FATAL Mistake ! Ignoring business with a Startup ...

Recently we managed to get angel funding for our security software product. The funding was mainly meant for marketing and sales which meant me getting in touch with various vendors for the same. Have not had this responsibility profile for a couple of years so I was shocked how things have changed. I feel like a dinosaur in the age of start ups.

First as soon as the news leaked that we have some funding suddenly we got more attention  (though expected) but what was not expected is a sudden increase in billing rates overnight !!? What gives ? We have worked hard to earn the funding for our product, perhaps we needed to remind our vendors that funding is not to grow the their business instead. !. If we started paying them their 'special rates' , we would be emptying our coffers in no time. Your rates are not supposed to be proportional to our funding. !

Next is the absolute arrogant attitude that we had to face from some of them. We were made to feel that they were doing us ( a start up ) a favor by doling out some services to us. Strange I say!!! We are paying for your services , you damn well better provide us good service as promised. If one does not want to pitch for low volume, low value orders (which are characteristic of start-ups). move out of the way and don't waste our time further. We have places to go and people to meet !

Then of course the time came for me to speak to some 'premium' magazines. Initially they don't respond to you, finally when you finally manage to speak to them , they take their own time to get back to you with the quotation ... as they seem to have a preconceived notion that a start up will not be worth servicing. I suppose only multinational brands are of interest to them to some of them. I was even told by one media house .."oh well, you wont be able to afford sponsoring our conference but let us see how we can work out something else for you ...'. Amazing they don't even know what I can afford or not !..

Then my latest shocker was being told 'the reality of the market is that your order will get lower priority as I have higher value orders that have just come in  ... ' . OUCH ! is all I could say ...

Don't these guys realize that perhaps the start up might just succeed to become a multi crore enterprise , have huge orders to give vendors and they will never do business with you because of your arrogance and short shortsightedness ??!!. If you think our work is small, don't come to us , don't waste our time and let us go with our job at hand.

Today I feel start ups will get taken for a ride if they are not street smart. Nobody really cares of whether you are a start up or not. You have to take care of yourself, work for the best deal and dump trying to work with the so called fancy setups/service providers. Your ruin will be due to being creamed by these so called 'premium' service providers and not because of a bad product area.

Liquor Chocs in pics...

Pune is so wheel chair unfriendly !!

It is so true that one does not realize a lot of what is happening around you until it actually affects you.

My father recently suffered from a stroke due to which he had to move around only in a wheel chair for a couple of days. Being a person who has been very active all his life I tried to ensure that we take him out as often as possible. It was during these outings that it struck me like a BOLT OF LIGHTNING out of the blue ... ! "Pune, the IT hub of India, a cultural super city and a university city is so wheel chair unfriendly. Pune does not care for wheel chair bound citizens."


Most malls, restaurants, shops, cinemas, commercial & residential establishments do not cater for a person in a wheel chair. Most entrances have stairs without ramps, elevators locations & sizes not catered for a person in a wheel chair. Passages, doors, corridors, product displays & billing stations designed in such a manner a wheel chair would not even fit. The toilets and rest rooms would be a nightmare and at times totally inaccessible for a disabled person. Of course parking for a normally abled person is disastrous so who would care for the disabled.

I happened to mention this to a person who has been in a wheel chair for the last 16 years and he told me that it was even worse earlier!!. He continued to say that we do have the laws and building codes in place to ensure that disabled citizens are catered for but these are not adhered to in majority of cases and no one seems to mind. He told me that if one went abroad especially to the USA, the disabled are catered for FIRST and you would not feel the inconveniences of being in a wheel chair.

Pity, it took my father getting a stroke to make me realize just another one of those crucial human issues involving compassion and care we have chosen not to care about ... shame on us as a people.

Epilepsy ! then this school is not the right place for you.

My daughter is really the light of my life. She is a happy & caring child who loves to do something all the time and 'goodness gracious' for her life has so much to offer and so much to do, there is just so little time to do it all. Constant Action all the time.

