#and i just ate four segments before realising what i was doing

[fingertipsmp3]

I was going to take a tolerance break starting today but I have some grapes that need eating and there’s no way I’m devouring half a thing of grapes sober

[nabrizoya]

Congratulations on 100!!! You totally deserved it; your blog is super cool! Can I have 3 + 4 please? Anecdote about me: when I was little and got hurt I would always scream for the parent that wasn't there. (I was apparently a handful.)

tAha! Thank you so much! I’ll tell you something about myself: I wasn’t a handful unless it was food.For some odd reason, I never ate my food as a child properly. I apparently made my mother run miles around the house 9or sometimes the colony dammit) to make me eat even the tiniest morsel of food. Which doesn’t make sense to me now because gods, I love food.

3. kinda regret doing this aaah but here we go:

I’ll tell you something that involves concepts of both marketing and economics here. 

So, in economics, there are different types of markets which are segregated on the basis of competition. There are four main types: perfect, monopoly, monopolistic, duopoly (though it is not considered important) and oligopoly. 

Perfect competition is Utopia. It doesn’t exist. Why do we study it though? To set a standard against which comparisons can be made. In perfect competition, the number of buyers and sellers are equal, and regardless of the change in price of goods, the demand will always stay the same. Which is impossible and that is why perfect competition only exists in theory. Also, every product in such a market is a perfect substitute for another product. Which, in reality, does not exist.

Monopoly is were a single firm will rule the entire market/ industry. New firms cannot at all enter the industry without bringing large sums of money and capital. There aren’t many monopolies around but they still exist: the Indian Railways, Fjällräven Kanken are some examples. And this is possible because either the industry is state owned (power, natural gas, coal mining etc) or it has been granted legal monopoly. 

Duopoly is where two firms work against or in tandem with each other but hold the entire power of the industry with them. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are great examples. Not very different from monopoly. 

Ahh, monopolistic. This is the most common form of market you’ll see everywhere. There are a reasonable number of sellers of a product and there are more buyers who will have the choice to choose between various products. All the products are verY different from one another which enforces competition and diversity. Grocery outlets, fashion brands, food outlets etc. You name it. 

Oligopoly is what you call when the market has a few sellers but these firms are powerful contenders. It is a small group of large sellers. Racing car companies? Check. Mobile and technological accessories? Check. The products in an Oligopoly are not very different from each other but that doesn’t mean they are the same. Each company  differentiates the product from the other in order to make sure that there are no price wars. And if there are going to price wars, yk shit’s gonna go down real quick. That is why they agree to disagree on the price and set it almost at par with one another. Luxury cars, aircraft manufacturers, cereal makers etc. 

Now the marketing part: what really matters in these firms is how much they contribute to the marketing of their products. And this plays a HUGE role in attracting the consumers especially in the case of monopolistic markets because they need to stand out in the existing competition. We have all too many food spaces: McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's et. al I can’t think of more. What will truly set them apart will be their product and the mad way they decide to market it. Here’s where the concept of STP comes. 

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning is what STP means. Now every firm must be really careful what sort of market they are targeting. A higher end, wealthy social class? Or is it middle class? Or is it a specific community, especially when it comes to ethnicities and traditions? That’s where your segmenting plays a role. You are basically dividing the population to see how you can enter the market and how you will make people see what you’re selling. Which type of buyer do you want to see who will buy your product? Determine a profile. This division is what you call segmentation.

Targeting is where you’re developing your policies on the attractiveness of the segment. To every company, every consumer is important because the modern concept of marketing is to retain the consumer/ to make them come back to you; to instill a sense of brand loyalty. Targeting helps you do just that; it will help you in devising the type of strategy to attract a market segment. 

Positioning is where you’re making sure that you’re reserving a significant part of the market share in a certain industry. ISP and network providers in the US are AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile: all of this means nothing but the fact that a huge chunk of the market use AT&T and so forth. They have positioned themselves that way because of their successful strategies to retain consumers and continue to do the same. 

(oh shit that was long)

4. yess!

They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks, I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by a majority rule is a person’s conscience.

- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

In an effort to be less judgemental of other people, this quote made me realise that people, even if they say something, they might mean something different in their head. While that is not a wrong thing (sometimes it is when you can’t help them look at it from a different perspective), many have a mental battle that they struggle against. So, instead of taking them directly by their words, we can give them time to explain themselves further rather than shunning them. This rings true for morally gray characters. 

Oh, I’d like to add something here. Joe says this to Love in the cube thingy he traps people in in YOU. He says:

If a man has a conscience, he will suffer for his mistake. That will be his punishment as well as his prison.

-Dostoevsky

So, this shows how our conscience is our moral compass. (and some other complexities but i can’t brain rn).

Thanks for asking, mate! :”) I’d like to know you better!

[pippastrelle]

“A Not-So-Simple Story in Deapriffe”

Chapter One | Chapter Two | CHAPTER THREE

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Chapter Three: A Not-So-Easy Evening

[4k Words]

Kalyani wished she could have been more horrified to find Ahmed with a black eye. She was horrified. Still, at the same time, she couldn’t argue she was shocked. She wished she couldn’t have expected that from Ari and Barry. She wished she couldn’t have expected that from the company. She wished she couldn’t have expected that from the whole of Deapriffe.

