Air Deccan woes - a low cost model?!!

I was travelling from B'lore to Chennai yesterday after a really long time (15 yrs!) to attend a couple of weddings. I was very eager to see the new look of the city and it was time to testify all that I had heard about it. Becoz of the low ticket prices, we booked air deccan and still thought we could make it to the reception that evening, coz the flight was in the noon. Well, I guess it was a lot to expect from this supposed-to-be-low-cost airline in India. To our horror, we see that the 14.25hrs flight was delayed and now supposed to leave at 17.40hrs. After cursing and swearing to our heart's content, which didnt make any difference to the deccan staff there, we decide to hang-out nearby and get back to the airport at 16.15hrs. We are told that the flight is "on time", so we check-in and wait to board. The time is 17.20hrs. The waiting saga continues....

Each one of us taking turns to make trips to the information counter, we were told that the boarding would start in 5 mins, each time!! @17.55hrs.. I go and start yelling my guts out and I get this as a reply - "Mam, we are still waiting for the plane to arrive, we will take off as soon as it comes" (!!!!) So what the @%&^# were they saying all this while?! Anyways, I guess by then even they were tired of answering to passengers, so they let us go to board the bus. It was 18.15hrs and there was no sign of any bus there. By now we had just given up on being able to show up at the reception. Frustrated passengers hound the ground staff and start abusing them. Some were even ready to take off their slippers to hit them!! We three, as observers noticed that not even a single abuse made "any difference" to these guys. I think rather than these guys being trained for CRM (Customer Relationship Mgmt), they are trained to be thick-skinned so that they can take abuses of any degree!! It was even more irritating to see them stand like statues when they were being questioned. Anyways, the bus leaves at 18.20hrs and after taking us all around the airport, we see 3 deccan flights parked wing-to-wing in some crappy-inaccessible-corner that I had never seen before! We board the flight at 18.35hrs with a relief that it wasnt cancelled at least (those tickets are f***** non-refundable). The waiting still continues in the flight.. and it FINALLY takes off at 19.00hrs!!!!

When we used to talk about the low-cost airline models in our MBA classes and any of us would say that their cheap marketing campaigns are one of the favorable factors, the Prof would say, use "less expensive" or "low cost" instead of cheap... its not the right word. But I guess "cheap" is the most suitable word for Air Deccan... its true in every sense of it! It is supposed to be the Southwest airline model for India... but does low-cost mean no-hospitality, no-manners and service levels on the negative scale?? How can being low-cost translate to compromise on the service levels? Are they going to pay less to their staff 'coz they need not be courteous to the passengers anymore?! I don't understand how this fits in the model in anyway! Having no-frills with no free food, water and other stuff to cut costs definitely makes sense... but horrible-service makes zero sense to me! If they are trying to imitate the Southwest model, why not adopt the entire model completely, rather than taking some aspects of it and screw up the most important parts... like service quality (obviously we are not expecting something like Kingfisher or Jet airways... but the basic courtesy is all that is wanted). There is absolutely no value for our precious TIME. Even though you end up saving significantly on the ticket price, we realized that the opportunity cost of flying with them is more!

The worst part is... every other person who experiences this, talks about it but nothing can be done to change this....... coz people crib and still continue to fly air deccan, becoz of low cost. Anyways, we could finally make it for the dinner at the reception... straight from the airport.....Phew! I wish I can sue them and get refund of my tickets! Hmmmm....... High hopes!

Koffee or Karan?

I am not a big fan of either... so I'm really not gaga, unlike a few others, about this bollywood-chat-show that comes on star world every week. I've watched a few episodes of it during the first season and everytime I've conveniently switched channels after a while. Till now I've seen just 1 good episode of it, the one with Amitabh and Abishek, with a decent and a good conversation which was worth watching.

Yesterday I just sat down to watch another episode of this, with the 2 mother-daughter pairs , Jaya bachchan and shwetha with hema malini and Esha. I had to really try hard to hold myself from picking that remote and changing the channel, coz I wanted to see how stupid this show can actually get! This is just 1 episode.. most of them are on the same lines. I wonder how people find this entertaining. All he tries to do is to pick his favorite stars, demean the others, ask the guests about who they like/dislike, what they have for breakfast, which other stars they find sexy and more nonsense.. And not to forget, trying hard to get that gossip of their personal lives, which am sure none of them would ever reveal infront of a camera (puhleez!).. Everything there is sugar coated and cliched. And.... then comes the "prestigious coffee hamper" as he calls it to be. If one of them is his favorite, that person gets the hamper.. .if both are his favorites and he is really in good terms with them, they get to share the hamper, irrespective of how the celebrities have answered the supposedly-rapid-fire questions. To say the least, his effeminate ways are also quite annoying!

