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.

Have You Paid the Trolls at the Troll Plaza?

As you get onto the social media highway and start gaining social media currency, along with becoming something/someone more meaningful in the offline world, chances are - that you would have gained significant clout and there would be people following you/your fans who would want to hear what you got to say and see what you got to show.

Let me break the bubble by saying that this social media highway is not a smooth cruise! You will encounter a number of speed breakers in the form of troll plazas that will try to halt you, slow you down, and deter you from your path so that your ride to your destiny and destination is filled with pitfalls. 

And if you happen to be a celebrity of any sort in any field, then the payment to the trolls will be much higher! So the two questions that come to mind are:

1. Why and where are these troll plazas?
2. What is the payment that they seek, that will allow you to pass through them and what payment should never be given to them?

But before that, let us first be clear on who or what is a troll? You never know, the symptoms and behavior that you display would indicate that you could be a troll yourself!

A troll is a person on the online world, who doesn’t know you personally but yet believes that he knows you, your personality and your life very well. He feels that it is his prerogative to point out what you are doing wrong in life, how pathetic your choices and actions are, how stupid your looks, your knowledge or your fashion sense is, etc… Basically, this person will find a flaw in something or the other in you, and make it his agenda to not only point it out to you but also to the entire world as that is the only way he can make a mark of himself in the social world. Quite often, these trolls are hidden behind fake identities and if not, then they feel powerful behind their online profiles, sitting in the comfort of their room and blurting out their unwanted and unsolicited advice and views. 

Coming back to the question that I raised ‘Why and where are these troll plazas?’. The reasons troll plazas exist is because of multiple reasons:

         i. Some trolls feel terrible about their own life as they haven’t achieved anything and for them, pulling down others who are doing well is a way of coming to peace with their own misery. 

       ii. Sometimes, they do not like your face and are unable to fathom the reason for your success and hence they will find every opportunity to point out your flaw.

      iii. Jealousy is another big emotion that drives a lot of trolls because sometimes when they see people who were lucky enough to get the chances that they got by either being at the right place at the right time or by being born to parents who had achieved immense success (sons and daughters of celebrities), they feel that life has been unfair to them and the only way to get even with life is by being vindictive and vicious to people who had better stars in their favour. 

       iv. Sometimes trolls wear the cloak of moral police and according to them, people are supposed to behave, act and dress up as per the standards and norms that seems correct to the trolls and when one doesn’t follow those codes, the trolls are not able to bear it. 

      v. Hero worship is another reason why trolls exist. They are so blindly in love or adulation of their heroes that if someone has a different point of view or someone says something against their hero, they feel that it is their duty to come forward and protect their hero, who may not even care or notice what the other person has to say about them. 

      vi. Intolerance to another point of view or a different religious philosophy is another reason why a plethora of trolls float around the stratosphere of social media, with their weapon of trash talk ready in their minds that just makes way the minute the fingertips type it out and bring it alive. 

These trolls can be found on each and every platform that exists, which is accessible to the public at large. So one could encounter these troll plazas on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, blog, websites and the list can go on and on. 

This brings me to the second question of ‘what do these trolls at the troll plazas want?’ 

The biggest high for any troll is to get noticed, get talked about, get a reply from the person being attacked, get likes or retweets on his comment that proves to him that people have really enjoyed what he has to say. All of this emboldens him to do more of such things. 

If a troll has attacked you for the first time, the best way to move forward is to ignore the person and not even acknowledge him. Some of the trolls may realize the futility of attacking you and may back off. If the troll continues to attack you further, a witty and smart reply can be a tactic that can be deployed. If you are a celebrity with a strong following, chances are that your fans will latch onto your reply and share it with others and you will have the upper hand while a troll will fall flat on his face. If the troll continues his attack and is getting vicious in his language, you can either block him, report him or share his comment/tweet with your friends and fans so that they can tackle him because a troll is like a bully, who can attack a single person, but when he is faced with a huge crowd going after him, he will quickly get into his shell. 