She also wished she couldn’t have expected to have to convince Ahmed to get an ice pack before he returned the assembly line. As much as they needed him, Ahmed coming back from Clarke’s office with a black eye would have done nothing but stoke fires. Kalyani herself had to prepare her best ‘deferential secretary’ voice for when she returned to her office. The fierce emails and calls had already arrived for Clarke. She had to hold herself up through a whole afternoon of “Yes, Sir”s and “Mr. Clarke said”s while the four-hundred she and Ahmed needed hammered deeper and deeper inside the back of her skull.

Kalyani met Ahmed on the factory bus to head back home. It was packed with their – rightfully – furious colleagues. They protested the payments amongst themselves and to everyone else listening. She knew they deserved to. She knew everyone was just as stressed. But the noise reached into her nerves and injected her whole body with anxiety until it felt like she had a dozen vipers crawling up her back, constricting around her throat and piercing every inch of her skin. She had to keep her earphones in for the whole trip. Ahmed sat next to her. He shot her an understanding furrow of his eyebrows and lift of his lips whenever she caught his eyes while he mediated what light conversation he could with the others.

All through the bus journey, all through the stroll past Lord Way, all through the lift up to their third-floor flat, the four-thousand followed in their shadows. It festered and buzzed in their ears, until they shut the flat door and it was all the silence had.

They slipped off their shoes as usual and Kalayni hovered, only a few steps into the main room. They’d squashed the living room and kitchen into one. A low sofa and television took up one corner while a half-square of countertops ending in an oven and a fridge took up the other. They usually ate on the sofa but they had two plastic wheelie chairs propped against the kitchen counter too, which Ahmed would use to wheel around on whenever he wasn’t relying on his foot. She stared at her bedroom door. “I’ll…I’ll grab my laptop. We’ll look at the budget. See what we’ll need to do to get four-hundred.”

“Cool…I’ll go grab another ice pack before this starts getting worse again,” said Ahmed, indicating the sore cloud over his eye.

While he headed for the fridge, Kalyani forced her feet forwards. Her stomach churned, the floor a tipping ship, and the sensation didn’t let her go even after she had her laptop and was sat on the sofa. She gripped the laptop’s edge. She took deep breath after deep breath until, finally, she could turn on the screen.

“Okay. So. Since our savings aren’t enough right now to get two-hundred for either of us, the first thing we can do is take the money from our food budget. We can cut down how much we buy in a week and buy cheaper versions for the next month or two. Cut down on going out with people too. Even if it won’t get us much, it’ll get us something. We can do the same for any toiletries or clothes or things we’ll need. We’ll be fine,” she said, quite aware of her creased forehead and the hands covering her mouth failing to convince even herself.

“We’ve got four days to make up the rest of the money,” Ahmed added. “I can easily do more shifts tomorrow and Friday. That’ll get us some more.” He rose from the fridge with a bag of frozen chips pressed to his face. He’d had to put his sock between his cheek and the chips to protect his skin from the cold.

Kalyani’s eyes were boring into the digital budget. As her heartrate continued to spike, her hands shook over her keyboard and she swallowed. “I’ll– I’ll ask around the neighbours. Hopefully, they’ll have some sewing they can pay me for before Monday. I’ll work on my breaks and in the evening so I can get us a bit more before we have to also have to think about paying the rent next week which will take most of what we’ve saved right now and…”

“Kalyani, Kalyani, deep breath.” Ahmed rested a hand on her arm and joined her on the sofa. He took a deep breath with her. Kalyani nodded to herself and pulled her knees up to her chest. Ahmed offered her a bright smile through his makeshift ice pack. “We’ll be okay. We can do this. We’ve just got one tough month to get through then everything will be back to normal. We can do this.”

She nodded along. When he put the ice pack down and opened his arms for a hug, she gladly fell into them. They held each other close for a few silent ticks of her watch, willing to hide from the world in their embrace.

“I love you,” she said, the white ring on her left hand clicking against the black ring on his right.

“I love you too,” Ahmed murmured. He leant his head against Kalyani’s soft hair. He didn’t speak again. She held him closer, realising he needed her warmth as much as she needed his.

“If we can’t earn enough money by Monday, we can sell things too,” he said, his voice lowering as the held cheer slipped away. “We’ve got some decorations but…” He sighed. “It’s probably the console that’ll get us enough. Maybe the screen too.”

Kalyani glimpsed at the television and game console stacked in the corner. Games they’d been collecting longer than they’d lived together piled high in a neat, rainbow-coloured tower by its side. Selling them would certainly get them Clarke’s money. Selling their weekends of laughing and shrieking as they declared victory over the other would certainly get them Clarke’s money.

Her heart weighed her to floor. She closed her eyes with a weak, sad laugh. “It’s funny. The reason I asked you for a job at Clarke’s Motors in the first place was so I wouldn’t have to worry about the Sharks…”

Ahmed furrowed his eyebrows down at her. “You want to move?”

