Novelty

What we need to keep us going is something new. According to guys like Osho, everything is evolving all the time, and therefore when you see it tomorrow it is different from what it was yesterday. This applies to everything- from a leaf on a tree to your wife, or for that matter, yourself (the mirror will vouch for that!). But everyone is not Osho. So we make valiant attempts to find variety in our lives. At least I do, sometimes with good results, sometimes with terrible ones. For example, I have tried almost all snacks available at airport counters, and they are equally bad! Ditto for food served inside the aircraft. Maybe when it is airborne, an idli has its way of getting "airy", and therefore tastes like tissue paper soaked in something. I have also tried flying all the domestic airlines now, and they all come across as callous. Just one example. If you know that the plane takes 2 hours, why put it as an hour and a half on the schedule? It fools novices into thinking they may get somewhere on time, but others by now know that they will get to know the sky at 30,000 feet a lot better while circling over the packed airports. So much for novelty. Now what is it that I need to try next? Maybe, Lalu's Garib Rath.

International Marketing

I just published a book on international marketing from an Indian perspective. It was an interesting theme to explore- writing about the emerging Brand India and the case studies of Indian companies engaged in international marketing, acquisitions, and building of brands. I also won a prize in a contest run by Revenge Ink publishers of UK for fiction writers from India. I had written a small piece called "My Conversations with Anopheles" where I talk to a female mosquito about many things, and discover there are uncanny similarities among "them" and "us". All in all, an interesting past few days.
The rain is also picking up, annd since I am traveling a lot, I might get to enjoy it in different places- Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune to name a few. Each would add a unique twist to the raindrops, I am sure.