Bzzzzzzz

Anna's past comes hunting

2011-08-28T00:36:00.006+05:30

Finally I've started seeing people being sane on FB about Anna Hazare. If your wondering why FB? well, that's because it's the new extended self of the Gen Xer's & O for the Gen Y's in India. Moreover FB is more like the windvane of the sentiments of the Netizen's!

Atleast now people have started seeing the other side which has got them thinking.

If you still haven't read my earlier post and see this video! You would then know what I mean by saying that the Jan Lokpal Bill cannot solve any corruption issue whatsoever. It is nothing but a mere makeshift which could turn monstrous in the future.

Then give yourself a few minutes to think before you blindly reject a different viewpoint. The common trait among all successful people is that of decision making, and to do that they make it a point to view things with no biases and buy it at what it's worth!

So people just give this a thought before you react... No prejudices please!

Link

or

Courtesy: Anurag Sinha's post & Youtube

Anna Syndrome

2011-08-24T00:47:00.005+05:30

Anna Hazare
Team Anna
Brand Anna
Anna is India & India is Anna

Don’t you smell marketing or the making of the next oligarch somewhere in those words?

For most of you the Lokpal Bill aka Anna is only anti-corruption. A few even call it the next greatest revolution in Indian history after her Independence, but how many of you’ll actually know what the bill reads to the smallest clause? I’m sure less than 5% percent of the supporters really know the whole deal of what they currently approve off, and only a smaller percent of this miniscule know the repercussions of such a dangerous protest which questions the basic principles on which this nation is built on?

Do you feel that making another governing body stronger than the current one would solve problems? Temporarily, it still might. But think about the longer run. If an ombudsman is going to have more power than the Prime Minister of India isn’t that dangerous and dictatorial to say the least? What makes you think that there won’t be a fight for power in the New Governing Body after Anna Hazare? With due respect to all the stakeholders, it’s easy to say that Team Anna is all people who’ve done a lot to the society, but none of them have every been/seen a position of so much Power in their life; and the human brain for all we know has its own way of amazing us every time.

Moreover if the Pro-Anna’s really wanted to make a difference and serve the country and clean it of its corruption then why don’t they stand in elections and take up positions of power & responsibility and then let actions do the talking? But instead our dear Anna Hazare’s juvenile reply to a question on whether he would join politics if given a chance was “Kichad pe pathat phekne se kichad he uchalta hai” which would literally translate to “throwing a stone in slush would only result in it splashing on you!”

A few of you might argue that this is for the betterment of India and this agitation must go on etc. Well I surely don’t disagree that the thought & the motive has nobility written all over it and is surely something to be appreciated, but the undemocratic blackmailing methodology adopted to achieve the same is far from noble. Think about it, if the government is to heed to this demand and pass a bill in such a short period of time then before we realize we’re going to have half of India going on hunger strikes and blackmailing the government for their own various causes. This in turn would put India on a more dangerous disturbed civil agitation!

India has been long admired as the largest democracy, which has primarily been because we follow the constitution that was set 61 years ago. But now with this kind of blackmail aren’t we going against the basic tenets of our very own constitution?

Now the obvious next question is can we leave corruption to stay this way? The answer is a big NO! Then instead of going on a hunger strike, a more rational and righteous way of putting forward your bill in the parliament should ideally be the first step forward. Then we need to look at a policy which decentralizes power and not empowers another single individual/body. Most importantly we need to make changes where it currently seems impossible. In other words, corruption at the lowest level from giving a bribe to a cop for riding/driving without a license to paying an RTO officer to avoid a couple of extra visits to the RTO. Only if we change in this small way will it affect the whole issue of corruption at large. Moreover we cannot point fingers at someone for corruption when we ourselves are indulging in it. You may argue that the scale is not comparable, but a wrong deed however small doesn’t have variable change associated with it.

I’d like to sign off hoping that all of us look to actually look at a revolution and not just a mere short term eye wash! Jai Hind!

Life in the city that 'Lives'

2011-06-20T01:30:00.016+05:30

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

I was listening to this song by green day as I walked back home the other day, and just as I heard the sentence ‘Time of your life’ I got pondering. I started wondering what were all those instances / nuances / acts / people / happenings which made me feel like I was indeed having the time of my life.. School was one contender for sure with the innocent fun we had, college was something that I’d already tagged as the Best days of my life.. So it had to be something else. No No not TCS. Something else. Something more vibrant, something that has the blue-skin smell of the sea, some place which has more variety with restaurants than what a life time of meals can taste, a place which where one becomes an amphibian due to the humidity, it is our very city made from seven islands—Bombay lately known as Mumbai!

I came to this city thanks to with the throw of destiny’s dice. To be specific all thanks to the TCS. Since then over the last 575 days, I’ve been through a plethora of emotions.

It was hard to decide where to start off, but then I decided to take a cue from one my earlier articles and hence it had to be the city’s 153 year old backbone, Mumbai Locals. When you land in Mumbai you have people warning you of how over-crowded they are, how many people fall and die out of these, how easy it is to get picked or lose a bag, but what many people don’t tell you is how addictive these are. The cool breeze as you hang out of one, or the modern train yoga asana that you learn by standing funnily or the fights for seats to the bhajan groups on trains and even the train friends you make. It is what I’d call an intangible luxury!

But the same friend, who told me about Mumbai Locals, also happens to be the drummer of a leading Mumbai-based band and hence he invariably happened to talk about music & Mumbai.

How the music here is a brilliant portrayal of emotion in words. The first thing that obviously strikes your mind is Bollywood. A city where every actor comes to become a star and the rest of us come to get a glimpse of them, once they turn stars. But Bombay also has the other side to it. The music from the west has had its own strong influence on this city.

In fact in the 70’s Led Zepplin had come to India in an attempt to start a recording studio, they ended up staying @ the Taj and spending most of their time at a local disc called Slip Disc. They fell in love with the city so much, that over the next few years whenever they had to go to Australia or Singapore they managed to make it a point to stop by in Bombay. In fact they even got to jam with Indian artists and that forms a part of their collectives called the ‘The Bombay Sessions’.

Music was in the blood for this city. But Mumbai surely aint complete with just a backbone in the form of trains and blood in music. The city needed legs which would be attributed to the always buzzing streets of Mumbai. I still remember the 24^th Oct last year, it was my friend’s birthday and we were on our way to a lounge by the beach called Aurus in Juhu to celebrate @ about 2. To our surprise we were stuck in a traffic jam for 30mins, but instead of getting irritated all of us were elated with the fact that this city has so much life @ that hour of the day! It’s not just Juhu go anywhere from Marine Drive to the ever-cramped Saki Naka and you won’t be disappointed! Life!

Well the limbs of the city won’t be complete without the hands, which would be Dharavi. A lot of you may think I’m crazy! But just hear me out.. For a first the total business @ Dharavi is estimated to be a whopping $650Mn. Now that my dear friends is a hell lotta money! For the record nearly all the farzans (an Indian snack, mostly used as a side-eat) that is sold in Mumbai comes outta Asia’s biggest slum. It is also famous for its authentic cheap leather goods, which again are re-sold in stores at Colaba (obviously at a higher price) where one would find it ‘Kewl’ to shop. But that’s not all, the HBR Case worthy Dabbawalla’s of Mumbai operate pre-dominantly out of Dharavi. So with all this said I guess the always planned re-development can wait!

Now.. Coming to my favourite, the tongue of this city! This can be attributed to the mouth watering delicacies that you can taste from a Sunday Sindhi Breakfast at Tharu Sweets to a Parsi lunch at Britannia & Co to high tea at theobroma, a drink @ Leopolds, hop skip and jump and you reach Bademia for succulent chicken for dinner and finally yum homemade age old ice creams from K Rustomjee. Apart from this you could also get side-eats from a yum lassi’s @ parsi diary to a sumptuous falooda at badshah’s to generously butter Pav Bhaji @ Sardar PB or chaat at Chowpati. I better stop at this else I’m goina have to go and get something to eat as these bare names are enough to get me hungry again just an hour after dinner!

I surely need to dedicate a couple of more articles or may be a book in order to complete the rest of Mumbai (may be the next version of the ever famous ‘Shantaram’)J! But I surely cannot finish without mentioning the Spirit of Mumbai that was shown to the world when people got to work hours after the train blasts and the Jewel of Bombay, The Queen’s Necklace. Man you so have to sit there on a rainy day with the rain lashing against your face, and sip into a nice thick yummy ‘Bachelors’ chocolate shake! It’s just Eternal Bliss!

In the end, remember…

Mumbai is city that lives,
A livelihood for every immigrant is what it gives;
It is a city that never sleeps,
An experience in the city takes you leaps;
Mumbai portrays a mother as its made from Mum, Ba & Ai,
Hope that would stop you from saying 'Goodbye'!

Blame Game

2010-10-21T11:57:00.002+05:30

The Blame Game is something that we see in our daily lives. It’s increasingly being used in all fields and at ones workplace to be a pro @ playing the Blame Game is considered a pre-requisite to become a successful boss.
Now why did I choose to write about this all of a sudden? Well it has been over 6months since my last post. Owing to work/travel commitments I’ve not been able to write. But today when I was reading my regular dose of news feed on my way to work, I saw this piece of article by the Pakistan Hockey Federation & their national hockey captain. Then I thought its time that we learn how to accept defeat/mistakes gracefully and learn how to be successful not only in superficially but by the word itself.
Now, coming back to the article that instigated me to write this post. The Pakistan Hockey Federation claimed that the Indian crowds were being too abusive and booing them so much so that they lost against India in a do-or-die match in the recently concluded CWG. Now, there is a possibility that there would have been a handful of people in the crowd that would’ve used profane language but in general the crowd was just supporting and cheering the home team (any crowd would do this). If this was a reason why the Pakistani Team lost in the hockey match, I think they should consider having a tie-up Bose and ensure every player uses a noise-cancellation wireless headphone if & when they play (no pun intendedJ ). Secondly, and most importantly, if losing and if finishing bottom wasn’t enough, they try comparing their result against the Aussie’s and proclaim that their loss was better than India’s loss!
Now the other blame games of Kalmadi to Modi, from Rooney to the Aussie’s everyone is busy playing the blame game like it’s something to be proud off. There may be instances where you get blamed and criticized for something you are not solely responsible for, but doesn’t it make more sense to let your actions do the talking than words. Why do we always look for a temporary way out and never ever look at the bigger picture?
Before I sign off, when I say we it means all of us (including me), so I’m not giving ‘Gyaan’ (an Indian word for an over-rated, unnecessarily long, metaphor filled, stern toned piece of something that is supposed to be advice & instead ends up being meaningless and agitating the recipient).
I just wanted to say that it is not enough to be good in everyone else's eyes, rather its more important to have a good character and do the right things even when nobody's looking.

PS: This post has no image nor formatting as I couldn't wait to get home and do the necessary on my computer hence I've posted it from my phone.. :)

Was it 'Just Another Day'?

2010-04-18T01:04:00.007+05:30

It was about 9.15 on a saturday morning and Bruno (My Labrador) woke me up and it was then I realized that I’m late! Freak I’d missed 2 alarms thanks to sleeping with the AC gushing on my face… Nevertheless I still made it a point to read the newspaper before getting ready to leave.. I had to be there at 10! After a longish Taxi journey I reached Air India Building (Nariman Point, Mumbai) by 10.15. For a second after paying the taxi I thought to myself “I’m late, but still I’m here and it’s only going to be a couple of minutes to the 10th Floor on the elevator”.
I went through the regular security checks only to realize that the elevator wouldn’t go above the 2nd floor for some stupid reason. As always ‘when you are late, the environment around you delays you further’. So I ran up the remaining 8 floors to finally, I mean finally, reach the 10th Floor conference room for my ‘Toastmasters Session’! :P
I hadn’t missed much as the session itself was delayed due to last minute logistic issues. The theme of this session had drawn inspiration from the ‘IPL’ and was called ‘Toastmasters Premier League’. It went on really well with excellent speeches. For the record I even learnt the origins of the word ‘Shanghaied’. But yeah, I was done with the session by 11:30 and after a bit of ‘Socializing’:P with the other toastmasters, we (four of us) found ourselves at the building’s exit wondering what to do on this insanely HOT Saturday afternoon?
Just then I remembered the last scene from the Hindi Flick ‘Wake Up Sid’ and decided that I wanted to go to that edge of Marine Drive. The other three were nice enough (actually nice would be an understatement, I should be more grateful) to accompany me in the blistering Sun. After a while, we all realized we were human and that it was too hot to stay there without getting something to drink! So we decided to go to a Barista at Colaba Causeway. But it was to be only three outta the four of us as one our dear friend (Prathaviraj) worked on weekends.
It was a feeling of being in heaven when we sipped our mango smoothies after sending off Prathaviraj and getting to Barista. Just then I randomly suggested about going for a movie. So, we walked down to Metro Big Cinemas and were left with no option but a new Hindi flick called ‘Paatshala’. We got tickets and then went ‘hotel hunting’ as it was time to treat our tummies! Somehow after a lot of calls and walking into juice bars (our hunger made the juice bar look like a hotel that served Aloo Parathas and Paneer Sabzi) we reached a small hotel, but more importantly it had an AC.. Something that was as important as food to us, at that moment!
After that it was just busy belting (a synonym to eating when we eat like we’ve been starved for a week and the conversations are just Umm’s Ahh’s and hmmm :D) Cheese Pav Bhaji! It was about 3ish when the three of us got a cab back to the multiplex and were on time for ‘Paatshala’. It was Sreejith’s (one of the 3 souls of occupy most of this article) first Hindi movie in a theatre. In fact the day already was different for him, as he had Vegetarian food for lunch which he considered an unforgivable sin being a Pure Non-vegetarian! The movie began and man the Jinx had not yet got over. The Jinx which meant that I get to watch such movies in a theatre which don’t even deserve to be screened on an iPod sized screen. Poor Sreejith was under shock and was on the verge of saying “Who needs enemies with friends like you’ll”! ;) We (Anushree, the third un-introduced character and me) were the reason he was here. To make things worse he even missed watching his favourite football club Manchester Utd’s match (I can’t believe that being a Chelsea fan, I actually gave 14 characters of space on my blog to my rival club).

Finally at about 6’o’clock the movie was over, and we now had to do something to get over the traumatic experience of the worst directorial venture ever seen on the face of the earth. This time it was Anushree calling the shots and there are no prizes for the guessing what it was! It had to be shopping, and we headed back to Colaba Causeway (a street shoppers delight). The next two hours went by with sounds of bargaining, the smell of food & beer (as we crossed Leopolds & Mondegars) and a crowd that had an equal number of Foreigners as Indians. We reached the end of Colaba Causeway only for Anushree to feel bad and embarrassed that being a GIRL she hadn’t shopped enough to reach the benchmark (average amount of shopping that has to be done that is virtually set in the minds of every girl). But we realized it was already getting late and we headed to the ever famous Marine Drive. The Queens Necklace as it is called was as good as ever. We took at nice stroll down marine drive, with the cool sea breeze, a few people jogging, a handful of vendors trying to make a quick buck selling bottled water at a premium and a few couples snogging.

