SWIGGY GENIE

I just love the new initiative by Swiggy in #India, where they have rolled out Swiggy Genie to continue business during COVID19.  1. It is a great way to use Swiggy's existing ecosystem and network to provide customer service while opening new revenue stream. 2. This gives customers more options to choose from, especially in getting their essentials delivered. 
3. The large number of delivery guys that Swiggy has on its rolls will not only be kept busy but will also continue to hold on to their jobs.

What is also brilliant is the new layouts that have been rolled out for Swiggy Genie. It is a fantastic wordplay on popular #Bollywood movies, making the title more relevant to the context.

WORLD MANUFACTURING OUTPUT

There is a lot of talk around how the world will change, economies would behave differently and how manufacturing output would shift across nations due to various political and economic reasons. 

Now what will happen in the coming months/years is difficult to predict, but what we can surely see is how the world's manufacturing output set-up is today. 

1. 52% of the world's output is concentrated in Asia, coming from 8 countries led by #China at 4t (28% of the world total) followed by #Japan at 1t (7% of the world total).

2. Although, North America accounts for only 18% of the world's output, #USA occupies 16.65% of the world total, coming second after China. 

3. Europe accounts for 22% with #Germany being equal to the next three nations in terms of output.

4. #India occupies the sixth rank and if it wants to grow into a super power, it will have to continue increasing its share further.

LONELIEST PERSON ON VALENTINE'S DAY

Burger King Corporation does it again! This time, it is Burger King India that launches a video for Valentine's Day, telling people that the loneliest person on this planet is none other than the clown of McDonald's - Ronald McDonald. 

The video then encourages people to take a selfie with Ronald, upload it by tagging Burger King India and then come to a #BurgerKing outlet to get a free #whopper.

Usually, I am not a big fan of comparative or competitive #advertising as you tend to contribute to the other brand's salience without them spending any money.

However, in this case it works because:

1. It is not new for Burger King to troll McDonald's. They have been doing it across their markets for quite some time now. It is part of their style that resonates with its audience. 

2. The campaign gets lot of earned media and social media currency to the brand by people posting pictures and tagging Burger King handle. 

3. To get a free whopper, people would visit a Burger King cafe. Usually, they wouldn't go alone or would not just eat a Whopper. So in both scenarios, this helps in increasing the footfalls as well as the sales of the cafes, which is what every piece of advertising is supposed to do. 

INVEST IN IRON

On the occasion of #Dhanteras, when Indians invest in either gold or silver, here is a campaign that is asking them to invest in iron! There is a reason behind it. India ranks the highest in world for prevalence of anaemia among its women, and second woman in urban India is anaemic due to iron deficiency. So, #DSM India partnered with FCB Ulka and launched a special campaign – Project #Streedhan. Project Streedhan raises awareness about anaemia among urban Indian women by asking them to give the same importance to iron as gold, and to invest in it by eating healthy, iron-rich foods to reduce iron deficiency. The entire film has been shot in quite a unique way, showing women from different strata and parts enjoying various iron-rich foods. It has the powerful voice of Madhupurna Ganguly along with music by Debasis Shome. More than 50 jewellers in #India have joined hands in this initiative and committed to spread the message to their customers. 

Since the last few days, this video has been gaining traction, and the media has also been talking about it, helping the campaign achieve its objective of informing, educating and generating conversations.

NBA IN MY BACKYARD

NBA is gearing up for its first ever game in #India featuring two of its teams - Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers. The objective is to make TV viewership of Basketball games more popular among the youth of India. As a result, DDB Mudra has launched a very exciting video #NBAInMyBackyard with peppy music and Mumbai city as the backdrop of a basketball game that is unique and not what you expect! The video surprises you first and then you start enjoying the scenes and what is happening in each frame. Nicely done.

CADBURY UNITY : CRACKING THE 4Ps of MARKETING

If you are in #India, I am sure you must have seen the new launch from #Mondelez India - Cadbury Unity Bar to celebrate India's 2019 Independence Day.

                              

To me, what was impressive was how #Cadbury was able to crack all the 4Ps of #Marketing in a brilliant way:

Product:

• The product is an interesting blend of milk, dark and white chocolate signifying the diversity of India and the relevance of the product to celebrate the occasion is perfect.
• The brand name chosen is apt for the occasion – Unity. Notice how the last three letters in the word Unity on the pack are the three colours of the three chocolates that have been put together.
• The packaging shows people of different religion, region and gender joining hands and it also looks like the letter ‘U’ of Unity. 

Price:

• The chocolate bar has been priced at an odd price point of INR 73. Why? Simply because it is the 73rd year of India’s independence so such an odd price point is justified.
• At a price point of INR 73 for a 130g bar, the chocolate is priced at INR 561 per kg, which is higher than the average price of chocolates in the country. This means that it gives a healthy margin to Cadbury with every bar that they sell.

