deepakchowdhary

Well there are times when one wonders what should I do to get paid in multiple lakhs for a 5 Hr job, fly business class at some one's expense, stay in suites and still dont have to pick the tab, be loved by people more than they have adored anyone at any moment of truth and have a name which everyone would like to be known with.
You wonder all this when you are with any Bollywood celebrity and yes you are the one paying in lakhs, you are the one making him fly, you are the one picking the tabs and you are the one making him more richer and more famous.I my line of work when we do celebrity round for our channel partners it makes me wonder why are people in India or for that matter anywhere so celeb crazy.One moment with celeb, one photograph with them and one hand shake with them in public is valued so much that we buy more than our capacity, we spend more than we would have liked and we wait more than we should. For just one moment with them.
Recently I went with the one of the Deols ( yes he is still a celeb for all of you who are raring to jump and say he is gone for good) to Indore market and realised that people do all sort of crazy stuff to get a glimpse of the celeb.
Take an autograph on a child's hand. ( what are you going to do with it)
Fighting the security ring to pat his back...
Wait in line for that elusive handshake...
Get bashed but determined enough to get near his car with black tinted glasses and try and peep in...
These are just few moments of truth....but I was astonish to see the crowd which goes crazy when a celeb waves hand and smiles but they dont know that he is wishpering into me to take him back to hotel as its too hot. Experience was good but equally sad to see that people stop respecting each other at that moment and only one thing matters to them....
We actually had to stop the visit after 2 counters and could only resume once we had more security....
Just that one Photograph....Star Wreck country...including me.!!

It all started when I came to know that we are having 4 day off from 29th April till 3rd May in Mumbai.Brains got together and ideas started flying to nail on to a destination for the weekend.Goa is good but would be hot, andaman is far and flight connectivity did not suit us. Daman & Diu was proclaimed boring and then finally 'Thailand' came into the picture....!!
So finally we landed in Bangkok on 29th evening still coming to terms that we started with Goa and ended in Bangkok.I must say it was an exhilarating experience. We travelled across the city and moved around near by states ( suburbs of Bangkok). We wanted to see the Tiger Temple in Thailand and found that it is just 2-3 hrs drive. So we headed for Tiger Temple in a district called Kanchanburi. On the way we stopped at 'Floating Market-Bangkok',which is a local market completely immersed in water and you move around and shop on a boat. Its an experience which would stick on to you. Though you dont have much to shop apart from T-shirts and candles. Remember the market from Roadies 5.0 (One in Thailand where Ashutosh won).
Then we headed towards an Elephant safari where the high point was when the giant leaps into the water with you holding your breath and sitting on top. Yes they click that pic and then sell you for 200 THB.
We moved closer towards the destination and stopped at the famous - Bridge on River Kwae. Thats the bridge which was made by POW from WW2 for Japanese connecting Thailand and Burma. It never got completed as the allied forces bombed it. For more details watch the movie....Its amazing watch..!!



Finally we reached the Tiger Temple-a Buddhist Monastery where tigers cubs are raised and they roam freely. You can touch them and pat them and get your selves clicked with the sexy cats...Its an experience beyond imagination. You have to touch and feel the animal to realise how Royale and magnificent they are....
We also went to Pattaya next day and walked the infamous Walking Street. Saw the GoGo bar and shows....did a lot of pub hopping. Water sports was another highlight - with ParaSailing, Jet Ski, Speed Boat and Under Sea Walk...
Exhausted ourselves at the shopping malls and returned to India with funfilled memories and empty pockets...!!

Last week was a hectic week for me as far as travelling was concerned. But before anything I must congratulate Asian Paints and me too :P on getting a thumbs up by Brand Equity on our latest Tractor Emulsion commercial with Vijay Raaz and Atul Kulkarni.
Moving on to my trip to Punjab and Jharkand ( yes state which was a part of Bihar)...Punjab Visit was primarily Jalandhar city and near by towns. The visit was fruitful and the network was excited about the product display and judgment done by us. Then on thursday I came back to Mumbai and then went to Calcutta the same day so that next morning I am able to catch a flight to Ranchi at 5:45am. People who know me can very well claim that I am not a typical morning guy. Getting up becomes even difficult when you have been travelling for the entire week and you have a cozy bed of Taj Bengal. Things become worst when you hit the bed at 12 in the night only to get up at 3:30 because the drive from Taj bengal to airport is some 40 minutes.
So as I made myself comfortable in bed I should have known that by no means I am gonna get up....and as I feared I got up at 5:10am. So I rushed down and some how got to the airport at 5:45am, so like one catches a train I asked the ground staff to put me on to the flight. Well I cant explain but a lot of coaxing went in to make her agree. Showing my conecting flights back from Jamshedpur with them helped a little. So finally I got in....
Stay in Ranchi and Jamshedpur was fine. Things about these small towns is that pace of life is very comfortable and you actually see more satisfaction and glee on their faces in the evening unlike hassled mumbaikar or tired and irate delhite. One funny thing which happened was that when I was checking out from Ranchi Hotel they asked me to pay Rs 50 for business centre usage and I was a little surprised because I had not used it. Then they told me that one of my collegue who was sitting in the lobby had used. So I just inquired and to my surprise he said that he also has not used it. Confirming this to the hotel desk they told that he has been charging his laptop in the lobby so the electricity usage is charged. My jaw dropped at their audacity and foolishness in saying that. Anyway the charges got reversed but principally they felt that they were correct in charging us for using electricity from lobby...:))
On my way back from Jamshedpur in flight a man inquired about the book I was reading " We are like that only" by Rama Bijapur. I told him its a nice book. The conversation started and he introduced himself as an employee of Microsoft. The purpose of visit was disclosed as a book launch at XLRI Jamshedpur. We kept on discussing about books, blogs and the new breed of hardworking-middleclass-MBA-lost love-smiling authors describing the story of an MBA or engineers in college and how Indian fiction is a rave right now. Discussed the chances of Arvind Adiga Winning Booker Prize for "The White Tiger".
When we got down at Calcutta airport I was waiting in the lounge for the connecting flight to Mumbai when I met him again. There I actually realised that this person himself has written a book which I have read before. You all would have guessed it by now from the XLRI connect and his famous Management Institute of Jamshedpur in his book. "Mediocre But Arrogant" was his book.
He showed me his new book and we again had some discussions as to how he manages being a director HR in an MNC and writing a book. How did he actually decided to write and how did he actually approached the publishers. Hmm...
He was just not a celebrity but a celebrity to me as it was the first time I read an author and met him and had a beer with him.
It was a good trip overall and this Sunday I would going to Patna market with a celebrity Divya Dutta.
Lets see how it goes as I am suppose to accompany her to 12 dealers in Patna....Jai ho...!