Thursday, April 19, 2007

The tale of three cities .... And a gut feeling


The tale of three cities …. And a gut feeling

Generally I post when I travel, probably I shall write often and also when I am not traveling, don’t want this blog to be segmented as a photo blog or a travel blog ….

It was a hectic day when I left office on Thursday to go to home sweet home (Mumbai) after three long months ….. very tired but then when you go home the excitement grips you more than anything else … This trip back home was very special for more reasons than one … Parents were visiting my sis for the first time after she got married (out of India) so they were excited and also for me because I was shooting the first ever TVC of my life as a young brand manager, and I was going to be there … it has been one of the most amazing experiences of my lifetime to learn how a film is produced, shot and directed…. As I have been a part of it right from the idea generation for which we had done a good research then scripting then storyboarding then media planning and finally the shooting …… man it has been a long journey seeing this baby get to its final form and hope it works ….

The title of this post comes from the fact that I was shuttling between the three cities Chennai – Mumbai first then from Mumbai – Bangalore then Bangalore – Mumbai back and then Finally Mumbai – Chennai …. Was hectic trip but was a memorable one ….. I had a gut feeling that I would meet someone on this trip someone whom I hadn’t met for a long long time …. Started this with mom and dad whom I was meeting after three months … then I met a very good friend of mine who now will become my competitor in another month professionally had a good time with him visiting some retail stores in Mumbai …. I thought I had met that someone and that gut feeling was done with … but then I met another set of my very good friends form Bangalore who are probably the nicest guys and gals on this earth …..

Then the moment came I was flying back from bang to bom and I see this dude who is entering the boarding bus .. at first I didn’t recognize then it suddenly struck me that this guy was my good friend in junior college whom I had lost touch with … after the initial surprises and mandatory “abe tu” “abe tu“ we started talking about what we were doing and stuff like that … there were a few ATR’s parked as we were approaching our flight I asked him “ So what have you been upto ?” and then the dude replies “ I fly one of those “ ….. I was amazed and happy at the same time to know that he followed his dream to fly and that he was doing something I dreamt of as a small boy to do … but even I am pursuing one of my dreams.. I have many I am an avid dreamer…. Many come true many don’t but I still believe in “Follow your dreams and the rest will follow” ……

Ok coming back to the point that my gut feeling of meeting someone I hadn’t met for a long time I landed in Bombay and on my way back home I saw “you know who” (my close friends will understand this) no more comments on this because that person is dead for me so I take it as if I saw a spirit ……. Then on the next after seeing my parents off I was on my way to the domestic airport …. just a quick glance of my watch and I thought I could squeeze in sometime to meet one of my best friends in MBA who for strange reasons drifted apart from me for a brief period of time …. So I just called him up he was in office and said I was in town nearby and asked him to come down to meet me .. and he did what best friends do … so I met him tooo …. So my gut feeling was right and was too strong I believe …..

So that’s the story of three cities and my gut feeling …..