Soliloquy

Middle Passage

2011-12-29T10:04:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1

dimension |diˈmenCHən|
noun

an aspect or feature of a situation, problem, or thing: sun-dried tomatoes add a new dimension to this sauce.

We, the people are an interesting set of creatures with an interesting mix of attributes. Be it our colour, religion, caste, culture or our habits and languages and beliefs, the diversity is astounding. But there is one unique thing that outlines the diversity of humankind in the real sense. Man’s most elusive benefactor.

The diversity of the mind.

There’d be no class or religion, fear or fun had it not been for our mind. We are what we are for the mind that we give sanctuary to. We are wise yet we are dumb, we are informed yet we are clueless, we are tuned-in yet we are all over the place. We are what our minds makes of us.

Mind is what makes us real.

Just like any one else my world too is full of interesting people. Good, bad, not so bad, really bad, half way between good and bad, the psycho’s, the saints, the wannabe’s, the confused souls and the priceless idiots. Some of them I genuinely like, some I can’t do without and some I don’t like but deliberately keep them in my circle, albeit at a distance, just so that they help me expunge all warped sense of achievements and exploits that seed my judgement by reason of corrupt influence or swollen self assessment. They are to me what the crash test dummies are to car makers. They help me put things into perspective and stay close to reality.

Reality in my life is at the crossroads of change.

Suddenly I find myself in a situation that I had never been before. I am at a critical threshold, a stage where coming-of-age supercedes adulthood, where mental maturity eclipses virility, where mind conquers over the body. A transition only reality can bring in. A reality of incidence, new and inexplicable, moistening me to brace the consummation of this precipitous change.

For change is the only constant in my life.

For over 4 years I was patiently enduring the crippling effect of ‘routine’ on the hope that someday the rhythm of the constant will set in motion and liberate me from this plane of monochrome.Change did strike and took me to a place that I had never imagined I would go by conscious choice. Looking over the vast expanse of virgin, unexplored, magical territory that defies all expectations, especially of those from the so called civilized countries, I wonder if ‘Lady Change’ would care to take a breather because here I am in the ‘land of the Afri’ and I need some time to figure it out.

To explore the new dimension.

An ‘Absolut’ rip off!

2010-01-08T05:19:00.000-08:00

Plagiarism is not new, but it’s not cool either. The new Apollo Munich TVC left me speechless, obviously the good way when I first saw it. I thought it was one hell of a ‘disruptive’ idea executed in a stellar manner and definitely beyond comparison. I went gaga about it, encouraged everyone in my office to see it and appreciate the ingenuity. What an idea! Woo hoo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7z81vCwS44

But as they say good things don’t last for long. So did my good notion about the ad. It just went poof. The Pandora’s box revealed the gory truth and there it was. The business of ideas had fallen prey to the idea of business that’s completely unethical. Oops we did it again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O16C1ZLuyI

Are we as losing our grip? Or is it becoming too demanding for us to think, fresh and new? Whatever be the case, we end up losing on all counts. Clients feel cheated, the industry gets the stick, respect takes a walk and advertising loses its sheen.

We could get away with this maybe 15 years back and we sure did many a times, but now it’s a different ballgame altogether. There is no outwitting the Internet. You will get caught and probability is not part of the equation in this case.

Losing faith compounds faster than losing virginity in this industry and you are history. RIP.

Having said that I am sure there would be many of us who’d jump on it and say, well that is what we call ‘inspiration’. The product in this case is different from the other. The brief had a unique objective in mind and what came out of it was to support the objective set by the client. We are in no way saying the same thing.

Absolut-ely yes, and there is no disagreement on that. But I am pretty sure the client did not mention “recreate the Absolut ad’ in the ‘thought starter’ section of their brief to the agency. For all you know the client doesn’t even know there exists an ad, which surprisingly looks like theirs. Maybe they are annoyed at Absolut for copying their ad.

Or am I really underestimating the client in this case? Hmmm…. probability wouldn’t mind a wildcard entry on this.

But it’s just criminal. I cannot imagine how this entire episode disappointed me, because I truly believed in the ad. I was the biggest supporter and promoter there could be. I feel so cheated now. It’s like a nightmare. In my case it would be more like finding out that it was not Maradona who actually scored all those amazing goals, it was someone else, an invisible man shadowed by a visible Maradona. I’d be shattered. Thank my stars that the truth hasn’t surfaced, yet.

What happened to the big idea, the magic of words and the reverence of the ingenious? The world envies us for who we are and we should strive to earn more of it than allow such rip-offs tarnish our image.

‘Let’s un-complicate’ things by rationalizing the inept and fly-by-night approach to advertising and ‘doing something different’ that ‘leads to something exceptional’.

The Calling

2009-07-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

In the last 48 hours there’s been an invariable surge of superfluous insinuations much of it in a rather cryptic manner but undoubtedly strong enough to drive me out of my slumber and call for an argument. The plot could have lost its steam had it moved on its own course of logical reasoning but based on the circumstantial hints that I was bombarded with I am urged to take a voluntary lead and light the fire right away.

Here’s how it all somehow started. I was glancing through my blog when I came across a comment that was posted against a write up way back in December last year. The write up was on recession. Not something that would get me the Pulitzer but I chose to be vocal about it because I was too damn infuriated for an opportunity lost because of that. I even did some research on the net, to establish that this was not the only instance that Uncle Sam was responsible for it and that they have been consistently working on it since c.1797. Just right at the moment when I finished reading the comment, Genius on iTunes decides to play ‘blame it on the a-a-alcohol’ by Jamie Foxx.

