kedar's

resolution poster

2011-11-09T11:05:00.004+05:30

Made this for Ink-dot's december poster show themed 'resolution'. Didn't make it to the show though.

the problem

2011-10-14T15:13:00.002+05:30

my little bit of independence

2011-08-14T18:34:00.004+05:30

I rarely talk about home out here, but this time it warrants an exception. It's been a month and 3 days since I moved to Bombay. In other words, I have a job now. And sometimes, I have the time to cook.

So, I bought a pressure cooker and the rest of the artillery to kick some ass in the kitchen. I won't have to be at the mercy of restaurants and their half-boiled rice any more. I've switched to eating Idli Sambar every morning, and sometimes for dinner too, just to play safe. I keep telling myself, 'how life-threatening can a plate of idli sambar be? They steam and boil the microbes to death.' And then, I reason, 'idli, carbohydrate, sambar, protein, fruits and vegetables-I-can-eat-raw, vitamins and minerals, milk, fat' to cover for the lack of a balanced diet.

I've had enough. I want to have more. So, I'm cooking from tomorrow.

I better go buy some rice, toor daal, methi or palak, tamarind, chillies, pasupu, sasuvulu, jeelakarra, groundnut oil, karivepaku, and kothimiri. Otherwise, these are empty vessels. And I'm just making a lot of noise.

I cook a proper Andhra vegetarian meal. So, if you fancy pappu, charu, perugu, annam and some powders my mom sent me (not gunpowder, you idiot), you're welcome for dinner. Or breakfast, or lunch if you like it cold.

an almost cover

2011-05-22T14:07:00.004+05:30

Sometime back, Tanushri Shukla asked me if I could pitch in on a little college project. She and her team were developing a case for a series of choose-your-own-adventure books. I said yes! And made this sample cover. It didn't make it to their project but I loved working with her nonetheless.

cover design for A Flawed God

2011-05-20T11:46:00.004+05:30

In this novel, Arjun Shekhar makes a case for the transfer of ownership from shareholders to employees. A rather incisive case in which he goes in for the kill. I'm sure you've thought about this before - why is it that while we employees work our asses off and shareholders warm the benches, we make do with increments while they make off with profits?

And if HR always seemed like a bunch of scheming cold souls who talk of 'training programs' to 'improve your productivity' as if you were a cow in a dairy shed, this book is their redemption. They're cooler than we think.

Coming back to the cover, the one above went to press. The printed cover though has one horn missing, one at the border. Apparently, the new 'A Format' paperbacks are 5mm less wide. And in that 5mm went my hint of a horn.

Here's what else I made while fighting with millimeters.

note to self

2011-03-29T16:39:00.002+05:30

If I ever take up a proper job again, I've decided I'll take the bus or the metro to work. Not a bike or a car. That way, I can safely take my eyes off the road, hands off the handle or feet off the pedals. And focus on the job at hand. It just gives me some thinking time. More than green, I think public transport is cerebral. I've done this before and I plan to do it again.

cover design for Bangalore Calling

2011-03-06T10:05:00.007+05:30

The front

and the back.

I'm not showing you the spine because I'm guilty of putting just the title and the author and none of the book on it. I know, I better watch my spines or I'm going straight to hunchback hell.

Here's what else I made before Uncle Sam went to press.

economy in disguise

2011-02-22T11:24:00.004+05:30

The current issue of Outlook Business has a cover story on the two decades of liberalization in India. And what the reforms have done to our economy. This is what I made for the cover.

cover design for Rear Entrance

2011-01-31T12:20:00.004+05:30

I love it when a title stems from the plot. When it captures the two hundred odd pages in two words. When it's exactly what's happening in the book. When the title means the book.

That's like half the cover design done.

I'm not entirely sure about how it works, if it's the editor or the author that comes up with the title. But, who ever it is was totally bang on.

Union-Jack-Red-Tape went to press. I also suggested having the spine on the right (instead of the usual left side spine). So, when you start reading the book, it feels like you're starting from the back. And of course, instead of turning the pages from right to left, you'd be turning them from left to right. Didn't happen though.

As always, here's what else I made while sneaking in through the back door.

two more for marie claire

2011-01-18T19:31:00.004+05:30

Made them both for a story in which divorce lawyers tell you how to stay married.

While at it, one of them feels that the biggest mistake couples make is reducing marriage to a business transaction.

Where do I stand on this issue? Don't ask. Never been married. So, I don't have a clue. And look, I'm still running after cheap thrills, kicked about the fact that instead of a footnote, my name's made it to the byline in this issue. Right next to the writer's.

i suppose

2010-12-16T08:54:00.003+05:30

And I've been doing a lot of this recently, almost pouncing at the laundry every time I'm only halfway through with something in my head. Don't know the how or the why of it. But, I expect a clear head as soon as I reach the end of a clothes line. Or by the time I've finished putting the last clip in place.

A less romantic way to look at it - I'd get my ass kicked if I didn't help with the chores now that I work from home.

cover design for The goat, the sofa and Mr. Swami

2010-11-15T18:46:00.004+05:30

The book’s already in the stores, on the webs, in the press, on TV, in people’s hands and yet, I’ve been too lazy to post about it. Often, the case is I can’t talk about something until it’s out. And this one came out a month ago. Then?

Maybe, it’s because of facebook. I put up a picture of the cover and felt I’d get away. After that, it was this nagging feeling that self-promotion didn’t qualify as actual work, so it’s okay to talk about it later. And now, I’ve been putting it off because I don’t know what to say. Eureka! Cover designer suffers writer’s block.

Anyway, the one above went to press. And though I’ve never driven an amby all my life, I’m delighted to inform you that I managed to park one on the spine. With little back and forth.

I wish Chandrasekar had a blog or an excerpt online I can link to so you can get a sense of his humour. I was slapping my thigh and laughing like an idiot and almost forgot I had to do the cover and I’ve read the book twice. There are no jokes or funny puns in there, but plenty of jokers. And, guess what, the tone is flat serious. Throughout. At least, in a satire, you see the punches coming. This one, you won’t know what hit you. Mr. Swami, you’re the man!

Here’s what else I made in between all the slapping and laughing.

two illustrations for marie claire

2010-10-03T12:18:00.002+05:30

This one's for a column by Rahul Mehta in which he talks about his first kiss. Apparently, the two write about each other all the time but they never get down to mentioning each other.

The second one's for Ameta Bal's argument that at least one person goes nuts at every wedding. Guess who did the honours at the her wedding?

i love W+K

2010-09-27T18:06:00.007+05:30

Here's why.

