Tag: Mumbai

  • Bom Bahia

    I recently read a book on Bombay by Pinki Virani, and have promptly classified it under my all time favourites list. The book, by sheer virtue of tone and content, appealed to me, but on a personal level, it gave me some answers on my quite recently acquired unfavourable stance on Mumbai. Since this is a subject of my chat ‘wars’ with many Mumbai friends, let me say that this is a very considered personal view, and based on subjective experiences. And like subjective experiences go, it may have led to creation or reinforcing of stereotypes that may have further colored my view of the city. So, don’t mind. 🙂

    I used to love Bombay. Right from the 2.5 days of train journey that took me there. The two months of stay there were enjoyed – Shivaji Park was a common destination across the years, the other location shifted from Anushakti Nagar (BARC Township) to Peddar Road to Malabar Hill. I still remember the second hand comics store in Anushakti nagar – Spiderman, Superman, Batman etc – the entities that captured my imagination in my school days, I have bought quite a few from there; the long walks around Shivaji Park, and the temple which gave away those white sugary balls 🙂 ; the hunt for fancy ‘name slip stickers’, which would adorn my school books and draw envious stares from my classmates in Cochin, who couldn’t get it there; the eagerly awaited trips to Akbarallys; the South indian hotel (Anand/Arya Bhavan) in Matunga whose waiters my sis later scandalised by asking for Maggi noodles, and finally, the ‘oh, its over’ feeling when we started the journey home, from VT.

    Yes, Bombay of those days remains a sweet memory. My last 2 month stay was in 1993, when it was still Bombay. Barring occasional 1-2 day trips, we stopped seeing each other since then, and somewhere down the line i started to cringe when I had to make official trips to the city. I dont know if its Mumbai that spoiled the affectionate awe that I had for Bombay, but maybe that’s just romanticism.

    Cities change, as do people. I am tolerant of pride, whether it be in people or cities, my irritation starts when pride turns to arrogance. Arrogance that brings with it an unhealthy disrespect for anything that’s not associated with the city. Yes, every city is special, but that does not mean it should take away from other cities… they are special in their own way. And that goes for people too.

    When a person like me, whose only associations with the city are from the holidays spent there, can feel a change, i can imagine, how, at least some Bombayites feel about the transformation their city has undergone. The author says a lot with just the title – ‘Once was Bombay’. I agree.

    until next time, just some city zen…. 🙂

  • Dido and Social Media – Rock On !!

    At the very outset, let me state that Dido doesn’t have to do anything spectacular for her to be special to me. She can just keep crooning her stuff, and I’ll keep going back for more. So why am i trippin’ now? Because, for her latest album, ‘Safe Trip Home‘, she’s got a social media angle.

    The album is interesting for the simple reason that it consists of different songs picturised on different cities of the world, among them Mumbai !! The song is “Lets do the things we normally do”, and is directed by Siddarth Sikand. And who does it star? Our very own Rock On girl Debbie – Shahana Goswani, as a taxi driver.

    Having a Facebook page is good, but is almost a given these days, but this one gets very social on the site itself. Once you hear the song, you can choose a mood from a (color) palette. I felt wise :), and was asked to share my reasons. It then takes you to the map, and tells you where other people who felt similar to you have headed to. It’s a wonderful way of manifesting the theme of the album/site – “Create a journey through film and music” (though the Facebook page mentions ‘a journey through fil, music and feeling’)

    According to marktd, “Over the last month, Londoners might have noticed a number of cryptic posters around tube stations. The posters end by asking the viewer to google terms like ‘Lady Landfill’ or ‘Mother lay-by’ – essentially a range of words linked to the songs on ‘Safe Trip Home’, the album.”I thought it was a wonderful way of using ground level promotions to build curiosity and traction for a web property.

    until next time, I’m trippin on this!!

  • Train of Thought

    Social media enthusiasts are often quizzed on the ROI that it delivers, and in many cases,  ‘conversation with customers’ is met with a lot of skepticism. which led me to wonder about the kind of ROI this activity would generate.

    “Max New York Life Insurance has signed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) pact with the Indian Railways. From July 8, Chennai, Bangalore and Trivandrum Rajdhanis will sport Max New York Life advertising on its exterior.” It would provide upgraded services like high quality flooring, soap dispensers, tissue paper dispensers…. and so on. Great, I have always wanted that in those Harappan age railway compartments, though I always had a feeling Max was into insurance.

    I can understand SBI having a co-branded card with IRCTC, Citi having a card for Delhi Metro etc, but the revenue/communication model that this venture of Max falls in, I fail to understand. Unless of course, Max will send an insurance advisor in the compartment. The ‘potential customer’ is trapped with him for the entire journey, and might buy a policy just to get rid of him.

    Meanwhile, a couple of thoughts came to me when I read this post on Mumbai’s local trains. Every now and then, there is a horror story of how a gruesome accident occured in one of these trains. Doesn’t it make a lot of sense for an insurance company to do some contextual communication here? How about tapping this entire community which is so prone to such occurences?

    The other thought that came to me was from a conversation on twitter on how religion is one massive social network. Unlike schools and colleges, which have a real life basis for networking, religion is spread across geographies with most users unaware of each other, and even has user generated versions springing up every now and then. Even the local trains in Mumbai offer a platform for a social network (no pun intended). I guess there are vertical networks like that all around, the only trick is to satisfy a set of needs and then be able to monetise it.

    until next time, maximising social media

  • And that leaves only

    Kolkata. Which is phenomenal by my standards, as though of you who’ve read the previous post might have realised. As for the others, all it takes is one sentence to bring you upto speed- i hate travelling.
    But this year has seen me visiting 3 of the (erstwhile only) 4 metros in the country.
    Mumbai – February – last visited 2006 April, and that was only because i had to get inducted, professionally, that is. Judging by my tenure, fat lot of good it did. I was a frequent Mumbai visitor in the 80’sthough – before the bhai stuff became popular. No, there’s no connection. Shivaji Park was the usual venue, with a bit of Peddar Road and Malabar Hill thrown in. And then i stopped going to school, and that ended the summer vacations.Sigh
    Chennai – August – last visited 1999 or was it 95? Damn, i’m really getting old. 95 is easier to remember because of the 12th Std results and the giant B&W poster of Aishwarya Rai to celebrate it. Yup, its 99 coz i boarded the Corromandel Exp from there for my first Kolkata trip.
    Delhi – September and October – last visited 1993. And a much forgettable trip.
    I dont think I’ll do Kolkata, at least that leaves my tarnished record some chances of redemption 😉
    until next time, traveller’s outlook