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!

NICK NAMES AND THEIR ORIGINS

Nicknames are something that you do not know when, how or where you will be given one. I am not talking about the ones that your parents, uncles, cousins give you lovingly when you have not even learnt how to speak. So knock off the Tinku, Pappu, Guddu, Chintu from here. I am talking of the ones that are given to you when you already have a name and possibly a nickname that has been existing for years but yet you get a new one like the ones that you get in school, college, B-school or companies that you work in.

Nicknames are very similar to a virus – it is caught by someone and then passed on amongst others till the time all have been affected, i.e. all are ready to use it. The only difference is that here the nickname finally settles with one person while all others use it to address him or her. Some people love their nicknames, some hate it, some don’t care about it, while some others reconcile to the fact that love it or hate it, and people will not stop using it once they have liked the hang of it for a person.

I also got a nickname during my B-school days, which till date has stuck with my B-school batch mates. In my case, my surname became my nickname and I started being called Mehta. The funny part is that the reason this nickname was given to me was because there was one more Kunal other than me on campus and so to differentiate between the two, people decided to address me as Mehta but by the end of the first semester even he was not addressed as Kunal as he had also been given a nickname and a rather funny one  - Makkhi but largely due to a short form of his name – Mukherjee. (Makkhi – if ever you read this, must say that both our nicknames have stuck on even after so many years).

So coming back to the nicknames that were given out to quite a few of us during B-school, let me use this blog to relate some of the ones that I can recollect at the moment – Bhattu, PKD, Dutto, Thakur, Chom, Kicha, Kandy, Litte, Scooby Doo, Bhatia, Nimmo, Barju, Jaini, Appu, Uppu, Thussu, Shef, Vasu, Sid, Gammy, Maddy, Teendu, Pratti, Sallu, Pali, Vyji… these are the ones that come to mind…but I do know there were lots more. I also know that even after passing out of B-school 7 years back, almost all of these nicknames have stuck on and whenever people talk about someone or meet someone who had a nickname then, they are still called by the same name.

I am sure a lot of MICANs from then would have got new nicknames at their new work places, amongst their new friends but nicknames are like well nicknames. They do not get replaced, they just get added to the already existing nicknames that one has been given or gifted with.

I guess I digressed… the blog is not to talk about MICANs but rather to talk about nicknames. So nicknames have various reasons of getting originated:

• People want to describe a personality by giving a nickname eg – Guruji for a person who is philosophical in life, King Khan for SRK for his lifestyle

• People want to shorten a name which is very long – eg - Adi for Aditya

• They want to differentiate between two people having the same name – Example given above

• They want to describe the community/caste one belongs to through the nickname – Lala for a person coming from a trading family

• People want to have a code name for a person so that they can talk about him without others knowing about it – Eg – People having nicknames like Hitler for their bosses

• Couples like to call themselves in an endearing manner with a nickname – Eg – Sweety, Jaan etc.

There can be various other reasons for someone to decide on a nickname for someone else but the reality is that people love to pick it up and start using it and after sometime everyone forgets who came up with the nickname but everyone remembers that who it is for.

NEW START ON A NEW YEAR – 1.1.11

What could be a better day to start the first blog of the year 2011 than the first day of the year itself? But this blog is different from others. This time, there is no content or an idea in the mind but the intent is there. On most other days, the content and the idea already exists in the mind, it’s the intent that one has to bring forth. Well, actually it’s not even the intent that leads one to write less, it just sheer lack of time for various reasons.

What is it about the first day of the New Year that brings with it so much positivity? People make resolutions, go to the temples/churches/other religious places of worship. Some people like me make a list of what they want to achieve in this year and how will the year be meaningful to their life and their existence. Some people also believe that what they do on this day is what they will continue to do throughout the year and hence they try to plan that day in that manner. Taking cue from that, I went to the gym today, then played a few games of TT and am now trying to put up a blog before the clock strikes 12 as for me, these are some of the things that I would surely like to do through the year and if doing it on the first day allows it to happen, then so be it.

