A Marketer with a difference

 (Disclaimer: this is an attempt to imagine and experience a person I would like to become 7 years later. So the year is 2032 and meet Mr. Gaurav Chandakkar)   

Introduction: We welcome you to this Annual ISB Dialogue 2027. Today we have Mr. Gaurav Chandakkar, our alumni, an eminent personality behind 'digital ethnographer' as our speaker and guest. He graduated in Microbiology and pursued a master's in Anthropology and then an MBA. He brings 2 decades of varied work experience spanning NGOs, domestic and international alike, as well as flair of the corporate world with MNCs. Later he pursued a Fellow Programme Management from ISB. His thesis has been recognized as a pivotal work in marrying anthropological methods with modern-day day marketing. Let's put our hands together in welcoming him and hear from him his journey and life lessons. 

Monologue: Thank you and I am humbled by the introduction. Let me begin by saying, that this is a dream come true and standing here, among the brightest talents of our country, I feel privileged as well as a little nostalgic as my life journey flashed in front of my eyes. I am going to open all pages of my life and I request you to learn from my mistakes and short-comings. My story is the story of failures and lessons from failures!

Growing up, I was just an ordinary person who aimed at scoring just enough marks to make myself and my parents happy and Help me stay in a Division meant to be for 'Scholars' or good grade earners. Being fat, I was bullied and made fun of all the time and when it came to the period of PT (Physical Training), it dreaded me the most as it exposed my 'inability' to run as fast as my peers. I was a subject of 'fun' for many. So truly speaking I never enjoyed my school days. However, when I finished my secondary schooling and went for the secondary, I was optimistic about a change of situation. However, the impact of 'fun' that people had, had already seeped in and made me a person that I hated. The situation became difficult as I was not able to crack the Medical Entrance exam and had to settle for Bachelors degree instead of MBBS. I had disappointed myself, but more that I was carrying baggage that I had disappointed my parents as well. I was apprehensive about it, but for the first time, I had a friend circle that I enjoyed the most. This also helped me change my mind about re-taking the Medical entrance examination, and I continued with my Bachelor's degree. I guess, I again disappointed my parents. At the same time, I was fascinated by Anthropology subject and started searching more about the subject. Everyone was surprised (or taken aback) when I opted for an Anthropology course for Masters by sidelining the regular 'Biotechnology' course, which was blooming at the time. I guess, I again disappointed my parents. But, for me, I was enjoying the course. It helped me understand myself, understand other people and widen my worldview. A walk in a village was no more just a walk but an inquiry into the cultural nuances of the villagers. It also shaped my interest in writing. And most importantly, here I met a friend, who showed me the way to overcome fear, fear of speaking in English, stage fear and instilling self-confidence. It gave me a chance to meet people from all walks of life and 'not forming opinions' about them. Here for the first time, the thought of applied anthropology was struck. 

I worked with many NGOs after doing my master's, but I always felt that something wasn't right. I hated the way the NGO profession was perceived by many- mainly as a person with Jhola! I used to have debates with my peers, about why NGO is considered as a profession for the 'social-work' only without much ambition. I wanted to apply corporate principles in NGO work. But, for that, I had to know the 'corporate' principles first. Hence, I pursued an MBA and got into the corporate world to learn more about its ways. All this while, I used to do small assignments so as not to lose touch with the field. And, when I first delved into the world of marketing, I knew that this was the field I would like to be part of and I could see myself using some of the principles of anthropological research methodologies in my working and achieving results. It helped me build a foundation for my future work in my Fellowship programme. It also paved the way to build a 'digital ethnographer'. 

The Digital Ethnographer Foundation was formed three years back and has become one of the most promising companies of the decade. We have had great collaborations, recently with Microsoft, for providing ethnographic insights into consumer behaviour on their social platforms. I believe, the modern digital world requires modern techniques and we at the foundation constantly strive to create them. 

Well, today I am not going to elaborate upon the work that is well-known to you but something that I would like everyone to know about the underlying mission of our foundation. Our foundation runs a campaign- a community approach towards fitness - where physically fit people network with people who need help. This is a unique community that helps each other by bringing each other's strengths. We as a foundation also work as a mediator between Donors and the Needy, especially in the education sector. We have a repository of verified NGOs and their needs, and we network them with an appropriate donor organization. We also do independent financial and work audits and send them to the respective organizations. 

