Kaali Peeli Kumar Vishwas

What are the nurses in Kerala wanting the AAP candidate for Rae Bareilly to apologize for? The AAP party claims to represent the aam person. The aam person, from any part of the country, considers a fair skin essential for good looks. Needless to say the aam person regards himself/herself as a "fair and lovely" person. I am sure the AAP hopeful from Rae Bareilly does.

To be fair to the AAP candidate, when he was clowning for his supper he could have hardly imagined that he would one day be contesting a parliamentary election.

Are nurses to be selected for looks? What about doctors?

What about members of parliament? Why should the voters choose a "kaali peeli" AAP candidate over "gora chitta" Rahul?

The AAP & The Normandy Landings

Another book that I was reminded of was  Crossing The Chasm by Geoffrey Moore. In the book Moore describes the second stage in the life of a successful product. It is analogous to establishing a beach head in a military operation

Arguably one of the biggest and riskiest military operations of all times was the allied invasion of Europe in WWII. The strategy rested on first establishing a beachhead in Normandy, where the opposition could be expected to be the weakest, consolidating the beachhead and then breaking out.

The urban youth, particularly the middle class, is the AAP's Normandy.

AAP & The Innovators Dilemma

Watching the reactions of the national political parties to the emergence and methods of the AAP, I was reminded of   The Innovators Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen.

As I understood it, the basic thesis of the book is:

1. Not that large established corporation cannot innovate, its just that they prefer to, or "have" to, innovate for their established customers.
2. Not that they do not have people who understand the new market realities, they just cannot get around people who have careers invested in the current way of doing business.
3. When it first emerges, a disruptive product is never considered a serious contender. The target market is considered insignificant.
4. A disruptive product is not based on new invention. The technology is available to all. The big companies too know about it. They just have very powerful internal vested interests that prevent its exploitation (Think Xerox and all the technologies developed at Xerox's PARC. Think IBM and the IBM PC and DOS. Think British Army, Horsed Cavalry and the Tank. ...)
5. A market exists that is just not considered viable by the current players. Their revenue models do not justify it; neither do their costs.

I could go on and on but the above should suffice to show what the established players are up against. Its not AAP. The established parties are crippled by their past. The 160 years of the Congress is a shackle.

One of the great "what-if"s of current times: What if, instead of depending upon a bunch of clever lawyers, Rahul Gandhi had walked out of 10 Jan Path and cast his lot with the Anna Movement? ... Asking too much I suppose:-(

All Our Executives Are Busy

I just finished booking a cab with the EasyCab people. I book it by phone as the phone app on Android really ticks me off; but that rant is for some other time.

I was 8th on the waiting list and slowly got bumped up. No problems. But do they really have to inflict that, " ... All our executives are busy ... Your call is important to us ...." on me ***seven*** times?

Here are some USP ideas for call-center software
1. Just tell me my position in the queue and the expected wait-time. Surely computing the expected wait-time does not require an advanced degree in computer science!
2. Play some music. Not some 5sec loop, but tracks that loop after 30mins. Keep a set of  tracks shuffle between them. You can even ask for the caller's preference. Make the supervisor also the DJ let him/her relay internet music.
3. Do not make me hold my phone. Ask me at what Q position I would like to be given a "wake-up" call. Charge me for it.

Hindi & the Spread of AAP

A few years ago I attended a PAN-IIT meet. The PAN-IIT meet is a get-together of the alumnii of all the IITs. There are panel discussions covering many subjects.

One panel had Arvind Kejriwal talking about corruption - Lokpal, CBI, ...

There was a bunch of us IIT Madras guys sitting together. I will not be far from the truth when I say that I was the sole non-Tamil speaking person. Arvind started his speech in Hindi. He was promptly shouted down by the IIT Madras crowd. Arvind switched to English.

If the AAP is to spread, they need committed local leadership who speak the local language. And these should be on the same standing as the founder members. That should not be much of a problem as long as the party practices inner party federalism. A "High-Command" will make it difficult..