Quo Vadis?

Ad breaks can be very painful especially when you are watching something really interesting on the idiot box. Mercifully the IPL restricts these breaks enough for maybe a quick dash to the loo and back before the next over is bowled. Two ads of late make me laugh or cringe every time they come on. Ad No1: "Opportunities never sleep; the world never sleeps ... That's why we work around the clock, to turn dreams into reality. That is why Citi never sleeps," says a voiceover. You may have seen the ad so I will spare you clipping. The bottom line is Citi never sleeps and guess what happens? - A mind blowing $10 billion loss - 20,000 job cuts - A CEO called Prince being given the boot - In India 140 branches of their NBFC are being closed - An Indian, Vikram Pandit is now trying to salvage the remains of the day (since they have no nights) - All employees now don’t sleep either as they are racked by nightmares of layoffs of paycuts. Bottom line: Sometimes it pays to heed conve...

I remember reading a story where the same question was posed by a certain king. All the courtiers were dumbfounded not wanting to displease the king by quoting too high or too less. After all kings can get temperamental. The problem was solved when a wise man said that the king was worth 29 pieces of silver since Jesus Christ was betrayed for only 30 silver pieces. The king was pleased with the answer and felt humbled and so ended the story. If I were to pose the same question to you, what would be the answer? Maybe 29 pieces of silver or just 1 rupee if you were a tribal hailing from Orissa. Sometimes I wonder- Are we all living under the same sun?

Wear short skirt. Hitch hike. Conserve fuel. Confused? Actually it’s an ad for the new avatar of Shopper’s Stop that I saw on a hoarding in Hyderabad. Now that the courts have banned hoardings in Chennai I amuse myself by checking out the craziest and the most absurd elsewhere. Coming back to the headlines they were above a girl appropriately flaunting her legs for a ride from a gawking motor biker. The ad guys must think this to be great tongue in cheek advertising. Googled the tagline and found this. . And guess what Saving the environment and yet being stylish is the underlying theme. Came via SMS – “Can you believe they are still together after all the shit that has happened between them for all these years. Who? … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … your @$$ cheeks!!!!" Hey! Maybe the ad guys are right. This is tongue in cheek advertising.

Sitting in Café Coffee Day with D and thirty odd youngsters on Sunday I was keeping one eye on the thrashing that the Royals from Rajasthan were dishing out to the Chennai Super Kings. The camaraderie in the coffee shop was unmistakable with everyone (the guys) rooting for the local team. Women were scarce and they were outnumbered by a factor of 10:1. We were one of the three couples in the store and like me the other guys were keeping one eye on the screen and trying to look sufficiently disinterested in the game (it’s a bad idea to give importance to something / someone else when you are out with a lady, trust me). After the local team was superbly bowled out the café got deserted. The three couples (us included) and a handful of guys remained. Our pretended disinterest ended for a brief moment when a catch was dropped of the Royals; instantaneously all the men jumped / moaned / groaned / threw up hands in frustration while all the women gave a weird look at their men that translate...