Where I stand.

I wish someday I would be working for myself. Where I would be responsible for my failure and success. The freedom to experiment and analyzing its consequences is a creative thrill. I am fascinated by anyone who has created any new business. The desire to work with entrepreneurs, I contacted three founders dealing with export of mangoes, online gift business and patenting and legal advices but I missed somewhere to impress them to take me as a part of their teams. Setback doesn't bring smile so it does in my case.


I never thought that life after campus would be so critical that I would feel helpless in spite of having a steady job. Where I find it so difficult to decide what I should be doing my rest of life ? I feel like I have lost my interest. I feel envy of my friends who enjoy their works where I do for sake of doing it. I think of which area is best suited for me ? and I have no idea. What I know...it should make me feel proud of whatever I do. I don't need to feel envy of other's profession. I want to feel that I am doing koolest job. This is the first challenge I have to overcome to move further.

Is the network marketing ethical ?

I had heard that network/referral marketing had immensely improved the financial status of thousands of people associated with it. This concept grabbed my attention when I was in the final year of my engineering. It was rage among students who wanted to make millions overnight. How does this network marketing work ? How does it promise to pay you lots of money up to Rs. 6 lacs per week ? Is it kool to be in this business ? Out of curiosity I surfed some known websites of network marketing to read the whole story. These websites mention that the idea of network marketing was developed to sell consumable products directly to customers through a chain of thousands of people associate with it to save the money spent on useless/avoidable advertisements. The part of money saved on advertisements is shared among the associated members depending upon the number of members working below him and distribution ratio of members. These websites claim that after the huge success of selling of products through network marketing in USA, Canada, Singapore and some European countries, they decided to replicate same success in India.

I was impressed of such companies until I became aware of their hypocrisies and how they are misleading young guys when I closely noticed the guys working for two network marketing firms Ebiz and Qwest. These two firms have same rules for their members. The only difference is the amount of membership fees. Ebiz charges Rs 7000 where as Qwest charges Rs 30,000. I take the example of Qwest to explain the reality. One let say A who joins Qwest pays Rs 30,000 as one time membership fees. A can add only two new members let say B and C. B and C are termed as two nodes for A. Similarly B can add only two new members as well as C can. Thus the chain of members expands in this fashion. A will get the amount of Rs 11,500 if he successfully adds 3 and 3 members at his two nodes or in other words, node B and C each adds two new members.

what does Qwest sell through these members ? Gold coins of worth Rs 10,000. Who are the potential customers, the company is targeting to sell product to save the advertisement cost? The members are customers themselves. Have you ever watched an advertisement on T.V. for gold coins ? Obviously no.

Basically a person joins Qwest with the hope that with every addition of 6 members under him, he would be getting Rs. 11,500. If he manages to add 50 to 60 persons then he would be quite safe for the regular flow of integral multiple of Rs. 11,500. This is the only driving force (greed for easy money) that each member at any node keeps persuading a new person to join this firm to become so-called financially independent person. What is the success rate of a person having 50-60 members under him ? If a person doesn't get this figure within months, he is looser here. Simple mathematics. The chain for A is considered active to get Rs 11,500 when the ratio of total members at side X and side Y is in the range of 0.5 to 2.0 . So chances of A being inactive in spite of adding lots of members who pay Rs. 30,000 to Qwest ???

What is actually Qwest doing here ? Qwest takes the membership fees from each member and redistributes only a small portion of their money to those senior members who got multiple of 6 members under themselves. So in above diagram, A gets Rs. 11,500 when B, C, D, E, F, G joins under him. Qwest gets Rs. 2,10,000 as membership fees (A to G ). Qwest gives gold coins of worth Rs. 10,000 to each. So here, Qwest distributes amount Rs. 11,500+ Rs. 70,000 = Rs. 81,500. Qwest makes profit here without creating any value = Rs. 2,10,000 - Rs. 81,500 = Rs. 1,28,500. I have taken an ideal case to explain but in actual scenario Qwest makes profit in range of Rs. 1,00,000 for every addition of 7 members. Who is smarter, Qwest or members ?

when you visit their sites, you will surprised to see these companies are ISO certified and have won many awards. I don't know...does ISO validate the business model on ethics ground ? Qwest site features a group photograph of our finance minister P. Chidambaram with the CEO. I find it ridiculous. There are lots of such firms in India which are having their operation under the guise of social marketing. The government seriously needs to look into this fact.

A real talent hunt show or A fake stage show ?

