Categories
Become

‘In an online shop, you invest in people’

Monica Gupta runs Craftsvilla.com with her husband Manoj. She tells The Metrognome what it takes to run a business in the online space and how sound basics will ensure success in business

By The Editors/ editor@themetrognome.in

When and why did you decide to venture into the arts and crafts space?

I have been brought up in an environment wherein crafts were an integral part of the family routine. My mother used to do painting and embroidery regularly, while we as kids were asked to make the best out of waste products. My stay in the Unites States brought me closer to India and Indian culture. My road trip to Kutch (in —-) was the final decisive step towards deciding to take on art and craft as a business venture with a social heart.

Though e-commerce is growing in India, the typical Indian shopping mindset is to see the products first-hand and then commit to a purchase. How challenging has this been in terms of selling handicrafts online?

It is very challenging, but our past customer experience and our customer protection programme helps the customer to trust us and buy from us.

What is the working model of Craftsvilla.com?

Sellers register on Craftsvilla.com and upload the products. We have a very simple upload format. We then check the seller’s details and the products that are uploaded. After confirming all the details, we approve the products and the shop. They get an email as soon as their products are sold and the amount is transferred to their bank account within 21 days of the order. The seller has to ship the products within five days of the order and update the tracking number. The customer has a right to get a refund if the product is not shipped within the timeline. A customer also gets a refund if the product is not as per the given description, or is received in a damaged state.

Are you also involved with Kribha Handicrafts?

Kribha handicrafts is the company which manages the Craftsvilla.com website.

What was your professional background before you started the site? How has it helped you conceptualise and manage the site?

I have an MS in accounting from San Diego State University from the US. Before founding Craftsvilla.com, I was actively involved in the handicrafts industry in India for three years. I have extensively travelled across India, including the remote areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan, and I built strong relationships with multiple artisans and organizations, including Gram Shree, Kalaraksha, Sahaj and Sadhna. I have a very good understanding of categories like women’s clothing and accessories like bags.

Many e-commerce sites do not attract an appreciable uptick in sales despite heavy branding and marketing. What have you done differently with Craftsvilla.com?

Craftsvilla.com guarantees the lowest prices for all categories on the website, as manufacturers directly sell online with us and the middlemen’s commission is taken out altogether. Like we have earrings for as low as Rs 9 and sarees for as low as Rs. 99. Our customer protection programme also guarantees that customers get the right products at the right prices. Customer satisfaction helps us get them back and also in getting new members.

Are there any plans to open Craftsvilla stores?

We have no plans in the near future to open physical stores, as they have a limitation of space and hence the number of choices that we can give to our customers.

What is the overall size of your company?

We have 76 members in the Craftsvilla family at three different locations, and more than 1,000 vendor shops including 45 artisans and NGOs.

Are the overall costs of running the company lower in the online space, than if you were running a store?

The costs for online and offline are no different. In an offline store, you invest more in the space while in online shop you have to invest more in people.

For a person wishing to start a venture such as yours, what are some of the factors he/she would need to consider before they start?

It is necessary to have some basic field knowledge (of the industry) and an initial capital of around 10 lakhs. All business ventures require 100 per cent of your dedication and time.

Lastly, what is your mantra for a successful business venture?

There is no single success mantra. A business becomes successful when you have a good team working dedicatedly, a good and ethical business model and sufficient capital. Just take care of your customers, vendors, investors and employees and they will help you grow.

 

 

 

Categories
Trends

More men use smartphones than women

Study finds interesting correlations between smartphone usage and education, gender; North India leads in overall usage

by The Diarist/ thediarist@themetrognome.in

Yes, smartphones are in. And a recent study tells us exactly how in and why.

A recently-published study, ‘Smartphone incidence in urban India’ across the country by AC-Nielsen, conducted in the first quarter of this year, reveals some surprising truths about how the nation is using its smartphones. While North India leads the smartphone race, with one in every 10 being the owner of a smartphone (11 per cent incidence as per sample size), West India has an eight per cent incidence of usage. The East and South India account for six per cent usage.

What’s more, the study says, ‘While one out of every 10 men owns a smartphone, the figure is less than half for women’.

Another interesting statistic we found was that, as per the report, ‘those who have completed post-graduation in a professional stream are most likely to acquire and use a smartphone. 17 per cent fall in this category, while the figure is 12 per cent for those who are still in college.’

The stats for usage patterns are also illuminating:

– 87% use it for online searches

– 80% use it for social networking

– 72% chat and use webmail

– 59% stream videos, maps and navigation

– 30% use it for banking, travel and shopping

– 25% use it for mobile TV

There are a staggering 27 million mobile users in the country, of which nine per cent are smartphone users.

