as I see it

We are the Champions?

The World Champions?

Also, one of the best Test Teams in the world?

Is it? Obviously Yes! We are. But is it true only for our soil?

Do we fail anywhere outside? Do we fail miserably in our 'tests' on foreign soil?

It hasn't really been the case to this extreme until the recent past.

I was very disappointed when my team, which made me and every Indian proud by lifting The World Cup last year after 28 yrs, was thrashed and could do nothing but submit in England. There is anyways some not-so-soft-corner somewhere inside me for the English, for they ruled us and did what not (according to the History Books I studied in school). And whatever happened in England last year hurt me deep inside.

I was so eagerly waiting to see my favourtie cricketer, The God of Cricket, The Sachin Tendulkar to score The Special Century right there, at The Mecca of Cricket, The Lord's. Sadly, that didn't happen. I told myself, if not first, then it will be in second innings, and likewise, if not this match, then the next. The wait just continued. In any case, I agree, it is just a number. But I still wanted it in Lord's, his first there, if it would have been.

Nonetheless, it is OK, that it did not happen. But what really bruised me was our dismal batting performance. The Batting performance of The Team with not only a strong batting lineup, but applaudable bench strength as well (possibly for the first time ever since I have started watching cricket). And to rub it in, was the constantly publicised, omnipresent fact, that my team had failed to score more than 300 even once! One man stood tall, The Wall, but all he could see from the other end, was one after the other wicket fall.

All over Facebook, Twitter, News Channels, News Papers, and Real World almost everyone was criticising almost everything about my team but honestly, I still believed that they would do better in the next innings and the next, maybe the next after next but that did not happen. This sad chapter is still lying inside me in a corner that I did not wish to visit anymore.

Sadly, I did today. What made me do that is perhaps a pessimist view of the near future when, hope-not, we fail that bad or even worse, again. Everything now seems to be exactly the same - My expectation of The Master to score The Special Century at the MCG, then if not in first innings then maybe the next, then maybe the next match, and here I stand in the present. Another batting collapse in the first innings at the SCG, where The Cricket God averaged 221 before this match (making me all the more excited in anticipation of witnessing history being written).

You ask me again, and I will again say, it is not the failure to reach that magical figure by The Sachin that is bothering me. I will be brutally honest, it is what is happening, the collapse. OK, I can accept Sehwag doing only what he has managed to do, I can accept Gambhir going through a bad phase perhaps, but it is very very hard for me to hear, see, digest the failure of The Wall and The Very Very Special Man in Australia.

How are we managing a batting collapse yet again? Bad pitch, unfavourable conditions maybe, but then how does one of the weakest Australian side in 15 years pile up runs on the scorecard, that including a century and a maiden test double hundred. It is frustrating, upsetting, disappointing to say the least.

Well of course, there are positives that even I see in this series like our Captain always does. For one, The Master looks in good touch. And then, Ashwin knows how to use the bat.

But isn't it time to seek answers to reasons for failure overseas and do something about it, rather than just keep "looking at positives" and "not being bothered about a loss or two". Of course, I believe my team is already doing that and are perhaps also trying out things but after seeing today's play there are bad visuals haunting me.

Someone like Ponting who was going through, perhaps, the worst phase of his batting career quite recently, is standing strong, playing better and better and better in every knock, while I sit and see The Wall not having reached even 100 in the 3 innings and The Laxman who has a history of giving sleepless nights to all Australians, having played a prank on them thrice, scoring a total of 5 in this series till date.

I hate myself today for even accepting that we are good, perhaps the best, only on our soil and that I accept defeat already. "Hate" because, after all I should support my country, patriotism, etc. But then, of course this is the outcome of what has happened since the England Tour. It is the heart vs. mind game, wherein my heart overruled all that my mind said during the England series. Of course, the outcome of that series has subdued my heart to an extent that it is not even contesting and standing up against what my mind is saying now.

And now for the icing on the cake (read: rubbing salt into wounds), one of my friends who is in Australia gave me an account of what he is going through - being mocked at on the streets. Not only this, he says, at times when he calls up his manager at work to say "application is down" he gets a reply saying "wall is down.. so is tendulkar" (sic).

Sigh, let me try and end this frustration and disappointment initiated chain reaction of blabbering with my Heartadramus prediction - The Heroes will Rise, it will get better, this match ends in a draw and it improves exponentially from there on.

