Off the cuff on 29th May2012-a quiet recall

Marketing and positioning an off-shoot of a renowned name in the retail and commercial sector needs a broader vision to comprehend on how to arrive on the scene. Analytical thinking and perhaps a sensitivity analysis could provide some clues! On a crowded, me-too sector like the Residential do we tom-tom aloud our past glories and achievements or resort to gently prodding the public intellect with the quiet distinguished ease of a leader high on confidence and low on flaunt factor…? Do we shake or stir them up? I am in deep thought and am writing what comes to my mind and pondering at the same time. Please bear with me if you are in a hurry because I am not…

A great location! A premium development! Unheard of proximity to places that matter! An international place of worship for a backdrop! Catchment of a kind not easily seen before! Back all this with an irresistible offer? And palm off the lot soon? Or take measured steps punctuated by intelligent pauses? Move gracefully like a ballet artiste and reach a crescendo and let the curtain come down? Leaving a hush in the aftermath of the sensation called ONE BANGALORE WEST…?

One Bangalore West, arguably so, offers itself as one of the rarest subjects for a seldom done case study in a high-end Marketing B School! Even before arriving on the scene! Like a blockbuster movie in the making by a celebrated production house! While anticipations run high everywhere any long wait heightens, deepens and finally dampens the curiosity element. Making it all the more mysteriously enigmatic and truly wait-worthy in every manner and respect!

And now when the same tongues that wagged will soon go speechless in awe at the very mention of the word LAUNCH, the team that worked hard behind the scenes all these years will create another masterpiece as effortlessly as they did their empire and move on to unravel other mysteries in their relentless pursuit to perfection.

I am still in thought when I am beginning to enjoy the agitation in me as I toss and turn in my bed trying to bring in visions of the several hundred people that I will soon be talking to with my team following me closely…. the animated expressive faces that will listen to me in fascination when I will have got them a place to stay and will also have earned one for myself in their hearts…! Like in the past when I sold certain things….which I sold to myself first…!

I truly feel like a newly married, immensely excited husband whispering sweet-nothings endearingly to his patiently waiting bride…. If these raging thoughts (or the foreplay) are any indication of the shape of things to come I am well on course to rocking….!

Standby for the explosion…!

Woo-Woes

She is my only daughter. She was brought up and educated in Bangalore. After her graduation she took up her Masters in Mass communication and soon after that she was to intern at CNN IBN channel in Chennai. During these four months she got an offer straight into print journaIlism and joined The Economic Times as a journalist handling features for a good year and a half. And as was her ambition she got into NDTV - a metro Channel that was launched in Chennai and she fitted the role like a glove and then there seemed no going back. It is over two and a half years now and she has risen to become the unopposed, unannounced deputy head of the Features division doing anchoring, hosting, producing her shows that have reasonably good TRP ratings in a fiercely competitive market. Innovative and thus constantly ushering in change she is known to bring a sense of déjà vu to her colleagues and the viewers alike.

Despite her being constantly in the Media glare she is a very homely person and ideally blends her professional and private life with a flair that is seldom seen. Her innate nature to merge her modern learnings with her traditional leanings is a remarkable quality. Her limbs mystically conjure a mythological sequence in Bharatnatyam with the same ease with which they can swing and sway imaginatively to Michael Jackson's classic.... not to mention the gravity and speed- defying bone-crushing gyrations that liven crude rustic gaana numbers churned out in scores down south. Her social obligations notwithstanding she brings a rare charm when in the company or even in the thoughts of her family and friends. Her characteristic traits openly disclose an artistic bent of mind that reflects clear objectives, ideal goals and truly noble pursuits.

She lost her mother at the tender age of sixteen just when a mother's love and care would have mattered the most for any growing child stepping shyly into the intriguing world of adolescence. Her maturity to stomach this irreparable loss was a revelation to all family and friends. She turned a new leaf in her academics with reinforced nerves...emboldened by this loss. Her soft and seemingly mellow exterior hid an uncontained aggression in her that slowly surfaced and manifested in the form of her several bold initiatives that surprised all around her. Simple, distinctively belonging to a different mould altogether with a mastery over matters not seen before she metamorphosed into a woman with a no-nonsense approach to her pursuits... be it dance, music or her career. She needed neither a mentor nor an idol to emulate. She set her own invincible path and made bold, confident strides ahead. Fearless and with a matter-of-fact manner she gate-crashed into areas that opened newer and bigger opportunities her way, not in the least concerned about the results or rewards. She has chosen a path for herself unlike most other girls of her age.

