why so rushed?

BOOM!

I'm back. It's been a while. Lots of things have happened since my last post.

I've been wanting to start my own restaurant/pub/bar/whatever for a while now, I've finally decided to give it a go and I put in my papers recently. Will be a jobless man preparing to turn an entrepreneur, very soon.

So here's the deal. I thought I'd work at a restaurant/hotel, understand how this works before diving into it. So I did what any sensible person would do, ask friends to me put in touch with restaurateurs, I also tried to contact people who run some of my favourite places.

I was quite surprised when most of the restaurateurs spoke about how this 'industry' has good money but is a tough life. Hardly anyone spoke to me about their love for food and how they enjoy creating new tastes or feeding customers and stuff like that. Their first comments were about money, I mean, come on you run a bloody restaurant not a fucking bank.

I don't expect people to run soup kitchens and there is nothing wrong with dreaming of making lots of money. Financial growth, security and leading a comfortable life are definitely important but I'm not too sure if they should be your sole purpose in life. I think this is obsession with money is what ruins our lives.

That got me thinking of the times we live in and how everybody is busy running, without stopping to look at the sights around them or even if they are on the right track. Stuck in jobs they don't like, whining about how their work sucks but not having the balls to pursue what they think will give them happiness, because they want to make money more than they want to be happy.

I'm not asking businessmen to stop thinking of ways to make more money, please do so, else we'd be killing ingenuity, creativity, inventions. That would just be a world full of dumb, lazy, incompetent sloths. However you've got to stop being so anal in your pursuit of profits. When is money ever going to be enough? You will always want a growth in margins, quarter on quarter, year on year. You will always want to cut down on expenditure, optimize even exploit your resources. Will you ever be content? No, cos you are just a greedy, blood sucking leach, a conniving bitch. Could you please try being a profit oriented human instead? Please I beg of you. That's the real problem with Capitalism isn't it? It's based on the principle of constantly trying to increase your pile of dough, it doesn't really care about how you go about doing it.

Think about it, most of the problems in our world are at some level linked to some bastard's greed. Just because some motherfuckers are in a great hurry to gain money, power, acceptance; we have crime, poverty, social disparity, wars and what not.

Chill the fuck out people. Don't be in such a terrible rush to make more money than you can stuff up your ass before lying on your pyre.

Ok enough of ranting; by all means, please strive to be successful, make money, make merry, but can you please have some humility and humanity to go with it? Is it really too much to ask for?

WTF is up with Indian advertising???

What is wrong with Indian advertising these days? Seems like there is a serious lack of ideas. All brands in a category seem to be talking about the same thing…sure you can argue that the products aren’t very different hence they might seem similar….agreed but the creative idea and execution can be different right?

Let’s look at cosmetics:
The Olay and Pantene ads….same concept…. same treatment...very very similar copy. Just the celebs are different I guess, who knows they might have some common models as well.

The fairness cream ads…every fortnight there seems to be a new variant and you can be sure that competition will have a similar one very soon, but you’d think they’d atleast make a different ad but NO!

The other thing that really pisses me off about cosmetics ads is that they are turning to scare tactics now…use me or you’d be fuck ugly…c’mon gimme a break…we’ve had beautiful woman for eons now we don’t really need jojoba extracts and peach creams do we….I recently saw an ad for anti ageing cream..very harmless talks about lines etc but the fuck up is it talks to 30 yr olds…if 30 yr old women need aging creams I’d much rather have them sent to concentration camps than have them use these creams….marketers seem to be talking the catch ‘em young principle to the extreme.

The other example of absolute same message is in the telecom space…..

Here is what I think happened during the briefing process for these campaigns

Client: lets talk about 3G…we are launching our services soon
Servicing guy: ok…so what features do u wanna talk about?
Client: U know about 3G, the new technology (which infact it isn’t…its more than a decade old)
Servicing guy: Yeah sure but what aspects of 3G, speed? Connectivity? Interactivity?
Client: everything man….why is it so hard for u guys to understand this stuff….why do u work on this account if u don’t know how cool 3g is?
Servicing guy (either panics or says suit ur self): yeah it really is a cool thing u know/u r the boss man…whatever u say…u know what lemme go over to the creative guys n see what we can come up with…I’ll get back to u soon…kthxbai!

