moonlanding 

Operation Moonlanding

They are looking for volunteers who will be ready to land on  the moon. They have given wide publicity. Several responses were received

A man from Madras came. He offered to go to moon provided he was given a fee of one crore (ten million) of rupees. He expects to earn, for the next thirty years, may be, a sum of a crore of  rupees. In case he is stranded in the moon, his family shall not be deprived of this income. Hence the quoted amount

An entrepreneur from Marwar was next. His logic was simpler. The effort needed a compensation of one crore of rupees, no doubt. He needed an incentive to take up this particular job. Otherwise there were umpteen ways of making this paltry one crore of rupees. Like, for example, one can participate in KBC and make a fast buck. If they throw in another crore of rupees, he would sufficiently be motivated to join in. So his quote was for two crores of rupees

A third offer was from a businessman from Punjab. His quote was for three crores of rupees. His argument was that the  venture needed capital investment of two crores of rupees. His profit margin accounted the third crore

If  he  were given the order and paid the agreed sum of rupees three crores in advance, he would keep the profit of one crore to himself and give the remaining two crores to the entrepreneur from Marwar. Possibly the latter would retain his share of one crore and at the acceptable price of the remaining one crore, the man from Madras can be lured to go land on the moon. Thus everybody will be happy!

Long long ago, Avinash purchased a hotplate from Germany. It had an element of one thousand watts. Instead of a more common regulator, it had a thermostat that worked reasonably well

Avinash is no doubt patriotic. That the heater elements from the local manufacture fail without warning, was fully known to him. But his worry was that the hotplates made at home take long time to get into the mood. Once they do, they take longer time to cool off. As a result they cannot be depended  upon for, say, boiling milk. Everything is fine so long as you are watching. The instant you turn your head away, the milk will boil, overflow, spill on the top of the element, get burnt and make the kitchen stink. The indigenous hotplates are not economical either. They  dissipate heat everywhere except from the top where a vessel would be located

On all the counts, Avinash's hotplate was superior. The thermostat made sure that the milk did not get wrong ideas. The device can be set for a maximum target temperature, without either getting complicated or becoming a failure. The reliability was so good it has been serving him for the last ten years

Still Avinash was aware that there is no equivalent in the local market that he could recommend to others. There may be reasons and reasons for this

Once  upon a time, when the world market was flooded with Apple computers, there were no Apples in this country. However, when the IBM machines made the scene, this country was to pick up the technology and flourish in the process. Likewise the ideal hotplates will one day take the country by surprise. We will then be examining if they are still relevant to the culture of this nation

Avinash thought that it was his duty to show to the local community what they ought to know. So he purchased an inexpensive indigenous hotplate and added, external to it, a stepless regulator of the variety seen with the ceiling fans. There were problems, of course. They were overcome. Avinash was nevertheless happy that he was able to add a control, though indirectly, to a non-descript appliance. Now there is no risk of spilling of milk. The adaptation is less expensive than gas even at the prevailing rates of electricity. Avinash advises that you use any hotplate with a truly flat bottomed vessel such as a pressure cooker. He adds further that such flat bottomed kitchenware were, in fact, targeted originally for use with the hotplates, while the gas ranges are happy with anything

I can vouch for the lovable characteristics of his assembly. Because he made one and donated to me. Similarly he has obliged many others, who he thought would help in raising a crusade. Nothing however happened. Avinash has been responsible for  many such suggestions, for which I am sure he will never be decorated. He would not mind either

I call Avinash's adaptation as sustainable and of appropriate technology, because it makes use of the immediately available components and expertise. These are some skills (other than the mundane software) of which this country can rightly be proud of

As I was pounding on my machine, there was a soft knock on the door. I had no pretext to expect anybody at that late hour

"Who is there?" I shouted without getting up from my newly acquired computer furniture.

"Khanna - Ranbir Khanna"

"I have no appointment with any Khanna - You may vanish"

"Response negative. Please do let me in. I have something to tell you. Important. Do not keep you doors closed to ideas from others"

Still refusing to open the door I let him speak

He said, "Listen, there are many products that are indeed promising. But they can sell only through imaginative  marketing. An indifferent product can take the market by storm through skillful campaign. A better product can fail at the market place, if there was no effort to promote the item."

"Thank you. Tell me who may you be?"

"I am here scouting for an entrepreneur who is intending to put a man on the moon. I suspect you are involved in that operation. Should that please you I could also be introduced to Avinash"

"Where are you from?"

"From para four. I have already stepped into your story in the beginning. For purposes of record I hail from Punjab. I am not a stranger. Believe me, you know who I am"

I moved on and undid the latch. The outside light penetrated into the room.

The asli Operation Moonlanding

You are stranded in the moon. You have a list of 27 items. You have to select a few amongst them that can make your survival probable

Obviously, you cannot choose to include everything. If you do, their dead weight will make even personal movement impossible

Accordingly, you need to prioritize the items. If you assign a wrong importance to an item, not only your score may suffer,  but also your very survival may become improbable

The eventual scoring, in fact, amplifies the errors. The score of an individual is compared with that arrived at by the group jointly through mutual consultations

Operation Moonlanding is an hypothetical exercise in management intended to demonstrate the power of collective decision making. The collective wisdom is always superior to that of an individual

In the evolution of a new product, inspiration is only five percent, rest is perspiration, relating to production and marketing. No product can be an exception to this mix. Marketing is complex. And difficult. In fact as difficult as landing a man on the moon!