The Sane Lunatic

In a highly competitive business environment, the only sustainable option is to build a brand that attracts certain types of buyers with quality products catering to their interests. Or to put it simply, brand image is key for long-term success. Unfortunately, too many brands make simple mistakes that can undo years of marketing exercises and not even realise it. The one I want to talk about here is how brand image is ruined/tarnished by its employees and affiliates.  I recently attended the Indian MotoGP and due to event circumstances, my tickets were adjusted to a different stand at the Buddh International Circuit. Mind you, these were far from the more affordable tickets and had a lot to live up to. My new seats were in a stand that had been rebranded as the Yamaha stand with massive tapestries and flags all around. The MotoGP is a three-day event with the main race on the final day. The first two days, casual fans did not bother to show up so that meant the stand was at half-ca...

This is it, the final instalment of the Fast & Furious franchise that started all the way back in 2001. To be precise, it's the first part of the tenth and final instalment in the series. There was a lot of build-up around this one with various petrolhead circles making plans for group viewings. But I wanted my Fast X experience to be as unadulterated as possible. I did not even watch a single trailer and did not have any inkling about what to expect in terms of stunts and new characters. I did not mention story plot expectations because I knew that there probably wasn't going to be one, not really.   Everything from hereon can be considered a spoiler, so skip to the final para for a rating/assessment. The "Plot" The central storyline, if that's what we can call it, for Fast X gives us a flashback to 'Fast Five' (arguably one of the best movies in the series in terms of heist sequences). We are treated to some tear-jerking flashbacks of Paul Walker as ...

There's a lot of pressure on most people for how they spend December 31st, better known as New Year's Eve. If you're a family person, you're guaranteed to spend quality time with your family as the bare minimum, maybe with some close relatives, or with another friend who also has a family. If you're with a partner, the least you might do is plan a nice dinner together with some drinks, maybe invite some close friends who are also coupled up, or at least one single person of each sex in case they might find each other's loneliness/availability attractive for the night. If you're just a person who is social, you try to organise a New Year party with friends of all sorts, or at least get invited to one. And if you've got no one to spend time with, you probably spent it in a desperate search for some sort of social gathering or event that would make you feel like you were part of something. A good chunk of New Year's Eve celebrations are for the last cat...