Right to Piggy Ride

Amul’s comic snippets are loved by everyone. Marketing teachers are especially fond of them. I’m not sure how the professionals see it and what’s the correlation of those cartoons and sales, but it sure does a hell of a job with the TOMA. 

What Amul does is it releases 1 comic per week and whatever happens that week is generally the theme of the comic. So people read the comic, relate to the news, smile to themselves and remember Amul. It’s ingenious, using news to sell yourself. No one calls them cheap or piggy back riders. Same happens to everyone during cricket season, FIFA world cup season etc etc.

So what caught my attention? The new ad of Hero Hf Deluxe.  The ‘Talent’ theme. Here’s the vid.

Hero piggy back rode the elections. Make the buyer of Hf Deluxe look great, intelligent, rational, responsible and so damn patriotic. Oh btw Hero Honda took a dig at being patriotic a million years ago. Ok 8-10 years ago, Remember ‘desh ki dhadkan’ ??  Back when CBZ was new, I think I was in highschool. Bajaj was already famous for its Hamara Bajaj and came up with a new Hamara Bajaj for the new times, beautiful ad, you gotta watch it. Here,

 So, now we have political parties taking it to the tv, online media and stuff, so why not use the elections as a USP? You know play a little with the Consumer’s head, Idea cellular also did that, the new ‘no ullu banao-ing’ thing, ofcouse, Idea has a history of making videos of showing idea users  to be righteous and awesome but this thing about using elections to sell yourself is awesome! TATA tea started with the ‘Jagore’ program almost 6 to 7 years back. 

It’s as the guy says says in the new Hf Deluxe ad, the elections are India’s biggest talent show. How can anyone refrain from making a buck, right?

Piggybacking? No its just BBM on Android.

In one week I saw more than a hundred people post their BBM pin on their fb timeline. A few of them sent me their Pins on my whatsapp too. Some of my friends asked me what it was and some asked me what my BBM pin was. Well, I’m not gonna install BBM on my phone yet, but I’ve got to say, I’m really surprised.

I tried to look up on it and searched for it on twitter and on google news. Suddenly, BlackBerry is all over the news! The BlackBerry Z10 launch wasn’t even half as famous as this! And it was supposedly the flagship!! It hit me! Piggyback marketing!

 

My friend Akshay had just started freelance photographing for friends. He took small projects like mehandi rituals, children’s portfolio etc., this was one such child portfolio for a friend. He wanted about perfect photos of his 4 year old angel. Akshay had clicked about 6 photos and apparently he wasn’t comfy with the money part. No wants to pay 3K for 6 photos, especially if the photographer is a friend. So I was sent to deliver the photos and extract money from him. Akshay had told me to get atleast 1.5K from him, and also spiced it with the line ‘I’ll give you an envelope, 10% of what you bring from her is yours.’ btw  I was also a friend to that guy mind you. 

I stuck to my guns of praising the baby and telling him how much Akshay would like to work with the baby again. I didn’t ask him for 3K. I just said ‘Akshay sent me here to deliver the photos and collect the money.’  He knew how much he had to pay, if I opened my mouth I would just ruin what’s cooking in his head.   

Did he give 3K? Well you know how we are… He put 2K inside an envelope and wrote something about paying the rest when he comes back for the next session or something. The point is, I was scared, out of place, and so totally awkward about asking money from a friend, but I rode on Akshay. He and his photos were selling high, I just had to cling to him and do the job to collecting. And that’s all I did. Akshay later said that he got much more than what he’d expected and I got well… not the 10% but I learnt Piggybacking. 

Now the main point, Piggybacking is what BlackBerry did unknowingly. More than 10 Million app downloads, twitter and news coverage from all over the world and here’s more, there’s even a scandal about fake app reviews. They couldn’t have got this much publicity even if they’d planned it. 

The concept is again simple, Android is selling high, put BBM on Android and you’re famous again. One line! 

Could this mean the big bosses of BlackBerry will get their heads together and try more piggybacking? Well that depends on how desperate they are. Piggybacking can be a taboo when you’re someone as big as BlackBerry. Wait, what about BBM on Apple? Is that be just as popular? Well people who use Apple already have lots of chat services that are cooler than the average Android messaging apps.. so… we’ll see.

My dearest Nokia tried it with Microsoft windows phone, but you don’t piggyback on something new, you’re pigs gotta be big right? And in case of Microsoft, the problem is Microsoft isn’t doing that great by itself, plus windows phone is new… so it’s like Nokia tried to ride an amputee pig with a new artificial leg! Ok you try making sense of that! Bye :P

Psalm E Pakistan

The climax of the movie border always leaves a warm fuzzy hangover. Though it’s about a war, the song at the end does make you feel that the war was a mistake and both of us have so much more to worry about than fighting over boundaries or anything for that matter. I was always interested in Pakistan, and writing about Pakistan. Any Indian or Pakistani of the Present day or at least the youth would have strong feelings about the whole partition of India episode. Some objective and some perspective, but all of us have views, bends, feelings and a stance. 

