The kid around here…………..

It’s been too long isn’t it? Any way am back. Lots have happened over these days. There were sad days as well as happy ones. I donno how I overcame those bad days. Anyway one good thing that came up from the bad days is that I learned that life is so constructed that an event does not, cannot and will not match your expectations. But that is life, says everyone. Now I will also say “Life is like this”. I have learned in these days more than I have over the past 24 years. See life is funny isn’t it? You learn much in a short span of time. In fact I have been learning too many things these days that I feel like having been admitted to primary school once again, the difference being that now I was learning the real life. No wonder why every employer was asking me “do u have any experience?” whenever I attended an interview in these days- “u don’t learn unless u experience”. This was true as I understood the implication of experience when I got my first job. Office is not the same place as you read in text books. I understood what professionalism really meant. I still remember games and role plays that we did for a PDP session on professionalism back in college, though we took it as a fun activity, It’s now that I understood how important is it in office. The first two days in office have been an eye opener. Though there was some strain in the first two days I enjoyed it. It was like “till yesterday you had nothing worth to do and suddenly today you are responsible for whatever you do”. For the first two days I felt like the kid around in office, a kid with an MBA. But this is life, you learn when you experience it.

If looks matters..........

BMW has come up with the 5th generation 7 series……….so does the so called spies say………..spy snaps of the new Beemer is all over the net …………As a beemer maniac I am forced to express my opinion………From the details available in the net I think BMW has not lived up to its expectation(OH! It’s hard for me to say this). On the technology front I believe they have done pretty well in this version as in all their previous ones. It has all the switches in the world in the car that will make you feel you are inside a cockpit. The new BMW 7 series comes as standard with their newly developed Dynamic Damping Control which promises a still better ride. It is said that it will be entering the market with a V8, straight six gasoline engines both featuring Twin Turbo Technology and Direct Fuel Injection and a new generation of diesel engines. There is no need to worry about the comfort and safety features as it’s a BMW! But I believe there is something missing in this one as it did in all the previous versions-the looks! A customer who pays close to One crore rupees for a car will be looking for attractive looks as well. He will be projecting this car as a prestige symbol. Even though the blue and white propeller logo plus the sheer size of the car (this time its 140mm longer) itself will get you respect in the crowd, I can’t help say that BMW has lost out on the looks. Its true that the new 7 series is better looking than the previous version with its overhanging front hood, solid curves, new headlamps with an eyelash kind of lights bordering the top of the double barrel, larger kidney grilles all rendering it a much sportier look than its previous version but if you look at other cars in its segment like the Benz S class, Audi A8, they are much good looking. BMW 7 series has been drawing criticism from all quarters only because of its ‘not so impressive looks’. I believe if looks matters then it’s the Benz S class, Audi A8 and then only the BMW 7 series as my choice. They need to takeaway this ordinary looks from the 7 series………….

what to write?

It has been some time since I have written something. There was no dearth of happenings around me on which I could have opined during this time –like the controversial Nuclear Deal which is giving the common man enough brain twisters to get mad. I mean it! Its fun reading the news papers early morning where u can read reports of how one of ‘them’ says this deal is the best one India could ever have and another one of the opposite clan stating that this guy is crazy. With people of political coalitions and people of parties and people of factions within each of these parties making statements that is contradicting each other, its fun to read news papers. Though, it will be interesting to understand how much the poor and illiterate of India understand about this Big Issue on which the so called intellectuals are fighting it out in our Parliament. Which of the following is difficult to digest for the poor of our country is an interesting question – who is this new guy Hyde, what is this Act after his name that is keeping our leaders so occupied that they feel there is nothing else in this country to work on OR Rs 28 a kg of banana. See see! I had no plan to write about this, still I ended up writing this much……. I cannot blame our politicians, even an ordinary guy like me cannot help show my opinion ………..

The point here is that there is no scarcity of topics for a blogger in this fun political arena (we tend to lose sight of the real goal), actually I was kept busy in the past week by two books which I bought, one, The 3 Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat and two, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. Much better way to spend time….. Really!

