The Bong Journal :

Thoughts. Stories. Images.

[thebongjournal-blog]

I like the plan! It's true that we just seem to lose touch with people once we are out of college. The natural support structure and friend circle that was around dwindles and you find yourself in this race to get to work and then home and then on weekends you just want to sleep or have those errands to run! Good luck with this. :)

So true. I'm starting off with a small number - 30. As we go on, we lose touch with the ones who were your close circle at one point. Soma had started this sometime back. Pick up the baton and start one of your own too! :)

[thebongjournal-blog]

Project ReConnect

So I work about 12 hours a day, travel for 3 hours back and forth from home to office. I studied at MICA, the nation's premier post-graduation institute for communications studies. I work in a Social Media firm, which means my job profile ENTAILS I be on facebook and twitter, or at least stay abreast of what happens in those worlds. 

There's a certain charm to social media - you're constantly connected to the world via the internet, be it your laptop, pc or cellphone. What's the core goal of social media? That's right boys and girls, staying connected. Yet, in all that buzz and fuss to know everything that's happening in everyone's lives, we forget that one simple thing - Are we really connecting? 

Before you start questioning that, think about it - You're superbly up-to-date with what 30 of your friends are doing at any point of time, well, at least the ones who are quite active on the internet - to the point that if they haven't checked into someplace on FourSquare, they're probably not there. Right?

I'm one of those.

But what I, and I'm sure many of you may have forgotten in recent times, is the simple joy of actually hearing what that friend of yours sounds like after all these years, rather than just reading a status update. Or even if you don't have their phone number, getting a well-thought of reply instead of a LOL, Sup, or Cool, is really really awesome! It kinda makes you feel that you've really got to know that person. It even gets you thinking beyond those one word replies that we all are used to over internet chats.

So today starts Project Reconnect.

I have compiled a list of 30 people I want to get in touch with; not because I don't know what they're doing, but I do feel I don't know know them yet. Get what I mean?

Over the next 60 days; or sticking to that deadline as much as possible with my 14 hour worklife, I shall attempt to get in touch with each of them individually and learn one new thing about them that I do not already know of via Facebook.

You're welcome to take this challenge up too. Do 30. Do 10. Heck, reconnect with just two people whenever you get the time. You'll feel awesome. 

I guarantee it.

[nnmprv]

Burning Man 2013 by foxgrrl on Flickr.

[whatisadvertising]

"Coca-Cola: Small World Machines, Bringing India & Pakistan Together"

-Advertising campaign by Coca-Cola

[theadcollection]

Fantastic. Well done Coca-Cola.

[thebongjournal-blog]

Bridging gaps, bringing people across borders to a happier connection. Truly open happiness ! #CocaCola

[thebongjournal-blog]

The One Nation - India

Written quite some time back on Republic Day, I kind of got an urge to post this tonight. Republic Day of India. Sixty glorious years since Dr. Rajendra Prasad signed the Constitution that allowed India to think on it's own two feet. After all, what's Independence without a way to govern. Sixty years since the nation handed over power to it's people, the very citizens who gave their love, life and blood for the elusive bird called freedom. Such devotion towards the country was rewarded with the power to choose who governed them. Sounds just about perfect doesn't it? Well, we've come a long long way from that "One nation one voice" era. That one resounding, resonating voice of a nation has now been split into a thousand individual voices screaming to gain control, to be heard over the ear-splitting din. What is a Republic really? Is it the best way to govern a country - to let the people decide who gets to call the shots; Or is it just a simple enough way of knowing whose shoulder to rest your gun on? Corruption abounds, about fifty percent of our elected representatives, according to media reports, apparently have some shady past records. That's every other MLA or other politician that you vote for. And those who don't are slowly being dragged into the mess. Secular state...Fifty different sects fight for their own share of the country. Then where does the country go? That's just the cynical me talking, but what's to refute in my argument? Twenty one years since I was born and the only two songs that I hear every year, twice a year(dummies read Republic Day and Independence Day) are "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon" by Lata Mangeshkar and "Vande Mataram" by Rahman. Where's the new-age, ultra-aware youth-oriented music industry? This year is the first time I've heard of a song being declared a nationalist patriotic song that everyone should stand up to. You know which one I think is the true song of the nation? This one.

