HERE (#shamlessblogplug  ).

This post may not do full justice to the enthrallment experienced as I’m penning this down, after nearly 4 months of the trip. I shall intersperse this documentation of mine with tweets and pictures to make it less boring, hopefully.  

Somebody asked me on the yatra , “What’s your reason for coming on this trip?” There are many… #1 being, getting to visit parts of India I’ve never been to. yeah the wanderlust.. #2 Getting to meet and interact with diverse people from various parts of the country and the world. #3 Maybe I wanna startup at some point of time in my life and I need inspiration. #4 People say its a “life-changing”  experience. I wanna see if that’s true.

Prior to the yatradventure  I got a lot of this : “So you’re going on an yatra. When did u get so religious?” If you’re one of those that asked me this, or post the trip asked me what the concept of JY is, this post is dedicated to you. The Jagriti Yatra is not a joy ride. It is an adventure for which one needs to be mentally and physically prepared. Weeks before the journey we got this email from the team asking us to be physically and mentally fit. That did scare me a little, I admit. “The schedule is busy, the journey will be physically and intellectually challenging and we want you to be in top form to make the most of it. So for the next few weeks, please exercise regularly, eat properly, sleep well and spend some time in thinking about what you want to get out of this journey.”

The adventure of 9000 kms, 400 bright Yatris, 40 experienced facilitators, 20 inspiring role models, 15 days, 13 cities and 1 Train in a country called India was all set to begin on Christmas Eve.

Dec 22 / 21:00 hours / Chennai Domestic Airport

After finishing a few of my term exams , I rushed to the Chennai airport to fly to Mumbai, the starting point of the journey. I take out my travel journal and send a tweet to @jagritiyatra to be pleasantly surprised to receive a reply. *warm feeling*I like them already. My first air trip was not hassle-free. After a delayed flight, I arrived late at Mumbai and  received a warm welcome from my childhood best friend, Kanya, way past bedtime. I also met Deepti Bhat, my first yatri pal at the airport and together we headed to Thane to Kanya’s place and crashed straight into bed. 

Dec 23 / 23:30 / Twinkle Apartments, Thane: (Day 0)

The three of us toured the city and went to a whole lotta places : Jehangir Art Gallery, CSMVS museum, Gateway of India (It was somewhere near this place, that I had the BEST cheese sandwich of my life. *drool*) , Colaba, Juhu beach, Marine drive, fed the overfed pigeons , had authentic street food , vada pav and all that. Yumm!

  Mumbai – Instant Liking!

Dec 24/ 23:00 + / Kurla Station : (Day 1)

Arrived at IIT Bombay 9.30 ish and registered and went through the formalities like medical checkup, receiving JY kits etc. The networking has begun already. I took an instant liking to almost all of them (of course we were all in our best behaviors that day), notable few being Debariti Rakshit , Pallavi and  Karishma Kotwani, who’s also my facilitator. We had an amazing induction where we we given a headsup about what’s in store for all of us. There were also celebrities like the TZP famous lyricist Prasoon Joshi and Tufi who did a brilliant imitation of the train wheels on his instrument – what was that called, again?

Great food, great people, great fun & its not even started yet! At Kurla station waiting for the train to come (little did I foresee that this was gonna be such a logistical marvel) donning my Santa cap. As x’masy as can be! *missing x’mas @ home a little*

Dec 25/ 23:00 + / AC Chair Car : (Day 2)

Making a home out of a train’s boogie is whats happening here.#jagritiyatrs dec 25

My first Christmas without family, the traditional dinner and caroling at church. #2011 Merry christmas guys #fb

This one’s ripped straight off my travel journal (no editing here) : “ We had an awesome ‘Lifeline’ compartment exercise that’s gotten me thinking way back into the past. Many li’l regrets there. So in with the facilitator. I guess I’m an easily impressionable person..so at the end of the yatra you’ll probably see a very confused me or a totally nirvana’d me! Only time will tell “

We sung Christmas carols and Boy was that fun! Food here’s really awesome. Had some sweet ‘poora’, chawal, dal, salads and stuff and an apple. Hope I don’t get fatter than before. (Alas , I did! :/ )

Met most of the tweeters, bloggers on board. Learnt to spell my name in Korean from Amy. Regret not taking proper Hindi classes in school. I, however, am able to follow most conversations! (surprisingly! yay)

Day 2 of #Jagritiyatra. Perspectives’ enriched! Meeting soooooooooooo many different people! Big day tomo, first role model visit! Nighty night.