I didn't make it to their bootcamp this year. After all that sketching and scribbling and stacking. And hoping that 200-sheets-of-handmadeness might be it.

Okay, so my work didn't make the cut. But, it didn't make it to the shredder either. Here's a big THANK YOU to Jinnina Chiles.

bhuira jam bags

2010-09-23T15:33:00.007+05:30

As you might have guessed, these are tall bags. To fit those footlongs and breadloaves you might want to pick up when you drop in for some cake at your local bakery. As long as your local bakery is in south Delhi.

If you are zooming in on the snaps to read, don't. Have a look at this. Sad, I know. But I have to make do with artworks till I get myself an SLR and can shoot the real thing at a decent resolution.

the bags are here

2010-09-22T11:53:00.002+05:30

Honestly, I've been putting off posting about work because I wasn't sure I was doing any good on that front. Until I received a couple of mails, and some mumblings of approval, about these bags I made sometime back. So, I went out and brought some for myself. And to make up for all those I've refused.

Stupid thing is I've been travelling all over the city to go show my work to some interesting people and each time they'd ask me if they could keep the bag, I'd tell them I only have one. What was I on?

Anyway, problem solved. Got twenty of these now. They're a little damp from the rains. Once they're done sunning in the balcony, I'll put up a full shot.

faqs at the door

2010-09-15T22:53:00.000+05:30

I see a pattern emerging. Here's what transpires between me and security guards posted at office receptions these days.

guard: aapka naam?

me: kedarnath gupta

guard: kisse milna hai?

me: (the name)

guard: kahaa se aaye ho?

me: ghar se.

guard: yeh kya matlab hua, bhai?

me: ghar se hi toh aa raha hoon.

guard: kaun si kampanee se aa rahe ho?

me: koi company nahi.

guard: matlab kahaan kaam karte ho?

me: ghar mein.

He scratches his forehead and waits for me to stop playing the fool.

I'm not, so there's nothing to stop.

guard: ajeeb baat hai.

me: pata hai. jaldi se phone lagaaiye.

jam cottage

2010-08-16T20:57:00.012+05:30

I was off for the weekend, meaning far away from Delhi somewhere up in the hills. Liked it enough to write about it. So, here goes.

Bhuira is a pristine village snug on the slopes of Himachal, three lush-green mountain hours away from Kalka, the closest Indian Railways will take you.

The drive uphill is itself a spectacle. Cabs are too fast and their seats too low. Take the bus. You’ll see more of the valley for longer. If you’re lucky, you might even spot a toy train chugging across a neighbouring slope.

Bhuira is off the road, off the tourist map and way off the pilgrim’s path. Thank god for that. There are no temples to set your right foot into or forts to click pictures of. No mall roads to walk up and down. Just some beaten tracks made of mud and stone.

And lots of fir clad hills that go blue at the horizon. And crisp air that makes you want to take deep breaths. And warm people who are very hospitable. And shy school children who ask you to stay longer. And houses on the edges of hilltops with a view that’s the stuff wallpapers are made of.

And the cozy little fruit-filled cottage of Bhuira Jams. Now, unless you can knock on the door to one of the houses in the village and charm the family into letting you stay the night, this cottage is your only hope. There are no hotels this side of the hill. Nobody expects tourists, remember?

Linnet Mushran, the owner who started and still runs Bhuira Jams, would like to think of her cottage more as a guesthouse. And she is indeed a fabulous host.

With two fully-furnished bedrooms for guests (there’s fiction and nonfiction in the cupboard, even a washing machine in the bathroom), sumptuous meals cooked from whatever’s ripe in the kitchen garden and riveting conversation at the table, Linnet’s cottage beats staying at a five-star hands down.

As much as you’ll find it impossible to get out of bed in the mornings, you better make it to the breakfast table by 8.30am. That’s her time and Linnet always waits for her guests, though she’ll never tell you that. And please, make your own bed.

While you’re there, besides the hills, treat your eyes to how the jams are made. To the quintals of fruit in the verandah. Local women do it all by hand. They pick, sort, slice, squeeze, stir, measure, check, pack, stamp and what not themselves. Not a machine in sight. This has meant more jobs for women in the local community.

Speak to them and you’ll realize they’re proud of what they do. And they’re brutally honest. The women don’t ever pop a piece of fruit while working nor have they ever wanted to spoon the jam into their dabbas at lunch.

You won’t have to abstain though. Samples of all jams made the previous day are placed on the breakfast table the next morning. Linnet makes it a point to taste them and insists her guests do too. She shouldn’t bother. It’s tough to keep your hands off those miniature jam jars anyway.

Ramkali, the one who heads the kitchen, makes fluffy omelets and the tastiest aaloo parathas. But if you’re too shy to trouble her early in the morning, you might have to skip breakfast if you plan to do the journey back home by road, because the only bus reaching Delhi before the end of the day (with changes in Rajgarh and Solan) leaves Bhuira at 8.30 am.

Please note: the cottage at Bhuira Jams is not a licensed guesthouse. Linnet only puts people up who come on jam work. However, you are always welcome to visit the jam kitchens. Write to her at bhuira.jams@hotmail.com

- first appeared on The India Tube.

cover design for Bala Takes The Plunge

2010-07-25T13:32:00.007+05:30

I made this back in April. The book's out later this month and I must tell you Melvin Durai is funny as hell. His columns are a riot. You've got to check them out. Now, back to the cover. The one above has gone to press. And these are the other designs that didn't make it. But I'm honestly happy I made them too.

I was at the arcade games section of a mall staring at a claw machine for twenty minutes straight because the security guard won't let me take notes. I have a problem with this. Since when has taking notes in public become a security threat?

The title sounded a little heroic. Like the protagonist finally does it in spite of all the odds. So, this one was inevitable.

Bala's bridal dilemma - American or South Indian?

I'll remember working on these covers for a long time to come because this was my first assignment after I quit my job. And I can't thank Shivmeet Deol (the editor) enough for commissioning me. For having trusted me to pull it off.

escape poster

2010-07-14T00:42:00.003+05:30

Made this for ink-dot's recent poster show titled 'escape'. Didn't make it to their shortlist though.

So yes, I'm back without a bang. Had enough of waiting to post about something big. I guess that's just a load of bull. I shouldn't have stopped posting about the small things in the first place. Small failures, small victories, small nothings. My blog, right? Who am I trying to impress?

on my own for now

2010-04-02T18:19:00.003+05:30

ten bitten nails

2010-03-11T23:06:00.004+05:30

Last time I checked (which was two seconds ago), it was with the delivery courier. I must have refreshed DHL's tracking page two thousand times in the last two days. Learnt some geography while at it. The packet went from Delhi to London to East Midlands to Cincinnati to Seattle to Portland. Damn! I didn't know WK was so close to Washington. And that Washington was on the west coast. For some reason, I always thought it was right next to New York.

