<p> In the market place of ideas, surprises are of undoubted value and they can never be too much. But imagine walking out on to the street to find a personalised pani puri stall or better still a store with an entire section customised just for you. Wouldn’t that “really surprise” you?<br /><br />In a world of surprises, Bangalore may have discovered the perfect business -- selling ideas and customisation -- in the upward pursuit of happiness. In what is a novelty, Oye Happy, a “surprise hub” no more than 20 square feet in dimension in busy Church Street is trying to encash on creating a higher emotional quotient.<br /><br />Be it a birthday, an anniversary, a promotion at work or a proposal or any other occasion (and for that matter, no occasion at all) Oye Happy is on a quest to serve innovative and personalised surprises to delight the special people in your lives, made-to-order surprises if you will.<br /><br />This impulse to be different was born about a year back more as a “lets-do-something-fun-with-life” as Oye Happy chief executive officer Harshvardhan Khemani put it. Soon six others joined this venture across three cities, including Bangalore, where Oye Happy’s offices are handled by “happiness officers” Varun Todi and Sadiya Ali. Oye Happy believes that “happiness is our birth right” and “spreading” it is its “responsibility” which they take “very seriously -- by conceptualising and organising surprises”. For customers seeking and willing to surprise the “special folks” in their lives, an order could be placed by logging on to www.oyehappy.com. Once the team gets an order, the first step is to obtain as much information one is willing to provide.<br /><br />The minimum a surprise idea or a small bundle costs is Rs 2,500; the sky is, of course, the limit if a customer ordered too many surprises which could include three types or a mix of these: gifting, in which the Oye Happy team would create a fairy tale around your beau along with her pictures; stunts and activities, in which one could be welcomed to a new city by random folks at the airport; and once in a lifetime, in which a guy could be given the idea of proposing Cinderalla-style. So when Nafisa wanted to surprise her sister, she contacted the Oye Happy team. The next time Nafisa’s sister, who is a shopaholic, stepped into her favourite store, her mouth fell agape. “She was shocked to find there was an entire section stacked with her favourite things. I think Oye Happy’s ideas are quite out-of-the-box,” squealed Nafisa.<br /><br />The “happiness officers” on the Oye Happy team, however, confess that it’s not about fun and wackiness all the time. They sometimes, unknowingly, become the medium for people to express what they normally cannot or do not.<br /><br />“Every surprise, whether it is a gift, an activity or an experience, is conceived and organised after understanding the person for whom the surprise is meant, so a special occasion stays special,” the Oye Happy website says. It makes a mundane day special.</p>
<p> In the market place of ideas, surprises are of undoubted value and they can never be too much. But imagine walking out on to the street to find a personalised pani puri stall or better still a store with an entire section customised just for you. Wouldn’t that “really surprise” you?<br /><br />In a world of surprises, Bangalore may have discovered the perfect business -- selling ideas and customisation -- in the upward pursuit of happiness. In what is a novelty, Oye Happy, a “surprise hub” no more than 20 square feet in dimension in busy Church Street is trying to encash on creating a higher emotional quotient.<br /><br />Be it a birthday, an anniversary, a promotion at work or a proposal or any other occasion (and for that matter, no occasion at all) Oye Happy is on a quest to serve innovative and personalised surprises to delight the special people in your lives, made-to-order surprises if you will.<br /><br />This impulse to be different was born about a year back more as a “lets-do-something-fun-with-life” as Oye Happy chief executive officer Harshvardhan Khemani put it. Soon six others joined this venture across three cities, including Bangalore, where Oye Happy’s offices are handled by “happiness officers” Varun Todi and Sadiya Ali. Oye Happy believes that “happiness is our birth right” and “spreading” it is its “responsibility” which they take “very seriously -- by conceptualising and organising surprises”. For customers seeking and willing to surprise the “special folks” in their lives, an order could be placed by logging on to www.oyehappy.com. Once the team gets an order, the first step is to obtain as much information one is willing to provide.<br /><br />The minimum a surprise idea or a small bundle costs is Rs 2,500; the sky is, of course, the limit if a customer ordered too many surprises which could include three types or a mix of these: gifting, in which the Oye Happy team would create a fairy tale around your beau along with her pictures; stunts and activities, in which one could be welcomed to a new city by random folks at the airport; and once in a lifetime, in which a guy could be given the idea of proposing Cinderalla-style. So when Nafisa wanted to surprise her sister, she contacted the Oye Happy team. The next time Nafisa’s sister, who is a shopaholic, stepped into her favourite store, her mouth fell agape. “She was shocked to find there was an entire section stacked with her favourite things. I think Oye Happy’s ideas are quite out-of-the-box,” squealed Nafisa.<br /><br />The “happiness officers” on the Oye Happy team, however, confess that it’s not about fun and wackiness all the time. They sometimes, unknowingly, become the medium for people to express what they normally cannot or do not.<br /><br />“Every surprise, whether it is a gift, an activity or an experience, is conceived and organised after understanding the person for whom the surprise is meant, so a special occasion stays special,” the Oye Happy website says. It makes a mundane day special.</p>
