The KKR dart ad

I was a bit distrubed to see the Kolkatta Knight Rider ad where this teenager is seen aiming a dart at the arm and the crotch of a person ( symbolic of an opponent) . How did this ad get cleared. Reminds of me another Amitabh ad where a kid is shown standing on the terrace and adjusting the T V antenanne under heavy rains. Ads need to be much responsible. Kids immitate easily.

Sarkar Raj - my take

Why don't we get our Corporate show in Bollywood right?

I saw Sarkar Raj today. Came back disappointed. I loved the part 1, so much so I caught up with a VCD of Sarkar yesterday so that I just revisit the characters anticipating great continuity. It was commendable to see Bachchan Sr still looking the same as he looked 3 years back. I am not going to review the movie here, but wanted to comment on the way the CEO of a international company ( Ms. Rai ) is portrayed here. She comes to India from the U.S without an entourage of business people, but is seen jostling arms with touts. Never in the movie any business aide is shown. She boasts of huge profits for her project without having any understanding of the risks etc & is seen spending time with Jr. Bachchan, who again gets convinced of the project in a 5 minute interaction. No heavy dose ppt needed to convince him about the feasibility of the project. He is convinced that there is merit in displacing 40,000 people just by one meeting with Ms. Rai. She in turn falls in love with him, so much so she is show becoming a part of the Sarkar family in the end ! When would someone show a cent of Corporate reality in Hindi Movies ? ?

Monsoon Risks

Last Sunday I was in Versova at my in-laws place. This is a sea facing flat. The sea was wild last Sunday and it draws a lot of people near the rocks where they stand in mute silence staring at the sea and admiring the waves hitting the rocks. At around 2 p.m. when I peeped outside the window, I saw a huge crowd of fire brigade personnel and cops trying to retrieve a body that was stuck between the rocks. I later got to know that a 26 year old boy who had come from Jodhpur, was sitting on the rocks and got pulled into the sea. His friends tried saving him, but the divine had some other plans for him. It was a tragic death for him. How does Mumbai eliminate such freak accidents? Here are some of my suggestions that can help Mumbaikars understand the risks better.

1. Have clear sign boards outside risky entry routes to the beach. Example some of the entry points to the sea are laden with sharp rocks that one cannot see when the water is at a high level. I am yet to see clear visible sign boards
2. During monsoon FM radio stations have a role to play. While radio does a good job around alerting citizens on traffic jams, this is one initiative that they can take up. They need to alert citizens about the sea tides and forewarn them.
3. The security guards who are employed with the buildings around the sea should be given some basic training in life guard skills.

Today I was at Versova again and I saw the cops doing a good job of forewarning people about the risks of standing near the rocks. Force was used to clear the area, I went for a nap, woke up after 30 minutes to see a sea of people standing close to the rocks.....the same place where a 26 year old young software engineer from Jodhpur, who came to Mumbai for a vacation was standing and enjoying the lashes, before that final wave swept him. How do we avoid the next tragedy? Suggestions are welcome.

Training in BPO

The India Retail market is estimated at USD 300 million. The organised retail market is just 3 % out of this so we can now imagine what it would mean to the big retailers from France, Hong Kong and the U.S.A. I see this as a great opportunity for Trainers and Training Academy in India to think seriously about CUSTOMER SERVICE skills training. I feel that Indian BPO organisations who have invested in voice training should look at Retail as a sunrise opportunity. There are great parallels between phone training and face to face customer service training.