Marketing to Indians 101

 

Selling to Indians is definitely not an easy task. For sure, I am not the first person nor will be the last person to (re)discover this fact. Why is that Indians are a difficult community to advertize both for multinational companies, easily attracted to India because of its huge market and for regional companies aspiring to become a national player. Those companies which have found the holy grail of selling to Indians either by accident or by research have managed to keep their cash register ringing all the time.  But what is so unique about Indians that modern thinkers and marketing guru’s are unable to decode and devise a strategy that can guarantee success.

 

For starters you can never a common strategy / approach to appeal to the Indians, in short you just can’t straight jacket them. You have to employ the Divide and Conquer, perfected by Robert Clive of the East India trading Corporation. The country “India” can be divided into 5 major regions.  For sake of familiarity I have named them in the most elementary manner. 

 

Market 1 – Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Old Delhi, North eastern states

Market 2 – Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh

Market 3 – Rest of Maharashtra, Rest of Andhra Pradesh , Goa

Market 4 – West Bengal, Punjab, Rest of Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Rest of Tamil Nadu

Market 5 – NCR (New Delhi, Gurgoan, Noida ), Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore

 

Why you can’t never treat India as a single country where people have the same mindset or cultural background is beyond the scope of this essay. Things can change after 2040 if we are to trust the demographic guidance given by the ‘Experts’.

 

The main idea of advertisement is to make people buy your product. We all have five senses to learn and explore this beautiful world. The art of Advertisement is to ensure that you appeal to more than one sense of the viewing public or to their vanity. If your advertisement appeals to only one sense then you’re ad is lost in the zillions of data the common man is exposed to in these days. Depending upon the target market you have to create the Ad’s appealing to multi senses.

 

At the basic you should appeal to the public’s sense of sight, and sound. Since these two are the most commonly used sense for mankind in TV / Newsprint medium. As you move from Market 1 to Market 5 we can start including the other ‘higher’ sense of thinking and rationalizing, like quoting technical facts, results of survey, latest results of research studies etc.

 

Examples of Brands which captured the imagination of the public

 

1.       Catchy tagline / jingle – Pepsi, Nirma, Ujala, Pulsar, ICICI bank , Idhayam Gingerly oil

2.       Excellent audio / video - Leo coffee powder, Shakthi masala, Power Soap, Cadburys chocolate

3.       Appealing to vanity : Axe chocolate , Sunflower oil, Fair & Lovely, HDFC Life insurance

 

 

The other way to capture the imagination of the public is through Brand Ambassador(BA). In the Indian heartland the best place to shop for BA’s is Bollywood / BCCI.  The choice of BA plays a crucial role in catapulting your brand in the Wild Wide West of consumer imagination. When the south Korean chaebol’s arrived on the Indian shores they had to compete against American and Japanese brands who had a better brand value and recall. They smartly employed New age Brand Ambassador, (Samsung – half of the Indian cricket, Hyundai – Shahrukh khan and LG – Bunch of bollywood actress) these people were the epitome or icons of the Indian dream, a dream which the Indian people believed in and worked hard to achieve them.

 

IPL 2009

The second edition of Indian Premier League has been a resounding success both in South Africa and in India. Almost 58% of the round robin matches had been played by the 8 city based teams. There has been certain surprises and misses when compared IPL 2008.  The competition has been more or less evenly matched between the bat and the ball. A score of 160 is turning out to be quite competitive if you have the bowling ammunition to stop the rampaging opposition players. The bar for high priced players was raised in this year’s auction.  There was no letup in the excitement quotient also with the matches being held in South Africa, the arrival of English players and the calypso kings from west indies.  The fake ipl player was the perfect icing on the cake as far as excitement buzz was concerned.

 

The notable absentees of this year was the aussie’s and Pakistan players. The former players putting national duty (defending the Ashes in the summer) above IPL led by punter pointing. The latter players couldn’t participate thanks to the high  sensitive time in India especially after Mumbai blasts. I am sure the organizers and the team owners would have allowed the paki players to take part had they envisioned this year’s IPL in South Africa rather than in India.

