no 'more coffee'

Coffee increases heart rate I think. The research if iffy but  most of tem seem to agree that there is some effect there. Yesterday I had coffee day. One coffee in the morning and then some more in the evening. Th evening coffee was a potent brew.

We were out of fresh coffee so I remembered one shop selling tea and coffee open during the lockdown. I guess they are essential activities for most. Coffee and tea. I went there only to find that he was telling me that the coffee is all over and they are getting no fresh stock. He asked me to try in a few days. While I was walking back home, suddenly I could get a strong smell of coffee. I stopped in my tracks and was wondering where it came from. I couldn’t see any shop open. Just then I saw a few meters ahead, hidden, a small shop selling coffee. Part of the chain of shops called Phillip tea and coffee, this guy was grinding fresh bean. Wow.

I went up and asked. He was grinding his top bean called the highlander at 700 bucks a kilo. I took a kg of his stuff and went home. This smelt potent. I mad ethe coffee in the traditional filter and had it in the evening. That is the last time I am having coffee as strong as that when I have nothing much to do. In a few hours I felt my heart rate just go up a bit. Nothing alarming but I now wanted something to do.

I couldn’t walk around; I couldn’t read anything – I was just sitting there, and my mind was racing. In these difficult times, the only thing I was thinking about was, how screwed we were with Covid. I could only think that the worl dis going to run into chaos and anarchy and that we will all be out of job. Luckily over the years I know when I am getting negative. I can see myself doing it.

Immediately I tried to snap out of it. First thing – admit to myself I am negative; then admit to Jasmine I am negative. Then think through – A ha – it’s probably the coffee and nothing to channelize the thinking and time and energy. Acceptance is important.

Negative zones are difficult zones. Its not easy. Years ago, I remember my brother helping me realise negative zones. There was a friend of his who would talk negative all the time. And we would make fun of it. He would invite him over and purposely start a conversation. Then when he left we would laugh like crazy. I have learnt not to be like that. And more importantly avoid people like that.

When my friends talk negative, I try and run away from them. I try and stop them from being too bitter or too negative a zone. Sometimes I too get there. You can’t avoid slippages. What you can is acknowledge them. Try and understand where they come from. For me Covid is a genuine crisis. Its too big and large to disappear. For the first time in humankind and economics, there had been a disruption/ displacement of labour, capital and Land (I substitute land for physical elements of the supply chain). All three are disrupted and people have left consumption.

It is probably great for the environment but as economics 101 goes, we are up shit creek. Maybe we will come back from it. May be there will be price to be paid and sacrifices taken. May be some will be more affected than most others. Maybe we will all come out of it better and stronger. Or we come out of it just slightly bruised. But my learnings and thinking and what I know – I don’t think so. I think the probabilities are stacked against us as a race. The disruption will be large as I see it.

I think I am strong enough to survive. I think I am bold enough to take challenges head on. I think we have saved enough to manage tough times. When I sit back and think – nah – I think I get by. At worst it will be tough, but I think with my thinking and clarity – we should be able to make it through.

The challenge is not the external circumstances. The challenge is internal. If I am negative before the shit hits, then I am lost. When it hits, I must be positive. I must face it and navigate. One reason I have not given away any of my old books is so that if there is ever a situation where I don’t have enough money – I will reread all of them. Its funny but that I how I think.

I like being prepared for the worst. I normally think the tough decisions in my life quietly and only open my mouth when I am in a better frame. Typically, I like to imagine worst case situation. When stress levels go up, I only think – worst case, what is the worst that can happen. I try and think of that, then I imagine how I will react. Then I imagine if I would be ok (I am always ok) and then its good. Now go to sleep.

When I wake up, I am happy, positive and able to take on the shit that the world throws me. I am sure more stuff that’s bad will happen to me. It will happen to all of us. I can only hope that I am prepared and more important positive in the light of this. I want to die a happy man not an irritating senile man who is pissed with the world. The point of life is happiness, not crankiness and definitely not negativity.

Understanding this about myself is one of the greatest gifts I feel I have. Being able ot know, I am angry, being able to see I am negative and that I want to do something about it. I would have loved to be a positive at all times person but that would mean that there is no difference between me and an optimistic Bambi. Ups and downs are part of life – you can only choose your reaction to it. Choose well. You have to live with it.

joy to ego

Yo. Mental state is such a fickle thing. So many things affect it. We are unable to understand how it really works and how it affects us, there are so many variables. And its not like its in your control and that you have ot be aware. Even if you are aware there is very little to do anything about it. Because ta the time you are so consumed by it that even if aware you are helpless.

When you are angry, you know you are angry, you know it’s bad for you and the other person, but still you let anger take control. Then it takes some serious will power to control it. Sometimes the will power itself exhausts you and that causes more trouble. My god this is such a tough thing.

I have also learnt that mental state is also affected by the food we consume. For me – coffee is a big thing. Caffeine has such a positive influence on me, its amazing. It drives away lethargy and keeps my mind active and I like to do work. I genuinely enjoy the caffeine kick I get. Be it from a coca cola or from a coffee. Coffee highs are brilliant.

