adjustment complex. So my advice would be to stay away from having income as a criteria for respondent selection. Look for car ownership, air travel, foreign vacation and similar such variables to define high-end audience and two-wheeler ownership, household durable ownership etc as you move down the ladder. (Ask for a free copy to the Great Indian Pyramid white paper which deals more on this topic by writing to info@hansagcr.com)
8. Responsiveness – Most Indian vendors not experienced in dealing with international clients would not respond to your emails, if they do not have an ‘answer’. If you wanted to check the status of your project and there has been no progress beyond what was reported last Friday, they would not even say so. If you are dealing with such an agency, encourage them to respond even if there is no progress or bad news. Further, an Indian vendor, unlike most of those around the world would be happy to give you his personal mobile phone in case you wanted to get in touch with him. However, most mobile phones in India do not have a voice message facility. So if you were unable to reach him, you cannot leave a message. All he has from you is a missed call. So check with him if he has voice message set on his desk and mobile phone.
9. The interviewer – I strongly believe that the Interviewer is the single most important person in the entire MR process, not only the survey process. Sample some of your vendor’s interviewer. Most Indian vendors do not have interviewers on their payroll. Quite often, interviewers quit in between projects if they do not find it lucrative. Check with your vendor how he plans to pay his interviewers and how soon can he replace. Another complexity is that in most metros, there is a high percentage of internal migrants –people living in other Indian states coming to big metros to make a living. Given that questionnaires are primarily written in English and then translated in the local language of that state where the surveys are taking place, internal immigrants not well versed in English find it difficult. And there are many of them. As a client, and depending on the respondent level, you could either ask for English speakers or local language speakers or both. Check with the agency if they would like to translate the questionnaire in Hindi as well as most internal migrants are from poorer Hindi speaking states of north and east. The bigger issue however is if the survey is to be conducted purely in English. Fluent English interviewers doing face to face in India are now a rare breed. Call centers, private banks and other upcoming sectors have sucked them up. Thanks to price wars and clients unwilling to pay for good MR data, it is not feasible for the industry to retain good interviewers. Result often is bad quality. Given that clients know that MR costs in India are half than China and probably a third of Brazil, they should encourage vendors to hire better interviewers and should be willing to pay for it.
10. Finally, the vendor. One rule that works especially well for the MR industry in India is that beware of the lowest bidder. In order to win projects I have known many vendors that quote below cost and later cut corners on incentives, poorer interviewers, and quality control etc, which you as a client will never know sitting thousands of miles away. Also be wary of vendors that say yes to every request of yours. Find out about the data collection team. How many offices does he have of his own and in which cities? How well networked is the organization to have real time information on projects? Keep your ears open – he may not make a suggestion twice and almost never strongly. After all you are the client and he wants your business. For example, if you ask for a video shoot and he says that it will be difficult. Don’t brush him away saying that other vendors offer it. Ask him why he thinks that it will be difficult to ensure that there are no surprises later.
As easy it may seem since people there speak English, things can get complicated beyond imagination. Go well prepared.
1. India goes beyond metros – Most research studies done by international clients are restricted to larger cities. They assume that if they have Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore covered, they have pretty much represented the country. This is of course incorrect for mass market products but is also not true for high-end products like multi-function devices, servers, watches etc. Though these three cities coming from three different zones house the who’s who, given India’ s size and complexity, the mini-metros and other cities can be ignored only at the marketers’ peril. So even if budgets are small, take one or two smaller cities to make the results more representative. If you have budget for just one city, consider a mid-rung city that is closer to being nationally representative for the product. E.g. Ahmedabad, Pune, Cochin, Kolkata or even smaller ones such as Kota, Asansol, Mysore etc
2. Sampling – Coming from a background of phone or web surveys, international marketers do not really care about sampling. Questions you could ask your vendor to ensure a representative sample include how would you select households/offices to be surveyed, what kinds of localities are represented, how will sample be spread out across the city and so on. Questions like these will ensure that the vendor is not doing surveys close to his office location for the sake of convenience. Given that more than 90% of all surveys in India are still face to face, sampling matters.
3. Incentives – Most MR surveys in India do not offer incentives to respondents. This is especially true for the consumer segment. Even if the MR companies budget and charge the client for it, many times it does not reach the desired end. Understandably, the quality of survey is low. Respondents do not co-operate leading and those who do initially, back out mid-way thru the survey. Clients should ensure that incentives are budgeted and disbursed as agreed.
4. Length of survey– Unlike many international vendors, Indian vendors would rarely cost the study based on survey length. They would claim several ‘experiences’ of conducting face to face quantitative surveys of 40 minutes to an hour. Whereas this may be true for some, it is hard to imagine respondent co-operation for that long a duration. Keep the survey length small (20 minutes ideally) even if your vendor claims he can pull it off.
5. Web surveys – Those clients who want to save costs doing web surveys should chose this methodology very carefully in India. Net penetration overall is less than 5% and even in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore is less than 20%. Further, the term ‘net penetration’ in India is not comparable to that of, lets say, US. In US if one is a net user, there is a high likelihood that he is using it frequently, at least a few times (3-4 times) a week. However the numbers for India could be misleading. Most large scale surveys define net usage as ‘used in the last one month’. If you drill down to frequency of usage, you would find that there are very few users who use it three to four times a week or more leading to a much smaller ‘potential universe size’. Therefore, unless the product is for an up market youth or middle/junior executive in professional firms, this methodology may not work.
6. The top 1% of Indians by income are comparable to the top 1% of the population in even the rich countries. Getting them for a survey is very very difficult. They cannot be motivated by financial incentives (Hansa has had moderate success by enticing them to donate on their behalf to choice of their organizations like CRY, AIDS relief, Cancer Funds etc). Clients should look here for the quality of the interviewer (more on this later). He/She should not only be fluent in English, but also be very well groomed. To know whether the vendor can deliver on this audience, look up the quality of the key account reps who interact with you. Are they good? Could they pull off these interviews? Do not fall for the ‘we have MBAs on our payroll’ carrot. Most of these so called MBAs cannot even write a simple letter on a piece of paper without at least seven typos or grammatical errors!
7. Income data in India is not very stable. Given it is a male dominated society, homemakers, usually women, who are addressed this question, have limited understanding of the full household income. What they often report is what is given to them to spend on household groceries and utilities. Further there are some societies that over claim their incomes and some that understate making the adjustment complex. So my advice would be to stay away from having income as a criteria for respondent selection. Look for car ownership, air travel, foreign vacation and similar such variables to define high-end audience and two-wheeler ownership, household durable ownership etc as you move down the ladder. (Ask for a free copy to the Great Indian Pyramid white paper which deals more on this topic by writing to info@hansagcr.com)
8. Responsiveness – Most Indian vendors not experienced in dealing with international clients would not respond to your emails, if they do not have an ‘answer’. If you wanted to check the status of your project and there has been no progress beyond what was reported last Friday, they would not even say so. If you are dealing with such an agency, encourage them to respond even if there is no progress or bad news. Further, an Indian vendor, unlike most of those around the world would be happy to give you his personal mobile phone in case you wanted to get in touch with him. However, most mobile phones in India do not have a voice message facility. So if you were unable to reach him, you cannot leave a message. All he has from you is a missed call. So check with him if he has voice message set on his desk and mobile phone.
9. The interviewer – I strongly believe that the Interviewer is the single most important person in the entire MR process, not only the survey process. Sample some of your vendor’s interviewer. Most Indian vendors do not have interviewers on their payroll. Quite often, interviewers quit in between projects if they do not find it lucrative. Check with your vendor how he plans to pay his interviewers and how soon can he replace. Another complexity is that in most metros, there is a high percentage of internal migrants –people living in other Indian states coming to big metros to make a living. Given that questionnaires are primarily written in English and then translated in the local language of that state where the surveys are taking place, internal immigrants not well versed in English find it difficult. And there are many of them. As a client, and depending on the respondent level, you could either ask for English speakers or local language speakers or both. Check with the agency if they would like to translate the questionnaire in Hindi as well as most internal migrants are from poorer Hindi speaking states of north and east. The bigger issue however is if the survey is to be conducted purely in English. Fluent English interviewers doing face to face in India are now a rare breed. Call centers, private banks and other upcoming sectors have sucked them up. Thanks to price wars and clients unwilling to pay for good MR data, it is not feasible for the industry to retain good interviewers. Result often is bad quality. Given that clients know that MR costs in India are half than China and probably a third of Brazil, they should encourage vendors to hire better interviewers and should be willing to pay for it.
10. Finally, the vendor. One rule that works especially well for the MR industry in India is that beware of the lowest bidder. In order to win projects I have known many vendors that quote below cost and later cut corners on incentives, poorer interviewers, and quality control etc, which you as a client will never know sitting thousands of miles away. Also be wary of vendors that say yes to every request of yours. Find out about the data collection team. How many offices does he have of his own and in which cities? How well networked is the organization to have real time information on projects? Keep your ears open – he may not make a suggestion twice and almost never strongly. After all you are the client and he wants your business. For example, if you ask for a video shoot and he says that it will be difficult. Don’t brush him away saying that other vendors offer it. Ask him why he thinks that it will be difficult to ensure that there are no surprises later.
As easy it may seem since people there speak English, things can get complicated beyond imagination. Go well prepared.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Only if he sees the need
It amazes me how senior managers of world’s largest corporations sometimes talk and think. Recently I was visiting a leading software company on the pacific coast and was talking to one of their senior managers responsible for gaming. He said that their pricing strategy in India failed. “We were trying to sell these consoles at the same price that we sell in US, at around $250”. In another visit to one of the largest computer manufacturing companies, a senior executive said, “One of the things that we are battling with is to find the right channel to sell thru in India”.
When I meet such people, I really feel sorry for them. It is not that they are not getting answers to their questions, but the fact is they are chasing the wrong questions. Chew on this…
Last year, of all the motorcycles that were sold in India, more than half of them were sold in rural. The cheapest motorcycle sold in the Indian market place is priced around Rs. 35,000 or $700 at today’s exchange rates. Rural farmer or trader has realized the value of owning a motorcycle. He understands that a motorcycle helps him satisfy the needs of transportation given the lack of good public transportation. Other than that it helps him in his business. Occasionally, he drives to the nearby town 30 miles away and loads it with sometimes close to a ton of products, say seeds and fodder. While he is in town, he buys some toys for his kids something to please his wife and then fills gas in his tank and is back home by evening. On some Sundays, if he has time and money, he loads his family on the motorcycle and they go for a movie. With an annual income of around Rs.100,000 ($2000), he took a loan and invested in a motorcycle as he understands that it serves as means of transportation primarily but also helps him in his business needs and sometimes fulfils his needs of entertainment.
A computer comes at $500. Instead of worrying about which channel to use to sell a computer, executives should worry about how to make a computer as important as, let’s say a motorcycle, for a rural Indian. If you have cracked that, then you are selling as many computers in rural India as you sell in United States of America. Like a motorcycle serves the need for transportation, a computer serves the need for information and communication. If the same person in the above example knew that instead of travelling 30 miles east, if he travelled 40 miles north, he would get a better price on seeds and save $10 in the process, he would be very grateful. If he knew that a computer can help him get this information, then it turns out to be as useful as a motorcycle. In stead of burning gas and spending on four tickets to watch a movie, he could watch it at home with his family renting a DVD, satisfying the need of entertainment, at a much lesser price.
