What the IPL is Doing For Indian Cricket

The IPL auction is over. Yuvraj Singh received the highest bid worth 14 crores. We are delighted with some players’ addition to our IPL teams. Lalit Modi is still screaming hoarse about match fixing. The media (and most naïve people) are busy accusing Dhoni of match fixing allegations. Amidst all this, we gear up for the biggest entertainment bonanza of the year while the Indian cricket team continues to perform dismally abroad.

Accept it! The Indian Premier League (IPL) has ruined Indian cricket. Players don’t care how they perform at the international level anymore as long as they earn big bucks while playing for the IPL. They lack patience to ply test cricket, the resilience to slug it out with tough teams abroad and the strategy to come up trumps after 5 grueling days.

Who can blame them? Even they have mouths to feed. A secure future (one with lots of money) is always preferred to an insecure one. But this secure future is also killing uncapped players’ drive to play for the country.

Well, what about us? What about common man? We spend hours watching the IPL auction live (perhaps even reruns of it), tweet frantically, spend hours discussing it and calling the team owners all sorts of things for paying too much to pick a player or losing out on a good one. And then we complain about the amount of money being splurged. Hypocrisy! And we argue about how a player from CSK is involved in match fixing, regardless of no evidence present. Who gives a damn about him being the captain of the Indian cricket team, right?

Then the IPL begins. We claim that the IPL is not real cricket, a waste of time, a display of money by the rich and everything that is evil about society. Yet we are hooked. We watch matches on the tube, internet and in stadiums as if life depended upon it. We boo Virat Kohli when he plays for Bangalore while forgetting, as he said, that “apart from playing for RCB, I play for India.” Mumbaikars support Kieron Pollard over MSD because the former plays for Mumbai Indians. Awesome!

All this while the Indian cricket team continues to underperform. Obviously fatigue sets in. We will keep saying that the players’ motivation is just money, but it is because we are paying them… we hype the IPL to unimaginable heights. Manoranjan ka baap, right? And we completely expose our players to cricketers from across the globe, exposing their strengths and weaknesses. And then we wonder why other teams are so effective and India is not.

So before blaming Indian cricketers for not performing, look at the reasons. You are just as responsible for our international team’s dismal performance. If you care about India like you claim, stop caring about which player plays for your IPL team. Support him if he plays for India instead of snubbing him if he’s performed well against your city’s IPL team. Y’all are not children. So act your age. Think like a mature person instead of happily feeding on the media and being fooled. It’s time you stopped deciding players’ capabilities based on their IPL performances. It’s time our players stop wasting time and energy training for and playing in the IPL. They are humans just like you and me. I've given up on the IPL 3 seasons ago. Time for you to see the light too... and no, it's not a freight train coming your way.

Book Review: 'End of Story?' by Arjun Shekhar

What if your daughter has gone missing? And your boss is murdered on the same day? And while you’re trying to investigate all this (because you have to testify in court) you come across a sinister plot much deeper than you could have imagined?

Gripping – one word which describes Arjun Shekhar's 'End of Story?'. A thriller woven with precision, this book is unlike most fiction books you read; it has a touch of reality in it. It is especially intriguing for those who don’t trust mainstream media anymore. It’s courageous of someone to indicate what is happening in the real world by means of a story.

I’m not fond of fiction, but this book left me curious. I’ve stopped believing the media It wasn’t captivating enough for me to finish it at one go, but had me coming back to it; one novel in which I wanted to find out what happens in the end.

End of Story?

It starts off with Shukrat Ali, an anchor at the news channel ‘Khulasa’, worried about having to testify in because his boss was murdered a few months ago. He reflects of the events of the past few months, which begin with his daughter being kidnapped and end with the killing of his boss Satya Saachi Sengupta. As the events transpire, Shukrat Ali unearths a nexus between the media and the government and decides to expose it. Each chapter begins with a question posed in the courtroom to Ali, and his answer forms the rest of it. The plot, albeit left a little wanting for substance, is well woven and leaves no loopholes. Also, the description of the Gond tribes and the Vidarbha region, where most of the book is based, are awesome! Not only does the author describe the characters with amazing accuracy, he also uses language which matches the quality of renowned thrillers.

It would be mean to give away the plot. So no more details about it… It did not keep me awake at nights wanting to read more, but is powerful enough to ensure who picks it up finishes it. Like Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, the book becomes really slow at times. But be patient and pull through those pages because the climax more than makes up for them. It’s heartening to see Indian authors write books like this which don’t hand the story on a platter to the readers, but make them connect the dots and draw the author’s conclusion for themselves.

This book is a definite 3/5. So if you’re not reading a thriller currently, pick it up and enjoy a good break from your reading list. You will be left refreshed.

To Blog or Not to Blog?

This guest post by the 1st Twitter celebrity I've known - Atul Vhale. While he is an avid social media user, he has faced some tiny issues while starting to blog. Read on and let him know if you have experienced the same.

To Blog or not to Blog?

You know what I dislike intensely? When one of my colleagues comes and pats me on back and says "Bro! When you'll write a blog post, I'll announce a grand party in office."

Trust me, there have been billion dollar ideas in my mind but all disappear while watching.........

The moment I sit down to write and some cheap yet hot model pops up in my mind, the whole situation gets nasty!

I often visit cafés during weekends with the intent of writing but end up with having a couple of coffees with some hot legs. Hate it!

I may have announced on Twitter that "I'm gonna write a kick ass blog post tonight" but have woken up next morning at friend's house watching Hangover IV. I didn't like that movie though.

