Update: GTO of TeamBHP forums is doing great job in mining and sharing the sales stats with the world. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/111873-november-2011-indian-car-sales-analysis.html I now see no use of doing same thing, great work there, GTO!

Just for fun, (yeah, part of my hobby & pleasures) I’m collecting all sales data of all cars sold in India. To keep the data organized, easy to handle, analyze and study; I’m starting a new spreadsheet and uploading it on the cloud (simply on the internet). It’ll be made open for public and people can view or download it. Further I might allow people to edit the document sheet so that other viewers can contribute. Like the open source, right? (but ironically on windows server; yeah! It’ll be on Skydrive to be precise.) I’ll also post guide on how you can collect monthly car sales data and contribute to spreadsheet. Detail post follows once the document is uploaded and made accessible to public. And given my blogging rate, you can estimate when it’d be up!

That’s heads-up. If you’re interested in contributing as well, drop me a line below.  And if you know any motor-trend enthusiast: spread the word. Lets see where it goes, it could be big, who knows! I’m making such doc because it’s not there on the internet, or at least that is what I think; if you happen to know such data readily available on the internet for free please comment below.

Pune based mobile application development firm Optinno Mobitech Pvt. Ltd. today announced the launch of first-of-its-kind mobile application ‘Mobiwatchman‘. True to its name, it is an innovative mobile application that can be a savior for millions of cellphone users who are frustrated due to incessant calls and spammy SMSes. Mobiwatchman gives the options to block unwanted calls and SMS with various filter levels thereby giving the choice to set the privacy level. What surprised me is it even blocks Hin-glish spam SMS.

MobiWatchman

Announcing the launch, the founder and CEO of Optinno Mobitech Pvt. Ltd. & my closed friend, Mr Sagar Bedmutha said, “Mobiwatchman is developed considering the Indian user and ways & extent of unsolicited mass marketing in India. Mobiwatchman effectively empowers you and gives you full control on what calls and SMS you receive. It is India’s first native SMS and call blocking application. Although ‘National Do Not Call’ (NDNC) registry, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have taken sincere efforts to reduce the amount of mobile spam, mobile spammers always find ways to bypass the restrictions of NDNC registry. That is the reason why you receive scores of unsolicited marketing calls and SMS even after registering with NDNC registry.”

In terms of features and at a one time price of just Rs. 199, Mobiwatchman scores much above than other spam blocking options like operator’s filter services, other paid applications.

The application is currently developed targeting Nokia phones and can be used on all Symbian S60 devices. More information and online purchase options are available on www.mobiwatchman.com.

Transportation Cars & Roads:

Delhi’s road infrastructure is stunning. They say if you’re city driving enthusiast, you got to be in Delhi. It looks impressive especially when you come from other parts of India. Roads are smooth, broad, and there are cars for these wide roads to fill. There are cars, plenty of cars and variety of cars. Unlike other cities, where you see one types of cars dominating roads in a city, (which define the city’s culture;) in Delhi there’re cars of all price range; and they are big in numbers. I heard that Number of cars in NCR (New Delhi & surrounding area) are more than the total sum of all cars present in other Indian metro cities (Mumbai + Chennai + Kolkata). I thought it’s unrealistic claim, but after visiting Delhi I realised that it’s not equal to sum of other 3 metros, (but a lot more!!) it’s more than sum of all top 10 cities combined!! yeah! go ahead and add Bangalore, Hydrabad, Ahemdabad, Pune in the list & NCR would still beat them all alone. (yes, go google it & check the stats!). I see Toyota Camry & Honda Accord on Delhi’s road as often as I can see Maruti Suzuki’s Swift in Mumbai.