After a few seconds silent, she shook her head. “It’s just as bad everywhere else in Deapriffe. There wouldn’t be any point.” Her lips tightened as her eyes darkened. “It’s not like we can do anything to change it either. Not at this rate. Everyone’s used to it, and no-one’s going to be the one to get shot for a message. The police have probably been in the Sharks’ pocket since we were born. Wouldn’t be surprised if the local government too…”

Kalyani was hardly conscious of what she was saying. The anxiety built to a balloon’s pressure in head and all it could do was pour out of her mouth. Still, as always, Ahmed listened, his shining eyes unmoving from her. Kalyani shifted. “I’m best at Clarke’s. You don’t have to worry about me leaving. I know you’d never anyway.”

“No,” Ahmed agreed. He replaced the frozen chips on his eye and stared up at the ceiling. His lips twitched, but the circumstances restrained his usual smile at his thoughts. “I still remember the first time Dad let me sneak into the assembly shop with him. He was holding my hand the whole time so I wouldn’t run off but he went through how all the cars were made with me, who everyone was, and how it all worked and it was incredible. I thought it was the coolest job in the world. In school, everyone was telling me to ‘aim higher’ but being able to do it now with my own hands, I love it. I love getting those car shells and transforming them into something you see on the roads, knowing how every car’s constructed, seeing all the parts and effort that went into every one of them.”

Kalyani enjoyed the fire rising in Ahmed’s expression. It was so bright yet inviting, like a campfire, as if he couldn’t wait for the other person to get as lit up as he was. When he looked back, he offered it to her.

“I know there are things wrong with the company. I know stuff like welfare and the pay could be better. But I love the work so much. I love who I work with. I don’t want to have to give up on that if I can do anything to help it.”

Kalyani sighed and closed her eyes. “Yeah. Exactly…” She shifted against him and for a few seconds, she didn’t stir. Her chest glowed with Ahmed’s comfort yet her anxiety kept pumping her heart and turning her stomach. So, in the dark of her mind, she rummaged furiously for a solution. She pulled the whole flat into view, pricing everything in every drawer until she could find something enough for Clarke on Monday. Anything other than their precious games. And she found it. The thought dulled every sensation in her body.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back in a sec,” she said. She hugged him one last time before she left to her bedroom.

Ahmed waited. When she returned, she returned with a neat, varnished, square box. His face fell. “No.”

“I never wear it anyway. It might as well help us.”

She opened the box to reveal the beautiful necklace inside. The glittering, engraved gold was a celebration of craftmanship with its thick chain of interlocking segments and plaits and the heavy adornment in the middle that seemed carved with every flame in the sun. She’d inherited it from her grandmother. She’d never worn it, just like she never wore any jewellery, but she’d kept it for all years Ahmed had known her.

“It’s real gold. If we sell it, it’ll definitely be enough.”

Ahmed rose. He closed his hands around the necklace’s box. “Thank you. Thank you so much…I know just what we’re going to do.” He projected reassurance through every inch of his face for her. “We’re going to pawn it! They do that over at the horse races. We’ll pawn it, get the money for Clarke, then work for the rest of the month to get it back! I can do more shifts, you can do more sewing, and we can even sell some small things to help if we’re struggling by the end. We’ve got thirty days. We can do this!”

“Yeah,” Kalyani said, her voice wavering. “Yeah.”

“So we’ve got our plan! I can go to the racetracks on Sunday morning to pawn the necklace. That way we’ll have these four days and a whole month to save up to get your grandmother’s necklace back. We can do it.”

He hugged her again.

Enveloped in his arms, Kalyani murmured, “You can pawn it on Saturday afternoon instead. In case something goes wrong and we need Sunday to try something else.”

“Alright.” He broke apart so he could see her try a smile. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I love you. Thank you.”

“I love you too.” Ahmed cocked his head towards the kitchen. “Alright. Now, do you want to do the cooking together tonight or do you have some work to finish?”

“Don’t worry. Don’t worry. I can do the cooking too. I’ve got that one jumper to finish but I can do it tonight.”

“Or, how about you sit on the sofa and do that while I cook? That way we can still chat.” He poked her in the chest, pretending to be stern. “Remember? You’re going to sleep at a decent time tonight so you can have breakfast with me in the morning.”

She chuckled. “Fine.” She clutched her grandmother’s necklace box to her heart. She drummed her fingers against the old wood as her chest swirled with equal stress and relief, each cutting the other down whenever they rose. Four-hundred was still so much money to get, but they had her grandmother’s necklace to pawn, but…

Kalyani’s quiet exhale deflated her. She rested against Ahmed one more time and he held her in kind.

“Elise’s family has been really struggling since her husband’s accident,” she said.

He sighed. “Yeah.”

“And Łukasz is only nineteen.”

