My Video at First Post Website

Accidentally i chanced upon a video of self that is posted on First Post website. This is my second public appearance and thought of posting it on my blog. The first one was when i was interviewed by Zee Business after winning a B Plan contest at one of the B Schools. Per chance i don't have earlier video so enjoy this one !!

Here is the link on first post website 

You can access the video on You Tube too !!

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The faces behind the voices

Every other day we receive ten's of calls from tele-callers selling us policies, bank loans , insurance , medical cover and real estate deals. In business terms this is called  "Cold Calling", the most cheapest and impersonal way of Sales and Marketing of products or services. Companies have definitely succeeded a bit using these tool for sales or else how would we explain the menace of plethora of calls, that we receive everyday.

With technology the world is shrinking

Similarly like above, every other day we call  "Customer Care" or " Help Desk" of companies for which we are a consumer . This support center is the first point of contact that companies set up to provide assistance to its customers. More often than not, we get our queries resolved . Accept it or not the new paradigms have made "Virtual Business" a healthy possibility. Whether you buy online , receive deal offers on phone or call support desk for an answer this virtual communication will definitely form a part of your entire transaction.

So who are the people behind these voices  ??

At times it is a energetic male voice ,  sometimes a girl with a chirpy , bubbly sweet voice and on other instances a heavy pitch or sombre tone. It is remote possibility that you will ever meet these virtual people but what is quite possible is that you and me will surely conduct business with these 'Invisible entities'. The calls do not come on their own or to anyone or everyone for that matter. The companies are smart enough to choose their segment and the set of the targeted audience. So, when we are being sold an idea , a product or service the caller already has a profile in his or her mind. He or she can draw in his mind a caricature of the person being called and uses all his/her capabilities to hear you and make himself /herself heard. All his skills rely on only one tool and that is coming up with a 'Winning Pitch' in less than a minute's time. In fact it is the first 30 secs that decide which way the call will go.Apart from striking a interesting and intelligent conversation what attracts people is your voice. If the texture, smoothness, clarity , tone can make someone stop for a moment he or she will definitely give you time. If you are ultimately successfull there will be a relationship that gets build with your prospect over a series of dialogues.

Virtual Teams is the Future

Over the years I have worked with virtual teams across geographies , across nationalities and across diversities . During the course of these prolonged tele - interactions i even made good friends and conducted business successfully. All i knew about the person is the knowledge that he or she presented over the calls followed by some written mails. So having known them for long without seeing them ever i only had a mind map to imagine. The entire relationship hinged on a call that had two voices and two minds working in tandem. With the series of conversations image after image kept on adding to the person's profile and my mind accepted that virtual acquaintance.

At few times i even had the chance to add a face to the name and the voice i knew for so long. I found these people more or less in sync with the information they had provided about themselves. There were some who were better off from what they sounded on phone and some had more about them to be still known. What perplexed me is, i could not really connect the voice and the person. Probably relationships that start in person don't have any false impressions. You meet people, talk to them , understand their views and opinions and decide in some time if you want to carry along. The acquaintance that starts with making an virtual impression of the other person has hardly other parameters to bank upon. The human touch, the warmth , the eyes and the body language is not there to be seen.

If you ask me let the virtual world be virtual only. Let the identity of the person be a secret and the real self be hidden. Enjoy making images in your mind and live with those rosy and pretty imagination of yours than face the reality.The faces behind the voices have only one face and that is their voice !!

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A Good Blog-Post is a Movie well made

Movie Making and Blogging have lots in common

Is anyone of you reading this post  into film making ?? The possibility to find one such person reading my blog post is remotely remote. So i take it that neither you nor me has any idea what making of a movie entails, but what we all know is how to write /blog . Let's start from here and let me try and draw an analogy between my effort ( a good blog post ) and say Anurag Basu's product (a hit movie) . Both the activities being compared are an act of creation , original and are shared in the public domain for people's consumption and fun.

(To inform my readers, Anurag Basu is a filmmaker of repute and his latest effort , the movie ' Barfi '  has  recently hit the theatres and is being widely acclaimed for its direction and acting prowess of Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. You can read the review here - Barfi Review  )

Barfi - A movie that won many hearts

The Start

I am in the look out of a beautiful story to blog and so is Mr Basu in search of a plot for his movie. We both spend hours , days , weeks and even months to freeze upon an idea to crystallize . It can take even years to finalize the core of the entire effort . Many a times we blog and draw references from our own lives and so does a director too, and the cost of such discovery is our learning over years. Not an easy task for one's mind to come up with a bestseller at all times, yet the effort that goes in to make a start is tremendous.

