I still can’t believe this :-), quite interesting I must say. Initially when I had read this news in March, I just couldn’t believe that someone was actually thinking on this line and I was almost sure that it would be some sort of media rumor, but no I was wrong. It actually is true that now there will be a social networking site for ghosts and aliens! Oh yes, Steven Spielberg is actually launching a ghost / UFO centric social networking website which will be for people who would like to share and discuss paranormal and extraterrestrial experiences.

Speculations are still on about the name of the portal. Some say it will be called “Ghosts”, some call it as “Ghost Town”, latest update being that the site is perhaps going to be called “The Rising” or “Rising”. Apart from networking angle, the site will also have original video content focusing on alleged ghost and UFO stories. Now we all know the connection between Steven Spielberg and paranormal experiences. Who can forget movies like E.T The Extra Terrestrial, Close Encounter of the third world, Jurrasic Park etc which are one of the highest grosser of all times at box office! Steven at many occasions has also narrated some real life chilling experiences about his encounter with ghosts and supernatural forces. Well, don’t know to what extent his experiences are real but he definitely claims that ghosts and aliens do exist and because of some real life experiences, he got inspired to make movies on this subject.

After general networking, vertical specific networking was definitely slated to be the next big trend in community industry but being niche to this level following a specific vertical is definitely some disruption I must say. And though I don’t believe in such phenomenon (rather I don’t want to believe I guess :-)) but still there is a large chunk of people who believe in such clairvoyant experiences. And for such TG this kind of open forum will be definitely great wherein they can discuss and share their views with like minded people and know more about it. Hmmm, so looks like enough of networking sites for friends, dating, movies, music, college reunion etc etc, well now it’s the turn of ghosts and bhoooot!

Social Media

Enough of friends, movies and music...now its turn for ghosts!

I still can’t believe this :-), quite interesting I must say. Initially when I had read this news in March, I just couldn’t believe that someone was actually thinking on this line and I was almost sure that it would be some sort of media rumor, but no I was wrong. It actually is true that now there will be a social networking site for ghosts and aliens! Oh yes, Steven Spielberg is actually launching a ghost / UFO centric social networking website which will be for people who would like to share and discuss paranormal and extraterrestrial experiences.

Speculations are still on about the name of the portal. Some say it will be called “Ghosts”, some call it as “Ghost Town”, latest update being that the site is perhaps going to be called “The Rising” or “Rising”. Apart from networking angle, the site will also have original video content focusing on alleged ghost and UFO stories. Now we all know the connection between Steven Spielberg and paranormal experiences. Who can forget movies like E.T The Extra Terrestrial, Close Encounter of the third world, Jurrasic Park etc which are one of the highest grosser of all times at box office! Steven at many occasions has also narrated some real life chilling experiences about his encounter with ghosts and supernatural forces. Well, don’t know to what extent his experiences are real but he definitely claims that ghosts and aliens do exist and because of some real life experiences, he got inspired to make movies on this subject.

After general networking, vertical specific networking was definitely slated to be the next big trend in community industry but being niche to this level following a specific vertical is definitely some disruption I must say. And though I don’t believe in such phenomenon (rather I don’t want to believe I guess :-)) but still there is a large chunk of people who believe in such clairvoyant experiences. And for such TG this kind of open forum will be definitely great wherein they can discuss and share their views with like minded people and know more about it. Hmmm, so looks like enough of networking sites for friends, dating, movies, music, college reunion etc etc, well now it’s the turn of ghosts and bhoooot!

I have watched four-five movies in past two months in theater as well as on DVD but didn’t feel this strong urge to express my views for any movie as much as I felt for this movie…I guess this is one of the worst movies I would have ever watched, completely baseless and crazy…yeah I am speaking of Krazzy4. The only right thing about this movie I guess is its name “Krazzy 4”, yes, it’s capable of making you crazy with all its 4 elements – story, acting, direction and dialogues! How can Rakesh Roshan go sooo wrong in this film?

The film is all about 4 mental patients Raja (Arshad Warsi), Mukherjee (Irfan Khan), Gangadhar (Rajpal Yadav), Dabboo (Suresh Menon) and their doctor Suman (Juhi Chawla). The so called story tries to show the emotional sensitiveness of these patients towards their doctor and respective relationships with their partners. I’m just wondering is it worth to go ahead describing the plot of this movie…well honestly speaking there is no plot at all. The story starts with something, then suddenly Juhi Chawla gets kidnapped, then suddenly you see Rakhi Sawant grooving in her typical style on “dekhta hai kya” number…oh the song ends and after few movements here and there on the screen you suddenly see SRK shaking his legs unnecessarily on the much hyped song “krazzy 4”. By the time one keeps on wondering as to why SRK has danced in THIS film, you see these 4 mental patients saving their doctor by god knows what kind of acts! And lo the film comes to an end with the most pathetic speeches by the patients as well as the doctor to the media. Trust me the last dialogues are the worst dialogues ever written in the hindi film industry! And of course the last scene of scrolling star cast is having the tragic misfit of Jr. Roshan wasting his dance talent just like that. It clearly looks like Papa Roshan’s strategy of capitalizing on the best dance talent of the industry.

On a scale of 5, I would love to give this film a rating of -5 but for Rajpal Yadav’s acting sake I can still reconsider my thoughts and I guess I will give it a 0.5 rating on 5. Very poor plot, hopelessly bad dialogues, even very good acting talents like Juhi, Irfan, Arshad and Rajpal Yadav have been completely wasted and the songs are…I guess I’m running short of critical adjectives. The much hyped item numbers are the best examples of oddity! I will not recommend this movie to anybody at all for watching, oh yeah but if you want to take revenge with someone, just buy a ticket of this movie and lock the person to watch this movie in a room J, make sure the person doesn’t come out without watching this movie completely, LOL!

