Vijay Anand | The Startup Guy.

I Fix Chennai: Coming Diwali, We are lighting up the city.

// October 29th, 2007 // No Comments » // Chennai, I Fix, Ideas to Toss, India, Proto.in

You know, we’ve been talking about one cultural activity to bring out the exuberance of this city and how united people can be together in certain things. I think we have an opportunity for that.

Diwali is coming. Most folks will be at home watching TV all day long and from the experience of previous years, traffic is at its lowest.

Take a main road. Imagine Mount road, and have lights along the entire stretch, by different people, whoever wants to set a light. I used to think that such a symbol of unity and in a collective manner would bring a lot of pride within the city. If the attitude changes a little bit, the kind of things that we’ll start to see will be phenomenal.

The statement is this. If you believe, we can contribute towards a better city, and you want to do your part, all you have to do is simple… celebrate this festival with us. Come and light a candle, a diya and include us as part of your community.

while politicians put up their flags and all, the city puts out lights of peace and unity. That’d be a nice statement, if at all a silent one.

So what are the next steps? Well, post a comment and we’ll take it forward from there. If you are keen on spreading the word around in your neighbourhood and to get them to participate, also let us know.

Vijay

3:11. Chennai, a snapshot in time.

// October 27th, 2007 // No Comments » // Chennai, I Fix, India, Mobile

Life goes on. But imagine making a repository of life around, a snapshot in time, through the eyes and lenses of a multitude people on a certain instant of the flow of time itself.

On November 3rd, at 3:11pm, whereever you are (within the boundaries of Chennai), reach for the closest thing that can click (Mobile Cam, SLR whatever would do it for you), aim and shoot at a frame that captures the essence of where you are – what you are doing and life around. Post it at the website that is up for 311pm (http://www.311pm.com). The collation of all the images will serve to be interesting in the perspective of looking at a snapshot of time in the city of chennai, through the eyes of the people.

Pretty cool Project, I’d say. I am heading out on a two week vacation and would probably be somewhere in Jaipur during that time, but if you are in Chennai, you should certainly be part of this.

I Fix, Goes National

// October 16th, 2007 // No Comments » // Chennai, I Fix, India, Politics

I am quite impressed at the way people have taken this simple concept and have chosen to run with it. As skeptical as most folks were, our third campaign had about 30+ people who were out on the roads fixing one of the issues that this city (Chennai) faces – potholes on city roads.

There were some very interesting stories of the folks who came out. One of them was a gentleman who works in bangalore and comes home to chennai for the weekend and he was out with all of us doing his bit. I salute such commitments. Just gotta.

Bangalore is starting their edition and so is Delhi. Delhi though the third one to start, would possibly be the second chapter to get up and running. They are heading out this weekend. If you do want to contribute, actually… if you do have the urge to be part of a solution, then feel free to step out. You can contact Prashant Singh for more details.

The Delhi edition of Times of India has run an article on the same. Very well written by Sujata, it conveys the message quite succinctly.

I love the way the guys in Delhi are thinking. To quote:
“What’s more, the Delhi group plans to clean and paint hospitals, clean up slums, paint fences and classrooms of government schools, replace faulty taps in public places et al. ” They couldnt have been bang on right with the spirit behind which this ideology was conceived.

“See a problem, be a part of the solution” is the core mantra behind it all.

The days of seeing realities of Rang de Basanti, might not be too far from now. I absolutely believe in that.

The Hockey Strike. The Story of a Brand.

// September 27th, 2007 // 1 Comment » // I Fix, India

Well, Ladies and gentlemen, if we thought that we never would see India win a World cup in India in our lifetime, we were so wrong. We are, it seems, the new champions when it comes to Twenty 20 Cricket. I must say, it was an impressive display of determination, nerve-wrecking tension and success.

Not everybody is happy about this. I guess some folks forgot that when a team wins, they also get a truck load of compliments and “gifts”. When Rathore won the bronze in the Olympics, for a while we saw him all over the place in advertisements. We have had our moments of seeing Leander Paes in some advertisements and in the role of a brand ambassador. We have and do continue to see Sania Mirza representing quite a few brands. Narain Karthikeyan has its own brand that he carries as the fastest Indian. I am not even taking into account the ads that Sachin and the well-known cricket players appear for. The point is simple – there is a brand behind all of these sports.

