MY WHEELED COMRADE!

I met you years ago. There was no need for an introduction. I immediately fell in love with you. Our relationship began with falls and bruises. But I cherished them because I was learning to get along with someone who would eventually go on to become an important part of my life. It didn't take long for us to become great friends. A single jerk of my hand and you would do as I wished.People, places, experiences weaved in and out of my life. Ponytails became plaits and my uniform skirt became a salwar but you stayed with me through it all silently.

You’re my flying carpet, my Firebolt, my Range Rover. You have gone down with an occasional puncture but you were back up and going without any complaints once you were fixed. I've abandoned you for months together but you've never retorted. You understood always.

And now in my dire need of you, you've come back like a bright ray of sunshine, once again reminding me that there’s always hope and joy around. You’re my most faithful companion, Sun or rain. What would I do without you, my bicycle!

LIGHTS… CAMERA… IMPRESS!

On a sultry Sunday afternoon, as my lazy eyes move over the television screen completely devoid of any interest, suddenly a spark goes off in my mind. The eyes lose their laziness and opinions start flooding my head at the sight of an advertisement. One thing common to all TV channels, be it a sports channel or a news channel, is the famous “short commercial break”. The advertisers have done it all – pins, pens, paints, pants… what not?

Sometimes the ads are more engaging than the actual program. It is indeed interesting to see how the hero of the ad overcomes hurdles that include street dogs, children playing on the streets, barbed wires and manages to outrun the bad boys chasing him to spectacularly save his soft drink bottle. All this is accomplished within a maximum of 60 seconds which earns the ads more points and fans. The swift movements of the actors coupled with the energetic jingle in the background pronounce the ads as surefire successes. It’s not just the foot-tapping ads that are well received. The soft, thought-provoking ones stand long in the minds of viewers. If the ad happens to feature a child between the age of 3 and 7 – fans assured. It doesn’t just have to be children. Large animate cartoon-like characters speaking a made-up language not even the director can understand are all the rage now. And to turn this adorable creature into a superhero all one has to do is tie a red cape around its neck and make use of advanced animation programs to make it fly around the world saving people. Audience impressed! Sales hiked! Manager happy!

The truth is that viewers don’t know what ads they want. It all lies in the hands of the ad-maker to get the desired response from the audience. And that response is not going to be obtained by following the old beaten track. Generation after generation of steel and cement companies have claimed to be the strongest. All of their ads sport the same old dilapidated house which after renovation is nothing less than Taj Mahal II. All the construction material ads are so similar it is a Herculean task to tell one from the other.

Ads that don’t tell the viewer anything about the product are of little help too. The ad where the wife breaks into complicated brigas of classical music trying to provide competition to her husband’s guitar has as much connection to cooking oil as Aryabhata to rock music. Quite frankly, an ad that has nothing to say about its product will hardly gain a shred of seriousness or respect from the viewers. 

Advertisements are a means of connecting with the common man and making him understand that the producers know what his needs and wants are. So, it is extremely important that the advertisers make wise use of their chance to capture the viewer’s heart. Though ads do annoy us viewers now and then by interfering with our TV shows and movies, we have to sit through them because for the sponsors – har ek ad jaroori hota hai!

The Yellow (Metal) Fever

Since childhood, the one dish that has been common to all dinners at home is the evening news. Along with vegetables, rice and mom’s health advice we kids fed on political clashes, corrupt spiritual gurus, bombings, burglaries and everything else that went on in our fascinating world. After all these years of keeping up with the goings-on, I would without doubt give the award of “Most striking rapid elevation” to the “Precious Metals’ Prices” department or as more commonly known, “The Gold Rate”.

The moment the name of the sponsors of the gold prices section appear, an invisible pause button is pressed at home and everyone goes into freeze mode. Teeth stop chewing, tongues stop chatting, hands stop serving and eyes become so glued to the idiot box (in this case, god-sent information box) that only a natural calamity could win our attention.  We watch keenly as the prices are flashed on the screen (which is invariably bad news). Then come the shocked gasps, groans, tchs and cha’s.

Over the years, gold and silver prices have been rising, at times gradually and at others in leaps. After every news broadcast, my grandparents would reminisce about the days when my granddad bought gold earrings for my grandma for a mere Rs.70. They would also talk about the good old prices of rice, wheat and vegetables in the good old days. Everything cost less back then and produce was ample in terms of quantity and quality. But even today, though the prices have gone up, the lust for gold hasn’t come down a bit among the conservative South Indian families. Some people rush to the shops the day the prices fall (which is by a maximum of Rs.10/gram) to buy how much ever they can with the money saved in anticipation of this glorious day.

This mad rush is because the shiny yellow metal is more than just jewellery to us. Gold symbolizes wealth, dignity and pride in our hierarchy. An Indian wedding isn’t complete without rows of women glittering from head to toe and observing hawk-like what their counterparts have adorned themselves in. It is a mark of prestige to them. Also, how much gold the bride brings as dowry is a matter of supreme importance to kith and kin. 

But GenY in our jeans and T shirts have little or no craze for gold jewellery. But that might change as we grow old as this “golden tradition” is not something that can be shrugged off in the course of one generation. It will take many more generations to come to alter the trends and who knows, maybe aluminium jewellery will be all the rage in a couple of decades given the skyrocketing prices of our precious gold. Until then gold will glitter and gold rates will be served with dinner everyday. 

My Foray Into Blogging

Like many other 90's kids, I've traversed the lanes of e-mail, Messenger, orkut, facebook and now entered the avenue of blogging which is already populated by my peers. Though I initially was firm on not stepping into this arena, an eagerness for experimenting has pushed me in and hopefully, it will leave me with a pleasant experience. 

Chronicling the events of my currently boring life is not what I intend to do here. The point of this experiment is to see if I can eliminate the boredom. So "boredom" is one word I'll try to avoid after this sentence. 

My take on matters I'm interested in and my sometimes amusingly bizarre thoughts will decorate this blog. The world around me, through many instances, sets afire my grey matter and nudges me to put pen to paper and let my thoughts flow into written words. For me, writing is passion, relaxation, entertainment, analysis and self satisfaction. My passion extends to architecture, which is what I want to dedicate my life to, admiring photography and music and of course, reading, which is a love of my life. Spanish has joined the list recently and I'm enjoying every step in learning this idioma esplendido. My great friends give me everything a friend has to give and I'll always feel bereft of life without them. In fact, 2 greatest friends of mine are the reason I ventured into the arena of blogging, seeing as they may be the only viewers of my blog [ :P ] , and both being expert bloggers already. 

I sign off for now with a request to my grey matter and pen to work together in making this experiment work. 

Hasta la vista!