Which team are you with ?

Sachin, Shahrukh, Symonds, Bhajji,Shilpa,Deepika Mallya, Ambani, Warne, Murli, Gilly, Veeru, Jaysurya all at one place. Fireworks are a must. Well not neccesarily. On the forefront it does seem it's the quality of players, teams and power of BCCI that made IPL a big success unlike ICL.

But if you go a little deep, you got to get impressed by the way IPL tournament was promoted and packaged first time around. Was difficult to get this league thing accepted in India, after all which team a common man will support? He likes Sachin, but he likes Sehwag too, he likes Yuvraj but also Dhoni. The Biggest challenge!!! Get this format accepted. But How...how to sell it ??

But then came the ads and promos.

Bollywood !!! It does sell cricket. A specially designed catchy promo was the "Kab aayega ranjan aur manu ka baap?" It was a typical ad that promoted the tried and tested bollywood masala, twins, father missing, mother taunted and teased by society…and finally coming the "Aaa gaya manu-ranjan(implying manoranjan) ka baap…DLF IPL CUP".

It was not that cute little ad that everyone watches and forgets even the name of the product...it did give the desired effect, created the curiosity with words...'kab aayega …kab aayega...ranjan aur manu ka baap' and then flats it out with a very comic ending. People criticized that advertisement a lot but the important thing is they discussed and that was the idea. To make it a topic for tea time discussion.

After all which team will he support and on what basis, what logic. No country, no state, nothing to identify with. Then again came the ads for the rescue.

The dentist asking the patient "which team are u with " and poor patient not knowing the team of dentist replies innocently Delhi Daredevils and then in a low voice doctor reveals that he supports Kolkata Riders. Nurse suggesting doctor to get one tooth removed of the patient. "Ek kyon paanch daant nikaliye...kaafi daring aaadmi hai...daredevils"...was the punch line. Then came a series of promos which created a curiosity and a support for different teams and in turn the tournament.

Some lady blaming a guy of teasing just because he was a Mumbai Indian supporter and she a Bangalore Royal Challenger supporter, another place a boy not giving a place to an aged fellow just because boy is a Chennai Super King's supporter and the aged guy is wearing a band of Deccan Charger.

"Which team are you with...?" was the buzz word....who are you supporting...No logic was required. These ads were conveying the idea, forget the logic, pick any team with emotions and support with passion.

90 % of the reason why I am watching IPL is these ads only and rest is obviously cricket. But saying that ads alone made the tournament a big success is too big a statement to be made in a society that is not used to be called easily influenced specially by cheap ads and therefore I will leave it at that.

Till the society starts accepting facts, keep enjoying the front foot of daredevils and dhol of Punjabi kings XI. And yes don't forget asking "Which team are you with...?"

Mumbai Trains

The metropolis of Mumbai holds many a challenge for the 'rookie' who lands here unaware of the hurdles and challenges that he or she might have to face.I think you will enjoy this one. A recent incident saw one such hapless victim falling prey to the overenthusiastic nature of Bombay's local train commuters. Our Hero (you can take it to be me if you liked the rise after the fall) wanted to go to Matunga, but as luck and trains would have it, boarded a fast train not halting at his destination. He panicked on realising his mistake but by then the local had started moving. On seeing his plight, a sympathetic co-passenger decided to come to his rescue. It seemed that he had been commuting by that particular train (6:03 pm Kasara Fast) for the past 6 years and had noticed that the train always slowed down just before Matunga station and crawled at a snail's pace while passing through it!!. He told the man to jump out of the running train as it slowed down and that with a little bit of fleet-footedness, he would make it safely on terra firma. However, knowing the man's inexperience, he added some words of caution: "Keep running the moment you jump or you'll fall. Just keep running." He stressed the word "running" lest the man not know the laws of motion. The train did slow down just before Matunga station and at the prompting of his mentor, our hero jumped out of the train and started running as if all hell had broken loose. What he didn't realise, of course, was that he was running parallel to the train instead of running away from it. Meanwhile, the train slowed down further, so that the man was running faster than the train. In the process, he reached the door of the next compartment and the footboard commuters there pulled him in thinking he was trying to board the train! To ! his agony, the train picked up speed and sped past Matunga and his new co-passengers started to congratulate him on how lucky he had been, until he told them that they had actually undone what he had done with great difficulty. Those standing at the door of his "ex-compartment" had witnessed the whole drama and just couldn't stop laughing at the poor man's situation, while he grinned sheepishly.Thats Mumbai for you my friends.Isn't it?