Anyhow I finally managed to decipher from the jungle of hints that the comment was the real source of the flame and it had a rather unusual indignant slant to it, which left me intrigued.

When you find a comment as to “Why are agency people always such big bores? Never to the mark always beating round the bush which everyone is aware off. Bring out ideas rather than creating another me-too product” on the subject of global recession then you must realize that there is a problem.

The amusing part in the entire comment if you’d notice, had nothing to do with the topic but was surprisingly directed towards me (read profession and how a profession defines an individuals point of view) as opposed to the normal ‘for’ or ‘against’ point of view of an individual on a subject.

Now the myopic interpretation of this could well be that he is one ‘ignorant-fool’ and there are many more alike walking the earth right now, so beat it. But I am not convinced. Don’t get me wrong. I am not contesting your verdict about this guy nor his in-and-out-of-rehab clones spread around the world. They are unquestionably uncontested airheads and we are glad to have them in our world, they are fun. But what I am more concerned about is the perception, the allusion and the scorn that they carry with them to their grave. Don’t you think we should relieve their puny brain off this grave burden? They deserve a chance. Don’t they?

Not so long ago I used to work on the other side of the food chain. I represented the ‘client’ and had point of view that of my own. We discussed ‘ideas’, ‘strategies’ and ‘way-forwards’ with the incumbent agency and on instances more than once arrived at a decision, whether through multiple rounds of peaceful discussions, arguments or walk-outs. But I loved the way work happened. Love and hate did collide but there was an enormous amount of respect that both parties had for each other. It’s business at the end of the day and we have to achieve our target. It was as simple as that.

Let me throw it open, just for arguments sake. If agencies weren’t the reason for brands like Absolut, Apple, Nike, Adidas, Coca Cola, Fevicol and Amul to become such big names, then what or who were? Is it not the aura of the brand that works as a facilitator or the converter for the company? Aren’t targets met because sales executives get their bit of support from the brand equity? Are profits a mere reflection of the performance in sales or is it also largely an outcome of the solutions in various forms that agencies put together?

As clients if we did not believe in the idea and the conviction that agencies brought to the table as solutions to the problem then we would have never done it (just do it) nor thought about it in any other way (think different) nor aspired to take it two-up (let’s make things better) all by ourselves. Flip side lets not forget that the client is much a benefactor of the idea with its bold and decisive stance by accepting the risk in doing things that are not necessarily safe or conventional.

Now when such comments that classify ‘advertising professionals’ as a specific class of people who resort to recycled ideas and solutions, have nothing new to share, are flashy and gimmicky and use the ‘advertising’ skin to hide their shallow identity, you just cannot sit back and say ’well that’s life for you’ as one of my Facebook sweetheart says.

If you dig deep you would probably find that these people rely on some kind of a manual. And the manual must have a checklist or a classification code that identifies advertising professionals.

• Piercing (both men and women)
• Smoking (both men and women, not necessarily cigarettes)
• Drinking (both men and women, not necessarily alcohol)
• Long hair (kept only by men)
• Short hair (kept only by women)
• Flashing cleavage (both men and women)
• Returning home late (both men and women and more so if they are married)
• If they are married more than once
• If they are not married and show no signs of heterosexual devotion
• Anything that is too normal or a deviation from the above
• And anything that is not mentioned above (NB: Advertising people are good at fooling you)

My journey back to advertising was calculated and thought through. I had learnt the tricks of the trade and rules of the road, I am used to handling money in millions and I surely know what goes on down there, the field. I am confident, one-up in the client-agency game and drive their business as if it were my own. I know as much as they do about their business and at times maybe a tad more. Maybe that's the reason I enjoy their respect even more. They see value in what I bring to the table and I am quite happy to belong to this side of the meadow.

If this is not the calling then what is!

Tell me why?

2008-12-15T05:11:00.000-08:00

My quest to understand the phenomenon of the global downturn and its impact, that treacherously tends to ricochet off far away lands remotely responsible for the economic catastrophe, brings me to the pages of history and leaves me baffled and dumbstruck. Hello… people… will anyone tell me why no one ever bothered to tell me that Big Bro has consistently through ages been juggling (read screwing) with our happiness. Who made them the financial controller of the global economy?

Guys, I am disappointed, extremely disappointed. Why didn’t you tell me? What took you so long?

Now that we are drifting, precariously though, and without an oar, depending on the current to take us to the shore as soon as possible, we should much rather invest out time making our economy robust such that we depend less and less on the USD and make INR to most sought after currency in the world. Don’t ask me how because I am not an economist but guess what? I can refer one to you right away, Mr.Sen, Amartya Sen. India has produced the finest of brains that the world has ever seen but unfortunately all of them are sitting out of ‘Meltdown HQ’ and once again don’t ask me why. No one bothers to ask me at the very first place.

It’s my firm belief that if we let such brains rule our country we would definitely achieve what Singapore did in a span of just 20 years. Look at them now. Albeit still dependent on the USD in a big way but the country they built out of nothing is commendable if not enviable.

I am not too sure where this discussion rather discourse, or honestly put this monologue is heading towards but all I want to express is my deep resentment, after my much deserved enlightenment, towards the monopoly of the West. Who created this order, this arrangement and made us slaves of western influence? Why can’t our country just get up and do it. What stops us from being a Superpower?

FYI. Look what our brother(s) from the west has done to the world since time immemorial and we still don’t take them to court.

Tell me why?

Credit: Chart - Wikipedia.

Up up and Soaring!

