Sad but true !!

A few days ago, the gravest concern for an MBA (including me) was the nature of job one might land up with considering the gravity of the US-led financial turmoil that the world is going through. Its consequences on the job market in India in particular were the talk of the town across industries and colleges. I would have been satisfied with a lucrative pay-packet and a job crafted for me in the wake of this historic recession, considering that it would have been one of the most commendable achievements in my life. After the tragic Mumbai terror hold-ups, I just added one more wish to my wish-list; while I may have been minting money, I had to stay alive too. 

The Mumbai horror has reminded me of a fact that India is not just vulnerable to economic recession, courtesy its integration with the world markets and export-oriented service industry, but also forcibly fettered to combating a battery of consistent & incessant terrorist strikes to safeguard domestic security. Terrorists have been using our country’s prosperity and harmony as a challenge to create upheavals into. This horrendous act of killing has left many pondering about the true intentions behind these gruesome attacks. Some say Kashmir, some may say Gujrat; I think its India. Gujrat and Kashmir have caused more pain to the Indian muslims (if so to say). Time and again, the attacks are orchestrated by Pakistani outfits that are in the business of indoctrinating the imbecile and halfwits to carry out dare-devil acts of brutal and heartless carnage. The pawns used are of Pakistani origin and their accent also further vindicates the fact. The outfits have also openly shown their resentment towards Indian maulvis in keeping patient over the past violence caused to Muslim brethren in a call to the Hindi news channel. Clearly, their motive is to cultivate feeling of hatred and anguish over the entire Indian state. And the most favourable opportunity in the SWOT analysis of their project is: India doesn’t care.

India being a soft state, likes to go around debating more, enforcing less. Probably it’s one of the most hapless nations in the world to have no consensus on issues of national security. India today possesses the wherewithal to launch a strategic and disciplined strike at the POK areas which are the HQ’s of these factions. What it severely lacks and badly requires is the political will. The thing we need is a strong-will that transcends international diplomatic pressures, domestic holdbacks, resulting in an audacious and confident military intent to wipe out terrorism for good. Although the cost of war is too high, so is the cost of staying mum and waiting for the next attack to strike. What we have instead is political rhetoric and media hijack on core issues to individual tragedy stories. It’s such a shame for us to think of India as the next economic super-giant by 2025, when government can’t assure the number of people left by then to enjoy that momentous occasion. How could one dream of a growing economy, when there is a clear and present danger to the existence of the citizens at large? It is a tom-foolery by the state to hoodwink the aspirations of the public by such flagrant display of cowardice over national security concerns. It’s the public silence that is being misinterpreted as public neglect. The people at large want a affirmative and permanent solution and not just plain CBM’s (confidence building measures) It’s about time we take our vengeance plan more seriously. It’s a nation at war, and not just metropolitan insurgencies. People are fed up to go out on the streets living under the phobia of being a victim of a random number of an ugly plan hatched by the terrorists to kill innocent lives.

Killer Serials

There are a few noteworthy observations regarding 'saas-bahu' serials that I would also bring to light for the discerning readers.

First of all our characters are formally dressed from dawn to dusk (even in their spick and span homes). The characters must be aggressive promoters of anti-ageing creams and lotions (or rather anti-dying) because they neither age nor die (immortality pills must be handy, it seems!) They are never seen without make-up even in a scene of getting up from bed (even after attending to nature's call)

A strange reaction or gesture from an individual is greeted with a shock (multiplied by three) from all the characters present in the room (even irrelevant ones). The corporate head honchos seem to mastermind more conspiracies than attend business meetings and the housewives are one step ahead by controlling family politics for power and money (even though they seem to have both in abundance) There has to be atleast one person who is hell-bent to destroy the peace loving family no matter how much you keep him contended. Family weddings and celebrations are more than 10 serials long actually surpassing the real time. The reason being every occasion is preceded and followed by atleast 4 serials.

All characters speak more in their minds than in dialogues and every dialogue is accompanied by some jarring metal sound or some other effect regardless of its importance. The script is quasi-static. You can visualize what might have happened in the last 15 episodes by viewing just two. The Censor board should censor some scenes regarding them as "beyond human comprehension and misleading". Above all, what is left to say when the grandpa, father and son look like two pals with a senior colleague.