I don’t buy the poor infrastructure logic that gets raised each time you talk about computers in rural India. The reason that motorcycle prospered is precisely because of poor infrastructure and public transport. If there were a bus every 20 minutes to a nearby town, why would you need a motorcycle? If the town was 3 miles and not 30 miles away, why would you need a motorcycle? Computers will work and should work despite poor infrastructure. In fact, that is the reason for success not failure.
If the farmer drives 30 miles of pot holed roads to reach the nearest town to fill gas in his tank, he could travel 10 miles to charge the battery of his computer during times when he needs it and there is no power! If he takes a loan for $700 product, he could for a $500 one. These obstacles can be overcome, if he sees the need.
Have the corporations been able to ‘sell’ the need before selling the product or struggling to find channels? No matter how rich an Indian is, he would scorn if his child asked for a $250 video game as an Indian parent has not been ‘sold’ to the idea of a video game. Understandably so. The fact that some video-games do improve your child’s lateral thinking, team building and leadership skill, has not been communicated. The fact that video games could be great family times together and perhaps one of the few ways a father and teen aged son can have uninhibited interaction, has not been sold. Forget video games, technology firms have not sold the idea of internet and computers as a result some Indian parents scorn net browsing as well. This may strike you as odd, but majority of Indians are buying computers not because they need it, but because the other family has it. (As happened with mobile phones initially) But if the need was sold, people would buy in hordes. One could argue that mobile phone companies never sold the need. But then the real revolution in mobile phones happened in India only when Reliance offered them at Rs.500 ($10). Till then it was still a top 5% population product.
Computers are not selling for Rs.500 or even Rs.5000, at least not in the near future. The issue here is not the price as demonstrated above. If a farmer can afford a $700 product, he can afford a $500 one, only if he sees the need.
Folks, there is money to be made at the bottom of the pyramid.
When I meet such people, I really feel sorry for them. It is not that they are not getting answers to their questions, but the fact is they are chasing the wrong questions. Chew on this…
Last year, of all the motorcycles that were sold in India, more than half of them were sold in rural. The cheapest motorcycle sold in the Indian market place is priced around Rs. 35,000 or $700 at today’s exchange rates. Rural farmer or trader has realized the value of owning a motorcycle. He understands that a motorcycle helps him satisfy the needs of transportation given the lack of good public transportation. Other than that it helps him in his business. Occasionally, he drives to the nearby town 30 miles away and loads it with sometimes close to a ton of products, say seeds and fodder. While he is in town, he buys some toys for his kids something to please his wife and then fills gas in his tank and is back home by evening. On some Sundays, if he has time and money, he loads his family on the motorcycle and they go for a movie. With an annual income of around Rs.100,000 ($2000), he took a loan and invested in a motorcycle as he understands that it serves as means of transportation primarily but also helps him in his business needs and sometimes fulfils his needs of entertainment.
A computer comes at $500. Instead of worrying about which channel to use to sell a computer, executives should worry about how to make a computer as important as, let’s say a motorcycle, for a rural Indian. If you have cracked that, then you are selling as many computers in rural India as you sell in United States of America. Like a motorcycle serves the need for transportation, a computer serves the need for information and communication. If the same person in the above example knew that instead of travelling 30 miles east, if he travelled 40 miles north, he would get a better price on seeds and save $10 in the process, he would be very grateful. If he knew that a computer can help him get this information, then it turns out to be as useful as a motorcycle. In stead of burning gas and spending on four tickets to watch a movie, he could watch it at home with his family renting a DVD, satisfying the need of entertainment, at a much lesser price.
I don’t buy the poor infrastructure logic that gets raised each time you talk about computers in rural India. The reason that motorcycle prospered is precisely because of poor infrastructure and public transport. If there were a bus every 20 minutes to a nearby town, why would you need a motorcycle? If the town was 3 miles and not 30 miles away, why would you need a motorcycle? Computers will work and should work despite poor infrastructure. In fact, that is the reason for success not failure.
If the farmer drives 30 miles of pot holed roads to reach the nearest town to fill gas in his tank, he could travel 10 miles to charge the battery of his computer during times when he needs it and there is no power! If he takes a loan for $700 product, he could for a $500 one. These obstacles can be overcome, if he sees the need.
Have the corporations been able to ‘sell’ the need before selling the product or struggling to find channels? No matter how rich an Indian is, he would scorn if his child asked for a $250 video game as an Indian parent has not been ‘sold’ to the idea of a video game. Understandably so. The fact that some video-games do improve your child’s lateral thinking, team building and leadership skill, has not been communicated. The fact that video games could be great family times together and perhaps one of the few ways a father and teen aged son can have uninhibited interaction, has not been sold. Forget video games, technology firms have not sold the idea of internet and computers as a result some Indian parents scorn net browsing as well. This may strike you as odd, but majority of Indians are buying computers not because they need it, but because the other family has it. (As happened with mobile phones initially) But if the need was sold, people would buy in hordes. One could argue that mobile phone companies never sold the need. But then the real revolution in mobile phones happened in India only when Reliance offered them at Rs.500 ($10). Till then it was still a top 5% population product.
Computers are not selling for Rs.500 or even Rs.5000, at least not in the near future. The issue here is not the price as demonstrated above. If a farmer can afford a $700 product, he can afford a $500 one, only if he sees the need.
Folks, there is money to be made at the bottom of the pyramid.
10 days in Italy
Though we had thought of visiting Italy long ago, in between we were in two minds. We were not sure whether we would enjoy Italy per se since it was too ‘artistic’ and neither of us understood art. Plus we are not the typical ‘museum visitors’ and have a short attention span for such places. And Italy was all about museums and galleries and art and history. Were we making the right choice?
On the 8th day while hiking from Monterosso to Veranzza I told Rupali, “You know, I think this trip has been worth the time, money, effort and everything else that made it possible”. Our itinerary included Rome, Florence, Venice and Chinque Terre (Veranzza). Here are a few highlights of the trip:
• Rick Steve’s guide books - This man knows the region inside out and our travel philosophy matches his. His guide books were so good that we did not waste time enquiring in a non-English speaking country or waiting in queues. They explain art and history interestingly in easy to follow language, making our visits to museums and galleries involving and worthwhile. We knew exactly where to spend time and what to skip and enjoyed this tour without any tour guide, just his books, quite economically.
• Borghese Gallery – By far the best gallery/museum from our perspective. We have this ‘wow’ factor that we attribute to things that just make us spell bound. Snorkeling in Hawaii, a night spent in Jaiselmer desert, Gurudongmar lake in Sikkim are examples of what we felt as ‘wow’ experiences. Among the places we have visited, we typically come across one or two such ‘wow’ experiences in a two week tour. Two hour Borghese gallery tour itself had two such experiences (three for Rupali). These were three marble master-pieces - Venus Victrix ; The Rape of Proserpina; and Apollo and Daphne.
In Venus Victrix, Pauline Bonaparte, (sister of Napoleon) posed full monty. One can see the creases formed and the dent made when upholstery gets strained as someone sits on a sofa or a couch. The folds that occur on the fabric that one has draped as one sits is all finely detailed in this marble piece which has all the imagination and finesse.
In Rape of Proserpina, you can see Pluto’s (her abductor) fingers sink into the flesh of his victim, Proserpina. Her lips are slightly opened, as if she were screaming and begging for help, while delicately crafted marble tears roll down her eyes look as though they are literally dripping down her face. Pluto’s muscular and Proserpina’s supple skins show how a strong marble stone is a slave to a great artist.
In Apollo and Daphne, Apollo pleads with Daphne to fulfill his desire while she, repulsed by the idea, begins to flee. Immediately, her skin turns to a tree. Walking around the sculpture gives an impression of the metamorphosis taking place capturing Daphne's transformation to a tree with intense emotion and drama by portraying the different stages of her changes.
These three marble sculptures are so finely done that you are absolutely amazed at the artist’s imagination and skill to turn marble in such supple forms. These pieces of art and more such we saw in Italy underscore the point that a sculptor not only needs the strength to cut the marble but also the skill to get it to form.
• Chinque Terre - Chinque means five and Terre means villages. This place is a cluster of five villages, nestled on the Ligurian Sea. What is funny about this place that it is so out of regular Italian touristy spots that only two types of tourists can be seen here – the locals and Rick Steve’s readers. After so much of art, culture and history absorption, Chinque Terre was a relief. Pure natural beauty, lovely food and relaxed ambiance made up our last two days in Italy seem like a great desert after a wonderful meal. Our room, perched on the top of a hill had an amazing sea view. The terrace on top of it, though difficult to maneuver, was a treat with a 360 degree view of the village and the sea.
• St. Peter’s Basilica - St. Peter is considered as the first Pope. He was one of Jesus’ first disciples and given special authority. His tomb rests under this church (basilica). Another wow experience. Calling it gigantic would be modest. It can accommodate 60,000 people and runs two by one football fields in dimension. The height from the center of the dome to the base is itself more than one football field. Letterings on top from the New Testament that run across the periphery of the basilica are seven feet in height. Dozens of marble sculptures inside measure 15 to 21 feet. Not only in size, the basilica is precise even when it comes to geometrical symmetry.
• Dueling Orchestras of Venice - Why Venice is called a romantic city puzzled us. It is too crowded for seekers of privacy, the canals stink at places, food is not particularly great and gondoliers, contrary to popular opinion, seldom sing. There is one exception however. The orchestras at the St. Mark’s square. Each restaurant has an orchestra with 4-5 musicians with violin generally being the lead instrument. Restaurants are juxtaposed to each other and they set the tables on the square. One can either sit on a table and splurge on coffee or wine or just stand on the square and watch them play free of cost. They are coined ‘dueling’ orchestras probably because one plays while the other rests, though they are not actually dueling. Though we had as much knowledge about European music as you may about rocket science, this was a treat. If you understand music, you don’t need to understand the language. The tunes that they were playing were so sweet and rhythmic that anyone can follow, indulge and enjoy. Some of those standing, start dancing to the tunes and those sitting extend and hold hands or lean on shoulders. The experience, romantic, is second to none. On both the nights that we were in Venice, we spent time listening to the orchestras. The only European tune that I am familiar with is the one played in the movie Godfather. I was hoping that they would play it. They did not in the first night. And on the second when we were just about to leave, they played it. It was enigmatic.
Italy is recommended to anyone who wants to have a wonderful holiday.
On the 8th day while hiking from Monterosso to Veranzza I told Rupali, “You know, I think this trip has been worth the time, money, effort and everything else that made it possible”. Our itinerary included Rome, Florence, Venice and Chinque Terre (Veranzza). Here are a few highlights of the trip:
• Rick Steve’s guide books - This man knows the region inside out and our travel philosophy matches his. His guide books were so good that we did not waste time enquiring in a non-English speaking country or waiting in queues. They explain art and history interestingly in easy to follow language, making our visits to museums and galleries involving and worthwhile. We knew exactly where to spend time and what to skip and enjoyed this tour without any tour guide, just his books, quite economically.
