**** Sachin

First and foremost, this is not to confront anyone, don't take it as if i am arguing or grumbling, instead i am just putting up my thoughts..

• A great batsman.. agreed, but a good sportsman NO
• A great human.. agreed, but is he known for being a great human NO
• Very modest.. agreed, but is he known for his modesty NO
• Great technique.. agreed, but was that of any use NO
• Fantastic player.. agreed, but a team player NO, NEVER

Let me take the help of my favorite analogy. Consider Sachin to be a cook. A world renowned cook who has reached the pinnacle of aesthetic, orthodox cooking, one who knows every damn dish and still keeps on adding some new variety, some new flavor and some new aroma to the dishes. But this chef has unknowingly cultivated a bad habit. As soon as the dish is ready to be served, ready to fill someone's belly, he throws it away. As simple as that, he just throws it away.

Everybody saw him cooking many a times; everybody enjoyed the lovely aroma of the splendid food that was being cooked. BUT, what good that food is, if it can not satiate the hunger. Smell, however sweet it may be, can never fill the appetite. You have to eat food, but our master chef loves throwing it away.

I completely agree that there are ten other players who are equally responsible for the debacle, but is it like necessary for HIM to throw away things for the junior cooks to reassemble and serve. They sometimes do it too, but why only Dhoni or Yuvraj think of sticking around till the end and not our GOD. Ponting, who has been considered next best, tries till his last breath to take his team to the podium; he might have a short hand at batting when compared to the GOD, but this lord of Cricket has done more for his team than for himself. He might have thought of chasing Sachin in the number of centuries scored but did Sachin ever try to actually stick till the end and score the winning runs? NO.

I hated Brian Lara for the very same reason, he always played for himself. He was rarely a match-winner. His square drives, cover drives, those hooks and whatever, did they serve any purpose except his own? No. Chanderpaul or Sarwan must have sailed the drowning Windies boat more than what Lara did. Even though both of them are not even near to what Lara has to offer in statistics.

I sincerely feel if Sachin had been a part of some individual sport like Tennis or Chess, he would surely be a great for me too. But he has hurted my feelings not once, not twice, but a million times. He was made the captain, I was more than happy; but he fumbled, I was perfectly okay with that too, being a human he has every damn right to fumble, he was never a GOD for me, but i certainly admired him for the various facets of his personality; particularly his humbleness, his calmness, the love for his family and above all, the way he handled burden of fame on his tiny shoulders.

BUT, he should understand the difference between taking your team to the victory and the actual victory. You kill a thousand soldiers of the rival army and being the king, foolishly jump into the well; you are not doing any good to your nation. You will be admired for being a fierce fighter but will you be a patriot. NO. I don't give a damn about his 170 odd runs or that mammoth 17000, what i know is INDIA LOST..and that is where the story ends for me.

This might sound foolish or immature, but that is how cricket rules our brains. Our emotions are attached to it; till the last ball, our hopes, however shattered they are, still stand tall against the hot and scorching winds of the rivals. That's cricket for us, and Sachin in those senses is neither God nor a loyal responsible sportsman. My heart weeps writing this, but this is the truth at least in my soaring eyes.

--sudharm

Do it now..

Come out of the procrastinating you.

The procrastinating armour certainly protects you from the labour, the pains and the bitter realities of life. But it also bars you from the fruits of timely work, from the fruits of getting a few steps ahead of the world and most importantly from living your life to the fullest. The world is asleep, so why not you go out, turn on a few street lights and start the race; be that facilitator, be that protagonist and hit the road.

Don't wait for things to happen, take the burden of actually making them happen. This habit has to be shed; just like those leaves that are to be shed to welcome the arrival of the newer ones. This is life, welcoming the new and hence welcoming the changes attached.

In the journey called life, if everything goes by without any speedbreakers, haults, fuel getting exhausted; then what's the fun. Magnify your dreams by applying this added lens, called change. Then see the effect, the dream would be much clearer, much better visible and hence much more comprehensible.

Procrastinate the procrastination for some future time in life and never let that time come by. Gear up, gird up your loins and go for the kill; be it finishing some assignment, studying for some exam, bringing back some relationship on track, conquering the world or even climbing the Everest. Go for it!!
Go for it now...

More soon..
--sudharm baxi

My resolution..

I took a resolution a couple of days back and missed it on the very first day. Damn it.

