Bloggers blocked – a temporory solution

Hi ! If you are accessing the internet using one of the Indian ISPs, the chances are that you cannot see this and any other blog on the bloggers.com.

It seems that a selective ban on some blogs has enveloped the entire domain as the story here explains.

Till then you can use www.pkblogs.com to access any of the blogs (you will need to remember the name of the blog for that however).

For example to keep accessing this blog just visit www.pkblogs.com/cool-discussions
{{I know it is foolish to publish a URL on a site which will need the same URL to acess but…….. uhem …… May be you are not in India and may be you will pass on the url to someone who wants to access it in India)}}

One hopes that this horrible ban is removed soon enough – as of now it seems to be an error.

Happy Freedom of Expression to all fellow humans.

Bollywood in B-Schools

Bollywood has been an attraction to the young budding business managers at India’s best B-Schools for years now. One fondly remembers a couple of special shows of Govinda flicks that the entire institute was treated to, as a part of fresher welcome ritual at the IIM Lucknow. The singing and dancing with Govinda in the Balcony of theatres was immensely charged and hugely funny.

However, oflate even the professor’s at the IIMs seem to get inspirations from the movies. Prof. Prashant Salwan of IIM-Indore is writing a case study on krissh which he intends use in teaching International business and Marketing. Earlier the Amir Khan hit and oscar nominee from India Lagaan was used by Prof. Patnayak at IIM Indore as a case study.

While prof. patnayak used the content of the movie as a case to demonstrate leadership and team skills, Prof. Salwan seems to be more interested in the professional-commercials aspects of movies production, marketing and profitability.

Three things come to mind
1. The idea of using bollywood movies as case studies itself is a great marketing idea. Immediately media attention is available to such an unlikely marriage as entertainment and B-Schools. IIM-Indore has used the idea to get prominent and visible coverage in the media. This is positively a great brnading exercise for a budding IIM in its journey to become a matured and well entranched name in the minds of the target market.

2. I am not sure, but may be this idea could also find another utility – to get the B-School students interested in the class room discussions again. Increasingly I get a feeling talking to students on cmpus that they felt detached with the classrooms. Whats better then an idea that without doubt will appeal to students across the board.

3. Last these are sure signs of the Bollywood organising, operating and succeeding with a mindset of a professional industry. Beware Hollywood – here’s your biggest challenge shaping itself up for the task.

Picture courtsey http://www.indiafm.com/news/2006/07/13/7436/

Why oh!! Why

Last night was a a very difficult one. Sitting in Indore, watching frame by frame coverage of the gory act of terror that unleashed in Mumbai and Srinagar was a traumatic and moving experience. Everyone was visibly shocked – benumbed. What could one say or react to when something so irrational happens.

Who is making a point and to whom by killing those who were killed last night??

If actually there is someone for whom this message was actually – Will it reach them??

What does India do? My angry suggestion – teach them a lesson. Its time we responded – may be in a George Bush – manner, wrong/irrational it may be but some action is needed that will deter the next generation of terrorists from attacking an Indian traget.

My suggestion seems to be something coming from the minds of the likes of Thackery, Togadia or Modi. But no, I am no fan of any of them. This is a cold blooded thought. We need to demonstrate that we will not be silent spectators to such dastardly crimes. If there is no action now – it can only encourage more such crimes and more importantly there remains a danger of Indians feeling. So prime minister (your home minister is not even someone who can respond to this) – don’t sit back till the time you have hounded the brains behind this act. Identify them, chase them, book them, kill them if needed. Lead from he front – backdoor negotiations are all right – its time for some affirmative action.

Back into action

Well I was off again. This time to a vacation (yeah ! not to a pilgrimage in the name of a vacation). Come to think of it in an earlier post I said – “what the heck – lets go on a pilgrimage. As it is I need a long due and well earned vacation”. Just the kind of thing my mom need to know I said.

Because had she known these lines of mine she would say – see your pilgrimage brought you the truly well deserved and long due vacation….

Well I was in Darjeeling for 10 heavenly days. Will put of a post soon. I still have to complete the second part of the “Tirth Yatra”. So stay tuned…..

Rahul Mahajan – Trial by Media??

TOI edit on 6th june notes a fact in the ongoing case of Rahul Mahajan that instead of giving their story to the police the four young men involved in the case presented it to the media, first. The edit says

“While there is some justification for their act, it is a disturbing trend,
one that could lead to all kinds of distortions. Bypassing normal, well-laid-out
procedures cannot be encouraged.”

