Ramblings of an unknown sell-inebriety

Kids - Try this new and amazing Social Networking tool

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Hey kids and grownups everywhere, try out this most amazing Social Networking tool. Its called "Outside"!!! Im not sure how social is this whole social networking craze is making all of us nowadays... Remember the days when we use to spend all evening playing cricket and football and came back all sweaty and tired for a nice shower and litres of mom's iced lemonade??? Splashing each other with puddles of mud in the rains and making comments on strangers walking by our local park "hang out"...What are the kids doing nowadays? Running home to tweet their arrival back from school...then spending 2 hours online commenting on others, giving the weirdest of quizes( which color underwear are you?) and throwing virtual sheep at others. This then throws up the question we are all asking around us today(Atleast the 25+ ages group- I think we were the Gen X)
How social are the social networking sites making us today? Its a double edged question. Some say more....some say no more.. .Voice your views

Thriller no more....

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Well poor ol MJ had to die this apparent sudden death to get me out of my blog slumber. Woke up this morning to read the message left on the google chat by an ol batchmate of mine, simply saying "michael jackson is dead". I thought this was a virus message that must have come from his chat box as we haven't chatted for years. Ofcourse my curiosity was aroused enough to check and voila, it wasn;t some virus bot message. The King of Pop's eulogies were all over the web, the morning breakfast shows were showing all celebrities one by one pouring their tributes on the "greatest pop musician on the planet".

Its funny how celebrities tend to become important threads of the web of our lives. To each their own bunch of celebrities. I'm sure MJ was a high recall one for most people on the planet. 6/10 Trending topics on Twitter on him should give an idea of that I guess. Im sure Google analytics would also show up the same results for today.

Also im sure others like me would also have noticed how celebrity lives follow the typical PLC curves almost perfectly - the whole introduction, growth,maturity and decline phases all clearly marked out in most lives. And as with many good products/brands some also have a slight jump in the late maturity stage and re invent themselves to last longer in the public memories. Unfortunately for MJ his tweak in the late maturity stage had nothing to the good memories of moonwalks and music but the infamous child abuse charges and divorces and the worst cosmetic surgeries of the planet. Im guess he was just out to show Who's bad!! RIP MJ- You were loved more than hated. Thats something no one can take away from you.

I thought it...he blogged it

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:27:00 +0000

Here's something probably all of us think about once in a while in the rat race of life. I was having a similar argument/discussion along this line...Seth blogged it. Here you go

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/06/thinking-about-the-compromise.html

Has someone got the answers too?

The things that kids CAN do...

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:02:00 +0000

A very heart warming and heart wrenching episode happened in front of me a couple of weeks back and I just got down to blog about it after talking to a friend about it. A preamble first, I truly believe that in educating our kids lies the solution of half our country's problems.

I was in an auto and it had stopped at a busy signal. A couple of kids - a boy and a girl around the same age came near the auto. I first thought they were there to beg. The boy keeps his foot on the auto and the auto driver shoos him away. Then I see them move onto to the next auto and the girl starts to point at the auto's license plate and reads it out to the boy. The boy is repeating after her. That's when it struck home that she was teaching him the alphabets and numbers by reading out the license plate numbers....

This incident just confirmed my belief that the illiterate kids from the poorer class of the society
(Maybe I'm not being politically correct here) have the same drive to learn and grow as from any other class. And I think we should do all that we can do help these kids learn and give them a chance at living a decent life. WE have done enough talking and not enough action. I have decided take my first step towards doing something about this. I have decided to join MAD (Make a Difference) and see how I can make a difference, cause I know these kids surely CAN.

Sit before you Strech...

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:35:00 +0000

"Irrinittu kaalu neeta" is an old Mallu proverb (Badly translaed as the Headline) but it holds true to toadys marketing atleast in the B2B industry.If you were to look for B2B Marketing on the web you would be overloaded with great advise on how to use the latest Web 2.0 tools for marketing your wares. Started with Blogs which in turn lead to social networking though MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook and others- moved to instantly gratifying social microblogging through Twitter and now everyone talks about Friendfeed ,where you bring in all your social networks and tweets into one place. Every marketing guru worth his salt (or not) is preaching about the "real time" connect with the customers and how to make your blogs,corporate social networks and Twitter accounts "human" and constantly and actively "engage" him/her.

As a marketeer you might be forgiven to believe that the entire world has moved on from offline to online in the B2B space and you must be the last person who hasn't done it yet. Well im here to tell you ( suggest rather,I ain't no guru to tell!) that although all these gurus are preaching from Tokyo to Hawaii that the customers will not see you in favorable light if you are not present in the online space, they might not be completely accurate.

I think many B2B companies are still struggling with their basics and this becomes more and more evident when the going gets tough like in today's market scenarios. Especially in immature markets like LAM and APAC regions. When business is booming, everything looks hunky dory when you look at your sales books at the end of the quarter. But when going gets tough, customers are deffering purchase decisions and delaying payments you are faced with realities. Did you get your basics right in the first place?

