My Take on Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - A God on Earth

"I have seen God. He bats at no. 4 in India in Tests." this aptly described words from Mathew Hayden testifies the stature of a five feet five inch 'God of Indian Cricket' or perhaps the biggest compliment would have been Sir Donald Bradman equating Sachin with himself. (I am not going into who is the greatest because both played in a different era). He almost gave sleepless nights to spin wizard Shane Warne.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar aka Tendlya when the whole world is baying for your retirement I, too at times as a human being fall prey to that. Perhaps after playing for twenty three long years the reflexes are not as great as they used to be, however you truly represent the aspirations of 1.2 billion Indians.  

A cricketing genius who started playing International cricket at a young age of sixteen years, incidentally the current breed of players like Gambhir, Dhoni were 8 years old, Rohit and Raina were two years old and Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja were just toddlers. 

Tendlya having amassed more than 30,000 runs in International cricket have always stood firmly to the ground and have steered cleared from any controversies which is very difficult for a man of his stature to stay for more than two decades. You were compared with Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Vivian Richards, Sir Brian Lara but you never allowed yourself to be compared to these greats you held these greats in great esteem. 

People often have called you the Richie Rich of Indian cricket and the money that you earn playing cricket is only a sort of pocket expenses, a report some time back screamed 'Tendulkar makes money more faster than his runs', but people have not seen the other side of you, a positive persona who always have been a great philanthropist and has helped several NGOs / charity houses raise funds for the deprived section of the society. 

If you were only running after money why else should you turn down a multi-crore deal with liquor baron Vijay Mallya of UB Group two years ago. You have always been categorical about what categories you will endorse and always have turned down offers from tobacco and alcohol companies.

In cricket you always have been an over achiever but the pressure of performing consistently at the top seems to be taking a toll on you which is affecting your concentration and the agility. What more proof you need to deliver despite century of centuries critics always have been expecting you to perform every time you come in to bat for India.

Critics have been clearly stating that Tendukar is in the evening of his career." performance of late has been below par and this is because the last century took a long time coming and this feat was associated with fatigue, but they do not understand your first century too took a long time to come and when it came there was no looking back.

We always have loved you Tendlya, and have immersed ourselves in cricket oblivious to the surrounding, cheered you whenever you have played for India or for Mumbai Indians. My love for Mumbai Indians is only because of you else I, have no other team to cheer for. Your shots have de-stressed million of fans and made us wonder in awe whether God has really ascended on earth. 

You are a source of inspiration, a heart beat of millions and always have been a  great sport, the recent reports that you spoke to selectors to decide whether they would like to play you or not for the third test against England is really disturbing. It is you who should decide when to hang up your gloves. People go to God to pray when they need any help, and the reverse will never be true.

Tendlya, having brushed shoulders with the like of Sunny Gavaskar, Kapil, Ravi Shastry, Sanjay Manjrekar would definitely know through their experiences how bad or worse it would be when somebody force you into retirement, having seen you play for more than twenty three years we know you will definitely choose the day like Rahul, Kumble, Srinath or laxman. 

Cricket lovers should ask why and not when and I, assure you along with me lot of avid cricket watchers will stop watching cricket the day you announce your retirement.

Green Marketing

GREEN MARKETING

The term Green Marketing is being used quite liberally in today's competitive world and is eyed as the future of marketing. Though the term Green Marketing is in vogue since the 80's it is still in a nascent stage and marketers are still to reach a critical mass and to remain forefront in the minds of the shoppers.

The new marketing approaches adopted by corporates speaks about Green, Environmental and Eco-marketing.

Let us understand What exactly is Green Marketing?

Green Marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, that includes Product modification, changes in the production process, packaging etc.

Green Marketing involves developing and promoting products and services that takes care of Quality, Performance, Affordable Pricing and Convenience without having a detrimental input on the environment.

Thus Green Marketing is the marketing of Products that is environmentally safe. Worldwide evidence indicates positive concerns shown by people about the environment but the grapevine is consumers are skeptical about the claims made by the companies however despite this people are changing their behaviour and Green Marketing has continued to gain adherents particularly int he light of adverse global changes.

The Green Marketing should constitute all the four P's of Marketing, today Green Marketing is increasingly is becoming inevitable for the companies.

Product – Made from recyled and used material, environmentally friendly and safe

Price – The Intially cost would be higher but helps in the long run.

Place – Logistic convenience will cut down on transportation emissions.

Promotion – environment friendly papers, usage of cloth / paper bags instead of plastics

As resources are limited, it is important for the marketers to utilise the resources efficiently without waste as well as to achieve the organisation's objective hence Green Marketing becomes inevitable. Also consumers are learning the importance of protecting the environment and are also trying to mould their behaviour.. As a result of which, Green Marketing has emerged as sustainable and socially responsible products and services.

Marketers should opt for Green Marketing as it not only provides them a competitive advantage but also helps them to sustain their profits in the long run apart from helping them find newer markets needless to mention it also serves as a cause to the society as Corporate Social Responsibility which many companies embracing it in India. Corporates are also embracing concepts like Car Pool, usage of natural lights or energy efficient products that help conserve lot of energy. Government is also trying to do their bit by converting public transport to CNG, giving preferences to solar powered products to encouraging companies who are in the business of battery operated vehicles.

The biggest challenge that Green Marketing faces are the requirement of renewable and recyclable material, requires a technology, that seeks huge investment in R & D, ‡and the biggest challenfe is majority of the corporates, consumers are not aware of green products and their uses ‡and hence are un-willing to pay a premium for green products.

Marketers would be wrong if they think customers are not concerned about environmental issues and hence will not pay a premium for products that are more eco-responsible. Green Marketing though still is in its infancy stage it needs to researched a lot to fully explore its potential.