I cannot say it’s good or bad, having your own car, or having higher ‘cars per thousand people’ ratio for city, it could be one of the measures of prosperity. But it can also indicate the lack of good public transport system. Seriously, as a visitor, you’re completely helpless in Delhi. It’s inconvient and expensive. There’re no cabs/taxi (four wheeler car, fiat or ambassador) roaming around city, no cool cabs (A/C taxis) seen too, well! at least I didnot see them. (my friend claimed that there’re few). I hope there’re enough rickshaws but they dont follow the meter and charge passengers way more than they should. It’s the case with EVERY rickshaw, I dont understand why there’s meter system if nobody follows it in first place. Either increase meter rate or control rickshaw mafia. This is at full scale, illegal, cancerous and not right for the BIG city like Delhi. Public transport is SERIOUS problem in Delhi. Let’s not talk about Delhi’s buses. Privatising the city bus service is the biggest mistake government have done. Buses also doesnt travel through inner roads and lacks ‘reach’. I’ve been hearing about metro since a decade. And dilli junta is very optimistic, always saying ‘metro ane ke baad sab thik hoga‘…. lo aa gayi metro, kuch pharak pada?

I just hope they increase the rail network and the frequecy of metro trains.

I’ve always been attracted to Delhi, maybe it’s because Hindi language, nation’s capital, great history & legacy or Punjabi pop music influence on bollywood; it doesn’t matter, the point is I always ^tried to love^ Delhi….. whenever I go there. Yes, it’s not the first time I been there, so here we go. In red bold words are the top things I noticed in Delhi

Society, Culture & People:

If I visit new place, I love to get lost! (but fortunately/unfortunately I never got lost!) I love to explore cities, & when I went Delhi I see no beggars. There’re no beggars. At least nobody begged me! and it’s not that I wondered only in ^posh areas^ of city.  On bus station, auto rickshaw stand, railway stations, in the train, all possible public places, I never seen a beggar, it could be that everytime I went Delhi it was cold winter, but what would beggars do in cold? where do they go? & why should they come in summers anyways? it’s unbearable in New Delhi during any month of the year. I guess that is the reason why there’re no beggars, you cannot afford to be shelter-less in Delhi. Winter is freezing cold, summer is boiling hot & negligible rain during monsoon. Forget about beggars I wonder how normal people can live in that city! I observed very odd pattern and lifestyle at residential areas. In Delhi you buy a plot and build your own house. Landlord most of the cases gives on floor of the house/building for rent/lease. There’s no concept of equal people living together in a building owning flats like co-operative housing society, have common area, facilities like an apartment or sharing toilet and gallery like a chawl. Thus, every plot owner thinks selfish way. They have colonies consisting lots of grid-plots, where one plot ends and other starts sharing same compound fence. To utilise the avail land fully, they build house (?) corner to corner compromising greatly on ventilation. I would not call them houses they are actually small concrete boxes in a big city. There’re no skyscrapers for residents. I rarely seen high-rise buildings but those were corporate offices. I see it more like London than Mumbai. Still it cannot be compared with London, as it’s not a cosmopolitan city.  In Delhi, all people speak in Hindi, (including the staff at the American Library) yes true! I hear haanji (yes sir!), sirji, ji, all the time. Really, once you’re outside your home, all people from boy at tea-stall to rickhaw-wala everybody address you with “sir” or “sirji“, that’s such awkward for Mumbaikar like me, c’mon, sir? oh, & if you want to know how they address here in Mumbai, just watch Taxi No. 9211. In fact most of the bollywood movies are filmed in Mumbai, has Mumbai in its theme and demonstrate Mumbai culture and style. Very rarely, a film is produced with Delhi-theme e.g. Khosla ka Ghosla. Same is with advertising be it print or TV media, since most of the ad agencies that work in Indian advertising industry are located in Mumbai, they have Mumbai flavour in their ads. Anyways before I lose my track, the point is if you don’t live near NCR area, or Northern India in general, you’re not exposed to Delhi culture well; whereas you get glimpse of Mumbai’s lifestyle and culture by watching TV & Bollywood movies. For instance I was not aware of Delhi’s clothing sense, fashion etc. & I must tell you I’m impressed. Not just girls are good looking they dress well, I think girls from Pune should learn something Delhi and Chandigargh. Sigh!

to be continued read part-2 transportation

If you own a business firm, be it mature or a startup, if you manage enterprises if you’re a businessman, or call yourself an entrepreneur it’s worth visiting this event; there’s definitely going to be a lot to learn and loads of takeaways from this summit/event.