SG to creative guy: We have a 3G campaign guys
Creative guy: ok so what’s the brief
SG: It’s a 3G campaign
CG: errrmmm I know but that isn’t a brief
SG: you do your job, don’t tell me how to do mine
CG: fuck u…come back 3 days later n take the crap I make

SG to CG: the brand window is too small don’t u think? Doesn’t really bring out the features of 3G
CG: whatever man..here are the files do whatever the hell u want with them


U get the picture….so all we see on tv is 3G is so cool and we have it ya’all…you gotta buy it cos sooner or later we’ll give it to u in one way or the other…

Consumer1 : So what do i get it activate 3G?
Consumer 2: No idea
Abhishek Bachchan: Get Idea….Awesome plugging don’t u think…"Th-th-th-that's all folks!"


There have been crappy ads before and there will crappy ads forever …that isn’t really the problem.

What I think is the problem is that either all agencies across the board have smoked up so much that their brain has evaporated and they just rehash stuff and put it out…or brands and brand managers are too busy focusing on visibility/other buzz words, have way too much money to spend and don’t really care about what their communication is and how its messes the consumers mind as long as their brands screams out louder than their competitions.

Well it isn’t all bleak out there…there is still a lotta good work being put out there…just that this horrible stuff outnumbers the good stuff…probably that’s what makes the good stuff really stand out…I don’t know.

This is giving me an idea though…will soon start an ad review blog…just hope I don’t fall into a laziness rut and manage to update it regularly. Suggestions are welcome (assuming u guys have managed read through this and wouldn’t mind more of this on a regular basis)

Not much has changed since

Barring physical aspects like facial hair, body weight and hormone levels & the addition of a few letters after my name {B.Tech (I.T.) , PGDM (C) }nothing really has changed over the last decade or to be specific ever since I finished 12th.


Here I am, goalless, ambition-less (well it's not all that bleak, there are like really long term big picture things like owning a restaurant/pub etc etc but nothing for the near future) and clueless for the most part of my waking moments. It's almost a zombie like existence, doing certain things cos they need to be done to stay alive or cos I have nothing better do.

I really don't know what it is that I wanna do in life or what it is that I like doing?

For as long as I can remember I wanted to be fighter pilot. I tried real hard to be one, cleared all the tests, interviews etc only to be told I couldn't be one cos spine isn't the way it ought to be.

That's it....that was the day that I thought, ok life doesnt end here...I'll figure something out, 7 years hence and I still haven't.

So let's look at a time line here.
At 17
Joined engineering cos that was the easiest possible next step, midway through it realised I don't wanna write code for a living. Age: 20 years Status: still clueless

At 21
Looked for the most exciting possible prospect. Thought advertising would be it. Status: Not entirely sure, but seemed like the best possible option.

At 23
Got a MBA, got a job, everything seemed to be fine. Thought I made the right choice.

Here I am at 24, quit my job, dunno what I'm gonna do next. Ok then again, my quitting my job had a whole lotta other factors involved and advertising might still be THE thing. But fact is at the big picture level I dunno what I'm meant to do, what my true calling is?


Ok let's stop the career talk here...I'll make money one way or the other, I'm still young there is still hope.


What about stuff like relationships, friends blah blah and all those things that matter to normal people.

I have some really nice friends, but I dunno if I can really call anyone a best friend, that is more my fault than theirs actually, have too many hangups n issues in life I guess. Have had little or no social life after I've moved to Bombay (while I was working had no time, when I did had no energy and now that I've quit, and have all the time in the world, I can't cos I don't think it's wise to splurge the little savings that I have)

So there you have it......I am 24, unemployed, aimless, not a single date in sight let alone a relationship, lost and clueless.....in most romantic comedies this would be the low point of the protagonist's life...looks like trash, eats cold pizzas etc etc...well since this is real life, I still enjoy my drink and a nice lil tandoori chicken. (Don't really know the purpose of the last few lines, but they seem funny so i'll keep em)

I am therefore as good or as bad as I was when I was 17.

Reminds of Sinatra's song 'It was a very good year........'

Propoganda? Advertisement? Campaign? Aa su che bhai???

"The Congress party has already set aside a budget of Rs 150 crore for the coming general elections, in addition to its ongoing campaign in Delhi worth Rs 40 crore. Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is expected to shell out an equal sum to give Congress a tough electoral fight. Political parties are expected to spend over Rs 300 crore by March-April 2009. "- Indian Express


8(4 full page ) Adverts in TOI on a single day, some ad sales guy at Bennett must surely be very happy, after a long time he might be able to meet his targets. Moving on to a more important issue; I found it very odd that over the past week or so, the Ministry of Aviation seems to be inaugurating a new terminal every day and the other Ministries seem to be launching a new scheme or promising something or claiming that they kept their promise.

