Kanupriya Sindhu

– Dreamer, Doer, Mother, Marketeer

Letter from Baby to Mum-n-Dad

January 31, 2012
Got this as an email forward and just loved it! I so wish I could know who actually wrote it first. I think all new parents would be able to relate to it and those with grown up kids would surely feel nostalgic after reading this :-).
Dear Mommy and Daddy,
Please keep this letter from me in a place where you can read it and re-read it when things are rough and you are feeling down.
1. Please don’t expect too much from me as a newborn baby, or too much from yourselves as parents. Give us both six weeks as a birthday present, six weeks for me to grow, develop, mature, and become more stable and predictable – six weeks for you to rest and relax and allow your body to get back to normal.
2. Please feed me when I am hungry, I never knew hunger in your womb and clocks and time mean little to me.
3. Please hold, cuddle, kiss, touch, stroke, and croon to me. I was always held closely in your womb and have never been alone before.
4. Please forgive me if I cry a lot. I am not a tyrant who was sent to make your life miserable, the only way I can tell you I am not happy is with my cry, bear with me and in a short time, as I mature, I will spend less time crying and more time socializing
5. Please take the time to find out who I am, how I differ from you and how much I can bring you. Watch me carefully and I’ll tell things which sooth, console and please me.
6. Please remember that I am resilient and can withstand the many natural mistakes you’ll make with me. As long as you make them with love, I cannot be harmed.
7. Please don’t be disappointed when I am not the perfect baby you expected nor be disappointed with yourselves when you are not the perfect parents.
8. Please take care yourself; eat a balanced diet, rest, and exercise so that when we are together you have the patience and energy to take care of me. The cure for a fussy baby is more rest for Mom.
9. Please take care of your relationship with each other. What good is family bonding if there is no family left for me to bond with.
10. Keep the “big picture” in mind. I’ll be like this for a very short time, though is seems like forever to you now. Although I may have turned your life upside down, please remind yourselves that things will be back to normal before long.
Enjoy me – I’ll never be this little again!
– Yours.

Ain’t it just sooooo touching?

Santa did actually come to our home this year :)

December 31, 2011
Santa arrived with quite a clatter
we had to wake to see what was the matter
What a precious gift he left this year
a bundle of joy we love so dear!
Happy to introduce my li’ll bundle of joy to all my readers, I’ve been blessed with a baby boy this year. On this last day of 2011, I’m actually an 11 day old mommy now :), still can’t believe it but yes I’m :). 2011 has indeed been the most special year for me & my family, hope 2012 will be as blissful and joyous like last year.
While the li’ll one is keeping me on my toes, I just managed to sneak in five minutes to wish all of you a very happy and prosperous new year. Have a great & wonderful year ahead!
Phew, this is all I can manage to post while the new daddy is playing with the baby. Time to get back to my new life now :). Will be back with my new set of experiences as and when I can manage time.
P.S: These are the first pair of shoes of the li’ll one gifted by his nani. Gawd, I think I have never been as obsessed with any of my shoes, as much I’ve been with this li’ll pair :). Have kept it on my bedside table like a piece of decoration 😛

