Women Empowerment #CauseAChatter #pebbleinwaterswrites

Women empowerment is a problem too, so is the solution.  One thing is true.  Half of the people in the world who speak or write in favor of women empowerment do not actually want to see this happening.  And the other half don't know what it means, or its possible solutions.  In fact, the moment a woman starts thinking that her only real job is to please a man, she takes herself a step down.  On the other hand, the moment a man tries to convince a woman that the woman is always behind or below the man, and a woman accepts it silently, the decline of our society begins there and then only at that very moment.  The society in which women are given a high status and respect, that society progresses on the right path with ten times the strength and momentum.

Photo credit: angela7dreams on VisualHunt.com

Woman has that power which no one else in this world has.  It's her strength and power of being a mother. No man can beat that strength and power. The status of mother is considered above even God.  So in such a situation, it would be a big mistake and unwise to wrongly assess the power of a woman, to make her feel inferior, or to consider her weaker.  It is because of a woman, that this world exists.   How would the world progress if there were no women?  In such a situation, if a woman thinks that she has to be equal to a man, then this is also wrong.  Because woman is already above any man right from the beginning, in every respect.  Now if we talk about family, society, and country, then women should be given equal rights in terms of respect, status, and opportunity, in every house.

Actually,  it should start happening in every part of the society. As nothing will happen with empty feelings and showy slogans.  It is put in the mind of the child from the very beginning that the boy has a free hand and all the bonds are there for the girl.  A family loves the boy more, it's less for the girl.  Expensive stuff for the boy, not for the girl.  If this unfortunate discrimination is inculcated in the hearts and minds of both the children from the very beginning, then even if we talk about equality going forward, it will have no meaning.  The good thing is that slowly this awareness has started increasing all over the world.  The families where it was taken care from the very beginning that all rights of girls and boys are equal, children have progressed more in that place.  Girls lacked ability, it was never like this.

But how do girls progress when they are not given equal opportunities? The whole world has witnessed when a girl or woman is given the right opportunity, they demonstrated it by going ahead of the boys and men respectively.  A termite is still there in our society.  Even if girls are given equal opportunities to an extent, they end up coming at one place.  Still nowhere are girls considered worthy of the highest position.  No matter how many times the girl is ahead of the boys in her ability. We have to get rid of this societal curse or evil. 

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this post are personal and for reading purposes only. They’re not medical advice. Each individual’s experience may vary. Please consult a professional if you need help.

This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter. 

Orlando Shooting Guides Amy Schumer to Cut Gun Scene from her Movie

June 12 was a black day for Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, the United States where more than fifty persons died in a mass shooting attack by a terrorist. The gunman was killed later by Orlando police after a 3-hour fight. Around 60 persons were injured during Orlando shooting. It has been reported as the most heinous attack by a single shooter and the deadliest incident of violence against LGTB community in United States history. It has also been reported as the severest terrorist attack in the United States post 9/11 attack in 2001.

Photo credit: alisdare1 via VisualHunt / CC BY-SA

Omar Mateen, 29, an American, born to Afghan parents is identified as the assailant. He was a regular visitor of the nightclub and is supposedly having links with ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) though CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) has not been able to find any links between Mateen and ISIL.

Photo credit: pennstatenews via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Amy Schumer, actress, and comedian has taken a lesson from this mass shooting incident and has revisited her already created latest film that is yet to be released. Schumer's new comedy project that is yet to be titled is based on a mother-and-daughter kidnapping in which she will be seen alongside Goldie Hawn of The First Wives Club fame.

Photo credit: tonynetone via Visual hunt / CC BY

Schumer, deeply shocked by the tragic shooting in Orlando in a homophobic mass attack has decided to cut a scene from the movie that involves gun firing at others by a person. The age-old debate is always there whether movies inspire criminals or real-life crime stories inspire movies. Though the details of the scene that is cut are not very much clear but definitely it is in line with the expectation by the whole world to curb violence and killing of innocent people all across the globe. Terrorism has been increasing like an unstoppable virus that needs to be curbed at the earliest.

