...

Saturday, July 29, 2006

"The only constant in life is change."

This is the truest in India.

1) Two weeks ago, Ad Sales wanted the same set of house numbers for both channels. We told them that they should have different sets of house numbers for each channel but they insisted on just 1 set. Last week, they came back to us and said they decided they want 2 different sets of house numbers.

2) Yesterday, Amit told us that a promo he was cutting would be 50 seconds. Before that, he had already confirmed that the promo would be 45 seconds. So Sowmya had to readjust her log. After she was done with the adjustments, Amit came and told us it would be 45 seconds again.

3) Today, when I went to watch Lake House at Inox, the ticket was only 89 rupees. Half the price I paid for Superman at the same theatre.

4) A lady in the queue wanted to watch Superman with her children but it turns out that the movie has already stopped showing at the theatre. The lady was very unhappy as she came to the theatre only because she saw in the newspapers that Superman was still showing at the Inox.

Nothing is ever constant here. You would think that once things have been decided at the managerial level or things have been published on the mass media, it is the final say. But no. Things still change even when work on the decision has started.

How frustrating is that?

India Traffic

Please Q...

Friday, July 28, 2006

There is a "Please Q" sign at the elevator in our office building. The first time I saw it, I didn't think people would follow the sign. Imgaine my surprise when I saw people actually forming a line in front of the elevator. It seems that the people here are more considerate than I thought. (Singaporeans never ever queue except at Singapore Pools betting outlets.)

So I happily joined the queue.

When the elevator door open, people behind me went towards the elevator even before I took my first step! The question that popped up in my head was, "What is the point of the queue if you guys don't wait for the people in front of you to go into the elevator first?"

Do they even know what a queue is for???

Glocalisation

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Everyone is telling me that when the "police", i.e. the Directors and Presidents of the company, come over to Mumbai, things will change for the better. They will make sure the India company follow the practise/culture/workflow/etc of the company.

So what if the channel doesn't have the look? So what if the executives in the U.S. can see the channel.

The reality is this. When a company enters a huge market, they have to localise to suit the tastes of the locals and not try to change the locals' tastes. This is going to happen whether we like it or not.

Coca-Cola had to come up with Thums Up because Indians didn't like Coke as much.

Subway has Chicken Seekh and Chicken Kali Mirch sandwiches.

Maggi has Dal Atta instant noodles.

McDonalds has McAloo Tikki burger (don't ask me what it is).

On the broadcast side, years ago when MTV first entered India, they too had to localise their programs before they managed to capture the India market.

Disney would be no different.

You can just use the Asian feed for the Singapore market because Singapore a small market. Having a dedicated feed for Singaporeans is not worthwhile. But India is too big a market to ignore. Using feeds from other countries may mean losing eyeballs to other local kids channels.

In the process, some compromise in branding would have to be made. No matter what the executives sitting in the US office say, the ones who know the market best would be the Indians in the India office.

Furthermore, the television business is ultimately a commercial business. The bottomline is always the priority. Without commercials, there won't be a channel. To keep advertisers happy, the channel would need high ratings. To have high ratings, the channel would need to cater to the locals' tastes.

I anticipate more local programs and promos on the channel especially since the creative team is moving back to India. We'll just see how the channel turns out and see whether they manage to retain the original branding of the company.

Realization!

Last night, a thought hit me and I realized that we have all misinterpreted Aditi's words when she said she didn't need as many headcount as Singapore! I believe she actually meant she would need more headcount than Singapore.

Training has been going on for about 1 month. My understudy can actually ask about things that I have been telling her so many times. Yesterday, she said I only told her once that's why she didn't know what to do. This time, when I told her, she finally decided to take out her pen and paper to note it down.

That's when I knew. Aditi needs to hire a secretary for her otherwise she will forget to note things down or she won't know where her notes are. So if each of the schedulers got a secretary, of course they need more headcount.

If the secretary is good enough, she can double up as a receptionist. Everytime when I am teaching my understudy something and we get interrupted, she picks up the phone. Have you ever seen someone rushing to the toilet at the end of a long movie? She's like that with the phone, dying to pick it up. I don't mean she uses the phone as her toilet. She just uses it either to ask her secretary at home to take down notes for her or to update all her friends on the latest news of our company (we suspect she is a commercial spy).

