The Human Mind is a tricky Thing - To Watch or not to Watch!

The Human mind is a tricky thing. It makes us believe what we want to and what we believe becomes a fact and later a theory and finally a stereotype.

This in marketing is referred to as the trinity of Selective Attention, Selective Retention, and Selective Absorption. Let me illustrate.

I always believed that watching a sports match live or even a live telecast is bad luck for the team that I support. I remember Sachin scoring 186 at Rajiv Gandhi's Cricket Stadium in 1999. Dr.C.R.K Reddy and I had tickets but I refused to see Sachin in blood as I believed that my attending the match would give him bad luck.

I am not alone in this belief. Anand Mahindra of Mahendra and Mahendra and Amitabh Bachchan also believe the same. It is said that Amitabh would sit in the adjacent room and Jaya or Abhishek would relay the score.

Now with the internet, we sometimes sneak in the score surreptitiously but let me assure you with a guilty mind. To cut a long story short, Sachin scored a magnificent 186 and CRK Reddy was thrilled to watch it live. I was delighted too. I felt that It was my not seeing that allowed Sachin to score 186. If I had attended the live match he would have scored a zero (I sincerely believed that).

So I refuse to see any match where there is a lot of stress, Which means that when India is facing difficult times I would switch off. The same is the case with SRH matches or any other teams that I support. I prefer watching the highlights. The tension of close matches is too much to bear.

But things don't work out the same way as we want. Recently I had inspite of my apprehensions watched the European Championship semifinals first leg match between Real Madrid and Manchester City (I am a big fan of Manchester City). To my delight, Man City won the first leg 4-3.

The second leg was slated at 1230 hours midnight and I gave it a miss, citing to myself the famous excise "If I watch they would lose".

The next day morning the news was very disappointing. Man City lost and that too in a very dramatic fashion. They lost in a cranage that lasted just 3 minutes in the end. Real Madrid pumped in 3 goals from the 89th minute to the 92nd minute.

I was disappointed and my theory is not proving to be correct always. I even consoled myself by saying that the team lost during the regular time itself. That is in the injury time. That I declared was "pure bad luck".

But when I watched the highlights today on Sony LIV, I was taken back. At the end of the regulation time, the teams were tied 5-5. Extra 30 minutes were given and Real Madrid scored in the 2nd minute of the 30-minute extra time. So the loss was not as dramatic as I imagined. Manchester City has 28 minutes to claw themselves back into the contest but could not. So the better team won, Better luck next time Manchester City. And me, I am confused, "to watch, or not to watch"!

Tirumala Visitors during the Corona Pandemic - Very interesting Insights! - Tirupati the world richest temple!

 

05-07-2020

Just now saw a very interesting scrolling news item on a TV channel. 

Yesterday's hundi collections at Tirumala are Rs 60 lakhs. And the visitors were around 10,000. That means on average each visitor contributed Rs 600/-. 

On a typical day before the corona pandemic, 1,00,000 visitors were contributing roughly around Rs 2 crores. This means that during normal days the contribution was Rs 200 per person. 

During the crisis period (that is now) the average hundi contribution went up by 300% while the number of visitors went down by 90%. That is an astonishing statistic. 

So what inferences can we draw, 

1) Tirumala is a massive attraction for Hindus, Corona be damned! 

2) the monied class is flocking to Tirumala. 

3) God-fearing nature has increased and an increase in contribution could be a form of penance to ward off the Coronavirus. 

4) Maybe a feeling is that they will not be visiting Tirumala for a long time? 

5) The poor are keeping away or the quota system is not allowing enough of them to visit Tirumala. 

6) If TTD allows I am sure that the 1,00,000 visitor count will be back, Corona or no Corona. No wonder TTD is so desperate to allow more visitors to visit Lord Venkateshwara.

