Today is Christmas, a day where we are supposed to access our ‘giving’ side. It’s a little scary, considering the way in which our ‘giving’ and ‘taking’ sides are so lopsided! But such conjectures aside, in a conversation a few days ago with a restaurant entrepreneur, the difficulty of being good in the conventional sense …
Have you noticed that a flop product or a flop movie is never in the pirate’s stockpile? The bootlegger selling a pirated DVD is the best indicator of authentic market demand. He immediately discards what doesn’t sell – bootlegging what people buy, not what companies arrange to be placed on the shelves. True markets are …
In the evenings in India, at-home ‘tennis’ players begin their daily routine. They unplug what looks like a tennis racquet from the socket and get ready to wage war on a flying swarm – mosquitoes. They aren’t playing the latest version of Kinect or Wii. The bats are real, the mosquitoes are real and the …
While the world’s travel portals have grown enormously over the past decade, an Indian one has been very successful for railway passengers to book tickets online. IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) with an unwieldy URL – www.irctc.co.in has gone on to become a major success. This year, it will have revenues of over $ 2 …
Are you one of those people who tries to sneak past a traffic light just as it’s turning from green to amber? Or would you snake through all the side roads, just to avoid one? People reveal more of themselves on the road than they would in ordinary conversation – without saying a single word …
The movie was eminently watchable. Ranbir Kapoor smouldered as the tormented rock icon searching for the love that could not be. Discovering that material success and a huge fan following did not necessarily mean that everything you desired was within your reach. But what struck home was that this rockstar was not dressed in Western …
In a few days, the laid back rendition of nonsensical lyrics set to an easy to remember tune has grabbed eyeballs, been parodied, mashed and stormed the entire country. A lot of people are singing it without knowing why it stays in the mind. One of the most perceptive things the producers did before the release was to put in …
For a long time, it was just another advertising line – a hotel that makes you feel completely at home. It was used so often ( and still is) in advertising campaigns, no one ever pauses to ponder what it means. Do you feel as comfortable in the plush hotel room as the sagging TV …
The Big Mac index is the easy way to understand complicated economics. Since Big Macs are available in several countries, they offer an easy way to measure what the local currency buys in global terms – rather than comparing currencies alone and arriving at answers. In the latest one – July 2011 for example, $4.07 buys you …
One of the best known vegetarian restaurant chains in Chennai is Saravana Bhavan. Serving a wide range of South Indian favourites, they have mastered the art of fast food along with a formidable range of dishes available throughout the day. They could give McDonald’s a run for their money with the sheer numbers and the …
