Idea sold!

If you think that the Obama's campaign was good at selling, the ingenuous methods that I have come across will make you reconsider that.

Strolling casually on the streets of the university campus and finding footpaths (yes, not sidewalks) with detailed marketing 'posters', chalked out (literally) in various colours - telling you about a talk or a protest or even a bookstore and its discounts - makes you stop and read it. If you haven't managed to read it while you walk that is, because it is definitely spaced out to be convenient for a medium-paced walker.

Amongst the gazillion walks that I took on Guadalupe st, reading these quirky messages was one of my favourite parts.

Oh! coming to walks, how I miss Austin and its conducive-to-long-walks charm.

The walks on the quiet streets and by-lanes of West Campus usually started around dawn (or in the quiet, forlorn, misty mornings or at the hour when the beds beckoned you and the city was tucking itself in)
with the golden orange hue of the setting sun - showering through the spring greens, the crunchy spread of autumn leaves, or through the chilled breeze of winter, just the same.

Major Austin nostalgia.

The other day I was on commercial street (its what makes namma bengalooru very namma) - a maze-like series of alleys with hoards of people haggling for some fashionable branded rejects that were 'Made in India'. I bought me-self some very awesome, very summery Marks and Spencers shirts, amongst other things.

Why was I all alone on commercial street in the first place, you ask. To get a very awesome haircut would be the answer. So I hit the streets, spent some gazillion thousand rupees. At the end of it all, I was desperately looking for an auto because I wanted to get home. My throat was parched. However, I had managed to satiate my hunger with some delicious dahi puri. I got into an auto not wanting to haggle with the autowallah.

In Bangalore, every autowallah claims someone needs to pay for his ideal time and the time he spends scouting for passengers. They also claim every destination is out of the way or isolated or that they will never find passengers there. So, you have to pay 20-50 Rs. over the meter fare.

However, this particular autowallah who agreed to take me home said 20 Rupees less on the meter. I was baffled, and I thought, perhaps the thirst is really getting to me. Can thirst really make you crazy?
Before I can converted my WTF facial expression to a sentence, he pulled out a glossy pamphlet and said, "Our saree showroom opened up near by, if you spend 10 mins in the showroom I will give you this discount". I insisted that I am thirsty and I really just wanted to get home. He strongly insisted that I take this wonderful opportunity to quench my thirst with some 'tanda at the dukaan' (a cold drink at the showroom). I was tempted, I thought I will humour him and me, and take a look. There were at least 10 other autos in the basement of that building. All bringing in customers with this 10 mins-20 rupees discount.

I cant differentiate the tail from the head of saree shopping. When the store guy asked me what price range of sarees i wanted to look at, I asked him back "what is a high range and what is a low range". Although I should tell you, he was one good salesman. I almost ended up buying a gorgeous Mysore silk saree which was only 700 odd rupees. Which I thought was very very reasonable (I did verify with mom!). I used to adore the Mysore silk sarees that my mom had, they are the most elegant of silk sarees, in the same league as the Kashmiri silks. If it wasn't for the thousandS I already spent, I would've bought it.

As a teenager one thing I heard most from dad was "You can lead a horse to the pond, but cant make it drink".
I can hear the store owner saying "You can lead a horse to the pond, and tempt and tease it real hard".