Dec 26/ 23:00 + / AC Chair Car : (Day 3 SELCO, Hubli)

At Dharwar, near Hubli. Forced out of bed at 5.30 AM. Crow bath. At university of agricultural sciences for listening to the SELCO executives.

SELCO has lit peoples’ lives by making electricity more stable. It is a profit-oriented model with a social objective. SELCO set up small stand-alone solar panels across rural Karnataka, while providing training and financing options. They aim at being a Business Model that can be replicated. A lot of street vendors and students have benefitted from this. It opened doors for ecological, social and profitable sustainability; all possible, after all.

Chandragiri village visit. Tamil yatri meet! Kolaveri song breakout. Blogging dreams crushed. Overcrowded AC chair cars  

I’ve always wanted to lead life in a trailer like the wild thornberrys. This experience is quite close. #jagritiyatra

Dec 27/ 23:00 + / AC Chair Car : (Day 4 Infosys, Bengaluru):

As I sit there in the beautiful Infosys campus, I’m amazed by everything around me :the discipline, the energy , and also the stationary WCs and what a few days on a moving habitation could do to you. Overheard , as we entered the banquet hall: “Are we in heaven?”  Verily I say unto you, that yatri was not exaggerating one bit. (well maybe a little.but that’s all.)   The humble and modest attitude of Mr. Narayana Murthy was what inspired me the most, this day.

Dec 28/ 22:30 + / Coupe 15/7 , On the way to AP : (Day 5 Aravind Eye Care System, Madurai)

At Madurai today!! No roaming charges! A few lovey-doveys seen flitting around. *bleagh*

Aravind Eye Hospital, an institution I had not bothered to get to know before, now swept me off , after the screening of the ‘Infinite Vision’ documentary.

Dr.V. had 1 dream – To eradicate Needless Blindness. He started Aravind in 1976 when he was 58, an age when most people retire from work life. Set up by Dr. Venkataswamy post-retirement, this effort exposed us to the fact that, at all ages, passion can remain the same. “It is ourselves we help, ourselves we heal”, he said and he is one who has stepped across boundaries and disabilities to have created this. Organizational ethics plays a vital role in keeping this hospital as divine as the Meenakshi Temple.

Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must also be the joy of doing something beautiful.- Dr. venkatsamy #jagritiyatra

More waiting for the train. Madurai platform ‘s overpowered by the yatris!

Dozed off during the AC chair car presentation ,later on.  If I were any more T.I.R.E.D, I’d die of it I guess.

Dec 29/ 22:30 + / Coupe 15/7 , On the way to AP : (Day 6  Chennai – Kacheepuram)

Course of the train altered, because of that cyclone Irene. No Dakshin Chitra for us.  

Met Gouthami of Travel Another India ,who gave many new insights into the tourism sector — a place with high demand and high supply, but coordinating both is the issue. As final advice, she stated, “Having tie ups does not mean that you give in to competition, rather it advertises that your organisation can collaborate in this selfish big bad world!” Next, a Panel Discussion about ‘Enabling rural and agro enterprises’

I joined Team Disha , the crowd management team that gave direction to the rest of us.Ooh red ribbon and a whistle.

Turns out I’m not this person I thought I was,maybe because  I’m pitted against the best of the best from across the nation and the world. Maybe not. This is a not a journey of India. Its one of discovering myself, who I really am.

Dec 30/ 22:30 + / Vizag railway station: (Day 7 Naandi, Visakhapatnam)

As a public-private partnership, this organisation has provided the midday meals for a million school-goers. Bureaucratic ways were debated and the final conclusion was, “When we serve with a good heart, a lot more such people come to hold our hands”. We took time off that evening to understand the psyche of the navy force; our visit to the Navy Dockyard added the patriotic flavour that we needed. Boy was that amazing!! *Jai Ho*

Just so you know I’m in a really lousy mood today. Surrounded by soo many people, yet a lonely night. That ebb Gauri predicted on Day 1 is finally here! By and large , I somehow think that the purpose of the trip is defeated looking at a few things that are happening around me – kitty parties, romances, gossips galore. They’re only human. *Add more fuel to flame* More ebbing.

