Monday, August 31, 2009

aromatic adventures

the smell permeates my humble coach house. that is this most interesting kala chana dish. and since i don’t have a pressure cooker, the beans are taking a long time to break down & cook. but the smell is intoxicating.

4 hours + 10 hours soaking, i patiently wait for this intense experience.

i found this shelf in the trash. and found the perfect use for it-arranging my growing spice collection. after re-arranging my entire kitchen, i practically danced while cooking this aromatic dish. we were only going to have a little taste because we wanted to wait until the next day so it would mush up a little bit more. no such luck. even though it had a crunchy texture, the flavor was completely MIND-BLOWING

world class. kala chana has sparked my interest in other strange & wonderful dried beans & legumes. bye bye canned beans, hello pressure cooker.

i’m off to tarjay…

[Via http://bindifry.wordpress.com]

Golden Triangle and Varanasi

Delhi:

We finally arrived in Delhi, India after thirteen hours of traveling. We walked off the plane and were immediately confronted with people in masks, swine flu information papers, and a medical check point. We had to fill out a medical history report and noticed that within the last two months, we had traveled through fifteen countries with confirmed cases of swine flu. There were booths set up as well as a large screen showing everyone’s temperature reading as they passed through customs. We waited longer than we ever have before at baggage pick up, apparently it is much cheaper to buy TV’s in Bangkok because we watched at least fifty big screen TV’s pass by us on the conveyer belt. We waited and waited, but Chelsea’s bag never showed up. After filling out a lot of paperwork we were given 3,000 rupees for the inconvenience and were assured our bag would arrive the next day, which it did!

Driving through the streets of Delhi is a much more terrifying experience than it was in Egypt. The streets are filled with cars, rickshaws, bikes, pedestrians, and cows. There is no need for the center line dividing the lanes because the drivers ignore it and cram twice as many vehicles into each lane. Our hotel was located in the Paharganj neighborhood of New Delhi and right outside our door was the main bazaar. The street was filled with shops, dirt, cows, people, food vendors, and stray dogs. Our noisy room was the size of a closet. The lock on the door was sketchy, so we pushed our bed up against the door at night for added security. The room was dirty and the bathroom lacked toilet paper, soap, and a shower stall, so we showered standing between the sink and the toilet, while water sprayed everywhere.

We toured the sights of Delhi with our own personal driver, Mr. Raj. He took us to the Gandhi Smriti, which is a memorial for Mahatma Ghandi and is in the location where he spent the last 144 days of his life and was assassinated. The Raj Ghat is an eternal flame memorial for Mahatma Gandhi. Humayun’s Tomb is a magnificent tomb built for Emperor Humayun by his wife in the mid sixteenth century. We entered the Lakshmi Narayan Temple (Birla Mandir) and observed evening prayer taking place. Safdarjang’s Tomb reminded us of a small Taj Mahal and is one of the last examples of Mughal architecture. We also visited the India Gate, Red Fort, Indira Gandhi Memorial, and the Lodi Garden. The architecture style was very different than what we were used to and made us feel like we really had arrived in India.

Our few days in Delhi were spent figuring out where our future travels in India would take us. We were lucky enough to find a Lonely Planet guide book at our hotel that had been left by another traveler and it became our India bible. We were almost scammed many times by tourist agencies trying to get us to pay for overpriced excursions. Thanks to our guide book, we found the reservation office for tourists at the train station, despite the times people told us it did not exist and we needed to book through a “government office” that they would take us to. We met Fran and Eve from England at the station and Fran suggested a route that we should follow, so we went ahead and booked our train tickets. The girls as well as a couple from Paris, joined us at our hotel’s rooftop restaurant for dinner where we had eaten breakfasts and dinners every day since we had arrived. We were doing everything we could to avoid getting “Delhi Belly”, so as soon as we found a good restaurant, we decided to stick with it. We were excited to leave the busy streets of Delhi and left for Jaipur after spending three days in the capital city.

