Posts Tagged Life
Service Charge Built Into Your Restaurant Bill in Singapore - No More, Please!!
I have been in Singapore for close to three months now. It’s a nice place to live, work, eat and travel and that is enough to make me stay here. But, the thing that fascinates me the most about the place is the “design of incentives and disincentives.” Once you start noticing the minute details about how they have built the nation and systems, you feel amazed at the power of incentives. There is an incentive here for all the “right” behaviours and disincentives for all the “wrong” ones. Let me pick up some common examples. Singapore, for most parts of the 20th century, was a dirty country. To discourage littering, the government enacted heavy fines and followed it up with superb enforcement. Fines for littering can be as high as $5000 and repeat offenders might be sent for “behaviour - correction” activities like cleaning of public parks! I know it sounds like an overbearing idea, but it has worked for the country. And then, there is the much-admired Electronic Road Pricing system and taxes on automobiles, which disincentivizes people to own cars and drive downtown during peak hours. The pricing of parking lots, roads and cars themselves, coupled with a super efficient public transport system, incentivizes people to take public transport instead of driving around, adding to the congestion and polluting the environment. There could even be an incentive for taking early morning trains to town and easing off the peak hours. Every action or inaction has a price to it. Since it needs talented people for the economy, there are incentives to take up Permanent Residence in the country and enjoy several benefits. There are strong disincentives for smoking as it is a major cause of health problems and puts a burden on government spends. Heavy taxes make cigarettes quite expensive and there is no way you can legally get cigarettes from other countries without paying the hefty duties.
While I frantically look for such incentives, I have been disappointed with one particular system - the system of service charge or tipping at restaurants. Most eating places have the service charge of 10% included in the bill. Tipping is discouraged in most eateries and even prohibited at the airport and other places. Now, I eat out a lot and try many restaurants and whenever I fork out the dollars, I expect reasonable service. But, I find that missing in so many of these places. Having a fixed, pre-determined service charge could act as a disincentive for providing great customer service and lead to complacency or indifference in the minds of the men and women who work in these restaurants. They are effectively guaranteed the tip, irrespective of how they treat the customers! I simply fail to understand this in a place like Singapore, which goes all out to encourage the right behaviours.
Here is the link to a nice read (slightly dated) on this topic http://www.singaporeangle.com/2006/11/service-charges-replace-with-tipping.html
1 comment November 11, 2008
A Little More
As newspapers are flooded with reports on the looming food crisis and the sky-rocketing food prices and how China and India are contributing to the phenomenon, my mind wandered towards the differences in the very act of serving food. In India, whenever people gather for dinner in the home of family people, inevitably you have your mothers, aunts, sisters enthusiastically serving food. Even when you are full till your mouth, “a little more” has to be served and lapped up by you. Almost all of us have heard “बेटा थोड़ा और लो ” at our family unions. As far as I understand, this is not so in Western culture. There people are supposed to eat as much as they can or like. There is hardly any motherly pressure to stuff yourself.
As I think, I feel that the act of “a little more” is symbolic of certain things. For most parts of the last few centuries and even now, India remains a poor country with extremely low per capita consumption of most food items. Offering “a little more” food, I believe, is a sub-conscious way of expressing prosperity. The act is symbolic of the fact that “we are well-to-do and there’s plenty in here.” At the same time, this act also symbolizes another deep-rooted value in Indian culture - that of generosity. The way our motherly figures literally force you to down a few more bites symbolizes that “There is enough and you can have more than you want. It’s all there for you.”
It is quite interesting how basic physical needs, over a period of time, form the fabric of a community’s culture. While in the West, the abundance of food, made it a hygiene need, in countries like India, the abundance of food could possibly signify prosperity.
Add comment May 10, 2008
Marriage: A Life-Altering Event
I got engaged last Sunday to my sweetheart of almost 7 years. As I put on a plastic smile for the cameras and greeted every relative I don’t know so well, I got a funny feeling. Almost everybody tried to tell me in their own signature style about how marriages are a ‘life-altering’ event. Somebody mentioned that I would need to start being more social with family & friends, somebody said I cannot live in the same house after marriage and would need a better, bigger (read expensive) place. Some friends said I would need to regulate my lifestyle a bit (you know what I mean!). Some people were happy only for the simple reason that I would get a “tiffin” to work everyday and won’t have to unwillingly nibble at dosas & idlis. Some even went to the extent of saying that I would need to start dressing up more formally and start looking more like a ‘married’ man!! “ऐसे करो, वैसे मत करो!”