To have a sustainable future corportates need to work on Green Marketing as businesses have a responsibility to satisfy human needs and desires while preserving the natural environment. Indeed, there are significant indications that environmental issues will grow in importance over the coming years and will require imaginative and innovative re-design and re-engineering of existing marketing efforts on the part of many businesses.

do we socialise more virtually rather than in reality.

While sitting at a waiting lounge at a client’s place alongside my colleague It suddenly dawned upon me there was hardly any communication happening between both of us as we both were busy playing with our handheld gadgets, sitting next to us were three executives of another organisation and they too were all busy with their gizmos least interacting with each other but very much active in a virtual world. This brings us to the point has gadgets really changed the way we think, act, interact, react, feel and do? Has it reduced interpersonal interactions?

It seems as if mobile phone owners are constantly chatting, texting, surfing the Web and playing games on their devices. I, wondered if the popularity of the hand held phones has caused people to become less social. After all, when people are busy with their handheld phones, they're not making small talk with the other people sitting next to them on the bus, train , public places etc.

People become reserved over time as they spend more hours plugged into their mobile phones. They forget, essentially, how to communicate with the strangers they encounter on the street. In the past, people would ask their bus or train mates how their days were going. Now, these same people will instead spend the entire commute reading sports scores or catching up on celebrity gossip with their smart phones browsers.

Until a few years ago we enjoyed our wait outside the client’s place, as along with our supervisors and peers we used to discuss about our industry, our organisation, the competition etc., which was enriching.  During the wait we were told how to make cold calling, managing  PR, ABC’s of maintaining relationship etc., and I, used to learn a lot when experiences were shared.

I, was taught the best way to spend time at a client’s waiting lounge is to pick up some books and read. Alas, today no books are kept at the waiting lounge, and in those places where it is still visible either a back dated issue are available or we ourselves are not interested in picking up the books. Today, however with the arrival of high end phones we are either busy sending mails or majority of our time is spent on social networking, we pretend to be very busy and display scant respect to others by continuously staring at the gadgets expecting a message to arrive every minute.

We text while we walk, drive, eat, there has been news that people have become Insomniac and some has developed the habit of texting even during their sleep. These days phones dominates our lives. Texting is also changing the importance of grammar and right spelling, causing many problems because people simply do not know how to write formally and accurately. IT is not a surprise when texting causes many problems both physically and mentally. 

We text even when the person we are contacting lives down the road or is at a longer distance,Grammar, spelling, syntax, abbreviation do not matter any more, which is why texting is largely popular with younger generation. Many people have expressed their concerns about the non-existence of grammar it seemed to have in our society in the present and text messaging is not helping to change the trend.

Are we then getting evolved negatively - A few years ago, people used to either meet for coffee stop by one's house or pick up the phone and call, today many people are more apt to learn or receive the latest news about one another through Facebook rather than from a personal inform. How many people learn about the happenings of family and friends online? even of those who live nearby? 

It is resulting in decreased face to face interaction, less phone calls, less one to one interaction (earlier during birthday's or marriage anniversary, we used to visit our dear and near ones, exchange greeting during festivals and share joy and happiness, but it is just a mere formality of sending a text message and greeting them). This significantly impacts interpersonal realtionship. Let's live out of this caged life and enjoy life to the fullest. Recently watched a marathi movie Ek Unaad Divaas, it teaches us how to enjoy life by living one day in a different way.

Tale of Udaipur's old city

On a recent visit to Udaipur was suggested an infamous hotel in old city for stay, Udaipur as we all know is city of lakes, known for majestic Palaces, many of those have been now converted to luxurious hotels and are the prime business of this city.

On reaching the city, the hunt for uncovering our hotel was initiated and I, began enquiring about the direction for reaching our terminus, traversing through narrow lanes for tracing the almost impossible location, this was in stark contrast from what we drove from Ahmedabad to Udaipur which is an excellent four lane highway road.  

At some point with no sight of the hotel I, parked my car and had to navigate through foot to discover the same. After discreet enquiries eureka I could locate ‘Hotel Tiger’ near Gangaur Ghat Chandpol. I wondered how Christopher Columbus would have stumbled upon America.

The roads leading to the hotel was not clean. Upon reaching the hotel I, was informed that this being an off-season they are not in a position to provide us any room service including tea/ coffee, breakfast, lunch etc. and we have to manage it on our own. To add to our already existing problems we were informed that they do not operate lift, and hence the only choice was to ascend the stairs, no parking space too sir was the reply. I was only blaming myself for such a choice of a hotel.

However on a closer look, I fell in awe of the property. The interiors were great as it was built on lines of a heritage property. Both the lobby and rooms were spotless. The white marble was sparkling and the ambience soothing. I wondered how in such a congested place they are able to manage and pull customers and run the hotel.

The whole marked was buzzling with activity. The way to the hotel was steered by a series of courtyards, overlapping terraces, corridors and gardens - a harmonic glut hard to describe. The place is housed with many antique articles, paintings, decorative furniture and utensils which would be attracting thousands of visitors every day and announcing availability of roof tops restaurants.

We have shops by the name of Bougainvillaea, Café Isaac with multilingual hoardings and this really caught my attention and to my surprise was made to understand that Gangaur ghat was earlier only visited by foreigners who used to spend months camping and visiting in and around places. Gangaur Ghat in Udaipur is the prime location for travellers, backpackers with lots of hotels, restaurants and cafes. This place is next to the famous City Palace and Bagore-ki-Haveli which is just walking distance away from the Ghat. This part of the city is beautifully restored and still holds the heritage of the ancient architecture.  I could still observe lot of foreigners walking across the streets.

