Author: Alka

I was reading Seth Godin’s post, “The Unlimited power of enthusiasm.� Of course no one can dispute its power. I think this one is one of the topics where one can’t take an “against� stance. We all need enthusiastic people in our organization, team, home, club… Mostly from these people innovative ideas originate and newer things get implemented.Their enthusiasm surfaces, not at hang out places, cinema halls, shopping malls but at workplace too.

I discovered one of the things about myself, why I love children. They are enthusiasm personified. Just engage them in any constructive activity, and sit back and watch them. Boredom is the last thing you will feel.

I remember, watching some children, swimming. After a while they started devising their own game in swimming. Few were swimming, twisting their bodies as whirlpool. Few were holding competition that who would jump farthest from diving board. Some were jumping from the board holding an imaginary bat and practicing different batting shot. Few were standing at the highest jumping board and holding one another’s hand. Then after usual 1-2-3, they all leaped together into the water. Before that I was always afraid of shooting off from the top diving board. But after witnessing these spectacles, I asked for help from my friend. She gladly offered me her hand and … Wow! I bade goodbye to that fear forever …. Thanks to the enthusiasm of those children.

I wish they enter into the adulthood with this gift and carry it forward into their professional lives and infect others too.

I have a good read here about changing employer employee relationship.

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The last two posts on the Infosys official blog has been about candidates behaving unprofessionally in appearing for the interviews or accepting offers (because they have multiple options). The latest post (in parts) goes like this:

Some readers have pointed out that employers need to be equally professional in their relationships with employees. I agree. When the tables are turned, employers in the past have been known to treat their employees with little regard. Having seen two close friends go through lay-offs, I can attest to the callousness (deliberate or otherwise) that can be involved when the situation is not handled correctly.
However, none of this negates the fact that employees are now hitting back, collectively as it were. No longer loyal, willing to switch at the “drop of a hat�, and unwilling to keep commitments, talent has now firmly entered the realm of unprofessionalism. I have had multiple cases where after accepting an offer in writing, prospective employees have not informed the company that they will not be joining after all. These days you can be sure that you have actually filled an open position only when the employee shows up on Day 1. (Emphasis mine)
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Whether these changing dynamics are good or bad has yet to be seen.

I was reading Steve Pavlina’s post “Soulful relationships.� It’s a wonderful write up. And it also conveys to us how to explore meaningful relationships even with a total stranger. In today’s commercial world this article is like fresh, unadulterated and crisp winds from Himalayas. What I get to read what people want in a partner or in a friend is

1) How he/she dresses.
2) What footwear he/she is wearing.
3) How he/she looks.
4) He/she should be cool.
5) His not hers’ financial status.
6) His/Her hanging out place.
7) Where he takes you out for dinner/lunch.
8) How he/she speaks
9) Whether he/she is the part of hip hop crowd?
10) Can you show him/her around as a trophy?

As a cliché these points are also thrown around:

How he/she carries himself/herself.
He/She has a sense of humor.
He/She should respect me.
He/She should have a personality.

When such rubbish is thrown around us with regularity, reading “Soulful Relationships� is a wonderful experience. It seems there are still people who can rise above trivialities and take the trouble to look into a person’s inner beauty. Otherwise what is fed to us is that only people like Bekhams and Clintons grace this universe with their presence.

I have seen footage on India TV, where a mother, called Rani, actually sold her one year old daughter, Sahiba. This is not for the first time that I have heard about parents selling their children. But reading and hearing about it and ACTUALLY watching the act is quite different.

Here what I have seen… I don’t know how to call that thing a mother or woman or a human being? I have seen the news in the night and cried till morning, completely IMPOTENT tears were rolling down my cheeks.

Still I don’t know how to write about that barbaric incident. People handle their handkerchiefs more carefully than that inanimate object handling its daughter. It was as if it was discussing the price of today’s vegetables and not of it’s daughter. And all the time, it’s daughter was in it’s lap, with the same easy familiarity and blind trust that a child places in a mother. The daughter’s hand was innocently playing around that object, people keep calling mother. The way the child kept yawning and allowing all her weight to rest on that object’s lap…one has to watch it to experience it. I don’t think I will see anything that ugly in my entire life. And the way that object handed over its daughter to a complete stranger!! The confusion was written all over the child’s face. I don’t know how to forget the expression on child’s face. And later on the child kept crying all night in a Children’s home.

Was that inanimate thing called Rani poor? Read this:

Rani’s house in Rustamganj has a 21″colour TV, a music system and her mother owns a mobile. She could have easily raised a child.