Promotion:

•  Cadbury surprised everyone by taking the front page of The Economic Times editions and different cities and putting out the headline in a language that is not spoken in that city. So, the Delhi edition had a Telugu headline and the Bengaluru edition had a Marathi headline.
• For a few seconds the reader thought that the advertiser made a mistake, but if you read further, the ad said ‘The headline above is not a misprint. It is in Telugu (or whichever language the headline was in) and it says – Sweet things happen, when we unite.
• This unique approach led to a social media frenzy and people were talking about the ad, sharing it, commenting on it, thereby generating enough earned media for the launch.

Place:

• Cadbury Unity bars were being sold exclusively on Flipkart as limited editions. I am not surprised because blending three different chocolates in a single bar can be done only on a small scale and hence it is perfect to do Limited Editions.
• By calling out ‘Limited Edition’, Cadbury was driving the scarcity mindset and people who would want to experience this unique chocolate would not wait and rush to place their orders.
• By selling it only through an e-commerce player like Flipkart, Cadbury was able to achieve two things:
•  It did not have to incur the heavy logistics in distributing the chocolates across multiple retail outlets across the country. They could work this easily with a single partner – Flipkart.
• Pushing people to come to Flipkart to place orders was a great way to change purchase behaviour and get more people to become comfortable in buying chocolates online, which has a much lower penetration on e-commerce than other food categories.
• The product was sent out to consumers in a nicely gifted box along with a special letter, taking the consumer experience to the next level.

While the launch on its own isn’t going to shift the needle of the top line for Cadbury, but it surely will drive its brand equity and salience significantly and will have a much bigger impact on the mother brand Cadbury because of all the buzz, the PR and the earned media. I am contributing to that earned media as well by writing this article!

If you are a marketing student, you can easily put this one as a great case study in brands that have used the fundamentals of Marketing to their advantage and leveraged Philip Kotler’s 4Ps to their advantage. 

Oh, by the way, did I mention that I have had a love-hate relationship with Cadbury over the years. I did my summer internship with Cadbury back in 2003 and then when I was doing marketing for chocolates for Nestle, Cadbury was our competitor and arch rival 😊.

Let me know what you think of this analysis in the comments section.

INDEPENDENCE DAY - LIBERTY

This year, India celebrated its 73rd year of Independence on 15th August with the hope and promises of the nation progressing further and taking another step in becoming a super #economy. This means change for the better. A nation only changes when its people change and their mindset evolves. These can be small or big changes, verbal or non-verbal changes, behavioural or attitudinal changes. Here is a powerful ad by Liberty on this Independence Day that makes you pause and reflect. The voiceover by Piyush Mishra does justice to what is being said. I also like the wordplay and the use of the brand name to talk about Azadi - Liberty. The video will surely get buzz, eyeballs and earned media. It is already being shared on #socialmedia. Not sure how much of that would translate into #sales, but sometimes brands need #salience to come back into the consideration set.

#advertising #communications #kunalviews #brands #momentmarketing #contentmarketing #earnedmedia

The Misadventures in this Adventurous Trip!

Every time, man thinks that he has become the most powerful being on this planet, nature has its way of telling the person who is the boss! Who said reaching the mountains was easy? Every mountain comes with its own story of adventure, surprise, excitement and many other emotions. 

Last month, that is the month of Aug’16, I got a chance to visit two mountainous areas in two different countries – The Highlands of Scotland and the Cliffs of Moher of Ireland. Technically, both are not mountains that I had to trek or climb, but yet the view and the experience was just like that of a mountain. 

Taking a flight to India and then a car to the highlands should seem like very normal and easy but like I said at the beginning, mountains will test you, your patience, your perseverance, your passion before they reveal themselves to you. So what really happened and how did my story unfold?

Let me begin from the time I left India. I was flying on an Emirates flight, which had a stop over in Dubai and just two days before my flight was when Emirates had a crash landing in Dubai, which was in the news all over the world. Do you see the similarities? I am flying the same airline from the same country (India) to the same country (Dubai), where one of the planes of the airline had crash landed! But I wasn’t changing my plans because of this incident so I decided to go ahead.

Changing of flights at Dubai airport was hassle free and I was amazed that the airport seemed absolutely calm, two days after such a big event. Little did I know that there was a storm that was brewing at the back end of the airport, which we would only get to know about much later. From Dubai, I landed at Glasgow airport and kept waiting for my luggage at the conveyor belt. From ten minutes to half an hour to an hour and there was no sign of my luggage. And then I saw a few other passengers from my flight filling up a form at a temporary table that had been set up at the airport. On going there, I got to know that about 200 bags had not been loaded at the Dubai airport due to the ongoing chaos and so people were filling their baggage details so that the airline could get in touch with them once their bags would arrive. Obviously, I was one of the victims! So here I was, in Glasgow for just three days with no clothes, no toiletries and no other items that I had carried. I was sure that I would get my baggage in a day but that was not to be! Multiple calls and follow ups later also, the authorities weren’t able to locate my baggage. The day I was supposed to leave for the Highlands is the day I decided to go to the airport to the Emirates counter to inquire about my bags once again but they had no trace of it. What that meant was that I couldn’t hire a car to drive into the highlands and at the last minute, I had to take a bus to reach my hotel in the Highlands with still no trace of my baggage.

