Marketing survey

It was one of those lazy afternoons. Third semester of engineering. I was sleeping. Suddenly amma woke me up. Meet Neeraj she said.

I washed my face and made my way to the front of our 1BHK. Who was Neeraj? Why did she want me to meet him? Why did she wake me up? Groggily I sat in front of him. 

Neeraj was a smartly dressed guy, doing door to door surveys. He had of course smooth talked amma into taking some 45 minute survey. Turned out Amma took the survey and then asked him who are you. He said I am a college student doing surveys during my vacation (and earning money). Amma had an evil glint in her eyes I presume. She told him, there is a student here also. Wait. 

Thus I sat face to face with Neeraj.

I don't recollect much of the conversation after that but the next day I was in a bus to meet this company. They recruited me right away and the day after that I found myself armed with forms walking door to door conducting a survey in various localities of Mumbai for the next 15 days.

It was a whirl. Pramod Kambli was my supervisor. He said, see the name and talk. If it's a Gujarati, just say you are giving something free and they will open. If it is a Maharashtrian, speak in Marathi. Over the next few days, I cracked the code - I used all the languages I know and went in for the kill on specific targets than ringing every door bell. I specifically looked for Anglo-Indians, Maharashtrians, Malayalis and Tamils. I would meet my target and go home - it wasnt easy - some days I would climb many buildings and nobody would oblige. Some days, I finished it in no time. Pramod and Neeraj had their own ways of getting into apartments where the security was particularly painful - yet it was those days, 1995, when there were no apartment security and salesmen, survey people like us had easy access. 

It was my first paying job. 50 houses completed in about 15 odd days. People slam doors in your face - when all you are doing is a simple job - earning your livelihood (not me, but the others like Pramod). People shout at you for no reason - except that you rang the doorbell. Dogs chase you. Security people drive you out. Each day we went off long distances to the suburb where he had to survey and worked through the day. Food was eaten by the wayside in gardens or bus-stops. (Restaurants say: Outside food not allowed). Once, in a bus, my bag was cut and the person took my wallet and my tiffin dabba (steel dabbas often contain cash). Guy must have been disappointed - he would have got a few rupees and 4 dosas. I also learnt that my communication skills were useful in many situations. And for all this, about a month later, I was handed a cheque of 3000 rupees. 

Probably one of my toughest jobs. It changed the way I looked at salespersons. From then on, I became gentle with salespersons and politely told them off rather than slamming the door. 

Many days later, I saw a familiar face outside my balcony, Pramod was training a new recruit in his animated way as they made their way through my locality. He did not see me. I sent a silent thanks his way...