Saturday, March 26, 2011

World Cup Bug

Has it bitten you as well? It has, to me and millions of others! Everywhere it's cricket, scores, matches, heart breaks, celebrations, bets, predictions, tweets, posts, articles and on and on and on. Now that India has reached semi final and going to play Pakistan, everyone is looking forward to it! Each and every cricket fan knows how important the clash is. Tony Greig said that he wouldn't want to miss a single ball of that match! Who would?

Like always, various brands have made so many ads around WC theme, hiring top line players (top line as I didn't see Munaf Patel or Nehra in any ad. are they there too?). I am sure if you watch WC matches then you must have seen those ads too - Pepsi ads - the official sponsor of helicopter shot, ungli mein tingli - dusra, Malinga's slinga, Sehwag's Upar shot and what not! Then there is parryware ad, Nike ad - bleed blue, Ruffles Lays ad, Idea Ads - I wish corporates would spend this money on employees than such useless pursuits!

But, like they say, it's easy to sit, comment and criticize than be there and make a decision! Yeah, right!

By the way, it's earth hour right now. That means we have to turn off all the lights, electronic appliances etc. for an hour. Someone put it very nicely on twitter: "@MihirBijur: Earth Hour to a nation suffering from Load shedding is like calling a fat woman, gravitationally challenged. all fancy but full of shit!". I think on a similar line too!

Tweet reminds me the time we have during India matches. It's fun bashing cricketers, posting about the game, reading the opinion, those tensed moments at the end of the match - if you follow right kind of people, you will have much more fun watching the match and no, it is NOT a distraction for the match!

India's entry to Semis have ensured that there is enough of spamming everywhere. Facebook has come up with a stupid application where you have to take a poll. Each and every person is taking it and spamming. As if it would actually decide who will win. Guria correctly said that Indian population is more than that of Pakistan's. So naturally the result will be in the favour of India.

Apart from the WC matches, my dissertation is keeping me busy. I have to write 200 pages on a topic that has 10 page info in the textbook. sigh! Life can be so cruel at times. Work, assignments, match - everything together. I am in demand!!

And, someone asked me whether twitter will replace blogs or not? My answer was no. It cannot and won't. Yes, people around me have become irregular, but twitter is NOT the reason behind it. Ah I should have chosen Twitter World Cup as the header!

16 comments:

  1. Yeah its cricket everywhere! It will fade away :)

    Earth hour - I was wondering on similar lines too. Since morning here in my area in Bangalore; there has been 4 hours of load shedding. Now tell me its summer, would I want to switch off power during Earth hour?

    Isnt it ridiculous!

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  2. The fifth paragraph's for me, I presume? :D

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  4. @ Insignia, yeah it is ridiculous! the whole earth hour concept! jab zarurat hoti hai tab to gadhe log waste karte hai!

    @ G, bang on :D

    @ Prateek, agreed!

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  5. Women/girls in India tend to be not so much interested in cricket, but you seem to be an exception.

    Your mention of ads made me wonder once again - with regard to other products, I can understand the aggressive marketing, but not for soft drinks. I mean, I think most people buy soft drinks according to their taste preference. I tend to like Sprite and that is the first drink I tend to ask for. If it's available I would have it! Next in line is Pepsi. I could never like Thums up much, so I won't be having it!

    Just like how you pointed out (perhaps, tongue-in-cheek), that money used in marketing could be used for better pay of employees, or from business point-of-view, for lowering the costs of those soft drinks! Though, these calculations would count only if marketing is the substantial portion of these companies' expenditure, which I believe it must be because I don't think from production to storage to sale, a single bottle must be costing Rs. 2. But the sales price is much more than that. So, I tend to believe there is margin to go in for less costs in marketing & to reduce the prices to boost the sales.

    But having said all of the above, these business people are lot smarter than me, and I believe they must be having some good reason to continue with this approach and that it is not just needless paranoia that drives them to this much aggressive marketing. :)

    Sorry for digressing. :)

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  6. Imagine where all the hysteria would reach when India when it....and you seem to be loaded with all kinda work...200 pages ...dont think i have ever written 200 pages on anything :-P

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  7. Nice post, Neha.

    I do not observe the Earth Hour. The Electicity Board does it everyday.

    The Earth Hour, in my opinion shows how people in the city are oblivious of what goes on in their country.

    Vivek

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  8. I used to follow cricket diligently once upon a time. But after the whole betting scandal erupted around major cricketers I kinda lost interest. But still I'm gonna watch this India-Pakistan semi-final. Anything to see Pakistan get bashed up badly! :P

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  9. use Ad's money for salary hike?

    and what about marketing guys? fire them? because you never know they might be surviving on these ads??

    lollzz. Good Post. :)

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  10. With cricket catching up, i can only say good luck on the dissertation ! :)

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  11. Yea, I'm a cricket fan so I have been bitten too. :) I followed your tweets during the match and it was surely fun reading match related tweets while watching the match.

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  12. I am OK with cricket but haven't yet gone crazy. But, it certainly is interesting to see the excitement all around.
    In my opinion too, Twitter will not replace blogs, but it is true that the visits on the blog sites have dropped and more time is being spent on Twitter.

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  13. ofcourse it's bitten me too :)
    offices are declaring half days for the semi tom :)

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  14. You know what iss 'earth hour' ke bare mein maine office mein ek bar bola tha ki hum har roj earth hour(s) manate hain courtsey BESCOM :D ... I think I have done enough for earth :D ...

    And point about the ads ... If they don't do ads ..people won't buy ...if people don't buy ...they won't make profits ... if they don't make profit ... how will they pay employees :D ... so ....jhelo for greater good ;) ...

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  15. It's cricket everywhere! Today, I'm receiving emails on India-Pak match every half hour! Alas, I will be in cricket so it will be the Internet that will keep me abreast.

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  16. you remember 1996 and 2003 world cup when India matched against Pakistan. There was nothing such hype and commercialization. that time cricket was just a game and we enjoyed it more than we do now.

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