IPL Spotlight and the Forgotten Stages

(Disclaimer: This is nothing but a "Knowledge is Power" post. No marketing or any form of endorsement intended. Also I do not have anything against Cricket or IPL.)                            

                                   After the Asia Cup win not so long ago and the near - T20 World Cup – win, us Indians have been granted the opportunity to be at the edge of our seats and shout ourselves hoarse supporting India in what is “unofficially” called India’s national game – Cricket (For the record, India’s national game is hockey. Period.) Up until the time Sachin, the God; Dravid, the Wall; VVS; Sehwag and the other eminent players championed the game, I was hooked to it. The fervor became a little less when the ground was replaced by the protégés, who were awesome in style and passion, but were not “THE MASTERS”. Let’s fast forward a lot, the IPL (Indian Premier League) and the Champions League saw different cities from different states pitted against each other. Here, the game became hugely commercialized (not that it wasn’t before); but it was commercialization bordering on insanity (for want of a better word). From the auctioning of players to merchandising to TV ads, the money was churning in like you wouldn’t believe. Hailing from Tamil Nadu, I rooted for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) year after year till this particular year (CSK is banned from the IPL races for 2 years, long story short). My craze for CSK and IPL was extreme. As my Facebook Memories very kindly remind me every day (now that the IPL season has started), I was always on the ready to pounce and defame anybody else who would oppose CSK and I remember cussing loudly at the TV when the match wasn’t going in CSK’s favour.           
                                                     Looking back, Kudos is in order to the marketers behind IPL. They got what they wanted and we fell for it – hook, line and sinker! Having been a marketing student, I believe this is one of the best case studies that gives you an example for every Marketing theory that Kotler spoke about. You’ve got to agree, right? While we celebrate the wins and boo the losses in cricket, we have forgotten other players representing other forms of sport. Those players who had to give up their dreams from lack of funds and learn to deal with an alternate life hoping that someday they will be able to help players like them realize their dreams. I came across an article, while Wikipedia-ing, on Kutraleeswaran – the swimming sensation who won accolades and broke records when he was just 13 (http://www.sportskeeda.com/swimming/kutraleeswaran-indias-forgotten-swimming-sensation). He went on to pursue an engineering degree and a Master’s degree from the US, due to lack of sponsors to support his swimming streak.  He hopes to someday start a training academy to help other swimmers realize their potential. He is just one of the many hundreds of examples of potential Olympians and/or record breakers who have lost their dreams because the spotlight was on Cricket and we were forcibly made to look at the highlight. Sponsors looked away because of the perception that the money was in cricket and no other sport.

                                Things are looking up though; Star Sports’ Pro Kabbadi and the Hockey India League have turned out to amass massive success. Sanjay Gupta, the COO of Star Sports, spoke recently about the online viewership numbers for the sport (majorly young people) growing to more than 18 times (7 lakh to 13 million viewers) the number from season one.  And this is after just 2 weeks into season 2. Sadly, the marketing here as well is evident – what with catchy names, flashy uniforms and blazing commercials. I find solace in the fact that at least it is not cricket and that a lot many players are getting to compete for the well-deserved pedestal.

                     In conclusion, I agree a thousand times over that the entertainment factor in cricket is still prevalent, but it is rather garish & harsh. The spirit that we harbored while watching the golden days of cricket has been replaced by something else that I do not know how to name (yet). It has become a platform for misuse of power, monetary gains and sensationalism, crude remarks and stupidity (read: Cancellation of Harsha Bogle’s commentating contract. Listening to the Hindi commentators on the radio is so much better than tolerating Sidhu’s commentary)! But Kudos to the marketers though, wow!

