Loads-a-fun

I happened to watch this new commercial of Vodafone (Busy Message Tune) and I was bowled over. Completely. So much so that I decided to write a blog on it.

The advert starts with "I am taking....a shower....I am riding...in traffic" and when I first watched it, I wondered what it was. Until the Vodafone artwork showed up, I had no clue what was in store. The fact that one doesn't know what is being sold but is still mesmerized for full 45 seconds, is something to be acknowledged for.

Vodafone (or should I say Ogilvy India) has done it time and again. Be it the cute little pug, everyday i want to fly.. jingle, the cute little pug + cute little girl combo, or the unforgattable ZooZoos, Vodafone commercials are a living testimony to the fact that a)simplicity sells and b)talent trumps the 'celebrity status-quo'.

And, they are at their very best again. The new advert is a delight to the senses; great music and an equally good direction. Use of normal people with normal (read: unpleasant) voices makes the advert resonate with audiences at a much deeper level. Listening to such voices on the screen doesn't inhibit them from singing it aloud in public, which actually helps the brand spread virally among the masses.

Overall, it's a terrific advert. Take a look:

enimulli....

I saw a ship, a beautiful ship sailing by. One of my best friends had recently boarded that ship and told me how good it was - sailing towards an exotic destination along with a fantastic crew.

I, for one, until that time was busy building my own motorboat and decided never to board a ship again. However, circumstances forced me to board one, and quite influenced by my good friend, I jumped in.

I was given a job on the floor, and it was all well for a month. Until I started to stare deep inside. And voila, what did I discover: the ship was sailing without an engine. It did have a steering, but our captain just pretended to be driving an engineering masterpiece. All he did was give some instructions, to a dubious religious clan of people dressed in yellow and orange who were 'paddling' the ship forward.

The clan of paddlers also acted as fishermen who would barge into neighboring seas and steal food for the ship, and were paid in kind for their faithful act by the crew (some of them even had been noticed to lay down on floors to offer their services, besides listening to their crap). So the ship was rich, which means that they could easily afford an engine, but the captain didn't prefer to.

The captain believes he is supreme. (A little fact to prove this: his initials are VS, but he signs off the opposite on account of resonance with Swami Vivekananda's initials. Pity.) He likes to be surrounded by a group of loyal crew members who testify at least a hundred times in one day that he, indeed, is supreme and his ideas can change the face of humanity. Pity again.

The captain fears that the day he installs an engine in the ship, he might loose control over his ship; never mind if its for better. He believes in creating a vision for a destination which is as exotic as the birds of paradise; never mind if the crew has their own aspirations as well.

This beautiful ship doesn't have a hole. But having no engine is deadlier, for you don't want to spend a considerable amount of time on a journey and come back empty handed (I was lucky to find a good friend, at least). You need to dive off such a ship and find another which is headed to a destination, which even if not projected to be exotic, but is believable still. More importantly, a ship which draws its strengths from a great captain, great crew and great work.

I can think of only two words to end this - enimulli....beware/dive

A small tribute to Kajal...

Love at First Sight

My recent trip to the jungles of Bandhavgarh was fraught with mishaps - car breaking down amid the jungles at midnight, no electricity for one full day at our resort and a lot others. Add to that the growing frustration among the other members of our crew for not being able to see a tiger up-close. I, however, enjoy wilderness more than the animal sightings and hence was spared from the latter.

On the first day, we could only see a glimpse of two tiger cubs who were apparently very shy to come close to a million vehicles parked on their way to the pond. And their mother wasn't around, who could have taught them how to treat those vehicles and their inhabitants as lessers.

Our morning safari on the second day brought us close to a tigress lazying around near a water hole and we missed her by a paltry 5 minutes. We could see her going back to her den as the sun started to shine on her but she was as much farther as were the two cubs. The crew gave up hope, some even starting to believe that our trip on the whole was jinxed.

Our last safari, however, changed all that. For, we had the chance to watch the most beautiful tigress of the reserve up-close (according to our guide, Gupta). And this was the same tigress which we had missed by a whisker earlier that morning. And the moment I saw her, I fell in love with her. Her deep eyes, her splendid walk, her perfect proportions - everything about her was truly amazing. We watched her for a good 15-20 minitues, right from her descent from her den till she disappered in the grasses near the water hole.

She is 4 years old, and for some reason, is known by an insignificant name (chinchola-tigress or something like that, based on the area she inhabits). I feel she deserves a unique name and have named her Kajal, as a tribute to her ever inspiring eyes. If there is love at first sight, this was it. And that sight of hers will remain etched forever in my memories.

Air India

Kingfisher Red has stopped serving the Mumbai-Raipur route, which meant I had to fly Air India this time around. Not that I flew AI for the first time, but I was eager to fly it for a long time.

Whenever AI gets a mention in any discussion, one thing which never fails to pop up is how ‘ugly’ their air hostesses are. How those ‘fat’ ladies do not take care of the travelers and sometimes are even ‘rude’ to them. I, beg to differ.

First of all, the hostesses are not ugly. I agree that they are not sexy (and enticing!) as their Kingfisher and Jet counterparts, but beauty is beyond exhibiting skin in red or blue minis. Draped sarees, large red bindis smeared on foreheads and nicely braided hair – they all epitomize the Indian culture, and I believe that’s beautiful.

Secondly, many a times, the hostesses don’t behave in a way which most of the travelers think they ‘ought to be’. But have we ever tried to analyze what’s going on. Consider the situation from the hostess’ perspective. A traveler enters the aircraft and gives you a weird look (Oh my god, where have I come, those KF girls were so pretty) – his face says it all. Then onboard, he ‘orders’ you for the things he need, the way he is accustomed to doing it in other carriers. The difference here is that you are not like 20-22 year olds starting their careers; you are 42, serving for at least 15 years and expect some sensible behavior from the travelers.

I am no less ordinary. I am not against short clothes and I also like flying in KF, being served onboard by attractive women. However, I feel great about the fact that there is at least one airline which proudly upholds our culture. And it’s a thing which needs to be acknowledged by all.

Where are we headed

India’s growth story until now, as we all know, has been primarily due to one reason: cheap labor. Infys and Wipros hiring people like ants sort of prove this point. But here’s the catch, to play the cards of human resources, you need a dealer at the other end playing the card of innovation, which developed nations like the U.S. and other European nations did. Not any more.

With recession spreading its wings far and beyond, we stand on a crucial crossroad. One way leads to letting go of this opportunity and consequently spiraling perpetually into being a ‘cheap-labor economy’ while our counterparts like Brazil, China and Russia surge ahead.

The other way leads to shifting the role from a pure human resource treasure to a more pro-innovation role. I use words like ‘more’ and ‘pro’ because the demographics of our nation would never allow us to play a pure innovation role. Nano, is one of the biggest examples in recent times which offer a ray of hope. Companies like Marico and Amul are stepping up the ante as well, buy aren't we way too far to confidently claim that we have taken the right path.

The choice is ours. So are the pay-offs.

Back !!

Exactly a month since my last post...pheww!!

Past 30 days (or 31, whatever) have been adventurous, to say the least. I resigned from the job and finally launched India Interns. This month also marks my anniversary of return from the far east.

India Interns has been sailing well as of now; encouraging, if not exceptional. And I am looking forward to some even more interesting times ahead.

Am back! Back in business! Back to my blog!

It's a great feeling. And yeah, time flies ;)