No worries. This is how life is, FLEXIBLE. You plan something, something altogether different happen to you and then you find books, theories and philosophies claiming what you think is what you get; what you visualize gets materialized and similar SECRETs.

But i only follow one simple rule... Never to worry. Always keep your worries aside, give your best shot, whatever you get in return, is what is best for you. Always be honest to yourself, never let your spirit go on a shopping spree to find out the easier ways, the less troubling ones.

Instead, create your own ways; devise your own paths and you won't even realize when those paths become roads for others to follow in your footsteps, not just to admire and cherish you as a pathbreaker but more importantly as a pathmaker.

Live this life to the fullest, never have remorses, never regret decisions; instead always learn from the decisions that somehow went wrong. Those decisions might have crumpled you entirely but what will you gain in worrying now? Nothing. In fact, more worries. Your ruined past is ruining your present and hence your future. Come out of this cycle, break the chain.

So, go out and shop for a few seeds that will conceive fruits for the life ahead. With a positive mind, toil the land, sow those seeds, water them, take care of them and hence, experience the enlightening growth.

More soon..
--sudharm baxi

I am a writer..

The other day, i was thinking about writing, yes, instead of writing i was thinking. Absurd, no? I am a writer and i love to write and yet i write so less, why? No answer.

Time doesn't permit. How much time is required in shooting off a few well-organized words on the web? A few minutes. Then what must be the possible explanation for a writer who loves writing, yet doesn't write much. No answer again.

But not anymore. From now on, i am taking a resolution to write; write till my eyes go soar, write till my fingers ache, write till my thoughts exhaust and then write some more.

The things i would write might amuse you, entertain you, enlighten you or God forbid bore you. But those few words on a daily basis, are surely going to help me out in exploring various facets of my writing and also widen my scope of writing.

But, why am i writing this thing here? So that someone out there give me a tight slap whenever i get lethargic, whenever i procrastinate.

So God, give me power and creativity to pen the words in my mind and the feelings in my heart. On this positive note, ending the post...
--sudharm baxi

Ingloriuous Basterds

I have not seen much of Tarantino's works, but have heard a lot about him and of course his works. Out of many of his famous quotes in media, I particularly like this one - “Sure, Kill Bill’s a violent movie. But it’s a Tarantino movie. You don’t go to see Metallica and ask the f*****s to turn the music down.” Pulp fiction and Kill Bill; for many come at the top of their best ever list.

Inglorious Basterds, beginning from the very first scene till the end, the movie was a canvas depicting shades of black. I guess Quentin always deals with the darker side of life. It always gives a lot of scope for a director to depict or portray a gloomy, dreary, dark scene; but it also takes a lot of skills to make it look really devilish (Joker of 'The Dark Knight' is at the zenith). Every one has a devil hidden somewhere in the closet of his thoughts and Quentin can portray that devil better than anyone else. He reveals the devilish grin out of every character in every possible minutest detail. He surely is a master story-teller, a fantastic writer, an offbeat director and above all a super expressive artist.

The dialogues, the frames, the immaculate choice of actors and a heavily fictitious plot set in real times strikes the chord in an innovative manner. Christoph Waltz as the 'Jew Hunter' was impressive and Brad Pitt has set a new level for himself by delivering one of his most memorable performances ever. Brad delivered this particular dialogue extremely well - "Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps..and I waant my scalps." A must watch even if you don't like the dark, violent cinema.

--sudharm baxi

Wake up Sid

Wake up Sid, a lovely, well-paced and beautifully articulated movie, produced by Karan Johar, whose name if attached to any movie definitely makes it catchy on style and vibrancy. Be it Kal Ho Na Ho, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum or this latest offering.

You might not like the food but the ambience of the restaurants even remotely associated with KJ, leave you wondering about the fantastic aesthetic, colorful touch KJ puts in. Everything ranging from the clothing, the sets, the cinematography and the overall styling of the movie is pretty chic.

KJ has not directed this movie though, but he always has a major say in all his movies, directed or produced. Ayan Mukerji, as a debutante director has done good work. Though, I doubt if he can handle anything other than this kind of cinema, time will tell.

