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Friday, August 20, 2010

Buy.Ology : Martin Lindstorm






Why do people buy? This is an age old question which smart marketers have been trying to answer. There are endless number of market research techniques which try to answer the same. There are survey methods, there are projective techniques, there are observational methods and so on and so forth. But, nothing gives you a clear cut answer in terms of what excites the consumers and why they end up buying what they buy. Or, for that matter, why they don't buy inspite of having come close to buying you many times.

The new answer that Lindstorm comes up with is the brain imaging technique. This is a medical technique used to look into the the brain for any lesions and so on. But, marketers are now trying to use it to see what brain activity happens when consumers see an ad, when they see an image, when they are excited and so on.

And, Martin Linstorm says that this is the new way to go!

But I guess we need to wait and watch. This has potential but I guess it is just too early to become overjoyed!
Written in Bone : Simon Beckett



A forensic anthropologist (never heard of such a profession before reading this novel!) goes to an island where a body is reported to be in a funny state.

He goes there and finds that its head is torched out. Nothing else is damaged in the hut the body is found. A storm blows across and the island is cut off. And, there are more murders which start happening. The place that Dr.Hunter, the forensic specialist stays in, gets caught in fire. He escapes miraculously. But, a policeman was not so lucky. He dies in a separate fire. A journalist who is pursuing them gets killed, hacked to death and then torched.

So, who is doing it and why?

Made a very interesting read.

Full of twists and turns and you find that there are subplots all over the place.

The only thing is that it makes a very gory reading. But, written very well.

A quick look on the novelist : Simon Beckett

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Dumb Witness : Agatha Christie



Interesting story from the queen of crime. An old woman, surrounded by relatives who would like to gain from her, falls from the stairs. It is believed that the terrier, Bob has left the ball that it plays with on the top of the stairs. A few days later, she dies. Her death is believed to be from natural causes. However, she has written a letter to Hercule poirot, which, mysteriously, reaches Poirot only after she dies.

So, what has really happened? Did she die of natural causes? Did Bob, the dog, really was at fault?

That is what Poirot unwields finally!

As in every other Agatha Christie's novel, the build up is slow but surely it picks up pace and the denouement is very good!

For a full account of the plot, check here : Dumb Witness : the complete plot

To know a detailed account on Agatha Christie, check this : Agatha Christie

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Last Frontier : Alstair Maclean



There is no need to talk about the writing powers of Alistair Maclean. This novel is no different. Great writing. Frenetic pace.

The hero, Michael Reynolds is a british agent. He is sent to wintertime Hungary to rescue the nuclear prof. Jennnings who has been captured by the communist government against his wishes. How the mysterious "Count" and the even more mysterious "Jansci" help him is the story.

Fighting against all odds and pulling it off is the theme here also. The story also gets into a lot more in depth study of human nature. It talks about how people who fight war come to hate it and turn pacifists and fight a different kind of war from then on.

Very interestingly put together. It has also been filmed.
A Prisoner of Birth : Jeffrey Archer





A fantastic Jeffrey Archer book. Great plot. A person who is held for the murder of his friend, though he did not commit it, escapes to avenge it. But, he escapes as another person whom he resembles. Did he avenge it? Did he join his sweet heart? How did it all go down?

That is the plot.

But, the usual vintage Archer language throughout. The twists and turns. And, a lovely ending which warms your heart. Good fun.
In the Lap of the Buddha : By : Gavin Harrison




This is a book by a person, who chose bhuddism as his religion. A person, who was afflicted with HIV+ diagnosis and whose life lay shattered, he tells us his story of how he decided to fight the war of the disease, how he fought the demon within himself, how he fought off the anger and the fear and the self hatred which comes with the diagnosis.

He goes on to tell us about how to confront the physical pain and also the fear of death. He talks about the eternal question of "Why me?"

He gives guidance on his method of how to meditate. How to look at your body with love and kindness. How to meditate with love and kindness for your enemies who have wanted nothing but your downfall and destruction. How to love those who used you.

How to finally free yourself from the clutches of revenge seeking behaviour and fill yourself with love and affection so that there is nothing but love is left in you.

When I started reading the book, I was curious but also suspicious of what I will gain from this. The book looked like one more book on meditation. But, boy, was I wrong. I am glad I read the book.

When you read this, you understand the words of the one who has suffered through and in spite of his suffering and his still continued pains and ravages, has chosen to forgive all, who has chosen to love all, including himself. Unconditionally.

Beautiful book.

Friday, August 13, 2010

What are you going to be when you become big?

I was talking to my son Balaji as I drove him to his school this morning. I was asking him, playfully, "what are you going to be, when you become big?" He thought for a while and said "I am going to be a Doctor". I was asking him what kind of a doctor that he wants to be. He didn't know. He is all of 4 years now. And he has not yet made up his mind on which part of the human body that he wants to take up as a Doctor.

He then smiled at me and asked me : "what are YOU going to BE when you become big?"

I was taken aback. I haven't really contemplated my future in exactly those terms. Becoming big? For me? I was at a loss for words. I told him that I have already become big. That I am going to office.

He laughed. He disagreed with me. "I don't think you have become big. You are small only, only bigger than me". I smiled at him, again being at a loss for words. He asked again. "When you are through with the office, what are you going to be?"

