'It is a reflection of what every NRI man goes through' ~ Ketan Bhagat
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| Ketan Bhagat |
While his brother is unarguably the most popular author of India. He, himself never wanted to be an author. Being an NRI, he underwent some different experience that he never heard of. Is it same as captured by Karan Johar on-screen or has he something different, unique and more to say?
Ketan Bhagat better known as Chetan Bhagat’s brother has more to share - completely different from his brother’s. While his debut novel Complete/Convenient is about to release on 15th of May 2013. During an interaction with S. Anupam, Ketan avers, “Complete/Convenient is a beautiful mix of my life’s real experiences and my imagination.” Excerpts…
What did inspire you to become an author?
Even though I have been always creative, I never wanted to be a writer. Was too lazy and adventurous to sit alone and type endlessly. I was happy cracking jokes and making humorous presentations amongst friends and office events. In any case I was too busy travelling countrie and collecting memories – bungee jumping, scuba diving, yoga, sky diving, snorkeling, etc.
Then few years ago, I went through a transformational experience. Something extremely intense and yet surprisingly common to my age group. Yet, I was totally unprepared for it. Had never read, heard or seen about it in books or movies. No one from family had told me about it as well.
A thorough-bred NRI like me gave up a luxurious comfortable dollar-centric life and came back to India.Why? How? This was a story I wanted to tell.
Easiest way was to write a novel as 1) it is cheap 2) it is practical (your boss thinks you are doing office work on the laptop) and 3) at least in my case, there was a writer in the family so it wasn’t considered a crazy idea J
Is Complete/Convenient a fictional work or real story? How much it reflects your life?
It is Fiction. However, it is based on real-life people and incidents that either happened to me or my friends, colleagues or customers.
It is a reflection of what every NRI man goes through especially in the first few years of moving to a new country. I can’t think of any NRI who won’t be able to relate to the situations that Kabir, my main protagonist, goes through.
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| Book Cover |
Working on the novel....
Little over two years. Mainly because I was neither a writer nor a reader. Till two years ago, probably Chetan Bhagat was the only writer I had read. On top of it, I could barely write a proper email.
So even though the story was clear in my mind, it took a lot of rewrites, reviews and rewrites to get the content, flow, language etc right.
Being an NRI story, how much would it appeal to the mass Indian readers?
I am not Chetan Bhagat. He is a genius and a master storyteller. I consider my writing style very average and lacking any ‘ooomph’ factor.
However, I feel this story will appeal to every Indian because of the relevance of its topic. I haven’t met any Indian who has not thought of moving overseas. Yet, there is no realistic story on what actually happens when you settle abroad. It’s certainly not the way Karan Johar shows it in his movies. No one flies business class, zips around in a Ferrari and stays in plus beach facing bungalows.
Also, I haven’t met any NRI who has forgotten India. Or the family of an NRI who haven’t made their share of sacrifices. Has any story, movie in recent times captured this? Even though there are more than 20 million Indians living out of India.
Another USP of the book is that it tells the story from a man’s point of view. Most stories are either about women or about men doing only two things: either playing pranks in college or being superheros. Reality is that a lot happens in a man’s life post college and marriage. Men too go through tough times like mother and wife not getting along, office politics, financial crunch etc. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand a young working man’s psyche.
What’s your marketing strategy for the promotion? Any plan to promote the book at international market…
Even though marketing is extremely important, my focus has so far being on creating a good product. I have worked extra hard in getting the book reviewed by about 100 random people and analyzing their feedbacks. I have been a salesman for almost a decade and so know that no customer wants to end up with a bad product.
Now that the product is ready, I will start with promotions which would involve city tours, tying up with book stores and reaching out to as many book readers as possible. Thankfully, some articles have already appeared in newspapers about my book and few television appearances are scheduled, so there is some foundation already laid.
Even though my initial marketing focus will be on Indian market, NRI’s have already starting showing interest in the book. I have just launched the eBOOK version at Amazon. Plus, I have shipped physical books to Singapore, Australia and USA.
After Complete/Convenient, which are the current projects you’re working on?