Ha Ha….. a police that has lost all its credibility and hence trust of the country’s people can only hide behind the fig leaf of well-laid-out procedures. No, I am not saying that their performace at cracking the cases is bad (that it is) but I am saying that their performace in conniving with the perpetrators of the crime is legendry. So what does the insecure do? They try and inform as many people as is possible. Thats the individual’s best bet. And in the case in question the later developments proved them – ahem…. astute – if not right.

Do we think that Apollo hospitals did not try to help mahajan get out of this?
Do we think that police was trying hard when they did not arrest Rahul long after drugs were talked about?
Do we think police would do the same had I, a hardly popular and surely not political figure, been involved in the case?

Frankly – I might be wrong with those questions, but media is ensuring at least that police will have to follow due process.

TOI in the same edit says

It could also muddy the waters or prejudge the case. More importantly, it
has the potential of trial by media — a dangerous trend.

Yep.. possible and yes it is dangerous. But, lets take this risk. Let some high and mighty be victimised by the sheer incompetence and corrupt behaviours of our policing system. May be then that will improve the police forces.

TOI says further

Media must not give into sensationalism and not do anything that could help
the accused. They need to cooperate with the investigating agencies and
intervene only when absolutely necessary to help the cause of justice. This is a
test case. The media must live up to the role of watchdog if they are to
continue enjoying public credibility.

Noble words those – hey but the credibility or the balance comes from the fact that there is severe competition in the media and its cut throat – so one major error and TRPs could nosedive.

No, I am not worried that they will go over the top – they might be derailed, carried away some times, even get corrupted occassionaly but they will check themseleves just in time – if they have to survive.

Why, the TOI edit itself is an example – who is it cautioning – the media channels who are getting attaraction of people. So tomorrow if someone there actually slips the credibility test – another TOI edit will mention “See we told you”. The powers that be in the channel will then act – a few heads may roll or a few at least get the rap. So the next story is done better.

Similarly let another high profile case come and the police will follow procedures better and Doctors would learn to stick to facts better rather than try to drop some distortions. Free markets at its best…….

PS. Lookout for the police and Doctors also learn fast.

Funny Fanna

“When celebrities speak they must take a prepared punchline from those whom they seek to represent” sounds ridiculous to you ?? me too. But thats exactly what one of our rather intellectually bent media persons would want us to believe.

I am refering to a talk show we the people telecaseted on NDTV on 4th June. Brakha dutt as always was good and could collect a variety of interesting and informed panelists on the discussions. The context was celebrities involvement in issues of public interest. Obviously it erupts out the reaction in Gujarat on Aamir’s film Fanna. Thankfully she also kept the discussion on course by discussing neither the film “Fanna” nor the “Narmad Bachoo Andolan” and kept the discussion squarely on the issue of celebrity endorsing issues and implications thereof.

Apart from the usual points about the fact that in a democracy everyone has a right to say what he or she feels about, and that the reaction to aamir’s statements in Gujarat are obviously wrong. Almost all in the group seemed to agree with that. However two voices had some interesting points to make. The two voices were none other than Tavleen singh and Nalini Singh.
Nalini made the point that – celebrities need to appreciate that they carry great influence over the public and so they should be cautious about what they say on issues on which they know little about. Not much to disagree here but then to my surprise she ended up suggesting this – “see when Amitabh and Sharukh were given the line – Do boond Jindagi Ke (Two drops of life) – it worked just great for the polio campaign. Thats because – they did not need to know much about polio virus or the disease. Someone worked for weeks – may be a month and came up with lines that they could communicate well to people. Thats an effective way to take a informed and right thing to people.” The message – Don’t just go out there and speak soemthing that can affect such a large number of people, just like that.

Thankfully someone in the audience was moved enough to ask her point blank – “Does Nalini mean that what celebrities should do is utter prepared lines but never say what they feel in their own words? I am really confused is this waht she means”.

Nalini – a professional as she is, remained composed and yet fiddled with words suggesting that this is like distorting what she said and went on to unconvincingly explain that what she meant was that there are so many crores of people out there who might feel and get affected by what the celbrities say and what I am saying is………..blah!!

