Goodbye Loop (BPL) Mobile

All good things come to an end, for greater things to happen. And then there are some, who just have to end. Loop Mobile (erstwhile BPL Mobile) is one such example.

If you are not living in Mumbai or never heard of Loop Mobile, I can understand. But if you have been living in Mumbai for a year at least and still never heard of Loop Mobile, then please tell me you don’t have a mobile phone! That is how synonymous Loop Mobile has been with Mumbai. One of the oldest network providers in Mumbai, Loop Mobile once boasted of 3.5 million users in Mumbai. And these are users with a higher ARPU (Average Revenue Per User – a term used by mobile network providers to access the revenue generation capacity of their users).

After losing the opportunity for 2G license extension, Loop Mobile has decided to end their operations. And this will be effective 29th November 2014, after 20 largely lucrative years of service.

Loop Mobile started off as BPL Mobile communications in the year 1994. Mobile phones in those times used to be a luxury and were owned mainly by the elite folks in Mumbai and BPL Mobile provided them network coverage. BPL used their first (private) mover advantage to the fullest by acquiring the elite class in Mumbai who were ready to pay premium rates to connect with their closed ones. When market became competitive with new private players coming in, cost of mobiles started dipping along with the calling rates. More people started buying mobile phones and the new players targeted these folks to increase their market share. BPL Mobile largely retained their loyal customer base. And these loyal customers were retained right till the very end. 

I have had a wonderful relationship with BPL mobile. I got my first phone (Nokia 3310) in 2001 and my first connection was BPL mobile. My dad used BPL mobile then and I found no reason to opt for anything otherwise. And this relationship went right till October 2012. That’s 11 long years of loyalty in a highly competitive market! I witnessed Vodafone and Airtel moving up the market share in Mumbai by compromising on lower ARPUs with many of my friends having these connections. Despite this popularity, I felt BPL Mobile fulfilled everything I expected from a network provider. The call rates were also competitive. BPL Mobile also acknowledged my loyalty by providing me with freebies like free calls and offers that were better than others. 

Few experiences proved with BPL mobile was more reliable. They stood for quality. Now, is that because of genuinely high quality network or “subscribers are inversely proportional to quality” factor, I don’t know. But it sufficed my need for a quality experience. Even during testing times in Mumbai (bomb blasts, floods etc.), BPL mobile was active when others failed. I remember my friends calling their family members informing them of their safety using my mobile because they had lost their connection!

From 2009 onwards, India started changing for the better. 3G happened. Mobile Number Portability (MNP) happened. Most of the providers bought 3G licenses and were ready for a new war. For reasons unknown to me, Loop Mobile (BPL was renamed to Loop in 2009) decided not to opt for 3G. In 2012, I bought Samsung Galaxy S3. To use my smartphone to the fullest, I had to opt for 3G. Ironically for me, my need for 3G overtook my loyalty. And then I switched to Vodafone. But on the loyalty bit, I retained my BPL number and that’s how it will remain for the foreseeable future. 

Thank you for everything BPL / Loop Mobile. Adios amigo.

Sad day for Cricket fans. RIP Phil Hughes

27th November 2014 will forever be remembered as a day to commemorate Phillip Hughes.

This has come as an absolute shock to all the Cricket fans. The incident itself was shocking. But even after that, I felt Phil Hughes will be fine. The recovery may take time, maybe years, but he will be fine. That’s how it normally happens right? Death from a cricketing incident is rare. There have been a total of 5-6 reported incidents of death due to an accident that happened on a Cricket field. And Cricket has been played for more than a century now. But whenever such an accident happens, it comes as an absolute shock. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and closed ones.

Spare a thought for the Bowler, Sean Abbot. He’s as much a victim as the family of Phil Hughes. He will, unfortunately, have to live with the guilt for the rest of his life! I can’t even fathom what he might be going through. It’s a freak accident and it was his delivery that, unintentionally, did the damage. 