Just see, how animals guard their progenies. Try snatching away a kitten in her mother’s presence. But I don’t know what trick this intelligent nature has played with human beings. The biological and psychological factors are totally disassociated with each other. You can be a parent without feeling anything for the child. I wish, if there is a law where future parents can be interviewed and it should be obligatory to appear in aptitude test, only after clearing all this they will be given a go ahead signal.

What separates compulsive eaters from tea/coffee drinkers? Eating favorite food caresses the senses and provides a false sense of well being. It seems as if all your problems have disappeared and there is nothing to worry. Or are compulsive eaters problem avoiders too? Do they eat their preferred food to avoid problems? Are they unable to take the bull by horn? Do they form relationships from similar group of people, who too indulge in bingeing?

I read many writers frequented some famous coffee joints and discuss their literature. It’s a universal phenomenon, writers meeting at certain joints, drinking coffee. I even read Khushwant Singh lamenting that now there was dearth of such places where such discussions could be held. The usual complain by an old man of the loss of the old world charm.

So what can we conclude about tea/coffee drinkers? Are tea drinkers the people, who prefer to tackle their problems, instead of lulling themselves to sleep by bingeing? People often drink endless cups of coffee, while a projects deadline is approaching. Because it’s the proven fact that caffeine alerts your senses for a while and provides that spurt of energy needed for a task. Though in the long run, it’s harmful too, if taken in excess.

Why we buy stuffs which we don’t need or the stuffs which will not provide a good service?

Is it our disposable income doing the trick? Is this extra income compels us to accumulate junk?

Is it our hectic life? Is our tight schedule makes such gadgets quite attractive to us? It Cook, Strain and Drain – All In One? Does it save a lot of hassle and time?

Or is it the human psychology at basic level at work? Or we want to play the childhood game; my pencil is bigger than yours!

Or is it the modern world’s GREATEST obsession, being COOL, is enticing us? I have read / heard this word innumerable times, that now I am not sure about its meaning.

I was reading Steve Pavlina’s post “Overcoming News Addiction.� He was off news for 30 days and explored the negative side of news watching. But the only problem is, he concentrated on negative aspects only and swayed to the extreme, from news addiction to news fasting. I agree that news is often lopsided and presented in a certain colour to the reader. But to be an active citizen of any country, news watching/reading is a must. Here I am not talking about the overrated, over exalted generation X, Y or Z. They are busy being more American than Americans themselves. I am talking about normal citizens.

Newspapers published by our freedom fighters ignited the public mind and inspired us to fight for our freedom. Newspaper and magazines published by Raja Ram Mohan Roy created awareness against the evil practice of sati and encouraged female education and widow remarriage.

I agree with Steve, when he states that news is lopsided, myopic, negative, and untrustworthy. BUT an active reader applies his/her own mind and filters the information. We find many instances, where news-reporting generated enough pressure on government and they were forced to retreat from harmful or regressive decisions. The recent one can be Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case. Common public has come out in the open and demanded justice for them. Just NDTV had received more than 2 lakhs SMSes for Jessica Lal, which their editor-in-Chief had presented to the President Kalam.

Many times, I heard of the outbreak of an epidemic in the city and listen to how to protect myself and my family from news channels. When bomb blasts happened during Deepawali in Delhi, I was about to visit one of the affected places, but listening to news saved us from any untoward incident.

Instead of running away from news, I think we must develop the skill of selective listening and filtering and how to remain unaffected by the negativity caused by wrong news reporting.

I was reading Seth Godin’s latest post.
It reminded me of the ban imposed on the super skinny models in Madrid.

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A few days ago in Madrid, it was announced that only healthy-looking mannequins would be permitted to strut their stuff at the city’s annual style event. Anyone with a body mass index of less than 18 was banned.
Now organisers of London Fashion Week, which begins on Monday, are being urged to impose similar rules. …..
But health agencies are adamant that legal steps must be taken to protect the health of the catwalk queens.
Steve Bloomfield, a spokesman for the Eating Disorders Association, said: “We do think legislation is needed.
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Have we really produced such feather brained persons that they have to be forced by law to eat a healthy diet? Will policemen sit on their dining tables to measure their calories? Or they have to reappear in a clinic to get a BMI and show it to the officials regularly?

I have just read a top pop star’s statement (few months back she was the most searched name in google) that her boyfriend really loves her, because when she had put on weight, he was still by her side.

Are we really living in the midst of these mentally sick people? A person’s worth is defined by his / her weight? Which hang out they will frequent will be decided by their weight? I will rather say a permanent bye to that place or person who measures me by my weight.