And then there was the inimitable tavleen singh, columnist – who points out that celebrities need to be responsible for their statements. Sure, not many would disagree with her on that but then what do you mean by responsibility? she says something to the effect – if you have stuck your neck out stick with it. Specifically, in the context of Fanna controvesy – she is unhappy that aamir and company visited for half a day and made those, now historical, statements. According to her celebrities should own it up for long and be consistent about it. She took example of Shabana accepting an award from the world Economic forum when she had already raised her voice against them in a different context.

Well – what does one say. A good TV anchor has to find conflicting voices to bring to her show a variety of opinions. And some in media carve their presence by ensuring that they write or say which is different if not exactly opposite to what media is printing reams on. Both Nalini and Tavleen belong to that brand, whom I admire because they do bring some genuine nuances of the issue. But frankly sometimes this effort stretches into either trivialities or sometimes simply nowhere. Tavleen’s issue though right are at the wrong time and hence belong to the former category while nalini belongs to the latter. An entire hour of time wasted on explaining to those two the simple irrelevance of their ideas in the current context – is a huge waste.

Musings from a Pilgrimage – I

Sorry for this hiatus – was really occupied with personal, professional and the spiritual. Yes ! I was out for a week on a pilgrimage (tour)

“Pilgrimage – now that sounds boring. And since when did you start paying visits to the deities?” Comments that I received when I announced my trip.

OK !! I have never been over the top with religion or any thing that remotely smells of the meta physicals. But, what the heck – I am OK with the idea of faith. So when my parents issued an emotional appeal (Well fine!! emotional blackmail) – I just said yes. Here was a long sought vacation which I was unable to plan somehow. And – it turned out to be quite a bit more than a pilgrimage – so this post promises to be much more then just a travelogue.

I might have never mentioned that I belong to a jain family – it seems so trivial but one realizes that one’s religion is very much a part of one’s identity. A visit to shikharjee – the place in question – thus is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to wash off all the sins that we might have committed in our lifetime. (some made me believe that actually it also takes care of sins that you are going to commit in our future…… I told you it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity). Eevry one was convinced that my kid is really lucky to go on such a “yatra” at such a tender age (four years).

I did not realize that we were off to such an important “yatra” of my life until I occupied my birth in the train. We were dropped by my uncle and family – sheepishly they took out a couple of garlands (the typical yellow genda – variety which one sees hanging at all flower shops) and we (I, my wife and the kid) were felicitated complete with the red “tilak” on our forehead. I felt like the sacrificial lamb being readied for the final kill. I recalled Haj yatris on railway stations being similarly treated and the fun I had watching all the drama – but never did I imagine that I will become the reasons for amusement of fellow passengers – Oh! God was it embarrassing.

I : Civil Sense ??
Anyways we left for an almost 36 hour journey in a train which will travel through so many corners of MP, UP, Bihar and Jharkhand that I never knew existed. After a long time I was on a long journey by Indian railways and that too sleeper class. I grew increasingly conscious of the fact that in brightly “shining” India – lack of civil sense remains a burning problem – a train coach which starts spanking clean from the origin station (no pun intended) becomes a mess with spits, wrappers, peels, dust, newspapers, water spills from water bottles to wash basins to even toilets. By the time our journey ends we just want a clean wash and sound sleep for the next day.

Another 25 km of taxi ride took us to Madhuban – a small town at the foot of shikharjee hills was to be our abode for the next three days. I was immediately attracted to the green hills that we were to travel the next day.

“Yatra Begins”
Well the D-day started at 4:00 AM – and how? Of course with a wish for a successful yatra in front of a deity named Bhomyaji – considered the paheradar (Guard) at the doors of the shikharjee. It is amazing to note that almost every God worth his salt (or his temple) in India follows the business/corporate culture of establishing a trusted guard notionally outside his abode taking care of his boss’s business and like every other office reaching the boss passes through their tables necessarily (Remember Hanumanji for Ram Temples, or _________ for Lord Shiva etc.)

I was told this incredible news that we are supposed to walk approx. 27 km (yes twenty seven) by the evening. The only destination that we could see was a one white temple on top of one of the highest peaks and gosh!! It looked far and high. I was ready to bet my money that this 27 km bit was an exaggeration by some over zealous “bhakt” and we started on an unending serpentine concrete road approx. 6-feet wide on a hill covered with thick green forest seemingly leading us to – well nowhere. I must say I really enjoyed the first km. Through the lush green dense forest at around 4:30 hrs. Not just me, to our delight even our four year kid was so full of energy and enthusiasm that he traveled almost the first km on foot.