Sorry to break it for your hearts, I am laughing at what I wrote in the last line. We are all set to lose this one.

And yes, maybe I am taking all this too seriously and making a big deal out of this, but well if you don't, I am sorry you wasted your time reading this, it wasn't for you.

I just couldn't stop myself from writing this! Yesterday, was a Saturday and I had a good time with friends listening to all now (maybe) popular Punjabi songs with weird lyrics. One song that was mentioned but wasn't heard (due to our limited database at that time) was a song titled 'Pajero'. So, on a lazy Sunday afternoon today I searched for this track on Youtube and got this

Baith Pajero ch, Special teri khaatir lyaaya

I quite enjoyed the song, especially the lyrics which in English means "Come sit in my Pajero, I got it specially for you", much like the cheesy and weird and (maybe) awesome lyrics of 'Amplifier'

I was scrolling through comments to see how did other people like it and found a comment that read

its a copy of haryanvi song...(madam beth balero me)

and so quite obviously I searched for that title on YouTube (yes I have a lot of time, lazy Sunday afternoon you remember?) and to my horror shocking surprise found this (from the album "Friendship")

Madam Baith Bolero Mein, Special Teri Khaatir Laaya

The lyrics have similar meaning, the music is similar and the subject is the same - Madam, SUV and a Gaana; just that the SUV in this case is not a Pajero but Bolero and it is a Haryanvi song (according to the comment) and not Punjabi!

I was pretty dumbstruck to find such insane resemblance in everything - Madam, SUV and the Gaana!

But then in MBA terms, it seems to be a simple case of Geographical adaptation of a winning concept in some other Geographical region.

Some more digging in to find out which actually came first and it does seem like the Bolero came before Pajero. For one, the Bolero one seems to have been created in 2008 and the Pajero in 2010 and secondly, there is another modified version of the Bolero which could mean that Bolero was the first one, got famous and became the source of inspiration of others. Here is Bolero ver. 2 (surely Haryanvi), though this one is clearly a "me too" of the original "winning concept" and even in the same geographical region. It is not a "copy" but a "me too" and it does have a USP of its own - The Start, a conversation followed by a couple of Shers

Madam Baith Bolero Mein, Special Teri Khaatir Lyaaya

Anyways, I found another masterpiece where our singer takes a dig on the 'Bolero' and asks the 'Madam' to come to his _____?

No, you couldn't guess it!

A Safari!

Here it is:

Ho Madam Chor Bolero Ne, Ho Aaja Khadi hai Taiyaar Safari

And it was a Oh My God! moment definitely! Pajero, Bolero and now Safari. Though am no expert in different languages, the title in the video "Hoor Pari Jaipur Ki" seems to establish a Rajasthani connect. And I need not explain why it is different from others. Why don't you try? (Yes, correct. 1. Geographical Adaptation of a "winning concept" and 2. It takes a dig on the "winning concept" itself!)

We have had 1 Pajero 2 Boleros and 1 Safari till now, here I found something more - A New Safari! Similar set up, similar context, similar Music but a different USP. It has been positioned as a NEW Safari. The NEWness of the SUV is unique and new to this track as compared to previous ones.

Ek Baar Dekh Baith Ke Ne, Main Nayi Safari Leyo

No, no, no there is no point I am trying to make with this post, though maybe I would like to believe that someone somewhere used some SUV to create one track and then maybe it became so immensely popular that it was adapted to other SUVs... err.. regions and languages.

But then thinking of it, though SUVs have their own charm they form a very small percentage of the total vehicle parc in India. So, what is your guess on the car with the highest vehicle parc (number of cars on road)?

Yes, of course - A Maruti! and yes, yes, yes you guessed it right. Even I was pretty shocked but yes it does exist. Presenting to you - Madam, Maruti and Gaana! This one is a Rajasthani Number

Madam Baith MARUTI Mein, Special Teri Khaatir Laaya

So, c'mon people, one last time. What is different about this one? Yes, correct. Though all previous ones were revolving around a niche segment of SUVs, this one appeals to the masses!

Anyways, on a more serious note, how do you explain so many different creations on the same basis - Madam, SUV and Gaana? The concept is the same, music is similar and so is the meaning/context of the lyrics. Does it have something to do with popularity that leads to inspirations? Or What is it? Any explanation?

