Ad Sense

There are two schools of thoughts. One school believes that sad, poignant themes touch people's heart more than happy, frivolous themes while the other school believes just the converse. Then, there are is a 'third front' - which the former two schools consider 'crap' - who don't fall into either of the categories. Their purpose is to make purposeless products (like Ghajini). I won't be talking about these 'third persons'. Sigh. I'll be talking about the former two schools.

The results of the election of the largest democracy is out. And people have given a clear mandate after a really long time. While there are myriad reasons for the winner's victory and runners-up's loss, let's look at the advertizements of the Congress and the BJP.

The advertisements of the Congress were very optimistic. Despite the turmoils which happened almost throughout the last year – inflation, terrorism and recession – the ads wore a positive outlook . Aam Admi ke badhte kadam – reiterated the pro- 'aam admi' stand of congress. Everyone in the advertisement is shown happy. Communal harmony is highlighted with the holi and rakshabandhan.
Congress have another very sell-able thing – their history and legacy. This heritage ad displays the achievements India made under the early Congress – Independence, compilation of the Constitution, Shastri's Jai-jawan-jai-kisan revolution, nationalization of banks. This heritage ad portrays more recent achievements of Congress – telecom/IT revolution under Rajiv Gandhi, Indo-US Nuclear deal, NREGA and Chandrayan under Manmohan Singh/Sonia Gandhi. The Jai Ho ad resonated the sense of achievement of winning Oscars along with the happiness brought in by the schemes of Congress. All other ads like those on – chandrayan, electricity and Rajasthan had a positive/happy feel to them.

On the other hand, the ads by BJP were more about the problems India is facing. The bhay ho ad, which is a parody of Congress' Jai Ho, highlights the unemployment, terrorism and inflation during Congress' reign. The Vijay-Sankalp ad is a very matured symbolic ad which not only hints at the aforementioned problems during congress' reign but also highlights that a strong leader (like L. K. Advani) can solve the problems. The ad in (almost) black and white with strong voice makes it a 'serious' ad as opposed to the fun and happy ads of Congress. The hai-koi ad had a similar though a bit lighter tone. This 'nider-neta', again, sells L. K. Advani as a 'mazboot neta' while attributing unemployment as unfortunate – something which shouldn't have been there while this nidar-neta ad hints at the terrorism.

Now, what's wrong with ad-fights? Cola/soft drink companies have been doing it on Indian Media – Be it 'Do the Dew (of Mountain Dew)'' Vs 'i wanna do (of Sprite)' Or 'Pepsi for young!' Vs 'sweet drink for kids (of Thums Up)'. Even the techies doesn't remain far behind – remember the Mac Vs PC ads? So, it may seem that there is nothing wrong with ad fights. My guess is - it's about Indian psyche. Indians don't like bad-mouthing about others. Now don't give me that look – don't point me to the the umpteen saas-bahu soaps or company/college 'gossips'.

So what we see is that the message in Congress' ad was 'all was great under it's rule' – India has reached great heights under it and it should be select to continue the progress. It doesn't really mention about BJP or the Third Front (Third Front – what's is that, now?) except in this 'one' where it hints at BJP very subtly. BJP, however, highlighted the shortcomings of Congress – its alleged puppet PM. It, kind of, attributes the unemployment, inflation and terrorism – which are global problems – to a weak Congress. This probably didn't strike a chord with people. People seems to be more interested into what you can do as opposed to what wrong other has done. The cheerful tone of the Congress' ad brought in smile to the gloomed faces.

This reminds me of India Shining campaign by the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections. It was in the same line on which the Congress' ad this time is. BJP portrayed that India is shining, the sensex is surging and there's no miseries anywhere – just like what Congress portrayed. But, BJP's ad didn't work while Congress' did! The content of the ad is as important as the timing, the target audience and the way the ad reaches the target audience. The mood of the audience is also very important. If there is gloom around, the happy-toned ad may do better than the bare-truth.

Well, i know it's all over. And, hopefully, for five years we will not have any Lok Sabha Election. It's not that i am saying i-always-knew-BJP-was-going-to-lose-because-of-their-not-so-happy-ad. I am trying to reason out what could have caused the loss of BJP. There are several other, perhaps, more important reasons to it. Pramod Mahajan could be one. Even, Sam Pitroda, Kanishka Singh, etc could be another. Nevertheless, this post just looks at the whole thing from a different perspective. If these ads were to compete in an ad competition, probably Vijay Sankalp would have won the critics' heart. The fact however remains that BJP lost. As they say - future remains unknown. The predictions, at the end of the day, are just predictions.