“Yeah…”

*

On the other side of Deapriffe, Thresher was just as miserable. For the evening, she’d found herself in the Mary Rose: its status as one of the city’s finest dining establishments evident by the mass of chandeliers, silverware, columns, and arched windows. It had the architecture of a cathedral, but one refurbished in the ‘modern’ image of square polished and glass surfaces, and the night’s guests had filled its every corner with a raucous chatter. The restaurant was a luxury most of Deapriffe’s population would never see. Still, Thresher could hardly appreciate it with loud Sharks and trembling waiters all around her.

Outside the wall of windows they had gazing out onto the city, the nearest billboard was dead. The road was in lockdown and the Mary Rose should have been as well. Except, when a procession of the Shark’s white cars pulled up outside your doors, you weren’t allowed to stay shut. A sea of black and white suits filled every gleaming table across the restaurant floor. Laughter and catch-ups washed the air, covering the few meetings beneath it. Discussions that would go on to dictate lives melted into inanity for passing ears.

Thresher sat on a central table alongside her mother and twin. She couldn’t even wear her frustration on her face. Eyes from every corner flicked to the Shark boss and her children before hurriedly moving on. Even the waiters, who looked upon the mass of Sharks with indiscriminate terror, noticed how the attention warped around the three of them. They skirted away accordingly, until a lift of a hand had one darting over to take care of anything any of them wanted.

Sandra Vaughan reclined in her seat with a wine glass in hand. She ran through the other major Sharks for her children, supplying anecdotes for how she’d dealt with each of them. Thresher played the part of an interested listener. She kept her attention on her mum, she smiled, and she recognised enough of the names to add comments of her own, each of which Vaughan worked off with a proud glint in her smile. Every one wore Thresher down further. Her moments of success hit her harder than the failures: the moments where she realised she could dress up as the perfect, cisgender, Shark son her mum wanted forever, and she did not know how to deal with that prospect.

Finley, on the other hand, made no show of anything. He didn’t bother to hide his boredom at the sound of politics. He tilted back in his chair and texted his friends across the restaurant, enjoying the sight of the waitresses. Many of the women had caught Thresher’s eye as well, the restaurant’s black uniform blouse and pencil skirt a gorgeous shape on all of them. However, she stuck her attention to their table and continued draining her glass. The attention of a musclebound Shark never came as welcome to civilian women like them.

“Clarke made a decent point about Letizia Fulgoni,” Vaughan was saying. “She’s been raking in the profits recently. Shake that down and you’ll have yourself a nice bit of extra income.”

Thresher raised an eyebrow. “‘Shake that down’?” She chuckled. “Don’t worry. We won’t even have to bother. Fulgoni’s got no history of trouble. She’s got the new location but without any real safety nets, she’s not going to risk disobeying us. There’s no need to waste the manpower threatening her.”

The lines across Vaughan’s face flattened. “Watch yourself. It’s a pit trap too many Sharks fall into. Going easy on the businesses because things are ‘comfortable’ is the surest-fire way to losing everything to whichever upstart’s nearby. The biggest mess I’ve ever had to deal with was in Wobbegong’s–”

Finley snorted loudly. “God, these names are stupid!”

“He’s a stupid man,” said Vaughan. “Wobbegong earnt his name. The only reason I didn’t kill him was because I wasn’t in the mood to deal with his brother’s inevitable revenge and lose me my best bookkeeper. Wobbegong, the pathetic bastard, had all his businesses ‘banding together and refusing to pay’. Bryson had to take over and double down on the whole road to get things back in line.”

Vaughan caught Finley’s exaggerated slump in his chair to her side.

“I understand. I understand. When I was your age, I didn’t want to have to care about all these names and faces either. People learnt their lessons through fear and all I had to consider were the drinks and the men I wanted that night.”

Finley burst into laughter. “Is that why you left Dad at home tonight?”

“Shush,” Vaughan chided – smirking. “Tonight’s for the family business family. You’re controlling your own territory now. Knowing the names and faces pays off in the long run. You’ve got to know what it takes to piss people off, what they’ll do when you have, and where you hit to hurt them the most. Sometimes, it takes a burnt-down house. Sometimes, it’s a simple punch to the gut.”

“Do we have to worry about Clarke at all?” Thresher asked.

“Please. Clarke would rather cut off his other ear than be an issue for us. He’ll stay in line. Meanwhile, you’ll get some extra cash out of it.”

Finley spun his knife between his fingers. “Shame. He looked hilarious this morning. Let’s increase the pay next month. I’d love it if he didn’t get the money.”

“So, if we don’t ruin our most useful asset,” Thresher continued, with a pointed turn away from Finley, “you’re saying we can rely on Clarke. We’ll use his decades of collaboration to our advantage. Let Fulgoni know any disobedience from her will just profit Clarke and there’ll be no risk of them banding together. This way, we get all the benefits without bothering about the extra Sharks and potentially agitating the Deapriffe police chief living in our territory.”

Vaughan’s lips twisted behind her wine glass. She set it down and flicked her hand for a new round. “James Dunn is firmly in our pocket. I make sure of that. He hasn’t done anything against the Sharks in all of Deapriffe. He’s not going to start because it’s affecting a business down the road. The only thing you’re risking by acting is a few civilians’ bones. That’s nothing in the grand scheme of things.” Her gaze settled on Thresher’s face. Thresher turned to avoid it but Vaughan ordered her back. “You know what I’ve been hearing.”

