Musings Own Thoughts

  There is a verse in the Isa Upanishad the first verse which talks rejoicing in renunciation. This almost seems like an anachronism in this day and age when there is a need to rejoice only in acquisition. The world of my childhood the sixties and seventies seems like a horror story. Imagine a world without Air conditioning,, a leaking roof on a cottage like house with an asbestos roof, no phones, no cars, irregular erratic water supply, primus kerosene stoves, no fancy toys. That tin asbestos house became an oven in summer and waterfall in the rainy season and on a rainy day sounded like staccato machine gunfire. As a small boy I have vivid memories of our house in Parel and even remember it was a one room, but large room and kitchen house. The house had a three step entrance to a porch covered with an asbestos roof supported by wooden columns with grey peeled off paint and supporting horizontal beams. The right side had an old but elegant pomegranate tree and some other greenery ...

 This is a debate which is really the crux of the battle of the organisations providing services. By services we are differentiating selling basic products vs creating experiences. Even though this definition of product versus service is crudely defined as a simplistic difference between giving standard goods like basic articles of daily living against providing experiences which create customer delight the lines between both are blurring. Today, articles like underwear banians, detergents, soap, humble stationary items are also marketed as an experience rather than a simple article of use for daily living. The classic example of at the humble tea/coffee served at roadside tapori stalls in glasses vs the franchisee Cafe chain restaurants and the ultimate coffee experience at a 5 star hotel book launch or art exhibition all go up the value change because of perceptions.  In healthcare the traditional approach is that hospitals and doctors are all about curing and providing a fa...

 Comedy and Humour is about timing and sharpness of words. There is this genre which is so effective that it can convey in a few well timed nuanced sentences with adequate pauses say something which is awkward when told in plain prose. The medium and the language along with the target audience play crucial roles in deciding the kind of comedy. Are humor and comedy different? Yes, humor is something which is used as a tool to lighten up and change a normal or abnormal situation into a lighter moment. It comes more spontaneously and makes serious situation less serious or actually funny. Humour brings a smile on ones face. On the other hand comedy is designed to evoke laughter and usually a loud kind to actually bring the house down.  The best humour I have read on a consistent basis in the past has been my old favorite Behram Contractor writing his column "Round and About" in the Evening News, later MidDay and finally in his very own paper The Afternoon Despatch and Courier. C...