Mind over grey matter

Historical perspective...

2010-01-19T10:04:00.004+05:30

It would have been a good discussion in the hindsight to compare chalk with cheese. As we flip through the history of Mughals in India, we are overburdened by the theory of Aurangzeb’s responsibility as a villain in Indian history. However, wouldn’t it be interesting to understand the gradual fall of the empire and therefore the extra burden on Aurangzeb to overturn that? Indeed, it has been discussed in some cases that the great Sahjahan (a great reason for our foreign currency) was in more than one ways as much responsible as was his fallen son. The myopic and contemporary view could be the biggest Achilles hill for history but for it’s over reaching totality.

During Sahjahan’s regime, revenues came down sharply; administration was in shambles and notwithstanding his famous love, the greatest monument in world history could not possibly pass him as a great administrator. Such were the inherited circumstances for his son who undoubtedly was a religious bigot and hence probably a mismatch in a pluralistic India. But most of the history books never judge him in totality. Similar is the case with Bengal politics and its two politicians in particular.

The first one started with a world of possibilities yet finished as a popper, while the second one bore the brunt of predecessor’s follies and hence became a failure. Just as Sher Shah Suri was more than an able administrator for Akbar, so was the case with these two people albeit in opposite manner.

Without a doubt that both of them fought a battle against their contemporaries, the task is more Herculean for the later as he inherited a more volatile and angry subject, which is looking for avenues to outburst. The cultivated mediocrity and nepotism is more dangerous in the sense that it wipes out able leadership, makes no incentive for better alternative and never inspires to challenge the inevitable. And that is precisely why I feel more sympathetic against the general wisdom of historical judgment.

A heritage of historical blunders is a difficult task for an honest administrator to make up.

He inherited the kingdom when everything was possible; he chose to be the last because it suited his political class. He never allowed comparison as it would have dwarfed his own legacy and he closed all windows of knowledge as it could have challenged his supremacy. Alas! He could have changed it the way everybody wanted; instead he blamed all others in conspiring his defeat. In choosing the rural population to be the craftsmen of his beloved monument he created history only for the consumption of a select few and maybe, unintentionally started the downfall of the empire.

The trouble for the inheritor was this insurmountable inertia. Inertia of inaction, inertia of self defeating knowledge, inertia of stability. To challenge Newton’s first law is not possible even in Marx’s dictionary. In spite of the best efforts, the inheritor was destined to be a loser, not by choice but by decree. A decree which was pronounced long before he came; only he accelerated it by childish mistakes.

Sometimes you survive even after murdering someone; sometimes you get screwed because someone just saw you hiding the obvious. Such is the short sightedness of historians that Sahjahan escaped the whole wreath by hiding under his wife’s monument which unfortunately crushed his son’s economical future.

This is not to justify the religious bigotry of Aurangzeb, neither to exemplify the ability of the second person than his predecessor, but only to say that sometimes we do make mistakes in judging personalities.

Those who could rise above their contemporary are called great; those who accelerate their progress than their peers are called excellent while those who choose to hide under historical blunders are the same themselves.

You create history by writing them on your own, not following.

In my view, even in failure the honest Trier should be judged more favorably for his sheer tenacity for action, for his passion to change things even if they became a Waterloo for the regimen.

May be, as always, I am wrong again.

And may god allow the already depleting minority to rest in peace. Amen!

Unbelievable

2009-12-22T12:40:00.002+05:30

Now that it has been conclusively proven that communism and right wing activism could reflect an amicable match for the long run, the ideological barrier would be even thinner.

I, for one, always thought of communism and capitalism as different faces of the same coin, separated only by their thin and veiled ideological difference. Now, as physics would say, it is always an unstable equilibrium if you try to balance a thin coin on its rolling side rather than putting one face up. This then, for me describes the antipathy for each other. You could hate it, but to dispose it off totally would mean to dispose off the entire coin.

As with all isms and dogmas, the substance is always lost in details and petty fights over ideological higher ground. The same applies to this also. The success rate of capitalism is higher because of its larger number of applications. And to top that, the eternal proverb of “power corrupts people, absolute power corrupts absolutely” could always use communists as the best example. People might find some exceptions, but then, argument would be “exceptions prove the rule”.

On a less serious note, capitalists don’t realize that they are easy preys. The biggest disadvantage that any theist has is the fear of losing the faith of god or religion. The capitalist fears the loss of wealth, either materially or physiologically. Hence, with a little bit of calculation, they could be won over.

I am not at all surprised that it took a communist to ultimately win the battle.

To be honest, you would always require a matchbox and a match stick to ignite a spark and in the event of failure, it is not always the stick which is at fault. It becomes easier to blame the stick and throw it away as it has a lesser shelf life, hence lower ROI. And the winner takes it all.

P.S1: Very happy that some really good things are happening and communists are at the forefront (no pun intended).

Politically the war might have been lost; the social battle might just be able to reinvigorate it.

P.S2: The only problem with communists is that they are the most predictable non conformist.

To be or not to be

2009-10-30T17:26:00.001+05:30

To be able to survive is a wonder in itself. To be able to come out of a fiasco is a mere footnote in the bigger journey called life.
Yet we get so engrossed about such things that when they actually play out in our domain, we kind of become blind and oblivious to the outer world. We do not respond to the outer stimulus and behave like a dead body, frozen in time and sensibilities.

We are a living body with a dead soul. We all are. Ok.Before all of you protest that you are not, ask yourself when was the last time you had smiled or cried when you were not directly affected by the events. Sounds mad? I don’t think so. It only sounds sympathetic.
Remember Prometheus? The Greek titan who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to the mortals? We need more of him and not of grandeurs.

We are all consumed with the challenge of making our life a better one. We are so occupied by the unknown future that the present is always a miss. We are a product of so many sacrifices and voluntary services and we take them for granted. We always demand gratitude for services which we never paid when we were at the receiving end of that. Yet we call ourselves rational, intelligent and justified.

These days there are no childhood, because there is no child anymore. All are either a well oiled machine or a bunch of crap. Nobody wants a human, all want successful cheerleaders.
Sounds unapologetic? Pessimistic? Copy cat?
If only life could give us a second chance! Even we take chances also for granted!
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Dedicated to souls like me who were in deep trouble and continues to be in (not in a way that world understands).

An angry sahensha...

2009-01-16T21:24:00.001+05:30

Note - views expressed here are personal and in no way does the writer envisage this to be taken as a critically proclaimed debate. The writer also otherwise, expresses high respect for the people mentioned directly or indirectly in this post.

To equate popularity with quality always borders on the contempt about the gross negligence meted out to genius creativity. And with due respect to everybody, some recent remarks about the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” falls in that category.

It is of no wonder that Bollywood continues to be ignored at almost all major awards ceremony and yet they keep crying hoarse about such behavior without looking into the merit of such actions. It also smacks of childish nonsense to invoke national pride for such ignorance. To make such allegations without taking into account the reasons could only mislead the huge followers.

To be very honest, any true follower of world cinema would agree that around the globe, this medium speaks only one language – and that is about creative brilliance which is not only original in its presentation but also exceptional in all creative forms associated with the movie making. And in that sense, without falling prey to jingoistic nationalism, Bollywood movies pale out as a distant “also ran”. It is not that we do not have momentary brilliance, but we lack cinematic culture and nuances to understand such a language.

A great movie could always be popular, but the argument is not always true in other way.

Some unwanted comments about Ray’s movies being given better recognition only showcase complete ignorance. A master story writer himself, Ray not only engineered the art of movie making, but brought a complete package of complex emotional, musically superior and vividly refreshing collage. In fact, to counter the point about reality, movies which were made out of fantasies by him turned out to be even better in terms of cinematic jurisprudence. To claim an escapist colorful massala equivalent to a creatively made biriyani does not speak highly about the speaker’s intelligence.

A good movie (not a preconceived mass entertainer) would definitely contain an excellent script, wonderful soothing music (not song, unless it is absolutely necessary) and creative cinematography. Alas, barring a few ones, Bollywood is yet to understand such logic. It requires a literary mind and a knowledgeable head to understand the length and depth of any movie to be made.

A movie keeping everyone in mind could only be a commercial hit, but it would be wrong to expect favorable critic review for the same.

With all its positives and negatives, Bollywood has its own market and target segment and which unfortunately does not determine the prestigious awards. Till such times when they understand the language of the world cinema or money power forces nominations (which, to an extent, could might as well be true now), Bollywood has to be contend with off the track retrospectives or television coverage catering the NRI audiences.

But, to accuse others about their high handedness in not recognizing some pot boiling massala entertainer as a narration of cinematic language only opens up the Pandora’s box. It smacks a case of grapes being too sour.

Hey Ram...

2009-01-10T23:50:00.004+05:30

The recent Satyam fiasco is nothing new to the corporate world and neither would it be the last. Even though I am not so sure about my credentials to talk about financial and capital market models, in my view, the race for an attractive valuation in the stock market has definitely played a hand for the promoters to indulge in such a heinous crime. When an entity like the Satyam falls, it’s not the falling empire that is a headache, but the collateral damages that disturb the society, both socially and financially. In case of Satyam, it is the same with approx 53000 employees and innumerable investors (especially retail investors).
The situation is not so new to the corporate world at large, but definitely new to the Indian set up. For India Inc, which is fiddling around to take future bigger steps, such a shock could never have come up at a worse time. Indeed, with current credit crunch and bleak economic situation, it could ill afford to have such a blot in its kitty. However, in my view, such a thing was waiting in the wings even though we hardly acknowledge it.
The relation and the control between the promoters and the companies in India are indeed too close for comfort. The idea of company as an individual entity is more of a legal status than a real one and hence, the dangers of personally motivated irregularities are high. The public perception about some of the listed companies and their managements are not positive, even though they enjoy heavy influences on our capital markets. The idea of corporate governance, peer audits or independent board of directors enjoy tremendous challenges in a country where corruption is amok and the unholy nexus between political parties and the corporate czars are very open secret.
However, it would be unfair to paint the whole system with same brush even though there are hardly any dividends for being honest in India.
There will be Satyams in future also, make no mistake about this. Make no mistake of the fact also that all political dishonesty would be very cleverly submerged by the government, even though the role of Andhra politicians across the board and their hobnobbing with the now disgraced Raju family was very evident till a few days before. Never mind that Maytas got such eye candy infrastructure projects without proper procedures being followed and same political parties were very sure about their success.
And then there is the role of external auditors. I can bet about the images that people have for the CAs in general. The propensity to lie and pile up illegal money is so rampant in this country and amongst common public that a few dishonest CAs become very handy to cover up such illegal activities. In that sense, what Raju has done might be a crime only bigger in proportion and effect but not strange to India. From not declaring all income sources to finding ingenious ways to hide wealth from tax collector’s preying eyes are commonplace among Indians.
So, instead of blaming Raju and making a culprit out of him we would be better off if our simple acts are put under the scanner of right and wrong. The effect and magnitude of the crime could only make a variation in the punishment meted out, but could not differentiate in the category.
Hence, if one such confession could make some positive changes within our minds, be it personally or professionally, it would do a huge service for this whole country. And as for the corporate India, this incident could well be a turning point in their hitherto unknown challenges.

We, as retail investors in both capital and social markets, could only hope for the better senses(x).

A Bradmanesque end...

2008-11-11T17:40:00.004+05:30

Disclaimer: This post is not to be read in the context of cricket. Views expressed in this blog are purely non judgmental and has nothing to do with cricketing ring tones.

Cricket lovers around the world would pause and move on. If you are an Indian cricket fan, please wait, cherish and look back with grace and respect.
But, if you are a Bengali, shed a few tears.

I am not being a regional divider, neither am I trying to sound like a Ganguly fan. But, people outside Bengal would never be able to realize the importance of this man simply because of the emotion he evoked every time he crossed the boundary. It’s not easy to be an icon and that too for around 700 million Bengalis who starved for an icon, leave alone any sports person. In these 13 years, he has remained the idol looked through every charismatic glass. Whenever those drives flew from his bat, his square cuts kissed the rope or his sixes ridiculed the enormity of the stadium – somewhere in our heart we felt a satisfaction. It is hard to convey the ecstasy and the joy of a population so devoid of their own leader. And, hence this person, with his entire unbengali attitude has given hope to people who dares to dream of something new.
To put into perspective, Sourav’s contribution to cricket is the story of a rebellion, of a player who represented those who never thought of coming to the limelight, of those who always stopped at the closed door, never broke it open. It might not give birth to another Sourav, but it would definitely inspire a lot more of them to dare to dream the unthinkable. It’s an irony that he represented Bengal because none of his character and skill is like normal Bengalis. His fight, never say die attitude, rebellion nature – everything defies the goody-goody intellectual typecast of a Bengali. And that’s why he is so dear to every Bengali’s heart. It’s through him that they fulfilled their dream, it’s his shots that gave them the power and it’s his captaincy that reminded us that once upon a time, we used to lead the whole India – both politically and academically. In a sense, it is poignant that another person form the same region has taken over the mantle of this fight – to see that regionalism is no more a feature of Indian cricket.

