Do I need a website? What will I do with it, I am just a singer? Web presence for catering service! I don’t think it makes sense. I deliver Pizzas, how will web presence help me, forget it its too complex for me! Thats a feeling among many businesses, very rightly so as they have not seen or have experienced the power of Internet.

I liked the line by Jason of Google, “Sometimes you hear about things that are big, and you see them and see that they are big, you rationally understand that they are big, but you don’t really understand that they are big until you experience them.”

(Internet is a threat/opportunity for every industry, you will have to face the music anyway)

Magazines are less read these days as blogs/daily web updates are taking care of the need (some adopted this new platform but some are history). With social networks and web 2.0, web is a way to empower your business with a better communication platform. People presume web to be a sales platform (esp in countries like India, where Internet business is in its early stages).

This week’s brand equity caught my attention, which I can summarized as the alpha of Indian Web business. Major businesses are trying to capture the young generation through web (Guys, it is going to be tougher than you thought), most of them trying to follow the successful formula. Do not forget that web is a village, where two shops are not needed so better be original.

Summary of the blog post: Use Web as an opportunity today or as a threat tomorrow, choice is yours. Web culture is catching up in India too.

With all the meetings, ppts, excel salary docs, TT practice, AGM docs for non-profitable organizations (and …), I was learning driving as well (thanks to our CEO for forcing me learn this as a company task). Today we had the exams (so had to bunk the meetings), from 12:00 noon to 4:30 pm it was a long wait and less testing. I was just asked to drive some 300 meters with one left turn, he checked how I start, first gear, second gear and speed control (all went fine :)). Then some 5 queries based on traffic boards and signals (all went fine) followed by photos, invisible signatures (thats what I was told about digi signatures). Finally it is done and passed, you can congratulate me.

Things that I have not learned (or not taught)

• Driving with left hand over the side seat.
• Driving with mobile on.

Along with the driving exams I had to make some last moment investment to save tax (Oh God, Huge taxes again), invested in ELSS and HDFC Unit Linked Insurance. We had a series of lectures (with sales pitch but followed by tough scrutiny from our tech team members who prefer the word earning and spending over saving).

I will be taking a leave on Saturday as I am really really tired. Also will finish all my pending mails on Saturday.

Sorry, for last few days I am not able to answer all the mails that is hitting my mailbox (Buzy Buzy Buziness life, you see). Also I am not keeping well, little feverish. I will be taking a day off this week and hopefully will be answering all your mails. Thank you for your patience. Keep mailing, let it reach the 1000 unread mails count :).

Whos line is it anyway? Who is crossing it? Why? How? When? You may not have answers to all these questions but certainly you know that someone is crossing someones line somewhere with some reason using some bad strategies. My previous post “When is the next bandth?” attracted a lot of opinions, active comments and some emails. Tomorrow is another bandth.

Some of the bandth facts I agree to

• For people like us who blog or talk about these injustice, these are just numbers or count. For the ones who lost their loved ones only know their loss.
• These bandths are the only way to protest or force powerful men to take actions. Sadly our system does not offer a better working option.
• Industrialization is important and so is agricultural growth.
• Bandths bring no solution but create more. It pollutes our culture.

I am just hoping that our governments will learn a better planning method by these worst examples of unplanned, forced and pushed growth plans. I had tears when I saw the massacre footage on TV, may this happen to no one ever. I will be working from home tomorrow.

I have been working on HTML rendering with different browsers, the quirk mode, the standard mode, almost standard mode and related topics. I must accept that these topics are really interesting to dive deep in. Today I have gone through the Microsoft standards, Mozilla and Opera standards and rendering under quirk mode. Now I am checking the rendering speed difference at browser level and other issues involved.

It is really good to hear that W3C has announced the formation of a Working Group of content designers and browser and application developers to put together a specification for a new version of HTML. Hope to see a simpler world with less CSS compatibility errors. This post is also interesting. Also you might like to visit http://www.htmlhelp.com/ for more information on various info. Also another post that caught my attention was, “Sending XHTML as text/html Considered Harmful and The Myth of “HTML-compatible XHTML 1.0 documents”” ( Ian Hickson is a member of the Mozilla.org Browser Standards Compliance QA team and an invited expert in the W3C CSS Working Group )

I got a mail with an introduction of a cricket blog. Looks really cool. You can visit it at http://cricket.hedir.com/. Also you can be a co-author if you can answer one question correctly, “Who is this world famous bowler?”,

(Yes he is holding a ball not a bomb)

Once I am over with Inferno Blog hunt I will join their team. Best of luck India.

MBA, a buzz word in the job market and even a hotter one for matrimonial sites. But is it all that worth? There has been different school of thoughts on this topic. One of the most famous quotes belongs to none other than Seth Godin (author of “All marketers are liars”) where he said

“I get away with this heresy since I, in fact, have my own fancy MBA from Stanford. The fact is, though, that unless you want to be a consultant or an i-banker (where a top MBA is nothing but a screen for admission) it’s hard for me to understand why this is a better use of time and money than actual experience combined with a dedicated reading of 30 or 40 books.””

