Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Ocean in You!


The earth is no longer solid ground. What I mean by that is that nothing today is concrete. It is all in a state of constant evolution and since our environment is in a state which doesn’t believe that change is inevitable but looks at is as the very basis of survival, it’s time to break the mould and learn to swim.



So it’s no longer about standing strong, but being flexible. It isn’t about knowing but about learning. It isn’t about the hour but the nano second.

This Winter breeze has come as a messenger to wake many a sleeping man about the Winds of Change.



There must be a reason that sixty percent of our bodies are made up of water. Water which exists in all three states – depending on the temperature it is exposed to, however it retains its basic goodness. There is no form so defined that it cannot evolve, yet change is unnerving to and unwelcome by many.



The vastness of the Ocean has the same effect on several people however one of my favourite places and most peaceful moments is sitting by the ocean. It’s interesting to listen to the sound of the waves – the persistence of the ocean despite the change in tides. The ocean deals with constant change and yet also with the monotony of the mundane, however I haven’t heard of a day where it gave up it’s battle with either the former or the latter.



While it’s important to hold your ground, sometimes it’s important to learn to swim and as the wise men say that there are times in life we must stop swimming and just float…



Life like water is a compound of elements of change.



Sanchita Johri

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Eternal Swayamvar


Swayamvara (Sanskrit: स्वयं‍वर), in ancient India, was a practice of choosing a husband, from among a list of suitors, by a girl of marriageable age. Swayam in Sanskrit means self and vara means choice or desire (which also synonymous with bride-groom). - Source - Wikipedia.

This however isn't really about marriage at all - however in a way it is. If you're confused, then think about the bride-to-be who has to choose between so many suitors! Now that you've thought about her plight think about the suitors and their situation too. What a high pressure situation to be in!

However let's deal with the pressure together. Let's begin with the suitors. If you were one of them, assuming you did like the girl and wanted her to choose you over the others - what is it that you must do?

Here's something that Will Smith said in one of my favouite movies called Hitch - "One dance, one look, one kiss, that's all we get, Albert. Just *one shot* to make the difference between happily-ever-after, and oh-he's-just-some-guy-I-went-to-some-thing-with-once."

Hitch is a love comedy about dating and relationships however there's some serious gyaan in the movie too. Think about it, better still watch it.

If you haven't seen the movie I'd recommend that you do and here's why - this is the story that actually speaks about reaching out to the heart and mind of the person to win the battle against competition. If you win that war of love, then no matter how many battles your competition wins - they will always come in second.

This is just like the story of the crowded market place, buzzing with choices and here's your brand trying to out-shout them to your target audience saying -Choose Me!

So now the bride in the swayamvar, in this case your target audience will ask you - Why?

Till you have a story to tell, a message, an offer that appeals to her heart and mind, you are going to be just another suitor and in this case just  another commodity.

However if your story/message/promise/benefit strikes the right chord in her heart and mind space - she is already rendered deaf to the pleas of the line behind you.

It is however important to remember that unlike a suitor who wins once, as a brand you will always be in the courtship period. The stages may vary and so may the effort however you have to consistently perform and deliver on the promises made. To my mind consistency and delivering on expectations once built is key to the long-term branding story.

Speaking of stories, it is critical for a story-teller to know his listener. So the story can never be told in vaccuum, it has to take into account the interests, likes and dislikes and other nuances that may help influence the listener. Influence and impact will only be real when the story stays in the corners of either the heart or mind. Get to know her ;-). As David Ogilvy said - "The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife."

Another thing that will help your proposal is if other people in her circle of caring narrate your story to her as well, we usually call them Brand Evangelists.

The ideal would be to change the game - hopefully from the suitor to becoming the sought after :-)


You've got a story? We've got a plan.

May the Best Brand win!

Sanchita Johri

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Trespassing...


I dreamt last night of the house that we had grown up in. My mind had wandered through the roads and the lanes that lead to the address we once called home.

It still stood there in all its glory but the halo had changed. I could still hear the rustling of my grandmother’s sari as she lovingly watered the plants in the garden waiting for my grandfather to come home from golf with his friends.

I could still see the faded shadows of our gang of friends running in the drive way excited about the game of cricket in the park.

It was all a long time ago...

The ladies who cooked our meals and the others who helped my grandmother with the work around the house weren’t there either, but their daily dose of gossip and chatter still filled the air.

I wandered into the house without knocking fully aware that it wouldn’t be the same from within, however since it was a dream – it will always be just as we left it.

The mango tree in the backyard seemed to recognize me like an older person who acknowledges your childhood through the love in their eyes. It was almost like all of us who lived there at one time had left a bit of our souls in it.