Today reality shows have gripped entire TV channels. Every channel is hosting one or other kind of reality shows. Be it Indian Idol or SaReGaMaPa Pratham Vishwyudh or Voice of India or Jhalak Dikhala Ja or Little Champ and many more in pipe lines. Every channel is in competition to find next generation sensational singers like Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan, Shaan or sizzling dance couple. The concept of finding raw talent and at the same time making it viable business idea is great innovation. Old proverb: Necessity is the mother of Innovation. As viewers were bored of K-factor, SAAS-BAHU saga and same family-quarrels, the reality show generated immense interest among public. It gave fresh dose of gossips over dinner table. It increased the viewership and popularity of TV channels among the people. The TRP of show is sky high. Channel happy! . Participants happy!. Audience happy!. Everything seems to be going fine ? Does it look so nice and going well with the time ?

If we look and observe each reality show, format of each show is same.
1. Each participant is mugging a song and imitating the original singers. Some get applause like you have sung better than what original singers did with this song. Bravo!!! God bless you! (excessively used phrase by judges)
2. Junta decide the fate of participants through SMS voting. (Democracy rules!!!)
3. Film stars/Debutant actors are paying guest appearance to judge the quality of singing of participants. Our stars are multi-talented or marketing guru of channel using them to ruthlessly increase TRP ?
4. Judges quarrelling over points to back their favourite participants and sometimes they appeal for vote to junta so that real talents don't get eliminated. WOW!!! Guru-Shishy ka pyar :)
5. Participants who don't make into next round, receive tearful farewell. Judge goes on announcing that he would leave the SHOW if his/her favourite participant gets eliminated. Athough you will see the same judge cheering and clapping for other participant in next show as nothing he had promised to junta in previous show ;)
6. Entire film cast promoting film on the show. During one such promotion at popular reality show, one of the judges Himesh Rashamiya claimed-whoever promoted the film on this show became blockbuster. Good! I would request Ram Gopal Verma to promote his films on this show to get at least one HIT.

It's no doubt that these reality shows have large number of viewers. But with addition of bollywood-glamour and SMS voting, these shows have turned into mere money machines for channels. Recently top finalists of Voice of India had visited Lata Mangeshar on her birthday.
She said-' It's very easy to mug a song and copy original singer. If you try your own song then you will realise where you stand. If public voting decide "who is better singer" then what these highly paid judges do in shows ? ' She certainly meant that to find great singer the basic format of the competition has to be changed. One SMS vote costs RS 6. In the final round of the show, channel claims to get TEN crores vote . It means the one final show generates revenue of Rs. 60 crores only through SMS voting. Forget about the advertisements and ticket sales. The channels defend the SMS voting, saying any participant getting maximum votes among the public should get the chance. As he/she is more popular than their competitors so public will buy and listen his/her songs. I do agree. Then why don't they make the SMS voting toll free so that more public will vote to find great singer ? Why don't they make such restriction like one vote per mobile number or landlines number ? So that multiple voting by a single person can be controlled. Sometimes these SMS voting is state sponsored. Current example is the fierce voting rivalry between Prashant Tamang and Amit Paul in Indian Idol3 show. Their respective governments opened all their state telephone services free of cost for voting their candidates. Just imagine the way the budding singing talent is recognised. These shows have produced one dozen of finalists since last 3 years but only one finalist Abhijeet Sawant has came up with one album release. He has gained moderate success but rest are seen no where. Even judges of the shows are not so convinced to give break to their own Shishy. These idols have to go long way to prove themselves.

With epidemic rise in star/super stars visits on the show, the attention on the performance of the participants has shifted to the stars. Our bollywood stars start to act on the script to praise all participants with equal intensity. In one such show, Rani Mukherjee had requested that there should not be any elimination of participants because it was first day of her released movie- Laga Chunari me Daag. She didn't want any sorrow and requested to all to watch her movie. She is so kind hearted. Do we need our bollywood stars to make these reality shows more exciting ? American Idol show doesn't need any big hollywood stars to promote itself. Then why do the copies of American Idol show need bunch of stars at the cost of the spirit of show ? Don't kill the spirit of the game. Permanent judges are more qualified and better than guest judges.

Last important thing about these shows is tear factor. Indian TV viewers are very emotional. More you shed crocodile tears, more you will get public sympathy in terms of SMS votes. And TRP of show also goes high. One such interesting incident happened during the elimination round of Bathroom Singer show. One good looking gal was eliminated due to less voting. All participants were shedding tears and crying. They were hugging her like they didn't want her to go from the show. Judges of the show were almost tearful. They were shocked to death. Few moments passed. Bappi da came on stage. When he started with his hit Disco item. Then all were dancing on disco tunes. WOW!!! What is the need to stage fake drama ?

Lage Raho Himesh Bhai!

Historically the rise of new social thinkers, philosophers and inventors had generated controversy. They challenged the traditional thinking of society and dared to put their rational logic. As they were willed to create a more enlightened world so dark forces of society resisted it for their survival doubting the integrity of their creative works.

