Clash of Cycles
In India there is a perception that bicycles are for poor people who can not afford any other mode of transportation. Just check out the prices of these. most of them are below 2500 Rs. there are handful of models in the range of 2500 Rs to 6000 Rs primarily made for school children in cities.
So what happens when a cool dude/IT guy/US returned/endurance sports buff goes to the market to check out his cool machine.(there are 'n' number of reasons why he does this :-D)
1.The cool dude starts searching Google and finds out addresses of dealers of BSA, Hero etc in the town.
2. He has never heard of this "xyz rd", does it exist? start searching Google map. No luck :-( post a question on some "abc" forum. gets some clue.
3.Dude goes searching the shops in some old part of city, a shabby place wonders why is he here?Guy at the shop ignores the dude even when he repeatedly ask the questions."Do you have a BMX? is it alloy frame? can u remove mud guards? why the heck it has carrier? Shop keeper does not understand dude's language. Shop keeper feel this guy won't buy anything. He keeps himself busy in absurd conversation with a guy who looks like mechanic in the shop. Dude is now totally frustrated and decides to walk out of shop. Same scene happens in next three shops. Absolutely frustrated :-(
4.Cool dude comes home writes a blog entry to relive. Feels better... posts his experience on a mail group. Someone suggests a foreign brand recently launched in India. swears that its absolutely cool though it costs a bomb.
5.This foreign bike shop is in the posh locality of town. just next to cool dude's fav McDee. Dude feels awesome as he enters the showroom. gr8 stuff.just buys it.
6.After few weeks some snag develops in dudes bike. The foreign bike shop owner now even refuses to talk to the dude. He has already sold the costliest bike to dude so no point attending him. competition...whats that? Cool dude is now absolutely fuming and frustrated.
7.Next day. Cool dude strongly feels he has to be assertive. yah thats what they call it. He writes mail to the head office of foreign bike shop. Feels better...
8.Few more weeks pass... No use of "Assertive" behavior.
9.On the web site cool dude discovers that the bike shop sells repair kit. Decides to buy it and do it himself. Hands on always works! let me get my hands dirty...
10.Cool dude is delighted to find that the bike is damn simple to fix. and he is amazed at his own ability to fix it. Cool dude writes a blog entry , mails to group to share his experience, advises few more guys on buying a ATB/MTB. Enlightened!!!
Well there are at least a dozen such stories on the web. What strikes me is the pattern of events. My mind is so trained to see patterns :-) can't escape it.
I think this is a great situation where two classes of society so widely separated come to market to buy same thing but with vastly different needs. And the experience it creates is worth writing a blog entry :-)
So what happens when a cool dude/IT guy/US returned/endurance sports buff goes to the market to check out his cool machine.(there are 'n' number of reasons why he does this :-D)
1.The cool dude starts searching Google and finds out addresses of dealers of BSA, Hero etc in the town.
2. He has never heard of this "xyz rd", does it exist? start searching Google map. No luck :-( post a question on some "abc" forum. gets some clue.
3.Dude goes searching the shops in some old part of city, a shabby place wonders why is he here?Guy at the shop ignores the dude even when he repeatedly ask the questions."Do you have a BMX? is it alloy frame? can u remove mud guards? why the heck it has carrier? Shop keeper does not understand dude's language. Shop keeper feel this guy won't buy anything. He keeps himself busy in absurd conversation with a guy who looks like mechanic in the shop. Dude is now totally frustrated and decides to walk out of shop. Same scene happens in next three shops. Absolutely frustrated :-(
4.Cool dude comes home writes a blog entry to relive. Feels better... posts his experience on a mail group. Someone suggests a foreign brand recently launched in India. swears that its absolutely cool though it costs a bomb.
5.This foreign bike shop is in the posh locality of town. just next to cool dude's fav McDee. Dude feels awesome as he enters the showroom. gr8 stuff.just buys it.
6.After few weeks some snag develops in dudes bike. The foreign bike shop owner now even refuses to talk to the dude. He has already sold the costliest bike to dude so no point attending him. competition...whats that? Cool dude is now absolutely fuming and frustrated.
7.Next day. Cool dude strongly feels he has to be assertive. yah thats what they call it. He writes mail to the head office of foreign bike shop. Feels better...
8.Few more weeks pass... No use of "Assertive" behavior.
9.On the web site cool dude discovers that the bike shop sells repair kit. Decides to buy it and do it himself. Hands on always works! let me get my hands dirty...
10.Cool dude is delighted to find that the bike is damn simple to fix. and he is amazed at his own ability to fix it. Cool dude writes a blog entry , mails to group to share his experience, advises few more guys on buying a ATB/MTB. Enlightened!!!
Well there are at least a dozen such stories on the web. What strikes me is the pattern of events. My mind is so trained to see patterns :-) can't escape it.
I think this is a great situation where two classes of society so widely separated come to market to buy same thing but with vastly different needs. And the experience it creates is worth writing a blog entry :-)
posted by Mallik at 5:00 AM
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