Dad always said a letter can change shit!

Okhil Babu’s letter to the Railway Department (early 1900’s)

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“I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with ‘lotah’in one hand and ‘dhoti’ in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on plateform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station. This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers.”

 

Okhil Chandra Sen wrote this letter to the Sahibganj divisional railway office in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. It was also reproduced under the caption “Travellers’ Tales” in the Far Eastern Economic Review.

 

Any guesses why this letter is of historic value?

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It led to the introduction of TOILETS in trains!!!! J

Tags: indian history, the power of words, toilets in trains

What is love? My dear father lets me know via email …

We know Taj Mahal as a symbol of love ! But the fact is - 

1. Mumtaz was Shahjahan’s 4th wife, out of his 7 wives (great)

2. Shah Jahan killled Mumtaz’s husband to marry her (excellant)

3. Mumtaz died in her 14th delivery (wow)

4. He then married Mumtaz’s sister(amazing)

Tags: 10 wonders of the world, dad, digital generation, Mumtaz, Shah Jahan, Taj Mahal, True Love

Strike Hunger

From a recent famous social activist determined to get a certain bill passed in the legislation to a 19 year old girl who wanted an invite to the Royal Wedding, hunger strikes are evidently the in thing to do.

What sort of cause or reason would enable someone in our office to give up food until their needs were met?

Here are some answers from our team as to why they would go on a hunger strike if they had to:

1. “I’d do it to get married to the guy of my choice.” (All eligible gujarati jains can send in their bio data through the blog)

2. “I’d do it to get a new PS3″ (Tretton san are you listening)

3. “I go on a hunger strike for food” (honestly could not think of a better reason even if we tried)

4. “I want to go on a hunger strike so that someone will give me an apartment, and oh yeah the apartment should be in south bombay” (That would be have to be longer than a 7 day fast for sure).

5. “To save the environment” (we were hoping for one of these lest we came across as a materialistic bunch)

So there you have it, we are housing little young activist eager to get out there and not eat just so they can get what they think they rightly deserve.

Tags: eligible jain boys, give us what we want, hunger strike, ps3, so hungry, social activism

And win an iPod!

“It’s hard to remember what I did before the iPod.” – Mary J Blige

I thinks that quote holds true for every contest, marketing promotion and freebie idea that marketers in India have had for the last four years. Really ever contest or event that i have seen in the last four years promises its participants and winners an iPod, so much so that even if you win the big Chandigarh lottery or the catholic gymkhana Housie you get an iPod with your winnings. Further more i hope the gift tax department has caught on to the iPod prize revolution cause they must be thanking apple for this invention every day.

So really help me out here guys, suggest to us and to every marketer in this country something else that might tempt you to take part in a contest and the best ten suggestions stand to win …

… you guessed it an iPod*.

 

*conditions apply**

** This is not an actual contest but rather an attempt at sarcasm.

Tags: big winner, desimkt, marketing, music, prize, win an iPod

Client negotiations 101

“Indians cannot live without a bargain, as our mission is to keep every penny with us” – Russell Peters

Nothing drives that statement home like working in India in advertising and design. We love to bargain and very rarely have I in the last ten years of running my companies ever met anyone who has not asked for the original quote to be brought down.

To be fair clients today do pay.  Gone are the days when you would expect only part of the amount invoiced to come in. Furthermore they now value what designers and their brands  do a lot higher than they used to. But it is still in our nature to ask for a discount no matter what the amount quoted. Now there are various styles and approaches that are used when asking for a discount in a design job and below are listed five of the most common ones I have heard over the years.

1. Why don’t you include the tax amount into your quotation? 
2. You see this is only the first of many projects we want to give you so keep that in mind.
3. We are building a 75 story luxury building in the heart of the most expensive city in the country but you see this is our first project and we are start up – so give us a good price.
4. Can’t we round it off?  
5. You will get a lot of exposure with this project and we will recommend you to a lot of people. 

Tags: Bargain, Clients, Negotiation, Round off

Life Facts from Dad on a Friday morning.

People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain.

People with blue eyes see better in dark.

Money isn’t made out of paper, it is made out of cotton.

A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it go mad instantly and sting itself to death.

Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

A huge underground river runs underneath the Nile , with six times more water than the river above.

The USA uses 29% of the world’s petrol and 33% of the world’s electricity.

Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear By 700 times.

The animal responsible for the most human deaths world-wide is the mosquito.

Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.

We exercise at least 30 muscles when we smile.

Our nose is our personal air-conditioning system: it warms cold air, cools hot air and filters impurities.

Our brain is more complex than the most powerful computer and has over 100 billion nerve cells.

When a person dies, hearing is usually the first sense to go.

There is a great mushroom in Oregon that is 2,400 years old. It Covers 3.4 square miles of land and is still growing.

German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.

The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing

Men’s shirts have the buttons on the right, but women’s shirts have the buttons on the left.

The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it’s already been digested by a bee.

It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it.

The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.

The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.

Tags: dad, digital generation, life facts, parents

Baby Advice for an expecting father

Since a member of our team is going to be a dad soon and since we’re suggesting the worst baby names ever, we decided to help him out a little more with some very wise words from Mace Windu.

Knowing him as well as we do, we are sure his child is going to be as excited as he is and it’s going to be a tough challenge putting her to sleep. So here is wishing him and more importantly his wife all the best for some fun and exciting month’s ahead.

Tags: Jumper, Mace Windu, Sleep Baby, To Be Dad

WhatsApp!

Fun Digital Chat With Mom

digi4olks

When you hear the words digital generation you picture young on the move ipad reading, blackberry texting, android application downloading, khaki shorts and pick up lined t-shirt wearing kids, who use their phone to switch on the television, their gaming consoles to chat up girls and the tablets to make calls.

Well let me tell you that this digital generation has some serious competition for that name tag. Competition from their parents and even their grandparents that is. Take my 70 year old father for instance. He is online for 3 hours of the day and throws a shit fit if the internet is not working. He has tried every mobile phone company in the market and just recently got himself an IPAD 2. And next in line is a blackberry.

So what does he do with his 3 hours of internet time you ask? Well send out forwards off course to all his facebook buddies and sometimes me! I have over the last few years realized however that all forwards from my father can be classified into five easy groups in order of most frequent. These include:

1. All studies that are circulated on issues of health: – From which vegetable¹   will cure apendicular² cancer to how mobile phones will fry your brain cells and leave you without any memory³.
2. Forwards of things he thinks have to do with my work, without really ever having understood what I really do.
3. Videos, images and jokes that he enjoys without realizing that most of them are racist, sexist and discriminatory⁴.
4. Power point presentation of natural and spiritual beauty that starts with every moment is a gift or 10 wonders in the world.
5. Forwards picture emails with very interesting titles but no picture attachment in them and always send them twice.

So we at Geronemo decided to commemorate this digital generation by uploading the most interesting forwards sent to us by them. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

1. It is 9 out of 10 times the one I don’t eat.
2. I had my appendix removed.
3.  And then he follows that up with a reminder for something I forgot to do.
4. Secretly love each of those images and videos but would never own up to it.
5. P.S: Love you Dad.

Tags: 10 wonders of the world, dad, digital generation, forwards, parents