My laddu

Quite often I hear my father say “bachoo tum wapas se chote ho jao” (although it’s a different story that I have never grown up) and now when I see my lil laddu all grown up I toooooo wish that she becomes my choootuuuu sa laddu again.

My niece was the first baby I could comfortably handle without being scared off. I think there is some innate quality in babies as they bring the best out of everyone(and this includes me). She was (and is) such a strong minded, determined person …if she has to solve a puzzle…come what me she has to do it…I can never forget the day when she made a slide out of a mattress all on her own and so excited she was that as soon as my father (her nana) came back from office her latest achievement was the first thing she literally dragged him to see.

She is now all grown up and has changed from what she used to be as a baby but one thing that remains same is that she is and will always remain my laddu no matter what.Muuuuhaaaaaaaaaaaa

All thanks to her, I have finally started filling my visa application after years (yes YEARS!!!!) of pestering from ma papa di and now arpan.

Hopefully by this year end I should be visiting didu and my laddu …

PS-: My visa has approved so hopefully if not this year but next i shall be meeting you my bebuuu muhaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Confessions of a bookoholic

I have been reading quite a lot lately and yes it’s not even remotely related to my course books in fact this time purposely I have decided to ditch those sources of temporary wisdom can get back to the ones with real wisdom.

So, coming back to what all I read, it ranges from sub-prime crisis, innovation to Asoka the great and so on. It’s always wonderful to get back to doing things you love most which for me is reading. Books are my company, my solace in solitude…my unconditional and unconventional friends….

My reading affair started in college when I was finding hard to decide spending my time between creatures of all kind and creed and then this wonderful companion came to my life. Since then, there has been no looking back. Often in job interview if i mention reading as a hobby then the next question is inevitable….what kind of books do you like to read. And even though I have read books on a variety of topics it’s hard to pin point one and say “yes this is my type” my choices in reading have never been limited to any one type…..I can read anything from a Mills and Boons to a spiritual book.

Books have been a relief when circumstances have troubled me & I can devote hours and hours to a good book. But let me make an admission today, I am not a good reader, I am not someone who will wait to go through the whole book to know what lies ahead in the end. Just imagine what an idiot I am, when before buying the last harry potter book (worth whopping 10 pounds) I went thru the last page only to know that ‘the boy with scar’ survives or not(yeah my decision of buying and more importantly reading the book depended on the fact if harry lived or not). Hence I say that I am a bad reader I don’t value the time and effort an author spends in writing the book envisaging the end, I don’t travel with him through his journey of writing the book.

It’s not that I have not tried to refrain from doing so …but then the weakness of not able to sustain my curiosity wins the struggle of the ducking. I hope one day I’ll read a book without flipping through the last pages….i know that day will come someday

Its all about Loving

What makes a brand ionic …do the brands that have garnered status of being ionic over years and years have something in common?

I believe yes they have, they have all changed with time. They have gone with the flow of changing business environment and mostly importantly consumers. They have been able to establish a, emotional connect with generations and generations of consumers, some have been part and parcel or our day to day life while some have gained the status of being aspirational,Symbol of ultimate achievement.

Coming on to how to define an ionic brand they can be defined in following way’s(these have been compiled from an article from ET, by the present CEO of JWT)

• One that excludes an experience that goes beyond product features and benefits
• That has been able to create deep cultural roots
• That has gone beyond cultural boundaries and has adapted to local cultures
• Possesses symbolic features that makes it increasingly recognizable
• That possesses physical or semantic features that make it increasingly recognizable.
• 
  

The article also mentioned the most important brands, human brands that have an ever lasting impression and are easy to retain, recognize.

Feeling is essential for brands in the Pyramid of customer based brand equity it’s ultimately the performance and image of brand leading to Judgement and Feeling.

The brand that comes to my mind when I say ionic is Cadbury , it’s a brand that I have loved for all the reasons , good taste , emotional connect….i have literally grown up with this brand and my love for this brand has not abated an inch in all these years …..I still hog on the chocolates ….i still love having one in my fridge all the time and its still my ‘preferred brand’ when it comes for chocolates.

I remember when every summer vacations my dad use to fill my backpack with the best chocolates available and I always compared them with cad that i had back home in india and honestly,nothing tasted better than it .Be it diary milk , Bourneville, Celebrations I hog them all.

