Ah people, I’ve been tagged by Priyanka (I’m working on the basic assumption that people in blogging circles know what ‘tagging’ means). Its an open tag so all those who wish to do it can go right ahead! There's an X before all the things I've done… and the other brackets are empty… so all you have to do is copy and paste the thing and edit the X's ...

So hold on tight, the roller-coaster ride begins now!

( ) smoked a cigarette (Detest tobacco)
( ) crashed a friend's car (Crashed?? A car?? No no no! I rock behind the wheel!)
( ) stolen a car (Who dareth say that?)
(X) been in love (Many times over ;))
( ) been dumped (You kidding?)
( ) shoplifted (Never!)
( ) been fired (You first need a job in order to get fired :( )
( ) been in a fist fight (Ahem!)
( ) snuck out of your parent's house (Never felt the need, actually.)
(X) had feelings for someone who didn't have them back (Sigh!)
( ) gone on a blind date (Ahem again!)
(X) lied to a friend (Sorry!)
(X) skipped school (Only when I was down with fever.)
( ) seen someone die (Never! The ‘D’ word gives me the jitters. Brrr!)
(X) had a crush on one of your Internet friends (Tee hee hee… keep guessing!)
( ) been to Canada (Nay. But US… yeah.)
( ) been to Mexico (Nay nay.)
(X) been on a plane (Now how can one go the the US if not on a plane?)
(X) eaten sushi (Yum. Compulsive foodie!)
( ) been skiing-snow or water (No :( )
(X) met someone from the Internet (Er… kinda. But had met before, so big deal.)
(X) been at a concert (But whoever said I enjoyed it?)
(X) taken painkillers (Who hasn’t?)
( ) love someone or miss someone right now (Duh.)
(X) laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by (Once. Lovely!)
( ) made a snow angel (Are you kidding? I hail from Rajasthan!)
( ) had a tea party (Don’t remember, actually.)
(X) flown a kite (Make that 'kites'. Grew up with two brothers!)
( ) built a sand castle (And it hurts the most to leave this one blank. T, when are we going to goa ya??)
(X) gone puddle jumping (Fun!)
( ) played dress up (Yeah, I know it sounds weird, but NO.)
( ) jumped into a pile of leaves (No again.)
( ) gone sledding (Rajasthan people. Stop mocking… and smirking!)
(X) cheated while playing a game (Er… this is rare… but yeah! Uno!)
(X) been lonely (Sigh again.)
( ) fallen asleep at work/school (Never. Strange, no!)
( ) used a fake ID (But used a fake licence, ya!)
(X) watched the sun set (Therapeutic.)
(X) felt an earthquake (Uncommon phenomena at my side of the world, but yeah.)
( ) slept beneath the stars (I wish.)
(X) been tickled (And begged to be let free… hahaha!)
( ) been robbed (No! And thank god for that!)
(X) been misunderstood (At times! Blame the dunderheads, not me!)
( ) pet a reindeer/goat/kangaroo (Yuck yuck.)
(X) won a contest (What sorta contest? Does BQC count??)
(X) run a red light/stop sign (Occasionally! But usually when a traffic policeman is not around. Common-sense!)
( ) been suspended from school (Never never never.)
( ) been in a car crash (Noooo!)
(X) had braces (Priyanka, run for your life! How dare you tag me and ask questions as absurd as this one?!?)
(X) felt like an outcast/third person (If it isnt about me, it ought to be BORING!)
( ) eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night (And mounted on 300 gazillion calories? No thank you.)
(X) had déjà vu (Spooky, but yeah. Many a times.)
( ) danced in the moonlight (The moment’s yet to come. Atleast have ‘something’ to look forward to!)
(X) liked the way you looked (Most of the time. And why not?)
( ) witnessed a crime (Does ‘witnessing’ others bunk/sneak out of classes count?)
(X) questioned your heart (Introspection. Yeah.)
(X) been obsessed with post-it notes (Sounds very familiar.)
( ) squished mud through your bare feet (Ewww! Sheesh! You are saying people actually do that??)
(X) been lost (When I was 2. Got lost in Karol Bagh! But mom found me soon enough. Phew!)
(X) been on the opposite side of the country (Travelomaniac! Travelfanatic!)
( ) swam in the ocean (But swam in a pool, alright.)
( ) felt like dying (Nah. But yeah, felt like disappearing!)
(X) cried yourself to sleep (Have mercy.)
(X) played cops and robbers (My nutty bros made sure I did that.)
