A jingle for Sh. Ram Krishan

Nadwai mein Bhagwan hai!

1. Ram bhi aur Krishan bhi

Nadwai mein bhagwan hain

Hum sare uski santan

Nadwai mein bhagwan hain

2. Ram hamara Krishan hamara

Who apni pahchan hai

Bhai bhai hum sare hain

Nadwai mein bhagwan hain

3. Seedhay sahdhy hum log yahan

koi chotta barha nahin

magar na humse tum takrana

Nadwai mein bhagwan hain

4. Apni behno aur bachon ko

Ijjat aur piar miley

Gandi baten door rakho tum

Nadwai mein bhagwan hain

5. Bina bajurgon ke kia karna

Unke agay sir hai jhukana

Yahi hamari maryada hain

Nadwai mein bhagwan hain

IPL is not India Pakistan league

Some say that cricket in India is a religion, well that's almost true. Like religion depends on faith as compared to demonstrable scientific phenomenon so is the Indian cricket. There are several arguments about the popularity of cricket in India despite several other team sports available and played by millions of Indians. Cricket is like a long film which gives us an opportunity to spend our time without much exercise of the brain or limbs. It suits our temperament. Other games have speed, continuous action, involvement and rush of adrenalin therefore cricket is better, it is some work, some leisure and takes lots of our time. Did you ever wonder why we have 3 hour films, even without a clear story line? That's cricket!

The commotion created by exclusion of Pakistani players from IPL has shown how similar the two countries are in our behavior. Pakistani establishment is livid about denial of earnings to their cricketers as if they had a share in that. The IPL guys were doing a right thing as per their thinking by avoiding Pakistani cricketers they could save the league. The IPL management knows that large section of Indian society and their political crusader parties prefer not to have any relations with Muslim Pakistan as it suits their vote bank therefore inclusion of Pakistani players would have given those guys an opportunity to target the league and damage it.

If Pakistan believes that they are helpless in curbing terrorist activity from its soil how can Pakistan government assume that Indian government is capable of handling such elements within India? Don't they know that in the past pitches have been dug in India? So the IPL guys are just protecting their commercial interests, not playing any politics. The financial loss of Pakistani players is just another example of what terrorism can do to the world.

I have close affinity with Pakistani people because they look, eat, talk & feel like me and we both have developing economies. Let us all wait for a time when our countries become more civilized members of the world community and focus our energies of bringing happiness to our families by stopping all kinds of violence and leave the war to our military establishment only.

Why there is no IIM or IIT in private sector?

Privatization of higher education in India has not achieved the same results as we see in school education sector. The private schools have created a great redoubtable reputation over the state schools but in the higher education the dominance of the state institutions is still growing despite existence of competition from the private sector for over two decades. Recently the HRD minister Kapil Sibal has made a lot of good noise about giving more freedom to the private institutions from layers of regulatory bodies like UGC, AICTE, & Medical Council etc. But what ails the private sector institutions particularly in professional & technical education category?


The brightest students still seem to prefer IITs, AIMS & IIMs therefore companies in search of them end up on those campuses only. Those who swear by this argument are discounting the rationale of the privatization itself. I believe the privatization of the education has happened because most of us believe that prevailing examination dominated system fails to do justice with large numbers of bright students who could not make it to the existing institutes. Therefore new institutes are required. Most teachers and others involved in education management that I have interacted with agree that quality of students that enroll in private sector is almost at par with those who score very high score to enter the reputed existing institutions.

Second most important factor in an educational enterprise is the quality of teachers. Let us take a cue from the quality of teachers in reputed private schools as compared to government run schools. Isn’t it markedly qualitative? My experience of the 4-5 private & state run higher education enterprises has led me to believe that faculty in state run institutions have greater exposure & learning opportunities on the job. The on- the- job exposure factor is the major differentiator in up-gradation of the quality of teachers. Private institutes generally hire faculty at less cost as compared to the state run which limits their chances of selection & retention of senior faculty, hence reduced quality of teaching and resulting poor education of the students. Faculties in private institution have less learning opportunities in general and lack educated charismatic leadership required for their development. Give me good teachers I will give you shining educated persons.

I will right about other reasons in due course.

Iphone & Google Nexus One battle!

Firstly both the products would garner significant share of the smart phone market that is predicted to grow from the present 15 percent to 65 percent of the market very soon. The size of the market would not be a limiting factor to achieve the targeted sales volume, but the challenges in achieving marketing objectives would be formidable.

Since marketing thrives on newness of an offer therefore Google Next 1 would surely attract a segment of Iphone users who have not yet become diehard loyal fans of it. Some 25-65 percent current users of iphone may jump onto Google bandwagon. This is understandable phenomenon. But studies have shown that the customers may return to iphone if they do not find a major discernable difference in the new offer. Most divorced couples tend to long for the first companion once they have lived with the new one for a brief period. Therefore Google has to keep the Nexus One new for quite a period. This would be huge challenge to the marketing team while rolling out into the global markets.