PS: IPL’s Marketing Mix has 7Ps. Gasp! (http://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-ipl/)

The Near-Monopoly Game

(Disclaimer: This is nothing but a general interest post. No marketing or any form of endorsement intended)

               Economics has always been one of my favorite subjects *taking a minute as fond memories of hours (read: sleepless nights) spent over monopolies and oligopolies and perfect competition come rushing back*

             As markets grew more mature and competition started getting the better out of establishments, monopolies and near-monopolies became less prominent or hidden from the public eye. In our Economics lectures, we would tick off two maybe three companies that enjoy monopoly in India - Indian Railways being the first one that would come to our mind. That was a year back. The advantage of being a curious YouTube-r is that you ending up watching multitude videos - one leading to another like a Chain Reaction. That's how I ended up watching the 2012 CBS documentary "Sticker Shock: Why are glasses so expensive?" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voUiWOGv8ec). My mouth went from a tight line to open, halfway into the video.

             I recently got a pair of Raybans for AED 600 from the Sunglasses Hut and wondered why and how I paid so much for glass, plastic and steel (crudely put, I agree). The logic was a no-brainer: so many many brands of eye-wear and competition should be driving prices down especially when there's hardly any innovation. There's Rayban, Versace, Oakley, Bulgari, Vogue and the list goes on. HOW do they continue making profits with so much competition in the market? Answer lies in the simple economic theory of Monopoly (or near-monopoly in this case). The company that manufactures frames and sunglasses for all of the above brands (and more) is the same - Luxxotica.

                  They started off as a tiny Italian glasses firm and went on to buying every eye-wear related company they could get their hands on - apparently in a rage - and roping in deals to making glasses for every fashion designer the world has ever known. As I am thinking, maybe I have a choice in selecting the retail chain I buy my glasses from, I am rudely brought back to reality as the documentary talks about how Luxxotica also owns Sunglasses Hut, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Target Optical, Sears Optical, etc. That's about every major retail eye-wear chain in the $28 billion (approx) global eyeglasses industry.

              Luxxotica, which controls around 80% of the eye-wear brands in the market, estimates that half a billion people around the world are currently wearing their glasses. Being what economists call a price maker, Luxxotica enjoys "insane" profits by dictating the price as the highest amount consumers would be willing to pay for their products. This is unlike other competitive markets, to be a part of which for a price maker, competition constantly encourages to innovate or drive prices down (to be as close to the manufacturing cost).

                      Why do I sound like I am raging? For starters, I am not. I am exhibiting disbelief (?), I know not. For my next birthday, I have been eyeing a pair of Chanel sunglasses over Armani, but after the documentary I realize I have only been given the illusion of choice. As Ana Swanson puts it, a very "cynical form of capitalism". The fact that the high price is commanded by the embellished logo is common knowledge but consumers (me included) are ready to pay the price of the sticker to wear the logo.

                    Lenskart is an Indian eye-wear online portal which has started making a dent in the whole affair (at least in India). Founded by Peyush Banal, Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi, the products include prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses and contact lenses. Impeccable customer service, amazing convenience (glasses can be tried in the convenience of your homes) and a wide variety of designs define the brand. It's no Chanel, but my Vincent Chase has a mean design! :) I am sure there are other online portals as well trying to break the illusion of choice in their own economic ways! And that's that.

P.S: Oh and guess what? Google Glass - Luxxotica makes them too! :)

Pearls of Wisdom (I'd like to think so :P )

                                 Its been a year since I graduated out of Business School. Have I become wiser for the better? Yes, most definitely. Wise would be a massive understatement. Shrewd would be so befitting. Passing out of UG, we were all once so naïve, so in awe of the corporate world that we let it sweep us away. At least, it happened to me. Luckily and definitely by The High Command’s grace after my UGs I have had to give only 2 interviews – both of which were successful – thus giving me the choice to pick the best. I saw a lot of my friends struggling to get through basic questions. I wanted to help but couldn’t. It was all about charm and persuasion!

                                  By the time I was out of business school, I was equipped with all the necessary astras – 2 years of Sales & Marketing experience with a Fortune 500, an international degree, more than my fair share of exposure to the outside world, a wide open-mind and the realisation that our so called “curriculum” can be deemed excellent only if we apply it. And so I did. Needless to say, I attended the most gruelling interview I have had and nailed it. Which is when I started telling my friends to do the same. And my juniors. Long story short, I did a small non-lecture but a presentation thingy about the Dos and Donts of attending interviews and campus placements. So this post is to all you MBA students, graduates and anybody else who wants to reminisce the time they sat for interviews – hope it helps! J

                               

                                  I came up with an analogy. What do we do in an interview ultimately? We market and sell ourselves. Just like it is with products and services. Organisations come up with strategies, tools, matrices and what not to make sure that the product/service is desirable even for an alien from Mars. We, Job seekers, also need these tools, strategies and several other thingumajigs.

