Cricket, Coke and Changing The Game

I've been meaning to write for a quite a while now but it just hasn't been happening even though everyone keeps asking me to. Maybe its just that now that the exams are done, I don't have anything to bitch about. Oh, no that's not true.

The new Coke ad- Like what the hell were you guys thinking? Are you absolutely out of your mind? You follow up the Shadow ad which was very Strange Love-esque with this? This? Really? I mean I love Imran and detest Ranbir (Sorry Cookie, he is hot, but he's a cheat and they aren't my type) but I can't help liking the Pepsi Change the Game ad campaign so much more. Even though I cannot stand Pepsi and will NOT drink it. But the campaign, you have to agree is fantastic.

The Cricket World Cup is here and like every other soul in this cricket loving, crazy and obsessed nation I too breathe, eat, and sleep cricket. Truly it is the cup that counts. I love the nail biting games, the start-to-finish gripping your seat, closing your eyes, and feverently praying games. But what’s also fascinating is the kind of phenomenon it has become, especially when it comes to advertising. Even the advertising industry is so united at this time. Every ad, every product and service irrespective of what the product is, either features cricketers if they can afford it, or focuses on a cricket theme. Suddenly everything has a connection to this game- Be it obvious products like shoes and televisions or the unusual pizzas, telecommunication services, cements or even bathrooms.  [Parryware- Wow what a bathroom. I swear. I never said the ads were good of course. This one is just ridiculous.]

Some companies go to the extent of even changing their tagline for this cricket season- Tata Sky Plus substitutes the word cricket for life in its tagline, but after all when it comes to India they are synonyms right? Sony Bravia has modeled a campaign based on “The Incredible Game” but the one campaign that does make you sit up and take notice is the Pepsi- Change the Game.

A series of 7 ads with world class cricketers including five Indian players- Mahendra Singh Dhoni,Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Virat Kohli, and Suresh Raina. It’s an eyeball grabbing campaign, and extremely heartwarming because it talks about the hope of a billion souls and it happens to be so extremely catchy. What’s more is that the ads are extremely Indian, true to the flavor that makes us who we are. Whether it’s the helicopter shot with MSD or the Switch hit with Kevin Pietersen, or Ranbir Kapoor teaching Virender Sehwag, the central theme is that of the common man- the average Indian, being such a huge part of this significant game. The campaign changed the game and how, setting a benchmark in Indian advertising. (Just as a point because I can't not say this- RK, like really first of all your name is like a take on the most amazing person alive- SRK, so stop copying his hairstyle. Because that supposedly cool pony you sport in the ad was something SRK did long ago with Don. So really, stop acting off screen and do something that's worth talking about apart from your many low battery "conquests".) So anyway I don't quite know if Coke did what it did, out of desperation, or because just like everyone, they've lost it. I'm praying its a phase because I cannot wait for this ad to be pulled out.

Second best of course is Airtel because they have the afore mentioned amazing person- SRK. Simple, to the point, endearing, heartwrenchingly good looks, and that dimple. Who cares what the storyline is? But they do have one, and a good one at that. Because before we had alerts on phones, and internet on our fingertips and all of that the only thing we'd ask every single person who had a chance of knowing was the score. Because like the ad says- There is only one question. And I know I'm talking about the World Cup here but the Airtel-BB ad is just simply too good too. And no, I'm not just saying this because I love my BB now and i'm texting 24X7 and therefore end up promoting the BB every minute that I'm awake but because it really is a great ad.

But the best undoubtedly is Vodafone. The Vodafone Zoozoos are back! The teasers featured people going crazy, fighting over what they saw. Bird or Plane? Fact or Fiction? Alien or UFO? Dream or Reality? And I for one couldn't wait to know. The Zoozoos not only are absolutely original and endearing, but they also happen to have some of the best storylines in advertising. And this, this was so totally worth the long wait, the intrdoduction of Vodafone 3G as a superhero- changing in a phone booth, saving the world, swooping out of the atmosphere, stopping trains, solving complex Maths (Calculus in all probability), racing a bullet ala Rajnikanth, working out and charming his girl all in a matter of minutes was just mindblowingly good. They got the script right, the music is outstanding and the Zoozoos as usual are not annoying but rather extremely heartbreakingly fantastic.