One night, in my dream, I wrote a blog post on Indian Economy. If only one of my jealous room mates wouldn't have woken me up before I hit 'Publish', that post would have gone viral!

Does it happen to you too or is it just me? Tell me your scene!

image Courtesy: Google Images

Viral Videos and Posts - The Secret Behind Them & More...

The advent of social media has led to increased usage of a word – VIRAL! People, agencies, companies and everyone else want their articles, photos, videos, advertisements, posts, etc. or even products and apps to go viral i.e. be shared hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of times. Most entities push for this achievement by pleading to everyone in all their social media networks to share what they’ve uploaded. Do they succeed? Nada. But some folks do... that too without much effort. Why? How does this happen?

Scott Stratten, founder of Un Marketing, explained the concept of viral content beautifully. Those who haven’t heard it, this is a post for your benefit.

The Law of Circles

When a product (or app or song) is launched, or when content for sharing (photo, infographic, video, etc.) is created, the people who share it are often from the first circle. These are people directly associated with the product or campaign. They’re either someone from the team which created it, or are people who share to be in their boss’ good books... so on and so forth. When they share the content, it reaches the second circle or their first circle, which includes their friends and family. Their first circle is not obliged to share it with anyone. However, when the latter does, the content reaches the third circle, which is similar to the first circle of the people associated with the product or content. People in the second circle share it with their family and friends because they genuinely like what they see. Forget the marketing terminology of “adding value” for some time. People share because they want others to see what intrigued, entertained or enraged them. People in the third circle then share it with those in their first circle, and the cycle continues. This leads to a product, photo or video going viral.

Think about it. Isn’t this why Michael Jackson and Metallica produced so many hit songs? Isn’t this why ‘Why This Kolaveri Di’, the Volvo commercial featuring Van Damme and Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ were such hits? And why Felix Baumgartner’s Space Jump was one of the most watched YouTube videos in 2013? And, of course, Justine Sacco’s tweet, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

99.9% of agencies and marketers aiming to produce viral content fail to remember a key aspect – only one factor lures people to share something with others... EMOTION. Liking a Facebook post is one thing, sharing it on their timeline with 400+ friends is another. A person shares something when it engages her emotionally. It may evoke feelings like fun, joy, anger, nostalgia among others. You can beg people to share your content, but how many do? And when something barely crosses the first circle, you can bet your bottom dollar that going viral is out of the question.

So remember, don’t focus on creating “viral content”. Focus, instead, on creating something awesome and engaging. Content which is not necessarily related to your product or service, but which touches an emotional cord with readers and viewers. Do something outrageous, which delights people; give them a reason to share what you’ve done or created. Then, dear friend, you will have done something which is worth reaching hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people across the globe.

NumeroUnity.Com - An Inside View

Beautiful are those people

Who leaves their marks,

on sands of time

As dew on flowers

in zest of sunshine

Sweet as nectar

holy as divine

These lines are part of NumeroUnity, the blog under the microscope as part of the Indiblogeshwaris' Naughty and Nice programme. It is owned and handled by Ekta Khetan (hope I've got the surname right), a resident of Mumbai and a pretty girl.

The blog is impressive, just as the lines penned above. The design is clutter-free and simple, with share-on-social-media options at visible places encouraging the reader to do so.

NumeroUnity's Landing Page, with the author Ekta Khetan

The blog site (which I assume is hosted on blogger.com), is separated into 5 pages as follows:

1.  Blog with NumeroUnity – A page which informs readers about the areas where Ekta can help businesses/brands improve their online presence. She states that she’s well equipped to handle writing projects, book launches, reviews of movies, restaurants, spas, white goods, etc., promotions, advertising, polls, giveaways and more.
2. Blog Awards – This page talks about the accolades Ekta’s blog has won. They include winning the Microsoft Office 365 Contest, We Chat’s pan India blogging contest and one from Kitchens of India, among others. Plus she is a Mia Top Blogger for Tanishq and has featured in Spicy Saturday. Her article on Curry Bashing has been featured in MumbaiMirror too. Way to go, girl!
3. Review – As the title suggests, this section includes reviews on films, books, food, products, and more. The page has links of the reviews posted, which means a reader can browse through the entire list of reviews at once. She can click on the link she chooses and not have to wade through content that doesn't interest her.
4. What is NumeroUnity – This is the website’s About page. It briefly describes the owner's journey through the blogging world and talks about her likes and skills.
5. Poems I Penned – It looks like Ekta loves writing poems. Almost every post of hers has a few lines of poetry. This section, however, has just 2 poems so far. You can bet more are coming soon.

Ekta's writing is fresh and unconventional. Unlike many bloggers, she doesn't rant about how unfair life is and how the world is not what she imagined it should be. She prefers using photos and humor in her posts. And it seems she is dead against men sporting a stubble, which is evident from the jab she’s taken at Shahid Kapoor & Ranveer Singh. The way she portrays an appalled Deepika Padukone and Sonakshi Sinha is hilarious.

Ekta could revamp the layout of her blog page a little. Archives, the option to subscribe and some good posts like the tribute to Michael Jackson and her interview are at the bottom of long pages. Plus, it takes a little effort of maneuver to one of her latest posts if you’re on another page. The Feedjit widget can make way for something which will ensure readers stay looped in on her site. And as is the case with all of us, writing skills can be further sharpened.

It’s a great blog site on the whole. One with 243 followers and 3, 00,000+ visits, she definitely is doing things right. Ekta is popular too – she gets at least 20 comments on each post. Awesome, isn't it? So guys, if you’re looking for your dose of humor, follow her website and Twitter handle. Rest assured, you won’t be let down. Cheers.