• The Art of Breathing

    ‘Breathe in’ said the instructor. A collective intake of breaths followed. ‘Now hold until I tell you’, he continued. The stillness followed for some excruciating seconds. Just as he said ‘Exhale’, a sound erupted which prompted quite a few giggles. ‘..through the mouth’ said the instructor, with a deadpan expression, and without missing a beat.

    until next time, gas chambers

  • Taj

    Colin De Silva

    More than the Taj itself, the book’s focus is on the man who built it, or rather had it built – Shah Jahan. In tracing his life and highlighting the love of his life – Mumtaz Mahal, the book touches upon four generations of Moghul rule, starting with Akbar and ending with Aurangzeb. While Taj remains a work of fiction, it borrows heavily from history, and well known characters like Nur Jehan and Jehangir have important roles to play.
    The story focuses on the intrigue that was part of the Mughal court and its machinations, and the impact that it had on determining the emperor of India. It follows the life of Shah Jahan, from the time he was a young prince, to his death, as an emperor deposed by his own son.
    Perhaps the tale is best summarised by the words of one of the characters in the book, and which would best represent the lives of each of the characters – “With any human being, an aim becomes an ambition, an ambition, a compulsion, a compulsion an obsession, which can only destroy the human being”. While, for most of the characters, the aim was the Moghul throne, for Shah Jahan, there was an additional one – The Taj.
    In essence, a good book to read to get a glimpse of what life must have been during the days of the dynasty that defined Indian history for quite a few centuries. If interested in more historical accuracy, i would suggest ‘Emperors of the Peacock Throne’ by Abraham Eraly

  • India Gate

    Yes, we have one in Indiranagar too. We actually went there to see if Fire & Flakes was still around, but that has now been converted to India Gate. Its located on the 100 ft Road, Indiranagar, in the same building as ‘The Great Wall’ and ‘The Silver Tube’, the latter is a lounge bar. The first one is self explanatory, right? When you’re coming from the Koramangala side, you can see it on the right as soon as you get down the flyover, the same building as the ‘Adidas’ showroom.

    They have a pretty adventurous parking process for 2 wheelers, where you have to travel beneath a waterfall to your parking space, which is then customised live for you.  Wait, it aint over yet. they also make sure that you build your appetite. Oh, okay there was a leaking a/c above,  they removed the cycles which were already kept in the ‘parking space’, so that i could park the vehicle the way they wanted it, and the lift doesn’t function. Ah, now you comprehend the dripping sarcasm.

    When i called these guys in the morning, i specifically asked for ‘Fire & Flakes’, and they reserved a space for me. Great, except that when we got there, we were told that ‘India Gate’ had taken its place. I’d have understood if they had maintained the cuisine, but with that name, its an impossibility. It’d have been much better if they had at least informed me when i was reserving a table. But since the view (of the Airport road flyover) looked good, we decided to go ahead and dine.

    And so we ended up ordering a Murgh Shorba, and for the main course, a Murgh e Shamin, Macchi e Khorma, a Bharwan Kulcha, and a Rogini naan. The soup was just over lukewarm, and we had to gulp it down to prevent it from going cold. In my fleeting interaction with it, I got some onion and spicy flavour, which tasted quite decent, to be fair.

    The Murgh e Shamin is boneless chicken, in a brown onion and corriander gravy. It was quite good, and the quantity was just right for two people. The Macchi e Khorma offers quite a different taste, a piquant, tangy flavor. Its a yellow gravy, flavoured with cumin. It reminded me of Bengali dishes. The Bharwan Kulcha was quite good, and has a sicy cheesy stuffing. The Rogini Naan was only distinct by the sprinkling of poppy seeds on top.

    The place offers quite a selection of starters, both veg and non veg, and sufficient options for veg and non veg main course dishes. The desserts are only the normal Indian fare – Rasmalai, jamun etc.

    But our bill came up to over Rs.750, which the meal or the ambience really couldn’t justify. So, a repeat visit to India Gate. Nah, we’ll pass.

    India gate, Katrina complex, 100 ft Road, Indiranagar, Phone – 41519000

  • Ad-vanced Processing

    No, don’t go away, this is not a tech post.  And stop sniggering, one day I will write a tech post.  Hell, if Laloo can blog…There’s been a spate of celebrity blogs recently – started perhaps with Aamir Khan, then Big B, Salman Khan and a couple of days back, Karan Johar. The fad, I think will soon run out of steam.