The Diarist is always on the lookout for trends in business and technology. If you have an insight to share, write to thediarist@themetrognome.in.

Categories
Soft Coroner

Fair people are good, dark people are bad

Situations that look innocuous on the surface reveal uncomfortable complexities. Take Indian mythology, for instance.
By Prashant Shankarnarayan | prashant@themetrognome.in

The situation – Devas vanquishing Asuras

The observation: What does it stand for? Good defeating bad? Godly over the ungodly? Well that’s what has been handed down to us. And it suits us. The triumph of good over bad is always welcome. But the only concern is that when an Indian mind imagines the supposedly good devas winning over the supposedly bad asuras, it imagines a race of handsome, fair-skinned men winning over a race of ugly, dark- skinned men.

I decided to test this hypothesis by asking two questions to people: 1) Who were the Devas and Asuras? 2) How did they look?

This is the standard response I got: 1) Devas were Gods and Asuras were demons

2) Asuras looked ugly and hideous, and the Devas were beautiful and graceful.

Firstly, there is no concept of a demon in Indian mythology, but I will save that topic for a rainy day; however what strikes me is that the respondents parroted the same opinion about these two races that I expected them to give. I won’t be surprised if even you imagined it that way. This is what I call slow poison.

A poison that is injected in us unintentionally and innocuously, when a grandparent narrates a bedtime story to the child stating, “Ek bada bhayanak kala rakshas tha,” ‘Kala’ (black) being the point of contention. And the same idea has been propagated over the years by many such dadis and nanis, magazines, comic books, websites and television serials that are devoured by young and impressionable minds. Although it doesn’t seem like these content creators do it intentionally, they still end up producing stories from Indian mythology where the hero is fair and his opponent, always dark. No one has seen the devas; nor the asuras. So who tagged them as fair and dark? It is an idea so deeply ingrained that despite writing this article, I am unable to imagine a fair-complexioned asura.

Scriptures mention that both devas and asuras were sired by Maharishi Kashyapa. The devas were his progeny borne by his wife Aditi. The Asuras represent two races, the Daityas and the Danavas that Kashyapa begot from Diti and Danu respectively. Incidentally Aditi, Diti and Danu were sisters. As the devas and asuras grew up to be men, both possessed equal power, authority and wealth. Both the races nurtured lofty ambitions to rule all the three worlds – Swarga, Bhoomi and Pathala (Heaven, earth and the netherworld). So why take sides?

Simply because the battle between the devas and asuras was that of Dharma vs Adharma.  In a quintessentially religious way, the devas being believers, by default stood for Dharma and the atheist asuras were branded as enemies of Dharma. Both these races enjoyed the lustful companies of apsaras, were power hungry and easily gave in to basic emotions like jealousy and insecurity, but still the devas stayed afloat as Gods because they ran to Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva at the drop of a hat. But as it should be, if both the races were sired by the same man, borne by women from the same bloodline and if these half brothers displayed similar behavioural tendencies, then for the devas to remain fair and the asuras to be dark, it would have required either a rare gene mutation or just a racist mind’s effortless imagination!

What makes it even more interesting is that we are ready to cut some slack and portray certain asuras as fair skinned, provided they fall under the purview of our morality. The most striking example that supports this aspect is the story of Prahlad. Just check the visual representation of Narasimha Avtar where Vishnu comes to save an asura prince Prahlad from his asura father Hiranyakashapu. Even though both father and son were asuras, the atheist father has been portrayed as dark and the pious, devout son as expected – fair! What does this signify? That an average asura is an atheist, and hence dark and dreadful. But if ever he shows believer tendencies, then his complexion automatically changes to fair.

Likewise, Raavan was half Brahmin and half rakshasa, and so was his brother Vibhishan. But Vibhishan is portrayed fairer than his brother.  Also, when the goddess of courage and protection, Durga, transforms into the aggressive goddess of time and change, Kali, her complexion too changes from fair to dark. While it is perfectly fine to depict Kali as dark and destructive, why can’t we perceive Durga in the same light?

Not to forget possible the most popular god in the Hindu pantheon – Ganesha. Legend says that Shiva fitted an elephant’s head to his son’s body, so it is intriguing to find people worshipping a fair Ganesha. Aren’t elephants dark or at least dark grey?

And then comes the ultimate God, right at the top of the hierarchy. Although the name Krishna itself means dark, often one finds him portrayed in dark blue. He is addressed as ‘Kare Kanha’ (black Kanha) or ‘Shyamvarna’ (black coloured) but yet what we usually see is a blue Kanha! Of course there are theories to back it about him turning blue post his showdown with the poisonous serpent Kalia or because he resides in the deep blue cosmic ocean, but still we prefer sticking more to blue than black.

