Two hearts fading, like a flower.
And all this waiting, for the power.
For some answer, to this fire.
Sinking slowly. The water’s higher.
Desire

With no secrets. No obsession.
This time I’m speeding with no direction.
Without a reason. What is this fire?
Burning slowly. My one and only.
Desire

You know me. You don’t mind waiting.
You just can’t show me, but God I’m praying,
That you’ll find me, and that you’ll see me,
That you run and never tire.
Desire

The first ad to be reviewed in this review series is of a product that has been around for many years, and is a very popular snack. I am talking about Maggi, a brand that faced a virtual wipe-out from the Indian market till a few years ago when it reinvented and re-positioned itself to grab leadership in this segment. And once Nestle had things going for their Maggi brand, they started to experiment.

The rice flavoured noodles which this commercial tries to sell is a new member to Maggi’s expanding portfolio. The ad features a teenager bringing the new rice-based Maggi noodles home, and the mania that follows. So has this ad worked? Lets find out.

As with all maggi ads, the message is very clear in this ad. The target consumer group is also shown from the teenager to the grandmother, which is quite vast. And with the noodle pack being shown as a replacement to Rice(that it targets to replace) the relevance of this ad is spot on.

Relevance: ****

Now, there isn’t much of a head required to understand what is going on in this ad. It is a simple and clear message by Maggi to its consumers that a new flavour is launched, and it must be tried. Simple, effective and easily understood by the consumer.

Acceptance: ***& 1/2

With the earlier Maggi ads showing the entire family going ga-ga over a pack of noodles, this one isn’t much different. There is a family, and one by one everyone is driven to a “mania” by a pack of noodles. So as far as freshness of concept goes, this ad scores poorly.

Freshness: * & 1/2

The ad makes sense for the product it is trying to sell. But to me, it does not make a lot of sense making a noodle ad with people shouting mania mania all over the place, and doing a pathetic dance around a pack of noodles. It must be noted here that I am not a big fan of the Maggi “Sambar” flavor ad either, where a Sardarji goes nuts over a pack of maggi. The only Maggi ad I liked was not in the noodle segment, but in the soup segment. Very silent, and very very relevant. If you are going to make a noise, either have a lot of nonsense around it, or try to be a little quiet.

Nonsense Factor: ***

Of course with the so much mania being shouted around the place, the audience is expected to retain a little bit of it in their heads when they go out to buy a pack of Maggi. It must be said that out of the ten odd times I tried to watch this ad completely on TV, my hand switched the channel instinctively as soon as the ad came on. This ad is really irritating, and completely forgettable. The worst part is though, it manages to stick around in my head convincing me that this is a product I should skip.

Recollection Factor: ***

So, has this ad worked? No. Maggi could have had a better job done with this ad. The ad is boring and drives the guy watching it nuts. Most people would like to change channels the moment this ad comes on air. Like I do.

The verdict for this ad? Well, it doesn’t seem to work the way it should. In my opinion, consumers won’t be drawn to buying a pack of rice Maggi just by this ad. And so, the ad does not serve the purpose it is made for.

Overall Rating: **

Do let me know your opinions on this ad, and which ad would you want reviewed next.

Till then…

P.S. Find the maggi ad on youTube here

Every citizen wants their country to be safe. Be it an Indian citizen, an American citizen, or a German citizen for that matter, every citizen wants to live in an environment of safety and security. And for this safety, citizens pay a price to the government…called tax.

Now once a citizen pays for his/her safety, it becomes the government’s prerogative to provide it to them. Safety from external threats is usually provided by a country’s military force. And internal security is provided by the police.

You might be wondering where I am getting at with all this talk. I am getting to the law and order situation that prevails in India.

Some of my fellow countrymen(and women) might say, law…what law? Does such a thing as safety exist in India? Can a family leave their home for a vacation without worrying about it being burgled?Or can women walk on the streets alone without being eve-teased?

There are two very clear reasons for the law and order problem that exists in this country. I will talk about both.

The first problem lies in the enforcers of the law, i.e, the Police. According to the Indian constitution, police is a matter of the states to take care of. Each state is responsible for its police force. And Police is responsible for maintaining law and order in the state. However, that does not happen in India. Police is virtually non-existant in most states in India. On my recent visit to the US, I was impressed by the response time of the police to a 911 call. Try calling 100, the police response number in India. I am quite sure that if there is a response to your call, it will be hours before anyone actually arrives.

