She : Hey Adieu.. Where in heaven’s name are you? No news from you at all.. No visit, message or phone call.. This is not what brothers do. Leavin sisters with no clue.. So reply right away.. Dont keep me waitin all day.. He he he..

Me: Hey Shaan. I’m right here in Chennai working with elan. How do you do and whats up with you?

She: He he he.. So when do you begin treatin? You said you’d be doing that a lot.. Now, no way are you retreatin.. You’ll be sought out and caught..

Me: Treats shall come thy way when the time is apt and c’mon I say. Until then do hope and pray, that something comes before May.

She: Now is a good time as ever.. Why should I wait till May? Around you I’m gonna hover.. Till I get that treat some way..

I just love using Fevicol. The smell, the way it sticks to your fingers and the time spent removing the adhesive from the hand brings back a lot of good memories. I recently purchased a new tube and was impressed with the way they’ve designed it. Now here’s a tube that allows you to spread the adhesive onto your work without messing your hand. The angled tip allows for easy application and cleaning it is also a breeze. Great work from the guys at Pidilite.

These days, a trip to the Chennai airport to recieve someone can take anywhere between 1 -3 hours depending on traffic. This is due to severe traffic congestion during peak hours and lack of quality roads amongst other things. For these reasons, I prefer flights that operate during non-peak hours (12am – 6am). Even though this means being awake at unearthly hours, it does get you to the airport much quicker (~ 20 minutes). However, the part that is most annoying is – having to wait at the arrival terminal.

Here’s a neat workaround on how to get in and out of the airport quickly -

• Call the flight enquiry desk at the airport and double check the flight arrival time. There could be a delay due to bad weather or other reasons. This is also the prime reason why most people end up waiting at the airport for longer than necessary.
• Depending on how far you are from the airport and the time of the day, plan your trip so that you reach the airport within 15 minutes of landing. This time frame is ample for immigration and baggage clearance provided that the passenger is among the first few in the line.
• If you’re like me and would like to avoid parking, ask the person you’re going to receive to give you a call as soon as he/she comes out. This way you can drive directly to the terminal and recieve. Of course this works best for those who are carrying a cell phone that operates in your home network. But nevertheless, thats the most effecient way to beat those nasty tow-vehicles and avoid the heavy parking charges.

I’ve been doing this for quite some time now and it has definitely reduced the time spent on commuting to the airport and back. Although this may not work exactly as described, you do get the general idea.

Having switched to a consumer products industry, its important for me to keep abreast of the trends in branding and product packaging. In addition to prolonging shelf life and making distribution easier, packaging also plays an important role in the final choice the consumer will make because it directly involves convenience, appeal, information and branding. To put it loosely, its the first impression the consumer gets about the product. One of the important things many companies take for granted is providing adequate instructional graphics. How much info is good info?

While shopping at a local convenient store the other day, I came across a biscuit packet which was quite unlike the others. This one in particular was Parle-G from the house of Parle – one of India’s oldest biscuits & confectioneries company. Although, not as impressive as the other brands on display, what caught my attention was the detail in the packaging. Here was a biscuit packet that guided the user on how to tear it open! Believe me when I did tear along the marked area, the packet opened in a breeze without breaking a single biscuit. I normally consume Britannia Milk Bikis and the occasional ‘Good Day’ for tea, but both of them dont have proper guidelines on how to open the packet. More often than not, I’d end-up breaking a biscuit or two (which also breaks my heart!) While I’m sure there may be other biscuits that have such instructions but, none of them have that as big, bold and one that communicates the message better than Parle-G. And at just Rs.3, its a killer!

I just had a rush today. I dont know what happened, but it something like the thing that makes you feel fantastic within, something that makes you feel that the world is more beautiful, something that makes you take note of all the colors and that makes you wonder why you haven’t felt this way before. Its funny you know…