Dream come True - Meeting with Archer

The Master Storyteller in Town

It certainly is one of those rare days , when one gets to meet face to face with their role model who have inspired them so much in their life..That day came for me today , when Lord Archer , the greatest novelist in the world came down to Chennai , to promote his recent book, A Prisoner of Birth

The speech he gave was one of those finest speeches i ever heard in my life.

Some extracts from his speech :

"I 'd go to London and let the major authors there,know that their book is not an international bestseller , if it isnt sold at a traffic signal in Delhi or Chennai"

"The Prisoner of Birth might be similar to The Count of Monte Cristo , but the way i made it different was its plot,the prison life and the way Danny Cartwright takes revenge . Every Novel I write is a part of my biography and so is Prisoner of Birth.Even Jane Austen wrote almost six novles which was mostly inspired from her own life "

"The T20 is not cricket at all. Real Cricket is where , Rahul Dravid & V.V.S.Laxman plays two full days in Melbourne in a Test Match against a formidable Australian Attack. "

"I write from morning 6-8, take a 2 hr break, again resume writing from 10-12,take a 2 hr break,again write from 2-4, a 2 hr break and then resume from 6-8
After 55 days of this routine ,i complete only my first draft.
The Prisoner of Birth took 17 drafts to complete. So to all u budding authors , when u come and tell me ,'I have finished my book'. Ur wrong. U have just completed your first draft"

"The beauty of R.K.Narayan lay in narrating a story , about a funny simple fictional village with small characters and in the process making them giants. Whereas other authors make giants into small people.

"The only thing in which I have a better record with J.K.Rowling , is that, her first Harry Potter was rejected by 16 publishers , and my first book "Not A Penny More Not A Penny Less" was rejected by 18 publishers"

"I will be back in December to see England thrash India in the test tour. The Score card will read, Sehwag 0 , Sachin 1 , Ganguly 2 ,Dravid 2 ,Laxman 1 and it will be 25 for 7 at Lunch . and u See I'm a Story Teller :) "

"Incidental PR" - As Real As it Gets

Shilpa Shetty ,Sreesanth, Simbu, ShahRukh Khan

What do these people have in common ?

Well, they have all played an unknowing yet a crucial part in promoting whichever
event they were involved in,and as a successful PR agent .

Who says PR is all about doing successful charity shows , CSR stuffs,donations to orphanages & sponsoring major events

The racial abuse of Shilpa Shetty has almost sparked off a tipping point which enables media companies to popularise their dull and boring "so called Reality" shows into a widely watched programme with TV viewersip soaring to the roof .

No amount of advertising or media campaigns could have even come near the success contributed by a small racial abuse on "Ms.Shetty" . The news literally got fire , as the Govt intervened, newspapaper dailies and TV Channels with screaming headlines about the incident and the show and the emotional and moral support shown
by her "loyal" fans..

Well , if the show is managing to become a front page article in a newspaper ,what better PR does one ask for ?

If that was for the UK version , the regional media channel , Star Vijay soon caught up with thisconcept in a differentiated local way . Silambarasan , the judge of a popular dance show "Jodi Number One" ( initially adapted from "So you think you can dance" in AXN) stormed out of the show in a controversial way , because of a comment gone wrong . The media and several regional magazines were in almost a frenzy to popularise it, and Star Vijay cashing in heavily on this incident , with advertisements and sponsors pouring into the show .

It wasnt a surprise when Star Vijay even went to the extent of showing the incident as an ad between programs , for people to talk about the show . It may be an "arranged" one or even happened truely , but in the end , It was A Job Well Done


With Reality shows becoming a hit , it was the turn of IPL , who also managed to get a fair piece of the pie , when Harbajhan slapped SreeSanth.Cricket may be a gentleman's game , but when emotions going high ,the reactions can go deadly. It was not the slap or the huge penalty imposed by IPl by Harbajhan that made this incident so ignominious , but the tears shed by
Sreesanth , that actually was responsible in cauing all the furor and excitement in this form of the game .

