And thou shall not lie under the influence of alcohol

Not a blog post about the merits of alcohol. I don't drink much, partly because its not readily available in Dhaka, secondly even if it is, I cannot or don't feel like affording it. The thought of getting on a high with such an exorbitant cost never lets me get on a high in the first place. However, all free things in this city come with much excitement and curiousity from ordinary people like me, alcohol is also no exception. Atleast it proved again that its lets you let loose, it brings down your inhibition, either you are at your 'devilest' best, or at your 'pervertest' best, or at your funniest best. Whatever state of mind you experience fuelled by alcohol, the journalist friend of mine spoke his heart out and expressed his true self that evening when we met for the alumni dinner at the posh Gulshan hotel.

For quite some time, I had been chasing this acquaintance of mine, who happens to be a well-connected journalist, to give us some coverage. Us means, this blog...I had been trying to convince him during our previous encounters about the uniqueness of this blog, how it established an alternative platform for consumer-led business journalism, how it gives us a voice to speak about Bangladeshi companies, why and how the google ranking of the blog is high, what are its objectives and future plans blah blah blahs. He always seemed very scatter-brained whenever I used to engross myself passionately about how he or his team could come up with a tiny feature on this blog. I also tried to convince him by assuming that the media is always on the look out for new content to publish, something that might draw the readers attention and interest, so why not give this blog a try? However, all my advocacy and promotion for a little bit of mention finally landed on deaf ears as he ended up with airy assurances and 'bepar ta dektesi' type gestures. I didn't lose heart, somebody gave me a tip once that one should chase journos as they chase you otherwise. However my chase kind of met a premature stop during that alcohol-powered gala dinner evening, when I was hopping from this circle to that circle, with a 'forbidden drink' wrapped with Bashundhara tissue in hand. I could spot my journo friend who seemed to have given in to temptation too early too soon. one peg, two pegs, three pegs and bingo....he was nearly flying...from this crowd to that, from this conversation to that, from this mix to that. I thought a happy moment for him such as this, could be the right occasion to play my persistent record..the 'ek dofa dabi'...I approached him and after a casual introductory chit chat, I again repeated my plea. He slowed down, looked at me with his sparkling eyes and in a lower tone asked me, "Ok ok, I will look into it, how much will you pay?". I experienced some momentarily lapse of quick reflex, as I never took any bribe myself in life, and never tried to bribe anyone, did think of doing it a few times though, it never realized. I recomposed myself and responded like a pro, "Arey that is what I have been waiting to hear from you Bhai!, so YOU tell me what suits you well!". He gave a professional sip at the Smirnoff and told me, "10,000", he will make sure its in the press. This time round, I gave him a 'bepar ta dektesi' gesture and proposed him yet another drink. He extended his ear to ear grin and nodded.

I was wondering what stopped him all this while to just say it in the first place that 'its all about money honey', 'paise fek, tamasha dekh'. Perhaps I was bekub enough not to have received his crafted hints during non-alcoholic times, perhaps I was too naive to realize that this is the way things are done in media here, or everywhere in the world. But good that I realized and learnt, thanks to the 'pagla pani', my journo friend could not hold back his true intentions any further, it came out laughing and rolling through his drowsy eyes and clumsy gestures. He laughed like the happiest person on earth and told me like a sage with utmost composure shortly afterwards that you pay me, you are in tomorrow's dailies, arrange a few foreign trips, you will be regularly in dailies and on air, arrange some free 'refreshments', I will make sure your entrepreneurial efforts, or whatever kind of thing you are into is brought into limelight. I smiled back and nodded, and pretended to be drawn to other acquaintances...slowly getting out of his sight, hoping and believing sincerely that he must have been an exception, taken over by alcohol...and failing the lie test. Hope there are not those who can outplay the intoxicant and keep playing the games they play with the most pwoerful tool of our times--the media.

"Citi Never Sleeps"

"Citi never sleeps" Famous last words?

I had to write this because it is of great concern to the banking world. The bank I work for in New York was under discussions to be acquired by Citibank at some point. How Citigroup evolves or attacks the mess they are in is going to have great consequences. How the Feds respond to Citibank is of greater importance.

