Fedex, Roddick and the 15th Wimbledon crown

Well, to start the match, I was always rooting for my favorite Federer.

But even during the course of the match, it was an awe filled experience to watch Roddick keep the heat on Federer relentlessly. For a good part of the game, it was actually Federer struggling. Roddick got the first set, and almost got the second - when Federer weaved some magic and got through.

The epic five setter epic fifth set lasted 30 games and the only time Federer broke Roddick's serve, he got the match.

Statistically, this match is very significant, but on that particular day no one lost! It is very silly to keep accounts for a game like this, for it could have been so easily been the other way. Roddick deserved his maiden Wimbledon crown as much as Federer deserves his 15th Wimbledon title.

This post by Telegraph covers the key moments of the match very well.

#TH!NKtweet

#001 It took less than 40 minutes to read this book

#002 140 bites, each bite 140 bytes or less. Oh, if you didn't guess already, the entire book was written on Twitter.

#003 The praises, foreword are all tweet sized

#004 Funnily, the shorter the content, the more thought you need to put in to assimilate what has been offered.

#005 One read of this book isn't sufficient. You may have to reread it multiple times to truly appreciate this.

#006 To the author, Rajesh Setty's immense credit, he follows the essence of the advice he is trying to share.

#007 Pithy statements need not be trivial

#008 Essence1 of this book: Try to give before you try to get

#009 Essence2 of this book: There is no bar for excellence

#010 Read it - it will be worth your time (40 minutes of it anyway!)

#011 Ordering information here:

Low attention span!

As information explodes, the number of things that compete to catch our attention is extremely high. From a marketing perspective, businesses catch up on this and make their ads pithy and make it as simple and unintelligent as possible. In fact, the primary success of Twitter can be attributed to this dip in attention holding capability of people in general. Now, we also have the first ever book (?) written on Twitter.

Now to clarify: All this is fine. If people's attention span is lower, you have to do what works, as long as it is sincere. The problem is when people start recommending others to kill blogs and move the entire universe to nuggetdom. Because, several things on the internet (and life) can only be accomplished by consistent continuous effort. And there is no substitute for that. Can I learn an entire programming language on Twitter? I think the more meaningful thing to do is to acknowledge the tweets and the fact that the new nugget sized world is here to stay.

Low attention span at its extreme is a disease (ADD). Use Twitter or anything else to done quickly that doesn't need something elaborate. It's a super effecient tool that allows you to connect to others or do things that weren't possible before. It is also reorganizing itself with the possibilities in that plane. However, if you are low on attention, or if your pattern is changing to low-attention mode because of all this, may be it is time for a check point.

Bolt

Bolt is a charming movie. Features excellent animation and looks even better with the 3D animation [you need to wear the 3D glasses]. I think they chose to leave out on some specific 3D optimizations to cater to both audiences.

As for the story, the first 20-25 minutes features some very high adrenaline sequences - which are surprisingly well executed for an animation movie. And then, to some excellent screenwriting credit, they throw it all away and start afresh. The movie also features some very touching moments and ends with a heartwarming climax.

This is technically (and sadly) a flop, and I wonder why. Anyway, it looks like a good era for the animation movies. Yet to watch "Up" and Ice Age 3 is coming up as well.

The Indian animation industry needs some way to go before we even can be considered for comparison with the Hollywood counterparts. But to be fair, we don't have the luxury of budget that they have. But I will keep my fingers crossed for "Manikandan".

Tinkle

I grew up with Tinkle (click on the title link). So I generally assumed that every kid would be familiar with Tinkle. So when one day, I mentioned to my then-wife-to-be about Tinkle, and she asked "What is that?", I was shocked.

During my childhood time, Tinkle, Tom and Jerry, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse and a little of Pink Panther were my pals. I am not very sure how exactly they have shaped the way I am today. But I suspect they help in taking life easily and build a general innocence about someone. Done well, such stories might also be a very nice way to teach something to children in a fun way [of course, they must be used responsibly].

