FlipkartPing : The overhyped launch event

Flipkart- the overhyped event ( will tell you how) which got us interested at the Oberoi during the Fitbit launch. This story kind of continues from the Oberoi itself. During the fitbit launch, we had managed to get invites for us late comers through Saurabh, for we didn’t have a clue in the world about the event. Exclusive invites were called, but as such is the case, people could bring any number of people along. The crowd would come that way na. So after departing from the Oberoi , we 3 ( Me, Dipali and Shilpi) left for CP. It was our 2nd event of the day after Fitbit.

What all happened at the Oberoi at fitbit can be read here:

http://www.shwetabhmathur.in/2015/08/indiblogger-fitbit-india-launch.html

With a sweet loaded horrendous menu at the oberoi, we were damn hungry. I mean like searching for real food. The location of this event was F bar at CP. God knew that F bar. We circled the various shop numbers at N block to finally locate that place. Well, we didn’t do it, it was Shilpi`s husband who was there already and waiting for us. We would have really missed that place had it been left to us. A very small lift (4 people and it feels cramped) took us to F bar. At the reception, we did our registrations and headed inside. The place was not that big. Chairs were put up in the main area and there were sofas lying all around at the usual sitting places. There was a live band preparing and rehearsing their music ( Astitva). Relaxing for some 5 minutes me and dipali headed out to find something to eat. Mindful of the time, we searched some 1.5 blocks and found nothing except for a bhelpuri wala and a golgappe wala. Rest of the places it was just bars and lounges. 

Old fashioned shops having closed down, CP is now all about various bars and lounges opening at every space available and imaginable. In a few years I think CP would be called as “ Central Pub” instead of “ Connaught Place”. With nothing else, dipali settled down to a plate of tasteless golgappas ( which gulped down just 3 after seeing that the water was tasteless), mission aborted midway and a plate of better spicy bhelpuri. Well my hunger just died after setting my foot in CP. A déjà vu situation at the Oberoi and my past memories meant that every moment I spent in the streets was suffocating. After I received a call from my childhood friend Anupriya, we headed back. It was nice to meet her. Was meeting her after some 2 years. Initially expected at the oberoi, she met me here and we got down to talks about various things while we waited for the event to start. The crowd had started trickling in and then in came the prankster whom I know – Priyanka Dey. 

She is dangerous as I have to be on the lookout for her pranks. For a change I found an ally in Shilpi`s husband for we talked about military and stuff like that. Before the start of the event, we had a stand up comedian Amit Tandon ( I think that was his name) trying to lighten the atmosphere.. Except a few genuine situational cracks, I did not find any other jokes too amusing or interesting. 

Then we had a sardar from Flipkart who welcomed us to the event ( name I don’t remember) and introduced to us the history and growth story of Flipkart. 

Man…these people do need counter offensive skills. How can a company claim an app base of 45 milion to be their so called growth and success? यार चूतिया किसी और को बनाना. You don’t have a mobile site and force everyone to install the app if they want to shop and then claim the same so called app base to be your success. C`mon guys, give me a deception better than that. I am damn 1000% sure that the tech team sitting there must have been shocked for my tweet about the same never showed up on the screen. Guess they were censoring tweets. Net connectivity was another issue at F bar as despite some 10 wifi signals, nobody knew the password to any of them, 3g was giving connectivity issues and only 2g was working. Okay so back to the event. After a few more mins. another person from flipkart joined the man on the stage and he told the technical development of how the flipkart app was made from the start keeping in mind the various technical challenges of the country. Now the thing was launched- Flipkartping. 

It is just another feature in the flipkart app which helps you connect with your social network, take their advice in your shopping decisions, search a product by a pic. That’s all there it is to it. Keeping in mind the intrusion in the lives of your friends, its an invite only initially. It lets you create groups of friends from your phonebook which have this app. If they don’t have it, send them an invite. Create a group and then you can share various pics of the products you like, discuss and then purchase the product after you get the advice. All this within one app. In reality who does this As regards to the photo search feature, you can click a pic of anything you like, upload it and search and the app would show you all products available in flipkart matching the one in the picture. 

