How much for Central Station?

“How much for Central Station?”

“Sir, you tell how much will you give!”

“It’s ok. You tell!”

After some silence, with a smile he said, “70 bucks, Sir”

Thought myself “Guy seems reasonable. No need to bargain much!” Got into the auto and told him “Ok boss, make it 60” (It’s a sin to not bargain with Auto drivers Chennai!)

“No Sir, not much business today!”

Yeah, 10 bucks won’t make a big difference to me, but may not be the case for him. So, didn’t talk more about the fare.

“Which route should I take, Sir?” he asked

I replied, “If you are a Vijay (Tamil film Star with huge number of fans following!) Fan, take the Ponamalli High Rd – You can get a glimpse of his huge cut-out of the forthcoming flick, Kurvi; Else take the Mount Road.”

He said enthusiastically “I will take the Mount Road, Sir”

“Boss, please stop calling me ‘Sir’. Also, I am much younger than you!”

Came his next question “Ok nga, should I go faster or slower?”

“I have lots of time. You can go at your own pace!”

I found the guy interesting. After a couple of minutes, I initiated the conversation, “I would like to understand auto-walas – their concerns and a little about their businesses”

He started revealing the secrets – business models, strategy & revenues etc. Though he didn’t use the business jargons, I would say he’s pretty smart in business.

First, he said how much he makes per day –

Gross Revenue = Rs.800-900 (1200, if it’s a lucky day!)
Fuel Expenses = 300
Auto Rent = 150 (Most of the auto-walas drive the autos from Settu – They need to give Rs.150 per day excluding maintenance charges!)
Operating profit = 400-450
Daily personal expenses = 150
Take home = 250-300
All figures are “per day average"

I told, “Hmm, that doesn’t seem like great money for someone who works very hard from early morning till late night. So, why can’t you try to increase your revenue by improving the occupancy rate?” (Yeah, this is what Airlines try to do!)

Came the reply, “We, the auto-walas are bound to a particular area. My Auto, for e.g., belongs to Anna Nagar – In our area, we can pick up any customer. In other areas, we can pick up customers, only if those autos don’t want to pick them up. We begin the day from our area and after every trip we try to come back to our area. On the way, we drive slowly and try to get customers. We also try to take the route of crowded places. After 8 PM, we go only to areas near our homes. There are auto drivers having different schedules – people starting very early in the morning and going early evening; starting late and drive till mid-night; there are night-drivers as well”

I exclaimed “Looks like a tough business!”

We were half-way through the station. After hearing my sympathetic response, he paused for a moment and said “Sorry, sir. Really Sorry, sir!”

He opened up, “Sir, I had drinks today and sorry to drive you when I am drunk!”

“Hmm, what did you drink – Beer, Whisky, Brandy or Rum?”, I asked inquisitively

He tried to justify --“Just a very little of Brandy. Really Sorry, Sir. I had some major issues with my uncle. That’s why drank.”

I lectured, “Yeah, I don’t say you shouldn’t drink – it’s up to you. But not while you are driving - you are risking the lives of travelers like us.”

He replied apologetically “What to do sir, we lead such a life. It’s not just me. 90% of the auto-drivers drink and drive. If you are really concerned, I can get another auto for you, Sir”.

I was astonished with that unverifiable and alarming statistics he gave. I replied “It’s ok. I don’t mind. Next time, when you take someone in your auto, please avoid drinking”

He was silent for few minutes. I guess he felt guilty.

I began the conversation again “So, who are the major pain-points and competitors for auto-drivers”

“Traffic police and share-autos”, came the immediate response!

He continued, “Share-autos charge 5-10 bucks per passenger. People who want to travel in the main roads have almost ruled-out using expensive autos. We can take only interior & long routes that these guys don’t cover”

I thought myself – The share-autos ensure that their vehicles run continuously – Theirs is a high volume business and normal-auto is a high margin business.

I told him “Yeah, added to that MTC (the Govt. owned metro buses, which are very economical) is planning to introduce the hugely successful 'mini-buses' concept in Chennai, I was told 1000 of them!”

He was smart -- “Yeah, it would affect our business to some extent, but share-autos would be heavily affected. It’s their direct competitor!”

I was about to reach the station. I just wanted to conclude the talk with some food for thought for him. “You could reduce your personal expenses by nearly 50%, if you reduce taking drinks. Your take home salary per day could increase as much as Rs.50." Keeping a serious face, he replied "Sure, Sir. I will try to reduce drinking."

I concluded "Have you heard of this Rs.1 lakh car by Tata. Once it’s available, will you buy one and start driving it instead of auto?”

I didn’t expect that reply from him.

“I am completely aware of that, Sir. I am a mechanic myself and have a diploma in the same. In fact, I was the proud owner of a reasonably big car mechanic shop – we did all sorts of things – servicing, painting, repairing.. everything!! But.. but.. unfortunately, I encountered a huge loss of more than 5 lakhs rupees and I had to close down the shop. So, I resorted to driving a rented auto”

We were in front of the station. I was very much interested in knowing the reasons for such a colossal loss, but time and the place didn’t permit. I just handed over 70 bucks and patted on his back saying “Don’t bother, your dream business will prosper soon. All the best!”