First up, it’s extremely important to differentiate between selling and marketing. Believe me, I have met many a senior personnel who believe they are one and the same. Agreed, one complements the other not necessarily that it means they are one and the same. One of my favourite marketing profs from B-school used to tell us – “Even if you’ve learnt nothing from my class, learn this ‘Selling is not Marketing’”. Marketing is all about ensuring that the product goes off the shelf or that the candidate gets selected for the job. On the other hand, selling is about ensuring that the product reaches the shelf or that the candidate gets the interview call. Capice? Let’s move on. 

According to an article in the Harvard Business Review (August 2012), traditional marketing – i.e. advertising, public relations, branding and corporate communications – has failed. Traditional marketing (which has become little more than an expensive, very often valueless mass communications methodology) has failed. As far as mass communications is concerned not only has it failed, the internet and social media have surpassed anything the conventional marketing professionals have to offer. Marketing has been at death’s door for well over a decade. It’s just that marketing professionals don’t want to recognise the reality! 

Marketing Mix for “YOU”

Traditional ways of job seaching has gone obsolete for a while now. Now Job Search is all about Networking, being cheeky, pro-active and all that jazz. Just like products have a Marketing Mix of 4Ps so do we as Job Seekers.

Product: You are a brand. If you haven’t made a brand out of yourselves yet, it’s high time you did. It’s a simple process, identify your USP and the industry you aspire to be in. Imagine how you would position yourselves to your best advantage and voila you have Brand “You”.

Promotion: This includes all the “Tools of the Trade” you would use to promote yourselves to all those wonderful recruiters fishing for the right candidates. You should always be equipped with updated resumes and cover letters that you can whip out at a moment’s notice.

Place: How are you going to distribute the tools that you have gathered? What are professional social media platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor (amongst many others) for? Network. Network. Network!!! Find out about the company that you are applying to, how the organisation is structured, salaries (Yowsa, I know) and so much more. All of these for free.

Price: Evaluate yourself. Find out how much you are worth out in the market. If you are worth a gazillion bucks and you are a 100% confident of delivering gazillions bucks worth to the company that you wanna be in – go on ahead. Ask for a gazillion bucks as CTC. If you prove your worth, you would be scooped up like *snap*

Well that’s it. Simple, hanh? But requires a lot of practice. I have been there. To conclude, I would like to add a list of Dos and Donts while facing a recruiter.

Dos and Donts (In random order)

1. Get your BASICS right. If you have the foundation right, you can build the Leaning Tower of Pisa on it. These basics, can be anything from technical to non-technical. You need to learn to learn to be pragmatic in the concepts that you learn. That will be your KO card in your interview.
2. Don’t shrug off fine details. You might end up not cracking the interview because your resume had a word mis-spelled. So burn some midnight oil and be a perfectionist!
3. DO NOT misuse the word Strategy – absolute NO NO. An MBA graduate is bombarded with this holy word billion times over the course of his college tenure. Often, we misunderstand what it means. I recently had a lengthy “argument” with one of my seniors about the right meaning and to prove my point I had to haul my Strategic Management bible (by Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner and McNamara). He left the service of his company a few days later – a happy man. J
4. It’s amazing how mundane our Introduction statements have become. “I am blah blah blah…” Why not spruce it up a bit? Or make it a crisp one? Remember, first impressions are the best impressions and should never be the “last” impression.
5. Accept your “ignorance”. As an aspiring professional, you are expected to remain updated but hey, we are homo sapiens and might miss out a thing or two. And if you are caught, accept your mistake and assure that you would review and get back to them with it. And ask questions, legit questions, to recruiters.
6. Re-work your resume, make it professional, be elaborate when possible. Word in your USP and highlight how that will add value to the employer if you are chosen.  Do not plagiarize. I haven’t really understood the concept of plagiarizing when its comes to resumes. Each resume is mapped to the person it belongs to so there cant be plagiarism. All the same, plagiarism – NO. Recruiters would have seen many tens of resumes to be fooled by the content.
7. LinkedIn Profiles, in this day, would be your best face forward. Keep this updated to the dot. It’s a great networking tool and will help you get connected to like minded people. So network, network, NETWORK.
8. And last but definitely not the least, please go through your JD – Head through Tail. This will save you from a lot of trouble and give you a pencil sketch of the landscape. I knew someone who joined a firm thinking he was going to be in Recruitment when he was actually going to be a part of HR backend operations. He was a highly demotivated personnel and ended up quitting real soon.