This ad, this ad makes going to college at 8am because Telangana decides to have a half day bandh- 1-4 completely okay. This ad just brightens up my day somehow. And all of a sudden, very much like in the ad, all is right with the world again. So maybe they really are superheroes. :)

A Year Of Getting Away With Drama~ Courtesy TUCS

Because Fiction reveals truths that Reality obscures- Jessamyn West

TUCS- Pinnacle Shall Run~
 
What it’s supposed to be:
The destinies of two companies remain entwined much like the hearts/lives of their owners. A novel about the highways and bye lanes of corporate India, revolving around Pinnacle & Shall Run Planes and their young, not-so-naïve CEOs- Karan and Zoya. A book that constantly flips between the past and the present, and some dreams and hopes of the future, to reveal the journey of their incredibly irrational yet delightfully endearing team.

What it actually is:
Crap.

*****

TUCS turns one today. And I’m grateful because this is a perfect excuse for me to turn hyper, to get some sinfully good chocolate cake *fingers crossed* and do plenty of drama and get away with it- not that I don’t every other day but well today I have a very valid reason. =] But more than anything else, what I’m most grateful for is the fact that I had something to turn to every time college started to annoy or depress me which it did just about every second day.

TUCS isn’t just a book, for me, it’s become a reason to live- to stay happy day after day despite the fact that I have Banking as a subject and my textbook is a curse that destroys all happiness; despite the fact that the Spewing Rubbish Bitch teaches us the only subject I care about; and despite the fact that I will fail in my fourth Semester exams because I don’t know anything. It's given me something to look forward to every time I've been disillusioned and disappointed, and it just somehow makes my mornings brighter.

TUCS got me through what could have been a very very bad year at college and so I’m more than grateful. I’m grateful for every word that I’ve ever written for TUCS in the many million places I’ve written it- irrespective of whether it’s still a part of the storyline or not, irrespective of how dramatic, foolish or impossible those incidents may have been; irrespective of how stupid or how smart I may have sounded. I love how at the end or middle of every notebook I’ve used in the last year there will be a word, a sentence or a page, and especially a moment, a memory that has everything to do with my baby.

I’d like to thank Fate for somehow making this happen, and my Accounts teacher in the second sem- for the life of me I cannot remember her name- for making accounts so boring that I actually started thinking and my thoughts led me to TUCS. And all the gorgeous views that are slowly disappearing because of this city’s unending need for “development”.
And obviously my Mom and Dad for reading TUCS over and over again, the words “airport fiction” only challenge me to write better and for basically never giving up on me despite my stubbornness.

But more than anyone else a zillion thanks to-
Ayesha- my Cristina superhero Yang, who was the first person ever to read it and for being my very rational editor. You’re my person.
Mash- for loving the kiss, for being my Thesaurus and for not complaining every time I decided to ignore you and furiously write in that black book of mine.
Apeksha- for NOT saying “It’s too long” and actually reading it instantly every time I asked you to, which just surprised me too much, and for being my BB Bitch.
Because through all the toads, the dodos, the raw potatoes and the wolves, I know we’ll be okay because we’ve got each other, and because our girlfriends really are our soul mates and boys are just people to have fun with <3
Now if only I could finish it instead of writing eulogies for all you bitches.

And Francis- yes I’m actually going to thank my college- for being the horribly boring and depressing hellhole it is because otherwise I’d never get motivated to do what I really love doing. A certain absurdly small footed Cruella- Vaishali Aunty- for making me believe I can write and for just making me who I am today.
Manu- the moronic bodyguard brother- for rolling his eyes every time I mentioned the book- my lack of experience in the corporate world being his bone of contention along with the fact that (he believes) I can’t string a few words together to sound sane even if my life depended on it.
Kriti- for wanting the happy ending, making me want it, and making me want to believe in it. And for saying all the right things, and for that one heartbreakingly right text =]

Also the unrivaled, unparalleled, incomparable Anuja Chauhan- for being the greatest role model ever and such a huge inspiration.
Grey’s Anatomy- because there simply isn’t anything quite like you. And in your seven seasons you’ve given me SO much to think over, and you gave us Mc Steamy.
But most of all Shah Rukh Khan- for existing, and for that dimpled smile, and all those extended romantic scenes in the overdramatic Bollywood movies I worship and live for.

Anyway so the point is I couldn’t have done it without you’ll and you better pray that it doesn’t take me yet another year to finish it because then I’ll continue to be the hyper, rude, cranky but awesome bitch I was this year.
Much Love.