There I go refreshing the page once again. Why is it such a distraction? Why can't I just get back to work?

book cover design

2010-03-02T21:19:00.004+05:30

I took up a little art project over the weekend – to redo the cover for The Englishman’s Cameo by Madhulika Liddle. Set in 17th century India, the original cover billed it as a mughal murder mystery. I felt the least I could do was have my design cue those three m’s (or at least, two) instead of slapping the words on the cover.

While at it, thanks to google I got in touch with the author hoping for a crash course on the mughal empire. The thing is I hated my history teacher in school and in any case, I’ve forgotten whatever little I learnt by rote. After two days of surfing the web for stuff from back then, all I knew was their painting style. And I wasn’t going anywhere near it because this novel is supposed to be popular fiction, not some tome on the 17th century.

Sadly, nobody in Akbar’s time had access to blogger or flickr or facebook or whatever. I wish. But, I must say Madhulika was really nice in answering my questions.

coming soon: Ticker TV

2010-02-13T13:39:00.003+05:30

If you watch any of those business news channels, the trend is unmistakable. Newsreaders are drowning. They’re neck deep in tickers. Soon, you’ll have anchors peeping through ticker blinds to look at the camera.

Now, if all of us are (as the channels strongly believe) only staring at those coloured ribbons at the bottom, then the cud-chewing poker face is clearly a distraction. Why not just get rid of the anchor once and for all and stuff your screen with tickers? This is it. You don’t need no anchors. Or expensive studios or those fake cityscape backdrops.

All you need is one geek who can stream data from six major exchanges around the world (or seven or eight, depending on how many are major) onto one screen. And you’re done. No commercial breaks, no breaking news, no nothing. Just plain uninterrupted candy-coloured ticker bliss all day long.

commutee

2010-02-08T15:17:00.005+05:30

That's how I go to work these days. Heck, that's how most of the working population in India goes to work. So, why am I complaining?

No actually, I'm starting to like it. I don't have to worry about making it for the office bus. I don't have to depend on colleagues who stay my side of town. That’s a big deal because I’m neither capable of nor happy asking for favours. Besides, city buses are, in spite of all their shortcomings, greener and cheaper.

I never get a seat though, maybe half a seat sometimes. But that’s okay. I'd rather stand and look out the window than take an aisle seat and have crotches rubbing against my face.

I haven’t done this in a while, be at the mercy of public transport and still be on time. I quit doing the city buses the day I got a job, six years ago in another city.

Ever since, I’ve always wondered what it’s like. To not care about a fuel tank on reserve, to not care about the air pressure in my tyres, about the clutch wire that’s threatening to snap, about where to keep my helmet because I can’t take it inside the movie hall. I didn’t know any different. Now, I do and I swear by it. It’s not comfortable but it’s convenient.

Here’s the link if you’re in the mood for some shopping. And here's a behind-the-scenes look at all the sheets that came before the tee.

take your talk for a walk

2010-02-01T11:13:00.003+05:30

double on a tuesday

2010-01-29T23:33:00.011+05:30

To have people consider going to the movies or eating out on a Tuesday, Vodafone was (maybe still is) offering two for the price of one. It’s not so bad, if you ask me. I mean the weekday outing, not the freebie.

Go watch a movie on a weekday and you’ll know what I’m talking about. The theatre is all yours, pretty much like at a private screening. No crying babies. No latecomers walk-blocking your view. No cellphone users to shush. No knees to dodge on your way to your seat. No popcorn buckets to trip over. And, the biggest distraction of them all, no fighting for armroom on the armrest. Just you and the movie, throughout the movie.

I’ve never been to fancy restaurants, but on weekdays, I suppose the chef is all yours and the waiter is all ears. Better still, one waiter isn’t manning multiple tables. You, and maybe a couple at the corner, are the only ones for him to please. What’s not to like about it?

Coming to the work, I can safely report nobody suffered wednesday morning blues because none of it was released.

submission to jelly helm

2010-01-17T01:06:00.008+05:30

Jelly Helm, the man who kick-started the boot camp that is WK12, called for applications to be his design assistant back in December. “Application – contents up to you – may be sent as a PDF (under 8MB) or in a 9 X 12 envelope.”

I’m a sucker for such calls, especially when they come from the wk side of town. Of course, the position is way out of my league. The lack of software skills aside (InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator), I haven’t as much as designed a logo till date. May be. But, I still gave it a shot.

If you notice how 12 functions, Jelly couldn’t care less about the standard agency creative department structure. Everybody dips their hands in the paint, which is fantastic. You don’t even have to be from the profession to qualify. He’ll never say, ‘only designers may apply.’ Now, that’s what you call equal opportunity.

This is what I sent him. And as it always happens when you do it for love, I got my hopes up for a long while on this one. Nope. I didn't make it. I’m sure the others have sent in better applications than one long url spread across 27 sheets.

just wondering

2010-01-12T01:31:00.001+05:30

I ask a lot of questions. I insist on knowing everything about the client, his product and the category or I don't think it's a brief. I'm rude when you throw jargon at me. I have no respect for designation. I'd respect you if you made sense. I get lectured on how to adjust, read be-okay-with-churning-out-crap. I get lectured on how to be patient, read wait-till-december-when-you-can-do-scams. I take my job too seriously to do scams. I put the work first. I get angry when you put the client first.

I don't have long lunches and then complain about the lack of time. I'd rather dig up on a client than play farmville. My face goes into contortions at the first whiff of bullshit. I piss people off. I rock the boat a lot. I speak my mind. I'm not considered team material. Hell, I don't consider the team my material. I don't do small talk as much as I do big fights. I want to believe in what I do, not regret it. I look for satisfaction at work, not outside of it. I don't want to do my job, I want to do my best.

make do

2010-01-02T14:12:00.004+05:30

There's no light box in the office. So, you'll often catch me pressing two sheets against the monitor and tracing away. It's not very comfortable but I can manage. At home, I've been using the teapoy. One of those heavily carved, teakwood, made-to-match-the-sofa-set types that families sit around when guests are home. Otherwise, it's just a newspaper stand. It has a glass top and I put a torchlight underneath for the glow. This one's a little back-breaking. I have to sit on the couch and bend till I can't bend anymore to reach the paper. Yoga is easier, the poses don't last a few seconds. But, as you might have guessed, tracing takes a while. And my back keeps yelling for me sit up after every stroke.

