Indianized US

lets think what happened if US had all those things which we had in India.



1. We could experience at least 50 languages ( no. of states in US). So while travelling to northern part u wud see "वालमार्ट इस हियर " and when u go souther part "வால்மார்ட் இஸ் தேரே"
So I am sure google maps will no longer work :-)

2. no one having mobile phone would prefer eastern US, as every 10 miles you would then need to pay roaming bills as u change the states.

3. Burger King - would then read as " बुर्गेर रजा "

4. Sambar will replace Beer . After all you need the kick when u drink, so it serves the purpose.

5. ART - America Road Transport will replace the cars. People will hang all over the buses running at 120 mph. Some may take connecting buses if they fall enroute. Some may go back to work from home.

6. Celebrate Dussehera by burning big idol of the "Amercian Ravana" - you know him !!

7. Special visas will be issued to Chennai Auto walas to drive in US. Make people go crazy over the rates !!. First time someone would realize travelling by Auto can be costlier than a return ticket to the other part of the world !!

8. Desi will replace - "We - desi" (विदेसी)

9. Dukin - Donuts will get replaced by " Pumkin - Dosas" - America runs on Dosas.

10. Beds and Beyond, sleepys will feature Parliament house. The most comfortable place to sleep.....

And so on......guys if u can think more such things lets put together on this blog.

Amar Chithra Katha

There used to be days when I use to be crazy of reading comics..
be it a
daily library period to savour twinkle
Weekly anxious wait for the lending library fellow to give me my ambulimama's
Monthly mandate visits to our local book store for Gokulam ( Yea since my mom is a fan of mangayar malar, she would buy gokulam for us)

Suppandi & co were a brilliant entertainers surprise !!!surprise !!!with a strong message.

Being in the tender age the imprints left by these stories are phenomenal, to the extent that I can really enjoy cartoons & children comincs even today.

I recently heard Females are verbose oriented rather than picture oriented, however I ifnd myself respond to pictures then verbiage..mebbe the habit of comics reading!!! call it kalia's trick maybe...

Today while searching details for carbon credit I accidentally found ACK MEdia, a company that bought Amar Chithra Katha and all the brand icons along with it...Their maket focus is to make it intially avaialble in various platform ( read it as web ;-)) for fee and improve the character.
This is an awesome and moneysome business...

I was so imporessed with these guys who have 8/10 year exp ( meaning an average of <40 yr olds) folks handling this enterprise.

The entrprenur bug laughs and mocks at me...how I feel gr8 and wish I can do something like that....
Then the catch is I am not working on my creative side, rather I am trying to adopt toa routine ( honestly all my folks would vouch I am no good in that too!!)

Hmm something is happenig in life as it unravels who knows I might finally walk hand in hand with my entrprenurial bug :-)))

Note : If anyone of you is wondering abt ACK, which inspiried me to write such a blog ,then here you go
http://www.ack-media.com/index.php

Signing off

"The Brand Called You"-Ponderings 1

Last week I read this article named "A brand called you". Though the writing style didn't really attract me the power of the topic really made me inquisitive ,it is thought provocative. Basically I loved it... Jumped on the gun of what does BRAND "ME" meant to me, what I wanted it to mean to others and what it really meant!!!

Honestly I don’t know a complete answer to any of the questions and that really surprises me!!!This is becoz I thought the Brand MBA/IIM should have answered this for me already :(
Suddenly all the "JARGONS" I use came alive and questioned me..do I really endorse what I say or practice what I say...Now this turns into a different kinda question-which on a normal day I would have branded as "Philosiphical"...
So more I think abt the topic, more I feel this concept had been ingrained in a human being albeit called different- as "EGO"
Now that I wrote that, I feel as if I am opening a Pandora's box.!.

God why can't I think plain and simple like the way I used to do when I was a kid. Even then I was able to appreciate "GREY" areas in life-the difference was that, I saw grey as a color in itself and not as a mix of black & white.
As I grew I know all the facts but tend to weigh grey as combination of black& white....