Holding On

“Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves and then we have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos.”
-Snoopy, Peanuts

I detest goodbyes. Honestly I do. Yes, if it involved running to the railway station just as the train was pulling out, to see the girl you love one last time simply because you realise it’s the last time you’ll ever see her (Love Aaj Kal) then I’m not complaining. Those goodbyes- the overdramatic and filmy but so heartbreakingly good ones, with some running involved obviously, the very old style ones that filmmakers today are too ‘cool’ to make, I love but otherwise, in real life I hate them.

Goodbyes generally mean that people are going away and that never is a good thing really. I hate the Departures terminal; love the Arrivals- I think it’s the one place that’s always so full of love, to quote an airlines heartbreakingly good ad campaign- "All for that one moment"- and yet I have quite a reputation, a penchant in fact for running away from things, especially problems, and complicated awkward situations, which if you think about basically implies life. I’m known for resisting change even though I know it’s futile. I’m famous for my stupidity especially when it comes to dealing with change. Goodbyes also mean waiting and I’m not patient. I’m not rational or practical or even the shutting-up-and-suffering types. I’m the moody one, who can’t to save her life figure out what sort of a mood she is in.

Also I think I hate goodbyes because they mean the end of a time- the passage of a series of moments that I’m not quite ready to let go of yet- they imply change. I’m a hoarder, I don’t like letting go. Whether it’s the notes we’ve written to each other over the years, or just random scraps of paper with meaningless lists, or even bills- I can’t bring myself to throw it all away. I write down lines, I don’t delete some texts, I love photographs. I collect unnecessary things, keep empty shoeboxes, and generally hate letting go of any kind of book- unless its Banking- that is one book I’m dying to get rid of. But I can’t just let go of it yet, I have another 2 months to be cursed with its presence. And there are other things that I wish I never had to bid goodbye to- the best example being the almost 18 t-shirt I adored- but I didn’t really have a choice.

And that’s the thing; all of this sometimes just isn’t in our hands, saying goodbye isn’t up to us. Sometimes it’s just what’s already been written and there isn’t anything any of us can do about it.
But still for once I wish time would slow down even though I really want it to fly by, because I’m really not ready to let go of my teenage just yet.

The 'D' Word

Death is really all around us. Blatantly all around us. It doesn't lurk in the corners any more, it just snatches every third person right before us. I've never given much thought to how exactly I would die but all of a sudden, being the paranoid person I am, I realise that there are an infinite number of ways that that could happen.

Everywhere I look, any topic I pick, I find a hundred reasons, a thousand things that blatantly point out our mortality- how fragile we are. We fall down, we fall sick, we lose our minds. We break our bones, sometimes we break our hearts, and sometimes we just forget it all. We eat too much, or we eat too little, sometimes we just have our sweet tooth to blame. Sometimes I just hear about people who simply never woke up.

Every time I read the paper, I hear about a new disease- a disease without a cure. I hear about people and their inability to control their minds. I hear about another disaster- environmental, nuclear, or just man- made. I hear about terrorism and war and turmoil.

At the end of the day, even if we are superheroes in someone else's lives, we are only human. And irrespective of how strong we feel we are, or how cautious, or how vigilant, someday it will all come to an end. It will all disintegrate before our eyes and the only thing we'll be able to do is look helplessly as we see someone we love disappear before our eyes. And all we'll have are the moments that have already gone by, leaving us, alone. Alone to die.

Fridays, February, Finance and the Future

Its February finally. And it's Friday. Thank God for that.
Contrary to popular belief constant interruptions like the doorbell do NOT inspire me. Especially when it happens to ring five hundred frigging million times in the day. And I just had to say that for some reason.
Coming to what I wanted to say, my eternal confusion- I didn't attend a 2 hour presentation on shares and debentures by Swaroopa Ma'am yesterday, choosing instead to write TUCS. Fortunately there was no attendance taken. But see the real reason is I'm scared, terrified even that I'll get swayed by her ecletic presence and promptly switch to Finance for my specialisation. I want to do Marketing, but there's no denying that everytime I sit down to write a page in TUCS promising myself to make it a purely Pinnacle page- full of ad campaigns and photoshoots and taglines and press releases, I get distracted and barely 400 words later I give up. I stop and start rewriting the same concept, the same dramatic turn of events and the same dialogues only now they happen in SRP and have everything to do with cash crunches, and revenue problems and loans and debentures. Not to mention the idea even of Marketing seems exhausting right now.
I'd like to use the line "Innocently, and inadvertently intrigued me." but I don't quite know where to use it. The idea of stringing together all the small bits, all the many many pages of TUCS and its many babies and editing it to see if it makes sense is exhausting to say the least. Its daunting and terrifying and it's too precious. TUCS is my baby. Which just makes this whole thing scarier. And every time I see the number of documents that have accumulated I die a little bit, well a part of me does. But I know that I can't not write it. TUCS is something that I need to get out of me, it's something, a story that I believe needs to be told, irrespective of what happens in the process.
I think I'm a closet olive lover. The other day I shockingly picked out only four black olives from my sandwich and just about died when I realised I had eaten the many zillion others. And I do remember eating green olives in my pasta and loving them the other night. I shock myself.
This post is rather random I realise, but well it's all I have to say right now.