If you are the one who is being attacked, and you decide to stop and get into a verbal argument with the troll, the task of the troll has been achieved and he has been able to derail you from your track. That is a heavy payment to be made from your side. It is not worth it. This is the route to be avoided. This is the payment that shouldn’t be made at any troll plaza, irrespective of how angry or frustrated you feel. 

What are your suggestions and ways to pay the trolls at these troll plazas? I would love to know from you.

Back From The Sabbatical

Dear Reader,

Please ignore the title. The title is only to take care of my guilt conscience, but otherwise there is not even an iota of truth to it!

Eight months have passed since I wrote my big blog with huge promises of How I am avoiding Resolutions - http://fugleman.blogspot.in/2015/01/2015-let-us-continue-with-e-model.html, but till date, this site hasn’t seen a single other blog coming up since then. It is a promise that I haven’t kept with my readers and with myself and I feel terrible about it. 

So what is the issue? Why have I not been able to share my thoughts as frequently as they occur in this mind of mine? What has been stopping me? Is it inertia? Is it lack of topics to talk about? Is it laziness or Is it a blogger’s block? Now if there can be a writer’s block, surely there can be a blogger’s block too. After all, time is changing!

Well let me tell you, the reason is none of the above… or when I think deeper, maybe it is all of the above and more! Have you ever faced a situation where you have gone for a buffet meal and you have been tempted with too many options, such that you have filled your plate to the brim, hoping that you will be able to relish each and every portion that sits in your plate but you ended up struggling to finish the entire contents of that plate? Let me tell you that the eyes eat more than the stomach. Yes, that’s true! I am going through the same situation right now. On my ‘Digital’ plate, I have put too many tempting things and I am clearly struggling. I don’t want to put away any of those things that are there on my plate but my stomach is not able to take in all of it. A lot of my time is getting eaten (pun intended) by different social media platforms, leaving very limited time for a blog. I am busier in reading and enjoying the thoughts of others than taking time out to share my thoughts with the world. This is a problem that I acknowledge, accept and realize and now I need to make the effort to also fix it. 

What better way to start working on the problem than to talk about it. So this blog is my return from the sabbatical and now I will make all efforts to bring content on this site more regularly for all of you and for me. 

So what kind of blogs would you like to read from me? Put in your comments and let me know. 

2015: This is How I am avoiding Resolutions

Another year has dawned on us. Phone calls, emails, SMSes, Whatsapp messages wishing each other Happy New Year have been exchanged. 

Now step back and think. What is so special about the New Year? It is just a change of date in the calendar. The sun rose on 1st Jan in the same way as all the other days before that, the weather and the traffic out there is also the same. Even the shows on TV are the same ones!

So then what has changed? The New Year may not change any of these but what a New Year brings with it is something called HOPE. With the advent of the New Year comes a strong sense of optimism. The belief that things will change from here on is what comes to the mind of people. And it is all of these emotions that make one to put together a list of resolutions. Most of them are well aware that they are never able to stick to their resolutions for a pretty long time but yet, year after year, they persist and put together another list, only to get disappointed over the next few days/weeks or months. 

It’s been two years that I have been blogging about how I do not keep any resolutions but rather follow my own model of doing things through the year. The benefit of this model is that there is no disappointment of a resolution breaking. 

So then what are my plans for this year? Am I sticking to the same model or is there a new model that I have developed? I thought a lot about this and then realized that this E Model that I have developed for myself works perfectly for me and at this stage I should not let go of it. Maybe, I should enhance it further, which means retaining a few Es , removing a few and adding a couple of other. Like I had mentioned last year, this E Model is a dynamic model which will keep changing and evolving with each passing year. 

So with that, I once again present my E Model to all of you, with the hope that some of you may also use it and benefit from it:

1. Experience: There are lot of people who like collecting different kinds of things – stamps, coins, match boxes. I like to collect experiences and call myself ‘Collector of Experiences.’ I try and find opportunities to try new things which just make life more exciting and meaningful. At the start of last year, I jumped off a cliff to experience paragliding. Towards the end of the year, I got to experience watching two tennis legends playing live - Roger Federer and Djokovic playing a set against each other at the ITPL. This year also, I plan to try a few new experiences.

