It's amazing how technology makes every other experience transient and itself redundant in quick cycles.
A bigflix subscription for movies kept me enthralled for months on end last year, but with digital cable and its 8 english movie channels and 12 hindi movie channels, I have been forced to keep the bigflix order book dormant and avoid responding to all their reminders.
Take my iphone, for instance. It has made a whole host of devices quite redundant. The iphone apps are making everything else unnecessary- check this- it's already a video camera, has my stock portfolio, facebook, news videos, atlas, global weather finder, scientific calculator, fav gaming device- sudoku, chess,checkers and pacman, live tv, ipod, quick notepad, money manager, birthday reminder and has all my mailboxes and contact lists.
That's not all, what it has also done is turned business models upside down.
Microsoft doesn't care for the hardware, just makes the software and leaves many vendors fighting each other for customers., while it just sits around making proprietary software.
Apple turned the model around, it makes the basic hardware- focussing on designing an intuitive product - say an iphone or ipod or ipad and lets everyone make software for it. So over a 100,000 app companies have mushroomed around it. That's why it is iconic.
From CRT to LCD to Plasma to LED, we have transitioned in 3-4 remarkable years.
To design is to be on top of teh value chain.
Everything else can be sub-contracted and take shape by itself.
Now take blogging. With facebook, and then with twitter, blogging is been made old-fashioned before you can say b!
Thoughts have to fit 140 character word limits.
Technology has turned time transient.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Marine Drive in 1998
I was more funkier twenty years back. Denim, white belt, badge and Gladwellish hair !
2009
How does one describe 2009?
Amongst the newsmakers- Andhra stood out. Starting the year with the massive Satyam scam, it staged an upset by winning the IPL in SA, from being a team written off last season, then the summer saw it being ravaged by floods washing away towns, the landslide victory of the congress was overshadowed with the dramatic death of its CM and then out of the blue the state almost split into two bringing many other forgotten statehood aspirations to the fore.
Amongst the TIME magazines best books of 2009 - fiction & non-fiction, this year I managed to read none, though I read a lot many non-fiction works this year.
I turned 40 this year. Like they say life begins at 40. Maybe I need to re-invent myself. Take up marathon running for instance. Maybe I will get younger. Maybe I should give in to wanderlust and try to backpack Europe next summer as I have been dreaming the last couple of years? Maybe I should burn midnight oil and finish my novel ? Salsa ? Maybe. Read 25 books? Maybe.
All in all, I think 2009 was a 'paused' sort of year - the year with the lull before the storm.
2010, I reckon, will be the year of action.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Valuelessness
I think the parallel process of denigration of values following the transition to capitalism has slowly begun. Myth and fiction are being inter-twined creating a new confused Indianess.
There is a serial on Ravana, extolling his virtues as a king, not 'demon' king. Ramayana has been re-serialized in a 4-book form and presented as fiction. The video games on Ramayana have you fight demons with the bow and arrow acting as Ram and there is a new movie in the works which presents Mahabarata from Draupadi's point of view ! Saw a management book on case studies recently that carried a line- who will you choose- Krishna or his army?
Last weekend , I finished reading Ozamu Tezaku's 8 volume graphic novel 'Buddha' . The illustrations are quite stunning and the story moves quite rapidly - the journey of Buddha's birth to enlightenment is detailed even though it is classified as a work of fiction.
The book is, however, full of nudity, expletives,racism, profanity and violence.
How is a 10 year old kid to read it ? And what is he to retain from it? Whose version of mythology is it? Does being classsified as fiction give it the license to distort and represent old myths ? Fictionalizing myth further will dilute the Indian value context and leave behind confused meanings.
And in 10 years, what will be left of the original Indian Mythology?
There is a serial on Ravana, extolling his virtues as a king, not 'demon' king. Ramayana has been re-serialized in a 4-book form and presented as fiction. The video games on Ramayana have you fight demons with the bow and arrow acting as Ram and there is a new movie in the works which presents Mahabarata from Draupadi's point of view ! Saw a management book on case studies recently that carried a line- who will you choose- Krishna or his army?
Last weekend , I finished reading Ozamu Tezaku's 8 volume graphic novel 'Buddha' . The illustrations are quite stunning and the story moves quite rapidly - the journey of Buddha's birth to enlightenment is detailed even though it is classified as a work of fiction.
The book is, however, full of nudity, expletives,racism, profanity and violence.
How is a 10 year old kid to read it ? And what is he to retain from it? Whose version of mythology is it? Does being classsified as fiction give it the license to distort and represent old myths ? Fictionalizing myth further will dilute the Indian value context and leave behind confused meanings.
And in 10 years, what will be left of the original Indian Mythology?
Friday, October 09, 2009
You ain't seen nothin yet !