2008-12-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

The current topic of discussion everywhere is probably the Mumbai Terror strike and in all probability the focus has visibly shifted from the terrorists to the government now; the measure, planning, next step and so on. But unfortunately my discussion yesterday, with one of my friend, was still wobbling like a gramophone head in and around the same note of severe repugnance towards the media. And today, the revulsion was duly fanned by one of ‘them’ with utmost sincerity.

An e-mailer (Picture 2) was sent to me from a news channel claiming stuff that I am absolutely and completely doubtful of. I would simply not ride on an event ‘like this’ to promote products, services or commodities like ‘stain removers’. My call is purely from a ethical point of view. There is nothing positive about this and certainly not something that should be glorified.

My question is, “should a news channel claim supremacy, purely riding on an event that has claimed so many innocent lives and which is an act against the sovereignty of a nation?” I am wondering how important it has become for everyone to create a proposition these days to stay ahead.

Interestingly an article carried by the Times of India (Picture 1), today explained how TRP is soaring for these news channels and how everyone is trying to get the maximum coverage out of it. During the attack TRP for news channel tripled to 130% and general entertainment channels’ dropped by 40%. What does that mean for the news channel? Well if I interpret it by drawing the e-mailer as an element of manipulation I would say ‘make hay while ye may’.

Suddenly the government takes the brunt for something that is not surprising. The government screws up on everything. Governments are meant to screw up a nation, so what’s so new about it and especially in India. We consciously elect hopeless people without even thinking twice, because we follow the family tradition. Vote for Congress or BJP or CPM respectively because we have consistently supported them for generations. Well if we did not make this mistake for generations probably today innocent lives wouldn’t have been lost.

Why don’t these news channels report news that make a difference? Why don’t we see them spending half their airtime straitening up the system or the government rather than reporting news on ‘wardrobe malfunction’ or celebrities caught kissing in a nightclub? Why do we not see the ‘breaking news’ or the ‘exclusive’ tag when a common man dies because of exploitation, hunger or poverty?

I am tired and sleepy after a long days work and I can’t go on describing how pathetic and unethical this is.

Guys do something…

Breaking News

2008-12-01T03:33:00.000-08:00

Beat this. “What is your location as of now, how many yards or steps away are you from the Taj where the gun-battle is going on. How do you feel being there?” A question posed to a reporter from the studio. And that’s Arnab Goswami for you. And that’s not all. If you were watching the reporting on the News Channels during the terrorist attack in Mumbai you would’ve surely noted many more of these mindless, muted, dim-witted and absolutely irrelevant questions being asked by the so-called big names of Indian Journalism. Is this journalism? No way, absolutely not. Banish me to the remotest island with no food and sustenance but I would still not agree. This is nothing more than prostitution in the name of news. Spice it up, add sensation to it and put it up to the highest bidder.

Fourth Estate is what it is referred to but I am forced to believe that it’s been relegated to nothing less than cheap gimmick and sensationalism: subjective opinions in place of hard facts, heightened emotional and melodramatic proclamations as against neutral reporting and lopsided claims over powering impermeable facts and figures. That is the state of news reporting in India, especially TV news reporting in the backdrop of the appreciating ‘TRP hungry’ media currency.

If you’d watched closely the entire terrorist attack covered by the news channels you’d agree with me when I say that it was nothing but a circus of newsmakers. Starting from how news was branded to how everyone claimed exclusivity for the coverage. The ‘breaking news’ banner covered half the screen and the ‘exclusive’ title stamped everywhere. Even a different shot/angle of the same incident at the same time and location was termed exclusive by these channels.

Barkha Dutt standing in front of the Trident and making all sorts of weird assumptions with her eloquent histrionics, Arnab Goswami putting words in to his reporters’ mouth, literally asking them to lip sync to his statements which sounded more like a child trying to seek attention, Rajdeep Sardesai indiscriminately cracked his sad one-liners and questioned the authority even before the ordeal ended. Each and everyone trying to grapple with the most they could get out of this.

But in this no one really cared or bothered about the real incident, the tragedy. Each and everyone of them were far more engrossed in glorifying the terrorist attack rather than helping the people in Mumbai and the country at large with some real facts.

A quick snapshot of the historic statements (as far as I remember) made by some of these Journos during the ordeal:

Arnab Goswami: “ The photograph of 2 terrorist caught on tape by Times Now, exclusively by Times Now. No one else has this tape. Only Times Now has this exclusive tape” and he went on repeating this till the cows came home. The 10 seconds or so recording had nothing substantial on it but 2 silhouettes walking into a small by-lane.

Barkha Dutt: “As you can see behind me is the Trident, where at least 100 odd people are held hostage by the terrorists. We cannot yet give you the number of terrorists who are holed up inside the Trident. According to my top sources in the cabinet, I am given to understand that the PM has spoken to the President of Pakistan and asked him to share information on the attack.” By the time she used her contacts and found out the news and showed the Trident to the world, New York Times, Guardian and the Herald had broken and published even more classified news and information on their website.

Rajdeep Sardesai: “ Can you give me a better shot of the bullet mark on the window so that our viewers can understand where the action is taking place.” As if the count of the dead was not conclusive enough.

Not to forget the way that these journalists interviewed, covered and shadowed the celebrities, the rich and the influential during this period and completely overlooked the common man. No news or coverage of the people who were shot dead at CST, Leopold or the India Gate. None of these ambassadors of the Fourth Estate invited any common man to their studio, interviewed them or even took their point of view. Did we find a mention of any unknown name on TV or in the newspaper? But we sure did find a celebrity being covered for the loss he suffered. We found a socialite being given more newsprint coverage than the 2 young employees of Yes Bank who were shot dead at CST. Indeed its sad that a well known figure lost his sister and brother-in-law, indeed its sad that a Times of India columnist fell victim to this macabre and India grieves for everyone who lost their lives, but how do we explain the sheer lack of concern and interest in covering the loss of the common man. Is it the fear that common man will not sell or because newsprint and airtime currency is not meant for the common?