2. Exploration: Travel is an important part of my life. One has to have wanderlust in life to truly become an explorer. Travel and reading are the two biggest teachers of life. As long as you have these two teachers in your life, your learning will never stop. One of my personal goals every year is to visit and see atleast three new places. Even when I am travelling for work, I endeavor to check out a few interesting sites of the place that I am visiting. This year will bring its own set of travel diaries. 

3. Extraction: This is a big word. It means absorbing and learning new things either through reading, videos, work, training, etc. Extraction would also mean writing and blogging and extracting thoughts and stories from within. Last year was a slow year for extraction and the plan this year is to rectify that. 

4. Entertainment: All work and no play can make Jack a dull boy. Philosophy of life couldn’t be truer than this. There is so much of content that exists out there – movies, TV Series, YouTube videos, award winning ads. Amongst all the other things that I intend to do in 2015, keeping my entertainment quotient high will be clearly one of the priorities. 

5. Engagement: This is a new E that I am adding to this model. Social media has become an extension of our life and it is something that can’t be escaped. So the best way is to embrace it. But in 2015, I do not want to limit my engagement to the online world. I intend to engage with my friends and families in the offline world too. I will be taking initiatives of catching up with as many people as I possibly can and connecting with their lives once again. 

6. Evolution: This model is incomplete without the addition of Evolution to the model. While I get busy in new experiences and extracting more from the lessons of life, it is also important that I evolve as a person. This evolution has to be mental, physical, financial and intellectual. I would like to see my net worth and balance sheet evolving. I would like to see the log of my running kilometres evolving as well as my acts of empathy and kindness evolving. My relationship with my colleagues and my team should evolve towards a better side. 

Overall, I should evolve as a better human being and the true measure of this will only come from others and their opinion about me rather than my own opinion about myself. 

All of these elements of the E Model are going to be subjective in nature and I will have no way of appraising myself if I do not put down a tracker that is quantifiable and measures how I am doing against each of these elements. So a Tracker has been put in place. 

Before you decide to implement this model in your life, do note that there are two other Es that come as companions for this model – Expenditure and Execution. You cannot win with this model if you do not take the companions along! 

Looking forward to the ‘Exciting’ times ahead in 2015!

Become Mediocre or Open the Eyes of Others to Mediocrity

Imagine a few conversations like these in various organizational set-ups:

Conversation 1 between two employees

Employee A (Senior Manager): This is outstanding! I think this approach is what we should be taking hence forth. It is effective and gives us the results. Don’t you agree M?

Employee M (Reporting to A): Yes A, this is a great way to do things. But this is something that I had done two years back. I thought you would know that it is not new and we have doing something like this in the past. 

Conversation 2 between two employees

Employee B: There is this new way of doing marketing. There is a case study that exists out there. You should check it out. 

Employee M: You are getting amazed by this new way? I thought you would be aware of this new way since a long while and hence I never even discussed this with you. 

Employee B: No, this is new stuff for me. I wasn’t aware. This is quite cool. 

These are just a few examples of a few conversations. There would be many more that would be taking place on a regular basis in some of your organisations. 

While lack of awareness of a new tool or a new way is understandable and different people get to know about it at different times, but the problem starts appearing when one of the employee uses a certain tool or way of doing things and assumes that it is no big deal and not worth talking about, whereas the same tool or approach then gets lauded by various people in the company some time later when someone informs about its utility and how they have leveraged such a method. 

The question that comes to mind is ‘Who should be blamed? Should it be the employee who did not talk about his new approach and make a big hoo-hah about it or should it be the other employees who suddenly express surprise and amazement at an idea or a method that the other employee has been using and implementing for quite a while without bothering about talking about it?’

The fact of the matter is that there is so much of mediocrity all around the system that everyone delivers and works basis that standard of mediocrity, and then that standard or approach becomes a norm. This norm then gets broken by two kinds of people:

1. A person who is above the mediocre level and who doesn't follow the norm but rather does certain breakthrough ideas that go beyond the norm. For him, these breakthrough ideas also appear to be so obvious that he forgets to even talk about them or sell his approach to the organization. 

