The day an ordinary citizen chased police..

What happens when a police walla breaks rule and gets flagged down by a citizen?

Read this blog to find out:

http://my-bangalore.blogspot.com/2006/05/oh-well-what-hell_04.html

How Lokesh Sapre Got Deadline, Got Googlised, Got Away Unnoticed

I have to create collaterals for some sales guys on a few services. Now these are services that we have never really ventured into much but the collateral should sound this way as if we were the pioneers in this service. So what will I do? I will simply do a quick search about those services on google, download interesting stuff related to the topic, pick up a line from here and there - rehash the whole stuff, pepper it with my own adjectives and adverbs, change the flavor of the topic to make it interesting and business like and dish it out in my company's collateral template. Simple.

'Reusable Component' is a term that's commonly used in IT companies. Though it's mainly for reusing software components but also gets extended to writing service collaterals, whitepapers, techical papers etc. 99% people in the IT industry googlise. 1% people like Aziz Premji, Narayan Krishnamurthy do it without opening a browser.

Ask any marketing manager or a PM in any IT firm if he/she has created any proposal/collateral/paper without referring to any other material from the net. Yes, I know referring doesn't mean copying but I intend to say that in the same breath. Copying for me is not lifting 'as it is'. If put in Bollywoodish term, it means 'getting inspired'. The reason being, more than often, we try to retain or bring about the same flavor in our stuff that is already there available. Only thing that gets changed is the presentation - the tone, the style, the jazz.

As a senior top management guy once told me - Why reinvent the wheel?

My brief encounter with Pramod Mahajan

Another icon has whiffed away in the air.

Pramod Mahajan - perhaps one of the only guys in BJP with whom the younger generation as well as the older one could connect to.

Pramod Mahajan- India Inc.'s poster boy, the man who revolutionised IT & telecom sector.

Pramod Mahajan - an outstanding orator & a skilled 'thinking' politician.

Pramod Mahajan - undoubtedly the only candidate in BJP who had full potential to becoming a Prime Minister some day.

I think the 'young' politicians of India who have created impact by the way they have functioned are really cursed ones. Rajiv Gandhi, Madahav Rao Scindhia, Rajesh Pilot...and now Pramod Mahajan.

I had the priviledge of meeting Pramod during my advertising days at Crayons. We were handling BJP campaign and b4 election were announced, I used to visit BJP headquarters a lot for collating publicity stuff or for presentations etc. During these meetings, rubbed my shoulders with couple of big names including Mr. Vajpayee himself but it was Mr. Mahajan with whom I had lot of interaction. The guy had a charismatic personality. You couldn't argue with him, or perhaps we being the vendors, never did. The guy was always surrounded by his chela chapatas who used to through weight around, but when it came to taking decisions like even approving small banner lines, Pramod used to call the shots. His knack for being technology savvy was reflected in the BJP headquarter media room. A young team that he had created used to sit here 24x7 watching each and every news item on TV, scanning through all print media reports, making databases of important stuff on comps.

In a recent interview he said he wished to be the Sachin Tendulkar of politics. He was on his way, no doubt about that. But unlike Sachin, I guess fate wanted him to take a break permanently from life.

Sanjay Suri-Tom Cruise connection

Read in one of the papers that Sanjay Suri is hoping that if he ever have a son, he would wish his son marries Tom Cruise's daughter. This way, she would be called as Suri Suri.

(for those who didn't get the joke, recently Tom Cruise named his new born daughter as 'Suri').

Bada Ghatiya Ad. Hai yeah...!

I have most of the time admired Pepsi ads. HTA (now JWT) was not known for very 'creative' kinda stuff..but Pepsi was one account for which they used to dish out real good stuff. But sorry to say, the standards are falling now.

The Bada Bubbly Channel Hai Yeah is a BIG disappointment. The teaser ads. endorsed by virtually entire celebrity clan under Pepsi banner created helloa hype about this new 'Pepsi TV' to be launched/coming soon. Finally when the main ad. came featuring Sharukh Khan, Kareena & Priyanka Chopra- it turend out to be such a big disappointment.

Sample the logic of the teasers that got built up in the main ad:

Yeah kaisa Channel hai?
Jab TV dektey..dekhtey..aap Pepsi peetey ho....to usko PEPSI TV kehtey hai!!!?????

I drink Bornvita...so will I call it Bournvita TV??!!! Or better still, du-du (milk) TV..