If Google followed Iphone style market launch it would amount to conceding the race before the finishing line. Google has to design a new rollout strategy that could express value for its target segments. On the other hand iphone would have to resist altering its product significantly in next 18 months. Any noticeable change in iphone offer could convey a wrong signal to the market and lead to dilution of branding in the market. History of marketing is never relevant for the future of marketing but still there are many important lessons in it for the marketing warriors.

This fight certainly would be bloody and long. And the chances are that both the warriors would emerge unscathed and robust from it. But in the process personal computer making companies may be hit very badly. The pc may be reduced to its desktop avatar and the laptop may get eliminated from the market. Well, as they say when giants fight, it is the grass that takes the brunt. PC has to evolve completely into some new form to remain useful as an internet station.

Did someone say something about Blackberry? Uh!

The blues of the 'Blue Ocean Strategy' ?

Na i certainly am not interested in writing an unauthorised review of the Blue Ocean Strategy by WC KIm & Renee. The book in fact is inspirational. Its emphasis on finding blue markets through NEW way of analysing the markets is commendable though not really a new idea. Marketing lives on the power of the new and so does life and us. Let us examine some new prodct ideas here:

1 Shirt with three pairs of Changeable collars and cuffs: Twin color shirt: Shirt is the main male dress that has stopped evolving. Why not have a shirt that comes with three pairs of matched cuffs & collars so that it could be worn three times before a wash. Great economy and style that would be.

2. Desi Ghee in Pouch/satchets: Indians eat lots of desi ghee ( Clarified butter). Ghee is bought in Kg packs then used with a measure of spoon for garnishing the curries and vegetables. Why cann't we have Desi Ghee packed in 2-5 gms satches like shampoo and ketch up? Open a satchet and pour into dal or sabji!

3. Joy stick steering in cars: Steering wheel can be replaced with a joy stick to save space in car. It would lead to better driving pleasure as the driver would be able to keep it any place close to the body and saves money. Tata Nano could try that.

4. Classroom Video notes: Indian classroom is based on teacher to group teaching method and the students are hardly encouraged to ask questions. Why not record the teacher's lectures in video format and let the class see. Questions if any can be asked through emial. This would eliminate the need for teacher to go to class and save salary for the institute.

If you need any innovation write me, easy!

Love Thy India !

India is your country too but I am not sure if you are in love with it. Moreover there are other countries that I admire like Japan, Germany, China and USA.  I am also attracted to the people living across the border in Pakistan as they look, talk, eat, and behave more like me than those living in various other parts of India. Such thoughts are very confusing. Must I not love my own country only? Are we not duty bound to love our country? But can you love be conditional? There are several issues that need clarity before i fall in love with my India and I am listing them below in a random order.

We Indians consume buffalo milk but do not give it similar status at par with the cow? Can’t we be accused of apartheid as both the animals are useful to us but cow gets better status, is that something to with cow's color of skin? Or it could it be due to discrimination based on family system as the Ox has been used more in the cultivation over the bull? Animal lovers & Maneka Gandhi why don't you give equal status to both animals as per the merit of utility to human race.

Our democratic institutions are so robust that even when criminals manage to get elected to the parliament and state assemblies no one takes it as a threat to the just functioning of our democracy. It is possible to get elected in India even when the highest court has passed a guilty verdict on you. On the national highways you would come across several cavalcades of ministers, bureaucrats and other VIPs forcing the people into inconvenience with their deafening sound of blaring hooters and blinding flood of high beam lights. They would not follow any traffic laws that they routinely themselves approve in the august houses of parliament. Therefore once you become somebody than nobody can touch you. This freedom is possible in India alone.

Advani ji has been travelling in a luxuriously fitted truck all over India to awaken ‘Hindutva’ amongst Hindus but he chose to call it a Rath, and himself a Rathyatri. Rath is an ancient long forgotten primitive mode of transport that has no use in the modern times. There are lots of leaders and religious Swamis who could speak for eternity on what a rich and great country India was once but they would not do anything to take it forward. Ritual and symbolism dominates India and that has more value than real and practical wisdom.

There are hordes of popular swamis who claim to cure any diseases with yoga & mantra. You look at them and find that most of them are suffering from some disease themselves.  Swamis are more popular in India than scientist, doctors & professors.

Our PM generally talks about the need for creating new infrastructure for promoting higher education in India. He has never talked about the requirement of building more religious places, Deras and Satsangs. We have more properties devoted to religious/ spiritual activities than that are for education. Why can’t the government takeover such places for national development? No political party can dare say that howsoever logical this argument may be.

When will the most of Indians start respecting some rules and laws? Most Indians would not mind doing an unlawful activity provided when no one watches them. We flout every red light signal on the road as if we are driving in Pakistan and we must not follow their laws here.

When those VIPs & Swamis are treated as equals to other citizens like us we sure would start falling in love with it. How do we expect an average Indian to fall in love with India when they give it more than they take from it?