 

Form guide for the teams: (Total / Wins / Loss / No Result)

 

Rajasthan Royals: (8/4/3/1)

The defending champions didn’t quite have a flier of a start. Lost the opening match and in the second match the points were shared. Not the kind of start Warnie might have planned. They quite don’t have the moment behind them, since they have been winning and losing alternate matches. The major problem is have not been getting the kind of blazing start from the top order. Graeme Smith is woefully out of form and the local Indian players haven’t quite adapted to the bouncy pitches of South Africa. They win whenever Yusuf pathan plays a big little cameo coming late in the order. Whether they can qualify for the finals depends whether Shane Warne can recreate his man management magic like last year.

 

Chennai Super kings: (8/4/3/1)

Last year runner up didn’t have the best of starts. Lost the opening match, not the auspicious start Dhoni would have liked. All the batsmen were in fine form and were hitting huge sixes at will. The two biggest problem was they had no credible partnerships during the first phase of the round robin and Dhoni was woefully out of form. Andrew Flintoff, the second highest signing of this year was a leaking ship. He couldn’t quite live up to the demands and nuances of T20. Thanks to CSK, he got injured and the team got its composition right and was back to its winning ways. They have won last 3 consecutive matches and have the momentum behind them which can potentially earn them a semifinal berth. Since 7 out of 8 teams are closely tied up in the standing expect the Net Run Rate(NRR) to play a huge role in deciding at least 2 semifinal teams. CSK have the most positive NRR for this year.

 

Delhi Daredevils’: (7/5/2/0)

Last year semi finalist, have been to rousing start to this year IPL . With Sehwag and Gambhir, they have the most dynamic opening pair in modern day cricket. Winning the first 3 matches on the trot with the right mix of aggressive batting and some intelligent bowling led India discard Asish Nehra  and the orthodox left arm spinner Daniel Vettori. With the current form, this the team to watch out for. Having played 1 match less than the other teams they have the maximum number of points. This is the bowling lineup which is unable to get a berth for Glenn McGrath. It is a shocker but we have to believe this, McGrath is warming the bench and their team is not missing his services.

 

Deccan Chargers:(7/4/3/0):

IPL -08 was no show for this highly talented bunch of individuals. They just couldn’t bind together as a team. But IPL -09 was completely different. Under a new captain, Gilchrist they were off to a blazing start in the tournament, the best for any team. The opening dynamo of Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs often provided the perfect platform for the middle order to capitalize. A rejuvenated RP Singh will stifle the opening opposition batsmen by sticking to the basics, line and length bowling. As team the chargers were a excellent fielding unit, which easily saved 30-40 runs per match.  

 

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) :(8/4/4/0)

A team labeled as ‘Test’ team in T20 matches last year. Its Owner liquor baron Malaya vowed to infuse the fighting spirit in the team and was determined to shed the tag of ‘Test’ team. He had the honor of signing the highest bid player, Kevin Peterson(KP). With couple of signings from New Zealand players, on paper at least the team had a dynamic look. Under a  new captain they just couldn’t cobble together a win. Once when KP left for his national duty, the captaincy was handed over to Kumble, Mr. Gentleman of cricket. Under a new captain, the RCB has managed to stitch together 3 consecutive win. They have the momentum behind them.

 

Kings XI Punjab: (8/4/4/0)

Last year semi finalist, Kings XI has not been able to get the momentum behind them. They are very good team under the captaincy of Yuvraj Singh but just couldn’t get going in this version. Right now they are under the danger of being not qualifying for the semifinal. From here on they have win all the matches and hope the other teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings fumble and Mumbai Indians continue to play the way they are playing.

 

Mumbai Indians :(8/3/4/1)

Led by the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and the pride of Mukesh Ambani, the owner of Mumbai Indians. The costliest city team they boast of a battery of batsmen who can demolish the opposition on their day. The opening thunder works are provided by courtesy of Sachin and Sanath. No other team can claim such a talented and experienced set of opening pair. Their bowling rest in the safe hands of Zaheer, Harbhajan and Malinga. Yet this team has blown hot and cold, like the Pakistan national cricket team. We never quite know what to expect from this team. They have to blame themselves more so specific their lack of ability to channelize their collective talent. Right now they are languishing second from the last.

 

Kolkata Knight Riders:(9/1/7/1)

No team can evoke emotions within their base city like the KKR. This team lost the plot even before they left the Indian shores. First their coach came with a weird concept of 4 captain theory. T20 is like a war, in war you just cant 4 generals to lead your army. The decisions have to be taken in the spur of the moment, not by consensus. Sacking of Ganguly in the south African shores was the last thing this team needed. This has decisively created a gap inside the team, which has been exposed to the media friendly fakeiplplayer, an insider who was smart enough to guess he will warming the bench throughout the tournament. This was indeed a butterfly moment as his blog created a huge sensation among many of IPL fans, including yours truly. He has promised to reveal his real identity when the tournament comes to an end.  