Perhaps, if the department has enough budget, Aditi should consider hiring someone else just to help them with all their work other than scheduling. Because simple work like inserting presentation items and updating the promo strategy takes her half a day when I only take one hour max. With this new headcount, my understudy can concentrate on her log and just get the helper to bring her tea, answer her phone calls and do the other nitty gritty stuff that schedulers are supposed to do.

Perhaps I should submit a manpower analysis to Aditi...

Monsoon Shopping

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Shopping during monsoon season is a real drag.

In Mumbai, the cheap shopping is in markets and small roadside shops. The markets are sheltered by canvas sheets or ground sheets with holes. So they are not really sheltered. And to go from shop to shop, you have to go out into the rain since most shops do not have a shelter on the outside. When in the shop, if the rain is really heavy, you can't stand near the entrance too as you will get wet.

Even with an umbrella, I got three quarters wet. I was wet from the waist down and on my back. Added to the fact that the roads are full of potholes, you get your shoes all wet and muddy. Sometimes, there are other "things" in the water because men and dogs all do their business on the roads. When the rain comes, they get washed into the potholes. So be really careful not to step into potholes when walking in the rain.

Hygiene Tip #1

Friday, July 21, 2006

If an Indian ever passes you anything made of paper, newspaper, letters, money, documents, etc...remember to wash your hands after that. They like to lick their fingers before flipping through papers to make the task easier. The papers in India must be so sticky (but I don't think so...it's rough actually) that they need their fingers to be sticky with saliva before they can suck up the papers.

I was going through the Work Order with my "understudy".
Me: Can you look for the Work Order #581333?
Understudy:
Lick finger, flip to page 2.
Lick finger, flip to page 3.
Lick finger, flip to page 4.
Lick finger, flip to page 5.
Lick finger, flip to page 6.
Lick finger, flip to page 7.
Lick finger, flip to page 8.
Finally finds the Work Order.

I must tell you that the ink from our office printer doesn't really stay well on paper. Imagine how much ink they lick in everyday.

First Month in Mumbai

Monday, July 17, 2006

Yesterday was my first month in Mumbai. Finally. Two more months to go.

I'm wondering how much my Indian counterpart has learnt from me. She hasn't even completed a single log and has been MIA for 2 and a half days. Her manager doesn't even know she didn't come to work.

We heard from Tina that Aditi has been saying that she doesn't need as many headcounts as we have in Singapore because Indians are smarter than Singaporeans. What a joke. I'm waiting for the day that she will take her words back. She doesn't know that we have been correcting all their mistakes for them since day 1. Not day 1 of my India trip but day 1 since the channel started. The channel is more than 1 and a half years old and still we are cleaning up their mess.

Many friends have also told me that they thought Indians are very smart. I agree to a certain extent but we can't assume everyone of them are. (Not that I am saying they are dumb or anything). Just like we can't assume all Singaporeans are smart.

What I'm trying to say is that their work attitude is really different from us. The official working hours are 9am to 6pm. But you can still see people strolling in the office at 10am or 10.30. They only start real work around 11am. Then at about 5pm, they start to relax and walk around or talk while waiting for 6pm. On Friday, you hardly see people working. Now I'm not surprised that they always take so long to reply to our emails, urgent or not.

It's different when they need something from you. They keep coming to your desk and asking you how you're doing and whether the thing they want is ready. How annoying is that?

*He just came in again to ask for the stuff*

Anyway, I have never seen anyone teach a newcomer log scheduling the way we do. When I just started this job 3 years ago, I was totally new. I didn't even know what scheduling was about. Yet, I was just thrown a guide on scheduling and told to produce my first log. Here, we are practically spoon feeding the Indian schedulers. (Are they really experienced?) We need to show them every single step and even sit down with them as they start to work on the log to make sure they do the right things. Smart huh?

Well, work aside, I'm enjoying my stay here. I'm making full use of my time to explore the city I think. My colleagues from other countries other than India have been really nice to us.