But like my lactose problem I have also seen a coffee problem. If I have coffee two days in a row I am jammed. I get withdrawal on the third day. I must have coffee, or I get a splitting headache. So I keep a gap of at least one day in the middle before I have another coffee. Now my body is getting used to thing. It now craves coffee every 48 hours if that is what I train it for. Man.

Now I have to keep confusing the body on the caffeine dependency. Sometimes, one day, sometimes two, sometimes a three day gap, nothing predictable and routinised. I know it sounds funny, even I don’t believe it but my body just adapts to this.

I get very angry with this. I am lactose intolerant which I have learned to live with. No complaints there. Life goes on. Then I realised I can digest certain pulses. They give me gas and the gas gives me a subsequent migraine type headache. Not very bad but irritating enough. Then, damn you, I realised that I can’t handle potatoes. WTF. Potatoes. Now this is the limit. No pulses, no milk products and no potatoes. And coffee which must be timed. I can’t be living. I am dead man walking.

The last thing I know need is gluten intolerance. Then we are done. End of story. Eat fresh air and love long!

The plus side – I probably eat much better thanks to all these restrictions. Less fatty foods and more simple nice food. This is a good thing – but that doesn’t mean I am happy. But the most irritating one for me is the coffee. I WANT COFFEE EVERYDAY.

Jasmine view on this is simple. Drink it every day. If you are drinking there is no issue. You get coffee everywhere; you get coke everywhere. Drink it and feel happy. Why you so upset. You only get a headache if you DON’T drink it. For drinking it there is no issue.

Arrrggh. I don’t know what the right logic on this is. Drinking it or not. On one hand I hate to be dependent on anything, but on the other, it’s a simple joy of life that I can have for myself. I genuinely love coffee. I don’t smoke or drink or eat crazy expensive foods everyday. I wear cheap 10$ watches and I wear the same jeans for years on end. Why would I not give myself some simple joys.

I think I should try this. Everyday morning pour myself a nice cup of coffee and enjoy my life. A cup of coffee can’t kill you. Still – my ego to not be dependent on anything comes in my way of adopting this life. I can’t get this. Ego versus joy. What must win? I am so conflicted on this one. Let me see.

sweet dreams are made of these

So Jispa is living my freaking dream. Ok… sorry Jasmine, OUR freaking dream. The joker is in Germany for an exchange program. It’s not really an exchange program but it’s a vacation in the form of an exchange program. They will stay at a school hostel and attend school for a few days but are not really completely living with a German family for a few weeks and attending school and all that. But hell. It’s still an exchange program. I wanted to go for an exchange program when I was small.

I remember seeing something like that in the papers about a free exchange program and wanting to join. I sent the letter and the papers and everything and when I got an invite (or just before or something), I saw that you have to pay for your air fare. The air fare to US in those days was around a 100 thousand rupees, which was way above what I could definitely afford. Also I had to pay for small incidental expenses etc. I think it was a period of 1 year where I could study and stay with a family there. Or was it one month? I don’t know. But what I do know is that obviously my dad wouldn’t pay that amount and I was in India with a broken dream. I am not sure if I was upset with dad. I think not. I think I was in this respect at least, quite understanding.

We knew money was at a premium and that dad was at home after his heart attack and that we were trying to run the family on investments and a children’s nursery that my mom ran. It was a nice and popular nursery – Angel’s Nursery. It generated quite a bit of income for the family when we needed it the most. I remember my brother and me being taken by dad on his scooter (with a side car attached) to the various localities and catchment areas and going door to door and stuff pamphlets in the letter boxes and doors. I remember liking the job and quite enjoying the experience. It was invariably on the vacation before the school season for new admission starts.

So I do understand not being sent for this vacation. Right now, with the new house and the 6 months that we had without one of the houses on rent and the Chembur gymkhana membership and all… we are pretty broke. Jasmine and me and wondering and calculating the money in the bank accounts. It’s fun. Luckily I am not stressed as much. I have been through much worse. At least here I am asset rich and cash poor. So when the Germany trip came in, we still said yes, knowing that we will figure it out.

I stopped taking stress on a lot of issues. We will figure it out as we get along life. Jasmine and I discuss that Jispa is young and atleast she should enjoy. It is difficult for all three to go but at least one can go and see it. She is going to Germany, see Nuremberg where the trails were held after WW2 and she is going to Salsberg in Austria. Oh freak. She is completely living my dream. But I am not complaining.

The joker that Jispa is, is not understanding that these are our dreams. I have told her to send pics and talk to us and describe things to us. Share the experience with us. But she is not likely to do so. She likely to go there and act all secretive and at best we will get her experience from her Instagram feed. Such an ass she is. Possibly when she is 30 or possibly 40, when she reads this post, she will realise what a pain she was.

Dreams are funny things and when you mix parenting with them, they can get potent, liberating and restricting at the same time. We parents have to balance it and Jispa has to balance it. She can’t do something or not do something because of us, but we expect her to do or not do because of us. What is right and what is wrong? There is no right and wrong, there is only tension. Tension as opposites reconcile. This tension makes the job interesting, painful, memorable and rewarding. No tension no fun.

