I recently saw a South Park video where one of its characters is trying to run away from Facebook but everyone around seems to make his life difficult by making him join it. He finally lands up making a Facebook page and gets stuck in a vicious circle of networking. Where his father asks him will you be my friend? Girlfriend says why is your status single? Do you plan to flirt with girls online? Dying grandma wants her grandson to be friend with him on Facebook ; last wish !! wooh wooh wooh !
Facebook has transformed the way we live our lives. FARMING online, virtual pets , poker games all at a place and all that ruled by the warring mafias. The degree of your life being cool is decided by the display picture you put and the number of them you get tagged in. If u are the intellectual group u calculate the notes u r tagged on, or the cool parties you attend if u r the hep n happening!
The dilemma i was always in was the relationship status. You are in a relationship wid someone; what if you break up? The whole world knows about the dirty fights. If you are single the quizzes u talk speak for you. The one day lover and 1 day frens and the anita’s horoscope and fortune cookies is all u hog on?!!!
The world knows you are unwell, angry irritated , happy , frustrated .I accept social networking sites r the best place to advertise yourself but r u sure some1 wants to buy a crying baby ?
Friday, April 23, 2010
Ads can sell anything?
The ocean of creativity emerges on the television; the serials have lesser slots than ads. As a matter of fact, ads somewhere over power the hold serials have. People remember the ad more than the product and that’s where the story begins.
Do ads actually sell the product? The answer can be subjective, objective anything because the topic in itself is so multi dimensional that u can actually not say yes or no at one place but at some places just a yes or no is enough.
Considering first how the subjective aspect of analysing the ad sales there can be so many examples to justify that it does not work. For instance the Happydent White ads; the larger than life concept and out of box thought process, but the big question gets an answer from its sales figures which did not move the graph pointers even a little. Yes the ad agency definitely got Cannes Awards for its creativity but the bottom line was; no, it did not work. The much hyped and loved cute white Zoozoo’s also dint do much for Vodafone that what it did for itself. Pug drove the Vodafone pointer behind it, and incidentally got lost in the woods where it came from.
Big money wasted but brand value intact. That’s what ads are all about for biggies the industries, isn’t it?
On the other hand ads have always worked objectively for smaller brands. As Keppler says in his one of his books on advertising basics, the new emerging brands need to make their stand in market and then the advertising plays the prime role in selling it. Hand sanitizer when launched did not click the market, simply because the concept of using some oil to kill germs on your hand was somehow difficult to convince but it did work. Products which know what their target market looks like knows where and what and how to market it. The classic example was LIFEBOY; it had to reach the rural masses and it did it. Selling the RED colour which symbolizes danger was sold to them saying ‘this was a sign of danger for the germs.’
For the products that are first of its kind and unique make the best of this. They get to be the stalwarts in this race as they get to step in the pool first.
Be the Ad the best in its design, the customers are getting brighter and smarter with every passing year. The pool is full of competition and its market is cluttered with brands and everyone wants to get noticed. Definitely they work on the theory of NO TRY WASTED.
Today’s market is a creative special and a visual delight to the glaring eye balls. It works for few,
Not they do for a few of you.
We have brains and thou we use,
products are what that matters, ads don’t do...
Do ads actually sell the product? The answer can be subjective, objective anything because the topic in itself is so multi dimensional that u can actually not say yes or no at one place but at some places just a yes or no is enough.
Considering first how the subjective aspect of analysing the ad sales there can be so many examples to justify that it does not work. For instance the Happydent White ads; the larger than life concept and out of box thought process, but the big question gets an answer from its sales figures which did not move the graph pointers even a little. Yes the ad agency definitely got Cannes Awards for its creativity but the bottom line was; no, it did not work. The much hyped and loved cute white Zoozoo’s also dint do much for Vodafone that what it did for itself. Pug drove the Vodafone pointer behind it, and incidentally got lost in the woods where it came from.
Big money wasted but brand value intact. That’s what ads are all about for biggies the industries, isn’t it?
On the other hand ads have always worked objectively for smaller brands. As Keppler says in his one of his books on advertising basics, the new emerging brands need to make their stand in market and then the advertising plays the prime role in selling it. Hand sanitizer when launched did not click the market, simply because the concept of using some oil to kill germs on your hand was somehow difficult to convince but it did work. Products which know what their target market looks like knows where and what and how to market it. The classic example was LIFEBOY; it had to reach the rural masses and it did it. Selling the RED colour which symbolizes danger was sold to them saying ‘this was a sign of danger for the germs.’