The Immortals of Meluha: Book Review

November 30, 2011

Don’t remember when was the last time I got so hooked on to any book that I took all-nighter efforts to finish a fiction series. Shiva Trilogy is indeed one of those which got glued me to it like crazy. And thank God, I did not read these two books separately. I had missed to read the first one when it was released. So, when there was buzz about ‘The Secrets of the Nagas’ getting released, that’s when I actually picked up ‘The Immortals of Meluha’. Otherwise had I read these two titles separately, can’t imagine the restlessness that I had to go through about ‘what happened to Sati’.
Set in 1900 BC, ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ is the first book of Shiva Trilogy series written by Amish Tripathi. What we modern Indians call the Indus Valley Civilization, the inhabitants of that period called it the land of Meluha a near perfect empire created many centuries earlier by Lord Ram, one of the greatest monarchs that ever lived. This once proud empire and its Suryavanshi rulers face severe perils as its primary river, the revered Saraswati, is slowly drying to extinction. They also face devastating terrorist attacks from the east, the land of the Chandravanshis. To make matters worse, the Chandravanshis appear to have allied with the Nagas, an ostracized and sinister race of deformed humans with astonishing martial skills! Amidst all this chaos, here appears a Tibetian immigrant who as per legends will be their savior, their God – the Neelkanth. But is this immigrant ‘SHIVA’ a normal human being prepared to handle the same? This book is the story of SHIVA, an ordinary man whose karma actually made him MAHADEV – God of Gods.
What I liked about the book:
  • The Presentation. It’s actually a mythological story but presented as fiction with its own share of thriller, romance and action. I mean the way author has presented this story is absolutely commendable!
  • The characterizations – from Shiva to Parvati to Brihaspati everybody has been sketched out in a unique way. Though we are aware of these characters but this book gives lots of interesting information about them that actually personifies them as real flesh and blood human beings.
  • The details, I absolutely loved the knowledge it provides on our old civilizations and ancient India. Not everything is fiction, lots actually hold true as per our history and mythology.
  • The theme, which makes you believe that one can become God only by actions and nothing else. The whole concept of “Har Har Mahadev” which reinforces that there is a God in everyone.
  • Last but the most important one – the plot! It’s racy, engaging, page-turner, fascinating and totally gripping till the end.
What I didn’t like about the book:
  • Actually nothing strongly negative about this book except the language that too only at some places. Maybe at places I found Shiva’s language to be too casual but then you know it might be because of the fact that somewhere in our brain Shiva is ingrained as God, so called Bhagwaan Shivji and that’s why his casual approach in some situations like his initial encounters with Sati might seem bit odd . It’s more to do with perception I think 🙂
Overall, a very interesting and must-must-must read book. It’s not in news unnecessarily; it deserves to be a bestseller. I will be back with my views on second book of this series in my next post. Till then, tell me did you read the book and did you like it?

RA.One Marketing: Was definitely needed but how much?

November 18, 2011

Just watched another program bashing up Ra.One marketing campaign and how the film has been a dud till now despite a very well planned campaign. Well, first of all I have not watched the movie till now, so I wont be the right person to comment on the actual content of the movie. I’m aware of the basic theme, the marketing campaigns, supposedly the superior effects, technological edge, the characters and songs of the movie. But beyond that no comments on whether it’s good or bad.

Possibly one of the longest marketing campaigns in the history of Indian movie marketing spanning over a period of approx 10 months & with a lavish budget of Rs. 40 crores, Ra.One had indeed one of the most discussed maniac marketing campaigns ever. From global tours, to graphic novels, to digital marketing, to brand alliances, to presence on reality shows, to innovative merchandises, to physical toys, to digital games for ipods / ipads, to youtube channel, to google plus pages… phew and yes, before I forget, to even have Akon for Chammak Challo and Lady Gaga for the premier… I mean you name it and the movie had got it. Yes, I agree the marketing campaign for Ra.One was nothing less than an attack on your senses! Words like overdrive or aggressive promotion would be understatement for a campaign of that magnitude.

But I still do not understand why link up a promotion campaign with the average or failed performance of the movie. Since when a good marketing has actually made a bad product successful in the market? Can’t recall even one case study where a crap product has been a hit because of strong marketing. Despite, all the criticism on the marketing strategies and the need for it, I for one at least think that a movie like Ra.One needed the promotion push in the market. Here’s why:

  • Content: The movie tries to venture into a different zone, the sci-fi genre that is still primarily untouched by many in Indian film industry. A third of the film’s budget has gone into special effects and Ra.One boasts of some 3,500 VFX shots in the entire movie. Considering the digital bang and effort which has gone into creating this kind of content, it does make sense to me to back it up with relevant marketing and engagement tools like digital games, innovative merchandises and graphic novels etc. Two of my movie buff friends actually commented – “when it comes to special effects, the movie has been made marvelously well. Whatever said and done, the movie has set up a benchmark and standard for others to match up to in Indian Film Industry.”

  • Character: It’s not a general Bollywood flick with a pre-decided story line. This movie is all about an Indian super hero and that too a new brand. More than the movie, a character G.One had to be introduced, defined and established in the minds of the TG. A brand different from legendaries like Spiderman or Superman of this world. Now whenever there has been a need of such introduction, promotion has to be done. Take the case of any famous Hollywood flick and you’ll see a trend.

  • Target Audience: Apart from regular SRK fan base, the movie was also targeted towards kids and anything around kids these days has to be marketed with that special imagery or the zing factor to grab their attention. In fact if we speak of the TG, it was sort of a shift from that typical SRK imagery where instead of wooing the women audience or presenting a family melodrama, it was the first time when he has tried to entertain kids primarily. And trust me I have met three kids in last one week who actually liked the movie, loved the character of G.One and merchandises of Ra.One.

