Again....

A slumber did she slip into
They wrenched her soul apart,
Scream’d aloud, she saw the cloud
She fumbled in the dark.

They saw her there, they didn’t come
Reaching out a palm,
She picked her up she straightened out
Never to be torn apart.

The light that was, stared at her face
She blinked a dreamy lash,
She saw that smile, she cared no more
She’d make another start

Advertising brings them to the bank, maybe they’ll stick a finger in too; but they’ll dive in only if they’re sure that the water’s nice n deep.

[post on a concept I had found interesting long back (read at ur own peril :D )]

As someone once said, “….Behaviour is controlled by the consequences of behaviour itself”.

This is the 1^st brick in the foundation of the concept ‘Operant Conditioning’, also known as ‘Instrumental Learning’. A concept that the classic ‘A Clockwork Orange’ is based on, its implementation on intended subjects, is vested on the crucial aspects of role and timing of the reinforcements on them. You must see the film to really get this!

The process, unlike that in Conditional Learning, induces voluntary behaviour in the desired direction, and subjects make necessary changes, and quite willingly so, in their environment to incorporate the same.

Revolutionary work of Edward Thorndike and B.F. Skinner, both American psychologists, unveiled the possibility of inducing voluntary behavior transitions of intended beings (human & animals alike) in a specific direction. The concept was transfused into the core of advertising, by Gerald J. Gorn. Persuade them; make them choose you amongst a host of competing alternatives, unaware of the directing wheel that you turn. However, advertising cannot sustain you: ‘coz, behaviour when followed by positive experience is typically reinforced, whereas behaviour when followed by negative outcomes are quit.

Advertising can just make them try…..keeping them locked in is a task bred deeper still.

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'."

Came across this saying by Groucho Marx, and I so loved it. It got me wondering, do I have any such friend? And then I found 2 names….almost instantly and I knew they fit.
[Well, I left my parents out of this, ‘coz, well they’d do anything to keep the evil away from me, 'coz they are the best parents in the whole world]
The 1^st one’s bhai, my little brother, who’s my best pal. He has stuck to me through all thick n thin. He’s taken care of me, pampered me, loved me so, and he’s always been there for me – to listen to me, help me, advise me. He's the best!
The 2^nd one is Banani, my childhood pal. We went to school together for 11 years (KG to X) and she was just awesome. We weren’t friends from the 1^st day…..somehow it grew into us with time. I realized that I simply loved her, after my board exams got over. I started missing seeing her pretty face every morning, when I knew school was over and now she was so far away. We studied in different schools after that, but I loved her and she loved me too. Now, 13 years after we grew out of school, I still miss her, and I so love it when we talk over the phone and feel it that she still loves me so much.
You know what’s the most amazing thing about both these friends of mine? They love me, they’d do anything for me, and they are so cool about it. They never say 'love us back'! They don’t demand anything from me in return for the undying love that they have for me. And most of the times they don’t even say it…..I just see it in their eyes, their voice, the little notes that they send me in email, orkut, and on my birthdays and special occasions like bhai-phota. I love them so much!

Unusually long-drawn Haikus .... :p

I am barely awake now. It’s 4 in the morning; my eyelids yearn to touch each other. This reminds me of a particular Tom n Jerry cartoon that I had seen ages back.

I so want to write. Life is a big piece of jig-saw puzzle right now; thesis – likewise!

I feel like I am frantically chasing fragments of a dream I had. Like all of my dreams it was big, beautiful, and bold (in the sense it was too hard to be true). An amazing story that I so loved then and so fear to let go now.

So here in dark of the night, I am scribbling something which closely resembles haiku; but believe me…..I am actually trying to gather my thoughts together before they shatter in the morning light. Slowly but for sure, the tide brought in by the sun rays will wash away the remnants of my memory.

It makes me a little sad and frustrated to lose the grip I had on this story. What am I writing? Somehow I want to get transported back through time. This time I’ll make sure I am not lost but placed in a spot where I will eventually come to feel my dreams.

I always did that…before now. How did I misplace it this time? I couldn't tell you how I got here. Well….frankly, I am not exactly sure why. I just know that it has something to do with trying to forget the existence of a few souls who lost their lives that day.

Well…..this is a bunch of crrazzyyy haikus! Kudos!!

