Ikea – it's the adult Lego store: if you like the assembled model you can buy the kit and build it yourself at home. And when you are done you want more.
But there is more to it than that. Not only has it seeped into our everyday, like the 'bucks, the 'kings, the 'fitches and scores others that we ravenously consume on a daily basis, it has given each of us something unique – an Ikea personality, which sets one Ikea shopper apart from the other. Its our unique signature, a reflection of us….in the Barnslig mirror with cherry wood frame – aisle 13, bin 21.
1. The Art Collector:
The sole interest of this individual lies in the cheap printed art. He has never been to an an actual gallery – he thinks art galleries also double up as furniture stores. The walls of his apartment are adorned with this mass-printed-in-China Ikea art. And he is proud of it. He does not spend much time choosing the prints, he just picks the floor displays. When he moves into a new house he gives every one a tour of his apartment walls including his bathroom – its like a visit to the Ikea mother ship.
2. The Pretender:
This guy buys Ikea stuff but never owns up to it. He bluffs by camouflaging it or picking up obscure pieces, especially prints. He always has a list of furniture boutiques memorized just in case some one asks. Some times he waits till the piece is discontinued at Ikea before putting it out.
3. The Foodie:
He regards Ikea as Swedish Fine Dining. His refrigerator is full of Swedish meatballs. He has his breakfast there everyday and sometimes organizes group lunches there. For desert are frozen yogurt cones – one buck each.
4. The Weekend Warrior
For him Ikea is like going to the mall. He is the Ikea mall rat. He spends his weekends there wandering through the isles and stress testing sofas and mattresses. Does not buy much though other than food and drink. Sometimes he is mistaken for a sales man.
As you can see Ikea brings the best out of each of us.
Well I have to leave now, I have to help my office mate assemble her entertainment unit. Guess where she bought it.
-Rahul
Monday, August 10, 2009
The Starbucks syndrome
I once read an article in a magazine that there were 20,000 ways of ordering beverages in a starbucks. And this was in 2006. I didn’t roll my eyes on that one, neither did I think that the article was being dishonest. Well, the world does have a lot of weird stuff happening, I just added this to that list. But you know that corner of your mind where the most useless of information resides, this factoid found its way there. So, ever since then, each time I visit a Starbucks I somehow keep track of an imaginary number of how many different types of drinks I’ve had there, with the hope that some day Ill be able to verify the validity of that factoid. (If there was a show on the Travel channel called “The ultimate useless pursuits”, I’m sure this would be one.)
Which brings me to the real question of the day, how bad a starbucks fan do you have to be to get close to that number? But to answer that would be to accept that there does exist this group of people (and some dogs) who like being called the ultimate Starbucks “fan”.
Now you see them all over the place (an easier group to spot as compared to Smokers, Boy Band fans, Scientologists and probably all three combined) From my empirical calculations they usually fall in 3 categories (for lack of a better grouping system),
1. Tall (includes short people)
2. Grande (no, doesn’t come with a blowhorn)
3. Venti (the people I’d bank on for the magic 20K number)
So lets start with the “Tall” ones. Most of them confess to liking the place but not being overly obsessed with brand loyalty, give them a “Peet’s” and they’ll do just fine. Many in this group would just wander into a Starbucks, know the three types of coffee--usually a Tall Cappucino, Tall Café Latte ( not just latte) and a Venti Regular coffee with room for cream and sugar (never quite knew the point of this, its like making your own pizza) and maybe every once in a while a Chai Latte. (They at times order a tea and are left wide-eyed when handed a cup of hot water and a bag) Take them to Pete’s and they will need sometime to recalibrate to the sizes but usually manage to get the drink of their choice without a lot of fuss. I don’t think I’d bet on them to get anywhere near 20 different types of drinks, forget 20,000.
