Aug 21, 2009
An era of Commercials
Doing business without advertisement is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but no one else does.
The above expression lucidly shows how relevant an advertisement is for any business entity. This is one such tool of marketing (one of the 4 Ps’) which, I believe, pervades the life of every Tom, Dick and Harry. We all use it, consciously & unconsciously, in our daily course of lives. Quoting from my personal experience when I started this blog a couple of weeks ago, no one noticed it until I put the link on the various social networking sites. I don’t say that it has worked wonders for me and neither do I expect it in the near future but it did not have a negligent impact either.
We must all have heard of the “Cola Wars” which sparked off way back in 1980s between the two soft drink giants (Pepsi and Coke) and we still see them at loggerheads. Though not in terms of products anymore but in advertising. If Pepsi alludes to Akshay kumar’s act of hopping from one building to another, just to grab a bottle of Thumbs Up (Cola). Sprite (Cola) too doesn’t leave a chance of making an allusion to the slogan (punch line, you may call) of Mountain Dew “dar ke aage jeet hain” (Pepsi) with its counter back slogan of Sprite (Pepsi) “Bujhaye sirf pyaas, baki sab bakwaas”.
But, are we to face a similar kind of war between Cadbury and Nestle too? The reason I’m made to think in this particular direction is born of an advertisement which I happened to watch a little more than a week ago. It was on Nestle ‘Munch’ which showed a ‘thin’ ‘lean’ guy beholding the nestle bar with longing eyes but is not able to devour it. Suddenly another squeamish guy enters the scene (Man!! the agency should have spent a little more on hiring better models [:P] Both of them sucks) and after knowing the reason says “Dude, you can have it on any day of the month”. Again an indirect reference to the recent ad of Cadbury saying “Meetha hain khana, aaj pehle tarikh hain”. What is to become of all this? I know Cadbury enjoys relatively a major portion of the market share (75% approx) and Nestle is too small a company to give it a competition (in the chocolate realm, that is). Besides, they both do not deal in the same industry. Nestle involves many other products which its counterpart doesn’t. Having said that, my prophesying of seeing a choco war is surely far from being true. However, I can infer one thing looking at this maze of Ad world that finding faults with the competitor’s idea seems to have become an important strategy in promoting one’s own product. Unlike the normal trend when the ad agency would come up with some innovative ideas bringing forth its features. Whatever be the reason, the youth doesn’t mind so long as it enjoys savouring the sweet delicacies.
And yes, next time you wink at a girl, make sure it is day time :D
Aug 19, 2009
Partisanship vs Individualism
The recent sack of Jaswant Singh on his contentious book has raised a number of questions in my mind. Leave aside for a moment, the contents of the book and the disgraceful manner in which he has been expelled from the party. The point is whether we enjoy the freedom of speech and expression [Art 19(1)] in our country any more?
If yes, then why such a veteran leader was sacked? And if no, then probably the time has come when we should remove this façade of being the largest democracy in the world. After all, we should not profess something that we no longer enjoy at our discretion.
Although I admit to the fact that a party which since long hinges on the hindutva ideology and which has unfailingly used it as a leverage cannot stand one of its oldest party members to go against its beliefs and doctrines. But then, does he not enjoy the right to express what he feels? Can he not keep his professional and personal life wide apart (assuming that writing a book is solely a personal act)? Does he always have to go by what his party says? If such is the case then I believe it is far better to be an individual and to be oneself, to feel oneself than to abide by what the party says.
This issue has again brought to the surface all those questions, which for long lingered into my mind and are yet not answered. One of them is:
Who was responsible for the partition of our country? Some historians are of the opinion that it was Jinaah who went in support for the “Two Nation Theory” and was adamant to make a separate nation. While some believe that it was Nehru who could not see anyone else but him to take the charge of the nation. When Jinnah expressed his desire to be the Prime Minister, Nehru did not agree to it who was also supported by Lord Mountbatten and this finally went to his advantage. Some people go even to the extent of saying that Lord Mountbatten decision’s to favour Nehru was largely influenced by Lady Mountbatten, with whom Nehru had some implicit relation.