( ) recently colored with crayons (I’m OLD!)
( ) sang karaoke (Don’t you love your glasses?? Spare them the trouble... and the damage! Hmph!)
(X) paid for a meal with only coins (School friends and coins… old association!)
(X) done something you told yourself you wouldn't (Talk of daredevilry!)
(X) made prank phone calls (But only as a kid.)
( ) laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose (Gawk! NO! How unsophisticated! Yeah… I’m too uptight!)
( ) caught a snowflake on your tongue (Boo hoo hoo! Enough with the Rajathan jokes!)
( ) danced in the rain (Er… no. Yeah yeah… I know it’s weird. You don’t need to tell me that over and over again!)
(X) a letter to Santa Claus (nailed to the wall in a white, sparkling stocking!)
( ) been kissed under the mistletoe (No misteltoes :x)
( ) watched the sun rise with someone you care about (Are some people ACTUALLY that fortunate?? Im green with envy!)
(X) blown bubbles (Responsible for half the bubbles blown in this planet.)
( ) made a bonfire on the beach (Hmmm… maybe on our planned trip to Goa this year.)
( ) crashed a party (Nay.)
(X) gone roller skating (Tried, fell… bloop!)
(X) had a wish come true (More often than not! Touch wood.)
( ) jumped off a bridge (Do I look crazy? Or suicidal?)
( ) ate dog/cat food (Again, do I look crazy?? Or suicidal? LOLZ!)
( ) told a complete stranger you loved them (Why would I do that?)
(X) kissed a mirror (Ok now forget I just said that!)
(X) sang in the shower (Hardly ever, but yes. Wont even qualify as a bathroom-singer!)
( ) had a dream that you married someone (Never.)
( ) glued your hand to something (You think we cant just yank it off? Or to glues come with "You cant get rid of me" warnings these days? Lol! I crack myself up!)
( ) kissed a fish (Er… just eating would suffice for now.)
( ) climbed a water tower (Im no tarzan… incarnated or otherwise.)
(X) screamed at the top of your lungs (But only when fighting with dad… to drive my point home, obviously!)
( ) done a one-handed cartwheel (Nah.)
( ) talked on the phone for more than 5 hours (Nonstop? What do you talk about for so long???)
(X) stayed up all night (Insomniac by profession. It IS night right now!)
( ) picked and ate an apple right off the tree (No apple trees here. Pooh!)
( ) climbed a tree (Tried… fell hard on my arse.)
( ) had a tree house (What is this?? The US of A??)
( ) been too scared to watch a scary movie alone (Braveheart!)
(X) believe in ghosts (As a kid, ofcourse.)
( ) have more than 30 pairs of shoes (But close estimate nevertheless!)
( ) worn a really ugly outfit to school (Why would I do that?)
( ) gone streaking (Na.)
(X) gone doorbell ditching (If it means what I think it does, then yeah!)
( ) been pushed into a pool/hot tub with all your clothes on (People who know me wont dare!)
(X) told you're hot by a complete stranger (But in less express terms ofcourse.)
( ) broken a bone (Nah. Im no case of fragile bones.)
(X) been easily amused (The habit persists!)
( ) caught a fish then ate it (Never even gone ‘phishing’!)
( ) caught a butterfly (Tried though!)
(X) laughed so hard you cried (Yeah! Actually... I usually laugh that hard!)
( ) cried so hard you laughed (So that’s not just confined to maniacal soap stars?? Revelation!)
(X) cheated on a test (Sorry teachers!)
(X) forgotten someone's name (And found yourself feeling awkward and embarassed! Hey, cant blame me! I know a lotta people! You don’t expect me to remember EVERYONES name!)
( ) French braided someone's hair (Nay. People don’t trust me with their hair!)( ) gone skinny dipping in a pool/hot tub/river (And where would I do that? In my ‘indoor heated pool’? Bah! Bill Gates daddy, I want a new pool.)
( ) been threatened to be kicked out of your house or been kicked out of your house (Never once!)
(X) loved someone so much you would gladly die for THEM (But see… that’s a thing of the past! Next!)
( ) cheated on someone (Even loathe the idea.)
(X) talk to yourself when no-ones around (Brief self-rationalizing talks and all. Nothing major!)
(X) hate someone you once loved (A fairy-tale gone sour.)
(X) love someone you once hated (Yeah, that has also happened.)