Darren Sammy the west Indian cricket player calls SRH racist - the pot calling the kettle black

07-06-2020

Sammy the ex-West Indies cricket player suddenly understanding  "Kallu meant black" when he was playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad during his IPL playing days is extremely amusing, to say the least. 

Most cricket players including foreign players are ribbed mercilessly by all crowds including the Indian spectators. Most take it as par for the course and bear it as IPL is a gravy train that no one wants to miss. 

Now that his IPL days are over Sammy is suddenly critical of SRH. Any how Sammy, even in West Indies cricket racism exists in another form.

Indian origin cricketers who played for West Indies are derided and Keith Arthurton once called an Indian origin cricket player a "bloody coolie" and got away with it. 

And recently another West Indies cricket star Chris Gail ripped into Ram Naresh Sarwan and called him  "a snake and worse than a Corona Virus". Well well, Sammy it is like the proverb  "the pot calling the kettle black (pun unintended)!"

Lost in translation - Miscommunications - Cross communication!

24-05-2020 

Overheard at More Supermarket 

Customer "A/C chalu hai?"    (Is the A/C switched on)

More Employee's response "Chaala hai" (Very much). 

Case of yet so close and yet so far. The customer was asking if the A/C was on in Hindi and the Telugu-speaking employee did not understand and said chaala hai meaning very much. 

The customer walked away thinking chaal raha hai, meaning that the A/C was on. One of the few cases where mis-comunication was understood perfectly. 

Incidentally the A/C was off and we were sweltering!

Unique Products - Printing the face on protective masks - Interesting innovation - New products - Corona Innovation- Necessity is the Mother of Invention

24-05-2020

Face printing on protective masks: Very interesting video. As a marketing teacher, I look at everything from a deeper perspective.

My two bits about the video. 

1) Very dangerous, the scanning machine can be a deadly carrier of many diseases including our own dear friend CoVid 19. 

2) Masks are for protection and are a  serious health precaution. They need to be used and thrown quite frequently. So is spending Rs 60/- worth the effort. Think about it. 

3) To me my face is not so attractive that my world will collapse if part of it is not visible for the next 3 months. I am sure that people around me including my students can bear with my masked appearance and I am not narcissistic that I need to look beautiful in a mask. 

4) And most people don't wear the mask properly at all times. And god forbid if they slide the mask down or if the mask is out of position. The result would be hilarious and the wearer would look like an animated cartoon from a Disney movie. 

N.B: this is what happens when an academician writes about an issue. He rambles on and on. With sincere apologies.

Comments: 

Aditya Sunkara: Hi Sir, I think your point number 1 might be invalid. Given the number of interactions, these masks have to undergo to reach hands of consumers. They can be contaminated anywhere.

Also, Scanning machines and printing machines operate at high temperatures at which viruses don't survive. But if this printing promotes the usage of masks and stops the spread of infections, isn't it good?

Anil Ramesh: That is the point, Aditya it is not a frivolous product or a cosmetic product. This is the manifestation of a concept called "Empty mind is a devil's workshop" I would run at least 1,000 kilometers from such shops!

Rashmi D Rao: The whole point of wearing a mask is protection and maintaining hygiene. Styling isn't necessary. Yeah styling isn't wrong.. As I said Styling isn't necessary, which means people have a choice if they can afford it and really want to focus on styling and want matching masks or stylish masks of course they can wear them.

From a business point of view, it's perfect, the guys are and will earn superb money. And from a hygiene point of view, it isn't, I personally won't prefer such masks. And you can't just stay with 1 mask all the time. If you are using a cloth mask you need to wash it every time before you reuse it. From the price point of view, not everyone can afford Rs. 60 per mask. And one mask won't be enough. As far as N95 masks are concerned i know they are the ones that actually work but at least wearing normal masks and throwing it away after every use can be a good practice to stay away from flu-like diseases.

Krishna Panyam: You can wash them after printing. If this makes masks more acceptable, that is a good thing. In fact, we should encourage people to personalize their masks so that they can comfortably wear them for long periods.