New billing styles

Current economic situation is throwing up new billing styles in restaurants and hotels. There are news reports that a few restaurants in the UK and USA are now asking customers to patronise them and pay as they please. Yes they have hid away their menu cards with astronomical prices. The ostensible idea to get the crowd back and appeal to their good sense to pay as much as they think their service and serving is worth.

Have we not heard this before in Annalakshmi group of restaurants in Coimbatore, Chennai and Singapore? I remember when they first opened their restaurant in Chennai in Mount Road, it was a very novel concept. It used to freak out some people who are terribly conscientious. They would err on the safe side and pay more than they think the restaurant would have charged them. I had gone there once where a friend was hosting a lunch for a few of us and she was terribly embarassed as to how to settle the bill, where the bill was nonexistent. We pooled our heads together and spent unbelievable amount of effort in arriving at a fair value. But then it lasted for only a very short while; it appeared that it was becoming unviable as Chennaites were notorious for having a virtually free meal and that was not what the owners had in mind.

Now these restaurants abroad are trying out the same idea.They really need to bring back the crowds and cutting the fares is an obvious choice. Offering superior value is another choice. Perhaps they have done this and are in the third step. There are also hotels in Singapore which offer the guest accomodation without mentioning the price tag. They believe the guests will pay them commensurate with their service.

Hotel tariffs are notoriously exorbitant and never have we settled a bill without feeling if it is really worth the fare charged. Perhaps the hospitality industry is into 'prayaschitha' mode!

carbon footprints

We are informed that of late companies are going that extra length to publish their 'carbon footprint' on their websites. They are contemplating doing so on the product packs, but how far it will make any sense to the consumer is a moot point. Say carbon footprint is 84, the consumer is left wondering what is that supposed to mean to him. Is the companys good in its carbon footprint practise or not and where does that compare with similar products, and dissimilar products and offerings.

But then some information was forthcoming in the papers about Pepsico and the information about carbon footprint on its product orange juice under the brand Tropicana. It was surprising that the company contributed significantly to green house emissions during the production process which involves cultivation and processing, rather than during packaging and distribution. It also came as a revelation to the company it is said. Fertiliser is the bad guy during cultivation of oranges and during processing natural gas contributes significantly to green house emissions. Of course transportation, distribution and packaging contribute but less than that during production.
We are also given absolute figures if that will make it easier to evaluate;

One gallon of tropicana orange juice = 1.7 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent damage done to the environment.

So much for feeling all nice and good drinking that glass of juice during breakfast.
Do we need such heavy duty fertilisers is an obvious question. Some decades back fertilisers were the panacea of declining and low productivity of Indian agriculture and we could not have enough of potent fertilisers. They no doubt increased yield at significant cost to the environment.Organic farming is gaining ground and just like alternate sources of energy will require some more time before it can be applied on a mass scale.

Processing is the next culprit. Without the aid of food processing farmers dont get enough value for their produce, hence food processing is touted as the best additional revenue stream for agricultural chain.

Then there is the question of distribution. Why should we have the same Tropicana juice produced in Punjab be available throughout India and elsewhere? Decentralised production is one answer but then maintaining quality and viability compete for attention.It is the much travelling populace that looks for known brands for quality even in remote areas. Would we touch an unbranded orange colour juice in Ambasamudram,But immediately grab a tropicana juice in the same shop. This adds to the distribution 'carbon footprint' cost. It should be possible to produce quality juice at decentralised locations and there is opportunity here.

Packaging is one aspect which I have always been perceiving as contributing to environment cost. Everyday we dispose some cartons or the other and we do not consume ready to eat foods or takeaways which typically consume a lot of packing materials. But then we buy packaged juices and milk satchets and all provisions come in plastic containers. They are branded .Do we go back to newspaper wrapped conical packaging, where the thread and the newspaper gets recycled and nothing adds to the environment cost. But then quality and cleanliness of the food grains is not ensured that is the main reason for plonking for the branded packaging.

