Birds.. feathers.. flock together?

wolves.... The lone wolf is an ardent admirer of the good life... you know.. money, fast cars, luxury... the works..
Ask any ambitious educated youth in our country whom he wants to emulate in the long run.... and Trust me.. the name of Vijay Mallya would definitely come up.. if not every time..
Why do the youth admire this man so much?.... For one he's rich.. Second he is the king of good times... and finally.. he's got attitude...
Infosys Chairman Mr Narayanamurthy is a millionaire too... his assets surpass those of Mallya's... Yet he chooses to live a simple life.. An ambassador car and a modest 2 bedroom apartment as compared to Mallya's fleet of ferraris and lamborghinis... and that palacial house in goa...
So wait a minute... Birds of a feather flock together na?... but then why the discrepancy in the theory...????
The American automobile industry is led by three giants(or at least used to be!)... GM, Chrystler and Ford.. today they have lost the battle to the Japs who took the american car market by storm since the 70's... The reasons behind the failure of the american giants are quite interesting...
Alfred Sloan designed the segmentation theory post world war 2..... the former president of GM divided the american market into different segments based upon differences in socio-ecomonic conditions.. BUT THE TASTE WITHIN A COMMUNITY WAS ASSUMED TO BE HOMOGENEOUS...... i.e millionares always prefered a bentely always... heh heh.. Little did they realize that there were quite a few Murthy's in the customer base who could afford it.. BUT NEVER WANTED IT...
Japs realized this fundamental flaw in the american design process... They brought about the concept of the LIFESTYLE car... according to those wonderful japs... A person's lifestyle may not directly depend on his socio-economic segmentation... rather than making 50 different models for different segments... the japs designed just 2 or 3 good models.. and upgraded on the accessories... for eg:- the same system is now followed in India.. you have the maruti 800 and the 800 dx... both have the same engine, same handing and riding comfort.. but accessories such as air conditioning bring about the change in price...
Trust me the Japs had it all worked out... in 20 yrs.. They conquered the car market... While Gm struggled to maintain the top spot... Ford and Chrystler had practically been left to the dogs... This fellow wolves, is inventive thinking..... Out of the box... damn!.. these Japs are good..!
To conclude.. Do birds of a feather flock together????.. I leave it to you decide....

the wolf walks... into the night...
Howl of the day:-
Have a carrot in one hand and a long stick in the other... you'll go a long way.. definitely out of the rabbit hole..

the elephant trap...

fellow wolves.. the lone wolf is back after a long hiatus.... was on a perilous journey encompassing life, death and everything in between.. Humans,lesser mortals that they are... call it the university exams... The wolf has been through hell and beyond...
i was thinkin and thinkin.. wht shud i write on.. and i caught a glimpse of today's newspaper... Alongside the terrorist attack in the RSS headquarters.. there was a half a page article about a rogue tusker being captured... and it was the seventh article in the series.. i guess its the MEDIA EQUIVALENT OF REALITY TV...
the wolf shares a sense of bretheren with the mighty tusker.. But cmon.. The guy is getting undue publicity ... today he shares the media space with our Prime Minister..!!
which brings us to the core issue... Has the role of media been reduced to the 3 S's:-
1. SCOOPS
2. SCANDALS
3. SENSATIONALISM
the wolf believes yes... today the media revolves around news that people want to hear.. two headed goats in some village in kasargod, 11 yr old being molested by 45 men, gory details of mao activists chopping off the head of innocent villagers in nepal.....
Is this what we want to read?? clearly yes... The wolf pities the humans for still being primitive and carnal in their thought process despite claming to be the most civilsed race...
all of us Agree to the fact tht media plays a pivotal role in a country like india where corruotion and malpractices are rampant..
Take Tehelka for example... We all agree tht it was the worst tht people at such positions should be doing... or the couch casting issue involving the "bad" man shakti kapoor....
BUT ISN'T THE MEDIA CREATING NEWS RATHER THAN REPORT THE NEWS??
Let us take the case of the tusker episode.. the dude has been around for quite some time causing trouble.. nobody took notice.. neither the forest officials nr the government...
but one fine day the newspaper reports the issue... and bang!
things start falling into place... the paper has its masala hathi safari to entice its readers, the tribals have one less trouble.. and the forest officials get a chance to play Superman....
everybody is happy.. i agreed... BUT SHOULDN'T THE PAPER HAVE STOPPED WITH THE FIRST REPORT? WHY GO FOR A MEGA SERIAL INVOLVING THE TUSKER, THE FOREST AND THE OFFICIALS..... one simple answer... money speaks..
More sensation means more readership... more readership means more money....
Is this a good thing or a bad thing??( personally the wolf reaches out for the film supplement before the editorial...)
Its probably a generation thing... the present generation lives on the fast lane.. sensation is the fad... And media are really cashing in on it...
the wolf is not against PAGE 3, scoops, tehelka or dance bars.... But news should speak the truth... always.. and should not be fabricated for the sake of extra readership or satiation of a few perverted souls...
Everybody loves a good story.. But one needs to wonder whether newspapers are the right place for these fictitious stories...
the wolf walks.. into the night..