Fixing the Perfect Match!

The Indian Premier League is long over, but the cricket fever still remains. It is a little like eating chocolate and still lingering on to the aftertaste. I have heard many people say that cricket is like a religion (with its own God ;-) ). But I beg to differ.

I feel that cricket is much more than a religion. Most religions have Godmen who prescribe. But cricket does not have to resort to any tactics to garner followers. One gets addicted from the very first game! Cricket is more like a cigarette or drug addiction. (I do not smoke or do drugs, but I know a lot of people who do.) The more you indulge in it, the more addicted you are. And this addiction does have its side effects - you forget to do your homework, to take your dog out for a walk in the evening, to buy groceries on Saturdays or to be on time for your oh-so-very-important meeting at work.

Cricket has become so overpowering that most people have started missing their kids' PTA meetings, skipped their cousin's wedding, sacrificed a long, romantic dinner on one's own anniversary or missed their daily workout.

Fortunately, we can now stay connected to the game while doing all the other thing that we love to do or are required to do. All thanks to UC Browser, This new mobile browser in the market claims to be faster than your usual options. And what's more! You can get live cricket updates and pictures and videos on a specially dedicated cricket service - the UC Cricket. This feature gives you the live scores with auto update, fixture and result reports and the latest news and videos.

Now that you can carry cricket in your pocket, make sure you carry your own self to all those wonderful events which you have been missing! Your child will actually study harder if she/he knows that you take keen interest in school and related activities. With UC Browser set to take care of everything, you can now go on that date which you had been missing for the match. Who knows, your date might actually want to watch the cricket match that you never wanted to sacrifice for any occasion. 

With so much time at hand, I would certainly go travelling to offbeat places with my smartphone or tablet in tow. The moment I get in the train, I would switch on UC Browser and start the cricket service. Now, for every workout session, I will watch the UC Cricket videos as I run on my treadmill. This will be so much better than being a couch potato and neither eating well nor doing any exercise. So, the next time you decide to choose one over the other, choose both! You will have both cricket updates and social media status updates from your new location where your are trying a cool activity with all the people you have been too busy to meet.

A Fair & Lovely Day

Last weekend, I was invited to an exclusive bloggers' meet at the Novotel Hotel in Juhu. We were intrigued by the secrecy that surrounded this event sponsored by Fair & Lovely. We were ten pretty bloggers, mostly beauty and fashion bloggers.

When we entered the banquet hall, we were greeted by our beautiful host, Freishia, a VJ and video blogger. She broke the ice by pairing us and getting us to introduce our partners. We had to find out three interesting things about our teammates, one of them related to beauty.

Glasses of sangrias were brought to our tables to get us to loosen up. We played a round of "passing the tiara", a refreshing version of "passing the parcel". Freishia read out verses describing certain characteristics, and the lady who was best described by those lines would get the tiara. At the end of the round, the lady who wore the tiara would get to keep it and also win a Shoppers' Stop voucher.

We played another game in which a set of cosmetic items and accessories were kept in a basket which was shown to us for ten seconds, after which we had to recall from memory as many things as we could.

While we played more fun games in the hall, each of us was pulled out one after another for the Fair & Lovely BB Cream experience and interaction session. I was whisked away to a suite on another floor and seated on a couch facing the Marketing Managers of the latest BB cream in town. They introduced  me to their latest offering, and I was pleased to know that the focus of this cosmetic item was not on skin-lightening. I personally love the colour of my skin and rarely wear any sort of makeup.

The BB cream is a combination of sunscreen lotion, concealer and foundation. Fair & Lovely's blemish balm or beauty benefit cream has a smooth consistency and is very light on the skin. After the makeup artist applied it on my face, I could see visible difference in the coverage. My face looked more even and bright. The cream also has a nice sweet fragrance to it. After my interview on my beauty habits and how I feel about this product, I was taken to the prop room and asked to dress up for any occasion of my choice. I dressed for a brunch with my friends and picked up a dark jacket, large glares, a statement neckpiece and a metallic clutch. I was being filmed throughout the interaction session. Finally, I was given a "look challenge". At the end of this post, you will read about how to dress for an office party or offsite. Watch out for that!

I re entered the banquet hall to a word search game. We were split into groups of four and we had to find certain beauty related words from the alphabet-maze. We did not win that round, but the food at Novotel sure won us over!