Dec 31/ 22:00  / Coupe 15/7 : (Day 8 Gram Vikas, Bhubaneshwar)

Today is cohort M & N’s big day. We were assigned to study Gram Vikas in depth, which we did while having loads of fun dancing to tribal tunes with the children of Gram Vikas, situated in the deep woods. Joe Madiath has done a phenomenal job and his talk which could be titled ‘From Bullshit to Fullshit’ left me feeling a lot less worthy as a human being.

Alrighty then, New year’s in a few minutes. Crazy party ahead!

At the strike of 12, my PMP played ‘Amazing Grace’. I rest in peace, while the train is dancing away the night.

Jan 1/ 22:30 / Coupe 15/7,Plains of WB : (Day 9 )

Finally caught back on all the lost sleep last night. To, fresh beginnings *filter kaapi toast* Good news: South India breakfast today. I’m a happy person!

I spend the rest of the day reading, showering (now that I know it’ll get colder as we go north and baths would be a rarity) , making my NY resolutions and updating the bucket list (prominent additions concern learning new languages, travelling more, doing volunteer work more). We also had the Biz Gyaan Tree Exercise. I was in the Technology and communications group. New faces.. yay!

Jan 2/ 22:30 / Patna : (Day 10 Nidan, Patna )

Nidan has done a lot to ensure that the slum-dwellers lived with more human rights. The biggest nuance of social work emphasised was the fact that work had to be done at the grassroots.

Jan 3/ 22:30+ / Deoria, UP : (Day 11  Barpar village)

Verrrrrrrrrrrrrry cold place. More Biz Gyaan happened. We went to one of the many villages to conduct market research for our enterprise plan. This was the day when we could prove our worth at creating business plans with a social edge. By staying for more than 24 hours at this site, we had a feel of the other India. Funny how one doesn’t need much to lead a life here in India. Forced to believe that the INR 32 -  BOP was true, after all. Broken into groups, we interacted with the villagers (while not giving them false hopes about our potential project), used our knowledge to improvise the drafted enterprise plans to solve the crisis that Indian villages face today. These creative models were presented under the Banyan tree. Selected ones would be incubated by JY  and they would be returning to Deoria to implement the same.

Jan 4/ 22:30+ / Enroute to Delhi: (Day 12)

Presenting our study on Gram Vikas in the AC chair car session, post lunch. We pulled off a GREAT show!

Creativity session and the Nidan session – other events for the day.

Jan 5/ 22:30+ / Delhi: (Day 12 Goonj, Delhi)

(plis to overlook the irony of the tweet)

Dressing for dignity. Most below poverty-line people find it difficult to make ends meet; and one of the biggest worries is the lack of clothing. Also, by providing this, one can see a change in their confidence and self-esteem. Goonj has done the same with a lot more initiatives; they provide clothing in return for labour at cleaning sites and development projects. The visible change in the villages they have touched us all. We shopped at the Goonj fair. I bought a few novels. We marveled at the creative streak of the workers who used trivial items (like cassette tapes, ropes, etc)  to create gorgeous utilities  like handbags, wallets, pouches and so many other stuff. *splurge*

Jan 6/ 22:30+ / Tilonia: (Day 13 Tilonia, Rajasthan)

My most favorite part of the entire yatra. I was moved to tears by the welcome given to us by the kids at Barefoot college. They formed a human chain to ‘namaste’ us with a smile.

Goonj was started by Anshu Gupta in 1998 to address a vital yet much ignored issue of clothing. Barefoot college was founded by Bunker Roy in 1972. It is a solar-powered school that teaches illiterate men and women from impoverished villages to become doctors, solar engineers, architects, and other such professions. The school is located at Tilonia village, Rajasthan, India. It serves a population of over 125,000 people

.

I Rajasthan.

Other notable events:

Jan 7/ 22:30+ / Ahmedabad: (Day 14 SEWA, Ahmedabad)

Sabarmati Ashram – A perfect end to the yatra ! As we solemnly sat on the banks of the Sabarmati river chanting prayers, we only realised too well that the stage for the  second freedom struggle has been set – against social injustice and the like. 

Later that day we proceeded to the auditorium for the final role model study & panel discussion. Looking at the many women from the unorganised handicraft and self-employment industries who took that extra step forward to show the world their potential, we were very motivated. Listening to their encouraging stories and understanding the model behind SEWA as share-holder organisation helped us contemplate on the best possible business plan that they could use in their start up. And with some very passionate finale speeches, emotions filled the room – the Valedictory event had the right mixture of excitement, enjoyment and reflections. We left the stage, envisaging the future, singing the yatri geet for one last time! A private graduation party followed, in coupe 15/7&8.