For the convenience of foreign visitors all the hoardings had three or four foreign languages, infact the hotel menu card also had translation of names of food in four different languages. Incidentally all the hoardings screamed that they are recommended by Lonely Planet including the daily cooking classes.

The food that was dished upon was continental, Mexican, Korean and less of Indian. Cafe Edelweiss served continental dishes and sweets, Irish Coffee, Arabic Coffee, Cappuccino, Expresso, Mango crumble, Apple crumble, eggs, toast, Iced Tea.

I, was briefed that this entire area  experiences full visitors during winter season, majority of them being foreigners and the hotels are packed to their capacity and would be the best time of visit. The biggest surprise was the owner of the hotel was not an Indian but a German Gunther Maria Norrenburg settled in Udaipur for over a decade.

The purpose of writing this piece was though I, felt negativity at the first instance but there is so much to observe, learn and understand that this place can definitely be visited by families and would be a great place to spend and unwind.

A day in life at RTO

I, had the luxury of spoiling my smart card driving licence issued by RTO Gujarat State and upon enquiry was told that physically an individual needs to be present for obtaining a duplicate.

Earlier when I, had obtained the existing driving license, I had visited only the driving school and presto the driving license was handed over to me (only for formality sake had visited the RTO).

However I, was informed currently this practice has stopped and it is not possible to get it done through an agent as stringent and regular checks are in place, so I along with my colleague irritatingly reached Ahmedabad RTO only to find a huge queue already.

Reluctantly, grudgingly, or rather painfully we decided to endure the long queue, however during this ordeal I, had opportunity to observe a few interesting facts which made me ponder, even in such adversities how mankind looks for opportunities remember Sir Albert Einstein had quoted "In adversity lies opportunity."

In order to beat the heat, we had salesmen or rather sales women selling water in small pouches of Re. 1 each and for tea lovers like me, we had vendors selling tea, to idle our time groundnuts were being sold for munching, and while observing all the above suddenly I, could spot rag pickers coming to pick the empty plastic water pouches for re-selling it to vendors.

A gentleman came to sell smart looking covers for keeping the Smart Card intact without getting spoilt, another gentleman walked in with a pack of visiting cards specifying an address of nearby shop and urging people to laminate their old or new smart cards guaranteeing a longer shelf life.

A realisation dawned on me that a whole lot of entrepreneurial activities do happen around us without us, even realising it or that matter even the RTO authorities would not have realised how much entrepreneurship they must have generated.

This particular experience was unique; I could never imagine such experience could come from these sets of people. Here I, wish to borrow the words of the ancient Roman philosopher, Horace: “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant”.

Luxury was mentioned in the first line because it gave me a good learning

Sports and Marketing

What a nerve wracking match the Vth and final decider match between India and South Africa turned out to be yesterday.

Finally the better team won; the lessons to be taken from yesterday’s game are grit & the positive attitude that differentiate men amongst the boys. How a single individual with the right positive approach, attitude, and passion can weaken a strong opposition.

The result was a foregone conclusion, the point that needs to be pondered are how Yusuf Pathan played mind game against the opposition; out playing them even though the chips were heavily loaded in favour of the opposition, speaks volume of what an individual can do. The grit and determination he displayed has to be commended.

I, am not here to analyse the plus and minuses of the game but how relevant games are in our day to day context and this made me sit up and analyse how games can be closely related to our sales and marketing lives.

The key attributes could be

 Confidence
 Discipline
 Focus
 Goal direction
 The drive
 Ambition
 Mental Toughness

We can probably deduce that the same characteristics apply to successful people in marketing, Sportsmen always are always on a lookout for a way to get an edge on their competition. A sound mental training can often make the difference between a winner and a loser.

Same techniques can help a marketing personnel to become more successful in both business and life. There are studies documenting the performance improvement that comes from spending 5-10 minutes a day visualising an upcoming competition.

Think about the performance improvements that could occur. It could make the difference between you and your competitors, or even between you and a peer going for the same promotion, no wonder Yusuf Pathan is the second highest paid player in IPL.

Sports can be a great metaphor for business, but we can and should apply more than just a story about a favorite player or team. If you want to get an edge on your competition, utilize some of the same techniques Sportsperson do.

We always crib that the targets are high and is un-achievable and whatever has been decided and handed over to us is from the perspective of the top management, the management is impractical, they do not understand the practical problems faced by Sales people in the field etc etc., thank God Pathan did not think negatively like that; else he single handedly would not have turned the match against proteas and made it more interesting; and worth the watch.

Reminded of one more old school of though “ Fortune favours the brave”

Yeh hain Mumbai Meri Jaan

It has been over a dozen years since I left Mumbai in the quest for both personal and professional life in a city that was unknown to me or even my entire generations of family could even think of, a city that was known to have only three climate, Bad, Very bad and “Ahmedabad”.

Without even knowing the “A” of “Ahmedabad” I, set of enthusiastically only to meet a friend for life “Murali” in Karnavati train itself (my tryst with train continued). We knew immediately that we have found in each other a friend for life. He was ever ready to help and a lot of credit goes to him for helping me to settle in this unknown city right from finding a hotel to stay till the set up of our first house.

Ahmedabad was polluted and the driving sense was pathetic (I should say it is still pathetic) with drivers pointing their legs as a signal when taking a turn; even the drinking water was heavy. There was no public transport and all were travelling in either their own two or four wheelers. I was told if I do not have a two wheeler it would be impossible to survive in this city. Left with no choice I purchased my first two wheeler (Kawasaki Bajaj) and learnt to ride, subsequently after a few years also learnt to drive a four wheeler (when I upgraded from a two wheeler to first free car of my life a FIAT of my editorial colleague Manas Dasgupta).