To end my speech, please remember:

• Do not be afraid to be afraid. However, do endure the period. 
• In crisis, do not hesitate to ask for help. Find a person whom you can trust.
• People will get disappointed in you, even your parents. However, do not stop pursuing what you think is right for you. Either people will understand you or you will learn a great lesson. 
• Last, but not the least, teach your child to respect and accept others as they are. 

I would like to thank the dean of the college for giving me this opportunity and thank you all for listening to me patiently. As I keep saying, don't let Failures Fail you!

   

The Zen Marketeer

Introduction

Marketing goods has been a basic phenomenon of every society. Marketing and sales domains has been in practice for many decades in human society. The objective of marketing is to instill the interest of people in the goods and services while sales refer to actual transaction being carried out. However, one should remember that marketing starts before the products/service comes in to existence and continues to be relevant post-sales as well. However, marketing has not remained a simple phenomenon anymore. For many years, especially at the wake of internet revolution, marketing has undergone tremendous changes in the way it’s carried out. At the same time, now, consumer has become wise, thanks to the varied information platforms available to them. Hence, it has become pertinent to a marketer to find innovative ways to market.

Marketing can be looked at as an creative expression of a marketeer that can be expressed in text or other visual forms. In a world where technologies go obsolete sometimes within months, marketing and sales are the probably only domains which is deeply rooted in human psychology. Though marketing cannot overcome the importance of the ‘quality of the product or service’,  it definitely finds its place when they are created. Investment in marketing activities also gives individuals and organizations a measurable and reliable ROI.

This article brings about the science involved in marketing and ways through which it crosses the path with creative expressions of a marketeer. The article will also lay down the understanding of economics and importance of communication skills for a marketeer. Further, this article will address the important differences in traditional and digital marketing techniques, introduce a CATT marketing funnel model and integrated marketing approach. At last, we will discuss the power of personal branding briefly.

The Rise of the Internet and Indian Demography

India has already been ranked as the second largest online market worldwide in 2019 after China. It has been estimated that, in next five years India will add 300 million¹ more internet users taking the projected tally to over 974 million people i.e. we are looking at an estimated growth of ~39% in coming five years. Growth of internet users is also the result of corresponding penetration of mobile phones that makes internet access easy. It’s estimated that almost 64% of the internet users access it using mobile phones². The growth of internet has been dynamic in nature, in urban as well as rural areas. 

Internet Users in India

It would also be pertinent to look at the demographics of people who are fueling the rise in internet usage. Indian demographics can be divided in to 3 sub-parts viz. India 1, India 2 and India 3 as depicted in the following Picture³.  

Indian Demographic Sub-categories by Mr. Sujith Pai ³

This sub-categorization is very important from marketer’s perspective, as it depicts the nature of their target market. Success in marketing is defined mainly by defining the target audience. This is the first step followed by which all other activities entail such as designing communication strategies, writing content that will connect with the target audience and selecting the platform where these target audience will be present. Hence, a Zen marketeer will always have eyes and ears open to the changes in the economics and demographics of the market in which (s)he is active. A wise marketeer would make use of such statistic in order to decide ‘where’ to compete.

Traditional Vs Digital Marketing

In a world of digital marketing, one often forgets that it’s more about marketing than digital tool usage. Traditional marketing entails media like television, radio, billboards, face-to-face, physical print and placement/POP (point of purchase). There have been various literature available that stress importance of such media when we have to address mass. This also means the product or service being marketed has mass and widespread applications. However, traditional media comes with some disadvantages. First of all, marketer cannot personalize his/her message to the target audience. Secondly, measuring the effectiveness of marketing activities using traditional media channels poses an unique challenge. Third important aspect of the traditional marketing approach is its ‘static’ nature. Marketer cannot update his/her approach once activities are executed.

On the other hand, digital marketing has empowered marketers to craft personalize message to their audience. Digital marketing also allows a much deeper insights into the personalities of the target audience and using the tools digital marketer is in better position to understand what kind of content is getting consumed by whom and when. This also gives an opportunity to ‘measure’ the ROI of digital marketing activities directly in terms of “sale” or indirectly in terms of the “engagement”. In addition, digital marketing is ‘dynamic’ in nature where marketer can update his/her approach based on the ‘live’ feedback that can be obtained often via various tools.

