When will this work end?...

Never...

She mustn't be more than 7 years old...

The one thing I hate about travelling by train is seeing children (and also old, blind and cripple people) trying to earn some money in the trains.

Lots of kids hop from one train to another trying to sell books, safety pins, rubber bands and anything else that women would buy on the train.

Anyway my nick is for this cute little girl. She mustn't be more than 7 years old. I can't help but think that her life is ruined. It's so sad that her childhood is being lived trying to earn a living.
The same for all the kids doing think. all the kids on the streets, all those working as domestic help. What do they have to look forward to in life? None of them deserve this sort of life. And if they do then none of us (read me) deserve the kind of life we live.

It's sad and I wish things would change.

Happy Birthday foooooooooool...

The foooooool is none other than -

1) our driver in Manila.

2) the woman who insists she is stupid NOW because of me - which I must accept is a very smart excuse (you see I slammed a door shut bang onto her head - ya even I don't know how I am still alive - I think she was too stunned at that moment and then later too much in pain and then later totally affected and therefore wasn't herself. So I guess I just saved myself)

3) mother of one, grandmother of many.

4) the only person who can make me feel guilty as hell and actually DOES it. Lol okay so she's not that nasty but still she is a little evil.

5) one half of the most perverted female duo I know

6) the only woman I know who wants to write about her fan following even though there were only FOUR guys :p

Haha so not everything on this blog is the truth ....

but the above is all true...okay kidding. I do love my life.

Happyyyyy Birthdayyyyy Nisha.

P.S. - I may not know your real age but I do know when you are giving me some bullshit number :p

[Key in case you are reading - getting featured on my blog isn't that tough - you just have to pay me the right amount lol. Well I promise if I don't call you on your birthday I will just call to catch up - which is a lot seeing as how stingy I am]

Woh Anjabee

Whatttttttttttttttt a fab song.

I totally love it.

The music is good.
The lyrics are good.
The singers are decent.
The video isn't bad either.

What more do you need?


Song is from the movie The Train - Some lines must never be crossed. Interesting name I think.

The lyrics -

Waisa koi mujhko mil gaya hai, aisa kiya hai
jisse dekh kar main bhool sari duniya
woh woh woh ajnabi woh ajnabi
jo dekhen door se dekhoon main
usko bhi,o usko bhi ab sab kuch bhool ke
dhadkan dhadkan ya sanson mein
raatein raatein ya khabon mein
sapne sapne koi to hai
yeh bata doon main usse
shaame shaame ya subh ho mein
shaamil shaamil ko har pal mein
har dum har dum woh baaton mein
mere rahi hai kahin woh
woh ajnabi woh ajnabi

The priorities of secondary needs...

Well was reading the Principles of Marketing (and like always ended up only finishing one page) and came across and interesting page thankfully which spoke about how even though we (human beings) have needs, each need is divided into sub-need in a way. And the product a person buys would depends on not only the main need that the product fulfills but also the number of sub-needs that the product can fulfill.

Kotler put down and example of detergents (P & G). While the main aim of any clothes washing soap is to get clothes clean, there are other functions that a detergent can perform. And a prospective buyer looks at these. For instance, some people want fragrance in their detergent. Others look for bleach, while others want fabric softener, others would give a lot of importance to price, etc. Thus depending on what other functions a user would want from a detergent, they would purchase that relevant product from the market.

Thus (at least in my mind this is how I see it) there is a priority of secondary needs that a product must fulfill.

Back to work...

:(

Well so technically I was only off for 7 days from work (12 days including weekends and holidays). And even though I was studying for my exams and not chilling I realised I miss the life of being a bum.

No deadlines, no headaches, no responsibilities, no pressure.
Woke up when I like (though I had to wake up before 7 on the days of my papers)
Slept when I like (though I ended up sleeping around 3 many nights because that's what happens when you study last minute).
Watched TV at odd hours of the day.
Sat around in my PJ's
Sat on my terrace when it was nice and pleasant.
At hot lunch at the dining table.
Sat around alone instead of having 15 people bearing down on me at one time.
Dreamed about my exams being over and me chilling.

Anyway back to the real world tomorrow.

Dead City

Now I don't party so when I talk about a night out it means being on the road after 10.