The film has a colorful vibrancy, a very naive and jolly effect attached to it. It keeps you engrossed for the most of the part. Songs are not something to really vouch for, barring the lovely composition of Amit Trivedi's 'Ek tara' (yes, the same guy who did the godly work in Dev D). Ranbir Kapoor has done a good job, he has almost been type-casted in such roles and stereotyping is not good unless he is the next Salman Khan.

As the climax approached, it appeared as if the director was in a hurry to wrap things up quickly, there can always be a twist in a typical Bollywood movie and Wake up Sid lacked it. But still a good movie to watch.

--sudharm baxi

Wake up Raj!!

Hello Mr. Thackeray,

How are you? I have been thinking of penning a few lines in favor of you but something always stopped me from doing so, what it was I am not sure, but there was something. But now, I have woken up and with profound pleasure decided to write this letter.

There are a few people on this planet who have the personality, the aura of a leader. In a way, they are born leaders. God has made them that way. And with a little grooming they become solid mass-pullers. You are certainly one of them. People listen to you, people adore you, people follow you. Undoubtedly everyone would agree that you are the next Thackeray (no offenses Bal Thackeray Jr, I mean Uddhav).

You are pretty much sure of your ideologies, but I am not sure whether you are sure of your motto or not? I mean do you really want all the non-Maharashtrians to be thrown out? If that is the case, okay. You have your point and I completely agree with it. There should be overall development and prosperity across the country and not just here in Maharashtra. Why not create a couple of more Bombays....err Mumbai (will come to that in a while)?

But sincerely speaking I have a gut feeling that a man like you should be doing much more than what you actually are doing right now. I agree that Maratha is your gadh but emperors don’t have a single castle, they also have a lot of palaces and forts. So why don’t you go for a bigger cause. Go for something that would aid in the development of the nation.

Sorry to say, but the work you and your people do; not exactly lead to anything apart from disturbances and of course some media attention, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vir Sanghvi and all the other honchos get to do an episode or write an editorial on that, but that’s all. And I sincerely feel that’s not your worth for sure.

If there is some genuine face-reader somewhere, please please consult him and I tell you from the depth of my mind he’ll suggest the same - Go for something big and not just involve yourself in the local politics, it is the right time for you, and this nation needs your energy, your enthusiasm and your leadership.

I also know that if you move out of Maharashtra, you surely are going to lose grip on the Maha-politics, but even if you stay here, the rewards, the results are not that enormous; they are petty when compared to your skills.

About Bombay, I have just been living here for last two odd years and what I fell in love with was Bombay and never Mumbai, because I always felt that Mumbai was for the Maharashtrians and Bombay is for the rest of the Cosmo population. I might call my mother-ma, mummy, momma or whatever, but for others she will always be auntie and that’s what Bombay for us was and is.

In a way you have made it that way for us. You made us feel that. I completely agree with you on that too, why should I call your home mine, why should I ask for food from your mother. But the thing is she is also my auntie and she loves me, not as much as you, but at least to some extent. So she lets me lead a tough yet fulfilling life. A child always has a feeling that his/her mother might start loving other kids as much as she loves him/her. So is it this thing that worries you?

About Wake up Sid, I am not sure why was that necessary? Is it a crime to do so? Are you the moral police? If yes there are dirtier things happening in the streets of Bombay, your men can clean those up, instead of wasting their energies in such a petty thing. It was just a movie nothing else, nothing more. What say Raj? The complete episode to me was incomprehensible. Just like in the flood times, I am more worried about the brand of the blanket provided to me than whether some food, some aid would be provided at all or not.

So, these were just suggestions from a person who himself is going through a lot of turmoil in his life. I too wish to do whatever I can for my nation; I too wish to serve my nation and be its loyal child and hence suggest a few things to a few people who are in my eyes are - the CHOSEN ONES!!

With positive vibes,

--Sudharm

Vikram Hazra

Went to see Vikram Hazra’s concert cum satsang at Fine Arts Society, Chembur. Seeing him perform was such a delightful sight, his energy, charisma and the way he took everyone along with him on the spiritual journey is simply mind-boggling.

A devoted pupil of Sri Sri Ravi Shanker, he has been spreading the love and message of his guru for many years now. I have not heard or read of Sri Sri much, but one thing I remember watching on TV, when one of the reporters asked him about his never fading smile and the love and jolliness he carries? He replied – “I refuse to grow up” with the same childlike smile, so pure, so serene, that you can’t help but fall in love with the mojo of the Guru.

