Viva o

 Dia dos Avós!

Ilustração: Maurício de Sousa

26 de Julho!!!!

“…Sare Mumbaikaro ka jan jeevan ast vyast kar diya hai baarish ne”, streamed out RJ Divya, trying to imitate the hundred and one news channels. It was one of those days when it really rained in Mumbai and fo some hours stopped the operations of the train services. Today being my last day at office i had to go to Andheri to get the clearances, so i couldnt bunk. BUT travelling by the harbour was a big mistake cos it took a good 35 minutes to get from Sewri to Wadala. For the uninformed, Wadala is the next station after Sewri. It was bad.

I had Radio, more specifically Fever 104FM for company. RJ Divya’s “Good Hai Morning” did keep me in good spirits. She is seriously a boon to hear to in the mornings, so lively, so humourous and her laughter is very contagious. Ok ill stop on her lest anyone thinks I am stalking her. But she is one RJ i just love to listen to every morning. Radio and the fact that i got a seat to sit did keep my nerves under control. I am very impatient by nature, but today i knew i had to let Nature take over as i had no control over the climate. I watched the flooded tracks at Wadala, but luckily the water was only upto the level of the railing.

Its become a regular featue in Mumbai now. Heavy rains render the rail sevices worthless. Barring the Western Railway line, the other two viz. Central and Harbour are in a complete mess, with trains arriving late by 30 to 40 minutes. Its crazy. I dont think many people went to office today either, cos of the rains. The Andheri office was quite empty, and when i called up one of my friend whose office is in Seepz, he too said that he had decided to bunk today.

People bunking offices cos of rains is a fairly recent phenomenon. Who am i kidding, even i would have bunked had it not been my last day here. Yeah officially last day! No one wants a repeat of 26/7 in their lives so people dont mind letting go of a leave. Plus the danger of diseases like Leptospirosis is always there. Its scary to hear that already 3 people have died due to Lepto. Its bout time i read in the disease. Will put up the relevant info here.

While listening to the radio came to know the numbers of the Disaster Management Cell. They are 1916 and 108. But i dont know if in case of heavy rains, the citizens will really be able to get through. Still its a significant piece of information.

Take Care

Ciao

Another cess or tax is going to be introduced to aid the ailing oil industry. As if people are not taxed enough! I mean come on; life has become such a pain these days for us Mumbaikars. It’s like living in a rut and never finding the way out.

First of all, finding decent jobs is difficult. While a lot of people come here to earn a living, most forget that nearly nothing can be saved. The cost of living is that high. Real estate and food prices are going through the roof and traveling from one end of the city to the other can cause so much stress that it can drastically reduce your life-span. To top it all, relationships are taking a beating due to increased work hours and less time for socializing.

Then, after all the trouble one goes through to survive, you realise that the government has taxed almost everything leaving you with peanuts in your hand. Those who don not live with family, end up paying nearly half their pay packets as rent! Add travel and food costs and more often than not you are broke much before the month end.

I can even understand being taxed if some good comes off it. Like that advertisement that asks everyone to dutifully pay taxes so that the money can be used to build infrastructure. But as we all know that almost never happens. Our hard earned money goes into the politicians’ pockets and we continue to live in impoverished conditions that deteriorate even further.

Just as an example, take the monsoon. It’s a yearly phenomenon so it never catches us by surprise. The BMC has nine months to complete repairing roads, building new flyovers, de-silt drains. Yet every year the rains manage to catch the BMC on the wrong foot as if they never knew that June would mark the beginning of the rains! While a 26/7 is a natural disaster that no one can prepare for even the normal Mumbai rains catches the city administration napping and Mumbaikars running for cover.

It’s seriously so frustrating to see all my hard earned money go into the hands of incompetent fools who have no clue on how to run the country. Try as I may to think of politics as a circus, it still hurts that this is the freedom that our ancestors gave their blood and soul for. Was it worth it?

My friends never understand my deep affection for Mumbai. I mean it is extremely populated, polluted and has major infrastructure issues. So why care so much about it? The answer is really very simple.

I have faith in my city and it has never failed me. Not in the sense of giving me what I want but by just being there. We all agree that nothing in life is perfect but I still feel Mumbai comes very close to perfection. And this not some misplaced pride but the result of many, many experiences. Like when I had gone for the Mumbai Mirror launch and had collapsed in the heat (courtesy of the event starting 2 hours late on a hot summer day), it was the local cops who revived me. When I had come through I was in their van and some strangers offered to drop me home.

Or take after 26/7, when the whole city was under water, people went out of their way to help those making their long journey’s back home. After the 7/11 blasts at Matunga Road station, I saw people grab whatever blankets and clothes that they could and rush to the station to help anyone in need. They stopped cars outside and ensured that the victims were taken to the nearest hospital. Cabs ferried without charge. Hospitals were filled to capacity with people offering blood. 

This is my city. One that never sleeps. When TV channels go on about the spirit of Mumbai, I laugh. What do they know about being a Mumbaikar? They are just words. Live here for a few years and you will understand the real meaning. To the outside world, Mumbai stands for a mean, brutal city. But to me, she is a mother teaching her children the ropes of survival so that one day they can help each other past the finishing line. As they rightly say, once a Mumbaikar always a Mumbaikar. Cheers!!

