My wife got a seriously upset stomach (most probably because of the raw mangoes we all ate that day) in the last week of March. It led to fever, loss of smell and taste, but our doc didn't recommend COVID test. And then it subsided with medication, in a week! I caught 1/7
2/7 something in the first week of April and have been bedridden since then, with daily bouts of fever and intense body pain. Plus loss of smell and taste (and appetite) that has been the most devastating. After 2 weeks of medication (COVID-negative, which the doc said was most
3/7 surprising since my symptoms are classic COVID-19 symptoms - and both wife and I got tested, to be safe, and got negative), losing more than 7kgs in weight and feeling incredibly drained out, today is the day I'm feeling even mildly normal. It's day 3 of not needing
4/7 paracetamol, and that feels like a blessing. Plus, even as my sense of smell is still unrecovered, I'm getting 50% taste - that IS a HUGE blessing and relief! All this, despite not venturing outside home for over a year (unless absolutely necessary), rarely even ordering
5/7 food from outside (we have ordered food thrice in the past 12+ months) and using paranoid-level caution in terms of cleanliness and sanitizing. The 2-week isolation/quarantine that I put myself in at home was no easy task either - it was filled with such intense body pain
6/7 that even getting up from the bed was a massive chore. And getting up in the morning was a nightmare because I felt so weak! Even if I wanted to divert my mind by reading something or listening to something, the mind has a way of getting the focus on the body ache and
7/7 tiredness! I wish even my worst enemy doesn't get what I went through. Mask up (double-mask, if possible) all the time when you are in touch with the outside world and be as paranoid about sanitizing and cleanliness as your life depends on it - because it definitely does.
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BigBasket has sent a cease & desist notice to a Coimbatore-based offline and online grocery store called DailyBasket!
Reason? "Your name, website and mobile app are similar to ours"!
The 7th point in BigBasket's letter is phenomenally 1/4
2/4 arrogant: "transfer the deceptively and confusingly similar domain dailybasket dot-com to our client at no costs". Yeah, right.
What are DailyBasket's options, against a legal notice from a much-larger, now-acquired-by-Tata-Group giant?
They can respond legally. They can
3/4 submit, and comply.
Or, they can take the battle public!
DailyBasket has created a website called BBisabully (bit.ly/bbisabully) to address all the charges, with visual evidence to show how absurd they are!
'basket' is a very common word in e-commerce/offline commerce.
1. In 2010, a Microsoft ethnographic study found that 3 kinds of activities related to search - Missions, Excavations & Explorations. I look at these from a personal branding pov bit.ly/internet-user 1/5
2. Two ads from January 2021, for two different products, but their messages are polar opposites! Both ask you to 'feel good'. When you see them together, you may be in a quandary :) bit.ly/good-feel 2/5
3. Traditionally, wine has always been associated with glass bottles. Recently, a few brands are trying other forms of packaging. One of them has an interesting ad campaign to communicate the new pack, while another has an exciting package design! bit.ly/tetrawine 3/5
Before you want to become a 'Thought Leader', you need to share your thoughts first, consistently. When you do, your readers may decide whether you are a 'thought leader' or not.
The other day, I also noticed a request in a WhatsApp Group - "Could anyone recommend an agency 1/4
2/4 to write thought-leadership articles for our CEO?".
There are 2 parts in 'thought leadership' - the most important element is the thought. The second aspect is articulation. Seeking help in articulation is perfectly justified since not every person is adept in that facet,
3/4 but the starting point is 'thought'... consistently, on a few topics that matter most to you where you want to build your personal brand, and where you push the existing set of beliefs and thoughts into newer directions and perspectives with well-worded arguments and points.
Another day... another instance of a spontaneous outpouring of support for a brand.
Or, another day... another instance of a 'toolkit' being put to use in the name of corporate communications/PR.
Considering most people can see through this, and such coordinated attempts to 1/3
2/3 shift public opinion has been done to death, why do companies even bother using this tactic?
Wouldn't this do more damage by making it obvious that a coordinated tactic of 'floating' positive public opinion is in action? Does it amount to some benefit for the brand at all?
3/3 What is particularly amusing in this instance is that it looks like another party is roping in the same people who tweeted in support of Amazon, to also retweet tweets that condemn Amazon!
Instead of focusing on spineless celebrities, let me gather the few brave ones who resist the urge/fear to submit to the powers-of-the-day and boldly speak out. An on-going thread. Let me start with my favorite - @babubasu was an idol from my school days and always will be.
) reminded me of something related: I grew up in Srirangam (near Trichy) in the 80s - truly the best days of my life :) We were the only 'Iyer' family in the street we lived in, which was full of 'Iyengar' people, and I had no 1/6
2/6 context of these differences back then - came to know them much later in life. Since we stayed very close to the Ranganathar Temple (the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world), I used to accompany my dad almost every single day for a visit to the temple (and to the
3/6 Thiruvanaikaval temple once every week), with baskets of flowers from our own garden. One day, we stumbled on a foreigner in the Ranganathar temple - he may be the first foreigner I have seen in my life, as far as I recall :) I was amazed by his skin color! When he couldn't