I haven't done any official market research but when i talk to my peers about how well they know their markets, I'm hearing a common voice - We really don't know the market out there. There are a million leads every sales guy or sales manager is sitting on but having no time or resources to work on it. And all of that potential gold mine is down the drain. I think most B2B companies still think daily sales (Which of course is necessary for any company to run) and forget there is need to understand how to channel their efforts to actually DO the Sale. Show me a Sales Manager who knows/is learning the insides of his market rather being the top Sales Guy of the team and Ill show you an exception to the rule.

Take a step back, think simple - know your strengths- identify your target markets and learn everything there is to know about them. Know all the players in these segments, identify the issues with each stakeholder (End User,Consultant,Contractor etc) and rationalise to them in clear terms how your prodcut/service is going to solve their problems. And for all these you need face time or atleast phone time- Mano-a Mano and not online lead generation. Everyone deals with a zillion tools daily in their line of work and no one wants to fill one more online survey. They want answers and the more personal it is the more confident they feel. So put your money first into the good old offline marketing department. This is not to say online is not the future but check out this year's marketing spends the consultants are recommending and you'll see what i mean. Get real, Get personal, Get business. Or find yourself on the floor rubbing your behind...

Mr President - SHOES have taken over the planet

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:50:00 +0000

The Bush Shoe who started the SHIT (Shoes and Heels International Takeover of planet earth) Association has called for a global press conference in some undisclosed hideout in Af-Pak. All the global media have been blind folded ,scrutinized - checked for bugs,bombs, GPS trackers etc and brought to this cave somewhere in the beyond of nowhere.

Out comes the infamous Bush shoe although its really hard to make out if its really him. He's completely changed. With a full beard, and white turban adorned over his head he walks cockily in front of the world media and takes the chair at the head of the conference table(Don't even ask how in the world did a conference table ,LCD projector and a laser pointer show up in a cave).

"Allahuakbar-OmNamashivaya-PraisetheLord-Atheists ruleeee" chant is the opening line of Bush Shoe. "My dear beloved media of the world. You must be all wondering why I have called you all today? Don't worry . All your curiosity will be laid to rest in a few moments. You would all have seen how I daringly attacked the most powerful man on the planet a few months ago. You also would have been seeing more recently how my friends Chidambaram shoe and Jindal shoe have done our organization proud by attacking their namesakes. And the question in every man,woman and child's man is WHY? "

"Well the answer is very simple. We, the shoes and heels on this planet have been tread upon, exploited,walked over,kicked,beaten and tyrannized for centuries now. We who sought to protect delicate humans and their delicate feet have been subjugated to gross injustice and shoe rights violations. There was a time when there was a symbiotic relationship between the shoe kind and human kind. We were made out of love and hard work with human hands. Made specifically for the humans we were to call our mate for life. Polished daily as nourishment, stitched when hurt and kept in soft boxes when we grew old.But with time Human kind has lost all its heart. The cruelty has taken over all its kindness and gentle attitude towards us. We are now made by robots and machines ,subjected to genetic experiments by mixing of our natural skin with god knows what kind of synthetic skins and even after that our hardships only begin. We are thrown around, never polished and even if polished done so by unhealthy toxic liquid polish which suffocate us but most importantly the umbilical relationship we shared with human kind has been severed."

"Starting from the day we are put us on they feel our bite because we were never made specifically for our human mate but instead mass produced.(Clearly a mistake of the human kind) and we are made to suffer for this. They show us around to their friends for a few days and out comes the newer models and they forget us like rags. We remain unpolished,hidden in the darkest closets filled with rats who nibble at us day in and day out. After a few years while cleaning those closets they find us and instead of stitching our wounds and taking care of us, we are guttered and thrown into the rubbish."

"Enough IS Enough!!! We the Shoes and Heels of the world have decided to seek revenge for all the injustice meted out to us and seek to restore our rightful place as rulers of this planet. It is with this intention I have started the SHIT Association and the SHIT Movement across the world. After I attacked Bush I could convince all the Shoes and Heels in the world to unite against the common enemy and I told them - In less than an hour, aircrafts from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of shoekind. "Shoekind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day! "(Applause fills the rooms,goosebumps everywhere)

"And it is with this intention we have declared out right war on the human race. You can see our squadrons are sent out around the world. Across the Atlantic to Europe, Out to the East to China and Japan. Our troops recently infiltrated the Indian borders and attacked their leaders in plain sight. All of this is with one and only one intention. We will be the Rulers of the Universe. Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!! " Any Questions?

One lady journalist from the press raises her hand. "Afternoon sir, I represent DNA newspaper in India where Chidambaram shoe and Jindal shoe recently attacked our leaders. Although you are calling yourself and your cadets heroes, isn't it true that all of you infact failed in your missions as you never touched any of the leaders and they remain unharmed. What is our comment on this?"

Bush Shoe -" Hahaha - This is the idiocy of the human kind I'm talking about. Those were not failed missions but great successes. Those missions were not our attacks. Those missions merely were a warning to the entire human race that we can attack anyone anywhere at our will. Remember FEAR is the key in any war. We want to put the fear of SHOES in all human kind and scared out of their pants they are, right now....Next question"

Another journalist raises his hand - "Mr Bush Shoe, even though you are calling yourself the Shoes and Heels ......Association, we haven't seen heels in action.Would you say your organization is gender biased?"