Now I happen to know quite a few policemen, both at the lower ranks and senior ranks. So I went forward and asked some officers, and a few constables, why is the Police force in such a miserable state.

Officers have a fixed reply, we have shortage of cash, there is shortage of manpower, there are too many bureaucratic hurdles in police reforms etc etc etc… Talk to the lower ranks, the constables, and a different picture emerges.

One constable, to whom I put this question to, said..”Sir, when do we investigate a FIR? Most of the time we are used as a personal servant by our officers, to bring their kids from school, to drive the mem-saab to the markets…and when we have a little time, how much do we investigate? We don’t have a means to go around(this particular person had a bicycle!), we are not educated enough, we do not have weapons…and we do not get enough money.”

This is the reality of the Indian Police force. When we citizens stand up and blame to cops for mis-handling of evidence, we do not see the fact that they were never taught how to handle evidence in the first place! When we talk about improper handling of witnesses by cops, we ignore the basic premise that they were never taught how to handle witnesses. The situation might be better in police forces of uptown cities like mumbai, delhi etc, but by and large, the situation is pathetic. Police force is in much need of reforms, and lower ranks who are the ones who really work need to be made more efficient, paid better, their living conditions need to be improved. Unless this happens, I do not think we can expect a lot from the rag-tag group that we call the police.

Now the second culprits. You might think I am going to talk about the judiciary, but no. Judiciary comes in third on my list of culprits. The second reason for law and order problems is the so-called “law abiding citizens” of this country. Citizens who love to take the law into their own hands, and jump on the streets whenever there is an incident. And then there are riots. Some vehicles are burnt, shops are broken, and after all this is over, no one is arrested.

The most recent incident of Sikhs going on rampage in Punjab is a wonderful example. If something illegal was done, have a peaceful march. Go and follow democratic ways of registering an FIR against the person you think has done wrong, and then follow it up. But no, we as Indians now believe in taking matters in our own hands. We’d rather go ahead and burn, break and riot all over the place. If a bus runs over a person on the street, all by-standers will take out their anger on the bus. No one thinks that this mindless destruction of property(in most cases, public property) does no good.

Yes, the police lacks in their duty when they fail to stop all this rioting. Yes, the judiciary fails in its purpose when it sits all day processing cases of film stars being kissed in public, or some artist making a painting rather than speed up murder and rape case verdicts. But the biggest culprits are we the people, who choose to get on the streets, throw stones on police, break shops…and cause disturbance.

And no, rioting is not the only way of having your voice heard. There are better ways, that involve less damage to public property. We as people do not have the right to pronounce guilty verdicts, or take the law into our hands.

But who listens? The only evolutionary progress we seem to have made is from being monkeys jumping around in a forest, to humans roaming around in concrete forests. Other than that, nothing!

I have more thoughts, but this is enough for one post….maybe a part 2 will follow. Till then….

The big buzz in the online world is that the daddy of video sharing, You Tube, is being sued by the mommy of network television, Viacom. Mummy dearest, it seems, is not happy about daddy allowing everyone to have a bite out of mummy’s delicious cooking. Ouch.

So mummy drags daddy to court. And all that dirty linen falls out of the closet and into full public view, where mummy and daddy will now wash the dirt and blood out of it.

In the meanwhile, daddy’s found himself another muse, in the name of Fox. Now the muse in interested in daddy putting out samples of its cooking, so that people get to taste it. If they like it, they can pay for it and buy it. If they don’t, well, who cares. That’s just a sample that’s gone out.

In case I have you wondering by now, the above more or less summarizes the legal wrangle between Viacom and google(who incidentally happens to own youTube now), and also the discussions going on between FoxTV executives, and Google. Without the legal jargon, of course.

There are a few interesting questions that have come out of this debate. One being the whole concept of legality of content. Of course, a TV show, its copyright and everything are owned by the producers(or whoever in the production company). Once the show is aired, typically it gets assigned to a bin from where it can be picked in case a rerun is needed. YouTube, doesn’t allow copying of content by its users..so you just cannot go to YouTube and copy a video. But you can surely watch it, and upload one. Uploading is where it gets tricky. A user can upload almost anything to YouTube, of course adhering to the upload policies.(I believe they have some new rules about copy righted content now) So whom does the onus of responsibility lies with? The guy who is generously allowing you to post videos for all to see, or the guy who is actually copying copyrighted content without permission and uploading it?

Let the lawyers decide this one..

