Live blogging: a day in the life of a Coup

As promised yesterday, I'm going to be live blogging our entire work day. Some of you (and I hate you) are away for the long weekend, but others, like me, if traffic is anything to go by, are on their way to or at work today, and so, this is basically for you.

9.35 am: Cast of characters. Mansi (on the left) is the co-founder of Brown Paper Bag, here from Bombay for the launch of this thing. She's very small with a very big personality. Kakul is a recent hire here in Delhi, fresh from advertising, and she is very hipster, adding to my movie collection each week with indie films. Note: we all have Macbooks. I don't know what this says about us.

9.38 am: I've just finished my second mango of the season. We're tossing about things like 'One Coup Card to rule them all'. Not it for the role of a Hobbit. Or Gollum for that matter.

9.43 am: Picasa is proving problematic. It's still one of my favourite photo editors, specially for adding text to images, but the save-a-version doesn't automatically come up in your photo album. On the other hand, the nice thing about everyone having the same laptop is that it makes troubleshooting quite easy.

9.46 am: Mansi made these little promotional banners:

and

9.48 am: Text by Kanika Parab, the other founder, who is sitting in Bombay far away from all the fun. Her Twitter feed is great though, teeny tiny short stories.

9.53 am: Testing the landing page. Look how pretty!

9.56 am: We're in Mansi's cousin's room. It's full of photo collages and stuffed animals. I feel about 80 years old now.

10.03 am: Do you know how hard it is to read and write about food constantly when you haven't had breakfast yet?  POOR OLD ME.

10.09 am: I've just been offered breakfast, thanks to that last update. Wow. Effective.

10.14 am: Kakul tells me sadly that she's from marketing, not advertising. "There's a WORLD of difference," she claims.

10.17 am: I had to Google 'how to calculate a discount'. I KNEW maths classes torturing me all through school were a complete mistake.

10.27 am: WHY IS NO ONE AWAKE YET? It's a THURSDAY.

10.30 am: So, one of the spaces we picked is this awesome underground bar (I know you know where I mean, and if you don't, well, the easiest solution is really to get on board with the card) (Not-so-subtle plug) and it's BEAUTIFUL, always smells like cinnamon and with a very cool way of getting in. But, they had a problem with being mentioned anywhere on the Coup Card literature because, well, they wanted to be a little bit secret still, despite all the reviews everywhere. That was tricky. We're just adding them as a "secret spot".  (I'm pretty much there at least twice a month, and it would be more, except the red wine is all imported and so my bill turns out quite large, and ta-dah, here's another Plug.) (But if anything gets me to drive 15 km from Nizamuddin just for a drink, you know it's good.)

10.43 am: Another place we decided on was Carnatic Cafe. Have you been? They have pretty much the best dosas I've had in the city. Turns out the owner is an anthropologist, who did some work in villages before moving to Delhi. That doesn't have much to do with the dosas, but they play jazz music.

11.16 am: OH. MY. GOD we're almost ready to launch. This is thrilling. We're all on the edge of our chairs. If you want early bird access email coupATbpbweekendDOTcom

11.28 am: So excited I can't even eat my sandwich.

11.35 am: Another photo: This is my version.

 And Kakul's version:

  
11.37 am: ANDDDDD... WE'RE LIVE. From our Twitter feed:
15% off Delhi’s 20 top restaurants. Rs 1,200 for 6 months. 4 family members on a one card. Use in Mumbai for free: http://www.coupcard.in .

11.44 am: If you've bought one, say hi! 

12.22 pm: Hot debate on Twitter about our T&C regarding family members. You can add four people to a card, but to make sure you're not handing it out to pals, we decided to make the last name common. OBVS, this means some people, like my parents, will have to make a way around it, but ultimately, if you have any piece of paper proving you're related to these people (even a marriage license!) you can use the same card.

12.41 pm: The card is priced at Rs 1,200. You can use it on any size table. We're not letting you use it for your boyfriend/girlfriend, because we want to be able to afford it. Obviously anyone can exploit this with a common surname, but we're hoping you won't.

12.43 pm: TWENTY FIVE SALES!!

12.51 pm: GAH TECHNICAL THINGS. How I wish I could code a website.

1.09 pm: Holy jesus, how people are up in arms about last name thing. Scan a copy of your marriage license if you don't have the same last name, and we'll add your spouse. Scan a copy of your birth certificate and we'll add your parents. This is just the best way we could get around making it fool proof. And that's the last I'm saying on the subject.

1.17 pm: Goodness, one hundred sold already.

1.35 pm: DRA-HA-MA!! A competing Delhi website has launched their membership card today as well. We took a screen shot of the prices, you know, coz we're corporate espionage-y like that. (Click to see a bigger image.)

12.08 pm: We just ordered lunch from Asian Haus, which I l-o-v-e. (Also on the card.) My favourite things so far are the Hawker noodles and Cantonese chilli chicken, but the girls are vegetarian and so I try to quench my cravings with eggplant.

2.27 pm: Obviously so hungry that I made 2.08, 12.08, and then experienced a little moment of confusion where I looked at my post and thought, "Huh, they're taking a while."

3.34 pm: Post-lunch lull. We're all tired and sleepy but still super wired.

