Half Girlfriend : A book review

I generally read Chetan Bhagat(C.B) when I have nothing to do and just to keep pace with what most of the youths love doing: reading romance filled yet dramatic story.

Released late this year, Half Girlfriend is a love story about couples who come from different part of the India, and more specifically a tribute to a guy from rural India who is haunted by his inability to speak english fluently.

Plot of the Story:
Madhav Jha comes in contact with Chetan Bhagat in Patna and leaves his some notes of his girlfriend, who, he assumes to have passed away. Inspite of Chetan unwillingness to read the notes of a poor bihari guy's deceased girlfriend, he can't get past the feeling and finally reads the whole diary overnight. The real story line in the novel starts when the author calls the boy in the early morning to talk about the details of the love relationship of the boy.

Madhav Jha, a boy from rural part of Bihar in India, comes from a former Royal family which garners him the respect from his villagers as  a Prince (though he never enjoys being called  so). Having played basketball as a state-level player, he applies to one of the premier educational institution of the country- St. Stephan College, via the sports quota. During the trail match for examination, Madhav comes across Riya Somani, a beautiful girl with pretty good english and  from an elite delhi family. Just like how most of the love story starts, here Madhav easily falls in love with Riya. He befriends Riya by giving some tips on how to score. Later on both of them get selected in St. Stephen and their friendship blossoms based on common interest of basketball.

Time and often Madhav expresses his desire to make Riya his girlfriend which, most of the time is rejected. Finally they strike upon a deal when Riya proposes Madhav to become his Half Girlfriend (friends with benefits?? ;). In between the plot, the story also portrays the lifestyle that elites share: lavish parties, show-off's, stressed relationship, obsession to wealth, etc. Being obsessed to make Riya his own, Madhav demands that Riya have sex with him, which puts the relationship in stake and they finally part away.

The story gets a twist when after a year Riya marries her childhood friend Rohan who has a good business in London. Riya settles in London with her husband. Here Madhav Jha, not being able to overcome the guilt of inferior behavior with Riya leaves Delhi and relocates himself in the service of his village in Bihar, with his mother. He comes in contact with local MLA and requests him to help the school, but in vain. Later he confronts with an opportunity to approach to The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation for donation to his school via local MLA. As things roll on, Madhav becomes successful for being selected for Bill Gates visit to his school. Madhav now is supposed to make a impressive speech in a good english, so as to impress on Mr. Gates.

The story presents another twist when Madhav comes across Riya Somani (a divorcee now) while taking english classes in Patna. Riya who has moved to Patna as part of her job, helps Madhav to make an appealing speech. The couple become successful in getting a humongous grant from the foundation. Though the couple become close to each-other in this period, Riya leaves Madhav surprisingly after the function of Gates foundation. Madhav gets a letter of Riya that she had lung cancer and is left with three months to live. Madhav tries to find the whereabouts of Riya but fails. It is only after 3 complete years that Riya journal reveal of her being alive.

Just remembering the eternal wish of Riya to sing in bar of New York and live a peaceful life, Madhav speculates that she might be in New York and thus prepares to travel to New York. He manages to visit New York in an internship arrangement with the Gates Foundation and stays there with his college friend of Stephen. Finally, desperately searching for Riya for about 3 months, he finds her in a bar, just two days prior of him returning to India. They get married and justify their relationship and love. The story ends when the author visits Madhav and his family(with a son), 3 and half years later in their successfully running school of Bihar.

Review:
It took me 3 complete hours to read the book in which I felt like a movie play running in a single plot.  More than a literature type, the book resembles to a script of a bollywood movies. You can see parts of life of Bihar, Delhi and New York. Special appearance of Bill Gates, and dramatic plots of union and separation of the couple, etc.

Similarly,the story moves along the line of negative stereotyping of Bihar as a backward and most reviled state in India and of Biharis as bumpkin, not so good with English, obsessed with sex,etc., while of Delhiites girls as fair,  beautiful, and intelligent.

Earlier book of Bhagat sounded more realistic and read-worthy basically because that he had personal experience with the storyline of previous novel and he could relate himself with them. This recent one is more dramatic. He also fails to explain why a girl from Delhi elite falls for a pathetically portrayed rural guy from Bihar who had no talents beside basketball.

However just like Bhagat's previous novel, Half Girlfriend is less boring to read. Though the novel is devoid of any moral lessons, it goes in line to the objective of Chetan Bhagat "to make India read like never before". This novel is going to be another success as it contains dramatic love-life of stereotyped Delhi girl and Bihari boy and on top of that it contains all species that  Bollywood movie has: dramatic, romance and sex. Thus the book is suggested only for hard-core fan of Chetan Bhagat and the people who are new to english novel reading.

Globalization and Transnational Organised Crime

With the pace of globalization increasing tremendously, just like its benefits, its side-effects are also increasing at a tremendous manner. People can advocate the advantages of globalization for a long period of time but what we are failing to address is the disadvantages that are produced by globalization.  Based on the platform on which globalization is claiming such a large success, the perpetrator are using the same platform to develop an illicit system and thus putting a threat to the advantages of globalization. Many factors that have helped prosper globalization have been used to organize cross-border crime which has been creating a trouble for the preachers of globalized world.

