tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75113731669943457342012-01-28T02:56:43.601+05:30Mostly frivolous.Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-63961199167350329212011-05-28T11:27:00.007+05:302011-05-31T11:54:41.146+05:30

This was one of those extremely rare days when we had spare time on hand. It helped that we had lost a client or two, after they dared go up against LL's sacred and all too fragile ego, which couldn't be compromised even in the face of future loss of income. While LL lost his temper and alienated the clients irrevocably, it consequently left us with a little breathing space.  This was

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-78109528145076657292010-06-19T09:56:00.008+05:302011-05-31T11:49:04.125+05:30

Since hitting bloggers block ("Yet again", I hear some drawls) and after a satisfyingly sunny beach holiday, I thought fondly of another visit to the service that tracks my hit count here. Much as a mother revisits photographs of her offspring, or an author lovingly caresses the glossy jacket of his latest bestseller, I too on occasion like to see from which part of the world people find their

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-41140197609635872972010-01-04T12:35:00.002+05:302010-01-07T16:31:36.747+05:30

These forgotten pages from LL's diary were anonymously scanned and emailed. After great trepidation, as I felt uneasy unleashing great evil unto the world, I overcame my scruples as this would give you, dear reader, tremendous insight. After all, wasn't Mein Kampf published in paperback for the same reasons? Read with caution - there's no going back. Some necessary

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-27326999810069922312009-11-09T22:29:00.010+05:302010-09-15T21:44:53.318+05:30

I jump ahead many years with this account, from what I think of as my third life. I never promised you chronological accuracy anyway. On this day, I was to encounter my most bizarre meeting ever. I was at the head office of a mid-sized company's MD for different reasons, perceived by me as altruistic and by him as predatory. I only realized this much later. The most amazing thing is -

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-24895000930968941482009-09-18T22:50:00.028+05:302009-11-03T12:41:47.656+05:30

…like you, doing in a field like this? Good question. One that I got asked a lot. Of all the unlikely career choices, this was a big mistake, or so I was beginning to think. Let some alternative titles I contemplated for this post serve as a warning in advance: If Only I’d KnownWhile We're DreamingSpeculationYour Grass is SO much Greener Everyone knows what an introvert is like. That would

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-26017876288785637672009-07-08T22:53:00.011+05:302010-01-04T11:11:44.009+05:30

I liked the Patel brothers. Quite apart from their ripping, unholy ambition to take on the mammoth market leader, and new launches almost at the speed of light as compared to Indian marketing standard time, they had well balanced family lives, or so I liked to believe. Juggling four cell phones between the two of them, or at least the four that I'd seen, one cell phone each was

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-7914769658334946722009-05-03T23:19:00.007+05:302009-05-07T10:58:52.855+05:30

Continued from P of B Part-I…For the next couple of weeks things got so hectic that there was no time to worry about the promise made to Mr. Prakash and the next meeting due.A scene I was beginning to picture increasingly with graphic images of dangling Damocles' swords and me as the hapless Damocles. Uneasy, however, did not seem to lie our modern day Dionysius' head. At least, to all outward

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-70102406011605912412009-03-10T22:33:00.009+05:302009-03-22T19:24:41.738+05:30

For weeks now, we had been noticing a simmering of excitement in LL's demeanour.He would spend hours closeted in his cabin with his EA, who would then stumble out unsteadily, with sheaves of papers spilling out of her file.Post such a tete-a-tete, we would often see her stagger back into our workstation* with a disoriented air, blinking a little. A bit like a convict let out into the free world

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-32338409508705381392009-03-02T20:53:00.014+05:302009-11-03T12:43:41.957+05:30

Venue: Client's office, one fine day.As always, do bear with the poor quality of sketch. The options presented did stump me at first glance. But you can guess which door I chose. And hey, if you can draw better than this with a mouse, please feel free to volunteer your services for the future. Versus my previous image, hope you've noticed that I've graduated from using boxes to depict bodies

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-90287422519648457222009-02-25T10:15:00.014+05:302010-01-07T16:39:01.177+05:30