BTW of all the movies which I watched in last two months, I liked Jodha Akbar and U, Me aur Hum a lot…lovely movies with beautiful direction. I missed out on writing reviews for these movies because of paucity of time but do watch both these movies. Hrithik is outstanding as Akbar and Ajay Devgan is simply superb considering that U, Me aur Hum is his first directorial debut. Hey I also watched When Harry met Sally (oh yeah I watched it after sooo many years) on DVD, a very sweet movie with a cute love story. Must watch for those who like to watch light romantic flicks.

Movies

Heights of Craziness

I have watched four-five movies in past two months in theater as well as on DVD but didn’t feel this strong urge to express my views for any movie as much as I felt for this movie…I guess this is one of the worst movies I would have ever watched, completely baseless and crazy…yeah I am speaking of Krazzy4. The only right thing about this movie I guess is its name “Krazzy 4”, yes, it’s capable of making you crazy with all its 4 elements – story, acting, direction and dialogues! How can Rakesh Roshan go sooo wrong in this film?

The film is all about 4 mental patients Raja (Arshad Warsi), Mukherjee (Irfan Khan), Gangadhar (Rajpal Yadav), Dabboo (Suresh Menon) and their doctor Suman (Juhi Chawla). The so called story tries to show the emotional sensitiveness of these patients towards their doctor and respective relationships with their partners. I’m just wondering is it worth to go ahead describing the plot of this movie…well honestly speaking there is no plot at all. The story starts with something, then suddenly Juhi Chawla gets kidnapped, then suddenly you see Rakhi Sawant grooving in her typical style on “dekhta hai kya” number…oh the song ends and after few movements here and there on the screen you suddenly see SRK shaking his legs unnecessarily on the much hyped song “krazzy 4”. By the time one keeps on wondering as to why SRK has danced in THIS film, you see these 4 mental patients saving their doctor by god knows what kind of acts! And lo the film comes to an end with the most pathetic speeches by the patients as well as the doctor to the media. Trust me the last dialogues are the worst dialogues ever written in the hindi film industry! And of course the last scene of scrolling star cast is having the tragic misfit of Jr. Roshan wasting his dance talent just like that. It clearly looks like Papa Roshan’s strategy of capitalizing on the best dance talent of the industry.

On a scale of 5, I would love to give this film a rating of -5 but for Rajpal Yadav’s acting sake I can still reconsider my thoughts and I guess I will give it a 0.5 rating on 5. Very poor plot, hopelessly bad dialogues, even very good acting talents like Juhi, Irfan, Arshad and Rajpal Yadav have been completely wasted and the songs are…I guess I’m running short of critical adjectives. The much hyped item numbers are the best examples of oddity! I will not recommend this movie to anybody at all for watching, oh yeah but if you want to take revenge with someone, just buy a ticket of this movie and lock the person to watch this movie in a room J, make sure the person doesn’t come out without watching this movie completely, LOL!

BTW of all the movies which I watched in last two months, I liked Jodha Akbar and U, Me aur Hum a lot…lovely movies with beautiful direction. I missed out on writing reviews for these movies because of paucity of time but do watch both these movies. Hrithik is outstanding as Akbar and Ajay Devgan is simply superb considering that U, Me aur Hum is his first directorial debut. Hey I also watched When Harry met Sally (oh yeah I watched it after sooo many years) on DVD, a very sweet movie with a cute love story. Must watch for those who like to watch light romantic flicks.

Well, looks like it’s a season of makeovers going on currently. Oh, I mentioned makeover and you are already thinking of some new style statement for women? Hmmm, I’m, sure most of you must be, but nah I’m not speaking of some new hair coloring trend or new apparel style in vogue…I’m speaking of the latest trend in Indian Marketing Industry - the trend of Indian brand makeovers.
Two weeks ago, I saw the new logo and communication of Godrej, then last week it was Shoppers’ Stop and now it’s CEAT which has gone for a hip & happening colored logo.
Honestly speaking I was just shocked to see the 112 year old Godrej logo changed. Having worked in their brand management team earlier, I know how rigid Godrej rules were as far as changing corporate logo was concerned. They strictly wanted to adhere to only traditional color (earlier it was blue then it became red) and despite every new brand manager convincing about a funky logo, the top management never allowed to experiment with it. So, suddenly a bright colored nice looking new logo was a very pleasant sight for my eyes. Here is the official statement of Godrej which states that the re-branding exercise was undertaken as it felt the old brand was not as relevant to young India.(source: moneycontrol.com). As a consumer as well as marketing professional, my take on this - I liked this change J. Estimated money (mentioned in official releases) to be spent by the company in communicating this makeover: Rs. 100 crore!
Now speaking about Shoppers Stop logo change…I am absolutely confused as to why this logo change and what major difference will this new logo design bring to the company? I mean its same black & white color except that it’s rectangular in shape as compared to the earlier elliptical one. Well, from brand perspective I understand that it has been done keeping so called international designs in mind but well, but to a normal consumer I’m sure it must not be looking like any major change as such. And they are spending huge money in communicating this change by advertisements, hoarding etc. Here is the official statement available on agencyfaqs, for this makeover: “Change is essential. Our consumers are changing, their preferences are constantly evolving. They are getting younger. And so, we have to change along with them.” — B S Nagesh, Customer Care Associate & Managing Director, Shoppers’ Stop. “The simple but classic new logo without the old elliptic ring, which has an international look and a timeless appeal, carrying the new baseline ‘Start something new’ prods customers into taking a step ahead to upgrade themselves to the next level in life.(source: indiaretailbiz.com). Well, well doesn’t it look like somehow fitting in a justification for this change? As a consumer as well as marketing professional, my take on this – It looks almost similar to me as in no major change at all as compared to the previous one. Estimated money (mentioned in official releases) to be spent by the company in communicating this makeover: Rs. 20 crore ($5 million)!
And the latest one in race, CEAT logo change? Oh why did they do this? The logo was created in 1958 & this is the first time since then that the company has changed its logo. But do they really needed to change their earlier logo? Here is the official statement for this change: Paras K Chowdhary, chief executive officer, Ceat, says, “The new logo symbolises the strategic transformation at Ceat. It also reflects the fact that though Ceat has a long and proud heritage, the attributes that bring it to life for our customers are as fresh and new as ever. It represents the company’s vision of leading the industry in delivering best in class products, innovations and services to consumers.” (source: agencyfaqs.com). Well, even if they decided to change the logo thinking to bring in some freshness and strategic transformation, they can’t go this wrong in deciding the creative representation of it. I think the earlier logo was very expressive and clear about the message which CEAT wanted to communicate for its tyre brand – born tough. New one just looks like another “me too” logo. As a consumer as well as marketing professional, my take on this – The new logo is NOT good, new font and color are ok, but please bring back that rhino and “born tough” line. No info available on money to be spent on communicating this makeover but year lots of TV ads are airing on prime time television.