Times are changing , and way people do business or plan marketing strategies have radically changed. PR too is now set for a change in its own way .

P.S . - PR too doesnt stand for Positive(Public) Relations anymore .
Its Popularizing Relations

The man responsible for it, being in the giving end or at the receiving end,
whichever matters, walks away with the golden trophy.
(maybe thats why they call him "The Man of the Hour")

Microsoft Virtual Techdays

Held on April 9th & 10th, 2008 Microsoft Virtual TechDays provided an opportunity to the developer and IT Pro community to dive deep into the latest offerings from Microsoft - Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008

Here is the download link for the ppts as well as the recorded sessions..

Download : http://www.microsoft.com/india/virtualtechdays/

Resources : http://www.microsoft.com/india/virtualtechdays/resources.aspx

IPL & a game called Cricket

With 4 smashing wins in their kitty, the Chennai Super Kings certainly looked unstoppable and clear favorites for the coveted $ 1.5 Million IPL trophy .
But with Hayden, Hussey & Oram gone to their home sides, and with two back to back losses, it has certainly raised a few eyebrows on their path to victory.
One might argue with the fact that all three were key performers and their absence would leave a major dent to an almost perfect side.
It certainly cannot be denied that Chennai Super Kings can never find a replacement in the greats of Hayden & Hussey, and Stephen Fleming might jus after all
be a “just another player” . But what does victory all about? Is it just two players who win matches every time?

Unfortunately, to the dislike of certain fans of the so called Knight Riders (sounds similar to Ghost Rider aint it? Lol...), the answer isn’t that simple.
It’s not about a major Bollywood film star dancing to the tunes of his film songs, in the stadium and cheering to every four or six.
It’s not about an infamous “rose from the ashes” captain scoring 4 or 5 every match, losing every match in disgrace.
It’s not about a “300 movie” look alike uniform, dressing up as Spartans and singing nursery rhymes like Jeet Bole.

Victory in T20 or any other form of the game it might be, is about good captaincy, commitment, the spirit, a passion towards the game and the desire to win.
This is where CSK nearly stands apart from other teams. They have shown what a great captain can do, demonstrated to us what every single run can do and most
of all how do keep your cool in any situation, and sporting the true spirit of the game.
The one thing that is predictable about Test Cricket, and ODI, apart from few exceptions is that the best team in paper always wins. T20 much resembles a football
game in that matter, where anything can happen and most often it always happens at the last moment when its least expected .

The names of Goni , Vidyut , Badrinath, Joginder certainly might not be worthwhile on paper .Yet in the presence and guidance of top class players like Mutthiah
Muralitharan, Dhoni, Ntini in their backing, a spirited and a match winning performance is certainly very near.

The Chennai Super Kings is not about the bigger Kings in paper. It’s about the small pawns that can turn out to be the bigger set pieces that can win the war.
Who ever said after all it’s just a game?

P.S. As far the sustenance of the IPL format goes, it certainly is off to a flyer like a Gilchrist innings.
But with England supported by the Texan billionaire, threatening to start a similar league to that of IPL in England, the league’s long term sustainability and
standing is certainly worth considering . Or as a true marketer says, they are just expanding the market and it certainly can help us grow.
One just needs to wait and watch

Never learn from your failures. Learn only from your successes.
Otherwise the next time u will still fail, only a lot better

- Karthik Murali

UEFA Champions League

Paul Scholes finally scored a brilliant goal against Barcelona to qualify for the UFEA Champions League finals ,against the Blues on May 21 . With an attendance of 75061 , Paul Scholes terrific strike ,whizzing past Victor Valdez , erupted a huge cheer among the United fans ensuring a major victory in the offing .

Despite a game full of hits and misses and a terrible referee , who conveniently missed out on all handballs and offeneces committed by the Barcelonians , Manchester United still managed to grasp a big victory at their home turf to reach the finals of their coveted trophy.

Glory Glory Man Utd !!

The Brand Gap

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