We had a breakfast of brown and white sandwiches and chamomile tea. Lunch was an elaborate spread of mushroom soup, an array of Thai and Italian starters, rice, pasta and a vegetable dish for mains and delectable pastries, ice cream and carrot halwa for dessert. In the evening we broke for some coffee with assorted cookies and spring rolls.

The next game was called "What's in your purse?"  We were given a checklist of unusual and obvious things and we had to calculate the total points as per the number of the listed items we had. We almost thought we would lose again when our lucky teammate brought out her pack of forty safety pins and made us the clear winner. Our loot was a box of chocolates wrapped in a glittery pink butterfly-topped package.

We played an improvised version of name-place-animal-thing post that. The categories were shoes-makeup-bags-perfume, and we had to write down brand names in the columns. This one almost got us into some catfights! ;-)

For the next round, we had to nominate one person from each team to go to the stage and deliver an extempore speech for a minute on topics selected by Freishia. I spoke on preparing one's skin for the summer, and eventually won the prize! I took home a mini French manicure kit.

After that, we played a couple of memory games. In the first one, we had to remember fashion and beauty items which we hypothetically bought from the market and repeat each of those in alphabetical order. We had a tie eventually. The next game was to create and finish a story by repeating the previous lines and appending a new one.

The final round was perhaps the most happening one! We were given songs and were made to choreograph a piece and dance as a team. My team danced on "Bang Bang" from the eponymous  Bollywood movie.

The launch of the Fair & Lovely BB Cream concluded with each of us being crowned a tiara for a special characteristic we have. I was crowned the "Most Talented". :-)

I had a wonderful day with other lovely bloggers and made some new friends as well! The spoils I took home in the paperbag were several pictures which we clicked at the photobooth, a manicure kit, a box of chocolates, a tiara, a jewellery box with a pearly white string necklace, a pendrive and of course, a pack of the BB cream!

We have finally arrived at the end of this post, which means you will see my response to the "look challenge".

I chose the theme of office offsite and dressed accordingly. In this hot and humid weather, a light, cotton sundress was my best bet. I picked a pink floral pattern in a white base to reflect maximum light and keep me cool. I picked up a pair of breezy gladiator-sandals in orange, brown and yellow to match the bright and chirpy mood of my attire. I wore a brown leather strapped wrist watch to go with the brown strap on the shoes. I donned a pink stone necklace to match my dress and added a white shell bracelet to the look. I carried a multicoloured striped sling bag with a long knitted orange shoulder strap and leather trimmings at the lock. I also used the Fair & Lovely BB cream on my face to protect me from the harsh sun. I left my hair open with only a clip to secure the smaller strands.

Overall, I focused on balancing all the colours and elements of my outfit. The look is professional enough for work and casual enough for a day out. This is why it is perfect for an office offsite. Do you think I passed my look challenge?

The Best #CrashThePepsiIPL Ads

I have already blogged twice about how creative and wonderful the ads made by many Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pepsi fans are. And today, those ads have been shortlisted and we, the common people or the junta of India have to decide which ads win the CrashThePepsiIPL contest. These ads have been running for a few months now. And today is the last day to vote for your favourite ad. Have you caste your vote yet? Have you picked out your favourite videos yet?

Well, I have! And I shall present to you two videos which I think have the potential to win this grand contest! The first one is :-

1. Dinner Time Magic

The protagonist in this video seems to have the magic power of conjuring up anything from thin air! First, he changes this room furnishings from some drab old things to shiny new upholstered cushions and floor seats. He snaps his fingers like a wizard and his stinky old clothes change into fresh, nice looking ones. With another snap of this fingers, he fills his duvet cum table with platefuls of mouthwatering food. Another snap, and he has friends for company. Then he realizes that he only wants the hot girl with him. He snaps his fingers again and all but the girl disappear. The main guy realizes now that something is missing. And then he has a tubelight moment when he realizes there is no Pepsi! He quickly conjures up a bottle of Pepsi. This is when the girl holds on to the bottle and starts drinking. The guy doesn't like to share his Pepsi. So, he snaps his fingers and makes the girl disappear. In the end, the boy is alone with himself and his Pepsi! :-)

I loved the acting and the concept here. The entire video was well executed and edited.

2. The Pepsi Rap

This is another great video with a twist! In this ad, there's a guy who goes to a shop to get some Pepsi. He is actually sent by his parents as they have unsolicited guests over the house an nobody knows when they will leave (or if they will leave at all :-P ). While going through the Pepsi options, the guy is confused whether to buy a plastic bottle or glass bottle or can. He finally decides to live in the moment and drinks up his own Pepsi!