No matter what, somehow all these serials have a similar storyline, after all being a product of the Eakkttaa (typo intended!) company. The serials neither are entertaining nor comprehensible in the tiniest sense to any person of my generation inspite having high TRP's (I am yet to meet one)

I never wondered I could actually make out all this just by watching them during my meals!! (courtesy to my mother for the enforcement)

Floyd and Aamir

A long hiatus or plain procrastination….whatever one might call it; it’s good to be back to blogging. Well I had been a bit busy due to a small thing called MBA, I have been doing lately. My college treats students as ‘fatigueless-mules’- ….(saala Sunday ko bhi no holiday!!)…which pretty much reminds me how that pisses everyone off!! I just hope (along with many here) that the juice be better worth the squeeze!!

Two phenomena – Pink Floyd and Aamir Khan: you just can’t get enough of them. I lately discovered a few tracks of Pink Floyd which seemed way too better than ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’. These guys simply know the game and they play it well too . Well, for older fans of Floyd, this might seem as trite, but nevertheless, ‘High Hopes’, ‘Coming back to Life’, ‘Wish you were here’ are no less than colossal works of art. When they play the music, they play with it like a toy (pun intended). The entire experience of a great song comes to them as naturally and obvious as a birth of a child. Okay, too much flowery here, but truly, these guys RULE!!

Aamir Khan is another personality who just keeps getting better with time just like an old scotch, unlike SRK who reminds me of my mess food, always the same, never refreshing and sucks till the last bite. Taare Zameen Par might have reminded many of us how we used to be as a child, but I got a different set of clue altogether. Well, I find this argument of connection of many people with Ehsaan to be quite incomprehensible. The kid was having dyslexia – inability to read & write. He wasn’t criticized because he was plain stupid or a dunce. To put very technically, it’s a movie about a kid coping with dyslexia in his normal school life, and battles it with the help of an overwhelmingly helpful teacher who discovers his problem and also helps him to excel in his rediscovered hobby – painting. How do we come to come close to it? A little introspection would make us realize that we definitely don’t fit in Ehsaan’s character in any way. Only dyslexics do; not everyone.

As a matter of fact, TZP is a solid, powerful work of fiction primarily because of its style of execution. Using Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s befitting music accompanied by apt lyrics by Prasoon Joshi, the movie brings this tale closer to countless fact based stories of umpteen kids who might have been neglected due to unavailability of such a co-operative teacher during their childhood. The movie addresses an age-old, yet not-so-talked-out problem (dyslexia) and provides a remedy to it too. Moreover, this age is crucial as they say that a child’s destiny is written in this tender age of 6-8 years. Well, many of us feel today, that our kids should be, what we couldn’t possibly become or always aspired to become as demonstrated by the kids’ parents. And the grooming starts at this age!! A bit of complacency or deferral here could result in an undesirably moulded ball of clay rather than a sculpted masterpiece. Atleast that’s what the notion is!!

That brings me back to the million dollar question. Did we (yes we, not I) lose out on anything in our innocently ignorant childhood or we quasi-achieved what we really wanted and are proud of the person we are currently? Well it’s a million dollar question, and I don’t intend to devalue it by answering either. So go ahead and live the most of present….and let some i-don’t-know-and-i-don’t-care-questions better left unanswered!!

DISCLAIMER: This was a desperate attempt to incite my grey cells, which were in hibernation from a long time. Any section in this post you find utterly boring is highly regretted. Please do not refrain yourself from visiting my blog again, under aforementioned circumstance, since such behaviour will be deemed as extremely erratic and plain prejudice.

What's with Amitabh Bachhan?

Although I turn green seeing Big B holding his guitar in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, the reasons are quite different from the obvious ones. Mainly, the envy is because its a two-neck guitar (a fantabulous invention) and secondly he's in Europe (simply an amazing place to be!!). Besides that, what's with the vivid feathery hat and the ugly salt-n-pepper tresses hanging from behind his neck? As if his repetitive ads for lesser known companies promoting their lesser known products wasn't enough, it looks that he's keen to go a step further.