Here's what Yogi Berra means
A snapshot of numbers and growth of various products and services over the last 10 years:
Product/service: 1999 nos: 2009 nos: % growth
ATMs : 1100 :40000 :3636%
Air passengers(mn):12:54:450%
Coffee shops:9:1200:13333%
DTH(mn):0:16
Internet users(mn):1.5:55:3667%
Mobile users(mn)1.2:449.3:37442%
Multiplexes:1:900:90000%
PC's in India(mn):1:7.6:760%
Desktops(mn):1:5.4:540%
Laptops ('000):23:2200:9565%
FM Radio stations:0:280
TV channels:75:426:568%
Phenomenal.
Here's a list of new cars launched in India in 2009:
i20, Spark, Jazz, Ritz, Astar, Linea, Punto, Merc E class, Audi A6, Passat, zetta,Fortuner, Estilo, Zylo, Altis, Altis sport, Rangerover, Road liner, Jaguar, Landrover, Nissan, Nano, Beetle ( coming in Nov), Golf, Tuareg, Polo( coming in Dec) !
India has suddenly turned to become a market for global brands now that most other markets are deep in the red with no consumer demand.
The best is yet to come.
A snapshot of numbers and growth of various products and services over the last 10 years:
Product/service: 1999 nos: 2009 nos: % growth
ATMs : 1100 :40000 :3636%
Air passengers(mn):12:54:450%
Coffee shops:9:1200:13333%
DTH(mn):0:16
Internet users(mn):1.5:55:3667%
Mobile users(mn)1.2:449.3:37442%
Multiplexes:1:900:90000%
PC's in India(mn):1:7.6:760%
Desktops(mn):1:5.4:540%
Laptops ('000):23:2200:9565%
FM Radio stations:0:280
TV channels:75:426:568%
Phenomenal.
Here's a list of new cars launched in India in 2009:
i20, Spark, Jazz, Ritz, Astar, Linea, Punto, Merc E class, Audi A6, Passat, zetta,Fortuner, Estilo, Zylo, Altis, Altis sport, Rangerover, Road liner, Jaguar, Landrover, Nissan, Nano, Beetle ( coming in Nov), Golf, Tuareg, Polo( coming in Dec) !
India has suddenly turned to become a market for global brands now that most other markets are deep in the red with no consumer demand.
The best is yet to come.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
What next for Balika Vadhu viewers ?
Television has changed significantly over the last couple of years.
Maybe it reflects the changing demographic structure of society or maybe it is leading the change. Time was when rural audiences were the core viewing group, as there was one uniform India - licenced, protected, uncompetitive and poor- and the need was to reflect their reality. Then came 1991. India became free again and tasted capitalistic independence -with abundance, choice and wealth. Print added color and skin, Television added slickness , svelteness and instantness, Radio added the music and the internet re-defined urban. The Aspirational housewifes dreams found satisfaction in the well-decked bahus and saas'es with the scandals and affairs reflecting capitalistic values again- choice, competitiveness and infidelity - to brands and men. Over the years, another adaptive format of capitalism- competitiveness and identity- in the form of reality shows emerged in all formats of talent- laughter, singing, dancing, dating, fighting, driving, or just staying together - competing to win.
India was definitely split - into two , three or maybe four India's - the rural , the emerging, the developed and the evolved. The mass at the bottom remained rural but the pace of growth of 1991 had now caught up with them and they had access to cable- so wanted to identify with that content - Colors, followed by Zee, Star and everyone paved the way for such new rural social-issue oriented programming.
Every other day, there is a new car being launched costing anything from 80 lakhs to 5 cr. There are watches costing 0ver a lakh, bags worth many lakhs, shirts and trouser brands costing 50,000 rupees available at showrooms. And at the other end, there is a sachet for every product priced at Re.1 to create newer market segments that can migrate upwards to buying the pack.
A kid born today has atleast 20 channels he can spend his childhood in front of and then he will maybe migrate away from the medium by the time he is 12-13 and get onto the internet and maybe migrate to the mobile by 17-18.
What medium will he consume when he is twenty?
Its unlikely to be television as it is today, for sure.
Maybe it reflects the changing demographic structure of society or maybe it is leading the change. Time was when rural audiences were the core viewing group, as there was one uniform India - licenced, protected, uncompetitive and poor- and the need was to reflect their reality. Then came 1991. India became free again and tasted capitalistic independence -with abundance, choice and wealth. Print added color and skin, Television added slickness , svelteness and instantness, Radio added the music and the internet re-defined urban. The Aspirational housewifes dreams found satisfaction in the well-decked bahus and saas'es with the scandals and affairs reflecting capitalistic values again- choice, competitiveness and infidelity - to brands and men. Over the years, another adaptive format of capitalism- competitiveness and identity- in the form of reality shows emerged in all formats of talent- laughter, singing, dancing, dating, fighting, driving, or just staying together - competing to win.
