TATA vs TATA

I've always loved the TATA's. Apparently they stand for trust (which I was taught) and for IT, Cabs, Cars, Cheaper Cars, Expensive Cars, Luxury Cars, CDMA Telecom, GSM Telecom, Broadband Internet, Mobile Internet, Steel, Manufacturing, Engineering, Energy, Tea, Foods, Chemicals, Retail, Watches, Jewellery, Hospitality...ok, now this may go on, and maybe they have holdings some other billion companies, lets get to the point.

I recently made an interesting observation, where they stood for Confusion. Sometimes when a brand name is plastered across various segments/verticals/business domains or whatever it jus leads to confusion. With the every brand manager wanting his share of the Tata logo, the brand is probably most recognized. So yea, I was at a Tata Indicom store recently to settle my bill; there walks in a guy, about 45, who wanted to recharge his Tata Docomo connection. To his dismay the guy found out that he had to locate a Tata Docomo store and go there, boy was he pissed, here is a transcript of the conversation (translated from tamil):

Guy: Sir, I want to recharge my prepaid

Service rep: No sir, We're Tata Indicom, we deal with CDMA and not GSM, for that you need to goto the Docomo Store.

Guy: But you guys are the same Tata Company right? and its a mobile service? why do you have separate stores? Why can't you have it here?

S.P: Sir, we are different and they're, they're are tie up with docomo

Guy: So what? still u are TATA na? why can't all your Tata stores which offer mobile services be together?

S.P: Sir, I don't know sir, That only the company can decide, I just work here. You have to goto Tata Docomo sir.

Guy: what companies you guys run, people like me have to go there, here and everywhere. What kind of customer service is this?

Guy (mumbling): wat a useless company! they offer mobile services in separate shops...blah blah

Meanwhile, I had to leave, couldn't gather the rest of his mumbling.

On a lighter note, the best I can say is, confuse your customers, diversify, they'll never know where to complain :D

5 years to nirvana

ok yeah. Maybe it sounds lame, given that am the not so very philosophical types. but here goes.

Its been 5 years. Working for someone. Working for an organisation. I started working on April 1st, 2005 (ok yea, what an day to start a career?! go figure) and finally walked out on March 31st, 2010.

I worked in an industry that pays peanuts, promises a lot. You see, its not only the ads that promise a lot to the ever so smart consumer who most often doesn't give a shit about it, the best part is when we kick research to figure out what he thinks - while he is most probably thinking "why are u guys eating my brains out". The industry too promises a lot.

Promise. The industry thrives on that - some call this promise "getting orgasmic when you see your work on TV/ papers/mags". Its a place where everyone believes and are often made to believe they're creatively "gifted" and are so different in a world among the homogeneous morons in other industries - namely clients, bankers, IT, manufacturing and what not.. quite simple which they believe are in the same league as cleaning gutters, changing bulbs on street lamps, collecting garbage.

Some my best moments have been in conversations with people wanting to join the industry, or even in the industry - so why did you end up in advtg?? - you see am the creative type, am a very creative person. So then i ask "how are you creative?" - most often blank looks are thrown around like I asked something nasty about their parentage or asked them to derive e=mc2, or they say stuff like "i write poems" "i paint" and I go "wow".

And in this sense some of us believe we're gifts to humanity, jesus christ 2.0, kalki 20xx and buddha reincarnated.

We are used to believing that all other jobs are boring to death and we the creme of the creme, now it doesn't matter that you're annually paid 1/3rd of what an entry level exec takes home per month at the clients side.

this is the philosophy we operate:

1. We have glamour

2. We have fun @ work coz we don't work most often - the best part is when we choose to "think" for the creative idea.

3. We think every product sucks (especially our own clients, the competitors product is always better than our clients)

4. We are creative, we're cool, we love awards - which we give ourselves and then over which we fight crying foul

5. We like firang stuff, like to sell firang stuff, love firang awards & firang porn.

all right. my raves and ranting apart, I still dunno why I love it. Am the rambling on this stops here.