#ShareTheLoad - When Swamiji Enlightened With The Reason Behind

I was meeting Swami after a long time. This time the reason was #ShareTheLoad. I wanted to understand the crux of the reason behind a cruel reality of our society where Women have taken the route to equality for the external world of a family by stepping out to work and share the financial load of a family. But her label of being a homemaker still remains intact. A woman despite taking care of multiple roles of a mother, sister or a wife is still being held solely responsible for household chores as her prime responsibility. The age old phenomenon of 'division of labor' is still unaltered and is deep rooted in our home, society, and nation expecting the women of the house to own all responsibilities within the four walls of the home. 

Photo credit: Saarblitz via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

Right since so many years, a child is taught that a girl is the one performing domestic chores like cleaning, washing, cooking, etc. while a boy in the family has to yearn for a profession to be the primary earning member of the family and take the onus of earning the bread and butter for the entire family. The scenario has changed in one direction when girls are prepared for a professional life and women have taken an equal responsibility of an equal or maybe, a higher earner in the family. But what about the other side of the wall? Why every household chore is still the responsibility of the woman of the house even if she has to sacrifice her life, profession, education, stamina, and energy manifold to just follow it blindly without raising her voice against it?

Swami is my good old childhood friend turned a multinational c-suite executive as per the last information we met a decade back. After that I lost his track or probably he wanted to go in an isolation state to take a final call of his life. During our early education days I had a big impact of Swami's ideologies. He was quite serious and matured during those days. He was beyond his age. He, in fact, was my mentor, inspite of being my classmate. He never differentiated between genders. When I used to visit his house, he would be helping his mother in her household chores without a hitch. He would go to kitchen to prepare tea, would not hesitate to wash clothes, to clean house and so on. These small gestures turned me too into similar kind of guy and I never felt insulted doing all such things at home. Neither did my male chauvinism would get hurt.

After a decade when I got Swami's call, I could not dare to ignore it. He was in India for a decade now after he resigned from his MNC well flourishing job and decided to take a different route. I got surprised to know that for last 10 years he is on a mission to educate youth of the country with a cause. And the cause is to eradicate gender bias in everybody's life. He has been successful in this. He has become a wanderer. He visits remote villages and towns to educate people about this. Educating them to break the invisible walls between a man and a woman.

“You know the reason behind these walls is nothing but our mindset that sets the barriers. Once you are able to break that jinx, everything seems easy and attainable.” He said when we met recently. I left my job because everyday I used to stand in front of mirror and ask myself what is my purpose in life.” “And one day I found the answer from within.” The answer that he got a decade back made him resign from his job and start his own venture. A venture where money is not the top priority for him. This is an education venture where he not only teaches children who are the builders of our nation but also their parents to make them understand that the times are gone for creating a gap between a girl and a boy.

Today all are equal and have same set of responsibilities. Men are equally homemaker with their family as women of the house. If a woman can work full time why can't a man share household chores with her and #ShareTheLoad? If a mother can bear the pain of birth of her child, why can't father take the equal ownership when the child is born?

That is Swami who is building his army of youngsters to fight with these evils of our society and gear everyone up to #ShareTheLoad. I feel proud to be part of Swami's bandwagon. Find out Swami around you. It lies inside everybody's heart, mind, and soul.

I am taking part in the #ShareTheLoad Challenge with Ariel and Akshara at BlogAdda.

#ShareTheLoad Be The Top Agenda of the Whole Country

A local politician's birthday prompted him to invite children from various schools at his place for celebration. A few guys from media also were invited as a strategic step to show Netaji's love for the kids of the nation. I decided to prompt Netaji on this occasion to know his views on #ShareTheLoad and let the representatives of Gen Next present there understand it. It was all unplanned. Netaji didn't know what I had in mind. Neither did anybody else have a hint about it.

Photo via Visualhunt

The kids between the age 7-15 were assembled well in time at his premise. The setup was made outside lawns of his huge bungalow. A big pandal and a lot of chairs were organized on one side of the lawns. Another side had catering arrangements. The agenda was cake cutting by the birthday boy (Netaji), a short speech by him addressing children on how to build the country and what all is there in store for them to explore in future. After that there was a small session for media queries and then snacks and food for the children before they were to disperse for their respective places.