No one cared to talk about the hardworking staff of the hotel killed at the same time the elite and the rich were, rather while trying to save the lives of their elite clients. No one cared to cover the tragedy of the policemen who took the bullets while saving others. Finally when the horrific episode was over a small obituary column was all that was spared for them. How sad and inconsiderate.

The Arnab’s, Barkha’s and Rajdeep’s were engrossed more on profiling their channels and furnishing credential of their field reporters than doing their actual job, otherwise known as news reporting.

Albeit this is not the right time to raise such questions and point a finger but sooner the time will come to face introspection. Notwithstanding the fact that media plays a vital role in bringing out the truth and sanitize the society whilst we see the rise of the Machiavelli.

Buland Bharat Ki Ulang Tasweer!

2008-11-27T14:05:00.000-08:00

Before I kick-start my pre-election analysis here is a quick trivia for the decision makers of this country. Since 1993 which city in India has been repeatedly exploited, raped, molested and tortured by terrorists or the so-called messiahs of God? Yes, you have guessed it right. It’s Mumbai. And guess what your reward is for answering this correctly? You get to rule the country for another 5 murderous years. Isn’t that great?

Just like another hapless Indian (genuinely so) I am going to shout, rant and rave and eventually blame my fate for the state of chaos that reign’s supreme now (as I write). I have no other way to express myself or be of any help and assuming that the decision makers of this country need no help or my (read our) opinion, I voluntarily choose to opine. Part of the fundamental right in a democracy they say is freedom of speech. Don’t be surprised if I land up in jail tomorrow for actually using it.

I have no clue as to why innocent people are always mindlessly and mercilessly executed. And why are we continuously allowing this to happen? Is there a reason that this cannot be stopped? Or are we too lazy and inept to take charge and stop this forever? Are we always trying to dodge the issue and find a subject to blame? If you ask me, yes we are. Our alibi starts with the terrorists and then the government, the system, the ministers and bureaucrats, our economy and so on. Do we blame them or do we hold the inner health of human coherence responsible at the very first place? Tricky isn’t it?

But I certainly know for sure, this isn’t right. Not right for people who has nothing to do with it. Not right for people who had (and has) no part to play in this confused prophecy and self-proclamation. Not right for the people who were probably working hard to make a living. Not right for the sake of humanity. Not right because it just isn’t.

For decades this city has suffered the brunt of groundless terrorism and yet stood up every time like a ‘hit-me’ toy. Do we see that as strength or weakness? Well I see that as severe exploitation. Why does it always have to fend for itself? Why can’t the city be protected and looked after? Why can’t we look after the city that has put us on the world map, the city that is the lifeblood of the entire country? Why do we always leave the city fending for itself? Isn’t it time we stop voting and take charge of this country from the hands of such gutless, scheming architects of corruption.

You want us to believe terrorism cannot be stopped? Well at least it can be controlled, intercepted and countered. What stops us from creating a situation where terrorists think twice before they plot an act like this? Well according to me, (a person who has no clue of military science or combat theory) it can easily be done by putting in place a system that automatically intercepts such orchestrated attacks. Action plan 1 – invest in the security management of the nation and Action plan 2 – set an example.

I am sure there are many of us who still believe in ‘non-violence’ and I wish every soul on the face of this earth believed in it. But unfortunately the families who lost a mother, a daughter, a son or a father did so because of violence. When a little child steals or does something inappropriate, we teach the child to not to do it because it’s wrong. If the child repeats it we try and instill the logic of right and wrong through words. If the child does it again we resort to punishment. It’s time we do the same to these unreasonable, soulless parasites who are certainly not children or innocent gullible human beings. They are devotees of mass destruction and we should not encourage them by sitting on our ‘lazy-boys’. Every time this happens hundreds of homes lose their loved ones, an irreparable damage that none of us probably understand.

But over and over again we have looked at this as a personal loss for each of these families and not as a loss of the nation at large. It’s just not acceptable. Good or bad, I don’t care anymore, but lets for once give it back the same way they gave it to us- ‘an eye for an eye’. No more forwarding our second cheek. Take one give back two, I say give back as many as you can.

But this can only happen when we take change with our pants on and not let these preposterous dhoti clad ‘brittle bones’ take charge of the country. They cannot put up a united stand during a telling time and have repeatedly failed us and made us look like a bunch of losers,

But I don’t believe in being partial. So I would ask a question to each of them and if they successfully answer the same the city will be theirs again.

Dear Mr.Thackrey’s (Raj & Balasaheb): Where are your men who run amuck across Mumbai beating innocent people because they are not Maharashtrian’s? Would you care to spare those men for this task, please? Can we also have your ominous presence inside the Trident or the Taj? Please, please, please.

Dear Mr. Chief Minister of Maharashtra. When I saw you last time you were at the Filmfare Awards enjoying your son’s performance with a fellow female actor on-stage. Will you please come to the Nariman House and have a small chitchat with the terrorists please? Dinner is on the house.

Mr.Advani and Mr.Prime Minister. Sir how have you been? How was your flight? I hope you got the business class seat. Was it comfortable? By the way, out of curiosity sake, may I please know where have you been all day? Oh I guess you were giving company to Mr.Vajpayee and Mrs. Gandhi respectively. Charming aren’t they? Oh by the way which hotel are you booked in Mr.Advani? Did I hear Taj? And you Mr. Prime Minister?

