Carving a niche

There is a rash of social networks out there, each one focusing on some niche. Just came across this site called Tipsbase, which is about sharing tips and tricks on a wide variety of topics. Another site, going by the nicely coined Telonu (Tel-on-u) is a site that basically helps you to 'rave, rant and rate' your workplace. The theme is centered around generating reviews for prospective applicants and a place for co-workers to gossip annonymously. And then there are other apps building around existing social networks, like the recent Twitority and Twithority , which are solutions around the micro-blogging site Twitter. It really is wonderful to have so many social networking sites and apps around, each focused on a small niche. After all, that is what entrepreneurship is about, isn't it? Identify a space, focus on it, and come up with a usable solution. Now that seems rather obvious. Nothing new about it. What got me thinking was that it is now that we are witnessing an almost exponential growth in these kind of apps. Orkut started the trend with social networking. Then came along the hugely popular Facebook - which started as social networking for college grads, and there is MySpace to add to the party as well. In video sharing, too, it was started by YouTube, and now there are Hulu, Seesmic and Vimeo (the list is not exhaustive, by any means) that allow you to share videos. When I think about these sites, it all seems so simple. So dead simple. So obvious. And yet, only a few bright minds could actually see the voids, the holes in the wall, so to say, and get the proper brick-masons together. It's all about identifying the niche, however small. And siezing the opportunity. Another thing that struck me was that social networks are spawning to fill in a need. That is different from forming a group or community within an existing social network. What's the difference? Well, a dedicated site you can go to, a one-stop-shop, if you will. In some way, this Web2.0 revolution is similar to the dotcom boom of the 90s. So will there be a bust as well? Most definitely. Sites can be hugely popular, but that does not necessarily translate into revenue. Sites like Facebook, YouTube are grappling precisely this issue. Ditto with Twitter. Of course, advertising constitutes a big part of the revenue model, but especially in times like these, advertising budgets of companies would dip as well. Well, but one thing is sure. Make hay while the sun shines, as they say. When the rains come, dive for cover. And that's where the real test lies. 

As I was mulling over these thoughts in the shower, a few others were also going through my mind. About a niche, and seeing the opportunity. Mind you, these are only thoughts, I'd not call them any ingenious ideas - or even ideas. How about a social network for bachelors? Being in Bangalore, there are a lot of bachelors. Every year thousands of fresh graduates land in the IT city to begin their professional careers - in the IT/BPO and tech sectors. Most of them are graduates. How about a social network to help them? Most basic needs - accomodation and food. There are a lot of PGs and rental houses in Bangalore. But if you've been through a house-hunt, you'll know that it's a harrowing time. Especially hunting for PGs. And then there's the question of sharing your apartment. A question on the minds of a lot of guys who come alone to the city is about finding a room-mate, and of course a room. And there're a lot of guys who at any point of time are looking for a room-mate to share an apartment with. You know, someone's getting married, someone's shifting to new place to be closer to the place of work (or their girlfriend!). I've myself faced this issue, when my roommate got married. And if you are like me, you'd prefer to have someone you know - or someone your friend knows really well - as a roommate rather than a totally unknown person. (As an aside, though, I did not know Kaustubh when we shifted in together along with Parin - whom I knew from my undergrad days - but that's another thing.) So how about a site that pairs people? And creates an easily browsable, and most importantly, reviewed by people you know - or people your people know - database of houses. You want to look for a house, your colleague's cousin may be looking for someone to share his apartment with. Bingo! I know that sites like Sulekha.com do exist. But they are a general classified site. Not specific to this particular issue. 

Another good thing for bachelors would be about messes, lunch homes, tiffin services. Now there are message boards for that. But a person who's totally new to the city does not have much chance of being on those message boards. He could, however, join the network before he comes to the city, and get some pretty handy tips. Speaking of tips, he could even get tips on where he could search for accomodation. Browsable by rent, locality, and proximity to the main work-hubs (Electronic City, Bagmane Tech Park, or ITPL). Well, as I said, it's just a thought. May be some one has already thought about it, and done it. But if not, any takers for this one? 