But this time, this history of controversy has repeated in bollywood. Controversy surrounded when Himesh Reshammiya became popular for his vocals which have the distinctive high-pitched nasal twang. But Music pundits declared Himesh as a junk singer. They branded his style of singing as irrational nasal one and predicted he won't survive beyond few years in bollywood where people worship their vocal cords. This controversy started when he won a Filmfare Award in 2005 for Best Male Playback Singer in his debut as a singer(for the title song of Aashiq Banaya Aapne). This song was a smash hit.

Do you feel the traditionally established group of playback singers would welcome a person who phenomenonly attained the status of star-singer apart from being a music composer? Does Himesh's style of singing produce flop songs ? Do junta seek any advice and suggestion where they themselves are mature enough to decide the fate of each artist's work?

Verdict is out: Himesh has produced largest number of HITS in recent year. His hit songs include Aashique Banaya Aapne, Jhalak Dikhlaja, Tera Suroor, Tera Mera Milna and many more. In bollywood where all singers sounding similar, Himesh maintained his distinct and original style of singing and exhibited determination and confidence under huge pressure of negative publicity. As an end user of the works of artists, Do we really want Himesh to stop singing in his original style and be another Sonu Nigam or Udit Narayan to please their critics? As a creative artist Himesh has only right to justify himself. A famous dialouge by Howard Roark, a brilliant young architect (The chief protagonist of novel The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand): He would choose to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise his artistic and personal vision by pandering to the prevailing taste in building design.

His tremendous success as singer in music album Aap Ka Suroor was only factor for his acting debut in Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story. He is busy shooting for his next film-remake of KARZ. Don't you think, mimicking his style of handling the microphone and joking at trademark cap generated millions for TV channels and at the same time these shows keep Himesh in news all the time which is indirectly building his brand name? Time has come for critics to introspect their deep seated fears and take care of their works. Let Himesh to enjoy his good time. All the best for your new movie!

Does it make some sense ?

1. When you google on some topic on Google, it displays a list of a million websites and related links. Does any body go beyond few pages to find relevant information before he tries another keyword for next search ? Does anybody bother about the quality of information on the 1,00,000th page ? Does it provide any link to navigate to any nth page of search result ? Does it worth to provide plethora of information where few precise links and information are enough ?
Does it provide useful information which is not found simply on any website? Everyone finds 99.99% of these 1 million search results as crap and useless. That's the primary reason that local flavored search engines like www.guruji.com, www.asklaila.com, www.justdial.com are hot start-ups in India. They cater to the specific needs of local people with precise information. As for, they provide city specific search and specific details of places people looking for like Chinese restaurant at sector 1, Kolkata. It would be quite interesting to watch how these local search engines take the giant by its horns.


2. Last year Yahoo! offered $1.4 billions to buy Facebook, a social networking site like Orkut. But founder of Facebook rejected this offer. The price tag was kool $2 billion. Google acquired a Chinese video sharing site YouTube for $1.2 billion. Does Facebook deserve such obscene amount of money ? Why didn't Yahoo! create a similar social networking site at the cost of few millions bucks as it has world class of programmers and designers and brand value to attract new users? Ok! later on Yahoo! got some sense not to go for next bid.
It's not doubt that these SNS (Social Networking Sites) and video sharing site are huge hit and are cyber hangouts for millions of users. Market valuation of these sites are huge primarily for millions of users and high site traffic. Do these two factors justify price in the range of billion of dollars ? Justification may be like...revenue through Ads or sharing the critical data with research firms of music industries to analyze trend in music and video preference among users.

I doubt the feasibility of the concept of revenue through Ads. I have put below the screen-shot of the analysis of its users by Orkut on various parameters. This pattern is similar for all SNS.


Maximum users are in the range of 18 to 25 yrs old. They log in to connect to friends, for chatting and some fun and they hardly bother to get some genuine information on any product.
have you ever looked for some product information on Orkut ? Most of the communities or discussion forums are related to their hobbies, film stars, films, school or college. For sake of visibility they can put Ads in such community forums but how many users are active members of community who can even view those Ads ? Once Google tried to put Ads on Orkut related to community topics but later on removed all Ads from it. One major concern is tremendous increase in fake profiles and porn stuffs. Just think...if site has 50% porn content and fake profiles then what kind of Ads it will put on such communities and profiles ? It will also dilute the brand value of site. YouTube contains 60% porn videos. In spite of the fact, acquisition of YouTube by Google highlights the mindless and ruthless competition to acquire the internet space to maintain superiority although it generates no revenue in near future. I wish...may be in near future they can figure out how to generate money from such sites.