A clean environment means consumers should be able to take time and effort. But society has inexorably changed and is it possible to go back to a lifestyle where the village consumed what it produced ; no storage or limited storage of food grains; eating the same ragi for 12 months of the year; spending unlimited time in cleaning and pounding the grains; no refrigerators, every meal is cooked fresh with whatever available.

It is romantic but not viable.I think we need to work around the exisiting system. Each of us starting with the responsibility to contribute to easing the pressure on carbon footprint.We plan to shift to fresh fruit juice available across the colony in favour of Tropicana and Real fruit juices. We take it from there.One definite step at a time.

australian grand slam tennis

It was a sunday and I had reserved the couch in front of the TV. I watched uninterrupted TV that day, a one off event. A leisurely breakfast and I sauntered in front of the Tv just when the mixed doubles finals was conveniently telecast. It was quite an entertaining and absorbing tennis.I liked the commentator's remark that mixed doubles match puts lots of pressure on the man; he just cannot fail to retrieve a ball when a woman is serving; he cannot allow his natural style to come to the surface and take a dominating role, lest he be curbing his partner's space. I was surprised that even S did not know that there are slightly different rules when the teams score 40 each in a mixed doubles match.

After the first few sets, the dominance of Bhupati, Sania pair was pretty obvious.Bhupati played some brilliant net shots and also a few poor misses,The match was played in a relaxed atmosphere, so much so that the losing pair took the defeat quite in their style. During the prize giving ceremony Ram was actually beaming and happy.

But that cannot be said for the men's finals. It was bitterly fought and bitterly lost.
The entire four and a half hours was as fierce as a bull fight.Each and every point was hard fought.My eye balls had a lot of yogic exercise that day, darting back and forth.

I had watched the last wimbledon final between the same pair and it was also edge of the seat action. It was a repeat of the same with a few differences in style. Nadal was less agile; he used to retrieve balls by running right across the entire length and breadth of the court. Federer was making too many first serve errors and was slightly less composed than the last time.But the match was a one of a kind; enjoyable and exciting and eminently watchable even for me a non player of the game. Yes, I have had lot of tennis in my life , the passive variety if you know what I mean.

The designer swarosky studded shorts of Nadal brought in lot of comments and surprise usually reserved for Mrs Obama of late.

Federer broke down and cried,and said he cannot handle this defeat which he had wanted so badly. No, no not sportsmanly. He has had his time under the sun and has to move on. How many people have been able to reach where he has reached , be it in achieving great success, public adulation, fame and pushing oneself to one's limit of physical and mental endurance. I am sure he enjoyed it all the way. And he has achieved this when others his age are just making tentative steps in their life and career achievements.

He has been a great player and that is how we will remember him. Nadal will have his glory for some more years and he will be in the same spot Federer was that Sunday, refusing to let go, fighting tooth and nail...

24x7 marriage

Dr Vijay Nagaswami as a columnist in the Hindu I am familiar with. I find his writings on marriage very refreshing and contemporary. Devoid of any lingo or pontification he comes to the point and handles the issue of marriage in today's Indian society with a lot of perspective and frankness. His columns are also eminently readable.

I was eagerly looking out for his book on the subject of 24x7 marriage in the bookshops as soon as it was published . It was last week that I sighted the book at Odyssey book store and grabbed it and I have been reading it chapter by chapter. I strongly recommend this book in every household after the dictionary, tinkle digest and steven covey.
That the author is a psychiatrist and a specialist in handling marriage issues makes the book a good chronicle of his case studies. It is totally realistic and he also finds prescriptions(yes he is a doctor you see) for some of the issues. He rightly says that marriage is not a definite slot in the time scale of today's youth. They dont want to answer 'why not' but want to ask 'why' to the idea of marriage. Women taking up careers seriously are focussed on their careers and they also have enough freedom and excitement that men have always had. They also have enough opportunity to have friends at work. Women have changed big time but the men are pretty much in the same cultural more. A classic case of tussle.Women are handling this issue by postponing marriage till they find a reason for getting married.
The author handles these issues very well and gives perspective on the common but new issues in today's marriage.

This book is a good gift to anybody above 18 years; all you have to do is to find some excuse ...