Cyberchatter: Arun Katiyar


	March 20, 2000

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CYBER CHATTER
A Reboot for My Life

By Arun Katiyar

India Today issue dated March 20, 2000 Until a few months ago, people looked at me with benign eyes. Poor dog, having to work on the Net, sidelined from the mainstream, unable to cope with the pressures of the real world. To many, working on the Internet, as I have been doing for the past 34 months, was a sign of having "lost out". There was no way to explain to them that the Internet never sleeps, that I just didn't have the time to even explain to them why I do what I do. In any case, they didn't seem to want to meet me; certainly no one bothered to call; and of course, no one ever wanted me over for a drink. Suddenly, all that has changed. Nowadays, there is no time for my own work.

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Fifth Column

Kautilya

Flipside

Hardly an evening goes by without a call from someone looking for a job, no Monday-to-Saturday passes without a request to deliver a guest lecture to students, advertising agencies, housewives and even other dotcoms; once, I was also invited to meet a visiting prime minister; no fortnight passes without a call from a newspaper, magazine or television channel for an interview or a request to write an article ("it can be about anything online, please, just 800 words will do"); my grocery store wants advice on going online; my doctor wants to know which infotech share looks healthy; to be honest, there are quite a few tempting job offers with compensations that will take a lifetime to understand and consume -- most I just attend to because I am curious to see how jobs are created and sold on the Net; I am invited to international seminars and workshops attended by top ceos, and whoa!, last month, two of my ex-colleagues wanted me over for dinner -- on the same day! My life has suddenly managed a cold reboot.

On the work front, I now seem to have the attention of my boss more frequently than is healthy for him or his bank balance; our administration department has become more attentive; even the durwan at the office entrance seems to have sensed it: something big is happening on the Internet and maybe he will miss it. The drinking water that I get in the office comes in a clean glass, the tea is hot and the mugs are clean. What more can anyone expect from the Internet?

BOOKED
N. Vijayashankar, resident director of RKSWAMY/ BBDO at Chennai, has written a book, Cyber Laws for Every Netizen in India (Rs 180). Visit www. naavi.com for a copy. The site is a bit clumsy and non-professional, but the book provides insights into digital signatures, electronic contracts, digital certificates and also has a copy of the it Bill, 1999. It contains a detailed account of cyber laws in India in simple and lucid language.

STAMPED
If you are interested in stamps, try www.stampsofindia.com, a site on philately and Indian postal history. The last is especially interesting, even for the casual surfer. For example, did you know that Indian stamps were officially used in many parts of the world outside India? There is a list of stamp-related events, auctions, news, articles, etc. Not one of the prettiest sites on the Net, but worth a visit for its content.

AUCTIONED
Now that auction sites are all the rage, check out www.koolmaal.com, where you can sell your old text books or the watch or underwear you never wore, and just about anything else. From old cell phones going for as low as Rs 3,600 to printing machines for Rs 30,000, it's all there at KoolMaal. The real test is to see if sites like these can last for more than a few months.

HAMMERED
If C2C is unpredictable, take a look at a safer bet: B2B at www.trade2gain.com where you can join auctions in a more professional manner than on sites like KoolMaal. Trade2Gain is a secure site (VeriSign) where you can sell and bid for things like machinery, tobacco, furniture, automobiles, computers and apparel. Business to business commerce is expected to swell to $1 trillion in 2003, according to Forrester Research. The trick for the site will be to gain mindshare by advertising heavily before it is eclipsed by sites with nothing but good pr.

SHOCKED
Just in case you thought B2B was simple to understand, along comes www.electricmela.com, an industry vortal specialising in switches and bulbs. It claims to be the industry's first B2B infomediary "providing a platform for B2B commerce". If you can get around the marketing jargon, don't miss the M Shop on the site -- it's where the action is.

BLOWN
What's Rajesh Jain up to nowadays? Busy setting up what is amongst his pet projects, www.vasool.com, a work of love in progress for the past one year. The idea was to offer goods at rock-bottom prices in a kind of clearance sale (so typical of Jain's sharp-thinking mind). Now, he has a Vasool card that takes care of payments, a one rupee auction, an area where the price of a product falls as more and more people buy it. If the ideas don't blow you, what will?

Arun Katiyar is the chief operating officer of India Today Group Online. His e-mail address is akatiyar@india-today.com

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