• Borghese Gallery – By far the best gallery/museum from our perspective. We have this ‘wow’ factor that we attribute to things that just make us spell bound. Snorkeling in Hawaii, a night spent in Jaiselmer desert, Gurudongmar lake in Sikkim are examples of what we felt as ‘wow’ experiences. Among the places we have visited, we typically come across one or two such ‘wow’ experiences in a two week tour. Two hour Borghese gallery tour itself had two such experiences (three for Rupali). These were three marble master-pieces - Venus Victrix ; The Rape of Proserpina; and Apollo and Daphne.
In Venus Victrix, Pauline Bonaparte, (sister of Napoleon) posed full monty. One can see the creases formed and the dent made when upholstery gets strained as someone sits on a sofa or a couch. The folds that occur on the fabric that one has draped as one sits is all finely detailed in this marble piece which has all the imagination and finesse.
In Rape of Proserpina, you can see Pluto’s (her abductor) fingers sink into the flesh of his victim, Proserpina. Her lips are slightly opened, as if she were screaming and begging for help, while delicately crafted marble tears roll down her eyes look as though they are literally dripping down her face. Pluto’s muscular and Proserpina’s supple skins show how a strong marble stone is a slave to a great artist.
In Apollo and Daphne, Apollo pleads with Daphne to fulfill his desire while she, repulsed by the idea, begins to flee. Immediately, her skin turns to a tree. Walking around the sculpture gives an impression of the metamorphosis taking place capturing Daphne's transformation to a tree with intense emotion and drama by portraying the different stages of her changes.
These three marble sculptures are so finely done that you are absolutely amazed at the artist’s imagination and skill to turn marble in such supple forms. These pieces of art and more such we saw in Italy underscore the point that a sculptor not only needs the strength to cut the marble but also the skill to get it to form.
• Chinque Terre - Chinque means five and Terre means villages. This place is a cluster of five villages, nestled on the Ligurian Sea. What is funny about this place that it is so out of regular Italian touristy spots that only two types of tourists can be seen here – the locals and Rick Steve’s readers. After so much of art, culture and history absorption, Chinque Terre was a relief. Pure natural beauty, lovely food and relaxed ambiance made up our last two days in Italy seem like a great desert after a wonderful meal. Our room, perched on the top of a hill had an amazing sea view. The terrace on top of it, though difficult to maneuver, was a treat with a 360 degree view of the village and the sea.
• St. Peter’s Basilica - St. Peter is considered as the first Pope. He was one of Jesus’ first disciples and given special authority. His tomb rests under this church (basilica). Another wow experience. Calling it gigantic would be modest. It can accommodate 60,000 people and runs two by one football fields in dimension. The height from the center of the dome to the base is itself more than one football field. Letterings on top from the New Testament that run across the periphery of the basilica are seven feet in height. Dozens of marble sculptures inside measure 15 to 21 feet. Not only in size, the basilica is precise even when it comes to geometrical symmetry.
• Dueling Orchestras of Venice - Why Venice is called a romantic city puzzled us. It is too crowded for seekers of privacy, the canals stink at places, food is not particularly great and gondoliers, contrary to popular opinion, seldom sing. There is one exception however. The orchestras at the St. Mark’s square. Each restaurant has an orchestra with 4-5 musicians with violin generally being the lead instrument. Restaurants are juxtaposed to each other and they set the tables on the square. One can either sit on a table and splurge on coffee or wine or just stand on the square and watch them play free of cost. They are coined ‘dueling’ orchestras probably because one plays while the other rests, though they are not actually dueling. Though we had as much knowledge about European music as you may about rocket science, this was a treat. If you understand music, you don’t need to understand the language. The tunes that they were playing were so sweet and rhythmic that anyone can follow, indulge and enjoy. Some of those standing, start dancing to the tunes and those sitting extend and hold hands or lean on shoulders. The experience, romantic, is second to none. On both the nights that we were in Venice, we spent time listening to the orchestras. The only European tune that I am familiar with is the one played in the movie Godfather. I was hoping that they would play it. They did not in the first night. And on the second when we were just about to leave, they played it. It was enigmatic.
Italy is recommended to anyone who wants to have a wonderful holiday.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Reducing congestion, improving productivity
Have you seen the movie Crash? Though the story is about citizens of Los Angeles from different ethnicities with varied issues and goals in life, the underlying theme is the frustration or challenge of living in a metro or in a city where you have a hard time fixing small things.
Bombay is one such city. See the people there. They are running all the time – at times trying to achieve something and at other times trying to fix things. But they are running never-the-less. From early morning to late evening, there is always a rush and a gradual frustration built-up that comes from the inability to help oneself. This makes one whine, irritable and frustrated and starts affecting personal and professional life without our knowing. Take for example, what it takes to commute to work.
I do not have world statistics but New York, and by some estimates Atlanta, are the worst cities in the US for travel. People on an average travel 38 minutes a day in New York. In Mumbai, it would be safe to assume that this would be more than 2 hours. If a person lived in Mumbai for 60 years, he was travelling for 5! Commuting to work is largely a social waste of time. Though some of us try to make it productive by reading or catching up with people on phone, these are things we could do anyways without having to travel so long. Solutions, anyone?
The government could increase the 9-car trains to 12, 12-car to 15. This will alone increase the capacity by 20-30% for the 4 million or so people who take trains every day. The government has probably known this for a long time and has not done anything about it. But how can the private enterprise help?
If CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) or any such body gets together and proposes common working hours from 11.00 AM to 4.00 PM and a stretched one from 8.00 AM to 7.00 PM, it may go a long way. Broad industry sectors could then agree to a common industry sector specific time. Services (marketing, media, publishing, technology etc) may start early, let’s say by 8.00 AM. Consumer products (auto, office, appliances etc) may start later, say from 11.00. Common working hours will have limited affect on cross industry working and overtime people will learn to make use of it. This, if implemented, will ease a lot of traffic from roads and rails. People will have more time for work and play. And most importantly these travels will be relaxed and not a struggle. Not sure here, but easing out carbon emissions for longer duration may help the environment as well.
Less and relaxed travel will result in happy and productive employees at work. Its time private sector takes the onus in Bombay and other such cities to correct the situation. After all, they get to gain the most.
Bombay is one such city. See the people there. They are running all the time – at times trying to achieve something and at other times trying to fix things. But they are running never-the-less. From early morning to late evening, there is always a rush and a gradual frustration built-up that comes from the inability to help oneself. This makes one whine, irritable and frustrated and starts affecting personal and professional life without our knowing. Take for example, what it takes to commute to work.
I do not have world statistics but New York, and by some estimates Atlanta, are the worst cities in the US for travel. People on an average travel 38 minutes a day in New York. In Mumbai, it would be safe to assume that this would be more than 2 hours. If a person lived in Mumbai for 60 years, he was travelling for 5! Commuting to work is largely a social waste of time. Though some of us try to make it productive by reading or catching up with people on phone, these are things we could do anyways without having to travel so long. Solutions, anyone?
The government could increase the 9-car trains to 12, 12-car to 15. This will alone increase the capacity by 20-30% for the 4 million or so people who take trains every day. The government has probably known this for a long time and has not done anything about it. But how can the private enterprise help?
If CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) or any such body gets together and proposes common working hours from 11.00 AM to 4.00 PM and a stretched one from 8.00 AM to 7.00 PM, it may go a long way. Broad industry sectors could then agree to a common industry sector specific time. Services (marketing, media, publishing, technology etc) may start early, let’s say by 8.00 AM. Consumer products (auto, office, appliances etc) may start later, say from 11.00. Common working hours will have limited affect on cross industry working and overtime people will learn to make use of it. This, if implemented, will ease a lot of traffic from roads and rails. People will have more time for work and play. And most importantly these travels will be relaxed and not a struggle. Not sure here, but easing out carbon emissions for longer duration may help the environment as well.
Less and relaxed travel will result in happy and productive employees at work. Its time private sector takes the onus in Bombay and other such cities to correct the situation. After all, they get to gain the most.
Monday, August 25, 2008
3 cups of Tea
A few months ago, I was telling Rupali that I want to set up a school somewhere in the rural interiors of India. This will happen when I have retired, which I plan to do in my late forties. I will take 100 students only. Whereas my thinking on how they will be brought up and funded may differ from normal such schools, the model is already followed, I learnt later, by a few organizations. Anyways, this write up is not about me or my dreams of a school, it is about Greg Mortenson. It is a write up dedicated to a man whom I met through a book, who tells people like me two things – don’t just dream, do it and one man can really change thousands of lives.
It is difficult to say where Greg Mortenson was from. Though an American by nationality, most of his childhood was spent in Africa. Later the family moved to Montana, US, and when Greg was old enough, he joined the army and later moved to the west coast to earn his living as a nurse and spend the rest of his time doing what he loved, mountaineering. The story starts with an attempt to mount the K2, second highest peak of the world in northern Pakistan, in which he failed to reach the summit after making very close to it. On his way back, lost, tired, exhausted and near death, he arrived at this small obscure village named Korphe. The villagers fed him and kept him warm. He realized how poor they were and yet they offered him the best they had. During the next few weeks, as he gained strength, he made friends with them and treated their small and big medical ills with his experience of a nurse and the expedition’s medical kit.
One day he asked the headman to take him to the village school. He was led up a steep path to a vast open ledge on a high altitude. Though the view was exquisite, Mortenson was appalled to see eighty two children – seventy eight boys and four girls, kneeling on the frosty ground, in the open. The village had no school and the government did not provide a teacher. Teacher cost equivalent to one dollar a day which the village could not afford so they shared a teacher from the neighboring village. The rest of the time, children were left alone to practice. This sight changed Greg’s life forever. While he admired the grit of the students to be studying in the open in a wintry atmosphere, he was wretched to see what they had to undergo to get education. He was so moved that he promised to return some day and build them a school.
Back in the US, Mortenson wrote 580 letters to people he knew, to celebrities and the millionaires including names such as Oprah Winfrey, Susan Sarandon and every US senator. Here is what he wrote, “I plan to build a five-room school to educate 100 students up to the fifth grade. While I was in Pakistan I consulted with local experts. Using local materials, labor and craftsmen, I feel sure I can complete the school for $12,000”. To save money, he decided not to rent an apartment. He lived in his car. On most days he ate a 99 cent breakfast and skipped lunch. After a while, he got a letter from his mother who was a principal at a school in Montana. Her students had launched a “Pennies for Pakistan” campaign collecting 62,345 pennies. One friend of his sent him a check of $100. That was all he received after speaking to several people, months of follow-up and those 580 letters. Subsequently he met Dr. Jean Hoerni, an eccentric millionaire, who agreed to sponsor his school, for the whole $12,000. As a consequence started the effort of building the first school in 1994.
Since then Greg and a tireless team of locals, built more than 60 schools in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan which have provided education to over 25,000 children including 14,000 girls through Central Asia Institute (www.ikat.org), the foundation formed by Hoerni’s funds. Greg has had fatwa issued against him twice and was abducted a couple of times by the militia. During these years, the Americans have not exactly been loved in these parts of the world but Greg continued to work towards the cause. While he received several death threats and hate mails cursing him and his cause after 9/11, sadly most from Americans, he was loved by the locals. He has been able to accomplish this with the support of the local Pakistanis and Afghans, many of them being mullahs, tribes and militia.