Citibank as you may know is on the brink of collapse after 4 years of having the philosophy that they are "too big to fail". Robert Rubin, a man of significant importance to the strategy Citigroup had taken for its demise, is also an advisor on the Obama team. Right now the Feds are negotiating terms of stabilizing the stock price after outcries from investors that CEO Pandit is not doing enough. Pandit contends that all the 'numbers' are right and there is nothing to fear, but those numbers had been right for the last 4 years as well. In short, no one believes him or shareholder Prince Talal who has publicly stated that Citigroup is 'drastically' undervalued. So undervalued that the Prince Talal increased his stake to 5% but not beyond.

Citigroup just decided to lay off 52,000 employees worldwide. Most of the cuts were from New York and London. And I am sure that my job would be at great risk if my employer was timely acquired. But amongst the Asian layoffs 300 are from Singapore and 1000 are from India. If such drastic cuts are being made regionally and the organization has planned to cut 20% of its costs, I have doubts about the existence of Citigroup Bangladesh.

Citibank Bangladesh might be cut out at a time when HSBC and Standard Chartered are aggressively expanding into this market termed by Goldman Sachs JP Morgan as one of the 'Frontier Five' (countries with high long term projected growth). It is a country which Citibank Bangladesh CEO, Mamun Rashid, termed as the "last frontier of banking". Ironically he may not be a part of this frontier for very long. Mamun Rashid's comments has made HSBC and Standard Chartered more aggressive. But while Citi burns have local banks rallied strongly in the stock market. Being in a frontier has helped everyone but Citi.

It has come to my attention that Citibank Bangladesh has hosted a "micro-credit" award ceremony amongst a media frenzy. Yunus wasn't there because Citibank didn't want to deal with a 'higher than thou' attitude. From sources at that event, Citibank NA staff were visibly depressed at a hyped media event. But what does a bank that is associated with all the Fortune 500 companies have in common with micro-credit? Nothing. This summarizes Citigroup for the last four years of existence. Nothing made cohesive sense. Bigger risks doesn't always mean bigger profits. How else does a $300 billion juggernaut become a $20 billion bargain bin company?

Lets not bite the dust

Of the many things we have been trying to promote through this blog's platform, business journalism and contemporary business literature on Bangladeshi companies are one of them. We have blogged about the nascent business journalism industry in Bangladesh, hoping to see more vibrant activities and popularity of those initiatives. Bangladesh Brand Forum is perhaps one of them about which we have been very positive and hopeful. The magazine seemed to have taken off with much fanfare, media coverage and gaudy display of think-tanks and movers and shakers during various summits and conferences. The content of the magazine, the approach, the objectives, all seem to have been heading for the right direction until this September perhaps, when my repeated visits to the neighborhood newsstand started turning out to be unworthy, as the magazine has disappeared from those newsstands and according to my hawker, from the market too. He claimed that the magazine did not hit the stands since September. Now this is not good news and I sincerely hope this is temporary. I wonder what is holding back the magazine which seemed so full of potential, it had great names and perhaps great minds in its board, great contacts, great adverts and above all, great content. We are convinced that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs are bound to be hit by dust and rust, that is a natural phenomenon, but biting the dust in an entrepreneurial venture never tastes sweet. We hope Bangladesh Brand Forum does not have to bite the bitter dust and continues emboldening the brand Bangladesh.

Grameenphone's First Success in a long time

BTRC fines you
your customers desert you,
RAB robs you,
commercial banks blacklist you,
a chor now means you

Yunus jhamtis you,
CEO quits on you,
VOiP confesses on you,
Newspapers start pointing at you,
your print ads clearly aren't helping you,

$300 million ignores you,
$200 million is oblivious to you,
$150 million overlooks you,
private placement laughs at you,

SEC axes you,
IPO fails you,
Citibank doesn't know what's wrong with you,
Citi is sleeping because of you,

Mamun Rashid's worst failure is you,
SIM tax only calls you,
high rates only apply to you,
world recession ONLY hits you,
... isn't it time you stop being you?

Yet another Grameenphone article, but you knew this from my poetry skills. But now things are very puzzling. The Tk 425 crore bond issue went through without any drama. I was certainly expecting some. First there are 10 investors. One, AK Khan, who sold his stake at AKtel phone to the Japanese NTT DoMoCo decided to invest a part of his USD $400 million bonanza into a competitor he learned to hate but, as it is evident now, also secretly admires. AK Khan is said to have invested Tk 150 crore into Grameenphone. He told Financial Express that it was because banks couldn't offer the 14% interest the GP bond was offering. AK Khan is the only man in Bangladesh with such a liquid and fortuitous position.