Considering the attempt at a different kind of content, need to establish a brand in form of a character and an attempt to target a completely different set of audience, I think this movie needed the marketing buzz for sure. Now, whether a budget as huge as this was needed or promotion as aggressive as this was required is something really debatable. In my views, its yet another classical case of “how much is too much” and “create the hype only if you have the potential to sustain it” with which the campaign needs to be reviewed or evaluated and not with a direct correlation or one-to-one relationship solely between marketing efforts and product performance.

P.S: Despite all the criticism, I think I do want to catch up on this movie sometime for sure 🙂 and if at all my views change after watching this movie, I will update the post again.

100 million & counting: Internet users in India

November 10, 2011

It has happened. India crosses the 100 Mn Internet users mark this September. As per the latest report from IAMAI, there are 112 Mn claimed Internet users as on September 2011, out of which 88 million users belong to urban cities and 24 Mn to rural areas. Compared to last year, there has been a growth of around 13% and by December 2011 it is expected that there will be 121 Mn claimed Internet users.

Few other key insights from the report:

  • Usage from home has increased whereas common access points like cyber café usage seem to be on decline as compared to previous years. Around 37 percent of users access the Internet from home, 23 percent from cyber cafes, 22 percent from office, 9 percent from mobile devices and rest from schools and other such places.

  • Internet usage in smaller towns continues to spike its dominance over top 8 metros with a combined usage of more than 60 percent.

  • Youngsters in India continue to drive Internet Usage in India and usage of school going kids has seen a substantial rise. This opens up the market for children aged below 18 year of age.

  • While the usage by both college going kids and young men have taken a slight dip compared to 2009, school going kids have started using internet more than they’ve ever had in the past decade owing to the now existent e-learning services and educational information available on the Internet.

  • Emails, Education, Social Networking, Music and Text chatting are the most popular activities amongst Urban Internet users whereas in Rural areas accessing music, videos, photos and general information search are the activities of prime usage.

So, users and usages have increased. What next for India Online? More e-commerce companies? Better e-learning services? Increased market for smart-phones and tablets? Growth in Mobile Internet Industry? Well, maybe all of these. Indeed a landmark figure has been reached, now interesting to see how it impacts the overall state of Indian Internet Industry and its position in Global competitive landscape.

Source: Report on Internet in India (I-Cube) 2011.

Happy Festivities!

October 30, 2011
So, hows everyone doing? Hope the festive season is going great and you all had a sparkling Diwali. Diwali was good for me too with beautiful lights, colorful flowers, yum food and sans crackers. Yes, for some strange reason this time I didn’t burn even one single cracker. Not that I’m fond of noisy bombs but i always loved those bright fireworks like flowerpots or fire-wheels, though this year I was not attracted to even those. Not sure of the reason – maybe health or maybe mood or maybe the general repulsion towards noise pollution. But like always, I did decorate my home with beautiful diyas and flower arrangements. Decorating my home esp. for festivals is something which I really-really enjoy doing ever since my childhood and after marriage it has an added charm as husband dear eagerly waits for me to dress up our home with my hand made art pieces and as per my design preferences. So, this year it was no different as far as this part is concerned, by evening I was damn tired but loved every bit of adding festive charm to our house. Maybe I will do a photo post on it sometime soon :).
Till my next post, here’s wishing you all a very bright & jovial festive season! Celebrate these moments of life and make such occasions special for you and your loved ones. May God bless you all with lotsa happiness, peace and prosperity!
I shall be back soon with reviews of my recent reads. I actually managed to read some really good books recently, so next post has to be on books :).

Devi Ma jaldi se tumhe ek beta de!

