29th May – An unforgettable day, a historic day, a day which just left us numb & shaken & blank. It’s exactly one year today since I would have had a:

A laugh,
A hearty laugh,
A carefree laugh,
A true laugh,
A loud laugh,
A wholehearted laugh,
A laugh like this;

A guilt free laugh! Yeah, today even if I laugh there is an immediate guilt, an inner guilt, a guilt of realization that I’m actually laughing without Amitesh Bhaiya & Kishu! It’s exactly one year today when Amitesh Bhaiya left us all shattered & traumatized. But as if that was not enough, God decided to take Kishu also away just after eight months, leaving me, Ma & Kaushik mourning and devastated forever. Can life change like this so much in just 1 year? Yes, it does…kya se kya ho gaya!
Bhaiji (As we used to call Amitesh Bhaiya lovingly): Saying that we miss you will be an understatement, in fact we never have forgotten you even for a moment to miss you. Remembering you today badly on this dreadful day & pray for the peace for your soul…

Note: In the pic from left to right – Amitesh Bhaiya (though not blood relative but far closer to me than my own brothers), Kaushik (my youngest brother) & Kishu (my younger brother who left us this February). This pic was taken last year when we all had met during a festival for the last time "together" at my native place.

Kishu · Musings

Lost Laugh!

29th May – An unforgettable day, a historic day, a day which just left us numb & shaken & blank. It’s exactly one year today since I would have had a:

A laugh,
A hearty laugh,
A carefree laugh,
A true laugh,
A loud laugh,
A wholehearted laugh,
A laugh like this;

A guilt free laugh! Yeah, today even if I laugh there is an immediate guilt, an inner guilt, a guilt of realization that I’m actually laughing without Amitesh Bhaiya & Kishu! It’s exactly one year today when Amitesh Bhaiya left us all shattered & traumatized. But as if that was not enough, God decided to take Kishu also away just after eight months, leaving me, Ma & Kaushik mourning and devastated forever. Can life change like this so much in just 1 year? Yes, it does…kya se kya ho gaya!
Bhaiji (As we used to call Amitesh Bhaiya lovingly): Saying that we miss you will be an understatement, in fact we never have forgotten you even for a moment to miss you. Remembering you today badly on this dreadful day & pray for the peace for your soul…

Note: In the pic from left to right – Amitesh Bhaiya (though not blood relative but far closer to me than my own brothers), Kaushik (my youngest brother) & Kishu (my younger brother who left us this February). This pic was taken last year when we all had met during a festival for the last time "together" at my native place.

Well, finally finished reading this book & it was like yawwwnnn! It definitely gets listed in my “drag-gone” category; yeah it was draaaaggggging & finally was gone after lots of effort! Uh the thought of writing about this book itself makes me feel zzzzzzz. But still I will write about it in the interest of those who can pick up this book reading all the good testimonials mentioned on its cover. In fact I had picked up this book with lots of expectations myself esp. because had heard whole lot of good things about the movie based on this book & secondly the cover page of the book really hard sells it to be a great reading. My general assumption is that if it’s a movie based on any book then generally the book is better to read as compared to watching the movie but guess I was wrong in this case. Book was definitely not worth the hype.

As the title suggest, “The Jane Austen Book Club” is a story of six members of a book club who meet & discuss Jane Austen’s novels once a month. The group consists of 5 women – Jocelyn, Sylvia, Prudie, Allegra, Bernadette & 1 man – Grigg. Jocelyn who is the initiator of this book club believes that it is essential to reintroduce Austen into your life regularly & that’s why she starts this book club. Each of their monthly book club meeting unfolds their own stories & some association with Austen’s novels.

Personally speaking I loved Austen’s novels & hence thought I might like a book which is based on a book club of Jane Auten, but then I will say I was disappointed. Mainly because this book lacked the grip to hold my attention, after a few pages itself I lost my interest & found the flow of the book to be very confusing. Till last I could not understand the main point which author was trying to make. I know it was meant to be a light & fun read but somewhere it never served that purpose. So, from my side it’s a thumbs down for this book totally.

Other details of the book:
Author: Karen Joy Fowler
Price: I had bought it a dirt cheap price in a book sale :-) but think the original price of the book is Rs. 560/-
Special Note: It took me 7 weeks to drag & finally finish this 243 paged book. Reason – couldn’t read more than 10 pages at one go!

I’m off to “Marrying Anita” now, was supposed to read “Outliers” but guess I need to read a funny book after this Book Club thingy before I go for a serious read :-)

Book Review · Books

The Jane Austen Book Club

Well, finally finished reading this book & it was like yawwwnnn! It definitely gets listed in my “drag-gone” category; yeah it was draaaaggggging & finally was gone after lots of effort! Uh the thought of writing about this book itself makes me feel zzzzzzz. But still I will write about it in the interest of those who can pick up this book reading all the good testimonials mentioned on its cover. In fact I had picked up this book with lots of expectations myself esp. because had heard whole lot of good things about the movie based on this book & secondly the cover page of the book really hard sells it to be a great reading. My general assumption is that if it’s a movie based on any book then generally the book is better to read as compared to watching the movie but guess I was wrong in this case. Book was definitely not worth the hype.