In Mumbai our life revolved around either a 7.55 AM or a 7.59 AM suburban local train for office and on our return journey it was a 7.36 PM or a 7.47 PM train. Local trains are the main life line and it was survival of the fittest, even a fraction of minute late the train would have chugged the railway station with your daily train-friends. We used to rue and dread thinking of even missing our daily specific local train.

In Ahmedabad life was terribly slow, laid back and to top it the Corporates were un-professional and it was very difficult to adjust with the professional background that I carried. Any business deal revolved only on contacts but yes the biggest advantage was because of the reduced travel time I had quality time to spend with my soul mate and friends. Families till date spend evenings together, as this is considered a luxury in a place like Mumbai (unless you are lucky to stay near your office).

During my initial days in Ahmedabad I stayed in a hotel named “Metropole” opposite a prominent landmark of the area – Bijli Ghar and from there I used to commute to the office. I found two generous media-friends in Rajesh and Rutesh; who used to work in Anand Bazaar Patrika group then, and they were a great help to me.

Slowly I, got accustomed to the customs and tradition of this city and I, was ably helped by all citizens of Ahmedabad be it in personal life or professional life. Like there is a saying in Mumbai - Mumbai absorbs and gives a fresh lease of life to all newcomers who come to the city on a look out for a livelihood, similarly Ahmedabad absorbed me.

In Ahmedabad I started visiting residences of media friends and used to be in regular touch. Slowly Ahmedabad also became fast paced (though it will never match the pace of Mumbai) but yes the entire skyline of this city has changed for good, the roads, the infrastructure, the attitude, and the professionalism (though still a few people will never learn that). The pollution levels have come down drastically, and for experiencing Ahmedabad you will have to visit and feel this city to experience Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) which by far is the best in our country.

In Ahmedabad after a few years I got introduced to a community member Mr. Ramani and since then have been involved in lot of socio-religious programme and would want “Shree Asthika Samaj” to achieve greater heights in days to come. Through the samaj I, came in contact with many like-minded fellow South Indians and we will always want to be under a single umbrella for the betterment of community.

So Ahmedabad has definitely given me many things which I cherish. I used to frequently visit Mumbai and recently re-visited Mumbai for four days and this trip became a revelation. I was reminded of the good old days of catching the train on time and had to travel during the first two days by the 7.29 am, the 3.33 pm, and the 6.46 pm local which actually refreshed all the memories of Mumbai and reminded me about the time I spent in this wonderful city.

We really miss those deadlines of running after public transport like train; buses etc life in Mumbai was always great. It was always survival of the fittest in Mumbai, you love it or hate it but the local train is indeed your true friend

During this trip, I also, was fortunate enough to meet my childhood chums Sunil, Kishore and Francis and felt truly elated.

Suddenly I felt I was never away from this city. It was almost a decade that I spent away but Mumbai remained with me forever. I always used to think that if I stay longer away from Mumbai I, will slowly start forgetting Mumbai but somebody has rightly said you can take a person away from Mumbai but Mumbai cannot be taken away from him (the Mumbaikar in me still remains). Mumbai is the place where I met my soul mate who really has played a bigger role in changing our life (Seen the Hindi remake “Saathiya” – perhaps the Tamil movie (Alaipayuthey) director Mani Ratnam took leaf or rather was inspired from our story and he is a celebrity), this could possibly summarise why a Mumbaikar life revolves around Local train. Saluting 157 years of local train service in Mumbai.(NEXT TAKE ON RAINS AND MUMBAI)

The Indian Rupee

The Government on Thursday 15, July 2010 adopted a new symbol for the rupee that shall be used henceforth to represent the Indian currency in all written and electronic communication worldwide thus joining the elite club of currencies such as UK's pound sterling, US dollar and the Japanese Yen that are identified by a symbol.

The Indian Government is of the opinion, with this the Indian rupee will also be seen as a distinct entity from its name sakes in the neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, where either rupee or rupaiah are in vogue.

The question to ponder is are we not already different than these countries? and these countries have grown at our own expense and more so as an off shoot of our country.

The old adage “Every coin has two sides” a few citizens may speak for it and a few may against, but as a true Indian nobody would doubt the reasons beyond the making of the symbol.

When we speak about Indian economy do we really need this facial make over?

Will this have any impact to the vast majority of Indians who strive to have the basic necessity i.e. the “Roti, Kapda aur Makaan …” these, three words that have been used often by the leaders of our country to convince people of their priorities and to show the masses that they care? But sadly, more often than not, such promises have remained just words and nothing beyond.

Though our economy has grown over the last 60+ post Independence years and we have achieved a lot; but the rich - poor divide still remains. We still have not made a difference in the lives of millions of our citizens.

Today the need is more than ever for both the private and the Government sector to take this challenge and work together in cooperation and contribute to make a small difference in the lives of citizens and this would surely go a long way in creating a strong India.

Nevertheless it is a very bold move and we all should congratulate ourselves and wish the rupee creates its own identity and really become a leader as compared to other currencies.

Embracing Change

From a single page newspapers and silent movies to single screen theatre to television to cable TV invasion to internet content on one’s fingertips the media is undergoing a rapid evolution. We talk about the shrinking global village but the true potential of media and its reach is yet to be unleashed.

It has already begun with the fast changes on all fronts of digital media including improvement in handset features, network bandwidth and quality & variety of content. Mobile has fast evolved from just being a device to talk to a centerpiece of our lives. Smartphones with better operating systems, high-speed Internet networks, falling prices and a plethora of content will fuel the mobile boom.

As if all these were not enough, the zeal to make the device more user-friendly introduction of Wi-Fi enabled phones that can connect to the selected Wi-Fi hot spots. The Wi-Fi enabled phones are now the most happening thing seeking to grow with time.