I am not a Ganguly fan, but I respect his contribution both to Indian cricket and to Bengalis in general. Being a Bengali, I can’t help but support him, shout for him and I do it because I find a sense of joy while seeing him ridicule others. His fight inspires me and I hope it inspires Bengalis worldwide. On a day when he is leaving the stage, it would be a fitting farewell if we could follow his path.
As a cricketer he never got the due. He neither had the genius of Sachin, nor had the technique of Rahul. He converted many a player into match winners, yet never looked for support. He is neither as dare devil as Shewag nor as artistic as VVS. Yet it’s him who is associated with the best of all of them. A few years down the line, when he would casually watch India playing, he would be proud to see his selections bearing fruit. People will remember Dhoni, Harbhajan, Yuvraj or Zaheer – yet we should be proud that somehow a Bengali who was thrown out of the team on numerous occasions and who made more enemies than friends was responsible for this future.

On this day, after watching him play for so long, the next time I see a team India list, I would feel a lump. But, as all good things come to an end, so is Ganguly. For most of the Bengalis (barring a few) he would be above all others, including one Mr. Tendulkar, because his contribution to our conscious could never be judged through statistics.
He is to Bengal was Bradman was to Australia in post WW 2 period.

And here goes SCG ! ! !

2008-09-16T00:20:00.005+05:30

Now that the whole of India has already started writing obituaries about him, it is not so important to again start the debate afresh. Also, me coming from the same region, this will always be viewed through the stained glass. However, me being me, it would be imprudent to think that silence could be the answer in such cases.

Time and again, there have been innumerable examples of things which could have been done differently in another country. However, India being India, and political or emotional prejudices taking precedence over rational thinking, it is pretty much of no use to inculcate such practices into those so called “wise men” of Indian cricket.

Since, they talk about statistics, then use them to see a few things in perspective –

Player Matches Total runs Aggregate C/w
Sachin 10 727 45.43 5/0
Rahul 13 754 34.27 23/0
Laxman 13 917 50.94 12/1
Sourav 13 1076 44.83 7/4

So, it is not because of his primary responsibility that he could be asked to look for other avenues of entertainment.

The next and the most potent weapon used against him are his attitude and ability to add something extra to the team. Recent newspaper reports (if they are to be believed), state that both captain and the national coach were of the view about him being sort of liability who could be dispensed with keeping others untouched. From the time he took the center, he was known to be less of an athlete who could hold onto his place because of his other abilities. So, this allegation is not new. What is news to me was that others were still adding value even tough all were failing with their primary responsibility. Or in short, auxiliary activities saved the other famous people rather than their main one. Let’s take one by one, including captain who has past his hay days long back.

Sachin – Most agile of the famous five, even at this ripe age he could throw and field with satisfactory results. So what if most of the times, a dive results in injuries, so what if bowling in test cricket has never been his forte, so what if he remains more time outside the team rather than in it because of non cricketing reasons. I have never seen a single time when a doctor has declared him unfit, even if he visibly is. Now in our case, sachin should never be judged with the same yardstick applicable to others. Also, he alone could be irreplaceable because of his past records, others, if they speak such things could invite “logical responses from youth brigade”.

Rahul – “Mr. Dependable” as he is favorably known, is finding it hard to protect his stumps and really struggling to match up to his own standard. His average has been on the lower side among the fab four and his fielding in slips has started to waver. He has missed quite a few of the catches, some of them simple enough to gobble up. He was never a good fielder in the outfield, and hence, his agility was more dependent on his reflexes. Now that thing is found wanting, the only reason of his choice is…

Laxman – Most elegant, youngest of the lot and possibly the most unfortunate not to be a permanent man in the team. The most consistent performer over the last couple of years especially under most troubled condition, he is surely the best bet against the mighty Aussies, and given his record against kangaroos, he is surely indispensable. However, his fielding and running between the wickets has always been under scanner and hence, only his batting could save him. He is the most unfortunate cricketer to have played for India and given the circumstances, he might be in line after Sourav.

Kumble – One of the coolest people on field, however, his efficacy as a bowler was always under question, especially away from home. However, over the past few series, he has been consciously trying to amend that record. If not as a bowler, then he could be also questioned in the same lines like Sourav, and who knows what is there in future, especially when it concerns Indian cricket.

Given all the above, I am still unable to see the neutral rational behind dropping him even though he was the only one who forcefully came back in the most unusual circumstances and since then performed to silence all critics. It was probably his outspoken behavior, his neutrality to all camps and his past which stood against him in the long run. If a chance is given, then what happens if he performs? We could be assured of the failures of the others, but not of this man. No circumstances or no adversity could bring him down and at this juncture it would be logically foolish to provide him with a due place. Hence, the decision to drop him from squad.

It was never to be that he was to get his due and respect once he stood against establishment. It was never in doubt that after he didn’t stand for any lobby, somebody would stand for him in troubled times. At times, you could feel his sadness of proving others wrong every time there is a finger pointed at him.
But, as is the saying, not everybody is lucky to get his/her due in one life. Probably is legacy lies in being SCG, the one and only person who belongs to his own class of royalty.

And I am a MBA ! ! !

2008-08-28T14:21:00.003+05:30

"The taste of the pudding is in eating" - only if every pudding could be tasted and rejected based on the report.
I was sold the MBA dream. Even now I am still not out of that dream. Now, I must confess that whosoever sold that dream to me (unfortunately I can't remember exactly the face) must by now have become some Sales head. Otherwise (s)he is not being utilized properly.

Just a few minutes back I was brushing through a journal when an advertisement popped up. It detailed about a hotel (not even 5 star !). I found it as distant it was 3 years back as now. I am not sure what god damn degree I have hooked on to.

I am still planning to have a good vacation at some place in India (Foreign vacation is as distant as the shore) - to my horror I realized I am woefully out of cash to sponsor it beyond 2 days ! Not sure if anything has improved after 2 years of slogging.

A few days back, I was just wondering about the total cost of this degree. If we include opportunity cost (as is customary for any business plan) for the years spent inside campus, it would come close to 12 lacs without even considering fringe benefits.

By now readers and all MBA aspirants should have started cursing me. The idea is not to demonize the dream, but just to ruffle a few feathers here and there. Now when I look back at such decisions I amaze at my consuming capability !

I was just curiously listing down the couldn't things post MBA, and believe me it became scary -

I can't work as a techie
I can't think of a pressure less life any more
I can't accept any job offer that comes my way (see I have a brand to sell)
I still can't afford to stay in Taj or in an exotic resort
I am still not a frequent flyer in any of the airlines
And god damn it, even now, I have to think twice to sponsor myself for a flight to see my parents !

I was just calculating the benefits of doing MBA !
But to be fare, I had got a wonderful campus life, some wonderful friends and some enchanting views about life.
Alas ! all these are intangibles and as our dear prof used to say - "only cash in hand is the proof of liquidity".
Am I still so illiquid in the market as I was 3 years before?
Only if the taste of the pudding could be done earlier.

Chak diya INDIA ??

2008-03-04T20:51:00.009+05:30

“Sorry mate, tough luck. Hope you take this pasting more sportingly than your team usually does. But at least your captain got it right – 3^rd final wasn’t needed!” – This was one of the SMSes that I got as soon as India snatched up the historic win at Brisbane to wrap up the CB Tri series by winning 2 consecutive finals against Australia. There were so many firsts – winning a tri series down under, beating Australia in 2 consecutive matches, winning a major final after almost 5 years, doing it without most of the big guns etc. And according to all Indian experts, in all probability the “dooms day” for the invincible Aussies has just arrived. I, like most Indians would love to believe so.

Let’s put things in perspective first – I am not a patriotic by any stretch of imagination (at least not by any conventional ideas). I neither go overboard with Indian wins nor hide underground when we lose. And since we lose more often than we win, it doesn’t give me any extra satisfaction with such accidents.

The whole of India is against the Aussies (for whatsoever reasons) and I am not too sure about the reception that they would get in IPL sooner rather than late. Without even supporting what some of the opponent players did (or tried to do) I could easily say that by the same yardstick we are no Yudhistir. I don’t subscribe to what few of the Indian players viewpoint is and for BCCI to think of pulling out even before ICC came out with its verdict is nothing short of a shameless act as unpardonable as CA’s attitude throughout. After the Sydney test, the whole of India reacted in a way as if Australia had only won because the on field umpires allowed them to do so. Just to give a reminder to my countrymen – not so long before Indian umpires were always questioned about their decisions and partisan behavior, and presently none of the elite umpires come from India. Also, the fact that we couldn’t manage to hold on to 72 overs of play with such a great line up, speaks volumes about our own credibility. So, let’s not debate over our opponent’s supremacy by just pulling out one single test match.

Now, the CB series win. Without doubt, Dhoni and his boys have done a job which no one thought of even a month ago. I was quite amused to listen to Dhoni’s post match speech – the sort of stuff loaded with controversy. I was just thinking how 2 different people could view the performance of Sachin in 2 different ways – Dhoni justifying his team selection; older players pinching the point that it’s still the old horse who laughs last. Without doubt this brings the curtain on some of the most illustrious careers in Indian cricket and I only hope all the best for Dhoni and his boys in the future.

But frankly speaking, what have India done? Records would suggest this win as an aberration, statistics would say wait a bit longer to find out the truth, yet 1 billion people would shout from rooftop to announce that we are here to dethrone the king! I couldn’t help but feel sorry for such followers. India has a winning % of around 45, almost half that of Australia, we have won only 1 WC so far compared to 4 for them; Ponting, Hayden, Clarke and Hussey would any day have a higher probability to tear India apart than a Rohit Sharma or a Gautam Gambhir. Yet we feel so proud to compare apples with oranges.

Consistency is the key. To match Australia we have to be consistent, we have to be ruthless, we have to have animal instincts like them (might not show them on field) and most importantly we have to make winning a boring habit. I remember the accolades that flew thick and fast when we chased down 325 in Natwest final and what happened after that. I just hope that Dhoni doesn’t follow the same route. Given the kind of adulation these players get here, it’s not impossible to lose out the sharpness and play everything except cricket. Dhoni could only save his respect from me by winning and winning consistently. Unless that happens, I don’t see how this win is going to help us in becoming the world champions.

Last but not the least – one of the finest player ever to have graced the arena retired with a not so fairy tale ending. But at least he knew when to stop with head held high. Some of our icons don’t understand such logic before they get a kick on their a@#. Unless back door politics prevail, I doubt we could even get a proper farewell for the most precious jewel. But, I enjoyed his game, I enjoyed every moment of his entertainment and even though I reserve my judgment on his analysis, he would undoubtedly remain one of the finest ever thing to happen to world cricket.

Happy Valentine's day

2008-02-14T15:06:00.007+05:30

Sample these (TOI) –
The V-Day market in India is a whopping Rs.1200 crore. And by all estimates it’s growing at 20-25% rate YOY. It’s a serious cash cow for marketers who’re looking at fresh positioning planks to milk the occasion.
From Nokia to Airtel, from LG to HP to Microsoft, from Taj Jiva spa to financial services all are lining up to sell keeping in mind the unique choice of customers.
Luxury brands are growing at 8% rate, fashion apparels are using this occasion to bring out new outlooks and there is probably not a single line of business which could afford to miss the bus.
Also, there is a serious psychological threat to those who remain out of this lucrative pie. People with no or broken relationships face tremendous peer pressure, and psychologists or sociologists argue that it won’t be long before love becomes a necessary evil commodity in the economic market.

For a person like me who has a keen interest in how economics and society shape up individual’s life (and even to the extent of antagonizing a few, I believe those are more powerful than religion) – I just became a shade more curious to follow such articles. And hola!! I was not far from the truth.