The bus ride was smooth except the rains that were coming. I kept thinking to myself that how would I go to my hotel from the bus stop in this rain. Since I had not managed to get a hotel in the main town of Glencoe, I had booked a hotel in another town called Crianlarich, which was about an hour’s drive from Glencoe, which I thought could be covered easily since I would have a car. As soon as the bus reached Crianlarich Bus stop, I got off and right in front of the bus stop was my hotel. Now that seemed like a good sign till I realized that all of Crianlarich town was this hotel plus a few houses! That isn’t the best of places for a solo traveler, but then what choice did I have. 

The next morning, I took the city bus and got off at the entry point of one of the National Parks. I realized that I was one of the first ones to arrive at the pier and there was no one in site. I soaked in the beauty, took a few pictures and by the time I was done was when a few tourists started arriving. I decided to stay back and spend more time with people around. Soon I realized that most of them had come in huge groups and were a part of the tourist buses that had come in from Glasgow. I decided to try my luck and requested many bus drivers to add me to the tour so that I could also see the other sites along with some company. Unfortunately, either the buses were full or they did not have a policy to add one more passenger in the middle of their tour. With no other choice, I once again took the local bus and decided to go all the way to Glasgow and get off there. I enjoyed the sights of many mountains as the bus drove to Glasgow, got off and took a lovely walk in the town of Glasgow, enjoyed a hot chocolate in one of the cafes and spent a couple of hours before the same bus was to pick me from here and drop me back to my hotel. 

Now if you are thinking that what happened to my luggage all this while, then here are the details:

a. My calls to Emirates call centre continued throughout the day.

b. I had done a bit of shopping in Glasgow to manage clothes once my baggage didn’t arrive for more than 2 days. 

c. Emirates finally located my luggage and sent it to my hotel in Crianlarich a day before I was leaving Scotland!

But then again, these were not the only mountains that I was visiting. So the next set of mountains brought its own set of challenges. I flew from Edinburgh to Dublin and landed with the intention of hiring a car and driving to the countryside and spending a few days there. For some reason, there weren’t any small cars available and I did not want to pay a bomb for a bigger car for a single person. I decided to use the RyanAir website to book a car as I had flown through them and they were offering me an option. Once the booking had been done, payment had been made is when I got a mail that said ‘Your booking is being processed. We will let you know once it gets confirmed. It may take anywhere from 15 minutes to 24 hours.’ Ouch! That was not what I was expecting. I kept waiting at the airport for a confirmatory mail for two hours but when I couldn’t see a ray of hope, I decided to approach the RyanAir counter to seek help. They were kind enough to give me the Customer Service number, which I called. They regretted that the booking hadn’t happened as no car was available, but they could book me on another car after half an hour, but I had would have to pay more than what I was paying earlier. With no other choice in hand, I decided to go ahead with whatever I could get. 

I got a nippy little hatchback of Volkswagen and I went off to continue my trip. After driving about 100 km, I decided to take a break and pulled myself into one of the food courts that come on the highway. On coming back in the car, I realized that my car was not getting into reverse gear. Now that was not good! I tried changing the gear multiple times but to no avail. Finally, I saw a young man passing by and I asked him if he could help me with this problem. He got into the car and was able to put the car in reverse within seconds. He then told me that there was a particular way in which this car would go in reverse gear. I heaved a sigh of relief. 

Going ahead, another 50 km down the road is when I reached the toll plaza. Due to some miscommunication, I thought that all tolls on my hired car has been paid and so I decided to drive through the unmanned toll plaza but the boom barrier did not open. Now I couldn’t figure how to operate the toll machine. Thankfully, there was an old gentleman in his car right behind me who told me about the Assistance button that I had to press and speak to toll help. After about ten minutes, a toll assistant came to my rescue, explained to me how it works and then I was able to move forward. 

It took me 5 hours to reach my hotel near Cliffs of Moher and I was so relieved that I finally made it. 

On reading this, you must be thinking that this trip must have been so much of a hassle and pain for me. Let me tell you that once you see the beauty that nature has kept in store for us, all these hassles and pain just go away as you realize that the world is so beautiful and one has to take some efforts to witness this beauty. As the old adage goes ‘No pain, no gain’ and these pictures below will prove that!

Were we lucky or is Kindness the norm in and around Jaisalmer?

Traffic in India can not only make you miss your deadlines and your meetings but can sometimes also make you miss your holiday! We realized this the hard way, when we missed our train to Jaisalmer because we could not reach the Delhi station on time, despite being on the road for more than two hours to cover a distance that shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes! After thinking and exploring various other ways and ideas to reach Jaisalmer – bus, cab, own car, another train – it seemed like we will have to bid goodbye to our plans and to all the money that we had paid for the entire package. As disappointment was setting in, we managed to get lucky and find seats on a direct train to Jaisalmer the next day, which would reduce our holiday by a day but yet allow us to savour the rest of the time. 