After the cake cutting ceremony, Netaji started addressing the children about his party's good work being done for the country in general, and children in specific. He shouldered a big responsibility on children as they were the next in queue to take onus of building the nation. He stressed on adopting good things from all across the globe and bring those into practice. After he closed his speech, questions from children and media were invited. Prompted by me, a kid sitting next to me raised his hand and asked the question I had injected into his ears. “Sir, Many happy returns of the day. I want to know what steps and direction should we as the younger generation take to curb gender prejudices?”, he asked Netaji.

“I am very impressed by the question you have asked and am happy that you raised this concern that everyone of us has been living with for so many years.” He replied with a smile on his face. “But the time has come that you children will have to take a lead and set an example at your home to kill this virus that has been haunting us for so many years.” He called the kid on stage. “Let me give you an example of what I do in this regard, and then you all can decide to take it further in your own way. My only request is not to stop your journey in between till we all are able to achieve #ShareTheLoad in the whole country.”

He invited one of his housemaids on stage. “Meet Kantabai. She has been working at my place since I was in school. When I was a kid like you all, I used to see her working so hard at our place. Then she would go to her quarter adjacent to our bungalow to do all her house chores. I found that her husband neither was having any job, nor was he helping his wife in any of their house chores. One day when he came to our place to inform that Kantabai was unwell and hence would not be able to come, I went along with him to their quarter. Kantabai was not in a good shape and hence I promised her to do their house chores that day. In the beginning her husband was just sitting and watching me but gradually somehow he felt something inside and started helping me. After sometime he told me to leave rest of the things that he would finish.”

“That day brought a big change in Kantabai's life as everyday when she would reach her quarter after finishing her job, she would find Rajaram, her husband busy in finishing house chore. He took the complete responsibility of all house chores.” Netaji was overwhelmed and so was everyone present there. “What are your takeaways from this story?” He asked children. And almost everyone was eager to reply. “I would request my parents not to differentiate between my sister and me and would ensure I don't get any extra advantage for being a boy.” One of them replied. And almost everyone had a similar kind of reply. 

Photo credit: Saarblitz via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

I was sure, the flame is lit in every heart and would definitely light every house these kids have come from to finish the age old conventions of woman only being a perfect homemaker even when she has stepped out to share the financial load with man. Now men will not feel ashamed in #SharingTheLoad and even if some of them do, the children will not let them, now. One thing is clear, every Netaji is not fake. There are few with great leadership qualities to set an example for others. I hope every child will become a true leader in this regard for his parents, peers, family, friends, and whosoever comes in their life.

I am taking part in the #ShareTheLoad Challenge with Ariel and Akshara at BlogAdda.

#FairStart A Public Advocacy Campaign by UNICEF for Every Child

Every child on this earth has a right to get enough opportunities for a #FairStart in his or her life. Usually the real talent of a child gets burried along with his or her wishes in order to fulfill the wishes of his parents, or bend under circumstances and surrender to the situations. UNICEF India is already doing so much for the children, society and various other causes in the country. The same is being done at a larger scale worldwide by the global group UNICEF. UNICEF India launched 'Fair Start' campaign for the purpose of bringing awareness to the society and social media about persisting inequities that large chunk of children in India face that affects their survival, growth and development. The 'Fair Start' film showcases these factors through various angles. The film aims to get an insight into the lives of millions of children coming from different walks of life and having different backgrounds.

#FairStart campaign and 'Fair Start' film wants to elaborate the life of million of children who don't get enough chances in life to show their real talent hidden inside and who are full of potential but are devoid of grow up healthy, happy, and safe. These children have least chances of attending school due to their circumstances and situations. And hence they are less likely to learn, and have high chances of getting married as children. Most of these children are forced to forget their childhood at a very early stage and get engaged in some kind of work in order to earn money.

