Long long ago, i had read an article in a sunday supplement of a leading english daily about an impending ufo sighting; a specific day in the coming week with time, to be precise.It was in the pre-liberalisation days, let me assure you people in those days took the newspaper as the gospel.Needless to say, the said article and its astonishing exploits about this encounter of a third kind proclamation was enough to create a flutter in the vast readership.The anxiety laden week started with frantic enquiries and possibly mass procurement of over the counter night sky watching nick-knacks.At last this once-in-a-life-time moment of truth was upon us.i distinctly remember bending twice over the balcony grills, over the terrace parapet and scurrying down to the enclosed playground nearby to get at least a fleeting glimpse of the visitors from far.The night passed,no sighting, not a flicker, absolutely no dancing of lights as promised.A depressing and did-i-miss-it? syndrome ridden week later, it appeared in a corner article as an answer.The newpaper had a good laugh at the cost of its readers.i was a miniscule speck they needn't have bothered laughing at.The date! they poetically pointed out.You could have guessed it from the obvious choice of date it was published.First of April!No offence but just thought it would be a good occasion to whip up a solid laughing spree in case the idea caught on.It did.
Later i found myself shaking my head at the foolishness of believing such an incredible idea of visiting spaceships,my juvenile age bracket at that point of time notwithstanding.But now for the last few years, i am equally appalled at the serious tone with which the channel, 'discovery' and its clones, air the alien propaganda. They have these fat farmers from Australia or Virginia who rant on camera as to how they lost their favorite cow to the aliens with huge sucking machines. Why only cows? Why not rabbits? The aliens have a very limited choice it seems.i doubt there was ever a missing persons complaint filed for a fat farmer sucked up by the aliens. For all the crazy stories you may have heard about dancing lights in the sky and thin green men, no hard evidence is present to sustantiate the claims.'i saw them there' is the usual one liner you would hear from a retired army officer or some bored housewife making their time to time appearance on television;read discovery,our own aaj tak ect ect. While i have no doubt the former channel is a respected one with a huge fan following the world over and the latter is a desi top of the heap hindi news channel, they simply cannot peddle these insane stories in the name of enmassing viewership.Like a lot of things unproven, undetected inspite of the latest advances in science, things like the ufo phenomenon too continue to take popular imagination by storm in the face of an all believing, all lapping, ignorant, rumour happy population.A historical reference too is found in the engravings it seems. Yet no body ever remotely claims to have made any direct contact or even reported a conflict with these so called visitors from far.Only stories are told by a stray attention monger and filed by unscrupulous agencies.i hear a collective laughter whenever these episodes are aired or printed, the joke is again on us,me.

INDIA FORUM

Apni chatri tum ko de dein,

kabhi jo barse pani,

Aur kabhi naye packet mein Bechein

Tumko cheez purani.

These tacky lines are from a SRK starrer called 'PHIR BHI DIL HAI HINDUSTANI'. The now- noble -now -shady situational cartwheeling capacity of us Indians is highlighted here. We the people, Nandan Nilakani's people of idea of India, prof Amartya Sen's, argumentive Indian, Nehru's people who had a tryst with destiny are truly unique. Colourful,simple,vibrant,copious,greedy,helpful,brainy,jesty and enterprising. Its not easy to describe us in mere words. The tumulous world market has gone crazy trying to stay afloat on a wobbling plank supported by the trio of dollar, euro and pound. But the rupee keeps us merrily sailing, the world be damned.The soul of Indian economy is the enterpreneur in India, be it the wealthy old fashioned business men viz the Tatas, Birlas or Ambanis, the educated, sophisticated Murthys,Bhatias or plain instictive Biyanis and Premjis. At every stage of the post independence era this very model of business has taken the country forward to the new millenium with heads held high.Ours may not be the fast food variety of the west which only thinks big and bigger, its rather the slow cooked nourishing meal, which keeps good warm company in cold, bad times.The collective strength of our young and middle aged citizens is a very very poweful force to be ignored. We have a long way to go and the difficult times will only test the true mettle of the famed Indian entrepreneur. A lot of new ideas are floating around as to how we shall eventually reach the top slot at the world stage. A top nation with a very sound economic health isn't really that distant a dream any longer. In fact we can all see it in our lifetimes, the developed and poweful India. However some of the persistent problems must go by then, like the lacklustre governence we see all the time, plus the amount of corruption eating into every strata of society. A very bright talent pool like this is good news, whereas the evident regressive approach of the power-brokers is sad news.Let's all take a joint initiative to spell out our minds towards all the possible ways we can tackle the problems ie find the best solutions for future course of action.Thus we exchange ideas and listen to each other and perhaps give the government a good picture of what's in store for non compliance of the very demand of the people.A huge sounding board like, say an online public forum with the active participation of the ruling government seems like nice idea. All students,teachers,traders, proffessionals,experts,scientists,public servants ect can voice their opinion or suggestion in this forum and possibly elicit a suitable response from the government or the responsible agency in response to the big picture. It need not be a one way traffic, people can appeal to the general public, answer queries or perhaps start a separate debate. Such a site will definetly handle a lot of traffic and may place some moderators;self appointed or through a selection process to avoid repatation and malintention. This hopefuly would throw up myriad viewpoints and ideas towards a well governed and better behaved country. Some obvious clauses would be no joint demand,no involvement of\by the armed forces,no nuclear policy related issues,no raising issues pending in the courts and no appeals towards certain foreign policies.Some areas are best left to the efficient ministries of the centre.We can chat through to the new world order! Happy blogging.