Nothing at this stage. I do have a story for a second book in my mind. Again something I have personally experienced and seen others experiencing. If Complete/Convenient gets a decent acceptance from readers, I will write my second book. If, for some reason, they reject me as a writer I will humbly ask for forgiveness and do something else. Don’t want to force myself in the market.
Your favorite books and authors...
My favorite authors/books are Salman Rushdie’s Midnights Children, Hussain Zaidi’s Dongri to Dubai and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist.
In the end...
Please read Complete/Convenient. While I don’t claim to have any exceptional talents but I have worked extremely hard on the book. I promise it’s very readable. ~ Ketan Bhagat
Tag :
Interview,
Ketan Bhagat
Book Review: The Krishna Key
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| The Krishna Key |
The Krishna Key is an anthropological thriller trying to unfold Krishna & his much awaited Avatar, Kalki in the process and a murder mystery that is able to keep you engrossed till the very end with some contrived, forced and preachy dialogues. Right from the first page, you start comparing with Da vinchi code, then by JK Rowling’s as Taarak Vakil’s name description is unveiled to you and in the end you won’t hesitate to think about Coelho’s writing be it, The Alchemist, Brida or the Zahir.
The Krishna Key: A difficult project to write on
There are innumerable characters in Mahabharata. Each one has been characterized so strongly and judiciously that it leaves a little scope to weave fiction around the particular character. Krishna is undoubtedly the most deserving, but the most difficult character to frame as the central character. Actor, Aamir Khan once said that his dream project is to direct Mahabharata but he knows his limits. Few yrs. back, I asked one of India’s leading authors that why Indian authors are neglecting their own mythological characters when there’s tremendous scope to develop stories based on them. His response was that younger generations are global; they have lost their interest in these characters.
Hats off to Sanghi for bringing such a subject in the form of fiction equally backed up with facts!
Ashwin Sanghi is among the few Indian authors who dare to delve into the Indian history as well as mythology. The novel unfolds in layers – clearly showing author’s research at several layers aimed to examine Krishna’s existence not as mythological but as historical one. The Author has tried hard to equip the novel with archeological evidences in relation to Dwarka, the Taj conspiracy and 108’s theology. To appeal Indian younger generations and global readers, accepting the fact that they have little knowledge of Mahabharata, author decided to divide all the 108 chapters into two parts: The first one comes with an introductory story of Mahabharata while the second deals with a fictional story.
As a part of The Krishna Key project, Ashwin ended up reading 53 books and several research papers and it seems that the author has worked more on facts and less on fiction. Unlike Chanakya’s Chant and Rozabal line, The Krishna Key seems to educate readers more than to entertain. Take this:
“The Rosary represents the ecliptic – the path of the sun and moon across the sky. Yogis divide the ecliptic into twenty-seven equal sections called Naakshatras, and each of these into four equal padas – or steps –marking the 108 steps that the sun and moon take through the skies.”
“What truly amazing is the fact that the distance between the earth and the sun is exactly 108 times the sun’s diameter. More incredible is the fact that the distance between earth and moon is 108 times the diameter of the moon. The sun’s diameter is 108 times the diameter of the earth.”
The Plot: Captivating and Crispy
Major part of the story has been narrated through the eyes of the protagonist and historian, Saini. The plot involves serial murders to bring four seals of Krishna together. As you read the novel, it seems that together they form a key to the elixir of life or possibly a map to discover the philosopher’s stone. What exactly it is? Unlike many other novels, it starts with a murder, keeping your curiosity high – why was Varshney murdered? Who were behind? Why did they kill the anthologist? What is the meaning of the lines that the murderer leaves after each of the murders?
The puzzle keeps you haunting right from the beginning and you won’t feel any boredom till the very end, you get to know the climax.
The Punch line:
“Krishna was the eighth Avatar of Vishnu – a manifestation of a form of energy that we shall call Vish. The exact opposite energy of Vish is Shiv. While Vish, creates and preserves, Shiv destroys. They are the two faces of same coin.”
"The Philosopher is more important than the stone."
