• The idea of brand

    It’s been a little over a year since Mastercard launched its twelve-second sonic logo. Sensory branding isn’t new – from Mercedes‘ door closing to Britannia’s jingle to the Rolls Royce’s new car smell, there are many examples. But this wasn’t an isolated move, a month before that, Mastercard had done a revamp of its logo, ditching the brand name. After I wrote the language post, it struck me that both these elements of brand identity – two coloured circles without a name, and a jingle – are language agnostic. In a world of connected speakers and voice-enabled interactions, this does seem like, well, a sound strategy!

    It made me reflect on the larger idea of brand. Specifically, if brand is a perception in the mind of a consumer, what are the factors that are influencing the perception? Three broad areas immediately came to mind (more…)

  • The Grace of Kings

    Ken Liu

    The Grace of Kings is the first part of a trilogy named The Dandelion Dynasty. I really liked The Paper Menagerie & Other Stories (by the same author), so I bought this book soon as I came to know of its existence.
    Inspired by the Han dynasty, this is “silkpunk”‘s answer to the Game of Thrones! There is an emperor, there are palace intrigues, there are rebellions, and contenders vying for the throne. But that’s probably too broad a stroke, and is unfair to the differences.

    The main contenders are polar opposites – one is a sly wastrel who becomes a bandit and has an innate charisma and goodness that wins the hearts of the people, the other is a noble brought up in exile who believes in winning battles through sheer valour in the battlefield and has very clear ideas of right and wrong. They cross paths, become brothers in arms and rebel against the emperor. The metaphor of dandelion vs chrysanthemum is the philosophical underpinning of the book, and causes the clash of ideals. Also pertinent is how the gods of the realm have their own champions and do not shy away from meddling in the affairs of mortals.

    The book has a bunch of many interesting characters and though the pages devoted to them might not be many, the roles and their significance in the story arcs are very well defined. Between a narrative pace that is unflagging, and the twists that never end, the book creates a momentum that is hard to resist! That ensures that the few grammatical errors and the seeming ease with which main characters overcome obstacles, can be ignored.

  • La Casa Brewery & Kitchen

    Our intense contempt for Sarjapur Road’s microbreweries is well documented – Vapour and Hoot being the catalysts. Aurum pulled it back a little, and that’s why, despite my instincts, we decided to make our way to La Casa Brewery & Kitchen. Actually, a little more than instincts. Around 8 years ago, I’d visited the place with my colleagues. Some of us, who loved Khow Suey, persuaded a colleague to try it. Unfortunately, La Casa massacred the dish. Said colleague, to his credit, continues to be a good friend, or is maybe planning a cold revenge.

    The signs were ominous. Google Maps showed us an early turn to get off Sarjapur Road, to save 5 mins. That turned out to be literally an off-roading experience along unpaved roads that had garbage and pigs featuring prominently in the landscape.  La Casa Brewery & Kitchen is reasonably well done, and somehow manages to keep out the chaos of the road. Since only a few tables were occupied when we arrived and we were told we could sit wherever we wanted, we chose a 4-seater in the corner. Along with the menu, we also got a request to shift to a 2 seater “because Saturday night”. Unnecessary, we felt because there were no less than seven 4-seaters vacant. We pointed that out to him with the promise that we would shift if those got occupied. As predicted, didn’t happen.

    La Casa Brewery & Kitchen

    Craft beer was the sole reason for the trip. From the five that were available, we chose the Saison and the Belgian Wit. Completely lacking in spirit (not literally), they offered a perfect prelude to the meh that followed. In fact, the original plan was to use Zomato Gold for a 1+1 on drinks, but such was the quality of beer that we skipped that. Imagine!

    Bamboo pork was the first dish we asked for, and were told that it would be spicy. Predictably, it wasn’t. Spicy Dunken partially lived up to its name – the preparation was basic Chinese fare. We had lost the appetite we came with, and hoped to salvage some of it with a Kerala Style Irachi fry. On hindsight, a dumb decision. Whoever made it clearly hadn’t tasted the dish before.

    Dessert was fun. The only interesting dish seemed to be a Chocolate Opera. We casually asked what it was, and panic seemed to set in. In the third attempt, we figured out that it was a pastry. Since we’d had enough drama, we skipped.

    La Casa Brewery & Kitchen

    The bill came to a little over Rs.1400. I shall leave it there with no more comments.

    La Casa Brewery & Kitchen, 15, Amrita Engineering College Road, Kasavanahalli, Sarjapur Road Ph: 30456363

  • Classes Apart

    Sometime back, during an evening out with friends of the ex-colleague kind, one of them remarked how, for the business analyst roles he was hiring for, he had asked his HR to only consider the IIT + IIM species. It’s an understandable heuristic, and one I have seen too often now to be vexed.

    In public, that is. It didn’t stop me from thinking of a subject that hasn’t appeared on the blog since 2016 – meritocracy. At a personal level, I have battled the systemic bias with whatever cognitive privilege I had, and made modest gains. There have been scars too – “the muscle memory of having to fight for every little thing“, and it’s only recently that I have been able to deal with it objectively, and heal. But increasingly, I have felt that education is the new caste.  (more…)

  • The Book of M

    Peng Shepherd

    When a man loses his shadow in India, it is seen as a curiosity. Until it turns out that when the shadow goes, sooner or later, memories too follow. The world, understandably, switches to panic mode, even as the contagion spreads across continents. Two years later, Ory and Max have managed to survive and create their own tiny, though dangerous world. Then Max loses her shadow, and knowing the danger posed to Ory, runs away. Ory follows, and thus begin two journeys. They’re both physical and metaphysical.

    There are two other significant narratives – that of Naz, Iranian and archer, and The One Who Gathers. The respective “road trips” quickly ups the pitch of the dystopian survival narrative, complete with street gangs, faithful fanatics, and a single destination towards which everyone is gravitating – New Orleans, the rumoured abode of The One Who Gathers.

    The premise is indeed interesting. Think about it – what does the loss of memories mean to one’s identity and sense of self? And is the sum of the person and his/her memories somehow lesser than the whole? Would a different physical body with the same memories be treated as the same person, or the other way?
    The author also manages to do a good job of fleshing out the characters, who are not just multi ethnic but differ in their sexuality too. Some of the twists and turns are inventive and Max’s recordings are poignant enough to pull at heartstrings, without any melodrama.

    However, it fails on a couple of points. The pace slackens a bit towards the middle, and it doesn’t help that the book is almost 500 pages. Additionally, though there is a bunch of folklore that do make sense in the context – from Peter Pan to Kerala’s most famous elephant – the rough edges are difficult to ignore. Add to that, seemingly random bizarreness like the Statue of Liberty attacking New York City are a little difficult to fit in.

    But that’s not too much of a put off, and once you get into the groove of the book, it makes for an interesting read.
    P.S. The hat tip to Ursula K. Le Guin’s (for A Wizard of Earthsea) is to be noted. 🙂