India was definitely split - into two , three or maybe four India's - the rural , the emerging, the developed and the evolved. The mass at the bottom remained rural but the pace of growth of 1991 had now caught up with them and they had access to cable- so wanted to identify with that content - Colors, followed by Zee, Star and everyone paved the way for such new rural social-issue oriented programming.
Every other day, there is a new car being launched costing anything from 80 lakhs to 5 cr. There are watches costing 0ver a lakh, bags worth many lakhs, shirts and trouser brands costing 50,000 rupees available at showrooms. And at the other end, there is a sachet for every product priced at Re.1 to create newer market segments that can migrate upwards to buying the pack.
A kid born today has atleast 20 channels he can spend his childhood in front of and then he will maybe migrate away from the medium by the time he is 12-13 and get onto the internet and maybe migrate to the mobile by 17-18.
What medium will he consume when he is twenty?
Its unlikely to be television as it is today, for sure.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Fine city -Singapore !
Singapore looks like a nursery.
Everything is monitored and everyone is well dressed. Noone breaks any rules and cleanliness is the way of the world.
The country is rightfully positioned as a world city and is truly integrated into the global economy. Many ads for basic products like housing and shopping use expat models. Food is truly multi-cultural. Having faced tough choices about food in most of South East Asia- HongKong, Kaula Lumpur, Macau, Bangkok and China , Singapore was a breeze- basic edible fare with vegetables was available everywhere- including in the Jurong bird park and Sentosa island. The good Orchard hotel which hosted us( cost quite a packet though) had an Indian menu everyday.
Patches of Singapore look like Chennai - Little India for sure with its zillions of tamilians and the ananda bhavans and banana leaf restaurants ; while some parts reflected the city's multi-ethnicity - Chinatown with white-as-paper chinese people and the consistent smell of fish oil and Arab street with its Malayasian Muslims.
The city cheekily advertises itself as a fine city- full of fines - fines for smoking, traffic, spitting, importing chewing gum to get people in line. The best control for rush hour is to fine the drivers - there is a 30% surcharge for peak hour traffic and a 50% surcharge on taxi fares on weekends.
At 41 rupees to a singapore dollar, it is expensive as taxes account for 5-10% of the rate. A bottle of water is 8 bucks and any cab ride spills into hundreds. The city-country is also trying hard to catch up with Malaysia and HongKong to get tourists with investments in resort city etc. The 120 page Strait Times also chronicled the post-recession problems of Singaporeans, the issues with expats and the aspirations of the local population. The stock market was rebounding and was in good shape while the bank interest rates stayed close to the 1% mark.
The other intersting thing was the continual re-development - each building had been torn down every couple of years to make way for a more smarter,slicker building keeping the city chic 24X7.
With only a 700 sq km area and a population of 27 million, geographically, its only a patch on Mumbai, forget matching to India's size.
Like the taxi driver driving us to Jurong on Ayer Raja Expressway said, you can finish Singapore in 4 days, but even in 4 years, you will only know so little of India.
How true !
Everything is monitored and everyone is well dressed. Noone breaks any rules and cleanliness is the way of the world.
The country is rightfully positioned as a world city and is truly integrated into the global economy. Many ads for basic products like housing and shopping use expat models. Food is truly multi-cultural. Having faced tough choices about food in most of South East Asia- HongKong, Kaula Lumpur, Macau, Bangkok and China , Singapore was a breeze- basic edible fare with vegetables was available everywhere- including in the Jurong bird park and Sentosa island. The good Orchard hotel which hosted us( cost quite a packet though) had an Indian menu everyday.
Patches of Singapore look like Chennai - Little India for sure with its zillions of tamilians and the ananda bhavans and banana leaf restaurants ; while some parts reflected the city's multi-ethnicity - Chinatown with white-as-paper chinese people and the consistent smell of fish oil and Arab street with its Malayasian Muslims.
The city cheekily advertises itself as a fine city- full of fines - fines for smoking, traffic, spitting, importing chewing gum to get people in line. The best control for rush hour is to fine the drivers - there is a 30% surcharge for peak hour traffic and a 50% surcharge on taxi fares on weekends.
At 41 rupees to a singapore dollar, it is expensive as taxes account for 5-10% of the rate. A bottle of water is 8 bucks and any cab ride spills into hundreds. The city-country is also trying hard to catch up with Malaysia and HongKong to get tourists with investments in resort city etc. The 120 page Strait Times also chronicled the post-recession problems of Singaporeans, the issues with expats and the aspirations of the local population. The stock market was rebounding and was in good shape while the bank interest rates stayed close to the 1% mark.
The other intersting thing was the continual re-development - each building had been torn down every couple of years to make way for a more smarter,slicker building keeping the city chic 24X7.
With only a 700 sq km area and a population of 27 million, geographically, its only a patch on Mumbai, forget matching to India's size.
Like the taxi driver driving us to Jurong on Ayer Raja Expressway said, you can finish Singapore in 4 days, but even in 4 years, you will only know so little of India.
How true !
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