Anyways, I really wonder what he is trying to do with this show. Obviously I'm not comparing it with other talk shows like the ones with Vir Sanghvi or Karan Thappar etc. They are different! I feel, if you really want to watch this show, you need to keep your brains aside and stop analyzing it, else you might end up pulling your hair, just like I did! :-)

Pursuit of Happ(y)ness...

This is the 4th movie I watched during the week.. after Namesake, Pulp Fiction, As good as it gets. Another brilliant movie, which is worth a watch! One of the most powerful dialogues in this movie, which Will Smith (Chris Gardner) says to his son...

"You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can't do it. You want something? Go get it. Period. Don't ever let someone tell you, you can't do something. Not even me."

A very simple movie, made without any heavy starcast and is based on a true story of Chris Gardner (who started the Gardner Rich firm). I just couldnt take my eyes off the screen for even a second, thats the kind of impact the movie had. There are so many realities that are depicted in the movie, that you start wondering how would it be to really go through those tough situations that Chris is shown to be in. There is a scene in the movie where Chris (Will smith) loses his home and all his money in the bank a/c coz he hadn't payed his taxes for a long time and he is driven to the road, without a shelter and a 5 year old kid. He sleeps with his son in a restroom in the metro station. It was so tough for me to even imagine how it is to actually be in that situation!! Will Smith, no doubt, has delivered a splendid performance and I would rate the movie with 5 stars! If you haven't watched this movie... then you are really missing out something good...

Retaining talent and corporate culture...

Attrition, today, is definitely one of the main concerns for a lot of companies. Though getting good talent in the current era is not so tough anymore coz of the better quality education that is available, retaining that talent is the biggest challenge. We may all agree, that corporate culture does play an important role in achieving this objective. Considering in an IT company, on an average each one of us spend about 8-10 hrs a day, the kind of set up that we work in and the kind of people we are surrounded with, does matter a lot, to keep that spirits high!

Well.. what triggered these thoughts in my head? I was just reading the "Great Places To Work Survey and Rankings" for the year 2006, in the current issue of Business World. This article describes in detail about the study conducted, the insights and the implications. A nice to read. What was striking was, one of these quotes that I came across while reading this cover story that says........"If you can't get wait to get to office, then you are in a a great place to work for sure"...

What it's referring to is "that monday feeling" that most of us go through, when we gotto get to office on that monday morning after a nice weekend's break. So if your office can really instill that feeling in you that you are eagerly waiting for the monday morning and cant wait to get to work, then whoa! you are definitely at one of the "best places to work" :) I really wonder if I would ever feel like this. At least I haven't come across anyone so far, irrespective of how good the company he/she works for, actually feeling so. Am sure, it's every organization's objective to get here, to help retain their best people!

Times have changed. There are plenty of lucrative opportunities everywhere and the current generation is definitely more ambitious and career oriented. I remember my mom, dad, uncle, aunt etc. who work(ed) in any government services, when asked how long do you plan to stay here, would say .. "till I retire". At that time it was usually one job, whatever it paid, job security mattered. But now, ask the same question to any professional and he/she would probably say... "I would stay here for a long time" or "till this job favors my career growth or keeps my interest"...

Well, am not trying to give any conclusions here but just putting across the idea that corporate culture plays a very important role in retaining the employees, coz I have seen among my friends, who have switched good jobs, coz they just hate the whole environment, the people around and mostly coz its boring to work there!

The Namesake

So this time it was the movie that I watched yesterday. Had read this book, The Namesake, about 2 years back but the picture that it painted in my mind is still so vivid and fresh! Thats Jhumpa Lahiri's art of writing for you ! Here is the review of the book that I had posted last year.