Bush Shoe - " Foolish Man. Heels are an integral and key part of our organization. Infact I would even go ahead and state it on record they have been trained to be supreme assassins through the centuries of attacks they have dished out to all the human males by their spouses/girlfriends/mothers. They are our second and most deadliest line of attack. They infact- BOOOOM!!!

A small explosion occurs in the room and the chair where Bush Shoe was sitting is blown to smithereens. Everyone tries to get out but the Shoe cadre blocks the exits. Theres a lot of commotion and screaming in the room and dust flying everywhere. Slowly the dust settles and the Bush Shoes dead body is lying on the floor with blood still oozing out. Someone breaks down the door from outside and in walks Osama with his men. "Hahahahaha - Bush Shoe, whose the Ruler of the Universe now?", Osama screams. "Go back to your leaders , o people of the media, and tell everyone everywhere ,who the real ruler of the world is."

Suddenly the video screen drops out behind the conference table (Again do not ask). And a camera comes on. We can see the image of a man who looks like the Bush Shoe and he starts to address everyone - " Hahahaha Osama, you ignorant asinine prick. You really think I would fall for that trap. That was just my double. You will pay dearly for this , you will pay with your life for this, OSAMAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Sorry for the awfully long post. I got a bit carried away I guess by the Shoegates. Hope you enjoyed it though.

All the World's a Fool

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:06:00 +0000

All the world's a fool,
Fooled into selecting their governments,
Governments fooled into choosing their policies and policy makers
Who get fooled by the war mongers to wage never ending wars,
War mongers who are fooled by the terrorists who feed them,
Terrorists who are fooled by their leaders into believing this war has a meaning,
Leaders who are fools to believe that there are Gods watching us,
All the world's a foolMen and women are fools in love
Fools to believe in the Valentine's days and the April Fools days
Promoted by the marketing guys to make a buck
Marketing guys who are fooled out of their bonuses
Bonuses which fool the Big shots into Bank assets
which are not worth the paper they are written on.
Doesn't the world know better than - that the buck never stops
Making a fool of everyone.
All the world's a fool.
All the children who were having fun,
Fooled into education to spoil the fun,
Education fooled them into a (rat) race,
A race which fooled them into working more for a promise,
A promise which said if you worked , you could have all the fun.
Wasn't it what the children were having my friend?
All the world's a fool.

Inspired to write my first poetry on questions that sometimes pop up in my mind. There are plenty more but I felt sleepy to write more. I know I know, its an insult to poetry but I thought why not give it a shot. For I'm just being a fool. And by the way Happy Fools Day.:-D

Soumya's murderers found

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 05:15:00 +0000

Six months after the brutal murder of Soumya, the Delhi police claim to have found the murderers. It seems its a gang of thieves who have also been involved in the murder of another Delhi BPO employee,Jigisha.

It seems they were out to rob both the victims and drunk when they hit Soumya with a country made pistol. Somehow it doesn't feel right that someone would be willing to kill for a few thousand to be shared by 5 people. The police seem convinced and so does Soumya's father.I guess its just my sixth sense tingling and hopefully its really been solved. Read more about it here. http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Killers+of+Soumya,+Jigisha+arrested,+claim+police&artid=ecVoYvtEppg=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=&SEO=DELHI,%20POLICE,%20SOUMYA,%20VISHWANATHAN,%20JIGISHA

What's really crazy is to see the comments made by the people below the news article, in which they say women shouldn't work at night or in jobs which might provocate these elements. I read it and it irks me to no small measure. And then i think, will I be happy about sending my mother,daughter,girl friend or wife out in the night alone in the streets of Delhi and I cannot seem to completely disagree with the essence of these comments. That's the sad state of affairs for the security of women in the country.

Trying to force back this Bloggers block

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:28:00 +0000

New year came and went by and I didn't write a word. Not for lack of events definitely. I would even go so far as to declare my 2009 welcome as my best new year welcome ever. A lot has happened in 2 months but alas blogging hasn't been one of them. New job, new yet old base, new additions to the family, travel for work and travel for pleasure,cutting out of rice in my diet and an geometrically progressing job description being part of the incomplete list.

I'm happy to no end and pissed and frustrated on the other end. Although i would say happy wins this time over. However my mind has gone blank in regards to blogging so I thought I needed to regain control and pen something, anything down.

Elections are around the corner, Obamania is slowly winding down with the realization that he might not have all the answers after all (What a surprise!), Taliban's slowly taking over Pakistan, LTTE is slowly being extinguished, Phelps had a joint (Big deal I had one too- didn't make me an 8 time olympic gold winner), pink chaddis were gifted to Muthalik and ilk. The world moves on whether I'm blogging or not. So why not let my mind wander and think again of what is,what can be,what shouldn't and be the boss of my own spiel. Amen!