A forgettable Saturday morning…

When I came out of the multiplex I wished I had a variant of short term memory loss which would make me forget the last three hours. Those three hours, three excruciating hours, would rank as the worst three hours I’ve ever spent in a cinema hall. This was pure torture, and to add insult to injury, I paid to go through it! Damn! Couldn’t have been a worse Saturday afternoon. Well, in case you haven’t got the drift, I’m talking about the latest release Ghajini, which I along with eight other friends watched today afternoon. I’m now wondering what made me – us – watch this movie in the first place! Was it because it was an Aamir Khan movie? Well, none of us is a diehard Aamir fan. I guess it was just curiosity which made us go for it. We wanted to see exactly how inspired it was by Memento. But curiosity killed the cat, and we managed to escape by hair’s breadth. But only just.

I have good news and bad news about this movie – or rather the traumatic experience we just had – and I’ll begin with the good news. Because it’d only take a line. The rest of the post can be about the bad. Aamir has done a decent job as Sanjay Singhania. Well, he’s done as well as much as the script – or what passes for it – would’ve allowed him. He portrays the angst and the vengeance nicely. But that’s about it. Asin, the female lead in the Tamil original looks nice, but she has nothing other to do than look nice, and be chirpy. Now, that’s where the good part ends. The other female lead, Jiah Khan’s character Sunita is a medical student who comes across Sanjay Singhania’s medical case file. Now the shot in which Sunita is introduced is a medical college laboratory scene, where some professor is pontificating on the importance of the human brain. “The human brain is the most important organ of the human body!” Aah, that was enlightening. And we have the students – of whom Sunita is one – huddled around him listening with rapt attention. Sunita is wearing make up and a garish pink lipstick. Gosh!! If that is how doctors attend medical college laboratory… Sunita’s character is shown to be so dumb that I guess if there is a Hollywood remake of Ghajini her character would definitely be a blond! I can go on about such ‘minor’ things the whole post. But I’m not giving to ranting about things in general, so I’ll skip the part.

The plot – a person having anterograde amnesia seeking revenge – has so much promise. The original Christopher Nolan movie Memento was an excellent piece of work dealing with this central theme. But what Murugadoss has done is just pick up the central theme and weave a traditional Tollywood Masala script around it and presented it to us. There is way too much blood and gore, right from the first reel to the last. Now I’m not amongst the weak hearted to complain about this, but the problem is that it’s senseless blood and gore. You can understand about it in an out-and-out action movie. Hello, this is about one person’s vendetta where he’s battling himself as much as the persons he’s seeking for his lady-love’s murder. And so you have to sit through much head-smashing, backstabbing (the literal kind) and people being hurled around. It would have done the director some good – and heck, the audience as well! – to put some thought into portrayal of the characters instead of so much needless violence. For instance, there’s a cop who finds out about Singhania’s true story. But he’s just a filler, with no significance to the plot whatsoever. He might as well have not been there! And then there’s Sunita. The dumbest, stupidest character I’ve seen on celluloid in a long long while. Considering the standard far coming out of mainstream Bollywood, this is a BIG compliment! She becomes interested in Singhania’s case, then finds out about him, then manipulates him, then goes and tells about him to the bad guy and finally turns around and decides to help him. You and me – and anyone with an IQ higher than 10, I guess – can make out by the goons standing behind the supposed business tycoon that he’s a bad guy in the whole story. But our Sunita – the final year Medical student – just summarily walks up to his door and tells him all about Sanjay Singhania. Why? Oh well, she just wants to help. God help us if all med graduates have a brain like Sunita’s.

The climax is just too contrived to believe it. Heck, it is laughable! And we were in splits watching the last half hour of the movie. Even going by Bollywood’s standards, the hero single-handedly running over a dozen or more of the baddies is a bit too much to digest. We’d expected more from an Aamir Khan movie, at the least. The final scene actually leaves you chuckling, looking at the heroics of our injured hero. And to think that Bollywood had graduated pass such clichés.

Verdict: Avoid at all costs! And if you do happen to watch the movie, I sincerely hope the trauma of watching it induces a temporary short-term memory loss that makes you forget the last three hours.