September 22, 2011
Question to all married women (esp. the ones who are yet to enter motherhood): Have you ever been blessed with something like, “may God bless you with a healthy and hearty daughter”. At least I have not been, not even once!
I know we have discussed it enough and many including me have expressed million times our dissatisfaction over this bias that happens in our so-called progressive society till date. In fact I have given up on arguing on this topic of male child obsession, it’s only me and my husband know as to how much delighted we would be if we will have a baby girl whenever we will have our child. And I really-really mean it, nothing can compare to the joy of having a cute and caring daughter. We always say we will be really happy to have a healthy baby but super joyous if it turns out to be a daughter. Then why am I writing on this topic again today? Well, because of these two incidents which happened yesterday:
A lady not too old and from her personality you cant even call her orthodox blessing me like this (verbatim quoted): “Mata Rani jaldi se tumhe ek swastha beta de, bas devi maiya se yahi prarthna hai ek beta aa jaye tumhare god mein”. Hmmm…I just silently smiled. Then her next discussion with my mom was another cherry on top. She explained a whole puja ritual that is done during Navratri festival to have a beta. And how this puja is a sure shot method to be blessed with a son, if you follow all these XYZ instructions Goddess Durga will indeed bless you with a son only! Mom also smiled and replied, “bhagwaan inlogo ko ek sawasth santaan de, phir beta ho ya beti kya fark padta hai”. But that lady kept on & on & on explaining whatever… with a conclusive statement “aap ek baar karke toh dekhiye, dekhiyega jaldi hi beta aayega, beta“! And no that lady was not some old haggard conservative granny, she was a middle aged woman, educated and working as well!
Another person who works at a senior position in a corporate announced his leave citing reasons of his trip to Vaishno Devi temple up north. He is going even in the rush season of Navratri as Goddess has fulfilled his wish. Mr. X just got a son few weeks back and would you believe if I say it’s his third child? Yes, a third child in this generation and no points for guessing that earlier two kids aged 11 & 7 are girls! Though he never mentioned it explicitly but this question was there on almost everybody’s face when he had announced the arrival of his son as to how come a third child in this age esp. when he already has two angel like daughters? Nevertheless, neither it was asked directly and nor it was our business to interfere in his matters. But Mr. X definitely has the nerves to accept that son was his mannat from Devi Mata and he is trekking all the way up as Goddess has fulfilled his wish.
Wow, so you pray to a Devi Mata who is actually a woman to bless you with a male child? You’re asked to keep a fast during Navratri and do numerous rituals to offer your prayers to Mata Rani so that she can bless you with a son? You believe in the Shakti of a Goddess, in the power of a woman to fulfill your any wish, yet when it comes to ask for a child you ask for a son! You have faith in a woman but ask her only for a male heir … Interesting & ironical isn’t it 🙂 ?
All you educated and supposedly broad-minded people from my society – I know seeking a blessing to have a daughter is unfathomable and asking like too much. But least you can do is bless a lady to have a healthy child. If you can’t utter the words “Devi Ma tumhe ek sunder si beti de”, then you don’t even have to say to have a beta… “swastha santaan” or a “healthy child” makes much more sense. Accept the child as the best gift that you can get and let the decision of giving you a beta or beti be better left to Almighty!

Common yet rare!

August 26, 2011
Yesterday evening had a chance to return early from work and that too during daylight. While nearing the lift I noticed lots of happy kids playing and running around. Well, to be honest I had no idea that there are so many kids in my apartment and even kids of today’s generation go out and play games like hide & seek in playgrounds! From their chirpiness and conversations it looked like they were playing hide & seek itself with few of them hidden in the basement car parking area. When I reached my floor, just outside the lift saw these two young girls of neighborhood family clapping hands and playing Miss Mary, Mac, Mac, Mac (something on the lines of the hindi one “aam churi, chappan churi”… remember 🙂 ?). That game and the way they were playing immediately brought a smile on my face :-). Oh, so kids do play such games till now, though with bit variation but the core fun aspect looked the same.
As soon as I entered my home, something made me decide to go for a walk in the evening itself. I generally go down for my walk at night once I’m back from office or maybe after dinner. Since I go out in dark, mostly I end up walking in the pavement area circling my apartment where there is ample lighting instead of walking in the green area where there is only dim lighting. And once I went down in the daylight, I was surprised to see the place abuzz with so much of activity there. Garden was indeed very beautiful with lush green grass, swings for kids, beautiful seating arrangements within patches of greens and a lovely fountain. Yes, I had heard many times from my neighbor that the garden in our apartment is quite nice and fresh but only that day I realized how lovely it was. Also made me think that I had never come down to this area in the evenings, in fact the only time I remember checking this place was when we were moving in and had gone down to check out the facilities. Those days, that area was under construction and hence not so well maintained. I do go down to the common facility areas on weekends but mostly it’s to use the swimming pool or occasionally the gym but never ever to this beautiful place full of natural beauty, fresh air and bloom all around. And I have been staying in this apartment for like 2.5 years now!!!


