How I got my mobile back

One doesn’t realize how valuable something is until it is lost. In my case, I realized this about my mobile phone - the C100- when I lost it in a cab in October last year. After it happened, I acted swiftly – got my SIM card blocked so the person who found my phone wouldn’t misuse it. What I didn’t do was – I didn’t file a complaint with the police. But then who does, these days?

Everyone knows, your cellphone is as good as irretrievably lost once you misplaced it or have been robbed of it. And the police are not of much use in finding it, which is why they told me I was very lucky to have got mine back at all!

Apparently, two men spotted it lying on the road, not far from where I had got down from the cab and had taken it to the Dadar police station because one of the guys claimed it was his. The other guy said he didn’t think so, and took the phone to the police. The guy who claimed it was his, was a chartered accountant and the really honest man was a BEST supervisor! So much for stereotypes.

Anyway, it took the cops a month to track me down. Well, I’m grateful they found me eventually but with my Dad’s number in my address book - very clearly mentioning ‘DAD’ - they could have found me sooner, couldn’t they? But the actual running around began only once they contatced him.

The cops had recorded the phone as an “unknown person’s property" in their diary and now wanted me to “claim” it back from them. So after verifying me as the owner, they wanted me to prove to them, that I really owned the phone and that it just didn’t have my SIM card inside it! I know it sounds so ludicrous but that’s how the police system works. At some point, I thought they were making rules on the spur of the moment, just to harass the hell out of me. But no - apparently, it is required of owners of cellphones to hang on to their bills for dear life or at least jot down the IMEI number of the handset somewhere, so you can prove to the cops that the handset does, in fact, belong to you. The IMEI number is found where the SIM card is inserted.

You have the benefit of this information -- I didn’t -- and that led to me being called repeatedly to the police station and that’s apart from the phone calls I made to have the phone released. I had to call my dealer who sold me the phone over two and a half years ago, and who didn’t keep bills that old. And obviously, he had not kept IMEI numbers of all the handsets he sold.

The cops wanted him to give the IMEI number on his letterhead, but my dealer couldn’t help. Then, a constable told me to forget about the phone but take SIM card, if I wanted it because I could prove the SIM belonged to me, with the help of a copy of a BPL bill.

So that took another round of phone calls. Then I admit, I got my dad to pull some strings and he spoke to the ACP of Dadar police station, who said the matter was a minor one and that he would tell them to release the phone, since for all practical purposes, I was the rightful owner of the phone.

He did say that since, a case ‘diary’ was made, it was a matter of routine that they had to ask for all that paperwork or else they could have just handed over the phone to me, once they tracked me down. So guys, if you’ve lost your phone, for once you’ll wish the cops are not as “thorough” as this!

My dealer also gave me the same bit of news, so I was slightly relieved to know it was standard procedure being followed and not harassment. Anyway, even after the ACP’s help, the phone was handed over to me two days after I gave in a formal statement/application, stating on which day, I had lost the phone, where I had lost it, colour/model/cellphone number etc.

So in all, it took me four trips to the police station in a week and twice as many phone calls to recover what was genuinely mine.

Like I said, I’m glad to have got my phone back but all the time I was running around to get back the phone from the police, I kept wishing that the people who had originally found it, had thought to get in touch with me rather than hand it over to the cops.

It would have saved me a world of trouble and of course the suppressed rage, that goes along with playing according to the rules – cops' rules – valid, but foolish nonetheless!

Safety steps
1. Keep the phone’s bill safely or jot the IMEI number down.
2. Remember the exact day you lost the phone. Don’t be vague about this because it helps prove the phone is yours
3. Pull strings if you can. Then hand in a statement like mentioned earlier.
4. Keep calling till they ask you to come and collect the phone from them. It’s just a phone to them, they have rapes and murders to take care of. It’s more important to you than to them.
5. If you find a lost cellphone, try and trace the owners and expect a justified reward, rather than taking it to the cops.

Written for www.dancewithshadows.com

Make work a fun place & you'll profit from it!

Kevin Freiberg, the acclaimed author of Nuts and Guts has been giving us some breathtaking insights into contemporary management practices and in the last part of the series, he speaks about how a leader can inspire those who follow him, to be better than him.

He says it is important to get to the heart of what motivates people and he believes this is across cultures and not specific to the US, Europe Japan or South East Asia. He explains how Southwest Airlines is empowering its employees to be more than just drones working for an airline company. They take it as a personal cause to make sure their flights are on time and tickets are reasonably priced, so that grandparents can travel to meet family or just for fun, without it becoming to expensive for them.

Peter Drucker did say that the "leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell and the leader of the future will be the person who knows how to ask." Freiberg believes this is true. He told CNBC-TV18, "It maybe hidden in some and I think the way we awaken that in people, is to give them a voice. So, you got to give the people freedom, to think and act like owners of the business and secondly, you have got to equip them to think and act like owners of the business."

"Now when I talk about ownership, I am not talking about the stock options and profit sharing, I think those things are critical but I am talking about the mentality which says if I see a problem I will own it. And really, when you think about ownership, ownership is about finding the gaps in any business and stepping into the breach to fill in those gaps, whether it's with a customer or whether it's with a co-worker."

The quiet heroism of 9/11
"Mid morning, on 9/11, the air traffic control system in the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, had shut the air traffic control system down. Southwest Airlines had accounted for all of its 350 plus aircraft except for one. It's mid morning on 9/11, you cannot find a plane, so what do you think? It may have been hijacked. But fortunately, the plane had diverted to Grand Rapids, Michigan where Southwest Airlines doesn't have a presence. They got down on the ground, the ground staff plugged into the airplane and said we are so thankful you are down, you are one of the last aircraft and the system is down.

"On the parking lot, they had 40 aircraft waiting and they were told, it's going to be five hours before we can take your passengers off the plane and the pilot looked out the cockpit window and said there is an empty belt loader over there, that's isn't being used. So he asked the airport's staff to get it to the plane's front door. They brought the belt loader to the front door, the pilots and the flight attendants gingerly escorted all 137 passengers down the belt ladder."

"Then the pilot called the rental car agency and said can we use your shuttles to get out passengers to Amtrak (which is America's train system). The flight attendants and pilots swiped their own credit card to buy tickets for the passengers, who couldn't afford it and within 48 hours of that incident, everyone of those passengers were in their homes with their loved ones."

This is one committed team that made that scary day, a little more comfortable for the people who flew their airline. People who loved doing their jobs so much ,that they found a way for their customers to be satisfied.

Leadership counts
He believes that if people are failing to find joy in their jobs, then it has to do with "one of two reasons, either you are not a good coach or they are in the wrong job - they are not in the sweet spot, where there is a fit. Where is the responsibility? On you - the leader. Who assumes ownership? You, the leader, because when you really think about it, leadership is about serving."

"I mean the only reason to be in leadership is because you think you have the capability to serve other people and the great leader is always the one who looks in the mirror first and says what about me needs to change. So if you have somebody who is not creating, I think you've got to look in the mirror and say what are we doing to create an environment that drives the best out of this individual."

At the end of the day, it's always a people business. And, people are the most complex thing you lead and you manage. At the end of day, the great leaders are the people who understand that if you can get people caught up in a cause, that's worthy of everything that they have got, that makes some feel heroic about what they do. At the end of the day, people want to come and be a part of something special."

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

Mark Mobius: Godfather of emerging markets

He is considered 'the Guru' to emulate, when spotting emerging markets and everyone wants to know how Templeton Emerging Markets Fund picks stocks to invest in. Looking up to him and learning from him is what most rookie analysts and investment bankers do. That's Mark Mobius for you - the Godfather of investing in emerging economies.

Mark Mobius is the son of a German father and a Puerto Rican mother and he says that he had exposure to very different cultures, which really helped him. One of his brothers, Schroeder, thought he would be a pianist because as Mark told CNBC-TV18, "My parents really forced us into music, in my case the piano and my brothers - the cello and the violin. Ofcourse, I still love the piano but I don't have much chance to play."

He also loved theatre and films and got his undergraduation degree in Fine Arts. From here he moved to psychology and from there he moved onto economics. Then it was consumer behaviour which grabbed his attention - which was a amalgamation of economics and psychology. He explains, "I did a lot of work on consumer surveys with international research associations." So, he studied social psychology and also briefly did clinical psychology from the University of New Mexico.

Interestingly, Mark was intrigued by stocks when he did his PhD thesis on communication satellites! It was around the time that President Kennedy was in office (early 1960s) and there were decisions to be made about whether Americans needed to stick with AT&T or whether something independent would be done.

The Kennedy administration and the Congress decided to do things independently and started the Comsat Corporation. It was listed on the NYSE and Mark invested in the stock after doing his research. It goes without saying that he made a lot of money. So, that's how the story of Mark Mobius's stint with investing began.

Also at the point, Japan was a sort of emerging market and he began to take an interest in it. But otherwise, 'emerging markets' were not words that had yet been coined back then in the 1970s. It was when the IFC and the World Bank decided to fund development in the underdeveloped countries, that the term 'emerging markets' came up.