As the title suggest, “The Jane Austen Book Club” is a story of six members of a book club who meet & discuss Jane Austen’s novels once a month. The group consists of 5 women – Jocelyn, Sylvia, Prudie, Allegra, Bernadette & 1 man – Grigg. Jocelyn who is the initiator of this book club believes that it is essential to reintroduce Austen into your life regularly & that’s why she starts this book club. Each of their monthly book club meeting unfolds their own stories & some association with Austen’s novels.

Personally speaking I loved Austen’s novels & hence thought I might like a book which is based on a book club of Jane Auten, but then I will say I was disappointed. Mainly because this book lacked the grip to hold my attention, after a few pages itself I lost my interest & found the flow of the book to be very confusing. Till last I could not understand the main point which author was trying to make. I know it was meant to be a light & fun read but somewhere it never served that purpose. So, from my side it’s a thumbs down for this book totally.

Other details of the book:
Author: Karen Joy Fowler
Price: I had bought it a dirt cheap price in a book sale :-) but think the original price of the book is Rs. 560/-
Special Note: It took me 7 weeks to drag & finally finish this 243 paged book. Reason – couldn’t read more than 10 pages at one go!

I’m off to “Marrying Anita” now, was supposed to read “Outliers” but guess I need to read a funny book after this Book Club thingy before I go for a serious read :-)

Posted these on Marketing Chit-Chat in last few weeks, would love to see you there:

• Kingfisher Holidays – IPL promotion: It was the last commercial break during IPL last night & guess the 1st ad being aired in that break??? Well, it was for a holiday site asking to book tickets for South Africa to catch live IPL match! Read More...
• Zoozoos popular than celeb endorsers?: Well, it’s Zoozoos & only Zoozoos all over, be it any marketing meeting which I attend or a casual chat amongst group of friends, “zoozoos” is definitely one of the topics which has to crop up in any such marketing discussion these days. Read More...

Ad or Mad · Marketing

Updates from Marketing Chit-Chat: 21st April'09 - 25th May'09

Posted these on Marketing Chit-Chat in last few weeks, would love to see you there:

• Kingfisher Holidays – IPL promotion: It was the last commercial break during IPL last night & guess the 1st ad being aired in that break??? Well, it was for a holiday site asking to book tickets for South Africa to catch live IPL match! Read More...
• Zoozoos popular than celeb endorsers?: Well, it’s Zoozoos & only Zoozoos all over, be it any marketing meeting which I attend or a casual chat amongst group of friends, “zoozoos” is definitely one of the topics which has to crop up in any such marketing discussion these days. Read More...

And my spine disc problem is back, that too with a big bang. Intense pain along with stiffer back. All the extra work load & hectic schedule for last so many weeks finally took its toll on my health. Week was but naturally full of medicines, injections, traction, IFTs and other physio sessions. 1^st half of the week was bed ridden and had to take off from work & 2^nd half somehow managed to drag myself to work for few hours. Yeah had to go as it was impossible to neglect work, so much was pending on my head along with a completely new management team to deal with! Every day when I went to work, it reminded me of the expression which doctor had on his face this time, he had his standard suggestion ready on his lips – “madam till the time you won’t change your lifestyle & work habit I really can’t treat you completely. You need to exercise regularly & reduce your work hours otherwise you’ll keep on coming back with same problem & disc prolapse again & again”.

Hmmm, I know & I know it sooo very well, after all this must be the 100^th time that he would have suggested me the same. But this time he was grimmer & so was I. The pain was so intense & so sudden that both me & N had got scared. Having experienced this problem lot many times I am very well aware of the repercussions of the same on long term life and I also know that there is no permanent cure to a disc problem apart from having a healthy life style and lesser hours of continuous work. But despite all my intentions to follow a daily fitness regime I always fail to maintain so. Reason? Well, on a normal day I leave for work at 8 am & by the time I come back late night I am dead tired to do any kind of exercises etc. And these days because of so many changes at office it has become worse, there is no time of my work getting finished, it can be anything between 8, 9, 10, 11 pm or many times even more i.e., past mid night. No I don’t work till this late hour happily neither I am workaholic by choice, it’s just that this is the demand of my job & current organization. Working in a start-up has its own challenges. While work wise it’s definitely very exciting & you get to learn whole lot of thing in a short span of time but then it requires some serious amount of commitment as well. I’ve worked in some large companies earlier & have been working in this start-up for last 2.25 years now & all I can say based on my experience is that such role in start-up companies really needs 24x7x365 kind of commitment. For some aspects of life it’s good & some aspects it’s bad too. And now when I’m at a situation of deciding whether it’s more good or more bad then honestly speaking I’m confused. N is upset due to my health situation and so am I; I’m not able to figure out how to handle all this. It’s really not pleasant to go through same pain again & again but at the same time it’s not even easy to decide whether I should re-look at my professional path currently. I know I can’t say no to work load in my current organization but then will I be able to sustain all this considering my frequent visits to hospitals these days? Do I need to re-prioritize certain things in my life right now? Is this hard work of any real worth? Well, I’ve been thinking & thinking & only thinking since last 3 days & have not reached to any conclusion yet…I’m confused, puzzled & totally baffled! I don't know what to do next...

