.........

Decided not to name this post. Decided that at times God can be really cruel. Decided that things usually dont fall in place when you want them too. Decided the fury of nature can be man's undoing. Decided that losing someone.....is not easy. Decided that this post is dedicated to my friend - Kkevil Shah

Still remember my first interaction with him. Sweet, polite, humble and very very down to earth person. Came across with an infectious smile. Who would have known that a tragic mid-air collision will seal the fate for him. A tragic mid-air collision will snatch away from a father - his only son. A tragic mid-air collision will snatch away from a sister - her only brother. A tragic mid-air collision - will snatch a person of his dreams....dreams to finally 'live life'. Tragic indeed. But what is very distressing is that this hale and hearty chap full of life could have been saved. He would have been recuperating in the hospital as i write this down. He could have lived his life. He could have......

Its been almost a month now that Kkevil left us mortals in search of his heavenly abode. But he leaves behind dried tears, angst and many unanswered questions. Beginning the list below

a) why was there no emergency kit at the flying club where he used to go paragliding?
b) Why did the ambulance (which apparently as per the medical protocols, should be always full on gas) run out of gas half way through?
c) why was there no instructor and communication equipment installed to avoid collision amongst paragliders?
d) why has there been no response from the authorities post this adversity (someone has lost his life...what more could be a price anyone can pay)

I used to belv in - 'it never rains, it always pours', but never knew that the forces of nature could make us mortals feel so helpless, when it actually starts 'pouring'. Whatever could go wrong that day -did.

I know I can never empathise with the family, for it was not my blood that I lost. But I do know it must be really painful for them. Albeit time is a healer, oblivion wont come easily.

I just hope and pray that no one loses their near or dear one, the way kkevil's family lost him. And I seriously hope the authorities realise that they havent killed one person, they have uprooted an entire family. Any act of shoving this disaster down the carpet would be most hideous, in-human and unsavoury.

May god be with Kkevils family and may his soul rest in peace. Amen.

D-N-C

The court of law finally put an end to the 'peeves' of many by allowing consumers , who are registered in the DO NOT CALL list, to file against the service provider if they recvd any marketing / promotional message (intrusive marketing?!)

but the more important question is - all those who are still not part of the DNC list (might be because of technical incompetence or plain lethargy, case in point 'your's truly') why are they being sent these intrusive messages? have the marketing geniuses behind this done any cost-benefit analysis? If you torture the numbers, they will tell you the story you want...but intuitively, does it make sense ..... how productive / effective the idea of bombarding cell phones with marketing messages is?......

MOBILE MANIA OF THE NEXT LEVEL...


Came across an interesting story in the Economic Times today (14th Nov, 2007). The writer was crystal-ball gazing on the state of mobile telephony in India and juxtaposing it alongside the technology of mobile television.

While the facts portend a positive story on the mobile landscape in India, it might be worth a dime to look at the new service from a consumer perspective.

As much as the media landscape is changing and people are moving into the domain of dynamic media consumption (media consumption while they are on-the-move). There are certain inherent need drivers:-

a) Quick and fast - the media (especially the new media) should be available quick and fast. When was the last time you spent more than 30 seconds waiting for a video to buffer in youtube? :)

b) Cost - value equation - Stressing a point which I hold very close to my heart, over my experience in research and marketing, I have very clearly been able to see that Indian consumer has moved from being a 'cost-conscious' consumer to a 'value-driven' consumer. As much as we would like to offer a million value-added services to Indian consumer, he will only embrace the ones he thinks will add value to his consumption. Thus, content on a mobile TV becomes extremely important in relation with the charges for it being offered as a service

c) Mobile cost - although the cost of owning a cell phone in India is the cheapest worldwide, when one is talking of mobile TV as an application, the rules change! No one would want to stress vision on a tiny 3" screen of a normal cell phone. Innovative freebies like magnifying lenses (for an individual viewer) might add to the value equation while keeping the price of instrument under control. But its something that the phone developers must think about Not many people in India can afford the Nokia N91.....

d) Technology - India is still finding it difficult to embrace CDMA (considered to be a poor man's technology). 3G is a far cry still!. It will therefore be very important to comprehend and deliver the mobile TV services on a right technology platform. It will have to be a technology which has the right 'image' and right 'cost' attached to it:)

e) Law of land - Law being above the king and subjects has been the jokers' cry for years. But it becomes very important from India's perspective. Especially given the fact that there have been some corners of the power corridors who have been crying to control the content on the net. There will be definite shouts to control the mobile TV content as well.

As much as I would like to invite and transact with new technology, let me profess that I get into a relationship with a brand only if I 'completely understand' what the brand has to offer to me. So, from a brand promise / communication perspective, it might be worthwhile to think of what would be the right 'communication' of the service to flow in to the customer, and how to translate that into a rational as well as emotional benefit statement. In a country like India, which is a melting pot of diverse consumers.....it is a question which is worth million dollars......

One spoon please.....!:)

Allow me to also share with you some interesting facts (well.... interesting yet grim!). It has been projected that 300 million individuals would be affected with diabetes by the year 2025. In India it is estimated that presently 19.4 million individuals are affected by this deadly disease, which is likely to go up to 57.2 million by the year 2025 (ironically, is the year when India is projected to be at the acme of the world) . Also, people with diabetes are 25 times more likely to develop blindness, 17 times more likely to develop kidney disease, 30-40 times more likely to undergo amputation, two to four times more likely to develop myocardial infarction and twice as likely to suffer a stroke than non-diabetics.

Dovetail the data as mentioned above with 75% of Indian women being obese and 58% of Indian men being obese (courtesy: http://www.obeseliving.com/obesity-rates-in-India-getting-higher), and you have the proverbial 'bulge-in-population'..............well of a different sort!

The diseases of far-west which were part of tales for an Indian, are now becoming effective realities. A lot of Indians are falling prey to these 'medical medusas'. I think going forward we all have to be consciously aware of what goes inside of our abdomen.....also urge you all to make exercise as an inseparable part of your daily regimen...while abdication of sweet is indispensable, exercising will build stamina and immunity in the body

So the next time you dig you teeth into the very sinful temptations of sweets, think about the figures again......

Dig this!

Booming economy, econonmic engines firing all cylinders, rupee strongest against dollar, GDP of over $ 600 billion, the second fastest growing nation in the world (GDP real growth) .... blah blah!!..how about some ground realities....

- 25% of our population lives on income levels of 360$ per annum (translation = one dollar / day, Rs 50 per day to survive... More translation: dont read percentages....then see the data 25% of over 1 billion...is below poverty line)

- literacy levels in some of the states well below 50% (case in point - Bihar)

- Chandigarh which boasts of highest per capita income has the lowest sex ratio (need I say more......gender issue still prevails i guess..)

- we add 2,00,000 engineers to our population every year (do all of them get jobs??)

- Manufacturing still consitute only around 17% of the GDP (investment commission data), but has the highest employability ratio...and our competitors are learning English faster than the speed of light (impending doom!)...

there is a lot more data which portends a different story, but will save all of you from that...

bottomline:

I know that one man's ceiling is another man's floor, but there seems to be crowd gathering .....staring at the ceiling.....my only fear...driven by famished bellies and pseudo-secularists, the crowd or mob of masses as i would coin it, should not become our cassandras....we should not end up fighting another monster from within...
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