Have stuck to adverbatim questions so readers can recognize their own.  Q: Why do you keep leaving 'notes for global readers'? Me: Hey, c'mon mate, allow me the dream. Besides, I really do have global readers (I hope). Q: How do I leave a comment anonymously? Me: Click on the option that says 'Anonymous' in the comment section. If you're not a complete stranger, do

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-70902152961808015742009-02-24T19:04:00.014+05:302010-01-17T10:06:08.973+05:30

On the personal front, I'd started feeling that anyone interesting of the male variety I'd lately met (or not met), fell into five categories. By interesting I mean - humane, witty, intelligent and attractive (to me). This only reconfirmed my theory refined over the years, that all the good guys:  1. Have left the country for the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand or S.E.A.*  2. Are

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-87522505778539136602009-02-04T20:23:00.012+05:302010-01-17T10:12:20.615+05:30

There are some who have the ability to catnap anytime, anywhere. An enviable trait, unless they happen to be sitting next to you at a movie show. Having snoozed peacefully through the crucial part of a thriller*, they awake newly refreshed, demanding that you fill them in on the intricacies of the plot. * A Hindi movie allows a lot of opportunity for the sleep deprived, as the average

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-72433210625051994052009-01-11T23:51:00.013+05:302010-01-17T10:15:53.366+05:30

After week upon week of meeting heads of businesses big and small, the psyche of entrepreneurs still fascinated.  I never tired of discovering anew another facet to their personality and work ethic. To add to this, the sheer variety of personalities was mind boggling, to say the least.  Some were their polished best and others downright boorish. However, it seemed that though entrepreneurs

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-10556226544122839552009-01-03T18:39:00.013+05:302009-01-28T10:48:34.149+05:30

A meeting which typically had an agency/ freelancer or two present in addition to the client sometimes posed diplomatic conundrums.Especially when it came to Desmond, who for some unknown reason, was LL's favourite man of all work of the small time advertising kind. Drinking Desmond was my moniker for him, for reasons which will become clear as you read on.Desmond wore a jacket for most meetings,

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-56409303745513910192008-12-18T19:59:00.013+05:302009-03-02T23:25:29.465+05:30

Venue : Boss's cabin, one fine day.I know you'll excuse the overall poor sketch quality and the fact that I couldn't quite draw the bodies.Yes, those figures represent people.The ones without any visible hair are male.(Click on the image to see it clearly)

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-76040025793851516102008-11-25T14:17:00.020+05:302010-01-28T10:08:07.554+05:30

If one studied the memos which did the rounds, one could quite easily imagine the events that led to it.Each crisis faced was thus chronicled by an appropriately worded memo. New administrative rules were created at the drop of a hat. No matter how absurd.The current memo in circulation often indicated an accurate reading of the administrative woes of the company. Good practices of HR and

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-38546884326569177702008-11-19T21:21:00.024+05:302010-01-28T10:12:30.388+05:30

Am sure you'll forgive the brief digression from work-related chronicles for a random break from frivolity. Found myself thinking of what makes a heart of gold and had to put this down. As we go through life, it gets rarer to meet people you form close friendships or even friendships with, irrespective of their gender. It happens, but at a slower pace, as one's growing years of school,

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-57607182035567262412008-11-14T00:01:00.007+05:302010-01-28T10:15:31.149+05:30

Have been described as one of the boys with such monotonous regularity from platonic guy friends (most of them - either happily married or happily separated and/or divorced) that I no longer automatically imagine a fast-forwarded Kafkaesque metamorphosis into a male version of myself. To picture this if you have nothing better to do, hark back to MJ’s Black or White video. Hey, judge the man(”?”