2. A mediocre person who picks up one of the breakthrough idea from somewhere, quite a while since it has been in use and them is amazed at the results that he achieves from such an idea that he tells everyone about this idea. 

A person who is above the mediocre level gets frustrated at two points:

1. When he sees others around him living, thriving and enjoying the mediocrity without bothering to change. This person then goes ahead and implements his ideas to get results, but even these ideas seem so obvious that he forgets to make a story about it. 

2. When he sees a mediocre person, suddenly waking up to a new and better style of working and then taking the appreciation of all his peers and seniors for changing the norm and style within the organization. It is usually this person who walks away with all the adulation, promotion and the tag of being a ‘Genius.’

If this person wants to get out of this frustration trap, he has two choices: Either to become mediocre like everyone else or open the eyes of others to mediocrity by showcasing his ideas, his approach and his style to the world. 

What that also means is that, if he is a genius who thinks that what he is doing is nothing but mundane, which everyone ought to be doing anyway, then he should stop thinking of his work as mundane and project and sell his work to the organization so that this malaise of mediocrity can be ridden of, and this genius can get what he ought to deserve.

So here’s to a new year of 2015, a year where the mediocre move up and the genius move down so that the entire organization benefits!

MEETING MEN AND WOMEN ON A FARM

Relationship status messages on Facebook, matrimonial sites, dating apps…they are all there around us. If you are single or even if you are not, choices exist for you if you are willing to put in the time and effort that comes along with it. 

Today men and women or even people of the same sex can meet each other through various platforms and see what they can make of these meetings/dates/rendezvous, call it whatever you want. 

Depending on what you are looking for, you can decide on which part of the FARM do you want to be. FARM. Did I just mention FARM? Have I lost it? Till a paragraph back, I was talking about men and women and how they can mingle with each other through various platforms and then suddenly why would I be talking about an agricultural piece of land FARM?

Now now, before you start thinking that I am drunk in the afternoon, let me explain myself. Basis my understanding and observation of human behavior, I have come across four levels at which people want to connect with someone else. I have put these four into a term that I call FARM.

So what does FARM entail? 

FARM consists of a Fling, Affair, Relationship and Marriage.

Different people at different point in their lives choose one of these parts of a FARM. Sometimes it is the same two people who are on different parts of the FARM but quite often, one of the two individuals are different at different parts of the farm. 

How do I further classify these parts and what distinguishes one from the other?

FLING: A fling is a short term event or incident. It usually lasts for a few days and extends sometimes to a month or so. In most cases, a fling has lust at its core unless it starts with the honest intention of a relationship, but due to circumstances or reasons it ends much earlier and ends up being a fling. Quite often, both the individuals knowingly get into a fling, where usually terms like ‘No Strings Attached’ are also heard. I am sure that all you readers are smart individuals and I do not need to explain a fling any further. 

AFFAIR: An affair is usually something that is meant to be known only to the two individuals. Both the parties choose to be discreet about it and do not prefer talking about it or coming out in the open. There is also the fear of getting caught that lies at the core of an affair. Some people get thrilled by living such an emotion and is one of their big reasons to have an affair. Usually, there is an emotion of guilt that is always playing a role when it comes to an affair. That is why, you also hear the term called Extra-Marital Affair.

RELATIONSHIP: This is where emotions start getting involved. You start connecting with the other person on various levels: emotional, intellectual, romantic, physical etc. People call themselves in love when they are in a relationship and love is the core of this segment. People love going out for movies, dinners and dates and have no qualms in telling the world about their partner, their boyfriend/girlfriend. This is the phase when people are glowing and are the happiest. They look forward to the time that they would spend with their partner. 

MARRIAGE: This is the last part of a FARM. A lot of relationships gravitate towards this part and culminate into marriages. This is the part where legality also comes and starts playing a role. This is the part where individuals become an official couple by calling themselves husband and wife, which is like a seal of commitment. 