Why am I typing all this? After some cut off point, I lost touch with Tinkle for several years. Then I purchased about 50 or so Tinkle digests (each 96 pages, so that's a lot) and read them in a week or so. Now, the process starts again. I recently got about three double digests and was reading them. The characters are all so innocent and timeless - the same kind of excitement that was present when I used to read them then is present.

Too bad, they aren't circulating this online. I think given the right kind of work, Tinkle can be made into a very strong ethnic and cultural identity!

Nostalgia :)

Two movies...

Body of Lies:
Very taut and intense thriller (if you can call it that). It crosses cultural barriers and operates on multiple geographies - and throw in hi tech surveillance into the mix. It is very well made, but keeps reminding why we humans are so screwed up when it comes to living together peacefully! If you decide to watch it, a warning about expletives and violence!

Enemy of the State:
Another hi tech movie. Just realizing as I type that the above movie was directed by his brother. Again, rips off like a race car and never stops. It does make a relevant and interesting point about where you draw a line between security and privacy protection when it comes to surveillance. And this was 1998! Surely, we'll be seeing more of this in the coming years. Spying is inevitable as technology makes this more easier and we will have to find a way to respect the individual amidst all this!

Sadhguru Sannidhi

I had the opportunity of participating in this event at a place near Coimbatore.

I had never seen this before. More than fifty folks participated and it was amazing. The energy in the hall was very palpable during the process.

I'm happy for the folks of the house - they deserve this "grace hub" for their commitment.

We need more of these energy centers coming up all around. They will be shining beacons in an otherwise dull or dark environment.

We also watched a Satsang together. Sadhguru called for "enthusiasm" in all our activities. He mentioned that with enthusiasm, it is possible to achieve things which we may even think as too outlandish in our mind. It is only the dullness that is keeping us stunted. How true! Enthusiasm! - I did feel that in the volunteering session today morning. Oh, separate story :)

Sadhguru on Coffee with Anu

This aired on 13th Jun 2009, Saturday @ 9:30 PM IST on Vijay TV

It was quite refreshing because you don't get to see Sadhguru in this
context that often - that is, in a freewheeling chat.

But as always (always and always), he talked about happiness
irrespective of circumstances, PGH, ARR, conscious leadership - all
interwoven with tidbits from his personal life.

Also present was his always-prevalent humor ("You call the program
'Coffee with Anu', but you manage to run it without ever providing
coffee to the guest!"). The final touch was coffee awards - where the
guest gets to gift the award to anyone of his choice. Sadhguru told Anu
to hand it over to a poor child that was going to school, but joyously.
He said "It is not an ordinary thing when someone goes to school happily
with so much burden. I know I wouldn't want to go to school under the
circumstances!"

*Conditions Apply

This is becoming a demented statement. At best, it takes the fizz out of an advertisement. At worst, it invalidates an ad totally.

I think, the more appropriate way is to capture the entire gist of an ad completely with all the core information (selling point + catch point) to present it as a case to the consumer. How does it sound for an ad to say flight tickets starting from Rs 1. Then add a "*" to it, then say in the bottom (in fine print) "Taxes and Government levies extra", and then leave the user to find out that the tax is Rs 1800, making the effective price to be 1801 Rs? Eventually, these ads lead to them being ignored after a cursory glance. Sadly, they also take out the credibility of *all ads*.

I remember a few years ago, when an internet company advertised monthly unlimited internet access for $39.99 (the ad essentially said just that). That was very tempting as prevailing prices at that time were close to $60. So my friend called them and he had the nerve to ask them "What is the catch?" (I laughed out loud when he told me this). The lady on the line kept insisting that there was none. Suddenly, on intuition, he asked,  "Is there a minimum period for which I need to keep the connection?". At this, the lady put him on hold for a few minutes and came back - "Yes. There is two year contract period. And early termination penalty is $200.00". So essentially, we were required to commit business for about $960.00 to avail the lower rates. "*Conditions apply" again. Instead, how about quoting the ad as "Unlimited internet access for $39.99 only! Requires two year contract" (may be second sentence in slightly smaller font - not fine print!). The entire gist is available to an interested consumer - and no wasting every one else's time.

I guess it is too much to ask for now. Many times, the customers don't have much alternative but to stick with those companies anyway!