During these years, Greg has tried to argue that the war with terrorism in the Islamic countries cannot be won with weapons, but with education and awareness. During one session addressing the Congress at the Capitol, he was interrupted by a Congressman midsentence, “Building schools for kids is just fine and dandy. But our primary need as a nation is security. What does all this matter without security?” Mortenson replied, “Fighting terror is perhaps seventh or eighth on my list of priorities…I have learnt that terror does not happen because a group of people in Pakistan or Afghanistan decide to hate us…It happens because children aren’t being offered a bright enough future that they have a reason to choose life over death” He spoke about the impoverished public schools and the wahhabi madrassas sprouting like cancerous cells and billions of dollars of Saudi sheiks carried into region to fuel the factories of jihad. The only way to counter these was to build schools, he argued. The government or foreign aid has done little to support education. Terror cannot be fought with weapons or poverty with grants. The solution is to fight ignorance. To overcome the fear of terror, we need to build awareness. To overcome the poverty of India or Pakistan or anywhere else, we need schools.
One part of me questions, “Are you not an Indian? How could you donate to Pakistanis? India is poor and needs funding as well?” My answer to myself is, “Yes, I am an Indian and Pakistan is definitely not one of my favorite countries. But I can make out the difference between hostility between nations and fighting for a common cause. I am donating for a cause and would do so for any country. And as I said, some day, I will open a school. It would be in India”,
If you want to know more read the book “3 cups of tea” written by Mortenson and David Relin, an Oregon based reporter. It is an engaging read.
If you want to donate:
• Buy the book online from www.threecupsoftea.com, 7% of the proceeds go to education
• You could start with a penny. It can buy a pencil. A dollar can fund a child’s education for a month! You can make a tax deductible contribution to Central Asia Institute, P.O.Box 7209, Bozeman, MT 59771 or from their website https://www.ikat.org/make-a-donation/
• And some day I will send you a link when you can make donations to my school as well!
It is difficult to say where Greg Mortenson was from. Though an American by nationality, most of his childhood was spent in Africa. Later the family moved to Montana, US, and when Greg was old enough, he joined the army and later moved to the west coast to earn his living as a nurse and spend the rest of his time doing what he loved, mountaineering. The story starts with an attempt to mount the K2, second highest peak of the world in northern Pakistan, in which he failed to reach the summit after making very close to it. On his way back, lost, tired, exhausted and near death, he arrived at this small obscure village named Korphe. The villagers fed him and kept him warm. He realized how poor they were and yet they offered him the best they had. During the next few weeks, as he gained strength, he made friends with them and treated their small and big medical ills with his experience of a nurse and the expedition’s medical kit.
One day he asked the headman to take him to the village school. He was led up a steep path to a vast open ledge on a high altitude. Though the view was exquisite, Mortenson was appalled to see eighty two children – seventy eight boys and four girls, kneeling on the frosty ground, in the open. The village had no school and the government did not provide a teacher. Teacher cost equivalent to one dollar a day which the village could not afford so they shared a teacher from the neighboring village. The rest of the time, children were left alone to practice. This sight changed Greg’s life forever. While he admired the grit of the students to be studying in the open in a wintry atmosphere, he was wretched to see what they had to undergo to get education. He was so moved that he promised to return some day and build them a school.
Back in the US, Mortenson wrote 580 letters to people he knew, to celebrities and the millionaires including names such as Oprah Winfrey, Susan Sarandon and every US senator. Here is what he wrote, “I plan to build a five-room school to educate 100 students up to the fifth grade. While I was in Pakistan I consulted with local experts. Using local materials, labor and craftsmen, I feel sure I can complete the school for $12,000”. To save money, he decided not to rent an apartment. He lived in his car. On most days he ate a 99 cent breakfast and skipped lunch. After a while, he got a letter from his mother who was a principal at a school in Montana. Her students had launched a “Pennies for Pakistan” campaign collecting 62,345 pennies. One friend of his sent him a check of $100. That was all he received after speaking to several people, months of follow-up and those 580 letters. Subsequently he met Dr. Jean Hoerni, an eccentric millionaire, who agreed to sponsor his school, for the whole $12,000. As a consequence started the effort of building the first school in 1994.
Since then Greg and a tireless team of locals, built more than 60 schools in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan which have provided education to over 25,000 children including 14,000 girls through Central Asia Institute (www.ikat.org), the foundation formed by Hoerni’s funds. Greg has had fatwa issued against him twice and was abducted a couple of times by the militia. During these years, the Americans have not exactly been loved in these parts of the world but Greg continued to work towards the cause. While he received several death threats and hate mails cursing him and his cause after 9/11, sadly most from Americans, he was loved by the locals. He has been able to accomplish this with the support of the local Pakistanis and Afghans, many of them being mullahs, tribes and militia.
During these years, Greg has tried to argue that the war with terrorism in the Islamic countries cannot be won with weapons, but with education and awareness. During one session addressing the Congress at the Capitol, he was interrupted by a Congressman midsentence, “Building schools for kids is just fine and dandy. But our primary need as a nation is security. What does all this matter without security?” Mortenson replied, “Fighting terror is perhaps seventh or eighth on my list of priorities…I have learnt that terror does not happen because a group of people in Pakistan or Afghanistan decide to hate us…It happens because children aren’t being offered a bright enough future that they have a reason to choose life over death” He spoke about the impoverished public schools and the wahhabi madrassas sprouting like cancerous cells and billions of dollars of Saudi sheiks carried into region to fuel the factories of jihad. The only way to counter these was to build schools, he argued. The government or foreign aid has done little to support education. Terror cannot be fought with weapons or poverty with grants. The solution is to fight ignorance. To overcome the fear of terror, we need to build awareness. To overcome the poverty of India or Pakistan or anywhere else, we need schools.
One part of me questions, “Are you not an Indian? How could you donate to Pakistanis? India is poor and needs funding as well?” My answer to myself is, “Yes, I am an Indian and Pakistan is definitely not one of my favorite countries. But I can make out the difference between hostility between nations and fighting for a common cause. I am donating for a cause and would do so for any country. And as I said, some day, I will open a school. It would be in India”,
If you want to know more read the book “3 cups of tea” written by Mortenson and David Relin, an Oregon based reporter. It is an engaging read.
If you want to donate:
• Buy the book online from www.threecupsoftea.com, 7% of the proceeds go to education
• You could start with a penny. It can buy a pencil. A dollar can fund a child’s education for a month! You can make a tax deductible contribution to Central Asia Institute, P.O.Box 7209, Bozeman, MT 59771 or from their website https://www.ikat.org/make-a-donation/
• And some day I will send you a link when you can make donations to my school as well!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Cruising Lake Powell
The later part of our Vegas – Canyon – Powell trip was pretty much unplanned. Asking for directions to lake Powell standing in front of it, we must have been amusing other passersby on the Glen Canyon dam bridge. Somehow we followed a road alongside the lake that lead to this national park and ended at the Lake Powell Resort, right in front of Lake Powell. Luckily we got a room facing the lake – our best during this trip.
Most of the evening was spent relaxing from the drive and getting ourselves familiarized with the resort. Mishti could run after the hares, scattered around the resort in dozens, Rupali could munch and I could sip beers. In the evening we were finally able to enjoy aloodum and bread, our first Indian meal in 5 days. The resort people were kind enough to heat it when I gave them the ready to eat packet and mentioned it as ‘special diet’. It was a wonderful evening and what was in store for the next day was amazing.
We had booked ourselves on the 3 hour Navajo Tapestry cruise that leaves from the resort’s marina. After a nice walk along the shores of the lake and a quick lunch, we were set to board the boat. Walking quickly to grab the best seats on the upper deck, we realized that only a few were under a shade and most of these were taken by this big Indian family of 4 adults, one young adult and a child, from Phoenix. They were kind enough to make room for Rupali while Mishti was settled in her stroller contemplating between her favorite afternoon siesta, which she had so little of during this trip, and peek-a-boo games with the Indian family. What we had not imagined that the seats under the shade will be irrelevant as we would mostly be standing for the next three hours.
As the engine came to life, we moved to the first point, the Glen Canyon Dam. This was built on land once owned by the Navajo tribe. The US govt. exchanged 50,000 acres of land from them in 1957 to built this dam. That is when Lake Powell was created as a reservoir, the second largest manmade lake in the US. The boat then moved on to the Antelope Canyon winding through its narrow gorges on pristine green water. After each opening we felt that we may be heading for the lake’s periphery, but it went on with the gorges becoming narrower after each opening. The captain would turn off the engine and slow down the boat as there could be smaller boats and kayaks round the corner and also because it was easy to steer and avoid the titanic. As we entered deep within, we could sense the surrounded calmness. Fellow passengers were quiet enjoying the serenity. It was one of the most spectacular and awe-inspiring sights that we had ever seen. I envied the kayakers. If Mishti was not around, Rupali and I would have surely climbed on a kayak as we did in Goa a couple of years ago.
Moving towards Navajo Canyon, the rocks became darker and towering. Canyons were largely formed by erosion of water and wind and one can see the smooth rock surfaces as the boat passes by them. While passing a rock island, we saw kayakers perched on it. At other places, people were embracing the lake’s rosy sand beaches taking a dive or two or simply fishing.
All this while whereas most passengers were moving around the boat, clicking pictures with excited oohs and aahs, this Indian family was quieter. The women were sitting, chatting. The young adult – may be in his early twenties, was sometimes chatting or just sitting idly. One of the men was as excited as we were. Rupali and I were chatting leaning on the rails at the front of the boat and I told her that this Indian family was kind of sad , “They are not excited at all. How can that be?” Rupali added, “Ya, one of the man was telling the women, what are you chatting about, don’t you want to enjoy the scenery at which the women gave him a look and then resumed chatting” All this while, we did not realize that this man was standing just next to us. He immediately left. We realized the faux pas admitting that sometimes we can really be foolish to the core. However, we were not really sure whether he heard us. So I asked Rupali to go and stand where he was standing and then I spoke in the same pitch as while we were chatting. Rupali gave me a look. She could hear everything. Every word. I came back and stood near her. We were thinking that this family was so nice to us – made room for Rupali, played with Mishti and look at the way we were bitching about them. We were quiet for a while. Then we looked at each other and burst out laughing.
On our way back, the captain showed us personal houseboats ranging from a million to a few millions. One could rent those for a 1000 USD a night. Well may be we will come back one day. Kayak during the day and gape at the moon during the night on a house boat.
Most of the evening was spent relaxing from the drive and getting ourselves familiarized with the resort. Mishti could run after the hares, scattered around the resort in dozens, Rupali could munch and I could sip beers. In the evening we were finally able to enjoy aloodum and bread, our first Indian meal in 5 days. The resort people were kind enough to heat it when I gave them the ready to eat packet and mentioned it as ‘special diet’. It was a wonderful evening and what was in store for the next day was amazing.
