Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Social Media Marketing Strategy


Now a days every Entrepreneur wants to incorporate Social Media In their main stream business and marketing plans but the facts is that they do not really know how the social media works.To best of my knowledge what people know about Social Media Marketing is just creating Face Book Page,Twitter Account etc,but this is not the case.
in this post i would give you some idea of how exactly Social Media Marketing Works.
Here i will explain to you in steps what you exactly need to do and follow.
Step No:1
The first step is to listen to conversation that are going on like
* who is talking about you
* what they're saying
* is it positive or negative
* where are the conversations taking place
* what communities talk about you
* what are your competitors doing in social media
* what's the buzz about them
Once you are through this,then you definitely can go forward to put your presence.
Step No:2
Share your presence or voice.
Share of Voice is defined as the total percentage that you possess in the conversation about the particular niche or market you’re active in.
Step No:3
Set Goals
Once you are through this phase you will come to know what is all being said in that particular group which you are currently tracking and this is the group which you are targeting as this of your interest.
Step No:4
Find your Targeted Communities.
You can go through the forums or communities to just know what is going on so as put your resources accordingly,eg
A skin care company discovered that there is conversation about dry skin in gardening forums, moms talk about skin care and so do crafters and medical professionals. These folk all have their own niche social networks. There is also a lot of chatter about skin care on Twitter.
Step No:5
Identify Influence's.
Step No:6
Strategise Your Content and Strategy.
This is one of the most crucial step in Social Media Marketing because what you are giving and sharing with people will differentiate you from other people,As Content is the King.
Step No:7
Select Tools like twitter,face book etc to deliver your content to give out your content to your particular or target ted people.
Step No:8
Deliver the Content.
Step No:9
Engage the People in the conversations.
Step No:10
Measure Results
After going through the above steps,Measure the set goals what you want to achieve through this marketing strategy.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

While Entering Corporate World

If you are entering into corporate world which is full of uncertainties always remember some basic fundamentals which will really make your experience in corporate sector enthusiastic and charming.
Although i have not that much much personal experience in the corporate sector,what ever i would be suggesting would be from the general point of view and what ever i have realized in the past couple of months.
while in the early days of your carrier,don't try to lay your own path to your success,even if you did be sure that the way you have chosen will fetch you the results,because if it is giving the results,then you are putting two big entities on stake,one is your own future and other is your company who have hired you to realize their own dreams and missions.
So it is better to be calm in the beginning,follow the path given to you,in the mean time learn the fundamentals to lay a strong foundation to your carrier.
Other thing which i would recommend is that become a listening entity so as to get the impression that you are also listening to other people who are trying to give you something whether that is advice or something else.If you listen to people of different departments,different levels etc they also feel that they are being listened and respected.
Also try to mingle with people in order to know different personalities in your environment,and give them impression that you are also there who should be noticed.Try to add on something that is most needed by a particular while mixing with people,that could have long lasting impression of you.Because these are the people who could give you newer opportunities in your future not only in your existing company but also some where else.
And the most important when ever you would be having meeting with your manager,CEO etc,don't come on to conclusions early.
Comments Welcome.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Top Executives Need To Become Social.

What i feel regarding the compaign of Social Media Presence by any Company,it should get erupted within the company itself from Top officials in order to have a strong hold in the virtual front.Your organization’s social media strategy should be not implemented by one lonely intern sitting in the corner of your communications and marketing department.
You may be wondering if that means that your executive director and CEO needs to write a blog or have their own Twitter account to share their wisdom. I think it depends.Yes it completely depends if your one of your clients has an easy way of communicating with you,it really gives an immense confidense into to the whole give and take business from both ends.
There are definitely some benefits to having your executive director or CEO being present on social media channels. They can provide a human face to your organization’s work, a unique viewpoint, and serve as a thought leader in your field. And if your organization finds itself in the middle of groundswell or if there is a major news event or a public relations crisis happens and it is being discussed on Twitter or other social media spaces, your CEO can join it without having to get up to speed.
But it is also important to understand that there are challenges to be overcome as well. These includes investing the time to make it successful because a CEO presence on social media is nothing that should be “ghost” written. It has to be authentic and reflect the CEO’s personality. There is also the issue of comfort – both with the technology and being transparent.There are so many examples from the US CEO'S who on the real time basis manage their online profiles and communicate with their friends and clients time and again.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Social Media Trends