Dorm 2 - decked up on Diwali 2009

This year, we decked up D2 with a theme: 'Save the Animals'. It was awesome! The girls did a beautiful job making Rangolis that didn't look like the usual ones....they were sweet animals that looked cute in colors. I just loved it! Will miss this from next year :)

A “Dear Diary” Moment

I try not to spend too much time thinking about the past. But, being a Libran, that’s almost impossible for me; and to top that, I am sentimental and nostalgic. I love to flip by old photos and flash back. But I believe that I will make the best of what I have. And believe me, it works…..’coz I believe it will.

Two days back, I turned 30. My best friends aren’t on campus, and I’m miles away from my family. So, I expected a lousy birthday that would not sparkle if I didn’t add the spark. Moreover, I am a senior doctoral student on campus, have been out of campus throughout later2008 and almost entire 2009, so don’t know many of my current dorm-mates. Most of my fellow doc students are either at home celebrating Diwali, or aren’t around. My PGP batch-mates (who actually form the bulk of IIMA) are no longer on campus, except Vibro, who I haven’t seen since ages. So….. a lousy, dead birthday was inevitable. “Naah!” I could let that happen. Birthday is my happy day :) so, I’d have to grab reins, and make a day of it.

At 23:45 on the 15^th, I picked up the one streamer I had and hung it on one side of my room. I was set with the décor ;). But, I didn’t have a cake, or even a chocolate bar, n CT isn’t keeping chocolates anymore. “Okay”, I said to myself; a cake isn’t always necessary. I would have to make sure that I had an awesome b’day. Decided to catch the Ahmedabad Heritage Walk at 8:00. called up Ma and asked her to wake me up at 6:00. then DK came over wished me at 00:00 J, I got a zillion calls too. Bhai, parents, friends, they wished me :). It wasn’t going bad at all. So what if I didn’t have a cake. That’s how probably it would be post 30 :)

Slept late, woke up late, so missed the walk. Rrgghhhhh!! Well, what now? I decided to make this day meaningful, wanted to find a place where people needed love and happiness. I’d spend my day with them, I thought. Looked up the web for an orphanage or old home, where I could share my happiness, at least for a day. It was Diwali, on the 17^th, would be great if I could get them some happy sweets, chocolates, and goodies. Couldn’t get enough info, so called up one of my seniors, Bhammo. He suggested some places and I loved the concept managed by Sulekha. But children were on their Diwali break and I could only catch them 10 days later. Hmm…..so? It was way past noon, and the day hadn’t picked up still.

Then I got a call, from some of my colleagues, and they had planned something at 17:30. They also wanted a little party in the evening. Ok! I reached the old FPM LAN on time, and there was my 1^st b’day cake. It was my favourite upside-down fruit cake. I was happy. We had so much fun! They had also arranged for a small round of snacks. There were veg puffs, which I usually don’t like, but believe me I loved them at that time. I slurped it up and it was absolutely delicious.

In the evening we went to Cellad eatery….an awesome salad bar. We had absolute fun, and the food was yummy! When I reached back, my dorm floor-mates had organized a little something, and this time I wished over an awesome rich chocolate cake with yummy chocolate shavings on top. It was 24:00. I had enormous fun entering my 4^th decade, as Abhishek joked ;)

Thanks everyone! I had absolute fun. It was a flawless birthday; more so, ‘coz it was so unexpected. I actually did absolutely nothing to make it happen, you guys did, and I’ll always cherish it.

Hiji-biji

..............%%$@@!$!!!! Yep...that's 'hiji-biji'......in bengali.....any outburst of nonsensical scribbles is hiji-biji.
Currently, that's the God of All Thingsthat adorn my life. Well.....we could make a Hollywood movie out of it. Crazy equations eating people's brains....they suck human brains! YUK!!! If you want to make this movie [ great concept ...huh?? ;) ], the sets are ready! Enter my room.....you'll see a sea of non-sense equations flowing incessantly all over, on almost every thing that you could rest your eyes on.
This is what I tell myself....every night...before I surrender to sweet slumber...."tomorrow morning, I'll wake up early, jog, have breakfast, and solve this huge mess of equations that I'm in right now. But holla....I wake up late (obviously...'coz I slept late....n well, that's the only good thing going on in my life right now). I skip all the healthy planned preludes that were supposed to kick-start my day, and I dedicate myself to creating some more of the c*** that's going to drown me one day....n beware....if you're one of my neighbours....you could be sucked in too!!
By afternoon, I feel I've done it! Yoohooooooo! But, my sweet celebration is nipped at its prime by a damned realization that I messed up a sign somewhere, or just deleted an important denominator, or something....that's gonna take a hell of time to be spotted.
Today was no different! I spent the whole day.....diligently taking care to stick to the routine....n now I have a closed-form expression for my problem. I never got that...ok...once I found one....but that was only b'coz I had messed up some where (as usual). That day I was excited....I was almost skipping around the LAN (the FPM lab on campus) going Eureka! But then I re-realized what a dud I am! So, today I'm skeptical....I know I've gone wrong some where. I tried so hard to prove that I had made another mistake....but nope....not found 1 yet! So it'll take another day....phew!!
KILL ME! KILL ME NOW!! :p