For the products that are first of its kind and unique make the best of this. They get to be the stalwarts in this race as they get to step in the pool first.
Be the Ad the best in its design, the customers are getting brighter and smarter with every passing year. The pool is full of competition and its market is cluttered with brands and everyone wants to get noticed. Definitely they work on the theory of NO TRY WASTED.
Today’s market is a creative special and a visual delight to the glaring eye balls. It works for few,
Not they do for a few of you.
We have brains and thou we use,
products are what that matters, ads don’t do...
Friday, April 16, 2010
Reasons why I hate ANDHERI EAST!!!!
If I knew where to complain I would have written to them than writing this blog. To start with the most important point for readers here is I am 8 months old to this city and know quite a lot about it. Except here in Andheri(E)!!! I’ll just mention a few points that made me write this
1) Stand on the road n try making the auto wait he will never want to go where you want to!!! (that almost happens 80% of the time in other parts of Mumbai as well)
2) You want to go for an evening walk... Try... It’s a must... Coz it will not just be a walk it will be hiking trip. That’s like a full body cardio workout! How? Let me explain... Either there is no road to walk on coz every place is dug up (welcome the great METRO RAILWAYS) or else u need to dodge your way through the crowd!! (if a research company needs to do its survey about anything under the sky they will get it here. With the number of people that walk around you, you will feel the same as you will feel in a jam packed compartment of a local train at 6.30 pm at DADAR station where you are trying to find a way through the crowd that refuses to move )
3) This is a little technical but ya it’s a fact again cyber cafes have no printers in it (try at least 3 I bet all 3 will have some issue that they have NO printer / No colour / Server down )
4) Then comes the food!!!! You get everything from subway (who doesn’t understand customer’s language...), dominos (how many times can u order for a pizza?), mainland china (don’t want to go broke in a week!), then the only place you can zero down on are the south Indian owned Punjabi / Chinese food joints who give you Hakka noodle with turmeric powder and rice made out of 1 litre of oil.
5) There are so many pipe lines and gutters that your best and the most expensive,long lasting perfume dies the moment you come out of your house coz either the cutter is open or the pipe lines have just burst on the road.(if you plan to come here and know you might need to walk a little please carry an extra pair of footwear you might just need it)
As the title says I hate Andheri (E) you can ask me why I stay there then. Well! To all that ill say that this is THE PLACE which will make you strong; once you can manage here you can stay anywhere on the earth .
Disclaimer: this is a strongly opinionated piece of writing, written by the writer in a frustrated state of mind, due to all the six things happening to her in single evening. No offense meant to anyone dead or alive.
1) Stand on the road n try making the auto wait he will never want to go where you want to!!! (that almost happens 80% of the time in other parts of Mumbai as well)
2) You want to go for an evening walk... Try... It’s a must... Coz it will not just be a walk it will be hiking trip. That’s like a full body cardio workout! How? Let me explain... Either there is no road to walk on coz every place is dug up (welcome the great METRO RAILWAYS) or else u need to dodge your way through the crowd!! (if a research company needs to do its survey about anything under the sky they will get it here. With the number of people that walk around you, you will feel the same as you will feel in a jam packed compartment of a local train at 6.30 pm at DADAR station where you are trying to find a way through the crowd that refuses to move )
3) This is a little technical but ya it’s a fact again cyber cafes have no printers in it (try at least 3 I bet all 3 will have some issue that they have NO printer / No colour / Server down )
4) Then comes the food!!!! You get everything from subway (who doesn’t understand customer’s language...), dominos (how many times can u order for a pizza?), mainland china (don’t want to go broke in a week!), then the only place you can zero down on are the south Indian owned Punjabi / Chinese food joints who give you Hakka noodle with turmeric powder and rice made out of 1 litre of oil.
5) There are so many pipe lines and gutters that your best and the most expensive,long lasting perfume dies the moment you come out of your house coz either the cutter is open or the pipe lines have just burst on the road.(if you plan to come here and know you might need to walk a little please carry an extra pair of footwear you might just need it)
As the title says I hate Andheri (E) you can ask me why I stay there then. Well! To all that ill say that this is THE PLACE which will make you strong; once you can manage here you can stay anywhere on the earth .
