Yesterday I and my wife Vandana participated in a "Made for each other couple" contest - run by the Lakshmi Nagar association. The interesting thing was the format of the contest.

It followed exactly what the telly channels do:

1st round : quiz the wife; get answer and then quiz the husband - see whether the answers match. When the wife gets quizzed, hubbies must leave the hall!

2nd round : Mime and communicate the film titles given to you.

3rd round : some GK questions - which the hubby & wife can discuss and answer

In spite of the fact that most of the couples have come prepared, it was apparent how much they did not know about each other. One person was saying : "Even if you were to live 1000 years together, it is still difficult to know everything about the other person".

May be true. But the point is whether we even take the effort to understand. I was wondering what effort I have taken. Looks like it has been pretty little.

If 2 people living together cannot figure out each others' tastes and likes and dislikes, what chance do we have of understanding consumers at large? What probability do I have of figuring out exactly what my consumers need and package and give it to them?

Just tells me how gigantic the task is.

And, the tastes and preferences do get modified and do change a lot more rapidly since so much exposure is available for all of us.

My mom went to the same shop and bought her groceries. I remember going to the shop in Pondy situated within the market and bringing the goceries every month on my cycle along with my mother. Now, we buy groceries from 3 to 4 different shops.

My dad would not use any toilet soap other than Lifebuoy. He still uses Lifebuoy and regrets that the soap now is not the same as the one before. He is in love with that red brick that Lifebuoy was! I don't remember what brand I use. I buy a different brand every time. I try out different things.

When I was in school, I remember dad's colleagues coming into our place at around 6.30 p.m. and chatting till about 7.30 or 8.00 p.m. Nowadays, people don't seem to have time for all these chats...they sit in front of their telly and consume the soaps!!

Telephone was a novelty to my parents. It still kind of a novelty to them. But my son and daughter treat my mobile as thier play thing. Their exposure levels are very different.

Now, how would it all impact how the next generation is going to consume? How they communicate? How to understand this? That is the big question.

It is ironic to see that while people don't seem to have the time to visit each other and talk to each other in person, they find it more and more comfortable talking on the phone; chatting on the net and having a life on orkut or facebook or whichever social site that they frequent.

The more computers that enter the homes and the more the internet penetration, this issue is only going to deepen. There are reports from other countries on people living completely on the net centres - in absolute social isolation, having a totally different life in the net.

What are going to be the social impacts of this? How should companies address this? How will you ever reach out to a consumer if she lives her lif on the net? Frequently this is going to become the most prominent question.

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We are used to thinking about India as a chaotic country and the european countries as icons of order and discipline.

I got to know that there are many more 'indias' outside India.

Just check out this and enjoy!! Italy seems to be as good as India !!!

http://tcc.itc.it/people/rocchi/fun/europe.html

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I found some interesting sites on the net yesterday while browsing.

There are sites which pay you for helping with the home work of students. They pay you (or at least promise to pay you) if you even upload your own detailed homework. Provided somebody buys the same. Almost all transactions there were from the US.

Given the reach of the net, given the availability of text books and so on, I was wondering why would anyone pay to get 'home work' explained. It still beats me. May be they need an absolute spoon feed.

Would this work in India? Would students pay for their homework to be explained / solved to them? I doubt...!

Yesterday was a day of learnings.

I learnt how people make money writing on the blogs (not that I have made any money!); writing, teaching and basically creating some content on the net...

'Net' seems like an appropriate word for what happens when one gets hooked onto the net. I know - myself onwards - a lot of people who seem to be spending more and more time on the net..

There are people who live on the net...play games, download content, create content...

Short of eating out of the net.

What is the price we pay for this? Everything has a price right?

What is the price I have paid for this? Lower time on TV; inability to sleep till about midnight; the urge to write down everything that I see or hear or observe; less and less time spent on reading books (normal books!); a bit of stooped posture since I sit hunched up in front ot the comp...there must be a lot more..

I promised I would talk about 'Ponniyin Selvan' . Kalki's masterpiece, it is not only a historic novel but also a novel which I enjoy whenever I read. The characters are etched in Gold.

Vandiyathevan riding on the horse on the banks of cauvery; Azvarkadiyan bailing out Vandiyathevan out of difficulty every time; the characterization and the puzzle that was Nandini...great story and fantastic characters. The language! If tamil was english, probably Ponniyin selval might have got the nobel prize!

SendanAmudan is a character. The calm quite person who is in love with Poonguzhali, who collects flowers who is actually the heir to the throne...

I was amazed to see that name being used in that poem I talked about yesterday in the blog.

Here is a small poem that I wrote this morning - I think I got it in my sleep :

" I wish I know..
That
I know
I ...."

The poem that I read yesterday is still haunting me...!! That much is clear!

Looking at the world outside, I see interesting developments. One woman (Hillary Clinton) loses the race to a man (Obama) in the presidential election in the US. Another man appoints a woman as the deputy. Both hog the limelite and both are talked positively by the press.

One woman stalls the Tatas in Singur.

One woman seems to be holding together the Cogress party.

One woman who was so much in the news when AIADMK was in power seems to have disappeared into wilderness..

One more blog has arrived. There is no particular purpose except to share my thoughts. Ideas. Opinions. Insights. If I may call them.

'Insights' - now that I have said the M word (M word = management jargon!!), let me spend a few sentences on this. Perhaps the most abused word. I have heard guys argue on what is an issight and what is a mere observation. There are arguments on what is an 'understanding' and what is an 'insight'.

To my mind, insight is that which somebody can see - which most others would be able to see only with hindsight! Now, this might seem as playing with words but then all thought process is inextricably linked to play of words.

Philosophers and liguists have often seem to have wondered on what came first. Thought ? or Word? It look obvious : thought must have come first. Only when thought comes first, one tries to find a 'word' for it. Right? But then when you look at babies, this great 'understanding' gets blown away. The babies seem to babble away to glory. Lots of words. They might seem mere babble to us but to babies they must be words right?

Abirami andhadhi says " Sollum porulum ena nadamadum thunaivarudan pullum parimala poongodiye". It means, "The Goddess Abirami is in a devine embrace with the dancing Shiva - and you cannot see them apart - just like words and their meanings are".

The great sanskrit poet Kalidasa also has said something to this effect - which I just am unable to recall right now.

Talking of poems, I saw a cute tamil poem as I was coming to office this morning :

" Netru Tholaitha ennai
Indru nan thedikondirukiren
Nalai kidaithu viduven enra nambikkail" (By "SendanAmudan")

Roughly translating:

" I was lost yesterday
Trying to find that 'I' today
In the hope of finding it tomorrow"

It is very difficult to translate poems. Poetry takes many short cuts and uses language a lot more succinctly than prose does. Translating that without losing the soul of the poem requires an acute understanding of the poet's thoughts, mastery of both the languages and then some...

The great poet Bharathi talks about this : "Aazndhirukkum kaviyulam karkilar..." : "you guys learn so many things. But you don't know how to understand the depths of the poetic heart"...

In this poem I saw this morning, I see lots of depth. Lots of sorrow. Lots of faith. Lots of pain but lots of optimism too.

Not sure whether I translated properly.

The name of the poet : SendanAmudan - that is an interesting touch. I remembered Kalki and Ponniyin Selvan by that name. That has to wait till tomorrow!