II : Children of my country
Early on in our “yatra” I noted these young girls in their early school going age carrying something in nylon sacks on their heads, on those steep concrete roads. While I clicked a few snaps I asked one of them as to what is it that they were carrying. She replied simply “Itta” (bricks). I was taken aback, as if hit by those bricks she was carrying, by the casual manner she answered it – a look at the bag would reveal that each bag must have contained 6 or 8 bricks. I could not think of carrying a travel bag for long with me and here is a small girl almost one-third my age carrying brickload on her head climbing this strenuous mountains.

I was aware that we would be traveling on concrete roads – which they said has made the yatra much easier. My parents who visited the place about 25years ago remembers that it was once just a “kaccha” path through the dense forest – where even the mighty sun would rarely reach them. I was suddenly conscious of the fact that this concrete road that we were walking on was laid down on a bed of bricks carried by these tender shoulders at an age when the Indian government promises them compulsory primary education. Thats India for all of us.

III : Fellow Human Beings
Did you notice those “dolis” moving along with us – a strong thick wooden beam carried on their shoulders by two men with a swing like arrangement for one person to sit while they are carried by these two people through their yatras.

This is the only help available to carry out your journey if you are unable to complete the fete on foot. There are hundreds of such doliwalas swarming the place. They obviously cater to the peak time demand when this small town is full of “yatris”. At this time you just look around for a “doliwala” and at least 10 will approach you. If you have the courage and will to negotiate they will agree to half the price that they are entitled to. You would easily realize the sheer manual effort that is required in carrying a human being (50-70 Kgs on average) on these steep hills for 20 plus kms. And then it would dawn upon you, how inhuman it would be to negotiate a better price for their manual labour.

I was once in Calcutta (in the days when this was the name of the city) and saw human beings carrying richer fellow human beings on a hand pulled trolly (like a horse cart with a human being in place of the horse). If you feel that’s awful – this one is worse. I have always wondered how would one feel sitting in one of those carts (or one of these dolis) with the other human beings carrying you. At least I could not make myself sit even to try out this feeling.

IV : Faith
Faith is an amazing thing. It can move mountains – or it can make you climb mountains – literally. Here is my mother – she suffers from chronic troubles with all joints in her body and she generally avoids walking for long because the pain becomes unbearable specially the outsized bones of her toes. Any number of doctors could not convince her to go for a regular morning walk which they claim will keep her joints more functional. And here was she all energized and determined to complete a 25plus km journey through steep mountains in a single day and by now she has traveled about 8 km. She keeps saying no to our suggestions, requests, emotional blackmails to sit on a doli. How else can one define this seemingly unexplainable contradiction.

Here is another picture of faith – look at the frail beauty of this old lady whom I don’t know. Its hot summer of may and she travels all the way up here with her family (may be with the help of doliwalas) looking for what – God, Peace, Sense of conquer or just a need to tell herself that I am up and kicking.

The “yatra” continues and so does my musings. The post is turning out to be bulkier then I thought when I started. So More to come – wait for the next post – stay tuned.

1000 and now growing

Just wanted to indulge in some retrospection. Today my blog received its 1000th hit.

I wrote my first post on 15th November. Since then – 31 posts and almost six months later the counter on my blog crosses 1000 mark.

This isn’t a great show, if I go by the performances of some veteren bloggers (like rashmi, amit, Gautam Ghosh etc.) whom I have picked up the habit of reading regularly. Of course I also know of bloggers (like madhukar, anuradha) who deserve better readership then they currently get.

However I never started off with the idea of attracting traffic in the first place. Neither did I anticipate that I will reach that count (traffic) so soon specially because I did not circulate my blog even among my friends from the real world. I just wanted to create a space where I say my thing and then I learnt that blogging is really interactive media that can reach out to people everywhere. And then I learnt about tracking traffic to one’s blog and then ……….
Today blogging is a part of my routine and it provides me satisfaction, space, immense learning and more importantly connectivity.

Yes!! In this less than six months I connected to a few friends who are now regular visitors (no names here for I do not know whether they want this shared) and they leave a comment off and on. I never thought people can connect in such a productive manner beyond a mail-list which often turned into a chain mail circulation forums. Moreover, these are people whom I have never met or known – they are their becuae they read what I write and interact on what I write. Thats a lovely concept.

So here is to my new hobby ………. Thanks to all who communicated with me. I look forward to more in the days to come……..May be I will write a deeper introspective post at the completion of first year of blogging.