Disclaimer: this is a strongly opinionated piece of writing, written by the writer in a frustrated state of mind, due to all the six things happening to her in single evening. No offense meant to anyone dead or alive.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Jittered JEE
I remember the day in my life when I gave my IIT-JEE exam. I knew I was not going to crack it, but still attempted for fun. Yes it was an amazing experience looking at all nerdish guys bent on the paper calculating, scribbling all over the paper ,desk ,palms, few also did it on the legs (came wearing short obviously). All this just tells that I want actually writing but looking at all of them. Was in a state of admiration, there was a huge dedication in that single class room.
The screen outside the class room was different from the window seat I got I was looking out from time to time. Parents with a picnic basket containing juice, glucose, fruits, food and much more...if i need to tell u what did this seen mean to me was dedication hard work and brains of 2 -3 scientists mixed together...
IIT s are the top notch engineering colleges and to get through it is a big deal. Students slog from 8th standard to get through this exam. They join all kinds of coaching classes, go and stay in KOTA and read all the R.D.Sharma’s and solve close to million mathematics and physics problems for this Dday. They believe in the system to be perfect and no holes expected like all other exams. They believe in the organisations planning and thus the hard work.
In an IIT-JEE exam there are 28 questions in each section. The answer sheets are also structured similarly. So what exactly went wrong? The sections on the answer sheet were not in sync with question paper, thus those who dint notice went all wrong it. Thus students messed up there.
In a situation like this where you are appearing for an institute with such calibre and reputation attached to it and also for which you have worked for good 2-3 years; you tend to get excited and that’s what happened in there.
IIT has a record of bringing out the sharpest engineers for the country? Was this goof up worth losing few brilliant minds and letting someone in by fluke? Has the standard of IIT gone low? Who is responsible for those who don’t get through due to this? Well it might not give jitters to 4.72 lakh who appeared but will definitely matter the 100 who might lose their dream due to someone elses mistake ...
The screen outside the class room was different from the window seat I got I was looking out from time to time. Parents with a picnic basket containing juice, glucose, fruits, food and much more...if i need to tell u what did this seen mean to me was dedication hard work and brains of 2 -3 scientists mixed together...
IIT s are the top notch engineering colleges and to get through it is a big deal. Students slog from 8th standard to get through this exam. They join all kinds of coaching classes, go and stay in KOTA and read all the R.D.Sharma’s and solve close to million mathematics and physics problems for this Dday. They believe in the system to be perfect and no holes expected like all other exams. They believe in the organisations planning and thus the hard work.
In an IIT-JEE exam there are 28 questions in each section. The answer sheets are also structured similarly. So what exactly went wrong? The sections on the answer sheet were not in sync with question paper, thus those who dint notice went all wrong it. Thus students messed up there.
In a situation like this where you are appearing for an institute with such calibre and reputation attached to it and also for which you have worked for good 2-3 years; you tend to get excited and that’s what happened in there.
IIT has a record of bringing out the sharpest engineers for the country? Was this goof up worth losing few brilliant minds and letting someone in by fluke? Has the standard of IIT gone low? Who is responsible for those who don’t get through due to this? Well it might not give jitters to 4.72 lakh who appeared but will definitely matter the 100 who might lose their dream due to someone elses mistake ...
Saturday, April 10, 2010
What would you do to change the world?
What is the world I want to see like .Thinking of it every small thing comes to my mind Poverty, Infrastructure, Development etc but do all these things over power a most important constituents in this universe well if you ask me it’s a big no .
Hypocrisy – ruler of today’s world. That’s what I’ll love to call it, because that’s what it is. This is the one thing I’ll like to change in today’s world.
It makes its victory evident to me with every passing minute, hour and day even the biggest, richest human on the surface is a victim of it. You come across it all the time. I’ll like to share at least one such incident.
Travelling makes me inquisitive and gets me talking. So this is about a cab driver who drove me to Marine Drive via Sea Link. He was Raju Tambhe, 34, from Mumbai. His wife is a teacher. According to him, the youth of today is aping the West all the time, be it music, clothes, lifestyle etc. So now his issue with modernization is what is with the ethics and morals and behaviour. The recent incident at where Marine Drive where an old man was being was abused by a young college chap. He recalls that deeply hurts him. But, now Raju himself was educated till 12th and was dressed in western clothes. So I asked him and to this he said “this is comfortable for me !!”But this was also from the west right ? he got quite for some time and removed a pack of tobacco and threw the wrapper right on the sea link and kept on spiting it on the world class architecture. He kept on blaming the government for every single thing under the sun. So my question to Rajuji was “was he not saying aping the values & morals & discipline from west! So Rajuji does any cabby in west spit on road throw on roads, crash signals, break lanes this made him even more quite.