There have been questions galore about the cultural misfit, about the consumerism, about the hollowness of the celebration on this particular day – and about how it demeans our very own Indian cultural heritage. But somewhere all these arguments miss the central theme of such celebrations – the ecstasy of the mind.
Its not that I celebrate V-Day (by choice or lack of it) as most of the younger India do but, as one of the articles in a vernacular says – at times often cliché things need to be expressed and celebrated.
But, my idea was not to debate about the vilification of V-day, instead the intriguing battle between human emotions and economics. In an increasingly globalized world where barriers are breaking down, yet distance between human minds are rapidly increasing, the business proposition of expression of love is too good to resist. Think of a conservative Muslim girl, or for that matter – a teenager from a low middle class family standing in front of such huge public display of love and thinking about the dream prospects. Now, to compound, if (s)he is in love then think of the appeal this makes. All around people are busy to express something as pure as love, yet this person feels out of that colorful world! And that is precisely how the appeal of this business is growing – breaking barriers of all economical and religious taboos.
To state the obvious, the more such intangibles the better for the marketers. As MBA teaches us, you couldn't value intangibles.

Now, there was a thought that whether as a marketer one would want your beloved to be changed every year. Considering love is non perishable and post marriage the expressive nature diminishes, by all means to survive, the market size should increase. For that to happen there are only 2 possibilities – either influx of newer lovebirds or break up and reorganization of existing loving pairs. Since, the first is by no means capable of being influenced (even though recent studies suggest that people are trying to fall in love due to increased peer pressure), the second is the only solution. So, is being immoral in trying to push for break up helps in economical terms? Nobody could answer. Hence, the advertisers need to have this subtle approach – without gift love is not as great as it sounds and forget your past by concentrating on present or future.

This serves both up selling as well as market penetration.

For once, a so called intellectual (antel, in Bengali) like me thought dead against of commoditization something as pure and emotional as love. But, probably there is something which we are ignoring which we are yet to realize. Everyday we are becoming a more rootless society, that every incremental power of independence is taking us away from being dependent, that being illogical is not equivalent to be in love and that by definition “sacrifice” never asks for return. Our mental bankruptcy is driving our materialistic hunger and at times even prostitution seems more moral than “being happy”.
However, there is hope till we die – as without hope we are left only with depths of loneliness. As economics triumph over all human emotions, as each and every moment of our lives become a commodity, as east and west fight over moral supremacy – my sincere wish is that we all come back and realize the starting point – that love should enrich us even in selfless sacrifice and materialistic expressions just remain a carrier of the internal message ------
“Amar o poran o jaha chaai, tumi taai tumi taai go;
Toma chaara e jogote mor keho naai, keho naai go..”
(You are what my heart wants, and there is nobody else without you in this world for me)

Best of the lot - through my eyes and hearts - Part 2

2008-01-15T13:00:00.000+05:30

(Do read the 1st part before this to get the complete picture)...

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Pather Panchali (1955) - It’s a poetry in motion. It’s a classic unfolded with all unknown beauties in front of dumb audiences. It transports you to the high of ecstasy, throws you out of gear with gripping reality and makes you cry with the characters. I have never come across any more such realistic portrayal in world cinema and to his credit Ray did this with minimum fuss or technology. To think that such a movie could be made in India is in itself a tribute to the great master and only he could think of such creation. If ever, a director were to be known as a single movie wonder then let it be a “Pather Panchali”.

Hirok Rajar Deshe (1980) – Another masterpiece from my favorite director. To create a whole movie in limerick and poetry is unthinkable and to top it with such subtle idea about politics, democracy, education and society is impossible even for god. But, he did it! He did it with utmost ease, with grand passion and with childish entertainment. You could find all flavors in this movie – from a children fantasy to a dictatorial politics. The story is genius and is ably supported by cast, camera, editing and background score. You can’t expect anything more from a movie than this.

Do Bigha Zameen (1953) – An ultimate and all time bollywood classic. I would be lying if I don’t mention this in my all time favorites. This Bimal Roy direction is a masterpiece in terms of the depiction of the characters, in terms of music, in terms of acting as well as in the eternal appeal of the story. If ever in India, the portrayal of poverty and fight of poor has ever been depicted, then this has to be a close winner (Even though “Sadgati” by ray, “Akrosh” etc come very close). The most famous scene from the movie is when Shambhu pushes himself to the limit pulling a rickshaw. The rider on the rickshaw offers Shambhu more money to pull faster because he is chasing (probably) his girlfriend in another rickshaw. Shambhu can not resist the temptation, and he keeps smiling in anticipation of getting more money. However, his wealthy customer is not worried the least about the lower class' plight. In this race, rickshaw loses a wheel and Shambhu is injured. However, through all these hardships Shambhu does not lose his righteousness, which is the moral of the movie. Shambhu's son steals money to help his father, only to be reproached by his father later. Shambhu's morality is the only thing that remains his own till the end.
And, if there is no morality left in the story then what is the fuss about the rest?

Seven Samurai (1954) – This is nothing but a sheer brilliance. First time I saw it, it came as a shock, thereafter every subsequent viewing has brought out some magnificent artistry of cinema, the capacity to narrate a story, the idea of the most fantastic background score, the love, the hate, the illusion and the fight for respect. To accommodate all this in a single movie, the director had to be brilliant, the editing had to be extraordinary and the grip over audience unflinching. To its credit it has all these. Even now, after so many have tried to imitate or beat it, Seven Samurai remains a totally gripping 3.5 hour experience. Akira Kurosawa is one of the gods of Cinema - men who seem to have been born to make films, who have it in their blood.
If ever, an example of total cinema has to be given then choose this one without semblance of doubt – such is the magnitude of this.

Autumn Sonata (1978) – Should I say that I should be proud that this was made in the year I was born? I take this as a gift of Bergman to me. Never before in my life did I imagine a movie with only 4 characters before this. I don’t know if “Morning Raga” comes as a close copy cat, but if that is then I must say bollywood should stop making such nonsense. Autumn Sonata is so intense in its emotions and so masterful in its presentation that the world of its characters—in this case an isolated, roomy parson's house in the south of Norway—absolutely overwhelms our senses and becomes for 92 minutes the only reality we can know. If ever, somebody has to be given a lesson of movie making, then just ask them to watch this – how to portray emotion, how to bring out the most unnerving ideas in reality and how with minimum dialogue and minimal characters we could have a masterpiece. The profundity of the writing, the acting, and the delivery of Autumn Sonata lies in its refusal, like that of a complex musical composition, to boil down to a single, unchallenged idea or emotion.

As good as it gets (1997) – This poor cousin of the famous “Titanic” has always remained close to my heart – for its simplicity, for its weirdness, for its magnificent ideas to portray love and emotions and above all for its daring idea of releasing it alongside a blockbuster yet coming out with flying colors. I vividly remember the poor crowd response to this movie in Calcutta and after watching this I could only pity those who have missed this. Sometimes, you need to go out of the conventional way of stories and technologies – because as a movie watcher I could only take the feeling and emotion out of the theatre, not the technology, not the acting and certainly not over the moon flamboyance. I have never heard a better way of proposing, I have never heard a better complement that a man or a woman could give to the other sex. How I wish I had such moments in my life!

As always, this might be the weirdest best 10 ever compiled, but in my mind they remain my best moments. They could transport me to the highs of emotions, to the depths of love and hatred, to the fantasies of childhood and to the darkest areas in life. If ever you don’t feel like being a character in the movie then it’s simply not worth watching for me. I pay for that connection, I thrive in that ecstasy and I would love to die in that dream.

That’s what a movie is for me.

Best of the lot - through my eyes and hearts - Part 1

2008-01-15T12:55:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: This post is totally inspired by some similar posts and ideas from well known public sources. Hence, any such unmistakable similarities in terms of ideas or subjects are totally intentional. However, any such attempt to list the personal likings is always fraught with contentious or dubious selections. Hence, all comments would only be viewed through that prism only. More such lists from others are welcome. Also please note that the list is not in order of merit as I don’t think it’s good to rank the best.
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I am not a movie buff, at least I don’t consider myself neither knowledgeable nor qualified enough to list such things, but through this I would try to give an idea to what I do like and dislike in movies, why I am such a bollywood basher in most situations, and thereby why certain movies do qualify in my book as simply irresistible. Since, by perception (and mind you, “perception is everything”) I am a left leaning hence its quite natural that I place everybody at the same pedestal (classless society, you see) and so I won’t differentiate between bollywood, Hollywood or tollywood. This is about my own all time favorite top 10.

The African Queen (1951) – This movie has one of the simplest yet unnatural stories that I have ever come across. With two powerhouse performances from Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, this seamlessly touches my heart as it explores the beauties of what I call situational love. Given that technology was minimal and story doesn’t fit in any line of division this mesmerizes with it’s portray of love, affection, love for country and cinematography. The background score is in sync with the mood while the dialogues are outstanding. Watching this, I feel that how I wish I was in place of Humphrey so that such emotions could be expressed. Alas! I can only enjoy the masterpiece and praise it through such posts.

Citizen Kane (1941) – This is another piece where you get engrossed with the flow of events, with the charming beauty of story narration. An expressionistic, fictional biography of the rise to power (and tragic fall) of a larger-than-life newspaper tycoon/publisher - Charles Foster Kane. A reporter is sent to investigate the significance of "Rosebud," the last word uttered by Kane (Welles), through interviews with various associates and his wife (Cotten, Sloane, and Comingore). With its bravura direction, broken narrative and flashbacks, and vivid performances, this is considered a modern masterpiece. Every aspect of the production marked an advance in film language: the deep-focus, deeply shadowed cinematography; the discontinuous narrative (in a screenplay co-authored by Herman Mankiewicz); the innovative use of sound and score; the low-level camera shots; the ensemble acting from Welles' Mercury Theater.

City Lights (1931) – What should I say for Chaplin! I am honored that at some point of time there was this genius in movie making, this man who never uttered a word on screen yet portrayed the most difficult expressions with utmost ease and entertained us lifelong. This film is a classic silent masterpiece (with sound effects). In the opening sequence, the urban misfit (his quintessential "Little Tramp" character) parodies 'talking' films. In the city, the tramp (Chaplin) falls in love with a blind flower-selling girl (Cherrill), and although poverty-stricken, he is mistaken for a millionaire. If love is what is depicted here, then I would die 100 times for such love. If this is not romance then what is!

The Godfather (1972) – No list of movies is ever complete without mentioning this all time classic. The drama, the dialogue, the script, the background score – you name it and godfather has it. Here is bravura, genre-defining, epic-length Mafia/gangster classic that evokes the mid and late 1940's period with powerful character development, lighting, costumes, and settings. The film follows the fortunes of the fictitious Corleones, a powerful Mafia family with its own family rituals and separate code of honor, revenge, justice, law and loyalty that transcends all other codes. If I were to ever acknowledge Al Pacino’s contribution to world cinema, I could stop only at Godfather. Even people do argue that the book is better in terms of story telling, I found enough evidence of a masterpiece in this creation.

Specially imperfect

2008-01-01T11:22:00.000+05:30

Imperfection makes one special. At least that’s what my thinking of human beings has shaped up over the years. Even in the most unbelievable world of rules in physics – there are wonders when there are imperfections and deviations. Had it not been for a matter losing some of its mass, we won’t ever have realized the enormous power of atom. The issue of whether atom bomb is good or bad is a topic of another debate, but in the process of losing mass and being imperfect, even the tiniest atoms release huge energy. And that’s precisely my point – in allowing people to be imperfect we are only opening up the potential of that energy to come out.
As I look back to the past year or past so many years, I realize how much time we have wasted in being perfect, in trying to make others perfect – and in doing so we have lost on both counts. Even in our epics and history we have only seen imperfect characters – yet always frowned upon the idea of opening Pandora’s Box. In the quest of being and making perfect human beings we have sacrificed not only the natural mind, but also the sharpness of unfounded energy.
Probably that’s why I wish – To everybody, his/her imperfection.
Imperfection allows that patch of breathing space, it gives the possibility of cultivating an uncluttered mind – and by allowing people to be imperfect we are only recognizing the diversity that is humane. The idea is not to stop looking for improvement, but to stop worrying being imperfect. Should the respect for imperfection become mutual, we could possibly purify so much of bad blood.
History is full of such incidents. The great Asoka won’t have been the same without being imperfect in initial life, most of the artists are imperfect in their lives and so are many more examples. A rose is imperfect in its thorns, a lion in its attitude and a baby in its dreams. Just by being that much lenient in accepting people with imperfection, we could foster a world full of love and hope.
What is true for an individual, is true for a relationship, is collectively true for a society and for a country. To personalize each and every short coming in others is possibly a practice which we are better off without.
As the New Year dawns on our life – I would love to make only this small resolution to myself – lets thrive in imperfection. And like most other resolution this might also just remain on paper, but who cares? Ultimately, the enjoyment of the game is only being imperfect.