The 2 guys then fielded some questions about flipkart in genereal from the various tech bloggers out there and evaded the now famous “ will flipkart go app only ?” question. They did demonstrate the photo search feature.

They called up a guy from the audience. He was wearing a green colour shirt. Clicked the pic of his shirt and searched and vola… the app did show the various shirts available in flipkart in the same green colour. After this the place became comparatively empty in max 25 seconds. All tech bloggers just exited and now only few people remained there for the music performance of Astitva. Food here was not a problem in comparison to the morning event but the variety sure was. Except for soft drinks, juices and beer, everything in snacks was non veg. No veg to be seen anywhere (Tuesday mind you). Shilpi had a tough time finding something to eat while I was ok with a softdrink. When Astitva started their music, it was melodious as they started with a few songs of their own as well as request numbers both in Hindi and English ( Astitva, Hotel California, Maaeri etc.). 

Astitva

Dipali and Priyanka shaking a leg

Music in any event is a mood changer. Had some important work the next day so couldn’t stay till the end of the music and left with Dipali.

Overall it was nothing to write home about. The mail dispatched to our mailboxes later or a 2 page press release handed over at the end would have saved the company lakhs of rupees had they not held that event and instead sent flyers to the people. Only god knows what objective did the marketing guys at flipkart achieved by wasting money at such a trivial thing. It was an overhyped event with no substantial content.

Indiblogger : Fitbit India launch

Shot on the way

Hello

Indi , Indi …25th * click*

In 7 seconds this was the shortest coded Indiblogger meet intimation talk I had with anyone. Just an urgent call and the date and that was it. You delay anymore and risk losing the seat. Exactly how me and dipali play this game. The customary दुआ सलाम can be had later on. This meet was important for me because I had missed 2 meets in the past few months, a record broken for consecutive attendance. After I secured mine, it was time for social service. I informed atleast 5 friends about this, lest I should be subject to taunts later on for not informing. Those who missed out ( Judy, Nimi, Namrata) warned me to inform them in case of additional seats. The girls I tell you. Plan changed on the morning of 25th with Ila meeting me directly at the venue ( my collaborator) instead of meeting me at a metro station and then going together to Oberoi. They say na that don’t drive while talking on the phone, I say that don’t exit metro station while doing the same. While talking to Dipali as to where she had reached, I was putting my DL at the exit gates and waiting for the gates to open. Not once but twice I did that. Later on when I say my pic on the licence then did I realize my faux pas. Company or no company I enjoy going alone so from JLN metro station had a walk to Oberoi ( a distance of some 3+ kms in 20 mins). How`s that an inspiration for Fitbit? This was the 4th time I was doing the walk. While entering the hotel, I saw the absent minded Sheetal entering the gates, looking all the while in her phone, not bothering to look up. Like always. Later on at the reception, she looked up. When we both reached the place did we realize that it was a launch and Indi was just a participant, not an organizer. Grabbed a tea and when we talked the real lot started coming up. Saurabh, Antarik, Ila, Dipali, Khandujas, Dr Manoj Dubey ( with Dr Sahiba lost somewhere far behind). Sheetal was more worried about Vikas Khanna not coming up. With word spreading that there was a flipkart meet at CP in the evening, we got interested ( bad mistake later on). Exclusive invites became no longer exclusive with Saurabh making some calls to make sure that we too could attend it. It was a जितनी भीड़ आ जाए उतना अच्छा from flipkart.

It was time to get some pics clicked now and we got down to the business of clicking pics. 

Sheetal , me, Arsh, Saurabh, Ila and Dipali

Photo ops with Antarik now

The before and after of Fitbit...lol

When it was time to go inside, the hunt for seats began. We always look for seats in lots just like some marriage party has arrived. So you had some 8 people sitting in a lot. When Arsh and Rahul came, we made use of our old trick to make space for ourselves ( Just drop the reserved slips away from the seats when no one is looking and the seat is yours). The world was crazy about Fitbit , we were looking for Rajiv Makhni. Just before the start of the proceedings, we 3 of us ( Me, Dipali, Ila) went to him so that we can have pics clicked with him and more importantly this time around I wanted his autograph. Seeing pad in my hand , dipali asked me what it was for and when I told her she said, “ Take one for me too”. Soon I felt like the boy in class who tears papers from his notebook for others when there is a surprise test. We approached Rajiv and told him we wanted pics and autographs. Told him that we want 3 autographs separately (one for each person) and not one autograph for all 3. He gave me this autograph.