So, there you go my friends. Awfully sorry, for the long post. I tried to do justice to what I wanted to convey in as few words as possible. Feel free to reach out and connect with me if you need any advice or even a pep talk J I am game!

Cheers and all the best in cracking the interview. Like a friend once said, “It’s an opportunity to walk in with all-guns blazing like John Rambo.” In the process, have fun and bag the job.

P.S: The post is based entirely on my opinions and experiences. I am definitely not scoring an A+ for this :P Please forgive the mistakes that may arise due to differences of opinion or other reading materials.

The Revolution that is Ola Auto

                                 For an NRC (Non-Residential Chennaite) or an ARC (All-Rounder Chennaite), there is one thing that has been a nightmare from time immemorial - auto rickshaws. Chennai has welcomed hundreds of NRCs over the past few years and auto drivers have given these NRCs their own kind of welcome: "meter + one and a half". These poor NRCs minus the lack of Chennai knowledge and negotiating power end up being prey to the heinous amount that these auto drivers command.

                                  I would be lying if I don't state that there have been improvements in favor of us NRCs (Yes, I have been a proud NRC for close to a year now). For example: there is Auto Annadurai (http://www.theweekendleader.com/Heroism/1531/anna%E2%80%99s-auto.html) who ploughs down the OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road) stretch celebrating birthdays of CEOs of major IT companies by giving its employees discounts. And, wait for it, has free wi-fi and popular B-mags in his vehicle. Needless to say, he had a few million hits on YouTube, was featured in newspapers, people in the other metros grew jealous of Chennaites and NRCs blessed his family and him a long and happy life.

                            Meanwhile, share-autos (another boon that Chennai was given) became the favorites of the young and the old who weren't privy to the luxury of the lone OMR auto “anna”. For a meager amount, these share-auto drivers will "deliver" (yes, that's the word I planned on using) passengers down a short fixed stretch. I used deliver because these share-autos are like normal autos with the ability and space to carry 3, maybe 4 passengers but by some magic (nothing scientific, whatsoever) these share-autos carry TEN people (including the driver, of course). I would not be surprised if I see a couple of passengers riding on top the vehicle. As such cases with convenience go; Chennaites started preferring these share autos and buses to cater to their transportation needs. When the normal auto drivers felt lonely and deserted, they raised a hue and cry about how these share-autos were disrupting their business and warned the city officials of an impending strike if they dint curb the unruly behaviour of these share-autos. The city officials saw how silly these normal auto drivers were and ignored them.

                                     Then came a revolution!!! A much needed one at that. "The Ola Auto". Ola (formerly "Ola Cabs") is a mobile-app taxi service provider. They have been on the forefront for a couple of years now competing against Meru Cabs, Taxi For Sure (which they have now acquired) and the like. Bhavish Agarwal (CEO & Founder of Ola) is now being included in the list of Gods thanked and worshipped for answering the prayers of hundreds of Chennaites like me. The b-plan for Ola Autos is brilliant and simple. These autos are normal autos carrying 3 passengers (extra charged for an extra passenger) but they charge according to the digital meter (something that Chennaites never thought they would see make a come-back) starting with a minimum fare of INR 25. These can be booked only via the app at the time you want to travel. A convenience fee of INR 10 is charged. Oh, fun fact: these autos are equipped with a GPS. How does Ola pay these auto-drivers? The drivers get to keep the fare amount and are paid INR 1500 per week. "How in the world does Ola make profits?" they ask and I am sure a lot of us have. But it's definitely a win-win-win for all of us!

