A couple of weeks ago RTNE invited me to look at what they had achieved in the past one year.

Whilst I would have loved to travel on the Highway from Bombay to Goa, paucity of time forced me to follow their instructions and so my journey began.

If flew from Bombay to Goa where I was received by Prathmesh a young local from Kudal who has been trained as the DMC (Destination Management Company) Officer who does the local level liaison.

We drove down on NH 17 passing Kudal, Sanatwadi before reaching Malvan at around 4.30 pm. Once checked into an RTNE trusted Stay Swami Samarth a nice stay right on a private beach, was taken around to meet other home stay owners, recce their property as well as understand the philosophy.

I was stunned to see the number of home stays that had evolved and more importantly, the kind of numbers that were bandied about by the owners.

The stays were well done, clean, with nearly 3+ star category at the most economical rates possible. Amongst the ones I visited were Omkar Deluxe, God’s garden, Satguru Kripa, Sidhivinayak (of Pednekar bandhu).

Having completed the recce, went to see the sunset at Devbagh Sangam. Then a spot of relaxing, before dinner was called around 9.30 pm.

Mind you, the dinner is cooked specially for you after asked about your choices & imagine eating on your private beach with the waves crashing, bit of wind whistling & distant light. (In Goa during my previous avataar we used to charge Rs. 15,000/- ++ for something like this). The menu was amazing - Sol kadi; Golpa; Halwa rassa & fried; warm chappati; rice.

I could barely keep my eyes open after this repast. After a long time, I was fast asleep at 10pm opening my eyes at 8 am the next morning.

Some amazing kande Poha, accompanied by fresh coconut water, though I gave the malai a miss started the day just right for my drive back to Goa & then back to Bombay. With no camera, but my trusty Nokia, managed to take some photographs, unfortunately do not do justice to the place.

With the new airport coming up soon, this place is going to just take off. I recommend that you visit the place before this happens. To read more about this, click here & to book here

We had a great party season that ended with our traditional “Undhiyu” party on the 25th January. A common questions that friends, keep asking -

Q How do you manage to host so many parties successfully?
Q Is it difficult? Time consuming?

Besides the fact that I have a supportive wife & now daughter - both who are of great help, over the years have learnt & now follow those points that ensures the success of the evening.

So, all of you who have been asking, here goes, for whatever it is worth:)

A) Make sure enough starters, some are always more hungry than others - We normally have 2 dry/cold - peanuts, chips kind & 2 hot/prepared starters.

B) As the Host, ensure they are well taken care of. Top up the drinks, starters coming enough, juices & soft drinks, everything from ice, lime, lemon, juice, soda, olives & right enough glasses. Whilst, mostly parties do end with dessert, we always ensure that there is coffee or liqueurs to end the night

C) Music - soft - This is one point where there have always been ambivalent feelings, since mostly at our place, we end up switching it off as there is enough to catch up, meet, discuss that at times, it starts intruding.

D) Invite people from different professions, that’s one way to make sure party not office - This has been the mainstay of our parties. Whilst there may the usual close group, however a couple of new people get rotated which acts as a lubricant to great conversation.

E) Make space in your house - When you invite people, you have to accept that kids would need to sit separately, watch TV etc. so space would need to be made.

F) Rules - Avoid passionate debates about Politics & Religion. If it feels getting out of hand, ease somebody out. Yeah yeah, bad taste and all that but, has to be done.

So, Go on Party!

Disclaimer: This comparison is from purely a customer perspective & neither airline or any other airline paid for my tickets.

After a long time, I had an opportunity to fly on SpiceJet & IndiGo thanks to the organization who had invited me & booked the tickets.

I flew IndiGo Bombay - Goa whilst Goa - Bombay - Chennai was by SpiceJet whereas Chennai - Bombay was by IndiGo.

The parameters on which I evaluated both of them were Baggage Handling, Check in, Transport, Seats, Service, Food, Flight

Baggage Handling - Both airlines were good, given the fact that space & other restrictions

Check In - SpiceJet was good in Goa, whereas in Bombay was not energetic enough. Allotted seat was different from the one asked for & confirmed. Information about Flight Delay was not forthcoming at both places. And the refrain was “Due to incoming flight coming late”
IndiGo was Perfect from both Bombay & Chennai, polite, seat allocation was perfect & Flight on time both ways.

Transport - The IndiGo buses were new, better, height of step perfect, a great help for those with knee trouble & old people. Another excellent aspect was the stairs to the aircraft, they actually had a ramp instead of stairs - very easy & convenient. SpiceJet buses were nice, but wonder if they were expecting floods everyday, since the height was very much, though in Goa there was a additional wooden step kept that helped. But the stairs, I presume were rental from Airport were horrible.

