On its way to somewhere

• We have heard enough about how brains run the show behind the ad-world. I wonder where they have gone for hibernation. Imagine a scene (apparently based on true story) where a business management professional wants to switch to a technology oriented job, and faces a humiliating interview session. At the end he, almost on the verge of being thrown out of the room, asks with bundles of confidence "is it to ask what I don't know or what I know"? A kind interviewer, amidst the otherwise ruthless panel, allows him to describe what he knows. The scene goes mute, and we see a car as the source of such confidence. Of course, he wins the job offer at last! In yet another interview, the candidate starts interviewing the panelists. The panel unanimously accepts him as the right choice and requests him to join the very next day. Here the source of confidence turns out, after playing havoc on the nerve of the viewer, a male fairness cream! A mobile service provider explains a weird tariff scheme where STD is cheaper than local calls - the lines, the tune and the visuals are terribly bad. Another no-brainer breaks all language codes when an apparently South Indian says "Rem Rem" - in a land where Sreeram, Jairam, Ramaswamy, Raman etc are the most common names. The list does not end here and that precisely is the problem. I don't know if they are deliberately trying to advertise with poor but unforgettable acts... just hope that it changes soon. We have been living happily ever after independence without feeling the need to ask for quality control of products we buy. Is it too audacious to expect advertisements to be focussed on products and their features rather than being irritating?

• President Obama has the constitutional right to take a stand on US outsourcing policies. To monitor economic health, to apply remedies to issues like unemployment come under the purview of his primary responsibilities. And he has to win votes, too. We, Indians, can call it an election rhetoric, conduct debate on his decisions - but at the end of day it does not matter. Indian IT industry had got enough time to reduce its dependency on the US and be more self-reliant. Instead it has preferred to remain complacent and a simple event like Visa fee hike seems to make a dent on the operating margins. At the same time, India should feel less pressurized while taking its own decisions on different issues like defense, power etc. It has been a while since we are developing as an economy; let us take a test on how much progress we have made over the years!