tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22978709555542755192024-03-13T23:42:33.981+05:30guru ka gyanjourney is the rewardgurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-50541253083762886422016-09-21T17:36:00.004+05:302016-09-21T17:36:37.346+05:30Patanjali, Parents & Principles of Marketing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-buQSJOADgEY/V-J3nBbDUrI/AAAAAAAACUI/bNUdEHKrl8U_UHytF2djzztuD--e0oCGQCEw/s1600/baba1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-buQSJOADgEY/V-J3nBbDUrI/AAAAAAAACUI/bNUdEHKrl8U_UHytF2djzztuD--e0oCGQCEw/s320/baba1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In
the midst of a brand workshop that I was conducting recently one of the
participants asked me smirkingly “So, as a brand professional. What’s your
opinion on Patanjali?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Now
that’s a loaded question and I knew that any answer would solicit a debate. So,
I answered rather sternly “I have huge respect for that brand. But lets save
that discussion for later. We are already running behind schedule”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
smirk on his face gave way to an expression of surprise. This was not the first
time when my admiration for brand Patanjali got me that look.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But
here is the thing about Patanjali. It might not fit into the conventional
notion of FMCG ‘brand building’ but it’s a brand that’s giving some of the
biggest FMCG companies a run for their money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It’s
not a brand built by an array of brand managers and agencies well attuned with
Kotler’s principles of marketing. In fact, it’s a brand that challenges the
traditional norms of marketing, and hence, makes a lot of us from the marketing
fraternity with our b-school elitism,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a bit uncomfortable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">We
can not begin the discussion on ‘Brand Patanjali’ without talking about its
biggest ‘brand ambassador’ – Baba Ramdev. So, let me clarify upfront. I don’t
have any affinity for the ‘spiritual’ leader Baba Ramdev, but I have (developed
over a period of time) a considerable regard for ‘brand builder’ Baba Ramdev<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">My
tryst with Patanjali products started with a feeling of doubt and disregard.
Last year, I had gone home to visit my parents in Agra and to my disdain found
that they had replaced their regular toiletries brands with Patanjali. For a
brand snob like me this was blasphemy-that my parents were trading the legacy
of global brands (from the house of Levers and P&G) with a brand from
Haridwar. How could they?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Like
a good ‘brand abiding’ citizen, I tried persuading them to move back to the
‘trusted’ brands built over years of scientific research (and marketing). But
they didn’t budge. To be honest, my parent’s steadfastness and loyalty to
Pantajali was the reason I gave it a try, albeit, with bare minimum
expectations and a firm belief that the product will fail at the real moment of
truth, i.e. trial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But
surprise, surprise! No matter how much I was determined to ‘not like’ it, the
Patanjali product (shampoo in this case) didn’t give me a reason to complain.
Like most consumers, I am not an expert to comment scientifically on the
efficacy of the product- but to put it simply – it didn’t feel any inferior to
the brand I otherwise used. Unlike the pungent smell of most ayurvedic products
that I had used before, this one even smelled nice. While still in the shower,
washing shampoo off my eyes- I looked for the price. It was cheaper than most
of the ‘reputed’ brands on the shelf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Suddenly,
memories of that old Nirma ad flooded my over imaginative mind where the
conversation between a shopkeeper and the customer goes like this-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Shopkeeper:
Par aap to woh, purana wala sabun...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Customer:
Leti thi, par wahi safedi mujhe kam damo mein mile to koi woh kyun le, ye
(nirma) na le!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">I
could almost imagine my self as the shopkeeper and my mother as the customer
who discovered the merits of converting to Patanjali.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Now,
how do you beat an argument like that? The brand manager in me would retort
with “but where is the aspiration in this brand? Brand should stand for
something- look at Lux, Pantene, Dove – apart from the functional benefits,
they provide carefully crafted emotional benefits as well.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">I
am embarrassed to confess that I actually tried having a conversation like this
with my mom and to my utter surprise she succinctly articulated the ‘brand
promise’ of Patanjali in her own words “All these multinational brands are full
of chemicals, but Patanjali products are made of natural ingredients and age
old ayurvedic recipes. Its marketers like you, who make glamorous ads to sell
us that expensive ‘branded’ junk”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Like
questioning my professional dignity wasn’t enough, she added “Actually it is
brands like Patanjali that need marketing. More people should be aware of the
goodness of these products and should benefit from them.” Such adorably naïve
understanding of my profession she has!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">This
was not the first time, my parents argued in favour of Baba Ramdev. I remember
(few years before ‘brand’ Patanjali happened), my father virtuously following
Baba Ramdev step by step, every time his yoga session was telecasted on
‘Aastha’ channel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Mockingly,
I once said, “So, you have also fallen into the trap of Baba?” Like a true
yogi, calm and composed, my dad replied, “He’s not preaching any religion. He’s
preaching yoga and its benefits. From yoga being a lifestyle statement of rich
and famous, he’s made it a household thing; he has made yoga accessible for
everyone. So, what’s wrong in it? Even you should try Pranayam”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">I
still remember that wave of mass adoption of yoga, popularized by Baba Ramdev
and embraced by the Indian middle class. To borrow a term from ‘start-up’
language, the ‘scaling up’ of yoga by Baba Ramdev was both unprecedented and
phenomenal. Using the media of TV and mass camps, he made yoga an everyday
ritual for millions of Indians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A
bit of analysis and you realize that Baba Ramdev has used the same master
skills in scaling up Patanjali as a brand with turnover of around Rs 5000
crores in the previous financial year. What is more interesting and rather
impressive is that he did it in his own way. Almost, defying every principle of
marketing as taught to us in our b-schools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Unlike
the big brands, which are very measured in everything they do (including their
communication), brand Patanjali has been consistently provocative and rough
around the edges. May be, it is this rawness, these little imperfections, that
far fetched war cry to ‘end the dominance of multinationals’ that makes this
brand endearing to a certain set of people who root for it like its an underdog
that deserves to win.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Interestingly
Patanjali is one of those rare exceptions where the brand adoption travelled
from a small town to a metro and the recommendation travelled from old to
young, parents to children than the reverse, which is generally the norm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Let
me ask you another question? How many brands can you think of beyond Patanjali-
that under the same name successfully sell everything from staples, to shampoos
to pickles, and may be even apparel in near future<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Till
the recent media blitzkrieg (again a great scaling- up tactic), the brand
mostly existed in a hole in wall kind of set ups /distribution centers across
the country. A basic and often un-standardized set up – made the frugality of
the brand quiet evident. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">But
no matter how many marketing rules Patanjali has broken, it has always adhered
to one- the trade off between price vs. quality. For its consumers, the
perceived value of a Patanjali product is always greater than the price they
pay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Out
of curiosity and out of my zeal to prove my parents wrong- I ‘tried’ most of
Patanjali’s products- ghee, soap, shampoo, atta, achar, biscuits (and the list
goes on) and none of the products disappointed me. From a naysayer, I have
lately become an active advocate of Patanjali products, especially to the folks
from my marketing community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Some
of my marketing friends argue that Patanjali products might not be bad, but the
marketing of this brand is very unsophisticated and rudimentary. Yes, if you
compare it with the global players that the brand is competing with-
Patanjali’s communication might come across as unsophisticated or rather
unglamorous. But that’s exactly what the brand needs. Shouldn’t a brand that’s
positioned as an antithesis of its competition, have communication that’s sets
it apart and contrasts the category narrative?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In
the end, Patanjali the brand is unashamedly earthy and stubborn (on its anti
MNC stance) and in being so, it comes across as unwittingly consistent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Now
lets get back to the guy, yes the same guy who asked my opinion about
Patanjali. He caught up with me after the session. I definitely owed him an
explanation, so this is what I told him “Patanjali is probably the only brand
that I loved to hate and now I hate to love. Hence, Respect.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-71563582902829446092016-09-12T23:05:00.000+05:302016-09-14T17:29:08.395+05:30Snapdeal re-branding: My take<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ToqhySaBeWg/V9bnNE2f9aI/AAAAAAAACQg/wTyAhLd7powknUQ-uyYG_xpBnIiHpihGgCLcB/s1600/pjimage-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ToqhySaBeWg/V9bnNE2f9aI/AAAAAAAACQg/wTyAhLd7powknUQ-uyYG_xpBnIiHpihGgCLcB/s320/pjimage-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So, Sanpdeal got itself a new logo.
It took me a bit to figure out that it’s a (delivery) box. Actually, the press
release had to demystify it for me. </div>
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Aesthetically speaking (purely my
personal opinion), the new logo makes the brand look more like a technology
brand (with those sharp edges and a geometric shape) than an endearing consumer
brand. </div>
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What caught my imagination is this
news around the brand planning to invest 200 crores in rebranding. For me, this
brought back memories of the ‘infamous’ re-branding initiative by Housing.com.
At least, in case of Housing, an anonymous brand suddenly painting the town got
the brand a few eyeballs. I am sure the awareness scores went up (Was it the
right way to do it or did it benefit the brand is a different question all
together)</div>
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<br /></div>
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Coming back to Snapdeal, I don’t
think awareness is such a problem for this brand. The brand has been around for
some time now (since 2010) and they have also spent some serious marketing
bucks (you might remember the ‘Dil Ki Deal’ campaign with Aamir). Yes, trials
might be an issue and brand reappraisal by lapsers can be another one. </div>
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So, a big campaign telling that we
have now changed our logo (to a red box) is enough to drive these business
objectives? Why should the consumer care? Yes, like most brands even Snapdeal
wants to play the emotional card (‘dil ki deal’ now ‘unbox zindagi’) but have
you given your consumer a strong functional benefit – that gives them a hook to
believe in (and even propagate) your emotional pitch. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Unfortunately, ecommerce advertising
today is all about who can outshout who. The discussion is not on the
messaging, but on the hundreds of crores that these brands are spending. The
messaging is either a checklist of category benefits (COD, easy returns, wide
collection, discounts and more discounts – read festive sales/ big billion day
sale, etc) or an emotional uproar without a solid reason to believe (Dil ki
deal, Har wish hogi poori). </div>
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As a marketer, when I see these
campaigns, there’s only one consistent take away for me- i.e. these brands have
lot of money to waste.</div>
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<br /></div>
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What is even more disheartening is
that though Flipkart and Snapdeal are the evangelists that got Indian consumers
online, with its clever advertising Amazon is fast taking up that space of
India’s favourite online destination (their latest campaign refers to Amazon as
‘Apni Dukaan’). </div>
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<br /></div>
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What they have done successfully is
to mine deep-rooted insights about Indian consumer and play back a narrative
that appeals at both functional and emotional level (‘Aur Dikhao’). Of course,
the customer centricity of Amazon not only ends at communication, it spans
across each touch point- the interface, ease of navigation, check out, customer
service, almost everything. Here I am talking from a perspective of being an
avid online consumer. I was a massive cheerleader for Flipkart, but by the
sheer seamlessness of Amzon’s service (including Kindle, which is one of the
best recommendation engines I have experienced) I became a convert to Amazon.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I am completely aware that this
space is getting fiercely competitive and amidst this raging war between Amazon
and Flipkart, Snapdeal needs attention too. But was rebranding the only
solution. What was wrong with the old logo? It was neat and clean with a good recall
of brand colors (red and blue). Why fix something that’s not broken? (By the
way, the shade of red in the new Snapdeal logo is called Vermello. Fancy!)</div>
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A logo is not a piece of art with
subjective interpretations. It doesn’t attain meaning because you get fancy
copy guys to write some gyan about new India and new Indian consumer on your
site. A logo attains a meaning when brands consistently deliver on their values
and promises. Nike, Starbucks, Apple are not great brands because they have
great logos. They are great brands because they consistently deliver on what
they promise and that’s why their logos today are recognizable across the globe
and consumers assign same meaning to a swoosh or golden arches (McDonalds) no
matter which part of the world they are from. </div>
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You might be wondering, why I am
being so judgmental. I haven’t even seen the entire roll out yet. May be I am.
As a brand marketer who has always worked within constraints of budget, I feel
jealous of the marketing budgets some of these ecommerce brands seem to have.
At the same time I also feel angry and frustrated at their naivety in just blowing
the money away. </div>
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They say that a new logo is often
an announcement of ‘beginning of change’ and I hope Snapdeal has lot of good
things in store for us this festive season. I will closely watch this space and
I will be happy to be proven wrong.</div>
gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-61449867194590962472016-09-10T11:20:00.000+05:302016-09-10T11:20:41.731+05:30Consultant’s dilemma: Asking questions or serving answers?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DUfuLZJPS9o/V9OeyPCvh0I/AAAAAAAACPg/0KOwYQzIP1wwcOnvxn3kX_zjds_eqjRIgCLcB/s1600/Unknown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DUfuLZJPS9o/V9OeyPCvh0I/AAAAAAAACPg/0KOwYQzIP1wwcOnvxn3kX_zjds_eqjRIgCLcB/s1600/Unknown.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Twenty months since I started on my
own and what an incredible journey it has been. I still remember the last week
of my job. Mind clouded with anticipation, anxiety and varying advice from
friends, family and well wishers. One set telling me that it was a good move,
while the other cautioning me about leaving the comforts of a safe job. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In my exit interview, a well
wishing HR manager wondered “aren’t you too young to start a consulting outfit.
You are good at what you do, but you know how it works. Clients choose
experience and grey hair. Why don’t you do this after few more years”.