Marketing

Season of makeovers

Well, looks like it’s a season of makeovers going on currently. Oh, I mentioned makeover and you are already thinking of some new style statement for women? Hmmm, I’m, sure most of you must be, but nah I’m not speaking of some new hair coloring trend or new apparel style in vogue…I’m speaking of the latest trend in Indian Marketing Industry - the trend of Indian brand makeovers.
Two weeks ago, I saw the new logo and communication of Godrej, then last week it was Shoppers’ Stop and now it’s CEAT which has gone for a hip & happening colored logo.
Honestly speaking I was just shocked to see the 112 year old Godrej logo changed. Having worked in their brand management team earlier, I know how rigid Godrej rules were as far as changing corporate logo was concerned. They strictly wanted to adhere to only traditional color (earlier it was blue then it became red) and despite every new brand manager convincing about a funky logo, the top management never allowed to experiment with it. So, suddenly a bright colored nice looking new logo was a very pleasant sight for my eyes. Here is the official statement of Godrej which states that the re-branding exercise was undertaken as it felt the old brand was not as relevant to young India.(source: moneycontrol.com). As a consumer as well as marketing professional, my take on this - I liked this change J. Estimated money (mentioned in official releases) to be spent by the company in communicating this makeover: Rs. 100 crore!
Now speaking about Shoppers Stop logo change…I am absolutely confused as to why this logo change and what major difference will this new logo design bring to the company? I mean its same black & white color except that it’s rectangular in shape as compared to the earlier elliptical one. Well, from brand perspective I understand that it has been done keeping so called international designs in mind but well, but to a normal consumer I’m sure it must not be looking like any major change as such. And they are spending huge money in communicating this change by advertisements, hoarding etc. Here is the official statement available on agencyfaqs, for this makeover: “Change is essential. Our consumers are changing, their preferences are constantly evolving. They are getting younger. And so, we have to change along with them.” — B S Nagesh, Customer Care Associate & Managing Director, Shoppers’ Stop. “The simple but classic new logo without the old elliptic ring, which has an international look and a timeless appeal, carrying the new baseline ‘Start something new’ prods customers into taking a step ahead to upgrade themselves to the next level in life.(source: indiaretailbiz.com). Well, well doesn’t it look like somehow fitting in a justification for this change? As a consumer as well as marketing professional, my take on this – It looks almost similar to me as in no major change at all as compared to the previous one. Estimated money (mentioned in official releases) to be spent by the company in communicating this makeover: Rs. 20 crore ($5 million)!
And the latest one in race, CEAT logo change? Oh why did they do this? The logo was created in 1958 & this is the first time since then that the company has changed its logo. But do they really needed to change their earlier logo? Here is the official statement for this change: Paras K Chowdhary, chief executive officer, Ceat, says, “The new logo symbolises the strategic transformation at Ceat. It also reflects the fact that though Ceat has a long and proud heritage, the attributes that bring it to life for our customers are as fresh and new as ever. It represents the company’s vision of leading the industry in delivering best in class products, innovations and services to consumers.” (source: agencyfaqs.com). Well, even if they decided to change the logo thinking to bring in some freshness and strategic transformation, they can’t go this wrong in deciding the creative representation of it. I think the earlier logo was very expressive and clear about the message which CEAT wanted to communicate for its tyre brand – born tough. New one just looks like another “me too” logo. As a consumer as well as marketing professional, my take on this – The new logo is NOT good, new font and color are ok, but please bring back that rhino and “born tough” line. No info available on money to be spent on communicating this makeover but year lots of TV ads are airing on prime time television.