Now that this three-days-long weekend is upon me, I thought I’d finish off what I’ve been putting off - make it easier for myself. So, last night, I went out to buy some wire, a CFL lamp, a plug and a holder. Once I chew the bits off the wires, stuff the copper into the screw-slots and peg in the CFL bulb (or u-tube), I’ll be ready. The dining table is my new light box - 6 feet by 3 feet of clear glass and a little shelf below (where I’ll keep the light). The height is perfect and so is the seating. I better get to work right away.

swearing sense

2009-12-25T13:23:00.006+05:30

We’re not trying to clean up the language here, quite the opposite. This is an effort to expand man’s cursing vocabulary. To give men bigger, bolder, badder words to fling at each other. Maybe then, we’ll quit dragging the women into it.

I had a hard time getting someone to do the monologue. Contrary to high hopes, women weren’t falling over each other yelling, me, me, me. Why me? Ask her, no? What if my mom sees it? Oh shit! You’ve heard me abuse in the office? We’ll find you a girl, kedar. Sure, I’m dying to get married.

Worse, when I told them the video might get passed around, more for the sake of disclosure than the fancy notion of casting for the next viral sensation on youtube, they banged the door in my foot. 6 years in advertising and I still can’t sell. Pity.

Except I hadn’t asked S yet. Not only did she agree, she surprised the hell out of me – took the script to practice at home, didn’t complain about several takes (in spite of a bad cold), donned a bindi to look older, made time between artworks and boss-calls, and she just pulled it off.

Let me just come out and say it – S was real nice the whole time and it’s a pleasure to work with her. Why didn’t I think of her first? Because I am, without a doubt, the worst casting agent in the history of colleague-casting agents.

Credits: emmanuel for wondering why it happens, preetha for carrying red bindis (nobody else in the office had one), ishita for auditioning, charu for managing without her specs till we finished, raylin for offering to wear a wig and do it himself when most women refused and the photobooth on steve’s iMac.

While at it, I made one myself to see if I could steer clear of maa-behen. And I passed.

problem solution

2009-12-20T18:39:00.004+05:30

There's a kirana store across the road from where I stay. It's manned by a woman. She manages the shop, two STD phones and three kids all at once all day. She also sells cigarettes. One of the days when I bought a pack, I noticed she had a big Homelites on the counter for people to light their cigarettes. It's a little inconvenient. You can't cup your palms around the flame while holding that big box. When I had to strike a second one, she told me people flick small matchboxes. That she’d had enough of watching over a matchbox. So, she put that trunk on the counter. And ever since, nobody's dared shove it their pockets. It’s too big to fit in a pocket. I thought that was a good one. By her.

status update triggers tirade

2009-12-16T10:13:00.001+05:30

google used to be

2009-12-13T16:37:00.007+05:30

Thankfully, they don't give you this tip anymore. It just makes me feel like a mega vagabond. Do they have any idea how many hours I waste? I while away entire weekends. Man, it's hard enough being unable to do anything about that. And they want me to save what again, a few milliseconds? Great, I'm already feeling better.

parking lot grooming

2009-12-08T23:45:00.005+05:30

This is from back when I used to take my scooter to work. Not a day went by without someone or an alien screwing with the rearview mirror. I'm sure they were just combing their hair, patting their moustaches, scooping the goop off their eyes or just checking for spinach in their teeth. All par for the course. They were just trying to look good before walking into office in the morning. That’s all. So, why was I against it?

Because I'd realize the mirror is off angle only at 80 kmph on my way back home in the evening when someone’s honking from behind and all I can see is my face in it.

recruitment campaign

2009-12-03T20:01:00.004+05:30

Now, wouldn't it be nice if every office had their own interesting little ways to recruit people? Instead of asking for their mail servers to be spammed with resumes that read alike. They could ask you to figure stuff out, make something, come up with a solution to an everyday problem, show them what else you do besides work or like WK Seeking wanted, 'send us 20 pages of anything interesting.' That makes it easier for them and tougher for you. And the tougher it is to get into a place, it becomes all the more desirable. It makes you want to try harder. You start wanting to work with them. Isn't that how it should be?

candy redeemed

2009-11-29T12:23:00.007+05:30

It started off as a whatif project. To get away from the routine at office. To see if I could still do some decent work. What if a candy brand spoke to grown-ups? For a start, you don't have to be cheesy, stupid, goofy, dumb, cute or silly. Good. But, candy for adults? No, wait. No references to porn. This better be clean. OK. So, I wrote some lines, made some layouts and tore them down because I thought they were stupid. A week later, I was still tossing it around in my head. And I didn't like it. One way to get something out of your head is to put it on paper. So, this time, I kept the layouts.

When I showed them to Viju, he said, "Why does it have to be intelligent only for the adults? Why can't we talk to kids like this?" True. That's so bloody true. Why didn't I question the be-dumb-with-kids rule all along?

last day tee

2009-11-19T21:17:00.003+05:30

No more dilly-dallying. No more let me think about it. No more what ifs and but thats. No more saving it for later. What the fuck are you saving anyway? No more hanging in there. No more rationalizing. No more is recession the right time? No more sleeping over it. No more losing sleep over it. No more waiting for a turning point. No more letting the doing last for ever. Finish it. Say yes. And jump.

update: i won't be flogging it on teepay because google says I'm not the first person to put quit and quitting together. Their search button should be renamed search/check.

unrest in the room

2009-11-11T21:42:00.006+05:30

There are so many things that we just use. To take the yuck and the muck off our highnesses. From the poopot to a toothbrush to earbuds. We subject them to such unspeakable acts of hygiene so early in the morning for as long as we please it's not funny. Our sounds and our smells turn bathrooms into deadly gas chambers. Taps, tissues, razors, tongue cleaners, mugs, buckets - they're all sitting on a class action suit. The bees should know. They sued us back to the stone age, remember? Besides terrible working conditions, these things get no perks, no promotions. Bum tissue will never get elevated to hand tissue, nor will shoe polish get to be nail polish. Not in a million years. And we need to go on the weekends too. So, they don't even get sundays off. On top of all this, we make them choke on a cheap room freshener.

What if they spoke up?

magazine covers

2009-11-08T14:35:00.007+05:30

Don’t you wish you had a release every week? At least one piece in the press that stands out? That's interesting. That makes your peers go, damn! If I get to do one decent 100cc ad a week, I'd be a happy man. I'd spend the weekend in peace. I know it's expensive and hardly any clients have such a media plan. However, I like the discipline it imposes on me. So, if it's not ads, then maybe something else. One piece a week for sure without excuses.