India was one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement in the 50s and 60s while the USA and the USSR were busy making pacts and treaties to make their respective power blocs bigger and stronger. Now one might say the Non-Aligned Movement was started by poor or the then 3^rd world nations because they just couldn’t risk supporting one and be the target of the other’s fury. As it is, the Non-Aligned Movement is based on a bigger idea. Its about Believing that it is possible to remain neutral at any time by anyone. And being an advocate of being objective I support this theory and hence have always held an objective view over Pakistan. 

A few months ago, say 2 or 3 maybe I picked up Shashi Tharoor’s Pax Indica. It basically talks about India’s foreign policies, foreign relations and India’s place on a global setup. He spoke extensively about Pakistan and India. The chapter was rightly caller Brother Enemy. Pakistan is after all born out of India and the people are more or less Indian. They always have. 

Mr. Tharoor speaks of partition, Kashmir, the different wars we’ve had and finally talks emphatically about terrorism. His points are straight and precise, and so yet sensitively carved live the curves of Megan fox. (Sorry whenever someone says curve I think of her :D)

He talks at length about the gaps between the INTELLIGENCE and the civilian government of Pakistan. Its a known fact that the INTELLIGENCE is sitting on tones of cash. In fact the INTELLIGENCE gets almost or more than half the total budget of 1 fiscal year. So in a situation where there is a serious lack of schools, hospitals, or in general amenities of life the army and INTELLIGENCE suck all the money out of the people of Pakistan. The army isn’t too keen on listening to the will of the civilian govt. and caters to its own goals, which may not always be intended at the best of India, and in turn resulting in the bad of Pakistan it self.

I was torn in half when I read these. Of course I knew that the army or Pakistan and the civilian govt. don’t always see eye to eye, but the revelation of the fact that the govt has limited hold on the army did raise my brows, like my eye brows was one with my hair.

Another question boiled into me was who’s gonna tend to the people?  The politicians made a lot of noise and puffed up the people that theres a need to end Musharraf’s rein as president and there a need for proper democracy and what not. So the people did get excited and come out on streets and after a lot of crazy things (beyond my comprehension) there were elections and Muhammad Mian Soomro was elected president.  And after Benazir Bhutto’s murder, the PPP was elected to power and Asif Ali Zardari became the President. All this is fine but what are these people doing? 

Pakistani people are still struggling against the terrorists, there are criminals hiding in Pakistan thanks to the INTELLIGENCE’s invitation and reformers and socially responsible civilians are killed in broad day light.  And if you’ve been complaining about the raise of fuel prices in India, the fuel price is way over a hundred rupees in Pakistan, and its gets worse, price determination happens every week! 

So is the democracy drama and all the things these politicians did to overthrow Musharraf an eye wash? I asked my Pakistani Orkut friend of 3 years. 

Yes! 

The one answer with an exclamation mark was like a gun shot at point black.

He went on to say, 

Things were very good in Musharraf regime, call him a dictator or whatever you want to but he is the man who supported freedom of media. Even pak's economy was boosting. And now things are pathetic. You know, he was the one who set Pak before Islam. That’s what a country needs. 

It felt nice to listen to him. I probed more and asked,

Ok what do see for Pakistan in the Future?

I can not say anything here. If you see the history of pak, there have been some good times. But when they start building up they falter somewhere. so I can only hope that future is bright; which is only possible by imparting proper education. There is a dearth of rationality among masses and one simply CANNOT understand religion without education. Thats my opinion yours can differ obviously.

I definitely had no reason to differ there. I was also stunned at his strong emphasis on improving education. I liked that. I had never spoken much about national politics with this guy. It had always been about Harry Potter and cricket. Except one odd day when he’d told me he wanted to be a computer engineer. 

So I bit the bullet and finally threw a tough ball at him. 

Me:

cool... one big question thats really been eating me

your cool right?

He:

haha

yeah

Me:

yeah.. so

the question is

how does one remain patriotic and try not to be ashamed of his country and not choose to make rash decisions when there are so many figures pointing mistakes from outside and so little action been taken from those responsible?