Jaipur:

We took an early morning train to the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan and were delighted to find that after navigating the trains in Europe, India had a very similar set up. The main difference was that the New Delhi train station was littered with trash, people sleeping on the ground and in their rickshaws, and rodents running around. Our train offered us free water, tea, and breakfast, and other than a little dirt and a mouse that ran over Jayme’s foot, it felt a lot like the Eurail.

We took a rickshaw tour of Jaipur with our driver and guide, Nawab Ali. He drove us around the old city which is also called the “pink city” due to the fact that all of the buildings have been painted pink. We climbed the Hawal Mahal tower to view the entire city from the top before driving to the Amber Fort 11km outside of the city. The beautiful fort was built on the hillside and we climbed up to the courtyard where kids were enjoying elephant rides. It started raining, so we took shelter on a bench under a tree where we enjoyed a bag of raisins. We climbed down the steep steps while the locals offered us umbrellas and obviously thought we were crazy to be outside in the rain, although we loved the sudden drop in temperature. We drove through the outskirts of Jaipur along a dirt road where we passed a pig, dog, cow, goat, and monkey all in the span of about a minute. We visited a textile factory and watched as the workers hand printed designs on saris and scarves. We got suckered into the shop where we spent an hour sipping chai and looking through an assortment of merchandise. We finally settled on two identical pillow covers that will forever remind us of India (and will look great in the house we will have to share when we get back in case we have separation anxiety from one another).

We had another early morning train ride the next day and we wanted to practice walking to the train station to make sure we knew where we were going. It took us fifteen minutes to walk there along busy streets that we were hoping would be less crowded in the early hours of the following morning. We have become accustomed to seeing men urinating on the side of the road and in the urinal stands scattered around the cities. Today however, we made the mistake of walking behind an electrical box to avoid being hit by speeding rickshaws and came face to face with piles of human shit! We immediately decided to retire our flip flops for the rest of our stay in India and wear only our closed toed hiking shoes from then on. Our favorite dinner so far was at the Hotel Pearl Palace on their rooftop garden covered in tropical plants and ornate wrought-iron tables and chairs. We ordered our regular meal which consisted of vegetable spring rolls, two pieces of naan, rice, and vegetable curry. Our dinners average 150 rupees which is about $3.

Agra:

Our hotel in the Taj Ganj area of Agra provided us amazing views of the Taj Mahal from yet another rooftop restaurant. The guide books give great advice on how to get around in different cities, but they often leave out information on walking. Since we really enjoy walking and personally navigating our way through cities, we decided to walk a couple miles across town to visit the Sadaar Bazaar. We are so glad that we did this because on our way we spotted a group of monkeys playing in the trees on the side of the road. We would have missed this if we would have been speeding down the road in a rickshaw. The monkeys were a bit skittish and hid when we tried to take pictures. All of a sudden, two men on a motorcycle stopped next to us and before we knew what was happening, the monkeys were racing towards us. The men were throwing bananas to them and sped off before we could thank them for providing us with the perfect photo moment. We shared traveling stories with Australians and Germans during dinner at our hotel restaurant as we watched the sun set over the Taj Mahal. The two of us share our traveling frustrations with each other, but it is comforting to meet other travelers and realize that we are all experiencing the same thing. The Australian women put it perfectly, “all foreigners here are viewed as ATM’s on two legs.”

We woke up before sunrise and set off for the west gate entrance to the Taj Mahal to beat the crowds. To our surprise, we were not allowed to bring in our sudoku puzzle book, playing cards, ipod, and cookies, we think this is to discourage loitering. It was amazing to be standing in front of the Taj Mahal, but it was exactly what we had expected. The tomb of Shah Jahan’s second wife (and cousin) who died giving birth to their fourteenth child is massive, built with tons of white marble, and inlaid with precious gem stones. Construction started in 1631 and took more than twenty years to complete. We walked around the entire perimeter of the gardens, viewing the Taj from all directions. This is the first country we have been in where foreigners are charged a different entrance fee than the locals for all of the major sights. It cost us 750 rupees to enter the Taj ($15), while it only costs Indians 20 rupees ($0.40). We thought it was great that locals were able to afford to visit their country’s historical monuments, but it was clear that we were getting ripped off.