Last weekend a kid came home. I had taught her 8 years ago. She came for gyan and advice and chit chat. She had remained in touch, on and off I must have met her after 8 years. It was damn cute. There was the tension of me being her teacher but also the tension of now being a peer in some way.

Yesterday I was super proud as well. It always happens when a kid I have taught comes home and spends time with us and asks for advice. This one was from  the current batch I taught. She and her friend decided to start a cold brew coffee company focusing on really authentic cold brews. She came over for advice and to get me to taste her coffee. It was seriously awesome coffee and I really enjoyed it. Since she wasn’t taking money for the coffee, I made her my special paneer burjee… and then we fed her icecream and we showed her how to make caramel sauce etc. At the end Jasmine and I sat with her and played a few card games. It was so much fun. I know I am some time away from retirement but then this what I would love to do when I retire. Talk to old friends and students, play cards, talk marketing, give free advice and take free coffee from them. It’s the best combo ever.

Teaching has given more joy than anything else. That it helped me improve my speech delivery and improved the basics of what I teach is secondary. The joy that I get when these kids reach out to me, talk to me and give me the love and respect that have for me. It is invaluable. This why I teach and this why I cannot give up. I have made teaching a fine art of teaching logic, concepts and stand up foolery. Just this week I was to give a 12 minute talk on techmarketing at a forum. I did not quite know beforehand what I wanted to speak about but a few days before the talk, I wrote down 20 concepts that would be important to digital marketers as they try to go upon their journey. These are from my personal experience and could be quite controversial or plain different, depending upon the context.

I knew I was good, but suddenly 5 minutes into the talk I started having fun and I started enjoying myself on stage. My stand-up routine started and I started having a load of fun. In the end I was short of time and I started doling out advice in rapid fire mode and the tempo went up and up and up and I was talking as fast as I could. It was serious fun. I have never before had so much fun on stage ever. And the stage was a big one! It going to be telecast on TV later. Here is the not so telecast quality of the same. In 24 hours it already has got more than 500 views. I was on fire! It was an important high point in my professional life so far. Not because I gave gyan on stage. I have done so many times before, but never have I enjoyed it so much. And never before have I done it like this, pushing the limits of my irreverence combined with intelligence and experience. Full time pass.

Here see the full video here.

I really enjoyed this. At first I had put the word f*#@king in every slide. Trying to make an impact. There is an extra alphabet there just for you to know that the word isn’t what you were thinking of but a more politically correct FREAKING. Then the sponsors raised a few valid questions and were urging me to be prudent. I agreed and I sent them one with all of them deleted. As luck would have it, they played the original slides at first and I had to gently remind them on stage. Suddenly as I ran through the presentation, they smartly changed the presentation and the result was that in the middle all the sanitized slides came on. I guess the impact was made. Social was  abuzz with the F*#@KING presentation and the points I raised. Alls well that ends well.

For the love of coffee

Ever since we got a French neighbor who showed how coffee is made from a French press, I have discovered a new joy from coffee. I like to brew my coffee. I like the smell of my coffee. I like to savor my coffee. Coffee is not a just another drink, it is a joy. It fills me up with a sense of contentment and a buzz that caffeine induced coffee can give. A light happy feeling. I would much rather puke than have bad coffee. Nescafe is bad coffee. I hate it. I think it has no aroma, no taste and definitely no kick. Why would anybody waste their coffee drinking time (yes, it’s a time, an era, a period, a pause, a breath, an experience) on Nescafe. Yuck. I keep telling Jasmine to stop having her Nescafe and move to nice coffee. It’s not worth it.

Every time I have my coffee I try to savor it because of a few other issues. The weird but true thing that coffee gives me is addiction. Instant. If I have coffee two days in a row, on the third day, I will get withdrawal symptoms. Very rarely – I get it the next day itself. These are bad withdrawal symptoms. Mind numbing headache that refuses to go away. Then it triggers a kind of acidity symptom. Then I end up puking empty. Then I don’t know what to do except lie down. I got these symptoms two three times and I did not understand why. Jasmine suggested that I have a little coffee to see it works. It did. The symptoms go away after having a little black coffee. Instantly. It so bloody weird how caffeine addiction works for my body. It’s a good thing I don’t drink or smoke or else, this would have gotten out of hand. If coffee can do this, what would harder stuff be capable of in my body. So, I savor my coffee. Whenever I drink coffee, I know I can’t have coffee the next day then. So, I think through, what’s my schedule for tomorrow? Am I at home, am I meeting someone at Starbucks? I have to be sure when I have my coffee. At home I like my own brew. Sometimes, I have a hot brew and sometimes I have a cold brew. I put the coffee beans in the filter and put the water to let it drip overnight. The result is a lovely brew without the hard acid. I love this brew. Then I also love the Sumatra Mandeling coffee. A lovely pour over that is chocolatey and again non-acidic. I like to smell my coffee, taste the notes and understand the different kick it gives. Jispa shares my love for coffee. I make her some coffee and she also enjoys it. Jasmine keeps telling me that I am spoiling her and teaching her bad habits. So, said the lady who has her kick every day!