Jan 8/ 12:00 / Mumbai:

The circle has been completed.

Family picked me up at Chembur. Bode farewell to the relations I made for life – Cohort M and many others. In a way, I’m also glad its over. Time for a loooooong shower and nap.

I’m a changed human, truly thankful for everything in life. JY has made even simple joys of life seem like exuberant luxuries, something I will never forget. As I softly hum this Dido tune, the curtain falls on the awesome adventure trip around truly Incredible India.

Two weeks away feels like the whole world should have changed,
But I’m home now, and things still look the same.
I think I’ll leave it ’til tomorrow to unpack,
Try to forget for one night that I’m back in my flat.
On the road where the cars never stop going through the night,
To a life where I can’t watch the sun set.
I don’t have time.
I don’t have time.
I’ve still got sand in my shoes,
And I can’t shake the thought in my head…. 

Registrations for the 2012 Yatra has already begun. Check their website for more information: www.jagritiyatra.com

As clichéd as it may sound, It only seems like yesterday when I was jumping in joy on my selection for the (then) Tata Jagriti Yatra, executing those acts of persuasion to let the family allow me to embark on what some call a “life changing journey. Imma go to places I’ve never been before, meet an awesome bunch of people who are most likely to  shape future India , learn the learning of a lifetime. That said, I am asked to come with an open mind and zero expectations, which I think I will try and do. It *is* a little difficult to do that when you’ve been interacting with ex-yatris on FB groups, readings blogs of those who had been on the JY before and speaking to these guys! 

A few snippets from what I was talking about:  
"The yatra was like a blank canvas on which we could paint afresh. There was a lot of creative energy and openness amongst the yatris which contributed to lively and animated discussions. The diversity amongst the 400 odd yatris was overwhelming and the friendships forged will be everlasting." Sidhartha Jatar, Yatri 2009

"Yatra: adherence & friction, varieties & commonness, urban to rural…one common goal! this is exactly how I want my generation to be like…my India to be in our hands. Inspiration, perspiration & fun. Yatra gave me the vision how my nation is going to be." Manu Gupta, Yatri

1 Train | 12 Destinations | 15 Role Models
15 Days | 450 Youths | 9000 kms

A Journey of discovery and transformation…

The feeling, now? Nervous excitement!  With less than 4 hours to my Mumbai flight, I think I’m having the jitters!    “Where will my feet take me today Nobody knows for sure! One step at a time who could suppose what together we’ll find?” –> #SongStuckInMyHead Used to sing this during the times I was a regular Nickelodeon’!

I shall meet my first yatri friend, Deepti Bhat at the airport and I’m meeting my best friend from school after nearly a decade ( I guess)– PK who’ll take us on a one-day trip of Mumbai on the 23rd. And on the 24th – induction at IIT B,  where I shall meet you all ,my fellow yatris!!

Let’s have the time of our lives now , shall we?  

ps: Rest of my good friends, I shall blog my experience on a daily basis (hopefully) from the train’s blogging facility. Tweeting will also happen ( @g33f)

Stay tuned.

Peace

Me: Save it.  We don’t even want to know it.

Me: Alright, I accept.. I am lazy,like all the time.  

Me: Haaah! Like we didn’t know that

Me:  Please…May I?

Me: Yes, you may now draft that “biannual” blog post of yours.

Me: Thanks! And, You are sooo gonna be proved wrong. You’ll see…*hmmph*

Hey there, imaginary reader,

I’m doing great as always! Good news from my end: By the grace of the Almighty , I have got my dream job during the placement week at my insti!  

You know how different people call life different things –

“life is a climb” – Miley Cyrus  (One of her very few brilliant compositions)

“ Life is a road I wanna keep going”  – Anastasia (The awesomest Disney movie)

“Life is a highway” – Rascal Flatts ( Another awesome animated movie The Cars’ OST)

“Life is a pigsty” – Morrissey

I was wondering what life means to me & probably If I were to write a song what would I call it. I didn’t have to think much , I’d definitely call life a jigsaw puzzle. I ‘ ve felt mine was like one big jugsaw puzzle that’s slowly unveiling the bigger picture and its soooo cool how God works on it beautifully. And like a jigsaw puzzle, when one part is done, another undone part(read problem ) takes the lime light.

Well anyway,this was just a warm-up post. Believe me I’m gonna publish all those drafts this week. So, gear up for some irrelevant and outdated stuff I had to say!  