Agra’s other main attraction is the Agra Fort and we enjoyed our stroll so much the day before, that we decided to walk through town to the Agra Fort as well. A rickshaw driver stopped us at one point complaining, “You walk. Bad for my business, but good exercise for you!” Only 20 percent of the red sandstone fort is open to visitors and it is hard to imagine how large it really is because we saw so much. The fort was built in 1565 by Emperor Akbar on the bank of the Yamuna River. Shah Jahan (Akbar’s grandson) transformed the fort into a palace and was later imprisoned inside for the last eight years of his life. The fort offers great views of the Taj Mahal and we took a few minutes to admire Agra’s most popular site from the second most popular site. We noticed there was a lovely park near the fort on our walk there and decided to relax in the shade and avoid the busy streets for a while. Looking at a map, we realized there might be a path in the park that would lead us back to the Taj Mahal. We followed the trail through the lush forest where we did not run into any other tourists. What we did run into was another group of playful monkeys. We took pictures of them for a while and laughed when we realized a group of local men had crowded around us and were curiously watching us watch the monkeys. We loved our peaceful walk and the fact that we didn’t have to deal with the pushy rickshaw drivers trying to hassle us. It was extremely hot and humid outside and the only air conditioned building we could think of was the Indian chain restaurant Café. We dried out in the back room sitting on comfy ottomans, drinking frozen coffee, and reading. Sometimes it is really nice to do something that reminds us of the luxuries of home and this hit the spot.

Varanasi:

We had our first overnight train experience which we were both a little nervous about. We had two beds in a 3-tier AC car. The car is divided into separate rooms with three beds against the two side walls and two more beds parallel to the hallway, but perpendicular to the rest of the beds. We locked our bags at the head of our beds which gave us about ¾ of the bed to actually sleep on. We were rocked to sleep by the shaky train while surrounded by six Indian men. Our train did not arrive to Varanasi until 12:00 pm and we enjoyed a brief conversation with one of our roommates, an Indian professor who teaches animal science. He gave us each cookies and confirmed our stop at the main train station.

Varanasi is a unique city unlike any other. We walked through the old city which is a labyrinth of narrow alleyways filled with shops, feces, animals, people, and motorcycles. We stayed at the Shanti Guest House which is located right next to the Manikarnika Ghat – the main burning ghat. We spent the majority of the day getting lost in the old city and along the 80 plus ghats that line the Ganges River.

Ghats are bathing steps leading down to the Ganges River where we witnessed everything from swimming and bathing, washing clothes, dumping garbage, and burning bodies. Varanasi is one of the holiest places for Hindus and they view it as a crossing between the physical and spiritual world. Families bring the bodies of their dead loved ones to the city to be cremated in public at one of the burning ghats. We saw many funeral processions weaving their way throughout the city carrying the deceased on a bamboo stretcher wrapped in colorful cloth and covered with flowers. Once the body is taken to the burning ghat, it is drenched in water from the Ganges, meant to wash away any sins, and hoisted onto a pile of pre stacked wood. More wood is carefully placed over the body and lit using a flame from the eternal fire. During the ten minutes we stood at the burning ghat, we saw at least four separate fires burning, one body being carried to the river bank, and one woman being placed on a pile of wood. Cremations take place twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. Neither of us had seen a dead body before and while it was sad, it wasn’t as horrifying as we thought it would be. Even though we only spent a short amount of time at the burning ghat, the ash in the air and the blowing smoke (throughout the city and even on our rooftop restaurant) was a constant reminder of what was taking place below.

We walked through the crowded streets leading to the Dasaswamedh Ghat which is the most popular and busiest ghat. It was later in the day and because of the cooler temperature, everyone was out and about. People were swimming and bathing and we ventured down along the river passing many of the other ghats. We are obsessed with monkeys and were excited to see a baby monkey playing with a couple of puppies on the river bank. We think he was a pet monkey because there were no other monkeys around and he was not afraid of people. Jayme got within a few inches of him at one point and some of the guys let him crawl onto their shoulders.