If one looks at it practically, it is just another day. The date is also similar to what will occur the next month, the day is also similar to the one that will arrive next week and the month is also the same that will come back when its turn is due 12 months later. But yet, this day heralds a new ray of hope, a new enthusiasm, a new optimism. In fact, even what I said in the earlier paragraph about me doing things today is more of putting a discipline in place right from day one and not really about thinking that doing it on day one will ensure it will happen throughout the year. If one is determined, committed and focused, then starting a task even on the last day of the year can ensure similar continuity and results.

What this date surely does is that it creates a halo around itself and everyone wants to be a part of it. People feel that there is an aura on the first day of the year and one can only witness that aura if one does the right things on this day. As far as I see it, I see this date as an opportunity or an excuse for me to sit down, reflect on what all I have done/learnt/achieved in my life till now and what all would I look to do/learn/achieve more. It allows me to pen down my goals – short-term and long-term and also my vision so that personally I am satisfied with the kind of life I am living.

Now, despite not having thought of what to write in today’s blog, I have still managed to put together a small piece, which is more like a personal opinion something written in a personal diary. Since blogs are an extension of one’s personal thoughts too, this definitely needs to go up.

RELATIONSHIPS ARE LIKE PLANTS

Relationships are like plants. They need to be nurtured. The way plants need right amount of sunlight, water, fertilisers, soil, etc., similarly, relationships also need right amount of love, understanding and space.

When taken good care of, plants develop strong roots that gives them stability and strength. Same is the case with relationships. If proper care is given to the relationship, it becomes more rooted to ensure the turmoils that will try to come and uproot it.

Plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen. Often, relationships also do that, where one of the partners takes in all the bad things of the other and yet gives out all the love that he/she has.

Plants prove that they have been taken good care of either by continuing to grow more or by bearing flowers and fruits. Relationships also prove that they are being nurtured properly when the people involved in it continue to be happy and their happiness increases more and more. They love each other more when they know that the relationship is being taken good care of.

Plants react very strongly when you put more water than required or your forget to put water or when they receive more than desired sunlight. Similarly, relationships also react when the amount of love is less, there is no space given to the individuals or there are too many misunderstandings.

Sometimes, one goes out of town and when one comes back, one needs to give immediate to the plants as they have not been cared for. Same holds good for relationships. In order to keep it alive, one needs to keep doing a reality check often so that they know that when a relationship needs more attention to keep it going.

Lastly, plants tend to wither when it gets neglected, when there is no-one to tender each and every leaf of it. Relationships also die when the people involved in it neglect each other or do not take care of each and every need of the other.

STATUS MESSAGES AND TWEETS

Status messages and tweets have become a part of our lives. People even say that they are nothing but mere extensions of our personalities. I don’t agree with this at all. Well, neither is this completely true nor is this completely false. This is partially true.

The reason I say this is partially true is because of the simple reason that there are some people for whom status messages are actually the extension of their personalities whereas for some other people it is just a way of projecting a personality which they really don’t have. For some others, some of their status messages reflect their personalities whereas some other of their status messages do not. In fact, in today’s times when one has a different status message on Facebook and a different one on their Blackberry Messenger and a completely different one on Twitter, it is just not possible for all these statuses/tweets to reflect ones’ personality unless someone suffers from split or triple personality.

What is clear is that there is a reason or an objective behind each of these status messages or in other words the person has certain expectations when he puts some of these messages. The objective could be hiding a cryptic message in the status which only he or a select few can understand. In such cases, these messages are no less than the Da Vinci code… only people who understand would respond or comment on such a status. The other objective of a status could be simply showing one’s creativity and getting a high by noticing how many people like such a status. Sometimes people put up a status/tweet just to vent out their anger against a person, system, company, society or any other thing. Some other times the idea of putting up a message is to open up a discussion or a debate with others. Sometimes when one has been missing in action for a long time, then just to remind people that he/she exists, a status message is put up.