OMG I LOVE THIS GAME.

IT DESERVES TEN STARS BECAUSE IT IS AWESOME.

NOW A FLURRY OF IMAGES AND TOTALLY COOL CAPTIONS, BECAUSE ITALICIZING=COOL.

ISNT IT VERY GREAAAAAAT

IT LOOKS SO FINE

UNLIKE THIS UGLY BEAST

_E%t43y0i43ykgbsdjgkbopdsakig-i3wt3- FILLER SPACE

YEAH!

NOW HERE ARE SOME TAGS. Call of Duty 4!

Büyük ekran izleyin

If you’re looking for a job in advertising in the UAE, these are the usual routes:
1. Spot the vacancies in the local newspapers
Gulf News and Khaleej Times are good places to start. The print editions have supplements dedicated to ‘Appointments’, while the usual classified ads can be browsed online.

2. Look for your dream job in an advertising/marketing community website

My friend Zeid Nasser’s MediaMe.com is a good place to begin.

3. Go through recruitment agencies and headhunters
Most advertising vacancies are posted in the papers through recruitment agencies. Many advertise the jobs available on their own sites and you can apply online.

SOS and Kershaw Leonard are currently looking for copywriters. You can visit them online and apply.

4. Contact your dream agency directly
Sometimes, the best thing to land a good job in advertising is to meet the Creative Director of your dream agency directly. Even if a CD does not have a copywriting position waiting to be filled, a few minutes with a good one can get you valuable feedback on your portfolio.

Visiting an agency and meeting its creative head helps you understand the agency and its expectations better.

But be warned: CDs are very busy souls and you must not be pushy in trying to arrange a meeting with them. Most will be happy to give you a few minutes of their time, when they have a few to spare. Which is rare. It rhymes, eh?

5. If you apply everywhere and nothing seems to work, don’t get mad…

Get even. Start your own agency. Or freelance copywriting business.

Dubai Media City and RAK Free Zone can help you establish your own advertising/copywriting operation with minimum red tape.

There are many other ways to stay in touch with the advertising world.

Networking helps. Knowing people in the industry will keep you updated on the trends: who’s moving, who’s scouting for talent, etc.

In a multicultural place like Dubai, a few advertising decision makers have a tendency to try and pull in their ex-colleagues from back home, whichever country they are from. Unfortunately, I have seen this sometimes leads to groupism in the agency, so this is an option I do not personally admire or encourage.

Even though I usually have a friend or two in most top agencies but I don’t use friends to pull any strings. Because if one is good at what one does, getting spotted in a crowd of applicants isn’t usually a problem.

Of course, there are Murphy’s laws. And luck too.

being stuck in my car for three hours at Dharavi, we realized that taking the car any further would be impossible in the chest deep water. We decided to take the water logged road and walk home leaving our car. While wading through the chest deep water at Matunga, I realized that the city was abuzz with Mumbaikars all set to help people, come what may. We saw volunteers helping everyone find a safe path with their friendly guidelines, “Udhar gutter open hai, idhar se jao” “aunty dekh ke idhar divider hai lagega han” “yeh wala rasta mat lo pnai bahut jyada hai… udhar thoda uncha hai udhar se jao”.

By the time we made it to king’s circle, we were famished but glad to find Madras Café open. The annas served wadas and upmas and coffees in the candle lit ambience (the electricity was kaput!). People walked in drenched and the friendly owner gave them space wherever possible.

Moving on from king’s circle we started on the main road where there were abandoned buses and cars standing haphazardly. These were to later serve as bedrooms to the many left stranded on the road. As we walked, we heard songs and jokes. I quite expected some bickering about the floods, but Mumbaikars had decided to demonstrate their ability to have fun, no matter what…

Finally we came to our destination, thinking, ‘Oh! What an ordeal?’ That was until we saw the news about north Mumbai being cut off from the outside world, about many left helpless in the middle of the city, unable to reach home and worst of all about the people who had lost their life to the water. With collapsed cell phone networks and jammed phone lines, it was hard to locate your loved ones. But the night passed as the showers mildewed. Many took refuge in Municipal schools, buses and even bus-stops. Some kept going…

Next morning most of the water had receded but the cars still remained on the road along with people. No milk, no newspapers, but Mumbai’s very own Mumbaikars were down on the road with biscuits, bananas and clean drinking water for the stranded. These volunteers did not rest until each of the stranded passengers was provided with some kind of transport home.

In such a disastrous situation, help from government was scanty, but Mumbaikars were out on the road throwing their hearts and homes open, ensuring that the fellow Mumbaikar suffered as little as possible. The disaster management cell was invisible yesterday but help came from the amazing citizens of this amazing city.

This just goes to show that no matter what, Mumbai doesn’t stop living… The city has a million hearts that understand the needs of their city. These hearts understand their duties to the city and more importantly to the fellow citizens. A Mumbaikar becomes a brother to a fellow Mumbaikar in such times of need. And when you see the Mumbaikar striving hard to keep Mumbai’s spirit alive when challenged, you feel proud to be saying, ‘Me Mumbaikar!’