And the latest song above is a remake of this. Seriously guys, there's a lot more creativity and initiative in the music industry to do more than one remake in twenty years. Anyway, enough dissing my country...with all the love that I wrote the Independence Day post, I truly think, with all the quirks, our country is the greatest. Where else would you find a Muslim, a Hindu, A Sikh and a Parsi living their years separated by just a brick wall, and sometimes not even that. Where else would you see a palace built in memory of the love of your life? Where else will you find the largest gathering of people in the world, once a year? Where else do you find the answer to life in four compendiums? Where else in the world do you find 18 scheduled languages, 114 other languages, 216 mother tongues,96 non specified languages, and totally up to 10000 languages spoken by people, yet roaring with one voice when one man comes to the crease with a bat? Where else would you find the world's most efficient Six-Sigma (one error in SIX MILLION!) coveted by a bunch of guys delivering home-made food? Oh the list can go on, and on, and on! It's not for nothing that they say, Saare Jahaan Se Achha, Hindustan Humaara!

[thebongjournal-blog]

Fireflies

Night falls and the clouds loom low, And the wind whistles it's forlorn melody. The pitter-patter of the rain, the sudden flash of lightning, and for an instant, the whole world's still. Birds seek shelter under leaves and oak, While the four-legged ones scamper to hide. Heavy drops of ice-cold water from the heavens above, That's all can be heard, for the whole world's still. As the rains slowly fade away into the night, The world seems to come alive, As one sound subsides, another takes it's place, With the sounds of a thousand voices' relieved sigh, But wherefrom the voices come, no one knows, For they come from the darkness of the night. The rains have gone, but the clouds fill the sky, With no sun to light the void. And then you come out of your hiding place, tiny lantern of the night, One little drop of golden hue, and then a thousand more, Setting the bushels aglow.

[thebongjournal-blog]

Nojoto

Hey guys, So the reason why I've been away so long is that there's something new I've been working on. It's a work in progress and it's just started to take shape. The name's Nojoto. We have a blog going that started about a week back. It's all about creating a social identity that's quite different from the numerous social networking sites on the internet. Hopefully I'll be able to put up a sneak peek of the project for you guys soon! Till then, check it out!!

nojoto.blogspot.in

[thebongjournal-blog]

Existence - A Timelapse on life

Was going through Facebook today when someone shared this video:

Brilliant and very, very awe-inspiring! Suddenly, the world feels like a much larger, yet closely connected to everything. Turn off the lights, watch on a huge screen :D

[thebongjournal-blog]

TZINGA!

Well, the other day I went shopping at Inorbit's Hypercity, here in Hyderabad. Strolling though the aisles, I happened upon this funky name -TZINGA! Check it out:

SO, the first thing that came to my mind?

GIFSoup

Okay, onto the drink itself. First look was literally a steal! No, really. I picked up 2 packs and almost walked out of the supermarket without running it through the cashier. What ensued was an animated conversation in Hyderabadi mixed with Hindi and some Telugu interspersed in between with me trying to explain that I'm not a thief and the guard simply shaking his head in vehement disapproval. Few minutes later, I walked out with a now-paid-for and fully legal bag of TZINGAs to taste.

The pack itself stands out in the crowd, but the only problem is that if it weren't for the placement on the aisle (drinks and beverages) I would seriously have missed (or mistaken) it for a dishwashing liquid, like those refill packs of Vim or Pril. Having said that, the pack's awesome. I love the flexible soft-pack feel to the bottle (if I may even call it a bottle). It's truly a "Packed" drink; and according to their website TZINGA.IN it actually consumes less material than the bottled or canned drinks, automatically becoming lighter on the environment. Cool right? Right? 

Right.