In Dire Need of Desire

“Too often, the thing you want most is the one thing you can’t have. Desire leaves us heartbroken, it wears us out. Desire can wreck your life. And as tough as wanting something can be, the people who suffer the most are those who don’t know what they want.”
- Grey’s Anatomy- Season 3, Episode 21- Desire

Desire is heart wrenchingly heartbreaking. Desire can’t be ignored or avoided. You can’t have a polite conversation with it and then say your goodbyes. You simply can’t go your separate ways and act as though nothing ever happened. You can’t pretend to be just ‘good friends’ with it. Desire isn’t a One Night Stand. Desire never leaves. And when you know you want something, Life almost always makes sure that you don’t get it. At least not right away. Because one of the biggest lessons that life attempts to teach us is that we need to wait for things. And I’m no good at that. No good at all. And as much as I hate it, I know I have to.

I think I finish people’s sentences to rush things~ to finish it all quickly, to put an end to everything. I’m always in this hurry, in this rush to get somewhere else. I don’t know why I’m in such a rush to get to the end, especially since the end quite obviously is Death. I forward tv shows, I hate stupid advertisements that waste the time even though I love advertisements, I can’t sit around waiting for 5 days for people I love to visit, I can’t be patient enough to wait for one week for a show to be telecasted. I want it all, and I want it all now.

But you can’t always get what you want or what you need all the time, on time. Life sadly is nothing like IndiGo and their promise. If anything, Life doesn’t work that way. It has its own inexplicable and bizarre way of serving us things and more often than not, we never really get what we truly want. It has its own timeline and its own whims and fancies and there isn’t a thing anyone of us can do about it. And that’s a reality we all have to live with I suppose. It just comes down to accepting it and moving the hell on.

Desire is difficult but it makes your life worth living. Because when you don’t know what it is that you truly want, you wander around wasting the best part or the most part of your Life looking for what it is that you truly love. Without desire you’re aimless, without a purpose, lost. Desire makes you want to fight back. It makes you want to get up at 6 in the morning and get to class. Or as the case may be stay up till 5 in the morning to write. It makes you read stupidly intelligent and annoyingly good books. Desire makes you achieve. It makes you spout sentences at 3 in the morning because you’re in that kind of a mood. It’s an altogether different story that it kills you in the process, shredding bits of your soul and breaking you and your self esteem and crushing your heart along the way.

Desire propels you. It’s that driving force we all are in dire need of. It makes life worth living. Because what fun would life be if we weren’t struggling a little bit, if we weren’t dying a little bit?

So bring it on 2011. Because I know exactly what I want and I know I can be happy.

Pinnacle Shall Run

"You want me to what?” I asked, stunned.
“Not you. Pinnacle”, he said matter of factly. I rolled my eyes. It was my favourite pastime these days. “Can you explain what exactly you want Pinnacle to do Karan?” I emphasised each word because really, he was annoying.
“Please?” he stressed, smiling.
“Karan” JS glared.
“Please” I said, not smiling at all.