One more thing that I’m looking forward to this holiday season is the JagritiYatra I’m embarking! Ergo, this blog shall become my travelogue. Hope you’ll enjoy it!

Season’s greetings!

Front cover – The name attraction… and the ‘National Best seller’ tag.

Back Cover – Awesome summary of contents. –>

Have you ever experienced what happens when a porn movie is mistakenly played in front of your grandma and the CD player refuses to stop?
OR
Have you ever experienced what happens when a mixture of vodka and soft drink is server to hundreds of people gathered for a party?
OR
Have you ever experienced what happens when you are conspired into a murder that you had merely witnessed?

Wish I’d listened to the smartasses who said ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’.

I would like to tell ya that the book is more of a male ego trip of the author himself…juggling between 3 girls and his libido, but NO it does NOT deserve a proper review.

Why would an author wanna impart a traumatic experience to the poor reader? Maybe he’d thought he could be the next Chetan Bhagat with a movie to his credit? Now we all know who to blame.

Anywho, bottomline : Never buy an Indian author’s work if it has a great blurb, awesome title and even if it’s on a 3 for 2 offer at Landmark.

This book is a strict must NOT read (and I’m not doing negative promotions). In the end you’ll only say this : “Oh shit, NEVER AGAIN!” Also, the book’s done full justice to its name.

There you go, my book review.

Ciao~

PS: You owe me 150 bucks, Mandar Kokate !

TOO much productivity happened!  Please to remove your nerd detector spectacles and read on..

1)Participated in the Google Online Marketing Challenge for the first time.The hands-on online marketing experience was uber cool indeed!! The joy one feels on seeing ads written by her pop up on page 1 of searches – only second to seeing your ads flash on national television.So , yeah! \m/

I shall have a separate post dedicated to the GOMC event so that the future n00bs get the nitty-gritties from a ex-n00b.

2)Ennovent : As NSEF Author of Change, I was one of the chosen few to help author change in one of the social enterprises, Ennovent. That was really lucky because it was one of the very few ‘work from home’ option. I tried to help them in their social media marketing venture. One big learning from this experience was how some companies prefer organic growth as opposed to quickly growing in numbers in a short while in an unorganized way. A big #notetoself there.

3)Also, one secret project.   Will tell ya once it goes live.

4)Oh and how could I forget Project Naluvurameens! An awesome online music band. Check us out here.  Time to buck up cos  OMG we have competition – Times of India, Madurai Launch song.

5)Apart from these, the major chunk of my time was dedicated to the Summer Internship as part of my course – My first real management trainee job and boy was it fun! Learnt so much about the organisation and people and life in general, while visiting almost a thousand odd institutions. No kidding!

6)Also you’re at the end of a kickass kickboxer’s blogpost now. Learnt that in my gym class this summer.

You now know what I did last summer. Now tata, till next time!

I wish them all the very best in this noble venture!

Activity: Rang De is a pioneering web-based social initiative with a mission to provide cost-effective microcredit to low income households in India. Through an online platform (www.RangDe.Org), Rang De enables people to participate in microcredit by lending as little as Rs. 100.
Rang De has reached out to over 5900 entrepreneurs across 12 states by lending Rs. 31mn. Rang De currently funds business, education, and artisan loans. Rang De is a registered non-profit trust.

Details: You might want to read through our FAQs for a comprehensive understanding of Rang De – http://rangde.org/faq.htm

Support: Microcredit, Peer-to-peer lending, individual social responsibility, online lending, philanthropy

Note: - More Corporates to participate in our corporate connects program (one time donation which will be rotated as social investments).
- More people to blog about Rang De and on the Rang De blog also.
- Social media advisors to help us on how to take our social media strategy forward
- Java/JSP Developers who are interested in working for Rang De full time for at least a year.
- Funding for our operations.

This post is a part of BlogAdda’s Bloggers Social Responsibility (BSR) initiative. I am exercising my BSR. You can too with three simple steps. Visit http://adda.at/BSRRBSand support the NGO’s.

LinkedIn = I pee well.

Twitter = I need to pee.

Facebook = I peed!

Foursquare = I’m peeing here.

Quora = Why am I peeing? (Via EffBee)

Fellow tweeps & I had a few more to add to that list:

MySpace = listen to me pee.

StumbleUpon = I just found a great place to pee

Flickr = look at my pee through the years.

YouTube = Tell people their pee is fake.

