obtuse angle

Onion - Rs.14.95/kg; Tomato - Rs. 9.95/kg;  Kashmir Apple - Rs. 99.95/kg. When we enter a Mall or a Super Market or any grocery mart for that matter, we can see the above type of pricing for almost all products. When you buy just a kg of onion and pay Rs. 15, are you going to get back Rs. 05 (5 paise) as the balance change? NO. Then why price it as Rs. 14.95 instead of the honest price of Rs. 15/kg? This is what is universally known as 'psychological pricing'. This is designed to play on your emotion rather than rational thinking. It aims to make you (the customer) believe that the actual pricing is lower than what you rationally think it is! To attract the customer. Today, this type of pricing is prevalent in most of the products across all product-mix. Though most of us realize the fact, we still fall for it. It is proved by a statistical study. That is why traders still continue to do the pricing thus. Our mind perceives the 'first left digit' as the price point. ...

It is said that 'those who fail to plan, plan to fail'. So, it seems that it is essential for everyone to plan things ahead. Even for mundane things, we need to make a plan. Planning for anything to do is mandatory now. Okay, you have made your plan, alright! But when it is executed, do you think everything goes as per your plan 'verbatim'? Invariably 'a BIG NO'. Because the happenings around you, do not depend on your plan. You do not have any control over what happens around you, which affects your plan, most of the time. Then, why to plan, at all? If you do not plan at all, the things that happen could be even more disastrous; that is why. When you plan, you would at least know where you have failed in your plan and what has not happened according to your plan. You have some guidelines to do a course correction. But if you do not have any plan for that matter, you are more than sure to fail 99% of the time. Some people get terribly upset, the moment the...

A recent statute passed in Indian Parliament grants 10% reservation for the 'Economically Weaker' section. The eligibility criterion is that the total income of the family should be below Rs. 8 lakhs in a year. A person states thus: His father is earning around Rs. 70 lakhs in a year. His mother is a home-maker (no income!). Suppose his parents get a divorce, and this guy lives with his mother (with no plausible income), will he be eligible for a medical seat under the reservation quota? That is the question posed to a consultant. 'Yes', is the answer. And if the alimony his mother gets in a year should be less than Rs. 8 lakhs. The idea is that, after he gets the medical seat, his parents will re-marry. The 'divorce and re-marriage' idea is only to thwart the statute provision. What a shameful idea! Whatever be any legislation to help those who really need it, there are people to subvert and take undue advantage of it. They bend any rule to their advantage. ...

Mahatma Gandhi's famous quote : A customer is the most important visitor on our premises; He is not dependent on us, we are dependent on him. He is not an interruption on our work, he is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider on our business, he is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him, he is doing us a favor, by giving us an opportunity to do so. It is the day of consumers. Consumerism has increased several folds in the recent years. That is because of the larger (ever-increasing) population, which has got a lot of disposable income. Even the people in the low-income group have the financial capability to afford house-hold items (white goods) which were once thought to be fit to be in rich homes only. The recently coined adage says, 'supply creates demand'. You make things available (abundantly) in the market and the people grab them (irrespective of whether they have a real need or not!). A coconut shell (which is thrown away, after using the kerne...

'To survive, you must die first - Title idea - courtesy - Ms. Sandhya Shiv I will extrapolate it a bit - To survive and flourish , you must die first. It is like a phoenix re-born from the remains of its ashes. So, technically the phoenix bird is immortal! It symbolizes the re-birth of oneself after he/she dies (symbolically). It may be due to utter humiliation, insult, torture (may be of the mind), total devastation, mostly by the people who are supposedly closer to you. You believe in them unquestionably, trust to the hilt. Invariably it will be your close aides and people on whom you had blind faith that stab you at the back.... There is no point in realizing it later (point of no return). Even if you scream, 'You too Brutus', nothing will happen. May be first-hand experience is the best teacher in life. Hence you might die (virtually) to rise above from the debris of your own ashes, gain the vaunted strength to rise like a Colossus. Having taken the bitter lesso...

A joke doing the rounds in the social media : A 'Procrastinators Club' is formed (after several postponements, of course!) and a lot of prospective members (richly deserving membership) are giving all kinds of excuses to join the Club (naturally!). Finally it gets formed. The first ever meeting is announced by a guy (may be he does not deserve to be in this Club!). Postponements after postponements......The first meeting is yet to happen.... How many of us truly deserve this honor? Many of us, I believe! Why does one procrastinate? It is mainly due to over-confidence that the particular task could be completed in the last minute, without any hitch. For submitting a 'BID' at 10.00 A.M., some guys come to the office at 9.00 A.M. and start preparing the 'bid documents'. They do not anticipate unexpected power failure or any other untoward mishap. You may succeed in submitting the bid in time but sometimes you may not meet the time schedule, due to several occu...