My cousin is studying to be an architect in one of Mumbai’s premier institutes. All I see the girl of 20 doing is slouch over huge sheets of sketches, sit amid a pile of instruments to make models of her building designs and, if time permits, sleep. Over the last one month, she has barely managed to sleep for more than four hours every 24 hours on an average. She cannot pursue a hobby. She does not go out with friends.

We may try suggesting ideas like efficient time management and smart work, but all that serves nothing really. I have seen upfront how most of these students sit night after night working on their assignments and travel intimidating distances (typical of Mumbai) to college and back.

What is worse, is this is likely to continue for another couple of years before she can be on the job. There is no guarantee that things will be any easier then.

An acquaintance of my cousin, suffering the same deal in college, recently dozed off while riding his bike to college, and suffered a fatal accident. He had not slept a wink in two days. His mother continues to blame the rigours of the course for what happened to her son.

The institutes say that professional courses such as these mould students into growing up into sharp individuals, willing to work hard and seamlessly to produce quality results. They say it prepares the students to cruise through the difficulties of a competitive professional life and pile on as much work as they can.

Parents, caught between their children’s aspirations, concern for their health and wellness, but worried about a secure career, are torn and helpless.

Where are we headed towards with this brand of “professionalism”?

We are all training ourselves to become rats, running after the proverbial cheese. What we don’t realise is, it is just within reach, only if we change our manner of approaching it.

We want a career to make money - to be able to buy the things that make us happy - so that we can go on vacations and spend time with loved ones - to be able to pursue hobbies that are thrilling, and so on and so forth. We just want too many things to make us happy.

Very well. But we are so busy pursuing a career that we are forgetting to live. We buy things that we barely get to use - because we are too busy. We sleep through holidays and vacations - because we are too tired. And hobbies? No! That’s for kids anyway.

We may be in that positions in our careers where we live in 5-star hotels and travel business class in flights while travelling for work. That sure counts as “comfort”. But how long has it been since you haven’t lived out of a suitcase or ate a meal cooked by your mother or wife? Do you know the names of your children’s friends? When was the last time you spent a good two hours, doing just what you wanted to without being interrupted by an official call?

So, in effect, we study to get a job, to earn money and live a comfortable life. But where is the comfort?

Look under that long list of wants that you have begun to label as your needs. Maybe you will find it there.

I first became familiar with the whole idea of Saint Valentine’s Day while reading Archie comics as a child. And within no time of greeting card companies making an entrance in India did we have a new set of days to mark on our calendars - Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, Rose Day - and if I were to believe some of the trending topics on Twitter, Proposal Day, Teddy Day and Promise Day!

Corporations and businesses are beyond rejoicing the sudden burst of love in the air. Added to the agony of having your eyes blinded by too much exposure to reds and pinks everywhere, you also see a sudden flood of V-Day offers. As if fine jewellery, dining, flowers, chocolates and stuffed toys holding red hearts were not enough to profess one’s love, now gyms offer discount on couple memberships, spas and resorts offer discounts for couples and beauty salons have special packages that allow you to prettify yourself (whether to look pretty for your existing Valentine or to attract a new one, that’s left to you).

Mobile phone operators have special discounts for calls to be made to specific numbers during the Valentine’s week, Couples get bigger discounts at retail outlets, and, I may not be quite off the mark if I say builders and developers also have tricks up their sleeves to dish out a special treat for their buyers on V-Day.

There are also special V-Day movie releases that make our candy-floss brand of filmmakers the most sought-after celebrities to be interviewed in every form of media. While I do love love stories, the idea of a movie made specially for the occasion for one to hold hands with their Valentine seems a little too much. Policy makers worldwide, not to be left behind, are also spreading their share of love and have set #FedValentines trending. Of course, the double entendre in Fed chief Bernanke’s constant talk of stimulus to ease economy is just too hard to resist.

On the other hand, preservers of our sacred Indian culture are balking at the whole thingamajig. In the three years since the Pink Chaddi Campaign, instances of violent protests against public displays of coupledom on V-Day may have gone down, but the attempts to curb the “immoral foreign influences” from “soiling Indian culture” still exist. Right-wing activists and supporters see red (pun intended) and stay in the news for their agitated comments against the whole concept of V-Day. The Chhattisgarh government seems to be trying to adopt the middle ground by renaming February 14 as Parents’ Day. I cannot help but be reminded of a certain Bollywood blockbuster whose tagline said “It’s all about loving you parents.”

