Faking in Facebook

Its with sympathy that I write this blog. In matter of minutes a brand is getting hyped or destroyed on facebook and other social networking sites. Today I came across a poster on FB shared by my friends. Take a look for yourself.

Well on searching NDTV & Google News for the authenticity of this message, the results were surprisingly shocking. There is absolutely no News like this. Here take a look.

Here is my take. If people online who are "well educated" goes about posting fake information online, I have no idea were it will take us to. Today in marketing we believe that Word of Mouth is the most powerful . Imagine your best friend posting an image like this. It will take just 15 minutes to erode the brand value of something like Frooti which it took a painful 30 plus years to create.

I request people online to behave more responsibly. Passing around such fake news , erodes the trust in a product and brand. Imagine if some one does this to you. Doctoring of images and events online is a childs play and it could happen to you as well.

Lets not be naive while we post something online. Verify before you trust. 

Madras Midnight Massacare

The midnight massacre of 5 men in their 30's came as a brutal shock. These men were suspected of doing robberies in couple of banks in Chennai during broad daylight. Incidentally, these men were identified from the CCTV footage grab generated. And the police got information at midnight from a source who identified one of the suspected men. And quickly our policemen moved into the house they were staying in a move to arrest them. It seems the suspects started firing and our dear policemen,went bullet crazy. These are the supposedly facts.

Lets do a dissection.

1. A cctv grab was circulated and a person identified one of the suspect at midnight. Though we cant deny this, I strongly suspect the quality of the CCTV footage, and I am surprised that these men were "identified" at midnight.

2. Our policemen known not to maintain traffic or common law and order problems, suddenly became a dynamic encounter team, is it not a tall claim that policemen at the middle of the night could kill 5 people in an encounter ?

3. I do support, effective policing, but not eradicating policing. Police under public pressure, went onto become killing machines. And in an an encounter its surprising that the policemen could get away with minor injuries.

4. Per se there is nothing technically wrong in an encounter, but this habit of mere eyewash and claims of fearless policing should only create fear the minds of people. This encounter was uncalled for, when people like Ms Kanimozhi and Mr Kalmadi or Raja are getting a second chance despite their "daylight robbery".

While I cant be a good critic without giving my suggestions, here goes mine.

1. Killing is a last resort. While if the police knew exactly the location of suspects, and these guys being no international terrorists, why dint the police use softer means such as making suspects unconscious using tear gas, rubber bullets or other means. At any cost, they were not using humans as shields. Better training needs to be provided to our policmen, to handle such robbery.

2. While technology has greatly improved things, prevention is better than cure, why shouldn metal detectors or other precautionary measures be taken in each bank.

3. Last but not the least, this entire encounter must be investigated, and law should have the last laugh.

Of relations and more…

This is a personal blog of my lessons learnt of being in a joint family and the relations revolving around it..

In life, for this generation, the concept of joint family is something that they ll learn from social studies books. Full generations of people have been living independently and independence is something that we have enjoyed. Now when I tell my story, it is bound to be from my viewpoint and my dear readers can interpret in the way they wish to.

Living in joint family for us meant primarily obeying what elders in the family said. This obeying would mean that we are completely submissive to their whims and fancies and the way they used to treat me or my parents would be something more of “I am the king, you are my subject, listen to me”. Now my Dad being the youngest son of my grandparents, and my grandfather being a busy person could only convey to his youngest son, “Listen to your brothers, and do as they tell you”. The brothers looked after him really well, took care of his needs and made him a rich person by allowing him to join the business. He is successful today in terms of the wealth he created, but today sadly we feel we are a “subject” to some king, in this case my dad’s brothers. Now when I look back, I realize the importance of the Civil Disobedience movement initiated by Mahatma Gandhi. Disobedience so that we could be free in this world.  

Lesson One: Obeying is good, not in always. In a family, everyone has or should have the right to speak up, and they should do so at an early age.

Business of the family and family business are two separate things in life. While my dad was involved in a successful business that he used to run with his elder brothers, many a times his relationship with his brothers was purely business like, so was the approach from the other side. Some were the brothers lost their plot and any relationship that existed was purely business. But inside the family the cousins were and are the best of the buddies and the camaraderie that exists between the cousins is good. This should continue. Relations should not be made because of common goals alone of continuing in business. This is wrong. The 3 brothers made a mistake of losing their identity of being brothers and selfishness and ego’s crept in and business got affected. But thanks to some good efforts from the children (cousins), the family ties continue to be strong as steel.