The drink comes in three funky flavours - Lemon Mint, Tropical Trip and Mango Strawberry. Needless to say, my loyalties veered towards Lemon Mint. I simply LOVE those two flavours and the combo really hit the spot. The other two were a mix of flavours with Tropical Trip being more grape'y and Mango Strawberry tasting like bubblegum (which was quite a pleasant surprise for me!) Now comes the good part. A little bit of reading into the fine print and looking up the ingredients online, these drinks contain real ginseng (formerly popular in Twinnings tea) and real guarana. What's Guarana you ask? It's a killer natural alternative to caffeine, which gives you the same amount of kick at a much lower cost to your body. And ginseng, you must already know, has massive amounts of anti-oxidants. So each swig you take from the porta-flask-esque pack of TZINGA, you get a power-packed dosage of uber-healthy stuff that should give you a few more hours of battery life ;) The cherry on top? Each pack costs only Rs.20/- Even I didn't believe it at first, and thought probably they're fibbing about the ingredients or the print must be wrong. But lo and behold, the price checked out and the ingredients are guaranteed natural, and the drink even tasted great! I think it's a great addition to the line of affordable energy drinks available to us. It also made for us some cool flavoured mixers for a round of vodka, limes, rums and whiskeys! Have a swig next time you see it on a shelf in a store near you. It's cool, it's funky, it's extremely affordable and of course, it's TZINGA!!

[thebongjournal-blog]

Awesome BTL campaigns and Brand Activations!

Okay, so with great power comes great responsibility. Uncle Ben clearly never worked in an ad agency.

Even with the chindi powers of an account planner, there comes the responsibility of coming up with the wildest strategy ideas that the brand can accomodate. This brought me to an oft-used old school marketing technique that's been making a comeback in recent times - BTL, urf Below The Line.

See, there were these two sisters A and B. They were strippers at a club. A was the sleazy but slightly less beautiful one while B was extremely hot yet of a nicer nature. Owing to their personalities, their performances were far far different from each other. A always took centrestage, twisted the pole, held the entire crowd's attention. B on the other hand, was the lap dancer, keeping herself to private performances. Since A was right on the stage, she got a lot of tips from the entire crowd, but she could never tell how much she'd get, but it pleased everyone, so it pleased her as well, the voyeur that she was. B, on the other hand, earned great amounts from her regulars, pleasing them with undivided personal attention to each of them. Although she handled lesser numbers, her engagement was much much more than A could ever manage.

And that is what ATL and BTL are all about.

ATL, Above The Line, is all glamour. It's about reaching out to the masses through public media with a message that creates or reinforces brand communications. But there's no direct consumer involvement. You can't touch ATL.

BTL, Below The Line, is a more down-to-earth, hands-on approach that is more direct and establishes a relationship of the brand with individual consumers.

So, here are five of the most amazing BTL campaigns and brand activations that have caught the attention and admiration of their target audiences worldwide:

1. Smart E-BALL

Electric cars are not really all that attractive. Their tech is quite nascent, they have very less power and accelerate oh-so-slowly! To prove all of these conceptions wrong, promoters of the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive set up an activation on the streets to showcase the car's surprisingly powerful acceleration.

They created a live digital version of the classic game of Pong and mapped two Smart cars to drive back and forth to act as the paddles. 

The result? Instant crowd engagement that gave the potential buyer an opportunity to test drive the cars and get a real feel of it.

Check out this cool video case study for all the details!

2. Project Glass - Google

Google has always been the forerunner in coming up with innovative technology and dishing it out for the world to experience. Project Glass by Google let the futurist in us get a glimpse into the kind of tech they've been developing and we've been dreaming of. With a POV video that went surprisingly viral, Project Glass received immense attention and captured everyone's imagination of a future where everything we see is just that much more.

The Google Plus page for this project keeps posting updates on the progress of this device. Check out the video and marvel at the possibilities of this piece of tech!

3. 3M Scotch Brite - Wash Your Bill

How many times have you wanted to eat and eat and eat, and not pay the bill? Always right? Well, Scotch brite came up with a cool innovative campaign that I personally would love to see implemented at a restaurant near me. 

Don't want to pay your bill? Do the dishes.