Mark says that Sir John Templeton had the sense to invest in such markets before anyone else thought of doing so. He was in Mexico and Japan before the others and he "had the ability to condense things in a very nice way. He was able to summarise a idea very nicely and he said, 'If you want to get the best bargains, you've got to look globally'." So Templeton was really the real reason for the existence of the Toyotas and the Datsuns of the world.

The big charm of these new markets were, as Mark recalls, "The stocks and the P/Es were cheap. There were a lot of undiscovered companies and no one ever believed that Japan would be where they are today."

In all this time, Mark Mobius still didn't know whether he wanted to be in the business of stocks. He worked with Monsanto and wrote a book called 'Trading with China' and also was eager to see the world, especially Asia. So he went to Japan, Korea, Thailand and Taiwan, mostly on work. It was in Taiwan, where he was on the board of the International Investment Trust, and after a board member who was running the trust left, Mark took over. So, that's when he got his first taste of investing and managing a portfolio.

So despite Wall Street's siren call, Mark Mobius continued with his exploration of the Asian markets and was well positioned to take advantage, when globally, emerging markets in Latin America and Eastern Europe were opened to the world.

So in 1987, Mark Mobius was handpicked by Sir John Templeton to head Templeton Emerging Markets and till date, Mark is unaware of why he was picked! He hazards a guess though and says, "The fact that I was out here (in Asia) and seemed to be knowledgeable about what was happening in Asia and was enthusiastic about it."

They started out with $100 million and with only one analyst and himself as the only 'team' in place! The only countries, he could invest in, in those days were six in all - five in Asia and one in Latin America. Today, the statistical projections he made in his book on China, seems like one of Nostradamus's predictions but back in the 1970s, he wasn't believed at all!

While investing in stocks in emerging markets, he uses the same system that Sir Templeton used. He explains, "His belief was that you got to pick stocks that in five years, according to your projections, will be inexpensive." Mark does his homework as well. He looks at profit & loss statements, cashflows, balancesheets in detail and visits factories. Corporate governance is also a big issue he looks at.

Today, Mark Mobius is sitting on an incredible emerging markets database. Templeton analysts can access data from the Oracle based system that has now been installed and share information with one another, across the world. He elaborates, "We started out with a list of 17,000 companies and we sifted through that. Now we have 900 companies in our database." But they are constantly adding to this "action list" and subtracting from it.

The criteria used to eliminate companies were size, liquidity, other problems like remittances out of the country or poor corporate governance norms, were also taken into account. Currencies are also evaluated with relation to the dollar or the euro and then the impact on a company is studied. So an undervalued local currency will help exporting companies, which makes their stocks attractive.

When it comes to the stocks of the 900 companies that are on his database, they keep their eyes on the ball, at all times. Mark Mobius elaborates, "We have a target buying price and a target selling price." He cites a study that Templeton did, where it seemed they were leaving stocks a little too early, so now they keep moving the limit up with a moving stop loss.

So, how does a Templeton analyst make a stock pick? He analyses a stock, then it is reviewed by a peer team of six people, which also includes the sector expert. They agree among themselves on buy and sell limits. If there is a disagreement, then Mark steps in. Otherwise, the process moves on and a team of allocators comes in and allocates these stocks into the portfolios.

At the end of the day, though, Mark says that "You should stick to your convictions if you have done your research. Process is key and you should stick to your stocks, otherwise, you are really in trouble."

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

Engage in active experimentation: Wind

A changing environment is important to continuously experiment as sticking with the same thing will not be beneficial in the long run. Professor of Marketing, Wharton School, Yoram Jerry Wind told CNBC-TV18, "We have to experiment whether it is a planned experiment like it is in the sciences, whether it is an adaptive experiment, where we plan continuously to experiment or we learn from natural experiments, what's happening around us. But it is critical due to the changing environment that we continuously engage in active experimentation."

He explains, "Today's environment is different than yesterday's and I think every firm faces changes in consumer behaviour, changes in technology, changes in government regulation, changes in competitive activities and just to continue what they have been doing, relying on their own mental model will not allow them to succeed. So what they have to do is, they have to when dealing with natural experiments, observe what is happening around them and then say - 'How can I learn from this?"

"For example, the US army used to have a videogame for recruiting. Suddenly someone realized that there have been 10's of millions of games that have been played and said - why don't we analyze what all these recruits did in terms of the game and they got enormous amounts of insight into strategy - into what works, what doesn’t work based on mining this enormous amount of data."

"So the idea here is - not that always you have to design your own experiments, but in the natural experiments area you have to be open to the idea that if I have some opportunity for learning, what can I learn from the failure of the companies? What can I learn from the collapse of the dotcom bubble?"

"So the idea is - 'How can I continuously learn? Adaptive experimentation is critical. If I go with a single strategy, at the end of the year, I really don't know what I should do next because I don't know whether to stay with the same strategy, improve it, change it? I have not learnt much, but if I design my own strategy, it is an experiment. I am trying three different things in three different places. I can tell them, which of them works better and then I can modify my next year's strategy. I learn something during the year and that is the key'."

CEO of ITC's Agribusiness, S Sivakumar agrees with Wind. He said, "Unless you look at things very differently. If you continue doing things the same old way, there can be a whole lot of inefficiency in the way you are doing things. The basic reason to start something new could be reaction - it could be many other things also. But the very way you look at it differently means that it is not reactive thinking."

"For example in e-choupal, we were the buyer of commodities. If you have to reduce cost or improve quality, all that you could do, (if we were thinking in the old way) was appoint commission agents in the mandis who are better skilled or cut the transaction cost a little bit by improving transportation costs. But nobody really though for decades altogether that transactions outside of this market ever existed. If a farmer was very small, he had to go to the market, he had to sell because that is the only economic way of doing things. That was the traditional way of thinking. But when e-choupal started, we said - 'think of it very differently'."

When e-choupals was a mere thought in his mind, Sivakumar decided to go into uncharted waters. 'At one level, obviously when you say, I want to put internet in the village and the farmer will look at it and transact, and obviously the first reaction is - ok, can a farmer actually access the internet and we remember in 2000, even in urban India, telecom did not fully take shape.' Chairman, ITC, YC Deveshwar initially wanted to do a pilot but the moment it made enormous sense to him, he sanctioned Rs 10 crore to plunge right in and get the concept working.

Wind applauds the idea and says, 'I think what they have done is the right approach, especially when you are grappling with a radical idea. When you want to educate the people and tell them what it is, there was no way they could implement this unless they educate the farmers and his own people. But this is a perfect example of the importance of experimentation. Had he not experimented with this, he still would have been in the old trading business.' It also helped that the management was an enlightened one and they were able to carry the experiment to a successful fruition.

Next up was convincing the farmers to engage with the new model and learn to use a computer for information. Until then, farmers took their produce to mandis and there the agents would weigh the produce and then pay them. This method has endured for years but farmers were frequently cheated. Sivakumar elaborated, 'So proof of actual execution was always sought for and pestered for by the villagers until someone said, 'Here is someone who is doing it right, let's now adapt to it'. So this infrastructure was put into place to deliver information independent of transactions, so that agricultural commodity buying became more efficient.'

'We did realize that some fundamental issues of rural India are, fragmented farmers disbursed across 600,000 villages as well as the weak infrastructure. So we realised that the e-choupal system could be used for taking other goods and services back into the village, whether you are bundling information or knowledge together with transaction or you are separating it from transaction. So today, ITC's consumer goods are going back into villages, but a whole lot of other companies whether it is agricultural inputs, farm equipment, consumer goods, consumer durables, financial products are all going back into the villages, using the same infrastructure.'

He added, 'This also changes its own paradigm, in the sense that, when you looked at selling consumer goods to low income consumers, earlier the concern was, 'how do I cut costs, how do I cut the size of the pack so that I am able to give them value at that price and so on'. But the e-choupal also put more money in their (farmers) pocket so that they were able to spend more and improve the quality of their life. This has created a virtual cycle.' What's more, now other companies have begun to use the network and the system ITC has put in place, to supply goods into the village and not just to buy goods from the village.

As Wind puts it succintly, 'Change your thinking and you can transform your work and your life.'

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

Maxim to stop men from moaning

Men have been moaning about not having anything worthwhile to read for a while now. Well, there are newspapers and newsmagazines, but that's not what they mean, do they? They mean stuff like Cosmopolitan and Elle. The glossy, catty magazines that give women advice on everything and more.

Men now have Maxim and the Indian edition is being edited by Sunil Mahra. This magazine has succeeded in tantalising generations of men abroad and now Indians will get their fill of gorgeous women and hot tips to woo them correctly and more importantly, keep them happy!

Ofcourse, women stand to gain in all this. If only Maxim is made mandatory reading for all men. But wishful thinking apart, the magazine is packed with entertainment, news, gossip, and yes, sex. Very candid Q&As on sex should have men fighting, to get their hands on this magazine.