As I write I feel I am bothered abt analysing and building the brand "me" and not visualising the brand "me"
I guess I understand the plight of revamping a brand...!!!" "Cleaning up something is always painful than creating one" I am stuck in my current feel of my self that I find it difficult to make it simple and envision

Folks what do you guys think…

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/10/brandyou.html

PS: uff how many quotes/jargons ;-) I have used...Habits die hard..dont blame me this is wat I do for living!!!
hmm.. am not liking so many "I"s in the blog but then is that not the idea of this blog???

My turn again!!!

Well...finally the lazy, non-creative, unimaginative me is writing again..After all Sindhu just said: will chk the blog tmrw and thr better b a write up!!!!
This time I plan to write about ...ummm..COOKING & FOOD!!!
Cooking always used to be fun when I had an option to eat out often (till in India) and while in mumbai i exercised that option almost everyday...But with moving here it has become a necessity, not a hobby anymore...Kind of compulsion for a veggi in the land of beef n pork and all sort of "unidentified" meats.
Today while at discussion at dinner at a friend's (actually colleague) place we talked about all kinds of meats and sausages just after a lovely Indian food of chane, poori, sabzi n shrikhand. All of us were sharing our experiences during lunch with dutch colleagues and we realized that most of the times dutch people classify their food as "Unidentified" as they really don't care which animal/insect they are eating!!! And we always thought human being have the most polished and developed eating habits!!!!
But yes definitely Indians have a great cuisine: We can talk about a variety of food from kashmiri wazwan to Kerala Banana dishes (Correct me if that is not the typical kerala dish)..Not to mention about chettinad, bengali, rajasthani, punjabi, gujju and etc etc type of cuisines. Every cuisine has so many dishes and we can talk for hours about the intricacies of all these dishes . Food is really something where we lead the world and I feel so good to talk about it in front of our dutch colleagues. Though it is really disgusting when they classify our "rotis" as "pancakes" even after telling them multiple time that it is "ROTI".
Now I close this random flow of thoughts with the realization that tomorrow we've 2 families at our place for dinner. And first time I am going to try "Chhola-Bhatura"... [D]...
BTW happy republic day guys!!!

This Day-Last Year:)

Today is a special day- a day that witnessed a beautiful occasion, a day that brought all of us closer, a day that stood testimony to the fact that
To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong admit it;
Whenever you're right shut up.

Hee hee (The above quote was written by Ogden Nash..got it when I googled to scribble something that Phani would definitely agree to ;-)))

Dear Viji and Phani,

Happy Wedding Anniversary
:)

Enjoi...

Hibernation!

As it appears after the initial hustle bustle our group blog has hit the hibernation!

Believe it or not I wrote this a week before...Shd I say I predicted it or just graced "hibernation"(- is a long inactive time period)
True to its name the journey is continuing with hardly anytime to muse!.
I sometimes wonder why I crib about monotony and do little attempt to break it!- Billion dollar question huh....This is one such time (Yeah lotta pending work , ever running meetings) and this time I wanted to make a small attempt ( later on probably once in a month we can evaluate the metrics ;-))

This time I attempt to write about My new non living lively companion in the journey -
"My Car"
At present is truly my car since we are yet to add Gopi's name to it!!!
The 50k miles sexy black civic sedan a Honda make, is an awesome car with a pricier tag
I loved the car tho not the price, one my most loaded lifetime investment.True I never spent this much before and felt really different.Now I realise why my father never even heard our cribs while watching a car ad.
Owning a car and running it is much like running a passionate family business- not necessarily a money spinner- In other words " Luxury".Unfortunately in this part of the world most of the luxurious things are made to become essential.
A car is a must to
1. Have 2 hrs extra sleep- 100$
2. Less exposure to cold hence lesser health care cost - 1000$ ( ya HC is damn costly)
3. No shopping dependencies- 3 hrs
etc
And
Highest mental peace -Priceless.....For everything else I have my car!!! :-)))

The above is one side of the coin......
The other side of the coin Gopi can give an overview---i.e The costs of owning the car...!!!!!