Unconvincingly, I tried to explain her “you know times are changing. There are
so many young people who are venturing out, trying to build their own start
ups. I want to work with them. I am sure unlike the traditional clients, they
will give someone like me – who doesn’t fit the conventional notion of a
consultant, a chance.” She smirked and left it at that.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The most important piece of advice
came from my one of my previous bosses, someone who I really looked up to as
mentor and a guide (yes, such a thing exists). He said, in his usual nonchalant
fashion “I think one of your biggest strengths is that you are young. You will
be teaching while you are learning yourself, unlike the know-it-all attitude of
most consultants. Don’t let the learning spirit die and you will be good”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Making a mental note, I repeated to
myself “Teach while you learn”</div>
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<br /></div>
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This has become a guiding principle
for us, since the day we started. This is what we keep reminding ourselves,
like a mantra that keeps our moral compass in check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Always embark on a project with a
curious mind. Just because you use that product, brand or category – don’t
believe that you know everything about it. In fact, challenge whatever you know
about it. You are just among the thousands or millions of consumers using it,
so don’t be arrogant to think that you are the definitive target group for the
brand and hence, you know everything about the consumer. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Don’t be afraid to ask questions –
basic, silly or even the hypothetical ones. Question that challenge status
quo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Questions are good. Questions
lead to discovery, questions lead to answers and eventually its questions that
lead to solutions. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Don’t over burden yourself that
because you are a consultant, you should know it all. Nurture that child like
spirit of curiosity, that wide eyed enthusiasm to learn something new. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Believe me, not all clients are looking
for that ‘Mr. knows It All’ who has all answers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few are also looking for someone who is willing to work with
them to unravel the answers to the questions that are troubling them, and these
are the clients you should work with. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Because working with them is like a
jamming session more than an assignment and I don’t have to tell you which one
is more fun. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Probably that’s what Peter Drucker meant,
when he said “my greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a
few questions.”</div>
gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-73291388292686437272016-05-16T19:09:00.000+05:302016-05-21T09:29:49.245+05:30Optimizing Media before Message- is startup marketing missing the hidden pot of gold?*<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It’s closer to campaign time and the launch countdown has started:</span></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Product Availability: Check</span></em></div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QKPHb2segf0/VznSn9uYPiI/AAAAAAAACAM/gk6_CpiPHME2QrBxmM6Z3uNohpVHUG_XwCLcB/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAdzAAAAJGRjZjhlNmYxLWU2N2UtNDY2YS1hODQ2LWI3YzU5NTZkOWVkYg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QKPHb2segf0/VznSn9uYPiI/AAAAAAAACAM/gk6_CpiPHME2QrBxmM6Z3uNohpVHUG_XwCLcB/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAdzAAAAJGRjZjhlNmYxLWU2N2UtNDY2YS1hODQ2LWI3YzU5NTZkOWVkYg.jpg" /></span></a><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Distribution Set-up: Check </span></em><br />
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<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Product Inventory: Check</span></em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Creative: Check </span></em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ad-test: Check</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the campaign war-room marketers are frantically talking to media spin doctors, terms like CTR, GRP, CPC are being bandied around, competitive quotes are being taken and even audits are being conducted to ensure that media monies are spent spent wisely and deliver bang for the buck. The plan rates are compared with benchmarks- going into highly quantitative and rather nuanced analysis of how much is the team spending in reaching people (or brand’s TG) and if it’s all meeting the industry benchmarks. Digital has taken this to another level of sophistication- the media is now optimized by month of year, week of month, day of week, time of day, number of characters and is sharply targeted towards right segment to instigate a particular behaviour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A week into the campaign- after outdoor is up or front page ad has been published or 20% of Digital budget is spent, the same team is again running from pillar to post trying to understand why the campaign has yielded zilch response….mails are floating thick and fast and all options from terminating the campaign to sacking creative agency are mooted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sounds familiar? We can understand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How we wish that in the (very rightful) melee of making the marketing dollars work harder by optimizing the media, someone had asked a pertinent question- <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">have we optimized the message?</em></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Media is not the message</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The biggest mistake that startups (and often even traditional firms) do is in confusing media with message. Push Notifications, Facebook, YouTube, Google, TV, Radio, Print- they are just media. Brands are not built by media blasts alone- it’s built by consistent and coherent messaging that adds on and delayers the broader brand story. In this sense, message is the core DNA of the brand, it determines its long term success. Media is just a vehicle to deliver that message. Unless dedicated efforts have gone into optimizing the message, media can only give a short term blip in top-of-mind awareness- and as any marketer will tell, this is absolutely no indicator of a successful brand. Isn’t it ironic then that majority of efforts are spent in optimizing the media rather than the message?</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A good media plan is no substitute for non-optimal message</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A good well-optimized media plan with a suboptimal or me-too message is a sure shot recipe for disaster. The brand will end up resting on media props- and will need constant investment, more funds and bigger discounts. It triggers a vicious cycle leading to a highly non-differentiated brand that stands for nothing in particular. While the mantra of <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Jo Dhikhta Hai Who Bikta Hai”</em> could work very well on sales and trade marketing side- it fails miserably when it comes to media.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Consider this- the big-3 in Indian e-commerce space cumulatively spend millions of dollars in advertising, but can a consumer really differentiate between Flipkart, Amazon or Snapdeal ? I.e., Other than telling who is bigger or whose founder is cheekier. (Amazon atleast seems to be trying to communicate that they understand the indian consumer better with ads like ‘Aur Dikhao’. Flipkart built the category with an amazingly simple yet convincing campaign using ‘Kids’ , but now the brand mostly does tactical stuff).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Is there a consumer loyalty factor that helps one brand over the other? The game of outshouting on media without paying attention to basic product truths and unique brand story may gratify personal ego of the founders / brand custodians but is of little help beyond that. It’s mostly going to be a game of one-upmanship where the winner is decided basis the flavour of the season or by a new round of funding- definitely not a very favourable situation for a brand to be in.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Message optimization delivers both short and long term returns</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Commonly startups as well as traditional firms feel that stuff underlying message optimization like “Positioning” or “Brand Purpose” is meant for another day- when brand has acquired certain size and stature. The truth is, unless a brand optimizes its message it can acquire neither size (organic and sustainable consumer pull) nor stature (strong consumer loyalty and affinity).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A common refrain we hear during our discussion with founders and CEOs for not optimizing the message is- <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“It’s a tactical campaign- the purpose is to get immediate results”</em>- hidden somewhere in this statement is an admission & an assumption. Admission is that not every messaging needs to be or can be consistent with a broader purpose or positioning. And a (very wrong) assumption that a messaging in sync with brand purpose is purely “thematic” and does little by way of driving immediate business. Let’s answer these one by one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">First- there is a way to link each and every piece of brand communication to a broader brand purpose and there are many brands (like RedBull, Apple, closer to home brands like Indigo, Paper Boat) that have demonstrated it time and again. Saying that it can’t be done, to put it mildly, is a lazy way out and is an absolute injustice to the product or service that brand is supposed to deliver. We cannot deliver suboptimal message in the garb of a “tactical” campaign. After all when a brand is spending millions of marketing dollars on a full page newspaper ad, an outdoor campaign, a television campaign and is monitoring every penny on the basis of reach, media cost etc. why it shouldn’t ensure that the message creates an advantageous long term perception or reinforces an existing belief?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Research has shown that brands having a sense of purpose and those that optimize on their message deliver a better long term return to their shareholders than those without one. Also, a well-optimized message in sync with broader brand purpose can deliver better business results with lesser media money.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Barking up the wrong tree</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It’s common for marketers to pin the blame of failure of a highly visible media campaign on creative agency. However we completely forget that a creative is as good as the brief- it runs on GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out). In the absence of a clear brand proposition, the creative agency is handicapped and will invariably resort to either of the 2 routes- tried and tested category generic stuff (remember Deodorant ads?) or completely provocative- both do little to help the brand business. A well-defined brand story and purpose whereas acts almost like a “master brief” for all agencies- and ensures that every single piece of communication is well-optimized</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another big fallacy is to assume that an ad that performs well in ad-testing will help in long term brand building. Ad-testing just checks the communication “route”, it cannot say if messaging is right or wrong. It’s naïve to think that just because ad is performing in ad-test, the message is optimal. With our marketing experience we can say with reasonable confidence that clichéd or safe routes are the best ones to make ads successful in testing- so a successful ad is no measure of an optimized message. However a brand communication that’s based on a well optimized message has high probablility to perform successfully in ad-testing. It’s pertinent to remember that purpose of communication is not to make an “ad-test certified” ad.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So who will bell the cat and how?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">An optimized message rests on the bedrock of a credible story and brand purpose. Building this brand story and purpose isn’t the job of “strategic wing” or planning function of creative or media agency. In fact giving this job to any of the regular agencies is a big pitfall because a brand story & purpose isn’t debatable, it cannot have “exceptions” on Digital, once done it cannot be “tweaked” to suit a media opportunity and it cannot be “modified” to suit a more clutter breaking creative. Rather it is the definitive master brief for all the agencies and it clearly defines brand guardrails for all of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It also cannot be done through “brainstorming” in a room, coining catchy taglines, conducting 1-day market dipsticks or leveraging secondary knowledge. It has to come from within- from founders or top management. It requires a patient understanding of target consumer- his motivations, beliefs and anxieties, of the founder’s purpose- his core reason for starting the product/service, of category- the existing truths, beliefs & norms and of competition- it’s pros and cons. It requires making trade-offs- it’s as much about understanding what brand is not as it’s about defining what brand is?</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To conclude</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Optimizing message by building a brand purpose and story is a painstaking process and it takes time but it isn’t impossible- regardless of the stage business is in. A well-researched brand story, purpose and positioning spans across media, time and campaigns. The process of building it yields rich insights into business, category, competition, and consumer and hence has a lot of strategic implications as well. Net, its money and time well-spent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hence there is absolutely no reason to defer message optimization. In fact, it’s like marketing insurance- a little time and effort (probably about 1% of media money) spent on message optimization ensures that remaining 99% of the marketing spends communicate the right message that has higher chance to deliver business results.</span></div>
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<em style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">*A BusyBeeBrands perspective</span></em></div>
gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-10776250732868675512016-04-04T15:11:00.000+05:302016-04-04T15:14:47.445+05:30From use-cases to users: Do B2C tech companies need a fundamental shift in consumer thinking?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b52CbwQbwcw/VwI2ChKEVvI/AAAAAAAAB-0/4rUUmHE7ACcC-Ey-hL42sQHCpRvUiNLeA/s1600/23860032_xl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b52CbwQbwcw/VwI2ChKEVvI/AAAAAAAAB-0/4rUUmHE7ACcC-Ey-hL42sQHCpRvUiNLeA/s400/23860032_xl.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
A typical discussion on product enhancement with a founder or CEO of a B2C tech company begins with the ubiquitous question- “what’s the use case here?” Many product innovations, app features and improvements are designed after answering this question. Not just product but entire organization is focused on solving the “use-case”- afterall the focus on “use case” ensures that every new investment in product innovation or tech solves a legitimate consumer problem and delivers incremental business. <br />
<br />
While this is a fair yardstick, there is a small problem with this approach- it doesn’t consider the user experience beyond product- tech is assumed to be an all-encompassing umbrella that would solve every problem of the intended target consumer or rather user to whom the use-case is supposed to deliver.<br />
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Some typical consumer manifestations of this thinking (and we all have experienced it sometime or the other) are- a shared cab service constantly taking new pickups and drops during journey even as the first passenger on board is still waiting for drop, an online travel agent suggesting 15 hour flights between Delhi and Lucknow, a home service provider sending a plumber who has little knowledge of plumbing, a food tech company delivering half-cooked cold food because it has to meet the 20 min deadline for “express service”, a Real Estate portal with lots of cool tools and data science but little listings, a room aggregator that has 20 options in 2 KM vicinity but each one is equally bad- in all these instances companies considered product use-case without paying any heed to “user”, they considered UX on app/site but didn’t pay attention to “User Experience” as a whole. <br />
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It’s a little disconcerting as it manifests classic product myopia- the jazz and novelty of tech is supposed to paper over “minor” blips in experience. However we forget that while tech and product have progressed by leaps and bounds, the consumer or the user- his fundamental believes, anxieties, motivations and behaviours haven’t progressed at same pace. That’s a process of evolution and takes generations to change (more on this another time). If at all, the “instant gratification” generation of today is more demanding, more impulsive and ready to throw a fit at multiple grievance platforms or worse, switch to another brand.<br />
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Consumers care little about a company solving problem of his urban commute with an app- they still want a clean cab with a decent driver, they don’t care about thousands of service agents available at doorstep- they are only concerned if the plumber who comes home is capable of solving their problem, they don’t bother about “drone view” & “locality rating” if they find only 5-6 listings in the area of their choice in a property portal. They also don’t care about funding, fancy investors or jazzy offices of the company. Yes it’s a harsh consumer world out there but then satisfying expectations of these consumers is what that’s going get any organization a sustainable business- one that doesn’t buy but build loyalty. <br />
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Building a sustainable B2C tech business entails acquiring consumers through merits of “overall product experience” rather than mere discount backed tech experience. And that’s unfortunately the hard part of the deal- it involves understanding drivers of trials, of repeats and of stickiness. In other words, it entails building an understanding of vital consumer led business drivers, the quintessential “moments of truth” that the service should deliver on. And this will help to control and shape organic recommendations- the most desirable and sustainable form of virality. Without having a hold on these, a lot of companies might build momentum that’s just propped up by discounts, curiosity or media money- and is therefore artificial or unsustainable. <br />
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Doing this involves a fundamental shift in thinking- of understanding consumers beyond “use-case”- considering them as flesh and blood entities with their own idiosyncrasies rather than bits of digital data that interact with product in a predictable way. Many tech firms that delegate this thinking to a “later date” discover that they are trapped in a vicious whirlpool of scaling-acquisition-resolution-scaling, in other words, the loop of feeding consumers in a leaky bucket that needs more and more repair (read funds) to sustain the growth. <br />
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Net, building a sustainable business in B2C tech isn’t just about heavy media blitz or catchy taglines. Rather it’s about building a solid product story rooted in a thorough understanding or at least appreciation of all moments of truth. Balancing unit level economics with consistent consumer acquisition is the essence of a true brand. Therefore tech based start-ups would do good to invest from their inception in brand “thinking”, if not brand “building”- more so in today’s chaotic environment when investors are getting choosy and picking businesses that show natural rather than artificial growth. And this definitely calls for a thinking that goes beyond “Use Cases”<br />
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<i>*(A BusyBeeBrands Perspective) </i>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-5044206088470372882016-01-19T23:07:00.000+05:302016-01-20T07:13:23.548+05:30Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai: My true story!26th November 2008: I returned home late at night after a cozy dinner with my wife at our favorite Italian restaurant. Everything was perfect- the food, the ambience and the Bangalore weather. It was my birthday and I was mostly reflecting on the year gone by. 2008 was an eventful year for me- I got married in Feb, joined a new company in June and lost someone very special to me in October. I was in no mood to celebrate but my wife insisted that we should at least go out for a dinner and I was glad we went out.<br />
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Just out of habit, I switched on the TV to catch the headlines as soon as I entered the home. There was breaking news flashing on every news channel. There was a terrorist attack in Mumbai and the live coverage of the entire operation was being aired. I hadn’t seen anything like that before. If the enemy can attack hotels and hospitals of this country, then probably no place is safe. It almost felt like an invasion into our personal space. I was hooked to the coverage and kept watching the new channels whole night. Didn’t realize that I slept off on the sofa, with the TV on. <br />
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I woke up with a mild headache and a strange feeling of guilt. I kept thinking that what was a special day for me turned out to be such a bad day for many who were stuck in the attack. In a strange way it all felt very personal. Like every Indian I kept following the news through out the next few days, praying for the victims to be safe. Never before was I so agitated by an event. <br />
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Few days after this event, I was slated to travel to Mumbai for work. I loved traveling and was glad that my profession gave me that opportunity to explore so much. In fact, I took huge pride in the fact that I was a platinum member of a loyalty program of a popular airline of those times. <br />
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But this one time- I didn’t feel like going. One, this was the first time I was going to the city after the attack and two, I was going there for some work that was completely alien to me. <br />
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It was an early morning flight on a weekday and contrary to the usual rush on the morning flights, they were very few passengers on this flight. I was happy that the other two seats in my row were vacant. I wanted to sleep as soon as the boarding was done. Everything was normal for the first one hour of my flight. Then suddenly, out of the blue- some random negative thoughts started to occur. It was nothing like I had felt before. The thoughts were absolutely nonsensical, but immensely scary. <br />
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I started feeling overwhelmed and scared. It was a peculiar feeling of helplessness, of losing control over my self, I felt like I was going crazy and it almost paralyzed me. The news images of terrorist attack kept playing like a reel in my mind. I was feeling like I was in grave danger. I was gasping for breath, my palms were sweating, and I felt like I would pass out. The feeling that you are going mad, losing control over your own self is the most terrible feeling I ever felt and it was happening for the first time to me. I felt claustrophobic, I wanted to run but felt stuck in that aircraft. This state lasted for a good twenty minutes and believe me those twenty minutes felt like a lifetime. <br />
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As the pilot announced the cabin crew to prepare for landing, I started to calm down. Breathing deep and praying hard, I just waited for the flight to land.<br />
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As soon as I landed, I called up my wife and explained what had happened to me. My voice was choked and I was crying. I kept repeating the same question “I am going mad? Am I going Mad?” and she kept reassuring me that its just some stupid thoughts and that my mind was playing games with me. She reasoned out that I was hesitant to travel this time and was also stressed about the work, hence such negative thoughts. It’s all stress and nothing else. <br />
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I had a return flight the next morning and I was paranoid of how I will be able to take another flight. I wanted to Google and read about this condition, but was worried that I might discover something fatal and things will deteriorate further. That one-day in Mumbai was the most horrifying day of my life. I felt overwhelmed by everything- the city, the traffic, the people, the hotel room- as if everything was coming on to me. The anticipation that I will again feel like what I felt in the morning was freaking me out. It took me a dozen calls to my wife and parents, to muster up the courage to fly again. I think the strong urge to reach home and figure out what I was suffering from was a strong motivator that helped me fly back. <br />
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I kept praying through the flight. Tried talking to fellow passengers, listen to music, read something, did many things that helped me distract my mind for ninety minutes of that flight time. I was full of self-pity, for feeling so vulnerable and lonely. As soon as I landed at Bangalore airport, I immediately started googling on my phone. Honestly, I didn’t even know what to search for. After typing and searching for couple of key words, I was finally able to frame my problem. I googled “Fear of losing control” and the search took me to a page on Anxiety disorders and for the first time I read the scientific definition of a “Panic Attack”. <br />
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As I kept reading the symptoms of a “Panic Attack” I realized that what I felt on the plane was exactly that. I had my first Panic Attack. But those twenty minutes of panic crippled me for life. Flying became a nightmare and hence started my struggle with anxiety and panic.<br />
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Why am I writing this? Because I have been fighting this condition for last seven years. Unfortunately till last November, I was fighting the battle alone, all by myself – a kind of grueling internal battle. I finally reached out for professional help in December and that has helped me quite a bit. My only regret is that I didn’t seek this help before and kept struggling like an idiot. I believe, there are many like me who are suffering quietly. <br />