Unnecessary survival

2007-11-04T14:18:00.000+05:30

Just as recent spat of words between UPA constituents regarding the nuclear deal and 1-2-3 agreement with United States seem to head towards a silent death, Pakistan, an important ally of Washington in "war against terror", plunged into the deep crisis of emergency. As I sit glued to the TV news channels to gather what’s happening across the border while guessing what might have happened in our own country during 1975 – I disturb myself with a more fundamental question.
Long back had Professor Darwin answered that when it comes to survival, only the fittest would be able to do so. But, neither he nor any sociologist till date has tried to pen down under what circumstances survival is necessary or to put it in different words – if there is a conflict between two survivals, which would be given the priority?

The best and most popular answer would be to say – to everybody self survival is of paramount importance, yet I doubt that such sweeping generalizations would make everybody happy. When an individual assumes a position of influence or power, when an individual represents an institution or when individuals remain bound by social contracts – my personal choice of surviving priority should go to the institution or the valid contract. Unless, prima facie, the system is at fault, it is of paramount importance that we, as individuals, respect the institutions more than personal independence.
That’s probably one of the reasons I have a liking of the way democracy functions in the west and not the way it is modeled in India. History shows that America has always valued independence fiercely yet has put institutions ahead of each and every discussion. We have been historically dependent on good kings and kingdoms and it’s not a surprise that India flourished under great kingdoms while plunged into depth when the ruler turned bad. Unlike Americans, who have bound themselves to the constitutions under the “Declaration of independence” on July 4th 1776, which till date remain supreme, we have only started experimenting post 1947.
In any democratic society, laws and institutions are of paramount importance and when the choice calls for an "either-or" situation, they remain front runners. Back here, we have dug ourselves into a difficult situation by trying to please everybody. Even though the individual freedom is of highest accord, we should argue for institutions and country ahead of everything else – be it religion, ideological hardships or personal losses. Sadly, that’s not been the situation and we still remain hostage to age old ideas of compartmentalized ideologies at the risk of putting the nation at shame. A PM or a President or any person representing the country should be more criticized if they fail to honor national commitments rather than risking a mid-term election.

Indians, in general, are more prone to be influenced by stars or individuals rather than institutional ideas. Our choices are driven by star system; we put more emotional emphasis on the individual star or celebrity rather than the institution itself. Our cricket, our films, our history, our religion and even our politics is so individual driven that every dishonest and fallen celebrity poses grave threat towards the base. In democracy, everybody remain equal (and importantly, no one or no section is more equal than others) and we are yet to digest this simple truth. Changing a rotten system and fighting for a transparent administration is centrally justified, as long as it is not guided by the hogwash of charismatic individuals. In any democracy, the ultimate goal and good intentions are of paramount importance, and even at the risk of conflicting ideologies, we should respect the opposition as much as the popular ideas. Just like in any relationship, individuals should cease to be of less importance than the justified institutional ideas, and even though, all efforts should be made to guarantee individual independence, a successful partnership should ensure survival of democratic ideologies. In democracy, a less popular opposition is equally respected till such times when those opposing ideas run contrary to the democratic fundamentals of the country and constitution.
Under no circumstances should law be held hostage to popular emotions or whims and fancies of individual dynasty, neither laws should be framed with coveted biasness against genders or sections of societies and above all, a citizen must understand the importance of the fundamental fabric of this country.

Just as we regret at the declaration of emergency in Pakistan we must ensure that back home, we honor the democratic fundamentals much more than individual freedom and when we discuss survival strategies, we could start with a more fundamental question – is survival every time necessary? Not every time, survival of individual is important and the biggest gift of democracy is the realization that defeat to an institutional idea is not the end of all independence. Our neighbours, to me, remains an example of how dangerous a flawed democracy could be and my fear is that, unless we change our attitude, we could head towards the same situation, albeit manifested in a different manner. Unless we prioritize our national and collective choices, we expose ourselves to a clash of egos, rather than of transparent ideas.
Then, nobody could be blamed for such a shameful end to a so called vibrant democracy, which probably juggles with more right ideas than it could handle.

Devil's advocate...

2007-09-26T12:30:00.000+05:30

As the whole country thunders and celebrates the win of young Indian team in the latest avatar of world cricket, so called “T20 championship”, probably it’s time to step back and relish this moment. True that such a moment comes rarely, especially in a country like ours with abundant talents and volatile temperaments. Even truer is the fact that we are perennially short of worthy national heroes who could inspire a generation to look forward with pride and self belief.
I am not a cricket pundit and hence wouldn’t go into technical details of how this could benefit our cricket and sport in general; neither would I think that this is a miniscule performance even if my attitude towards this new formed “tamashaa” has been hostile. But, I do reserve my comment about the potential of Indian cricket. The fact that these young boys jumped into adulthood with such poise and commensurate ease has pleased me beyond my expectations; Dhoni’s refreshing attitude towards captaincy, Yuvi’s daring shots while batting and Sharma’s poise in the death – should augur well for the future. If only we could manage to provide a supply network without congestion, a channel to harness temperament and a structure to fall back in distress – we could challenge the mighty Aussies in their own den. But, I am doubly sure that such things won’t happen in Indian sport, cricket in particular and hence this euphoria is short lived.

I call the modern T20 version a use and throw format – where you live by the sword knowing that anyway your life is not precious, you play for the gallery because that’s what you aim for in this tourney, you pray only for a burst of brilliance as sustenance wouldn’t bring any extra laurel. So, there is absolutely no doubt that marketability of cricket would increase only at the expense of glory, stamina and perseverance – traits any sportsperson would vouch for. Cricket has never been a rival to soccer; neither has it been thought of as global as other sports because of its very nature. But, that has not made ICC a beggar; neither has it stopped countries from playing provided they get the infrastructure. Probably, ICC’s greed has overshadowed its responsibility towards the game and lured it into using players as mere pawns to generate revenue. They don’t bother about the sport as long as crowd says – “I’m loving it”.

By now, majority of readers must be cursing me for being a spoilsport at such a joyous moment or even think of branding me anti national. I agree that I have always believed in giving sense precedence over emotions and personally I have always benefited.
What holds true for a singular collectively holds true for a nation also. Recent splurge of money into players coffers, attitude of governments in deciding the priority as well as drama of BCCI to grab attention in the glory of unexpected windfall – all these show a wholesale callousness prevailing in the society.
On Tuesday, 25th of September 2007, there were two news which were relegated to the second stage following India’s victory in T20 championship. The first one about a lady doctor being raped in a Delhi hospital and the second about the recent controversies in Pakistan and Thailand. Even if for argument’s sake I accord to the point that news of Indian team attracts more viewers than say events in Pakistan or Thailand, but I failed to get any excuse in the first case. Even horrific has been the reactions of government. There are two ways I look at it –
The government (starting from her highness to Delhi CM Ms Sheila Dikshit and honorable PM) is only trying to look around other way and fool people by giving money to cricketers who are rich anyway and at the same time abducting its responsibility towards providing safe society. The public has been equally guilty. There has been no protest whatsoever, no uproar in the parliament, no discussions on TV and total ignorance of priority. Delhi government has given 5 lakh each to Shewag and Gambhir, but not a single penny to the doctor who is in coma now.
The second is even more pertinent. T20 is not equivalent in stature to a World Cup and without dwarfing Dhoni’s achievements I can say that there is no sure winner in this format. Simply because, the format is such that everybody is vulnerable on a particular day. There was a proposal for BCCI (which is cash rich) to come out and support other sports to grow – but recent things don’t point in that direction. The players have been extraordinary, they have brought laurels for the country and I appreciate their work. There is a huge market for them where they would get more than what they want. But think of a player in chess, in badminton, in shooting, in weightlifting or for that matter in hockey. What is the attitude of Indian public towards such events? I am sorry to say, but ignorant Indians value T20 more than they value a gold or silver in Olympic – even though it is tougher to get the latter one. My memory fails to recollect such a welcome for – Rajyabardhan rathode, Karnam Malleswari, Leander Peas, Prakash Padukone, Bula Sen or even P.T Usha. Each of them has been great in their field but probably the only mistake they did was not to play cricket. The irony is, even a baseball player turned cricketer would earn more respect here than a champion swimmer or stylish badminton player.
And, I attribute this phenomenon of step motherly attitude to nothing but money and glamour. The hungry public only sees the dancing of money and this dangling carrot forces millions to think that everybody in their home could be a Tendulkar. People want their children to be a cricketer not because they love the sport, but it would bring more than they could dream about.

Sounds cynic? Feels like I have spoiled the mood of the nation? If so, I am happy to do that. There should be times when unnecessary histrionics and madness of the public at large needs to be condemned, even at the risk of being branded “pessimistic spoilsport”.
Good luck to “Team India” for their upcoming upheavals.

India's war against terrorism...

2007-09-04T13:21:00.000+05:30

Thanks to the lack of any will (political or apolitical), citizens of India remain vulnerable to all sorts of terrorist attacks within their own motherland. We have a countless list of haves and only a single blot in the have not part – we don’t have any assurance of a natural death, or in a country with increasing life expectancy the life of citizens are cut short by non physiological problems.
The list of reasons for the unnatural death is long for India – malnourishment, pre natal negligence, pregnancy and delivery failures due to untrained nurses, rowdy drivers prowling on the roads – it goes on and on. Terrorism is the coolest entry in this list - an entry as destructive as any natural calamity and as mouthwatering for the political parties to cash on vote bank politics.
From Delhi, to Varanasi, to Mumbai, to Malegaon, to Bangalore, to Hyderabad – the list of cities under terrorist threat is increasing and if the latest statement from honorable home minister is taken seriously then Indians should brace for more such incidents. If my knowledge of geography is right then USA or China or Russia is bigger in size than India – yet according to official statement it is because of the vastness of our country that such attacks couldn’t be prevented. With all negatives to American adventures in foreign shores – no American life has been lost post 9/11 due to terrorist attack. A country which doesn’t give enough value to the lives of its citizens is rare to find – and as always all such records belong to India. How easy it is to blame the neighbors – even before investigation starts – to wash away hands off the responsibility. How easy it is to talk of resilience, to talk of being calm and composed and to talk of people being jealous about our progress and communal harmony. All successive governments irrespective of political ideology and power has shown nothing but callous attitude towards the value of citizen’s life – probably because a dead person is no more a factor in the voter’s list. Those hapless families – uncountable as they now must be, are left to the vagaries of the cruel liabilities – forgotten under heaps of garlands and hollow promises.
India has become a soft state and there is absolutely no debate on that. The focus has now turned into a grim reality staring in your face situation – how many more innocent lives need to be lost before the country wakes up? I am neither a knowledgeable bureaucrat nor a learned journalist – hence statistics is not my forte. But my simple question is – how much of it is a coincidence that till date, hardly any politician or people in the power circle have been targeted by the terrorists? The fact that they are capable enough to do that was proven by the attack on the parliament; hence their sudden change of focus is intriguing. I guess, by now even the terrorists have understood that government of India is only concerned about saving their own skins. Till such times when suicide bombers hit parliament or kill half a dozen politicians, none from Delhi would pose any challenge to terrorism. It’s an easy documentary – be aloof from such heinous crimes till innocent citizens are finished, keep garlands and speeches ready for such occasions laced with crocodile tears and blindly blame neighbors to avoid any meaningful investigation inside India.
Till even few months back, I used to think that I should be proud to be an Indian, but no more. Being an Indian was never my choice and given one, I wouldn’t want to be. I don’t want a life (not for me and neither for my children) where every step outside home could potentially lead to fatal separation, I don’t respect a country which gives a damn to it’s citizen’s life and I refuse to live just with the burden of a glorified past camouflaged to hide horrific present. Those gory scenes of shredded bodies, of spilled blood are not what I want to present to the future generations.
And how dearly I wish that I had a choice of choosing my nation – a nation where the citizen is not used as a pawn in the game of terror, where a child could enjoy a safe life and where people wouldn’t think twice before enjoying their life the way they want – a life colorful and joyous enough to be cherished and valued by every citizen of that country.

Plagiarism redefined...

2007-08-09T10:53:00.000+05:30

If somebody watches advertisements very carefully and on a regular basis, it is impossible for him/her to notice the fight of Bollywood against piracy. It says piracy kills the originality, that the lost money makes producers turn into their graveyards and that with every pirated version of a VCD or DVD we are only killing the original goose. So, kill piracy and save the originality.
Not so long ago, India didn’t have a full fledged patent law to protect original inventions (it had for processes though) and recent Madras High court order showed that there is a clear fight between original intellectual monopoly and pirated copy cats. Hence, if you believe in original version, shell out more to get such exclusivity.
I almost take that argument for granted. For Novartis, but not for Bollywood.