But, as all good things come to an end, so was this day! But not before a nice, yummy, chill, thick chocolate shake and a signature Mango Fruit Cream from ‘Bachelors’ (a 70 yr old Juice Stall at Marine Drive). Wow! It wasn’t like we’d gone clubbing or had a night out or gone white water rafting but it still was an amazing day. It was a day that was nice not because of what we did, but more because of the people involved in it and the fact that it was a day full of impromptu decisions! :)

So, Cheerz to Anushree and Sreejith and looking forward to more such day’s with a difference! I’d like to end this post with a quote by Fydor Dostoevsky

We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken

4 Acts

2010-03-14T14:08:00.008+05:30

The first time you try to go in it is not easy. You tend to wonder how people can like something like this. But as you do it more often, you start enjoying it and realize that it is indeed the best there is. Moreover I’m talking about a phenomenon that most of us are familiar with. In fact nowadays people are forced into this at a very young age, as they have no other option.
I can pretty much guess what’s in your mind at this moment. There may be a few who think I’m bordering on perverseness and the others who are sure that this is a mere attention grabber. I think I’d partially agree with the latter school of thought, as only when things are done with a difference, it is retained by our human brain. Well, all this while I was talking about Getting into Mumbai Locals! :)
It is hard to get in the first time, you hate the crowd and a few of us tend to feel claustrophobic. But, it’s indeed the lifeline of Amchi Mumbai. Youngsters today use it on a regular basis to get to school as it saves time as compared to the school buses of the past. Lastly the more you use it, the more you appreciate the time it saves and like it!

I’ve been here in Mumbai for about 3months now. Before I could land in Mumbai, I had a lot of people advising me to rent a residence very close to my place of work. Another bunch of them trying to tell me how horrifyingly crowded a train would be. But, as always I stood with my belief that ‘Experience is thy best teacher’ and decided to try it out on my own. So let me share a few of my experiences in Mumbai Locals. I have structured my article drawing inspiration from Shakespeare into Acts! J Act 1 to Act 4.

Act 1: The awakening
I landed in Mumbai on the 22nd November 2009 and reached my aunt’s place in a silent location in Mumbai called Malabar hill. The next day was my first day at work, a new page in my life. I was to go to Malad from the Grant road station (these are two stations on the Western Line in Mumbai which are 35kms apart). I bought a ticket (and initially wondered how it could be so cheap, just 8 bucks!) and waited for a train. The train came by and I got in, it was all ok (for an instance I thought what were all my friends fussing about.. hmmm.. sissies). The train went on and it reached the ever famous Dadar station, and all of a sudden people got into the train as though the world was about to end, and this was the only train that would take them to safety. People stood everywhere, on the windows, above the train, between compartments and a huge number of them hanging out and still giving an expression of being in a luxury suite of a five-star hotel! That is the exact moment I got to know from a co-passenger (who guessed from the look on my face that this was my first time) that there was also a first-class compartment to this train. A little too late, but nevertheless the train went on, and there was an announcement that ‘Goregaon’ was approaching (this is the station that precedes Malad). Just then my co-passenger told me to stand in case I wanted to get down at Malad. Finally we were at Malad, and before the train could come to a complete halt, this person from behind shouted ‘MALAD’… and the next thing I knew, I was on the Malad Platform (and thankfully in one piece, but for the rest for the day, I was forced to call my shirt a crushed look designer wear)..
I was awakened and I knew this wasn’t easy and I had to keep my eyes open. But I did have this old habit of assuming things once in a while, which was to be revisited the very next day. That brings me to:

Act 2: Never Assume in Mumbai
I was proud to have got my first class pass made for the route, and I stood with pride and a crease-free shirt with a ‘cool water’s’ fragrance. The train came by and I got in, it seemed a nice journey today. No pushing and even the crowd getting in at Dadar was comparatively saner, I felt delighted. The train went on, it reached Andheri(one of the major stations on the western line between Grant Road and Malad) and interestingly a lot of people got in and the train halted there for a surprising 3mins. And, all of a sudden the train started moving backwards. Before I could react, there was my second lesson in Mumbai, not all trains goto Malad, there are trains that go only till Andheri and Bandra.
I had to get down at Ville Parle (the station before Andheri) and take another train. Funny for a few, in fact even I had a laugh. In all it was another learning, and a page added to my diary of experiences. But I still hadn’t gone through an experience that was rather common. That brings me to:
Act 3: It is rather common
A few days went by and I soon got the hang of Mumbai trains and especially the western line. I started talking the railway language, ‘Churchgate Fast, Borivali Slow, All fast trains after 8 stop in the last three stations’. I was pleased with my new skill in using public transport so effectively, something I had never done in Bangalore. Moreover it was a small feeling of an achievement of sorts.
Over a period of time, I started getting off at Ville Parle and going with a friend of mine in his car (as he was bored to drive alone to Malad). I used to give him a buzz when I reached Santa Cruz station and it was like a signal for him to get ready.
Then one fine day, I got in to the train as usual, it went on and suddenly I get a call from this friend of mine asking me if ‘I’m not coming today’. I wondered why he was asking this, and Just then the announcement in the train said ‘next station Kandivili’ (this station comes after Malad). I’d slept for the first time in a Mumbai train and it turned out to be another mistake rather another experience for me in Amchi Mumbai’s very own local train. An experience that is rather common.
All these experiences and I thought I’d learnt a lot about Mumbai trains and that now I could proudly proclaim to be a mumbaikar. Reality struck, and it told me in a loud voice that ‘You’ve a long way to go my son’. That brings me to:
Act 4: Why only me?
I had made the mistakes and learnt the hard way. I had gone through crowded trains, I’d overslept and I had got down in a wrong station. The final Act which I would call a grand finale was on a Thursday evening when I had to attend a friend’s wedding reception at Borivali. I finished work at Malad, had to goto Andheri the same afternoon for work, after which I took an auto to Borivali (as the trains in this route during evenings were too crowded). It took me just 2 hrs and 20mins to reach Borivali, but nevertheless I’d reached on time! I met my other friends and had a nice time. It was about 11.30 when we guys decided to leave.
All my friends stayed rather closer to Borivali and hence decided on taking an auto. But for me ‘train’ was the only option. As this place was at the end of Borivali west, I could’nt get an auto to the station. Finally one guy agreed to drop me for 100bucks to the station, not Borivali but Dahisar. I agreed (not like I had any other options) and reached the station. It was a rather bald station, with literally nothing. No proper digital sign boards no people no chai-walas nothing. I waited for 15mins and a train arrived. I got in only to discover 5mins later that this was a Virar fast (Virar is the last station on the western line, it was about 55km from my destination Grant Road) and I had got into the train in the wrong direction. Holy Jesus Christ I exclaimed, but what could I possibly do. I thought it to be very risky to get off at any other station and hence I had to goto Virar and come back to grant road in that very train.
The story didn’t end there. As the train approached Malad on its way back, this person got into the rather deserted first class compartment and sat next to me. Soon he even asked me if I was new to this route as he is a regular and hadn’t seen me ever. I did agree only to discover from him that ‘after 11 getting mugged was a very common feature in first class compartments’. Man what a day and what a time for him to spook me with that? One hell of a train journey it was. First of all I got into the wrong train and was close to getting lost over that I listen to this from a man at 1.30 in the night. Wow!! J
Anyways I did manage to get home safely by 2.15 that night.

Train journey's in Mumbai has thought me a lot and I’ve learnt to be cautious, never assume, to be tolerant and to always be on your toes. Hence I’d like to finish my article with a quote about Mumbai trains from Suketu Mehta’s famous book ‘Maximum City’:

Of hands unfurling from a packed Bombay train compartment like petals, reaching
out to grab that one more commuter and whisk him on board. Here the metal of the compartment is unfurled like some grotesque petals, side and top.

Meet the Corporates: The story of every common man WITH a MNC

2010-02-09T00:11:00.008+05:30

Before you jump to any conclusions of a grammatical error, I’d like to expand the acronym ‘Multi National Cannibals’! Well I’m pretty sure every normal human being who hates wasting time, hates being told what to do and likes using his brain would surely agree with me on that acronym! (If you’ve got better suggestions... your welcome to express all your frustration in three words! Lolz..)
I’ve heard a lot of people fuss over corporate life. In fact for a while now I’ve heard all my friends talk about how monotonous and boring your life becomes once you enter this phase of your life. But no one actually told me how and why it is such a spoil sport... Guess it was left for me to find discover! Like they say, experience is thy best teacher! :)

Based on a lot of inputs and strangers reviews over corporate life, I’ve kinda figured out a few theories that work here:

Theory 1: The Diligent v/s Intelligent Dilemma
Well if you’ve to be successful in a huge corporate then you have to be intelligent. Before you jump to any conclusions, what i meant is you have to be intelligent enough to realise that here people only look at diligent workers and if you give break-through ideas you would be considered inexperienced.
Funny isn’t it? If you are Intelligent then you wouldn’t use your intelligence!
Theory 2: The Dual-faced Architecture
Every person who enters a corporate and wants to sustain in it, has to learn the art of Hypocrisy. This is an art that is learnt and honed with practise. Some MNC’s call this KT (Knowledge Transfer)
Theory 3: Meeting Impossible
Meeting Impossible has two meanings. This is by far the most used theory in MNC’s today. Firstly, it refers to the fact that every organization loves taking care of their employees. They are always ready to give you a excellent salary hikes or bonus for meeting their so called TARGETS (the possibility of meeting which is equal to that of a crow turning white)
Secondly, it refers to the amazingly long meetings which specialize in changing the way decisions are made. In other words, a decision which normally would be taken in 2 minutes would be taken in 2hours. The Rationale for which is that the decision maker already has made up his mind, and for 2 hours he tries to flaunt his authority and tries his very best to demean you!
Theory 4: The Boss-Superboss Chemistry
This in other words is the ever efficient supply chain of your organization. It is the only SCM technique where the final output is always exponentially more than the input. To explain this technique I would like to illustrate with an example.
e.g. X is the head of a vertical in a MNC. Y reports to X and is a Proj. Leader (PL). The rest of us are the TM’s (Team Members). On a sunny Wednesday morning, X is about to leave for work and just then his wife asks him to put the washing machine on his way to work as she has a kitty party to attend. This results in a clash of egos and X is totally irritated and drives to work (as usual the traffic is bad and he misses all the traffic signal’s as his day is already bad).
He reaches work and looks for reasons to vent out his anger. So he calls Y and yells at Y for a missing comma in a report. Y in turn comes to his/her TM’s, yells at them in double the intensity ‘quoting the missing comma’ and puts a full-stop on their appraisals.

What say people?? The Moral of this article is open to interpretation!

Disclaimer: All the characters in this article are purely unintentional. J This is written without keeping any real/living person in mind. :)

Whatte pic?

2009-10-19T13:38:00.003+05:30

What do u think?

Abundance of Skilled Labour (OR)
One of the worst cases reported in the aftermath of Global recession

Leave ya comments ppl!!!

Change is good!

2009-10-18T00:19:00.009+05:30

A couple of days ago, I took an autorickshaw back home and the meter showed a fare of INR 46, I gave the driver a INR 50 note and walked away without taking back the change. It was like an unwritten code that any change below INR 5 will not be asked! That's when I suddenly thought how the value attached to spending INR 5 has become close to negligible (excluding the BPL families), and the main factor for this being the introduction of the 5 rupee coin.
The 50 paise coins, if any have literally become extinct, and by chance you have one, may be it can add to a numismatics collection. For those who aspire to be called a philanthropist by giving it to a beggar, I doubt he will take it! I wouldn't be surprised if he gives you a 1 rupee coin in return and walks away. :)
So today a 5 rupee coin is spent and kept on par with what a 1 rupee coin was about 5-6years ago. Hence there has been an increase in the spending pattern of the consumers (one may attribute this to many other economic and societal reasons too).
Roughly about a week ago, I was sitting in this coffee shop with a friend, and just as we finished paying the bill and when we were taking back the change I noticed that we had got a new looking coin. It was the new 10rupee coin which was released earlier this year and was also India's first bi-metallic coin. I pondered for a few minutes and I was pretty sure with the way of life changing ever so rapidly (a lot faster than it was 5-6years ago) the new 10rupee coin will gain acceptance and occupy the place of the 5rupee coin more faster than expected.
If the 5 rupee coin took 2-3years to replace the 1 rupee coin, then I'm sure the 10rupee coin will take only about a year.

The long and short of the story is that the introduction of higher value coins and notes are perfect for marketers. Its literally like a boon. The consumers are now tempted to spend more. Marketers need to now focus on making the product offering more attractive and can worry less about changing the mentality of the consumers with respect to spending.
Economically the 'Indian middle-class consumer segment' (with its ever increasing spending power) which is already the center of attraction for nearly all the global brands will now start to look even more attractive. Moreover the continuosly created demand by the Indian consumers has played a big role in helping the world out off recession (again there are many reasons in this context, I have taken this one as it pertains to the article) and will also help speeden the recovery path.
That's what one new coin can do! :)
Enjoying spending people!! ;)
Change is good, Indeed!!! :D

For the Greater Good: Save the Planet, Your Planet!

2009-10-06T12:52:00.008+05:30

A common phenomenon all our lives is the fact that when we grow up and have a room of our own, we take care of the room and bear ownership of it, but the rest of the house can go to the bin and we would be least bothered. As time goes on we grow up and buy a house, and now we elevate from ownership of the room to that of the whole house. Normally the elevation should go on, but instead we change from ownership of a house to that of houses. Hence always 'Mother Earth' which is the greater home of ours is always the one losing out. I'm not blaming anyone, as most of us (including myself) are no exception to this phenomenon.
On the other end of the spectrum, just a few days ago the world's most powerful man Obama addressed the G20 summit with one of the key issues there being the 'Global Climate Change'. Its a matter concern that there has been a drastic change in the climate. Unusually horrendous storms and natural disasters seem to rock mother earth once in every 2-3years. And all of a sudden everyone is talking about the need to address this issue.

India is no exception to this. Roughly a couple of month ago, a majority of the northern states in India had announced that there was a drought owing to less than normal rainfall. Southern states saw some rainfall but still weren't content and had power cuts. Well all that has changed so drastically that nowadays the headlines in every newspaper in India talks about the worse floods in over 106years in the two Indian states, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Surprised? Don't be! As this is pretty much what we must be ready for at the rate at which the climate is changing.
There may still be a few who say, this is a Global issue and 'I can't do anything about it, let him/her do it then I'll think bout it'!
But i'm afraid this time you can't run away from responsibility, because this issue is directly affecting all of us. Can we do anything? I say yes, and it won't take too much of your time or money; and it will either directly or indirectly help the cause:

Switch off your bike/car everytime you stand at a signal
Walk or cycle whenever your destination is within 2km (this would also do a world of good to our health as most of us know what an unhealthy over-worked high stressed lives that we are leading)
Use rain water harvesting
Switch off the light/fan/AC/TV etc. whenever you walk out the room
If you have an unused garrage space in your compound, instead of converting it to a room for negligible rent. Convert it to an open space to make your compound more greener.