School 2.0

I've just started School 2.0. Its' been a few years since School 1.0 was complete, after four years of undergrad studies and another two years at the Electrical Engineering Department at IIT Bombay. And no matter how hard you might have mugged up all the texts for that Numerical Methods course in your grad studies, you do get rusty if you haven't been in touch for a while. And so I decided to use some of the spare time at work to go back to School. Well, the spare time is courtesy the end-of-year project closure formalities, which means that we do not have much concrete work to do right now. I felt this would be a good opportunity to get back in touch with the basics. So I'm currently studying applied probability theory and stochastic processes. And helping me out with it is the excellent course material from the Masachussets Institute of Technology! MIT has an excellent initiative called the Open Courseware (OCW), where lecture notes, assignments and exams and solutions are uploaded for the courses offered in MIT. The material is real good, and I would encourage everyone who hasn't already checked out their site to do so. 

Dance your blues away

Came across this video on you-tube, and something about the video just kind of struck a chord in the heart. I cannot describe what it was about this video - may be it's the music, may be it's the ridiculous - but endearing - dance. Check out the video, and leave your feelings in the comments. 

The 'Annual Story-telling competition'

Yesterday, we had at work, what a friend jokingly put as the 'annual story-telling competition'. In other words, filling up our annual performance appraisal workflow. Yes, it's *that* time of the year again! Amongst other things employees are required to fill out their key achievement during the year, the targets achieved by them, their strengths and key development needs (a euphemism for weaknesses, I guess ;) ), and their career interests and development goals. Employees also had to fill out a section where they had to fill out specific events which showcase their creativity, initiative, and a host of other 'skills'. Now filling out your achievements is something like drafting a patent application, if you ask me. You have one idea and you dress it up until it sounds like it's the next big thing of the century! Similarly, you might have only a couple of 'achievements'; But now putting down only two of them can't be good, can it?! You've been planning to buy that new car with the increment you're supposed to get! (Of course, in these times, it's good enough if you keep your job, and do not take a pay-cut, forget about an increment.) So you fill in the details of the 'story'. So for instance, if you implemented a research paper, you might put it as: 

• Designed and implemented a new method to significantly improve the accuracy of phoneme recognition. 

Heck! Did you, now?! Now, your boss might have a different take on that. He might consider the fact that you got any work done at all, as a fair and just 'achievement'. 

Well, but wait! There's more to come. You might have been the fifth author in a research paper that your group published (OK, there were six contributors - here's a nice link about author's list in papers), where you were responsible for drawing diagrams and proof-reading, but you definitely

• Co-authored a publication submitted to some of the most well-known conferences and journal. 

Note, that you delicately avoid mentioning whether it was accepted or not! You can't be blamed entirely, the date for announcing acceptance falls *after* submit the appraisal! Touche. 

The next section deals with your strengths - and weaknesses. Now, here's where you get to blow your own trumpet - or saxophone, or bugle, or any of those instruments in the opera - officially. So suddenly new strengths sprout overnight like the bean-stalk that grew overnight in the Jack-and-the-bean-stalk tale. And you mention both technical and soft-skills. So, you suddenly develop excellent presentation and communication skills, effective leadership qualities (if you're coveting that corner cubicle) besides strong analytical skills and being a technology wiz-kid, generally. And then comes the most important part - your career goals. Here's where you say that your boss deserves a promotion. Hell, NO, you aren't batting for him. But if your boss doesn't get that promotion, you wouldn't get his cubicle, will you?! So you put in your short-term and long-term goals. Of course, over a period of five years, you'd want to be managing a team of five people (who, just like you do now, will be cursing their boss and finding faults with just about everything he does). So you write: 

• Long-term goal: To lead a team of competent engineers with a strong focus on developing new products for the company. 

Ah, competent engineers. Tch-tch. A good friend of mine wanted to 'work with a strong and encouraging technical mentor to develop my technical skills', as part of short-term career goal. Ahem. The mentor has to be strong technically, and encouraging to boot! Of course, this was edited subsequently. About your key development needs - weaknesses - you need to put in how the company should spend big bucks so that *you* get that big promotion the next time around! Hehehe ;) Now isn't that exciting?!  