The “Grande” ones, well, a little more well versed with the beverages they know would turn some heads. More open to experimenting with the sizes of their lattes, might order a coffee cake once in a while and will reluctantly enter a “Pete’s” if they cant find a Starbucks in the mall (really?) A few of them would graduate to the ultimate “Venti” club provided they already spend more on coffee and the likes than say bread and milk at home. (Usually people with no kids, or if they do have kids, love their coffee more than their kids)
And then we finally have the Ultimate group, the “Venti”s . These brave warriors swear by the brand like the three 50 yr olds I saw dancing at a Floyd cover concert ( that’s a separate discussion) They own paraphernalia of all sorts from mugs to the grinder, have visited the first Starbucks store in Seattle like it was a holy shrine, have a Starbucks Duetto credit card and think they belong to an entitled club when they buy free coffee using starbucks points ( only to later realize the APR rates on those cards are twice as high as the rest of the cards and that they could have bought four additional drinks if they just paid with cash; American dream?) They would also have a flavor combination list, their drinks would have more than 3 requirements (skim milk, extra hot, vanilla flavored….) and they would prefer to study, hold business meetings, lunches, dates (and even some weddings) at their local Starbucks rather than any other place that would be more appropriate. They know that Tuesdays offer a wonderful free download of “1” song ( that noone has heard of) on Itunes, heck they even buy water there. Now that’s the group I bank on to get to that magic number.
The problem with this final group (like any other fan club) is that they graduate in search of more authentic coffee places either because they have to wait in line while the Talls and the Grandes figure out what they want ( they should have a separate line for frequent drinkers) or they go all crazy in the head ( maybe from all the caffeine they’ve been drinking) and join the Anti-Corporate America club and start hating anything that’s “Too Big” (Microsoft anyone?)
Supernovas do tend to burn out, but the big question here is, do they burn out after 20,000.
That’s what I’d like to know.
P.S. Isnt that a lot of drinks to consume over a lifetime? Is anyone keeping count of how many café drinks a normal coffee drinker (No Venti/Grande) has over a lifetime? I’d like to read that in an article someday.
-Shiva
Which brings me to the real question of the day, how bad a starbucks fan do you have to be to get close to that number? But to answer that would be to accept that there does exist this group of people (and some dogs) who like being called the ultimate Starbucks “fan”.
Now you see them all over the place (an easier group to spot as compared to Smokers, Boy Band fans, Scientologists and probably all three combined) From my empirical calculations they usually fall in 3 categories (for lack of a better grouping system),
1. Tall (includes short people)
2. Grande (no, doesn’t come with a blowhorn)
3. Venti (the people I’d bank on for the magic 20K number)
So lets start with the “Tall” ones. Most of them confess to liking the place but not being overly obsessed with brand loyalty, give them a “Peet’s” and they’ll do just fine. Many in this group would just wander into a Starbucks, know the three types of coffee--usually a Tall Cappucino, Tall Café Latte ( not just latte) and a Venti Regular coffee with room for cream and sugar (never quite knew the point of this, its like making your own pizza) and maybe every once in a while a Chai Latte. (They at times order a tea and are left wide-eyed when handed a cup of hot water and a bag) Take them to Pete’s and they will need sometime to recalibrate to the sizes but usually manage to get the drink of their choice without a lot of fuss. I don’t think I’d bet on them to get anywhere near 20 different types of drinks, forget 20,000.
The “Grande” ones, well, a little more well versed with the beverages they know would turn some heads. More open to experimenting with the sizes of their lattes, might order a coffee cake once in a while and will reluctantly enter a “Pete’s” if they cant find a Starbucks in the mall (really?) A few of them would graduate to the ultimate “Venti” club provided they already spend more on coffee and the likes than say bread and milk at home. (Usually people with no kids, or if they do have kids, love their coffee more than their kids)
And then we finally have the Ultimate group, the “Venti”s . These brave warriors swear by the brand like the three 50 yr olds I saw dancing at a Floyd cover concert ( that’s a separate discussion) They own paraphernalia of all sorts from mugs to the grinder, have visited the first Starbucks store in Seattle like it was a holy shrine, have a Starbucks Duetto credit card and think they belong to an entitled club when they buy free coffee using starbucks points ( only to later realize the APR rates on those cards are twice as high as the rest of the cards and that they could have bought four additional drinks if they just paid with cash; American dream?) They would also have a flavor combination list, their drinks would have more than 3 requirements (skim milk, extra hot, vanilla flavored….) and they would prefer to study, hold business meetings, lunches, dates (and even some weddings) at their local Starbucks rather than any other place that would be more appropriate. They know that Tuesdays offer a wonderful free download of “1” song ( that noone has heard of) on Itunes, heck they even buy water there. Now that’s the group I bank on to get to that magic number.
