Category: fundaes

Pricing telecom like electricity?

When I dialed up to connect earlier this morning, I was thinking of the similarity between telecom services and electricity ? funda being that both can?t be ?stored? and in both, a lot of idle capacity has to be built. So was wondering if some day telecom would be priced similar to electricity is today in the US! With a take-or-pay agreement or something. Need to build on this idea but let this stub stay here and let you people?s imagination flow.

One thign here – electricity generally has a single buyer – the transmission company while in case of telecom the customers are fragmented. need to factor that in.

Placements and the MSM

Earlier this afternoon, a member of the IIMB Media Cell found me jobless enough to to attend some placement press conference. Was attended by both print and TV media. After a short interaction with our director, and a report reading session by a placement committee member, four of us “successful candidates” (all 2nd years here are “successful” btw, we’ve had really rocking placements) were quizzed.

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Love in Monte Carlo

A popular class of randomized algorithms is what are called “Monte Carlo algorithms”. These algorithms are applied to decision problems and give a “yes/no” answer. The peculiarity with Monto Carlo Algorithms is that if they say “no” you can be sure that the answer is “no” while if they say yes, the answer is “yes” with only a certain probability! The most “popular” such algorithm is the Primality Test which uses Fermat’s Little Theorem.

I have found an interesting practical instance of a Monte Carlo algorithm. It is regarding the decision I’ve been trying to make over the last two months – is she the ideal girl for me? From my “experiences” I’ve found that the algorithm I use for this is Monte Carlo!

I input a girl into my algorithm and ask it if there is a possibility of a relationship with her. If it says no, I can completely believe it and get on with life. A ‘yes’, however, means trouble. It means there is a possibility of a relationship, but there is no guarantee. An MBA like me is actually supposed to revel in ambiguity, but what the hell.

The way computer scientists get around this peculiarity of this algorithm is by running it multiple times. They define a probability limit (say 95%) and say that “if I am 95% sure that it is a yes, then I’ll take it as a yes”. Now, the number of times the algorithm needs to be run in order to get 95% confidence is determined by the probability that the algorithm is right when it says “yes”.

What has been happening in my case is that this probability is not too high (from historical data). Hence, I need to run it a really large number of times in order to reach the required confidence interval. Consequently, it is taking a fairly long time (there have been occasions in the past when the algorithm kept saying yes for 2 months and then finally said “no”).

Wanted: A better algorithm! Hopefully a Las Vegas.

Jai

It is one of those words like ‘set’. It can be a noun, verb, adjective or adverb. The reason you don’t find it in any dictionary is because the lexicographists (or whatever) are too lazy to list out all its meanings and connotations. The reason it is not used very widely is that most people are not able to comprehend its profundity, and hence are afraid to use it.

The most commonly used form of the word is as a noun, more specifically as a proper noun. It is a quite common first name, especially in North India. Famous people with the name include that loser hero in Sholay who used a coin with heads on both sides so that he could die, thus avoiding marrying a widow! Then, there was this supposed “excellent all-rounder” called Jai P Yadav, unfortunately for whom Souravda got sacked as captain at the wrong time.

Another noun form in which the word is used is in a context such as “jai happens”. I’m not too sure though whether this should be classified as noun or adverb (could someone good at English enlighten me?). “Jai happens” is one of those really unmitigated sentences which manages to capture a lot of meaning in just two short words. This phrase was thus invented so that one could save the trouble of saying a whole paragraph when one could use just two words. It is for this very reason that I can’t explain the meaning of this phrase here. Guess it would suffice if i say that it is a very potent phrase.

Then, there is the commonly used verb form, where it is approximately synonymous with death. Something like “Rajiv Gandhi jai” implies Rajiv Gandhi is no more. Another common usage as a verb is “FTSA Assignment Jai” which means that the FTSA Assignment is so tough that you’re giving up on it. Once again, note that it is not synonymous with death, it is much more insightful than that. The whole reason for the word to exist.

This time, I’m sure that it is an adverb when I use it in the context of “Atticus Finch told jai”. Note that in certain contexts it can be used interchangeably with “Atticus Finch jai”. However, this is a restricted usage, as “Atticus Finch told Jai” has more connotations than just Atticus Finch dying. The most commonly used context where you say that is when Atticus Finch was supposed to meet you, probaby to team up with you in a quiz, or to give you money and suddenly decides not to turn up.

The least used form of this word, however, is as an adjective. It can be used in the context of “this is a Jai assignment”, where jai stands for “extremely tough” or “killing”. However, this is so complex a form that very few people have actually managed to understand the word in this context, thus leading to the low usage.

I have tried my best to explain to you the great insights that this simple three-letter word offers but I must confess that the English language is hardly sufficient to delve into the intricacies of it. I tender my humble apologies for the same. Oh no, I had almost forgotten to tell you one of the most important (and popular) usages of this word.

Bhaarat maata ki jai!

Queen of hearts

You are playing a game of bridge. You bid for, say, “six spades”. The lead happens, dummy comes down (people who don’t know bridge just assume that the first few cards have come down to the table) and you take stock of the situation.

Given the bidding, your cards, your partner’s cards and the lead, you figure out that there is only very slim chance that you will make the contract you have bid for. After careful analysis you see that the only chance for you to win is if the Queen of Hearts is with West. What the bridge experts advice you to do in such a case is to just assume that the queen of hearts is with west and play on.

If she were indeed with west, you will make the contract; else there was no way you were going to make the contract anyway.

Extending this to life, if you think the only way you can achieve something is if a certain thing happens and you don’t know if the certain thing is happening or not, just assume that the thing is happening and get on with life. If the thing did happen, you accomplish your goal. If it didn’t there was no way you were going to accomplish it anyway!