Seth has provided us two links
1) Weight Loss Community
2) Daily Plate

The first one helps us to remain motivated to stay slim and the second one tells us how to measure calories of what we are eating. Fair enough. But it should be hammered very clearly into everyone’s head that as long as we live, we will need our lungs, heart, kidneys, liver, eyes, legs, hands……….So staying fit and healthy in not a PROJECT. It’s a life long process. We have to take care of our body for the entire life and not till we shed that excess weight. Therefore healthy habits should be a daily routine and not a time bound assignment.

I was reading Seth’s post. He is discussing why organizations shun the creative ideas.

I think we all do that, be it our personal lives or professional. The root cause is FEAR.

We don’t want to tread the unknown path. We don’t know what trenches, valleys and peaks we will encounter, if the terrain is unknown. And how will we conquer the abstract enemy. Nobody has ventured into that arena, so why bother. We often surrender to our fears.

Another thing is, comfort level. The things we are familiar with, we know how to deal with, if they trouble us. We all reside in our own known comfort zones. Slight deviation from this makes us highly skeptical and resentful. Time tested and proven formulas save us from venturing into abstract, undefined zones. We want to avoid taking painful decisions.

Losing what we have also put hurdles into implementing new ideas. Whatever you have amassed with your hard work and smartness may vanish due to some unproven idea also sends shivers down our spine.

Fear of failure also encourages us to remain within familiar boundaries. No one wants to be labeled as loser or failure in this success obsessed world. The fear of “What if this idea failed?� handcuffs our entrepreneurial spirit.

Shopping can be a necessary evil (as in my case) for some and it can be fun for some. But who are addicted to shopping it’s neither. I remember one of my classmates. She is always looking for an excuse to shop. Although she got a good amount of pocket money from her parents, but it was never enough for her.

The addictive shopper shows all the signs of a drug addict, binge eater, alcoholic or any other addict.

A compulsive shopper is never in control of his emotions and failure to check their spending affects the other aspects of their lives too. Compulsive shoppers often shop while feeling depressed, lonely, bored or sidelined. Their USP is they will feel better after shopping. Their shopping spree induces the same euphoria as felt by a drug addict snorting drug.

They often overspend and purchase the items they won’t need. They lose the insight to buy within their means and are constantly in financial trouble.

Compulsive shoppers’ relationships, family life, job and financial obligations suffer too. My classmate often had to play lost confused guilt ridden innocent little girl to extract more money from her parents.

I often wonder about my classmate. On the surface it seems, she has a loving, caring and supportive family. Psychologists claim that emotionally deprived people go on the shopping splurge and they are trying to fill that emotional void. Basically they are emotionally insecure people. But I have never felt that my classmate’s parents deprived her emotionally. Then what turned her into a compulsive shopper? Was she a spoilt brat of an IAS father? But who says, brats are emotionally secure creatures.

But one thing is sure, compulsive shoppers need professional help, almost an absolute no no in India.

Can we say OK Tata Bye Bye to the whole interview process, as suggested by Seth Godin? I don’t find any fault with the idea but with the applicability of it. It seems good that before hiring a candidate, he/she should be evaluated by performing the actual job. This gives you a clear idea whether to hire a candidate or not.

But if we start hiring by putting people into actual surroundings, it will take a long time to finally select a candidate. And it will take days or even months to complete the whole hiring process if the numbers of candidates are substantial.

Another practical hindrance is, if every few days a new person is assigned to your team, how will your regular employees work? They will get distracted or disturbed if every few days a new person is assigned to their team. And ultimately the work will suffer.

Another realistic hurdle is, you have to appoint a team or at least a person who will look after the candidates. Because normal employees can’t do this on and often. This will increase the cost. Same point is raised by Keith Collins.

Another thing is, the interviewee might be working in some other organization. He/she won’t have time to spare for this on the job evaluation.

Another obstacle is, what if the person is living in some other state and has to go to another state for the interview? This will cost the candidate or the organization too much money.

When I read their love story, I was frankly amazed. The heroine was not sweet sixteen but 39 year-old reclusive. She was semi-invalid too due to a childhood accident and had symptoms of tuberculosis. Her hero was six years her junior, handsome and healthy.

What brought this couple together? Their love for poetry. The hero had read the two volumes of recently published work of the lady. He was totally overwhelmed by her poetic talent. He wrote to her and expressed his love to her, though they had not met yet. The poetess answered him immediately. This letter gave birth to a dramatic, touching and cinema like courtship of all times.

The poetess was a prisoner in her father’s house. Her father had lost not only his wife and eldest son, but his fortune too. Naturally he was bitter and took out his frustration on his remaining surviving children. He even forbade any of them to marry.

The poetess devoted her time to study Greek, Latin, French and German literature and writing poems.

