Had some experiences around me which were truly transforming. Trying to narrate em and take learning from em.
Experience #1
I had to travel to bhubhaneswar on work today, and hence packed for the journey. I somehow have got used to Meru cabs for the sheer simplicity and convenience they promise to deliver. I called up Meru call center on Monday evening to book a can for Tuesday morning. To my surprise there was a hold time of 8 min. I put speaker phone on, while still busy with my packing, only to be welcomed by a male voice on Meru call center saying sorry we are booked from 7 in the morning till 12 in the noon. What it means is all 1400 cabs in Mumbai, or at least majority of em are on roads. What makes me feel then this is something short of a transformation, where you have to wait for cabs to.
Experience #2
Failing to get a cab, I took a auto to airport. This was a amazing experience, which began with the quality of ride ,and ended with a quick question from the auto driver. He asked how much it costs going to Kolkata by flight. I looked at him truly amazed, why is this guy asking me this question. Without hesitation my auto driver responds, I plan to get my family to Mumbai, and if it is 5,000 rupees, it is o.k., I think I can afford it. I don’t know whether he was flaunting or not, but I think it was a transformational experience altogether. Whoever says India is under recession.
Experience # 3
While on airport, I witnessed a flurry of scribes waiting to get soundbites on Jet airways pilot strike. It was a experience to be @ Mumbai airport at that time. Chaos is a small word to describe it, and as usual no clarity to consumers. We all @ airport felt like caught between a crossfire between India & Pakistan, and media playing George bush. No clarity on flight timings, no clarity on announcements, its your transformational experience to witness fight between two demons.
Experience #4
I met one of the lesser developed tourism board in India. Amazed to see the resources these guys have and waste they do on managing them. If you ever plan to meet a secretary level bureaucrat, be ready to go through a experience of a lifetime. First is a gate pass to secretariat. Person at the counter is simply writing name in completely non readable writing, which is being duplicated by another human being just to release a gate pass. Then you enter the secretariat, only to realize that the papers you entered your name on ,will soon be shunted to these corridors in paper files biting dust. At least you should be happy you got a pass, so what if your gate pass entries will bite dust one fine day in these corridors. We were here with a vision to transform the government client.
Experiment # 5
Long day @work, meeting with all key clients in ministry, time to catch up with some old colleagues.Got another perspective on OOH media. He predicts, telecom industry will cease to exist as single largest media spender on OOH by 2011.
So true a observation. Imagine any market having at least 10-13 players, each grappling for space on best of the medium in OOH. Clear supply demand equation which is progressively moving towards from a low supply and high demand to a low demand, high supply equation. Imagine what would you do in a market where you have 8 key junctions and 14 telecom players. Initial transformation to one upmanship of spends ,and then zero spends.
As I write this entry on my blog, I am sure I have many more transformational experiences in store for tomorrow, and how I look forward to them
Amazing experiences! Collect them and by the time you retire or if you want to retire, just release a book and then… sit with a coffee mug in your Lonavala bungalow’s garden and ponder/reminiscence what days were those. And simply enjoy the coffee’s taste and aroma! Cheers!