That was just a tongue-in-cheek look at 'the annual story-telling competition'. We all do exaggerate a little bit when it comes to this part. So a little 'story-telling' is fine, I guess. But 'weaving a fairy-tale' is not! I think this is just capping whatever you've done over the year. After all, your boss isn't blind to what effort you've put in - or not- during the year. Of course, just putting in long hours, and effort is not going to be enough. Somewhere, you also have to be a nice person. No one wants a high-performing jerk around. Well, they might put up with them, but that's just about it. 

Update: Here's another excellent post on the same topic. 

Service with a smile? Er, not exactly

Just read this article on Rediff.com which left me with a feeling of deja vu. Now I'm not the one to rant about something that happens in my life on the web. But I could really identify with what the writer of the article said, and so I thought I'd begin my post with an incident that occured last week. I'd been to my bank (one of the leading private sector banks in the country) to get a copy of the monthly account statement signed by the bank and to have the bank seal attested on it. I was required to submit this as proof of holding the account to my stock broker (who incidentally, insists on having the signed statement after being given one cancelled cheque and one cheque -of the same bank account - which the firm duly encashed!). The first thing that the person manning the counter tells me is that NO, that isn't possible. It isn't the policy of the bank to provide a seal and signature on print-outs of account statements! Now this is something that really puts me off. I've seen people at counters and when you approach them, the first thing that they tell you is often how it (your work) cannot be done! They will not tell you about the alternative to go about it. They will just tell you that whatever you want to do cannot be done! And I've had this experience everywhere - in public and private enterprises. I've had this experience at nationalized banks, at private sector banks (like the one I just described), in my previous organization - with the system admin department - which is an MNC. So obviously you cannot just blame the callousness and lethargy attributed to government institutions in India. The problem is more with the mindset. I do not understand why, instead of helping the person out by saying, "Sir/Ma'am, I can definitely help you with this, and this is how you can go about getting your work done", the first thing you are greeted with is a NO-It-can't-be-done smile by the 'executive' - yeah, everyone is an executive now - at the desk. Getting back to the smiling executive who greeted me at the bank, I asked him that the copy that I have is the same statement which the bank e-mails me every month, and why should the bank have a problem with not signing something that is provided by it?! He again went back into denial mode. Finally, when he did help me out, he asked me to fill a form (well, the ubiquitous form-filling) to request for a statement, and he said that the bank would provide me with a statement that is signed by an officer, and... hold your breath, charge me Rs. 112 for the same! This, I should say amounts to extortion at best, and robbery at worst! Hello, why should I cough up a hundred rupees for something that I am clearly entitled to?! But he would have nothing of that.
I have noticed that the problem lies not with the organization - both private and public sector enterprises have this problem - but with the people and their mindset (of course, it's the same people whether it's a public sector bank or a private one, isn't it?). I'm currently reading Gurcharan Das's 'India Unbound', a marvellous look at the economic journey of the Indian State, and he has an interesting look at this issue. When I go to the Saree shop, he says, the shop-owner gladly unrolls a dozen sarees before me, quite willingly, and after I leave does the thankless job of rolling back each one, and neatly stacking them back. Same is the story when I go to the local bania (grocer) - he will willingly take down my order and have it delivered at my home. Ditto with the family jeweller. But the moment I go to the telephone exchange, says Das, the picture is in stark contrast. I have to put up with the most shoddy service and pay for it. Same with the clerk at the railways ticket counter. The customer here, is regarded as a nuisance, and dealt with accordingly. Das analyzes this situation saying that the saree shopkeeper, the grocer gave excellent service because there existence depends on the customer.

If he was courteous and offered quality products at a competitive price, his customer would reward him. If not, his customers deserted him for the shop next door. There was no competition in the railways, telephones, or banks, and their employees could never place the customer in the center.

Well, that was about competition, and before the economic liberalization, that was certainly true. But it is surprising that the situation is somewhat the same today - well, it has definitely improved, yet it leaves a lot to be desired - in this era of globalization, where there is competition everwhere. Is there more to this than just competition? As the writer of the article above says :

While the nationalized banks have learnt to bill virtually for every 'service' provided by these new generation banks... the latter have learnt the art of proividing abysmal service and getting away with it.