In 2009 we witnessed exponential growth of Social Media as per the study conducted by Nielsen Online,Twitter usage has shown an impressive growth rate of 1382% yo y in February,registered 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month.
if we have a look at Face Book,it continued to outperform MySpace so far the unique visitors are concerned.
In near future we can see the trend of social Media Being included in every aspect of business whether it is marketing,customer service,public relations etc. Looking at some social media channels like twitter through which you can through your information to thousands of your targeted people by just typing 140 characters or less,similarly social bookmarking,video sharing has revolution ed the reach of marketers or just a common man who is just sharing his views on the social forums and site.
As social networks like Face book and YouTube has become some of the biggest content repositories on the planet,it provides a strong edge to the marketers to make use of it in order to have a strong presence on the WWW.
What is more interesting to the marketers is that the people have really themselves adopted to these new systems and also looking themselves to find and share more among their friends. The concept of sharing on the social media sites in real time have created so many avenues to the marketers to engage the people with the targeted content and entice them in order to make your efforts count via social media.
Most of the companies are now cutting on the Traditional advertising systems and are getting more interested in social media advertising due to various reasons like reach and low investment. If you could recall the Coca Cola's Sprite Online Campaign,which was totally targeted for the emerging youth who are spending most of their time online.
marketers have strongly understood the most powerful online fact if they want to have a share of slice,that is reach of content. The more interesting and relevant you will make your content the more it has chances of getting re tweeted and re blogged,thus more chances of strong brand presence in Digital world.
By Rayees Qurayshi

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Commonly Used Social Media Tools



Commonly Used Social Media Tools

As Social media Marketing is picking Up in the India,Most of the companies and small businesses who have learnt about the Power of social media for generating traffic and the leads are really goggling as which channel to use for social media marketing. As far as research over the channels is concerned twitter came at the front with 86% of the marketers using this channel to develop their online presence strongly. Here is a list of the social channels which have grabbed the attention of marketers in the present technological arena



What was more interesting fact that came out of the research is that the men were more likely to use you tube(Video sharing site) than women as is evident from this percentage of men against women(52:37).

If we will have a look at the Social Media Tools that people want to learn more as to how to leverage the concept more accurately and systematically in order to get more brand exposure,the facts of this study are as


Above graph clearly indicates that the marketers are more interested in learning and leveraging the concept of social Bookmarking and has bypasses the much talked business tool like twitter.

Thanks


Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Rupee falls most in 18 months tracking stocks, dollar

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee on Tuesday suffered its worst single-day fall in more than 18 months as local shares fell more than 2 percent and the dollar gained sharply against major currencies. The partially convertible rupee ended at 47.16/17 per dollar, down 1.7 percent from 46.36/37 at close on Monday.

The rupee had plunged 2.6 percent on Nov. 12, 2008, Thomson Reuters data shows. However traders said the sell-off was more in reaction to euro-zone worries and that fundamentals have not changed, especially with data on Tuesday showing the underlying strength of the Indian economy.

"Markets are in 'fear' mode, but they can swing to 'greed' mode with equal ease as recent episodes have shown," said Priyanka Chakravarty, forex strategist at Standard Chartered Bank. "They (Europe) already have the policy efforts in place. In my view, market moves are already exaggerated, driven by fear rather than fundamentals," she added.

Indian shares ended 2.2 percent lower as renewed doubts over the pace of the global economic recovery and weak European markets prompted investors to book profits.

Foreign fund inflows are the main drivers of the Indian currency, and any pullout in stocks affects the rupee as well. Foreign funds had pulled out about $20 billion from Indian equities in May, according to the market regulator's data.

Traders said the rupee will track Indian shares in the short-term, duplicating expected volatility. Meanwhile the euro fell to a 4-year low against the dollar on Tuesday as fears the euro zone's debt crisis could spread to its banking system hit the single currency, while deteriorating sentiment supported the greenback.

In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange were at 47.3000 and at 47.2975 on the MCX-SX, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $8.11 billion.(Source:ET)

Friday, May 21, 2010

World Stocks Tumble

European stocks fell again on Friday despite German approval of a euro zone rescue package, as markets remained unconvinced the aid would resolve the debt crisis. The euro, however, found support from short covering. Wall Street was also set to open lower, after plunging nearly 4 percent in the previous session. In the general flight to safety bund futures extended their gains, up 28 ticks on the day to 128.59, with the German 10-year government bond yield hitting a record low at 2.656 percent.

"We are heading into the U.S. session here and the markets want to be better bid. The market is just anticipating more risk aversion trades ... People are still shedding risk and risk assets," a bond trader said. World stocks as measured by the MSCI All-Country index were down 0.41 percent, with the more volatile emerging markets component down 0.38 percent.