Strong learnings hobbies have to offer.

UD and the Masala Dosa

A few months back, before went on exchange, we thought of doing a survey of “delivery systems in south indian fast food (read darshini) restaurants in Bangalore”. And maybe publishing a paper on it. However, thanks to our combined laziness, it’s never happened. Nevertheless thought of writing what I’ve been observing in a few restaurants I’ve been visiting.

Upahara Darshini (UD) heralded a new paradigm in dining in Bangalore. Set up in the early 90’s, it was perhaps the first darshini in Bangalore, which till then had mostly sit-down type restaurants. During the initial few years, there was hardly any standing space there and we used to go there only to collect takeaways. Of course, I must also mention here that UD also started a new packaging funda for takeaways (using cardboard boxes) and even started charging for the packaging. And people willingly paid.

Business has always been brisk at UD. Till about a couple of years ago, they used to sell a Masala Dosa at around Rs. 10 (while it was at least 20-30% higher in other darshinis). In a survey done by the Times of India in 1998, it was found to be the restaurant with the highest daily turnover in Bangalore. It also diversified quickly, opening Roti Ghar in 98 and then the UD residency and the UD Jayanagar in the last one and a half years.

After the whole lot of dilly-dallying, let me finally come to the point I wanted to make. It is regarding the masala dosa manufacturing process at UD. In most fast food restaurants, the masala dosa is a “made to order” item. Given the fact that the dosa has to be consumed really hot for it to be tasty, and the fact that it doesn’t take too long to make, the strategy makes perfect sense.

UD, however, has totally turned the paradigm on its head and makes to stock masala dosas. The clincher here is the demand. Though UD is known more for its idlis and kadubus and the shavige bath, the masala dosa there seems so immensely popular that they can afford to make it to stock!

While waiting for my dosa the other day I noticed how the system works. There are two huge tawas at UD, one of which is dedicated for making Masala Dosa, which is the “vanilla product” while there is a used for the non-standard products such as rava dosa, set dosa, etc. And the tawa is large enough to make 24 dosas at a time (6×4). And every 5 minutes 24 dosas are churned out and quickly lapped up by hungry customers.

One process change on the customer side that the restaurant has made is the point at which the coupons are collected. Typically, in most darshinis, you hand over the coupon to the “waiter” and then wait for the dosa to be made. Here, due to the huge crowd and the continuous manufacture, the coupon is collected at the time of delivery of the dosa. Another thing is that they usually don’t accede to “special requests” such as “extra roast” or “roast only on one side” or “no red chutney” (though the last time we went my dad managed to get a dosa without the red chutney). Once again, helps in faster manufacture and delivery.

Really interesting to see such a beautiful system that these guys have evolved, all because the demand characteristics of the restaurant are so different from that of the others. Think it would be a good idea to ask an operations prof to write a case study on it.

By the way, what I described above is for the UD in Jayanagar 3rd Block. However, the same process is also followed in the UD on DVG Road (the original UD). And I must also add that the coffee at both places also rocks. At 3 bucks for the extra-large glass of strong filter coffee, it’s definitely worth more than a few visits.

PS: Some day in the next one month, I want to do a vegetarian food tour of Bangalore, and come up with a “vegetarian food tour guide to Bangalore”, similar to what Dibyo has done for not-necessarily-vegetarian food.

Water privatization

, , , two others and I initially thought we are going to fraud our project in Infrastructure Appraisal, Financing, Privatization and Regulation (IAFPR). We decided that each of us would put in 4 man hours of work where we would each come up with 4 pages of report and put it together. It just so happened that in my four hours of effort, I got a fairly decent insight which I thought I should share with you.

from what i’ve read up over the last one hour, whenever a public utility provides water supply, a large part of the population (typically the poor) gets left out. however, those who get it get it at affordable rates. the left out have to rely on unsafe alternate sources for their thing.

now, when water services get privatized, prices shoot up. typically let’s say it doubles. however, the terms of contract, if implemented (and they have been in most cases), ensures water supply to 100% of the population, including the poorest.

what is the difference in the situation here? poor who had absolutely no access earlier now have THE OPTION of buying safe water, though at a high price. and who is paying for this option? it’s the haves. people who were anyways getting water, but who now have to pay extra for it. and most of them can actually afford to pay the extra amount (like i’ve paid a couple of bills for my dad, it’s of the order of 100 bucks. so a 100% increase won’t affect me too badly).

the only losers in this deal are the poor who anyway had access to water supply. they get no extra service, but at a much higher cost. if there’s some way in which these people can be compensated, water privatization is the way to go!

of course, one thing i forgot to mention, this scheme will work only if the entire water bill is variable, without any fixed components (else people who won’t want to exercise option would get screwed)

Given another exam in the afternoon I have to now translate this argument to more formal language and put it in a report in 15 minutes. Hope to do a decent job of it.

Transport Systems – A comparative study

I hope you didn’t get put off by the academic-sounding title of this post. It just so happens that I couldn’t think of any better title for it. Anyways, this post has been in the offing for a long time. I had first thought about writing on this subject on a bus ride from Madras to Bangalore 2-3 years ago, even before I started this journal.

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MA at IIT

Starting this academic year, the Humanities and Social Sciences (HS) department of IIT Madras is starting integrated 5-year MA courses in Economics, English and Developmental Studies. With this IITM becomes the second IIT to start undergrad courses in Economics after IIT Kanpur which started an integrated MSc in Economics last year. This particular move of IITM is commendable mainly for two reasons – one to provide meaningful employment to HS profs and also in a branding context.

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