ExpertDabbler

Idea #4 - start a ‘Keep The Change’ foundation and fund projects of social importance.

Idea Courtesy : Babu Prakash (My manager)

I go to a Lifestyle store and buy a shirt for say Rs. 599. Practically it will mean 600 bucks for me since I consider that one rupee as a change.

What if i am given an option, to give away that one rupee to an account called ‘Keep the change’ a/c?

I should have this option when i pay all my billls - from my petrol bill in Shell to the bill in Rathna cafe.
For starters, let’s restrict the amount to under one rupee for each transaction.

We should get into a tie-up with all leading banks and credit card networks so that people can transfer to their KTC a/c as part of their transactions. That is, if i pay Rs. 399.95 for my BATA chappal through my credit card, the showroom guy can take only Rs.399.95 and the remaining 5 paisa should go to the credit of Ktc a/c. The credit card statement should reflect the same.

In quick time, there will be “hajaaaaar money” (in my manager’s parlance) to deal with. People will be donating without ever realizing they are doing some charity. What’s more, it’s an everyday affair since we eat out or buy stuff all throughout the year.

Now coming to the administering part, the KTC a/c will be administered by a trust headed by people of known integrity aka Abdul Kalam or NRN or people they trust.

The funds in the KTC a/c will be utilised for non-profit projects or projects of immense social significance like:

group insurance scheme for the old age in a chosen region,
social security schemes for the old age,
drinking water provision in a town or village,
building a school in a village etc.
any other project the trust feels important to take India to the next level.

The Trust will take the final decision on what projects to fund and who will supervise it.

Now, as a contributor, I should know how much money goes into the account every single day and every single minute.
We should have a portal which tracks the donations and disbursements by the fund on a real time. Something not very different from the ticker in Google Mail Login page which indicates the space available.

Essentially, the contributors should know how much money the trust holds and what projects the trust has taken up and what are in the pipeline. In short complete transparency is the keyword. I dont want to go into writing the bye-laws of the trust at this level, so I stop here.

Does this make sense?

Idea #3 - Display the professional driver’s name in the car, bus or truck

Official record pecks the number of fatal accidents in Velachery - Tambaram main road alone at 156 so far this year. That roughly averages to 5 fatal accidents per week. And we still have 4 more months to go. I am just quoting this particular road not because I live here, but because I could get the stats easily for this one. I think the story is the same for every arterial road in India.

Rash driving by cars and heavy vehicles is the primary cause for a majority of fatal accidents in India. This is not to say two-wheeler riders are an obedient lot. But they are at the receiving end for their mistakes on road. And thankfully their vehicles are not powerful enough to fatally knock down a cyclist or a pedestrian.

All said and done, it’s the professional car and heavy vehicle drivers who are playing their Yama role to perfection in Indian roads.

So what is the way out?

My argument is simple – if the vehicle is driven by a professional driver, display the driver’s name in a prominent place in the vehicle – be it a cab or truck or MTC bus. I don’t have any particular preference for the format, as long as it’s a standard one and readable without entering the vehicle. But it should be prominently displayed, preferably on the windshield.

Many people might be tempted to conclude that displaying the name facilitates easy arrest when the driver commits an accident. NO! Arrest is a legal enforcement after a mishap has happened. That’s not a smart way to prevent mishaps in the first place.

Professional drivers drive not because they want to, but because they are ordered to. And that reduces the pleasure factor in driving. Indian road conditions are anything but pleasure anyway. Driving vehicles which are not their own gives them a sense of anonymity and abandon, and they eventually utilize this to vent out their frustration. The consequences are there for all to see.

So why display a name?
Displaying a name is a very powerful positive reinforcement and inhibits violating the rules. It reduces the anonymity and enhances the responsibility factor. I realized this in my job. When I write a document, realizing that my name will be there as the author of the doc. in the first page for all to see increases my responsibility 10 fold towards what I write.