So friends, these four together represent the FARM and the question is “Which part of the FARM are you sitting at?”

Completion of a Decade: 10 Years and this is where we are!

It was the second half of 2003 and most of us were worried of what lies ahead. Within a few months, our two year Post Graduation Programme would come to an end and each one of us was keen to get placed. With a batch size of 88 students, everyone had their share of fear, doubts, nervousness and all the other feelings that one gets before an important exam! There were questions on which companies would come on campus and which would not. There were meetings that took place with the Placement Committee where tempers ran high, with each one expressing his or her insecurity disguised in the form of a loud tone or argumentative statement. 

Today, as I write this, I smile at all of that as a decade has passed since we graduated. 

I smile at the fear that we had within us. There were questions that popped in each of our heads like:

• ‘Will I get a job?’
• ‘Will I be able to earn decently?’
• ‘I love brands. Will I be able to manage brands ever?’
• ‘Advertising is my love. Will companies allow me to show my creative or strategic side?’

All these questions and many more have been answered and have lost relevance. With the completion of a decade, when I look around, I see my batch mates and my people from my senior batch who have done phenomenally well across companies, countries, sectors, industries and brands. I see people with wonderful careers.

There are some who took the plunge and went the entrepreneurial route, few others who have been with their first company till date, there are some who still felt that they wanted to study more and went ahead and did another course/another programme, a few decided to get married and stay at home, a few decided to become writers. Some even managed to get very senior roles in the organisations that they are working for. 

So depending on who is looking at them with what lens, their level of success may differ as measurement of success is always relative and a point of perspective. How you see someone and how I see someone may be completely different and each one’s point of view is true in their own eyes. 

According to me, all of us have done quite well and all the trepidation that existed back then was useless. I remember going back to MICA a couple of years back as a Guest Speaker in the Alumni meet and I was asked to share my journey with the students. I said “Irrespective of whatever I may share about my journey, the reality is that all of you will find or create your own paths and ten years down the line, when you do look back, you will be proud of the distance that you have travelled. At that point of time, whatever I am saying today will seem like a distant memory in the past as no one else except you yourself will be able to decide where you reach and how you feel about that journey!”

Personally, it feels great to have completed a decade of corporate life. I know that I have a long way to go ahead, the destination is still far away but I am enjoying the ride, enjoying the wind as I traverse this journey with no idea of what lies ahead. 

I also feel happy, inspired and delighted to see some of my friends doing work which I know that I can’t even imagine doing and it feels wonderful to see each of them continuing on their beautiful journey where they cross different milestones at different phases at their own pace. 

I would conclude by saying:

Completion of a Decade: 10 Years and this is where we are!

Formula for a Successful Movie

If you are a film-maker and you have reached this blog with the hope of getting the magic potion that will help you in delivering the next block buster, let me tell you that you will find nothing of that sort in this article. 

Calm down. Now don’t curse me if my first paragraph has left you disappointed Mr. Film Maker. Because what I will offer in this blog is a view from a common man who loves his movies and the experience that they deliver. And who knows…maybe that is what you are seeking!

Over the last few years, there have been a number of films that have filled the coffers of the producers as they turned out to be super hits. Each one had its own story, script, acting, music and other reasons for success. I do not want to delve into that. 

The thought for this blog struck me after I saw the movie Queen – the latest hit from Kangana Ranaut. Here was a movie that everyone was raving about, people were urging others to go and see it, and the movie was picking momentum week after week through word of mouth. 

After watching this movie, while I was still trying to play in my mind the various scenes and the reason for its success, a pattern emerged in front of me. Two more movie names popped in my head – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Dil Chahta Hai. I could see a common thread between the three movies. 

Think for a moment about these three movies. Does any common thread strike you as well?

Yes, the common theme for all three movies was ‘Escape’. Escape from the mundane life, escape from a crisis situation, escape from your own feelings. 

Queen had Kangana travelling to Europe to escape and get her head out from the messy situation that she had gotten into because of her wedding being called off. 

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara had the three actors escape from their regular life and jobs to an exotic holiday to experience something new. 

