Wednesday, August 27, 2008

I’ve been tagged…!

Yes, I’ve been tagged for the first time! And it is Mea Culpa who tagged me. Thanks Mea. (Vow! that sounds good, a really nice name. Isn’t it? Still I prefer your name over it, whaaaateeeeesthaaaaaaat?) O.K. enough distractions as usual. Here’s the tag rule: ‘Share five of the favourite quotes’. And for me, just like everyone else, the toughest thing is to cut short or limit my favourite quotes into five. Anyway let me try.


“Man is vile and can get used to anything”

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky, ‘Crime and Punishment’

“I tell you: one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star”

-Friedrich Nietzsche, ‘Thus Spake Zarathustra’


“I took more out of alcohol than alcohol had taken out of me.”

- -Winston Churchill

“Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.”

-Mark Twain


“Dancing is the vertical expression of a horizontal desire legalized by music.”

-George Bernard Shaw



And you know what; I’ve also been tagged by Bindhu, fortunately with the same rule. Thank you Bindhu, see I’ve done it. And I would like to tag both Mea and Bindhu. Trust me; I’m so damn mean and hell-bent on not allowing you any room at all. Are you ready? If yea, here it’s: Which are your most favourite books? Do you think that you can dole out that mile long list? Nopes, it’s all about listing the all time three. Grrrr…

Saturday, August 23, 2008

One fine day when I was at work and there was no work, I just started to browse. I got this superb photograph and the next moment I wanted to do an ad using it and the result was www.anythingandeverything.com with the baseline ‘for those who are not afraid to know’. For my art partner V.C Ratheesh, all it took was just 5 minutes to fix the domain name and the baseline.



But then that’s purely coincidental, kinda reverse process and I started the ‘real’ search for images for the imaginary www.anythingandeverything.com and bumped on the following photographs, but none satisfied me as the first did. But we are still working on the second ‘campaign’ using a different set of characters but with the same idea.



Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Yesterday I visited a bar that reminded me of the tavern where Raskolnikov met Marmeladov. It had high ceilings and from there hung a couple of fans with stems about a metre long. The floor was all wet and one had to squeeze oneself through the plastic tables and chairs. The walls were dirty and on the right, just above my head, there was a single white tile on the wall with Ganapathi’s picture on it. And Ganapathi stared at me. After some time, when I turned to my left, I found Nietzsche sipping his drink and by then I had finished my quarter of Old Monk Rum and ordered for a 60.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Don’t run

Ahem! Everyone please lend me thy…. I‘m gonna preach. Please, normally I don’t indulge in this kind of stuff. But now, I feel that my two penny advice will make you wise, yup really.

Don’t run. Hey, no, you philistine don’t take things literally. I mean don’t run away from things. It won’t do any good. You can’t escape by running away. I’ve just realized that this morning and I just can’t wait any further to share it with you my brethren! Noble soul am I huh?

I make a living by writing advertising. A Couple of months back I left Kerala and landed up in the neighbouring state. Ask me why you passive, indifferent … (am I turning abusive? Nopes, not deliberately) OK I’ll tell. I left Kerala in fear of Onam. Yup, that’s our most spectacular festival and we all go for a shopping spree during the period. “Maveli nadu vaneedum kalam manusharellarumonnu pole…” forgive me, I might’ve scared you singing the paean in my harsh (actually friends say I sound like a metal crusher, but I’m sure that they are all bloody liars. In fact, in the morning I sound like Amithabh Bachan , but gargling spoils it all ) voice. See, this is the problem. I always beat around the bush. But I know it’s always better coming to the point as soon as possible except in love making.

Every jeweller and every textile showroom owner in Kerala believe that Onam season is the ideal time to advertise. (Indeed, it’s not baseless) And if you have at least a vague idea of Advertising in Kerala, it goes without saying that for a large number of agencies the clientele belong to this category. The ones I worked for were no different. In short, during Onam copywriters will be busy connecting the spirit of Mahabali (The demon king who was booted to the abyss and on whose behalf Onam is being celebrated) and Onam with the client’s need and their art partners placing a number of pictures in the lay out. It goes like this 1 Floral Pattern 2 A Potbellied Mahabali (In fact almost all the demon kings and soldiers I encountered in the comics I read growing up had chiseled to perfection physiques and the pot belly of beloved Mahabali remains a mystery to me) with an umbrella made of palm fronds. 3 Snake boat and sometimes women in traditional Kerala saree (Malayali Manka). You can omit some of these on the basis of the size of the lay out, but if you don’t incorporate any of these in the ad, man that’s blasphemy!
And by the time Onam is over everyone goes back to their business, but not me. I would make ‘floral’ patterns in the rice. I would cut the papad in the shape of Mahabali before putting it into the boiled oil and would even think of getting a blanket which has ‘Snake boat race’ printed on it. In short I would become damn obsessed and to escape lunacy I came here. (Ha! I’ve just been called by the ECD to enquire whether I’m willing to go to the Cochin branch as they have loads of work since Onam is round the corner!). And brethren, is there any point in stretching it anymore? I was provoked into writing this when an Account Executive asked me to work on Onam Ads for a bank. But now the ‘unthinkable’ has happened. You can’t escape your destiny my beloved brethren. Alas!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Thinking of putting in my papers always gives me a high, may be it’s the great uncertainties lay ahead…

Monday, August 4, 2008

When I die I want to die with a chuckle and a wink.
For I think, in the end, that is all life is worth.
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