Our immediate anger may be diverted towards the Helmet manufacturers. Are they responsible? They claim Phil Hughes was wearing a helmet designed in 2013 and it was upgraded in 2014 with additional protection behind. They also claim if Hughes was wearing the new helmet, the damage could have been controlled. If what they claim is correct, then who allowed Hughes to wear an old helmet? The finger pointing may go on. In such a case, I don’t think anyone is responsible (not directly, at least).

But the buck surely stops with ICC – the “custodians” of the game of Cricket. They are responsible for maintaining the game to its highest standards – be it sanctity, ethics, conduct or safety of players. ICC needs to hold the bull by its horns and take urgent action to improve the safety of their players. Helmets, guards and other protective gears should be of the highest possible quality and should do exactly what it’s supposed to do – protect. These should also be reviewed for safety standards periodically and newer technologies that are proven to be better than what is being used today should be immediately adopted irrespective of the cost involved. This incident should be a wake-up call for the ICC to ensure the fans experience Cricket sans any casualty. 

There are murmurs that bouncers should be banned from the game as its deemed dangerous. That’s downright foolish. It’s like asking Batsmen not to play the straight drive because an umpire stands in the way and the shot may injure him! 

To be fair to the game, despite what happened today, I don’t think Cricket is a dangerous sport. Yes, there are incidents that happen on the pitch that can injure a player, career-ending sometimes. But death is a rarity. Cricket has moved from a generation where batsmen never used to wear helmets while facing fast bowlers (Sunil Gavaskar, for example) to high quality and technologically advanced forms of protective gears. Phil Hughes’ death is a stark reminder that ICC cannot rest on the current levels of safety and should be one step ahead to avoid even the rarest of rare accidents.

Today is truly a sad day in the life of a Cricket fan. Hope not to see such a day ever.

Feed a child. Feed our future..

For the past few months, we Indians wake up to renewed hope. There’s a change in the political landscape that is promising a lot. But that’s how we have always been. We are excellent planners. We understand what is happening at the ground level and make laws and policies in such a way the unlawful and unjust activities are curbed and lawful activities are encouraged. 

Of the many problems, we as a country face, one of the critical ones belong to under-nutrition. According to a recent World Bank report titled “Nutrition in India”, India loses a notional figure of approximately $12 Billion in GDP by not adequately feeding a child till the age of 2 years. Don’t read too much into $12B, it’s a notional figure assuming all other economic factors remaining constant / changing based on previous years’ trend. What’s startling is that this problem is not restricted to people in the lower strata of the society. As per the report, only 7% of children born to the upper strata get adequate nutrition! Now that’s a shocking statistic. Which means the wealthiest lot feed their child a lot of stuff which are not necessarily nutritious.

The problem I have mentioned above is of gigantic proportion which needs continuous focus from the government at the centre and state level and will need a long term plan. It needs meticulous planning which I am sure we will do. It will also involve executing the plan right at the grass-root level including compulsory education to new parents about what foods to give at what age and the frequency etc. What I will touch upon, in this post, is a problem within a problem – feeding school going children thereby feeding our future. Children need to study, they need to be educated for India to enter into an even better future. The child can be from a poor household or from a wealthy family, they all need education. Basic access to meal should hardly be a barrier between their present and a fulfilling future!

Here’s how I feel we need to plan and execute this initiative –

Detailed Explanation - 

• Make one meal compulsory in Schools – irrespective of the school type (Government / semi private / private / ICSE / CBSE etc.). I understand prima facie it appears illogical. But hear me out. As I mentioned that under-nutrition is not the problem of the lower income group, its spread across the classes. Making lunch or a meal compulsory will ensure the next generation will be accessible to nutritious food.
• Government to detail the quality processes that should be followed by shortlisted food vendors. Government can seek help from quality nutritionists to chalk out the adequate level of vitamins, minerals in every meal and how vegetable / food to serve to achieve the nutritional level.
• Schools to have a separate team for meal management. This team will be responsible for shortlisting vendors, having a daily plan for food quality testing before arranging lunch for children. One way to do this is to ensure that one point of contact from the vendor is allowed to eat along with the children. We have had cases where lizards / rodents were found in food that led to food poisoning among children. This is one way it can be prevented to a larger extent. I know it’s weird, but can be effective in the long run.
• Independent auditors to be appointed by state government and will be fully equipped to visit any schools during the meal hours to inspect the quality of food along with how the whole activity is being managed. Any incident should be reported immediately in an online portal and strict action to be taken against the school, who in turn, can penalize / replace the vendor. 
• Monthly check-ups for school children. This can be clubbed along with the Physical Training (PT) sessions. This will cover the basic checks along with comparison of growth over last few months.