Dil Chahta Hai had three escape situations. The first escape happens when the three friends decide to escape from boredom by going ahead for a holiday to Goa. The second escape happens when Aamir Khan leaves for Australia after a tiff with his friends. The third escape takes place when Aamir comes back to India to escape from the thoughts of Preity Zinta. 

Of course, just taking ‘Escape’ as a theme is no sure shot way to make a film work and nor was that the case in these three movies either. A powerful script, screenplay, acting and flow were crucial to the success of all three of them. 

But the key point that I want to make here is that the audiences lapped up these movies and came to see it again and again. This is where ‘Escape’ starts playing a key role. Human beings love to get out of the rut and experience something new, travel, see a new place, try a new activity - something which they always want to do or would love to do but circumstances, time or money does not allow them to do it as often as they would love to. 

These three movies allowed them to experience that ‘Moment of Escape’ that they crave for. Those three hours in a movie hall made people travel along with the lead actors. And when a movie makes you travel and become a part of journey, it touches a chord deep inside, it moves people and what people experience at the end of a movie is pure enjoyment. They want their friends and families to experience this emotion as well and that is why they recommend others to go for such a movie. 

I am not sure whether you agree or disagree, but to me this came out as a strong and common theme across these three movies.

Share Your Goodness – Motto for Life

“Ensure that there are enough seconds dedicated to the product window”.

“You have to show consumption of the product and make it an integral part of the story”.

These are just some of the regular statements that an agency is used to hearing from the client, which the agency calls the client’s rants. 

But these statements hold true when you are doing regular advertising for a product brand where the objectives are the usual marketing objectives of building awareness, generating trials and driving sales. 

And then comes a time, a moment, an opportunity where a company decides to be courageous. It decides to break status quo, go against the conventional route of marketing and advertising and decides to launch a campaign with a thought and a philosophy that makes you sit back and reflect. It takes all the cultural and societal truths and weaves a story around those truths without making the story trivial by getting brands or products integrated into it like a force fit. 

To understand what I am saying, let me share the new film from Nestlé India on their Corporate Campaign #ShareYourGoodness:

                                                               Share Your Goodness Film

The beauty of the film is its simplicity and the power of this film hits one after some time. It makes one realize the importance of food in our lives and how sharing of food is beyond just a gesture. It is an act that transmits feelings and allows forming bonds for life. It makes one reflect on all the times when one has bonded over food and exchanged lessons on life over a plate of dinner or a cup of tea. 

What is truly magical about this film is the fact that by taking food as the medium, this film talks about issues like: adoption, girl child and integrating people from North East into the fabric of a family and all of this is done quite seamlessly. 

A campaign like #ShareYourGoodness would have been incomplete by just making a commercial of this thought. Nestlé India had to bring that thought alive through an act and Nestlé India chose the Mumbai Dabbawallas as a medium to activate this philosophy.

#ShareYourGoodness truly gained meaning when the Mumbai Dabbawallas were appreciated for the work that they do through a Goodness Box in gratitude for their unrelenting and selfless act throughout the year. 

Watch this video to see this activation:

                                                                Mumbai Dabbawalas

Despite being an employee of Nestlé India as well as a marketing professional, I would like to say Thank You to everyone involved in making this film and reminding us that Share Your Goodness does not have to be a tag line for a campaign but rather a Motto For Life.

Zindagi Tere Kadmon Mein

                                             

Few days back, I had gone for camping and paragliding and I had this beautiful view in front of me, where I could see the mountains, a lovely lake and the sun rise. 

As I stood there, mesmerized with the beauty of the nature, a few lines started coming into my head. Here are those lines written in English (Hindi words) as well as Hindi:

Zindagi tere kadmon mein le aayee hai mujhe,
Ab yeh bataa isse zyaada kya doon tujhe.

Yahaan aake aisa laga ki jannat mil gayee
Isse pehle toh yeh Zindagi yu hi chalti rahi.

Suraj ki har Kiran lage ummeed ki nayee asha,
Ab se karenge wahi jo dil chahega, duniya chahe kahe usse tamasha.