Brilliant Ads

2008-11-05T03:02:00.000-08:00

These are some of the Ads that I personally feel made a huge difference not just to the advertising world but most importantly to the consumers. Goes on to show why advertising is important.

Sub-prime Crisis: What is it all about?

2008-10-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

Sub-prime crisis is the current financial crisis (considered as the worst ever since World War II) characterized by acute credit crunch in the global capital markets. This liquidity crunch is not only because of shortage of funds or higher interest rates but also because of mistrust among banks that have forced banks to stop lending to each other. Banks do not know whether other banks have enough cash and liquidity to survive to pay back the loan; thus, affecting the critical inter-banking operation in the economy. This has affected the liquidity in the market and made highly leveraged banks difficult to operate and survive.

Inter-Banking market operation
Open

market operations is a tool used by Fed (RBI’s equivalent in the US) to regulate money supply in the economy. U.S. banks and thrift institutions are obligated by law to maintain certain level of reserves, which is determined by the outstanding assets and liabilities of each depository institution, as well as by the Fed itself, but is typically 10% of the total value of the bank\'s demand accounts.
For example, assume a particular U.S. depository institution, in the normal course of business, issues a loan. This dispenses money and reduces the bank\'s reserves. If its reserve level falls below the legally required minimum, it must add to its reserves to remain compliant with the regulation. The bank can borrow the requisite funds from another bank that has a surplus in its account with the Fed. Thus, this operation is an extremely powerful tool not only to regulate liquidity in the economy but also for the survival of these banks.

Now imagine what will happen if banks stop lending to each other. Banks will not be able to match their assets and liabilities by borrowing from banks having surplus. Thus banks that have high liabilities or are highly leveraged (e.g. Lehman, Wachovia and Washington Mutual) will go bust!

Sub-prime home loan
Let me explain what does sub-prime loans mean. Prime home loans market refers to individuals with very good or excellent credit records or ratings and to whom banks lend directly. Sub-prime market refers to individuals, who have poor credit record characterized by unstable income. Thus, banks or other lending institutions would not lend money to such individuals. So, how will such individuals get home loans to fulfill their great American dreams? Here enters- financial institutions (FIs), which have excellent creditworthiness. These FIs take loan from banks at lower interest rates and break these loans into a lot of small home loans and lend them to “sub-prime” lenders at much higher interest rates. Thus, FIs make profits on the spread (difference between the lending and borrowing interest rates) by taking higher risks. This home loan market is called “Sub-prime home loan market”.

How this crisis started?
Many believe that sub-prime crisis is direct fallout of the US credit culture. i.e. borrow as much as possible way beyond the means. In 2008 the average household debt was 130% of the average income and average household owned 12 to 13 credit cards. Mind blowing! Isn’t it? The problem primarily began with the US keeping its interest rates very low for a very long time, thus encouraging Americans to go in for housing loans, or mortgages. Lower interest rates encouraged buyers to take on bigger loans, and thus bigger and better homes. Subprime borrowing was a major contributor to an increase in home ownership rates and the demand for housing. The overall U.S. home ownership rate increased from 64% in 1994 (about where it was since 1980) to a peak in 2004 with an all-time high of 69.2%. This was fostered by federal government to increase ownership among minorities and poor.

With the American economy doing well at that time and housing prices soaring on the back of huge demand for real estate and bigger and better homes, financial institutions saw a great opportunity in the mortgage market. In their zeal to make a quick buck, these institutions relaxed the strict regulatory procedures before extending housing loans to people with unstable jobs and poor credit records. Few controls were put in place to handle the situation in case the housing bubble\' burst.

The crisis began with the bursting of the United States housing bubble. A slowing US economy, high interest rates, unrealistic real estate prices, high inflation and rising oil tags together led to a fall in stock markets, growth stagnation, job losses, lack of consumer spending, a virtual halt to new jobs, and foreclosures and defaults. The sub-prime loans were given by FIs at floating rates. With rising interest rates in the US, EMIs for these individuals also started increasing (what we see today in Indian market) and sub-prime homeowners began to default as they could no longer afford to pay their EMIs. A deluge of such defaults inundated these institutions and banks, wiping out their net worth. Their mortgage-backed securities were almost worthless as real estate prices crashed.

The moment it was found out that these institutions had failed to manage the risk, panic spread. Investors realized that they could hardly put any value on the securities that these institutions were selling. This caused many a Wall Street pillar to crumble. As defaults kept rising, these institutions could not service their loans that they had taken from banks. So they turned to other financial firms to help them out, but after a while these firms too stopped extending credit realizing that the collateral backing this credit would soon lose value in the falling real estate market.

Why Investment Banks like Lehman Brothers went bust?
Earlier I talked about how FIs like Investment Banks made profits on the spread (difference between the lending and borrowing interest rates) by taking high risks on the money borrowed. This provided huge incentive to these FIs to borrow and lend as much as possible creating huge “leverage” on the books. During the time of housing boom, this was considered as MBS portfolios typically received high credit ratings with minimal defaults. Since Investment Banks do not have the same capital reserve requirement as Depository Banks, they borrowed and lent amounts exceeding 30 to 50 times their net worth i.e. their leverage on the books were between 30 to 50 compared to depository banks’ leverage of less than 15.