                                   What with the umpteen complaints against transportation services coming up these days, Ola has made sure that the autos are audited for maintenance, the drivers are trained, and the app even has the facility to share the details of the ride (driver name, contact number, vehicle number, etc) with your friends and family. From my experience and a lot of my friends', Ola auto has been like a big brownie-point to us value+convenience seekers. There has risen a new generation of auto drivers that we never knew existed and we have our fingers crossed that this generation of lenient, obedient, fair and traffic-abiding auto drivers is here to stay.

Download that app and get booking. Cheers!

P.S: For public knowledge, Ola autos (beta version) are available in Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. Ola also runs the "kaali peeli" service in Mumbai where it has roped in the "black-yellow" taxis.

P.P.S: This is a general post from my dormant-hoping-to-become-active blogging self.

Heaven from all Creatures hides the Book of Fate - So true.

It was a typical Tuesday, atleast it seemed so to me. The battle that I fight in vain to get up at 6 AM having had a restless sleep after a hefty share of tossing and turning, next came the job to put on the bath water onto the stove to boil. You may ask, no geyser a? Geyser hai, but working nahi hai – I will answer promptly. You see, when the geyser broke down a few months back I devised a clever plan (much like King Julian from Madagascar) to not fix it and hence have the motivation that I needed to get up a few minutes early. Now I am going, what the hell was I thinking? Clever, schmever! Bah!!

The water’s on the stove and next comes “What should I make for lunch?”. I consider the options.

*Skip lunch – Contributes to weight loss (acidity? What? Who?); I can sleep for another 10 minutes but I look down at my tummy and can literally hear the future rumbling at 12.30 PM.

*Buy Dabba – I can sleep for another 9 minutes; my very very thin purse catches my eye (thin cuz it’s the month end and the working class know the depleting nature of the currency as the month end looms threateningly); again hear the future tummy rumbling.

Sadly I pick up a couple of vessels and prepare them for cooking um..”food”. Hustle, bustle and 45 mins later – bath water is ready, lunch is packed with yummy doshas and thenga chutney and I grab the towel and rush to put my 10 mins bath water prepping to good use. The bath has helped clear up the sleepy fogginess and 20 mins later, I am all dressed up and ready to rush out of the door – almost. I had forgotten to plug in my music companions firmly in my ears before I begin my walk to catch my ever so faithful but damn so chilly AC bus.

“Super mama. Ready?! One two three four..” I am at the bus stop ready to wait out the 5 mins before my AS 77 EXP slugs along. Fortunately, Dhanush after having kept me company graciously moved aside to let Surya perform “Yellae Lama..” (in my head of course – I mean the picturization). I had Surya in this lovely blue and black jacket in my head when the bus came. Got my usual “window” seat under the -1 deg C air blasting damned AC. Sometimes I wonder how "thick skinned" people should be to survive 60 mins of the air blast THAT cold.

The 60 mins went by as uneventful as ever, unless you count my bundling into a warm cocoon as an “event”. Yadda yadda yadda, work work work, yadda yadda yadda, its 4.45 PM. Time to catch the – wait for it – LOCAL. Brrrrr, always sends a spine down my back or maybe it was the AC on my way out the door. Anyway, being in Mumbai and travelling by the local train is a task fit for gladiators. Travellers commuting by the local on a daily basis should be honoured with a Nobel prize or something for “Endurance”. Trust me, it IS that difficult. Its next to impossible. I know I sound like 'Miss. Glass is half empty' but I would prefer giving out a word of caution than see any of you put through the test. But this day, this fateful Tuesday I had no choice but to risk it. The horrors in store for me -Heaven from all creatures hides the Book of Fate.

The part where you reach the Bandra east station itself is equivalent to climbing The Everest. The journey from where the bus drops you to climbing the station bridge to getting onto the right platform is just that – a JOURNEY.