Now with the advent of 3G, the mobile penetration level India is perfectly poised to leapfrog the internet revolution to land directly into the mobile broadband revolution.

e-mailing options have made man completely mobile and also the additional features like allowing the user to attach files and documents that they have worked upon in their Office and business applications, are also installed onto their mobile. Technologies like GPRS, EDGE, and Bluetooth have become more user friendly.

The biggest advantage of mobile marketing is that since the message is delivered on the mobile phone, a personal device, the target respondent ends up taking notice of the campaign and this can add to the campaign effectively.

The other sweeping changes happening in mobile world is that of Viral distribution as it is the key to growing online web services, moreover it provides a very low user-acquisition cost. Without viral distribution PC-based online services like facebook would never have been able to grow to the level that they have without huge investment in marketing.
Marketers are integrating Viral marketing mechanisms with social networking sites like Facebook mainly through developing facebook application which can be promoted within the news feeds or through mass invites

Advertisers are clamoring to reach teens in digital environments because that's where they're spending much of their time either online, with cell phones or playing video games, the biggest innovation being handsets are getting thinner by the day and in the next few years, cell phone networks will move data at several megabits per second, and will coexist with WiMax, and Wi-Fi. Geographic ads targeting to teens via the phone is expected to explode in the coming years.

Yahoo is banking on mobile devices for future growth particularly in Asia as consumers leapfrog cumbersome computers to access the Internet via feature packed handheld gadgets.

The analog-to-digital conversion will make it possible for teens to watch live TV on portable devices. The technology will help the television networks target programming to specific audiences, and that will buoy the cost of advertising,

Just as we learn ABC in Kindergarden the Value Added Service (VAS) business model in our country also has started by identifying the ABC genres i.e. Astrology, Bollywood and Cricket. The first wave of applications was focused on ABC since the consumers were exploring mobile as a medium and were getting used to it. In the first wave of mobile VAS, service providers could get away with sending the same content to the large and varied Indian population e.g. Bollywood content to every user whether he is in Kanyakumari or Kashmir. However users are now looking for varieties of content tailored to suit their individual tastes. All in all there is business in addressing the long tail of customers also.

In the age of convergence the prominent growth driver of VAS would be the consumer’s desire of getting more from their mobile phones. In our country where culture plays a very prominent role and each of the 28 states is as different as a country the regional content will give a big boost to VAS market. The bigger challenge will be to generate relevant content catering to both regional and language differences.
TV channels and FM Channels have already joined the bandwagon, all the big TV channels have started sending their contents through short codes and the success can already be gauged by the increasing reality shows in India.

Infact we have barely scratched the surface of the Mobile, it is perhaps the most important screens in our lives today.

The great Indian Paise League (IPL) Tamaaaaaaaaaaaasha !

Eat cricket, sleep cricket and watch bollywood biggies! This seems to be the new formula for the citizens of India with IPL being the centre of attraction.

It contains too little of cricket. It is really impossible to be loyal to one team and hence the support to any specific team also dwindles. Earlier we used to feel that cricket is the ultimate winner and not any players or their franchisees. IPL despite all its hype, glamour, and money, is considered as 'The Circus in the Garb of the Cricket". Many Cricket greats do not consider T20 as real cricket. And the Indian Premiere League (IPL) has taken the Twenty20 (T20) to new heights; (the faster and higher you rise the bigger the fall). Kindly recollect the famous quote from the not too famous Vinod Ganpat Kambli “he took the elevator and I took the stairs” when he was compared to the legendary Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
Maybe Lalit Modi is taken a cue from it and has climbed the elevator and has pressed the button and is speeding with utmost speed. IPL having entered in its third edition has already over-grown in to a full size adult. In practical parlance a three year old just learns to walk wherein here IPL is already not walking but running in full speed sans any break
A few Star cricketers have quit the International Cricket (Test & ODI) to make them available for Indian Premiere League (IPL). This shows the tendency of international players that they prefer playing in the Indian Premiere League (IPL) than playing for their national teams.
With so much fun, exposure and too much money our young Indian Cricketers are bound to prepare for the Twent20 (T20) Cricket instead of going for a Test Cricket or ODI Cricketer. After all, Indian Premiere League (IPL) provides them with the short-cut to success, money and fame!
The players will never feel that they are representing the country. The owners of each franchisee are looking for only profits and the game has become too commercialised. The love for sports has got lost and the most watched and talked about game is loosing its sheen courtesy one man who will enter in to the record books for bringing disrepute to this game and will be solely responsible for killing Cricket.
With the impending T20 world cup majority of our players are either injured or not fully match fit which again would be a huge disadvantage for cricket lovers as we can see our team not performing to their best. But who cares as long as they make money for themselves rather than the pride of playing for the country.
From the viewer’s point of view - the entire six balls cannot be viewed unless you oblige yourself forcefully to watch those un-wanted advertisement. Earlier we used to blame our state owned Doordarshan for being unfair towards its viewers but today we grudgingly watch cricket in between advertisements.

Earlier IPL had one strategic time-out and in this season we have two in between the innings so that IPL can relay more advertisements. The third umpire also I believe has been told to take his own time before giving his verdict because it gives that much more opportunity for the sponsors to display their advertisements.

IPL is finding more and more means of making money be it airing it across big cinema theaters promising ad free viewing (except strategic time-out) but we did watch a few advertisements in between the overs too.

To sum it up I am not completely against this tamasha there have been a few good new finds too however the most positive factor which everyone will agree with me is our own DADA’s acrobatic fielding and catching which we could only dream of when he was playing for the country.