Now, housing market started declining by the end of 2005 and went bust in 2007. This along with increasing delinquencies and foreclosures by worried customers led to the decline of housing prices and in turn the value of MBS. Investors became concerned and in some cases demanded their money bank, resulting in margin calls (immediate need to sell the MBS portfolios at fire-sale prices) to pay them. At such high leverage (between 30 and 50), many FIs suffered huge losses, bankruptcy and merger with other banks. With this, MBS portfolios became extremely risky and hence “untouchable” and banks stopped buying or trading them. Their values plummeted further and all those institutions who have bought them suffered huge losses and created panic and acute liquidity concern in the market across the globe. Lehman Brothers had a leverage of 31 and hence went bust because it didn’t have enough cash to service margin calls by its creditors.

Effect on the economy
This severe liquidity crunch led to several negative effects on the economy. This ripple effect was seen not only in the US but also in the European Union because all these rich and big banks in the US and Europe invested heavily in these Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) during the boom time. Banks stopped or became extremely reluctant to lend money to companies which have to either delay or stop their investment plans.

This has led to increase in unemployment and drop in the consumption. The financial crisis as we know caused a panic in the market and stock market declined heavily. Most of the US people have their investments either in real estate or stocks. As both these investment tools suffered heavy losses, average household value/income decreased sharply causing panic among citizens. In the coming years we might see major world economies such as US and Europe in recession.

Why India market fell?
Once investments by the FIs in the US turned bad, more money had to be invested back, to maintain that fixed proportion i.e. to match assets and liabilities on their books. In order to invest more money in the US, money had to come in from somewhere. To make up their losses in the sub-prime market in the US, they went out to sell their investments in emerging markets like India where their investments have been doing well.

So they started selling their investments in India and other markets around the world to maintain enough liquidity in the US economy and for their own operation. Since the amount of selling in the market was much higher than the amount of buying, the Sensex began to tumble. Additionally, crude prices were in the range of $120-150 which caused inflation to rise in double digit forcing banks to raise their interest rates. Thus, higher rates seriously affected real estate, automobile and banking firms’ operations and their stock crashed. Moreover, there were some rumors that even Indians banks had some exposure to these risky MBS and hence, banking stocks were among the worst hits. The flight of capital from the Indian markets also led to a fall in the value of the rupee against the US dollar. The stock market will continue to tumble as long as there is huge selling pressure from these FIs.

Bail-out
This crisis is now spreading from sub-prime to prime mortgages, home equity loans, to commercial real estate, to unsecured consumer credit (credit cards, student loans, auto loans), to leveraged loans that financed reckless debt-laden leveraged buy outs, to municipal bonds, to industrial and commercial loans, to corporate bonds, to the derivative markets whose risk are indeterminate and underlying assets value is hundreds of trillions of dollars.

This is a total systematic failure which needed an urgent and high level attention across the world. Thus, we saw a $3 Trillion bail-out from central banks in the US and EU. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and see what future holds for us!

Credit: Mr. Rahul Singh

The Amazing Consumer Fanaticism of Apple Devotees

2008-09-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1370868150/bctid1768031979

Courtesy: Advertising Age (www.adage.com)

Lights. Camera. Coffee!

2008-08-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

Taking its vision, ‘tools for creative mind’ a step further, Apple India has launched an interesting contest for the young minds. Titled 'movie over coffee' this contest is targeted at college students who like the art of visual expression.

‘movie over coffee’ is a part of the overall Mac to College offer that was especially designed to offer students the Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro at special prices. The offer is undoubtedly a steal and beats competition hands down. If you are a student reading this and contemplating buying a laptop, this is your chance. Pick up the phone and place your order. And trust me, this time around mom and dad will not throw a fit! They would rather praise you for your smart decision.

The Mac to College ‘movie over coffee’ contest is open to all students currently studying in colleges accredited to a state university. A great opportunity for those who like challenging tasks and playing with the odds.

Nothing complicated about this though. All you need to do is make a team of three, pen your script over a cup of coffee, get hold of a camera and shoot. Then go to the Apple Premium Reseller Outlet, edit the rushes and make a film of 2 minutes. Can your masterpiece in 1 hour flat and you are done. The trick is to be quick and constructive. If you manage to hit the clock before August 30th you also stand a chance to win some really cool early bird prizes.

Just like the offer, the rewards are special too. You get cool limited edition Mac T-shirts on participation, iPod shuffles on winning the zonal level and MacBooks on winning the national competition. Now isn’t that something worth your sweat?

If this has managed to tickle your creative sense, then call 1800-425-4646 from any phone and find out more details about the Mac to College ‘movie over coffee’ contest. Till then it’s a wrap!

Winds of Change

2008-08-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Seemingly partial, albeit not necessarily myopic but I was for once quite happy to be in Kolkata. A strange statement for a person who spent most of his life in Kolkata until now, but as they say, you don’t see it until you move away from it.

For most of us, domination, in whatever form is directly proportional to the ground that we hold (or cling on to). For Kolkata it is inversely proportional to ‘finding the middle ground’. We cry hoarse when exploited by our own, but spit venom when we find an outsider criticizing our ‘maati’.

For years Kolkata used to bask in the glory of its past and shamelessly used it to cover the decrepit present. A decade and a half back Kolkata was unrecognizable. One had to refer back to historical photographs to figure out if footpaths ever existed. Footpaths were then the hawkers’ haven and pedestrians resigned to take the road along with other vehicles. Even roads shrunk like cheap cotton to accommodate their trade. It was like the starfish phenomenon. Try subtracting them and they will multiply. And we were ‘santusht’ as SRK says in one of his campaigns. Not anymore, I guess. We have finally realized that cogitating on our past will not put us on the international map, but making the present better, potentially will. But the only reason we would probably never get there is because we choose not to. We choose to vote for a government that believes more in party politics and its ancient ideologies than development and growth. On the other hand the opposition scares the living soul out of us with their reckless rants. Catch 22 exemplified.

