That feeling of having arrived

Pardon the clichéd title of the post, but to capture what I wanted to, something else wouldn't have cut it. Okay, so something happened last week, something phenomenal. Between 7 change in briefs, confused clients, stale dinners, messy closets, messier minds and an unspectacular weekend, something remarkable happened. I have started to enjoy The New Yorker. Yupe, that's the story. That's about it. I'm sorry if I've led you to expect something life changing. Non. Just that I am now into the new yorker. I get it. No it wasn't on my 2011 new year resolution, but every writer I respect and love to read, reads the new yorker. No it wasn't exactly in the aspirational space, but yeah I did feel I was missing out on something. But, my attempts [yes, I use the word attempt, because that's what it was] at reading the recommended articles, would fail. Say somewhere in page 3, I would stop getting it. And then move to the lighter reads.

Everything changed in the past week. I read an article, that came highly recommended by a favorite blogger. I read the whole thing, and understood whatever was there to understand. When I say the feeling was almost calming, I kid you not. Calming like when you get your corner office with a view.

What gives?

Last night, after having worked for 10 hours straight [for most of you no biggie I know], straightened my back, picked up my bag and got out of office. It was dark, it was raining, the roads had more potholes than it's possible. And unfailingly the auto rickshaw guys were acting funny... 'it's late', it's raining, 'traffic jam' and what jam it was. After 70 minutes of being drenched by pothole water and choked with the soot from the rickety buses that crossed me, I reached home. Switched on the television, and scouted the fridge and the kitchen shelves. While nibbling on some stale cheese balls and watching Nigella cook a cuban chicken with ingredients from the freshest, prettiest farmers' market... I feel hopeless, goalless, tired and extremely lonely. Another day gone. Nothing done apart from having earned my living. That's what most people do. That's what most people are supposed to do. Yeah, yeah must sometimes, just sometimes the whole process of earning a living seems pretty pointless, away from family and friends, with no time to do what we like, with situations that make you curse the rains, with mornings that have turned into a nightmarish routine. Hmm, but then a woman has to earn her living... so would does she do. She leaves work a little early today, ignores the TO Do list, and the unanswered emails. Picks up her bag and heads to the food market. Tonight not, the cuban chicken but some fish curry and rice perhaps.

Condé Nast Traveler I'll be gone for a while

the thought of zero network zone excites me
the idea of living without an ATM seems fine
covering only two food groups a day sounds perfectly healthy
the promise of a stranger's bed is enticing
waking up without a plan, what can be wrong with that?
living out of a backpack is cool too.

Getting people to buy stuff they don't need with the money they don't have.

Hello Clients, Account executives,

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam vehicula pellentesque ultricies. Pellentesque vel tellus magna. Maecenas consequat, nisl eu convallis fermentum, mauris velit tincidunt tortor, quis vulputate lectus orci et quam. Curabitur dapibus tincidunt tortor sit amet malesuada. Proin rutrum nulla et justo pellentesque non porttitor purus tincidunt. Suspendisse potenti. Donec laoreet lorem sed arcu consectetur at aliquet lacus adipiscing. In quis dolor orci. Phasellus ornare aliquet nibh accumsan gravida. Integer id nisi eget sapien commodo consectetur. Fusce semper molestie vehicula.
Donec congue felis eu est eleifend ut fermentum mauris scelerisque. Donec gravida, dui quis lacinia volutpat, neque metus mollis ante, vel pretium turpis mi quis dolor. Aenean orci velit, fermentum vel tempus id, tempor a nulla. Suspendisse eleifend porta purus eu pharetra. Nunc vestibulum eros sit amet ipsum consectetur quis tempus orci condimentum. Sed viverra nulla vel arcu iaculis molestie. Curabitur at eros sed nisi pulvinar accumsan. Aliquam rhoncus, nisi ut sagittis elementum, neque libero vestibulum eros, a facilisis metus velit a justo. Ut ut nulla ante, vitae feugiat est. Proin in est erat, vel consectetur libero. In lectus enim, facilisis ut ullamcorper a, vehicula eget lacus. Quisque egestas orci justo, ac faucibus sem. Nulla laoreet convallis ullamcorper. Sed congue condimentum mauris, vel suscipit diam vehicula vitae. Duis convallis mattis auctor.

Garbage in – Garbage out. How hard is it to understand that? Clients, why not tell us the REAL date of your product launch, how can it be 1st of next month when you are yet to start operations in this city? When you are yet to hire a team? Why not tell us who you are actually targeting at? How can your TG be everyone from Parvathy R. Kutty, part time teacher, mother of two, wife of Insurance seller from Vanandurai to nineteen year old NIFtian, aspiring bridal lingerie designer from GK? Huh?
And Account Executives/Managers could you speak up please? When I say speak up, I don't mean you asking us for 7 headline options or asking the client for money [which you do very well, and yes of course this is why you and I are around], but while you are at it, can you not tell the client, 3 campaigns by tomorrow evening is not possible. That google images isn't his property, that one more bullet point and the ad will burst. That the consumer doesn't give a dang about his vision? And, and could you please write a brief? It's important, non?

n.b. this is my 100th post. quite a feat, considering my attention span.

It's everything I had imagined it to be

And before your mouth goes :-O, the 'it' above isn't a Cannes Lion. But it is – my first advertising award. And God it feels good. Like I said, the award is everything I had imagined it to be.
Not expecting it one bit. Check.
Heart Rate 220. Check.
Knees-going-weak while accepting it. Check.
Not remembering the name or the face of the gentleman who gave it to me. Check.
Looking at the camera and giggling like an idiot. Check.
Going numb once back to my seat. Check.
Staying numb for rest of the evening. Check.
Looking for eyes looking at me, but finding none. Check.
Discovering the Monday after to be as blue. Check.