Sorry for the lack of recent posts, internette followers. I suppose I've gotten so acclemated to Bagarese life that things don't really seem out of the ordinary anymore. I've been spending the majority of my time in the office of Mobile Naukri, or going out to Jhunjhunu (nearest big city) to do some marketing. Things have really been picking up at Mobile Naukri. First of all, our bosses came back after a 10-day leave of absence, which was nice, because there's not that much we can do without them. It's a very dependent relationship we have, rather parent-child. As a result, my days have been filled with fun things like website building! And data entry! It's becoming increasingly interesting to work at Mobile Naukri, because a large management university in India has agreed to partner and support us, provided we reach a certain threshold of job opportunities and job-seekers. The pressure is on, and it's nice to know that if we accomplish a concrete goal, we will (hopefully) be able to expand Mobile Naukri into other parts of India.
A large portion of our time has been filled contacting companies (most of whom don't have comprehensive websites or any estabished internet domain) and persuading them to join Mobile Naukri. We have also been going out into the field, to meet with administrators of institutions, such as English-learning and IT schools. The purpose of this is to obtain the names and numbers of recent collage graduates so that we can call them and cajole them into joining the M.N. Revolution. It's rather amazing how willing most institutions are to hand over hundreds of phone numbers of their former students. I imagine that if one were to go to say, the University of Pennsylvania, and ask (no matter how sweetly) for a list of mobile numbers of recent graduates, one would find oneself swiftly and surely escorted out by a stocky force of the Allied Barton brigade. However, we are in India.
Another important aspect of our Business Development plan is procuring the Jhunjhunu district yellow pages, which nicely lists all the businesses in the area, regardless of size. This would make it infinitely easier for us to contact these companies and have them sign up with Mobile Naukri, as the internet has proved rather futile. Today, Deepak, Harsh (new intern!) and I went into Jhunjhunu to take care of some bizznas and generally make it rain. Our friend Sandeep-ji, who runs the computer store in Jhunjhunu, told us that the elusive Jhunjhunu yellow pages could be found near the District Headquarters. Along the way, there are several print and book shops that might just, could possibly, perrrrhaps sell the yellow pages. At the time, it seemed rather natural to walk around for half an hour, expecting to pay actual cash for the yellow pages.
Presuming you, reader, are from America, you are most likely familiar with the U.S. Postal Service's overzealous distribution of jaundiced trees, resulting in no less than a mere half dozen directories littering your porch. I always took it for granted that yellow pages were in abundance, just like, say, oh, oil in the Gulf of Mexico. However, in India, finding these proved epicly impossible. We went to several shops and asked around, each shopkeeper pointing us in the exact opposite direction as the one before him. Our goosechase for this ruby-encrusted livre de business brought us to the physical office of the Housing Board, where we hopscotched from room to room, only to be told that this Book of Souls was.... Well, we haven't quite figured that out yet. The Housing Board is a huge complex, and it doesn't seem like people come knocking on their door everyday demanding the yellow pages. Tomorrow, the search will continue.
Namaste,
Sarah
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