• Space, the final frontier

    All the Star Trek fans would know that bit, the one that starts this way and ends with ‘..to boldly go where no man has gone before’… Well, Sunita Williams did, and now she’s back… like i read somewhere, she must be stinking, but thats beside the point… i think it must’ve been one awesome experience, though i wish we would learn to celebrate with dignity, and not create a popcorn tamasha of everything…
    I am reading Asimov’s Foundation and Earth, and that’ll finish the series for me.. rather, re-finish it, and i don’t think this will be the last time… i still remember the first time i saw it, that was way back – when i was in school,i didn’t understand most of it, and left it… i made contact for the second time when i was in my first year of grad -and it took many library visits and many long months for me to finish off all 7 books of the series, and that was an awesome experience. Years later, i have managed to buy all the 7 books, and that took around 2 years, mostly thanks to the one i am reading…
    I read an article last week in TOI, about a new design of spaceships that they were going to start using in 2010 and which might be the first step towards interstellar travel.. For once, i wish i were born in the future, just to experience space travel, to watch the stars and to feel first hand the awe-inspiring vastness of the galaxy… what an awesome experience that would be… But thats something that can’t happen and so, centuries later, when men, and women, would be freely roaming around the galaxy, we would be, perhaps, a remote statistic that existed in the initial days of humanity…

    until next time, live long and prosper 🙂

  • Stuck in a web

    I happened to read this a while back, and this recently, and finally, the presentation below
    While the last two are quite obviously connected, the first one is too, albeit in a round about way.
    Having worked now for over 4 years in a brand role, out of which at least 2 have involved quite some work in the online space, i tend to agree with what Mr.Desai says, especially this part, “The real problem is our mental model of the brand. We see it as a fortress which we must defend against all interlopers.”
    I have seen this in all the 3 brands i have worked on, and this is exactly why internet marketing is still in its infancy stage in India. In fact, even among the brands that do some stuff in the space, a majority are those who make internet strategy decisions on an excel sheet as part of the media plan – print – x lakhs, outdoor-y lakhs, internet- z lakhs. Nothing wrong with this, except that the strategy ends up as an adaptation of the print/outdoor creative, and the activity on the web is limited to that.
    And the next step, if it happens – in the typical knee-jerk reactions that are a regular sight everywhere, the CEO ‘discovers’ blogging, and wants someone to start a corporate blog, without even pausing to think what is going to be done there and whether it is sustainable. I know at least one example. 🙂
    The problem is in ‘letting go’. Brands and brand managers cannot come to terms with it, and are still stuck in a web that refuses to look outward except for the token market research, and we all know how that gets done. Ask the creative guys in agencies and they’ll tell you horror stories of subjective likes and dislikes being thrust upon them, not just those, but whims and desires, as well. And one of the mandatory things to go online is the understanding that you will get some brickbats and your brand will be tossed around. The key is in dealing with it, and converting that into a better consumer experience. Are you game for that challenge? The answer, in most corporates (from what i’ve seen, and maybe i haven’t seen enough) would be a resounding no!!
    Knowing the RGB configuration of the brand takes 2 minutes of mugging up, but understanding the dna of the brand and working on it is a different ballgame, and if there are consumers willing to help, i wonder why brand guys have difficulty in accepting it.
    and i bid adieu, brandishing my love for the internet 🙂

  • Sites and Insights

    D went to see the Niagara fall last weekend… and it did, several times, she said thats why they call it Niagara Falls. ok, i take responsibilty for that nonsensical humour(?) :
    Which made me wonder, there are so many sights around the world that I’ll never manage to see? I can choose to see it, but then why would i choose to see it over, lets say, the Stonehenge, or the Great Barrier Reef, or the Sphinx,or the Colosseum, or London Bridge. Even if i had all the money and all the time, could i ever manage to see all the sights that are worth seeing? Can i even imagine the different sights that are spread across the geographical expanse of the planet?
    So, do i miss seeing them? Not exactly, because i dont think i will notice the difference between sunsets in Goa and say, the Riviera or the nightview of the Queen’s necklace and the Quai des États-Unis. Maybe thats just philosophising or maybe i am in denial.. 🙂
    Or maybe, its just a function of who you’re with and what you take out of those sights… Awe, splendour, amazement, bliss, joy…and so on…
    And thats why an internet connection is so damn important, coz if you can’t do it really, you might as well do it virtually – from panorama to vista and discovery to explorer.. Because the plethora of content does to me exactly what books do to me – gives perspectives.. of people i have never met, and places I have never seen…

    until next time, see you on orkut 😉

  • Pati, Patni aur Woh

    Exactly the current president’s cup of tea – that what this presidential election has become – rocket science. But unfortunately, that doesnt do him much help, coz he has already backed out. But that’s only after doing a rose petal stunt of ‘will he, wont he’, and then saying he would stand for a second term only if he were assured of a victory. By those standards, i wonder how he was so active sending up rockets, considering that most of them came back faster than they went up. And forget achieving their objective, the only thing they succeeded in doing was to destroy some poor fishes’ homes in the arabian sea/ bay of bengal or create a theme park/ picnic spot for the fishes’ children. No wonder they always said there was always something fishy in India’s space research..sorry, i digress.. All said and done, doesnt look like the man who made the chikunguniya look fashionable, and the one who inspired salmaan for the ‘tere naam’ look is going to have a second term as Rashtrapati.

    Which brings us to the prime contestant – the one who has been accused of shielding a killer, of defaulting onpayments for a factory. I say it is wrong that such a person should contest for the notional post of President, Indian politics has lost a true flag-bearer. She has awesome qualifications to be PM, but the nation is into non-controversial PMs these days, sigh. Chalo, at least this way, we get to see our first Rashtrapatni.

    The current VP, was once upon a time, regarded as an almost definite P, but unfortunately for him, all his ex-supporters now only say, oh, woh?

    Why am i writing about it? Because it was so damn inconsequential, but true to his name, Dr.Kalam, has converted the entire exrecise into a PJ !!

    until next time, shall we tell the president?

  • Gestation Time

    She hated this wait. It had been many months now, and she still had some more to go, before the result showed. She was a bit nervous. It definitely wasn’t the first time that she was going through this, but she was still young, and not, lets say, a seasoned player, though how anyone could be a seasoned player inspite of multiple experiences was something beyond her imagination, since every experience in this regard was a unique one, with its own set of ups and downs and idiosyncrasies.
    He was not exactly what you could call a big help, though he was definitely much sweeter and understanding than most others of his breed. She had heard enough horror stories to realise and appreciate that, but unfortunately it was more of her cross than his. But wait, it wasn’t exactly a cross and besides, in his own right, he would be tense too, but he couldn’t or rather wouldn’t show it to her. She wasn’t sure if it was a ‘man’ thing- this entire show of bravado, when being tense.
    But, to be fair to him, he had been very supportive and understanding when she had mentioned her desire to him. He thought it was pretty natural. In fact he had initiated the process and gone through it without much fuss. In fact, she thought, that was an understatement, because it had been pure pleasure.
    But she hated this wait, especially since one couldn’t be too sure of everything turning out right, because though both of them had defintely played their parts, the higher powers had a say in it too. But though she hated the wait, she would grin and bear, after who could every say no to appraisals and increments?

    until next time, the thought was conceived after reading this 🙂