I think it has more to do than just competition. And competition certainly matters when an organization is growing - and wants to get as many customers as quickly as possible - but once you are a blue-chip company, I guess complacency sets in. And it no longer matters if a few customers are turned off - and turned away - by the service you offer. There are always hundreds others to be lured by smart advertising. But they are missing the point. They say that in business, the biggest profit you can earn is the goodwill of the customer. The viral advertising by the customer is the greatest - not to say the cheapest, it's virtually free! - advertising that you or your business can have.

Musings of an armchair security expert

Shaken and stirred. That is how I would describe the people of India. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai have shaken the people. The impunity with which the terrorists struck was unnerving. But they have also stirred them out of their complacency, and stupor. They have also been stirred to pour out in the streets as could be seen yesterday (December 3), when they assembled not only at Mumbai, but across cities - at Cubbon Park in Bangalore, Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, and of course the Gateway of India in Mumbai. The outrage, the anger and the pain of the people was clearly visible. They were as pissed off (possibly more!) at our politicians - spineless, soul-less lot that they are - as they were at the terrorists. They want action. Many of the placard carrying people wanted an attack on Pakistan. And this sentiment is echoed even at the workplace - at lunch table discussions and coffee-time chit-chat. Enough is enough, is the common refrain. We have to make a statement. That we won't take it lying down any further. Well, attacking Pakistan is easier said than done. Here, I contribute my tuppence about what I feel should be done now.

1. First, we need to put our own house in order. That is the toughest thing of them all. Revamp the security, policing, and intelligence gathering infrastructure. Of course, Rome was not, and cannot, be built in a day. But we have to make a start. It's a sad joke that while the terrorists are equipped with the latest arms and ammunition, and are imparted training on par with our commandos, the police force that deals with them is armed with .303 rifles, sub-standard and unhygenic bullet-proff vests and outdated training procedures. One report I read on the Internet said that most policemen in Mumbai haven't fired their weapons in ten years!! The reason - the absence of a firing range for the cops.
2. Intelligence gathering should be spruced up big time. Every time we have an attack like this, the intelligence agencies say that states and the police had been warned of such an attack. Well, the general public has no way of knowing how true this is - is this an attempt by the intelligence agencies to cover up for their failures? Or did the police and security agencies fail to act? Is the role of intelligence agencies only limited to providing intelligence? Is there any system to check on follow-ups and the action taken on the intelligence?
3. Make the security forces - the police, the Rapid-Action-Force, and the Armed Forces, a lucrative career option. It is sad that the widespread protests by Officers - serving and retired - on the Recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission are summarily ignored by the political establishment.
4. Training procedures for the police and commando forces need a desperate revamp. The police cadre have the most important role to play in countering terrorism. It is they who are, so to say, the first line of defence. And is they who play a very important role in preventing and thwarting terrorist attacks. Just like we professionals need training to enhance our skill-sets, the same is true of the police!
5. With a billion-plus people, policing in India is both a unique challenge and a nightmare. But we can use technology to assist us here. The London Metro train stations are as much of a surveillance nightmare as the CST train station in Mumbai and some of our busiest bus terminals. But what assists policemen in London is technology. A hundred eyes are capturing every inch of the place, and computers analysing the video feed. Of course, there is no substitute for human intelligence, but technology can, and should, be employed to make the task easier.
6. Is a politicians life more important or valuable than the life of the citizens? A report yesterday revealed the shocking fact that as much as 60 percent of the NSG commando force is used for providing security to the politicians. And these are supposedly the best of the best in the country! Shouldn't they be kept in a state of readiness - through trainings, and battle-exercises - to repond to any incident anywhere across the country? It is shocking that they took over 14 hours to reach the site of the Mumbai terror siege!
7. Everyone seems to be clamouring for a strong anti-terror law. Well, yes, that is required. But what is more important is the enforcement of such a law - a fair, and just enforcement - to act as a deterrent for terrorists. For that the security agencies have to be trained in gathering and recording intelligence, and in investigative methods. Why don't cases against even known criminals hold up in court? Because of shoddy investigation practices, primarily. The police need to be trained on how to build up a watertight case. They need to be as technically savvy as the terrorists that they are confronting. Again, it is about upgrading your skills. The latest skills in forensic science, in analysing evidence, in intercepting communication, in retrieving data from laptops recovered from terror suspects, even in psychological profiling to understand what would be next on the terrorists' minds! We need to build watertight cases that will hold up in court. Technology can be a huge added advantage, but first, we need good, sound policing. But most of all, in guaranteeing safety to a witness testifying against a criminal. We need something similar to the witness protection programme that they have in the US. How do we expect a witness who stands the risk of being eliminated by the terror-bigwigs or underworld bosses to expect to testify?!
8. Depoliticize important postings. The Home and Defence Ministries should be headed by the most able person for the Post, and not necessarily from the ruling Party. I feel we need to take a leaf out of the book of the US, on this one. It is possible for a Republican to be given a post in a Democratic presidency, and vice versa. Why not have the same system in India? The Defence Minister and Home Minister will be executive, paid posts - and only the Best of the Best shall head them.