Lesson Two: Relations between families and blood relatives is pure, it’s not to be contaminated with money, selfishness and ego’s. We should strive for it.

We have respect for to our teachers, our bosses, our parents. In my observance there are two types of respects. Passive & Active Respect. Passive respect comes from ones position that one holds. For example we have respect for our teachers. But the respect continues after we long leave school and college, this is earned respect or active respect. In family too, these respects exists. As I was saying in the beginning, obeying would not necessarily mean, giving respect. That is passive respect. The situation in my family today is that, a person elder to you would mean, every one should show him respect. While he himself should come down and earn others respect. This is not happening in my family and am sure this situation is there in many families too. A simple incidence comes to my mind. Recently a common function was being hosted in the family, which was long before planned for which my parents were invited for early morning function just the previous night at 10 pm.  Respecting individualities and giving value to the other person would make things far better.  

Lesson Three: Give respect, take respect.  

In my family people take each other for granted. All this again comes from the supremacy factor. Recently I had an argument with one of my cousins. He started a chat with me to tell me that he was “angry” because I dint call him on one occasion, while forgetting that I had called him many times on ISD too. Well just because I called him, it does not mean that I was expecting his call. This is what we do with our relations, we take people for granted.

Lesson Four: Never take people for granted. In a joint family this factor exists and we need to remove this, because everyday all the people are not the same.

Love, love unconditionally, love without expectations. Sadly this is not there in my family. I have no idea, but all I can say is that, I love all of you, which makes me write this. If not today, am sure my future will be better with this realization. 

Entrepreneurial opportunities in Retail post FDI in India

In continuation to my previous post "Open the doors please", I would like to elaborate on why I am avid supporter of FDI in Modern Trade, aka, Supermarkets and hypermarkets like Wal-Mart and Carrefours of the world. I am presently associated with being in the supply side of FMCG, and in a small market like Oman with a population of 2.7 Million which is 1/10th of Chennai  P&G alone is doing nearly Rs 60 Crore business every month which translates to 700 crores yearly. The FMCG sector in Oman would be easily doing a minimum of 30,000 crores business yearly. Now convert this numbers when FDI is allowed in India. A metro city like Banglore or Chennai would do 5 times this business and the amount of revenue generated through taxes would be huge. Lets look at the positives of FDI first.

Assortment

All consumers today look for a wide variety of products to choose from. Opening up of the markets would give consumers products from every nook and corner of the world. Today, while I walk through the supermarkets in Oman, I am seeing products that have not reached the Indian markets simply because these companies found it difficult to operate a distribution network. Assortment not only gives one a choice, at the same time, it will provide a life style change that is important for every society to grow towards more advancement. 

Associates

Opening up of large retail chains would result in businesses for associates. Just like when a Hyundai and VW set up shop in Chennai, and the manufacturers of automobile components came up and now we fondly refer to Chennai as the Detroit of the East. Similarly when supermarkets and hypermarkets open, there are several industries that stand to benefit, from  the small scale industries which make the shopping carts to large advertising and marketing gianklts. Hence one major gainer apart from the retail players would be the associates. 

Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs who wants to be in the FMCG sector stands to gain the most. Imagine that I am a pickle manufacturer. While as a good businessman, my focus should be in "Product" making it the best, opening up of new markets would give me an opportunity to Sell without actually working on setting up a distribution and logistics network. Plus as the business grows, I would be generating enough capital to move up or down the value chain by doing either forward or backward integration. This is a good enough opportunity and my readers when you consider being entrepreneurs, this is one of the ways to look at opportunities in the system. 

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is a key component of any developmental activity. The employment thus generated and its allied industries like iron & steel, aluminium, IT components & networks, industries associated to these industries such as energy etc will get an overall boost. While once FDI proposal is passed, the first things that will change is the land prices and the initial 2 years revenue generated would be exclusively from Infrastructure. 

Logistics & Supply Chain

The second biggest gainers would be Logistics. While FMCG term itself is "Fast Moving Consumer Goods," everything in this setup backward has to be fast. This calls for professional logistics and supply chain management and warehousing. This is a capital intensive service sector and there are huge opportunities to be tapped in this particular segment. I am still trying to research on how much this sector has grown in established open retail markets. 