The news is everywhere across media, and almost every channel and website is speaking of this new entrant in blogosphere. Big B has taken to blogging now!!! Well, we were aware of Rahul Bose, Shekhar Kapur and Aamir Khan being pro bloggers but now Amitabh Bachchan too. This is really surprising but what’s more surprising is the blog site which Mr. Bachchan has selected. Umm, his selection surely doesn’t look natural. Doesn’t a thought come naturally to our minds as to why BigAdda? Now come on, don’t ask why not a wordpress or a blogspot or his own personal URL and why www.bigadda.com ? I think it’s pretty simple to guess. Arrey still didn’t get it…after all bigadda is a reliance entertainment company yaar & we all know the strong connection between Big B & ....!

Looks like BigAdda’s cores & crores of money on advertising with hoardings (yes they actually took huge hoardings across cities for promotion of an online social networking site, LOL) & on TV (ROLF, yep there were long television commercials too reminding of friends and networking ?) etc have not worked at all and now they have decided to take one final shot at one of their products viz., blogs. With Big B endorsing their blog and each posts of Mr. Bachchan having comment counter close to 400+, I’m sure atleast one of BigAdda’s categories will surely get noticed now. And the kind of effort which bigadda team is taking for this, there is no second thought that this looks like a planned promotion strategy of BigAdda. Here is an excerpt from Big B’s blog which can make things clearer further:

“The bigadda.com team came over. I educated myself more on blogging and its ‘finer qualities’. As per the advice of some of the fans and ‘co bloggers’ we got into the process of setting up a team to assist me in working my blog more efficiently”.

A team to assist on working on his blog more efficiently!!!!!! Whoa blogging is becoming really serious man! Hmmm quite a strong promo hook by BigAdda team, lets see what mileage they get out of it in future.

Now speaking of Big B’s blog http://bigb.bigadda.com, honestly speaking I liked the content of this blog and the way Mr. Bachchan has written it till now. Though I’m not a die-hard fan of Mr. Bachchan & not sure if he is himself writing the posts or somebody on his behalf is doing it but if he is himself writing it then I must say good effort! The way he has highlighted the contribution of Anil Dharker for his book Icons or the way he has pulled Headlines Today for telecasting Abhi-Ash for 15 mins and still criticizing them or they way he has responded to some of the comments on his posts is quite noticeable & praiseworthy. I just love the poems of Mr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan and the beautiful usage of those poems in Big B’s posts is another highlight of his blog.


Though the idea of Big B blogging on www.bigadda.com looks very artificial and definitely some sort of marketing gimmick but the content of the blog looks natural. So, hope Big B continues expressing his thoughts like this on his blog and BigAdda gets at least one product right amongst all its failed ventures!

Marketing · Movie Marketing

Big B n blogging, another marketing gimmick?

The news is everywhere across media, and almost every channel and website is speaking of this new entrant in blogosphere. Big B has taken to blogging now!!! Well, we were aware of Rahul Bose, Shekhar Kapur and Aamir Khan being pro bloggers but now Amitabh Bachchan too. This is really surprising but what’s more surprising is the blog site which Mr. Bachchan has selected. Umm, his selection surely doesn’t look natural. Doesn’t a thought come naturally to our minds as to why BigAdda? Now come on, don’t ask why not a wordpress or a blogspot or his own personal URL and why www.bigadda.com ? I think it’s pretty simple to guess. Arrey still didn’t get it…after all bigadda is a reliance entertainment company yaar & we all know the strong connection between Big B & ....!

Looks like BigAdda’s cores & crores of money on advertising with hoardings (yes they actually took huge hoardings across cities for promotion of an online social networking site, LOL) & on TV (ROLF, yep there were long television commercials too reminding of friends and networking ?) etc have not worked at all and now they have decided to take one final shot at one of their products viz., blogs. With Big B endorsing their blog and each posts of Mr. Bachchan having comment counter close to 400+, I’m sure atleast one of BigAdda’s categories will surely get noticed now. And the kind of effort which bigadda team is taking for this, there is no second thought that this looks like a planned promotion strategy of BigAdda. Here is an excerpt from Big B’s blog which can make things clearer further:

“The bigadda.com team came over. I educated myself more on blogging and its ‘finer qualities’. As per the advice of some of the fans and ‘co bloggers’ we got into the process of setting up a team to assist me in working my blog more efficiently”.

A team to assist on working on his blog more efficiently!!!!!! Whoa blogging is becoming really serious man! Hmmm quite a strong promo hook by BigAdda team, lets see what mileage they get out of it in future.

Now speaking of Big B’s blog http://bigb.bigadda.com, honestly speaking I liked the content of this blog and the way Mr. Bachchan has written it till now. Though I’m not a die-hard fan of Mr. Bachchan & not sure if he is himself writing the posts or somebody on his behalf is doing it but if he is himself writing it then I must say good effort! The way he has highlighted the contribution of Anil Dharker for his book Icons or the way he has pulled Headlines Today for telecasting Abhi-Ash for 15 mins and still criticizing them or they way he has responded to some of the comments on his posts is quite noticeable & praiseworthy. I just love the poems of Mr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan and the beautiful usage of those poems in Big B’s posts is another highlight of his blog.


Though the idea of Big B blogging on www.bigadda.com looks very artificial and definitely some sort of marketing gimmick but the content of the blog looks natural. So, hope Big B continues expressing his thoughts like this on his blog and BigAdda gets at least one product right amongst all its failed ventures!