Radha

On my way back from Nal Sarovar, Gujarat, I was hogged by a swarm of kids mostly tots, begging for alms. This one was shy, almost embarrassed to beg.....I asked her name. "Radha", she smiled and reached out her little palm, "Please give me 5 Rupees. I've been hungry for 2 days". Then she stole a glance and looked back and smiled. That's what she'd been trained to say to strangers, the rest was oblivion.

some things don't budge !!

there are some who just don't budge...however much you try to measure up !!
check this out ... if you don't understand :)

Shotguns in the world of Advertising ;)

First it was Coke and Pepsi; sometimes Burger King took a shot at McDonald's, Kingfisher Airlines aimed at Jet Airways, and recently Horlicks & Complan, two health-drink majors in India, slung mud at each other. And now we have the newest entrants in the arena of Comparative advertising. Well, these are more vague in terms of what they are trying to sell, but they are big players and assuming people already know what they're selling, they could take this risk.
It's a lovely set of ads, witty and serving their apparent purposes of attempting to deface each other in front of their target consumers. Take a look.

Ridiculous Ads Again

ahh.....the sadistic critique in me has risen once more. Well, don't blame me....I have food for thought ;) While last time it was the 'Extended Stay Hotels' group this time it's a candy ad (in print) for Marbles sour candy (from Mentos). Have a look at the ads below.



I'm surprised at the idea of beings puking as an effect of the candy, which ironically has the USP of being an extremely sour candy. The ad was designed by Ogilvy and Mather, Mumbai, India, one of the wittiest pros in creative advertising. They had a sour candy campaign earlier for a gum named 'Centre Shock' and it was simply terrific. Witty humor punched into a punky storyline was blended absolutely perfectly with the product USP.

This is a funny concept; sure it is.....but not for a product that we are trying to entice people to eat/chew/whatever. Yukkkk!!
I love the idea of getting creative and wild with concepts when designing ads for not-so-serious products like gum, but hey, let's tug-on somewhere.

Hate mess food :(

That's a glimpse of some yummy food that I had prepared for bhai and me about 2 months back :) yeah ...i know ... i burnt up the fish a bit......but believe me it tasted good....'coz the condiments got so well-mixed inside the real stuff (that's baked salmon, btw :p ). Then there's a healthy mixed veg item with some italian seasoning tossed in, crunchy lettuce, baby carrot, and tomato salad, with a light vinaigrette dressing, and baked yam, cut up and seasoned with a light brush of olive oil and salt, roasted on a tawa...tikki style, and served with a dash of lemon-pepper dressing.

Ahhhhh.....that was one of the happiest months of my life....I simply had fun....unadulterated.....sans wrung-up thoughts and worries about the serious questions in life....life was like it used to be about 4 years back.....happy :)

Everything was magical.....I was with bhai :)

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Jatua!!

Mr. Jatua, the Minister of state for Information and Broadcasting, said that he was aware that quite a few of the present day ads in India are "deceptive"; e.g. fairness cream ads, and that they would be dealt with, under stipulations of the 'Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995', whenever issues were raised. Well, have we seen the Advertising Standards Council of India (“ASCI”) terms of regulation on ads? AMBIGUITY is the keyword. The job of the ad guy is to make a cute ad, just ensure it's saleable in the market at which the ad/product per se is targeted, and relish the ecstasy of success. NO RULES in the ad world here ;)

