EDITORIAL

The Oxford dictionary defines blues as a state of depression or melancholy, a state of sadness. In German, to be blue is to be drunk. Blues is also about a raucous dance music that celebrates pleasure and success.

For the Blue Team, however, blues is anything but melancholy. While 2009 plunged several companies into the state of blues, the Blue Team was all about merry, song and dance, rhythm and music. This New Year, the Blue Team redefined the word blues with the annual awards extravaganza --- ‘The Blues’.

Blues is about team spirit, Blues is about camaraderie, Blues is about warmth, Blues is about bonding, Blues is about inspiration, Blues is about motivation, Blues is about nostalgia. The glitzy night of the Blues on January 10 was all this and much more. As the 7 colors converge to make one bright white light with the purity and strength of each, the 7 years of Blue Lotus lend credence to this year, ‘the year of resurgence’ making this edition of Blues a walk down the memory lane, a recall of the glorious seven years gone-by. It was a night of convergence and resurgence.

With long lost colleagues finding themselves under one roof again, cheering at seeing their old pictures on an audio-visual, nostalgia and joy were palpable. In the end, the most deserving won the Blue accolades. The after party saw people dance and sing Karaoke, gorged on delicious food, wine flowed and spirits were high.

As we present the first edition of Culture Curry in 2010 we take this opportunity to thank all those who made this event possible, enjoyable and fun for all of us. Come and relive the Blues with us.

The Blues and then the Blues...

- Indira Dutta

The Blues in the Making…

It takes two to tango, hundreds to build a monument and several brains to make an evening a success.

Blues, the event of the year, the day that brings hopes, expectations and a lot of new memories on board, to organize the same was indeed a challenge for the team designated. Flying ideas, concept building and excitement to organize every detail with precession were what led to the formation of 10th Jan 2010.

Team work can create wonders and Blues truly proved the saying right, The entire team at Mustard, the admin team along with Asad were the people backstage who worked day and night to see that nothing remained unattended. Blues indeed was a learning experience; it made us understand the difference in planning and execution, and also made us make planning turn into execution. The only guideline given was the ‘Blues’ should be an evening that would create memories for a lifetime.

For the team that worked round the clock on the Blues had just one challenge…that was to create five hours of perfection that would be cherished for the next 50 yrs, the only thing that we had to keep in mind was ‘to let nothing slip off our minds’. After the successful execution, we now look back and cherish the learning experience. It was indeed opportunity in disguise.
From scripting to executing everything was co-ordinated or rather it would be better to say that every process had the involvement of our CEO Mr. N Chandramouli who trigged innovative ideas and also showed us the easiest way of executing the same, therefore all in all it was a experimentation of the untried and unknown which finally resulted in the ‘Blues’…

Blues, well to get everything to perfection we did literally get dipped in the color, but the outcome resulted in a glory that made us feel proud of the color we were living for a month.
If next time when we have more to come…we would just say, BRING IT ON!!!

The Night that was - Blues 2010

-Petrina Fernandes

10th January was The Day. And oh what a day it was. The night that was the Blues. Yes, the Blue Lotus Annual award ceremony truly awarded to each one of us once a year, every year for the past four years.

My first Blues might I add! Yes, been in the company 7 months, I had only seen photos and heard a story too many bout The Blues. My wait only to draw closer to the date.

And yes it did start with the usual procedure, the nominations, the interviews round but must I not bore you with these that you are all well aware of. The nominations were online, where the voter would log in using an exclusive password and cast his vote. After the rigorous process of online voting the final nominations were in. The categories rounded off every facet very carefully. There were 5 categories this time round, and the five signifying factors that add to our better working. Best Debut of the year, as the name suggests is given to a person who has imbibed the spirit and professional values of the Blue Lotus Group. Turnaround of the Year is a person who has demonstrated a marked improvement in his or her professional capabilities. A person who has displayed extraordinary imagination at work, looking at problems from various perspectives to come up with innovative and creative solutions is the criteria for the Best Creativity Award. A person who has shown initiative and drive, along with other entrepreneurial traits like, reinventing the ways that things are done in our organization wins the Best Entrepreneur Award. And last but not the least, The Team Spirit Award - given to the most efficient, most organised, most spirited, most accessible, and the most supportive team.