The hero himself was a poet. His powerful personality had penetrated her solitude. She wrote to him, but somehow didn’t want to meet him. This world’s obsession with good looks plagued her mind too. She was fearful of losing him, and reverting back to the solitary and lonely experience. She was not a beauty. But the poet was persistent. Finally they met. Poetess’ fear was groundless. The poet was not looking for a ravishing beauty. He was interested in finding a soul-mate. Gradually the poetess found herself enfolded into a divine love of a handsome blue eyed poet. Due to her father, they kept their courtship a secret.

Do miracles take place in real life or in Harry Potter books only? Here in this love story, along with love, the poetess’ health blossomed too. For years, she didn’t leave her room. But now, first she ventured downstairs and then outside. Finally she started walking in parks too.

After more than one year of courtship Elizabeth Barrett got married to Robert Browning secretly. Later on the coupled eloped to Paris. Finally they settled in Italy. Of course, Elizabeth’s father never forgave her and returned all her letters unopened. AT the age of 43 (who said the biological clock starts ticking at late thirties?) Elizabeth gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Robert Browning and Elizabeth, both wrote poetry and both were celebrities.

But Elizabeth’s health caught up with her. At the age of 55, she died in her beloved’s arms. Her last word was,â€?beautifulâ€?.

How can you spread a social message while creating an ad for a soap? Incorporating a social message in an ad is quite tricky and demands a really creative mind.
It’s very easy to show soap makes your skin glow or soft or in Indian context fairer. But a socially relevant message through a soap?

Lifebuoy’s ‘hygiene for all’ ad accomplishes it beautifully. A kid gets up in the morning and after scrutinizing his streets and neighborhood, he gets into action. Watching him, cleaning the surroundings, other kids join him too. A woman shows apprehension about hygiene, but a mother confidently replies, �Koi dar nahi.�

The team effort bear fruit and the streets become clean. Now the kids are having an open air bath and a mother gives the Lifebuoy soap to the protagonist kid.

Apart from following AIDA Model, this ad conveys a strong message. What happens with this kind of ads is, people forget the product name, but remember the social message. Here, you don’t forget the brand name in the hub of activities.

Lifebuoy is 110-years old brand and their people constantly reposition this brand and keep on increasing their products life cycle.

 

 

I often hear people saying, this guy or gal is smart. By smart they mean, he/she gets his/her ways by hook or by crook. And the person, who is hard working, believes in certain values, follows certain principles is called a bore, uninspiring, dull guy.

Is it really true? Cannot one really be noticed unless he/she is smart?

I was reading marketing Guru Seth’s post. Who says that old values are dying? People sticking to good old teachings are bore? And who says that good guys finish last? Once again, he emphasized on quality.

If you really want to stay ahead of competitors and want to get noticed, there are no short cuts. People following shortcuts are thrown out of every place. They truly don’t belong anywhere and are replaceable easily. Therefore don’t compromise on quality. Sooner or later lack of quality will be identifiable and you will be out of business.

I remember one particular eating joint. It’s a small place. They mostly thrive on free home delivery. Their food is really terrific and home delivery is quite prompt. If there might be some delay, they take care to inform you. No matter how small an order is, they deliver it at your doorstep without much fuss. The eating joint maintains amazing hygiene standard at a very reasonable rate. Everything they do, signify parent taught moral values. Their business is thriving due to honesty, purity, hard work, terrific service and reasonable pricing. It’s really good old plain treasures handed over to us from time immemorial by our forefathers!!

First I got the link at Madhukar’s blog. When I read about her, I was simply numb, sitting there staring at my monitor. This is the way; Indian National Congress treats their members. And if not for www.rediff.com, we could have hardly known her. She has lost everything, family, money except her self esteem in the freedom struggle. She is 106 year old lady. She still has bounce in her steps and speaks five languages.

For her, “January 30, 1948 was a day she still mourns. Not only because Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, but because she lost her husband and three sons in the riots that followed. Her husband was shot at; her children, crushed to death. She was in Mysore to give birth to her fourth child. On hearing the news, she rushed to identify the bodies of her loved ones. Shortly thereafter, she lost her daughter to chickenpox. “I lost my family for the sake of my country. I shouldn’t be crying,” she says. “And yet, the tears rolled down my cheeks constantly. Those were the only times in my life when I cried aloud and accused God of being unfair to me.”

“She wandered around in Mumbai, Jabalpur and across Maharashtra, went to all government offices asking for a job. Everywhere she went, she was asked about certificates, but she had nothing except the one sari she wore. Those were the darkest days of her life. She was hungry, with no proper clothes and no place to stay. But she was sure about one thing — she would not go to a Congress office and ask for money.â€?

