'Indian Railway's Wordsmith (Slogan writer) chugs ahead of all others' by K.J.S.Chatrath

Wordsmiths seem to be in great demand now a days.

It is a tough creative job as it is not easy to come out with catchy, interesting, positive and relevant slogans  on development day after day.

The Wordsmith of Indian Railways seems to have chugged ahead of all others.Take a look at what railway's quarter page advertisement in newspapers today says:

"प्रगति के २ साल 

भारतीय रेल बेमिसाल।"

Of course I have a problem with the second part of the above slogan. 'Bemisal' means something  which has no similar example.  Here one has to look for examples from similarly placed organisations. Remember the saying about not comparing apples with oranges. One can not compare Indian Railways with any other organsiation as it is in a monopoly situation and no other organisation runs trains which could have been compared with, or example of which could have been cited. So, in my view the use of the word 'Bemisal' is not right.  It seems to have been chosen just because it rhymes well with 'saal'!

Then there is announcement of a  "रेल हमसफ़र सप्ताह- सात दिन, सात मुहीम". 

Here too I am not happy with the use of the word 'humsafar'. Humsafar means a co-passenger and does not convey any clear meaning in  this context. A better word, perhaps, could have been 'yatri'.

Now let us see the seven fresh slogans-  for each day of the week. Take a look:

२६  मई - स्वछता दिवस;

२७ मई - सत्कार दिवस;

२८  मई -  सेवI दिवस;

२९ मई - सतर्कता दिवस;

३० मई - सामंजस्य दिवस;

३१ मई - संयोजन दिवस, और

१ जून  - संचार दिवस

And to drum it in further, in the end it says -  रेल बड़े, देश बड़े 

Phew.....I dont know about others, but after this I don't want to see another slogan for another week!

Ah...If only slogans could take the Indian Railways ahead!

 

By the way, I am a self professed admirer of Indian Railways and at 73+, still regularly undertake and enjoy  long distance rail journeys.

Let me end by adding a slogan of my own, "I love Indian Railways"

Confused? Uh?

  .....
My websites & blogs:
www.fiftyplustravels.com,
www.gravematters.in,
www.traveltalk.co.in
www.anaap-shnaap.blogspot.in,
www.francophilesonly.blogspot.in,
indianrestaurantsworldwide.blogspot.in/
www.indianheritagephotos.blogspot.in
Email: kjschatrath@yahoo.co.in; chatrath@gmail.com

'Three talented young ladies in ads' - by K.J.S.Chatrath

 Richa Chaddha

About a year or so back, I saw a TATASKY ad about a pretty young working woman preparing to leave on a 15 days holiday to Nainital and TATASKY not charging her for that fortnight. The young lady, Amritsar born Richa Chadha, has put up an excellent performance in those 60 seconds.The ease and synchronization of her dialogues with her body, facial and eye movements was just amazing.Of course in the meantime she has acted in a few films  like Fukrey, Massan and Sarabjit, and received accolades for her performances.

Tasha Chettri

But a pretty young lady who has really impressed the ad world in the last year is Tasha Chettri. This ad writer from Dehradun has become the face of young India with her ads about Airtel 4G. The series of ads on this topic are all very maturely handled with a bit of self-mocking. She has innocent looks and at the same time competently handles people making making fun of her with a disarming shrug or smile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlvvkNxb2W0

The news is that Sasha Chettri, has decided to leave Airtel, and join Reliance Jio’s 4G campaign from now on. She took this decision after a user from Umiam Lake of Shillong is taking her to court as he was not able to watch India vs West Indies World T20 Semi final clash on his mobile phone using Airtel 4G.

Jasmine Bhasin

One other ad which I saw a few days back was a re-telecast of a 2014 ad. It asks:

'Simran shaadi ke 4 din baad itni pareshan?' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krr025ai8ak

I found Jasmine Bhasin, playing a young Panjabi bride Simran, doing an excellent job. She twitches her nose in disapproval and then the hand gesture while referring to 'class' are  really impressive. Some are of course finding fault with equating using of 'Odonil' with being cultured, but doing so is overlooking the humour and excellent performance.

 Do take a look and decide for yourself.

 .....
My websites & blogs:
www.fiftyplustravels.com,
www.gravematters.in,
www.traveltalk.co.in
www.anaap-shnaap.blogspot.in,
www.francophilesonly.blogspot.in,
indianrestaurantsworldwide.blogspot.in/
www.indianheritagephotos.blogspot.in
Email: kjschatrath@yahoo.co.in; chatrath@gmail.com

'Papa, Pappu and Development' by K.J.S.Chatrath

Pappu: Papa, Papa.

Pappa: Yes Pappu.

Pappu: I read a slogan today:

देश के   बरड्ते  कदम,

काम ज़्यादा, बातें कम. 

What does it mean?

Pappa: It is too complicated. You go and finish your school homework. 

 .....
My websites & blogs: www.fiftyplustravels.com, www.gravematters.in, www.traveltalk.co.in
www.anaap-shnaap.blogspot.in,
www.francophilesonly.blogspot.in,
indianrestaurantsworldwide.blogspot.in/
www.indianheritagephotos.blogspot.in
Email: kjschatrath@yahoo.co.in; chatrath@gmail.com

'Abki baar, Jan Jan ka Uddhaar'!

Hon'ble Prime Minister of India's Wordsmith (Speech Writer) has come out with yet another smart one - 'Abki baar, Jan Jan ka Uddhaar'! (अबकी बार, जन जन का उध्धार ).