She is in the 4th standard in a good school in Pune but unfortunately due to some some complications which she had at birth she is facing some issues with her academics due to which I might be considering moving her to a smaller school where the teacher-student ratio is high and she can do stuff at her own pace. Unfortunately she is also an epileptic but her episodes are mostly controlled

So in my hunt for another school I reached this 'reputed' school in Wagholi - Pune. I introduced myself to the principal and began to explain the issues that my daughter was having and why I felt moving her out from the present school would be better for her. The conversation then reached a stage where I mentioned she was an epileptic and suddenly like a 'BOLT OF LIGHTNING' out of nowhere, the whole attitude of the Principal and the conversation changed. Without even letting me explain more about her condition, she very officially told me that this school is located at the outskirts of the city where if any emergency arose it would take time to respond, there is no one in her school to handle the child's medication and and this school would not be suitable for my daughter as she is an Epileptic.

Whoa ! I nearly fell off the chair with this sudden turn of events. To me I would consider it as Modern day discrimination!

Yes, I do understand that an epileptic child is an additional responsibility for the school but she is NOT some child with a deadly contagious/life threatening disease or something like that. She is just like other children but with a condition that needs monitoring and educated care. She has been in a Convent school for the last 6 years and never once did I feel this unwarranted attitude from them so this new reaction of this principal was new to me.

What really got me was that the Principal of this school did not even bother to find out whether this child was on medication, were the episodes under control, what were the frequency of the episodes, what is to be done if she gets an attack etc.. nothing. She just heard the word "epilepsy" and without hesitation she was quick to inform me her school is not suitable for my child.

For the very first time in my life I experienced this reaction against 'epileptics'. Till today it was something I just read about, heard about but now it was my turn to unfortunately experience it.

Yes, I am hurt, offended and my daughter is the light of my life but what according to me was shocking was this educated 'illiterate' attitude of a Principal towards 'epilepsy'.

Madam Principal , being 'elite' is not about being rich & famous, being 'elite' about being a good human being filled with compassion and knowledge. I thought that being a Principal of a school, you would know that.

Now this is what I call 'marketing...'!!!

Needed to upgrade my car's music system. Walked into the shop & indicated what I needed done. While speaking to the gentlemen at the sales counter, the owner of the shop walks upto me and says he will personally look into the matter. He tells me it would take about 30 minutes to do. I agree expecting him to tell one of the many engineers around to do the needful.

Instead much to my suprise he rolls up his sleeves and does the work himself. ! Cutting / drilling / rewiring / tuning / installation, completing the work in a jiffy, making it a point to explain to me what he was doing all the while.

He then shakes my hand, tells me the work is complete and to contact him anytime if there is any problem and walks away to next customer .....

I havent seen this happen for a long time, where the owner of a fairly large shop, employing several people comes forward and does the work for you himself. It kinda makes you feel special & important, makes you want to come back to the same shop the next time plus recommend this shop and & its services to others.....

Now this is what I call 'marketing...'!!!

We always remember our childhood days

For most of us our childhood days in school are the happiest days of our lives.

We live next to a school. Peering over the balcony I can see the school playground and this morning I saw this grown man playing with the children. He looked like on of the parents of a child in that school .. My God! he had decided to play with the children & he was having so much fun .. running around, arms and legs swaying all over the place, a huge SMILE (all while he looked dressed up ready for work !!!).. he ran from one end of the basket ball court to the other... played with one group of children , rushed to another group, played with them, then rushed to another.. children giving up Hi5s everywhere he went .... yes I am sure he was reliving his childhood... today that man I am sure is going to go to sleep with a huge smile on his face...

Teacher O' Teacher - In dedication to the struggling Child

I had written this quite sometime ago when my lil one was having a hard time in school... with God's grace, a dedicated principal & headmistress and some very caring teachers she settled down..


Teacher O' Teacher
------------------

You stride into class, on the first day of school,
Looking so tall, keeping your cool.

What the year has in store for us, we all secretly fear,
Teacher O' Teacher, You are always so dear.


We feel our parents have left us high and dry,
Perhaps Teacher O' Teacher that is why we cry.


Soon the sun will shine, we know the school has clay,
Teacher O' Teacher, hold our hands and say "Lets us Play".


As you try so hard to teach us, a needle in hay,
We seem not to listen through out the day,
We stumble & tumble making mistakes all the way,
Teacher O' Teacher,that bear hug could just save the day.


