Narendra Modi. Gujarat Chief Minister for 15 years.

Narendra Modi A profile of the man.
An interesting take on Narendra Modi, who won the elections in his state of Gujarat in India for the third time running. It is rare to find an incumbent being returned to power in India, since most politicians misuse their power for personal gains and end up being embroiled in controversies and corruption charges. Most of them have no vision and end up doing more damage than good. There are some exceptions to the rule. Narendra Modi is one and the other is Nitish Kumar in the State of Bihar. In both cases the electorate has returned these leaders to power with decisive mandates.

All the Gold in the world

World Official Gold Reserves

Video on Positive Actions Becoming Viral

Organ Transplant results in memory transfer?

Cellular memory and impact on donor recipients behaviourOrgan transplant results in memory transfer?

Residential Real Estate Investments in India 2012. High Return Hotspots

Residential hotspots in India. High return on investment.

Hard to believe: Beer can be a health drink

Don't know how far this is true,  but a beer a day keeps kidney stones away and the heart healthy?Bitter Beer Better Body Builder?

Amazing Photos including one of a mother MP and child in Parliament

 There is clearly a case for providing creches in places of work. With both parents working and reduced maternity leave young mothers can feel a lot more reassured if there is a creche nearby where they can check on their infants. If a law maker can keep her child with her at work, I am sure a lot of others can do the same. Admittedly there will be some drop in productivity, but that can be budgeted for.

An amazing photo sequence. Mother and child in the European Parliament

The Best Diwali Greetings of 2012

Obama's Diwali message for 2012

An Unsung Hero: Kalyanasundaram from India

An Unsung Hero: Kalyanasundaram from India

Combating Cancer Naturally

Combating Cancer Naturally

Global Chocolate Manufacturers

Top 10 Global Chocolate Manufacturers

Top 10 Chocolate Manufacturers

Healthy Food: Pomegranate

I am not sure of the veracity of these claims but I am posting this for reference. If the advice provided is not true, please feel free to write in.
Pomegranate and 13 other healthy food articles.

Dan Gilbert: Why do we make bad decisions?

This is a very interesting talk by the Harvard based, Dan Gilbert. It explores how human beings take decisions and how our perceptions are biased. How do we perceive value and how do we make choices, our concept of time, how do we manage expectations .. etal.
It has implications for strategic planners and account planners. It helps us understand how to reposition products, understand why it is always difficult to move a popular brand up the value chain to a premium position, how consumer contests work and the possibilities go on.. Once again TED gives us an excellent presentation....

Dan Gilbert on human behavior and micro economics

Digital Technology: Microsoft launches a Tablet - Surface

Microsoft launches Suface its first Tablet.

World's Largest Petroluem Producers 2012

World's Top Twenty Oil Producers

Dengue Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

Dengue Symptoms Causes and Treatment.

Heart Attack. Emergency Procedure

Heart Attack. Emergency Procedure

Gangnam The new trend

I was rather surprised to see this name Gangnam  crop up on social media and even more so, to learn that this was a  Korean rapper dance style. Anyway this is the video that is now breaking records and is likely to make it to the Guiness Book of Records as one of the most liked videos on Youtube. It reminded me of  Macarena which was a dance hit with its own trademark dance style  and the success of the South Indian music hit Kolaveri Dee. Gangnam is simple, childish has no particular meaning other than being a carefree happy go lucky song and certainly will appeal to teenagers with the kind energy that the song has and the humor that the visuals and horse back dance style that it spins out.. :)

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 Being a planner by trade I had to dig deeper and look to understand why this video appealed to people and viola, came across this video which provides you with some qualitative research to interpret this meme :)

 A related link on this song.Gangnam Style Explained.

Top Ten Gangsters of the World.

 Probably the title for this post should read Top Ten Gangsters of the Underworld, but then geographically these are people who walk the same ground and breathe the same air as us. There are many who are intrigued by these people, who seem to operate a parallel system and this article provides an overview if nothing else.
 TIME Specials: The 10 top gangsters of the world

World's Top Universities

World's Top 20 Universities. 

Demystifying Social Media

Most of us in our forties  still are a little confounded by the growing importance of “digital media” and “social media”. We still feel reassured, only  when the brands we work on, appear on TV , in our daily newspapers and  billboards. Especially, when the last mentioned is  near airports and on roads our colleagues and superiors travel in. :)

To those of us who try to keep pace with what is happening around us, social media probably means this  :)

 We are therefore, really not convinced, as to  why we need to join the herd of people who seem to somehow want to make a "showcase of their lives" or a  "Truman Show" , if you will.

 I am  attaching two visuals  which I found during my adventures on Face Book, which illustrates to us as  how this medium can be used to the benefit of a brand.