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I have decided to come out in open and help those who are going through a situation like me. To start with, I am going to share my journey so far- my struggle with anxiety and how I have been trying to cope with it- sometimes scientifically and often naively. If through my story I can inspire someone to reach out for help- I will consider this effort and public confession absolutely worthwhile. <br />
gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-52867511548813679212013-11-13T23:19:00.000+05:302013-11-14T08:23:03.039+05:30Growing up is not about giving up!Had a bad day at work today and as a consequence I returned home visibly stressed. <br />
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Vedaant, my three year old opened the door for me and greeted me with his characteristic big smile and a glee in his eyes. I tried concealing my feelings and hugged him tight. Watching this from a distance, my wife enquired “why are you looking so stressed?” Now, my son has picked up this habit, where he sometimes repeats whatever we say. So, he repeated Tanu’s question to me, without looking curious for an answer though.<br />
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Even before I could answer, he muttered to me “chill papa, chill” of course without understanding what that meant. He probably picked this up from me or Tanu as we tend to say this to each other quite often.<br />
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On any other day, I would have shown my displeasure and asked him to be careful with the language. But today, it sounded to me as the best piece of advice I ever got. What was worrying me was completely out of my control and there was actually nothing I could do than just chill and let things take their own course.<br />
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Now I am distracted, I am no more thinking about the office stuff. What I am thinking now, is how in all their naivety- kids sometimes teach us some of the most valuable lessons of life. There have been times, when suddenly out of the blue, I have felt touched, inspired and surprised with something that Vedaant either said or did. <br />
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Sometimes, without any obvious reason he just hugs me tight, kisses me and announces that I am his best friend or the times he frowns to expresses his displeasure in an extremely cute manner when I do something he doesn’t like, say changing his favorite channel or polishing off his candy. These are the moments when I can feel my heart melt. It also makes me realize how much joy unbridled emotions can convey. Not saying that we adults should act like kids and express ourselves explicitly. <br />
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Most of us are not good at communicating to people, the things we don’t like about them. What is more concerning is that we are growing shyer even in communicating the things we like about them. A genuine compliment, a word of appreciation, heartfelt thanks, even a tight hug, telling someone the good things you genuinely feel about them is also becoming rare these days. This everyday business of shaking hands, customary hugs; high fives are all becoming so ritualistic, superficial and mechanical. Why can’t we adults just be open about our feelings, why do we like to complicate stuff? Why can’t things be simple like how it was when we were kids? <br />
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While I try to answer some of the most random questions posed by my son or when I am trying to gauge the flight of his imagination. I sometimes wonder- since when did growing up meant giving up? Giving up on our imagination, on inquisitiveness, on our ability to ask questions, on challenging the so called norms and most importantly on the belief that anything is possible<br />
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While we plan for our life on weekends and vacations, wait for those special moments to celebrate life, kids live in the moment. Be it at a doctor’s clinic or an ATM joint. Be it in a five star in Goa or a super market where you buy groceries from, if they have decided to have fun they will have fun. Simple! They can make friends, discoveries and memories anywhere. Not like us, waiting for the perfect occasion, perfect company or perfect place and eventually ending up being disappointed because there is actually nothing called perfect or at least that what we cynics think so. <br />
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My son is obsessed about cars. Toy cars, real cars, car show rooms, car movies, car ads, cars in any form. He is so passionate about them that he insists I buy car magazines for him. He snatches the newspaper from me every morning just as to see which car ads have appeared in the paper. I am worried that he is so much into them but I am also happy that he is so passionate about them. Passions make us, define us and makes our lives worth living. I am sure at some stage or the other all of us were passionate about something- food, movies, travel, fashion, whatever. But eventually we get into the rat race and mistake it for life. Our passions take a back seat. We make a compromise with self that once we arrive in life, we will have ample time and resources to pursue all our passions, without realizing that life’s never a destination. It’s actually a journey, and the only way to live it is to enjoy it.<br />
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In two weeks from now, I turn thirty two. It’s that time of the year when I wrote a note to self, reflecting upon the year that went by and thinking about things I should do next year. This post is my note to self this year. I only want to do two things this year. I want to live like my son and I want to chill. Rest will take care of itself.<br />
gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-11925357026469214122013-05-12T23:05:00.002+05:302013-05-13T13:56:55.974+05:30Happy Mother’s Day Ma!<em>(<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Writing on my behalf of my three year old son, who never runs out of questions. Probably this is what he is thinking on Mother’s day) </span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ma, when I woke up this morning, Papa as usual came to me, kissed me morning and asked me to wish you ‘Happy mother’s day”. Mamma I really don’t know what exactly he meant. I know ‘Happy Birthday’ and I am excited for my birthday next month. I already have a plan on what kind of cake I have in mind. Ok, you know I can’t keep secrets with you- I want cake in the shape of a….CAAAR! Now can you at least pretend to be surprised Ma? You didn’t look too happy either when I asked for a car shaped bed or a car shaped room. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ok, more about that later, but you tell me first what is special about mother’s day? Papa tells me that it’s a special day when we thank mothers for everything they do for us. Now I am totally confused. Other day, when I asked you how did I come into this world, you said that God gifted me to you because you were a good girl. If that is the case, shouldn’t you thank me for being your favorite gift?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t want to say thank you to you. I say it whenever someone makes a kind gesture just like you taught me to do. But with you ma, it’s not like that. We are best friends, right? So there should be no ‘thank you’ between us. Honestly, if I start thanking for everything you do for me, I have to say ‘thank you’ so many times that I don’t even know how to count those many times.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Like the time you teach me rhymes while making all those funny actions, I can’t stop laughing when you act like that. But you know what the best part is- when I repeat those lines after you with those funny actions, I see your face all lit up and a big smile appears on your face, bigger than any car I have in my collection. I love that face of yours ma. I wish you always looked so happy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Or like the time when we play Eye spies, when you close your eyes to count while I go hiding. Every time you catch me, you look so thrilled Ma. Is finding me really so difficult? Let me tell you a secret, I always hide at the same spot ma. Ha-ha, see you didn’t know that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ma, the first time I went up on the slide, or sat on the swing, it was only because I knew you were there to catch me if anything goes wrong. And how can I even forget my first day at school, you were so anxious to leave me alone. Ma, I don’t like it that they don’t allow you to sit with me in the classroom every day. It would be so much fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">You know what ma? I am a big boy now, like you say. When I fall down while running or playing I don’t usually cry. But if I fall down while you are watching, then I can’t stop crying ma. Because when I look at you I know you are crying inside and when I see you cry, I can’t stop ma.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There are so many things ma, that I love you for. Now, you tell me how I can thank you ever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ma, you know how much I love cars and thank you for all the cars that you bought for me. When I grow up one day, I will buy a big car, a real big car which is better than papa’s car and runs much faster than his. The day I will buy, you will be the first one I will take on a ride. You know what that means na? You are the most special person in the world for me, not even papa. Ok, I will also let him sit in my car, but only on the back seat. Because the front seat is always only for you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Now I don’t want Papa to go on and on about this day. So, just to make him happy- Happy mother’s day ma!</span><br />
<br />gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-78731539997265804502013-04-13T23:35:00.003+05:302013-04-13T23:42:20.032+05:30Made in India<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(The views expressed here are completely my own and do not have any connection with my employers)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Working as a Brand Manager, you often get this question - “So, which is your favorite brand?” And before you begin to answer, they will quickly add “of course, apart from the one you handle”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Today the kind of work you see from brands across categories is both exciting and inspiring for anyone who has anything to do with brands. That doesn’t leave many of us out as all of us interact with them at least as consumers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So whenever I am asked to choose my favorite- I confess that it is almost impossible to pick one. If this is agreeable to the person asking the question, I give them three of my favorite brands that have really impressed me in the last few years and what makes them even special is that all of them are ‘made in India’</span><br />
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The first one in the list is Indigo Airlines-<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5pxVFQdphZ8/UWmdmzF-qRI/AAAAAAAABb4/D1mRv8EXqzM/s1600/flight.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bua="true" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5pxVFQdphZ8/UWmdmzF-qRI/AAAAAAAABb4/D1mRv8EXqzM/s320/flight.bmp" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In a category, where traditionally all players were talking about various things like in-flight service, food, discounts, luxury, etc. Indigo promised a very fundamental benefit of ‘on-time performance’ that was not explicitly offered by any operator before. Perhaps a benefit thought to be too generic or category hygiene by other biggies in the business but something which the consumer values a lot when he is evaluating the alternatives.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Unlike quality of service, crew, food, etc. which is very subjective and dependent on consumer’s personal tastes and preferences, on – time performance is very specific and measurable. If you have arrived at your destination on time (even before time sometimes) means that you have arrived on time, there is absolutely no room for ambiguity there. When you have a brand promise that is measurable and demonstrable, it is easier for you to own it credibly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As a passenger, I have experienced Indigo deliver on this promise each time I have traveled with them and add to this their obsessiveness about ‘on- time performance’ (every in-flight announcement stresses the importance of it, their TV commercial talks only about it, they even want their passengers to help their ‘on- time cause’ by helping them tidy the flight before they begin the descent. Going by their announcements- they seem to have got a lot of awards and accolades for keeping ‘on-time’ promise. It’s also the only airlines in the country which uses a boarding ramp instead of stairs to save time while embarking and disembarking. Last but not the least, every time they make an on time arrival, everyone from the pilot to the cabin crew seems to celebrate it with a sense of pride. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Not surprising then that you hear consumers playing back Indigo’s ‘on –time’ promise from various quarters. Conversations at airports, online reviews, Facebook posts and even word of mouth recommendations. I realized the power of this brand on two occasions- one, I was planning a trip home in winters, and my mother who has nothing to do with the world of brands, in all her sincerity advised me “why don’t you fly by Indigo, it’s always on time, even in winters” on another occasion while I was flying Indigo, I was talking to my fellow passenger about why I like flying Indigo, when the guy in turn added to the list saying that IST now has a new meaning, its ‘Indigo Standard Time’ and unlike Indian Standard Time, this one’s always on time, sometimes even before time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When it comes to building brands, simplicity is the best policy and Indigo is a fine example of that. A simple promise, well kept by the brand is played back by its consumers with as much simplicity. And that’s all that needs to be done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There are few more things that Indigo got right, things which are small but add up to a lot. The branding- from the crew uniforms, to the aircrafts, to steppers to in- flight magazine, to merchandise they sell on board- the visual look and feel across all touch points in very consistent. Apart from the visual language, the brand has also developed a very witty tone in which it speaks to its passengers. They have taken advantage of an obvious fact that consumers have lot of time to kill when they are traveling and they will read anything they can lay their hands on. So all the food comes in very interesting packaging with copy that will leave a smile on your face, same with their in-flight magazine which is cheekily called 6E (pun on Sexy)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With all of this what Indigo has done successfully is to bring in certain irreverence to the category which was very stiff and took itself too seriously. Thank god someone did that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Recently they have added a host of value added services that can make your flying experience even better- like pre-selecting seats with better leg space, Fast Forward-an express check-in service, pre-booking your meal, etc. of course all of them come at a cost but doesn’t that makes perfect business and consumer sense. They even seem to have an aggressive policy to lure corporate travelers and going just by the number of working professionals who prefer to fly Indigo, it definitely seems to be working.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So in nutshell, when I choose to fly Indigo, I don’t feel like a low cost traveler and but a smart one who has made a smart choice. It may sound too simplistic, but if a brand is able to make its consumers feel that way it has done its job.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Not surprising then that Indigo tops my list of favorite brands that are ‘made in India’. There are two more brands that I am equally impressed with. I will write about them in next post. Meanwhile do you want to make any guesses?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-71265069447884210032010-10-27T00:16:00.005+05:302010-10-27T01:09:06.887+05:30Branding in education sector<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Co-author: Suharsh Dikshit<br /><br />On a hot, sunny afternoon in June, a plain looking bourgeoisie taxi lumbered through the busy roads of Delhi. While the driver was busy exchanging chosen expletives with the fellow drivers on the road, Suharsh and I sat impassively, engaged in our respective avocations. We had just arrived in Delhi and were heading towards Panipat to attend a consumer session. While we love to disagree with each other on most things, we share a common passion for branding and the Indian consumer.<br /><br />“Looks like every second ad is trying to sell either homes or education”, I said, referring to the constant stream of college and property ad-jingles blurting out on the radio. Driver, who had by now broken out of the traffic, added his own view in Delhi style- “Makaan ke gaane toh aise sunate hain ji jaise makaan muft main bant rahein hon” shutting down his laptop and placing it back into the bag, Suharsh quipped- “Makaan muft main mile na mile her college naukri dena ka wadaa zaroor karta hai”. Driver concluded the discussion with a dismissive statement- “yeh sab brand walon ke natak hote hain”. Suharsh and I exchanged an amused look; evidently we were not too impressed by general opinion of our profession.<br /><br />Coming back to the topic, I said- “higher education is a unique category. You know, from many FGDs I have attended with small town consumers, I realise that the both parents and the kids see education as a sure shot ticket to a better life, like a sort of insurance for better future”<br /><br />Suharsh added to my line of thought “For today’s youth, it is not only important to be successful, but it is as much important to be ‘seen as’ successful. They are extremely exhibitionist in nature”<br /><br />I took it up from there “and probably that explains the success of the Facebooks and the Orkuts of the world. The social networking sites give them an opportunity to- show off. The uploaded images on most profiles can be classified as- my foreign trips, my happening parties, my hot girlfriends/ boyfriends, my gadgets, etc. Everyone wants to put up their best face on the web- kind of carefully craft an image for themselves”<br /><br />“You got to agree; sometimes movies provide amazing insights on the Indian youth. I am sure if life was a bumper sticker, it would read ‘main apni/apna favourite hoon’ for majority of youth today. I love that dialogue from ‘Jab we met’- it defines the youth of today so well” none of my discussion can go without a reference to bollywood.<br /><br />Suharsh smiled and took out a copy of the matrimonial page from The Sunday Times - “you are right and there is more to it….education is not only a passport to better future, it’s also the new caste system...here have a look”. I glanced at the circled matrimonial ad, it read- “….match invited for a slim, fair girl….and went onto mention- “elder sister married to IIM graduate, settled in US” I chuckled and read the ones around it- “Match invited for an IIT graduate…”, “….BTech, Software engineer, settled in New York…”<br /><br />I was with Suharsh on this one- “Yes, education is the new caste system and come to think of it- caste is nothing but a social stratification and education and occupation provide easy handles to stratify. Education- particularly your degree or the college you pass out from is certainly a part of your identity”<br /><br />Suharsh was thinking like a brand manager now- “if education is given so much importance, then it is natural that education category will have a very complicated, lets put it this way, purchase decision process”<br /><br />I nodded in agreement pulling out a cigarette, indicating that I was already getting involved in the discussion- “you are right; after all it has all the characteristics of high involvement- huge investment, infrequent purchase and more importantly its irreversible. The other category which is as complex that comes to mind is buying a home, but in case you are not happy with the investment, you can sell the property and exit but what would you do if you are stuck in a course that is dissatisfactory and takes away few important years of your life?” I sighed.<br /><br />As I gestured driver to roll down the windows and lighted my smoke, Suharsh spoke “branding in education is a very tricky issue. If you are too vocal, you are seen as too commercial and selling education like soap or a moisturizer and if you don’t speak at all- you remain anonymous. Of course, barring the top institutions like IITs, IIMs and other few which have already established themselves as formidable brands in the category, this is a problem that most emerging institutions face”<br /><br />I got his point and elaborated it further “very true, what adds to the problem is that majority of private institutions consider brand building to be all about organizing high profile events, developing slick ads, getting a good-looking logo and a flashy website…what they forget is that each brand should stand for certain values and unless those values are credible, relevant and distinct and unless each stakeholder understands, imbibes and demonstrates these values in a consistent way, they are really not building brands or delivering on any brand promise. It’s all about getting the basics right”<br /><br />Suharsh added an interesting dimension to the argument “Hmmm…now that you have brought it up, I think there are more stakeholders involved in this category than in any other category that I know of- students, faculty, parents, recruiters, alumni, aspirants and even government. Any exercise in brand building should involve and factor in the needs of all the stakeholders and the brand promise should appeal to all. The brand building process has to be inside out and not vice versa”<br /><br />I chipped in with my bit “come to think of it, all ads in this category look, feel and sound the same. Every institution talks about the same 3 or 4 things- 100% placements, best in class infrastructure, reputed faculty, industry exposure and in some cases even foreign associations and collaborations. Mostly making exaggerated claims, they are- as in your face as they can get. I mean how is size of the campus, guaranteed laptop and air-conditioned classroom even remotely correlated with the quality of education”<br /><br />Suharsh had another piece of data ready- “…and I recently read that education sector was one of the highest spenders on advertising last year, the sector spent a sum upwards of 900 crores in advertising”. My face reflected genuine surprise and anguish- “900 Cr spent on communicating generic attributes, that are either undifferentiated or irrelevant…come on, these colleges have some very intelligent academicians and businessmen at the helm, I wonder why they can’t understand this basic flaw in their brand building endeavors?”<br /><br />Suharsh requested our over enthusiastic driver to desist racing with other cars on highway and went on with his explanation- “Consider the example of a private management institute that dares the aspirants to think beyond IIMs. It has an exaggerated, albeit unique communication and they spend generously in promoting themselves. I am sure they have right media weights. Though this particular institution might be fairly well known (speaking strictly in terms of share of media voice) when you compare it with IIMs (only because it wants us to think beyond IIMs), the two institutes conjure up completely different imagery. While one stands for the best management education in the country the other…well, lesser said, the better”<br /><br />Digging into the sandwich we packed from airport, I complemented his thoughts “probably that’s where IITs, IIMs, XLRI or NITs stand as formidable brands…they communicate certain values and conjure an imagery that’s not based on generics like placements or infrastructure”<br /><br />Drawing form his own MBA experience, Suharsh added- “you’ve hit the nail on the head. In fact the campus size of XLRI might be smaller than what some of these private colleges claim in their ads, but that’s absolutely irrelevant…what matters is the values that XLRI stands for and the promise of ‘socially responsible managers’ it delivers on. IIMs take pride in claiming ‘we don’t guarantee placements!’ because they deliver on a much bigger promise of grooming and creating the leaders of tomorrow, the placements in such scenario is a given”<br /><br />I retorted- “but we cannot ignore the fact that even then the private colleges are packed to capacity, right?” checking his mails, Suharsh replied- “Agreed, there is always a queue even outside the private colleges. But don’t forget that this queue is no measure of a good brand. We all know that demand supply equation in Indian higher education sector is skewed with huge population and too few colleges. So there is no surprise that a seat in any college never goes vacant, and that gives an opportunity for lot of these colleges to charge huge premium on admissions. But it’s a mistake to confuse this premium with Brand Equity. This premium is simply the result of yawning demand-supply gap”<br /><br />I had an example to illustrate the point “my cousin appeared for the engineering entrance examination this year but couldn’t get a seat in any of the top, reputed colleges. He didn’t want to take a break, so started evaluating the available options. He was utterly confused, he referred to rankings by various magazines and websites to make a decision but they only added to his confusion- each source had their own rankings which was different from all other rankings. It came to a point when all the available options started looking the same and he finally chose a college on the basis of convenience and proximity to his home. I am sure lot of aspirants face this dilemma and this is nothing but an indication that the sector is getting commoditized”<br /><br />I guess we were bored of discussing on the same topic for so long. As the car cruised on the highway, Suharsh and I curiously looked at the landscape dotted with private engineering and MBA colleges at every few kilometers. Another private university ad jingle played on radio followed by a property ad when I quipped- “I want to be the guy who is selling land to these private universities”</span>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-9274063752694582642010-08-15T00:49:00.000+05:302010-08-15T01:16:18.737+05:30Happy Independence Day<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> I am not very fond of driving, especially on weekends. The whole city seems to be in transit and the traffic moves at a crawling pace. It also doesn’t help that I stay in the lane next to a Big Bazaar. The ‘Independence Day’ sale at Big Bazaar is the biggest <em>‘mela’</em> that you can see in an urban setting and all roads within a radius of few kilometers from the store are choc- o- block. So, in the evening when I had to go to a temple I decided to take an auto rikshaw.