Let me remind you that GP couldn't raise $300 million and AK Khan managed to raise more without the help of Mamun Rashid's Citibank. AK Khan will be the man to keep track of this year. I think in our upcoming award show, he would be the Man of the Year. Now back to Grameenphone. The bond issue does have some interesting aspects. Let's start with the positive ones first.

• Inflation is going to rise further. 14% lock in means Grameenphone is thinking early and setting a debt cap on some of its loans
• Market is already in a cash (more like hysteria) crunch. A 14% bond now may be a smart move now if the situation becomes worse
• Banks are becoming increasingly suspicious of the market and GP. Citibank NA sinking means even a local bank thinks twice before investing. Most are overly cautious these days about their investments. Even in New York, LC's and international trades are looked into very deeply in case the corresponding bank collapses. GP may have managed to avoid this paranoia.
  

And now the negatives

• A company of GP's size and status should be able to lock in a loan at 12% instead of a 14% bond. There is no need to issue bonds. It only makes the IPO more risky.
  
• A bond issue is highly suspicious. The Daily Star pointed out in 'quotes' that this bond is 'unsecured and unconvertible'. Meaning like bonds of many large and well-known companies they become junk because the companies won't honor the payments. A bank has some guarantee of a GP asset when it issues it a loan, but in this case AK Khan and banks can claim nothing.
• Fixed Deposit Rates may as well reach 14% with the inflation. Why do they need GP for anyway?
• GP has a new CEO, and like Anders Jensen, may claim he too had no knowledge about a bond being issued or where the excess cash came from. Thereby they are excused of the liabilities and will have an internal inquiry as to who is responsible for these nefarious activities.
  

At this point, I am not sure which way it is leaning. But then again I would like to give GP the benefit of the doubt. But from what has happened last year its better to sit on the fence.

As a side note, what was predicted here, is now getting national coverage. Commodity trade isn't what it used to be

Lost jobs, lost in words, lost in pain

In a country like ours where (1) getting a job is like getting the moon, (2) getting a good job is like getting the sun, the moon and (3) getting a well paid good job is like getting the universe in hand....the topic of losing a job, or being fired can be the least welcome, unwanted and untimely. Nevertheless, the global financial crisis have already started appearing as a Tsunami and lashing at people's livelihoods in the west, hundreds and thousands are being shown the exit with a pink slip in hand under the banner of very interesting terms and jargons used by their ex-employers. 'Streamlining', 'right-sizing', 'special force philosophy', 'business re-engineering', 'cost improvement plans' etc. are only to name a few terms used to disguise the unpleasant act of job termination.

I am not sure how the trend is out here, has there been any social research on this area of Bangladesh? Perhaps its too early, as usually since jobs are scarce here, we don't usually switch jobs as they are found after much struggle...so we prefer to become 'joke' employees, this 'joke' is not that 'joke', this is the Bangla 'joke', once glued, always glued. Also, those who are fortunate enough to be able to dictate terms with employers and do job-hopping from one company to another don't have to bother about the pangs and pains of being fired, of hearing the L-word (layoff) from the devil boss. Baki thaklo those unfortunate ones who are put under the axe wrapped around nice shiny jargons to spell sweet to the ears of the media. How does it happen? in Bangla...how do you say that you are being fired? apnake agun deya holo? apnake jaliya deya holo? What about 'right-sizing'? apnake shothik bhabe size kora holo? I wonder. Or may be all these are done in writing in English, sometimes English has an interesting quality to express harsh terms very vaguely.

Whatever the terms are, I hope we don't fall on the receiving end, God help us prosper fast so that we sit on the other side of the table and start hiring and firing 'others' at our and ofcourse Your will, under the umbrella of interesting and creative Bangla, English, Banglish words. apnake rasta dekhano holo, apnake dourer upor rakha holo, apnake baate falano holo. apnake dhora khawano holo etc.

Image courtesy:

http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/original/layoffs.jpg

http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0206/features/images/feature_consult1.jpg

Empowering the Consumer

Consumer protection law has been promulgated recently. While this is a welcome step I would say promulgation of a law without a well thought out process will continue to be a reactive piece of legislation and will fall far short of the objectives that a consumer would want to see it achieve.

Laws in our part of the world, even if not deficient in their own intent and wording, are at the mercy of a process which winds through red tape, palm greasing and a stately reluctance on the part of those who should be enforcing them. And above all, unless there is a suo moto culture in the judiciary, laws themselves never help by just sitting there. An active and justice-seeking society is equally important to make triumph of justice a reality. While this new law is one good step in the right direction it should be taken as just a beginning of a journey and now more rests on pressure groups and active members of the society to make an otherwise reactive process into a proactive one.

