Small Wonder

Living away from home has its disadvantages. Not least among them is having to do one's own laundry. And if one happens to be a poor software engineer in Bangalore, a washing machine is most definitely out of the question. (As if not having mom around wasn’t bad enough!) But like most unpleasant things in life, this too can be a learning experience.

For example, I learnt that a 500g packet of a popular detergent powder costs more than ten 50g sachets of the same product. But how can it be? Shouldn’t larger packs be more economical than smaller ones? Or at the least, shouldn’t smaller packs refrain from being more economical than larger ones? Else, why would anyone ever buy the larger pack?

May be this was just an exception. It could be a conscious attempt to encourage consumers to try out the product. Or perhaps, the marketing types had formulated this sinister plan as part of a larger conspiracy against the unsuspecting consumer. Yeah, a conspiracy sounds just like the thing an FMCG giant would be involved in. (Wicked grin).

Over time, I realized that my detergent sachet was not an isolated freak of marketing. Many such pricing deviations are hiding in supermarket shelves and neighborhood stores everywhere. I recently came across this popular brand of tea powder. A 500g pack costs 17% more per gram than a 100g pack. But I'm still curious to know the cause this phenomenon. And that’s one more reason to want to go to B-school. Meanwhile though, I’m happy eating the Appam instead of counting the Kuzhi. Appam and tea.

Orkut Marketing

Tring.. Tring..
Hello.
Good morning sir, this is Kavya calling on behalf of GoondaLoan bank. Your friend Jatin has a GoondaLoan gold card and we know you want one too. Lifetime free sir. No monthly fee!

Sounds like the regular telemarketing call from some stranger who knows your name and bank balance. Only this time she also happens to know all your friends and the exact nature of each relationship. Welcome to the world of social network based marketing.

Our electronic communications, everything from phone records to emails and scrapbook entries, provide valuable information about who we are. By mining these records, a marketer knows who the people in our life are. She knows how close you are to each person. And she knows what the people in your life are doing, probably better than you do, because it’s her job to know. She might even know who your girlfriend was dating back in high school.

Consider this. The people in our lives have enormous influence the over us. We often see the world through their eyes. We base some of our toughest decisions on their advice. They give meaning and purpose to life itself. In short, our social interactions define who we are as individuals. Someone with access to distilled information about my social interactions can almost read my mind. And possibly change it.

Kavya is selling a credit card. She could just as well be selling a political ideology.

The real Santa Claus!

“Merciful, wise and fearless” is how the Coptic Synexarion describes St. Nicholas, the 3rd century bishop of Myra. He was persecuted and imprisoned during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian. Later during the reign of Constantine I, he was present at the Council of Nicaea in 325. Though many miracles have been attributed to the saint, he is best known for the anonymous gifts he gave to those in need. The most famous story is that of the merchant who lost all his wealth. He had there daughters and no money to give them as dowry. So on a cold Christmas night, St. Nicholas took a small bag of gold coins and threw it into the merchant’s house through an open window. The first daughter was married off. Next year, he left a similar gift for the second daughter. Now the merchant wanted to know who his benefactor was, and so on the third Christmas night he decides to stay awake and find out. And the rest, as they say, is history.

He is known by various names in different cultures. I call him ‘Christmas Father’. In Kerala he is also called ‘Christmas Appachan’ and ‘Christmas Appoopan’. In different parts of the world, many local beliefs have been assimilated into the story of St. Nicholas. And time, politics and commerce too have taken their toll. After the protestant reformation in Europe, there was a conscious attempt to purge all extra-biblical traditions. The reformers had a particular dislike for saints and St. Nicholas was no exception. Some even went so far as to ban Christmas. But of course, everybody knows you can’t ban Christmas. And you can’t have Christmas without Christmas Father. So stories were invented about the North Pole, and reindeer and elves in an attempt to avoid any talk of saints.

Back then, in that part of the world, belief in saints was not considered 'politically correct'. Today, in most of the western world, religious belief is itself beginning to be considered politically incorrect. There is a misperception that one must not express religious beliefs in public. This inevitably leads to the flawed conclusion that if we must continue to celebrate Christmas as a public festival, it should be decoupled from the underlying religious beliefs regarding the Nativity. Sadly, Christmas is under siege once again.

The reindeer and sleigh and elves and Mrs. Claus are just stories. And the guy at the mall with the red suit and the mask is not the real Santa, he’s just pretending. But kids, if some presumptuous grown-up know-it-all ever tells you that Santa is just a fictional character, tell them about the real St. Nicholas.

A dog's life, liberty and the persuit of happiness.

