Flossy Ideas, Meetups and Views
Collection of Stories, Perspective and Ideas for Coffee Meets
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| Dragon Fruit at a Mall |
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| Fruits ( Choices) |
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| Grape Varieties |
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| Is it Fig? |
I had taken these picture from the food hall of 1 MG Mall, where many imported fruits are available for sale. Apart from fruits, there are greens, vegetables and other imported varieties of sauce, fish and tin food.
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| Gokarna Town – Dye for sale |
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| Sleepy Gokarna Town |
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| No Hurry – Life at it’s Own Pace |
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| Typical house/shop in Gokarna |
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| Vegetable vendor ( Road side) |
These pictures are my visit to this beach side town called Gokarna. In this town, I could find few similarities with Kerala – tiled houses, small shops, and the tropical flora.
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| Show me the future |
Photo Source: Flickr
Suddenly it dawned on me that most of our political leaders are fighting, clinging to their seat, selling short-term dreams, mooting short term growth, without shaping the long-term vision of our country. The political manifesto is just a piece of paper, forgotten after the election. How can a nation grown, thrive with such men?
When can we see people with vision who as politicians take a stand for the long term growth of India? Do you know anyone in that genre?
Track Politicians Journey
I wish there’s is a website which rates the growth of each political leader. this visual site will address these questions:
I have a dream…
Well, this is a crude list, which will require perfection or omission. Whatever, my intention is simple, let’s know what our leaders have in mind. What are their strong points? Will they be good enough to take our country forward?
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| Malayalam Hits |
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| Filim Posters in Trivandrum |
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| Poltergeist Poster |
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| Film Promotion |
Are you a movie poster collector? Do you have similar interest like me to collect move posters from different languages? If so, Trivandrum is the place for you. All you need a bit of luck and you can get hold of couple of posters to add on to your collection.
Modus Operandi – Movie Poster Collection
One source to get poster is from cinema halls. The right person to ask is the security guys or the guys who you can spot either at the entrance of movie theatre or those fellas chit-chatting near the lobby area. First spot the right person, who you think can help you on this. Next, ask. Make your own story about your love for movies, or poster, or pretent that you’re a fan of that particular movie star. Also, express that you’ll give something in return of the poster.
In Trivandrum, I’ve failed couple of times as they brushed me away. Also, few had enthusiastically searched and found few posters. So, give it a try and take home a piece of the big picture.
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| Shoppers in a gold store in Kerala |
Pic source: Flickr
Do you know the most crowded shop in Kerala after govt run liquor shops? If you think it’s ration shops, then you’re wide off the mark. It’s gold shops in Kerala which is perpetually packed with buyers eager to buy gold. I guess, we Keralities has picked the fascination towards gold in the 80’s or many be in late 70’s. Whatever, I may be wrong, it’s just my guess.
However, one of the question I was thinking is this – how long will the lust or the bull run on gold purchase last in Kerala? Will Malayalees continue to consume tons of this metal for the sake of giving dowry or as investment?
I doubt the growth and I see a gloomy picture. And, here’s why.
There are few aspects to why gold biz will grow lean in the coming years.
# 1. People are broke. Well, I’m kind of broke and I don’t see much prosperity in people. When I travel by bus, the general appearance doesn’t show a prosperous picture. Well, I could be wrong. Reason for saying is just this; Gulf economy is in a rocky state. There are reports of companies sending employees out and employees are working with less salary. This could directly and indirectly affect the earnings of our state. With not much money, who has the capability to buy gold as in the earlier era.
#2. With rising number of love marriages, the role of parents are taking a back seat. These days, boys and girls are planning, deciding and making arrangement for their marriage. In such cases, the hefty dowry are often less important that it used to be.
#3 Rise and fall of gold prices has shaken the confidence of people. The investment in gold has come down and now people are diversifying the investment into multiple assets, like land, shares, gold, mutual funds, etc.
# 4 Rise of gold pledge is the testament of the rise in residential borrowing. So, what’s happening in Kerala. People have pledged most of the gold they own. So, there’s little gold left in the hands people. Who own the rest? The big financial firms, like Muthoot, Cooperative banks, Nationalized Banks, etc.
Taking stock of this scenario, there’s little hope for gold rush to continue in Kerala. One point I missed here is that the taste of people has changed and now many prefer platinum and diamonds. So, another negative vote for gold.
So, what’s the conclusion…
If you’re in gold business, it’s time to diversify into other business areas. For instance, we have seen how: Muthoot group has diversified into tourism, hospitality, etc. Well, I think they know the old parable “Don’t put all eggs in one basket”.
Bye!
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2020 update: I was wrong to say back then that our gold fascination will die soon. As I write the price of one gram of gold has shot up beyond 3K. And, still there’s no less demand for gold in Kerala.
Damn! I’m no good in predicting the buying trends or behavior.
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| Garuda Mall ( Frontal View) |
There are few questions I keep thinking when I visit the shopping centers in Bangalore. At one point, I was a frequent visitor to Bangalore Central. But, with time, I moved to another mall closer to it. Reason – no known or is it the options.
One thing is certain, almost all shopping mall experience is quite the same. It’s the usual food court, same or similar kind of shops, similar customer experience ( neither good nor bad), and same kind of crowd.
