Osamu Suzuki, chairman of Suzuki Motors, skilfully avoided the media glare the day after he fired a salvo at competitor Tata Motors over the latter?s Rs 1 lakh car, by opting out of a public function in Mumbai. And Shinzo Nakanishi, Maruti Udyog?s incoming CEO, who spoke on Susuki?s behalf at the event, disappointed the media, not just because he offered none of the fireworks that his boss did, but also with his reticence. ?I am not comfortable with English,? he announced, even as he fumbled with the language in a minute-long speech, and then changed into Japanese for a translator to do the rest. Ironically, though, he spoke about ?breaking down the barriers of language, customs and institutions and trying for a deeper mutual understanding? as part of a necessary agenda for globalisation. The emphasis, he managed to get across, was on a ?heart to heart? attitude, no matter how it was conveyed.
TRP worship
The importance of TRPs for television channels was recently rubbed home by Subhash Chandra, chairman of the Zee group, at the launch of ZeeNext channel. Zee, he claimed, was different from its rivals. Referring to Star, without quite naming it, the business honcho said, ?Even housewives are bored of saas bahu serials. They are just irritated of shedding tears over the frequent death scenes in such soaps and can no more tolerate household politics on television. Our channel, which has a wide variety of youthful and fun-filled programmes, is a must-watch for all age-groups.? Of course, the TRPs will still reign supreme.