Imagining India - Book Review

Nandan Nilekani's Imagining India starts where our history text books end. The book analyses not only the social, political and economic condition of India but also probes into the inter-relation of these with respect to both time and space. The fact that Imagining India is written by an engineer (and a software engineer at that) is evident from the style and tone in which it is written. Like a software, the book is divided into modules - each module having its own aim which aligns to the goal of the book as a whole. The book not only enunciates the challenges India is facing, but also proposes logical solutions to them. The book is divided into four parts

The first part describes the commonly accepted notions. Once considered a liability, the high population, is the biggest asset of India. The high GDP growth rate of India is due partly to the abundant human resource of India. Also, the knowledge of English language has been the single most effective tool for the upward mobility of the Indian youth. The irony is, still there are political parties who are shunning away from the English language! He also highlights the change in attitude towards businesses. The journey from the Bombay Plan to globalization through license raj is described from not only economic but also from social and political perspective. He also acknowledges the supposed shortcomings of democracy but considers it as the best form of government for a country as diverse as India. Democracy, according to him, may slow progress, but the progress it makes is robust.

The second part of the book looks into ideas that have arrived. No one today questions the importance of education. He appreciates the initiatives, such as the SSA, taken by state and central governments at this front but believes that much more needs to be done. He also delves into the benefits of developments in infrastructure, urbanization and market reforms.

In the third part of the book he talks about the ideas that are not widely accepted. Here, he talks about the equation between the state and the central government starting from when India got freedom. He also looks into the ingredients which went in creating millions of jobs and what needs to be done to create more jobs for the jobless Indians. In the end he highlights the evolution of universities and institutions of higher education and their role in the progress of the nation

The fourth part is the most interesting part. Here, he gives innovative solutions to a lot of problems which are not currently high up in our priority list but are, nevertheless, very crucial to the sustained development of India. He proposes the introduction of one ID for each citizen. Currently, we have a lot of cards and numbers – PAN, driving license, ration card, etc. He proposes that we make a central database of all these. This will ease tracking and reduce corruption to a great extent. If a central ID is used, then instead of distributing “free rice” to poor through s separate porous supply chain, vouchers can be distributed using the central ID tied to a bank account which can be redeemed at a normal general store. He also highlights the need of social security. According to him, for sustainable social security and pension scheme, participation of the individual is a must and the cost should be shared by both the government and the individual. He also talks about the need of better health care facility. This can be achieved by making the benefits of private health sector available to the poor by distributing vouchers. Currently, only the government hospitals are subsidized. And since the poor have no other option, they have to, but, go to the substandard hospitals. The use of vouchers and centralized unique ID will help in addressing the problem. Lastly, he addresses a major problem the world is facing – energy and environment. He mentions about monetizing carbon footprints so that businesses having more carbon footprints pay more than those having less. This would give incentive for businesses to invest in greener and inexhaustible sources of energy.

This is, in short, what the 531-page book has in store. Actually, i have just strung the names of the chapters together into paragraphs! The book is a huge repository of information.

I was wondering what prompted Nilekani to write this book. Does he want to enter politics? I think, only time can tell us that. But given his views, I would rather want people like him joining politics than goons having criminal charges. From his book we can see that despite being the CEO of one of the largest IT companies, he is so much in touch with the reality – with the problems the common Indian face.

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to know about the evolution of various problems India is facing and about various ways of solving them, The book is very informative and draws references the way a technical paper does. The book’s USP is the logically developed innovative ideas to resolve age long problems. It’s a must need for the coffee-table debater at office cafeteria and for anyone who wants to be a ‘know all'.

- Cheers!

Shoe to a no shoo-in?

What is common among George W Bush, Wen Jiabao, P Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh?

They were all thrown shoe at. But, no shoe could hit any of them.

That's an innovative way to protest! RDB popularized the candle march. But the most 'in' way to protest looks like hurling the shoes. BTW, even Delhi-6 subtly indicated at mirror march but who has the patience?