“All right then. I think it’s crucial for Pinnacle to acquire GFG as a client. First of all, it will do wonders for Pinnacle as an agency. Two, it is great for SRP which is a part holder of Pinnacle because we’ll be in the know of what his moves and plans are, and also of his deals with other airlines. Three, since this idea comes from SRP, maybe the revenue earned could be used to buy back shares held by SRP easing the cash flow problem. Four, if he does become Pinnacle’s client, then we could strike a deal with him, and swing things in our favour.” He looked so smug, so pleased with himself and his great ideas, which by the way weren’t great at all, it aggravated me even more. This meeting was traumatic enough for me as it is. I mean we were supposed to be voting on selling Pinnacle. How could he barge in and bring up something that wasn’t even on/in the agenda? I suppose he could, because he was a part owner and he was Karan after all, but it was still bloody unfair. I realised he was looking at me for a reaction, like most others in the Boardroom, so I stopped the mental rambling and began the verbal one.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea at all. One, you shouldn’t be talking about a company’s reputation and image I think considering how you are jeopardizing yours. Two, since when does Pinnacle do what SRP tells it to? Three, you want us to buy back our own shares? Are you crazy? How is that good for our image? Four, it’s not a cash flow problem as much as it’s a cash crunch one. Five, wasn’t one ‘good’ deal enough that you want one more? Six, whatever happened to Client Confidentiality? Oh wait I have more to say, seven, wasn’t this supposed to be a meeting on voting to sell Pinnacle?”
“Come on. Be a little open to his ideas. We can decide in a little while.” Vishal’s efforts to calm me down failed as always, but only because Karan had to add, “You’re problem is that you can’t deal with change. You can’t accept anything new; can’t think beyond what you’ve already thought of. You can’t change your mind once you’ve made it up and you don’t let anyone else change it for you.”

His eyes told me that he wasn’t talking only about the BOD meeting, but I brushed those thoughts away. “You think I’m incapable of accepting change? I just agreed to leave the agency to become a negotiator at SRP. I just agreed to give up my damn job which FYI I love very much. And I just agreed to give up my company to save yours and you tell me I’m incapable of change? That’s rich.”
His voice rose, and now we were both screaming at each other, “Yeah I say that because you don’t even want to spend a few minutes analyzing my suggestion which by the way is a good one.”
“If I didn’t analyze it Karan, how do you think I came up with my seven points of concern?” I lowered my voice, wanting this argument to end. I was fed up and I was also regretting my choice of words.
Quite obviously he didn’t want the same, “Seven points of concern? You ripped it apart and don’t try to deny that and please don’t disguise it as concern. Is there honestly nothing redeeming about it?”
“Karan…”
“Yes or no? Is there nothing redeeming about it?” He insisted I answer, and I did, “There is. But…”
He cut in, “Then I think it is worthy of a few more minutes of discussion. Let’s hear what the others think of it.” He turned and looked at Vishal and JS, both of whom seemed extremely tired of our constant bickering, which had escalated from being on a monthly basis, to a daily or even an hourly one.

JS looked at Vishal and then said, “Why don’t we all listen to a little more about Karan’s idea and then we can take a call on what we want to do?” He looked at me with a reassuring glance, that seemed to say that everything will be okay though for the life of both of us, we didn’t know how. Karan walked over towards the big screen and one of his many assistants, -Yes, of course he had an entourage. Why would you even doubt/question that? - started the ppt. I was irritated again. He didn’t have the time to talk to me, no wait he practically ran away from me, but he had the time to make fancy floral powerpoint presentations for his stupid senseless supposed ‘solution’. Men, I thought, mentally rolling my eyes. Okay they weren't floral, but I hate presentations.

He began his presentation with a charm and a style best suited to award show hosts. The title slide of the PPT had GFG’s picture and a picture of a target. Juvenile much?
“As is quite clear by the illustration, I believe GFG must be our next target. We must try everything we can to get him as a client; it must be our foremost objective and I will give a detailed explanation of every reason why I believe so. Firstly ever since the announcement of his new invention – the Green fuel which was made ten days ago, he has been in the news world over constantly. He has refused most interviews, and is being very secretive, to add to the mystery I suppose and sources say that he does not have one official representative yet. It is rumoured that he is planning a press conference next week and it is crucial for Pinnacle to get in touch with him somehow or the other before that happens. The Pinnacle connection most importantly will help Shall Run Planes in obtaining information about his dealings with other airlines and his plans for the future and we can certainly hope to get an advantage when it comes to signing a deal with him.”

I sighed softly and began doodling again. It was hard to listen to things I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to be a part of this meeting in the first place and now thankful though I was to him, for postponing the voting, I still wasn’t thankful enough to want to listen to all the nonsense he was spouting. I wasn’t thankful enough to even want to listen to figure out if it was nonsense or not, just like my thoughts currently.
Less than a minute later Vishal pulled the pencil away, “You know you want to listen. Don’t be stubborn.”
I whispered back, “It’s not being stubborn Vishal. I’m just so tired. It hasn’t been an easy day; it hasn’t been an easy decision. I spent the last two days oscillating/vacillating between both our choices for the vote, unable to stick to one decision, and that’s ridiculous because I’m the one who suggested the sale.”
“It isn’t ridiculous at all. And I know how much Pinnacle means to you, but you should accept the fact that it is an equally difficult decision for all of us as well. And Karan is trying to help, even though I know it doesn’t feel that way. His approach may be wrong, but he means good. So listen.”