The euro continued to benefit from hedge funds scrambling to cover short positions and rose 0.32 percent to $1.2501. Germany's lower house of parliament approved a law allowing the country to make the biggest contribution to a 750 billion euro emergency debt package to help protect the euro, but markets remained troubled by what they perceive as poor co-ordination amongst European members in tackling the crisis.

European finance ministers were meeting later on Friday to discuss changes to budget rules to prevent another Greek-style debt crisis. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 2.2 percent, extending sharp falls over the previous two sessions after Germany's decision to ban naked short selling on some assets raised fears about a lack of coordination between European policymakers.

The UK's FTSE 100 slipped below the key 5,000 mark for the first time since November 2009. "Valuations have cheapened, but the underlying fundamental issues have not been addressed and will continue to dog risk asset markets in the months ahead," said analysts at RBC Capital Markets in a note. "The lack of political cohesion within the euro zone is becoming more apparent by the day and this can only undermine risk appetite and conviction in the longer-term outlook for investing in the region."

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Learn from your failure.

The reason behind writing this post friends is that every one by now and then meets failure while doing their busy schedules.I myself met a failure recently,although i was shocked to listen it,but after sometime i thought why i was failure,i kept on asking so many questions to myself regarding the same..ultimately i woke up from this dilemma and i got a very smart and beautiful answer and it was
Failure Leads to success
From this statement i learned that it is not like that what you are thinking,it totally means you have met a hurdle early of which you were not aware,which probably according to your perception was not missing in you,but sometimes we are having weaknesses of which we are not aware of and when they struck to us we feel helpless.
I got a great lesson from my failure and in fact every one
should get at least one reason out of their failures,and they should try to convert this failure into a great strength that is what all gurus say about failures.Never feel helpless when you will meet any failure,that is just a warning to you that you are something,pack it up in you and march on.
You can also interpret it in this way like,One should always try to search the failure,because once you will meet all your failures step by step,believe me no one is going to stop in your whole life.And also tell me one thing why one should be afraid of failures,are they having any criminal intent or any hidden nature that is going to mar you,no no,not at all.So meet the failure with your heart open,follow it to have a battle with it,defeat it and turn out victorious.
Whether you are a student,businessman or entrepreneur be ready to tackle failures in your life in order to lay a strong foundation for your future.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

India going ahead of china

Hello
It was a good news to listen when i head that India is overcoming china as the largest source of new MNCs from the emerging markets, with over 2,200 domestic firms forecast to open overseas operations over the next 15 years.
As over
2,200 domestic companies are projected to open operations outside over the next 15 years,it is totally a great feeling as an Indian and the way India is performing in the corporate sector.What i think is the reason of choosing to set up operations aboard are the globalization and revolution in information technology.
According to the report, some of these new MNCs would become international powerhouses and would require services all over the world; for example, to support their IT and telecom networks.
The countries analyzed are --Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Hungary, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Ukraine and Vietnam.
It is totally a great feeling on this revolution of the Indian entrepreneurs to go global
.
Wish all these companies a great luck and prosperous journey.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

We have to decide

I think business is better than job because if you have learned the skill to sell the product, it is sure that you will succeed in business. At that time, you need not to do job for earning money.
These days, everything is product; even you are providing education or other services. If you are expert in it, then business is better. In Business, you are the boss.
Now, Indian students should leave their mentality of earning Rs. 25000, Rs.50000, Rs. 100000 or more per month package just by doing only job. If you want to do job just for learning experience and skill, then it is good but never depend on jobs. Start to make customers because your income potential is unlimited in your own business.Once you are over with this activity you can not imagine your position in terms of positivity and new energy to innovate more and more,this is same case with our great business men who never thought of some limited dreams,they had a vision of achieving new things everyday,due to which they have reached new heights.It is not only them we can also achieve the unachievable by keeping our focus on target and by the most powerful tool or what ever you will call it,that is positive attitude.
Let us hope we all will rise again to conquer the new.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Positive Attitude


Positive attitude helps to cope more easily with the daily affairs of life. It brings optimism into your life, and makes it easier to avoid worry and negative thinking. If you adopt it as a way of life, it will bring constructive changes into your life, and makes them happier, brighter and more successful. With a positive attitude you see the bright side of life, become optimistic and expect the best to happen. It is certainly a state of mind that is well worth developing and strengthening.


