Different People!

Hi Guys,

It’s already 10.40 pm and I’m in a very energetic state, thanks to the powerful nap in the afternoon. In this post I’m going to write about two interesting conversations I had in the recent weeks.

Customer Satisfaction

2-3 weeks back, I went to a nearby Hair Salon to trim my hair. The barber is a friendly person and since I had become one of his regular customers he used to speak with me now and then. Last time, I noticed that there were some 5-6 newspapers in the waiting bench. I asked him whether they were old papers and he said that all were the current day’s newspapers.

Regularly people used to keep just 1 paper and I was surprised. I asked him the same question and his answer was interesting. He said that on a busy day, when lot of customers wait, if there is only one paper, then few customers might be feeling frustrated and they will leave the salon and it will result in losing of customers.

So, he regularly buys 3 English and 3 Tamil Dailies. So even if there are six customers they will wait patiently. It also boosts the value for the Salon, as customers feel happy that there will be lot of dailies and the barber feels proud. He said all the six dailies might cost around Rs. 15 or 20 and even if it results in one extra customer it is profit for him.

We speak about Customer Satisfaction for big value products and here a small salon owner has implemented it. His motive is simple – Spend some money on satisfying customers and you will get more money in return.

A Rare act of Honesty

A few days back, when I was going to a nearby industry for my project work I used to catch a bus around 7.15 am. The crowd will be very less in the morning, that too in this winter season. So, most of the seats will be empty. The first bus journey will take around 20 minutes.

I will meet by friends at a bus terminus and from there we need to travel another 25 km in bus. So, I will take a Rs. 50 pass using which you can travel within the city any number of times for that particular day. Generally conductors ask for an ID card.

On that particular day, I just showed my ID card and the conductor said it was not necessary to show it during the first time. As usual the bus was empty and he started to converse with me. He said that per day around 25-50% of the users misuse the pass. They take the daily pass and just pass it on to someone else. So, that is why the conductors ask for ID cards.

Next he asked who I am and what I’m doing. He was so interested in speaking about education. He has chosen a vocational group in his higher secondary schooling and hence Maths is tough for him. As he had studied in Tamil Medium, understanding English is also tough.

After that, he has studied all the computer languages and he said that he is well versed in C, C++, Java, VB and Oracle. He has taught students in a school for around 9 years. He has finished BCA in correspondence.

Then somehow he has come into the conductor line (might have joined as it’s a permanent job). In an effort to join Government school as teacher, he has registered for doing MCA in correspondence. He said that he went into the Exam Hall and he was not able to attend questions in Operations Research, Computer Graphics and some other paper. He said that he was not even able to interpret the question. Not knowing English and Maths has made it tough for him.

These days people say about giving money and getting pass marks in correspondence exams. I thought of asking the same and then left the idea. After a while he said that, 'I can give money and pass the exam, but what is the use? I am not even able to understand the questions. I’m in such a poor state and what is the use of clearing the paper by giving money?'

It was just refreshing to hear this type of words from people. A few days later I was saying this to mom and she said that just 10% of people are like him and others think of doing anything for themselves with the help of money and power. True, but people like them do exist.

Meeting people like the above two creates a new perception and makes us understand life better.

Life is Beautiful!

Happy Reading!!!

The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well!

Hi Guys,

In this post I’ll be writing about the illegal things that are happening in the college cultural competitions.

Interdepartmental Cultural competitions are taking place in our college from last Tuesday.  There will be lot of competitions like Skit, Dance, Song, Adzap, Quiz, etc. The competitions are scheduled up to next Friday. The winner gets 10 points, runner 5 and the 3^rd place team/individual 3 points. These points will be added to the department table and whoever tops the table gets the Cultural shield for that year.

This year CS was dominating the tables from the 1^st day. I was wondering how they came to the limelight all of a sudden. Today I got a chance to coordinate the Ad Zap event and thereby I came to know all the things they were doing to steal the points.

The event in charge for Ad Zap event was a senior lecturer from our department. So he just called me, Bala, Vimal and Santosh to coordinate the event. Santosh was there in our Ad Zap team and hence the other 3 of us were there managing the venue and keeping the time. The judge was the AHM from school. Time allotment was 4 minutes for preparation and 4 minutes for presentation. There was a boy’s team and a girl’s team from each department.

The event was conducted in the drawing hall. Audiences other than participants were not allowed to watch the event. There were 4 staff members from the CS department including their HOD (there was none from the other departments). When the CS girls’ team came there was a loud applause from the CS boys’ team and the staffs. Whenever they did something idiotic they laughed and clapped as if they had no brains. That was enough to stir the judge.

Now CS HOD told their boys’ team to go last (teams were allowed to choose their lot). She came to the event coordinator and said that they will take 3 minutes for preparation and 5 minutes for presentation. That was beyond the rules but we had no other go but to accept. They were the last which meant they had enough time to prepare since they knew what their topic was, when the previous team came. The preparation time was meant for the 6 members, but many others assisted them.

Within this time a lot of students rushed in the hall from nowhere. What is to be noted is they were all CS students. When their team came they clapped, shouted and did whatever was possible to encourage them. Whenever something humorous was said, they shouted. That was enough to impress the judge. After the end of their presentation, they were yelling ‘CS, CS’ which is considered in disciplinary (in our college!!!). Last year when our guys did something like this in folk dance competition we were disqualified from the event for the same. Today it went just like that!

Today was one of the worse victories I’ve ever seen. I just remember what Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of modern Olympics said

L'important dans la vie ce n'est point le triomphe, mais le combat, l'essentiel ce n'est pas d'avoir vaincu mais de s'être bien battu (which means)

The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

After all, these things will yield them the prizes and may be the shield, but I’m damn sure that they will never have the satisfaction or pleasure of winning! But we will have the pleasure of having fought so well.

Also, I would like to congratulate Sundar who has won III prize in the Pencil Art competition. I was present in our team that won the III prize in Quiz. I’ll write those nice experiences in my next post.

Happy Reading!!!