The Sonance Behind My Silence

     I still remember that day like yesterday. The December chill had set in, and so had my long Christmas vacation. The date was December 18, 1995, and I accompanied my maternal grandparents to Dr. Vaidya’s Maternity Home, Thane. I was aware of what had happened the night before, at 9:30 pm, but I was still as excited as a 4-year-old, probably because I WAS 4 years old.      Dad was standing outside the maternity home, flashing a wide beaming smile. I walked softly towards the ward where my mom was resting, and saw a cradle next to her. I walked even slower towards the rocking cradle, careful not to disturb who lay within, my excitement level reaching its zenith. My mother smiled at me weakly, but her face exuded satisfaction and happiness. For a moment everything inside the room had disappeared, save for me and the cradle.      I was too short to see what was inside the cradle. I remember standing on my toes, peering into the cradle, to see the most beautiful creation of Go

     Starbucks Corporation, doing business as Starbucks Coffee, is an American global coffee company and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 23,187 stores in 64 countries. Their products are: roasted and handcrafted high-quality, premium priced coffees, tea, fresh food items and other beverages. They also sell coffee and tea products and license their trademarks through channels such as licensed stores, groceries etc.      Starbucks primarily operates and competes in the retail coffee and snacks store industry. The core competence of Starbucks has been its ability to effectively leverage its cornerstone product differentiation strategies by offering a premium product mix of high quality beverages and snacks. Their brand equity is built on selling the finest quality coffee and related products, and by giving each customer a unique “Starbucks Experience”, which is supreme customer service, clean and well-maint

     I woke up with a start. Outside, the night had still not lifted its dark veil yet, the birds had not started chirping yet, and I lay wide awake in my bed. It is often said that when you have your mind set on achieving something, day and night that’s the only thing you can think of. It doesn’t let you sleep, doesn’t let you waste a single moment of your time frolicking around, and makes you feel guilty if you do something that isn’t in line with this goal of yours. And what follows your relentless efforts is something we all know as ‘success’.      Now, the dictionary meaning of ‘success’ is ‘the accomplishment of an aim or purpose’, ‘the attainment of fame,   wealth , or social status’ and a lot of other tautologies. But in fact, it originated in the mid-16th century : from the Latin word   successus , from the verb   succedere  which means 'come close after'. So, success is more or less, an outcome. That means, whether you consider an outcome successful or not is re

     My friends know about my love for consumer psychology, and I believe that's one  prerequisite  for the profession I'm in - marketing. I'm a huge fan of Malcolm Gladwell and Martin Lindstrom, and aspire to be a consumer psychology expert myself. Speaking of experts, Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, Mumbai offers a genius in the form of a professor - Prof. Victor Manickam. His methods may seem crazy to you for a professor at first, but he grows on you slowly, and ultimately bowls you out with his perfect guess (?) about your personality. And he doesn't need to know you well for that. One input from you and boom! He knows you.      So here I am with the learnings from his consumer buying behaviour lectures, which may seem disconnected and impossible for you, especially if you consider the fact that it was a marketing class. But nevertheless, I've given it a try!      The lectures he's given shattered a lot of

     In the world full of billions struggling to make their mark somehow, there are only handfuls that succeed. Businessmen, actors, athletes, artists and others become exemplary beacons of triumph for the less fortunate of the masses. They're touted as heroes, idols, and inspire many more to at least come close to, if not achieve the same amount of success as themselves. Half of everyone's life is spent searching for that one perfect idol to call their own. I consider myself exceptionally fortunate to have been born in the same house as that of my idol – my father.      I've modelled my career path keeping him in mind. I've grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle now, and I hate to admit it but if I've to maintain it, I need to toil harder than I possibly can. Luckily I've my idol guiding me, scolding me, and as a bonus, loving me, in my own house. I've seen him struggle, I've seen him fail, but eventually rise with renewed vigour. He doesn't

     What is happiness? How is it different from the other feelings we get? Why do different things make different people happy in different situations? As for me, enthralling my readers with my writings makes me happy. For you, may be, your favourite dish served hot in front of you makes you happy. Speaking of food, I’m sure you can recollect twirling those long strands of spaghetti in your fork and savouring them with the zesty sauce that comes with it. So what I am going to talk about today is a little different from what I’ve talked about before - the reinvention of spaghetti sauce. This is credited to the famous American market researcher and psychophysicist – Dr. Howard Moskowitz.      A doctorate from Harvard University, Dr. Moskowitz had a consulting business in White Plains, New York, and one of his very first clients was Pepsi, back in the early 70s. This was a time, when the sugar substitute – aspartame was getting increasingly popular and Pepsi wanted to use it in

     When my friends asked me to download WhatsApp some years ago, I had never thought that the green icon would soon be part and parcel of the smartphones of almost 450 million people. The app is quick, easy to use, and attractive and is downloadable free for everyone except iOS users. All-in-all, it is a really convenient to use fun app which does away with the woes and fluctuating rates of SMS, pervading the barriers of distance. As long as you have access to internet and a smartphone, no one can stop you from staying in touch with everyone.      But have you ever wondered how this company makes money? One way that is the most obvious, of course, is the subscription fee that it charges its users. WhatsApp allows its users to enjoy the services for free for the first year after installation. However, after that it charges $0.99 for continued service. But till date, I have not heard of a single person who has paid for this extension of service. The funny part is that WhatsAp

     “In religion, India is the only millionaire……the One land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.” - Mark Twain      For a country where over a hundred crore people following 7 major religions speak almost 2000 different languages, rich in cultural and natural resources, India sure is unified in terms of the mentality of its inhabitants. The question that arises is, then why the conflicts? Every day we see news of protests and communal violence where national property is set ablaze and we citizens end up paying for it through increased taxes. It is on this that political and regional parties thrive. The corruption and chaos that arise from this, is not what we would like to see in the India we want.      In India the focus has always been on education and making a good career, especially since a major portion of our population is middle class. There ar

     It is said that we live in an era of smart phones and dumb people. Is it true? The better and more sophisticated our mobile phones get, the more we tend to depend on them. Mobile phones have made the ability to remember phone numbers extinct. Who would go through the ordeal of remembering 10 digits per person when they are just a few ‘touches’ away? The routine of calling people to wish them on their birthdays has also been replaced by an SMS or a WhatsApp text. But getting to a serious alteration to the human ‘smartness’ because of a smartphone, we see a considerable reduction in memory and retention capacity of people who use smartphones extensively. Forgetfulness is the order of the day, and we often miss out on important events and things because of forgetting them.      How often do we wish that everything we lose had a ringtone attached to it? How convenient will it be to find something just by means of that very smartphone that is responsible for its loss? Let me int

     Infidelity as an act is condemned, more than understood. It is often derided as an outcome of an insatiable lust or a polygamist psyche. As I started working on a research project to find out why people engage in infidelity, I had it very clear that I would look at the infidel as a person with unfulfilled needs, a misunderstood individual who was led by certain circumstances to get involved with someone other than the one he/she was committed to. What was even more shocking was the fact that ‘Infidelity is universal’; it starts at a mental level, develops at an emotional level and may or may not manifest itself in the physical sense.       Infidelity as an occurrence has been prevalent in our society for ages. Quite often, the doings of the infidel were a secret locked up within the household. It is only in recent times that acts of infidelity are coming out in the open. Infidelity on the mental and emotional levels is more ubiquitous than ever before. What has changed