I love my coffee. My everyday (ok every alternate day) brew is a simple no1 roast, coarsely ground. Then I make my almond milk (ok, jasmine made a lot and froze it for me). Then I have this amazing foamer that our French neighbor gifted me. I put sugar in the black coffee over which I pour some almond milk, foamed and of course, importantly – a few drops of real vanilla extract. That’s my poison. That’s my quiet brew. That’s the coffee I enjoy and savor. I rather not have anyone beside me but it doesn’t really matter, as with my coffee. I am in a cocoon of my own. It’s an experience that I pass on to Jispa. Ofcourse hers is sweeter, with Nutella and whipped cream. But hell, it coffee nevertheless.

Last week, I had gone to visit a friend of mine. He is an angel investor and also loves his coffee. He keeps buying different blends from different parts of the world. His servant knows I am lactose intolerant and keeps soy milk for me and my coffee. This time when I visited him, she served me a lovely nutty falvourful sweetish coffee. It seemed to have vanilla overtones and it was nice and creamy and light. Nice. Not a strong aroma but an interesting flavor. “a nice nutty flavor” I remarked. “Which one?”. He called the lady and she said, this was the bean he bought from Japan. “Oh nice. I loved the coffee” I said, thanking her. “oh that was sirs coffee. For you I gave you Nescafe”. ……   ………  ……..   …….. I looked at blankly. “oh” I was being polite to the person who burst my bubble. My entire coffee drinking experience flashed in front of me. My era, my tastes, my notes, my kick. I felt like a balloon that a kid blows big and then releases to see how far up it goes. The balloon feels a massive acceleration and joy accompanied with a sense of elation and achievement only to realise soon enough that this shortlived acceleration is not only random with no real distance covered but also short lived. The joy of the child is not in the acceleration of the balloon but in the rapid deceleration that follows it. The random fall of the balloon gives far greater joy as the speed dies a stupid death, all alone, limp and lifeless fall to earth drawn by the unyielding gravity. It’s the fall that’s exciting as the kid picks up the balloon and sees that the exhaust is now again bigger than the balloon inflated sense of self. It’s the fall that’s funnier than the rise.

Yes, Olympus had fallen from its lofty height.

Expect that it wasn’t Olympus, it was Phoenix that got burned. Only to rise again. “possibly it was the soy that gave its nutty flavour’ “ya”. “possibly she took the malt flavoured one.”

I came back and recounted this tale to Jasmine and Jispa. Jasmine especially took a cruel liking to this and laughed her ass out. Jispa also fun. I had too much fun on this as well. This one is going to be an interesting party tale which jasmine will never tore of listening to. My guess is that she will tell others of it as well, on her own.

But then Phoenix understood that its job is to rise again. Yes. I missed it but Nescafe is still bad coffee. I hate it. I like making my coffee. Getting the flavor, the notes, the time, the era, the vanilla and the whole ritual associated with it. That is still stubbornly set in my head. I love my coffee and I will have it my way.

This is the same way in which I like my coca cola. I hate Pepsi and I hate Thumbs Up. I love my coca cola. Direct from a can or a glass bottle that’s fresh opened. I hate the plastic bottle. It a can or glass. I am firm. I rather not have anything than have a rubbish cola. This is also a sin that I allow myself. Its full of sugar and caffeine but it’s my other little vice. Many people talk about their marked preferences about colas and always I have argued that a cold bottle of any beverage is almost impossible to tell apart in a blind taste test. I don’t think it’s possible to statistically get it right a good number of times. I always say – I like Coca Cola and I am sure that I can make out its great taste but I am even more sure that I will fail the blind taste test. I don’t think I can make out the taste without the lettering on the beverage holder.

Coffee is similar. It’s not the taste or the kick. The addiction symptom and the forbidden brew that makes it what it is. It’s the ritual of knowing your coffee, of seeing the foma rise. It’s the foamer that makes the luxurious foam. It’s the feeling of the ritual that adds to the whole thing. Coke has sugar in it, shitloads and that makes it a thing to avoid and to therefore a thing to savor. Like the fact that Dettol hurts proves that it is effective, the sting is vital to the experience. The ritual is vital to the taste of coffee. It’s the ritual, it’s the lettering, it’s the associated feeling. Who else but a brand guy like me will know. It’s so nice to know how wrong we are and how we are affected by emotions like anyone else.

Yesterday I was in this big meeting helping this big firm trying to sort their big B2B marketing problem. I urged the marketing head to think differently. I urged her to think that B2B is as much affected by emotion than anything else. Like most other purchases, like my coffee, like my coke, a marketing head also buys on emotion. He uses rational numbers to prove his emotions and justify them. But the decision is irrational in many ways. The faster we accept it the better it is for us. I urged her to think emotions and therefore realise that this is like any B2C brand and that people don’t remember too many brands and too many propositions. It’s like any B2C brand. Entertain the prospect, have fun, do interesting things. Have interesting creatives. Think like any fun marketer should and map it to a consumer’s brand journey. People are same everywhere. Treat them with respect of their time, entertain them, engage them and then doors open. That’s a simple truth in life and marketing. It works all the time.