I wondered what brought this sudden bout of anxiety, this sudden want to proclaim "accountability"...didn't take me too long to realise that the elections are round the corner.


I don't have an issue with political advertising, for one it gives people jobs :P, jokes apart it's a free country and there's no harm in political parties using mass media for their election campaigns as long they limit themselves to putting for their agenda, manifesto, promoting their candidates. What I have an issue is why the tax payer's( as some one who would be paying taxes very soon, I don't want it to be misused) money is being used by the govt or shall we say the incumbents to help their cause.


Why this surrogate advertisement, let the INC open its deep coffers and spend it on the campaign, why do PSUs and depts which are already facing a strain have to suck up to the govt.


Chalo, for a while let us assume that various ministries and depts have actually done a good job and only want to spread the cheer and wanna paint the town red. Why do the ads feature The UPA chairman and the PM while the head of state the venerable Madam President (who doesn't seem to know much about protocol or anything else for that matter & btw is a UPA appointee) is glaringly absent.


Obama spent 60 odd mil on his campaign, but they were'nt govt funds, they were raised in the public domain, why can't our political parties do the same, after all they all have connections with industrialists.

WHY IS MY MONEY BEING USED TO SING YOUR PRAISES????

p.s. I know some guy was recently booked for defamation and fined for blogging 'objectionable' content.... If asking why tax payer's money is being misused by a polictal party or a consortium of oppurtunist leaders is defamation....go ahead sue me, I'll atleast get my 15 mins of fame this way.

Staring into nothing

Have you ever just looked through things? I mean you look at something, your mind recognizes but doesn't register colours,shapes,forms,depth and all that. But nothing more than that....you just continue staring at/into thin air.

A mind devoid of thoughts......I see most people around me with thoughts running in their heads ...worried,happy,stressed,concerned,angry,sad....but when I'm blank like this...nothing...no emotions...no thoughts...just mere processing of information that my eyes pass on to my brain.


N lately,it's been happening to me quite often. It's very fascinating, when i snap out of it ( warning/disclaimer:I AM NOT ON ANY DRUGS....these are not trips or psychic visions). I wonder how this happens to me involuntarily, I guess this is my brain's/mind's way of chilling out...it's as if it says "fuck u I need a break n I'm gonna shutdown... n close myself off from the world around u"

N its very different from the lost in thoughts types stare...here you move around a little, scratch yourself etc but fundamentally its all blank. I dunno if this what happens when you meditate. But I don't think its the same thing.


It also gets me thinking.... if this how comatose people feel or if this how a newborn sees the world.



Do let me know if any of you have experienced anything similar.

P.s. not a 'feeling low' post...no pity or sympathy comments please

8x10 की दुनिया

क्या मेरी दुनिया बस चंपा 4 तक ही सिमट कर रहगयी है?
क्या मैं बस लोगों को आते जाते, मेरी खिड़की के सामने से गुज़ृते हुए देखता ही रह जाऊंगा?
क्या मैं अपने आप में इतना खो गया हूँ की मुझे कोई और नज़र अत ही नही या फिर क्या इसीलिए मैं किसी को नज़र अता नही?

It's not just about feeling wanted or liked....its much more than that....it's as if I'm existing for no specific reason. For who,what and why am I? Does anybody need me at all? Do I need anybody? Do they really need to need to me? Does a loner like to be alone or is it that he has no choice but to be one????

At some level I'm to blame for this distance that I seem to have created between everybody else and me(or is it I???...don't really give a fuck about grammar right now). In trying to shield myself from all the things I don't like...I've insulated myself in my own little cocoon. In trying to become self sufficient ,self reliant, independent and happy with myself; I think I've alienated myself from everyone else.


I can't remember the last time I was truly happy or excited....no it's not like I'm leading a morose and stale life but there is definitely a lack of excitement. I mean the only time there is nothing on my mind is probably when I'm playing a sport, where I just focus on doing well and winning.

It's not that all is dark here....I enjoy the company of my girlfriend, think we have a pretty neat thing going........
.......but there is still something that's missing in my life or so I think/feel. Desperately need to know what that elusive something is?(may be it's just a stiff drink :P) I dunno sometimes I feel I'm being too demanding, aiming for perfection even where I don't need it.



