Author: charukesi

Am musing on the concept of corporate social responsibility. I am right now in the midst of a project that involves computer education for underprivileged children (in other words, ICT4D, a ‘cause’ every corporate worth its name is eager to be associated with). As part of the project, am researching various approaches to e-learning, ICT… Continue reading Infosys, is there an explanation?

Following my tirade against the idea fo brand ambassdors in general and AB in particular, here’s an explanation: Amitabh Bachchan: The advertiser’s safest bet?. According to agencyfaqs, Amitabh Bacchan is the advertiser’s safest bet when it comes to imparting freshness, vigour and, most importantly, respectability to brands. All I can say is, good for you,… Continue reading More on Bacchan the brand ambassdor

It’s Goodbye Bangalore time….. time to head for good old Bombay….. no Mumbai for me….. I leave that to the Shiv Sainiks….. Bombay…. my first love of sorts…… But Bangalore has been good to me…. As I leave in two weeks time, I am writing about things that define Bangalore the city….. atleast for me……… Continue reading Talking of Namma MTR

Yet another company falls for the brand ambassdor bait. After Nerolac Paints and then Dabur, it is now the turn of Cadbury’s to rope in the Big B as brand ambassdor. To begin with, I have never understood how any brand justifies the cost of having a brand ambassdor – and what he or she… Continue reading Branding ? What branding ?

Has Indian policy focus shifted from the have-nots to the haves? Seema Mustafa, in the Asian age feels so, calling it The Two faces of India. Says Mustafa, there was a time when India looked at the poor as the yardstick for policy making. Today she looks at the middle class and the rich, the… Continue reading A case for Tricklenomics

Are You A Blogaholic ? Came across this interesting quiz through Debu’s Null Pointer. I scored a higher than average 52% (the average is 43.2% according to the quiz). Here are some nice things I read about myself as a blogger : You are a dedicated weblogger. You post frequently because you enjoy weblogging a… Continue reading Am I a blogaholic ?

Talking of ads, the recent DHL advertisement aired during cricket has me really shaken and stirred. Men in DHL uniform using parcels as bat, ball, stumps and whatever, thoroughly and efficiently manhandle the cargo. Take one example, a fattish man picks up a long parcel, makes a swish cricket bat motion with it and carelessly… Continue reading DHL is into cricket ?

We have lost faith in our state’s ability to run schools, says Gurcharan Das in the Times of India. I second that, quoting here my favourite bit of statistics : the proportion of ‘never enrolled’ children has been declining steadily : from 50% in 1986 (6-14 years in the most backward states) to 20% in… Continue reading Capitalism and universal education

Amitabh Bacchan is an angry old man. How many times should I tell you, he asks in the latest Polio Plus ads. The critical parent is clearly tired of his aggressive go-do-it act. Am curious about how much the ad has achieved its objectives – should be good enough for the agency to keep up… Continue reading Aishwarya Rai and Pulse Polio

MTNL to launch SMS on landlines….. Have we come a long way or what ? From the days of ‘dead’ telephones and ‘trunk calls’ that never materialized….. As opposed to BSNL’s SMS service, MTNL does not require a special SMS-enabled telephone set. True, the process is not quite as suave as keying in your message… Continue reading MTNL readies for market warfare