Durga - the short story on one life.

This happened in a village. A village in West Bengal.

And I have not acknowledged this for last 35 years.


When I started to look at her she was terribly malnourished and she face was pale with exhaustion. She was thin, weak and malnornished.  Poverty had ravaged her body.

I was quite sure that if I didn't help her then, she would have died. The girl was barely 5-6 years old. But she looked 4.
So I did. 

And as I took her to a local government hospital no one helped me.

But they didnt stop me either. I could see in their eyes that they wanted to stop me. Let her die.

When she was getting medical help, I asked around to know why did the villagers were not helping that girl.

They said she was illegitimate child, she had a father who had disowned her.

Something had changed in me and it was forcing me to act. 

I choose that day to help her.

It was bound to be difficult. I was a bachelor and my family was conservative.
I had to keep all my social contacts intact and yet I had to help her. 



"Life seems one hopeless struggle after the other. But it can be more ... unloved and uncared. Yet life can succeed by living and living well. If life is given a opportunity to do so" Thats what this story is about.

This meant bringing her to my city was not an option.

I decided to raise her by keeping her safe and yet distant from me.

I named her - Durga. With a help of an NGO and a few well wishers I got her admitted to boarding school. All her needs were taken care off. Except one.

She was officially an orphan. Through her educative years she was never told that who was taking her care.

She did ask of course but was never told. She had seen me when I had transported her to the hospital and she when that I was someone who did not know bengali. And in her college days, I came to know for a fact that she was searching for me.


And I lived my life as I wanted, responsible for her and yet detached. I got married, had kids of my own and those kids were now in school.

It was a perfect world for me until the day she found me.

She hoped that I will accept her like my daughter but I was still, after all these years not welcoming.

So she left me alone.

20 years passed. All my communication to find her whereabouts stopped.  She was lost, as in I had now no idea where she was. 

Then one day I happened to see her again. Not personally but on a magazine cover. She was now a Top manager in a big MNC. 

Not only that she was responsible in exposing a big scam and help the country in the process.
I felt proud but instantly I felt ashamed. I had never been there for her even though she would not have lived - with out me. 

Like I said at the start, I have not admitted it for last 35 years. 
Its time now for me to acknowledge her.

BakAwaaz . Introduce with a song

social media community management

Images or images with test will attract people

1. Connect with the audience. avoid gimicks
2. engage
3. influence
4. integrate

The purpose is to
To make life easier
To build relationships
To help others
To craft an online identity

Checklist

• Does it have a purpose?

• Does it spark a conversation rather than broadcast information?

• Is its voice consistent and unique

• Is it light weight

• Will it get the reach you need by driving engagement and landing newsreels?

Do follow:

• - 70/30 rule. 70 % useful content. 30 % selling

• - Short post

• - call to action

• - cue to reaction

• Relevancy

• - first line of defense

Find your tone.
Who is your audience
Why would our audience care and share content about the brand
Be like sponge - Absorb
be like gardener - nurture and trim
Be like a sculptor- create

Future of Advertising is in Service Advertising

Categorize and create % of the various content you will post
example
did you know 10 %
Recommendations 30%
Jokes 5%

Ride on timely topics
example - oreo enhanced twisting

Find inspiration - KLM advertising
Skittles
H&M
9GAG

Create an interesting list

1. Gather the managers
2. Get the latest trends
3. be more strategic
4. Share local knowledge

Chuppa rustom

It may take u some time to get accustomed
 but each one of each is a chuppa rustom.
 Some at art, some at finance
 some in love

 but what none of the rustoms
 want is to get the attention they deserve,
 each moment holds tremendous  potential,
 each effort contains a chance. 

They don't crave for attention,
 they just want to be alone. 
Just when chips are down and you feel the crunch.
 A chuppa rustom will show you a way to jump.

State Transport Bus.

The red box or lal dabba. 


 2012 suddenly I found that interactive medium is more appreciated and hence I am having this dialogue with you.

I cant recall my first journey or who traveled in me at that time, it was 1980s.

I have done my job so far silently. 
I traveled in many places across Maharashtra  I have met people. Some people were silent and some talked a lot. I have seen richness in poverty and experienced storms, floods, droughts, earthquakes.

 But the most horrible thing I feel I have seen is human plight.

 Plight which comes out of helplessness.  Its not that I have always lead a very happy life. My organs or engine part have been replaced multiple times so far and I do get bodily injuries many times but I consider that if you travel so much, you are bound to get hurt.  So I was speaking of human plight. I feel each person has some sort of higher calling which most often or not does not materialize.  I sense the frustration around me. Its okay to be helpless but in my years as a bus one aspect has always worked for me and that aspect is hope. Things don't change for the better until we change ourselves for it. I have changed. I am no longer a fuel optimized version with a good pickup but now I am an expert in climbing ghats or manuring through traffic. This is all due to my ability to learn and adapt. I wont tell you how to live life. You are the human. I am just a ST bus.

 But I can share my experiences with you. I hope ...

Its your stop I see. Go ahead. Get down now. Take care. Good bye. Hey don't think of me okay. I am just a ST bus.

Its not what you sold, its how you sold it.

Recently I forgot a birthday of a friend who is a girl.

 She was terribly pissed of the fact that I did not call her and the no matter what I explained to her, my explanation did not matter. 

This bought me to the point that wishing one for the birthday is not a mere wish its deeply symbolic. Its a gesture of affection and relation which  I always knew but never realized. 

 This got me thinking that as a man and more so as a marketing professional, there must be so many instances where I have failed to understand women.

 So a simple rule list to connect with  the ladies. 

1. Relate to their needs. Observe and talk to them.
2.  Whether it is appreciation or criticism be polite and humble in your approach. This is not to show a Edwardian era chivalry but to make them comfortable. 
3. If and when possible create a peer to peer contact. 
4. In case of a personal one to one contact, maintain a good eye contact. Your expressions and reactions can help you sell or stop your sell.
5.  Don't sell a mis fit product.
6. Don't stereotype, when you customize.

Your thoughts on the same.

Images are just for representation.