Summing Up while there is no denying fact that there are flaws in the best laid plans, a competing industry will itself sort out the deficiencies and the survival of the fittest will happen. I would be soon blogging on the objections raised by the political class in terms of fear of loss of jobs etc. Till then I would like to see your inputs on where business opportunities exists when the market is opened up for modern retail .

Open the doors please !

India does  not seem to be a colorful land at present. But across, the country one prominent color seems to stand out. Red. I know I am exaggerating. But with one entire industry in Red -Airlines, Automobile sector on a nose dive growth, and currency loosing its value like the bollywood movies, the picture is definitely not rosy. Far apart form the economics of it, inflation is at an all time high, which seems to be a an issue of  supply side deficiency &  with RBI rising the rates 10 times in as many months have failed to curb inflation and has resulted in the consumer bearing the brunt of paying more each fortnightly. As quoted by prominent scientist Dr Swaminathan, there is demand supply gap for vegetables and fruits and other commodities.(www.goo.gl/0qVf1).
Apart form this we are completely having no industrial policy being passed in the last 12 months. The govt seems to be confounded by a plethora of corruption scandals and one man trying to bring the government to its knees, have weakened policy making and has resulted in chaos at home. I know there is no magic wand, but when opportunity exists in the domestic market its a crime not to utilize it well. When I talk about opportunities, I can easily reflect on the industry that am working with. FMCG and organized retail will bring a revolution and look at the opportunities associated with it. From logistics to packaging, real estate to supply chain management, the growth that it will bring about is humongous. Not that I am talking something new, but no one seems to be paying a heed to this at all. Today I woke up to the news of cabinet passing the law to raise FDI in single brand retail. Its a good step forward. But I fail to understand why when it comes to passing a bill that primarily benefits developed nation (read Americans), aka Nuclear Bill, FDI in retail, we take ages and ages. Why do we fear. Why do we underestimate that Indian companies will suffer. Why dont we trust our entrepreneurial abilities ? When the telecom revolution happened, Airtel, was the leader among all. Before Koreans could invade us with their TV's we had our Videocon. And, even now, the Micromax et all are doing well exceeding expectations. Hence time has come for us to just open up, we Indians are fighters, and am sure we will rise up to the occasion and will not let a Wal - Mart rule us and , for sure only good will be done to the major population.
Before I close, I must insist that, only countries with good focus on internal policy will have a say in the world. Learn from the Chinese. 20 years they spend working on creating strong internal policies that generated growth and development, today because of which they have a voice in this planet. Americans always had a strong internal policy of encouraging innovation & entrepreneurship, because of which they are what they are, they lost the plot when they went for a war. I simply believe that, one strong internal policy of opening up of the economy led us to where we are and ,as they say in philosophy, look within and you ll find answers to all your problems.
Betting on a bright India, I just welcome all investors to trust this land its people. Dr. Singh, please open the doors for these gentlemen, trust us, we ll take care of ourselves. !!  

The Journey

It was a hot sunny afternoon in January with sun shining bright at Fort Kochi. The bust stop had about 30 - 35 kids and the place was alive and kicking when the world around them looked almost deserted and still. There was this excited buzz and all of them had a bright smile on their faces. I was missing something important. What for had these kids assembled here. I kept looking at them and trying to hear what they were talking, all I could catch was the words  “..thanupu (cold).. valluthe..(big) etc. Etc.. there were people pulling each other.. some was saying me first me first... words cant describe those smiles.. After about 2 minutes I noticed 2 ladies approaching them and each one was carrying a small kid on their hands.. They had bought something in a cover and all the kids rushed towards them.. It was ‘sip up’... perfect silence took over the places except for  ‘sluurp’... :)

What were they doing in that bus stop.. Curiosity got the better of me.. But I remained patient and kept watching the infectious smiles. Suddenly out of some where a big orange bus came and stopped in the bus stop. Pause. Zuiiinnn... The door opened and there was a collective sigh from these children. Many did not expect a door to open by itself.  Immediately there was a mad rush to get into the bus and once every one got in and the ladies joined them. From outside I could feel the complete joy in them to get into this bus. All of them took one of the window seats and pushed their heads onto the window and looked out and smiled. It was a camera moment to see a boy who had maybe 5 teeth all grinning ear to ear and enjoying the same bus stop from where he had got in. The conductor gave each one a ticket from his hand held machine and, boy proudly dint they display to the outside world.. A church father came and paid the money to the conductor and the doors closed yet againg with zzuiinnn and I could only ‘see’ these kids were actually shouting inside and waving tata tataaa... to us in the bus stop.. and the father!!   

