Tordte hue....phodte hue...aage bado naujawaan

Kuch kar ke dikha
Apna aks bana
Saari bandishen tod de
Haar ka dar phod de
Kamzor irade chodh de
Kuch kar ke dikha
Apna aks bana

Zindagi mein josh la
Jeene ka koi maqsad pa
Sangharsh ka chola odh le
Tute honsle jod le
Andhruni vishwas ko jhijhod le
Zindagi mein josh la
Jeene ka koi maqsad pa


Ek naayi awaaz utha
Ek anokha swar ga
Chotta sochna chodh de
Puranne raston ko mod de
Armaano ko kuch dor de
Ek nayi awaaz utha
Ek anokha swar ga

(My dedication to the million youngsters who are carrying on aimlessly. In the chaos of everyday life, find your own patterns, your own destinations!)

The paradox of good advertising and poor strategy

Over the years I have come across some glaring examples of lack of detailing that have crept into some really memorable campaigns – An ad for a leading apparel brand that showed a man playing with an iron on a golf putting green, a chess board placed in an incorrect manner in a two wheeler ad or for that matter a wrong no. being put out in a press ad that was beseeching people to call that number for more details on the product. Even though they got my gall, I passed it off as mistakes arising out of ignorance, immaturity or oversight.

However, today a much deeper malaise seems to be afflicting my fellow advertising brethren. The industry is consistently churning out advertising that is strategically flawed. Some of the ads go against the fundamental premise of the product or the category and some are out of sync with what the brand is associated with. Let me illustrate this through examples of some big campaigns for big brands.

Idea: This campaign is one of my personal favourites. It is one of the few big ideas in recent times. By positioning the mobile phone as a social equalizer in a hierarchy ridden society, the campaign has redefined the role of mobile phones not only in our lives but its impact on community living at large.
Yet, in its first ad of the current series, where a dead chief minister is replaced by his reluctant wife through popular public demand, they went against the grain of what they are trying to preach. By furthering the cause of dynastic politics in that ad they have themselves punctured their attempt to usher in a people empowered democratic revolution. Did they really need that ad? Would the campaign have been any less impactful if they hadn’t made this gross error of judgment? It may be a minor point for many but for me this is nothing short of brand hara-kiri.

IPL: Another good creative campaign that works against the fundamentals of the product. IPL is by far the biggest spectacle that has ever hit the small screen because of the coming together of fast paced, exciting cricket and Bollywood type entertainment. IPL has perhaps become a bigger event than the T20 world cup. However, there is a fundamental difference between the two. IPL is about 8 teams from different cities in India waging a 3 hour battle against each other over 50+ days to figure out who would emerge victorious. The idea is to get people to root for one team or the other. In this context, it is absolutely foolish to show the entire country reacting similarly to every shot going over the ropes and every wicket being taken. When Dhoni hits a six against Warne, the Chennai Super King fans will get delirious with joy while the Rajasthan Royan fan will take out their kerchiefs. I have no doubts that the IPL is a junoon for the people of this country but I am afraid it’s advertising campaign works against it.

Voltas AC: India ka Dil. India ka AC. After producing a very nice ad on power saving last year where an old couple wouldn’t install an AC that their son sent for them because they thought it would be expensive to run, they have gone and goofed up big time this year round. The need to link themselves to a bigger social issue seems to be their undoing. Their new ad shows electricity deprived people getting electricity in their homes because some people in the country are going to buy an AC that guzzles a little less electricity than others. Gosh! Can someone please tell them that people are not fools. An AC is the biggest electricity guzzler in the home and it is unlikely that anyone who is buying the Voltas AC will ever buy into the premise that he is doing so for the poor Gorakhpur guy who faces outages of 12 hours a day. It's like GM producing a gas guzzler that gives a mileage of 4 miles to a gallon instead of the usual 3 and claiming that they are helping the world solve the oil crisis. Give me a break guys. There are certain category codes that you cannot transgress.

Gentlemen and ladies. The times are tough. Both the consumers and clients are getting ruthless with inept advertising. Please do not try and take them for granted. Wake up and put your thinking caps back on. Or retire into oblivion unless you are fine with a forced eviction from your mind numbing chairs.

The paradox of democracy and dynastic politics - The rise of benevolent dictatorship

Ever since I gathered my senses as a child, I loathed dynastic politics. I grew up hating the fact that one billion people (or at least a large part of them) have been largely subservient to a few families at the state level and one family at the national level. I hated the gandhis, the abdullahs, the thackerays, the devi lals, the chauthalas and their ilk who thought that passing the baton of power down their generations was a birthright for them as had been for the kings, nizams and nawabs of an era gone by. To me this was a negation of the very concept of democracy.