My biggest accomplishment so far is that I proved Tina wrong because I went to the gym last night. She bet that I wouldn't ever go just because she has been travelling with her gym equipment for twenty years and she hasn't been to the gym ever. Well, I'm different from her! Haha...

Yes. I'm looking forward to the day I go home but I think I will miss this city when the day comes.

Exercise...Finally

Sunday, July 16, 2006

I finally went for my first swim in months in an attempt to lead a healthy lifestyle here. But I think I overstretched my arms in my anger and now they hurt.

I was trying to have a good swim when a group of Korean middle-aged men came down for a swim too. Only, they weren't swimming. They were just taking up space in the pool. One guy even sat on my beach chair. My clothes were on the chair so it's quite obvious that the chair is occupied. He then took my clothes and put it on the table (dirty) beside him and lay down on the chair.

I was quite angry by then. I finished my laps then went up to my chair and took my slippers and clothes back. He apologized but I doubt he meant it since it was quite obvious there was someone using the chair. So I just walked away.

Conversations with Indians

Friday, July 14, 2006

Conversation 1
Ivan: Where are you bringing me for disco this Saturday?
Steve: Ya. You know the bomb, they put the bag in the train and then...

Conversation 2
Ivan: Vishal, can you speak Hindi and Tamil?
Vishal: Ya. (Imagine the Hindi twang)
Ivan: You can speak Hindi and Tamil ah?
Vishal: No. (Imagine the Hindi twang) I speak xxx (dont know what it was) and Hindi.
Ivan: Oh, so you can speak Hindi.
Vishal: Yes.
Ivan: You can speak Tamil?
Vishal: Yes.

Impressions of Mumbai by a Fellow Singaporean

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Check this out! Really true.

Letter from India

Letter from India Part 2

Birthday Surprises

When people say "Have a blast of your birthday!" I don't think they really mean it literally. But that was exactly what I got. Yesterday (7/11 they call it)was a big day for Mumbai. 7 bombs exploded in the first class compartment of 7 different trains during peak hours. More than 100 people were killed and more than 600 people were injured. To think I wanted to try the first class trains one day. Now I will have to think twice.

The bombs went off one by one towards North Mumbai. I heard from a colleague that the bomb that went off nearest to us was 7km away. When we heard the news in the office, we were immediately told to head back to the hotel.

Our hotel is in the South. So traffic back was relatively smooth. I wouldn't say the same for traffic on the other side of the road though. Traffic towards the North was so packed they occupied lanes that were South going. We were told by HR to stay in the hotel till we were given the green light to go out so I got a holiday on my birthday. Sort of. I worked from the hotel today. No training. No vomitting of blood. No waste of time.

I got 3 birthday cakes today. The guest relations of the hotel called early this morning and wished me "Happy Birthday" then they left a cake and a bouquet of flowers in my room. When the Japanese restaurant we had lunch at knew it was my birthday, they gave me a cake on the house. Tina bought a cake for me too. I think I'm going to have cakes for all my meals for the next two days.Zhichao sent me a bouquet from Singapore. So touched.I must say this is my most eventful and memorable birthday I ever had. Floods, protests, bombs, what next?

Shockers

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

In a short span of three days, I have had 4 shocks.

1: On Saturday, when I went to watch the movies with Tina and gang, remember the girl beggar? After touching Ridzwan's face, I thought she went to another car. Who knew she would sneak up from the back and appear on my side of the car?

2: Yesterday on the way to dinner, while the car was waiting for the traffic light to turn green, another boy sneaked up from behind and was suddenly "splat" against the window on my side of the car. I jumped and instinctively leaned against Winnie. Seems like the monsoons have changed the tactics of these young beggars. When I first arrived, they all started from the front of a row of cars so I could see them coming. Nowadays, they start from the back and always give me a shock.

3: After dinner yesterday, while waiting outside the restaurant for Steve to bring his car, 2 pairs of mother and daughter beggars surrounded us asking for money. We tried to walk away from them but they kept following us. I was trying to avoid one of them when I felt something brush my leg. I jumped because I thought it was a dog (there are dozens of street dogs in Mumbai). When I turned around, it turns out to be one of the girl beggars.