We couldn’t leave Varanasi without going for a sunrise boat ride along the Ganges. We left the hotel at 5:00 am and met up with five other people who were on their way to the river as well. We bargained the price down to 50 rupees per person for a one hour ride along the river. Our nineteen year old guide who sleeps in the boat each night took us down past Dasaswamedh Ghat and pointed out interesting buildings along the way. We kept cringing every time we were splashed with even a drop of water knowing how filthy this holy water really is. According to Lonely Planet, 60,000 people go to the Varanasi ghats to take a holy dip every day where thirty large sewers are continuously discharging into the water. Samples from the river show the water has 1.5 million fecal coli form bacteria per 100mL of water. In water that is safe for bathing, this number should be less than 500. We were all appalled when our guide scooped a generous handful of water straight from the river into his mouth. We do not understand their immune system or their logic. After death, those people who are not permitted to be cremated for religious reasons are dropped into the river wrapped in cloth and attached to a concrete block. These people include babies, pregnant women, people who have been bitten by a snake, those with leprosy, and holy men. Sometimes the bodies do not remain on the bottom of the river and if they float to the west side of the river (along the ghats), they are thrown back in, but if the body floats to the east side of the river, it is left there and often devoured by wild animals. We crossed the river to the east side and bared witness to the skeletal remains of at least six people on a fifty foot stretch of the shore. We were literally stepping over skulls, vertebrae, femurs, and pelvic bones. Death is regarded in such a different way here and our guide didn’t think twice before chucking a skull at the group of us, thinking it was funny to watch us squirm. As we crossed back to the west side where the fires from the burning ghat were in full force, we saw a bloated body floating down the river between our boat and a group of bathing men. Needless to say, our eyes have been opened to a lot in Varanasi.

We will be spending the next week in northern India away from the big cities.

[Via http://globalizers.wordpress.com]

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Visit to Mumbai in August...

I was working in Mumbai again a couple of weeks ago, arriving on Sunday August 9th through to the following Saturday… it was an extremely busy time.

On Monday and Tuesday me and Angie were completely tied up with interviews and meetings related to Patni. In fact, Angie went over to Delhi and back on Tuesday – it’s a 2-hour flight from Mumbai. I stayed in Mumbai on Tuesday and desperately tried to arrange a new appointment as the planned interview had fallen through, due to a swine flu scare. Fortunately, I was able to go and talk with the boss of TCS eServe that day.

On Monday, the BBC came to my hotel and we recorded a TV interview about my latest book. It was broadcast globally on BBC World TV, India Business Report on August 23rd.

On Wednesday, we went on a day trip to Bangalore together. We were booked on to an 8.30pm flight coming back, but we managed to arrive back at the airport very early – before 6pm. We asked if it was possible to get on an earlier flight and fortunately there was one at 6.20pm we could get on at no extra charge – and it was fortunate as the 8.30pm flight was already delayed until 10.40pm at the earliest…

On Thursday Angie carried on writing at the hotel and I went to see the Patni engineering research lab. In the afternoon we went to visit the Dharavi slum as guests of the Maharashtra government. We met the head of the slum redevelopment programme, and even the MP for Dharavi.

On Friday, we met NASSCOM in the morning and did more writing before heading over to the Oxford Bookstore at Churchgate. I was speaking about my book Who Moved My Job? at the bookstore in Mumbai. I’d only found out on Monday that the publisher had arranged this event, but through a combination of emails and social networks I managed to get the word out there. In the end, the bookstore was packed full of people and 10 newspapers came to cover the event, along with a couple of magazines.

We then got on a flight to Bangkok just after midnight on Friday night… leaving behind a week of constant interviews and writing in Mumbai and on to some much-needed holiday time!

[Via http://markhillary.wordpress.com]

One week left.

All right.

So I do have about 10 days until I depart for India.  Days are going be quickly and slowly, and I’m soaking up the laughter with my dear friends and family.

My malaria medicine–thankfully–isn’t giving me side effects anymore.  The first night was quite hellish, but I’ve been unaffected since.  Which is  a kind of blessing, seems like.