Yet, this wasn't just prevalent in India. It was equally true for the country that gave birth to the concept of democracy. The kennedys, the rockfellers, the bushs have ruled the USA with an iron hand passing the baton between themselves while every once in a while allowing a second cousin to whiff the scent of power.

So is democracy for real? Will the election of obama as the President of America against a hallowed member of the clinton family change the world order of dynastic politics?

I dare say NO!

And in some ways, contrary to my loathing of dynastic politics, I am glad it won't. Obama's win is just a flash in the pan. The clintons, bushs and their ilk are going to strike back soon unless obama can join the august list of dynasties that are powerbrokers in the US.

Democracy, in the truest sense, is as utopian a concept as socialism is. It looks great on paper but in the real world it takes a shape that is almost diametrically opposite to what it preaches. Much like the much vaunted socialist values of the erstwhile USSR or communist China. To my mind there is only one stable form of governance -Autocracy. Autocracy can take two shapes - Facist/self serving or a benevolent dictatorship. Willy nilly democratic ideals degenerate into one of these two forms of autocracy.

Let’s explore this further with some examples. When in 1966 Indira Gandhi was chosen to be the successor to 'interim' PM Lal Bahadhur Shastri, all she had was the Nehru legacy and a genetically coded political acumen to show for herself. Yet in spite of a small inner party revolt she ran her writ for the next 12 years including two inglorious years of emergency. During this period she was blinded by her need to promote her 'half maverick half nuts' son who thought he was the king of the kingdom bequeathed to his mother (and consequently to him) by his grandfather. Autocracy prevailed!Nobody dared challenge the system. Those who did were done away with. Much like what Aurangzeb did in his hey days. For a brief period after the emergency, democracy tried rearing its head only to get it severed at the altar of personal greed. Autocracy came back. Bluestar followed and autocracy came to an abrupt end in 1984.

That year was a landmark year. After 5 centuries, post Akbar, India was going to get reacquainted with benevolent dictatorship. A reticent Rajiv Gandhi stepped forward to pick up the reigns. His writ was unquestioned but his demeanour was most unlike that of a thoroughbred politician. He was an idealist and it showed in his thinking and in his actions. India prospered under him just like it had done under Akbar or Ashoka for that matter. His demise gave rise to a new power struggle and after a brief period of instability, dynastic politics had to bring back an order of semblance. Ever since a reticent and initially unwilling Sonia has taken over the reigns of being a benevolent dictator. And her writ is the final word in the congress. She deals with dissension with unequivocal calm and a firmness that can only come with the surety of a dictator whose place is unchallenged and revered. She has put the noose around an erring Natwar Singh or a HKL Bhagat with no remorse shown and yet has promoted and supported erudite leaders like Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram and Sheila Dixit even though they lack mass support.

This has augured well for India which has seen unprecedented growth in this period in spite of a 5 year BJP led NDA government tenure which rode the tide set in motion by the previous congress govt. The problem with the BJP has been that it has been unable to throw up a candidate around whom an alternate dynasty can be built in the years to come. Its best bet LK Advani and his daughter are biding their time but it looks like they are running out of it as we speak. And because there is no dynasty to fall back upon, the BJP today seems bereft of national leaders - pretty much the same scenario after Rajiv Gandhi till Sonia decided to take charge even though she did so from behind the flimsy curtains.

Today, India has a strong, erudite government only because the dictatorship of Sonia Gandhi is not questioned. That she is a benevolent dictator has been proven time and again. Only because she is not in the game for power alone, she has been able to demonstrate time and again that she has balls of steel. In fact all the misgivings that one had a few years ago of her Italian origins have vanished into thin air. I reckon that if there was a national poll today, far more no. of people will be able to reconcile to her becoming the PM than was the case a few years ago.

In the same vein, I am also placing faith in the intentions of the new scion of dynastic rule in J&K. I sincerely believe that if there is anybody who can solve the mess there, it can only be someone from the abdullah family. If Omar runs his writ with his party and his alliance partners and is benevolent to the cause of the Kashmiris, Inshaallah paradise will be regained.

Therefore, the moot point of all this is that when power is wielded with an iron hand and a soft heart, it leads to all round progress. For power to be wielded with an iron hand, the power source should hold sway over its subject and his/her decisions have to be the final word on any subject. Dynastic politics provide us the perfect folly to an unstable democratic process where there will be multi-polarisation of intent and policy application.

On this note I sign off much against my natural inclinations.
Long live political dynasties. Long live benevolent dictatorship. Long live subservience. Long live democracy!