Rajiv Makhni names me "Devil"

The event started with the CRO of Fitbit Mr. Woody Scal welcoming us to the event and he explained what fitbit is all about and how is it helpful for busy people and the various models available now in India ( pretty expensive show off pieces I must say). 

The model with all the features was 20000 bucks (Surge) while the entry level was 3500/- (Zip) . For sometime it seemed to me that I was in a board meeting presentation. Huh. Just cover the distance I travelled today while coming and you`ll never need any fitbit ever in your life. Then we had Jamaal Sheikh, editor of Men`s health coming up and talking. As usual the talk never seemed interesting and engaging. The only person in full attention was Punam ji, listening attentively. He looked more like a model for Habib. He had a fancy haircut more than anything. No way he looked the mean and fit he was talking about. 

Jamaal Sheikh

Then came the person we wanted to be on stage- Rajiv Makhni. He has always kept us interested and engaged. He knows the art and that’s why he is our favourite. He told us the features he has been using and how it has affected his daily routine. Calories burnt, sleep taken, pattern of sleep, fitness target achieved etc. It seemed to me that we were slowly being drawn in the era of machines taking over everything. He also recounted us a hilarious incident where he pulled out his fitbit from a very tough place. No details shhh…he told not to mention it. 

He is a show stopper and an awesome anchor

Now it was time for some demo. A girl and a boy (Vishakha, Saahil) from fitbit were called to demonstrate the device in the various exercises with things like calories burnt, steps taken, heartbeat and various things being shown on the screen comparatively. It was all rigged I would say. How can you have same stats for 2 different people? Later on it was a question answer section where the people asked all sort of questions about fitbit. 

Most of the features were not available so what was the use of launching this device? ( Not waterproof, not certified by medical fraternity etc. ). Most of the answers to this were in the negative. After this got over, the real fun started after that. Rajiv Makhni got hounded for pics ( like he is always ). Our whole group decended onto him. 

Group pic

Ila handed me her DSR (a complete novice) and it took me a while to shoot it. Rajiv was really patient and he did say, “ I have heard about slow motion videos but for the 1st time I was part of a slow motion photo”. Met the unrecognizable Mitha, Judy, Pallavi ( gorgeous as always). As we marched towards the so called lunch area, had a handful of Punam ji`s “ thekua” which she prepared at 11 the previous night. They were awesomely tasty. Everybody loved that. Karthik was caught at the door by us while trying unsuccessfully to lie to us as to why he was not there at the event. 

We headed to the room where lunch was being served. The line looked longer than the darshan line at Vaishno Devi. It was moving a snail`s pace. After getting restless, Sheetal left. We did manage to take some line cuts to shorten our waiting time. Even the dinner lines at weddings after ढक्कन खुलने के बाद move faster than this. We broke the line a final time and headed straight to the area where the plates were kept. Enough of wait. We started stocking our plates with whatever limited variety they had. Full with non veg items , there were only 3 veg. items with all being refilled even more slowly. Cakes and tarts were the only things in abundance. I mean what kind of breakfast / lunch was this? Probably made us remember the awesome dinner menu at Indiblogger meets. God knows what was fitbit thinking?? Really yuck. Oberoi के बाद किसी ठेले वाले के पास जाना ही पड़ेगा. I made sure that I met the maximum friends there at the gathering. It had been a long long time. A few more left promising to meet in the evening @ flipart.

Karthik was left wandering with an empty plate which he later loaded with sweets to give him company. We had planned to go to CP but I didn’t knew I would have surprises up for me. Heading out towards the exit, I saw …who else? Nivedith. A sight to behold. He and Hrish thota both coming from Banglore for this event ( part of media and tech people called later in the day). It was another matter that he was damn hungry as well. It felt awesome to meet him after an year. Took me another 30 mins. before I could catch up with Hrish. Shilpi totally photobombed my 2 pics I took with him. Not one pic came out as perfect as I would have liked but it was ok. 

