2007 was a mix of good and bad - Including some very good & some very bad experiences. There were times when I wanted to focus on the bad bits, feel sorry for myself & wallow in self pity. There were times when I felt I could touch the sky & dance with the wind.
But there is one thing that makes this past YEAR very special.
This is the year when I saw the future.
The year when I connected with my past and realised that each day is an end in itself, that I will be able to enjoy it to the fullest if I will live each day as if there was no yesterday and there will be no tomorrow.
I will give of myself so that there is no bit held in reserve.
I will find love, solace, affirmation, peace & joy because they exist within me.
I will follow the path shown to me by my heart and feel no guilt in giving.
I am looking forward to the 363 days (it is a leap year after all) It promises to be the best year of my life.
Robert Thurman, a Buddhist Scholar at Columbia University has said “I am daily making myself what I am” That is my motto for 2008. The excitement builds.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Hindi Movies versus Hindi Television
I read an interesting article by Vir Sanghvi in The MINT on Saturday. He raised the question of why are Hindi movies able to cut across all levels of society and all interest groups while Hindi TV seems to be stuck in a corner with its appeal limited to certain sections.
This is a subject that I have been thinking about and I think I know the reason, at least one key reason.
The ethos of current Hindi movies is pure escapism. It therefore appeals to everyone. There is a willing suspension of disbelief when you see a Hindi movie. You walk into a theatre knowing that you will leave logic & realism out, at the door. The song, dance, drama is alien to the world that you live in. That’s why you are willing to forget & forgive the contextual mishmash. In fact that becomes a reason to enjoy the movie.
Hindi television on the other hand is based on realism. A perspective that appeals to those whose reality is governed by family feud & daily squabbles. The women may be drowned in layers of pancake & dressed in garish “designer’ clothes but the bitchiness, the distrust, the desire to hurt are all part of the daily lives of millions of viewers. If you share that reality then Hindi Television & soaps in particular, talk to you with a powerful vocabulary. If not it leaves you cold & in fact pushes you away.
This perspective is further supported by the fact that Hindi movies which have tried to build audience appeal on believable realistic stories have seldom worked at the box office (on a large scale) they have had limited success, among certain types of audiences. Cross over cinema has been able to deliver modest success within segments.
Escapist fare on TV on the other hand has suffered failure except in a few cases. The success of KBC one was never repeated by two or three. Indian Idol & Jhalak Dikhla Ja too have shared the same problems. The first season worked because of the novelty factor. The second season was steady or declined and the third season will be ignored by the masses.
That’s why some of us will continue to watch Star World & Zee Café because that is the reality that we tap into. Not the sasu ma’s of Kyunki or the Bahurani’s of Kasauti.
And occasionally a Koffee with Karan to find out how the other side lives.
This is a subject that I have been thinking about and I think I know the reason, at least one key reason.
The ethos of current Hindi movies is pure escapism. It therefore appeals to everyone. There is a willing suspension of disbelief when you see a Hindi movie. You walk into a theatre knowing that you will leave logic & realism out, at the door. The song, dance, drama is alien to the world that you live in. That’s why you are willing to forget & forgive the contextual mishmash. In fact that becomes a reason to enjoy the movie.
Hindi television on the other hand is based on realism. A perspective that appeals to those whose reality is governed by family feud & daily squabbles. The women may be drowned in layers of pancake & dressed in garish “designer’ clothes but the bitchiness, the distrust, the desire to hurt are all part of the daily lives of millions of viewers. If you share that reality then Hindi Television & soaps in particular, talk to you with a powerful vocabulary. If not it leaves you cold & in fact pushes you away.
This perspective is further supported by the fact that Hindi movies which have tried to build audience appeal on believable realistic stories have seldom worked at the box office (on a large scale) they have had limited success, among certain types of audiences. Cross over cinema has been able to deliver modest success within segments.
Escapist fare on TV on the other hand has suffered failure except in a few cases. The success of KBC one was never repeated by two or three. Indian Idol & Jhalak Dikhla Ja too have shared the same problems. The first season worked because of the novelty factor. The second season was steady or declined and the third season will be ignored by the masses.