One person, apart from Mahra, who has made this possible is 35-year-old Piyush Sharma. He is a science graduate with an MBA and now the CEO, of the newly launched men's magazine. Piyush's tryst with publishing happened by accident. He gave FMCG, IT, and the service industry a shot, before moving to Tehelka, where he was Vice President, in-charge of marketing for two years.

Having got a feel of the publishing business, he decided to be daringly different and brought UK's best selling men's magazine Maxim to India in 2006. Think global and act local, that's Piyush's editorial mantra. In fact, before the launch he spent one week in the UK, to understand what Maxim was all about. They also conducted a six-city survey, to understand what Indian men really want. The magazine relies heavily on Indian content, but about 30% is international news.

Barely two editions old, Maxim already has big boys like Samsung, Ford, Rayban, Hyundai, Toyota, Airtel and Nokia buying space. Being a men's magazine, Maxim has its priorities right. So there's plenty of glamorous women, gizmos, sports, funnies and fashion.

Its first edition was a complete sellout, with 75,000 copies being sold. Enthused by the response, Piyush is now planning to launch a product in the travel as well as the women's magazine space. Big plans, big ideas and a maxim to be a market leader, that's Piyush Sharma for you.

If despite all this PR, you need still more convincing to pick up a copy of this magazine, then check out their website. They are running a contest, where they are requesting people to send in the 'best' photos of women in their bedrooms. And yes, the good ones are being put online and the best one wins a prize.

This sure will give everyone, a reason to start clicking those naughty bedroom pictures! Man, won't you guys kill to be on Maxim's editorial staff - just imagine what is 'not' being published, out of concern for Indian values (and hypocrisy).

For more on Maxim: http://www.maximonline.com

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

Pointers to buy a laptop & camera

Are you thinking of buying a laptop or a camera anytime soon? Then you want to get the best advice and not succumb to smooth sales talk and then walk out with something, you'll later regret buying. Everyone will tell you some great things about performance, where branded laptops or cameras are concerned. But that really is the last thing one should keep in mind.

A bigger priority should be the features that come with a laptop. For instance, things like the life of the battery. Any laptop one is thinking of buying should have a battery that has five hours of life in it.

Second thing to look out for is build quality. This will stand the buyer in good stead when travelling. Look at the hinges and taking out the drive trays would be a good idea. It will help to determine how loose or tight it is.

Thirdly, wireless connectivity is important and it has to be there in a laptop. There is just no compromising on this.

Lastly, buy something light and not a heavy model. Keeping this in mind, look at buying something weighing between 1-1.5 kgs and you will be good to go.

Recommended buys
ASUS M5A costs Rs 60,000, weighs 1.5 kgs, 2.5 cms thin, battery lasts for 7 hours and comes with a sturdy alloy cover.

Acer Ferrari 4000 costs Rs 1,00,000 plus taxes, 64 bit AMD processor and everything else is state of the art.

Fujitsu lightbook E40 tablet PC costs Rs 1,15,000, has all the gizmos and software including handwriting recognition and weighs under 2 kgs.

Editor of Chip magazine, Marco D'Souza told CNBC-TV18, "Laptops can be really cheap and as low as Rs 35,000 today. But they tend to scrounge on the build quality. The built should be good, it should feel sturdy. Also make sure, you have the operating system, OS, installed on the laptop because most people leave that out and expect you to install a pirated version."

Budget buys
Lenovo Thinkpad EQ3 costs Rs 40,000 including taxes, great security features including a airbag like hard disc lock for nasty falls and comes with Windows XP.

Compaq Presario M22O2DU costs Rs 33,000 including taxes, Linus OS, built-in speakers.

Candid camera Megapixels is not everything when it comes to buying a camera. But if you plan to print your family album, then buy a camera that is atleast 4 megapixels or more. Actually 8 or 9 megapixels is far too high and not required for family pictures.

Look at the optics of the camera, the lens should be really big and if one wants the zoom function, then it should have optical zoom and not digital zoom.

Budget buys
AIPTEK Pocketcam 4000 does not come with optical zoom but is a 4 megapixel camera and is priced at Rs 5,000. Kodak Easyshare V530 priced at less than Rs 16,000 and has a VX optical zoom, 5 megapixels, super speed and a great flash. There's no viewfinder and the LCD is a bit small.

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

She made Playboy rock & roll!

She once told Malcolm Forbes that "you may be publishing the capitalist tool but I publish the capitalist carrot, as it makes it, worth all that hard work!" The lady who made this comment unapologetically is Playboy Enterprises Inc founder Hugh Hefner's daughter, Christie Hefner, who wanted to be a lawyer or a journalist when she grew up, and never thought she would be working at Playboy.

But today she confidently says, "I think we are going to be the pre-eminent entertainment brand for grownups, the way Disney is the pre-eminent brand for kids, says the CEO of Playboy Enterprises, Christy Hefner. So, when she never thought she would be working at Playboy neither did her father think she would be there too. He has a memory though, of her standing by a typewriter in his office, when he was putting out the first issue of the magazine in 1953 - so that should have been a sign of things to come!

Hugh Hefner's intentions were never naughty, or so he says! He says, he always wanted to put out a classy,lifestyle and entertainment magazine for men and he succeeded beyond his imagination. His first issue sold 50,000 copies and within seven years, his circulation had reached the 1 million mark. Today, it sells seven million copies.

So, Hefner had arrived at 27 with his first issue, which he put together on his kitchen table and after having mortgaged his furniture twice. He also did something else with his first issue - he put the reigning sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe on the cover and didn't put a date on the cover, so newsagents would sell more copies of it, rather than send it back as they would have, after the sell-by date was over. This was street smarts of the best kind!

After winning over a conservative 1950s audience, Hugh Hefner worked his charm on his daughter to see, if he could lure her to work at Playboy. Editor-in-Chief & Founder of Playboy, Hugh Hefner says, "What she did when she joined the company was kind of move from one division to another and learn the business." And learn she did. She quickly gave up her plans for going to law school and this where she has been ever since. Today, she has made it $50 million company.

Chairman & CEO, Christie Hefner told Ingrid Vanderveldt's show American Made, shown on CNBC channel, "If I had made some of those big decisions that some big companies make which don't work out, we wouldn't be here. So, that's the hardest part, that we pretty much had to get everything right." But she was also aware that people would not give her credit for her accomplishments and would say she achieved it because she was Hugh Hefner's daughter.

But both father and daughter have seen their company through tough political times, like the Reagan era - of "political correctness and a very difficult time for Playboy." Hugh Hefner recalls, "I held the people who were running the business end of the company then, responsible for it and morale was low." On hindsight, Christie feels her father did not want to be heading a public company but "wound up inheriting a complicated business to run, when what he started off with was, a vision for a great magazine."

"There are to kinds of CEOs - those who make decisions and those who make speeches" -this was what a Playboy magazine article on business leaders said, and Christie obviously prefers to be the one who makes the decisions and she had to make some tough ones to pull her father's company out of the red. Hugh acknowledges this and says, "She was there to save my ass!"

The uncontrolled expansion needed to be curbed because Playboy was in various other businesses as well, like book publishing, had a book club, a movie business, a record company, a TV business, casinos, hotels, clubs, a modelling agency, a limousine agency and the Playboy merchandise. So, Christie took charge and told the head of finance that, they would manage the businesses with cash, divest businesses they couldn't turn around and allow business units to make decisions on corporate expenses. After this, came the fun part to figure out, how to grow the company.

That's when cable TV was exploited and the Playboy Channel was launched - which India is a long way away from getting in its bedrooms - because the company decided to "refocus on communications, which Playboy does well." Interestingly, this was something her father had also explored with two adult variety shows called 'After Dark' and 'Playboy's Penthouse' years earlier with top Hollywood stars like Sammy Davis Jr performing in them.

She and her father did disagree on whether or not they needed to shut down the Playboy clubs - which they later did along with the hotels. Christie says, she sees a certain beauty in the phrase "rationalising the lines of business", which see aptly paraphrases as "dumping the losers!"

Christie and her father had made another bold move. He had made his daughter the President of a company that was perceived as a "male chauvnist citadel", and she was one of the very few women in a top position of a NYSE listed company and that set tongues wagging. Back then, Christie had gone on record to say, "I had considered wearing nightgowns to work but thought that it would be distracting, so I opted for business clothes!" She was a novelty then. Today, ofcourse, there are many women in top positions and even the consumer profile of Playboy has changed. More women buy Playboy merchandise and more couples watch the Playboy channel - so it no longer remains a man's preserve.

She says, "I feel like I'm a steward for an extraordinary brand and an extraordinary set of assets. She also says that Playboy sells sexy and not sex per se because the magazine is a platform for romantic sexiness, even when there is lot of blatantly hardcore sexual content available out there - namely the internet. And she feels Playboy retains its marketshare because it provides a level of sophistication and style.

