Go 'Dutch' For 'Indian' Values, My Moral Police Might Frisk You.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Proudly I say, my soil is enriched with diverse socio-cultural values but never really made an effort to gauge it. Though, I don’t have to worry about it anymore since our self-proclaimed gangs of moral saviors are on a rampage.

Democracy today is best practiced in night-clubs, pubs, discs & all other places where our law permits ‘anyone’ & ‘everyone’ to “un-wind”. Finally something good for my ‘kesariya’ draped, ‘home-made’ bunch of potential losers who are oath-bounded to perform what was pending on Lord Vishnu’s part- to preserve Indian culture & heritage in our own ‘efficacious’ ways.

Before landing into a ‘self-pity zone’, I wish to understand the gravity of the situation. The humiliation has yet to reach its pinnacle & the road to elevation will strip many more of us out of our ‘respected-selves’. But the biggest irony today is when all the communities are facing the heat of terrorism & the entire govt. machinery is judiciously working towards a ‘safe & better India’, “the Mangalore act" overburdens the nation with its ‘button-down’ approach & shameful display of cowardice.

It’s surprising to realize the fact that world’s biggest democracy is blindfolded against the malfunctioning of some parallel conservative groups who under a holy name are fulfilling their malicious motives.

The “Talibanic Act” is not just an outcome of someone’s whimsical fancies but it exposes the inherent impotency inside all of us to calibrate & design a social structure, governed by stringent laws to protect the innocents from the barbarians.

With just a couple of activist groups like Shiv Sena, Shri Ram Sena & Bajrang Dal, who are drawing un-due advantage out of the religious sentiments, are turning successful in sabotaging & creating a social chaos, an acute fear runs down my spine to imagine if there's no action, we have another 360 million to our kitty.

India: Land of treasure, Bombed with pleasure.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Incredible India! or precisely Incredible 'India-Yesterday'!
Known for its serene beauty and rich culture, ' India-yesterday' was an epitome of peace & harmony across the globe.From the Himalyan stretch to the southern corals...From the eastern 'dawns' to the western 'dusks'...'India -Yesterday' shared a common dream- 'Peace'. Peace for my folks, peace for my friends, peace for myself. After recovering from a regretful era of regional and communal discrepancy, 'India-Yesterday' hobbled on the growth track owing to the economic liberalisation of the country.The 'corporatization' brought back life to the market, the 'call centre era ' diluted the need for 'pocket money', the 'nano' declaration evoked a long uncherished dream of owning a car someday, all has one thing in common-Peace. Peace to work, peace to grow, peace to carve a significant space in the social circuit.

In the middle of the stargazing drops a 'bomb'.

The bombing at Jaipur raised many criticisms.Entire country was dumb-struck without realizing that it was just a teaser of the 'chronology' that was awaiting us at the corner.Delhi, Bangalore, Ahemdabad, Agartala, kanpur, the pain multiplied manifolds."India-Today" has become an epicentre, a handicapped nation witnessing the 'inevitable'.The fear has embedded in an 'indian gene' and 'uncertainity' has ransacked our minds. Uncertainity to a level where a bomb rumour turns into a greivous stampede ending more than 200 lives as witnessed at one of the Jodhpur shrines.

Who are the people behind all these tragedies? Are they some aliens trying to invade us or some 'cynicals' traumatizing innocents owing to the rancour they possess for mankind. I surfed through many layers but i failed to understand the motive of these 'narcissits'.For how long will we be the victims of this impotent system? For how long will we be the 'prey' to these cannibals? For how long our dreams will shatter before even shaping up?

What's the way out?

I fail to understand.

Help me out.

Coffee Table Book: An unusual but effective branding tool of the present era.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Until last year, a coffee table book (usually referred as CTB in the print industry) was merely a 'time-killing' picturesque display for me. Resting in the designer shelf of a premium hotel lobby, the 'effort' could hardly explained its existence to an amateur like me, who for instance was busy differentiating between those who could lift it and those who could read, after lifting it.

Realization of the true potential of the vehicle started with my close stint as a business development executive with one of the leading hindi newspaper groups in Rajasthan. "Rendezvous- A date with the jewels", a coffee table book that takes you on voyage into the rich gems and jewelery industry of Rajasthan, happened to be my first encounter.The book narrates the success tales of those who took Rajasthan's jewelery industry to another 'degree of recognition' in the global market.

The response was overwhelming.

In a market like Rajasthan, where print media holds utmost importance and plain vanilla advertising 'rules d roost', a branding exercise of this sort drew tremendous attention. The initiative was basically aimed at branding the entire state as an ideal hub for jewelery trade and induced a 'no-sale' process by distributing it complimentary to the entire corporate clientele of the company.

Why just one business sector? 'Rajasthan', holding the largest geographical boundries in the country is yet to 'clear its due' . Being rewarded with a 'culturally rich' tag doesn't serves the purpose until the other business verticals also get some recognition on the national scale.

'A tree is strong if its roots are strong'. A simple brain-storming session led us to decide that the biggest hurdle Rajasthan is facing today is being 'culturally rich' with the inhabitants considered to be 'traditionally backward'. Despite having good infrastructure and a pool of highly qualified academicians, the state is facing corporate ignorance owing to the above mentioned fact and the only way to break this myth was to share a glimpse of our education system and establishments with the 'intellect community'.

'Pathfinder' was born.

'Pathfinder-Your best bet for professional education in Rajasthan', a coffee table book that boasts of the premium engineering, medical and management institutes of Rajasthan with career counselling articles from renowned career counsellors like Usha Alberque and Parvin Malhotra was 'one of its kind' initiative in the advertising history of Rajasthan. A concrete platform for the educationists to brand and compete with the 'metro rivals' turned out to be a reader's delight. Owing to the great market response we also launched the magazine edition of pathfinder so as to cater to the local audience.

Continuing the trend, came "Gurkuls of Rajasthan- Shaping present, Moulding future", a coffee table book that talks about the most prominent residential schools of Rajasthan, thus justifying the state to be an ideal playground for your seedlings. The profiles of pioneer institutes like Mayo College and BITS pilani strengthen the fact of existence of quality institutes in the desert state. The book turned out to be a dream platform for the new entrants to share the limelight and setting up a reputation base among a nationwide 'corporate pool' by standing in the same premier league.

In a nutshell, in today's world where a new newspaper or a magazine 'classified' with an ad clutter is launched everyday, a coffee table book designated to a particular business theme can prove to be an ideal branding vehicle.

If Rajasthan, where branding is still considered to be an 'alien game', can respond well to it, i am sure it will do wonders in the 'metro markets'.