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<br />After being denied rather impolitely almost half a dozen times, finally an autowallah gave me a fair hearing. Thick beard and a skull cap made his religious identity quite clear. <em>“Ulsoor. Balaji Temple?”</em> I asked him unsure of his response. <em>“Return bhi ana hai kya?”</em> his interest surprised me. <em>“Haan bhai, abhi permanently jaane ka waqt nahi aaya hai”</em> I said jokingly. He got the joke and smiled with a <em>“kyaa sir aap bhi…?” </em></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Getting back to business, I said <em>“it will take ten minutes. Can you wait?”</em> </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><em>“Baitho…par ten Rupees extra dena…waiting ka ” </em>he said pointing towards the seat and we began our journey. The traffic was awful and we were hardly moving. I could see him getting all worked up, so to break the tension I started the conversation <em>“Naam kya hai apka”</em> <em>“Ahmed”</em> he said without turning back. <em>“Traffic kafi bura hai”</em> I commented. <em>“Puchiye mat sir. Yeh road hamesha jam milta hai”</em> <em>“Aur yeh metro ke kaam ki wajah se bhi problem ho raha hoga. Kab tak banega yeh?”</em> I asked him sympathizing with his problem. <em>“Sir, yahan koi kaam time pe hota hai kya? Sab jagah corruption hai. Aap ne news mein dekha hi hoga commonwealth games mein kya gadbad ho raha hai”</em> <em>“Hmmm…”</em> I said in a reflective tone, impressed by his awareness of current issues. <em>“Sir aap ko kya lagta hai…yeh games ho payange India mein? Country ke izzat ka sawal hai”</em> I didn’t have an answer really <em>“ho jayage. Kisi na kisi tarah manage kar lenge. Hume aadat hai na aise kaam karne ki”</em> I reassured him.
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<br /><em>“Acha ek bat batao- aap log ye hamesha extra kyon charge karte ho. Meter ke upar?”</em> I tried changing the topic. <em>“Aap ko to pata hai sir, mehangayi bhad gayi hai itni. Petrol Diesel ka keemat har din bhad rahai hai. Bolo kya karega hum log?”</em> he was quick with the retort. While we were engaged in this conversation a young boy selling national flags in various sizes and shapes approached us. It was the eve of 14th August and every signal had these selling. Ahmed was a smart negotiator, he asked the boy picking up a small one <em>“kitne ka diya?”</em> the boy announced the price <em>“15 Rupees”</em> Ahmed made another offer <em>“Agar bada bhi loonga to discount dega” </em>While the boy was still calculating in his mind, Ahmed offered a solution <em>“yeh chota, bada aur saath mein badge (to be worn on shirt) sab mila ke fifty mein de de”</em> assessing that he couldn’t get more from Ahmed the vendor said <em>“de doh”</em> and closed the deal.
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<br />I was intrigued when Ahmed began carefully folding and stacking the flags <em>“You are not putting them now?”</em> I probed. <em>“Nahi sir. I will put them tomorrow morning”</em> he explained. <em>“Why”</em> I asked intuitively and my heart clenched at the dumbness of my question. <em>“Kal 15th August hai na sir. Apna independence day. Isliye”</em> he explained without judging me. <em>“Aap yeh har saal karte ho? Yeh flag aur sab?”</em> I wanted to know. <em>“Yes sir, har saal... aur is din mein ekdum fresh kapde pehanta hoon auro auto bhi chakachak rakhta hoon”</em> he replied in an excited tone.</span>
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<br />I was both impressed and puzzled with his narration <em>“par abhi toh aap itni complaint kar rehe the. Poor infrastructure, corruption, price increase in sab ke bare mein? Fir bhi?”</em> I voiced my doubt.
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<br /><em>“Sir, tell me which country is perfect. Har mulk ke apne problems hai. Mana yeh problems hain…lekin yeh hamari hain aur hum inse nipat lenge. Kisi ke gulam toh nahi hain na hum. Aap freedom ko problems se compare nahi kar sakte. Aur tarakki bhi toh kar raha hai na India. Sochiye agar hum Pakistan, Afghanistan ya Bangladesh mein paida hue hote toh? kitni buri halat hoti?”</em> he was forceful in putting forward his point of view.
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<br />I kept my promise of not more than ten minutes waiting and returned with a packet of <em>‘prashad’</em> for him. He thanked while taking it and as a mark of respect touched it to his forehead before consuming it. On our way back, the auto came to a sudden halt at a signal and refused to start. <em>“Sir kuch problem lagta hai. Sorry aap ko doosra auto lena padega”</em> he said. <em>“That’s ok. Kitna Hua”</em> I wanted to know. Looking at the meter and referring to the new rate list he said <em>“Seventy Five sir” “Extra Mila ke?”</em> I asked <em>“Nahi sir, extra rehne dijiye. Aapne prashad khila diya bahut hai” </em>he spoke in a friendly tone.
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<br />As I settled the bill and started to walk, he called me aloud <em>“and sir Happy Independence day”</em> <em>“aap ko bhi”</em> I responded. Happy Independence day.gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-29657263164008338642010-06-24T14:26:00.000+05:302010-07-13T14:35:55.626+05:30Donnie<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/TDwsLV7Xv0I/AAAAAAAABYc/sN-SBuR8K4k/s1600/ssp.jpg"></a><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/TCMeyLZkcfI/AAAAAAAABYU/VFs6btbU4s4/s1600/DSC03984.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486262618469724658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/TCMeyLZkcfI/AAAAAAAABYU/VFs6btbU4s4/s320/DSC03984.JPG" border="0" /></a><em> </em><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong><em>"If there is a heaven, it's certain my dog is going to be there because No heaven will not ever Heaven be, unless my dog is there to welcome me. Rest in peace Donnie- you are buried in our hearts"</em></strong></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I have always been fascinated by dogs. As a kid, I envied people who had pet dogs. The sight of people walking their dogs fuelled my imagination and I would picturize the day when I would be the proud owner of one. The collage of images of my pet walking obediently next to me, leaping at me with a wagging tail as I come back from school, fetching the ball that I threw far in the air- gave me an adrenaline rush. So crazy was I about dogs that I used to befriend people who had dogs and insisted on visiting relatives and family friends who had pets.<br /><br />I used to feed stray dogs in my locality, give them names and feel supremely happy when any of them responded to my name calls. My happiness knew no bounds whenever I spotted pups on the street. I used to spend all my pocket money in feeding them with bread and Parle biscuits. I would experience the biggest joys of my life when any of them followed me after these feeding sessions. I would pick them up, kiss them on their faces, talk to them and promise them that I would return next day. Bollywood portrayal of dog as the most faithful (and often sacrificing) companion in movies like “Teri Meherbaniyan” and “Mard” firmed my belief that only my pet dog could be my best friend.<br /><br />My parents were completely aware of this obsession of mine and cleverly dodged my umpteen requests to own a pet. They somehow believed that I would get rid of this obsession as I grow up, but with age, my resolve only got stronger and my arguments became more powerful and they finally succumbed to my demands when I was in teens.<br /><br />I vividly remember my first encounter with my ‘pet to be’. It was a veterinary clinic and he made a rather grand entry, escaping from the doctor’s arms, jumping on to my parents, snatching and trying to chew up my mother’s purse and finally came to a halt after peeing in geometric circles on the doc’s table. My parents were sickened; it was their worst nightmare coming true. This creature was an absolute contrast to what they had in mind. The common archetype of a puppy- the coy, cute being was shattered by this wild, misbehaved beast, almost like an experiment gone wrong. Poor parents who thought a pet meant a furry Pomeranian were scandalized to see a three month old boxer. Let alone fur, it didn’t even have a tail. Being a brindle, it had stripes running all over the body that looked like dirt marks. There was more, the breed has a face which looks swollen like it was punched, a broad skull and hanging jaws.<br /><br />My mother was numb from the shock and all my father could utter was “Beta yeh kya hai?” My younger brother who was my key supporter in my negotiations for owning a pet was now hiding behind my mother, scared if the dog would pounce on him next.<br /><br />But I was determined; I only wanted a boxer, a breed that stands out in the crowd of dainty looking Pomeranians or spitz which most households had. To me they were plastic dogs and this was the real dog- the man among dogs.<br /><br />Dad was unmoved “remember, if you get this one, we won’t have anything to do with him. You have to take care of him all by yourself” he said. But I had already made up my mind and like always my parents succumbed to my stubbornness.<br /><br />The first thing the dog did when he entered our house, was running all around, sniffing each nook and corner and simultaneously peeing all over the place, as if it was marking its territory. Exasperated, my dad said “welcome trouble”<br /><br />My father was indifferent to him, my brother was scared of him and my mother was a fence sitter. Dogs have a very powerful sixth sense and he could make out that I was the only one backing him. So for the first week, he just kept following me like a shadow- sit next to my study table while I was reading, sleep next to my bed and even follow me to the bathroom and wait for me till I came out. He used to desperately search for me when I stepped out of house and wait for me at the gate till I got back. From a distance he would pick up the hum of my vehicle and start jumping at the gate, vigorously wagging his two inch tail. He would not even let me park and jumped right into my arms, licking me all over the place. No one had ever given me that kind of undivided attention and affection and I felt like the most loved person on the earth.<br /><br />Meanwhile, my brother grew jealous of this growing bonding between us, so, while I was away, he started making attempts to befriend the pup. Also, the maternal instincts of my mother got into play and she started pampering him. But my father was disinclined even now. The poor dog used all his antics to charm him but nothing worked with my dad.<br /><br />Now it was time for the big decision, what should we name him? My mother and brother enthusiastically suggested few names but I had the veto. As a kid, I was always fascinated by the villains or so called dons in bollywood movies. The raw power they had, their weapons, the fear they evoke and the unflinching respect they used to get in their clan used to inspire me. At the same time I was aware of my own limitations of stature and physical strength. I envisaged that my boxer would make up for all my weaknesses and together we would become a force that would be revered and respected just like the ‘dons’ whom I idolized. So, I wanted to call him Don but then realized it would expose my hidden intentions and even sounded like a hyperbole. I finally settled for a ‘Donnie’- Don with a cute suffix. Rest of the family was disgusted with my choice of name but then came around as usual.<br /><br />But Donnie grew up as an exact opposite of the menacing beast that I wanted him to be. He was the most docile, playful and friendly dog I had ever seen. While walking on the street, he would wag his tail at every passerby and pulled me towards anyone who gave him half a glance. The only reason I tolerated this behaviour was because it gave me an opportunity to strike a conversation with beautiful strangers. The only people whom Donnie troubled were the kids who used to play cricket in front of my house. Every time the ball fell on our side of fence, Donnie would quickly grab it, run inside and hide it in a place even we couldn’t find. As we couldn’t return the ball, the kids suspected us to be the partners in crime and eventually stopped playing there.<br /><br />One of the reasons why people keep dogs is for security, but Donnie was anything but a guard dog. He refused to stay out at night and scratched the doors till we let him in. We acknowledged this very early and set up a small bed for him in the living area itself, but he refused to sleep there. He wanted an equal treatment and wanted to sleep in my room and my bed. My mother caught him red handed several times snoring away to glory happily tucked under my blanket in the wee hours of morning. He was punished and we (brother & me) were given strict instructions not to allow him on the bed. But Donnie was a clever dog and he found a perfect solution for this. He would pretend to sleep in his bed initially, then, as my mom went off to sleep, he would quietly enter her room, sniff around and carefully touch her toes with his wet nose to see if she was really asleep. Then he would come to my bed, put his front feet up and slowly slide his head under my blanket, stay like that for while and assessing the situation he would lift rest of his body up and sleep peacefully with me. In the morning, just before my mother got up he jumped out of my bed and inhabited his bed.<br /><br />One underlining characteristic of his personality was his hunger…he was perennially hungry and gulped food in such a hurry as the food would vanish. His tummy was a bottomless pit and he would drool for everything that was food, including ants and the contents of our dustbin.<br /><br />In one such excavations of the kitchen waste, Donnie tasted a mango for the first time. Thus started the biggest love affair of his life- his obsession for mangoes was beyond description. He could beat the best sniffer dogs if the search was for hidden mangoes. He used to create havoc whenever mangoes were brought home, standing by the kitchen door he used to bark continuously till he was given one. He had to be the first one to taste the fruit and mind you he didn’t touch the cut fruit. He only wanted the whole fruit with skin. He would eat the fruit so voraciously that by end of it his face would be smeared with pulp and he continued licking the seed till it went dry and didn’t give any taste.<br /><br />He also loved car rides; he used to hop in whenever we took out the car and would refuse to get down till we took him for a ride. Settled on the back seat, he kept peeping out of the window thoroughly enjoying the gush of wind on his face. Once I remember, we took him for a ride and driving at a comfortable speed, I was engaged in a conversation with my brother when I suddenly had to apply breaks. I saw a dog running along the car, it took me few seconds to realise that it was Donnie. What happened was that he saw a push cart loaded with mangoes and jumped out of the car, on being chased by the vendor he started running to catch us.<br /><br />Donnie had a girlfriend as well, called ‘Sonia’ a beautiful stray I used to feed daily. Both of them used to spend hours prancing on the opposite sides of the closed main gate, often taking a break to come closer and lick each others faces through the grills. Sonia used to accompany us whenever I took Donnie for walks and she was the only person in the world that he didn’t mind sharing food with- and that in the dog’s world is the true test of love and relationship. Once a pack of rowdy dogs attacked Sonia in front of my home, I heard her cry in despair and ran out with a stick to help her, they were four or five of them and suddenly charged on me. While I took a step back I realized that I didn’t close the gate and Donnie was standing next to me. I had never seen Donnie is such an avatar. Raised strands of hair, ears all lifted up and exhibiting sharp teeth clenched in anger, it was ready take on the pack. Before I could do any thing it pounced on them and fought so bravely in spite of being overpowered and bitten by them. By the time I could take stock of the situation, he was bleeding from several places but didn’t let the stray dogs touch Soniya or me. My perception of him changed completely after this and he became my real hero.<br /><br />Years passed and it was time for me and my brother to move out of Agra. Age was catching up on Donnie too. The hyper active and impatient Donnie of young days who could hardly stay still at a place even for minute would now keep lying still at a place, with head sunk between the stretched legs. The wrinkles on his forehead and the lost look in his eyes gave him the appearance of a philosopher in contemplation. The reason for the inactivity was acute arthritis. The condition affected his hind legs the most and became even severe in winters, when he could hardly pick himself up. He needed help in getting up and needed a great deal of effort in lying or sitting down in a position that didn’t put too much pressure on the weak feet. Donnie also developed a cataract and in spite of treatment somehow couldn’t get his vision fully back. Where he would leap and jump all the time and didn’t let any one enter home without pampering him, now he would just lie quietly in the corner, looking at you with raised brows and wagging his two inch tail expressing his happiness on your coming home. Throughout my stay in hostel, my walls were adorned only with pictures of Donnie and invariably all my phone conversations with family would start with “How is Donnie?”<br /><br />I went after few months in my first semester break and was surprised to see the turn of events. After we (brother & me) had left home, my parents had divided between them all the chores related to Donnie. My mother would take care of his food and other regular needs while my father was responsible for taking him out on walks and all his medication. For a person who was dead against bringing Donnie home, my father’s equation with Donnie now was beyond belief. The relationship they shared was nothing short of a father son bond. He loved taking Donnie out on walks and on many occasions he would actually talk to Donnie, from a distance it looked as if they were having an intimate conversation. In the evenings they would go to the nearby park and sit there, my dad on the concrete bench and Donnie beside him, watching the kids play. While Donnie had outgrown the habit of grabbing the balls that came his way, my dad often bought him colorful balls and tried engaging him in a sport. He even got a special low lying bed made for him and personally picked up a cushion with a design of stars and Santa Claus on it. On the nights that Donnie had aggravated pain, he would keep going to him and checking on him on an hourly basis. Stroking his forehead, he would every time ask him “are you feeling better Donnie?” My mother on the other hand would refuse to leave Donnie alone. In last five years, she has not visited me ever for more than two days and even in such short visits all she could think of was Donnie. She would call my dad several times to check if he has eaten the food or not, did he go for a walk or not. The affection was mutual, even Donnie was extremely attached to her- my mother had to stand there till he finished his food or he would refuse to eat. On the rare occasions when she traveled, he would not touch his food, no matter what was on the plate- even mangoes. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />After marriage, when my wife came first time to my place, there was a traditional welcome ceremony where they do a small puja at the entrance. There were people crowding the entrance busy doing the rituals. Suddenly Donnie emerged to the front limping his way through them. He was very excited to see us and could make out that the new person accompanying me was important for the family. Almost like a special gesture to welcome Tanu Donnie wanted to stand on his feet to reach her. But the weak hind legs couldn’t take the weight and he cringed in unbearable pain. With a loud shriek, unable to tolerate the pain he started chewing the wooden plank of the door. Tanu quickly reached him and consoled him, while my dad ran for the pain reliever.<br /><br />The next few days were mostly spent nursing Donnie and now it was time for us to go. </span></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><div><br />Donnie was able to at least stand now and walk slowly nonetheless with a limp. The family including Donnie gathered near the car to see us off. Tanu and I said a very personal goodbye to Donnie. The car just started pulling out when the Driver had to apply sudden breaks. Before I could ask him what the matter was, I saw Donnie next to my side of the door. He started scratching my door wanting me to open it. As I climbed down and sat on my knees to reach him, he started licking me all over my face. While I picked him in my arms, I could feel the tears running down from both our eyes. It’s true; there is no greater feeling of love in the world than your dog licking your face.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>PS: Exactly two weeks after I wrote this blog post, Donnie Passed away. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/TDwsLV7Xv0I/AAAAAAAABYc/sN-SBuR8K4k/s1600/ssp.jpg"></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/TDwsLV7Xv0I/AAAAAAAABYc/sN-SBuR8K4k/s1600/ssp.jpg"></a><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div></div>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-10931158037914267222010-04-16T17:56:00.000+05:302010-04-16T23:36:55.884+05:30I love Bangalore<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>Sunday, 15th June 2008, Bangalore (Home)</strong><br /><br />I finally got the job that I wanted so badly and they gave me the location of my preference- Gurgaon. Everyone was happy- my parents, in laws and all others who mattered to me. They always wanted me to move closer to home but were kind enough not to force me. Tanu, the ever giving soul that she is, was happy for me and agreed to apply for a transfer in her organization. I was to join next day and had an early morning flight. But in all this something somewhere didn’t feel right. Didn’t know what was troubling me because everything was happening as per plan- I even had a farewell party last evening.<br /><br />Tanu broke my chain of thoughts- “come on get up and start packing. You have an early morning flight so finish it fast” I kept lying on the couch surfing the channels aimlessly, I mumbled- “I don’t feel like going” not taking me seriously she said “shut up and start packing. Don’t expect me to do it for you”.<br /><br />I switched off the TV and asked her to sit with me, now she knew I was serious (switching off TV really means something big) Trying to look as innocent as possible I said “I don’t want to go. I don’t want to relocate to Gurgaon. I want to stay in Bangalore. I love this city” That was the first time I confessed my love for Bangalore. She lost her cool “don’t talk nonsense, we have already booked an apartment in Gurgaon, appointed the movers and packers, and more importantly you have to join tomorrow, what will you tell them- that sorry I love Bangalore I can’t come…and…and …if you realize you will be jobless if you do that” I knew she was right, but had a plan already “all of that can be taken care of. I will call them and apologize and if they don’t understand my situation- frankly, I don’t care. As far as the job is concerned, I had an offer in Bangalore that I refused last month, I will speak to them…If they haven’t hired anyone, may be they would be kind enough to reconsider me” Tanu was perplexed “Where was your love for Bnagalore all this while, why are you doing this at last minute”<br /><br />“I guess it was always there…just that I didn’t realize it till I had to part my way” I replied. That was probably the most irrational decision I had ever taken in my life- but now when I look back I only feel happy about it.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Some time in 2004, Ahmedabad (MICA)</strong><br /><br />“If you get this job, you are going to be posted in Bangalore. Is that OK with you? Given that your family is settled in north” asked the interviewer. I was honest in my reply “Bangalore is of the reasons why I am keen on this job. I am an Andhrite who grew up mostly in UP. I always wanted to reestablish my connection with south and this job will give me an opportunity to do that” She smiled at my rather lame explanation, but thankfully gave me the job.<br /><br />It was long journey for me from Agra to Bangalore and my train reached the Bangalore station at midnight. While the auto was zipping fast on the deserted roads, I could feel a strange sense of familiarity with the city. It is difficult to put it in words and almost impossible to explain, it was my first visit to the city but I already felt like I belonged to this place- may be it was the overriding optimism of the first job which made me feel that way. I have stayed in many cities and extensively traveled across the country but never felt anything similar anywhere.<br /><br />Bangalore was all that I imagined and more- cosmopolitan minus the madness and pretence of a big city. I can’t say anything about the weather that hasn’t been said before- it is to die for and compensates all other shortcomings of the city. And yes, the beer never tastes as good anywhere.<br /><br />I am very fond of movies and particularly those where the place plays an important role in the story – sometimes the backdrop is so important and adds so many layers to the story<br /><br />Similarly, Bangalore has been the backdrop of some of my happiest memories- this is the place I got my first job, where I fell in love and together we built a place that we call our home. Yes, that is the word- Bangalore feels like home.<br /><br />In last six years I met and made friends with some of the most amazing people and as I discovered Bangalore- I discovered myself.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Thursday, 18th March 2010, Bangalore (Airport)</strong><br /><br />The immigration officer carefully looks at my passport and still gazing into it asks “How long have you been in Bangalore?” “Six years sir”- I replied. “I am sure you still can’t speak Kannada” he said. “Not much” I said validating his assumption. To make me uncomfortable, he asked “Ninna hesaru yenu?” taking my passport back much to his disappointment I replied “Nanna hesaru Gurudev saar and I love namma Bengalaru”</span>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-62819464677092154512009-11-09T17:35:00.000+05:302009-11-10T21:51:35.851+05:30Mr. Rao<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SvmS9j0S-LI/AAAAAAAABXQ/iBrFgbKk5zU/s1600-h/ttp.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402510814291884210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 175px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 54px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SvmS9j0S-LI/AAAAAAAABXQ/iBrFgbKk5zU/s320/ttp.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I hate driving within the city so I very often end up using the paid cab service to go to my office which is on the other end of the city and that is how I met Mr. Rao, almost eighteen months ago.<br /><br />With his medium build, side parted hair and a well trimmed moustache, Mr. Rao, in his mid thirties, looked more like an employee of some government undertaking than a cab driver.<br /><br />Always dressed impeccably in a sky blue shirt and warm grey trousers complete with properly polished black shoes Rao was often the better dressed one between the both of us.<br /><br />It worked like this- whenever I needed a cab, I used to call the helpline of ‘Dot on time’ city taxi service and depending on where I was, they would arrange for a cab that was closest to my location of my pick up.<br /><br />On that particular day, they had sent Mr. Rao to pick me up. He slid open the door of his Maruti van branded with ‘Dot on time’ city taxi stickers for me and greeted with a big smile and a courteous “Good morning Sir”. While I smiled back, I was pleasantly surprised by his behavior.<br /><br />I was dozing off comfortably in the cab when I heard his “Hello”. Sleepish-ly I asked “What happened?” not realizing that he was talking over the phone. He immediately cut the call and apologized “Sorry sir, did I disturb you?” Impressed by his etiquette, I said “No, no, that’s perfectly fine. This is the first time that I could actually sleep in the cab, other wise they keep that wireless radio on which blurts out information about passengers and pick up details. It is so annoying, it hardly lets you sleep”. In proper English, he replied “I know Sir, that’s why I turned it off, so that you don’t have any disturbance”<br /><br />Thoroughly impressed, now I was intrigued too. I asked him “you don’t look anything like a cab driver. How did you get into this business?” Sensing my interest, he started “I was in my PUC sir when my father passed away. I had to leave my studies and start working to support my family. I did a lot of small jobs before I finally got into a logistics company where I performed well and I was promoted to the supervisor level. Then an MNC bought over the company and changed all the policies. According to their policy, you had to be a graduate to be a supervisor and should also know computers. I was not a graduate but was willing to learn computers, however they didn’t give me a chance and I had to leave the company”<br /><br />He was not finished yet, negotiating with the traffic, he continued “Around that time IT industry was growing in Bangalore, many software companies and call centers were being set up and there was lot of demand for cabs. So I thought why not start up on my own and since then I have been driving”<br /><br />As he was anticipating my response, I said “great. See… you lost job because you didn’t know computers and now you are making a living because of the people who work on computers whole day. What goes around comes around”<br /><br />As we reached my office, he said “Sir I stay very close to your place and in the mornings I am generally at home. You can take my cell number and directly call me from next time” I noted his number thinking how convenient that would make my life and that is how our relationship started.<br /><br />Every time I, my wife or my friends needed a cab, we used to call him directly and he would always oblige. In case he couldn’t come personally he would at least arrange a cab for us and it always took lesser time than what ‘Dot on time’ taxi service would have taken.<br /><br />One day, on my way to office I was trying hard to keep myself awake as I hadn’t slept the last night, so I asked him stop by a Pan shop to pick up cigarettes. As I lit my cigarette, he curiously commented “Sir, I have never seen you smoke before?” I smiled as I explained him “I usually don’t smoke unless I am too stressed…and please don’t tell this to my wife, she will kill me and you will be responsible” Shyly he complied- “No, no sir what are you saying, never”<br /><br />A month after this, I was coming from Mumbai and I called him to pick me up from the airport. There was some political rally that day and we were stuck in traffic for hours. I was desperately searching for a cigarette shop but couldn’t see one. Sensing my frustration he offered me help- “Sir would you like to smoke?” I confessed “Ya, I would feel better with one, but I can’t see a shop here”.<br /><br />What he said next was music to my ears “You can take from this” he said as he offered me a pack of Wills Navy Cut that he just pulled out from his dash board. Plucking a cigarette I asked him “But you don’t smoke. How come you stock them?” Now it was his turn to confess “Sir I also don’t smoke but this traffic…aiyyo… it’s too much sir. So once in a while I smoke to handle this. But very limited sir... only one or two per day”<br /><br />To shrug of his hesitation, I said “That’s ok. Would you like to smoke as well?” He took up my offer pulled a cigarette for himself. As we lit our cigarettes and let a sigh of smoke, I saw other people in the traffic watching us in amusement.<br /><br />Once my wife and I were traveling in his cab when I asked him “do you have children?” Cheerfully he said “Yes sir, I have a daughter. She just turned two last month” Tanu wanted to know “is she naughty?” Opening up to the topic he said “Yes madam, she is very naughty. In fact I have the album of her recent birthday party with me” and he handed over the album from the dashboard to us.<br /><br />The parents and the baby dressed in their best clothes and smiling to the camera made a picture perfect family, a family that looked happy together. The baby was adorable and one could make out that she was center of their universe. As he put the album back he said “Sir, there is no bigger joy than going back to a home where your child is waiting for you. She brightens up as she sees me and I completely forget all the day’s stress and become a child with her” he finished by saying “I want to give her the best of education, best of everything that I couldn’t get”. It was moving to see a father trying to relive his childhood through his daughter.<br /><br />Meanwhile, I got a driver and started using the cab only on few rare occasions particularly for airport drops and pick ups. On one such occasion, I saw his cab stripped off- of all the ‘dot on time’ taxi service stickers and even the wireless set was missing. I asked him “are you no longer with the ‘Dot on time’? Taking a breather he replied “yes sir, I pulled out of that service. I was paying them three thousand rupees monthly just to get information about pick ups. All my passengers call me directly so I hardly need that information, so why unnecessarily pay them”<br /><br />After some time he asked me “Sir, what is this recession and when is this likely to end?” I wasn’t expecting a question like this from him, so, instead of answering I asked him a question “Why are you asking. Is it affecting you by any chance?” He was looking uncomfortable telling me “most of my passengers are from software companies and lot of them have reduced using cab services. They prefer autos or are using shared car services and when I ask them all of them say it is because of recession” To reassure him I said “Don’t worry, we will come out of it very soon” </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />He still looked concerned “sometimes I think I should take up a job. I even tried contacting few companies but all of them rejected me because I don’t know computers” trying to pass it off as a joke he said “this computer will never leave me”<br /><br />A month later, he picked me again from the airport and today he was looking very glum. He didn’t speak a word in the entire journey. On one of the red lights, a fat, bulky guy suddenly opened the door and got in forcibly. While I was still shocked, Rao started talking to him in Kannada. From his tone I could make out that he was pleading for something. I could gather that he was requesting the fat guy not to create a scene before me. In Kannada he said “please don’t create a scene before the passenger and please let me drop him”<br /><br />While the fat guy refused to listen to him at all, another person came on to the driver’s window and took off the keys. At this point I intervened “What is happening here. Who are these guys?” Mr. Rao tried his best to keep a normal face “Nothing sir, some confusion. These are recovery agents and they have got the wrong information. By mistake the bank has given them my car number” Before he could finish the fat guy looked at me and spoke in a dominating voice “he is lying to you. He has not paid the EMI for last four months, we are seizing his car. You can take an auto and go” and he signaled a passing auto to stop.<br /><br />I didn’t want to look directly into Rao’s face and embarrass him more. His face was red with humiliation and I could sense that he was trying hard to control his tears. Sandwiched between the two fat guys he looked visibly meek and insulted- as if someone stripped off his honor. Now I could understand why he might have opted out of the ‘Dot on time’ taxi service, he could not afford the service anymore.<br /><br />I wanted to help him but there was nothing I could do. All I could say was “Don’t worry everything will be fine. You call me if you need any thing” As I was getting into auto, he ran up to me with teary eyes said “I am sorry sir, very sorry for all this”. Sensing his helplessness l said “don’t be stupid, be strong and sort out the matter. Everything will be fine”<br /><br />That evening I called to check on him if he was fine. He was sounding better now “the matter is in control now sir. They have given me a month’s time to pay the due amount. I will arrange it by then”. I offered him help “tell me if there is anything that I can do. Anything” I was careful with my words as I didn’t want to hurt his self respect.<br /><br />For the next one month whenever I called Mr. Rao, he always arranged a cab for me but never came personally. He would always apologize and tell me that he was with some other passenger or that he was not feeling well or that he has gone out of town. I thought he was too embarrassed to face me and understood his situation completely.<br /><br />Then one day he finally called me and said “Sir I wanted to meet you when you are free. Can you give me some time” Unable to read what was on his mind I said “You can meet me tomorrow morning at eight thirty. That’s when I leave for the office; I will see you outside my apartment’s gate”<br /><br />Mr. Rao was waiting for me at the gate. For the first time I saw him in a shirt of some other colour than blue. He was wearing a crisp white shirt paired with black trousers today and looked better that the last time I saw him. In his hand he held a brown envelope. I greeted him “how are you and where have you been?” and stretched my hand for a shake hand.<br /><br />Holding my hand in both his hands, he gave me large smile and told me “I am fine sir. I sold my car last week and paid back the loan. I have decided to take up a job. Just wanted to give you my CV, if there is anything in your company please do let me know”.<br /><br />Taking his CV I reassured him “good, you have decided to make a new start. I will definitely look out if there is anything for you”.<br /><br />Then as I turned on my ignition he proudly declared “…and sir I have started learning computers, I have enrolled into an evening class” he took a pause and then almost personifying computer as his enemy he said “…and this time I will not leave him"</span>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-31578161969921253742009-08-11T09:49:00.000+05:302009-08-11T09:54:41.236+05:30Movie review: Love Aaj Kal<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SoDxt0olUWI/AAAAAAAABV4/mjiRKmzA8OY/s1600-h/love_aaj_kal.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368556525350900066" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 310px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SoDxt0olUWI/AAAAAAAABV4/mjiRKmzA8OY/s400/love_aaj_kal.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I have been withholding this post for almost a week now. I saw Love Aaj kal on the first day itself but couldn’t quite make up my mind whether I liked it or not. Intuitively I was comparing it with Imtiaz’s previous work. That it when I decided that I should give it some time to sink in, distance myself from it for a while and then watch it again- this time objectively and then put my views together.<br /><br />Today, I got out early from my work and went straight to the closest multiplex. Afternoon shows on weekdays are generally unfilled and you have the luxury of choosing your seat. When I enquired the lady at the ticket counter for the top row, she winked at me and asked if I would prefer the corner seats. Taking her clue I clarified that I am watching the movie alone and I don’t mind any seat till it’s a top row.<br /><br />While I barely settled on my seat, I saw a young couple getting too comfortable on the corner seat(s) that I skipped. Their movie had begun much before the screen lit. Without diverting much let me come back to Love Aaj Kal.<br /><br />I am a huge Imtiaz Ali fan and loved all his previous work. I loved Socha Na Tha the most, followed by Jab We Met and Ahista Ahista (story by him). I love the way he decodes the youth of today- their confusions, their aspirations and their varied interpretations of love- all of this mostly unfolding in the backdrop of ever vibrant and colorful heartland of India. It is amazing how the ‘place’ plays such an important role in all his plots.<br /><br />I liked the way the story unfolds in Love Aaj Kal. In terms of technique it is the most sophisticated of all of Imtiaz’s work. The parallel tracks seamlessly travel between places, people and time zones till they merge in the end. It was a clever idea to use Saif to potray the young Rishi Kapoor as well as it gave the audience a common lever to draw the analogy between the past and the present, and, it is done in a way that it doesn’t confuse the ‘aam junta’ (mango people). Personally, this was easy for me to rationalize than the logic of Paresh playing multiple roles in Oye Lucky Lucky Oye (I am the mango people).<br /><br />The Saif-Deepika track confused me. I wish the director could have spent more time in building it. It was hurried as if it had to reach somewhere. It lacked ‘soul’ and was kind of shallow and superficial which makes you wonder why the couple was chasing it so hard and what exactly changed their hearts to take such intense steps. Frankly, it didn’t deserve the pursuit as shown in the movie. It was un-relatable even for the young, metro, multiplex audiences.<br /><br />Imtiaz’s one liners are nothing short of insights on youth (who can forget “main apni favourite hoon” from Jab We Met) but most of the lines fell flat in this one and my heart cringed every time Saif said “Jaaneman” with a nasal twang.<br /><br />Deepika looked a million bucks and to me her role was more challenging than Saif’s. Her character required a restraint which was very endearing. She shows all the right expressions but needs to work hard on her dialogue delivery.<br /><br />I know I shouldn’t get into each scene but some of them were so repulsive that I have to mention them here- the flirting scene between Saif and the other chick in the break up party was ridiculous and didn’t make sense what so ever. I didn’t understand where the ‘twist’ song came from- it was way too ‘filmy’ and forced.<br /><br />But what hurt me most (literally) was the picturisation of “main kya hoon” track (which shows Saif’s diminishing interest in his dream job) and the subsequent mugging scene. It was one of the most clichéd representations of an emotion even by cinematic standards.<br /></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The love story between the sardar Saif and Harleen worked well for me and I assume for most of us. There was something very pure and innocent about it and Saif looked every bit a romantic sardar. The scene where Harleen swaps her seat (in train) to be able to be seen by Saif and where she secretly brings down a cup of black tea for him in Calcutta are what I call the trademark Imtiaz scenes – the ones that melt your heart.