Chp 234. Goa Fest 2009

Just got back from Goa Fest 2009 – We won the SILVER ABBYs for best website category, and BRONZE ABBYs for best VIRAL! Wooohoooo!

Apart from these, two other webchutney creatives were among the highly coveted nomination list for India’s most prestigious and reputed “Abbys” Awards – aptly termed the OSCARS of Indian Advertisement Awards!



Look Ma! I’m on Stage!

THE ADVERTISING CLUB BOMBAY ABBY 2009 AT GOAFEST
CATEGORY:17(A) INTERACTIVE DIGITAL ADVERTISING : WEBSITE
NO.	AGENCY	BRAND AND CAPTION	AWARD
32.	JWT India	The Times Of India - Run/Ban Jallikatu	GOLD
37.	Webchutney	Axe Dark Temptation - Axeoggy	SILVER
15.	OgilvyOne WorldWide	Nokia - Way we Work	BRONZE
5.	Interactive Avenues Marketing Solutions Pvt. Ltd.	Travelocity.com - Be An Explorer	BRONZE

You can see the list of winners for various categories here: adclubbombay. O&M lead with 50 Abby’s followed by JWT India with 24. For us digital Ad agencies, we had just two categories, and we got an award in both. Next year, we’ll be back for the two Golds.

Click on picture for higher resolution:



Yeah, clichéd as this might sound, the award was heavier than I thought!



Goa was funnnnnn. Had an amazing time. Crappy journey though. Our ACD Nishi renamed the Tour company “Jaya Travels” as “Jyada Travels” and Jonathan added the Slogan – “Jyada Travels – Making you travel More!” – Because we spent 18+ freaking hours on the road!

Comfortable deluxe AC Bus and all, but taking 18+ hours when others could make it in 12+ hours was simply… torture.

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Goa Fest 2009 was held at Cavelossim Beach, but we preferred Palolem Beach as our destination because of the “Shack culture” over there. And boy did we make the right decision! *evil grin*

Staying right by the beach along with hundreds of other tourists was definitely what the doctor ordered to cure office stress. Of course for the other guys (like Ryan), other “stuff” might have “stressed” a bit more due to the “view”, but for me, it sure as hell was relaxing and peaceful.

Some of us stayed at “Big Bamboo” while the rest of us camped at “Big Fish”. Both were equally amazing.



Here’s the Big Bamboo gang mesmerized by the scenery in front of them



Boss is thinking of virals… a very different kinda virals.



“Big Bamboo” even went digital!!!





And here is the other end of the Beach – where the other half of us stayed at “Big Fish”.



Nothing like sitting on those chairs right on the beach with a breezer and a newspaper early in the morning after a heavy night of fenny. I could intrinsically hear symphonic-goth-metal music playing in my head because of the immense beauty & idyllic serenity lying in front of me.



Amazing shacks I’m kidding you not. Even Veera wasn’t feeling husband-sick for a couple of minutes!



Definition of fun? It differed from person to person



After sunset, there were none of those famous Goan bonfire parties at this side of the beach, but there were a lot of Shack parties everywhere. We “shack-hopped” from one place to the other, not even remembering where all we went…



I could have sworn I was speaking fluent German, Spanish, French and Polish at one point of the night. Must be the fenny!



I think there was some mystical cult ritual of sorts going on in the above picture. Anyhoo, I had a blast with fenny, as promised in my previous post. Loved it - both cashew fenny and coconut fenny. The bartender gifted me an empty bottle in the end as a souvenir for (apparently) finishing an entire bottle all by myself! Lolz.

I think he was lying.



Here is me, still feeling the buzz of fenny

Removed my clothes brazenly. Got sun-burnt terribly.



On Saturday morning, we went for a long boat ride visiting all the exotic places around the area like Honeymoon beach, Monkey island, etc and watched dolphins jump out of the water just 5 metres away from us! The scene was truly breathtaking!

Here we are getting ready for the trip. We went in two boats.







Swam on Honeymoon beach too and it was a very romantic swim. Ok I know that sentence didn’t make any sense but I had to talk like that to keep the Goa spirit alive!

Showered and changed the moment we returned and we all went to the Goa Fest for the Grand Abby’s presentation. That was when we won silver and bronze as mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Below are some of my bosses and their happy happy faces.



Hihihi… dude on extreme left is our Tech Head Saket, more famously known as Vulturo in the Indian cyber village. He rocks



Even Madhu, the Capital-18 guy smiled. Which means our recession pay-cut is soon going to be lifted. Wooohooo! Just kidding, but it sure was one heck of a small world when our investor turned out to be my batch-mate from B-School! Lolz. Yeah you should have seen how surprised and shocked we both were that night.