After Subhash Ghai’s Black & White promo on Facebook, now Yash Raj Films as well as Devagan productions have taken the route of promo through social media for their upcoming films Tashan and U, Me Aur Hum respectively. Both these upcoming films are having their official communities on Facebook, Orkut and Youtube. Their official communities have promo clippings, songs as well as downloadable pictures of these movies. While Facebook group of Tashan is having more than 400 members, Orkut group is having more than 19,000 members. Orkut group is quite interactive with people discussing their thoughts and casting votes in the polls. Even U, Me Aur Hum group is very active Orkut group with approx 6000 members and very interesting poll questions.
Hmmm, looks like it has become a major trend in bollywood as well to ride the wave of online social communities. Almost every bollywood movie getting released these days is resorting to sites like Orkut, Facebook, Youtube etc. Well, why not? After all, more than anywhere else, that’s THE place where you can catch the young India these days. According to a recent study done by AC Neilson across males and females between the ages 13-35 years across the country, users spend an average of nine hours per week on the Internet, only for personal purposes, and of these nine hours, approximately 25–75% is spent on a social networking site (Source: Express Computer, March issue).

Of late, bollywood has become quite innovative in promoting the films in varied ways. Gone are the days of film promos where the names of actors like Raj Kapoor or Nargis or director like Satayajit Ray itself used to the biggest marketing hook for any film. Now in this age of commercialization and media bombardment, film marketers are trying it all- from traditional media like hoardings and television promos to digital media like exclusive websites to new age television phenomenon like reality shows and now to the latest IN thing, interactivity through social networking sites. With zero media spend and a sure shot way to capture the minds of Indian youth, of course interactive promo on social communities like these has to be the next BIG thing for marketers.

Movie Marketing

Bollywood on Social Media

After Subhash Ghai’s Black & White promo on Facebook, now Yash Raj Films as well as Devagan productions have taken the route of promo through social media for their upcoming films Tashan and U, Me Aur Hum respectively. Both these upcoming films are having their official communities on Facebook, Orkut and Youtube. Their official communities have promo clippings, songs as well as downloadable pictures of these movies. While Facebook group of Tashan is having more than 400 members, Orkut group is having more than 19,000 members. Orkut group is quite interactive with people discussing their thoughts and casting votes in the polls. Even U, Me Aur Hum group is very active Orkut group with approx 6000 members and very interesting poll questions.
Hmmm, looks like it has become a major trend in bollywood as well to ride the wave of online social communities. Almost every bollywood movie getting released these days is resorting to sites like Orkut, Facebook, Youtube etc. Well, why not? After all, more than anywhere else, that’s THE place where you can catch the young India these days. According to a recent study done by AC Neilson across males and females between the ages 13-35 years across the country, users spend an average of nine hours per week on the Internet, only for personal purposes, and of these nine hours, approximately 25–75% is spent on a social networking site (Source: Express Computer, March issue).

Of late, bollywood has become quite innovative in promoting the films in varied ways. Gone are the days of film promos where the names of actors like Raj Kapoor or Nargis or director like Satayajit Ray itself used to the biggest marketing hook for any film. Now in this age of commercialization and media bombardment, film marketers are trying it all- from traditional media like hoardings and television promos to digital media like exclusive websites to new age television phenomenon like reality shows and now to the latest IN thing, interactivity through social networking sites. With zero media spend and a sure shot way to capture the minds of Indian youth, of course interactive promo on social communities like these has to be the next BIG thing for marketers.

Yeah “Incredible India” campaign for Pondicherry says this & it’s a very right statement for Pondicherry aka Pudducherry “Give time a break”… Got this t-shirt in Pondicherry from one of the Incredible India stalls…

Well, we both were just dead-tired of our hectic work life for past so many days…n it was over four months that we were planning to go on a long drive. But of course work pressure and our series of official tours were not allowing us to do so. Finally last Friday we suddenly thought to go somewhere even if it meant no good hotel bookings anywhere (thanks to Bangalore and Bangaloreans’ weekend trips that getting good hotel rooms during unplanned weekend trips is a rarity). After debating on few places we finally zeroed on Pondicherry… but yeah pondicherry meant one more day apart from weekend… hmmm. Shall we try our luck with our bosses for one extra day off? Afterall we have been working on so many weekends since long. We tried & here we go, we managed to get that 1 extra day off on Monday and so we were all set for Pondicherry next morning.
Plan was to start at 6:30 am on Saturday morning, but hee hee hee me and my sleeping habit, we finally started at around 8:30 am in the morning, route was pretty simple and we had taken printout of route available on net, so it was quite easy to drive ahead. And I must say that drive was just awesome, it’s a delight to drive on Hosur-Krishnagiri road for all those who enjoy driving. It took us five and half hours to reach Pondicherry and we finally settled at a nice beach resort at ECR road. Oh whosoever said Pondicherry beaches are not good are just fools… well I agree it’s surely not like Goa but it definitely is a cool place for enjoying those peaceful mornings and silent evenings near the sea. Other attractions of Pondicherry are serene Aurobindo Ashram, astounding Auroville, beautiful French colony & yummmmy sea-food!!! Oh it’s a foodie’s delight to eat those amazing delicacies… me n hubby were just not getting tired of eating J… and yeah last but not the least shopping, hmmm now this was so much fun that this itself can be a topic of another full post from me. Finally after all that masti for next two days, we drove back to bangalore on Monday afternoon. For other travel related details, you can read my travelogue here.
Overall, we had a great time far away from the city traffic and terribly hectic work life of ours, no laptop and no phones for three days :-). It was a perfect place for lazy weekend and relaxed time. We finally did manage to give time a break for three days!