Some of these are already happening in our country, but execution needs to happen at a national level where all schools are part of it. Government’s digital initiative can also help track this initiative and provide adequate support as and when needed.

Who will pay for such an initiative? This is where PPP (Public Private Partnership) can play a significant role. For Government schools, it can be a tie-up between government and NGO’s. For private schools, it can be part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and not a penny from parents. I understand that the cost incurred will be significant. Private schools can also take the assistance from NGOs or other social groups. Corporates can also fund / adopt a school in their vicinity as part of their CSR. Government can appraise such corporates / schools by allowing the CSR cost as non-taxable which will encourage more participation. 

This is just my opinion. This plan may be error-prone, but subtle changes can be worked out to reduce those errors. The nuances can then be ironed out at the grass-root level. Gigantic proportion of the problem notwithstanding, I honestly feel it’s not too difficult to fight this problem. All we need is proper leadership and direction at the top and executing this to the “T” right at the school level.

This post is part of my Bloggers Social Responsibility. I will #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.

Why Autobiographies sell like hotcakes

Every career has its own lifespan, the most common being the life of a corporate (white / blue collar) with retirement age from 60-65 onwards. If you are a sportsperson in Cricket / Football / Basketball / Baseball, you are part of the high earning category but your career span as a player is short. You earn lots of money in a limited span and once you retire / are replaced by the younger lot, you are left with fewer options to earn an income you were previously earning. You are left with getting into the administration of your respective sport / coaching / training assignments – a natural extension but with relatively lesser paychecks and lesser scope for revenue from other areas like advertising. 

So what to do? How to make sure you earn something beyond the administration or coaching assignments? 

Enter autobiographies! 

Every player remains in the spotlight for things he’s proud of and for things he would like to forget. As a player, you make a decision to keep mum about certain aspects of your life as it can harm your career graph. And then, you wait till your retirement to say it all in your “autobiography”. Some call it sensationalism. Some call it opportunism – something that was a hindrance in your playing career will now be an opportunity to earn extra bucks. And then there are some who would like to remove that “monkey” from their back and start a new phase with a clean slate. 

Your autobiography will sell like hotcakes if you are part of at least one of the following – 

1. Extremely popular: This is the easiest. If you are treated like the best in the world, your book will sell, no matter what the critics say. The best example of this is “Playing It My Way” by Sachin Tendulkar. If you have read the book or read the reviews, you will realize it’s a book you would like to read if you want to know the small nit-bits of Sachin’s life. No controversy whatsoever. And the book is now breaking all records in the non-fiction category. Typical Sachin – records keep tumbling everywhere!
2. Popular + Controversial: These are players who are popular in their sport yet include controversial elements to sell their book. One example of this would be Andre Agassi. I used to be a huge fan of Agassi during his playing days. He then decided to release his autobiography aptly titled “Open” disclosing that he used a wig and a performance depreciating drug while playing. And the book succeeded in the market-place. Add Roy Keane and Kevin Pieterson in this category.
3. Controversial: If you are popular only among niche audience / only in your space, you can still sell your autobiography. How? Just be controversial in your life. Do stuff what most people in your stream won’t do. Move against the wind – rightly or wrongly. Take Herschelle Gibbs for example. World knows him as a great cricketer who unfortunately was involved in match-fixing. You would expect his book to describe that episode in detail rather than his cricketing life wouldn’t you? Another example would be Greg Chappell’s book – “Fierce Focus: Greg Chappell”
4. Memoir: These are the no controversial types. Sports-stars release their autobiography only for their fans to read and keep the book as a souvenir. Many legends fall in this category like Sunil Gavaskar, Richie Benaud and Michael Holding. Yuvraj Singh’s book, which describes his fight against cancer, will also be part of this. These are usually intended to be motivational. Their books may not sell the way their publishers would like to, but it’s something that will be high up in their marketing portfolio of books published. 