Musings

Introspection

And my spine disc problem is back, that too with a big bang. Intense pain along with stiffer back. All the extra work load & hectic schedule for last so many weeks finally took its toll on my health. Week was but naturally full of medicines, injections, traction, IFTs and other physio sessions. 1^st half of the week was bed ridden and had to take off from work & 2^nd half somehow managed to drag myself to work for few hours. Yeah had to go as it was impossible to neglect work, so much was pending on my head along with a completely new management team to deal with! Every day when I went to work, it reminded me of the expression which doctor had on his face this time, he had his standard suggestion ready on his lips – “madam till the time you won’t change your lifestyle & work habit I really can’t treat you completely. You need to exercise regularly & reduce your work hours otherwise you’ll keep on coming back with same problem & disc prolapse again & again”.

Hmmm, I know & I know it sooo very well, after all this must be the 100^th time that he would have suggested me the same. But this time he was grimmer & so was I. The pain was so intense & so sudden that both me & N had got scared. Having experienced this problem lot many times I am very well aware of the repercussions of the same on long term life and I also know that there is no permanent cure to a disc problem apart from having a healthy life style and lesser hours of continuous work. But despite all my intentions to follow a daily fitness regime I always fail to maintain so. Reason? Well, on a normal day I leave for work at 8 am & by the time I come back late night I am dead tired to do any kind of exercises etc. And these days because of so many changes at office it has become worse, there is no time of my work getting finished, it can be anything between 8, 9, 10, 11 pm or many times even more i.e., past mid night. No I don’t work till this late hour happily neither I am workaholic by choice, it’s just that this is the demand of my job & current organization. Working in a start-up has its own challenges. While work wise it’s definitely very exciting & you get to learn whole lot of thing in a short span of time but then it requires some serious amount of commitment as well. I’ve worked in some large companies earlier & have been working in this start-up for last 2.25 years now & all I can say based on my experience is that such role in start-up companies really needs 24x7x365 kind of commitment. For some aspects of life it’s good & some aspects it’s bad too. And now when I’m at a situation of deciding whether it’s more good or more bad then honestly speaking I’m confused. N is upset due to my health situation and so am I; I’m not able to figure out how to handle all this. It’s really not pleasant to go through same pain again & again but at the same time it’s not even easy to decide whether I should re-look at my professional path currently. I know I can’t say no to work load in my current organization but then will I be able to sustain all this considering my frequent visits to hospitals these days? Do I need to re-prioritize certain things in my life right now? Is this hard work of any real worth? Well, I’ve been thinking & thinking & only thinking since last 3 days & have not reached to any conclusion yet…I’m confused, puzzled & totally baffled! I don't know what to do next...

Phew, life is running like crazy these days, seems to be always on some roller coaster or on curvy path with some huge ups & downs! And work life was never more hectic than this, I get home at all weird hours these days & the 1st thing which I do after reaching home is….well, with one hand I open that jar having potato wafers & with the next I open my freezer which is having 2 big tubs of honey nut crunch kept over there. Ummmm, actually it’s not 2 now, it’s reduced to 1.5 & it’s just 3 days that we had got those 2 big tubs. Yeah, that’s the speed of my consumption of ice-creams if it’s something as heavenly as honey nut crunch from Baskin Robbins :D :P :-). I decided to write a blog post today while enjoying my ice-cream but on second thought I think let me relish my ice-cream right now, I will pick up my laptop again once I am done with every drop of it in my bowl.

I’m back & hahhhh… all my work tiredness gone and the main topic of this blog post is also gone, right now I want to focus ONLY on ice-creams. Why? Because when ice-cream & that too honey nut crunch is in front of me, I can’t focus on anything else. Considering the perpetual right side inclination of the pointer on my weighing scale I know I should not eat this daily but isn’t it N’s fault that he got 2 tubs & kept in fridge when he knows that I simply can NOT resist this flavor of ice-cream? How am I supposed to not eat when this is just kept at arms away distance? Why on earth ice-creams only have all possible calories in it? Ah, life would have been so simpler if only:

• Ice-creams were like those green veggies with negative calories in themselves. The more you eat, the more left that pointer on weighing scale would have moved. And the best diet chart prescribed by nutritionist to lose weight would have then consisted of 1 “death by chocolate” in morning, 1 “almond fudge” in lunch & 1 “honey nut crunch” at dinner, ummm the thought itself is sooo exciting & yummy!

