Desicow.com blog

This is something that happened a couple of years ago when I was fresh from India. I’m sure many of you may have had similar experiences. (Of course my tickets, paid for by my employer, were purchased from Desi Travel Agents, though it is a less known fact that travel agents get you the best of deals on air tickets).

Having recently opened an account with Bank of America, I had to go over to the bank, which was across the street to inquire about something. My office was on the outskirts of the city, so ample space available for parking, courtyard, small lakes, beautiful trees, wild birds, lawn…..

So here I was at a the edge of a road junction, admiring the lawn, the trees and the birds, the beautiful pond, and the sunny weather. Suddenly I realized that a big SUV has stopped about 20 feet away from me while I was looking the other way. The lady driving the now stationary car moved her hand suggesting that I cross the road. And for a split second I was amazed….. too amazed to understand what was happening. I swiftly took control of the situation, realizing that she assumed that I was standing there to cross, with a motion of my hand I conveyed that I’m not going to cross, and took small steps in the direction I wanted to actually go (along the road) with a smile which I hope, conveyed a THANK-YOU. The car then left…. but I couldn’t take the smile off my face.  WOW !!! I was left to myself with a big sensation of WOW. People actually wait for pedestrians to cross first, and then drive away. Though now I take it for granted that they will stop.

I am sure you have heard of B2B (business 2 business) and B2C (business 2 consumer) models. An entity/business provide service or product to other business or directly to consumers.

DesiCow.com project is based on B2B2C model.

Let me introduce yo uto different actors/elements in my project:

1) Travel Agents [Business]
Travel Agents beat all prices when it comes to buying Air tickets to India. They do excellent job as far as this business is concern. DesiCow.com aims to give additional business to Agents by helping them reach to wider pool of people from all over USA.

2) Community [consumer]
I am building a community (portal) where Indians (living in USA) take part in their shopping process (shopping of Air Tickets to India).

Hence Desicow.com serves Businesses[ Travel Agents] to sell tickets to buyers[consumers].
“B2B2C”

What does consumer get out of desicow.com project?
Desicow.com enables you to easily get quotes from several Agents[we just have 2 agents as member, but this list will grow with time]. And I am repeating it again “Ticket Agents beat all prices”.

What does Travel Agents get out of Desicow ?
If you are some travel agents heres my message for you “Desicow.com project is based on fact that you guys do excellent job in selling Air tickets and beat all price. Desicow.com user base is growing day by day. Everyday I see number of visitors growing. By becoming member of desicow.com you get more visibility amongst this community”.
Since my website is new I will be more then oblidged to make sure that early members[Agents] eventually get more priviledges on this website in future.

What do I get out of desicow.com ?
I am software engineer at heart with inclination towards entrepreneurship. I like to create new things, make difference, like to see that 1000s of people use my work and help me grow it. I am passionate about this porject and like I have doen in past I will desicow a big success.

In the flight to USA, they showed instructions on the in-flight video display about immigration and customs formailties. For most of the visas that are applicable to ppl from India, we need to fill form I-94. Tired & half asleep I watched the details in the flight video, not understanding much. Luckily for me, there was an experienced desi gentleman next to me who helped me to fill out the form. Though, I had to make 3 attempts before getting everything right on the form.

Soon we landed at Washington D.C (it was Dulles Airport IAD, I think), stood in line for the Immigration. I was still quite groggy, and sleepy from the flight. They told me to wait behind a yellow line, till the officer calls. Other ppl got calls from their respective officers, but unfortunately for me,  I stood there waiting for the officer to call. But he wouldn’t call !!!! Now what, my tired half asleep mind panicked. I stood there for what seemed like tens of minutes. After a long time, a security guard told me loudly (I’m sure he was angry), why are you waiting, go to the counter. “Arre but”, I thought, “its written on the board to not go till you are called.”

So then, I gathered some courage and started to go to the counter, certain that i’m going to be scolded by the immigration officer for coming to the counter without him calling me. Luckily for me, there was no shouting. I think that officer didn’t want to work that day, so he just didn’t call me.

Then came the usual verification of original docs, passport, & taking the I-94. Once all that was completed, the officer stamped the I-94 form with my immigration status. Gave me the rubber stamped Customs form, to be given at the customs declaration counter. Much relieved, I was like…..  America here I come …..