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My experiences on the FMCG Sales pitch

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It is a scorching summer afternoon. I roll up my sleeves and along with my sales officer and salesman, enter a kirana outlet; its blackened walls are covered with posters of ads of toothpaste, a soap and a local brand of oil. Women of all ages crowd around hustling to negotiate with the store man. Accusations of overcharging and adulteration are flying across the counter. I hope we will make a productive call and get a good order of toothpaste. I struggle to get the attention of Mohan Bhai, the store owner; hoping to chat with him about our new launch. I am finally greeted with a fervor as he lights up seeing a well-dressed potential customer. “ Haan madam, shu levaanu che? ”. I explain to him I am from Colgate and am here to take his order. He instantly loses interest and re-starts negotiating on the price of a Saffola Oil 1L pack with the bulky woman next to me – happy to have got his attention again. He has this bewildered look as he turns to me and wonders what/how to talk to ...
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Tea and Life

It is a January Sunday morning and I’m home after a week-long travel across hinterlands of the country. Winter mornings are particularly precious - it’s the only time I get the sun and like Jaadu, I can’t live without the sun. So I make myself a hot cup of tea, wait for sun to stop playing hide & seek and sip my tea. Tea lovers say Tea is Life. Like any tea lover, I agree. The first sip is steaming hot, one doesn’t really understand the taste or the flavor. It’s just hot; and all you can do is blow into it and wait till it becomes drinkable. The first few years is to figure out whether your life is flavoured with elaichi or adrak or lemon? Does it even have enough sugar? Or is it just bland? Only the maker of the tea knows what it’s going to taste like. You can then start to enjoy the flavor of the tea with the adrak, elaichi, lemon. You realize there is less sugar and reach out to add some. Some are content with less sugar, some aren’t. This sugar & flavor is what i...
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Bachpan

When a senior of mine told me that the only place he hadn’t been driven out of yet, was Connot; I really didn’t think it was possible anyway; that is until the Mr. Arun of Arun store decided to do the honours. “Sheesha toot jaayega yaar!” a frustrated old man letting it off on a bunch of innocent children (read:3rd and 4th yearites), after we decided to go crazy with our crazy ball(the 10 buck thing that bounces madly?) in front of his shop. It was a nice feeling. It reminded me of the days we used go down to ‘play’. Playing would involve being divided into teams for a game of cricket and then being selected by a captain to play in their team which would prove a privilege if you were selected first. (I was the youngest of the lot and was invariably selected last by an unfortunate captain). I would try to do my best to prove them wrong and yes, there were certain days I was declared the hero of the game (grin).This was in Calcutta (as it was called in those years during my 3rd standard)...
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The Morning after

It is a small and dingy room. The last rays of the day’s sun are gliding into it through a little window located rather close to the ceiling. The walls of the stuffy room are poorly plastered and the floor is almost bare. In the left corner, a middle aged man is sitting on a white cloth that he has placed on the floor. He is wearing a white kurta pyjaama and an intricately woven cotton cap on his head. He is facing the wall and performing his daily namaaz. Just then there is a commotion outside his room. A hawaldar with a rather large underbelly opens the lock to the cell. He pushes in a small, thin man. Enter Hawaldar and the new prisoner. Hawaldar: There you go. Now, yours is an open and shut case and you'll be free six months from now. You will get two meals a day to your cell. Once a week you will get some fresh air and help provide free labour to the mining factory. Ok? Without waiting for a reply, he hurriedly locks the cell and gives him a warning look. Exit ...
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E-Prophecies

Life could get so much easier had it been like Gtalk wherein you could take a while to think, during which you could always pretend to be doing something ‘important’ after which you would be shown ‘typing’ your message across. Imagine if you could just erase what you shouldn’t have said to someone you care about and then replace it with something more carefully thought out. However, instead of trying to make our real lives electronic-ised by internet influence; we, the human race are evolving more to make our e-lives as real as possible. We started out with e-mails, Video Conferencing, and finally, Instant Messaging, most popularly on Gtalk. Now the latest buzz and the in thing is Google Wave. Yes, Google is omnipresent. I wiki-ed it up (finally, something that is NOT Google!) and this is what I found: Google Wave is "a personal communication and collaboration tool" announced by Google at the Google I/O conference on May 27, 2009. It is a web-based service, computing platfor...
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A Home away from Home

It’s a faraway place A ‘home away from home’ Keeping our eyes closed gives us a solace That we’re amongst folks of our own Then one day the festive season comes riding along Dusshera, Diwali reminiscent of revelry Amidst fire crackers, sweets and a song All in colourful attire, we turn merrily Towards the makeshift little puja of Saraswati That we have swapped for our own luxury Diwali has gone leaving behind a lil wound But college fests approach in time to heal the moan To bring us out of the cocoon Showing us that we’re amongst folks of our own No matter what road the future leads There is always a ‘home away home’ A family of friends to share life’s lil glees And here we build a shell of our own Adapted I have to my shell now A place I have come to know and love Will shed a tear or more saying ciao Where I have lived two years with fortified safety above Knowing the days I know will never come back again To live amongst folks of our own P.S.: My first ever poem!!
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Music and Lyrics

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I had written this synopsis for a competition I had entered(for the summers). Well, that didnt work out but anyway.. its here for you to read. Its been one of my favourite films and not really for the story but more for the dialogues--they're quite hilarious! Music and Lyrics, a sensitive movie directed by Marc Lawrence, is a reality bite for anyone who dares to dream of stardom as a pop star. Starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, it is the story of how a struggling musician and a writer come together to compose a song in just 3 days. They, of course as things normally turn out, fall in love with each other. Alex Fletcher is the member of a renowned band “Pop!” and was a rage amongst young girls of yester years. Years after Pop disbanded, he gets, despite all efforts, lost in obscurity. He now performs at small gatherings like college reunions and amusement parks that are only glad to pay him his small fee. However, things change when the contemporary music sensation, Cora, asks ...
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