What my name is

This story goes back a while. My family has been following a naming template for two generations now. Uncles, cousins, siblings, all follow (or are made to follow) the naming convention in the name of upholding family honour. As a result, we are called Mahendra, Upendra, Amarendra, Samarendra, and Vijayendra (me) respectively and in that order.

I was never comfortable with this arrangement. My mother tells me that at the time of my naming someone suggested Kumarendra and everyone almost went with it. Had a wise elder cousin not come up with my present name, I would be just another Mr. Kumar today.

Some time in my early teens, I decided to name myself. I wanted to call myself something that marked me as unique and not as a part of the Nepal royal family.

So, I did what young Tom Riddle did. I took my given name, and made my new name with it. I called myself Vimoh. It is sort of an acronym of my first and last name. In addition, it is Sanskrit for 'enrapture'. You may have heard of mythological sages and hermits getting all vimohit due to heavenly apsaras giving them private performances. The name stayed with me through my school life and college. It was one of my first email usernames. On many web services even today (like on stumbleupon), it remains the way I identify myself as.

Ironically, Vimoh may also mean 'free of attachments'. Sanskrit is a funny ancient language I know. I choose to go with the first version.

I have nothing against my mortal family and the given name. Just that I think one's name should be one's own.

Why you should plan for good times

Our culture places a great deal of emphasis on being prepared for bad times. We are warned against being too optimistic and told that it is foolish to think our plans will bear fruit. We are told to assume the worst and save up (if not give up).

As expected (awaited?), bad times come. No matter how prepared we are, we fall short of resources to deal with the situation - because hey - they are bad times. It wouldn't be right to call them bad times if they were easy to deal with, right?

You may have heard - 'Whatever you focus on, expands'. Do you think we might be asking for bad times?

I mean, how much more focussed on failure can we get? All we ever anticipate is things going wrong. All we ever see in our future is ourselves dealing with truckloads of troubles. We don't entertain even the faintest possibility of a grand success or lasting happiness.

It is almost as if we have accepted misery as the status quo and happiness as something that can only ever come rarely and never last for long.

Maybe the reason happiness doesn't stay is because we don't plan for its coming. We take great care in plotting out every detail about what we supposedly don't want to happen. But we just assume the good times will take care of themselves.

Let us then start by figuring out exactly what great things we want from our future. In gruesome and ludicrous-sounding detail!

If it is fame you seek, think about what you will do when you are famous. Imagine yourself surrounded by screaming admirers. Picture applause and accolades. Think which part of the day you will assign to replying to fan mail.

If you dream of prosperity, imagine all manner of worldly pleasures before you. Banglaa, gaadi, naukar chaakar and all that. Feel the state of mind that comes with financial abundance. Imagine what it would feel like to not have to worry about overspending.

And don't stop with the dreaming. Chalk out elaborate plans of daily routines you will follow when the fabled good times descend upon you. If your plan involves freedom, think what you will do with that freedom when you get it.

Visualisation is a powerful technique. One that has worked for me several times in the past. If you can get past the mental trap that prevents you from entertaining positive thoughts, it will work for you too.

What Sprite ads can teach you about winning

Sprite wins the cola ad wars. And it takes the trophy with a wise smirk. If ads affected my choice of soft drinks even one bit, I would probably be drinking Sprite right now.

Coke and Pepsi dazzle you with large-scale starry dreams, but it takes a Sprite ad to speak the language of simplicity and common sense. And common sense, being in such short supply already, takes the cake and eats it with relish. Here then, is what a Sprite ad can teach us about winning.

You don't have to 'win'

One of the lesser-remembered lessons from the kachhua-khargosh fable is that the hare ran needlessly fast too early. If he had conserved energy in the beginning, he could probably have dispensed with the need to doze off mere metres from the finish line.

Also, remember Cars, the animated movie? Who really won the final race? The loudmouth baddie? Or the good-natured hero McQueen? McQueen didn't win the race by crossing the finish line first. He did it by helping someone else win.

Sprite ads prove the futility of the 'first' tag. Technically you do need to be 'first' to win a race, but true victory comes from merit, wise choices, and value addition to the experience of the audience/ customer.

Wait and watch

What if you are the kachhua? What if, like the turtle, you lack the energy and resources to stay up to speed with the bigger players? Sad situation. The good news is, you have time on your side. You can wait and watch. You don't have to make the mistakes your fellow competitors make. Keep running as fast as you can. But don't sweat it. Instead, pay more attention to observing the one that went ahead.

Sprite's winning ad strategy uses this model. They let Pepsi and Coke make expensive, star-studded ads and then come up with the respective trademark Sprite spoof. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to tell which ads end up having more impact (or which ones cost less money to make).

Money won't help you win

Money may help, but it isn't the ticket to victory. Many people seem to work under the belief that dazzling audience with expensiveness is the way to their hearts. Not so.

What works is simple functionality. What works in the end are workable solutions. Things that allow the user/ consumer/ audience to connect to what is being offered. And because most of us live in a world where common sense still makes things go around, Sprite ads work.

Just to be clear about things, I don't drink colas. Not even Sprite. Lessons can be had from anywhere you care to look.