Simple. Smart. Punny. And HIGHLY effective.

All it needed was a restaurant's co-operation and a few willing social media addicts to make this a fun cool way for Scotch Brite to reach out to an audience that barely even connected with it.

4. Andes - The Great Escape!

Everyone needs a rescue! Especially those of us who are stuck in a drab theatre performance, a boring anniversary dinner or just plain stuck. Andes beer decided to don the cape of rescue rangers and designed a fascinatingly elaborate campaign to rescue unwilling attenders of functions and take them to a much more conducive location of their choice - A bar with all their friends in it!

Run over a span of two months, this is one heck of a campaign that would make anyone an instant fan of their beer!

The way to do it? Just a few clicks on Facebook!

5. Heineken QR Sticker Festival

One more beer activation, just coz all beer companies are that much cooler! ;) 

QR codes haven't been around for too long, but they're catching on, and fast! It's fast, easy and free to generate. Couple that with a HUGE concert and youngsters willing to meet new people, Heineken came up with this great new way to meet someone at a Polish summer festival. They generated custom QR codes carrying whacky and cool personalized messages, printed them out on stickers to be stuck anywhere on the person's body and which others may scan, giving them a completely new way to break the ice.

What resulted during the 4 day festival, they printed a massive number of stickers and helped people "Open up their world!"

Check out their video case study here!~

Done right, activations make great fans out of the consumers, if not loyalists. Current companies, especially technology and FMCGs are slowly realizing that fact and betting more and more on BTL activities to promote themselves.With such awesome innovations already out there and crazy minds constantly working with huge budgets just to beat the competition to it, who knows what might come our way each day that we walk down the street?

S, over and out.

[thebongjournal-blog]

Being Bengali! (And the goodness of food!)

I was born and brought up in Mumbai, the most cosmopolitan, metropolitan (and many more litans) city in this country. There's no one single language or religion or race or caste that forms too large a majority here. It's a melting pot, an amalgamation of a brilliant array of socio-cultural people living in harmony (and occasional disharmony) with each other.

When I was growing up, I was this typical "Bong boy" - Oily side-parted hair, spectacles on the nose, a slight pot-belly and an inherent love for maach-bhaat (Fish and rice). Somewhere while going from a four-foot something to a six-foot something (stop sniggering will you!) I kind of lost touch with my inner bangali babu. It's only in recent years that I rediscovered the bengali inside me and come to terms with the fact that there's no escaping it.

Like all self-respecting Bongs, I love an intellectual conversation over coffee, endearingly called as adda by the Kolkata kakushona across the street. I have a penchant for numbers. Maths was my favourite subject in school. I'm kind of nerdy too, loving my daily dose of literature (from Crichton's technical details to Tolkien's intricate worlds to Rowling's divinations to Gardner's number games) I just can't do without a few pages a day at the very least! Right after lunch I shall feel the effects of bhaat-ghoom (The urge for an after-rice siesta). I totally reserve the right to say "Eeeesh!" at everything that disgusts, repels, excites, fascinates, shocks or even surprises me; and absolutely no one can do a drunk, "Paro!" like I do! 

But the one thing I absolutely and completely identify with as a Bengali stereotype is our love for food! I absolutely LOVE to eat. That's one trait I shall always thank the Bengali community for! I think the HIPPO chips ads were inspired from a Bengali! Hippo fight Hunger it seems! Being a foodie is what being bong is totally about to me. I mean, what can be better than a plateful of macher-jhol or a potful of mishti-doi when you sit to dine? The single biggest thing that any Bengali event revolves around is FOOD! Be it a wedding or festival celebrations or just a simple family get-together, the first thing that your maashi (aunt) will ask when she enters the house will be, "Oooooooo! (in that pitch, tone and voice that you heard in your head right now), Great smell! What are you cooking??" And with that all the women of the house will make a beeline for the kitchen where my mother dearest will proceed to explain in detail how, what and how much of each dish she's cooking. Oh and also, offers of assisting and vigorous denials can be heard from the kitchen amidst the din that comes out of having a large congregation of Bengali mohila (ladies) at one confined place with food.