As I wondered about why people associate so much change with a marriage, I decided to take some cues from our movies. No better source to understand the Indian mental makeup. I recollected the zillion ‘love-story’ movies that our filmmakers have belted out (sometimes I get amazed at the fact that how many movies can people make with the same damn theme!! Hail Bollywood!). What is interesting is the portrail of our actors / actresses before and after marriage.
Before marriage, people are portrayed as very informal and easy-going (just like you and me). What is more interesting is the portrayal of women. Before marriage, actresses are seen in mainly Western clothes (can be skimpy as well and nobody minds!). They openly express their love, wear-whatever-do-whatever, seduce their men and live a blissful life. But, after marriage, the same characters put on a different skin. Marriage immediately brings an overdose of sobriety and maturity to them. Dressing changes from Western, casual & cool to traditional, formal & suave. The way of speaking becomes more restrained and formal. All of a sudden, society and family has a new meaning.
Exuberance, vibrance, fun, lack of inhibitions, free spirit - all become very minimalistic adjectives to describe married life.
The Indian society is pretty much the same, at least in the ways I have experienced in the traditional realities of a ‘modern’ India. The society expects you to change your mental makeup, attitude & values as you progress in your social life-cycle. Yes, social life-cycle and not the biological life-cyclical. Its contrary to logic, but personal change is not a function of age, but of whether you are in the prime of your जवानी (youth - as defined by one’s marital status) or a बाल बcचे वाला (married person, doesn’t matter if you don’t have kids).
Add comment May 1, 2008
My Very Own, Personal Jesus Christ!
I had read this piece recently where I discovered a new term “micro-boredom”. Its is basically about extremely small slices of life where one is ‘bored’ or has nothing to do. The article also goes on to talk about how technology provides a much needed escape route from micro-boredom, by filling in those small slices. If you think of it, a mobile phone offers you the privacy equivalent of being in a locked room. There is just very little distance between you and the screen of the phone to allow for intrusion. I have always thought that Indian youth are just so hooked on to their cell phones (always checking SMS, checking for missed calls, doing ‘nothing’ with the phone in a CCD) because of the sheer absence of privacy and personal space in our ‘other’ social life. Personal space is now the screen.
I have my own bouts of micro-boredom and when I think of it, I love the way various companies are tapping into my ‘nothing-to-do’ space. And, it’s far from being intrusive, but is actually quite helpful at times.
I use a Nokia E62 with Symbian O/S. It helps me check my company’s emails (MS-Exchange) with Mail for Exchange and sync my phone calendar/tasks/contacts to my Outlook. Google went on to create a suite of service for the hand phone. So, I can check my Gmail, add reminders to the calendar, watch Youtube videos suited for mobile phones, catch up on Google News, check out my Google Docs and catch up with my favourite feeds using Google Reader. They even created a handy application for Google Maps, which you can download to your cell phone. It is really useful - so when I have to find out where my hotel is located in Mumbai, I know where to look for it! Then, somebody realized that there has to be a better way to browse the net on a small screen and we got Opera Mini. Ideal for browsing, Opera Mini optimizes the internet for your cell phone. I use it to update my Twitter status; send private messages over Jaiku and connect with people on LinkedIn. It also has a feed aggregator and easy management of favourites. Yahoo Go puts in a host of Yahoo services in your palms - push email, weather updates, news, calendar and of course, Flickr. I browse through my albums, catch up on old times and share a laugh with myself at times. Then there is WidSets. It allows me to add tons of widgets to my application window - Twitter, Gmail, Jaiku, Feed Reader, Weather, Sudoku and tons of other time-killing games. I also micro-blog at Tumblr. So, you have this cool application called Tumbla, which lets you post text, quotes and pictures to Tumblr. In the evening, when I get a message that I need to be in Delhi for an urgent client meeting, I use applications from Jet Airways and Yatra.com to book my flight tickets on the go. Did I mention that I like to track the stock markets? I use Markets on Mobile from Moneycontrol to get updtes on my portfolio and the markets in general. Sometimes, when I get up in the night, I even use it to see how the US markets are doing! Whenever I feel the urge to chat up with a friend, I log onto my Gtalk / Yahoo Messenger. There are tons of options for this like Talkonaut, Morange among others. Though multiplex movie tickets are pretty steep these days, whenever I feel like I use the application from Book My Show to book movie tickets. What’s more, it even allows me to choose the seats of my preference. Oh yes! I swear I use my phone to talk as well.
