Resurgence

Gust of cold wind hit us as we ventured out on our endeavour. And though we were well shielded, the assault by the cold air had an impact on our enthusiasm. ‘Let’s finish this as fast as we can and return to the warmth of our rooms’ said my companion. I nodded in agreement. We knocked on one door and then another and then another with purpose. We were getting good response. On one such door, we were asked to wait for a couple of minutes. While the request was not unjust, the cold weather outside was affecting our judgment. We looked around – we had already covered all the rooms on that floor. We even thought of returning later but decided against it. Finally, the door was opened and we were let in. ‘Sorry dost! I was offering my daily prayers and hence could not come. I am sorry to keep you waiting but as you can see none of the other residents of this room are here at present.’ We had suspected this from the beginning and it was a small dampene...

It was a dull day. I could not remember the last time I felt so spiritless. Nevertheless, one has to earn his livelihood and so I dragged myself slowly to the office. ‘It’s going to be a bad day’, I thought. I was walking drearily on the pavement of the big city when suddenly a commotion sought my attention. I identified the source – it was coming from an assembly of people at a distance. ‘What’s the matter?’ – I was tempted to join the group. I looked at my watch – still a few minutes left before I could be officially declared ‘late’ for the office. I consulted my guidebook for office principles and found rule 65 specifically stating – ‘Thou shall not attempt to arrive late at workplace – it ruins your appraisal but more importantly robs you of some of your hard earned money from your salary’. But who said that rules are always to be followed? So, I joined the continuously swelling crowd to take a firsthand account of whatever was happening.  Ours is a country of onlookers ...

Authrospeak: This article did not shape up in a way I wanted it to be. It may not leave the impact I thought it would have. Nevertheless, it is my tribute to the common man of India. Before writing this article, I asked an important question to myself – Am I qualified enough to represent ‘Common Man’? Representing ‘Common Man’ has never been easy, irrespective of what Mr. R K Laxman has made you think over the years. If you do not believe me then ask either Priyadarshan or Khiladi Kumar on what went wrong with their portrayal of the ‘Common Man’ in Khatta Meetha. ‘Common Man’ goes through such myriad emotions that it would be foolhardy to proclaim that one represents ‘Common Man’ (I think the present day government at the Centre made this small mistake). So, a common has to fight for his space daily in the shoddy public transport provided for his comfort to reach workplace (I am spared of this ordeal as I was smart enough to look for an accommodation very near to my office); has to b...

As a researcher, one needs to know the pulse of the market. One supposedly has to be thorough with the product understanding, category knowledge and has to have a grip over the territory for which he works. In my short stint as a researcher, I have worked across categories and geographies. Some projects are exciting while others are routine (read boring). For some projects you would not hesitate to put in demanding hours while others are more out of compulsions. One facet which is really important is that one has to keep aside his / her apprehensions in order to produce terrific insights (ahem!!). This short post was written by me long back when I was assigned my first tobacco related project. It reflects the emotions which are true even now but as I say we are only researchers – Our job is to observe and analyze and nothing else.    I am sitting along with a pile of cigarette packs (No they are not empty. With a mindboggling number of 240 t...

Authorspeak: I will revisit stories written by me long back in this series. I would try to improvise on them (No guarantee though).   I wrote this story in my board examinations almost a decade back. That story was much shorter (because of the word limit of probably 350 words). As I do not have the original version there may be a change in the narration style – there has been some changes in the climax as well. You do not really expect Indian Railways to take you to your destination on time, especially if it is the festival season. So, it was a pleasant delight for everyone on board to see the train pulling up at Patna Junction bang on time. The journey was not very comfortable – train was overcrowded but no one was complaining. I enjoyed being a part of various discussions mostly as a listener (a trait not usually associated with me). With elections round the corner, most of the talks veered to the performance of the current government and likelihood of its coming back to power. ...

Deception of CWG Authorspeak: Characters of movie ‘Inception’ have been used in this article. It is again a big post but can’t help it. Like every Indian, I am hurt by the way things have been handled in the build up to the Commonwealth Games. Mismanagement and inadequate infrastructure have been the hallmark of the buildup to CWG 2010. If we cannot deliver even after spending such huge amount of money then it does not paint a good picture of India / Indians. What anguish me most is that we have failed to celebrate the spirit of such extravaganza – ‘Sports’ in the buildup to the games. World Cup soccer (which was not hosted in India and where India had not even qualified) had seen a 90 days countdown from Indian media with in depth analysis and much more. Alas, we have failed to celebrate our biggest sporting carnival in such a way till now. ‘Cobb! Whom are we running from?’ asked Ariadne. ‘I’ll tell you once we are safe.’ ‘Safe!! What’s the danger?’ ‘I have been asked to...