The Characters: Weak & Vague
Characters are well described. I must say unlike many other Indian authors, Ashwin Sanghi has taken care of that; tried to sketch all the characters. But some of the characters are dumbfounded and they were least expected to preach; be it, Sir Khan – who was a robber do unfold many of the layers of the mystery which you might not expect from a character like him. Radhika, Rathore, and Priya Ratnani were some of the characters that were strong enough to pull their parts. But then how can such a strong character like Priya Ratnani be fooled so easily by someone like Sir Khan for such a long time. Similar to that, Taarak Vakil a brilliant master killer knowing himself as Krishna does not get inspired from his character even a penny, never tried to know who actually the Krishna was? What was his purpose whenever he incarnated. Just because someone tells him that he is the most awaited Avatar of Lord Krishna, he doesn’t hesitate killing people. Thinking himself as god, how does he justify all his wrongdoing through the eyes of Krishna?
Somewhere, there were loads of postulates and somewhere it was just concluded without giving any postulate. It has raised a number of curious questions that you might like to know such as In accordance with theology Krishna’s existence should be 5000 yrs old and not 3200 which carbon dating suggests as the age of Dwarka. But you won’t find any satisfying answer through the postulates given in the book. Hence it satisfies – neither on facts level nor on fictional level.
The end: Little disappointing
The Author has tried to use a similar trick that Paulo Coelho does in his novels and failed abysmally in doing so. Author didn’t think it essential to connect seals or the Krishna Key with climax part, energy – for which everybody in the book except Saini, Radhika and Rathore died.
In spite of weak climax, I will rate 3-3.5 out of five as it keeps you engrossed. The climax itself is not weak but the connectivity to the climax is poor.
let My Country Awake...
I turned my head, saw the sky. It was as cool as it was years back. In spite of the incident, it remained unattached and calm.
My process of thinking is little weird. When I play Holi, I think of colour and water. We mix colour into water, play as much we want. We think of the pleasure that we get from it. We think about ourselves, our clothes which takes plenty of water to clean. We never think of the coloured water that just got wasted. We don’t put it under treatment process to clean it but we clean ourselves.
Water is a very important source of life. Look at the regions of Rajasthan, Delhi NCR and many other regions of the country, particularly in various parts of Rajasthan, where tribes have to walk Kilometres to get some water. It’s not a one day task it’s their daily routine investing/wasting years of their lives in the process. In southern states, we used to cut banana trees/leaves as part of our culture.
The question, once asked by Gautam Buddha, Ninth incarnation of God Vishnu remains, “Why do we do those things for our pleasure, which we can’t return?”
We can’t let the water to purify itself, can we?
The recent incidents suggest that the effect of the deep rooted illness of domestic violence has come out of the doors, in streets showing its loudest and dreadful forms. Government and NGOs are trying to expel the illness. Girls in schools are being taught Kung Fu and other methods of safety. Special Tele Numbers have been allotted to help women. But recent trends clearly shows it’s growing with no signs of control. The lady CM seems to be jittered with the incident, advices women/girls not to go outside in night.
At Indiblogger #RingTheBell meet, Nabanita Dhar, blogger points, “Those men don’t come from hell but brought up by their mothers. It’s a woman’s duty to teach her son how to behave. Hence Men as fathers and women as mothers are equally responsible.” Certainly, right education with right Samsakar from family can be the only cure of such kind of incidents.
The question remains, “How can we ensure right Samskara and right education, when the meaning of righteousness itself varies from person to person especially when some women think teaching violence to their children is right, giving them the ability to face the ugly world?”
Abusing Women/girl is not new. It was behind the doors as domestic violence. #RingTheBell strated a beautiful campaign to stop the violence. But the recent forms of murder post sexual assault have shaken all the efforts that were made. There is no Gandhi, or Anna Hazare to raise the issue. All are left at their own. I’m not writing, it’s just flowing through my fingers – with background music of Vasant Desai, once my mother used to sing – Ae maalik tere bande hum…
Meghna Rao, Communication Manager, Breakthrough campaigning for #RingTheBell, asks, “Why only women are drawn up for cure when the problem lies with men?” A woman after such an incident has to suffer her whole life to get out it. Statistics suggests some commit suicide.
And the terrible news is; it doesn’t start until she gets five yrs old.
Most of us have seen the 1st part of Satyamev Jayate, Female Foeticide. Not many of us can forget the lady that was badly eaten and defaced by her husband. Good people are there but like Bhishma, Yudhistira or Drona who can tell you what’s wrong or right very precisely but there’s no Krishna. He lies within the soul. Hence we will have to follow our inner souls and act accordingly.
