Long Lost Letter

I don’t have the habit of storing mails. Other than official mails, and mails which fall under the category “Open Carefully”, I do not store anything else in my inbox. There was one mail, which my friend had written while we were doing our summer project at Saatchi & Saatchi Direct, about our experiences.

I had been hunting for the mail for quiet sometime now, and finally I find the mail in one of my friend’s blog. Thanks Krish.

The letter was written sometime in May 2004, after we had returned from a market survey on MICO-Bosch. We were collecting data which would serve as inputs for the final advertisement. The trip was the first leg of our entire market survey, which covered Salem and Namakkal. These two places of Tamilnadu were selected due to the large population of truck owners and mechanics.

The three days were an adventure of sort for both of us, since my friend did not know Tamil at all, and I had lost touch with Tamil for over 4 years. Also since our interactions would be with people who knew little or no English or Hindi, communication would be a problem.

The rest of the adventure is as mentioned in the mail below.

Hi everyone,

Arun and myself visited Salem and Namakkal in TN to complete the first leg of our 2nd Project at Saatchi & Saatchi. Here are some of my experiences in my first trip to TAMILNADU.

Day 1
We left Bangalore on Monday at 6 am (don’t ask how I managed to reach railway station on that rainy morning).First day we did our survey in Salem. Just imagine,Its raining………………………………….You are in the transport area…………………….. (Did I forget to mention that mud, water and thestink……?????) Interviewing truck drivers, Mechanics, Owners…………….

On top of that nobody knows Hindi or English………. Kahaan Phas Gaya Re ????????????

Auto drivers turn out to be real bastards. They charge u 20 bucks for putting ur asses on their seats.

The first surprise came when we went to a retailer to interview him. HE KNEW HINDI…. More was in store……..b4 leaving the place….. BANG comes a question “ARE U Married?” ……………………………………… W T F??? I humbly say, “No sir but why did u ask?” He replied, “Rajasthan means “CHILD MARRIAGE”!!!!!!!!!!

Loved the south India food. (Truly….)

Day 2
We left for Namakkal. One hour journey from salem. It was still raining !!!!!!!!!!!

We go and meet a few mechanics and realize that all them have 5-10 trucks of their own.WOW!!! Then why the hell is he working as mechanic????

Then we meet Mr. Manohar, a manager of the Mico workshop at Namakkal. He tells us that he sells diesel filters worth 18 lakhs in a month, repairs pumps worth 10 lakhs in a month. Oh god!!!! Just imagine….. a diesel pump workshop has a turnover of 3.3 crores in a year. Why the heck are we doing an MBA???????

While coming back we take a “Express bus” which charges you extra for entertainment provided in bus which actually is OLD TAMIL VIDEO SONGS!!!!!. (Can u feel the pain?)

Arun was enjoying the music!!!!!!

I argue with the conductor that he should refund the entertainment charges, but was not successful.

But country side was beautiful, clouds were touching hilltops, felt like touching them.

Day 3
Salem again.

Early in the morning a room boy came to clean my room and guess what he doesn’t know “Hindi or English” and I don’t know Tamil. But somehow we mange to communicate using SIGN LANGUAGE. [Why don’t we include this in our MCOM (Managerial Communication) course? What say?]

In the day time we decided to pose as MICO summer trainees and go to the MICO dealers. We had to meet 4 of them. The first 3 went off well, and we were treated well in all the places. When we entered the last one, we saw that the managers cabin was full and we saw an executive bag lying outside. This time we were cautious, and introduced ourselves as summer trainees from Saatchi & Saatchi. Pat came thereply…”Manager is busy with people from MICO, so kindly come after 2 hours” !!!!!!!!! LUCKY……

Wound up our work by 1pm. Went and had a good Chettinad Lunch, and dashed to our rooms to catch some sleep.

The return journey was uneventful, except for the beautiful gal sitting opposite us. She was the first beautiful girl we had seen since we left Bangalore. We traveled quiet a few places in Salem for 3 days and could not find a beautiful girl in the town!!!!

Delhi trip starts on Saturday....... Guess it will b less eventful!!!!!