Spotted this empty bench and decided to sit on it for a while before starting the walk and the whole surrounding made me so nostalgic. There were women gossiping, kids playing, old aunties sitting on grass in circles and old uncles discussing something while taking their walks; reminded me of park evenings which we used to have during our childhood days. It was actually quite lively and nice, lost in my thoughts with my ipod plugged in my ears I never realized when more than an hour slipped by. Even music seemed to be more melodious with serenity and greenery all around. Only when the phone buzzed, I actually noticed the time and realized that it’s already dark now. And guess what, I was so lost in my thoughts and engrossed in silently observing people that not even once I felt the need to update my Facebook or Twitter stream in that one hour. If it would have been just another free moment at my home or those waiting hours while on commute, I’m sure I would have been glued on to any digital screen refreshing my timeline or reading something interesting on internet.
Relaxed and refreshed, while I pressed the lift button to go back I only wondered why I didn’t come there earlier? Why we generally tend to ignore such common activities, which actually can give us some very special moments? Some pleasures are just so near to us but we are too busy to even notice it. Some things are just so simple, yet they give you such unique satisfaction. Reminds me of this quote by Paulo Coelho which I had liked so much while reading The Alchemist – “It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary”.
Note to self: I must go back to this place and spend some “me time” whenever I can, after all I used to enjoy doing this so much during my school and college days :-)…oh those lovely evenings in hostel when I used to spend hours reading my favorite books on garden benches…

Happiness: Absolute or Relative Quotient?

August 5, 2011
Oh yes, I’m alive people 🙂 and was once again absconding from this space for weeks :(… Many a reasons for the same but well I will leave that for a separate post.
As of now, I’m in quite a weird mood or shall I say pissed off with some generalist attitudes. The recent one being, hearing of negative sighs with a standard statement – “Arey yaar teri kismat badi achchi hai“!

Don’t know if it’s the frequency of this statement in recent times or the negativity which it exudes even from so called close people which irritates me more but whatever it is, these days this sentence really gets on to my nerves! You meet someone, he/she asks you how life is going on, gives some happening updates of his or her life, insists again and again on knowing what’s up with you and then when you reply about the updates or latest developments in your life, you get to hear – “arey wah, great to know about these. Waise kuch bhi bol yaar, teri kismat bahut achchi hai. Tujhe yeh bhi mil jata hai aur woh bhi, teri hi life sahi hai“. Well, normally such sentences do not bother me but then there are times when it does. Especially when you know the effort which you had put in or the difficulties you had to face to get those things and all you can see is the gloomy expression or the negative heave of sigh which the person leaves for you!

Well, not everything can be all about kismat or luck in life. And even if it is, then why this sigh for others? I mean you also have a happy life going on then why not be happy for others too? Why it diminishes when you hear about some positive updates in others lives? Will your life be happier if you focus on what you have or will it be happier when you come to know what others don’t have? Why the evaluation of your life always has to be in comparison to someone else?

Now coming down to luck, I have no idea if any such thing exists in life. At least those who know me closely esp. since childhood know the kind of struggle which I have gone through in my life. Again I am not saying that I have had one of the most difficult lives ever but yes, I know that nothing has ever come to me easily and simply out of luck. Life has never ever been easy for me; I had my own share of unimaginable losses and unexpected mayhem. Those who know me very personally can actually vouch for that. But then I also know that if I have really-really tried for something in life I have got it; maybe not everything what I wanted and not at the time when I wanted but sooner or later and in some or other form it has come to me. I also know that rarely have I felt negative in life due to happiness or success or growth of others. This does not mean I did not have my own moments of frustration or depression, I’m no saint or some ultra optimistic person but such phases have been mainly due to my own problems and not because of happiness of others. I at times wonder why I do not bother much about others; maybe the struggle of my own life keeps me busy enough to not focus on others. I’m too engrossed solving my own problems and thinking of bettering my own life instead of missing on what others have with them.

A person like me does not always like to share the problems or turbulences of my life very openly. This does not mean I’m one of the super happy persons or everything comes absolutely easily to me. Also when life is so busy for all of us, then when we meet I prefer to discuss the stuffs which can give us lighter moments in our already stressed lives. So, without knowing the complete picture or the immense endeavor which one has put in getting something in life, just do not come to conclusion as to how others’ lives are always so perfect and how yours is so miserable!

Can’t you evaluate your happiness in absolute quotient based on your own life instead of evaluating it as a relative quotient by comparing to others? I know it sounds like some theoretical gyaan or boring updesh but try avoiding this relative measurement or comparative analysis once and see the difference in your satisfaction level… I really mean it! And next time think before heaving that negative sigh for others.

Blogging Journey Since 2003

About Me

Dreamer, Doer, Mother, Marketer - that’s how Kanupriya likes to describe herself and the order of these roles keeps on changing for her every hour of the day :-). Entrepreneurial in nature with strong product leadership skills, she has established brands and built products that have been industry differentiators in the Indian market. Digital media is her great passion and she is an active contributor to some of the country’s leading technology and marketing publications. Kanupriya currently lives in Bangalore with her husband and son. When not working, she loves to spend her time with books, oven or paint-brush.

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