He:

thats a tough one

and mature people here in pak do think about that

Me:

but good question right? ive been thinking a lot

He:

yeah good question!

but majority satisfies itself by conspiracy theories

it may sound weird to you

but majority here thinks that all these nations are anti Islam

anti pakistan

and that is the reason why all this blame game is being played

Me:

some ppl get high on substance.. some on religion

He:

true

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It was really something. It gives a lot for the Brain and Heart when there are people thinking and acting like this guy. The teenager Malala is a example. She’s another example of the youth wanting rights and education for their people. She was a strong, neutral voice talking of the truth and that offended many a bad man. Too bad the system just won’t let such people run the country. It also reminds me of a beautiful video featuring mid/high school girls from Pakistan talking about how they really feel and how they are made to feel about the Indo-Pak relations.

Rounding up this post, I’m not going make comments on the partition of India or the numerous wars or other difference India has had with Pakistan because this was never a political write, the post was aimed at talking about the people in Pakistan. (I don’t know if they call themselves aam janta :D) I wanted to say that we need empathize with the people of Pakistan. On the one side there is the adamant army and intelligence with its own agenda (no one knows what the army wants) and on the other side there is the helpless civilian govt and politicians fishing for power and money. In this quarrel... what’s to happen of the people of Pakistan? Does anyone care about the people anymore?

 

Aasaan Over Assam

The disgrace of Indian Politics shines from the State of Assam this July. More than 40 lives were lost before I came to realize the seriousness of the situation. Thousands devoid of homes, roofs and a village are now being held at refugee camps. Some of the oldest inhabitants of India are now living on bread crumbs and wet canvas over head. 

Just after the Rain Gods showered fury on the people of Assam, the fury of men belittles that of the god’s. The ethnic riots that broke out in the first half of July took me down by surprise. The riot was not the surprise, it was the complete lack of coverage or attention it received from the country that made me raise my brows and then bring down my fist. 

The apathy of the people, the inability of the state government, lack of concern of the central government and the shocking uninterest of the media makes my bones itch. 

The Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi, is all too very well known in Assam for his vote bank politics. The illegal immigrants from Bangladesh receive a fresh start from Indian soil. Food, shelter, clothing and everything a native would receive is on the menu; for free. The game is simple; the Congress party wants to prove its sovereignty by extending its hand to the Bengali speaking Muslims.  

Out of the 4 states that border with Bangladesh, Assam has the highest number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. It’s also a fact that Tripura has more incidents of immigrant initiated crimes than Assam; and that the Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants caught in Meghalaya are sometimes sent to Assam. Meghalaya again is ruled by the congress party. One can actually say that Assam’s tolerance to these Bengali Speaking Muslims is a trade off for the congress and congress allies to prove their sovereign intentions. 

To make proposals of a farfetched theory, the acceptance of Muslims into Assam over a hostile communist state of Tripura could have got Mamta Banerjeethe the Muslim vote banks of West Bengal. 

Leaving that apart and focusing on the riot, It haunts me to see that the country is least bothered about what’s happening in Assam. The electronic media in specific is more interested in talking about The 13^th President’s first speech, Anna Hazare’s fast, Indian cricket team and god knows which product Samsung is going to release next. 

The Center Had not bothered to dispatch security forces to the riot affected areas till it was inevitable to turn its head from the fish curry on Pranab’s table. Over that, there are loathful people like Sharad pawar who want to throw threats of destabilizing the government for personal gains. Caught between such unruly allies, swinging knifes of economic slowdown and a blunt Obama and Co. hell bent on driving investors away from India, the central govt hardly has the time or priority to look at Assam.

This lack of action from the governments in deploying security was the sole reason for the elevation of the aggression. The innocent Bodo’s of Assam had to seek help in form of security from the Militants. This might sound drastic, but with no help from any govt body, they had to fend for themselves. Choosing a familiar Devil over an uncertain God is not a hard choice. The consequences of this would be a growth in public sympathy for the militants, Assam, or in general the north east of India has no shortage of militant groups looking for local support. Once with the help of local public if the militants succeed in getting control of the siliguri corridor, then we can kiss the shivalik Himalayas of India a final goodbye. This news however will not be made public, because most of the print and emedia is either on immigrant sympathy mode or politician loyalty mode. Who gives as damn to the people?

My dissatisfaction with the politicians doesn’t end there. I’m also angry at the opposition, when the opposition leaders can pass comments at magazine covers and openly criticize for deaths of pilgrims, then what makes then stay mum at the situation in Assam???

The Answer – BJP doesn’t have a chance of winning an election in the north east. Except for a few distant stars of hope, the north east has been impenetrable for the BJP. Making comments and forcing the government to act won’t win any votes in the congress/communist/regional party bound states of the north east. So the BJP decides to throw small pebbles at congress and not make a real effort at getting things done.

