The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption

I miss my iPod Nano.

Before I lost it two weeks back, my iPod was inseparable from me, like a part of my own body.

I would wake up and pick up my iPod from its JBL dock to listen to a podcast or two on the pot. I would take it along to office, so that I could slip on the earplugs when nobody was looking and cocoon myself from the noise of phones ringing all around me (my own phones are always on slient mode). On my walk back from office, I would listen to another podcast or two, or some songs, if it was a particularly tiring day. On the evenings when I ventured out again for an evening walk, I would connect my iPod to my Nike Plus shoes and take it along. Finally, as soon as I stepped back into my house, I would plug my iPod into its dock and listen to it until I fell asleep.

Two months back, I thought of myself as a walker.

I walked for fun. I walked for exercise. I walked to digest my dinner. I walked to clean my head. I walked so that I could watch strangers. I walked so that I could talk with friends.

After I started my experiment and gave up my car, I walked all the time. I tried waking up early so that I could walk from my house in Cuffe Parade to my office in Kala Ghoda before the sun came up. I tried leaving office early so that I could walk over to Marine Drive before the sun went down. I walked to Churchgate station to catch local trains to the suburbs. I walked to New Marine Lines to watch French movies at Alliance Francaise. I met up with friends and dates for a walk on Marine Drive, or Worli Sea Face, or Bandra’s Carter Road, or Juhu’s Chowpatty Beach.