Anonymous

Did you ever wonder seeing those ads inside local trains in Mumbai (or for that matter any other city).

Here is a take on the same by Suketu Mehta in his book Maximum City.

"The ads on the Bombay locals are the same as the ads in the New York subway, dealing with indescribably private subjects: haemorrhoids, impotence, foot odour. In this safely anonymous mass, these ads can be perused; there is comfort in knowing that these afflictions of the body are universal, shared by the flesh pressing all around. They too need these pills and potions, this minor surgery."

I am in love with this book. I recommend Shantaram and Maximum city for anyone who wants to know Mumbai.

WOW

Frequency of my blog in last couple of months has been directly proportional to the chances of idea in my mind being a WOW idea.

So, in essence, none of those idea has been a WOW idea. And it is worrying me now. Yesterday, I kind of hit the panic button. And I realized it after pressing it. "Now it's too late to panic," told my guide. Then he realized the potential impact of what he said and corrected himself saying "It's not the time to panic." :D

I know both of them are true. And I don't blame anyone. Coz I know I have enjoyed each bit of my work and my time here in Mumbai. And this is what matters to me.
I have learnt that Marketing is not BS. Jargons exist but they are not the soul of marketing. And that I can make a career in marketing. I think my purpose is acheived.

About the WOW idea - I still have another 6 days before the Monsoon hits the Mumbai city. :)
So hoping for the best. Today it is Rout's birthday. So some more parties are coming my way this weekend. Sadly, this is my last weekend in Mumbai. :(

Hotel Taj

The people I meet who are seeking position or money in Bombay often use this one hotel, this one citadel of Empire, as a mark or measure of their progress upward through the strata of Bombay. The Taj was born out of a slight; because a man was turned away from a fancy hotel. When the prominent Parsi industrialist Jamshetji Tata was refused entrance into Watson's Hotel in the nineteenth century because he was a native, he swore revenge, and built the massive Taj in 1903, which outshone Watson's in every department. It is less a hotel than a proving-ground for the ego. The Taj lobby and its adjoining toilets are where you test your self-worth; theoretically, anyone can come in out of the heat and sit in the plush lobby, on the ornate sofas, amidst the billionaire Arabs and the society ladies, or relieve themselves in the gleaming toilets. But you need that inner confidence to project to the numerous gatekeepers, the toilet attendants; you need to first convince yourself that you belong there, in order to convince others that you do. And then you realize that the most forbidding gatekeeper is within you.

- Suketu Mehta in Maximum City

Overdose of Masti

A children's play in Prithvi Theatre
Coffee in Prithvi Theatre Cafe
Nice lunch at Crystals (in front of Chowpati)
Ice-cream at Bachelor's Ice Cream
Bakar at friend's place
Cafe Mondegar
Cafe Leopold
Bade Miya
Gateway of India
Hotel Taj
Dinner at Tendulkar's
Walk to Marine drive
Bakar at Marine Drive
Breakfast at VT station
Elephanta Caves
MacD Burgers

- This weekend was overdose of masti. And the heat is showing its effect. :(

A Dream come True

So finally I did it. We did it. Last evening we finally watched a play in Prithvi Theatre. I have been dreaming of this moment for a long time now. And what better way to fulfil this dream than to watch a really nice play there. That too on discounted entry ticket. We watched Don't Look Now.

After one full week of wait (after the unsuccessful plan last Wednesday), getting the ticket this time was an excitement in itself. 4 other Mariconeans gave me company and we had blast of a time. A really long journey filled with lots of traffic and confusions, hurried dinner and then a 2 hour bonanza of a performance. Watching KayKay in real life was a bonus.

I am really looking forward to watching more plays there and even if not plays, I want to explore more of that place. NCPA is next in the list too. I don't know when will I get time to do that.
So many things to do, so little time.

And the news is that I head to Chennai to spend next few days there. Hopefully I will fulfill one more of my dream there. Let's see if I get so lucky.

ps: New KKR video has SRK with a bandaged shoulder. Any comments?