And why do you think Bollywood doesn't have its own version of such a popular track? Or maybe the immense popularity and the sheer number of different versions have kept them from touching this one?

So, I think its apt to expect the many fans of Salman Khan or Dabangg or Malaika Arora Khan remembering the lyrics of the current blockbuster item number Munni Badnaam Hui Darling Tere Liye. If not, they surely do remember the use of a brand 'Zandu Balm' in one of its lines (a total of FIVE times in the song). Here is a recap just in case:

Munni badnaam hui, darling tere liye
Munni ke gaal gulabi, nain sharabi, chaal nawabi re
Le zandu balm hui, darling tere liye
Munni badnaam hui, darling tere liye
Munni ke gaal gulabi, nain sharabi, chaal nawabi re
Le zandu balm hui, darling tere liye
Munni badnaam hui, darling tere liye

So, the movie became an instant hit, beating 3 Idiot's record of biggest opening on box-office or something and quite expectedly, a super duper hit Salman Dude Khan's movie with an item number featuring Malaika Arora Khan had to be a HIT. And so it did.

And here came in the twist, Emami sues Dabangg for using ‘Zandu Balm’ name in ‘Munni Badnaam’ song (http://goo.gl/uLFQ). This is just one of these links. You can see how this news spread like wild fire all over (http://goo.gl/VfOz).

The company has reportedly sent a notice to Arbaaz Khan Productions Private Limited, claiming that it's the sole copyright holder of "not only the product, but also the name Zandu Balm"and asked the producers to withdraw the song or delete the name of the product from it, failing which it might take action against them.

And then? Less than 10 days later we see this - New Zandu Balm ad to encash popularity of Dabangg's song Munni Badnaam (http://goo.gl/UJT3)

After reaching an out-of-court settlement with Arbaaz Khan Production for the use of words in its chartbuster Munni badnaam hui, Emami is now ready to cash in on the popularity of the song with a new TV commercial to be aired within two days

Interestingly, 2 days before the above news story Arbaaz Khan posted the following two pictures in his tweets:

http://twitter.com/arbaazSkhan/status/25589184855

http://twitter.com/arbaazSkhan/status/25601957447

And not much after this we did see Zandu Balm's new ad with a clipping of the song Munni Badnaam and a voice over saying something like "Munni Ka Favourite Balm, Zandu Balm... etc etc."

Mere coincidences? A brand like Zandu Balm who hasn't used any TV Commercials for really really long now all of a sudden grabbed upon an "opportunity" in an "out-of-court settlement"?

Who knows? Maybe it was a well planned out strategy (Abhishaik strongly advocates it).

A prospective super hit item number using a brand name 'Zandu Balm' in its lyrics (a total of FIVE times in such a way that it features more than once in both 'Mukhda' and 'Antra' of the song)
Zandu Balm suing the producers and gathering Muft ka Prachaar across news channels and on the World Wide Web
Out-of-court settlement of Malaika being the brand ambassador and a new Zandu Balm ad to use the song's clips!

The sequence of steps seem to smooth and quick to sound true!

Kya khela hai! Waah! Marketing ka Mayajaal!

Consumer is caught unaware of how brands are being placed in their heads. Is it the right way? They say, everything is fair in love and war. Yaha kaunsa love aur kaunsi war? Maybe, we should change it to 'Everything is fair in love, war andprachaar'.

By the way today, I saw yet another ad of Zandu Balm featuring Virendra Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik and Amit Mishra. Any connection with Delhi Daredevils now? Prospective sponsor? And does this also mean that these 3 players would remain with Delhi Daredevils even after the new auction process?

Maybe, soon we may see a new ad - Munni Badnaam Hui Delhi Daredevils ke liye

Waise Munni Badnaam bhi hui to kya hua, woh kehte hain na

Badnaam huey to kya hua, Naam to hua!

PS: We all would also have noticed Chaini Khaini using a clip of the same song for in its campaign. Badnaam hui Munni, kaam hua Marketing Departments ka

He loved riding and was gushing through on his Electric Blue Yamaha R15 from his workplace at IFFCO Chowk, back home. Steering through the road filled with Santros, Pulsars, Wagon Rs, Accents, Passions and what not, he was enjoying riding under the cloudy sky. Though he knew he would get drenched, but still he periodically looked up to see the clouds, to see if it could pour. Riding his bike was this one thing that for the duration of the trip, took away all the worries of his life and filled his inner self with a feeling of joy.

