Sexy at Sixty! Why Not?

When I started this Blog, my idea was to write on topics that covered various aspects and Features / Functionalities of web products. So can I write an the Independence Day Post?
Why not?India being a land of festivals and occasions, it gives the marketing and design teams in all Internet companies to establish a connection with the audience of varied interests and needs. I have seen, and have been part of, promotions ranging from Rakhi to Valentine’s Day and Diwali to New Year’s Day and many more. I remember once during my Indiatimes days, we discussed the possibility to auction the largest bouquet of Flowers, online, to create a world record!

So, I thought let me see what the designers across the country have been up to, on this Independence Day! It was heartening to see that most sites have decorated their homepages to express their joy and freedom.
The Shopping verticals of Indiatimes, Rediff and Sify did not carry any significant Independence Day related offers although the portals had subtle design depictions of the tricolour. Ebay India’s special promotion somewhere low down on the homepage did not make any sense.Google and Yahoo are always good at modifying the logos for any occasion, and this time it was no different.

Travel sites MakeMyTrip and Yatra offered special deals, which was heartening to see. MMT depicted the Indian spirit nicely prompting people to take a long Independence Day break. Ixigo, the travel search aggregator’s logo design was neatly done.

Sites in the Networking and User Content domain looked all ready and there for the occasion. BigAdda homepage looked great but Orkut was very creative. Peaking of special offers, Sulekha is running an Independence Day best blog contest.

Pure-play classifieds sites did not seem interested in the Independence Day! Matrimonial sites, Shaadi, BharatMatrimony, and Jobsites, Monster India and Clickjobs were celebrating. Naukri looked complacent with even the new product Brijj not showing any signs of celebration!

However, the expression that impressed me the most today was the headline “Sixty, Getting Sexier” in the Times of India, that I have titled my Independence Day post, likewise. And yes, the Idea of writing an ‘Independence Day Post’ was given by dear friend, Vivek Rastogi ‘Chacha’ (not Nehru!).

Victory for Bollywood ?

The two things that have the biggest potential to equally rock and shock India are Bollywood and Cricket. On Tuesday afternoon, the Indian team beat England and Sanjay Dutt got a six year jail term. It did not take much work, on the TV remote, to see which one was hotter; the Indian team's win or the Jail term!

Well, TV channels, barring a few like NDTV, have a sheep mentality. What I was waiting for was the next morning newspapers. I wanted to see which of the two events takes the prime spot in the newspapers, the next morning.

On Wednesday morning it was pretty clear that the BCCI has indeed been successful in making Indian cricket a not- so- happening entity in our lives. Although the HT had the 2 rightmost columns on the front page mentioning the Indian victory, the more circulated TOI had no space for the 'win' in the first half of the front page!

Indeed its a victory for Bollywood. Whether its also a victory for the Indian judicial system, is another matter.