Travel

Pondicherry : Give time a break

Yeah “Incredible India” campaign for Pondicherry says this & it’s a very right statement for Pondicherry aka Pudducherry “Give time a break”… Got this t-shirt in Pondicherry from one of the Incredible India stalls…

Well, we both were just dead-tired of our hectic work life for past so many days…n it was over four months that we were planning to go on a long drive. But of course work pressure and our series of official tours were not allowing us to do so. Finally last Friday we suddenly thought to go somewhere even if it meant no good hotel bookings anywhere (thanks to Bangalore and Bangaloreans’ weekend trips that getting good hotel rooms during unplanned weekend trips is a rarity). After debating on few places we finally zeroed on Pondicherry… but yeah pondicherry meant one more day apart from weekend… hmmm. Shall we try our luck with our bosses for one extra day off? Afterall we have been working on so many weekends since long. We tried & here we go, we managed to get that 1 extra day off on Monday and so we were all set for Pondicherry next morning.
Plan was to start at 6:30 am on Saturday morning, but hee hee hee me and my sleeping habit, we finally started at around 8:30 am in the morning, route was pretty simple and we had taken printout of route available on net, so it was quite easy to drive ahead. And I must say that drive was just awesome, it’s a delight to drive on Hosur-Krishnagiri road for all those who enjoy driving. It took us five and half hours to reach Pondicherry and we finally settled at a nice beach resort at ECR road. Oh whosoever said Pondicherry beaches are not good are just fools… well I agree it’s surely not like Goa but it definitely is a cool place for enjoying those peaceful mornings and silent evenings near the sea. Other attractions of Pondicherry are serene Aurobindo Ashram, astounding Auroville, beautiful French colony & yummmmy sea-food!!! Oh it’s a foodie’s delight to eat those amazing delicacies… me n hubby were just not getting tired of eating J… and yeah last but not the least shopping, hmmm now this was so much fun that this itself can be a topic of another full post from me. Finally after all that masti for next two days, we drove back to bangalore on Monday afternoon. For other travel related details, you can read my travelogue here.
Overall, we had a great time far away from the city traffic and terribly hectic work life of ours, no laptop and no phones for three days :-). It was a perfect place for lazy weekend and relaxed time. We finally did manage to give time a break for three days!

Earlier we were in hit list of spam and now virus! Well, this is just one of the downsides of internet penetration in India I guess. Few months back I had read it somewhere that as per Govt of India report, 76% of mails originating from India are spam!!! And now there is a report stating one in ever 30 emails in India contains virus! "Virus activity increased across a number of countries in January, including India, which takes the number one spot with 1 in 30.5 emails," a study conducted by a web security services firm MessageLabs said. India has been identified as the most vulnerable destination for virus as well as spam. The ratio of virus attack in western countries is far lesser in western countries. Infact in New Zealand its 1:768, in Australia its 1:298.7 & in US its 1:191.5.

Phew, so where are we as far as internet security is concerned? On an average I get somewhere between 12-20 spam mails on each of my account – yahoo, gmail etc. Despite my all trials of deleting / unsubscribing from all those junk mailers, there is not much refuge from the same. And every fourth email which I get is having an attachment with .pif / …. kind of unknown extensions which surely contains virus. Not to forget those viagra & other such werid product promo mails and yeah our very own O3 spam comments which sometimes are in such huge numbers that the mere thought of deleting soooo many comments makes one scared. Well, regardless of best possible anti-virus software & spam filters, those junk emails keep flooding my mail boxes everyday. Infact yesterday only I was trying to delete my spam messages from my yahoo id which has got the worst spam filter I guess and after deleting a few I just felt sick & tired of doing the same thing again and again! Well, no wonder if we accounted for 76% spam origin & 1:30.5 virus attacks as the repercussion of the same can be observed in my own inboxes as well J. I’m wondering - is it the phenomenal growth in internet penetration in India or is our poor security systems that we are such a susceptible target for spammers & virus attackers?

Indian Internet Industry

India highest scorer in viruses

Earlier we were in hit list of spam and now virus! Well, this is just one of the downsides of internet penetration in India I guess. Few months back I had read it somewhere that as per Govt of India report, 76% of mails originating from India are spam!!! And now there is a report stating one in ever 30 emails in India contains virus! "Virus activity increased across a number of countries in January, including India, which takes the number one spot with 1 in 30.5 emails," a study conducted by a web security services firm MessageLabs said. India has been identified as the most vulnerable destination for virus as well as spam. The ratio of virus attack in western countries is far lesser in western countries. Infact in New Zealand its 1:768, in Australia its 1:298.7 & in US its 1:191.5.

Phew, so where are we as far as internet security is concerned? On an average I get somewhere between 12-20 spam mails on each of my account – yahoo, gmail etc. Despite my all trials of deleting / unsubscribing from all those junk mailers, there is not much refuge from the same. And every fourth email which I get is having an attachment with .pif / …. kind of unknown extensions which surely contains virus. Not to forget those viagra & other such werid product promo mails and yeah our very own O3 spam comments which sometimes are in such huge numbers that the mere thought of deleting soooo many comments makes one scared. Well, regardless of best possible anti-virus software & spam filters, those junk emails keep flooding my mail boxes everyday. Infact yesterday only I was trying to delete my spam messages from my yahoo id which has got the worst spam filter I guess and after deleting a few I just felt sick & tired of doing the same thing again and again! Well, no wonder if we accounted for 76% spam origin & 1:30.5 virus attacks as the repercussion of the same can be observed in my own inboxes as well J. I’m wondering - is it the phenomenal growth in internet penetration in India or is our poor security systems that we are such a susceptible target for spammers & virus attackers?