‘it is not about doing digital marketing, it is about marketing effectively in a digital world’

                                                                                                 Menezes, CEO, Diageo

The CATT Formula for Success

The digital world also brings unique challenges more importantly the ‘noise’. It’s all external pieces of communication that may interfere or disrupt the intended message. We have abundance of noise that leads to clutter, lack of credibility and eventually dilution of the intended message, giving way to spam. Hence, in order to succeed in a market perforated by ‘noise’, the Zen marketeer can rely upon CATT formula for achieving success. This model is proposed by Digital Deepak. The model states that

Wealth=n^CATT

Where,

Wealth= success/ROI                     N= niche category selected                         C= content         

A= attention                      T= trust                T= transaction

So as per this model, marketing success is mainly dependent upon the good quality content which can attract audience’s attention. Quality content, which addresses concerns of the target audience and gives solution to them, is also the key to build trust. Trust later is leveraged to generate transaction. However, wealth creation or say ROI generation is mainly dependent upon the niche that has been selected by an individual or organization. You can recall our previous discussion where marketer can make use of all the data (economic and demographic alike) in order to choose such a domain where (s)he is capable of defining the ‘persona’ of target market to be able to offer personalized content and solution.

Holistic Marketing: Traditional plus Digital

Digital marketing entails various activities like email marketing, content marketing, social media marketing (SMM), SEO, paid advertising that can lead the target audience to transact for the offering. However, today the consumers use multiple channels to seek information. This is also referred to as the ‘media fragmentation’. It can be observed that the audience interacts and engages differently on different media. Hence, singular approach of using only one method of digital marketing may not yield good result. For example, when we talk about social media, a person is present on different platforms and the level of engagement on these platforms may not be same. Also, consumers can choose when, how to interact with brands. Hence, an integrated digital marketing approach will yield far better results as the chances of engaging audience increases as number of interaction increase with multiple digital activities. 

Integrated Digital Marketing Approach

A holistic view towards marketing will include the use of traditional marketing medial along with integrated digital marketing activities. It has been proven that, in some of the domains, traditional marketing has equal importance if not more when designing marketing activities. For example, in B2B market, print media still has weightage where people may prefer reading a printed magazine. Hence, depending upon the product and industry, one may have to go for holistic approach.

Personal Branding: Boon or Bane?

Many organizations term their employees as their brand ambassador. Similarly, once’s digital footprints define one’s image and can also create a brand out of it. It’s the image or a perception that people have about you. Personal branding is mostly a self-promotion to showcase the kind of person you’re and your strengths. Personal brand is not created over-night. It’s a process, which is also termed as Mass-Trust Blueprint by Digital Deepak. It involves following steps:

1. Learning and unlearning
2. Work to implement your learnings
3. Content creation through blogs/websites etc.
4. Become consultant to others seeking solution
5. Mentoring the other like-minded individuals
6. Become an entrepreneur to offer own product/service to the existing problem

   

   MassTrust Blueprint by Digital Deepak
   

However, personal branding or say self-promotion is a double edged sword. Personal branding definitely helps people understand your knowledge level and which problem you’re able to solve for them. It also helps in giving personal touch to the offering. You as an influencer can enjoy authority, your content can be consumed by many and trust building can be easier compared to a novel person. In short, as a personal brand you can achieve most of the aspects mentioned in CATT model.

However, there’s downside to personal branding. Personal branding may not always help your brand. You as an influencer can be stereotyped and overselling can create negative mind-set among the audience. Hence, caution has to be exercised while self-promoting.

Conclusion:

The internet revolution and penetration has given new avenues to marketers, which are different that the usual traditional methods of marketing. The digital marketing has become norm this new world. The digital marketing has many positives and its dynamic nature helps marketers to control marketing activities and change/adapt as per the situation. However, this also pose some unique challenges to marketers. It has also empowered consumers and they, in turn, often opt for multiple channels to seek information or engage. This multiplicity of channels make it an imperative for a marketer to opt for integrated digital marketing approach or, many-a-times, an holistic approach to combine traditional and integrated digital marketing methods. A Zen marketeer is the one who can create ROI by choosing a right niche, with a right content for the right audience on the right platform at the right time. The Zen marketeer is also the one who can make use of power of personal branding appropriately to become a distinguished brand in the clutter of digital world as he understands that digital marketing is more about marketing than digital.