Vikram Bhaiya, as he is famously called, sang bhajans of many deities including Shiva, Krishna and Durga. In his mellifluous voice, it appeared as if even the songs were enjoying themselves. We were all singing along with him with the same fervour and same energy.

How time passed not a single soul in the auditorium realized. When he was singing ‘Radha raman hari bol’, people started leaving and I soon realized it was his last song for the evening, but he had not sung ‘Achutam Keshavam’, his most loved bhajan, yet.

As soon as he finished, put his guitar aside and bowed to say goodbye, I stood up from the farthest corner of the auditorium and shouted, “Vikram Bhaiya, Achutam Keshavam”, he was humbly adamant of not singing it and said now even the guitar has fallen asleep. I replied no guitar needed, just you sing. Soon there were pleas from all the corners, “please”, “please”,” one last song.”

So he picked up the guitar and hence came the most mesmerizing of all the performances of the evening. Everyone was spellbound , singing and enjoying , reaching the seventh heaven on that spiritual extravaganza.

It was one of the most memorable evenings I have ever had. Thanks Vikram!! Thanks Sri Sri!!

Catch a glimpse of Vikram's jamming.

Back

'Life hasn't turned out quite the way i wanted to be' - these words from Nickelback's Rockstar echoes with almost every grumbling soul on this planet. Calling all those souls grumbling would be harsh, since they had dreams that went off-track and hence they are crying and singing about

Why?
Why me?
Why my dreams?

It has been ages since i have written anything here, my irresponsibility can be attributed for the same.

Life has taken multiple turns in these few months for me. Turns can be for good or bad of the being, but since they are turns, they certainly disturb the smooth ride one is having on the autobahn called life. This autobahn has resting places, motels, bars and of course toll-booths. All the luxuries are there on this expressway but not a single house, because it doesn't allow to stay at a place for long. It tells you to move on, it prompts you to continue the journey after a beer or a few hours' sleep.

You can't sit and become stale because everything around you is moving: nature, life and every drop of the river that leaves the regions of prideful mountains just to become the part of the universe called ocean.

And let me tell you, I am willing to move on. I hate to sit, i hate to walk leisurely, i am a runner for life, i am a fighter and i am going to enjoy every damn turn, every damn speed-breaker that may or may not come my way...

More soon...

Keep visiting..

A clear mandate

Arun Jaitely's early response after the BJP's debacle in the big polls, "Absence of Atalji affected us." Certainly true, but in my opinion, what affected them more was the presence of LK Advani, a peson who stayed in the shadow of Atalji not because he was loyal to him but because he lacked caliber. All the vigor he had, he wasted it in spreading hatred in the name of Babri Masjid and even till date there is no solution to the problem (even after a full tenure of NDA government).

There was no agenda in place for NDA, all they knew was - if we come to power, our most senior leader (capable or incapable - not a question) is going to be the prime minister. Not because he wants to take the nation to new heights of progress or he wishes to serve the country but because he has an aspiration of becoming the prime minister of India once before dying.

Apart from the Ayodhya escapade, he has nothing to his credits, he boasts of being a loyal politician for 6 decades. It might be true, but in no case this implies that instead of carving out policies for the country, penning a smart agenda; you just tell your people that I WANT TO BECOME PM, now this is upto you that how you guys campaign, how you bring me to power.

Let me tell you one thing as straight as it could get - this is not America; here party, its ideology, its agenda is given more credit, more value than the leader of the party. Even Obama won not because of his clean image or being a democrat, or the incumbency factor or Clintons, Gore backing him up, but only because people of America found a ray of hope in his 'Yes We Can' campaign; he had a clear agenda, a clear thought process and at very few instances he talked about John Mc Cain, he was more focussed on his own strategy instead of demeaning the rival's approach.

And in no sense LK Advani is Obama (he prompted Dr. Manmohan Singh for an open debate, just like the one between Obama and Mc Cain), he is not young, he has no new approach, he is not at all a secular (more on that after a few more paragraphs), he can't actually praise or admire his rivals, he has more of a constrained, restricted approach towards nation building.

If BJP had projected Mr Modi as their Prime Ministerial candidate, the picture surely would have been different, but they saw nothing apart from Mr. Advani. Not that Mr Modi is a secular person, but he is a torch bearer, he is a development enthusiast, exactly the kind of man India needs at this developing stage.