So anyway I am out for dinner today and the whole place is empty. At least their AC room (udipi restaurant of sorts). And this is around 8:45 which is close to peak time.

We get out at 9:30 and the roads are as good as deserted.

Go to another place to eat (variety is the spice of life) and that place is pretty empty too. And it's a SATURDAY night. So we get out of there at around 10:20 odd and again notice that the roads are so empty.

And I'm thinking to myself that for normal Bombay Saturday nights standards this is like being a Ghost Town.

Dead City....?

Jaane kaise kab kahaan chal pada yeh silsila...

:)

It's a line from a song - Jaine Kaise from Raqeeb

What goes around, comes back around

Oh yeah...


Anyway the nick NOW cause I have been listening to Justin Timberlakes 'What goes around...comes around'. I like it. I'm no die hard fan of Justin Timberlakes but do like some of his songs.

Will I be missed?...

So just to clarity, I am not being self-centered in THIS post - really.

Well I have my exams going on. Therefore have taken 7 days off from work. It made me wonder if work would be more chaotic without me there. It will be a little bit I am sure seeing how we 'seniors' are needed to be around not just to help get routine work done but also to help troubleshoot any problems anyone has.

Anyway I realised that if I were at a 'lower level', I would have loved the feeling of being missed and believing that the world was falling apart cause I wasn't there to help hold it up. But now being at a higher level I feel the need to be totally dispensable. I want that my juniors are so good that they can totally do without me and can actually do what I would normally do (outside their job function), at least to some level.

I think the success of any management person has to be how well he / she actually trained his / her team members to handle their job and also crisis situations. Many people may not agree and maybe I'll be proved wrong in the future but for now this is my core belief. Sure I am a long way off in getting my team into being the best bunch around but I am hoping we will get there.

What a loser...

How many times have you looked into the mirror and said - what a loser?

Happens not as often as it should in my case. But anyway most of the time it's because I have a plan of action but I don't follow through on it - mostly for reasons of being too afraid of the consequences that will follow my actions.

I got fooled - and howwwww...

Ya ya I fell for an April Fools Joke but it was no ordinary joker.

I fell for Gmails - Gmail Paper Joke.

I am contemplating suing Google for all the embarrassment it cause me cause I actually went around telling people about it. Just cause one is the biggest advertising company in the world or whatever, it doesn't mean one can do whatever they like. 'Do No Evil' my ass.

To read my whole advertising perspective on it, you can check out my post on my PPC Blog.

Khwab hai toh mujko na utha - jhooth hai toh mujko na batah...

Whatttttttttttttttt a songgggggg.

I can't stop listening to it.

So since it was my nick I got a couple of people asking me if I was in love hehe.

Love these two lines cause they resonate so well in every situation that seems like it too good to be true - Khwab hai toh mujko na utha (If this is a dream don't wake me up). Jhooth hai toh mukjo na batah (If it's a lie don't tell me).

The song is from the movie - Ek Chalis Ki Last Local.

The Indian Team doesn't disappoint....

The cricket team and their World Cup result - doesn't disappoint me at least .

I was sitting back and thinking about why it is that I am neither sad, angry, upset, or feeling any other emotion, at hearing that India is out of the World Cup and I realised that it's because I didn't expect anything out of the Indian Team. Of course it is shameful that we didn't make it to the top 8 but seeing the way we have been playing, we didn't deserve to.

The faces of the men in blue should be blackened and they should be taken around the on donkey back with a garland of shoes round their neck. (Don't remember from where the description or the picture is but I have always associated it with shamefulness).

Being in the 'marketing' line myself though, I couldn't help but think about the kind of investments companies would have made in buying air time, creating special endorsements, having special promotions, etc all surrounding the world cup. It will end up being such a big flop show for all of them.

And like I always say - the most tragic part of the whole deal will be that we all will forgive and forget and the team will perform the same way in the next World Cup....

The Cab Ride...

