What you understand by social entrepreneurship?

Vivek Kumar — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:49:43 +0100

When it comes to visiting Rajasthan, you are reminded of historic forts and fortresses, cities painted pink and blue, towns from where people buy marble, famous fairs of Pushkar and of course legends related to Prithvi Raj Chauhan. The curious ad of Fevicol where you saw more than 50 people huddled on a tempo dangerously crawling along, the saffron color and the style of turbans of occupants remind you of Rajasthan. But for me, it was something else last month.

It was in 2000 when I got my first email ID. Of course, I was very happy about it and went gaga about it telling my family members that I communicate online now.

It was on something called “chequemail.com”, which was supposed to send money as you get more and more emails.(!) A sort of attractive bait for newcomers, indeed! Soon, we shifted to hotmail.com where we got permanent addresses that are still there. Then of course Yahoo! follRead More...

What is the value of a "piece of cloth"?

Vivek Kumar — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:41:42 +0100

Recently concluded Tata Jagriti Yatra, a journey through various cities of India to promote awareness about entrepreneurship, took me through a very revealing story, though I joined it for a very short period of length—from Delhi to Tilonia, near Ajmer. The story was about the importance of a “piece of cloth”. As you read about it, you will come to know why I decided to write about it.

As I was coordinating with the meRead More...

What's in you and your idea?

Vivek Kumar — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:08:12 +0100

You have heard about the "dew factor" in Cricket, which plays a pivotal role in a team's performance whenever there is a day-and-night match. Let's discuss something that sounds similar but has different implications.

Here are some irrelevant but true facts that you would like:

1. Pt. Ravi Shankar (teacher) and Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (disciple) make the only duo in Indian classical music history to win Grammy Awards as Guru-Shishya. It remains history.

2. Subrahmanyan Read More...

ATMs and Hundi--a comparison

Vivek Kumar — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:27:22 +0100

Banks are always coming up with new ideas and offers that could engage their customers—one of the areas where banks like to focus is to ease the processing of transactions. However, lots of technology and back-end support is needed to ensure that the money itself remains safe from frauds.

ATM cards have been one of the most successful offers that banks have made in the recent past. Credit cards are also there but lots of users feel skeptic about their security. Let’s Read More...

What's special about 'Z'

Vivek Kumar — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:20:51 +0100

Have you seen the recent contribution of letter “z” in the names of cars. Pick up Maruti-Suzuki—they got ritZ. Pick up Hyundai—they got getZ. Pick up Chevrolet—they got cruZe. Who can omit or dare to forget mercedes-benZ?

Indian car manufacturers are coming up with lots of stylish names for cars. It seems that apart from it being conceptual (Frontier by Toyota, Icon by Ford, Accent by Hyundai, Indica by Tata), there is another factor that needs to be iRead More...

What's in the name? --perhaps something!

Vivek Kumar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:01:28 +0100

I assume you know the significance of this line. If you don't, here is something for you:

Juliet:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

These lines are taken from the famous play written by Sir William Shakespeare, in the conversation between Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, where Juliet asks Romeo not to give importance to what name he is known by.

Multilingual Sales-force in Retail

Vivek Kumar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:14:16 +0100

I was visiting Wagah Border, Amritsar, Punjab with one of my friends. We were walking towards the actual site of retreat where they perform the flag ceremony. On the pathway before the offical boundary starts, there were food outlets and small tea-shops. Lots of vendors were selling VCDs of that retreat so that people can enjoy them later and perhaps show others as what actually happens on the site.

In that lane of small shops, lots of people were enjoying tea and eatable items. BeRead More...

85 Things to watch out while dealing with a western client

Vivek Kumar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:12:55 +0100

Dealing with clients is one of the most important skills that an entrepreneur should develop as he moves ahead in the venture. Right from catering to the needs of regional clients who have different preferences contributed by many factors including geography, climate, cultural background, there are trends that go separately for online users. Furthermore, when it comes to dealing with foreign clients, there are many things that you will like to learn even in general conversation, your demeanorRead More...

Why not Petrol Pumps?

Vivek Kumar — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:47:21 +0100

Few years back, what you found out at a petrol pump apart from what you were there for (fuel)? A “pollution certification center” or a “air filling system” that helped the vehicle owners. More often than not, the petrol pumps own a good area that is suitable to manage the inflow of vehicles—I hope you have been battered by waiting in a queue to get your tank filled, at least once in your life (of course, given that you own a vehicle and happen to live in a big ciRead More...

Which Mobile Would You Buy?