#FairStart is a drive. It is a mission. It seeks involvement from every element of the society. Every person has to contribute from whichever segment he or she belongs to. After all, everyone has a responsibility towards the children of the nation. Introducing this noble mission and showing the film, Caroline Den Dulk, Chief, Advocacy & Communication, UNICEF India emphasized every child of the country, or rather on this earth, deserves a fair start in his/her life and has an equal right for adequate nutrition, safety, education, psychological and physical protection, sanitation, and health care. The campaign is launched with its primary goal to draw attention to the lives of the children who are deprived of these fundamental and basic rights, usually at times determined simply by where they are born.

#FairStart campaign and Fair Start film tries to convey the message that every child should have a fair and equal chance in life without any consideration of their caste, gender, ethnicity, poverty, religion, or region. The drive in this regard is gaining momentum for last many years as UNICEF is working closely with the Government of India and many other associates to improve the condition of the most vulnerable and deprived children with an aim to ensure that each child born in this vast and complex country gets the best beginning of his life, and gets all possible favorable conditions to develop to his or her full potential.

Every child has a right for a #FairStart. As of now, more than 6 million children in India are out-of-school as per a study conducted by SRI-IMRB for Ministry of HRD, Government of India, in 2014. Census 2011 data says more than 10 million children are engaged in work in the country.. 2013 Report of Sample Registration System shows almost 3500 children die on a daily basis before reaching age 5. A data from RSOC 2013-14 shows 42 percent of tribal children in India are stunted during their growth and development. UNICEF-WHO Joint Monitoring Report 2015 data shows almost half of the population of India which is around 570 million people still practice open defecation. Another data from Census + RSOC 2013-14 states that although girls in India deserve an equal chance in life, but on an average more than 2 million girls marry early every year in the country. Another research shows based on a report by NFHS3 that more than 23% girls between 15-19 years of age experience physical or sexual violence during some point of time.

Den Dulk said that mostly such issues faced are severly complex in nature and cut across all layers of society. There is a tremendous change in mindset required to make changes happen in real life. Merely listening to or observing these stastitics or attending these talks or conclaves will not suffice the purpose. The #FairStart campaign comes with a serious purpose of engaging the largest possible chunk of public in a debate and conversation for everyone to see they have a role to play to ensure every child can have a fair chance in life.

The 'Fair Start' film has been produced with the participation of a group of children who have joined bringing their own daily life into the film. The film has been made with a lot of love by the team and they hope everyone likes it. What they need in return is a small portion of help from everybody to get a fair start, life. Every child deserves a #FairStart. Abhishek De, Avant Garde Films feels emotionally that the #FairStart campaign was quite an oustanding and glorious project to work on for him, as well as the entire team at Avant Garde Films. The most memorable thing he remembers was working with such wonderful kids from 'Bigger Than Life' NGO. The children played cast and crew really well. For De, and he is sure for everyone who was a part of this prestigious project, it would be the best memorable experience and will be close to everybody's heart forever.

The crew included wonderful kids like Sahil, Cameraman, Suraj, Art Director, Shawn, Cameraman/ Director, and Belinda, Costume. The kids are just 14, 10, 15, and 13 respectively and have come from very diversified backgrounds. Suraj, for instance, has 3 sisters and 2 brothers. The only earning member in the family is their mother who works very hard selling corn. Suraj doesn't mind helping his mother at her work. His father is an alcoholic and fights at home. He wants to become a scientist.

Sahil has a mother and a sister. His father passed away 3 years back. He helps his uncle in laundry work. He goes to an English medium school and wants to become a cricketer when he grows up. Shawn has 6 siblings. His father has left home and mother keeps unwell. That is why he is not able to go to school as he has taken up the responsibility to work and earn money for his home. He loves playing football and yearns to go to school. Belinda is Shawn's younger sister. She goes to a municipal school. She is very shy and wants to become and office accountant. She works at home after school hours.

You must watch this inspiring movie below:

Please do share the movie, the cause #FairChance and contribute in whatever shape you can to build the children of our nation stronger. Let every child get a #FairChance at an appropriate stage of life.