Now here see the word that I use ‘love’ so for me an ionic brand would be something I love something I can define myself, i can relate to with and I can say Cadbury is one such brand..i loved the advertisement that they have shown through all these years, their tag lines…..”kuch meetha ho jaye”, “kuch baat hai zindagi mein” (though there were some forgettable ones too)and they had a huge impact on my liking of a brand .. As a child when I had absolutely no taste of chocolates…….. ..i saw this add of girl of having a bite from something in a purple wrapper and then was dancing like mad and hugging a guy(very cute one!!)…curiously I asked my elder sister what that gal was eating and she (my sis) introduced me to the enchanting world of delicious chocolates and its was not just any chocolate it was the same one that I saw in a purple /golden wrapper that I came to know as Cadbury

The taste of chocolates has remained all the same through these years and that makes them more endearing…..they have added new variations all of which have maintained its legacy …

So I guess this all sums up why I am so much connected to the brand after all these years…but do they justify it to be ionic is still debatable !!

Ciao

Changing times......or.........change with time

I was reading an article in business world about what ails Infosys this made me realize that how fragile is reputation , trust that an organization builds spanning over decades and in rare cases centuries

Infosys to an outsider like me appears to be an organization with strong culture….a culture that reflects its value system at the same time appears to be very staunch…overpowering….inflexible in its approach….its culture has not changed much with times…….there is enough data to show that the top most management believes in tight control over the organization at the same time they have a decentralized decision making system (conflicting is’nt it)…

Last quarter also infy failed to achieve forecasted growth; soon speculation began of what is wrong with Infosys. There are many thing which are wrong with infy at the moment however what needs to be reminded is that its an organization going through a huge transition….without the top management which have taken infy through her baby steps……it has come a long way…..for me I will put it like a child who is now entering turbulent teenage years…where there are conflicts…..internal changes……adaptation to eternal environment around us more so ever …formation of the adolescent years that lie ahead. Its not an organization which people can write of so easily……..people, investors, employees they need to have their faith intact and then only then can be part of the years that are ahead.

Its core competency lied purely in its GDM model which now has been adapted its peer organizations and competitors alike…..so what has Infosys left with now….what it needs to do is to innovate itself find its niche again….do what it did every time…bounce back with something new something unique….and true differentiator…But all this would require tremendous change….few ups and loads of down’s at the same time it needs to regain faith of investors and employee’s…but the question is how……..

It’s so easy for people like me to speculate…………..that this is wrong that is wrong and we Indians are PHD’s in it but we need to provide solutions as well…next time onwards…I’ll think (without googling)

Btw I had decide to write this blog with pure data and u know some typical MBA tuff but then as it goes I am still getting use to the typical MBA bhasha , however I had made some points while reading the article…..

· Conservative org culture , tight control and high focus on margins, forecasting shunning away business which were not profitable, conserving cash and growing organically

· US Europe market dependence diversification

· Improve profit, reduce cost , improvise product and services but how? Need for an innovative model but what

· Competitive advantage with GDM not anymore need to find another differentiating factor in GDM

· HUGE cash reserves of $4.1 billion …what are they doing with it (FDs also don’t yield you any return with this kind of money….invest it SOMEWHERE)

Sometimes Right is not so right

Okay so here goes the first one I read Kapil Sibal’s article which I presume has been written in defiance of RTE.

Now what he primarily mentioned was that RTE would be an enriching and add value to the children across various sections of society. It would make the whole learning environment more democratic in nature. He also pushed private schools to find ‘innovative’ ways to bridge the gap where schools in metros have high per child budget.

In the same newspaper i was reading about an article on freedom to do what you want, where the author states that absolute freedom is to be what we are, as individuals we all are different with an unique combination of similar qualities that reside within us but in different blends…he states that   our freedom is suppressed right in our childhood when we are expected to behave in a certain way, the way that our parents, teachers, family want.

Now these two articles made me ponder about a few things.

What is my ‘Right’ and for what do I have ‘freedom’? Two words that appear to be so similar on surface yet time and again diverge ……….i have a right for education but do I have the freedom to complete it In a school of my choice…environment of my choice…..with friends of my choice..

Have we thought about the psychological pressure that kids of that tender age would have to undergo considering the strikingly different environment at home and at school……I read somewhere where that to encounter such an issue government is recommending counselling sessions….but I have my sincere doubts on the effectiveness of those sessions.