On the personal front, I was trying to buy a cosmetic item yesterday. I couldn’t decide between two different brands that seemed equally good. To help me make up my mind, one of the sales ladies helpfully pitched, “Mam, if you buy our brand, you get a box of two decorative candles free. It’s a special Valentines Day treat”, and held up a tacky packet of two rose-shaped candles. That was not incentive enough for me to pick the brand and I said so to the lady behind the counter. She seemed amused and asked me if I believed in the concept of Valentines Day. I said I did till everyone decided to try and make money or gain publicity out of it.

Needless to say, she looked at me like I were the Mr. Scrooge of Valentines Day and decided to treat me like a customer who did not warrant even a smile because of her apparent anti-Valentine sentiments. I bought the brand she was selling anyway.

Sigh! So much for love.

A fitting tribute to Dev Anand (or Dev Saab, if I may) can only come from someone who knew him closely, or had at least interacted with him. I only knew him from his movies, his songs, his interviews that I read. I never knew him personally, but going by what I had been seeing and hearing about him ever since I began to make sense of the world, I could have never associated death with the evergreen and young-at-heart Dev Saab. But to be woken up with news as this on a Sunday morning leaves one lost for a long time.

Why lost? Somehow, his energy and enthusiasm for life rubbed off on people when they were low. Things just seemed simpler when you saw an octogenarian conduct himself with such charm and effortless suaveness, as if the world sang to his tunes. When you see a man like that, you willingly bend over with respect. His perspective on life, the stardom - which he never took lightly, but also never shoved up people’s faces - was handled with graceful dignity. And he cared a damn about what the world thought of him - A perfect blend of power, attitude and fame. That’s the kind of man every man wants to be. That’s the kind of man every girl dreams of being with.

With a handsome face and the tuft of hair falling over his forehead, a disarming smile that set a million hearts aflutter, a demeanour that made men want to woo their women in the same flirtatious manner, but most of all a zest for life, a constructive restlessness that set him apart from all lesser mortals including you and I, Dev Anand remains a man beyond all definitions we can make up to describe ordinary human beings.

My home was a place where elders sang film songs with lots of enthusiasm, and while my generation was growing up with the trashy, but addictive movies of 80s and 90s (which I watched a lot too!), my sensibilities were unconsciously getting more and more attracted towards songs my parents, uncles and my grandfather loved. They were a constant presence in my life. Sometime during those carefree days of childhood, I remember looking at Dev Anand while he sat atop a car and serenaded Asha Parekh singing “Jiya ho jiya kuch bol do” while she sat in a train, and telling my mother, “That is such a handsome man!”

In a black and white world (all pun intended), his contemporaries Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar played the righteous heroes who advocated everything pure and pristine. The villains were purely evil. Dev Anand was among Bollywood’s first leading men to don shades of grey, making him human… making him someone the audience identified with. That nonchalant smoking of a cigarette while he sang “Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya” remains a favourite with most cinephiles and the image speaks of rebellion in its its most understated yet potent form.

His production banner, Navketan, started with brothers Chetan Anand and Vijay Anand, launched careers galore, made superstars out of junior artistes, collaborated with the best in show business to give us cinematic gems like Jaal, Baazi, Hum Dono, Guide, Johnny Mera Naam, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Jewel Thief and many more. More than a fair share of mimicry artists make a living only because a legend like Dev Anand lived.

It is unfortunate that in the last decade or so, Dev Anand’s work met with a lot of ridicule and criticism about everything. His choice of actors, scripts and the fact that he continued to act in all his films made everyone find something sarcastic to say. There was a multitude that marvelled at his willingness to keep working, the unbounded energy that refused to keep him sitting down, that did not allow him to “act his age”. The fact that the 17 odd films he made in the last 20 odd years sank at the box office without a trace, and he zealously continued to make films, not caring what the world thought of him, not caring to “belong” and to conform, says something about his indomitable spirit. He sure could teach us a thing or two.

Dev Anand’s filmography is vast, and so are stories that people have about him; all of them being centered around his creative passion. He had apparently once said, that some day, when he retires he would like to relax, watch his older films, read books, and maybe write. That was never to happen, for a man with as much energy and such boundless passion for life, never retires. He just moves on to a place that appreciates him for who he is. And that is when we know we have lost something priceless.

