Of Bumper Stickers and Life's Puzzling Answers

' Naseeboon Wali', painted in yellow right behind a noicy rickshaw was a gentle reminder for me that I was indeed a lucky person not to be travelling in one. Funny but true, I have a history with bumper stickers and billboard signs. They talk to me.

The thought first occupied some shelpfspace in my mind during one of my bouts with depression back in 2006. While driving back, my eyes got stuck to a billboard sign, I recall blogging it on my deactivated blog as my readers gasped saying I had lost my mind. Depression does funny things to you, and in my case this was literally funny. It was something on believing I think, but it had made a home run with me at that point.

In came the donkey cart with a bumper sticker on it that read, 'Managing Director'. It came at a time, while I was come back after one of the many ad. agency meeting and thinking why am I doing this? In one of the many early morning rides to work, the eternal motvating one liner written behind a rickshaw was, 'Mein bara ho kar truck bunoon ga' (I will grow up to be a truck). Some motivation that proved to be. Talk about inspirational analogies.

Truth of the matter is I've stopped reading management literature on Motivation, Learning, Growing and Life. I have excess of these one liners that make me sit up and think and relate too. It comes easy, readily and makes sense. After all this time, I'm learning that creative thinking or creativity for that matter does not come easy. Neither does it come inside air conditioned offices or off-site meeting rooms. Its out there and hits you when you least expect it. I'm finding some of life's difficult answers that way. The good thing is no matter what the truth, it leaves me smiling.

Next time while you're on the road, look for your signs. Not up at the sky stupid! Right behind rickshaws, billboard hoardings, and other similar bumper stickers. Like the saying goes, "the medium is the message" :-)