These are instances of our blatant disapproval of wanting to be associated with dark skin, or the failure to accept that dark people could be just as good as the fair ones. It could also be said that the colour white and black depict good and bad, they help people grasp these concepts instantly. But when we add life to these very colours by representing them in the form of complexion of godly or human beings, the very meaning and essence of the message gets tampered with. It simply becomes a fair person vanquishing a dark one. Indeed its good to be on the side of Dharma but one need not be fair skinned to do so. Our culture is steeped in racism and whether we like it or not but the idea of Devas winning over Asuras is a subtle way of propagating that fair skin is always desirable over dark.

To put it simply – fair people are good, dark people are bad. If we continue to inject this subtle poison then it just keeps reinstating what we have been all the while – Asuras.

Prashant is a mediaperson who is constantly on the lookout for content and auto rickshaws in Mumbai. This column tries to dissect situations that look innocuous at the surface but reveal uncomfortable complexities after a thorough post mortem.

 

 

Categories
Big story

It’s final. Ajit Pawar is out.

Governor accepts deputy CM’s resignation; Pawar’s portfolios handed to Jayant Patil and Rajesh Tope

by The Editors/ editor@themetrognome.in

Five days after Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar resigned from his post, following reports of an alleged irrigation scam in the state. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan accepted the resignation, followed by state governor, His Excellency K Sankaranarayan, at Raj Bhavan today.

As per a release from Raj Bhavan, the Governor also agreed to Chavan’s request that the Finance and Planning (additional charge) portfolio be handed over to Jayant Patil (the current Minister for Rural Development), who had held this portfolio in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government, and that the additional charge of the Department of Energy be given to Rajesh Tope, who is currently the Minister for Higher and Technical Education.

A day prior to this meeting, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had also accepted his nephew Ajit’s resignation, while reiterating that there was “no rift within the Pawar family.” The resignations of other NCP leaders have been rejected thus far.

 

 

 

Categories
Hum log

There’s a comedian in the (hospital) building

Stand up comic PapaCJ is visiting the country’s hospitals and making patients go BWAHAHAHAHA

By The Editors/ editor@themetrognome.in

You’re lying miserably on your hospital bed on a Sunday, your broken leg inside a cast, staring at a flaky ceiling and wishing you could hide in the ward boy’s laundry basket and make your way to freedom. But you can’t, so you must continue staring at the ceiling, wishing you could hide in the ward boy’s laundry basket and make your way to freedom.

It goes on. Hospitals really suck. Even the ward boy’s laundry basket is a foolish contraption that would fall apart if a kitten hid in it. You look down the rows of beds next to you, and you note that each patient is eyeing the laundry basket with distaste.

And then the good doctor tells you that somebody’s going to come along and entertain you soon.

“Sure,” you think. “This means that I’m going to have my blood taken by an intern who will poke about my arm looking for a vein till I have no arm left.” But instead of an intern, in walks a good-looking, long-haired, big-grinning PapaCJ.

And he starts to tell jokes. He doesn’t patronise. He doesn’t joke about people’s suffering. He doesn’t do ‘non-veg’ stuff. Soon you’re grinning. The pain in your leg, about to make its presence felt, pipes down. He does impressions. He tells it like it is, only he makes it ten times funnier. If your leg allowed it, you would be running around the room, laughing hard.

Why he does it

PapaCJ, noted stand up comic and humour writer, thought of presenting his acts in front of a hospital audience “just one day” last month. “I do lots of shows where I make people laugh, because I genuinely love to make people laugh,” he tells us. “I am in the ‘happiness business’, and I truly believe that laughter does heal.”

His bright idea is called The Best Medicine. He explains, “Hospitals are really depressing places. The white tubelights, the smell of medicine, the constant aches and pains and other suffering. I thought, ‘Why not let patients laugh and have fun?’ From a comedian’s point of view, it’s a privilege doing shows like this, where your only payment is in the form of blessings.”

Getting on board

For starters, CJ wrote to the wife of chairperson and managing director of Medicity Dr Naresh Trehan (Padma Shri). “She was very welcoming of the idea, and I had a meeting with Medicity’s HODs to figure out which patients could benefit from the exercise and how to do the entire thing. I am open to showing up and speaking in any hospital in the country, any random medical centre that wants me to do this,” he says. CJ will perform on any Sunday, totally free of cost. “I only want my travel expenses covered. There is no charge for performing,” he says.