Time to post this, shut the lid and stare at the ceiling as I lay down in my '8x10 ki duniya'.

Orgasms of a dial up modem

The noises a dial up modem makes wen establishing a connection, seem to be like the mating calls of birds of some kind.....or may be even screams of ecstasy, as if the modem was having waves of orgasm.


U might feel like askin....y n wat made me think dis way?

Last week, I was disgusted with the IT dept and the their tall claims......they provide us with 24*7 internet "suffering"(no this is not a typo.....this wat the IT dept had used to describe their selfless service in one of their sermonizing mails). I missed my ghar ka conxn....unlimited downloads(ah!! downloads, dats sumthn every MICAn craves for), great speeds n all. In that nostalgic moment, I went back to the late 90's wen I started using Internet at home.


The good old dial up conxn......the whole ritual of getting connected was so enchanting....type in ur username password....wait for the modem to start up.....mate with the ISP and then wen it had had its sweet release....u cld start surfin.

The wait was so gripping, I wld keenly listen to every note the modem crooned and tried to make sense of it. I wondered if it was trying to talk to me? If it was trying to tell me a tale?


Sometimes I wish we dint have so many technological advances and that time could stand still, but then I quickly snap out of it, I need my download speed, want my mp3s and softies in a jiffy.

But then again, I'm at MICA................hafta deal with BLOCKED DOWNLOADS


"

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While trying to retrieve the URL: http://download.com/

The following error was encountered:

• Access Denied.

  Access control configuration prevents your request from being allowed at this time. Please contact your service provider if you feel this is incorrect.

Your cache administrator is IT_DEPT.

---

Generated Thu, 09 Aug 2007 07:48:02 GMT by rel.relsurf.com (squid/2.5.STABLE6)

"



The dreaded page.

The sabbatical

well a lot has happnd lately....n sadly i wasnt able to post stuff.


was really hard pressed for time in march....odyssey work had me explore new levels of multitasking. In the end it was decent affair, but the performance was da highlite of da day . To watch the clips click here----->http://youtube.com/results?search_query=schickados

N as if being busy wasnt enuff my comp concked off jus a day b4 odyssey. After that i was too lazy to fix plus mom was hospitalised so dint hav time too( i guess dat wld xplain me bieng absent frm the online radar for a few days)

Newayz there was sum good stf too...got I20s,but more importantly I got into MICA......so me gonna b an MBA two yrs frm nw. Also i got a call letter for the SSB, like last time i was recommended for the IAF but flunked da medicals....bt in da process made a few good frnds at the ssb so wasnt dat bad.

The project presentation was pretty ok...lets c how it goes.

Jus one xam between me n my degree....cant wait for it get ova.


Now me lookin fwd to Ahmedabad...babeville here i come. Hope my stay at MICA turns out to be one of best phases in ma life.


N as i bid farewell to SNIST i have mixed feelings, it was a shitty place but made a few gud frnds....n i did enjoy coll life albiet in trying conditions.


Oh btw bought new laptop ;)

jinxed????

1st semester exams seem to be jinxed.....the accent incident in the 2nd yr n now the maruti.....

ok jus so u kno...dis is wat happnd....

"on my way to coll for the xam on friday(17/11/2006)...was tryn to overtake da coll bus.....he dint lemme pass so i tried to over take from the left....bt dere was a truck in the blindspot...n the worst part is, it was stationary, so even after breaking really hard...v ended up ramming into it...luckily jus a small portion of the car cam in contact with the truck.....minimal damages(although the windshield was damaged)....da repairs dint cost much jus around 4k."

most importantly no one got hurt......n im still alive(third time)......



well the 3 exams until now were pretty ok.....

