Songs of the not-so innocent

Rant. Apologies.   The world is struggling with an unprecedented health crisis. One profession sees the pandemic as a heaven-sent opportunity to do something meaningful, stand up for its beliefs and use every resource at its disposal to leave a lasting impression. Advertising is not that profession. Advertising and Marketing are the nadirs of every conceivable value system you can think of. Less useful and more pathethic than narcisstic movie stars singing a song together and arguably about as evil as those terrorists who attacked... never mind... as evil as terrorists. I work in this industry and right now, a million of us have been tasked with thinking about how we can highlight the nobility of the brands we work on. Yup, at a moment in history where we are practically at war against a dreadful enemy that may have already invaded our bodies for all we know, A&M are cooking up plausible ways of making videos, press ads, digital content and other crap that reek of sanctimo...

In truth, I was going to post this with the usual dash of attempted humour. A rather mild interaction/altercation with a family member this morning has made me reconsider. So, what follows is pretty straightforward piece about my experience with social distancing. Who the heck am I to say anything on the subject? Fair point. I'm no hermit nor one of those wild-haired, acutely introverted geniuses popularised by Hollywood. I'm just a guy who has lived by himself since 2013. I've never employed any househelp for cooking or washing up, for the usual mix of irrational and rational reasons but mostly because I dislike: - Spending a lot of money - Juggling timetables - Awkward, accusatory effort evaluations When I rented my small but charming 1 BHK, the usual dream/delusion was also very much alive; that I'd meet a girl, we'd fall in love, move in together and get married eventually too. I'm just glad I didn't hold my breath on that one. Ergo, I have not ...

A friend of mine believes that homes have feelings and personalities. That her particular 12 X 12 feels abandoned when said friend leaves for work in the morning and that she's thinking about finding a roommate just to assuage the lathe and plaster's feelings. Quite. Though I dismissed the idea at the time, rather scornfully I might add, I'm starting to reconsider. Now, I know what you're thinking. The whole work-from-home scenario is getting to this guy already and he's hitting the holy herb rather hard. Neither is true. I'm the consumate professional regardless of geography and live a clean and healthy life. Also, there isn't any herb around and the virus will probably affect the supply chain, so that's a bummer. Yesterday, the kitchen sink started acting up. I've lived in this house for 8 years and it has always behaved beautifully. Until now. The water simply refused to drain. Even after enthusiastic use of the plunger, it just gurgled resen...

So, here we are, individuals, families and nations, brought together yet asked to stay apart. COVID-19 may be the first proper global experience of our generation. Be it SARS in China or Ebola in parts of Africa, most epidemics have always felt far away. We knew there were people suffering but were we really affected by the scale of their problems? I doubt it. Things like plastic pollution, bush fires, glacier melts, deforestation, coral reef deaths and whatnot happen to other people in other places and have not affected us Indian city-dwelling folk much. Weather getting hotter? Let's get new airconditioners, darling, one for the bathroom too, while we're at it. Oh sure, India has suffered yearly bouts of dengue fever or chickenguniya but in my mind, the last scary epidemic was the Plague of 1994. While Surat was the epicenter, Maharashtra saw the maximum number of cases then. It's also seeing the highest number of coronavirus cases now, so I guess the state really does ...

Let's talk about agendas. In a week which saw Ajax (Dutch Champions & Champions League semi-finalists), Celtic (Scottish Premier League Champions) and Arsenal (led by Pep's protege i.e. the automatically brilliant Arteta) dumped out of the Europa League, a great many articles reporting Manchester United cruising through into the round of 16, did so begrudgingly. The press does not like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and are doing whatever it takes to drive the mob towards a dramatic conclusion - his sacking and the arrival of Pochettino.  The pictures being proliferated are rather cunning. These include OGS not being worthy of managing a team with the heritage of MU; not experienced enough at the highest level (references to managing Molde and getting sacked by Cardiff); lacking tactical nous (probably a valid point for now); his eroding authority vis-a-vis the "star" of the team, a certain Mr. Pogba, and so on and so forth. The media does not report news. Journalist...