flux

If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is present, does it make a sound?
I was flipping through my old books on advertising and i found the above line underlined in pencil. I must have liked it pretty well to have done so.

I sometimes wonder how people can write such philosophical lines which make you actually pause for a while and think, and make dumb people like me go - wow, solid man!

I wonder a lot actually.
It would have been a compliment, if it was said in a more positive way. Some great thinker once said - all philosophy begins with wonder.

The other thing i wondered about a few days back is how people like Richard Branson could be foolish enough to go on a balloon ride risking such precious life... but again, i got the answer after a pauseful think, to satisfy my own wonderings.... which i found on the title of his book - Screw it, Just Do it! , and my dumb mind said - that's why he went up on the balloon.

Those are big things i wonder about...but the small mind as i have, sometimes wonder about the smallest things...

food:
why do tasty food make us fat? or is it tasty becasue it makes us fat? or more probingly, why don't we like being fat? isn't it just the social norm to be slim and trim? why is the social norm like that? is it because it's more healthy to be slim and healthy? then why do people make tasty food that make us fat? shouldn't it be banned?
like movies which are not shown publicly
or books which corrupt the mind
or political opinions that are too leftist?

Give up at this point. you can continue if you like... it's just the question upon question. wondering over wondering.

Vegetables:
one of my friends term those people who don't stop-by-to-think as 'veggies' - which precisely remind me of bringles - you can think of any vegetable u like, i think of bringles because it's not my favorite food item... ... and i wonder whether it's justified to call these people who don't think on common sense issues as veggies - because you never know - maybe vegetables do think!!

Give up at this point, you can continue if you like ... but it's absurd... it's so absurd that i feel like deleting the whole thing so as not to embarass myself.

Oranges:
the other thing i wonder about are oranges.. and why there are not enough of those in the world.

Now "world" here refers to only 'my' world...
who cares about ROW anyways... ?? it's just for CNN or BBC ... or, say those whose business is directly affected by happenings in ROW - like maybe international marketers or manufacturers...
small people like me, have my own world.
Ya, so why not more oranges? i only think of oranges because i like oranges.
i so much like it, that i even wrote a piece on it - it's a different matter that the whole point i was trying to drive home had nothing to do with oranges... and i so much used oranges in driving home the point, that at the end, the only thing people remembered about the piece i wrote was oranges.
ya, so why not more oranges in the world? it's oranges for me but think of anything you like or want? it's always less of it - time, for instance and good company or for some, more money... peace of mind... or for the miss universe kind - world peace!... whatever,
you like it? you don't have enough of it. Or, do you like it because there's not enough of it? Wouldn't you like it if you had enough of it?

Give up at this point... you can continue if you like... and so on and so forth....


By this point in time, i must have sufficiently suceeded in convincing you the kind of mood i am in today - in a flux!
point conveyed. you can continue if you like...but there's nothing more to convey further than this. Goodnight.

! express urself ! type it out

the terms and conditions change...
it matters whether your fren has an exclusive folder in your name in the mailbox...
everytime my mobile set falls on his hand he checks what's the name i have on his number...
whose snap do you keep on your desktop...?
which colors do you use on the background... or which fonts do you use mostly...?
which sites do you visit most and how oftern do you go to them... do you surf from one site to other more oftern or are you the stagnant type to a few sites?
what are your behavioural patterns of using the keyboard while typing a piece? do you look at the keyboard? how oftern do you go to the backspace key... can you type the number on the second row without any mistakes?
how often do you go through a piece once you've typed it out?
do you read all the fwds: ? where do all the fwds: go once u've read or not-read them - personal folder or the trash...?

All the answers to these could say who is important in your life... and find your psychographics...
your behavioral patterns and how your mind is made up...
hmm.... i don't know where i am headed to .... or where i am coming from.... i just know -- that i am on the right track...

con-versations

table talks to chair all day... where is the sitter gone?
has he disappeared inside the cupboard while taking out the morning cups...
did he get lost in his wardrobe when deciding on clothes?

the jeans asks the zipper open
why you getting all rusty
where are those legs gone...
in some cotton suit?
has the tie stole them ?....
or a shiny black leather boot?

floyd asks morrison in awe....
where are the wires to connect me...
to the world a wide... and stations abound
morrision replies dazed as dumb...
some new headbanger... borrowed them...
for a while he said... until i saw his poster there...
where used to be mine...

-sucky poets number: do sho gyara

the customer is the queen!

I walked into a sweet store today – bright and nice – and I observed.

----- the shining white marble floor being constantly mopped-to-shine by an elderly looking gentlemen.. Bright lights all over – it hit the eyes so bright you couldn't make out wherefrom the lights are being thrown at you. Beautiful cakes of a variety of sweets – symmetrically arranged in their own stacks – apart from the bland square, round and the rectangle, I find the cylindrical, the diamond shaped, the apple shaped and the multi-colored more interesting. I find the usual pyramids of yellow and white shorter today, some popular ones finished to their last few pieces.

I go to the longest counter in front of me. The bespectacled look of the pot bellied gentlemen behind it makes me feel uneasy – he doesn't look like a typical salesperson – cheerful and welcoming. His appearance gave me an impression of an accountant – thick glasses on his nose – difficult-to-smile thick lips –like the one who would constantly pore over dull, dry numbers all day and bingo! be happy to find the unbalanced figure of five rupees twenty-five paisa amongst the pages and pages of printed data.

Anyways, I estimate my pieces of gulab jamun and barfi cubes to mutter out over the counter. Six gulab jamus, six pieces of kaju barfis and six buniya laddus I say pointing at the bright yellow balls with little white skirts. Haan he nods with a hindi whisper, and packs off for the lady before me – aur kya rakhu medam – his hand half way up in the air to take the single brown note the lady is offering. I repeat my order again - Six gulab jamus, six kaju barfis – missing out the buniyas purposefully – Dad reminded me to get as little mithais as possible – I like swiss rolls and some fruitcake maybe – not much mithai – he'd said. I wait as the literal gentle man, slowly and unwillingly pick a small branded box of his - while I get impatient. I feel him lulling over something.