The Casting

Directors go overboard in roping in actors for their flicks as they feel justice to their dream can only be done by a few. Quite Right !! As a writer when i pen a poem or a fiction i have to decide my protagonist , other characters as seriously as him. If the characters in my written piece are not strong they will not be able to strike a chord with the reader.

A movie has songs, dialogues , places , glamour and glitz to sell and i have all of them too, but with the help of a writing pen only. Don't you think my task is harder as compared to a cine maker?? He has aids to depict what he wants , i have only words to weave and perceive.

The Direction

It is often seen that a talented director can squeeze out extraordinary performances from his artists. In other cases his grip on the entire movie is so strong that even ordinary actors look like mavericks and their flaws or avoided by the audience. So in both the scenarios it is the craft of the Director to deliver a hit in the true sense of a commercial success. Blog posts that win contests and take prizes home do meet this pattern too. At times a very ordinary post find judges favour and at other times a brilliant work is duly rewarded. It all depends upon the ability of the writer.

So what is the commonality between these 2 individuals ??

The Director and the Blogger both are keen observers, they have an eye for details and most importantly they know what sells. They both have an  inherent capability of producing a winner ,a passion to raise the bar every time and nothing less than the perfect satisfies them. In this quest of greatness they debate with themselves, seeks answers to all the questions from within and once the mind is calm and quiet they act !!

To end, all i would say is  i am here to celebrate creativity , originality , talent and perfect the art of narrating thoughts. Each one of my  blog posts gives me pleasure and immense satisfaction. My mind's landscape is as wider as a Director's, who works earnestly and tirelessly to live his dream on the celluloid. My canvas is this blogging platform and i intend to deliver a hit after another hit !!

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Also read my post " The Confusion about Truth " http://viveksheel-blog.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-confusion-about-truth.html

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The Confusion about truth

In day to day life i get asked by my friends,colleagues and family to give my opinion on issues of their concurrent concern or some or the other preoccupation.This prerogative is solely bestowed upon me because people have an impression that i have earned my stripes in life through lots of thick and thin. This dialogue and exchange of ideas is very healthy indeed and leads to one's clarity of mind and also keeps the thread alive.  Or else where is the time left with anybody to reach out or 'Communicate'.

One thing that i have been lately debating is, how true my set of beliefs are , how deep my knowledge about multiple subjects is ?and how well have i weaved all the experiences in my thinking methodology ?? There are topics that i am well read and aware of , a bit lesser in few and at times totally oblivious of some. I assume that's a general mix and match of everybody around us. The grey area and self doubt  creeps in  the areas where i am not in control or have not thought it through ,however easy it might be. Still the ask of people around is an answer , an opinion and/or an advice. I can very honestly express my in ability of not knowing  it all and find an escape. Now here is the catch  !! This answer or truth is not helping me when it comes to raising my son.

My kid  is growing up day by day and learning numerous new things in this journey. He has questions, anxities and puzzles to seek an answer for and but naturally he will turn up to his parents.  Whenever he will pop up a question i have to have an answer to quench his curiosity and as i said earlier there will be questioins i will not be equipped to answer.  This is where the " Confusion about Truth " comes.  I do have an aid in the internet search engines that can answer better than me and in a fraction of the time i will take. What perplexes me in this sea of information is the verity of this information and its relevance for the answer seeker. 

Truth is not what we know

Now to judge or sieve in from this maze of content that is thrown up at me i have to fall back on my own learning's.The basics to analyse , the ability to decipher , the competency to understand and the authority to disseminate it in the end.  The big question !! Did i learn it right ??  Has there been more transimisson loss than i think,in the learning's from my teachers to me ?? Did i get my fundamentals in the first place?? How well did i learn myself ?? Has there been more of a generation gap between my parents and me  and did i not pick from them that effectively ??

What is the image and shape of the ultimate truth that i know and currently believe in ??

I have come to think of it that as we all grow we change the way we used to think few years back. Now as we change and customize there is lots of information that we buffer and newer things  we pick up. The rate at which we relinquish is not the same at which we acquire, though. The interesting thing to observe is, in the way of disowning , forgetting or deleting the information that we acquire. Here is when we pick and choose and remember things that we conveniently want to carry forward. All of it that we carry with us is not true , all is not a lie but one thing that is certain is, it is not all perfect as it was.

Gradually over the years, layers over layers keep on forming in our minds and this continuous process brings us to a point where there is a confusion about the truth we presently know. I stand at a conjecture where my  present knowledge over the years is colored ,modified and i have fresh to learn, the mode and content of which i need to judiciously decide. I am in no position to comfortably agree to either of the two sources. 

Waitng for another obscure question from my kid !!

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