Of course we want to study and do well.
We surely know that all does not come from a wishing well.
Our efforts may seem too careless to tell,
Perhaps Teacher O' Teacher we were just unwell.


Our writing is a scrawl, our spellings taking a fall.
Our craft too ugly for the classroom wall.
Always too slow, who is going to wait,
Teacher O' Teacher perhaps it is our drawings that are just great.


Mental Math Mayhem, our English a dare,
And with EVS, we just do not seem to care
Becoming a doctor, engineer an impossible task,
Teacher O' Teacher, don't forget we are just learning to eat fast.


Our school always to us so dear,
Hoping our weakness will always be cleared
That constant attention we always seemed to demand in kind
Teacher O' Teacher we just did not want to be left behind


A little push, a little encouragement and a little love,
The good marks we would get without a shove,
It is only later we realize your efforts were not in vain,
Teacher O' Teacher we did not mean to be such a pain.


As we grow up and the years go by,
We will do what we have been taught without a cry.
Our duty to assist the weak, to guide the strong, to be always true,
How much we do, Teacher O' Teacher, depends on you.

A little sensitivity for the grieving families of our brave hearts?!

As & when time permits I follow the news. However yesterday was different, I was really upset after hearing about the massacre of our CRPF Jawans so was keen to get an update on it.

I usually follow NDTV (have been a big fan of Prannoy Roy since the days of 'The World this Week') and also Ms. Barkha for a long time.

As they progressed into the discussion I was shocked by the total insensitivity being displayed by the TV channel and the direction the discussion was taking.

The whole discussion seemed to revolve around the operation being 'messed up'. So why this reaction from me... doesn't the public need to know the facts . ?

Bear with me for a while & imagine yourself sitting with the families who are grieving the loss of their father/son/brother and are watching this channel. For them an ultimate sacrifice has been made by a family member for our country. So lets see how this channel covers this supreme sacrifice...

As the discussion begins headlines are blasted indicating how the Army claims they never trained this battalion ... At least I felt it was a blame game being played out on National TV as well as an acceptance that these brave lads were not trained!.

Once again I imagined myself sitting with the families who are grieving the loss of their father/son/brother watching this channel. For them an ultimate sacrifice has been made by a family member for our country & the TV Channel is trying to tell us via National TV "Yes , we are real sorry but you know he was not well trained so this happened ..!!!"

Could you not have just indicated that these young brave hearts fought hard & died valiantly for this country and efforts were on to ensure their sacrifice was not in vain. ?

NEXT a prolonged discussion follows as to how this was perhaps a messed/flawed operation. Discussion how mistakes might have been made & it goes on & on & on ...

Once again I imagined myself sitting with the families who are grieving the loss of their father/son/brother watching this channel and all that the channel wants to discuss on National TV that their deaths were because of mistakes & flaws!

Could you not have just indicated that these young brave hearts fought hard & died valiantly for this country and efforts were on to ensure their sacrifice was not in vain. ?


We live a life of security because of our Jawans. We can sit & tweet away in the comfort of our homes & offices because our Jawans. Our children & our parents can move around freely because of our Jawans so is it too much to expect sensitivity towards the grieving families of our brave hearts.

If there were mistakes , let the probe take care of it. If they were not trained, let the probe take care of it. This is not your business!

If you really want to discuss it... quiz the politicians more, quiz the top brass more, reassure the nation that the media will not let these sacrifices go in vain!

DONT GO WASHING DIRTY LINEN IN PUBLIC & TRY TO GET THE UGLY OUT for RATINGS!!!

Media !! This is the JAWAN you are talking about and not some celebrity actor, artist,sportman or cricketer .......

WAKE UP & KNOW THE DIFFERENCE !!!

What if the 'Mahatma' were alive ? Would he be effective ?

What if the 'Mahatma' were alive today ? Would he be effective ? are questions, I have asked myself several times when I see my great country India in such a big mess. Would he have been able to single handedly counter the scourge of Terrorism & Corruption that is eating the life out of our country today?

I had the privilege of asking the same questions to his great grand son "Tushar Gandhi", to which his reply was "He definitely would not have been sitting around doing nothing & whatever he chose to do, he would have persevered irrespective of the opposition"

When I compare the situations when Mahatma Gandhi was alive and today, it looks like some circumstances have not changed much... perhaps just the players.