From female foeticide to #delhigangrape, the incidents are connected. The cure must come from boys/men's side, they will have to control their zip/lips/eyes keeping the least of humane essence alive. This time Buddha turns to men, his question remains, “Why do we do those things for our pleasure, which we can’t return?”
I am ashamed, I belong to Bihar, which once considered as the land of righteousness, created the leaders like Buddha, Ashoka, Shivaji to many more, I have spent major part of my life in Delhi, and then I’m a man, I feel ashamed.
Then, I see the sky, I see the clouds they never belong to any particular region, they don’t know where to fall, but it happens eventually to them. I learn the process of unattachment. And, I smile. Life then moves on. I come to know, Buddha didn’t ask any question but actually it was his answer to Angulimal, which cured the mobster's life.
'I write because I feel that if I didn’t it would drive me insane' ~ Cassandra Giovanni
She doesn't remember a time when she wasn't writing. In fact, the first time she was published was when she was seven years old and won a contest to be published in an American Girl Doll novel. Since then Cassandra has written more novels than she can count and put just as many in the circular bin. Her personal goal with her writing is to show the reader the character's stories through their dialogue and actions instead of just telling the reader what is happening. In 2012 she became a published Young Adult author, releasing In Between Seasons (The Fall, #1) and Walking in the Shadows. In 2013 she branched out by using her artistic illustrating talents to publish her first Children's novel, The Adventures of Skippy Von Flippy: Tales of Friendship (Skippy Tales, #1). Cassandra will also release her first New Adult novel, Just One Cup, in the Spring of 2013.
Her Book 'Just One Cup' is scheduled to release on 20th of June 2013.
Her Book 'Just One Cup' is scheduled to release on 20th of June 2013.
Book Preview: Just One Cup
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| Just One Cup: Cover Page |
The book revolves around two central characters Emma Walker and Evan Levesque. Emma Walker was a writer who'd lost herself to someone else's anger--who had given up on ever feeling like herself again. Evan Levesque was a rock-god--the one all the woman wanted, but he'd never gotten used to the loneliness between the stage and real life.
With just one cup of coffee they'll begin a journey of self-discovery at each others sides, but can Emma handle Evan's fame while dealing with her own demons? Emma's checkered personal past, a bad relationship that haunts the edges of her memories, threatens to make everything implode on them when Evan takes matters into his own hands.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words...they'll destroy my soul--Can Emma handle being put back together and facing who she's become because of it?
"The novel is more than a romance novel; it’s about two individuals growing together and finding the strength to rise above things that hold them back." avers Cassandra during an interaction with Anupam. Excerpts...
With just one cup of coffee they'll begin a journey of self-discovery at each others sides, but can Emma handle Evan's fame while dealing with her own demons? Emma's checkered personal past, a bad relationship that haunts the edges of her memories, threatens to make everything implode on them when Evan takes matters into his own hands.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words...they'll destroy my soul--Can Emma handle being put back together and facing who she's become because of it?
"The novel is more than a romance novel; it’s about two individuals growing together and finding the strength to rise above things that hold them back." avers Cassandra during an interaction with Anupam. Excerpts...
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| Cassandra Giovanni |
Where did the idea for Just One Cup come from?
I was looking to write something that would be “fluff” and less dark than the current project that I was working because it had become too much with working full-time and college full-time. I decided I wanted to write a romance and the first scene for the novel came to my mind. From there I just started writing, but the problem with me is, I can’t write “fluff”. The novel morphed into something that dealt with the serious topic of abusive relationships.
Apart from the contemporary Romance, what more can we expect from the novel?
The novel is more than a romance novel; it’s about two individuals growing together and finding the strength to rise above things that hold them back. For Evan, his fame is a big roadblock for having a healthy relationship. Emma, the main character, needs to get over an abusive relationship in her past that she has never really gotten over. They both will also rediscover their true passions—Evan in his music, and Emma in writing.
I was looking to write something that would be “fluff” and less dark than the current project that I was working because it had become too much with working full-time and college full-time. I decided I wanted to write a romance and the first scene for the novel came to my mind. From there I just started writing, but the problem with me is, I can’t write “fluff”. The novel morphed into something that dealt with the serious topic of abusive relationships.
