Paris Hilton

Yeah, those are the only two words needed to describe her. Those words have become a brand unto themselves. That too a multi million brand.

I don’t have gossip potential as that of TMZ nor the panel of experts as CNN detailing every little aspect of yours but whatever I can perceive of her makes her a fascinating person. I am well aware that I am taking a contrarian view, but I have always tried to look beyond the popular opinion in any context.

Paris Hilton to me is a genius in marketing. Agreed, it all started with the sex tape. But if that is all that is needed to make what Paris is today, then Jenna Jameson would have been as successful and rich as Paris is. That sex tape was just her launching platform, and whatever she did later was her own crafty ways.

The fortune that this high school dropout, has from her grandparents’ hotel empire and real estate business of her parents is enough for her to enjoy the luxuries, which only few of us can imagine. She didn’t stop at that and created her own name that is getting as famous as the original ‘Hilton’ brand. She has done it all, music albums to designer jewellery.

The most recent adversity of spending 23 days in jail has been turned into a gold pot by her. She very well knows that in the game of publicity, any publicity is good publicity. She will reportedly be getting 1 million dollars by NBC for her interview with Meredith Vieira. There was also contest for buying that story as well. Though, her first interview with Larry King wasn’t paid for. People might think she is dumb, she may be or may not be, but at the end, she is the one who is laughing all the way to bank.

GDP growth alone ?

Amidst all the news about rising inflation, strengthening interest rates, there was a different kind of statistics that made news in India. It surely made few in the government elated. GDP growth rate of India, for the year 2006-2007 (April –March, financial year) was 9.4%, highest in the last 18 years, coming on top of 9% growth of the previous year. It indeed is pretty impressive.

But do we really want such high GDP growth rate when we see things in perspective with our inflation rate? Notwithstanding the method of calculating inflation, it is a serious concern which has subsided a bit by the figure coming close to 5%. This after concerted effort by the government and central bank, the RBI. With such high growth rate, there is risk of over-heating and then hard landing. No country can sustain high levels of inflation and our high GDP growth rate in part is fuelling the inflation figures.

High GDP growth increases the demand and with supply not matching up, things become expensive. It is better for India to have GDP growth between 8 to 9% to avoid over-heated economy. We can’t all the time control inflation by our appreciating currency. But I don’t think anyone will accept slower GDP growth rate, so the only way to have best of both the world is to remove inefficiencies. There are huge losses in the value chain for Indian goods and services. Our deficient infrastructure is as glaring as the high GDP growth rate. Unless and until these inefficiencies are done away with, the GDP growth rate won’t be anything to be cherished while being in quagmire of other economic woes.