Rich NRIs to poor cabby be it anyone they are only cribbing but what about no one wants to walk towards betterment.
Hypocrisy – ruler of today’s world. That’s what I’ll love to call it, because that’s what it is. This is the one thing I’ll like to change in today’s world.
It makes its victory evident to me with every passing minute, hour and day even the biggest, richest human on the surface is a victim of it. You come across it all the time. I’ll like to share at least one such incident.
Travelling makes me inquisitive and gets me talking. So this is about a cab driver who drove me to Marine Drive via Sea Link. He was Raju Tambhe, 34, from Mumbai. His wife is a teacher. According to him, the youth of today is aping the West all the time, be it music, clothes, lifestyle etc. So now his issue with modernization is what is with the ethics and morals and behaviour. The recent incident at where Marine Drive where an old man was being was abused by a young college chap. He recalls that deeply hurts him. But, now Raju himself was educated till 12th and was dressed in western clothes. So I asked him and to this he said “this is comfortable for me !!”But this was also from the west right ? he got quite for some time and removed a pack of tobacco and threw the wrapper right on the sea link and kept on spiting it on the world class architecture. He kept on blaming the government for every single thing under the sun. So my question to Rajuji was “was he not saying aping the values & morals & discipline from west! So Rajuji does any cabby in west spit on road throw on roads, crash signals, break lanes this made him even more quite.
Rich NRIs to poor cabby be it anyone they are only cribbing but what about no one wants to walk towards betterment.
Is killing an option ?
Success is what everyone desires, but accomplishing it is knotty. Not everyone can take failure in a positive manner and stand up every single time with the same vigour to achieve their aims.
With recent incidences of student suicides in Mumbai, the fact that today’s kids (I force myself to call them that) are losing faith in their own calibre is evident. 11 yrs old, who is a fantabulous dancer had won many awards for the same hung herself to death; what a shame. A child who is tops the class , fails to do it just once goes in depression , funny but true, even though they don’t make news in broadsheets, these issues remain around us all the time.
How, who, when, where these facts are stamped in the heads of these kids that learning is only from the book and to rote is the only way to reach the apex! “There is a skill I am good at and I am proud of it” this attitude is lost. The confidence to accept that ‘I have people superior to me, but I will try getting better with every step I take ’just drains down.
As they fail optimism they hide their failure under the newly developed terms called “peer pressures”, “bad education system”, “stress lead by depression”.Resort to the most atrocious behaviour of killing themselves, under pretext of all the suffering they faced in their lives.
If you are a human being with all your senses working well, you cannot blame anyone under the sun for your difficulties. It was you who chose to take it. You had an option of not doing what you did not believe in and not fall prey for that pressure. As a matter of fact even the speechless animals’ don’t, then why will you?
Life is a race and it is incomprehensible why winning is so important than participating, playing and finishing it. Also the more you fall and fail the more you learn and gain. Failing teaches you ‘what not to do’ and ‘if one door closes two new open ‘. Does success do that? I have my doubts. This requires patience and honesty to accept pitfalls which youngsters probably lack in this make belief world
With recent incidences of student suicides in Mumbai, the fact that today’s kids (I force myself to call them that) are losing faith in their own calibre is evident. 11 yrs old, who is a fantabulous dancer had won many awards for the same hung herself to death; what a shame. A child who is tops the class , fails to do it just once goes in depression , funny but true, even though they don’t make news in broadsheets, these issues remain around us all the time.
How, who, when, where these facts are stamped in the heads of these kids that learning is only from the book and to rote is the only way to reach the apex! “There is a skill I am good at and I am proud of it” this attitude is lost. The confidence to accept that ‘I have people superior to me, but I will try getting better with every step I take ’just drains down.
As they fail optimism they hide their failure under the newly developed terms called “peer pressures”, “bad education system”, “stress lead by depression”.Resort to the most atrocious behaviour of killing themselves, under pretext of all the suffering they faced in their lives.
If you are a human being with all your senses working well, you cannot blame anyone under the sun for your difficulties. It was you who chose to take it. You had an option of not doing what you did not believe in and not fall prey for that pressure. As a matter of fact even the speechless animals’ don’t, then why will you?