A few of his friends from New York, he says, were very excited about the idea and wanted to come down and perform. “But there was no way to take care of their travel expenses. However, I’m speaking to my colleagues here who can also take this up.” He says there was a call for him to perform in a Kashmir hospital as well.

What kind of jokes?

“No material that is offensive or which jokes about what is troubling patients will be allowed,” he says firmly. “It’s about making people feel better about themselves. Laughter has such a big impact on people, it makes a big difference physically and mentally. Patients are regular people, too. They deserve a laugh as much as anyone.”

Help set up a showCJ doesn’t have a publicist or a PR machinery backing him, and not knowing too many people in the hospital industry is a big concern. “I want to spread the word that I am available for doing this. There is a lot of red tape you need to cross if you approach hospitals directly. I am hoping that I get the word across and cover as many hospitals as I can.”

Do you know anyone working at a hospital? Help CJ put up a show by recommending him. CJ can be contacted on papacj@papacj.com

 

Categories
Places

Disused, neglected and forgotten

The Mandapeshwar Caves in Borivli have a rich historical past. But there’s a huge slum right outside it and nobody visits except on Mondays

by The Traveller/ the traveller@themetrognome.in

It’s not every day that you have a protected heritage monument in close proximity to your house. The Mandapeshwar Caves in Borivli are a short walk from my home, and as we are wont to do with valuable things that we have easy access to, I hadn’t given it much thought in all the time I was growing up in the area. In fact, a few of my friends had been to see the caves before me, and they live in south Mumbai.

So last week I decided that I would check what the Caves were like. My friends had said that the ruins were lovely, which didn’t make any sense to me. I have never found ruins lovely. I have never understood the poetry in broken rock. Call me a mundane, limited intellect. If I visit a place, I like to see it clean and whole.

The Caves were certainly clean, but obviously not whole. To give you a brief historical insight into them, they are said to have been built in about 550 AD by Buddhist monks. As per information on Wikipedia, ‘During the occupation of the Kanheri caves (at Sanjay Gandhi National Park), these monks found another location were they created a hall of paintings. The cave was created by the Buddhist monks and then they hired travelling Persians to paint. The Buddhist monks asked the Persians to paint the life of Lord Shiva. This makes this cave interesting as it brings many religions together. Buddhist cave, Persian painters and Hindu God. (sic)’

There are, of course, no paintings there today, but even the briefest of glances will reveal that the Caves bear the stamp of Shiva. There are stone carvings of Shiva in different forms, and not a single placard anywhere to explain the various poses of the statues. In fact, I was left to come up with my own theories about the statues and the placement of inner rooms, since there is no sign board anywhere to explain the Caves’ history.

A funny thing happened when I was there. Armed with a camera, I asked an authoritative-looking man seated on a plastic chair just outside the Shiv temple inside the cave, “Is it okay to take pictures?” He gave my camera a bored glance, then said, “Haan haan, le lo.”

So when I started clicking, I was surprised to see a harassed-looking man run up to me. “Madam, agar photo lena hai toh Sion se permission lena padega,” he said very politely.

Aap kaun hain?” I said, slightly defiantly.

Idhar ka chowkidar,” he said, equally defiantly.

The authoritative-looking man had, meanwhile, disappeared.

To sum up, despite a few spots inside the Caves, such as the Shiv Temple, which is cool and quite lovely, I was very disappointed. Not with the ruins the place is in, but because there is no worthwhile restoration and upkeep. “Monday ko hi bahut bheed hoti hai,” the caretaker (his name was Ghani, he said) told me. “Aur raat ko? Poori khuli jagah hai, log aake sote honge,” I remarked, casting an eye on one of the Caves’ two inner sanctums.

Nahin nahin, raat mein security hoti hai,” Ghani said firmly. I couldn’t believe him, though – even on his watch at 12 noon, three men were fast asleep in an alcove off one side.

Outside, in another telling incident, a barber was shaving a customer seated on a high rock outside the cave. There is a sprawling slum opposite the Caves, one of the largest in this suburb. A little guide book that Ghani showed me failed to mention that the Dahisar river used to run by the Caves, or that the ruins of an old Portuguese Church stand above it. The book also failed to mention that these Caves were one of the four Buddhist caves in the city, the others being Jogeshwari, Elephanta and Mahakali Caves. “Aap Sion se (where the Archaeological Survey of India office is located) permission leke aaiye Madam, main aap ko saare photo lene doonga,” Ghani promised.

There’s no need for permissions. I’m not going back. I can do without being disturbed over gross neglect of history.

Know a good spot in Mumbai with an interesting history? Tell The Traveller about it at thetraveller@themetrognome.in.

 

 

 

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