In the past, even promo ads. have always been witty or atleast had some 'rational' logic to it. This one is really outrageous. Only saving grace - Kareena & Priyanka in a Manish Malhotra designed mechanic wardrobe.

Wonder how many crores went down the drain over this media splurge.

I strongly support reservations for OBCs....

(Got this piece in one of the fwd. mails sent by a friend)..
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think we should have job reservations in all the fields. I completely support the PM and all the politicians for promoting this. Let's start the reservation with our cricket team. We should have 10 percent reservation for muslims. 30 percent for OBC, SC/ST like that. Cricket rules should be modified accordingly. The boundary circle should be reduced for an SC/ST player. The four hit by an OBC player should be considered as a six and a six hit by a OBC player should be counted as 8 runs. An OBC player scoring 60 runs should be declared as a century. We should influence ICC and make rules so that the pace bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar should not bowl fast balls to our OBC player. Bowlers should bowl maximum speed of 80 kilometer per hour to an OBC player. Any delivery above this speed should be made illegal.

Also we should have reservation in Olympics. In the 100 meters race, an OBC player should be given a gold medal if he runs 80 meters. There can be reservation in Government jobs also.

Let's recruit SC/ST and OBC pilots for aircrafts which are carrying the ministers and politicians (that can really help the country.. )

Ensure that only SC/ST and OBC doctors do the operations for the ministers and other politicians. (Another way of saving the country..)

Let's be creative and think of ways and means to guide INDIA forward... Let's show the world that INDIA is a GREAT country. Let's be proud of being an INDIAN.. May the good breed of politicans like ARJUN SINGH long live...

So, what do you think, huh???

GoaFest winner

I had seen this ad couple of days back in Hindustan Times. The ad. won viewer's choice award at the recently concluded GoaFest Advertising awards. What made the whole thing very interesting was that a very good friend of mine - Tanuj Ahuja had shot this beautiful picture. What's more, the sweet little baby in the ad. happens to be Tanuj's daughter herself. Wonder how much Tango charged for her daughter's 1st modelling assignment ;-) 

Visa Power

The day I was diagnosed with slip disc, 3-4 days later, I had to leave for Indore to attend a wedding. But more than that I was more worried if I would be able to attend my US Consulate Visa interview which was 2 weeks down the line. The Indore trip got cancelled but fortunately was in shape to attend the Visa interview.

I was quite lucky to get date for the interview within 10 days of HR submitting the form so didn't want to miss it. Didn't drive, but hired a car to drop me and take me back home from the Consulate. Reached there an hour b4 the interview time and saw my friend Avi already there.

On the eve of interview, I was cramming the HR briefing dos/don't sheet regarding the interview. What to speak, how much to speak, things to avoid, etc. Both of us were getting these jittery vibes of what if we don't get the visa...we would become outcasts in our office ;-)

In an hour I was called in for the interview. After finishing all the pre-interview formalities, I waited for my number in a line. My friend was standing in another line. His turn came b4 me. To his and my surprise, his interview lasted exactly for a minute. In fact less than that. All that the firang asked him was where was his native place and how long had his family being staying there. That's it. He got the visa but was terribly disappointed coz the whole nite and morning he had mentally crammed answers and the firang's response turned out to be an anti-climax.

My process went quite smoothly with the firang, who was in friday friendly mood, smiled n joked with me while asking questions relating to my edcational background/project/BSIL/profile etc. Out of all that the best one was.... "you are working in an IT company for so long.... and you don't even have a Diploma in computers...how?" ..I wish I could have told him: Even I don't know how. :-)

I am back from my forced leave

It feels good to be back on my feet. As you all might be knowing, I was diagnosed with slip disc a couple of weeks back. Man..it's pretty painful..and in my case the slip disc was a different case. The 'slipped' disc of spinal was crushing a nerve that was passing to the left leg due to which I was having sharp pain in my left leg and literally couldn't move/sit or stand. A few weeks of bed rest and a constant accessory that I have to wear at least for 8 weeks(lumbar belt) has reduced the pain and now I am back in action.

IIPM students put up a site

Everyone knows of the IIPM controversy that took place last year. Do a quick search on Google and you'll come across the entire thread that shook the blog land. It seems some students from IIPM have mustered up the courage to start a site of their own and let their voices be heard.

This is the site: http://www.iipm.2hell.com/

Infosys Q4 net up at Rs 673 crore

In one of the NDTV shows Narayan Murthy once said that his managers give him sleepless nights. He revealed that after each quarter, his managers come up with crazy figures & targets that they intend to achieve - thus giving him sleepless nights. :-) ..but the bottomline is, they do manage to achieve the targets.

