Cogzidel Day @ Madurai


Yesterday we celebrated our second year anniversary in Madurai. Though we have offices in Chennai we (myself & Bala) decided to goto Madurai because we Started our Journey at Madurai two years back.

  • We started our journey by offering Pooja for Goddess Madurai Meenakshi Amman.
  • For first anniversary we visited the temple for Thanks Giving to the goddess.
  • We did the same this year too. This time I must thank my friend Satheesh Seelan for arranging for such a wonderful darshan.

Then from temple we went to office directly and we were in for a pleasant surprise. Thanks to our HR & Admin Mr.Jegan & other Cogzians for all the arrangements.

  • Then there was a small speech telling the Vision for Next one year and there was a small Q & A seassion.
  • Then Thanks Giving to Present & ex-cogzians.
  • Then Cake Cutting.

Now we have stepped into our 3rd year and it is time to work hard and accomplish as mush as possible. Rangoli & Decoration done by our girls;

is RedBus dye’ing?


My previous blog states the Irony we had with a Private Bus. Most of the passengers got the ticket through RedBus.in. For a person who is a great admirer of RedBus for the way they filled a Gap and in raising VC funding. They were a great success case study. But they are falling prey to a problem which is not their’s.

  • Most of the Top Private Bus operators have their own Online booking service and they have walked away from RedBus.
  • Now most of the travels they have are Travel / Ticket agents who don’t even own a Bus.
  • Also other operators are with single fleet service operators.

My last three experience with ticket booked by RedBus was a nightmare. I personally think RedBus to do something innovative to tie up with operators whom their customers can rely with. Else this concept is going to die because most of the operators are unorganized, hooligans who man handle customers.

Yesterday was the last occasions where I used RedBus & good bye guys. Pls take this as a serious whistle-blowing & work on some other solutions to stan on the field.

A scene at Koyembedu Omni Bus Stand


It was a perfect experience I thrive to have and I really enjoyed the time. Yesterday I had to book tickets to Madurai in an infamous Omni (Private) bus because all reputed travels like KPN, Parveen, ABT etc were all running full houses because of long weekend holidays. I’ve had lot os bad experience with such operators and I was expecting some problem. So this is how it all started;

  • Booked a ticket in a Travels names Sri Saravana Travels through RedBus.in by 8 PM.
  • Bus was scheduled to start by 11 o clock.
  • Cost of the ticket was Rs.780.
  • Had to search for the small office for 30 min and many other bus operators were not aware of this Travels.
  • Upon finding the office by 10.45 PM we were all made to sit on the small dungeon office till 12 o clock.
  • Then people started questioning and we were pacified by telling bus will reach in 15 min and we were made to sit in a near by Travels office in A/C.
  • Then after another 45 min we were all made to stand out telling bus has come.
  • But after standing on the platform for 15 min people started getting irritated (including me).
  • I was the first to go with a rude voice.
  • The owner (We didn’t know then that he was the owner) of the Travels said he is doing us a favor and if we shout he cant help us out. It was almost a blackmail and I was not happy with the way we were treated.
  • When I asked for the name of the owner he said owner is abroad and when I asked for his name he said it is Noor Mohammed. That took my temper to the top because it looked he was teasing us. How can a Sri Saravana Travels owner can be named with a muslim name??
  • Then I called him to the Police station and immediately he started abusing me with all bad words.
  • Then I pulled him to Police station and there was almost a Physical fight between me and the Travels guy.
  • Immediately all the co-passengers came to my rescue and we started pulling him to Police Station.
  • Then all the Travels guys mostly drunk assembled and started pushing other passengers.
  • Immediately I call 100 and asked for the help of COPS.
  • After a heated debate and after 10 min cops reached the spot & they picked all the travels folks.
  • Out of 20 passengers only 4 accompanied me. But I was not bothered and I was ready to fight it alone.
  • As we thought we were made to slog and these travels people were given a good treatment. Which was obvious.
  • When I was writing a complaint a cop asked me not to do it and when I was adamant to give a compliant he started threatening that I’ve to come to station when ever they call until the case ends. By then we thought there is no use in going to cops and came to know their intentions.
  • In spite of cops interfering we got a bus which was not worth for Rs.780/- by 3 AM in the morning.
  • Another thing was the operator was threatening me in front of the cops that he has my address and he will be back with revenge. Though I gave a dawn I was startled because cops were listening to his threats.

Finally after boarding the bus everyone came and thanked me for making this happen. Finally I was contented because;

  • of me others were able to get a bus and travel to Madurai.
  • For sure cops would have taken advantage of the situation and would have taken some bribe.
  • I thought them a lesson that they can’t take everyone for granted.

Again there is not going to be any change. But I did my bit to change things by taking some initiative and by writing this blog which will be of help to others.

Note: Finally we came to know Sri Saravana Travels is just a ticket booking agent and he doesn’t own a bus. They are ticket agents with a Name to cheat people.

What if I Failed?


When I blogged about completing 10 years as an entrepreneur. After going thru it I though what if I had given up in-between. Frankly I don’t have a perfect answer. On different stages I’d have taken a different call. But I’m thankful to god for making me stay. But I’ve a lot other wishes which were not full-filled because of being an entrepreneur.