Now, I am getting some serious thoughts on my ideal diet plan, how about:·

• Having Maggie every day during lunch time along with “almond fudge”? Oh yes, I love Maggie too & I seriously think Maggie is one of the best gifts to mankind ever. If given a chance I would like to make it the staple food of the country.
• To satisfy the evening hunger pang, the only thing on which I am allowed to snack on is potato wafers!
• And in case because of all the dieting I feel weak or my blood sugar goes down, I am supposed to have one full big bar of fruit & nut chocolate!

Oh wowwww! Life would be so cool if ice-creams, Maggie, potato wafers & chocolates become the diet food for us. How I wish they either had only zero or rather negative calories in it and we could eat as much quantity of these as much we want. It would have been so much fun to go on a diet then & I would have been always willingly ready to eat “these” diet foods. Oh how I wish! OK, enough of wishful thinking now, time to get back to reality, while I was into my wishing mode, I think I have already had 2 bowls of it!!! Honey nut crunch is NOT with negative calories and this means some XXX amount of calories has gone inside me yet again. And then I wonder why I don’t lose weight :P!

Just Generally

Oh, how I wish!

Phew, life is running like crazy these days, seems to be always on some roller coaster or on curvy path with some huge ups & downs! And work life was never more hectic than this, I get home at all weird hours these days & the 1st thing which I do after reaching home is….well, with one hand I open that jar having potato wafers & with the next I open my freezer which is having 2 big tubs of honey nut crunch kept over there. Ummmm, actually it’s not 2 now, it’s reduced to 1.5 & it’s just 3 days that we had got those 2 big tubs. Yeah, that’s the speed of my consumption of ice-creams if it’s something as heavenly as honey nut crunch from Baskin Robbins :D :P :-). I decided to write a blog post today while enjoying my ice-cream but on second thought I think let me relish my ice-cream right now, I will pick up my laptop again once I am done with every drop of it in my bowl.

I’m back & hahhhh… all my work tiredness gone and the main topic of this blog post is also gone, right now I want to focus ONLY on ice-creams. Why? Because when ice-cream & that too honey nut crunch is in front of me, I can’t focus on anything else. Considering the perpetual right side inclination of the pointer on my weighing scale I know I should not eat this daily but isn’t it N’s fault that he got 2 tubs & kept in fridge when he knows that I simply can NOT resist this flavor of ice-cream? How am I supposed to not eat when this is just kept at arms away distance? Why on earth ice-creams only have all possible calories in it? Ah, life would have been so simpler if only:

• Ice-creams were like those green veggies with negative calories in themselves. The more you eat, the more left that pointer on weighing scale would have moved. And the best diet chart prescribed by nutritionist to lose weight would have then consisted of 1 “death by chocolate” in morning, 1 “almond fudge” in lunch & 1 “honey nut crunch” at dinner, ummm the thought itself is sooo exciting & yummy!

Now, I am getting some serious thoughts on my ideal diet plan, how about:·

• Having Maggie every day during lunch time along with “almond fudge”? Oh yes, I love Maggie too & I seriously think Maggie is one of the best gifts to mankind ever. If given a chance I would like to make it the staple food of the country.
• To satisfy the evening hunger pang, the only thing on which I am allowed to snack on is potato wafers!
• And in case because of all the dieting I feel weak or my blood sugar goes down, I am supposed to have one full big bar of fruit & nut chocolate!

Oh wowwww! Life would be so cool if ice-creams, Maggie, potato wafers & chocolates become the diet food for us. How I wish they either had only zero or rather negative calories in it and we could eat as much quantity of these as much we want. It would have been so much fun to go on a diet then & I would have been always willingly ready to eat “these” diet foods. Oh how I wish! OK, enough of wishful thinking now, time to get back to reality, while I was into my wishing mode, I think I have already had 2 bowls of it!!! Honey nut crunch is NOT with negative calories and this means some XXX amount of calories has gone inside me yet again. And then I wonder why I don’t lose weight :P!

It was a very hectic day today, rather a marathon day in office, whole lot of work to make me feel like a log when I returned home just now. But still a small mail, just a two liner mail was big enough to motivate me for writing this post immediately. This mail was from the editor of Kaavyanjali website that he has selected the poem of Kiran Sindhu :-). Wow, so all my efforts of pushing mom has started giving some results. After whatever happened with all of us, things have been really difficult of late. Yes, we all are struggling to live a normal life but then too even if we get one free moment we just can’t stop ourselves from going back to same thoughts, same depression…it’s a very different emotion which really can’t be put in words, a feeling of pain which is beyond any rationale, a sense of loss which is beyond any consolation, a suffering beyond expression.

