WHAT IS SELLING?

For the last two days there is a lot media space and mind space given to the CERN research centre having discovered a new subatomic particle that could be the elusive Higgs boson, which is believed to be crucial in the formation of the universe.

Some people are really gung-ho about the finding and some are totally rubbishing it. 

Also, there is a big chunk of people who have absolutely no clue about what they are talking about and are confusing the ‘GOD PARTICLE’ to ‘GOD’.

Although I am still reading through this piece of news and haven’t formed a concrete opinion on the same. 

But this news did prompt me to write a post on something very different yet connected.

So what exactly is CERN research centre trying to do?

Well in my opinion they are trying to SELL AN IDEA that they believe has a solid RTB (Reason to believe).

Now it’s upto us whether we buy that Idea or reject it.

What is selling?

An art or science?

I would say it’s nothing but CONVICTION.

If you are convinced about an IDEA you’ll do anything to sell that idea and if you are not then you’ll do the selling halfheartedly.

Sometimes you would not even understand the true potential of an idea but it fructifies into something magnanimous that generations to come in will stay in awe of.

I guess so far I am just talking and talking. Now let me explain through an example.

Dayton, Tennessee is a tiny town of around 7,000 people, in US.

In 1925 an event took place there that made it world famous.

It was known as ‘The Trial Of The Century’.

The State of Tennessee had passed an act which made it illegal to teach evolution in state schools.

A young science teacher, John Scopes, was found to have been doing just that.

He was arrested and brought to trial.

Two of the most famous legal minds in America headed the opposite side in the case.

Three-time Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan headed up the prosecution.

Famous lawyer Clarence Darrow headed up the defense.

The trial set the modernists against the fundamentalists.

The main case for the defense was that The Bible was not meant to be taken completely literally.

The fundamentalist argued for the prosecution that every word of The Bible was the absolute literal truth.

The literal truth.

So mankind was descended from Adam and Eve.

And teaching that we were descended from monkeys was blasphemy.

Throughout the trial, Williams Jennings Bryan was keen to show off his knowledge of The Bible.

Being a Presidential candidate, he’d been doing this for many years and was proud of it.

The defense masterstroke came towards the end of the trail.

In a brilliant move, they called Williams Jennings Bryan, the prosecutor, to the stand.

As an expert on The Bible.

The judge at first refused to allow it, but Bryan himself insisted.

This was his chance to show off his Biblical knowledge.

Once on the stand, the defense was able to demonstrate just what nonsense Bryan’s case was.

And they ridiculed his insistence that The Bible was historical fact.

It was science versus dogma.

Their exchange became the high point of the trial, and all the subsequent media coverage.

But what impressed me most was something very few people know about that trial. It was a publicity stunt.

In 1925 the American Civil Liberties Union had run an ad offering to finance the defense of anyone caught teaching evolution.

Three locals from the little town of Dayton were discussing the ad in the local drugstore.

Walter White the school superintendent, Sue K. Hicks a local attorney, and George Rappelyea, a representative for the local coal and Iron Company.

Rappelyea said “This could be just the thing to put our little town on the map. Think of the income a trial like this could generate.”

They asked a 24 year old substitute teacher, John Scopes, if he’d agree to do it.

He said he couldn’t remember if he’d ever taught evolution or not.

They said it didn’t matter, he could pretend he had.

And they persuaded three high school students to testify that he had.

And that’s how ‘The Trial Of the Century’ happened.

At the time there were millions of words by hundreds of reporters, in newspapers, magazines, books, and radio coverage all over the world.

In the decades since, there have been films and TV shows, starring Hollywood superstars like Kirk Douglas, Spencer Davis, Jack Lemmon, and George C Scott.

The revenue generated by that trial made Dayton famous and its residents wealthy.

Even today, there’s still a thriving tourist industry.

People coming to visit the museum, the schoolhouse and court house where it all happened.

To stay overnight, eat at the restaurants, and buy souveniers.