It’s almost past midnight. I lock my PC and leave the office with a friend. When we reach my place, I get out of my friend's car and walk towards my gate on a well lit alley. I notice a dog coming in my direction. A second later it starts barking. Maybe it has spotted a cat or something. I slowly walk forward. Then over the next couple of seconds it is joined by a dozen or so dogs and the whole pack coming straight at me. I turn around and walk away. First slowly, then briskly as the dogs came closer, making sure not to panic and run because I remember someone telling me that would not be a smart thing to do. Finally managed to go around the block and sneak into the house from the other side. The dogs followed me almost half the way and then decided to let go after they'd made sure that the interloper had learned his lesson.

Not everybody is as lucky. Every day hundreds of people are bitten by stray dogs in Bangalore. Yet the law allows packs of stray dogs to freely roam the streets. Apparently, the so-called animal rights activists believe that the dogs' right to life, liberty and happiness takes precedence over that of the ordinary citizen.

Investing in Charity

There was this time, however, when I did actually give some money to a young woman carrying a baby in one hand. But before you get me wrong here, let me make it clear that my generosity was not prompted by the presence of the child. It had more to do with the (presumably de-fanged) cobra she held in the other hand.

Common as they may be in this part of the world, cobra carrying alms seekers are not only people you need to be wary of. For a more practical list of warning signs read this article in the Motley Fool. There are some interesting links there to more articles on 'Foolanthropy'. With the two richest men on the planet giving away almost all their wealth, the idea of charity as an investment is definitely in.

The association between charity and investment is not new though. Tradition has it that the apostle St.Thomas, an architect by profession, was commissioned by King Gondophares to build a palace. The apostle instead gave away all the money to the poor and was promptly imprisoned for it by an angry king. But the apostle was soon released when the king's deceased brother appeared in a dream and described the wonderful palace that had been built for them in paradise.

A palace in paradise or a world free from hunger, achieving the objectives of an investment in charity requires that it be accorded the same seriousness as any other investment.

Lucky Scrooge

Lucky Uncle Scrooge (Fred's uncle, though it would be just as true for Donald's or anybody else's uncle for that matter). He didn't live in Bangalore. Because if he did, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future would all have visited him on the same night. And I say this because I know from experience.

Earlier today I was in Tippasandra, treating myself to an ice cream after lunch when this gentleman walked up to me asking for alms. He was followed by two children, one about 9 or 10 and the other in his early teens. As usual, I refused. Definitely don't want to encourage begging and particularly so if it involves children. After a few requests, the man left. But the 9 year old didn't. He stood there with his partially stretched out hand. And I still had the ice cream in mine. Certainly not a comfortable position to be in. For a second there I wasn't sure what to do. Should I just give him some change and get back to my ice cream. Or should I stick to my stand. Still not sure if it was the right thing to do, but I chose the latter. The child stood there for some more time. As he finally left, there was this look in his eyes. Despair, disgust, anger, frustration, pain. Or maybe it was just my imagination. Not really sure what. But it won't be easy to forget.

On Character

Here is another story.

Story goes like this. Chakochan and his girlfriend Lillykutty are on a romantic cruise in the Lakshwadep Islands. They are software engineers working in Bangalore so they have lots of money to spend. And they know that spending strengthens the economy so they are just doing their patriotic duty. Suddenly a big storm comes up and sinks the ship. Next morning Lillykutty finds herself washed ashore on a lonely beach. She gets up, looks around, and realizes she is marooned on an isolated island. Some time later she comes across two other survivors from the wreak, an old man and a sailor. The sailor is an experienced seaman but he is not a member of the ships crew. Together they find a battered life raft on the other side of the island. The sailor takes a look at it and concludes that it is damaged but he can fix it. Later on in the day Lillykutty, notices some movement on a nearby island. She is very happy when she realizes that there are some survivors on the other island and one of them appears to be our own Chakochan. She can’t wait to be with him again. So she goes to the sailor and requests him to fix the raft. The sailor tells her that he will repair the raft if she will sleep with him tonight. She is disgusted and walks away. But still desperate to get to Chakochan, she goes to the old man and asks him for advice. The old man replies “Follow your heart”. She goes away. Next day we see that the raft is repaired. They all get in the raft and go to the other island. Chackochan and Lillykutty hug each other. She then tells him what happened. He is angry and calls off their relationship. She is heartbroken. Seeing this, a mutual friend of theirs comes up and proposes to her. They live happily ever after.

Now get your friends to rate the 5 characters in the story on a scale of 1 to 5 on the basis of their character. Who is good? Who is bad?