<br /><br />I liked the Saif and Deepika scene in the Delhi metro and the way they have shot the ‘chor bazari’ song. Even the final reunion scene between Saif and Deepika was understated and handled very well. If only there were more gems like that.<br /><br />While the couple in the corner seats left the hall completely ‘satisfied’, I was left unsatisfied. What could have been a brilliant movie settled for just above average. </span></div>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-12864113116762734062009-07-15T16:04:00.000+05:302009-07-15T17:16:41.954+05:30Trip to Nagarhole (Kabini)<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/Sl21vQmItyI/AAAAAAAABUo/q2nQ3Fzr8bc/s1600-h/elephant.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358638955154159394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/Sl21vQmItyI/AAAAAAAABUo/q2nQ3Fzr8bc/s400/elephant.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Our trip to Nagarhole was adventurous from the word go. To start with, we didn’t take proper directions and ended up driving some fifty extra kilometers.<br /><br />We stayed in Sunkadakatte Forest Guest House. The guest house is right in the middle of the jungle (5 kilometers inside the jungle to be precise). It is some 220 odd Kms from Bangalore and 80 Kms from Mysore. You have to take the Mysore – Manathavadi road and then the road to Antarasante.<br /><br />The guest house has three basic rooms with attached, clean toilets. It has an open, wooden floored veranda with comfy cane chairs. There is a separate kitchen in the backyard and a beautiful gazebo adjoining the cottage where the food is served. We landed there in the evening and immediately set out for the safari.<br /><br />It doesn’t take much to realise why Kabini is one of the most popular wildlife destinations in Karnataka- situated on the picturesque backwaters of river Kabini, the lush green forest reserve offers fantastic sightings of large herds of elephants.<br /><br />We just went berserk with our cameras. I am most fond of wildlife photography. It tests your patience, like no other activity and the difference between a great shot and an average one is just a nano second. Capturing a dust bathing elephant, or a muscular bison looking intently at you, or that kingfisher just before it takes the flight again- they say a picture speaks a thousand words- it can’t be more true in a jungle – just that here it speaks a million words.<br /><br />We drained our camera batteries before we returned to the guesthouse and we had to charge them for the morning safari.<br /><br />Now the big question hovering over us was how to charge the cameras (there is no electricity in the guest house). The guard looked helpless when he informed that the only place we can probably go and charge was the Kabini River Lodge run by the Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR). The resort was eighteen kilometers away from the guest house and the darkness was already settling in.<br /><br />Nevertheless, we decide to drive down to the resort and charge our gadgets. The drive to the resort through the darkness was one of the most memorable drives of my life. It was a strange mix of excitement and fear. While passing the rough, narrow terrain- we crossed an elephant. The shrill trumpeting of the animal scared the living daylights out of me.<br /><br />Kabini River Lodge is a gorgeous property often rated as one of the best wildlife resorts in the world. The staff was sweet enough to let us charge our gadgets there. On the drive back to the guest house I saw lot of village men sitting on the roadside with torches and sticks in their hands. The guard told us that they were protecting their crop from the elephants. Through out the drive I just kept praying that we should be spared any such encounters with the wild.<br /><br />There is no electricity and that is the best part about the guesthouse. As the night falls the voices of the wild echo all around you- like the trumpeting of an elephant or the alarm calls of sambar and chital. Chitals and wild boars come conveniently close to the place. Staying here, I felt a lot closer to the nature than staying at any other resorts. We just kept gazing the sky for long time- the sky just wrapped us like a blanket of stars and we had fun spotting the ‘milky way’. There is something so pure about the silence of the nature- it just calms your senses.<br /><br />The morning safari was equally incredible. Charging our cameras was completely worth it. The safari was full of ‘Kodak’ moments.<br /><br />We saw herds of elephants, bison, spotted deer, barking deer, sambhar, wild boars and dozens of species of birds like white breasted kingfisher, brahminy kite, painted stork, black ibis and many others- the names (and all the trivia about them) of which only my wife would be able to tell (she is an avid ornithologist).<br /><br />What made the trip even more special was my first sighting of a pack of Indian wild dogs. They are very rarely spotted. They always hunt in packs and often eat their prey while it is still alive.<br /><br />And yes, the big cats were elusive as usual. You know I see many people describing their trips to national parks as unsuccessful if they don’t spot the tiger. Also, they spend the entire safari anticipating sighting a tiger, while completely missing all the other marvels that just pass by.<br />This happens mainly because of their ignorance about the wildlife. If you keep your eyes and mind open you can discover and learn so much about the flora and fauna of a national park. In fact, I always read up (mostly on net) on the terrain, climate, its inhabitants, and the flora and fauna of any place before I visit it. It always helps me to appreciate the place better.<br /><br />Also, I have seen many people breaching the basic code of conduct of national parks. Make sure you never break the basic rules of the forest- don’t talk loud, don’t honk, don’t play music, avoid using flash, never throw plastic/wrappers, and other trash , don’t feed wild animals and never ever get out of the vehicle. Remember that you are a visitor in their habitat so please don’t overstay your welcome.<br /><br />Jungle safaris always make me hungry and in breakfast we devoured on hot fluffy pooris and delicious aloo ki sabji. The cook at the guest house is competent and serves you unpretentious, lip smacking food.<br /><br />Around four in the evening we went for a boat safari organized by the Kabini River Lodge. It is a refreshing change from the usual jeep safaris. Apart from animals and birds that can be sighted during the vehicle safari, the boat safari offers an opportunity to observe the Marsh Crocodile and other water birds. One can also witness large herds of elephants, peacefully feeding and getting on with their lives.<br /><br />Words can’t describe my joy- when I saw a pack of three elephants (including a young one) swimming across the river to meet the rest of the gang on the other side. They were so quick that I couldn’t capture them in my lens. I think it is true that the most memorable picture from any trip is often etched in your mind and rarely captured in your camera.<br /><br />The resort offered us a complementary dinner and an invitation to meet the man himself- Col. John F Wakefield (referred lovingly as “papa” by all). Mr. Wakefield can be accredited as the torch bearer of the eco tourism concept in India.<br /><br />In his mid- nineties, John is the brand ambassador of JLR and is a treasure of knowledge on wildlife. Over a drink, he told us some fascinating tales of his encounters with the wild- his visits to various national parks, first meeting with Jim Corbett (both are hunters turned conservationists), setting up of the Kabini resort and many such gems.<br /><br />His views on conservation and how controlled tourism can help the cause were enlightening.<br />I have never met a man who has a sharper memory than him- the way he could recollect the dates, people, places and incidents was hard to believe. I was surprised when he told us that till six months ago he was driving on his own to the jungle.<br /><br />When he asked us how was the trip- I honestly told him that meeting him was the best thing that happened to me on this trip. He sportingly posed for us and gave me an autographed memorabilia.<br /><br />Guys, if you happen to visit Kabini then do yourself a favour – go and meet Mr. John Wakefield. He is the real tiger of Nagarhole.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">PS: To view pictures from the trip- click on the 'Nagarhole' icon on the right side of the screen.</span></div>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-18966197159731597652009-04-09T18:06:00.000+05:302009-04-14T16:45:26.707+05:30Chikmagalur- Scenic Acres Homestay<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It was a long weekend after a long time so I wanted to hit the road. This time we decided to drive down to Chikmagalur.<br /><br />I do a great deal of research in finding the right place to stay-because the quality of stay decides to a great extent whether your trip is good or not so good.<br /><br />I hate to stay in hotels on my personal trips. Hotels are the same everywhere- standard, boring and undistinguished. If you really want to get a feel of the place, see how the locals live, listen to their stories, taste their food and get a slice of their culture- then home stay is the place for you.<br /><br />So, when I was surfing for home stays in Chikmagalur, I landed upon this website of a property which was really appealing. I immediately called up the owner to make a booking, but he apologetically told me that the place was running full. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />But I decided to try my try my luck here. Almost in a pleading tone, I asked him “can you recommend any other place to me?”<br /><br />I held my breath as he took a long pause. Then he spoke “Ya, I have friend Raghu, he has a beautiful place. May be you can check there” and gave me the details before hanging up.<br /><br />When Raghu picked up the phone I hurriedly introduced my self and explained my situation “Raghu, I am planning a trip over this weekend, and looking for a place for seven people for two nights”<br /><br />“We have a two bedroom cottage, with a huge living room. Even the bedrooms are quite big and we can provide extra beds, I think you guys can fit in well” Raghu replied.<br /><br />The thought of having the whole cottage to ourselves, not having to share it with other guests and the idea of privacy instantly tempted me.<br /><br />Like an eager tourist, I probed “can you give me an idea of the location of your home stay? Like how far it is from the town and what is the view like?”<br /><br />He was composed “you can visit our website and get all that information” he said<br /><br />“Ok. Can I call you in half an hour?” I wanted to check the site before I took a decision.<br /><br />Frankly speaking- I was not very impressed with what I saw on scenic acre’s website. The template was dull and images were just about average. It looked like something which has been put together in a hurry, over all it didn’t excite me much.<br /><br />I wasn’t very convinced, if I have to book a place the website has to win me over first. But as I didn’t have any other options I decided to go ahead with it.<br /><br />While confirming the booking I casually asked Raghu “Do you have dogs on your property?”<br /><br />He thought I had some reservations against dogs so tried clarifying to me “We stay next door, i.e. our property is next to the cottage and we have three dogs there-two daschunds and a three month old Labrador pup. But we don’t allow them to go near our guests”<br /><br />I just jumped with joy when I heard this and solved the misunderstanding “Sorry, I think you got it wrong. Both my wife and I are absolute dog lovers and every time we travel we try to find a place that has dogs. In fact, one of the reasons why we prefer a home stay to a hotel is because of this”<br /><br />This information about the dogs and especially about the three month old pup completely swung my decision in favor of Scenic acres. I thought that he would make up for what ever is missing in the home stay.<br /><br />We reached Chikmagalur by lunch time and the home stay was very easy to find. It is located about 5 kms from the town on the way to mullainagiri hills. As Raghu had gone for his game of golf, his wife Kalpana welcomed us at the Scenic Acres.<br /><br />All of us loved the property. The location, view and the ambience was perfect. It is a colonial style cottage with a red brick exterior. It has a beautiful garden with many fruit and flowering trees. The girls immediately settled on the two hammocks hung by trees, while we took a walk around the property. The cottage even has an extended expanse of grass land, which overlooked the hills. Interestingly there was a badminton net set up there.<br />The rooms are airy, spacious and clean. They mostly used the cane furniture which is basic and functional.<br /><br />The best part of the cottage was however the living cum dining hall. This place has windows all around and also a fireplace. There are many games in the home stay that the guests can try their hand at- there is a magnetic dart board, a punching bag and boxing gloves, volleyball, badminton, caroms, scrabble and even an indoor golf putter set.<br /><br />Coming back to Kalpana, she completely won us over with her warm smile and impeccable hospitality. Really soft spoken, she gave us a great deal of information on the places we should see, about the flora and fauna of the region, about the local customs, on intricacies of coffee plantation and the lives of planters, and lot of other interesting trivia.<br />Though there is a resident cook, she personally supervises all that happens in the kitchen and makes sure that you are served the authentic malnad food. The food is to die for- the variety, the portions, the desserts -my mouth is watering just thinking about it.I have stayed in so many home stays, but I have to admit that I have never been so pampered for food ever.<br /><br />Kaplpana can probably teach a lesson or two to most of the hotel management graduates on how to delight your guests.<br /><br />Who also needs a special mention here is Pushpa- the domestic help at Scenic Acres who will make sure that you are always comfortable and she is always just a call away.<br /><br />The main hero of the trip however was Jackie- the Labrador pup. My wife and I were most eager to meet him, and the first thing we requested Kalpana was to bring him over to our cottage. Jackie is absolutely adorable, playful and mischievous. Though, I had a difficult time clicking him (as he hardly stays at any place). Man, I want to do another round before he grows big.<br /><br />We chatted up with Raghu in the evening when he gave us insights about the coffee cultivation, processing and trading. He told us that his family has been into plantations for four generations now. We were surprised to know that he also has a cinema hall in the town. Unassuming and warm, Raghu instantly put us at ease. He even gave us a guided tour to his coffee curing plant in the town.<br /><br />We had a great time just lazing around and soaking in the beauty of the place and the weekend just flew by. Even before I left the place I wanted to come back again. I strongly recommend Scenic Acres to anyone planning a trip to Chikmagalur. It is the way a home stay should be-not like a paid accommodation but just like staying at your friend’s place.<br /><br />PS: click on the Chikmagalur icon on the right side of the screen to view pictures from the trip.</span>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-86878396575825551382009-02-13T14:29:00.000+05:302009-04-09T20:54:08.247+05:30At the red light<em><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">selected by BlogAdda as one of the top posts for the week's 'Spicy Saturday Picks'</span><br /></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Link:</span> <a href="http://blog.blogadda.com/2009/02/21/blogadda%E2%80%99s-spicy-saturday-picks-feb-21-09">http://blog.blogadda.com/2009/02/21/blogadda%E2%80%99s-spicy-saturday-picks-feb-21-09</a></span></em><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It was a Monday morning. I woke up exactly an hour after the alarm gave up on me. I reached for my cell phone and quickly typed this message “I am sorry, I overslept. Had a party last night. Would be late to office”.<br /><br />“Ok” said the new inbox message; my boss had given up on me.<br /><br />It’s a twenty one kilometer drive from my home to office and there are precisely seven signals on the way. I have mentally classified them as good and bad signals, depending on time taken to cross them.<br /><br />There are two particularly bad signals where the traffic comes to such a standstill that I fear ageing there.<br /><br />While vehicles stand and stare the red light, a swarm of street sellers spring into action. It’s their show time. From peanuts in paper cones, to deep fried samosas, to ripened guavas, to cheap Chinese toys and cell phone chargers, to dog bone shaped head rests for your car, they sell many such interesting things. Fighting for your attention are also the beggars, eunuchs and the child acrobats with their noses and cheeks painted like clowns.<br /><br />I was running very low on fuel so I turned off the ignition but kept the music playing. As I was listening to “Masakalli”, I heard a tap on my window. It was a kid wearing a tattered ‘baniyan’ and holding paper cones in one hand. I ignored him and increased the volume, thinking he would move ahead. But he kept tapping on my window harder and harder. As I gave him a stern look, he stopped tapping and came closer; almost sticking his face to the window he started saying something. There were patches of fog forming on the window because of his breath. It was really annoying.<br /><br />I pulled down the window to the half and yelled “aage jaa na yaar. Dimag mat kharab kar”. Not minding my pitch, he requested “do rupay ka hai. Le lo na saab”. “Subah subah Kaun khata hai mungfali, jaa bhai” I tried shooing him away. Now he started making pity faces. A good salesman I thought “Bhai aagey bhad, yahin khada rahega to signal green ho jayega aur tera dhanda nahi hoga” I gave him a sales tip.<br /><br />He refused to budge. He was looking through me. This time he spoke “ kaunsa film hai?” On the seat next to me, there was the CD cover of ‘Delhi 6’. I picked it up and showed him from behind the window “Padh Kya Lika hai”. There is an innovative mirror insert on the cover of the ‘Delhi 6’ CD, so he kept looking into it. I could see his amusement on seeing himself on it. I kept back the CD answering his question “Delhi 6 hai ye”. He didn’t get me, so I said in a language I thought he might understand “Dilli che hai movie ka naam”. “Dilli, who to shahar ka naam hai” he responded with a smile.<br /><br /><br />“Acha tujhe bada pata hai. Tu kahan se aaya hai” I asked. “Bihar” he spoke unclearly. “Arre, main bhi UP se hoon. Tu yahaan kaise aa gaya” I couldn’t believe I was talking to him. “Amma yahan kam karti hai, building ban raha hai na, wahan” . "Aur papa?" I didn’t know why I asked that. He just kept looking at me blankly. “Kitney saal ka hai tu?” I questioned him. He just kept moving his finger on the dust settled on my window, as if a kid drawing in his work book.<br /><br />“Aath?” I asked. He smiled like he meant yes, but looked unsure. “Dus?” I questioned again. He gave me a bigger smile this time. I realized he didn’t know his age. Playfully I said “Tera birthday kab hai”. His eyes sparkled when he said “Happy Birthday” and then he went quiet.<br /><br />“ Acha movie dekhta hai? Film?” I wanted to distract him. “Haan” he liked this topic. “Favourite hero kaun hai?” I wanted to know. “Shahrukh Khan” He said with a sparkle in his eyes. “Ohoo…mere baazigar, yeh bata ki movie kahan dekhta hai? Hall me”. “Showroom mein” and he pointed out to the fancy electronics store on the other side of the road.<br /><br />I knew that the signal was going to turn green “Acha chal ek packet de de” I said. Wanted to pay him for his time I wasted. He gave me a paper cone. While I paid him a coin, I asked him “Kuch khaya subah se?”. “Nahi” he moved his head in disagreement. I gave him back the paper cone. “Yeh meri taraf se, yeh bechna mat, tu kha isko”. With a big smile he surprised me with a “thank you saab”. I could see the signal turn green. While the vehicles before me were preparing to move, I asked him the last question “Naam kya hai tera?”. “Sanju” he said and ran towards the pavement.<br /><br />The next morning while waiting at the same signal, I was looking for Sanju. Wanted to see if he recognizes me and gives me any special attention.<br /><br />I kept waiting but he didn’t turn up. Instead a eunuch came to my window. I wanted to ask her about Sanju. I pulled down my window and held a ten rupee note. She took the note and blessed me, while she was walking away, I asked her “who mungfali wala kahan hai, dikhayee nahi de raha”. “Who aaj nahi aaya saab” she informed me. I was thinking aloud “Aaj Sanju nahi aaya”. She turned back and asked me with an expression of surprise “tum usko jaante hai saab”. “Nahi Aise hi” I said. “Usko kal police pakad ke le gayi sir”. “What?” I exclaimed. “Usne kal chori kiya na saab, ek ladki ka mobile leke bhag raha tha toh police ne usko pakad liya”. The signal turned green.</span>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-68406253566938483882009-02-08T00:48:00.000+05:302009-02-10T14:42:46.522+05:30Meeting Aamir Khan- Luck by chance<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SY3f1ALNv5I/AAAAAAAAApA/flVdYd9rFpk/s1600-h/DSC01890.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300138438158040978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SY3f1ALNv5I/AAAAAAAAApA/flVdYd9rFpk/s400/DSC01890.