Low Cost @ What Cost ???

Air Deccan I thought was making waves in the Indian Airspace by opening up the Air Travel Vistas to the common man. But I was really shocked at the service level which the airline is offering to the so called "first Time" travellers...given the treatment they are getting .. I think they are better off travelling by train or bus to their destinations.....wondering y I am bashing up Air deccan!! .. here is my story ( rather my parents story .. with my mom travelling the 1st time on Air)

Saturday 6pm: Schedule flight to Hyderabad. Had specifically booked this time as my parents wanted to attend the evening functions of a marriage.

Saturday 8am: SMS rescheduling the flight to 8pm ...... ( I thanked Air deccan since they atleast send an SMS !!!) but all the same shocked at the impunity with which they are rescheduling a late evening flight early in the morning ...... this plainly means the Airline is tried to squeeze it's Aircraft schedule and one Flight going amiss means the entire schedule goes haywire .... trying to drive down costs......but at what costs??

Saturday 2pm: rescdehuled again now 9:20 . then came couple of more SMSes.. finally the flight left at 1130 pm in the night!!!!!!!!! ....spoiling all the plans which my parents had.....they reached hyderabad at 1am in the morning

and must say we were lucky to be send SMSs.. just wondering abt the people who did not have this facility . .. an agonizing 6 hrs @ the Airport.. add another 1.5 since u r usually @ the Airport atleast an hr earlier...... so effectively 7.5 hrs .. now add another 2 hrs to this ......... and ur in hyd by train......

the same story repeats itself on return flight .. Scheduled time 530pm .. actual departure 11:45 pm.......so I am sure such stories must b happening everyday. and seems like AIR deccan has even developed a model to predict the exact time of delay !!!!!!!! sorry Mr. Gopinath .. this wont do ....you need to pull up ur socks...... else be ready to face the Indian Desi public Ire..... sooner or later

PS : Somebody was thanking AD for making flying possible to common man.... I think this LCC model cud have been brought in Mr. XYZ .. if not Mr. Gopinath .,..given the liberalization policies and .and I dont think I need to thank him for this pain

Management Talk!!!

Have you ever heard the CEO/EVP/VP of a company talk without using the following words: Streagy, Focus, Differentiation, go to Market, traction and so on and so forth. You bet not. Ask any question to them.. be it something as simple as "When is my next salary hike ?"..... which can answered pretty straight forwardly "6 months or 1 month "

but you get a 5 min lecture. He (or she I am not gender baised here ) tells the history( and geography) of the whole HR and compensation policy to us and explains the hike policy and goes on and on ....... until you forget the question you asked .......but luckily managers are a smart genre. they remind you of the question saying " but yes to answer your question of When the hike will happen"........ I think we will be doing it in the next 1 month!!!!!!! phew .. .thank you sir for ur prompt reply !!!!

But guess this is a part of the job for a manager .. talking and delivering the polished stuff.. the unpolished stuff may not b digestible by us .....something like saying " The HR policy makers have resigned and we are searching for a new HR head to formulate the hike policy" ......and being an aspiring manager .. I think I need to polish my polishing skills ...... :) so off I am to a Soft skills training institute

Paradox of Thrift : Macroeconomics

While each of us may have different to save money out of our regular income ( typically salary for the employees, monthly profits for neighbour kirana store and so on) , it is no doubt the primary reason is to secure our future against unforseen events. and Most of us save money in the form of Stocks, bonds,NSCs and of course some money is stored in banks etc for the lure of interests ....Have you ever wondered wat happens to the money which stashed in these bonds and NSCs and banks ( leaving aside stocks as they fall under different category of Risk driven savings)

While here starts the intriguing story of the money. The money you save in the banks is the money which is used by banks to lend out to investors and industrialist. The same money is used by the government to invest and pay for short term debts !!!!!!! ...The basis assumption of course is that of all the money which is kept by individual investors in banks, everybody will not withdraw the cash in one go. If that happens ( remember ICICI bank going bankrupt rumour a couple of yrs back) ....... then the banks are in for a liquidity crises and will run out of cash to pay it's own employees.

Now what happens if the ordinary people don't save and instead spend all the money which they get from regular income ? ..This is a really good ecomomic sign and helps the economy become a demand market and increases growth rate. At the same time, it implies that this growth cannot be funded with the domestic investments and for growth we will need to be now dependent on External Inflows ( the FDIs ) ........So one hand, less savings is better for the economy .. on the other hand it makes the country dependent on external flows to fund this growth ..........( the classic is that of the US economy ) This is commonly known as the "paradox of Thrift !!!!!!!!!"...

PS : Sorry if I am sounding like a economic prof ...

Unexpected expectations

Somethings in life are unexplainable ....they are like the Murphy's law.. what can go wrong will go wrong ... no matter how what you do or how much ever efforts you put ......... well I was destined to one such experience yesterday :(

Had my MBA interview yesterday ....... I must have prepared for this interview for the last one week or so ....... I prepared myself for every possible topic which I cud think of ........ I prepared myself for all types interviews ....stress interviews .....surprise questions ......rapidfire interviews and what not ..........questions on my essays........ my hobbies .......my extracurricular activities .......... current business stories and political stories

But I enter the interview room ......it is a normal interview ( hell not even that ........just a discussion.) ......... the topic they quiz me ???????? you guessed it right ..... none of wat I had prepared on !!!!!!! ........some damn question on my company's product Vs some rival company product..( ok I shud have preped on this .....but then perhaps this was only topic I had overlooked) ......... caught offguard .........some questions on my domain which thankfully I was a champion in ............ a stupid marketsize question......( hell I don't want to get into Consulting/marketing..... why the hell shud I estimate market sizes !!!!!!) .......

but that is way it is but as they say .. it aint over till the fat lady sings ( and sings a tune which I like ) .........and the fat lady sings after 40 days ...... wat do I do till then .....go ahead with my Plan B and hope Murphy does not spoil my party this time