So the other day, someone asked me “Don’t you get bored staying by yourself?” Nah! No way! Micro-boredom has evaporated into thin air! My phone is my saviour - my very own, personal Jesus Christ.
Salvation lies in your hands!
Add comment March 22, 2008
Holi
Here is something that I had written about Holi a couple of years back
You may call me a narcissist for reposting an old post, but I really like this one.
Add comment March 21, 2008
Small Joys of My Life
I caught myself thinking about who really am I and what makes me the kind of person I am. Given the eternal optimist in me, I started thinking about the positives; what are the small joys in my life which make me what I am. Like a good white-collared worker, I also thought it is a good idea to ‘document’ this. So, I decided to take a snapshot in time of things that make my life beautiful. So, here is the list…
The morning newspaper (with a lot of ad inserts)
The thinking pot (thats the place where I enjoy 10 minutes with myself, I get most of my ideas there)
My cold & cough in the mornings
CNBC in the morning
Udayan Da
Bread
Fried Eggs
Haggling with Auto-wallahs
Checking email on my Nokia E62
Browsing the web on my phone
The pre-recorded message of a lady saying “Please close the door” in the office lift
Numbers
More numbers
Tracking stock markets in office
Advising on the outlook for the markets
Buying 2 shares and worrying as if I took a controlling stake in the company
Dreaming of a 7 digit portfolio (that’s a minimum, by the way!)
Gtalk
Kaun-Call
Group chat on Gtalk with friends
Looking at nothing from the office terrace
Stare at the shining sun ( as if I want to scare it)
Looking at nothing from my home’s terrace
Listening to the tranquility
Feeling good about the breeze
My iPod shuffle (it’s so loud that I become immune to the world)
A “Big Mama” steak (with a lot of chilli-pepper sauce) Yum!
Some bread to go along with it
A real cold beer, please!
Fantasizing that I could be a great photographer someday
Fantasizing that I could be a great cook someday
Fantasizing that I am going to start my own business venture
Thinking about owning a house
C’mon, a car, atleast!
Leave it, atleast owning my life!!
Thinking about the wrong position of “I” in IMI; it should have been IIM
‘Strategizing’ about Indian cricket
The walk back home from office
Wondering when will Indian drivers learn to “share the road”
Promising myself that I will blog about this
Mulling over my finances
Dropping off most purchase decisions, thereafter 
The smell of home when I reach there in the evening
The surge of energy for the day (evening) ahead
Worrying if the house is clean
CNBC in the evening
Udayan Da’s “mood-change” in the evening
My old laptop (literally looks like a suitcase)
The sight of a full Old Monk bottle
The sight of beer bottles sitting pretty in my refrigerator
A cigarette lying around
Fire-shots (lighting fire to Old Monk and gulping it while it burns!)
The mellow taste of lager
Reliance landline (let’s you make STD calls at 30 paise!! It’s my lifeline.)
Having long conversations with Priyanka (you know who!)♥♥♥♥♥
Boring her to death!
Aur bolo..
Take a break
Reflecting on my childhood
Taking lessons from “Everybody’s free to wear sunscreen!”
Reflecting about our relationship
At times, answer some really tough questions about my previous relationships!! 
Delaying dinner as much as possible
Looking blankly at the night sky
Do some bull-sit naaambar 1 (read: poke fun)
Another peg!
Some real cold water
Kolkata
Practicing some Bengali and Punjabi with Priyanka♥♥♥♥♥
Getting thrashed for my poor attempts
Planning about my next trip to Kolkata to see her
To hell with planning!