She says, “”My self-respect comes before everything else. I was ready to take tuitions for just Re 1.”â€?
She still keeps herself update about happenings in our country, and around 15th August, I read in a newspaper supplement that most of our hip hop youths don’t know who had written our national song and national anthem.
“Saraswathy’s day is never complete without her going through various newspapers. “I can’t live without knowing what’s happening in my country. I can only read about it now. The days of being part of the happenings are over for me.”

Is she a disillusioned and , bitter person? See what she says,
“I don’t like this corrupt India. This is not the India we dreamt of, the India we sacrificed our lives for. It pains me to see corruption everywhere. But I must say there are so many loving, selfless and affectionate people in our country! It is only politicians who are selfish.â€?

Check out this sign posted at Starbucks today.

It reads:

“An email offering a free Starbucks iced coffee beverage was distributed by Starbucks partners (employees) with instructions to forward it to their group of friends and family. Unfortunately, it has been redistributed beyond the original intent and modified beyond Starbucks control. Regretfully this email offer will no longer be valid at any Starbucks location effective immediately.”

This incident narrates how things go out of hand in cyber world. The promotional campaign of Starbucks has taken an ugly turn. It seems their management team is still not well versed with internet world and how it can create adverse effects in geometric proportions. It is such a HUGE organization, and none has anticipated this problem. It seems this promotional campaign is designed by an internet novice. They should have gone for barcode to stop viral effect, as suggested here.

You can’t escape advertisements in modern world. They are all pervasive. Watching TV, reading a magazine, waiting for bus at a bus stop or if you are in contemplative mood and just looking out of your window or balcony, you can’t ignore ad world.
What it takes to make a successful ad copy? How much effort and hard work goes what we see in few seconds?

An ad copy is not a work of literature. A copywriter can’t be creative like M.F.Hussain. He doesn’t have seamless boundaries. Still he can be creative.

Creative Visualization:

At this stage, everything is inside the head of the copywriter. He can see layout and different elements from his mind’s eye. The person should be uninhibited, have fluency of ideas and no ego hassles, when the need arises to reframe, modify or polish the idea to provide it a practical look.

From Visualization to layout

Advertising creativity is a disciplined art, and the copywriter has to think within certain set parameters. He has to keep in mind, the customer, product/service, and its usability and the ultimate objective of increasing the sales. Layout means giving an abstract idea a concrete shape. For this the copywriter has to check various aspects such as who will be the target audience, their age group, their general outlook, their income group. Knowing all this, a copywriter will have an idea about the kind of people he is talking to.

A great deal of study into the psyche of target audience will help in deciding the USP of the product or service.

Opening and closing of the ad

Both are equally important. One catches the attention of the target customer and another compels him into action. Knowing your market segment helps in deciding whether to use emotion or facts or technology, or how your product is better than competitors or an ideal mix of important issues.

Here is a fine example of how to write a successful ad copy. I have got it from Beautiful Life.

We can take the cue from the NCERT, how not to prepare the course material. I have seen geography books of NCERT. In the sixth and seventh standard they teach children about Europe, America, Australia, the Middle East, the Far East and Africa. In the eighth standard they have included India.

I don’t know who prepared this course material for children. They have shown total disregard for the basics of education. It seems none of them are aware of the psyche of the children or what the educationalists say on this matter. Read the thoughts of any eminent educationalist. They all say that a child should be first taught about his surroundings then he can read about far flung places. A child is always interested in his immediate surroundings. He is curious to know about the flora and fauna of his place. You can show him the river flowing in his area or the type of soil found near his school. But here NCERT WANTS the child to know first that cassava is grown in Africa then what is the staple crop of India. Till becoming an adult, he doesn’t have an inkling of what cassava looks like. I just bow to the super intelligence of our current eminent educationalists, who frame the education policy for the “future� of India.

Seth Godin’s post discusses about Marketing Morality . It looks like fresh air from Alps.

I remember the recent Pepsi and Cola controversy brewing in Indian Parliament. The minute it was reported that soft drinks contain dangerous levels of pesticides all kinds of cold drinks were withdrawn from the parliament.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has found nothing wrong with the amount of pesticides in the colas. Then why, they are not allowing soft drinks to the premises of Parliament? They banned it instantly in both the houses of Parliament, when Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report was made public.

Here no one is bothered about any type of issue. Minister keeps on issuing clean chit to multinationals, cola companies keep on selling drinks and ABOVE ALL, most of the public keep it guzzling down to be part of the hip hop crowd. Ethics anywhere? What that? Come on, don’t be judgmental. Accept me as I am. Who knows what’s right or wrong!!