#PictureStory 44 : Spiral

"What they hide is much more than what they show" spoke the landlady as she saw the new tenant admiring the beautiful spiral staircase.

Intrigued by her comment, Pete and his wife Carolyn looked at her with their faces almost asking a similar question 'What do you mean?'

Reading their faces, she replied "I just got the carpeting done. It looks beautiful, doesn't it?"

Without waiting for them to react, she continued "I grew up in this house. We were six siblings, so it was nothing short of a mad house. There was chaos all around, fighting and playing, giggles and wails, laughter and shouting. A lot of those things used to happen on or around this staircase. Winters were spent near the fireplace with our father regaling us with stories from his travels. We thought that life would be like this always. But then when we start planning our life, is when life starts planning for us. Two of my brothers left the country, one died while serving in the army, and three of my sisters got married. My parents passed away when I was 17.

I could never leave this house, which I call my home and my abode. I guess my attachment to this place was far stronger than what I could have felt for any person."

After a pause, she looked at Pete, Carolyn and their baby and said "You are the first tenant in the 125 year history of this house. The moment I saw your baby and heard her chortle, I knew that having you guys as tenants will help in bringing back some of those noises that have got buried deep in the treasure chest of my memories. I hope you love staying here as much as I have all these years. Welcome home."

Pic details: Clicked in Edinburgh, Scotland in Aug'16

#PictureStory 43 : Culmination

Today was the culmination of their decade long dating. Jonathan and Marylene had met in their first year at Trinity College when both were studying history. It was love at first sight for both of them. They were both from outside Ireland. Jonathan was from England whereas Marylene was from United States of America. After classes, they would go and explore the town of Dublin. What began as historic tours to museums soon turned into dinner dates followed by pub crawls and then weekend getaways to nearby towns like Galway and Doolin. 

Five months back, while standing under a moonlit sky and gazing at the stars, Jonathan whispered in the ears of Marylene "Nothing is as beautiful as the sky today. If time was to come to a stand still, I want it to happen now, as what can be a more apt moment than now when my arms are around the most precious treasure that I know right under the gaze of the stars that act as diamonds and bring glory to this treasure."

He then went on his knee, extended his hand and asked Marylene "I would like to weave many such moments into a garland of memories with you, if only you say a yes. Oh my princess, will you marry me?"

With tears in her eyes, Marylene said yes and they decided to get married in the chapel of their alma mater - Trinity Chapel at Trinity College.

Pic details: Clicked on the campus of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland in Aug'16

#PictureStory 42 : Passion

People would get quite uncomfortable with Mario's stares. It was a long gaze with no blinking of the eye and that would make people uncomfortable as they felt that he could see through their character. 

Mario would do this for hours while sitting at the station, sitting at beaches or sitting in restaurants. Just stare and observe people, their behaviour and their quirks. 

And then he would take a pencil and paper and start doodling, sometimes for hours. Based on his strong observations, he started creating distinct characters, with unique characteristics, loud physical features. Even the dog had its own unique identity. 

Soon his work started appearing in dailies and people loved the fact that Mario had the ability of taking a usual life situation and give it a humorous lens. After a few years, the entire nation knew who Mario Miranda was and what his work was all about. Mario's passion and true calling of becoming a cartoonist by observing people had been fruitful for him.

Pic details: Clicked in Brittos restaurant in Goa, India in Sept'16 where Mario Miranda's work has been displayed.

BOOK REVIEW : WHAT WILL BE

This #book written by Michael Dertouzous, the director of MIT Laboratory for Computer Science from 1974 to 2001 gives future predictions about the next decade and century as the Information Revolution progresses. What is amazing is that this book was published in 1998 - the year when #Google had just been founded and way before the launch of #Facebook, #iphone, #Uber, #WhatsApp, #YouTube , #Netflix or any of the other big guys of the #digital world. I wanted to read this book to see what kind of vision Michael paints about the world and how much of it has truly happened. 

It is fascinating to note that he talks about: 1. Music and film becoming available on demand 2. Digital cash and interactive movies becoming a part of our lives. 3. Online medicinal services 

4. Advances in telecommunication that will change the way we interact 5. Robotics and Virtual Reality Being closer to the digital world, Michael could foresee the future much better than anyone else. In 20 years, we have seen most of what he talks about becoming a reality! A visionary! The book also has a foreword by another visionary Bill Gates.
Pick this book if you are keen to go back in time and see the predictions made with the reality of today. 