Least by doing this you can surely have a clear conscience and feel good about it, and if all of us can do this small bit, it would be as Neil Armstrong earlier said: "A small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind"!

Pardon me if I sound too stereotype and if this sounds like boring advise,(or gyan in desi style) but people this is more of a plea or a request.

Here's a plea to save the planet,
Doing it is ones own call;
To mother earth we this as a debt,
Else all of mankind may eventually fall!

"Musharraf is no more bereft of what he deserves"

2009-10-03T18:10:00.007+05:30

Well I first thought posting this video as my status on facebook, but then I thought it deserved an opinion and a better reach.

This post is like a second part to my earlier post titled "Terrorists are not born. they are made". It clearly shows how Pakistan and esp. 'Gen. Pervez Musharraf' has taken every muslim for granted and actually dented (or rather call it destroyed) the image of muslims world over. Here is a snipped from the India Today Conclave, which took place in Delhi earlier this year. Its surprising though how the Indian Media which goes gaga even for a lost fingernail has over looked this!!!
It shows how Pakistan has taken Indian Muslims(rather muslims world over) for granted and has always assumed their point of view as the single view of muslims. Here a Maulana shows his displeasure with Musharraf and his actions and asks him to stop interfering or making comments about India.
The same man 'Musharraf' who authored "In the line of Fire: A Memoir" and proudly proclaimed to be the man behind starting talks about Kashmir with India and thought of himself to be the proud s0-called, god knows why, unnecessary saviour (for no reason) of the Indian Muslims(who seem to be more than pleased in their secular motherland India), is being found wanted after the vocal slap from the Indian Maulana.
Looking at his facial expressions at the end of the short video I was reminded of the song "Right Round by Flo Rida". I'd like to quote a couple of lines of the lyrics which is apt for this situation:

You spin my head right round, right round
When you go down, when you go down down

Well i'm pretty sure if he ever decides to listen to an english song (which is as likely as finding life in Mars) this should be the Numero Uno! :)

"I believe Secular Pluralism is the need of the hour,

For it may be too late if we go too far"

Are you a Blogger or a Forger?

2009-09-09T13:14:00.009+05:30

Lately I have been searching the internet and reviewing various blogs (now that every Tom, Dick and Harry writes one). With a number of blogs mushrooming and growing at an exponential rate, I took a second to ponder on how all of a sudden so many people have started expressing their views, and for all you know it may result in the increase in the number of youngsters taking up Journalism as a major.
But alas, that hope and vision would be too farsighted. Too my amusement I found that a majority of these new bloggers use a tool that I would call CCPS (Cut or Copy, Paste and Submit) ;)! All you need to do is copy a line from these blogs and put it for search on google, and you would get the original source in less than a second. A few may raise questions on the reason for this act?

To me this can be a result of three possibilities:

A noble cause of spreading the intellectual views of the original authors (Highly improbable though ;) )
Identity Crisis which in turn leads them to a desperate need for undeserved publicity thereby resulting in copied articles (High probable ;) )
Its cool aka kewl to have a blog thereby in a quest for social acceptance! (Probable ;) )

So in the end of the day, the ones whom I thought were worth the title 'Bloggers' are those who posted stuff that was:

Original
Quoted - Due credit going to the original author

Be original, Be a Blogger,
Please don't copy and emulate a forger;

Cheerz to the Bloggers!!!

Bzzzzzzz: Harley is in town mate!

2009-08-28T23:49:00.003+05:30

The mere sight of this on Indian roads, and most of the viewers would drop their jaws with awe. I’m talking about the sight of a Harley Davidson on Bangalore roads. The last time I saw one, it was for display at Leela Palace and supposedly belonged to the GM of Leela Palace Mr. Charles De Foucault.

But come 2010 its no more going to be a rare sight! What I am talking about is the fact that Harley Davidson are going to hit the Indian Roads in mid-2010. After a 2 year negotiation with the Indian government regarding reduction in the 110% import duty, Harley Davidson have decided to price it at INR 7 – 15 lakhs (double of what it costs in the US) and create a niche segment for this bike.

Harley Davidson would be entering the 7million strong Indian motorcycle market, which as of now has a very small percentage of super bikes. The superbikes sold in India are mainly the Yamaha R1, Yamaha R6 and Suzuki Hayabusa; which together sell about 400 bikes a year.

According to Matthew Levatich, president and COO, Harley-Davidson they intend selling about 100 units a year and are initially bringing about 15 designs (the flagship Fatboy and Night Rod Special would be the first 2 models to be unveiled) out of their 43 existing models. They are also open to making other types of motorcycles and different engines which would be more suitable to the Indian riders.

The Indian consumer would soon have access to buying Harley’s, Jaguars, Volkswagens, Land cruiser’s and what not. But the million dollar question is:

When will the Indian roads be good enough for consumers to enjoy these street kings to its fullest?

You need Lady Luck even here :)

2009-08-16T23:01:00.006+05:30

Was out for a coffee and having a nice relaxing weekend and saw this interesting signboard on the washroom door. Hope it makes you smile!

'Dreaded Synonyms' - Swine Flue and Influenza A!

2009-08-15T13:05:00.016+05:30

The most dangerous and widespread ooutbreak after the Hongkong Flu, Spanish and Asian Flu
WHO marked this pandemic at Level 6 after over 4 decades
Pune in India is the worst affected by this flu
Medicine research on a cure for this dangerous flu has amounted to about $390million

I'm sure you know what i'm talking about - "SWINE FLU". Well, everyday in the newspapers and media you have something about Swine Flu, and unfortunately the news of a casualty from swine flu is inevitable in everyday's news.

But is Swine Flu really this deadly?

I'd like to challenge the fact that it is the most deadliest virus in over decades. Firstly a simple statistic to start off my debate:

Over 1.6 lakh people infected around the world with Swine Flu, of which about 1100 people died
But every year, about 2.5-4 lakh people die around the world due to normal Flu

Swine flu has a cure in the form of Tamiflu, which has cured a huge chunk of the affected population. Moreover if the cases of death's are seen, most of them have already had other health issues, hence swine flu has only added to this. The recent case of a 26-year old teacher in Bengaluru who died owing to being affected with swine flu, had an acute case of diabetes.

Well when it is seen that this Flu is like any other flu, then why all this panic?
Like always the media should be given credit for creating this frenzy (just another TRP increasing mechanism). But the mechanism has not only increased TRP, but also increased the sales of protective masks.
The marketer too has a role to play in this, with the fact that a protective mask called the N95 is the so-called branded protective mask (Phew :) )!
Economics has its say too - Remember the supply-demand curve. A normal mask costing INR 20 is being sold at increased price of INR 100 - INR 150! When the demand exceeds the supply the price keeps rising till a point where the supply and demand meet.

Now picture this? Every winter when there is a climatic change and the cooler temperatures set in, normal viruses are prevalent everywhere and get into everyone. A few who get affected with viral fever are those whose immune system gives way! Then shouldn't swine flu behave in the same manner being a virus itself? Moreover in America, pigs get swine flu every year during a particular time after which a few die and the rest survive, then how on earth did a human being, only get affected this year?? Unless done on purpose! (Or may be the virus consulted an astrologer and choose the right time to start affecting human beings ;) lol... ).

The more dangerous issue in question is that of Dengue fever which seems to have started flirting with Bengaluru having two casualties. This unlike Swine Flu has no guaranteed medical treatment. There are no specialised drugs.

PRECAUTION
But everything said and done, we are all human and tend to be apprehensive when anything that has claimed lives is on the outbreak. In case you believe in homeopathy, here's a medicine that you may want to have

Influenzium 200: The recommended dosage is 5 pills 3 times 3days and it would (as the homeopath's proclaim to make you immune to the Swine Flu virus hence a good precautionary measure

Just like to re-emphasize the age old saying:

"Health is Wealth"

So stay healthy and stay happy people!

They Journey from a Premium to a Mass Market Brand!

2009-08-03T01:48:00.009+05:30

‘Bangalore has a galore of promotional offers’
OR
‘Bangalore is on sale’

It’s up to one’s own perception to decide which one more appropriately describes the fact that nearly everything that is sold in retail outlets and company showrooms in Bangalore is being offered at discounted prices. Name it from clothes to jewellery to watches to shoes to mobiles to shades etc has a discount. This has been going on for roughly a month in Bangalore.

For quite some time now, Bangalore has been having discounts and offers running during the months of June and July as in South India (or may be even the whole of India) month’s with no festival in it are considered low business months. Our earlier generations believed in buying clothes, watches, jewellery etc during festivals and hence the peak business days were the once preceding the festivals.

But now times have changed, and Bangalore has by far been influenced and changed to the greatest extent by westernization and increase in purchasing power among the Indian metros. With the IT boom and the fact that Bangalore is now a cosmopolitan with a huge amount of techies, the purchasing power of the people of the age group of 20-35 has increased considerably in the last decade.

I would for one term the Bangaloreans in the age group of 20-28 as “Locomotive Shoppers”. Previous generations believed in Window Shopping, where they would just pass by stores and look at products stocked, on the other hand, Locomotive Shoppers are an extension to Window Shopping where they buy anything that they like (provided it is within their budget) as and when they see it. The product categories that attracts nearly all locomotive shoppers are: Clothes, Shoes, Watches and sometimes even Jewellery.

Aftermath of the Discount Race in Bangalore

United Colors of Benetton (UCB) offers upto 70% off, Levis offers a flat 50%, Tommy Hilfiger offers upto 50% off, Pepe Jeans offers flat 40% off, name the brand and its on sale. I walked into a mall in Bangalore which has most of these Brands and the crowd in that mall was as though something was being distributed for free. As for the Levis store all I can say is that ‘All Hell Broke Loose”!

Say these promotional offers go on for another couple of weeks. What after that? Which sane person would buy a UCB shirt at INR 2500, after having seen UCB offering 70% discount. The premium image of a brand like UCB is surely dented. As for Tommy Hilfiger, I have no words. I doubt people would again ever pay INR 4000 for a shirt from Tommy Hilfiger after seeing them sell it at 50% off. What on earth were the Branding Specialists in these companies thinking??

The premium brand image has come crashing down and hit the floor hard. Everyone did try to increase sales and cash in on increased purchases, but what about the intangible effect of these discounts on the premium brand image??? If they wanted increased sales and offered discounts to reach the masses, then why on earth are they still called Premium Brands? They should rather be in the category of mass market products!

The Next Big Thing: Guitarist Tallan Noble Latz

2009-07-19T00:32:00.009+05:30

Well, its been a while since I've written a post. Guess I have to owe that too Poor Health and my Birthday Celebrations (11th July). But I was just browsing the internet today after quite sometime and I came across this video of an amazing kid called 'Tallan Noble Latz'. I couldn't stop myself from writing about him.
He is all of just 9 year's old. He is a kid in the US, who recently took part in the famous TV show called 'America's Got Talent' which incidently is the show that the Indian TV channel Star Plus copied blindly and made its own version called India's got talent (A Complete Rip Off).
Tallan Latz was born on September 22, 2009 to Carl and Doris Latz in the United States. He began playing acoustic guitar at the age four!!!! By the time he was five, a video of the legend himself Joe Satriani had a major impact on the boy and he declared "That's what I wanna to do".
At the age of eight, he played on-stage with performers the likes of Jackson Browne and Les Paul. He appeared on the Rachel ray show on January 21, 2009 and recently on the show 'America's got Talent'!
The first time I saw the video of him playing the guitar, all I could think off, is that this kid has got it in him to be the next guitaring legend after Kurt Kobain and Joe Satriani! What's more? His taste in music ranges from Joe Satriani to Led Zeppelin to Jimi Hendrix to Steve Vai to Bon Jovi to even Ludwig Van Beethoven. And his perfect attitude complimenting his guitaring skills would give him a 10/10.
There may be many who play real good music, but only a few who really feel music from their soul and they are the ones who make it big! This kid sure is promising!

Here's the Video of the Kid performing at America's Got Talent:

“Terrorists are not born, they are made”

2009-07-03T01:29:00.006+05:30

“Terrorists are not born, they are made” is a saying that I’ve heard quite a number of times. All one needs is common sense to agree with that. But the reason I am writing this post is due to my concern on people trying to curb terrorism without paying attention to the influencing factors that make people terrorists. I for one feel its better to remove a tree from its roots rather than just chop it off superficially!

An instance worth mentioning is that of ‘Tariq Ahmad Dar’, the Kashmir model who was pursuing his career in Bangladesh as a model and actor. He was abducted by the Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on charges of being a terrorist and linked to the Al-Qeada, after 6months in jail and continuous pressure from the media and various Human Rights’ Activists, he was finally released on account of insufficient evidence against him. In a documentary on NDTV, he mentioned how life has actually changed for him and how he cant be his normal self again after the abduction. He was kept for days together in an empty room with his eyes closed and no one would listen to what he had to say!

Tariq has come back to India and is trying to live his normal life, which shows his mental and emotional strength. But not everyone can be a Tariq. This can prove lethal, as if the person is not mentally strong, he may loathe everyone and be hungry for revenge. The result is yet another one who strays into terrorism.

We need to stop this from happening:

Firstly by being careful while screening and in the investigation
Secondly, treating the suspects as human beings and not as third world creatures
Finally and most importantly by counselling people (especially those in the age group of 14-30) on how to choose the right path and the importance of having a clear conscience

A movie that I watched last week called “New York” is also based on this very issue. But it brings out the happenings in the aftermath of the 9/11 World Trade Centre crash. It shows how the Muslims were targeted and over 3000 suspected and taken for investigation, and about a year later around 1000 who were seen innocent were released.

The movie is about three Muslims who were in the US after the 9/11. One of them a character called Sameer (played by actor John Abraham) was in detention for being a suspect (for clicking photographs of the WTC for his project at college), he was tortured and he ended up becoming a terrorist just to seek revenge. His best friend Omar (played by actor Neel Nitin Mukesh) tries to bring John Abraham back from the wrong path that he has chosen and the third Roshan (played by the versatile actor Irfan Khan) is a FBI agent who actually is trying to eradicate terrorism in order to remove the hatred mark of ‘Terrorists’ from over the Muslim Community!

I should say a very well shot movie. One of the few Bollywood movies which has a very practical and apt ending. Kudos to actress Katrina Kaif (who plays John Abraham’s wife in the movie) for the superb display of her acting skills. John continues to win hearts of millions of fans with his killer looks and pretty descent acting. But a thumbs down for Neel Nitin Mukesh for his dismissal acting. On the whole I would rate the movie a 7/10!

Apart from the movie, I feel we cannot generalize Muslim’s as terrorists just because a few terrorists are Muslims. We cannot have such a biased opinion just because of their association to one community. It would only be provoking them! Instead we should all join hands and stand together in these ‘Testing Times’ for the greater good of all.

“One may be from a different faith,

Each of which is a different path to the almighty.