I've grown up loving food and watching food shows like Masterchef and Hell's Kitchen and even our own beloved Khaana Khazana, asking mother to cook something out of it. My mum's an amazing cook too! She can cook pretty much everything from plain daal-bhaat to a mean meat steak! Our family trips in my childhood and almost every other trip I've been on after that has always revolved around getting to the best places to eat, wherever I went. Nothing makes me happier than to dig into a delectable piece of cooked meal; I'm happier when someone else shows the same appreciation I do for the same food. The way to my heart goes right through my palate and there's no two ways about it!

So if you meet me on the street, or just for a casual snack, beware that the Bong in me will make sure you end up with a full stomach by the time we depart. Coz even though we might not be the best off-topic conversationalists, we sure do know how to cover that up with a good meal!

Cheers, and from our favourite new-gen Bengali anti-hero, Nomoshkar! ;)

[thebongjournal-blog]

Kindness makes the world go round!

And in all that ranting and sentimental writing, this came up and cheered me the hell up!

Watch and share!

[thebongjournal-blog]

When the giant awakens...

The poem was inspired by this beautiful photo clicked by my friend and photographer extrodinaire Abhijeet Singh.

In the distance the giant awakens fire in the belly, rising from slumber deep red molten fury beneath a crust frozen over rip the sky apart and make it weep.

He looks down and sees her dance

shiver, curl, swirl and crash

motion fluid yet every pulse of power

mould herself with every splash.

A worthy roar and a quiver of rage

a thrust of fire and boundaries break

Stallions of yellow and red gallop down the rocky breast

black soot of destruction in their wake.

She looks up at him with a loving gaze

her arms entwined to a cold embrace

white spray and rainbow hues aglow

forever nudging his rough surface.

And then the twine meet at long last

loud escape of hissing satisfaction

she holds him close, he pushes into her

now, as one, in neutral inaction.

[thebongjournal-blog]

Rapid fire Writing my thoughts out!

Somewhere at the airport, lost in time and with nothing to do is when I realize the words that have welled and swelled up inside me over the past few months. It's been ages since I wrote. Checked back at my blog today and realized the last post was in August. Yeah, then. Writing was...probably, yes probably still is my passion and my blog, my confidante. I doubt myself because I barely get time to write these days. Come to think of it, why did I start writing in the first place? I daydreamed all day long. Two hour travelling time alone makes you do such things. Well, that and my mind was always an adventure to me. I close my eyes and I'm off to middle-earth, battling orcs and crazed dragons, firing up energy in the mere palms of my hands and blocking out immense balls of fire shot at me by wizards from lands unknown. Then there were the more real situations...not so real too probably because I like to put myself in movies that I love, be it the romantic Sound of Music, hilarious Home Alone, fist pumping fast paced Bruce Lee tourneys or a plain action packed guns-ablaze flick to entertain. Yeah, I'm my own hero. There's a thousand different worlds in my mind, all connected by a single soul - me. With the flick of an eyelid I can travel between worlds, stop time, lift off into space, save the earth, win the hearts of a hundred damsels in distress. Just the same, I would be the one protecting my loved ones, losing out all in the end. I don't know..It's all in my head and they keep popping up sometime or the other. And that's why I started writing in the first place. These worlds, these friends and foes come to me and disappear quite as quickly as they come. The world between the flickering blurs of my dreams and reality is what I want to record. Remember as and when I please. Sometimes I try to fly and I cannot. I try hard. Really hard, yet I cannot. That used to happen in my world of childhood days. Now, I fly. But this I can remember, the stories where I wanted to fly, I cannot. The blur you find when you start to forget, I want to erase. That's why I started writing. Thoughts are your own. They're supposed to be private. Sometimes you cannot voice your thoughts for reasons galore. They may come out in the form of actions, when you talk about it with someone you trust completely, sometimes they may not manifest at all. But those stories in your head? Ones where you think you can relate to, the ones you tend to remember after you wake up, or long after you've stopped thinking about them? They're those thoughts surfacing. I prefer to let them surface whenever they want. That's one way of keeping a straight head. Thinking rational. Writing them down, blogging for that matter, let me talk to that unseen face that listened, did not react. And when it reacted, there were a hundred different voices, some agreeing to what I say, some that countered, some that appreciated how I put my words, some, again, criticized. I enjoy sharing my thoughts without making sense of them on my own. Back to the stories. Sometimes, especially at the end of the day, when I'm walking alone, taking a walk or just plain loitering, I think of people..the people around me...my friends, my family, the ones close to me. Even some not-so-close to me. Having that bit of time to yourself is a luxury these days. And many a times, those stories in my head form around what I feel should have been..what actions he/she should have taken. What I would have done had I been in his/her place. Is that really necessary? Why should I be bothered with what someone else does? Because I think it's good to learn. Analyze. That's my forte. Probably might be my undoing as well. Is this piece incomplete? I'm not sure. I hope not..it's my thoughts, I tend to trail away as I have often done in the most crucial of situations. But that's just the reel in my head starting to play time and again. And it knows no time, no situations...it just plays whenever it wants to.

