Mangal Desha Pavitra Desha...

Maharashtra - the most promising state in the republic of India. This year, Maharashtra is celebrating the golden jubilee of its formation. Darode Jog Properties Calendar 2010 celebrates this occasion.
The great personalities in various fields like literature, drama, politics, etc who made their contribution towards the formation of the state and their own hand-written manuscripts is the subject of this calendar. Besides, it was blessed with the good wishes of the honourable president Smt. Pratibhatai Patil. The Every moment, this work and the entire process is very close to my heart.

Balmitra : New Identity

Recently I designed the logo for Balmitra… a weekly supplement of Sakal newspaper. I would like to share how the initial idea for this logo struck me. Once I was trying to lull my year-old daughter to sleep. It is interesting to see how children have their favorite things. My daughter just doesn’t sleep unless she gets her own blanket… a hand-stitched one with big colourful patterns (called Godhadi in Marathi). When I started working for the logo, this was the first thing that came to my mind and I used the same pattern in the logo design!
I also worked on the ad campaign for Balmitra Drawing Competition. This competition completed its silver jubilee this year. The campaign was woven around the theme ‘a competition that colours the expressions of two generations’. Incidentally, I was also one of the participants in this competition. :)

Today is the last day…

Today is the last day of Sakal Pune Diwali Fest 09. Till yesterday when I designed the ad expressing thanks for the tremendous response, I did not realize that it was the last ad of the campaign. But today when I saw the ad in print, I feel so empty. It is like emptiness that fills the house when your child leaves home for his faraway school, after a long vacation.
I remember the hustle and bustle of the past six months. The hell lot of work. May to October - around six months is not a big time span, but it was an affair to remember.
This one event comprised eight sub-events. Here are a few of them.

I have seen the god!

I remember a placard during one of the cricket matches. It said ‘When I die, I will see the god. Till then, let me see Sachin’
Everyone knows that in India cricket is a religion and players are gods! Last month I got the opportunity to see a few of them. The event was 75th Birthday of the well known cricketer Chandu Borde. He was given an Honorary Certificate (Manpatra) at the hands of Sachin Tendulkar. I was blessed with the opportunity to design that Manpatra. At the event I met some great cricketers of those golden times - Ajit Wadekar, Bapu Nadkarni, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar and the birthday boy Chandu Borde. And it was nothing less than a ‘heavenly’ experience!

The Last Minute Thought…

When I was working for this brochure, I made 2 or 3 different average (anytime successful) designs… the designs were approved by the client. I was also busy with other assignments. But I was not satisfied with the way I had done the job… And out of nowhere an idea struck my mind. I got some connection of the company Policy with the Jungal Book story and Bhagwan Krishna’s life story… I started working on the project once again and here is the outcome…

I don’t work for my salary

When I was assigned the brochure design for MakeMySalary.com, this was the theme line that came to my mind… A typical Puneri mind always at work!! :)

Mahayatra : Five Months of Non stop work.

The Sakaal Property Mahayatra & Education Mahayatra were held from January to May of this year . There were 5 destinations for Property Mahayatra and 6 destinations for Education Mahayatra. In the five months full of hard work, I worked on the entire event branding, hoardings and advertisements of the event and that of my clients who participated in this.
Thanx to Rugwed for believing in my abilities and also to my Mahayatra Team, Sandeep, Murlidhar, Nitin, Kshitij, Ashutosh, Sudhir, Mihir, Deepali [ Sorry for giving the ad material late on a few occassions Dee :P ] And Thanx to all those who helped me to make this event a big success. In the whole process I have become so attached to the routine of Mahayatra that now, on its completion, I desperately miss it :(