bill board

I use to dream of being in public domain and on the front page in the mainstream newspapers or on national TV.It was pretty similar to an average person who would also dream about these possibilities.It was a dream that actually came true.

I use to travel a lot within and outside the country and in the process my talktime on mobiles use to be high.In those days ,about 8 years back the network operators didn't give attractive schemes like today and hence inspite of cost effective measures put in place , the bills were major revenue generators for the Mobile Telecom company.Especially our accounts were most sought after.Coincidentally one of the agencies who were hired to run a campaign for this company approached me through a friend of mine and stated that they wanted a corporate profile for a small campaign they wish to run and wanted me to feature in it.I was baffled as it was a bolt from the blue.Secondly I had never ever done this kind of thing before on any scale.The inner excitement however couldn't be subdued and I decided to jump into it just for the heck of it,assuming that it was a small one time kind of stuff.Since I was working with another company I took permission from my Boss for doing this and he gladly gave his go ahead.

I drove down 300 kms to the location and was pretty late by the time i reached after a long work schedule.My stubble and weary eyes were almost making me look like a guy who has not eaten for days.Those days 16 hrs a day was normal workloads and that took a toll as it was the project stage and stiff targets were to be met at my work place.I was quickly told to shower and then put on the makeup chair for a facelift by the professionals.Wow!!I think it was the only time when i had all this kind of pampering to my face ,done in almost 20 years.The last time I went through this ordeal was when i acted in drama competitions in College.The Guys at work were awesome.they did a dramatic transformation and this pooped out Bipin looked miles different after the spruce up.Now i knew how deceptive the film industry heroines are when they appear on screen fully decked up.

Then came the time to capture the essence and the still shot.After going through the motions to get the exact angle and profile, the light meter and the camera person all set,and perspiration on my receding hairline which had to be dabbed several times mainly due to the high intensity lights and reflectors we were ready to roll.Then came the call-Lights, camera, action and bingo there went the shutters clicking frantically and I had to keep that poise till I heard-great shot.Whew!!!That was it and I was in such a state of mind that I wasn't just being able to express my self correctly due to the conflicting emotions crossing my bewildered mind.That was the end of my photoshoot that lasted 90 minutes.

A few weeks later i start getting calls stating, "hey , is that you on the Billboard at so and so location and i go...what???????To my utter astonishment, I could see myself plastered all over town, in the newspaper full page advertisements,Billboards, fliers, posters , danglers, envelope covers,to the extent that you became a local celebrity of sorts.This was the most interesting phase in my life.My children would come saying" dad,the grocery and stationery shop guy was saying that your Dad's photo is on this mailer and poster etc that they had to exhibit in the shops.It was a big campaign and I got the best mileage I could have ever imagined.A small stint with showbiz:)) i must say.This lasted 6 weeks and boy it was a real dream come true.I basked in that glory for the next few months to come.What a feeling.