Cyril Gupta's blog has gone home to where it always belonged.

www.cyrilgupta.com/blog

I have implemented WordPress on my website and now my blog will be hosted on my site.

Cheers!
Cyril

I have started reading 'Made in America' the autobiography of Sam Walton (The person who started Wal-mart and became the richest man in America). Three members from his family are now in the top ten billionaires list of the world, if one combines the fortunes of the three Wal-mart family members it's much higher than Bill Gates.

Right when Sam begins to talk about retail he reveals his secret.

"I bought an item for 80 cents. I found that by pricing it at $1.00 I could sell three times more of it then by pricing it at $1.20. I might make only half the profit per item, but because I was selling three times as much, the overall profit was much greater. Simple enough. But this is really the essence of discounting: by cutting your price, you can boost your sales to a point where you can earn far more at the cheaper retail price than you would have by selling the item at the higher price."

That set me thinking. This really is the secret of success in sales. Price before anything. My dad realized that when he introduced his astrology software at one-third the price of the cheapest one which was available then and then sold ten times as much as the competition. Even now all our software are the lowest-priced in the market though they are of same, or better quality than competition. No wonder our volumes are probably higher than all of the competition combined. (It helps to have a product that has evolved to become the hugest in the market).

Check out Big Bazar. Biyani is emulating Wal-mart to the 'z' (but not with so much success). Even their slogan is 'Isse Sasta aur accha kahi nahi' (You won't get anything cheaper or better than here). Big Bazar is a doing reasonably well, but why isn't it a spectacular success like Wal-Mart? Because he didn't check out the competition. Biyani's prices may seem low to him, but he'd deadset wrong. I have been to big bazar and I can find lower prices than that damn anywhere on the streets of India and with reasonably close quality. He gives you a good deal only on the bottled/packed foodstuff which have a MRP. On almost everything else his prices are high. That's why I don't think Big Bazar is going to be the Indian Wal-Mart anytime soon.

There's another example: the Westside chain of clothing stores from Tata. When the Tatas started Westside their prices were on the premium side. They stocked premium clothing which wasn't cheap. People like Vishal's Mega Mart and all those small time retailers washed them out with prices that were much lower. I believe that Westside has now re-invented the prices and the sales have grown.

Price means a lot to the buyer, and Sam Walton is right. It is the key to success in sales. What does Ebay do? The same thing. Give customers access to the lowest prices anywhere, direct from sellers. People want the best prices on all their purchases. It's not about how MUCH they pay, they just want good bargains. This is an important business lesson that I will remember forever.

"By cutting your price, you can boost your sales to a point where you can earn far more at the cheaper retail price than you would have by selling the item at the higher price." I think Sam Walton means more than cutting prices. I think he's talking about a special price-point. A place where the profit is price is so calibrated that the volume generated will yield the maximum profit.

My dad says that there is no way of stopping piracy (music, software and so on). He is a firm believer that professional piracy cannot be ever stopped.

I disagree.

I told him that professional piracy must and will stop, it has not stopped yet because of a lack of will power from the world's governments. In spite of all the clout that the software, video and music companies enjoy, they can't push people around, so the government is vary of enforcing strict laws worldwide. And when it comes to software this lack of will is even more pronounced because software is expensive and vital for computer users. If licensed software is not available it gets in the way of the people becoming more computer savvy which is a big problem for countries like India and China which are depending on computer skills to push their economies to the next level. That's why India never really had any copyright enforcement and China actually promotes piracy at all levels.

This is changing for two reasons.

1. There is better copy protection technology available.
The pirates have created an all new market, that of copy protection technology. Today the copy protection technology available in the market is very effective. In fact the one that I use now in my some of my software hasn't been cracked yet in India, so I am enjoying respectable sales. This will only get better because of the amount of money that the companies are losing. Many former crackers have turned to marketing their own copy protection software now. No matter what the detractors say, I believe that copy protection technology will play a big role in putting a stop to professional piracy, and yes there will be protections which cannot be cracked.

2. More will from the goverment
I think we should thank the open source movement. Nowadays free and good alternatives are available to every professional software available in the market be it OS, word processing solution, programming, etc. So the software companies have realized that they cannot continue over pricing their software. This is going to help the entire market. The prices of licensed software will keep going down, and good quality open source software will be increasingly more available so that no computer user is left out. Internet has a big role to play in this.

The availability of alternatives to expensive licensed software has also freed up the government a bit. Now that its populace is not constrained by the lack of good free software the government can enforce laws more strictly. That is why there is more action on pirates everywhere, even China.

