Why Is Online Shopping Still Untrustworthy In India

Online commerce might be doing well in India. But it still is a potential that has not yet been realized. The reason for this, fundamentally, is very simple. It's just not trustworthy enough to consider spending money online.

Online is convenient, it offers price comparison, ease of purchase and saves time. Having said that, its plagued by counterfeits, theft, damaged delivery, incorrect specifications and price manipulation. To add to it, there are frauds in the form of incorrect reviews, no customer support or accountability.

Some products are probably worth buying online since they sometimes are sold online exclusively. While others are commoditized and are of low price and hence do not have the risk of being counterfeit. But trust is still an issue. I share an example of headphone purchase. I had been to a Sony showroom and enquired the price for a headphone model. I told the sales rep that the same was available for a discount only. He said that firstly, the parent company had not offered any discount to retailers. Secondly, it might just be a counterfeit. He then proceeded to show me a two headphones and asked me which one was genuine. Frankly, at a glance they both looked the same and could have passed as two pieces of the same model unless he had mentioned that one of them was a fake. He identified the fake one for me and showed me the cues to its fakeness ... low quality hinges, ear pad quality, minor design variation and finish. And we haven't even spoken about the quality of hardware inside or the quality of sound. I asked him how he got the fake piece. He said that one customer walked in with that piece saying it had an issue and wanted the company to repair or replace it. He was shocked to know that the purchase he made on Amazon was fake. People don't realize that the products sold on Amazon are mostly from sellers and Amazon has limited control over what is being sold.

Ever other user has either himself faced an bad experience or knows someone who as. In such a scenario, they would rather purchase something online only when -
 - Its on a discount
 - Is offered by manufacturer
 - Is low in price
 - they know it would not be faked

Again, these are perceptions. All four points can be deceptive.

A regular brick and mortar shop is real, accessible, providing competitive rate and are (many a times) open to bargaining. More important, you can check before you buy and you can bring it back if faced with any issue. In many cases, they handle the warranty issues for the customer too.

I think the future must be a combination of online and offline experience. Purchasing a product online and picking it up from the local story near your area. online stores like Croma Retail and Reliance Digital are already following these practices and although not very popular, I think this will be a more trustworthy way to go and also ensure that brick and mortar shops do not go out of business.

22 Rules To Phenomenal Storytelling, Pixar Way

Story telling is an art. Not everyone has it. But if you learn a bit, its not that hard to learn. Your grannies stories, your mom's stories, your favorite teachers stories, they had all one thing in common. They were engaging, memorable and always left you wanting more.

Pixar did the same with the movies they created. They were amazing form of story telling. Have a read through the slides created with minimum and yet precise words that throw light on the subtle art of story telling.

Pixar's 22 Rules to Phenomenal Storytelling from Gavin McMahon

Shokugeki No Soma - An Anime Made Me Fall In Love With Cooking

I am not a big foodie, but love to eat a good meal. I love the difference between home cooked food and the food served in a restaurant. Its as different as eating a five star mean and a udipi meal, or perhaps your mother's cooking and your friends mom's cooking.

Out of sheer lack of good shows to watch in Anime genre on Netflix, I took a leap of faith in watching a food related anime series. I was pleasantly surprised by what I got myself into.

Let me say this. If you appreciate good food, you will fall in love with this show.

The show emphasises the art of making a good dish or a meal. Let's you understand the story being every dish and how it evolved. The sensory assault or arousal that each bite evokes with taste, smell and visual appeal. At times outlandish, but then that is anime for those who have never gotten hooked to this genre of story telling. By the way, it's got a good story line and well written characters.

I will not elaborate the storyline. Go watch it if you love food related stuff. What's truly amazing is the fact that the artwork (most of the anime are hand drawn), is truly work of art. The visuals created are truly amazing, be it the glaze, transparency, viscosity, moisture, heat, dryness, crispness, gelatinous or any other 'ness' that one can associate with describing food.

Rich ramen, steaming hot

I slowly but surely got hooked on to this show and am about the close in on the last third season. I have started enjoying the process of cooking food my self. I may not be capable as a sou chef, but can definitely see myself as kitchen porter. heh!

If you love food related shows, go watch. You will always remember it like a good meal you had on a hot summer holiday at beach resort. Or something in those lines.  Bon appetit! 

Do It, Even If They Say It's Stupid

There are so many things that I have done in life which I might have second thoughts about. So many.

Perhaps I should not have done it. Perhaps there were other ways to handle it. Perhaps I should have listened to my premonitions and not be reckless. Perhaps.

