Stoked Smondays #5: Do This Before You Die 👼
Here’s the 5th edition where I talk about the one definite thing you should do before you die, why the pet industry is set to boom and links to content pieces I consumed last week.
It’s September 16th of 2013. Chiquinho Scarpa, a Brazilian multi-millionaire wakes up in the morning, fires up his laptop, logs on to Facebook and posts something absurd:
I have decided to do as the Pharaohs. I am going to bury my favourite car, the Bentley here in the home garden. Bury my treasure in my palace!
A Bentley worth half a million dollars was soon going to be buried in the backyard of his 15,000 Sq.ft. mansion.
Why?
His reasoning was simple: I want to enjoy my life after death.
He was inspired by the Pharaohs (rulers) of Egypt, who used to bury their valuables with the belief of leading a comfortable life after death.
People thought he was just bluffing around, ignoring it for some clickbait showbiz he was up to. Who thinks like this in the 21st century?
On September 17th, he puts a picture updating his progress, showing how serious he is.
On the 18th, he posts yet another picture where he is himself seen digging.
On the same day, he attends a talk show and reveals that the car will be buried on Friday, 11 AM.
The media catches this and turns it into a piece of breaking news. He not only becomes a talk of the nation but leading publications like the Daily Mail, UK starts covering this bizarre story. It spreads like a wildfire.
And for obvious reasons, people are outraged.
Seriously? Like What The Fuck?
Shove it up your ass dude.
How out of touch with reality are you?
Can’t you just donate it to a person in need?
He is ridiculous. What a sick person!
These are some of the many comments he receives on his posts. He doesn’t seem to give 2 fucks and is adamant to put his Bentley down.
The day arrives. Flaunting a jade black suit, he ushers into his backyard on 20th September. The media is eagerly waiting for the burial to start. People have gathered in hundreds to witness this nonsensical episode.
“Go bury with the car” exclaims a young man who is about to see his dream machine get buried just like that.
The driver slides the car into the grave while Chiquinho Scarpa bids goodbye.
But there’s a twist.
Of course, there is.
Why else do you think I am covering this story?
But promise me if you like this story, you’ll end up smashing that like button?
Okay? Okay.
Moments before the burial proceedings, Scarpa declares: “I don’t want to bury the car. The point of all this is something else.”
He then reveals his motive behind this act: All of this is just to create awareness for organ donation.
People condemn me because I wanted to bury a million-dollar Bentley, in fact, most people bury something more valuable than my car. "
"They bury hearts, livers, lungs, eyes, kidneys. This is bullshit. So many people are waiting for transplants and burying them with their healthy organs that could save so many lives!
This stunt was pulled by the infamous Leo Burnett - an advertising agency - for their client - The Brazilian Association of Organ Transplantation. The campaign went on to win numerous awards including the D&AD 2014.
“Mom, will we be celebrating my 9th birthday in the hospital? Do you think we’ll get to call my friends home?”
“Definitely Avi. In fact, your dad is out there planning a birthday bash and a big surprise for you! Don’t worry darling - you’ll be perfectly fine by then!”
Tears roll down her eyes as she tries to comfort Avi by telling him a lie.
Why is she lying?
Because she can’t tell him the truth.
The truth that he is one of the few chosen ones who has been diagnosed with a congenital liver disorder.
The truth that he is one of the million Indians who are in need of organ transplants asap.
The truth that there aren’t enough organ donors in India.
And the truth that his Dad isn’t planning for his birthday bash, but desperately looking for a donor that could fix his son and let him live long enough to see more birthdays.
Every year, there are requirements for about 50,000 hearts, lakh livers and 2 lakh kidneys in India. The requirements are such that if you were to fill airbuses with patients seeking organs, you could fill 586 of them. (Source)
But the truth is only a tiny percentage of the dead signup to donate their organs when they are alive.
A simple question we can ask ourselves: “What is the point of this anyway once I’m dead?”
Your end could be a beginning for someone else.
(Yes, I wrote this quote. Now pat my back)
This Smonday I urge you to pledge for organ donation. You can choose to donate one or all of them. All you need to do is visit this link and pledge. You’ll be asked to fill a form which won’t take more than 5 minutes. At the end of it, you’ll receive an e-mail with the confirmation.
A few weeks later you’ll also receive an e-card on your email which signifies your intent of donating organs after you die. Share this e-card with your friends and family and let them know what a rockstar you are.
I’m sure they’ll be proud of you and pat you on the back. Some might even ask “What inspired you to do this?”
That is when you reveal this newsletter and share this edition with them. You tell them “One fine Sunday, when I was reading the Smonday, this bastard convinced me to take this step.”
Here’s my pledge:
Note: In case your family talks you out of donating organs and questions where I live so that they can smash my head and donate my organs instead, here’s a list of possible concerns they may have that, in really, could be myths.
Still, if they don’t agree, it’s time for you to look for a foster family, friend. Dare you not reveal my identity.
In case we’re meeting for the first time - Hi, I’m Gopu and this is my weekly newsletter that doesn’t suck. Hopefully.
Welcome to the 5th edition of Stoked Smondays - a newsletter you can read on a lazy Sunday that actually preps you up for the much anticipated Monday. Not literally.
Stoked Smondays is all about interesting content I come across over the week. But more importantly, this is my canvas where I release my stress, thoughts and intellectual orgasms only in the hopes of becoming a better writer.
Last week’s newsletter was a relative hit. 2 new subscribers and 25% more open rates. Almost felt like walking up to the stage and playing some clap sounds on the speaker.
