Me and Ashu love Subway sandwiches. Be it Japan or India, we have been a frequent visitor to the nearest Subway outlet. However, one outlet has never failed to disappoint us- the one on Bannerghatta Road. 3 years back we visited the outlet around the time it had just opened. We were treated to a fresh worm in the salad! Freaked & furious, we never made it again. We visited the same outlet a few weeks back. Guess some things do not change with time. Besides the confused & under-staffed place, this time it was bitter cucumber & stale veggies!

November 21st last year, Aashira - a new friend was born. Like all good times, one never knows as time flies. She is now one year. She walks (never crawled. everybody else was more concerned than us! Showered us with tips but none worked), She repeats our actions, She patiently responds to our “say tata to aunty”, “say hello to uncle” requests, She is amusing, She is demanding (its hard to keep the library book away from her & even harder to keep her in one place especially when in car), She is (hyper) active, She thinks sleeping is waste of time (like dad) !!!

Oh ya, she helps me & exercises her mom too…

Tata’s electronics retail store, Croma is nice place to spend time in Eva Mall, Brigade Road. A few months back, we purchased a electric kettle to help boil/heat water for Aashira, without the hassles of a vessel-on-gas-stove-&-keep-watch. It was Croma’s own brand, I forgot the name. These in-house brands may not have the appeal of Sony or Phillips but they are a good deal with a decent guarantee (the retailer will not want to screw his name with a bad product). Being in-house, Croma was “aggressively” pushing them with a price display that shouted Rs 999 in font 72.

Picked-Billed-Paid-Returned home. Those days we had just learnt to be out with Aashira but not for too long. So, returned home asap. That night I checked - The kettle was fine but the bill wasn’t! It was billed Rs 1199! How can bloody organised retail backed with technology, process, Tata charge me Rs 200 more??? I swore to confront them & kept the bill safe.

I managed to get back to the same branch of Croma and gave the flashback to the guy at the billing counter. He promptly turned his monitor and showed me his pricing software. It clearly said that the day I purchased the price was indeed Rs 1299. It was 999 a few days before my purchase date. Nevertheless, the fact remained that the price display read 999 but what did I have to prove. Security camera records! I wasn’t so tough as it turned out later. I simply had to check the price display again! It read 1299 (in font 72)  while the billing system read 999! Their stood the proof! The guys simply messed up the merchandising process. While the IT team had implemented a new technology (read expensive) software that connected all stores allowing the company to adopt modern retail pricing strategies (one such is psychological pricing that leads to the fight for Re 1), the guys on the ground simply forgot to change the price display effectively negating all the benefits that are expected to be derived by technology, process & smart minds back in the corporate office. This was the trauma @ Croma.

Yes, I managed to get the 200 bucks back :)

I have always been fascinated with the Tour de France. Besides the sport (and the man, Lance Armstrong), the television coverage of the event is probably the toughest among any other sporting events. Yet, it is one of most spectacular coverage showcasing the best of the France (and these days the route ventures out of France too). This was the inspiration behind my trip to the Loire valley to check out the Cheateau of Chambord & Cheateau of Chincaceou. Paris to Tours (Tours is name of the place) by the first class in TGV was another highlight of that trip.

This time I was lucky to witness the last day of the 2500km 3 week race at the Champs-Elysees in Paris. It was a pleasant Sunday and it was fun to catch a glimpse of the last stages of the race amidst the festiv environment. It is not every day that you see people climbing up signal posts and buildings in the heart of Paris!

Photos here

Though I had followed the book release of Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish on Rashmi Bansal’s blog, I did not get a opportunity to buy one. Last Thursday, I read a couple of chapters from a copy I lent from a colleague in the cab. The same night, I ordered the book from BookCurry.com. Why BookCurry? Because it seemed to be the “official” seller since it was the only listed online retailer on the book’s “official” website.

A week down the lane, the delivery is still expected tomorrow! Somebody from the website is nice to respond to the daily emails promptly. He or she also seems to be in touch with DTDC on the delivery. However, the curry the book is still awaited. I paid a delivery charge too for this lousy service. I am foolish, s0 I remain hungry?

Update: The book made its way after a more than a week. The DTDC parcel tracker never showed the real date of delivery!!!

In June 2008, CNBC-TV18 in association with Enlighten Film Society organised a film festival titled “Wall Street Meets 70mm” in Mumbai, showcasing 4 movies- Rogue Trader, Wall Street, Boiler Room & Barbarians of the Gate.