I stood for awhile in front of the gate, recalling the times I waited for my father to drive home from work in his Red Beetle and then I looked at the name plate.

It had an unfamiliar name. We had all moved on with our lives. Some of us beyond this life and the rest of us beyond the house...

Sanchita Johri

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The Story of Time...

What brand is the watch you're wearing? No, really? Which one is it?
I hope you're happy with it. Yes I know that you want the one you saw at the duty free counter, and I also know you're delaying buying it because you have other priorities.

What I really want to know is how much time will you delay it for? Look at the watch you're wearing right now, see the time - think about it.

On the other hand you may not even care which brand it is and for that matter you may not even wear one. I do know one thing however that for time to tick, the watch isn't required at all.

If you're happy with what you have, then that's great at one level - the eternal one, however if you're not - then what are you waiting for?

It's your watch you know. The only person who uses it to tell time is you. Time is telling you something - take the time to listen.

You are the protagonist - change the story :-)

Sanchita Johri

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Great Expectations!

Well the problem with expectations is that all of us have them. There lies the dichotomy in the spiritually educated - materialistic man. Time and again we have heard about the consequences of harboring expectations and yet few of us are blessed with their absence. Charles Dickens introduced us to Pip’s story and yet we follow in Pip’s footsteps which sometimes lead us to what we call disappointments.


So here’s a perspective on thwarted expectations a.k.a disappointments.


Are you more disappointed in someone because they are not what they seemed or are you more disappointed in yourself for going wrong again about your judgment about them?

It never really is about anyone else being responsible for letting us down. Nobody but you yourself can let you down.


Let me elaborate. So you expect honesty? Whom do you expect it from? Let’s begin with yourself. You can control that. Then of course from the people you trust. So if they ever let you down, you question them, actually you should question yourself for maybe your trust was misplaced. That is what is the real issue. We are usually disappointed not in other people but ourselves and our own judgment of having gone wrong - again.



It’s a vicious cycle of not accepting our failure of having placed our faith in someone who may not have deserved it. The other person may not have even influenced garnering your trust, you may have decided to give it to them basis your own judgment. Then they fail on delivering on your expectations that you had set up for yourself. So there begins a war inside you which blames everything on this other person/people who are responsible for letting you down. It usually is a very logical war with just one objective – self exoneration from blame.



They say there are always two reasons we justify things – the real reason and a good reason. The choice is ours – when we refuse to acknowledge we have made a mistake, we give up the power of correcting it.



Acknowledging a symptom, helps identifying a problem. It is the first step to solving it and therefore correcting a mistake – the next of course is forgiving yourself.



Here’s a quote I love: Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there – Rumi.


Life is waiting…

Sanchita Johri

Monday, July 2, 2012

Silent Gunshots

There is a corner somewhere in your heart that you keep dark on purpose. You had locked it's doors a long time ago. Now you neither look at it nor do you acknowledge remembering it's existence. I know it's there, just as much as you do and yet we pretend that none of us have it. It's easier that way.

It isn't that you have forgotten it's just easier not to remember and what you couldn't handle or face at that time, you don't ever want to dig up now.

It's all behind you, your eyes will never see that which you look away from...but your vision will still be colored.

The more we run away from that which we leave unresolved, the more time we give it in our hearts. The dark corner becomes like a hole with a missing bullet. The sound of the gunshot though muffled now resonates somewhere and the chasm grows deeper.

Not every heart will tell you it's story, but the invisible gunshots have played their part in moulding each one differently.

The next time you deal with someone do remember the ammunition you have been given to either propagate or reject a deadly war - the one that causes most damage - the one which happens through that which we say and that which we do!

Here's a quote I love - A careless word may kindle strife; a cruel word may wreck a life; a timely word may level stress; a loving word may heal and bless.

Sanchita Johri



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

What you don't know...

So I sat looking at the maze of cars on the road and thought about us.We who believe we know exactly what we want and where we are heading and when people who sound so sure of themselves believe in anything it sounds true.

We all seem to have a list of needs, wants, desires, expectations, goals,dreams (it's a list you know - it doesn't end). We all believe that we know exactly what we want,nothing less -nothing more. We have it all worked out just like niche marketing which thrives on the principle of we who know exactly what we want!