But for all this to happen, who should take the initiative? The answer is loud and clear. It is We, The People of India. The Mumbai terror attack was a ghastly event, but the silver lining to it, to use a phrase, could be that it has roused us all. That it has the potential to unite us, as Indians. And forget our ethnic, linguistic, religious, social differences. Yesterday, everyone who came out on the streets was an Indian - and only an Indian. The anger against the politicans was clear. But then, aren't we the ones who elected them in the first place? Or aren't we the ones who did not vote, thus leading to these people being elected? One way or the other, we cannot ignore our own responsibility. The anger against the self-serving, corrupt politicians is justified. But that anger has to translate into something bigger. And larger. Than just holding rallies, and carrying placards denouncing politicians. In a democracy, the buck stops at us, I guess. I've made a decision. That I will make sure that I vote in every election. If I do not find a candidate suitable of my vote, I'll still go out and invalidate my vote. That way, at least I will ruin the game of the booth-capturers and bogus voters.

Darna Mana Hai!

After the anger, the helplessness, and myriad other emotions, comes the most debilitating of them all - fear. The terror siege in Mumbai may have ended, but its grip over the people is as strong. In fact, it is perhaps growing stronger by the moment. People are afraid to venture out in public places - a friend told me how she noticed that malls were noticeably less crowded over the last weekend. People are putting off travel plans, those who cannot are living under the constant shadow of fear. Even at the workplace, coffee-room conversations revolve around the uncertainties that plague us: about how it's no longer certain if you can walk the streets without fear that a bomb may go off nearby; about how the very place where I work is a prime terror target (it's a technology park, surrounded by DRDO installations, staff quarters, offices all around). People are glued to their television sets following the latest news. And in fact, that makes them even more paranoid. Viewing the images of death, destruction, and tragedy adds to this macabre setting.
One wonders why the media is adding to all this by mindless and insensitive reporting of every tragedy? Why is it making a tamasha of sorts about the funerals of the lives of the brave officers who laid down their lives? Why does it have to stick in a microphone and a camera in the face of the grieving mothers, sisters, and fathers, in the expectation of a sound-byte? Can it not allow them to grieve privately? Why does it make a spectacle of the tragedy? I cannot forget, how, in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist strike at CST train-station, the media was broadcasting 'live' images of the dead-bodies strewn about, blood-stained floors, and people weeping. I guess much has been written about terrorists, the politicians, the people's anger, candle-light vigils, et al. But what about the media that is adding to this melting-pot of emotions? In my view, it is creating (and using for it's own good) something like mass hysteria! Why do we need to know if more terror strikes are being planned? Why do we need to know that 'specific intelligence inputs have warned of strikes on XYZ installation'?! Can we do something about it? Well, we can all debate about it at lunch tables, coffee rooms, and over IMs, and in the blogs. But honestly, I feel that all this just adds to the 'fear psychosis' that is slowly, but surely, gripping some of us. And unless we make a deliberate, conscious effort to come out of this, we will play right into the hands of the terrorists. They will die, but the seeds of terror and fear that they've sown will live on. So let us not fall prey to their designs. Let us be alert, but not hysterical. Let us be sensitive, but not paranoid. Do the CNN IBNs, the Aaj Taks, the Star News have their microphones out now? Are they listening (or reading)?