We had booked ourselves on the 3 hour Navajo Tapestry cruise that leaves from the resort’s marina. After a nice walk along the shores of the lake and a quick lunch, we were set to board the boat. Walking quickly to grab the best seats on the upper deck, we realized that only a few were under a shade and most of these were taken by this big Indian family of 4 adults, one young adult and a child, from Phoenix. They were kind enough to make room for Rupali while Mishti was settled in her stroller contemplating between her favorite afternoon siesta, which she had so little of during this trip, and peek-a-boo games with the Indian family. What we had not imagined that the seats under the shade will be irrelevant as we would mostly be standing for the next three hours.
As the engine came to life, we moved to the first point, the Glen Canyon Dam. This was built on land once owned by the Navajo tribe. The US govt. exchanged 50,000 acres of land from them in 1957 to built this dam. That is when Lake Powell was created as a reservoir, the second largest manmade lake in the US. The boat then moved on to the Antelope Canyon winding through its narrow gorges on pristine green water. After each opening we felt that we may be heading for the lake’s periphery, but it went on with the gorges becoming narrower after each opening. The captain would turn off the engine and slow down the boat as there could be smaller boats and kayaks round the corner and also because it was easy to steer and avoid the titanic. As we entered deep within, we could sense the surrounded calmness. Fellow passengers were quiet enjoying the serenity. It was one of the most spectacular and awe-inspiring sights that we had ever seen. I envied the kayakers. If Mishti was not around, Rupali and I would have surely climbed on a kayak as we did in Goa a couple of years ago.
Moving towards Navajo Canyon, the rocks became darker and towering. Canyons were largely formed by erosion of water and wind and one can see the smooth rock surfaces as the boat passes by them. While passing a rock island, we saw kayakers perched on it. At other places, people were embracing the lake’s rosy sand beaches taking a dive or two or simply fishing.
All this while whereas most passengers were moving around the boat, clicking pictures with excited oohs and aahs, this Indian family was quieter. The women were sitting, chatting. The young adult – may be in his early twenties, was sometimes chatting or just sitting idly. One of the men was as excited as we were. Rupali and I were chatting leaning on the rails at the front of the boat and I told her that this Indian family was kind of sad , “They are not excited at all. How can that be?” Rupali added, “Ya, one of the man was telling the women, what are you chatting about, don’t you want to enjoy the scenery at which the women gave him a look and then resumed chatting” All this while, we did not realize that this man was standing just next to us. He immediately left. We realized the faux pas admitting that sometimes we can really be foolish to the core. However, we were not really sure whether he heard us. So I asked Rupali to go and stand where he was standing and then I spoke in the same pitch as while we were chatting. Rupali gave me a look. She could hear everything. Every word. I came back and stood near her. We were thinking that this family was so nice to us – made room for Rupali, played with Mishti and look at the way we were bitching about them. We were quiet for a while. Then we looked at each other and burst out laughing.
On our way back, the captain showed us personal houseboats ranging from a million to a few millions. One could rent those for a 1000 USD a night. Well may be we will come back one day. Kayak during the day and gape at the moon during the night on a house boat.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Hiking the South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon, 17th May 2008.
Though we got up early at 5.15AM, it was 7.45 when we started to hike. It was a beautiful day and just when we started, I met this Shambhu Shikari (as named by Rupali due to his hat, long shorts and socks) who was confident that he could go up to the Colorado and be back the same day. He had done 20 miles in a day a few times in the past and South Kaibab trail to the base of the Colorado river and back is just 13 mile, as he put it. If he is still alive then I met a confident soul, otherwise, be it lay in peace. There have been enough write-ups on the Grand Canyon hiking and all of them have one thing in common – never attempt to go down the base and come back the same day, esp during summer– its suicidal to put it politely.
Anyways, with Mishti on our back, we had written that off and we are not that level of hikers anyways. According to me, there are 10 levels of hikers – level 10 guys do Mt Everest and come back. Alive. (there are only 1000 such people!). Level 7 guys do South Kaibab and yes, come back alive. We classify ourselves as level 3 since we did Mahuli (Near Mumbai), Dog Mountain(Near Portland) and a fifth of South Kaibab trail without killing ourselves, the last two with Mishti on our back.
Our objective was to go to Cedar Ridge which is around 2miles one way on the South Kaibab trail, a short hike but a steep one with an elevation change of close to 2000feet. When we started, we had the first glimpse of the Grand Canyon as we had arrived late last night well after dark. After every 2 minutes, we would stop – admire the view, click a few pictures and move on. The scale is unimaginable. It’s like a sea – as far as your sight goes. But unlike a sea, it has several flavors – flavors of color, flavors of depth, flavors of enormousness. We were absorbed. Captivated by its beauty. Small is beautiful. Large can also be.
Soon we saw this group of people lead by a ranger (Rangers take groups and start at 7.30AM) and we caught up with them quickly and thereafter stuck to them. Our ranger, like most others, was an entertainer with good stories, some made up, some real and some good first hand information about the landscape and the plant and animal life. For example, our ranger showed us a plant – more like a shoot – that grows a foot a day for up to 15 days;. Also, the highest incidence of fatalities in GC according to him are air crashes (which I verified later to be true) and on land occur among males 25 to 34, which had me worried.
Rupali had Mishti while going down to the ridge. That’s how it is with us. She will carry her when we descend and me takeover when we ascend. She is more surefooted as well (example - she married such a great guy!) which is critical while descending. The hike down to the ridge was good – a significant part of which had steps naturally made by years of hiking – I knew as I was descending that climbing up may get tough as these were steep stairs rather than steep hike. Upon reaching the Ceder ridge, we parked ourselves under a bush with some shade. Mishti had fallen asleep and so we went around exploring the area which has many photo-ops. After some time Mishti woke up and she wanted juice as if she had hiked all the while and was thirsty.
She has this habit of saying Hi to strangers and then if they reply – she goes on with several hi hi hi hi – till they get bored and stop responding. There was this girl – may be five or six years old – to whom Mishti said hi and she responded back with a hi. After that Mishti said Hi again and this girl replied back with a Hi. When Mishti said Hi for the third time, the girl lost it and said – haven’t I said hi to you twice? At that moment Mishti’s face was worth watching. She was perplexed. Nobody had ever told her anything other than hi to a hi, so what was this girl saying, and that to sternly? Mishti kept gaping at her and after a while turned back and joined us under the shade. It was hilarious.
We started to ascend at around 9.30AM. We tied a white cotton cloth around the baby backpack as the sun was out. In the first 15 minutes – I was panting, as usually happens if the hike is steep. But we kept going, slowly – one step at a time. In between we stood by the shade and had a bite of energy bars – for some reason we were very excited about them. This was the first time we had anything like that and I had in my mind imagined that as soon as you take a bite of the energy bar, energy starts flowing into you as the likes of Spiderman or Superman. Except for sticky, chewy, chocalatee flavor nothing else happened, or nothing that at least I could make out. We kept walking. As the trail is cut aside mountains, each time the direction changes, you may either be on a stretch that is covered by sunshine or completely exposed to it. The stretches with shade were always welcome as the sun was shining as if it was only shining for me – right in front of my face. After about an hour of hiking, we could spot the summit. This charged us and we did the rest pretty quickly, reaching the top by 11.00AM. Looking back, it was not so tough – we could have done twice but then we would have been tired with sore legs, unable to do anything else. Estimates put us on the 5% of the 4mn annual visitors that the Canyon gets, who hike down the Grand Canyon, which we were happy about.
That evening and the next morning, we hiked/walked another 5-6 miles around the rim of the Canyon and saw it from different angles. The Colorado river, that was not visible from the Kaibab trail, was visible from other points west of the Grand Canyon Village. From the top, though it is flowing deep within the canyon, it looks hikable, perhaps because you can see it and assess its depth. But by that logic, you can also see the sun! They are right. Looks are deceptive.
Anyways, with Mishti on our back, we had written that off and we are not that level of hikers anyways. According to me, there are 10 levels of hikers – level 10 guys do Mt Everest and come back. Alive. (there are only 1000 such people!). Level 7 guys do South Kaibab and yes, come back alive. We classify ourselves as level 3 since we did Mahuli (Near Mumbai), Dog Mountain(Near Portland) and a fifth of South Kaibab trail without killing ourselves, the last two with Mishti on our back.
Our objective was to go to Cedar Ridge which is around 2miles one way on the South Kaibab trail, a short hike but a steep one with an elevation change of close to 2000feet. When we started, we had the first glimpse of the Grand Canyon as we had arrived late last night well after dark. After every 2 minutes, we would stop – admire the view, click a few pictures and move on. The scale is unimaginable. It’s like a sea – as far as your sight goes. But unlike a sea, it has several flavors – flavors of color, flavors of depth, flavors of enormousness. We were absorbed. Captivated by its beauty. Small is beautiful. Large can also be.
Soon we saw this group of people lead by a ranger (Rangers take groups and start at 7.30AM) and we caught up with them quickly and thereafter stuck to them. Our ranger, like most others, was an entertainer with good stories, some made up, some real and some good first hand information about the landscape and the plant and animal life. For example, our ranger showed us a plant – more like a shoot – that grows a foot a day for up to 15 days;. Also, the highest incidence of fatalities in GC according to him are air crashes (which I verified later to be true) and on land occur among males 25 to 34, which had me worried.
Rupali had Mishti while going down to the ridge. That’s how it is with us. She will carry her when we descend and me takeover when we ascend. She is more surefooted as well (example - she married such a great guy!) which is critical while descending. The hike down to the ridge was good – a significant part of which had steps naturally made by years of hiking – I knew as I was descending that climbing up may get tough as these were steep stairs rather than steep hike. Upon reaching the Ceder ridge, we parked ourselves under a bush with some shade. Mishti had fallen asleep and so we went around exploring the area which has many photo-ops. After some time Mishti woke up and she wanted juice as if she had hiked all the while and was thirsty.
She has this habit of saying Hi to strangers and then if they reply – she goes on with several hi hi hi hi – till they get bored and stop responding. There was this girl – may be five or six years old – to whom Mishti said hi and she responded back with a hi. After that Mishti said Hi again and this girl replied back with a Hi. When Mishti said Hi for the third time, the girl lost it and said – haven’t I said hi to you twice? At that moment Mishti’s face was worth watching. She was perplexed. Nobody had ever told her anything other than hi to a hi, so what was this girl saying, and that to sternly? Mishti kept gaping at her and after a while turned back and joined us under the shade. It was hilarious.
We started to ascend at around 9.30AM. We tied a white cotton cloth around the baby backpack as the sun was out. In the first 15 minutes – I was panting, as usually happens if the hike is steep. But we kept going, slowly – one step at a time. In between we stood by the shade and had a bite of energy bars – for some reason we were very excited about them. This was the first time we had anything like that and I had in my mind imagined that as soon as you take a bite of the energy bar, energy starts flowing into you as the likes of Spiderman or Superman. Except for sticky, chewy, chocalatee flavor nothing else happened, or nothing that at least I could make out. We kept walking. As the trail is cut aside mountains, each time the direction changes, you may either be on a stretch that is covered by sunshine or completely exposed to it. The stretches with shade were always welcome as the sun was shining as if it was only shining for me – right in front of my face. After about an hour of hiking, we could spot the summit. This charged us and we did the rest pretty quickly, reaching the top by 11.00AM. Looking back, it was not so tough – we could have done twice but then we would have been tired with sore legs, unable to do anything else. Estimates put us on the 5% of the 4mn annual visitors that the Canyon gets, who hike down the Grand Canyon, which we were happy about.