The problem with this final group (like any other fan club) is that they graduate in search of more authentic coffee places either because they have to wait in line while the Talls and the Grandes figure out what they want ( they should have a separate line for frequent drinkers) or they go all crazy in the head ( maybe from all the caffeine they’ve been drinking) and join the Anti-Corporate America club and start hating anything that’s “Too Big” (Microsoft anyone?)
Supernovas do tend to burn out, but the big question here is, do they burn out after 20,000.
That’s what I’d like to know.
P.S. Isnt that a lot of drinks to consume over a lifetime? Is anyone keeping count of how many café drinks a normal coffee drinker (No Venti/Grande) has over a lifetime? I’d like to read that in an article someday.
-Shiva
this desi life - SPICMACAY
This is an acronym that stands for Society of Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Among Youth – S P I C M A C A Y and it pretty self explanatory.
Started in the late 70s at IIT Delhi by a ‘hippie’ professor – as one of veteran member explained to me. Apparently this dude was amazed when he witnessed a classical Indian music concert at Columbia and decided to abandon his wild ways in the west and head back home to find his roots.
The main purpose of SPICMACAY is to foster Indian cultural awareness and I think it’s a pretty meaningful idea.
The US chapters of SPICMACAY basically organize classical music concerts at universities across the US (SPICMACAY back home does a lot more including yoga, painting and a ton of other stuff) . The best part is that these concerts are free and offer free chai and samosas during intermission : ). I was fortunate enough to attend 2 of their concerts and decided to become a member and volunteer for one of them.
One interesting thing about Indian events (and by Indian events I mean desi events organized by desis – folks who were born & raised in India) is that they have a certain amount of chaos built into them.
And this basically is the trademark of all things desi. While working in India my boss once told me that Indians believe in ‘chalega technology’ when it comes to work but I feel that can be said about all things desi.
The fliers were shoddy with the spelling mistakes – in this case the name of the main artist was misspelt and the compere could hardly remember the name of the artists performing. But since it was a desi concert everyone assumes or expects certain amount of unprofessionalism (if that is a word). This chaos in fact acts like a buffer zone that helps prevent any confrontation and eases tensions
But that aside it was jolly good event and is a neat organization. Quite a few people showed up – some real connoisseurs of classical music. (which could be understood by their intermittent moans and wah wahs through out the event) So check it out and help promote it.
It is way better than being a part of mind numbing bhangra parties and Bollywood DJ nites.
-Rahul
Started in the late 70s at IIT Delhi by a ‘hippie’ professor – as one of veteran member explained to me. Apparently this dude was amazed when he witnessed a classical Indian music concert at Columbia and decided to abandon his wild ways in the west and head back home to find his roots.
The main purpose of SPICMACAY is to foster Indian cultural awareness and I think it’s a pretty meaningful idea.
The US chapters of SPICMACAY basically organize classical music concerts at universities across the US (SPICMACAY back home does a lot more including yoga, painting and a ton of other stuff) . The best part is that these concerts are free and offer free chai and samosas during intermission : ). I was fortunate enough to attend 2 of their concerts and decided to become a member and volunteer for one of them.
One interesting thing about Indian events (and by Indian events I mean desi events organized by desis – folks who were born & raised in India) is that they have a certain amount of chaos built into them.
And this basically is the trademark of all things desi. While working in India my boss once told me that Indians believe in ‘chalega technology’ when it comes to work but I feel that can be said about all things desi.