References:

1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/255146/number-of-internet-users-in-india/ accessed on 15^th August 2020
2. https://www.statista.com/statistics/558610/number-of-mobile-internet-user-in-india/ accessed on 15^th August 2020
3. https://blog.usejournal.com/india2-english-tax-and-building-for-the-next-billion-users-198701f0a7a6 accessed on 16th August 2020

Faith

The time wraps an
Unconvincing puzzle around you
The thoughts are troubled
You ponder over a future
The path unseen
The way to survive
Is to have a Faith in probabilities

You

They are there always been there

Donning the mask conveniently and happily

Being erudite, disguising effectively

They were also there, always been there

Masking themselves effectively

Somehow managing but happy

And then you are there, always been there

Sweating it out, trying to balance

And managing, managing well

That’s the reason you commit mistakes

Being human

That’s the reason you feel bad

Being a learner

And that should be the reason

For not being let down by your own conscious

Just Like That

When is it that you yourself feel that you are successful

Is it when as a baby you learn to crawl or

When you learn to stand straight or

When you utter that first word

Is it when you get an admission to a good school

Or when you meet and make your first friend

Is it when you secure good marks in school

Or when teachers pat your back

Is it when you get to good college

Or when you become an unmissable hero in the college

Or just be the one the crowd who is never noticed

Is it when you decide your own on after-college life

Or when you get into a career decided by your parents

Is it when you get a job with better paychecks

Or when you get someone whom you can spend life with

Is it when you have a group of freinds who,

,As they ‘will cry when you die’

Is it when you get along your life as parents

Or when you decide to when to become one and stand by it

Is it when you get paid decently for the job you hate

Or when you are paid peanuts for the job that you would die for

Is it when others exclaimed how successful you are

Or is it when you become the subject to be envied

When all these are just questions

Answers will be many

And certainly no right and wrong in them

However, important is to feel that you’re successful

The options are many and choices are hard

The mind is mingling in these thoughts

Turning back, everything seems so foggy

Need to see through and get that feeling back

Life is cut across various stages

You are successful at one and may not be at other

But the life is a journey as they say

Hope is the light that will light up our mind

Get that hope and take step forward

Just Forget It....

I was a person of substance

Well that’s what I used to think

I was a person of dreams

Well that’s what I aimed for

I was a person with ideas

Well hat what my idea of myself was

Now, I am left with a void

Searching a substance in my life

Everyday dawns with a positive thought

Proceeds t a negative one by night

Every word I say, I am not sure of

Every act I do, I am not clear about

Every person I met, I estrange in a moment

Every friend I make, I lose in flash

Everything that happens, I have no control over

I've loosen all the strings

The life is running and I am drudging behind

I am soaked in the thoughts

I need to break myself open

I need to choose rather than follow

The life’s rule are not fair or may be

Or maybe just forget it….

China: better than India?

Many of us be it lay people, businessmen, economists and policymakers always try to draw parallels between India and China and try to project which will be economic Power by 2025 or 2050. However the article that I read about China was an eyeopener. It has reinforced the advantages of having Democracy in India. Though there are some benefits in the political situation that China has, the social impacts (like the one mentioned in this article) are far grave than Economic and Monetary benefits especially from Common Man's perspective.
Link to the article:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/with-an-annual-package-of-rs-49-crore-genpacts-tiger-tyagarajan-is-the-lion-of-salary-circuit/articleshow/14280131.cms

Democracy(?)

For last few months- Our Army Chief speaks more to "aam adami" than our Prime Minister(?)!

India, Pakistan, US and Terrorism

The question is not about 'SHOULD INDIA CONDUCT OPERATION SIMILAR TO US' but the real question is CAN INDIA CONDUCT OPERATION SIMILAR TO US?

When was the last time you really had someone whom you could really trust?

Stability

We use the word stability in various situations. And I am refering to stability in "professional life" and "personal life". But what comes fisrt? whether Stable professional life leads to or should lead to a stable personal life or vice versa? I am really confused.

I never asked for a penny...............