Please don’t differentiate based on faith as it is not innate,

For it will only make all of us history!”

Global Recession Recovery Team: India named Captain

2009-06-29T14:39:00.014+05:30

“I think it is reasonable to assume the worst is over. We will now get back to more normal growth,” Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said about a week ago while addressing the press.

“The prime minister is confident that we will be able to take it to 9 percent in the next 24 months. By and large our economy is stable and strong, and we in India have perhaps done better than others in this crisis. India has a sound regulatory framework”, Trade Minister Anand Sharma said about a week ago while he was in London

The above two statements coming from two of the most apt people commenting about the Indian Economy is surely something to cheer about. I presume they are not just giving Indians a motivating speech but rather talking from actual data and facts.

In fact, when you see the pace of expansion in the Indian Economy stabilizing in the first quarter of the this year at 5.8percent (as it was in the three preceding months) as compared to China which showed a drop in its GDP to 6.1percent from 6.8percent (owing to their dependence in overseas sales) in the same period it sure is a great sign of India’s $1.2trillion economy emerging from the worst global slump since the Great Depression.

Why India?

Paul R. Krugman, a Professor of Economics and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008 recently told how based on IMF’s new World Economic Outlook recessions caused by financial crisis typically end with export booms, which he feels is a disturbing results as it means that the driver for recovery will only be available if we can find another planet to export to.

The above statement by Krugman could very well be the reason why India, this time around could just find itself in the midst of things with an equal chance to add its name of the noble few which may lead the next Global Charge (by providing the extra demand owing to increased consumption).

One may argue about the predominant role of developed economies, but the fact that they are either:

Bogged down in the substantial quantities of debt that they desperately need to pay off, or
Weighted down by those elderly populations who are weakening consumption growth and leading to export dependence (Germany, Japan etc)

may just give India the edge to lead the Global Economic Revival. India could actually be the country that supplies this extra demand required!

“So guess its the hour of realization,

For India is the chosen nation”

Michael Jackson: God's fingers touched him, and he slept!

2009-06-26T12:36:00.008+05:30

Its unfortunate that one of the most popular and controversial pop star Michael Joseph Jackson passed away on the 25th June 2009 at the age of 50. His death came as a shock to everyone (especially his loyal fans) who were eagerly awaiting his 50-date comeback residency which was to start at London (over 75000 tickets were sold in less than 4hours for that London show).

He suffered a cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles (LA) after which he was taken to UCLA Medical Centre (in a state of coma though) where the doctors were unable to revive him.

His brother Jermaine Jackson formally confirmed the news outside the hospital: "My brother, the legendary King of Pop, passed away on Thursday June 25 at 2.26pm. We believe he suffered a cardiac arrest at his home, however the cause of his death is unknown until the results of the autopsy are known. The personal physician who was with him at the time attempted to resuscitate him."

Jackson is widely credited with revolutionising pop music with albums including Thriller, Bad and Dangerous but his career was tainted with allegations of child abuse. His eccentric behaviour has also earned him a new nickname ‘Wacko Jacko’.

Quick Recap of his Life

Born in 1958, Jackson made his musical debut with four of his older brothers in the Jackson Five before embarking on a solo career. His album Thriller (1982) – which included the hits Beat It, Billie Jean and Thriller – is still the best-selling album of all time, with more than 26 million copies sold. His lifetime sales tally is estimated at 750 million.

In 1994, he married Lisa Marie Presley, the 26-year-old daughter of Elvis Presley. The couple separated two years later and Jackson later married Debbie Rowe, a 37-year-old nurse he met while undergoing plastic surgery in 1997. They had two children, Prince Michael and Paris Michael Katherine, before divorcing in 1999.

Jackson had custody of the two children and of a third, Prince Michael II, whose mother's name has never been made public.

Reactions

His unexpected death has devastated fans and sparked a flood of tributes from the biggest names in the music industry. To quote a few:

Quincy Jones (the music producer who worked with Jackson on Thriller) said: "I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news."
Madonna said: "I can't stop crying over the sad news. I've always admired Michael Jackson – the world has lost one of its greats but his music will live on forever. My heart goes out to his three children and other members of his family. God bless."
Britney Spears said: "I was so excited to see his show in London. We were going to be on tour in Europe at the same time and I was going to fly in to see him. He has been an inspiration throughout my entire life and I'm devastated he's gone!"
Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, CEO, Sony Music Entertainment said: "Michael Jackson's unsurpassed artistry and beloved music brought joy to every corner of the world. We join today with his millions of fans in expressing our profound sadness and we offer our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. It was a true privilege for all of us in the Sony Music family to work with one of the most talented superstars in the history of music. We will miss him greatly."

Nevertheless its sad that he has had to leave us but:

“Michael Jackson’s death is only physical,

But his life through music is eternal”

May his soul Rest In Peace!

Brand Obama: Packaged Protectionism

2009-06-24T01:12:00.005+05:30

Obama is a celebrity and undoubtedly one of the most famous and powerful President around. It is seen that he has received a rockstar’s welcome wherever he goes (recently when he addressed the whole Muslim Population from Cairo University, Egypt).

Well I’m from the school of thought that would call Obama a perfect marketer but at the same time feel that he is not doing a great job when it comes to running the country! This is not a casual comment but my inference from his current activities (mainly his attitude that shows more protectionism than globalization).

Here is why?

For threatening to end the tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas (overseas aka Bangalore, India :) ) and trying to be the so-called 'saviour of America', he is surely called the 'popular guy' of sorts...

But I feel this move of his, which shows America’s attitude intentions to resort to Protectionism (a mistake that led to the Great Depression to last for over 30years), opens a window for possible Indian companies going global and entering the US market. This may result in Indian companies employing Americans(at a lower wage though) and generating jobs in the US.

Well, from the present actions of Obama, I guess he would not mind this..!!! But this is where I feel its sad that US, the fore-runner in bringing in globalisation is actually back-tracking and resorting to protectionism. Surely, a positive for India in the long run! (that though is only if Indian companies have that kind of a vision and capability)… But this has raised eyebrows on Obama’s leadership and decisions..!

“Obama better take note and Introspect,

Else the downfall of US will be a case studied in Retrospect”

Historia:The New-Born Baby

2009-06-19T13:08:00.008+05:30

After the success of this blog I have decided to increase my imprint on the Blogosphere. Well if your wondering what I am talking about especially after reading the title, then yeah the new born baby is the new wing to my blogging armoury. It is a new blog called Historia.

My current Blog (which you are presently reading... lol) as you know deals with the Present Buzz around you. It gives you my take on the current happenings. Whereas the new born blog would deal with the past, and it would be more fact based than opinion centric.

It is my attempt to bring to light a few forgotten or ignored milestones in history which has resulted in a world that we are living in today! So what say? Lets learn together! :)

Thanks a ton, and hope to continue receiving your endless support as always in this new endeavour of mine! :)

PS: First post already updated on Historia. It is titled "English: A 1530year old language"!

New-Age Indian Temples: A Recession Proof Investment

2009-06-14T23:41:00.013+05:30

A "land of temples" is what a lot of people call the state of Tamil Nadu with over 33000 temples in the state alone (most of which are 600-800years old). These temples were constructed over a vast period of time by various dynasties. Gopurams, huge gateways, pillared hallways and a Sanctum Sactorum are a few things that you would find in nearly all these temples.

People goto these temples for different reasons:

For peace of mind
Place of worship
Place of tourism

I'm from the school of thought that there is a supreme power, and people refer to in different forms, which is otherwise referred to as religion.
The other day I had gone to a relatively new temple (built about 2-3years ago) close to a town called Vellore in Tamil Nadu. It was called the 'Golden Temple'. I was in for a shock, not by the amount of Gold used to build the temple but by something that has coerced me to write this article.
I entered the temple and it had scenic beauty as far as your imagination can go, it had a star shaped pathway around the temple with the different sayings of the head preist there. The temple was shinning in the hot sun especially as it was completely covered with gold. It had a small water body and an artificially made waterfall. All this is attractive and amazing to the extent that it is a perfect display of human creative excellence.
This is where I noticed a few issues or features that really shocked me. Which were:

When you enter the temple you are asked to leave your footwear in a small stall for which you pay (like many temples) but here you have to buy a plastic cover to put your footwear in, from another counter which is run by the temple (first instance of a business angle)
You have to pay INR 250 per head at the entrance as an entry fee (the ideology of an entry fee is not new but the amount is way to high for any temple)
You have to leave your mobile phones and cameras (if any) at another counter for which you again have to pay
Then as you walk through the pathway, it is made sure that you pass 3 shops (if i can call it that) where they sell different artefacts and photos of the temple)
After you enter the temple if you have paid the INR 250 at the entrance you are made to sit at a distance of 15m from the idol of the Goddess, and if you have entered by not paying the entrance of INR 250 you don't get to sit there rather walk by and see the idol from a distance of 20m
For those who sit, there are 2-3 people who are something like volunteers who then tell you that you could get a special puja done with your name and get a small gold petal for which you have to pay a small sum of INR 1508 ;) (I had nearly made up my mind that this temple was more of a business center)
Then as you walk back you have 8 people sitting with computers and they ask you to make donations of any denominations if you wish too
Just when I thought this was all, at the end of the pathway as you exit the temple they have a juice shop (a noble idea) but which is a litte over priced (INR 20 for a 100ml cup of sweetlime juice) and due to the hot weather at that part of the country, about 9 outta 10 people stop there to take a quick sip (Business center for sure)

Well now guess at times of recession when all businesses seem to be seeing a dip in their revenues this business is probably a sure shot business plan which could be replicated to great effect.
So if your thinking investment think nimble and invest in a temple!

"Problems all around" - An apt status update for Satyam

2009-06-10T14:12:00.002+05:30

Well the word Satyam is synonymous with the fraud that has made India look down in shame. New clients refrained from even considering Satyam as a possible service provider. A few existing customers showed displeasure with Satyam. Just when it looked like this giant IT firm was about to sink and add to the loss of jobs due to recession which is already prevalent, recovery steps came in with Tech Mahindra acquiring this IT giant in a bid that was eyed by many.

But Satyam needs to introspect as they have more issues to take care off else they may lose out on existing customers. This may sound a little stereotype and judgemental but I say this on the pretext of my personal experience with one of Satyam’s SBU’s as a customer.
I’ve been on the internet from 1999 which makes it 10 years. At the beginning Dial-up was the in-thing to use the internet, with the only other option the ISDN was way too expensive. I started off with Satyam as my Internet Service Provider (ISP) and stayed with the Satyam Dial-up which soon came to be called ‘Sify’. I was a loyal customer when I decided to shift from Dial-up to Broadband in 2007 and even then opted for Sify as my ISP.
From a marketers perspective I would have been a customer that they should have given special privileges in order to reward my loyalty. Any sane marketer would have at least taken complaints and suggestions from such customers seriously and done a good follow-up.
Sify on the other hand was far from this. As a customer I spend a good amount on phone calls to the local sify technical incharge and the sify customercare giving constant complaints of faulty connection. I was not able to access the internet for about 10-15days every month. The worst had not yet come.
In April 2009, on one rainy night there was a power surge through the sify LAN cable which burnt my motherboard and resulted in what could be called a ‘mini-diwali’ with a cracker sound from my CPU (Approx incurred loss is INR 8000)
That was it! It had gone too far this time. I called the customer care and mailed them about this daily for 10 consecutive days with no reply from their side. In India acting on such issues legally would have demanded shelling out more money and a positive result if any would come really soon in about 10years time.
So I finally decided to switch my ISP and opted for Airtel Broadband which is widely acclaimed as the best in the country with respect to Internet connectivity and customer service. I requested for an Airtel connection and within 30mins I had a sales manager come home and take a written application. The following day a technical team came home and in less than 24 hours I was connected to Airtel Broadband.
I’ve been using this connection for some time now and my observations:

It does cost marginally higher than its main competitor BSNL but it scores way better in customer service
BSNL gave me a waiting time of 4weeks to install my connection whereas with Airtel it was just 24hours
Airtel inspection team conducts surprise visits to customers to enquire about and check for proper working of the connection on a regular basis
Whenever you post a complaint on the Airtel website or make one through the helpline you get a message on your mobile indicating the time deadline by which your complaint would be solved (trust me they take not more than half the time indicated)
To top it all, the customer care executives, the linemen incharge of wiring and the technical team of Airtel all knew good English unlike their counterparts in BSNL and Sify!

So guess it is high time Sify improves else it might just vanish in a Jiffy! :)

Racist's – Australian for Character?

2009-06-03T21:42:00.001+05:30

With 6 cases of Indians students in the last 22days being at the receiving end of racist attack in Australia it has been a serious issue for the Indian Community and the Indo-Aus ties. The Indian student Shravan Rao from Andhra Pradesh is the unfortunate student to have been worst injured and still fighting for his life, when a group of Australian fanatics put a screwdriver through his brain.

The Indian diplomats have expressed their deepest concern and doing all that is possible to ensure security of Indian students studying in Australia. The Indian actor Mr. Amitabh Bachan has politely refused to accept an honour from the Queensland University in Australia to show the Indian solidarity against this serious issue. The Australian Govt has lately taken critical steps by putting into action a new Special Task Force headed by former elite soldier Duncan Lewis to co-ordinate a response to the assaults and the perception they are hate crimes. They have also passed a law to ensure more stringent punishment for those who are guilty of such crimes.

This has been the talk of most news channels in India and around the world in the past week. Like every issue even this has its group of stakeholders:

Australia: The Indian students studying in Australia is around 90000 which constitute over 18 percent of the foreign students in Australia. The number students in the fiscal year 2008-09 who have gone to Australia for higher studies has doubled as compared to 2007-08. The revenue from this amounts to a sum of over 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.6 billion) to the Australian Economy. Hence if this issue is not resolved it could badly affect the Australian economy, moreover this could even result in students from other foreign countries not considering Australia as a favourable destination for education.

Indian Students: A cheaper alternative to getting international exposure while going for further studies as compared to the US and UK

Political parties in India: The political parties in the opposition have as usual tried to make use of this by blaming the ruling government, and have tried to create a bad public opinion against the ruling party.

Australian Fanatics: They find themselves losing out on opportunities to Indian students in their own country owing to the recessionary phase around the world, hence lesser jobs and more demand for admissions into Universities. They cannot digest the fact that Indians are far more skilled and have a more developed intellectual capacity hence making them tougher competitors to beat. This is what draws questions on the competitiveness of the Australians. Are they losers or racist? Is a question that is doing the rounds.

How long will this pointless racist intolerance against Indians continue is something that cannot be decided by one person or a handful of people! Such issues require fundamental changes by educating the Australian citizen on how to deal with and accept different cultures. Sure the Australian cricketer Bret Lee has shown interest by going to a couple of universities and has tried to counsel students regarding this, but will this continue and how seriously the Australian government’s initiatives be implemented is a question that only time will tell!

Till then we can only pray for the security of Indian students and stay united for this cause.

Jai Ho!

