Tuesday, October 30, 2007

What am I doing here ?

I have been planning to write a book for as long as I can recall.

My self assessment is , I think I have good skills with people, good public speaking ability and am fairly articulate. I also love to read, especially what some people call "literary fiction". I cant say that I am a fanatic reader, but, I am always reading something all the time. I also love performing arts like Theatre and Performing music live in front of an audience.

Some how all of this coupled with a desire to leave a lasting imprint on this world has ignited the desire in me to create some thing. Some thing that others can see, feel and be moved by in some way. Some thing permanent, some thing nice.

Initially, i thought of making a movie, but that was unrealistic. Then it came down to making ad films, but that also seemed to be a risk, considering that I started to do well in my career and the comforts the modern MNC marketing job seemed too good to leave. So finally, it came down to writing. I don't know if that is a logical conclusion to arrive at from where we started, but this is where we are. I have been telling myself ages now, "Some day I will write a book".

This has now transformed to, at least I will write a blog. At least I will write.

So here I am - I will write. I have no subject, I have no inspiring thought that is consuming me, my fingers are not moving on their own, a story is not building.

So I have nothing really to write about, hence, I have decided that my writing will be random for now. I will write about what I read, yes, I will do some book reviews here. I may also write about interesting people I meet and random thoughts. I may also write about Marketing (my profession) Hopefully, some of it will make sense to some people. If it makes sense to me in the future and if there is trend that I can see - may be it will lead to some thing. May be....

16 comments:

SunnyBlueSky said...

welcome....i look forward to read your musings....

Medha said...

Everything begins with that first step....congratulations....for taking that first step...all the best...promise...you'd have an avid reader in me for all you write!!

Dev said...

thanks Laddo and Medha - I needed that !

Dev

In Search said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Manish Lohani said...

Dev,
Great stuff. Keep it up.
Mazaa aaya padne mai. Read start to end.
Am sure that you will definitely get to start a book fairly early. How about "daru, dum aur diwangi".
Mazaa ayega....

Dev said...

thanks manish, "daru, dum and diwangi" is apt enough to sum up our lives so far quite well i guess. The good thing is that I can write just about anything and give it that title :-)

Anonymous said...

My my...am i amazed with your writing skills. I just loved the one on Munshi Premchand coz at least i didnt have an inkling of this Dev of '18 years back'!! Also great that you're now back to playing the guitar...i get some vicarious pleasure since i dont know to play any instrment :(

Anonymous said...

Meeting you once is sufficient for anyone to realize that you can express yourself unbelievably coherently. I'm glad you've taken to writing - blogs, for now. I loved your posts, especially the one on Shree Premchand.
It makes me wonder though ... If you can dwell so nicely on what you term "Random thoughts" in your introduction, how would it be if you were to also write stuff catering to a more specific area of interest! For e.g. I can imagine the thousands of people migrating from, say, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ to your blog ! Here I wouldn't say "Why competition" or why "vs", but rather "Why not?"

Dev said...

Sandeep,

the reason for the "why not" is that since everything else in life is about geting more, migrating things, winning etc etc - but this initiative of mine is so far for fun. if i see a trend in the future and a vector of thinking emerging, I may become more specefic.
I know a few Sandeeps - which one are u ? :-)

Anonymous said...

Fantastic literary quality in your writing. I do not know you, but after reading your posts, I feel that I must get to know u.

Anonymous said...

Waah ustaad waah. great writing, loved all your posts. The one on your Bharatpur trip is really really good and is some of the best stuff I've read across blogs. Hope you keep this up. I have been visting your blog since the day Kiruba gave a link to you and I hope you are able to write a bit more often

Anonymous said...

Dev,

You do not have to leave your cushy job to be come a full time, literary jhollawalla....

I personally thing you ought to have your own column, in your local newspaper, in which you can comment on anything...your princess Adiiti, Indian MBA education, nostalgia, music, movies, society, youth and your perceptiono f them, "perils" of being a father....may I humbly suggest you check out videos of the comedian, Jeff Foxworthy, on Youtube..he jokes a lot about his marriage, his kids, and so on...he obviously makes a lot of "redneck" jokes..being a BiHarry, you should have no problems with your musings on that....you are a multi talented person and unlike a lot of us "talented" guys, you are dynamic...I just found your blog today...have already left comments on 3 to 4 topics...am so excited that I am not even proofreading my comments....glad to "renew" contact with you vicariously through these blogs. More power to you, brother!!

My views might be different from your other visitors to this blog..radical and nutty at times...but plz bear with me...I have no malice but the highest of admiration/esteem/love for you.

One last thing...I did not know that you have a daughter...congrats...but, if she is a princess, shouldn't that logically make you a Maharaja?!!!

Best,

Sri

Anonymous said...

Dev,

May I humbly suggest some of these links. You could model yourself on some of these guys vis-avis situations/opinions/thoughts/musings specific to modern India:

1. Dave Barry's columns : http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/dave_barry/

2. Mid Day's columnists (typical Mumbai flavor) : http://chalomumbai.com/web/guest/opinion/columns

3. Asian Age seems to have poached Cyrus Broacha from Mid Day. Check his zany, columns out : http://www.asianage.com/presentation/columnisthome/cyrus-broacha.aspx

He is truly hilarious and he brings in his eccentric Parsi, Mumbaikar, cosmopolitan bhelpuri to the fore.

4. For pure satire, check this out : http://www.theonion.com/content/

Hope this helps. Hope this gives you some inspiration to add your own brand of humor/indepth observations.

Sri

Dev said...

thanks Sri - I am really touched by all your comments. Great to have you here.

Ridhesh Sharma said...

Hi Dev,

After going through the blog, I was actually going to recommend that you write a book.

Trust me, something on management fundas would be highly appreciated. At least we would get something genuine, and non-aaker types.

At the same time, I again would implore you to at least become a guest faculty at a b-school, where again you would be a success.

Superb blog...Keep blogging

Regards

Ridhesh

Dev said...

I would love to become a Guest Lecturer at a B School Ridhesh, the only issue is I hope some decent B school also shares your view about my teaching potential :-)) LOL