 

My prediction for the semi finalist : Delhi, Deccan, Chennai & Rajasthan.

 

Relationships

Ever wondered if you are a Man (or Woman) why you just cannot fathom the behavior of the other sex, especially during crucial times. Right when you think you have understood your friend /Siblings / colleagues (esp. of opposite sex) they completely act in a unexpected manner, destroying your hopes and you are left wondering where this relationship is going?

 

Ever since Eve took a bite at the apple in the Garden Eden, the relationship between Man and Woman just got weird and more ‘complex’. Even though Man and Woman have lived together for thousands of years together, looks like they are constantly involved in learning about each other. For a Man to better understand another Woman is the most difficult task and Vice versa. Why is the Man – Woman relationship such an enigma. The international space agencies have successfully sent probes to distant planets / moons to map their surface, cant they create two miniature probes to map the surface and internal workings of the heart of man and woman respectively. Why is there so much confusion and commotion in a relationship when the opposite sexes are involved.  Sometimes we wish there was some sought of guide in the open market or holy man who can help us in understanding the opposite sex. When a boy and girl have a casual friendship their world is very happy. The trouble starts when the start navigating from the initial friendship / courtship  period. All the emotional problems suddenly descend upon them creating havoc and causing long term damage in their little hearts. The root cause EXPECTATION. Once we start to expect something from the opposite sex, we have just rolled out the biggest red carpet for the troubles / misunderstandings to walk right royally into our life.

 

Every man’s objective is to impress upon each and every woman he is coming across in his life. Every Woman’s primary objective is to ensure that man who can help further her capabilities / abilities by providing adequate security (emotional / physical)  will be permitted to have friendship with her. Those men who don’t pass this criteria are mercilessly rejected. If this revelation is shocking to you, let’s me explain. Although we(mankind) has invented many things, formulated new thesis about human behavior we are still descendants of nomadic people who had survived the harsh climatic conditions and fended off the natural threats against their very survival. The knowledge / wisdom gained from one generation is successfully transmitted to the next generation via DNA. So at the core we are  still social animals. Our innate animal like emotions / feelings are being suppressed in the modern age in the name civility and decency, just waiting for a chance to come out and remind us of our past. Similar to the genie in the famous Aladdin story.

 

Ok, back to the main story. A man’s dedicated focus in any relationship with the opposite sex stops the moment he realizes that he has been granted access to the girldom. By this time he would have spent enormous amount of time and effort in understanding the girl at the superficial level and also trying to make her understand that he is the guy with the right credentials. But the girl is aware somehow all the actions performed; words spoken during the courtship period is not necessarily 100% genuine. After the courtship period she wants to know more in depth about the guy, but our guy is busy either celebrating this success or doing something else. Can’t we predict that a perfect storm is getting formed somewhere.

 

Don’t get disheartened by thinking that there isn’t a easy way to have a successful relationship with the opposite sex. Yes there is. Phew!!! Thanks for wiping the sweat brows from my forehead, for a moment I thought boy – girl relationship can never be void of any problems. If you have ever driven a vehicle in the Indian road, you already know the solution. While driving on the Indian roads it is the sole responsibility of the driver of the vehicle to ensure that he doesn’t get him/her self involved in any accident. Irrespective of how the fellow drivers are driving their vehicle or how a pedestrian is suddenly crossing the road, or if your god fairy / yamaraj (cow / buffalo) suddenly decides to pay you a surprise blessing visit, as a responsible driver we have to take reflexive action to sway away from their paths. The eternal truth in driving on Indian roads is that don’t take any moving object for granted, we can never extrapolate their movement trajectory.

 

In the similar manner in our relationship with the opposite sex, don’t ever assume or take them for granted. Each and every day is a new day, people change their preferences / perception based on their interaction with this world.