Putting the disappointment behind us, we boarded the train that would begin our family holiday. After an overnight journey, the train chugged in slowly at 10.30 am at Pokharan – a town that I had heard so much of – a town that was in the papers many times in the last few years for conducting successful nuclear tests. It seemed like a small and sleepy town like many other parts of India, but the station was buzzing with activity. We were told that the train will halt at this station for 30 minutes. 30 minutes is a fairly long time, but then patience has never been a virtue with us Indians and as expected, the lone tea seller on the station was busy handing out cups of tea as fast as he could to all the people around him, who were shoving the Rs. 10 and Rs. 20 notes on his face to catch his attention. 

Being patient can sometimes show you a different side of humans as I discovered when my turn came. I asked him for four cups of tea but his tea kettle could fill in only three and a half cups of tea. I handed him Rs. 40 at the rate of Rs. 10 each, but he returned Rs. 10 saying that since he had not given me the entire fourth cup of tea, he would not charge for that last cup. I was pleasantly surprised. I did not know that this was the beginning of the many acts of kindness that I am going to witness in the days to come during my short but wonderful holiday to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan in India. 

We reached Jaisalmer station at 2 pm and the driver who came to pick us up seemed to be a helpful kind. Our first impression of the driver turned out to be bang on. During the three day trip, we asked him to show us one Jain temple and the luxurious Suryagarh hotel, which were not a part of the itinerary or the route, but he did not hesitate one bit as his single objective was to ensure that we have a great holiday without missing on a single thing. 

We were staying at Hotel Rang Mahal and the last night of our stay was planned in a tent in the middle of the desert, but seeing the temperature in Jaisalmer, my family felt that it would be prudent to stay in the comfort of the hotel rather than the tent. This meant adding one more night to the hotel’s package and cancelling our stay at the tent. I called up the manager later in the evening, who had already left for the day. I explained him the situation, told him about how I had anyway paid for a night which we didn’t utilize because of our missed train and requested him if he could extend the stay by a night. Initially, he said that we will have to pay for the extra night but I requested him to see on what best can be done. The next day, despite it being his mother’s death anniversary when he was supposed to be home, he came to the hotel to only look into my case. After a brief meeting and discussion with him, he extended our stay by one night and made that extra night completely complimentary! I was completely blown away by his act of kindness. 

Now that the hotel stay was taken care of, we headed to Sam to enjoy our desert safari. Since we stopped in the middle to enjoy the beautiful hotel of Suryagarh, by the time we reached Sam, it was nearing sunset and we had a camel ride lined up for us. There was also the option of doing a jeep safari and we could decide to see the sunset from the camel or from the jeep. We decided to do a quick camel ride against the normal time for the ride which is much longer. While getting off, the guy who took us for the camel ride mentioned this to us in Hindi “Please go and enjoy the sunset on your jeep safari. In case, you decide to not take the jeep safari, you can come back and I will be here and I will take you further into the desert so that you can enjoy the camel ride for more time.” Another pleasant surprise for us. 

Next was the turn to meet the tent operator and ask him to help us in getting a good jeep safari and also figure out on what can be done since we were not staying in his tent that was booked in our name. He said that at the last minute, since he won’t be able to give the tent to anyone else, he will have to charge us the amount. But to help us, he will bring down the price of the jeep safari from the usual Rs. 3,000 to 1500. We went ahead with what we got. After coming back from the safari, there was a complete Rajasthani folk dance that had been planned, which was really enjoyable. After the dance, when we went to pay the tent operator for the jeep safari, to our surprise once again, he refused to take the money and said “Since you have already paid for the tents and not staying here, the least I can do is not charge you for this jeep safari.”

Now with so many incidences, we just came back wondering with one thought ‘Did we just get plain lucky during the entire trip or is kindness the norm in Jaisalmer?

  

Paragliding in the interiors of Maharashtra, India

Who would have thought that a place that lies hundred kilometres away from Mumbai, off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway would be a hub of adrenaline rush, with regulars frequenting this place every now and then to get their fill of endorphin!

It was the beginning of 2014, and instead of attempting to take a New Year Resolution, my plan for 2014 was to go for new experiences wherever possible. The first opportunity of experiencing something new came right at the start of the year, when a conversation with a friend led to the realization that he is heading to Kamshet on a weekend which happened to be on the dates when I would be visiting Mumbai. Without thinking too much, I asked to be a part of the trip that would involve camping under the stars on the first night, followed by paragliding on the second day! I was hooked.

