How to be even more interesting

Guys, this post is an example of plagiarism in real time.Lol. Or maybe it's collaboration in real time across geographies:-) Must read this post of Russell Davies on 'How to Be Interesting'. In fact it's a must before you read this addendum to the post! And let me slot this post under the active planning series!

I restate the two assumptions that Russell makes.

1. The way to be interesting is to be interested
2. Interesting people are good at sharing.
and have added a third. 3. Talking doesn't cook rice(Doing is more interesting than thinking.)

And then 14 more things to do to be even more interesting...Many of them are experiential. I feel us planners(in India) need to loosen up a lot more.

1. Once a quarter watch a Bollywood movie in a theatre you don't generally frequent.
I watched Farhan's Don in a theatre in Patna( of course by default). And believe me the experience is a rich reward.

From the white kurta clad local crony with his two similar attired side-kicks, to the interiors that hadn't changed in two decades, to the system of allowing women and 'Family' inside the heavily grilled theatre before the show began, to the heavy gender skew of the audience. It was return to a decade back...Two India's and all that...

Don II will stay in my mind. So has Don I which I saw in Benaras some 25 years back...

2. In my post 'Do You Zoom' I had said to experiment with a new restaurant, cuisine every month...
Am a laggard myself when it comes to experimenting food. But I did visit Thai Ban in Bandra on Sunday and tried some new stuff...And the taste lingers...

3. Talk to strangers in the park, in the parking lot, while on the metro, with the taxi driver, with the barber, parlour wali!
I once chatted up with a guy in the line to an STD booth in Delhi. That guy turned out to be a 'hot air ballooning'and 'para-sailing' expert. And me and my wife had our first and only para-sailing experience!

4. E-mail to strangers in different categories. But beware. For every 10 e-mails that you send, you might get just one response! But it pays to be persistent.
Now I can bounce off stuff from a quali researcher in New York and a senior copy-writer in Indore...I even got an article( well actually a comment) in Hindi published in Nai Duniya!!

5. Make friends with creative people if you don't already have a couple of them ....drink a lot of beer with them.

Believe me they need planners more than the planners need creative people. LOL.
Make sure they pay for the beer...

6. Goto the raddi wala, buy a lot of magazines( okay this point Russell has already made) and read them on at least one week-end of the month.

Practice pattern recognition...If you don't get it e-mail me...

7. Talk to kids, observe toddlers play. Chat with the young. On-line, off-line...
My three year old son Neo teaches me to be a wonderful negotiator:-)

Talk to your father, mother,aunt. They have interesting perspectives, fears, take on the whirlwind changes happening in our world! Theirs!

8. Take a cab and generally idle in a Bazaar/ not necessarily a mall. Smartly bill it to the office(under R&D)...

9. Check out the wine bar in Worli, Hard Rock Cafe and any new hang-out/ pub/ cafe in the city!
Immerse in the sight and sound of the new places. Blog them...

10. Read interviews, biographies, watch shows on interesting people. Meet interesting people. I had managed to meet/ converse/ watch 'Suraj Ka Saatwan Ghoda' with Shyam Benegal and his family at Bandhav Garh(in Madhya Pradesh) at a camp organised by my friend Ram(he runs a small boutique travel agency called Soulitudes.

We had long morning conversations on culture, politics, society, Bollywood...It was the best planning training I have had ever...

11. Hit the lonely planet. Learn about interesting places. The quaint corners of the world! For starters around the edges of Mumbai. Then pack your bags and hit the road...Roop you are bang on target...Maybe we all need to learn from you...

12. Chat a lot( about movies/ planning/ music/ books/ trends/ everyday life/ what you saw while driving to work).... Sometimes even at the expense of the deadline.
Be careful...

13. Learn a new word everyday. Use it ....You can keep a check on the vocab scores of our copy-writers eh!

14. Give back something to less privileged people/ to a cause....Interesting people help others....Till a few years back, I was a very selfish bastard. I am reforming a lil at a time LOL...I am engaged in a very small way with i-Volunteer and yesterday I became a Greenpeace member...

Hey, do I do everything on the list...No, think I get a 9/14 on my list and 6/10 on Russel's...

But yes maybe I am a lil bit more interesting than what I was last year...And that's what counts...