The two major aspects of Globalization process that promotes transnational organized crime are :

1)      Electronic and physical connectivity:

Internet at the present time has been bloodline for the globalization to speed up. Internet has facilitated the globalization process via enabling easy and rapid connectivity. It has completely changed the whole communication industry and has a wide influence in the lifestyle of the people. Besides, it has also been developed as a platform to facilitate business and also perform business online. Because of the vital role that internet has played at the current time, it has often been recognized as nervous system of globalization. Though internet has facilitated the globalization process, people are also misusing it to commit various types of crimes. For example: Cybercrimes, child pornography, etc. has been increasing via use of electronic media and internet. Other crime like hacking of bank accounts, credit cards details, identity theft etc. has been more enabled because of the use of modern tool that has facilitated the globalization process.

Also rapid progress in the physical connectivity has also facilitated the cross national organized crime. Though the rapid means of transportation like bullet trains, airplane, ships etc have increased the transportation and trading of goods across borders, it has also at the same time, facilitated cross-national crimes. Because of modern means of transportation that has improved connectivity, people with criminal mindset can move from one place to another very easily, within fractions of hours. Free flow mechanism facilitation across borders has facilitated illegal activities like: transportation of drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, etc. Similarly crimes like trafficking of women for marriage purpose, modern day slavery in sweatshops, etc has also increased at an alarming rate. Beside these, unregulated maritime network has helped many criminals and terrorist groups to carry out illegal activities in an easy way.

2)      Increased inequalities and disparities:

Globalization has not only brought prosperity to some part of the world, but it has also increased disparity among the people of the globalized world. Differences between haves and have-not have increased like never before. For example, the difference between haves and have-not has been said to be highest in the last 100 years. Also because of increasing inequalities poor segments of the society have become vulnerable to the more globalized world. The condition of women and children has become more vulnerable. Similarly poor status of women, low-level skills of the employees, unsafe working condition, etc. have made the situation worse for the people of such segment.

Conclusion:

The basic problem with the economic system created/promoted by Globalization is that it has facilitated for the rich to become more rich and poor to become poorer. Rich people are thus prompted to do anything that they find is worth doing for their personal benefit, or for the accumulation of wealth. Besides, poor section of population doesn’t have any option but to become desperate and search for brighter opportunities. But these vulnerable sections of the society are always out into demerit and thus suffer.



This write-up is based on my learning via MOOC course: Age of Globalization. 

Analysing Humongous Bonus Distribution by Surat Diamond

Publishes in New Business Age Magazine, November Issue 2014,  http://www.newbusinessage.com/issuedetail/991)

Last week came incredible business news that amazed many people in India and abroad. This news was about an Indian diamond based business company, named Hari Krishna Exports, giving generous bonuses to its employees. The company gifted nearly 500 Fiat Punto cars, 200 two-bedroom houses and jewels to 1200 staffs, all told, a worth of 50 crores.  The company gave these “as part of reward for loyalty program for employees who performed best for last five years”, according to the company chairman and MD Savji Dholakia.

Picture of the reward distribution program: taken from ibtimes.co

In the contemporary business world where organizations are driven by profit via cut-throat competition, this model of giving enormous amount of profit to employees is taken by surprise by many people.  Let look at different aspect of the news and its impact.

• By giving enormous bonus to its employees, this company has earned humongous popularity that wouldn't have been possible even if it had allocated the monetary worth of bonus to advertising.   
• As I googled to learn more about Surat Diamond business l, I got many Google pages that would be with heading such as: “Diwali Bonus-500 CARS, 200 Flats and Jewels”. This is a unique social business model that the business world has seen of now and can be a benchmark model for others wanting to adapt this model.
• This can also be related to as an exemplary form of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). As Richard Branson has defined business as” trying to make a real difference to other people’s life”. In this connection, the real “business” of a business should be caring of its employees, and in fact, this is the starting point of a sound CSR.
• As I read this news, I thought about how amazing it would be to work in company like this. And this might be what most of the employees who read the news be thinking as of now. What I am sure is that, this particular company has been Dream Company for many employees of the industry and prospect employees. The direct impact is, the retention will be high and the company at the same time can attract the talented personnel of the industry also.
• Another important thing here is that the bonus was given to 1200 employees based on their preference. Those who didn't have home were gifted with flats, those who had home were rewarded with cars, and those having both cars and home were gifted with jewels.  As such, it encourages the existing companies to have reward preferences options when they design any reward program from their employees.

Looking at the big picture, HariKrishna Exports can realize in next few years are: increased sales, increased client base, high employees retention and performance, increased brand awareness of the company, and increased job applicants. Well, the advantages that it is going to reap are in manifold times greater than the cost incurred for achieving it.

Porter's Five Force analysis of Boeing Co.

