Background:
Everyone loves talking. Majority of us would rate chit-chatting as our favorite pass time. We were about to end a long day of learning at TCS, Trivandrum. Three of us joined for a chit-chat session.We were touching upon general topics like sports, technology and current affairs etc. Somehow the focus shifted on Politics. Then came this topic on Mr.Modi. All of us were applauding his work at Gujarat. His rational, progressive and unique working style. This man had a lot to speak upon. Three of us had the same wish, "I would like to see Modi as the next PM of this country". Within few months, Mr. Narendra Modi became the PM of this country.
My father is a Journalist. Needless to say, we add to the TRPs of news channels. From TV9 to CNN-IBN, Public TV to Times Now, me and my Father irritate others in the home by watching news channels and discussing politics, in-depth. After being regarded as a rubber stamp, not-so-expressive and not-so-impressive Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh left the office with a lot of criticism.The whole country welcomed Mr. Modi as the next Prime Minister of our nation. Like many of you, even I feel that it wasn't a tough act to follow. It has been almost 6 months after being sworn in as the Prime minister of India. Here is what I feel about the Prime Minister of My country.
I was travelling in a city-bus towards Kempegowda Bus Stand to board a bus to my hometown. It was August 15th and the whole country was celebrating the Independence day. I could see tri-colors, children with white colored uniforms, automobiles sporting small flags and loudspeakers playing the patriotic songs. The bus-driver switched on the FM radio and made us listen to one of the best speeches, till date. It was our Prime Minister's speech from Red Fort. Modi's idea of "Make in India", cleaner India, Jan Dhan Yojana, Clean Ganga, Safer India, Digital India and many other progressive thoughts made me think. His encouraging words and plans for a better-India made me feel good. I know, he didn't lay out any concrete plan or mentioned a blueprint for these ideas. But as time progresses, he and his government will. As a Prime Minister he sowed the seeds of positivity in our souls.
Modi's efforts in maintaining cordial relations with Pakistan, Japan, China, America and other countries is appreciable. With a lot of Foreign investment coming in, the good days are ahead for India. His Independence day Speech, First speech at LokSabha, Speech at Madison,Japan,Bhutan,UN, SAARC etc were above all standards. Use of social media to inform public about the government initiatives and to gather public opininion/suggestions has been tremendous. The monitoring of his cabinet members has been spectacular. Few interpret this as a dictatorship, but I feel happy about the way Ministers have been working and behaving in public. It is nice to see that no minister has come up with a bull-shit interview or a controversial statement (Very few exceptions). Modi's efforts in projecting India as a great nation is truly amazing. I am not sure about how worthy, truthful and productive Modi is, but his actions have always instilled our faith in him and his government. I can see improvements in economy, Trade markets, decrease in price-rise, increase in value of INR, various innovative development projects, SIT on black money probe and many more. I know, there are a few short-comings in this tenure. Above all, Modi has been a source of inspiration. His actions have been above any political games.
Most of Modi's impressions are created by his public appearances and speeches. His defame of being the darling of paid media has always made me think Modi as a mystical figure. I don't see much of work happening at the ground level. I still feel there is some amount of advertising and false-hype creation. As we all know, this government is just re-packaging the policies of UPA and selling them in better packages. We're all tired of false-hopes and fake-promises. It is high time for Modi's team to work and take us towards "Acche Din". We all are with you!! I wish this government won't do the same thing that we have seen for years. The nation's hope for change brought BJP into power. Let BJP realize this and work towards growth of this country.
Hope, we all get to see Government work on ground level to implement the ideas that have been put-forth. I would love to see them work in the same way as his manifesto and speeches reflect. Like any Indian, I want him to take up pragmatic policies and materialize all the visionary ideas he and his team has. Let us stop being over-critical and pessimistic, and be a part of this change.
P.S : Dear Modi & Team,
Good Job!! But this isn't enough !!
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Prologue:
The advertisements on internet, newspapers, hoardings and too many SMSs promoted the Big Billion day by Flipkart.With Rs.1-Pen drive, Rs.600-Hard disk, Rs.1800-Tablet device etc on charts, everything seemed unreal. 06th October, 2014 saw a revolution in online shopping. With Flipkart and even Snapdeal declaring sales of over 600 crore in a day, it was marked as a red letter day in online selling. Among the billion hits that Flipkart site got, I contributed a few of them. But all I saw on it's site was "Out of Stock" "No Results Found". With manipulated discounts, cancellation of products after booking and false hype, Filpkart lost it's clean image.