As long back as in 1928, Braithwaite (wrote that the primary motive behind a producer’s advertising decision is that advertising has the potential to concentrate demand upon the sponsored brand and hence provide the corresponding producers with increased monopoly power in the market; in simple English....the ad should be able to ease the product in to the market. The Economists Advisory Group (1967) and Batra, Myers, and Aaker (1996) referred to this potential in advertising as persuasion. Since we can't go about coaxing the potential buyer into purchasing the product we have to hit the right chord in their head, so that they feel the need for the product, while also believing that this one's the best bet for them. When the market is flooded with umpteen no. of look-alikes, what does the poor ad guy do? Spend the bucks and say "ME TOO"? Well?
Hmm....so they go about deceiving in some way or the other. Remember the funny Fairglo ad? "Yeh hai Mr. Kale, Mrs. Kale" (well Kale is a Maharashtrian surname, and PUN INTENDED, it also means black in Hindi, the language in which the ad spoke); and then we are introduced to Ms. Gore, the FAIR young daughter of the Kale couple, who apparently got bleached?? into a fair shade by a Fairglo soap. Somehow the ad was funny, the creative team managed to make the characters look thus. Well, the ad was ordered to be discontinued by the ASCI, under recommendations of the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) that it was discriminatory and offensive. But well, all the other fairness creams work the same way.....they break just as many rules that the ASCI and the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 flaunt and which Mr. Jatua swears by. However, I understand, since no one has raised the issue yet ...they won't regulate the ads or their resp. contents.

Arererere..... Shahrukh bhai.......Aap bhi??

The recent ad wars between Horlicks and Complan also break the rules...BIG TIME. They are hugely deceptive, and to a more vulnerable clan of consumers. Well, the Coke & Pepsi ads can get away under terms of being ambiguous in naming the brands they were fighting. However, the issue here is not about taming ads and stripping them down to the boring product-detail levels....Yawn!!...but at least remove these pretentious stipulations when they are never conformed to.

if nature could speak

the Optimist


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Hidden Fairy


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Miles to go before I sleep

As Management Academics Can / Should we IGNORE the gaping cleft between Industry and Academia?

Yes, there is a gap, and the reason, I believe, lies in the way we work at both ends. I work in the field of advertising and recently met a few experts to gain insights on a concept that I am working on presently. During my talks with them, I could categorize them into three types, in terms their orientation to academics.
* While some of them are aware of what's going on in the academic end of the field, they are wary of applying our recommendations because they can't think of how to operationalize them.

* The 2nd group was unaware of what happened in academia. Believe me these were celebrated creative heads in big advertising companies, and they knew what they were doing. When I pressed on "how do you know what to do and what not to do?", the almost unanimous reply was, "we have a 'gut-feel' that is pruned by years of experience".

* Finally, the 3rd kind was experts who thought that we hunted down research problems since we didn't have anything better to do. As much as I disliked this, I couldn't ignore them completely when I looked at how consistently successful they were, w/o our help, and when they pointed out how theoretically fine but operationally inapplicable quite a bit of our work was.

Solution? During the 70's, Prof. Little set the example of working on a problem and stripping it down to the level where it becomes, well manager-oriented, if we may call it that. Sharing the views expressed by some friends, Mr. Denis and Prof. Erera, "Dumbing down the report or presentation is NOT the answer". While we select a problem for research, we must screen it through the relevance filter, permitting proposals that would be of worth to practitioners in the field. Of course we can work on hypothetical ideal situations, which can serve as the reference levels for ensuing normative work. However, we shouldn't forget to add the bit where we elucidate on the "How to apply it to problems stacked up on the managers' desk".

Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: Can we Know the Truth?

Ludwig Wittgenstein, in his famous work ‘Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus’, enunciated that there is ONLY ONE TRUTH that occurs with mathematical certainty (e.g. 2+2 =4); if we can’t speak it we’d rather be mum about it. I believe him. There is ONE OBJECTIVE REALITY; going round-and-round uttering otiose statements about a phenomenon, claiming them to be subjective explanations of the same, is akin to gibberish to me. However, I disagree at the last bit of his argument.

Wittgenstein argued that the world is made of independent atomic facts or elementary states of affairs from which larger and composite facts/ phenomena are constructed. Language however, begins from the atomic state like the world itself, but then conglomerates into complex propositions following logic. Finally, thoughts are generated as expressions in language to capture the aforesaid facts. Like some screenshot?

So what Wittgenstein’s work propagates is:

If your thoughts aren’t able to picture the elementary states of affairs, or the ultimate truths, they are not worth being expressed. A commendably bold statement! Don’t you think? But, I have a little tussle in my head about this. How do I know that my thoughts mirror absolute truth, unless I test it out? And how do I test them if I don’t express? When I started reading Wittgenstein, I was impressed, and believe me, he’s worth reading. Not once, but multiple times; well, I say that based on my experience with his work. Going by the intellectual abilities I hold, I didn’t get him all at once, but I was hungry for more. He keeps you panting and lusting for truth. What is the ultimate reality? But it all moves like a suspense thriller, sans the revelations in the end. Disappointment? No! What I experienced was an eagerness to read it again, hoping to unravel more this time. However, this time the rush that I felt was different. At the 1^st read I was amazed, almost bowled over but his masterpiece, his ways of thinking; now I didn’t agree at many points. Well I didn’t have the alternative bits of absolute truth, but I could prove by contradiction that what was expressed was not absolutely true. While I agree that subjective musings are not permissible unless one is sincerely trying to construct explanations to phenomena, bit-by-bit, I don’t agree that if you aren’t expressing absolute truth, all at once, you should practice silence.

