In a second

Life can change in a second. It's the theme of the ads of Tata DoCoMo, which introduced per second billing in India. It is an  immediate success in India.

Hmm.. Life can change in a second. How true it is! Irrespective of how hard / long you think and plan, all it needs to make a life changing decision is a second. :P

Listen to Learn!

Last week had been quite a bit of travel. Talking to people of diverse nature is quite an experience. From a 3rd standard little boy to college friends to the practical cousins to the elderly aunts & uncles, people carry interesting thoughts about world. Of course, they vary quite a bit in their concerns and opinions. Nevertheless, a lot can be learnt by listening to people!

People are paid pico peanuts!

4 AM! Everyday! When you and I would be fast asleep! It is the time when the farmers / vendors from the near by villages reach Dadar Station in Mumbai and try to sell their basket of vegetables. Selling is not an easy job! Irrespective of the freezing cold or the scorching sun or ruthless rains, they just need to sell. Competition is very stiff with a very long queue of people sitting on the floor and selling  - Less to differentiate one from another - everyone competes on the price. And their business risk is no less! They take a huge inventory risk - If you don't sell by end of the day, it's GONE for one and all. For the kind of hard work and the risk, are they reaping enough returns? Single and simple answer is NO!

Look at artisans, people who are skilled at making handicrafts. Or the person who repairs your watches. Or a weaver. Or a factory worker - In chemicals factories. In biscuits companies. They make TANGIBLE things and are SKILLED at making them. You and I can't imagine being skilled like them. Nevertheless they get paid in fractions of what you and I would get paid for.

The last category is the most difficult of the three. People who do the toughest, most risky jobs and the jobs people feel uneasy to do. To give a flavor of what I have in mind: Sweepers / scavengers in a city like Mumbai with large slums like Dharavi and Govandi. Or workers who migrate from villages to cities for the construction of high-rise buildings, [each of which, unfortunately seems to suck the lives of at least few workers during the construction  - nobody cares about them and the death news is never made public]. Or those who work in dangerous environments like mines, fireworks / fuel / power plants. Their lives are more vulnerable than ours. Still they get paid in peanuts. In relative terms.

So, it's not the hard work, the risk taking abilities, the skills or the vulnerable jobs, which decides the level of salaries / returns. Then, what's deciding them?

Intelligence is probably a necessary condition. Today's information age has definitely placed undue weightage to intelligence than others (probably it's supply-demand equation!) Second is Environment (e.g. your family, school, college, friends etc) and the exposure, support and guidance it provides. Third is what they call Luck - the timing and the opportunity. Unfortunately, you don't have too much control over these three.

I am not downplaying the importance of hard work and attitude. Yes, they are necessary and important. Just that they don't play the primary roles, they should ideally be playing. At least, when it comes to Money!

It is very hard to accept it. The only way I put myself to peace is by telling - after all, money is not everything!

Sachin's 25+25.. Shouldn't it be 26 + 26?

Yesterday Sachin suggested a new format for One day cricket - i.e. to have two 25 over innings to ensure fairness and avoid un"due" advantage for toss-winners.  Few more ideas to make cricket a "Fair" game:

• West Indies team should be banned since there are no "fair" players. South Africa can play provided it has all fair players in its squad. India won't have a problem since players who are not fair can use one of the innumerable number of creams available in the market (Yes, fairness guaranteed in 7 hours flat!)
• Current format is unfair to bowlers - i.e. only batsmen have gloves, helmet, pads, in addition to something called "bat". To make it a "fair" game, (a) batsmen have to be made "handsmen" to hit the ball with hand OR  (b) the bowlers have to be given gloves, and an instrument (like a revolver) to shoot the ball.
• Existing format is favorable to big-hitters. When the ball is bowled at 140 Kmph, it's not difficult to hit fast / hard. What's difficult is to hit it slow / light  i.e. "contain" the ball at such high speeds. The ground should have concentric circle. If the ball is contained within the innermost circle, the player gets 10 runs! The farther it goes, lesser the runs!
• 2 Vs 11 players. Bowlers get moral support on the ground while batsmen don't. Unfair to the batsmen indeed! After every ball, batting side captain should be allowed to talk to the batsmen. Better would be to allow all the 11 players from the batting side to be on the field. Similar to how the bowling team is trying to stop the ball from reaching boundary, the batting team will try to send the ball to boundary - it would be a truly team game.
• The current format is unfair to umpires in multiple ways. (a) The elderly umpires with tainted eyesight have to see where the ball lands / travels in such a large ground and that too, 360 degree from the center of the ground! Either  the ball size is to be increased and colour changed to some fluorescent green or flashy orange OR they should be given electronic high resolution binoculars fitted with sensors which can track the balls automatically (b) There is "man of the match", but there is no "umpire of the match" or "man of umpiring" - so, should give an award to the umpire who gives the most number of OUTs and/or boundaries.
• It's called "ODI" - "One Day International" - irrespective of whether it's a day match, night match or day/night match. It's completely unfair for the nights. So, usage of the term ODI should be banned.
• Cricket seems to unfairly rhyme with wicket. Apart from wicket, there are important aspects in the game like score, ball, bat etc.. So, to make it fair, we should have names like Cricore, Criball, Cribat, Critumps etc
• Bowler should be allowed to stand and throw the ball, while batsman has to run and swing the bat in a specific manner to hit the ball - Any player with suspected action in swinging the bat has to go through grueling session by ICC to get cleared for playing in any international matches.
• Instead of ball being thrown, the bat has to be thrown to hit the static ball.
• Last but not the least, why should it be stopped at 25 in Sachin's suggestion? Isn't it unfair to the letter "Z"? We should have 26 big overs (overs can be called "over C", "Over R" etc) and 26 small overs ("over m", "over t" etc)

The list can go on and on... The game can be made fairer by having less of the existing cricket elements and more of elements copied from other games such as foot ball, tennis etc.  Nevertheless, cricket is such a complex game that it can never be made fair to everyone. Btw, who said life and cricket are always fair? That's where the fun lies!

The impressive 50!

Was pretty impressed by the last issue of Outlook Business magazine - it has come up with the stories of 50 social entrepreneurs in India. If you have missed the print version, don't miss it online:

http://business.outlookindia.com/content.aspx?site=2&issue=5021

Quite amazed at the ideas, intelligence, passion, energy and the conviction of these entrepreneurs towards larger social causes. Definitely, a lot to learn from these people.

My favorite picks for the list:

1. A School For Principals: Fixing India’s education system—one principal at a time
2. Rustic Voice: Winds of change are blowing through this Tamil Nadu village, thanks to a rural BPO. The venture has made a big impact both socially and commercially
3. Web Of Development: How one man spawned 20 businesses, 4,618 self-help groups, 75 market committees, 19 cooperatives, two societies and one company
4. The Fair Price Shop: He wants to make Bihar the vegetable capital of India. And give all—farmers, vendors, consumers—a fair deal
5. Building Bridges: LabourNet links informal sector workers and customers seeking their services.
6. A Fab Move: In one stroke, William Bissell solved a supply problem and made proud shareholders out of thousands of artisans
7. King Of Hearts: Dr Devi Shetty’s Narayana Hrudayalaya mends hearts—low-cost and on a large scale
8. Bank At The Doorstep: Fino’s army of 6,000 agents is bringing the unbanked and the underserved into the financial services fold—by going to them
9. Little Mac: He wants to do a McDonald’s with low-cost and clean products for the poor
10. Clothes For Work: Anshu Gupta collects clothes for the needy and gives them a lifeline

Text courtesy: Outlook Magazine

Was just reminded of the 2 gem of the professors at IIMB who introduced us to social entrepreneurship - Should salute them - Prof. Srinivasan R and Prof. Trilochan Sastry.