Notwithstanding, if considered, Kolkata could truly be a world-class ‘super efficient’ city. With wide roads, unmatched connectivity (surface, water or underground), healthy power generation and lush greenery, Kolkata can.

The moment I landed in the city, it felt like my lungs expanded multifold from a state of repressed adaptation. I had lost touch with greenery and there it was, in abundance. Traffic was tamed and roads were looking a lot cleaner. Boulevards had a much deserving facelift and I had nothing to complain about, for the first time.

I was happy to be back.

I had a great time in Kolkata. Talk about going to places of entertainment or work, everything was just so wonderfully normal. I have lived in this city for long to be able to identify the change. A wind of change is cutting through the stale air in Kolkata. From gorgeous condominiums kissing the sky to fancy police patrol cars keeping night-vigil, everything looked so new, different and normal.

I walked into the latest craze called South City Mall. And when my wife, who has lived all her life out of India and in 10 different countries says ‘this is one of the best malls I have seen in my entire life’ I believe her. South City Mall beats many hands down!

A tour down New Town gives you a sneak peek to the blueprint of a ‘powerhouse’ in the making. Convention Centres, Business Hotels, Resorts, Schools, Condominiums, Service Apartments, IT –Incubators, Intelligent Offices, the list is endless. Talk about global brands enroute Calcutta; with big plans and big bucks they see the ‘El Dorado’ that we probably don’t.

There is also a shift in the way work happens in the red citadel and its various strongholds. Albeit not that large a shift but getting your work done without the usual ‘ dada cha er bokshish ta…’ is not so unusual these days. I was pleasantly surprised by the professionalism of a certain department. They got our work done like thorough professionals and without the slightest hint of any obligation.

For a change it’s not just the heat that pegs the mercury in Calcutta. Employment opportunities, industrial growth, per capita income and all other quotients that indicate growth are on a steady rise.

Kolkata will no more be ‘just another place’ in the world map. It will be New York, London, Tokyo and Kolkata very soon.

Virtual Society!

2008-04-28T04:52:00.000-07:00

MySpace, Orkut, Hi5, Linkedin, Zorpia, Tagged, Ryze, Facebook and the list goes on. The options are multiplying everyday defying every logic and calculation. Each and every site claims to have added a couple of million users, a billion page views and so much more with the bottom-line of having re-defined social behaviour.

You should be classified socially unfit if you haven’t received at least 10 invitations from your friends or acquaintances in the last couple of months. ‘Hey I can’t find you on Paggi’, ‘Come join me on Fropper’, ‘Someone searched for you at Reunion’. How different is one from the other? Some call it purely business networking, some are bold enough to position themselves as dating sites and the rest is all about reuniting with friends. With the introduction of these sites we have arguably become more social, albeit virtually but still we have. I won’t talk about numbers, strategies, the pros or the cons of this platform. I just want to understand how everyone behaves in this virtual society.

I am decently active on Orkut, not so active on Facebook, madly serious about LinkedIn and floating like a dead fish on certain other sites I don’t even know. I don’t refrain from accepting invitations from friends, acquaintances and colleagues as long as I know they are harmless, not overbearing and most importantly someone I wouldn’t mind talking to. The reality although is quite different. I have over 100 friends on Orkut, some 40 odd on Facebook, 30 and still counting for LinkedIn, but I doubt how many of them I really know, share a decent rapport with or even interested in building up one. In this universe of 170 odd people, I have probably written to (read scrapped) 10 of them in the past 1 year, voluntarily of course, and I am absolutely certain that it’s the same story for everyone. The 10 can stretch to 20 for some, but not the entire list.

So then why do we have so many of them on our list then? Is it directly proportional to ones attractiveness; bigger the list, higher the popularity? Or is it because it gives some the opportunity in creating a world of their own, the world in which they feel comfortable, gives them recognition and supports their individuality? In all probability, it could also be a way to get a quick peek into someone else’s world. What’s he up to, where is he working, how many girlfriends he has and so many other things that trespass our complex mind.

There are certain aspects which are quite intriguing if we look at it very closely. You’d find your mailbox full of invitations from your friends who are already on your existing social networking site, sending you invitation to join another. Inspite of having a large base of friends on one site, we keep looking at multiple options and inviting the same set of friends all over to another social networking site. What is the incentive for one to explore the opportunity of yet another social networking site? Does it realistically offer something more than the existing site? Are those more dynamic and useful than the one that you are using now?

As a marketing professional I would consider this to be a great case study. Think about it. We are the actual marketer of these sites. We are the ones who promote it and contribute to their success. Imagine the number of invitations going out from our end and which ultimately gets multiplied in arithmetical progression to give the enormous base of users for the site. What does competition do? Take the opportunity and exploit the existing base of users from an established site and promote its platform by migrating them. And we are their official channel partner. They use our network to get users for their site. What a brilliant way to get the numbers. You take the invitation of joining another site as yet another formality, but unknowingly you have probably helped the site post a billion dollar in revenue. Oddly, not a penny for you!

It’s an amazing world to be a part of. No one can see each other physically, but responses come in split seconds. You could be writing to someone far away, but they seem to be well within your reach. From school friends to ex-colleagues, from best friends to acquaintances, from breaking up to finding someone new, be whatever the reason may, good or bad, addiction or useful, the fact that our ever expanding dearth of time will steadily push us all into the virtual society to fill the void of the physical world.

Namma Bengaluru

2008-04-23T03:04:00.000-07:00

Like all other cities, across the world, this one too has its own unique character. Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of the East. Did someone spell it wrong? Wasn’t it meant to be ‘Silly-Con’?