Apart from the contemporary Romance, what more can we expect from the novel?
The novel is more than a romance novel; it’s about two individuals growing together and finding the strength to rise above things that hold them back. For Evan, his fame is a big roadblock for having a healthy relationship. Emma, the main character, needs to get over an abusive relationship in her past that she has never really gotten over. They both will also rediscover their true passions—Evan in his music, and Emma in writing.
How much time did it take to finish?
It took me two months to write, and I am currently editing it. Thus, it’s not really finished. I believe in the end the total will be about 3-4 months.
What other genre(s) do you write in? How many books do you have out?
I also write Young Adult and have two titles in that genre out. My debut novel was In Between Seasons (The Fall, #1), a post-apocalyptic romance and then Walking in the Shadows, a romantic suspense was released a few months later. As well as the New Adult and Young Adult I write and illustrate Children’s, my first published is called The Adventures of Skippy Von Flippy: Tails of Friendship (Skippy Tales, #1).
What’s your methodology of writing? What you do when you get stuck in between?
I don’t really do anything when I’m stuck in between. I don’t consider myself as a person who gets writers block—if I don’t want to write, or I don’t feel like writing, I don’t. I feel that forcing things out isn’t the best way to deal with creativity. If I can’t write on one book I tend to be writing on another. I have about 4 books going at any given time.
Which kind of novels do you like most – character driven, destiny driven or story driven? How do you justify your novels and characters?
My novels are very much character driven novels. I believe this is because when I am inspired to
With Kindle and Tabs on fire, which one do you really prefer – eBook or hard copy?
Honestly, I do love a good old paperback or hard copy, but they take up a lot of space and I am not a person who likes clutter. My books, with the exception of those near and dear to my heart, are all boxed up because they take up so much room. That being said, I prefer my eBooks—cheap, and they don’t take up too much space.
Do tell us about your interests other than writing…
I’m also a professional photographer, so if I am not writing I am usually photographing anything I can. I also paint, draw, knit, sew and make jewellery.
What new projects are you working on now?
I am working on the second novel of Skippy Tales called Stinky Pete Smell My Feet, as well as two other New Adult novels. Both are paranormal romances: Deadly Sins (The Devil’s Army, #1) and The Sight (The Sight, #1).
Your advice to the young authors…
Try not to look for too much advice, what you do find take with a grain of salt and always go with your gut. If you don’t want to write every day, don’t. If you need to, do. Be organized and create a network of both authors and bloggers, for these people will make or break your career. Have a passion for writing and don’t lose it—if you do then it will just be a chore and nothing more.
Honestly, I do love a good old paperback or hard copy, but they take up a lot of space and I am not a person who likes clutter. My books, with the exception of those near and dear to my heart, are all boxed up because they take up so much room. That being said, I prefer my eBooks—cheap, and they don’t take up too much space.
Do tell us about your interests other than writing…
I’m also a professional photographer, so if I am not writing I am usually photographing anything I can. I also paint, draw, knit, sew and make jewellery.
What new projects are you working on now?
I am working on the second novel of Skippy Tales called Stinky Pete Smell My Feet, as well as two other New Adult novels. Both are paranormal romances: Deadly Sins (The Devil’s Army, #1) and The Sight (The Sight, #1).
Your advice to the young authors…
Try not to look for too much advice, what you do find take with a grain of salt and always go with your gut. If you don’t want to write every day, don’t. If you need to, do. Be organized and create a network of both authors and bloggers, for these people will make or break your career. Have a passion for writing and don’t lose it—if you do then it will just be a chore and nothing more.
What makes Blogspot a better spot than WP?
I have been blogging for the past 8 yrs. Initially started at bloglines.com but by the time it went under acquisition, I lost all my articles/posts/data. In 2007 finally, I migrated to blogspot with the believe that Google won't cheat, and actually it didn't. 2010 onwards Blogspot has been not only the biggest blog spot but one of the top ten websites in the world. There is another popular blog-spot called Wordpress - one of the top 25 websites.
The rivalry is close - closer than google vs. baidu, youtube vs. dailymotion.