That’s why I like my coffee. Hating Nescafe gives me great joy and allows me to enjoy my coffee. Same with Coke. Same with so many other things. I am a normal person, so are you and the forces that act on us act on every one of us. Understand that, enjoy life!

Hence paradoxically data and lots of it becomes important.  Individually people are quirky but as a lot of them, they are interesting and not so difficult to predict. But then that is a topic for another blog :)

chomp chump morning!

Today morning I got up to drop Jispa to swimming and decided to go for my badminton. I try and avoid Wednesdays as I think I need one day rest in a week, but since I had bunked my pilates yesterday and I overslept in the bargain I thought I would be able to manage the badminton session.

I figured that I could come home and have breakfast after the game and so I told Jasmine. She asked that if I could come home, then I could possibly come and pick Jispa from the pool and take her to school as well. I thought a bit and said sure, lets try.

I finished my game a bit early, though with the heat the game was over for everybody. Today morning was possibly the hottest and most humid game of the year. We were dying for fresh air in the court. It was a stuffy and tiring and sweaty atmosphere.

I reached home and I had to make my own breakfast. I had the best ingredients for what I wanted to make. I showered and changed and switched the AC on and Then I went into the kitchen and I did not realise what it is to cook against the clock. It was 715 by then. I started chopping the tomates. I then realized that I could treat my self to a bit of coffee as well. I normally restrict my compumstion of coffee in the week. If I havce coffees for two consecutive days then on the third day, without fail I will have a headavhe I don’t have coffee. It happens to the clock, on the dat – after exact 24 hours. I have no clue why coffee depravation headaches are like this. To the CLOCK>

So I savour my coffee in the week. I only have it as a well-considered treat. So while cutting the tomates, I knew I was short of time so I put the water to boil and cut open the new pack of coffee which my dear friend got for me from Bali. It looked extra course to me. I thought I will use the south Indian filter instead of the French press. I packed the coffee in the filter and started to cut the tomatoes again. Then I cut my left thumb. I ran to the bedroom and pulled out a band aid and stuck it on the thumb, cut the rest of the tomatoes (after wiping some the blood from it). I got the bread, removed the chutni from the fridge, applied it fast. Then I removed the foamer from the cupboard and the soya milk from the pantry and then poured the soya milk into the foamer. Then I got the toaster (the one in which you put the sandwich in and put it on the gas flame). Then I got the special lovely awesome lactose free cheese and cut a piece. Jasmine brother in US sent these for me, specially. It’s awesome cheese. Thanks dear friend. There is nothing I love more, than lactose free awesome cheese…. Then I pulled out the grater. Then I put the tomatoes, the cheese and the oregano mix. Then I put the water into the filter. Then I put the Sandwich in the toaster and then I removed the olives form the fridge, then I made a few more sandwiches, then I almost burnt one sandwich, then I managed to remove it from the toaster (it was stuck on one side). Then I made another one, then I removed the coffee from the filter. I think the coffee was too mild as the ground of the coffee was too coarse for the South Indian filter. Then I saw that I had almost burnt the next sandwich, then I got the foamer to work, then the sugar in the coffee, then the sandwich got stuck again and I had to scrape it out. I had to literally take a knife and bang the bread out of the damn toaster. Then I got my third sandwich and the put in the plate, got my coffee and the put some ketchup on the plate and then I sat to eat. Wow…. Cooking is fun but cooking against the clock is crazy. I was done and my heart beat was up.

I sat in the AC to eat my food and I realized that I have to leave in ten minutes. So I get in and slap the stuff on the dining table and started munching the burnt sandwhiches and drinking the very mild shitty coffee and slapping sauce on it. The newspaper hadn’t come till then so I read a few pages on my kindle while eating the breakfast that I made. Damn it man. I took the best possible ingredients and had the worst possible breakfast in my life.

It was now time to run, so I tryand get ready when I remember that jasmine complains that I nowadays don’t clean up after my meals so I pick the plate, the ketchup, the tabasco, the olives, the mug and put everything in its place. I wash the foamer and put that properly in its place. And then I rush out. While I rush out I thought I might as well keep the hall door closed so that it traps some of the air conditioned air so Jasmine gets something nice when she comes in. Then I rush out to the car and rush to pick Jispa who I learn is late as her coach gave them extra practice, after which I had to really speed up to get her to school. Whew.

What a fast paced 70-80 minutes I had. I think my heart rate did not down for an hour afterwards. Then in the afternoon , Jasmine calls up and remarks “so, someone had a nice breakfast with the AC on, huh!”. ARrrrggghhhhhhh. I wanted to take my head and bang it on the table. I told her “I am not telling you but read the blog once I finish it. It was one hell of a shit morning! And I wasted my coffee and my lactose free cheese in the process! 

clever? No. Clear.

i think the single best innovation that has happened from the time i was in college to now, for a young guy is simple - the availability of coffee shops. Simple affordable coffee shops that are open for just hanging around. When Jasmine and me were going around, the single biggest issue overtime was - khan jay. Where to go? Right from 91 till 00, the big question was where to go to get some private conversation going. Where do two love birds go for sitting and staring into each others eyes. Where do they hang out, by themselves or with their friends, where do they while away the most part of the day. 