That evening and the next morning, we hiked/walked another 5-6 miles around the rim of the Canyon and saw it from different angles. The Colorado river, that was not visible from the Kaibab trail, was visible from other points west of the Grand Canyon Village. From the top, though it is flowing deep within the canyon, it looks hikable, perhaps because you can see it and assess its depth. But by that logic, you can also see the sun! They are right. Looks are deceptive.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Do we really need health insurance?
I feel that the debate on Health Insurance in the recent elections and their entire diagnosis of the problem is flawed. Are they trying to help insurance companies by trying to insure everybody or help Americans by getting the costs health care costs down? Look closely and you would realize they are doing the former.
There are 2 real problems that we face - costs of procuring health services and the leech called insurance. A quick search on the web reveals that countries like UK, Sweden and Japan spend anywhere between $1650 to $1850per capita for health, we spend $4500 and even then we have been ranked 37th in overall health performance and 24th in health attainment. According to Insurance Information Institute, the single largest reason to be unable to afford health insurance is cost. So instead of pressurizing insurance companies to find ways to reduce premiums, the debate on this is going towards trying to cover everybody, which in turn, they claim, will reduce the cost of insurance premiums. This could not be true. From 1987 to 2006, the % uninsured grew from 14% to 16%. Increase of 2% in 20 years! Meanwhile insurance costs went up at least 3-4 times. How can then insuring the uninsured decrease the cost of health insurance? Here is a different plan that addresses the situation to some extent.
Imagine one being affiliated to a medical facility (MF - hospital/clinic etc) within one’s county. This MF is a typical not for profit promoted by the government. In-stead of insurance premiums, you pay a fee, charged to you like electricity by this body. This fee works largely like premiums do – less for healthy and more for not so healthy. It covers you for all emergencies or any medical need without any complications of deductibles, co-pay etc. If you are out of the city/county, an associate MF covers you. Since people from one county will continue using services of another county within the state or outside (as people travel), these MF continue to adjust their books internally. A lot of this sounds like the insurance, especially the fee being like premiums, so what is the benefit?
The healthcare plan
If it sounds like insurance, why have insurance? After all, insurance is just the middleman that works on laws of probability. They think that the costs of those claiming will be offset by the revenues of premiums earned and still leave them some margin. To collect premiums on time and settle claims belated after paying less or nothing, they have an army of employees. After paying for all administrative costs and salaries, they still make money. (Note that compared to other businesses, insurance companies have a much longer life span, and rarely ever, go bust.) So if we just avoid them and pay the so called premiums to the hospitals/clinics, we should be paying less. Further, the practice of inflating prices to leave room for negotiation with the insurance companies, will go away bringing the costs down.
Net positive premium will be used to improve reserves and facilities, net negative will be underwritten by the government. This way, it is finally the tax payer’s money going directly to cover their costs rather than going to insurance companies first, who keep their cut and question all your claims.
There are 2 real problems that we face - costs of procuring health services and the leech called insurance. A quick search on the web reveals that countries like UK, Sweden and Japan spend anywhere between $1650 to $1850per capita for health, we spend $4500 and even then we have been ranked 37th in overall health performance and 24th in health attainment. According to Insurance Information Institute, the single largest reason to be unable to afford health insurance is cost. So instead of pressurizing insurance companies to find ways to reduce premiums, the debate on this is going towards trying to cover everybody, which in turn, they claim, will reduce the cost of insurance premiums. This could not be true. From 1987 to 2006, the % uninsured grew from 14% to 16%. Increase of 2% in 20 years! Meanwhile insurance costs went up at least 3-4 times. How can then insuring the uninsured decrease the cost of health insurance? Here is a different plan that addresses the situation to some extent.
Imagine one being affiliated to a medical facility (MF - hospital/clinic etc) within one’s county. This MF is a typical not for profit promoted by the government. In-stead of insurance premiums, you pay a fee, charged to you like electricity by this body. This fee works largely like premiums do – less for healthy and more for not so healthy. It covers you for all emergencies or any medical need without any complications of deductibles, co-pay etc. If you are out of the city/county, an associate MF covers you. Since people from one county will continue using services of another county within the state or outside (as people travel), these MF continue to adjust their books internally. A lot of this sounds like the insurance, especially the fee being like premiums, so what is the benefit?
The healthcare plan
If it sounds like insurance, why have insurance? After all, insurance is just the middleman that works on laws of probability. They think that the costs of those claiming will be offset by the revenues of premiums earned and still leave them some margin. To collect premiums on time and settle claims belated after paying less or nothing, they have an army of employees. After paying for all administrative costs and salaries, they still make money. (Note that compared to other businesses, insurance companies have a much longer life span, and rarely ever, go bust.) So if we just avoid them and pay the so called premiums to the hospitals/clinics, we should be paying less. Further, the practice of inflating prices to leave room for negotiation with the insurance companies, will go away bringing the costs down.
Net positive premium will be used to improve reserves and facilities, net negative will be underwritten by the government. This way, it is finally the tax payer’s money going directly to cover their costs rather than going to insurance companies first, who keep their cut and question all your claims.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Visit to Maui, Hawaii
Visit to Maui, Hawaii 13th to 19th Feb’08This was our first trip to Hawaii and though Hawaii was in our radar for a long time, we had not imagined that we could do it so soon. It all started when we saw that the tickets were $300 around our anniversary and then we started planning around the week. (To watch the pictures copy and paste following on your browser http://picasaweb.google.com/vineet0511/Hawaii?authkey=NEOosihIreA)
I had not imagined that Maui is as pretty inside as on its beaches. So those planning a trip note to spend time inside the island as well. Though a trip to Hawaii is always memorable, this will perhaps be more for us as there were many things we did for the first time. 8 key highlights of our trip:
- Snorkeling is absolutely wonderful. If you think you know how yellow looks on black, you don’t. If you know how orange shades on green, you are kidding yourself. The colors of the wonderful fish in sparking water cannot be replicated in imagination or Corel draw, can just only be experienced. I need not spend too many words trying to explain it as I will not succeed. Only two pieces of advice: go with your loved ones as this is something to be shared with while you are experiencing it and secondly, you need not even know swimming well to be able to do it. We wore a life jacket and were just fine. Kaanapali Beach was the best.
- Haleakala Sunrise – if there is something close to heavenly, it could be this. Watching the sun rise at 10,000 feet at the Haleakala mountain summit. Yes, you have to wake up at 4.00AM, but it is absolutely worth it. Try to be there 45 minutes before sunrise to see how the horizon changes colors as the sun is closing up for the rise. On the day that I went, I could see the horizon clearly and the clouds below, not interrupting the view.
- Whale Watching –At this time of the year, there are so many of them and so close to the shores that you may do away with binoculars. These magnificent mammals with the signature tails are fun to watch. On our trip with the pacific foundation whale tours which I recommend highly, we must have seen at least a couple of dozen whales in two hours. And to our pleasant surprise, there came dolphins from no where pacing near the bow of the boat and flipping once in a while to draw attention. According to Rupali, if they could speak, what they were really trying to say is, “Look at us, not the boring whales!” These playful things fill you with joy.
- Hiking at Haleakala – With Mishti on the back-pack, we could hike 5 miles up to the Waimoku water falls and the 7 pools. The hike was pleasurable, a little tiring with her but pretty ok if you are on your own. The highlight is the bamboo forest that comes on the way.
- A night in the cabin – We rented a cabin at the Waianapanapa State Park. We wanted to have a rustic experience. The cabin is pretty ok with Refrigerator, stove, indoor toilets and running water. It is the best deal is Maui at $45 a night. Be prepared for mosquitoes.
- Luau – this is another way to spend a romantic evening in Maui, the Luau – the local dinner and dance of Hawaii. The performers were pretty talented - good-looking and sexy as well, especially in their provocative attire. The man performing the fire dance was really good and most group dances had good music and graceful movements. However, the one at Hyatt that we went for, is not worth its price.
- Drive up to Lahaina from Kahului via the north route is picturesque. It is perhaps as good as the much talked about Hana drive but less crowded and steeper with many single lane stretches. You should do it, if you have time and stop by to eat the banana breads and local organic fruits.
- Finally, if you renting a car, rent an SUV. It is worth it on the winding mountainous roads of Maui. We were lucky to put our hands on a brand new Ford Escape, just out of the showroom, having run only 6 miles.
Low points of the trip were the small accident (only a scratch on the passenger side) while I was backing up from parking. The rental agency and GEICO are settling it and will let us know how it finally impacted our budget! Next was the food. If you are an Indian not so accustomed to cold meats, I would recommend you carry a few MTRs and other ready to eat stuff on this and similar trips abroad. Since most places provide for a microwave and a few utensils, it is easy to cook. Hana, especially, is so laid back that there is practically only one restaurant open for dinner where the average cost is $30-$50 per person. Also, Frommer’s probably do not have the best recommendations on food and beaches. Their 2008 edition is not updated in many places. Look at other travel guide books, or better still, talk to me!
Grand Canyon is next on agenda this summer! Will keep you posted.
I had not imagined that Maui is as pretty inside as on its beaches. So those planning a trip note to spend time inside the island as well. Though a trip to Hawaii is always memorable, this will perhaps be more for us as there were many things we did for the first time. 8 key highlights of our trip:
- Snorkeling is absolutely wonderful. If you think you know how yellow looks on black, you don’t. If you know how orange shades on green, you are kidding yourself. The colors of the wonderful fish in sparking water cannot be replicated in imagination or Corel draw, can just only be experienced. I need not spend too many words trying to explain it as I will not succeed. Only two pieces of advice: go with your loved ones as this is something to be shared with while you are experiencing it and secondly, you need not even know swimming well to be able to do it. We wore a life jacket and were just fine. Kaanapali Beach was the best.
- Haleakala Sunrise – if there is something close to heavenly, it could be this. Watching the sun rise at 10,000 feet at the Haleakala mountain summit. Yes, you have to wake up at 4.00AM, but it is absolutely worth it. Try to be there 45 minutes before sunrise to see how the horizon changes colors as the sun is closing up for the rise. On the day that I went, I could see the horizon clearly and the clouds below, not interrupting the view.
- Whale Watching –At this time of the year, there are so many of them and so close to the shores that you may do away with binoculars. These magnificent mammals with the signature tails are fun to watch. On our trip with the pacific foundation whale tours which I recommend highly, we must have seen at least a couple of dozen whales in two hours. And to our pleasant surprise, there came dolphins from no where pacing near the bow of the boat and flipping once in a while to draw attention. According to Rupali, if they could speak, what they were really trying to say is, “Look at us, not the boring whales!” These playful things fill you with joy.