Behte hue paani mein bhi ek sthirta hai,
Darr mat kyunki har kaamyaab admi udaan bharne se pehle ek baar toh girta hai.

Pahaad ki uss chhoti ko jaake chhoone Ka mann karta hai,
Bas tu apni rah pe chal, bekaar ka hi darta hai.

Andhere mein toh teri sundarta bhi nazar nahi aati,
Phir main kaun hoon yeh soch mujhe kyun hai sataati.

Nazar jahaan tak hai jaati, Tera hi raaj hai,
Dekhne main tujhe aaya kyunki tu hi mera aaj hai.

Jeevan ki kayee seekh yahan se le jaunga,
Dhanyawaad dene tujhe ab jeetne ke baad hi aaunga.


Hindi:
जिंदगी तेरे कदमों में ले आई है मुझे,
अब ये बता इस्से ज़्यादा क्या दूं तुझे |

यहां आके ऐसा लगा की जन्नत मिल गयी
इस्से पहले तो ये जिंदगी यूँ ही चलती रही |

सूरज की हर किरण लगे उम्मीद की नयी आशा,
अब से करेंगे वही जो दिल चाहेगा, दुनिया चाहे कहे उसे तमाशा |

बहते हुए पानी में भी एक स्थिरता है,
डर मत क्यूंकी हर कामयाब आदमी उड़ान भरने से पहले एक़ बार तो गिरता है |

पहाड़ की उस चोटी को जाके छूने को मन करता है,
बस तू अपनी राह पे चल, बेकार का ही डरता हैं |

अँधेरे में तो तेरी सुंदरता भी नज़र नही आती,
फिर मैं कौन हूँ, ये सोच मुझे क्यूं है सताती |

नज़र जहाँ तक है जाती, तेरा ही राज है,
देखने मैं तुझे आया, क्यूंकी तू ही मेरा आज है |

जीवन की काई कयि सीख यहाँ से ले जाऊँगा,

धन्यवाद देने तुझे अब जीतने के बाद ही आऊँगा |

2014: #55WordStory Themes - Set 1

Theme: Curiosity

She had two passions in life – writing and film gossip. To pursue these, she applied for the role of a film magazine journalist.

At the interview, the Editor asked her about her biggest strength for this role and her response was: ‘Curiosity to find out what is happening in their lives.’

Theme: Reading

"Pursue your passion and enjoy your hobbies." said the professor on the last day of the graduation ceremony.

"Oh that's easy for me. My passion is the same as my hobby. Reading." said Malini to her friend Beena.

"That's interesting. In my case, it is writing. So I will write and you read." laughed Beena.

Theme: Allure

The dance floor was crowded. Her shining nose ring was the first thing that caught his attention through the smoke from the smoke machines. She turned towards him and her kohl eyes were alluring enough for him to get mesmerized. The sixth drink was enough for him to mistake a mannequin for a beautiful lady.

Theme: Video Game

Shalini was seething with rage and waiting for her husband Rajiv.

Her suspicions made her check the browser history of Rajiv and she found words like 'Infidelity and Sex'.

Rajiv came home with a box of cake and announced 'Honey. Months of hard work has paid off. My new video-game will be called 'Sex & Infidelity'.

Theme: Neck

He felt it on his neck first. He ignored it. He then felt it on his arms and he couldn't ignore it any longer.

He was visiting the same place where he had spent many memorable moments with her and today, when she was not with him, he was getting goosebumps all over his body.

Theme: Quintessence

Salil got his big break when he secured the role of Vice-President in a leading MNC. But he was surprised at the culture of the company, where even Vice-Presidents couldn't have a difference of opinion with the CEO. This was quintessentially coming from the subconscious mindset of Indians due to years of ruling by the British.

Theme: Social Media

I knew I wanted to do something like this. There was always the urge, but wasn't aware of the source. A place where like-minded people could talk on a similar topic but with different perspectives. Social Media got me on Twitter and made me find the #55wordstory theme and have been addicted to it since then.

Theme: Date

The argument was heating up between Sonu and Bhola.