“I know.”

“Thresher…” Vaughan groaned through her teeth, caught between her care and frustration. “Listen. When you look weak, it makes me look weak.”

“I know.”

“You’ve got to start showing your backbone. You already have everything you need. If something broke out here right now, I’d trust the two of you to come out on top. All you have to do is make it so no-one’s got any doubt of that in the mind. Keep your efforts on that, then everything else they could say becomes irrelevant.”

Thresher caught Vaughan’s significant look. She raised her eyebrow. “Wondering if I’m gay again?”

Finley sniggered. Vaughan didn’t say anything.

Thresher rolled her eyes, not that it could stop the constriction of her heart. “No need to ‘worry’, Mum. Trust me. I am not interested in men.”

A stiff waitress arrived with their drinks. Vaughan took hers with an understanding gesture towards Thresher. “Take some direction from Finley. This job is all about experience. Keep getting fights under your belt and it’ll become second nature.”

“Yeah. Sure. That must be– Oh, I didn’t order a rosé.” Thresher passed her glass back to the waitress. “This must be for another table. I’ll have whatever white you’ve got.”

“Oh.” The waitress – a beautiful woman with red snuck into her uniforms in her locs and her heels – stopped. Gingerly, she collected the glass and Thresher’s face fell at the look of cold disgust piercing through her made-up eyes. Then, she cursed herself for not having expected it. The waitress attempted a civil, service worker nod before leaving to get Thresher’s drink. Vaughan’s hand snapped around her wrist. The waitress yelped.

“What do you call this service?” Vaughan demanded.

Thresher’s heart punched against her ribs. She rushed to take the rosé back. “Mum, I don’t care about this.”

Vaughan refused to loosen her hold on the waitress’s wrist. “Tell me your name.”

“…Sofia.”

“Full name.”

Sofia tested Vaughan’s grip before realising she was trapped. “Sofia Gálvez Moreno, Ma’am. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience. I’ll get him his white right now.”

Vaughan hauled Sofia’s arm forwards and Sofia crashed against the table in front of Thresher. “We’re in no rush here,” Vaughan said, as if delivering Thresher a present. “You’ve got the time to teach Sofia some respect before she goes get you the right drink.”

Sofia’s eyes snapped up, wide. “No! Please, Sir, it was an honest mistake!”

Thresher put on a scowl for her mum and brother. She leant back in her seat, as if she couldn’t care less, and growled. “Get me my order.” She raised the rosé. “I’m keeping this. Come back with my white, on the house, then stay out of my sight for the rest of the evening.”

Sofia nodded like a child’s toy pulled too many times. “Yes, Sir! Right away, Sir!”

Once again, when she attempted to leave, Vaughan refused her. Finley leant over the table towards Thresher. “Here’s some of that ‘direction’ for you. You’re not teaching nursery.” He slapped her bicep. “All that time at the gym isn’t for show. People remember a broken arm way more than any of your wittle mean words.”

“No! Please!” Sofia cried. She met Thresher’s eyes, pleadingly. “Please, you have to understand. I’m just tired! I’ve been on my feet since seven this morning and I haven’t been sleeping well for weeks now. I’ve been busy looking after my sister’s baby! My sister’s got a heart disease and she’s in hospital while her son is very young. He’s only a few months old. My sister doesn’t have any other family in Deapriffe so I’m the only one who can watch him nights and look after her and–”

The words stabbed dagger after dagger into Thresher’s heart, horror painting her face uncontainably. Meanwhile, Vaughan and Finley sank deeper into their exasperation and incredulity as they heard the next rambled sob story on a list the length of a motorway. Vaughan put her face in her hand and groaned. “Enough!” She tightened her fist. Sofia cried out in pain.

“Mum–!” Thresher started.

Vaughan uncovered her tired expression. “Just shut her up!”

“Please! Don’t hurt me!” Sofia begged.

As Thresher looked around helplessly, Finley banged his hand down on the table. “For God’s sake, Thresher. Look! It’s easy!”

Thresher’s eyes shot wide. “Finley!”

“No!” Sofia recoiled.

Finley rose.

“DON’T TOUCH HER!” Thresher roared. She wrenched Sofia out of her mum’s hand. Sofia stumbled onto her heels past Thresher and the talk in the restaurant blew out like a bulb. Thresher faced Sofia, thrusting her hand at the exit. “Get out of here! No-one is going to follow you or they’ll have me to deal with.”

Sofia needed no convincing. With a final glance to Vaughan and Finley, she fled as fast as she was able to in her heels. Thresher watched her until the fire exit door had clattered shut. Her blood pounded like gongs in her ears. Her breathing rusher in and out of her chest. Neither succeeded in disguising how quiet the Mary Rose had become.