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><em>This post has been selected by BlogAdda as one of the top posts for the week's 'Tangy Tuesday Picks'- <span style="color:#000099;">link: </span></em></span><a href="http://blog.blogadda.com/2009/02/10/blogaddas-tangy-tuesday-picks-feb-10-09#more-338"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#000099;"><em>http://blog.blogadda.com/2009/02/10/blogaddas-tangy-tuesday-picks-feb-10-09#more-338</em></span></a><span style="color:#000099;"><br /></span><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There is a scene in “Luck by chance” where Konkana and Farhan are in a supermarket where there is ‘write a slogan and win a refrigerator’ contest on. While Farhan wants to fill the form, Konkana is quite cynical about such contests. They have a conversation about this before he fills the form, which loosely translated in English sounds like this-<br />Konkana sarcastically asks- “Do you think if I fill this form, there is a chance that I would win the fridge?”<br />To which Farhan responds-“I know that if you DO NOT fill the form, there is NO chance that you will ever win the fridge”<br />I watched “Luck by chance” on the night of 4th Feb and this particular dialogue lingered in my mind the whole night- and will always- whenever I encounter a similar situation of filling forms, writing captions, etc to participate in any contest or lucky draws.<br /><br />I had an afternoon flight to Hyderabad on 5th (Thursday) and was scheduled to travel to couple of other places, returning to Bangalore only on Sunday.<br /><br />I landed at the Hyderabad airport and was on the bus to the arrival terminal, when I switched on my phone to call up my wife. But before I could dial her number, the phone rang up. It was an unknown mobile number- I thought it was the driver who had come to pick me up. But a female voice greeted me. I suspected it to be one of those spam credit card/loan kind of marketing calls and didn’t pay half attention to it. It didn’t help that the signal was also poor. Her voice was cracking and I couldn’t make sense of anything that she said.<br /><br />As I was stepping out of the bus I heard her say something like “he wants to meet you”.<br />I exclaimed “Who?” and then I added “may I know who is on the line?”<br />She started all over again “I am Aamir Khan’s assistant and I got your number off the blog. You are one of the short listed candidates that he would like to meet. How are you placed at 4.30 PM tomorrow? Can you come to IIM Bangalore campus?”<br /><br />I was numb with excitement, all I could manage was “whattt…how…wow”<br />Taking a deep breath I pulled my self together “are you sure?” “ya” she said in a very matter of factly manner, “so can you make it?”.<br />“Yes, yes” I almost screamed as if the opportunity was slipping out of my hands “I mean, I am supposed to be travelling tomorrow, but I will cancel all of that. Ya…ya I will be there. Thank you so much. I can’t believe it”.<br />While she wanted to hang up, I foolishly let my suspicion out “I hope this is not a kind of prank call or something, because I am cancelling my travel and rescheduling my whole trip”.<br />“No. It is true and you can bring along a person with you. Only one” she said in a tone that you can add a smiling face to.<br /><br />After this, I wanted to call the whole world to announce my luck. Didn’t know where to start. The first call was to Tanu, my wife. Before she could ask me “have you reached?” I mumbled out “We are meeting Aamir tomorrow?” “Stop kidding” she said. “No. God promise. Keep yourself free in the second half. I have to make couple of calls, I will call later…Yahoooo” I screamed like an excited kid<br /><br />I walked out of the arrival gate with a spring in my step and in all my excitement missed out the cabbie who was standing with a board displaying my name on it.<br /><br />For the next hour and half or so that I was in the cab, I was busy on the phone. The driver’s name was Ali and all this while I could see him intermittently glancing at me in his rear view mirror- especially each time I mentioned “Aamir Khan” in my phone conversations.<br />When finally his curiosity crossed the threshold, he asked me “Sir, are you talking about the cine star Aamir Khan?” “Yes” I replied proudly.<br />“But why does he want to meet you?” he asked me in an offensive way- like what has such a big star to do with a looser like you. “Just like that” I acted snotty.<br />“Sir, who apna bhi favourite hai. Apne Ghajini dekha kya? Ekdum mast acting kiya hai. Apna bhi salaam bolna usko” “Bilkul” I said thinking about how movies connect each one of us, across geographies, religions, languages and economic backgrounds.<br />I reached my hotel quite late that night. I was completely exhausted and had an early morning flight. Even a hot shower could not put me to sleep. Random thoughts about the upcoming meeting kept playing in my mind.<br /><br />I wanted to revisit the place where it all started. So I switched on my laptop and logged on Aamir’s blog. I have been reading him since the beginning, but he is quite an infrequent blogger. Like with movies he posts after long gaps. Thankfully, unlike movies the gap between posts is just in months.<br /><br />His last blog is titled ‘Thank You’ and was posted on 16th Jan. where he thanks the readers for liking Ghajini and credits the audiences for making it the biggest grosser of all times. He also apologises for writing after so long and tries to explain how busy he has been. Then he goes on to talk about his stay on the IIM Bangalore campus and how he enjoying it and finally getting some time to catch up on his sleep.<br />What was interesting and kind of news making stuff was what his closing lines said. I am quoting them as they appear on the blog-<br /><br />“Would like to meet some of you who live here in Bangalore. So post me your contact details if you are up to it and I’ll try and work it out”<br /><br />Almost instinctively I wrote a comment on the post- “Hi Aamir, Congrats for the success of Ghajini- though it is not one of my favourite Aamir Khan movies. I am glad you like 'India after Gandhi' and more so about the fact that you like to read on varied topics- its people like you who have redefined the way we look at actors. I would (and more importantly my wife) would love to meet up with you. If your schedule allows you, please do call me on xxxxxxx. All the best for your future endeavours”<br /><br />There were some eight thousand five hundred plus comments on this post, thousands of them had people leaving behind their contact details and pleading Aamir to meet up with them.<br /><br />I knew Aamir is an avid reader and has a keen interest in History. Next morning, I picked up‘The Life of Mahatma Gandhi’ by Louis Fischer from the Landmark bookstore at Hyderabad airport. On the first page I wrote this small note in my best possible hand writing- “Be the change, said Bapu. And you are one of the very few ‘change agents’ of our generation. Love and luck”<br /><br />Aamir spent over an hour and half with us. Sporting a schoolboy-ish haircut, dressed in an ‘ed hardy’ kind of pink t-shirt and loose faded sky blue jeans he could easily pass of as one of the students of the institute.<br /><br />The first thing he said was “yaar lets sit closer, these chairs are too far pull your chairs closer”- that really broke the ice.<br /><br />As it was his last day of shoot in Bangalore, his in-laws were also there. He affectionately introduced them as “amma” and “appa” and ordered chairs for them as well.<br /><br />One thing which I noticed about Aamir is his ability to connect with his fans. He made the whole setting so comfortable and casual.<br /><br />We bombarded him with questions about three idiots, slumdog millionaire, rahman’s oscar nomination, movies that he is very proud of and not so proud of, fitness tips, about his stay on campus, his next directorial plans, upcoming movies, politics, his thoughts on a sequel to Andaz apna apna, his dream team to work on a movie, and many more.<br /><br />Interestingly, he wanted to know our views on what worked for and what did not work for Mangal Pandey. While we were talking about Mangal Pandey, I got a feeling that he really felt for the movie and wanted it to work.<br /><br />He also shared his interest in the epic tale of Mahabharata. We all got a taste of his perfectionism and importance he assigns to preparation and research when he said “A story of that scale would take at least five years for research and prep itself”, before he could finish, all of us unanimously screamed “Noooo… we want to see you at least once a year, please don’t deprive us of that”<br /><br />I don’t think I can put down Aamir’s views on all these things, but what I want to tell is the fact that he was brutally straight and honest in his opinions. Not even once, during this whole session, did he mince his words or sounded guarded. He even jokingly asked us “I hope none of you is a journalist here. Yaar yeh sab kahin likhna mat. Hungama ho jayega”<br /><br />All this while I was thinking about this parallel-y “How much has this industry changed. Five years ago could we even think of meeting our favourite superstars, let alone like this? Technology and blogging in particular have changed so much. What is more interesting is that the established stars like Aamir and Amitabh have embraced it so well. This is definitely the changing face of the Indian cinema, a new era and I am so lucky to be witnessing this first hand”<br /><br />I got his autograph on Ishan’s flipbook. He read my quote on the book and gave me a modest smile.<br /><br />Aamir has a very special way of making people feel important, for instance, when he asked us about our suggestions to improve his blog. He listened to each one of us so carefully, as if taking a mental note of all that we are saying. His genuine desire to make the platform more useful for us could be felt effortlessly.<br /><br />It was a dream come true for a movie fanatic like me. While we were walking back to the main gate of the institution, it suddenly stuck to Tanu “Oh I forgot to ask him- among thousands of mails how did he choose to meet the ten of you? I am thinking what must have been the selection criteria or was it a kind of lucky draw”.<br /><br />“I know the answer” I said, “How?” she was curios.<br /><br />“Luck by chance” I believe.<br /></span></div>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-26342816556188561662009-01-01T13:23:00.000+05:302009-01-02T16:09:18.142+05:30To Nani, with love<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">This is the last post of the year. 2008…what a year it has been. Let alone the news and events like nuclear deal, IPL, Olympics, polls, Obama, terrorism, recession, etc. Even at a personal level the year has been quite eventful.<br /><br />Two life changing things happened to me this year and these involved the two most important people in my life.<br /><br />In February, I got married to my college sweetheart after almost a year and half of convincing her parents- It had to be the most cherished moment of my life.<br /><br />In October, my Ammumma (nani) passed away. She meant the world to me and it has been my biggest loss till date. Her departure has left this huge unfillable void in my life.<br /><br />I met up with an old friend of mine in a coffee shop today, and during one of those mindless conversations- this came up. He casually asked me whom would I dedicate the passing year to. Probably he just said it as an uncaring comment and didn’t expect any answer for it.<br /><br />But that just kept me thinking- till I finally wrote this blog.<br /><br />Here it goes… If I had to dedicate this year – I would dedicate it to my nani.<br /><br />Nani, I will tell you a secret today- as a kid I read a story once which said that God loves kids the most and because he can’t be there with each one of them all the time, he sends his favourite angels to take care of them as their nanis.<br /><br />Its not that I believed in these fairy tales, but this one just seeped quietly into a corner of my mind and just stayed there.<br /><br />How else can one explain the love and joy that you brought to our lives?<br /><br />Nani, I remember that you were the only one who used to believe in the lame excuses that I used to make to avoid the school as a kid. You always tried your best to negotiate with ma on my behalf.<br /><br />Your energy was infectious. We never needed an occasion to devour your ‘halwa’ or ‘kheer’, we just had to mention it and you would ever lovingly indulge us with your delicacies. You made it look so effortless that you put the younger lot to shame.<br /><br />Let not people mistake you for a docile housewife. You are the most powerful and assertive women I have come across. You stood like a pillar with your husband, almost single handedly raising seven children, so that he could become one of the most successful lawyers in the state. I have heard the stories of how you would run the huge household with almost an iron fist- taking care of the huge joint family, the bungalow, the properties, the fields, dogs, cows, workers and the cars.<br /><br />You were so well traveled and had so many stories to tell about so many cities that I suspect that I got the travel bug from you. From holidaying in Kodaikanal, to playing ‘ping pong’ in colonial Ooty, to helping your son settle in IISC Bangalore, to getting a major surgery done at AIIMS, to accompanying your husband on his trips to cities as distant as Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Mysore, Roorkee and to god knows where all, you have seen it all.<br /><br />I am told that, when it came to some of the most important personal and professional decisions, your husband trusted you the most for advice. Though you went to school only till fifth standard (I know how much you regretted it) your common sense was astounding.<br /><br />How can I forget how you used to stay up with me all night in my eleventh hour preparations for board exams. You almost fell sick by the end of my exams. If it wasn’t for you- I would have never survived them.<br /><br />As a kid, whenever I had to buy a toffee or chips or comics or anything that my parents didn’t approve of- I would always come to you for money. Tell me something, you kept the change in a knot on your ‘pallu’ only for me, right? Because you stopped doing it as I grew up. Oh how much I miss that knot nani… it almost opened up the doors to my happiness. I wish I had access to something like that even today.<br /><br />You proved that modernity has nothing to do with age. From short skirts to love marriages, you had such liberal and progressive views on each one of them, that if I put them here, some fundamentalist party might raise a protest against you. For you, the terms like ‘generation gap’ were non existent. Your ability to look at things from our perspective made you so endearing. No wonder, all my friends bonded so well with you and instinctively called you ‘nani’. I must add that you had a charming effect on female friends of mine and I leveraged it to the maximum effect. Wink.<br /><br />I remember you weren’t in your best health around my marriage time. While we were concerned about how you will travel to Jaipur, you were the cheerleader of the party. You packed your best clothes before any one of us and what a power packed performance you gave there. We had to restrain you from dancing in baraat but from the corner of my eye I could still see you doing a jig in the car.<br /><br />On the night of the reception you were the first one to walk up the stage to get clicked with the couple (By the way nani, I framed that pic and it now adorns my living room). You were the most beautiful woman that night- and even Tanu would agree with me on this.<br /><br />Nani, a night before you left us- you spoke to Tanu for good fifteen minutes (she misses complaining about me to you) while I was busy watching some stupid show on the TV. I thought I would finish that and talk to you in leisure… but that was the biggest mistake of my life.<br /><br />If I could undo just one thing in my life…I would have spoken to you that night.</span>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-14690024967745051652008-12-05T10:01:00.000+05:302008-12-05T10:42:27.779+05:30Random thoughts on Yuvvraaj<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/STivlr-wM8I/AAAAAAAAAmE/VjE_IIRwf9w/s1600-h/yuvvraajfail_full.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276160025460487106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 274px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/STivlr-wM8I/AAAAAAAAAmE/VjE_IIRwf9w/s400/yuvvraajfail_full.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Originally published on <strong>PassionForCinema.com</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Link: </span><a href="http://passionforcinema.com/random-thoughts-on-yuvvraaj/"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">http://passionforcinema.com/random-thoughts-on-yuvvraaj/</span></a></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I’ve always found it a challenging task to transform a dramatic script into a spellbinding musical,<br />Though I’ve done this before with films like Karz, Meri Jung, Khalnayak and Taal…………..<br /><br />……….Imagine a film where: Salman is a dreamy singer…<br />Katrina is a leading musician…<br />Zayed grooves to a chaotic disco sound…<br />Anil kapoor enjoys only classical music…<br /><br />Imagine the symphony of sounds created by all these characters.<br />Now imagine my struggle to match my visuals to rahman’s<br />Mesmerizing sound and Gulzaar Saab’s magical lyrics…<br /><br />This is Yuvvraaj.<br /><br />Hope you enjoy it!<br />Subhash Ghai.<br /><br />This personal note from Mr Ghai is the first thing that would greet you when you open the audio CD jacket of Yuvvraj.<br /><br />Frankly speaking I even liked two or three tracks from the album.<br /><br />I think Rahman’s music grows on you over a period of time and it peaks after you have seen the movie.<br /><br />There were also special comments (on the CD cover) by Mr. Rahman and Gulzar Saab testifying Ghai’s genius in matching up the visuals to the music.<br /><br />Testimonials from these two gurus convinced me to break my resolve of abstaining from all Subhash Gai movies post Kisna (actually Yaadien. I gave him a second chance with Kisna).<br /><br />Finally, I saw this movie last night.<br /><br />I read a quote somewhere which vaguely meant that the most dangerous stage in a creative person’s life is when he starts to copy himself.<br /><br />There isn’t a better way to describe Ghai’s latest effort- why only the latest one- if you look at Mr. ghai’s impressive body work- right from Ram lakhan, Saudagar, Khalnayak, Trimurti, etc- and try to draw a common pattern among them- it isn’t difficult to decipher the common overriding formula.<br /><br />All…ok…say most of his movies would have two central characters (often brothers) with conflicting ideologies- one has to be an idealist while the other a bit confused and mixed up. Throw in a widowed mother, raped sister or a murdered father to sensationalize the plot and villains with obvious streaks of quirkiness (BAD MAN).<br /><br />In the end the good always wins over evil with a climax sequence involving a song and a fight that happens simultaneously.<br /><br />Also, if you don’t doze off half way through the movie- you might see the showman himself in a blink and miss sequence doing his bit of clowning around.<br /><br />Let me talk about Yuvvraaj- if not anything, the movie has at least made me aware of Hindi’s rising popularity in the western world. The Goras babble dialogues in Hindi as it was official language of Prague and Austria (that is where the movie was supposedly shot).<br /><br />Now a bit about the cast-<br /><br />What can I say about Salman Khan- bad is no bad when worse is expected.<br /><br />All thanks to his past few misadventures, I have no expectations whatsoever from him- but so great is the man that- he manages to disappoint me even then. Almost like cricket commentators who change the stance with every ball, the actor (if I can call him that) takes it scene by scene- with utmost adherence to inconsistency in all departments- from looks, to mannerisms to even hair styles.<br /><br />Zayed is next in the row- I can’t even use words like career worst for him because he doesn’t have one. Playing a role that might be the closest to his real life (he plays a rich spoilt kid) Zayed gives a whole new definition to the word “wooden”. With his hair expressing more than his face and the rest of the body put together- you helplessly laugh at the scenes where this guy is trying hard to weep. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />Anil Kapoor and Boman Irani are perfect examples to of what a bad script can do to even talented actors. This has to Boman’s shallowest performance till date- he doesn’t look convinced of his role even for a minute and that shows so badly on the screen.<br /><br />Yuvvraaj from now on will also hold the distinction for the most uninformed and insensitive portrayal of autism. I think the brief to Anil was simple- play a mix of Rani Mukhurjee in Black and Sridevi in Sadma and he does that to a T.<br /><br />There is also Mithun da in there- but you can excuse him in the acting department because for most part of it- his wig was really obtrusive and overpowered his performance<br /><br />Poor Kaif woman is lost somewhere between these stalwarts in a role that only demands her to look good and at times even confused. In many promotional interviews before the release Miss Kaif has talked at length about getting trained in playing a cello, so that the portrayal looks realistic- though the effort is commendable, the lady would do pretty well with a crash course in acting at Ghai’s film school.