Another peg!
Philosophizing about life
Thinking that there exists no such thing as sin
Making a plan for almost everything in life
Questioning the existence of god
Questioning the relevance of religion
Cursing the dabba-wallah for bad food
Eating it hungrily
Worrying about my marriage (most friends strongly feel its not happening!)
Wondering about my remaning “leaves”
By the way, what date and month is this?
Thinking about which all places I want to go in the world
Getting confused with the list of those places and the prioritization
Settling on the list, it’s a small list with one word “World”
Discussing the business idea that’s never going to see the light of the day
Worrying if my stamp collection (over 4000) is alright in Nepal (it is supposed to bring me a fortune someday)
7 hours of sound sleep
Another day in paradise!
3 comments October 19, 2007
The Economics of Incentives
As per economics, an incentive is any factor that provides a motive for a particular course of action. It is simply a means to encourage people to do more of good things and less of bad things. Incentives can be remunerative, moral, coercive, social etc.
I have recently been reflecting on how different countries digest incentives or disincentives. India, of course, has a law or rule (on paper), for just about everything. There are penalties for smoking in trains/airports, fine for jumping a traffic signal, underage driving etc. More often than not, we feel that these rules are not implemented properly. The other side of this is that citizens do not adhere to these rules. The simple explanation is that of inadequate incentives/disincentives. Fine for caught smoking in a train - Rs.100 (who cares!). Fine for jumping a signal - maybe Rs.50….and so on. Low value of penalties coupled with weak implementation - leads to very low probability of an average citizen feeling encouraged to adhere to the law.
Move on to Singapore & Dubai, and you find very high disincentives attached with the ‘wrong’ things. Smoking inside an MRT station - fine S$20000!! Jumping a signal in Dubai - something like AED 2000! You make the disincentive so penalizing that an average citizen doesn’t break the rules + put in healthy levels of implementation.
Let’s go West for a change and you find that the USA, where most incentives/disincentives of these kinds have become moral incentives. Smoking in a prohibited area, jumping a traffic signal etc. have moral connotations (atleast in the sane hours of the day!). On a recent trip, I didn’t see sign-boards informing people about the penalties associated with such an act; instead the sign-board just said - no smoking. Cross-roads had surveillance cameras, but nothing to inform people about the rules. It appears that punitive incentives have been internalized to a large extent in that country.
So, these countries represent the continuum through which incentives are designed, implemented, redesigned, re-implemented and finally yield the desired outcomes.
3 comments September 20, 2007
Defining Kolkata
Puchka. Churmur. Jhal Muri. Egg Roll. Chicken Roll. Egg-Chicken Roll. Double Egg-Double Chicken Roll. Machher Jhol. Maangsho. Mini Bus. Auto – rickshaws with 7 people. Ambassador Taxis. Metro. Pariborto station… Hand-pulled Rickshaw. Tram. Dada. Go. Aaste Ladies, Pore Baachha. Bo Di. Kali Ma. Durga Ma. Park Street. Burra Bazaar. Howrah. Bridge. 2nd Howrah Bridge. Sector 5. Chowranghi. New Market. Sri Leather. AC Market. Adda. Pada. Mastaan. Chicken Chaamp. Mutton Chaamp. Chow. Egg Chow. Chicken Chow. Egg-chicken chow. Tangra. Mohun Bagan. Pada Football. Daab. CPI(M). Jyoti Babu. Buddho Babu. Mamta Di. Cholbey Na. Maidan. Victoria Memorial. Indian Museum. Nicco Park. Sona Ghachi. By-pass. Cha. Ki Ashobyo! Rabindra Sangeet. Nandan. Kala Mandir. Sandesh. Rossogulla. Someplace Else. Tantra. Greg-bashing. Sourav praising. 12 hour Bandh. 24 hour bandh. Singhara. Coochie-coo in Nalban. Oori Baba. Tai to. Moori Ghanta. Chingri Maach. Abar Khabo. Baapi. Mamuni. Morning Walk followed by Tea/Singhara/Kachouri at Gurudwara. Sugar in Chicken Curry. Butter Chicken with White Gravy. Chatterjee Mansion. Exide. Filter Wills. Flake. Bodo Gold flake. Choto Gold Flake. Henpecked husbands. Dominating Wives. No Co-Education. Tolly Club. CCFC. Mithun Da. Koto Baaje Dada? Suarer Baccha. Mere Falbo. Dhoor Baanda! Calcuttaahh!