The reason of putting up a status or a tweet could be one or many but the truth is that each status or tweet desires a conversation as it tells the one who has put it that in this widespread social network, where there are loads of friends, followers and contacts, there are atleast a few who have read what they had to say.

I won’t be surprised if few years down the line psychologists, criminal experts and psychiatrists start analysing status messages and tweets along with the body language to figure out more about a person, but the way body language can deceive, these messages can deceive much more… so lets see!!

POSSIBLE CARTELS IN THE WORLD

In today’s times, there is so much of inter-linkages between sectors/companies/countries that an activity or an event at one place can lead to the benefit of the other. I was just wondering that if some of these people decided to come together, they could easily form a cartel and ride on these joint benefits that would accrue.

Following are some of the possible cartels that my crazy mind could think of:

1. On-ground and on-air aviation cartel: Cartel between shops at the airport and aircraft carriers – Try and delay each and every flight by atleast half an hour to an hour. This would obviously give lot of time in the hands of passengers and would result in additional sales at the airport as some hungry ones would go to the restaurants, the tired ones would get a massage done, the bored ones would probably pick up a book or so and the ones with still some dough left would finish last minute shopping at the airport. While the airport stores stand to gain, not sure whether flights would gain anything or not by paying the high ground parking charges unless the retail chains at the airport agree to share the parking charges

2. Web and the Eye Cartel: Cartel between Facebook, Orkut, Twitter and other social networking sites and opticians- Make the content more and more interesting and get people to spend more time on each of the sites. Spending more time would mean spending more time looking at the screen and that would lead to eye strain and other eye problems for which people would have to go to opticians, so it is a win-win for everyone. The web sites would get more advertisers due to their stickiness and it would mean great business for the opticians.

3. Indian wedding and international honeymoon cartel: There are a few dates/months in the Indian calendar every year, when most weddings take place and nowadays a lot of Indians get their wedding fixed by a wedding planner. This is followed by a honeymoon to international destinations like Mauritius, Bali, Malaysia, etc. for a number of new couples. One way of forming this cartel is to for international hotels/airlines to tie-up with the Indian wedding planner, whose job is right from arranging for flowers, deciding a theme, getting wedding cards printed to suggesting interesting countries to couples for their honeymoon.

All a wedding planner has to do to convince a couple is to show some great pictures of the country, the hotel and the special honeymoon suite that he/she can arrange for at a great rate. Throw in a limo pick-up and the new husband would want to give that experience to his new wife. The hotels and airlines recommended by the wedding planner beat competition as the trust in this wedding planner is immensely high. This allows the hotels/airlines to tap into the right profile of customers and the money that they save on advertising can be used to make the wedding planner ‘plan’ the right honeymoon for the couples.

4. Indian and Chinese toy/mobile phone cartel: Chinese goods have made a number of small Indian dealers rich on one hand, but on the other hand, it has also hit a large number of Indian companies making Indian products and selling it in India. One of the possible cartels could be that these Indian companies pay the Chinese companies their margins on these products, buy these products and destroy them. Then they sell their products in the Indian markets at healthy margins (which covers for what they are paying to the Chinese). This will be a win-win for the Chinese manufacturers as well as the Indian manufacturers. The people who would lose out due to such a cartel would be the small dealers who make money by selling these Chinese goods and the consumers who buy Chinese goods regularly at half the prices of what they have to pay for the Indian goods. 

But then who said that cartels are supposed to be beneficial to all. In fact, the word CARTEL is supposed to mean that only. While it benefits a few groups of people/companies/sectors, there will always be another set who will bear the brunt of such a cartel.

I am sure that this way there can be a number of cartels that can be formed. One just needs to sit and look around and see the possibilities. What cartels come to your mind? Do let me know.

Imagination

I-ma-gi-na-tion: It is a five syllable word and the dictionary defines Imagination as the faculty of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.