It is necessary that dedicated NGOs having a full time objective of protecting consumers’ rights play an active role. If that is not possible because funding such organizations may be a matter of low priority for donors whose focus is more on primary social issues of the rural, Universities should encourage their students to form societies for consumer protection and they network across the country’s universities to establish a uniform voice on behalf of the society. These individual bodies can form a federation to promote a single voice and the funding can be done by the students’ bodies through a number of means starting from a humble beginning and ending up at an indirect taxation on the consumer, eventually through an act of parliament.

The importance of such a move should be seen in the scope of consumer protection which actually transcends anti-adulteration, anti-hoarding and unjustified price hikes by producers. Ultimately it is the quality of the product or service that should come under constant scrutiny of these bodies (read society). Activities like sample tests of products picked from shelves, consumer polls, chemical lab analyses etc. will be the real service to the society in the realm of consumer protection. Finally through a culture of widespread information sharing a consumer must be made aware all the time which brand of goods is giving a fair value for money.

Empowering the consumer is the only check that can protect the society. A decision of the consumer to boycott a product is far bigger and staggering a punch then a case in the court of law. Society needs to move into that direction. Youth, are you reading?

By Anis Motiwala

Anis Motiwala-Management Consultant

Image courtesy : http://www.wfdsa.org/cepi/ConsumerModule/main.jpg

Introducing Career Coach Quazi

Introducing the Career Coach Quazi who will be featured in this blog every Sunday with answers to your career related questions and queries. 

Email to careercoachquazi@futureleaders-bd.com to ask the coach questions related to your career planning, CV writing, interview techniques, overall grooming and relevent issues.

Career Coach Quazi can assist you in…

1. Identifying your key strengths

2. Discovering your core values

3. Exploring careers that 'fit' your strengths, life purpose, identity and personality type

4. Targeted & traditional job search strategy

5. Forwarding your career branding and communication

6. Effective networking tips

7. Expertise on CV writing

8. Successful interviewing preparation

9. Jumpstarting a new position

10. Work place problems and counselling

Educated and trained in Bangladesh, USA, Japan and Norway, Quazi takes pride in his excellent track record in career counseling, coaching, and training for the past 13 years. Since 1994, he has been presenting career related events all across Bangladesh and in 2004 was awarded with the honor of being an Ashoka Affiliate for his youth development activities. His interest in career coaching began back in 1991 when he did a course on “Career Decision Making Skills” at the Stern school of Business, New York University, USA. Quazi is a regular guest speaker in career talk shows on Bangla Vision, RTV, ATN and on other channels. He is currently the CEO of FutureLeaders--a training and consulting firm seving clients in the private, public and social sectors.

The coach is just an email away to help you shape your career and make the most out of it.  So what are you waiting for?

Enough with Dhaka, move to Chittagong

We ask questions, we seek answers, we remain curious, as we loiter around the streets of Dhaka. Its true that not all answers are found readily, some questions are meant never to be answered perhaps, you are expected to understand which are those questions. For example, one of the questions that keeps me haunting is trying to find out the rationale why the head office of the Coast Guards of Bangladesh is situtated next to my apartment in a residential area? I also try to find out how far is the coast line of Bangladesh from my apartment, my neighborhood and why the head quarters of the saviours of Bangladeshi coastline is choking my small alley? Similarly, everytime I ply through the airport road and the deadly warship and the torpedo intrigue me wondering why even the headquarters of Navy is situated in Banani and not in Chittagong? Well, let me very carefully shy away from blogging about men in uniform and their headquarters, that is not the point, the poing I am trying to drive home is...the reason why on earth and on Bangladesh...Chittagong has been kept at the back seat for so long?

Not only the government offices, I wonder how many of Bangladeshi corporates have their head offices in Chittagong. I am not talking about mere branch offices, I am talking about full fledged, fully functional and possibly flashy headquarter mansions in Chittagong, which merits to be the 'Business Capital' of this country. However, before pointing fingers at others, let me first reflect on my own reasons, why I don't live in Chittagong in the first place, if I love it so much and am advocating it to be officially called the Business Cap of Bangladesh.

1. I live in Dhaka because of historical reasons, since my father owns a house in Dhaka which he got from the government, I grew up there too and thus stay in Dhaka.

