It’s an Ad Mad World!!

There is so much going on in the TV world! So many game shows, reality shows …. every channel has a Saas-Bahu, tear jerking family melodrama playing at any given time of the day. Among all this what I really like are the ads that are made in India. According to me India has always been a front-runner in the ad biz world.

As a kid, I was so fascinated by the ad jingles and the tag lines more than the ads themselves, that I still use so many of them in my day-to-day conversations. In school, I also remember playing antakshari, not only of film songs, but the ad jingles as well. Who can forget the famous Lalitaji saying “Dhoondthe Reh Jaoge” or Hamara Bajaj’s song “Bulund Bharat ki bulund tasveer” or Kapil Dev saying in his gruff voice “Palmolive da jawab nahi!” or "Melody khao khud jaan jao"?

The ads that are made in India are so intelligent, witty and totally relevant to the product they are endorsing. There are so many classics that I could mention here. Few of my favorites being all of the Cadbury’s ads especially the one where the girl comes out on to the cricket field and does a jig ‘cos her boyfriend’s team won… oh that one was really one of the best shot ads. I also remember the Liril ad where Preity Zinta takes a shower atop her car in the car wash on a hot and sultry day; I love the Titan ads for the beautiful music piece that they play (Mozart or Beethoven I forget!); the one for Coke with all the local village kids wearing Sachin Tendulkar masks on their faces or the Amul’s ad for milk – Doodh! Doodh ! Doodh!

It is always amazing to see that a 1 minute or sometimes shorter than a minute ad conveys so much about the product and also is so effective in a way that the viewer should remember it. Writing ad jingles or coming up with the tag lines for ads is such a creative effort. To come up with something that clicks to the audience’s mind and lingers there is so much of a challenge. I mean coming up with something as simple as “Utterly, Butterly, Delicious!! Amul!” is so challenging according to me! I can think of popular jingles written for every product we use in our day from the time we wake up!!
From brushing our teeth “Babool Babool, paise vasool” to soap “Lux- Filmi Sitaaron ka saundarya sabun” to having the first cup of coffee in the morning with “Ho shuru har din aise, ho shuru har pal aise…Nescafe! to going to bed in the night with a mosquito repellant “Meethe sapnon ke Goodnight dost!” we have a jingle or a tag line to match every product we use.

Well as an audience, these days I rather enjoy the ads more than the program being telecast on TV!!

-Moi

Chicago – The Windy City

I arrived to Chicago on the 9th of August 2002. It was the first time I ever traveled so far from home, alone.

It’s been 3 and half years now, and I cannot seem to get enough of this city. It did not take me too long to fall in love with Chicago – The Windy City. I live in an apartment on the Michigan Ave, towards the South side of Chicago. It is very much close to the dreaded and widely unpopular 35th Street in Chicago.

During my 2 years at the Illinois Institute of Technology at Chicago, I have heard of people being mugged, heard of gang fights, stabbings, gunshots, marijuana…. Oh the works… I have learnt to accept it as a part and parcel of Chicago. This is the darker side of Chicago.

Well it is hard for me to decide what is it that I like the most about Chicago…. Is it the vast Lake Michigan or the wonderfully built Chicago Downtown? The Lake Michigan is soooo huge; according to me it should at least be a sea. It is beautiful, to say the least. One thing I have noticed about the Lake is that it changes its color everyday, it is brown and angry at times, it is grey and fierce sometimes, it is blue and calm or maybe green and serene or sometimes just colorless and playful. It is a beautiful sight as you drive along with the lake on Lakeshore Drive.
Another sight that is breathtaking while driving on Lakeshore Drive is of course the Chicago downtown. Tall skyscrapers, with admirable architecture adorn the Chicago downtown. The skyline of Chicago is really awesome to look at.
Chicago is the one of the world’s first planned city. That’s why it is difficult to find flaws with the architecture of the downtown. The view of the city from the sky deck of Sears tower and the Jon Hancock is indescribable. The view from the sky deck during the evening when the whole downtown is lit, all the buildings of the downtown become alive and look like glittering jewels adorning the city.

Another amazing thing about Chicago is its weather… too unpredictable. It totally justifies its nickname of a “Windy City”. It is deadly cold in winter… not so much with the snow but with the wind. The weather is so unpredictable that it can rain, snow, and turn sunny and then cloudy and windy all in a matter of a couple of hours.

I have been here for 3 years now and have a lot of wonderful memories attached to this city. I have watched the fireworks display from Navy Pier on New Year’s Eve, visited the downtown to see the Christmas trees and Santa Claus, the display of dolls and puppets on the display windows of Marshall Fields, which is a tradition every year, been to Devon Ave and gorged on Chicken Biryani from Ghareeb Nawaz, rambled on the Magnificent Mile window shopping, eaten Giordano’s pizza (Chicago’s very own home style stuffed pizza), ice skated on the Michigan Ave, … oh and so much more.

Well, I love Chicago….. in spite of all these reasons, because of all these reasons!!

-Moi