This is certainly not a new debate (/discussion) as I myself have participated in many, including the latest one with our HR manager (she is also a MBA) on new hiring strategies. Here is my take on the whole topic.

Is MBA waste of money and time?
According to me, MBA teaches you the alphabets of Business Administration. It teaches you how to form the possible right sentences of a business and what possible grammar made sense. I am very fortunate to be a semi MBA (as we had a special MCA with one year of MBA covered) and it helped me in the following ways:-

1. It created a special interest for the corporate related topics. I started reading economic time during my marketing classes as I started understanding the alphabets of business (before which I never liked the pinkish paper). Now I hardly miss a day.
2. It taught me how to learn. Thanks to all the entrepreneurial exposure. The classes by all entrepreneurs taught us new lessons (from the book of real business) be it about the backup or investment or recruiting. It helped me start with a better zero.
3. Most importantly, it attached me to the big network of corporate people (alumni). For any work we can just give a call and make it work. This is really the biggest gain. You get a better network to start.”Our Network is better than our work”
   

The darker side of MBA

1. It makes you rigid towards experimentation. When you are taught that these things will not work or these things will work, it starts prevailing over your gut feel. You try to do everything right with all statistic tools. Thats really hurts the innovation drive.
2. We forget to learn from the nature. The best people have learned from the nature (the innocent customer, the simplest thoughts etc) not from the best people. Do not forget to observe the simple things. Also do not forget to learn from people who do not have a better degree than you. Accept people without a perception (a very difficult ask for a MBA).
3. Not making our hands dirty, the biggest problem (from my personal experience). MBA prefers the managerial roles and do not prefer to do the dirty works (the real work). As a MBA delivering a presentation about work optimization is more desired than trying it on ourselves. Be more a leader and less a manager.
   
   (Click on the above image to see the most offensive MBA video 🙂 )

Another Article(different but thematic) which talks about the Serious talent shortage and lack of experienced manpower in India for few sectors. It says, “India Inc ties up with B-schools for made-to-order curriculum”. Also it says,

“Serious talent shortage and lack of experienced manpower, especially in emerging sectors like retail is pushing companies like Dabur, Tesco, Patni and HDFC to launch specialised courses with leading institutes in the country for their current and potential employees. “

NO I do not support this. Such courses will neither do good for corporates not the students, do not try to form the business sentences forcibly but help them learn the alphabets of business with a free mind.

Final word
MBA is certainly not the waste of money and time. It never makes you a master of business administrator but it helps you become a better student of business. It helps you start with a better zero and rest is all you.

I wasted another day on useful things. After the audio blog post I got weird(but approved) comments through mails and IM on my voice. Thanks for that. The next crazy thing I did was to delete all the 765 spams waiting for approval (oops disapproval). I scanned few pages of these spams to make sure I am not deleting a genuine comment. After scanning 7 pages (with no genuine comments) full of crappy britney,tom and all other non-sense stuff I decided to delete all. Sorry if I deleted your comment in this process. Please comment again and I will keep my spam box clean.

We had our second last meeting before AGM for CGPF. I was amazed at the analysis done for the staff conferences (on Feb 14 – Feb 15). Every thing so well documented and arranged. Targets, strategies and discussions for the upcoming year took almost 1.5 hrs of the total 2 hrs meeting. Fund collection, real estate plans and all were a part of it. I was feeling a little sleepy because of the heavy lunch I had (a marriage party). Now I need to draft few letters, prepare PPTs for pre-AGM sessions. We have decided to go to all the churches for a unique PPT presentation (looking forward for it).

After the meeting I attended the class on Angels and Demons where we learned about Lucifer and the dark angel team. A subject which I always ignored consciously. Now I am back to all the pending tasks. Will finish my half done post now. Take care and keep spamming.

[Note: Some of my related popular posts are: 1) why mistakes are often mistaken – It talks about what are real mistakes. 2) Orkut used for crime, is orkut responsible for it anyway? ]

I am back from Delhi. Delhi was fun, I could explain about Inferno 2007 to some Big Pockets. Also I had Parathas from Mulchand Parathawala (very del.icio.us). Also I got a chance to Watch Unclaimed biography of DhiruBhai (GURU). It inspired me to read the biography of THE AMBANI.

Unauthorized Biography
I am planning to buy

Till then here are some of the comparison.