When I confront her with the proposal of getting her married she raises an eyebrow that mocks me with the unspoken statement.."Now what Dad ?” And as for me I know that there aren't enough of her ilk out there to be worthy of even wooing her leave alone marry.

That brings me to the abject reality of her marriage. Making it difficult to even remotely visualise a suitor next to her holding her dainty hand. Is he out there...anybody worth his salt?

If she is the yet-to-be crowned Princess where is the ugly fabled frog that her gentle touch alone will transform into a Prince in shining armour????

Balachitappa...a fond recall

Bala chitpa to me is ( sorry, was) the toothy manifestation of selflessness. A seamless wide grin that was as disarming as infectious... ever clad in his shapeless elbow-sleeved white Kurta ( we named this Bala chitpa kurta every time we saw anyone wearing a sleeve that reaches the elbow) , his very presence brought me a sense of warmth, care and a strange sense of being safe and protected. Not a single wedding or function seemed complete without his imposing, assuring yet unassuming presence. Particularly during my school and college days I recall how he was not only a caring, concerned elder but neatly rounded off as a friend in whom I could confide in. He caught me smoking when he appeared out of the blues on a summer afternoon and I promptly dropped the butt and pleaded with him to forgive me...by tugging on to his elbow-long white sleeve as he kept walking the length of the Trichy Main Guard Gate. And I remember how with misty eyes he spoke about my late dad and all the while consciously led me to Vasantha Bhavan and ordered puris which he knew were my favourite... His emotion had a mystifying quality!

Cut to NOW! I knew he was bedridden and I knew he would have loved to see me by his side visiting him and I knew he was in his last miserable days and yet I could not visit him. I will not be able to get rid of this guilt. And as before he will forgive me again...not with Vasantha bhavan puris... but with his blessings from the Peaceful heavenly abode he finally will be in now...

Love you and will miss you Balachitpa...there will be none like you again on this earth..!

Will ever remain your dear Ravi.

Chitpa...Do you hear me?

Matri-Money

Marriages are sure made in Heaven..yes, the choultries get decorated to resemble one! I attended atleast two marriages in the last week. The one later was a sixtieth birthday-cum-marriage celebration. I saw happily bonded couples whispering silent endearments to each other while the crowd looked on merrily... most of them being reminded of their own marriages when they sat centerstage. It was a sight to see the bride of the 60 year old groom in tears at the precise hour of muhurtham whereas the new bride last week seemed radiant and could not conceal her delight. I was wondering if it should have been the other way round. But then emotions also change with the times!

Two full days of hectic pomp, gaiety, pagentry and feasting marked each of these weddings. Like beasts we ate unmindful of the very short intervals between each of those eating bouts. A free for all...you only gain a few inches accross the waist and have nothing to lose. Even in this kind of a simple traditional wedding the father of the bride unhesitatingly takes it upon himself to blow away a princely sum of say Rs 25 lacs. He further tells me that it is the minimum price tag for an avergae middle class wedding. Not to mention what entails thereafter for the bride's father. Like the father of the bride in the 60th birthday wedding. He looked gracefully bereft of any valued possession save some emotion at ideal intervals during the rituals.

These raging thoughts brought me to a standstill. The rest of the festivities seemed to me like watching a movie unfold. My mind grappled with the enormity of the task that I seem to have on hand...right there! I have a 26 year old daughter and a one month old bank balance...if I wipe clean the total 9 ornamental bank accounts both I and my wife hold ! Some equation this!!!! And to think that I am always between jobs in the last two years. And of the post I just relinquished before leaving on this multiple matrimonial sojourn!

I must save from now and in the next four months or so raise if not twenty five atleast fifteen lacs... I must look for a paying job and a flexible employer.And Heaven for an Alliance for my daughter.

Matrimony Matrix. It is a Matter-of-Money!!!