So yeah, where was I? five years to nirvana. so 5 years in a mayhem of an industry has taught me lots from where I started. One of the most important things I've learned is this. When I stepped into a job, I always thought and believed that I'll be "the ambitious" - work hard, move up the ladder fast.

Turns out, everyone else is the same. As naive as that sounds, it did really open my eyes.

In these 5 years of working in multiple organisations and handling many clients, I am yet to meet a person who isn't ambitious. Well it adds up like this, that we're a part of the same society, values, similar educational systems and heck yea everyone believes he/she can be CEO and wants to be one. And I realised I am in this rat race.

Somewhere while ambition grew, I also had dreams. In a career path most of us are ambitious, and I guess that's the way it is to be. We slog it out to beat the rest of us, which is what I was. In these five years I was quite simply chasing my ambition, like everyone else does. And then one fine day I decided to see what happens if I chase my dreams. I QUIT.

As difficult as ambitions may appear, chasing them with a plan and right spirit does get you somewhere up there, or atleast close to it. Chasing a dream is very different, I've started to already "feel" that. And in my case chasing many is stupid and probably weird, but heck yea, I can atleast say "I tried" the day I turn 50 something and retire with 4 dogs.

And yea, before I finish, just incase you also get inspired (heh he) a forewarning: Sometimes dreams aren't dreams, they just happen to be nightmares or turn into one. All da best!

cheers!

treasure hunt

I was recently shopping at crossword and found posters saying "wear the old coat/hat and buy the new book"

It led me to wonder, the days I used to shop for books from second hand book shops.

the treasure hunt

One of the lovable things about being able to shop in an old book shop is simply what i call the treasure hunt. Unlike LF bookstores like landmark, crossword, odyssey etc where books are arranged by categories, labels and ISBN no.s that help me quickly identify what i want or would inevitably take me to my most favourite category by default, old book shops are haphazard and random. With no order, no categories to lead me to anything that i normally would, i tend to browse more and explore more types of books from recipes (which i never have) to what not. And more often than not I end up seeing something so interesting in a genre i otherwise wouldn't have ventured into. And so the treasure hunt begins....

price: of all the advantages, the price is the most tangilble one, considering I spend a lot of time browsing (which I do enjoy, and don't pay for)

the character: I think books have a character that they develop over ages when more people read them, mark them, rip them. They tell a story beyond their pages. I love the dog ears and brownish-yellow pages to crumbling pages. all of it.

the surprise: besides the story they carry and the character, most often some end up with little leaves, wrappers, notes, cash, dead bugs...et al. you name it. i have been surprised to see what all you can find inside an old book.

dates: most have the original owners name/ gifters name & date. it leaves me a lot to wonder about the person who read this book, how they looked, what they did for a living (some even leave their qualifications embedded), where they lived and virtually a mini bio data. In this case "the older the date, the better"

the aroma: i love the smell of books, old or new. as the gum, binding and paper ages with increasing acidity and a host of other masalas which may have spilt over the book. a book develops an aroma that is omnipresent in all libraries and old book shops alike. i love it.

Though i do buy at crosswords & landmarks of the world., old book shops have a special place, coz they tell a story beyond their pages, so i may not always buy the new book or print.

image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/untums/533118282/

i'll be back!

Lets RULE, they say!

Am back after a hiatus.

Ok, elections are soon on. I guess the great democratic nation is yet on another bid to elect its "ruling party" by April - May this year and that is enough reason to cause mayhem in our country.


What the heck, I say! I've been voting ever since I was eligible. It feels great to choose. yes it does. So whats my problem? well I hate the very term all these moronic media giants use. Am just curious, we elect our representatives so that they "serve us" they "represent us". So where and when the hell did they decide to "RULE" us? and why does the media refer to them as "ruling party"? shouldn't it be "serving party" or whatever???

I mean whats the funda in electing another king or queen or proxy/dummy/ puppet king (u know who!!) when we're supposedly a democracy??? and more over a republic??