4: Have you ever watched horror films where the protagonist turns around and sees something she shouldn't? Well, last night. Yes, last night again. I was unpacking my clothes and putting them in the cupboard in my hotel room. When I turned around, I saw someone and I jumped again! Don't laugh. But it was actually my reflection in the mirror.

Protest March Part 2

Monday, July 10, 2006

OUB called Ivan in Singapore to ask if he wanted to cancel his trip to Mumbai because it seems that there was some political unrest. We had no idea such things were going on other than the protest march on Saturday.

Things seemed peaceful enough when Stanley brought us out for a walk around Colaba. The roads were empty and many shops were closed. We thought it was normal for a Sunday in Mumbai. It turns out that the shops were closed because there were riots in other parts of Mumbai.

Stanley is one of the friendliest people around in the office. Since our first day at work, he's been wanting to bring us out but we were just too busy with work. Yesterday, we finally went out to explore the area with him. Stanley brought us out to many places we wouldn't have gone on our own. We walked for 2 hours passing by art galleries, cinemas, parks, a library, a cricket field, Mumbai University. We discovered many nooks and crannies of Mumbai streets that had interesting shops. We also tried ice-cream from a small shop, crossing our fingers that we wouldn't get food poisoning. (Winnie got a tummy ache in the night though). Stanley also promised to lend us a set of Desperate Housewives DVD for us to pass time on weekends.

For dinner, we had Jewish food. As usual, the serving was really huge. I had steak which I have not had for ages. Yum yum. I think I'm beginning to like the city.

Protest March and Superman

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Before I forget, I should mention that I have moved from AB's Apartments to Taj Mahal Palace & Tower. If you read my earlier blogs, you would remember me mentioning that we went to look at the hotel. I must say it's really much more comfortable here. At the very least, we can adjust the air con temperature and the blanket is much warmer.

When we were at AB's apartments, people always asked how many channels I have on my TV and I would answer,"That depends on whether it's raining or not." Now, there are so many channels, about 80, to choose from but not many I am interested to watch. There're AXN, HBO, Star Movies, Star World, Channel News Asia and Channel V, among others. Just last night, I saw Jet Li in a Huang Fei Hong show but dubbed in English. It was quite funny.
Anyway, this morning we went out to take a walk around our hotel area. We saw a big group of people carrying orange flags at the Gate of India. At first we thought that they were tourists. I realised we might be wrong when we saw road blocks and a big group of policemen standing at a traffic junction but since they were just standing around we decided nothing was wrong. After we finished our stroll and was walking back to the hotel, the group we saw at Gate of India was walking, chanting in Hindi (i think). Immediately we walked in the opposite direction. Lucky for us, the protest was a peaceful one.

We asked a policewomen what the protest was about but she couldn't speak English so we had no idea what was going on. But a day ago, we received an email from Tina that said there would be a strike by bank workers in August and that we should make sure we have enough cash on hand during the strike. Perhaps they decided to bring forward the strike. Who knows.

I watched Superman with Tina, Barbara, Ridzwan and his wife in a Mumbai cineplex. INOX, today. Tickets cost about 180 rupees (S$6). The seats were cool, they could recline a little. Different theatres in India sell tickets at different prices. The one we went to was considered one of the newest and the best. It is about the same standard as Singapore's cinemas.

Each time there was a movie trailer and before the movie, there would be a scanned copy of the certificate issued by the Board of Film Commissions or something to certify that the film has been approved.

Before the film began, there was a sign that said "Please stand for the national anthem". So we all stood and sang the anthem. In the middle of the film, there was an intermission of about 10 minutes. During the movie itself, people were talking and mobile phones were ringing. If someone was too loud, people would sshh them but I don't think it was effective especially since most of the people talking were kids. When Superman appeared to save the world, some people actually clapped. It was an interesting experience.

After the movie, we went back to the hotel in a taxi and I was reminded of why we didn't want to take them to work. A girl beggar came to our taxi window to ask for money. She first touched Barbara's hands, then touched Ridzwan's face. Lastly, she came to my side of the taxi, she touched my shirt sleeve in an attempt to get my attention. When I got of the taxi, I saw that there were 2 black marks on my sleeve! I wonder if Ridzwan would get pimples on his face tomorrow.