Where way they going.. to far  far away it seems.. To meet the fairy God mother?? Well the ride afterall seemed to the Airport. Let me admit it guys I would have been even more excited. I spoke to the father and he said all the kids where from an orphanage nearby and they were travelling in the Volvo Ac City bus for the first time and they were all going to the airport for a picnic. I would remember those smiles many times. But above all it gave me one valuable lesson, there are those lil things in our life that always bring those smiles. At our age it may be holding our gals hand, having a long talk with a good friend,  going for a walk and many things. But if those kids could be happy travelling in a AC bus or going to see a airport we can also be smiling. They did teach me happiness is what we decide. Love you kids wherever you are today. You did make my day !! 

The Dark Corridor ;)

Ones life is always a mixed bag. The good and the bad times come and go. So far in the last few years, I have always come across this place where there are different corridors that I get to choose. The brilliance of these corridors is that the lighting technology is such a way that some look well lit at the entrance but its dark beyond.. some you see light so faint, some are too dark, some small, some long, but none showing whats inside. The scariest part is that, every one of the people around me day in and day out bring me to this chamber, and I m mercilessly told start walking, I ll meet  you soon. Its as though the they have planned something evil for me and I feel monsters and ogres inside waiting to have me for a lunch. These are the moments I sincerely pray for the angels to come to my rescue. well 1800 - Angels is usually a busy number, and post recession, God has indulged in Downsizing his staff. !. The point I m trying to make is choices are really difficult to make. These corridors some times have the paintings of people on their walls - a tribute to people who have chosen that route. But usually A Google search does not reveal it. - sad that  , Google is still not the answer to our lives.. Hmmm...
Well once you start entering a corridor, you are usually cheered from behind, but when you start walking the sounds become faint and the only sound that you hear is the sound of your heart beat. Its kind of eerie,  and well here and there you find a picture or two, mostly of people whom you don't recognize.

A day came to me, when I was told , Mr., 'Walk'. A dilemma started and all corridors looked equally scary. I looked around, but there wasn't any one in sight. But on the far left hand corridor I saw this inscription :
                
                               Stranger, You Aint Alone,
                               The  Routes Aint Dark,
                               Thy Mind, is your Friend
                               Thy heart is is your Enemy.

On the Right End yet another Inscription read as follows :

                               Stranger, You are Alone,

                               The  Routes are Dark,

                               Thy Mind, is your Enemy

                               Thy heart is is your Friend.

 I was baffled at this opposites and sat down and re read all the Eight lines. I some how was puzzled at the logic. but I was sure there is some meaning to all this. Maybe I should put them together..
And here is what I found, These are  inscribed just to confuse your mind. We come across many Situations where our heart and Mind speaks differently. For Example, I love that Guy, But He is  not financially Stable.
When Choosing the corridor, is to question your mind, convince him to be a friend.
A situation will come when mind has no answer, for example - Why Do I Love him ? Don't go for your mind to answer such questions . Trust your heart, its usually always right. But listen to it carefully, cause when you start walking through the corridor, remember you ll hear only your heart beats, and don't be scared then.
This may look like no logic to you. well I just wrote it just understand myself..
anyways, Thanks for reading till Here.. see u !!