CAT was suprisingly easy..... i'm sure the cut-off will b really high...lets see how things pan out.

the rollercoaster rides that my mind keeps takin abt "her" finally seem to be ending.....i guess she's the one whoz lost out not me....i did evrythng humanly possible to let her kno wat n how much she means to me n yet if she cant understand well "ab kya bol sakte"

hmmm well now that gre is also done...have been busy wit da recos n sop drafts....havnt finalisd da list of universities yet(if ne of u can suggest a few gud ones it'd b gr8t) gotta finish this whole thng by dec....

looking fwd to the fun part of engg :D


until next time
over n out

kya toh bhi.....

its dat time of da year wen evrythng else takes da backseat...n all u hafta do is dive into da books.

bt dats nt quite how it wrks 4 me.....it neva did...

ppl say n do wierd stf " stp eating nonveg until da xams r ova" "stp orkutting" ' im gonna stp " u know wat" '.......bt y ???? i mean common u think ur braincells start workn faster if u dnt hav meat? u thnk all da energy n fluids u save by nt doing it will help u study?

newayz apna funda has always been simple...do evrythng in moderation....bt i guess itll b a lil tuffer dis tim(wat wit da hectic schedule n all da oda stf dat has happend in da recent past).....wanna do well....try n get dat pathetic aggregate of mine to a respectable figure.

having said dat...i still havent touched da books(wit less dan 10 days to go)....i guess sumthngs neva change.


kya toh bhi!!!

All the best!!!

All good things must come to an end.....

On the personal front, a beautiful phase of life has ended( i guess u get da drift)...bt no regrets it was good while it lasted... wld've loved for it to go on forever, bt dats ok(atleast got to kno wat a broken heart feels lik)......

b4 u thnk im turnin into a devdas...lemme tell u im doin prety well nt to wry......thnx for ur concern.

n on da proffesional front finally finised da newsletter...its at da printers rite nw....yet anoda responsbility successfully delegated.....

on a philosophical/futuristic note.....coll life is at its fag end......

oh! wat a helluva ride its been......1st yr to 4th yr all kindsa xperiences.....da crushes, da ragging, da mass enthu, da fests, da car crashes,da dosti n dushmani.....evrythn abt coll (even da sad n lame thngs).


as a new chapter begins, as i take a new turn on the path of life....derz dis wierd feeling within dat i cnt really express in words....

chalo bahut senti hogaya.....lets c where lif takes me....

cheers!!!

Life at its multi-tasking best!!!!

These past few weeks hav been a pain in da ass....lif itslf isnt so bad bt u kno da ppl around can get to u at timz.....

for starters a c ertain sum1 hasnt quite been herself...shes been actin all wierd...dnt wanna get into da details....

oda dan dat lifz been pretty hectic wat wit da project da newsletter da tests n dandiya etc....

well da project (test generator for IBM Great Minds Challenge 2006) is nt quite goin according to plan.... firstly our guide is thope ^:)^ he seems to hav da same solution 4 very prob "Frameset" LMAO!!!...its been 3 weeks nw n its far frm finishd...its nt lik v arent tryn...v r bunkn classes daily... v hardly sit in da class...bt sumhow v arnt moving forward..its lik v r stuck in quick sand.... n u kno da gang gets pretty lame at timz n v end laffn our asses off instead of sittn n coding....lik yesterday went to da coll after lotsa jhamela flat tyres n wat nt..ended up blowing up a grand n at da end off da day v were right where v started...newayz v will eventually finish
it i guess...

n da newsletter is comin along fine.... thoda ragadna padta 4 da nxt 3-4 days n turn into sumthn gud


Aaj TOEFL hogaya so atleast nw its official dat i can read write understand n speak english...got 4 mre xamz to go lets c how it goes...

MAAAA!!!! mujhe naukri milgayi hain maa....

That is exactly what i did when i told my mom that i got placed(totally fimly style...with a box of sweets n all ):P

Ah! the whole campus placement thing was fun.....me nt having a very gud aggregate was eligible for a handful of companies( the reason im so pleased is dat i got thru da 1st one dat i was eligible for :D} so it was a pretty dicey situation actually....all said n done i was pretty confident dat i'll get selected if i can clear the aptitude tests.

thnkfully i did clear da apti n da interview part of it was a cinch! (as expected) infact it was a very hilarious experience( my tech round was more of a football quiz n in the hr round the lady was being pretty frisky!!! dnt wanna elaborate on dis u neva kno my "employers" mite see it).....

it had been raining for a quite a few days n it did on da day of da interview...n as luck would hav it da car had a flat tyre n i was forced to use da bike...wen i reached da coll i was totally soaking wet....
bt fortunately/unfortunately(cos i had to wait dat long) my turn for the interview was late in da evening....

da interview went off pretyy well n i was confident i'd get thru so wen da results were out i was more relieved dan thrilled.



The bottom line is im a TCSerrrrrrrrrrrrr now :D <:-p \:D/