Lalit Modi will find himself in the record books for demolishing test cricket – Lalit Modi tussi great ho ! Indian cricket ka tohfa kabool karo !

Golden Memories

Sunday while glancing through a newspaper, I came across an advertisement issued by a leading retail store in Ahmedabad offering Philips “Walkman” free on purchase of Laptops… Yeah you heard it right it was indeed WALKMAN.

Walkman in the era of iPods it was a bit surprising.

Thirty years ago, the device was revolutionary changed the way people listened to music. It created the portable media player market. Three decades on, however, Sony is struggling against rivals such as Apple, which has enjoyed immense success with its iPod music player. While people celebrate Walkman’s 30th birthday, I wonder what makes iPod a dominant player instead of the original Sony Walkman?

The reasons could be many including simple interface, large capacity, visually attractive etc etc. Similarly how many products can we recollect that has faded in to oblivion or which has succumb to advancement of Technology.

Mobiles over Pagers,
Telephone over the Telegraph,
CD Roms over Floppy disk,
DVD over Video Home System (VHS),
CD’s over Cassette Players,
LCD over Flat TV over ordinary Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Television,
Digital Watches over Manual,
Motorcycles over Scooters (Market Leader closing down the production of Scooters),
Multiplex over single screen theatres,
Computers over Electronic Typewriter over Manual Typewriter,
The Central Processing Units (CPU), The Operating System (OS) gets replaced every moment. Broadband over dial-up,
needless to mention email replacing writing handwritten letters.

During the 80’s when the concept of VCR found its way in our country we used to rent it along with VHS Cassettes for the entire 24 hours and used to watch movies at a stretch as the vendors were always in demand and even an hour delay was huge loss to them. The best thing was that it was not only our family but also the neighbours and well-wishers who used to pour even at odd hours to have a glimpse of the movie. For the entire 24 hours no body slept; the only agenda was to view all the four / five movies prior to handing it back to the vendor. Food was also consumed at the same place. People were vying for laying hands on the prized VCR system for a mere 24 hours. We had to book at least a week to ten days in advance and at times the wait list was endless. Today we have approximately five movies in one DVD but hardly time to watch.

Same applies to landline connection and LPG Cylinders too, as possession of these two utility items was an achievement in itself. We used to wait for years to get the allotment; if any family were allotted either of the two connections the whole colony used to celebrate it like a big festival. Upon allotment the initial few days the phone was rarely off hook as we used to inform the allotment (like the arrival of a new baby) to the entire world.

Pagers another prized possession - the entry of Pagers opened flood gates to mobile revolution, people possessing it behaved like they have found the golden nectar. With the arrival of Mobiles phones the neo-rich started flaunting it and their were eager on lookers who used to stare them as if they were from an alien planet, Alas with the advent of Mobiles, Pagers being a one way communication was phased out.

VHS - The earlier VHS were bulky and there were storage issues too; however CD’s / VCD’s & DVD’s have conveniently replaced them. Latest Technology that is being talked about is Blu Ray.

LCD’s have addressed a big issue like huge TV Stand and storage space, now it conveniently sits on our walls and has become a part of fashion accessory. Sleek Laptops are launched by Zero figure bollywood actresses.

Earlier post-offices were the only place where people used to swarm to make trunk calls, book their calls in advance and had to wait in queue for their call to get through. With the advent of STD Booths a few of the call traffic from post-offices were diverted, people used to throng the STD booths after ten in the night as the call charges were one fourth but the network was always busy because of heavy traffic. With the arrival of Mobile phones slowly and steadily the peak and non-peak time merged and the call traffic was distributed evenly. Cut to the current scenario the existing network operators have brought the world at one place by a press of button.

Will there be takers for the free Walkman?

Salesman by Chance not by Choice

Professionally Doctors, Engineers are poles apart however according to me it is always a Synonym when it comes to a respectable position in our society.

Right from childhood these two golden words are etched in our memory and we often find parents stating that their son/daughter will either become a Doctor or an Engineer as if there is no other noble profession in this world.

Infact kids learn to say Doctor, Engineer prior to even learning their own native language. Parents often take pride when a visitor enters their house by posing a very intelligent question to their ward “beta what would you like to become when you grow up”? and the poor child will unknowingly babble the above two golden words which will make the parents the happiest in the world.

This makes me ponder over my profession – Sales.

Interestingly I have deduced as under – “You become a salesman by chance not by choice”. Selling is rarely a first choice in anybody’s career. No parents ever wants his ward to become a salesman, it’s always an Engineer, Doctor and now the latest fad MBA.

Sales as a profession come second only to being an IITian or an alumnus of any B School. Right from early childhood it is imbibed in our system that education is all. Failure of not making to either the coveted Engineering or medical college was tsunami of everybody’s lives.

Sales job requires you never to take a no for an answer. It is not tough but a demeaning job, one that requires a thousand deaths for the ego and yet one has to pick oneself up and move on again. While many crumble under the pressure of meeting sales target and fall by the wayside, a few learn to be up for any challenge. The high of closing a sale can be addictive.

In Medical parlance there is a word CME (Continuing Medical Education) which is true for each salesman too. A Salesman life is also a CME i.e. Conviction Motivation, and Enthusiasm. Everyday the life of a salesman starts with the above three magical words similar to oft-repeated three magical words “I Love You”. A Salesman has to foremost love himself and once when we start loving self then the life will have a different meaning.

A Salesman’s career is not demeaning as it has a flip side too – it makes you an expert in human behaviour as you can gauge a client’s reaction by the body language. A salesman can manipulate a situation in his favour, they can be diplomatic as the sales traits don’t wear off after work. A salesman carries his hat even after work.

