Before you read on, pause for couple of minutes and reflect on ‘how has life changed in the past 10 years or 5 years?’ …….Does it makes you laugh? Surprised on how life has shaped up? Don’t pick up any regrets in the trail, chuck it out we don’t need it. I am sure however eventful life would have been the journey at the end does leaves a smile.
We always try to plan our life at every stage. But somehow for me nothing has sticked to plan. To talk about me 10 years ago - NOV ’99, after getting annoyed of all the ‘Reservation Quotas’ and not able to get myself a seat in ‘Chemical Engineering’ in my preferred colleges and I didn’t want to get a ‘Payment Seat’. So without consulting my parents I went ahead and took admission in Ruparel College for ‘Industrial Chemistry’. Yeah, but life rocked @ Ruparel – cricket, football, experimenting @ labs for hours and at times if you don’t have patience to stand for 5 hours to get the result; coax the lab in-charge to reveal the ‘Mixture component’ and what do you do with the time in hand….Oh! I am sure during college days we all knew how to put those spare time to use; in fact we never had spare time. Ah! this makes me think even though the days used to be full with activities we never got stressed or tired….this is the bad change after 10 years :-(.
But the point is my plans could never stand the test of time, instead of pursuing MSc at the last minute I chose MBA , planned to never get married before the age of 30 (I lost my bachelor status at the age of 25 and I should mention no regrets - my wife never misses my blogs, seriously no regrets ;-) ), never wanted any car from ‘Maruti’ to be my first car but ended up with Wagon R, …………..and there are so many plans that I planned in this 10 years but Life had its own plans for me. Change of plans are like change of tracks – music tracks – sometimes Mohammad Rafi and some times Pearl Jam, speed gears – sometimes enjoying the speed @ 5th gear sometimes stuck @ 2nd. To be honest I have enjoyed, relished and engaged myself to each track. This realization is special as tomorrow I am changing to a new track.
Life is box full of surprises and I loved each and every surprise that Life had to offer to me. Anxious to discover my next surprise
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Diwali - Festival of Light
Today one of my friend from US wanted to know more on Diwali and she didn’t want it from Google but more of a first hand experience. For me Diwali has been very special just like Christmas since my school days. 18 days of vacation, mummy getting leave, enjoying the sweets and snacks prepared by my neighbor aunties and as I grew up was lucky enough to have girlfriends whose mom can make really some mouth watering ladoos.
And the most fun was building a ‘Mud Fort’ decorating it with plastic soldiers and then getting a King for our Fort none other Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (he was one of our great kings of our state Maharashtra who had fought valiantly against the Mughal rulers then). But the most fun was stocking the fort with all our crackers, bombs and blowing it off on the last day of Diwali. Some how today I don’t relish those but yes bursting crackers and seeing the sparkling colorful fire in the sky is real fun. Different colorful varieties of fireworks are always associated with this festival.
But the essence of Diwali is spreading light, joy and happiness with our loved ones. Diwali is one of the biggest festival of Hindus, celebrated with great enthusiasm and happiness in India. The festival is celebrated for five continuous days, where the third days is celebrated as the main Diwali festival or 'Festival of lights'. On this auspicious day, people light up diyas (lamps) and candles all around their house. They perform Laxmi Puja in the evening and seek divine blessings of Goddess of Wealth. The festival of Diwali is never complete without exchange of gifts. People present diwali gifts to all near and dear ones.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
ROAD TO HAPPINESS
While writing this blog, I had two subjects in mind ‘Road to Happiness’ or ‘In search of happiness’. Somehow I was more convinced about the former.
At times when responsibilities just pile up on your shoulders even the silliest outcome of a smallest task gets you freak out and reminds you about the daunting advices that you keep on getting from your mom, dad, elder siblings (even younger), uncle, aunt, parish priest, neighbor uncle (sometimes I fail to understand why the f*** I need to address them as uncle and aunties and not Mr. Malhotra or Mrs. Kulkarni, why do they feel so intimidated in India by getting addressed from kids as Mr…) anyways let me not drift from the main topic ….yeah where was I….yes the advice of ‘ACT RESPONSIBLY’
Why do people always have opinion on others life, decisions? And how does others opinions should matter us? How come we can judge right or wrong? Why just we can’t take every stride as learning and be content with its outcome? And try to develop on those outcomes and move on further for a new day of life. At interviews people ask this stupid question why did you leave the earlier job, why do you want to leave the current job and join us….instead of that evaluate his learnings from his past experience and try to judge does that experience comes handy for the current vacancy.
One just keeps on searching for answers for the irrelevant questions posted by others. And after some time it becomes a habit and one just gets trapped in the cage and starts looking for answers and tries to justify his actions; just to please others. And in the end we try to summarise our discontent with life as ‘I am in search of the dream job, perfect partner, love, money….etc’ in short ‘I am in search of happiness’.
No! You need not search for it just get on the right road that leads to happiness.