One of the subscribers - Mahaprasad - was kind enough to revert with this:
I got so overwhelmed with the responses (read: hardly 2-3) last week that I dwindled into a creative block this week which didn’t let me write anything until yesterday.
I felt horrible to have promised something like this publicly and then not deliver on it.
It was then I got a notification on Whatsapp:
That was it.
And here I am forcing you to donate your organs, wanting to make you feel like a less horrible person when you die.
Let’s goooooo! 👊🏻
📚 Book
#1. Buyology: How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy is Wrong
While I am reading Warikoo’s book on the side; a few pages a day; I picked up this amazing book by Martin Lindstrom. This is where he talks about my favourite subject: Consumer Psychology.
A few pages into the book and it is quite gripping. One of the not-so-shocking but surprising revelations he makes is about a study that was conducted to identify the cause behind a surge in cigarette sales, especially after the packaging was forced to be revamped to showcase its harmful effects. I always used to wonder how could smokers buy packs even after seeing this cover picture:
It’s in this book he reveals why this picture is the exact reason for an additional nudge the smokers needed to smoke, hence surging the sales quarter-over-quarter.
Do give this book a read if you’re into marketing or simply wishes to understand why we buy what we buy.
📃 Article
#1. Money Is the Megaphone of Identity by More To That
A 30-minute read that offers an interesting perspective of looking at money. The author plots our relationship with money into something called “The Money Spectrum” where he divides it into 3 phases depending on where we are in life.
Phase #1: Survival (Most of us are here)
Phase #2: Freedom
Phase #3: Power
He walks through each of the phases, spotting potential pros and cons in each and how is it that we should prioritise our relationship with money only to discover the nothingness of money.
#2. It’s raining cats and dogs: Crown Vet and its all-in-one pet care bet by The Ken
Even since Appu (my pet dog) is home, I have been fascinated by the pet industry. It’s a no-brainer to me now that India is poised to witness a soon-to-be-emerging billion-dollar industry in the next few years. Let me tell you why.
It was a Sunday evening and I clearly remember Appu having his last meal the day prior. The whole day he didn’t have anything. I didn’t pay much heed to it thinking it must be his way of cleansing his internal system.
I got super tensed when he didn’t eat anything for 2 days straight. Monday evening he started vomiting.
Not once or twice, but this poor boy vomited 15 times. I took him to multiple clinics but didn’t find them to be experienced enough to understand what’s the issue. Or maybe they didn’t have the compassion and patience needed to figure what exactly is happening.
One of the clinics scared the shit out of us by wrongfully diagnosing him of a deadly virus and the probability of survival being 10%.
Day 4, I take him to a multi-speciality in Mumbai - a 7-floor hospital dedicated only to pets. Fast forward to spending around ₹60,000 and 5 days of to and fro’s to the hospital; I realised two things about me and my family: That this bastard is very dear to us and no matter how chaotic he is in the house - if anything happens to him, we wouldn’t think twice before spending.
The point I am trying to make here is that pet parents are very protective, conscious and careful when it comes to anything related to their furry babies. They wouldn’t think twice before spending and this itself is a major factor why this industry is propelled to succeed, especially in a market like India.
The pet adoption rate, mostly after Covid + work from home scenes, have shot up and more and more pet parks are flocking only to cater to the demands of pet parents.
This article by The Ken explains the current challenges faced by a vet clinic and paves a view of what the future years are going to be like.
Note: This article is a paid one and can only be accessed if you have a membership. If you wish to go through it - do send an email or DM on Twitter - I have 5 gift reads I get every month which I will be more than happy to share - only because you’re reading this newsletter. 🥲
#3. The Indian government owns Vi
A read by Finshots guiding you through the rabbit hole of what is it that happened with Vodafone, how it spiralled into 2-lakh crore debt, how is it trying to put a fight, and what will government do now since it owns a larger pie of this company.
🎥 Video
#1. Elizabeth Holmes Found Guilty of Fraud [Theranos Trial Details]
Elizabeth Holmes started Theranos when she was 19. By age 31 she was at the helm of a 10-billion dollar company trusted by millions as they were led to believe that Theranos will revolutionise the blood testing industry - with a single drop of blood.
This video highlight the downfall of Holmes, her bogus company and how she ended guilty of defrauding investors to the tune of a billion dollars.
🦜 Tweets
#1.
A simple understanding of how Venture Capital works and how they make money even if 8/10 startups fail every year.
#2.
Re-read the tweet-storm by Naval that blows my mind every single time I read it. Even if you don’t go through any of the above links, please make sure to go through this.
That’s it for this edition folks! Please do consider donating your organ for good.
And hope you have an amazing Smonday.
See you next week. 🧗🏻♂️
If you have any feedback, suggestions, tips, advice, thoughts - anything you’d like to share - feel free to comment. Or you can reply to this email.
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1.Totally surprised by recycle rate! Recycling system is doomed, need core awareness and maybe a communist government to strict implement this. (i was thinking to start from scratch and with friends, but higher level calls it required attentions and efforts.... so i am in but won't try to make system)
2. I am surprised how much we do buy, thinking to make toolset to avoid this. By need to know deeply, why one thing after another. when does it stop? is it because we are sad at the core? that is my best guess (less production of oxytocin & serotonin XD)
3. Feeling bad for appu, but happy that he is in good hands. (multiple clinics 100!) Pet can produce some serotonin though , cat is better for me (I think XD)
4. Elizabeth Holmes is pathetic, now she caught up!!!
5. Previous newsletter is sam altman re-read is nice!!!
6. I bookmarked your blog 3 for buying health insurance.
7. P.S. I bought same electric brush and it's good. (blog 4)