The other day, as I watched the ad of an insurance company boasting its services, I was wondering as to how these companies react when the real calamities befall. In some way or the other, these companies accept the premiums with both hands while at the time of claims, people literally have to spread both their hands. Then whether it is life insurance cover, car insurance, or medical insurance, these people literally make you run on your toes. How can one forget how the companies reacted after the July 26th 2005 deluge in Mumbai? As it is, lakhs of people suffered immense losses in the form of property, vehicles, grains, and even lives. Godowns were filled with water, cars were submerged, yet the insurance people, instead of lending a helping hand, they added salt to their wounds by giving them only a percentage of the actual insured amount. And later, flood affected vehicles did not get anything! Now let's talk about medical insurance. People diagnosed with problems of high blood pressure, diabetes and other obesity and heart related problems are never insured. Now check out some stats : one out of every seventeen Indians is diabetic. And three out of five suffer from high blood pressure and hypertension. And I need not say anything about obesity. That's the way the cookie crumbles.... Oh, I missed the most important part - the documentation. Damn, the number of documents and proofs you require to show your existence are simply terrorizing! If I want want to get a life insurance cover, I need to show my PAN(Permanent Account Number) card, ration card, a proof of my residence, my birth certificate, a document showing my existence! All this reminds of Maddux, the fictional character in most James Hadley Chase's marvellous novels. He seems to smell frauds and scamsters even before they become one. He is the one who always avoids the payment of dues by proving something or the other. It is said that, for him, paying the dues, is like giving a pound of flesh. Well, time for me to sign off, I'll be back with some more 'How blahblah folks fool you.....' stuff.
How The Insurance Companies Bully People...........
Is Northern Rock The Luckiest Bank Ever?
I was just going through the newspaper(Mumbai Mirror) yesterday, when I came across this article in the editorial section. The heading was 'A bank is nationalised'. The first para highlighted the plight of the depositors when a bank drowns. At the first place, I thought it would be a story about an Indian bank. But later I realised it was a rock solid bank from UK........ My speculations were false indeed. It was the Northern Rock Bank from the Uk, with assets of over Rs.904000,00,00,000 , or 113 billion pounds. But suddenly, the Northern Rock plunged southwards, thanks to the new mortgage crisis. The scandal was discovered long back, in 2007. The bank still struggles due to high borrowing costs. But what exactly happened? People rushed to the bank to withdraw all their money amidst speculations that the bank may collapse. The result? The bank ran out of cash, and asked England's Reserve Bank for help. And what's the best part? The government nationalised the bank! Now, the bank's website says that the depositors' money is safe and all branches, call centres and other operations remain open for business as usual. So why is the bank lucky? Or the luckiest? Usually, when such an event takes place, big banks jump to takeover such banks and all the shares are transferred. And the biggest advantage for these big banks is manpower. But take the case of Northern Rock. The Bank of England nationalised it straight away, just because it was one of the top five lenders of Mortgages UK. By doing this, the bank has not only restored its services, but also recieved the extra cash which it required. So what do you have to say on this?
Start Your Own Online Shop Using Ashop
Sam wanted to start a store to sell his products, ranging from clothes to used electronics. But he did not have enough market in his area. One day, he decided to go global, by going online. But the problem was, he was a computer illiterate. Although he knew just the basics, he had zero knowledge of web designing or scripting. This how he found Ashop.
Ashop is a sort of software for creating an online store very easily. It's a one-of-a-kind site that offers to manage almost everything, from design to traffic handling. It's features include a rich What You See Is What You Get(WYSIWYG) editor, comprehensive text and video tutorials, a customisable template system and much more. And one of the most things that are the best here, is the customer support. If you ever require any kind of help, there are many ways and means by which you will get help here. The site is well built and makes a fine impression on the mind of a budding online seller.
What I like the most is the web optimization the provide. For instance, your Page titles will be embedded with tags to get a better page ranking. They would also provide you with free SEO tools and services. The page URLs would be search engine spider friendly.