The best part of Goa Fest 2009? The amazing giant outdoor party by the beach filled with funky peeps everywhere conducted on two gargantuan dance floors with two different sets of DJ. House and trance had to be played, after all, it’s an Ad agency party (and if you can’t figure out why I said that, then you are not cut out for advertisement )

I had around 16 liquor coupons left at the end of the party which I didn’t utilize! The food was amazingggg too and the length of the buffet tables stretched for almost a mile! (at least that’s what it felt like at 4 in the freaking morning after dancing your brains out)



Love this next picture! Guess who?



I could have sworn I saw a girl with light bulbs flashing everywhere on her dress on the dance floor, with wings on her side (!) and a face of an angel, but then I thought I must have been hallucinating due to… my age, until I saw this pic again. Phew, what a relief! She really was there!



Here’s a masterpiece snap taken by Mr. Jonathan, our in-house voyeur photographer! (Some say he’s the guy behind desibaba…)



How I wish I had taken my friend Zualbonez’s advice in my previous post who commented, “Go to the beach with a towel and oil bottle and say you’re a masseur. That’s a definite babe-magnet.” Lolz! Top that up with this whole mystical “Kimasutra” theory and I’m King Solomon for a day!

I’ll end this post with a quick limerick

            Standing all alone in the waters of Goa,
            trying to avoid a snake or a barracuda.
            I suddenly turned around
            hearing a hissing sound…
            It was the CEO relieving his Anaconda!




Wooohooo!!! Goa roxxx, webchutney roxxx, our CEO roxxx, and we’ll be back next year for our two Golds. Keep that in mind peeps!

Chp 233. April 2009.

Wife ran home crying,
            with her skirt torn and face all bloody!
I jumped up in shock
            still a bit tipsy from a glass of toddy.


I held her close;
            she blurted out, “Our Landlord raped me!”
Out I ran to him
            and into his heart my knife plunged deeply.


Satisfied, I ran back,
            to find my honey sitting on the stool.
I tried to console her
            when suddenly she screamed out: April Fool!








Happy April Fool’s Day everyone!!!





Am off to Goa tomorrow for the exclusive and most prestigious Goa Fest 2009!



An all-expense-paid trip to Goa – Four nights of reveling and partying and rubbing shoulders with (creative) professionals from reputed marketing, advertising, media, research and PR fraternities including big shot Ad-Gurus and head honchos of Indian & foreign agencies amidst the exotic Goan beaches and unlimited feni!



See you all on Monday, peeps! Woohoooooo!

Chp 232. Are you (alcoholic) manic depressive?

A couple of masturbations ago, I wrote about how creative people are highly prone to mental breakdown - Creative people & Mental breakdown

I mentioned briefly about Elizabeth Gilbert’s pep-talk on how creative people should deal with stress, and also asked whether bipolar disorder causes an increase in creativity or whether those who have exceptional levels of creativity are prone to developing bipolar disorder.

(And if my opening line “A couple of masturbations ago” is still lingering at the back of your head and bothering you, relax. It’s just a test to see if you are able to concentrate on a topic or not - something that many people suffering from manic depression are unable to do so.)

I came across this site “All about Life” while I was researching on this topic. What is downright scary is that I have all the symptoms for Manic Depression listed on that site!

But then again, just like horoscopes where every predictions apply to just about anybody regardless of whether the person belongs to a particular sun sign or not, such medical symptoms too apply to many people who DO NOT suffer from that particular disease.

Given below are the symptoms of Manic depression:

1. Increased energy, activity, and restlessness

YES. I am usually in an extremely restless mode. This has been much more prominent ever since I joined this industry. When I spend the weekends at my friends’ places, they all tell me the same thing, that I am highly hyperactive throughout the day & night, and warn me that it will be tough for me to find a life partner because she will find it difficult keeping up with all the things that I do!

2. Excessively ‘high,’ overly good, euphoric mood

YES. Our former Branch Head officially announced that “I was high on Life”! As soon as I wake up early in the morning, I can listen to my favorite Heavy Metal song and head-bang all the way to work. Put me in the center of a party and I will create the loudest noise. “Do you ever get tired?” is the question I hear the most.