As instantly as they had stopped, the surrounding Sharks made a point of continuing their conversations and keeping their eyes on their own tables. Vaughan and Finley, however, had nothing to distract from their rage. Finley held his fists so tight his knuckles were white. His teeth seemed ready to crack against each other. The severe lines on Vaughan’s face cut through her skin as if freshly torn.

Finley tore his eyes off Thresher, facing his mum. “I don’t need him. I can do this by myself–”

“No! We do this as a family,” Vaughan snarled. Thoughts burnt behind her eyes. She pulled her voice down into something low and even. “Finley, when I tell you, take your brother out into town. I want him back with a kill. We’re going to get through his block.” She slammed her fist against the table and levelled her finger at Thresher. “And you are going to man up!”

Thresher’s eyes fell. She didn’t move.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter One | Chapter Two

I’m only posting three chapters for now. I might post more depending on what feedback I get!

Also, guessed the film I based this off? DM me with the correct film and I’ll draw whatever character you want for free!

[navdeep-arora]

Abhiraj Bhal, CEO & Founder Urban Company (erstwhile Urbanclap) Meet the Mavericks: how discipline and focus helped this co-founder make UrbanClap the market leader of an ‘unsexy category’

https://yourstory.com/herstory/2020/07/chennai-student-senior-citizens-tech-savvy?utm_pageloadtype=scrollKeep your eyes on the prize. YourStory’s video series Mavericks gives you insider access into the lives of some of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs. In our third episode, we deep-dive into a discussion with the co-founder of one of India's largest on-demand service providers. A maverick is a person of incredible vision, someone who challenges the norm and forces people to think beyond the ordinary. YourStory is going behind the scenes to uncover the inspirations and secrets of the ultimate maverick in the business world: the entrepreneur. 

Meet YourStory’s third Maverick: Urban Clap Co-founder and CEO Abhiraj Singh Bhal. Abhiraj Singh Bhal and his Co-founders, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra, were no strangers to the startup world before they started UrbanClap. Back in 2014, they realised that on-demand services was a huge, fragmented market with several possibilities, but there were several obstacles in the way. Globally, the online, on-demand home services market is expected to grow at a 52 percent CAGR between 2018 and 2022, according to a report by TechNavio. 

And despite the challenges surrounding standardisation of on-demand services, the lack of consistency, and customer complaints, the trio realised they had chanced upon the opportunity to revolutionise the flagging sector, with the right technology. “Great organisations are built to last, not built to sell; that’s how we think of UrbanClap,” Abhiraj says. 

Five years after they launched the “urban lifestyle services platform”, the three are well on their way to creating a household brand, which is growing 3x every year and reaches 6.5 lakh homes every month through 20,000 service partners. 

UrbanClap, which plans to go public in the future, is also present in 10 Indian cities and Dubai, and aims to expand to Tier II and Tier III cities as well as internationally in the coming years. UrbanClap founders (from left to right): Abhiraj, Raghav and Varun Entering an ‘unsexy category’ Abhiraj and Varun have known each other for years, ever since they graduated from IIT-Kanpur together. 

The two would discuss startup ideas and even launched Cinemabox, a service that allowed travellers to stream movies on their phones in planes, trains or buses, in early 2014. The startup shutdown within six months, but Abhiraj and Varun didn’t give up. Around that time, they met former Twitter engineer, Raghav Chandra, through mutual friends. 

Raghav’s first venture, Buggi, an on-demand autorickshaw hailing platform, shutdown soon after its pilot. The three connected and had a few months of intense conversations, after which Urban Clap was born. 

Despite foraying into the market without a good idea of what to build or how to build it, Abhiraj knew that the demand for these services was large, fragmented, and would benefit with technology. “We certainly didn’t have a game-changing idea,” Abhiraj says.   

However, after interacting with a lot of service professionals, the founders realised that a number of these repairmen, beauticians, and masseuses were usually at the mercy of middlemen, who ate into significant chunks of their margins. Customers were also complaining about a lack of standardisation in terms of quality and punctuality.

 “I think the interesting thing is that it is a very unsexy category - pardon my French - because it takes so much to get your hands dirty. So, the competition typically shies away from it,” he says. Yet, investors believed in their growth story. In 2015, Urban Clap raised $1.5 million funding from SAIF Partners and Accel Ventures. 

The company has raised a total of $110 million in five rounds since then. Peeling back the onion Once the trio dove into the business end, Abhiraj, Varun, and Raghav discovered it was an extremely long and challenging process to bring service professionals onboard. UrbanClap had committed to verifying professionals, both on their background and skill set, before allowing them to offer their services on the app. 

This way, only 20-30 percent made the cut. “It was extremely complex  because on one hand you are pitching to people, saying come and join the platform, and then on the other you’re telling them that ‘hey, you’re not good enough’,” he says. A year after launch, Abhiraj and his co-founders noticed that the quality of the services they were providing was not up to the mark. 

Urban Clap’s “light-touch” model, where the company didn’t insert itself in every aspect of the customer service, was clearly not working out. Sign up for Newsletters Check out our popular newsletters and subscribe Abhiraj interacting with one of UrbanClap's service professionals at a customer's home. 