This visual appeared in a page called  I love Ghana and in an album titled "people's choice".
Link to this site   
The intent is to share a funny moment, but what it subtly does, is to underscore the aspirational value of the Apple Brand and its pervasive strength in markets in Africa.

This visual has nearly 68,633 shares and 11,128 people clicking like button.To an old world planner like me, these indicate the reach and cut through of this particular post. It does not however stop here, this visual could be getting similar viewings and likes across the pages where it is posted. The reach figure therefore, grows in geometric proportions. The charm is that this publicity and favorable "buzz" comes free of cost to Apple. With a dedicated digital agency, visuals like these could be "planted" in social media. The key however, is to get the "content right" and to have it placed in the right places.:) Sounds like familiar advice, yes, the rules of the  mainline media game remain :)

This visual above was published around the time litigation was ongoing between Samsung and Apple. It appeared in a page which focused on innovation and technology.Link to this picture

Here too, there is a great valence for Apple, in that it clearly establishes its technological high ground and makes Samsung a "copy cat " brand. The dig at Nokia is hilarious and damaging to the brand to the same extent. While this could be dismissed as a joke, the fact remains that these visuals have great viral value and plant images subliminally. in millions of minds. It does for the brand, what  more than a dozen print campaigns on technological superiority could have done  or  millions spent on PR. This visual in this niche group ended up with 3867 likes and  11, 331 shares. The point to be noted is that these groups include mavens and opinion leaders for the category.

There are many such examples that one comes across.

In Mumbai, India, there was a seismic shift in public opinion after the terrorist attacks in November 2008 and it was the social media that provided a platform for the public to vent their anger and to organize themselves into groups. The movement then spilled onto the streets and forced the dispensation to react.

Campaigns that one may have missed in the regular media pop up on our newsfeeds and when shared by people whose opinion we respect it ends up being looked at carefully. A flash mob effort done by T Mobile in Liverpool was shared by millions and became an internet sensation. This osmosis from activations, events, and mainline to the social networks has made social media very pertinent and an increasingly important tool for brand building.

Yes, the digital age is upon us and in a Darwinian sense, those who do not adapt, will not survive.

Vinod Natesan

P.S. To practice what you have learned, you could start by liking this article and sharing it :) LOL

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Great Speeches : Bill Clinton for Barack Obama

The Clinton Speech for Barack Obama at the National Democratic Convention of September 2012

 

One of the finest speeches I have come across in recent times.

As an Indian citizen, it is not really of immediate concern to me as to who finally becomes the American President, though in a removed sense, it does make a difference, since American policy does affect the Indian Republic in more ways than one.  Keeping the impact on my country aside, my interest and appreciation for this piece of oratory was purely professional. To me, it was an example of excellence in thought, in presentation of ideas and finally, convincing a heterogeneous mix of people from all walks of life about a very crucial decision.

Clinton simplified public administration and finance, macro economics and political history into a rousing 50 minute speech without any visual aids and made his point. 

It was also a classy speech and had dignity written all over it. Concepts like cooperation, ethics in public life and politics, health care reforms, debt restructuring were all dealt with, with candor and conviction. 

He never stooped to mud slinging and irrelevant dribble. The pacing was perfect, the body language was sincere and he “engaged” the crowd for almost an hour!

I don’t particularly poke my nose into what people do with their private lives and for sexual relief and therefore my respect for this man went up manifold. True that he may have lied about an extra- marital affair ( there are few married men I can think of, who have been totally faithful to their spouses in word and deed!!) but that does not take away anything from his mental faculties and his ability as a communicator and as a  thinker.

The 50 minutes I spent reading this gave me an excellent pencil sketch of the current issues facing the US of A and a very good reference point to understand the elections that are scheduled.

Fr Zacharias, Society of Jesus

Fr Zacharias, Society of Jesus

When I visited my parents this time, my mother handed over a few things to me, which she considered valuable. Among them was a letter from Fr Zacharias ( Fr Zach) who taught English at the Loyola English School in the late seventies and which meant that I his student in the 8th and 9th grades.

Fr Zach was quite popular in class, simply because he was affectionate to us all and had a great sense of humor. He was hospitalized for sometime and during a surgery, was pronounced “ clinically dead” . He survived and recovered. He returned to the class and continued to teach us.

Children tend to do better on subjects handled by teachers they like and respect. It was the same with Fr Zacharias. I did well in English that year and also learned to love books. A trait that has continued lifelong.

This letter from him was in response to a query my father sent him from Lagos inquiring about my performance in school. The reply is typical of a man who took up service to humanity as a lifelong vocation. There is affection and genuine concern for all kids irrespective of their religious faith and the ability to see good in everything. I quote “ My only ambition is to do some good to children like Vinod. I tell you they are a wonderful set of kids, the whole lot of them and I love them. I love them well Mr Nateshan and that is the secret of my success with these kids.”