But amidst all this one bigger pain which was hurting me more was to see the state of my mom, who was alive yet living the life of a stone…whose eyes were open yet completely blank…who was surviving somehow yet completely hopeless about life. How it feels to see a woman like her who has always been the single most strength of my life crumpled on bed like that! How it feels to see the guiding force of my life suddenly being directionless herself! Being the eldest child of my mom, I have been taking care of mom & my brothers from a very early age in life. Despite my life being full of struggle, I still never lost hope only because of mom’s one sentence which she always used to tell me every night, I remember instead of good night, she used to say – “kal subah bahut achchi hogi beta, kal dekhna sab theek ho jayega”. Yes life was challenging but then there was this inner belief of mom that everything will be fine & tomorrow will be a better day which helped me sail through so many ups and downs of life. And after facing so many challenges why it was difficult for me to get my mom back to her normal life? I knew she will never be normal again after Kishu & Amitesh Bhaiya but then too I wanted her to have some engagement which can divert her mind & help her get out of this depression…I tried & tried & tried to motivate her, to engage her & to involve her into her long lost passion of writing & I have been literally forcing her to learn computer, internet & typing online. Initially there was a huge resistance from her side with only one question , “kya hoga likh ke”? Still with the virtue of patience which I have got from my mom only, I used to tell her, “arey likho na, log padhenge, kahi pe publish hogi tumhari kavitayein aur tumko achcha lagega”. And her replies used to be, “rehne do, ab bas kisi tarah baki zindagi kat jaye, mujhe aur kuch nahi sikhna hai”. Hmmm... :-(

Today as soon as I came back from work I checked her mail & I called her to say that one of her poems got selected in an online forum, her initial reaction was just, “OK”. But then she called back after 2 minutes and I asked “main kaise dekhoon ki kaha pe ayi hai meri kavita, mujhe bhi internet sikhao”. I said ok & then I taught her how to open websites & showed her some hindi blogs too…After some moments of silence she said, “achcha mera bhi blog bana do aur mujhe bhi typing sikha do”….YES!!! This is what I was waiting for, so at least there is some amount of interest which she showed. Aha finally there is a streak of hope, MOM, I am not going to give up on you so soon…I am going to push you more now to learn internet & start writing again…I am sure you will get at least some purpose back in life :-)
.
P.S.: I’m sharing the links of some of my mom’s creations with readers of my blogs, if hindi literature or poetries are of your interest, do visit the following links of my mom & I’m sure your genuine feedback will help her write more:
Link to Kaavyanjali poem (yeah I know this is just another online website, but I’m happy that at least there is a start now): http://www.kaavyanjali.com/Naarii-ks.htm
Her blog which I started today: http://godhulikiran.blogspot.com/

Just Generally · Kishu

A streak of hope

It was a very hectic day today, rather a marathon day in office, whole lot of work to make me feel like a log when I returned home just now. But still a small mail, just a two liner mail was big enough to motivate me for writing this post immediately. This mail was from the editor of Kaavyanjali website that he has selected the poem of Kiran Sindhu :-). Wow, so all my efforts of pushing mom has started giving some results. After whatever happened with all of us, things have been really difficult of late. Yes, we all are struggling to live a normal life but then too even if we get one free moment we just can’t stop ourselves from going back to same thoughts, same depression…it’s a very different emotion which really can’t be put in words, a feeling of pain which is beyond any rationale, a sense of loss which is beyond any consolation, a suffering beyond expression.

But amidst all this one bigger pain which was hurting me more was to see the state of my mom, who was alive yet living the life of a stone…whose eyes were open yet completely blank…who was surviving somehow yet completely hopeless about life. How it feels to see a woman like her who has always been the single most strength of my life crumpled on bed like that! How it feels to see the guiding force of my life suddenly being directionless herself! Being the eldest child of my mom, I have been taking care of mom & my brothers from a very early age in life. Despite my life being full of struggle, I still never lost hope only because of mom’s one sentence which she always used to tell me every night, I remember instead of good night, she used to say – “kal subah bahut achchi hogi beta, kal dekhna sab theek ho jayega”. Yes life was challenging but then there was this inner belief of mom that everything will be fine & tomorrow will be a better day which helped me sail through so many ups and downs of life. And after facing so many challenges why it was difficult for me to get my mom back to her normal life? I knew she will never be normal again after Kishu & Amitesh Bhaiya but then too I wanted her to have some engagement which can divert her mind & help her get out of this depression…I tried & tried & tried to motivate her, to engage her & to involve her into her long lost passion of writing & I have been literally forcing her to learn computer, internet & typing online. Initially there was a huge resistance from her side with only one question , “kya hoga likh ke”? Still with the virtue of patience which I have got from my mom only, I used to tell her, “arey likho na, log padhenge, kahi pe publish hogi tumhari kavitayein aur tumko achcha lagega”. And her replies used to be, “rehne do, ab bas kisi tarah baki zindagi kat jaye, mujhe aur kuch nahi sikhna hai”. Hmmm... :-(