They asked themselves a simple question: why did we get started on this journey? “We got started because we wanted to deliver amazing and high-quality services. We felt people should rave about the UrbanClap service,” Abhiraj says. The startup decided to focus on one category to understand what it would mean to own the service delivery experience. 

They chose beauty, which offered an interesting challenge. The company developed close integration with the supply ecosystem, which runs on various levels. UrbanClap condensed its service delivery experience into five levels, to make it straightforward for customers and professionals. This, Abhiraj says, has become their biggest competitive advantage. UrbanClap controls the products that their professionals use, from makeup remover to jet sprays. It has also revamped its payments process to make it more flexible for customers and professionals to pay and collect money. 

The company has also set up a content sharing platform to allow customers to share reviews and rate service professionals easily. UrbanClap also functions as a convenient marketing platform for its professionals, and has implemented a strong customer relationship management platform, to catch issues quickly. “It took us two years to perfect this five-level model - it wasn’t overnight. It was literally like peeling the onion - one step at a time.” 

The company has grown by leaps and bounds since then. UrbanClap’s financial results showed that it posted a 150 percent jump in operating revenue to Rs 116 crore in FY19; more impressively, the company managed to keep operating losses flat at Rs 72 crore. Besides beauty services and appliance repairs, the company has also made progress in verticals such as pest control, cleaning, and painting. Simultaneously, the startup is helping create thousands of micro-entrepreneurs. Unlike offline players, Abhiraj says, the company allows service professionals to keep about 80 percent of what a customer pays, allowing them to earn decent livelihoods. Also Read UrbanClap revenue rises 150 pc in FY19; eyes Tier-II India in FY20 By focusing on the service professional as well as the client, UrbanClap has managed to take a significant chunk of market share away from both offline and online players in India. “In certain segments that we operate in, we are the largest player online or offline. If you just look at beauty services, we are the largest beauty services company in the country; we are larger than any standalone chain.” Now their challenges are more on the lines of scale. UrbanClap is on-boarding between 2,000 and 3,000 service professionals every month. They run over 100 training sessions simultaneously across the country, and only plan to grow from there. “If we can become synonymous with home services, so that when anyone needs a service at home, they say just ‘UrbanClap it’,  that would be great,” Abhiraj says. Getting your hands dirty Now, Abhiraj regularly shadows his service professionals and sometimes turns up at customer’s homes to oversee the process. A firm believer in “getting one’s hands dirty”, Abhiraj will happily pitch in and help customers - once even going out of his way to wash a client’s car. He’s also a gym rat who enjoys pushing himself to the limit with punishing CrossFit workouts, is unsurprisingly a big fan of record-breaking sprinter Usain Bolt, and lives by his credo: the race is the easy bit, but putting in the consistent training and hard work every day is the tough part.   The UrbanClap CEO enjoys a good workout. That ethos of hard work was probably drummed in, courtesy his military officer father. Abhiraj’s upbringing also instilled a love for the outdoors - his last trip was to Pench National Park, a tiger reserve that cuts across Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and was reportedly the setting for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. “I like my vacations to be activity-based,” he says. Abhiraj is an adrenaline-junkie, who enjoys the rush from activities such as sky diving, trekking and scuba diving. In fact, he and Varun completed an accelerated free-fall course that allowed them to do solo sky-diving anywhere in the world. “For me, simplicity in lifestyle, discipline, and regimen has worked; it has kept me sane and on track in this journey,” he adds. With that discipline, Abhiraj expects that UrbanClap will reach 50 million homes a month and have one million service partners within four to five years. As for Abhiraj’s next Maverick Move? “So far, UrbanClap has catered to the upper end of the society. We are now actively looking at making our services more affordable and available in Tier II and III cities. At the same time, we also want to expand to other cities internationally. We’re already in Dubai, we’re looking at a couple of other cities as well,” he says. Concept & Direction: Shivani Muthanna Camera person: Manoj Upadhyaya Video Editor: Shlok Bhatt Content Writer: Anya George Also Read Meet the Mavericks: this co-founder and entrepreneur discusses his riskiest bets, handling setb... Want to make your startup journey smooth? YS Education brings a comprehensive Funding Course, where you also get a chance to pitch your business plan to top investors. Click here to know more. ENTREPRENEURSHIP ON-DEMAND SERVICES URBANCLAP ABHIRAJ SINGH BHAL MAVERICKS 41+ Shares +0 Trending Now Trending Stories [Startup Bharat] This Udaipur-based jewellery… Apurva P Meet the IoT startup helping the likes of OYO, MyGate, and… Sohini Mitter Atal Innovation Mission launches second edition of… Press Trust of India Flipkart launches startup accelerator programme with… Thimmaya Poojary Daily Capsule Watch Byju Raveendran talk about the $300-million Whitehat Jr acquisition Read Here Latest Updates from around the world [Funding alert] ZipLoan raises Rs 15 Cr in debt round led by… Thimmaya Poojary Atal Innovation Mission launches second edition of… Press Trust of India Rocketship.vc closes second global VC fund with $100M Vishal Krishna After