The reason that Playboy has been such a wild success in America, despite feminist and political protests, is because of the culture of freedom and the First Amendment. As Christie puts it, "No other company embodies the right to speak their mind, and has fought for that right, than Playboy."

Playboy: The Brand
Playboy licenses its trademark bunny for the worldwide manufacture and sale of its merchandise, which brings in half-a-billion in sales earnings. She obviously, does not want to lose control over such a valuable brand, so she remains a active marketing partner. She explains, "We have a top flight staff of designers who produce a style book every season with the colours, trends and uses fo all the Playboy iconography - whether that's the rabbit head or the Playboy playmate."

With the internet making Playboy images easily accessible, the brand is moving into the $10 billion gaming industry, with the adult game called Playboy The Mansion, where you get to play, party and make out with scantily clad bunnies, in a slick simulation of what really happens at Hugh Hefner's parties! Christie says, such multimedia platforms are great earning models for her company. Playboy also offers video clips on mobiles and saucy Playboy ringtones - basically women's dulcet voices urging you to answer your phone!

Today, Playboy has 25,000 retail stores globally and the magazine is produced in 20 countries and has a 50 million strong readership globally. All this plus Playboy Entertainment, manages 142 million cable and satellite feeds and operates 25 networks in more than 72 countries.

The founder of this empire, Hugh Hefner has some parting words of wisdom, "You are only here for a very short time and one should make the most of it - both in work and play. In a free society, if you are not free in the bedroom, then you are not free at all!"


Written for www.moneycontrol.com

Here's what women want from their careers

India has a uniquely dual attitude to women - on the one hand, Godesses like Lakshmi, Durga, Saraswati are venerated and yet, well into the 21st century, baby girls continue to be killed. Newspaper reports have pegged the figure as high as 10 million female foetuses, that have been aborted.

Among the women who are fortunate enough to be kept alive, fed, clothed and educated, there seems to be a burning desire to break new ground - almost as if making up for their fellow sisters, who never made it. In fact, research shows that Indian women are more career focused than their peers in Europe and the US.

The Shell Group recently surveyed 12,000 students and young professionals in 12 markets around the globe, including India, to gain a better understanding of the factors that candidates consider important, when making decisions about their prospective careers. The study found that although there are many similarities in what male and female candidates look for in a potential employer - there are still many significant differences.

Here is what the study highlighted about Indian women. According to the research, when it comes to career goals, Indian women are more career focused than their peers in Europe and the US. While in the US, 51% of women are more interested in keeping a balance between their personal life and career. They are also less interested in developing new products as compared to 41% of the men.

In India, the differences between men and women are small. When it comes to choosing the industry, 25% of the female respondents said that they prefer working in the automotive industry and 22% in aerospace as compared to 2% in consumer electronics, 6% in consumer goods, 5% in hotel restaurant, 5% in tourism, 18% in IT/telecommunications, 6% in management consulting and 4% in the oil and energy sectors and 0% in healthcare.

Meanwhile, Indian men are more interested in working in IT/telecommunications (25%), banking (22%), engineering and manufacturing (21%), engineering consulting and aerospace (20%), accounting/auditing, environmental conservation and government service (16%). Like their women, only 0% wanted to work in healthcare.

On the subject of what men perceived to be an attractive compensation package: 37% male respondents were more likely to consider performance-related bonuses, 30% considered company cars and 34% took profit-sharing to be important factors. Also 31% of the men found broad opportunities and 26% found an inspiring and innovative environment, as the most attractive factors.

So for men, it was all about the money, while not surprisingly, women went for a more holistic package. This could be because in India, men are expected to bring in more of the bacon, than their wives, and that shows up in the statistics. Also, women’s jobs are considered transient and dispensable, especially when children arrive on the scene. That’s exactly, when men are supposed to go into overdrive and be able to provide for more mouths. So, there is a certain logic that applies here.

When it comes to remuneration, the study showed that 26% women consider a potential employer's ability to provide childcare, 27% consider extra paid vacation/personal days and 21% take into account performance-related bonus, as important influencers in their decision-making process. When it comes to work quality, 32% women find flexible work hours, 37% consider good career reference and 33% considered varied assignments and responsibility, as the most attractive factors.

In fact, on a number of parameters with regard to what compensation package would make an employer more attractive to women – 34% Indian women thought that a company car provided to them would be a nice idea. The next 3 criteria they ranked highest were : 34% also thought profit sharing was a nice offer to make, 27% thought extra paid vacation/personal days off would be a generous offer, while 26% wanted childcare support at the workplace.

Now how do women abroad compare on similar concerns, as their Indian peers? Well, in the US, only 10% cared about having a company car, while in UK, 27% wanted the same. In Germany, 28% wanted a company car. This could be entirely due to the frustrating commute that people in India have to endure, as opposed to traffic that moves at an average of 80 kms an hour abroad. If anything is a wake up call to state governments about the infrastructure they are providing, then these numbers speak for themselves.

On extra paid vacations and time off, 48% of the women in the US wanted these holidays and 42% in the UK. These higher numbers probably prove that taking time out for yourself is not considered such a ‘woman thing to do’, while here in India, women are just slowly beginning to work towards the corner cubicle or toward a sense of job security, so demanding holidays may not be seen as the wise thing to do.

On childcare, 15% wanted it in UK, while 13% wanted it in the US. This also reflects the reality that, women in India have to depend on parents, in-laws, unauthorized crèches and trustworthy hired help to look after their children. While abroad, it is far easier to leave kids at regulated day care centres, where they know their children will be safe and taken care of. So, though, the wider parental support system may be missing, their society has provided an alternative.

In India, the need to rely on aging parents to look after grandchildren is a necessity and may be a trifle trying on the grandparents! But because it is family, it is understood and almost expected of them to be around to babysit the kids. So, if childcare is provided, it lifts a huge responsibility off their shoulders – and their working daughters realize that.

Now how does this compare with men and women globally? Well, a global average of 41% of female respondents, as compared to only 30% of males, said that their most important career goal was to achieve balance between their personal life and career. An average 54% of female respondents think it is very important, that their employer works actively with equality, against an average 33% of males.

While 55% of women consider it important to work with inspiring colleagues that treat them with respect against only 45% of men, who want this. When it comes to remuneration, the study shows that even at the beginning of their careers, 18% of women consider a potential employer's ability to provide childcare, 16% parental leave and 45% of women want healthcare benefits.

Whereas, 41% of the male respondents were more likely to consider performance-related bonuses, 30% wanted company cars and 33% wanted profit-sharing.

Indian girls with a graduation degree have higher goals in mind, than just getting married. Atleast, 44% said they wanted to tackle increasingly challenging tasks, as against 36% of their peers in UK and 32% in the US.

Also 36% of Indian women having careers want to reach the managerial level as against surprisingly, 30% in UK, 26% in the US and a low 21% in Germany. 35% of Indian women want to work globally as compared to 32% in UK and a low 16% in the US. Only Germany scores higher here, with 48% of their women hoping to work abroad.

So Indian women are getting adventurous enough to look at brighter futures for themselves on foreign shores, while women in the US are most likely, comfortable with their insular world. After all, they are working in the world’s largest and most powerful economy, so this may just be the reason for their unwillingness to consider jobs outside the US.

Source: Tables from Shell Group's study on gender equality and career aspirations

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

Samsung's success story retold

In a recent study Samsung showed up as the 20th most valuable brand in the world. How did this South Korean brand manage to make its presence felt around the globe? This is one of the many ways it did that - at the Time Warner Center in the heart of New York is the 10,000 square feet Samsung Experience.

Here one can spend an entire day touching and getting a feel of Samsung's products. So, if you want to take out digital pictures of your family and shoot free photo, colour printouts while in the Big Apple, then you know where to go!

This is a Samsung Un store, that makes everything available to people but does not let you buy any of the stuff. So there are no price tags and no salesmen breathing down your neck. The idea is ofcourse, to showcase its entire product range and get people interested enough to buy it, at some point.

The attendants at the Samsung Experience are part-time artists, students or just geeks who easily explain technology and its usage to anyone who wants to know more, or learn for the very first time.

Senior Vice President, Consumer Electronics Business, Peter Weedfald told CNBC-TV18, "It's what we call a brand experential opportunity - to take all the assets of technology, engineering, design or images and build a emporium. A place for consumers to come to, that allows them to best understand the value of digital technology to enjoy a digital lifestyle."

And people who have visited Samsung Experience are clearly fans of Samsung products. Customer testimonials range from "their products are very fancy" to "their products show lots of innovation, so whoever does their product development, does a lot of research to "I may pick them over Motorola."

These are thriving on credit cards, high spending Americans doing the talking, so it goes without saying that North America is Samsung's top sixth strategic market. It also contributes nearly a fourth of the electronics division's annual turnover of over $55 billion.

Since customers want choice and will congregate around retail chains, Samsung is not planning any standalone stores. It is the global leader in computer chips and the No.2 player in the semiconductor business, while in the consumer business, it's their snazzy mobile phones which has given them brand equity in this market.

