Live to tell the tale

What I've liked: There's a livewire little TVC on air these days, and it's all about what you can do if you have a car battery that lasts a really long time.

Now, long life for a battery is a proposition that is as old as the invention of the product. Brand after brand must find a new and unique ways to tell the same old story time and time again. And the secret of their success lies in the way they do it.

Be it Duracell's little pink rabbit that never runs out of steam, or, as in this case, Amaron's car battery that morphs a vehicle into something that plays innumerable roles. It is the charming possibilities that the ads' creators conjure up in every round of storytelling that invest an ordinary utilitarian product with so much life.

Every time the boring little white car transforms itself, there seems to be an exciting little avatar waiting for it, be as the sturdy old Ambassador canvassing votes for a politician or as a sleek black limousine from which a fashion ramp rolls out.

Little details that escaped your attention in the beginning pop up in subsequent viewings. Each avatar has been carefully and painstaking crafted with just that right amount of intricacy to hold your attention without losing the "plot" as it were. Teamed with a non-stop monologue for an audio track, this ad is a sure entertainer.

What I've learned: Our happiness depends on wisdom all the way -- Sophocles.

It really is an unfair world. Life demands that we use our brain even for a simple, spontaneous, emotion like happiness. Like I was taught to do on a trip that took an unforeseen turn about six years ago.

I was traveling from Pune to Ahmedabad via Bombay. For some odd reason, the connecting flight from Bombay to Ahmedabad was cancelled, and impatient as I was to get home, I decided to fly to Vadodara and drive to Ahmedabad.

I was lucky to have an acquaintance with me who bought into this plan. So there we were driving down the Vadodara-Ahmedabad highway feeling quite pleased that we had leaped over an unnecessary obstacle in our paths, when out of the blue, our car drove straight into a truck that had no tail-lights and had paused momentarily for some mysterious reason.

All of us were knocked unconscious, and we lay bleeding on the highway as night crept in on us. . . until a passing van stopped and helped us get medical attention. Near-death experiences always make you look at life differently, and I was no different. My reaction was that of immense relief and gratitude.

I was and am very sure that it was the continual prayers of my family that tided me over this near-fatal crisis. I could, on the other hand, have viewed the whole incident quite differently. I could have ranted and raved at my fate, and then at the thoughtless truck driver, and the prime reason of it all -- the cancelled flight.

I could have got really unpleasant about the entire episode and taken all the offenders to court, but yet, I was happy. The reason was very simple. When you think about it, I guess it all depends on your mindset. It could have been the worst day of my life, or the luckiest because I am still alive to tell the tale. Happiness is a choice. Choose positivism, and you will agree.