Short victory for bar girls

They have a reason to dance again for a while. The recent Mumbai HC order agianst Mah. Govts. move has come as a victroy for all dance bar girls & owners. The order comes as a slap on the govt's face and this time I am sure they will make life even tough for the bar owners. Already talks are on in govt. circles on making license procuring law stricker to ensure that more than half of the bars go out of business.

Himesh Bhai...

We love to hate him and yet, we don't mind shaking a leg on his music. Let's admit it, his music might be monotonous & predictable yet there are beats to it. Ysdy, he was the guest on Go92.5 fm and I was surprised to see and hear about the fan following the chap has. It seems his biggest fans are all these college guys and young kids. The purist might scoff at his music & his nasal singing but then his music is like that only. He is what Virendra sehwag is to cricket- total unorthodox. He has created his own stamp of music and I guess that's ok. After all, it's a free world.

What's so new about it?

Shailendra Singh of Percept Films (the producers of Hanuman) are planning to produce a movie called Maa Santoshi Maa. As the name suggests, it would be mythological film based on the story of Santoshi Ma. When asked, why the change in name (remember, the original smash hit movie had one less 'a') he says its due to numerological reasons and also..bcoz the with the change in name people would associate something new and fresh with the film!!! Hullooo...how come adding an extra 'a' add somehting new or fresh? What new would happen? Instead of story being shot in village, it would be now shot in this internet age period where the main lead would be millionaire but still not satisfied with life - who would get these visions from Santoshi ma and would later turn into a bhakt. What's so new about it?

Et tu Proteins?

For the past 2 days I am just googling on Proteins. Extracting as much info. as I can on the food items that are rich and not so rich in proteins. Reason?

Well I had been getting this back pain for the last 2-3 weeks or so. Last week it became kinda serious. I couldn't sit or properly stand and the pain was getting acute in the lower back. Once in a life time evry It guys falls for this problme - knowing that, I applied some preventive measures which kind of helped reduce pain but this time the pain still lingered on in my left leg. So much so, that I was finding it even difficult to drive or sit for even 2 minutes on chair or anything. Then I finally consulted a physio.

After pinpointing my pain areas the physio pinpointed the reason why I had pulled my hamstring (incorrect posture while sitting on something low - which happend to be my low 'baithak' in my drawing room) and was feeling this pain & stiffness in my body. She advised me to get a blood test done to check the quanity of uric acid. A high quantity of uric acid leads to frequent stiffness/pain in body. It means that the body is not able to dispose of the residue of proteins and it gets deposited on bones/joins in the body - which leads to arising of spasms/stifness/pain etc. & in future can elad to other complications too.

The level of uric acidin my report was 6(normal is between 2 -6.5) but according to her anything above 5 is high and I have to reduce my uric acid level. Which means - cutting down on my protein intake and also some medication. As she statred tellign em what all food items have proteins, my jaw started becoming wider. It includes:

-Rajma
-Pulses
-Channa/chole(chickbeans)
-Panner
-Tomato
-Sprouts
-Dahi
-Milk
-Soya beans
-Fish
-Mutton
-Peas
-Eggs
-Cereals
-Nuts

I am still googling to arrive on items which are very rich in proteins and can be avoided. I exclaimed..but what should I eat!!! if all this has to be avoided...she laughed and said..well u can eat fruits. But for the time being..avoide all protein stuff and month later get a test done again to see the level of uric acid.

This problem is very common with people who get regular lower back pains/stifness in body or frequent gym/work out.

If I stick to my no-protein diet for atleast a month also (which suvi will ensure I do), you might get to see a leaner (or not?) loku very soon.

How to become a Page 3 celebrity?

spend some moolah..hire a good PR agency and watch the transformation. Read how Mid Day managed to fool everyone on the Page 3 circuit by 'creating' a celebrity in 60 days.

Sensationalism: Thy name is Media

Remember the moving pictures of the mom and her daughter who were caught in the lathi-charge at Faridabad stadium? All TV channels spearheaded by NDTV caught up with the incident. NDTV, like always, went a step ahead and interviewed the husband of the injured lady and another daughter who was also at that time caught in the lathi charge and asked all kinda stupid questions.