Mumbai Is Sinking

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Before the rain

After the rain

Since then, we have been leaving the office early the past few days to avoid the traffic jam and flood.

Today, we decided to stay in the hotel since most people involved in the training won't be able to make it to work anyway. Brian booked a conference room for the business centre in the morning. Everyone was frantically trying to connect to the company's network the whole morning, it was we were at war. Things only settled down around lunch time by which time we had to move to another room.

View from the conference room

The battlefield

The other day, Huiqi was looking at the weather forecast on the Intercontinental Hotel website. It said "Tons of rain." If I was in Singapore, I would think that the use of the word was rather casual. But, being here, I really understand what tons of rain really means. The rain is much heavier than that in Singapore and the winds are really strong.

Just an example, the security guard standing at the first floor of the building was wearing a raincoat and he was indoors!

The waves by the beach were so strong that it was reported to have washed a boy away. There were even rumours that a tidal wave would hit Mumbai. Of course that is just a rumour.

Impressions of Delhi

Monday, July 03, 2006

We flew over to Delhi and Agra over the weekend. On the whole, other than the butt aches we had from the long hours in the car and plane, it was rather enjoyable.

After work on Friday, we left for Delhi. I'm quite surprised that Mumbai's domestic airport is so much nicer than its international airport. Delhi is a two hour flight from Mumbai. There was slight turbulence on the flight because of the heavy rain. I felt my heart lurch and I bounced slightly off the seat. It was quite scary. After a while, the flight went back to normal.

The next morning, we went for a sightseeing tour of New and Old Delhi. We visited a mosque, Gandhi's memorium, the President's residence and lots of other monuments. As can be expected, we were also brought to some tourist shop selling Kashmir carpets and shawls. 1 carpet was about USD$2,000. The smallest was about USD$800+. *faint* We were almost brought to a jewellery shop as well but we weren't really interested since we knew they were going to be so expensive. After lunch, we asked the tour guide to bring us to a shopping mall. He said the shopping malls in Delhi were on the outskirts which was quite a distance. He took us to a marketplace instead. Things there were cheap but the quality was questionable. We were there for less than an hour. On our way back to the guesthouse, guess what?, we saw a huge shopping area. What a ripoff! But by then, we were too tired to see what is on offer there.
Delhi, on the surface, seems much cleaner and organized than Mumbai. There aren't as many slums, the road condition is better and buildings are much cleaner. High-rise buildings are a rarity in Delhi too because they have so much land. It isn't as squeezy and congested as in Mumbai as well. But I believe the traffic conditions are just as bad on weekdays. Delhi's flavour comes in the form of monuments and memorials while Mumbai's uniqueness is in it's colonial buildings and museums.

On the last day of our trip, we left for Agra where Taj Mahal is. The trip was 4 hours by car from Delhi to Agra (on condition that there was no traffic jam). Taj Mahal was really grand. The artwork on the marbles were remarkable. No easy feat for people of that period, I believe. After Taj Mahal, we visited a fort. Huge place.

The weather in Delhi was miles apart from Mumbai. Delhi was sunny with temperatures at 42 to 43 degree celsius. I almost got sun burnt. I have not been so soaked in perspiration for a really long time. Brian even had to change his shirt everytime he got back to the car. The aircon in the car wasn't of much use either.

We thought our adventures ended when we boarded the plane headed for Mumbai. We were wrong. Two things that we did not expect happened which confirmed our views that anything can happen in India and last minute changes are normal everywhere, not just on Indian channels.

Firstly, the plane landed halfway through the flight at Amadabad (or something like that) to drop off and pick up passengers. We thought we had a direct flight to Mumbai so I thought that it was an emergency landing initially but it wasn't so.

Secondly, when we arrived at Mumbai domestic airport, Brian and Tina called their drivers to pick us up. Turned out that the drivers were off on Sunday and they were sleeping when they answered the calls! Brian was furious because he had given the car rental company our itinery and made sure they would pick us up on Sunday. In the end, we took the cool cab back to the hotel. When we reached the hotel, we found out that there was another batch of drivers waiting at the other side of the airport. Couldn't the drivers we called have told us? Hmm...