Reliance Losing Money – we must lose sleep

Even Reliance can lose money.

Reading this note I wonder – for how long will government be able to hold on to these subsidies specially when private sector companies like Reliance has made aggressive forays into an industry which has been historically in the PSU domain.

Given the abilities of Reliance to influence Government policies – one can expect market parity soon for petrol, Diesel and Cooking Gas. If that happens will we celebrate it as win for the free economy champions or will it be yet another challenge for a belegaured house wife in a typical middle class Indian household trying its best to make ends meet.

Or will this be the start of the end of the dream run of shinning India and its growth story?

Coaching Classes or Poaching Classes

I was attracted to this rather loud advertisement in my morning newspaper which claimed stupendous success at the CAT / IIM – 2006 by a leading National Tutorial in the business of MBA Entrance training. Very soon I was to realise that I am faced with a bitter truth of today’s education business. Results – is what sells in the coaching class markets and so results is what they will show – come what may. But in this blind race to show results how far will they go. Thsis ad is a burning example:

In the middle of this full page ad were the hindi words “phir se phod diya” (Cracked Again). On the left side was presented an array of photographs of students selected to the IIMs – the reverse headline said – “from Indore to IIMs – grand success story since 13 years”. On the right side another array of photographs which carried the title “Super Stars of PT Indore Centre – Year 2005”

The fine print is interesting and is full of insight on how masses are fooled by the concerned tutorial into believing that it has been a grand success at CAT/IIMs. Here are some observations

The IIM Selections claimed are of 13 years

The photographs on the left side are not IIM selections of this year alone. They are all the selections that has happened over the last 13 (yes Thirteen) years including the current year. The ad is cleverly planned by writing that vague line “Grand success story of last 13 years” to mean that that the following photographs are of all those students who were selected over the last 13 years.

Obviously for the casual reader this would look like a stupendous result for a place like Indore. I took a quick snap poll to confirm my instinct. The result : 10 out of 10 parents (of under graduate students) had to closely look at the ad three times to figure out that – even the ad is claiming just 10 IIM Selections for the current year.

Lots of these students were not even assisted by them
One of the most defaced photograph – of one “Girish Pahadia” dates back to the year 94-95. Check the year written on the photogrph in that red color – it is poorer than that in clarity in the actual print ad.

I am a close friend of Girish. He told me that he had approached this class for help when he had received a GD/PI call way back in 1995. He was offered to start practicing immediately without paying anything. After attending one session he never returned back & has never paid a single paisa to the tutorial in question. His fault – he filled up a form (he swears that he did not give any photograph then).

Girish is not a stand alone case.
From the students selected this year one – Aditya Gupta – attened exactly two GK lectures (paid Rs. 500 for that). That was their contribution to Aditya’s success. Aditya says that their marketing of GK lectures looked attractive and so I went for a couple of seminars – that’s all. “In fact” He says “I was approached by them many times – being offered freebies to get registered with them. In fact after my admission was confirmed – I was again called to ask for my photograph and signatures. I had refused to them on phone and also told them I do not want to talk to any body from their administration.”

Of course aditya was a regular student with another coaching class in the city. Aditya is furious and for a change he is contemplating action against the tutorial in question. However scores of others who are claimed as proud success by them either do not know (as they might not be in town anymore) or they don’t care to look into the fine print.)

And then there is the case of Saurabh Laddha. Another one who made it to all the five IIMs except Ahmedabad this year. He was a student of this tutorial in the year 2002 (yes – 2002 – do notice the registration number quoted by the ad. It starts with 02 – the year in which he joined – It is 05 for Aditya). He did not get a single call in that year. He started working for a company called CSC at Indore and kept taking CAT every year. He had joined a test series with another coaching institute (not PT Education) and then joined a second coaching class (not PT Education) for his Group Discussion and Interview preparation this year.

He says “it is not just misuse but also misinformation. I do not give a single paisa credit to them for what I achieved this year. Of course they did not talk to me before putting my name and photograph in the ad”

Supriya Gupte appears to be another case similar to that of Saurabh’s. She is among current years selections claimed by this ad. Although I do not have a direct contact with her – but her registration number with PT (published in this ad) reveals her to be student of 2003.

Even if we give the benefit of doubt in this case to the tutorial (for want of concrete first hand information) – others are glaring cases of misrepresentation, at best, and simply fraud – practically speaking. Go on to read more such cases.