Seat & Service - Seats were equally good in both, as was inflight service. IndiGo offers water from a Jug in a glass, whilst SpiceJet offers a bottle & though having heard about water being refused a second time, this was not the case at all.

Food - The quality of food was good on both airlines, however IndiGo offered more variety, whilst SpiceJet offered discount if booked along with the ticket, which was a good idea

Flight - This was good on both airlines, with competent crew, aircrafts and all.

IndiGo gets my vote & edges SpiceJet due to On Time flight, small extras such as the bus, ramp which is welcome.

Last month I of all the people along with @chhavi was asked by Techtree to discuss the popular social media trends they expect to see in 2010. You can watch it here

And then in the same week, CNN IBN featured me amongst a lot others in Virtually yours. You can watch it here.

Do let me have your comments:)

2009 ended with a healthy me, however continuity, consistency, constancy are the key & decided to continue it whole heartedly. Made some points that I would update once a quarter, so here goes:

1) Start a health file
January - Completed & decided that would opt for Bi annual checkup beginning this year.

2) Enhance Health Insurance
January - Evaluated & decided to enhance when it comes up for renewal in April, though luckily have not had to make use of it.

3) Have yogurt daily
January - Am a bit of lactose intolerant, however have begun trying it out at least 2-3 days a week.

4) Maintain a food diary
January - This is happening post the discipline my doctor enforced from November & hope to continue it.

5) Snack more
January - This is happening, quantity is going down, whilst number of times has come up to nearly 4-5 which is a good sign.

6) Get a new haircut
January - Quite a good idea, however let’s see how things go

7) Drink 2 litres of water a day
January - Am practically there, if not everyday, at least 5-6 days a week. The target being 3 litres a day by 31st march.

Exercise for 30 Minutes 5 days a week
January - For the past month, have just found excuses, however am convinced that cannot avoid/delay it any longer.

9) Cut 100 Burn 100 calories
January - Cut is happening, Burn is where the problem lies.

10) Junk old Stuff
January - Thanks to the weight loss, the wardrobe is looking spacious, plan to do that to the other storage place also.

11) Add olive oil to kitchen cabinet
January - Done & at least 50% of the cooking is in olive oil.

12) Spend 15 minutes unwinding after work
January - A practice that is happening, but at a slower pace then would have wished for.

13) Spend more “ME TIME”
January - At least one day in the weekend, this seems to be the case.

14) Master a new skill
January - This requires thought.

15) Count to 5 before reacting
January - Once upon a time it was 10 & now it is 5, guess am improving:)

16) Avoid brooding over losses
January - The most difficult to do & probably needs the most priority.

Power is great, just ensure you use it to send the right message.

Education is what you get from reading the fine print. Experience is what you get from not reading it.

All of us who have worked for quite a while, always have to give the Pink Slip many a times, reasons too vary. It is never an easy task to do this but it has to be done. Over the years I have had to do it personally a lot of times & believe me it is never easy.

However, over time I have realised that doing so with “Grace” is the best way & have also personally drawn up what I refer to as Appropriate etiquette for communicating bad news/handing out pink slips.

Bad news in face to face meetings only with Human Touch - I never ever believe in giving bad news by telephone, email or via. As the Boss Man to your direct reportees, it is their right to hear it from you straight & without embellishments AND never use 3rd person…’Management has decided; Boss has decided etc’. It just demeans the whole communication and relationship.

Privacy This is another important criteria whilst imparting bad news. Yes even in these days & age of open offices also. If need be take him/her out for coffee or wait till the office is empty.

Spend time Nothing is cut & dried that you announce, get up & walk away. Spend some time, share good thoughts.

Extend Support Unless it is a ‘Termination’ for serious offense, always extend support in terms of reference, help to connect with people etc. It really does not cost anything much.

Keep in touch This is one thing I believe in strongly. There is no need to be apologetic about the whole thing & avoid facing or meeting them or even avoiding their calls. They are your good will ambassadors and there is every chance that a time may come when they would be able to assist.

What are your thoughts on this? Do share and add to these.

I am always asked, how do you manage to recruit people without paying them the Sun, Moon & earth - that too in Retail.

I do not have many points or gyan on this, except that I am Upfront:

I tell people you’re in a very competitive industry.
I am always honest with them.
I tell them that I am Not right everyday, neither do I expect them to be. As long as they are 6/10 times and keep me informed about the others, it works for me.
The reason this works, because in the retail business, you’ve got to be right every single day. There is extremely high day to day intensity associated with retail.

All great leaders Gandhi, Mandela, Washington, were all ordinary individuals, who took a decision to wriggle out of comfort zones. They took a decision to challenge themselves & the world around. Took a decision to look beyond themselves, to get involved, to make a difference to the lives of millions of people around & that is what is required from everyone.