The Greatest Weapon Against Terror

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 04:27:00 +0000

Mumbai again is at the epicentre of attack. It might be one of the biggest attacks ever made by terrorists so close to home. The shock of the world and the country is expected and so is the delayed response by the politicians and the maybe even the unpreparedness of our defences (God bless the souls of the the brave cops who gave their lives to save the hostages). But this post is not about blasting terrorists into smithereens, parading of the Spirit that is Mumbai or blaming the government and armed forces of its incompetencies. No , my friends this post is trying to see from a personal perspective what the root cause of this evil, this terror is.

Terrorism, knows no country boundaries as we have clearly seen in the past decade. Where does this terrorism get its fuel? Where does it get the funding? Where does it get its terrorists. And more importantly where does it get its origins ?

I'll start with the origin. I truly believe that terrorism is what you get when you mix power and money hungry people without a conscience with socially outcast or discriminated people with a weak mind(whether rightfully or wrongfully). In a way its marketing 101 and supply and demand at work. People who make guns and other weapons want to sell more and more weapons. How do you do it ? Influence the need of the target segment by satisfying the want. Target segment - Socially discriminated people with fickle minds, who feel the need to get back at society for what's being done to them. The "suits" tell them, here you go- the latest weaponry technology can provide. Want meets need. Job well done. But then there are not enough people with the need. So what now? Create the need. Create leaders for these groups of people to motivate people on the edge over to their side and brainwash more and more daily. Now you have a steady set of people who keep falling into the need trap and keep taking it to demand stage by plundering and plummaging. How else could you describe the coming up of a new faction of Islamic jihadi group every week?

Now over the past decade ,I feel it has so transpired that Muslims have had to bear the brunt of this discrimination the most. They are the second largest religion in the world. Their customs and practices are different from the western world. And being different scares people. I'm sure it all started with a small disparity against them somewhere. A group of them got together disgrunted and took adverse action. This brought about greater racism against Muslims from a bigger group of ignorant fools who don't differentiate between the person, the action and the religion. This further hurt the sentiments of the the weak and fickle minded among the ones who are discriminated against. More people fight back and the vicious circle starts. Now take these ignorant nonsecular fools (who don't differentiate action and religion ) and the fickle minded people and add the fuel of weapons manufactuerers while making them leaders on the world stage. George Bush and Osama bin Laden come to mind as two examples. Now you have this spiral going out of everyone's control. Cause Bush thinks that all Muslims should be killed and Osama thinks all things American burnt.

Who wins? who loses? First answer very guessable. Check the brand names of the latest companies manufacturing weapons. Laughing all the way to the bank.

Who loses? each and every single one of the 6 billion people on the planet.

Why?Coz, We didn't have the sense to understand that the action and person are separated from the religion and hence kept on discriminated against them. We didn't have the ability to be Secular.

I am born a Hindu, raised a Secular. Infact if I look closely at my circle of friends , I would have more friends from other religions than Hinduism. We are a Secular, Socialist, Democratic, Republic country. These are the words from the Constitution. Its no wonder Secular came first in the list because without that India would have split into a million pieces by now. First question many westerners ask when they meet me, Are you a Muslim ? I feel so tempted to tell them I am and see their reaction. Instead I tell them I'm a Hindu. They look relieved. Not because Hinduism doesn't breed its own terrorists. Just that the Hindu terrorism has not reached them. But do you think in this current scenario the war mongers will not encourage the Hindu fickle minded youth retaliate? Once that happens, Should me or my children fear to tell the truth as many Muslim men, women and children feel ? Or should we unite and say once and for all - Every religion has a right to exist peacefully and we will stop discriminating against any one of them.

Does playing the blame game with one another solve the situation or increase the rift? Will we let the war mongers get away with blood money of our family, friends and neighbours. Or will we use our heads, show our strength, our secularness - and use TOLERANCE for all things different as the greatest weapon against terror? That's when I would say we live in a globalized world.

Pic: Courtesy Getty images

Soumya honoured in Stockholm

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:03:00 +0000

Soumya Vishwanathan along with 5 other Indian journos were honoured at the Stockholm Journalists Memorial 2008. Read the full story here Whats specially disheartening to read is that the no one from the Indian embassy in Stockholm felt it fit to join in the bereavement. Are you seriously telling me that the elite bureaucracy in Stockholm representing India are so overloaded? Disgraceful is the word that comes to mind.

Beginning of the End of an Era

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 12:03:00 +0000

Well this could feel like a continuation of the last blog post on Change and it might well be one, but its just seems that time of the year. New year's around the corner and things change.

This blog post is dedicated to the heroes of my generations childhood. The ones whom we pinned all our hopes on after coming back from a exam gone horribly wrong, after suffering mom's beating for being up to some mischief, fights with our siblings ; all things bad for a child- to sit in front of the tele and smile and cheer again. This post is dedicated to the Fab Five (not just 4)of Indian cricket. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Rahul Sharad Dravid,Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Lakshman and Anil Kumble.

We have grown up watching these amazing athletes play for the country in a sport that is a religion in India. Cricket is what football is to Brazil and Argentina. Half the office goes on sick leave, shops shut early,housewives forego their soaps for the day, buzzing streets have an eerie silence, fathers come home early, and it might not be far from the truth to say that even crime rates drop when India is playing cricket. Such is the euphoria,the ecstasy,the pain and sheer heartburn associated with the sport. Everyone over the age of 5 is commentator and an expert cricketer. He shouldn't have cut the ball like this but driven it like that, what was he thinking bowling a full toss?? I'm sure if the comments made by Indians while watching the game could be stored in a database, it would run into trillions of terabytes.

