Getting Synced with Communication!

What can a smartphone do to your life? Other than the basic function of helping to speak to people and message them at any point of time, it also enables you to check your mails which cannot be ignored or kept for deletion in future. Such was this day when I had suddenly received an alert from IndiBlogger asking me whether I would want to be part of the Univercell Sync contest. Without giving much thought, I quickly went to the details of the contest section to check the location, date and time. Perfect! Close to my house in Indiranagar, Bangalore on a Sunday afternoon and an opportunity for me to be part of an IndiBlogger meet for the first time since my registration.

But what was the thing that I had to do? The excitement was killing me inside till the time I stepped inside the store. This was the same Univercell Sync store from where I had bought my phone. My smartphone. I was already kind of a loyalist since the time I had decided to buy my phone from the store. Having been to different stores at different locations, interacting with the staff to understand the phone’s features and whether the phone they show me is what I wanted, I was exhausted and tired. That time, I didn’t want to go to any more store where I have to choose from the display or tell them my requirements and they will show me phones that is within the budget. I wanted to a good customer satisfaction experience where I do not have to wait for the staff member to stop juggling between customers and show me phones in between.

Univercell Sync had given me the exact experience that I had wished for. And this time, when I had stepped in to their store, I relived my earlier experience. Although I did not have any intentions of buying products, the motto was to understand the strategies behind their brand success. Univercell Sync has a unique store layout. While the store might just sound like any other mobile retail store, the fact is that, it isn’t. When you step inside the store, there is much more that than just the latest versions of the mobiles kept on display and a staff members assisting the customers and answering to their queries.

The best part of the store is that there are dedicated sections for each type of gadgets that you would look for. There’s a music section that has a checklist for the music lover printed on the wall. The checklist includes all your queries about storage, headphones, battery, music online, file format, music player UX and music apps—things that you require and things that the store offers. The next one was for the multi-tasker who looks for battery, has doubts regarding operating system, enterprise, screen, connectivity, multi-media and camera and this entire section addresses each of these problems. Move on to the next section: the photography and related accessories section named Point & Shoot. You get storage equipment, printing machines (including the portable ones), etc., information about apps such as Instagram being displayed on the screen, etc. The next section called the Work & Play zone is all about gadgets that are meant for people who prefer using a single gadget and do every work on it only. The store has exclusive gadgets that takes care of such problems.

The Sync Squad, as they call themselves, is a tech-support team and is there to help each and every customer to get the new phone working and syncing the devices. Beginning with providing assistance on making the phone work to going to your house to provide a demo or pick up and drop your phone in case of any damage, the Sync Squad manages everything. They help you identify the best gadget that will suit the customer’s choice and requirements and make the best decision when it comes to investing money on electronic items that are meant for delivering the best results.

The store, undoubtedly, has its charm. Be it about documentation process after your purchase, suggesting the best devices or simply answering to your questions so that you are convinced, Univercell Sync is, for me, the store to recommend and visit as many as possible for buying my gadgets. I appreciate their effort of setting up a store that is primarily consumer-centric, has a well-trained and qualified staff, offers value added services to ensure that the consumer does not stay confused anymore, apart from the latest gadgets and phones.

Be Period Positive!

They ended their speech with this line: Be period positive. They spoke about an initiative that is not talked about easily because it’s a taboo. You are not supposed to discuss the subject in the open. Especially in the presence of men, be it anybody—father, brother or any other person.

Aditi Gupta and Tuhin Paul were introduced by the Emcee in the second session of #TedxBangalore on August 3, 2014 as the couple who is working as a team on a delicate subject. It’s about that difficult time of the month that a girl cannot explain easily to anyone and her mother is known to tell her, every girl has to go through this phase. You are not alone in this case!

Maybe we girls are not alone. Maybe the girl sitting next to you is going through the same problem, but why is it so difficult to discuss it in the open? Everyone knows about it. It is not that secretive a matter like an invention of a rocket. Aditi, in her speech, spoke about the problems that she had to go through in her early days of menstruation wherein she was not allowed to talk about it with her father and brother, not speak with the relatives or worship Gods and follow many such instructions. Almost all of us are asked to follow the same rules, except in a few cases where the men in the family are supportive enough to understand your problem. I never had a problem talking about this with my Dad because he was simply my father who needed to hear out his daughter. My Mom never told me don’t let people know about it but yes, it is a subject that you should not discuss too often. It’s something that happens to girls and boys know about it too. They don’t come and tell you if something related to their health happens. You definitely have a lot many interesting things to talk about other than this. Oh yes, we do!

