Guest Article: Abhishake Das: How I found my faith back

I was at a nearby celebrity-filled puja pandal when faith hit me. Actually, it was an elderly gentleman with the new iPad who did; faith happened on its own. And it was quite liberating, I must say. It was like waiting for an era, and realising -- the wait was over. For those who cannot understand what I am all about, let me take you a few years back.

I moved to 'Digital' around six years back, and everyone thought I was professionally suicidal. And why not? Digital, then was nothing more than that booty call you would make at 2:00am, drunk and desperate, when all other ways of getting laid have had turned sour. And she would serve you with a smile, like those underage Thai girls, for nothing more than a cheap tequila shot, always happy you came. It was a place you would visit in secrecy, and leave before dawn, back into the arms of your 'above-the-line' girlfriend. But today, it is a slightly different story.

Today, that geek with braces has matured and has all the right curves, and everyone seems to know a lot about her suddenly. You like her, you ogle at the ways she moves, you fantasise about doing things with her that no one has ever done before, but most of all, you want her by your side, on your arm, you live in her afterglow.

Don't get me wrong, you might want her because everyone else wants her, but you really don't understand her more that you did before. It is just that she is desirable now, immensely so. You think about her while your latest brand film dances seductively to bring some excitement back into your relationship. But all you can think of is whether digital will approve of it, or not? Every time you do something new, you run to her, you want to share it, you want her to like it and give you an infectious viral, like an unstoppable STD, oh you want that viral so bad, don't you? Yes, you do. And you try so hard for it too. But, at the end of the day, you still don't understand what it is that will keep her satisfied, make her your woman.

So anyway, having come from the time when we sold 100 clicks for 100 bucks, to a place where my kind is a novelty today, I can say this. And I can tell you why and how it was so difficult to keep faith in a miracle that still hadn't happened, at least not in the way it was expected. Maybe, soon there won't be any more looking down on my kind, maybe the underdog will succeed, maybe my kind won't have to wipe the plates for bits of food after the lords of mainline are done devouring the better half of the turkey. And most importantly, maybe, just maybe, we won't have to fight tooth and nail with OOH, Radio, DM, CRM, ORM for a share of the leftovers. Maybe, online will seem to be a better option than offline.

Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, faith, she hit me. Right there, in that heady mix of incense, drums, chants and the smell of eggrolls; in the form of a thousand glowing screens around me. Yes, I could see the orgy of content shared, captured and created, by everyone, every section, every age group and every demographic the planners can cook up. I could see it firsthand, that she has infected every part of the society, there was no escape. I could see that the people today are equipped for multimedia storytelling, I could see that it was no more a thing of novelty to anyone. I guess this is what it feels like to have fought for a cause, and have won it. Well, almost!

The author is creative head, digital, McCann Worldgroup.

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