Einstein - Me!!

Disha’s blogpost has inspired to pen down an incident that earned me the nickname “Einstein” for the wrong reason.
I was perusing my MBA when I joined the Delhi branch of an ad agency named iB&W (In Black and White, for those wondering what iB&W stood for) for a 6-week internship. Being a person who always topped my advertising management and related subject classes, I was confident that I understood my new role as the copywriter at the agency. But 4 weeks into my internship, my ego had all but disappeared. All my ‘great’ and ‘brilliant’ ideas had been torn to shreds by the scrutinizing eyes of the Creative Director, Avijit Dutt. Now instead of looking forward to meeting and discussing ideas with him, I looked for ways to melt into the wallpaper and stacks of advertising magazines every time he walked into the basement office where I worked. Most days I was successful in hiding from sight and some days, like the day I earned my name, I was not so successful.
That day, as I was doing some research, he sat at the computer next to mine altering some of the ideas that had been prepared by others. An electrician stood behind me trying to repair a plug point when I heard Avijit say, “Aey, Einstein, pencil de.”
I wondered how the electrician ended with a name like Einstein. And then again Avijit requested, “Oye, Einstein, pencil de na.”
“That’s weird,” I thought to myself, “why doesn’t this Einstein guy just give him a pencil?”
Then Avijit tapped me on the shoulder, “Arre! Einstein, give me your pencil yaar!”
Dammit! I’m Einstein? I gave the pencil and never asked him why he had bestowed me with such a heavy name.
A few days later, while working on a Bhagidari ad for the new recyclable and bio-degradable dustbins (the blue and green dustbins) that we see around Delhi now, I gave up. My brain stopped cold and I had no more ideas but since I had to come up with something to show for my input for that project, I came up with a very lame idea. I was almost ashamed to even read it myself let alone share it with Avijit who would, I believed, kick me all the way home for wasting his time. I showed the idea to my immediate senior who said that it was quite interesting and who shared it with Avijit who proceeded to scream, “Excellent! This is the kind of idea I was asking for.” Really? And yet he called me Einstein till the day I completed my internship.
On my last day and iB&W, Avijit called me to his office. “Do you know why I call you Einstein?” he asked. I shook my head. “Like most newbies, you put into work all that you learnt from the books. If I wanted that I would have kept a few good books and asked anybody here to pull out ideas. And I also know that when you stopped thinking too hard, you came up with one of the best ad concepts I have seen recently. Lesson to be learnt, keep in mind what you have learnt but don’t forget to use your mind. Most people make that mistake.”
I never forgot that.

Sangeeta Menon