So i am a facebook addict-most days, anyway. I am blown away by Web 2.0 and how it has changed the way we do business in many ways (have you noticed how many of your favorite brands, bakeries, sportsmen and celebrities are on Facebook and Twitter now? It's amazing!) With social networking sites becoming veritable universes for people to spend a good amount of their time (whether via a mobile or a PC) it is obvious that Facebook and other social networking sites create opportunities to entertain their growing fan base.
One particular avenue of entertainment is that whole slew of inane quizzes that you can take that 'help' answer questions such as " What Cocktail are you" (duh!), "What City Are you meant to live in?" (slightly useful) etc.
So on a particularly random evening when i was killing time on facebook, i stumbled upon a reverse-quiz: this quiz that YOU create for your friends to discover how well they really know you. So sure- i took a stab at it-put together a pretty lame quiz (with the help of suggested questions) that provide some insight into who i am (really?).
Turns out-people did really well on my quiz, even those who did not know me as well as say my best friends(i repeat the word ' lame' here). Some of them created their own quiz and subsequently, some of us (yes, including me) did not score too favorably on their friends' quizzes. I even know of a wife who scored a measly 30% on her husband's quiz. Ha!! Do i need to repeat a certain word again?
So i got thinking (and not merely to defend my bad scores)-can we really tell who is a good friend based on whether they know our favorite karaoke song, or what our nicknames were as kids? Does it matter if my best friend knows what my favorite colors are, or whether i prefer perfumes to shoes as gifts? (ok i agree- the last one might be a useful fact to know!)
Are these bits of trivia critical, especially in a day and age when our best buddies are globally dispersed across multiple cities, time zones and careers-and our conversations are more through these social networking technologies and email than through in-person tete-a-tetes?
So as our world and lives change, who should we still value as a good friend?
Someone who you can talk to, no matter how long its been since you last met, without having to wonder what to talk about? Or should it be someone who remembers what my favorite drink in college was? What about close friends that i made after i was out of college? Do they not qualify as good friends because they did not know which city i was born in or which is my favorite dessert even if we share values and opinions and have a whole bunch of memories to laugh over?
Facebook creates these quizzes as a way to have fun, spark new conversations, trigger new threads. And yes-these things are fun, including the fake banter and tantrums and declarations of 'Fraud' that they may spark off.
But fun apart-i realise that the friends i really care about are those that bother to stay aware of what's going on in my life, who can laugh with me about some silly gossip, who are there for me when i need to vent about something, with whom i can pick up from where i left off the last time we met, people i really look forward to seeing and talking with...isnt that what friendship is really about?
Dedicated to my girls-you know who you are! :)
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Picking Favorites
I noticed a trend in how i pick favorites when it comes to cities:those clusters of land and people, food and fashion, history and modernity, art and culture-each city has its unique share that goes on to define its personality (yes- i do believe that cities have personalities!)
I cant say i am a world traveler at all, but in the last couple of years were marked by a sudden spurt of traveling for me (a spurt that subsided when the economic crisis hit..lol!) and i do have some favorites by now.
So i got to thinking: what made a city tick for me? Was it the history and culture of a city that peeks out on every corner, in every other building or square? Or perhaps its the gastronomical delights that a city offers through a myriad range of cosy eateries, upscale restaurants and street-side cafes that dish out really good food? Could it be the glittering show-windows of high fashion and couture that make my spirits soar? Or could it be the vast range of neighborhoods each begging to be explored for its own merits? And then again-could it be the weather and the walkability factor of a city that i value most?
I realised that in some measure-all of these factors play it out for top score, with varying degrees of importance. and yet-the cities i have loved, adored and would move to in a heartbeat if i could were the ones that were hugely walkable, had fabulous food (i am sorry, but mediocre Indian and Chinese food of Seattle does not score high points for me!) and had huge doses of culture, history and a distinct sense of freedom and liberation that you can only identify as you get closer to the pulse of the city-the spirit that reveals itself more so in the side streets than it does in the oft-trodden touristy lanes.
So when i moved to a more interesting part of the city i live in-a neighborhood that has more for me to explore on foot (even though we have a 2 car garage for our ONE car to sprawl out comfortably in!), that is green every where i look, has a historic old town and wonderful neighborhood restaurants, supports local communities and farmers, and is so beautifully connected by public transport- my heart soared. This may not be New York or Rome or Mumbai or Paris-but yet, its home for now and it ends up meeting my hygeine factors without the price tag of New York or the langauge barrier of Paris or the sizzling heat of Mumbai (could not come up with anything not positive for Rome-that is one perfect city, eh!).
But the love for travel remains. As we put on our global marketing hats, it becomes all the more critical to understand how each individual market is unique, even if we may be selling a global product. There are some things you can learn best about a city's people by being one with them-even if it's just for a weekend or a work-related conference. So the next time you walk into a Starbucks in Amsterdam possibly asking for the same Pike Place brew that you get in Seattle, take time to notice the difference in your experience. Because there will be one!
I cant say i am a world traveler at all, but in the last couple of years were marked by a sudden spurt of traveling for me (a spurt that subsided when the economic crisis hit..lol!) and i do have some favorites by now.