WADe India Awards 2016 Women-Led Developments in Architecture & Design

WADe India Awards & Conference 2016 was quite an interesting day to witness. Soon after registration in the morning the event was inaugurated by none other than the most powerful women legend Dr. Kiran Bedi. Lamp lighting was done by Dr. Bedi, Ar. Divya Kush, President – IIA, Prof. Krishnarao Jaisim, Ar. Prem Nath, Ar. Dikshu C. Kukreja, Ar. Sanjay Puri, Sarosh Wadia, Vice President IIID. Vertica Dvivedi, Founder, WADe India, introduced WADe to the audience. The panel discussion – Challenges for Women Architects/ Designers to start own practice in India and the ways to overcome had Ar. Shiela Sri Prakash, Ar. Anupama Kundoo, Ar. Sonali Bhagwati, Ar. Parul Zaveri on panel that was moderated by Anuradha Chatterjee. The power and zeal was visible amidst the most prominent issues that women professionals face and find their own ways to overcome those hurdles.

A Perspective: Being Celebs Designers by Sussanne Khan & Zarine Khan was quite energetic, insightful, and left a great learning point for all mothers when Zarine /khan said that life has no certainty and hence as a mother she left no stone unturned in making her daughters self-sufficient to cope up with every moment of life in a dignified way. Sussanne gave all credits to her mother for ensuring her sufficient space during her childhood and youth to learn and build herself in a strong manner.

The second panel discussion was not only interesting but also insightful for couples working together in family business. A Retrospective: From the successes of Men-Women partnership firms & women only firms had prominent panelists Lalita Tharani & Mujib Ahmed, Krupa Zubin & Zubin Zainnudin, Santha & Kalhan Mattoo, and Annkur Khosla. The fun-filled discussion probably brought a good amount of learning points for panelists among each other and for the guests. Ar. Raseel Gujral presented An Outlook: Importance of Integrity in Design that was had certain key-points as an important takeaway for professional women architecture and designers. A small session was there by Professor of Marketing, Ramendra Singh, IIM Kolkata on Finance & Marketing for Women Leaders in Design.

Immediately after the lunch, it was time for special entertainment when Vasu Primalni was on stage for her stand-up comedy. It was hilarious and full of laughter. Vasu is the recipient of Nari Shakti Puraskar from the Govt. of India. She is also one of the top 3 female stand-up comedians of India, Triathlete, and Environmentalist.

Though Chief Guest Dr. Najma Heptullah, Union Minister for Minority Affairs was not able to attend the event on health grounds but her speech was full of inspiration for the aspiring women architects and designers. There was an emotional an tearful tribute to German Architect and Designer Zaha Hadid by Ar. Sanjay Puri that was followed by the Award Ceremony. There is no age for achieving anything great in life was quite evident to see the all-age recipients of these glorious awards.

Parryware Display Studio by Roca Bathrooms Inaugurated by Pau Abello

Parryware Display Studio is a unique concept from Roca Bathrooms

Parryware Display Studio inaugurated by Roca Bathrooms MD Pau Abello

With 2600 sq feet of retail area Parryware Display Studio by Roca Bathrooms is a must visit for every business and individual

Parryware Display Studio, a unique concept from Roca Bathrooms launched by its Managing Director Pau Abello is a cavalcade of modern day lively bathroom solutions. It makes your bathrooms as cheerful, unique and playful as your living room. It is a unique concept. The first and only one is launched a few days back with currently no intention of launching its replicates in other cities. We had a detailed interaction with the managing director Pau Abello during the launch ceremony. The Studio is at ABW Towers, IFFCO Towers, Gurgaon. Don’t miss a chance to visit it whenever you are travelling via National Highway 7, Delhi-Jaipur Highway. It is at exit 6 on the highway. If, and when you visit, you will have a complete transformation in the concept of setting up your bathrooms. The Studio promises to cater to all your needs related to contemporary bathroom solutions.

Almost all the products are on display here making it a completely experiential studio. It is spread over an area of 2600 square feet.  The studio is a must visit for all individuals who love to give a royal touch to their bathrooms. The concept stays equally valuable for a visit for businesses, architectures, interior designers, builders, and influencers. You will get a lot of ideas for redefining your bathroom spaces. For expansion purposes, the company targets to increase its dealership network to more than a thousand direct dealers by the end of the financial year 2016-17 across over 50 cities of India.