Introduction to Porter’s Five Forces:

In 1979 came an article which was published in Harvard Business Review, titled “How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy” by Michael Porter, which ignited a revolutionary era in the field of strategy. Today’s Porters five force model has been the de facto framework for the industry analysis. Analysis of the five forces can help a company understand the structure of its industry and stake out a position that is more profitable and less vulnerable to attack. A proper analysis helps one to gain a big picture of what is influencing profitability in the industry. You identify game-changing trends in advance, so you can exploit them swiftly.

The five forces are:

1) Threat of New Entrants

2) Threat of Substitutes

3) Bargaining Power of Buyers

4) Bargaining Power of Suppliers

5) Competitive Rivalry.

Industry information:

Global aircraft manufacture is dominated by strongest duopolies: Boeing and Airbus.  Also known as “Big boys club”, these two gigantic companies have dominated the market tremendously and thus have created significant barrier to entry.  The industry also has cases of new entrants coming into operation but eventually failed. Some of them were: Mitsubishi, Indonesia IPTN, etc. Beside these two dominating companies, there are small players who have been operating in niche market like: Bombardier (Canada), Embraer (Brazil) etc. and recently Chinese manufacturer COMAC which generally caters to the local market.

Company Profile:

 Founded in 1916, Boeing is the largest global aircraft manufacturer by revenue, orders and deliveries. It has a strong customer base and support in 150 countries across the globe. With more than 12000 commercial jetliner engaged in aviation service, Boeing boasts itself as the largest aircraft manufacturer. Boeing is also a market leader in the industry of military aircraft manufacturing. Boeing features in Fortune 500 list of companies and is ranked 26^th on the “World’s Most Admired Companies” list, 2013.

Porter’s Five Forces analysis of Boeing Company:

1.       Threat of New Entrants: Low

Threat of new entrants is relatively low because of humongous amount of fixed cost of competing. Factors like: huge capital investment required, extensive level of R&D budget and activities, massive level of technological expertise needed, etc. creates a high entry barriers and thus low threat of new entrants.  Some companies that have operated in regional level and aircraft manufacturer of china are enjoying niche market are because of the preferential benefit arranged by the particular Nation state.

2.       Threat of Substitute: Mild

Threat of substitute for aircraft manufacture is minor as people prefer aircrafts largely because of time factor. Rapid advancement in bullet trains, car etc. might affect the aircraft manufacturing business in the future.

Fig: Five forces that shape Industry’s competition

3.       Bargaining power of Buyers: Mild

In totality bargaining power of buyers is mild.

·         Buyers purchasing in bulk: High bargaining power of buyer

·         High capital investment by buyer in purchasing of aircraft: Buyer involves long-term contract with seller and thus low bargaining power.

·         High switching cost: Switching cost is high because of technological factors and long-term contracts involved and this low bargaining power.

4.       Bargaining power of Suppliers: Low

In case of aircraft manufacturers it has been found that both of that Boeings makes outsourcing to large number of suppliers throughout the globe. For e.g.: Boeing itself has more than 100 firms supplying it with the parts of the aircrafts. As there are large numbers of suppliers and the firms that purchase are concentrated, the bargaining power of supplier is low. The company has the power to negotiate with the price of supplies due to economies of scale.

1.       Competitive Rivalry: High

Sluggish industry growth, no clear market leader and undifferentiated strategies, high barrier to exit, etc. drives for the competitive rivalry among the existing players of the industry. The market is largely a duopoly market, resulting in low profit margin in the airline industry and thus Boeing fighting furiously with Airbus for more share of the industry.

Online Business Surge in India and it's Future Prospect

If you study the recent trend in the online business in India, you can easily find out three major market players. Namely: Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon. For traditional India where online purchasing was a taboo and thus was limited to few online ticket booking, these companies together have introduced a new culture of online business culture in India. A business that is forecasted to grow from sales of $ 2.3 billion (As of 2014) to $32 billion ( as of 2020).

source: Technopak

For Flipkart which is largest internet company by its market value of $7 billion, it went through rough ways to arrive at this position to bust the myth that consumers like to see and feel the product before buying. Reluctance of customers to give details of their credit cards, fear about the delivery of the product, suspicion to get exact product etc were of paramount amount which pioneers like flipkart had to go through. 

These companies are at the verge of cut-throat competition as they have been going with massive marketing strategy to boost the sales. Recent humongous sales made by e-tailers like Flipkart of $100 million in 10 hours as "Big Big Billion Sales day" and Snapdeal retaliating the same with sales of a crore per minutes proves this. As such there is a humongous sales that these companies have been able to make. And thus large amount of profit. While the competition is tough over a small profit margin, these companies are also facing challenges.The recent challenge is not because of the competitors in online commerce , but because of the competition/conflict between these e-tailers and brick and mortar models. It should be understood that it is until recently that brick and mortar business have been dominant in doing business in country like India. But this culture is changing rapidly. 

Challenges to Indian e-tailers:

1) Tough competition from competitors who are coming up with innovative strategy to increase sales.

2) Problems from top brands having brick and mortar outlets like: LG, Sony, Samsung etc who are accusing the e-tailers of making predatory sales (selling below cost), thus damaging their sales and brand names.