I am not saying that what government is trying to do is not good…I firmly believe in the fact that every child has THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION however it should  be accompanied with freedom as well……

What government should be doing is to keep a tab on how education is imparted in various government schools , how they are utilizing funds allocated to them , how teachers are utilizing their time, they need to check the stats of how many under privilege kids complete their education till graduation………more importantly they need to now focus on education till the level of graduation and not just primary level as in today’s world just knowing how to read write your name does not qualify one for any job……all these aspects have  a huge scope of improvement …there should be strong KPIs for government school teachers and they should be made responsible for what they are making out of the kids.

Just making strong statements and defending your policies in not enough Mr Minister what we need is action…..words alone do not bring agreement  and satisfaction from those who are affected by it.

love what u do……do what you love

So we had this guest lecture today…..and something he said (which I have heard like zillions of time too)..suddenly...for some reason....made a lot of sense..…he said love what u do……do what you love…strange isnt it .....what interplay of words can do……

But on serious note when is it that you can chalk out a plan for yourself….when is it that you know what will you love………I have been trying to figure it out without any success…….i did MBA hoping that during the course of time I shall find my way...............may be I will carve my way with time….

In the same lecture he (the GL) told us to pen down our thoughts…..writing about what we are learning.....relating it to whatever is happening around us….however my thoughts in this blog are only what happens around me….Hence…taking a cue from him I have decided to be a bit more constructive about my thoughts and not be the self centric creature that I am …so henceforth I’l try to pen down something useful…..apart from my normal cribbing….

Ciao!!!!

I...will survive

A coin has two sides so does a ‘news’....... so the good news is that I am done with 80% of my MBA and the bad news is that now the worst time would start…………..worst than studying up for exams….making projects and preparing presentations…….yeah it will be the time for  placements………….thinking about that makes me realize how my 8 months have literally gone in IMT. 

Once a friend of mine asked me that have I value added anything in myself with MBA….and my answer was yes…definitely yes…I might sound cliché but the truth is that working for last 6 years had restricted me and my thinking in so many aspects…which now has broadened and I do regret the time that I wasted all those years ago doing nothing when I had so much to learn….

Here in IMT my day passes with a blink of eye…I have days when 24 hours seems less for doing 30% of my To-Do’s list….. there are days when I hate being here from the bottom of my heart but then in the end I love the madness of that every day brings….it keeps me away from missing hubby…..

Although I do crib and cry almost every day about being here….but I’ll have to admit it……..This place isn’t that gruesome as I generally portray it in front of everyone.

Coming on to music well.....i am not a big fan of english songs ....apun tho desi insaan hai but since last couple of days the only songs that are played on my shuffle are of adele….i am in love with her song ..Someone like you….awesome song and well sung with all the emotions in place.....

So leaving music and coming back to aasli muddha  well I’ll have to pull up my socks (literally!!) and get ready for the days to come…..i know I’ll need almost every drop of patience that I have (which isn’t much) I know the days coming ahead won’t be soft on me…..i know I’ll fail multiple times………I know I’ll cry about losing every time…but I also know I shall survive ……..i am a strong gal…….i know that :)

Something.......long ....forgotten.....

This poem was given to me as a part of  a recitation competition and when i was too young to understand it....having the memory that i have suddenly when i was talking to a friend of mine about being content i just mumbled these line......this poem is worth a mention in the blog!!

Happy the man whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground.
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,	5
Whose flocks supply him with attire;
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.
Blest who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away	10
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,
Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mixt, sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please	15
With meditation.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.

Mood swings

What women do when they are feeling very very low
1. They do shopping
2. They do some more shopping
3. They do so much shopping
And then they sulk for doing so much shopping

This was exactly what I did yesterday in a bid to cheer my mood …..however it backfired and now here I am siting and thinking that did i really needed all those things…ahhhh.......never mind there is always a need for a lil thing here and there…….(let me feel lil less guilty)

But on a serious note shopping and chocolates act like an immediate antidote for my huffy mood .

Apart from sulking and shopping I am busy getting confused between going to NIRMA for a competition or staying back in IMT for another event….finally I have taken a decision that I’ll be playing for my batch in the upcoming sports event (good lord save the team)

As a result of this I was playing throw ball, volleyball and FOOTBALL…..today because of which now every bone of my body is hurting toooooo badly……..(aajkal umar ka takaza nahi raha hai bhu bhu)

Hopefully I shall remain fit till the actual event…till then ciao

PS: Update on the matches we lost in the semi's .....but nevertheless last some days have been the best in IMT...something i will definitely blog about in future

Ciaos fellas!!!!!!!!!!!!!