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Priyanka, that was a long long tag (fun, nonetheless)! Hope the ‘thirst’ is adequately quenched ;)

P.S. Thanks all for bearing with my smart-ass jokes and comments.

Every now and then, while flipping through channels on that idiot box, we stumble upon ads that simply stand out of the bunch. They incarcerate all our attention, hands down. So this is a tribute to some recent ads that have successfully managed to etch themselves onto our memories for the years to come…

Coca Cola: Thande ka tadka!

Brand: Coca Cola
Agency: McCann Erickson
Tag Line: Thande ka tadka
Description: Aamir Khan enters a restaurant with a red and swollen face, eyes hardly open, donning ‘touristish’ apparels, with a camera around his neck. The owner thinks he’s a foreigner and decided to fleece him. He adds two extra ‘0’s beside the price of everything on the menu. Aamir writes his order on a paper and is forced to get it himself after nobody understands him. As he begins gorging on his ‘thanda samosa’ and ‘thanda pakora’, i.e. coke with samosa and pakora, he starts talking in hindi, much to the surprise and disappointment of the waiters and the opportunistic restaurant owner (who are now surrounding and gawking at him like fools). He leaves them zapped by telling them that he is not a foreigner, but a photographer mauled by honeybees while shooting.

My Take: The humour quotient was high and the power idea gave the brand a new positioning. It definitely struck a chord with the masses and had me rolling with laughter for a considerable amount of time… I almost missed the pepsi commercial, courtesy: the tears of laughter that blurred my vision, which aired a few minutes after I saw this ad for the very first time. Aamir reinforced his prowess at dexterity yet again, assuming the garb of a supposed-Japanese tourist. The average viewer would never have discerned the twist in the yarn unless told! Coca Cola, as always, showcased great marketing wizardry so far as winning the ‘localization’ war is concerned. The bond between Coca Cola and its ubiquitous trump card ‘Thanda’ remains intact. Cola’s trademark: maintaining flavor with élan.

Surf Excel: Daag achche hain!

Brand: Surf Excel
Agency: Lowe
Tag Line: Daag achche hain!
Description: Brother and sister are returning home from school. Backdrop: rain-soaked grounds with a cloudy ambience. Sister accidentally steps into water puddle and soils herself. The adorable face cringes with disgust and we see her at the verge of tears. Protective/loving brother throws bag aside and starts ‘punching’ water puddle (semi-consciously splashing more dirt on his sister’s uniform and soiling his own clothes in the process!), repeatedly asking ‘it’ to apologize to his sister for the ‘misconduct’… All this, while the sister chants “Aur maro, aur maro…” from his side. Both of them finally convinced that the puddle has been trashed enough and had apologized, go home happily The million dollar smile is back on the sister’s face. The screen is filled with colorful splashes, and a ‘daag achche hain’ slogan playing in the backdrop.

My Take: Surf Excel had done something unthinkable again. While all other detergent powders were basking in the glory of how good their product was at removing stains…Surf hit dirt with the glorification of dirt! Haven’t we heard of out-of-the-box thinking and other such jargons at B-schools? Well, this was just an instance where it was put into use! The ad took my breath away and I was mesmerized by the innocence that those two kids afforded the ad! It was clutter-free unlike other detergent powder ads, which kept comparing the superiority of their product by their less-effective (???) counterparts. A thematic ad that successfully launched the brand philosophy, surf excel had proved to be the last word in detergent advertisement again: both in terms of product offering and communiqué. The ad commands a high recall value with consummate ease. The responses speak volumes… the commercial took the product image to greater heights. Sheer tenacity. One word sum-up: Innovative.

Ford Fusion: The no-nonsense car!

Brand: Ford Fusion
Agency: JWT
Tag line: The No Nonsense Car
Description: Version 1: Two marketing dudes are trying hard to impress their boss by suggesting to shoot the new Ford Fusion ad in Australia. Unimpressed, the haughty boss explains to them that the customers would buy the car not because of the location but for its features and goes on to talk about the car’s attributes and concludes by giving them a stern order “Give me an ad without any nonsense”. The ad ends with: “The no-nonsense car” tagline, as the crestfallen duo cancels their trip.
Description: Version 2: The same two dudes have another brilliant idea: A long rough road, a chopper, Fusion, a pretty girl criss-crossing her way through the traffic… Stop! The boss is unimpressed again. He halts them mid-way and goes on to tell them about the Fusion’s unmatched features. He again concludes by an arrogant statement: “Drop the girl and the chopper. Keep the car… ummm (thinks) and the road.” The screen is again filled with the Fusion, the tagline scribbled alongside it on the screen. The duo crest-fallen yet again!