We left from Mumbai at 9 pm on Thursday evening, weaving our way through the traffic till we hit the wide roads of the Mumbai-Pune expressway. We drove for almost two hours till we reached the town of Kamshet. After a quick stop over for a hot cup of tea, we drove up the hill to reach one of the points from paragliders take off during the day time. The top of the hill was isolated at this time of the hour. We pitched our tents and set up a fire. The idea was to cook food under the stars and feel as close to nature as possible. The chilly winds were playing spoilsport and it took quite a while to get the fire started. After a great meal, we finally called it a night at 3 am with the stars giving us great company. 

At 7 am, the chirping of the birds and bright sunlight wading through the tent woke us up. As soon as I stepped out of the tent, I witnessed the most beautiful sunrise ever! We packed up and drove down as it was time to head to the Indus Paragliding School, from where we would head out to the hills along with other paragliders. Since I was doing this for the first time, I would be flying tandem, whereas the other experienced guys would be flying solo. Since the wind was blowing in a different direction, we went to a different hill from the one where we spent the night. There was a total of 20 of us who would take to the skies soon. I decided to go after three other people. When my turn came, I was told to run forward for about 50m and then jump off the cliff. There was a bit of excitement as well as fear when I was asked to do that. But this was an opportunity that I did not want to miss and I went ahead and jumped! Two seconds later, I was soaring up, up and up and all the fear vanished. There was a feeling of triumph, a feeling of freedom and pure adrenaline. After getting comfortable in the skies, my coach took me further up from where I could see many wind mills below and the view all around me was something that we never get to enjoy while on the ground. 

After being in the sky for half an hour, I came down and waited for the other paragliders who were cruising in the air for much more time. Seeing so many of them in the sky was a sight worth witnessing!

After a long and tiring day, we all headed back to the Indus Paragliding School where we had hot lunch awaiting us. After a great lunch, we headed to our rooms for a well-deserved nap. By the time we woke up, it was early evening and we decided to sit by the lake and enjoy the serene nature that lay in front of us. The lake with the mountains behind it had such a soothing effect and gave us a break from seeing concrete structures daily. 

As the evening descended and gave way to the night, all of us got together at the verandah along with the hosts and shared our stories and our experiences over drinks and food. This was a perfect way to end the day. 

These two days were an experience that I will cherish throughout my life, and if I get a chance I would go for it again.

Party Hard! No One is Listening.

Imagine being invited to a party, where you’re told:

“Come and enjoy the party, where the music will be loud, the party will go on till the wee hours of 

morning, and no neighbors will complain about the noise.”

It is very unlikely to expect someone to say something like this. In fact, you would give a doubting look to the person who says something like this. But I got to witness all of this in Cully.

Cully is a small town in Switzerland, situated on Lake Geneva. Despite a very low population of just 1,750 people, Cully is known for the Cully Jazz Festival, where people from across Switzerland come to enjoy the festival. 

I was visiting Switzerland for a workshop, and all the participants decided to visit the Cully Jazz Festival, which had thousands of people. It seemed as if the entire population of Cully had come to this festival. 

Obviously, that wasn’t true and the festival had people from many other places. 

After checking out a few jazz performances ourselves, we headed to the lake. Right by the lake, there 

was a huge, transparent canopy with hundreds of people dancing inside. Surprisingly, we couldn’t hear any music. That’s when; a member of our group noticed the board on top of the canopy that read ‘Silent Party’. 

What’s a party without music? Even the religious ceremonies in India have loudspeakers blaring the 

latest Hindi blockbuster and here was a board that said Silent Party. It seemed difficult to imagine a concept like that. Curious, we decided to check it out. Before entering, all of us were handed head phones. We put on our head phones and joined the revellers inside. What we saw inside was very exciting! There were hundreds of people dancing, with their heads bobbing with the head phones and yet there was not a single beat of music. To amuse myself, I took off my head phones for some time and tried to soak in the atmosphere. It seemed as if people were in a trance or a telepathic session and they were not realizing what they were doing, while I was watching them move. 

A few minutes later, I noticed that I was dancing in a different manner to a beat, whereas a few others from the group were dancing differently. I pointed this out to one of my friends who was not following the beat, but that’s when I was told that he was dancing to a different DJ and I was dancing to another one!

I turned around and looked at the stage and there were three DJs, playing their music live with a different number mentioned on the board behind each DJ: 1, 2 and 3.

That’s when I realized that our head phones had the option of changing from one DJ to other by changing the number that represented a particular DJ. Within the same premises, people could listen and dance to different music and everyone could enjoy their own genre. This made the party even cooler than I had thought.

After that, our entire group would signal a particular number and all of us would switch our head phones to that DJ, so that all of us would be dancing to a similar beat and enjoying each other’s steps.

What was beautiful was that we were all dancing near the lake, under the stars and yet Cully was as 

silent as any other night. 

I just wished that night that it would be so great to have Silent Parties in India. A country like ours, 

where noise pollution is always at its peak, a Silent Party is the need of the hour. Maybe Goa can take the lead and come up with something like this and I would book my tickets for such an event right away!