 

Guys, for girls things don’t change that easily unless there is compulsive evidence. There is nothing greater in this world other than demonstrating to our beloved ones that we constantly care about them. No one is expecting costly gifts like diamond necklace, fancy dress, cars etc but want the other heart wants to know is that you are constantly caring about them. Simple act of appreciating their choice of dress, spending exclusively time with them, helping the girls in their daily chores, accompanying and actively involved in deciding which dress or ornaments to buy, giving small pleasant surprises etc will ensure your relationship is based on strong foundation rather than a eroding foundation.

 

Girls, guys mind is very fickle. Even he doesn’t know what he is thinking inside, most of the time he will look lost. That is because he is always focused on the future wondering how to better this relationship forgetting in the same time that there is a ‘present’ now. Very rarely do you see a boy / man cry or worry out aloud in front of the opposite sex blame it on cultural affiliation. The only time he drops his guard is when he is with his friend. So don’t make it an issue when he hangs out with other guys, that is the only time he happens to be himself.

 

Understand that a relation has to grow, overnight we can’t have a banyan tree to be fully grown. Just because he / she has becomes your friend it doesn’t mean he / she has to behave in the manner you like. Respect the individual for what he / she is, this respect will solve many of the problems, since most of the time we want our friends / partners to behave in a manner in accordance to our wishes and we want to them a partial clone of us.

 

Frozen Moment for every Indian : ella puhazhum iraivanukke

"A small step for man but a giant leap for mankind" why i am quoting Neil Amstrong here. i don't know. I just felt like quoting him. It is always nice to start with a quote.

A.R.Rahman(ARR) winning 2 Oscars and his acceptance speech will be a frozen moment for every Indian who appreciates good music and craves for the world to recognize the "new India".

It was really Oh! my God moment for Indians like me, who have been watching Oscars feverishly dating back to 1996. I had never ever dreamt that my fellow Indian, Tamilian will one day walk up the red carpet inside the Kodak theatre and bring back the Golden man. 

Man!!!! Is it really a case of 'rest of the world rediscovering India or India opening up to the rest of the world'. Whatever it is, today i have decided to give my rational thinking a paid vacation and i am emotionally enjoying and savouring these wonderful moments.   

Today was not just only about A.R.Rahman, there other two Indians who got the Oscar today. For the uninitiated 

BEST DOCUMENTARY : SMILE PINKI

SOUND MIXING : RESUL POOKUTTY

ARR acceptance Speech's transcript:

Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage. There's a dialogue from a Hindi film called "Mere paas ma hai," which means "I have nothing but I have a mother," so mother's here, her blessings are there with me. I am grateful for her to have come all the way. And I want to thank the Academy for being so kind, all the jury members. I want to thank Sam Schwartz, I/D PR, all the crew of Slumdog, Mr. Gulzar, Raqueeb Alam, Blaaze, my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai. And I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award which is ella puhazhum iraivanukke: "God is great." Thank you.

P.S: If you had read my yesterday's  blog  you might think i am nuts? @#%$(

And the Oscar goes to....

With few hours away from the 81st Annual Academy awards is there chance for any movie to sweep the Oscars. Only two movies have a real chance to sweep the Oscars this year, (I) Curious case of Benjamin Button and (II) Slum dog millionaire.

I jumping the gun here and proclaiming that "Slum dog Millionaire"(SM) will sweep the 81st Academy awards. The reasons are mainly  twofold. 

1) There is no real competition from "The Curious case of Benjamin Button" since its a story of a human whose physical characteristics are unusually in the reverse order of life. He is born with physical characteristics of an old man, sagging skin, hardly he can hear and talk and dies a small baby. And there is a wonderful love story around Benjamin, which is beautifully narrated.

2) SM is the very symbol or child of the confluence of West and the East. It showcases the coming together of two different cultures. It also happens to come at a time when Hollywood cinema is finding it more difficult to attract the American audience to the theatre because of the American economic meltdown. The Hollywood industry needs a market to thrive and grow upon. Look no further than Indian cinema industry with an estimated revenue of 1.5 - 2 billion dollars. Is there any other enterprising market readily available for taking?

 

An outsider's suggestion to solve the Global economic crisis

For more than 80 weeks the general public have had the chance to enrich their economic vocabulary with words like Sub Prime, Global Economic meltdown, Toxic Assets or Non Performing Assets(NPA’s), Bankruptcy etc.