Weedfald acknowledges that and says, 'The mobile phone was one of our greatest brand drivers and contnues to be. There is a multitude of reasons why. Everyone has a certain personality and the cellphone is branding me 24 hours a day. Everytime, I'm ready to engage, it's a Samsung experience. It's is a very powerful orchestrator, navigator and articulator to proactively drive the brand.'

Samsung is going to take this much further by introducing the scent of Samsung which is basically a fragrance that will evoke the brand and will eventually find its way into product packages! So what does the fragrance smell like? First hand reports say, 'fresh, early morning and perhaps male.'

The idea behind this effort is, to consolidate the brand in the 52 countries it is already present in. Keeping this mind, at IFFA 2005 held in September in Berlin, Samsung displayed their products in one of the largest spaces. IFFA is a huge consumer electronics trade show.

Dealers from Europe, which accounts for 26% of Samsung's revenues were there. In the second quarter of FY05, Samsung placed first in TV sales beating compatriot LG and Europe's top ranker, Philips. In general, Samsung's sales was up 103% over a period of four years.

This kind of success wasn't always the case. About eight years ago, Samsung was an unknown brand and they tried to create awareness by branding luggage carts at airports. So people assumed they were the manufacturers of those carts! So, from not having any brand recall to being associated with wrong products, brand Samsung has been through it all.

This was also a result of changes being initiated right from the top. With the Chairman of Samsung, Kun-Hee Lee wanting quick results, it was imperative to start moving and making radical changes. It probably helped that he took a couple of the products and burnt them in a bonfire! President of Digital Media Business at Samsung Geesung Chol recalls, 'He (the chairman) urged us to change everything except our wife and children!'

With the intention of pushing the brand as a point of convergence for all of a customer's digital needs, Samsung has phased out its VCRs, analogue camcorders and all analogue-technology related products because that's no longer, where the company is headed. And India is a big part of this plan, even though it's lagging behind at the moment.

Deputy Managing Director of Samsung India, Ravinder Zutshi explains, 'The brand may be trailing in some respects but we are not trailing behind in the technology aspect.'

With regard to India Chol says, 'We used to be very good with IT products but we were a little bit late in home appliances and sometimes we didn't take certain decisions in some product areas. So, the company wants to grow and go to Indian consumers more quickly. We are hoping to win popularity with Indian customers.'

Another innovation that Samsung is counting on is anytime-anywhere TV. It has tied up with content providers like Discovery Channel for high definition TVs, HDTVs, and Microsoft's Xbox for its gaming console. Samsung is also investing in sports from sponsoring the Chelsea Football Club and the Winter Olympics 2006 or tailormaking the World Cybergames, it's doing a lot to become a well known entity.

So, Samsung has former Olympic skier Alberto Tomba as the brand's global athlete ambassador and he says the brand is popular in Europe in countries like France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany as well as in Japan.

But the real challenge for Samsung is to move up from being the 20th most valuable global brand to becoming the market leader, that's also an iconic brand.

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

MAMI festival 2006: Movies, masti and magic

The Mumbai Academy of Moving Images festival 2006 better known as MAMI has around 100 films playing at IMAX Adlabs at Wadala and YB Chavan Auditorium in Colaba. With the festival starting on Friday. March 23, not everyone could be there on a work day. And as luck would have it, there were many good movies that opened the festival.

There was Dansh (Sting) starring Sonali Kulkarni and the crowd favourite Les Choristes (The Chorus), which was a French film directed by Christophe Barratier. Sonali Kulkarni was also there on Saturday (March 25) talking to the press about her experiences of shooting for an Italian movie, Fuoco Su Di Me (Fire At My Heart) directed by Lamberto Lambertini. She raved about Italy, the people and the food and said she was initially worried about learning Italian but she got a lot of support from her director and his team.

This movie was also shown at the festival. Other movies played on that day were Zoorek, Tapas, Forest of the Gods, Caribe among others. India was represented by Dansh, Kal (Yesterday & Tomorrow), Dhool Ka Phool, Darpan Ke Peeche, Antarmahal, The Film, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara, Vishwa Thulasi - a Tamil film, Achuvinte Amma - a Malayalam film and Marathi movies Maazi Ghosta and Dombivili Fast.

Actor Sandeep Kulkarni seems to be a regular at film festivals. He's in 'Dombivili Fast' and played the role of a doctor in last year's 'Shwaas'. 'Shwaas' was India's Oscar entry last year, in the foreign language category.

This year, the focus was on Spanish cinema but a package of Serbian and Palestinian films were also making their presence felt. Three global auteurs - one of them posthmously - were felicitated with a retrospective and tributes. They were Daniel Wachsmann, whose movies like Hamsin, Bar Mitzwa and Song of Galilee were shown here. And tributes were paid to Prithviraj Kapoor and Roberto Rossllini.

Also Yash Chopra got the Lifetime Achievement award, Anil Kapoor for his 25 years in showbusiness and Ashok Mehta for his cinematography were honoured.

Ofcourse, there was the MAMI centrepiece that everyone was eager to get a dekko at - Ismail Merchant's last movie 'The White Countess' was also screened at IMAX on Sunday. What is awaited and will be screened on the last day of the festival, March 30 is Deepa Mehta's 'Water'. At the YB Chavan, it is a strictly by invitation screening but the smarter people will be at IMAX Adlabs for the 9.30 pm viewing. I've immensely enjoyed watching Deepa Mehta's earlier movies 'Fire' and 'Earth' and will definitely see 'Water', which completes her elements trilogy.

But of the movies, I had been able to watch so far, 'The Ghost of Mae Nak' will stand out for the brilliant camerawork of the Mumbai-born director, Mark Duffield. He's done a great job of shooting Bangkok in all its glory and this won him the Best Cinemantography award at the 2003 Slamdunk Film Festival in the US. He's also scripted this Thai legendary ghost story in English, which was later translated into Thai. He had learnt of this legend from an earlier film called Nang Nak and his film sure had some gory scenes.

It also had all the classic Bollywood ingredients - only in Thai settings. There was the cute young couple, both well dressed and madly in love who marry (with parental consent) and then get pursued by a ghost, who wants to claim the man for herself. A romantic, horror story, which in India would be a complete family entertainer. And no sex to worry the parents and the prudes. Duffield sure does know his Indian and Asian audience.

A Hungarian film 'Dallas Among Us' was hard hitting and gritty. It showed the lives of gypsies who live in the margins of society in Romania. They go about their lives boozing, collecting rubbish from their surroundings and selling it to a goon from the city, who fleeces them out of their money everytime. Only one man has managed to escape from this dump heap and he's forced to return to bury his father. He's sees the harsh realities he's moved away from with fresh eyes and also finds true love waiting for him.

He wants to make a change in their lives but some people can't fight their destiny and he realises that, when he tragically loses his lover. The actors spent most of their time in a city's garbage dump and went without makeup. That's something you are not going to see Saif Ali Khan or Preity Zinta do in a hurry, any time soon. But the acting was outstanding nonetheless, especially Dorka Gryllus, who plays the lead's lover. She's the Romanian Salma Hayek - all brunette, smoldering sexiness.

'The Song of Galilee' was a Daniel Wachsmann documentary shot in real time with no editing. So, if he was threatened, it was on screen for the world to watch. When his car gets blown up and when he's almost shot dead - all that is also there for us to watch. He admits as much at the end of the film, that "if you are watching this, then you are helping to keep me alive."

The movie actually investigates the death of a part-time poet, philosopher and a full time nationalist, who advocates a separate Galilee. Yes, Saul Havilio wants a separate state away from Israel. He gets killed for his effort. Just before his death, he called up the director and wanted to meet him because he had heard that Daniel had wanted to make a documentary on the caves and caverns around Galilee. Shaul's death makes the director turn Sherlock Holmes. He goes in search of the people who were arrested in connection with his death and gets stonewalled and dire warnings.

But he eventually realises and almost finds proof of the fact that the legendary Temple treasure, which is a major Jewish myth, might still be hidden in Mount Merion, the highest mountain in Israel. He's able to show us the tunnels in the heart of the mountain where the treaure is hidden to this day but no one can get to it because the exit and entrance of those caverns are known only to one family for generations - the family of Shaul Havilio!

He leaves us with the tantalising thought that Shaul was shot dead because he had attempted to draw too much attention to himself and his family and when he got in touch with the director, they panicked and killed him. What's more, all the suspects are related to one another in some way and they conspire to keep their mouths shut about his death. They also are quiet about another bigger conspiracy - whether they are mounting a serious threat to Israel's sovereignity by starting a war for a free Galilee. This was investigative journalism at its best.


More on the MAMI festival: http://www.iffmumbai.org/

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

Scrumptious dates are made of these!

Are you fond of dates - that is the eating kind? Well, then Bateel is where you should head if you want to enjoy a lavish assortment of premium quality dates, date truffles, cookies, pastries, biscuits, nutritious date bars and delightful date jams.