So I get out at my station at 9:15 p.m. today and it's already super late but the best part is that there is no bus and the cabs are not going to toward where I live, I over heard a few people asking before I got to the cab line. Anyway I also start asking cause there is nothing better to do. As luck has it, a cabbie agrees and I'm getting in when this girl or young woman asks if I can drop her off on the way. I say 'ya sure' and we get in and she says 'there is this one lady who is trying since a really long time to get a cab and she isn't able to, shes going where you are headed, if you don't mind I'll ask her to join.' I am like okay sure.

Now while I like the idea of saving on petrol consumption and money, I am not comfortable with traveling with strangers like that.

Anyway what is so interesting about the cab ride is that in 10 minutes I actually learned this girls name, what she did for a living (designer), which area she worked in, where she was staying, that she was from out of town, how she finds traveling a pain. She got to know the area I live, where I work - company and location, that I work till pretty late, the location of where my office was previously, my preference of trains, etc.

Obviously there is some things that won't be surface level but for instance, her inviting the lady who desperately wanted to get to where I was going, revealed something about this girl to me. The fact that I didn't accept her money or the money of the other lady (I would have paid the full amount any which way) must have made her form some opinion about that too.

We meet to many people in our day to day life, either in ordinary or extra-ordinary situations, and all can have some impact on our life, if we like. For instance, I couldn't help but think what it must be like to be single, working, living in a hostel but listening to that girl or rather young lady cause even though she looked 20, I am assuming she must have been at least 23 - 24.

I also couldn't help thinking the relief the other woman must have felt to be getting to where she had to go fast. Also the happiness she might have had for getting a free ride (she could afford a taxi but not everyday, if you know what I mean). So I impacted her life for 15 minutes today more than she did mine but there is still a lesson there for me to learn - to try and give people 'lifts' if they 'seem alright'.

Pyar ki yeh kahani suno...

It's a song.

What's interesting though is that a few people actually asked me to tell them the story.

Anyway the song is from the movie Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. I thought it would be good cause it had K K Menon and Sandhya Mridul in it and those two usually do good 'hatke' films. Anyway heard bad reviews so will only watch it on VCD.

Don't know why I like the song so much, it's not the usual kind of music I would listen to. Anyway it's a cool song. Check it out if you can. Also Resham has a review on it.

The customer isn't dumb - she's your boss...

Was reading the Womens Day Special of Economic Times a week or two ago and came across an article on how marketers need to realise how their target audience is changing. It started by saying David Ogilvy once wrote - 'The customer isn't dumb-she's your wife'. The writer (don't remember his name right now) was talking about how women are changing their world today - they are independant, confident, career oriented etc. Therefore there is a need to adapt and change marketing strategies. So he spoke about how Fair & Lovely use to show ads of a girl getting rejected by a prospective groom in an arranged marriage situation because she was dark but today all these fairness creams are either showing women becoming fair and having guys falling all over or getting the jobs of their dreams.
There were a few more examples but what was also interesting was how the writer said that the entrance of television actually lead to such a strong change in how women are percieved and how women actually did change thank to tv. He specifically mentioned Rajni and Lataji as turning points. Here were women characters who were crafted as being smart, self-confident, and ready to fight for what they believed.
Anyway I found the article very interesting. It made tons of sense too because it so real and 'obvious'.
Of course the article ended with the writer saying - If David Ogilvy was writing a book today, he might have said - The customer isn't dumb - she's your boss.

Change

Inevitable

Conferences and Seminars

Attended my first ever work related conference on the 16th of March - The Digital Marketing Conference 2007.
Since it's work related, the details can be found on my PPC related blog.

Why I do mention it though is because it was very interesting. While the discussions and speakers weren't as good as expected, it got great insight into a lot of things. Sometimes things get you thinking on a track you didn't even know existed.

Anyway what I was also excited about was that I went up to a few 'big shots' and spoke to them. No that anyone would really remember me, but I got a feel of what networking would be like. Also realised that for those of us who aren't talented enough, talking with the speakers is easier because there is some foundation for starting a conversation. Either building on something they said, asking a question or opposing what they said.

Also realised that there is a need to bring more 'clients' or prospective clients into such conferences as a majority of the audience was people from agencies, who already know about the business and didn't learn anything super. Advertising such event properly is very important.

On the whole it was a super experience. Next time though, I wish more people would talk in a lot more detail about mobile marketing.

A Suitable Boy...

1474 pages