                            

   

The Only Heaven on Earth

An American decided to write a book about famous churches around the World.So he bought a plane ticket and took a trip to China.On his first day he was inside a church taking photographs when He Noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read "$10,000 per call".he being intrigued,asked a priest who was strolling by what the telephone was used for.priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and for $10,000 one could talk to God.American thanked the priest and went along his way.Next stop was in Japan.There @a very large cathedral, he saw the Same golden telephone with the same sign under it.He asked a nearby Nun what its purpose was.She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 He Could talk to God."O.K., thank you," said the American.He then travelled to Pakistan, Srilanka, Russia, Germany and France.In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same"$10,000 Per call" sign under it. The American, upon leaving Vermont decided to travel to up to India to See if Indians had the same phone.He arrived in India,In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same "$10,000Per call" sign under it. Then he arrived Kerala the first church he entered,He saw there Was the same golden telephone,but this time the sign under it "One Rupee per call." The American was surprised so he asked the priest about it" Father, I've traveled all over World and I've seen this same GoldenTelephone in many churches. All of them told that it is a direct line to Heaven,But in the Kerala price was "One Rupee per call." Why is it so cheap here The priest smiled and answered, "You're in Kerala now,GOD's OWN COUNTRY Son - it's a Local Call".
THE ONLY HEAVEN ON EARTH - KERALA

Critical for Success- City Planning Management

India is a strong country on many terms. Large Human resources bases, intellectual capital, sound financial policies etc. I am a city boy and from my observations the biggest threat to India in terms of Human Development Index (HDI) is the coming up of unplanned cities. This is a grave threat to both people living in such cities as well as the micro environment surrounding that area.

Though it’s almost impossible to control nature’s fury like floods or earthquakes preparing for it can be ideal thing to do. The age old saying prevention is better than cure still holds true. Mumbai floods would not have happened if proper planning had gone into the setting up of the infrastructure. Here is where we need a course on City Planning & management. I am not too sure if a course on this exists elsewhere but I am sure it’s a much needed course in India.

I am neither academician nor an expert on how city planning should go about. But I believe it can be add on to the current MBA course as it covers the elemental Human Resource Management, operations & finance. A civil engineer or Architectural engineers are not the only people who can do this course. But we need people who are creative so as to plan the landscape, Bio Marine experts who can manage the water bodies and various other experts form diverse domains. We need marketing people to find out what the needs of the users are and also for their negotiating and communication skills.

Yes there are a number of private players building their townships but the need of the hour is the participation of the Government and the Public Hand in Hand. Yes there is a huge cost involved in rebuilding but an opportunity exists to work on the smaller towns and municipalities. As the saying goes, “Rome was not built in a day”.

India - Focus on agriculture for a strong Future

The Turn of centuary saw India emerging as a strong economy. This was attributed to the strong policies and a young and vibrant democracy; Acadmically inclined youth and a desire to succeed. But one of the main reason other than the opportunities for business here is the fact that wages were lower compared to the more developed economies. But has anyone wondered why the wages are low. Its simply coz the food cost is low. Food consumption is the major driver of the economy. Consider this, The money earned by a person is primarily spent on food , clothing and shelter. As far as India Is concerened food and clothing we are self sufficient. This helped us in keeping the prices of these commodities low.

So here is the catch. In this season of inflation we should ask ourselves what is happening? The country is not able to meet the food requirements of this nation with a vast poppulation that with sufficient spending power. The continued increase on prices of essenstial commodities would result in an upward salry demand. This would on the long run result in India not being a preferred partner in trade as salary would match that of developed nations. This may happen within the next 25 years at the current inflation rate. The prices of goods are expected to be 5 times of what it is now.

The only way to prevent that and protect the country's growing stature is to ensure food security. There should be a strong focus on agriculture, and the next 5 year plans should give prime importance to this. A green revolution and a white revolution made India what it is today. Thanks to the efforts of Swaminathan and Kurien we are a nation that rarely imports food. But times are changing and if we are not prepared to meet the increased demand, a good chance that the inflation would consume us and result in slowing down of industrialisation. A consumer state is always on the tenter hook. This is what happened to US in the recent times. A reason why they had  to go for outsourcing.

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IPL The new Big Bully

I ll try to keep this short and frank.

If IPL is what you are looking forward to.. well consider this IPL itself is taking everything backwards. It has become a huge monopolistic organisation that would beat the Ego of the erstwhile East India Company. IPL 3 is more bigger and this time around you would be able to watch the matches on the Big screens. Its expected to be more colorful and more fun to watch out for.

But consider this, IPL has prohibited newscasters from broadcasting match clippings for more than 7 minutes a day. Even that can happen only after 30 minutes post the presentation ceremony.  Fans wearing a rival competitors tee shirt would have to remove it and wear the sponsors tee shirt in the stadias. I.e if you and I happen to sport a Airtel Tee shirt , some organizers would come, politely request me to strip it off and wear the Vodafone T- shirt.