3. Distractibility, can’t concentrate well

YES. Especially if there is a you-know-who wearing a you-wish-none inside my head. Apart from that, I have the habit of zoning out completely while I am in the middle of something else. There I was suddenly watching the ants crawling on the wall and mindlessly staring at them and wondering who the leader among those ants was and if they had individual names, mesmerized by the rhythm and pattern of their tiny feet movement which were almost hypnotic and taking me through a psychedelic trance, when suddenly the missus screamed out, “Are you done yet?”

4. Racing thoughts and talking very fast

YES. YES. YES. Many times I end up blabbering because my tongue cannot keep up with the words that flood my head. Sometimes I skip total sentences on the phone, so while it makes perfect sense to me, the other person on the line is completely lost! (To my dear friend somewhere out there: When I said “I wonder what you’re wearing in the middle of the night”, I actually meant to say “I wonder what the church has to say about the fact that you’re practicing voodoo while wearing those weird cult dresses in the middle of the night”.)

5. Jumping from one idea to another

YES. And in my line of work, this is a necessity sometimes. Open your mind and think out of the box. Build up one idea from the other until you create a giant idea - A killer concept.

6. Little sleep needed

YES!!! People are often shocked when they find out I sleep just 4-5 hours a day, and sometimes even less. I always thought it was a habit, after all I used to be a sportsperson back in school & college and sleep was a luxury I couldn’t afford because I wanted to perform well in academics while taking part in tournaments at the same time.

7. Increased sexual drive

Sexual drive? YES! After all, I am only human just like everybody else (including my neighbor’s dog that just won’t stop humping the poor telephone pole). Increased sexual drive? Hmmm… that’s difficult to say. As the saying goes, “It takes two to tango and conclude if the other person’s sexual drive has increased or not.” Ok I just made the last part up, but you catch my drift right?

8. Spending sprees

YES oh YES! One of my many weaknesses, because… confession time: I love shopping! I may be one of the very few guys who love to shop, although I shop like how typical guys shop “Look – Love – Buy - Leave”. I hate bargaining or looking around for better items, but nevertheless I always hit the mall twice or thrice a week.

9. Poor judgment

YES. I’ve always judged my relationships to be true and ever-lasting, and that I’ve finally met THE ONE. But in the end I’m always proven wrong, usually with a broken heart or a broken arm, or both.

10. Unrealistic beliefs in one’s abilities and powers

YES. I’ve always dreamt of flying and saving damsels in distress by the hundreds, even today, like a modern day Superman (not so much the cross-dressing part though). Back when I was a child, I used to fantasize about being either Flash Gordon or Conan the Barbarian. Loved those two characters and I still do even today! I’d give anything to be in their shoes (or Conan’s huge furry & smelly boots for that matter).

11. Extreme irritability

YES. And I kinda blame the Industry I’m in for this. There is nothing more irritating than coming up with a brilliant pitch/campaign and everybody loves it including your harshest critics and even the people you know from competing advertising agencies love it and you are damn sure this will definitely sell so you slog your ass off day in and night out to make it absolutely perfect… BUT in the end, dear client simply cannot see the logic behind it and rejects the proposal. Aaaaarghhh!

12. Provocative, intrusive, or aggressive behavior

YES …sometimes. I can control my temper now, pretty well. Back in college, I held the dubious distinction of being ejected from a basketball match the most number of times. Seldom was a match played where I was inside till the very last second! But then, those were the days I could dunk, and just like how I cannot even jump 1 feet above the ground now, my anger is nowhere to be seen today.

13. Abuse of drugs, particularly cocaine, alcohol, and sleeping medications

YES. And I need not elaborate on this.

14. Denial that anything is wrong

YES, so says my mother, every time she wants to win an argument

Now wait a minute… yeah even all my ex’es used to say the same thing!

“Something is wrong with our relationship!”
“No darling, nothing is wrong.”

One week later…
“Kim, I am going to Darjeeling for the weekend with… John.”
“Sure honey, there is nothing wrong in that. Enjoy.”

One month later…
“Kima, I’m pregnant. With John’s child.”
“That’s lovely, sweetheart. See, there is nothing wrong with our relationship!”

…

15. Lasting period of behavior that is different from usual

YES. Like how my closest friends say about me, I am definitely not predictable. In fact one of my ex-girlfriends told me I was boring because my unpredictability is so predictable! (Women - who will ever understand them?) I get bored easily with anything that I do (which should not be mistaken for “I lose interest”) Hence I do other things, a lot of other things, and get back to the first thing only later. Like that I keep rotating things around me so as not to slip into insanity.



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There you have it on paper. I’m manic depressive according to the website, although I’m sure many of you would have said YES to most of the points as well.

So, how about you?