Orkut : Can we have fraandship over pee?

And Wow, Somebody has translated that to Spanish / German (I’m not sure what)

That’s brings us to the end of what this is. But,  “Will there ever be World Peace?” read on.

Here’s the funny thing about this question: nearly everybody has an opinion, either “yes” or “no” or  “Whatever” or “Not until Rajin Kanth/ Chuck Norris takes over the world”,  But where do all those opinions come from? I say they come from the past. They’re projections of our past war-torn world.

Yes, it’s wise to let the past inform us, but it’s crippling to let the past constrain the possibilities for the future.

The future HAS NOT HAPPENED YET. .. it’s undefined, undetermined, uncharted. It’s virgin snow, there are no tracks there for us to follow, unless we mistake the past for the future.
So I don’t know if we’ll have world peace ever or not. But I know that as long as we keep taking the past and laying it out into the future, and just following those same old tired tracks again, we’ll keep getting more of the same: war.

“When the power of love overcomes the love for power, the world will know peace.” quoting my good friend Jimi Hendrix there!
YES! I think eventually somewhere someday there will be world peace.

FunFact # 3411926 : If the Russian word “mir” means both “world” & “peace”, one would be wondering “How in the world do they say ‘world peace’?” “mir mir”? I hope not, one might be confused and translated it as “world world” or “peace peace”.

The reason I was pushed to write this post is not the fact I got a 100+ RTs but the realization, that it IS possible. Twitter,you made my day (Well not totally, an hour possibly)

PeACE,

g33f

Dedication  : WeWantWorldPeace.com

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This was not really the first 2011 post I had in mind. But then, who gives a damn?

I really liked this WordPress Blog report & wanted to share it here because only WPStat would remark that my blog’s health-meter is a WOW . Wow! indeed! .. considering I had put up only 6 posts in 2010. I am truly ashamed to call myself  ”blogger”. Hopefully 2011 will be worse. ( I say year+1 would be better every year & it turns out otherwise. So that’s a wise move, no? )

Fun fact #38949 : This is the quickest blogpost I’ve put up, since the time I kept my newyear resolutions the WHOLE freaking year. (for those who dont have a sarcasm detector, that is a NEVER)

May you all have awesome times in 2011

Wishes,

Me.

PS: Fun fact #38950 As you’ll read later, or not, this blog had viewer thats 4 Boeing 747-400 passenger jets can hold to full capacity.

/* Disclaimer

“Coup de Grace : 2010 in review” is a review of a review of a review that you should maybe review to understand the review of the review of the review better.

Okay, Bad joke. I quit.

*/

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,500 times in 2010. That’s about 8 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 6 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 80 posts. There were 30 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 960kb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was November 19th with 120 views. The most popular post that day was A Rebranding mistake?*.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, facebook.com, gracelyne.com, joshimukard.wordpress.com, and balamurugesan.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for seven habits, 7 habits, coup de grace, bunking class, and the 8th habit.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

A Rebranding mistake?* November 2010
15 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

Memoirs of Those lovely days September 2009
20 comments

About October 2008
14 comments

Oh,Snap-3 : BLUE October 2009
10 comments

The Entrepreneurial Bug – Guess who’s got bitten by it? July 2010
17 comments

Oh a rebranded airtel!? Lemme check it out.. www.airtel.in <enter>

*headspin* A Spiralling swooshy ‘a’?

A merger with ‘Videocon’?, for the new one’s an upside down, mirrored look-alike.

<—>   ???!!

Capit’a’l downgraded. *pun intended*

Let me dig deep.. |P ~YouTube~ That’s a rebranding ad & a ‘jingle’ if you call it that?? /-| Wokay! Sorry rahmaniacs, but I’m under the oath.

—->   ???!!!!? :/

I dug into  Rajnikanth’s childhood rough note (Wikipedia) :  “Rebranding is the creation of a new name, term, symbol, design or a combination of them for an established brand with the intention of developing a differentiated (new) position in the mind of stakeholders and competitors.” Really? Lets probe!

From what I’ve read, ‘Bharti plans to paint India, Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Seychelles red with its new brand strategy, and this will be yet another brand-evolution for India’s largest telecom operator as the new brand is expected to be splashed all across those places. Earlier, the company merged all the segmental brands into Airtel once it appealed to the customers.Their reach to consumers will hold the key for Airtel which caters to more than 195 million customers across the world, including more than 143.3 million mobile customers in India.’ And that leads to the question, “Is this for the measly 51.7 million that $30 million is spent?” Wouldn’t the old one suffice? Oh,  the old logo was no logo I guess… & relatively the new one looks good and in a non-relative manner, bad at the same time.