1) Pre Independence days innocent Indians were getting killed by the British, today they are getting killed by terrorists & Naxals.

2) Earlier our national wealth was being sucked by the British now its the Indian Politician.

3) Earlier loyalty of certain selfish Indian citizens/rajas/princes could be bought by money given by the British to do deeds against the common citizen & the laws could be bent, today the same happens, individuals are ready to be corrupted with the lure of money given by us & the so called elected representatives of the Republic of India.

So has much changed at least in this context ? No not really .. we are surrounded by similar circumstances as those before 1948. Certainly a man like the Mahatma would not change (perhaps his wisdom would have increased over the years).

So if the man has not changed and the circumstance have not changed, it would be real safe to say 'Mahatma Gandhi' would still be VERY 'effective' even in today's circumstances.

1) There would be people wanting to kill him (Before it was the British today it would be the terrorists/naxals/corrupt politicians...)

2) There were people wanting to buy him & hence stop him (Before it was the British, today it would be our corrupt politicians)

BUT we must ALSO not forget there would be LAKHS who would follow him & protect him with their lives too... & he would STILL have been able to create a mass movement against the mess in our country & forced a change that we so desperately need.

His detractors might still label him as the person behind partition but that is a matter of perception, circumstance & subjectivity but can anyone today give me the name of a single Leader who would have as much as mass appeal as Mahatma Gandhi ?

Can anyone deny the fact that he was capable of moving our nation single handedly in a direction that no one even now can even dream of.? Today even our top leaders have to pay people to attend their meetings so that it looks like a mammoth rally. ...

So YES!!!, a person like Mahatma Gandhi would be relevant even in this day & age. His methods effective and he would move the masses and force the change we so desperately need..

Jai Hind !

German Bakery Blast, Pune ... MNIK is more important

Last night we residents saw the scourge of terrorism extend its tentacles to our dear City of Pune. A bomb blast at German Bakery, Koregaon Park - 9-10 dead, scores injured...

What really disgusts me is that we as a people , our government , our opposition seem to concentrate on issues that really don't matter and should be addressed only when we really had nothing else to do.

A prime example of this was the recent charade between a movie star and a political party about a release of some movie ...!! What a waste of time and money ... the entire government machinery focused on whether a movie releases or , 11000 + security personal deployed to allow people to go for a movie ... scores of security personal to protect the actor & the politician ....

while ***a common man walking on the road gets blown apart due to a terror attack **** . Don't we have a priorities wrong ... ?

Scores of police to secure a multiplex and protect celebrities going for a movie

***while the common man looses a leg & livelihood as he walks by German Bakery and a Bomb explodes **** don't our priorities seem a little warped ??

Barricades across roads, 24 hour security, intelligence officials working day an night to ensure foreign nationals and their houses of worship are kept safe...

*** while the Indian Common Man lies in critical condition in some hospital because we could not protect him ..****** does this sound fair ? Should'nt we take care of our own first and then worry about the foreigners ?

It is time we really did a re-think of what our priorities really should be.

Should'nt we protect the common citizen of India instead of wasting time & money protecting some film star, some politician who doesn't really care about his electorate or some foreigner whose loyalty is his home land & not us ?

Mr. Politician ... Leave our brave hearts out of all this..

Today in India, it is very difficult not to become a cynic just about everything. We do have the positives but at times the negatives seem to outweigh everything. The unfortunate part is that most of the time, the negativity always seems to radiate from something that is connected either directly or indirectly to our dear politician.

Our politicians seem to have no boundaries of what or who to use for their own mileage. Now it is the turn of the brave hearts who protected us (some of them gave up their lives to protect us) during the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai who have become a part of their political games.

Our brave hearts from the security forces live & die for our country and its citizens. To them, thwarting an terrorist attack on Indian soil does not depend on caste or religion. Their ferocity and courage to protect us is un paralleled and is never biased on regional lines .... they are our modern day "knights in shining armour" & nationalists to the core. There are an inspiration to us.

So Mr. Politician , leave them alone , do not include their names & honorable deeds in your twisted political manoeuvrings. What you are doing is wrong , very very wrong. We in India have such few people left to look up to ... keep away from them. What they do for us and this country is sacred and should be treated as such.