As I am entering my 20th year of Sales as a Career I have lot of positives and negatives, lot of plusses and minuses, but the plusses will far outweigh the minuses (negatives) and whatever I am today is entirely credited to my learning as a salesman be it in my earlier industry or the present industry. Needless to mention I too had my own share of bruised egos but when I look back I only have one thing to say – laugh it away my friend as laughter is the best medicine. While penning this I am hearing my son singing a two decade old song “ Papa Kehte hain bada naam karenga, beta hamara aisa kaam karenga…………………………. magar

People whom we loved to hate

Just as light without darkness, good without evil, a plot with hero and no villain would have no significance.

Not everyone can send shivers down the spine with the query, 'Kitne aadmi the? Samba', Jo dar Gaya samjo mar Gaya, quite like the actor could – Amjad Khan (Sholay).

Mona darling, issey 'Liquid Oxygen' mein daal do liquid issey jeene nahi dega aur oxygen isse marne nahi dega.? 'Saara shaher mujhe Loin ke naam se jaanta hai' all the more memorable with a special liking for the Lilys and Monas of the world – Ajit (Kalicharan)

Prem naam hai mera - Prem Chopra' (Bobby), adding a new dimension to devilish roles,

Mogambo Khush Hua – Amrish Puri (Mr. India),

Pran as Gajendra in Ram aur Shyam,

The cocky eyed Lalita Powar (the mother of all mother in laws),

Jeevan – the cute looking cunning old man,

Premnath - Rai Saab (Johny Mera Naam), Sanyasi, Kalicharan, Vishwanath

K N Singh - a gentleman type of villain

Madan Puri, Nadira, Shashikala, Bindu, Aruna Irani, Utpal Dutt

All played their part to such perfection that they could generate an amount of hate amongst audiences. Love them, hate them but you simply could not ignore them.

The hero of India’s historic World Cup triumph in 1983, Mohinder Amarnath, admits he was nervous before the final - but drew inspiration from the Bollywood blockbuster Sholay to get over the jitters of playing against two-time champions West Indies in the title clash.
“I remembered the famous dialogue of Sholay — jo dar gaya so mar gaya. I told myself that it was my day and I had nothing to lose,” said Amarnath, who was adjudged Man of the Match in both the semi-final and the final.
Such was the impact of yester year’s villain.

Apart from the above mentioned most loved people several other actors tried a hand in becoming the baddies of bollywood, like Ranjith, Danny Denzongpa, Kulbhushan Kharbanda in Shaan, Anupam Kher as Dr. Dang in Karma, Bad Man Gulshan Grover in Ram Lakhan, Raj Babbar, Kadar Khan, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Mohan Agashe, Nana Patekar, Dalip Tahil, Sayaji Shinde, Naseerudin Shah, Paresh Raval all had their taste of success but none could match the success of the above mentioned baddies who became legends of bollywood

We long to hear those patented dialogues like Kutte Kaminey mein tera khoon pee jaonga, agar ma ka dudh piya hain to samne Aa, Police ne tumhe charon taraf se gher liya hain – apne aap ko kannon ke haawale kar do I believe somewhere we have lost them.

Today, truly there has been a huge transition of villains in the silver screen, a gradual shift is happening by the anti-hero category in Shahrukh Khan (Darr), Ashutosh Rana (Dushman), Suniel Shetty (Dhadkan), Akshay Kumar (Ajnabee), Sanjay Dutt (Khalnayak), Kajol (Gupt), Priyanka Chopra (Aitraaz), Nana Patekar (Apaharan), Saif Ali Khan (Okmara), Irfaan Khan (Maqbool), Manoj Bajpai (Satya), Ashish Vidyarthi, Naseerudin Shah, Mohan Agashe, all do not look like the monsters of yester-years cinema.

The difference between hero and villains have vanished now, today it would be wrong to term these actors as bollywood villains. They are rather anti-heroes or heroines which

Where are the villains?

Happy Teachers Day

Having accidentally bumped into each other I was fortunate enough to meet him a year back at Ahmedabad.

It was a moment of glory, a kind of celebration, a sense of achievement. I stood staring at him in disbelief, probably revering. I pinched myself hard and reiterated Is this the same gentlemen who ripped me apart way back in 1994 ?

Memories flashed immediately - I was studying my PG Diploma in Management Studies from Jamnalal Bajaj University of Management Studies. During the second semester we had a Professor who taught us a dreaded subject called as Marketing Management. He had given us a group project to study the impact of new launch of Soaps by two giants Evita by Godrej and Le Sancy by HLL.

Being our first major project and from a Professor having a Marketing background we did not want to leave any stone unturned. We wanted to prove ourselves that we are the best. At that time the Professor had served with big organisation like Blow Plast Ltd, Puma Ltd and were told that he had worked in product development closely with a few advertising agencies too.

We did our best in this project to study the desired impact of the new launch by designing a questionnaire. I still remember we filled majority of the questionnaire by standing in the Church gate sub-way opposite Eros Theatre and our target audience were young office goers who were to mention their individual experiences regarding the product usage post launch. This questionnaire were filled when they were returning back home from their offices in the evening.

Having worked harder and after making a detailed analysis we were to present the project in the class. At that time access to computers were at premium and only one classmate from our group was having a hands on experience on computers. For me computer usage was like climbing Mount Everest without any preparation.

The D-Day arrived, having submitted the hard copy to the professor we were to present our findings in front of the class. Our group was a bunch of youngsters who were vibrant but not confident enough to face the class (a classic case of stage fear). We huddled together to decide on who will bell the cat. With no consensus arriving, I probably because of over-enthusiasm dared to volunteer and present the case. During those times there were no television programmes like ‘Khatron Ke Khiladi’ else Akshay Kumar would have easily crowned me the winner and would have rewarded me for taking such a huge risk. I stood first in the race where no other person ran.