Jasmine and me used to try and be with each other all the time when in college. The problem was simple - we could be in college till a point of time - after that where could we go? Where to go for some privacy, some conversation, or simply to just hang out and chill. Where? Often we would search for new places - a garden perhaps (yuck), some restaurant but they would want you to leave after eating and finally the movies. Movies at least gave you 2 hours of together time, but cant really talk and know each other in a movie theatre,; you are merely spending time with each other, not ‘knowing’ each other!

We ended up seeing a lot of movies with each other. It was the best of times and watching movies wit each other has given us the most amount of joy. of course i was perpetually broke and we had to rely on Jasmine’s tuition fees to keep the romance funded! There is no cheap place for romance.

So when i saw the first coffee shop open in India, it was well after my marriage. It was in the year 2001 i think where i first experienced the coffee shop in the form of Barista. It opened its outlet near Sterling at VT. I clearly remember my first time there. We had gone with jasmine and a friend. I also remember ordering a cappuccino which i thought was awesome and a great drink. I remember enjoying it and thinking that this is a great concept. And the fact that one could simply spend hours at the place simply enjoying the coffee and the experience. Th idea of working from a  coffee shop, meeting at a coffee shop, talking at a coffee shop. I remember ruing the most - the fact that these things were not available to me while growing up with Jasmine.

But still, i am not complaining too much. First we used to sit often at the Barista outlets. Even as a married couple - one of things you need the most is spending quality time with each other. The ability to spend time talking, reading and discussing things is good but most important feature is the change of environment. With Jasmine sitting at home the most part of the day, it was a welcome change of routine and scenery when I got home late evening. this was after Jipsa was born and things got sour at home with mom and Jasmine. Mom and Jasmine would not know how to get along and Jasmine would be dying to get out. So we would take Jispa and go out for a walk and invariably land up at the Cafe Coffee Day outlet near our house. V-inu was also staying in Matunga at the time and so he too would join in. At one time our third friend from college days, Dinesh was back from Paraguay and so all four of us would step out for a coffee with Jispa in tow. The coffee shop gave us an environment to escape from it all and give us a chance to just simply hangout. I remember it being the best of times. It gave us immense joy.

Barista has long faded away - i dont know if its still in operation… Cafe Coffee day is there but somehow the quality doesn't stick and then we briefly tried the Costa but now Starbucks for some reason is winning hands down. I love this place. I have no clue why. I come often to just hang out at Starbucks. In my last job there was a Starbucks that opened near the office. From the first time i went there, I knew this was my place. I have been here so often that i have my own set of memories here. the best Starbucks ‘feel wise’ has to be the Horniman Circle outlet. The one near my new office at Bandra is also one crazy hot bed of activity. It is huge but is stuffed whenever i visit it. But still this cute one near my old office - the Starbucks at Prabhadevi in Century Mills Building has to be my favourite. There is something about the vibe of the place that is hard to beat. I am not a big believer of vast - in fact i wouldn't care too hoots about it. But there is something i feel nice about when i come here. I like the people, the atmosphere, the lay out, the fact that its on the first floor, everything. I think at the end  - every place is about the memories. here i have the best memories. In my last job, i was doing great, i had achieved some real big stuff and all without any strong support from the management. In fact i was completely gainfully unemployed. Whatever i did, I did with almost half a day to spare every day. I face a lot of criticism, ignorance, lack of understanding , cynicism etc. People had no clue what great stuff was happening. Whenever i wanted to escape it all, i would go to this Starbucks. typically with a team member, i would run away and have a nice conversation with them. i built my relations with them at this place. I remember running away from all the issues and getting joy over a cup of coffee in this place. Even now, i like to come here from time to time. I like to have the coffee here. One staff knows me well and makes for me my cup of coffee. She knows exactly what i want - one cappuccino, soy and dry. Its the best place for me to be. Its my space.

Of course its got nothing to do with the coffee (almost nothing). Someone told me once that the lighting at a Starbucks is designed to give you corridors and spaces of privacy in an environment thats fundamentally public. Sure - there is a warm feel to it. But i think the most of all - its is what you experience. So far I have experienced nothing but joy and escape from drudgery here. And this is what i associate from this place and hence there is an emotion. 

Brands must realise this and recognise this and keep it close to their hearts. Every small thing matters. The menu design, the pricing, the lights, the crowd you attract, the service, the quality of the people serving. Barista was awesome but in the end it had too many owners and no one person to spearhead the experience and keep it sacrosanct. The coffee quality changed and then the atmosphere. The last time i had been there - the place was full of stupid monetising schemes run by the head office - there was a counter put by red bull (i think) and then by a chewing gum company and then they wanted to sell t shirts and merchandise and other crappy stuff. Everything that could be used to crowd the place was used and then it degenerated into a chaotic environment. Monetising the place may help in the short run but is stupid to do in the long run. people will see the chaos, they may not complain but they will feel it and slowly the crowd dwindles. I have seen it happen over and over again - one small charge levied, one small feature removed, one small change just to be clever. Who will notice - lets do it and then - it will slowly fail! people notice more things than what we give them credit. Small things matter. We keep cutting corners and disaster strikes over a period of time. We have this one year concept in firms for accounting. This accounting logic will dictate the bonus we pay our people - the kind of work we do in one year is the amount of nous we receive. When the life of the business is supposed to be over a 100 year period why should bonus be yearly. How will what i do this year help the firm in the long run. It may not necessarily be right for now but will be right after three years - who accounts for that?