They were interviewing Mr. Sunil Gavaskar on NDTV news channel. It seems that there is a major shuffle in IPL governing body and Mr. Gavasakar has been shown doors by Mr. Shashank Manohar.
The news anchor asked Mr. Gavaskar for his reaction on this issue..
Mr. Gavaskar- "It is strange to ask me this question because nobody from BCCI has even contacted me and what I am hearing about my expulsion is from news channels and I cannot react more on this"
News Anchor- "the reason that was given by BCCI was that they cannot afford to pay these experienced (legendary) cricketers and they can only be given honorary positions (as given to Mr. Ravi Shastri).
Mr. Gavaskar- "I have never asked for money whenever i served any position in BCCI"
Well that was very startling revelation Mr. Gavaskar. If what you are saying is true and you really have served any position without charging any fees; just because you have great respect for this game and you feel honored to just be at this position then hats off to you.. but really Mr. Gavaskar even if you would have charged money it would have been fine. You are a legend in Indian Cricket and you have to be an integral part of this game's any governing counsel.
Let us see people who made it to IPL governing counsel- Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindiya as a chairman of Finance Committee, Mr. Abdulla a chairman of Marketing committee, Mr. Rajeev Shukla (yes he has to be there) and i don’t remember others.
Why people like sindiya, abdulla are even in these committees and that also as chairman??? what marketing plans can Mr. Farooq come up with which will actually be comparable to those of Mr. Modi's. (I really feel bad for Modi because whatever people say, he was the man who was responsible for the success of IPL) Who are these people who decide (or will be deciding) how the game should be played? Have these people even held cricket bat when they were young?
This is so disappointing. Yes I forgot to mention; to keep Modi aside now they have dropped all the charges against Mr. Dalmiya.. wow nice move Mr.__________; well i am not going to write his name for two simple reasons; one as everybody knows his name and second I love my life too much. Well but this is ridiculous. Why these politicians are so greedy. Please at least keep yourself out of few things and let there be some sanctity in 'few things'.
But here again what Mr. Gavaskar said was very true and I have to mention it here- "given the kind of governance by BCCI, let we should not forget that it is one of the few governing bodies in sports in India where all the positions are shuffled periodically unlike other governing bodies of other sports"
Yes very true Mr. Gavaskar but when we look at these "modi-fication" I just can appreciate their "unity" and understanding to give chance to each other to "enjoy" the power which is lacking in other governing bodies of other sports in India and i think they should take lessons from "big brother" on these.

Procrastinations

I look at my last post; it is dated December 1, 2008. It’s been almost two years since then. Two years of my life, I watched pass by, flew away and so many things happened in these two life moments.
I still remember when I wrote about shameless politicians. I was furious, by sheer ignorance of our politicians. And today still we are witnessing same scene, as by CM of Bihar Nitish Kumar, who was smiling while addressing journalists and expressing his helplessness about the hostage crisis that is being continued in Bihar. But this is not what I want to write in this post. Again I am moving away from my focus.. So many thoughts running through my mind as I write this. Dwelling in my past that isn’t and hoping for the future which definitely will be a better one.
Two years- I completed my second post-graduation (now I feel good), finished MBA, experienced life at Bangalore which was real blend of good and bad experiences, met few people, got frustrated by few attitudes, experienced the college life- the management way, and yes the most important thing that could happen in my life- I fall in love with my fiancé (people who will read this know who she is), again and this time for lifetime. Then came the second year which was great and I really enjoyed my college life as it is meant to be enjoyed (and again here I want to thank fiancé for being with me always). This is very important please understand, say thank you to your loved once. We always take them for granted but, stop, do think and say thank you and appreciate them for the way they are. Again sorry, I don’t want to give any lecture. I just want to come back, bounce back, and write as my mind dictates me. So sorry, you may not find any flow and you will think that I have just stitched with thoughts as they gather. Yes you right, that is what I am doing right now. Yes then came the year 2010, last few days at Bangalore.. again I was tensed because I felt more responsible and I had to find a good job. I had to become a “karta pusrush” at home and tell parents to stop working or at least not for me and take rest and enjoy. But as again ( as always I blame it on my luck) I couldn’t find job and then I had to come back to Pune. Meanwhile my personal life was taking a good way and I got engaged but my professional life, still is not very well settled to say the least.
This is to summarize in brief what happened in these two years. And I cannot write everything here as those things may be too personal. But yes one thing that I want to get rid of is procrastinations. Let us see whether I will be successful in doing so. You will see this, and this is a test for me and I hope I will pass with distinction,
I hope!!