And there's more - you could wash it all down with some date champagne. These special dates are filled with lime and sugarcane juice or alternatively filled with almonds and cashew nuts.

Bateel is a company based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which is one of the world’s main producers and exporters of dates and has franchises worldwide. The company takes its name from an Arabic word 'bateel' which refers to the offshoot from the date palm plant. The date palm tree is also known as the ‘tree of life’ and recognised as a national treasure in the UAE.

The Bateel farm produces 22 types of dates, which go through a rigorous ripening and sterilisation process before being displayed in temperature controlled boutiques. Besides dates, Bateel has developed many products related and derived from the fruit, including sparkling juice, nectar or ‘dhibs’ and date chocolates as well as gourmet chocolates.

The company also commissions French and Belgian chefs to develop new products, especially for Bateel’s date chocolate line. Each type of date chocolate (they have at least 14 varieties to date) is made up of at least four layers - for example, a fresh date wrapped in praline, coated with chocolate, and finally covered with powdered cocoa.

In India, this luxury brand is available at CR2 at Nariman Point in Mumbai. Here you will find around 11 types of cookies and about 25 types of dates and a box of chocolates will set you back only by a couple of thousand rupees. But that's peanuts, when you are confronted with such a mouthwatering feast for the tastebuds!

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

Professional Hazards

Every line of career comes with its professional hazards. Apart from obvious ones like being in the military or law enforcement (or in the underworld!), where death stalks you, other professions too have their own “moments”. We're not referring to deadly situations, but only humourous ones that people across the board face or find themselves in.

TRIBAL TRICKS
A police inspector friend of my family was hot on the heels of some miscreants. He works a little outside Pune city, and has to go after displaced tribals who make a living out of robbery. He sympathises with their plight. Look at the odds -- little or no education and forced out of their natural agrarian way of life into an unreal world with little training. For many of them, thieving is the easiest way to put food on the table.

So this cop has to straighten them out by arresting a couple of them and give them a dose of a night in the cell. No torture here, just putting the fear of God in them. He told me that he knew who these people were and that he had even caught them red-handed several times indulging in stuff like throwing nails on the road (the road leading out of Pune toward Sholapur) and then when car tyres got punctured, they move in and steal valuable belongings. So why hadn’t he been able to nab anyone then? Apparently, the reason is that these tribals know the area like the palm of their hand, so they scoot and melt into their surroundings before the cops even wisen up. Better yet, they are so fleet-footed, they should be representing us at the Olympics! But the funny bit is that even as they are outrunning the cops, they have this unbelievable ability to pick up pebbles and stones with their toes and fling them at the cops chasing them! They can run and fling stones with deadly aim, simultaneously. Just another day at work for a cop.

POISON IVY
A school teacher was retiring after seeing through numerous batches of kids go through her English course. She knew she was popular with her students and that they were planning a great farewell party for her. On one occasion, she happened to pass by a classroom and heard a student say. “Lets give her Poison.” The lady was utterly shocked. She had come to think of herself as a role model to everyone. She was so naïve about everything – including brand names! It’s only when she received her gift and unwrapped it to find – Poison, a Christian Dior perfume did she breathe a sigh of relief!

MOMMY MATTERS
A friend’s mother was trying to tell her that she had never differentiated between her sons and her daughter. Of course, most daughters in their right senses take this statement with a pinch of salt, unless their parents’ have proved otherwise! That’s what was happening here too. With my friend not believing this remark and her mother pulling her emotional blackmail with a “I took the same amount of trouble over you as I did for your brothers” bit, someone had to give. I remember telling my friend that she should give in because parents go to so much “effort” to make babies! If only one knew the perils of motherhood.

GREASED PALMS
A man who freelances his services as a Chartered Accountant had to go to the Income Tax Office to get a signature on a tax assessment form for a client. He’s been doing this for a couple of years now and knew his way around the various departments. Having dealt with most of the staff at some point or the other, he assumed he could get a simple thing like a signature soon. The IT officer hears him out and offers him tea (which he declines) and then point-blank asks him how much is it worth to him? The CA is taken aback. He’s known this man and it’s only a signature he needs. But he also knows that this is the most corrupt government department in the bureaucracy he’s dealing with. So he quietly pulls out a Rs 500 note and hands it over. The IT guy takes the money and hands it back with a laugh. The CA is relieved to know he’s not going to be robbed blind in broad daylight. Only, the IT officer has stopped laughing and asked him “Why did you insult me with Rs 500, I want Rs 5,000!” Even their illegible signatures have a price.

Written for www.dancewithshadows.com

Hotel Rwanda holds a mirror up to Society

The other day, I saw a movie which is not in the eye of a storm and most are not even aware of its existence. It will never get a commercial release in India and even if it does – very few will want to watch it.

After all, the Rwanda genocide is so far back in people’s consciousness (if it’s there to begin with). The massacre between the Hutus and Tutsis (meaning ‘Tall Trees’ in Afrikaan and is in deference to their height. While in reality, the dominant tribe – the Hutus actually called them cockroaches.

The movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’ is gritty, superbly shot and every one of the actors, including the parts played by the guerilla leaders and other assorted soldiers is acted with a gut wrenching truth. But Don Cheadle steals the show as Paul Rusesabagina a Hutu manager of a Belgian hotel Des Milles Collines, which is frequented by expatriates for the touch of home, by foreign correspondents for a whiff of gossip and a good story over drinks and by the rich members of the local black community, for their delusion of safety.

Paul soon realizes that his hotel may become a refuge and not for just his tribesmen – the Hutus – but even his Tutsi neighbours look to him for protection. He has to play this game of Russian roulette with finesse because his personal stakes are high – his beautiful wife is a Tutsi (played by the beautiful Sophie Okonedo). He stands to lose her and his children in this mindless conflict.

What’s more, when the violence escalates, the people he’s always known and bribed for the hotel, so he could keep his guests happy with a steady supply of beer and scotch and fresh lobster, are the very people who threaten him – subtly and otherwise.

The scotch swilling Hutu colonel now tells Paul that he can’t provide for the security of his ‘guests’ because he knows all the whites have left and the guests are Tutsis who have taken refuge in the hotel.

Another Hutu friend who used to sell Paul the liquor on the black market also knows that he’s hiding ‘cochroaches’ in the hotel. So, he willingly gives him extra sacks of rice free “for the children” but he also tells Paul that things are getting dangerous and on the way back to the hotel, he should take the back route.

As this trip back is being made early in the morning, the heavy mist obscures view to just a few feet in front of the windshield and they feel the road become more bumpy by the minute. Paul tells the driver of the van to stop because he thinks they have gotten off the road. But as he steps out to take a better look, he steps on a body. And there are more bodies everywhere he looks or puts his feet. The van was on the road but on top of bodies, that littered it for miles!

He understands the horrible message and sees what’s in store for him, if he continues to protect the Tutsis in his hotel and ofcourse for the Tutsis themselves.

The UN is a metaphor of impotence in this movie. With Nick Nolte playing the UN commander in Rwanda with no orders to defend or shoot to save lives, he epitomizes the frustration of the soldiers on the ground, who’ve come from other countries to salvage the situation, but are forced to stand by and watch the carnage happening in front of their eyes.

The peacekeeping force may as well have stayed at home. But in a redeeming move, Nick Nolte’s character tells Paul and his guests to call in their markers – call all the influential people they know around the world – to help them get out safely from the hotel.

So, finally some relatives and friends from other countries are able to get some of these people out to Kenya, US, South Africa, Paul’s puts his family on the convoy too but doesn’t get on it himself because his hotel staff – who are mostly Tutsis - have nowhere to go, so he chooses to stay behind for them.

But one of them is a traitorous Hutu, who resents the rich Tutsis fleeing the country and calls up his fellow rebels to tell them about the convoy, which is later ambushed and Nick Nolte is barely able to fight off a murderous mob and get the people back to the safety of the hotel.

Then the electricity and water connections to the hotel is cut and so people cook by using water from the swimming pool. Another attempt is made to send the people to safety and this time Paul gets on the convoy – to do or die with his family beside him.

They make it safely, but not before, he’s shown watching millions of people forced away from their homes, with nowhere to go but lie by the roadside and die. He also loses family members in this insanity – his brother-in-law and his wife are never found but a social worker, who has rescued orphaned children (because there was a concerted Hutu policy to kill the next generation of Tutsis) and brought them to Paul, she is able to rescue his nieces and reunite Paul with them.

This is a true life story and Paul exists. He emigrated to Belgium. If I can’t get the movie out of my mind, I can only imagine, if Paul’s dreams are peaceful.

Again, what happened in Rwanda is a mistake made by the Europeans (Belgians) – the whites – who ruled Rwanda for so long and thought they knew what’s best for the black population. So, they promised to leave the country in the hands of the Tutsis –the minority tribe – but actually left it to the dominant Hutu tribe.

So carnage was bound to be the result. Why did the Europeans and Americans make such a mess of things, that well into the 21st century, these problems still persist? The Belgians in Rwanda, the British in Iraq, the Americans and Russians in Afghanistan. I won’t even bring India into the picture.