The presentation began, having no experience of stage and computers I started reading whatever was mentioned in the soft copy. The enthusiasm was there but the confidence was slightly drifting away the stage fright catching on me finally, at that time I only had one line of thinking -finish the presentation as early as possible.

Least realising that I am running in to an experienced marketing person my luck ran in to rough terrain as the Professor was not only vigilant but alert, true to his designation, qualification and his experience.

After reading out 2-3 slides he interrupted me and enquired whether our group has anything to say apart from what is mentioned in the hard-copy and when I answered in negative, he asked us to end the presentation abruptly and showering his choicest blessings on us asked us to leave the class and ripped us apart for wasting his time and making the process of presentation a mere joke.

We were in a state of disbelief; having worked hard on the project we never dreamt that we would falter at the end and thereby pouring cold water on all our exercise. But this experience changed my attitude; I had two choices on the treatment meted on us
a)Overcome stage fear and improve my presentation skills and be confident always
Or
b)Feel insulted and keep sulking the whole life.

I am glad I choose the former and am very thankful to Professor Isaac Jacob because if he had not ripped me apart on that day I would not be penning this and would not have been what I am today.

Thank you Sir. I will never forget that day’s learning. I have learnt a lot in these 15 years. Also wherever/whenever I, have been provided an opportunity to address young turks who also experience the same feeling that they are not in a position to face an audience I, do mention my learning experience probably reiterating that its miles to go before I sleep.

HAPPY TEACHERS DAY.

Life Sans Mobile Phones

The Wait at customer care centre of ‘Nokia’ seems to be unending and was getting on my nerves. Each passing moment was like a walk through a desert, a never-ending wait. My Mobile instrument had gone dead and here I was at the mercy of the Customer Care Executive who took the mobile handset; with a precision like a surgeon started operating it; he took the mobile handset along with his own time. With his every move on the handset, my Heart Beat started pumping. A few minutes later into it and then came the big bad Breaking news “ Sir your Mobile instrument cannot be serviced here and it needs to be sent to L1 and the same shall post servicing handed over to you not before two weeks, and sir the most important fact "all the data that was in the handset shall be lost”. What a caring statement from a Customer Care Executive. The way the message was conveyed - matter of fact, with no alternative solution suggested for saving the data, really broke me. Immediately my mind started wandering like the inaugural paragraph of Chandamama comic (Vikram and Betaal) – Dark was the Night and Weird the Ambience (atmoshphere). Eerie laughter of Ghosts followed by howling of Jackals and flashes of lightning revealed a very serious face. The thought of even imagining that I have lost close to 700 contacts and cannot retrieve them sent shiver down my spine; I stood simply starring at the customer care executive as a mute and hapless spectator who could do nothing except hoping a miracle of sorts that his Brahma vakhya does not turn true. Lot of un-answered question criss-crossed my mind. How will my customers / friends / relatives contact me? and vice-versa. It was all happening in a span of a minute. Suddenly my head started feeling tizzy and I had to drink two full-chilled glass of water to soothen my nerves. I felt terribly let down. With steps retracing backwards like a man fully drunk and not in his senses I reached home forgetting that it was from my office that I had come to the store. I started searching high and low to lay hands on a old Mobile instrument that was lying unused for years; Eureka I found it and inserted the Sim card and Lo!! walked out of my home like a man possessed. A man celebrating victory as if I have single handedly won the cricket world cup for my country. Still I did not have anybody’s contact number including my life- partner of 11 years. I could imagine how a new born baby would feel on the first day of his arrival - the world knows his identity but he does not know anybody. Which makes me ponder how much we depend on an instrument called Mobile Phone and how it has spoilt our habits. How we all have become a slave of this. I remember earlier we used to remember lot of phone numbers or jotted down on a small diary and now for each and every thing we fully bank on mobile memory forgetting that we too used to or still has one. With the invention of mobile phone our writing habits are also fast fading because a Mobile instrument has all the possible facilities in the world. We become so impatient when for a longer duration we do not receive a phone call and in between start staring at the mobile phone wondering whether the network or the battery is in its place. Its arrived The Mobile Phone and it is there to stay. It has become a necessary evil. With a mobile instrument at your disposal you can be reached at any point of the day; the caller is least bothered whether you are in the right frame of mind to speak to him. It doesn’t matter whether you are having your lunch, sleeping or whether you are attending a funeral. All mobile etiquettes goes for a toss when you are immersed in a movie / concert / social functions, suddenly the mobile insturment rings and the receiver happily oblivion to his surrounding starts disturbing others by speaking loudly for others to hear (intentionally/ unintentionally unknown). Another example is when we are air borne. The poor crew members keep on requesting passengers by repeatedly announcing passengers to switch off the mobile phone as it interferes with the navigation system but we are least bothered with the security aspect. You need to feel the fetish of passengers who announce their arrival prior to the flight coming to a complete standstill. We can hear continuous beep of phones and majority of the passengers get thoroughly immersed in their conversation either informing their arrival at a new place and conveying the same back home. Let us imagine a scenario dozen years back when there was no mobile instruments we were traveling and existing that time too. In today’s context the richest person in the world will be the person who does not own a mobile handset but still exist. He is free from all the tensions of the world. The mobile phone unfortunately in today’s world has become part and parcel of common man and ironically I can say that today the basic necessity is not confined to only the basic three needs i.e. Roti, Kapda Aur Makan but we can gleefully add one more necessity evil – the damn mobile phone (OOPS I should not call it Damn lest it gets angry and conks off again) ({also see the attached video about multi-taksing i.e conversing while driving}------------- oh no not again.