I’ve noticed Outlook has a new lousy cover every week. Obviously, their designer doesn’t give a damn. And I can certainly do better. Then, how about making a cover every week? It's great for practice, plus no wasted weekends. They could mail me the story two days in advance and I could work something out. I don’t need the money, a mention in the credits is enough.

I haven’t approached anyone at Outlook about this yet, I will soon. I just have to time myself for a series of consecutive issues before I meet them. I should be able to make a cover even for the stories I don't see fit to be on the cover, right? Till then, these are some old pieces.

When congress wanted to go ahead with the nuclear deal and the left was holding them back.

It seems when a desi tycoon is marrying his kid off, he invites half of bollywood and some ministers to the wedding.

When the players were a little nasty on the pitch in Sydney.

This dude actually said he needs dictatorship to establish democracy.

It occurred to me that Indian fashion will have arrived only when you see fakes being sold on pavements.

and some posters that weren't put up

2009-11-03T20:27:00.006+05:30

I'm sure, by now, you must have guessed who this work was done for. However, if you're still wondering why I chose to pixelate the logo (or black out portions of the letter), it's fairly simple. I intend to showcase my work here, not kick up a controversy. And I hope you respect that.

a letter that never went

2009-10-31T11:46:00.007+05:30

quick one-off

2009-10-25T00:18:00.003+05:30

ex-doer

2009-10-20T22:37:00.009+05:30

They made fun of you. They crapped all over you.

And they didn’t give a shit.

You ploughed on regardless.

Made sure you built the plane when they weren’t around.

You worked away when they were playing, faffing or sleeping.

Somewhere down the line, their approval began to matter.

And the lack of it messed with your head.

So, you took the easy way out. You let go.

Of what meant the world to you.

Of that stupidity that kept you alive.

You quit doing.

Make this your comeback.

Let them know you'll do it whether the hell they like it or not.

Right now and here.

they should have parking meters

2009-10-14T23:39:00.003+05:30

Cafés probably know it. That none of us ever go there because their coffee is heavenly or because we find their sandwiches irresistible. The food and drink is the price we pay for occupying a table. Their shit is so stale I once returned a chicken tikka sandwich because it smelt. Then, why do I keep going back? Habit. If I’m working late and I need a change of place for a while, the Barista downstairs is the only place I can think of. It’s a fancier alternative to the visitor’s rooms behind our reception.

So, why don’t these cafés just admit their food sucks and be open about charging you for sitting there? Install a note-sucking stopwatch on every table and set a rate for table-time. Let’s say 100 bucks an hour. So, you just have to keep feeding it a hundred rupee note every one hour and you can sit there for as long as you please.

The waiters won’t pester you to keep ordering when your stomach’s already full. The cafés can have more comfortable seats now that they don’t need to drive out customers who’ve finished eating to make room for new customers. And I won’t need half-eaten muffins to cover for me.

good morning

2009-10-11T15:01:00.002+05:30

pressing matters

2009-10-07T21:44:00.011+05:30

This is just one. I've got more that need to be addressed right away. Are those other's books or others books? Is it someone else's problem or someone elses? I'm not possessed by the apostrophe. I will be if I get it wrong one more time. When should I use double quotes, when should I stick to single and why do some of us break into bhangra while talking? And then, the break-ups. They get really dirty quickly. Because the return key is a bitch. I could agonize over a headline for ages and totally ruin it in the layout. Is it okay to end the line with an a
or should I take
a down to the next line? Same with an, the, in, on, it, of, to and and.

Don't refer me to the Wrens & Martins of the world. They either don't have the answers or don't talk like I can understand. Not even Lynne Truss, no. Except for some commaplay in one of her titles, I find her very academic. Unlike Bryson's Mother Tongue which is bloody neat. Or Erin McKean. I could listen to her forever.

back row middle seat

2009-10-03T13:31:00.003+05:30

busy

2009-09-28T12:20:00.006+05:30

I was tied up with some office work over the weekend so I just flicked one of my old pieces and put it on a tshirt. Actually, I've been thinking about starting another blog for a while - tshirt of the week. To put all of these in one place. But again, what's the point of starting a blog if I'm so afraid of running out of stuff to post. Fine, then. I'll start it when I can honestly do one a week. Without cheating like today. Till further notice, the tshirts will continue to take refuge at HIGB.

two movie posters

2009-09-24T20:01:00.003+05:30

How come we at agencies never get to make movie posters? Sure, most of the movies they make out here aren't worth a poster. But still. Like those Rajat Kapoor movies or even Dibakar Banerjee's, for instance. They're really interesting. I'm not sure why their posters must be any different. First of all, their movies don't have the big stars. They can do away with the starcast-facing-each-other poster. Second, it's okay if they don't have the monies. I'd do it for love.

dabba bag design

2009-09-21T11:37:00.002+05:30

I don't like carrying lunch to the office in shopping bags. It doesn't feel right. What, now brands want to feed off my lunch? Get some mileage for letting me hide steel dabbas in flashy bags? Fuck you. I work for brands, but I'm not aspirational enough to enlist as a brand mule.

And home cooked food deserves more respect than a shopping bag. It's probably the last bastion of any sense of taste. It's what gives us the balls to look down upon outside food. It's why we're indebted to our mothers. What has a brand done for you, anyway?

So, here's a bag that announces to your colleagues that you've brought food from home instead of telling them where you went shopping on the weekend.

i hope not

2009-09-17T14:49:00.000+05:30

toiler

2009-09-12T00:19:00.015+05:30

If you're working late though you've finished all the work, maybe you just want to do better. When there's no one to distract you, nobody who'll stop by your cubicle on their way to the water cooler. And the night is all yours to slog.

- end of sales pitch -

Small hiccup while getting this one up on teepay. I cut the letters out of dairymilk foil. And foil is reflective. So, the scanned letters weren't made of only one colour. There is no gold colour, it's gold because of all the whites, greys and blacks on it's surface. That's lustre.

Teepay didn't approve because screen-printing doesn't allow for any alchemistry. So, I bullied Ravi to part with another trade secret. "Flat colour? Simple yaar, apply threshold." The tee is up now. You can go take a look here.