The movie is very well made, according to me, though not as good as the book. Obviously, they are 2 different things... one cant show the entire book in a 2 hour movie! But still, Mira Nair has done an excellent job in portraying the emotions and the characters very well. Tabu has really done justice to her character, maybe someone else could have fitted in there better, but anyways, she has delivered a brilliant performance. The climax in the book and the movie are a bit different, coz the book leaves it a little open ended, for the reader to think it over... maybe keeping it the same in the movie wouldnt have been a good idea so there was a proper climax that was given... but I still feel leaving it as it was in the book wud have created more impact, coz thats what stays in your mind for a long time! (similar to the climax of Nishabd... which was different)

None of my friends who came with me liked this movie. They felt it was very ordinary, cliched and in the league. But I disagree... maybe I liked it coz I had read the book and already had some expecations set and had developed a kind of liking towards it... whatever... its definitely worth a watch!

Nostalgic....

So.. ITS ALL OVER! I finally got back to bangalore today for good, with an MBA! A reason to smile, coz its another dream fulfilled! The graduation ceremony yesterday was a great experience, a day that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Last night was tough.. its so true that how much ever you are prepared to handle things, it doesnt help. It really hit me hard yesterday that it was the last night I would be spending at the campus, in my room, with my friends, at the pool, in the garden.......... and lots more. A few of us got together for one last time, remembered those great times that we shared over the 1 year.... we still felt like we were just there for the orientation week trying to settle down, so fresh in the memory, but here we were raising a toast for all the great times that we had and for our future ahead!

3.00 in the morning, when I stepped out, the campus was full of people, everyone trying to make the most out of each minute there... I took that one last walk , which I enjoyed doing almost every day.... sat by the pool, staring at the stars into infinity, recalling those wonderful moments which have made this the best year of my life, and reminiscing them will always bring a smile on my face :) Am happy that ISB happened in my life.... glad that I stuck to my decision of going there..

I never thought I wud say this.....I loved that place, every bit of it and the people around! In the last couple of months, ISB had become close to home for me, I associated myself with everything around there. Felt so alienated when I reached b'lore today. I have forgotten that I had a life out here before. I feel so different sitting in my own room here... doesnt feel like mine, anymore. Am dazed and feel like this is all a dream still... feels like I am here again for a term break and that I wud go back after 3-4 days. The reality is yet to sink in...............................

Time to bid adieus.....

Disorientation week - Thats the official term used for this last week here @ ISB, where we finish all our exit formalities and party hard before we leave ISB forever! There's really been an overdose of parties during the last 2 weeks! I'll be getting my IT clearance done by tomorrow, which means I will lose my network access. So this will probably be my last post from ISB (unless I get really bored and sit in the LRC lab and decide to blog!) This reminds me of those first couple of days during orientation week, when my laptop was being configured and neither did I have access to internet nor a cell phone connection. Feels like I was totally disconnected from the world and i'll be feeling the same again quite soon! :( I've realized that Cellphone and Internet are two things without which I can hardly live :) So much dependence on technology..... sigh!!

April 7th, just 3 days from today - the Dday when I'll be officially an MBA. I am excited about the fact that I've fulfilled one more dream of mine and depressed at the same time 'coz very soon the "best year of my life" is going to end. For the first time in this 1 year I am not exicted about going to b'lore! It's definitely going to be a fight to get back there and get adjusted to a different lifestyle all over again. I wish I could remain a student all my life! :-)

This one year has taught me a lot of things in life and the first time experience of living all by myself, away from home, has been really amazing! Life has changed a lot over this span of a year. I still remember my dilemma with quitting Intel and joining ISB.... Now when I look back, I feel this is the best decision that I have taken so far. I cant believe I'm the same person who was waiting to get out of this place asap but times do change...Now I am glad that I came here... As Steve Jobs rightly says (and I keep reminding this to myself very often) ".....you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever".. So true!!!!

Time flies! This one year has truly been a roller coaster ride.... Sigh! I'm gonna really miss this place like crazy!

Phew!

Done with the last exam of my MBA !! (hopefully not my student life yet!) It does feel great and am extremely relieved... feels like a heavy load is lifted off my head suddenly and I have no idea how to spend all my time now! Its definitely parties... .parties and more partiesOne more week left at ISB... with our graduation day planned for the next saturday and I will be out of campus on april 8th :-( I still feel like I just came here a few days back and its already time to leave..... I wish to come back here for the orientation week for the new batch... but again, not all wishes come true...

Being twenty something...

I happen to read this brilliant piece on Quarter life crisis, every year, whenever I turn a year older and it somehow seems to make a lot of sense to me each time I read it! I had posted this last year too and lot of you guys had left comments saying you could associate a lot with it... in case you have missed out reading this, then it is really worth a read!!

"Being twenty something..."

