its raining

i'm not sugar, i wont melt


Hi Frinds,

I was away from blogger as I hooked to Twitter. And now my twitter is linked with my blog. So I shall be tweet-logging from now on . . .

Vj

Some days ago I was talking to my good old friend over a coffee. As we were chatting he asked me “en magaa, en plan’u life alli munde?” (What are your plans for the future?) I told him, I want to give my family the best what ever I can and want to enjoy the life. And as we moved on our casual talk made me think... & rethink on some of the matters…

Can’t I give my family & myself best things? Yes I can. I earn pretty decent salary. Over the weekend I go to best restaurant, I watch movie at multiplexes, I wear branded clothes. Once in two months I go for outings, like to have coffees at good coffee shops and buy best electronic gadgets. And yes, I get Gunda designer wears; buy my appa imported perfumes etc... Hmm I don’t feel I waste money or I am a spend theft. I only spend on the necessary things, just that my standards are high. On this my friend told “en machaa, neevella Hi-Fi”.

Is that true? Am I suffering from Hi-Fi syndrome for the want of best world?

Did I set my bar bit too high that I am finding it difficult to adjust with anything less than top-class? My spending was almost equal to my earnings with a bit of savings during my early carrier. My thought was over the years my salary will increase and so I would save more as my expenditure would remain same. But that was my misconception; I only have some savings just to meet my IT needs. And now my fresh plans needs seem like big problems…

I may not be alone. Many around me may be suffering from this – guy goes for Sony TV when you have other lesser priced TV’s in market; buy pants/shirts cause there is a good sale, not cause he needs them right now; takes flight back to native when he has train/road options; spends a lot on functions saying “its once-in-a-lifetime affair”; goes for a car though his current need is just a bike… the list goes on…

Is the solution lies in controlling the expenditure? May not be, as there may not be too many expenses but the ones we spend on will be BIG. Can the income growth compensate this? I don’t think so; higher we earn, higher we raise the bar and greater would be our problems.

If you people agree this is a syndrome then I hope you too agree that only the realization and concentrated effort would take us out from this disorder. But still don’t know why, though I have Bajaj Avenger, and would be booking Scooty Streak next week for Gunda, I am planning to buy a car by May this year…

This is a very interesting point made by Seth Godin in his book "Small is the New Big". And nothing clears this better than the huge success of Slumdog Millionaire.

I read an article in DNA few days ago to see some of the unknown facts about Slumdog Millionaire. As I couldn’t get the link to that article I am sharing what I remember today. Could you think if the movie has not seen a theatrical release? Yes, it’s almost going to happen when the US studio with the theatrical distribution rights worth around $5 million shut down in mid of 2008. Hence the studio thought of releasing Slumdog Millionaire directly on DVD. Luckily in August’08 Fox bought 50% stake in the movie which finally released in the US sometime in Nov’08 in just 10 theatres.

First week grossed just $350K and gradually the “word of mouth” picked up and in Feb’09 the movie grossed $68.5 million having played in over 1400 theatres. This movie took around $15 million to produce and now expected to cross $100 million after winning 8 academy awards out of 10 nominations.

The point author makes here is that in this day & age, if the idea behind a product is good and it enters the market at appropriate time then there is a good chance of huge buyers. The reason is the “word of mouth”.

If I like a product, I may blog, I may SMS, call, email my friends to pass the message. So a good idea always spreads and many times without a big bang launch of the product.

So now the next logical question would be “How can I/we know that an idea is good?” Think on … and do share the product you know in the market which had a similar start and is/was a big hit…

[Thank you DNA for such a good article]

My recent visit to Nandi hills was more than a long foggy ride on my bike. We reached the hill top bit late by around 6:20am and missed the early sun rise. But as usual this time too Nandi Hill presented us with some nice visual treats. And in this visit I haven’t forgot to take my camera with me. Couple of below are captured by my lens...

an early morning view from top

hide-and-go-seek

inner light

mon-key

Buddha

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