Also, I plan to give some to the do lectures, the annual talkfest by howies. They get a bunch of interesting people together and let them hold forth. And speakers get to talk for longer than the measly 17 minutes TED would allow them.

failed product idea

2009-09-09T21:32:00.006+05:30

I wish there was something inside the box. Something that actually does what I say it does. After mentally prototyping a few ideas, it was clear I wasn't going to file for patents anytime soon. Look at what I had:

1. A micron-thick knobsock that's volatile enough to vaporize at palm temperature.
2. A sanitizer spray-can that you can fix above the knob and set it to spray the knob after every rotation.
3. A knob that'll electrocute the save-paper types who open the door with dripping wet hands.

I figured an easy way out was to get rid of the knob itself. No knob, no touching. And install sliding doors, the automatic kind you find at malls, but opaque. I know. I'm talking hi-tech loo doors in these recessionary times when tissue paper is getting thinner by the day. Then, maybe you should just open the door with some tissue paper and ask anyone who gives you a look to fuck off.

mark up

2009-09-05T13:13:00.002+05:30

By stuffing our straight faces with coffee and biscuits, shifting from slide to slide, asking if we can move on to the next one, mentioning nike and apple, starting every sentence with correct-me-if-I'm-wrong, by apologising for cutting someone short, keeping the printouts print side down, and by reading the copy aloud when they're holding the layout, even shit gets marked up 100%.

wait wait... ok tell me

2009-09-02T21:34:00.003+05:30

ditto with
Jack Nicholson and Anthony Hopkins
Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg
Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron

I have no idea why, though. Perhaps casting directors with C.S.A. next to their names could tell me why. It seems as if either of them could have pulled off the other's roles in each one of their movies. Like, Jack Nicholson could very well have been Hannibal Lector. Maybe he just didn't have the dates.

softspoken

2009-08-28T17:35:00.003+05:30

How about making a point that's so good you wouldn't have to shout at all?

scratch shoot

2009-08-26T20:41:00.003+05:30

What if the brand amby actually did what she asks us to do? I mean, really. Can that be the ad? Or am I just trying to save the world? Put on your headphones and excuse the sound quality. Resul Pookutty didn't mix it for us, you see.

credits:
our building's dingy basement, the water pump that wouldn't shut up, busy colleagues who made their acting debuts during office hours, moviemaker zindabad, casting by microsoft word, scripting? what scripting? and finally, riazat for being kicked enough about the idea to go shoot.

another useless trait

2009-08-24T13:22:00.003+05:30

I recently discovered that I can write in reverse. With the same right hand. You'd have to turn the page around and hold it up to the light to read it. Or you could use a mirror.

Now, unless I can write better copy this way or give you a radically different perspective on an issue, I don't see why this should go up on my resumé.

The Economist

2009-08-20T22:12:00.003+05:30

I used to dread it. I mean, we've all seen their work in the books, scratched our heads through some of it and been awed by Mr. Abbott's legacy. Especially that photograph in the bible where he's got his legs up on the table. That's frightening stuff, man. Lay off, you trainee-with-a-two-page-book. Don't you dare try your scammy little tricks on The Economist. Be gone.

I didn't want to be stripped of my dignity and have it diced and sliced while I mumbled some in my defense. So, I never raised my hand for a long time. Until this one struck me, got rejected and I sent it to Viju.

He was surprised I came up with it. And rightly so. I wasn't exactly the brightest of his trainees who churned out fabulous work that made him proud or anything. If I can recall, I was a disaster. I'd walk in to work late, flip through books, pretend I was busy, play snooker in the canteen, bum cigarettes from him, even the lighter, pass judgements on commercials, surf the whole day, tag along with the seniors for drinks, hang around till late, hitch a ride home and come back the next day. I never wrote a line. And I had a poster idea for The Economist? Who was I kidding?

Viju mailed it around to see if he could get it through the door. When they blew us off a second time, we decided to show them we were serious. He asked me if I could do a series. Because unlike a one-off, it's not easy to reject a campaign. It's a lot of work and makes it that much more difficult for them to say no. I was game.

This was my first slow project. For the next three months, I sent him 4 or 5 ideas every week. I worked on them in the evenings, made the layouts over the weekend and hit the send button positively by noon on sundays. So he could take a look at them first thing monday morning. I picked up bits of freehand and photoshop along the way. I even bought two issues of the magazine and figured it's a newspaper.

He rarely approved of anything but when he did, you'd see me doing cartwheels in the corridor. Not really, but yeah, I'd go and treat myself to two cigarettes or blow money on some expensive cupcakes in the nearby market.

Twelve weeks, forty odd ideas and many phone calls later, I had five that made the cut. Of course, I sent them to them-in-the-city-state, they bombed all five and it pissed me off and stuff. But this time, I was happy. My book was fatter and I wasn't scared of The Economist anymore.

ROI

2009-08-13T20:44:00.012+05:30

Remember this one I made for teepay? It's the staff-pick of the day! They've liked it enough to let it jump the 30-order queue and they've printed 50 of these! It's up on their homepage right now! Wait, let me take a screenshot. Here.

Damn! I'm so excited I've already abused five exclamation marks and here's abusing another one! Just watching this piggy go to print is so satisfying. And for a change, I wouldn't mind having the call-to-action. Go get one here while you still can.

arrogance

2009-08-09T21:55:00.001+05:30

two-ad campaign

2009-08-05T19:25:00.005+05:30

I couldn't think of a third way to kill hunger. So. Or are there plenty of other ways that I'm just not aware of? Anyway, I thought it'll be interesting for a restaurant to address the killing of hunger, which is an evening phenomenon in offices, instead of what they usually do - use great looking food shots to make you feel hungry.

Viju, if you're reading this, you'll notice I haven't changed the line. My fault. But, I still think you're right. The line should have been - If you still can't kill it.

this is one of those

2009-08-01T16:24:00.002+05:30

lost and found

2009-07-30T11:27:00.006+05:30

Last year, the ADC put out a brief asking you to come up with the 27th letter of the English alphabet. Had there been one, what could it have been? The one that gradually disappeared from the standard set. Because it couldn't get along with the pen or because some bigshot alphabetman didn't like it. Or simply because it went missing at the foundry. Though entry was open only to past ADC young guns, the brief was interesting so I took a shot at it anyway.

not anymore

2009-07-25T09:49:00.005+05:30

Two months ago, I crossed over to the dark side and signed up for an account on facebook. 10 friends already! All those hi-hello-how-are-yous have yet to come flooding in to drive me up the wall. But so far, I'm doing just fine. No status updates of people's cats. Holy bullfuck! Who ever came up with the term status update? Sounds like a piece of code reporting to a remote server in Czechoslovakia. What is a status update anyway? And friend request, that's another gem. Please-to-make-friendship-with-me?