Photobombed pics.... Culprit- Shilpi and Dipali

Shilpi and Dipali both waited while I completed the milaap. All we got was a t shirt while we had thought that maybe some lucky persons would be getting a fitbit as well. The so called surprise that Rajiv Makhni had talked about was that Shraddha Kapoor and Tiger Shroff both had come to the launch (media part), the whole world knew about it except us.

Archana Vijay

In totality it was a time waster event with only Rajiv Makhni and the meeting with friends the only high point. The rest everything disappointed( including the 3rd grade menu). The fitbits on display were were all kept switched off. Now how do you check off devices guys??

Condoms: The guilty pleasure buys

Condoms are the guilty pleasures of today. People want them but are shy to ask them. Go to any chemist shop and people would find ways to ask for them when there is almost nobody at the shop. There is this unknown stigma of thinking about the reaction of the people when you ask for condoms. This seems to be probably the biggest challenge of today- ask for condoms. Even if you do ask one, it’s one of a quick grab and out of the shop as soon as possible. Until and unless one goes with a pre determined variety in mind, forget about checking out the varieties of condoms available in the shop. 

You must have seen many varieties of condoms available and stacked up in the chemist shops but rarely would you see a customer checking them out while buying. People know the various brands but don’t buy them maybe due to hesitation. Instead of being something for pleasure and protection, it has turned to embarrassment to the people who purchase them. Maybe it’s time to change all that and for the better. Welcome to condombazaar.com. The online marketplace which deals in…condoms..What else? The biggest plus point working in its favor is that unlike other e commerce portals who have a dedicated section to sexual wellness this one is fully for it so that there can be more variety and combinations to choose from. Remember the difference between a toy section in a huge departmental store and a toy only shop? That’s what makes condombazaar different and probably the main USP of this. 

It’s time to let go of the guilt and indulge in only pleasure. No more embarrassing trips to the chemists, waiting for the customers to leave and then picking up the lone salesperson in the shop to ask for condom. The salesperson also packs up the product in a brown bag as if transacting a drug deal and if another customer comes to the shop, his curiosity grows in your purchase thus increasing the embarrassment. Now from the comfort and convenience of the home you can choose what you want to buy, the brands, the variety all at a mouse click`s disposal, something which would be tough to find at any store/chemist shop considering the limited shelf space. All the brands which have been seen in print and electronic media are up here alongwith the varieties to suit your moods and needs. Want to try a bit more?? Try their sample packs with an assortment of brands in a single pack or create your own. Not limited to India alone, it deals with international names too. Now women can also choose theirs without having to worry about the so called non availability. 

Like its said, “ Why should boys have all the fun” ? Condombazaar is taking sexual wellness to a whole new level without you having to leave the comfort of your home or worry about privacy. For a really intimate experience, shed your inhibitions and do give it a try.

मैं डरता हूँ यादों से

मैं डरता हूँ, मैं बेबस हूँ

मैं डरता हूँ तेरी यादों से

मैं बेबस हूँ तेरे पास न होने से

अपने ही शहर की भीड़ से डरता हूँ मैं की कहीं तुझसे आमना सामना न हो जाए किसी पल 

घर से निकलते ही खौफ का एक मंज़र है की कहीं तेरा दीदार होते ही दिल दर्द से रो न पड़े

अभी तो सिर्फ टूटा है, तब शायद बिखर ही जायेगा

मैं डरता हूँ उन्ही सड़कों से जिस पे तुम्हारे साथ चला था

कदम कदम पर तुम्हारी यादें यूँ मेरा इंतज़ार कर रही हैं

पुराने वक़्त की यादें जैसे हर वक़्त मुझे अपने पास बुलाती हैं , पर जाने से डरता हूँ.. जैसे एक बार बुला लेंगी तो फिर वापस जाने नहीं देंगी

तब का तुम्हारा साथ और अब की तन्हाई पता नहीं क्या कहर बरसायेगी ?

