Normal is boring

Everyone has a muse. It could be as simple as a movie that changed your life, or a song that sang your life with its words.

For me it was a wristband. And one that I consumed large amounts of aerated drinks to get. 7up to be precise.

Circa 1989, Venue: Ambala.

The object of my desire was a 'Fido Didi' wristband. Newly launched because 7up was newly launched too. It took me 7 sittings in 7 weeks (my pocketmoney was meager, I was in 9th standard after all) to save up the money to get myself a 'Fido Dido', self strapping wristband. And I had to wait 2 weeks to get it.

It was an unassuming little band of metal covered with plastic, that wrapped itself around your wrist (magical in the Rajiv Gandhi era of India), when you hit your wrist with it. And the thing that influenced me the most was the slogan that said (headline - for the rest of you who've been corrupted by advertising) "Normal is boring".

I took it as a mission statement. The rest of my life has been a quest to support that line on a wristband. And I thank it for what I become. (Or blame it, depending on which part of the fence you sit on).

After all, what chance has a Mallu boy, born in Rohtak to a Cop, brought up by Jats, who studied for most of his life in Haryana, (Excluding a few years in Lawrence, Sanawar) to make it to "St. Stephen's " in Delhi and finally in a dog-eat-dog world like advertising, to make it to where I am today.

Am I showing off?

Maybe I have a right to. Raise your hands, you who changed 12 schools, had no friends, was lonely enough to climb trees for entertainment, didn't have a 'He-Man' toy until college where he bought it so he could set his mind at rest, had too look up 'vela' and 'arbit' in dictionaries that didn't have it, just to speak the lingo, and had to pretend that his torn jeans were 'fashionable'. (Luckily they were)

I love Fido Dido. I still believe 'Normal is boring'. And I have 7up to thank for it.

Thought I hate the shitty thing.