I will move on to a more interesting issue…why have this issue in the first place? I live in India, but I enjoy watching several programmes that are aired on US based networks. It is on a really lucky day that Star, or Zee decides to air these programmes in India(as is with the popular series Friends). But I can go to youTube, watch a scene or two and get my laughs. Or I go to youtube, and see music videos that I have never seen. Well, if you live in India and are a fan of english music, you will agree that there is a limited number of channels that actually air good english music videos. YouTube intoduced me to George strait, whose music I really loved. Now I have 3 CDs that I purchased(well, thats as many as I could find).

Point is, YouTube ultimately promotes content. Like Fox has realized, it can be used for promotional purposes. We anyways live in a world where music has lost its spirit, people do it just for the money. Which is clearly proven by all the DRM issues that are being raised, and the noise a few years back over Napster. It definitely is all about the money, but what about people who would enjoy listening to content more than actually owning it? Why do they need to pay 69 cents everytime they listen to a song?

Call me a socialist, or a communist for that matter..but I believe that channels like YouTube where great music, great videos are shared should not be clamped down, but should be promoted. Who wants to see a half hour episode on youTube, but give me my funnies…give me the videos that have disappeared from the channels….give me the music that no one plays anymore…

and stop being the capitalist jerks that you are…there are people in the world who might not be rich enough to pay you, that does not mean you can take the music out of their lives!

P.S: As for me, I am beginning to enjoy my stay in Baltimore…another travelogue will be up shortly. And Happy Fools Day to all of you. If you are still on this planet, you are a fool. So while you are here, enjoy your day

Coke is the older of the two fighting colas. One of the biggest global brand today, Coke had its humble foundation in Atlanta more than 100 years ago. What better reason to go and pay a visit the World of Coca-Cola, that pays tribute to the legendary brand that introduced the world to its favourite drink, the Cola.

World of Coca-Cola is one of the biggest attractions of Atlanta. Situated at Martin Luther King Jr. drive, it is a must see destination for all Cola fans.

We headed out on a sunny Sunday morning, boarded the Marta to 5 points station in downtown Atlanta(read the previous post for more on Marta). They said that to get to WOCC, we needed to walk “underground” for a while.

Before a shock takes over you, I should tell you that “underground” is another of Atlanta’s tourist attractions. Underground Atlanta has a glorious past, and more about underground can be read at their website.

I will narrate my experience, which was no less than awesome.

Underground Atlanta is actually underground, and it gives the appearance of a flea market. Citizens of delhi will be able to relate it to Palika bazaar, though the underground is way too cleaner, is much more organized and has a lot of culture attached to it. There are several old cars, perfectly restored, that are parked at various places in the underground. And most of the shops are on carts. There is a food court, some excellent dining places, live performances, and most of the knick-knacks you’d expect to find in a typical city market. A truly wonderful experience.

After walking through the underground for a few minutes, we came out and saw WOCC staring at us. I must say that the location of WOCC is stunning, and it sure will take your breath away. The old time charm is also restored to some extent by horse-carriages that take you for a ride around the avenue.

We entered WOCC, purchased our tickets(reasonably priced at $9 for an adult), and headed straight in. The lift took us straight to the third floor. This floor contains a lot of historical artefacts, many dating back to early 19th century. Also on display is a mini-bottling machine, that shows how the bottling process works.

Moving ahead, there is a soda shop, with a real “soda jerk” behind the counter showing how coke was made in the good ‘ol days. And it cost only 5 cents!! But I guess 5 cents was a lot of money back then.

After the soda shop is the most interesting room in the entire building. It is the sampling room, where one can sample the drinks that are served by coke all across the world. From tutty-fruity to a bitter italian flavor(that I liked), the room presents a unique, soda filled challenge for the taste buds.

After that trip to the WOCC, we spent some time exploring the area, and not before long we were at the Georgia State Capitol. The capitol has a magnificent building, with a gold dome and a replica of the statue of liberty atop it(well, that’s what it looked like). The capitol is open for visitors from Monday to Friday only, and as it was a Sunday we could not get in. But its outside is no less magnificent. It has statues of famous US presidents, cannons from the US civil war, a lamp lit for the martyrs of World Wars I & II, and of course, the gold dome that is visible from a distance.

After spending half an hour looking around, we decided to head back to end our tryst with the history of one of the world’s favourite drinks, and some history of the place I spent the last month and a half at.

Now for the good news, bad news drill.