The weeks following up to the 10th of Jan saw quite a frenzy. The hustle and bustle that followed up to the Blues created quite a bit of suspense. The 10th was just around the corner and the wait coming to an end.

The 10th had arrived and I was all set to go.

The Venue- Joss, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai. The 10th of Jan, 2009 - The night to remember. I walked up the stairway dressed in my best, I could hear the faint music getting louder as I approached the hall. The big doors greeted me a long with our fellow beautiful colleagues. This was it.

I stepped in to the ….. Hall. I imagined a mellow calm crowd, seated, waiting patiently for the Blues to begin. How wrong I was! Instead, there was a buzzing in the air, the music filled the room, and the energy hit me in the face. It was far from an uptight office do. The alumni and BL employees blended together perfectly, reminiscing over the past Blue Lotus times, looking forward to the night.

The warmth in the air was refreshing.

It was difficult to settle every one down because the crowd seemed too close knit to break apart but yes everyone took their seat and the Blues began. It started with the Blue Lotus Anthem. Clearly representing the spirit of BL - vibrant, energized, united.

The theme was the angels and demons. Subhash & Wayne and Indira & Shikha were our hosts for the evening. Ironically, three out of four hosts were nominated and also won. Shikha, an alumnus, and Indira were the Angels that evening doing their good deeds while Subhash and Wayne were adorned in the devils outfits and dressed to kill! They kept the crowd awake with laughter. The last award was given away and it was time to parteh!

Nothing at the Blues was amiss. We only saw the best – from the crystal chandeliers to the starters on grills, to the best wine, to the karaoke session which every one participated in quite enthusiastically.

I imagined a hesitant crowd that would have to be forced to dance, but if you had to experience the night of the blues you would have seen no chair occupied. The floor was full, the music blaring the best and the crowd enjoying every bit of the night.

It was truly a celebration. To celebrate the very existence of Blue Lotus and to give us all something to look forward to in the coming year, to strive to be the best and to get that award that we didn’t.

The same amount of fun and extravaganza took place simultaneously in Delhi, Kolkata and the South with Alumni present in full force. The fun element was at its peak at these outstations as well which is much evident form the pics we saw the following day.

The Blues was really a night to remember. I still think we should change the name because the Blues it definitely was not.

The Winners take it all...

Wayne Ferrao - Best Turnaround of the year

Winning the turnaround of the year at the Blues gives me a sense of achievement and an endorsement of the fact that I am moving in the right direction. Moving into i9 has thought me commitment and focus. I live life by one principle “Winning and losing are part of life, and though I may lose it will never be because I have not tried enough” going by this I have constantly strived to excel and be the best that I can ever be. This award means a lot to me and however, what is important is the journey and not arriving, landmarks are just like stations you can’t stay there it’s important to move on. I would like to thank the Blues Jury, Mouli, Subhash and my team for supporting me and this would not be possible without them.

Prateek Shah - Award for Creativity

“I thought, thought, thought and thought. But no matter how much I thought, I could not think of a thought which could match the thought that occurred to all those thoughtful souls who thought of voting and selecting me for the ‘Best Creativity Award’. Then I thought of thanking people individually, but that turned out to be a bad thought, because I will definitely leave someone out from my short span of thought. This award is deeply cherished and it belongs to all those people who have contributed in helping me win this.”

Subhash Pais - Spirit of Entrepreneurship

Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle... when the sun comes up, you'd better be running --- African Proverb

Running i9 taught me that entrepreneurship is about survival as much as it is about creative thinking. I believe that entrepreneurship is beyond the rat race for material success. For me, entrepreneurship is a spiritual journey and i9 gave me the required dose of inner strength, courage and above all an abundance of joy. Over the years, I have seen myself grow spiritually because of this journey called i9. I think, feel and react much differently now. Indeed, winning in a fierce category with fierce competition is an awesome feeling. We started i9 from the scratch. Today, we have been able to create mindshare, build a very unique team. The sense of responsibility that I have in terms of managing work and managing the people is overwhelming. This has been the single greatest achievement that I have been able to make in the last two years. It has expanded my mind to greater possibilities. I would like to thank everyone again for showing trust in me and my team. Lastly, I am boundlessly grateful to the votes and the jury for acknowledging my work and efforts.

