My Experi-mentos with Truth
A couple of days back,when dad asked me to buy some home stuff,i walked into a nearby general store.As i entered the store something struck me.Merchandising had hit Happydent again, bang was orbit there in the front with a grin.Protex wasn't visible at first sight,Center fresh was sitting strongly at the centre, the jar looked barely 2 days old.And then there were lotsa them BigBabol,Mentos,Fruitella,Marbels,Chlor-mint,Chocoliebe.Hmm Good Availability i thought, but then remebered i was in a metro.P1,P2,P3 i used these alphabets in class 12th to name different planes.They meant something else now.
" bhaiyya aapko kya chahiye ".. i looked at the retailer, an absent-minded stare.
My summer stint at Perfetti was over.
12th may.Hotel Rockland.Kota.As i entered room no 324 i had little clue what i was supposed to do in Rajasthan.1 hour damn and the obfuscation had melted.On a map my ASM charted out my territories and sub stockist towns.He left the same evening.My marathon began from the next day in a the climate was hot in fact too hot,dry, making one thirsty all the time , and for a person like me more thirsty of a company to talk to than the nature's blessing called water
Deoli,kekri,sawai madhopur,gangapur,karoli,Bundi .. 6 days 6 places with some having no hotels to stay...life doesn't get any tougher..but in the days to come it did.
I started with the super stockist operations from 2nd week.It meant i had to work daily in a nearby sub stockist town( read Village ), and back in Kota loneliness waited for me.It sounded difficult but .."compromise" another dirty word.
Days were hot,requiring travel by a state bus, only possible route to the sub stockist towns.Bus,state bus,rickety ones,full of passengers from all the nearby rurals.places like Keshoria Patan,Kapren,Suket,Lakheri,Indergarh,Anta..places which had no malls, no harry potters , no X box,no internet ..places where the streets really had no names. Turbaned veterans , families, mothers and their bare-naked kids, theri eyes shimmering with pulchritude,and then there was a sumer trainee sitting close to the back seat,listening quietly to his iPod.Deserted but still with a Happydent smile, beginning to enjoy everything,learning new ways of life.
They say hope is a powerful word.I have no clue how true, but it did keep Glad alive.B'coz there were moments in rockland when he got vexed of his solitude,head-fucked,bereaved,deserted,the omnipresent benumbedness reminding him of some soul which could help share this burden ,a slow poison called loneliness.Dusty dreams.Fading daylights.Flickers on the wall.. but hope is powerful yet deceiving.It attracts and repels.Bad enough,it stays nonchalant.
"FMCG is a challenge".The depth of these words reached unending fathoms in the deserts of Rajasthan.But then there is the kick which makes one move,its called spirit,its called ecstasy,the one of learning.Laymen call it business but certain specialized laymen species term it " marketing".The peripatetic inside me realized with a goddam surity O' there was beauty and surely there was pain .
Contrast it with Bombay.the city that never sleeps.Name anything and u get it.plasma tv,PVR juhu,tata croma, marriott,mango,louis vuitton,nariman point,italian cuisine,mocha,absolut and the famous grouse..cafe montear...i see 'em all.everyday.
But somthing stays amiss..an unnamed feeling..a feeling when i cottoned to loneliness..befriended it..got close..close to myself.. close to my incongruous dreams..connated with strangers..a feeling of peeking through the real india..a feeling when i fell in love..in love with Rajasthan.
Bono i'll use your words.again.
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All you count on your fingers and
All that you steal
All that you can't leave behind.
.
A couple of days back,when dad asked me to buy some home stuff,i walked into a nearby general store.As i entered the store something struck me.Merchandising had hit Happydent again, bang was orbit there in the front with a grin.Protex wasn't visible at first sight,Center fresh was sitting strongly at the centre, the jar looked barely 2 days old.And then there were lotsa them BigBabol,Mentos,Fruitella,Marbels,Chlor-mint,Chocoliebe.Hmm Good Availability i thought, but then remebered i was in a metro.P1,P2,P3 i used these alphabets in class 12th to name different planes.They meant something else now.
" bhaiyya aapko kya chahiye ".. i looked at the retailer, an absent-minded stare.
My summer stint at Perfetti was over.
12th may.Hotel Rockland.Kota.As i entered room no 324 i had little clue what i was supposed to do in Rajasthan.1 hour damn and the obfuscation had melted.On a map my ASM charted out my territories and sub stockist towns.He left the same evening.My marathon began from the next day in a the climate was hot in fact too hot,dry, making one thirsty all the time , and for a person like me more thirsty of a company to talk to than the nature's blessing called water
Deoli,kekri,sawai madhopur,gangapur,karoli,Bundi .. 6 days 6 places with some having no hotels to stay...life doesn't get any tougher..but in the days to come it did.
I started with the super stockist operations from 2nd week.It meant i had to work daily in a nearby sub stockist town( read Village ), and back in Kota loneliness waited for me.It sounded difficult but .."compromise" another dirty word.
Days were hot,requiring travel by a state bus, only possible route to the sub stockist towns.Bus,state bus,rickety ones,full of passengers from all the nearby rurals.places like Keshoria Patan,Kapren,Suket,Lakheri,Indergarh,Anta..places which had no malls, no harry potters , no X box,no internet ..places where the streets really had no names. Turbaned veterans , families, mothers and their bare-naked kids, theri eyes shimmering with pulchritude,and then there was a sumer trainee sitting close to the back seat,listening quietly to his iPod.Deserted but still with a Happydent smile, beginning to enjoy everything,learning new ways of life.
They say hope is a powerful word.I have no clue how true, but it did keep Glad alive.B'coz there were moments in rockland when he got vexed of his solitude,head-fucked,bereaved,deserted,the omnipresent benumbedness reminding him of some soul which could help share this burden ,a slow poison called loneliness.Dusty dreams.Fading daylights.Flickers on the wall.. but hope is powerful yet deceiving.It attracts and repels.Bad enough,it stays nonchalant.
"FMCG is a challenge".The depth of these words reached unending fathoms in the deserts of Rajasthan.But then there is the kick which makes one move,its called spirit,its called ecstasy,the one of learning.Laymen call it business but certain specialized laymen species term it " marketing".The peripatetic inside me realized with a goddam surity O' there was beauty and surely there was pain .
Contrast it with Bombay.the city that never sleeps.Name anything and u get it.plasma tv,PVR juhu,tata croma, marriott,mango,louis vuitton,nariman point,italian cuisine,mocha,absolut and the famous grouse..cafe montear...i see 'em all.everyday.
But somthing stays amiss..an unnamed feeling..a feeling when i cottoned to loneliness..befriended it..got close..close to myself.. close to my incongruous dreams..connated with strangers..a feeling of peeking through the real india..a feeling when i fell in love..in love with Rajasthan.
Bono i'll use your words.again.
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All you count on your fingers and
All that you steal
All that you can't leave behind.
.
posted by satyam manohar | 3:33 AM
|
1 Comments
