Power-ing Myself!

OMG! I just got back from the most amazing experience of yoga! I went for a 1 hr class of power yoga and it was amazing. Every part of my body feels worked out and well! I feel awesome that the instructor wondered about my flexibility...well! I have been a dancer for sooo long...

I am waiting for the Friday class. It's a 3 days a week class and I have a friend joining me on Friday as well. I have to recommend it to all you guys out there. Check out the one in your city and try it out. It's amazing...

Now I shall go take a hot shower and await the groans and moans tomorrow morning...like Kabir said..."Wait till tomorrow" LOL!

...and am on an ACTUAL break! :)

So...what I wrote a few months back...I have actually done it. It's been almost 2 months filled with alot of travelling in India, alot of introspection and learning and ALOT of great friends (You know who you are!). I must say, it didn't start out nice. I was in a very scary place and at that point in time I thought I would not be able to do this. So August was spent worrying, tense and totally stressed out. But 'come September' and my awesome trip to my fav city in the world...Mumbai...I have left the sress, the fears, the workaholic Sophie behind and am getting into the groove of this break. Trust me...for someone who has not had 1 day free from work in the last 7 years and who spent her summer vacay interning 2 jobs every summer in college...this is a HUGE life changing moment.

What I feel proud of is that I put myself first after a long time and though it's been a bit weird and dotted with scary...it's been liberating!! This is the best time for this break to come my way... :)

I am on my way back to Bangalore right now and am at the airport having a yummy mocha frappe with cheese scrambled eggs. yup - I have no guilt - and that coz I don't seem to be gaining weight anymore!! :) I mean, I gained 5 kgs in the 3 months before I went on this 'ok it's happened' sabbatical and BAM! 2 weeks into it I started losing the weight...without doing anything! And to top it all...I have been told I look way younger, my skin is glowing and people tell me I look radiant and happy...mashallah :)

My Mumbai trip was fantastic...it was filled with friends, music, exploring, movies, long walks by the sea and lots of me time. So yes, I spent that time, getting to know me. Sophia. And for the first time, I was able to actually be honest. I mean Ihave time to sit back and think through so much. Watching things go around me in such a rush, I have been able to grab at that solitude which my friend Kabir keeps telling me about. The inner peace that everyone talks about...well! I think I am well on my way to achieving it. The calm that descends, when you transcend fear. Fear of everthing. When you stop fighting the tide and just let it carry you where it's supposed to.

So here I am eating cheesy eggs and loving every second of it. I am finally doing what I have been scared of doing all this while. I am spending time with me. And I am loving it :)

I LOVE QUORA!

I was browsing and searching for some answers on social gaming. You know the basic stuff, like how, when, what, etc. and not one website I found could help answer my questions. Yeah I did check ask.com but then i found someone's link with a question on it. I clicked it and BAM! i landed in the world of QUORA! It is the EUREKA of all questions you want answered. I mean it is incredible coz NO the website guys DO NOT post answers but have ppl post them for you. So what's new right? Well!to begin with:

1. You cant just JOIN Quora. You have to be invited. So basically there are people out there who have used this site for important stuff and if you know these people, you get in. (PS: I posted a status message on my fb page and a colleague who head new product dev in my org invited me on board).

2. You have to ad your work profile and it appears every time you post a reply, so if you post something stupid for the heck of it, your comment shows up with your designation and your company name. Also it doesn't have an option for students. So I assme unless you work somewhere you can't access this site

3. It actually has relevant answers. Not stuff people post just for the heck of it. I think they monitor the replies???

4. It gives you an option to follow the question, so if anyone posts any new answers you can get a ping sorta thing to let you know.

5. You can post your question and follow up on that as well!

It is a dream come true for me.

So check it out...

How important is taking a break from work?

I went to UT in the Fall of 2000 to do my undergrad. From the following summer until the day I graduated, I always held 2 internships - paid/unpaid didn't matter, what mattered was what my dad said, "it has to add to your resume" so I did it and loved it. When I graduated, I found a job 14 days after moving to India. Mind you, I had 3 days post graduation to pack and move back to India. My first job was fun but the real job I wanted came through 3 months later and so I moved, yet again to Bangalore and Infosys.

3 job moves and 7 years later...I have had a maximum of 10 days between each job! Not surprising that I have reached a point where I think I need a break. So that's what I am doing. Come August I am going on a month long break (to start with) and doing all the things that I have put on the back burner up until now. I have discovered that no one..not even superman can goon without taking a break. Imagine if superman didn't have the boring day job (during which he could take a break from his REAL job), would he be fit to take on the bad guys?

Every human needs some time to recuperate, to sit back, relax his/her mind and body and take stock of his/her life and then start again. I have stopped myself from doing that for 11 years! The reason was- Fear!. Fear of losing sight of my goals, of not being able to get back on the wheel once I get off this bus of a hectic life, of what everyone would say. But the last few weeks, and especially the past 2 yrs of a crazy busy life, travel and stress has made me realize that there is more to me than my job. I won't exist without ME. So I decided to take this as a wake up call and take a break. To put everything on the side and focus on what makes me ME.

My advise to all you guys out there who are running around, making task lists and thinking how to squeeze in 30 mins of ME TIME every day....sit back and look at your life. If you want to go from this earth as someone who became CEO or someone who became CEO and enjoyed the ride there. I plan on being the latter!

Art for MY sake!

I didn't think I would be any good at it 8 yrs after I held a brush, especially since all I have done in the past has been animation. So I was pleasantly surprised that I am not all that bad at it.