Why name?
Every individual – rich or poor, has a name. Everyone wants their name to stand for something positive. I am yet to find a person who would like to associate his name with anything negative or unpleasant. It also means it’s not ‘some MTC driver’ or some lorry driver but specifically Mr. Moideen or Mr. Michael or Mr. Madhavan, who will get bouquets and brickbats for their driving. Recognition is a powerful positive reinforcement for conformance.

Does this mean we will have no accidents at all?
Accidents will always happen, but I would expect less numbers. And anything less than 5 fatal accidents per week in Velachery –Tambaram road is something to cheer about.

Idea #2: Ask an amateur photographer to shoot a wedding.

No, the idea is not to entrust the job to an amateur completely. Professionals are needed to record that some X had indeed attended the wedding
But its the amateurs who come up with sometimes horrible, sometimes good but always hard to ignore snaps.
Like this….

I did some cropping but i guess the image was worth cropping in the first place.

Idea #1: How about a talk-time exchange?

Have you ever wondered how your prepaid card could lose all its balance just as your are dying to make that one critical phone call in your mobile?
And you would be far off from the potti kadai which sells prepaid cards of your mobile operator.

I think the solution should be as simple as when you ask your buddy
(”Machi oru 100 Rs. Talk time credit kai maatha anuppu da.. nalaiku thiruppi tharen”).

That’s it. All your buddy needs to do is SMS his mobile operator, and ask them to transfer 100Rs. talk time to your phone no. He immediately gets a confirmation call or SMS and he authenticates/confirms the deal. Kaam katham
Of course the operator takes a cut and if there are two operators involved, both take a cut. It’s business. after all..
We can limit the transfer to 100 Rs. maximum per transfer and test run this.

Who wins?
You win because you are able to make that critical phone call.
Your buddy wins because he need not feel his talk time will expire unused unless he starts his kadalai session with his girlfriend (adhuku dhaan office phone irukkey!!).

Next time onwards, he can boldly go for a higher talk time value card sans fear of losing it by the expiry date.

The operator does not lose anything either. He deducts the talk-time of X and credits Y for and takes a cut for every such transfer. What the heck, people need not keep staring at the phone nor give missed calls and can make calls instead, which means better end user experience etc etc. Soon enough, someone will let his talk time be auctioned in eBay if its worthwhile.

From the angles I see, its WIN WIN WIN. Any takers, arguments??

PS: content within paranthesis is tamil, if you don’t get it, forget it

The more i think about this, the more it makes sense. Do we have an idea blog or idea repository centered around India? I mean a site which ponders about various ideas as possible solutions for the issues we face day in and day out?

I think India as a country has a lot of problems to tackle - from terrorism to casteism. Most of the processes and mechanisms currently in place are clearly not working. And I do believe some, if not all, of the issues can be tackled if only we had a new way to look at things.

I cannot over emphasize the fact that many of my ideas may turn out to be outright stupid and some might even make the problem worse. But what’s important to remember is, some insane idea by a minor tweak can be turned into a brilliant one. So long as that happens, the insane idea has served its purpose.

Also we, by virtue of our mindset, tend to shoot down lot of ideas even before it’s given a run. Take for example, the trafffic bottleneck in Guindy - Velachery junction signal. The solution we have now is a masterstroke. But not many thought about it till now because we cannot imagine mount road to be one-way, even for a short distance. Whoever thought about this idea deserves a round of applause.

So, going forward you can find lot of my insane ideas in this blog. I lay no claims to their complete originality nor do i seek royalty when implemented. The idea is to think different - be it business or politics or traffic management or anything under the sun in the hope that this world will be a better place because of a few ideas implemented right.

Picture this. A 30 year old guy with lunch bag+books on his back, a laptop on the right shoulder and a jerkin to cover all this from rain… for some reason i am reminded of a donkey which is fully loaded on its back. Grrr….:(

Couple of days back, three persons, all in their motor bikes, were killed on the spot by an overspeeding lorry - right in front of the SEZ gate where our office is.