- Hiking at Haleakala – With Mishti on the back-pack, we could hike 5 miles up to the Waimoku water falls and the 7 pools. The hike was pleasurable, a little tiring with her but pretty ok if you are on your own. The highlight is the bamboo forest that comes on the way.
- A night in the cabin – We rented a cabin at the Waianapanapa State Park. We wanted to have a rustic experience. The cabin is pretty ok with Refrigerator, stove, indoor toilets and running water. It is the best deal is Maui at $45 a night. Be prepared for mosquitoes.
- Luau – this is another way to spend a romantic evening in Maui, the Luau – the local dinner and dance of Hawaii. The performers were pretty talented - good-looking and sexy as well, especially in their provocative attire. The man performing the fire dance was really good and most group dances had good music and graceful movements. However, the one at Hyatt that we went for, is not worth its price.
- Drive up to Lahaina from Kahului via the north route is picturesque. It is perhaps as good as the much talked about Hana drive but less crowded and steeper with many single lane stretches. You should do it, if you have time and stop by to eat the banana breads and local organic fruits.
- Finally, if you renting a car, rent an SUV. It is worth it on the winding mountainous roads of Maui. We were lucky to put our hands on a brand new Ford Escape, just out of the showroom, having run only 6 miles.
Low points of the trip were the small accident (only a scratch on the passenger side) while I was backing up from parking. The rental agency and GEICO are settling it and will let us know how it finally impacted our budget! Next was the food. If you are an Indian not so accustomed to cold meats, I would recommend you carry a few MTRs and other ready to eat stuff on this and similar trips abroad. Since most places provide for a microwave and a few utensils, it is easy to cook. Hana, especially, is so laid back that there is practically only one restaurant open for dinner where the average cost is $30-$50 per person. Also, Frommer’s probably do not have the best recommendations on food and beaches. Their 2008 edition is not updated in many places. Look at other travel guide books, or better still, talk to me!
Grand Canyon is next on agenda this summer! Will keep you posted.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
US Corporations – a conspiracy against consumers
US Corporations – a conspiracy against consumers…
I think that US consumers are pretty naïve. Anybody can fool us, take us for a ride on the bus of “This is our corporate policy” or “These are our procedures”. I was planning to write about this ever since I had my first nasty interaction and finally got down to doing it today. These are some facts you need to know. Ask me for details if you want to know more.
- Comcast, the leading cable & internet service provider in the US, offers service suspension for a small fee per month if you are away from your home and not using their services. However, they offer this only during vacations and that, according to their corporate policy, starts from October. Initially I thought I had not got it right, but when the lady on the other side repeated it, I was taken aback. So Comcast decides when people should be taking their vacations? They should then be in the travel business.
- Comcast very often offers free installation. However, apart from myself I know at least two people (and I have not gone checking for them – I knew this accidentally) who when they got their first bill, saw the installation charge. You have to call back so that they could reverse it in the next billing cycle. In isolation these may be co-incidences, but if we put these events together, I smell conspiracy. I will not be surprised if this is planned - meaning claim to offer free installations and charge them in the invoice. If the customer calls, refund the charge or else pocket it.
- When you walk into an AT&T / Cingular’s store, they are ready to sell you anything you want (or may not want). But if you have a problem with the service, chances are very high that they will sweetly say that it can only be handled at their customer service center. Sounds unfair. Why can’t they have a couple of desks to resolve queries?
- Again, and this is a classic case for a class action suit. Do you know that even if you talked for 55 seconds or 1.57 seconds, you will be charged for 2 and 3 minutes respectively at AT&T/Cingular? Meaning, if it closer to 55 seconds or so, you will be charged for the next minute? I checked it with them and this honest fellow on the other side of the phone admits that their ‘system’ registers the call after a few seconds by which time if the next minute has started, they will bill you for that minute. How conveniently designed is this system?
- Still with AT&T. Do you know that their famous network map with those orange shades showing their network coverage across the US is flawed? Meaning they are not networked in places where they show they are. I screamed this out at one of their stores and their executives as well as their security personnel (why does an AT&T store need a security personnel?) rushed towards me. It was a funny sight. They wanted me to calm down as they were afraid that their other prospects may run away.
- Do you know that if you are a prepaid customer, you can carry forward your unused dollars to the next month. However, if they are unable to charge your card due to some reason, they will not adjust these carry forward dollars to the current billing cycle. You simply lose it. Logically and honestly speaking, these are money you paid in advance and did not use, so this should be in your balance. But this is not the case, they will not adjust it or even give you a call to tell you why the transaction failed or check with you. They will simply disconnect your service.
- Credit rating agencies make millions feel handicapped here in the US. You need to have a credit line to improve your credit rating/score and for that you need to have a credit card or need to take a loan. If you don’t have a credit history, you can get denied a credit card many times before you get your first one. So how can you build a history if the system does not allow you to start? You could take a loan but the terms would kill you. So an average starter would have a more than an average chance to default as his terms would be steep. Other important pointers like car ownership, bank CDs, stable job and a decent salary do not count. How distorted is this system if it does not allow people to move up? And we, the consumers of America, live with this.
- Healthcare. Next time you go to see a doc, see carefully what you are signing. Chances are that the invoice has items built up that you did not use. This they do so that they can negotiate with the insurance companies. Consumers do not pay attention as their insurance pays this (there is a whole write upon this which I will put up in the next few days), but it matters to us collectively as it increases premiums in the long term.
- Take electricity. General Electric sends this mailer every month to move to renewable energy. It argues, that though costs are relatively high, it promotes sustainability and makes us feel responsible citizens. If that is the real case, can someone please ask GE why they send mailers to millions of homes every month, consuming tons of rims of paper? That sure is not a sign of sustainable marketing? Why can’t they promote it thru web/TV ads if they are so bothered?
- I hate Vista but I have no choice as 19 out of 20 laptops come with it. Why? Because there is just one Microsoft. How do regulators allow it even if they allowed a Microsoft to become a monopoly, I am surprised they cannot regulate this part that every laptop buyer should have the choice of application he wants to use, rather than it being thrust on him. If Vista is good, people will eventually move. Why force them?
- Credit cards. These guys are probably the smartest. They have now started sending these dummy cards with a covering letter to you saying your card is ‘pre-approved’. This is unethical as it is not pre-approved as we really understand in terms of credit cards. It would still go thru all checks and scrutiny before it is actually approved. The gimmick works as vulnerable consumers sign in. Even if 5% did, it’s a great ROI for direct mailers.
- Talk about mail in rebates. For those who don’t know, mail-in rebates work this way. As a buyer, at the time of purchase, you are supposed to pay the full price and then mail the receipt along with another form to the mail in address and wait for the rebate check to come to you in 2-3 months. On many occasions even when you have sent all information, the check never comes. If you want to follow-up, then you have to hunt for the copy of the receipt, that is if you were wise enough to keep a copy. Then you follow-up on the phone and wait. Most customers do not take such pains, especially when the rebate value is small. Can someone please ask, why mail in? Why can’t we just get the discount at the time of purchase? The answer is negative as the intentions are immoral. Some of the marketers explain that they want the database. Well, if they do, why don’t they just have them fill up the form at the time of purchase and collect the rebate? The real reason is that they want you to forget about it. It straight away goes to the bottom-line if you forget. Most consumers misplace the receipts or forget about it. These are pure profits to them and ill intended.
- Prices for almost any product category in the US have a 9 in it. It is called psychological pricing in marketing books. It is used in many countries by many marketers. But in the US, it is used for almost every product that you want to buy. Notice the price of products next time you visit a grocery store. $1.89, $13.49, $5.79. Products could be diapers, milk, beer, carrots, detergents, cars, mobile phones, just about anything. The best example here is the price of gas. Gas is priced as 2.899/10. It really makes me laugh. This is another sign that this works with the American customers and that they are gullible.
- Take the Sale/Discount idiotism that goes on. As a customer you will never know if you got a good deal as there is rarely an original price printed on the pack. Most of the times it is bar-coded. Consider this. A Nike shoe sells at Sears at $49.99 with a 20% discount. Is this a good deal? As a customer you will never know as you don’t know what the real retail price is. It may be $40 and the store has jacked it up and offering a discount of the same value. So when consumers tell me that they bought this product at 50% discount or 70% discount, I really pity them. Further, some stores have apparently everything on ‘SALE’. So all price is mentioned under a SALE placard. And what is really on SALE is under clearance. I sometimes wonder telling the store manager that we know that you are here to ‘sell’ so you don’t have to say ‘SALE’ everywhere.
You look almost anywhere and you smell a rat. American consumers are being fooled time and again. There is no regulation and whatever is there hardly helps the consumer as it is at such a macro level.
The solutions
span style="font-size:85%;">There are several solutions. Some of them may be practical, others may be not. But at least let’s start a debate and work out a solution together.
· The market should offer more room for competition. AT&T should not have been allowed to buy Cingular. Yahoo should not be allowed to sell to Microsoft or Google. There should be more options for cable, internet, electricity, almost any service. Competition is good for consumers. It keeps corporations on their toes and brings prices down. They would listen to you and you will have options.
· I am sick of AT&T, you may be of Verizon but we cannot change our service as our phone numbers are with everybody we know. If it becomes mandatory that AT&T will have to forward all my calls to my new number after a message that says that the subscriber has a new number, it will be a great boost to the consumers. AT&T can charge a small fee like $5 (4.99 if you wish) per month for this. It costs them nothing but allows consumers to move swiftly from one operator to the other.
· Mail-in rebates should be banned. Or if that is not possible, have them give you the money not in 3 months but 3 weeks. All stores offering mail-in rebates should have a mail-in box and they should encourage customers to fill the form there itself and drop in the mail box so that consumers do not lose the receipts.
· Organizations promoting sustainability as a marketing and PR gimmick should be taken to task. Everyone seems to be riding this green wave most of which is unethical and customers should be aware so that they can distinguish real from fictitious. Organizations like Energy star or equivalent could take a lead here.
· Prices for most products should have something like a maximum retail price. Bar-coding does not help consumers. The same Nike shoe can sell at Nordstorm at $49.99 and at Sears at $42.99 but customers should know what is the maximum retail price fixed for that shoe by Nike which can help them identify if this is a sale, discount or clearance product.
Lets all move on this together.
I think that US consumers are pretty naïve. Anybody can fool us, take us for a ride on the bus of “This is our corporate policy” or “These are our procedures”. I was planning to write about this ever since I had my first nasty interaction and finally got down to doing it today. These are some facts you need to know. Ask me for details if you want to know more.
- Comcast, the leading cable & internet service provider in the US, offers service suspension for a small fee per month if you are away from your home and not using their services. However, they offer this only during vacations and that, according to their corporate policy, starts from October. Initially I thought I had not got it right, but when the lady on the other side repeated it, I was taken aback. So Comcast decides when people should be taking their vacations? They should then be in the travel business.
- Comcast very often offers free installation. However, apart from myself I know at least two people (and I have not gone checking for them – I knew this accidentally) who when they got their first bill, saw the installation charge. You have to call back so that they could reverse it in the next billing cycle. In isolation these may be co-incidences, but if we put these events together, I smell conspiracy. I will not be surprised if this is planned - meaning claim to offer free installations and charge them in the invoice. If the customer calls, refund the charge or else pocket it.
