Roger enrico - The other side blinked

I had picked the book on cola wars written by CEO of pepsi himself - Roger Enrico. Books on corporates and organisation is something thats always interest me. This book added to my convinction that i love reading about corporate world.

This book talks about cola wars between coke and pepsi in entire 1900 era. Although the views may be biased more towards pepsi yet it is nice read. Roger starts the story with his career start. He stresses on mentorship he received from his seniors. It was nice to read that upper management guys also think like me :-) (or I think like them). The view point which is common is that people who make their view point expressed, discusses pros and cons of all ideas and don't feel dejected when their ideas are dropped make good team. Great team leader doesn't need yes yes people but they need people who have true values and are honest when making a view point.

The book can be great read for anyone trying to know about branding and advertising. At one point someone may wonder if soft drink companies make any drink or just advertise. But yes Ads have big impact on consumers. Roger talks in detail about Michael jackson ads in pepsi and how celcebraties were lined up for ads. This advertisement business remined me of hoardings put up in Pune by Coke 'We have moved on 2th floor". On top of this pepsi put their hoarding as "We made them move to 2nd". I had this picture but not able to find it. (If you have it just mail me on contactshobhit@yahoo.com). He also talked in detail about coke introducing new coke formula and later going back to "classic" coke. This point stresses how CEOs and brand ambassdors have to be on top of news to turn the tables. Apart from adversiting world, the book also talks about relationship of bottlers in soft drink and distributions.

I think my next read would be coke story by zyman "The end of marketting as we know it all"

Producer/Sponsers needed to support my Idea

TV shows on songs and dance have become quite popular. Now is the time to explore new concepts. Storytelling is age old talent and art which people love. Ad industry has already realised the importance of storytelling and use it widely in their Ads.



I am looking for team to make storytelling show. I am sure this would be a good hit. We have seen talent hunt shows going around for choreographers (dance shows), playback singers, directors, food chefs. Its time for scriptwriters, Ad film maker to showcase there talent. These are creative people who can understand mass thinking and there appeal. I am inviting entries for budding storytellers to contactshobhit@yahoo.com. The show would be in Hindi

Any pointers on how to reach out to producers. I can make detail plans and strongly beleive this would kick off nicely.

Beautiful sets, creative use of objects can make storytelling more fun. This art is needed by school teachers as well to interest their students.

Any sponserers for promoting the idea of storytelling!!!

Smoky moutain trip

Long weekend maniac had hit me too as it hit all others. On looking back I realise that in 3 days we covered 1850 miles. This means we travelled 3000 km over the weekend. This distance is one way Kashmir to Coimbatore or more than Mumbai to Delhi return journey. Will I be able to do this back in India!!!!

On Friday night I started from Connecticut at 7pm.I travelled through New Jearsy, New york, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and finally reached Tennessee, next day at 11am. Making a trip without much advance planning has its own difficulties. We found all rafts were already booked and we had no option of doing rafting by regular booking. Luckily we met few other friends and got added to there rafts. Pigeon river was were we were going to raft. This river gave option of level 3 and level 4 rafting fun. The instructor with us was too good. She explained many things about reading river for rafting. We even jumped in the river and swam in it. Nothing can capture those moments.


Next day we were ready for trekking in smoky mountain. Out of all trails we decided on rainbow trail in smoky. It is strenuous trail with 5 miles round trip journey. The rain forest is dense enough and green enough to throw into trans. We started walking up the hill. As usual in between I was trying to walk on the logs, get wet in the stream flowing below or trying to make my own route. After walking for sometime we saw a cave. Myself and Raju climbed up on it and took photographs. We saw a really steep slow ahead which looked like short cut. We thought the short cut would meet the main trail somewhere up. In excitement we decided to walk on the hard slope. After walking for 20-25 min through bushes and narrow path we knew we are lost. Lot of yelling did not receive any response from any human being. I had to check my water and snacks stocks to make sure we can survive if we are lost :-). After taking a break, enjoying the mountain view we got from the place where we halted we decided to walk down. We warned a group of 10 more kids who were equally excited like us to walk through the short cut. It was fun to hear kids conversation. 8-10 year old kids were repeating what their father and I told them - "keep distance" "Isn't it fun going down", "Get low".
After walking through the main trek path we reached the water fall which was the destination of this track. Although in summer this fall is nothing compared to falls back in Mumbai/Pune yet the height of rock from where it was falling was great. The water was not even gathered at the bottom of the fall where we could have jumped into water. I recollected how nice zenith water fall in Khopali is which we don't make as a tourist spot.

After visiting Smoky, I have decided to do treks even in Connecticut.

Lets see how much support I get from my friends out here. Are you game to come on Saturday mornings to walk the CT mountains!!!

We happen to touch South Carolina while returning back when we lost our way and travelled short distance into that state. So after making our tour through close to 9 states we returned back home. Warm water tub bath and home cooked food was relaxing and after that 10 hrs of sleep was refreshing.

Anyone for US east cost to west coast drive? I am in for it!!!