I'm also on linkedin (2 contacts) and now, someone's officially following me on blogger. It'll be a while before I get to Dunbar's 150. The big deal is I've crossed zero.

fail-safe

2009-07-20T22:56:00.009+05:30

It's small enough to never need a bail-out. And it's big enough to bail you out.

This one is so hot-off-the-press you should wait for the ink to dry. Naa, teepay still hasn't approved it. And it's not live on their site yet. So, please hold on to your orders.

While working on it, I called up Ravi for some free photoshop tuition. How to make the letters inside the piggy transparent so they can take on the t-shirt colour. Chak, chak and chak. Done. That simple really. But, I was scratching my head all evening trying to figure out a prehistoric way to do it because I was too proud to ask anyone. Ravi, you rock.

update: it's up on the hangers. go try one here.

december scam song

2009-07-17T19:25:00.010+05:30

During one of the annual let's-see-what-you-got ceremonies, when all of us present work that we feel deserves a fair shot at the award functions, this was all I had.

Luckily, it made the shortlist. I was asked to have it mounted and couriered to a certain city-state. They handle the account and we needed them to give us a go-ahead. For the next three days, the dispatch register had me hooked. I knew the airway bill number by heart. I'd refresh the tracking page a million times. And I had nightmares. What if my packet got stuck at customs?

Two weeks later, my boss tells me they didn’t get it. But hey, Bluedart sent me an email confirming the delivery. Then? He said they didn’t get the idea. Damn! I can't blame Bluedart for this.
Why do you want to claim the magazine is eco-friendly? It still gets printed on paper and we don’t want to go down that road.

Frankly, this eco-friendly bit never occurred to me. Not once. It should have, at least, in one of those nightmares. I mean, how did I miss it? The white type was sprawled right across the middle of so much red in a whopping 150 point size. And all I could see was money? I’m so naïve.

Nothing happened to this one. But this one made big stuff happen.

blurb ad

2009-07-15T22:57:00.001+05:30

confession time

2009-07-10T22:32:00.006+05:30

I have a lot of unfinished work to do. And I've lost a lot of time not doing it. I can't blame the tv, the newspaper, the coffee dispenser, the lunch break, the cigarette breaks or the internet. I'm the one abusing them. It's so simple - finish your homework and then, you can go play. But, no. I want to finish playing first. Tch, tch.

Let's try something. I'll report to you on Monday, in all honesty, whether I made any progress during the weekend or just wasted it. See? I can already feel the pressure.

update: Saturday went in housekeeping. Sunday went down the drain. Progress on the unfinished work front: nil. Knew it.

high homes

2009-07-07T23:24:00.003+05:30

Where my cellphone finds it impossible to pick up a signal. And water is under no pressure to get out of the pipes. Sometimes, I can even see the office bus go by without waiting for me when I'm still waiting for the lift. But, I just love it up there. Because the highest we ever got to staying all our lives was the first floor.

bonus

2009-07-01T19:57:00.002+05:30

You know what happens while working on something. I think of everything except what I'm supposed to be thinking about. I'm not saying it's bad, just that it's annoying. However, on those rare occasions, when the mind is in a mood to oblige and stick to the job at hand, I get hit with a bonus. Like this one, while I was working on the previous campaign.

green stuff

2009-06-29T21:21:00.008+05:30

I didn't want to do a dos and don'ts campaign. Because people are already aware of climate change. You know you should turn off the TV and not put it on stand-by. But, if I told you to do it, not only will you never do it, you'll also ask me to shut up. That much, I figured.

The media hasn't stopped talking about the issue. The ex-next-president of the United States won an Oscar and a Nobel prize for his ppt. So, it's not like we're in the dark. We know. We all know. The alarm went off long ago. But, we kept hitting the snooze button. Because we could. If you ask me, we are just too bored to act.

Maybe, you'll find this interesting.

The ones that follow were meant to be bumper stickers. They don't look like they are. But, if you wish to buy them, just dropmealineor2@gmail.com and I'll see what I can do. Ha!

they're not so bad after all

2009-06-18T19:53:00.008+05:30

I haven't done this before. Thought of call centre guys as superheroes. At par with Superman or Spiderman. I'm no comic book fan, but here's what I know about those who work at a call centre.

They're the ones we call when something's wrong. We expect them to fix it no matter what. We can reach them from anywhere in the world at any time. But, we never see them. They're quietly toiling away behind the scenes. We don't know their real names. We don't celebrate them. Instead, we tear them apart. Like superheroes, they're flawed. Unlike superheroes, they exist.

casualtee

2009-06-14T14:29:00.006+05:30

Here's one I made for teepay.
While they're too busy cutting costs to cope with the times, let's hope the big companies don't cut down on their efforts to be eco-friendly. Because they might save a few bucks by reverting to their old ways.

You can order one here.

small little thinks

2009-06-10T20:04:00.003+05:30

I have a plan

2009-06-08T21:53:00.005+05:30

For a new business paper. Right, there are five papers on the stands already. ET, FE, BS, BL and Mint. So, where's the need for another one? Let's see. How does the pink press pick up the average story? Companies either issue a press release or call for a press conference. Sometimes, the papers don't even bother to rehash a press release. When was the last time they gave us any dirt on a company? They never do. The point is they're too cute to go digging.

The pink papers don't treat businesses like the white papers treat governments. Wait. I'm not suggesting a pink Tehelka. That'll be funny. I can't defame a corporation and expect it to buy ad-space in my paper, can I? There is no revenue in this model. For my new business paper, of course, I'll go digging. Not for dirt, but for gems.

I'll cover businesses that operate out of a small setup but are no small businesses. That employ a handful of people but are profitable as hell. That prefer to have a blog and not a website. That spend a nickel to make a million. That threaten the bottom lines of big corporations. That make the big corporations want to buy them out.

Craigslist almost brought The New York Times to its knees a couple of years ago. Nobody even knows Google Earth was developed by a small start-up called Keyhole Inc. I would have covered Infosys from 81 to 93, the year it went public. I'll cover Innocent and Howies. Man, there's no dearth of such companies. However, I'll drop them once the mainstream pinkies pick them up. Or till somebody makes them an offer so pompous even the white papers decide to mention it.

Now, why would I not cover the Tatas, Birlas or the Wipros? Because five papers already do. Because that's where my money is not. The people up there aren't really interested in reading their own soundbites. Azim Premji already knows what Azim Premji said. It's the small setups that keep him up at night that he'd like to know more of.