On numerous occasions, I had an argument with majority of my friends about Bollywood and its quality. Without even a semblance of chance, Bollywood loses out on quality, screenplay, direction and script/story. The argument then shifts to an emotional plane – that “people need pure entertainment”. This is as vague as it sounds as by definition entertainment is personal and hence couldn't be the goal for a mass medium. That we believe in fooling ourselves and believe that some god send heroes and extraordinarily beautiful heroines would make our society livable is good enough to cast a shadow on our logical thinking. Then the discussion changes into “we” versus “them”. They are they, so why should we copy them, why should we not have our own dance and song item numbers and that by doing such great service we would be a proud producer of Indian culture and social values. Simply put, we can never argue with the emotional majority.

But I would have accepted their emotionally charged, patriotic sentiments if I would have got some originality in Bollywood. From the day I remember, best and most of the mainstream Bollywood movies (or so called successful movies) are nothing but an “inspired version” of either some regional ones or of some Hollywood flicks. To illustrate my point I give below a sample list of such inspirations.

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Agneepath -- Scarface

Aitraaz -- Disclosure

Agni Shakshi -- Sleeping with the enemy

Ajnabee -- Consenting Adults

Baazigaar -- A kiss from dying

Black -- The miracle worker

Chalte Chalte --- Forget Paris

Criminal --- The Fugitive

Dil Chahata Hain --- St.Elmo's Fire / Reality Bites

Dhoom --- The fast and the furious

Dushman --- Eye for Eye

Raaz --- What Lies Beneath

Roja --- Frantic

Saajan ---- Roxanne

Satte pe satta ----7 brides for 7 brothers

SHOLAY ----The magnificient 7/ The wild bunch

/ Butch classidy / Sundance Kid

Tezaab ----The streets of fire

Jo jeeta wohi Sikandar --- Breaking away

Josh --- West side story

Ghulam ----- On the water front

Hera pheri ---- The sting

Humraaz ---- A perfect murder

Hum Tum ---- When Harry met Sally

Murder ---- Unfaithful

Munnabhai MBBS ---- Patch Adams

Life in a Metro ---- The Apartment

Bheja Fry ---- Diner au cons

Partner ---- The Hitch

(Source -- www.bollycat.com)

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In such a case, where even the best of the outcomes are nothing but far from original, what purpose is served for the audience is far from my understanding. An industry whose own products are nothing but a duplicate copy of some other products, an industry which even doesn’t admit its reckless copying attitude or an industry which doesn’t have a scant respect for other’s originality and creativity – boasts of creating a platform for being the flag bearer of a country’s culture. For them “copyright” means – “right to copy” when it comes to foreign movies. That the numbers of critically acclaimed movies are mostly out of bounds for mainstream audiences and directors is a testimony of the stakeholders considering this medium only as a business and not as a creative expression. The very fact that Bollywood has been horribly poor in making good movies for children and comedy classics shows their incapability of creativity as well as originality.
Except the fact that Bollywood has produced most memorable music, songs, musicians and singers (even though personally I think songs are mostly a no no in movies, music should be the only expression) I hardly see any other benefits from this huge industry.
If it is an industry then its products need to be original and world class, or if it is a medium of expression then it should have a quality output – in my book they are neither here nor there. Fortunately they have an audience which is largely unaware of the beauties of world cinema and also entertaining emotion get better of their logical and artistic senses while viewing the products. It hates the English version only to gobble up the desi “inspired versions” for their entertainment purpose.
That the basic purpose of any industry is moving up the value chain has got defeated in this Bollywood story. Yet they continue to fight against piracy and unauthorized copy cats.
This might sound like a snobbish and intellectually charged statement but I support pirated Hindi movie VCDs/DVDs – as these movies are nothing but a plagiarized version of a better creative mind. An industry which thrives only on plagiarism deserves nothing better than piracy from its own customers – after all brand value comes only from what the brand itself stands for.

P.S. – I am looking forward to the recent news of SONY Pictures suing the Indian producer of “Partner” for alleged unauthorized copy of “The Hitch”. Somewhere the Bollywood needs to be taught a lesson about respecting the originality.

A Poetic Justice ???

2007-07-24T12:44:00.000+05:30

July 22nd, 2007 would probably remain as a historic day in a few minds. When the clock ticked to 20 minutes past 4 in the afternoon the whole of Lords stood in unison. It was a moment when one of all time sound test player was leaving the arena while the other one was just entering. For the one final attempt.
India was reeling at 55/2 chasing an improbable target of 380 at Lords and in came the little master, or should I say, arguably the world’s best batsman of our era? The stage was set for him, to make a final attempt and evolve into a genius, to score that elusive century at Lords and save India.
But, as it has been in most of the cases, the expectations got better than his capabilities. After a tantalizing stay of 35 balls in the middle, the murderer of Shane Warne could not judge a simple arm ball from an upstart left arm spinner and the dreaded finger of Steve Bucknor sent him back on the long journey.
The scoreboard showed for the statisticians –
SR Tendulkar lbw b Panesar 16 (42m 35b 3x4 0x6) SR: 45.71

Again, true to its legendary status, Lords applauded the superhero, albeit for a different reason. They acknowledged the contribution this man has made all over the world in the game, the entertainment he has provided to every spectator even though they happened to be those unlucky few who always remained thirsty.

So, in a career spanning over almost 1.6 decades (and still counting), Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has not been able to get a century at the Mecca of world cricket. Not a very big thing to loose your sleep over, ehh??

So what?? Would thunder the billion followers. There are so many players who have not scored a century at Lords. And how on earth could I still breathe without remembering those magnificent innings at MCG, WACA, Old Trafford, Barbados or Johannesburg. How should I justify my love for the game without remembering his service to this poor India (not in economy, in sports, any sport you could think of)? The burden on him is heavier than Hercules’s, age is catching up with him and my connection of Lords with Mecca of cricket – it smells about old colonial hangover man.
And I am not supposed to react. Because you couldn’t fight against a billion with rational statistics.

So what if he doesn’t have a match saving effort in second innings (isn’t it also the responsibility of 10 others in the team?), so what if he is kind enough to rookie spinners but not to Warne, so what if he doesn’t have a triple century to his name and so what if he is only doing a shadow fight in the middle?

In a sense, I find it perfectly justified that most of the present famous Indian cricketer don’t posses moments which every cricketer would love to. A world cup victory, a series win in Australia (against a full strength side) or South Africa, a brilliant match winning triple century at Perth, MCG or Barbados. There are so many of them.

In my book they simply don’t deserve them. Not because they are not talented, not because they are not sincere and also not because they don’t love to win. It is just that we prefer flair against effective, percentage cricket. And it’s not only their fault. It’s a collective failure of the countrymen, of the billion fans and of the system. We could produce a few Sachins or Azhars but not a single Steve or Gilchrist. Because they are not entertaining, they are only winners.
And in sports, like in any sphere of life, to succeed you need people who could fight. They might not produce the magic wrists or godly off drives, but their ugly fight would bring laurels. We keep appreciating the entertaining brand of cricket and then hope that rain would save the day for us.

It’s a natural justice that the famous quartet of this generation (Sachin, Rahul, Sourav and Laxman) retires without winning a series in England or Australia. It’s only but natural that they produce billion fans, but very very few moments which they could cherish long after. I am happily justified in describing those accolades showered on them only because of volumes and market economics rather than pure cricketing jurisprudence.

No century at Lords for Sachin and Rahul? Somewhere somebody really knows the definition of silent justice.

Or should I call it “The Poetic Justice”?

Fedex monopoly chugs on @ Wimbledon...

2007-07-09T10:03:00.000+05:30

I am undemocratic in some cases and support monopoly in certain areas. Sports being one of them. I see absolutely no reason why should I fight for equal share of glory when I have a king who is giving me more than what I want. And yes, I am talking of Rodger Federar.
And ladies and gentleman, the 2007 Wimbledon men's singles champion is Mr. Rodger Federar. He has equaled the record for Bjon Borg's 5 consecutive championships which even the best form of Pete Samprass could not achieve.
And I am so happy for him and sorry for all those who thought Nadal could beat him this time.
For the statistical record, Federar beat his challenger Nadal in a thrilling 3hr 44 mins 5 setter - score line in favour of Federar reads - 7/6 (9/7), 4/6, 7/6 (7/4), 2/6, 6/2. But the score line says nothing about the threat that the challenger gave to the throne. In this particular match, Nadal showed how close he has come to challenge Federar on grass and in Paris he was unbeatable even by Roger at his best. So, I am a bit scared about my reigning king at Wimbledon. Will he be able to hold Nadal off for 3 more years? That's what I am praying on.
Make absolutely no mistake that I wanted to see Federar win and win it unchallenged. I don't like people taking pot shots at the crown and have absolutely no mentality of sharing it with a new champion. People might have a different view but I like defending champions. Champions, who conquer all challenges to etch their mark in history. I don't have any sympathy for those one off winners.
But I respect Nadal and I fear him a lot. I fear him because he is a successful challenger. One who for the first time has been able to push Federar to the limits. All those incredible returns, unbelievable backhand cross court shots, down the line passing and most fearful, reaching the ball every time you think you have just put it beyond his reach. He is an athlete par excellence and make no mistake about his Wimbledon title being just a few years away. And that's what I want to prolong.
3 more championships for Roger and he will be in the history book alone for 8 time Wimbledon crown. Unmatched and unheard of in the open history of tennis. I have never seen Bjon Borg playing those wonderful rallies and I was not there when Borg made history by becoming 6 time champion. But this time I want to see it with my eyes. And I won't like Rafa spoiling my party.
Come on Federar, do that much for me. I know, you could do it.

But, I must admit that 2007 Wimbledon final produced brilliant tennis throughout for the spectators. In a gripping finale, with every passing shot Federar had to dig deeper and deeper to recollect his form, he had to rely on his devastating aces more than his placements (he made 29 unforced errors compared to Nadal’s 21), he had to produce more breath taking rallies from baseline to make it that much harder for Rafa. And Rafa matched it with point for point. In the 4th set he played devastating tennis which rocked the king so much that he asked to call off the technology of hawk eye once the ball was overruled long in favour of Rafa. He lost it 2/6 with 2 breaks down. Then in the decider he was down 15-40 twice and produced the brilliance of only his class (read aces after aces) to dig him out.
That's what champions are made off. When they face more pressure they bring out more from their closet, when everybody thinks he is tired he produces wonderful winning rallies from baseline and when everybody doubts only he confides in himself.
Tennis over the years have produced players of the highest caliber and this has proven enough that we Indians are not cut out for modern day sports. We are better at deducing financial gains out of mediocre playing capabilities. Be it any sports we have only breed mediocrity in place of brilliance and blamed it conveniently on the system. Without a hunger of a tiger, no system could produce players like Graff, Navratilova or Federar. We have simply no genes to support our credentials in sports.
And ohh, I just remember some people told me a year back that even some Sania Mirza plays tennis. Being an Indian I would love to watch her, but every time before I start viewing championships I read she is out of the tourney. Someone please tell me if she was good enough to buy a GBP 66 ticket (FYI, Wimbledon tickets for ladies final is GBP 66, for men it’s GBP 72) for watching Mariom Bartoli. I heard that both Mirza and Bartoli started almost at the same time, but according to some reports only injury forced Mirza go down and down in the ranking.
I believe, injury free players are a rarity but not players with hunger, grit and determination.
Some people also say that there are enough ways to make money other than winning grand slams. Till such time when we start producing players who could be watched with pure enjoyment and entertainment, we continue to thrive on mediocrity while cherishing wonderful moments like what we got on 7th July 2007 at the Centre court of Wimbledon.
Ale Federar and all my wishes for Rafa in the post Federar era.

WHO will bell the cat???