If you are reading this,chances are you have heard of Joyece Meyer.Yes the Margaret Thacher look alike of Bible discourses you often see on television.What about her?Well, firstly have you noticed the kind of following she has? And not to mention an enormous bank a\c to go along.So what??? That's the point.Joyece Meyer and her poor country cousins in say, India, going by peculiar names such as Swami Shivananda,Sri Sri Chidananda,Sadhvi Sampada or some such are too overwhleming and omnipresent these days.Come rain,drought,earthquake,terrorist attacks, these people never seem to have a dearth of followers and media coverage.You may be facing a terrible recession.Not these smiling motormouths.They seem to have no clue about the world at large as their houseful sessions seem to imply. Ever wondered how to manage the time which always runs short? Just take a cue from millions of 'live' audiences you see transfixed at these daily sessions in every corner of the world.No wonder productivity is so low in most countries, and we only blame our own 'babudom'.Nothing just stops these agents of faith,they keep repeating the same stuff in different ways.Quoting from ancient works of pure fiction(read Bible,Gita,Quran ect ect), the master storytellers keep the masses engaged for hours on end year after year.So why do people have such deep respect and yearn for more from these people?Cleverly enough, the answer is given by religion itself(Hinduism);Don't do anything,just listen to religious talk(pravachan in Hindi),and you will be salvaged! Whoa! that sounds easy.No wonder man never learnt anything from his past,least from discourses.Listen to babbling men and women in Armani suits or saffron garbs as per your choice and your sins(there is supposed to an account of your wrongdoings...snigger...snigger) get washed.Simple.Religion indeed is profitable.A regular guy would break his back to buy a car,while his Guru, globe trots in private jets.How can a 'godman' be a common man?Lets examine the premise that allows such short-sightedness.Nearly all faiths have one thing in common,agents who worship and then converse with men about 'god'.The believers see them as powerful sources of positive energies and profound wisdom,which needs to be tapped as prescribed by the scriptures,(just wish they followed traffic rules so closely as well).Anybody with some intelligence and oratory skills can con all the people all the time because if life is good,then they flock to express gratitude,if it gets worse, then they come to find answers as to why it is so!Hence there will be no dearth ever of these phony characters;cause the muderer and the noble all pray to the same entity.Religious leaders hoodwinking the masses need serious compitition which they haven't yet faced anywhere.Today i propose non-religious leaders in the society to counter them.Sounds absurd?What the heck!Who cares anyways?Lets have an army of educated men and women instilling rational thinking amongst the masses especially younger generation.Notice how the opposite of religious minded has been termed as rational minded?Mind you,you are a sensible, logical, truth finder if you are rational.More of such people will not harm the society and mankind, after seeing what religion has brought on us;two thousand years of endless miseries.Religious crossfiring may even wipe off half the human race if the prediction of a world renowned historian comes true.Enough is enough was the sentiment of Mumbaikars after the terror attacks.Enough is enough indeed to propaganda oozing out of thick dusty volumes called 'scriptures' written centuries ago!Lets set on a mission and spread some sense,while speaking about nature,about life,about universe and this great mankind which seriously has nothing to with an oddly described supernatural force.One might ask for sufficient material to bank upon for endless talks.For starters i suggest we take the works of Douglas Adams,Richard Dawkins,Charles Darwin,Stephen Hawkins ect ect.They are not obscure shadows in history who have penned a few classics which became distorted with time and wars were raged in their name.These are real flesh and blood men who wrote by observing nature,and sometimes a deep rooted disgust for ignorance.All men,women and children need to know the real world and what's next.Stupid religious talks only imlpore imaginary entities,fairies,angels,demons and fictionary accounts called pap and punya as well.Down with such blunt ideas,we need some substance and clear thoughts pronto.About time too. Amen.
PS.No offence meant to anybody at all.All ideas are acceptable and we are entitled to think and act freely in this world.