Vivek Kumar — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:36:05 +0100

A couple of months back, I was returning back to Gurgaon from Delhi after talking to the owner of a musical shop. I was working on a story related to western musical instruments and our photographer was also with me. Suddenly, the driver of our cab suspected a puncture in the frontal left tire. He stopped the vehicle and it was pitch dark on that road. It indeed was a puncture and we had to change the tire.

Now, there was no light available apart from the occasional headlights of vehicRead More...

Post-sale support--is it important?

Vivek Kumar — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:25:52 +0100

So you are a geek, huh? (If you happen to know the literal meaning of this word, “geek”, then I must mention that the usage here is limited to computers only!) So being a geek, you bought a desktop, laptop, a palmtop or very recently a netbook. Not necessarily, but let's assume that you bought any of them. Now, the options of buying these electronic items vary: there are vendors who sell assembled desktops though you don't hear assembled laptops being sold in the market. Apart froRead More...

5 Reasons why you can't become Sachin Tendulkar

Vivek Kumar — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:37:48 +0100

Because already there are 7 people who share Tendulkar’s looks.
Because like Roger Federer, you picked a sport in which winning or losing was in your own hands and the whole team does not count or exist.
Because you like to move with technology and do not like to wear strips with metallic hooks on your pads but prefer Velcro straps.
Because you were not rejected by Dennis Lillee in the MRF Academy as unfit for fast bowling and you dreamt of becoming Curtly Ambrose.
Because many tried and Read More...

Retail Strategies of a Mall

Vivek Kumar — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:17:16 +0100

As the winter starts, shopping for warm and woolen clothes begins. For a couple of days, the weather has been really damp here and the sun is not shining really brightly. Today being Saturday, I had some time to get up late and do some shopping. So, at around 12 of clock in the noon, I went to Gurgaon Central—a mall that houses almost all the major apparel brands. So, it is a sort of apparel central also.

I did buy my clothes and came back, but I had two experRead More...

Size India--anthropometric project on Indian driving population

Vivek Kumar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:27:31 +0100

A few days back, I went to attend a night concert presented by Dr. Sapna Kachroo. It was to be held in Epicentre, Gurgaon and the style of singing was Hindustani Classical. While entering the gate of the auditorium, I was intrigued by something related to mechanical engineering. Coming from this background, I stopped and asked the persons attending the set-up.

The set-up was a scanning cabin put up by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune. They had set-up a cabiRead More...

Sell on Twitter

Vivek Kumar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:58:43 +0100

Twitter is making headlines in almost all types of conversations: people are talking how it can be used as a business tool; how it can help to be updated about everything that happens around the world; how its integration with mobile phones can ease the connectivity issue? Putting the gist of this long sentence in one line would be: “Twitter is damn popular!”

The applications and usages of Twitter could be weird and fluke at the same time. Some applications offered quicRead More...

Print Direct Mailer for Advertisement

Vivek Kumar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:09:43 +0100

Advertizing through direct mailer is a prevalent method. It can be done in print medium, electronic and for mobile phones. All of these modes have potential but cost involved varies quite a lot. Based on the budget that companies could set apart for this activity, the option is picked and implemented.

In this post, however, I will concentrate on printed version of direct mailer.

Direct printed mailers are quite popular in foreign countries. However, Indian customerRead More...

Cultural and thematic eateries

Vivek Kumar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:17:57 +0100

Eateries, restaurant, food-shops, dhabas, eating houses/corners are often abuzz with people having varied food tastes and objectives. However, one common urge drives their presence in this spot—desire to eat food. More often than not, the type of food these people pick from the menu is irregular as compared to the dishes that they make in their houses. Though, at the same time, students, working professionals and local residents buy food from these points on regular basis: items consistRead More...

Micro-level opportunity around Sanskrit?

Vivek Kumar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:48:24 +0100

The apathy towards Sanskrit language (Samskrit, if taken originally) often limits the potential that it got from linguistic point of view and also from all related angels of a language. The current scenario of Sanskrit in India is quite discouraging. There is one major factor behind the neglect of this language: its application in modern world and its usage as a mean of communication. Most of the times, Sanskrit is associated with spirituality or meta-physical matters. Quite often, Sanskrit iRead More...

Color Changing Tiles for your Roofs

Vivek Kumar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:29:06 +0100

Cemented, or concrete roofs for that matter, are hard to walk over if you are not wearing footwear and time of the year happens to be of summers. Right from the time we start reading about colors, we are told that dark colors absorb more heat and lighter colors are better to wear during summers. Buildings often require heating or cooling equipments as the weather changes. In fact, in countries like US, Canada, and many of the European countries, heating bill of buildings is one of the major eRead More...

Blog entries from Vivek Kumar