4.32 pm: Phone call! Heard from someone wanting to buy it. It reminds me of when I used to volunteer with this board exam middle-of-the-night helpline, telling students not to stress, except, um, not suicidal. And more exciting questions. Still, it's nice when your phone rings with a strange number and it's not Airtel.

4.58 pm: If you bring me coffee, I will love you forever. Promise.

4.59 pm: Places that serve awesome coffee on the card: Elma's & Cafe Turtle. I have most of my meetings and Sunday evening dessert cravings met at the Cafe Turtle in Nizamuddin East. AND Full Circle is giving us 10 per cent off books, which means you might not have to wait a day for Flipkart to deliver.

and

6.01 pm from Twitter: My live blog ends here, on twitter, with a hailstorm & black coffee. Can't get on blogger with my phone so here's where I say goodbye.

We had a good day. The live-blog was fun. Here's the website I've been talking about: www.coupcard.in.

And now back to our regular programming.

 

Something Other Than Writing

You know I rarely talk about my Real Job on here, it was a policy I started ages ago, back when I was with The Tabloid, and carried over with Indian Express, who objected to employees mentioning work stuff online, and then, I guess it became a habit. But, I'm going to blur the lines here a little bit, and actually bring up what I've been completely consumed with this last month: the bpb loyalty card, called the Coup Card, you buy it, you get 15 per cent off at Delhi's nicest places. (And I don't mean generic nice, I mean I've-actually-eaten-at-them-and-love-them nice.)

There I was all "Lalalalala, how hard can this be?" and there was the Universe, determined to prove exactly how hard it could be.

The Universe is quite a chutiya sometimes.

How to date a writer

You are in bed together, both of you reading, when she begins to read bits of a bad review online aloud to you. By the end of it, she has gorged on every comment, analysed what so-and-so might mean, wondered whether she will ever write the best book ever written.

You toss away a comment about writing and it being an ongoing process. She is up in arms, "You don't like my book?"  You carefully say--it is all about being careful in this moment--that you liked it, you loved it, but every book should represent a growth. She stomps in her bare feet and shorts into the dining room and lights a cigarette, yelling things about support and encouragement.

You talk her down from a ledge. By the end of it, she is excited about a new project, her usual self, telling you stories you've heard before about what a friend from Hong Kong said about her book, how someone else messaged her on Facebook.

Late Night Fiction: Annotations

He made notes in his margins, circling words and adding his own comments, like a dialogue in his head. He wasn't a book collector, only a consumer, and when he was done, he sold his books at a by-the-kilo price to a kabaddi-wala, who carted them away along with newspapers and old wine bottles.

Launches & weekends

I'm writing this on a tiger-striped couch in the Good Thing's apartment in Juhu. Outside, the traffic noises have abated a little bit, that's one thing Juhu has over Bandra, the traffic seems less clusterfucked, it's more of a pleasant roar than a constant screeching.

Walk to Juhu beach

The other thing Juhu has over Bandra is the beach and a pretty walk to it, pedestrian-filled and cobble stoned. This is not to say my love for Bandra has abated, in fact, it still sucks a bit that you have to think before you visit a friend--and most of mine here in Bombay are still in that suburb--and I miss certain things, the activity, the young people and so on, but Juhu is civilised and so I've made my peace with it.

If it's Friday, it must be Bombay

ARGH, BAD BLOGGER, BAD BAD BAD.

If I could encompass these past few weeks in two words--actually I'll just make it one word: shoes. Spring is here, and I'm changing up some parts of my style.

A lot of my shopping has been online these days, what can I say? Work is so swampy I don't even have time to blog, book stuff has been a little stress-y, so in order to get my retail therapy stuff, I shop.

So, I bought these gorgeous pair of kickers.

Colour blocked heels from Done By None

And in my wear-every-day since I got them are these lovely, lovely buttersoft brogues by my good friend and all round Talented Person, Nayantara Sood of Taramay

Other stuff I can highly recommend: coffee from Blue Tokai, I buy the whole beans and grind them myself, because I'm a bit of a coffee snob these days. And a basket full of fresh veggies from I Say Organic, the prettiest pudina! the sexiest spinach! the pinkest beetroot!

And the reason for this post, because I'm a bad blogger, but trying to be a good book-writing-promoting-person-- drum roll please.

This FRIDAY March 15, at the Last Ship Art Residency, Bandra.
7.30 pm to 10.30 pm.

I'll be launching Cold Feet! In conversation with me is Raja Sen, who you know if you know movies, also a good friend, and someone I thought would have an interesting gender discussion with me. Also, drinks, reading, and Instagram. All are welcome, so come, bring your friends, your parents, your first awkward date.

Here's a link to the Facebook invite for more details.

ETA: Bombay invite

Also, stay tuned, because I'll be in Pune on Saturday for another reading--are any of you in Pune? Will you come and hear me read? I'll post location/time details on the blog and on my Facebook page as soon as I have it.

ETA: Pune NEW invite

*IMPORTANT IMPORTANT CHANGE OF VENUE IMPORTANT**
Saturday, March 16, 5 pm
Barista, MG Road.
Come! 
(The Law College Barista had construction going on.)

Phew. Promotion is wearing me out. I'll be happy when I can go back to talking about my cat again for three hours. (Although, this book party stuff is quite fun when you're actually THERE and DOING IT, as opposed to right before when you're organising it and trying to get the show on the road, because, wine.)