The Best of Times & the Worst of Times - All in London

Charles Dickens started his finest work 'A Tale of Two Cities' with these lines:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…

And the lines are a perfect fit for my London visit. I landed a very good job in the month of August 2007. I got a call which left me in disbelief. The call suggested that I was on my way to an international career.

It was the best of times – from overcrowded DTC (Delhi Transportation Corporation) buses and Delhi’s Tube (DMRC) to Virgin Atlantic Business Class travel, the transformation was smooth and pleasant. It was the worst of times – from healthy life on the roads of Delhi to ICU (intensive care unit) of St. Thomas’ Hospital in London; the change was rough and painful.

It was the age of wisdom – from a national assignment to an international one; I sailed through written test, presentation and interview and got the job. It was the age of foolishness – I rammed a kart in the wall and my tummy into the steering wheel and almost killed myself.

It was the epoch of belief – I believed that nothing would go wrong, when everything was actually so very wrong. It was the epoch of incredulity – for almost 24 hours, nobody (colleagues, paramedics, doctors, strangers, taxi drivers) believed that something was terribly wrong in my tummy. I got proper medical assistance only on my second visit to St. Thomas’ Hospital (the next day) in an ambulance with my blood pressure touching abyss.

It was the season of light – I got a new lease of life. It was the age of Darkness – I reached a passé where I needed a new lease of life. An accident and delayed medical intervention helped me in reaching a point where my one feet was on earth and the other was in hell (kindly read it heaven).

It was the spring of hope – every passing minute was hurling pleasant surprises. Let me correct the facts it was not spring, but the autumn of hope. It was the winter of despair – everyone I approached echoed the same ‘NO!!! NOTHING IS WRONG WITH YOU! IT’S JUST A SPASM.’ Later on everyone said, “You got a life threatening injury.”

Cocaine Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karegi - Anything for Cocaine

Advertisement Review: Sting Ad

Rating: *1/2
Product: Additional drug services offered by prostitutues
Description: A news program based on sting operation revealing sex-drug racket.
Duration: Three and a half hours
Media: Aaj Tak News Channel

Last night, I viewed the longest ad on the fastest (Sabse Tez) news channel. At ten in the night, two presenters promised they would show something shocking to the viewers at eleven – they wanted to say titillating and worth watching. The presenters were inciting the voyeur hiding in me. Blurred images of striptease were on the display and words were adding to my curiosity – what next?

Promise was made that the viewers would see how to snot Cocaine, what all a drugged prostitute-cum-drug peddler offers, and last but not the least how and where to get this combo service. Who does not like to see striptease – at least, I do. Like me, every normal healthy viewer must be busy figuring out the figure of the drugged girl, Carol, in those opaque images. Pardon me for calling a prostitute, a girl. As an earnest attempt of the creative team to show all the vitals was seeping through the translucence, I got hooked.

To begin with, Carol exhibited how to snot cocaine. The product usage and advantages were all told. Then came the USP: cost effective striptease. Carol’s performance was stunning. And satisfaction was smeared all over the faces of the stingers. So the testimonials of satisfied customers / stingers vindicated the product / services. Carol was very important for the creative team. The failure of the sting team to capture, on camera, the protagonist Maya – the kingpin of the sex-drug racket – forced them to show Carol extensively; rather repetitiously.

Don’t go away, we’ll come back with more, after a short break. I, with my foolish brethren strewn across the length and breadth of the country, kept waiting for some REAL STUFF, which never came. As an ad the concept was very good, but visuals and editing killed the whole delight. For a viewer, it’s not recommended but despite all the creative hiccups, the ad was extremely informative for potential customers.

Foolish me went to bed half past midnight without getting the REAL STUFF.

Rating :
* Poor
** Average
*** Good
**** Outstanding

India @ 60

Thankfully, in its late 40s India started planning for retirement. At 60, it - the government is fairly retired. Free enterprise has taken over some part of India. The government understood very late in the day that it's no business to be in the business. But leaving ground and loosing control are the most difficult decisions one takes in life.