Cricket Fever

Ok, the title says it all. It's IPL time. Last year, this time I was enjoying the vella time of my life. I watched all the IPL matches, travelled to places and yes spent loads of good time with my friends.

This time things look a bit different. I don't think I will be able to watch all the matches. Some of them I will surely watch. Yesterday, we had been to a sports bar. The environment there was electrifying. We were very unfortunate not to get some place there else we would have watched Mumbai making their mark in IPL2 sitting amongst some of the most cricket crazy crowd. But the place has got our vote. As Heda says, we will surely watch at least one Mumbai Indian match in there.

We watched second match at home. Pizza, cold drinks and a cricket match is a very good way to enjoy a Saturday evening.

And today morning, we played cricket. Thanks to Rout. He was hurt, nose was bleeding, there was pain and sun was at his heated best. Still he played, so did we. 10 over 10 a side match. It was good to be back on field. After ages.

Damn, rains have spoilt today's first match. Damn. I hope they don't spoil more matches. Sunday afternoon ko IPL matches dekhne se jyada acha aur koi option nahi hai...

Marine Drive

My First Weekend in Mumbai

Friday:
First local train journey of this summer
Movie Fast & Furious 4 in Andheri Cinemax

Saturday:
Lunch at Shiv Sagar on the Juhu Beach [Try south Indian stuff there, it's nice. Don't miss the Strawberry with Cream (no ice-cream, just cream). It's 'orgasmic' as one put it]
Haji Ali Dargah
Faluda or Fruits with Cream or Fruit Juice at Haji Ali Juice Center just outside the dargah
Mahalaxmi Temple
Heera Panna Mall [Just for a break. It's more like a Singapore/Burma market type]
Mahalaxmi Race Course - Saw a glimpse of Indian Derby practice session. There is public entry from Mahalaxmi station side if anyone is interested.
The Dark Knight in IMAX 3d Dome in Wadala [This place is now called as Big Cinemas, but IMAX is still the popular]. It's very far from normal Mumbai hassle so finding a cab for this place is little pain. Still the experience of watching a movie in 3d is simply amazing. So the pain is worth it.
Dinner at Mini Punjab in Bandra [Nice north Indian food, non-veg lovers will love this place. Veg food is not bad either]
IceCream at Hokey Pokey in Bandra

Sunday:
Churchgate [one of the four gates that were part of fort ages ago. Well known now for the station by the same name]
Flora Fountain [Situated at Hutatma Chowk, a beautiful piece of architecture. Gothic style, looks brilliant in night]
St. Thomas Cathedral [Beautiful marble work on the walls, do spend some time reading those tablets on the walls. They are nice and give a sneak view of Mumbai history]
Banker's street [I am not sure if the street is called by that name, but trust me if it is, Banker's street is right name for the street. Old historical buildings house the offices of some of the biggest banks in this country on this street. A nice view of old and new architecture, with lots of Parsi influence]
Horniman Circle Garden [A meeting place for many, it overlooks the banks Asiatic Society and other milestones in this area]
Asiatic Society [Majestic building. For all you movie buffs, this is the same library where Munna Bhai first meets Mahatma]
High Court, Mumbai University [Walk down the road and you can see the beautiful buildings that host some of the most important offices in this town]
Fashion Street [It doesn't need any introduction. Super cool stuff and even cooler price. Be prepared to bargain hard. From what I heard is that the trick is to start from 1/4th to 1/3rd of what is quoted]
Marine Drive [Shown in umpteen number of movies, this place is a must visit if you come to Mumbai. Evenings at Marine drive are simply superb. Walk down the road, or enjoy a nice cup of tea watching the waves, a nice champi maalish or just observe people enjoy their life - you can spend hours sitting here. There are some nice eating options around here.]
Natural IceCream [Nice flavours, try the seasonal specials. I heard the ice-cream with coconut flavour is the best. Alas, it was not available when we went]
Chowpatty [No introduction needed for this place]
Bachelor's IceCream [An ice cream cum snacks cum chat place, serving the foodies since 1940. It's opposite to Chowpatti, next to the walkover bridge. Try their Green Chilly IceCream. Most innovative ice-cream flavor I have tried so far in my life. Falooda is good too.]