This is because " Females see positive side of life " :-)))

Eager for comments

{Basically need to keep this short (!) and prepare for my next meeting}

Nano- Capturing My Imagination

The buzz word is all around-Nano, yes-everyone's lips seem to be muttering just that. Whether it is people in India, UK,US, this one word seems to have swept people off their feet. The wonder-the reality-Tata Nano. Much has been written about this car ever since it has been unvieled and now I am curious as to how the advertisements for this car would turn out to be. Hence, I let my imagination do the work here and try to capture what could be 'the' advertisement that would emerge?(would this car actually need advertising given the fact that it is a huge hit and I am sure it should be in the 'top of the mind recall' list now?)

a) Is it going to be the way Reliance spread the message of a cheap mobile phone? A car in every village- a car in households beyond imagination..

b) A daughter tells her mother that she is going out for movies with her friends. Her mother screams from the kitchen ' Badhrama poittu vaama'('dhyaan rakho, beti'). The daughter says 'Nano irukkae. Inime yenna kavalai' (Nana hain na, Mama. Ab tension kya hain?) and zooms off....

c) A school boy waits patiently in the parking lot for his father to pick him up since it is evening. He looks at his peers whose parents or drivers have come to pick them up. They all zoom in plush automobiles while he visualizes how he and his father get down at the bus stand opposite his school and come every morning. (This bus stand scene alone is in black and white). He sighs. (The background music is such that it evokes sympathy for the boy). Suddenly a fresh, stylish, yellow car zooms and twirls and parks right next to him. He looks up only to see the windows being lowered and his father signalling to him from inside. He joy knows no bounds as he leaps towards the car. They drive away.:)

d) Is it going to be portrayed as a style icon?- the speed, the technology, the colours .

e) A couple are in a crowded locality and are trying to park their car in a narrow parking space. The husband moves the car back and forth but is unable to park and invariably brushes against the next car only to be harshly sounded at by that driver. The couple sigh and rest their hands on their foreheads-meaning they have given up. Their holiday is ruined. Cut to another scene where another couple come that way in a Tata Nano to the same area. With one stroke, the husband parks in the narrowest soace and whistles as he opens the car door and comes out. The first couple look at the second couple-their jaws dropping. Tata Nano- easy, smart, comfortable..

f) You are now watching a fashion show. The ramp is full of glitters. The crowd is cheering. And the MC is annoucing the arrival of their hottest model. 'Ladies and gentlemen. You are now going to witness the latest arrival in this arena. The hottest, happening (applause level raises)...do I need to say more?? Andthe limelight focuses on the 'model' is vieled with a satin robe. The audience wait with bathed breath. They cannot sustain the suspense any longer. And at this moment. The count down begins. And finally crackers, confetti are flown as the satin cloth is removed and there stands the Tata Nano!! (Loud Applause)

g) Well, this one is on the lines of portraying Tata's contribution to the society. It could capture the historic beginnings, outline the various automobiles and finally end with the latest-the Nano.

h) On similar lines of the previous ones, this ad could portray the various contributions, basically the various businesses of Tata-showcase different products- Tata Salt, Hamam, Taj Resorts, Cellular phones and services, Tata Sky, Tea, Tanishq etcetc and finallly the unveiling of the Nano

i) How about a rap song with Nano in every alternate sentence???

j) Ok..this one really cropped up in my mind just now. There is a baking competition going on. The chef is a stern guy and is moving from one contestant to the other. He is not satisfied with what the contestants are baking. He frowns and mutters that they are not upto the standard. Suddenly, his eye captures the attention of one contestant. He walks towards the table. His face breaks into a smile. He applauds and cheers. Now as you wonder what it is that the contestant was baking, you are just shown the top side view. And as the camera goes closer and takes a turn, you realise it is a Tata Nano :)

I am really coming up with a lot of ideas. But let me stop here and hear as to what you have to say!!!

I wait to see 'the' ad...