Not Being Sarkari

 Today I attended a pasta cooking session. I love cooking and keep on trying new dishes regularly. So, this pasta session was a logical thing for me to attend. More than pasta, I was amazed the way chef conducted the session. Whole cooking session was made lively by the chef, who was not afraid of licking his fingers in front of the crowd. He was cool, informal, enthusiastic and knew his stuff thoroughly. Chef regularly involved in conversations while preparation was underway. There were hardly moments of awkward silence during the cooking session. He used his time effectively to build relationships with audience. Though, chef was representing a pasta company, he hardly spoke about his pasta. He concentrated only on the cooking techniques of pasta. Educating customers and building relationship was his priority. His spotlight was on audience and not on himself or his product. In a nutshell, he ensured that people enjoy the journey before reaching the destination. He made sure that people thoroughly enjoyed this journey. I guess this an important principle in customer service. Most of the time, we customer service professionals concentrate on resolutions. We hardly pay attention on making that journey smooth for the customer. We are so engrossed in our processes that we usually forget about the person standing in front of us, who actually pays our paycheck. I guess if we can spend sometime on making that journey smooth, customer might decide to stay back and do business with us after his problem is resolved. We usually put more stakes on reaching the destination than enjoying the journey. It is human nature.  

  You are a lucky customer if your complaint gets resolved (after numerous attempts) because of twitter.

You are a lucky customer if you are sticking to the same retailer and his grenade of bad policies have not exploded on you.

You are a lucky customer if seller has tried to earn some customer respect by his deeds and not only by words.

You are a lucky customer if you are not one those 99 customers who got punished by irrelevant return policy to nail one guilty shopper.

You are a lucky customer if no customer service tragedy has struck you. How many such lucky customers are there? I hope this is not one of many extinct species.

 

During a Diwali party, somebody asked me "how is my organization's business?".

I did not want to say much as it is difficult to accept a position where you have to be defensive. It would have been little arrogant which may not have gelled well with some of the audience.

By the time, I was ready to give a politically correct answer. Somebody said, "The urge to have more and more customers is like attaining nirvana. It is never-ending." I could not have answered better.
Planning has begun so that we have great Christmas and New Year. Let's hope dhamaka continues.

"Leadership is a constant learning" feels Carol Bartz, Chief Executive of Yahoo!, in an interview. I liked one story which she shared.

My favorite story is when we were on a farm in Wisconsin; I would have probably been 13. There was a snake up in the rafter of the machine shed. And we ran and said, "Grandma, there’s a snake." And she came out and she knocked it down with a shovel, chopped its head off and said, "You could have done that." And, you know, that’s the tone she set. Just get it done. Just do it. Pick yourself up. Move on. Laugh.

Shrug it off and just get it done is a mantra which is continuously agreed upon but not followed. It is something which usually is not seen in places where bureaucracy has seeped in. Customers will be a lot more happy to deal with you if your philosophy is also- just get it done.

After reading this interview, I am intrigued to know more about this lady.

It was the month of April in 2009. Economic downturn was at its peak (downturn and peak...what an irony). Increments were not in sight. Incentives were not given because of bad overall economic situation. In fact, holding onto a job was luxury for some.

I was sitting in a restaurant watching an IPL match and waiting for friends. With few pegs of alcohol inside me, I scribbled something on a piece of napkin. Soon, friends arrived, more alcohol went in and napkin got lost somewhere in the mayhem. But the idea remained with me.

I started to visualize certain characters. As I am not good at drawing/painting, I tried to do something simpler. Learnt little bit about cartoon drawing softwares, took sometime to learn about their basics etc. I cannot ignore the guidance given by Sid, a blogger friend. Sid a cartoonist himself, helped me in giving some raw knowledge on drawing cartoons. I also stumbled upon wonderful sites of two cartoonists - here and here.

The name 'Aloo Kachalu' stuck to me for a couple of reasons. I personally feel, Aloo which means potato is a highly non-bureaucratic vegetable. It can be cooked in any form - baked, boiled, roasted etc. It can be eaten in numerous forms - stuffed paranthas, in any curry, in rice, in snacks etc. Aloo can be put into anything and it makes a difference in every dish it goes into.

The other character, Kachalu (arbi/Colocasia Root), is also a vegetable and I feel this is highly bureaucratic. It usually leave a sticky layer or lace like thing, if not cooked carefully. Very difficult to cook. Means, highly bureaucratic. Cannot be easily modified according to customer's need. Both of them gelled very well with the overall philosophy of this blog.

And, yes they rhymed well.

Once everything was in place, I made a couple of Aloo Kachalus and showed to my friends. They found them cute.

I decided to go one step further. I started sending a weekly Aloo Kachalu to my team members. Couple of them came back to me saying 'they liked it and are looking forward to it'.

Then I started publishing it on my blog. Some of my blogger friends also said some wonderful things about it.

And I decided to stay with it and hone this new found passion more. As they say in Punjabi, panga le leya.

Just thought of sharing with you guys. As usual, keep giving me your feedback.

1. Switch off the engine of my car while waiting on lights
2. Will make my house free of paper napkins
3. When outside will use handkerchief more to clean my hands
4. Will gift a tree
5. Will plant a tree
6. Will switch off lights/fans/appliance when not in use
7. Will look for new ways to care about environment
8. Will pray hard (last but not least)

 
I am not sure how much I will succeed in doing above things. One thing I am pretty sure of is that, after an year, while standing in front of mirror, I can look into my eyes and say comfortably 'I played my part'.