So, there we have my target audience. Not junior, middle or senior management. I'm talking CEOs and MDs. My ad rates can simply be 4 or 5 times the rates of ET (assuming it's the leader). That's it.

Effectively, I'll be charging Goliath a bomb for all the gossip he wants on David.

some very happy hours

2009-06-05T22:11:00.003+05:30

This was just a one-off for Sachin's evening show. I'm not sure why, but we finally ended up shooting real people inside boxes with numbers on them.

stop wondering

2009-06-03T19:20:00.004+05:30

I used to get this a lot from my previous colleagues. In the office, outside the office. They'd make me feel stupid. How could I ask such a question or say such a thing?

Maybe I was supposed to worry about stuff they worried about. Stuff that mattered. Serious stuff. Like should we eat in the canteen or go out for lunch? Are you coming for the party or not? I'd even catch them arguing over these things. If only they argued over the briefs as much.

Anyway, I never stopped wondering. I just stopped telling them about it.

we the office people

2009-06-01T22:15:00.004+05:30

Vodafone had a new tariff carrot for postpaid subscribers - call your friends at 10 paise per minute. I thought this was dirt cheap. I mean you must be real cheap to want it any cheaper. So, who wouldn't want to sign up for it?

Oh, there are lots. The hard working, email checking, busy looking, chair swapping, coffee slurping, print shooting, nine to fivers. We rule. We keep our extensions busy on personal calls. We minimize chat windows after every line. We message because we're too cheap to call.

I was my target audience. Unlike Bart who had just one detention line every episode, I had three. Of course, they didn't run.

from the art-directed-by-copywriter series

2009-05-30T00:30:00.006+05:30

Here's a three-ad-campaign for the annual Leadership Summit hosted by Hindustan Times. In 2006, the speakers had to make a case for or against India's ability to emerge as the next global superpower.

We didn't have to invite readers to the Summit. Entry was by invitation only to the bigwigs, anyway. The communication had to just let people know HT was hosting such an event so they'll continue to think highly of the paper.

None of these lines made it to the press. The ones that did didn't make it to my book.

dirty linen

2009-05-28T00:35:00.005+05:30

Sometime last year, I felt really bad. Like dude-what-the-fuck-are-you-still-doing-here kind of bad. Sure, I was working. But, not as hard as I used to. I wasn't churning out as much either. Nothing was getting produced. Stuff was either bombed or lay unsold. I hadn't signed an artwork in a year.

And the worst part, I used to be home on time. Every. Single. Day. My mom loved it. I couldn't take it.

Then, it hit me. Apart from the doodles, I didn't have anything. No layouts of the other work. I never had this practice of asking my art directors for jpegs or prints to keep for later. I never thought of later. So, on the day of reckoning, all I had were word files. What am I going to show people? Great!

My new art director had just come in and I didn’t have the balls to ask him, you know, to recreate my entire portfolio. He'd ask me to fuck off. Who wouldn't?
So, I decided to make my own book and make it by hand. The calculation was even if I finished one sheet in two days, I should be ready to move out in a year. It didn't scare me. It prepared me.

Now, if I can do thirteen pages on my own, what makes you think I can't do another hundred? It was just a matter of not watching TV and not going out on weekends.

A year and six months later, I'm happy. But, I still think my mom works harder than me. I don't have cracked fingertips. She does. You'll see the work over the next set of posts. Funny part is today, though I'm ready to move out, the economy isn't letting me move in.

Mumbai wanted them too

2009-05-25T17:32:00.001+05:30

Red FM is really popular over there. Their morning show host was asked to train Vidya Balan for her role in Lage Raho Munnabhai. On how to stretch goooooodmorningmumbai long enough to exhaust the boom operator. Anyway, Red FM now wanted me to doodle up the goodies for their Mumbai station.

So, I went down to the city for four days. To make notes. I vowed never to take a taxi because you hardly get to feel the city from inside a cab. It pulls you away from all of it. It insulates you from the streets. I was there to learn, to soak in the city, not look out of a window. I stuck to city buses, local trains and my two feet.

I parked my bags at Hanif’s place who briefed me on all the whats and wheres. For the next four days, I’d get out early in the morning and return late in the night.

I felt Jumbo King joints could be renamed McVadapav’s. I stood up for the National Anthem before I sat through Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. I bought a new pair of chappals. I learnt how to get sucked into a local train. I hurried past a shop that sells guns in VT. I spotted lots of umbrellas in Band Stand. I didn’t drink.

And then, I came back to Delhi and faithfully returned the remaining petty cash to my office. Sadly, I’m an honest guy. And I should tell you I almost sprained my knuckles by the end of each sheet.

And what became of it

2009-05-21T16:41:00.002+05:30

I was told the client loved the doodle. And that they didn’t want to make a billboard of it. Because there was too much in it. More than anybody can read in one go. Nothing will register.

Man, I must have been stupid.

To break the not-more-than-eight-words rule. To know the billboard will be up for at least two weeks. To assume commuters will have had enough of eight-words in less than eight days. To want to engage them for the whole duration. To let them discover a new bit every day. To be okay with them not reading all of it in one go. Because they’ll get another go tomorrow.

However, some months later, the client came back with a proposal. They have these things they call goodies. Stuff they give away to listeners. Diaries, sippers, CD cases, coffee mugs, photo-frames. Each of these had just one big ugly red logo at the centre. Could we do them up? Make people want them? Sure. And doodle and doodle and doodle I did.

Before I forget, these were done for Red FM's Delhi listeners.

First up, the first few pages from the diary.

While I was doodling, Simran quit the show and Nitin took over. So, I had to make another one for him. These RJs, I tell you.

This one's for the sipper. It's a wrap-around.

And lastly, the CD case.

What came first

2009-05-19T22:33:00.001+05:30

The client wanted a clutter-breaking billboard to advertise their morning show in Mumbai. Brief: that was it, clutter-breaking stuff. I didn’t really jump out of the bathtub, you know. Nor did I go hug the servicing guy. Of course, it sounds like just any other brief. But, but. It seemed a little odd that everybody wants to break some clutter but nobody wants to break it with it. I mean, why can’t we break clutter with clutter? Deep, I know.

some housekeeping

2009-05-14T13:32:00.000+05:30

Finally have the banner in place. At first, it looked big and sounded loud. So, I scanned it again to make it smaller. And quieter. But then, you couldn’t notice the computer type gradually morphing into hand lettered stuff. Then, I figured it’s a masthead. And who the hell am I to make a masthead look or sound any less? So, I just let it be.