The winning factor in this video is the rap. This is quite refreshing and something I did not see in most other videos. To add to that, the rap is actually quite good! I certainly wish luck to the creators of these two videos. Hope to see them win!

I’m voting for the best ads in the #CrashThePepsiIPL activity in association with BlogAdda from 8th May to 14th May. Are you?

They've Got the Power!

Now that the IPL season is almost drawing to an end, it is time to vote for the amazing and talented creators of videos for Crash The Pepsi IPL contest. If you have not already been watching several Pepsi IPL video ads created by IPL viewers (and Pepsi fans), you should definitely start now! Today is the last day we all have to select the best video and vote for it. I have picked out two which I like:-

1. The Office Excuse Master

I particularly loved the concept and the high quality acting! Also, because the setting is a formal office interior, I could relate to the scene very well. The office goer in this story needs a good excuse to leave early from work so he can catch the cricket match at home. He fakes a tragedy over the phone and leaves swiftly without talking to anybody. After a few days, he has the same dilemma again. He uses  a similar pretext and escapes office. This is how he becomes the "escape king" at his workplace.

2. Emotional Taxi Ride

I picked this ad because it was the only serious ad that I liked. Most if the entries are humourous and with the same background score. In this story, a young boy rides in a taxi in the heat of summer. The taxi gets stuck in traffic and the old driver is frustrated. The young boy lovingly offers him some Pepsi which the driver graciously accepts and drinks. When he drops the boy, he refuses to charge the boy for the ride as he was the only one who cared about his thirst. The driver only wants another sip of Pepsi. To that, the boy is enraged and declines the offer. However, he does that only in jest. He quickly giggles and gives the driver another bottle of Pepsi.

The video is bittersweet and melodramatic. The scene captures Mumbai - the heat, the dust and the pollution. To add to that, the traffic situation here is pathetic - we are almost always stuck in traffic jams. This gives rise to a lot of frustration and anger. I thought one thing was a little inconsistent about how the taxi driver is actually nice and polite. Most of the real drivers flatly refuse to ply and are quite rude. Anyhow, the video was well shot. I wish both the videos luck in this final voting round! Make sure you cast your vote! A lot of hard work has gone into all of this.

I’m voting for the best ads in the #CrashThePepsiIPL activity in association with BlogAdda from 8th May to 14th May. Are you?

#EkNayiLeague Ki Shuruaat!

Most of you must be busy watching the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season. My father sure is a big fan of cricket, and everyone in the house ends up watching most of the evening matches because no other television channel is allowed to be on. Some of you are slightly luckier (or should I say bigger cricket fans?) for you watch your matches live from the stadiums.

A lot has been written and spoken about the IPL, the good, the bad, and the ugly included. But the fact remains that everybody enjoys it. Those who watch draw copious amounts of happiness, those who play draw outrageous salaries, and those to run the show, draw even more. ;-) Despite the scams, the league still remains the most successful sports league in India. We have seen many other leagues in different sports lately - the Kabaddi League, the Badminton League, and we have always had our own little football leagues, especially in the East. In this crowded world of sports leagues, I did not expect another to set foot. But we have #EkNayiLeague coming soon!

Kapil Dev has been talking non-stop about Ek Nayi League. He says that one cannot win this game with one's heart. That would be a surefire way of getting knocked out! I am guessing this means we will have to make use of our brains, and closely analyze a lot of things. For a moment there, I almost thought he was launching an online betting platform specifically for India. But then I remembered how betting is not quite legal in our country.

This is when it struck me that Ek Nayi League could be a massively multiplayer online game, of the likes of the Fifa series. If my guess is true, then most sports fans would be overjoyed. I know a lot of people who love to watch matches and then play it on their computer. Most of my EPL (English Premier League) fan friends also play Fifa and other video games either on their computers or dedicated gaming consoles (Playstation, Wii or XBox). They passionately select their players, form their teams, decide on their strategy and play the game.

If Ek Nayi League really is a video game, then I would love to be able to select my stadium from across all Indian stadiums. I would certainly want the players to look lifelike, and also accurately replicate the scene in reality. If a player is banned for a season, I want the game to reflect that. Even the action replay should look real. And the jerseys must change depending on whether we are playing at home or away.

