IndianMaze

It was a social meeting with a doctor friend, Anil, to celebrate his 50th birthday. Amy, a home maker and a school mate of the doc, was suffering from disturbed digestive system as a chronic problem and has been to many a doctors. She spent a mini fortune in getting various tests conducted but somehow no accurate diagnosis could be made. Amy brought this issue with Anil who is an ENT specialist, but a doc is a doc. Anil asked her a few general questions. To cut the long story short it emerged that Amy was not drinking enough water. She used to take about 250ml a day as drinking water. Anil suggested her to gradually increase it to 2L per day.  A few months later, Amy brought a big cake for Anil to say thanks as she was feeling fine. Gets me thinking! Why do we ignore things that are free for us for our good. A few thoughts: - water. Does not cost (much), has no calories, has no awkward taste, easily available but do we take enough of it - air. Omnipresent, no cost, no calo...

I was leisurely reading the weekend edition of newspapers. It was interesting read on a subject that I normally would not spend time during the work day despite my interest or so I think. As I finished halfway through the article my phone rang and I picked it without giving it a thought. Turned out to be soliciting call for an insurance policy. I started reading again from where I left but took me a short while to go the precise point I left reading. Another paragraph later, it was an SMS alert to which I again attended to breaking my reading. I finished reading the article but thinking now that did I do justice to my interest? Did the article not deserve my uninterrupted attention. I may have accomplished the tasks of reading, responding to a phone call and going through the SMS on my phone but did I do justice to my interest and the article?

Priya (name changed) was suffering from an ear ache post her flight. She normally does not suffer from ear ache during air journeys. On reaching home, she mentioned this to her mother. They decided to pay a visit to a doctor as it was an unusual complaint. Then onwards an interesting story started. To cut a long story short, the emphasis was to go to the best doctor in the best hospital in the neighborhood. They finally went to an ENT surgeon in a very reputed (5 star variety) hospital and came back with a great satisfaction. Doctor prescribed an antibiotic ear drop and a pain killer if required. Hospital charges were Rs 300 (US$ 5) for registration and Rs 600 (US$ 10) for specialist consultation and Rs 25 for medicines (antibiotic and pain killer). After 3 times usage of antibiotic drops she was all right and did not need any pain killers. This raises a vital question in  my mind! Why do consumers look for a specialist doctor when a normal GP would do the job at perhaps m...

The news of Prime Minister of India fasting while on a tour to USA is making headlines. People are wondering that how can he be so active despite surviving on plain hot water. It is already 4 days and he is fasting for the whole 8 days. Just like he and millions of Indians do it for year after year and years. I found it interesting that such fasting is fairly common across various followings. Hindus do it for Navratras (nine festive days coming twice a year). Jains do it during their Paryushan days. Muslims do it during Ramadan. Christians do it in their own ways. What is common is feasting follows fasting. the periods may be different. Feasting everyday after fast or feasting after long fasts. The motto to me is to gain a feast, we must sacrifice with some fast. People do it in many parts of the globe. Do we look for differences or similarities is upto us. Happy fasting. Happy feasting

I was surprised at Preety's no response to a mail following our discussion three weeks ago. She has always been very forthright with her comments and been open about sharing those even when contradictory to the common belief. I have known Preety for over a decade and shared a mutual professional respect in the department we were working. She was highly opinionated and stood her ground almost in all cases but never compromising on her commitment to decisions taken even when those decisions were not in line with her belief. With this background I was very surprised that she did not respond to a query following a discussion on a problem I was facing. Am I expecting too much? This behaviour is so unlike her! She has been exchanging messages on IM but on the mail - a silence. How do I find out what is behind this? I am sure there is an answer. But, for me. silence is not golden in this case.

Getting to an elaborate shopping in 44 degrees Celsius is generally not my kind of an idea. Even more so when one is forced to be a host cum driver cum guide to guests from overseas. Yes, I was sulking but it turned out to be a great lesson. Well worth the sweat in hot and dry summer of Delhi. I was allotted to accompany my overseas relatives on a wedding shopping spree in India. Whats is the price of item A? What is the value of the same item A? This is a dilemma that is understood by quite a few businesses, for sure in India. India has a rule of law that prescribes a written price for most consumer items but there are still quite a few items that do not have prescribed prices (MRP as we know in India or RRP as known in many other countries). Also, services generally do not have the diktat to mention the prices in advance. The salesperson at the shop started to gauge the customer first. Looking at the dressing, style of speaking et al. I was thankfully sitting in a corner...

It is one culture that runs through the organisation. Why not? The leadership is same and they have same policies running across the company. Yes, mostly. Here comes the leadership at a level other than a leader. It is a tale of two newspapers from the same house. For ease I will call these as City News (CN) and City Business News (CBN). CN is the elder sibling by a few decades. So when started CN acted like the big brother and everyone assumed complete protection and support by the elder sibling. Alas, it was not the case. Younger sibling felt being taken for granted and undervalued. One day CBN challenged and decided to walk on own terms. The head of CBN decided, rebelling against the elder sibling, to have its own culture and behaviour. The result has been astounding. CN still runs the roost due to past legacy and still acts as a bully. CBN has set up a new team that is more passionate, customer service oriented, a better product and more disciplined. This young lea...

"Where is Blue Lake? Is it on this train journey? How can I fit it in my very tight sight seeing schedule?" asked an enthusiast 20something youngster on a holiday to Switzerland. These questions were directed to the train conductor. I, sitting next to the couple, was in the hear of the conversation. Next came out a a four folded notebook paper that had a few scribbles on it and a few ticks against some lines. "We have seen 11 of the 14 we are supposed to see today" exclaimed the enthusiastic partner. Conductor was very helpful and explained that there was nothing special about the blue lake that was different from the lake we were passing by in the train at that time. But the insisting went on as to how to see, even if from the train's window, THE BLUE LAKE. All 14 "things" must be ticked. It was an eye opener for me. How many times do we make a list to enjoy/complete the tasks giveing the due importance to each one? Is ticking against all a m...

This is an article written about 2005 by me. It is amazing that our responses to new technology remain the same despite moving miles ahead. Reproduced here. Business - India;TV and the waves of change Dinesh Jain Every now and then, men of great wisdom have paused and looked upon their world as it existed then and made one of two pronouncements; condemning emerging technology to the realm of the 'useless' or declaring mankind's attainment of all that had to be attained, the peak of technological advancement by the human race. In 1977, Ken Olson, Founder President of Digital Equipment Corp said, "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home". There is no evidence that people want to use these things," said the San Francisco Examiner in 1984 on an experimental pointing device called 'the mouse'. In circa 1991, cable TV arrived in our homes, and it opened up a whole new wonderland to the 'Desi Alices'. Most cond...

Its a rich (wo)man's world! Life is all cosy for the rich. They live in large mansions, have limousines at their disposal, servants all around, top brands and what not. Eat in top hotels and restaurants, Caviar and Champagne is their regular choice. Absolutely right.... ummmmm Going beyond stereotypes, rich are not after all the EXPENSIVE things all the time. They tend to seek a self satisfaction. On a recent visit to one of the richest countries in the world, Switzerland, I felt a completely different world of the RICH. It started with the research on various blogs and travel sites. Was amazed at the flurry of advise the the RICH people as to how to save money. The advise ranged from using 2nd class in trains as the benefit of 1st class does not commensurate with the price you pay to the fact that one should take "picnic" in trains includig own wine as most Swiss do. It was quite a surprise to see that actually most Swiss do so. The reasons vary but large...