If you are extremely stressed with work, do the above test and let me know how you fare. How many NOs and YESes do you have for the above 15 points? Would love to hear your elaboration too.

Cheers.

Chp 231. Tea isn’t my cup of tea!

To tea or not to tea, that is the question. A light humor post.

Some of you may find this post a bit frivolous, but to me it is something that has always affected me deeply, especially when I am in Mizoram.

I’m a Mizo.

And I don’t drink tea.

See, I can already hear you all gasping! How can a Mizo not like tea, you’re thinking now, right? Well, I guess I am among the very few Mizo minorities who despise tea solely because of its taste.

I hate tea. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

And in our Mizo community, it is almost a given that every Mizo drinks tea, such to an extent that whenever you visit anybody, your host will serve you tea immediately without even asking if you drink tea or not. That is the Mizo hospitality.

Hence tea becomes a part of our daily lives. It gets embedded in our culture. It is served whenever guests visit other people or when a young pimple-faced Romeo visits his lady love at her house (with her parent’s consent of course). It is served at every Church functions, School and college programs, funerals, weddings, exam halls, community feasts etc.

We become this big pile of… tea drinking tea loving tea freaks.

And whenever I visit a friend for the first time or hang out at the house of somebody I’ve just met, their folks will immediately serve tea. And I feel so bad declining after they have already MADE the tea.

“Uh… I’m so sorry… I don’t… urrmmm… drink tea.”

They would look at me strangely…

“Are you a Seventh Day Adventist?” they would ALWAYS enquire

[ * 7th Day Adventists, one of the many Protestant denominations in Mizoram, are prohibited from drinking tea (or coffee or alcohol or eat pork for that matter) due to their strict dietary laws. ]

“No no, I’m not a Seventh Day”, I would grin back nervously. “I just don’t like tea”.

“Don’t LIKE tea?” they would ask, with a lot of exaggerated melodramatic stress on the “LIKE” as if to say it is sacrilegious to hate tea. And then with a fake plastic smile they would whisk away my tea, grumbling to themselves why the hell I never informed them in the first place that I didn’t drink tea BEFORE they made the frigging tea.

Yeah rittteee. You want me to come to somebody’s house for the first time and pompously announce not to make tea for me without even properly introducing myself? That sounds even worse!

Anyhoo, I guess that is the big problem I face in Mizoram. Mothers don’t want me serenading their daughters because they think I’m weird since I don’t drink tea and fathers assume I must be drinking “something” else instead of tea.

Smart dads!

I don’t like tea because I don’t like it. Period. It’s a personal preference and sometimes it is a little hard (and a wee bit frustrating) making people accept the fact that I don’t like tea.

I was brought up in South India, so I used to drink coffee, coffee and more coffee every day. Had coffee for breakfast, after lunch, after dinner, before and after a basketball match, I even had coffee while having coffee The Tamilians just love their coffee and I became a part of them. That is basically my story. The Mizo Man who went up a Tamil Hill but came down a coffee infested Mountain.

And when I tell people I loveeeee Ice Tea, I always get the same question, “Then how come you don’t like normal (sic.) tea if you like ice tea?”

And out goes my retort: “You like beer? Chilled beer?”

“Oooh yeahhh!”

“Well, suppose I boil this beer and give it to you, would you drink it?”

“Ewwww. NO!”

“I rest my case.”

And believe me, the complexity of this whole matter does not end here. Whenever I stay over at any of my friend’s pads, I have to take my own sachet of coffee powder because coffee is nonexistent in most Mizo households. That’s bad. It’s like you invite a guest over and that person brings along his own toothpaste… now how does THAT make you feel?

And it gets even worse from here. I’m talking about relationships. A deep meaningful relationship that always ends in disaster because I refuse to drink tea while the missus prefer tea over coffee. You may think, “Whats the big deal? Just make two separate cups every day, one tea, one coffee.”

Hah! Trust me, that’s easy for you to say. Sure, it’s not a big deal when the missus or I do that once, or twice, or thrice. It’s no big deal when we do it for a week, even a month. But try doing it for an entire year and you will know what I’m talking about. The frustration that creeps in is undeniable.

“Jenny darling, can you pass me the ketchup?”

“What the bloody hell do you think I am your freaking bitch-slave making coffee for you all day long!!???”

“Huh?”



Oh right, I did mention this was a light-humor post. Cheers (raise coffee mug)


Maybe… just maybe… a day will come when a damsel in shining armor rescue this knight in distress away from his tea-coffee imbroglio. Maybe that’s what people call true love. Until that day comes, I will remain a stubborn coffee drinker. Cheers once again.