"The Big Fat Sri Lankan Lie"

2009-05-27T16:45:00.001+05:30

Following the death of LTTE chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran the communication from the Sri Lankan government invited attention owing to the many loopholes it had. The latest edition of "The Week" magazine has a complete article which brings these loopholes to light.

Lion, Tiger and lies

SRI LANKA
Too many loose ends in Lankan army's version of Prabhakaran's death
By Anita Pratap
Precisely because he is many things to many people, LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran’s death has been greeted with joy by the Sinhalese, grief by his Tamil supporters, and relief by many who hope his death will bring peace to beleaguered Sri Lanka.
But is he really dead? Speculation is rife only because journalists are not allowed in, and independent verification is impossible. I was sceptical of the first report, which said he was killed while fleeing the war zone in an ambulance. No way. Prabhakaran would not do something so idiotic. Remember, the Sri Lankan army told us that Prabhakaran and his cadres were surrounded in a tiny patch of land, less than 1 sq.km. The area was so small and so well surrounded that anyone coming out on a bicycle would be spotted and stopped.
(Image Inset: A war crime? The death of Charles Anthony, Prabhakaran's son, raises questions)
So logically, what chance would an ambulance have of sprinting past unnoticed? If he had to flee from such a tiny war zone, he would have scurried out through an underground tunnel.
And then came the picture of Prabhakaran’s corpse. The first question: if he was killed in an ambulance, how come his body was discovered in a lagoon? The picture looked fake. Top of the head was blown off, but the face was clear and the eyes wide open. Prabhakaran’s most distinguishing feature are his eyes, which seemed artificially wide, as if someone was trying to prove it was indeed him by grabbing attention to his eyes. It reminded me of the front-page picture of the terrorist killed in a shootout in Ansal Plaza in New Delhi a few years ago. I had said then that I found it hard to believe that the terrorist had died that way with the gun in his hand. I have seen innumerable civilians, soldiers and guerrillas lying dead in battlefields. They don’t look like this. I instinctively felt the picture was stage-managed. Forensically, I did not see how it was possible that a guy involved in a massive shootout could die so perfectly posed. Subsequent investigations reinforced these doubts.
That is the same feeling I had when I saw the picture of Prabhakaran’s corpse. Far from setting my doubts to rest, the picture convinced me that something was fishy. The initial version was that soldiers had “shelled” the ambulance, which caught fire and was destroyed. If you pummel an ambulance with artillery shells or rocket propelled grenades, it will explode. So, if Prabhakaran were inside, his body would have been blown to bits. At the very least, charred. And when his dog tags and identity cards surfaced, the whole thing seemed even more of a set-up. Besides, Karuna’s and Daya Master’s identification of Prabhakaran’s body has as much credibility as a confession extracted in police custody.
I am not saying that I know for sure Prabhakaran is alive. What I am saying is that this version of his death does not ring true. I have said before that Prabhakaran will never be captured alive. But there is one more thing I would add. If he knew there was no way out, he would not only have killed himself but have made sure his body was not found. There are two reasons for this. One, he is a keen student of military history and knows if his body were found, it would be desecrated by the victorious Sinhalese soldiers. All triumphant soldiers have done this through history. I can still vividly recall the dead Afghan leader Najibullah hanging from a Kabul lamp-post, cigarette stuffed in his nose, body bloated and beaten black and blue by the victorious Taliban. I have seen videos of dead female LTTE soldiers being stripped naked and paraded by gleeful Sinhalese soldiers.
Many detest him, but one must understand Prabhakaran’s psyche. He is an extraordinarily proud man, one who believes he is fighting to restore the honour and glory of the Tamils. There is simply no way he will allow himself to be desecrated and bring eternal shame and dishonour to his people. So not only will he swallow his cyanide, have his bodyguard shoot him to make his death doubly sure, but he will ensure that his body is blasted to bits, so that no corpse ever surfaces.
That brings me to the second reason why he would ensure his body was never found if he had to commit suicide to evade capture. Remember, one of his favourite heroes is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Even today, there are people who believe that Bose is still alive. The mystery and the mystique remain. If Prabhakaran’s body is never found, no one can be sure whether he is really dead or alive and the conspiracy theories will spin forever—keeping him alive in people’s imagination. Purpose served, especially if he is dead.
I do not rule out Prabhakaran’s death. I don’t think he was killed, more likely he took his own life. If I were to pick a day that he decided to commit suicide with his top cadres, it would be May 16. In my last article published a month ago in THE WEEK (Crouching Tiger, May 3) on what I expected Prabhakaran’s next move to be, I had written, “He will be watching the Indian elections closely to see which dispensation takes charge in New Delhi. He will be watching to see if there is a popular upsurge of support in Tamil Nadu for the plight of Tamils across the Palk Strait. …He will be watching President Barack Obama who rightly analysed that conflicts stem from our perception of the other.”
On May 13, referring to the “desperate, humanitarian crisis” in Sri Lanka, Obama urged the Tigers to “lay down their arms” and the government to stop the “indiscriminate shelling that has taken hundreds of innocent lives”. Tiger spokespersons said they were willing to accede to Obama’s request, but the Sri Lankan government refused to slacken or halt the final onslaught to wrest the last piece of land from Prabhakaran’s grip. On May 16, the Indian election results came out and contrary to media punditry, the Congress made a resounding comeback. That spelt doom for Prabhakaran: his implacable foes will remain in power for another five years. Instead of an upsurge in Tamil Nadu, staunch LTTE supporters like Vaiko were routed. Prabhakaran has been waging this battle alone for the last three years and he knows what it has cost him—his cadres, the Tamils civilians and the diaspora. It has been truly horrific. Surviving another five years of this isolation with a hostile Congress establishment at the helm in India and an impotent international community is very hard. Getting Eelam in the near future in such hostile international circumstances is impossible.
In the past, after he was routed, Prabhakaran started all over again from scratch. That is why I had said I could envision him continuing the war. But with Congress’s victory, Tamil Nadu’s political defeat and adamancy of the Sri Lankan state to disregard even the American president, I can see why he saw the futility of continuing his struggle, deciding then to fight unto death.
In his introduction to an absolute must-read 1964 book, The World of Yesterday by Austrian author Stefan Zweig, Harry Zohn talks about the three times that Zweig had to start his life all over, caught up as he was between the two world wars. Writes Zohn: “Too exhausted to start a fourth, Zweig took his life in Brazil soon after completing his autobiography, at a time when the prospects for the realisation of all that he had ever striven for looked particularly bleak.” Zweig and Prabhakaran are complete opposites. But this, I think, sums up Prabhakaran’s mood on May 16. What lends some credence to my theory is that several members of the Tamil diaspora said they began getting calls from their LTTE contacts in Vanni, tearfully bidding farewell. That most of the top rung of the LTTE’s military wing are dead, points to mass suicide.
Rumours began circulating in the blogosphere on May 16 that Prabhakaran and 300 of his top cadres had committed mass suicide and blown themselves up. In fact, Sri Lanka’s army website posted an item at 17:51 on May 17 from the battlefront: “Self-ignited LTTE explosions [were] heard and witnessed in close vicinity. Likelihood of Tigers committing suicide en masse or burning of LTTE assets on their own has not been ruled out.” Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced victory and end of war. On May 17 afternoon, the LTTE, issued a statement: “This battle has reached its bitter end. We remain with one last choice—to remove the last weak excuse of the enemy for killing our people. We have decided to silence our guns.” The statement blamed the silence of the international community, the impunity with which the Sri Lankan government ignored urgent appeals, used words like “desperate” and “saddened”, referred to “bitter end” twice. And added: “Against all odds, we have held back the advancing Sinhalese forces, without help or support…. Our only regrets are for the lives lost and that we could not hold out any longer.” It reads like a suicide note.
For an even more absurd reason, I am inclined to believe that he could have committed suicide on May 17. Prabhakaran was very superstitious and once confessed to me that the number 8 is very unlucky for him—even though he is born on November 26. So he never undertook major offensives on 8th, 17th and 26th of a month. I reported that. And the Sri Lankan army took it easy on those days. But Charles Anthony, his son, couldn’t care less about superstition. Many of the operations he commanded were on 26th, precisely to surprise the army. On April 26, 2006, an LTTE suicide bomber tried in vain to assassinate Sri Lankan army commander, Sarath Fonseka, who since then became Prabhakaran’s mortal enemy. From this superstitious perspective, it is perhaps not a coincidence that the likely date of Prabhakaran’s suicide is May 17. When Prabhakaran told me about his superstition regarding numbers, I read Cheiro. According to Cheiro, people born with the birth number 8 are destined for great successes and great failures! If he has indeed committed suicide, this prediction certainly rings true for him!
On May 18 at 3 a.m. Vanni time, the LTTE political chief B. Nadesan and its peace secretariat director Puleedevan telephoned their European contacts requesting them to ask the ICRC to evacuate about 1,000 of their wounded cadres and LTTE’s civil officials. But a few hours later, the Sri Lankan defence ministry claimed they had found the dead bodies of Nadesan, Puleedevan and Anthony. The LTTE accused the Sri Lankan government of “treachery”. Their version is that their international contacts told them that arrangements had been made with the Sri Lankan military to discuss “an orderly end to the war”. So as instructed, Nadesan and Puleedevan, unarmed and carrying white flags, contacted the 58 division of the Sri Lankan troops operating nearby. But they were shot and killed. If this is true, under international conventions, this would be a war crime. The number of dead bodies shown on Sri Lankan websites indicates that this war on terror ended with a bloody massacre.
Sri Lankan army released pictures of Anthony’s corpse on May 18. Up until then, they had been releasing old pictures of a bulky Anthony in battle fatigues looking at the camera sulkily. But now two photos were released—one in which he is alive and the other his corpse. The strange thing is in both pictures he is wearing the same blue shirt. The explanation then could be that he, with Nadesan and Puleedevan, had gone dressed in civilian clothes with white flags to the 58 division. Pictures were taken, where he looks clean-shaven, relaxed and neat. And then something went wrong and a massacre followed some time later (the dead Anthony’s face has stubble). All Tiger fighters wear combat fatigues, so if he was fighting, Anthony should have been wearing battle dress. But the army’s version is that Anthony and others arrived dressed in civilian clothes on what was a suicide mission. But then that doesn’t explain the picture of Anthony alive.
Intriguingly, it took another whole day before the government released the picture of Prabhakaran’s dead body. If Prabhakaran did indeed blow himself up along with his top cadres, then there can be no body to parade. In which case, the Sri Lankan government came up with a Prabhakaran “double”. How weird is that? But the answer could be simple—the army was under pressure to show a dead body as proof. No one will believe otherwise that Prabhakaran is dead. If the Sri Lankan military has evidence that Prabhakaran did indeed blast himself, then they can be certain he will not surface to dispute their claim. On May 20, Sri Lanka’s defence ministry website carried a bizarre announcement: “We are not going to comment on how he died.”
But the story gets more curious. The LTTE is silent about Anthony, but has issued a statement that Prabhakaran is alive and safe. But few believe the LTTE, so rumours are now rife that Prabhakaran will give a television interview to prove he is alive. That will be a bombshell if it happens, suggesting he had waged an elaborate war of deception, complete with his own “double”. Any move he makes will be picked up by the Sri Lankan intelligence. But that is if he is alive. A Sinhalese blogger said: “He is alive and well—in hell.
But all these conspiracy theories can be quelled. The international community can force Sri Lanka to share the DNA tests done on Prabhakaran and Anthony and verify if they match Prabhakaran’s sisters’ who live in Canada and Europe. If they match, all speculation can be put to rest. India and the four co-chairs—the United States, Europe, Japan and Norway—should insist on this.

Week 20 - 21: Roger that mate!

2009-05-20T00:58:00.001+05:30

Well, a usual Monday morning on week 20 of the year '09 in India,

Most normal people cribbing about Monday morning blues.
The media was busy with their follow-up to the nations verdict of elections 2009 which was to be on saturday of week 20
The Sri Lankan army busy fighting the LTTE (a fight that has been prevalent over 3 decades)
The sensex hovering around the 11000's
The Royal challenger's Bangalore (RCB) just back from their loss to Mumbai Indians in the IPL pushing them further down after a promising start to their second IPL campaign
Chelsea fans elated about thrashing rivals Arsenal at the Emirates :)
I was all set to receive my Doctorate from Harvard (Location: Rajiv's subconscious state of mind!!)

Tuesday's Twister
RCB win a humdinger against Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) in the Indian Premier League. KKR somehow manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, its a Ross Taylor show.

Wellness Wednesday
My friend MJ was close to having his first day at work and I had finished receiving my doctorate and was just shaking hands with the President of India immediately after a 2 hour press conference(Location: Rajiv's subconscious state of mind)!!

RCB Thursday
RCB continues with their unexpected second victory in a row against Chennai Super Kings(CSK) in the IPL

Friday the 15th
CNN-IBN and NDTV the most watched channels and they give a over-exaggerated build up to India's 15th Lok Sabha elections. Every news channel predicts a close fight and expects UPA to have a slender lead.
The post-poll prediction of news channel reveals an unexpected loss for the the opposition party leader Selvi Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu

Sensational Saturday
The nation gives a clear mandate for Congress and its allies the UPA. The UPA has finally borne fruit for its exceptional track record in its previous term 2004-2009. The Indian PM Dr.Manmohan Singh would now be only the second PM after Jawaharlal Nehru to do a second term in office. Rahul Gandhi's unrelenting efforts are rewarded as the UPA does an emphatic job in the state of UP. Rahul is labeled 'The Mastermind of the Congress'!
In the other side of the globe the English Premier League title has been retained by Manchester United for a 3rd straight year (sob :'( )

Simple Sunday
Most people if not all have a lazy sunday morning by making up for all lost sleep through the week and the late saturday night bash. News channels are gaga about the election 2009 results. CNN-IBN boasts of being the best to predict the outcome of the elections.
The famous ex-railways minister accepts his mistake of ditching the Congress just 1week before the elections and sees that as the primary reason for his poor show in the Elections

Golden Monday
The Indian Stock Market creates history. For the first time the sensex hits the circuit breaker twice and trading is stopped for the rest of the day. The first circuit was hit when it increased by 10% in just 60seconds and the second circuit breaker was hit when it touched 20% in a mere 15seconds. Traders elated and the Sensex closed at 14272 with a 2110 point gain over its opening price
Another shock as the KKR beats CSK by mistake as many would call it in the IPL. Its is their 2nd victory in 13 games! :)

Tuesdays are always twisted
Sensex starts to stabilize. PM having resigned along with the resignation of his previous cabinet is busy deciding portfolios. Speculation has its say on whose going to be a minister in the Cabinet.
In a country not so far away, one of India's troubled neighbour's Sri Lanka declares that the LTTE Chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran is dead and releases photographs of the same. The Sri Lankan president has annouced that the war against terror is over and rehabilitation process would start soon. But the evening has its own twist as there seems to be a lot of inconsistencies on the news about Prabhakaran's death. There are two different versions of his death from the President and the Army chief, the LTTE chief's ID card is recovered from a combat site(highly improbable) and the DNA reports are ready in a mere 12hours!