I feel like I should be reading more and more about where I’m going, but I’ve been doing that for the longest time, I don’t think reading anymore about it is going to help me.  I’ve seen movies and documentaries about India, and there’s just no way I’ll actually be prepared.  I just have to go.  Be there.

Goodnight, if you’re on the West Coast.

Good-late-night, if you’re on the East Coast.

Good evening, if you’re in Hawaii.

Good morning, if you’re in Europe.

Good afternoon, if you’re in India.

[Via http://oliviaawbrey.wordpress.com]

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Teaching Sanskrit Bollywood Ishtyle

Got this in an email today. Too deliciously hilarious not to post…

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

‘Bhavatah samipe kim asti?

Mam samipe mata asti…’

Ahmedabad: That’s the mother of all dialogues Bollywood has ever produced. And, if you still couldn’t get it, here is another clue — it’s Hindi cinema’s most explosive faceoff, the fight between the two top stars of the 70s — Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor — over the quintessential Mother.

That’s the famous ‘Tumhare pass kya hai? Mere pas ma hai …’ dialogue from ‘Deewar’, now part of a unique experiment at Ahmedabadbased Eklavya Sanskrit Academy to popularise Sanskrit. One of the steps is to translate popular Hindi film dialogues into Sanskrit to draw the youth to the ancient language.

‘‘There is a notion that Sanskrit neither has any future nor market value. But, the language has immense potential. Even the advertising world quotes Sanskrit shlokas and many manuscripts hold great knowledge.

‘‘We want to create awareness about Sanskrit and promote research,’’ says Mihir Upadhyay, founder member of Eklavya Sansakrit Academy.

The academy also runs a monthly magazine in Sanskrit with a circulation of 500 copies. The academy has 190 members who gather once in a month.

‘‘Films are extremely popular in India and have a wide reach among the masses. Catchy dialogues, which remain etched in people’s memories and also recited often, would help popularise the language as it would cause curiosity,’’ says Upadhyay.

[Via http://cnablog.wordpress.com]

இது கிராம தோற்றத்துடன் கூடிய குட்டி நகரமாகும்

தோப்புத்துறை இது கிராம தோற்றத்துடன் கூடிய குட்டி நகரமாகும்

இங்கே முஸ்லிம்களும்,ஹிந்துக்களும் சகோதரர்களாக வாழ்ந்து வருகிறார்கள்,ஒற்றுமைக்கு சான்றாக திகழ்கிறது.

இங்கு பெரும்பாண்மையான மக்கள் வெளிநாட்டில் பொருள் ஈட்டி அன்னிய செலவாணி மூலம் நம் நாட்டிற்கு வருமானத்தை கொடுக்கிறார்கள்,

தோப்புத்துறை கிழக்கு கடற்கரை சாலையில் நாகப்பட்டினத்திற்கு சற்று தெற்கே 40 கிலோமீட்டர் தொலைவில் வேதரணியம் பேரூரிலிருந்து வடக்கே 2 கிலோ மீட்டர் அமைந்துள்ளது, இவ்வூருக்கு கிழக்கே வங்காள விரிகுடா கடலும், மேற்கே திருத்துரைப்பூண்டி, கட்டிமேடு மற்றும் கரியாப்பட்டினம் என்ற சிறிய கிராமமும்,35 கிலோமீட்டர் தொலைவில் முத்துப்பேட்டையும் அமைந்து உள்ளது.

இங்கு மொத்தம் 5 பள்ளிவாசல்கள், 4 மதரஸாக்கள், 2 அரபி பெண்கள் கல்லூரிகள், 3 அரசு பாடசாலைகள், 2 தனியார் ஆங்கில பாடசாலையும் மற்றும் மாற்று மத சகோதரர்களின் வழிபாட்டு தளங்களும் உள்ளன.

தோப்புதுறையிலிருந்து சுமார் 145 கி.மீ. தொலைவில் திருச்சியில் பன்னாட்டு விமான நிலையமும், 345 கி.மீ. தொலைவில் சென்னை அண்ணா விமான நிலையமும் உள்ளது.