Readers, if you get an invitation to a Silent Party, then please go for it and enjoy a unique experience.

Sachin Tendulkar - Giving Joy and Tears to the Nation

What do I say? Where do I start? Let me begin by talking about myself. I have always been interested in sports right from my childhood. Cricket, Table Tennis, Basketball, Volleyball, Tennis…just a few of the sports that I have tried my hand at. I was not very good at most of these sports and you could say that I was average in a few and a bit more than average at a few others. But that did not stop me from grabbing every opportunity that I got to play a sport, be it at the school, in college or even later in life. 

The adrenaline rush that one gets on scoring a point, hitting a run, smashing across the court cannot be written and can only be experienced. And then comes the high of a victory which cannot be guaranteed every day, especially if you are not very good at the sport, but whenever it comes, it brings emotions of elation and achievement. 

Long back, I had realized that any individual who reaches a certain level in any sport has gone through lot of discipline, practice, training, sacrifices, sweat and persistence. For me, this realization is enough to give respect to every sportsman. And when a sportsperson reaches a stage where he is playing for the nation, it is clear to me that he/she deserves great admiration and respect for where they have reached and I have no authority to question or critique their game unless and until I have reached a similar stage. I cannot be an armchair critic. Period. I would rather celebrate the joy of sport than to question someone’s talent. 

A sport is a sport and every sport brings with it a certain amount of happiness, pain, climax and disappointment. Who am I then to judge whether someone who enjoys watching hockey is not cool or someone watching football is cool. It is a choice they have made and we should not be questioning their choice.

The problem is that not everyone understands what I said above. And if the sport happens to be as widely followed as cricket, then you can expect to have experts all around you. Comments like “He should have let go of that ball”, “What is he doing? Does he not know the run rate needed?”, “What is wrong with Dhoni. Why is he handing the ball to Ishant?” are heard quite frequently. When these statements come on the spur of the moment, one can understand the emotion behind it, knowing well that there is no serious intent behind such questions. 

Now if the sport happens to be cricket and the man in question tends to be Sachin Tendulkar, then you can expect people of all hues and age to have an opinion on him. Everything from his shot selection, his ability to win matches, his form and his retirement date gets discussed threadbare and that is what is happening for the last 24 years. Many a times, critics and former cricketers have had to eat humble pie as soon as they made a statement as Sachin would prove them wrong as if he had an epiphany of this and he was waiting for the right moment to silence them.

The mind boggles at the thought of a single person amassing 34,000 runs on the back of a hundred hundreds and 164 half centuries. It is no mean feat! Statisticians may question some of his greatness by bringing averages into discussion but life is not only about numbers. It is also about consistency, rigour, temperament, values and much more. If one were to put the lens of perspective, then one will also realize that no other cricketer has faced the pressure and burden of 1.2 billion people or the entire nation the way Sachin has. To go out there in the middle, with such loud noise all around you, knowing well that a few bad innings could lead to people baying for your blood and despite knowing all this and yet go ahead and deliver for 24 consistent years requires the determination and skill of someone special.

Playing 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and 310 First Class matches mean that one has been on the road for atleast 1750 days, which means that 5 years of one’s life has been spent on the field. This is without counting the days spent on practice or the days spent for IPL. How many of us can think of staying away from family for so long just to pursue our passion?

With another sublime innings of 74 runs that Sachin Tendulkar played in his 200th test to bring joy to the nation, one thought that one had seen it all till the time he took that final walk back to the pavilion in the middle of the Guest of Honour given by his team mates. The entire nation had a heavy heart on witnessing that scene. 

But it was not over as yet. The best was yet to come. He spoke and he spoke with the purest of heart, giving the world a glimpse into his soul and bringing a lump to the throat of millions across the country. His farewell speech can be counted as one of the most genuine and heart-felt farewell speeches given by anyone. To acknowledge almost everyone and recounting incidents from the past just shows the humility of the giant. He bound the nation with his words and left them all teary-eyed. Every heart was booming with the words ‘Sachin Sachin’ even though the eyes were moist. 

Sachin is a legend and we are proud to have lived in the same era as him. 

He batted. We prayed. He scored. We rejoiced. He lost. We lost. He won. We won. He cried. We cried. #ThankYouSachin

Here is the video of Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfCBWUkWzXM&feature=youtube_gdata

Given below is the text of Sachin’s farewell speech:

Friends please settle down, I'll get more emotional! It's hard to believe my wonderful journey is coming to an end. I've a list of names to thank. The first is my father, who passed away in 1999. Without his guidance I wouldn't be standing in front of you. he said 'chase your dreams, don't give up, the path will be difficult.' I miss him today. My mom, I don't know how she managed a naughty child like me. She just prayed and prayed from the day I started playing the game. For four years I stayed with my uncle and aunt when in school, they treated me like their own son.