The non-violent protests popularized by Gandhi seemed to most effective one. But it looks like the global warming is making people impatient and they are just looking for an outlet for venting the steam out rather than channelizing the steam in proper direction to get the problem resolved. Wondering what has global warming to do with this? Don't think - these days it's the safest and trendiest to attribute any mishaps to Global Warming!

Or is this a different way of giving up and hanging one's boots up?


- Think...

Antakshari

[Read between the lines - that is, refer to the links - to get the subtle political humor in the post!]

Samay bitane ke liye karna hai kuchh kaam,
Shuru karo Antakshari leke Uncle Sam ka naam

Ma -
Manmohan a bade jhoothe, Manmohan a bade jhoothe,
Haar ke haar nahi maane, Haar ke haar nahi maane [Video]

Na -
Nafrat ki duniya ko chhod ke
Pyar ki duniya mein
Khush rehna mere yaar [Video]

Ra-
Rabba mere rabba rabba
Rabba mere rabba
Is pyaar ko main kya naam doon [Video]


Da-
Dum maaro Dum, mit jaye gum
Bolo subha shaam, hare krishna hare raam. [Video]


Ma-
Mera kuchh samaan
tumhare paas pada hai [Video]


Ha-
Hum se tum dosti karlo
Yeh hasin galalati karlo [Video]

La-
Ladkiyon se na milon tum
ladkiya toh hai balayen
Subha shaam mat karo tum
Ladki Ladki Ladki Ladki [Audio]

Ka-
Kuchh to log kahenge
Logon ka kaam hai kehana [Video]

Na-
Nahi Nahi abhi nahi
Abhi karo intezar [Video]

Ra - ...


[If you can think of any *such* songs just key them in in the comments section]



- Cheers!

Aa Dekhe Zara

An Indian scientist has made a camera (among a few other gadgets – such as a clock) which has revolutionized the way people use camera. The camera can take a look into the future! Now I won’t go into the physics of it rather focus on the features of the camera.

Overview – A future time is fed into the camera. The photograph of the person whose future we want to see is clicked. When the negative is developed, we can see how the person and his surrounding would look at the same time on the future day that was fed into the camera.

Features – This camera is loaded with features. A few of them are mentioned below:
This camera has an in-built clock which keeps the standard time of the place the camera is in. If the camera is in India, it keeps the IST. So if you try to set present or a past date, it’d just not allow you to. Now if you go to some other country, say, the US or Thailand, it adjusts to the current time zone. When Simi clicked Ray’s photograph in India – with the time set to 5 days hence, the developed picture actually showed that he would be in Thailand at the same time (Thailand Standard Time) after 5 days! Chances are high that the camera even takes into consideration day light saving and multiple time zones in a country and any future time zone split.

The auto focus of this camera is simply outstanding. This camera ‘understands’ what the person, who would develop the picture, would want to focus on. When Ray was experimenting with his camera, he found that the both the mother and the child clicked needed to be focused on – so the photograph showed that after a day they would be free-falling from a giant wheel. When two persons are clicked and they are not supposed to be ‘together’ on the set future date, then the camera selectively gives you the future of the person you are concerned about. The best part is that you may also know the future of the persons you have not clicked. For e.g. when Simi was clicked in Thailand, we found that her under gun-point of a policeman. So, without even clicking the policeman we found his future! In mathematical terms this is called many-one function.

The camera is waterproof. Even if it is thrown into a pool from top of a tall Thai Hotel, it works absolutely perfect.

Challenges - Like all new researches there are a few challenges. The camera doesn’t have flash! So, if the light is not good, the photograph may appear dark. A blank photograph may imply that either the person clicked would be dead by the time set in the camera or there is not enough light to capture anything. It may also mean that the camera is damaged.

The camera is also not shock proof. If thrown into a well from the top of it, while a free falling person still holds the free falling camera, the camera would get damaged and would be rendered useless.

The camera accepts only future date as the input. It assume that the time one want to know about a person/thing on the future date is same as the time the picture is clicked. We cannot know future, say, five hours from now. The camera actually trains us to be in-time. If you want to know the future, you better ask the camera for it at least one day in advance (or in quanta of one day) else, the camera won't work. A clock, however, may be soon available where we can actually travel in time with the precision of a second!


Compliance – This camera is compliant with the destiny-only standard. Destiny-only standard asserts that everything that happens is pre-determined. We are just doing what we are destined to do. We are destined to see the future through this camera and we are destined to oblige to do whatever the camera predicted to do.