3) The customers in Tier-I cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore etc who prefer see-feel-buy approach in contrast to online modes. Luring them for online business might be relatively difficult.

4) New entrants in the industry which might reduce the price of product offerings sharply in contrast to the old market leaders. Similarly, it is also more likely that manufacturers and brands might offer product offerings via their own online sites. 

5) Another possible challenge would be large brick and mortar group like: Reliance Industries, Future Group, TATA group planning to go online to expand. etc

Brighter side:

It can been seen evidently that indian e-tailers have been inspired from chinese mega online internet retailer: Alibaba's success, which raised record high of $21.8 billion IPO. The statement of Flipkart CEO and Founder Sachin Bansal to make Flipkart a $100 billion club member in upcoming 5,10 or 15 years provides a hint that they are planning for a rapid growth of company business in near future. 

Now lets us put light on the basic facts that hints us about the brighter aspects of growth of online business in India.

1)The online market has moved towards growth phase of business cycle in which the startup has dried up in recent years as investors are focussing more in larger companies. Thus the prospects of larger companies to grow is even more.
2)  Indian is a country with population of 1.2 billion out of which the population of age group of 18-40 is 40% (as of census 2011). And this is the chunk of population on which online retailer have been finding a dip in sales. This trend is supposed to increase even more.

3) Online retailers selling product-offerings in a cheaper price as they save on rent and other infrastructures is sure to attract large untapped customer segment in future.

4) Online markets are growing rapidly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where physical outlet are absent or  are few. They will penetrate the market deep enough before physical outlet set-up there and start to attract the customers.

5) The service that these companies offer is almost flawless. Delivery before the delivery date, free delivery, 30 days replacement period, etc will lure more customers to try these sites.

6) Proliferation in the use of smartphones in Indian market which have enabled large base of customers to go online regularly and thus have access to these sites will increase the sales even more in near future. 

Why Small Countries are Economically Viable in Globalized world ?

From amongst the large number of small countries, some are developed while many others are still struggling to prosper. The small countries that have developed have followed a specific path that has allowed them to attain a competitive advantage with respect to the other countries. We maynot exactly attribute a particular reason for the underdevelopment of a particular country but we can clearly pinpoint why a particular country has developed over a particular period of time.

For small countries, the case may be different than that of the bigger countries. The concept of “small of beautiful” applies when we take reference of small countries that have prospered a lot in short period of time. 

Let us study the reason that pushed small countries hard enough to prosper in a short span of time.

1.             Openness to trade:

Small countries are generally found to be open to the trade. They are less hesitant to enter to the international business. The reason behind this is that, small countries develop themselves competitively in some niche products or services that have been ignored by the larger nations. Eg: Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland etc.

2.             Social Cohesion:

A good example of social cohesion is demonstrated by small countries. Small countries are characterized by less/no problems amongst the ethnic communities, more social harmony, equal and easier to run the country. Hence a better government because of the political stability resulting from the social cohesion.

3.             More adaptive and responsive to changes:

Smaller countries are generally found to be more adaptive than the larger countries. Because of the vulnerability factor, they keep themselves updated of the major changes that are going to take place in the global business or politics. They tend to have better developed sensing mechanism in terms of what is happening in the rest of the world. As such they develop a proactive mechanism to adjust to the changes of the volatile business and political world.

4.             Stable political system and clear economic goals:

If we study the characteristics of the small countries we find that they possess well developed political system that promotes stability and favors economic growth. For a country like Singapore, it has a political system that favors political stability and has clearly identified economic policies that favors rapid development. E.g.: Singapore political system that favors single party rule.

5.             Export oriented:

Because of the relative smaller size of the national consumption (relative to total income), small economies tend naturally to be more export oriented that the larger economies.

6.             Prioritized focus:

The focus of small countries is limited to certain priorities like: education (thus more skilled labor force), innovation(thus more investment and employment), export promotion, competitiveness etc. Most of the time they are not engaged in the issues of international politics, politics over oil, support for democracy etc., that bigger nation find themselves.

7.             Preferential economic advantage:

Many international policies and regulations related to international trade favor small nations. The arrangements are such that small countries are less exposed to trade quotas and other restrictions as they don’t produce in large quantities.

8.             Optimum utilization of resources:

Similarly economic efficacies are found more in small countries. Because of the scare resources, small countries specialize in the maximum utilization of the resources. For example we can see how Japan is proactive to the natural calamities and disasters in spite of having scarce resources.

One important discussion that must be introduced while describing about the development phenomena of some countries is: On what cost factor those countries are developing ? For example for those countries which haven't prospered , we must recognize that their concerns of political freedom ahead of economic liberalization has put a cap on the pace of development.We can relate this to bigger countries like India also. Democracy, poverty, humanitarian values, etc have caused those nation states to focus their resources and energy in diverse sectors , which is, at the expense of the industrialization. Countries based on democracy have to balance their activities between long-term growth needs and short-term social benefits. For example Qatar escapes itself from this phenomena and thus its emphasis on economic freedom before political freedom has served well in the areas of attaining systematic growth. Hence small countries have been prospering mostly because of the value they put on economic development in contrast to political freedom.