தோப்புத்துறையில் சிறிய பண்டகச்சாலைகள் இருக்கும் போதிலும் தோப்புத்துறையின் வணிகத் தொடர்பு தலமாக விளங்குவது வேதரணியம் நகரம்.

தோப்புத்துறையில் மருத்துவமனை வசதி இல்லாததால் மருத்துவத்தை தேடி வேதாரணியம்,திருத்துரைபூண்டி மற்றும் நாகப்பட்டினம் செல்கிறார்கள்,வசதி படைத்தவர்கள் தஞ்சாவூர் மற்றும் சென்னைக்கும் செல்கிறார்கள்.

தோப்புத்துறையில் பிரதானமாக தொழில் என்று இருப்பது சொல்வதற்கு இல்லை. தோப்புத்துறையிலிருந்து தெற்கே 10கிலோமீட்டர் தொலைவில் கோடியக்கரை சரணாலாயம் உள்ளது,உலகின் பல்வேறு பகுதியிலிருந்து பலவகைப் பறவை இனங்கள் குறிப்பிட்ட சில காலங்களில் இங்கு வந்து தங்கி தங்களது தேவைகளை நிறைவேற்றிக் கொள்கிறது.

அருகில் உள்ள சுற்றுலா தளங்கள் 85 கி.மீ. தெலைவில் தஞ்சாவூரும்,வடக்கே 35 கி.மீ. தொலைவில் வேளங்கண்ணியும் சுற்றுலா தளங்களாக அமைந்துள்ளது.

வேதரணியத்திலிருந்து தமிழகம் முழவதும் இணைப்பு பேருந்துகள், திருத்துறைப்பூண்டியிலிருந்து இரயில்வே வசதியும் அமைந்துள்ளது.

சிறந்த கல்வி அறக்கட்டளைகள் தொடங்கப்பட்டு ஆண், பெண் இருபாலருக்கும் பயனமையும் வகையில் கல்வி நிலையங்கள் தொடங்கப்பட்டுள்ளன. இப்பொழுதுள்ள நிலையில் கல்வியின் வளர்ச்சி சற்று வளர்ச்சியடைந்துள்ளதை காண முடிகின்றது.

ஆக்கம் : ஆதம்.ஆரிபின் (மண்ணடிகாக்கா)

…இன்ஷா அல்லாஹ்..தொடரும்…

[Via http://markaspost.wordpress.com]

Friday, August 28, 2009

ICICI Bank has lost its mandate

ICICI Bank Q1 net up 21 pct | Financial Services, Reuters

India’s No.2 lender, on Saturday beat forecast with a 20.6 percent rise in net profit helped by higher trading income.

zyakaira notes: Axis Bank and SBI results were superlative in comparison, even Kotak did a nice job. Despite assurances, Chanda Kochchar’s stamp of return to old ways of significant bank intervention in all subsidoary businesses like investment banking and private equity and conservative underwriting practices along with slow moves in rural infrastructure and micro credit would mean a very slow H2 2009 and H1 2010. The current freeze in personal lines will continue to impact spread as well.

Net Interest Income is Down, and the bank is artificially holding Interest rates at ransom? Provisions are up almost 33% and NPAs are up to 2.33% from 1.81% – a result of malpractices across operations, cabalization and induction of criminals in its personal lines. I would like to think I’m being logical and not just posting a rant. Also, ICICI Bank considerably weakens India’s competitive position vis-a-vis MNC players and even the bellwether stock HDFC Bank which is otherwise only serving the small shopkeeper community instead of planning any rural distribution.

HDFC Bank results this week have been spectacular with a Net Profit growth of 30% compared to a meagre 21% for ICICI Bank. As insiders would say, ICICI Bank has lost itself in the melee they called growth but as markets would make obvious, ICICI Bank misused its mandate and has shown the potential to ignore any sensible advice from any quarter and proceed much like a drunk junk trawler on the high seas than like a responsible corporate leader.