I smiled at him. He was right, like always. At some point in the five years I had known him, he had matured so much. He knew what to say when and how to get all of us to cooperate. He just knew. He had grown up. And we, me and Karan, we were the same- two stupid people who'd never be able to figure it out.
Karan stopped his speech abruptly and said, “I don’t know why you aren’t listening but you should. This is a good thing. I’m trying to save Pinnacle.”
Vishal jumped to my defence, “She had a doubt about his next conference. We were sorting it out Karan. Just go on with it.”
But of course he couldn’t let go, “Do you realise how good this will be for Pinnacle’s image? Leave aside Shall Run for a minute. Keeping SRP apart, this guy is the client to have right now. Do you have any idea what it will do for the company? Because this guy is huge right now and you cannot not capitalize on that. If you get him, Pinnacle is set, for life!” He looked at me, stressing on the parts where it was awesome for Pinnacle.
I wasn’t falling for the bait, “Do you have any idea how bloody controversial this is going to be?” I know I could have been nicer, but I’m me and it had been an incredibly long and painfully annoying day.
He chose to respond with the clichéd, “Any publicity is good publicity.”
“I have never advocated that.” Two could play the matter-of-factly game, I suppose.
“But I have.” He grinned.
“Clearly.” I snorted, and I ended up rolling my eyes again. There wasn’t a week where he wasn’t in the news for some crappy thing or the other. Generally most gossip revolved around his many 'Plus Ones' to every social do he attended and how long those 'relationships', if you can call them that, lasted. So I wasn’t surprised to hear him advocating any publicity is good publicity. No, I'm not jealous. Honestly.

He continued, unaware of what was going on in my mind. “Anyway moving on, I would like to point out the fact that the biggest advantage Pinnacle has right now is the fact that we haven’t been chasing him and hounding him like most other agencies and media units. That might raise the respect he has for us. We must go after him strongly but he mustn’t realise that. To him it should look like a soft, bordering-on-disinterested, we-are-awesome approach.”
Oh so he was framing strategies now? Acquiring-Client Strategies? Who did he think he was? JS seemed to have read my mind or maybe he just had the same opinion, because he cut in, “Karan, no strategies now. We just need you to illustrate why you think this is a good idea and you’ve done that. Strategies can wait till we actually reach a decision on the implementation.”
He obviously didn’t seem to mind his father’s interruption. Father-son bonding had reached a new level these days. Sometimes it seemed like they were programmed to work the same way, react the same way and that was a recent development. JS added, “If you have anything else to say about this Karan, now would be the time.”

“I’d like to end by stressing on a very important point again- Separating Pinnacle and SRP, that is irrespective of SRP and its troubles, you have to admit that he” Karan paused for effect, and pointed at the screen which was now displaying a big blown up picture of GFG, and then continued, “is definitely an asset for Pinnacle, that is if they can get him.” That last bit was obviously aimed at me, even though he was pointedly looking away. His attempts at trying to manipulate or coerce me in the disguise of a challenge failed because I wasn’t as stupid as he thought I was, even in times like this when I couldn’t think. Or maybe he just wanted me to think I was challenging him so I would get irritated. Okay I’m over thinking this again. That was my problem where he was concerned.
JS then got up and ended the meeting by postponing the final decision to the evening because we all (read me) needed time to think about the new developments. The BOD was set to meet at 6 again and in the meantime we were asked to forget everything else but Pinnacle, GFG and Shall Run Planes’ approaching and sadly rather inevitable crisis. Karan and JS left together, involved in a rapid, serious discussion presumably revolving around the GFG and any developments that may have taken place in the last 6 hours.

Vishal, Shekhar, Sanjana and a very subdued me walked away from the room. A gamut of emotions had taken my brain hostage, and I didn’t have it in me to process what the others were saying. The relief and the joy at not having to sell Pinnacle, at least not now had taken complete control of me.
And if only I had known what lay ahead, I would have sold Pinnacle that very moment.