POLITICS// Two founder members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were sacked from the Aam Aadmi Party’s key panel for their controversial remarks against the party’s way of functioning. The duo had been demanding more transparency and internal democracy within the party. They openly hit out at Arvind Kejriwal, which didn’t go down well with the latter. “He has displayed today that he is willing to use his dictatorial powers to ruthlessly stifle dissent and ruthlessly stop any discussion or opposition to what he wants,” said Bhushan. Though the party rubbished these allegations, Kejriwal hit out by saying “Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan tried to defeat AAP in Delhi polls.” “It was murder of democracy”, countered Yadav, as they were voted out of the party’s National Executive. Activist Medha Patkar also quit the party condemning the ouster of the two founder members for challenging the chief.
AWARD// Former Prime Minster of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee was conferred the country’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna on March 29. President Pranab Mukherjee, in a departure from protocol, carried the honour to his home for the ailing leader. It was a special gesture for the senior BJP leader who dedicated his life for the service of the nation. Several past and present leaders from the party lines congratulated the senior parliamentarian and congratulated him on his success.
BAN// Documentary film India’s Daughter, based on the brutal gang rape case of a girl in 2012 in New Delhi, and the following public uprising, was broadcast outside India on March 8. Directed by Leslee Udwin, the film was a part of BBC’s ongoing Storyville series. A court stay obtained by the Indian police prohibited the broadcast in India. An interview of Mukesh Singh, one of the four main accused, created an uproar in India. He was recorded as saying, “When being raped, she shouldn’t fight back. She should just be silent and allow the rape. Then they’d have dropped her off after ‘doing her’, and only hit the boy.” Despite the ban, the film was uploaded on YouTube and went viral.
BAN// The beef-loving people of Maharashtra will have to do without the red meat as a bill banning cow slaughter in Maharashtra got the President’s nod after 20 years. The bill was initiated during the earlier Sena-BJP government that ruled the state in 1996. The law spells out a sentence of five years jail term, along with a fine of Rs 10,000 for anyone found selling beef or in possession of it. Beef traders across Maharashtra went on strike over a week, immediately after the ban in protest of the alleged harassment being meted out to the traders across the state. It was only after Chief Minister Devender Fadnavis assured the traders to look into the matter and protect the interests of the beef traders after a delegation met him was the strike called off. “Thanks a lot Hon President Sir for the assent on Maharashtra Animal Preservation Bill. Our dream of ban on cow slaughter becomes a reality now,” tweeted Fadnavis.
OBITUARY// Senior journalist and former editor of Outlook, Vinod Mehta, passed away on March 8. He was 73. He had been in and out of AIIMS for several months and died of multi-organ failure. Born in Pawalpindi in 1942, Mehta was a renowned scribe and was appreciated for his bold journalism. He is survived by his wife Sumita Paul, also a journalist. The country took to Twitter to mourn his death. “Frank & direct in his opinions, Vinod Mehta will be remembered as a fine journalist & writer. Condolences to his family on his demise,” Modi tweeted after his demise. A popular face in TV debates, Mehta penned the best-selling autobiography Lucknow Boy in 2011. His also published a book Editor Unplugged just before he took ill.
CORONATION// Gurgaon girl Aditi Arya was crowned Femina Miss India 2015 at the 52nd edition of the beauty pageant at Yash Raj Studio in Mumbai. The first and second runners-up were Aafreen Rachel Vaz and Vartika Singh, respectively. Reigning Miss India Koyal Rana enthroned her successor Aditi with the crown. The trio was selected from the top five finalists of the FBB Femina Miss India 2015 that also included Tanya Hope and Deeksha Kaushal. Twenty one contestants from across the country participated in the beauty contest this year. The top five finalists were selected on the basis of the judges’s score out of a total number of 21 contestants. Aditi will now represent India at Miss World 2015, Aafreen will participate at Miss International 2015, while Vartika will take part at the Miss Grand International beauty pageants. Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez and Shahid Kapoor performed at the grand finale.
TRAGEDY// An Airbus operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget airline crashed in a remote snowy area of the French Alps and all 150 on board died. Flight 4U 9525 crashed on March 24. It was the first crash of a large passenger jet on French soil since the Concorde disaster just outside Paris in July 2000. The Germanwings copilot Andreas Lubitz is thought to have deliberately crashed his Airbus in the French Alps, and is said to have predicted, “Everyone will know my name”, to his exgirlfriend. Meanwhile, investigators have also found evidence of a serious psychosomatic illness, and said Lubitz had been treated by several neurologists and psychiatrists in the past few years. The black box voice recorder indicates that Lubitz locked his captain out of the cockpit and crashed the plane into a mountainside in what appears to have been a suicide and mass killing.