Roca Bathrooms have seven huge manufacturing plants across strategic regions of India. There are much corporate social responsibilities (CSR) initiatives in place and more in the pipeline. The investment of INR 150 crore in the coming years is planned to spend on research and development, and new product range. Parryware Display Studio is an earmark in that sense. Pau Abello has some phenomenal ideas to incorporate in the coming years.

Mr. Pau Abello said, “The launch of Parryware Display Studio is a significant achievement for us and underlines the importance of being available offline to the target audience and increases consumer connect with the brand. Parryware’s new Display Studio will cover the entire range of its innovative and best-in-class products to enhance one's bathroom space. As a company, we are focused on providing complete customer satisfaction and with the industry adopting the latest technology, Parryware is at the forefront of providing the best in class bathroom solutions to its patrons in India.”

“With the introduction of the Display Centre, we are confident that that the consumers will cherish the products on offer and be inspired to transform their bathrooms.  This latest Parryware studio will allow us to be within easy access of the consumers, offering them a wide range of technology-enabled designs and applications in bathroom solutions,” adds Mr Abello.

About Parryware

Parryware, India’s leading manufacturer of bathroom products, originated from EID Parry, one of the country’s oldest and most reputed business entities. In 2006, it entered into a joint venture with Roca Corporación, Spain, and became a Roca Group subsidiary in 2008 and turned into a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Roca Group in 2011.

Relaunched into a new avatar in 2015, Parryware continues to hold the title, ‘Superbrand’ for the year 2014-15.  Parryware, with its more than 60-year heritage, has firmly positioned itself in the market with its seven manufacturing units strategically located across the country and with a presence in several overseas markets. Brand’s strong foothold in the market has been testified by coveted titles such as ‘Trusted Brand’ (received in 2012, 2013 & 2014), ‘Super brand’ (in 2007 & 2015) & ‘Powerbrand’ (in 2010-11) and many prestigious endorsements from the leading International quality certification authorities. True to its legacy, Parryware continues to progress from strength to strength and charter ahead as a provider of complete and contemporary bathroom solutions for India. For more information - click here.

About Roca Group in India

Roca, a Spanish Owned Group, has been a global frontrunner in the bathroom space for almost 100 years with a focus on Design, Innovation, Sustainability and Wellbeing. With a presence in over 135 countries and 75 production plants spread across five continents, Roca is the ultimate worldwide benchmark reference for the creation of bathroom products. In India, Roca consolidated its position by joining hands with Parryware in 2006. With a solid distribution network in place, Roca India has a Pan India retail presence, which is targeting to expand its retail presence in Tier II and III cities, is aiming to add upto 100 dealers across all brands including Parryware, Roca and Laufen. Backed by a strong and rich pedigree, Roca India is poised to continue its revolutionary and leading presence in the country. For more information - click here.

Women Discrimination Highlighted In Australian Media by Women In Media

Women discrimination and sexual harassment in Australian Media

Women discrimination a major concern in Australian Media

Women discrimination resulting from sexual abuse in Australian Media

Women discrimination and sexual harassment have been highlighted in Australian media. IT is a major concern. There is sexual harassment and abuse and we are talking about women empowerment all across the globe. Women’s Day is just a day away. All efforts are in vain till we don’t achieve gender equality. More than 50% women who work in Australian media have reported bullying, exploitation or sexual harassment. This is the result of a landmark survey reported recently in a news. Out of the women who confirmed to be the victim, more than 40% confirmed it happened on social media where they engage with their audiences. The cases of bullying, harassment, and abuse stretched from mild to severe. In some of the cases reported there were even death threats and similar serious intimidations.

Photo credit: UNDP in Europe and Central Asia via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

A number of women working in Australian media had to either put a halt to their career or change their profession because of increasing women discrimination. The survey was part of the Mates over Merit - a report on the women working in media organized by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Almost a thousand Australian media professional women were surveyed during the last quarter of the previous year. The situation is stated not to be healthy in this field. Merits are shadowed by mates, sexual harassment and abuse are overlooked, salary gaps are widening based on gender and a lot more instances like this.

