News from GOD’S own country

Vishukaineettam

On Vishu day, as always, devotees throng the Sabarimala temple for “Kanikanal” and to get “Vishukaineettam”, but this time a surprise (or shock) was in store for them. Its believed that Thanthri gave them foreign coins as ‘kaineettam’. Hope its not American Dollars. Dollar is doing very badly in international market (1US Dollar was 41 INR, lowest in last 9 years). Don’t get surprised if you see long queue in front of Foreign exchange counter of various banks in Pathanamthitta. Devotees are busy converting their “Vishukaineettams” into Indian Rupee.

ChristNA!!!!!!!!

Mr K. J Yesudas, well known playback singer wants to enter Guruvayur Sree Krishna Swamy temple, but technically he can not because only Hindus are allowed to enter the temple. He is an ardent devotee of Krishna and has sung so many devotional songs about him. But that’s not criteria for entering. Lets wait and see whether he will be able to open “Gopuravathil” and see “ Gopakumaran”.

Ad Club, Madras, Batch the 13th,
Nothing unlucky about it!!

Atlast the dream come true, I have been selected for the Post Graduate Program on Advertising Management ( PGDAM) course conducted by Ad club, Madras. I was thrilled, after a gap of 5 years I am back to college days. This time the difference was that this course is not a full time course unlike my MBA and when the classes started I came to know that I am one of the oldest (a Dino) in the batch, during my MBAi was one of the youngest.

13th batch had 21 students (nobody knows who was the 21st person) . We enjoyed most of the sessions , hated some and ignored a few. we had some wonderful characters. Anand,Soup kuttan (who always used to drink soup before coming to class), Balaji, who became less talkative as the course progressed (thanks to batchmates), Tanya, the party planner who tried hard not to miss the first and last sessions of the course. Aahaa girl was always smiling, Nithya was the most experienced 'adgirl'. Aswin asked for treat for strange reasons. Praveen was already a half baked film maker and TNEB Engineer was our big brother. Sanjeev developed relationships across borders. Eugene was as calm as Gauthama, the Buddha .Hari kept a LAWprofile. Shatru, arun and abhi kept the batch alive. Padma attended more classes towards end. Rekha got wedded in the midst. Guru wanted to be an actor. Suresh demanded special sessions on modelling (he did not attend half the course, mind you). JP and Viduthalai were silent spectators.

And the final written exam. Everybody had a doubt, what is a brand? Ha better late than never I thought. Neverthless I enjoyed the company of these wonderful bunch of people and batch the 13th was not at all an unlucky one, I added 19 more to my friendslist!!!

Three film makers from west

In wikicamp I met these three young guys; Nic, Adam and John. They are taking a documentary film (Underdog pictures) on Wikipedia and its founder Jimmy Wales . Main theme is how information technology is affecting the world. Now they are going all around the world with Jimmy Wales and shooting.

After the camp we went for Dinner with Jimmy and Adam was with us. Adam wanted to try chicken tikka.

On way back from our dinner, we were on ECR road, Adam was surprised to see no lights in the road…. suddenly Nic pointed to the ‘thing’ that was going in front of our car and said “Hey in Indonesia, I saw the same one but that was more decorated. The ‘thing’ he was referring to was our “Autorikshaw” and I read recently somewhere that in Sri Lanka “Auto” is called a “Ground Helicopter” Both Helicopter and an Auto sounds similar huh?

It was indeed great talking to these guys; we talked about issues on outsourcing, about various countries. After Chennai, they went to Varanasi and then to New Delhi. The movie is expected to be ready by Jan 2008.

All the best for your film guys!!

Another way of opening Gmail account

My dad wanted me to write an article, and the deadline was nearing. He called the other day and reminded me about article. Now no escape from this, I thought and at last I finished the article. But now one problem!!! Dad wants the article in soft copy, in a CD. Quite a moderate demand but its too late. The CD won’t reach him, not even FedEx can do that.

I thought why complicate things? I shall send the article through mail. My Mom, who is more techno savvy than my Dad, used to Google for preparing her teaching notes, but she does not have an email id (forget about dad)

This was my plan of action

I call up Mom, give her my email id and password and ask her to take the article. But then I thought why don’t I create an ID for her? Its high time for her to use mail service. I created a Gmail account for her.

I called her. She is still there in school and asked me call after 20 minutes. I promptly called her (after getting an SMS from by brother asking to call her, why she contacted my brother? Let that remain a mystery).