ps: I guess I have listed out almost everything that I did over this weekend. It was a superb weekend. Met so many friends, spent nice time with old buddies. And ate like anything.
Looking forward to more such weekends. :D

Hokey Pokey

Predefined menu serving you 100s of option are the norm these days. You are served what the person on other side believed is the most popular choice. And this is exactly where ‘Experience’ goes for a toss. I remember reading about Starbucks in a number of case-studies in our first year classes. They strive on making the perfect cup of coffee for each individual. Teach those customers so that they know what exactly their taste is. I have never been to Starbucks but yesterday Hokey Pokey gave me a feeling that I imagine is very close to ‘the Starbucks experience’.

And it gave me a chance to be kid again. Enter the shop and you see kids of age 5 to 55. All lavishing ice-creams, which they themselves have designed. Yes, 'design' is the word. Mix and Match. And the best part of it is that you see your ice-cream getting prepared. It’s an art not a science – if I can define the way they were preparing the ice-cream combos.

Creativity is the soul of this place. From the design of on-the-wall menu to look and feel of store. Their website gives you a glimpse of the same. Great show guys.

What to try there? Go and try anything. For some of your lazy asses, there are some predefined combos too. Spend some time at the counter and see them making those combo and you will get a hint of what might come your way in your flavour.

They are present in 6 locations in Mumbai, check out their website for more info.

PritS’s Final Say: Highly Recommended. Just go for it.

Stories from Mumbai

दौएश बैंक / पिझ्झा हट etc ...
Stores/commercial establishments in Mumbai generally have their names written in two languages - English and Hindi (or is it marathi?). I remember reading something about a particular movement in Mumbai long time back where every shop was forced to have their names written in Hindi [It was 2 decades ago I guess, Family Matters has a mention about it too]. How much of it was actually fiction? I don't know. But looking at the names, it feels that it was actually true. Most of the old shops have name written in a peculiar small font. I guess it was massive drive that a painter or two took. Mahim side this effect is particularly evident.

Locals in Mumbai
Last night I had my first local train journey after coming to Mumbai for summers. Good Friday holiday made it a very easy experience though. Sitting in the coach, I realized that the coach walls are filled with posters. From sex specialist to Haldiram ke namkeen. Ofcourse all of it done unauthorized and in an unorganized manner. At first I thought there is lot of advertising opportunity on those walls. But looking at the people around me, the feeling changed soon. Everybody is just too used to their daily commute that they just don't notice anything. They have their own ways to pass time (which actually is a considerable duration for most of the people). Reading news paper, filling Sudoku, listening to radio and naa jaane kya... It's just amazing how things get adjusted and become a routine. Will surely think more on this idea of advertising in local trains. If there can be a kurkure express, then there should be chances for something similar here too.

zooooooooooooommmmmm

I am planning to make some rules for myself for next two months. This is the time for experimentation. More than that, this is the time for testing all the hypothesis. In last one year, I hardly got time to do this.

Day two at work involved a lot of reading. Googled a lot and read about so many things. Random stuff, but useful from the project point of view. It was a day similar to those that I spent in Lucent and Juniper. Reading and learning. And then putting them to use. The last bit will be done soon.
Tomorrow it's a field day. So hoping for some new insights from there.

Prithvi theatre is around 20 minutes distance from my place. So I am surely visiting it sometime soon. I saw a lots of ads for plays in Tata Experimental theatre. It's a little far though. Let's see how far do I get to go.

Uncommon Sense

And I am back to corporates. It's not testing anymore. I'm finally a marketer. 9 months in the class rooms and now I get to apply whatever I read from those books, whatever we discussed in those cases and whatever we learnt from those learned professors. The kind of interaction I had today has raised my expectations from this internship. I know I am working on something that will have real impact for the company.
Next two months look challenging to say the least. Good thing is that I am working with a very nice bunch of people. The setup looks superb for learning and enjoying the work.

Mumbai finally it is.
I am loving it. :D