History of such results
May be this year they have poor results and they might have done such a thing in desperation?? Unlikely, becuase similar cases exist in this ad which dates back to the time of Girish. Here are some more.

Maulshri Rathi –
joined PT in the year 1998. Did not make it to any B-School in that year. Joined another training institute in the next year. Again failed to make it to any B-School. Took up a job with WebDunia – an Indore based software company – appeared for GMAT, applied for the first batch of ISB Hyderabad. When she received a call from ISB for an interview, she went back to the later institute (not PT) for help and made it to ISB. Possibly one of the youngest to join that B-School. Now even PT did not use her name and photographs in earlier communications that it made during her year of selection – but puts her as a proud achievement now.

Pratik Maru –
Was a student of PT in 98. Did not make it to any of the B-Schools. Took up a job and went out of Indore. Appeared for CAT again later – finally got calls for GD-PI and approached another coaching class (not PT Education) in Indore to prepare himself for the final assault. He finally achieved admission in the year 2001. However he is happily claimed as a PT success story now.

Shireen Date -
Joined for a three month elementary course (then called beginners) with PT in 2001. Then she joined a year long course with another institute in the city and was a student of this institute (not PT Education) when she was selected. But as in all other cases she is one of the grand success stories of PT.

The ad is probably full of such cases – I am presenting those for which I have authentic first hand info. All these cases have been confirmed with the persons themselves and the facts are verifiable by anybody.

That’s not all – 3 out of 10 are waitlisted
No, that’s not all. Look closely at that ad. You will then discover that out of the 10 IIM selections claimed for the current year THREE are (by their own admission in the ad) waitlisted. For example the case of Nikhil Paranjape. But wait the admission of that is in the fine print only – the heading at the top happily claims “All final selections after GD-PIs”

In the copy they claim 95% of top B-School selections from Indore – now anybody even on the gut feel will reject such a claim. But who is there to question whatever a copy says.

About the photographs presented to the right side of “Phod Diya” the lesser said the better. Selections to any Tom, Dick and Harry institute has been listed – so that the photographs appear to be as many in number as is possible. Obviously the masses at large do not notice that spending thousands of rupees to seek admission to such institutes is sheer waste of money. However, if these are genuine selections of this year of their own students – they are entitled to make them noticed in the way they deem it fit. The point is only that the ad is hyping up lies and half truths to unacceptably high levels.

Am I reading too much in one ad ?
One can ask a genuine question at this juncture – despite the acts of commission or omission of information in above cases being glaring – is it possible that I am trying to interpret too much in a single communication?

The answer friends, is an emphatic NO. This kind of misrepresentation, half truths, and hyperbole has been a consistent strategy with the tutorial under the scanner – here are a few more campaigns that PT has taken up in the earlier years. Here are past examples

Hype on “Changes in CAT”
Following is a copy of ad that was published by PT in January 2004. The readers would be aware that this was the time when the HRD ministry was working at reducing the number of exams for MBA admissions.



The copy of this reads

“The complete process of MBA entrance will undergo a change soon. All individual institute specific exams are being scrapped and replaced by a central All India test. Syllabus is undergoing a dramatic change. GD-PI may be removed from the selection process.”

It goes on to say
“In such uncertain and turbulent times, you can still sit back and relax. After all, PT is by your side.

PT presents – a completely upgraded pinnacle course ready to support you crack the new challenge of CAT 2004. Created by our large nationwide R & D cell, the all new Pinnacle is the ultimate weapon for you to crack the new CAT. No matter what the pattern finally turns out to be, we will cover it in totality”

This ad was supplemented by seminars and counseling rounds where it was openly said that CAT is changing & PT knows what to do? I am in touch with a student who attended one of those seminars where it was claimed that CAT-2004 will have an essay to write.

All these was publicised whe this discussion was at best a rumor with almost no confirmation either in media or otherwise by authorities that be.

In nut shell a hype was created that CAT is changing and it was blatantly suggested that PT knows about it and has upgraded the course to take care of the changes – much before the changes were even announced by the competent authorities. Of course the ad had a harmless footnote suggesting all information compiled from standard news papers and media sources.

Hype on CAT 2004 Results
Following is a copy of an ad PT indore center published in March 2005 in all leading vernaculars of MP. This is another example of half truths and most probably lies

The fine print here is actually more interesting. Here are some verified observations.