If you look at the number of syllables, the pronunciation or the dictionary definition of this word, all of it make it seem very difficult and complicated but reality could not be further than this.

Imagination is a feeling or an emotion that is present in each and every one of us. In fact, I would like to define imagination as the act of letting your mind loose and wild , letting it run amok to come up with something unique that can be called exclusively your own creation.

If one wants to see the full power of imagination and its ability, one should just give blank pieces of paper to kids and ask them to draw/paint what they want to. You will be amazed at how different each sheet of paper will look – be it the situations, the characters, the colours that they choose. This is nothing but sheer evidence that imagination is present right from childhood.

I remember reading about a research that was done between two groups – one group comprised of kids and the other group comprised of adults. Both the groups were shown an image of a black dot in the centre of a piece and were asked what it was. As expected, the adult group unanimously answered that it is a black dot. On the other hand, the responses from each kid were different and diverse. While one kid saw the black dot as a tiny burger, the other saw it as a fly that has been killed while the third said that it is one eye and rest of the face needs to be made.

What this proves is that imagination is extremely wild and open when we are kids as we are not bound by practicality, rules, boundaries and expectations and as we grow up, we tend to curb our power of imagination and use it only to a limited extent.

Imagination is not something that needs to be taught or learnt. It is inherent in us. There can of course be channels to whet this imagination further or allow it to get bound by certain boundary conditions so that it does not wander.

One of the ways of checking what imagination can do within a certain boundary is to give the same book to read to 10 different people and then ask them to describe the two main characters or plot of the book. In this case, despite a boundary condition of a book, all 10 people will have a different way of interpreting the character – his looks, his clothes, where he stays and so and so forth.

As a marketer, I often hear that in order for companies to succeed, innovation has to be at the forefront of their strategy. No innovation can be possible without imagination as any new idea, concept or design needs imagination of the mind for something new to materialize.

I would like to conclude that as adults, it is important that we don’t let our imaginative faculties die or come down. People should find ways and means to keep their minds open. Reading Edward De Bono’s Lateral Thinking is just one of those ways. There are many others too…one just has to open one’s mind to see and find it.

GOA? OH LUCKY YOU!

“Are you going to Goa?”, I asked a friend of mine when he told me that he is off to a holiday to have some fun and frolic in the sand. My eyes got excited when he said yes he was indeed going to Goa. I ended up saying “Oh lucky you!”. That is the power and the beauty of Goa.


Very few places have the ability to do that. The ability of invoking a strong desire within you wishing that you were there or that you could go along. Goa has that ability. It can evoke emotions of jealousy and envy when you are going to be stuck in the same city, slogging your ass when the person in front of you will be living it up in Goa in a few days.

What is completely amazing about Goa is that it has certain memories/pictures/perception attached to it for each and every person. For people who have been there once or more than once, the word Goa brings all those images back like a montage and there is an automatic smile and a feeling of flashback for them. For people who have never been to Goa, there is a strong sense of perception/imagination as to how the place is and how the experience of going to Goa will be, formed largely by what they have seen in films/television or through pictures posted on Facebook or shared with them by their friends who have visited it.

Goa is not the only town with beaches and great hotels. There are other places also across the country which may be having better or more beautiful beaches, but the brand image of this place is so strongly entrenched in the minds of people that when one mentions a great experience of sun, sand and sea, it is only Goa that comes to mind.

Putting down this blog has taken me down memory lane and as I write this all I can think of is when would I be on the other side being asked “Are you going to Goa” and on my yes the reply I would get would be “Oh lucky you!”

IF EACH SPORT WAS A WOMAN, WHAT RELATIONSHIP WOULD I HAVE WITH THEM

As the title of this blog suggests, I have let my imagination go a little wild and allowed to indulge myself by thinking each sport to be a woman. By this imaginative logic, let me tell you that I have known lot of guys, who could easily qualify as Casanovas, as they have had all kinds of women falling for them, which means that they have excelled in each and every sport that they have played in their lives.