Medi-date

This is another of those days that frequent me again. Times of sheer despair.You cannot describe this special degree of 'low' that you experience. It stresses, suffocates and stifles you both mentally and physically too. Somebody engineers this from somewhere and you cannot pinpoint who. But you have a ready list of suspects with one or two of them surely topping the list.

And as is my wont I begin to experience deep spirtual awakenings from within. Maybe this is the inbuilt, involuntary mechanism that guides us all to seek the 'self' to get the required relief. The suspects in your list cannot invade the privacy of your private religious domain and influence the Almighty to further dampen your spirits, right? I then seek the next best advocated route of meditation. Transcedental or otherwise.

Meditation as a process is so fascinationg to read or hear someone speak about. I meet many who declare that they meditate at will. And all of them tell me the same. It's easy with regular practice. Close your eyes. Sit relaxed and erect. And concentrate on nothing except an imaginary light straight ahead. And let the mind travel and gradually let the thoughts drift by and then... At this point they fail to convey anything. They say Peace envelopes you thereafter. And when I do all the above every conceivable thought ranging from the perverse to the inane pass through my mind with some of them so static that I need to force myself out of this imagined trance to come back to reality. I have always felt that during my non-meditation times ( sorry attempts! ) I think straight. There sure is instant relief after these attempts to examine and experience the abstract, or the occult? Escapism of a kind...?

It is easier to suffer the turmoil that my list of suspects silently heap on me than go through the motions of a self inflicted spirtual sojourn. When reality poses a problem meditation further confounds and compounds it. And that is my humble conclusion. I will go to work again tomorrow, yes!

Muse, excuse!

There have been times in the past when I have felt lost. Many times for that matter. And every time I felt low I reached for a sheet of paper and wrote poetry. I felt better or atleast I thought poetry as a remedial measure was soothing during difficult times. I picked words that reflected my thinking and tweaked them around... and with rhyme and rhythm neatly introduced... a work of art was born. Or so I thought!

And soon I recovered from my depression. And celebrated my newly created lyrical gem with select cronies who were my first circle of friends and relatives ever ready with their praise. And I always chose such guys with care. I surely wanted no accomplished poets in my circle. I was clear. My followers need to be simple and just about reasonably well read in order to understand and appreciate the dexterity with which someone wrote in the English language. And particularly poetry. And if perchance I had an intellectual for a friend ( I seem to have a ghastly lot of them these days, not by choice though!)i never brought the topic of poetry to him. I knew my onions about relationships, you see...?

And cut to today.... those bad depressing times but of a different breed altogether seem to be heading only in my direction all over again..regardless of purpose. After Iago I see some motiveless malignity at work again!

When the soul is thus tormented I now seek to blog. It is easy! And refreshing! Everybody blogs. Not all of them are well read to become critics. There is assured anonymity and therefore safety with those who do not know you. And with those who do.. you should not disclose you blogged.

When poets become bloggers, you bet, they need followers sure! Hey, my old cronies where are you? I need to seek the help of my young daughter now to trace those blighters through some 'old alumni' prompts of one of those darned websites that will bring back memories of the infernal institution that tutored us thus..

Ofcourse I need followers. Reasonably well read undergraduates with a set of adjectives that can pass of as comments that commend a work of art. Anybody around...?

Back to my bungling blogging again today...

....Vow!!! and after two years or more since I created this blog spot I rejuvenated this aspect of the fidgetting that I generally do with my blessed lapotop. Thanks to Sandhya, my easy to maintain wife ( she helps without charging ! ), I suceeded in putting all the bits and pieces together.. sorry she did... and am all set to revert to my good old figetting passion all over again.

Not that I was a professional blogger anyway.... i blogged only once and I admit it was also not viewed by anyone except me thrice later and yes ofcourse Sandhya. But now I propose to pour my thoughts out every now and then and with the kind of flow my creative juices experience i will have no better medium to spill forth and format at leisure...

Look forward folks....with bated breath as they say ....to my lyrical and other valuable outbursts in the days to come. And after reading leave behind your thoughts ( Can't be bad anyway!!! ). I need to measure and monitor my readership, you see!!!!

Catch you all soon....

Rtrak....