Shameless Politicians

“Do not come up, I will handle them.” These were probably the last words which Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan told his men as he was hit by bullets while engaging terrorists inside the Taj Hotel, Mumbai during the Black Tornado operation.(Source: Wikipedia)

Major Sandeep Unnikrishanan became martyr who will be remembered forever by the people who actually witnessed one of the Blackest day of Indian History.. And another thing that people shoult not Forget and Forgive are our politicians.
Look at some of the statements passed by Our Leaders
" Such small one or two incidences happen"-- Maharashtra Deputy CM, Mr. R.R. Patil
"We were given warning but we did not know the when will it happen?"-- Maharashtra CM, Mr. Deshmukh
"People who are protesting against politicians do not represent India"-- BJP Leader, Mr. Naqui
I cannot specifically take out any statement from out PM's address to Nation but whoever listened that must have felt sorry about state of our Nation. It was such a dry and depressing..
And the greatest of the all
"Had it been not for Major Unniskrishanan, even dog would not have come this way" and "His father should have behaved responsibly and should not have been so much emotional"--- Kerala CM Mr. V.S. Achuthanandan (This was the response given when Major's father refused to meet Kerala's CM)

My reactions:
Mr. Patil if you think this is a small incidence then I really pity your sense of measurement.
Mr. Deshmukh, next time I will ask Mr. Osama to call you and tell you the exact date, time and place of the attack, then propbably it will be very easy for you to contain it.
Mr. Naqui if they are not the representatives then who do you think you are?
And the worst, I don't know what Mr. Achuthanandan think about him, but I feel sorry for the people of Kerala who have got such a CM, who has no shame at all. Who gave him right to disrespect Major's father? and why don't we have some law, some legislation that can penalize such irresponsible politicians. Police and other forces that are protecting such a "dignified??" politicians should refuse to work for them.

Here we, the people of India, should stop and seriously think about our system. Lot has been talked and discussed on this topic in debates, through films... But it's time to think and seriously do something for our system to revitalize it again.
After these attacks everyone anticipated politics over it.
I do agree that we cannot blame politicians only but after listening to such reactions I cannot help but feel sorry for us. When all these people will rise and will show some integrity, when will India have some Strong and Young Leadership? All these outdated politicians should be retired. When was the last time we really had someone whom we could really trust? And how can we change this is the real question and it is high time that we should think and act for this.
I think here we can seriously think of reforming our laws and making politicians Accountable for whatever happens in their respective constituency. When they are made to live without Z-security they would really do something to save them at least if not other people. Also we have pool of industrialist who could join hands for this respect. I am sure if these people come into politics they will get maximum support because common Indian is really looking for a Change.

Mumbai Meri Jaan!!!!!

It's 3am. My exams are going on. Today we have Economics and Research Methods papers. I didn't study yesterday night.. I slept at 11:45pm.. so I have to wake up early today...
As usual after waking up first thing i did was switched on TV.. Thought of watching it for some time and then go to studies.. but....
i saw Burning Taj, I heard people running in Blood, i could figure out yes there is something very wrong has happened.. YEs Now I am totally awake....
"Terror Strikes Mumbai Again" flashed the News... Yes I remember, yesterday night i had seen some news that there is Gang war in Mumbai (which was usual in Place like Mumbai, so didn't pay much attention).. but now it was clear, it wasn't just a gang war between two "Power Crazy" gangsters!! it was a very well planned and well executed Terrorist Attack..
She has seen yet another attack, again innocent lives failed against brutal gunshots..
Yes it was the Biggest attack on India in history ever.. Mumbai, financial capital of India, has suffered from many blows and it's time for Indian Government to take a firm Stance and has to show that "they can DO something" instead of "STRONGLY CONDEMNING ATTACKS"!! I was following that news whole day now and it was very horrible sight.. We lost 14 Courageous Policemen (some of them are ATS Chief Karkare, Encounter specialist Salaskar... I salute their courage!!), whole Mumabi was shocked, BSE and NSE was closed (another indirect loss), our National Heritage Taj Hotel got destroyed (It's really a hard time for Ratan Tata.. Singur, Jaguar Deal and now this loss..very hard to digest), Taj lost its most valuable employees, Oberoi Hotel suffered damage and the toll still counting......
This attack SHOULD NOT BE FORGOTTEN. Serious questions has to be answered, how did these terrorist got so much of ammunition, how did they come, from where they got their funds, who are they anyways, what they wanted, how can they made a plan that was too precise to execute and so on...
My sincere condolence to all those who laid their lives defending "Her" and shed their blood for this land of Hope...
And sincere request to "Wise"(?)Politicians.. Please DONT LET IT BE JUST ANOTHER BLOW!