If I were to talk about myself in this regards, then I guess, people would call me a compulsive flirt – trying my hands/legs at each and every sport…getting lucky (to be read as ‘managing decently well’) in some and realizing that some are not meant for me.

After lot of thinking, analysis, and introspection I have been able to put my relationship status with each of these women and each one is/was actually at a different stage of relationship in my life.

So without talking any more, here goes my relationship status, which I am today openly putting in front of the entire world:

Carrom: Would call my relationship with this as that of ‘puppy love’. Fell for it at a very young age….we overgrew each other over the years. There is still fondness for her but its more of a caring kind, which says that “Don’t worry, when no one is there to support you, I will always be there”.

Basketball: There was something about her that made me go after her. You can call it instant attraction. We saw each other for some time, but our relationship had its ups and downs. We broke up, then got together again, then broke up again to once again get together. Finally, we realised that there is a compatibility issue between us and there is no point in continuing like this. We parted ways amicably, though even today, whenever we meet we have a good time.

Skateboarding: When you are 17 and you just enter college and the entire college is crazy after one girl, you also go after her in the hope that you may get a chance to talk to her. Once you have managed to speak to her and things start falling in place, you have great pride in walking across the campus with her to show her off and to make others jealous. Skateboarding was that woman for me and it allowed me to flaunt what I had got.

Volleyball: We were going good for a few years and all looked good, but then she asked for a commitment and I was not ready for that. We had to say good bye to each other, though both of us know that whenever we meet, the attraction will come back.

Football: When you have just entered your teens and you rebellious nature is just coming out, you like to be with someone who is a tomboy and who also has a rebellious and aggressive nature. Football was that tomboy for me. She knew my state of mind during those years and she helped me in controlling my aggression. We knew we are just helping each other and later in the day, we will just move on. That is what happened.

Table Tennis: This is a woman I have been having a very long term relationship with. We have been seeing each other for almost 14 years now, though we were not together in the middle for 3 – 4 years, but we realised that we can’t stay without each other and we came back together. I can easily say that she has been my rock steady partner. She understands me and my temperament and allows me to be myself…totally uninhibited and I like it that way.

In between my long term relationship with Table Tennis, I have been with other partners also and have also had some flings. In fact, there is a clear understanding of mine with Table Tennis that we will meet other potential partners also, even though we are together so that we know at the end of the day that we chose to be with each other only because others were not fit for us. This is my status with other partners:

Cricket: I have a long-distance relationship with her. We meet once a year and get updated about each others’ lives. There is nothing more to it as we know that our futures are not connected.

Lawn Tennis: We have just started dating each other some time back and these are early days. We are trying to know each other, understand each other’s personalities, likes and dislikes. Right now, I can say that I look forward to my weekend dates with her. Let’s see how it goes from here.

Badminton: The relationship with badminton is kind-of complicated. We don’t meet each other very often and we have not broken up also. Both of us are busy in our lives and in meeting other partners that we don’t miss each other so much. But, whenever there is no one else, we tend to come together. I guess both of us like it that way.

Swimming: What do I say about her? She says she is not into relationships at all. She is just looking for a bonding… does not want to call it a relationship… is just happy that I drop in whenever I can. She has no demands and no expectations. I would call her the silent lover.

This sums up my relationship history with all these beautiful women that I have been lucky to have met in my life. Each one has made moments of life beautiful and I would like to thank each one of them in making me what I am today.

English Language - Laziness or Sheer lack of creativity?

People often say that English is a funny language, where words that are spelt similarly are pronounced differently and the classic example that comes to mind is that of the words ‘to’ and ‘go’, which are very aptly pointed out by Dharmender in the classic comedy Chupke Chupke.

In fact, it is also said that the complexity of the Engilsh language is also evident from the fact that similar sounding words are spelt differently and have completely different meanings eg – Sea and see, there and their.