Quoting the email verbatim sent by director of Mumbai Chapter, Mr. Manak Singh. (not verbatim, making some edits adding links & changing voice)

The TiE Mumbai’s mega-Jugaad, Enterprising India – TiE Summit 2009 (21-23 Dec) has got an encouraging response, with 200+ registrations in the 1st 10 days itself (& growing steadily)…

We are aiming to stage the largest ever un-conference for Entrepreneurs in India so far…with the challenge of 2,000 entrepreneurs !

For this we are setting up a Huge 60,000 sq.ft. super structure at MMRDA grounds with a 20,000 sq.ft. Indian Marketplace to showcase exciting enterprising Indian Models.

We invite you to participate in this challenge and HELP your chapter achieve this 2,000 entrepreneur mark !!

Please help reach out to Friends, Family, networks, organisations, to encourage enterprising Indians to attend these Power Packed 3-Days of inspiration, learning, opportunity, connectivity & entertainment !! This is applicable to enterprising Indians across the board… Manufacturing / services, Start-up or Growth, Service providers…

Click here to view the Powerful agenda…

• Ratan Tata & Narayan Murthy opening together, for the first time, and many other inspiring Keynote panels
• Iinspiring & iconic CO-HOSTS presenting 24 inspiring, unique examples of Enterprising India…..
• 9 Panel debates, 18 Gurukul Sessions by the co-hosts & many other iconic
• Financial Clinics, Investor Pitches,
• and much more…

Encourage as many to Visit and REGISTER on www.tiesummit.org !

Let us know if any of your networks / organisations are looking for Group registrations, there’re surely some discounts for group registration!

Join us in this Jugaad! And we promise you an unforgettable Summit !!

History, Present and the Future…

The 1st TiE Summit was conceived and launched by TiE Mumbai in 2006 and many of us still remember its energy and success! It is a proud moment for all of us to host it again this year after 3 years … !!

And being Enterprising Indians we have taken up the challenge to host the largest and most ambitious TiE Summit, with a difference i.e. through an Un-conference (Jugaad), driven by  a movement (not just a theme) called Enterprising India.

thank you.

Of course it was students’ favourite book! (& mine as well) FYI, that was the first book I purchased for GMAT preparation. It has magical number ’800′ and a note that says that it’s meant for highly studious and those who want to excel their score to 99th %tile. Oh yeah! so even if you’re not that scholar, by buying this book you feel like you belong to that league. That’s the typical mentality & I was no exception. But I had already done quite a lot of research about GMAT test prep books and Kaplan 800 GMAT was the right choice for me.

Anyways, coming back to the news, as you already might have guessed by reading the title, Kaplan’s 800 GMAT is no more available in stores and it is replaced by new book GMAT advanced. So if you’re currently preparing for GMAT and already have GMAT 800 book, dont buy Kaplan’s GMAT advanced, because content wise both are almost same. To investigate, I checked Kaplan’s store on their website where the book was not available, I was suspicious because I could still locate GMAT 800 in Amazon with really unrealistic price!

Finally this confirmed by the Kaplan representative from GMAT online forums, that both books are same.

How you  can use the data from Alexa toolbar?: to analyse the web. Simple. For instance you’d be surprised to see Maps.Google.Com isn’t in top 10 places people go to Google!! Although it’s very very popular product (at least in US!)

So, download the toolbar & enjoy it’s features. It’s available for Mozilla Firefox as well as for MS Internet Explorer.

Alexa Toolbar (sparky) is perhaps the first toolbar available for IE must be since pre-Y2K era!! not sure though…

It’s very critical addon & comes very handy to monitor your bandwidth usage. It’s my most favourite add-on of firefox.
This applies to all BSNL’s & MTNL’s broadband subscribers. I know there are hell lot of you out there who use BSNL’s DataOne or MTNL’s triband.
It’s new version update 1.7 hence the post. If you dont have this addon  grab it now from the official site.

Note that this is a firefox addon & you need to use Firefox browser to leverage this monitoring tool.

(You can download the firefox by clicking on the its image on the right sidebar.)