Of course, the most crucial thing is the pricing. Ashop provides a great value for money with apt services for an amount which is the most reasonable and most competitive in their field. They take care of everything, absolutely everything, you just have to supply the products.
Now Sam can certainly relax and make money by selling his products online. He just has to supply his goods and make good deals online. Isn't it a fair deal? So, go, have a look at the ecommerce software
Tata Finally Unveils 'Nano' The Swanky Rs.1 Lakh Car
At last, after five years of speculations, Tata Motors finally unveiled the world's cheapest car, named 'Nano' in the Indian Auto Expo 2008 in New Delhi. The car costs $2000 or Rs.1 lakh. The car is all set to target the middle class, and who knows, it may be the largest selling car in India after Maruti 800. The mini-car is sure to put Indians in the driver's seat. Ratan Tata, chairman of the second largest, and one of the oldest companies of India wants every Indian to drive, just as Capt.G.R Gopinath, the founder of Air Deccan, want every Indian to fly.
Well, now let's look at its dimensions. Its 3 metres long, 1.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres high and has four seats. Unfortunately, there is very little boot space. The car is a rear mounted, 33 horsepower, MPFi engine, which boasts a mileage of 20 kilometres a litre. Moreover, it is in accordance with Euro IV standards, which makes it less polluting than other vehicles. The car actually reminded me of the Small car used by Inspector Klauseau(Steve Martin) in the movie Pink Panther
The production of the car may start this year in Singur, Orissa. There was quite a controversy on this issue as the farmers there weren't willing to give up their lands for the factory construction. Or perhaps, the Tatas did not provide enough compensation. But as history goes, the Tatas are well known philanthropists. Or maybe, it's just good old politics. Even during the launch, protesters gathered at the venue as the media coverage was very large and the protesters hoped to get some exposure.
With the launch of this car, Tata Motors has has started a new era, which will see many competitors slugging it out to make the cheapest car. For example, Bajaj, the two wheeler major and the pioneer of the autorickshaws, plans to tie with Renault and develop a $3000 dollar car. Even Hero Honda plans to produce a similar car, but maybe it's electric version. But, the best part is, thanks to this competition, millions of Indians and others will be benefited from this launch. For instance, Maruti Suzuki is expected to slash the rates of the small segment cars. Now it's time to hope for an electric version so that it is cost, user and environmental friendly.
How The Mumbai Dabbawallahs Show Accuracy Without Technology
Mumbai is considered to a city of dreams. The only difficulty faced here is time. It's really difficult to cope up with time. And so Mumbaikars are very well known for their swiftness. The heart of businesses in Mumbai is its southern part. You must see the influx of people in the mornings into this region. And the biggest problem for the working people is food. They all prefer food which is homemade and hygienic. And this is how the Dabbawallahs come into picture. Many have heard of them. But have you ever thought how they work? Well, here's an insight.....
To get a better understanding, we'll mark a place here in Mumbai. Let this place be Mulund. You can see it here in the map in the right top corner. Mr.Batliwala(a fictitious name) has his office in Fort(the lower dot). His wife prepares food at around 8 am. And it should reach him before 10:30 am. As she packs the tiffin, the dabbawallah arrives, sharp at 8. The dabbawallah first takes it, along with many dabbas or tiffins to a central area in Mulund which is decided by them. The second dabbawallah takes several such packs of dabbas from other dabbawallahs and takes it to the Mulund railway station.
The time is now 8:30. Here with the help of another dabbawallah, he puts all such packages on a cart, and boards it in the next local train towards Mumbai CST. Now, other dabbawallahs already on board receive this cart. As the train moves towards the southern part, the number of such carts increases enormously. And as the train reaches the southern region, the carts reduce one by one as most of the offices are in the south. The train now reaches CST, its final stop. The time is now 9:45. The carts are quickly removed and the packages are sorted according to the areas. The next dabbawallah takes his package and delivers it to that particular area, from where the tiffins are sorted on the basis of their final destination and many other dabbawallahs deliver the tiffins to their respective destinations. And thus, by 10:30 am, Mr.Batliwalla gets his tiffin.