Truly Indian!

The new ad from Maruti Suzuki has served its purpose . In addition to catching once attention with that nice music it also passes the message that they are still the undisputed leaders of the Indian Automobile industry with over 50% market share.They are also conveying the massage that Maruti Suzuki is present in the lives of Indians from different walks of life. By showing vehicles from their stables which belong to different segments, MS has effectively conveyed that they have changed with people of India and provided them with what they wanted at different points in time.This MS corporate ad is a product of Capital Advertising who have been associated with MS for the past decade.This ad also celebrates the 25th year of MS in the Indian market. The nice tune will now be serving the purpose of reminding people of MS whenever they listen to it same as in the case of Airtel and Reliance Communications. Maruti is really changing with times, no wonder they were ranked by US-based Reputation Institute as the 4th most reputed automobile company in the world only behind Toyota, Honda and China FAW Group. indeed a very touching ad!

The sports connection

I have always been a sports enthusiast. The reason? There need not be any reason for liking a thing; you just like it that’s it. It’s pretty difficult to explain why you like something like sports. I have always admired the way sports people achieved success through hard work.The publicity that successful sportsmen enjoyed ,the amount of money they earned , and flamboyant life style of atleast some of them also attracted me towards sports.Other reason for I being a sports enthusiast is that sports is full of those nail biting moments which makes life all the more "happening" . I enjoyed watching the happiness ,the pride which showed on th face of a winnner . It is always satisfying to watch a player pulling out an unbelievable win from a situation where he was down 2 sets to 0 in a game of tennis, similarly for any other sports. Perhaps these “All time greats” in the sports arena deserve to be considered as the greatest strategists and tacticians more than those in the field of business or politics because they reac to huge pressure situations(like a last ball in a world cup final where you need one run to win-the whole nation dpending on you for their country to win) . It will be interesting to plot a diagram which traces the happenings in the mind of a rather placid Federer when he is up against Nadal, we cannot go by his face which will be rather calm and serene when he walks across the court.

It will be interesting to see what makes these people very successful. Hard work surely is one reason for anybody’s success. The way these people manage situations and make split second decisions is all because of their practice and hard work. According to me the largest factor here is “Passion”. Most of the great sports personalities whom we call legends reached the zenith because of their passion for their favourite sport. This is something which they recognize early in their life and is nurtured by their parents. These people may be taking a risk by taking the less trodden paths to achieve their dreams in which they have paramount faith; nonetheless they achieve success for working hard to prove themselves. Passion is what produces winners. We can take many lessons from a successful sports person, the hard work, the tactics and strategies that he applies, his ability to strike back from a situation where he is lagging behind the opponent, his quick wit, his consistent quality of performance and above all that, passion for what you do can make you successful. It’s all about tapping this passion for “something” in the early days of children especially by their parents. Western culture supports this theory more than we Indians does. Most children here if asked would say (as trained by their parents) “I want to be a doctor” or “I want to be an engineer” whereas their foreign counterparts will say “I want to be an F1 racer”! We Indians always have a disliking of anything other than doctor and engineer for a job and will pursue our children to become one without asking them their preference. I am not saying that no body needs to study but try to become a sports person or something but there is surely a lot to be gained by pursuing something which you are passionate about. Be it education, job or extra curricular, do what you are interested in and see yourself reaching great heights

Sending the wrong message

The current protest against the controversial chapter in the Social Studies textbook in Kerala is finally sending the wrong message to students. I believe that these protests in the form of burning text books, destroying public property, pelting stones at each other, causing road blocks, causing problems for the public is finally causing much more negative impact on the minds of students than the controversial text in question. In a culture where we respect textbooks equal to God, the scene of burning textbooks is really deplorable. Seeing these violent protests I am forced to believe that none of these people who protest this way are concerned actually about the children and their future but about personal gains.