WINTER IS COMING

Today, the season will change, spring and summer will give way to winter. 
Today, the world will watch with anticipation on who gets to sit on the throne. 
Jon Snow will enter many living rooms today and so will Cersei Lannister. 
‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ will be heard on the speakers of many households today.
Game of Thrones fans would have understood from the headline what my post is going to be about. No other show has grabbed the imagination of audiences across the world the way GoT has. Coffee machine conversations become all about the episode from the previous night and people who have not seen the episode yet want to avoid all discussions to not hear any spoilers. Many brands have tried to latch onto the Game of Thrones euphoria over the seasons, but not all of them are able to connect with it so well. Their association seems weak and poorly executed. On the other hand, Oreo has done a fabulous piece of work by using their product to recreate the Game of Thrones title track, making the product the hero and then announcing the launch of a special Game of Thrones pack. hashtag#Oreo wins this one hands down. A round of applause for them. Check out their work by clicking on the link below. 

Oreo - Game of Thrones

HIRE MORE WOMEN

This is a brilliant piece of work by #Mccann for #Loreal that smartly uses their portfolio to give a message about increasing women executives in leadership roles. 

The headline 'This Is An Ad For Men', when combined with the visuals is so powerful!

womeninbusiness #womenleaders #advertising #responsibility #leadership

MILLION DOLLAR HOMEPAGE

An #idea that may seem completely crazy and illogical today, is an idea that earned millions for Alex Tew back in the early days of Internet. The year was 2005 when Alex Tew set up a #website called Million Dollar Homepage. The site’s model was almost obscenely simple: on it was a million pixels of ad space, the pixels available to buy in blocks of 100 at $1 a pixel. Once you bought them they were yours forever. When the millionth pixel was sold, Tew would be a millionaire. Crazy right? You would be surprised to know that in less than a year, Tew had made his million. The website is still live, nearly 15 years after its launch. Companies have had 15 years of advertising by just paying off once. The site still has several thousand viewers every day; it has probably been a very good investment. Tew now runs the meditation app #Calm after becoming a millionaire and this home page is now testimony to an earlier #Internet era. So never dismiss an idea to be too stupid. There could be millions hidden beneath it! If you want to read the full story, you can visit the link below: 
https://lnkd.in/gpv_tuJ

WINNING TEAM - WHAT IT TAKES

This video from the band is a brilliant example of the behavioural traits that a successful team should display:

1. Strong coordination 
2. Clear alignment 
3. Unified goal 
4. Detailed planning and preparation 
5. Extreme trust in each other 
6. Perfect execution hashtag#teamwork #success #goals

BRAND LOVE - APRIL FOOL'S PRANKS

Brands that are loved by people are brands that are able to humanise themselves. These brands form deep relationships with their customers by displaying an emotional aspect.

Humour is one of those emotions that brings people together and April 1st is one of those dates that brings a smile on people's faces because of the pranks that they play or become a victim of.

Brands all over the world, have also been capitalizing on this date, connecting with people through news/announcements/videos that they launch on 1st April to shock or surprise people, only to tell them in the end that it was all an April Fool's joke, making them smile as they feel loser to the brand.

Click on the link below to see how some brands have used April Fool's Day very smartly. 

Brands that capitalized well on April Fool's Day

SAY THE WORD - MERCEDES BENZ

Imagine a world where you can control things around you with your voice command. Well, in a way, you do it today with Siri, Amazon Echo and Google Home, but it would be even better if you could do it with your car.

Before the world moves to driverless cars, Mercedes Benz is introducing to the world, an in-voice command control that allows the drivers to play music of their choice, turn the colour of lights, navigate through the roads and much more.

The feature has been introduced through a very eye catching advert that has special effects thrown in, making the commercial quite an enjoyable and memorable one. It seems to be an attempt from Mercedes to attract the younger clientele that tends to veer towards BMW and Audi because of the positioning that #Mercedes has built for itself over the years.

#BMW #Audi #automobiles #cars #advertising #communication #technology #future

Change - Who Likes It?

The only person who likes a change is a baby in a wet diaper! Yes, that is right. No one likes change as change brings uncertainty with it, it shakes people out of their comfort zone and it is often painful. 

The truth is, progress is impossible without change because nothing changes if nothing changes.

There is nothing as permanent as change. Change is inevitable.

#TuesdayThoughts #change #mantra #belief