Personally I think they made a mistake somewhere.
A new ‘a’. Nothing new there & I refuse to be fooled. I think if they had some sort of new philosophy being advertised along with the new image then it would have bothered me less. But as it was, it seemed visionless and therefore the ‘money hungry’ factor of the rebrand stands out too much.

The Graphic Design Blog had notions which were very relevant, which Imma quote here. (The sentences in braces are my musings)

When is Rebranding a mistake?

When you rebrand just for the sake of it, thinking you feel like rebranding just isn’t sufficient to overhaul the images of your brand. (Is this what has happened?)
When your customers are devoted to your previous brand identity and are more faithful to it, rebranding may lose brand loyal customers. (This is faintly possible.)
When rebranding does not reap proportional benefits and costs more than it pays. (A nobrainer – Majorly possible, but that’s just my opinion.)
When you rebrand because your competitor did so, you are making a mistake of rebranding without purpose. (Just cos Hutch – Vodafone happened few years ago? I think not.)
When you rebrand without adequate research, repositioning the image without studying consumer demographics and psychographics is dangerous. (I sincerely hope thats not the case)
When you think that rebranding only means a logo redesign, or altering the stationery and corporate colors. Rebranding entails a whole bundle of intangible items that are needed to be considered as well. (I hope Sunil Mittal has his feet on solid ground & I wish Bharti luck!)

Which is the right time for Rebranding?

• When your brand equity is deteriorating or stagnant, that indicates you need a thorough rebranding to overhaul the identity of your brand. (which I believe the market leader in Indian Telecom with a 33% share, was NOT)
• When your customers don’t seem to favor your brand identity anymore, it’s time that you reposition your brand in the minds of your consumers. (Another NOT from a loyal true red Airtel customer.)
• When your brand gets caught up in a controversy, a repositioning is required to improve the tarnished reputation. ( *The ‘wrong buzzer’ beeeep* NOT #3)
• When the rebranding has the muscle to offset the cost it incurs, meaning it has the potential to pay off in the long run. (We need a financial analyst to figure that out, which I soooo am NOT )
• When you realize that your current brand positioning isn’t valid for the target market anymore, or your target market changes. (NOT NOT & NOT #5)

So, is this a gratuitous wrong move? Eitherways, र300 crore bucks? Waste.Of.Money!Me and my cracked copy of Photoshop could do better! Insanely expensive for just

• The logo and stationary design
• Package and label design
• Website Design
• Designing the marketing campaign (Advertising, Billboards, Flyers, Girt Items)

Somebody (JWT?) has had a windfall!

But yeah, they were worth it, because they got more than just a logotype. I imagine the process involved a huge amount of consultancy, application of the revised brand marque across all marketing and media, preparation of guidelines and stylebook and other actions that would have examined the total brand identity, genetics and applications. The final and obvious visual expression of the logo is just the tip of the iceberg. And I’m not even employed in brand management or consultancy! Take that

The idea as Sunil Mittal puts it is, to create this new brand identity that’d give them the opportunity to present a single, powerful and unified face to our customers, stakeholders and partners around the world,  as they expand on the global stage is. It reinforces their promise to deliver innovative services and a superior brand experience to the 2000 crore customers across Asia and Africa.

Wow only if companies knew what REALLY matters to the consumers! (Nothing in between lines..errr, words, there.)

Airtel had better make a first/third impression(considering its their 3rd revamp in India). But seriously guys, I am proud to be a miniscule part of the FIRST Indian brand that’s going truly global. Kudos to you,AIRTEL !

Final dig :

Haha! Better change your lil favicon, there, Airtel!

Awesomely yours,

An enduser with endless complaints.

* – Initially, I titled this as ‘Honey , I rebranded the brand’ #ForTheDumbRecord

Do share your thoughts on the “re-branding” in the comments!