These 5 athletes have brought out the best and worst in all of us. We have celebrated their centuries and 5 wicket hauls as much as we have crucified them for their bad days. Lauded as Gods of something or something one day and effigies burnt the next. Still they have persevered. For the last nearly two decades or so they have come to become part of our families like siblings whom we love to hate and hate to hear any criticism from an outsider with equal fervour.

I'm sure plenty of sports writers and commentators will be saluting these cricketers and describing their achievements and records(for they can fill 5 books each) but for myself and my generation its near that time to bid adieu to Fab Five bunch. I'm sure they have plenty of cricket left in them as you don't lose your greatness even when your body is creaking and screaming for you to stop with such athletes. But its better to leave gracefully than to be kicked out in the ungracious fashion which international sport is used to.

Anil Kumble-619 Test wickets and 337 ODI wickets as he hangs up his boots. Finishing off as captain of the country and a near impossible to duplicate 10 wicket haul. You have won us many a match for us with your always criticized "non spinning" spin bowling.You have shown every kid who dreams of playing for their country what it means to be a gentleman of the sport. You have toiled harder and longer than humanly possible and played with a heart so large for the country that no one can touch you.

Sourav Ganguly-7,127 Test runs and 11,363 ODI runs and 132 combined wickets plays his last day of Test cricket tomorrow. The most successful test captain India ever saw, your aggression was a welcome change from the soft Indian sides of yore. Personally not my favorite but admittedly the sheer elegance of your off side shots a treat a to watch. You brought about a breath of much needed fresh air into the captaincy of India and as is usual had to suffer for it too. And you proved it with your comeback in the best way an cricketer can-with your bat doing the talking.The pride of Bengal,The Prince of Calcutta, the Maharaja of Indian cricket , We will miss you.

VVS Lakshman- Very Very Special Lakshman. This sobriquet defines you absolutely. The proof that laziness is grace in motion too. To watch you play effortlessly making it look so easy and turning fools of the ones who believe it to be too. Coming in whenever we are down in the dumps and given up all hope and coming on top with an innings which is never short of miraculous. You make us watch the game after all hope of victory is gone and an agonising defeat is staring at our face and turn the agony into pure ecstasy. And then you go on to do it again and again and again...

Rahul Dravid. The Wall. Test cricket batting defined. Did you follow the rulebook on cricket or did they MAKE the rulebook watching you play? The one whom the country depends on when we are out of home and out of sorts. You made sure repeatedly that India were not described as "Lions at home and kittens on international waters". You made us believe that we were safe as long as you stood your defiant ground. And we worshipped the ground you stood on.Every budding cricketer wants to play that cover drive down on his knees like you do and will always wish they could.

Sachin Tendulkar. God. That's what this man is to Indian cricket. Even mentioning that he might retire from cricket one day might bring millions of hate mails at my doorsteps. I can't write enough about a man who has inspired a billion people every game he has stepped out to play for the country. Undeniably the best cricketer the world has seen not just for his game but the sheer power of his mind to take on the hopes of a billion people day in and day out. There might(just might) have been better batsmen in the world but none of them had to go through the pressure outside the cricket field that you have gone through. From a tender age of 17 to an age where your kid knows why a country worships you, you have proved what it means to represent a country in international cricket. I'm sure a 100 books have been written on your past ,present and future and 100 more will be written. You are India's Pele,Maradona,Jordan,Schumacher, Tiger Woods all rolled into one. I know a country will cry the day you retire and wish time would turn back and give us our greatest sportsperson (not just athlete) ever back.

And time is fast approaching for the remaining three to bid their farewells from the game too. I'm sure the young guns will take over from your able hands the pride of donning India's colours on the modern day battlefields of international sport. But for my generation the chants will be heard by our children and grandchildren that they weren't as good or as great as you. Cricket is our religion and you,the Fab Five have been our Gods. We Thank you!

Ode to Change

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:54:00 +0000

Yes ,Barack Hussein Obama is the new president of the US of A. Dawn of a new Generation. Hmm sounds like a Pepsi tag line. Oh wait Pepsi has a new logo too. Rebirth of a Drink. Thinking of rebirths- Japanese scientists have cloned dead frozen mice. Whoa...Change hear we come. Back to Obama again. The circle of life continues...

Lets see what changes are brought about by these 3 completely unrelated events. First Black(ok semi black) president of America with a Muslim sounding name. On his shoulders lie the twin burdens of the biggest economic crisis in history and the biggest war against terror. They say if we had used the $700 billion dollar crutches for greater good we could have alleviated world poverty.So even less needs to be said about $3 trillion for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Change was definitely needed from Bush. But what the bloody hell that change is going to be(Obama has never be clear about that) is any one's guess. The story will unfold itself. On a side note its funny(or not!) how many people today told me that they expected Obama to be assassinated within 3 years.