A good restaurant doesn't not loose its customers,it gets rid of bad dishes from the menu.Sounds good?Yes we frequent some places 'cause of its hit mouthwatering offerings and consistent flavours.And service.i overhead someone recommending the dal makhni at Moti Mahal to his friends.All of us do such a thing some time or the other.A typical low brow socialite would always make it a point to tell the manager at a given place, what is best about x place.The fact is that we all are accustomed to like what is highly agreeable to our palates instead of what is actually good food.Simply put, one man's food is another man's poison.But this done to death cliche' is not the point of contention here,it actually is this;A true story- In a relatively uncluttered place around Mumbai, a small restaurant( A) opens with a mughlai-chinese-punjabi menu on offer.Some dishes are exellent here some are so-so as the case is more often than not(i personally relished the nalli roganjosh).But it enjoyed huge patronage which came with its monopoly status for lack of competition in the vicinity.Now the real test of its strength was to keep and also grow customer base, and was too easy a job too.What then happened was, a long considered to be jinxed place right next to it was taken over from the previous owner by an optimistic entrepreneur.This new place B right opposite to our A started serving a mughlai-chinese-punjabi menu with some really interesting varieties in its Indian bread section.Within a month place B had captured one fourth of the customers of A.By the second month, a notable buzz every night outside B suggested that they were neck to neck with A now.And an even healthy sign for B was the drooping body language of A place's partners ,whilst all those associated with B looked content and at ease(i stay really close to both places).It is easy for any body to get a market share with some differentiation in product,or even without that.But capturing half the leaders business with such ease within no time is something else.i know what it is.Its called service.Place A ,having found unprecedented success, easily fell into the 'customers need us and not vice versa' trap.They were arrogant in their dealings, careless in attitude and almost never paid attention to detail.(i always got my food spicy after repeatedly requesting for non spicy food over phone).These blunders cost them a huge slice of cake.In contrast,place B from the onset worked to a plan and made every single customer their focus by listening to them and providing promt service.One one occasion it was noticed that an order was cancelled after serving(a rarity amongst small scale stand -alone joints), just because the customer said 'it's not what i thought it would be', period.Such is their devotion that a person waiting for 10 minutes for something is informed politely about the dish getting ready, again something that was missing in A.So the moral of the story is that however good you are, the future will not hold true unless the present set of clients are not touched by your product and service.They form your base clients, your set up for a precious word of mouth publicity.Needless to add,i had switched loyalties to B soon after they opened for this cold approach of A.

TMPT reopened and so did TRIDENT on the same day last sunday,admist much fanfare and media-glare.They put it all together behind them in their zeal to prove that nothing can be a deterrent to a brave force of human spirit.Rightly so.What is more important now having bounced back from a tumulous period is that, a round the clock vigil is maintained and supported at all nooks and corners.So that would mean places other than the ones that we see as important and vulnerable.Any place is a life threatning place!The vigil is for us to maintain and sustain.This is long term and systematic change in the way we think,live,work and choose to die!Yes death is inevitable, and so is a calamity,but what's in our hands is the fraction of a chance to rewrite something which may be already being written now,at present.We, the people have been perhaps shoved into a strata of murky,uncertain,fear filled and suspicion ridden living forever.And the only way forward is to light up your own pair of eyes and sharpen your hearing skills and heighten your senses,just so that you grow old with a fruitful past behind you instead of being on a casualty list of a BMC hospital.A pair of guys just did that,listened to their heightened sense of survival and dodged bullets by pretending to drop dead.They say human sense works on many levels,some of which are usually not experienced by most of us during lifetime.The function of a brain is much more than thinking rapidly about a lot of things simultaneously.It also is programmed to NOT THINK about too many things, and as vouched by many disaster victims, actually slows down abysmally to think like a housefly which sees human movements in slow motion all the time(so you found the answer to why these pesky flies are so fast on the move).A good mind will act to survive and rescue,instead of zigzaging towards his death.This kind of situation will bring about minute changes and adaptibility amongst us.And once again the survival of the fittest adage will be proven right.

Amuse marketing.Yeah i know its 'ambush' instead, but can't help but feel a little,just a little amused at the audacity of some guy who ran the marketing strategy for Amir's Ghajini(what the heck is Ghajini?).Its common knowledge by now, they made all the staff at a suburban theater wear the special Ghajini haircut during the premier show of SRK's RNBDJ.Poor SRK!must have been caught unawares this time, after carefully planning slick marketing for all his releases for so many years.Ser ko sawa ser!The demunitive Amir's got some cheek, must say.The bloke's been trying hard to box a punch at his biggest rival for quite sometime now.Imagine your neighbour naming his dog after you, and coolly passes it off as NOT INTENTIONAL.lol.On the other hand SRK hasn't let his guard down and never indulged in any mudslinging to get even.And when finally confronted by journos on his take bout the marketing blizzard by AMIR and gang, its vintage king Khan;I am glad that Amir uses my brand to promote his movie.But i myself can't do so because i am the biggest brand, no brand is bigger than me!Well said and well deserved for Amir.RNBDJ by the way is raking in the moolah, having grossed 60 crores while i write this blog...good on Yash Raj too.Live well, play well, entertain well Mr Khan...six packwallah ie.

Down.Down.Down.Tough times indeed for the hospitality business.The uppity high flyers club(read flight attendants)couldn't have a more damming period of suspense.The headlines are the new flight details....read them to know if are flying tommorow or not.Not too bad yet with the giants of hotel business, the tiny fish have started to chop of the flab though.Its now the real test of market leadership,would the loyal customer still be with your brand?Or would the customer showing no particular preference get netted by your sharp team?A few hand picked strategists from each business unit will brainstorm to counter the effects and after effects of the down- the -drain economic scenario.It requires acumen to build a business.And it requires plain common sense to retain it.The best served guest is the one who didn't had to ask for anything.And the long term winner in this pie grabbing business will be the one brand that delivered the maximum with the minimum of fuss.