I however have a completely different take on the English language and its creator. In fact, as far as I see it, all the complexities and oddities pointed out above are a result of the lack of creativity or just plain laziness of the creator. That is the reason two differently spelt words have similar pronunciations and two similar looking words are pronounced differently.

Let me put across a few more points in favour of my argument and my hypothesis. The creator of the English language has very conveniently given just one word ‘You’ to address all people irrespective of age, authority, etc., whereas in comparison, the Hindi language is extremely worked out in detail, where we have words like Aap, Tum and Tu for different kind of people depending on the relationship, age and seniority.

The English language creator did not even explore various relationships in detail and has conveniently given us a few common relationships to be used. Let’s just compare the English term for a relation and its Hindi counterpart options for the same relation, where the name of the relation changes basis which side of the family he/she is. Here is a list of all those relations:

Grandfather and Grandmother: Dada/Nana and Nani/Dadi

Uncle and Aunt: Tauji/Chachaji/Phuphaji/Masaji/Mama/Kaka and Taiji/Chachiji/Bua/Masi/Mami/Kaki

Brother-in-law: Jijaji/Saala/Behnoi

Sister-in-law: Bhabhi/Nanand/Jethani/Devrani


Basis all the above examples shared, I would like to conclude that the creator of the English language either lacked creativity or was plain lazy, whereas on the other hand, the creator of the Hindi language went into complete detail and gave us names for every relation so that the warmth of a relationship is much stronger. With this I rest my case.

Emotions of Change

‘Change is the only constant’ is an oft repeated and heard term. Yes, it is true that change is inevitable. Anyone living on this planet is constantly a part of some change that is taking place though he/she may not be involved directly in that change.

In fact, movement from day to night and from one month to the other is nothing but a change. Some of these changes tend to become a part of our normal life and then they are not seen as change any more but rather seen as part of a daily routine.

Through this blog, I want to talk about the emotions that go inside one’s heart and mind on few of the relevant changes that take place in one’s life.

Let me put down some of the big changes and the emotions that come with it:

Change of role: This normally means that either one has got promoted or one has moved from one function to the other or one brand to the other. The kind of emotion that one feels with this change is that of a sense of bigger responsibility. There is also the feeling that one has to perform very welll to once again prove to everyone in the organisation that the role given to one is completely apt, so there is a sense of eagerness and keenness in accepting the change.

Emotions: Sense of responsibility, Feeling of challenge as well victory, Eagerness

Change of house: The emotion that one feels when this change is taking place is that of positivity as one is looking at a bright future ahead. One has already started thinking as to what will he buy to decorate the house and make it have an identity and personality that matches with the people staying in it.

Emotions: Positivity, Bright

Change of city: One normally changes his city for education or better job opportunities. This change has feelings of excitement and curiosity as one is keen to explore and understand the new city, its culture, its language and its finer nuances.

Emotions: Curiosity, Excitement

Change of partner: When there is a change of partner, what that means is that one has had a partner in the past also and for some reason things did not work out. So initially, the emotions would have been that of depression, mistrust, failure but when you are just getting involved with a new partner, the emotions that come alive are that of anticipation of future, excitement, elation, anxiety

Emotions: Anticipation, Excitement, Elation

Change of marital status: Change of marital status in this context means someone losing his bachelorhood to enter a married life. The emotions that come with this change are that of apprehension, anticipation, excitement, happiness, delight

Emotions: Joy, excitement, delight, thrill

Change of job: Change of job brings in two sets of emotions. One is that of positivity and brightness due to improvement in life and lifestyle with a better opportunity. The other set of emotions emerge from the thought of joining a completely new place with new people, which brings in emotions like anxiety, anticipation, eagerness, inquisitiveness, etc.

Emotions: Trepidation, anxiety, eagerness

As is evident from above, there are a number of big changes that one goes through in one’s life but each change brings its own set of emotions – some experienced before and some being experienced for the first time.

That is why it makes sense when someone says ‘Feel the change’.

