At the cost of breaking away from my usual techy write ups, here’s a lone exception that stems out of desperation.

I am admitting that there indeed are dozens of very good Public Relations (PR) people in the business of media. These know better than to make the mistakes that others make and continue making. Remember that I am not trying to tar all PR professionals with this brush, but unfortunately, there are still a stinking lot of PR people who JUST DONT UNDERSTAND or rather choose to ignore your directions. (more…)

People leave organisations for a change of job. I am among those lucky few who got to keep my organisation and change my job.

From feature writing and calling myself, rather pompously, the mind of the strategist, I  now see myself as ‘newsense’ value for the organisation. In the last few months have been trying to breka news in marketing, advertising, consumer goods, durables and apparel.

That explains my disappearance from the blog scene for some months. In NEWS you work with a gun on your head. Either you get the news, or the competition gets it.  

In the current scenario companies are flooded with choice to get their news published. 

A lil bit of gossip. A CEO told me recently, “I can give you news if you commit me a front page coverage”. Another company in the media business always send a press release, a day after it’s shared “exclusively” with one paper. Bad decisions all of these.

But in a scenario when everything is measured in terms of an ROI, corporates are possibly measuring their performance with an “editorial ROI”. But this is one investment that could backfire badly. Think about it…and do share your views!

Hold on! Wasn’t I supposed to sneak back into the blogs scene? Would reserve explosive writing for a later date.

After forgetting my password once and nearly twice, am finally back… two months after making resolutions to Govind, our web ed.

Feels nice to start again… on a medium that helped me get in touch with long lost friends, before Orkut became an Indian name. At least for the “net-challenged” like us.

keep the faith!

Console gaming is presently one of my passions. I have had the chance to look at the Xbox 360, GameCube (though briefly) Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2), and now I also hope to lay my hands on the PS3, once it is out in India. But that does not mean that I am writing off PC gaming. A few industry analysts maintain that consoles will dominate the video game landscape hereon, but I would beg to differ. (more…)

One thing that annoys me the most is jumping around my portable music player (SanDisk’s Sansa) and figuring what to do with the dangling wires. I tend to wrap them around Sansa itself, but that usually means I end up replacing earpieces every three months (the wires just snap so easily). And when the cables end up in a tangled bunch, it only adds some more decibels to my already high-pitched sound. (more…)

Here are some oft-quoted euphemisms. (more…)

The other day, when my daughter dressed up to go to a friend’s party, I was intrigued to note two straps that ran up her back and were knotted behind the neck. “Is that a swimsuit you’re wearing under your tee?” I asked her. “It’s an inner,” she scowled back at me. “An inner,” I was intrigued, “is that like…?” “Yes, yes,” she said, clearly embarrassed by my interest in her lingerie. “But why is it knotted up behind?” I continued to probe further. “Because it’s a halter, get it?” she retorted, before stalking out of the room. (more…)

BY S K SARDA*
 
Since after the reopening of the Nathu la pass on 6th July 2006, Sikkim Chamber of Commerce has been urging  upon the Indian Government to influence Chinese  government to waive the Special Permit requirements for foreigners visiting Tibet Region of China. (more…)

The Maharashtra chief minister is on record to say his state wants to bring down state sales tax on petrol and diesel. That’s good news. Now, guess why he wants to do it. Not because oil prices are down to $60 a barrel, not because he thinks you and I are getting squeezed every which way possible. Rather, its because oil dealers in the state are protesting. As I see it, their livelihood and interests clearly matter more than the millions who shell (pun not intended) out extortionate prices for petrol and diesel everyday.  (more…)

A recent conference organised by The Association of International Schools of India (Taisi) had everyone bewildered.  This was because there was no clear-cut definition of which school can really call itself “international”.

(more…)