But, the bigger question is this – how to attract profitable buyers not the usual browsers like me to your premises. To answer this, you’ll have to probe buyers, understand their needs, find the right persona, reach them periodically and remind them of the additions and new items which are on sale.
Thanks,
Charles
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| Visual Presentation |
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| Screen Grab of Visual Thesaurus |
My wife’s Uncle settled in Canada started a family tree project. He did the painstaking work of compiling the name, details, etc of relatives, then created a large database of family members. Apart from collecting the details, he created a newsletter, and a website where he listed the details of family members.
While his effort was commendable, the presentation was not in a visually attractive way. Well, he did the task with minimal investment, so it’s understandable that it was presented in list format.
How to turn day into a visually interesting manner?
There are two things I found that could add more value to the family tree.One is about the details of people. Apart from collecting the name, age, and details of spouses, here’s something to add more value. Add a field to mention the reason of death of people who have expired. This could help in finding the probablity of carrying diseases which are genetically transmitted. For instance if the family has a history of diabetics, or eczima, or heart disorder, then there is a chance of this being inherited.
Next is visual presentation
I owe this idea to VisualThesarus. This thesaurus site has differentiated themselves in the way they have presented the information. The floating graphics and the connection of words presented in a networked way makes it easy and interesting way for people to explore the meaning, synonyms, or understand the connection between words.
Taking cue from this site, I wonder if we could build a family tree structure. If such a application exists, it would make things for people like this uncle in Canada to add data. And, when data is represented in a such a format, it will be easy for people to see the connection in the family, and increase the engagement with the application. Moreover, people will be more likely to click to explore the family network.
I hope my plan is workable!!!
Your’s Visually!
After drinking the sweet nectar, I handed the coconut for opening. Once it was split, it was clear that the kernel was almost as solid as a matured coconut. Wasting no time, I waved back to discard it. And he promptly he threw it along with the rest.
How to Make Shake or Juice from Tender Coconut?
When I saw him throwing the coconut to the empty pile, I hit upon this idea – what if it he used the kernel in a different way? So, here’s my plan for coconut sellers to add value to his business.
Here’s my pitch!.
1) Make and sell tender coconut shake. This means the seller should take water and inside kernel and mix it together and sell it by cup. It could be convenient for people who wan’t a quick drink. He should store the same in a themaocol box and sell the concoction in big glasses. And each class should be kept clean, preferably sealed with a
Use either a mixie if power is available or a hand based blender to mix it. Other juice can be added to make different flavors.
2) Provide home delivery
I feel there are many buyers who would relish a fresh tender coconut water in their home. To make this happen, keep a guy who can peddle around the locality and deliver tender coconut water in a bottle or as ready to use one.
I actually wanted a service like that for my mom who can’t go out to buy it. Such a service could be charged Rs 5 extra or you can take an additional monthly service of Rs 50 or 100..
I feel this idea would work in places such as in Trivandrum or Bangalore. Of course, the water quality should be good, and fresh.
What do you think about this idea? Will it work?
But the question is what comes first – app or the shops which are open after normal hours.
Just noting this idea, before it fades from my random access brain memory ( RABM). 🙂
Also, suprising to see the google results to the keyword ” all night shopping”. When is India going to get such places? In 5 years, 10 years, or next year?
Let me say, this another Make in India project.
blank stares.
Don’t tell me to loose my savings
I don’t have 50 lakhs to invest
I’m happy with my govt job
Often when I explain or talk to people and tell them to start small business, they often interpret in another way. They say I’m just money minded. Or they give me a look as if I said something horrible or have a nutty idea – keep it off me me mind of body language.
So, question is, why people tend to think of business as some kind of bourgeoisie plot. It’s like playing the villain role as a mothalali as we say in Malayalam ( owner or capitalistic). If you’ve seen old Malayalam movies where estate owner or the owner is the villain, who has all the vices, drinking, prying innocent women, leads a lavish lifestyle and exploits the workers, etc.
Probably, people have this stereotyped role in their mind and that’s why they equate business ideas as evil conspiracy.
So, what can be done? Is there way to tone down the negative connotation associated with the name business? Can we do something?
Malayalee and Business Culture
I find this concept too high in Trivandrum, than in places like Bangalore or Hyderabad.One reason could be this, people are used to Govt for everything – from employment to news, etc.
Well, that’s just changing right in front of our eyes. As we know, the power of media is diluted every minute, and it’s people who’s doing the talking, not just the TV anchor . Well, it’s too early to say that it’s dead,but definitely, the clout of press has come down.
In one of the Seth Godin’s blog, I read something like this – now individual owns T.V station ( YouTube), newspaper ( blog) or a radio station ( podcast). We’re free to be vocal about our opinion, speak directly to others and publish things that matter to us.
Isn’t this wonderful, a great privilege? But, why are we using it?
Despite all the freedom and channels available, we’re not thinking as a publisher, we prefer to consume rather than produce media.
I hope, people in Kerala realize that business is not a bad work, nor profit. While making money is essential for the sustenance of business, it’s important to do business b’cos you have a passion towards it and would like to make things better.
I hope you too get the point, or feel free to speak to me.
Regards,
Charles
Flossy Ideas, Meetups and Views 