They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis."
It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that
there are manythings about yourself that you didn't know and may not like.
You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two,
but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends
that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you
have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you
would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find
yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have
certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your
list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and
then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life.

You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy
and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that
the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do
but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such
damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent
enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but
love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because
you know that you aren't a bad person. One night stands and random hook ups start to lookcheap. Getting wasted andacting like an idiot starts to look pathetic.

You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with
your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.

You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for
yourself... and while winning the race would be
great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it.
We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can
to figure this whole thing out.

Memorable moments....

This has been one of the most memorable birthdays I've had and will definitely remain as few of those best moments at ISB. Over the last couple of years it used to be just another day but sharing the occassion with a few friends who matter does make a difference! Having had so much fun over the last 2 days and with exactly 2 weeks left for me to leave this place forever, I'm just drowned in mixed feelings....

Happy b'day!

.... to my dear blog!

It's been a year for today (21st march) since I started blogging and I am glad it has come a long way and survived 1 whole year :) .... I've enjoyed every bit of writing here and I hope this continues for a long time from now! I've got to know so many people through this blog, and its almost become like my identity... many times when I meet someone new and introduce myself, I hear - "Oh you are Pratima! I know you thru' ur blog!" :-)

Cheers!!

Bored to death...

I'm currently sitting in one of the "IT related" classes... with a torturous case discussion. I haven't read the case, I have barely slept last night and to top it all I am dying of hunger!! Never been so bored in my life ever I guess. Term 8 couldnt have gotten worse than this :( Tried to use technology to the maximum to help me survive through this misery... pinged almost everyone on my list on gtalk, connected with "long lost" friends on orkut... exchanged scraps with few other people who were sharing the "state of boredom" with me! And now as a last resort I resort to blogging!! As I look around the class now.. I wish I had a camera here to capture the scene... all eyes hooked to the laptop, with zero interest in doing CP, and the group on stage trying to do the case facilitation are silently praying for the 40 mins slot to pass away asap :) Well... I guess its but natural that all classes seem to be boring in Term 8 and being asked to submit assignments appears to be like a crime punishable by law :)

Cheers!!

21 days exactly from today... I would have an MBA feather on my cap :) Can't believe that the ISB life will all be over soon! All of us are already feeling so nostalgic about things here and me and my dear quaddies have been clicking pics like crazy! Finally .. almost at the end of the year I get to post this snap here on my blog - These 2 gals, my "quad mates" who have made my stay here at ISB a real fun, coz of which I dont feel like leaving this place!! We've had some of the best times together in the last 5 months and this post is dedicated to them! :)


A self snap taken as we set out to explore the ISB campus :)

"Stay hungry; Stay foolish"

This was the line with which Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple and Pixar Animation, ended his speech for the students of Stanford, during their graduation. I had read this speech in 2005 but had never really heard it. Saw the video in today's LLWL class and it seemed as interesting and inspirational as it did, when I had read it the first time.
Here's the video (buffer it before viewing)If u havent heard or read it before then u are really missing something!!!






The 3 key things to note from this speech which I will remember always!

• "...you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever"
• "You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."
• "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary"

Stay hungry... stay foolish!!

CnH - 2

My cousin "Su" saw my previous post of CnH and mailed me this strip... one more REALLY AWESOME piece by calvin :) ... couldnt stop myself from putting it up here!!

Click on the pic to read it clearly

CnH

Damn cute!! ROTF everytime i read it :) Calvin's expression in the end is priceless!

Click on the picture to read it clearly

Apocalypto... awesome!

Well... after 1 week of hard core partying followed by 1 week of Flu.... I am again heading back to normal!! I think it was nature's way of telling me that I badly needed some rest and I was forced to take a lot of it over the last few days :)

So...tonight was again a movie time. The same gang of 6-7 people got the projector and watched this AWESOME movie - APOCALYPTO by Mel Gibson. Lot of people may not really like this movie and its not been rated extremely well either, but all of us just loved it! This is a mythic action adventure movie which is set in the backdrop of Mayan civilization, the language in the entire movie is also Mayan - so you need to concentrate on those sub-titles!! An extremely G H O R Y movie, never watched something like this before, and I almost felt like throwing up in the middle of the movie, coz I ensured that i didnt close my eyes anytime!! Initial part of the movie is very slow and you keep wondering why the hell are you watching it (poor "C" got cursed a few times for having recommended this movie :) But if you can force yourself to sit thru the first 45 mins or so... trust me its gonna be worth a watch!!! It could be made less violent by not showing such scenes which are really not meant for weak-hearted people like me!! The movie doesnt require it but still... Mel Gibson chose to go his way! Whatever it is... i still got up that courage in me to start watching such movies... and at the end of it - really enjoyed!!