That’s why some of us will continue to watch Star World & Zee Café because that is the reality that we tap into. Not the sasu ma’s of Kyunki or the Bahurani’s of Kasauti.
And occasionally a Koffee with Karan to find out how the other side lives.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Meghalaya - Abode of the clouds
We just spent 5 days in Shillong.
Mid November. The weather is beautiful. Cold but pleasant. The sun is warm, the skies are clear (except on our last day when it pours right through the day) and the people are wonderful.
Shillong is like any other hill town. Cluttered, busy, crowded & with the most amazing traffic jams. Traffic piles up for what seems like miles but everyone is patiently waiting for it to move. No horns, no demonstrations of machismo from alpha males. There is one road that goes through town which links Shillong with Silchar, Tripura and other large cities of the North East. National highway number 40! Right through the middle of the town. Trucks pile up for hours to be able to pass through the town during the periods when they are allowed in.
There is nothing much to see or do in Shillong town except for some very quaint Khasi architecture.
We had a meal at a restaurant in the Fire Brigade area that serves authentic food from Nagaland. It was a good experience but not for vegetarians!
The wild cherry trees were in full bloom and this is an amazing sight.
Some large, some small, all filled with a profusion of flowers. Beautiful pink blossoms that seem too fragile to survive the traffic fumes.
Masses and masses of pink of different shades. Why go to Japan when you can have cherry blossoms in Shillong!
We did a day trip to Cherrapunjee and it was worth every minute.
The drive to Cherrapunjee or Sohra town is wonderful. Villages dot the single lane road that is in surprisingly good condition (the road from Guwahati to Shillong is pathetic!) You travel through rolling grasslands dotted with the occasional farm growing Cabbages, cauliflowers and radish! School children are a frequent sight (just like Kerala). Groups of school kids with uniforms that would do a designer proud can be seen walking along enjoying their day as only kids can! Education is big. Virtually everyone speaks English and believes in the value of education. The rural areas are clean and the people seem provided for. There are coal mines and limestone mines dotting the countryside. Some pictures are like from Dante’s Inferno. Clouds of black smoke. Dusty faces with pales eyes peering through the gloom. Trucks that should be in an antique museums! Maruti 800 taxies that zip through the countryside loaded with 8 to 10 people! The Khasis are a small made people. We went to a khasi house and felt like bending each time we went through a door. The people are wonderful. Warm friendly and genuinely caring.
The Cherrapunjee Ridge and the Maywswaram ridges run parallel to each other. Green hills with a steep Ravine! Flowing at the bottom of the ravine is a stream. Too far way for us to hear but occasionally you can see the sun glint off the water and you know it is there.
Dogs are all over the place. Friendly, inquisitive & partial to Lay’s potato chips (we even met a goat and a chicken who chased us to grab some lay’s!)
The Noh Kalikai waterfall is a thin stream. The rains are no longer what they used to be. Cherrapunjee is not the wettest place on earth any longer. De forestation & global warming has changed weather patterns. Two years ago, there was a near drought in the region. The locals inform us that the Government & the Forest Department have got into the act and that felling is now being controlled. They are hopeful that things will change. They realise that while felling trees will provide easy money the price is too high for the entire community.
The land is owned by tribal communities and not individual families. The communities are ruled by the Matriarch. We met one of them and she was absolutely delightful but more about her later. There is a deep understanding of the symbiotic relationship between man & nature but sometimes survival forces them to take actions that they know are destroying their world.
From Shella we saw the plains of Sylhet. Miles of fields pocked with water bodies. Little did we know on Wednesday when we looked into Bangladesh that by Friday morning it would be a scene of devastation thanks to Cyclone Sidr! It is amazing how nature can be so beautiful & yet so destructive. Bangladesh is a country that bears the brunt of natural disasters year after year and I am scared to think of what lies in store for this poor country thanks to Global warming & climate change (I just got a call from my cousin in Switzerland. It has been snowing in her village near Basle for the last 15 days! For the first time in 56 years they are experiencing snow in early November! Another fall out of global climate change. You just can’t escape it)
The limestone caves at Mawsmai were amazing. The cave is 150 meters long and winds along at a steep gradient. We walked through upright but had to bend over through some sections. It is simply amazing but not for those with claustrophobia!