उनसे कैसे बचूं यह अभी तक समझ नहीं आया

पल, दिन, महीने साल सब एक आंधी में खुली किताब के पन्नो की तरह पलटते जा रहे है और मैं उस किताब के पन्नो को संभालने की कोशिश कर रहा हूँ

वो आंधी पन्ने आगे पलटती जा रही है और मैं तुम्हारे साथ वाले रंगीन पन्नो पर से हाथ और नज़र दोनों ही नहीं हटा पा रहा हूँ

मैं डरता हूँ तुम्हारे जाने के बाद उन काले पन्नो को देखने से भी 

पता नहीं दिल और दिमाग में क्या जंग सी है ?

ज़ख़्मी दिल उस एक एक याद को संभाल कर रखना चाहता है जो तुमसे जुड़ी है, पता नहीं ये चोट कभी ताउम्र भर भी पायेगी की नहीं

मैं डरता हूँ और टूट जाने से...

दुनिया कहती है आगे बढ़, फिर से इश्क करले मगर यह दिल नादान है, इश्कबाजी में खेलना इसे नहीं आता

या तो किसी को टूटने की हद्द तक चाहता है या फिर किसी को अपने आस पास आने भी नहीं देता

वो तो अभिमन्यु का चक्रव्यूह था जिसमें वो निकल न सका तो कम से कम शहीद तो हुआ

मेरा यह कौनसा चक्रव्यूह है जिसमें से न मैं निकल पा रहा हूँ और न ही शहादत मिल रही है ?

सिर्फ यादें ही हैं जो पांडवों की तरह अपनी भी हैं और कौरवों की तरह दुश्मन भी

मैं बेबस हूँ..

जीते जी मार ही देंगी यह यादें...

तुम्हारी यादें, जिनके सहारे पल पल बीत रहा है बस.

मैं डरता हूँ... अब यादों से भी

Lucknow needs a blogging and a product launch culture

Lucknow- the so called calm and relaxed city of U.P. comparatively to the metros, needs a proper blogging culture and some proper launch events. With my 5 years in delhi, the amount of chances and invites I have got in delhi are huge and thats where my blogging took off. There is nothing in lucknow to show for in terms of bloggers or events. The number of bloggers in lucknow can be found out from some blogging network directory but that’s the end of the story. Nothing more… Comparatively delhi has so many blogging events and proper product launches that you cant keep a track of it. Agreed that Delhi is the prime capital but lucknow has nothing to show for, nobody takes that city seriously. Right from Nokia, Asus launches to Auto test drives all have come in delhi..The lucknow scenario?? Pathetic..

I am sure nobody would have heard about meets there. In delhi and other places bloggers are invited to cover events but in lucknow brands call up some moviestar at some mall, cordon off a particular area, get the pics and selfies clicked with the public, launch or showoff the product, 1-2 newspapers click the pic of the celeb and it would be all over. The success of the product would be gauged by the crowd coming to see the celebrity and the next day the newspapers would carry the headline that so and so celebrity was thronged by this much public. She / he was in the city to launch this product. 

This hush hush system means that bloggers , social media influencers don’t get a chance to experience new things as these things seem to be alien to the companies. This city has not seen a blogger meet ever, a summit titled “ Sheroes” by blogadda got cancelled in the start of the year ( which would have been awesome for the bloggers of lucknow), the TATA Brio was asked to be reviewed by going to a mall and see the car and the features. I seemed to be the only blogger, rest was all general public. Nothing new has ever been launched/organized in the city by any company / online marketing agency. Although Indiblogger has a section on its site saying, “I wish to organize a meet” , it must understand that a proper sponsored meet is needed to break the shackles in Lucknow and pave the way for the future. Seriously I am fed up of seeing page 3 party pics in Hindustan times lucknow edition, I want to see the magic of some blogger meet pics in that. In the name of events all you have there is Lucknow mahotsava, the National book fair and the annual Index fair (by IIM Lucknow which is open to the public). The first 2 somewhat get a mention in the newspapers, not the rest.

A newspaper carrying blogging meet / product launches where bloggers are invited would do a lot of good for the blogging world in lucknow in general. Hoping to see it happen soon.