With bright eyes and smiling face he bid adieu “Thank you very much, Sir!”

Mind Trading

In B-schools, you are asked to wear others' shoes, esp. when you are analyzing case studies. In Edward De Bono's lateral thinking, you are required to wear different hats. I am sure, most of us would be receivers of "Can't you sympathize with that poor fella?", "Why don't you empathize with me?!", "Think from my perspective." Hope all of these would help in better understanding of people and the situation.

8 PM, last Wednesday. The dinner plan with my friend didn't materialize, my bike got punctured and the auto-walas in front of the Bangalore Central asked insane money for a 5 km journey. Decided to experiment something - Walk till Trinity Circle, explore people and places on the way & travel in the local crowded bus. Quite an interesting experience it was!

Walkers, Riders, Pillion-Riders, Sleepers, Road-Side Enterprises - the aggressive entrepreneurs and its loyal customers, Beggars, Traffic Police, Poojaris, Auto-walas... I told myself "Let me play the Mind-Trading-Game" - When I see a random person in the road, try to think of what might be running behind his mind - his joys, worries, concerns, ambitions, objectives etc in life. Most people seem to be lost in thought. I guess they don't even realize they are walking in M.G.Road or crossing the ING building. But apart from the usual ones, there are lots of interesting observations!

Next time, dont tell you are bored when you have to travel all-alone or when you have nothing-to-do at home. Just take a walk and start noticing people around! It's interesting & fun!!

Paanch Punch Pics

4 days. 5 Movies. Finally, moved them from my 'TO-WATCH' to 'WATCHED' list - Taare Zameen Par(TZP), Jodha Akbar(JA), Jab We Met(JWM), Page 3(P3) and U Me Aur Hum(UMAH). Yes, they had been lying in the former list for quite sometime (except the last one).

Quite liked all of them. Different themes. Different actors. Different levels of seriousness & fun. TZP took me to the world of children. JA to the period of Moghuls. P3 to the lesser-known side of few Mumbai cliques. JWM to Punjabi marriages & running trains. UMAH to cruises and asylums. Hmmm.. but is there anything in common among these movies? Apart from the obvious factor of being bollywood movies without the usual masala stories, I found the following interesting connection.

In all movies, the characters face tough-to-handle life problems - TZP: Problem of a child & its parents, JA: Political problem, Page3: Social problem, JWM: Pre-marriage problem, UMAH: Post-marriage problem. But they all try to handle the problems in an UNCONVENTIONAL manner.

• TZP: Ask the basic question "Is what you call a 'problem' really a PROBLEM?" and most importantly try to understand the so-called-problem from the 1st person. Find the root cause of the problem. Try to solve root cause than reacting to the symptoms.
• JA: Collaboration instead of head-on competition & fighting to solve the problems. Yes, I mean Akbar's approach of hindu-muslim cultural synthesis & collaboration - including Hindus in the courtyard, marrying Hindu princesses (seems like Akbar had 40 wives! Gowarikar, can we expect movies like - Akbar Jodi No. 23 ;)] etc
• P3: Be part of the system, while you want to reform the system.
• JWM: A cool attitude simplifies the problem and a better way to handle it. (So, the next time someone dumps you, burn & flush it out OR use your friend's phone to call the person and you-know-what-to-talk)
• UMAH: Never lose hope in solving the problem. When there is love and that you are determined to solve the problem, you would solve it. At least, you would learn to live with it.

Also, impressed with the kind of PATIENCE that the characters show in solving these problems. Any difficult problem needs time and continuous effort to be tackled.

Mentoring Mentality

Experience is the best teacher in life! Yeah, but life is too short to experience everything in first person! So, fortunates are the ones who get right mentors. These mentors have the ability to positively impact our lives – They guide, motivate, direct, suggest, enlighten, correct, criticize, comment and most importantly share their experiences! The extreme case: they become our living role models. But getting the ‘right’ mentor is not that easy – He or She needs to (a) Understand you (your personality, ambition, likes & dislikes etc) (b) Understand (and have good experience & insights in) the environment / field in which you would like to be mentored (c) Have good people skills & a genuine willingness to help without selfish motives (d) Time (e) Have a reasonably long term association with you (i.e. doesn’t make sense to have different mentors every other month!)

I set my mind to think on “Apart from satisfying those hard-to-meet conditions, how can we get the right mentor?” Few tips I could think of:

• Be open and “listen” to what people have to say for me, be it my workplace, home or any social groups
• Initiate talks with senior / elder people – Seek their advise, Listen to their experiences
• Choose people whom I have high regard for – Unless I respect him, it’s tough to follow what the mentor says
• Do the conversations with him make me think deeply? Do they change my perceptions or course of actions which ultimately yielded positive results?
• Am I able to connect with the person?

Oops, I had so many people helping and guiding me at different points in life, but what about life-long mentors? I couldn’t think of any one other than my sister. Hmmm, I guess I should take the initiative, as the Tamil proverb says “Crying child gets the milk”.

Couple of things before I close down: Seek mentors’ help, use their advice, but preserve your individuality and the ability to analyze & make a personal decision. Be willing to genuinely mentor and help others, since the world runs on the principle of GIGO (Good In Good Out / Garbage In Garbage Out)!