On the way back from Cherrapunjee we had lunch at a small restaurant in Lower Cherrapunjee called the Coniferous Restaurant. Great food at good prices and a very clean restroom (a luxury when you are travelling across India)
The Khasis somewhat the Malayalees are a matrilineal society (The Mallus are matriarchal) Children take the family name from the mother. After marriage, a woman adds on her husband’s first name as her middle name but retains her maiden surname. Feminists would approve. After all you know who your birth mother is with out complicated paternity tests! Maybe the Mallus & Khasis know something that patriarchal societies don’t! The Matriarch we met was amazing. She has done her M Phil on the songwriters of the 60’s and the 70’s with special focus on Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkle & Jim Morrison. She did her M Phil in the mid 80’s before the Internet. She travelled to university libraries in Delhi, Hyderabad & Calcutta. All this as a wife and mother of three little kids! What an amazing person. My husband was shooting her for a film that he is working on and my daughter & I just sat and listened to them. Her depth of knowledge and her passion for her subject was totally inspiring. She now is hoping to publish her M Phil thesis & I hope we can help her make her dream come true. What an inspiration she was. Small built but of gigantic stature. Truly a role model.
This was our first trip to the North East and we are sure there will be many more…….the North East is a fascinating place. It is a different part of India with wonderful people and a part that is still unspoilt & exciting. Go there before it becomes another tourist trap
Mid November. The weather is beautiful. Cold but pleasant. The sun is warm, the skies are clear (except on our last day when it pours right through the day) and the people are wonderful.
Shillong is like any other hill town. Cluttered, busy, crowded & with the most amazing traffic jams. Traffic piles up for what seems like miles but everyone is patiently waiting for it to move. No horns, no demonstrations of machismo from alpha males. There is one road that goes through town which links Shillong with Silchar, Tripura and other large cities of the North East. National highway number 40! Right through the middle of the town. Trucks pile up for hours to be able to pass through the town during the periods when they are allowed in.
There is nothing much to see or do in Shillong town except for some very quaint Khasi architecture.
We had a meal at a restaurant in the Fire Brigade area that serves authentic food from Nagaland. It was a good experience but not for vegetarians!
The wild cherry trees were in full bloom and this is an amazing sight.
Some large, some small, all filled with a profusion of flowers. Beautiful pink blossoms that seem too fragile to survive the traffic fumes.
Masses and masses of pink of different shades. Why go to Japan when you can have cherry blossoms in Shillong!
We did a day trip to Cherrapunjee and it was worth every minute.
The drive to Cherrapunjee or Sohra town is wonderful. Villages dot the single lane road that is in surprisingly good condition (the road from Guwahati to Shillong is pathetic!) You travel through rolling grasslands dotted with the occasional farm growing Cabbages, cauliflowers and radish! School children are a frequent sight (just like Kerala). Groups of school kids with uniforms that would do a designer proud can be seen walking along enjoying their day as only kids can! Education is big. Virtually everyone speaks English and believes in the value of education. The rural areas are clean and the people seem provided for. There are coal mines and limestone mines dotting the countryside. Some pictures are like from Dante’s Inferno. Clouds of black smoke. Dusty faces with pales eyes peering through the gloom. Trucks that should be in an antique museums! Maruti 800 taxies that zip through the countryside loaded with 8 to 10 people! The Khasis are a small made people. We went to a khasi house and felt like bending each time we went through a door. The people are wonderful. Warm friendly and genuinely caring.
The Cherrapunjee Ridge and the Maywswaram ridges run parallel to each other. Green hills with a steep Ravine! Flowing at the bottom of the ravine is a stream. Too far way for us to hear but occasionally you can see the sun glint off the water and you know it is there.
Dogs are all over the place. Friendly, inquisitive & partial to Lay’s potato chips (we even met a goat and a chicken who chased us to grab some lay’s!)