2007-06-21T16:11:00.000+05:30

Few years back Britney Spears sang - "don't preach me papa".. Now probably its time that somebody starts preaching his/her older ones. Not because there is a generation gap, but there is a black hole which would gulp all of us if we are not able to cool it down right now.
Are we heading towards a day when probably the next generation wants to discuss all taboos, secretly kept under the carpet till date? If the recent posts are anything to go by, there is a furor amongst the teacher community about imparting sex education among the students at an age till now considered being inappropriate for such discussions. This is probably a rare situation where the teaching community is feeling insecure about something which the government is trying to go ahead keeping in mind the danger that AIDS is spreading across India. But, this time again the "irrational majority" is against it.
As usual there are supporters and protesters in this issue and as my friend says "everybody has a right to protest". The neo liberals or the ultra modern liberals would jump guns because they think that it is of utter nonsense to keep something hiding from somebody just because of his/her age. The conservatives say this puts too much unwanted pressure of choice on that small head and also it won't be right to leave every interpretation to the mercy of an immature brain. Someone like me who safely passes staying in the middle faces a larger problem. This is of deciding whom to follow.
I mean, my biggest apprehension about this stems from the fact that the teachers themselves are unsure about the education. It's not that I rate teachers in India very highly. To be extremely honest, barring a few instances, where yours truly has been really moved by the aura and character that a teacher posses, most of the times they have been disappointing. This is without diluting the service that they provide to the society and keeping in mind the hardship that they have to face in our country. If the master is not sure of the path then even god couldn't save the disciple.
As a matter of principle and policy, I do support the sex education policy which is being prescribed by the WHO and the NACO. The fact of the matter remains that if we have to reduce certain taboos (which are harmful for the society in general), we need to break certain traditions also. It is a different matter that as a society we are still testing the waters instead of directing the action. But, the time is running out fast.
India houses the 2nd largest numbers of HIV+ patients (official record - unofficially, considering the taboo that we have, it might be much more than those) and also exposes a huge number of people to this deadly virus because of sheer lack of knowledge. People would argue that even the most economically and socially developed countries are also facing the same danger and so, there could possibly be no link between sex education and AIDS. But I beg to differ.
Not that I am very comfortable in answering such questions to the younger ones, but if it comes to improve their knowledge through gradual education then probably we have to start somewhere. We, for a long time, have been living under thousand such preposterous and irrational taboos. And it is not only related to the field of human relations or religion only - it starts from arts, cinemas, and anything which touches our senses but shows no end of this. Only today I was very pleased to read in TOI that some devout Muslim in Britain has asked for the "right to offend" which he believes is important in world democracy. Not long ago, we had nation wide debate about what is permissible in art, cinema and other such public displays - and what constitutes as unlawful in evoking sentiments. The challenge lies in handling too much sensitive people. The day we are able to move beyond the fears of such en mass moral code of conduct we would solve most of our problems.
I have always believed that, narrow knowledge only restricts the passage of fresh ideas and that is not a healthy sign for any vibrant society. If we leave the moral code of conduct to individual discretion (or at max as a family matter) then such transparency becomes easier.
I am for abolishment of censor board as it serves no purpose other than titillating the curiosity of adolescent citizens. How on earth could someone else judge my ability to segregate the good from the bad? What guarantee does he/she produce to satisfy my emotional and moral needs? I simply refuse to put so much faith and responsibility on another person on my behalf. Long ago, the best movie director that India has ever produced had commented that - we cannot make great movies on human relationships as we are forced to see the other way and we never give credit to the sensibility of the en mass viewers. I think, this is mightily true.
For long we have lived in fears - fears of antagonizing our elders, fears of offending our respected ones, fears about destroying the traditions and mostly fears about doing the unconventional. The result is there for everyone to see. We have a confused generation which lacks direction and motivation, we have teachers who are not brave enough to tell students the truth and we have society fearful of coming out of the closet. The suffocating wind has started polluting our lungs and not for long would we be calling ourselves living.
The fear was also there when we were deciding about our careers - we all played safe and did only what majority showed. Over a period of time all the energies flowed into technology and medicals. The result is dangerous - we have teachers who are basically people who had no other choice so took up this profession and then we have engineers and doctors who are nothing but a product of routine affairs. So, we lost on both counts. Now we are in search of a doctor whom we could rely upon, in search of engineers who could build this country and most sadly, badly in search for teachers who would take the responsibility of making us a great human being. All these because we all did what our brain whispered and not what our heart cried out. I am not too convinced about the pay off that we have generated.

I know, I might have diverted a bit in discussing the important issue of imparting basic and important education to save our dear ones. But I believe all these are interrelated. As a nation and as a society we have been too deeply engrossed within our own world that we forgot to keep our eyes open. The saddest part is, we keep comparing us with people less flexible than us and think that we are doing more than fine. But, the problem in human psychology is that it doesn't allow compartmentalized emotions in a single entity. If you are not open enough about your own self then how could one expect you to be dignified about others views?
Its time that we start looking at things from a different angle and always keep the perspective in mind. This time again the majority is wrong in not taking the risk and as usual probably government would bow down to the vote bank politics.

My only hope is to hope against hope and I am counting on my prayers.

For you Mr.Ambasta...Post MBA syndrome

2007-06-04T17:47:00.000+05:30

For the past few months time has been flying away and mind finds it extremely difficult to concentrate on any single entity, be it spiritually motivating or sensually intoxicating. However boring that sounds I could guarantee that some part of it was really called for. After 2 years of may-be may-not-be grinding that we went through this break was greeted with a vigor that went for a toss for the best part of the past years. Having said that we are again back to routine office-work-no work-time pass-TV-sleep cycle of eternity. Only now could we value of what we have left in Mumbai.

Some of my extraordinarily talented friends have already started to utilize their free or not so free time by posting extremely enjoyable yet provocative blogs on matters covering from head to toe yet beyond comprehensive ability of mere mortals. However I, as usual, being a left liberal, could not miss a chance to hog media light ("media" - in our own space) and reasoning about what are my stakes in the matters waving across the Indian subcontinent.

The most heartening as well as subjudice matter has been the so called "hyper active" judiciary. This 3rd and possibly the most independent arm of Indian democracy has taken upon itself to cleanse whatever debris has been deposited in the political and legal space of modern India. However, this has come along with the suspicion of eventual high ground that judiciary holds. Even if the general public has welcomed this, the political class predictably has started defending their turf vigorously. The question remains for the long run. I know for sure, at this juncture, an independent and transparent judiciary remains our only savior - but for how long? In a democracy, the role of courts are bounded by the constitution itself and even the most ardent friend would vouch for its supremacy. I guess, the solution remains within us. To know ourselves , to organize ourselves better and to equip ourselves better for a tougher tomorrow is what I ask for. Irrespective of all the independence that we got, we are yet to fathom the enormous responsibility that our democracy puts on us. The canvass is dirty but erasable only if we could produce a forceful eraser.

The next big thing is unrest across India about religion as well as caste. India is clearly divided on these things along predictable lines. The danger is, as I have already commented is the lack of responsible shoulder who is educated enough to remain rational. With every incremental independence comes added responsibility which we conveniently bypass for our own convenience causing irreparable damage to the society at large. Be it a common man breaking law or a celebrity doing certain things for whatsoever intentional or unintentional cause - the result is the same. For the celebrity, only the affected horizon of landscape gets broadened. Hence, exercising restraint is important. Especially in a country like ours with half a billion illiterates and equally numbered educated lampoons the role of a celebrity becomes that much important. It’s the difference between a fault done by a follower or a leader. However, having said that, the idea is to try and distance ourselves from such religious inebriates in the long run. I know some of my friends might not agree with this, but as long as we are not able to put a wall between private religion and practising virtues, we remain vulnerable to political maneuvers. From Punjab to Rajasthan, from TN to Maharashtra everywhere I see the same story repeated time and time again to my horror. This only shows the importance of believing the fact that "religion is for human and not the other way round".

The sooner we succeed in this the better for us.

The last point remains a very personal observation which we have always ignored. Last weekend, out for a SP get together, I came across a girl child selling flowers. This is a common scene across our motherland and the contrast she brought to those lighting's and bright canvass threw up some uncomfortable questions. If GDP is surging ahead, if we all are earning probably 10 times more than an average income, how is it that we fear to face these little angels. I thought of buying some flowers she was selling only to realize that I am a bit hesitant in reaction. For me, everything else about India and its shining armoury are baseless till we could bring a perpetual smile on such faces. Religion or no religion, caste or no caste my crusade remains the same.

Only and only if my countrymen could face this naked mirror. Amen!!!

Farewell farewell...

2007-04-03T22:03:00.000+05:30

As we turn to a new life and the parting time comes near, a thousand things crowd the mind. Some memories, lots of nostalgia to carry and some unforgettable ways of doing things to please the friends. A lot has been said and written about farewell and so would be done in future, but for everybody close, this would remain special for the tribute and toast. For those who have always spoke, spoke well, spoke with passion and fire and softly spoken from the one who has never spoken as he remained always in the awe of you.

Best of luck, to all of my friends here and remain as you all are, notwithstanding the inevitability of scaling newer heights in the life.

The flame is aiming high with the last rites

Burning continues, of the skin and the soul

Tragedy striking down to create a distance

Yet a happy and contended mind is watching

For you will taste success and always fight

A chapter in life has turned grey

Chapter with full of colours and pray

As roads widen to create new avenues

Making life more meaningful and bright

With new heights, challenges and rewards

This small past should remain green

A patch of oasis in deserted battlefield

To make us fresh and honest

For the unknown way where you preen.

No stones has remain unturned

All peaks visited and conquered

Always bearing the sensation of Dejavu

Scaling new heights and fearing none

A toast raised cheering every occasion

Friends as they say, remain for ever

And fare well after farewell is over

For, the journey only begins from here

In my absence there will be my prayers

If ever there is a dilemma or tough quay

A moment where you find none in the bay

Never mind and fight till you drop

For with every step of yours

There will be others who would gallop

And when you think that you need a hand

Just turn around to find fearless known faces

Who would happily give their way

For you to create history and win the day...

To my batch mates of PGP '05 - '07

Obsessive middle class hypocrisy

2007-03-31T03:14:00.000+05:30

If anybody with an educative and inquisitive mind goes through Indian history and philosophy, the self proclaimed 'wow' factor would be clearly visible. An age old mountain of traditional burdens, a closed society with unknown fear of unseen future and the incapability to accept the inevitable have been the hallmark of this so called great country and civilization. Indians take pride in their history, culture and what not. Anything and everything which is nostalgic has to have an Indian touch and if something is not praiseworthy it could never have an Indian link. My only question remains - whom are we fooling?

I have dwelt at length in one of my past blog about the double standards present in the Indian mythology and history. We always preach "Adwaita" and believe in twin theories. We have created 33 crores of deities and have told the world that everyone is same. Back home, we were the proponent of casteism and division of labor theory based on social rank. Sudras could not be equalled with Brahmans and they had a different set of deities to pray. Yet we proudly announced the supremacy of our bramhinical knowledge. To have such an open policy of flexible rule only shows our eagerness to maintain the status quo.

We projected women as source of power and used all kinds of heinous crimes to suppress them. We told god is neutral and clarified that he had to do certain things for safeguarding his favorite protege. Our roots have been in deep shambles of fractured verdict though we speak of unified language.

Politics, the next populist brickbat is another prime example. We have all types of political ideologies flowing like rivers and in the back office of power while they are talking of national project of river integration. Here, the left is more right than their opposition and the ruling capitalists fear more of the working class for votes. The rules at center and state are different for the same political party, the economics mean something to prime minister and something else to his cabinet, while the executives are a bunch of hypocrites saved only to follow the lords.

This leaves only citizens to be fair. To my best knowledge, I have never come across anyone (including yours truly) who is fair, justified and rational. A south indian hates north indians in Bangalore but couldn't do without them in Gurgaon. East always believed that they were the unluckiest lot post independence, but never thinks of improving them on their own. Everybody wants industry, but exactly only at those locations where they think would best suit them. Indians say that materialistic world is to be denounced yet when it comes to decide social status money remains the sole deciding criteria. We are ready to discuss what Buddha or Christ did wrong but are not open for discussion about retrogressive hindu laws. We think politics couldn't be in isolation to religion but are opposed to theory if the religion is not Hinduism. We easily criticise Bill Clinton but shudder to even think about such things regarding some of our dear national leaders.

The time has come for the referendum. For the people to think and think from their heart. To come out openly and unequivocally about what they want. If they want a progressive country then north and south has to speak the same language, west has to embrace the qualities from east. We cannot remain indecisive and ask for a decisive verdict from the political class. After all they are only the public manifestation of the society at large.

A decision about whether we need a rule or prefer anarchy to suit our individual needs is the call of the hour.

Racism - here,there and everywhere...

2007-03-11T03:06:00.000+05:30

These days my reading habits are on the wane. Its been a long time since I have given a considerable amount of day time to any book and had rather confined myself to unproductive, selfish but refreshing sleep. Technology, namely Internet, has been the sole companion to make me worthless (not in terms of information though) abuser of time. During these testing periods I came across so many wonderful creations (read writings) of my fellow friends (believe me they have extraordinary power of writing, god knows when they will write a book !!) that sometimes I gave a miss to a heartbeat. How I wish I could express myself so freely. The delight has been purely individual and the writer doesn't take any guarantee of wholesome entertainment.

One such post, deals with certain certainties in our lives and ends on a perfect note of questioning. Are we a racist? I am only trying to take a cue by exploding the term from its literary meaning.