Positive attitude manifests in the following ways:
Positive thinking.
Constructive thinking.
Creative thinking.
Expecting success.
Optimism.
Motivation to accomplish your goals.
Being inspired.
Choosing happiness.
Not giving up.
Looking at failure and problems as blessings in disguise.
Believing in yourself and in your abilities.
Displaying self-esteem and confidence.
Looking for solutions.
Seeing opportunities.
A positive attitude leads to happiness and success and can change your whole life. If you look at the bright side of life, your whole life becomes filled with light. This light affects not only you and the way you look at the world, but also your whole environment and the people around you. If it is strong enough, it becomes contagious.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Future of MBA

Hello
Friend the post which i am compiling today is from my personal experience which i have realized among todays students is that when they think of pursuing their post graduation studies,and things become more worse for them when they think of hot degree available and open to any category what ever the background and intellectual knowledge,determination and above the level of motivation involved,can you friends guess..yes you are right i am taking about MBA.
MBA has become quite a everyman;s word and thinking without thinking what it really means for them.
As MBA is promising a lot for determined students who have mentally make up their minds for getting this degree and proving in turn the worth of his character and degree,but what about those who only know the three words MBA and he is plunging himself into the Corporate well with out any mental preparation,motivation Other factors like Leadership, People Skills, Networking skills, Vision, big-picture thinking, I believe are essential for success in a Managerial career.
what is adding more worries to their carriers is availability of MBA colleges who are also run by the people with a perfect business mind of only to make money out of the students applying there,no curriculum followed by these street colleges which you will see in at least every street in a tier1 city,what they are promising,it is quite out of my mind and who allows to run with any promising effort for molding the careers of students who are the future of themselves and nation,in order to earn short time bucks,these street colleges create havoc in the lives of candidates who due to some circumstances enter into these low budget colleges.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Social Media

Friends Hope you would be fit and fine enjoying the moments where ever you are.
Actually the Topic which i have chosen today to share with you is the social media.
Guys the scope of social media is quite immense and innovative because of the fact that it is upcoming in India,so if you choose to make a carrier in this field would be great asset for you in the time to come.
Guys you can also leverage the scope of social media by going through some basic principles of Social Media.You can do wonders by applying the concepts of social media in your professional life,i exactly mean to say that if you can use social media as an additional tool to support your ongoing system,Here is an example
Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business—including yours. It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite. (And yes, that goes for us, too.)
Please don't forget to give your comments.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Automobile Industry

Hello Guys...This is in nut shell regarding auto industry.

A well developed transport network indicates a well developed economy. For rapid development a well-developed and well-knit transportation system is essential. As India's transport network is developing at a fast pace, Indian Automobile Industry is growing too. Also, the Automobile industry has strong backward and forward linkages and hence provides employment to a large section of the population. Thus the role of Automobile Industry cannot be overlooked in Indian Economy. All kinds of vehicles are produced by the Automobile Industry. India Automobile Industry includes the manufacture of trucks, buses, passenger cars, defense vehicles, two-wheelers, etc. The industry can be broadly divided into the Car manufacturing , two-wheeler manufacturing and heavy vehicle manufacturing units.
The major Car manufacturer are Hindustan Motors, Maruti Udyog, Fiat India Private Ltd., Ford India Ltd ., General Motors India Pvt. Ltd., Honda Siel Cars India Ltd.,Hyundai Motors India Ltd., Skoda India Private Ltd., Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd., to name a few.

The two-wheeler manufacturing is dominated by companies like TVS, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Pvt.) Ltd., Hero Honda, Yamaha, Bajaj, etc. The heavy motors like buses, trucks, defense vehicles, auto rickshaws and other multi-utility vehicles are manufactured by Tata-Telco, Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors, Bajaj, Mahindra and Mahindra, etc.

Car Manufacturers
Two-wheelers manufacturers
Indian Automobile Market
Latest Launches in India Automobile Market
India Heavy Vehicle Industry
India Heavy Vehicle Companies
India Automobile Insurance
Tata Finance Limited