The Noh Kalikai waterfall is a thin stream. The rains are no longer what they used to be. Cherrapunjee is not the wettest place on earth any longer. De forestation & global warming has changed weather patterns. Two years ago, there was a near drought in the region. The locals inform us that the Government & the Forest Department have got into the act and that felling is now being controlled. They are hopeful that things will change. They realise that while felling trees will provide easy money the price is too high for the entire community.
The land is owned by tribal communities and not individual families. The communities are ruled by the Matriarch. We met one of them and she was absolutely delightful but more about her later. There is a deep understanding of the symbiotic relationship between man & nature but sometimes survival forces them to take actions that they know are destroying their world.
From Shella we saw the plains of Sylhet. Miles of fields pocked with water bodies. Little did we know on Wednesday when we looked into Bangladesh that by Friday morning it would be a scene of devastation thanks to Cyclone Sidr! It is amazing how nature can be so beautiful & yet so destructive. Bangladesh is a country that bears the brunt of natural disasters year after year and I am scared to think of what lies in store for this poor country thanks to Global warming & climate change (I just got a call from my cousin in Switzerland. It has been snowing in her village near Basle for the last 15 days! For the first time in 56 years they are experiencing snow in early November! Another fall out of global climate change. You just can’t escape it)
The limestone caves at Mawsmai were amazing. The cave is 150 meters long and winds along at a steep gradient. We walked through upright but had to bend over through some sections. It is simply amazing but not for those with claustrophobia!
On the way back from Cherrapunjee we had lunch at a small restaurant in Lower Cherrapunjee called the Coniferous Restaurant. Great food at good prices and a very clean restroom (a luxury when you are travelling across India)
The Khasis somewhat the Malayalees are a matrilineal society (The Mallus are matriarchal) Children take the family name from the mother. After marriage, a woman adds on her husband’s first name as her middle name but retains her maiden surname. Feminists would approve. After all you know who your birth mother is with out complicated paternity tests! Maybe the Mallus & Khasis know something that patriarchal societies don’t! The Matriarch we met was amazing. She has done her M Phil on the songwriters of the 60’s and the 70’s with special focus on Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkle & Jim Morrison. She did her M Phil in the mid 80’s before the Internet. She travelled to university libraries in Delhi, Hyderabad & Calcutta. All this as a wife and mother of three little kids! What an amazing person. My husband was shooting her for a film that he is working on and my daughter & I just sat and listened to them. Her depth of knowledge and her passion for her subject was totally inspiring. She now is hoping to publish her M Phil thesis & I hope we can help her make her dream come true. What an inspiration she was. Small built but of gigantic stature. Truly a role model.
This was our first trip to the North East and we are sure there will be many more…….the North East is a fascinating place. It is a different part of India with wonderful people and a part that is still unspoilt & exciting. Go there before it becomes another tourist trap
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Living a 360 life
360 degrees.
Such a simple phrase but much abused particularly in the media and communications industry. The Industry to which I belong.
Every company, every service provider talks about their 360 degree approach to marketing, consumers, branding, retail, entertainment...what have you!
In all these years in the business I have never come across even one company who actually promises what they deliver. I have always been amused and cynical but never really put the pieces together. Why is it so difficult to provide genuine 360 solutions?
I think I have understood what is the cause.
It all starts with our view of the world.
How many of us have a 360 view of the world that we live in?
We don't understand the consequences of our actions on our environment.
We don't understand the effects of today's actions on our lives & other lives tomorrow.
We don't understand the impact that we have on the world around us because we cannot accept the fact that each human being is part of the balance that is life.
Only when we are able to understand that each of us is linked. Each of us is part of a giant complex structure that is interdependent. Only then will we have a truly 360 view of the world.
Till then 360 will be yet another buzz word.
Cheap but definitely not cheerful!
Such a simple phrase but much abused particularly in the media and communications industry. The Industry to which I belong.
Every company, every service provider talks about their 360 degree approach to marketing, consumers, branding, retail, entertainment...what have you!
In all these years in the business I have never come across even one company who actually promises what they deliver. I have always been amused and cynical but never really put the pieces together. Why is it so difficult to provide genuine 360 solutions?