What the hell is going on and why so much of noise from the people who are entrusted with the job of guiding and navigating the economy. Can’t they fix this damm problem or, where are world famous, Nobel award winning economist, financier and other learned people who are supposed to be masters of economics. Aren’t they supposed to create a picture of confidence even before the common man had a chance to hear or read the above mentioned dreaded words in their local dailies.



Unfortunately the real world issues can’t be captured accurately in the “so called” economic models which are widely used inside the Global financial institutions. We still haven’t learned to predict accurately the human behavior. That’s why still we can send a probe to land in distant planet Mars or orbit around Saturn but cant eradicate poverty, mal nourishment etc. Ever since human being came out of the jungle a lot of rapid development and progress has been made on the Hardware side ( technology, material comfort etc) but the software (human mind) hasn’t been updated with latest upgrades or patches.



So here I am throwing my hat inside the ring, suggestions to solve the Global Economic Crisis.



1. Creation of new Banks, promoted by the government under strict banking regulation laws. The Western world can very well base their laws on Indian Banking laws. These banks should have at least 900 billion – 1 trillion dollar of cash. The employers working in these banks should understand the quality of the product being sold.


2. Distribute money to the common man for e.g. let’s say 1000$ each, instead of giving bailouts to the banks which is like pouring liquid in a bottomless pit. This will increase either of these consumer spending or repayment of debt or consumer saving.

3. Nationalize the “toxic assets”, meaning let the Government own up the NPA until their valuation comes up. In this way the tax payers money is not squandered in the longer run.

4. Create ambient conditions to instigate the banks to seek out quality clients and sell quality products thereby increase the “Trust quotient” among banks and public.

5. For another couple of years convert all the banks to provide only Micro Credit Loans, where the cost of failure is very marginal but the upside is pretty rosy.

Worthy Australian Open -09 Champion

Rafael Nadal a.k.a nemesis for Roger Federer, the man widely acknowledged to be the greatest player of all times. But how can he be beaten by the same man in three consecutive grand slam finals, French Open, Wimbledon and now the Australian Open.
Does this mean the Swiz Fed express has come to a screeching halt and the Swiz cow has been famously beaten 3 times by the spanish matador. Can Roger go on equal and then overtake Pete Sampras record of 14 grand slam final. We cant say anything for sure now. As a tennis fan i think we can wait till Wimbledon-09 to give us which way this rivalry is going to end.

This defeat has really hurted Roger at his heart. It was indeed a sorrow sight to see the great man cry for loosing yet again to this 22 year old matador from spain. But he lost to worth opponent, who had spent more than 10 hours on the court.

Rafael Nadal's extraordinary physique and stamina bears testimonial for this achievement in the past 8-10 months. He has won the French Open, Wimbledon, Olympic gold and now the Australian Open. He is not just a ruthless champion but a human too.
As he walked towards the podium to collect his Australian Open cup, he had shared some consoling words to the crying Federer.

As an tennis fan, i hope Federer is able to strength his mental resolve and find some chinks in the Spanish Armada and come back to pose a different set of questions to Rafael in Wimbledon - 09.

Australian Open 2009 Ceremony The commentary is not in English.

Davos 2009 Day2

A reminiscent of the old cold war daysPutin speaks his mind

44th President of United States of America

There were 43 presidents who had taken Oath before but why was the 44th President’s Oath and Inauguration speech so important. Was it because, the country is tattering along the brink of collapse? No, he symbolizes the ideals and principles which the founding fathers of the nation aspired for. He is the first Afro American president of the country, where 144 years back civil war was fought and 46 years back Dr.Martin Luther King Jr made the famous ‘I have a dream’ speech in Washington D.C. His inauguration speech was one of the most awaited speeches of the modern historians and anthropologist. Since he is the symbol of change, hope for not only Americans but for people all over the world.



After his inaugural speech Barrack Hussein Obama, Mr. President , takes the office of the most powerful job in this world. As Peter parker in his role as Spider man in the movie said “With great power comes great responsibilities” . Mr. President is no exception to this rule (The outgoing president considered himself to be above this rule, and the rest is history). He is commander in chief who will devise strategy and help us come out of the economic meltdown.