But again the question is, Is it really justifiable to attain development at the cost of the social justice and freedom of its people ?


(P.S: This write-up is based on my learnings from MOOC courses and personal research)

Ease of Doing business in Nepal: 2015

Singapore has ranked as a leader in the Doing Business Report- 2015. This year Singapore is followed by New Zealand, Hongkong SAR China, Denmark, Republic of Korea, Norway and so on. The United States ranks 7th, while Japan ranks 29th.

Ease of Doing Business report 2015 is 12th annual report of World Bank group that provides investigated report of the business regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. It is based on measurement of 10 different quantitative factors namely: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credits, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

In 2013-14 Tajikistan was the nation that improved most significantly followed by Benin, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, etc. To be noted also is the Sub Saharan African region with the largest number of economies accounted for regulatory reforms in 2013/14. While South Asia as a whole has a lower reforms and is slightly placed over OECD countries and Middle Ease and North Africa countries based on the reforms measures taken.

Nepal performance in the Ease of Doing Business has improved by a mere position of a unit with ranking of 108. Still to this date Nepal remains an unattractive place to do business. Though this year figure shows improvements in some indicators of the study, still Nepal needs to improve in many sectors. However if we compare Nepal's rank with that of other South Asian countries, it seems to be in a comparatively better position. Sri Lanka improved the most by jumping six place up in the ranking to 99. Sri Lanka is followed by Nepal with ranking of 108. Other countries rank as follows: Maldives (116), Bhutan (125), Pakistan (128), India (142), Bangladesh (173). The regional rank is 134.

The trading across border of Nepal is lowest among its South Asian neighbours. However it has the best ranking in terms of registering property(globally 27th) which requires 3 procedures, 5 days and 4.8% of property value to register. The regional average is 6.4 procedure, 99.5 days, and 7.2% of total property value.

This year following reforms aided for improvement of the ranking:
1) Adaptation of new building regulations ( Earthquake resilience)
2) Improved building inspections process
3) Improved/Introduced electronic platforms or online services (for obtaining building permits)

The ranking is updated till June 1, 2014 and thus doesn't include the latest strings of development that the Nepalese government has unveiled in Nepalese business environment like, trade agreement, regulatory changes in the hydropower sector etc. However Ease of Doing Business indicator is remarkable in the sense it gives country like Nepal an assessment of which regulatory reforms have been working, where and why, either in a country's scenario or of that of any other country and thus learn from them.

Massive power cuts, uncertainty about constitutional drafting, volatile political and business environment, etc might have had negative effect to this ranking. As such the government should put a vigil eyes on reforms measure and thus should incorporate methods to improve the business condition of the country. The indicators like:- getting electricity, getting credit, paying taxes etc should be improved more to ensure that ranking gets improved.

However the recent bilateral agreements, Power Trade Agreement with India, surging foreign in Tourism sector, possible promulgation of constitution etc makes one hopeful of the overall business environment improving and thus the ease of doing business also to improve.



Reference:
http://www.doingbusiness.org/

Keeping Unethical Practices at bay

Reasoning of ethics as grey and white area has been an escaping reason for many people and companies to justify their unethical practices.  However, Of lately, Ethics has been identified as one of the important aspect for a business. The increasing concerns regarding ethics and moral values promoted by organization like: World Forum For Ethics in Business, Ethics Resource Center , LRN etc. have grasped the attention of the major companies of the world. 

Pic credits: undp.org

To keep unethical practices at bay, we should move forward with following practices:

1) Assessment of cultural base of employees and organization
making an assessment of the cultural background of all the employees in an organization. This helps the company in identification and development of organizations culture. It also enables the company to understand the base of ethical/unethical practices in an organization and thus the tendency of unethical practices not being reported.

2) Designing of desired(ethically sound) corporate culture
The assessment of cultural background and its findings will assist the company to come forward with the desired corporate culture and change some aspects of the existing corporate culture. This need a conscious overhauling of the company's fundamental values and practices, the general practices in the industry, government policies etc. 

3) Implementation of Plans
Generation of detailed plan of implementation is required to fulfill the gap between the ideal corporate culture desired for and the reality. The integration should be a gradual and stepwise process to implement the desired level of ethical practices in an organization. The company must stand in terms of what it preaches and what it practices.

4) Promotion of ethical leadership
This is also another key aspect for ensuring promotion and practices of ethical practices at workplace. Imagine the quality of ethical practices in an organization in which has sound guidelines for ethical practices but the leader is corrupt and thus unethical. As such, the top level authorities should be conscious regarding their practices as they will influence a large chunk of subordinates who follow them. Besides organization should also educate employees to go beyond complying laws and to adopt principled behavior in workplace, ethically justified practices and sound decision making, which thus promote ethical corporate culture in the long term.  