All set for the big event!!!!

Mom sitting in front of the computer, I too
I ask her to connect Internet, she agrees
While connecting the net , she tells me about a couple of forthcoming weddings!!!
Net is on, she ask me “shall I go to Google?”

Hey Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Co-founders- Google), Are u listening? Where can you find such a Google loyalist?

I said NO, type www.gmail.com , she types

I :- Do you see user id and password
Mom:- Yes
I tell her the user id and password

Now she is a bit bewildered…. Hey Sandu in password everything is coming as dots, any thing wrong? Genuine question from a novice.

She logs in and sees the article. Yeah I got it!!! She yells!!!!
I ask her to click that, she obliges and saves the article.

She asks me whether she can close the mail, I said OK. She wants to try the process again and goes through all the steps once more. At last she ask me

So is this my email address? Yes Mom I say

My Mom’s first email account. I say to myself, Mom welcome to the world of Gmail!!!

Veni vidi wiki………
Jimmy “jimbo” Wales, founder of wikipedia,10th largest site in the world was in Chennai for the wikicamp , India’s first wiki unconference.

25 FEB 2007, 7:10 a.m
9:15 a.m 300+ participants. Kiruba Shankar, a well known Indian blogger, podcaster and one of the main brains behind the event kick started the camp. There were famous wikipedians from U.S, Banglore and Chennai.

Then came Jimmy and talked about wikipedia, search engine project... There were workshops for wiki beginners, about media wiki and whole lots of topic related to wikis.

This is what Jimmy learnt from wikipedia project

A priori thinking is bad
Community is good
People are basically good
Guided chaos is unstoppable
A simple vision is good
Thats Jimmy, edit this page!!!!!!
No prizes for guessing who's laptop is this. Jimbo!!!!!
Everybody who attended the camp was supposed to sign the huge backdrop, Jimmy is doing his part
Jimmy loves WIKI
I also did my part
Me, myself and Jimmy!!!!
Thats Kiruba Shankar and Atul Chitnis

Lets see who is going to take the foto first, Me or Jimmy?

Team having dinner with Jimmy, Atul

The Hindu, Feb 26,2007

Don't tell me you can not locate me, I am behind Jimmy, on his right side!!

The hero was, as expected by all, Jimmy Wales. He talked to almost all the guys present, posed for fotos, and gave autographs

And in the end, Jimmy Wales came, saw and conquered everybody's Hearts.

It’s believed that all the Vedas, Upanishads, Aranyakas and all other great works of ancient world were result of collective effort and consciousness. The power of coming together and knowledge sharing was always relevant.

Something similar to this is going to happen in Chennai, on 25th of February, at Tidel Park.

Wikicamp!!!! It’s about knowledge sharing, Check for details

History is being repeated, Come, let's learn together.

Gandhi is suddenly remembered everywhere. Desmond Tutu receiving Gandhi peace prize, books are being published by Bapu’s kin, Satyagrahas are enacted, Corporate Congress men in Khadi silk are professing by the name of the man who shook the conscience of the Empire with a simple stick, is out of the blue a hot favourite.

As a student of Advertising, I would but like to be in awe of the "Mahatma" from another point of view. "The best communication GURU" ever walked on this planet. Even above management gurus like Peter Drucker or Philip Kotler, communications experts like Bill Bern Bach and David Ogilvy.

One of the finest examples showing the management skill of "Bapu" was the "Dandi" march organized by him. Instead of taking an easy route he preferred to walk and there by communicated all the way the message…. he started from his Ashram with a handful of his followers, handpicked and marched all the way to Dandi, halting in various villages, giving speech and mobilizing people.

By the time he reached the sea shore, half the world was waiting there. The rest half came with him of course….

Simple, yet so very effective…..

Shouldn't the loud marketing communicators of today learn a lesson or two from this man..?

Hungry Kya?

Sunday morning: News paper arrives; we see an attractive “special offer” for Pizza from a well known brand.

Evening: We decide to order some Pizza
We dial up, order, time is 7:30 P.M; we are ready for the feast
We are still waiting……. My little friend says how he would have flown like “Krissh” and brought the Pizza and we still waiting….

We call up the restaurant, the guy says Pizza is on the way………

We are watching 8:30 news……. Pizza yet to come.......

At last Pizza arrives……

We question the delivery boy for coming late, he is speechless.
We open the box, gets a shock!!!!!!!!!

