I
learnt other skills from the president. Making an advertising presentation for
example. He was good and under his guidance, I made a presentation of the first
newspaper ad of Eureka Forbes for Euroclean,
at the all India Sales Conference at Jaipur. I was involved in the making of the ad
from concept to release and he gave me full freedom to handle it independently.
But the relationship was too rocky to last. I have now learnt, after some hard knocks, that
performance alone does not get you far…propriety too counts. You have to toe
the line to be in the race. Since I was not, I decided to leave.
I
handed in my resignation with three months mandatory notice . The president,
out of pique, called me a few days later and said I could leave before the
stipulated period but refused to pay my three months salary in lieu, as
specified in the appointment letter .His contention was that the clause was applicable
only if I was fired . Instead of wasting my breath appealing to his sense of
fairplay , I wrote a polite letter to the chairman ,
Dr
Freddie Mehta, to kindly do the just thing. Promptly, I got a cheque from the
company. How different from Mr. P C Neogy a chairman who did not come into my rescue later in my career to prevent the gravest injustice done to me ! I cherish
the letter written by Dr Freddie Mehta, expressing his regret at my decision to
leave. He wished me luck and conveyed his greetings to my husband. That is class
! You don’t see many of like him around though.
I do
not believe there is unemployment in India; at least for those who determinedly
go after jobs. From Eureka Forbes, I went to Taj Group of Hotels, as
advertising consultant on a one year contract. It was a part – time assignment.
I was temperamentally not suited to abiding by a straight jacketed system and
cope with it all day. This job was not
advertised, it was created by Camellia Panjabi, Senior Vice- President. I had
always admired her for being one of the few professional women at the top,
without piggy back riding on any contacts. She did not know me but since she is
very approachable, I took an appointment and boom… I had the job. I was to work
in the studio as copywriter for food festival menu cards, promotional
literature for new properties. Before that, I
had to go through the three month induction programme, to know all the
departments. I will never forget the experience. Now I know why 5- Star hotels
charge what they do. Behind all that glitz and glamour is the sweat and toil of
hundreds of people with different skills. The hotel industry supports thousands
of other entrepreneurs, even rag pickers who come in at 6 in the morning and
buy the contents of waste paper baskets from the hotel rooms. It is a
remarkable venture and I am thankful to Camelia for giving me an opportunity to
have a ringside view.
With
that grand finale, I signed off my affair with advertising. At some time, I was tempted to take it up as
full time career, at least because of the money. But I was honest enough to
admit that the hectic pace it prescribes, was not conducive to my priority – my
family. It is no doubt a challenging field and very creative. Perhaps it could do with a more organized
work ethic. Neither the client nor the agency seems to believe in the old fashioned method of
planning Everything is wanted yesterday and thought of tomorrow. Some of my
good friends have made waves and earned millions, but their personal lives have
been in doldrums. They don’t even have time to fret about it!
Creativity
need not necessarily mean chaos .While advertising calls for a round the clock
passion for the product, it can be translated in to ten hour shifts of
disciplined work ethics. I had seen my counterparts wasting a lot of time
during working hours, socializing with each other over endless cups of tea and
countless packets of cigarettes. No wonder they had to work crazy hours. With
all due respects to the ad professionals, they would do well to pull up their
socks and learn a bit of time management!
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