Now guess that's quite an eventful transition!! Phew!!
What's in for the rest of week 21? Only patience can tell.
But with such an eventful back-drop be sure to expect something that would take your breath away!!!
Cheerz and happy week people!! :)

Its "Nano-ing" from the house of the TATA's!

2009-05-09T03:16:00.000+05:30

First a successful launch of the Tata Nano - "The world's cheapest car", which helped Tata's raise about 25billion rupees ($500million) with over 2.03lakh bookings even before the car's release.

And now its time for 'Shubh Griha'.. Wondering what that means?
Well, it is the name of Tata's next project. It is again targeted at that segment of the Indian population that has for long been ignored. Tata's are now building Nano Housing in a place called Boisar in Mumbai.

These houses would be priced between Rs 3.9 lakh-Rs 6.7 lakh. It would have three variants:

A one-bed room flat with a hall and kitchen in an area of 465 square feet
A one-room flat with a large kitchen in an area of 360 square feet
A one-room flat with a small kitchen in an area of 283 square feet

TATA Housing has tied up with State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFC to help buyers with finance options. Application forms will be available at SBI branches across Mumbai at a cost of Rs.200 and booking should be made in next 20-days along with the initial booking amount of Rs 10,000 through bank pay order at selected branches of SBI across mumbai

Again it is evident that TATA has always aimed at catering to the common man. So guess this is something for the general Indian public to cheer about amongst all this pointless election hungama...
Kudos to The Visionary himself 'Mr. Ratan Naval Tata"!!!

When I spoke to the whole of Namma Bengaluru...

2009-05-03T17:21:00.003+05:30

About a couple of weeks(21st April 2009) ago I got a chance to write an article on Elections 2009 in India which was published in India's leading newspaper 'The Times of India'. Just wanted to share the article which gave me my one day to fame. :)

The e factor of Elections '09

Just when you thought you’ve had enough of banners, flags, pamphlets and the like, here comes another blow for all netizens who thrive on the Internet and cringe at the mere mention of politics. I’m hinting at the various social media advertising initiatives, which one has been forced to endure, with the coming of Election 2009.

There are user profiles made on networking sites like Orkut, Facebook and Twitter by numerous politicians which are updated on a regular basis. Not to mention the BJP ads featuring in Orkut. That’s not where it ends, we also have text messages pushed to mobile phones throughout the country. To add to it, tech-savvy states such as Karnataka, Maharashtra & Goa have people receiving auto-dialler calls. If you thought this is an invasion of privacy, then I wonder how you would react to Bluetooth downloads sent to over millions of people every day, in strategically chosen areas, that have high footfalls.

S.Niranjan Kumar, an engineering student from Bangalore says, “I hate the fact that whenever I open my Orkut homepage, which is customized to suit my needs, I see a banner ad canvassing a party below my friend list.”

Priyanka Shetty, a techie from Bangalore says, “I don’t see how social media advertising helps, because I surely wouldn’t consider changing my vote after reading ads online. Besides, I’m sure this would be the view of any educated netizen”

In contrast, there exist companies like BuzzGain which have been involved intracking traffic and monitoring webpages, who point out that ‘Advani’s website has about 25,000 hits per day and Rahul Gandhi and P Chidambaram are among the most frequently mentioned names in various blogs’. Youngsters are under the notion that election campaigning this year has an online arm to it.

With the number of internet users being only a small percentage of the Indian population, I don’t subscribe to the opinion that social media advertising will have a telling effect on the upcoming elections. Yet, the million-dollar question still remains, “Will this response to online advertising have an impact on the voting pattern?” Only time will tell!

"Shoe-cide attack"

2009-04-07T22:34:00.001+05:30

Well guess you people would have already seen it and spoken about it - I am talking about the 'Great Indian Shoe Trick' ;) or you can call it 'shoe-cide attack' as my title goes! In fact I was one of the thousands watching the live telecast of the Home Minister's speech when this incident happened.

Incident: The Indian Home Minister P. Chidambadam was delivering the Congress's promise of effective handling of terrorism if they win the elections. Immediately after this addressing there was the Q&A session, and this is when the shameful act took place. A journalist named Jarnail Singh staged a protest regarding the 'Jagadish Tytler issue' and about the CBI giving him a clean chit. To this the home minister replied back that this was not a political forum to raise such issues, and Jarnail singh in an emotional outburst hurled his shoe at the home minister! The reply from the home minister was commendable in the fact that he didn't get aggitated rather he calmly asked the security to escort Jarnail Singh out of the conference gently!

Well all said and done, there are many questions that come to a common man's mind:

Was Jarnail Singh in that conference only to raise the issue of jagadish tytler?
Was this a plot to spoil the decorum of the Congress's press meeting?

Repercursion:

Jarnail Singh was immediately taken to prison but released a short while later. He then expressed his regret to what he had done. He even said that being a journalist it was not right on his part to behave that way, and that the mode of protest was wrong but he still requests the issue of the 1984 riots not be politicised.
There was news about Akali Dal deciding to felicitate Jarnail Singh with money for this act of his.
The media made a nice issue out of it by showing the video a hundred times throughout the day and started raising their own questions on whether this act would affect the voting pattern and whether Jarnail Singh shoed away the congress in this election.

On the lighter side, A Comparison between the Chidambaram shoe-attack and Bush shoe-attack

Journalist involved in both cases
The Bush attack was done with a formal leather shoe, whereas the Chidambaram attack was done with a jogger
The Bush-attacker was sentenced to 3 years in jail whereas the Chidamabaram-attacker was released in less thatn 3 hours!
Bush responded with humour whereas Chidamabaram responded calmly!

Your new 11-digit cellphone number is _______!

2009-04-03T23:44:00.000+05:30

Guess its time for Indians to start sharpening their memory coz from Jan 2010 Indian's are going to have 11-digit cellphone numbers. Its official and DoT have also confirmed that all the 10-digit numbers would exhaust by August this year.
Think about it, the different numbers possible in 10digits are 10^10 = 10billion different combinations of cellphone numbers. Which is more than 10times the Indian population(theoretically speaking it means every Indian already has 10different numbers.. lol.. :P) !!! But even that is not enough to cater to the Indian communication needs, thereby needing an extra digit from Jan 2010.
A little bit of mathematics here using simple combinations would tell you that the total number of extra numbers as a result of adding that 1 extra digit is 15937424601 (thats a little over 15billion different new numbers)!!! Phew...
Guess its goina be pretty long before we talk about 12digits...!! :)

Is Election 2009 any different?

2009-04-01T18:25:00.000+05:30

Many of you would surely wonder that every election has these controversies and issues, so whats special about elections '09? Well people this is not a time to stereotype the elections coz there are quiet a few changes from all the previous elections:

TV ads by both the Congress & BJP in popular TV channels such as Mtv, Star Network etc to reach to a greater audience
Ads on social networking sites, such as Orkut!
Parties launching websites to reach the Indian Netizen Segment. Seems like Web Advertising firms are cashing-in big time during these elections
Initiative taken by Jagore.com launched by the TATA Group and Janaagraha to ensure that there is a increase in the number of people who exercise their right to vote. Their vision is to have all the 1billion voters in India exercise their right to vote
All news channels making innovative ads and slogans to ensure that the people prefer them to get regular news updates. As of now CNN-IBN seems to be doing the best among the lot, with its Ad that shows how CNN-IBN has been the first to bring all previous controversies to light and that it would continue doing so during Elections '09 with its positioning 'Elections 2009=CNN IBN'

Well i'm sure there are more surprises in store both with respect to the elections and the other factors associated to the elections... Before I sign off this post, just thought of reminding all my readers to make sure that all of you people exercise your VOTING right! Happy electing! :)

Elections 2009 Update - March Madness!

2009-04-01T17:46:00.000+05:30

Well the last month (March '09) has been an eventful one when you talk about Elections '09! It has had its rightful share of controversies, issues etc etc. So here's a quick recap for those of you who've missed it:

L K Advani the prime ministerial candidate for the BJP and NDA, launches his website. Well you enter the website and you have an mp3 file which has Advani addressing the so -called netizens of the country himself
Congress and the UPA looks like its loosing its alliances(PMK from Tamil Nadu, Lalu Prasad Yadav & Ram Vilas Paswan deciding to pitch in for each other in their respective states) as the elections come closer, but they still seem confident that these are just baseless rumors and that post-election it would have many more alliances. Well with the comendable efforts taken by the Congress during its 5-year tenure from handling terrorist attacks to making the railways a profitable PSU to waving-off a Rs. 60,000 crore loan of farmers to even running the country effectively during Global Recession, Congress's confidence seems justified.
Varun Gandhi comes into the spotlight with what many call a publicity stunt by giving his hatred speech in UP, in which he proclaimed to be the so-called saviour of the Hindus and an anti-muslim!
Election Commission(EC) of India issues a warning to BJP to defer fielding Varun Gandhi as its candidate from UP. Later Varun Gandhi is jailed for potential threat to communal harmony
Then it was time for sports to play its part with the Elections. The Indian Premier League(IPL), which was supposed to by played from the 14th April 2009 onwards, doesn't get clearance from the Home Minister P. Chidambaram: This was owing to the various state government's refusal to be able to provide security during the month of April owing to elections. The IPL schedule was changed twice before the IPL Board decided to shift the IPL this year to South Africa. Opposition party BJP hits on Congress, proclaiming that this would send wrong signals to the world. But with all the terror threats and the recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket players in Pakistan, it seemed a very sensible but a difficult decision by the Home Minister.
Meanwhile, actor Sanjay Dutt is named as the Samajwadi Party's(SP) candidate at Uttar Pradesh(UP). But sadly for him just a day after naming him as their candidate the Supreme Court(SC) refused to stay his conviction(for possesion of Arms during the 1993 Mumbai blasts). Hence he is not allowed to contest for the seat of a MP from UP. But surprisingly both the major parties(Congress & BJP) felt that the decision by the SC is just
When one thought that March has finished having its share of issues for Elections '09, on the last day of March a group Supari killers (said to have connections with Chotta Shakeel) are arrested in Bangalore. The Intelligence Bureau(IB) then say that this group of killers (called the D-gang) had intentions of killing Varun Gandhi and Pramod Mutalik. Now if this is a real threat or just another publicity stunt to divert media attention from Varun Gandhi's hatred speech is for us to wait and watch

On the whole elections '09 has already had its share issues. But it surely has a lot more to come as we have only seen the Tip of the Ice-berg. :)
But everything said and done, one thing I am sure off is that all the parties contesting this year would surely have a good amount of their manifesto dedicated to providing 'Better Internal Security'. In fact, its going to be the key proposition by all the parties in Elections '09!!!

A 'Budget Rendezvous' with a five-star ambience!

2009-03-31T00:02:00.000+05:30

Well how many times have you gone to Cafe Coffee Day, Barista or even Mocha and have found it crowded, too noisy and wondered how nice it would be if there is a place in Bangalore where you can get a more calm & peaceful ambience.
Well here's some great news for all you folks.. 'Le Meridien' one of Bangalore's popular five-star hotel's is the place for you people. You might wonder about the budget not being feasible, but that's not to be!
For over a year now Le Meridien has this thingy going on, where you get to have pastries for as low as 50bucks (trust me, it would serve 2people)!!! Whats more? A coffee jug would cost you like 150 bucks! Thats not where is ends, coz if you have a Citibank card you get 20% off your bill amount...
So on the whole for like 200 bucks you and your bum-chump can have a coffee with the added peaceful ambience..
But interestingly Windsor Manor which is another five-star hotel located very close to Le Meridien has not even tried changing their pricing in this regard, in fact a jug of coffee at Windsor Manor costs you a good 450 bucks. So looks like they don't feel threatened by its competitor's move in altering the pricing.
In fact Windsor manor has decided not to reduce prices with the rationale that it doesn't want to start catering to a different customer segment. Moreover it looks like they feel that by reducing prices, Windsor manor might lose out on its premiumness. Le Meridien on the other hand has had this offer on for quiet sometime and I wonder if it has actually affected the customers perception of the five-star image of Le meridien. Guess we can only wait and see what the future has in store for them!
But with everything said and done, Le Meridien's offer is what I call true value-addition!
Cash-in it people! Happy Coffeein'! :)

BAN-galore

2009-03-15T23:57:00.000+05:30

"Bangalore now has a galore of bans and hence i would like to rechristen it BAN Galore. ;)"

I visited Chennai lately for some official work, after which I happened to stay over at a friend's place for a couple of days. Even though i've been to Chennai a lotta times earlier this was really the first time I got a glimpse of the night life at Chennai. We went to a few proclaimed happenin' night clubs (from 10 Downing Street to Bikes & Barrels(See the Image) to Dublin) and had a great time. The main difference from Bangalore was "NO 23:00 restriction". On the other side 'the crowd aint' that great'!

Now taking the broader picture it is so clear that Bangalore still has its charm in spite of these so called safety restrictions of 23:00 and the Ban on house parties (the recent issue of the raid in a house party in Bangalore which had no Indians ;) ). The two main reasons for this would be:

Bangalore is a Cosmopolitan
Bangalore has pleasant weather throughtout the year (people start complainin' when it touches 35 degrees :P )

The first reason cannot be considered a sustainable competitive advantage for Bangalore. Moreover a lotta new companies are setting up manufacturing plants near Chennai (Nokia, BMW, Hyundai etc) which could make Chennai a cosmopolitan in the near future.
On the other hand, the second factor namely weather is a sustainable competitive advantage. But Bangalore has to stop going backwards in time and start taking a global outlook to leverage the advantages that it possesses due to weather.
Moreover Bangalore has been lucky to gain global appeal and recognition with the boom in IT in the past decade but it has to undergo a few fundamental changes in terms of the people mindset and political policies really soon else Bangalore would reach a 'Strategic Inflection Point' i.e. it may suddenly realise that the rest of the major cities (Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad) are in a different ball game all together, moreover that the nature of competition has changed.

Happy Holi people...!!

2009-03-10T09:06:00.000+05:30

Well the full moon day in the Indian calender month of Falguna (around february or march) is when the festival of colours "HOLI" is celebrated... This year it falls on the 11th March...
The day before holi is called 'Holika Dahan' a day when the mythological Prahalad escaped unburnt from the clutches of the Demoness Holika (sister of the king Hiranyakashipu) when she carried him into the fire. On this day bonfires are lit in many places around the city.
On the day of H0li people celebrate by throwing colour powder & colour water on everybody, in recent times people have innovated and hence ended up throwing Egg's too on holi.. :) Holi is celebrated for many reasons:

Burning of Holika
Lord Krishna's mother supposedly complained about the colour contrast between Krishna and his consort Radha hence she started off applying colour on Radha's face

So all you people out there have a HAPPY AND A COLOURFUL holi this year! :)

Buzz about Cricket!

2009-03-07T19:23:00.000+05:30

I'm back after a long time. This time its about the buzz in cricket. India is a nation known for its cricket fan following and the students at Alliance Business School are no exception to that.