BUDGET// Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the first full budget of 2015-16 in Parliament on February 28, 2015. The budget was based on the premise that public investment in infrastructure growth would push the economy. Though the Opposition targeted the ruling party for an unrealistic budget which lacked structural reforms, it drew a mixed view from the economists. Some called it investor-friendly whereas others saw it as a missed opportunity to tackle deep rooted problems in the economy $2 trillion economy. Financial assistance was offered to West Bengal and Bihar.
A woman knows the face of the man as a sailor knows the open seaSOMETIMES, WHEN I look over my shoulder, it seems like yesterday. The day is imprinted in my memory: June 14, 1998. I stepped aboard “MT Zagara” at Ravenna, my first merchant vessel, as a 19-year-old cadet officer.
To say I was proud would be an understatement. I was so chuffed. I felt as if I had hitched my wagon to the stars and looked out at the horizon. Protocol took over as I headed for the Captain’s cabin to pay my regards. I still remember a tall, blue-eyed Italian looking at me to ask: “Where are you from?”
“New Delhi, India, sir.”
“Wow! Delhi has no seashore and you’ve come from there to join the Merchant Navy?’
Now was that a statement a question I was supposed to answer? I don’t know, but I recalled reading: “Some men are wise and some are otherwise”. Finally I had met “otherwise” and decided to just grin my way through for the moment.
“Hark, now hear the sailors cry, smell the sea, and feel the sky let your soul and sprit fly into the mystic seas and sky.”
The moment passed and my maiden voyage as a cadet had begun. Of course, I felt he had smashed a bottle of champagne on my head in the same manner one launches a ship.
A thousand thoughts echoed in my head. How I was dying to tell him that my love for the sea began as a young boy when I read R L Stevenson’sTreasure Island; then came Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and Joseph Conrad’s classic Typhoon. The sea has attracted many lovers of the written word and needless to say, I took to the sea like a fish to water – literally. I began by winning accolades and awards at school, soon after becoming the swimming captain for Modern School Delhi.
My adolescent imagination was aflame and I lusted after the great waters beyond the shores, so it came as no surprise to friends and family when I decided on a career in merchant navy.
What I did not bank on was being the only Indian cadet on board. The rest of the crew was a motley crew of Italians, Romanians and Russians. It meant I had to adjust to an alien environment. The first few months on board were not all wine and roses. At every step, I was forced to prove I was as good as I gave, and six months later no one else could hope to find me lagging behind.
“Indians never make good officers!” was the unvoiced opinion aboard the Zagara. What hope was there of a cadet breaking this mindset? Six months of backbreaking work, spit-and-polish and nose to the grindstone, and I left no one in doubt as to what I wanted to prove. This was for real. And I meant business.
All this, of course, was many years ago — 1998 to be precise. Seventeen years later, a lot has changed. The joke is on the others now. Indian sea-farers onboard merchant vessels, in the deep blue sea, attract much more than respect from foreign nationals.
You could repeat to me that old saying I learnt at school, one which our moral science teacher used to drill into us at the school assembly every morning: “Slow and steady wins the race!” That, dear reader, has been my tale. I worked up the ladder. In 2009, I got my Command and became a Captain. One thing, though, stuck out like a sore thumb. A 31-year-old, and an Indian Commander at that, giving orders, did not go down too well with many. But this time around, they had no choice. Fall into line, obey and execute!
While I have been fortunate to have worked with various nationalities from East Europe and Far East, I have never let the tilted behaviour of my crew towards an Indian crew on board cloud my decision or be unreasonable towards them because of their nationality — something I learnt early on the job as a junior officer.
Last year, while approaching Kobe, a port in Japan, a marine pilot boarded the vessel. Surprised as he was to see a young Indian Captain in command of the vessel, he didn’t say anything but before disembarking the ship he commented: “Captain Bakshi, you seem to be a fine Commander.” That, from a Japanese, who are known for their work ethics, made me realise I was doing something right.
Today, when I set sail around the world with my crew, I make it a point to tell my Indian crew and officers to give their best, always nothing but the best. Sometimes, only sometimes does one miss home and hearth. At times like this, I find solace in the belief that life is like the ocean, it can be calm or still, rough or rigid, but in the end it’s always beautiful.
Here’s a lowdown on how you can weave social media into the event’s fabric, so that the event buzz remains long after the credits have rolledEvents, no matter how big or small, are inherently social by design, aren’t they? So it stands to reason that using social media for your events would be a no-brainer, right? Yet, events all over the world — even those focused on social media — fail to leverage social platforms effectively throughout the event lifecycle. If you’re involved with planning an event, whether it is a global conference or a small networking mixer, here are some ways you can weave social into the event’s fabric, so that the event buzz remains long after the last cheques are cleared and the celebratory post-event dinners are over.