P.S. - This list of words/phrases is really not definitive and conclusive because it is simply impossible to describe a city as wonderful as Calcutta in a few words. Please feel free to add to this list in the comments section.
2 comments August 6, 2007
Colombo Calling
My trip to Sri Lanka was long overdue. I was supposed to be there last year, but had a long wait before I could finally make it. From the moment I landed in Colombo, I could see the situation the country is in today. Colombo looked heavily fortified with the police force and the army spread all across the city with vigilant eyes. People were being frisked and asked to show identification papers all over the city.
It was a bright & warm day and I enjoyed the long drive from the airport to my hotel. I realized that Colombo is a clean city, which is quite uncrowded. The infrastructure looked in tune with the times. It was really surprising for me since I didn’t expect this from Sri Lanka. Going a little back, I realized that the Colombo airport too was great and I don’t think even a single airport in India can compare with it!
I set about my work to do a few accompanied interviews for an opinion poll. Colombo was under a fiery thunderstorm and downpour during my stay. My team braved the thunderstorms and managed to speak to a few respondents. While these people were being interviewed, I could sense some sort of hopelessness that is creeping into the minds of the people here. I remember from my previous studies that over 80% of the people felt that the Sri Lankan government was committed to peace. People still believe that the government is committed to peace, but they are not very sure what the government can do about it. With the weakening of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and breakdown of talks, people might be feeling that a third-party intervention is the key. Interestingly, Sri Lankans are in favour of the international community, in particular, India, intervening and trying to sort out the dispute.
Another interesting issue was that of migration. Many respondents I spoke to (including my car driver, an auto-rickshaw driver, hotel staff and folks in ACNielsen) expressed a keen interest in migrating to other countries for better opportunities and a better quality of life. They were really concerned about their family’s safety as well. However, the key barriers that they saw in doing this was availability of funds to take such a step and migration risks.
While dwindling tourism revenues had left many people concerned, people were upbeat about the economy clocking close to 7.5% growth. However, the cost of the war has left the economy grappling with inflation levels close to 18%.
My return journey is nothing much to talk about with flight cancellations and re-routings and long waits at the airports. But, on the whole, it was a great experience.
Add comment May 11, 2007
Oh Kolkata!
Recently, I had a chance to visit Kolkata over a weekend. Having spent about 9 years in the city, I do love the city a lot. The roads and streets reminded me about the time I had spent traversing them as a student. The people looked distinctively familiar and the feeling was very warm. There was something that didn’t feel very familiar to the spirit of the city. I saw something that I was longing to see in the city for a long time, but was elusive – Change. Kolkata is evolving fast and it’s catching up really fast with its counterparts in other parts of the country. Here’s a short list of what struck me -
- Gone are the days when eating out was a weekend business. Gone are the days when there were only two cuisines – Punjabi and Chinese. It appears that the people are eating out more often these days. And, there are restaurants of all kinds, Mexican, Italian, Continental, Moroccan, Greek et al.The weekends obviously see packed restaurants and people throng to the discotheques and lounges to shake a leg to the latest bollywood numbers. But, interestingly, I saw most Park Street restaurants packed even on a Monday! I had to wait for about 30 minutes to get into my favourite sizzler joint in the area!
- It’s not only the neo-Bengalis who are going for eat-outs. We have a whole new breed of neo-Marwadis who are flocking to these places. This is encouraging popular restaurants from other cities to set up shop in Kolkata. Read This.
- It looks like money is pouring in the city with consumerism on the rise. For instance, Tommy Hilfiger and Swarovski have higher sales in Kolkata than that in Bangalore.
- IT is happening. There are well-paying jobs and swank offices. The Salt Lake electronic city is abuzz with techies from various parts of the country. I also heard that a large chunk of the IT workforce worked on a “bandh” day, which is simply incredible for a city like Kolkata.
