Don’t get nostalgic, Air India offers the blues.

It was my first time back home in almost two years; a year and seven months to be precise. Why was I going back to the land lost in time? Why really was I?

The London rain has its own peculiar mood; subtly trying to seep in the feeling of gloom on a supposedly warm summer day. A hood over the head and I was on my way. Why does it feel so at home when there is some piece of cloth blocking your vision? Is it just like the illusion when you check under the bed for your child to feel safe?

A little excited to be amongst friends, I was there at the Heathrow, rushing through things, owing it to the late evening London traffic. Apparently the checked baggage had to cough out a little as I decided to check in my carry-on luggage case as well. A snub comment from one of the staff about a guy who was apparently trying too hard to balance his luggage (asking others to take his couple of quid worth of nuts for him to save a big bill), was an apt reminder of the way things would turn out in the Wild-Wild East. 

I was looking forward to fly Air India, apparently because at the time of the booking, the agent had courteously asked me for my meal preference and obliged with requesting a Hindu Non Veg meal. Coming from the land of Nawabs, I was sure that it would be a delight to be in Maharaja’s company.

The 21:30 flight was a bit delayed, and I was all tucked in my seat, sniffling away the London blues. In about half an hour the flight was taking it to the skies, and after about an equal amount of time, the stewards brought about a trolley serving drinks, the cold ones. Coughing and a little cold, I asked for a cup of tea, and the one serving assured that there would be someone else coming out with a tea trolley soon. I waited patiently, wetting my throat with a glass of water.

An hour and a half later of browsing through the on flight entertainment, dinner was served, apparently with little water glasses in a cup. Tea was to be served soon after dinner, as this seemed to be all part of a system that worked just fine for the government carrier. The small cup of tea, served almost two hours late after I asked for it, was still a relief. Albeit it was also because the dinner I was looking forward to, had quashed my expectations by a dozen. Apparently, the Indian Railways could easily walk away proud for being the generous one with both - the portions and the taste.

Giving myself up to the mercy of the inflight entertainment to keep me amused throughout the night, I was surprised to find some of the ‘classics’ in Hindi movies. Surely, the copywriter was looking for a word that was not ‘old’, and in the process didn’t care for the class in a classic.

The next morning was better, with tea and coffee served simultaneously with breakfast.  By now, even though I wanted to, I had given up on my hope to ask for refills, as surely the button on the remote to call for assistance didn’t work for me.  

The flight was on its way to Delhi, flying through turbulent weather as the Pilot’s crackling voice would pause the movie every 15-20 minutes. The ‘don’t take off your seat belts to go to the toilets’ warnings were never followed by ‘It’s safe to use toilets’ announcements. Apparently there was an unsaid three minute rule which I somehow was the only one not aware of.

A few hours later, the flight was hovering over Delhi and as soon as the flight descended from 20k+ kms to 8k kms, a sharp pain shot through my right ear and rose up above my right eye as it felt like it would just explode. Frantically pressing the Assistance button was an effort in vain, but standing up to catch the attention of a steward who was busy sweet talking a young lady sitting two rows in front of me, proved a little but helpful. Holding your nose and blowing air in your cheeks really doesn’t help with the pain, nor does drinking water. Somehow the flight landed, and I was happy to be put out of my misery, for someone trusting to fly the official flyer, apparently lured in by one free change for the return flight, I guess it was still too much of a price to pay.

Waiting still for over 15 minutes before the arrangements to disembark were made, I was left wondering if it would have been the same if I was flying on BA and landing at Heathrow?

A few minutes of walk later, I was at the immigration check desk, and as soon as I hand over my passport to the man in his mid-forties, and as he struggles to find the last stamp on my passport and asks me for my older passport, and as I tell him that I only have one passport, he makes a snub remark ‘Hindi mein nahi bol sakte ho kya?’, and once again I am left wondering at the professionalism of people in the Wild East.

PS: The Delhi heat is real. 

The Markets of London.

With the end of my post graduation and before plunging head first in the rat race, I decided on going around and exploring. Taking a time-off from everything and rejuvenating my mind, finding inspiration and re-inventing myself.

I have been living in London for three months now. There were a list of things I always wanted to see but could never find enough time or company. Last week though was a different story. One morning I woke up motivated and planned on checking out the markets of London. These were not the hip shopping spots, but the street markets. After googling through a list of spots I could cover in a day, I settled on checking out three of them - the Leather Lane Market,

the Greenwich Market and the Portobello Road Market.

The thing with these markets is that you have to be very particular about the timings. They open for only a few hours and between the time spent on tube rides, you have to plan carefully.

The Leather Lane Market.

Close to Chancery Lane tube station, it took me almost half an hour of roaming around before I found this market.

The thing with London is not everybody knows the names of these markets. You can't ask anyone about

them but just have to rely on your navigation software.

This is one of the big street markets where makeshift shops are set on both sides of the street. Its quite busy even on weekdays and is an ideal place to shop if you are looking to buy something cheap and shiny for your lady. Also, a

number of street food outlets ensure you would never

run out of fuel.

The Greenwich Market.

A 5 minute walk from the Cutty Sark tube

station, the Greenwich Market is more like an indoor market that reminds you of school fetes back home in India.

Also a good place to shop for memorabilia and women's accessories. You can find numerous T- shirt artists here who would

be ready to design shirts on the spot for

you.

The Portobello Road Market.

One of the biggest markets of London, the Portobello Road Market is close to the most romantic place in London, Notting Hill. About a 10 minute walk from the Notting Hill Gate tube station, this is a street market that sells almost everything. From paintings to

shoes, you can pick whatever suits your fancy. Also, there are some good pubs and a couple of eating joints if you would like to put down your heavy bags.

So, if you are bored and don't have anything better to do, just go around and have a look at these markets.

Strategic Advertising

If we talk about strategic advertising then other than the cola ads [pepsi and coca cola] rest all are baseless. the campaign done by mudra in delhi was a good one for awareness about some social causes. Advertising in itself does not mean TV or print ads, rather it should be relevant to your cause[i e the client] an effective copywriter should design the best possible approach to increase sales. But what we see around is just gibberish to rake in the moolah cause of high profit margins in TV and Print for ad agencies.

The new Airtel ad seems starkly in comparison with the 1999 britannia khao world cup jao campaign. Yes, to me it seems like a scam ad that only tries to create hysteria (with the lead in that was run in many magazine pages of newspapers). Though still the hysteria is sometimes enough to captivate viewer's attention, sec A & A+ here who would normally pass over an ad for a Satellite TV , but would really be interested in Pg 3 gossip. They have been able to catch potential TA and hold them together to tell them abt the product. Still its a waste of money and can be considered a brand building ad as it is not based on product entirely or its features.

The day it was to be

After the many times the idea of writing a blog was brought up in my mind, finally i get coaxed into writing one as part of the curriculum. Thinking about the many things that I could have written about, I came to a conclusion to write on something that is very close to my heart these days. Advertisements ..... they are everywhere. You see them in your homes and on the way to work. It is a major source of revenue for many things that you come across in life, be it the highly expensive TV shows or the morning newspaper.

As for me, Advertisment is going to be something that would help me to retire with enough money and benefits for a happy retired life.

In this blog, i would be writing about everything related to Advertisements as well as their implications on me. :)