Welcoming move by Infosys

"Infosys exhorts employees to go on 1 year sabbatical, work for NGOs"

Last Saturday’s Business Standard carried this news on its front page. It says that Infosys has sent a memo to all its employees regarding this. Only the condition is that an employee should be on the company rolls at least for two years. It also says that employee who would opt for this would get 50% of his/her salary. This move is the part of Narayan Murthy's desire to give something back to the society, as company claims. This move by Infosys, which is India's second largest IT firm, will definitely encourage people to look at Corporate Social Responsibility with altogether different perspective.

However one should be cautious while welcoming this move as it coincides with the period where firms are finding it hard to maintain all its employee force and willingly shading employees who are incompetent. Being said this, even if this move by Infosys can be considered as cost cutting measure by the company up to certain extent, then also its a win-win situation for the company as well as for people who like being a part of social activity but who find it difficult to get time out of work load. This is also a new dimension given to NGO-Corporate partnership and who knows in future there can be actual collaboration between the two sectors.

I think we should definitely welcome this move and I hope in future more and more companies will encourage its employees to participate in social reforms. These are the people who can make change!

Dead Poets Society

Dead Poets Society!!
What is it? Well it's a movie I just finished watching and can't restrain myself writing about it. Believe me it is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Simple, but effective. Without any romance, sex, fight, gangsters, smugglers, and yes without any hot babes!! How the hell then this movie can anyone like? Because I think it's one of the classics.
To be very frank I didn't know about this movie till yesterday. I was assigned to come with some quiz round for one of our events which will be happening next month, and I wanted some sort of movie that one can relate to Management in general and to Human Resource in particular. So I was furiously searching on internet some articles on how management institutions are taking help of films to make students understand some of the important concepts in management. Some of us would think, including myself, all such things like including case study on some movie is crap. Because everyone knows its not real but on Reel life which can only take you on imagination ride and nothing else. But i found some articles where they had mentioned the movie called Dead Poets Society..pretty unusual name isn't it? So just downloaded it and man how lucky i am that i am one of the persons who has seen such a fantastic movie.
Well story is very simple and credit has to be given to writer and producer who thought so well to give us such a nice experience. Its a story about one school (only boys school) and bunch of few students and their teacher Keating (Robin Williams). Well as you must have guessed being a boarding school it was full of Rules and Regulations and nothing but only studies matter. They try to make students realist!? But one fine day Mr. Keating steps in as teacher and he tries to make students aware of the power of their will, the power of freedom, the power that everyone possess but only few knows and only few act on it. It is also story of parents who want their children to do a particular thing that they want them to do and how they lose them at the end. It is about one's passion for something however stupid it may look to others, it is about top fearing, it is about standing high and seeing the world differently...
Long live Dead Poets Society!!

Skeptical

Hi, its been 2 months for my last post... i was just thinking and i have to accept that i have been pretty irregular not only in this matter but in many other things; take for example my Spanish classes, guitar classes, gym... oh man i think this list will just go on and on.. i better stop here!
So what forced me to write this new post?
I have been here in Bangalore for 6 months now and i am well adjusted to the surroundings now, the food over here, its weather, people and so many other things.
Just few days back i had been to Pune and the day when i left Pune i was feeling so bad and so sunken.. but the fact is when i came over here to resume my MBA i found that i have started enjoying classes and friends over here.
Last week while India was celebrating Diwali and believe me this was my first Diwali when i was not at home. I was terribly missing home and so were my roommates. Then we decided, on last Tuesday, we will celebrate Diwali the bachelors way.. whatever little we knew about pooja we did that... then we had dinner outside, in all it was nice experience...
Oh i forgot , actually i wanted to tell you what forced me to write? it was one incidence that happened yesterday night when i was coming back to my place after meeting friends.
I was travelling by bus and quietly sitting and was about to take ticket from conductor, suddenly person who was standing beside me called me and gave me one pass (in Bangalore where you can take Rs.30 pass and can travel anywhere in Bangalore for a day). I didn't understand initially what he wanted to do and i actually shouted at him. why was he giving me pass. Actually there was nothing to shout at. that person had one extra pass and he just handed over to me. But we are so unsecured that we always try to find intentions (mostly with an adjective wrong) behind any good deed. and considering time (11pm) i was also little worried because there were very few people on board..Whatever we hear from media, we read that indirectly is affecting the way we look at everybody.. we always smell something fishy in everything.. we have become skeptic...