My eldest brother Nitin doesn't like to talk ,much but he said, whatever you do, I know you will give 100%. My first cricket bat was presented to me by my sister Savita. She still continues to fast while I bat. Ajit

my brother - We have lived this dream together, he sacrificed his career for me, he took me to Achrekar sir first. Even last night he called me to discuss my dismissal. Even when I'm not playing we will still be discussing technique. If that hadn't happened, I would have been a lesser cricketer.

"The most beautiful thing happened to me when I met Anjali in 1990. I know that being a doctor there was a big career in front of her. But she decides that I should continue playing and she took care of the children. Thanks for bearing with me for all the nonsense I've said (Anjali wipes tears). Then the two precious diamonds of my life Sara and Arjun. I've missed out on several birthdays, holidays. I know for 14-16 years I've not spent enough time with you. But I promise you I will spend the next 16. 

"My inlaws - I've discussed several things with them. The most important thing they did was allow me to marry Anjali. In the last 24 years my friends have made terrific contributions. They have been with me while I was stressed. They have been with me even at 3am when I was injured. Thanks for being there for me.

"My career started when I was 11. I was extremely delighted to see Achrekar sir in the stands. I used to ride on his scooter and play two matches a day. Sir took me along to make sure I played. On a lighter note, Sir never said 'well played' because he didn't want me to be complacent. You can push your luck now, Sir, 

since I'm not playing cricker anymore.

"I started my career here in Mumbai. I remember landing from NZ at 4am and playing a Ranji game the next day. The BCCI was fantastic from my debut. Thanks to the selectors. You were right with me making sure my treatment was taken care of.

"Thanks to all the senior cricketers who have played with me. We see on the screen Rahul, VVS, Sourav, Anil who is not here. All the coaches. I know when MS presented the 200th Test cap, I had a message to the team - I said we are all so proud to be representing the nation. I hope to continue to serve the nation with

dignity. I have full faith that you will serve the country in the right spirit.

I will be failing in my duty if I didn't thank the doctors who have kept me fit. Given the injuries I have suffered. They have treated me in odd hours.

My dear friend the late Mark Mascarenhas. I  miss him. My current management team WSG, for continuing what Mark has done. Someone who has worked closely with me for 14 years is my friend Vinay Nayudu.

"The media has backed me a lot, since my school days. Even today. Thank you. Thanks to the photographers for capturing those moments. "I know my speech has become long. I want to thank people who have flown in from different parts of the world. I want to thank my fans from the bottom of my heart. "Sachin, Sachin" will reverberate in my years till I stop breathing."

 (Followed by loud cheers)

India – A Musically Talented Country

There is one common talent that every Indian possesses. That common talent is a musical talent that everyone has, irrespective of age, gender or geography. What is amazing is that people do not even take any training for this musical talent but it seems ingrained in them right from birth, which gets to be seen only after a certain stage in each individual’s life.

Do not scratch your heads in wonderment. All of you have witnessed this talent in others – your near and dear ones as well as complete strangers. The only problem is that no one wants to admit about this talent openly or acknowledge its existence within people they know. 

This musical talent that every Indian possesses is the talent of ‘Honking’. Honking comes as naturally to an Indian as crying comes to a baby. No one teaches you, you do not practice for hours, there is no school to teach this to you, but yet you know it. You just know it. 

In fact, a horn in an automobile could easily be one of the most important components for an Indian, who would get far more upset on the horn getting spoilt rather than the engine! 

In fact, a sizeable number of people do not like the sound of the original horn that comes with their car and they like to get it customized which goes with their style and personality! As a result of this, customized horns are a big business across the country. 

The reason I say that honking is a musical talent is because of the number of notes and the various scales that different Indians can churn out from this small device. The notes and scales differ from situation to situation, even if the person playing those notes at different scales may be the same individual. 

These notes and scales can be used to convey every possible emotion that exists in a human being. One does not need any psychological tests to understand a person and his mood swings as a person’s honking style is a good indication of how he/she feels on that particular day:

•  Someone overtakes you…you honk and show your anger. 
• The music in your car is quite peppy, you express your enjoyment by blowing the horn exactly like the beats and as many number of times.
• You woke up late and are now rushing to your office for a very important meeting, blow the trumpet (in this case the horn) all the way through.

Happiness, sadness, anger, rage, frustration, triumph, hurry, sleep deprivation and many more such emotions can be expressed through honking in India. 

This talent is so wide spread that the popular rhyme and jingle ‘If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands’ can easily be changed in India to the lines of ‘If you are happy and you know it, honk and honk’!

Thank You Team India

Dear Team India,


I would like to take this opportunity to thank you not only for myself but on behalf of the entire nation. With such a sensational World Cup victory, you have brought joy and pride to each and every Indian living in every part of the world. You gave all of us a moment that has allowed us to forget our worries, our sadness, our struggles, our mundane lives for some time and given us the opportunity to be a part of this celebration.