- When you walk into an AT&T / Cingular’s store, they are ready to sell you anything you want (or may not want). But if you have a problem with the service, chances are very high that they will sweetly say that it can only be handled at their customer service center. Sounds unfair. Why can’t they have a couple of desks to resolve queries?
- Again, and this is a classic case for a class action suit. Do you know that even if you talked for 55 seconds or 1.57 seconds, you will be charged for 2 and 3 minutes respectively at AT&T/Cingular? Meaning, if it closer to 55 seconds or so, you will be charged for the next minute? I checked it with them and this honest fellow on the other side of the phone admits that their ‘system’ registers the call after a few seconds by which time if the next minute has started, they will bill you for that minute. How conveniently designed is this system?
- Still with AT&T. Do you know that their famous network map with those orange shades showing their network coverage across the US is flawed? Meaning they are not networked in places where they show they are. I screamed this out at one of their stores and their executives as well as their security personnel (why does an AT&T store need a security personnel?) rushed towards me. It was a funny sight. They wanted me to calm down as they were afraid that their other prospects may run away.
- Do you know that if you are a prepaid customer, you can carry forward your unused dollars to the next month. However, if they are unable to charge your card due to some reason, they will not adjust these carry forward dollars to the current billing cycle. You simply lose it. Logically and honestly speaking, these are money you paid in advance and did not use, so this should be in your balance. But this is not the case, they will not adjust it or even give you a call to tell you why the transaction failed or check with you. They will simply disconnect your service.
- Credit rating agencies make millions feel handicapped here in the US. You need to have a credit line to improve your credit rating/score and for that you need to have a credit card or need to take a loan. If you don’t have a credit history, you can get denied a credit card many times before you get your first one. So how can you build a history if the system does not allow you to start? You could take a loan but the terms would kill you. So an average starter would have a more than an average chance to default as his terms would be steep. Other important pointers like car ownership, bank CDs, stable job and a decent salary do not count. How distorted is this system if it does not allow people to move up? And we, the consumers of America, live with this.
- Healthcare. Next time you go to see a doc, see carefully what you are signing. Chances are that the invoice has items built up that you did not use. This they do so that they can negotiate with the insurance companies. Consumers do not pay attention as their insurance pays this (there is a whole write upon this which I will put up in the next few days), but it matters to us collectively as it increases premiums in the long term.
- Take electricity. General Electric sends this mailer every month to move to renewable energy. It argues, that though costs are relatively high, it promotes sustainability and makes us feel responsible citizens. If that is the real case, can someone please ask GE why they send mailers to millions of homes every month, consuming tons of rims of paper? That sure is not a sign of sustainable marketing? Why can’t they promote it thru web/TV ads if they are so bothered?
- I hate Vista but I have no choice as 19 out of 20 laptops come with it. Why? Because there is just one Microsoft. How do regulators allow it even if they allowed a Microsoft to become a monopoly, I am surprised they cannot regulate this part that every laptop buyer should have the choice of application he wants to use, rather than it being thrust on him. If Vista is good, people will eventually move. Why force them?
- Credit cards. These guys are probably the smartest. They have now started sending these dummy cards with a covering letter to you saying your card is ‘pre-approved’. This is unethical as it is not pre-approved as we really understand in terms of credit cards. It would still go thru all checks and scrutiny before it is actually approved. The gimmick works as vulnerable consumers sign in. Even if 5% did, it’s a great ROI for direct mailers.
- Talk about mail in rebates. For those who don’t know, mail-in rebates work this way. As a buyer, at the time of purchase, you are supposed to pay the full price and then mail the receipt along with another form to the mail in address and wait for the rebate check to come to you in 2-3 months. On many occasions even when you have sent all information, the check never comes. If you want to follow-up, then you have to hunt for the copy of the receipt, that is if you were wise enough to keep a copy. Then you follow-up on the phone and wait. Most customers do not take such pains, especially when the rebate value is small. Can someone please ask, why mail in? Why can’t we just get the discount at the time of purchase? The answer is negative as the intentions are immoral. Some of the marketers explain that they want the database. Well, if they do, why don’t they just have them fill up the form at the time of purchase and collect the rebate? The real reason is that they want you to forget about it. It straight away goes to the bottom-line if you forget. Most consumers misplace the receipts or forget about it. These are pure profits to them and ill intended.
- Prices for almost any product category in the US have a 9 in it. It is called psychological pricing in marketing books. It is used in many countries by many marketers. But in the US, it is used for almost every product that you want to buy. Notice the price of products next time you visit a grocery store. $1.89, $13.49, $5.79. Products could be diapers, milk, beer, carrots, detergents, cars, mobile phones, just about anything. The best example here is the price of gas. Gas is priced as 2.899/10. It really makes me laugh. This is another sign that this works with the American customers and that they are gullible.
- Take the Sale/Discount idiotism that goes on. As a customer you will never know if you got a good deal as there is rarely an original price printed on the pack. Most of the times it is bar-coded. Consider this. A Nike shoe sells at Sears at $49.99 with a 20% discount. Is this a good deal? As a customer you will never know as you don’t know what the real retail price is. It may be $40 and the store has jacked it up and offering a discount of the same value. So when consumers tell me that they bought this product at 50% discount or 70% discount, I really pity them. Further, some stores have apparently everything on ‘SALE’. So all price is mentioned under a SALE placard. And what is really on SALE is under clearance. I sometimes wonder telling the store manager that we know that you are here to ‘sell’ so you don’t have to say ‘SALE’ everywhere.
You look almost anywhere and you smell a rat. American consumers are being fooled time and again. There is no regulation and whatever is there hardly helps the consumer as it is at such a macro level.
The solutions
span style="font-size:85%;">There are several solutions. Some of them may be practical, others may be not. But at least let’s start a debate and work out a solution together.
· The market should offer more room for competition. AT&T should not have been allowed to buy Cingular. Yahoo should not be allowed to sell to Microsoft or Google. There should be more options for cable, internet, electricity, almost any service. Competition is good for consumers. It keeps corporations on their toes and brings prices down. They would listen to you and you will have options.
· I am sick of AT&T, you may be of Verizon but we cannot change our service as our phone numbers are with everybody we know. If it becomes mandatory that AT&T will have to forward all my calls to my new number after a message that says that the subscriber has a new number, it will be a great boost to the consumers. AT&T can charge a small fee like $5 (4.99 if you wish) per month for this. It costs them nothing but allows consumers to move swiftly from one operator to the other.
· Mail-in rebates should be banned. Or if that is not possible, have them give you the money not in 3 months but 3 weeks. All stores offering mail-in rebates should have a mail-in box and they should encourage customers to fill the form there itself and drop in the mail box so that consumers do not lose the receipts.
· Organizations promoting sustainability as a marketing and PR gimmick should be taken to task. Everyone seems to be riding this green wave most of which is unethical and customers should be aware so that they can distinguish real from fictitious. Organizations like Energy star or equivalent could take a lead here.
· Prices for most products should have something like a maximum retail price. Bar-coding does not help consumers. The same Nike shoe can sell at Nordstorm at $49.99 and at Sears at $42.99 but customers should know what is the maximum retail price fixed for that shoe by Nike which can help them identify if this is a sale, discount or clearance product.
Lets all move on this together.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Packaging in Marketing Research
Power of Packaging
Written with respect to market research companies in mind
Some of us remember PoP as a business school concept when it meant Point of Purchase materials. I want to re-coin the phrase to fit the context of business today - Power of Packaging.
The 25-75 principle
My focus is not why packaging is important but rather how we practice packaging. Consider this: of the time we spent on a project, the client sees 25% of the total (time spent on the proposal, the questionnaire and the final presentation). The other 75%, spent chasing suppliers, ensuring data quality, formatting questionnaires, following-up with data processing, the client never sees. How we package proposals and final presentations can make a real difference. Think about these two examples of good work that I have seen and how it could have improved with different packaging.
Packaging of proposals
Recently a prospect wanted us to integrate their query logging system to record customer satisfaction surveys and produce key reports. Our proposal for this fairly good sized project was reasonably detailed. However, it lacked effective packaging.
· Branding: I created the tagline “Online customer management”, but when I reviewed the proposal, I realized the tagline did not do justice to content. Consider the impact of “Complete solution to customer response management (CRM)”. Not much different, but better because “complete” gives the impression the customer gets more value for her spend. “CRM” promotes credibility.
· Flow-charts: Instead of describing point by point steps in the project management chain, a flow chart has better visual impact, is more interesting and engaging. Imagine the effect on the guy reading a 20-30 page or 50-slide proposal.
· Visuals: I see so many presentations with pictures and backgrounds that have been lifted from the power-point or results of creative juices flowing of the creator. If talking about financial services, why not use pictures of a customer talking to a banker or using an ATM. With digital cameras so cheap and increasing number of mobile phones with camera, this should not be difficult. When presnting to a technology client, how about a customer using a laptop or shopping for a software in a mall? How about someone assembling a computer? These are easy pictures and so relevant. Or perhaps pictures of briefing sessions, CATI and F2F interviewers at work.
· Color: Researchers shy away from color, but our readers are not researchers. They are marketers. Marketers like color. In the bargain, our documents gain identity and engagement.
· Finally, content:
o Not all proposals need to start with “Background” or “Appreciation of the brief”. Why not a quote, story or anecdote?
o How about adding a quality control section to ALL proposals. Describe an 11 point xxx QC program. It’s a differentiator. Remember 7 habits of … 22 immutable laws…?
o Consider saying, “When we are awarded the project, this is how we will execute” We’ll look prepared, eager and expert.
o It is not audacious to say, “We know we are expensive, and this is why”. Talk about quality. Tell them a part of extreme responses are back-checked by researchers themselves. Say our researchers personally conduct five quant surveys. Picture telling the client in the presentation, “Oh, while speaking to a respondent from Florida or Kolkata, he explained...” Clients will pay for this; cost versus perceived value is in our favor.
Packaging of final presentations
A recent project surveyed vendors and consumers of a technology company with a large sample size across multiple markets. The client was satisfied with the presentation, but I guess we could have delighted him
Consider this:
Start the presentation with a one-minute film, “Meet your South Korean consumer”. Show the consumer’s neighborhood, his house, his office and then him. Show clips where he tells “Why I prefer BIM over IBM.” Show his house, his family. End with a tagline: “The majority of BIM consumers are like Kim Wuan Chu; they prefer service over price”. Then, start the presentation. Use three or four clips throughout, including quotes in the respondent’s own voice to present the story. Vendor cost and overall costs go up slightly, but value increase is immeasurable.
The client does not expect to see customers, but he sees them through you. He doesn’t think he’s paid for it, it’s unexpected, and he’ll be delighted. In turn, he can use these clips in corporate presentations, and you get even more notice. If video is not feasible, consider still pictures or audio recordings. Impact far outweighs cost.
Finally
Content is still king. I don’t say ignore quality content in favor of packaging. However, when the client expects quality data anyway, how can you be different? Packaging goes a long way. Ask a woman how much she loves the case that held her diamond.
Power of Packaging was edited by my colleague Kathryn Stevens
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