HDFC Bank NIM is 4.1% compared to just 2% for ICICI Bank, even though they are not aggressively courting suspect business anymore. Deepak Parekh is retiring and Aditya Puri has spent 15 odd years at the helm of the bank but HDFC Bank has stayed with SME business and not ever been in the same league as ICICI after it outgrew its initial discipline and rigor in the mid 90s. ICICI’s CASA at 30.9% is a cause of concern for the bank agast 45% for HDFC Bank the only worthy direct competitor. But now, ICICI Bank is likely to lose the ball to PSBs like SBI after their consolidation exercise and even Axis Bank. HDFC Bank Net Income increased 25% while fees and commission helped Non Interest Income increase by 75.9% HDFC Bank (1416 branches in 550 cities) Balance sheet has increased to INR 186115 Crs ($3.8 billion) and Retail lines are 58% of the overall advances with CAR at 15%

ICICI, which grew loans by a third in the past few years by boosting retail, personal loans and credits, has changed tack to concentrate on the safer corporate and housing loans. India bank loan growth has slid to 16 percent in June from nearly double that in the year to March 2008 as demand for credit fell in a slowing economy.

Having backed these two banks earlier in my career, it has been excruciating to watch them take the nation down in the last few years and hopefully, the PSBs and the Yes Banks would obviate the need for these megaliths much like we outgrew Indian Financial institutions in the mid 90s..

Posted via email from The investment blog on Post

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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Una experiencia de usuario inmejorable

imagen extraída de la web de la Fundación Vicente Ferrer

Hace un par de semanas conversando con mi cuñada en la playa, me comentó que estaba buscando información de la Fundación Vicente Ferrer y en concreto del proceso de apadrinamiento de un niño/a de la India.

Le comenté que llevaba mi portátil con UMTS y me ofrecí a buscarle la información.

Esa misma tarde me conecté a la web de la fundación http://www.fundacionvicenteferrer.org y descubrí una web simple, muy bien organizada, que de una forma clara y esquemática proporciona toda la información necesaria para conocer la labor de la Fundación, los métodos de trabajo y su fundamento, así como las diferentes formulas de ayuda y los procedimientos necesarios para apadrinar a un niño/a.

También encontré muy útil y muy bien organizado el apartado de preguntas frecuentes asociado a cada procedimiento que, con un lenguaje simple y directo, explica con claridad cómo se reparten las aportaciones mensuales, que tipo de relación (también del punto de vista legal) habrá con el niño/a, como comunicarse con el/ella y otras muchas dudas que de forma muy lícita podrían “poner en peligro” la “experiencia de compra” del “cliente”

Sin pensarlo demasiado, decidí clicar en el botón  “apadrina ahora” y la web me llevó a un formulario muy simple e intuitivo que en la cabecera me avisaba que también es posible apadrinar por teléfono, llamando al 902 370 377.

Al final del “proceso de compra”, un mensaje me avisaba que en unos días la Fundación se pondría en contacto con nosotros para facilitarnos más datos. Un proceso sencillo, rápido y sin errores.

Pero la verdadera “experiencia de usuario” se ha materializado esta tarde. Al volver del trabajo encuentro un sobre de la Fundación Vicente Ferrer que contiene una carta de su Director General, Jordi Folgado Ferrer, dándome la bienvenida a su programa de ayuda.

El sobre también contiene una Guía del Apadrinamiento que explica todo lo que previamente había podido encontrar en la web y una postal de VANNURSWAMY (así se llama mi nuevo ahijado) que explica quien es, su edad, algunos detalles acerca de su familia y una estupenda foto para acabar de experimentar la “mejor experiencia de usuario” que nunca he probado en mi piel!

Es evidente que en la Fundación Vicente Ferrer saben perfectamente como crear una “experiencia inmejorable” que empieza en la web y acaba con la recepción del “pack de bienvenida”.

Bienvenido VANNURSWAMY, a partir de hoy cada 3 de abril será un día especial para nuestra familia, gracias a la Fundación Vicente Ferrer!

[Via http://mcimino.wordpress.com]