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The other day I wrote a blog post about how Olacabs is going about ensuring a good customer service. Little did I know how well Olacabs would respond to that simple gesture of sharing my insights. Olacabs turns 2 years old today. And they decided to celebrate it a little differently. They chose about 5 customers each from Delhi/Bangalore/Mumbai who have shown some love to them in the last couple of months, Personally visited their home, delivered a fine custom made OlaCake and brought a nice smile to us and our families. My daughter in particular had a fab time cutting and finishing the cake right then and there. ...

So finally I booked a Ola cab in Delhi. Well technically I booked it on my mobile (mobile internet, they don’t have a Windows app) while sitting in Orcha. A small town close to another small city Jhansi. The booking was for the next day 4:30 AM for my family to be picked up from railway station to airport. Last time the Taxi I picked up outside the station fleeced me by charging 500/-. This time I was going to be well prepared. ...

I join Amagi today. Amagi is a wonderful startup (a second one) by Baskar, Vidhya and Kas. The trio had earlier successfully sold their first startup Impulsesoft to SiRF. I was part of their first startup. I am quite excited to join my old friends. The company itself is rocking and making a lot of good noise in the startup space. It is doing good business in Indian market and is poised to start offering in International markets. ...

Leaving a company is never easy. Particulary when you have nurtured it with your blood and sweat. But sometimes, Time just runs out. Nirvana seems just around the corner, but you realize that personally you cannot survive til then. And so with a heavy heart you call it quits. I leave ONZE today, but will never leave the amazing Sud, Ever optimist Rahul and other folks at ONZE.

Location is something I am quite passionate about. I have worked for sometime at a GPS semiconductor company and for 2 years I worked at ONZE developing and running a SMS direction service. This is the time when we came up with Lokasi. A unique, India specefic way of representing location that is understood by everyone. Cartonama provided me an opportunity to showcase Lokasi. This was also my second opportunity at public speaking. It apparently went quite well. ...

Is meditation only for elderly folks? Is it only for religiously or spiritually inclined folks? Is it so esoteric that you and I cannot do it? Very simply put, Meditation is an exercise that you undertake to keep your mind fit and relaxed. The way you go to Gym or that early morning walk to keep your body healthy. Mediation keeps your Mind healthy. Mind is a very complex entity. If your body gets physically strained, you know you need to take rest and you promptly do. Your mind on the other hand is getting strained every single waking moment and yet it neither gets any rest nor the exercise to keep it healthy. You disagree? Ok what are you thinking about right now? about a minute ago? an hour ago? Try to observe the thought that you are having right now and see how quickly it leads to another and yet another one ad infinitum until someone calls your name. Your mind processes thousands of thoughts every single day. And that strains your mind. ...

Helping you find your way through sms - Onze featured in today's Times of India.

Earlier this year a brand new ecommerce store made splashing headlines fresh with a big funding and claiming unimaginable signups. Soon people started dishing out this venture with it's unscalable tactic of acquiring customers. This business was pepperfry. Last week after getting spammed every week with crazy discounts I decided to test how much water it could hold. I had a fresh newsletter from Pepperfry offering me a Rs. 501/- Discount on anything purchased above Rs. 1000/-. Fare enough if you are willing to pass on some hard earned (or rather a wind fall) money of yours my way, you cannot blame me for taking the bait. So promptly I order a 1200/- Jewelry for my wife and mentioned the coupon code at the time of checkout. So finally a 2000/- something stuff with 50% discount and a Rs. 500/- coupon costed me approx Rs. 600/-. 5 Days to deliver is what the checkout page said. ...

When you were in school, you knew each and every person in your class. Did some teacher take the initiative of introducing you all? When you were in your college or university, How many of your batchmates did you actually know? And then you joined a job and knew how many people? Today when you are working how many friends do you think you have? Not the facebook one. They won't turn up when you die. Go back to your college time and try remembering how many friends did you have then? And now go back to your school. How many friends did you have? ...

Are you a strong person or a weak person? Strength as in mental strength. A person with strong mental strength is bound to do things which may qualify as success, happiness and contentment. You are driving on a highway and you see two sign boards. One says This way the other says That way. Which one do you choose? This way. Why? because it is easier. because it is convenient. because I feel like taking it. That way by the way is opposite of what I said about This way. ...