Pond's da magical fragrance..

Ponds ki khushboo aur dilli ki sardi, both go hand-in-hand. Like the many families in India, Pond’s was our cold-cream brand for years. The containers might have changed, but the cream quality never changed – the same aroma, the same oily feel to the skin, the same squishy pulpy cream.
I have always been a personal hygiene freak and with the onset of Swine Flu in Bangalore, the frequency of my hand-wash has increased to about 1.5 times per hour. After the hourly ritual, I moisturize my hands by rubbing a bit of pond’s cream borrowed from a colleague.
Today I happened to smell the cream’s fragrance and it immediately transported me back in time – to those days when I was a school kid. Getting up in the morning to AIR’s radio program that began at 6 am sharp – vande mataram, daily news in Hindi and English, AIR’s program schedule, then devotional music followed by carnatic music.
At that time, Delhi winters were beautiful. Those were the days when I could confidently walk into school, wearing the blue blazer, as that used to cover up the flab. We used to have smoggy mornings with partial visibility. My mother used to wrap me up in half-sweater, blazer, scarf, stockings and gloves. I used to have hot bournvita with bread-rusk as breakfast. Classes used to be windy and chilly, and all the girls used to group together during recess, rubbing everyone’s hands. Dinners used to be hot rasam-rice with appalam.
Last winter was spent in Bangalore, where there are not many climatic variations – either it is cool or it is less cool. Rains bring about some change, but that again is quite temporary. Even this winter, I shall be in Bangalore.

Jab bhi dilli ki sardi ko yaad karma hoga, I shall simply rub a bit of Pond’s cream and relive those fond memories.

Work-life - part 1

My mornings are generally good. I get up early, play some random sport and have a heavy breakfast. But by the time I hit the office, it seems like half of my day has already passed. I drag myself through the 10 min walk from home to office. My face brightens up at the prospect of have a steaming cup of chai at office (the cafeteria guy makes some really nice tea and coffee). By the time I warm up to the idea of spending a whole day in office, it is 10 am. Immediately, my mind starts performing some random calculations – 3 hours to go for lunch – in 3 hours, I would have reached Delhi! Time passes rather quickly between 10 & 10:20am.
The period from 10:20 to 1 pm is what I call ‘time warp zone – 1.0’ (the 1.0 has been suffixed to highlight the ‘nerdy-cool factor’!). Time here moves rather slowly….seconds take minutes to move. This is when I lazily take out my notepad, inject a major dose of enthusiasm and plunge head-long into work. Time ticks away to 12:30, which is when people start warming up for lunch!
The lunchtime is OK. We all gather around in the conference room and have food together. Wise-cracks, wannabe Wise-cracks, sweets, Delhi vs. Mumbai debate etc. ensue during the hour long lunch session that we have.
After that, Time again gets into ‘Time warp zone – 10.0’ – a pronounced Warp-Zone, it zimbly stays still! Now the seconds get mutilated into hours… and I almost get the feeling that it is one of the dog-days!
I thought I shall deliberate further on my average work-life when suddenly the cafeteria turns up with a steaming cup of masala chai… its sweet fragrance filling my cubicle’s air.Guess I shall have the tea, warm up and plunge… have a nice day J

AR.... musically yours

We were taught Brand Equity in college where we had lightly touched upon the topic of Celebrity Brand Equity. I was never keen on learning this stuff. I bothered myself to the extent that is required to clear the exam. Some enthu students in my class presented a case on how Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became popular as a Mahatma, how his image got changed and blah blah. My only reaction to this was 'roll of eyes', with a 'i am really not interested' look. But when I think of AR Rahman, I seem to immediately understand what this whole celebrity brand equity thing is all about - it is the immense implicit trust in a person, leading to the adoption of any activity that he endorses/ does.

Ar's music is beautiful. Not pretty, not amazing..it is beautiful. I admit that I am smitten by his musical genius. He truly lives music. (I am not sure if this is grammatically correct, but i hope you got the point). Typically, one listens to a song... finds out who the music composer is and then makes a buy/ download decision. It works in the reverse for me. I list down albums that Rahman has composed/ slated to compose. The moment they release, I buy/ download them. Then for the next week or so, those albums would be played on a repeat-mode by me. I ensure that I like his songs (because the other option does not exist!).

My friends gifted me a book on AR on my birthday. As I flip through the pages, soaking the words, I experience a variety of emotions - inspiration, melancholy, happiness, wow-ness.... His music is a multi-layered delicacy - as you unravel each layer, you are pleasantly suprised by its flavour and the after-taste. His knack for using so many instruments, figuring out which is suited for which mood, tone, pitch etc. is simply spell bounding. There are numerous instances when he has used the same 'musical bit' in different songs pertaining to different moods. And every single time, that bit would fit...somehow!

Right now am in office, writing about AR and listening to his latest offering - Blue - a delectable aural feast!

Cute guy with bushy hair

I have travelled by air about 15 times in the last 1.5 years (psst..only domestic travels). When I think of air travel, my filmy mind immediately conjures up scenes where i meet an interesting guy in the flight. In a span of 2h 40 mins, we end becoming friends. Then we meet and take the matters forward ;-) But this almost NEVER happens! I call this the 'plane-jane syndrome'!
So there was I again at the Chennai airport returning to Bangalore. I got my boarding pass, did the security check-in and finally got some time to sit at the waiting area.
I have these ad-hoc bouts of imagination, especially when I have to travel by air. I imagined Captain Hook's pirate ship floating in the clouds adjacent to my plane - my eyes lit up at the prospect of viewing 2 shimmering cities (as the plane takes-off & lands), the lovely light patterns that they would form and so on. All this while, I had the choiciest of AR's music cued in my cell phone. I had finally hit the state of relaxation after a really long day (starting 4 am). And then...I saw him!!
He had Shahid Kapur's face with lots of curly hair; he had so much hair that it cutely dangled at the sides. His eyes twinkled as he spoke and he was sporting a very nice smile bordering a grin. He seemed to be working with some big MNC (he had that executive air about him & was accompanied by a firangi) At the same time, there was this boyish charm radiating from him that held me spell-bound. I simply could not take my eyes off him. "Ae ajnabi... tu bhi kahi" - was the song playing at that time.

I saw the nameless stranger at the Bangalore airport - he had taken the same flight as mine. The 'plane-jane syndrome' hit again and as a result, he did not sit next to me.

As he walked towards the conveyor belt, I headed towards the exit. Our paths crossed and kept on going further. I shall remember him forever as the cute guy with the bushy hair!