An important thing in WoM publicity one needs to consider. An interesting read. Target the near and dear ones of the target consumers than tell the consumers what to buy?

How to Predict What You’ll Like? Ask a Stranger - TIME.

Evita is not exactly a role model for today’s corporate woman. Atleast not to the public. Intentionally or unintentionally everywhere we see the use of the feminine sex-appeal at workplace. By women themselves, or their influence. Lady luck, some might call it, others just plainly refer to it as the feminine charm.

I landed up in an argument with a friend over this very thing. Work with people for their ability to perform in the task and not to use their gender and sexuality, I said. But now that I ponder over it, I see the boundaries of ethics slightly blurred. It is as if they seem to stretch and vanish, as and when required.

We wear a smart suit to an important meeting. Chop hair to look professional. Wear an expensive watch to impress. Spray designer perfume to seem rich. Display abundance through a mobile phone. Put a large man at the gate as the bouncer. All of them and more appeal to our senses at a certain level. They create a hope, an image, a promise that may not be true. It’s just we have learnt to equalise these things with an act or an emotion. It is the years of conditioning that we have undergone. And we have learnt to use these inputs to our benefit to get the output we desire.

If we are all allowed to make fake promises, then why sneer at the method and not the outcome?

Amnesty. Kindness. Warmth.
Do the right people really get it?

Terrorists are given a free pass… allowed to surrender.
Criminals get to reform in jails. Early release if they behave well.
But we let the ‘filth’ of our society lie in one corner while we pretend it doesn’t exist. There is not exit strategy in place for them. There is no strategy to save them. To improve their lives.
There is not amnesty granted to them.
The society forgives the family of a terrorist but not of the prostitute.

What would the society rather have… prostitution or terrorism?

Thoughts after watching Dev D… A must watch!!!!!

Google famous for bringing large changes through change.
Would ready information and real-time comparison of the past and present bring about a larger change… or maybe a revolution to save the planet?
Along with information, people should also be informed about whys and hows too.

Google Earth Goes Deep With Ocean Simulations - NYTimes.com.

Minimalising and streamlining just does not happen in processes and objects. We see it in languages too. Long phrases become shorter. Long words are chopped and rearranged. And the SMS language has achieved further milestones in this arduous task.

Overused, abused and overhyped. The word we constantly use to identify ourselves, to describe ourselves… The word I. In the languages I am aware of, like English it is spoken quickly and is of single syllable. Whereas words referring to the second or third person is usually longer and takes more time to deliver.

Besides the overuse, there could be another reason behind this relationship. May be we are supposed to give less time to ourselves while talking about ourselves and give more stress and mental space when talking about others.

If it is so, in the languages where this relation is swapped i.e. first person reference is longer than the second or third person reference, does it reflect something different about the culture. Do people give more or less importance to themselves there? Are egoes bigger?

If one starts to speak those languages, would it alter his behaviour?

Can language, the result of culture, history and heritage, in turn affect the future cultures?

Overused. Misunderstood. Ill-defined.
Communication.

So we talk. We discuss. We debate. We show. We gesture. We cry. We hug. We email. We chat.

Each and all of them usually are polished and veiled cries to be understood and appreciated. Almost all the time, our communication is about getting people to understand what we mean and feel.

How many times a day do you initiate or even carry-on a conversation in which you communicate that you want to understand. Not to prove your empathy and power of understanding. But just doing it. The understanding itself being a reason in itself.

As some movie said.
All we are… are suckers for social acceptance.

It was a surprising way for me to be served tea in the above manner. Amusing and confusing at the same time.
I had to raise the cup and slurp in the chai from the saucer first, while the cup’s bottom rim dripped. A few other first timers with me chose to finish some from their cups first and then pour the chai from the saucer into the cup. And the others decided to leave it as it is.

I later learnt it is a common practice in the interiors of Gujarat. The probable reasons for them to do it, is to make the quantity of tea look more which is to be served in such a small cup. Like a 10% extra free, which fits very well with the Gujarati mindset I suppose. Lesson to be learnt by retail chains like Big Bazaar and Reliance fresh which have recently closed a some stores in Ahmedabad. Serve what they want and serve it with discounts and offers. The 30% retail space lying vacant in the city shows the lessons we have chosen to forget.

Let’s go back to the roots. Let’s understand the history before we invent the future.

(The above is my interpretation of the experience. There must be other reasons to why this is done. I would love to know if you have any knowledge about it.)

This upward curve is the simplest universal language we are born with.
A language we have learnt to unlearn.