Things that need to spread...

This is a viral video now, @ over 700,000 views on YouTube.
And for a reason! It describes how spontaneously you can cause something to happen.
Seth also pointed out that guy #3 was pivotal in the group being formed.

Don't we need more people like them (guy #1, #2 or #3) in areas like the below video? That ("athithi devo bhava") BTW, is an excellent initiative. Over the years, we've learnt to just sadly watch and nod at everything that happens in front of our eyes.

Crossing Over

The movie details the complexities (cultural, emotional and political) of the immigration and naturalization process into the US.

The movie doesn't take sides - which is a big strength. Another big strength is that it doesn't flinch in viewing differing perspectives - it takes courage to do that.

There is no central theme or story line - the movie explores multiple dimensions with 4-5 threads.

Harrison Ford looks quite old!

GM Files for bankruptcy

I, however, must say I am not surprised. I will also not be surprised if Ford follows suit (Chrysler already has). As sad as it is, for all three are iconic symbols of American history, I wonder if they are reaping what they sowed. In the USA, Honda and Toyota have always had a boutiful market share. Their efficiency in terms of fuel consumption have always been exemplary. When fuel was never a problem for America, these US auto manufacturers always took that option for granted, which is why they continually struggle outside the US.

Though under bankruptcy protection, I think they need to evolve eco-conscious, fuel efficient cars - perhaps trying something disruptive. Wondering if it is too late for all that.

It should also be a cue for all automanufactuers all over the world who are not under threat of bankruptcy as well.

Cigarattes, Scorpions and Lungs

The new mandate to display lungs and a scorpion picture covering at
least 40% of the carton area came into effect yesterday.

I feel it is going to do very little in terms of dissuading existing
buyers from smoking. Mainly because:

Smokers, most of them, already know smoking is injurious to health. I
remember, several years back (I was a small kid then), I asked my uncle
who was chewing tobacco. "Do you know what this will cause?". He
replied, "Cancer, right?"

The habit is mostly on auto pilot - I presume they would look at the new
logo and continue their habit.

May be, new joiners to smoking might give it a second thought, which is
good in that way.

In a way, it is quite good that the government is putting its foot down
in such a firm way on something that contributes to its taxes. It is
also interesting on how hard the tobacco firms tried to first oppose the
move, and then to delay it (which they succeeded in twice).

But scorpions? A creature that only stings for food or self defense?
Lungs and a knife would have been better!

One line reviews...

நினைத்தாலே - Surprisingly well made movie. Sensible and down-to-earth
Seabiscuit - Visual symphony, truly!
சுப்பிரமணியபுரம் - Surreal, and on violence. But for a violent movie, it has the perfect ending!
பில்லா 2007 - Too funny seeing Nayanthara and Namitha as cool, lethal hotties. Movie "tries" to be too sophisticated.
மாயாவி - Highly underrated! What a poetic ending!
குசேலன் - Wasted opportunity. Gets caught in the middle of using Rajni as a guest / full time cast

Price it right

In marketing, pricing is of vital importance. There are a lot of subtle cues that people look for or use in determining the product to buy. For example, I saw a soap solution that was priced at Rs 40 for 125 ml. The same soap solution was priced at Rs 80 for 250 ml. If the customer has no real need for 250 ml of the soap solution, there is no way he is going to buy the 250 ml version. If it was priced at Rs 45 for 125 ml or say Rs 75 for 250 ml, you are throwing a challenge to the customer and the customer may end up buying the 250 ml version. It is an incentive to the customer to buy more by offering an implied discount.

A more counter-productive pricing example I witnessed was for a custom drink here at Coimbatore (ஜிகர்தண்டா - 'jigarthanda' you must taste it - it is an almond based drink that is extremely refreshing). 150 ml was priced at 15 Rs while 200 ml was priced at 25 Rs. The first case, the unit price for 50 ml of the drink is Rs 5, while in the latter case it is Rs 6.25. Why would a customer pay more price when he is buying larger quantity?

This scene epitomises Friends

I was trying to find some footage that is representative of the "feel" of Friends and found this one. There are certainly others, of course.