Indira Dutta - Best Debut of the Year

Yes I Expected it……………!!

6th Jan 2009 at 9:00 AM in the morning, my journey to the ‘Best Debutant of the year’ started…. They say for a copywriter words flow easy but when the occasion is to pen down feelings then even words fail to do justice.

And the ‘Best Debut of the Year’ goes to…. (Silence, my heart said yes, it can be you, mind confronted, don’t be so sure and finally as always the heart won over the mind). Flashes of all the big and small events that plotted to drive me towards the award came before me, a series of disappointments, a bundle of small and big achievements and a bright ray of hope always shinning through…

I expected it and yes without a doubt I felt on top of the world, smiles overflowing and with every ‘congratulations’ I felt my joy leaping all bounds.

Well, the next moment when I sat to share my joy with my diary, I was left wondering about what really made me the most deserving candidate and I could not think of myself in isolation from the people who helped me earn the title of the ‘best debutant’. This article gives me a chance to thank all the Mustardians (Piyush, Priya, Sneha, Sampada and the new talents Sachin and Mille). Without them, the battle of the impossible could not have been won.

The journey does not end here. With reward come expectations, expectations to outperform the previous achievements and achieve new milestones.

Thanks to those who voted for me…I promise to live up to your votes. With this just remembered few of my favorite lines… ‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep…But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep’

Thank You

Piyush Jain (Mustard Communications) - Team Spirit

Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally - David Frost

So apt, so true!!! Indeed, persistence is the cornerstone of success. For Mustard the “Team Spirit of the Year” award if it can be defined, this would be it. A team that most had given up on. A business that never showed any profit. But we mustard enough courage and fortitude to achieve what we achieved. Giving up has never been in the dictionary of Mustard. Like Obama’s slogan, every Mustardian believed in ‘Yes we can do it’. Indeed, we could do it. Of course it helps when adversity is staring at your face. But it takes fierce determination, gallons of strength and above all camaraderie amongst the team to overcome all challenges. This could not have been possible without the passion and love each Mustardian carried in his heart. Here’s saluting all the brave-hearts at Mustard and the common thread of “believe to achieve” that binds us all as a family in Blue Lotus. I’d like to end this with an inspiring quote by Dale Carnegie: Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.

TL Offsite

THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG! It’s now official! Team Leaders this summer are headed to GOA for the TL’s offsite.!! Well, with Scotland and Thailand already on the salver, an offsite in Goa will surely sizzle your platter. preparing for this in advance is surely advisable, because besides the year end number crunching and long days locked in the conference rooms there is also going to be R&R; nope not research and referral but RELAXATION & RECREATION. Its gonna be one HOT offsite!! Let there be sun , surf & beer..!

NKOTB

Rupsa Ray - 07/01/2010

As a new member of the Bluelotus team I have been asked to pen down information about myself. It’s like filling up the about me column of our dear old “slam book”. The only difference being we could write anything there, here we have to give serious information! Anyway, without deviating from the main topic let me try and give a gist about myself. I am an ardent reader-interest lies from fiction to non-fiction, autobiographies, etc-depending on the mood. Anything adventurous attracts me, and I truly believe that my core nature is the inherent spirit of adventure. Traveling is another interest area, and currently planning a tour to Ladakh sometime this year. Instead of living a life bound to a single place and a monotonous pace, it is the spirit of wanderlust and a passion for adventure that is the basic core of my living spirit. My joys in life come from experiencing new things and having a new horizon to look forward to each day. Being a true Bengali by nature my love for food is inherent, hence experimenting with different cuisine is just another interest area (can’t say the same about my culinary skills though ;)). My almost three week stint with Bluelotus has been informative, fun and entertaining. Here work is fun, and people around are friendly and chilled-out, quite an ideal place to work. I hope to learn a lot more as I carry on with my journey with Bluelotus.

Yatin Mistry – 01/12/2009

HR…mind it!

Talking about myself is difficult because praises just don’t seem to end…beating my own drum comes naturally with me.