Given his experience as an University Professor Mr. President exhibited his great oratorical skills during his inauguration speech. It was an well rounded speech inspiring fellow citizens and criticizing the past government for the current mess. His inauguration speech covered issues affecting the American economy, both domestic and foreign. He was highly critical of the people who favored the rich and brought down the financial mess the world is currently facing and also promised that people managing public money will be held accountable in his regime. His speech covered issues like Global warming, Research for alternate fuel, Winning the war against terrorism not necessarily by military power, emphasis on Math’s and Science, reaching out to other nations for peace, Unifying the country divided based on partisan lines and based on religion, handing over Iraq to its people and stopping the war in Afghanistan.



In Certain parts of his speech he used words from past presidents who took the office during difficult times. His speech was influenced with ideas / inspiration from Abraham Lincoln ( first president after Civil war), Franklin D Roosevelt (who took office after great depression) and John.F.Kenndy ( who took office when the nation was greatly divided).



So far Mr. President during his campaign days and during his inauguration has made the right noise. Now is the time to demonstrate to his fellow citizens and to the world whether he can Walk the talk.

The central theme of his inauguration speech was “Lets Remake America”.

IPL benefits to indian cricket

A lot has been said and analysed about the Indian Premier League(IPL) in the cricket playing countries' media, more so ever in the Indian media. In my memory i am unable to recollect an event creating such a unprecedented hype in the (Indian) media. I don't want to discuss about neither the economic benefits of IPL nor about the "progress" made in cricket history in the longer run. This thought was born incidentally while watching an IPL match between Chennai super kings Vs Kolkatta Knight riders. Can IPL serve any immediate benefit to Indian cricket when the players return to national duty.

My answer is Yes. IPL or Twenty20 format will surely help the young brigade in their development as a cricketer in a 360 degree fashion. One of the foremost disadvantages of the Indian cricket 'team' till the recent series against the Aussies,is that the we have a bunch of great individual players but as a team we consistently fail against the world's best teams is the lack mental strength. Indian batsman and bowlers are intimated easily against the opposition players and if there are couple of failures by the top order or front line bowlers the morale of the team takes a beating. Also the Indian psyche's never really believed that they can excel in the world sporting arena's. Players will trust their potential and having done before in a crunch situation they will know how to pace their innings or bowl an over as per the situation.

The IPL will give an opportunity for the Indian players to understand and learn from the other 'national' players how they approach a game. In any team we have a bunch of foreign players sharing the discussion table with the leading Indian national players and young ranji players. This will allow the young brigade to learn the best from the eastern & western way of thinking. They will quickly realise cricket these days demands both physical and mental fitness at its peak.


The IPL will also help the young brigade to learn about survival and performing at their best during crunch situation. This will immensely help them when they play the 50 over match during any tense situation. Players can learn to cope up with pressure during their Twenty20 matches and this learnt knowledge will help them a lot. Since experience is the best teacher in this world.

This will also be an opportunity for players from different sides to understand and enjoy each other cultures(hopefully the on field spat between Indian players and Aussie players will be the thing of the past)

If the above mentioned benefits turn to be true i am sure we will have yet another era in the history of the game in India. There was the Pre-1983 era(when India was yet another country playing the gentleman's game), the post-1983 era(when kapil's devils won the world cup against the mighty west indies) there by sowing the seeds which would later on thrust the Indian board to be the most powerful cricket broad in the world and now the IPL era.

Finally many many thanks from myself and from other cricket loving fans to the Indian team which went for 2008 world cup and the BCCI. If not for their disastrous tour and not playing a fair game in handling of the media rights respectively, we wouldn't have got the ICL and hence the IPL.

My first attempt

Ever wondered how some events in memory keep coming back at us, like a song in a repeat mode in the mp3 players. it has happened to me a lot of time, especially with songs. whenever my father or teachers in my school days scolded me, my mind would start playing some songs in a repeated fashion. as a result i wouldn't have listened to what they scolded me and again i would get scolding for not listening. Phew!!! what a life.

Well yesterday was a bit different. while i was trying to sleep in the early hours after finishing my work, my roommate was listening to a beautiful romantic song. i wondered how the poet could write such meaningful lyrics. i was amazed and awed by the choice of words and the way the poet played with simple but yet meaningful words.

so i got inspired and decided to write a simple poem, thinking about my latest and evergreen crush. :)


If was a poet, I would have written a poem about my feeling,
If I was an artist, I would have painted a picture describing my feelings,
If I was a sculptor, I would have sculpted my feelings
If I was a king, I would have commanded my citizens to do the above

But I am no one special dear, I don't know how to express my thoughts.
Wish you can enter my heart to find them out, but you are far away.
Wish you could see my eye to feel my emotional turbulence but you are far away.