“Well, what kept me *rolls eyes* busy?” you ask? Ummm…Loads of things. Hours of churning out Yem-Bee-Yay assignments.Preparations for classes / the never ending plethora (there’s no better word.Trust me on this one) of exams. Oh, I forgot about the “fortress of Barnitude” that led to solitude. While the former reasons may not be true, the last one IS! I can’t seem to forgive myself enough for not getting a load of the awesomeness of the gorgeousness of the legend….. (wait for it) …..dary Barney Stintson, any earlier. Like him,In my body, where the shame gland should be, there is a second awesome gland. True story.(Why else would I admit the shamefulness of not watching ‘How I Met Your Mother’ for soooo long. But seriously, its a great sitcom guys. Incase you havent seen it yet, think about it – ‘why was Neil Patricson born into this world?’, ‘why were torrents created?’ , ‘Whats the reason for the existence of my creepy next door neighbour / room mate?’, ‘Why is the writer an incredible bundle of #awesomeness?’ While the answer to the last question maybe beyond your comprehension, awwwhh forget it!

Over the last couple of months, when something that makes me go happens I soo wanted to publish that to the whole world but somehow hadn’t had the time to do it (Come to think of it, Garfield had a better time management system in place). So this is a salmagundi of the \m/ happenings of my yestermonths, chronologically arranged to the best of my memory (or after a cross check with my FB wall).

TedXChennai : Mega awesome experience listening to various speakers speaking, guitar riff~ing, hiphop~ing, dancing and most of all awe-inspiring. I was the “official tweeter” and it was an amazing day – 10/10/10, with a 10/10 score.

EffBee : Yes, Mark Zuckerberg is to blame for many of the stuff that has happened to my life… and credits to him,also. (Just a thought thats crossed my mind now, Why haven’t I tried to reach out to him [add] and perhaps I shud send across some virtual gifts n buttons n fish n poultry] for being such a darlin creating what’s chellamly called by yours faithfully as EffBee.) Yes kids, EffBee has invariably replaced the @g33f on twitter & my lovely Coupe de grace. Its much more convenient and in any case, gets me more feedback & it has awakened me to loads of awesome stuff happening in and around Chennai, that I euphorically take part in! But, yeah.. I will never forget / forsake the very first social media date I had.. (My journey with “social media” afai can remember, began with Yahoo! geocities : a type of blog wonly! So this shall always be IT ) Incase you’d like to read some of my past updates, here are a few :

Term I grades are out!! :S ;[Mine’s the same as my blood group. How I wish I were that universal donor group. ;( (#SadStory)

Have always wanted to watch Don Moen perform live and experience bliss. Really happy that I was able to do that on his first trip/show in India.Still encompassed in the glorious presence! Thanks Don Moen at Chennai Team. (#AwesomeStory)

Counting Crows is addictive!*Super addicted* (#TrueStory)

Guess what??? We had a heavy metal band in church today – “Nailed” .And they are one of the 5 finalists of the Chennai Live 104.8FM BAND HUNT ! The little monster of a singer (11 years) rocked the stage & left us :OHope they win!! \m/ \m/ (#RockstarStory)

Here’s the mini-cherry on top of the regular cherry on top of the sundae of awesomeness that is my life.

I witnessed Don Moen on his first ever trip to India. It happened at YMCA grounds, here @ Chennai. One word – Overwhelming! That’s one item less on my bucket  list! Yay! One thing to add about THE guy, he has a mouth for one-liners (like an eye for details idiom ) and he cracked a few jokes on stage as we sang, “We’re gathered here, FINALLY”, the final country music dance for “God is good” & the encore, and all through the concert I had \m/ company & great fun singing along and glorifying God.

And again, it was only day before yesterday that I had the opportunity to meet with the ex-President of India, Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam who had come for a college event. Thats 2 off my B list.

It would be totally unfair if I fail to mention the glutton that’s eating up most of my 24 hours for the day, 7 days of the week – College. Business Studies is , ermm… (what’s the word I’m looking for? ) a slap-up affair. (Maybe it has slapped me in the face once or maybe more, but yes, I’m hanging in there and having a good time)

And… I’ve had several serious realizations, one of which is : “ Shut up! Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them. –  Derek Sivers” . Just letting you know that I am shutting up about a few other mini-cherries under creation.

So that’s all the time I got for you..see ya again another day.

Good Night! Sleep tight, while I go sleep with a ‘nothing done & everything undone’ *for want of a better word* trauma. If Holden Caulfield was here, he’d have joined me in exclaiming – “ Its killing me!” but, literally ofcourse. Darn I miss re-reading that book. I miss the sleep of my life. I miss the lovely weekend carnivals. I miss Father Time.

And How did I meet Father Time,today??  By cheating on Mother Absolutely Necessary,of course. TrueStory.Shamelessly told, without proof-reading.Dot.