Start of our VOYage...the making...:)

Following has been composed and written by 'Divya Prabha Acharya' on the first release of Mangalore Infosys - Voice of Youth's Newsletter - VOYage. Though she mentions that it's her personal experience but I feel that it beautifully summarizes the feelings of all of us who were involved in this newsletter's creation.

Here it goes...

"Newsletter will be out on 29th June..." --was this for sure? that too the first newsletter from VOY...? what to include? with all of us having project(s) in hand? All these made us atleast have a kick-off meeting on Sunday(24th June'07..). Farid, Shweta and me decided to meet in Rec block..to decide, what are we supposed to do..and how.. and by when...

As usual, until the deadline is actually near...all meetings are for namesake...we checked couple of newsletters, templates, events in mlore..etc and finally decided on some contents to place in the 'so-called' VOYage...
Little did we know at that moment, it was the strong base for our newsletter!!

Can't exactly recall, when Nitin and Shastri got involved, but work started - getting contents, reviews, template, new ideas..some which made sense, most didnot :) Farid did a great job, making us realize we are all in right direction, also making us realize we are still far from the destination.

Draft version was sent by Farid,which had all in place, when Shastri actually woke up from sleep(;)), said he can use iweb/MAC for the newsletter creation.

First thing came to our mind was..Dude, it is already late, are we going to finish by Friday?Shastri did reply safely, sayin he will give a try.

Well, one of those instances which makes you realize, no harm in giving it a shot..and it worked...if we realize it now!

Reviews on articles, contents, english, grammar, look of the newsletter..all being worked on by us..making sure, we catch every free moment we have inspite of appraisals, project work, parties..Suddenly comes to our mind..VOY logo..research on that, different ideas from people..finally we decide on one.

Day before the release - is the review..whole team was called..all happy with the way it is progressing, though we had 101 things yet incomplete..little did we bother about it, since somewhere in our mind we had a feeling we can somehow give a nice shape to the newsletter.

Draft version mails kept coming..reviews back for changes...bad reviews, good reviews..working on it...whether one liked it or not..took us to the final day of the release..

VOY Mailbox, well became Nitin's headache..guess, he can write a BOK on it now;) Newsletter took real good shape on final day...

Now came the Promo mail..oh..this me and farid had thought on a collage like format..which we forgot until the D-day..Again, me, shweta and Farid..thought, why to ditch this idea..when the newsletter has come this far..work started on this...luckily we had time, and call it my luck....customer call got cancelled;)

All would appreciate the different creativity..of the promo mail...Farid's patience was the big-winner, which I feel rest of us lacked..then..

All set, a nice ceremony for the release, suddenly looked as if..everything fell in place for good...
Good feedbacks started pouring in...everybody around, checking the newsletter, a great feeling...your work pays..all talking about it...and that was the birth of VOY newsletter...

Well, that looked like a long Journey..though this VOYage..looks as if it has just begun...

Lot of learnings, difference of opinions, fun and what not...Will never forget this memorable VOYage...the long journey we had in a short time...

mungaaru male - मुन्गारू मले - monsoon rain

In my previous blog I have mentioned about trip to new DC campus। After visiting the campus we went to Nitin's place for lunch. Way towards his home is very nice (one through which we went). Small winding road, then walking through paddy fields in light showers we reached his home. At his home were five cats and 2 very small kittens (shooo cute), Shweta loved playing with those cats :P. hehe actually she doesn't like cats, as per her - cats should be where they belong and not on her. But we made sure that cats are on her, with her screaming and making faces. At his home we were treated with kori-roti which is the mangalore speciality dish. After filling our stomach with tasty moth watering food we started to return.

When we were returning others (Nitin, Shweta, Divya and Shrinidhi) planned of going to watch 'Mungaaru Male' which is the latest Kannada movie (has been running for over 25 weeks)। After some coercing they convinced me and Arvinder (both of us doesn't even know k of kannada). I agreed and this was my second regional language movie - first being 'Chandramukhi' in Tamil which I watched in US. And as others promised that they will translate the dialogs for us I had agreed (same reason I had gone for Chandramukhi too). Vasu dropped us at the theater - which again is something different which we did. Since the time Adlabs has opened I haven't ventured out to these other theaters but for this movie we had to go this theater.

It was fun standing in queue to get the tickets, pulling each other leg (college ishtyle) and enjoying the light rains. Movie started and so the translation. I would thank Divya for translating almost all of the dialogs with Nitin pitching in and providing more inputs apart from translating for Arvinder also, Shrinidhi was translating for Shweta. Movie was really good and a well deserved super-hit. In between there were dialogs like 'something has fallen on us' from someone in group :P (don't hit me for putting it here)। Story is good with songs so good that even though I don't understand what's being sung I am listening to those nowdays. Though the end is a little bit sad but overall movie was excellent, far better than hindi movies which was coming like Shootout at Lokhandwala, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, junk junk junk....