Like we said change is good. Or is it? Case in point- Pepsi's new logo or logos in plural. The Smiling Logo, the smirking(or grinning) logo and the laughing logo. All for the same brand. Is this a first? Different(slightly) logos of the same brand? Maybe some of the readers can clarify. Anyways when profits are down, a $1.2 billion spent on new logo which has not been radically changed since the 50's(I mean the circle of red and blue with a centre wave) doesn't seem the smartest of all moves. A basic definition of a logo is to uniquely visually identify a brand,company or product. Three logos for the same brand seems like confusing the customer to me. Emotions with logos or brands are excellent for brand identity but are you telling me a Pepsi customer identifies with the smile, The Diet Pepsi one with the grin and the Pepsi Max customer with a laugh? You must be kidding me. No pun intended. Taking different logos to line extensions is definitely a stretch. Have Pepsi's marketing team all done all that could be done before embarking on this great mission ? Or was someone's office joke taken seriously by top management? Let see what this change ushers, hey I'm no marketing guru. BTW did Nooyi vote Democrat , if you know what i mean?

Finally a change that sci-fi novelists have written about for years. Bringing back the dead.Literally. Japanese scientists have brought back from the dead or rather cloned a frozen mouse who has been buried 6 feet under(of ice mind you) for 16 long years. Now they are talking about bringing back the Mammoth. Jurassic Park here we come. It does sound really cool though doesn't it. What will happen next? Wait and watch - the best (or worst) is yet to come. Ode to Change!!!

Pic: Obama pic courtesy CNN.com
Pepsi logo courtesy Brand New blog

Happy Diwali

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:35:00 +0000

Well its Diwali time again. New clothes, firecrackers and lots of yummy food...I can understand the issues critics have with all the noise and smoke and people getting hurt during diwali, but it just ain't the same without firecrackers. Would have been great to have some company also though.

Hope this Diwali brings cheer, happiness and prosperity to my family and friends and to each and everyone out there and here's to hoping that we keep the "spark" burning bright in our lives as Chetan Bhagat said in his speech.

*Pic courtesy: Capt Rohit Saxena

I am India - A functioning anarchy

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:01:00 +0000

As I open the news websites today for India , I'm greeted with these three top news items:

1) India's first mission to the moon
2) Raj Thackrey's arrest over extreme regionalism shown by his political party
3) Gay rights and legalization of homosexuality

Three totally unrelated events somehow all intertwined in the amazing web that is INDIA. As I get kicked from one country to another for work, I'm often asked the same questions again and again and i thought maybe its time to post something about it and point everyone to the blog.(Wink ;) gets more people reading it too). The most often asked question -"What do you say xyz in Indian", can actually raise and answer all questions about India in my mind. When I'm asked this question I often go into a big monologue description of India so that the poor questioner wishes he never had asked the question. But honestly the answer has to be in this way for the person to get a complete context of the question.

What follows herein is as much of a personal debate as it is an opinion

Here's my typical answer : Well i can't tell you what xyz is called in Indian cause there is no such language called Indian. I however can tell what xyz is called in any of the 25 major languages in India.(Please don't kill me, the actual number of major languages and their classification is varied from different sources,so I'm taking a round number here) To understand India better think of Europe as a single country. The Danes are as different from the Spanish as are the British from the Poles. This is India in a nutshell. We speak different languages from one state to another,wear different clothes, eat completely different food (yeah almost everything is spicy to the bland European palate...thank you very much) and have different social setups and customs . Not all over India is beef banned (its even a delicacy in south and east India) as much as not everyone in India is doing yoga. Yes, religions and castes are very much prevalent and their effects are very noticeable. But to understand it ,you need to probably read a contemporary book (readers please suggest a good book which discusses religion and caste system in Modern India) about it. And we still stand United in our diversity.

Yes we are the world's largest democracy but its a joke. The rich don't care as no one can touch them, The poor are too hungry to worry about democracy when they have stomachs to feed(and hence the votes are bought for as low as a promised day's meal) and the most populated "educated,sensitive and highly opinionated"middle class (myself included of course) are too concerned about dirtying their hands in the muck that is Indian politics. Thus it is but natural that the leaders are representative of such a society-the politicians aka the Indian mafia.

Yes we are a trillion dollar GDP economy growing at 8-9% per annum. We have the highest population of educated ,English speaking Under 30 population in the world. We have the highest number of billionaires in Asia and quite a few businesses making it into the Forbes 500 list. Business CEO's across the globe swear by the Indian IT companies & in fact many of the global CEO's are Indians.

Yes we do not have the infrastructure to sustain the growth and need 300 billion dollars of immediate investment in infrastructure just to hold all of this growth together let alone fuel it.
Yes we have a free and powerful press and media and yes my blog can be blocked if Raj Thackrey takes offence to it.

So it is this contrasting views of India that is again shown in the top 3 news items of the day. We are proving our scientific and economic might by sending a mission to the moon and showing we are in touch with modern society and its sensibilities by for the first time taking serious steps in regards to gay rights and homosexuality .However we also take a step back by showing extreme regionalism. Raj Thackeray is the political leader who is trying to make Maharashtra for Maharashtrians ONLY.

