“Be a better clown for me.” He laughed. She smiled. He left. She cried. He played it right.
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Jump-Start A Dream
It’s been some time, I’ve been toying with the idea of wanting to give up on social life and live like a recluse, have done it to different extents at different times. Sometimes I feel like it’s better to not work at all, find some odd things to create and find ways to sell them. Like the odd-Cabuliwalah. It seemed too depressing. I need some life with little social contact to not poke me in the face about how I’m missing my social competency way off my mark.
Well, as a solution, somehow ironically doing what everyone is talking about currently… Start up something of my own. Stand up India, Start-up India, and well… I am somewhere somehow a part of it, bro!
For the last two years I have been making things, from painting customized tees, shoes, to making dreamcatchers, to a whole lot of other customized gifts. I have pondering on the idea of been wanting to have a kaarkhaana of my own, talk to a few other artisans, and work from there on. I have been figuring that people want to gift great things to people, but end up doing the same old ghisa-pita. Nobody has the time to put some time into gifting. I love gifting. I love creating beautiful things for people. (Sometimes, I don’t feel like gifting after I have created them though :p ) And it brings me great joy to do something so specific to the recipient that it just couldn’t have been the same (as a whole) for anybody else.
#MyStartupIdea is to create a portal of customized gifting for loved ones, without feeling guilty for not finding the time to go and shop and gift the same ‘ol , same ‘ol. All you need to do is come in, share your story, share your personality traits, share the recipient’s personality traits, and I will share options of things I believe will work. Maybe even share prototypes. And then, on your feedback, would emerge a beautifully crafted creation specific to your loved on, from you! Isn’t that lovely?
Would it be successful? Depends on what your parameters are. I would be happy if I can do some good work and be simply able to earn basic expenses. That has to be enough. Should be, no? Who needs market research when you want to do this so bad?!
Reasons to start-up vary; some do it for ego, some do it for herd culture, and some do it out of social/ anti-social pressures! But jump-start your dream and work toward it, that’s what I am telling myself everyday. I don’t think it is going to be as easy as it sounds. In fact, I know it won’t be. But I hope that at the end of the day, when I take my warm shower and settle in my bed, in a house alone, I would be happy looking at myself.
I am slowly, steadily inching toward it. And soon, I would have been living my dream. Jump-started, suddenly, it will come to life.
P.S. This post is, yes, a contest entry for the contest with influencia. Start Guru, the sponsor (www.start-guru.in) is a start-up community. But besides the contest, I did pen my thoughts. I do believe that more people should realise why they are doing what they are doing, and what is the role they are going to fulfil in this society, in this life. And that role can only be fulfilled when you work toward a dream of your own, where your contribution matters. Your creation matters. 🙂
What do you think? 🙂
The Doctrine??? of Content Marketing!
For some time now everyone decided to have their far-fetched imaginative analogies to IDEAL “content” and “content-marketing”… Below is my attempt…
I tried my hand at it via the Laws of the Cosmos. I tried to co-relate everything I read with corresponding (IMO) elements of content marketing.
All philosophical study is centred on four great themes:
- Nature of the Ultimate Reality/ Supreme Light/ Logos/ Being
- The process of Creation of this Ultimate Being
- Status of the individual
- Mutual relationship among individuals, called society
The Laws of the Cosmos are divided into Satya, the truth, which exists due to the sheer indivisibility/ simplicity of an idea; and Rita, the system/ scale to judge the ideas. Together they create a formulation for introspection or audit for the working of the idea thus created, at every stage of creation. Like the phase-testings and UATs of software.
Many simple ideas connect together to form the eco-system of campaigns as we see today. Integrated marketing campaigns! Are they Platform Agnostic? No. Each platform is the medium, right? The medium IS the message, if that theory is to be gone by. I believe in it. I believe that nothing is truly platform agnostic, each platform has its own unique traits, and each idea used is not a “derivative” as is popularly believed, but a connected “Satya”, another indivisible simple idea.
(A derivative is defined as unimaginative, unoriginal, imitative, but simple ideas do not create derivatives, they CAN create linkable ideas with some shared pursuits. Together they form this compound of IMCs)
The Rita, or the scales, test the simplicity of the idea on three levels:
- Relevance
- Scalability/ link-ability to others
- Sustainability
In this system of belief, brands belong to the lowest strata of consideration. We start from people, always.
People à Fulfilment of their emotions à Attributes of Products/ Services à Product/ service identities à Brand entities
If I have to do a deeper philosophical masturbation here, then the ideal content becomes the “Ultimate Reality” of which the emotions form the “people”. How these emotions react together is what forms the “society” and the process of creation of this “Ultimate Reality” is the process of content marketing.
Where does the brand lie in this matrix?
It doesn’t. It lies outside this matrix. This matrix is only to find the Satya. The Rita introduces the brand and tests the might of the Satya.