Car maybe expensive. Car maybe a hassle to drive in peak hour traffic but as one of my colleague pointed out, it does a better job of protecting one’s life.

Guess I have no other option but to go for a car in the near future.

Nikon 18-55mm lens, originally uploaded by expertdabbler.

Old eye shot using the new eye

I am sure a lot of people may wonder what’s so special or great about these simple, straight forward pics, but these kind of amateur table top photography is my first love!

watch, originally uploaded by expertdabbler.

Shot using my brand new Nkon 50mm f/1.8 lens.
THis was shot completely using natural light.
I just placed my watch and the camera on the floor for a simple straightforward shot.
The /pillar at the background is nothing but the leg of our dining table.
Overall, i am very happy with the lens. Very fast and sharp.
Worth the 100 odd dollars it cost me.

Having been a witness to NV sir’s efforts to popularise Blogswara during his India trip, i can definitely say that he is very passionate about music. In this regard, i propose a side tactic.

In fact like all original ideas, this too is an inspiration:D Sometime back i had forwarded my friend M~, who is in LA, the mp3 version of Jay Krishnan’s “Pani Thirai” song. Eventually I myself had forgotten about it. When i visited him in cbe this weekend (he had come down on a visit) i discovered that he has this PT song as the ring tone in his mobile.

I think this is an interesting idea worth trying. Why not all those who had worked long and hard on blogswara initiative and even the rest of the blogosphere junta, just change their mobile rings to one of the best blogswara songs? Assuming there are 10 blogswara folks who use mobile phones and if each of them gets in touch with 10 people on an average during a week and even if one new guy is curious to know the ringtone, then we still have 10 new people who can be reached within a week. We will be able to attract more curiosity and attention of the general junta in a span of few months.

In essence, the blogswara team can be brand ambassadars to their own songs. I can’t think of anything better than this. But before i go overboard, let me add that this is just an idea and like all ideas this may or may not work but what the heck, lets try and see.

First things first, I am live and kicking. Some throat infection and slight fever which almost always comes as a package to me did not deter me from going to office, attending calls or from reading:)

What exactly did i do all these past few days? Last things first, myself and vatsan met the blogosphere musician from Washington DC Ganesh today at Coffee Day. One thing about blogger meeting which amaze me in that none of the parties have any inhibition in opening up. That tradition continues till date. Nice meeting you Ganesh

Moving on to some internet techie news, looks like Google Checkout and PayPal have a serious competitor in Amazon.
Move on to http://payments.amazon.com . Competition is always good for the users. Sabaash seriyaana potti!!

Though this is a competitive world some people are in a league of their own. Those of you who think P C Sreeram or Ravi K Chandran are the top cinematographers from India, please have a look at this and let me know if anyone can come near this man’s cinematography. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4j5vCZC7ow. This is a Balu Mahendra master class in terms of composition and natural feel lighting. He has been at it without any parallel in the past 20 od years. And the music.. well emperor is called emperor for some reason.

A blog is my personal diary and i write what i want to write, right? Well, there are occasions when i need to keep my mouth and keyboard shut, especially in matters which are personal. I don’t know if it’s just me but nowadays I miss the anonymity i had when i started blogging. At the same time, I also feel if I am not comfortable saying something to an audience with my name attached to it, then I guess its better left unsaid.

Apart from that, I left early from work this week (Yay 4 consecutive days!!).

Whenever there is some personal turnmoil or anger against anyone or anything,  I just try to read or write my way out of trouble. Maybe i should’ve learnt to booze early in life This time was no exception. I started reading Seth Godin’s
Small is the New Big and I’m glad I chose this. Very good read but as Seth warns, do not try to read it like a page turner novel. That would be akin to gulping down hot coffee at one go. This book deserves better than that. I would definitely recommend it to anyone whose attention span is not more than 30 mins. This is concentrated innovation marketing wisdom in blog post format.

Thats it for now, stay tuned for more in the days to come.