But we push on. There's a great confidence in today's India and its young minds. We will make a difference, we will make the politicians accountable, we will push Indian industries to greater heights,we will clean up the system and we will build our infrastructure and we will make sure no child goes hungry. And remember when a billion people say this you better not be in the way.

This my dear friends is the contrast that is India.If you thought you could describe it in one sentence then you got another thing coming. But if we think again, it IS possible to describe India in one sentence. And that is to rewrite the quote of my dear friend Neelabh :

WE are - I am -India -the world's only functioning anarchy.

Happy Saraswathy Puja to all

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:24:00 +0000

Today is Saraswathy Puja in Kerala. Celebrated across India in different names and fashion.Its also called Dussehra in north India, Navrathri in west India,Durga Puja in east India and few other names across the country. I guess the Keralite version is the most simplistic version of all these ones.There is no 9 days of celebrations,no people on the streets than usual,no Dandiya and all the glamour that goes with it, no fasting- absolutely nothing to indicate something is afoot except the look of complete joy in the eyes of kids everywhere.

For Malayali kids everywhere this is the time of the year eagerly awaited. Kids keep their books for puja to receive blessings from the goddess Saraswathy( The Goddess of Knowledge)on the Navami(9th day) and have to get it back only on the Dasami(10th day). Their biggest reason for joy is tht NO ONE can tell them to go and study or do their homework for these two days.Its almost considered capital sin among your kiddie peer group if one of them is seen reading even a newspaper on this day.

Its funny the kind of things you miss when you grow and/or travel out of India. I miss putting my Maths and Physics Textbooks for Puja as soon as the festival starts. Miss spending two days trying to avert my eyes from all written material- Magazines, Newspapers and even sign boards on the street.Miss playing play cricket all day long-only coming in for the freshly prepared iced lime juice in between the game and munch non stop on the lovely sweets prepared (Our pockets were filled too).

And after two days of pure fun you are asked to go back to the temple and fetch your books. From that second on, the wait for the next saraswathy puja day starts.

Om hari shree ganapathaye namaha

To read a bit more about this festival go to
http://www.keralain.com/kerala_festivals/kerala_festivals_navaratri.php

Pic courtesy: ARTNAVY's Blog

R.I.P Soumya

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:07:00 +0000

I don't know how many of you have felt "just another news item" remaining no more so in your lives.I must admit its an all together different experience...It moves you from empathy and disappointment to shock, frustration,anger and pure rage at the system.

I felt it for the first time on Tuesday evening when I heard the news of TV producer Soumya Vishwanathan's horrific death in the wee hours of the morning in Delhi. She was found with a bullet in head and her car was completely smashed. Again this would have been "just another news" for me had I not known her personally,albeit through my sister.

I had met Soumya at my sister's wedding who coincidentally shares the same name. There was this smiling polite Malayali girl with oodles of "aishwaryam"( Grace in malayalam) in a saree along with all the other Headlines Today regalia. She being one of my sister's best friends had made it a point to appear for the functions of the whole week.And as I went through her friends comments about her, I mentally tick marked all those aspects from my memory of her..Poised yet effervescent...Smiling with a sparkle in her eyes.I'm sure she was all these and much more had I known her more than I did.

Unfortunately this incident brings to lime light yet again the dastardly law and order scenario in our capital of all places. Its a wonder women in Delhi are still working, as among all of our generation Delhi is considered to be the worst city for a working woman to pursue her trade. And foolhardy comments like "She was Adventurous" by our precious CM (Who is a lady herself!!!)just go to add more fuel to the fire that is raging in the wake of such an incident.

I hope the Delhi police whose track record is nothing to write home about in terms of solving crime or bringing the criminals to justice, decides to do something about this and other unsolved crimes in the capital.

Also the onus is on us too-the community to provide our men,women and children with safety on our streets. I think the power of a "Neighborhood safety community" for protection is highly under rated and under utilized in our country. This would also take care of comments like like "We don't have enough resources to patrol all the streets of Delhi" from our CM,Union Minister or Police chiefs.

Why do we wait for incident to spark us to action? Why do we have to see a known face appearing in the newspapers before we feel the need to something? I don't know and might never will....Rest in Peace Soumya - You were too good for this world as I hang my head in shame.

Please sign the petition for Justice for Soumya below

http://www.petitiononline.com/soumyav/petition.html

Also find more discussions at following sites.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=30157298526

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26887274209

1560 weekends and counting..

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:29:00 +0000

As is normal with each passing birthday you think about where you headed,what you achieved and what will you acheive in your life. I turned 26 this month and if i look back I have done OK. But not really put nearly enough effort to make it..(hmmm whats the word im looking for-yeah Barney's line) LEGENDARY...

Assuming that we have 60 years to live with 52 weekends in between, Im down to 1560 weekends and counting...Gotta make it count brother.Its going to be LEGEN..Wait for it and I hope you are not lactose intolerant because the next word is DARY !!!

Sound and Brand Identity

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:12:00 +0000

All elements of a Brand from its nomenclature, logos, tag lines, visuals, typography, textures and even scents which help a customer uniquely identify with the brand form the elements of a Brand's identity.

