Social Proofing??

(I started writing this post a while ago, i had thought would finish it in one go, as it is very apparent i did not, so there are quite a few chronological errors. My request: bear with them :P)

Its been a while, since i posted here. Life has been peculiarly busy. College, on the academic front, has been totally chilled out though. Hardly any classes, and loads of events happening round the clock,I have had my share of fun this term.(5th term at MDI)

The idea for this post came last night, at the customary drinking spree we(The Gunda Group) indulge in, to celebrate each and every feat. Making almost a clean sweep at the Mahindra War Room called for something more than a simple drinking session at the hostel roof top. But the celebrations will have to wait till the moolah arrives.

After a couple of pegs, everyone feels like the most knowledgeable person on any given topic, and is ready to put his/her debating skills to test at the drop of a handkerchief. The topic of debate turned out to be Prof. Sanjay Bakshi. Given the limited readership of my blog, i would skip the great man's introduction and cut straight into the details.

The question was, is the Great Man more hype than substance?
Everybody chipped in, someone said Value Investing is just a school of thought and he should be treated at par with other subjects. What he is teaching aint no silver bullet to making money. Everybody lamented the fact that his classes are a monologue and they would have been more engaging and thought provoking had he been a little interactive. Everybody said that the way senior batch projected him as, next to the Almighty, is totally untrue. One of the possible reasons people gave for people idolising him and arguing for him(rather against, which was the tone of the discussion) was Social Proofing. Is it true? Why then nobody in the group could say that he is no good at all. Why did everyone started or finished an argument with I know he is very good and very knowledgeable? Discussion then turned to whether he is just not a good teacher, and that led the group to nowhere.

If there is one thing for everyone to see, its the fact that the guy is successful, and a big deal at that. He has made loads of money putting into action what he teaches, and thus nobody can question the amount of hard work and experience that has gone into every theory he has learnt and every gimmick he has orchestrated, which he now teaches his students fervently.

There is another interesting thing i noticed in the discussion which diverted my attention to another aspect of this guy and led me to ask myself, 'Is this guy selling hope (just like Obama did so successfully last year)??'. His can be a classic rags-to-riches story. From selling burgers at a burger joint in England to support himself and his wife(his wife too had the same job) during his stint at the London School of Economics, to now driving the swankiest of cars and enjoying the most exotic of holidays. He openly professes that he came across Buffet and his school of thought through chance, romanticism involved in writing to Buffet and getting his set of letters mailed back, learning everything along the way, his theories always refute the idea of people being geniuses(common sense and mental models is all he says are needed) and him always ridiculing the conventional way of education and thus conventional thinking makes people believe that there is hope no matter what. There is hope that you can earn money by the tonnes even if you have been the bottom most performer in every class you have been to all your life, you can still beat the market and others at this game and there might be a better chance of you doing so, if you do not know what the CAPM stands for. That does fill you up with hope, why shouldn't it?
But that is where the catch was, the above things applied when the discussion took place. When his classes dealt with only mental models and people making and losing money through common sense and actual value investing had not entered the picture. Things changed after that, attendance in his lectures dropped sharply. Most people who attended found it difficult to stay awake and those who did stay awake found it difficult to comprehend what was being taught. The 'hope' argument had taken a back seat.

I wonder still, has he been made larger than life? Is it all hype?

The Gift

My last few days in Chennai (just like the earlier ones) were filled with an eager enthusiasm to get back home. I just couldn't wait to be back in Delhi, amongst people i know, i care for, and who care for me. (But most importantly, whose language I understand. Monosyllabic conversations don’t suit my system)

On one hand, time had almost come to a stand still with every day, every hour, every moment taking forever to pass and on the other, there was a race against time.

My stipend cheque had still not arrived in Chennai from Mumbai. It was due to come two days before i had to leave, but then i got to know they had forgotten to courier it and it would reach only a day before.

On the expected day, I must have checked with the Franchise Support Officer for LifeScan-Chennai and the guards atleast a dozen times for any courier, but none arrived. They said, it must arrive by the morning mail the following day. The day I had to leave. Another day of feigning work. :D Sigh!

I had an evening flight back to Delhi, so i was there the next day, and waited for the courier which did not come.

Chennai did it again!

X-(

Actually, it wasn't just the stipend cheque I was waiting for, the mail from the HO had also promised a 'Gift Box'. 'What could it be?' was what i wondered. I wrote down my Delhi address so that they could send the cheque and the mysterious gift box to me, bade adieu to Chennai…for good.

An e-mail the following day told me that my cheque and my gift had been sent to the Delhi Office and i must collect the same. On my birthday(9th Jun), I decided to collect the cheque and the 'gift' thinking it would be an appropriate day to do so. A metro and an overcharged rickshaw ride later, I reached the JnJ Office and called up the guy who had my stuff.

He asked me to wait at the reception as he came down with the things.

This shall be worth the trouble, worth the wait, worth dragging myself for, on my birthday, on a June afternoon.

It shall be all that I’d hoped for,everything I’d always wanted.(at least something close)

He arrived.

The cheque looked awesome and the gift, well a handy enough cardboard box always looks enticing. On my way back to the metro station, I tore open the three layers of packing paper it was wrapped in. With each layer, I was thinking of different treasures that may lay inside it. I was hoping that there will be something electronic in it. Anything, but something nice. I just pulled at the duct tape which concealed the box now, as hard as i could. I could barely wait to see what gift had JnJ sent me.

I held my breath, and opened it.

Inside, lay things that would have made me jump with glee. Had I been a 2 month old.

Baby powder, baby oil, baby soap, baby shampoo, baby talk. (well..okay..I made the last one up!)

X-(

But nothing, not even ONE of those things said “Happy Birthday”.

Instead, they laughed at my face, poked fun and seemed to be say “Grow up..kiddo!!”