Mohit Chauhan crooned “Naadan Parinday ghar aa ja..” while the Borivali bound train slowly threatens its way towards us. I say threatened cuz the commuters who are Bandra bound and ON the train already have adapted this style of throwing themselves off the train before the train comes to a complete halt. I wouldn’t blame them cuz if they dint, they would probably be able to get off the train only at the last stop, what with the wave of commuters looking to board the train. I had learnt a thing or two to Poondhax my way through crowds – thanks to the short breaks, small windows and always crowded Avila canteen – and I used my Poondhax way to squeeze myself (bag and all) into the ladies compartment without breaking a rib or a bone.

Sandwiched between two noisy maushis, I waited for an opening to use good old Poondhax again and gain some breathing space. Meanwhile, Enrique: It must be Love…, shuffled my leg a bit…

Maushi 1: What do you think you are doing? Cant you stay in one place.

Me: *closest impression of an Owl I could put up*

Maushi 2: Why do you come into this train with all this bags and stuff? (Her bag must weigh atleast a ton, of course I aint counting all the space her butt was occupying)

Me: “Switty Switty Switty tera pyaar chahida..” *if you listened closely you could hear my teeth making this grinding noise*

Maushi 1: See how she is pretending she doesn’t hear us? Kids these days, sacchi. Such a shame to their parents. *shaking her head and giving a few good shoves with her 2 tonne bag*

Maushi 2: Oh my god! Now that she is comfortably in the train, she is not only pretending not to hear us, she is pushing me also. (With her butt taking up all the space, I simply couldnt comprehend how anyone wasn’t pushing her)

Me: “Aalochana vasthane…”

Maushi 1: *staring daggers* we made the mistake by letting her in. No manners or basic courtesy at all.

Now all of you should know something about me, I am not the one who would walk about picking fights in public. In private, yes I can be categorized the “Don’t take me for granted, you sleazeball” types but in public, I prefer being impassive and concentrate on Siddharth and Surya and Ashwin and Balaji and their million dollar smiles to distract myself in situation such as the one I was facing then. But this time, the butt space, the tonnage, the very sound of their pointless tongues wagging snapped something in me. The rest of the conversation was pretty one-sided – the one side being mine. Sample is as follows:

Me to Maushi 1: Ennadi nenachitirukka un manasula? Local train ellam unga appa sotha, ni mattum 10 bag vechu eraruthuku. Appdina proof kudu di, myir! Pesa vandhittalum. Unnaku sohusa ponum na sonthama mandala irukara masala vechu, train a manufacture pannu, jammunu 10 bago 20 bago thookitu po.

Me to Maushi 2: Apram ni, unnaku enna manasula Playboy model nu nenappa. 150 kg irunthutu, 25 kg alavukku scena podra. Niyum bag a thookitu thana nikra? Ivlo edatha un gundu body edutha pinna eppdi di thallama nippanga? Arivu irukka enna? Nan pesama iruntha, enna venalum pesuvaya.

Me to both: Engalukkum vai irukku. Ithuku mela oru vartha pesuneenga *violent gestures with my hand* nadakarathae vera. Samjhe na?

I took a deep breath and realized that I had reached Borivali. I got down with a jump in my step after the train slowed down, arranged my face into a menacing stare and gave the two maushis a face they wouldn’t forget in a beat. I turned to the west side with this big smile that went from ear-to-ear. Little did I know, I would get so much satisfaction by speaking Tamil to people who dint even understand a word of it.

Heaven from all creatures hides the Book of Fate - Govinda Govinda. :D

One Night @ Marine Drive!

If you are expecting some kind of supernatural story types judging from the title, then I am sorry to disappoint you guys. This is a real life anecdote that I would like to dedicate to one of my BFFs Soup. Its an anecdote which describes two individuals’ trip to Marine Drive – a much yearned, a much detained and finally made trip.

Vids and Soup have always been of the same “wavelength”, if you know what I mean. They could read other others’ minds, literally. They knew each others’ interests and disinterests like the back of each others’ hands, I believe. They even like the same “assorted Danish Cookies” but knew how to stick to their own favorites. Etcetera etcetera. Vids had been to marine drive like a million times, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends, but never at night (that’s when you can actually add the tagline “adventure” to the whole trip). And she was longing for a night 'sashay' and that’s when Soup landed at Mumbai and expressed the very same idea. She expressed it to Vids cuz she knew she wouldn’t be judged or her idea would be objected to. So they just hopped onto the first train to Churchgate. We all know that the best adventures come when unplanned and uncalled for and that’s exactly what they did.