By that time, his school had come and I dropped him off along with his sister Meenakshi.

I still haven't figured out the answer..

At times what kids ask you make you think a lot deeper than you have previously done...!

Guess I have to figure out!

I remember asking my daughter, Meenakshi the same question couple of years back. When I asked her, she thought for a!while and said, emphatically, "I am going to be a Mother!".

Well. One never knows how the kids will answer your questions. But, one can be sure that whatever their answers be, they make you wonder and make you think of things that you haven't really thought before!

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Kapil's Korner : Blog Review

Kapil's Korner is a very nice blog. Interesting thoughts. Very interesting reflections. There are some reviews too. Nice photographs adorn the blog. Uncluttered. Simple to read. Flowing.

My pick of the blog posts :

1) the most recent "walk in the mama's garden" - superb photos...
2) 5 super tools which power my office PC - very useful...
3) Picks from Cannes Lion 2010 - I agreed with the selections. Most interesting ones...
4) 5 things I didn't know last week - I didn't know them either. If only I can put a list like this every week...!!
5) The wall project - the great wall of Mumbai - what an idea!

There were other entries as well which are worthy of mention - but I just stopped with my top 5 picks.

Thoroughly entertaining and really thought provoking.

Thumbs up for this blog!
The Montissori Method :

Vandana and I went to our kids' school on Saturday (7th August). It was an outreach program conducted by the school. Navdisha school has a few basic tenets that it lives by - all of them derived from Dr. Maria Montissori's teachings : 



Every child has the inherent right to life
Every child, irrespective of background and ability, should enjoy a full and decent life
Every child should be nurtured in an environment which ensures dignity, promotes self-reliance and encourages an active participation in the family and the community
Every child has a right to a standard of living adequate for physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development  

The school is very well kept and is a very good environment for all kinds of children. Each of the teachers know about their kids by name and what the kid is doing and what the kid is capable of.

I was thinking about the kind of schools that I studied at. The Susilabai Government High School in Pondicherry, where I studied upto 5th standard. The dingy classrooms. The teachers who did not mind beating the kids. On the head. I remember the number of hits that my head took. The window there without the bars, through which I escaped out everyday after the attendance was taken. I remember the 3rd standard class room vividly. Most of the time, I was on the street with the other few kids who knew the secret of escaping. We also used to go out and buy vada and idly for the teachers. Who cared!

But, there were a few who cared even there. Mahalaxmi teacher who took maths in my 4th standard. Vijaya teacher who took English and Science in 5th standard. They really cared.

How to bring about an educational system which cares? Which allows for individual differences? Which allows each child to develop at its own pace? Which nurtures each child well? Which encourages the curiosity in the children instead of asking them to mug up facts and figures?

That is perhaps why I love this method. When my children come from school and they are still happy to learn, I know that they have not been under any pressure to learn. When they want to go back to school the next day, I know that the learning has been a pleasure for them. That is important.

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Ad Review : Pepsodent - ShahRukKhan Ad : Pappu & Pappa


You can watch the ad by clicking the above or by logging into the following Youtube link :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-CIzogOaD8

This is one ad which I liked. The idea of putting a cine star - one whom even the kids can relate to, is a good move. The presence of Shahruk Khan and his voice lend good entertainment value to the film. The 2 minute germ kill is coming across nicely.

But, the star can also be the problem in the ad. The Shahruk performance is so good that you forget that you are watching an ad for a toothpaste. Also, the proposition seems to lose its sting a bit by the time you finish seeing the ad.

But, overall, an extremely likeable ad. HUL seems to be taking the "time" as a measure of performance across its product categories...!

Personally, I would rate it at about 7 out of 10 on how much I like this ad...
Life After Death -  The book of answers : Deepak Chopra



The  book opens to a lot of promise. It puts evocative questions such as "what happens after death?" and whether "death is the end of life" as is naturally believed to be. With 4 deaths in the family over the last 18 months, I have been looking for some of this stuff. It starts well. It starts with the Savitri Satyavan story - which is familiar. It offers fantastic thoughts and points : "there is nothing which gets truly destroyed. everything gets transformed from one form to some other form". The eight standard physics. Energy can not be made nor can it be destroyed. The sum of energy in the universe is a constant. One just needs to know how to harness the energy which is in abundance in this universe. That thought is echoed in the book.

But, the book then gets into all the advaitic thoughts. It quotes a lot of stories from after life incidences which I have heard and read about.

At the end of the book, I did not get a handle on how to understand death. There are a lot of thoughts and points here. But, the essence is "death is not the end and it is a mere continuum into another form" gets repeated in so many words and so many pages throughout the book.

Where the soul goes, how the rishis understood all this and so on and so forth are all put over here. But, none of that has helped me understand the "why" of death. Why does it occur so very suddenly? So very violently at times? What really happens after that? Why are we unable to communicate to people who are "dead"? How do we communicate? How can we understand "death" while we are alive? After all, Ramana Maharishi was supposed to have understood "death" while he was a mere boy and that incident was the one which drove him to Tiruvannamalai...So, what happens when you die? And, how can you die before you really are dead?

I did not get a clear handle on these. Probably, one needs a lot more maturity to figure this...