We see a hapless Pizza,

Looked as if somebody manhandled, assaulted and abused……


We are speechless……..

How to live a life without Internet????

Here are SEVEN ways……..

Pick up a phone. Put a voice to the names of business contacts you have known for years but never met or spoken to by phoning instead of emailing. Alternatively arrange a meeting over coffee. Hearing a voice or seeing a face is a far better way to build confidence, which can only benefit your career.

Use your legs. The world of instant messaging and e-mail has created workplaces in which no one speaks to each other - where orders, reports, requests are sent via the Internet. This may save you time but the consequences can also be bad for your health. Try instead using your legs - get up from your chair, take a walk around the office and talk to your colleagues.
In addition to building relationships, those extra steps and rest periods away from your desk will burn calories, rest tired eyes, stretch muscles and avoid strain which in the long term can result in bad backs and eye strain.

Go to the library. An online search may be fast and effortless, but there is nothing like a reference library to make you really appreciate the world of knowledge. Surround yourself in books and get a taste of what it was like to engross yourself in research before the Internet. The process is far more challenging and rewarding.

Write a letter. If you want to say something and can't do it in person, there is no better way than a letter. A good letter will be kept for years. Lisa Matthewman, a psychologist at the University of Westminster, says many people find it easier to express their emotions on paper. This form of communication is more appreciated by the person on the receiving end. "It is a very warm gesture and women in particular appreciate them," she said.
Rediscover the art of conversation. Use the time away from chat rooms and game sites to talk and play with your children, or just to have a family meal together. Resurrect board games, go for a movie, a walk - enjoy some quality time with your family.

Go shopping. With Internet shopping becoming more popular, there may come a day when it's not the done thing to go to the mall. Make the most of window shopping rather than browsing, go try on clothes, flick through and feel the weight of a book before buying, handle real cash or simply wander around one of the markets and take in the sights, sounds and smells.
Enjoy the freedom. A survey commissioned by Hewlett Packard last year claimed office workers spent more time - an average of four hours a day - talking to friends online and messaging than they did actually working.

Are we Machines ?????

Let's make a dent in the Universe....

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple

And he really made it. Jobs unveiled the next generation phone, “iphone”. They don’t want to name this equipment as mere a phone, but much more than that!!!!

Are you ready for this? Have a look at this!!!!

Am started saving money for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

iPhone


so when are you getting one???

K.P. Namboodiri’s “Dantadhavanachoornam”

In one of my previous post, about my childhood memories, I did mentioned about my grandfather. He was affected by Parkinson’s disease. His disease left a strong image in me that even after years, when I saw the opening ceremony of Atlanta Olympics, the image of Mohammad Ali, affected by the same disease, struggling to light the games torch, brought back memories of my grandpa.

Another strong association of my memories of grandpa is rather unusual one, K.P. Namboodiri’s “Dantadhavanachoornam”, in modest terms, a brand of Tooth powder. It was my grandpa who introduced me to K.P. Namboodiri’s brand and he was a strong advocate of this brand. I should admit that I stopped using the product long back and conveniently switched to Tooth paste.Years passed and I almost forgot K.P. Namboodiri’s.

Now my younger brother, who is with me, uses the same K.P. Namboodiri’s Tooth powder. I don’t know how he switched over from toothpaste to toothpowder. During my last trip to Kerala, he asked me to buy one tin of same brand. Seeing me buying “Dantadhavanachoornam”, my friend also bought one tin of this brand. He said that he was a regular user of this brand and some how lost in touch with this product.

Now this brand has undergone a lot of changes in packaging. The old sober and not so attractive look has gone. Present packaging is more stylish, trendy and handy also.

K.P. Namboodiri’s “Dantadhavanachoornam”


I am convinced that at least some section of younger generation likes to use age-old brands that too when lots of substitutes are available in the market


As Old habits die hard, can we say old brands die hard?

If Cricket is Religion, Sachin is ……….

‘TIME’ Magazine on its special issue,“60 years of Asian heroes”, featured Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. As per Time, he is “the greatest living exponent of his craft”. I have my own doubts. The magazine went on saying how Don Bradman, the legendary Australian cricketer, saw similarities in his and Sachin’s play.

Now the issue is not how great is (read was) Sachin but his relevance in the present Indian Cricket team.