Disaster

I was enjoying my south Indian meal, as usual, in hotel Balaji Spice near our college. A lot of rice (I never had such an amount of rice in lunch), 2-3 varieties of curries and some sweet. I had just started eating than phone rang. It was my brother on phone. He asked me where I was. I could not understand why he is asking that question. Then he told me that some seven bomb blast happened in Bangalore city. It was really shocking news. Bangalore had never experienced such serial blasts at one time. But only consoling news was those blasts were of low intensity and not too many causalities were reposted. That was Friday.
Next day I went to my brother’s place. It was around 6 pm in evening. Suddenly news came that now Ahmadabad hit by 16 serial blasts. What??!! 16 blasts in one hour!! Another big blow to India and surely it shows some weak response by our intelligence agencies and police. However, here I do not want to get into any debate whether it is really possible for them to stop such attacks? But the point to be noted here is that new groups are making their presence felt. But the way people from Ahmadabad responded is really appreciating, especially in the light that this region is one of the most sensitive one when it comes to such attacks. We all remember Godhra riots still! Hats off to them. This is simple question I pose to all militants out there:
Wham!
Fire, cry, and yell
Can you here them all
A smoke has cleared
Can you see
A little child crying aloud
In a mother’s lap
Mother, who has already fallen a prey
Can you see
A grand-father
Burdened with age and poverty
With all tears dried up
Shred nothing, but few words, looking at his dead son
Can you see
That man
Who has lost his hand
That helped him to earn bread and butter
That helped him feed his family
Can you see
What you have done to them
In the name of God (?)
In the name of freedom (?)
In the name of power (?)
What you want to achieve?
Freedom, power, satisfaction?
What?
This is the real question
Because answer to which
Even you don’t know!

Some thoughts on MBA- Part 1

Hi there. After long time i am writing again.
So I just want apologize for not keeping in touch for almost 1 month. Yeah I have my reason as usual. ( Now people don't say that i always find some excuse. The fact is i always have some excuse.) The problem here is, we have not received our laptops as of now. And if you see our computer lab then you will think that its not B-School at all. We just have 10 odd computers in there which are always occupied. Just imagine we are 500+ students using 10 computers. But these as****** still not giving laptops. So that's the biggest problem. So if anyone is using computer in lab he/she cannot use it unless he/she has some very important work like presentation.
Anyways so i got laptop from my home. And this post is possible because of my lappy only.
So it's been almost three months since i started this course. Let me admit first that this is really hectic course. I am doing it from ICFAI (IBS) Bangalore. When i came here i was almost lost in this world. You just enter into premise and you get smell of competitors. The atmosphere is totally different. Campus (whatever we have i.e. just one large building) is good in terms of facilities such as computer lab, library, class room ventilation, light arrangement etc. You will be surprised that i have included ventilation and light arrangement here. But believe me friends this is very important part when you have to study and concentrate. I realized this when i compared it with my Anthropology department. All my friends from Anthropology you must be remembering our corridor and class rooms which were small and light was almost nil there. That was the best condition to put anyone to sleep and especially when faculty is boring.
Then coming on faculty. I will not say that faculty over here is good. Definitely some professors who are form IIMs are the best on campus and the way they teach is something each and every faculty should adopt. We have Mr. Sukesh sir for our Marketing. He would just come and he would not dictate anything, but he will ask you questions that will help you to think and you will realize that you have actually thought and you have learned the concept by yourself. Especially this technique will be very helpful in Anthropology where lots of theories are there and there is no point in mugging those theories. But apart from these few people all other faculty is not worthy at all.
Another important thing is team projects. Doing project in a team is the worst job i would say. During graduation and post-graduation we had projects but very few were group assignments. But here in MBA we always have group assignments and presentations. So if you cannot gel with your group then you will be in deep shit. This definitely teaches some teamwork though. So how you complete these assignments depends on you and if you are successful here then believe me you will be able to work in any condition.
This post will be continued next time... bye for now!!