5) Employees engagement in Ethical practices
Employee engagement in activities regarding the promotion of ethical practices should be done. Leadership must generate trust from employees regarding the company's corporate culture. There must be a two way discussions regarding the company corporate culture and why it should be practices by the employees. Everyone should understand why the corporate culture matters to them and feel inspired to implement them.  Engaging employees about company's expectations regarding appropriate conduct at workplace, companies can motivate them for ethical and profitable practice at the same time.

6) Systematic and responsive reporting mechanism
Creation of trustworthy reporting system is another most important part of implementing ethical practices in an organization. The management must develop system that makes the employee comfortable to raise issues about ethics, with their supervisors. A clear and responsive system for reporting of the unethical practices, handling of the grievance/reporting, investigation of raised issues, should be done. Similarly employees must confident that management will be respectful to towards the employees making complaints.


References:
Ethics.org
Hbr.org
World Forum For Ethics in Business

Kochi: South India Tour 2014

Kochi is one of the most visited place in India. The capital state of Kerala, Kochi boasts as the most beautiful natural harbor of the world. Also known as "Queen of Arabian sea", Kochi attracts many tourists to enjoy its backwaters which is famous in the world. Because of the backwaters, kochi is often compared to Venice of Italy.

We reached to Kochi at 3:00 am in the morning. Being deprived of sleep whole night because of 2S seat, we had no option but to sleep in the platform after we reached Kochi railway platform. So as to make ourselves safe, we choosed the clean place outside of Railway station manager to sleep. It was such a sound sleep that we didn't hear any disturbances in spite of the bustling train passing through the platform. 

Early in the morning we searched for accommodation and finally got one near famous Marine drive of Ernakulam, Kochi. It was difficult to manage our travelling in and around kochi because of tourist attraction being scattered apart in contrast to that of Kanyakumari. We felt a kind of shock when we heard that Kochi was in the process of being a dry state and sales of Alcohol was strictly prohibited. For me, I couldn't understand the logic of making a famous tourist destination a dry state. Apparently we could see some of its direct impact when we saw bars shut down, lodges prices dropped down and not much of tourists hanging out inspite of the time being a tourist season.

Inspite of not being able to drink we made sure to enjoy yourself by visiting some of the beautiful places of "Gods own country: Kerala" and enjoyed its  natural beauty. One point to support dry state would have been to make tourist enjoy Kerala naturally and I couldn't disagree. 

We managed to visit following places in Cochin, Kerala.

1) Alappuzha Backwaters ride

This was one of the most beautiful and serene boat drive I had ever experienced in my life. We hired a boat house and went off for 3 hours boat drive in the backwaters. Alappuzha is one of the most preferred location to enjoy the backwater drive in Kochi. Also known popularly as "Venice of the East", Alappuzha also boasts of  picturesque canals, beaches and lagoons. We could enjoy the natural environment the most and were mesmerized by the natural beauty of backwaters. And one thing not to miss was the warm hospitality of the people of Kerala, esp those involved in tourism industry. 

 Backwater boat drive was such a serene and peaceful experience that it helped us to connect with self and to enjoy the nature at the best. We also enjoyed watching people enjoying the boat water ride, waving hand to them, and witnessing the life of people in those areas. It was amazing to have look into the life of people whose daily livelihood was directly linked with water.

2) Marine Drive

Our group in Marine Drive

Marine Drive of Cochin was nearby to our hotel so we managed to visit it during the evening time. I along with my friends were excited to visit it imagining the fun of sauntering around the marine of Mumbai. Plus, the googled photos of Marine drive of Cochin had added more excitement to us. But to our surprise the Marine drive of Cochin was small, not properly maintained, arranged with poor lights and was not the most happening place for evening walk. Thus Marine drive left us disappointed.

Googled photo, Marine Drive in its Decorated structure. At present it is not well maintained

3) Fort Kochi 

Fort Cochin was on our list on the next day of our trip to Cochin. We took a government ferry from Marine drive to Fort Kochi at a cost of INC 4 each. It took us about 20 minutes to reach Fort Kochi. We wandered around for some time until we decided to hire a cycle and took a ride around the island. We could also spot some Nepali speaking guys while we were trying to find cycle for rent. Finally we got some cycles and went off to see the Kochi Fort. We made visit to Mahatma Gandhi beach, Dutch Palace, Jewish museum and street,  beautiful church named as Santa Cruz Basilica Church, etc

Chinese Fishing net in Kochi

Santa Cruz Basilica Church

We also enjoyed visiting the local market in Fort Kochi, purchasing some souvenirs,  and enjoyed the seafood etc.  With this our South India tour came to an end. We boarded a train to our station on evening. And from the next very morning we were again back to our same old routine. 

Kanyakumari:South India Tour 2014

Our journey was a overnight train from Rameshwaram to Kanyakumari. As again, we didn't have enough seats and thus had to manage somehow. We checked seats which were vacant from Rameswaram to Maduria and occupied them. And from Madurai onwards, we shifted to General class compartment which had relatively less passengers. We reached Kanyakumari early in the morning at 6:00 am. The train platform was clean and well-maintained. After checking hoarding board of the railway platform regarding the tourist destination in Rameswaram, we went in search of accommodation.