Well I am talking about the 'Alliance Cup - 2009' being held at the Alliance College Campus from the 5th March - 8th March. This is a cup that is held every year at Alliance, but this year I thought it would do good with a little difference. The Alliance cup this year had 9 teams for the guys and 4 teams for the girls, with each team having a 13 player squad. Teams are refered too by team names which they themselves choose (to name them FM 13.2, Mettle, Amazons, White Feathers, Mavericks, Titans, Spartans, Phoenix, Daredevils, Doubtful 11, Superchargers & Brawlers). The teams were given different coloured Jerseys, and as the matches were held on campus it resulted in good crowd turnouts. Infact even music was played according to the players choice thereby adding more flavour to the matches. Official Umpires were hired and the tournament was on its way. The inaugral match was held between a faculty and a non-teaching staff.

By being one of the key organizers-cum-commentator-cum-player I thought it would be good to write my views on the tournament.

The tournament brought out some of the best talent of the budding managers ;). There is complete cricket-mania in the campus with even the faculties and staff getting involved. A lot of banners, music, singing, drums, slogans, cheers etc. are in abundance from the crowds for the matches. The teams are seen practicing in the campus from 5 each morning before attending lectures. This tournament has infact brought the students of each class closer as they now have an increased sense of belongingness.

The teams throughtout the tournament have played with excellent sportmanship and have rendered to the spirit of the game (except for 1 instance which was taken care of effectively by the tournament officials).

With the Finals which would be held tomorrow between the tournament favourites FM 13.2 (of which I am a part off :)) and the Mavericks (1st year students) there is complete excitment in the campus. No one wants to leave the campus and goto the city for this weekend. Guess we would surely have a full turnout tomorrow with a crowd of over 700.

This tournament has done a world of good to the students who've got a well deserved break from the hectic and rigorous curriculum. It has also given me another opportunity at Alliance to display my management skills (especially the fact that the 7 member team of organizers got just 1 day to plan this whole event).

This event has given me an essence of being a manager in a practical setting, and it has also shown me the application of a few key concepts that I've learnt through my MBA. To name a few:

Importance of Statistical tools in making our own version of the Duckworth-Lewis formula to calculate the winner of interrupted matches as well as tabulating the points with a bonus points component even for the losing team.
Importance of Fund Management and Forecasting unforeseen expenses while making the initial budget.
Sales Management while pitching for sponsors for the tournament (Pride Forever campus store).
Negotiation skills and the importance of Purchasing when we had to buy the Rolling shield, medals, arrange for tents & music.
Importance of Advertising with an increased emphasis on word-of-mouth marketing in creating awareness and drawing crowds. The advertising done also resulted in creating the circket-mania on campus.
The increased need for good Services Marketing. This was seen in the fact that apart from drawing crowds of only the playing teams we had to draw even neutral audience, and for this we used music and enthralling commentary as a means to increase the experience of the audience during the match. Hence resulting in them coming to watch most of the matches.
General Management skills for the conduct of the tournament which would include time management and information transperancy.

So on the whole we can see how organizing a fun event like a cricket tournament can be made more exciting, more intense and be done professionally with application of conceptual skills.

Buzz about India's 60th Republic Day!

2009-01-26T23:54:00.000+05:30

Well 26th January 2009 is remembered by most Indian's as the 60th Republic day.. Its different in the fact that it was the first Republic day in which the Prime Minister was absent (Dr. Manmohan Singh due to the bypass surgery he had a couple of days ago) and that there was a Solar Eclipse.
But for me its different for another reason! There was this screening of the exclusive documentary of 'The making of lagaan' at IIM-B where Aamir Khan and his crew (Maddy, Sharman Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani) were present at the IIM audi. The entry was restricted to IIM-B students only! Fortunately I got lucky and was a part of the audience. We had an excellent Q&A session with him (btw, Aamir is a good orator and what's more is that he gave me really impressive answers to a couple of my questions). As an added bonus I gotta chit chat for few mins with Madhavan aka Maddy, Sharman Joshi and Rajkumar Hirani and the pic with Maddy! lolz!
The best part being that I actually gotta know about this event only 30minutes before the start and somehow things worked out. Now that's what you call an unexpectedly eventful holiday! :)

Rumour the next B-Plan!

2009-01-22T02:13:00.000+05:30

Well for all you know rumours might just be the next best way to do business. If your wondering what makes me say this, well a week ago I was just watching the trailer of the movie '2012' which is being directed by Roland Emmerich of 'Independence day & Godzilla' fame. The hype around the movie was even more considering the so called prophecies around the end of the world in 2012.
I watched a few documentaries and after some research came to the inference that the so called Doomsday on 21st Decemeber 2012 is more of a science fiction story. (Trust me guys, you see the reasons that support the 2012 argument and initially you'll be taken aback, but give it time, thinking and research and you can squash all those claims on ya own)
Now coming to the point about how Roland has used this rumour and hoopla around the 2012 prophecy to make a movie. He has so cleverly used a storyline that everyone would surely be able to connect with. Its so evident by this fact how a simple rumour can be used to do business in todays context. But yeah the fact remains that the trailor just rocks!! Man it gets your attention for sure. (Just hope it is'nt a let down like 'The day the earth stood still')
Well, and this is not where it ends. There are many such instances, but this one caught my attention. Moreover i've been collecting quiet a lot of secondary data on this so called 'Doomsday 2012'. Its evident that word-of-mouth has been the primary channel for propogation of this rumour even though the internet is an integral component, the word-of-mouth was what got people to goto the internet to know more.
So the next time you think of a business never rule out an option of using rumour as a tool to create a buzz. lol. :) Well, for all you know the doomsday prophecy might just come true!!! :D

Christmas not so Merry for Walmart!

2008-12-24T14:22:00.000+05:30

Wal-Mart said on Tuesday that it would pay at least $352 million, and possibly far more, to settle lawsuits across the country claiming that it forced employees to work off the clock. Several lawyers described it as the largest settlement ever for lawsuits over wage violations.

After years of being embarrassed by lawsuits over its wage practices, the company agreed to settle 63 cases pending in federal and state courts in 42 states. The workers and their lawyers will receive at least $352 million, and the payments could reach $640 million, depending on how many claims affected workers submit.

Union critics of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, saw the settlement as proof of their view that the company achieves its low prices in part by cheating workers. But the company rejected that characterization, saying it had already corrected wage practices that it has long attributed to local managers acting without authority. “Many of these lawsuits were filed years ago, and the allegations are not representative of the company we are today,” Tom Mars, general counsel and executive vice president at Wal-Mart Stores, said.

The settlement — which wipes out all but 12 pending wage-and-hour lawsuits against Wal-Mart — also gives the company a cleaner slate as a new administration enters the White House. President-elect Barack Obama has indicated he will make wage-and-hour enforcement a priority, and groups critical of Wal-Mart suggested that the company had reached the settlement to avoid becoming a target of stepped-up enforcement.

“Wal-Mart is scared with what they’re going to face in an Obama administration,” said David Nassar, of Wal-Mart Watch, a union-financed advocacy group. “You clean up your house before the in-laws come over. That’s what they’re trying to do.”

Wal-Mart officials say that in recent years, they have taken strong steps to reduce wage violations, ordering managers not to demand off-the-clock work and threatening to fire employees who work off the clock or do not take their designated lunch and rest breaks. Wal-Mart has even programmed its cash registers and other equipment to stop working when employees are not on the clock.

Robert Bonsignore, co-counsel in nearly 40 of the cases, said that as a result of the settlement, “Wal-Mart can now say that it has taken action to make its stores a great place to shop and work.” Wal-Mart said it would take a charge of $250 million, or 6 cents a share, in this quarter to help finance the settlement.

Source: The New York Times

Ghajini: Hope the audience dont emulate Aamir and forget the movie in 15mins!

2008-12-24T13:52:00.001+05:30

Its christmas eve and party time... Red coloured santa claus caps is a common sight and how could anyone undermine the Christmas Carols...Well in today's world festivals such as christmas have more than just the tradition attached to it.. Infact it is festival time that many business make merry and the Entertainment industry is no exception. Movie releases for festivals are lined up.. Moreover we have seen some of the biggest movies release on festival days - from 'Veer-Zaara on Diwali to Shakespeare in Love on Christmas'!

So this Christmas when you talk about the buzz in the Indian movie scene.. Its undoubtly Aamir Khan's 'Ghajini'.. Ghajini is a remake of a tamil movie staring Surya. It is about this man who loses his capacity to remember anything for more than 15minutes as a result of a tragedy!

The expectations from Ghajini is over the roof, infact more than any Aamir Khan movie till date..

Well, the buzz about the movie has worked to good effect. Infact it has had all the ingredients of a good buzz campaign. Moreover the buzz has created such a hype around the movie, that it has to be exceptionally good, else people would find it unsatisfactory. The reason being that the expectation levels have been raised to such an extent that people now expect something extraordinary. Moreover, Buzz campaigns would be of no use if your product itself isn't good.

So will the movie live up to its expectations??

Guess we gotta wait n watch.. Coz only time can tell.... :)!!

Innovative Insults...

2008-12-23T00:57:00.000+05:30

Well in today's world playing the blame game is pretty common and sometimes it results in a argument that would further end up in a verbal abuse!

I was talking to this friends of mine working with a leading MNC in Gurgaon and he told me how people in his workplace vent out their anger. It was interesting how innovative people get when they have to abuse someone else in a very polished manner. So here is a quick sneak preview:

Are you always this stupid or are you making a special effort today
Brains aren't everything. In fact in your case they're nothing
If your face had "Welcome" written on it, it would make a perfect doormat
Hi there, I'm a human being! What are you?
You should learn from your parents mistakes - try using some birth control!
Well, they do say opposites attact...so I sincerely hope you meet somebody who is attractive, honest, intelligent, and cultured.
You are proof that God has a sense of humor.

Here comes the best of them all, it was told in an intent of mocking this employee keeping in mind the job market:

I heard that you went to the haunted house and they offered you a job

So the next time you think about abusing someone... Be innovative! lolz...

Striking Balance!

2008-12-21T02:12:00.000+05:30

Well I was flipping through few old newspaper articles today and I came across this interesting one. It was titled 'Divine Justice'. Thought I shud share it with you people, so here it goes:

God was in the process of creating the universe, and he was explaining to his subordinates "Look everything should be in balance. For every 10 deer there should be a lion. Look here my fellow angels, here is the country of United States. I have blessed them with prosperity and money. But at the same time I have given them insecurity and tension. And here is Africa, I have given them beautiful nature. But at the same time, I have given themclimatic extremes... And here is South America, I have given them lots of forests. But at the same time, I have given them lesser land so that they would have to cut off the forests... So you see fellows, everything should be in balance".
One of the angels asked, "God, what is this beautiful country here?". God said "Ahah....that is the crown prince of all. India. My most precious creation. They have understanding and friendly people. Sparkling streams, serene mountains, A culture which speaks of the great tradition that they live. Technologically brilliant and with a heart of gold. The angel was quiet surprised, "But God you said everything should be in balance".

God replied, "Look at the neighbours I gave them!"

lol.. :)

Will the Santa Claus story have a makeover this year?

2008-12-17T02:44:00.000+05:30

A lot of us in our childhood have recieved gifts from the fictional Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. It was a nice game played in most of the households irrespective of their faith. The story behind the fictional character was that Saint Nicholas in the 11th Century used to distribute gifts and later he was called Santa by children.

A cute lil story for kids.. Parents go shopping weeks in advance to buy gifts for their children. Infact same time last year the festive mood had set in and was in full swing. But this year is a very different from other years.

The economic recession in the world economy seems to have hindered the Christmas preperations. The US market used to filled with toys manufactured in China, and this used to be shopping time for every household. But this year, you would find empty malls, very few shoppers etc; all thanks to the economic condition.

But what about the kids?? Well, many couples in the US have started decided to buy a Christmas Tree with a concocted story about a letter from Santa. In it, he warns kids that he may have to cut back on gifts because many babies were born this year. Hoping that kids would buy into that story. This would then mean that kids have taken the socialist approach, as they seem to know that they have to share toys with other kids around the world.

Well a few might say its exploiting the innocence of children, but atleast it keeps 'The Santa Myth' going and doesnt children being dissapointed and having self-doubts.

Anyways lets all hope things settle down asap and I'd like to wish everyone of you'll a Merry Christmas in advance. Have a fun-filled christmas in your own small way! :) cheerzzz and renkindle the festive spirit!

The CALL that could've resulted in a BRAWL!

2008-12-07T20:50:00.000+05:30

Rumour Rumour Rumour Rumour!!!

Well, with all the rumours floating about the mumbai attacks. Including an amazing one about a woman in burkah supposedly open firing in chowpati beach here comes the best of the best.

Pakistan President Ali Asif Zardari claimed that the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee supposedly called him on last friday night(November 28th) and threatned to declare war on Pakistan. Well as a common man I think this is a great attempt at diverting attention of the whole world away from Pakistan following the attack in Mumbai by Pakistan nationals. Reasons for this would be:

The call was from a local Delhi number
I havent heard of calls being transfered to the President of any country without verification and other security measures
Apparently, Indian itself had found out about this call from the US which has been seeking to lower tensions, and had sent messages to Pakistan assuring it that no such call was made

Well, in the middle of all this, the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was asked to intervene to stop what the U.S. at that time may have considered a deepening slide in Indo-Pakistan relations leading to war and convey a message to Mr.Mukherjee that the Pakistanis were "extremely worried that they were on a conflict escalation ladder with India which could provoke an all-out war."

Now a lotta questions are being raised against the credibility of this so called threatening call which was proved to be a hoax later on.

Do you really think a hoax call was ever made? I still have my doubts.

But yeah whatever it is, it was a good attempt at using rumour as a tool to create a buzz around the world. Intentionally or not this is an attempted PR exercise by Pakistan! :)

Well if your wondering why the rumour dint work! According to me this rumour too had the following components as any rumour:

Originality - Well this rumour seemed to have meet this criteria very well
Fear - To a certain extent fear was created among locals in Pakistan and the rest of the world about a possible war among the Nuke-enabled countries
Status - You could'nt as for a person with a status higher than the President of a country
Contacts - Well, the newspapers and media in todays world would take care of this criteria for you in no time.

But it lacked one major criteria

Believability - In this case it was a little too much to digest or believe.

So guess now you know why a lotta people are humming "Liar Liar Pants on Fire!"

Reliance not so Reliable!

2008-11-20T20:18:00.000+05:30

Well I remember watching this teaser that had a red sofa and the words 'see you at home' and after a while thought it was a Reliance Big TV AD... But today as I was attending this lecture on Business Ethics I was taken by surprise to discover that it was a guerilla marketing tactic used by Reliance. Coz folks this was a teaser by Airtel for its Airtel Digital TV which was stolen by Reliance.