I believe that in about 3 years the scene is going to get really hot for professional pirates worldwide. They won't enjoy the kind of freedom they have on the Internet now, and that is when companies marketing licensed software will have even better prospects.

The key is to survive till then, and we all committed to doing it.

As I walk the streets everyday, look at the sights around me a deep unsettling begins to gnaw at my being. I see people around me, and all the things that they have built. Their faces, their expressions, their gadgets, and I feel a little weird because all of it seems so illogical. Why do people do what they do? Doing the same work, going to the same places, eating the same food, the same bus, the same train, everything is so monotonous. Even the parties, the nights out, the restaurants, it's the same thing everywhere.

Conclusion : I am missing my wife.

If you are remotely linked to programming, or development you will know how excited people get when it comes to Microsoft Bashing. Almost everything that Microsoft does is supposed to 'flawed', 'bad', 'error-prone', and evil.

Well I had some of these guys talk me into trying out RealBasic, alternative to Visual Basic that I code in, and love. RealBasic applications can be run on Linux, Mac as well as Windows so I decided to gave it a whirl in case it brought me newer markets for my apps. I downloaded the trial and...

It crashes every 20 minutes, the database support is patchy, there is not even a good application to create a database. There's not enough documentation, and it doesn't even support intellisense.

Furthermore it inexplicably slows down my PC everytime I run it, and when I close it down I have to re-start my PC again. Visual Basic never does that.

I have always been a supporter of Microsoft and looks like there won't be a reason for me to change anytime soon.

http://douweosinga.com/projects/googletalk

Google talk...

According to Google talk "A good programmer is someone who solves a problem you didn't know about."

I got this by typing "A good programmer is" into the window

This is my favourite photo of Shruti, my favourite girl.

I get a million ton of spam in my mailbox each morning. The weird thing is a lot of the spam is same everyday, sent by the same people, about the same stuff. Even more weirder is that they think I am going to click on their stupid link if they keep sending it to me daily. How stupid? What is it with the spammers. Don't they have brains (at least spam me intelligently), or have they made it their mission in life to just bug me, even though it is going to be a completely useless and futile excercise for them.

What a waste of time, for me and for them.

Today is a slow, humid, lazy sort of day. A day where you wonder why everything seems so sleepy as you sweat inside your cotton shirt while walking down the pavement in the crowded. You walk slowly, confident that there's not a single thing that you need to do, then suddenly you catch glimpse of that stationery store with your competitor's goods on display and you remember all the things you didn't do today, and then, you walk fast, back to your office, your chair, your PC, working on that application that still needs to be finished.

No company ever became great without the active support and hard work of its employees. However, it is hard to find the few good men these days. Actually it's damn near impossible. India is a supposed to be the land of unemployment, that's what people complain of when the time to fight an election comes. But I don't think this is really the case if you are looking for trained personnel.

Unemployment only exists in the lower rungs, where people are not sufficiently trained or educated to hold meaningful jobs. Place an ad for a position that demands a fair level of education and the results will be a cropper, not enough applicants, and those who apply will have no idea what they are there to do.

It is specially hard finding good marketing men and if you get one guard him jealously, there will be thieves out to steal him. I have experienced this first hand.

I am a bit understaffed, and the staff I have is undertrained. When I finish training them and they become useful, they will invariably leave and join a MNC.

Every 5-6 months I get a new batch of students-jobholders.

Such is business in India.

These days I sit in my new office, on the 4th floor of a Nehru place building. Through the big window I can see the milieu of offices around and people rushing around along the pathways. This is the computer business hub of India.

I am here to shoulder two new responsibilities

1. Build up new retail relationships with bookshops and gift stores for my software range.
2. Aggressively promote my technews website (justitbiz.com) and my journal ICN.

This is not going to be an easy charge. When is business an easy charge? But I am glad that finally I am given a job with a great deal of responsibility again after a long time.

Since my dad works at the office I have a greater degree of autonomy here, which delights and terrifies me at the same time. If I am successful at this I will be given better things to do, more responsibility, more trust and even more autonomy. But if I fail the confidence that my family has in me will lower and they will be reluctant to invest money on me, my ideas and my projects. I do not wish to be thought of as incapable.

I am 25, with 7 years of active work experience. Till now my professional life has been a mixed bag of goodies. I've had successes and failures. Luckily my successful projects have worked good enough for us to make my failures seem a lot less significant.

Every time someone succeeds in doing something he gets a greater responsibility. A bigger task to do, with more at stake. This will continue as long as one keeps delivering results, but once the results stop, so do responsibilities.

