The Shinchan in her

Chit chats in office are my favourite. It gives me the zeal to get back to my workstation.

The other day a friend of mine came to me and we actually started with discussing one of our brands. A dummy was kept aside that reminded her of how as a kid in school she was taught to make a drum (dhaak).

Then she went onto telling me a series of incidents from her childhood. Frankly I found them hilarious. Her family members would literally tear their hair when my friend would go around the house beating the drum she made herself. (…it’s like literally beating her own drum!)

She observed exactly how her grandfather would lie on the bed for a nap in the afternoon. She would go and stick a chewing gum exactly at that position. When her grandfather would get up in the evening he actually would get up with the entire bed cover stuck onto him.

Sitting next to him watching TV she would suddenly pour chilled water on her grandfather’s lap from a bottle she had been holding on for some time.

The most hilarious thing I found was when she said as a kid she was quite short and she found the cows in her backyard quite scary when she stood in front of them. Once when she was up to her usual mischief her mother picked her up and put her in the tub from which a cow eats. Finding a kid in the tub instead of his usual food the cow found it quite strange which got it closer to her. She said it was a horrifying experience for her to see the cow’s head bending towards her with its jaws moving up and down.

Listening to her I now miss being a naughty kid. It’s fun being mischievous I am sure. it's fun being a Shinchan at heart!

Always on a lookout

Off late I was getting a headache every evening. After procrastinating for long I finally decided to visit the doc. With every lens the doc slipped into the frame for checking I confused him more and more with what my actual reading was.
I got so fed up with it that I started mugging up the letters they would ask me to look from at a distance and read. The doc would call his assistant and shout at her as to how every time she is giving a different reading to the doc. So I finally decided to cooperate and the doc told me I have cylindrical power.
I got my glasses in less than a week. But hated wearing them and had already decided to take contact lens. The doc said I would have to go for rigid and not soft lens due to the kind of power I have.
He said I have to come for regular sittings for trials with the lens. There I met this lady who taught me the tricks of the trade.
We got talking every evening. I had to leave office early every day. During the trials my phone would surely ring at least once. One day she asked me so where do you work?
The moment I said for an ad agency she enquired if there’s a vacancy for her. I was quite surprised thinking why would an eye specialist want to shift to an ad agency? Her expressions said it all.
I wondered the frustration was so high that an eye specialist was ready to move onto an ad agency or is it the love for the industry?

My empty letter box

Running down the staircase to check if Grandparents sent a letter or if a friend has sent few words for me is something I miss so much. Agreed that the internet is faster, better & makes more sense. But somewhere deep down I miss receiving those handwritten letters from my close ones.

A mail in my inbox, a sms or a scrap somehow still doesn't touch me the way a handwritten letter did. I miss the personal touch in them. You almost feel the person's presence while reading through the lines.

Modern things have the good & bad both. Guess getting nostalgic about receiving letters is not something we even have the time to sit back & think 'coz the positives of the internet & the telecom is so high that probably this is too small a think to even make us think about.

But I still miss the inland letters & the postcards...

The poet comes alive...

Hai talaash mujhe uss ek sunahre pal ki,
Jise ho mujhme yakeen ki hai mujhme bhi woh baat
Ki sirf katein hee nhi par phul bhi ban sakte hain humsafar mere
Hai talaash mujhe uss ek sunahre pal ki…

Too much... everywhere!!!

Be it a shopping mall, a metro station, a food court everywhere there is an intrusion to your mental space. It’s tougher to get rid of mental intrusion than the physical one.

The other day I was quite shocked to hear the same kind of ‘noise’, (yes I would rather call it noise than music) in a reputed bookstore. This place, even a couple of years back was a place where even if your decibels were a little higher than the normal would attract unpleasant looks.

For many of us, shopping is a therapy but with so much intrusion it no longer remains a therapy but it ends up adding to the stress.

A little away from what I was talking about is the sales people, one more kind of intrusion, with due respect.

You don’t even stand for a while at a section & there they come with all the mugged up details of the ranges on offer. I won’t deny the information is useful, when asked for, not otherwise.

I have often noticed shoppers in malls who tend to get intimidated when approached by sales people. They actually move away from the section. There are some who get more than irritated.

The other issue is language. Language is supposed to remove barriers but in most cases it is actually creating one. Who says if you are in Calcutta & walking in to a Pantaloons or a South City, you have to communicate with the employees in these stores in English? They are your fellow Kolkatans & would definitely follow the language you communicate in.

Shopping is supposed to be entertaining & for some a necessity. So why make it a task? Use language to communicate, use language where necessary, and use language to bridge gaps not to create gaps…

Not so addy

My alltime favourite Bollywood dialogues -

Kanoon ke haath bahut lambe hoten hain...
Kanoon jasbaton pe nhi, sabooton pe chalta hai...
Yeh din dekhne ke liye tumhe paal pos kar bara kiya tha...
Kalmuhee, karamjai ghar ka sara kam para hua hai aur tu baith baith kar muft ki roteeyan tor rahi hai...
Yeh sunne ke pehle mere kaan kyon nhi phat gaye, yeh dharti mujhe kyon nhi nigal lee, yeh aasmaa
Beta tu mere burhape ka laathi hai
Gin gin ke, chun chun ke mein badla loongi
Mera bhi din ayega ekdin shyam laal

Up above the world so high...

LG captured this long time back when they spoke about their picture clarity. A LG viewing kid could see the clouds forming an elephant whilst other kids couldn't.
It's so true. I am sure each one of us had this experience at some point. There's a similar thing that I do a lot. That's when you see water marks on the walls. Does that sound familiar?