The ICC World cup is round the corner and a billion hearts beating hard, is Sachin capable of bringing back the World Cup? Or audience in West Indies will get a chance to emulate the Mumbai crowd and boo him?

What’s his role in the Team?

A senior player who set stds for others to follow?
A moral supporter?
Or just one among 11?

When Andre Agassi, American Tennis Player, retired from professional Tennis media went on asking

Whether Sachin will do what Agassi did?

God only knows……. It’s not all over yet……

TreeGoats or Goatrees.......?
Have a look!


Goats must be crazy!!!!!!!

2006 was a year of lots of “Giris”; first it was “Gandhigiri” in Lage raho Munnabahi, a Hindi film that popularized Gandhian philosophies and now its time for another "GIRI"…..

While coming to office today morning, my wife showed me a hoarding and it was written time for “DADAGIRI”. The topic was about the return of Saurav Ganguly, fondly called “Dada”, to Indian cricket after a gap of 10 months. Now his reentry in to the team has brought some hopes among millions of cricket fans all over India. Our team is undergoing another bad phase and “Dada” has immense pressure on him.

Now according to me what “DADAGIRI” means the "killer instinct" Saurav had injected into Indian team when he was the captain and our recent performance showed that we lacked this “killer instinct”. Motivation: A hell lot of young talents blossomed under him and he had this uncanny talent of raising the performance of the team, if not his and all India would agree that our Indian cricket team badly need some motivation
Above all this he is a true “Leader” and do we have one right now?

So will “Dadagiri” work again?? Let’s wait and see!!!!

Ooo Aaaa DADA, Aaya DADA…

As per Rig Veda, PARJANYA is the rain-God and if we go to ancient Mayan civilization, they have 'Chac' as the God of rain and lightning. Indra, the "King of the Gods" is a sky God. His golden chariot is the Sun. He uses his hammer to break up the clouds to make rain. On Nov 22, 2006 he did not hammer the clouds that were up there in Durban, South Africa and the Indian cricket team and millions of fans in India are upset if not angry with Indra!!!

Normally Indra helps the team. Be it in Srilanka or India, for the past some months the rain God was with Indian cricket team. Wherever our team went he was there with his hammer. As a result of his performance we have not lost many matches in the recent past (prerequisite for winning or losing a match is, as we all know the teams should play)
Even in South Africa on Nov19 he helped us. The match was abandoned due to bad weather. But on 22nd Indra took a leave and as usual the same result.

O Indra, drinker of Soma!!! Why did you leave us?? Why no rain in Durban??
Please have mercy on us!!!

Your hammer speaks louder than our cricketer’s bats!!!!

So let water flow freely!!! Because you are the only solace for us!!
Sole solace for a ‘Bluebillion’!!!!

OCT 14, 2006 was a very special day for all "Pakothians". That day we celebrated the "Sapthathi" (70th birthday) of our "Karanavar" Mohannamavan (K.L Mohana Varma, noted novelist and present Chief Editor of "Vikshanam," Malayalam daily). We also had the review meeting for the forthcoming "Book on Pakoth".

8:30 A.M, Woodlands hotel.

So much of planning had gone into organizing this event. The planning committee had three members who had done Postgraduate program in Business Administration from well reputed Business schools in India. All the family members were supposed to meet at Woodlands for breakfast at 8:30 but by the time we reached there, we saw hotel missing. There was no trace of “Woodlands”, even the billboard had been removed? After seeing this (that there is no woodlands), everybody's appetite got increased. Next destination was “Planet Yum”. When we reached there the security told us that by 11:00 only the restaurant would open. After that we went to “Malgudi” but in vain. Finally, dejected, hungry, we decided to go to RR farms, where the function was arranged.

Krishnanmmavan, (K.L Sree Krishna Das) was the first to notice, the banner showed "SAPTHADI" meaning 'seven beatings/slaps or even shocks, was breakfast the first one?

The banner that surprised everybody!!!!

Everybody was so hungry that we started eating the breads/chips and what ever we could get nearby.

Oh what was that? Mohanammavan in deep thought....

At last break fast came. Thanks to Suresh varma and Sooraj Varma. Sureshettan's expression showed everything.

Anand Varma and Suresh Varma : "Punchiri"(smiling) competition

P.K Nandana Varma, Suresh Varma, Dhananjayan, K.L Sree Krishna Das and K.L Mohana Varma, and this time sureshettan was the target!!!!!!!