I know I’ll never be able to find the answers to these questions (especially so long as I be dependent on the books authored by Indian historians). But still if anyone has any knowledge pertaining to this, kindly enlighten me.
Aug 3, 2009
The latent secret
Lifting up a story or an idea from a newspaper column and putting it on your own blog is as grave an offence as surreptitiously peeping into someone’s else mind and unapologetically giving your name to his/her thoughts (profound, if any). This is what I’m doing right now. But the idea in itself is so damn intriguing and interesting that I think I would be committing a felony if I fail to share it with my readers (if I have any).
Today was not a peaceful day for me at least not until the evening time. I was not being myself. Since morning, some vague and abstract thoughts began to saunter in my mind. I tried hard to shove them off but before long, my unreasonable fear would resurface again. Situation became worse from bad on realizing that I was to stay alone at home for few hours. Although being alone doesn’t require a great deal of courage, there are times when you desperately want someone to be with you, if not together, but at least the presence should be there. It certainly gives you a lot of mental strength. However, I ended up having neither of the two. Hence, I decided to read the previous day’s newspaper, which I could not on being busy celebrating the friendship day. It had an article on a renowned artist Sakti Burman, who has carved a niche for himself in the field of art. I’m not going to get into the details of that article which dealt with his life and his quest for indefinable but in the end he narrated a tale from Upnishads, so enchanting that here I am, writing it down past midnight.
“The gods had a powerful secret which they didn’t want the human beings to know because once they acquired it, they would become god themselves. So the gods thought of hiding this secret in the sky and even in the underworld but they knew that man was intelligent and would find it. So they decided to hide the secret in the head of the man himself”
A simple story yet requires a deep insight. A story, which unveils the truth of life. The truth that “we all are looking for something which we don’t know, we are always running after that unknown thing. It is a perpetual searching, it’s all in our heads.” Some may get it and some may fail. It comes after much thinking of what we want out of ourselves. Nevertheless, this secret could be anything. It could be a search of salvation, eternal peace, mental satisfaction let alone the monetary ones. But it is there, right inside our head. All we need to do is contemplation.
I don’t know how many of you would like this. But this is one area which has been subject of many bloggers. And tonight I join the league too.
For those wondering whether or not I got past that abstract feeling. Well, the story did provide me a close escape. Let’s see for how long.
Today was not a peaceful day for me at least not until the evening time. I was not being myself. Since morning, some vague and abstract thoughts began to saunter in my mind. I tried hard to shove them off but before long, my unreasonable fear would resurface again. Situation became worse from bad on realizing that I was to stay alone at home for few hours. Although being alone doesn’t require a great deal of courage, there are times when you desperately want someone to be with you, if not together, but at least the presence should be there. It certainly gives you a lot of mental strength. However, I ended up having neither of the two. Hence, I decided to read the previous day’s newspaper, which I could not on being busy celebrating the friendship day. It had an article on a renowned artist Sakti Burman, who has carved a niche for himself in the field of art. I’m not going to get into the details of that article which dealt with his life and his quest for indefinable but in the end he narrated a tale from Upnishads, so enchanting that here I am, writing it down past midnight.
“The gods had a powerful secret which they didn’t want the human beings to know because once they acquired it, they would become god themselves. So the gods thought of hiding this secret in the sky and even in the underworld but they knew that man was intelligent and would find it. So they decided to hide the secret in the head of the man himself”
A simple story yet requires a deep insight. A story, which unveils the truth of life. The truth that “we all are looking for something which we don’t know, we are always running after that unknown thing. It is a perpetual searching, it’s all in our heads.” Some may get it and some may fail. It comes after much thinking of what we want out of ourselves. Nevertheless, this secret could be anything. It could be a search of salvation, eternal peace, mental satisfaction let alone the monetary ones. But it is there, right inside our head. All we need to do is contemplation.