One more customer hustle bustles in with her bored-by-shopping hubby, which I could see from the look on his face and more prominently the heavy white polythene bags slung on both hands. Two kilos please, I would order the variety, and you pack please, she orders in English as she surfs the well lit display. The lousy old man keep down the small box he'd opened for me and is energized to fill a kilo in each of his large boxes.

I throw both my hands in air with disgust and walk out of the place.

Two buildings down, I walk in another sweet shop, order my stuff, have it packed nicely and come back home satisfied – with the extra buniyas I had dropped off the list. But I'd never go to the brightly lit irritating store again which had gained my trust and confidence on my last visit. I'd stop few of my friends from going there. And I'd not order a few kilos if I wanted it some day. Rather, I'd walk to a smaller store two buildings down.

This made me reflect back to my marketing lecture days. And I conclude how true it was that we studied - it's the attitude and the warmth that differentiates and not the product you sell or how big your store is. It’s because I can get the chef, and I can get the right ingredients – to make the best buniyas in town - it's copycat-able ----- but just think – if I swagger to you as a customer each time I pass a buniya ball over the counter – how many of you would come back to me again?

This is what they teach us at B-schools and they teach us right. Customer is the Queen! If you walk into big names like Wal-Mart and Mc-Donald's they say, every customer counts – because you never know!

At last, it is not a good laddu, not a good chef, not bright white lights, not the colorful display, not the free welcome drink that brings in the customer – it's her state of mind when she leaves the store that brings her foot naturally back to your door to get that feeling with the product again – mind you, not the product – but the state of mind – the perception – and the feeling, is what gets the customer back. If she has that satisfied curve on her face when she walks out your door, go home my friend and sleep tonight – she's will come back again!

The question each salespeople need to ask themselves before the customer walks out that door of his - with or without a purchase is – will she come back again? Will she refer me or my product to one more friend? Because it all makes sense - and a very relevant business sense - it would not just reduce your cost line in saving money to reach new customers, it would definitely add value to your Brand and ultimately hit the more critical revenue numbers.

Note: I have used a she throughout this write up to refer to the Customer – as from a recent survey I read in one of the papers, more and more of the wallet share is moving to the gentler and the more emotional hand. In this new scenario, I strongly believe that we need to touch the feeling, the minds and the softer side of the customer sentiment ever more so often and more deeply than we have ever done before - because whatever preaching we give of new fundas in marketing, the base reality remains - - - the Customer is the Queen!

eyecandyVSblackteeth

i have a guest writer tonight.... i present ..............

when the dust settles, when the noise ends, when everything comes to an end for a new beginning, as everyday we go into the past, when it's perfectly useless to theorise about the future, arises the hero of the dark light, to brighten your teeth.

interlinked bullets

• My mind is in a state of flux with all the day's happenings flashing in front of me in micro seconds of thought - a slideshow as if being checked before the final presentation - phat...phat...phat...
• no rain.............
• started my day off with recalling yesterday's dialogues:
• what keeps a person going?
• what is that you seek in life? asked a friend of mine
  
• He gave me some time to think
  
• - happiness - i said in a monologue.
• then thought process on it:
• I have been thinking a lot of this question with a slight philosophical tilt...
• a little psychological tilt and a slight practical inclination too...
• and it does boil down to happiness and peace of mind basically ...
• no rain.......
• went through today's paper (out of: habit, interest and to avoid sense of miniscule guilt if i miss a major article or newspiece)
• There was an article on Spinoza and i was wondering what is this ancient guy doing on today's paper? But it was nice reading that his revolutionary thoughts are as new as they were when he first propounded them.
• put it aside and ...
• went to my old college notes to refer to some old numerical problems i may have done.
• Sums... and doodling went together then... dialogues exchanged between rows of seat under the unassuming eyes of the madam, neatly drawn landscapes, portraits, song lyrics, party plans...
  
• I look at the half scribbled financial problems and stare at the neatly printed balance sheets on pinkish pages of ET... would i have done something different so that i could have taken in more of the BS today?
  
• hmmm.....(thought)
• nay... i took in what i cud... i am taking in what i can... and i would what i can tomorrow...
• it's all boils down to happiness and peace of mind ... nah??
• drowsy...
  
• phone calls... traffic... phone calls...
  
• computer... phone calls.... laughter... drowsy... conversation.... drowsy... notes...
• calculations...drowsy... computer....phone call....
• Lunch time!!
• caught up with nidhi .... talk...talk ...talk... (i don't talk so much as i repeat those words here)
• nidhi is fine... she's enjoying... it's nice meeting her up after some long time... made few plans for weekend... nothing fixed...date, time..venue...plan....
  
• we have a superstition - A plan always fails... it's bad..
  
• but it does .... and it's proved us everytime...
• rush back... conversations... computer..phone calls...
  
• repeat....
• met up with frens for coffee... but we had coke... coke is universal... coffee is vague... brand!!
• drizzling rain....
• share with dad...share with mom... conversations
• nice day? nice day. what happened?
  
• blah..blah...blah...
• oh!!
• sneha calls up... chat...
• call up soni ... chat...
• i don't chat so much as it appears in here...
• full stop.
  
• m tired of remembering wot i did today. But it's said it's nice remembering a day's happenings sequentially... gud for memory power re....let's c if i can b a lil more specific with fresh grey cells tomoro....
  
• we shed so much skin that we are a totally new physical being in a year's time re... dat's what i hear!