Mugaaru Male means monsoon rains, exactly the first monsoon rains। With this beautiful season starting in, I am enjoying each day when it rains, enjoying beauty of mangalore and its surrounding. Beauty of getting wet in rain, forgetting about what if I catch cold, just as I used to play in rain when I was a kid. I think my longing for becoming a kid again is making me do these things, but who is complaining here - I am enjoying what I am and how I am.

This was one day which I definitely will remember for long. Because every bit of this day I enjoyed and I enjoyed it fully forgetting about any other thing.

VOY's day out...

It was an initiative which sprang suddenly on Friday evening in one of the meetings. Why not VOY visit the new DC campus Saturday morning and have a look around ourselves. It was decided that everyone will meet in office at 11 AM in morning (mind you it was Saturday so can be too early for some of us), some of the members could not join because of plans which they had made earlier. Vasu, Divya, Shweta, Arvinder, Shrinidhi and Farid met in office and started in Vasu's vehicle for the destination. Nitin had planned to come directly to new DC site as his home is nearby.

Before we started from office, Vasu mentioned it would not be the best day to visit campus, because we will be seeing some destruction caused by yesterday’s high velocity winds (something we started seeing just as we came out of office and saw throughout the route. Later another news came that a ship has sank off Taneerbhavi beach).

Note: From this point onwards are all my views which may or may not match with other’s view

Winding roads, trees lined on both sides and valley, all green, welcoming you along with a river in middle (Netravati river) is perfect location for a vacation resort in some hill-station. All along the route this is the only sight which just makes you forget everything and enjoy the scenic beauty. In between you will come across small towns (which definitely will develop in years to come, will come up with high-rises, malls and complexes). Reality is, this is not a resort which I am talking about, but a dream which every mInfoscion has cherished, some for almost 10 years, other like me for almost 5 years and for the new joinees a dream which just begun and is now taking shape. This is an extension of the Infosys’s most happening DC – Mangalore DC, which surely is going to bring envy to other Infy DC’s as well as other companies as goes the tagline – ‘Neighbors’ envy, owners pride’.

Construction which started this Jan is progressing on good pace and already structural blocks of what will be huge 1700 capacity food court (FC) & recreational bloc and SDB-I already in place. There will be a picturesque view from the FC overlooking a green valley and on a clear sky, Arabian Sea in view. Ohh did I forgot to mention that this whole campus is located on top of hill 165 mts above sea level and the only other construction which is at higher elevation than our campus is a church. View from any part of campus is going to be beautiful, and I am definitely sure it will be difficult for people to work from inside the office and some will definitely be found appreciating the beauty outside (another job for managers to search for their team in that huge campus).

It was kind of raining while we were visiting the campus. We visited the food court and saw the construction and could imagine the beauty which one will be able to see from there when it is completed. One level below food court lies recreational block (yeh you guessed correctly, this is something opposite from our DC where recreation block is above FC). Below all this construction (FC and SDB), lies the area which will be our cricket stadium – probably another first where a stadium will be overlooking a beautiful view of valley and sea. One day I hope we will definitely be host to Indian cricket team just as MyDC were hosts some days back for India Bowlers camp.

Hats off to hundreds of construction workers who are working 24x7 (be it sunshine or hot summer sun or Mangalore rains), because of whose dedication our new DC is taking shape and work is progressing and will be completed in time. It’s one of those times where all of us should appreciate their effort in making our dreams come true.

It was now time to wrap our trip. Nitin has invited all of us for lunch at his place. Before we started for Nitin’s place we visited the church and from there also the view of our campus was beautiful. It was another nice experience going to Nitin’s place, walking around the paddy fields and then reaching his house. After this nice trip to campus it was now time to full our stomach with great home made food. Thanks Nitin for being such a great host.

P.S. – For those of you wondering what VOY is.
‘Voice of Youth’ was constituted in mid-April in Infy’s “Happening DC” mInfy (as it is popularly called), with the main objective to brainstorm, innovate and rollout strategic initiatives along with the Extended Operations Council, provide peer feedback on the initiatives and to infuse fresh ideas to the DC Management. This group was created consisting of 2 mInfoscions from each of the Units which are working out in mInfy (REU, RETL, IHL, HTDM and ES) and 3 from Business Enabler Functions.

test blog - thru mail

this is blog testing how blogs are published thru mail. If this goes fine then probably I will be publishing all by blogs thru this only.

 

Hurray… it succeeded to get posted…

मेरा पहला हिंदी का ब्लोग

यह मेरा पहला हिंदी का ब्लोग है मैं तो बस देख रहा था की गूग्ल हिंदी मैं ब्लोग लिखने मैं कितना सहायक है। अछा हे अब मैं कुछ ब्लोग हिंदी मैं भी लिखूंगा, लेकिन हिंदी मैं लिखना थोडा मुश्किल है।

अछा हो कि अब उर्दू मैं भी ब्लोग लिख पाऊँ तो।

अभी के लिए अलविदा। फिर मिलेंगे कुछ समय बाद।

Retailing - It happen in India

Does the title sound similar? I think many of you who had been venturing out to Big Bazaar will recognize as it is similar to the title of the book which is on story of Pantaloons and Big Bazaar by the Rajah of Indian Retail - Kishore Biyani (KB).