The superpowers played their dirty games in other countries and left a trail of blood, that should stain their consciousness forever. If down the ages, till the end of time, people are forever going to associate Germany with Hitler and Nazism, it was Austria’s good fate, that it never became a great power in modern politics and therefore never gave a platform for someone like Adolf Hitler to butcher an entire race, in the name of the its people. Poor Germans – will they ever live this down?

Everyone knows, absolute power corrupts absolutely. But what superpowers should keep in mind, that with absolute power comes absolute responsibility – for all mankind – and somewhere along the line, all the superpowers seem to conveniently forget this.

So, Rwanda is the result. The genocide has supposedly stopped after the Tutsis drove the Hutus away into neighbouring Congo. But how long this ceasefire exists, before it flares up again is anyone’s guess.

Sundari captures NRI interest

Ever wondered why having the right name matters? Well William Shakespeare certainly pondered this question because it apparently does matter. A luxury high-rise built in Manhattan is able to sell a few condominiums to Indian-Americans simply because the building's name appealed to them.

Coming up at 158 Madison Avenue in the Madison Square North neighbourhood and just a couple of blocks from the Empire State Building, is the first luxury building in the city with a distinctly Indian name - Sundari Lofts and Tower. And for nearly a million dollars or more, this address could soon be yours.

Sundari Lofts and Tower is billed as a collection of luxury high-end condominiums, containing 50 residential units. The apartments, ranging from studio lofts to three- bedroom units and penthouses, are priced between $700,000 and $2.8 million.

Residents can feast on gorgeous views of Manhattan, and the apartments have state-of-the-art kitchen, an on-site gym, sauna and pool and a Zen-like reflection garden, complete with a waterfall. Units range in size from 545 to 1,916 square feet.

The developer, Thorwood Real Estate, wanted a name that would reflect the Asian features of the development. Thorwood Real Estate is a joint venture between Joseph Sitt of Thor Equities and Andrew Heiberger of Buttonwood Real Estate and the condos are being marketed by City Habitats Marketing Group.

The apartment is targeted at young, successful professionals in their 30s or 40s, who may want to be a short walk away from work in midtown Manhattan. But once word got around, the developers were intrigued by enquiries from Indians who were simply drawn by the name. Soon, Thorwood sensed an opportunity and advertised in Indian publications in the United States.

Brad Meadow of the Thorwood Real Estate told CNBC-TV18, "We chose the name actually, just for its meaning - beautiful. But some friends I had spoken to, told me that in the Indian culture, the word resonates very much and has a deep meaning to Indians and Indian-Americans. So one of my friends suggested the Indian market might be a good one to reach, to see if there was any interest in the building and we got some good responses."

The building has been designed by Ishmael Levya Architects. Work on Sundari Lofts and Tower began in June this year, and construction is scheduled to be completed in December 2006. And once all the approvals are in place, the units are likely to be up for sale by the end of this year or early next year.


For more information click here: www.sundarinyc.com

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

Why Martha Stewart inspires & causes ire

Martha Stewart is the first lady of homemaking. She's built an empire, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, on improving people and their lifestyle. Most newlyweds and experienced housewives have, at some point, looked up to her, to create that perfect home. She's taught generations of women and lately men, how to cook, buy those perfect bedsheets and throw cushions that goes with the Mediterranean motif vases etc.

Behind the stylish presentation - both the products and Martha herself - is the implication, that the rest of us need her and her recipes and her tips on beautifying our homes. So, she has a slew of magazines that attempt to tell us how to better ourselves and our environs.

But, the truth is and everyone knows it, that even before she came along, homemakers were swapping recipes for that delicious chocolate cake, or advising their friends on where to buy that fabric (at the best bargain sales) etc. Martha came along and added a touch of gloss and the additional pancake, make her magazines like Martha Stewart Living, Everyday Food, Kids, Martha Stewart Weddings and Body + Soul, so popular.

After all, the artistically designed pages of her magazines capture in all its technicolour glory, the behind-the-scenes work done by an array of food stylists, gourmet chefs, interior designers and photographers who stage the shoots. That's Martha's technique to pitch her empire at her audience. All well and good.

But can her average Jane audience, who don't live at addresses like Trump Tower or Park Avenue ever hope to get there? She's built her company with a canny eye for what she, correctly, perceived as a market, which didn't have anyone else doing anything, in the home and self improvement space. So she gave American housewives what they thought, they were missing.

These American housewives (and singles) have repaid her favour, a million times over. Today, her company is worth around $420 million and it's thanks to these consumers. So, what made a woman like her get involved in the ImClone stock scandal, something that made her money but was morally wrong? After all, she of all the people, could afford to take the losses.

What makes her the tough (as in mean) and testy boss, she's reputed to be? Certainly, not troubles at home. Her pillows must be fluffed just so and the roses must be cut fresh every morning, all of this done by expensive, paid help. So, why hasn't anyone heard of 'Martha donates a million dollars to the UN' - a la Ted Turner, but only on a much smaller scale? Perhaps, because she does good old charity work quietly. Or perhaps, she just doesn't care.

She's made her money by telling other people how to improve their material belongings - a home, kitchen, garden, estate/property, themselves. And her audience are the wealthier citizens (in comparison to Third World citizens), of rich countries - I've yet to see a Martha Stewart publication in India. So, she's not going to find her kind of captive audience anywhere but in the US, UK, Canada, Australia etc.

Martha Stewart lives through her image and her 'products' are supposed to amplify the wholesome, pure, beautiful, innovative, caring, loving side of her followers and by extension - hers as well. Well, she does not come across as loving and caring and wholesome. Why is that some other adjectives come to mind, when one sees her - and I'm not just thinking innovative, canny, smart, shrewd etc!

Somehow, Martha Stewart is just not able to make herself more likeable or even an inspiration to others. Here's a list of women with her attributes, who inspire others:

Blonde hair: Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, Cameron Diaz, even Britney Spears.

Business woman: Oprah Winfrey, Anita Roddick, Coco Chanel, Estee Lauder.

Short hairstyle: Princess Diana, Halle Berry.

All the money Martha Stewart's made in the world, won't get her some of the many compliments bestowed on these other women, because she couldn't care less.


Written for www.moneycontrol.com

The Vagina Monologues

What does the V-Day have to do in today's context? Well this V-Day has to do with celibrating the vagina and its marvels and not about celebrating the end of the Second World War. In 2003, after just five years, V-Day is a global movement that aims to stop sexual abuse of women and as of 2003, has already raised over $13.5 million. In 2001, it was named one of the "100 Best Charities" by Worth magazine.

And the play 'The Vagina Monologues' has made all this possible. This play has been more of a power statement for women, than anything else. And its work will be done, only when violence against women and little girls stops. That kind of utopian world will allow women to just be.

#It will also allow girl children to be born in China and Korea.
#Allow women to go swimming in Iran.
#Allow them to eat icecream in public in Afghanistan.
#Sleep safely in their beds at home in Asia, USA and Europe.
#Keep their clitorises intact in Africa and Asia.
#Wear blue jeans in Italy.
#Vote in Kuwait.
#Walking in the park at night in the US.
#Harmless flirting in Jordan.
#Driving in Saudi Arabia.
#Safe at college campus parties.
#Wearing trousers in Swaziland.
#Walking safely home from work in Juarez, Mexico.

So until women can be open about their desires, love their bodies and enjoy sex, a play is hoping to emancipate them. And a play that talks about the vagina is a rarity in any part of the world, so when 'The Vagina Monologues' comes to India, you should grab the opportunity to watch it.

It was written by Eve Ensler and has been translated into 35 languages. Last year, she and Hollywood stars like Marisa Tomei and Jane Fonda performed the play in Mumbai. This play has gone around the world and has been performed in Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Great Britain, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Phillippines, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United States, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela.

And now, Poor-Box Productions has brought it to India. With a cast comprising producer and performer Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal, Dolly Thakore, Avantika Akerkar, Jayati Bhatia and Sonali Sachdev. These sterling performers are putting up a show that should be made mandatory viewing for all the men in this country and women should go to learn more, about a very vital part of their body. A largely ignored part of their body. A mostly used and in many cases abused part of their body.

The abuse rather than the neglect is really why this play is in existence. Eve Ensler was inspired by the stories of over 200 women and her own personal experience with violence. This play is the story of all those women who have suffered rape, incest, female genital mutilation, FGM, marital rape and well, just plain dissatisfaction with their sex lives.

This play has an urgency to it, precisely because it is addressing such volatile issues as men being unable to satisfy women or in some case, not even knowing where the vagina is! Then there are men at the other end of the spectrum, who get turned on only "when he shaves my vagina."

Or as is the case of a man named Atul Kulkarni (not the actor), who visits a prostitute and initially doesn't do much, but then after his hands accidentally touch the woman's, it sparks sexual electricity and how! He then loses his inhibitions and sees how beautiful and desirable she is - all the while he is saying and addressing this to her vagina!