Now I feel that I’m going gibberish! hehe....

The only thing I’d like to say before concluding is that as a researcher it is the constant expression of my work, irrespective of the accurateness of arguments, to guides and peers that is pushing me closer and closer to the construction of an explanation of truth. Everyday, I begin by testing my reasonings and 100-lines of scribbles with my guide. I express and he points out the flaws in reasoning. I go back and reattempt to bust it, using logic, of course. I talk to peers, we brainstorm at the little flawed expressions that we have thus far, with an invincible optimism that we’ll find the explanation.

Wittgenstein was a genius and I almost cherish the moments when I read him and felt almost enlightened. However, I believe that it is only persistent and humble Expression and not Silence that has the potential to pave the way to the ultimate revelations of truth.

Valentine’s Day!

Hehe….kaka’s brief post on how “Table for One” is a very very sad expression, kinda happened to me today. Well, with a wee bit of alteration in the taste of it. It wasn’t sad at all :)

In the morning, when I woke up, I felt no extra excitement. No big celebrations lined up for me! As usual, I was greeted by a desk loaded up with a crowing pile of work….most of which yelled out to me “attend to me today, my dear, it’s been my turn for sooo long now”. “Sure”, I said and rushed to get ready for work. I made myself my usual cup of steaming honey tea, spiced up with lemon n dried ginger, and sat at my desk to start with my emails. None…..Sir hadn’t replied, so no meetings today. As I was opening Orkut I took the ^st sip from my cup & as always, I burnt my tongue and cursed myself “Every Day!” Just then Banani’s scrap flashed in front of my eyes….”Happy Valentine’s Day Patru…from me n Punkoo”. “Oh Wow! It’s Valentine’s Day today…..the BIG Day of Looooove!” :D

I remembered Pk…..my friend from college who had been my V-Day companion during most of my grad n undergrad days. We would turn up for classes, but due to the extremely low attendance, the Profs would dissolve classes for the day. Hence, we’d start with “Oh No!” but then make an impromptu trip to some place. She’d be all “let’s go to some place close n safe", n I’d be all “Shut Up….we’ll make a day of this n go to some place awesome”. Needless to say….my plan won and we would end up making fabulous trips to old temples, deserted dams, etc, nibbling at village junks from dhabas, n road-side pan shops. All the while however, Pk would be excited about the amount of fun that we were having, but was damned scared about….. “if we get into any trouble, my parents will kill me” n the likes :) & I’d say….. “don’t worry….I’m Here; I’ll protect you”. Somehow she believed me….n I felt as if it was my duty to take care of her :D

‘Twas fun!

Today I remembered all of that n thought le’me have some fun. I also decided that at the end of the day, I’d pen it down in my journal or here…..so it must be Gooood fun :)

How’d I have fun? I find Ahmedabad a bit starved of places that are like sweet nothings that aren’t hyped, where there’s no need for pockets loaded with money; there are Malls and big fancy tourist spots. I didn’t feel like any of that. Kankaria Zoo? Naahh….

So I stepped out, bought a large bar of chocolate n kept munching on it for some time while I wondered about how to Treat myself to a V-Day dose of fun. ordered a small-sized pizza (yeah…for one), a Coke (unlike me) and watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S. …… again...about 3-5 episodes. Hehe…..then I made this piece of something on MS Paint and named it ‘Dreams’….with a hue for every feeling & emotion. Call'd up mom n dad to remind them of V-Day...so that they don't miss out on their share of fun for the day :)

I Didn’t study at all :p

I'm sure most of you would think...what was fun in this? But I enjoyed myself....it felt like treating myself to some goodies. Off Work.....phew :p

Maybe will work a bit now….. :D ..... or read something nice? fun is intoxicating & addictive :p
"God save me"....must get back on track....Today? :| tomorrow maybe :p

Happy Valentine's Day!!

the best summary of my Dream Resolution for 2009 :p