85 years later, tourist dollars are still coming into Dayton, Tennessee, population 7,000.

And that’s how three people chatting in a small local drugstore put their little town on the map.

SO IN A NUTSHELL FUNDAMENTAL OF SELLING IS NOTHING BUT CONVICTION IN YOUR IDEA.

Time will tell whether all of us will believe in the conviction of CERN scientists or not. Till that time congratulations to the team who have sacrificed their lives for half a decade to prove what they believed in.

Burden of expectations

Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy - the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in HOPE and EXPECTATION.  Eric Hoffer

If only we could stop hoping and expecting then we would not be living a life burdened with expectations. But that's easier said than done. Like death, not expecting is impossible. We get heartbroken because we think only in linear fashion. We expect what is convenient to us or what we want to see or hear. If we don't want to get hurt then we should expect everything so that nothing comes unexpected.

Who would have thought that India would perform so abysmally after being ranked a number one team in tests and winning the world cup? But unfortunately mostly disappointment strike hardest when you don’t expect that thing to happen. That’s why it hurts so much. All of us were thinking that this time India will win India vs. Australia test series hands down but what turned out was horrific state of Indian cricket team.

Every time Sachin goes on the field he gets the loudest cheer from the crowd hoping he’ll hit his 100^th tone but all we get is disappointment. If we expect so much from him then just think how much the little master would be expecting from him. But I guess this over expectation has made this 100^th ton a herculean task.

When Ra.One promos hit the screen we all thought that it will be career defining movie not for SRK but maybe may be for Bollywood too. We all know what happened to the viewers who went to see it. It was again a case of expectations gone haywire.

A small budget movie like Bheja Fry wooed the audiences like anything because it had no expectations attached to it. But when a sequel of the same movie is made it turns out to be a dud.

It’s not that expectations always turn out to be bad.

 

When India hosted the first F1 Grand Prix then everyone was waiting for a showdown to happen and thinking that India will mess up again like we did in CWG but this time around expectations were quashed for better. 

The best way to not get swayed from your goal is not to give in to the pressure of people’s expectations and stay silent.

As Alison McGhee said, “You are most powerful when you are most silent. People never expect silence. They expect words, motion, defense, offense, back and forth. They expect to leap into the fray. They are ready, fists up, words hanging leaping from their mouths. Silence? No.” 

That’s probably the reason why Manmohan Singh got elected second time as Prime Minister when the opposition tried every trick to repudiate him. Now it’s a different story altogeher. The same Government is bowing to every justified and non-justified pressure from its own allies and opposition. They have not been able to perform because they have stoped believing in themselves and have given up to the expectations of others.

In personal matters too we leave a burdened life. Firstly right from childhood we are expected to do well in our studies. As a result most of the children don’t get to enjoy their childhood.

In our job we are expected to perform exceptionally well over and over again. We are bound to fulfill boss’s every expectation Expectations could be as outrageous as cleaning your boss’s dirty linen in private. If he’s having an affair with someone or he’s hitting on you (when he’s married) then you are expected to know/say nothing.

When we are in a relationship then we have to live up to the expectations of our partner not just once but all the times. You fail once and your relationship goes for a toss. If you are unmarried then it’s move on. If you are married then it’s divorce.

I am not against expectations but all I mean to say is that there are two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations. It’s always better to be pleasantly surprised than fatally disappointed.
 

Now I am going to try and live this philosophy. Few expectations that I have lowered are:

·         Expecting Indian Cricket team to win any match outside India

·         Expecting Petrol price will not rise that often

·         Expecting that an Anna can change the fate of the most corrupt nation

·         Expecting to get a good appraisal

·         Expecting that I will not hurt anyone

·         Expecting that I’ll be understood and loved in return

I guess lowering these many expectations could be a good starting point if I am able to achieve them.

Let the mission to ‘LIVE A LIFE’ not ‘LIVE A BURDENED LIFE’ begin from here on!!!!!!!!!