2. I am not rich enough yet to buy an apartment in Chittagong and live there

3. The company I work in does not have any function or any activity whatsoever in Chittagong, so I am assigned in Dhaka only

4. I never had any amourous relationship with any woman from chittagong, which never made me think of settling in the port city, or even asking 'would be father-in-laws' for an apartment by the sea side as dowry.

Now I wonder, in a layman's knowedge level, why should Chittagong be the business capital of Bangladesh.

1. It has a port

2. It is close to one of best tourist locations of Bangladesh i.e. Coxs Bazar and the Hill Tracts

3. It has an airport

4. There is still room (literally too) for some modern urban planning to make the city livable, unlike Dhaka which has become unlivable, unmovable, undoable.

5. Many industries are already located in or around Chittagong

6. Chittagong region has a history of great businesspersons and business ventures

So what can be done to encourage more businesses to set up their activities in Chittagong?

1. Offer some sort of tax incentives, lower loan rate for those willing to have their businesses in Chittagong

2. If 'Brand Bangladesh' is targeted more towards external audience i.e. foreign investors, 'Brand Chittagong' campaign should be targeted towards internal audience, and the lead needs to come from those who hail from the great port city

3. Chambers of Industries can take up a role to insist on having headquarters of their member businesses in Chittagong

4. Employees can be offered cash incentives, holiday incentives for accepting to stay in Chittagong on a rotational basis or even permanently. This influx of work force in Chittagong would eventually make way for better services in that region, also creating more demand in domestic/regional tourism surrounding the city.

Well, count these as some really rudimentary thoughts of a curious passer-by like me, who asks questions, sometimes uncomfortable ones for some, but seeks answers...that is for you to give. That is as Karachi is for Pakistan, Mumbai for India, where the political and commercial capitals are kept separate, its high time that we make the Gateway to Bangladesh...that is Chittagong...the Business Capital of Bangladesh. Time to move Motijheel and Gulshan office-para to Halishahar and Agrabad. Perhaps its easier to build from scratch an intelligent 'Vision City' in Chittagong like Putra Jaya in Malaysia than thinking of how to clear the mess and chaos in Dhaka. And the Bangladeshi businesses hold the key to this change in mindset.

Ship Breakers Ask for a Bailout

How international-trendy do we try to be? A lot. How stupid are we? Again quite a lot apparently. Ship breakers have asked the penniless Bangladesh government to 'intervene' in a bubble. This is a tactic taken out of the international rule book of asking for bailouts. In addition, they have sent a written request to Bangladesh Bank for an interest freeze on all their loans and even more fresh subsidized loans. I am trying to imagine the Governor of Bangladesh Bank in his WTF Kodak moment when he reads the request. And believe me he has had more than his share of WTF moments that I fear for his health.

As you may recall, earlier this year, we experienced the sky high prices of many construction materials including steel rods and concrete. This basically put off construction to a standstill and many contractors put off projects in hopes of better times. What did ship breakers do during the era of inflated prices? They went around aggressively buying more ships than they could accommodate. Refused to break down existing inventory in hopes of even more exaggerated prices. If Bangladesh doesn't buy overpriced rods, surely China and US will.

Do you remember oil traders who bought oil at $100 waited for it to reach $140, then $200 but all of a sudden its now worth $64. Do you have any remorse for these people who have caused so much havoc in the last year? Are they asking for a government intervention? Where was this government intervention when prices of rods/oil reached unimaginable prices? What makes speculation worth saving?

Even though local ship breakers have let their imagination run wild, their situation is extremely realistic and critical. Now construction materials are more affordable. This doesn't suit the ship breakers on the speculative and opportunistic empire that they built while dismantling the rational and conservative nature it once had. According to Financial Express, the industry raked up loans near Tk 5500 crore (close to $1 billion) to establish their companies and buy the now-useless junk at the price of gold. But many other newspapers pin the figure at around Tk. 15,000 crore (close to $3 billion) in loans and close to 10,000 crore in danger of going bad. And most of this, was debt financed involving a few select handful of local banks.

Which banks are these? As a reassurance not all banks are involved in this. The ones involved are those that you don't hear about, recognize, see, or even realize that they were banks until they report amazing profits in the neighborhood of Tk 200 crore to Tk 300 crore. And people always wondered how do these banks make money? The answer will now be publicized better. They finance these importers and ship breakers. Because of this opportunistic and speculative sector, these particular banks are going to have one hell of a write-off next year. This is after having yet another year of mind blowing paranormal profits in 2008. But the banks are certain to make it through with flying colors (they haven't asked for any assistance), but the steel breaking industry is in for a rapid change in status quo.

