Global Country

A Lebanese Neuroscientist, Tony Abu Ali Dan Nadar, has been anointed as the  first ruler of the Global Country of world peace, following the passing away of the Indian born Maharishi Mahesh Yogi earlier this month. His Majesty Raja Nader Ram was renamed so in 2000 by the Maharishi; perhaps a sign of things to come.

The Maharishi is credited with bringing yogic meditation to the worlds attention, and shot to immediate fame with the Beatles visiting him. Perhaps, these meditation techniques can be applied to the less peaceful parts of the world with more ease crossing linguistic barriers, by the new ruler of the global country of world peace. The first ruler will be assisted by a cabinet of devotees handpicked by the Maharishi himself, to manage his multi billion dollar legacy

10,000 BC

I saw the poster at the movies the other day and got interested in it. Having gone through the movie site, and being a recent viewer of Apocalypto….the theme seems to be the same.  Boy loves girl, girl in trouble, boy saves girl…ends up saving the whole civilization – in some way!!

I don’t want to write it off yet,  5 months ahead of the release, but see for your self here…

Mammoths, huge casts, lots of noise….should be interesting

Parents play!!

A US based business woman has started a Toy rental company. Toys can be rented for a specified period and a specified price and then returned in the box it came in, after the lease period is over. Shipping prices are built into the pricing and a tie up with a well networked courier saves trouble.

This is a totally different paradigm which is bound to effect the toy business if it catches on. If such lease companies were to proliferate world wide, the sales of toys would be affected. The end user would approach the lease companies which could make a killing. The reason behind this is becuase kids easily lose interest in the toy and they outgrow the toy in a matter of months. These lease companies could end up controlling the sales of toys.

Pretty soon, we will see notices on toys saying that these toys are to be used only by the owner and cannot be rented and leased or displayed at public places including restaurants, oil rigs…etc – like we see on DVDs.

With popular toys costing an arm and a leg (A tickle me Elmo costs 30 KD in Alghanim) the parent will need to weigh the benefit of seeing a happy smile with paying for toys that are going to gather dust in a few months. The business model can be honed to shorten the time to market in distant places (the Tickle me Elmo was available in Dubai in September!! and only recently introduced here), to gain more popularity.

The whole things reduces the load on the parent: less clutter, less expense and the kid is happy too…

While the toys are sanitized, its better to avoid this for toddlers who fancy shoving things up every orfice of their body they can reach.

More here

Happy ‘Special’ day

Special day is around. All the major supermarkets and shops are storing stuff for the special day. Anyone who heard Linda on RK FM 997 a couple of days ago plugging the goods and services of a major supermarket knows what I am talking about.

Its as though there was a gag order not to use the V word.  Well if the word can’t be said then hypocritical interjection in the ads should be avoided as well.

The news papers are full of ads and the flower shops are red with passion. some Eateries are having a special package tomorrow for couples. With threats of disruption of any celebrations and public display by a section of society, the relevance of what the so called saint did for lovers is only increased, adding legitimacy to the worlds biggest marketing gimmick. A gimmick that adds to the bottom line of gift producers and leaves a hole in the pocket of many a man.

Incidentally, India and the Middle East are the two areas that are able to see through this gimmick

Happy Valentine’s Day.

VJM01 from Force India F1

Force India Formula one has released the VJM01 Formula1 car. It will be tested on the Barcelona track towards the end of the month. The company owned by the flamboyant Vijay Mallya and Michael Mol is all set to take on the hearts of a cricket crazy nation and even host an F1 race in 2010.

The team which has evolved from the one time Jordan team, rechristened as Midland F1 and then Spyker is now called Force India in its latest avtar.With the experience from these two prize winning teams Force India should have no dearth of experience.

With an engine being used for not more than 2 races, It costs 120 Million USD to run over a year – and the engine is only one cost. Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher breweries will be the primary sponsors. Other logos which will be on the car include ICICI ban, Medion & Bridgestone

Driven by Adrian Sutil (19) and Giancarlo Fischella (8) the Formula 1 season is set to be exciting and will see a lot of Indian interest in the sport.