I have done a lot in the last 7 years. I could have done a lot more in retrospect. I didn't do all that I could have done, but I am learning. I just hope that I can grow better each day at what I do, and what I would like to do, continue to grow and become more capable each day of shouldering greater responsibilities successfully.

Yes, I would like that very much.

I was allowed a drive in my dad's new Honda City that he bought yesterday. I didn't even ask for it, he just offered to let me drive it.

Did the sun really rise from the west? Or did Dad really let me touch his brand new car?

Still in a daze.

Date:	2005-07-27 15:59
Subject:	Rain Rain Go away...
Security:	Public
Mood:	bitchy

Stupid rain!

It's been raining non-stop in Mumbain like hell's fury.

Last night my brother had to walk 40 kms to home. His cellphone isn't working.

Business is shot to hell, and his flight to Delhi has been cancelled.

Now he's twiddling his thumbs in his office.

I am the hugest possible fan of Calvin and Hobbes. I've been reading them since last 3 years and I have every strip tucked away nicely in a quiet corner of my hard disk. (They are now about 1200).

Sometimes when I read the strip I think of the relationship between Calvin and Hobbes. Such trust, selfless love, spice and reliance. It seems to me like a most amazing thing. Then I think of the mostly friendless life. The last time I had a friend like that, I was in 5th grade, and I lost him when he changed the school. I have apparently lost the talent of making friends in the real life. I just wish I had a friend like Hobbes. I wouldn't care if he were imaginary.

I want a toy tiger of my own.

Date:	2005-07-23 13:41
Subject:	Agra
Security:	Public
Mood:	apathetic

I was born in Agra, and as I got older, I realized that this city is very special, truly a great spot for lovers. Want to know why? Let me tell you. Agra is known for two things: the Taj Mahal and the mental asylum. Fresh Romeos can take a walk near the moonlit Taj, and go straight to the nearby mental hospital, the ultimate stage in love.

The roads of Agra are full of potholes, so that people can fall in, break a leg. This is great practice for falling in love and breaking hearts.

There is a big park in Agra called the ‘Rambag.’ It is so popular among lovers that angry fathers go there straight with their ‘lathis’ when their daughters are missing from home. I know, trust me!

The old city of Agra is like a maze. Full of streets and bylanes so that people can really get lost in love.

Those of you who are married can take home a miniature Taj Mahal and tell your wives, “Honey, I got the Taj, now you’ve just got to die.”

So my friends you must visit Agra, and believe me you will fall, either in love, or at least in a pothole.

Date:	2005-07-23 13:34
Subject:	Hello World
Security:	Public
Mood:	apathetic

Form_Load()
Dim bDayDate as Date

bDayDate = CDate("23/07/1980")

If day(bDayDate)=day(Now) and Month(bDayDate) = Month(New) and Year(bDayDate) = Year(New) Then
Msgbox("Today is your birthday.")
End If
End Sub

Today is 23rd July 2005. I am now 25 years old. My silver jubilee year. I hope this will be a new beginning.

As for doing something new on my birthday, I am restarting this blog.

The most important advise that books on screenwriting and novel writing dispense to enthusiasts is that they should pay special emphasis to characterisation and make sure that the reader is able to identify with the lead character early on in the novel/movie.

Without this it's hard to write a bestseller says James Frey in his book 'How to write a damn good novel'.

I've been thinking about this in bits since the last few days. How important is characterisation to make a movie work? Here's an illustration.

Many days ago I watched a movie called Waada. The movie had a lot of things going for it. An interesting story idea, nice plot, and fairly good acting and direction. In spite of that the movie failed miserably at the box office.

Honestly I found the movie quite engrossing and watched it all at a go (which is something to speak about when I am concerned.) At the end I was left with a weird feeling, as if there was something that was wrong in there. The movie was slick, nice cinematography, everything, but yet something was weird there. I couldn't identify it then, but after finishing James Frey's book it's starting to fall in place.

Make the reader identify with the Hero early on
In Waada right till the end I didn't know who was the protagonist and who was the antagonist. My sympathies were jumping around crazily between Zayed Khan and Arjun Rampal. I think either the screenwriter or the director was working overtime to protect Zayed khan's nice boy image and in the process was the undoer of the movie.

Every leading writer of screenplays and novels has emphasized on the importance of identifying the lead character and building the reader's sympathy with him/her. It's a rule that must not be broken, even if the character is absolute evil. I agree.

There was another fundamental flaw in the screenplay. The protagonist of the movie was doing something that was was of obviously harmful intent, but the motivation was never revealed till the end. That's another rule of screenwriting broken. How can the characters act without motivation? I believe that until and unless each character has very strong reasons/motivation to do what they're doing, they shouldn't do it. The movie doesn't seem logical otherwise.