It is surprising to observe what power or access to power can do to most human beings.

Some friends and I were standing outside a mall, saying those extended goodbyes that come about when college friends get together and reminisce the good old days. There was a lady with her shopping cart full of things, waiting for her husband to get the car from the parking lot. Out of nowhere, an old SUV comes along - full of women in the backseat and driven by a man who looked positively inebriated - in reverse and bumps the lady to catch her off guard. She begins to shout out to the driver, who is oblivious to her shock, anger and the glares of the bystanders. He continues to take the car in reverse. While the lady moved aside, she couldn’t pull her shopping cart out of the car’s way in time, prompting everyone around to start shouting out to the driver to watch where he was going.

The driver stopped. Dazed and obviously simmering from being told that he was wrong, he looks out of his window and asked in a sinister tone, “what’s wrong?” He clearly was warning us against telling him what was wrong. The matter then escalated to a full-blown argument between him and some five of us among the bystanders. None of could understand how he was so unapologetic about his carelessness and moreover so arrogant. Even the mall’s security guard stood timidly in a corner, saying nothing. Knowing that this was going to be a futile exercise, the public decided to ignore the drunk driver, who then had no choice, but to go back and drive his car.

It was obvious afterwards why so. The number of his car revealed he was associated with a major political party with considerable clout. The man was very evidently nonchalant about his mistake and his unwillingness to even come anywhere close to accepting it. People just deiced to go their own ways after helping the lady with her shopping cart.

It took me back to a certain case study discussion that dealt with power and access to power. While the concept in sociology is quite contested and does not have a particular definition, certain situations bring power play among social group to the fore very prominently. Marx’s sociological theory of conflict with the ruling class oppressing the subject class by virtue of its ownership and control of resources fits in here to quite an extent. But the resistance, and the subsequent lack of attention to the “ruling class” member here reflects the general state of affairs in the country; in fact all over the world. It is not long before the indifference will turn into a raging movement that will turn the entire power game topsy-turvy.
Had the public decided to bring the man to task, I am fairly positive he would have preferred to made a half-hearted apology than be stubborn and get his bosses involved in a matter so trivial. But in this case, indifference was the best solution, since the man was revelling in the attention. It was a smart move to deny the very thing that was proving the fuel for his arrogance.

This is a subject very often talked about. What I have written has been very often said and written about too. We see new agitations brewing up in every corner of the world every second day. Dictatorship doesn’t work any longer - look at West Asia and North Africa. From the looks of it, neither does democracy - look at the US and India. All other prevalent from of governance seem to be exposing their flaws big time too. We need clarity in thought, freshness in execution and the optimism to see it all through.

On a lighter note, the first two are amply available on social media fora like Twitter and blogs such as these. I wonder how we are still as pained and wronged a society as we claim to be despite the pearls of wisdom floating about in the all-pervasive cyberspace.

But, to put in a serious thought, we need the third to make it possible.

September 5th is a day when memories of childhood come back and make most of us smile. There are reminders all around that today is a day we pay our own personal tributes to people, who, only second to parents shape us as individuals and help us become who we are. It’s Teachers’ Day.

I grew up in a boarding school, and from lessons on literature and social studies, remedial classes on math and physics, to building courage to face the grimy realities of life, my school teachers were instrumental in making me capable of getting out into the world and meeting every challenge head-on. And not to forget, they taught me how to enjoy the finer things in life - music, arts, films, sports. My learning experiences were very similar in post-graduate school, which again became my haven for I was again lucky to have met people there who helped broaden my understanding of the world around me.

I have had teachers who became my friends and continue to guide me through my ups and downs in life with a strange combination of affection and objectivity. I have friends who are as good as teachers when I so often manage to goof up. That is the wonderful thing about teaching. One doesn’t have to be a teacher by profession to make an impact on another. I have had mentors outside classrooms - among relatives and friends, mentors at the workplace and even people I have met on online networking platforms and taken a liking to.

Then comes the life everyone wants and dreads at the same time - getting a job and having to prove your worth to your organisation and superiors every day… day in and day out. But not all bosses and superiors are unreasonable as popular belief makes it sound. Some seniors at work turn out to be teachers, or mentors - the kind who make you want to outdo yourself every time and face any kind of adversity with assertiveness and confidence. These veterans of the workplace and in most cases, of the industry, always have tidbits to share that make you more adept at tackling abnormal situations that life is so good at throwing at you, life being the biggest teacher of us all.

