50TH EPISODE: IT WAS IIFA 2013 MACAU time. Twelve member senior corporate sales and marketing team from Dainik Bhaskar led by Pradeep Dwivedi was at Macau mixing business with pleasure. The business part of the agenda, a review and planning meet was closed out on the first day itself.
The team had heads across zones and Verticals; Dharmendra Atri, Raja Mitra, Vidu Shekar, Jaideep Dhagat, Rajiv Gautam, Binayak Sen, Sanjay Mani, Atul Talegaonkar, Peter Suresh, Saras Sethi and I. For many of them it was first visit to Macau. The expectation and thrill of playing at Casino was higher than watching the award live.
Pictures by Peter Suresh
It was a 4D3N trip Curtsey team IIFA. The hospitality was great, only glitch being the invites to events reaching at the nth hour. Not that the team had any issue with that, for team it was extra time at Casino.
Macau daytime is dull and sluggish. It’s the night when the stories get created.
Pictures by Peter Suresh
NIGHT –I: Team promptly arrived at the Casino. It was then that we realised that quite a few eager gamblers were rookies with no knowledge of the rules. Well someone had to coach them. Yours truly took charge and explained the games with live demo on the table. I guided them to the e-roulette, where they could play together without disturbing others or getting disturbed. Soon, the game started heating up. The energy would swell with the ball rolling down to the picked numbers and a audible sigh would echo if it did not match any number played by Bhaskarites. Not boasting but lady luck favoured me and kept winning in patches. I would en-cash and play again after leaving the machine to cool.
In next sitting, prompted by others, I collected $100 each from five people. I remember Dharmendra Atri, Atul Talegaonkar and Binayak were part of it. In 30 minutes I won and gave each one of them $200 i.e. $100 bonus. This further charged them. With a newfound vigour they attached the table.
Meanwhile, they discovered smoking inside OK and that the drinks were on the house. Some sharp person did rough calculation ad declared it was ok to loose till $200 f you had four free drinks. Oh how do gamblers explain their irrational behaviour!
HALF WAY FIRST NIGHT: Some moved on to the simple fortune wheel right next to the Roulette table. It promised to pay twice, triple, six times and twelve and fifty times as per the bet and number matching on the wheel. Frankly it is a simplified vertical roulette with odds that allow you to play long.
So you placed your bet and the wheel start with a fast ding-ding-dig ding sound. When it slows down and is nearing the final stop it makes a very enticing lyrical sound which goes with pauses between DONG DONG growing longer by the time, till it would stop with a final Dong. The players would hypnotically follow the wheel and their numbers.
THE DONG DONG MACHINE
It did not interest me and I took my place in the second row. I know its pure luck and predicting a pattern is waste of time, but who said gambling is rational. So, once when the wheel was almost at the verge of stopping taking further bets, for no real reason, I pushed Atul Talegaonkar to bet on 50 times return. He being cautious bet a lower amount but believes me; the final DONG hit the 50 multiplier. Now I was the unofficially crowned gambler king. As with drinks and high of winning, I shared my other stories of playing at Sun City, Goa, Cruise and some more.
GYAN SHARED ON NIGHT ONE. I the winning gambler high on smoke and drink shared the knowledge. En-cash your earnings time to time. If a winning streak is long enough – get out in time. Play with what you can lose. Do not take loans from friends in casino. Sit with counted money so you have the exact track. Do no over do with free drinks- they are meant for you to lose control. By the morning everyone else had their own theories and patterns, they were kings of casino. I know of two who came to play in the morning too. Overall it was a nice night.
NIGHT –II, The night saw everyone playing to their limits. I warned time and again that we still had a night but the game was warming up with time. I left around 1: 30 Am and went out with Peter Suresh to shoot Macau lit streets and buildings. People I knew played till very late. When we came back people were still playing.
NIGHT III. The deciding night, many stories were born this night. ONE– I was overall positive by some $800 and had no intention to lose, so I stayed away from the tables. I came in for an hour to see how the gang was doing. Actually I was tired after the Macau walk that Peter, Binayak and I did. TWO– Peter Suresh was down and losing, then he borrowed money from me. He was clear that if he lost he would call it quits. At 3 Am he knocked on my room. I was already asleep, but anyway welcomed him in. He returns my money and gleefully shared that that he had won a similar account and was going to sleep. Rest of the gang was still playing. THREE. This is big one and no names are taken. One of the senior Bhaskarite kept on loosing. But first he was enjoying. Then it became somewhat of an ego with all other winning. Result, I am told he made umpteen trips between the table and the ATM. He used all his cards. He continued playing in an attempt to win what he had already lost. He forgot the guru mantras. His collective loss ran into tens of thousands (INR). He in-fact was still playing when team went for the breakfast the next morning. FOUR: Three Bhaskarites, post the IIFA award function spent the night playing at the Fortune wheel that made the sound Don Dong and at the end( early morning) got up with hardly any change to their financial status.
I know why its called a ZERO SUM GAME.
Pictures by Peter Suresh
It was such a charged feeling that the team unanimously wanted to be back to Macau for the DONG DONG>
……….. OTHER ADVERTISING MARKETING EPISODES …
● HOT RIDE AT PUSHKAR ● THE WALK : How we discovered the culture at Macau ● The Jump – a team of 7 go sjyjumping during annual conclave at Pattaya ● HIGH SEA GAMBLING ● KOTI ANGLES: Gambeling in Goa ● MISSING LIPS : How friendship develops to create different expectations ● The Trap: How the AE searching for adventure got duped ● Equal Opportunity to Indulge: How HR finds itself ina spot in Pattaya ● THE LOST HAUNTING MUSIC– An experience ● UNNAMED SPIRIT- A SPOOKY EXPERIENCE at Mcleodganj ● PUNJABI LINTAS – Amrit Puri takes over Lintas ● DELAYED LAUNCH – Why HT Delhi Colour supplement launch was delayed ● UNDERGROUND – Printing fake currency could have led to jail ● STRATEGIC RAIN BREAK – How ZID KARO DHONI film was shot ● THANK YOU ● RAIN CLAUSE – I – The fight with Whitelight film over Maruti film ● LETHAL COMBINATION ● APPETITE – It does not matter where you get the appetite till you eat at home ● Puncture – how not to get caught ● ADULTERY- THE MOMENT – Its all for you to decide how far you would go ● ASSET – how a famous Indian model was rejected ● I AM SANKAR – soft ragging of new trainee ● THE COUNT ● INTRODUCTION ● TIME BOMB – How to avoid embarrassing situation ● SMALL TILE – eye for detail ● SHOOT REPORT ● SARDAR KHUSH HOGA ● SHOOT AT MUD ISLAND ●KAALI PEELI PICTURE – what do you do you’re your model is featured in Debonair ● UPGRADE ● JUHI EFFECT– there is something called lady luck in gambling ● POWER OF PUNJAB ● OUT – let game be game ● TWO MORE – how not to pay for the drinks ● ELEVEN MINUTES ● THE CHERRY WIN ● THE PRESENTATION ● BLACK GOLD ● BUFFERED ● CONTINUE WITH CLIENT ● NOT FIRED ● ONE LESS DECISION ● HIGH JACKING THE GOAFEST DELEGATES ● THE GHOST OF 35 RANI JHANSI ROAD JHANDEWALAON ● THE PROBLEM ● IMPORTED ART CARD ● BANYAN TREE AGENCY
