Sunday, May 25, 2008

Is it really an Idiot Box?

People say that television in our country has progressed a lot. From the time when you choice on T.V. meant only 2 channels to the emergence of cable with channels like Zee T.V. , Star Plus, Sony to the situation now when you have more than a hundred channels. The channels have become so large that the sector has long been categorized into sub segments such as News channels, Sports channels, etc.


Despite all this, these days, I seriously find a dearth of options to spend my T.V. viewing time on. Though, part of the reason for this is my being on and off in terms of the viewing, yet my feelings have been reciprocated by even avid watchers. It happens a lot that I just switch on the T.V. only to realize that I again could not find even a single channel with a decent offering on which I could spend my time.


I remember a time when my day’s schedule was determined by what was being shown at what time on the T.V. – more so during school holidays and only somewhat less when the school was open. At that time the choice of channels was much less but the same channels came in handy with multiple shows that could be watched. During the holidays, I woke up at a time when a particular cartoon series / kids show was to begin – say 8:00am in the morning. My mother woke me up saying that its 8 and I used to get up fast and switch on the T.V. The daily chores (brushing your teeth etc.) used to happen in the commercial breaks. A good 1.5-2 hours were spent playing hide and seek with the shows and by 10:00am, I used to be done with everything including breakfast without missing any scene of any show – talk about multitasking, eh?


At about 11:00 or 11:30 there again used to be a good comic or detective series to watch after which my father used to come home for lunch. He used to watch the business channel (after those were launched) and before he used to watch the news channels. I never used to eat any meal without sitting in front of the T.V. Even during exam time, my meal used to happen in that 30-minute slot in which there was a program to watch. During school days, I used to come home at around 1:30 and there was one particular comedy series which ran at that particular time slot – perfect watch for a good lunch.


This habit has stayed with me. In my institute, all the students eat in the Food Mess. There are two areas in which one can do his/her meal – one with a set of T.V.s and the other without. To me that is the distinguishing factor and am not sure from which angle the other students look at them differently. As you would have guessed, I always sit in the area with the T.V. sets, irrespective of the amount of rush in that area.


Coming back, in the afternoons there were movies on the cable channels – some at 2:00, others at 2:30. I always used to see the names of those so that I would not repent on missing out a good one. If the movie was found interesting, another 2.5-3 hours went in front of the T.V. – though I admit that used to happen rarely. The evening was time to go outside and play with friends and by the time you are back, there is ample content on T.V. available – the prime slot.


You might be wondering about my T.V. habits and where did the study time go? I sincerely believe that if a person genuinely wants to do anything, he/she can extract some time for it, even from the busiest of schedules. More often than not, blaming things on unavailability of time just shows the lack of effort. Studies and all other stuff were managed effectively in a manner so as not to miss anything worthwhile to watch on T.V.


I agree that at that time there was much kids stuff which constituted a big part of the package of the things I watched, all of which I might not like to view today. Even then, I am sure that, had the current channels / shows been available then, my T.V. viewing would have reduced significantly. That way it may have been for the better (am not saying that I regret watching so much television, else I would not have written this post).

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Excuse me, I have a compliant!

Companies tend to forget how easy it is to lose customers in this competitive market. The situation can vary across industries but customer loss is mostly a threat, assuming that there are sufficient substitutes available.


Some time back I travelled outside my country. It was my first trip abroad and though I was going on a business trip, there was that tinge of excitement. All the preparation started a few days earlier. All the packing was done a few hours in advance of when I was to leave my place. A good thing about travelling for corporate work is that everything seems to be taken care of. So, the work permit, visa, tickets etc. took lesser effort on my part. There was a car waiting for me to drop me to the airport. As it was my first visit, there was no chance of being able to convince my family not to come to the airport (I am not saying that I did not want them to come). I left the place, and within a few hours was in the airplane. And to make things even better, though I had an Economy class ticket, I was upgraded to Business class. The airlines had empty seats and considering that it was the first time I was travelling with them, they might have wanted to make me a permanent customer.


The journey went on well and after a few weeks, I was back in the country travelling with the same airline operator. However, I had a complaint that I wanted to be addressed. During my journey, I used the socks that the airline gives to its customers. These can be used in case someone feels cold. I used these and that cost me my trousers. The impression of the socks somehow was on my trouser and led to my trousers getting spoiled. I complained and followed up and repeated that a few more times, but to no avail.


One thing, which many companies need to learn, is to have a generic number on which anyone can call and get directed to the concerned person/department. Firstly, I tried to reach the office of the airline in my city. I was told that this was the airport number and I need to call the corporate office (not in my city). Fair enough! “Can you give the number to the complaints’ department?” The person did not have one and gave me a number that I could have easily found on the net. I started to try my luck there. When you call such offices, firstly you would be directed and redirected multiple times. And each new person you talk to, you would have to repeat your query. That could become intolerable after those first few times. Soon, the tradeoff between going through this and the thing you would get on making such efforts starts tilting the former side. You should consider yourself lucky, to actually be able to talk to the concerned department/person.


To cut a long story short, nothing has happened. I had sent a written application and was told that my application is being forwarded to the concerned department. I do not know the status of my complaint, whether it was actually forwarded, whether somebody else read it or it was thrown in a file or may be in a dustbin etc.


One thing I read about waiting in queues a while back is that, there are psychological factors that a company should take care when it has to make people, stand in queues (e.g. if a person is given an idea about the time he/she will have to wait, he/she would be more alright with waiting). I think similar psychological factors are also involved in addressing complaints. If there was some way in ehich I could track the status of my complaint or I got a final answer (even if that answer was that they are not responsible for my loss), I would have felt much better.


I do not have had an option to fly with that airline again, but I wonder if I would. Would their act of upgrading me to Business class, triumph over my compliant getting no heed?


P.S. I have not named the airline for I think it would be unfair on my part to let others pass judgment on it, without giving them at least one chance.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

You've Got Mail

One thing that you definitely learn

When you become part of a corporate group

Whatever be the case, whatever be the news

You should keep everyone “in the loop”


How do you think people get so many mails each day?

It is the direct result of this unwritten custom

Sometimes I wonder how much time people spend managing

Don’t they get frustrated? or do they get accustom?


You rarely see a mail without a few names hanging in the CC field

And there is some kind of pressure to fill all available space

Else there is fear of being called new and immature

Or the poor one who will need some time to adjust to this place



You see the difference when you receive mails from your friends

Except those Forwards, they have been addressed only to you

Is this possible or am I dreaming, you wonder

Before you realize, that this on is one of those few


Nevertheless, this practice helps sometimes

Remember that archived mail or the file you found

Or that quick glance read which helped you sound intelligent

Even without finding the time, to see all the mails which go around

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Finding the average annualized rate of return

To find the annualized rate of return for an aggregate of transactions:

Let x1 = a1/b1 * 100 * 1/t1 ........ (1)

and x2 = a2/b2 * 100 * 1/t2 ....... (2)

where x = annualized rate of return; a = actual value of return; b = actual amount invested; t = time for which invested.

Equation (2) can be written as

x2 = (a2*b1/b2)/b1 * 100 * 1/t2

So, we can assume that b1 amount of money has been invested for (t1 + t2) amount of time and the actual return was (a1 + a2*b1/b2)

Therefore, the average annualized rate of return

= (a1 + a2*b1/b2)/b1 * 100 * 1/(t1 + t2)

= (a1/b1 + a2/b2) * 100 * 1/(t1 + t2)

= (x1*t1 + x2* t2) / (t1 + t2)