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-45215850328416324962008-11-08T18:42:00.021+05:302010-01-28T10:20:12.909+05:30

It was one of those days again.Had reached office at 8 a.m. and a whole 12 and a half hours later, was still there.Did I mention that we were understaffed and overburdened? Or that we could have held a record for the highest attrition? Lately, I'd forgotten what sunlight looked like.Since it had always been my burning ambition since childhood to be 'independent', I was happy to be working in an

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-48534708226723885322008-11-03T16:34:00.008+05:302010-01-28T10:34:15.475+05:30

In the course of acclimatization to the new work-world, which seemed to have till now few opportunities of applying what we had slogged over in b-school, I sometimes felt that my new work life was full of plain good old troubleshooting. At this stage, I was assigned clients for Account Planning/ Client Servicing, which is the function I was handling within my firm. A lot of it involved

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-89013930182334788242008-10-22T23:29:00.003+05:302009-01-22T11:07:05.419+05:30

Bro: Not bad! Me: Why are you on the extension! Buzz off!! Bro: No way Me: Get off or you’ll regret it. At this point, it struck me that this interruption could be used to my advantage. ‘When embarrassing conversation occurs, shift focus’. Did Sun Tzu say that or Confucius? Maybe the last fortune cookie at that Chinese place. Me: Mom, you need to concentrate on Akshay. He is going wayward. And

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-33992851615012390152008-10-18T20:52:00.003+05:302009-02-25T10:15:07.883+05:30

Have stuck to adverbatim questions so readers can recognise their questions. Send your questions to exmarrkitian@gmail.com. Q: Why the double R in Marrkit? And what the heck does it mean anyway? Me: Look, I wondered too. We are Marrkit Marketing Consultants. We Capture the Marrkit. (Capture the Marrkit is our baseline. Get the pun? Marrkit, Market? LL is particularly proud of it). As per Indian

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-31809199399980848142008-10-18T20:46:00.006+05:302009-04-29T12:28:48.614+05:30

Marrkit: An orifice (oops.. office) in Bombay - a marketing consultancyMarrkitians: Employees at Marrkit. Marrkitians Unofficial Definition of a Marketing Person: Start with a good human being; and take away his/ her innocence, commonsense, ethics, morals, values and add some ruthlessness, pedanticism, ego, ego and some more ego. That’s good to start with. Obviously, I really don’t think of

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-91454956190358480522008-10-18T20:45:00.002+05:302009-11-03T12:44:01.752+05:30

How to Surprise Your Competition How to Kill the Competition Don’t Focus on Competitors Get Your Customer Know Your Customer Keep Your Customer What To Do When the Customer Starts Leaving Stop Selling, Start Living… Start Marketing Ageless Product, Timeless Profit So What if Your Product Doesn’t Meet Any Consumer Need? Reap First, Sow Later Principles of Marketing Business Ethics for Newcomers

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-56660873259059337752008-10-18T20:35:00.008+05:302009-01-30T19:08:49.583+05:30

I was about to take a call from my boss’s cabin, owing to my workstation phone being out of order yet again. The official work-lingo for a little 2 by 2 feet space that I was allocated was religiously referred to as the Workstation. It consisted of a table on which my PC and printer jostled for space along with my ancient phone instrument. My phone was surely one of the items the Indian chapter

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-20931420367981983132008-10-18T20:34:00.001+05:302009-01-12T21:14:14.149+05:30

“May I speak to Manisha please?” asked the deep and polite male voice in my entire history of working here. Man, I thought, transferring the call, who says, “please”? Certainly not callers to Marrkit. Though designated “Group Brand Head”, am expected to pick up phone calls as we supposedly cannot afford to hire a telephone operator. Special timings are allocated for calls to be picked up in

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-61406662970413332642008-10-18T20:32:00.003+05:302009-01-20T10:52:40.610+05:30

Let’s start with when I took up my first job. I was 23 then. A small marketing consultancy called Marrkit. People working for Marrkit were known as “Marrkitians”. Am not kidding. Each time I heard myself being referred to as one, I felt as if I’d turned into a distant species of some creepy-crawly alien life form. The firm is headed by a super-thin and tall “Boss” whom you almost can’t see if

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7511373166994345734.post-6428567698989298432008-10-18T20:23:00.002+05:302009-01-12T21:11:58.932+05:30

This is a narrative with a difference. That it reflects what went on in the past, being jotted down only now, experience by experience. Another difference is that names have been changed, as the objective is not to be offensive to any one or provide publicity, positive or harmful, to any of the personalities mentioned. This is about my first job. In the most ‘happening’ city of India -

Annoymouslyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334314456453176943noreply@blogger.com0