In my last firm i steadily built the foundations of the digital practice that will pay dividends for years to come. Even if i have left the firm it will keep paying dividends. While everyone might acknowledge the benefits of the same - doing it does not give any benefits to me beyond the value it adds to me as a professional.

The solution I think is for the firm to give yearly and three year bonuses. The three year bonus has to be for steps taken in the long run. It forces people to think for the long run. People should wonder what is it that I have done that will impact the firm in the next three - five years. What is it that will make the customers happy. What steps I will take that will come back to bite me in the bum and make the firms’ image poor in the eyes of the stakeholders. 

Now working in a start up funded by VCs there is an even greater problem. Quarterly numbers. People have to meet quarter in quarter numbers. People are running every quarter. Quality businesses are not built by the quarter but are built by the years of being in the business doing the right thing. When you think quarterly how can you build for long? People will simply think about flipping a deal, passing the buck and letting the incentives just matter for the immediate. Who will reward long term business decision taking? I understand the speed is important. A firm that cannot build of speed is extent but this quarter on quarter business planning will kill viable good businesses before they get a decent shot at success.

Recently a lot of start ups are in the use for going bust. The growth was simply not sustainable. Giving free money away and playing the game of incentivising customers cannot run forever. Even good companies start wilting under pressure. A lovely food  rating app that does really well was in the news. It raised money on the back of projections that they will sell ad space on the app. Possibly here we are talking about restaurants who advertise on the app promoting their meals. The CEO wrote a letter to all employees blaming the sales team for not delivering upto promise. That letter leaked and caused havoc on social media. The app was doing well simply growing its user base and getting people to use, rate and browse the app. Its a good app. Then possibly an over committed number was used in a business case presentation and then that became the number to live and die by. Or possibly the sales guys genuinely underperformed. the young CEO was possibly a great guy to design and manage an app but really sucked at managing a sales team. Whatever the reason - the sales did not happen and the blame fell on them. IN any case - whats the role of the CEO? writing stupid mails to the entire team and showing his displeasure or simply folding his sleeves and getting to work with the sales team, region by region. Either improving performance or simply recalibrating the target to be more real and rooted. Writing mail helps none. I don’t know why CEO’s have this grandiose notions of writing mails to all staff. It helps none. i can understand that in case there is an immediate controversy or that the firm is being slammed in media, but beyond that this mail writing culture is stupid. Very large organisations sometimes need it as the CEO cant really talk to tens of thousands of employees but if you have a good management team in place, you normally dont even require to do this. Just talk and solve the problem.

In start up environments there is a lot of hero worship. Everyone who religiously follows another start up head. They are all insecure. They are constantly raising money, constantly trying to outdo the other in PR and constantly trying to be in the limelight. I think this culture of writing mails comes from some other startup CEOs writing mails to all employees that get viral. So if a CEO of a successful start up writes a personal mail to all - then I must as well. 

I feel entrepreneurs are crazy - they are crazily optimistic people. They see everything with rose tinted glasses. I don’t think practical real people can become entrepreneurs. These guys dream all the time. They equate themselves to other people who have made it and believe that can pull it off as well. Not all will make it. In fact a crazy small number of people will really make it to any real scale. But everyone believes it is them that will do it and they are really that smart. They seem to discount their shortcoming and have a super sized view of themselves. But seriously - they really really believe in how everything will just unfold and work out for them. They know it and they sell it. they sell it all the time. I think its just their own ability to believe and sell it to other smart people who join in, led by their vision, is the major reason that they succeed. Only a hyper enthusiastic sales man can convert a sale, regularly.

So thats our man.

Coming back to the first point - yup the coffee shops have been amazing for me and for a number of other people. It has become my oasis of calm and frenzy at the same time. The place is just beautiful. In so many cafes there are people sitting check by jowl, someone working, someone flirting, someone interviewing, someone chilling and someone at a kitty party. Its amazing. Also with the com boom now - someone is sitting and pitching to an investor or someone else all the time. Its a lovely environment and as far as I am concerned, simple companies that focus on the core experience and keep it uncluttered like Starbucks, are the ones marching a steal over the others. People will come to your location and walk a little more, but the atmosphere matters. I don't think any coffee can really pass a blind taste test. No one coffee is seriously superior in the average customers mind frame as long as you don't really botch it up by downgrading or varying your blend. All you need to do is to keep your core proposition clear and stick to it. I remember reading the biography of the Starbucks CEO, where he developed it and passed it on to others to run it, only to come back and clear things up. Starbucks started losing it till he came back and refocussed the company on the core service. The simple message being: Don’t try and be clever - be clear!