Its a Billion Mega Watts

“Close your eyes…….. See yourself as an employee of your dream company, you are going to your office in your dream car………., you reach your office,…….. you enter your well furnished office………..”

Every MBA must have gone through this process during their Personality Development Programme when the instructor tells you to close your eyes and imagine that you are a part of your dream company, well I have too. When I closed my eyes on that occasion and reached my dream office I can’t imagine getting out of my dream car which is a BMW M5 …………… that’s what BMW is known for-“Sheer driving pleasure”. Even though I haven’t driven one, I am a great fan of the bimmers especially the eagle eyed M5. Bayerisch Motor Works ( Bayrische Motoren Werke in German) has been my favorite company for all success that they have achieved.BMW started off in 7th March 1916 as a company manufacturing aircraft engines, it shifted to motorbikes in 1923 and cars in 1928. BMW has many “industry first” practices which makes them leader in its area of operation, the luxury car market.

BMW started mass customization, a process by which the customer configures his cars and get a car exactly to his taste which was not followed by any mass automobile producer in auto industry at that time. In 1998 BMW launched the system called Customer Oriented Sales and Production (COSP), which was a form of pull production. The principle behind this initiative was that the customer will define the production at any time and not the company. The company started an interactive website and online ordering system for achieving this. The customers can visit BMW site and arrive at a particular option of cars by mixing different colors and other things and then they can print out a custom brochure and take it to their dealer to place an order. The dealer placed the order through the Online ordering system and received the confirmation and delivery date instantaneously. Flexibility of operations ensured that BMW was able to deliver a customized car in approximately 12 days. The extend of flexibility in BMWs operations was evident from the fact that it allowed its customers to change their specifications six times before the delivery.

In marketing also they excelled others by coming up with creative idea of launching short movies starring Clive Owen and made it available to people through the internet realizing that internet is the upcoming medium of communication. This print ad shows how creative this company is.Recently BMW came up with a new concept called Sports Activity Coupe(X6) which again emphasizes BMWs endeavour to be a leader in its domain.In yet another first in the industry, BMW came up with the concept of a CSR annual report in 2007. BMW is the first company in its industry to ever produce a CSR Annual Report, which summarizes its achievements in "Corporate Social Contribution Activities" revolving around 'five pillars' – Cultural Promotion, Education Support, Environmental Protection, Corporate Governance and Customer Integration.

With many more achievements to its credit this company has become the favorite of many car enthusiasts.Its good time predicted for these fans in India as BMW started assembling its 3 and 5 series in its Chennai plant. Ready for a Billion Mega Watts?????

Low beam please!

Let us start with some statistics.The total number of road accidents in India in 2004 was 42990 and increasing every year as number of vehicles on the road increases. When more than 60% of these accidents are caused at night, the debate continues as to who is the real culprit. The drivers themselves, the bad plight of our roads, ineffective road safety measures and the list goes on. Let us seek the reason how accidents occur. According to authorities bright headlights are the major reason for accidents in the night apart from careless driving, use of cell phones while driving and brake failure. Bright headlights blind the drivers for a couple of seconds which is more than enough to take the lives of the travelers or in more unfortunate cases, people nearby the vehicle. Bright headlights are a menace on highways during the night. Rule 405 section 197 of Motor Vehicles Act forbids the use of dazzling lights. According to traffic rules bright lights should be used only when other vehicles are 500 feet away but these rules are seldom followed.

It will be really useful if auto component manufacturers come up with a solution to this bright headlight problem. I have personally felt this urgent need for a solution especially when another vehicle whizzes past the vehicle I am traveling and the guy who drives notices the “I thought I was dead” look on my face and says with a smile “its all based on an assumption buddy”. With the advent of Xenon headlamps most of the luxury vehicles are replacing the traditional halogen lamps making the case in question stronger. Traditional headlights feature a lamp that encases a glowing filament in halogen gas, and cast a yellowish light. High intensity bulbs make light by using an electric arc to excite the Xenon gas inside them. The light they produce is whiter, covers about 70 percent more area than halogen. These types of high intensity lights fast catching up in the auto market can be useful as well as destructive especially when they are not well focused on the road.

