Final score. 21 March 2009.

The season is slowly coming to a nervous finish. Who will win? Who takes the honours? Are there any underdogs? Or will the expected walk away with the trophies? For the next couple of months, tempers will rise to unfathomed altitudes. A few of us at Happy will be generally restless. And it’s not the One Show, D&AD or Cannes results. It’s football.

For the handful of English Premier League (EPL) football supporters at Happy, the coming months will cause a few heartbreaks. Because only one team can win. Could be Jayan’s Manchester United. Could be Sharat’s Liverpool. Or even Vimal’s Arsenal. To the uninitiated, these three superpowers of club football are well and truly alive in the remaining big-ticket events of the season – the Premier League and the Champions League. And with the exception of Liverpool, the other two teams also have the FA Cup at stake. Quite a mouthwatering proposition (to the die-hard football fan, of course).

And while the action happens in Europe – some hundred thousand miles away from Domlur – the fanatics of football at Happy have already started the show of support. Jayan sports his Man United t-shirt every now and then. Vimal is busy reading up news and stories about the league; in another room, Bhavna screams for her Vada-pav that never came. Rajesh made a late entry and pledged his support for Chelsea. Sharat’s got Steven Gerrard on his desktop. So Jayan responded with a Wayne Rooney on his monitor. The duel goes on.

Come May, the long wait to the crown will be over. Who will be the undisputed champion? If it’s Arsenal, Vimal will do the dappankoothu. If it’s Liverpool, Sharat will throw a party again and the neighbours better call up the Kops. If it’s Manchester United, boy. This writer cannot predict what all Jayan might end up doing. His screams could well be heard at Old Trafford. Come May, Happy will bear a resemblance to Wembley.

Who will blow the final whistle?

Sharat's desktop

Jayan's desktop

Read Full Post »

Das Food Festival ’09

Monday night:

As Praveen Das sat at his desk, counting cows jumping over the fence, the rest of us at Happy were planning a feast to commemorate the birthday of a man who loves his food (non veg) as much as Paris Hilton loves sex tapes. It was only the most obvious thing that occurred to all of us alike – a non-veg food festival. The Happy team decided to dish out one non-veg item each. Rajesh worked on the logo and menu card for the food festival. Sharat set out hunting for quails flying around Bangalore. Pradeep tried to stop a couple of rabbits from mating. Rishi made chef hats for all of us. And Kartik arranged for the bottle of Champagne.

Tuesday morning:

Praveen walked in through the gates of Happy and there stood tall a 4 X 4 flex banner shouting out ‘Das Food Fest 09’. And seconds later, entered a very surprised and grinning Praveen, where all of us stood with our chef hats on waiting to welcome him with his favourite drink – guava juice.

Work resumed as usual after that. Only to stop for the sumptuous lunch buffet that would put any 5 star hotel to shame. Praveen couldn’t take his eyes off the spread. He popped the cork off the bottle of champagne, got the customary cheers out of the way, gulped down a bottle of gelucil for his ulcers and attacked the food.

The Animals, birds and other creatures sacrificed for Das’ birthday:

Chicken – that got pinched and grabbed like the girls commuting via public transport

Pearl spot fish (pronounced ka-ri-me~en in Malayalam) – this one was made to burn and die

Prawns – caught from Ulsoor lake

Cow – Gauri from Sivaji Nagar

Squid – Bought by a philippino from a Malayalee restaurant

Pig – cleaned up my Michael Stanley a.k.a Vimal

Lamb – this one died young at the hands of the mighty Ram

Goat – we spared the body and went for the brains

Quail – shot down by a mallu near Thippasandra

Beef – Rajesh went shopping around Brigade Road

After an hour of moans and burps came the rasmalai brought specially for the birthday boy by the Mrs.

It doesn’t end there. After wrapping up urgent artworks for the day, two cakes were brought out: a creamy pineapple cake and a cheap third grade chocolate cake – one for the birthday boy and the other for his face.

After a round of who-put-cake-on-whom, showers, and change of clothes, the team headed to The Beach for a round of drinks to wash down all the meat we consumed. Needless to say, it was a Happy ending.

Read Full Post »

One small Song. One small Video.

The world has become a difficult place to live. Joy, peace and freedom is at the risk of being overshadowed by fear and insanity. It’s not just the terror attacks that threaten our world today. Everywhere you go, you see corrupt minds, indifferent attitudes, naïve rules. Somebody has to change the world. A little act of kindness. An honest attempt to care. One small love.

When Thermal & A Quarter (TAAQ) came up with the song, we knew it wasn’t just a song; it was a strong message. We insisted that we do a music video for the song, something that captures the very emotion behind the words. Going by the pain and suffering the world is being subjected to, we thought it was just about time to put the smile back on everyone’s face. A gentle reminder that if we make an effort, we can make the world a better place to live. One small step.

TAAQ was off to Jakarta for a show, so we had to get the first cut for approval before they left. So we had a few hours to crack a concept, one day to shoot the video, another day to edit, limited resources and a non-existent budget. The Happy team of Rajesh, Praveen, Kartik and Jayan decided to pull it off, come what may. Ashwin Naidu of Avakkai Films was given the SOS alert. He came with his camera and crew in no time. The video was shot the following day, across Bangalore. The Offline was done at Format Studios, Bangalore and Online at Seven Crest, Chennai. In between all this, TAAQ appeared on a talk show on NDTV where they hummed a few lines from the song (The show was hosted by Barkha Dutt, and was in connection with the Mangalore incident). TAAQ set off to Jakarta after seeing the first cut. After 10 years of penning down some brilliant songs, here they were – running out of words to express their joy. Their way of approval was a big, happy smile.

For Happy, it was the first music video produced in-house. The excitement was palpable. The whole team celebrated with the customary Old Monk (One small gulp is all it takes in a tired world). And three cheers to the TAAQ team of Rajiv, Rzhude and Bruce for producing an inspiring song in times like these. Way to go, guys.

At the time of writing this, some 200 people have been mailed/ scrapped/ messaged with a teaser – the words from the line and a cute snap of the yellow smiley ball. The video will be promoted through Facebook and Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgeXAfSK1z4. Not to mention Thermal’s website. http://www.thermalandaquarter.com

Read Full Post »