[thebongjournal-blog]

To be Continued 4

Part 1: click here Part 2: click here Part 3: click here  A quick word with his friends across the counter and some teasing remarks from them and he was back by her side. "Shall we?" he said, swaying his hand towards the door in one fluid motion. His casual demeanor surprised her. She probably wasn't used to hanging around men like him, he figured. As he held the door open for her, she got up smoothly and walked out, her firm posture affirming her confidence and style, and they walked out of the store to a few muffled hoots and comments from his friends behind the counter. "This one's gonna be interesting for sure." he thought, walking into the coffee shop across the road. She had already walked ahead to the counter and asked for her drink. As he proceeded to do the same, Westlife's "Uptown Girl" started playing on the jukebox and he quietly smiled to himself at the irony of the situation. To his surprise, he saw her do the same and couldn't help but wink at her. She just smiled slyly at him and took her seat by a chessboard. On the white side. "She likes to be in control..." he noted. Intrigued, he waited for her to make the first move. "So, what's your name?" he asked. Standard pick-up line on a regular day, but this time, he really wanted to know. "Why don't we keep it a secret for now?" she said, not looking up. He remained silent as he watched her make the first move. Time usually slows down when you're playing something like a game of chess where each move has to be thought of slowly and carefully. And it did for the first couple of minutes. His careless attitude, the casual charm that had floored many a girl right from high-school faltered in front of this self-confident, haughty yet chic woman who had not only captured his attention but practically made him ask her out. Not the way things usually went in his life, and that had caught him by surprise. His conversation initially was that of a high-school boy on a first-time date, not knowing what to say. "What's your name?", "Where are you from?", "So, what do you like?"... He even thought of starting with a "Sup?" and held himself back in the nick of time. But as all conversation happen, things started getting a bit smoother as he realized from her tiny smiles and raised eyebrows from time to time that she had been playing him all along, avoiding personal talk and making things difficult for him. Also, that he'd been losing miserably at the game that had been unfolding before his eyes. Time to buck up! he thought and started concentrating on the game, but soon he found that she was truly too good for him. Back and forth, back and forth they rallied their players, dancing to the tunes of their whims, battling invisible battles as he parried her moves with his, their each step revealing just a little bit about each other's thoughts. And beyond the chessboard, their conversation flowed with a rhythm that was just as surprising. He found that her personality was a lot like his own, but beyond that, she was an enigma. So secretive, a closed book to some extent. She revealed nothing about herself, wanting to talk about him instead, yet he sensed no bad intent in that. He himself had lost count of how many women he had tried the John Doe on so that they wouldn't be able to call him back the night after. But she didn't quite seem that type. Here was a woman who was so intriguing, in looks and in personality, and yet so secretive that he knew practically nothing about her. Maybe that's what attracted him to her even more. He didn't know, and that bothered him more than the prospect of winning or losing the game. "And that's check, and mate." she said, leaning back and taking the final sip of her decaf latte, now lukewarm from the long game. .

