Stretchmarks

And the honeymoon period ends! I am sitting on the shitpot and writing this post.. Yeah yeah.. dont go euu and yikes..! Thats the only place in the entire house where I get some peace and am away from the realization that it has been hypnotized by a pink giant.

Aaah.. Happy one month to me! It was an awesome break and I couldnt have asked for a better one. Everything was perfect..everything was the way I wanted it to be..everything was on my terms and I didnt mind adjusting for the some. But now starts the diplomacy and the cold wars and the unknown acknowledgements of who gets the bigger piece of the pie.

Mom, I love you. Madhav, I love you. I wish I had more people to love. But the world isnt as easy as they make it for me. And I need to learn better. S square are great. I am close to loving them. But it stops right there.

Adios!

Language of Strength

I never thought I would miss reading newspapers, a habit that I cultivated out of sheer pressure of being aware of things around me. But I terribly miss it. There used to be a time when I would follow the Indian politics and knew the nitty gritties. Its been 7 months and I have no clue. At that point this article came to me and I loved reading it... loved forming opinions.. loved debating with myself and with people. It made sense.

For all those who blame India of being too soft - "we are a stable nation with a single centre of democratic authority, we talk with one voice. And unfortunately each time, that works against us". We just are no madmen.

The Madman Theory of Politics

Resilience

And.. its yet another new year. Another year has gone whooshing by. I have never been so lost and unaware of myself. There had come a point in time few years back when I had decided that I will stop trying to know myself. Coz it was a mystery, almost like a treasure hunt, and it tortured me as I never felt anywhere close to the treasure trunk. The more I tried to solve the mystery, the more I felt I was drifting away from knowing myself. And I decided to not try any further. Thought this to be the best approach as a little mystery in life is always good. Guys like a mysterious girl, dont they? :)

But NO. I aint no guy. And I need to be aware of what I want, what I intend to do, what my aim is and all that. I am a girl with plans. I always have plans. Yes, I love spontaneity. But then again, if it is well planned. How is it that this time.. in this new year... I am lost! I thought of a new year resolution. But I was so distant from myself that I didnt even know what I wanted. In 25 years, I saw my first shooting star. It was beautiful :) But I didnt wish for anything. I didnt know what to wish for. There are, at this juncture in my life, so many things that are of importance. But I cant prioritize. I am being trained to be a manager.. and I cannot prioritize my own life. What am I getting at?

*Oh at that.. some people believe that I talk about my MBA so often coz I want the world to know. But I have never before enjoyed learning as much as I do in my MBA program. I hate finance, Yes. But thats about it. So yeah, I will continue to talk about it.*

So I am still lost. But right now all I know is that I need to show some resilience. Be what I always was and always have been and always will love to be. At this my mom reminded me of her favorite dialog from Jab We Met - I love myself and I am my favorite.

I am not going to allow myself to succumb to the nincompoops that are around me. It is staggeringly difficult though. I thought I could. It was 10 days into the new years with such strong thoughts in my mind and I messed up again. I couldn't do it. But to not give up is what I am aiming at. There you go... ! My new year resolution - To not give up.

Cheesy man.. these resolutions are..but I am reviving a lot of old things. Lets try this one too. And not to forget - Garima, be good to everyone. How much ever you need to fake it, still be good. Thats what the world wants. A flatterer-backbiter friend rather than a true-on the face foe. Although I choose otherwise, the world doesn't and you need to FIT in. Don't you?

Bawra mann

Orey manva tu to bavra hai

Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai bavre

Kyun dikhaye sapne tu sote jaagte
Jo barse sapne boond boond
Nainon ko moond moond
Kaise main chaloon, dekh na sakoon
Anjaane raastein

	www.amusingfungama.com - Iktara .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Need I say more? Its new years! Till about 2 years back I always had new year resolutions. I think its time to renew that habit of mine. Didnt help much, but atleast I tried and it gave me a reason to have some hope.. some faith.. in Myself..

I love this song. After a long time have heard a song that can make me cry and yearn for more everytime I listen to it :-)

And on this note, to start something afresh, here's a new look to my blog. I believe its refreshing and at the same time has some substance.

Value Proposition

As my awesome marketing professor says.. "You cant try and be everything to everyone.. You have got to target the right market segment and give them the most beneficial value proposition". Ain't that true for life and people in general? Isn't world a marketplace with customers, buyers and suppliers all trying to minimize their costs and maximize their profits. Nobody wants to get hurt and be sad. They all aim to fly high and with high profit margins and a good product.

The key, as now learnt in my marketing class, is to target one and only one segment. Straddling will give you the worse of both the segments. Your product might be the best for one certain set of people, but the worst for the other set. And you cannot, rather should not, try and be useful to them coz you will lose your loyal customer set. Can I not see that apply to me? I very much can! I am not a product like salt. People dont care much about its brand. Also there isn't too much loyalty as most of such products have the same feature - iodine content, free flow etc. and customers couldnt care less which brand they pick up. People are indifferent towards such products. But I am a product like a Absolut Vodka - a very niche market. People who like it, love it. People who dont like it or dont drink alcohol cannot stand it! I could also at the same time be PanParag - people who like it, love it. People who dont, dont!

Should I care about what these certain set of other people think about me. Like for right now, I know there is a set of people who will mock this entire post! They would attribute it to bad analogy, kiddish behaviour, overthinking etc. Should I bother about them? I say No. Id go with my marketing professor.

But then the question comes to How big is this market segment that I am targeting. Is it big enough for me to make enough profits to sustain in the market? Right! So rather than worrying about the other market segments, I should worry about mine and advertise more here. But I must say the temptation to have the largest market share is huge, but I should curb it and focus on profit making. That should be my strategy. So going ahead, I should switch the strategy from 'growing market share' to 'increase in profits'.

Cheers! to the new strategy. Lets get to work!

Pet Peeve

I cannot stand people who make 'a lot of noise' while they eat. And here I know this girl who I have to spend a lot of my time with, makes like a shit loads of noise while eating. Is she crazy? Is she dumb? Does she not understand what she is doing. I cant even come to tell how loud she is when she is eating. And to top it all, there is food in her hair, all around her plate on the table.. And there are guys who like that.. !! God save the world.. So much so for looking pretty and the giggle power.. !!

Tere bina..

:) Surprising.. why I remember all those things so distinctly.. But this was one of them. Was listening to this song today.. and couldnt help but go back in time.. hehe... So cheesy.. :)