The first few weeks I was smart (wink) and spent time copying art that I find on Google images, but over that last fewdays have started branching out into doing something I like. I realize I have a fascination for water, the sun and moon and mermaids...just the idea of a being that may or may not exist (in my childlike mind - they do).

It's the idea of a life underwater...surrounded by all that color and life forms, the blue waters, the sun beams penetrating through, the green algae...the colorful fish...ah...just the idea of being able to swim in all that amazing stuff is like calm to me.

So I picked up my brushes and got started....

So here goes...my hand at art...

Ha Mac!

I had to post this link for all those who think Apple is evil.

Mac sales are booming: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/22/where-in-the-world-are-mac-sales-growing-everywhere/?iid=HP_LN

As my techie friends like to say "People (read techies) hate Apple because they cant crack the applications?!" I don't know how true that is but at my work place, the guys who hate Apple are those who are sick of seeing the brand getting assimilated in people's daily lives. I don't believe in a evil brand or a bad brand just because it has become part of almost every human's life. Integration with your life is what a brand manager wants for his/her brand. For you to not be able to do without it.

Well! If usage were a bad thing the Charmin' would be DRACULA! I am totally dependent on my Pepsodent, Bath and Body Works, my Kinley, my Tetley tea....so I don't think it's a bad thing really. For me...it's hope for any brand I work on, now and in future, to become a complete part of someone's daily habit or lifestyle.

It gives me an adrenaline rush every day. To find new ways for those consumers to pick my brand. To buy my brand. To choose me!

And as long as this loyalty exists, so will we marketeers!

So here's to Brand Loyalty...now and forever!

About different songs....

There's something about this song that makes it one of my favorites now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HXwIVuBI6w - LOSER LIKE ME cover sung by Glee Cast in Season 2

Do men really rule the world?

I was reading a very interesting article this morning which appeared on the bbc webpage under the business section. The COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, recently spoke to the all female students of Barnard University in New York. The basic summary was down to one question: "What if half the men in the world ran households and half the women ran companies?" Her answer, which may be mistaken for a joke just like her question rings true for me "The world would be a better place".

I was mighty impressed with the article and the speech given by probably one of the most powerful women under 45 in the World. Her speech which was peppered with her own experiences in an all male technology and IT sector rings close to home for most of us women who are working probably twice as hard for as much recognition.

In India it gets tougher. Markets may have opened up and we may be all about the "new young India" but most of it seems directed towards the male population of this country. How many women reach or manage to reach the senior management in this country? How many have the support of their families to such an extent that they can take 5 days off suddenly to travel for work without the guilt of leaving their home, kids, etc. behind. I doubt it if men really come home and seek permission to do the same?

It is sad that even at the work place women still struggle. Companies talk of giving equal opportunities but can look at an unmarried woman in her late 20s with skepticism. The "golf club" rarely allows women into it. Try joining them and you may be looked at as an outcast and it will take you forever to break the ice and get them to talk to you they probably will with your all male PA.

Of course this isn't the case everywhere. My previous employer had a practically all female marketing team across every one of the offices and regions...which was unique and phenomenal. It wasn't a planned effort or idea either, it just happens that they are willing to hire intelligent women,single or not without looking at them as "female" and rather as smart individuals who suit the role and the job!

But I am hopeful.With many young women like me entering the workforce and changing things, I hope that soon the cultural dynamic will change. That the very idea or thought of "men ruling the world" will cometo an end. It will then be an equal opportunity working world!

Read Links: http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/18/technology/sandberg_barnard/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

Alcohol and Women

Has India finally accepted its urban affluent female population to be of the drinking variety? Has the alcohol market actually seen a shift in paradigm as far as consumption pattern of alcohol (any kind) is concerned?

I work in the alcohol industry and almost daily we have conversations about the changing (very slow) pattern in the consumption of liquor in this country,amongst women. While many researches, studies and surveys over the years have shown that the region where you come from, socio - economic strata and finally, age, have been the determining forces in alcohol consumption amongst the fairer sex; new reports reveal the change in these dynamics. The average age of female consumer in this industry has supposedly seen a drop in the last decade. Initiation into drinking now happens between the ages of 16 - 18 amongst urban females, though the average age group is higher than that among men, is seeing a steep rise.

Surprisingly according to some, as women get older, their consumption patterns drop. This has been attributed to motherhood, family and other responsibilities that come attached with the same amongst Indian women.

Beer and women have a, may I say, love-hate relationship in India. Women love to hate beer or so I have heard all these years growing up. the concept of the ever frightening beer belly creeping up on you like a shadow you didn't know existed, scares the day light out of women in this country.

With the advent of new technologies which have given youth a medium to explore the world and actually enact out the goings on from different parts of the world, beer, vodka, booze - are not taboo words anymore. It is ok to have a beer, glass of wine or a drink post a long day at work. It is normal to have a drink or two at the local pub or night club on weekends. Considering weekends now technically begin on Thursdays, this has made consumption go on for longer periods of time.

The alcohol industry too associates the fun life with itself. Any brand worth its salt has in its lifetime sponsored parties, DJ nights and other such activities to get its brand tasted and tried by this new emerging market. India is the youngest consumer market with one of the highest growing spending powers in the world. It obviously then makes sense to go after this open, free willed group of youth, who want to try out the best in life.

Things have changed today. From the day when it was considered a crime for a woman to buy alcohol, to ordering test tube shots...India has come a long way. The trend reports indicate that this female consumer market is only going to grow. Either it will be through the number of women getting added and/or by the amount of consumption going up.

Here's to the modern pub!