Using references of their brave deeds for political means is undignified, unpatriotic & unwanted.!

LEAVE OUR BRAVE HEARTS OUT OF ALL THIS !

Another Suicide , another life wasted ...

In the last couple of weeks I keep on hearing about how young children both school going as well as those going to college are committing suicide. One didn't do well in an examination so she committed suicide, another was fined Rs. 150 & did not know how to face the parents so he committed suicide, another could not participate in some reality show so committed suicide, another faced criticism in front of an audience so attempted to commit suicide and so on.....

HORRIFIED & SAD .... yes .. SURPRISED ... no !!!

Why do these children take these drastic steps, why does it seem that is so easy for them to go over the edge ...

Well... we are to blame for this ... the fault lies both with us as parents as well as the teachers especially at school level. We tend to forget that children are what we make them both at home and at school, we as parents & their teachers have brought them up, we as parents & their teachers have have taught them what they know, they have picked up everything from us & the teacher so lets not pick on the child as being weak.

If they have become strong and confident it is because of the parents and the teachers and the same goes if they are weak & insecure ... the responsibility is still ours.

We have suceeded in bringing up a child to be well versed with ABC & 123 but we on the way we forgot to teach them on to be strong, confident & good human beings.

When we look at bringing up a child today, it revolves around school & what happens in school. We seem to always stress on the ABCs & 123s. Everything is about getting it right both at home and at school and all is performance related. Naturally as the years go by the pressure increases, the expectation increases, performance level increases and soon the child is running at break neck speed ... but have we ever paused to think is the child mentally prepared to run at this speed .. ???

We really need to rethink what we are trying to achieve. I think in the early years we should teaching them more about life & the things that are beautiful, kind and happy. We should teach them what this great big world has to offer in terms of the soul. We need to teach them how to enjoy life with the smallest of blessings. We need to continuously build and monitor their self confidence and esteem ...... all this will never be seen on a report card but the child sure needs these paragraphs to graduate in the story of life.

Sure life is tough and competitive but what is the use of all this ABC & 123 if the child cannot handle oneself and the pressures of life ? What is the use of all this ABC and 123 if the child has no confidence and self esteem .....

What is the use of a top ranking report card when the child has committed suicide ?

Let us teach our children how to live life with its ups & downs first and then worry about the ABCs & 123s otherwise we are just going to see an increase in this very unfortunate trend of children taking their own lives. Today it might have happened to someone else's child but when was the last time you took the time to look the child's report card on life .....

Why are we so afraid ?

Recently an elderly gentleman asked me "Why don't you speak up when you see certain government officials or politicians who are supposed to serve this land and its people behave obnoxiously ? Why do you as a citizen allow them to be openly corrupt and break the rules of this land ? Why are you so afraid to speak up and bring these disgusting people to book ?

Well, to tell you the truth I don't speak out openly about it as "I AM SCARED !!" . I rather mind my own business, don't really say anything about it since it does not concern me and go home in the evening to the security of my middle class home & family... & even if it does concern me , I rather placate these politicians / government officials than antagonize them ... I have a wife & child that I want to go back to. I don't want my secure middle class life ripped apart.

Can these certain obnoxious government officials or politicians really mess you up if you chose to antagonize or question them ?? OF COURSE THEY CAN & THEY DO !

The government official / politicians are always in league with one another. They could for example frame / concoct charges against you for evasion of tax.... Sure in the end you will be proved innocent but you might have gone & spent your life saving, your time, ruined your business and family life running to court everyday to prove your innocence. They could do this with any department of the government .. the corrupt politician / government official has a long reach in all aspects of land, revenue, tax & legal .. there are people like them in all our departments.

We must also not forget their sycophant followers / chamchas that will take it as their honourable duty to make you pay for antagonizing their beloved politician / government official as their livelihood depends on the degree to which they will stoop to serve their masters. Pay back could be in the form of mental & physical harassment perhaps even getting beaten up and being sent to hospital.

So tell me shouldn't we be scared ? Wouldn't we rather want to just mind our own business , do our work and in the evening go back to our secure homes & families ?

Pathetic perhaps ! .. realistic DEFINITELY !!