I have my fingers crossed. What do you think Ek Nayi League is? Many of my friends think its a dance show! I wonder why. We really don't have many choreographers judging dance shows anyway.

Funny #CrashThePepsiIPL Ads

So, today's match got cancelled due to rains in Kolkata. :-( But you don't have to be so sad, because I have brought you 5 Pepsi-IPL ads that will tickle your funny bone:-

1. Atithi Devo Bhava

This is probably one of the worst ads, but also really funny! The plump guy is fed up of his neighbour who keeps visiting all the time just to have Pepsi. So, he comes up with an ingenious idea of getting a shot glass so he doesn't have to part with too much of his favourite drink. The victory dance with all his flab jiggling about is perhaps the funniest bit of this ad.

2. Lift the Pepsi

This is a classic lift scene with the mandatory hot girl in short and tight clothes stuck with a dork. So, the smarty pants guy throws the ball inside the lift so he can get in with her on the pretext of collecting his ball. But the tables turn when the girl intimidates the guy and smoothly takes away his can of Pepsi and drinks it all up!

3. Blindfold for Pepsi

This is actually one of the best shot videos. It almost looks like a real ad. Even the background music is quite soothing. All the three actors are good looking. The story makes good use of the game of blindfold. It doesn't have anything to do with cricket or IPL, but the concept is nice. The two guys decide to blindfold the girl and drink the Pepsi out of her handbag.

4. Boom Boy gets Angry!

This one is hilarious! The supposed actor just cannot remember his dialogues even after several retakes. This is when the director collapses with exhaustion and the boom boy blows hot and cold with anger. The angry man grabs the bottle of Pepsi off the actor's grasp, drinks it up and says the dialogues with perfection. He also berates the dumb actor for being useless.

5. Blind Date with Pepsi!

A good play over a blind date! A young guy is late for his first blind date. He gets into a lift with a man perhaps in his forties, and speaks to his date over the phone. When he asks her how he will recognise her, she says she's got a Pepsi on her table. The older man hears this and forms an evil plan in his head. The young guy tells her that he's wearing a black shirt. The scene rolls over to the date table. And you can see the old man in the young guy's shirt drinking up the girl's Pepsi! :-D

Check out the #CrashThePepsiIPL videos & participate in the activity at BlogAdda.

My Favourite #CrashThePepsiIPL Ads

The IPL season is on again! While I'm not really into cricket, I happened to watch a few ads on YouTube. So, here's my list of ads that I thought were the most creative:-

1. The Jungle Match

This ad is particularly creative because of the unique jungle backdrop. I love forests and all things natural. The scene has been shot really well. Even the acting is good. The idea of getting tribals in the game of cricket is quite cool. The concept is quite Rajnikantesque. The ball that is hit by the old man goes all the way above the clouds in the sky and brings down a bottle of Pepsi.

2. The Pepsi Chase

This video is quite well shot. I assume it took many retakes. The first two guys are seen jumping over walls and running all across the college campus to taste the Pepsi in the bottle. It drives home the message that 'when two people fight, the third fellow takes the prize'. Great acting by all the male actors!

3. Restart After a Setback

I really liked how this ad told an entire story in 30 seconds. No job-loss or breakup is big enough to engulf you. Have faith in yourself and keep trying. There will always be a better job, a better life-partner, a better tomorrow. I like this story of hope. Finding out your boyfriend or girlfriend is cruel can really suck. Sometimes you are dumped and then some other times, you need to break up because you can't stand that jerk. But once the worst is over, you must get up and keep going. The same goes for jobs. Sometimes, you are sacked, and if you are lucky, you have the opportunity to quit. But the thrill of finding something new is irreplaceable.

4. Burp Your Way Through!

This ad is quite an interesting and funny one. A bunch of guys need access to the TV that the girl gang is hogging. So, they drink up all the Pepsi and go burping around them. The girls get irritated and leave the turf. Victory!!! This one is definitely low budget. Looks like it was shot by a bunch of friends who hung out at one of their flats.

5. Save Our Soul, Pepsi!

Another jungle ad. But in this one, the bottle of Pepsi is actually the saviour. An interesting tip to save oneself from attacking tribes! The costumes are made entirely of leaves, and adds to the humour element. The tribal guys acted really well. The victim was not too bad either. So folks, remember to carry a bottle of Pepsi when you go trekking on your own! ;-)

Check out the #CrashThePepsiIPL videos & participate in the activity at BlogAdda.