Sunrise in Kanyakumari 

We checked Vivekananda Kendra for rooms. But unfortunately couldn't get. Our hunt for accommodation continued for next one hour, but still failed to get rooms. The reason being "Dussera" being on the same day. Finally we spotted someone checking out from a lodge and got a room there. After resting for some time and taking a delicious lunch in Punjabi Dhaba near our hotel, we started our exploration for the day.

1) Kanyakumari beach

We took a holy dip in the merger point of Indian ocean, Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal. The place is famously known as Kanyakumari triveni and it is believed that after taking a dip in this holy place, people will wash away their crimes.

Vivekanand Rock Memorial and Thiruvallur Statue

2) Vivekananda Rock memorial

Locate in a rock island , this place is the one in which Swami Vivekananda did meditation and attained enlightenment . A ferry near to Kanyakumari temple take visitors to the memorial. However the ferries are operated by state government and is poorly managed, that makes visitors wait for many hours. 

 3) Kanyakumari Temple

We took darshan of Kanyakumari temple on the very auspicious day of Dashain festival. Kanyakumari temple is one of the shakti peeth (power goddess) of Hindu religion. We also took part in a chariot ride of Goddess Kanyakumari and felt lucky to see the unique culture of Kanyakumari. 

4)  Snow white church

One of the most beautiful church that I  have ever been, this church lies within walking distance from Kanyakumari Temple. We went there to learn about church and about christians way of prayings. 

5) Gandhi memorial
Built in the memory of MK Gandhi who visited Kanyakumari twice, this building marks the place where his ashes were kept for darshan before immersing it to the sea. The architecture of the building is said to be uniques as it is designed in such a style that on the birthday of Gandhi ji (October 2), the sun rays falls from the hole in the roof to directly on the spot where his urn was kept for public display. Also it is 79 feet in height representing the age of Gandhi ji.  One can see a spectacular view of Vivekananda Rock memorial, Thiruvalluvar statue, Lighthouse and View tower from this place.

6) Kanyakumari View Tower
The view tower is nearer to Gandhi Memorial. One can have a mesmerizing view of the major parts of Kanyakumari from this place. The entrance fee is minimal( i guess 10 rs). On the top you can feel the cool breeze of the Arabian sea. If you want to take a panoramic view of Kanyakumari, this place is perfect.

7) Siridi Sai Temple

This place is about 12 Km from Kanyakumari Bus stand. We took a local bus to reach the temple. Unfortunately, because of misunderstanding, two of our friends were left in the bus station. They later catched next bus to teach the temple. It was midday when we reached the temple and the priest was preparing for midday pooja. We attended the puja and after staying there for couple of minutes, we caught a local bus to reach another famous temple of the area: Suchindram.

7) Suchindram
Suchindram is about 30 minutes drive from Kanyakumari. It is another famous temple of this area, which is also famous because of its majestic entrance tower that is filled with many sculptures and statues of hindu mythology.

The place is said to have a idol representing all three major gods of Hinduism: Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara. We couldn't see much inside the temple as it was lunch time and the temple officials were in rush to close the temple. One disappointing thing here was that they temple officials and priests were so coercive to ask the visitors to donate money.

Well in conclusion Kanyakumari was all about religious pilgrimage. We couldn't manage to do anything  beside visiting temples. However it was a great fun and a religious experience for all of us.

Rameswaram: South India Tour 2014

It was almost the end of September and Dashain vacation was near. In Nepal it lasts for complete 10 days. But in India it is symbolically celebrated just for a day or a two by worshipping goddess durga and festival is known as Dussera. As such it was sure that we weren't getting long vacation that would be enough for us to go to Nepal and thus came the plan for south India tour: Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari and Cochin.  Originally the idea was to include almost every one of the class but latter train ticket unavailability, cost factors etc. caused the number to decrease to 6 . Finally we started to plan for the journey and took a ticket 2 weeks prior of the journey. In spite of trying early, the tickets were almost full and in some of the route we were bound to accept waiting list tickets.

Tirupati:

Shopping was done. Bags were packed and we were all set for our week long south India tour. In the morning of September 30, 2014 we checked out of the hostel at 8:00 am and took a public bus to Tirupati. After a bus ride of about 1 hr. 30 mins, we finally reached the city of temple: Tirupati. Tirupati is known as one of the most visited religions shrines of the world after Vatican City and thus is very famous among the followers of Hinduism. This time our purpose of going to Tirupati was not for pilgrimage but to catch a train to Rameswaram.

In contrast to the railway platforms of the north India, we came to find the platform of Tirupati very clean and well-maintained. As we were early by some hours, we took some foods and waited in the platform. As we were placed in waiting list, we were just elated to get an SMS from Indian railways informing that we have been allocated with four seats. Finally at 12:30 pm Meenakshi Express (our train) arrived and we boarded the train.

