Review : Pagalguy Rankings

Recently, Being an alumni of a reputed B-School in India, I received a mail from the PR cell of my college saying :

"Dear All,

I want each and every student/alumni of [name of my B-School] to participate in this ranking process by Pagalguy. I believe every B-School student is aware what these Pagalguy rankings mean to the reputation of his/her college. So without further emphasizing the importance of these rankings I urge you to participate in this process by visiting the following link:

http://rankings.pagalguy.com/

The reputation and popularity of our institute is in the hands of every individual who's associated with our institute and not the job of just a handful of people. I believe the lackluster participation in this survey would not be repeated this year.

Thanking you for your support.

Student PR Cell"

Considering I am one of the loyal student of my school and want it to achieve as much fame as possible, I visited the website and did fill in the survey. The first stage is a 2-step procedure:

1. Some 100 B-Schools are mentioned out of which I am supposed to strike out 15 schools which should NOT be included in the rankings.
   
2. I was suppose to order some 5-6 criterion which I think are important when one selects a B-School.
   

First, how are there 100 schools selected? As per the administrator – the schools were selected depending on its brand value all over India. I am assuming they would have definitely a done survey beforehand to know what is the brand value of the various schools.

Anyways, when I started selecting those 15 schools, I realized a pattern – I tried to select the first 15 schools. And not select them randomly. And its only after I have selected the first 15 ones that I was supposed to review- then I added or removed a few of them. So I suppose the first 15 of them, unless they are exceptionally well, are really at a disadvantageous position.

Secondly, Is this survey not a measure of how many people vote against a B School than for a B School. Even when elections happen, people tend to vote for a person. If he is voting against a person, it's not because the voted person is better but that he does not want the other to win. To what extent is this logic right in saying, it's the right B School. It's just about sending mails like one sent by my PR cell and seeing – how many of us can access the net and vote! The more the student base the more higher the rank will be of my B School.

The other thing to notice is – The top league IIM's and all can be assured of their place as no student from any other school will vote against them. But again within the IIM's there will be definitely a competition of which IIM is better. So the only way IIM K (say) can get ahead of IIM I (say) if students of IIM K vote against IIM-I. Now this will mean some 200 points will be earned by 'K' and not by 'I', which gives it a better position than 'I'. But 'I' can be assured that it will remain in top B Schools because there are people outside IIM's that will definitely not vote it out.

Similarly when I was voting, then I was making sure that I vote against B-Schools which were closer to my rank last year. But again, if all B Schools start doing this then it will come out to who has maximum number of student base to vote against the other..

I am not sure thus to what extent is this ranking correct and honest and correct indication of the B Schools!

Review : Redbus.in

Recently I had to visit Vaishno devi with the family on the weekend. I tried to book the Tatkal tickets for the same but they also had waitlist upto 4. Being weekend, we thought it will be difficult to get the ticket for Bus also. Nevertheless, I thought why not try calling up these bus operators and ask them. So, google.com helped me in finding 'some' (read 2-3) bus operators that included Delhi,Haryana Roadways. Now, the problem being - they dont book the tickets on phone. And there is no online facility to block the tickets. I have to goto ISBT, and see if the tickets are available and then board them else come back home purchasing tickets for some other day. But we did not have any other day since my brother had office from Monday.

So, by chance I stumbled on the sponsored link of my search - RedBus.in. It was like something I had wished for had come true. Online Bus booking facility. WOW. What else can one ask for. But again online it said, all buses full so I called up the call centre just for reconfirmation. After 1 hour of persuasion, I managed to book 4 tickets for AC Sleeper bus from Delhi to Katra and AC Volvo Semi Sleeper from Katra to Delhi. I thought all done and was thanking Redbus.in and was planning to recommend it to everyone once I am back.....

But unfortunately, the buses that were booked were AWFUL, to say the least. The time of reporting was told us at 6 pm from CP and till 6:30 there was no bus on the designated location. And when it did arrive after much calls to the mobile number mentioned on the ticket it stopped for 2 hours at Meena bazaar, near Old Fort for 2 hours. It stopped there because bus was not fill to its capacity and needed more passengers whereas I was told the bus is all full and there is no seat. It did not move until the bus got the passengers which was at 9:30. On top of that the bus did not have complete papers and we were stalled at Jammu for about an hour and had to cover the remaining journey in a non ac bus. The whole journey took us about 18 hours to reach Katra whereas usually it takes maximum of 13 hours!!

Thanks to the bus 'RedBus.in' had booked and their association with Heera Travels.

The story is not over yet. On the way back, reporting time was 7:30 and the bus was not did not move until 8:30 and then the bus broke down and took an hour to repair. And the Volvo was
pathetic. It was shaking and trembling which spoilt the night journey experience. None of the passengers in the bus was able to sleep in the 12 hours journey thanks to the wonderful bus these people have. On top of that, it dropped us mid way at ISBT and not from the point where it picked us from and we had to travel in the auto to back to source destination.

I was so annoyed but the whole thing. And I thought whats the point in having such a service when they can assure us a good journey? I mean their job does not end by just providing an online facility. If the buses they have association with are not good, why will anyone book the ticket with them in the first place.

I think redbus.in has stuck upon a very innovative idea of providing online booking facility for bus. But if they dont improve the bus operators they are associated with, I am sorry to say but it will be another failed opportunity.