The fliers were shoddy with the spelling mistakes – in this case the name of the main artist was misspelt and the compere could hardly remember the name of the artists performing. But since it was a desi concert everyone assumes or expects certain amount of unprofessionalism (if that is a word). This chaos in fact acts like a buffer zone that helps prevent any confrontation and eases tensions
But that aside it was jolly good event and is a neat organization. Quite a few people showed up – some real connoisseurs of classical music. (which could be understood by their intermittent moans and wah wahs through out the event) So check it out and help promote it.
It is way better than being a part of mind numbing bhangra parties and Bollywood DJ nites.
-Rahul
the indian elections and the sensex
so apparently the world witnessed a long and boring indian election cycle where u had a country of a billion people vote over a month's time. now i cant hold onto a single train of thought over a day, how do u expect a country to vote sensibly over a month? yes there r logistical issues ( which i guess china doesnt have to worry about since they dont vote up there) and the elections were free and fair according to the election commission which is an independent body that runs the show in india. the results however were out in one day which again is a huge progress for india which used to take a week before anyone knew who won. they use electronic voting machines which are hardware based, which is obv a much better solution that the one used over here, which is software based and obv thus more prone to getting rigged.
so the congress won big, manmohan singh is back in the office and every two bit punter of a politician is back to a village where he belongs. somehow i didnt get how the mandate could be so clear though, considering the fact that we had the mumbai attacks and stuff. maybe people really had had enuf of the sideshows that made a lot of noise that they voted for the quietest guy on the block....
so the monday after the results, u had the bombay stock exchange jump almost 2000 points with every idiot with a rupee throwing it in the market. ive actually kinda had it with the markets, its like a bunch of kids throwing stones in a well, the minute u see 10 kids throw, u throw as well, not knowing what ure getting into. its like all these people sitting on these huge pile of cash that they dont know what to do with it, some people might think its strategy, but i just get a feeling wall street isnt too amused with whats happening out in bombay.
-Shiva
so the congress won big, manmohan singh is back in the office and every two bit punter of a politician is back to a village where he belongs. somehow i didnt get how the mandate could be so clear though, considering the fact that we had the mumbai attacks and stuff. maybe people really had had enuf of the sideshows that made a lot of noise that they voted for the quietest guy on the block....
so the monday after the results, u had the bombay stock exchange jump almost 2000 points with every idiot with a rupee throwing it in the market. ive actually kinda had it with the markets, its like a bunch of kids throwing stones in a well, the minute u see 10 kids throw, u throw as well, not knowing what ure getting into. its like all these people sitting on these huge pile of cash that they dont know what to do with it, some people might think its strategy, but i just get a feeling wall street isnt too amused with whats happening out in bombay.
-Shiva
Obama at Notre Dame
so he goes to nd to tell the fighting irish to quit fighting, which in some sense makes them just the irish which still means they're gonna fight. so doesnt really matter then. in fact he was given an honarary doctorate for showing up, which in my view is the best way to get a phd, when all u have to do is show up and of course be the president. so whats all the noise about his visit? well its gotta do with the one wedge issue the country doesnt seem to have an answer for, abortion rights or a woman's right to choose. so obama is pro-choice, nd is a catholic school which makes them pro-life if u go by anything the pope says. and so the noise. so here is one thing i dont understand and its just my take on the whole abortion thing, u have scientists spend thousands of hours and companies spend millions of dollars coming up with seedless watermelons and grapes, why cant they come up with better birth control solutions, which is also a case of seedless sex if you look at it closely. in fact they should just name the solution, the seedless sex solution.
so u have crowds protesting, some reading the genesis outside the school, in fact some students protesting inside the hall had to be kicked out during obama's speech, which also is something i dont quite understand, i mean, u probably partied and worked a little in ure 4 yrs in school, why get kicked out during ure graduation which might never happen again. so obama gets a doctorate for showing up and u get nothing. now thats what u call a fair world.
- Shiva
so u have crowds protesting, some reading the genesis outside the school, in fact some students protesting inside the hall had to be kicked out during obama's speech, which also is something i dont quite understand, i mean, u probably partied and worked a little in ure 4 yrs in school, why get kicked out during ure graduation which might never happen again. so obama gets a doctorate for showing up and u get nothing. now thats what u call a fair world.
- Shiva
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