Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Traffic jam toast!


India wins and we are out guzzling fossil fuels, in the absence of other fuels! ;)

On names

  
  
   
   
    
Before it is named, it exists. The task, therefore, is to see what all exists. Inside. Outside. And in between.

 
   
   
     
   

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Spice has what the Blackberry doesn't!

As makers of a business phone did they (Blackberry folks that is) ever not think of this one!? Projector in a phone!


I really have my doubts about this one since it's coming from Spice. I wish that the product quality is good. Whatever the case be, the communication has bagged the needed attention.

It seems to me they want to offer the facility of 'projecting' to one and all. However, I sense it would be more useful to guys who've got more to share pertaining to business.

Want to observe how this performs in the market. And does it help Spice, the brand, in general? Interesting innovation for sure!

Here's a game - logogame

Sachin is more fond of my b'day than I myself am ;). From where he dug this one out!

I used to celebrate a lot of my b'days until college time. And guess we played this game on one of the b'days when I was in college.

Try it. It's fun.


'Branding' theories seem hackneyed. But brands are fun. Brand managers seem to be spoiling it.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Time for closures

In the last few days I've cancelled 3 of my 4 mobile numbers. Instead of 3 odd handsets, I am down to one. I've also closed 3 bank accounts which were opened at various workplaces and which were lying idle.

I feel better.

Monday, March 21, 2011

The space between the 3 points

  • IMAGINATION

  • ARTICULATION






  • ACTION




These points represent an ideal sequence in the process of doing something great. The point is not just the points. The point is the space in between.

Strawberry Sister


A few days back, just as I was about to get into my car outside a shopping complex, a mother and daughter approached me out of nowhere.

Before I utter or make sense of anything the mother hands me a box of strawberries in a flash and says, "We want nothing. She (her daughter) saw you and felt like you are a brotherly figure for her. We want nothing. Just keep this. We are starting a new business and we want you to keep this."

That word and her forcefulness primed me. It just triggered an emotional response to induce a rather strange and rapid buy! The location - parking lot - helped in hurrying through the transaction as well!

Vodafone's lies

They say Happy to Help. And out of the four customer service desks, two of these stay empty every time. And I realize that they keep me waiting at least half an hour everytime.

I had applied for a change from 'postpaid' to 'prepaid' for a particular number more than a month back and nothing has happened so far. In fact, I receive another bill for not using the number at all!

And this is the last fiasco! They release an ad for free 3G service. I do the needful and it is almost a week and nothing has happened!

Happy to help, I can help you Vodafone!


Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Standing while working

I've ended that experiment for now. My shoulders started paining. I realized, something's still not sorted.

I think it's the position of my neck when I try to look at the laptop screen. That doesn't seem right. I can sense that if my neck doesn't have to bend at all and the screen is right in front, my 'standing while working' experiment might bear fruit.

I tried searching for a computer system with a laptop-like keyboard but couldn't find one. I searched for a laptop with detachable screen and found that Lenovo has just launched one. But the thing is that the screen becomes a tablet once detached; I presume then that the keyboard gets inactive. What I simply want is a laptop like key-board with a screen that can be placed/hung on the wall to keep my neck straight while 'working while standing'. :)

Just before the search, I thought it could be an opportunity to launch such a product - keyboard of a laptop with a detached screen. Like always I was presumptuous at the start. I realized that such products have been talked about ever since 2005. I also found that there are some technical issues; such an arrangement adversely affects the power output and the size might get bigger!

Anyway, am waiting for this product to resume my experiment ;).

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Aeroplane Basmati Rice


:) Try making sense of juxtaposing a name like Aeroplane with a category like Basmati Rice and with a picture of a woman gesturing the onlooker to keep quiet!

Experiment with 'standing while working'


Have so very often felt that sitting is not a great posture while working. Guess it increases the waistline and makes one soporific and dulls the senses.

Earlier once, when I was in a job, I had asked for a 'standing desk' at office. But office being office, people fail to experiment with the smallest of things.

Today after checking out a couple of furniture stores, I realized I would have to make do on my own. So here's the arrangement :).

Monday, March 14, 2011

Naming ki batti lagao, aise!


A new shop that opened nearby. You can see the name in big. Just in case it isn't clear, below that are the words in red, Gold Jewellery!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Tsunami perspectives


Was curious to see more videos of the Tsunami. Here's what I found on the homepage of youtube!

What do I do about Japan's Tsunami?

I wake up at 4:10 in the morning and write this.

Tsunami isn't nature's fury.

Nature is inert and Earth is a chemical mixture. Human beings seem to have played around with this mixture to an extent that the composition has changed and the imbalance is now playing out; the mixture is far more volatile.

Some other time, eons back, there was a change in the mixture and chemical compounds shaped in a manner that it gave rise to consciousness. On the scale of time counted in billions of years, the effect of that change in the mixture, which gave rise to consciousness, is being felt now by that very consciousness.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Egg on the window pane


That's what I found this afternoon when I came back to my desk after some work. Seems like the female-pigeon was in a hurry and didn't find her nest!

After a while, again when I was away from my desk, the vanishing act happened. The egg disappeared!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Thesis Binding Specialist


Observe the picture carefully. Got that? Kansara Bindery. The Thesis Binding Specialist. It's a rare occasion to find a Bindery. And a shop which proclaims specialization in thesis binding.

And their website?


Just think about the choice of positioning and the words applied to reinforce that positioning. Thesis? The culmination of long hard research, always considered precious work and meant to be preserved for long. PhD? Similar in spirit to Thesis.

Didn't capture the interiors of the shop but they were as neat as you can think of.

Find this shop at Chinubhai Towers, Ashram Road.

Beauty Spotting


My leisure walk in our neighborhood coincided with the leisure time of this peacock :). Spotted at Nehru Foundation for Development.

Friday, March 4, 2011

What is a logo?

If I have to go by whatever I'm observing in my interactions with different people, it is just a visual object. Just a symbol that you like and therefore try to attach it to yourself or to the brand name or to some other object like a building.

How would it be if it is seen as a representation of all that you stand for?

How can this idea 'representation of all that you stand for' be made explainable to the kind of entrepreneurs that I am interacting with? In fact addressing this question is a bigger idea than the idea 'representation of all that you stand for'. Isn't it? Why do you think, if you've got the idea, they haven't got it yet!