Movie, Masti, Magic...

Warning: It's a long post...Author should not be held responsible for the reader dozing away before the PC and in turnwasting precious power and energy :)

Characters: Female Robert Langdon (FRL), Mr goofy, Project blooper (your's truly), marathon runner, Ms. kiddo and the godfather. Guest Appearance by: Rangeen Painter and Hari Sadoo.

24th Dec 2009:

Since we had got 3 whole days of break from the mundane corporate life and 2 awesome movies to watch (Avatar and 3 Idiots); all of us including Rangeen Painter decided to watch either of them. The visionary Project Blooper (PB) like Nostradamus predicted that we won't get tickets for either of the movies if we opt for current booking; so she decides to book the tickets in advance. She chooses saturday, 26th dec as the day to go and asks every one if they are ok with the plan. Initially, every one was gung ho about it only to realize later that hari sadoo wanted rangeen painter to report to work on saturday. So now the count had come down to 6.

25th Dec 2009:

Initially, Project Blooper had to handle several differences of opinion during the execution of the plan (which if taken longer time would have been likened to the time taken for constructing the Bandra-Worli Sea Link). While godfather, goofy and marathon runner wanted to watch 3 idiots, ms. FRL wanted to watch Avatar, ms. kiddo the eternal sweetheart was fine with both of the films and so was PB. After 1000 phone calls and frequent SMSes (yeah Vodafone and Airtel were having a ball at our expense) , PB managed to convince everyone for Avatar.

26th Dec 2009:

The D day had arrived. A true professional that PB was, she messaged everybody to reach Lower Parel station at 4.00 as the show was to start at 4.20. But as luck could have it, she overslept and woke up at 3.15 (lower parel was 1 hour away from her home) and predictably even Marathon runner was late. Both of them boarded a train at 3.30 :)

But they were not alone, the others also reached the venue at 4.30 :)....PB and marathon runner

reached at 4.50. We were 30 mins late for the movie. As we were pretty late , we could not understand any damn thing. Though we must admit the special effects were too good and it was truly an exhilarating experience to watch it in 3D. But sadly, there was a technical glitch and with little bit of pressure from everybody (including the braveheart PB), the show had to be cancelled post interval. All were disheartened...Godfather and PB got the money refunded (yeah taliyan bhajao) and goofy got some goodies too from Red FM. This pepped up our spirits and we all had fun fultoo. We danced, posed for endless pics, ate and had fun. Baiscally, we shed all our inhibitions and enjoyed like college going kids.

As we walked down towards the station after all that fun n frolic, PB innocently asked everyone if she can book the tickets for 3 idiots, everybody looked at her and said together

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P.S: Thanks Goofy, FRL, ms.kiddo, marathon runner and godfather for making my weekend so damn special. Love u all for this.

P.P.S: missed u a lot rangeen painter....how I wish you were there, would have had fultoo fun :)

Learn Marketing fundas in My Ishtyle...

Marketing was and still remains to be my favorite subject despite the fact that my marketing professor was an idiot female called Shayari who always favored the guys of my class and gave me less scores in the subject even if I had written excellent answers in the paper (copy-pasted word to word from all brilliant people). But I refused to be bogged down by these stupid marks, as a student of Marketing, there are some Marketing concepts that I have coined (or so would I like to believe)which I would like to share with you. Chalo toh kya aap tayyar ho to learn some good stuff from me??

Arre bhago mat...atleast read toh karo...promise I wont take your viva on this.

Intro to the topic:

Marketing has a concept called Maketing Mix or the 4P's of Marketing (Product, Price, Place and Packaging) which according to Neil Borden is the fundamental receipe for successful marketing. India, a vast country with diverse culture and with dialects of over 1,652 is very tough to please. It takes lot of efforts for Foreign based organizations especially the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) manufacturers to understand the psyche of our people and manufacture, market, advertise and convince the consumers about their products without hurting the sentiments of any of the sentimental community of India. But I am not here to talk about how to market things and how to convince people about your product and blah, blah...I will leave that task for Philip Kotler (sab main karungi toh woh kya karega hain naa). Today I am going to talk bout the 3 S of Markets (please note: It is markets...not marketing) that holds the pulse of every indian.

Shaadi Market:
Shaadi is one of those endless occassions that every Indian home looks forward to. Whether it is a rural area or an urban one...Shaadi toh bhaiyya dhoom-dhaam se honi chahiye...so what if the girl's family has to shell out lakhs to please the guy (who is so lazy that he can't afford a home or a car for himself, he wants it all instant). The reason why I call Shaadi a Market is because...well because it is indeed a market. The guy is a brand (MBA brand, Engineer brand, CA brand)...depending upon the guy's educational qualifications and his job, the gal party pays for him...so while an engineering + MBA brand is equivalent to apna Zodiac Shirts and his market rate is 5-15 lakhs dowry, an only graduate guy is equivalent to linking road kaa flowerwala gujju shirt and his rate is a paltry 2-3 lakhs. (guys no offence please, but I dont like this attitude of parents...thankfully my parents were good and did not demand any dowry from my sister in law).

Share Market/Stock Market:
Wikipedia says "A stock market is a public market for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately". But forget Wikipedia's definition, in India especially in Mumbai...stock market means instant money. People become rich within a day by buying stocks at a certain rate and selling them at a higher rate within the same day or maybe in few days to come (depending upon the situation of the company and the share market per se), something that you cannot expect from banks. Infact, Dalal Street where BSE is situated is considered to be one of Mumbai's major landmarks.

(BSE-Bombay Stock Exchange)

Sabzi Market:
Sabzi Market or Vegetable Market is one of the favorite hangouts of every lady. This is the place where all the ladies from the neighbourhood come to discuss super important stuffs like receipe of bhendi fry, badti mehengai, mrs sharma's extra marital affair with mr. mehta and yes about how mrs.shah had draped her sari clumsily. So important is their discussion that the rickshawala and even the monster buses have to patiently wait for the busy ladies to move from the middle of the road to the footpath. Infact aunty log compete with each other to buy 3 nimboos at 10 rs (sabziwala bhaiyya sells 2 nimboos for rs 10). I love this place for it's hustle and bustle. But on a serious note, I have learnt the following 1-2 skills from my vegetable buying experiences:

a) I have learnt the negotiation skills...nahi bhaiyya mujhe 1 kilo kanda 10 rupai mein do types...which I intend to implement in my future jobs...nahi sir mujhe yeh job 10 lakhs per annum mein do...5 lakhs per annum bahut kam hain :-)

b) I have learnt to manage things within a given budget and if I exceed my budget I take things in udhari (credit) and manage my money properly the next month so as to chukao the sabziwala's udhari.

(dus kaa do...dus kaa do)

Ok friends, I am done with my lessons in Marketing sorry Market...hope it was of some use to you (even if it was of no use, you need not be honest...please say that you seeked enlightenment after reading my post).

P.S: Sorry for my Loooooooooooooong Post!!! I will be back with some more lessons very soon.Bhaag gaye kya vapas???