- The upcoming township of Rajarhat looks extremely promising. I could see construction work by developers like DLF and Unitech, among others. Given the cost of living in the city and the relatively lower real estate prices (compared to a monster called Bangalore), IT companies are setting up huge off-shore development centers in the area. To complement that, there are tones of housing projects to take care of the needs of the workforce.
Having stayed in the city for so long and seen almost no positive changes at all, I had almost given up on Kolkata. But, I have been proven wrong. The journey of change is slow, but it is surely underway. The world of opportunities is just opening up and it doesn’t look like a bus that you want to miss.
1 comment November 15, 2006
Bangalore - R.I.P.
After Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, it is Bangalore’s turn now. Sometime next month, the anglicized name ‘Bangalore’ will be replaced by its Kannada cousin “Bengaluru”. Sometimes I wonder what we achieve by changing the names of our cities. What do we really gain out of it? Does it really make a difference apart from satisfying the politicians’ hunger for populism and the urges of people who raise a hue & cry for everything that matters to nobody? Instead of a forward-looking constructive approach, which focuses on building our cities, we confine ourselves to mindless debates of nuisance value. Moreover, a change in names is a drain on public money. Changes would need to made in official stationary, office supplies, banners, websites and in so many other things. Instead, this money could have been used for more productive purposes.
Shakespeare famously remarked, “What’s in a name? That which we call a roseBy any other word would smell as sweet.”
Bangalore, call it what you like, will remain the same. Life in the city will not change unless you do something about it more than changing its mere name. The same traffic woes. The same beautifully created potholes. The same narrow roads. Flyovers that take ages to complete. Digging up of foot-paths. Rash traffic. Auto-wallahs demanding obnoxious fares in the night. No party post 11:30pm. Uncontrolled office-space absorption. Sky-rocketing rents.
Life will go on as it is…
1 comment October 3, 2006
Utility Cooks
Indian mothers are a special group of people. They are dexterous, diligent and shoulder a variety of household responsibilities like managing the finances, getting the linen clean, cleaning the house, packing off kids to school, helping them with the homework and, most importantly, cooking. Household involvement of mothers of people in the age-group of, say 18-35, is very high because most of these mothers do not work or have a job. Not being the wage-earner, their role is limited to the household chores. I like to call this group of mothers as the Great Indian Mothers.
Whenever I meet a Great Indian Mother, I realize a striking similarity - all these mothers can cook very well and cook a wide variety of dishes right from pav-bhaji to dosa, chole-bhature to naan-matar-paneer, savoury sweets to namkeens, golgappas to pizza and so on. The main responsibility of the mother being the household chores and, in particular, khana-peena, the mother tries to do a really good job of it, thus cultivating versatility in them. They don’t want the family to have a routine dose of carbohydrates and proteins, instead they go all-out to ensure that ghar ka khana is good fun. These thoughts and virtues are clearly an outcome of focus and responsibility.
The other day, while having dinner with a friend in a small dhaba (I have been eating outside for about 18 years now - an outcome of staying in hostels, paying guest etc.), I wondered if I stand any chance to enjoy ghar ka khana, once I get “settled down”. Going back to my earlier post, where I talked about how people would get busy in their work lives and have no time for marriage or kids, I felt that my chances were, at best, minimal. As we move towards a socio-economic setup, where more and more women enter the Indian workforce, I see the “versatile cook” heading towards a slow, but sure, extinction. As women start shouldering financial responsibilities and managing their careers, focus on the household would be divided. I do not intend to say that the underlying inclination to get involved in household work, in particular cooking, would decline. Women, by cultural programming, are attuned to take on these responsibilities, but they would be constrained to do so in the future. So the future mothers residing in urban India, who work and shoulder financial responsibilities, will turn into “Utility Cooks“.
They would know to cook only routine fare (chaawal-dal-roti et al) to feed the household. They would not have the time to develop versatility in cooking. Whenever the family feels a need to indulge in variety, they would go to eateries to savour gastronomical delights. There will be a complete division of labour, where the task of cooking delicacies will be largely outsourced to more specialized participants in the economy.
2 comments September 4, 2006
