Surprise, Surprise, Surprise for Kasauti Zindagi kay lovers, here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVC40ihHloc

I also found the title song on Cooltoad and other music download websites.

E- Business

Imagine two eye balls on your computer watching everything you do. As we all know e-businesses thrive on the time they lock with the users. The more the time you are ona particular site or the more you use it, the more the money that goes into the pockets of these businesses.
Now it's eerie sometimes. Yahoo or Google knows where I stay, what I do, what are my needs, what do I look for when I am on the internet and what is my objective, my likes and dislikes.
The adaptive technology brings on palette links suited to my unique personalized choices. It's like even before I google and find out stuff on internet, the links are there appearing on the top of my gmail page. Isnt that a breach of privacy. I know it s an automatic system, that looks for some repeated words in my mails and gives me back the search results, and it feels great to find exactly what you want, but it doesnt feel too great that someone knows every single thing about you, probably more than you know yourself. Probably this is what they called Agressive marketing.

Initailly it kept me wondering that in Facebook or other forum like sites, these ads are never clicked. I mean our eyes are tuned to just rip off the necessary content in the site.
But as I write this post, I realize that they have refined over a period of time. Now I find myself clicking on those gmail links more often. Now I understand that it's because they knows me better than before to give me exactly what I want, 90% of the time.

E-bay or other advertisement sites work on the same foundation. They read the customer, rip you off. But now e-bay has come with a feature, which allows you to offset the profile settings, which means you ll be a fresh customer each time you visit the site...

More on this here : Who's afraid of Google

The side of Marketing I hate

In a recent conversation with a friend, we discussed how marketing is seen by some people as salesman kind of work. That's myopic...


There are numerous theories and statistics and a great depth in what we call marketing. In the crudest sense it appears to me as 'the art of attraction'. What would be the percentage of cases when we buy what we don't need ? How many people get confused between need and desire ? How smart are those marketing professionals in convincing that you really really need it to be complete or satiated !

Coming back to the topic,'marketing' at a small scale for small business which is not so organized, makes me distrust the intentions of people. It's like' Is this why he/she being so close and concerned'. The best examples would be Quickstar and Amway products. I feel they make false promises pulling people into business and makes others move away from these people. Sometimes 'marketing' becomes a mantra for them. In the process of promoting they change themselves, lie through their teeth and sometimes believe in 'what they sell' like they would belive their religion.

They try to seduce every family member, some turn into bakras and buy and obviously realize it was never worth the money.
I am definitely for these small business and their efforts to grow. As long as you don't propagate false philosophy/ideology it's fine. If you truly believe in the product or service you offer and see potential for it ( in terms of need or atleast desire) , still respect the space people have. Don't go persuading to the extent, that people avoid you. You haven't gained much, but have lost a lot.

Yet another thing practiced here in US is build public relationships. And I get extra cynical when this friendship building is way too fast against natural speed. People greet each other her and start talking especially if they belong to the same country or clan, so one often gets confused, so fast relationship building happens even in absence of marketing, which is what makes me distrust even genuine people. Some background check helps, if that s possible.

So next time someone says ' Our wavelengths match, don't they', be doubly sure, especially when you have know this person for less than an year.

I would really love to see myself promoting my business, for I still need to master the art, but I would call it ' answering people why would they need it and what are the shortcomings as well'. The objective would be "to genuinely make life easier and better" and 'money' shall be a by product. As they always say 'it ll be a special communion of necessity and my imagination', certainly not a false necessity. Time shall stand testimony...

Skimmed Milk and more

It's a country where every thing has a low fat substitute, healthy or unhealthy the food item is low in fat, tasty or unbearable it's "fat free" slogan sells it in a big way. Although these products appear as an obvious choice to weight watchers, sometimes they psych us out.
Back in India, I will start a protest for adulterated milk or watered milk. Here,I pay for it, knowing that it s 70% water.
Looking at the food label has become a norm. The first thing is the saturated fat content ! Thanks to these labels that we make informed choices, but ironically when we go back home our friends and relatives find a plump version of us. The only key seems to lose weight or even maintain weight seems to eat what a cow or goat eats. Yes, I write that out of frustration, which comes even before dieting. A healthy and tasty food seems to be a dream. Although there are a couple of them which satisfy these criteria, u cannot eat them on a continuous basis. Besides, it s the women of our age who food attacks first . I end it with a positive note, that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but it's at the "end".

A written goal ?

In a Harvard class (not a bad school - everyone on relatively equal footing at a university of that level, so a good
test case) - the numbers are rounded - 83% of people said that they had no defined goals. 13% said they have
goals, but didn't write them down. Remaining 3-4% had goals and wrote them down.

Here's the kicker - the 83% were the baseline - average. The 13% who had goals but didn't write them down made
twice as much money than the 83%. And the 3-4%, they made twice as much money as the 13%.

The week that was

It's not restricted to movies now, I watch some really nice serials in the afternoon as well...They cheer me up during that gloomy, hot, dull and not-so-happening part of the day... With a cup of tea and few biscuits, it's complete. The shows are 'What I like about you' by Amanda Byrnes... I constantly get reminded of a friend of mine on seeing this character. She is on my buddies list.

Next is 'Reba'. She s a 52 year old pop singer, a multi-faced personality and appears this comedy show of hers. She plays a role of single-mother staying with a big family including her husband's new wife, next door.

These comedy shows portray human foibless in a hilarious way...During the nights it's 'Everybody Love's Raymond'

As for movies, I got to watch 'Before Sunrise' and 'Before Sunset', on recommendation by a friend. Romantic genre!

I prefer the first to second, for it's freshness and sensibility.. The whole movie runs with just two people talking, talking and talking. What makes the movie nice ? The dialogue was natural and something most of us think but few express. The term "sociological experiment" in first movie, is not something many would try. Putting 'love' under a test was reasonable.

Here are some of the quotes from the first part : Before Sunrise
The second one, which I had watched more recently, it was the waltz that Celine sings for Jesse which I found awesome. As for the rest of the movie, the discussion is about world, it's problems etc, for which I wasnt impressed for some reason. Also I found Jesse's renewed attraction common in life of many men. Not tht I am so old or wise, but I felt nothing new or fresh about it. It s a natural reaction to have such fantasies and tending to make them true.
Apart from that, the movie had a smooth flow, with the two of them reconnoitering their experiences in past 9 years..With traces of indian conservative mindset, not many can enjoy the second part. The first was best...

Here is what 'Reflection' played this weekend. Mouna Ragam

Houston Zoo

The zoo at Houston, makes up for the absence of other weekend hangouts in the city, for people like me, who don't find pubs so interesting.




The weather on Saturday was welcoming and we got a forest like experience even in the zoo, which is located in the downtown.
Although India has a rich habitat and numerous zoos, the maintanance of animals there is pathetic and after having seen such zoos at India, this was truly a feast to the eyes...The cloudy weather made it all the more enjoyable.

This one was so cute. He/She stood up danced with those cute closed eyes and was scratching it's head with it s human like fingers.





These are the Meerkats.. Their movements are like humans. The way they respond to claps, it looked like they were trained, but simply funny.




And this was an amazing plight captured by our photographer. The swiftness with which it swims was so beaaauuutiful to watch...This orangutan, gave us a feeling of being in circus. He is young and was posing before the cameras....
The next one is taken by me,. A 45 degree turn, rightwards would have given what I intended ...These are the Flemingos


We took more than 150 pictures, which I shall load in picassa and share..
The link shall be updated..