P.S: Just a suggestion - dont watch this movie alone!

A screenshot from the movie...



People are still continuing to watch another movie - Blood Diamond now (Its 4.30AM) but I guess I better get some sleep if i want to get fit again soon!

Odyssey....

.... is a very famous Greek Novel written by "Homer" of The Illiad fame and am sure all of us would have heard of this at some point or the other in life. I got to read an abridged version of this novel few days back... as part of the course work of "Leadership Lessons through world literature" - a course that i have opted for in this term. I am glad that I chose this course coz Prof. Rajeshwar Upadhyay is just AWESOME!!!!!!!!! The amount of knowledge that he has and the kind of parallels that he draws while talking about each of these literary works, is way beyond commendation! Through this course we get to read some of the great works written in ancient times and draw some leadership lessons through the characters involved. Some of the books included are Ramayana, Odyssey, Oedipus Rex, Abhijnana Shakuntalam, Don Quixote, Julius Ceaser, Zarathustra.. et al. I am glad that at least now I am getting to read some ancient mythology :)

The recent reads were Odyssey and a play called Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Odyssey has a modern flair to it and a complex but interesting plot structure. Oedipus Rex is a story entirely about fate. In this play, according to fate Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus gets to know about this and tries his best to not let this happen.....without realizing that every action of his is getting him entagled in the meshes of fate! Very well written...

Read Odyssey here

Read Oedipus Rex here

Holi @ ISB

After a really really long time I celebrated holi again today! The last I played was sometime in school... and never really got a chance after that. There was a nice party organized at ISB... with all the essentials - colors, bhang, vodka, beer, food et al.. Holi on a campus is really different I must say!! It started around 10AM and I guess it went on till about 4PM or so. I was a bit late in going there coz a bunch of us slept at around 6AM watching a Kannada horror movie last nite :-) The mirror pool was already full of color water and people were beyond recognition, covered in all kinds of colors. Before I could realize I was in the pool and drenched in colors :) It was a really colorful sight and a happy mood out there. Being a South Indian, I never knew holi could be so much fun!! Am really going to miss this occassion next year!!

Few pics taken by people... (I didnt take my camera out there thankfully! )

Happy Holi!!

Nishabd

My Rating for this: ***1/2 out of 5

Watched this movie called 'Nishabd', which was released just today, but we still managed to get tickets for the evening show. I had no clue what this movie was all about but had seen the posters of it here and there thru which I had figured that it was quite a bold subject to be made as a movie - very unconventional. It's about a 60 year old man (Amitabh Bachchan) who falls in love with a 18 year old girl, who is his daughter's friend (Jiya Khan), who comes to stay with them on a short vacation. Amitabh's acting is commendable as usual - HE IS JUST SUPERB!!. He has carried out this role in an awesome way and I dont think anyone else would be able to do justice to this strong character that well! Jiya as a newcomer has done a decent job but not a noteworthy performance. I think the emphasis has been more towards her beauty than her acting and it seemed very artificial to me, most of the time. The whole movie rests on Amitabh's shoulders. Without him it wud have been just another box office flop!

The movie has a strong story line and a bold concept but I felt that it still needed some more effort to build the intensity of the relationship between amitabh's character and Jiya so that the climax seemed more powerful. The ending is not very clear and i guess the director wanted it to be so in order to leave it to the discretion of the audience. It does leave you with a lot of emotions with high intensity and you can give way to your imaginations and criticisms of what has happened in the story and what might probably happen from then on, the rights and wrongs, etc. Just as the title suggests, the movie did leave me "spellbound" at the end, not coz it was great but well... i am still trying to figure out the reasons! I didnt feel it was something outstanding - definitely not to RGV's standards but it sure does have an awesome cinematography - the tea estate locations are just breathtaking, not to forget the background music of course - hats off to the music directors!!

After the movie, we went to this place called 'Chutneys' for dinner. I had heard a lot about this place since I came to Hyd but never had a chance to go there. I just LOVED the food there, may be coz I was missing the south indian food too much but still... I felt it was too good and all of us hogged like there is no tomorrow! Waiting to explore the city more.....