Monday, August 30, 2010

Roller Coaster


He was world renowned for 

One - his expertise on rating the roller-coasters, for its craziness.

Two - having not given perfect 10 ratings to anything, till date.

On his tour to India, 

at a press meet he announced

"I've found the perfect 10 rating roller-coaster finally"

"and it is"

"The Indian Auto"

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Lift


It was around midnight,

A lone guy was waving his hand for a lift.

I came to a halt, few meters past him.

He walked up-to me and hopped on and said

"Just keep driving, will tell you where!!!"

"Where exactly?", I questioned.

"Where are you going?" he asked, pressing his hand on my thigh.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Hypnotized



She walked like an angel from infinity towards me.

Her lips and eyes gleaming with perfect outlines.

The closer she came, my heart began to skip a few beats.

I whistled a rhyme, loud enough for a few eye to eye glances.

She extended her tender hands towards me and said

"One - Stella Maris College"

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Great Indian Business!!!

     Pulling off a deal these days are no more "talk, impress and win over" sorts. With the advent of internet and exposure of it to wide range of people happening at a terrific pace, business with the ones across the globe has become something  like what everyone is doing these days. Hence with the evolution of the competitive market there has been principles defined and reference models setup. According to those, every business has its own stages from start to finish as a life cycle. 



Identifying the requirement
  • The needs are perfectly charted out.
  • The expectations of what all is required is set.
  • The add on features (if any required) are also outlined.
Advertising the needs
  • Though there are possibilities of potential local suppliers, it is very much essential to showcase our need in any form of advertisements, for a wider reach and quality offers.
  • The quality of the ads must also be crisp, clear and concise, explaining the intent.
Short-listing the possible suppliers
  • With the perfect execution of the previous two phases, one can be sure of getting a lot of quotations from diverse locations.
  • The short-listing of the ones should be carried out carefully having in mind the Cap-Ex and Op-Ex.
  • It is no surprise that these days the reputation of the supplier is very important and maybe their history can be verified for it.
Negotiating the Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
  • Once having identified the supplier, the terms and conditions are put forth by either parties.
  • The possibilities of how best can be supplied and how far it meets the expectation is sorted out.
Striking a deal
  • When a consensus is reached, the contract is formulated between the customer and the supplier i.e  in technical terms the "SLA" is framed.
  • The deal is struck with the provisional or whole-sum release of funds (as per the SLA) with the deadline for delivery being set.
Support and maintenance
  • Usually the suppliers offer the support and maintenance which many a time is  negotiated as a part of the initial supply deal itself.
  • Or sometimes the customer opts for a deal later, based on the working and performance of the product.

We Indians vary geographically and economically as well as in language, culture, habits, heritage  however the above is what is followed in the traditional

"Indian Arranged Marriage"

by giving unique names to each of the processes stated above and abiding by ones respective culture and tradition.






PS: This does not purport that all arranged  marriages are this way.

PPS: Any resemblance to the way  a marriage that has happened or about to happen you know is purely a coincidence and unintentional.


PPPS: Love marriages too are taking cues from these, nowadays.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Anything more to PR beyond talking?



                  Three things that are most commonly associated with Public Relations are phone, e-mails and newspapers. Most people either don't understand what PR is all about (and that constitutes 90% of the professionals who need it to support and grow their respective companies). The other 5% (include family/ friends and people you randomly meet) who no matter how much you try to explain derive this conclusion that it is one cool job where all you need to do is talk on the phone! and remaining 5% who understand the know-how of PR are rare finds, alas!

           So the following is to clarify that those working in a BPO or a call centre are paid for talking on the phone. While in this profession it is just one of the tools to communicate with clients/media/internally just like in any other business.

            PR is one service that no professional company can ignore and why should it be limited to businesses. Personal PR is given as much importance now days. A statistic say, in a month a PR company gets at least 3-4 requests from individuals who want to take on this service to boost their image. Basically everyone from a company like TATA to a Pizza Corner or an NGO, from Bill Gates to a Kathak dancer need PR for brand building and to talk to the world.

          I know, doing PR for Bill Gates probably sounds like a cake walk and a wow project to work on. Almost everyone may say yes. Though it is comparatively easy but to walk on the cake you need to bake it and for baking that perfect cake you need to get ingredients in the right proportion.

         PR is a profession for thinkers! It needs people who can think, analyze, conceptualize, identify the respective target audience develop strategies; make a POA to achieve the set targets. and mind you no two clients even if they belong to the same industry will have the same strategy. It requires patience in abundance and most importantly it is a 24X7 profession, especially if you work with a hospital client. If the hospital gets an accident victim or a VIP patient one needs to be on site even at 5 am to execute the crisis management process.

       A PR desk gets about 15 newspapers every day and about 20 magazines a month. For a PR professional reading them all (if time permits, else there are dedicated people to do this part of the job alone) is step one. It helps to identify how to place the clients, which story can be plugged where so on and so forth. Oh yes, most of the stories you read in the paper are thanks to people like us!

         Clients think PR is like magic which will boost up their sales or enhance image in a day and that is a constant fight factor for us! Because PR is a sustained effort that supports the advertising and marketing efforts of a company. Ironically this is one of the most under-mined/rated services but highly valued and required at the same time. Costs are negligible in comparison to the huge advertisement budgets and involve much more hard work. For an advt. there is a fixed cost for which you buy space in a newspaper or on a channel.While we put out the same message without paying a penny to anyone and the art is in packaging it perfectly!

          Though unfortunately there are no set standards in the industry to measure the worth of PR but it is said that a story via PR carries 5 times more value than an advertisement. The credibility attached to it is higher as it is a third person endorsing your message.

        Some feel PR has a high glam quotient attached to it. Yes, there are these stuff like, to dine at fancy restaurants and stay at 5-star hotels but then there are no free lunches :). The 'G' factor is hardly an attraction.What keeps us going is to see our stories reaching out to the masses, just like hitting the bull's eye!

        All of this is just the tip the iceberg of what a PR profession is all about. Just because what one notices most is that the PR people talk it doesn't really mean that's all they can do...!


PS: This is a guest post and the views expressed are solely from the mouth of it's author

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Adam and Eve - At the fashion show


   In the lines of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and Why Men don't listen and Women can't read maps, the following is a stereo-type conversation between the genders.

The Act


         Adam and Eve are at a fashion show and towards the end, the best pair of the show walk down the ramp.


The Reaction


Eve - Oh my god...(Looking at the girl with eyes glued and wide open). Did you look at those olive tops with those beige spots she's wearing. It's so lovely. Well...is it just me or that skirt of hers made of leather is too sleazy, may be that's why she's a model, who knows. What is so abnormal is her hair style. She should have done the split curls to compliment her skirt, instead. Don't you think that tops if in maroon would suit me well?

Adam - (Without turning towards Eve)....yeah I guess so. 
His mind voice - Wow...what a girl, she'z hot..!!!

Eve - (Turning on the focus to the guy and observes till he exits...) Isn't he cute?? The way he carried himself, his dressing, hairstyle and everything... I think he's way better than the girl with whom he walked with, don't you think?

Adam - (Turning at Eve with a surprised look...) Who?!?..what...which guy?
               
 
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