A newbie anywhere learns the tricks of the trade best under the wing of a master, be it in the arts or in business. Numerous studies in organisations across the globe have reiterated that those who have had mentors earn more money at a younger age and are happier with their career progress. There have been mentors and proteges throughout history, in the field of philosophy, arts, military and even in sports. These relationships balancing on the thin line of personal-professional rapports have helped create legends, who credited their success to a strong mind and a never-say-die attitude to a bond based on mutual respect, pushing the limits, and unshakeable faith. You don’t need a mentor to achieve only materially. Mentors, have more often than not, proved to be excellent guides on everything about life - in not providing answers, but in giving their followers a line of thought that helps them figure out the solution and look at the problem eye to eye.

Look at Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid. An unlikely old man, who not only teaches Karate to Daniel, but also become a surrogate father and gives him lessons that give a direction to young fatherless Daniel’s life. He is a teacher and a mentor. Similarly, at the workplace too, a mentor understands your drive and gently urges you to compete with yourself, to surpass your previous achievements and create newer goals.

There are a humongous number of movies that portray the beauty of a mentor-protege relationship, Here’s a list I drew up (with help) of some of the more unconventional and unusual ones to watch and feel good about having a great mentor or being a protege who learns with an open mind - Chowringhee (Bengali) by Pinaki Mukherjee, Manin Densha (Japanese) by Kon Ichikawa, 9-5 (American) by Colin Higgins and Kyojin to Gangu (Japanese) by Yasuzo Masumura, among many more.

And of course, there are the uncountable stories on screen and in yellowed pages of books that talk of this fantastic, mostly psychologically stimulating and symbiotic relationship between people. It all makes us want to be as impactful in the way we conduct ourselves every day. It makes us look forward to learning more every day. It makes us want a Mr. Miyagi to teach us how to beat up the baddies.

There was quite a buzz sometime ago about making Corporate Social Responsibility compulsory for all organisations. Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had proposed that companies in India should set aside 2% of their profits for spending in a socially and environmentally responsible way. The government was all for passing the Bill and incorporating it into the legal framework. The idea was to promote inclusive growth.  The intent behind the proposing of the Bill may have been noble, but can performance of something that is done to fulfill legal obligations be called “responsibility”?

For now, the conundrum has been set aside, after some of India’s largest corporate houses (and best known for their social initiatives) protested against the passage of the Bill. But in a complex democracy like ours, such puzzles keep finding  ways of reasserting themselves into political agendas, news headlines and our conscience. We are then forced to ask ourselves - How do I view this issue?

It is interesting to observe that what started as a way for an organisation to give back to its surrounding community, has now become a long-term strategy for companies to build goodwill in the market and gain visibility. It is now more or less a kind of branding exercise. It is, however, still difficult to deny that there are some organisations that do it out of a genuine and benevolent wish to do some good for the less privileged. The difference between the two kinds of companies is definitely huge, and the numbers are skewed in favour of the ones seeking tangible or intangible returns on investment. But the end result has been welcome nonetheless.

I am not sure whether mandatory CSR spending would make much difference in terms of the results and tax benefits for the organisations. But the “responsibility” bit in CSR has an allusion to the character of an organisation. Enforcing it would mean removing that criteria altogether while judging an organisation’s ability to coexist with and ensure the development of the community around it. Even now it is not a foolproof means of understanding a company’s’ real motive. But the sanctity of the idea prevails. Making it mandatory would completely decimate the last shred of dignity attached to the philosophy and concept of CSR.

Take this – a 10-year-old boy parts with his hard-earned pocket money with a child begging for alms on the street. The boy does it out of compassion and because he wants to. Another boy’s parents force him to part with his pocket money to help a needy child and this one is kicking and screaming in protest, feeling nothing but malice for the poor boy. If we had to pick favourites between the two boys, there is no doubt about whom one would choose.

The example above is just a feeble attempt in trying explain my point of view about compulsory CSR. The optimist in me would still like to believe that our organisations actively engage in CSR out of their free will and in a dedicated effort to help uplift the lesser privileged sections of the community. We do not need an iron hand forcing us to do that.  What we really need is a  set of guidelines to streamline and ensure that the right problems  are addressed and the funds allotted by every organisation is managed efficiently without wastage.