Joined as an intern me Yatin Mistry studied in IIPM (Mumbai) as MBA in Marketing and HR had little idea what an HR is suppose to act like, but yes the prospect of managing people effectively fascinated me as I believe I am a people’s person. With lots of inhibitions and fear, I started off in Blue Lotus on the 21st of September 2009. Now when I complete more than 3 months in this organization I cannot but help laughing at some silly blunders I made but none the less am glad that I had mentors like Shalini and Pooja who helped me to learn and develop As “hr person”…

What can I talk about this place, it is home away from home and working with wonderful people makes my work more interesting and challenging too as reaching expectations of all is indeed a task of great stature.

Now after months, if I try to beat my drum about my skill, then probably I might be welcomed by raised eyebrows because the real me is so well already seen by my colleagues turned friends. However I am a light hearted, simple and fun loving person. In short I am a people’s person and therefore I feel I have founds the job that suits my personality.

Shikha Pahwa – 01/12/2010

Press Release

Chandigarh fever beats Mumbai Masala

Chandigarh, January 25, 2010: I am Shikha Pahwa (WHO), joined Blue Lotus, Chandigarh on December 1, 2009 (When) due to permanent shift from Mumbai to Chandigarh (Why). Now my official address is SCO 43, Sector 47 Chandigarh (Where). I was asked to write about my experience with Blue Lotus by the HR team (What), as I have recently joined the company (How). That makes up the five W’s and one H.

So here we go:-

Woah! Fifty five days flew by. It seems like yesterday. As I walk through the nostalgic lane, sipping the garam cup of chai, I feel proud to be part of Blue Lotus family.

Just to brief you all about my past experiences let me take you few months back when I was happily working in Mumbai with Adfactors PR Pvt Ltd after completing my post-graduate diploma from Xavier Institute of Communications. I still remember the days in Mumbai, where I used to flutter around Colaba checking out almost every eating joint for the best and cheapest food available (Oh yeah…I am a big foodie).

Whereas, here in Chandigarh my family was plotting a different role for my life, they wanted me back home. Soon I became a victim of Emotional Atyachar (poor me). It was a hard decision for me to leave a place like Mumbai which is a dream destination for almost every Indian and come back to Chandigarh where people hardly understand the meaning of PR. I was going through the Hamilton dilemma of ‘to shift or not to’.

But then finally the day came when I took the step and came back to the city beautiful with almost no expectations from the media industry. Few days passed by and I started working as a freelancer for PR of our family business and for friends and acquaintances.

It was going smooth when one day a friend of mine (Business Standard journalist) introduced me to Blue Lotus family by stating “it’s the only professional run company in the region”. The introduction really tempted me and I met Kiran, and YES he was right. The company had that Mumbai flavor which I have been longing for.

It’s been almost a month-and-a-half with Blue Lotus that I have learned so much more about the industry that now I feel, whatever happens, happens for the best.

From innovation to implementation, from thinking to decision making, from marketing to client servicing, from Chandigarh to Mumbai, from Kiran to Mouli Sir, all have something in common (BLUE VIBES, I would say) which is positive and which is so motivating that makes me believe in the company’s potential. Now, every morning I ask myself as to what I should do next that would make our company an industry leader; as I am pretty much excited to grow with this company.

In a Nutshell: Mouli Sir and Kiran are the kind of ‘chiefs’ that every employee desires J . Thanks to the Blue Lotus team (especially the HR team) for letting me become a part of the family.

Cheers!!!!!!
For any clarifications please contact: Shikha Pahwa Blue Lotus Communications +91 99153 97708

Pratyasha Malakar – 20/11/2009

I would describe myself as short, around five feet with semi wavy black hair all over my head. I have a funny blunt nose with gigantic eyes that change their radius with my mood. I would not label my size, as in width or depth, large or small but right in the middle with developing muscles. I would have to say that the stump in my height is blamed on my genes…I have a few key characteristics and many people have commented on them. I have an eye for detail and a terrific sixth sense about things that are going to happen to my loved ones. I love all the cute and dreamy things around me like puppies, babies, music and sea side. Of course chocolates and ice creams. I love long drives, somewhere far from the maddening crowd or explore the unexplored places. That’s the love part. Now the hate part: I hate people who are hypocritical, dogmatic, superficial, chaotic and ungrateful. Last but not the least, I thank all you for letting me be a part of this wonderful family called Blue Lotus. Blue Lotus rocks. I hope it will rock forever.

N