I mean Business!!

After days and ages I finally have my long weekend, a 2 day break means much respite to my other wise cho-o-block life, which I have learnt doesn’t treat me well if I over stack it up.

So I am taking it easy…taking it slow…eating well…sleeping well and shoppin tooJ

As my career now becomes 6 month old I’d like to share a brief on my life as a business journalist. Having finished my post-grad in a land of dead poets and alive authors (I say cause no-one seems to write meaningful poetry anymore) my literature left me devoid of any business skills till I was forced to grapple the reality of being employed, luckily my promise to get through Business Journalism rescued my day, being persistent helped and I landed a job at India’ most widely read Business magazine : Business World.

Though 6 months that have gone by have I have had numerous editorial meetings where words such as fiscal and deficit flew right through to me and management jargon became a lingo placed far away from my literary rhetoric, but old habits die hard as I tried to sit through the art of business writing I was often faced by my love for my long drawn “critical” approach very often found in students of literature.

But I am well equipped now I must say, past few months have given me enough meetings with the who’s-who of corporate India from meeting hard-core business men\women to analysts and strategists, its been exciting to venture into new stories. From covering advertising\marketing and branding to researching on more complex and alien topics such as retail, hospitality ,aviation etc it’s been a great learning curve.

My meetings have many memorable stories to talk off, the latest being Mr Patu Keswani. I have been following Patu’s business since a while ( thru news papers ) and was quite excited to meet him , Mr Keswani owns and runs a chain of hotels called Lemon Tree and has launched another brand by the name of Red Fox, a IIT\IIM grad the man knows is humour as much as he knows his equities. Fabulous office, quirky art-work, one that stood out was a portrait of a dog with a crown, staring at a man tied to a chair titled : “hospitality industry”.

We stepped into his office only to find him enjoying a palak paneer with naan which he claimed was the best he’d eaten from a dhaba outside his office and he continued at it till the end of his meeting, he was kind enough to offerJ.

The interview was fab, and I realized that some men are borne to do business, as his financials plans flew right form his mind to paper it struck me how flawlessly he compartmentalized and structured his company to make it most profitable, how he raised capital from partners, kept his stakes and grew his business. Being a pioneer in creating India’s own domestic chain of branded hotels Patu is by all means a successful business man : in 8 years he has made 20 hotels , in an industry where the average gestation period is 2 years per property, the man is indeed doing well…

Many more such fascinating people to talk about, on the other end HHF : an NGO run by a dear friend and me keeps me equally busy, as we launch another brand to expand our organization and look at liberal flow of funding….some where I try and find the business-woman in me J

Bouncing back!!

I know I have been blog-dead for the longest time…being a professional writer now doesn’t leave too much space for writing as a hobby plus post my departure from Literature my creative writing has seen a natural death, which isn’t a good thing…

So back to where I’ve been…working…shuttling between 2 jobs and 2 lives…exit-ing people in and out of my life which has been a wee bit tough…but learning irresespective…

What next…lots lined up from the pov of Happy Hands you’l get to see and buy a lot of products creative and things you haven’t seen before…will be grt..we’r getting into retail through different channels so look out for that.

Plus you can read my articles in Business World Magazine where I cover advertising and marketing from a business pov…

Apart from which I am dying to travel and I should stop dying to travel but instead pack my bags and leave for villages…

So this is it…I actually have lotta exciting experiences to put down..so be back soonJ

A weekf rom Now!!

A week left, with triple the excitement , double the jobs and ten times the work load, we girls all feel like Erin Brokowich...Running the length and breadth of the entire city, making ends meet, dealing with stubborn printers, our dear volunteers and our even more precious sponsors and partners life is consumed by Happy Hands. As I type this, the web-site design is being discussed on the phone...The posters are all over the city, radio spots have been filled...Invites in the form of bookmarks are neatly stocked in shoe-boxes that block my room....

As we 2o something girls make this happen it takes us on a high, the thrill of having got so far and almost there is blissful!...