I blogged late November, when I managed to watch 3 of the 4 “financial thrillers”. The 5th just got added. Its called “Stock Shock“, a documentary movie based on the mysteries of Sirius XM stock in the American markets. So much so, the movie has prompted the SEC to investigate. (Securities & Exchange Commission is the SEBI of India)

One industry where “innovation” could be harmful is the financial!

Physics, History, English…. We learn them in school. Why don’t we learn finance? Of course, we did from our parents and grandparents. As one grows from a dependent to independent to having-dependents, managing finance is such a key aspect that makes a significant difference in life. Managing finance isn’t just about making the ends meet - pay bills, pay loans, reduce tax (call it the march-tax-save-rush). Managing finance in this day, must include “generating passive income”. Aptly described in Rich Dad, Poor Dad as “Just as one works for money, ought to make money work for you too“. Today’s BusinessLine carries an article titled “Savings are not equal to investments: Need for financial literacy“. It is a must-read.

Finance consulting services in India is in a pathetic state of affairs-

• Record collections to mutual fund NFOs (MF agents encourage investors to churn portfolios since frequent activity earn commissions)
• Non-popularity of index/exchange traded funds (these products carry the least expense ratio but not earners for agents)
• Extreme popularity of unit-linked insurance policies (term insurances makes most sense to genuinely protect one against risks. Term insurance premiums are 1/20th of money-back insurance policies)

Though dedicated efforts are being made by government agencies to improve, there is long way to go. In the meanwhile, “savers” need to quickly graduate to “investors” i.e financially literate. There is no choice.

By the way, State Bank of India reduced interest on deposit rates. If you did not know this, ……………….. (you know what I mean!)

Update: From Outlook Money’s Small Talk, Big Matters- Harish Rao conducts summer camps in Bangalore for 10-14 year age group on money management. A bit of looking around and discovered Harish Rao’s blog - Simple Equation & a podcast.

As Bharti Airtel celebrated its 100 millionth customer a few days, I was still fighting the battle of Airtel to get my personal number unlocked. It has been locked since 2 months for non-payment of bills. The reality: Airtel has screwed up with the change in account numbers somewhere around december-jan. Call centre say my account number is X and payment received for Dec and Mar. My online account at airtel.in says my account number is Y and payment received for Jan and Feb! As usual, the “programmed robots” that answer at the customer miscare center took me on a roaster coaster. (I love them but hated this one).

Anyways, a rare soul with a logical mind at the “airtel relationship centre” cooperated yesterday - unlocked my number and assured me the accounts will be reconciled the coming week. hope so! 

Bottom line, my personal is now active. If you tried reaching me in last 2 months, you have to try just once more. I am talking about 99802XXXXX.

Cheers!

Aashira is 6 months and 10 days now. She is now manageable in restaurants. We have learnt to keep her entertained in restaurants, malls etc. So, we decided to buffet at Cafe Masala in Eva Mall. Just as we entered the restaurant, down came the rains pouring. In most cases, we would have been happy to be indoors in such heavy rains. In this unusual case, it wasn’t so! Guess what! Rain water started dripping from the roof of the restaurant. Then it got intense. Interestingly, it was mostly over the salads! It seemed like a tropical touch! Cafe Masala turned Cafe Messala! The folks in the restaurant got brisk and responded very well to the situation without panic or high drama. One of them even took pictures of the dripping roof in his mobile phone. I guess to sue the architect or contractor :). Though all this may seem like a horrifying experience, it wasn’t! It was amusing. Aashira loves any kind of action (moving traffic on roads, changing colors on TV) and this seemed like play being enacted with the audience in the stage too! In a while, the situation was normalised. I have no clue what they did but the dripping stopped while the rain continued. Memories from the buffet: Chocolate brownie dipped in white chocolate sauce. Meanwhile, the buffet includes a host of grills at start like bbq nation.

Trivia: Cafe Masala is part of the BJN Group which also owns a impressive list of other restaurants - Angeethi, Aromas of China, Bombay Post, Indijoe, Samarkhand, Bamboo Shoot, Hypnos, Vaayu, Sahib Sindh Sultan,Firangi Paan!

Dear Guests,

Please be informed that on February 27th, March 2nd and 3rd there will be water cut from 9.30 am to 5.00pm, in order to change equipments.

Due to this intervention, some stores, without any danger for your health, can circulate in pipes and fluster water.

We apologize for the disturbance.

“some stores can circulate in pipes and fluster water??????” sorry! I didn’t get that!