My Take: Seems the creative guys couldn’t actually come up with a no-nonsense idea for the commercial and were forced into making an ad out of reality! Jokes apart, the first sentence I blurted out after seeing both these ads was: “Wow! Some ideas!” No brand-ambassadors to inflate the market price, no false claims, no un-necessary jazz and no desperation involved! JWT churned out a clear-cut, blunt commercial. The message in the bottle is clear: the car will get the cash registers ringing with only its distinguished features, barring all other nonsense (a rude reminder for other complacent car makers who, till now, swore by enviable locales!). The beginning of a new era in modern-age car ads? Time will tell all…

I guess that is all I have time for now… Hope you have a wonderful week.

So this is another brief flash of motivation that has got me writing (despite my incessant instructions to myself to complete the more important jobs at hand…like finishing up the book that I’m currently reading!). Another habit that seems to have set in is that now I usually write when the world is sweetly tugged away in their blankets…deep in slumber…i.e. at night…usually after midnight. Night offers what I crave for the most…solitude! Stillness instills peace.

Anyway, coming back to what I’ve thought of writing about today… Allow me to take you back in time (actually a trip down memory lane for me!)… the day is the 1st of March 2006, 9:30 in the morning. Delhi was regaining normalcy after an unusually long cold-spell…and people were once again out on the streets (not that they had ever mastered the art of staying indoors or anything!), enjoying the bright sun that now finally allowed them the luxury of shedding off their woolens! I was comfortably tugged in my sheets… sitting in front of the T.V…. with a cup of coffee and the morning’s newspaper… in my most casual attire… assuming that college was off today on account of some valedictory function… waiting patiently for the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to come and announce the annual budget for FY2006. Now the newspaper told me that the ‘Government Of India’ had released the ‘Economic Survey Report 2005-2006’ and impatient as I can be, I got up to go to my colony’s ‘paperwallah’ to get myself a copy of the same. Now it just so happened that as I was getting up, my phone buzzed (only to startle me out of my wits!). It was a class-mate of mine informing me that today was the ‘NSS Valedictory Function’ and I was receiving a certificate for my services to the ‘National Service Scheme’… and also that I was already very late! Whoa… my dreams of a quite, peaceful morning came crashing down (much to my dismay) as I jumped out of bed, picked up my cell-phone + wallet and rushed to the college (without giving much thought to what I was wearing or how I looked… alas!). I also made it a point to stop by the ‘paperwallah’ to buy the copy of the survey. On my entire way to the college, I kept fretting about whether I’ll make it on time or not, but thankfully I stay only about 15 minutes away from the university…and did manage to reach there by 10 a.m.

I quietly entered the seminar hall and silently took a seat by my class-mate who had called earlier. Now it was only after she pointed out that I noticed how I looked…. I was wearing a scruffy black T-shirt (that didn’t really scream out ‘elegant get-up’) teemed up with my oh-so-casual grey pajamas… a copy of ‘The Economic Survey’ in my hand… with nothing but bathroom-slippers to cover my feet… and to make matters worse, I donned a shiny, oiled mane (don’t blame me… I’d intended washing my hair after the budget speech by the FM… which I anyway missed later!). My class-mate was a little taken aback on seeing me dressed so inappropriately for an award function and was about to ask me the reason for the same (cause it isn’t commonplace to find the sophisticated me in such a horrendous get-up, and that too on such an occasion!) but bit her tongue when I told her I wasn’t quite aware of this ‘suddenly-popped-out-of-nowhere’ function. Now they started announcing the names of the recipients of the certificates… Rohini Mittal… Akanksha Bannerjee… blah blah blah… and then finally the dreaded YASHIKA TOTLANI. Now I stood up, vowed not to make a fool of myself on stage, and confidently walked down the aisle with my head 60 degrees from the ground (till date I wonder how I managed to do that!). Our vice-principal Dr. Indu was handing out the awards and after a head-to-toe analysis of me, she finally managed to force a smile on her face (for the photograph ofcourse!) and handed me the certificate…CLICK… a click by the photographer… a ‘very’ bright flash, while I shamelessly flaunted my teeth… followed by a round of applause… and I’m off the stage! When I finally reached my seat… I looked up only to see our NSS convener Ms. Usha Singh (a lovely lady, by the way) staring at me in disbelief with her mouth slightly open and a quizzical ‘what-were-you-thinking?’ look in her eyes. I avoided her gaze and was one of the first ones to leave the seminar hall after the function got over (a run-away success, if you must know!).