More than the effort it’s the cause we stand for. The artists we meet who all indulge truly with us to make this happen, who travel from far ends and deliver goods on times. Meeting at Mc-donalds, with a carton full of puppets and sipping ice-tea as we discuss the size of each puppet. Going to store-houses, stocking and pricing and tagging are things all new and fresh to us.

Social Entrepreneurship as we love to call our activity, is the need of the hour. As the world waits on change to take place we make it happen.

Tapping in on high energy levels and this irreplaceable optimistic belief, is how we at Happy Hands are making it work!!

Exerpt- From "The lives of the unknown"

For about 89 years the tree stood on the empty barren stretch of land, spreading out abundantly on all sides it rose up to almost touch the sky…It was one of those trees which would haunt you in a dream…It could also be the tree that could inspire an artist. It could be the tree where a solitary animal lost on deserted land rested under on a sunny sunny day…..
A thief was once hanged from the tree, he had accidentally killed a woman in the near by village…the villagers insisted that he be hanged there…and since then the tree was believed to have the thieves’ ghost.…it was the tree that grand-mothers made fables of…calling it the tree of gods or ghosts depending on the story they wished to tell…
The tree had had fed generations of red ants that were found in abundance in that georaphical location…birds’ nests were built on it too, the giant eagle, the tiny sparrow, the obsequious pegion had all rested on it.
The tree was dying now….it was old… last year a bad infection had diseased it…diseased the very roots that had held it through infernal heat and torrential rain. Its branches were drooping and the leaves had lost their lustre, this was sign of death…with nobody to tend to it, the tree would barely be able to survive the summer.
Then there would be no more of the tree. It would perish from the face of earth and the grandmothers would then talk of the tree that was and how the devil destroyed it.

Untitled

Purple haze
Red light daze.
Italian food…too cheesy?
Try govinda’s movies for a change.
Confused about the boy ?
Get along with another one for a while .
Prevent yourself from drowning ,
By staying on the surface .
Drown to get over the illusion of the surface !1
Work till u can’t breathe,
Work to block ur view
Give ur mind a window, to ur inner self .
Stand alone and pause !
Think the thought .
Walk the talk .
Stand still and move fast,
Immobility kills the cause.
Be the best u’l ever know..
Stick to ur guts
Eat an ic-cream, blow the candles on your cake
Learn how to make a movie.
Drag the queen out of her chair ,
Reign, reside, accomplish,
Surprise yourself!!!

Write-o-write!!

Then there was word…the word was spoken and soon followed man’s desire to write. I write this to celebrate all the writers who put thought to paper and all those readers who revel in the beauty of our writing…
“If the doctor told me I had six minutes to live, I’d type a little faster.”
Isaac Asimov
This is the spirit of a writer, the need of a writer, the soul of a writer.

I often read closely, works of famous writers and watch words change into actions produced out of an uncanny thought, bringing alive all that remains buried in that page. For Horace, a Roman scholar the purpose of writing was to teach and delight…centuries later we continue doing the same. The beauty of thought is best expressed in writing. Writing is therapeutic, leading to purgation of myriad thoughts that our mind is capable of producing. It’s not only subjective thoughts that one needs to vent out but sharing of information imparted through writing enhances communication.
In today’s world as time shrinks, words are shortened, language in dissected, meanings are converged, visual communication takes over, a fresh piece of holistic writing is much needed.