Amitabh Bachhan is an everlasting legend in Hindi Cinema, but his recent "indulgences" speak volumes of reconsidering this laudatory thought. His taste for doing only quality cinema as evident erstwhile during his stardom, has undoubtedly been diluted over the years distinctively exhibited in his era of life-begins-at-60. Top it up with his recent claims of being a farmer for a Pune land plot, it makes you wonder how an actor like him can do this to himself. Hasn't he been satisfied of bad publicity or rather technically named "black spots on his diligently generated grandeur"?

Even today, I find his yesteryear movies very entertaining. Be it Sholay or Deewar, Big B was always his plain SUPERB!! It really pains me to see him in movies during recent times viz. KANK, Mohobattein, Bunty aur Babli,Baghban, etc. I wonder what made him do it. OK , the answer is money; but still at his position, he needs to think beyond that. An iconic status stretching to an image of demi-God, that too in India where superstars are related with the characters they play on-screen surely should give a second thought while accepting offers. When accepting such offers, the argument of 'being after all a human being' simply doesn't hold true. You then become more than just a mere celebrity. Nevertheless it's always a delight to see him in films like Black, Sarkar or even Lakshya. Such movies which showcase the raw talent of the distinguished actor are welcomed by one and all. Big B has this innate ability to entertain people of all generations leaving behind a legacy for others to follow. And I believe there are still many aspects of him waiting to be unearthed.

I definitely don't want to remember this great personality as a performer in trivial ads and meaningless cinema in the remaining days of his glorious career, but as a king who ruled the Indian film industry giving it an eternal recognition and eventually making a graceful exit. As we see in floor gymnastics, almost everyone begins with a good start, a better performance during the feat, but its the landing/exit that makes the gymnast distinctively different from the others. May this actor get a ten on ten on his entire lifetime performance.

The boon of Cartoon!!

Animation is something that has always amused me, taught me (surprisingly true!), inspired me, entertained me and at times even destroyed me (especially during exams). Cartoons can be best described as a blank canvas for the human mind which is put to life. I saw myself (I believe many here..) growing from the humble Tom and Jerry to the unimaginably-intelligent Dexter to the lethargic Garfield and the latest talk-of-the-town, the horrible sociopath racist Eric Cartman from South Park fame. Cartoons had one solid excuse for everything incredible, incomprehensible and probably indigestible things.....they're cartoons!! Imagining Shahrukh's method of wooing the girl (& always winning her despite any circumstances) and Rajnikant's or Mithun’s gravity-defying or rather sanity-defying stunts leave us bewildered in search of logic. Cartoons fortunately don't have to subscribe to logic (which they don't usually), leaving us with stomach-aching laughter and thoroughly entertained. Something else also gives us an ache, albeit this time in our head...BOLLYWOOD MASALA films!!

Bollywood is an industry with annual revenues crossing $ 1 billion, growing at 12.6 % every year approximately and also a major client for advertising industry. With the latest news of Hrithik Roshan being the highest individual taxpayer and many other making it in the top 10, this brings light on the heavy salaries demanded by the country's so-called brightest talent. Films like KANK or the forgettable Krrrrish (I doubt whether I spelt it right!!), aptly shows where the expensive talent is going - in the drains!! If each filmmaker decides to spend the exorbitant amounts that they give to these actors (Shahrukh takes a whopping 5 crore, lucky son-of-a-b****), for something really creative in animation or perhaps in their own films by expending on technology in film stunts or really amazing computer graphics (what's the good use of being a global hub of software professionals when you can't apply that asset in your own country!), then it may work wonders in both entertainment and also fill their pockets. The most common argument of these film-makers in favour of the tried and tested formula of using the same actors repeatedly is that the public likes it. The public never ceases to get tired of ‘hero’ winning the ‘heroine’, then why should we? I guess they are missing an important viewpoint here. It should be noted that Mother India and Do Bigha Zameen which were the epitomes of Indian Cinema were both unconventional in nature.