Now, let’s make this interactive. If you get this camera, how would you use it? Do put in your thoughts in the comments section. I am sure any and every reply would be better than what’s shown in Aa Dekhe Zara.
Let your imagination go wild!
PS: All characters (including the camera) in this article are fictitious and bear no resemblance to any person living or dead. Any similarity with anything living or dead is purely coincidental

Vote For TV

Nope, Ila Arun is not coming up with a sequel of ‘vote for ghagara’ [Video]. “Vote for TV” - is what TDP’s manifesto has for just-around-the-corner election. As done in all the elections and as done by all parties, TDP promises goodies if it comes into power. TDP is promising color TV to lower and middle class families – aping what DMK did in Tamil Nadu. In addition to a color TV, it also promises to give Rs 2000, Rs 1500 and Rs 1000 per month to the poorest, poor and middle class families. The announcement of the manifesto enunciating the above freebies has around aroused a lot of ridicule among the intellectual section of the society. I, personally feel, that their apprehension is nothing but baseless. Let me address the concerns one by one:


First, Ethics – Proponent of ethics accuse TDP of buying votes.

In a nation where very few people actually go to vote, TDP’s offer would, at least, get a few more people to vote. TDP is just offering TV and cash. There are instances where underwear and soup were on offer! No power, no force, no freebies can get the masses to vote. The GenX is too busy in their virtual world to care about the real. TDP’s offer will only increase the number of people who actually vote.

Haven’t you ever promised your son a movie if he keeps his room clean for a week? Haven’t you promised your daughter an iPod if she gets 90% in her exams? Have never your parents promised you a bicycle if you passed in your exams? We don’t really think these as unethical. So then why do we consider TDPs asking for votes for freebies as unethical?


Second – Basic Necessity

A section of society believes that TV is not a ‘basic necessity’. Most people in India don’t even have roti, kapada aur makan (and also water, toilets, electricity, education – you don’t want me to continue, do you?). Now consider the following. An average Indian middle class family spends quite a lot of their time with TV. When Prince fell down in the well, we spend our whole day watching TV and praying that we never have such fate. When Ganesh idols ‘drank’ milk we, obviously, wanted to know which temple most people are rushing to which Ganesh idol is not drinking milk. We also wanted to know in real-time whereabouts of a commissioner’s lost-and-found dog. If you think these are on and off – then what about the one-day matches where the poor TV gets real hot at the end of the day after we have watched the highlights and the detailed analysis of the match we so religiously watched? If even this is not-so-frequent, then I’d have to say what I have been shying away from saying. Soaps Opera. Right from 7:30 pm one to the 11:00 o’clock one – we want to know what each of the super-women is doing in their lives. How about the 12:30 to 2:30 soaps in the afternoon? All these goes to prove that we spend quite a lot of our time with television – on an average about 30% of the time we are awaken. Doesn’t the ubiquitous TV, then, qualify as a basic necessity?


TDP’s freebies are a solution to a host of problems. Brief take on them below-


Recession – Ah, our favorite word! We must have read almost everything, which Google could crawl on, on it and also the forwarded jokes which reaches us before we could reach our mailbox in the morning. Yes. TDPs offer is actually a stimulus package in disguise. With thousands of lower/middle class people in AP, the demand for televisions would increase. So, the television manufacturers would need to hire more people to meet the surge in demand. The TV companies would also need to buy raw materials, etc. So, this would have avalanche impact or chain reaction and better the economy of AP and country as a whole. A lot of people who are laid off from the IT/finance companies would find jobs. This positive feedback mechanism would ultimately pull India out of recession. The problem with recession is the lack of demand and TDP is just addressing that.

The same principle applies to the Cash Transfer Scheme(CTS). One of the reasons (or effects?) of recession is lack of liquidity in market. CTS will inject cash into the market. The demands for cosmetics, clothes, cricket bats, coffee mugs, generators (as quite a few villages don’t have electricity to run TV), oil (to run the generators), fuses, plugs and wires would increase leading to the above positive feedback effect.


Quality of life – The quarrels in the family would decrease as the family would now watch TV rather than talk to each other. The lesser interaction among the family members would decrease the quarrels


Patriotism – Apart from the patriotic movies which are shown on 26th Jan and 15th Aug on TV, the CTS would also increase the patriotic quotient of India. With more cash in hand, the poor people can now buy “branded” liquor. This would increase the demand of liquor. And hence, liquor barons can buy the Father of Nation’s memorabilia!


