Thinking Big

By in 55, @tempting humour, Stories 2 Comments

Not that he needed a chewing gum brand, but it was all in the name. It made sense since he was getting a huge brand ambassador. It wasn’t a big task considering the friendship and his friend’s endorsement appetite. Big Adda, Big Flicks, Big Music, Big FM, Big Babol. Brand Ambassador – Big B. Sounded right.
until next time, not a big deal?

The Namesake

By in 55 17 Comments

He liked writing stories, and always tried to surprise his readers. Though some of his readers said he wrote well, he was never quite sure. After all, he just wrote on his blog. The appreciation was limited, never a huge number, and that was why he was quite amazed and humbled when he saw this.

until next time, lol, couldnt help it :D

The Next Big Thing

By in Brand, India, Social Media, Strategy 2 Comments Tags: , , ,

No, this is not the major announcement about an awesome new service I’ve developed, thats later..sigh

This is about the Ambani kind of Big, and its amazing to see what i consider a perfect duplication of the strategy that made an oil, petrochemical conglomerate. Backward integration. Only ADAG is not stopping at that. Its going horizontal too. Its putting its fingers in every pie that has some stake in the entire big pie of communication and entertainment – be it content or distribution.
Lets talk about distribution first. They have a nationwide CDMA serivce provider, hell, even a GSM provider in a few markets. Smart!! They will roll out a DTH operation very soon, and they already have the retail version of broadband up and running. Its only a matter of time before they make a big impact in the consumer broadband space, and I’m not even taking the ubiquitous datacard into consideration. Which basically means they have 3 platforms – mobile, internet and television neatly tied up. A small bylane in distribution – Big FM, Big Flicks. FM is not that small, and Flicks is a good start to a click and mortar way of functioning. In fact so is FM, because a friend who works there recently sent me a link to their podcast!!
Now the meat – content. You want movies, they got Adlabs. You want music, they got Big Music. Oh, you’re that new gen animal that thinks UGC and social networking is cool, welcome to Big Adda.
I’d like to think that somewhere i have seen a fragment of the big picture that the younger Ambani has in his head. The more i see it, the more i admire it, coz he really thinks big.
Meanwhile, if/when they integrate from a brand communication perspective, they have a perfect family friend who can be ambassador. Yup, you guessed it, Big B ;)
and i bid adieu thinking zapak is a whole new ballgame :D

Playing favorites

By in 55, Stories 11 Comments

He changed screensavers four times every year, each with its own variations. Every change was an occasion people looked forward to. It was just a screensaver for him, but for them it was much more. Although all screensavers were his creations, when he looked down, he liked rain the most. Even He allowed himself favorites.
until next time, whats your favourite screensaver?

And that leaves only

By in Nothing in particular, Travel 6 Comments

Kolkata. Which is phenomenal by my standards, as though of you who’ve read the previous post might have realised. As for the others, all it takes is one sentence to bring you upto speed- i hate travelling.
But this year has seen me visiting 3 of the (erstwhile only) 4 metros in the country.
Mumbai – February – last visited 2006 April, and that was only because i had to get inducted, professionally, that is. Judging by my tenure, fat lot of good it did. I was a frequent Mumbai visitor in the 80′sthough – before the bhai stuff became popular. No, there’s no connection. Shivaji Park was the usual venue, with a bit of Peddar Road and Malabar Hill thrown in. And then i stopped going to school, and that ended the summer vacations.Sigh
Chennai – August – last visited 1999 or was it 95? Damn, i’m really getting old. 95 is easier to remember because of the 12th Std results and the giant B&W poster of Aishwarya Rai to celebrate it. Yup, its 99 coz i boarded the Corromandel Exp from there for my first Kolkata trip.
Delhi – September and October – last visited 1993. And a much forgettable trip.
I dont think I’ll do Kolkata, at least that leaves my tarnished record some chances of redemption ;)
until next time, traveller’s outlook

The Travel Bug

By in Bollywood, Think About It, Travel 11 Comments

All the travelogues, all the travel programming on TV, and all the photos on image sharing platforms- I’ve read them all as messages, but never picked up the bags and set about travelling regularly. Now, i can give operational excuses, but i also know that those are not the real ones. For quite sometime now, I’ve had a block in my head, but could never decipher it myself. And the worst part is that it wasnt always like this. While i’ve never been a travel freak, i’ve never shied away from it either.

It took Nude Ellie to give me an insight into this bug. The first and easiest insight is that i am incredibly lazy. Even that trip might not have happened if it werent official :) . And it is perhaps only fitting that it was an office space that gave me a thought.

I’ve realised that travel necessarily means meeting new people. And not just meet, but also see large amounts of humanity that i may not meet, but faces that i know exist. In this case, floors and floors of cubicle farms.

Now this might sound weird to many, but that to me, is a bit like those starlit nights. And while i love staring up at the sky, I’ve slowly built up a revulsion to the other thing that evokes in me a feeling of insignificance, a feeling that i haven’t done anything to be truly special.Ego/ Frustration? Or plain old existential angst?

until next time, wanderbust?

Ok Tata Bye Bye

By in 55, Nothing in particular 9 Comments

And its time to say bye. Its been a long time and I’d been planning this for sometime now, never actually got around to doing it. But it’d be sheer injustice to postpone this any longer. Most readers would agree that this is way too melodramatic for a week’s vacation. But hey, its a 55.
until next time, see you next monday

Insectuous relationships – 55

By in 55, @tempting humour 21 Comments

These days, there’s tremendous amount of sexual activity happening in our house. I confess, I do not spend a lot of time thinking about it, but D does and she is extremely unhappy about it. After all, she’s the one who has to deal with the increasing number of cockroaches and lizards in the house.
until next time, did that bug you? :D

Mind Games – 55

By in 55, @tempting humour 9 Comments

He didn’t mind the rain. It meant that the idiots who paid lots of peachish Gandhis got to see only 50%. He wasn’t much into the mass sport now, 20-20 win notwithstanding. He’d get up early tomorrow to watch the F1 race. He did, and saw a track beset by rain. His expression was priceless.
until next time, are Suzuka and Bangalore cosmic twin cities?

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