What is race ? - "People who are believed to belong to the same genetic stock". If we leave out the term genetic and then replace it with something else (say age or mindset) then how much does the meaning change? A debatable question I guess. So, lets debate.

The person, who is not a racist is either a Satan or medically frantic. Only these two races, I guess would not fall in the said category, rest everybody does. Why so? Why it is that I am hell bent on criticising and sledging the whole mankind? Because I am totally mad and insane.

A child, before he/she is born, spends almost 9 months in mother's womb. After growing up, the umbilical chord starts to weaken - in the name of modernization, in the pursuit of independence or for that matter under the pressure of career. We have globalized families but localized mindsets. So, if parents are a race (and I believe they are and that too an endangered one) we all are a racist. We are a racist of the highest order who have no time for their own genes.

A husband, an educated person with a successful career, leaves his family in the lurch or in the mid sea because they are incompatible with his lifestyle. If he is famous and celebrity then media runs a business on the scoop, if he is ordinary like you and me nobody cares. Either way, the family is neither benefited nor saved. Legal processes only prolongs the death or strangles the darkness. So, if family is a race, these people are racist. A racist of god knows what order - doesn't even spare his - you know what.

A modern society - a great lifestyle and independent mind. It has no time for losers, no humanity for "also ran" communities. The gap between the winner and the contestants is like black hole - It can only absorb and absorb. Infinite input and no output.Those who are left behind are bound to fall in the well. If they start screaming for help - shoot them down, scandalize them or laugh at them by saying they are incompetent for the competition. The best publicity comes if you pity them. You hold seminars, you organize charities and say hundred good things but do nothing. Even if you couldn't manage hell you will surely manage a Nobel peace prize. So, every individual in a society is a racist - a racist who doesn't want to be in a crowd but wants to be alone at the top.

A girl, in her teens, eloped with her boyfriend and it became an instant news. The family hits back - criticizes her, yells at her and even curses their beloved daughter - but could do nothing. The neighbours, till unnoticed and unknown jumps into act. They do everything possible to make life hell, create mountains out of nothing and starts pronouncing judgements. The verdict is out - the sinner girl must die. The girl is unrelenting for saving her love (even though she says she cares for her parents too) - so parents pay the price. Eventually all die or commit suicide - society makes sure of that.So, all such neighbours in the society are - you know what.

God is great - god is always right. God only helps those who are just and in the quest of truth. If the intention is correct and you are on the right side of god - doesn't matter what you do - you would be saved. Such are the sayings in the epics, such are the sayings in the religions. Whatever god does to save right has to be right even if it is apparently not - we are not enlightened enough to understand what he does. So, god, who only favors his protege can do anything to save him/her. The losers may fight it out in the highest court but the verdict could change hardly in favor of them.

So, all said and done - we all are racist. You are so, your neighbours are so, your husband is so, your wife is so, society is so, I am so and above all HE is also so. Racism is omnipresent, omnipotent albeit ambivalent. A Brahman is a racist as well as a Sudra. Then where do we go from here? Do we revolt or should we continue the process of dialogue? Should we kill or get killed?

For me there is only one answer - either we change or perish, because a winning Satan might not be as graceful as Shilpa.

Imported political ideology...

2007-03-09T02:00:00.000+05:30

India is a land of wonders. India is a land of uncertainties, of mystique and of great solitude. As Mr.Gurcharan Das writes in his own submission - India Unbound - "It is an elephant that has begun to lumber and move ahead. It will never have speed but it will always have stamina." I am, for sure, as confused as ever and not convinced.

India got political independence way back in 1947 but took almost 50 years to start the process of economic liberalization. The political bankruptcy over the years has only compounded the misery. It is very important for any country to have confident leaders. When an ordinary person does something wrong it is less than half harmful than when a leader does so. Not because we place leaders in a higher pedestal, but as leader's wrong doing inspires the subordinates in the wrong way.

Out of many such compulsory trades India exported mathematics and spirituality but imported communism.

My friends call me a communist and probably a communist I am. An ideological one. The only political (or apolitical?) ideology doomed to be failed. Any sensitive and young person who believe in ideology and equality of human beings has to be a communist. An apolitical follower of the once famous "Das Capital" is only a mirage today. Indian politicians on their part has only compounded this in a unique way.

From independence we were a country not here not there. As pointed out in India Unbound we wanted a business community to serve the country the way politicians wanted, the license raj made sure a slow death of the entrepreneurial abilities of the society at large and created a corrupt bureaucracy to support the wrong doings. One of our leaders never trusted businessman and the other thought their money is needed but not they.So, what are we? A socialist state? A state who is confident enough to fulfill its citizens dreams? We were more draconian state than any communist regime (vide writings during emergency periods), lacked planning and believed that state would do everything for its citizens even if they were inefficient.So, why blame only communist for their doings? When the rightists perform the same things they rename it as a "human face" but the communists are criticized as regressive and anti business. The whole model of 5 year planning is a complete fiasco and self serving failed policy. Yet they are regarded highly in esteem. Is it because they were not created by communists?

I do agree that communists made a blunder of economics when they thought that they can make poor people rich by converting riches poor. But at least their ideology was not flawed. They presumed wrongly when they overestimated the powers of state but were correct to predict the rise of the working class and the perils of raw capitalist regime. But what did the others do to rewrite history in the right manner?

As it is said - two wrongs do not make it right. So is the case with India. We were never on the right side of left and fooled ourselves by walking on the left side of the right.We were friend for both - USSR and USA. We could not decide between non violence and violence and in the process ended up losing in the partition.

Communism is comparatively new to India but not alien to its confused ideology. Communism puts enormous faith in the state so does the confused Indian socialism, Marxists believe in liberating working class and the Indian polity believes in making everybody economically equal. Thus, as we see there is not much of a difference between them - neither politically nor ideologically. But to our much delight and dismay, imported communism didn't work well here. Its track record is even more dismal than imported Islam.

However, the twin sister of Marxism, locally known as socialism has found enormous favor with our policy makers and all the loop holes of capitalism come out in political mouthpieces in the election years. As long back, Marx pointed out, "We see the great advance made by Adam Smith beyond the Physiocrats in the analysis of surplus-value and hence of capital. In their view, it is only one definite kind of concrete labour—agricultural labour —that creates surplus-value....But to Adam Smith, it is general social labour—no matter in what use-values it manifests itself—the mere quantity of necessary labour, which creates value. Surplus-value, whether it takes the form of profit, rent, or the secondary form of interest, is nothing but a part of this labour, appropriated by the owners of the material conditions of labour in the exchange with living labour." The same philosophy has been in usage over the years by all parties in India albeit in a slightly different manner. To create a democracy we needed opposition and hence we have them. They are neither ideologically different nor they are designed in a different manner. The only reason they exist is either they had an internal feud with the parent body for power or they harped wrongly on the religious notes. Hence, their pedigree is always questionable in my view.

To the extent that even Marxism has been Indianized and changed conveniently for the gallery, it has created a yawning disparity among the middle as well as working class. They neither had any historical baggage for India nor did they understand the local philosophy. Hence they crashed badly. In the race of power they became corrupt and opportunist and we kept equating them with Marxism. The gap thus created presented a big advantage to others, who in the name of socialism traded the same path with sure ideological bankruptcy.

So, after 60 years of independence we are neither here nor there. We waited for long on the road for the state to become self sufficient but took almost 50 years to come back to capitalism. We have opened up now but in every election year we still fool the masses in the name of socialism and equality. The result is we have neither a strong working class nor a mass of nation building industrial houses.

We blame communists for failure in Bengal but barring 3-4 states I am not too sure about the improved status of living for the en mass. And even in those states, the pressure came from outside, like the population, business class or like in 1991 - the point of no return.

But, how easily and conveniently we bypass issues by putting the blame on those failed ideologies in the name of communism.The only thing we forget is that an ideological bankruptcy is more dangerous than a political one.

Hero worshipping....

2007-02-07T03:16:00.000+05:30

Heroes are the ones who change the history, who rewrite contemporary spaces and inspire a nation to do what they want to do. The most important thing they do, in my mind, is that they create a sense of purpose and romance between the subject and the object. They paint the horizon for the nation to see it glowing and thus start chasing it. It is this powerful engine which then starts driving the society even after the hero has stopped living. This is why they remain great and a nostalgia to cherish.In most modern times, entertainment and sport are the two biggest fields which capture biggest mind share and hence produce most of the celebrities or heroes. Even as we continue debating about their contribution to the building or inspiring of nation, we couldn't ignore them, even in the most hated dreams. Hence, their effectiveness in charging and leading the younger generation in these days are never questioned. Art and entertainment, of which cinema is only a subset has captured the emotions and feelings of so many contemporary societies. We have Beatles, we have "mohiner ghoraguli", we have ravishankar and zakir hussain reverberating the whole nation and Mozart remaining immortal even after so many years.
Similar is the case with sports. They inspire the youth, motivate the laziest of them all and challenge them to dream beyond their horizon. That's why they create fan followings beyond national boundaries and that's why they produce icons after icons for every generations. They transfer their dreams and genes through generations.
Before I was 12 yrs old I never watched tennis. I never had an iota of imagination about that sport, no knowledge about the playing rules and no following for the greats in that arena. But one game changed my whole world. After that it was only tennis, tennis and her matches. I fell in complete love with her playing, her movements in the court and each and every shot that she played. With every winning she made me proud without being citizen of same nations. I prayed for her wins more than I prayed for India, I watched her more than movies, studied about her in all possible articles and magazines more than my studies and cried when she failed to win on rare occasions. But, on all those occasions she never failed to inspire me, even in her defeats she showed tremendous fight and in her winnings showed ample ruthless attitude for the opposition. She coaxed me into watching more of tennis and I ended up watching all macthes for the love of the play. I felt as if I was winning on the court and the day she dropped her racket I stopped watching tennis. I still follow the game but the romance has been missing. That is why she is still my best hero (or heroine?).

My other love and I think for most of the Indians that would be the first love, remains cricket. All its players and icons, every highs and lows associated with it and every win and loss give me that kick which only a glass of old wine could produce. My romance with the bat and the ball, my dreams in those white dresses and my endless prayers and devotions for the heroes had probably started the moment a TV set came to our house. With every passing day I fell more in love with that game, I idolized the heroes and the players more than our own gods. Those were the days when I used to skip everything for the game because I romanced it. I used to woke up early in the morning when India toured down under, stayed awake late night when they faced the charging batteries of Caribbean bowling machines. I respected Sunny and idolized Dev for their fight, fight until death, fight in the defeat and for fight against all odds. I never bothered to check statistics as they never mattered to me, I never watched them because they scored tons after tons or took wickets after taking injections. I watched them because I romanced them, I felt that every boundary hit by Sunny was hit by me, I gasped for more blood every time dev broke opponent's defence.

Those were the best days of my sporting life.

Then came the genius. He took my breath away in Pakistan and almost killed me in Perth. He tore into opponents with utter disdain and for the first time I saw opponent captain saluting a young Indian after his century. I was mesmerized to say the least. I thought god could only play the second fiddle. Times went by and he continued to produce more and more jewels in and out of the field. His shot selection combined with his impeccable behavior outside field, his back foot punch, his on drives and even his ruthless square cuts seemed to me the most artistic strokes one could ever imagine. I was convinced that I was watching god in his own creation.

Then came the fights. Even in my worst dreams I never quoted statistics for my heroes because I never imagined them to fail. I expected him to win me finals but he stopped after the league matches, I prayed for heroics to save a test but he ditched at the last moment, I watched him playing wasting my precious time but he was never the last man standing !! But I kept on fighting. I cheered him overtime he came to bat, I kept him above all suspicions even in those darkest days of betting scandals, I shouted for him being above politics and always believed "form is temporary but class is permanent". Little did I know how I was dying inside and little did I realize how my divorce was imminent. But, one fine morning I found myself to be alone in the room without my cricket yet to my horror I never realized the pain. I wanted to cry for my hero but couldn't bring a drop of tear out of my eyes. I thought I must have been dead.Suddenly I saw my master fighting for the statistic, I noticed a boundary was a tool to reach 10,000 runs rather than slapping the opposition, the fight gave way to team planning and change of guard and romance being thrown out of the window to place reality.

For once in my life, I decided to kill my hero on that day itself.

For me, a hero is a hero till the time he remains a hero. I would rather prefer a gallant death than a prolonged monument of records. I have always worshipped my heroes and hate to see them failing. I only wish he could have realized my pain - the pain that I have been forced to carry with his failures, the pain to justify him under the pretext of statistics, the pain to see him fail and then run for surgery after surgery, the embarrasement of justifying his kingly stature in the face of competition, the agony of seeing opponents dominating him and the shame of bowlers castling him through the gate. I felt all those pains not only when he got injured physically but also when he got out in the most unkingly manner, loosing battle within battles.