founding Junglee, Helion, veteran investor Ashish Gupta… Sindhu Kashyaap ‘The internet gives you the ability to shatter boundaries’ –… Madanmohan Rao How Byju’s 6-yr-old son played a role in a $300 million deal… Ramarko Sengupta Our Partner Events Hustle across India Sat Sep 05 2020 EMERGE 2020 MARTECH SUMMIT Virtual Event Fri Sep 25 2020 SMARTecIndia2020 Virtual Platform See all Partner Events ENTREPRENEUR This 14-year-old from Chennai is enabling senior citizens to become tech-savvy Tanvi Arvind, a Grade IX student of Sishya School, Chennai, has started TechEdEn, a services startup that helps senior citizens to be tech-positive and independent. By Rekha Balakrishnan 16th Jul 2020 0:00 / 5:12 48 claps +0 Many of us have seen seniors in our homes trying to grapple with technology - whether it’s downloading apps, ordering from their phones, or doing transactions online. Not adept with advances in technology, they often seek the help of the younger members of the family, who sometimes are either impatient or don’t have the time to teach them. Tanvi Arvind is helping senior citizens become tech savvy Also Read This woman entrepreneur is on a mission to help schools become best educational spaces This is where Tanvi Arvind, a 14-year-old student of Sishya School in Chennai, decided to step in with TechEdEn in 2019, a services startup that aims to Educate and Enable Technology for the “tech-challenged”. Starting from her own family The idea for TechEdEn came from her own experience. “My grandparents live alone in Bengaluru. Whenever I used to visit them, I saw them struggling with technology. They had two smartphones, two iPads, and a shared laptop,” she says. On every visit, she set about educating and enabling them with the help of simple steps on the use of technology, and how it could be used to its fullest potential. “Each time I taught them something new, they were awestruck and amazed at how life had changed for them forever, with tech,” she adds. When she saw the joy and happiness these simple tech lessons brought to her grandparents, she decided to start a venture to ensure many more senior citizens benefit from learning basic technology! With EdTechEn, Tanvi teaches senior citizens basic uses of technology like booking a ride service like Uber or Ola, using Swiggy to order food, learning how to navigate Zoom and Facetime to connect with their loved ones, online travel booking, using Google Maps, and installing and using social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, etc.  “More now, than ever before, with an emerging ‘new-normal’ of everything moving online and social distancing, I believe these services will find a significant value with the target audience - people of the older generation who did not have the opportunity to learn and use digital technology while growing up. They will surely need ways to go about manoeuvring the fast-changing tech and digital world, swiftly. TechEdEn’s services enable their connection to the e-world, providing convenience at their fingertips,” she says. Helping overcome fear and inhibitions Tanvi started off with on-site services as planned for the first year, with a lean set-up. By going to clients’ place ‘in-person’ as a ‘tutor’, she has taught and hand-held 68 seniors, about 25 percent of whom were paranoid about getting started and connecting to the digital world, by helping them overcome their fear and inhibitions. She has also taught them basics like printing at home, connecting to the internet, using applications on device and internet, to about 30 of them transacting with service providers such as Uber, Swiggy, and Amazon from the comfort of their homes. She charges Rs 500 for a one-hour session and for a group session of four (in an apartment complex), Rs 300. The young entrepreneur feels happy to be a part of this transformation in people’s lives. TechEdEn has been a real boon in this day and age, remarks 70-year-old Ms Chitnis, one of Tanvi’s customers. With help from her sister and an associate who volunteered her time, Tanvi has clocked a top line of Rs 28,400 in the first year itself. She plans to introduce tele support in Year 2 and online support by Year 3, by hiring enthusiastic and tech-savvy school students, which is yet to take off.   “There is good traction that has been built with positive customer feedback and word-of-mouth referrals from existing clients. The excitement in the adult circles within the social network for the uptake of TechEdEn is palpable! I feel very bullish about TechEdEn’s future,” she says. However, Tanvi also realises she has to add capacity to deliver to a growing customer base. Those are her challenges for Year 2 and 3.  Sign up for Newsletters Check out our popular newsletters and subscribe The impetus to start something on her own also came from an interesting video Tanvi watched of a 13-year-old successful kid-preneur Asia Newson, based in Detroit, who started selling candles and later her own handmade ones. She met her sales target of $70,000 in the very first year, in 2016! She has since diversified and evolved her business. This inspired Tanvi to think big and come up with her own idea. "The 20 weeks I spent at the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) also gave me a quick and broad overview of what goes into setting-up of a business, with the understanding of marketing and finance functions. The field trips helped me understand how different businesses have different success metrics and methods of operation. My mentors also gave me constructive feedback on the business,” she says. Tanvi surely is excited about tapping into the ‘silver generation’ population, where learning technology is not just an important tool to navigate their daily lives, but also an absolute necessity as we face a future of social distancing and being confined to our homes for longer periods of time. (Edited by Megha Reddy) 

Source - https://yourstory.com/herstory/2020/07/chennai-student-senior-citizens-tech-savvy?utm_pageloadtype=scroll