I don’t know how many of you would like this. But this is one area which has been subject of many bloggers. And tonight I join the league too.
For those wondering whether or not I got past that abstract feeling. Well, the story did provide me a close escape. Let’s see for how long.
Aug 2, 2009
Is it easier to fight for principles than to live up to them?
If I were to answer this question a few decades ago then I would probably say in favour of it and would perhaps quote the example of Gandhiji along with many others, who not only fought for their principles but also lived up to them.
But in this contemporary (materialistic) era, it is quite unlikely to say that. An era, which has seen nothing less than cruelty and may have to witness a lot many facets of it in the near future. Still, the notorious activities of the present time do not and cannot undermine the validity of the fact that the two things can indeed go hand in hand as they did in the past.
Starting from Gandhiji, who is too great a man to be described in words. In fact mere words cannot suffice his achievements and his noble deeds towards the establishment of humanity. An epitome of truth, a disciple of Lord Ram and a pioneer of Non-Violence and Satyagraha are some of his few characteristics to mention. A pious mortal who, since childhood, believed in his thoughts and actions and invariably adhered to them. (This one is reminiscent of the stealing act of his childhood days). Did he not fight for his beliefs and principles and lived up to them? I think my being able to write this post in an atmosphere where I can enjoy my space and freedom forms the answer to my question mentioned above. Likewise, if we turn the pages of history we will come across several other distinguished men who worked on similar lines.
But would I not be wrong in saying that it is tough to find such men in today’s time? The world, I believe, is divided into two parts. Good and evil, each one of which lies on one side of the door. So now, let us peek on the other side of it. The door which opens to the world of mass killing in the name of religion, God, caste, creed etc. Would you not as well call such people a staunch follower of their principles? Are they not guided by their respective ideologies so much so that they successfully execute their brutal activities? I know I am contradicting my own statement that I stated above (that no such people exist) but I would rather do the honour myself of accepting to my fault (hope it is pardonable) than to let my readers pin point me.
The long and short of it, it is as much easier to live up to your principles as it is to fight for them provided the individual ought to be determined and focused.
But in this contemporary (materialistic) era, it is quite unlikely to say that. An era, which has seen nothing less than cruelty and may have to witness a lot many facets of it in the near future. Still, the notorious activities of the present time do not and cannot undermine the validity of the fact that the two things can indeed go hand in hand as they did in the past.
Starting from Gandhiji, who is too great a man to be described in words. In fact mere words cannot suffice his achievements and his noble deeds towards the establishment of humanity. An epitome of truth, a disciple of Lord Ram and a pioneer of Non-Violence and Satyagraha are some of his few characteristics to mention. A pious mortal who, since childhood, believed in his thoughts and actions and invariably adhered to them. (This one is reminiscent of the stealing act of his childhood days). Did he not fight for his beliefs and principles and lived up to them? I think my being able to write this post in an atmosphere where I can enjoy my space and freedom forms the answer to my question mentioned above. Likewise, if we turn the pages of history we will come across several other distinguished men who worked on similar lines.
But would I not be wrong in saying that it is tough to find such men in today’s time? The world, I believe, is divided into two parts. Good and evil, each one of which lies on one side of the door. So now, let us peek on the other side of it. The door which opens to the world of mass killing in the name of religion, God, caste, creed etc. Would you not as well call such people a staunch follower of their principles? Are they not guided by their respective ideologies so much so that they successfully execute their brutal activities? I know I am contradicting my own statement that I stated above (that no such people exist) but I would rather do the honour myself of accepting to my fault (hope it is pardonable) than to let my readers pin point me.
The long and short of it, it is as much easier to live up to your principles as it is to fight for them provided the individual ought to be determined and focused.
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