Today in Mumbai edition of HT, saw a small news clipping on the sports page. Apparently, Sharad Pawar - the BCCI boss has sent a letter to the mom & daughter, apologizing for the incidence and has told them that whenever they want to watch any match in India, they can come and watch it in The BCCI President's Enclosure as his guest. So strange, none of the TV channels talked about this gesture in ysdy's sports news. Atleast NDTV who sensationalised the new piece didn't. Another example of where the state of news reporting standars are going.

Govindaji Part -II

Can't resist writing about our superhero again. Today morning heard this piece about Govinda on Go92.5 fm. Apparently Govindaji had been receiving these 'threat' calls for long time and according to him, his 'enemies' don't want him to come back in the industry - now that he has 'restarted' his career and all - so the threat calls. Now what do you do when you get threat calls? You obviously call the Police. But no - our hero shot letters to Sonia Gandhi & the Chief Minister and other big honchos in Delhi telling them that he is receiving the calls. The CM then fwd the letter to Mumbai Police Head - AN Roy. The Mumbai Police say - Govinda has not launched a formal complaint so what can we do? Govindaji on his part says the calls are coming from people in Mumbai only and I will disucss about it with right people (sr. cong heads in delhi) but refuses to divulge any details.

Areey baap - koi samzayega inko - khali pili public ka time khoti karing. :-)

Govindaji...it's a wrong number;-)

NDTV yesterday reported that Govinda was getting blank calls from the underworld. It went on to say that the extortion calls were being made by Chota Shakeel (weren't the calls BLANK? How did they manage to figure out that the calls were made by Chota Shakeel?). In today's paper, Govinda has said that he will speak to people (Cong. heads) in Delhi and that when he lands in Delhi, there will be full security for him. He also adds "yeah ek chakraviuh hai aur main is chakravuih ka khulasa karunga..." god knows what he means by that.

What I feel is Govinda is either taking this call business too seriously or the underworld goons have really fallen to bad days - hence they are not sparing even Govinda. I mean cummon...we all know this... Govinda himself is in fukra state these days. With his last film bombing and he being out of work for sometime, he has made a hue n cry recently over his financial crisis. You don't expect a Chota Shakeel to call him up and ask for money.... after all Shakeel bhai must be tuned to Aaj Tak to keep a check on latest happening in the film world. he must be pretty aware of Govinda's financial condition. I think this is what would have happend:

Scenario 1:
Govinda would have indeed got a call from Shakeel bhai but bhai would have offered him some financial help instead. Obviously, Govinda ka larger than life ego ko thes laga hoga and he would have slammed the phone down. Bhai would have called again and again and this time Govinda would have called police to tell them he is getting calls from the underworld.

Scenario 2:
As it happens with people who have small kids, Shakeel bhai ka kid would be fiddling with his dad's mobile when by mistake he would have dialled Govinda's number. 2-3 baar aisa hua hoga, and Govinda (man mein to ladoo foot rahey hongey ki at last....underworld has called him...he is a celebrity again) would have thought he is getting extortion calls from Shakeel bhai.

Scenario 3:
Govinda's name is appearing in newspapers for all the wrong reasons - mainly his financial crisis. Probably he would have 'planted' this story just to create hype around his latest releases in the pipeline.

In the end, if the call indeed came, Govindaji we would suggest, take a chill pill. It's a wrong number ;-)

Did Lata actually sang on a false note?

Lata Mangeshkar recently faxed statement stating she never made the comments on leaving Mumbai if the flyover is constructed. According to her, the statments in newspaperwere fabricated and she never had made such statements. 2-3 days back Mumbai Mirror, the paper in question, again highlighted the story on their cover page and inbetween the story mentioned that how Lata Mangeshkar had said repeatedly in hindi that "ab mumbai chodna padega". If this is actually what she has said, then there is indeed some problem in interpretation. The statement mentioned above sounds more of an after thought, something that perhaps in someway reflects helplesness about the fact that nothing can be done now. Yes, it has shades of emotional blackmail to it but what's important is that the statement in no way concludes to what's being highlighted in media that Lataji will leave mumbai if the flyover is built on peddar road. I think it's more of 2+2 = 22 being done by journalist here. If you read the actual statement as claimed by Mumbai Mirror, it doesn't highlight that Lata is threatning that if the flyover is built, I will leave Mumbai. While I do agree that emotional blackmail & focusing on the problems faced by celebrieites should be kept out in larger interest of the people, but I do feel that in this case, if Lataji had indeed made statement like that only as mentioned above, then the media has gone too far to 'sensationalize' an issue and spice up a burning and touchy issue just to create more news out of nothing. Something which Aamir Khan slammed recently.