Tactfully and Strategically (Blog marathon post 23)

Getting your friends to do a guest post for your blog marathon is as hard as getting Diego Maradona to play football for India, especially taking into  consideration the fact that we do not have a team that has come even close to qualifying for the  FIFA world cup.
But I thought this would be different. My friend Prashant does have a blog after all and to draw parallels here, it would be a front runner for finals, and not even the also-rans. Everyone also knows he wrote some fantastic stuff for the Royal Challengers blog, although I am sure being in the esteemed company of Kumble and Ray Jennings would have been motivation enough for him, apart from the luxurious five star hotel stay that they had ensconced him with, from where he churned out posts after posts.
Still, there is pure bribery and then there is a thing as friendship, I thought. And I waited patiently while the man busied himself, acquiring a degree in Math and Economics from no less than the London school of Economics. Like a sincere friend should, I extended my support and remembered his exam dates (too) and texted him, taking care to even text him my best wishes, at an appropriate time (which was rather hard considering we are in two different time zones) so that my text wouldn’t wake him. I also followed it up with a phone call, the day his exams got over. But tactfully and strategically I must add, I did not mention the guest post request, even then.
Then I made a truly wonderful, marvellous and outstanding portrait of him.(Click here to see it)  He was delighted. He even had it as his Facebook profile picture for a while.
Now was the time to strike. How could he refuse me a guest post now? So I sent him a very casual mail  asking if he would like to write a guest post  for me and very casually  I also said that he could definitely say a no and I wouldn’t mind at all. (Of course, I did not tactfully and strategically again, mention that if he had said a no I’d have smashed his head with a bludgeon)
Turned out that the bludgeon wasn’t needed after all. He agreed sweetly (the gentleman that he is), blissfully unaware of how close he had been to having his head smashed. :-) But experience has taught me that promising is one thing and actually getting the guest post in hand is another thing entirely. He is adept at being invisible on g-talk and he gives darshan to his devotees very rarely  and even when he does, it is usually like a  sheegra darshan of Lord Ventateshwara . :-)
So the other day (which must have been a sheegra darshan  day for him) on G-talk , he  saw me online and he made the error of saying a ‘hey preeti’ to me. I pounced on him faster and swifter than the Sudarshan Chakra of  Lord Vishnu and thundered   a “ WHERE IS MY GUEST POST?”
He was silent for 3 seconds.
Then he went offline!
I could only imagine his agony/ misery/fear/terror. On hindsight, maybe I should have strategically and tactfully said a “hey prashant ” to him, before asking for my guest post.
:D

Picture of prashant and me, clicked on my b'day at Bangalore.


PS: 1.Watch this space.Guest post by Prashant Dhanke .Coming up tomorrow.
2. Gillian Da Silva and Ajay Chauhan, be afraid..Be very afraid. It's your turn next to do a guest post. *stares with eyes narrowed and the meanest face*




Comments

  1. Honored.
    And trapped too :).

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  2. was this a filler?

    well, no doubt i got some good tips to persue people to write something as a guest writer :)

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  3. LOL! This was a smart one... Even I have done things like this... plan well in advance and approach people... Someone has requested me to write smthg too... and after that m always invisible on gtalk and facebook... LOL! so its not just ur friend...

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  4. Aswathi: heheheh Thank you.

    Pointblank: :D He is always on invisible only :)

    Abhi: Oh no-- not a filler at all! A proper planned post. A lot of effort went into writing it :)

    Prashant: :-)

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  5. Great approach for getting the guest post!!;-)

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  6. Very intersting post and made me smile :P
    Really tactfully and strategically you have made this post and Prashant has no other choice except write a guest post for you:)
    And no wonder Gillian and Ajay are waiting in the queue and dont have any other options :)
    Looks like a tamil movie in which the hero tactfully and strategically made a minister donate his money after pasting some wall posters praising the minister for his generosity !
    Nice to see the camaraderie :)
    Cheers

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  7. hahaha... this is funny!! :D
    You have pushed him to the point of no return... now he just cant refuse even if he wants to. hahahaha!!!

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  8. hahahaha...you got me laughing real hard here with the imagery here! loved reading this, Preeti


    he must have disappeared to churn out that guest post and mail it to you asap! :D

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  9. was laughing all through the post.
    You know how to get your work done that way you are a good manager too.

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  10. Asha: Thanks--was a humourous post only :)

    Suma: To be really honest, he has already sent me guest post :P :) But still i wanted to write this post :)

    Mamta: LOL..No no..he had already sent me post. He is quite sweet actually :)

    Prats: :D

    Nandagopan: ajay and gillian are NOT waiting in queue. Prashant had already sent me post :P :) Wrote this just as a humourous post :)

    Durga: yes :)

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  11. Moral of the story: A lot of hard work goes into every post - whether you write it or you bribe/threaten and get others to do it for you :P

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  12. Hilarious Preeti......I was down in the dumps whole day and this post straight hunted out my funny bone;-D

    The metaphorical reference was the ultimate...esp since we know how he looks....the imagery of him with a crown and jewellery & flowers & giving sheegra darshan, I cdn't stop laughing imagining the whole scene;-D

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  13. Jokes apart, looking forward to reading the guest post by BrownPhantom:-)).

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  14. Wow...You do know how to "threaten" your friends :)

    Awaiting his guest post...And also the other two...

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  15. Palsworld: Was in jest completely :) he's already written the post :) will post today.

    Reflections: hahahahaha..I alos laughed (again) after reading your description :)

    MS: yes yes :)

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  16. Tum jaan le lo ab ek guest post ke liye :)

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  17. rohit: was tagged funny/amusing :) was in jest totally :)

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  18. LOL.. That poor guy :)

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  19. loll, now there's no way out for any of the proposed guest bloggers!

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  20. Game, set and match to Preeti :D

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