I'm neither a compulsive shopper nor hate shopping. I finish my shopping before it actually starts. I make my selections quicker and wiser. My shopping time has always been increased by my family and closest of my friends.So with all the limited experience and exposure on shopping and marketing, here goes my thoughts on this arena.
Long back, a petty shop in the street served all our needs. May it be a match box or sugar, coffee powder or a geometry box, vegetables or a tennis ball, we had it here. The shopkeeper charged us with an extra rupee or two. The perk of having a chocolate/eatable every time I had to buy something at the shop made me really happy.
If a washing soap cost Rs.15, essentially my mom would bribe me with one-rupee coin to buy the soap from the shop.
Though we bought essential household items from a wholesale retailer on a monthly-basis, we always had some need which was served by the shops near our homes. The wholesale retailer always had good discounts, sold the items on MRPs and had a reputation. We could return or replace items whenever we had an issue. Going to city market to buy vegetables, shopping for dresses before the festival-weekend was one of the delightful experiences. The act of bargaining from our parents was something to watch out for. Shopping was real fun.
Then came the era of super-stores, malls etc which gave us an unique experience of getting all the items in a single place. It almost became a weekend ritual to visit malls in big cities.The prices were high, but the shopping experience was good. The luxuries like centralized AC, posh infrastructure, and the elegant shopping experience made the customers pay a very high price for goods purchased. For me, who has always been in a sub-urban/rural setup, it seemed extravagant.Though, I visit malls very often, I am not used to purchasing here. Just like the majority of us, I prefer window-shopping inside a mall rather than lessening the weight of my wallet. There are no bargaining acts here. The price tags make us faint. Nevertheless, people adopted themselves to shopping at these Malls.
In the early days of this decade started a new trend in shopping called online retailing. The whole shopping mechanism based on internet, took some time to establish itself. It became popular and trust-worthy in the coming days. We could search for an item just from a device connected to internet. We had a mega store in our device offering items with the best prices. Though, people had insecurities with online payments, virtual-selection and other issues with this unconventional shopping, e-retailers made our shopping experience better. In the book, "One Click" by Jeff Bezos, the author explains the challenges faced in the starting days of online marketing. Even a single mistake would cost the e-retailer badly. The job done by Amazon, Flipkart, eBay and other companies in this field of online selling is truly commendable and inspiring. To a country which loves to bargain, the discounts offered here were satisfying. These companies are even having the best customer support. In case of replacement/returns the customers are taken care of. The human tendency to buy unwanted was a blessing for these stalwarts. To gaze at the new stuffs in market and to buy the needless gave a push to online selling. Big cities found this shopping a fine experience. Ordering a product and getting it delivered to your doorstep was the best thing that could have happened.
Lately, Flipkart's Big Billion day was a debacle in itself. In an attempt to overshadow and emerge as the King of Online-selling, Flipkart lost it's esteem. I was an admirer of Flipkart's marketing, selling, delivery, customer support etc. But I was totally disappointed with the Big Billion day bait. If you aren't selling the product on such low prices, cancelling the ordered products and creating cheap publicity, I don't think you are creating a brand. The Brand Flipkart 's morale-less masquerade was hugely criticised. I agree, if Flipkart sells a product on a lesser amount than others in future, obviously customer will prefer Flipkart. Nonetheless, it's very important to have ethics in your business.
Few companies cancelled their deals with Flipkart for selling their goods on predatory prices. Indian Government has received so many complaints on Flipkart. Government is planning to formulate laws to manage online selling. They want to restrict online sellers offering items less than the cost price. I don't agree with this decision, to be very frank. I know, it creates unethical trades, wage and weird practices but as a customer I should be the one to make choices. I guess, the big-shots of retail industry, owners of big malls are stepping into the competition. Lets see how they influence Government in oppressing the online shopping.
It's festive time and we are eagerly for a long-vacation. Time to go Shopping!!
Thanks for your time. Drop a comment and let me know how you felt.
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