The hilarity of these situations are so incredibly brought out by these expressive and talented actors - to hear them emote these scenes is a privilege, not to be missed. Their voices express a range of emotions - from rage, pain, fun, exasperation to cock teasing and orgasmic. Jayati Bhatia does a musical range of orgasms, that is just so mindblowingly funny, you will ache after having laughed so hard and for so long.

Besides do you know how women would like to dress their vaginas, if they could? Well, how about in diamonds, peacock feathers, fur etc

Do you know how the vagina tastes....well, if your imagination is running really wild at this point, then you know you will be waiting to watch this play!

Written for www.purpleparka.com

The hot new ornament for 2006

Remember a time, when calendars were just meant to be looked at, to check on the day/month/week etc? But these days, they have to be extremely ornamental as well. Or should I honestly say, it should show skin and lots of it to qualify being displayed, as a work of art in your living room or office lobby.

Here are some really sexy ways to keep track of your appointments and dates in 2006.

Channel V recently launched its limited edition calendar featuring the likes of VJs Pia, Sarah-Jane, Archana, Juhi and Tina in all their natural and unnatural glory. Of course, gracing the occasion were a small but steady posse of celebrities who themselves took quite a shining to the cameras.

And, in the tradition of all good events, the party started almost an hour late, leading mere mortals to wonder whether the chief guest had bothered to check his calendar. Moral of the story: When it comes to dates, get a calendar with women on every page.



The Kingfisher calendar

Mention women and calendars in the same breath, then Vijay Mallya can't be far behind. His Kingfisher calendars are hot and has the best bodies in the world of modelling, dying to get on it. A regular who has been featured in this calendar, has been Yana Gupta and a new flavour of the season seems to be Pia Trivedi. It goes without saying that this calendar is mostly beaches, babes and bikinis. Also, the calendars are not sold, they are handed out to maintain exclusivity, so try and steal them!

But the really first Indian corporate to put out beautiful women and handsome men on desktop calendars, made out of handmade paper, was the Taj Group of Hotels. Every year, Tata Group executives got these classy calendars and for the most part, there was a theme - '100 years of the Taj Hotel', the 'Retro Look', the 'Bohemian theme' etc. Indian designers get to showcase their clothes on Indian models. These are tasteful calendars featuring gorgeous people, and for those who don't prefer the rampant skin show.

Writing about calendars that show a lot... of stuff, then one is reminded of the grand daddy of such calendars - the Pirelli calendar. This Italian tyre brand is forever associated with putting on the most beautiful, the boldest and the sexiest people on the planet, in really compromising positions and photographing them.



The Pirelli calendar

You think this is just hyperbole. Well, this year's calendar had Naomi Campbell in the nude with her boyfriend, also in the buff, lolling around in bed. Sorry guys, this year is almost out...so there's no way you are getting to look at this nude fest!

In 2006, the Pirelli calendar has the Brazilian hottie Giselle Bundchen among many others, in their birthday suits, most of the time. Still want to know more? Well, try and get your hands on this calendar. That should be your first New Year's resolution for 2006.

Or, here's a link to the website, where you can check out the Pirelli beauties. http://www.pirellical.com/thecal/calendar.html

Written for www.moneycontrol.com

Give VIP business guests a taste of Mumbai

You are a week away from closing a huge deal with a foreign partner and you want to make a proper impression. You've done your homework and the presentations are made, now all that's left is to really do some serious entertaining.

So, do you have any clue where to take them for a really good meal or a night of dancing, in Mumbai? This city is sprouting new restaurants and nightclubs like weeds, so we will do moneycontrol readers a favour, by narrowing down the best restaurants, bistros, nightclubs and patisseries in Mumbai for them. The food in these places is pricey and the ambience stylish, and all that adds up to a hefty bill. So don't say, we didn't warn you!

But, if you are playing in the big league, what's a few thousand bucks mean to you anyway. And if you are wrapping up a deal, that will surely impress your boss, then he/she won't mind you putting it on the company's expense account!

Or you just want to make an intimate, private moment very memorable. So go ahead and do it in a style that will be remembered, for some time to come. Go ahead and indulge...

Here's a guide to fine dining in Mumbai. We give you a category-wise break-up of the best in the business. Here they are:

Best Western/European restaurants in hotels
M at Grand Hyatt
Trendz at Intercontinental The Grand
West View at ITC, Grand Maratha
Zodiac Grill at The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower

Best Western/European standalone restaurants
Bohemia
Indigo
Moshe's
Monza
Olive Bar & Kitchen
Rain Bar & Eatery
Shatranj Napoli

Best Italian restaurants in hotels
Celini at Grand Hyatt
Corleone at Intercontinental
Mezzo, Mezzo at JW Marriott
Stax at Hyatt Regency
Trattoria at Taj President
Vetro at The Oberoi

Best Italian standalone restaurants
Casa Linga
Don Giovanni
Little Italy
Mangi Ferra
Pizza Express
Santino's
Spaghetti Kitchen

Best Chinese restaurants in hotels
Emperor's Court at Renaissance Hotel and Convention Centre
Golden Dragon at The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower
Imperial China at Le Royal Meridien
Ming Yang at Taj Lands End
Sampan at Holiday Inn
Shanghai Club at ITC Grand Central
The Oriental Blossom at Hotel Marine Plaza
The Great Wall at The Leela Kempinski

Best Chinese standalone restaurants
China Gate
Chinese Palace
Henry Tham's
Ling's Pavilion
Mainland China
Royal China
5 Spice

Best Pan Asian Hotel in hotels
All Stir Fry at Gordon House
India Jones at Hilton Towers
Pan Asian at ITC Grand Maratha
Spices at JW Marriott
Woks at the Intercontinental, The Grand
Far East at Rodas Ecotel

Best Pan Asian standalone restaurants
Asia Wok
Busaba
Joss
Seijo & The Soul Dish
Sidewok
Temple Flower
Tian

Best Lunch Buffet
Bay View at Hotel Marine Plaza
Brasserie at Le Royal Meridien
Citrus at The Leela Kempinski
Frangipani at Hilton Towers
Lotus Cafe at JW Marriott
Peshwa Pavilion at ITC Grand Maratha
The Glasshouse at the Hyatt Regency

Best Sunday Brunch
Citrus at The Leela Kempinski
Hornby's Pavilion at ITC Grand Central
Indigo
Lotus Cafe at JW Marriott
M at Grand Hyatt
Olive Bar & Kitchen
Trattoria at Taj President
Vista at Taj Lands End

Best Coffee Shop/All-day dining places
Brasserie at Le Royal Meridien
Citrus at The Leela Kempinski
Frangipani at Hilton Towers
Glasshouse at Hyatt Regency
Lake View Cafe at Renaissance Hotel
Lotus Cafe at JW Marriott
Trattoria at Taj President
Vista at Taj Lands End

Best Nightclubs
Enigma at JW Marriott
Insomnia at The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower
Lush at Phoenix Mills
Polly Esther at Gordon House
Ra at Phoenix Mills
Rock Bottom at Ramee Guestline
Squeeze
Quilla

Best Patisserie
Bombay Baking Company at JW Marriott
Gourmet Store at Grand Hyatt
Grand Delicatessen at Intercontinental, The Grand
Indigo Deli
La Patisserie at The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower
Sugar & Spice at Taj President
The Gourmet Shoppe at The Oberoi
Theobroma
Desserts R Us
Gaylord
Ovenfresh
Churchill
Birdy's

Now for a taste of India and some authentic Indian cooking, short of taking your very important guests home, these are some of the places, you might want to consider taking them to.

Best North Indian restaurants in hotels
Dum Pukt at ITC Grand Maratha
Kandahar at The Oberoi
WG's Kebabs and Kurries at ITC Grand Central
Nawab Saheb at Renaissance Hotel
Saffron at JW Marriott
Soma at Grand Hyatt
Kebab Korner at Hotel Intercontinental

Best North Indian standalone restaurants
Copper Chimney
Great Punjab
Jewel of India
Khyber
Mela
Moti Mahal
Shalimar
Zaffran

Best South Indian restaurants
Ramanayak Udipi
Cafe Madras
Cafe Mysore
Mani's Lunch Home
Ram Ashraya
Woodlands Garden

Best restaurants that serve thali
Bhagat Tarachand
Chetna
Golden Star Thali
Panchavti Gaurav
Rajdhani
Shree Thakker Bhojanalay
The Friends Union Joshi Club

Best coastal food restaurants
Ankur
Gajalee
Gomantak Boarding House
Konkan Cafe at Taj President
Mahesh Lunch Home
Sadichha
Sushegad Gomantak
The Excellensea
Trishna
Churchill
Salt Water Grill

Best regional fare
Aram
Goa Portuguesa
Howrah
Jimmy Boy
Oh! Calcutta
Panshikar Aahar
Rice Boat
Swati Snacks
Thackers

Written for www.moneycontrol.com