The Art of Publicity

If you want to give the guy some publicity, talk more about it, make a big fuss. If you want to really hurt him, don't pay attention.

-- Michael Rubens Bloomberg
Mayor of New York City.

Just A Whisper..

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whisper.

-- T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men.

When the inevitable was realized, with the fall of the tenth wicket on that fateful day, I stared at the screen for the longest time. And words didn't follow for quite some time after. It was dead quiet.

I recalled the turning point for Team India, the very moment Indian cricket lost its mojo. It was that game against the West Indies, where India were bowled out with a run left to win. Yuvraj Singh squatted with his cricket bat for support, and you saw doom on his face. And it has never been the same for our Boys in Blue since.

This year was supposed to be the Year of India. And the momentum was adequately built up. My first thought though, after this defeat, was that moment, where Yuvraj saw the long dark road ahead. And I wondered whether he saw a long dark road ahead for India as well.

It shakes me to the very core to believe that this could be the beginning of the end for this country. When their gods fall from the sky, who has the faith to go on? What is left to believe in?

I see his vision. The long dark road ahead...

Half the Indian team's experience is thrown out of the team. Violence breaks out... continues.. evolves over time into sectoral violence because people forget what they are angry about. The tourism industry gets punched in the stomach. Corporate India is unable to recover losses incurred because of advertising budgets gone haywire. Foregin investment trickles out of India, because once again, we are not good enough. US ties with India collapse with India refusing to back out of the gas pipeline deal. And Manmohan Singh stares silently, helplessly, at this chaotic state of affairs.

'This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whisper'

These words were printed on the Times of India's full page special report on what went wrong with Indian Cricket. There it was, in the smallest of fonts used on the entire page, barely a whipser...

Curious Eyes

The great thing about being a writer is that you see the world with curious eyes. People want to tell you their stories and you get to interact with fascinating people and discover untold places and histories.

-- Fatima Bhutto
Daughter of Mir Murtaza Bhutto and niece of Benazir Bhutto.

Match-Fixing Free

It's always great to be positive, so here is a dose of optimism for all you hard-core cricket fans.

India's loss today is confirmation that none of them are participating in any match-fixing activities! So for those who have lost faith, you have one thing to be proud of: Team India is officially match-fixing free!

Team India

My mind is swirling with the repercussions of this loss. India is out of the World Cup. I am unable to wrap my head around it. It seems too unbelievable!

It seems so unbelievable that a few hours ago, I chatted endlessly about the consequences of such a loss. And now that mindless chatter has become a reality.

Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sponsorships will be lost. Players' homes will be broken down, effigies burnt. A quarter of the Indian advertisements can no longer be played on television. My mind tries to estimate the Grand Loss that India's biggest companies will face owing to this huge waste in advertising budget. And I fail to do the math!

Fanatics will march on the streets. And if there's one wise decision Team India needs to take, it is to stay in the West Indies till the anger fizzles out. We are a fiery nation, where cricket is our religion and the players our gods. And when the gods fail to perform miracles, or even just to perform, we don't understand. We lose faith.

There's a bit of irony here. When Team India wins, the key word on everyone's lips is 'we'. We did it. We are a great team. We won. Yet 'we' metamorphoses to 'they' as quickly as the wickets fall! In times of trouble, we get accusatory. They are incapable. They didn't deserve to win. They lost.

And we call ourselves Team India.

The Times of India marketed Year 2007 as the Year of India. Ratan Tata, Sunil Mittal, K.M. Birla all played their part, taking the campaign forward. And then the torch was passed onto Team India. But Sri Lanka doused those flames.

Our Boys in Blue will come back empty handed. But they must come back to one billion people who still call them their gods and their Boys in Blue.

Only then do we earn the right to call ourselves Team India.

What's In His Name?

Alright, so you remember me telling you a looong time ago that 'what's in a name, by which we call a rose, would smell just as sweet'? Okay, so that wasn't me, but I've talked about it!

But here's a name that does matter. Barack Obama. Running right along side Mrs. Hiliary Rodham Clinton to grab hold of the spot called President of the United States of America. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?

But you know what doesn't have a nice ring to it? President Barack Obama. And trust me, this is of some significance to the American people. This name, will matter to the American people. Especially people like Jay Leno, Jon Stewart and Ali G when they write scripts!!

Let's break it up, shall we? Barack, a strange resemblance to Borat (you say it with an American twang and it'll sound the same!), one of America's favourite jokes! And Obama, yes, you guessed it, Mr. Osama Bin Laden, America's favourite terrorist!

So, if Mr. Borat...oops, I mean, Barack ...Obama becomes the next President of the United States of America (sigh, it does have a fabulous ring to it...), you'll have a joker and a terrorist on the hot seat! (Nothing new really, I guess the country's used to it by now).

Whatever said and done, American TV is going to be something to look out for!! It'll be the next Reality TV... and definitely more entertaining!

Being Normal

He devours Jackie Collins, whose characters are so full of "lust, greed and jealousy that they are quite normal."

-- Amar Singh, Politician.

Following The Light

The day I began my life with Symbiosis, Kiran Bedi told us to always pen down key moments in our lives. I called that day Lighthouse Day. I call this next phase Following The Light. On that day, Kiran Bedi was a beacon of light, directing me towards a new life and a new love. The initiator of the next phase is Prahlad Kakar, India’s Ad-Guru.

The setting similar (yet another Symbi Auditorium), the message continued. And he told us many wonderful things. We are growing up in a world, he said, where we don’t have to change the fact that we are Indians to be given opportunities. In fact, quite the contrary. Having the Indian Label, we are now presented so many more opportunities on a silver platter. It is a great time to be an Indian.

I felt this energy on Lighthouse Day, and the talk with Prahlad Kakar rekindled it.

Today we never have to face the idiotic question: how come your English is so good? Cuz I had a tutor who served tea for the Queen of England! Today we can conduct business on an international level, and be expected to do a great job. Today we can proudly say… alright, go head, sing it… I am an Indiaaan, from Bombay city!

In The World Is Flat, Thomas Friedman talks about the Indian vigour. Comparing it with the rest of the world, he calls it the Ambition Gap. The developed world sits on its cushy jobs, indolence setting in, whereas developing nations work fervently!

I recently ended up chit-chatting with the Loréal Head of Distribution for Maharashtra and Gujarat. She shone with the same energy. And it is so damn magnetic!

So do you know what I want to do? Yup, you guessed it. I want to follow the light!