On nippy March evenings, you can also use a little sweat if you can gain fitness. It can brighten the comforting face and savory shape that our chilled bodies still crave.
Every time I tie my shoe laces, I find myself asking this question. Do I really need to run, jog and slog to get a figure that I always wanted to? Ain't I enough handsome? Why don't I skip the run for today and watch cricket instead? Sipping a can of chilled Coke with popcorn, or grilled chicken can be a cool combination.
After a long day's work, I am totally strained and drained. Running would just make it worse and my body, sorer! But the satisfaction in sweating makes me have fun. Jogging a few rounds with friends chatting about non-related topics like the new item song, an ad in the paper, new offers online, different kinds of fish and stuff in the park helps me unwind the tension that is built up and cool my senses. I have given up on the iPod as it makes me feel bound, literally. I reach home, take a warm & cold shower; relieved and untoxicated.
Finding a hobby that relaxes my mind, helps me cope with the work pressures is awesome and has made me a better person. All this jogging helps me gorge on the chicken, sweets and whatever I want with ease for longer periods of time.
Jogging is my cocaine pill. What is yours? The warm bright summer is coming. And I am loving it!
Its things we internalize that become part of us. Part of our lives. Cricket in India runs on such lines. Its embedded into the Indian psyche. As they say, its almost religion. Now the marketing lesson in it is, cricket's become what brands want to be. Brands want consumers to make them part of their lives. Part of their identity. Iconic brands are those that have achieved what's cricket's done. They have wormed their way into consumer lives. So much that consumers draw part of their identity from them. Of course, this doesn't come easy. In fact it materializes only if consumers are willing to connect with brands at a psychological level.
What really makes you smile? You know, the quick, joyful grin, and maybe a chuckle or two, that lights up your face when you do something, see something?
This is the problem with consumers too. You walk past the counter, buy a lot of stuff, sometimes not shopping at all and walk right out without any bad experiences. Sometimes, occasionally a good experience which you chose to smile about and ignore. But there comes a bad experience, a slightly out of the ordinary, may be a tired clerk, salesgirl who fails to understand why you need to check for 10 trails and still not pick one and is a bit restless with you, you jump to the conclusion and talk about consumer rights and all the stuff that puts the poor chap in defense. You call the manager, shout, yell and do everything possible to prove you have a better knowledge of the English language and more elaborate vocabulary and out him in defense too. If the case is going against you, you pool in support from a bunch of similar minded, usually jobless, customers who keep nodding in your support and say you want to report to their CEO about it. This seems funny, most of the times you don't send a mail or call about it. People who have an outlet like blogging will post about it, again in rare circumstances or post as a status in Facebook or tweet about it. 