There are reasons for that. Bloggers are the most independent consumers. They like to experiment. They actually have got the guts to move against the onflow. Like many other bloggers, I have been using both. I must say both have their distinct features and can't be compared at all.
Blogsopt: Top choice for common users
Common Users, who don't want buy their own disk space prefer blogspot as their top choice for obvious reasons:
Blogspot allows you to edit your template's codes. You can import the templates as per you choice. Wordpress does charge heavy amount for these facilities. Moreover Blogspot offers some really great dynamic templates which are not available at wordpress. It offers unlimited bandwidth against the limited offer at wordpress. But what blogger doesn't provide is that you can't publish your pdf docs directly at blogspot but at wordpress you can.
Wordpress: Simplest web support service for common paid users
Wordpress is known for offering its free web software/service for paid users those found their web hosts already. Having said that you can now install a number of templates using wordpress. But still you won't find these as great as offered at blogspot. there are a number of lovely templates designed for wp, but they aren't free, are they?
For blogging purpose, I won't migrate to wordpress but for website development. In a nutshell, blogspot is for active bloggers with over 250 million users those can follow each other, read all following blog posts in the same web page using google reader. Wordpress is for users who are interested in establishing their own websites with their own space and all. Wordpress is known for it web support services that is not offered by blogspot.
The Great Advert Effects...
Given below are three advertisements that affected the corresponding firms in different ways.
Hamara Bajaj: The Vehicle India rides on!
If there is any one ad that served much more than its purpose – worked as Sanjivani, it has to be the old ‘Hamara Bajaj’ ad. In 1988-89, Bajaj was losing rapidly its market shares in two wheeler market segment due to the launch of motorbikes by other companies. Kawasaki KB100 was yet to get popular. There was no flagship vehicle that could help save the company to come out of this awkward situation. What its vehicles couldn’t do, the 49 Sec TV commercial ‘Hamara Bajaj’ did in 1989. Inspired from Germany & US adculture, it could connect with Indian Consumers – Hamara India, Hamara Bajaj: The vehicle India rides on. Created by Lintas, the ad was so spectacular that in spite of the being old monk among all the new two wheelers, Chetak left its competitors LML India/NV behind, rode high in numbers and Bajaj could evolve itself as the 2nd biggest two wheeler company.
The ad clearly was not aimed to show the product value which was not that great but was equipped with the great Indian value attached with the product. No need to say it served the purpose.
1984: World won’t Over!
In January 2000, at the MacWorld Expo, the boom presenter Steve Jobs continued the tradition of making a presentation by apple CEO (once started by himself) at the Trade Show. The unbelievable crowd & their clapping could not hide his emotional watershed of fifteen years in wilderness after being rejected by his very own company. He actually could make listeners believe that he had changed since then.
Directed by Ridley Scott, Jobs had to invest a major chunk of Apple Computer’s (that time it was Apple Computer) annual revenue into the making of that commercial ad. This made Macintosh computers initial price to $2,495 from the originally planned $1,995. As a result of which the initial sold out success could not get repeated for the follow ups. Steve never did that again. He heavily invested in product quality in order to maintain the follow up sales better. He learned, “Best-in-class Products sell themselves, once we really do what we meant.”
The ad is memorized as one of the most successful ads ever made.
Tata Nano: A promise is a promise...
It all started when Ratan Tata announced at Geneva Auto Show 2005 that he was going to manufacture the cheapest car in the world - a car that would cost only $1800-1900. The decision was in sync with what developing nations really needed. When Maruti-Suzuki to Hundai all auto-majors express their inability to manufacture the same. Many thought it might be a joke. But In Tata's words, 'A promise is a promise.' From Tata Chemicals' lab to Titan's, R & Ds were going on to develop and design not only the cheapest car but a car that could touch the heart of 65% of Indians. He further said, "I don't believe in making right decisions I take decisions and make them right." There were mixed reactions from Media considering traffic jams, environmental effects and possible safety & security flaws.
After getting a kick start @Delhi Auto Show 2009 Nano could not fly high but fell down in between. Riding on Nano, Tata Motors aimed to become No. 1 in India but it's continuously on the slide. From No. 2 spot it's now on three and may soon be spotted at No. 4 owing to the incredible Mahindra Rise.