<br /><br />Then there are the infamous villains- a mama ji in a wheelchair who plots evil but hides it under his religious get up- complete with rudraksha, tilak, etc<br /><br />And a bhabi who is desperate to be aadhi- gharwali (symbolism- non existent blouses and vulgar perfume squirting in a public setting)<br /><br />Ghai is known for his in film placements- but this time around I think a brand of potato chips had refused to put money in his film- so there is a fatso who is just shown munching chips all the time- a clever negative publicity for the brand.<br /><br />Also, there are few insignificant negative characters whose job is to just fill the frame and add to the magnitude of evil (the more the people the badder the evil)<br /><br />The art direction is so grandeur and in your face that it never lets you forget that you are watching a movie and that it doesn’t look like this in the real world.<br /><br />The plot and script is so weak and fake that as an audience the only emotions you ever feel are that of indifference, anger and boredom.<br />The inconsistencies are so obvious that they leave you with a feeling of being cheated- that is when you were not expecting anything from this fare- Its as if the gang that put the show together is taking us on ride- completely disrespecting our intelligence, patience, time and money.<br /><br />Last but not the least- the songs for which I saw the movie in the first place- were so out of context and meddlesome that I ended up forwarding each one of them- For the first time because of the movie and their place in it- I will completely give up on the music of this one.<br /><br />I felt a sense of liberation when the movie ended (with Mithun’s words of wisdom “Independent you live, united you stay- that is a happy family”) - and the end credits (inspired by OSO) started rolling.<br /><br />I just hope that Mr. Ghai is not taking too many classes on direction in Whistling woods, or we would have many Yuvvraajs in the years to come.</span></div>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-16520911893959057942008-12-01T10:50:00.000+05:302008-12-01T11:07:14.821+05:30Oye Lucky Lucky Oye: Movie Review<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/STN3XrpVHFI/AAAAAAAAAl8/dG57wP6yIOI/s1600-h/ollo.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274690837317753938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 165px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/STN3XrpVHFI/AAAAAAAAAl8/dG57wP6yIOI/s400/ollo.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Originally published on <strong>PassionForCinema.com</strong>: </span><div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Link-<a href="http://passionforcinema.com/oye-lucky-lucky-oye-reviews-from-readers/">http://passionforcinema.com/oye-lucky-lucky-oye-reviews-from-readers/</a></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">If there has been one film that I have been anticipating for the longest time- it has to be ‘Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye (OLLO)’. In fact I rate Khosla Ka Ghosla as the second best bollywood film I have seen in last five-six years (the first has to be ‘Maqbool’- but I will save it for another post). </span></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><div> </div><div>What an impressive debut KKG was- it was heartening to see such a simple tale of underdogs- with characters etched out so well- that you almost feel that you know them from before. Indeed, by end of the movie, I knew the Khosla family so well that even in any other situation – I could imagine- exactly how they would react. </div><br /><div>When you raise the bar so high- in your first movie itself, it’s quite a task to stand up to the huge expectations with a worthy follow up. While a few directors have done it successfully, many have disappointed us as well. </div><div><br />So did Dibakar disappoint me? </div><div><br />Not at all. Actually, I came out quite impressed from of the hall. </div><br /><div>OLLO- is a brilliant second movie from a very talented director. What impressed me more is the fact that Dibakar has picked up a rather complex story this time as compared to simplistic one before. There are lots of layers in the story and there is an amazing sense of maturity that marks the narration. </div><div><br />A single story can have many interpretations, and what I am about to write is my take out from the movie- which. It is a very personalized account of how I comprehend the movie.<br />The movie follows the growth of Lucky from his teens to thirties and his journey from innocence to notoriety-all this with the back drop of Delhi (Guys lets accept it- nobody does Delhi better than Dibakar) </div><div><br />The initial scenes clearly establish Lucky’s strained relationship with his father and his uneasiness with the other woman in the house (father’s keep). </div><div><br />Also, it gives you a glimpse into Lucky’s world of aimless friends and their collective dreams and aspirations. Their fascination for good things in life (cars, chicks, etc) is obvious but what sets Lucky apart from his group is his self belief- and that is brilliantly captured in this one line Lucky keeps saying through out the film- “Kyon main kar nahi sakta?” </div><div><br />I also thought that his becoming a ‘Mona’ sardar symbolizes his giving up on social conformity.<br />Lucky is an incorrigible thief- it’s almost like he has a kind of compulsive disorder to steal- and sometimes through the things that he steals- you get a hint of his feelings at that point in time- his deprivation and loneliness-he steals a greeting card (reminiscing his first love), family photograph (His longing ness for a family), a king size teddy (the child within).<br />But the movie is not about stealing- it is about Lucky’s emotional vulnerability, his pining for love- the only thing he can’t steal. All the people who befriend him have a selfish motive (except his girlfriend, but again I am not sure- because there is a scene where she asks him to keep the money on the fridge). His father, surrogate father and the business partner (all three played brilliantly by Paresh Rawal) are the three fatherly figures who inflict him the maximum pain. </div><div><br />These are the few scenes which stand apart for me- teenage Lucky’s first encounter with a neighborhood girl in the greeting cards shop and subsequently their first date in a restaurant, Lucky asking Dolly what she wants to eat in a night club, his first date with Sonal and her reaction to school girls in short skirts, Dr. Handa’s insights on the male dog and the lady dog, the conversation between Sonal and Lucky’s bhabi. </div><br /><div>There are some nice touches which were like master strokes- The kid sardar’s air fighting sequence when Luck’s father is chasing Lucky out of the house for demanding a new scooter, the hanging wires, air conditioners and the election posters in the background when Lucky is taking the girl on a motor bike ride, the zebra striped interiors of the black Mercedes that Lucky steals for Goga Bhai., Sonal’s pink cybershot, a shot of Lucky’s bare feet while he is escaping on a stolen Enfield from the police station. </div><br /><div>I also quite liked the scene in which Lucky does these car stunts with Sonal- the muted closed ups worked very well for me. </div><div><br />All performances are good, but these guys deserve a special mention- the sardar who played Lucky’s childhood part, Lucky’s partner in crime- Bengali and Dolly. </div><div><br />Ofcourse Paresh Rawal is magnificent in all three avatars. Also, Neetu Chandra packs a poised performance and renders an understated composure to her character .</div><br /><div>One guy who carries the film on his shoulders and deserves a standing ovation is Abhay Deol- the ease and subtlety with which he plays Lucky is mind blowing. I can’t stop myself from diverting from the topic here to have a look at the movies that Abhay has done so far- Socha Na Tha, Ek chaalis, Manorama Six feet under, Honeymoon travels and now OLLO (upcoming Dev D)- what a range- no wonder he has become the poster boy of the new age- popular- niche bollywood cinema. </div><div><br />The music is well researched and does a great job in enhancing the narrative- it perfectly compliments the mood of the movie. </div><div><br />It’s refreshing to see Delhi as a backdrop- with each of its locality having a distinctive character and how well Dibakar captures it. </div><div><br />Finally, what looks like a simple funny movie is work of a painstaking research and original thinking and I guess that’s the way forward for Indian cinema.</span></div></div>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-219601447621547432008-08-01T01:01:00.000+05:302008-08-01T12:39:18.827+05:30Coorg: Plantation Trails<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SJIYK3x1aVI/AAAAAAAAAcc/v9m4lt3V9a0/s1600-h/DSC00981.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229268692381296978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SJIYK3x1aVI/AAAAAAAAAcc/v9m4lt3V9a0/s400/DSC00981.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SJIWMN9Qs9I/AAAAAAAAAcU/jyw1zcI4NZA/s1600-h/DSC01035.JPG"></a><div><div><div><div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I was supposed to be in Istanbul for a marketing conference, but I couldn’t renew my passport within the stipulated time- so I was left alone in Bangalore while the rest of the team was sightseeing in a foreign land. However, I was adamant that even I should get out of the city- if not abroad then at least to a serene hill station. My consideration set comprised of Chikmagalur, Wayanad and Coorg (Written in the order of preference).<br /><br />When I go on such weekend escapes I love to book myself into a home stay- unlike star hotels- home stays are not standardised, which makes them much more interesting, warm and personal. You can actually experience a slice of the local culture when you are putting up in such an arrangement. Right from the people you chat up with to the food you are served and even the way the house is done up, everything offers to you a piece of the location. In short, Home stays have a character to them which is so missing in most of the hotels.<br /><br />I was keen on Chikmagalur and Wayanad, but couldn’t manage to get a booking in any of the places where I wanted to stay. I had been to Coorg some three years ago and to put it frankly- I didn’t like it much. I thought that the whole thing about it being the Scotland of India was a bit over hyped.<br /><br />I remember- in my last trip I landed up there without any prior planning and that it was a peak season for tourists didn’t help. We were lucky enough to get a decent place to stay (Home of a retired army official) but the places we went see were the typical tourist attractions.<br /><br />That is not my idea of a vacation. I hunt hard to find locations which are like unseen and unspoiled by tourist hordes. I romanticise the idea of cutting off from the civilisation and love staying at places, which if I may say so, at least appear to be virgin and undiscovered.<br /><br />Coming back to this trip, after hours of googling “homestays in Coorg”- I landed up on this link called ‘Plantation Trails’ which are Tata coffee’s holiday homes in Coorg. Frankly speaking, I didn’t even know that Tata had something like holiday homes. I even liked the idea that this was not listed on the first few pages of my search results (on Google). So I safely assumed that this was definitely not one of those most common places for tourists to stay.<br /><br />The details of the property like location, facilities, tariffs and bookings are well detailed on the Tata coffee’s site and were quite useful in getting a sense of the place. When I called up their Bangalore coordinate, he told me that the accommodation was only available in Glenlorna tea estate which is near Hudikeri- some 27 kilometres ahead of their flagship property- the coffee estate in Pollibetta. Incidentally, Glenlorna is the only tea estate in the coffee country of Coorg.<br /><br />Luckily I got a special monsoon package which offered twenty percent discount and complimentary dinner. As breakfast was already a part of the package I just had to pay for my lunch and snacks above the cost of the room.<br /><br />The bungalow at the estate is on a hillock and offers a bird’s eye view of the lush plantation. It has five rooms in total and we booked luxury rooms which were particularly large and come fitted with air conditioners (Though I wonder who uses them) and geysers for hot water (Now that’s a must). The rooms are tastefully done and are mostly occupied with dark wood furniture that lends a strong colonial character to the place, also, they are well coordinated with fab India-ish bed covers, table cloths and floor mats. I have also been made to understand that most of these plantation trails bungalows are former homes of estate managers which have been done up by their wives.<br /><br />There is a common dining room where breakfast, lunch and dinner is served to all the guests staying in the estate- though you can order tea and snacks to your room. There is also a television with a Tata Sky connection in the living room. The best part of the bungalow is the front porch which offers the most beautiful view of the tea plantation. I spent the most part of my trip here- in the front porch- cuddled in a warm blanket, sunk in a comfy cane chair with my legs stretched and resting on a low lying table and sipping liters of piping hot ginger tea and devouring on dozens of onion pakoras- all this while watching rain.<br /><br />It almost rained continuously through out our stay but that just added to the thrill of the vacation. I can’t remember any other time in my life when I just watched rains like that and enjoyed them so much. To say it was romantic would be an understatement. The purposeless of that moment was so fascinating and in a strange way extremely rejuvenating. We went for a long walk to the river that flows through the property and morning jogs along the hills. Umbrellas were our constant companions and again I don’t remember when I used one before.<br /><br />They can also organise a visit to the tea factory and a guided tour of the coffee and tea plantations if you want, but we opted out of such guided tours and enjoyed our own excursions in and around the plantations.<br /><br />The staff is extremely courteous, helpful and hospitable. The meals were elaborate and delicious and the fact that you can get such food in such an isolated location is incredible.<br /><br />The other guests who had bookings and were supposed to arrive had last minute cancellations and that came as blessing in disguise for us as we had the whole bungalow all for ourselves.<br /><br />I strongly recommend this place to anyone who is planning a trip to Coorg and you better make it soon for they might lease this bungalow to one of the corporates pretty soon and might not entertain the regular guests then.<br /><br />Also, I heard they are inaugurating a similar property in Chikmagalur sometime towards the mid of August. I am sure I will be one of their first guests. See you there. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">PS: You can see the pictures of the trip by clicking the Coorg widget on the right side of your screen.<br /><div><br /></div></span></div></div></div></div>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-70097357570101822732008-07-21T17:06:00.001+05:302008-07-21T17:09:22.686+05:30<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SIR1XJykITI/AAAAAAAAATg/t2IoYOf1CYA/s1600-h/hi.PNG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225430508282061106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SIR1XJykITI/AAAAAAAAATg/t2IoYOf1CYA/s400/hi.PNG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_qv7W9guo4Lc/SIR0uu0AFbI/AAAAAAAAATY/wETxCyvEUW8/s1600-h/hi.PNG"></a><br /><br /><div></div></div>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2297870955554275519.post-75989050365471887012008-07-18T16:23:00.000+05:302008-07-18T17:01:13.761+05:30Some Mr. Singh<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Most Saturdays we went out for a team lunch. But that was a different Saturday. All my teammates had their own plans and went their own ways. As I was the only one without any agenda, I had to decide on how to feed myself. Bangalore Central was at a walk able distance from my office and the food court there served a decent north Indian meal so I decided have my lunch there.<br /><br />For a Saturday afternoon, the place was sparsely crowded. I was on the escalator when this ‘sardar ji’ who was two steps ahead of me turned back and said ‘hi’ to me. For a second I thought he was addressing some one behind me, but a quick glance proved me wrong. We were the only two on the escalator. I returned a ‘hi’ to him. “I can see very few people here, is it generally like this” he said. “No today is an exception. Otherwise it’s quite full over the weekends” I replied effortlessly.<br /><br />As the food court is on the top floor, you need to take a succession of escalators to reach there. As we arrived at the first floor, he asked “which floor is the food court?”<br />“It’s on the top floor. Even I am going there. Come” I said.<br />“How long have you been in Bangalore?” he wanted to know “I have been here for a while. What about you?” I answered with a question.<br />“I moved last month only. I moved from Delhi to start my business here. Still settling down” he revealed.<br /><br />Both of us collected our Punjabi thali and settled down in our chairs. Just when I was about to take my first bite, he interrupted “are you married? I didn’t know why he wanted to know that, nevertheless I said “No”. “Are you in a relationship”- he was curious. Now that was getting too personal. I gave it a skip and kept looking into my plate. But he was not to give up easily. He repeated the question and he was louder this time. “Ya. I have a girlfriend” I retorted. But that didn’t stop him and he was up with his next question “When are you getting married?”<br />“I don’t know” I said in a disinterested tone. But he continued further “You know I have a son. He would be turning one next Saturday. I am planning to throw a party though I don’t know many people here. But I will definitely invite you. You have to come”<br /><br />I didn’t know how to react to this. Here I am meeting this guy for the first time and he is asking me to be a part of what might be one of the biggest celebrations of his life. I was amused but a little cautious as well.<br /><br />We almost finished our lunch when he dug out a business card from his wallet. As he handed it over to me, he anticipated my reciprocation. “I am sorry I ran out of my cards” I said apologetically. “That’s ok. I will save your number. Tell me your number; I will give you a missed call”. May be we were destined to meet I thought but by any standard this was too fast. However I didn’t save the number.<br /><br />It struck to me on my way back to office that I forgot to ask his name. In fact even he didn’t know my name. I was wondering with what name did he save my number though. It occurred to me that he did give me his card. The card had ‘Singh & Singh Sons Ltd’ Written in bold font. Then there was his mobile number and a generic email id which was info@ name of his company.com. Conspicuously his name was missing. I smiled as I referred to him as ‘Some Mr. Singh’ in my mind.<br /><br />He called me on the next Friday. I disappointed him by not recognizing his number “I think you haven’t saved my number. I met you in Central last week. You remember?” I lied spontaneously “Sorry I changed my handset and haven’t transferred my contacts to this one yet” “Its Ok. I called you to invite you to my son’s first birthday party. Note down my address, you have to be there”<br />I pretended to take a note of his address, but I always knew that I wouldn’t go. It just didn’t seem reasonable to me- meeting someone just once in a mall and landing up at his place for a party. May be I have outgrown that stage.<br /><br />It’s a pity; I forgot to ask him his name even this time around.<br /><br />I completely forgot about the whole incident till I chanced upon his business card some six months later. I was getting married in a month’s time and was preparing the guest list to send the invites. I was cross checking my business cards folder to see if I have left someone. This card suddenly appeared there. I don’t know why but I felt like including him on the guest list.<br /><br />Anyhow I was getting married in Jaipur and it was highly unlikely that he would come all the way for me, but at least, I would have returned his favor of inviting me to his son’s birthday. I tried calling the number given on the card but a female voice kept reminding me in three different languages that the number didn’t exist.<br /><br />I mailed a scan of my card to his email (info@ name of hiscomoany.com) addressing it to Mr. Singh & family and thought my job was done.<br /><br />I got extremely busy with the preparations and didn’t realize how quickly the time had passed. It was my engagement night when a beautiful bouquet of red roses was delivered to me in my hotel room. The delivery person wasn’t helpful in establishing who had sent it, all he said was “sir, yeh Bangalore se aaya hai”. I assumed it was from my office. There was this note with the flowers which I opened without much thought.<br /><br />It said “Wish you a very happy married life. My husband would have loved to be there, but I guess God needed him much more in heaven- Mrs. Singh”<br /></span>gurudev prasadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02542111862640423504noreply@blogger.com2