This episode of ethnic/communal or whatever you want to call riots between indigenous Bodos and the refugees is a disgraceful situation for the whole country. The truth about the ineffectiveness of the greed based political system, the powerlessness of the common man, the crooked vote bank politics, and the euphoric media that turns at shiny objects are all evidence of the apathy for the North East of India.  

Just what the separatists need. Proof of disownment.

Rich and The Responsible II

The idea of Rich and The Responsible basically started out to show that there is a difference between those who have money and those who are actually rich. The thought of being responsible towards ones actions or showing and sharing responsibility towards the society is what according to me makes people rich. 

The founding lines of this idea were taken from an extract of a memory from my home to office ride on a cool Wednesday morning. 

A hijada made me realise who the real responsible are.  As I reached in for my wallet I realised that they didn’t come asking for money every day. So I asked her, 

 

‘Don’t you come every day?’

Her answer struck me deep and hard. She said

‘If I come here every day, wouldn’t all your money be mine?’

It sounded like she was just reminding me of common sense. But her matter-of-fact made me think for a long time. I still think about it when I see rich people talking about investments to save tax, evading tax, hiding money and never stopping from making more and more money. 

There’s nothing wrong in making money, but there comes a question when it comes to making money by stopping others from doing the same. And that’s what Obama plans to do. 

In Rich and The ResponsibleI, I spoke about the bad rating of S&P and Moody’s on the Indian economy. The article took the example of the real estate bubble to question the credibility of the S&P’s ratings.

Picking it up from there, let’s look at the recent turn of events.

On June 11 2012, S&P issues warnings of downgrading the credit rating of India and makes comments on India’s leadership stating that India is run by a Powerful Sonia and an Appointed Prime Minister. The Rating agency goes further to make remarks on economic slowdown and a loss in GDP could be the consequence of a lack in policy making. 

Quite naturally this wasn’t accepted by the Indian Finance minister and he went out to say that the Indian economy is one of the most stable economies and growth related problems will be addressed soon. Sadly for him, the very days to follow showed that the Industrial growth had also taken a dip. 

To speak in favour of S&P; or so as to speak, there hasn’t been any improvement on Indian front. But, the World Bank did come public and say that the Indian Outlook is good. The report also said that India will be moving up to 6^th spot in the world’s biggest economies. 

Now here’s what I think is the reason for India going bad. Obama.

The US presidential elections are in this November. Obama clearly wants to remain president for another term and he can do that if he convinces his people of two things:

                       1.      Terrorism is kept at bay.

                       2.       There is enough money in the USA. 

He has made progress on the first point by taking care of osama. Coming to the second, there is practically no way of encouraging investor confidence at a time when there are trillions of dollars of debt on Uncle Sam’s head.

But he has to do it, he needs the people to believe that the Obama and the Democrats can provide jobs and save Americans from mounting debts.

What does Obama do? Is there a trump card? Another trillion of the World Bank’s money? Not really, at least not when the elections are so close.  Taking a loan is inevitable for America, but the longer he pushes it, better are the chances of gaining investors and his remaining in the white house.

What does he do?

He picks on an easy scapecountry. India.

Phase 1: S&P, Moody’s etc issue statements on India’s falling economy and downgrade India.

Phase 2: Rupee starts doing badly on Dollar and then starts doing badly on all Currencies. 

(I have doubts that the USA with allies started selling out the Rupee, and the sharp fall led other countries to do the same, resulting in a falling rupee)

Phase 3: USA issues oil import sanction enforcements on India along with other major oil importers.

Phase 3 evokes chaos in India and the leaders are biting each other’s backs.  

Phase 4: S&P downgrades India from stable to unstable and makes comments on policy making. The restricted FDI along with this comment makes foreign investors think low of India. 

Phase 5: US lifts sanction enforcements.

Phase5 is to show the people that India will comply to the will of USA. As a part of Phase 5 USA still keeps the enforcements over China to show that China’s no better than India and is well covered under their thumb.

In all this, Obama’s aim is to show the investors and the people of USA that USA has control over major parts of the world. The effects of this are:

  

 1. Investors opting out of India, China etc; with the euro zone is complete disarray they have but 1 option, USA. 

  

 

2.       People of USA gaining confidence in Obama and The Democrats.

As an effect, the economy of USA would see an upward trend. More money, jobs and happy people would pave way for Obama’s Second term as President. But what of India? China? Or the rest of the world? Will they crumple under Obama’s success? Or will they hold on to their reputation of “emerging” economies and emerge out of this clutter? If they do? What options does Obama have? Drop the curtains on his ploy and pull out the roofs of his people? Or apply for fresh loans? 

Can he control the monster he has created out of Uncle Sam to feed his greed of continued occupancy of the white house? Is it more personal than it looks? Or more importantly, does he even care?