Well here's the problem, you see I'm a foodie (no that is not the problem) and as a food lover I went to a restaurant recently which had a very different menu and not anything that I would usually order. In fact I hadn't even heard of some of the stuff. So the usual reaction to unfamiliar territory is - Ok, let's go eat some place else. Well had I done that you would have been saved the ordeal of reading what comes next.
So there were some really exotic sounding names on the menu with some equally romantic descriptions of what the dish was ( not that it helped in any way! ) and I just had to choose some of the available things - none of which I wanted.
There came the three course meal and ofcourse a bill to match it. Let's face it you knew I was going to tell you I loved it and you're right.
Well apart from the calories that I gained, there's was something invaluable - a lesson that if you are going to draw up a list of what you want, need, desire and the works you will always be bonded within the territories of those benchmarks.

There are so many unexplored and undiscovered places, people, emotions, things and more that you will end up depriving yourself of.

If you have already decided on exactly what you want you may never know what your options were before you made the choice.

While exploring is limitless it doesn't mean you shouldn't set sail at all.

One of my favourite quotes - Ships are safe in harbour, but that's not what ships are built for - Shedds.
Sanchita Johri

Friday, May 11, 2012

A Ray of Hope!

He thought about it everyday. He wanted to pursue that dream for a long time. He knew he was made for bigger things but he also knew that he had responsibilites to take care of.

He'd wake up everyday and feel that this wasn't what he had dreamt of doing, not by the longest shot. It was almost like a golf ball lying in the bunker waiting for someone to come looking for it. There were a lot of people who believed in him, his abilities and his potential, but the problem was that he wasn't being able to count himself as one of those people anymore. His dream was still alive, however he wasn't sure he was.

Even those who supported him started shedding like leaves from a tree, slowly and steadily till the tree was bereft of all.

He however had never forgotten what his father had taught him - the power of the moment. He had told him the story of a boy who had no one in the world but himself. The boy too had a dream and the only thing he lacked was someone who looked out for him.

One day this boy sat weeping by the road side till a man walked upto him to ask him why he was sobbing. The boy said he was alone on his path and didn't see a ray of hope in his life.

The man turned to the boy and comforted him by wiping his tears and then said something magical - He said - My Son you may not see it, however the ray of hope sees you everyday. It is your companion. It's a gift to you from the Sun which rises everyday to see if you have had the courage to follow your dream and each day it sets to greet you afresh the next morning and see if you have made any progress.

Tomorrow is another day - It will rise again, the question is will you?

Sanchita Johri

Thursday, April 12, 2012

The Problem with Selling London, giving Tokyo!


Well yeah if you’ve grown up around here you’ve heard about the phrase looking London, talking Tokyo but I never really thought there was an issue with it in a world where everyone is expected to multi-task!

On a serious note when we mean something and say something completely different by design, it may help achieve short term objectives, however the long term damage may sometimes be catastrophic.

In a world where the opportunities are growing as are networks, the expansion is leading to the shrinking of the world – everyone knows everyone else and if you don’t - you soon will.

While everything is becoming fast paced and people are working 5 days a week to live for 2 days a week, the pressure demands something greater to emerge – TRUST.

The importance of trust is returning as the micro managers days are over. I would much rather work with someone whom I can rely on and someone who honours his or her word as we don’t have the time to chase work once it’s delegated. While this is an ideal situation, brands survive on this principle. It is a promise once made and the promise kept that adds credibility and reinforces the belief in a story that a brand/person wants to weave around itself.

It makes it easier for me to buy/hire a brand that time and again has delivered on it’s promise and not one that promises London and gives me Tokyo – though that may be an interesting twist – however not everyone has the appetite for surprises!

The one thing to remember while making a promise is that you are setting up an expectation. To avoid disappointment or dissonance - the most important thing to manage is expectations – as a brand or a person.

Sanchita Johri

Sunday, March 25, 2012

The Glass is Broken!


The Glass is Broken

This is the posthumous story of the famous glass we have known for all our lives. The glass which was either half full or half empty.

While we all had an opinion about it and the debates about the pessimistic and optimistic view may continue for generations to come, the glass alas is no more.

In it's entire lifetime of just trying to be, I wonder if it succumbed to the pressure of always being judged! For a long time it waited for someone who understood it's plight to come along and just either empty it or fill it completely, but no one did, no one ever does!

So it continued being a silent spectator and a frustrated listener to the leagues of extraordinary gentlemen and women and their extraordinary theories about itself.

At first it was perturbed, then pretended not to care, then genuinely learnt not to care and finally it learnt to amuse itself with all that was being said with a Zen like beauty.

It existed, lived through it all and finally unaffected by the myriad of opinions - existed in peace.

The opinions- they still continue ;)

Sanchita Johri

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Keep the Change!

I found a note in my pocket today and was thrilled as I had not worn this pair of jeans in a long time. The only thing was that this was a five rupee note, one that had become rare in everyday circulation like a lot of other currency over the years.

