By PANKAJ ARORA
National Planning Director, Triton Communications
Amitabh Bachchan completed 70 years recently and the media was full of ‘sound bytes’ and questioned him for the umpteenth time on his life and the ‘tipping points’. As I looked at the man answering each question gracefully, I wondered if I could define such moments in my life. I realized I did have my share, though they were more of ‘Tripping Points’. Being an engineer, I had started my career on the shop floor. My family had suffered the Partition, and my father’s words “Find something that you can do on your own some day...” rang in my ears. I learnt very quickly that life on the shop floor involved not just technical skills but dealing with labour and cuss words that soon started dominating my vocabulary. The ‘Tripping Point’, however, came one rainy evening when we had to start working in the third shift. Just out of college, I was enjoying a walk in the rain after many pegs of rum with a friend when I realized that I had to go to work. I reached home, changed and headed for work at 10 pm. Soon, I was outside the station waiting for the company’s big yellow bus. Standing under a beedi shop, now more sober and trying to stay dry, I noticed a dog - all curled up, warm against a jute sack, without a care in the world. The thought that crossed my mind was “Kutte bhi raat ko aaram se sote hai. Main kyun yeh kaam kar raha hoon...?”
Later, I turned to selling EPABXs, pitching and interacting with MDs and CEOs. A brief stint in a selfenterprise and a partner succumbing to cancer brought me to Advertising. Sitting in a white collar environment, coffee at will without having to move my butt added to my thrill until I started meeting the clients! A client of mine wore safari suits, but only in two shades - dark & light blue. If he was superstitious about the outcome of something, he wore the dark one. I soon learnt to time my visits for collections, approvals and fresh briefs only on days when he was likely to wear the light one. But on an unintended ‘dark day’, I happened to present him with some layouts. He reacted violently to the headlines. He wanted headlines that would create a buzz the same day as the ad was released. In his view, the headline should have shock value. “No more than four to six words must convey the message. And I don’t need to tell you to stop hassling me for the money. I can’t pay today. I have another commitment...!”
In another instance, a former boss and I were headed for the same meeting, he in his fancy big car and I on my humble 100cc bike. Somewhere along the way, his car broke down. With no cabs in sight, he decided to ride pillion with me as his schedule was tight. All along, he kept telling me, “Even when you ride, you hold back...” At one point, he started screaming that we were going to hit the car in front of us and asked why I wasn’t stopping. I politely told him that my brakes were not working and that’s why I was holding back with the speed. Never had I seen someone trying to decide whether to jump off the bike, chewing his whole finger and trying to put the brakes on with his shoes at the same time! Though we stopped in time, what I heard was “MC..# @ BC... Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Familiar words again!
Feedback: h.o.pankaj@tritoncom.com