Photo credit: UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC

Women in new and media are facing serious impacts of women discrimination. The gender bias is increasing, resulting in frustration in Australian media. There are no visible efforts seen in improvements. The progress is almost negligible. Although the ratio of women working in media is increasing, but so is the number of such cases. Hope to see some improvement in this area. Maybe Australian government can look around and find out some solutions to relieve women from sexual harassment. 

Fuelled by Love and Compassion You Can Win Every Customer And Battle

Marketing and Service fuelled by love and compassion is quite important

It is quite important for marketers to be more authentic and show people behind the brand. People are the main key. People build relationships, grow them strong, generate power and lead towards success. Everything has to be fuelled by love and compassion. When people in your team are heartwarming, it impacts a lot on the overall growth of the organization. When organizations grow, people working in it automatically grow. A marketer must have a capability of creating a deep bond with its people working in the organization and people who consume its service or the product.

If you look at this video above, you will understand what I am trying to say. It is so touching that it wet my eyes. It creates a big picture right in the beginning. It is beyond generic marketing tactics played by marketers. The message is clear quite loudly. It talks about love. There is an element of love with the country where you work. There has to be a deep bond created with the place where you work and the people around. Few messages are wonderfully driven in this video. The heart has a big role to play in whatever you do. If you love your work and people availing your services you get a signal of everyone loving back. In this video we see Helena Flynn, 23 working with British Airways. Since she is part of worldwide maincrew she is posted on flights coming to India. The way she prepares herself and presents herself in the flight is marvelously captured. The way she builds a bond with Mrs. Reddy gradually results in mutual respect. This is quite an impactful video.

British Airways has customized its product and service to India to suit their Indian customers. It is not possible if you don’t know India well. That is something fuelled by love. British Airways has been flying to India since 1924. There are 49 flights from London Heathrow that operate to five cities in India. These are Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Chennai. Overall, it is an important message to build a strong bond with your customer. Serve truly and heartily. Such bonding never fails. Such bonding never dies. Such bonding stays for life.

Ekaterina Makarova a Porn Star and Ruslan Shchedrin an Actor

Ruslan Shchedrin has won Ekaterina Makarova for a month

Ekaterina Makarova is in 20s and Ruslan Shchedrin is a teenage

Ultimately the news of Ekaterina Makarova and Ruslan Shchedrin is turning out a hoax

Ruslan Shchedrin has won an online competition. He is entitled to live for a month with porn star Ekaterina Makarova. Ekaterina is an adult film actress in Russia. Ruslan is from Moscow. She is in her mid-20s and he is a teenage. Ruslan is 16-year-old. The story began like this. There was an online competition announced by an online virtual weapon selling website Cases4Real. These virtual weapons bought online are used for the video games. Ruslan was the 100,000^th visitor on the website and as per competition he won a chance to live for a month with Ekaterina.

Ruslan claimed the prize and was quite excited after he was declared as a winner of this competition. There are many questions that arise out of this. Was the Russian adult film actress aware of it? Did she know someone somewhere had put her as a prize? News says Ekaterina is aware of the result without disclosing if she knew when she was put as a prize on the website. She has reportedly welcomed the result and said she will not mind having sex with the boy if he wants to during that one-month tenure of living together.

Many stories have further evolved. Ruslan Shchedrin is an actor. The competition itself appears to be a hoax. Though Dmitry Beseda, the man behind this competition is not declaring it a hoax. He says it was just a competition for fun sake. What kind of competition was this? It has created so much of confusion around. There is a lot of criticism happening in Russia in all major media circles. All major newspapers are declaring it a sheer hoax. Ruslan’s mother Vera Schrdrina reportedly is quite hesitant about her son accepting this award. She said her son is studying and he must focus on his exams. 

