Pin it up...

A few months back I was taking my regular haircut at my favourite barber shop on Brigade Road. I usually prefer the staid & elderly Mr.Dasappa whom I call ‘Headmaster’ among the bunch of croppers there , even it means waiting for abt an hour for my turn. He carries out the task as some master Gardner , carefully picking up small clumps of hair and cropping them with finesse. Usually hair cutting becomes a byproduct under his tutelage, its the nice & soothing experience that one gets that brings me to him.

So the last time around I had a big & burly gentleman sitting next to me and during the course of our hair cut session we got into a conversation. It turned out that he was a Major in the Army and had just returned from a posting in the North. He spoke of the heroism of our men in Uniform & how they operated in trying circumstances. He said “You know we are fighting a ‘faceless enemy ’ (one amongst the crowd) and usually when we (the army) retaliate we face the flak for violating Human rights or being cruel to the public. Collateral damages are a part of the exercise but nobody understands this , we are the aggressors because we are in Uniform . They get all the sympathy because they are civilians. It dosent matter who started this mess” he quipped with a sigh.

These thoughts echoed in me as I went through a similar experience in the Apartment where I stay recently. The only difference being that there was no insurgency here but the watchman who was supposed to be the guardian ended up being a culprit in an incident where my Car was damaged . I don’t know what the motives were , but this guy tried to force open the petrol tank lid with pieces of stick & plastic when I was out of town for about a week. Circumstantial evidence, a bit of inquiring around & finally the confession of his fellow partner watchman helped me identify this culprit over the next 10 days. Initially I tried talking him out to get the confession (reason) & see whether he was repentant but he chose to remain adamant & in denial mode. Finally after about 2 weeks of warning I decided that this was a matter best left to the Police to decide. This guy continued to work in the appt & I dint want to risk any further incident. At the beginning of this month, returning from work one evening I saw this guy on ‘duty’ in the apartment. I went to him, gently held his hand & asked him to sit in the car saying that I was taking him to the police station. The fellow pretended to oblige initially, after coming towards the car he made a U turn and dashed in dramatic fashion to a flat on the first floor screaming as if a violent mob was behind his back. The heat of the moment took over me and I chased to grab him by the scruff of his neck & drag him to the police station as I had decided to. In the ensuing melee, this guy's shirt got torn as he clung to a door handle & I tried to drag him.

This incident left me as the aggressor and more sinned than the sinner. Worse, the guy who patronized this watchman and under whose cover he wanted to hide took up a strident position subsequently. He started writing lengthy mails questioning the incident , addressing all the association members and taking some moral high ground of being ‘just & humane’ . When I wrote back to cut the crap & bring the guy to the station which I reckoned as an appropriate forum, this vigilante member backed off meekly with the tail behind his legs.

He nonetheless made an effort to pin it up . Whether he got a medal on his chest or a kick on his back dint matter in the end.

Ads that add

Stopping at a traffic junction near the ASC centre near MG road, this ad caught my attention. Its novelty was quite evident, a picture of an attractive lady with full flowing hair preening back from what appeared to be the rear window of the autorickshaw and promoting a brand of local shampoo.


What I liked about this advt: This ‘in your face’ ad has been done with quite a bit of creative flair and contrarian approach, the picture gives a kind of holographic effect of a lady in an auto. The message is simple and bereft of any fancy slogan. It is unexpectedly different to the prevailing approach in outdoor advertising. 

Consider this, most outdoor advt vans have display boards that provide perpendicular view i.e, you’ll have to see them from the sides and not from the rear. Chances are that you don’t often see such ads on the roads. This one is however a clear winner in catching that attention span , not only while driving but at stationery Traffic junctions.

OOH (out-of-home) Ads like these are adding to improving the livelihoods of autodrivers and rickshaw pullers. Consider this, Patna based SammaaN foundation is getting various prime advertisers to emblazon their ads on the sides and rear of rickshaws. The rickshaw pullers get a fee for the ads & 1/3rd of the margins made by SammaaN on products sold ( one gets a choice of Newspaper, Water bottle, Juice, Biscuits when you board this rickshaw)

What may mar this advt: May be the product placement (i.e, shampoo which is generally considered a higher end FMCG product) may dilute its brand equity . Dust and grime, quite common in Indian cities will easily settle on the tarpaulin and  spoils visual clarity and presentation.

My Verdict: Simple, witty and superb placement. This one is more palatable than those snazzy but silly cola drinks that try to make you believe a 10 rupee sugary carbonated water will bring optimism & happiness even during these tough economic times ( referring to Coco Colas ‘ Open Happiness’ or Pepsi’s ‘Refresh everything ,campaigns)

Picturesque phrase

A picture may speak a thousand words but the converse is also true ; a few words could paint an entire picture on the canvas of mind’s imagination. here’s my list;

Daybreak gift-wrapping the foothills

A shiny dewdrop clinging to a blade of grass, glistening in the morning brightness.

An eagle perching on a shaft of air

Clouds leaning on mountain tops to rest

Whispering music of the ripening wheat sheaves in the field

Boats in the bay, sitting patiently on their reflections to the fading crimson light

Shining stars pinned to the soft canopy of the night

Gentle sound of crackling timber in the camp-lit fire

Down under: True to character?

I had a chance to link up with a good old friend & excolleague recently. A chartered accountant by profession, this quiet diminutive guy is currently based out at Sydney in Australia. Regular mail exchanges followed our LinkedIn connection and in one of the mails I put a general note of caution asking him to watch out his back & keep safe, out of harms bound. I guess the recent nasty developments in down under was uppermost in his mind too. Yet , he choose to tone down his reaction and wrote back me to saying “Thanks Vasant ...Generally Sydney is quiter than Melbourne. But life is pretty cool here with 99% of the people are good..”

Now he may be a better judge at assessing the situation out there but I was surprised at this calm demeanor in which responded. I am not sure whether the sensationalizing electronic media out here especially the TV NEWS channels have overhyped this situation and carried these incidents overboard, but whatever has happened, in whatever measure , has been utterly distasteful and downright ugly and nasty.

Looking back at his reaction, do i assume that only certain cities in Australia are violence/crime prone than others? Is Sydney safer than Melbourne going by the profile of its residents? Does it mean that these hoodlums are not restricted to few back corner alleys in dark downtown Australia but certain specific geographic locations defined by select cities? Seems hard to digest but Ian Botham, the former English cricketer had an interesting take on this; he always considered all Aussies to be a bunch of convicts who had been banished downunder from England (Ian also had an interesting take on Pakistan, he once described it as "the kind of place to send your mother-in-law for a month, all expenses paid" in an off-the-cuff remark in a radio interview in 1984)

Could it be that this ‘Kalapani’ type island is turning true to its character now, especially with Indians? Between 1788 to 1868, about 165,000 convicts were sent to Australia which means 22 per cent of Australians are descended from exiles. Their sentences served, many convicts remained Down Under, becoming Australia’s first western settlers. Now their descendants are showing why they are often called the offspring of ‘burglars’, ‘heifer stealers’,’ felons’, etc. Ask those numerous badgered Indians and they shall swear by it.