Still, I am happy (so is corporate/rural/urban India) with this victory, this mandate. Some of the salient points, I particularly liked about these results:

1. An almost clear mandate to UPA, hence a stable, self-reliant government.
2. Communal/regional parties (that cashed upon hatred and narrow-mindedness) received a slap on the face, viz., Shivsena, MNS, RJD, SP, BSP.
3. Left-scarcely left, no more outdated restrictions for the new government due to a bunch of oldies who themselves are not sure why they are still leftists.
4. Many biggies having a tainted image lost, viz, Paswan, Lalu (in one of the two constituencies he contested), Sadhu Yadav and a few more, particularly Bahubaleez.
5. Shashi Tharoor contested from Trivandrum as a part of Congress and won by over 1 lakh votes; people like him if enter the parliament, India is going to be in the league of developed nations in no time.
6. A whole brigade of young guns contested and won the elections - Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, J Scindia, Rahul Gandhi and a few more.
7. Rahul Gandhi said no to the pre-poll alliance with SP, and still got 22 odd seats in the big state of UP.
8. BJP got a bashing from the states that it took granted for. For instance, in last election, BJP won 21 out of 25 LS seats in Rajasthan, and hence they started feeling - this is our bastion, we don't need to do anything here, we can anyhow win. But the people reversed the mandate in Rajasthan and strongly stated that you can't take us for granted; you don't work, you ought to suffer.
   

Varun Gandhi, another fiasco, another hole in the stumbling boat of BJP. He tried his hands at the old clichéd hindutva mantra, he tried to woo the hindu extremists; though he won a seat for himself (in the hindu prone region called Pilibheet), but somewhere down the line tainted the image of BJP as a whole. In the global era of cut throat competition, famines, floods, recession, rivalries with not only immediate neighbours but far flung nations too; how can we afford to keep fighting within?

There is no time, no space for being communal now. Indian politics is a caste driven politics for sure, but the masses have started hating communal extremists (all kinds, hindu, muslim, sikh); regional strifes can find no place in the national politics, it may provide some goombah, a few hoodlums who may try to out power the minorities based on caste, region, race, creed or whatever, but will never find the support of the masses from now on.

Be it the Shivsena, the Bajrang Dal, the MNS, the Ram Sena, we don't like you. We might disagree with a certain section of society but the way you reciprocate - We don't agree with that. We hated it when you kicked the poor bhaiyas out of Bombay, we hated when you almost molested club-goers in Mangalore, we hated when Christians were killed in the far off eastern regions of India, we hated when the simple definition - Anyone who is involved in terrorizing is a terrorist - was not understood. We, as the new people of India hate you, we don't find any damn attachment with any one of you. And this mandate was in a way our answer.

Enough of politics of hatred, enough of blame-game, enough of communalism, enough of communism, enough of regionalism, now we shall come out of all this negativity, step into a new foray with a new open approach with a combination of fresh and experienced blood in the cabinet that can usher the Indian subcontinent into a flourishing garden of variety of flowers.

--sudharm baxi

Obama - changing stance

Barack Obama is certainly a gem of a person, apart from the startling facts about his winning the Presidentship, his color, his age; he has also stood with the theme of 'CHANGE'. Before going into a little depth, let me quickly state a few points that i feel makes him stand apart...

John McCain was initially not even a part of the probable race; the real fight was between Hillary and Barack, about who is going to be the democratic candidate for the Presidential race. At that time, Americans were in a dilemma to choose from either a black or a woman, both first timers in the American history. After a lot of effort put in from both of them, Barack Obama was chosen as the democratic candidate for the race to the coveted post.

Now, let me digress a little here, i would like to explain who the democrats are? There are two major political followings in almost all the occidental (western) countries, let us focus here only on USA. In America, they have Republicans and Democrats; George Bush belongs to the Republican Party while Bill Clinton belongs to Democratic. From a superficial glance, the ideological difference between the two parties - Republicans favor the rich while Democrats think much of the middle class and the poor. Democrats feel the rich should be taxed more and more and the money should be used for the upliftment of the poor, while Republicans feel rich drive a nation on the path of success and hence they should be availed rebates, facilities and other sanctions, so that they flourish, and hence the nation.

