I was never a great fan of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the state-owned telecom company, all this while. Bad customer service, arrogant employees were hallmark of BSNL for quite sometime. But last week’s experience has made me think otherwise. I had purchased an internet connection for my laptop, and inspite of many efforts, I was unable to connect to the net. I called the customer support, and the man on the other end tried to fix the issue, but it didn’t happen. Finally, he requested me to get the laptop to their office so that he could help me get connected. I went to their office and to my pleasant surprise the engineers fixed the issue in no time. I am thrilled at the level of customer support BSNL offers, at least in my hometown.

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Thanks to $135 per barrel oil, petrol and diesel prices shot up in India by a huge margin a couple of days back. A litre of petrol costs Rs. 58.50 (Omani Rial = 600 baisas) now. So much so that going to a gas station is turning out to be a nightmare for motorists. Folks back home have a suggestion for me. From next year they have asked me to get petrol instead of the regular gifts. Wish I could do that. When I say petrol costs a little over Rs. 11 a litre in Oman, people gawk.

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A couple of days back, I tried connecting to my old friend who was into marketing in Bangalore. After I landed in Oman, our contact was reduced to a couple of mails. Now he has turned an entrepreneur, and has nine people working for his company which is into application development, web development, etc. His office is located in the plush MG Road in Bangalore which itself is an achievement. He also said he got a Rs. 1 crore (RO 100,000) takeover offer from an NRI in United States who wants 67% stake in his company. But the proposal was rejected. My friend cajoled me to come back to Bangalore and start something on my own. For starters, he said his initial budget for his own venture was a mere Rs. 20,000 (RO 200). That’s pure guts I must admit. Unlike majority, I am firm believer in 60:40 theory.

Success = 60 percent hard work + 40 percent luck.