Now… The ultimate reality being everywhere, yet nowhere can justly define the amount of content that exists everywhere, YET THE ONE TRUTH TO LIVE BY FOR A BRANDED CONTENT IS ELUSIVE. That’s the dual nature of the realm of content.
Content is a force, which can exist timelessly and even space-lessly. It also exists topically and transiently. But ideal branded content is not dependent on either, it is just what it is. Great content!
Since content is the supreme-being, it is could be believed to have the following features:
- Shankha – A conch shell – It is representative of the natural cosmic energy vibration of Earth, and hence the emotions of people, bells the sound of victory or glory
- Chakra – A discus – It the one which is mobile, one which can transcend
- Gadha – A mace – It is representative of self-sovereignty, one which has its own might, radiance, and VIRILITY
- Padma – A Lotus – It represents Creation & Cosmic Renewal & Primordial Purity – Lotus untouched by water, performs duty unattached, thus showing its independence from trivials of competition.
How does the metric finally find the “content” and “brand” relationship?
Referencing to the strata of considerations, as shown above:
People à Fulfilment of their emotions à Attributes of Products/ Services à Product/ service identities à Brand entities
This relationship is represented by only two of these strata… Fulfilment of Emotions and Attributes of Products/ Services. If these two units can draw several parallels between the two, an ideal content marketing mix can be achieved. What is important in this process is finding the right Attributes to connect with the right Emotions! That’s the tricky part.
Do remember that this few-hundred word document is only an interpreted version of what ideal content should be like. It is not absolute. But, it does allow for me to delve into content marketing with some guidelines to refer to when strategizing for it.
Would love to know what you think of it… Do comment! J
“Be a better cl…
Mourning
Seal my thoughts with a single lick on the envelope
Smell my breath as you uncloak my feelings
Hold it close to you, feel the weight on your chest
Flickering, that candlelight awaits
Cast a shadow of your pen on paper
or let the blood turn to vapour & soot
Hold it close to you, feel the weight on your chest
Let that decide who’s the bearer-uncouth
The loss of the unborn is not mine alone to bear
The few pounds and decimals, unaware
Hold it close to you, feel the weight on your chest
Hold it close to you, for whom you couldn’t hold at all!
Hold on!
Care!
Shadows
Mingling shadows
Taking forms
Following unasked
On the path forlorn
No smile, no frown
No rhythm, no song
A hymn of silence
We hum along
लहर
एक लहर आंधी सी एक छोटे से पल में बह गयी,
तेरी नमी भरी आँखों में ख़ुशी दबी दबी रह गयी,
पिघलता हुआ ज्वाला बर्फ में बदल गया
दस्तक देनेवाला पलट के घर निकल गया
खाली कर उस आँचल को जिसमे तूने इतने ग़म भर दिए,
ऐसा कुछ न हुआ की तूने अपने सपने ही बदल दिए,
भोज लिए घूमे फिरती है उसे अपनी ज़िन्दगी बनाके
बह जाने दे आज, आंसू बह जाने दे,
लुट जाने दे आज, खुद को लुट जाने दे।
Butterfly
Butterfly: bright colors; love; nature; air;
Hold my hand, friend, I tend to get carried away,
The lightness in my head, in my soul, phew! (smiles)
But I haven’t molted yet, or have I? (frowns)
I’m scared this beauty is not mine, I’m scared I might have pain to bear.
Hue and cry, yes, dramatized, but that’s why I am a butterfly.
I spread joy, unsure within, superficial it all is, or maybe not!
Hold my hand, friend, comfort me, tell me, it will all be fine.
Please tell me it will all be fine.
Warmth! (sleeps)
Jina, Sirf Tere Liye
A child and a hundred adults,
‘Helped’ yet leading the way,
Ignorant out of indifference,
For there are a plethora of milieus,
Acceptance and acknowledgment of only what is directly hers.
“Because I choose not to know it, I worry not, to show it.”
The menials surround,
Her faith at the center,
Compassion filled, she draws out,
“Will you hold my hand?”
I wonder if I asked for it.
Damn sure I sought it.
Such is she.
Jina. My friend.
Peace.
He looked at her,
She felt them, the rain drops,
He smiled at her,
She felt it, the cold shudder.
He walked toward her,
It ripped her heart open.
“Will you undress me?” she said.
Slowly the scars were open,
Some wounds unhealed,
He laughed.
She knew it was HIM. All like HIM.
And for the many like her,
She pulled out the dagger,
“Not again, never again!”
She bathed scarlet that night,
Smiled, in years,
For years to come.
Yes, he laid me.
Aching heart; fear-filled,
Longing for even the bleakest comfort,
He gave his arm out. Solace, I thought.
A delusion.
He held my hand, moving an inch every hour,
I could call the hoax, no naivety here.
Yet, hope is a bitch!
So yes, he laid me.
He walked the street, whistling,
A beat in his gait.
Our eyes never met.
Lying under the sheets I thought,
“If never can I forgive myself for a deed that harmed, I will have you.
You will be my penance to all my wrongs.”
What The Mind Licks 