Of late I’ve been observing these advertisements of IBNlive.com all across web. Whichever site you go to, you see a google ad of IBN which says sexy women at ibnlive.com.
Displayed below are some of the screenshots of ads which caught my attention while surfing through news sites, google or blogs.

I’m seriously confused, why a serious site like ibnlive.com is using promo messages which read like this? Isn’t it contradictory to the brand image of ibnlive? Well, we all know that sex & women as keywords sell a lot in search engines but still… catching attention by using messages like these by a site like IBNlive is quite weird and ridiculous. Out of curosity, I clicked one of the links & it actually took me to IBNlive's website with so called sexy pics of Bipasha, Kareena etc...Are they short of genuine content that they are resorting to gimmicks like these? To me it projects absolute desperation of IBNlive to increase their web traffic & readership. Don’t’ know the logic or thought behind this but looks like the brand person or the online agency has been given some tough task of increasing their web traffc & hits by X % hee hee hee… Well, quite bizarre!

Marketing · Online Marketing

Sexy women at IBNlive???

Of late I’ve been observing these advertisements of IBNlive.com all across web. Whichever site you go to, you see a google ad of IBN which says sexy women at ibnlive.com.
Displayed below are some of the screenshots of ads which caught my attention while surfing through news sites, google or blogs.

I’m seriously confused, why a serious site like ibnlive.com is using promo messages which read like this? Isn’t it contradictory to the brand image of ibnlive? Well, we all know that sex & women as keywords sell a lot in search engines but still… catching attention by using messages like these by a site like IBNlive is quite weird and ridiculous. Out of curosity, I clicked one of the links & it actually took me to IBNlive's website with so called sexy pics of Bipasha, Kareena etc...Are they short of genuine content that they are resorting to gimmicks like these? To me it projects absolute desperation of IBNlive to increase their web traffic & readership. Don’t’ know the logic or thought behind this but looks like the brand person or the online agency has been given some tough task of increasing their web traffc & hits by X % hee hee hee… Well, quite bizarre!

Everytime I wait at those traffic signals, shiver run through my spine to see those kids – burn marks all across their faces, bruises here & there, impaired limbs, weathered out clothes, tears running down from their eyes… oh god, what a agonizing scene it always is…& the worst is many a times kids carrying another infant in their laps & pleading that if you don’t give money that poor kid will die because of hunger!!! Yeah I’m speaking of kids begging at traffic signals in all major Indian metros & in such a poignant condition how can you stop yourself from paying some bucks to those poor souls?
Howmuchsoever I’m aware of forced beggary racket & the need to discourage it strongly, I still can’t sometimes control myself from giving away money to these kid beggars. It happened with me yesterday as well…one girl with completely bruised face & with a crutch walked upto me & pleaded for money. Initially I ignored her, but she kept on persisting me, one look on her again & oh gosh…so many contusions on her face!!! Looked like somebody had beaten her badly, for maybe not earning enough money last night by begging, maybe for not revealing the actual money she earned to the begging racket leader or maybe…oh before any more dreadful thought could have come to mind, I just pulled out money from my purse & handed it over to the little girl. Well, I know I again did wrong, I’ve again contributed towards the dirty begging industry, but…
Here are some quick facts about begging in India:
? Begging has actually been coined as one of the industries!!! Yeah “Begging Industry” so to say…
? Begging industry pegged to be more than Rs. 200 crores in India.
? A child beggar earns only Rs. 10 to 20 a day & rest all the income is being taken by the racket leader!
? Majority of the kids who had been rescued from begging last year & kept in children home preferred to go back to begging as they were not able to earn & feed themselves on their own.
? Analysts have even come out with results that begging sometimes work out to be more lucrative option than a low-wage job.
? There has been enough number of messaging & coverages asking common public to discourage begging by not providing any money to beggars.
Well, I guess most of us are aware of the above mentioned facts but despite the knowledge & our rational minds which say that we should dissuade begging, is it possible to ignore the bruises & tears & hunger of all those kid beggars who just stand in front of you during those red lights? Is it possible to ignore the cries of small infants who are supposedly howling because of no food or extreme weather conditions? Hmmm…atleast its not possible for me, as honestly speaking I keep on getting disturbed by seeing those kids & I either end up paying money or end up thinking about them all my way…and even after thinking a lot I don’t know what’s the solution to it!