1. All the actions that you take are right for that moment and never question those actions later.
2. Be content with what you have, because that’s what is going to make you realize your capabilities.
3. Accept responsibility. Take time to make decisions then stand by them.
4. And the most ‘Appreciate your life, appreciate your present’.
As Mahatma Gandhi had put it perfectly “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony”
At times when responsibilities just pile up on your shoulders even the silliest outcome of a smallest task gets you freak out and reminds you about the daunting advices that you keep on getting from your mom, dad, elder siblings (even younger), uncle, aunt, parish priest, neighbor uncle (sometimes I fail to understand why the f*** I need to address them as uncle and aunties and not Mr. Malhotra or Mrs. Kulkarni, why do they feel so intimidated in India by getting addressed from kids as Mr…) anyways let me not drift from the main topic ….yeah where was I….yes the advice of ‘ACT RESPONSIBLY’
Why do people always have opinion on others life, decisions? And how does others opinions should matter us? How come we can judge right or wrong? Why just we can’t take every stride as learning and be content with its outcome? And try to develop on those outcomes and move on further for a new day of life. At interviews people ask this stupid question why did you leave the earlier job, why do you want to leave the current job and join us….instead of that evaluate his learnings from his past experience and try to judge does that experience comes handy for the current vacancy.
One just keeps on searching for answers for the irrelevant questions posted by others. And after some time it becomes a habit and one just gets trapped in the cage and starts looking for answers and tries to justify his actions; just to please others. And in the end we try to summarise our discontent with life as ‘I am in search of the dream job, perfect partner, love, money….etc’ in short ‘I am in search of happiness’.
No! You need not search for it just get on the right road that leads to happiness.
1. All the actions that you take are right for that moment and never question those actions later.
2. Be content with what you have, because that’s what is going to make you realize your capabilities.
3. Accept responsibility. Take time to make decisions then stand by them.
4. And the most ‘Appreciate your life, appreciate your present’.
As Mahatma Gandhi had put it perfectly “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony”
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Interrogative Engagement
There are times when we try and justify our actions, our proposal. Sometimes that hard selling doesn’t work and over the period of time we loose the audience. And we start questioning again. The audience could be your girlfriend, mom, colleague and in professional arena the consumer of your brand. Your personal and professional audiences are not different, they are same. Treat them equally. And I think I have figured it out. To sound convincing and to get them on your side there is an idea (fred with horns). An idea that will engage your audience to your communication, to your ploy, to your lies..etc convincingly and keep them interested for a long time.
The trick is not so much to be ready with the answer, as it is to be ready with the questions. Ask the questions that make the recipient discover the answer. That is the true measure of success of the engagement.
The trick is not so much to be ready with the answer, as it is to be ready with the questions. Ask the questions that make the recipient discover the answer. That is the true measure of success of the engagement.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Interruption Vs Seduction
I had a choice – progressive career in Advertising or holistic development in marketing communication. A year ago I had to choose between digital or mainline advertising. I chose the former because I was keen to learn the opportunities & effectiveness of digital marketing. It was tough because Indian consumers are still driven by TV commercial and after 5 years in mainline advertising which provided me opportunity to control & steer 360 degree communication for my brands, was it wise enough to narrow my career only in Digital? And the answer in an affirmative tone is ‘Yes’.
In this one year I have seen and implemented digital campaigns that give rise for a 360 degree communication. From adapting web banners as per the mainline campaign we have started enjoying the power of digital. For eg: Tata tea –‘jago re’ campaign, Lipton – make India proud and some from my kitty – like ICICI Lombard – World health day campaign, SET – new brand campaign etc. Today the ‘conversation with the audience’ is more important than ever. The total number of Internet users in India is 47 million primarily the urban audience. Now apart from seeking information internet is used for chatting, gaming, networking, e-transactions etc. Moreover today’s audience believes in the virtual world. These groups of people are up-to-date with the development, information hungry, techno savvy, provoke opinion & stimulate decision through there ‘Digital Engagement’.
Whereas the strength of TVC success can’t be garnered appropriately on the other hand digital success can be measured in a more definite manner. Moreover the TVC is more interruptive whereas the digital information is seductive. The audience has an option to shutdown the window if it doesn’t appeals and the repeat visit happens when he is ‘Seduced by the content. Hence digital media needs to be looked at seriously and should be used appropriately in sync with the marketing need. Today I am happy that I have experienced the influential digital marketing when it’s still at the nascent stage and will ensure I apply in accordance to its strength. Digital medium is set to become the most important ‘Consumer Engagement tool’ in the coming years – Let’s talk
In this one year I have seen and implemented digital campaigns that give rise for a 360 degree communication. From adapting web banners as per the mainline campaign we have started enjoying the power of digital. For eg: Tata tea –‘jago re’ campaign, Lipton – make India proud and some from my kitty – like ICICI Lombard – World health day campaign, SET – new brand campaign etc. Today the ‘conversation with the audience’ is more important than ever. The total number of Internet users in India is 47 million primarily the urban audience. Now apart from seeking information internet is used for chatting, gaming, networking, e-transactions etc. Moreover today’s audience believes in the virtual world. These groups of people are up-to-date with the development, information hungry, techno savvy, provoke opinion & stimulate decision through there ‘Digital Engagement’.
Whereas the strength of TVC success can’t be garnered appropriately on the other hand digital success can be measured in a more definite manner. Moreover the TVC is more interruptive whereas the digital information is seductive. The audience has an option to shutdown the window if it doesn’t appeals and the repeat visit happens when he is ‘Seduced by the content. Hence digital media needs to be looked at seriously and should be used appropriately in sync with the marketing need. Today I am happy that I have experienced the influential digital marketing when it’s still at the nascent stage and will ensure I apply in accordance to its strength. Digital medium is set to become the most important ‘Consumer Engagement tool’ in the coming years – Let’s talk
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sunday, March 01, 2009
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