Life is a race and it is incomprehensible why winning is so important than participating, playing and finishing it. Also the more you fall and fail the more you learn and gain. Failing teaches you ‘what not to do’ and ‘if one door closes two new open ‘. Does success do that? I have my doubts. This requires patience and honesty to accept pitfalls which youngsters probably lack in this make belief world
Memories
Lying on the swing on the patio lena was getting restless about what her life was for and where had she landed. A house wife Lena, had moved to San Francisco with her husband Yatin. Married for 8 years now but still childless lena was bought up in a lavish way in Pune. She was lawyer by profession, and had moved here with Yatin as he was assigned a project.
Lena got up, made herself a cup of coffee and returned back to where she had come from, in life or place!
”leenaaaa!!!”She heard. She knew who he was. It was her sweetheart Salil. Four years of college, they were deeply in love ever since they first saw each other. With Salil world was so jubilant everything was immersed in love. He came closed hugged her and kissed her on her cheek. Lena blushed. It was a special day ,they had graduated. “So finally i have done it. A few more days for our dreams to come true. Ill earn for you the way i lived for you all these day.”
Lena was out of words but her eyes told Salil everything. That’s what true love is about right understanding silence and they did.
“i know life is not a fairy tale and you necessarily not always get what u desire for. Tomorrow i know things will not go as planned. But the memories the happiness we had will always be engraved on my soul. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and i know nothing, nothing, nothing can replace the position you have in my heart.”
They went to the car, he dropped her home told her in his usual way “i love u baby .. Truly madly deeply ...”
Duuummmhhhh!!!! Lena hears a loud bang and comes back in time.
Sips the coffee and thinks ‘a memory is what i have of u and nothing can erase it. Memories i have and memories ill keep. Knowing the fact that i can never see you again and you will never want me to come the way you went. I know u are watching me every single moment and the feeling that u are watching me comes to me all the time, and that’s the memory that is keeping me alive !! ’
classical rockers
In this loud era of pop we can still hear few sargams from somewhere across the road. Hindustani music is turning ‘Kool ’ with the new faces associated with it. Gone are the days when classical artists had stern and serious cold looks on their faces.
Have you ever heard of an instrument named zitar, compilation of Sitar and Guitar? How will sweet child of mine sound on the sitar? Niladri Kumar is a must hear then. He is a twist in the tale for Indian classical music revamping the term classical. He created a travelling sitar which makes sitar sound like a guitar. Unlike guitar, zitar has only 5 strings and has an added electric pickup. He is a disciple of Ravi Shankar. Priority was his first album.
From student to child Ravi Shankar’s daughter, Anoushka Shankar is the next in the league. Her journey from Delhi to London, packed with her sitar, she became Grammy award nominee in 2003. The list of activities she does is vast; a few to add would be lifestyle writer, PETA activist. The most defying moment in her life was when she shared the stage with her father and half sister Norah Jones. Anoushka breaks the jargon of classical artists being so non fashionable and hep.
Giving words to music is ghazal singer Jasvinder Singh. He was awarded ‘The young Ghazal Maestro’. Remember the gazal ‘tumko dekha do he khyayal aaya ’? These are his roots. With over 300 concerts all over the world, Jasvinder is spreading Indian ghazals all over the world after Jagjit Singh.
Representatives of the seventh generation of the ‘Senia Bangash’ school of music, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan bridged the gap between pure classical and western fusion. Last seen in phir mile sur mera tumhara with their father Amjad Ali Khan. Along with music they have co-authored a book ‘50 Maestros 50 Recordings’, which is a compilation of the best of Indian classical music.
The new generation of singers is getting a lot of attention due to the refined quality of work they are doing. Young faces like Avadhoot Gupte, Salil Kulkarni, Ameya Date, Swapnil Bandodkar are responsible for it. This new path was started by Shankar Mahadevan with his classic style of singing. His latest Marathi song man udhan vary ache has won hearts across the globe.
These new artists are very strong in the work they do. They can multi task, are smart, and certainly refined. With the efforts they are putting, Indian classical artists are becoming a rage among the youth today. It won’t be long now before we see them being cults for the generations to come.
to mom with love
I was born as an infant with no fear
I was born to a mother who was full of care
She taught me to love she taught me to care…
She asked me to give and also share...
With her knowledge as a share...
I grew old to take my own decision ...
All the while I kept on falling but to find her always there...
Hiding my odds, standing tall against my fears...
Now that I have grown up and can walk till where ever...
But mother I still need you there to pick me when I fall somewhere...
The warmth of your love and care can never be replaced by a lover...
Saying that I am lucky to have you is something really small to say...
So all I want to say is that thank you for being there mother...
And please be there because this infant of yours still has fears....
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