Before the Expo began...

We, or should I say I was waiting for the Expo for quite an extended time. Reason, well many to write. Harleys, R8 spyder, friends I’d be meeting after a long time and this spirit to attest my endurance and work 14-15 hours every day for about a week. Well, very little did I know that all my excitement was being laughed at by everyone I shared it with as they had their “been there, done that” grin, which I thought was just another expression looking at this silly girl jumping. Anyways, yeah I was excited.Bought a nice pair of formal shoes. Why, someone (whom if I meet again wouldn’t see the next sunrise) told me to be in the best of my formals for the expo as there would be people from the ‘Industry’. Now what good did the shoes do to me, left me with dozens of shoe-bites! Not just the shoes, the same someone also asked me to wear my formals, remember, look good and always wear a nice smile (wonder why do we listen to our friends when we’ve already done that and faced repentance!).I think I have already done a lot of crying about the whole thing and must have left you with an impression that the 7 days of the expo were nothing but remorse, but they weren’t that bad too.The day started a little early with 4 press conferences to attend, the first of which started at 11 a.m. Reached The Lalit, Barakhamba Road by 10.45 a.m. just to find that the organizers were following the Indian Standard Time and would start the show a little late. (Yeah right, they did that when I reached at a conference in time in the history of me attending conferences!). It was Bosch speaking about how good India as a market for automotive components has been for them. And at this time, when they are facing losses in the global market, the pace with which low cost car manufacturers are multiplying here, no wonder they are earning well enough to keep a nicely packed surprise gift in all of our press kits. :)Meeting a couple of friends I was expecting to meet, no food and rushed to this second conference scheduled for the day. Well no food because I never wanted my tummy to be in trouble as I could see three more conferences coming.The second one was Chevy Beat’s launch and while the whole show happened as per “their” plan, we were supposed to act as if we knew nothing about the car. (Errr.. remember I drove and reviewed the car some days ago on the sands of Jaipur..!! Well yeah, I just drank some Wine on the sands of Jaipur and drove on smooth roads, but the point is, that YES we knew everything about it apart from the pricing before the Beat’s launch). Apart from the 2010 version of “Saara zamaana.. hasino ka deewana…” (and why this popular Amitabh Bachchan number, because the dancers wore dresses with LED piping, something similar to what AB wore in the movie), was the fact that Ankush said almost the same words he said the day we had the beat drive, from the same presentation and Karl gave the same expressions. To Karl, I was so tempted to say, “I know what you did that evening” and why, cough cough, all those at the Beat drive know what I am talking about. JSurprise factor of the day, the pricing of the car. After Cruze, Chevy shakes the market again with an incredible pricing. Rs 3.5- 4.5 lakh and such a cute looking bug, I almost forgot the criticism I made on the car for a minute. :)Short on time, I couldn’t enjoy the festivities everyone else was a part of, beacsue I had to rush to another conference and hopefully the last one for the day. Did I say I had four conferences to attend, well yes, but some burden was taken off my shoulders fearing that I might bring tornado in the city looking at the way I was spinning around that day.The last obligation to meet was this meeting with GKN Driveline discussing their interest in two-wheelers and how good their drive shafts were doing in the country. The gentleman there (I am very bad with names and I think I really am growing old and should stop using dyes) was more than happy to be interviewed and was even ready to frame questions for himself, without looking at my tongue salivating at every sandwich that was raised and kept in a mouth and chewed with utmost pleasure..!!Anyhow, the day ended without any food (yeah right, that someone even told me to keep work first and couldn’t hear my tummy growling), a lot of notes from the conferences, coffee spills on sweater (I know how to hold my coffee mug right, others didn’t..!!) and a soiled formal trouser (yeah, I was more bothered about it as it was my partner in the battlefield for 6 more days).The day ended with sheetsful of planning and division of work, yeah the expo was finally there. Oh by the way, I met the same ‘someone’ (well, let’s call him “Winsey” to save us all of any further confusions as he wouldn’t stop giving me his gyan and I wouldn’t stop using it, even after facing the heat) and told him of what all happened in the course of the day, all thanks to his advice that I accidentally followed. And you don’t really want to know his retort,“Oh, I thought you wouldn’t take me seriously. You generally don’t..”
Yeah, right..!! :)