What do I want,
I don't know
I want everything but yet cant take it
Why?
Because i haven't met you still.

Is my love peaking
I don't know since
No experience
I like this.

Power or responsbility

sometime back we had a heated discussion among my roommates, which comes first. power or responsibility. although the subject of discussion was different, the underlying theme was this.

consider the following scenario's

a person who is responsible alone can act and can prevent any loss of property or life, if the act involves him only. however if the damage is caused my some one else actions then this person can only fore warn but cannot prevent the other person from proceeding with his action.


now consider a person who has power ( administrative or political or muscle or financial) he can prevent or stop any person from causing any damage. but for that he should have the responsibility to stop another person / entities potentially damaging action. so power without responsibility can only do root cause analysis.

so i like to conclude that a person should first have the power and then the responsibility to prevent any damages from occurring.

pursuit of my biggest dream

have started studying for my GMAT. Hope to score above 730+. Wharton here i come.

Is this true

A different version of the Mac Vs PC ad, worth watching.
Watch it

Future Superpower

Throughout the history of time, there has been clear cut leading nation. Initially it was the Rome, Greek, France, Britain, and America. The cause for the superiority of these nations was because of their might in a certain field. The Rome because the first established the concept of armies. The Greek because of their intellect might. The France because of the French revolution. The British because of the industrial revolution, the Americans because of their edge in Science and Technology and in IT.

In the new century, which country will be able to dominate the world and join the above mentioned list? I am not so sure about which particular country, but with some amount of confidence I can say, which ever country is able to discover, innovate and implement an alternative form of energy suited for the mass will surely be the leader.
Scanning across the globe, I can the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) as possible contenders.

Out of these four, Brazil does have the head start in term of using ethanol as an alternative fuel. Then can Brazil lead the world. I don’t think so. Because the ethanol based fuel is being widely used in Brazil and some other pockets of the world. In order for Brazil to have a say in the world stage, the developed nations should start thinking about using ethanol, which is not going to happen in the near future, considering the clamor among the developed nations to have political influence in the oil rich countries. So Brazil can but difficult to become.

Russia, once part of the might soviet empire, which had missed it chances due to the break up of erstwhile USSR. Remained a marginal played in the world politics and started to nationalize all the oil companies. The price of crude oil was $20-$30 at that time. Now Russian economy is growing thanks to the peak in oil price ($60-$70) and the boost in service economy. Russians would not be encouraged to find alternative source of energy, since that will doom their current geo-political advantage.

China with its huge FDI and a trade surplus has got enough money to fuel the oil prices, to satisfy its growing economy. And through some shrewd negotiations they had managed to ink oil deals with African countries for exchange of Chinese investment in those countries. China in recent times, is a country of mass manufacturing with very little innovation, and discovery. Although Chinese invented a lot of things before the communism bug bit them, as a result that repository of knowledge is lost or hidden somewhere.

India, the biggest democracy in the world. One of the poster boys and the whipping boys of globalization, depending on whether you are affected or unaffected by globalization. During the last decade started the true economic reforms, and the Indian companies and Indian people have a new found optimism. Growth primarily fuelled by service sector although agriculture contributes roughly 22%. With an rising middle class of about 500 million, India doesn’t have any oil rich resources within its border. So it has to primarily depend on oil imports to fuel its economic growth. Rising international oil prices are wiping out the countries foreign exchange. Inorder to continue its economic growth, it is highly imperative for India to discover an alternate fuel. Any technology which succeeds in India, can be the solution to the whole world. Because for the Indian customers will accept things only if the product is cheap, cost effective and efficient, this is because of the various socio-economic strains prevalent in the Indian community. So I am placing my bets on India to lead the world in the quest for alternate fuel.

What are my odds?

Individuality

In my school days I used to hear a lot of stories from everyone. One of the stories is “The Snake and the Monk”.

In a remote village there lived a snake which had a bad habit of biting people as and when it wants, so many people died. As a result of this, the people of the village decided to kill the snake and started to chase the snake. During this chase, the snake and the villagers happened to cross the path of a Buddhist monk. Being a noble soul, and seeing the plight of the snake he requested the villagers to back off and talked to the snake.