 But then there are some which are trying to do few things which might improve things in the long run. There are two businesses whom I know personally, are doing things which are good for environment and trying make this world a better place to live. First one is EYEC (website not fully functional) is a startup company founded by one of my college mate. This company is doing very simple thing - asking customers to gift a tree. Gift a tree for any occasion - anniversary, birthdays, festivals etc. In case there is no occasion, make it an occasion by gifting a tree. Initially, I was not sure about the viability of this idea but it is gradually picking up. In its journey of five months, this company is presently gifting close to 40 tree in a day. I think number is not bad for someone who trying to make this world a better place to live. Second is RunningandLiving.com which inspires people to run. Again, a kind of first in India. They organize monthly runs in and around Delhi with Gurgaon runs being their flagship run. In last one year, this company has organized two runs in which runners get an opportunity to plant saplings enroute their 10 KM/15 KM running distance. Plants were sponsored and pits dug by State Government's Urban Development arm. Runners get to do some good by planting saplings in those pits. RunningandLiving.com was enabler in this whole process without which this might not have been possible. I feel lucky that I am associated as customer with at least two businesses which intend to do some repair patch work on this bruised environment.  

 I think it would be good idea to read through thousands of opinions and voices on environment. We can get lot of ideas on making this better place to live. We may get to know about potential dangers we are facing because of deteriorating environment. Though,we all know bullet points, details will not harm us.
 I am also participating in a hope that I will change some of my habits which may help in improving environment.

Some lessons in customer service are also need to be given to many small shop owners as visitors will be interacting with them. I am not saying they are not polite or friendly but they need to make some subtle changes in their behavior so that they can project themselves as more customer friendly shops.

We Indians, in general, never smile to strangers and never exchange greetings with strangers. This is acceptable on streets but not when customer enters inside the shop. At the most we nod our heads and that means customer's presence is acknowledged. Well, a hearty smile may help in building trust that go a long way. 
   
You enter any shop and present your query to shopkeeper. He reply to your query without looking at you. In fact, he might keep himself busy in what he is doing and may not acknowledge your presence at all. This is considered to be extremely rude in West. In India, it is chalta hai!

We unknowingly put our hands on waist, while talking to customers. Another sign of hostility towards customers. Okay, not exactly hostility but another gesture which depicts our not-so-customer-friendly attitude.

These are some gestures which come to my mind which are doing exactly fine with Indians but may not go down well with firangis.

Let me know, in case you have anything to add.

 One Sunday, I asked one of their staff about the achievement of target for the day. On most of Sundays, we achieve our targets by 7:00 PM, quipped sales staff. It is good and difficult situation for us, he continued. He further explained. Good because we do business which is beyond our expectations and customers throng to our place bypassing every other coffee shop. It is also a difficult situation as we run out of stocks, overall management of orders becomes difficult for us. We try our level best to give satisfactory service to all our customers. He ran for his next order after this explanation. Achieving targets by 7:00 PM is definitely a good 'difficult situation' to have and all businesses would like to have such difficult situations. But then difficult situations need to be tackled before they become difficult to be tackled.  PS:- In case you are wondering what is so special about this coffee shop. Nothing much except that location is good.       

I usually start my runs at a slow pace as I do not want to spend all my energy on first few miles. This run was also no different. I started slowly and for the first 6 KM, I ran at a slow pace. Few downhill slopes in the begining, followed by uphill slopes helped me in warming up. 

The run between 6 KM and 15 KM was most enjoyable for me. I was warmed up, momentum was with me and I was running at a speed which was not tiring me. Scenery was breathtaking, road was completely free of any traffic, I could hear birds chirping, serenity was my only company and few downhill slopes, where I could run faster than my usual speed, helped me in getting my timing better. There was only one uphill slope and was steep enough to leave most runners panting. Except for that slope, it was a runner friendly terrain.   After 15 KM, major part of the track was uphill and it soaked up most of my energy. To be frank, I covered most of my last 6 KM walking. But walking, was also no small effort (shameless self-patter in me taking over). Last two kilometers were easy, difficult and most exciting. Easy because of steep downhill which helped me to run little faster. Difficult because I have to climb the same slope up. Exciting because it was last lap and after that only thing left was posing for cameras ;-)
 At last finished Shimla HM in 2 hours and 50 minutes. I guess, not bad for someone who is just one HM old.
One gone. Another one in Delhi on November 1, followed by my first full marathon in Gurgaon on December 6. There is not much time for rest. After all most of marathoners are a breed in their own and they enjoy doing what others think is a cynical activity. 

I have prepared myself for this HM (Half Marathon) little bit harder than my last one. I have put in close to 20 hrs and ran close to 125 kilometers in last 40 days. Running includes runs on plain, runs on hilly area, fast runs, slow runs, long runs, easy runs etc. Training was fun (otherwise I would not have done it) and it came with an advantage also - weight control.

Organizers are promoting this HM as a pretty-tough marathon. Pretty because of beautiful locales and hills covered with pine trees. And, tough because running at 7200 meters above sea level requires some stamina, strength and will power.

As the D-Day is approaching, there are some butterflies in my stomach which, I guess, is normal. But I know I am well prepared to handle this difficult terrain.

Will post some interesting experiences from HM and Shimla.

According to a news piece, delivery of LPG cylinders at 10:00 PM might become a reality. This will be some achievement on the part of government as it will help a lot of DINK consumers who are not putting up with their extended family. This one step will definitely be a giant leap as our government service deliveries have not changed with changing socio-economic profile of the population. Bills for water and electricity can only be deposited between 9 to 5. Any governement work can only be completed during specific time and specific days. At last, it is good to see sarkari babus innovating and doing things which can make lives of many of their customers easy.

Three cheers to some non-sarkari ways!