Dont I have the freedom to wear what I wish? Is the 4th estate a mere puppet? 

People think, we are feeding a monster that dictates terms on how to enjoy a sport.

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A Buzz of Scraps, Tweets and Posts

' The computer beats me @ checkers, but i'll sure beat it at kickboxing '. A 'buzz' by my friend remarking about his Acer Laptop. Welcome my friends , to the connected world , where your only limits of communication is your imagination. To the people who are still hocked on to blogs, articles, cases and magazines, explore for yourself how the world has adopted or rather become competent in the use of language. Someone thought " I dont have the time to go through endless pages of data, but sure I 'll consider if its said in a sentence." This is the underlying concept of the new world order i.e communication ver 3.0

Here we are, it’s a pity that you people are still reading this blog when I could have simply said, " I like Buzz better than Scraps but would prefer tweets over posts." Sounds simple isn't it? Well there you are, this is how the world wishes to communicate right from POTUS {Abr: President of The United States} to a common man like me. When one turns back a couple of and looks at how much the world has changed, one would say not a big deal. But everything has changed about the way we think. There was a time when people rarely wished to express themselves. But look now, even if you are yawning away to glory in an economics class one doesn’t' hesitate to tweet about it.

Here is where the beauty is. Now imagine the economic professor is also part of the network, instantly he can change the way the class is presented, the least asking the student to step out of the class!! This is where we have reached. Instant communication. One liners have become more fashionable and the more you are creative, more the fun it is.

Long gone are e mails, on its way out is blogs (except for academic writing) and will be replaced by instant communication.

The biggest gainers are the marketing people. If I happen to be a marketing guy I would immediately spot that the fellow is not too happy with his Acer Notebook. Either I would try to find out what his problem is or simply post a link that would lead to more fashionable and latest notebook. Marketing will be redefined in this decade. A whole new set of ideas must be found out on how to use the latest form of communication. Meanwhile folks who have not tried Twitter or Buzz or Facebook, do soon or die! You are missing out on loads of fun that’s happening right on your fingertips.

Tweet me @ lakshman !!

Buzz me @: lakshmancochin@gmail.com

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The goose that lays the Golden Egg

Any publishing should start with acknowledgements and hence i would continue this tradition. the title i should say was invented centuries ago. actually its a fable.but i would like to thank DrKKR{google him}for giving me the spark and linking it to IPL. oh once again IPL. u must me be thinking i have nothing else to

write about. well the fact is that it keeps cropping into my mind as the example which signifies all known theories of marketing. segemntation, targeting postioning,branding, what more...

But there is a reason beyond this to write about IPL.. the sounds of this has begun and we can hear some faint noise about IPL being even bigger. well how big can big get. The last time i took up this topic is when IPL generated so much revenue and loads of people were making a living out of it. i was not a fan of Moving IPL out

of India but Lalit Modi once again surprised me. he got it right. South Africa became a strong launching pad to make the Brand IPL truly global.

We may get to see a few more teams coming up. as part of making it BIG they seem to

be tying up with some distribution companies to broadcast them in movie houses. and

folks who thought they can have a mug of beer and enjoy on big screens in pubs may

have to shell out a few more rupees as entry fees coz the distribution companies

have the right over the telecasting part. well does one have to pay the price of

gold just to watch a match.. its overkill mate..

We have just finished being on the loosing side of the cricket series.. nothing

wrong about as we lost to a higher ranked team, but the catch is the so called

mighty Australians did not have all their best players.

Ok getting back to IPL the so called commercialisation is at the pinnacle. All known methods and even the unknowns are being stretched to milk out the maximum out of the IPL . The contarct are for 10 years or so. Really dont understand the logic or thought process . 5 years ago we never imagined a format like this. so its nearly immposible to predict what will happen 2 years from now. retired people playing cricket. how much does it excite you. the question iam asking is if players like Dravid, Ganguly,Mcgrath can play the toughest format why not render their services to the national team. i do not wish to question their integrity. i know very well that they are playing for the fun of it. they love the game.