So, Barack Obama is a democrat, and hence thinks of the majority of Americans and not the few with white collars. His previous comments about outsourcing and other stuff showed more of his democratic attire. But as soon as he donned the Presidential attire and retrospected things, he had to alter his stance a little. Recently in G20 summit, he stated that America has to walk along with developing and developed nations towards the highway of prosperity.

He very well understands that amidst the storming recession and pouring bailouts, no country can stand alone, there has to be a mutual respect and there has to be mutual economic affairs. Limitless amount of bailout money would be required to calm down this monetary conflagration. And Mr. President is a cool and intelligent guy with a very smart team of professionals and not "war heroes". Men like him are made to bring organizations/nations/civilizations out of crises.

In such times, no nation can afford to say anything derogatory about two nations in particular, India and China, the two nations that have an unmatchable workforce and offer an immensely huge potential market, solely driven by emotions.

--sudharm baxi

Emotions rule!!

While reading an article, i came across this fantastic quote –

'Rational Marketer - Irrational Consumer'

How true!! A marketer always thinks he is completely rational in introducing new policies, or launching a particular range of products, or any marketing strategy at all. But when that strategy fails or is not yielding; the marketer thinks i was damn rational, i have every possible reason that justify my approach and my plan of action - but still it did not work out the way i wanted to.

He feels that the consumer is utterly irrational. The strategist is unable to comprehend why his strategies failed?

If we try to dig out for the core reason, it comes out to be - Emotional involvement and attachment of the customer towards ‘unthinkable/unexplored’ something. This is an aspect never touched upon by the failed strategists. They need to understand that customers are driven by emotions, and so should their policies.

When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bustling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity. --Dale Carnegie

The USP of a chief strategist should revolve around emotional understanding of the masses. To substantiate this fact, i would like to throw light on some rules for all those well-learned marketing strategists:

1. Target customer - Any strategist should have a very clear picture of his target customers. You can't bring in a product directly into the market and expect a positive response. The strategist should be aware of the customers who are expected to buy or show interest in the product.
2. Show it all - Throw light on the USPs of your product. Though it is applicable everywhere, it is particularly observed in the tech sector; take for instance the mobile market. It is solely driven by - The more you show the more you can sell principle. Prerequisites - Your product ought to have all those claimed features.
3. Create an image - There are companies that do a lot to create an unmatchable positive image in the minds of not only potential customers but also non-potential customers. This point appears to be contradicting the first point, but actually it complements the first one. It requires you to identify target customers and also people who may influence the target customers or might become customers in future.
   For instance, not everyone can buy a BMW, but the image it has developed over the period of time - aids in creating a positive feeling towards it. My Boss asks my opinion about a new car and i suggest why not go for BMWs XYZ model, it is fantastic. Why i suggested BMW? All because of the image it has in my mind.
   Here i would also like to mention Bose - world's most renowned stereo company. They have a fantastic marketing strategy. You go to a BOSE store and they are so willing to show you their product. You are sure in your mind that you can't buy the costly stuff, the sales guy may also be sure that you won't buy this product. But after a display of the product, the respect BOSE gets from you suffice the BMW example.
   And also very important to note here - In future, i may become a potential buyer of any of the above two - BOSE or BMW, hence the foresighted marketing strategy fits perfectly.
4. Show care and respect for your customer and never take them for granted. No need to elaborate on this one i guess.
5. Proper availability and providing options: Instead of your competitor cashing in on some new option or choice, why not you go for it? Provide as many options to the customers; supply products in various sizes, shapes and prices. Many a times it happens that the customer is willing to try a new or an improved product but can not find it in the market. This is very bad; the advertising cost incurred upon you actually is doing no good for you instead it is demeaning your name (brand).
   An Rs.800 shampoo bottle would be unimaginable for a middle class woman but why not provide her with a Rs.15 sachet for one wash.

I have deliberately not mentioned money anywhere in this article because that would lead to umpteen new facets (Agree or disagree - money is THE driving force). It is one sole reason for majority of the strategies to fail. Unless a company provides customer's money's worth, it can't stand in the market place. It may sound clichéd, but actually it is the one mantra for success of any strategy - provide 'Value for money'. A company should sincerely be concerned with the customer's money.

So, strategists don't just be a marketing expert, but also try to comprehend various intricacies of the complex emotional behavior of humans in order to get your strategies in order.

--sudharm baxi