As I Write This Letter...

1. The Methodical Madness of Cosmos

Analytical. Deliberate. Disciplined. Efficient. Methodical. Meticulous. Orderly. Organised. Planned. Precise. Structured. Systematic. Tactical.

These words, in alphabetical order, if you please, would be the words Sanskaar Ram Prasad Maheshwari would use to describe himself. He was a man of order, a man with a plan and at least a couple of back up plans (plan B, plan C, etc., after all there are twenty six letters in the English alphabet and numerous possible permutations, especially considering that there would be no restriction on the either the number of letters that could be used nor the number of times an alphabet could be repeated; which he was sure would surely run into a very large number and he would have found out the same if he had the time to compute). He, however, would not call himself perfect, he accepted that perfection was an illusion and he was quite aware of the foolishness of attempting to achieve such an elusive goal. However, he preferred to be well prepared, even for the unpredictable, which was ironic, to say the least.

His family and friends had slightly differing views.

His grandfather, Retired Major General Shiv Prasad Maheshwari, was proud of his grandson's military precision in planning and almost forgave him for the grave error of not following in his footsteps and joining the Army. He was also responsible for fostering Sanskaar's passion for planning everything down to the minutest possible detail. Ram Prasad Maheshwari, his father, on the other hand, true to his reserved and taciturn nature, expressed no opinion or reservations, though if pressed, would have admitted relief that his son's passion for planning had dimmed his father's attention on him.

His mother, Sujata, more than made up for her husband's silence by incessant grumbling about her beloved son. She loved Sanskaar but found his insistence at planning everything quite troublesome. Sujata believed in living life as it came, with no plan or preparations, which often caught her unawares and left her flustered, the degree varying from mild alarm to a full-fledged panic attack. Sanskaar grew up in a house where he had realised early on that anything that depended on his mother would rarely materialise and soon learnt to be independent of her. He loved his mother but then even love was not enough to overlook the glaring fact that his mother could not be relied upon for the most mundane tasks; there were days when making breakfast at a regular time seemed to be beyond her capabilities. He was thankful that his grandmother had never relinquished her reign over the household.

Uttara, Sanskaar's baby sister; who, as she was only three years younger, often objected quite vociferously at being called a baby, found her brother to be equal parts inspiring and obnoxious. While she admired and tried to emulate the way he managed to plan, most of the time, for she could appreciated the ease of execution that planning entailed, she could get exasperated when he tried to plan for her.

His clients and business associates adored him; his planning ensured that each advertising campaign could get executed within the timelines and with minimum fuss.

Ram Prasad had started the small advertising agency way back in the early nineties, just when the country had moved from the licence raj to the liberal economy. With his dedication and hard work, coupled with a creative ingenuity that most people would be surprised to know that he possessed, he had grown it to a fairly large and successful business.

When Sanskaar had taken over the same, rather than continuing only with the traditional modes of advertising in print and television media, he ventured into social media and digital marketing. It had been timed with his usual precision and enabled the newly christened agency to grab a large chunk of the digital sector, growing at a robust rate and received recognition for its professional services and affordable prices.

And he was tolerated by his friends, who marvelled at his parties, which were planned and executed with a finesse but otherwise cribbed about his habit of planning for everything, all in a good-naturedly manner.