THE NEW AGE TOFY CULTURE

Just imagine this conversation between a young boy and his father:


“Dad, I want a TOFY”.

“Which one do you want: Orange or Red?”.

“No Dad, I am not talking about toffee. I want TOFY on my laptop and my phone.”


A similar conversation taking place in an organisation:

Employee to the IT Guy: “Hey please give me TOFY. It is important for my work.”

IT Guy: “Sorry Sir, we cannot give it to you.”

Employee: “Dude, in this age, if I do not have TOFY I will lose out as all my competitors are using TOFY to their advantage. Please understand.”

So what is this new age TOFY that I am talking about, which is creating buzz all around across age groups? Actually, it is something you and I use regularly, but I just thought that if four of them decided to come together and do a joint venture or a package for users, this is how they would possibly brand themselves or call their company: TOFY

Without keeping the suspense any longer, I am talking about Twitter, Orkut, Facebook and Youtube (TOFY). These four social networking/video sharing sites are ruling our worlds to a large extent and in today’s time there is not too many people who are not using atleast one of these four. In fact, in most cases the average would be two and for people like me it is all four.

I got a sense of the strength of this when one fine day I got a request of wanting to become a friend and it was from none other than my mother, who stays in a different city. I was shocked, surprised but happy that not only had she become a part of this TOFY culture but had also managed to understand this phenomenon and seen its relevance to connect with people. Within a week of that, I got requests from two other aunts staying in other cities who had never ever used a computer before that in their lives. Now I was convinced that the power of this is unmatchable as it got three women, who had not bothered to ever know that there is a Mouse in our lives other than the one they get scared of were now connecting with their relatives and also their long lost friends. What was also pleasant to know was that in all the three cases, it was one of their kids who had got them onto the site, made them understand what it can do for them and get them over the fear of this monster called a Computer. It clearly also showed that with the TOFY culture, kids are now open and accepting their parents into their world without any inhibitions. Comments like “Proud to have you here Mom” strengthen this hypothesis further.

So why do I think that it should be called TOFY and not something else. If I were to draw parallels between the toffee that we used to relish as kids and this TOFY, you will surprised to know that there are many similarities:

1. Toffees and TOFY allow us to form special bonds with our friends

2. While it was parents who got toffees for their kids, it is the kids who are now getting parents into TOFY

3. The experience of both kinds is sweet.

4. You never get tired of having one more. In fact, it is like an addiction.

5. Both come in all sizes, colours and flavours (of life).

6. Companies use both to their advantage. Branding, selling and consumer promotion of toffees and using TOFY is the digital marketing medium.

7. There are lot of options available. You need to choose your pick.

So if the founders of any one of the four are reading this and do take this forward, please remember where the royalty for this thought and the brand name needs to go :)

I am off as I have got another task at hand. Dad has never enjoyed toffees. It will be a tough task to get him to enjoy this TOFY as well….

Had gone for a market visit to Rai Bareilly. Stopped over to have lunch in a decent looking restaurant. Asked for the menu card and was suprised to see the choices of soup available. Was just not able to figure out what the first option meant. The third one was easy to guess, though worthy of a laugh. After a day, when I shared this picture with my father-in-law, he solved the dilemma for me. The first option was   'Hot and Sour' soup. As simple as that. Could not help laughing and rolling on the floor.

This was not all. When I turned to the next page, I was surprised to see the choices of Thalis available. Dinesh thali??? How would one guess what is that supposed to contain? You go a little down and what you see is a list of ice-creams that are available, but what is written next to it in bold ink with pen is 'Nahin hai'. Seemed like a warning that you dare not ask about this, while placing the order. The last masterpiece in this whole thing was the last option of ice-cream available or rather not available. Kanato.... hmmm.... sounds very Italian... oh no.. it is nothing but good old Cornetto.....but isn't that a specific brand? Well go figure is my only response. Hope all you guys have a good laugh on this one the way I had it.