However, the idea generates a sense of embarrassment when you even step out to buy the packet in the presence of men in a pharmacy shop, but not that much when you pick it up from the local supermarket. Men generally do not linger around that area, so it’s easier to pick it up from there. But in the pharmacy shop, it's not that easy. Initially, when I had started shopping for myself, asking for the packet used to be difficult. I was shy because the pharmacists were men and the people around were too. But, when the realisation dawned upon me that it’s a necessity and there is absolutely nothing to be shy about, walking up to the pharmacy and asking for my preferred choice of sanitary napkins was much easier.

It is nothing new or innovative that is happening with us girls, but it is exclusive to us. Making it sound like a dirty thing doesn’t really help because it is an integral part of being a woman. I would personally like to applaud the idea and efforts of Menstrupedia couple for bringing it in the public in such a creative manner and I hope, their efforts help in transforming the shyness into a positive confidence in the young girls and feel good about themselves.

Learn more about the concept here.

Can I take a few balloons after the party gets over?

Isn’t that what you would expect a child coming to a party to tell you if you are hosting it? The colourful balloons are what attract the children so much and they wait for the party to get over so that they can pick and choose the balloons according to their choice. But is this the same scenario when it comes to the monthly birthday celebrations in office? Well, for one, there are no children but what happens when you hear your colleague asking for balloons so that she can take them home to the HR?

At my workplace, as a HR policy, on the fourth Friday of every month, a monthly birthday celebration is organised where the employees who were born in that particular month celebrate their birthday together with all the others in the cafeteria by cutting a huge cake and eating some munchies. This month, a colleague of mine was celebrating her birthday and we all gathered in the cafeteria. It was decorated with balloons and festoons and the cake, the patties and the coke were waiting for us. All of us had only one thing in mind. A big piece of cake after the customary piece has been eaten. But this one colleague had something else in her mind. She wanted to take the balloons and was only waiting for the party to get over. Not showing much interested in the cake or in meeting everyone else in between work, she was looking for a chance to go and talk to the birthday organisers to help her the balloons.

After about 20 mins when people started moving out and getting back to work, she walked up to the HR team, asked for the balloons and came back to us all giggling with two bunches of balloons. Apparently, the HR team was also amused and they happily gave her the balloons to take home. She clicked photos with the balloons, posed along with others and finally got back to her seat.

The next thing that struck all of us was how was she planning to take these balloons home? Travelling back home in a bus was out of question but wouldn't the balloons burst while going in an auto as well. She was left with no other option but taking an auto back home. I accompanied her till the bus stop. Certain funny things happened on the way that made the whole incident more interesting. First, the neighbouring auto had women in it who kept touching the balloons while we were stuck in the traffic and it had pissed my colleague off quite badly. This was followed by the inquisitive auto-wallah (not blaming him though), as to why is she carrying so many balloons home? And whenever, a balloon or two would burst, he would turn and say, Kya Madam? The ultimate end to her dream of going back home with balloons ended with the street children catching her and running after her to give away the balloons to them. The kind hearted young lady she is, she gave them and returned home finally with only five out of, may be, 12 of them. 

We all knew that she has a fascination for balloons when she said, “We can put up balloons on her birthday and celebrate!” or “Oh wow! That team is celebrating his birthday and they have so many balloons on his desk. I will go and ask for some.” These only gave us the idea that on her birthday, we should gift her a packet of balloons if not anything else. That packet, I heard, is one of her most prized possessions and may be kept for her children to be inherited.

We feel amused to see her excitement when it comes to balloons and all she tells us, the balloons brings out the kid in her. It is always fascinating to have something of this sort in your life that never fails to bring a smile on your face, irrespective of how old you are and what profession you are in. A food for thought here? So, what’s that one thing that makes me a kid and bring a smile on my face? What about you?