On the positive side this format has exposed many players to an international audience; given a solid income and best of all they play cricket under the watchful eyes of millions. as some one wisely said a "a person who walks through the fire will not get bogged down by the sun" this applies to lots of players playing IPL.

On the down side the country is loosing loads of good players to the IPL syndrome.

For example Yousf Pathan is good player. but he just had one innings with Indian cricket team. same with Sreeshanth though he has been called back to test team. personaly i am not in favor of him. arrogant fellow. but thanks again to BCCI he has been given a punishment.

The money beign pumped into this has left certain companies make lower profit(vodafone is an example), they would justify its long term investment, but convincing shareholders is a different ball game.

Before i end this long circular flow of thoughts just consider this; I always believe that we should try to be the best at what we start. but the jinx seems to continue, English has never won the world cup, Aussies poor run @ t20 continues and us The original IPL people failed to make into the last 4 teams of the world T20 held recently despite being in home conditions. yes we cannot always hope to win but loose without a fight is not really a nice things...

I have always compared IPL to EPL and hence i belive more countries would take up this game, more revenue should be generated but if one observes the game of football has not been diluted by film stars, cheerleaders etc. If we ever come to time when you need half dressed people, dj's and whole lot of tinsel town people to keep audience to watch a game well we need to think about it once again.

SPORTS IS AN ENTERTAINMENT ON ITS OWN..WE DO NOT NEED TO ADD ANY MORE 'ENTERTAINMENT' TO IT

DO NOT KILL THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGG !!

HELP ANYONE.. INSANE MEDIA ON THE LOOSE !!

As I present this blog, I’m fully aware that this topic is of mediocre interest to most of us, as its repeatedly debated topic on all forums. But being a mute spectator does not in any way make a change… I am guilty about the fact that this is just being read by a fraction of the population coz internet is a relatively new media that’s still virgin in terms of connectivity with the masses..

Leave apart the flaws… I do not wish to remain silent…

The year is 1990, CNN has set up shop in India, bringing live footage of the gulf war… it was the days of DD; the only national network… People were appalled by the coverage and since it was a US network they painted themselves as saints and protector of democracy... Far from being democratic...I would say…

As I write this there are ‘media reports’ of differences in the Indian team that’s playing the world cup. I have a sense of déjàvu…would this be the repeat of Ganguly - Chappel story? The past few years have seen a sporadic growth electronic media primarily the TV channels; at current count there are nearly 40 exclusive news only channels in almost all languages including English. {At this juncture I believe most of us watch the so called national channels NDTV; CNN IBN; TIMES NOW; HEADLINES TODAY & AAJ TAK}

These channels are almost 24*7 providing only “flash news”; not the real picture . An internet article says during the 7 days after the death of a girl Aarushi; these channels combined devoted nearly 300 hours of air time to exclusively follow this story repeatedly interviewing the mother of the victim, uncle, lawyer and the went as far as ‘talking’ to the victims friends. Such blunt brutal and insensitive coverage lead to protest March by some students against the media. When quizzed about such insensitivity, all Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai had to say was “why shoot the messenger”. A question; does he really believe he is a messenger when all he does is exert pressure to give a sound byte so he can run the show for a couple of more hours.

When the Mumbai attacks happened if Barkha Dutt could have stopped ‘panning’ her camera to the Oberoi hotels and the surroundings--as the NSG puts it “we lost the element of surprise, because the terrorists used the television to watch the movement of troops” .

I am not here to blame a few, but on the contrary I have deep respect for both these journalist as they are icons in their own terms… these people have been instrumental in making news reach a wider society and have acted as the true agents of 4^th estate when the brought out various issues. If one remembers; nearly a year before the Mumbai attacks NDTV ran a 2 hour investigation show pointing out how vulnerable the coastlines of the country were. If someone had paid a heed to it, may be 26/11 could have been prevented.

But when one looks at the larger picture don’t you think these people have caused us to live in constant fear. Have they not made a criminal out of a doctor? That profits matter, so sensationalism is a way out. That breaking news is as much as a sneeze by some actors. That privacy and exclusivity is only for them and not others.

I’m proud that news and media have been a great employment opportunity and is a growing sector. Yes they have encouraged us to speak up. But at times just like all of us catch flu, these people become insane at times. SO IS THERE A DOCTOR @ HOME??

P S: I am ending this blog with a question mark awaiting answers from you.