95% of all IIM Calls from Indore?
Below that equation in red (which claims IIMite = PTite) the copy reads – “PT Indore center has 95% of all IIM calls from Indore.”. A blatant lie, because that percentage would be close to 50% in that year and surely nowhere near 95%.

Which Calls?
The headline says “clean sweep of results” . Now the detail – there are 25 photographs with their names. The other information that was provided in the ad was – hold your breath – the name of the course that each student joined with PT. What was cleverly omitted was the information on the institutes from which this students received those calls. Think about it – why was the information on their calls not given when the rest of the ad screams out results and IIM call and what is the logic of putting in the name of the course they joined with the tutorial. Knowing fully well that few people read what is written below the photograph (as long as something is written) and it is assumed that information about their selection is present.

Obviously people were made to believe that there were as many as 25 people with IIM calls in that year alone. All trials to verify that fact failed. My research confirmed about 15 people out of them with genuine IIM calls. Two questions went unanswered till date – Did all these 25 people had GD/PI calls from one or more of the IIMS in that year?? Were all these 25 people from Indore?? The tutorial in question was completely quiet on this account despite phamplets being distributed in Indore on similar themes by competition.

That’s not all. At least one student – Nitisha Laddha – in this set of photographs was a case of misrepresentation again. She was pursued by PT into attending their GD/PI training free and she attended just one session due to consistent pestering of their counselor. The next day she was in their ad.

The Toppers Campaign
In June 2005 PT came with another campaign both in the news papers and also on the hoardings at Indore. The campaign was named – “Toppers Unlimited”. It claimed that PT had 10 toppers in a row. Toppers meaning their students reaching the first rank of the exam.

Now, a closer look in the ad will reveal 4 CAT toppers for that year (100 percentile), One MAT topper followed by a few names who topped their MBA course or their branch at their respective institute. Examples – There was a photograph of one Neha Taleja – the fine print said she is a topper (a gold medalist) at M.I.C.A. and then there was a Prashant Dinodiya – Topper (gold medalist) for best overall performance at IIM Kozhikhode.

(I will soon post the ad and the hoarding photograph of this campaign too)

When an institute who trains students for MBA entrance claims credit for their success at the respective B-School, isn’t it blatantly stretching things a bit too far. Moreover, clubbing them with successful students of CAT and other MBA entrance exams is a glaring case of misguiding.

Why PT be singled out
In a world full of cut throat competition, why single out PT? Aren’t their more players, brands in the market who might be following similar practices?

The answer to this question is manifolds –
First, I write about PT because I know more about what they do & how in Indore.

Second, because I believe that most other players in the market are not so blatantly unethical. Yes, in a commercial/professional world of business, promoters of most such businesses (including me) might have, in their weak times, resorted to a half truth here or a creative interpretation there. But the consistency and the brazenness of PT is truly unmatched.

Third, Campaigns like those above, tend to brainwash students into believing loudness to be the truth. This post on the blog is just my way of reaching out to a larger mass.

There must be more names in the industry who are involved in such misrepresentation – but I have seen only this one as the most blatant by far. Moreover, there are smaller players who get into such practices more out of desperation to get businessbut one expects more ethical behaviour from a national player.

I am sure that none would disagree when I say that Mainstream Media would not like to take this issue as that would mean targeting someone who is a big source of ad revenue

The way forward
Education has already attained the status of a booming industry in India. Increasing awareness of merits of education and the high flying lucrative careers being talked about in media has made it an exciting business preposition. Burgeoning numbers of students compete for ridiculously low number of seats. For instance, for a less than 1500 seats at the IIMs more than 1,75,000 people appeared for CAT last year. This numbers are growing faster then ever before and the news. As a result professional/commercial coaching classes have gradually replaced the erstwhile tutors or conventional coaching classes run by teachers. The business is now conducted by managers who play with the psyche of people and are masters in the art of influencing through communication.

Something needs to be done to check all such practices – before it becomes a menace to the society in general. Government, Laws, autonomous regulating agencies – may be yes. A more alert, watchful, unbiased and honest media – surely if that happens half the battle is won. A common association of larger players in the industry who would work towards fair competition – desirable, but I do not think that such a thing will work in the current environment. But something needs to be done pretty soon. Till then “Grand Success Story of PT” continues. This blog-post is my submission to a larger goal.

All images are scanned images of Newspapers (Nai Dunia or Daink Bhaskar).