"Mango is the best fruit in the world" said Sonu

"No. Watermelon is the best fruit in the world." argued Bhola

"Let us ask Radhika. She knows better." spoke Sonu

"There is no fruit better than date." said Radhika and walked out of the room casually.

2014: A Year where no Resolutions shall be broken

Happy New Year Readers.

As I hit the road called '2014', I can see 2013 in the rear view mirror going further into the opposite direction. Very soon, it won't be visible but it shall be remembered as the road I traveled on. 

This is the time of the year when people will try to make resolutions and try to live up to those resolutions for a short while before letting go and waiting for another year to give it another attempt.

I realized the futility of resolutions a few years back and was constantly pondering over what I should be doing to do the things I want to do without the fear or the guilt of breaking my resolutions. That’s when I wrote my blog at the start of 2013 called 2013: No Resolutions. Just Follow the Es. (http://fugleman.blogspot.in/2013/01/2013-no-resolutions-just-follow-es.html)

This approach was very helpful and allowed me to go ahead and do so many things without bothering about breaking resolutions. In the year 2014, I would like to continue with the same approach and the same model called the ‘E Model’ but with a different set of Es as it is a dynamic model that keeps evolving with every passing year. 

So what is this ‘E Model’ and why will it ensure that I do not break any resolution? The simple reason for that is because this model allows you and encourages you to do more and achieve more rather than restrain yourself.

Without further explanations, let me list down my ‘E Model’ for 2014:

1. Experience – Life is all about experiences and I like to call myself a Collector of Experiences. To me, an experience is a vast word that comprises of many things. Travelling and exploring new places is an experience as much as going to a new restaurant is. Trying a new adventure sport is as much an experience as attempting to learn a new language is. Reading a new genre is as much an experience as writing a novel is. I am sure that you have got the gist of what an experience can really mean. Experience is nothing less than an ocean that has been formed by small and big moments, which have turned into memories, to create an experience. For me, that ocean still needs lots and lots of such moments which I shall be collecting throughout the year. 

2. Earn – Collecting experiences is not an easy thing. It costs. Hence it is critical that I earn more than before through better performance, smart financial investing and other possible avenues. But earning financially is not the only thing that I am interested in for 2014. I am keen to earn the respect of colleagues and peers by the work that I do. It is important that I earn the trust of the consumers as a marketer by doing better and sharper marketing. Last but not the least, it is extremely important that I earn good Karma by my behavior and deeds and take a small step in being a better human being than what I was in 2013. 

3. Exercise – Every sportsman will tell you that ‘Health is Wealth’ and it is even true literally in their cases. But the reality is that only if you are healthy can you experience more out of life and earn what you intend to earn. So I will use 2014 as a year to exercise more than before and move to a healthier body and a healthier mind.

4. Exchange – In the times of social media and messaging platforms like Whatsapp, while the friends list has grown tremendously but most of the exchange of expressions and emotions take place only through status messages and emoticons. 2014 shall be the year where I make an attempt to change that. No, I have no intention of cutting down on the time that I spend on these platforms but what I surely intend to do is to catch up and meet friends and family in person and exchange thoughts, conversations and emotions face-to-face and in person. I would also like to use 2014 as a year to meet new people, form new relationships and expand on my bonds with people. 

5. Entertain – This one is about the attempt to escape reality and the current environment for a few hours every now and then to see the movies/TV Series/Music Videos that exist out there as well as the ones that would come out in 2014. 

6. Enjoy – While I may attempt to list down all the things that I want to do in 2014 and also achieve some of them, the truth is that I do not have control beyond a certain extent to what lies ahead. There would be ups and downs, achievements and misses and it is a part of the deal. Instead of mulling over those that I can’t control, my attempt for 2014 would be to enjoy life and its big and small pleasures, knowing well that I am trying and taking an approach that lets me grow and emerge a better individual with more knowledge than before and hopefully a broader horizon to view things. 

I hope that this model makes 2014 a great year so that I can look back at the end of the year and say that it was an eventful year with lots of excitement that I lived with great exuberance!