    But there’s a very interesting twist I saw to the celebrity-in-the-internet space today, and felt it was very well weaved into a brand’s strategy. The brand is a processor – AMD, and it has chosen Viswananthan Anand as its brand ambassador. On a broad level, the processor-chess-intelligence connection is itself a good one. The TVC idea is a neat analogy, showing Anand try his hand at cricket, failing, and then saying that in a cricket crazy nation, he chose to pursue chess because he was good at it. From an analogy point, cricket is Intel, and the message is that one should choose a processor according to one’s requirements, and not because everyone else follows a trend.

    Coming back, a site has been launched – askvishy.com. As the name suggests, the site gets Anand to clear perceptions about computers, and also offers help in choosing computers according to requirements.There’s also some kind of contest there, but didn’t participate because they asked for the address in stage 1 itself.

    In essence, a well thought out campaign, that uses the brand ambassador well, but only a first step towards what should be a prolonged strike at the far-and-ahead market leader. Intel can’t afford to stay inside anymore.

    until next time, AMD is no more wishy washy

  • Trust they’re connecting people

    I just realised that I totally missed this one – The Brand Equity Most Trusted Brands Survey, at least writing about it. Unforgivable, but let me try to redeem myself by attempting a post now. Bottomline, Colgate has been dislodged from the numero uno position by Nokia, no mean task, that, and it is a testament to the inevitability of this medium (not the brand)  reaching the top of the media chain in a future that’s closer than it appears now.

    Since I have been lax on the topic and enough has been debated on it, I did some epaper reading and have focused on a few things I thought would make an interesting read. For those who missed the entire top 100 list, here it is

    I think Nokia’s climb to the top has been mainly because unlike the poor toothpaste, its not a single product or even single service/utility (oh come on, it easily transcends  a pure play communication device, its also a camera, a music player and so on). This not only heps it give different USPs to different kinds of people, but also helps them in communication (to appeal to different kinds of audiences across SEC categories).

    Speaking of SECs, here are the results based on income, SEC and respondent type, and by metros

    Other than trivia like the fact that Fevicol doesnt have a mazboot jod with SEC A and the ones mentioned in the image itself, the lists in the SEC split seem to be just a reworking of the top 100 order. As far as the income split goes, quite understandingly the income class below Rs.2500 are in a lot of pain. What else explains Crocin’s jump from #81 in the top 100 list to #10 (okay, bad one 🙂 ) You know, these lists would make one think that this is one of the most hygienic and healthy countries in the world, look at the number of personal care and cleaning products and health+ food brands out there. Sigh, now if only trust would lead to usage 😉 In the ‘respondent type’ list, its amusing to see ‘Fair and Lovely’ at #17 in the young adult male list. 🙂

    Its interesting to see education occupying two spots in the Delhi list, the top three brands in Kolkata having something to do with the skin, Mumbai having a cleanliness fetish, and Chennai not having it (must be the water problems). Yes, I am glossing over, but a detailed look will take time 🙂

    Meanwhile, Brand Equity has also given the methodology in selecting brands. A couple of thoughts on this. Considering that we’re hunting for the most trusted brands, shouldn’t we also have a media category (all media, or is it a problem because of possible bias allegations?) When do things like retail chains (CCD, Big Bazaar, FoodWorld), familiar brands like say, Levis and gang, India Post, Indian Railways, IRCTC etc make an entry? And i know this won’t happen any time now, but will computer (hardware manufacturers as well as things like Windows/Linux and entities like rediff) make it into the top 100 list in at least 5 years?

    Meanwhile, I really don’t see anyone being able to challenge Nokia, unless simultaneously, a telecom brand (service) really becomes a pan india player (is already there) with excellent service and other mobile manufacturers give Nokia some really tough competition. The other possibility is when public utilities like power, water supply etc start having private players (not in an infrastructure capacity, but as a branded utility). Whatcha think?

    until next time, in brands we trust

    All images are courtesy Brand Equity, the Economic Times dated 11th June 08

    Update: Guess who makes it to the top in the US.