Just wait until the phone rings @ 1:49!

Internet and the open era!

I think, in the near future, we will be in an era where everything will be on record!

The power the Internet puts to the end user is mind boggling. The end user is a publisher! And the potential audience is the entire world!

Rules that earlier governed so many aspects of society will be sheared - they already are to good extents. Case in point: this incident where a man blogs about the situation he faced when he tried to picture an open ATM. This was later slashdotted and he finally went on a local news paper as well!

Well, my point is not to argue about the right/wrong of this incident - but would people behave the same way if they knew they were on camera all the time?

If only something like this happened in Chennai or any city in India for that matter! Interesting incidents already anyone?

Cities and Parking

The rate at which vehicles are growing in cities, in the next ten years it is going to be road-filled-vehicles all the time. Apart from drives becoming slower, which is already the case in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad [not talking about Mumbai - it maxed out long back], parking is going to be the next major major issue. Not many buildings are planned for parking - partly because they haven't thought about it - and even if they did, there's no space to allocate. It is very common to see a ten storey building that houses an IT park (which means that 15-20% of people will take cars to work) with a seating capacity of 5000 people. Which means it should be able to house 500 cars and 1000 bikes comfortably. Very few buildings have that scalability.

I think the Government of major cities [Mumbai ruled itself out a long time ago - there is just no space!] should use this as a key juncture and construct parking houses at strategeic points in the city. These will be say, 15-20 storey buildings that just house vehicles for parking. Taking Chennai as example:

1) Areas like Mount road, Parrys, OMR, Mint street, Perambur, Ambattur, Tambaram, Sriperambudur and probably few more areas can be targets
2) Each building should be capable of housing 2000 cars and 5000 bikes approx
3) Multiple strategic buildings will serve as critical housing-hubs for these vehicles when we hit threshold increase. We might actually wonder how we did without these earlier
4) These buildings can be high-tech and can pay themselves back in say 10 years or so
5) Solar powered
6) Rain water harvesting
7) Charge say 100 Rs for a six hour slot and 25 Rs for a 6 hour slot for cars and bikes respectively. 20Rs and 10Rs per hour for every additional hour thereof
8) Use a preloaded card that can be used for swiping / debiting amount for every parking. If we coordinate and integrate, this same card can be used anywhere in India for similar services [just make it Visa enabled or MC enabled]
9) For a premium, allow Valet parking - people with cars drop their car and go
10) Until the building recovers its cost double charge all vehicles. Make the accounting transparent [running LCD displays / web]
11) Allow battery operated shuttles for a 3-5 km radius around the parking lot to allow visitors to get themselves dropped to their point of interest. Make this a premium service with the same debit card they use to avail parking.
12) Open maintenance of these facilities [parking lot, battery operated vehicles] to private players on bidding basis. But lay strict quality terms with stringent exit clauses on quality of service
13) Allow easy complaint mechanisms which cannot be overridden easily
14) Open up card maintenance for the owner on the web

If we plan for this now, we can push several cities up by a few notches in terms of infrastructural cabability on a critical aspect. Additionally, this will open up a business model that can employ many people.

Sarath Babu for South Chennai

View the 3 minute video above. It is quite rare that someone with this profile [BITS / IIM A] decides to join politics. It is also rare that some one also talks something other than

- How inefficient the other is
- Giving free stuff away for public

I did something stupid. When I first saw the video, I told Radha "He will not win". I know the odds are very steep because politicians know the art of sweeping the public with emotion instead of inspiration. But between now and election time, folks like us can help shift the momentum towards what we want to happen.

Please help spread the word. He has sort of made it easy by hosting it all on his website. http://www.sarathbabu.co.in.

1) If you are a blogger, please write about him
2) If you are on twitter, tweet about him
3) If you know people residing in south Chennai constituency, please encourage them to vote for him
4) If you reside in south Chennai, please vote for him!

We don't get opportunities every day - and this kind is once every five years!

Aramex

The other post, I had described my experience with professional courier. Contrast this with Aramex - where a package was shipped from Mumbai to Chennai. There is no explanation even required!