I think I have understood what is the cause.
It all starts with our view of the world.
How many of us have a 360 view of the world that we live in?
We don't understand the consequences of our actions on our environment.
We don't understand the effects of today's actions on our lives & other lives tomorrow.
We don't understand the impact that we have on the world around us because we cannot accept the fact that each human being is part of the balance that is life.
Only when we are able to understand that each of us is linked. Each of us is part of a giant complex structure that is interdependent. Only then will we have a truly 360 view of the world.
Till then 360 will be yet another buzz word.
Cheap but definitely not cheerful!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The Pug is in the doghouse
Why do advertisers spend tons of money promoting an aspect of service that they cannot deliver?
Prime example being Hutch. For years they said “where ever you go, our network follows”. It followed but it never quite caught up. You were always just on the edge of the network no matter where you went. Not the cutting edge but the blunt edge.
Drop outs, congestion, poor voice quality doggedly followed you.
Before the pug became part of the Hutch lingo I expected drop out zones and poor signals. My entire family is on Hutch. We had a standing joke about sending Hutch maps of all the areas where their signal was poor. Then they used the pug to talk about their network coverage and it got very annoying! Why spend money to advertise something that you did not deliver? Why raise expectations & then fall flat!
Now we have Hutch being re branded Vodafone. You think it would get better right? No! It gets worse. The service still sucks and now they have even more esoteric advertising. The Pug has a new brightly painted house. Now he can no longer follow you……I think Hutch/Vodafone is finally telling us the truth!
Prime example being Hutch. For years they said “where ever you go, our network follows”. It followed but it never quite caught up. You were always just on the edge of the network no matter where you went. Not the cutting edge but the blunt edge.
Drop outs, congestion, poor voice quality doggedly followed you.
Before the pug became part of the Hutch lingo I expected drop out zones and poor signals. My entire family is on Hutch. We had a standing joke about sending Hutch maps of all the areas where their signal was poor. Then they used the pug to talk about their network coverage and it got very annoying! Why spend money to advertise something that you did not deliver? Why raise expectations & then fall flat!
Now we have Hutch being re branded Vodafone. You think it would get better right? No! It gets worse. The service still sucks and now they have even more esoteric advertising. The Pug has a new brightly painted house. Now he can no longer follow you……I think Hutch/Vodafone is finally telling us the truth!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Building consumer connections
Every marketer pays obeisance to the consumer, or so they say.
Millions of rupees are spent on advertising & promotion talking to consumers and giving them the manufacturer’s perspective on goods & services. But how many marketers are actually listening to what their consumers have to say about them?
Over the next few weeks I am going to undertake an experiment.
As a consumer I interact with a number of brands and have experiences, some good and some not so good. I will be writing about these experiences. Let’s see if any one is listening.
At the end of the test period, the findings will be summed up in a report that will be available to all who are interested. One hopes this will be the start of a meaningful dialogue.
Millions of rupees are spent on advertising & promotion talking to consumers and giving them the manufacturer’s perspective on goods & services. But how many marketers are actually listening to what their consumers have to say about them?
Over the next few weeks I am going to undertake an experiment.
As a consumer I interact with a number of brands and have experiences, some good and some not so good. I will be writing about these experiences. Let’s see if any one is listening.
At the end of the test period, the findings will be summed up in a report that will be available to all who are interested. One hopes this will be the start of a meaningful dialogue.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
On being a mother.....thanks to Jenny
My friend Jenny sent me a mail last week.
I have her permission to reproduce it here.
To all you mums and dads among my friends
I turn 18 years
as a mother next week and I sit here (alone of course, the kid's out somewhere having fun)
and contemplate ....