The automotive industry is the industry involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of motor vehicles. In 2007, more than 73 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.
[1] In 2007, a total of 71.9 million new automobiles were sold worldwide: 22.9 million in Europe, 21.4 million in Asia-Pacific, 19.4 million in USA and Canada, 4.4 million in Latin America, 2.4 million in the Middle East and 1.4 million in Africa.
[2] The markets in North America and Japan were stagnant, while those in South America and Asia grew strongly. Of the major markets, Russia, Brazil and China saw the most rapid growth. In 2008, with rapidly rising oil prices, industries such as the automotive industry, are experiencing a combination of pricing pressures from raw material costs and changes in consumer buying habits. The industry is also facing increasing external competition from the public transport sector, as consumers re-evaluate their private vehicle usage. The automobile industry in India-the tenth largest in the world with an annual production of approximately 2 million units-is expected to become one of the major global automotive industries in the coming years.
[3] A number of domestic companies produce automobiles in India and the growing presence of multinational investment, too, has led to an increase in overall growth.
[4] Following the economic reforms of 1991 the Indian automotive industry has demonstrated sustained growth as a result of increased competitiveness and relaxed restrictions

Snippet

The first automobile in India rolled in 1897 in Bombay.
India is being recognized as potential emerging auto market.
Foreign players are adding to their investments in Indian auto industry.
Within two-wheelers, motorcycles contribute 80% of the segment size.
Unlike the USA, the Indian passenger vehicle market is dominated by cars (79%).
Tata Motors dominates over 60% of the Indian commercial vehicle market.
2/3rd of auto component production is consumed directly by OEMs.
India is the largest three-wheeler market in the world.
India is the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world.
India is the second largest tractor manufacturer in the world.
India is the fifth largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world.
The number one global motorcycle manufacturer is in India.
India is the fourth largest car market in Asia - recently crossed the 1 million mark.

Miscellaneous

Hyderabad, the Hi-Tech City, is going to come up with the first automobile mall of the country by the second half of 2008. It would be set up by city-based Prajay Engineers Syndicate in area of more than 35 acres. This 'Autopolis' would have facilities for automobile financing institutions and insurance services to create a complete range of services required for both auto companies and customers. It will also have a multi-purpose convention centre for auto fairs and product launches.

Automobile Industry in Budget 2008
The declarations made by the Indian Union Minister of Finance Mr. P Chidambaram, related the Indian automobile industry during the Union Budget of India 2008-2009 were expected to infuse growth in industry. The automobile industry was one of the focus areas of Budget 2008 due to the high growth in this industry and the much talked about launch of the cheap small car by Tata Motors, the Nano. The initiatives taken by the Ministry to propel growth of this industry were mostly in line with the pre-budget expectations. The reduction in excise duties was welcome by the Indian Automobile industry but it was quick to point out that the much talked about area of Automobile loan was not touched upon.

The Indian automobile industry had mixed reaction towards the Finance Minister's policy for the financial year 2008-2009. The minister proposed reduction of excise duties on small cars from 16% to 12%. However this reduction is not expected to bring down the price of Tata Nano. It is rather expected to add to the profitability of the project.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Life is about struggle.

A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. On the day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to force the body through that little hole.
The moth seemed to be stuck and appeared to have stopped making progress. It seemed as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. The man, in his kindness, decided to help the moth; so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The moth then emerged easily. But its body was swollen and small, its wings wrinkled and shriveled.
The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to and able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a small, swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
The man in his kindness and haste did not understand that the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was necessary to force fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight upon achieving its freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the moth of health.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets, and don't forget the power in the struggle.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Get the inspiration from DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Dear friends ,

I am proud to forward this speech...... ......... ......... ....
I am sure you will agree with every suggestion he has made........ .........

*Please read this article by giving 10 minutes from your busy life. Really good.... ** *

* The President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam 's Speech in Hyderabad . *


Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our
achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success
stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a
self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements
but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. I
was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the
day
after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The
Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a
Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid
and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The
gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the
newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so
NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign
things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign
technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that
self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this
lecture,
when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal
in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her,
you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India
is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you
have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is
yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,
The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a
face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International
best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in
the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay
$5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim
Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking
lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or
a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In Singapore you
don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during
Ramadan, in Dubai . YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered
in Jeddah . YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange
in London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD
calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph
(88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop,
'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son.
Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell
anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New
Zealand .
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use
examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still
talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system
in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and
cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an
involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the
same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr.
Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the
streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And
then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the
authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the
officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure
in his bowels?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job.
Same in Japan . Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to
the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do
everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the
government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all
over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper
and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms
but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and
toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to
the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to
women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room
protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the
whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my
sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?
What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our
neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the
government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually
making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with
our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far
away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a
majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their
glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to
England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out
to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and
brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape
the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is
mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great
deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J. F.
Kennedy 's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA
AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA
WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'
Thanks to Avnesha,Rayees Qurayshi