Today as soon as I came back from work I checked her mail & I called her to say that one of her poems got selected in an online forum, her initial reaction was just, “OK”. But then she called back after 2 minutes and I asked “main kaise dekhoon ki kaha pe ayi hai meri kavita, mujhe bhi internet sikhao”. I said ok & then I taught her how to open websites & showed her some hindi blogs too…After some moments of silence she said, “achcha mera bhi blog bana do aur mujhe bhi typing sikha do”….YES!!! This is what I was waiting for, so at least there is some amount of interest which she showed. Aha finally there is a streak of hope, MOM, I am not going to give up on you so soon…I am going to push you more now to learn internet & start writing again…I am sure you will get at least some purpose back in life :-)
.
P.S.: I’m sharing the links of some of my mom’s creations with readers of my blogs, if hindi literature or poetries are of your interest, do visit the following links of my mom & I’m sure your genuine feedback will help her write more:
Link to Kaavyanjali poem (yeah I know this is just another online website, but I’m happy that at least there is a start now): http://www.kaavyanjali.com/Naarii-ks.htm
Her blog which I started today: http://godhulikiran.blogspot.com/

I happened to travel by auto again today & my overall journey quickly reminded me of my recent experience with Mumbai auto guys. This post will be more relatable to Bangloreans who travel by auto rickshaw often.

Location, Bangalore: Me already late, desperate enough to catch an auto rush to this nearby auto stand and see some 15 auto guys just relaxing under that tree.

Me: “X road challenge”?
1st driver: Blank look on his face, stares at me & then very conveniently turns his face away.
Yeah, I know Bangalore auto guys have the birth right to not respond!!!
Amused me replying to the 1st one & turning to the 2nd one: “Arey bhaiya reply toh kar dete”, “X road ge barthira”? (Me trying my luck best with broken kanadaa)
2nd driver: “Illa Medaam, morning time traffic jam”
Thank god at least he gave a reply, Kanadda works!
Me experienced enough to know that no point in wasting time with this 2nd fellow turn to the 3rd one: “X road ge barthira”?
3rd driver: Simply shakes his head left to right & then right to left.
Me: “Yake”?
3rd driver: Does not respond & turns his face away!
Gawd, give me patience please!
Me to the 4th driver: “X road ge barthira”?
4th Driver: Despite me trying my best in Kanadda understands my accent, looks at me & says, “whokay maidam, but one & half rate”
Me: “yake one & half? It is 11 am right now”
4th driver: Smiles & starts reading his kanadda newspaper back!
Oh, I am getting late, I need to get an auto. Let me settle down for anything which this next guy asks.
Me to the 5th driver: “X road”
5th driver who was already observing me interacting with other fellows replies: “Ok, but medaam 40 Rs. Extra”.
From his accent I know he knows hindi
Me: Yake 40 Rs? Normal fare to X road will be hardly Rs. 55-60.
Driver ignores me completely & starts talking to another driver standing nearby.
Me: Ok, I will give you 25 rs. extra.
He quickly turned on his auto keys & said: “come in medaam”

I was anyways late by now, so I immediately jumped in desperate enough to reach the place asap. Finally I reached, the meter read Rs. 60 exactly. I took out 100 rs. note & asked him to take Rs. 85 ( 100 +25), he took the same & says “medaam no change”.
Me: “Arey, u already charging extra 25, give me 15 rs. back, I know u have change or get change from somewhere”
Driver very well knowing from my last phone call that I’m already late smiles in his typical way, “medaam change illa, u get change from somewhere & give me 85 rs.”. Bloody**** he very well knows that there is no place nearby from where I can get the change right now & I m getting LATE!
Frustrated I leave the auto by finally giving him that 100 rs. away!!!

Location, Mumbai: Few days back, I was out on a personal trip to Mumbai and was traveling by auto to some location:
Me: “Y road”?
1st driver starts the auto & turns his meter down. Wow, with a delight I jumped in the auto & we reach the destination in some time. The meter read Rs. 89. & I handover a 100 rs. note to him, he quickly returns me rs. 10 but is still rummaging in his pocket & small cash box. After collecting my bag & all, I get down. Auto guy with a very sorry face asks me, “madam 1 rs. change nahi hai, chalega kya”? Yeah I have lived in Mumbai for long but after all these years in Bangalore I was nothing less than SHOCKED at his reply. He was sorry for not returning 1 Rs.??? I immediately replied, “haan haan koi baat nahi”.

After finishing off my work, me needed to go back to the same place. I see a local black & yellow cab with door open.
Me: “Z road”?
Driver silent & looks at the door of his cab.
Me again: “Boss, Z road chaloge”?
Driver holds the door & me with all my Bangalore experiences assume that he is shutting the door. Me quickly started to walk away saying: “Arey bhaiya bol toh dete ki nahi jaoge”
Driver: “Arey madam baitho na, darwaza hi toh aur khol raha tha, aap pooch kyun rahe ho Z road, jab taxi nikali hai toh chalaunga hi nahi or jaha passenger jayega waha le hi jaunga na”.
I sit in the cab quickly with my eyes wide open…jaha passenger jayega waha le jaunga na! Oh wow, I think I had forgotten I was in Mumbai & not in Bangalore where auto guys don’t travel if there is traffic or heat or morning or night or…well this list of reasons can be endless actually.

