Off to Bheemeshwari

Monami starts work at Sungard on Monday! Since we've got a small window of opportunity now to have a quick vacation while both of us have the time, all of us are getting away from the city for a couple of days to the Bheemeshwari cauvery fishing camp!

Do you remember these old Ads?

Remember the Liril girl? Vinod Khanna in the Cinthol Ad? Hamara Bajaj? The Zing Thing? Here are some old Indian TV Ads that should stir up some memories. Read on...

Hamara Bajaj

The classic Indian ad which further spurred the boom in scooter sales, and changed Indian traffic forever ;-)

Gold Spot - the Zing Thing

Thumbs Up and Gold Spot ruled the soft drink market in the pre-liberalization days until Coke and Pepsi came in.

Vinod Khanna in Cinthol

Vinod, Imran and others lent their macho image to Godrej's popular soap.

Lime 'n Lemony Limca

Recognize the Bollywood star in this ad? Both he and Limca continue to thrive.

Lijat Pappad

Looking back, I cant believe that this was such a popular ad back then, but I remember this appearing on TV often.

The Liril Girl

Bollyood has always had a thing for waterfalls and sirens. But when ad man Alyque Padmasee combined the freshness of lime with the imagery of waterfalls and a peppy jingle to promote a new soap, he created more than just a hit brand. The Liril girl was born.

Rasna

Forget Kool-Aid, Rasna was the best.

Two ads I've been unable to find are the early Maggi noodles and Nirma washing powder adverts. If anyone finds them, let me know!

Two Impostors

“Defeats never make you grow, but you also realise how difficult what I achieved up until today was, and this is something you need sometimes. You need a defeat to give the value to your victories. I must accept my defeats with the same level of calm that I accept my victories”

—Rafael Nadal

I'm a huge fan of Roger Federer's silken game, but it is Rafael Nadal's mental maturity and ability to compartmentalize things that has blown me away in the recent past. During this year's Australian Open, he went from being a fierce competitor during the closing moments of the game to a gentle human being consoling Roger a few minutes later on the podium. For a 23 year old, he is ahead of his years, or at least way ahead of where I was at that age.

The quote on top of this post came from Rafa during the press interview following his shock loss to Robin Soderling at this year's French Open. History was at stake, with an opportunity to blow away Bjorn Borg's record by winning five straight Coupe des Mousquetaires and become undisputedly the greatest claycourter ever. Rafa was visibly upset after the game, waving away the oncourt interviewer after the game and rushing in for a shower. However, his comments during the interview were balanced, composed and almost philosophical. Like Rafa has said, at times, we need a defeat to give value to our victories and to remind us to cherish our achievements and possessions while still looking forward to the next challenges. This also reminded me of If, the well known and much parodied poem by Kipling

"If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same"

Pakistan military funding? Not again!

Obama's speech in Cairo yesterday was a great positive step towards U.S. relationships with the Muslim world. While I'm sure there will be his detractors, his persistence and genuine interest in bringing together the global community will eventually pay off.

I'm increasingly worried however about signs that the U.S. will pump further funds into the Pakistan military in an attempt to bolster counterinsurgency against the Taliban. That would simply mean slipping into the same trap the U.S. has fallen into several times in the past. Back in the 90's, the Taliban were supported by the US to repel the Soviets and eventually turned against them. Pakistan continued to stealthily support the Taliban since they acted as an insurance in case the U.S. withdrew its support. In the recent past, the Bush administration has pumped in over $12 billion in funding for the Pakistani army, most of which appears to have been whittled away through corrupt hands.

It appears that Obama has promised Pakistan $1.5 billion a year for the next 5 years to train and equip their army. While I understand that Obama would not want to risk American lives this stage and would rather wage a proxy war through the Pakistan army or by random airstrikes, this is just the same old story all over again.

Here's what I feel needs to happen:

• Obama needs to invest funds in Pakistan. In case that sounds contradictory to what I've just said earlier, my point is that the funds need to get to the right places - education, capital, infrastructure. The Pakistani people are increasingly frustrated with Zardari and it would be a disaster if military rule returned. Longer term sustainable growth is needed for their democracy to thrive and better relationships with India.
• Obama needs to partner closely with Indian and Pakistani governments to deal with counterinsurgency. It's a thin red line, but this is ultimately in India's interests as well as the last thing Delhi wants is the Taliban knocking at India's borders. Given the escalated situation in Sri Lanka as well, this could be extremely volatile for the subcontinent.

In a few months from now, we'll be coming up on 26/11/09 and the general public will start to demand strong action from Manmohan to firmly address the terrorism issue. Pakistan's release of Hafiz Saeed hit the headlines in India, but the response and protests have not been that vocal yet. It remains to be seen how Chidambaram approaches this with Obama.

Obama has a huge number of issues to deal with at this stage both at home in the U.S. and abroad. So far, he's been able to deflect most criticism like a true teflon leader, but he is likely aware that his honeymoon period is ticking away. He'll need to make substantial progress on the core issues over the next few months in order to continue to bolster support.