For those wondering what I am talking about, here goes:
"Airtel came out with teasers to launch its new Airtel DTH service. The teaser had just a red sofa and it said 'See you at home'. Well it was obviously an attempt to get the audience thinking as to what the product was about, create a buzz about the teaser and then they'd planned to come out with an ad that would feature celebrities like Saif Ali Khan, AR Rehman, Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, Kareena Kapoor, Madhavan and Vidya Balan. But Reliance had other plans... It literally stole the teaser by taking advantage of the red sofa teaser to release its product 'Big TV'! It came out with an ad that used the same red sofa and the audio which said 'see you at home' and then Big TV completed the AD and touted features such as 200-plus channels, 32 cinema “halls” and digital quality audio and video."

There were a lot of comments on this act by Reliance.. A few called it cheap, a few said they're unethical & even then there were a few so called Reliance patriots who called it a masterstroke by Anil Ambani.

If you thinking that this is poor advertising ethics used by Reliance then it doesn't just end there coz according to Livemint the wall street journal-
“If you (Airtel) are going to tease people, we (Big TV) are going to feed their appetite,” said Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer of Mudra Group, which created the Big TV campaign.
Big TV also notes that Airtel had no copyright claims since the teaser ads ran with no brand logo or name.
“It’s an open market and every player is expected to respond to competition. The campaign also gave us an opportunity to make specific claims on the product,” says Sanjay Behl, group head (brand and marketing) of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group."

Reliance have actually crashed Airtel's DTH launch party. If such unethical practices continue I seriously have my doubts on the future of Teaser Ads...!!!

Brand Obama: The only product that did well due to recession

2008-11-10T18:27:00.000+05:30

Obama is President. Well, this is the first time I've followed a US elections closely and the brand Obama has done excellent marketing. He has changed the way elections are done, and has taken canvassing to another level.

For instance, I was watching a program last evening on cnn-ibn which was disecting the Obama victory and drawing Indian parallel's with Mayawati. During this program there was a video clip which showed Obama giving a speech in which he used the words "YES! WE CAN" frequently. What's interesting here was everytime he said "YES!", the crowd would follow-up with a chorus "YES! WE CAN". This speech was intented to pep up the crowd and instill belief that the US can recover from its current financial crisis. Man it seriously has instilled some confidence. Moroever the terms "YES! WE CAN" which in some sorts is a great slogan, has worked wonders for brand Obama. Now that is marketing personified.
Word-of-mouth, Slogans, Market Penetration, Buzz marketing, product bundling, etc etc name any concept in marketing and you'd see a great application in the Obama Story.

Consider the million regular bloggers around the world, you could be rest assured that 9 outta 10 of them would've offered views on Obama. This has resulted in a great word-of-mouth campaign. For those who remember the reception he got when he went to Berlin during his campaign, would agree with me that he literally got a celebrity's welcome! His brand awareness campaign has had amazing market penetration. Even the Coke's and McDonald's of the world took more time to be such a common household name, but Brand Obama has done it all in a matter of few months.

You know all hoopla that goes happens in India when there's an election. How many times has the Indian elections created such a hype that other countries keenly watch and analyse it? I would say none! Or take even the developed countries, the day i heard a few ppl talk about the UK elections was when Tony Blair stepped down and Gordon down took office!

The buzz about brand Obama has grown multiple folds and has done a great job. It has got people talking, writing, following it around the world. I feel marketers around the world should soon start using this as a benchmark to assess the success of their marketing campaign.

As Prof.Ray nicely put it 'Listen; The Obama story is not one that you look for in the annals of inspirational tales, instead its one that must feature in the Marketing textbook of tomorrow. It must stand testimony to the brilliance of a born marketer.'

So folks lets wait and see if Brand Obama lives up to its expectations or creates a widespread Cognitive Dissonance! ;)

Negative word-of-mouth is good???

2008-11-08T18:48:00.000+05:30

Word-of-mouth as all of us know is something that no one has control over. Before you realize it, the news would have jumped networks of people and reached the other end of town. Everyone of us talk about a lotta products day in and day out.

Either intentionally or otherwise we talk about stuff from say shoes to music to restaurants to movies etc and offer our opinion to everyone we interact with.

This may be either to help someone else buy, provide knowledge about the product, for self pride, just an intention of sharing, to find common ground or may be even to reduce dissonance. For any company if this is a positive word-of-mouth, then they surely would'nt have any regrets!

What if its negative word-of-mouth?

Well, my answer to this question is based on the book 'Grapevine' by Dave Balter & John Butman. Products as such are never perfect and people accept this fact. A Negative word-of-mouth can be powerful. If the company responds positively to a negative word-of-mouth, it can turn detractors into loyalists. Moreover negative word-of-mouth can bring out the quiet advocates - who can be even more powerful than everyday fans.

For instance, take the Apple iPhone. If you carefully examine it, it does'nt have a few common features such as forwarding of msg's and taking long videos BUT try talking a person(who intends to buy an iPhone) out of the idea of buying a iPhone. Well I'm pretty sure he would give you 10 other reasons to buy the iPhone and may even draw ficticious statistics outta thin air to prove his stance. Moreover the Cult brand status of Apple here is one main reason why people behave so irrationally...!

So your word could be swifter than a bird! ;)

Buzzing the Yahoo way!

2008-11-06T22:33:00.000+05:30

Well its been a while since the Yahoo's new product Yahoo Buzz has been around. But how many of us really use it! Has this site dedicated to buzz failed to create a successful buzz about itself? Well before we come to any conclusions regarding that, here are a few observations:

The Yahoo Buzz website has tried to do 2 things together: Force people to write and at the same time coerce people to upload or give links to the most interesting videos/music clips/articles that they come across.

Now I feel this was done in an attempt to try and catch up with its leading rival Google, by matching its websites youtube & blogger. In this attempt Yahoo have ended up being a middle-of-the-roader.

It has a feature called the iPhone, where the top 5 stories/posted buzz items are displayed in a format that resembles an iPod display and you can navigate similar to that of an iPod.

I feel if Yahoo wanted to make its site innovative and interesting, it should have made the iPod type of display on its homepage itself in the ploy to try and attract more visitors. Moreover not a lot of users would actually scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the iPhone option etc etc. Aint they expecting too much?

Similar to Google's Blogger, the Yahoo Buzz has a feature of voting for each post that you read. But they difference here is that in Blogger any annonymous person reading can vote and comment on the posts, whereas in Yahoo Buzz you gotta be a registered user on Yahoo Buzz to even vote!

One cant expect everyone to register on Yahoo Buzz just to vote on another article!! Moreover you cant even post your views on the buzz's that you read!!! Everyone loves giving opinions, Google has capitalised on this behavioural trait whereas Yahoo... seems to have missed a trick here!!!

Finally Yahoo has its name attached to the new product, this was surely done in an intent to using its present brand equity to attract surfers to its site.

Well seems a good ploy, but if this this site fails to meet the expectations or needs of the users then I guess it may have a spill over effect on the brand name Yahoo!!!

So guess we gotta wait and watch,
what yahoo does,
to create a buzz,
about the yahoo buzz! :)

Microsoft using Teasers!!!

2008-10-14T12:57:00.000+05:30

Well Microsoft is using Jerry Seinfeld to sex-up Microsoft with teaser ads. Its going to be a 300million dollar advertising campaign for the Vista OS, and what's more Jerry Seinfeld the stand-up comedian from New York whose more popularly known for lending his voice in the 'Bee Movie', has been roped in for a whopping 10million dollars to star in the ads.

Here Jerry Seinfeld is expected to use his humor appeal to attract the audience to the teaser, moreover in the ad Jerry attempts to draw out some personality from Bill Gates to make him sound 'cool'.

The ad is meant to tease "greater things" expected from the software company.
Well, most importantly the reactions to the teaser which feature typical Seinfeld humor butted against a dry, laconic Gates who plays the straight man, has been a mixed bag from the tech community.

click here to see the teaser ad

Has the teaser been able to get the people talking about it still remains an unanswered question???

So next time around its upto Billy not to be Silly! ;)

India not yet affected by Viral campaigns???

2008-10-12T17:46:00.000+05:30

Well this thought about Indian buzz marketing agencies came to my mind when I was writing an Integrated Marketing Communications exam yesterday. It had this interesting question on the Levis Buzz in the US and as I got back home after the paper I came across a couple of banners based on the same Levis buzz, this forced me to search about buzz marketing in India.

That’s when I came across ‘The Flea’, India’s first non-traditional communication consultancy, in other words India’s first buzz marketing agency. Interestingly they have JUST 8 members who work for the agency!, 5 in India and 1 each in Houston, Brisbane & St Louis. Whats more they’ve handled viral campaigns for more than a handful of big clients and to mention a few of their popular campaigns:

Flea believes the following few simple rules are important to creating a successful viral campaign:

Provide Something worth talking about
Identify and reach out to influential individuals and communities
Provide something worth talking about
Identify and reach out to influential individuals and communities
Motivate people to pass along the marketing message
Make it easy for people to participate in the campaign
Have on-line and off-line component
Don't have unrealistic expectations about direct sales, but create long-term passionate users.

So the next time u want to create a buzz campaign in India. Remember your buzz can fly like the flea only with ‘The Flea’! ;)

Guerrilla Marketing=Buzz Marketing?

2008-10-05T13:31:00.000+05:30

There are many views that say guerrilla marketing and buzz marketing are synonyms, and there are others who say buzz marketing is a subset of guerrilla marketing; for me both have simple comprehensions.

Guerrilla Marketing is any low-cost or sometime even free, marketing that promotes a product or a service in a creative fashion. Whereas Buzz Marketing is marketing that primarily relies on word-of-mouth, it aims at creating something that's worth talking about, more so it may either be inexpensive or very expensive!

While reading about guerrilla marketing I got this thought of comparing it to Buzz Marketing and one aspect of my comparison revealed that both these forms of marketing may be perception driven. As in both would do similar promotional efforts only to see them offering different benefits.

Say for instance a company asks its employees to use the internet connection to write blogs and comment on others blogs thereby creating visibility for the company.

A Guerrilla marketer's say would be that blog and comments have no cost, and time to post on them is minimal hence they will create more visibility for the company.
A Buzz marketer instead would see the same as increased visibility on the web, moreover this would result in people seeing the company name and message in various places.

Another example would be say when a company teaches its employees about the power of word-of-mouth and hence asks them to be more networked.

For a Guerrilla maketer this would mean free events, and employees networking in their free time allows a company to get greater value per employee and helps the employee be more successful in the future.
Whereas from a Buzz marketer's perspective the people that employees meet will be well connected and enjoy talking about the company and the people they know. Soon few of these people create an incredible buzz about the products and services the company has to offer.

So the next time you come accross any of these terms think 'Buzzilla'!! :)

Rumours a double edged sword!

2008-09-24T18:00:00.001+05:30

Its seen that rumours is an effective way to create a buzz. In fact talking about rumours, i still remember when the Blasts took place in Bangalore, rumours of the a blast in a locality called shivajinagar with a death toll of 50 was all around the place. Whereas actually there was no blast anywhere close to shivajinagar. As expected this rumour had spread all around Bangalore in less than an hour after the blasts.

Any rumour is subjected to “flattening”, “sharpening” and “assimilation”, just to make the rumour a little more sticky. Where flattening is removing the parts of the story we feel is unnecessary, then sharpening is where we enhance the remaining part of the story and finally we assimilate to see if the story fits our shared mental framework.

Rumours though can be seen as a double edged sword. Looking at the positive side of rumour in a buzz campaign, the best example would be that of Apple. While listening to one recent episodes of 'This Week in Technology' i came across the fact that Apple has a 3-Tiered Marketing Model. Where Apple's policy of maintaining its secrecy with products has resulted in several rumour sites starting a buzz around the product long before its release. The other two tiers are mainstream media advertising followed by enthusiast sites.

On the flip side rumours can also spell the downfall of a buzz. If there are negative rumours against your brand it can have a bad effect on your brand equity. Consider a brand like say Nike, now any rumour about Nike would easily spread as most of us already assimilate with the brand Nike. Another example here would be that of 'Colas being very harmful for health', and the rumour that a woman supposedly used coke instead of acid to clean her bathroom and it had the same effect. Now this rumour spread like fire and had a big impact on sales of colas in India, and a few states like Kerala in India had even banned Colas for a brief period.

Hence think twice before you choose to go the rumour way in buzzing!!!

Create a Buzz not a Mess!

2008-09-23T23:15:00.000+05:30

To create a great buzz there are a few simple rules that are to be followed-

Keep it subtle
Do Not make the product, service being promoted obvious
Keep few but related cues for people to comprehend
Controlling the people is more important than controlling communication channels such as television, magazine ads etc.

The above rules would be the very reason why i feel a buzz can be a double edged sword. Wondering WHY??

The first rule is that if u have a few subtle cues that arent noticed by your target segment, the buzz wouldn't serve its basic purpose. At the same time if u have too many cues it would end up being a advertising campaign and no more a buzz. Its paradoxical to get the right balance. The very existence of competitors in the market can lead you to divert away from being subtle, which on the other hand is nothing more than a knee-jerk effect to competitor's response to your buzz. The marketers basic purpose of getting noticed might be the driver of this reflexive action.

The second rule though is pretty obvious, coz if u make your end result evident in the earlier stages then your buzz would not create the necessary suspense, which inturn would result in people not wanting to know more. Moreover only if your campaign gives people something new to talk about they would be interested to spreading the word of mouth. This is where basic human mechanism is being used by marketers, a mechanism that Darwin would say is primary to the survival of the human race. It's human nature to talk about what's new. It's this behavior that helped us figure out what was okay to eat and wear. What places were safe and what places were dangerous. Millions of years later and these are still the things we're talking about - where to eat, what to wear, and what status symbols can help us advance in our society.

The third rule is equally important too. Say you consider a set of messages that are flashed out in a random order. Now when you conclude your buzz campaign the buzz would not have its intended effect on the target audience if its not a complete story, i.e. if all your messages don't culminate leading to your final message.

The fourth and final rule here is to forget about controlling the traditional channels of communication like television and magazine ads; rather if you can control the people and what they talk about, you'll achieve more with less effort. This follows the "Chaos Theory" which says that small changes can escalate to bigger ones and that people are the chaotic particles. On the flipside if u cannot control people and how they connect with your buzz, it would be a baseless attempt to doing nothing coz your intended message then wouldn't get through!

SO KEEP IT SIMPLE AND BE NIMBLE!!!

Why Fuss just Buzz?

2008-09-18T02:34:00.000+05:30

Finally a blog dedicated to only Buzz Marketing...

We begin our quest at the very heart by defining Buzz Marketing. According to whatis.com "Buzz marketing is a viral marketing technique that attempts to make each encounter with a consumer appear to be a unique, spontaneous personal exchange of information instead of a calculated marketing pitch choreographed by a professional advertiser."

Buzz marketing generally consists of subtle cues that are used to get the attention of the intended audience. They generally result in a sophisticated word-of-mouth campaign where consumers are flattered to be included in the elite group of those "who know" and willingly spread the word to their friends and colleagues....

Well for those who would love to eat, sleep and live with bzzzzzz here is your one-stop blogspot...

So just sit back and relax... Lets start bzzzzzzzzin' !!!