I think I got some more ideas about modifications that I need to make to my own screenplays.

Very educational.

Nothing is funnier, more ironic and sadder than relationships. As a child you never realize that fact, because for most part the only relationship you have is with your parents. Then as you grow you make friends, enemies, and lovers. Relationships then acquire a whole new meaning. And then they evolve, and change, turning your world around so many times in a lifetime...

Relationships are the most important thing you have, more important than anything else... But will you pay any cost to maintain them?

Date:	2005-02-18 14:51
Subject:	Brave new world...
Security:	Public
Mood:	aggravated

There's somes news on the personal front.

1. I am going to be engaged to be married. (Yes, to Shruti. It will happen in the next few months)
2. I joined Karate classes.

Pending Marriage
I don't like the idea of marriage, and right now the fact that I am going to be engaged with Shruti and probably get married before the year ends is giving me jitters. It's not that I am afraid of commitment or responsibility, not at all. I am afraid that soon I will no longer be the person I am. My life will change and I will have to accomodate a totally new different entity in it. Another person will share my life, not just weekends, or evenings, or a few hours a day, but every moment. It will be a huge difference, I wonder if I will be able to do the same things that I do now. And she must be in an even more precarious position, cause she must leave all that she has and come to live with me. I am afraid for both of us.

Karate...
I've wanted to know martial arts ever since I was a child. It's not the power and the violence which fascinates me, but the focus, the concentration, and the balance. If one learns martial arts with true intensity, the difference will be much more than how many people one can beat. I feel this will make me sharper, more focused, calmer, braver and fitter. I feel a strange sense of tranquility when I attend the class.

I need to work on myself...

It's always been so and it always will be. I just happen to hate this world that I live in. What for? Who cares! There are too many reasons anyway.

In my fantasies I live somewhere quiter, nicer, subtler, with a little less rush, and a little more peace.

I fancy a world with a little less fighting, and little more tolerance. Little less paranoia, and just a bit more of optimism.

It'd be nice to live a world with a little less commercialisation, and a little more co-operation.

Only if I lived in a place with a little less fear, and just a bit more of friendliness.

------

I read somewhere that our planet is friendly to life. Teeming with factors that support life in so many forms. That's what the bio-cosm theory purports -- that the planet was created to be hospitable to life.

Ironic, isn't it? I think so. Because life seems to be in a constant conflict with everything else, with nature, and with life itself.

Life. the word is beautiful. But the root of all life lies in death. The basis of life is death -- to survive, to live, we must kill. All life depends on other life for survival -- for food. Everyday, every living organism chokes life out of other life-forms so that it can continue living. Life springs from death, and at such a vast magnitude.

It's huge, bigger than even my imagination can encompass. Right from the lowly bacterium, to insects, birds, and human beings, we all kill to survive. Nobody is an exception, not even plants: they feed on our carcasses, getting nutrition out of our decaying flesh.

We're all predators, each one of us, no matter how kind or sensitive we claim to be. Our kindness ends where our mouths start, and humans are special, because they've learnt not only to kill other life, but nature itself. But why blame humans, any animal would have done that if it had the capability. It's animal nature to be a predator. We just happen to have the right tools to be the ultimate predator.

We're in a constant warzone here, each of us fighting against other species. We're lucky, because we are the supreme predators, and so lost we are in the civilization that we've created, that we're ignoring the fact that ultimately we are animals, and like all animals our purpose is to live, breed and die. That's what we're programmed for.

We live to breed, and I don't doubt it. We've proved it. Why should we have this urge to pro-create? To increase our number as much as possible. What is this? A leftover instinct from the time when the world was too hostile to us and we needed more numbers to survive?

Why's is all life like this? Why does all life want to infinitely keep increasing its numbers? What for? What purpose will it serve? Specially because to do that, it must destroy all other life.

What is this big game going on for? I can never hope to comprehend the purpose.

Look at this planet and look at the universe. Our planet is just a womb, created to give us a start, we've such a vast and empty playground stretched in front of us. So inviting and tempting -- 'come, explore me.' The universe is huge, and we're not a even dot here, but we're stepping out of the womb and someday our progeny will go where we could not.

But what for? To prove to the universe that we exist by colonising it? By utilising our strange urge to explore, to pro-create and to find newer ways of supporting the growing race of man. To infinitely keep growing in numbers and going to any lengths to achieve that.

Why put all those millions of tons of flesh in the universe?

I don't understand anything, and it bothers me like hell to exist without answers.

You know something, compulsive worriers shouldn't be given any idle time. They can drive themselves mad thinking of thoughts like these.