So i got to thinking: what made a city tick for me? Was it the history and culture of a city that peeks out on every corner, in every other building or square? Or perhaps its the gastronomical delights that a city offers through a myriad range of cosy eateries, upscale restaurants and street-side cafes that dish out really good food? Could it be the glittering show-windows of high fashion and couture that make my spirits soar? Or could it be the vast range of neighborhoods each begging to be explored for its own merits? And then again-could it be the weather and the walkability factor of a city that i value most?
I realised that in some measure-all of these factors play it out for top score, with varying degrees of importance. and yet-the cities i have loved, adored and would move to in a heartbeat if i could were the ones that were hugely walkable, had fabulous food (i am sorry, but mediocre Indian and Chinese food of Seattle does not score high points for me!) and had huge doses of culture, history and a distinct sense of freedom and liberation that you can only identify as you get closer to the pulse of the city-the spirit that reveals itself more so in the side streets than it does in the oft-trodden touristy lanes.
So when i moved to a more interesting part of the city i live in-a neighborhood that has more for me to explore on foot (even though we have a 2 car garage for our ONE car to sprawl out comfortably in!), that is green every where i look, has a historic old town and wonderful neighborhood restaurants, supports local communities and farmers, and is so beautifully connected by public transport- my heart soared. This may not be New York or Rome or Mumbai or Paris-but yet, its home for now and it ends up meeting my hygeine factors without the price tag of New York or the langauge barrier of Paris or the sizzling heat of Mumbai (could not come up with anything not positive for Rome-that is one perfect city, eh!).
But the love for travel remains. As we put on our global marketing hats, it becomes all the more critical to understand how each individual market is unique, even if we may be selling a global product. There are some things you can learn best about a city's people by being one with them-even if it's just for a weekend or a work-related conference. So the next time you walk into a Starbucks in Amsterdam possibly asking for the same Pike Place brew that you get in Seattle, take time to notice the difference in your experience. Because there will be one!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Another ode to Bombay-just because...
At a dinner party last night, i met someone who's been in Seattle for ten years or more(i dont know the exact time) bu from Bombay originally-and in due course of small talk, Bombay came up. Let's just say Bombay's been a pet topic for us here for a while now-what with Nov 26 and Slumdog Millionaire and the fact that the couple hosting the dinner were just back from Bombay after getting married there. For me, Bombay is a conversation piece in any world, at any time-simply because i love that city so much. And so it was a rude shock to hear a former Bombayite say " Yeah, everyone who goes on and on about Bombay-let's remind them of the traffic and the chaos. Let's keep them honest. They sometimes tend to get ahead of themselves" or something to that effect. The Bombayite in me was obviously not amused. It was almost offensive to me-given my current state of homesickness. And then i wondered-do i even have a right to defend that city anymore? I, who has not been there for over a year now, but still living in the image i have of the Bombay i knew as a care-free student, in love,and living it up in the city of dreams and freedom and rock music in bars. Am i all starry-eyed about Bombay because i am not physically there, and i do not know experience first-hand the traffic snarls, the daily grind, and the challenges of living in a city that is splitting at its seams?
A friend was recently telling me of how her parents recently visited her in Bombay, and she took them to her favorite haunts. I was saddened to find i barely recognized one or two from her list. It scares me sometimes-to lose touch with Bombay. I almost dread going back there sometime and finding that everything has changed. The places i loved are gone, replaced by spanking new haunts that arent yet familiar to me. I worry-am i clinging on to the ghost of the past, while i am increasingly growing distant (literally) from everything that city represents and means to me. Are my annual trips to New York in search of that 'near-Bombay' feeling a foolish attempt to hold on?
And then i remember-that Marine Drive is not going away in a hurry. That Bandstand will always have Bandra's diaspora walking their dogs or working off the stress in their lives as they run, that I'll always be able to go back to a well-loved campus in Andheri and drink nimboo pani and that Bombay will always be, if nothing else, a city that embraces. A city that keeps abuzz and makes everyone that comes along to its shores and stays awhile, its own. And so-sure, i'll have the 'return to culture' hiccups, but i'll soon get immersed in the Bombay-ness of it all, all over again. And stay in love. That is the hope.
A friend was recently telling me of how her parents recently visited her in Bombay, and she took them to her favorite haunts. I was saddened to find i barely recognized one or two from her list. It scares me sometimes-to lose touch with Bombay. I almost dread going back there sometime and finding that everything has changed. The places i loved are gone, replaced by spanking new haunts that arent yet familiar to me. I worry-am i clinging on to the ghost of the past, while i am increasingly growing distant (literally) from everything that city represents and means to me. Are my annual trips to New York in search of that 'near-Bombay' feeling a foolish attempt to hold on?
And then i remember-that Marine Drive is not going away in a hurry. That Bandstand will always have Bandra's diaspora walking their dogs or working off the stress in their lives as they run, that I'll always be able to go back to a well-loved campus in Andheri and drink nimboo pani and that Bombay will always be, if nothing else, a city that embraces. A city that keeps abuzz and makes everyone that comes along to its shores and stays awhile, its own. And so-sure, i'll have the 'return to culture' hiccups, but i'll soon get immersed in the Bombay-ness of it all, all over again. And stay in love. That is the hope.
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