Why are some of us
given this most unique experience.
of bringing a new life into the world
without any warning, guidlines, user manual, gaurantee
no return- to - sender address
nothing
just some hormonal readjustments, intuition ,illogical, insane desire to give
patience that defies gravity
resilience that defies physics
and an elastic mind that multitasks , multi emotes, multi balances
put together, a bewildering mix
and as the "new life" grows beyond the peeing, shitting, bawling phase
before you have even had enough of that oh-so-short phase
when they look at you with those adoring eyes like you're the best thing in the world,
you're on a roller-coaster through the rest of the phases
you're so silly
you're so stupid
you dont know anything
you're a nag
you're so old fashioned
you're boring
you're slow
you're NUTS !!!(which by now you probably are)
then they ignore you
yes, you are pretty invisible for a while
unless of course they want something NOW!
by now you've had several really serious "why me" chats with god
wondering if she really knew what she was doing when she chose you
by now you’re convinced she sent you a faulty model
irrepairable, unmanagable, incorrigable
a lost cause(both the kid and you as a parent)when suddenly,
you see a small spark of change
by now you are also pretty delusional, so you don’t believe you really saw it
but it reappears 2 days later
when you both actually agree on something
then it begins to be many sparks together that light up between the usual you're old- fashioned- silly - nuts- talk you share a joke
clothes
books'
some gossip
a hug
you're asked for some advice
'its actually taken
yes, and you're asking them for some advice too the kid's beginning to make sense...somewhat
yup, the spark becomes a little light
that glows now and then
you , as a parent, are beginning to
re-learn how to re-kindle the light
and have the self assurance that
the light is there, even when you don’t see it
has it been worth it?
i...i... don’t know yet
butI guess the funny warm feeling in my heart today means yes, it has been
coming back to my first question...WHY
i still don’t know
maybe it was our turn to experience that special love
that holds within itself so many contrary, opposing, erratic , crazy
feelings all at once
absolutely nothing prepares you for that love
and absolutely nothing compares with it
and the rewards?
you just have to pat yourself on the back now and then
cos heck, no one else is gonna do it !!
lots of love to you
as parents. we're kindred spirits all
jenny
I have her permission to reproduce it here.
To all you mums and dads among my friends
I turn 18 years
as a mother next week and I sit here (alone of course, the kid's out somewhere having fun)
and contemplate ....
Why are some of us
given this most unique experience.
of bringing a new life into the world
without any warning, guidlines, user manual, gaurantee
no return- to - sender address
nothing
just some hormonal readjustments, intuition ,illogical, insane desire to give
patience that defies gravity
resilience that defies physics
and an elastic mind that multitasks , multi emotes, multi balances
put together, a bewildering mix
and as the "new life" grows beyond the peeing, shitting, bawling phase
before you have even had enough of that oh-so-short phase
when they look at you with those adoring eyes like you're the best thing in the world,
you're on a roller-coaster through the rest of the phases
you're so silly
you're so stupid
you dont know anything
you're a nag
you're so old fashioned
you're boring
you're slow
you're NUTS !!!(which by now you probably are)
then they ignore you
yes, you are pretty invisible for a while
unless of course they want something NOW!
by now you've had several really serious "why me" chats with god
wondering if she really knew what she was doing when she chose you
by now you’re convinced she sent you a faulty model
irrepairable, unmanagable, incorrigable
a lost cause(both the kid and you as a parent)when suddenly,
you see a small spark of change
by now you are also pretty delusional, so you don’t believe you really saw it
but it reappears 2 days later
when you both actually agree on something
then it begins to be many sparks together that light up between the usual you're old- fashioned- silly - nuts- talk you share a joke
clothes
books'
some gossip
a hug
you're asked for some advice
'its actually taken
yes, and you're asking them for some advice too the kid's beginning to make sense...somewhat
yup, the spark becomes a little light
that glows now and then
you , as a parent, are beginning to
re-learn how to re-kindle the light
and have the self assurance that
the light is there, even when you don’t see it
has it been worth it?
i...i... don’t know yet
butI guess the funny warm feeling in my heart today means yes, it has been
coming back to my first question...WHY
i still don’t know
maybe it was our turn to experience that special love
that holds within itself so many contrary, opposing, erratic , crazy
feelings all at once
absolutely nothing prepares you for that love
and absolutely nothing compares with it
and the rewards?
you just have to pat yourself on the back now and then
cos heck, no one else is gonna do it !!
lots of love to you
as parents. we're kindred spirits all
jenny
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