Hopefully when we are confronted with this point under discussion, we will have sufficiently matured to be able to negate it by virtue of having been proactive participants in the CSR arena.

I do not like the Hindi movie industry anymore.

It was, once upon a time, classy, artistic and made me fall in love with cinema. Thanks to my father who got me hooked to the works of Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy, Vijay Anand and many more, when I was just a child.

Now, the mostly uninspiring, unoriginal, sleazy and rotten fare that is dished out to us in the name of “The coolest youth movie of the year” or “the spookiest film you will ever see” demeans my status and identity as a worthy audience/customer to what should be a product of the world’s largest film industry. But like they say, quantity can never be a substitute for quality.

It is very well known that it has only been a very short while since filmmakers in the Hindi film industry started taking the script seriously. In fact, a senior and very well known actor-producer-director is known to never work without having conducted a narration session for the cast and crew of his films - so much so, that he is labelled a perfectionist and a meddlesome character by most of his colleagues. Well, thank you for trying to be professional and trying to bring in some semblance of quality in an area that is otherwise only known worldwide for its ostentatious set designs, costumes and unreasonably impromptu song-and-dance sequences.

The pointless PR and marketing strategies don’t help. I used to work for a film and entertainment PR firm, where we had a client who had made a terrible film. I remember the numerous and frantic phone calls by the team to all journalists with requests to not lambast the movie in print and call it something that would entertain kids during their summer vacations. A very reputed senior film critic agreed readily because she was good friends with the boss of this PR firm. If that is how jobs are done, may the Almighty help us. Ever wondered why the news releases about a movie have to have only superlatives describe it?

Also, clearly in this age of aggressive marketing, no one views this as unethical. They say, “we’re doing our job. Let the audience decide by giving it’s verdict.” Don’t they realise that by overselling this “product”, they are making a promise. And in not being sure about the product they’re trying to push, they’re most likely to be not able to deliver on that promise? But who cares? As long as the client pays, they’re only doing their job!

As for the reviewers. I cannot for the life of me fathom how they happen to pass off completely inane films as “something new”, “refreshing”, “bold”, “innovative”, “hillarious” (when it is a cheap sexist or racist excuse for a comedy), or even “witty”. As a child, I used to borrow every new release from the video cassette library, till I was advised to read movie reviews before spending away all my pocket money on films I did not enjoy. I made it a habit. I still used to rely on film reviews of two very popular Indian film journalists, till very recently I realised it was of no use. No-criticism and some form of quid-pro-quo is clearly the new norm in critiquing this art form of filmmaking that is spiralling downwards in Bollywood. Surprisingly, the same journalists seem to be more reliable and objective while reviewing Hollywood releases. Makes me wonder if it is because they do not have the “connections” there to push for only 4 stars and above.

Word-of-mouth publicity by cinephile friends I trust, is definitely more honest and reliable.

The worst is the trade analyst’s or box office report. Apparently, every film has begun recovering it’s cost of production even before its release. So if the money is trickling into the bank account, the movie is a hit. And if the movie is a hit, another equally ill-designed project is launched. Er, selling of music rights, satellite television rights and distribution rights anyone? And it’d be smart to ask for verification on the cost of production and ticket sales figures that are given to us, among all the other items that go into the balance sheet of a movie production project.

Which brings me back to my favourite topic: quality control. It doesn’t help to have a good “inspection” process or a great marketing strategy if the product isn’t sound right at the conceptualisation and designing stage. You cannot make amends if the basic concept of your product is weak and vague. I wish more filmmakers realised it and based their work on sound and original scripts, rather than grind old formulae to death.

So another two people got married on the 29th of April, 2011. It’s just that one of them belongs to British royalty and so the event was to be made into a grand spectacle for half the world to ogle at, and the other half to balk at. I am sure all other couples around the world who got married on the same day, must have been left feeling oddly bereft of the attention they deserved.

Prince William and Kate Middleton were tied in the holy bond of matrimony at Westminster Abbey on the aforementioned date and the media went gaga over the display of wealth, grandeur, the bride’s wedding gown, the variety of hats and shoes on exhibit and the celebrities in attendance of what may have been among the most widely televised events in recent times.  Add to it the commentaries about the long list of etiquette to be observed and faux pas to be avoided. While the ceremony was being broadcast live on TV, I was constantly barraged with one question on phone and chat, “Are you watching it?” I wasn’t.