Now this weird sequence of events didn’t stop me from enjoying a round of tea and samosas that followed the function (with the economic survey still tugged tightly under my arm) and I left the college with a smile on my face and a glint of naughtiness in my eyes! I’d actually pulled this off! A feat that about an hour ago seemed almost impossible to achieve! So to cut a long story short, I would conclude by pointing out that today I would surely qualify to be called ‘The most unusual award recipient DU has ever seen’ in it’s over a century long history!

Moral of the story: The student fraternity at DU can pull off almost anything coupled with a little self-confidence and grace. To substantiate my point… I would like to bring your to your attention the fact that not even a single student bothered raising an eyebrow on seeing my casual attire… Maybe they simple dismissed me as another case of a student not trying to disguise her true self under pretentious garments. Kudos to you guys… you rock!

Epilogue: Today I hold that historic photograph in my hand (my hair shine even brighter here… damn that bright flash! And the look on my face is worth a million bucks… futile attempt to suppress that naughty grin!) and feel my eyes moisten up with the memories of this and many other such incidents that, I believe, make one’s college experience all the more enriching and fulfilling. Masti ki paathshala…

Note to self: I notice my posts are getting longer with each passing day… have to be careful about not going ‘over-board’.

BLOGMANIA GRIPS NORTH INDIA
Phenomenal increase in the number of bloggers

28th June 2006: The past one-week witnessed a phenomenal increase in the number of bloggers in north India. While Delhi recorded a figure of 3 million new bloggers in the past 7 days, the other states weren’t far behind with approximately 2.5 million new bloggers respectively in their kitty. This growing trend has all the hallmarks of a revolution and cyber-experts and analysts believe that this might prove to be very profitable for website owners and cyber-entities.

A considerable portion of the blogger’s pie comprises of the student community, who seem to be the most actively involved in this pursuit. Sites that offer free blogging services, like blogspot.com and myblog.com, are on a roll with students hogging these sites in their quest for ‘free islands’ on ‘cyberland’. Yashika, a student at Delhi University, says “I’m glad to have finally found a platform to put forth my views about anything ranging from personal experiences to global issues. And the fact that whatever I post will be eternally preserved in the ‘reservoir of blogs’ gives me a sense of contentment and a feel of the 21st century! In addition, this is like an impetus that fuels my creative side and results in a wide-spectrum of blogs.” She seems to be voicing the opinions of millions of bloggers out there who now have a new object of affection.

Now the flip side to the issue is the growing number of addicts who try to lose themselves in the maze of the confusing corridors of blogs and seclude themselves from the rest of the world. Psychoanalysts believe that such steps are prompted by feelings of insecurity and poor self-esteem. But apart from that, there are no apparent disadvantages of this creative activity.

So keeping in mind the skyrocketing figures, it can safely be concluded that blogging is here to stay!


Disclaimer: The above article is just a figment of my imagination and is not aimed at anyone in particular whatsoever. The facts and figures are all fictitious and nowhere related to the ground realities.

(And a warm welcome to Priyanka and Neha on the blogging bandwagon! I dedicate this article to you guys!)

A big hey to you all! This is my first stint at blogging and I'm pretty unsure about the degree to which I wanna allow this wide world to get a glimpse of the life of this 18 year old! A dear friend of mine knocked this idea into my head and I must admit that the prospect of an uninterrupted flow of thought on cyber-space for all to view did sound interesting. So here I am, typing away spontaneously without giving much thought to where this is going! Now without further ado, I'll set the ball rolling by starting with a brief intro about myself (an endlessly alluring task): A commerce student at Delhi University whose eyes shine bright with the dreams of a glorious future...a person who was born into a conservative family, something that didnt stop me from breaking the glass-ceiling and venturing into previously untouched territory...a rebel by nature with an inexplicable fascination with defying the conventional and with an insatiable hunger to redefine the way things work. That's just a brief overview to the kind of person I am...completely unpredictable and just when you think you've got me figured, the season is already changing! Go figure! Well...seems like I'm off to a good start. The rest will follow soon. Till then, adieu!