There is no coincidence that this title is similar, because in this article I am going to write about Retailing in India – now and how it will be in future, the great Indian consumer and of course Big-Bazaar and Pantaloons.

Since the day I have been back from US (in Jan 2007), I have seen one big change in Mangalore. I have seen crowd of people, children, young & old. Why I am mentioning this here is because in earlier 2 years (2003 to 2004), I had not seen or I would say I was not aware that so many people exists in Mangalore. Coming back to the point, I have seen this crowd doing one thing most often which is thronging Big Bazaar and crowding it like anything. On Saturdays and Sundays you will not find place to walk as its completely clogged by people trying to get the best deal.

Organized Retail which is the new buzzword is luring lots of corporates. Walmart/Bharti, Carrefour, Reliance, Tata and Birla all are venturing into Retail with big-bang. There is a shift in shopping pattern of those Indian consumers who shop at these retail chains. This shopping pattern was/is Indian consumers reluctance to buy something without any choice to be made. Everyone knows that when we used to go shopping (be it anything) we will go to multiple shops, check out the quality and prices, try for the best deal and then purchase the item from the place where we get the best deal. This pattern had multiple advantages, one being one used to be satisfied on quality which one gets, one will be aware of value for money and above all one would be satisfied on the fact that best deal was made. But this fact is fast changing with emergence of organized retailing which is cashing in on the fact that Indian consumers as like consumers of other developed countries are now short of time and high on cash to spend. This is the basic philosophy which is driving all these retailers.

Big-Bazaar or KB's philosophy - 'Sabse accha Sabse sasta', doesn't hold good. One might get some product cheapest there, but quality is not guaranteed. Now for me Big-Bazaar is just a place where I go and watch people searching around things (myself not buying anything from Big-Bazaar), trying to get best deals, buying things which are not needed (another philosophy for organized retail), standing in the check-out queue and in the end of this 1-2 hour marathon saving 50-100 bucks (I am not taking example of monthly ration supplies here). I always have this one question - is this saving of 50-100 bucks worth? Wouldn't had it been much better if the same product could have been brought from some kirana shop saving time and also saving on unnecessary spending?

Currently Big-Bazaar might be cashing in on the fact that in organized retail it does not have much competition. But by next year when Walmart/Bharti, Tata and Birla join the bandwagon it might be difficult for KB and Big-Bazaar to hold on to the tag-line 'Sabse accha Sabse sasta'. They will need to bring in quality and standards (which is evidently lacking now) for the 'Sabse accha' part of the tag line while keeping the 'Sabse sasta' part intact. It will not be that easy, given the fact that Walmart is a master in Operational and Supply Chain efficiencies. Already Walmart has suppliers in India and China, so for its foray it will just need to increase its sourcing, it already has quality standards set (though everyone know about Walmart's quality with respect to other US retailers).

Here I would also like to bring and talk about KB's philosophy that consumers should not save but spend their earnings (this is US consumer pattern) which is given in his book 'It happened in India'. There is great difference between US and Indian economy, its consumers and spending habits of consumers. Even if organized retailers are coming in and spending power is increasing one fact which will still differentiate Indian consumers spending habit from US consumers will be social-security. In US, social security is assured for each and every citizen while in India its still a long dream. Here people save and they will continue to save. They will save until they have their own home, they will save for their children's marriage and they will save for their future security. Changing this pattern will be difficult not even for KB and Big-Bazaar but even for any or all the organized retailers working together.

There has been numerous discussions on entry of big retailers and their impact on our kirana shops. I feel that there will not be much impact and these kirana shops will continue to exist and thrive. Only that they will have to bring in some differentiation with respect to services they will provide. Another thing which big retailers will need to take care of is not to upset these kirana shop owners, our farmers or the lower income level people, whose livelihood depends on these unorganized sectors. Buying power may be concentrated with a few but if the majority of these lower income / poor people people gets upset over the fact that their livelihood is taken away and no other alternate jobs are made then the situation will definitely take bad shape. It might take shape of violent protests (as seen from ransacking of Reliance Fresh shops in Bihar some weeks back) or legislation could be brought in (as these are the people who vote).

Though I feel there is nothing wrong in giving big-retailers a chance to establish retailers should be aware of their responsibilities with respect to pricing, quality and the shopping experience which they provide. Profit should not be the only parameter for which these retailers are coming.

In the end, it's up to the consumers on how they react to this explosion and expansion of organized retailers. As it has always been said – customer is the king. It will be sometime before we see what the king decides and who has the last laugh – king or the rajah (KB).