How the En passant move of capturing Maruti 800 did not turn well in favour?
Experts believe, "There were primarily two reasons behind the poor performance. First was, Nano couldn't stand over people's expectations but indeed watered it down. The first edition wasn't up to the mark. Maintenance cost was higher that certainly was not supposed to be. Second was the faulty promotion of the people's car." Nano was promoted as the cheapest car to attract lower middle class, but nobody wants to buy the cheapest. Wrong promotion did cost a lot. With capacity more than of manufacturing 2.5 lacs, current production of Nano is around 70, 000.
While Renault Chief Executive Carlos Ghosen coined a term 'frugal engineering' for the car, Nano indeed is a disruptive innovation, will take its time. Tata motors definitely appear slower than its competitors such as Hundai, Mahindra or Suzuki. But with nano 800, Nano diesel, Nano two seater and Pixel under development, they got best bullets with long barrel of the gun to fire.
Recent Ad Trends: Mixed approach
Recent trends in advertisements show mixed approaches. Most of the ads are oriented to gain short-run success, hence more often they misinterpret the product value. Further, many of the ads have become sort of personality-oriented. The multi-national brands are being endorsed by Sport Stars/celebrities. For e.g. featuring Federer or Sachin gets directly connected with crores of fans across the globe.
Certainly Personality based Ads does work, but they are risky as well:
- Such endorsements involve big investments not affordable by most of the companies.
- Big personalities endorse big bands only that could suit their own.
- Ads’ success/failure depends on fan-connectivity and not on their popularity.
Keeping the recent slowdown in mind, such investments might be risky as the players’/celebrities’ popularity/fan base has become much more unpredictable.
Building brand through product values:
Many of the leading companies such as Google, Apple, htc have focussed more on products and left the advertisement works on their competitors. This saves money – less risk, less mistakes to be counted. But this strategy does work with big brands with better products.
Smaller companies have to think carefully while investing on Ad commercials.
‘A leader should have the courage to take decisions and mobility of thought.’ – Kalam @Coclave13
Since 2002, India Today Conclave has been bridging the gap between government & people. The subject matters are brought up to the panelists based on last year's survey and their possible implications in future. The organizers have managed to bring a brilliant mix of eminent personalities from different categories. But in the past two years, the decreasing presence of government simply indicates that it doesn’t even want to talk about the issues like safety & security of women, section 66A, Italian marine return case, economic reform policy and so on.
"A country's prowess depends on the barrel of its gun, the size of its treasury and adeptness of its political leadership. We have none."Harish Salve
India Today Conclave 13 too brought some typical contemporary issues. While many of the speakers did try to solve the issues; came up with some feasible solutions over the complex issues such as Arun Shourie saying that you can tweet more and more if you think it’s not a crime. Harish Salve averred that we were never Indians unlike the Americans we are more of Panjabi, Tamil, Gujrati and so forth, Nationality comes second. Many of the panelists fumbled at times be it Junior Thakrey that he could have banned skirts if he wanted to do so; Arvind kejriwal saying that a rickshawala pays Rs. 1500-2000 electricity bill in India. I’m sure not even a single rickshawala would agree with it. It just shows it’s easy to make a party but too difficult to develop a clear strategy on all the contemporary issues and that he hasn’t moved a bit since then.
"Do not be seduced by a new law. Enforce the existing law."Arun Shourie
Among the veteran speakers, Arun Shourie & Dr. Kalam like always came up with some fresh ideas & solutions that GOI must adopt in future. I was totally amazed with the kind of knowledge Amish Tripathi showed over Vedas, Upnishad & the Gita. I never expected that from an IIM Alumini. It simply shows how much he read before writing the Shiva Triology.
Sri Sri Ravishankar, Arvind Kejriwal & Narendra Modi came up with same repetitive statements and arguments. I could never find any sense when Ravishankar says thousand times, “be happy”. Can he tell them the same for the majority of the population who are living in a state of penury. He can’t! He charges Rs. 500 onwards for that. His centre avails five-bed/room to single bed/room for the happy chants. I wonder that he still promotes himself as a social worker.