The following question would be, ah… tell me one hockey player whom most can recall. I can’t think of any.

If we have to get into a bit of the gory details, There are quite a few fingers pointed towards the government on the count of partial treatment towards cricket and against hockey. I’d call BS on that. For one, the state government has its own funds and they are free to disperse them as they see fit. If one state minister decides to do something about their boys who went and brought home the cup, well that’s their call. It still has nothing to do with the “government’ per se. The finer detail is that, the amount that the state government granted was a few lakhs. Have you ever noticed how much money gets shipped out when it rains for a few more days and what is spent in the name of relief efforts? – as ineffective as may be as well? The underlying point is that, its not the government who is being partial. We are.

Let me point another interesting note. The BCCI (The Indian Cricket Federation) is one of the most wealthiest and loaded cricket association in the whole wide world. Any advertisement that is done in the name of cricket, using any of the players, and the revenue that BCCI makes in the name of broadcasting rights and in content distribution is huge. The core of that revenue are the players and their winning streak. BCCI has every reason to incentivize their players so that their agenda remains healthy.

Well, what about Hockey, you ask? Well, the Government did allocate 490+ crores (approx 100 Million USD) in the name of sports and games fund. 150 crores is being allocated just for training the athletes for the Commonwealth games. I am sure the hockey federation is getting their cut out of it. The point is that the hockey federation is getting the same treatment from the government as the Cricket federation. The same amount of funding. The difference is that while one of them decided to build a religion/cult/brand out of that sport, the other one is sitting on it doing nothing.

Even worse, while the team players are obviously upset about this whole thing, today’s news reads “The Hockey Federation distances itself from the issue”. So much for that!

Get a team to build a brand for hockey. We have a legacy of rocking in that sport. Bring some of those old players back. Raise corporate funding and train a team and go beat the bejesus out in a tournament. If Chak De is a runaway success, one thing is for sure. We are all secretly hoping that one day, it will be our hockey team that will come home with the world cup.

I Fix Chennai. Campaign Update.

// September 16th, 2007 // 1 Comment » // Chennai, I Fix

There is a verse in the bible that says, If Two people on Earth agree on something… it shall be done. Not one, two or five, but 17 people were out on a night – when there was an India-Pakistan match going on, to fix potholes. I couldn’t have been much more assured and confident of this team that we have, and the commitment of the people who came out.

Things have improved much, compared to last time and here is a gist:

1. We have a much better understanding of how to fix potholes. The cement – water ratio, to the setting time, how to protect the potholes till the cement dries up, etc.

2. We had a team that went to check on all the potholes in the morning, water it, and also meet with the residents around that area to create awareness that it is going to be their responsibility to take care of the roads from now on. The response has been very comforting. I would ideally hope that we would not have to go into the same area again.

3. Findnearyou.com had sponsored the team with reflector jackets. When you are out in the middle of a road in the ungodly hours of the night, you get to meet a lot of drunken drivers. The jackets do help a lot. I have to say that, With the jacket everybody became “professional” about fixing roads Thanks goes to Ram and Seshadri of Findnearyou.com.

4. We had an individual sponsor this month’s initiative to cover the costs. She is a fabulous person to interact with, being a veteran in getting involved in the matters of a cleaner city. It has been good to interact with such people to understand the Do’s and dont’s and how to get moving and keeping this sustainable.

5. What has been most surprising is the support that local authorities have been showing. Every single police authority that we met during the night had nothing but good words to say. There were even a few people who stopped their cars, and got off to enquire about this. It is worth mentioning this because when we first planned this, our well-meaning friends, all they had to say was “you might get arrested”

It was a good night. The team is starting to bond very well, and being the second time, I have a feeling that we’ve started something that’s going to make a much bigger impact, much sooner than we anticipated.

Vijay

PS: The Pictures for the campaign will be up tomorrow on the Wiki (http://pothole.pbwiki.com)