Did one really think twice before the title was bestowed? Was it intended as a buy back, to re-live a second-hand dream? I wonder why this re-cycling of titles? Are we still not confident enough to create our own identity?

Over 60 years have passed and we are still wriggling in our confused slumber. We behave like a bunch of confused kids, abandoned and discarded, without a clue of how to embark upon this journey called independence.

Meant to be the face of the country, Bangalore turned out to be a farce. From governance to infrastructure, administration to education, social behaviour to personal etiquette, you name it and you know it’s in a deplorable state. Bottom-line - ‘Bangalore is nothing but a big farce’. Sloppily hidden beneath the shiny IT-City skin, is the real Bangalore - dark, dusty and toxic – literally.

There were a few valiant men who had relentlessly fought for the identity of our country, like Bhagat Singh, in his quest for a ‘free India’ or for that matter Narayan Murthy, with his ardent pursuit for an ‘intelligent India’. But on the other, there are the rest, the conniving opportunists, gorging on the cake baked by a few good men.

What has left us so mesmerised? Do you really think this city is anywhere close to the league of any of the world-class cities we know; New York, Tokyo, London, Paris or Singapore? Is this really anywhere close to the real Silicon Valley? Let’s not fool ourselves and live in this self proclaimed valley of farce. Bangalore looks like a sloppy cosmetic surgery.

I have barely spent 6 months in this city, and I am already a wreck, both emotionally and physically. I am sure my experiences cannot be deemed as an exception, going by the tolerance level of people here in this city, but they are surely unacceptable by the scale of a world-class city.

Consider this. You get off the plane and proceed towards the conveyer belt to pick up your luggage. Surprise, surprise! The baggage collection information is not available. You will probably run around a few minutes here and there to figure out where to collect your baggage from. The true mark of a world class city begins with a world class airport, not measured by its size but certainly by the facilities that are considered merely basic, like a simple baggage collection announcement board.

You still haven’t recovered from the run around when you are offered your second surprise. As you wait patiently for your baggage, someone will push you aside or step on your foot to claim his baggage without the least consideration that it’s hurting and it’s socially an unacceptable behaviour. By world-class standard it’s considered to be barbaric and rude but as Indians we think it’s alright and that saying ‘sorry’ or ‘please excuse me’ is not a part of our social etiquette.

As you drive out of the Airport, the story unfolds. The box of horror is dying to tumble over and spill all its dark secrets.

I have not in my entire life, seen important roads without street lights. Bangalore is one exception. There are street lights but for reasons unknown they are always switched off. Roads at night are dark and dangerous. This invariably creates the premise for fatal accidents or traumatic and unforgettable incidents. I had always wondered why everyone in Bangalore uses high-beam while driving knowing that it burns the vision of the other driver approaching from the opposite direction. The answer is quite simple; because they can’t see a thing and use high beam to find out what’s ahead of them.

Test people for their driving skills and you will be surprised to find out that most of them haven’t been to a proper training school. Now don’t get me started on how they got their license. The basics are not adhered to. No one respects traffic signals or the traffic police. There is nothing called lane driving, no one uses their indicators to change lanes either. It’s free for all. Neither drivers nor pedestrians have much consideration for each other. So much so that bikes and cars use sidewalks as a freeway to jump traffic and pedestrians much to the amusement of drivers, stroll across the road like they do at home after lunch when they walk back to their bedrooms, burping, on a lazy Sunday.

Last year I had taken a short trip to Vizag and was elated to see the roads there. Smooth as butter. Well maintained highways, sidewalks, well behaved traffic and just about everything was so normal. Just like a world-class city. But is that the same story for Bangalore? Think again. Roads are dug-up almost everywhere, bumps all around, temporary patch works, rubbish strewn all around, plastics floating in mid-air, people spitting, relieving and the list never ends.

If you have your own car or two-wheeler the trauma of getting to your workplace or places of interest is relatively minimized. But if you happen to rely on the public transport system to get to places of your choice, then you are out of your mind. Beg, plead and cry to an auto-rickshaw to take you to the destination of your choice. If you pass the test then you should be happy and grateful to him, because he will definitely take you there, but at an additional cost ranging from INR 30 to 40 on an average. If they don’t like your face then you are sure to be stranded at the same place for over 30 minutes till you get your lone-saviour who would do it! Thank his chivalry.

Electricity, which is considered to be a basic right, just like water or air, seems like luxury in Bangalore. You need to be lucky enough to be able to enjoy the charm of having uninterrupted electricity for a day. On an average I face black-outs at my house 4-5 times for duration of at-least 2 hours, every day. In world-class cities black-outs are considered to be unlawful and illegal. If this had happened in a city like Tokyo or New York, the administration would have escalated this as a national emergency issue. But for people in Bangalore, this is a part of life and no one really bothers to ponder on this.

This one will take the cake. I had applied for a broadband connection as soon as I landed in Bangalore. It took them 5 months to get back to me. A renowned Telecom company takes 5 months to respond to a customer query made through their website. Wasn’t this supposed to be different knowing Bangalore is the IT City.

I wonder how everyone accepts this. Has this city murdered our inner soul? Have we been programmed inactive, or have we traded our soul for the fleeting riches.

The least we can do is make a difference by taking a small initiative. Let’s stop using our mobile phones while driving, stick to the lane in which we are, use our indicators, have some respect for people around us, raise our voice against this mayhem, exploitation and harassment. Lets come together to make this city like it should be. There are so many things that surpass our daily existence and we fail to realize that they are meant to be for our happiness, a fundamental right that we shouldn’t trade off.

Run It!

2008-04-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

Testing 1, 2, 3...