To be honest, I couldn’t care less for the wedding. Almost everyone gets married. I haven’t been able to attend many wedding of friends and family I would have liked to, and I haven’t even seen those wedding videos. Why then should I bother to watch two complete strangers get hitched? True, there were more pressing issues that could have made headlines while the wedding was taking place, but hello sensationalism and bye-bye news!

I do not have anything against the Royal family of Britain. I don’t even know much about them to be able to hate them. But the fact that it was THE talk wherever I went had begun to get on my nerves even before it actually happened. All that hoopla about the outfits, the flowers, the decorations, the guards and minute details of the ceremony was getting to me. Even the kiss the couple shared was analysed and made a joke of. My Facebook wall was full of posts and videos about it. My Twitter timeline was flooded with smart-alec comments, or out-of-breath live commentaries about it. It was like my life was an email inbox, and was being incessantly and mercilessly spammed with some kind of an unmanageable virus.

For those who think Indian media is the only one which went ballistic, they could have checked out BBC’s coverage of the event. Apparently the top news as I blog, is about the post-wedding party at the Buckingham Palace, “Royals on Honeymoon”, and “Kate and William share kiss on balcony”. Every other noteworthy media organisation has followed suit.

A news agency copy had a researcher of weddings and divorces predict that William and Kate will have a long and successful marriage. Random Indian celebrities whom I doubt the British are even aware of wished the couple luck. A leading news channel had a panel of Indian designers and wedding planners sit and discuss the wedding on our prime time slot with over enthusiasm.

Our obsession with the big and beautiful seems to have become the perfect antidote to the myriad problems we face in our day-to-day lives. Let’s face it. Reality is the bane we all want freedom from. Our gooey diet of fairy tales is what we should attribute this inclination to. I like my fair share of fantasies, but this was a bit too much for me.

The wedding looked dream-worthy no doubt. It could put Yash Raj Films out of business. And most men will most obviously be cursing Prince William and Kate to have given women the aspiration to have a wedding that perfect. But I must admit that to host and televise an event of such magnificent proportions, and without any glitches, is definitely something to admire. And for Kate Middleton, formerly an ordinary citizen of Britain, to have conducted herself so splendidly in the face of such public scrutiny calls for praise. The Kate was let out of the bag, and she was commendable.

How do I know even so much have been able to write this blog? Why am I even writing about it if I don’t care? Well, let’s call it an occupational hazard. And the scale and the popularity the event drew…? To much to ignore. I guess the curious person inside dominated cynic in me, which shut up, sulked and retreated into its corner.

Just when you thought certain cliched catchphrases had made their way out of our daily-speak, situations make them apt like never before.

In this instance, it was at a press conference where one of the world’s biggest IT companies, and one of India’s leading IT education providers announced a tie-up to help improve IT employability among Indian youth. When asked why the partners chose each other for this particular venture, they replied they have had several fruitful relationships with each other in the past and considering their leadership in their respective markets, they were the best choice for each other. Great!

So when we asked, “How different is what you are offering now from what your were offering before?” The answer was as good as, “Ab naye XYZ detergent ke saath, safedi ki chamkaar aur zyaada” (Now XYZ detergent makes whiteness brighter than before).

We all know. Nothing is ever new. The chamkaar is still just the same. After all, just how white can white be?

What is with everyone trying to get ahead of each other and themselves in trying to be innovative? All we’re innovating is new punchlines and ways of advertising run-of-the-mill products and services.

Gimmicks to grab attention, raise interest and arouse desire (from the very reliable AIDAS model)* are making corporates desperate for a way to differentiate themselves in the market. And make tall claims to prove themselves a step ahead of their competitors. So while detergents are essentially supposed to clean clothes and do nothing else, the differentiating factor for the latest brand on the block is to contain moisture to not dry your hands while you wash your clothes. It certainly induces the action of purchase from the target market.

But is the last part of the model - Satisfaction - important to the seller anymore? Or is the publicity and income generated from the first four stages of AIDAS enough to fulfil their obligation to their vision and to the promise they make to their customers?

I love innovation. I love new products. And I most definitely love that detergent that keeps my hands soft. All I am pondering over is how much more we can keep wanting? And all I am wondering is to what extent will we be made to believe that something is new and exactly what we were looking for?