Coorg and Shopping !!!!!

Coorg( Madikere...) a small hill station in Karnataka. I had been there earlier as well...with THE DUDE...but this time around my family.(Parents and Wife) were accompanying me. I was more excited about the car than the place. My wife (as all the girls) was more interested in shopping than the place . My parents at least had some sympathy for the place.


First Place we went to was RAJA seat( though it was difficult to decipher why the name SEAT) .We reached right in the morning at 8.New Camera and New Car fascinated me more that the Seat . Both were put to some good use in the wonderful locations along with the family .

"You hold the mobile and the purse , I will have a look around for the shops.." ...She said. ( those who are still wondering who I am talking about...get ur brains checked up..its my wife)...

"Its a park ...You cant find a shop over here..." ...I shouted ...but she could hardly hear ...because by the time I said that ..she already had covered 100m. Sometimes I wonder how fast can she walk for a shop where she isnt going to buy anything. Yes she hardly buys anything. Its always window shopping.

But then I was left with the mobile and the purse which I kept in a bag and left for the park with my parents. Soon she also joined as there was only one shop open at the time.( out of the two).


I kept the bag on the Seat oF the Raja and clicked as many snaps...Sunrise and Mist ..Cloud...everything was there. After the general session of chit chat ...we left for the next place Abbey falls. It was about half an hr from the SEAT.Water fall is one thing which excites me more than anything. I love the sound of water falling and the splash generated. After spending about 2 hrs we reached back to madikere near the SEAT around 11 am.

"Look...he has antiques..such beautiful ones"...she said looking at a street side vendor...

"Damn..." ...again no prize for guessing whose response was that...

I will not give an account of what happened there with the vendor...for 15min...Finally vendor lost his patience and told a shop nearby for more collections . Another 15 min .And this time she for a change actually bought an antique...took us almost 30 min .(for beginners ..there are a lot of choices and bargaining that goes into this 30 min). 15 min to load that in our car( it was 2m long wooden decorative piece). Car should also not get damaged and so as the antique . All put together 1 hr 15 min without any exaggaration .I looked at my wife and then at the piece and wondered which is more antique. I was about to sit in the car to start when the call came..

" Hellooo...."....My mother in law...from chhatarpur
"Oh hello..."..I replied...expecting some formalities to be shared..
"Where is the other mobile..." She asked..

"It may be in silent mode ...or we may nt have listened...." I started clarifying...
" Nahi kisi ka phone aaya tha uske number se ...koi Raja Seat karke jagah se.." She hurried..

" .............................." was all I could manage.

" He said he will wait there for 10-15 min and then leave ..it seems she has left some bag there...with lots of things ...and mobiles..."...she dint knew It was me and not her..who had left

I disconnected the phone and jumped out of the car and ran towards the adjoining SEAT.
Security Stopped me and Asked Ticket...

"No ticket I left my bag in there." I muttered..and he allowed me..

I ran where I had left the bag ..right on the bench....Lo...There was no bag. And neither any one near the bench.

Now what . I thought I would call her(my wifes) number...It rang but nobody picked up. I called again, it was switched off this time.

" The number you are calling is switched off.."..with that my heart beat sank ..

" Has he taken out the sim...or ..battery gone.." I thought...

My all credit cards...ATM cards.. DL...PAN card..Purse...2 mobiles...everything was there in the bag...

Now how will I know him...or How will he know ...even if we see each other..
He might have given it to security... No Mother in Law told me...
"HE wont give it to security as it has many valuables and ..he dint trust anyone"
Is he the one I am seeing now...or Just my imagination..

Acting aur Amitabh ka keeda...
Let me bring a real horrified , worried and troubled expression and show everyone on the park I am the Most worried man on the earth.... CAN I PULL IT OFF...

believe me or not...

within a minute 1 person stopped me and asked

" Are You anand kumar.." ..
Anand Kumar....no I am amitabah not anand...I thought ....
"No I am Ankur"
"Oh yes...before I could pick up your phone the battery went off..."
You had left your bag and we saw the mobile and called the last dialled number saved as "mummy" and informed her.

I thanked him a hundred times and came back to the car and explained the whole story to everyone in the car.

"See my antique and shopping saved you a lot..." she said....

I couldnt reply a thing as actually she was right ...we would have been 1 hr 15 min away from that place but for her shopping.

I just kept quite and for the first time in life I thanked god for her shopping mania.