Whichever way we look at it, autobiographies allows us fans to relive the days of our stars in their own words post their retirement. Whether we read it or keep it in our mini-library (assuming we have one) is for us to decide. What’s next after autobiography, you may ask. Books to be converted to movies, of course!

Things to expect from Sachin Tendulkar's autobiography "Playing It My Way"

If you are an Indian Cricket fan, there are reasons for you to be excited about these times. This applies not only to the die-hard followers of world cricket but also to those casual lovers of the game who know a cricketer by the name “Sachin Tendulkar”. After all, God of cricket himself is publishing his own story!

The usual hyping of the book has already started with Greg Chappell as the proverbial “lamb to the slaughter”. Personally, I take it as sweet revenge from Indians who are usually on the receiving end of controversial autobiographies released by international players. Sale of a product is directly related to the hype it gets just before the launch, although I see no reason why you need to hype Sachin Tendulkar’s book.

When Sachin came on to bat, we stopped everything we did and watched in awe. I anticipate the launch of his book will also evoke the same response. This could well be one of the most celebrated autobiographies’ of the 21st century. Here are some of the things we can expect (and cannot expect) from “Playing It My Way” – 

• A largely non-controversial account – Lets understand, its Sachin Tendulkar’s book. His career has been non-controversial most of the times. In all the controversies that he was involved was in, he was usually a by-stander / witness / was a genuine mistake. It’s evident even in the title of his book - “Playing It My Way”. Unless media tries to read beyond the lines, I expect this book to be a happy, sad and motivational account of his cricketing life.
• Sharjah Heroics – If you were born in the 1980’s and were in a position to understand Cricket beyond the usual bat-and-ball game during the Sharjah series, you will know that Sachin Tendulkar surprised all of us by playing not one, but two back to back innings to ensure India win the final of a series when we were not even expected to reach the finals. In the last match before the finals, India needed to score a certain number of runs to even qualify for the finals. As always, we lost early wickets. But we had Sachin in the middle. What followed next was epic. And is still epic. What happened in the finals was more than epic! If Sachin is writing his book, I expect a special mention of the Sharjah matches. 
• Captaincy phase – Even the most successful person will have a phase that he will regret. A phase when he failed – big time. In between all those centuries and all those record-breaking feats, Sachin Tendulkar had a rather forgettable phase when he captained India. I know for sure Sachin will include this in his book, especially after the hype surrounding Greg Chappell. We all know he didn’t succeed as anticipated. What does Sachin think of his captaincy?
• Controversies (Ball tampering / Monkey gate) – Succeeding and surviving in Indian cricket came with its own share of controversies and doubt. Sachin was involved in the unfortunate ball tampering incident. He was a witness in the monkey-gate incident involving Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh. He was part of the team during the match-fixing saga. I don’t think Sachin will delve too much into all this but I hope he does.
• India declaring when Tendulkar was 194 NO – Yes, this actually happened. India is not used to such declarations. We allow our heroes to achieve their personal milestone (sometimes at the cost of winning the match). Rahul Dravid was the captain then. Tendulkar was playing well on 194 when Dravid called the team back and declared the innings. Sachin’s instant reaction which was also captured on camera was utter disbelief. I am not sure why, but something didn’t go as per plan. It’s easy for the spectator to assume that Sachin wanted to score his 200 before declaration. I would like to know what Sachin thought of it then and why was he angry / disappointed.
• Vinod Kambli – Remember him? I do - that stylist left-hander who started his career better than Sachin with two back to back double centuries against England. Back then, I felt (and still feel) that Kambli was a better cricketer than Sachin. Sachin succeeded in the long run primarily because of how he handled success. Sachin remained grounded throughout his career. Kambli went on a different trajectory. Things went from bad to worse in their friendship which none of us are privy to. During Sachin’s farewell speech, he didn’t even mention Kambli’s name. Kambli made his thoughts known by proclaiming Sachin left him when he was needed the most. Anyways, that’s personal. I will be surprised if Sachin mentioned Kambli in his book.