It set me thinking about how something that is part of our everyday life can be rendered archaic or just evolves into an avatar which is better suited to the times. The new ten rupee coin being an example, I even know children whose piggy banks are full for the first time in their childhood owing to its sheer beauty.

While the reverence for the old note remains, the sheen of the new coin has it’s charm and even plastic money will soon have to bequeath it’s legacy to the all new mobile money – Times are changing, so are habits, people, rules, regulations and everything that is today needs to be better and brighter tomorrow.

We live in a dynamic world, so no matter what you’ve done and where you’ve been, irrespective of having lost or achieved yesterday –the one thing to remember today in Scarlet O’Hara’s words from Gone with the Wind is - After all…tomorrow is another day!

Sanchita Johri

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Not just a Pick up Line!

I know you from before - How many times have you met someone for the first time and felt that instant connection? I don't mean in a - I've got a crush on you - cheesy kind of way,but a genuine connection of the soul.

Vibes from a person or place can tell you a lot, that is if you take the time to feel them. There are some instances however where within the first few seconds you take a liking or dislike to someone rather inexplicably- they say your soul knows.I even read somewhere that the concept of speed dating actually capitalizes on this concept, in fact this is also mentioned in the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.

The point however is that while we may want a logical explanation for everything sometimes the illogical one is more interesting.

If you've read Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss you will relate much better to what I am saying.

The natural state of the soul is harmony they say and I have come to believe that it is true. I feel that loving comes much more naturally to human beings than hatred. I feel that hatred takes effort and so does dislike.

As a trainer with IBM, I dealt with several people and spoke about the concept of contamination related with transactional analysis and somewhere down the line realised that being judgemental stems from an insecurity of being in control. What I mean is that as children we didn't really think about casting aspersions on other people or even the way they lived their life, however as we grow older our instinct gets clouded by the list of do's and don'ts.

I realised I was convincing people more about acceptance of other people and cultures as everyone seemed to have an opinion about the life of everyone else! We were battling stereo types, preconceived notions and acquired beliefs and hoping a non-judgemental mind would triumph with acceptance. Acceptance which came naturally to all of us in the beginning of our lives.

Somewhere along the way we get so caught up that we end up losing the plot!They say the soul carries ancient wisdom however very few of us ever scratch even the surface of the reservoir.

We have been so much more than we know, that we have been to so many more places than we remember visiting and yet we feel limited by physical manifestations - of our own body and also the globe.

The soul is like a genie in a bottle, make sure you don't love the bottle more than the genie, else the plot of the story may change completely!

Sanchita Johri

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

By the Shore

This year I went back to Goa for Christmas unlike last year when I was there for New Years and a friend's wedding.

I sat by the seaside listening to the sounds of the elements with the seasoning of human voices and I thought about nothing at all as I stared into oblivion.

Actually I don't know if nothing at all qualifies as a figure of speech for explaining what I thought about.The mind is like the ocean you see, even when it is calm on the surface a deep sea diver will tell you a different story about it's depths. There are high tides and low and sometimes even whirlwinds and storms that differ in intensity and just like the visitors on the shore see a different avatar according to the time of their visit, so is the case with the mind.

It like the ocean is a passive witness to several stories unfold around it and an active participant in many itself. It stands the test of time and carries the load of ships and boats alike. It emerges victorious against some tempests and sometimes it drowns in it's own sorrow and then soars strong and happy like a falcon the next day to unfold legends as it expands it's wings to soar high like a wave waiting to touch the skies.

The ocean is deep and yet not equally everywhere, it is vast and yet you can capture a part of it in your palm and yet it will wash your feet with it's gentle wave like a giant who seems either oblivious of it's strength or too humble to be affected by it.

As I sat lost in thought, a boy with a pamphlet came over and anchored the sailing thoughts. He had come to check if I would want to explore some parasailing.He was carrying a little life jacket and assured me it was safe, so there I was heading right into the middle of the ocean on a motorboat to try something I had never done before.

The mind was nervous and the heart was in sync, I was venturing away from known territory to the flight of the unknown.It was going to be fun I told myself, so while I had to jump from one boat to another, trust my life on a parachute of sorts, I just knew it was going to be worth the experience and believe me it was.

The ocean seemed different from up there, till now I had always seen it from close from the shore, but from up above it looked like an electric blue blanket swaying in the wind. It seemed to speak a different language, a different world, it was however the same big  vast expanse which seemed orange in parts as it reciprocated the colours of the setting sun.It was just a different angle that I was looking at it from and it seemed so different.

Perspective sometimes changes the truth or should I say truth sometimes changes perspective, believe me - even the ocean is open to it :)
Sanchita Johri