Before the event
Pick the Right NetwoRk: Before you even start planning for your next event, you’ll want to pick the right social networks (or combinations thereof) to get the word out about your event and connect with prospective attendees. Facebook clearly has the most to offer for event planners — most of your attendees will be on it and will have some experience interacting with your brand pages. Plus, it gives the ability to host all sorts of content about your event — whether it is photos, videos, surveys or a dedicated event webpage.
Twitter, on the other hand, is central to the actual event experience, through its use of event “hashtags” (keywords or topics on Twitter) to generate conversations around an event. LinkedIn, with its focus on professional initiatives, is also particularly useful if you’re focused on industry events, such as skill-training seminars, networking sessions or conferences; tapping into LinkedIn groups allows you to connect with key influencers and likely attendees.
choose youR eveNt hashtag: The hashtag is a vital element to your event marketing — information, social media conversations, promotions and campaigns around your event will be tracked via this hashtag. Ensure that the hashtag is unique, in that it hasn’t been used previously, and is easy to remember, can’t be misinterpreted or misread. Most crucially, keep it short — you wouldn’t want people running out of their 140 characters on twitter if #yourhashtagissimplytoolong, right? Once you settle on your event hashtag, include it in all conversations around the event, whether it is posters, flyers, invitations/ tickets, blog posts or traditional advertisements.
highlight youR assets: If you’re organising a conference and have confirmed your key speakers, promote their presence at your event by including their social accounts (Facebook, Twitter) in communications announcing your event, and a subtle call to action to register for your event. This has two benefits — it allows you to highlight your speakers and their relevance to the event, and gives your key guests a ready-to-share post or tweet that they can broadcast to their social followers, improving visibility and attendance at the event.
In addition, if you’ve already organised this event in the previous years, consider getting visual speaker and attendee testimonials recorded and socialise via your Facebook and YouTube channels. A behind-the-scenes highlights reel leading up to the event works well, too.
adveRtise socially: Targeted Facebook advertisements are a great way to reach your target audience, and are usually well worth the relatively minimal investment. Targeted ads let you pick a geographic or demographic segment to target to boost visibility and attendee signups. Facebook even lets you show ads to people who have visited your site without purchasing a ticket.
affiliates aNd social giveaways: If you need to boost ticket sales, consider putting an affiliate/ referral programme in place. How it works is that affiliates popularise your event on their social channels and drive ticket sales, and are granted a free pass to the event in return. Ensure that you empower your affiliates with shareable media snippets — it could be an audio or video clip, a blog post or an infographic, not to forget regular event updates. Social giveaways are another option — you could organise a mini contest on your Twitter or Facebook channels to popularise your event’s key themes and selected entries could be awarded free passes to attend your event.
During the event
MoNitoR aNd eNgage: It’s easy to do the groundwork and forget social media on the day of the event, especially when last-minute issues crop up and ensuring the event flows smoothly is the utmost priority. Plan ahead, and dedicate at least a couple of folks to monitor your social feeds while the event is on. Just about any capable social monitoring tool can track event keywords and hashtags, and your social team should be at hand addressing questions and complaints that are coming up about the event (such as: is there a live video stream, why is the WiFi so slow and so on) and share snippets from the events in the form of quotes, photos and short videos from the event on your social channels.
oN-site PRoMotioNs: Set up a projector to display all the tweets and posts happening in real-time during your event, so that attendees can be encouraged to participate in the conversation. You could even gamify the activity, and award hourly prizes to the most creative tweets and Facebook posts shared by attendees (again, tracked using the hashtag).
PRoMote youR atteNdees: Have your team walk around the venue, and share interesting photos of attendees in your event updates. Identify the people in the photo and be sure to tag them if you can — this allows and encourages people to comment about how much they’ve learnt at the event and the key takeaways from the event.
After the event
Retell the stoRy: If you’ve spent enough time on the event floor capturing attendee feedback and conversations, you can retell the story of the event. Not in your own words, but in the words of your attendees — via their video snippets, tweets/ posts and photos shared. You’re not only summarising the event for those who couldn’t make it to the event, but creating a call-to-action about how they should attend the next time around.
seek atteNdee feedback: If your event registration captures attendees’ social details, reach out to them via a quick post-event survey. You can even boost participation by organising a lucky draw among those who complete the survey, with the incentive of free attendance to the next event you organise.