Fr Zach once told me to keep smiling and said that it would take me far. I never knew the background of this letter or that what he thought of me. It however gave my parents a lot of solace and it explained why my mother thought it “valuable”.

I also never saw myself as “docile but receptive” or that I had in me “the makings of greatness “ and that I will “become great” one day, but I do now bow my head in reverence to a Jesuit priest who wrote that about a Hindu student from a middle class family in an elite school. I guess you have to have it in you to see it in others.

Lost touch with him and with some great teachers there, but wherever they are, I always will wish them the very best.

Amen

August 2012 Mumbai

P.S. This article was carried by the School Magazine in its 51st issue, Loyolite 2013.I was given a copy of it by the LOBA representative, Mr.Alex Ajith Philip. Here are the pictures

The Ant and the Grasshopper - A modern Indian tale

Attached is a story which is a zeitgeist of our times. This was forwarded by a friend of mine and I have made some changes to make it relevant. Being a work of fiction,much like the cartoons that appear in dailies, it is hoped that these entities will not have apoplectic fits and claim that they have been defamed or defiled.Post Nomamata Banitrjee, even this is something that we cannot take for granted. Legally speaking this is clearly in the realm of fair comment,public interest and creative license.

An Old Story:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold. Indian Version: The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. NDTV, BBC, CNN, Aaj Tak, Kal Tak, Parson Tak,A TV, BTV, Zee TV, Star TV,Sun TV, Sky TV, Earth TV, Underground TV, etal show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshoppernext to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Aggarbathi Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house. Nagina Seekhellvad claims that the grass hopper is a minority and alleges human right violations and demonstrates in whichever TV talk show she is invited to. Alleges that Narendra Modi and the Mumbai Police may have a hand in the grasshopper's situation and may kill him in false encounters. Media Batkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter . Mayagayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities. Armsnesty International, Mankiboond and Hellary Glutton criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper. The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper and facebook groups are started (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) . Opposition MPs stage a walkout. "Left hand only" parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and a Hartal in Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry. The hartal and bandh then continues the next day in Kerala as official mourning day/martyrs day, since somebody or the other gets killed in the violence, which is often the case. Public property damaged is blamed on RSS and anti- social elements out to destabilize the left movement. In Bengal everyday has been akin to a hartal or Bandh for the last two decades, so no one notices any difference. Communalists Parading as Marxists in Kerala, immediately propose a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers. On the streets, grass hoppers extract nokku kooli ( protection money/hafta) for any work done by anybody for anybody. Uloo Prasad demands allocation of one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian RailwayTrains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'. Promises more train accidents in Bihar if this is not done. Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter. Harjune Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services. The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA/ and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV, BBC, CNN, Aaj Tak, Kal Tak, Parson Tak,A TV, BTV, Zee TV, Star TV,Sun TV, Sky TV, Earth TV, Underground TV, Asianet, Keralanet,Banglanet etal. Aggarbathi Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'. Ulloo calls it 'Socialistic Justice '. Communalists Parading as Marxists calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden ' BankiMoon invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly. Shashi Tharoor cannot even invite himself to the UN, as he has been relegated to the cattle class by the diplomats after he lost the elections and then his Cabinet post. Many years later... The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley, 100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation and thirst despite reservation somewhere in India...

A lovely Malayalam song. Melodious music, smooth lyrics.

A lovely Malayalam Film song ETHO VARMUKILIN. Lyrics BY KAITHAPURAM DAMODARAN NAMPOOTHIRI AND Music BY OUSEPACHAN.

A tribute to the late music composer Johnson. His best known song is Kanneer poovinte ... from the film Kireedom. He combined well with the writer Kaithapuram.

Photographs of India in the British Raj

India in 1900-1950 Photographs

Samsung Galaxy 111

samsung-galaxy-s3 slide show

New Product Ideas

Marketing is all about anticipating, understanding and satisfying needs ... a few product ideas that fulfill a few niche needs..

Google provides new analytics for online advertising

Google-announces-new-metrics-for-online-advertising

Jon Steel on Account Planning & Planners

Jon Steel on what he values in planners.Jon Steel on what he values in Account Planners

Service Tax Exemptions Indian Budget 2012

Service Tax Exemptions in the Indian Budget 2012

The Indian Budget -2012

The Indian Budget 2012 in Yahoo

The Indian Budget 2012 in MSN India

Global Population by National Geographic

Interesting link on the Global Population and Demographics.
7 Billion by National Geographic

Richest Countries in the World by Forbes

http://in.finance.yahoo.com/photos/the-richest-countries-in-the-world-1330405787-slideshow/richest-countries-photo-1330405440.html