Not soon after, he noticed a Ravishing Red New Karizma ZMR right next to him, possibly just out of Ambience Mall or one of the various MNCs near Shankar Chowk. No words exchanged, the two riders just exchanged glances, at each other and at the bikes. It didn't take much time when the two seemed to be experiencing an adrenaline pump, intensity of which was being made vocal through their bike's engine sounds.

What happened next is easy to guess. Steering through the roads, you see the R15 just behind the Karizma and in the time that passed by when you blinked, the R15 stood ahead with the Karizma not far behind. Signal after signal, the two seemed to be tied with a rope or maybe the bikes experienced some magnetic force of attraction.

What appeared a bit unusual was the act by the Karizma rider, who was trying to pull out his phone from his left pocket and at the same time signaled in the air, seemingly to everybody, but directed to the R15, that he has a call and would halt. Why? What was the intention and what was the need? Nonetheless, the R15 acknowledged the signal and counter-signaled that he would go for a fuel refill at the Petrol Pump 50m ahead. Fuel filling was done and the R15 rider smiled to himself, thinking about the short trip that was over.

But it wasn't. As soon as he came out of the pump, he saw the same Karizma waiting out for him. The two started again, but this time together, with no thought of staying ahead of the other. Enjoying their ride, moving past the heavy after office traffic they were joined by another teammate. A CBZ Extreme. What unseen force was bringing them altogether? And though they were on their super than usual bikes, they weren't even over speeding. In fact, with the roads densely populated with vehicles and the inner thought of riding safe and responsibly, they didn't even cross 60 km/hr.

They continued their ride, together, one signal to another, being separated by cars, buses due to space constraints and coming out ahead, back again, together. All this continued for another 30-40 minutes when at the Jhandewalan Hanuman Temple, the CBZ slowed down and signaled that he would go right. The R15 and Karizma were to go to the left. But this wasn't the first junction they were crossing. All this while they kept moving, one after the other and together, crossing signals, small turning lanes and intersections. Then what suddenly made the CBZ feel that it was NOW that their paths split. Here, on this junction. Strange.

Through their helmets they exchanged smiles, a thumbs up gesture and they continued. CBZ on its way to the right and the other two on the left. Another 15 minutes and at the Karampura Chowk the Karizma signaled its intention to take right and slowed down to halt before the turn. What again got this sense of different direction? They had crossed another few junctions after the departure of their third team mate but the thought of possibility of different paths didn't pass by their minds. Why?

Again an exchange of smiles, a tap of fists, the Karizma steered right while the R15 continued straight. An unsaid, unplanned bond or a sense of belongingness did exist here. A sense of understanding when it came to different directions was on display here. When humans try hard to sail through relationships, maintain a level of understanding, talk out unwanted problems and knowingly make efforts to scrap out rough patches amongst them, even in blood relations, what created the unplanned link between the three strangers? Where did the understanding creep in from? What constructed, transformed and developed 'The Connexion', the connexion between strangers, between strangers who didn't even exchange their names?

To start with, let me declare that this is not a April Fool's Day Joke. This is something I saw today and found weird.

So how many of us have heard of the brand Tasty Treat? And how many of us know that it is actually a brand introduced by Food Bazaar itself?

I just went to Food Bazaar today and was surprised to see this:

Its their own brand. Why do they have to show it like this? MRP was set by them and "Our Price" is again them. Where from the savings of Rs. 20? I am not really aware if the Tasty Treat brand products are available outside Food Bazaar but even if they are, this display is weird. Both "MRP" and "Our Price" are indeed Food Bazaar's price. Are they trying to fool customers?

In any case, outlets like Food Bazaar and Star Bazaar are coming up with their own in-house brands for almost every category now (especially food) and in some cases the packaging is so similar to the other popular product in the category to easily deceive someone to actually be the 'popular' brand.

Now, on top of that, doesn't a display like this make the consumer feel that it actually is something which is otherwise expensive and on discount here? Nice tactic, but is it right, given that both prices are their own. They could have easily written 500 instead of that 75 also then. What do you think?

as I see it

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