Myself with the "Hero"of the day.

The pakoth family

Mementos and Mohannamavan's novels

The generation next Pakothians!!!

Chabby's (Sabareesh) skit was a super hit

All I want to tell you people................

Honey chettan (Sanal Varma), Preethi and Samthript, the youngest ‘Pakothian’ present at the function, leaving to Pondy.

“Lage raho Mahatmaji"..


Mahatma Gandhi is being reinvented. This time to suite the 'generation next'. He is there in T-shirts, coffee mugs and God knows where else. Couple of weeks ago a leading news daily, in its survey conducted among top Business school students and CEOs of multi nationals found out that Bill Gates is bigger icon than Mahatma today. 56% felt Bapu needed a makeover. They want Bapu (in denim jeans) as a hero in a comic book, does good things to people around. "Lage Raho Munnabai", latest Hindi film, to a certain extend has succeeded in reinventing 'Mahatma'. In the film the gangster hero tries to solve his problems (and later others also) in Gandhian principles and finds success. The film is all about discovering the “Gandhi” within one self. M.G Parameswaran, Executive Director and CEO, FCB-ULKA Advertising, feels "Brand Gandhi" could be built by connecting to the younger generation in three ways- to be proud of our heritage, to have confidence to face the world and to think different. Mahatma Gandhi has come out of History text books and Film Division reels. One thing is for sure "Modern Mahatma" is here and he is the latest youth icon. “Lage raho Mahatmaji...”

Nandanananu Tharam


My dad always used to surprise me with his association in various fields. Be it the role of a “Trade unionist” or “Sai devotee”, be it a short story writer or a serial director. Once again he has surprised me!!! This time he has ventured in to films. His new role is neither a script writer nor a director but as an ACTOR. For him, he has just graduated from a serial actor (he has played the role of ‘Ramapurathu Warrier’ in “Ithihya mala”) to a film actor.

He is at present busy in the shooting location of “Pothen Vava”, the much awaited film starring Mammooty. The director is Joshy.

It’s quite difficult nowadays to imagine the fields he might venture into. The best we can do is to just keep watching and if possible counting.

Mudiyanaya Kuttan (Idea taken from news of stripping 'Planet ' status of 'Pluto' )
AUG 24, 2006 was the date that changed the life of 'kuttan'. He has been thrown out of 'tharavadu'. He was totally shattered. Kuttan was the youngest member in the 'tharavadu'. From the very beginning kuttan kept a distance from all other members particularly 'Adithyan' the 'karanavar' of the tharavadu. Kuttan had his own tastes,choices and always chose his path. grapevine is that 'Bhuminath', the decision maker in the tharavadu was behind the ouster of 'Kuttan'. According to him 'Kuttan' was never a deciplined member always deviated from his path and was never an influential member. Adithyan had little say in the decision taken by Bhuminath. 'Karanavar' was equally shattered and now he feels he could have given some more warmth and affection to 'Kuttan'. Adithyan feels everyone in the 'tharavadu' has done injustice to him. But his mind was saying to him that one day 'Kuttan' will come back and he is now waiting for that day.

Three hungry men, some idlys and a project.

I personally never believed or even thought that 'idlys' are or can become a delicacy. But after stepping into "Murugan idly shop" in T.Nagar,i slowly started believing that eating idly is the "most blissful affair",even if you don't feel,its been promoted like that.That's Murugan idly shop's USP,(Unique selling proposition). People patiently wait outside for 20-30 minutes to have few idlys.But whether due to the good deeds we have done in our previous life. i don't know we got the seat without much wait. "Book On Pakoth" first meeting happened in "Murugan idly shop". Babu chettan,sureshettan and myself were present, poor juju(sooraj) missed the idllys @ Murugans and the talk. Babu chettan while having his first set of idlys started the conversation. As part of his recent trip to kerala, he visited Mohananamavan also and mohananamavan gave an idea of bringing a book on family tree of Pakoth. The idea was superb and challenging We discussed about how a book on pakoth heritage could be brought,how to collect the materials, Who knows about what and how much. and what are the other possible challenges in the project. As the excitement of the discussion increased, our intake of idlys also increased. At some point of time,sureshettan( for a change) even switched to a couple of dosas. After some time we got so engrossed in the talk that we got equally confused and tired( because of the talk and idly intake)we called our mohananamavan. He gave an idea of how to kick start the project and rest is HISTORY