I took the ride back home…to the people i know, i care for, and who care for me….

I had the best birthday ever :-)

Random incidents-2

Best people I have found in Chennai are the Muslims. They speak Hindustani (a mixture of hindi and urdu),are very polite, full of 'tehzeeb', and always ready to help. Have met quite a few of them on my bus trips from Adyar to places i find difficult to spell and also met a few during the times i got the questionnaire filled with the chemist. 

I met this particular old man at a chemist. He was just sitting there, observing things. It didnt look as if he held any stake in the shop, but he sure must have been some friend of chemist for he was sitting without a worry in the world. He observed me, all exhausted due to extreme heat and chemist's extreme lack of knowledge of any of the two languages i know. He waited for me to finish off the thing and then gestured me to come.

"Aap kaun si basti se hain?", He asked.

Basti??...Ok, must be his translation of city.

I answered Delhi to his satisfaction. Then he asked as to why am i doing what i am doing - the questionnaire thing. He advised me about taking liquids constantly, so that one can brave the heat of chennai and other stuff.

I agreed with him on most of the generic advices he gave about surviving the weather of Chennai. Then, i took his leave.

He said, "Maashallah, itni chhoti si umr mein itna tez dimaag mila hai, bahut tarakki karoge...bahut tarakki karoge."

Seriously, this was the first sign of any wamth i saw in Chennai. Nah, believe me, first signs of warmth.

Random incidents

Interaction with the Sales Rep, Selva on one of my field visits:

Selva: so, u r from m-ee-r-u-th?

Me: yeah, its 70 kms from Delhi.

Selva: so, what is m-ee-r-u-th famous for?

(Mangal Pandey just vanished from my memories, as I was quickly thinking for things one can associate with meerut.)

Me: eh....umm.....its quite famous for its 'gundas'...(Omkara-the movie, was the only thing that came to my mind then....)

Selva: he he...gundas right....he he....no, like Chennai famous for idli-dosa, like that....

Me: hmmm...(Meerut and food...now think..), meerut is famous for revari-gazzak....

Selva: gazzaaak???

Me: Oh..its made of 'gud'...

Selva: 'gud'???

Me: ummm...jaggery...

Selva: Oh, jaggery...

Me: yeah, gazzak is jaggery balls with sesame seeds on 'em....

Selva: Yeah, yeah...i kno...i kno....

Me: (Jaggery balls with sesame seeds, that even i didn't know....) :)

Chennai will make a 'Restaurant Menu Designer' out of me....if such a vocation exists!!

No cribbing about crabs!

This is not how i had planned the next few posts on this blog, but i really am dying to share something with the world, so the planned posts can take a back seat, for the time being.

This is how it goes. I went out to scourage for some dinner tonight and spotted a roadside restaurant aptly called - The Visitor's Restaurant. I went in and had a look at the menu.

I ordered, "Anna(Shilpa Shetty's Big Brother), unnei(one) egg noodles and unnei crab fry(I am picking up some tamil BTW!)".

Yeah, I ordered crab and crab is what i got served. Not one, not two, but five of them. All small and thick shelled and in their entirety. I reluctantly picked one up and dropped it in my plate. With a lot of probing, i realised that, as people at JnJ say, i have to break the barriers. I broke open the shell alright, but there was hardly anything inside. Slowly i picked and dropped and broke open all of them, but i hardly got anything to eat. And yeah, i forgot to mention about the noodles i had ordered. People would be glad to know, that i am a total convert now. Yes, i am a total southee now. I ate those noodles with my hands. :P

I simply did not feel comfortable around a fork. Its so much easier to eat with your hands.

Ok, ok....laugh on.

Che-nahi (Part 1)

You sat at the Mumbai airport at 5 in the morning, wondering what the next 6 weeks are going to be like? You had had a tough day going to Ghatkopar and Lokhandwala the last day. You did not have much clue as to what you had learnt going to these places and how would that help you in your project. But all that was last on your mind. Right now, you felt a bit sleepy, a bit tense and slightly excited. Travelling has never been your forte. Confidence has been. Although you had been a bit low on confidence and had been really lonely for the last couple of days, you had harboured a secret feeling that change of place might enthuse you for the time being.

You heard the announcement for boarding the plane and you made your move. Flying Kingfisher was any day better than flying GoAir and you had a nice flight to Chennai. You landed in Chennai and tentatively looked around for the guy your boss had promised he would send to pick you up. 

You spotted him with a placard in his hand, ADAMYA - JJMI written on it. You pointed towards him to get his attention, he nodded and put the placard away, you now wonder where?. You were still inside the airport when this had happened, and this all had taken place across a glass wall. You plodded along dragging your luggage and tried locating the driver again. There were hoards of other drivers there, and they all looked similar - dark and moustached. This guy waved at you and you made your way towards him. He asked you to wait as he brought the car.

Now you were on your way to somewhere, you say that because now you had doubts whether you were with the correct person. So to check, you started a conversation. You said, "We are going to Lotus Hotel in T. Nagar, right?". He replied, " No, Office". Your doubts had just balooned big enough to take up entire of your thinking space. 

"No, we have to go to hotel first", you said. He took out a paper, kind of a receipt and you saw your name written on it. Now you were cool, he could as well take you anywhere, you knew you were in the right car. He struggled with his english and said, "Hotel first, then office". You said, "Yes". Just to keep the conversation going, "Office is on Anna Salai?", you asked. "Aama", he said.

"Oh, Aama Salai?", you corrected yourself.

"No, anna.", he said shaking his head vigorously.

"Ok, Anna Salai".

"Aama."

This could have gone on, but you decided to stay quiet. Later in the day you realised 'aama' is 'yes' in tamil.

You always knew, Chennai would be fun.