[thebongjournal-blog]

To be continued...2

For part 1, click here. There was nothing he didn't know how to handle. Street smart, reckless and suave, things came easily to him. With a natural charm and rugged looks, life was easy. He cared less about where life took him and liked to go with the flow. That morning, like any other, he hopped into his Mustang and revved up the engine. Nothing soothed him more and nothing pumped more adrenaline into his blood than the sound of her engine. He headed towards the Macy's outlet where he worked to start his morning shift. Money wasn't a concern for him. As long as it paid rent and got him a square meal, he was fine. That morning, though, he was late. So he pressed on the gas and let the Mustang dominate the road as she often did. He sped through the signals, not missing a beat as each turned red just as he crossed them. He drove by this road enough each day to know how long each signal held. A few blocks away from the store, he pulled over at a signal. A chic Datsun caught his eye. Looking left, he saw a gorgeous woman behind the wheel, hair tied back and held together with a scarf, sunglasses donned over her eyes and a strand of stray hair wafting back and forth in the light wind blowing through her hair. Intrigued, he waited for her to move first as the signal turned green. The woman seemed to enjoy the casual ride, yet seemed lost in thought. She accelerated gracefully and raced past him in one smooth motion. He trailed his eyes after her and raced to catch up. She was going his way anyway after all. Two blocks down, she turned right and into the parking lot of the very store he worked at. He couldn't believe it! Pulling up next to her car and peeking into the Datsun, he knew there was something about her. Something mysterious...an air of detatched solitude that made her all the more attractive. He knew she was probably way beyond his league, yet he did not care. He never did anyway. Changing into his work clothes, he rushed into the store to find her browsing through a few clothes at the far end. This was the first time he got a good glimpse of her. With the sunglasses off, he saw that she had hazel brown almond eyes, almost oriental, wavy shoulder length hair tied back with a white silk scarf with maroon checks. She wore denim trousers and a stunning red top with a navy blue shrug. She was looking out the window, lost in thought and in the music plugged into her ears from her ipod, a red bag clutched in her slender hands and lips pursed in a lost look of concentration. "Ah, what the heck!" he thought and handing over his shift to a colleague, took off his work apron, smoothed out his hair, straightened his clothes and with a confident stride, approached her. "Hi." he held out his hand, and waited. And waited. She looked up at him with a gaze that was a mix of indifference and interest. An irony to say the least. Then she finally let her lips part into a slight smile. "Hi."; and held out her hand. .

[thebongjournal-blog]

Classroom Shayaris!

Been a long time! MICA's a blast and there's a lot to do. But in the midst of it all, classroom capers are commonplace. So, presenting a few of what I like to call Classroom Shayaris, courtesy yours truly being bored to death from four hours of sleep and a droning professor: Tere pyaar ne kar diya pagal, Tere pyaar ne kar diya pagal, Shareholder's equity is called share capital! Wah wah wah! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dum maaro dum, mit jaaye gum, Dum maaro dum, mit jaaye gum, A share's issue price can be at a premium! (I think this deserves an applause :P ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dikhne mein toh tu lagti hai badi sweet, Dikhne mein toh tu lagti hai badi sweet, Liabilities and assets come in Balance Sheet! (sadly jis ladki ko yeh shayari maari, she ran away disgusted. I haven't been able to figure out why :| ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kabhi khushi kabhi gum, Tara pum pum pum, Chai mein cheeni kum, Piyo whiskey, piyo rum! Waaah! waaah! (this one actually received temporary appreciation) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tum mile, dil khile, tum mile, dil khile, I'm dying for some steak, And loads of fish fillet! (No breakfast, what to do :( ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Main shayar toh nahi, Magar aye hasin, Tu likh rahi hai secret mein, maine share kiya toh sahi! (after she told me she's blogging at her desk too :D ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And of course.... Aye Shibani! Pee le thodi paani, Yeh lecture chalta raha toh Khatam meri kahaani! (We both agreed to that!) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'll be back with more after a few more lectures! Till then you guys can plan on ways to kill me. Until next time! Ciao!