Ta Ra Rum Pum - TaTa Run Pan

After watching the movie the title doesn't hold any ground. What tune "ta ra rum pum" sends out which is in sync with the movie. Editor seems to have made no homework. All good will happen by itself. A Tire crew member will become Car racer simply, hero and heroine falls in love simply, car racer becomes star in one day simply, marriage against parents will happen simply, one race turns the whole life towards doom simply, manager decides to support hero simply and in 2 days life again makes a turn. No ground work was done to make storyline convincing. I don't think the whole movie was to give messages like "bongs are hot" - ya ya (I know they are)save money for future.

By now you should have taken the point home, that movie is not that great. Its not gripping. You are not anxious to know what the director wants to show next because you know what will happen next. Nascar racing could have been made gripping. Instead of showing 3-4 races of 5 min each, single race could have been shown with more drama.

I liked the different style approach couple takes when director showed the family became poor. The way couple keeps their children happy, tells them rosy stories is also good style. Apart of these scenes none other scene is worth remembering.

The Google Story - Book review

I have been reading "The Google story" by David A Vise and Mark Malseed for last few days.
The reason I picked up the book is my interest in google, google founders and curiosity to read about the hottest techonology company in this internet age. The book is well written and grips attention till last page. I had to find time amidst all hectic work to read and finish the book as soon as I could.

The book and story is inspiring to anyone. The grit determination of Page and Brin, The google founders, is well captured by the author. The way two students from Stanford met, made friendship, tied together to work on a concept and took it to great heights is worth reading. Their dedication and wish to make world a better place for all is seen till today. "Do No Evil" is their motto. The way two founders extended campus setup to workplace is worth reading. I hear googleplex is worth spending time and weekends there. People need personal space after hectic work; give them the space at workplace itself. I can feel that people work and relax at the same place - googleplex. The best way to build team is to allow them to spend quality time in company of each other.

Brin and Page created pathways for others to follow. They believe in themselves and stick to it to this day. Reading about figures of revenue generated by sponsored links (Advertisements in cliche) is astonishing. The idea of sponsored link seems so obvious and beneficial to end-user. Get the Ad for what you are searching at right moment.

Success of google also shows you need to have right mentors behind you. The VCs turned out to be major support in making google a true corporate and ensuring it doesn't take backseat.
I would recommend this book for reading to anyone who uses google (which means almost all :-))

Trying some visual dna thing

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GuruBhai - A Documentary

I saw Gurubhai yesterday. Luckily my habit of not reading reviews or stories earlier about the movie helped me not to makeup any mindset. I was surprised to see it was a documentary movie based entirely on Dhirubhai, the great. Looking at the trailer where Aish dances made me feel she represented some place in South India. I guess the dance was pictured somewhere in Pondichery and fall might be Jog falls in Karnataka. Google also says that this waterfall might be 'Athirapally, near Kochi'. I haven't seen any of these beautiful places :-( so cannot confirm the true location . But really
I never imagined Aish to portray a Gujju girl.

Talking about the movie; Mani Ratnam has pictured the movie nicely. Aish again looked good in first half when she had somewhat bubbly role. She didn't justify the character when character grows in age and needs to showcase more mature emotions and support. Abhishek has done roles in past where he portrays his rise in corporate world and suits them. Madhavan and Vidya balan though, not given strong characters, made their presence felt in the movie. Overall, all artist did justice but the movie is not full entertainer. Someone who is not interested in corporate world or cannot relate to story, will feel lost.

Luckily, I had read Business Maharajas by Gita Piramal back in India. So I was kind of aware of Ambani's story, running a business in license raj, wading import and export duties. Its doesn't need great intelligence to know that this movie is on Dhirubhai Ambani even if the director denies it. On searching more I realised that there is a biography on Ambani titled The Polyester Prince: The Rise of Dhirubhai Ambani by Hamish McDonald. This book is banned in India - thanks to Ambani families influence.


Now let me make an attempt to find similarities in Movie and life of Dhirubhai. Dhirubhai was from small Gujrati community and started his career by going to Aden and working for Shell. In our movie Gurubhai goes to Turkey and starts as some oil can distributor. Both characters, real one and reel one, learned basics of business by quoting prices on rice, spices. Dhirubhai and Gurubhai set their dreams on Polyester. In eighties when India had license raj both had to find their ways to do business. Goenka of Indian express was mainstream paper trying to publish all wrong doings of Reliance. Goenka and Dhirubhai had known each personally as Mithun and Gurubhai knew each other. But as Mithun has portrayed the character of truthful editor, Goenka was same at that time.


To end the blogging, I never felt in the movie a desire to leave the theatre. It was nicely paced and I enjoyed 2.5hrs in the theatre.

Lovely dialogue sequence which made me smile at unexpected second half.
Gurubhai ( Talking to sharat on his reporting against Guru) - What do you think you are doing
Reporter - I think I am cooking, you can eat too. I cook good :-) hahahhehihiehuu..totally unexpected reply.