I have lived in Mumbai for long & now living in Bangalore for last few years & I only know one thing about auto guys of these two places – “ Mumbai will always be Mumbai & Bangalore will always be Banaglore”!!! I love Bangalore but I do miss some of the things of Mumbai a lottttt!

Just Generally

Main aur woh auto!

I happened to travel by auto again today & my overall journey quickly reminded me of my recent experience with Mumbai auto guys. This post will be more relatable to Bangloreans who travel by auto rickshaw often.

Location, Bangalore: Me already late, desperate enough to catch an auto rush to this nearby auto stand and see some 15 auto guys just relaxing under that tree.

Me: “X road challenge”?
1st driver: Blank look on his face, stares at me & then very conveniently turns his face away.
Yeah, I know Bangalore auto guys have the birth right to not respond!!!
Amused me replying to the 1st one & turning to the 2nd one: “Arey bhaiya reply toh kar dete”, “X road ge barthira”? (Me trying my luck best with broken kanadaa)
2nd driver: “Illa Medaam, morning time traffic jam”
Thank god at least he gave a reply, Kanadda works!
Me experienced enough to know that no point in wasting time with this 2nd fellow turn to the 3rd one: “X road ge barthira”?
3rd driver: Simply shakes his head left to right & then right to left.
Me: “Yake”?
3rd driver: Does not respond & turns his face away!
Gawd, give me patience please!
Me to the 4th driver: “X road ge barthira”?
4th Driver: Despite me trying my best in Kanadda understands my accent, looks at me & says, “whokay maidam, but one & half rate”
Me: “yake one & half? It is 11 am right now”
4th driver: Smiles & starts reading his kanadda newspaper back!
Oh, I am getting late, I need to get an auto. Let me settle down for anything which this next guy asks.
Me to the 5th driver: “X road”
5th driver who was already observing me interacting with other fellows replies: “Ok, but medaam 40 Rs. Extra”.
From his accent I know he knows hindi
Me: Yake 40 Rs? Normal fare to X road will be hardly Rs. 55-60.
Driver ignores me completely & starts talking to another driver standing nearby.
Me: Ok, I will give you 25 rs. extra.
He quickly turned on his auto keys & said: “come in medaam”

I was anyways late by now, so I immediately jumped in desperate enough to reach the place asap. Finally I reached, the meter read Rs. 60 exactly. I took out 100 rs. note & asked him to take Rs. 85 ( 100 +25), he took the same & says “medaam no change”.
Me: “Arey, u already charging extra 25, give me 15 rs. back, I know u have change or get change from somewhere”
Driver very well knowing from my last phone call that I’m already late smiles in his typical way, “medaam change illa, u get change from somewhere & give me 85 rs.”. Bloody**** he very well knows that there is no place nearby from where I can get the change right now & I m getting LATE!
Frustrated I leave the auto by finally giving him that 100 rs. away!!!

Location, Mumbai: Few days back, I was out on a personal trip to Mumbai and was traveling by auto to some location:
Me: “Y road”?
1st driver starts the auto & turns his meter down. Wow, with a delight I jumped in the auto & we reach the destination in some time. The meter read Rs. 89. & I handover a 100 rs. note to him, he quickly returns me rs. 10 but is still rummaging in his pocket & small cash box. After collecting my bag & all, I get down. Auto guy with a very sorry face asks me, “madam 1 rs. change nahi hai, chalega kya”? Yeah I have lived in Mumbai for long but after all these years in Bangalore I was nothing less than SHOCKED at his reply. He was sorry for not returning 1 Rs.??? I immediately replied, “haan haan koi baat nahi”.

After finishing off my work, me needed to go back to the same place. I see a local black & yellow cab with door open.
Me: “Z road”?
Driver silent & looks at the door of his cab.
Me again: “Boss, Z road chaloge”?
Driver holds the door & me with all my Bangalore experiences assume that he is shutting the door. Me quickly started to walk away saying: “Arey bhaiya bol toh dete ki nahi jaoge”
Driver: “Arey madam baitho na, darwaza hi toh aur khol raha tha, aap pooch kyun rahe ho Z road, jab taxi nikali hai toh chalaunga hi nahi or jaha passenger jayega waha le hi jaunga na”.
I sit in the cab quickly with my eyes wide open…jaha passenger jayega waha le jaunga na! Oh wow, I think I had forgotten I was in Mumbai & not in Bangalore where auto guys don’t travel if there is traffic or heat or morning or night or…well this list of reasons can be endless actually.

