Alka Dwivedi

Category: Entrepreneurship

  • Villagers Pooled in Their Own Money to Construct Their Railway Halt

    When I picked up the Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran,  Among the maze of depressing news of Arushi Talwar, Indians being attacked / murdered in Australia, Rathore being booked in Ruchika’s case, I was pleasantly surprised to read a particular news from Taj Nagar, Haryana,  Dulhaniyan aayi, Khushiyan Laayee. But instead of the photograph of a usual shy Indian bride, I saw the photograph of a train. My mind naturally constructed the usual story that finally the Indian Railways’ might have woken up from its deep slumber to construct a railway station at some obscure village where people still have to bear the burnt of the middle age facilities.

    But my eyes popped out of my socket and I had a lump in my throat. We city bred horses who mostly knew to consume incessantly and scorn at our own fellow citizens in the name of religion, state and language, this is something out of a movie script.  Villagers from Taj Nagar near Gurgaon, Haryana have created history by constructing their own railway halt and showed a middle finger to the Aam Aadmi Ki Sarkar. As usual the officials from babudom kingdom were sellping and matter was dragging incessantly by railways. The villagers have the dignity to get UPSET. They started collecting funds and succeeded in raising the amount of Rs.25 lakh. Indian railways didn’t spend even a penny. An obscure Indian Rajkumar donated Rs. 4 Lakh and he was instrumental in mobilizing funds and constructing railway platform in Taj Nagar. Earlier the villagers had to cover a distance of three kilometers to board a train. Probably famous poet Mohammed Iqbal had written those likes for people like Rak Kumar. Due to various unsung and unnamed Rajkumars we are still considered as a Nation.

    Kuchh Baat Hai Ke Hasti Mit-Ti Nahin Hamaari
    Sadion Raha Hai Dushman Daur-E-Zamaan Hamaara

     

  • Mont Blanc’s Gandhi Pen

     

    Gandhiji1

    Mahatma Gandhi (Image Source: ajaygoel.in)

    How can the person standing in the above picture can be a model for a product costing around Rs. 12 lakhs?  How can this person compete with the iron pumping, gym totting, six pack abs flouting super cool dudes? Why can’t the Harvard or Wharton MBA ad gurus think of a supermodel or super rich dues from their world to sold their pen and earn profit?

    “In the run-up to the Mahatma’s 140th birth anniversary, Mont Blanc International designed a luxury fountain pen to commemorate the Dandi March. Launched on September 29, the limited edition consists of 241 pens costing Rs 11.39 lakh each. Crafted in solid white gold, it bears a sketch of Gandhiji on the nib, apart from carrying his signature. Each piece is accompanied by saffron-coloured ink, a booklet of Bapu‘s quotes and an eight-metre long golden thread that, when wound around the pen, resembles the spindle of the spinning wheel. Another version consists of 3,000 fountain pens and as many roller pens, each costing between Rs 1.47 lakh and Rs 1.67 lakh”.

    On 2nd October, the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand  Gandhi and India’s ex-PM Lal Bahadur Shastri (he is not THAT profitable), the people saw this billboard adorning their roads.

    Gandhiji

    Billboard of Mahatma Gandhi and Mont Balnc pen in New Delhi (Image Source: newsday.com )

    Why corporate giants have to need 2nd October and Mahatma Gandhi as their model to earn profit? Why not they hang someone’s picture who was born with silver, no, no, with platinum spoon and enjoyed all the luxuries of life? Didn’t have to toil for a day in his life and had everything at his disposal. Why not celebrate his birthday and launch a pen to mark his birth anniversary?  I don’t think the person shown in the picture had gone to a men’s beauty parlor or gym even for an hour in his life? In fact, I remember, in South Africa once a white barber refused to cut his hair! i don’t know why people don’t leave Mahatma alone. He is very  different from what we are seeking today in life and no one’s ideal. Its high time that we leave him in peace which he deserve. 

  • Saying Goodbye to $100K Per Year in Easy Income

    This guy is amazing. Most of the people do everything in their capacity to earn extra bucks. And if the source of income is passive why would one want to temper with it? But read what he has done.

    “By dropping Adsense and text link ads with no immediate replacement, I’m giving up a good chunk of change. We’re talking in excess of $100,000 per year just from those two sources. And this is easy, fairly stable, passive income that goes straight into my bank account month after month.”

    “In truth there are a number of reasons I’m doing this, and they don’t have much to do with money.

    One reason for this change is that generating income from selling advertising just doesn’t resonate with me anymore. I’m totally bored with it. I feel a strong desire to drop it and move on to something new.

    I also felt that many of the ads being served up were a bit too Cro-Magnon relative to the ideas I’ve been blogging about. It seemed rather lame to write an article on Oneness and then see ads for money-making schemes next to it. Even worse was when fast food ads popped up next to an article about the raw food diet. I quickly banned the objectionable ads of course, but lately I found myself feeling increasingly disconnected from most of the ads that were being displayed. I don’t want to generate income in a manner that makes me feel disconnected.”
    “Am I worried or stressed about dumping thousands of dollars in easy monthly income? Not a bit. I feel totally at peace with this new direction, even though I can’t quite see where it will lead.

    Given the choice between having an extra $100K per year of free money vs. becoming the kind of person who can kill off that much income without fear or worry, I’m grateful that I can look in the mirror and see a guy that can make the latter choice, simply because he knows he’s following the path with a heart.”

  • Not Cool by any Standard!

    What is life according to us (synonym is market)
    1. Earning lots of money.
    2. Wearing designer dresses and possessing designer accessories
    3. Having latest gadgets at home and in our pocket
    4. Fine eating and dining experiences
    5. Visiting hip and happening places
    6. Having designer holidays
    7. Children and wife should match the interior decor of your drawing room. Rather they too should look like an extension of your designer drawing room.

    Then why this imbecile person is doing things akin to suicide? AnIIM topper as veg vendor? Earlier too I had written about a member of the same ilk . He too was an IIM-Ahmadabad graduate and wanted to do something in the field of primary education.

    I tried very hard for the past two days to find a link about this person, Kaushledra, an IIM-Ahmadabad graduate ( Read India’s Harvard). Correction, He is not a mere graduate but topper at IIM-Ahmadabad. He might have been offered 50 lakhs/annum as salary and soon be earning in crores/annum as some hifi executive sitting in his air conditioned chamber. BUT he is selling vegetables on a thela in the sweltering heat of Patna. I listened to him in an interview saying that he didn’t want to earn crores. But his career aim is MERELY TO IMPROVE THE LIVING STANDARD OF FEW LAKHS PEOPLE and subsequently their families! And even the foolish professors of IIM-Ahmadabad are proud of him. But as I have already said he is not a cool guy, so for two days I couldn’t find any information about him on net. But it seems it’s cool to publish at least something about uncool guys.

    A topper from one of India’s finest B-school has turned into a vegetable vendor, but of course there is more here than that meets the eye.

    After being at the top of his management class at IIM – Ahmedabad, Kaushlendra should have been sitting in an air conditioned cabin pulling a hefty salary at a multi-national company. Instead, he stands in the sweltering heat of Patna – selling vegetables.

    Kaushlendra reacts to his profession says, “Every one seems to be migrating from here, I wanted to do something for my people.”

    Bravo Kaushlendra! It takes exemplary courage to stay away from herd mentality and chalk out your own path. Your parents should be saluted for adding such a valuable member to our society. People like you make this world a better place to live.You have already found so many followers. “Log sath aate gaye aur karavan banta gaya” will not remain a beautiful line for you.