Autocar Performance Show 2010

I was yet to visit an auto-exhibit with more than wax-polishes and car scrubs on display. This time I got a chance and the visit was not only well-worth the Sunday, it came with a lot of surprises. Autocar India magazine organizes a performance show every year in the city of Bombay. As much as I am tempted to describe the beauty of the chin lines of each and every vehicle, it is intriguing to notice why Autocar holds these exhibitions in the first place. (There is a slideshow to your right for the pictures!)

Understandably, for the SMEs in the Automotive industry, there can be no better platform to showcase their abilities. But unfortunately, there are not many in our country who can pimp out your car or bike and give it a face-melting overhaul. Except for the engineering guys with their small yet effective racing car and 120 kmph-doing toy buggies, there were not many stands to spend time with when there were some staggering beauties waiting in line to be appreciated.

So then, what is the real advantage of pouring in some millions towards advertising high-end vehicles to a bunch of posers. For one, not many millionaires are true-blue enthusiasts! They buy cars for the bling and they prefer doing their shopping in a showroom. So, how many people coming to a show like that would actually be converts. Barely any!
Of course, if you have read even the index of a management book, you are going to tell me - "it's Branding dude!"
They are selling dreams! Ambitions. Almost every person coming home from such an exhibition promises him/herself to own a car that brilliant one day. That day doesn't come for most. By the time you actually deepen your pockets, you lose interest in buying vehicles. Apparently, real estate is a better deal, they say!
However, surely, the whole affair is a win-win situation for everybody. Companies get to advertise their brands, their technology, their mettle! Autocar gets more subscibers.
And we get the motivation. To love automobiles!
The biggest potential in such exhibitions still goes untapped. Our country does not have a glorious automotive history. And hence the ignorance and frugality towards vehicles. Almost all commercial big-wigs of automobiles have stepped into India. If it ever has to change, the time is now! Spreading the love for automobiles is the first step. And what better way than such exhibitions - these dreams spread out on carpets!

Blurt..

I always perceived literature as boring. It annoyed me when friends talked about the big classics they had read as I had read nothing but text-books and motoring magazines until I reached puberty! (I continue to read both even now)
Writing and writers fascinated me. A good writer is something of a magician. He can imagine things and put them in words so brightly that you feel a part of his imagination, his fictional world.
This fact always amused me. I could imagine. But materializing imagination with words - not my deal!
I know I am not a good writer. (Please do not compare with Chetan Bhagat!) In all honesty, I made this blog, not to express something. Everybody who I considered smart had one and it was free! So, I made one.

Some say, writing is a stress-buster. Today, for the first time I am typing all this only to change my mood. Not to make sense. Not to preach anything. I tried everything! Throttled on the highway, drenched my eyes, fisted the wall. Nothing works when the pain is so grave. No friend can help.
Just blurting out things that come to mind first really work.
I could do it in a diary as well. But that would be too filmy, my story is never going to be like Ghajini. Just too hard to get those 8 packs! I could type it on my desktop as well!
Although knowing that someone someday might read this whole thing is what makes you feel better!