I have lived in Mumbai for long & now living in Bangalore for last few years & I only know one thing about auto guys of these two places – “ Mumbai will always be Mumbai & Bangalore will always be Banaglore”!!! I love Bangalore but I do miss some of the things of Mumbai a lottttt!

Posted this on Marketing Chit-Chat last week, would love to see you there :-)

• Chance Pe Dance marketing: Launching a blog of none other than Bhajji at this moment is no doubt a great promotion strategy & this is what I really call a chance pe dance marketing strategy. Read More...

Marketing · Web 2.0

Updates from Marketing Chit-Chat: 14th - 20th April'09

Posted this on Marketing Chit-Chat last week, would love to see you there :-)

• Chance Pe Dance marketing: Launching a blog of none other than Bhajji at this moment is no doubt a great promotion strategy & this is what I really call a chance pe dance marketing strategy. Read More...

When I heard about the promo of this program, I really could not believe it! This sounded insane & crazy but then when I saw news channels airing Ms. Sawant in a sati-savitri avatar trying best to speak with her jhuki hui aankhein like a nayi naveli dulhan, I was nothing less than aghast! Now this has to be heights of reality television…“sawayamvar” & that too of Rakhi Sawant live on television! This is totally weird & senseless & mad &…forget it, even if I will exhaust all synonyms of madness over here then too I don’t think I can justify how mad I think this act is!

NDTV Imagine is going to air this program titled “Rakhi ka Swayamvar” where Rakhi who is always in news for shocking reasons will be selecting her real life partner. The program will show the journey of Rakhi selecting & then finally marrying the selected winner in television. As per the official release, Fazila Allana from SOL Productions said, “We are very proud of Rakhi for taking such a bold decision and we hope that she will find happiness at the end of the show”. Proud of Rakhi for taking such a BOLD decision? I think these producers are done with all normal reasons of feeling proud about their programs that they are now resorting to such weird concepts. Well, is there anybody apart from Rakhi Sawant who could have decided to get married like this? I’m not sure!

Like most of the Indian viewers, even I’m really fed up of infinite number of reality shows & the inevitable crying of participants in each and every such show. The bitterness, the emotional drama, the bitching, the fighting amongst judges…gawwd! Every show comes up with some new nuisance but a nuisance as big as this is really unbelievable. After being tired of singing, dancing, bitching, joking & stunting, now participants are actually willing to compete for MARRYING Rakhi Sawant. How I wish this is just a game or some publicity stunt by channel guys and not some real marriage show. And if it is real, then what next??? So, shall we wait for some best “first night” or “love-making” reality show or maybe…ah I think I should leave it here. I’m wondering where all this is heading to?

Views on News

Rakhi ka Swayamvar - What next???

When I heard about the promo of this program, I really could not believe it! This sounded insane & crazy but then when I saw news channels airing Ms. Sawant in a sati-savitri avatar trying best to speak with her jhuki hui aankhein like a nayi naveli dulhan, I was nothing less than aghast! Now this has to be heights of reality television…“sawayamvar” & that too of Rakhi Sawant live on television! This is totally weird & senseless & mad &…forget it, even if I will exhaust all synonyms of madness over here then too I don’t think I can justify how mad I think this act is!

NDTV Imagine is going to air this program titled “Rakhi ka Swayamvar” where Rakhi who is always in news for shocking reasons will be selecting her real life partner. The program will show the journey of Rakhi selecting & then finally marrying the selected winner in television. As per the official release, Fazila Allana from SOL Productions said, “We are very proud of Rakhi for taking such a bold decision and we hope that she will find happiness at the end of the show”. Proud of Rakhi for taking such a BOLD decision? I think these producers are done with all normal reasons of feeling proud about their programs that they are now resorting to such weird concepts. Well, is there anybody apart from Rakhi Sawant who could have decided to get married like this? I’m not sure!

Like most of the Indian viewers, even I’m really fed up of infinite number of reality shows & the inevitable crying of participants in each and every such show. The bitterness, the emotional drama, the bitching, the fighting amongst judges…gawwd! Every show comes up with some new nuisance but a nuisance as big as this is really unbelievable. After being tired of singing, dancing, bitching, joking & stunting, now participants are actually willing to compete for MARRYING Rakhi Sawant. How I wish this is just a game or some publicity stunt by channel guys and not some real marriage show. And if it is real, then what next??? So, shall we wait for some best “first night” or “love-making” reality show or maybe…ah I think I should leave it here. I’m wondering where all this is heading to?

Posted the following posts on Marketing Chit-Chat. Would love to see your comments there:

• Communicating or Spamming: Over communication esp. through certain media can really KILL your campaign. Read More...

Ad or Mad · Marketing · Online Marketing

Updates from Marketing Chit-Chat: 6th - 13th Apr'09

Posted the following posts on Marketing Chit-Chat. Would love to see your comments there:

• Communicating or Spamming: Over communication esp. through certain media can really KILL your campaign. Read More...