The monk asked the snake why it is biting everyone unnecessarily. The snake told the monk, “If I don’t bite people then, these people will not be afraid of me and will kill me”. Upon hearing this monk asked the snake not to bite anyone unnecessarily since it results in loss of human life. The snake promised the monk that it won’t bite any human being unnecessarily. Satisfied with the answer, the monk continued his journey.

After few months, the monk happened to pass through the same village. He was astonished to see the same scene again, the snake being chased by a group of villagers. He stopped the chase and inquired what had happened. Soon he learnt that since the snake had stopped biting, people in the village grew less fearful about the snake and started harassing the snake. Looking at the pathetic condition of the snake, the monk asked the snake “why all this is happening?” The snake replied “Ever since people got knew of the promise the snake made to the monk, this has been a daily affair”. Then the monk said “you promised me not to bite, however you can still hiss at people” to show that you still have the venom and can be dangerous”.

Why did I think about this story suddenly? I don’t know. Extending the concept said to human beings, how can a person be assertive but at the same time make sure he is not bordering anger. How can a person make sure he is not treated according to the whims and fancies of other person? How can a human being “Hiss” but yet not “Bite” others. In short how can a person retain his individuality yet be flexible with others.

For now I can think of the following ways, it doesn’t matter what words you are using, what matters the tenor and harshness in the tone, because human being primarily being primates, body language is far more communicative rather than words.

Let me try this out in this open world, since for quite some time I have been branded as an ‘angry man’. If my existing network of people are able to realize a change in me or if the new people whom I may meet don’t brand me, then my solution is correct for my scenario.

Living a part of my dream

Phew life definitely takes you to places. After landing in USA, i had to learn everything from scratch.
Right from my early childhood i have a fascination for cars. Always dreamt of owing luxurious cars like Merc, Rolls Royce,BMW, Audi etc. Well suprises of suprises now i do own an Audi A4 model. what more can you ask in life right now. I am really living one part of my dream.

I call my car 'Jo', driving around with 'Jo' is definitely a great experince for me, especially when others praise 'Jo' i feel very happy deep inside.

Here i am

These past few have been really unique for me. Moved to a new place and a new country. Things are totally different here when compared to the place from where i had come from. Well i have landed in U.S.A. Wow what a country, i just couldnt help myself wondering whether am i really in US. This was one of my childhood dream. Today i am here. What a pleasant and eventful journey it has been so far.

Nothing is a constant

May 2004:

The congress party forms the government with its major pre-electoral alliance partners and names its government as UPA (inspired by the previous regime) much to the suprise of the urban indian.Yet another surprise was awaiting during the cabinet allocation.
The Indian railways(the white elephant) was given to one of the most charismatic and controversial indian politician Mr.Laloo prasad yadav.The indian railways financial health was neither too strong and nor many of the railway "experts" were willing to paint a rosy picture for the railways which was employing 1.6 million people.Mr.Yadav was given a ministry which not long ago(in fact in 2001) had deferred its dividend payment,whose fund balances had reduced to just Rs.350 cr and heading to a terminal debt trap.

The expectation was that Mr.Yadav can do nothing but watch and infact hasten the death of the white elephant, the world largest employer.

May 2006:

Mr.Yadav rises in the parliment to announce the railway budget for the year 2006-07.
There was a pleasant surprise waiting for the whole world and also for the major corporate chiefs, the white elephant has made one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the corporate history, under the able leadership of a rustic man, who was often ridiculed for his broken hindi jokes and his association with scams. The railways has a fund balance of Rs.11,000 crores and the internal generation before dividend has touched Rs 11,000 crores. Quite a remarkable turnaround in a short span of 5 years. Suddenly lalooji has become one of the darlings of corporate india and is one of the most sought after speakers in any corporate meetings. Infact the IIM-A, the most prestigious B-school in india, has decided include in its syllabus, the turnaround of the indian railways.And the topping on the cake is that, the whole of corporate india and the IIM-A students are awaiting for the day when Mr.laloo will deliver a speech, briefing about the turnaround of the indian railways.

Nothing is constant in this world, and especially if your in the public domain.

I'm Back

My humble apologies for staying away from blogging. Was preoccupied with the my professional work which had demanded almost 18 hrs per day. Now that i have completed it, i shall start blogging again. I am back far more wiser than earlier from the recent events in my life. Life surely is teaching me lots of things in a very short duration. Thank you mother nature.