Change that JIO brought to the life of its competitor's subscribers

Reliance JIO has been in the midst of controversy ever since its launch in India, last year. Reason it brought a revolution in telecom industry which no one could have thought of. Plans offered by JIO were customer centric instead of firm centric as is the case most of the time. One India, one number with unlimited local and STD calls, followed by unlimited 4G data with good network connectivity.  All these services were free of cost, people just needed a 4G enabled handset. Rest was up to JIO to pamper the people like never before.

 People thronged the stores for buying sim cards and within no time subscribers of JIO started to become a threat to other leading telecom players in India. The dominance of Vodofone, Airtel, Idea, BSNL took a back seat and they started to come out with strategies to retain their existing customer base which has started taking a dip due to the tempting offers of JIO. As a result of which call rate were reduced and data pack was increased by the competitors of JIO.

JIO delivered what it promised to the masses, only difficultly people faced was getting their JIO sim card activated initially. But once the sim card got activated then services were as promised. Even in the remotest of area ,JIO was able to provide network support to its subscribers, where its competitors failed miserably. That was another reason WHY JIO became so popular.

When JIO’s competitors were busy approaching TRAI for putting a nail to JIO’s exponential growth. JIO was working towards making itself more and more efficient in terms of its service and network coverage. Even today JIO’s competitors are behind JIO rather than coming out with ways that can be beneficial to them and their subscribers. JIO has given one of the best experiences to its subscriber so until and unless, something more soothing is presented to the masses they will not step back. This is what all competitors of JIO should do now rather than going behind things which doesn’t take them anywhere.

Now Vodafone, Airtel, Idea and BSNL have come up with unlimited call and enhanced internet plans at prices slightly higher than that of JIO but at least a beginning has been done. It forces me to think, if this was possible before, then what were they waiting for till now? If reduced call rate and higher internet usage scheme was within their purview, then what caused the delay in it reaching the masses? Had they done it before, JIO wouldn’t have been able to make its mark in market and pose a big threat to them. But now the damage has been done. From next time onwards strategies should be focused on customer’s need basis.

I am not a subscriber of JIO but need to thank JIO for the change it has brought to the life of Vodafone, Airtel, Idea and BSNL subscribers. Now my mobile and internet bill has drastically come down and am getting better service. There are times when my telecom provider is unable to provide me network coverage during roaming but JIO doesn’t fails, I have seen it with my friends who are patrons of JIO. Another reason could be Vodafone, Airtel, Idea and BSNL are yet to come to term with One India, one number full connectivity whether its within circle or outside circle.

Travelling with rodent in Train

Travelling between Kerala and Bangalore has become a routine for me now. But this time the journey was with an unwanted guest in our coach. As per my analysis guest didn’t create any trouble for passengers of the coach. Lucky passengers

I reached station 45 mins before the prior departure of the train, hate running behind the train with luggage. From college days I have heavy luggage issues, no idea how I pile up so many things? Only time I travelled with a backpack was when I had to travel back home within a week after reaching Bangalore. I felt good about it. That’s my strategy for all my travel but rarely succeed in it.

Since Bangalore was the starting destination, train was placed in platform 20 mins before the scheduled departure, waited till most of the passengers to my coach had boarded in. Despite good 20 mins time in hand I could see, people rushing towards the door of the train, the moment it is placed on platform and trying to open the door. It’s the case with general, sleeper and AC coaches, while the latter have confirmed tickets still.

I got into my AC 3tier coach and got seated onto my seat. Placed my luggage bag beneath the seat and laptop bag next to me, I was allocated site lower birth. I hate it so requested my co passenger to exchange out seats while retiring to bed. He agreed happily to it.

It was dinner time when I noticed something, a small object crawling beneath my birth, oh god it was a rat. It passed twice my seat, I was worried for my luggage bag. I informed the coach attender about the rat and they said it will be taken care of. I knew they will do their job hence I went to bed after dinner. Still this rat thing was in the back of my mind.

I got up in morning and first thing I did was to take out my luggage bag and check it. Was delighted to see no harm to my bag, because I was unaware the damaged caused then. After freshening up it was breakfast time, I feel more hungry in train than at home. Usually I buy breakfast but for this journey I had packed it from home. Parantha and scrambled egg, I had kept a small paper bag next to my luggage bag beneath the seat, had kept my breakfast in the bag.

Parantha was wrapped in aluminum foil whereas egg was in a container. When I took the paranta out of the bag, saw it was not the way how I packed it a day before. Reason parantha was out of the foil and seemed like someone had chewed it or was cut with some sharp object. I was wondering how can this happen in AC coach? Then it striked me, of our unwanted guest in train, the rat, I saw previous night beneath my seat, was the culprit. That bag had other stuff also and I was scared that damage will be more. Hence I checked the bag immediately but rat didn’t touch anything else except the parantha packed in the foil. It had eaten good amount of it.

Seems likes I was not destined for homemade breakfast hence I bought breakfast as per the custom carried so far, wondering, why did the rat eat only parantha and left other things untouched? Should be thankful to rat that it didn’t damage any other thing because breakfast could be bought but few other things can’t be replaced easily so soon.

That was my journey with a rat the first and last time I hope……