It must have been 9 PM when they reached Churchgate from where they took a taxi to Marive Drive. The roads were empty except for a few cars hurrying by but they weren’t scared. They were all excited to finally strike one thing off their “bucket lists” and to enjoy doing it together. After getting dropped off beside “Not Just Jazz By The Bay” they figured they should take a stroll by the sea admist the number of families and couples strolling or sitting on the pavement. They picked a spot where they could sit and look out into the sea. The moon was out; casting a dim glow over the black waters of the sea. Their hearts were at peace and they were thinking the same thing, “Wish this moment would go on forever”.

“Chai lelo. Chai” – the cry broke the silence. They were feeling cold and a cup of hot cutting Chai seemed like the perfect cure to the cold. 10 rupees later – still cold but serene and awe struck by the sight in front of them: a calm and picturesque night by the sea, something that’s almost impossible to enjoy in ever-buzzing Mumbai. During the next half an hour, they contemplated getting their portraits sketched by a “sea-side” artist for something to remember the night by (like they were gonna forget) and decide against it, admired the sea a bit more and hesitated to part with their cold yet comfortable seat for fear of losing the serenity that they now commanded. The area in and around Marine Drive is supposed to be the most expensive place for offices, shops, establishments and the like and their nocturnal adventure just about answered the “Why?” part. Who wouldn’t want to work in an office looking out to the sea? When all you need to do to take a breather is walk a few steps and Voila!

Moving on, the next step was to listen to a live band while pizza-ing. Jump in “Pizzaria” – one of the oldest pizza places in Mumbai – visited by celebrities and general public alike. The live band idea turned out to be “most – unlikely” to happen as the band playing that night sucked. So they settled for Pizza-ing with a live chat show, something both of them were proficient in. Pizza-ing and Jazz-ing done, they cared enough to look at the watch and it was midnight!!! They were in an almost parallel world – Mumbai being so big and all. To top that, they had to use the public transport. Leaving it all to the fates, they moved on to a Baskin Robbins parlour (open at midnight too!!) and bought medium sized scoops of ice cream and start walking to the station – uneventfully but very much enjoying their ice creams. At the station they jumped into the first correct train they see. Then the lights went out – just like that. For a minute there, their brave souls fluttered a bit and then came the voice, “Yeh gadi nahi jayegi, bagal mein jo gadi khadi hai, usme chado.” It was like sunshine through dreary clouds.

The train was almost empty except for, literally, a handful. The whole ladies compartment was for them. They walked around and talked, stood next to the doors and talked, laughed their asses off – in short they had a wonderful time. One of the best times in their life and one entry scratched right off their bucket lists.

Its funny how doing the most "stupidest" of stupid things with your friend ends up being so memorable and so much fun. Well I guess that’s why all of us are sort of "authorized" to do stupid things with FRIENDS. Hope all of you have done something stupid with your friend that makes you ROFL every single time you think about it. If not, its high time you did it.

This is for you Soup, my laaav :D

Simple pleasures!!

When is that we stop being children? When is that we stop yearning for the little things in life which gave us the “evil” smiles and the “puppy dog” looks? The answer you are looking for is never. Its been a year now since I left college, 5 years since I left school and a million years ago I had abandoned what was and is the best part of my life – Infanthood. But as I grow up I am beginning to ask myself the question, which is impossible to answer, a million times over –

What if time had stopped when…

…I had still been an infant and everyone would just fawn over every little detail of yours like your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, for God’s sake, even the little split bubble you let out so inconspicuously yet so jovially. Over the years in my life, when I have had trouble adjusting to the realities of the harsh world with “clichéd” words like “immature” and ”irresponsible” hang over my head like a giant signboard, I have longed for the days where I was still a baby in a cradle. I would listen to aunties and uncles and grandpas and grandmas cooing at me more often than not, I would look at million different faces and colours and things and still not be able to make head or tail of what I was looking at, I would be adorned in pretty like frocks and dresses. But the best would have to be when I bawl my eyes out for no reason and wait for my mom to pick me up and smother me in her warmth and sing to me till I eventually fall asleep in the nook of her arms or over her shoulders with my hands clutched tightly over saree folds. Sigh, those were the times.