Thus there rests a great responsibility on the shoulder of a committed writer. As the great 20th century writer and philosopher, Albert Camus states “the purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself” this statement contrary to it’s brevity is weighty in thought, setting forth the responsibility and role of a writer and emphasizing a writers role as a sort of saviour, guardian of the society helping in preserving the truth.
Man’s freedom of expression has a long and turbulent history attached to it. Descending to some centuries back, when writing was the main effective tool to communicate and reach out to people. Revolutions and protests have borne witness to the importance of this act. Be it Elizabethan England where people protested against the church via means of blasphemous and controversial writings or our very own struggle for independence with eminent journalists like Gandhi, Annie Besant, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak who took to writing. All used a common medium of expression, of bringing about that much needed change, they wrote, they criticized, they awoke the sleeping consciousness of people and they succeeded.
Yet one’s freedom of expression has been vulnerable to external threats. There is always an opposing party that will make it difficult for a pro social writer to exist in its chaotic strata. Writers have been executed, out-casted, punished for their act of putting down what is to be hidden. I talk about an effective medium of writing, one that has rebelled against the authorities, against prevailing unjust social order, one that has been often smothered or oppressed and one that no matter what, will still continue to exist.
In our testing times such events continue to prevail. With the society preaching notions of individualism thereby granting an added liberty to one’s speech and expression, such a freedom becomes a hoax as Salman Rushdie gets a Fatwa or more recently Tasleema Nasreen becomes this iconic figure for all that is immoral and unjustified. These writers on their part take bold steps, they tread paths not ventured before, they lay open what since centuries has been forcefully imprisoned, they speak out, they write and they move the readers.That my dear readers, is the beauty of writing, the power of a pen, the ability to propagate thought.
Be it a poet who has divine power of interpreting life in his\her works, playwright who gives life to characters , fiction writer who creates the imaginary world where Harry Porter can fly on the magic broom, journalists, script writers, amateurs or anyone else who lives to write would find the act intrinsic.
I could go on endlessly about the sheer joy of writing but I remind myself that there will be a reader who might scorn my writing on writing. So I pause and stop writing.

Ravana Makers:

Prior to the much awaited, yearly festivities of Dusshera and the symbolic burning of the ravana effigies is a 2 month long period of hard work, which goes behind preparing the 40 feet tall ravana structures. This seasonal production of the effigies is replete with preparing basic structures, followed by colorful decorations, including painting and bejeweling them alike. It's a craft, not known by many but picked up by a few who till date continue to make a living off it.Off the Tagore Garden Metro station, thrives the ravana making trade.
Rows of crafted workers and shop owners are stationed among heaps of wooden sticks, wires and partially prepared structures. It's a site hard to miss and when observed closely it even has a story to tell."Sanjay Ravana Wala", employs 7 workers who in totality produce 20-25 ravanas yearly. Sanjay the shop owner , has been running this trade for the past 25 years. "While still at school I would assist Sultan Singh also known as Ravan Wale Baba, the originator of this craft. After my 12th, I started my own work and continue even today". He is also runs the New India Ravana's Society as an addition to his business.
The basic material used in preparing the structures comprises of wood, dhoti, wires, colorful paper and paints. A 40 ft structure sells anywhere between Rs. 4000-7000. The prices do go higher depending on the size of the effigy. Sanjay says while relating the facts of the business.
One of his workers Ranjit, hailing from Bihar, has been making ravanas for the past 5 years. He picked up the skill on the job and is now a pro at it. Their work hours are not fixed, as they proclaim to work around the clock. "We work all day long and late into the night, sometimes it stretches onto the next day, but it's just two months of such work". He states, as he works on the wooden sticks.
Another such producer of Ravana structures is Mahendra Singh of "Mahendra and Subhash Ravan Wale" who's been around for almost 40 years. He claims to be the oldest of the lot and boosts of producing 51 pieces yearly. He does have much to say about the dire state of the market despite good sales. "When I started out I would produce 100 such ravana all by myself, in those days the shops were scanty, competition was non-existent and raw material also came cheap. Now things have changed, the demand is there but the competition has increased manifold, there are many shops in the area doing the same business. Also, the prices of wood, wires and decorative pieces have gone up." He states pondering on the supply and demand situations.On being inquired about his clientele he utters names of foreign lands. "My work is quite famous; I have clients in America, South Africa and Canada. They even shot a movie once of my shop and told me to act. They were Indians and foreigners both and they were very excited to see the work we do in India." He adds with a sense of pride.
A little away from the main road, few workers concentrate below the scorching sun. Workers of "Naresh Kumar Ravana Wala" work effortlessly. They tie and untie pieces of wood and listen to instructions from Prem Kumar, the owner's brother. Knowing, that these structures will burn away to ashes in a few weeks, representing the destruction of evil, they ceaselessly aim to produce sturdy and fancy Ravanas, Kumbhkarans, and Meghdoot. Meeting deadlines and cultivating a profession for themselves.