Gurukant Desai VS Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani

There are many similarities (with slight modification) and I am putting some some 15 here.
Guru born in Idhar of Gujrat. His Dad was a school teacher (a head master as shown in the movie). Guru Going to Turkey when he was a kid somewhere around 16 years. Guru was shown as smart guy playing with coins and making money in ball tricks (In short he was shown as a person who knew the trick of minting money). Guru worked as a clerk and then later worked with Shell. He also got a promotion. Ten years later, Guru returned to India and started a business Shakti Corporation (I do not remember the exact name, may be it was Shakti Trading) with a capital of Rs. 15000.00. The business was setup in partnership with his brother-in-law. The primary business of GuruKant was to import “Kela Silk (polyester)” and export spices. Brother-in-law ended his partnership with Guru. He was called Guru Bhai. He was then later better known as Guru Bhai. “Guru bhai ka Salaam”. The Shakti Trading was a 350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. Public offers for Shakti corporation targeting the rural India. Many became the partners to Shakti corporation. This was also one of the initial IPOs as he explained them the concept in details. Shakti corporation conducted its Annual General Meetings (AGMs) in stadiums. This is one of the highlights of the movie. Over 35,000 partners attended the meeting. Even the movie starts with the a ground and the AGM description. The conflicts/discussions with another business baron (Forgot his name). If I am not wrong some English person. Manik Dasgupta (Mithun da) or Nanaji, a friend/Mentor of Guru and then later turning against Guru because of his business approach. Mithun is the owner of a big newspaper (If I am not wrong the name of the newspaper was “The Independence”). Mithun asked Shyam(Madhavan) to write against Guru and going after him. Along with MAnik, he has to face his editor Shyam opposing all his moves while his company keeps growing. The scene where Gurukant Desai speaks to a political bigwig in New Delhi. Politician was not giving him any time and finally gave one opportunity. In the meeting Guru offered a biggy to the politician.	Dhirubhai born in Chorwad, Junagadh in the state of Gujarat. Dad was a school teacher. Dhirubhai moved to Yemen when he was 16. Dhirubhai would buy the Rials, melt them in pure silver and sell it to the bullion traders in London. Dhirubhai worked as dispatch clerk and then later worked in Shell. Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s oil-filling station at the port of Aden Ten years later, Dhirubhai returned to India and started a business Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs. 15000.00. The business was setup in partnership with Champaklal Damani, his second cousin who was also there with him in Aden, Yemen. The primary business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was to import polyester yarn and export spices. In 1965 Champaklal Damani and Dhirubhai Ambani ended their partnership and Dhirubhai started on his own He was called DhiruBhai and was better known by this name. The first office of Reliance Commercial Corporation was a 350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts (mainly rural) of India subscribed to Reliance’s IPO in 1977. Reliance Industries holds the distinction that it is the only Public Limited Company whose several Annual General Meetings were held in stadiums. In 1986, The Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries was held in Cross Maidan, Mumbai, was attended by more than 35,000 shareholders and the Reliance family. Dhirubhai had to cut through lots of red tape and face rivalry from another big businessman, Nusli Wadia – chairman and majority owner of Bombay Dyeing. At one point in time Ramnath Goenka of Indian Express was a friend of Dhirubhai Ambani. Later on Ramnath Goenka choose to support Nusli Wadia. At one occasion Ramnath Goenka is believed to have said “Nusli is an Englishman. He cannot handle Ambani. I am a bania. I know how to finish him” Ramnath Goenka did not use his staff at the Indian Express to investigate the case but assigned his close confident, advisor and chartered accountant S. Gurumurthy for this task. Meeting between the late Rajiv Gandhi and Dhirubhai Ambani. Rajiv Gandhi wouldn’t give any time for a meeting to Dhirubhai Ambani and when he finally gave time, Dhirubhai Ambani made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
There are more points like corruption cases against Guru, Guru getting paralyzed, Guru with two daughters, the biggest company in India e.t.c. In 1982, Dhirubhai created waves in the stock markets when he took on a Kolkata-based cartel of bear operators that had sought to hammer down the share price of Reliance Industries. The cartel badly underestimated the Ambani ability to fight back. Not only did Dhirubhai manage to ensure the purchase of close to a million shares that the bear cartel offloaded, he demand physical delivery of shares. The bear cartel was rattled. In the process, the bourses were thrown into a state of turmoil and the Bombay Stock Exchange had to shut down for a couple of days before the crisis was resolved. I will recommend you to read Two faces of Dhirubhai.

I wish I had more time to write and read about Mr Ambani. It was great to go through the history. I am looking forward to buy another book
.

Still I am left with 549 blog spams and need to start driving lessons (Can you believe that Grmtech is forcing me learn driving on company’s expense and during company’s time. I really appreciated the move). Requesting everyone to be a part of Inferno 2007.

Visit

http://inferno.aimk.org

for the latest.

I am not blogging for quite a few days, 562 spams under akismet account just reconfirms it. I am busy with inferno and new office. Also we are buying an office in US (checked few places at starton and tracy but not happy, so boss is checking few more).

I am moving to Delhi for 3 days, I got up early (2:00 am IST) and my flight is at 5:45 am so thought of updating the blog. I will get back to blogging in another 3 days. you can read some more of my posts at http://inferno.aimk.org/blog/.