nothing can stop an idea whose time has come - or something to that effect

Yesterday was a pretty intense day with meetings throughout. The best part about the meetings was that they all actually used my brains. Normally I done out in meetings with nothing really to contribute or add value to. It started from a simple coffee date that I had with my student. I had taught her many years ago. I think about 8 years ago. And now she might be the age that I was when I taught her. Kids grow. The relationship becomes quite sweet. There is still some reverence as you finally were their teacher but now they too have seen enough life and had enough experience to stand shoulder to shoulder with you. The age gap doesn’t look that much when you grow older.
Now with so many of them I can have conversations as if we are friends, just a little older friend who probably can see things a bit better, but friends for sure. Respectful friends? Sounds funny… whatever…
While I was talking she was remarking about the facebook generation where people cry and laugh and feel all emotions online and in front of all your friends. It made me release another of my ‘jaimitisms’. I so love doing these. I create postulates or should you call them axioms, no I think that’s all wrong, just jaimitisms sounds good enough. So my jaimitism was that with the advent of social media ‘emotion is now a collective responsibility’. I found it so funny. It kept tickling me till quite some time. The more I thought the more it rang true.
I guess when we grow up the sheer amount of emotion that we have online would surely have some psychographic repercussion. No I don’t mean it that this is all bad and that this must be thought of etc etc. I am playing no moral police but I surely feel that something will change in the way we react or connect with people and then this law will hold true. Which one? Arey the emotion being a collective responsibility.
Even if you want to hide it, somebody around you will capture it and post it for eternal posterity. Instead of reference check firms you will have algorithms that generate your online reference score.
It will cull out your total emotional score basis your profile, your posts then see the people you have connected to, left connections, comments etc. infer your strong or weak linkages while considering your browsing patterns interests etc etc…
This is not too far fetched. The technology to do this exits today. Nothing rocket science about it.
The best part of this will be that you really can’t escape this. Because if everyone will be using this reference checker then if you don’t have one online… by blocking off all tagging, removing yourself from the online social world etc then a null report on you will be seen as shay and suspicious. You will be seen as someone with something to hide. You are the next drug dealer or more likely the next depression case likely to commit suicide or blow up the commercial district. Now we wouldn’t want to be typecast like that do we?
Online reputations will have be carefully managed, doctored and thought through. After all that’s what the university will see along with your SAT/MAT/RAT and some FAT score. HAHAHAHHA… I can see you are scared or plain dismissive.
Ok. Fine by me. Don’t tell anyone that I did not warn you.
But do tell other people that you first heard it here. Any angel investor or tech man listening…contact me. Lets do some thing interesting with this proposition.

Actually a few days ago I blogged something like this for companies. Did I? I don’t know. I am too bored (read lazy) to really check. But the gist is that if it can be done for people it can done for companies.

Forget that – the breakfast at barista got a bit interesting. Here is the snapshot.

Oops, sorry that was of the snack I had at office the day before. Here is the actual snapshot.

I like the poetry in the way the coffee looks. Especially the black ones which have cream on top. The way the cream slowly melts and mixes with the coffee is always fun to watch.

a tea tale

Great I forgot the honey. No I didn’t forget my honey. I forgot the honey. Which honey? The honey in the honey lemon ginger mint tea. Is it tea? well no actually as I don’t put tea in it as well. Oh ok.. and today I didn’t get the mint as well. We ran out of mint. And I forgot the lemon as well.

I like to carry a flask of hot honey ginger lemon water and a few mint leaves on the side to office and quietly sip as the mere pelebs have their over boiled over flavoured tannin disguised as tea fix. I am not normally a tea or coffee drinker in office. Not that I mind any of the above. I kind of love the coffee at the kings circle south Indian restaurants and at the coffee shops, and I don’t mind the hot tea at the roadstall, especially during a rainy day and with a few pakodas. Samosas are good as well. So ya coffee is best had expensive and the tea best had cheap in my book, with filter coffee being the happy exception. I can’t figure whats so hot about earl grey or even chamomile tea. The latter tastes like sweet chameli hair oil poured in your cup. The most interesting tea I have had is at Bhavnagar wholesale market. Here the gujjus add Boost to their tea. DO NOT repel in disgust. My gujju genes ensure I love it. They actually add Boost or Bournvita to their tea to give you a rounded sweet chocolaty flavour. I sure it gives your percentage of recommended daily dose as well.

The coffees in office are absolutely disgusting as is the tea. When you have the machine ready mix teas, they are completely devoid of any aroma. Its better to walk to a nearby tapri to get your cuppa.

So here I am. Sipping my ginger honey lemon mint tea, without honey lemon and mint. Actually I was lucky with the lemon. I walked into the pantry and asked for a lemon. He pulled one from the fridge and looked at me “do you want me to cut it?” “what else” I replied. “Do you think I want a lemon to hang on my car?” That had the rest of the staff there in splits. (it does sound funnier in hindi)

For the record the concoction tastes yuck. A strong ginger brew with a hint of lemon. What good is that… wait a minute... I know… I normally roam around with this stuff and a few kids like to sip from my tea, so let them taste this one. Might be nice to catch that expression. I know what an expression on unexpected hot, cold, spicy, sour taste feels like. Let me see what an unexpectedly strong ginger feels like.