I agree that most of them are quite antagonistic to this view of meaningful cinema; evident by Mr. Himesh’s growing popularity, but this effort is worth giving a try. People have always liked experiments provided they’re properly packaged and good in content. Jungle Book, Jai Hanuman and the latest to join the bandwagon, Meena as a part of National Literacy Mission are projects that proved our appreciation for the Indian Animation industry. Concerted efforts by involving more participation from bigger players in terms of number and revenues could spell out an animation revolution in a developing nation like India. With more participation, serious quality is bound to emerge (hopefully not in the form of cartoon version of Shaktiman!!) Nevertheless, there is no dearth of talent in India considering India’s young population, and I sincerely hope India could make it big in animation. If not with original ideas, maybe as a provider of business outsourcing illustrations, like the Koreans do for Simpsons.

Animation appeals better due to its universality of crossing language barriers. I still remember guffawing over the famous piano episode of Tom and Jerry. They surely provide an antidote to all the stress and tension one has. Kudos to the animation industry...keep more of it coming!!

Global Warming - A threat

After a lot of deliberation, I finally found this topic thought-compelling enough to be posted. So here it is, my take on Global Warming (like it or not!!). And anyway, it is too long I haven't posted anything!! So here it is...

In our conquest of land and resources we’re overlooking an important feature of Mother Nature. When she gives her bounty in plentitude, she also takes her toll in equivalence. Today as we encounter the repercussions of our misdeeds, in the form of ‘Global Warming’, one should realize the threat is real. Global Warming as said by IPCC, (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Control) poses a grave predicament with stats showing temperature rise of 2°C in the last century and a predicted maximum of 6.4°C till the year 2100. This phenomenon is accompanied by rise in ocean levels, melting of ice, vanishing of peat in Siberia and other disastrous effects. Widespread endemics and loss of flora and fauna follow next. As resources fall short, chaos and panic in hand with heavy casualties prove inevitable. Global Warming is a menace which could easily gobble developed economies, leave the crumbling infrastructure in India alone. The factor of mayhem in India will be a multiple of what happens in developed nations. How can we think of development and infrastructure when one big Tsunami or flood can wipe out everything?

How can we tackle this Goliath then? Since this problem deals with the ‘consumerist’ lifestyle of ours, a slight change in our daily activities may prove instrumental. Take for example, the A/C that we use in our homes to beat the heat wave this summer. Although the ‘I will, Mumbai will’ campaign urges people to keep the temperature of A/C to 24°C during peak hours, shutting down the A/C completely in residential areas for a few hours may prove as an affirmative action on our behalf. The power thus saved due to negligible discomfort, will lead to less amount of coal being burnt for power generation, resulting in lesser fumes from the chimney at the power station. Such simple steps if taken steadily by en masse, can not only help the ongoing power crisis, but also prevent catastrophes due to warming.

It can be concluded that the problem of global warming is intrinsic to us and therefore has to be solved on an individual basis, rather than expecting from our government which is already burdened with more humongous problems. Although it’s imperative for the government to keep a tab on pollution at a macro level, the urban junta can contribute nonetheless using public transport, saving power and fuel, buying alternatives for plastic based items which can delay the impending doomsday. As Captain Planet from the cartoon series rightly says, “The Power is Yours!”

हिंदी - एक भाषा, एक अभ्यास

अपने राष्ट्रभाषा मैं ब्लोग लिखने का यह मेरा पहला प्रयत्न है। इससे मेरे मित्रों को शायद आपत्ति या आश्चर्य हो सकता है, परंतु मैं इसे अपने किसी इतर गतीविधियों के समान ही समझता हूँ। ऐसा लिखने मे थोड़ी दिक्कत शुरू मे जरूर होती है, पर ब्लॉगर की इस नई सेवा का कम-से-कम एक बार तो उपयोग सभी ने करना चाहिऐ, ऐसा मुझे लगता है। और मुझे बेहद ख़ुशी होगी अगर मैं अपने दोस्तो मे सबसे प्रथम इस सेवा के लाभ उठानेवालों मे से हूँ।

Irritating, what’s this, or plain NOT AMUSED…..whatever your reaction to this new exercise of mine is, is wholeheartedly accepted (like I have a choice here!!). I was planning to broach this subject for a long time; I guess Blogger feature was just a pretext. The usage of Hindi in daily life is undoubtedly evident. But how much Hindi as a language is to be read or written? Although this touchy subject ‘touches’ various issues like ‘Nationalism’, ‘Culture’, ‘History of India’, ‘Modern Life’ et al, I shall attempt to prevent myself from hijacking the main issue here. Reiterating, the issue here is ……written in bold above.