Terror Data Debate About Government Requests for Data – Bill Gates

Terror Data Debate should start as per Bill Gates

The recent tussle between Apple and the FBI calls for a terror data debate – Bill Gates

There has to be set norms for terror data requests by the government, says Bill Gates

Photo credit: cliff1066™ via Visual hunt / CC BY

Norms need to be set for all telecom and other companies for providing terror data when requested by the government. A recent tussle between Apple and the FBI calls for a terror data debate says, Bill Gates. The FBI wanted access to the complete history data of a dead murderer’s phone from Apple. Apple refused to oblige the FBI. This should immediately be taken into account. A debate must start about any kind of government requests for such kind of data as opined by Bill Gates. The fight between the FBI and Apple is lingering on for last few days and has reached to an extent of knocking the doors of the court. FBI wanted Apple to unlock the iPhone owned by Syed Rizwan Farook. Farook killed more than a dozen of innocent people in December last year. Is Apple worried in losing business if they oblige the FBI with this terror data?

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On one hand the FBI is seeking data related to Farook for investigation purposes. On the other hand, Apple has plainly refused to provide so saying the FBI order is risky and exceptional. Bill Gates in a discussion with the Financial Times stated that this is a particular case where the FBI is seeking data access. If they had asked for complete data of all customers, it could raise an objection. But for a specific case with a valid reason, Apple should not get into such kind of resisting mode. He further opined that the case is not different from government agencies seeking data from telecom and banking sector. In another interview held with BBC, Bill Gates said the issue has reached to an extent where a debate has become a necessity. The controversial point raised by Bill Gates is that on one hand government assures to protect citizens and on the other hand, in such critical conditions, the government wants this data to be exposed. He emphasized that the question is about the availability of such data to the government. Should agencies like the FBI stay blind or they should have all the rights to access data.

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The US Department of Justice is also seeking relevant date from Apple in the context of around 15 different cases where investigations are stuck due to lack of data. It is important to settle this issue once for all. The terror data debate must take place as early as possible as demanded by Bill Gates.

TED 2016: Uber and AirBnB Play Same Music

Uber and AirBnB emphasized on goodness of sharing at TED 2016

Both Uber and AirBnB take advantage of disruptive business ideology: TED 2016

Uber and AirBnB, most talked about technology businesses, defend Sharing Economy at TED 2016

At TED 2016, two different business verticals Uber and AirBnB talked about the same philosophy of Sharing. Both played the same music on the goodness of sharing. Both have taken a good amount of advantage of disruptive business conditions. The bosses of both the companies emphasized on defending sharing economy model at TED conference Talks. Many governments in the countries where these two companies are operative are scrutinizing their operating model. The concern is about understanding their operating mechanism, business model, and profit model. Head or AirBnB, Joe Gebbia is confident about his understanding of benefits of the disruptive models of business and commerce. The same is the case with Travis Kalanick, head of Uber.

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It is all a mind game. The business world is like a chessboard. It all depends on how well you play your turns. How do you strategize and how far you are able to strategize in advance? The risk is not jumping into turbulent waters. The risk is in not knowing it is turbulent. And the risk is in knowing but not equipping well before jumping. It is important to have clarity in various business situations that might arise at a later stage and how do you plan to cope up. While Uber is in sharing cars, AirBnB is in sharing homes. Both the business gurus emphasized on passing on the maximum benefit to end consumer makes it a winning the game situation. The more communities get benefitted, the more you prosper. The more you benefit the communities, the better are the chances to connect with more communities. Now replace the word communities with customers. And that is the crux of any business to prosper. This philosophy works well even in worst kind of economic conditions.

Photo credit: TED Conference via VisualHunt / CC BY-NC

Joe Gebbia when launched AirBnB started it as an online service to enable traveling community to offer private homes for rent rather than opting to stay in hotels. He explained the first time fear for a customer to rent his home to a stranger is like unlocking your mobile phone and handing it over to the person sitting next to you. But when you build an atmosphere of Trust, everything is possible. Though he himself had a drastic first-hand experience as a first-time host under this business model, gradually the trust factor built up in the business model. He feared that night when he had a stranger sleeping on an airbed in his room, that the stranger might kidnap him.

Uber is an app-only based cab booking service. It provides private and hire cars. It is among the most controversial companies on the earth. Overall, both the companies emphasized at TED 2016 that sharing of economies is the best business model. Both Uber and AirBnB were seen singing the same song and playing the same music.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can  apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.