Musings

Beggars @ traffic signals

Everytime I wait at those traffic signals, shiver run through my spine to see those kids – burn marks all across their faces, bruises here & there, impaired limbs, weathered out clothes, tears running down from their eyes… oh god, what a agonizing scene it always is…& the worst is many a times kids carrying another infant in their laps & pleading that if you don’t give money that poor kid will die because of hunger!!! Yeah I’m speaking of kids begging at traffic signals in all major Indian metros & in such a poignant condition how can you stop yourself from paying some bucks to those poor souls?
Howmuchsoever I’m aware of forced beggary racket & the need to discourage it strongly, I still can’t sometimes control myself from giving away money to these kid beggars. It happened with me yesterday as well…one girl with completely bruised face & with a crutch walked upto me & pleaded for money. Initially I ignored her, but she kept on persisting me, one look on her again & oh gosh…so many contusions on her face!!! Looked like somebody had beaten her badly, for maybe not earning enough money last night by begging, maybe for not revealing the actual money she earned to the begging racket leader or maybe…oh before any more dreadful thought could have come to mind, I just pulled out money from my purse & handed it over to the little girl. Well, I know I again did wrong, I’ve again contributed towards the dirty begging industry, but…
Here are some quick facts about begging in India:
? Begging has actually been coined as one of the industries!!! Yeah “Begging Industry” so to say…
? Begging industry pegged to be more than Rs. 200 crores in India.
? A child beggar earns only Rs. 10 to 20 a day & rest all the income is being taken by the racket leader!
? Majority of the kids who had been rescued from begging last year & kept in children home preferred to go back to begging as they were not able to earn & feed themselves on their own.
? Analysts have even come out with results that begging sometimes work out to be more lucrative option than a low-wage job.
? There has been enough number of messaging & coverages asking common public to discourage begging by not providing any money to beggars.
Well, I guess most of us are aware of the above mentioned facts but despite the knowledge & our rational minds which say that we should dissuade begging, is it possible to ignore the bruises & tears & hunger of all those kid beggars who just stand in front of you during those red lights? Is it possible to ignore the cries of small infants who are supposedly howling because of no food or extreme weather conditions? Hmmm…atleast its not possible for me, as honestly speaking I keep on getting disturbed by seeing those kids & I either end up paying money or end up thinking about them all my way…and even after thinking a lot I don’t know what’s the solution to it!

Just finished reading this book yesterday. I had picked up this book while traveling at some airport. Well, the cover design as well as the line “An irreverent view of life at IIMs” were self explanatory & it was no-brainer to guess that its another one after “Five Point Someone”, “Mediocre but Arrogant”, “Anything for you ma’am”, “Above Average” etc etc. I still picked up the book as I wanted to read some light stuff.

After Chetan Bhagat’s huge success I guess it has almost become a trend to come out with some novel with theme around “Life at IIM/IIT/X/Y/Zs…”. Surely five point someone was interesting and I personally had enjoyed reading it but similar theme of campus fiction repeated over & over again… ummm nah, I guess its too boring now L.

Joker in the pack written by Ritesh Sharma & Neeraj Pahlajani is all about Shekhar Verma (the main protagonist) & the great Indian middle class dreams. Its about Shekhar’s run in the same rat race of performance & excellence in education so as to get a good job with lots of money & foreign placement. Its about all the extras in life who take so much of interest in your performance and the world where performance doesn’t meant your own performance but performance as compared to others, well as you say typical RG (relative grading) culture!!! It surely gives a detailed view of life at IIMs, hostel life, summer placements, final placements & professional-personal life balance. Well some of the things like summer placements, hostel-life etc are so relatable to not only IIM guys but to other business school pass-outs as well. The hostel life description & Shekhar’s encounter to reality during summer placement days definitely made me nostalgic J. The summer placement part & placement description created some excitement in me as reader but rest all other parts were too predictive. Hmmm and like a general happy-ending plot this book also ends with Shekhar realizing his ultimate dream of job, foreign placement & money. The only sentence which touched my heart was the last sentence “I realized my dream but in all this never realized that I’ve lost the main force who was the motivation for my dream”. Well, in this performance obsessed world I guess this is happening with many professionals of our generation.

To sum it up, I will say it’s an average book with some interesting plots. Its one of those books which you can read casually, finish up fast & forget it immediately. Positive points – light humor filled language & effort of the authors (I must say it’s a commendable job to write a whole book with full time jobs) & Negative points – Too predictive & repetitive plot, well old wine served in a new bottle.

Book Review · Books

Joker in the pack - Book Review

Just finished reading this book yesterday. I had picked up this book while traveling at some airport. Well, the cover design as well as the line “An irreverent view of life at IIMs” were self explanatory & it was no-brainer to guess that its another one after “Five Point Someone”, “Mediocre but Arrogant”, “Anything for you ma’am”, “Above Average” etc etc. I still picked up the book as I wanted to read some light stuff.

After Chetan Bhagat’s huge success I guess it has almost become a trend to come out with some novel with theme around “Life at IIM/IIT/X/Y/Zs…”. Surely five point someone was interesting and I personally had enjoyed reading it but similar theme of campus fiction repeated over & over again… ummm nah, I guess its too boring now L.

Joker in the pack written by Ritesh Sharma & Neeraj Pahlajani is all about Shekhar Verma (the main protagonist) & the great Indian middle class dreams. Its about Shekhar’s run in the same rat race of performance & excellence in education so as to get a good job with lots of money & foreign placement. Its about all the extras in life who take so much of interest in your performance and the world where performance doesn’t meant your own performance but performance as compared to others, well as you say typical RG (relative grading) culture!!! It surely gives a detailed view of life at IIMs, hostel life, summer placements, final placements & professional-personal life balance. Well some of the things like summer placements, hostel-life etc are so relatable to not only IIM guys but to other business school pass-outs as well. The hostel life description & Shekhar’s encounter to reality during summer placement days definitely made me nostalgic J. The summer placement part & placement description created some excitement in me as reader but rest all other parts were too predictive. Hmmm and like a general happy-ending plot this book also ends with Shekhar realizing his ultimate dream of job, foreign placement & money. The only sentence which touched my heart was the last sentence “I realized my dream but in all this never realized that I’ve lost the main force who was the motivation for my dream”. Well, in this performance obsessed world I guess this is happening with many professionals of our generation.

To sum it up, I will say it’s an average book with some interesting plots. Its one of those books which you can read casually, finish up fast & forget it immediately. Positive points – light humor filled language & effort of the authors (I must say it’s a commendable job to write a whole book with full time jobs) & Negative points – Too predictive & repetitive plot, well old wine served in a new bottle.