Looking back at Sachin’s illustrious (and long) career, there’s bound to be many questions which didn’t receive any response from the master-blaster. He has carried the hope and prayer of billions of Indians worldwide and is now giving it back to Indian sports in more ways than one. We have followed Sachin's cricketing career throughout and are well versed from a 3rd person account. It will be interesting to relive the same stories from the legend’s own perspective.

Decoding Future

Even wondered what the future looks like? Barely 20 years back, there wasn’t a device we knew that can call people physically far away from us. Now, that device is very much a necessity in our lives – smartphones. Smartphones have perforated through different classes in the society, irrespective of the economic status one has. Televisions have improved from a CRT to a plasma to an LCD to an LED and now what – a true HD? There was a huge gap between a desktop PC and a smartphone few years back, which is now crowded with ultra-thin laptops, palmtops, PDAs, Tablets and even large screen smartphones!

So, what’s next now? Can we have a smartphone that’s smart enough to decipher our mood using some signals that pass from our fingers to the phones when we touch the device and react accordingly? Just for discussions’ sake, imagine you are frustrated and you decide to fiddle with your smartphone, your smartphone senses it and suggests that you need to freshen up or else you can mess up your day by taking fighting with someone you care for or do something professionally that you will live to regret for the rest of your lives. Or imagine you are super-excited, your smartphones picks up your mood and suggest that you use your social media apps to share your happiness with your social world. 

Smartphones have advanced to such a level that it can analyse your health status accurately. I don’t think we are far away from a situation where your smartphone can act like your true friend in more ways than one. The problem comes when we take this “relationship” too far (something that I explored in this post). Recently, I watched two movies that address and explore similar ideas. I watched “Lucy” (review – movie’s OK, nothing great though) and “Transcendence” (review – movie’s OK, better than Lucy, worth watching once). 

“Lucy” explored the situation where we utilize more than the estimated 10% of our brain. There are theories that say we can be closer to the Almighty once we start utilizing more than, say, 80%, of our brain. These are theories though and are given based on certain assumptions / postulation. Movie shows a person can multitask at the rate of knots, control other people the way they want to or even (hold thy breath) travel across time and be a living testimony of the theory of evolution! Yeah they stretched it too far. But then, did they?

I saw “Transcendence” primarily for Johnny Depp and Christopher Nolan (producer). The movie has 2 areas which can either fascinate you or intimidate you NOT to watch the movie. One – uploading the conscience of a person onto a system and two – rapid regeneration of human organs and if I stretch it a little bit more, regeneration of a dead human! The movie smartly shows technology healing humans almost immediately, giving sight to a blind person, resurrection of the dead (ring any bells? clue – Bible). Man almost became God in this movie. Too stretched without rational reasoning, I feel. You start by supporting the research on artificial intelligence and end up going against the same. I, for one, don’t want man to take God’s place. 

But can all this really be a possibility in about 100+ years’ time? Technology is changing from being a boon to a bane. Technology has provided us with an efficient and a cost-effective way to provide electricity to all corners of the world – nuclear technology. But the same has provided us with deadly bombs that can not only kill the current generation but handicap with next generation as well! Make no mistake about it, we are in for exciting times! We will see more innovations that our previous generation but will also bear witness to more destruction.

Future is being decoded in two ways – beneficial and destructive. The side that wins this battle will decide the way forward / backward, whichever way you look at it.