Since it was first train journey to some of our friends, they were just elated and were sharing about the experience of the journey. So as to pass some time, we started to play card games. After about 2 hours of travel, the train passed just from the league nearer to our college. As the train moved on, we started to take a track of the position of the train via Google map. The scenery outside the train was so lovely and green. I came to realize those parts of Tamilnadu as being relatively cooler and beautiful than that of Andhra Pradesh.

The train was stopping in different locations. We were managing to get ourselves engaged by getting something to eat from wherever the train stops. Time was passing by and soon it was darker outside. We started to eat our packed foods and went to sleep early. As we didn't had enough seats, we managed to sleep two people in  a single berth.

Rameswaram:

The next day we woke up at around 5:00 am when the train stopped in Madurai. In Madurai junction the train got almost empty thus we changed our seats and started to sleep more comfortably as the final station was still 3 hours away from Madurai.

We woke up at 5:00 am to see the sea link in Rameshwaram known as Pamban Bridge. Our train had started to swiftly pass from the sea link. The view of the sealink was breath-taking as this was a unique experience to us. Early morning beautiful sunrise in the island and the clear blue water of the Indian ocean made a perfect beginning of the day.  We equipped ourselves with cameras and cell phone and began to take videos and photos of the bridge. Finally within couple of minutes, we reached Rameswaram rail station.

We then started searching for accommodation. We had googled about Bangur Yatri Niwas which was nearer to Ramesworam temple, and one of the beautiful place to stay at, in an affordable cost. As we asked the caretaker about rooms he firstly refused. But after requesting for sometime, he finally provided us two rooms at a cost of Rs 750. We went to our rooms and took rest for some time. As a very good veg food was available in the Ashram at a cheap price of Rs 60, we took lunch in the same hotel. It was about 11 am when we checked out of the hotel to go to Dhanuskoti Beach and the surroundings where a sea link was said to be established between India and Srilanka by Lord Ram. Following were the places that we visited in Rameswaram

1.       Dhanuskoti beach:

We took a bus to Dhanuskoti beach from the gate of Rameswaram temple which cost us something like 16 Rs and took about 25 minutes. On the beach of Dhanuskoti we could see a mesmerizing view of the clear (but rough) blue Indian Ocean on one side and silent Bay of Bengal on the other. From that place we hired a bus to take us to Ramsetu that was about half an hour drive and would cost us Rs 100. As the market was not properly regulated, the charge was very high here. This place was once a living hamlet, and was burgeoning trade route and pilgrimage route between Indian and Srilanka. On the way we saw some wrecked Church, roadways, railway track etc. I came to know from the fellow passenger that there was a small town in this place which was destroyed by a cyclone in 1964. Now you get to see very few in this place. The bus driver said us that the nearest distance to Srilanka from this place was like 18 Km (but of course we were not permitted to go). As I stood on the tip of India, I thought of Rama and Rawan as ordinary people who fought for land or women, but whose success stories passed over to the generation as religious sculptures. However, the remnants of sea link between India and Srilanka (also proved by NASA) made me more confused.  After staying there from some couple of minutes, clicking some photos, we went back to the bus station.

 

2.       Rameshworam Temple:

We came directly from Dhanuskoti beach to our station. We changed our dress and decided to go for Ramesworam darshan as because the pilgrims were very few in the evening. You need to make sure that you keep you footwear, cameras, cellphones etc. away while you plan to enter the temple. In the beginning it was confusing for us as we entered via opposite gate. Finally we reached the main gate where temple miking was going on. A gentleman offered to help us saying that he would charge little more for taking holy dip in the kundas inside the temple. We agreed and later to find that the man had cheated us for Rs 100 each. However taking holy bath in Rameshworam temple kundas was a worthy experience and it gave us religious vibe when we chanted “Om nama shivaya” while taking holy bath in 22 kundas.

3.       Agni Ksehtra:

This place is exactly on the front side of the temple which in fact is Bay of Bengal. You can find many pilgrims taking holy bath here.

4.       Gandhamathana parvatham:

This is the tallest place of Island that we went on second day of Ramesworam stay. One can see a spectacular view of the whole island from this place. This temple is said to have the footprints of Lord Rama on a chakra. Because of being located in a topmost hill of island, we took lots of pictures in this place

5.       Pamban Bridge:

We visited to Pamban Bridge on the second day. We just walked across the bridge, took some photos, watched the train pass by etc. On the other side of the bridge we could see lots of peacock playing near the sea beach.  This was an amazing experience to all of us who had seen peacock only in zoo.

6.       House of Kalam:

We also visited the House of Kalam, which is house of former president of India-Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. In spite of our expectation to see the simpler life of Kalam from his original house, we were disappointed to see a modern house with a kind of museum about Dr. Kalam. However we came to know at least sth. about Dr. Kalam and how this man of wisdom had struggled to occupy the highest position of India.

Our Rameswaram tour was totally religious. Beside these place, we visited many other places like: Lakshman Tirtha, Panchamukhi Hanuman, Jatayu Tirtha, etc during our two days and one night stay. As we had out train to Kanyakumari on the evening of second day, we took some food and reached to train platform to wait for the train.