Einstein was so so right!!

I've just seen a whole new dimension to the theory of relativity! The 5th dimension ...

Kind of silly really. 50% of my time is spent with designers and the rest with printers. And the transition is like amazing!

Last I remember, I spent half an hour with Anchal understanding all about shades and tints and the 15 different reds that existed. Sangreal and Rust and Red and Rubine Red and .. and .. and .. and ..

Right now, I've just come back from the printers. Everything that was supposed to be in Rubine red in the latest design has been done up in a dark pink!! And guess what the reply was - "saabji ye laal hi to hai .. aisa thoda bahut to hote rehtaa hai naa .. "

If only I had a medeival torture chamber .. I would try to explain the difference between Rubine Red and Dark Pink to him.

The entire out-of-india fixation .. and vice versa ..

Some time back I mentioned that we were looking for people who would be interested in investing in our business. Today morning I got a call from an investor based out of the US.

This might sound silly to some, but I was feeling quite nice about a person in the US being interested in our idea. Whoever I mentioned this to also took it as some kind of acheivement in itself. Quite weird but true for most of us.

A couple of months back we got in touch with a designer from London. He was very enthusiastic about designing apparels for our brand. He sent us some concept sketches. His work was really cool. But apart from the work, it felt so nice to tell people .. " theres a designer from London working for us".

This is something that atleast our generation of Indians still need to grow out off. The next generation will have a completely different notion. We are going thru a time where everyone is talking India and China. This is sure to rubb off on the personality of the next generation, and I'm sure they will be a lot more confident in terms of the produce of our country, believing it to be the best or at worst at par to anything else in the world.

Now the other side of the coin is that people outside are fighting for a pie of India as well. The designer I mentioned was really eager to work on anything that was to go into the Indian market. He felt it would greatly enhance his credentials. Investors continue to pour money into India Funds across developed countries.

Quite a nice situation then. Indians want to interact with the world and the world wants to interact with India. Good for everyone.

Drnkss and parents to be ...

Every startup at some stage needs to find a name for itself ... I guess we have reached that stage ... where we stop telling people that we are working on a startup venture and start naming the company ... "we work with Drnkss Inc" or sumthing like that ...

Ok, now Drnkss is a kool name. Its an anagram created from the initials of the three entrepreneurs starting the company and is obviously a conversation starter!

But then there is the school of thought which frowns on the frivolousness of the name, and there are doubts that with such a name, investors and or stake holders would not take the company seriously.

The other name doing the rounds is Fingerprints Inc. This is a kool name too, in the sense that it touches upon leaving an impression. Nice thought.

At the same time its too sober and nicy nice for the taste of some and not differentiated.

Beyond a certain extent the name of the company doesn't matter too much. Its the brand name which will interact with the customer. While this is true, everyone is very involved and senti about the naming of the company.

I wonder how our parents decided on our names ... ever thought of that? ... I think I'm gonna go and ask them about the number of sessions they had over that ...

Delhi winters and the warbler ...

The warbler is a bird found in UK .. the poor chap doesnt find any worms there during the winters .. so what does he do? He goes to Africa!

I feel so much like him in Delhi right now! .. All of a sudden the days have shortened .. its twilight zone by 5pm .. Temperatures dropping .. the sudden phobia of water .. bathing is almost like a medeival torture process .. if you go out at 10pm the roads look like curfew in ghost town! .. the nights are so silent, you could hear your heart beat ..

Fine! I've put my own dose of exageration, but its still bad! .. the only silver lining is the pleasure of sleeping long hours cuddled up in a heavy blanket .. but then you can never get enough of that ..

The warbler has this biological process of eating a lot and creating fat reserves before it starts off on its yearly trip to africa .. It almost doubles his weight through this period, and then sets off on his 4800km journey ..

Well, we are planning something quite similar .. leave aside the "doubling weight" part .. we will be migrating to Bombay quite soon .. back to perenial warmth and comfort, 2400 km away .. and Gnome will find loads of fat worms pretty soon.

Amen

And we're back in the game!! ...

Umm .. dunno where to start. For those of you following us regularly, it must have come as a surprise that there wasn't any activity for the last 16 days.

Well guys, thats what happens in startups. One minute you think life couldn't be better and the next something hits you .. **BANG** .. and you are running around like a maniac! .. or like a gnome as the case may be ..

To cut a long story short, one of our investors suffered adverse conditions in her business. Given that, it is dicey whether she will be able to fund our venture or not. Over the last 15 days we've been gnoming around .. looking for someone gnome enough to invest in us.

Things are looking up .. most people we have met seem to think quite highly of our work and hopefully our investment requirements should be met quite soon ..

Coming to the important stuff .. the highlight of the last 15 days has got to be our encounter with a mobile snatcher in Noida!!

Scene: Mr. Navneet Rai is talking away on his hep 15K Samsung cell phone (ekdum matrix types). This non descript ragged man runs in at top speed, snatches our man's cell and runs off!

**Lights .. Camera .. Action**

Navneet is stunned for a few moments .. and then runs in pursuit .. shouting out obscenities i can't risk mentioning here .. Kaku on his heels .. and Kashyap right behind them ..

The chase goes on .. and guess what .. the entire barage runs by the police chowki .. Kaku yelling at the top of his voice "Kutte .. mein tujhe goli maar dungaa" .. and Navneet .. umm .. sorry, that part is still censored ..

Now all this racket gets our pandu hawaldar all aroused .. two of them ride behind us on their enfield mobike .. Kashyap, right in front by now, yelling at them to catch the theif .. Kaku yelling at them to catch the theif and not Kashyap by mistake ..

The road takes an L turn .. the bike zips ahead and blocks the ruffians path .. and guess what .. he runs right back towards us ..

Aaha .. and our man Kashyap .. packs in the first full filmy style punch of his life onto the ragged mans chin .. **DHISHOOM** .. and the man goes down .. Navneet's cell flying on to the pavement .. Kaku races up and starts kicking the theif ..

Guess what .. our pandu hawaldar comes in and gives a nice hard fatka to our "heroes" .. Kashy and Kaku .. apparently the dude was worried about the theif incurring injuries from our beating .. anyway, let that be ..

Well, this happened on the 9th .. today is the 16th .. and where is the cell phone? .. sitting at the police station as evidence for the case against the theif .. Navneet bhai has had to pay some lawyer a 1000 bucks to file his application for the cell .. he has had to visit the court thrice .. has heard rebukes from the police over writing applications .. :) .. kind of reminds me of the movie "Jaane bhi do yaaron" ..

Heres to seeing a lot more activity on this blog from here on .. and yes, will post some pics of the Navneet Rai Cellphone Saga ..