Update: Some of the articles that are published on this site are purposely delayed to give some 'face time' to other articles and to evenly spread them out evenly. This is fine because this is more of an analysis site rather than a news site. But time to time the analysis may come too late or be mistimed. Even though this article pointed some issues out on October 30 (and published November 3/4). The Daily Star is now reporting the same insights on November 5th. Although it is not plagiarism, it is wishful thinking that we may have some big-box media readers.

And thou shall not lie under the state of alcohol

Not a blog post about the merits of alcohol. I don't drink much, partly because its not readily available in Dhaka, secondly even if it is, I cannot or don't feel like affording it. The thought of getting on a high with such an exorbitant cost never lets me get on a high in the first place. However, all free things in this city come with much excitement and curiousity from ordinary people like me, alcohol is also no exception. Atleast it proved again that its lets you let loose, it brings down your inhibition, either you are at your 'devilest' best, or at your 'pervertest' best, or at your funniest best. Whatever state of mind you experience fuelled by alcohol, the journalist friend of mine spoke his heart out and expressed his true self that evening when we met for the alumni dinner at the posh Gulshan hotel. For quite some time, I had been chasing this acquaintance of mine, who happens to be a well-connected journalist, to give us some coverage. Us means, this blog...I had been trying to convince him during our previous encounters about the uniqueness of this blog, how it established an alternative platform for consumer-led business journalism, how it gives us a voice to speak about Bangladeshi companies, why and how the google ranking of the blog is high, what are its objectives and future plans blah blah blahs. He always seemed very scatter-brained whenever I used to engross myself passionately about how he or his team could come up with a tiny feature on this blog. I also tried to convince him by assuming that the media is always on the look out for new content to publish, something that might draw the readers attention and interest, so why not give this blog a try? However, all my advocacy and promotion for a little bit of mention finally landed on deaf ears as he ended up with airy assurances and 'bepar ta dektesi' type gestures. I didn't lose heart, somebody gave me a tip once that one should chase journos as they chase you otherwise.

However my chase kind of met a premature stop during that alcohol-powered gala dinner evening, when I was hopping from this circle to that circle, with a 'forbidden drink' wrapped with Bashundhara tissue in hand. I could spot my journo friend who seemed to have given in to temptation too early too soon. one peg, two pegs, three pegs and bingo....he was nearly flying...from this crowd to that, from this conversation to that, from this mix to that. I thought a happy moment for him such as this, could be the right occasion to play my persistent record..the 'ek dofa dabi'...I approached him and after a casual introductory chit chat, I again repeated my plea. He slowed down, looked at me with his sparkling eyes and in a lower tone asked me, "Ok ok, I will look into it, how much will you pay?". I experienced some momentarily lapse of quick reflex, as I never took any bribe myself in life, and never tried to bribe anyone, did think of doing it a few times though, it never realized. I recomposed myself and responded like a pro, "Arey that is what I have been waiting to hear from you Bhai!, so YOU tell me what suits you well!". He gave a professional sip at the Smirnoff and told me, "10,000", he will make sure its in the press. This time round, I gave him a 'bepar ta dektesi' gesture and proposed him yet another drink. He extended his ear to ear grin and nodded.

I was wondering what stopped him all this while to just say it in the first place that 'its all about money honey', 'paise fek, tamasha dekh'. Perhaps I was bekub enough not to have received his crafted hints during non-alcoholic times, perhaps I was too naive to realize that this is the way things are done in media here, or everywhere in the world. But good that I realized and learnt, thanks to the 'pagla pani', my journo friend could not hold back his true intentions any further, it came out laughing and rolling through his drowsy eyes and clumsy gestures. He laughed like the happiest person on earth and told me like a sage with utmost composure shortly afterwards that you pay me, you are in tomorrow's dailies, arrange a few foreign trips, you will be regularly in dailies and on air, arrange some free 'refreshments', I will make sure your entrepreneurial efforts, or whatever kind of thing you are into is brought into limelight. I smiled back and nodded, and pretended to be drawn to other acquaintances...slowly getting out of his sight, hoping and believing sincerely that he must have been an exception, taken over by alcohol...and failing the lie test. Hope there are not those who can outplay the intoxicant and keep playing the games they play with the most pwoerful tool of our times--the media.

Image courtesy:

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/EPH/9077~I-Get-Totally-Drunk-Posters.jpg