Today English is pervading in our lives from being the official international business language to a more personal, friendly, distortable language and a niche or a lifesaver when talking about competitive exams compared to the deadly Math section। SMS lingo, Marathi parents talking to their wards in English (broken) and this very blog which is the representation of your thoughts are all examples of acceptance of this foreign language. We (I assume many to agree with me on this, so ‘we’, not ‘I’) all grew from basic comprehension to understanding to enjoying to declaring ‘Boring’ the English tele-serials on Star World or Zee Café. We were happy seeing subtitles of western songs so that we could hum along, but Hindi was always natural, always assumed. During all this we never came across reading anything in Hindi (no, the signboards don’t count). Hindi was a part and parcel of our lives, so ingrained that we give no heed to it.

So why does Google, Nokia introduce Hindi feature in its blog or phones? How many of us use the Hindi feature in our phones or are going to use it in our blogs as prophesied by Google? Very few, can be counted on hand. Then why is this additional burden or trouble on their part? Do they expect the users to treat this feature as another novelty or are users actually going to be comfortable from now on in their own language? I, like many of you vote for the ‘novelty’ option. This attempt by the multinational is based on a false assumption that many would feel proud that their ‘own’ language is open for access. Hindi in India does not shoulder national importance like in other countries (especially China and Germany) where without marketing in local language is equivalent to selling canned beef to ascetic monks. IT SIMPLY WON”T SELL!! It should be noted that one is a developing while one is a developed nation. It is a must, an indirect enforcement upon foreign companies to comply with the national lingual climate and failing to do so would invite public ire or at least rejection. While in India, not only the products but also the tag lines can be launched in English. Does this make us more vulnerable or taken-for-granted in any way?

Not really. English here is now one of the commonly spoken languages here. So it is wise to gauge the public mood and market accordingly for these companies. Speaking English rather than expressing ignorance towards Hindi, speaks volumes of acceptance of the International language in our daily lives. But is Hindi spoken at all? Well, this is indeed a personal question (as personal as the regional language one has). Nevertheless, the fact remains: the lesser we speak Hindi, the faster it is going to vanish. People strike a conversation in English many a times, which I find sometimes unnecessary. If both the persons involved are not belonging to different nationalities, then why not make use of the common language. I mean it’s very simple; if we don’t speak, who will? Hindi has survived today less through literature and more due to movies. But in spite of a plethora of movies ‘bombing’ (pun intended) the box office week after week, we never manage to look at it from the angle of curiosity of exhibition of Hindi literature. Even the movie name font is in English. So where is the written Hindi after all?

Does it exist only in dailies and textbooks or in our lives too? It will be a slow process from speaking in Hindi to bringing the Devnagari to everyday use in products, advertisements, etc. Imagine due to the advent of an upsurge in globalization and heavily increased FDI in India, (which already is) Hindi is being taught as a foreign language outside India for better marketing communication in globally reputed B-schools. But how can this be possible without the local people speaking it repeatedly, incessantly and frequently?. Unless we make a conscious effort, there aren’t any takers for our national lingo. I personally try to restrict my conversation to anyone within the confines of Hindi or Marathi initially. Although whenever I am greeted in English, I make it a point to not switch it to another one. This prevents a lot of possible miscommunication and sometimes even misunderstanding. We all think in our mother-tongue; that’s a fact. And historically or rather geographically speaking (considering from the area we hail), no man of Indian descent can have his mother-tongue to be English. So we all see that it’s a big sham.

English still comes to me today consciously; earlier it was sporadic but pretty glib now. As of the people who are reading this, I don’t urge them to join me in a nationwide and radical move of a language changeover, or even suggest the use of Hindi in their blogs, but definitely request them to rethink on this issue. And yes, SPEAK MORE HINDI, if not write or read!!