Anuradha Sridharan

Dear Grandpa, Your memories struck me all of a sudden in my dream during a quiet, afternoon siesta today. I woke up with your image clearly lingering in my eyes. It took me back to some of the best moments of my childhood during my days with you and Grandma. As a playful kid, your strict disciplinarian rules made me hate you a lot. Now looking back, those days are funny; days when you chased me and my brother while we were climbing the guava trees, when we used to jump on the fresh sand you had bought for some construction work and so on. Although everyone else seemed to have ignored you or your words, for a change I was intrigued by you. How did you manage to be so disciplined even when you were in your 70s, grandpa? I do sometimes struggle at this aspect at my young age, thanks to my laziness. I still remember those days when you never used to miss hearing the 6 o'clock morning news from your radio. Being self sufficient is something I had learnt from you. Managing your own...

It's interesting to analyze the low penetration of e-commerce in India from a consumer behavior perspective. Why are Indian consumers not really buying this idea of e-commerce? What are the critical factors that prevent them from becoming an actively engaged buyer in the Internet marketplace? Although the factors could be many, I would like to look at it more from a risk perspective. Pick up any text on consumer behavior and you will come across this relevant concept called "perceived risk". Schiffman and Kanuk in their book on consumer behavior define perceived risk as "the uncertainty that consumers face when they cannot foresee the consequences of their purchase decisions". Although Internet has become a powerful tool in enabling information search and content aggregation, many consumers still prefer to make the final transaction by visiting a store. There are certain uncertainties in the minds of consumer that need to be addressed. Consumers think about the ...

I'm an ardent believer of mindmaps. I have been creating a lot of mindmaps in my professional and student life. Whenever I need to work on a presentation or a report on a relatively new topic, mindmaps have proved to be very helpful. As I read up on different aspects related to this topic from various sources, I create nodes with the information I have collected. After a thorough research, my mindmap is filled with little nuggets of information in a somewhat organized fashion. Once I sit down to write the report or make the presentation, I just need to refer to this huge mindmap and prepare the material as needed. This last step takes little time compared to earlier days when I used to open a document and start collecting my research notes directly and then organize the content in a presentable manner. In projects or tasks where you have little prior knowledge or the outcome is not very clear, mindmaps help to take the next set of actions and capture the details in a single place. ...

My contribution to 3WW monsoon rain tapped my windows I opened, a flurry of drizzly rain on my dry face and frizzy hair a fresh feel, it was hankered for such a moment I stepped out, leaving behind the colorful blue umbrella with a dejected look the empty roads, no longer murkier an errant walk in the rains dancing and getting drenched, my palms gathering droplets infinite blessings from the sky!

She is lost in her deep thoughts. The bamboo swing gently sways due to the cold monsoon breeze. The effects of the distant drizzle and the dark clouds creates a slight shiver but aptly alleviated by the steaming ginger tea held tightly onto her palms. The complimentary effects are sublime and soothing. Her gaze is directed at the tiny squirrel running on the grills of the balcony. "A very active creature", she wonders. Her woolen shawl wrapped nicely around her shoulders provides the much needed coziness. A pink colored journal and a blue fountain pen on the side table are her best friends in these pristine solitary moments. She rambles everything that was going through in her mind - her dreams, her wishes, the past and the present. The doubtful sunshine peers through the dark clouds once in a while announcing its erstwhile presence. The gentle breeze transforms into a sudden wind, wiping out the dark clouds in a jiffy. The clear sky with patches of clouds interspersed in a...

Years ago, when there were fixed timings for movie shows in cinema theatres (11 AM, 3 PM, 6 PM and 10 PM), a bag of popcorn and a glass of pepsi were an ideal combination to munch and enjoy the movie. With the proliferation of multiplexes, there are shows at different timings starting from 10 AM. Some of the screenings are at odd hours - for instance 12:30 PM show. It is too early to have lunch prior to the movie and too late to have lunch after the movie, especially if the movie runs for 3 long hours. The same problem occurs with a Sunday morning show at 10 AM. Sundays being the only days where most of us get a chance to enjoy sleeping until the sun rays start to peep in through the window. Mornings are also the times when the ticket rates are relatively less expensive compared to other show timings. So what do we do? We end up waking at around 9ish, have a quick bath and rush to the multiplex without breakfast. Although popcorn and pepsi is the perfect combo, that's not healthy a...

Last week, I attended the Nasscom Product Conclave on Oct 27 and 28. Although I couldn't attend all the sessions as they were overlapping, I managed to attend a few interesting sessions and panel discussions. Most of the discussions were focused on issues related to startups, business plans and GTM strategies. Focus on specific product related issues was rather missing. But overall, it was a set of useful discussions. The twitter session was entertaining but I don't really agree with some of the strategies suggested by Guy Kawasaki in using twitter as a marketing tool. Bombarding the followers with interesting links will just be an overkill in order to add more followers. But Guy is an entertaining speaker and definitely a good marketer. I'm sure the number of pageviews to Alltop would have increased in the past one week. Raw notes from the sessions below: Guy Kawasaki's key note (The art of the start) Put everything in the cloud Ship, then test Use TweetMem...