All the regrets would add up to nothing but a pile of 'what if's'. Of course not very thing that i have done have been worth while. Sometimes a little objectivity and rationale should have been in place to stop me from making really really stupid mistakes. Mistakes like not having a plan B when failure would take away a sizable chunk of the gains made.

One of the biggest stupidity I did was to quit a comfortable engineering job seeking an unknown career. It took the next 10 years or so to give me the clarity through various jobs. But still, the journey was worth it. Having said that the other stupidity, in professional capacity, was to get emotionally attached to the job and not quitting when I should have. This cost me far more than anything. I do believe I wasted 5 years of my career in roles I overstayed on. That was so stupid of me.

It's not just in my profession, but also in life, relationships, actions and many more. I have stories that have stuck with me. Stories of making decisions and not making ones that cost me money, time, opportunities and relationships.

Biggest regret was not in taking a decision. The biggest ones were when I didn't take any decision and just let it pass. All because of my fears of failure or being afraid.

Or perhaps ... of the unknown. Baka! 

Getting Yourself To Start A Habit

Lately I have been experimenting a lot with changing my daily patterns. Like many others, I have also become a victim of wasteful habits. Be it watching TV or spending a lot of time on the smartphone or leaving things half way through (even that can be called a habit frankly) or just not focusing on anything particular.

I gave it a lot of thought and realized that it would make a lot of sense to focus on small things and then extrapolate it to bigger goals or intents. This way I would not get overwhelmed with tasks or disheartened with failures. Small successes and failures are manageable.

I remember the first habit I tried to build. Read a book. So many times have I left books half way through. The fact that I read a lot of non-fiction, business and scientific books,  mean that there is no need to finish any book. In fact you can also start mid way if you choose to. Anyways, that was not the intent. Completing the book meant learning something the way the author intended you to understand or read.

You may want to learn a new skill or perhaps learn to cook or practice and improve your musical instrument skill. But there are so many times you might say to your self "from today I will practise playing my guitar daily. And then in a matter of few days, something comes up and you miss out on one of your practice. You procrastinate or get demotivated and think to your self "I am pathetic" , or worst, your mind locks out the very thought, never to bring it up till the next time (weeks or perhaps months later). So, what does one do?

Here is my technique, that might help ....

Step 1 : The Setup
Step 2 : Execute Habit
Step 3: Improvise

Step 1 : The Setup
Fix a time of the day to action the habit. Add a reminder on your smartphone (daily reminder) to alert you to action your habit. Some habits cannot be done on specific time of the day. In that case, identify cue's that trigger the action. Let's way you are watch or listen to tutorials on the go when travelling to or from work. In that case, your cue is commuting. Or perhaps a team break or lunch break or morning walk etc. When this even occurs, you get the cue that you need to initiate your habit task.

Keep a diary or a wall calendar to tick dates on which the tasks were executed. Calendars are better as they hang on the wall and are always there in front of you. additionally tell a friend of family member about your intended habit and request them to remind you (occasionally) just as a back up.

Step 2 : Execute Habit
So what is it that you are planning on doing? If its something simple like taking your morning pills (medicines), then its just mere execution of task. But if your habit involves something that takes long time and bigger effort then you need some basic planning (example - reading a book or studying a subject or learning to cook etc). Here is what it really boils down to ...

Break down activity into small chunks. Meaning short duration and simpler tasks. Which means, in case you plan to read a book then read for half an hour or one chapter a day. Small chunks are easily digestible and less annoying or difficult. If you are learning a subject, plan the chapters and concept to be learned on a calendar or paper and tick them off as you cover them.

When you complete a task, you can reward yourself. Do it initially and not always. Use rewards only when the habit bring attempted have a degree of difficulty or pain associated with it. Like say you plan on getting in shape by hitting the gym. After a gym routine, your body might get tired or experience muscle pain. You may choose to reward yourself with a week end massage to relax your muscles. By the way, who doesn't enjoy a good massage.

Step 3 : Improvise

Remember, if you need motivation, your habit has not yet been formed. A habit comes naturally, or as they say, its second nature.

I remember when I decided that I wanted to learn painting. The biggest hurdle was not that I couldn't paint well. In fact getting myself to sit down with paper and colors was the biggest challenge. Once you kick off painting habitually on a regular basis, then the next step of evolution, that is to improve your skills, kicks in.

This is a transitional phase that you will experience. You will naturally want to spend more time on the habit or perhaps increase the difficulty level. Keep reviewing your activity on a weekly basis. 

If you are skipping activities, you might want to reset some motivation and reward for your routine. Review them to check if they end up helping you achieve goal or not. Keep improvising.

Remember, not being able to form a habit is ok. You can always attempt it again, and again ... True failure is not attempting at all.