
What do u think?
- Abundance of Skilled Labour (OR)
- One of the worst cases reported in the aftermath of Global recession
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!
You spin my head right round, right roundWell 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! :)
When you go down, when you go down down
Be original, Be a Blogger,Cheerz to the Bloggers!!!
Please don't copy and emulate a forger;
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?
"Health is Wealth"So stay healthy and stay happy people!
‘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!
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:
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!”
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:
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”
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:
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!
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”
The Indian diplomats have expressed their deepest concern and doing all that is possible to ensure security of Indian students studying in
This has been the talk of most news channels in
Indian Students: A cheaper alternative to getting international exposure while going for further studies as compared to the US and UK
Political parties in
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!
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!