A year ago, Arwind Kejriwal had a point of corruption. But can a government be made based on that. Like everybody he questions government but as a party leader he fails to show the solutions.
Let's hope; more of our so called democratic leaders could prepare themselves for such high voltage Q&As which they don't in the parliament.
Time to Resurrect the Humane Essence
"45 rape, 75 molestation case reported
after #DelhiGangRape"
“That's what careless words do. They make
people love you a little less.” - Arundhati Roy
The craftsmanship of human beings lies beyond
their sense organs but actively depend on it. The activeness plays deciding
role in our understanding and love towards visual art, performing art,
decorative art or other forms. In contrast to this interest, Science &
technology is completely due to brains own structure cum our environment that creates
a clear picture of our desire, or an ideal someone like Einstein, Hawking or
else always before us, causes it, through a continuous involvement of the brain
through understanding the nature with real phenomena. In both the cases, the
generative and sustaining power of its subconscious mind helps it to pursue the
thought unceasingly.
(I tried to explore the beauty of Art, of all
the forms. This is one of the best ways to improve the sensitivity of our
organs, thus the quotients. A painter paints. His/her mind creates the image
that perfectly passes through his fingers. This is the reflection that comes
from his sensibility. A musician while working on his raga has to correlate his
desire constantly and what his ear reflects to the mind. A director working on his movie enjoys the
freedom of creating art for the three sense organs simultaneously.)
In short, higher the sensibility, higher can be
the Creative Quotient. Can Be? Yes that’s only one of the essential parameters
of that, the other is Mental Quotient - how it reacts to the signals, which
further depends on many others like the health Quotient, Emotional Quotient and
so on. We are getting a little deeper into the Quotients. Let’s see some of the
Quotients that sketch a character within the brain.
IQ – Intelligence Quotient
EQ – Emotional Quotient
HQ – Health Quotient
AQ – Adversity Quotient
FQ – Finance Quotient
WQ – Will Quotient
SQ – Spiritual Quotient
MQ – Mental Quotient
DQ – Daring Quotient
CQ – Creative Quotient
I have gone through so many tests/interviews
since my childhood. All I feel were limited to 3-5 Quotients. Many even don’t
care about the rest of the quotients. This is one of the reasons that they are
drought of creativity. But my reason for pointing fingers towards these
failures is something else.
Someone has rightly said that India is a
country where more than 90% of people are mentally weak when it comes to
controlling their organs. So much has been written after #delhigangrape case.
While women oriented bloggers all pointed out their fingers towards males;
males had something else to say. Some of the profound bloggers did point towards
erroneous education. We in schools do promote extra-curricular activities but
as Extras, which many students don’t opt. We don’t maintain their ratings of
all the quotients.
My Take: A digital ID of all must be carried
out since their primary education which should carry their psychoanalytical
behavior in terms of all these quotients as encoded. As Quotients and
performance are very closely correlated, this will indicate exactly where one
needs to improve. This should not be a big task as being an IT rich country, we
are very much capable of turning it into practice. India is standing somewhere
at the corner-point where modern mysticism is badly fighting with the
traditional inertia. Somewhere I feel such major issues occur as a result of their
psychoanalytic reflections or religious fanaticism. The incident above
mentioned is actually not one but there lies a series of events that interprets
a wide-range of reflections that are indispensable to solve for a psychological
understanding of a country like India as it moves into the new millennium.
People do care for the careless words who said
what, which can never truly reflect your deeds. Step by step you will achieve
realization, for all your faculties and powers become directed to that
resultant. May be I’m wrong, but this needs a right and fresh approach from the
beginning rather tweeting post such accidents.
Rest in peace Pt. Ravi Shankar
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| Pt. Ravi Shankar: 7 April 1920 to 11 December 2012 |
सूरज को जाते देख सांझ ने भी अपनी पोटली खोल,
एक-एक कर तारों को आकाश में टांगना शुरू किया
पर आज सूरज के जाने पर भी रौशनी कम न थी
उसने देखा – नीचे दूर धरती पर कोई अस्सी वर्षों बाद
एक सितार खामोश रो रहा था.
(While his Sitar gently weeps, Pt. Ravi Shankar seeks eternal peace)
Tag :
Pt. Ravishankar,
RIP