Just back from Bhuj. Had an amazing trip. Saw lots of places. Experienced different cultures. Heard many stories. Would share the pics on fotu soon.

There are days when you feel you were someone else.
Even the person in the mirror would do.
Afterall, reflections are skewed too.

“When you’re on an airplane and your life depends on it,” Mr. McCloud said, “comics are going to tell you how to open an emergency exit.”

Archie and Jughead? No, Javascript - NYTimes.com.

Google employed a top comic artist to introduce and explain it’s new browser, Chrome, through a 38page comic book!
Read more!

As small laptop sales increase, their popularity is redefining the nature of the computing experience, taking it off the desk and making it an integral part of peoples’ lives, wherever they are.

Mini-Laptops Fuel PC Sales Growth - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com.
(The comments at the end of the article make an interesting discussion)

I am personally looking forward to buying one of these.

But then again, on a larger scale, would these gadgets create unseen walls in real life interactions of people while bringing the virtual space closer. It isn’t an odd sight to see two or more people on the same table, busy on their laptops or phones with total disregard to the people accompanying them. It has become acceptable to do it. I do it myself.. pinging and chatting with the person sitting in the same room.

There are cafes which discourage people with laptops. As per an article I was reading, the owner of a certain cafe sends the staff every now and then to the table where a laptop is being used, giving a subtle hint and making the person uncomfortable.

We need to build systems and products which can bridge the gaps in both virtual and real life. We need to think smart. How?

To work on that, I am waiting for the small laptops to arrive in India :P

The more I learn about myself, the more I understand my parents.
Apart from the “mom” and “dad” I knew, I now can see them as people with identities beyond those roles.
The more I see that, the more I admire them.
The more I see that, the more I understand myself.

“China ka maal! Naya maal! Kamaal ka maal!
Dekho! Dekho!”

Sounds I heard while walking through the markets of old Ahmedabad, through a somewhat considerable crowd around a cart. Mobile shops signs also say something similar. And so do some e-shopping ads in the papers.

We would probably frown upon the “Made in China” label sometime or the other. But for a larger part of the population it has a very positive connotation to it. They stand for innovation at a lower price. Readily available, such things would’ve taken eons 10yrs back to be affordable to the common Indian. The trickle down was very slow. Trends catch on faster now. Technology is becoming a friend.

Now it’s time we did something similar for ourselves.
Then we would have the cake and get to eat it too!

back to nid.
very tired.
been a while here. very busy.
will post something soon.
sigh.
yes!

Made salsa today :D
Next time will also try making the cheese dip.

The world needs more storytellers,
To tell the stories of the future,
The future that we may never live to see,
The future that nobody might survive to see.

The world needs more storytellers,
To tell the stories of the past,
The past glories that we didnt see,
The past goriness that nobody ever wanted to see.

The world needs more storytellers,
To tell the stories of the present,
The presence of mine that you may not see,
The presence of your’s that I cannot see.

Cooked pasta after a long time. Didn’t come out the way I wanted it to be, but was pretty ok.

As a little girl with an embarassing ‘foutain’ ponytail on top of my head, I remember the distant sound of a moped approaching. It used to be the sound of my grandfather coming home. The sound of dad’s car used to make me jump and scream the cliche “Papa aa gaye! Papa aa gaye” (learnt from the movies of course). The roar of neighbour’s son’s bike meant I could expect his father’s screams becoming audible in the succeeding few seconds.

Apart from the horn, the sound of the vehicle itself is a part of it’s identity too. Without it, it does not feel like a ‘mean’ machine. So much so, that a new electric car would be fitted with fake engine sounds.

The newest addition to the list of vehicles I can identify by their sounds would be the Dubai cabs. I can hear them approach and zoom away. And without even looking, I would know that it was a cabbie who for some strange reason did not want to pick any passengers and thus avoided any attention. And this phenonmenon is very common. Cabs have become so scarce in Dubai that you could probably auction each ride to the passenger who is able to pay the most. Cab drivers throw tantrums for no reason and pick up passengers on the basis of their appealing looks and gender. Even if you call one through their call center, they usually pick another passenger. If their conditions don’t match, they happily zoom around town in the fast lane, in their vacant cabs.

Or may be it’s all a part of a bigger plan. May be they are just practicing to enter the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which explains the speeding of vacant cabs in order not to put the passenger’s life in jeopardy. And I thought there was not an iota of humanity left in this world.

Whatever the case may be… Something really needs to be done.