So can the two companies who couldn’t explain what is so different about their latest offering tell me what the point of the press conference was?

* AIDAS is a psychological model of consumer behaviour that explain the stages a buyer goes through from awareness about a product/service till satisfaction derived from its use. It stands for attracting ATTENTION, raising INTEREST, arousing DESIRE, inducing ACTION and creating SATISFACTION.

Is too much information availability at the click of a button confining us in our personal space? But how does one define a personal space in an age when minute-by-minute updates of one’s life are available to people across the globe?

Looking back to 20 years ago, when newspapers and the hourly slots on the national TV channel were the only source of news and people kept aside an hour or two each day to gulp every scrap of it that came their way, I feel amazed at how means and ways of relaying news and information to others have progressed. Every moment of the day is spent knowing something new, getting updates on the political front, the real-time scores of any sporting event being held in any corner of the world and reactions to quotes of the numerous celebrities and leaders worldwide. Thanks to new age media, that as I am writing this piece, I know through posts on Twitter how the Republic Day parade is Delhi is taking shape.

With the popularisation of the internet and social networking, blogging, micro-blogging sites like Facebook, Blogger, Wordpress, Twitter, etc. the world has definitely become smaller, and it has made every individual a part of the huge media organisation as he or she is part of the chain of information flowing across closely spaced dots marking the information centres that seem to be taking over the world map in a hurry. When one is at an event and is telling his or her virtual friends about how great the event is and updating them with quotes and incidents from the venue using his or her iPhone, he or she is transmitting news; maybe not on a scale as huge as established media organisations, but he or she is acting as a reference point nevertheless.

A friend, whose blog ranks 56th among India’s top 100 blogs, writes about his travels and outings around the Western Ghats, and anyone who wishes to visit one such place would now google it to find out ways to reach it, accommodation arrangements, best season to visit there, and lo! My friend’s blog provides all the required information. What he does for pleasure becomes a guide for travellers and tourists. A cousin who actively blogs about business and commerce gets comments by random students who like his take on concepts of consumerism, value chain and the like, has his followers quoting him in their papers and presentations, and to the approval of their professors too. What he does for pleasure becomes a source of information and perspective for millions of people grappling with understanding these ideas.

Addiction to information seeking, or simply staying connected with people around the world is becoming rampant – but whether it is advantageous, or its limitations are affecting us in some latent way, we are yet to understand. While it is easier to stay abreast of what is happening around the world, the pile of information is growing at a rate which is soon going to make it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. The competition to know more and be more aware is taking a toll on our interactions in the real world. Most of us are either logged in to Facebook, Orkut or Twitter or Googling to find out about Russian literature, or we are chatting up with friends just to while away time, when we can actually go out, meet people in the real world, experience live events in our true physical form and feel more enriched than what we come across in the virtual world. We’d rather kick our heels and assimilate experiences virtually. Maybe it is another effect of a tiresome competitive lifestyle that we are too tired to go out, but we are accepting it as a convenient alternative.

Stalwarts of the Indian media industry like Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Pritish Nandy and Vir Sanghvi use new age media to raise issues, get reader comments and to get their views across to a wider audience. Tweets are also welcomed to be shown on TV programmes to show people’s stand on issues.  Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan give their fans much to rejoice about when they respond to comments to their blog posts personally. Celebrity tweets are making tabloid headlines. People recommend or slam the latest releases in their Facebook and Orkut status lines, and it works best as a word-of-mouth publicity platform. Lesser known celebrities and starlets create their own channel on YouTube to gain wider popularity. The examples are too many and the effect is for all of us to see.

Even business and advertising seem to have taken to the convenience of the internet. Ordering for a pizza and paying for it online is as simple as checking out potential life partners’ profiles online or searching for a house in a completely new city. Latest technical gadgets and automobiles are evaluated and the feedback is available for all within hours of their launch. Two days after the launch of Google’s Androis OS, even a sixth grader could rattle of its features and compare it with Windows or Macintosh. Geek-ism is in. Such is the power of new age media. We can choose the information we want and the people we want to stay in touch with.

Traditional media is still quite popular considering the internet and VAS on mobile networks are yet to make their presence as strongly felt in rural India. But for the fact that the resistance to change we look at and for information is dissolving. The smartness quotient seems to be climbing the charts, and clearly ignorance is no longer bliss.