I have always felt that if a kind of lighting system for automobiles can be developed which can detect the intensity of the light emitted by the opposite vehicle from a particular distance and accordingly control the intensity of the headlights of both the vehicles. This system if made compulsory in all vehicles can make driving in the night much easier.Its true that such a system will make your car dearer by a few thousand bucks but when our life is at stake it doesn’t really matter. Such a system needs the full support of the Government to succeed. Government must see to it that traffic rules are followed , make sure that all vehicles are properly maintained and try to improve the conditions of our roads which are not certainly the best in the world. The two parties –Government and auto component manufacturers – could come together as soon as possible to address this issue and for the drivers on the road till then, its LOW BEAM PLEASE!

Inspired by nature

If you go back through the pages of world automobile history, it will present to you many success stories which have set many a benchmarks. From the time the first Internal Combustion engine was made to these modern times where fuel prices have touched unimaginable heights(crude oil prices projected to touch $200 a barrel soon) , the world automobile industry has seen many ups and downs. Picking from these success stories ,there are some car models which are worth mentioning on account of their style. Man is a part of nature and has been inspired by its many features. Cars which caught the imagination of buyers because of their 'not so common 'styling inspired by nature (animals) are worth discussing.

I am talking about cars which have been given either style or names which got inspiration from animals. Volkswagen Beetle stands out in this category being the most loved car which was designed to look like a beetle. "The bug" as it is called started production in 1938 and held the record for longest running and most produced automobile of a single design. The Bug has set benchmarks for other American subcompact cars as well. Though analysts predicted a bleak outlook for the Bug when it was launched due to its noisy and bumpy ride , it proved them wrong and came in the first four in an international poll conducted for the most influential car of the twentieth century behind Ford Model T,Mini and Citroen Ds. Several factors contributed to its success out of which 'the looks ' hold the first position considering that the manufacturers didn't alter the style of the Bug for so long.

The story doesn't end with The Bug . The Bug can be termed as a cute car but there are other fierce models which have developed a rather powerful brand reputation like the Lamborghini Diabolo(looks of a raging bull), Ferrari F430(inspired by spider), Porsche Cayman(style that of a cayman),BMW 5 Series(the eagle eyed sedan),BMW z4(front grille resembling a shark face), Dodge Viper (fierce look of a viper) and many more. When we consider the huge success of the above mentioned brands , style or their looks is not the only thing that has contributed . The performance and other features also hold equal importance. The fact that the first reaction of a potential customer comes out of sight , the styling of the car makes a strong factor for the manufacturers to consider. In these modern times when cars not only satisfy the transportation needs of its owner but it also serves to satisfy the personal character and identity and that is exactly why companies like Lamborghini has developed a brand identity that can lure speed loving niche market.

Now let us see what is the Indian scenario. Indian companies have always been dependant on its foreign partners for design of cars. Though this scenario is fast changing as India is on its growth path and more and more institiuions are coming up which produce graduates capable of uplifting the Indian automobile industry. India is fast becoming the manufacturing hub of companies like Hyundai,Suzuki etc and so it is important that we Indians comeup with strong brands like the Beetle. With Maruti Suzuki Alto and Hyundai Santro leading the export bandwagon, Indian companies like TATA, Maruti,Mahindra and Mahindra and soon to come Bajaj cars can do much better if they produce strong brands like the Beetle and give the foreign marktes much craved stylish cars. Indians need to change the foreign perception of Indian cars scoring low on looks. Strong brands combined with the low manufacturing costs in India can raise Indian companies to the league of German auto majors like BMW , Diamler , Volkswagen etc in the world automobile market. With the likes of" Kamasutra " inspiring young Indians to design cars the future is not at all looking bad for Indian automobile Manufacturers. They surely can turn to nature for help as we are an inseparable part of nature!