So here comes the brigade to rule over you and me while we bend over and the media continues to report all about how they rule us. In a democratic country where the media is very powerful and all, isn't it their responsibility that when they report anything or conduct their exit polls to sensitise people to wake up and not be ruled? isn't it their responsibility? Don't they know it or do they just pretend?

Maybe its because of the very term that people have become desensitised to their rights and powers and feel like a helpless and hapless bunch ruled over by a elected government or plainly just any politician.

To start with, maybe we could write out letters to all media houses before the election commences to refrain from using such terms. Maybe that will instill some confidence in our people.


credit for pic: R.K laxman. Thanks!

Phoenix to mars

which would make us happy if we find life or if we don't?

Frankly, to me i would like it if we do find life on mars.... but then life as in? often we picture life as something that is close to humanity or something that is similar to animals as such...but then most often what we are looking for is a life form na? anything like a bacteria too is a life form rite? or something like virus which exists between both (though i was taught this is school, its kinda interesting and disturbing to think of something in between life and non-life)...could the discovery of a virus be counted as life??????????

I really dunno about that, but I've always pictured a parallel world to us where a guy exactly like me exists, doing exactly the same thing ....right now...like writing this same blog.....

whatever.... i hope we find life..

Calvin n Hobbes

I picked this up from another site........... this is dedicated to Calvin's dad.....with his really awesome answers to Calvin...

Astronomy

Q. Why does the sun set?
A. It’s because hot air rises. The sun’s hot in the middle of the day, so it rises high in the sky. In the evening then, it cools down and sets.
Q. Why does it go from east to west?
A. Solar wind.

Q. Why does the sky turn red as the sun sets?
A. That’s all the oxygen in the atmosphere catching fire.
Q. Where does the sun go when it sets?
A. The sun sets in the west. In Arizona actually, near Flagstaff. That’s why the rocks there are so red.
Q. Don’t the people get burned up?
A. No, the sun goes out as it sets. That’s why it’s dark at night.
Q. Doesn’t the sun crush the whole state as it lands?
A. Ha ha, of course not. Hold a quarter up. See, the sun’s just about the same size.
Q. I thought I read that the sun was really big.
A. You can’t believe everything you read, I’m afraid.

Evolution of Technology

Q. How come old photographs are always black and white? Didn’t they have color film back then?
A. Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs are in color. It’s just that the world was black and white then. The world didn’t turn color until sometime in the 1930s, and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too.
Q. But then why are old paintings in color?! If the world was black and white, wouldn’t artists have painted it that way?
A. Not necessarily. A lot of great artists were insane.
Q. But… But how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn’t their paints have been shades of gray back then?
A. Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the ’30s.
Q. So why didn’t old black and white photos turn color too?
A. Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember?

Theory of Relativity!!

Q. Dad, will you explain the theory of relativity to me? I don’t understand why time goes slower at great speed.
A. It’s because you keep changing time zones. See, if you fly to California, you gain three hours on a five-hour flight, right? So if you go at the speed of light, you gain more time, because it doesn’t take as long to get there. Of course, the theory of relativity only works if you’re going west.

How things work?

Q. Why do my eyes shut when I sneeze?
A. If your lids weren’t closed, the force of the explosion would blow your eyeballs out and stretch the optic nerve, so your eyes would flop around and you’d have to point them with your hands to see anything.

Q. How do bank machines work?
A. Well, let’s say you want 25 dollars. You punch in the amount and behind the machine there’s a guy with a printing press who makes the money and sticks it out this slot.
Q. Sort of like the guy who lives up in our garage and opens the door?
A. Exactly.

Simple Physics

Q. What causes the wind?
A. Trees sneezing.

Q. Why does ice float?
A. Because it’s cold. Ice wants to get warm, so it goes to the top of liquids to be nearer to the sun.
Q. Is that true?
A. Look it up and find out.
Q. I should just look up stuff in the first place.

Secret of omniscience

Q. How come you know so much?
A. It’s all in the book you get when you become a father.