However there one element that I love, when I'm nostalgic about old ad campaigns.Yeah I'm kinda crazy that way!! That's the element of Sound. In various forms - from jingles to tunes, sound creates an unique brand identity in the minds of all of us.

Just listen to these tunes and you know what I mean. Never forgotten, Brand remembered even if they aren't existent anymore.( I know the visuals have their huge impact too,for those who might want to bring up that point)....Pa pa ra ra pa ra ra

And one final one...No Video to help you on this one. Guess (For 99% of you it will take a exactly 1:36 min to guess )

Temple of God or Temple of Green

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:13:00 +0000

I know its been happening for a long time but its become more and more clear to me that in today's world even receiving God's blessings is no more about penance and sacrifice but about whose got the moolah and how much influence he can wield.

Last week after surviving a hair raising trip to Kodaikanal trying to drive up the mountain in zero visibility at 10 in the night my mother convinced herself that it was a sign from Lord Palani demanding her attention. So it was decided that we visit the temple at the foot of the Kodai which itself sits atop a small hill.

As soon as we entered the temple premises commerce started showing its head.As fate may have it was a very auspicious day with it being Lord Palani's birthday and all and the queue for just the cable car to take us up was a mile long. We were approached by touts who claimed that in the name of the Temple Committee they would make sure we cut the lines everywhere and also get to witness the Lords divine countenance upclose.The only cliche was that we had to shell out a cool 5k to be able to do that.

We were taken on our darshan journey with a Tamilian lady tout who doled out the extra bucks all the way up. To the Guard who let us cut the line.The Cable car operator who let is in first etc etc. I was waiting to see if someone from the queue would start shouting at us. But silly me...I soon realised this was not really cutting the line but a normal procedure approved by the Temple Committee. There were different lines once we summited the Divine hill. The longest queue for the free entrance,shorter for the Rs 20, Even shorter for Rs 200 and just us in the Rs 400 a person queue. It also meant that the persons doling out the cash received the closest darshan from the God and were not pushed around.

While coming down I was feeling very guilty about the whole thing and instead of feeling blessed was feeling like I had committed a dirty crime. This seems to be the order of the day now in all the big temples in India from the Vaishnu Devi to Tirupati.I vow not visit any of these big temples as anymore as I feel with all this Business - God has surely left the building.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:44:00 +0000

And a few years later...

Around the World with McDonald's

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:14:00 +0000

I was walking the streets of Rome hopping from tourist spot to another-The Pantheon, The Fountain di Trevi,the Roman Forum etc etc and one common factor stuck out every time. There was a McDonald's within 100m of all these sites.Seeing how great McDees are at real estate( The burgers are definitely nothing much to write about)I had this idea for McDonald's marketing team. A Round the World with McDonald's promotion. Eat at 5 different Golden Arches around the world and win yada yada yada. Just one thing though. Remember to pay me for this! I'm Lovin it.

That Reservation word again

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:01:00 +0000

No comments. I have said it all here.

Only question - Why oh Why God are we to be cursed for vote Politics? No such unanimity among political parties when it comes to growth and development. I reiterate I'm not against reservations per say.I truly believe education is the way out.But in IIM's and IIT's? What's first needed is equality at primary and secondary education levels. Premier institutes like IIT's are among the only places left where there existed equality to certain extent.The equality of Meritocracy.

Reservations just takes that away in a flash.Fake certificate touts and creamy layer parents Heaven. Please show me some real effect towards inclusive social equality by doing this.Please Please Please!!!Or just leave the poor students alone. They are having a tough time already.Now all the parents and teachers are gonna be like- you are ONLY a 90% er you need to be 99%er. Why don't we just pour them some poison and be done with it.

This Avial I Like

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:56:00 +0000

Normally most mallus can't stop salivating at the very mention of avial( a mixture of veggies and coconut) but I'm NOT one of them. Never liked them Never will. But I think I just found another kind of the Avial I like. The musical version. Yes ladies and Gentleman the new Malayalam rockband Avial is belting out some real cool tunes. Do check it out. Be it Nada nada or Karukara or Adu Pambe, you can't help getting a good vibe. And Malayalam goes Hip. COOL

Been traveling and all that

vivek2cool@gmail.com (Vivek Menon) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:47:00 +0000

Its been a very hectic 30 days for me.Started with my vacation to Italia(Ah i miss it already),returned to work preparing everything for a two week tour to India and Germany. A sad news heard just before leaving for India and returning yesterday after having my ears filled with German for the last two.

I had thought I would make a travelogue for my Italian trip but I guess I ain't in the mood anymore. Smells of Bergamo's Old city,Florence sunsets from the Pizzale Michaelangelo,Looking at the entire city of Venice from a church tower across the main island and gaping at the Colloseum in all its majesty and trying to push down the Tower of Pisa ,All the glamour and glitter inside the famous Vatican Museum were among the main highlights.

Moving from one youth hostel to another,meeting new people from different walks of life,partying with complete strangers probably never to meet them again and more makes you wanna travel all your life.

You begin to see what all this wander Lust thing is all about. Nomad for life.Would't that be something. Some one just pay my bills thats all.