Bad news is, this was my last Sunday in Atlanta. I have come to like this city very much, it has a lot to offer for the tourist and a nice place to stay too. My stay here was also made wonderful by the staff of the Residence Inn Alpharetta, where I stayed during this trip. Thanks a lot guys.

Now the good news. My trip to the US still continues, and now I am headed for a new destination. My next stop is the city of Linthicum, located in the state of Maryland. This will also land me close to Washington DC, and it luck be, I might pay the power center of the US a visit. So for now, its good bye Atlanta, hello baltimore.

The next post will be from my new destination. Till then…watch this space.

After a 30 minutes journey, we reached downtown Atlanta. A short walk later, we were at the Georgia Aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium is “the world’s largest aquarium with 8 million gallons of fresh & marine water, and over 100000 animals representing 500 species from around the globe. ” Sounds impressive.

And it sure is. The variety of marine life kept in this aquarium is mind-boggling. From jelly-fish to piranhas, from penguins to eels, from sea-lions to stingrays, from sea-horses to beluga whales, the aquarium gives you a feeling that you have explored all creatures of the sea. Enough of me, now let the pictures do some talking..

There were two very important lessons I learnt from my trip to the aquarium. First, that there is a massive effort involved in making any species feel at home in a foreign eco-system. The georgia aquarium is doing a great job in making all these animals feel perfectly at home.

The second lesson is, that animals kept in closed enclosures like to pose for cameras! I have clicked otters, sea-lions, beluga whales(photo above), tortoises(photo above) posing gracefully for the visitors. I don’t think there is anything special the aquarium does to ensure that shutter-happy photographers like me get a good collection of photographs. I tend to believe that its not only humans that enjoy their celebrity status, but several animals exposed to being photographed also do. Ever wonder why those lions in all those safari photos pose so gracefully? I bet every time a lion sees a photographer he goes “Honey, straigten up your mane, the paparazzi is here!” , “Oh not again, I am just finishing off that gazelle. Hold on, let me get some more of that blood on my teeth”.

Whatever.

Aquarium done, we started to walk towards Philips Arena, for our rendezvous with ice-hockey. On the way, we walked into the Centennial Olympic park. For the uninitiated, Atlanta city played host to the Olympics in 1996, which also happened to be the 100th Olympics after Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the ancient Greek tradition of Olympics in 1896. The Centennial Park is built to commemorate the 1996 Olympics celebrated in Atlanta. Again, I’ll let the pictures do most of my job:

Sports are followed religiously all across the world. Every country/region has its own favourites. Asia has cricket & Europe has football. US has a large collection of sports, each having its own dedicated fan following. And we were about to witness one of them.

Ice-hockey is originally a Canadian sport(officially Canada’s winter sport). Simply referred as hockey, but played on ice with a puck. Here in US, NHL is the league of professional ice-hockey teams. The teams come from different regions from the US, and as is with each sport here, the team names are most exciting. Examples: Devils(New Jersey), Flyers(Philadelphia), Panthers(Florida), Hurricanes(Carolina). We were here to witness the encounter between Thrashers(Atlanta) and Lightening(Tampa Bay).

The atmosphere at the arena was electric. There was so much adrenaline, so much excitement, so much thrill & anticipation in the fans, that it made me remember a live India Pakistan match that I had seen once. And being the home team, Atlanta Thrashers were obviously the favourites.

The match lasted for 2 hours, and I can say, not even for one moment were we any far from the edge of our seats. Ice-hockey is a very fast paced game, and with the fan-frenzy reaching crazy levels every time the Thrashers controlled the puck, the experience was a one-in-a-lifetime experience for us. Even the breaks between periods were amazing, with tiny-tots donning ice-hockey gear and having a go at the game.

Here are some photos for you to feast your eyes on:

And so..a wonderful evening comes to an end.

Of course, this post would not be complete without thanking our gracious hosts for the evening, who took as around and made this experience an everlasting memory. Thank you guys…you are the best.

With this post, Coherent Rambling completes 100 posts, and also marks its second anniversary. It is a major milestone for me, considering the lazy writer that I am. There were many times in these two years when I contemplated closing the blog, came close to doing it actually a few times, but there was something that brought me back. Maybe this blog has evolved from being more than a medium. To me, coherent rambling is a manifestation of my inner self. My soul speaks freely here, expresses itself, and many a times I end up writing not from my head but from my heart. My medium has now become an image of me.

Or has it become me?

Do keep reading, and commenting. Your thoughts are more valuable to me than my own. On this note, I will sign off for today.

Adios