…I had still been in my fifth grade when I had everyone I needed around me to play with, to talk to and to pat our backs with. Like Phoebe says “the politics and mind games” were just part of growing up and adorning the Monkey caps and walking around school just because a few notes were passed around was plain “enjoyment”. The joy of flunking in Geography eventhough you knew all the answers was “then” a feather in my cap. The fracture I showed off for 2 weeks was like showing off a diamond that I had unearthed on my own.

…I had stayed in my ninth grade where I ruled my class (literally) as the class rep. Soaked up all the attention our class teacher was giving us and setting sight on our favorite teacher to be for the very first time. I still remember getting caught on camera playing an innocent yet rather virulent game of “Running and Catching”. Oh the lectures we heard! But our ever so sweetest class teacher was by our side the whole time; giving us her much needed support and pampering. We had established several games of “paper-ball” cricket inside the class and despite being caught by an eagle eyed teacher from a “far off” building, we weren’t ready to give them up. The incidents where we sneaked in portable radios during tests when we could listen to cricket commentaries still remain fresh in my mind.

…when we realized how great we were as a team and how much things are gonna change when we move into the first separation phase of our lives, eleventh grade. I had to let many of my bonds go and embrace many new ones who I realized later where going to strengthen my beliefs and roots. Those endless “periodic table songs” and model tests and cycle tests and what not, frustrated us but we stuck by it and went on to the second phase of “separation” – College.

…before I said those horrible words to a very good friend, which I knew would hurt her inevitably but said it anyway. If I had a paise for everytime I wished I could take those words back, I would have raised quite a small fortune. But I kept making the same mistake over and over till I finally realized that some things are best left alone. “Tis for the best” – I consoled myself.

…when it rained all those hailstones. I could have just sat and listened to the pelt of the stones all day, breathing in the soothing scent of the rains on the fresh dirt. Those were the times when you wish you had the time and place where you could just curl up under the blanket with a hot cup of tea beside you and your favorite book over your head. More often than not, the time and place options are not very favoring. After my recent shift to Mumbai, forget pleasant rains, I don’t get to curl up or drink tea or read my favorite book or do all 3 together cuz I find myself drenched from head to toe from the raging monsoons and end up taking a hot shower and sleeping through the rains only to wake up to go to work the next morning.

…when the clock struck 12 at midnight on my birthday when I was still in college. My phone would be on the buzz ever so continuously flooding with calls and messages from my loved ones wishing me on my bday. These days, I dread my bday coming up in about a month. That’s the day I feel the loneliest, so far away from friends and family. Sigh!

…when we finished our final year project and waited around to scribble nothings on each others’ shirts and overcoats. We never realized how hard it would for us to meet afterwards, never realized how much we were gonna miss each other. The fun lasted a whole day and it was hard to digest that the place we had gone gotten up so early in the morning to go to, everyday (almost) for 4 years of our life, wasn’t expecting us the next day onwards. Took some time to sink in and for some of us, it still has not.

…when I got my silver medal as THE proof that I had beaten my brother’s records for academics in college. That very moment I was beaming with pride and joy and what not. A little sad that I had missed my dream of getting a gold medal by points yet so very ebullient that I could just scream. The photo sessions afterward where I proudly showed off and “scene vittufied” my silver medal and “two certificates”.

I could just go on and on with this. But my point is, there are a lot of things in life that give us simple pleasures. Treasure them cuz there are a lot of times we would wish we could re do them from time to time. Its quite easy to say this but we must learn to put them into practice. I am not trying to preach, dudes and dudettes. Let it sink, mull it over, stew this thought in your brains and hey, it might make you see things in a different perspective. I know I did, Live in the moment you guys. Cheers!!