  • Wanted to be a monk for 5-6 months.
  • Stay inside a forest or some place where there is not much people.
  • Wanted to start a theatre.
  • Learn some musical instrument.
  • Wanted to be a Single Parent (Inspired by Raveena Tandon & Sushmita Sen)

Probably I’d have pursued something listed above.

10 years of Entrepreneurship & 2 Years for Cogzidel


September has become a special month in my Life as it is during this month that I started my career and that too as an entrepreneur. I still remember it was during September 2000 I started my first company in a Ganesh Temple in Besant Nagar during Ganesh Chadurthi. Then I didn’t know I’d have crossed soo many hurdles & would be blogging about it today.

Also my second venture Cogzidel was started during september 2 years back and again I cant believe it has been 2 years. I can still remember both the days afresh.

It was a wonderful journey which was a mix of;

  • Excitement
  • Learning
  • Experience
  • Betraying
  • Managing Cruelty
  • Criticism
  • Appreciation
  • Recougnization

It took me 10 years in life to understand only half what entrepreneurship is and I’m still learning. Now I’ve a past to show people about my performance. But time to redraw my future & this is how I want my future to be positioned or I want to be or I want to do;

  • Become an Angel Investor
  • Become a Business Mentor
  • Become a professor on Entrepreneurship
  • Experiment / Research on Entrepreneurship like
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Holding and scaling an Entity
    • Forming a Company with Crowd Funding
    • Run a Public Limited Company

Just understood where my heart is and slowly moving towards the direction of my passion. Finally on this day I’d like to thank all my friends, relatives & my associates who have helped me reach where I’m today.

I wish 2020 will have a lot more to Share than now.

Life has come a Circle


Thirteen years back when I was in college my neighbors & relatives who were elder to me by 7 – 10 years use to take me for movies. I’d be waiting for weekends and I was not sure then why they were taking all the pains to take me by spending on tickets and snacks for me.

Then after completion of my graduation and after starting to earn I use to goto movies every weekend along with my friends. Problem then was there were different sets of friends (School, College, Neighbor) use to call me at a same time. It was hard to take a choice but i managed by shuffling teams every week.

Then after a time I started approaching my juniors to accompany me for a movie. Yesterday I was in a situation where I wanted to go for a movie. When I approached my juniors whom I took for granted until sometime back CHANGED. When I approached then I started getting reasons my friends use to tell me or Vice-Versa.

Just realized that they have grown and they have become serious in their life. Only yesterday I got an answer “Why I was sponsored for movie by my Seniors”. Now I realize that I was doing a favor for them and they didn’t.

Life has come a full circle and now it is time to drill down and look for young Kids who can give me company.

I watch this whenever I’m down


Traffic Menace


Started the day by waking early in the morning & things started well;

  • Replied to all official emails.
  • Answered all personal emails.
  • Then took a Business Analyst friend of mine to give some advice to my new Business Analyst & also got good insights about Business Analyst practices.
  • Then met a Serial Entrepreneur friend of mine and it was nice interacting with her.
  • Then went to my favorite Aavin parlor in Adyar with my CFO & dropped him back.

It is from here my agony started. From GN Chetty road to reach my home it took 2 hours and I was really irritated. All the good progress in the day got overshadowed by the traffic and unruly drivers in the City. But the time I reached my home I got mentally tired.

Nothing is a barrier if you are determined!


An old man lived alone in a village. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his situation:

Dear Son,

I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my potato garden this year. I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren’t in prison.

Love,

Dad

Shortly, the old man received this telegram: “For Heaven’s sake, Dad, don’t dig up the garden!! That’s where I buried the GUNS!!”

At 4 a.m. the next morning, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any guns.

Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asked him what to do next.

His son’s reply was: “Go ahead and plant your potatoes, Dad.. It’s the best I could do for you from here.”

NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE IN THE WORLD, IF YOU HAVE DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING DEEP FROM YOUR HEART YOU CAN DO IT.

IT IS THE THOUGHT THAT MATTERS NOT WHERE YOU ARE OR WHERE THE PERSON IS.

Is being mean a mistake?


For 20 years in my life i’ve been an ordinary person by leading a life for my parents wishes. I was scared of criticism but thankfully I always had an opportunity to find compassion in someone. But it all changed the day I told my parents, relatives & friends that I wanted to become an entrepreneur I was criticized by everyone. That struck me really hard and I wanted to prove everyone wrong. From then on I had come across a lot of good and bad moments.

In the pursuit of my dreams I’m traveling in a place of uncertainties. I carry a lot of responsibility & commitment unlike a normal person. For all this the cost I’m paying is ignoring my responsibilities & commitment in my personal life.

  • Last weekend my mother was feeling bad that my contribution towards my sisters marriage preparation is zero.
  • I’ve been ignoring important ones in my life for my personal interest.

I don’t want to justify my acts but I’m forced to be mean as the situation demands it. Again I don’t have a better place to open my guilt other than my blog.

Folks I’m Guilty of Being Mean for my PERSONAL INTEREST…