IPL--INDIA'S PRIZED LEAGUE

Let me tell you a story of a young man who makes juices on the roadside in Chennai. his name is Murugan who makes sugar cane juice near the marina beach for a living. I had been to Chennai several times the last time being on march 6th. he has an interesting story for me.I casually ask him what his daily income would be and he said around 500 rs mind you, he charges 10 per glass of sugar cane juice. he said he is waiting for the cricket season to start.He does not know its called IPl. He just says that last year April -may there was lots of cricket matches and he has not seen so many people coming regularly. {HE Sold sugar cane juice outside the stadium}

Many may feel IPL is good,for some its a waste of time and for few others it does not matter.But i have a confession to make. I was not a great enthusiast of IPL. I had my own views;But it all changed after meeting Murugan.

Yes the bosses of IPL and the Cricketers are making millions at the same time people like Murugan make a living. For a change lets look at IPL as a source of income. Consider this.
IPL generates income for the following people: {what i can observe}

1. Sweepers who clean the stadiums day in and day out. {usually a match happens and the stadium is forgotten for a year.}
2. Boys and Men who prepare the pitches.
3. Small scale units which makes the posters/pamphlets etc.. {also the people who distribute em}
4. printing shops who make the huge banners
5. House hold industries that manufacture those semi-circle caps with rubber bands.
6. Companies that make similar kind of t shirts {same color texture ET AL.}
7. people like Murugan who makes juice and similar kind of people who sell juices, water bottles, eatables etc.

On a better and less visible scale.

1. Transport companies who move the teams around {their drivers cleaners mechanics do benefit}
2. Hotel industry {ya agreed its the Taj and like wise.. but still }
3. The broadcasting/coverage team { the equipments weigh loads and so they have loads of helpers,local technicians, electricians,people who assist the cameramen etc.
4. the banks and other commercial establishment that sells the tickets merchandise etc.
5. Companies that make the the boundary advt boards and its the local carpenters and others who assemble them.
6. HEY ENOUGH ..JUST IMAGINE HOW MANY MORE..

IPL is boon for many.. lets see it as an employment opportunity for thousands of common people { I am leaving out the team managers, organizers,various associated staff as they are better called white collar jobs..ya but IT COUNTS>>} whenever such huge carnivals/circus (as many refer to it) happens.

Idiotic premier League , International Premier league and what not..

FOR ME ITS SHINING INDIA'S GIFT FOR THE NOT SO SHINING INDIANS.

JAI HIND

WAR IN LANKA... HOLIDAY IN TAMILNADU..

ALL COLLGES INDEFINITELY CLOSED.. SCREAMS THE HEADLINES FROM SUN NETWORK THE GOVT OWNED PUPPET CHANNEL..

WHAT DO THESE PPL THINK.. HOLDING STUDENTS AND THEIR RIGHT TO EDUCATION TO RANSOM.. DO THEY HAVE ANY IDEA THAT ITS FEB AND ALL FINAL YEAR EXAMS ARE JUST 45 DAYS AWAY.. THESE ARE THE MONTHS WHEN ALMOST ALL COLLEGES HAVE THEIR INTER COLLEGE FUNCTIONS..SPORTS COMPLETIONS ETC
ALSO FROM THE ACADEMIC ANGLE ITS TIME FOR PLACEMENTS IN MANY COLLEGES. WE ARE ALREADY AT THE HEIGHT OF RECESSION WITH JOBS BEING MINIMAL..NOW A BAD EDU SYSTEM THAT LACKS A SPINE.. GUYS ..THIS IS IT.. LETS GET BACK TO CLASSES AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.. ..WE DON'T HAVE A MOMENT TO WASTE.. THE GOVT AND COLLEGES HAVE NOTHING TO LOOSE. WE ARE THE LOSERS..
THIS STATE HAS CLOSED COLLEGES JUST B'COZ THEY FEAR UNREST AMONG STUDENTS. THEY LACK THE SPINE OF EVEN NOT CONTROLLING THE STUDENT ACTIONS. THESE PPL ARE PLAYING PSEUDO POLITICS AT OUR COST..ITS HIGH TIME WE REALIZED THAT.

LETS GET BACK TO CLASSES. TIME WAITS FOR NONE.

PLS SUPPORT THIS CAUSE