Better prospects – As per Bittu (in Delhi-6) shows only like Indian Idol can offer opportunity to middle class girls to be successful. Do you know why Bittu didn’t include poor class? The reason is – they didn’t have a TV. Now the TDP provided TV would usher the doors of success to even the poor class


These benefits are just a tip of the iceberg. There are host of other benefits which TDP may have considered and which I, a stupid-common man, cannot understand.
considering TDP’s freebies as ridiculous is ridiculous.

- Think...

Live to die

If we all know that we are to die one day, then why do we live? This is a basic question which has its manifestations throughout the history of mankind where time and again we do things which comes back to us in the negative way. This reminds me of the negative-feedback systems I learnt in my undergraduate. I wondered, why on earth, do we have negative feedback system given the fact that it reduces the output. The answer mentioned in the standard text-books was that negative feedback gives stability to the system. It corrects the un-reined growth of the output. If positive feedback is given to the system, it starts oscillating with its output going out of bound. This same principle applies in a lot of contexts.


The concept of outsourcing is very old – though it was not known by that name. The East India Company for decades had not brought in English language with them. They had kept the language to themselves and hence kept all the higher-echelon-work with themselves. But, around 1828, with the Company’s finances looking bleak they resorted to, what is now a buzzword, cost cutting. They "outsourced" the government posts to Indians. To make the Indians capable of doing the job, they committed the biggest mistake – they brought in English education. The English language brought with it the access to English press. Indians became aware of European Nationalism, the protests the other colonies were doing and the scientific advancement. Apart from the tyranny, if there was any one thing which led the Indians to drive the British out of India, it was English. English, which the Company brought in for their own profit turned out to be their biggest enemy. BTW, are you thinking about English as a negative feedback?


The USA is said to have backed Al Queda as a means to counter Russia. In the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the USA provided support to the Afghan Mujahideens (Al Qaeda) through Pakistan’s Intelligence service to outdo Soviet in the Cold War. USA thus outsourced a part of its "Cold War Business" to the mujahideens. But little did the US knew that the same Al Qaeda, which it used against the Soviets, would carve one of the biggest “man-made” catastrophes in the USA.

The same principle goes for outsourcing. The western companies outsourced their work to India primarily because it was cheaper. However, the Indians (and other Asians) developed their skills to the extent they they started getting preferred. Their western counterparts fear loss of job to the same people they trained. A saying goes that westerner, in the mid 20th century used to tell their kids to eat their food else Indians would have it - Now they are telling their kids to do their homework else Indians would steal their jobs!

Nuclear weapons are another example. We are making nuclear weapons, basically, to defend ourselves from our "enemies". With these deadly weapons,we may be able to bargain our lives today but the same nuclear weapon are, sooner or later, going to kill. They are made to kill.

Doesn't the same go with Recession? As the companies compete to lay people off, more and more people's buying power decreases. So, the demand decreases which in-turn leads to further down size of companies. The vicious cycle,thus, continues. Companies lay people off to save cost today. This then becomes, as they say, a necessary evil.

Meri billi mujh se hi miyao miyao
Ulta Chor Kotwaal ko daante

These are a few proverbs which come to my mind right now. If your “billi” is going to mew against you then why have a billi? In some cases it’s necessary evil and in other cases it can be avoided. The Britishers could not but outsource their work to Indians if they had to maintain their hold on India. If they wouldn’t have taught Indians English, they would have had to quit a century too earlier. Similarly, if the Western companies wouldn’t have outsourced they wouldn’t have attained the kind of productivity they did. In these cases, “outsourcing” was a necessity. But was it also a necessity in other cases? I don’t think so – nor do I think, the proponents would have thought that it would take such a shape. However, there are certain things you know are going to come back to you – but still you do it. This is negative feedback - sometimes it becomes so large as to stall the system, sometimes it brings balance to it.

Do we, then, live to die? Did the British bring in English education to get driven out of India and be jobless a century later? Did the US fund the Al Qaeda to get hit where it hurts the most? I ask again, do we, then, live to die?

- Think ...

PS: I know there are tons of other ways to explain the above. I have chosen this one to draw parallels