On an average, a tiffin is handled by around eight to ten dabbawallahs on its way. All this sounds really simple, but it's quite difficult considering the transport system and the time. Yet, all this is done everyday without any delay. Based on the location the customers are charged somewhere around Rs.250-300 a month. That is around 7 dollars a month! Be it bright sunlight or a rainy day, dabbawallahs are never deterred.
But did you notice the most important thing? Nothing at all is written, only the tiffin are marked according to their destination. The only so called technology used here is the local train. These dabbawallahs, around 1-2 thousand in number, deliver more than 200,000 tiffins in a day! And that too without any paperwork or the use of computers or mobiles or any damn thing, for that matter. These people illustrate the fact that humans can still be ahead without machines..........
What do you think about this? Do you know any other organisation working with such precision without the use of technology? Please leave your comments......
Dating Advice - The new market buzz?
Business and the art of making money just keeps getting better and better these days. And as far as internet is concerned, the list just goes on expanding day by day. Get paid to try, review, click, surf.......you search for it, you get it. And now there's a new branch-dating advice. It's set to capture a chunk of the business in the internet world.
Thanks to the West's influence all over the world, dating has become a sort of a fad. "You in college and you don't go for a date?... Ahh, that's awful" These are today's responses. Gardens, beaches, parks, places of national interest(lol)..you name it...you find young couples scattered all over the place. And as dating keeps getting better and better, new techniques start to evolve. Dating advice finds place here. Earlier, it was women who needed advice to cope up with their men. But now the scenario has changed. With women becoming more fussy, it's time for men to seek advice. WIth time, many sites have come up with the idea of giving advice to men on how to improvise their women-handling skills.
The Seduction Bible is one of them. This site is complete with books, podcasts, and other reference materials to boost your self confidence in meeting, attracting and dating women. And yes, there are interesting experiences of young individuals, that are worth going through. Do you have any problems in your dating phase? Feel free and vent your problems here.
Did you visit it? Do you think this site will help you gear up for some woman-handling? Please post your opinions.....
Vodafone takes over....
Finally, the takeover process of Hutch by Vodafone is complete. UK Telecom major Vodafone had bought 67% stake in Hutchison Essar for around USD 11 billion. Well, the advertisements have started flashing the original Hutch boxer standing on a red carpet and instead of the usual Hutchison Essar logo its replaced by Vodafone Essar logo. The British telecom major has really taken a wise step by entering the lucrative Indian markets which are undergoing a mobile revolution. And when I mean revolution its really a REVOLUTION. Just yesterday, as I was travelling in a rickshaw, to my surprise the driver started speaking on his mobile handsfree earphone. I almost let out a gasp. If Vodafone needs to survive it has to cope up with the competitive rates, better networks and quality customer service. Once inside the Indian markets, it will have to face stiff competion from other telecom majors like Bharti Airtel, Tata Indicom and Reliance. Well, it has already taken a few steps which include cheaper roaming rates, better connectivity in villages........
Mr. Mittal, are you listening?
Yahoo! launches its free SMS service
Yes, you heard that right!! Yahoo! finally launched its much awaited free SMS service. Now you can send free SMSes directly from your Yahoo! mail. You won't be charged for this service but the receiver may have to shell out a nominal amount to his/her service provider. For now, this service is started only in selected areas and will spread out very soon. Yahoo! has launched this service a bit late due to the testing work, etc. but now members can make full use of this service.
AGLOCO finally works!!
Good news!! Finally AGLOCO kicked started its services and now is fully functional. This site is based on a revolutionary concept of paying while you surf the internet. According to them, thousands....no I should say millions of peoples spend hell lot of money to reach you while you surf. So how much do you get out of it?? AGLOCO keeps a very small part of it and pays you the rest. All you
have to do is register and then download the viewbar software and surf the net as you usually do. You
get an additional sum if you refer your friends. The more you refer, the more you get. The internet may really benefit from such a programme. This is the first-of-its-kind bid to get all the surfers. So, what do you think?