Your World Cup victory was celebrated in every house, every street, every corner, and every intersection of the country with great chutzpah, zeal and energy. I was out on the streets of Delhi after the victory and I saw people in big cars and small cars, people on bikes, people on foot, people in autos and people on trucks with each one having a glow on their face, a smile on their lips and just one word to say ‘Indiaaaa… Indiaaa’. When I saw a guy standing on his cycle without a shirt dancing and waving to every car passing by and people stopping by to hug him and dance him, I knew then and there that victory is sweet without any ifs and buts. It also told us once again that victory has no caste, no colour, no creed and no regional bias. The sight of young guys and girls on the bonnets of their cars, standing out of their windows, holding the flag of India was a sight of a lifetime. Even the cops did not want to spoil the party and they let people just be. There were some joyous and amusing moments also when I noticed two guys standing out of the windows of a car, wearing the T-shirts of ‘Dhoni’ and ‘Tendulkar’ mentioned on it and the guy on the front holding a big trophy in his hand. It could not have got more symbolic than this.

What also amused me was the same people who were abusing the style of playing of the Indian team during the qualifying stages and criticizing Dhoni’s captaincy, his strategic decisions and his form on Facebook and Twitter after every inning, every session and every match had suddenly done a volte face and were now tom-tomming the same team and captain calling him a great leader and a true strategist. I remember telling my mother how quickly people change their stance and colour surprises me and she summed it up beautifully by saying ‘Ugte hue suraj ko sab salaam karte hain’. I always knew India is an emotional side when it comes to cricket but not only are we extremely emotional, we are also extremely impatient as we expect results instantly and cannot control the urge of lambasting you guys even when the match is not over as yet.

To further add to the drama, there was the Indian media playing its role of Narad-Muni to perfection, building full hype around every player and every match, with complete background music, interspersing movie dialogues with scenes from earlier matches of India and getting everyone from an ex-cricketer to an astrologer to come and give their two bit of what will happen in the next match and who will be the key. Some of the people giving all the tips had never every played cricket or picked up a bat in their lives but that is India, where every person, be it an auto-driver, a fashion designer, a corporate guy or a normal middle-class businessman with a paunch has his own expert comments on what you guys should be doing and what you should not.

Team India – you showed us all how it is done in style despite 2.4 billion eyes watching you like the eagle watching its prey, ready to swoop down on it when there is one wrong move. Achieving the victory through a six was a statement to the world that we have arrived and arrived in style and now we will dominate like never before. Each and every one of you - Sachin, Yuvraj, Virat, Gambhir, Raina, Zaheer and of course Dhoni showed why India is such a formidable opponent.

There was a lot to learn from you guys in terms of team work, handling pressure, delegation of responsibility, managing and leading from the front, never-say-die attitude and I already know that over the next few years, every corporate AV, every new launch, every team-building workshop and every leadership seminar will have pictures and videos of the quarters, semis and the finals telling each and every one of us how it is done.

While it is good to use all these visuals to motivate working people like us, I also feel that there was lot more that the corporate world can learn from you guys. They can learn that one does not have to be made to work for years and years before being given the command of a team. It is not always about experience. Sometimes it is also about the ability, capability, killer instinct and passion that an individual possesses that should decide who should lead from the front. Corporates should also learn from you guys that it is perfectly fine for even a 15 year old senior to work under his junior without the senior feeling any insecurity about it or the junior feeling a sense of over-achievement about it.

Dhoni, by staying behind a few paces and letting Sachin get all the limelight post the victory, you also told us that credit should be given where it is due and a leader should know when to step back and yet enjoy the success of his team. By shaving your head off immediately after the victory, you also taught us that staying true to your word is far important than looking good from the outside.

I can go on and on about what all was there for us to learn but I would leave that part to the HR people and motivational speakers at this point of time as this blog is really not about picking what I learnt but rather about what I saw during the entire duration of the tournament all around me.

One of the things that struck me during the course of the World Cup was that surprisingly China has not picked up this sport as yet. Could it be because cricket is still not included in the Olympics and so it does not hold the same charm to them? I am not ready to believe that China is not capable to play cricket as today they are playing each and every sport, including Volleyball and Basketball, which earlier was not the key sports of China. I would not be surprised if over the next few years, seeing what you guys have been able to achieve, they pick up this sport and we see them participating in the World Cup of 2019. I would surely be keen to see a battle between India and China on the cricket field. It would also allow us to avenge for the Indo-China War. Well I guess there is no point of talking about this as right now China is not a cricket playing nation so there is no point in discussing that further.

From a corporate stand point, being a marketer, I can vouch for the fact that this victory of yours has got a large number of people of my fraternity extremely excited and they have already started discussing new campaigns and new brands having one or lot of you in that. As I had said earlier ‘Ugte hue suraj ko sab salaam karte hain’. You guys deserve it as well and you should it enjoy it to the hilt. After all, a wait of 28 years has been brought to an end. You have brought rains to the land suffering from the drought of the World Cup victory and so once again, I would like to thank each and every one of you with utmost gratitude and with great pride.

Cheers Team India!