Steffi stopped at the peak of her career when she could have easily played for 2-3 more years, easily reaching semi finals and finals of grand slams but retired when she realized she had to compromise on the coveted trophy, got out because she hated defeats. How I wish sachin could have done the same. The least he could have done is continue playing the way he did till the time his physique permitted and then retire. He would have scored less but for me he would have won my heart. I still fight for him being the greatest batsman in the world, but my voice never gets the support of my heart as the romance has long been dead.

I would never forgive sachin for killing my hero under the burden of statistics and ending my romance with cricket prematurely. That's why till date my most cherished belonging had been the poster of Steffi I won in a quiz contest.

I hope my god forgives me for not being a true nationalist.

Investment at risk...

2007-02-05T01:49:00.000+05:30

If the investment amounts to - Sunday afternoon, Rs.60 plus some commutation allowance combined with a vagabond yet exam stressed mind what are the returns expected ?
Guess nothing great. Even I didn't expect something marvellous when I went to Chandan, Juhu this afternoon. The only thing I expected was a slow poisoned death, a poison of highest calibre not to have difficulty in digesting or spitting out and good enough to ensure a pretty stay for 3.5 hours under the air condition.But to my utter exclamation these are what I got - 6 heroes and heroines, unthinkable and unfathomable love stories, innumerable plots and sub plots combined into a package called "Salam-E-Ishq".
Before watching the movie I had little respect for the writings (or should I say critical appraisals?) of Taran Adarsh, but after those gruelling time I have to lie if I do not respect his patience, originality about the movie and packaging skills. Hence one more addition to the list of returns.
As time passed and story (if there were any) started unfolding, I had more trouble in concentrating. Even though I am not a very focused person but this one tested my concentration to the hilt, giving a close competition to KANK. As time started crawling, I had a feeling of being cheated. What else do you call it if you expect poison but get what is called "expired cough syrup"? Thanks to recent "modern story lines" I have been privy to some scripts which had been successful in creating rubbish. As I continue watching more and more of present day famous bollywood director's movie I get more convinced about it's power of branding and selling ability. How else could one define the power of some three and a half hour video shoot being able to generate revenue greater than some SMEs in India?Even without any knowledge of arts, people like me could bring out some scintillating facts out of the recent bollywood stable -
Old hero and inconsequential heroine with scant costing in the dress design department combined with half villains and half jokers are essential parts of anything defined as bollywood movie.
In case the production becomes an "ethnic bollywood" one - dress design costs are the maximum creating latest fashion trend. All types of colors creating vision trouble even for blinds, a palace for the hero (bigger than the Birmingham, one premiere at the royal palace is sure recipe for decolonization) and middle class, Indian heroine with strong moral system who somehow has an eye for the billionaire !!
But,cut back to the present movie.
6 stories, 12 people (could have been more if director was changed) with numerous inconsequential dialogues and characters of all ages - combined in a package delivered at your doorstep. As a part of sales promotion comes beautiful locations, exotic wealth (god knows where do all the fathers of heroes work) and thoughtless dance or songs.Pure entertainment at its best when your mind have nothing to do, nothing to think and it refuses to believe what eyes relay - a close competitor for nirvana.
It demystified the very word "Ishq", it showed how horrible it looks if a girl proposes getting down on knee, how a husband couldn't look if his beloved wife is in hospital or how pathetically extra marital affairs could be handled. I couldn't believe that Indian people had to risk everything to love his legitimate wife. Never knew that foreign girls are so desperate for indian husbands and its only the boys these days who fear to get married !! But all these must have been made keeping in mind the greater audiences who feel captivated with such dramatic expressions.
To my horror I realized that I was served only an expired drug that too was not pure. The problem is the future addiction knowing fully well that they are never going to delight you with Hemlock.
Even getting a poison pill must be very tuff for the likes of Taran Adarsh !!!

Happy Republic Day...

2007-01-26T03:47:00.000+05:30

Good morning my dear fellow readers..Happy Republic day to all.

Today is 26th of January, Republic day, as it is known or called all over this beautiful country, India. Long before or not so long before (as one would like to view time and history) in 1950 India became a sovereign, democratic,secular and republic country on this particular day through the constitution and stepped on the journey of becoming a nation.

Almost 56 years have passed till date and we are still a developing country. I don't know the starting point of our journey and to minimize our combined embarrassment would love to believe that we have really progressed in these years. There are questions unanswered, problems galore and remarkable aplomb in the political and academic fraternity of our motherland. Rape, riot, resurgence of divisive power, child mortality and sponsored or unintentional social clash are daily dosage dished out of all news makers (be it news channel, newspaper or intellectual discussion), good enough to force citizens think about their future more than living in the present. With the help of technology (in this we are called the backbone or back end processing center of the world) the world has shrunk into our drawing rooms and sensitized souls start agitation even at the disturbing news out of bedroom of some foreign celebrity. We now live in a globalized, wireless ,ruthless and professional world where even every step of an innocent child can lead to death.

As we are stepping more into the uncertain future and enjoying neglecting past,we are pushing our social and emotional boundary to the hilt. Retaliation, as and when it comes would not be a pleasing battle. As my immature and slightest brain (if I have any) suggests - education, social thread, political maturity and cultural vibrancy are the four pillars on which progression of a nation lies. Economics, as most of us would suggest, could be the greatest force iffy politics allows it a level playing field. Alas ! like most of the other cases, theory and application differ widely and economics remain a drunkard servant of national and international politics.Enough paper had been wasted about the horrendous state of our national and regional politics and its impact on our country. Hence, I wouldn't repeat those. Instead I would focus on the other three which remain in the realm of common citizen of India.

Education, as of today is a mockery of what it was envisioned by our great forefathers and anybody trying to extract anything other than money out of this would face a doom's day. Such brutal and inhuman has been the battle for earning money,sometimes I think RBI could fall short while printing them. An education devoid of character, without connection to the root of the society is churning out efficient money making intellectuals to compound the already disturbed country. But, as most of us would say, its happening worldwide and in a globalized era how can we shield ourselves? If with a history of more than 3000 years and independence of more than 50 years we are not able to defend our backbone then are we strong enough to survive?

The other two pillars are interconnected and hence could be discussed in a single span.In a wirelessly connected village, the urge of reaching out has narrowed down and technology has ensured our paralysis - both physically and mentally. Since we are technologically advanced we require less of human touch and more of money to have exclusive access to better technology. We have annual riots and monthly anniversary of mass killings (we have devised innovative ways in this - starting from stampede in a fair to recent example of Nithari), we concentrate more on fashion and celebrities than suicide of farmers and we take pride in the fact that we have a colourful and ethnic "Bollywood" combined with a national alcohol called cricket. Its a debate that if the money power is taken out of these professions then would India die out of starvation or innovate itself to some other national past time. We know our competitors better than our friends, spend more time in devising strategy to outperform our neighbor on materialistic scale and if unsuccessful, blame everybody else to conspire a defeat of a just and meritorious human being. We fear riot only if it happens in our city and discuss about famine and poverty till we enjoy the luxury to watch a massala at the nearest multiplex. Not knowing the latest chart hits on MTV is a shame and discussing old hindi or regional songs are hallmark of a backdated, narrow minded person. It's not a problem if we don't know the details of our literature but would be a catastrophe if we can't keep our self updated with "current affairs". We strongly believe that we are the best as long as the theory is not challenged and at the slightest suspicion board an outbound flight for better future.

May be, this is what they call "Better than the best".

Am I a cynic who always hides in the negatives and fears that even slight optimism could wash away all of the theories and beliefs of our great past? Am I being too idealistic and nonsensical in my demand of a reflective society?

I am weak in both mathematics and accounting to understand the cost-benefit analysis of progression vis-a-vis respect for humanity, both in theory and practice.

I hope, the next Republic Day ushers a foundation for a better and poised India.

Amar sohor amar Kolkata

2007-01-02T03:01:00.000+05:30

Dirghodiner dhulo pora itihash

Sotabdir koulinyo r boideshik jonjal

Eisob niye ajo hete choleche dhire dhire

Hoyto konodin se ghurbe ondhokar theke alote

Hoyto konodin seo gorbe bishal bishal imarot r ottalika

Hoyto sotti sotti kollolini hobar samay eseche tar

Ebhabei choleche se bohukal dhore

Asha nirashar dheu bhenge bhenge

Ganga diye boye geche onek molin sriti

Tobuo lore choleche amar shei jorajirno bondhu

Aj hotath dekhe chinte pari ki taake?

Jeno onek onek hete poth bhule geche se

Klanto hoye jhimiye poreche it,kath, pathorer bhire

Hoyto molinota lukote chaiche kono ondhokar polli te

Tobu se amar prothom premer aswaad

Tobu se amar bhorer swapner kolotan

Ajo ami dariye shei chourastar more,

Sobhoyotar bhire ekla

Jodi konodin fire ashe amar sei premika

Jodi duhath bariye deke deke klanto hoye fire jai

Jani samay er sathe sathe seo bodlabe

Hoyto adhunika, sobhyo r unnotonasika habe

Tobu ami khuje jabo sei elokeshi aluthalu premika ke

Jake niye etodin dhore ami periye esechi jiboner sob ondhokar

Of love, time and lies

2007-01-02T02:23:00.000+05:30

Time recedes with waves of warmth
It's fading shadow of light and hope
With changing minds and serendipity
Conflicting positives and burning negatives

The world seems to be changing fast
Shrinking with no place to hide
The road is the same, same are the clouds
The change is only for us to share
For you and me
For a soul and another
Untraversed desire helps love thrive

I was not a lover before I lost you
A love with a difference
Of realisation, of unmatched potential
Of crossroads and fresh vibrance

Days passed and it grew stronger
Until faith changed its track
It pains to call you unfaithful
It burns inside to be one too

I stole a kiss from a face
From a dream and a lip
Discovered only the faces have got changed
Denying the life a lap to sleep

People have changed so have their masks
Whom was I loving? The mask or the person?
Wrong begets wrong as they say in truth
Fantasy brings reality as a crushing arson

Who is happier? Past or the present?
Who will decide about right or wrong?
Again time is ticking away for both of us
Till we meet again,
Let memories decorate their beds and flowers
For a soul and another
To meet in a world of unfaithful song

Multiplier effect**

2006-12-31T20:41:00.001+05:30

In the economics when we discuss about spending and savings an interesting effect of these comes out - namely "multiplier effect". This ensures that the effect of spending or saving gets multiplied many times so that its good and bad effects are also multiplied thereby ensuring progression of an economy. As we come to the end of 2006 and look back at the past probably this multiplier effect (henceforth designated as MF) is present everywhere in the society and like money multiplier, gets spread over the whole humanity.

As through the evolutions and revolutions we have progressed to a more modern and liberal society we have gained immense knowledge. This weapon, as gets spread has its own MF. It has multiplied the weight of educated society, the boisterous views on traditionalism, the division between the educated and the uneducated, the economy and above all the character and mind of the people living on earth.
Education, in most cases, brings money (there are exception, like India) and money brings contempt. The contempt multiplies in the society with the multiplication of money and education and helps in the division of humanity. Again this division has its own MF. Depending on which side of the battlefield you are fighting, your power of MF varies and also brings out its own characteristics as well as "moments of truth".
Liberalization has always been accompanied by its twin called democratic progression (India again was an exception till some time before, not now) and carried its own MF. With democracy came the power of majority, with majority came the scathing knowledge of deciding "in larger interest of humanity" and with this knowledge came the absolute adjudicating power of proclaiming who are "with us or against us". Like all other rules, this MF also has some exceptions but again that exception has its MF. The exception multiplied in numbers, in geography (as majority had to have a presence all over the globe) and widened its base to carry forward this tradition.
Religion, the biggest glue humanity has ever discovered, has its MF which is pronounced in every activity and belief worldwide.Every religion has its own pace of multiplying, multiplying the emergence of hard and soft liners, multiplying its presence in geography and thereby multiplying invasion. Invasion outclassed the natives, displaced and forced them to become invaders - thus creating a never ending circle of MF. This had an effect on history - invaders writing the history of the invaded land and producing only garbage for the future generation. This garbage of knowledge written by outsiders multiplied in creating numerous uprooted races who later created havoc by propagating the beneficial effects of their own society (which in first place was not theirs) which really speaking, never existed.
Law, the biggest messiah for the oppressed and distressed soul created the definition of lawful and unlawful cases. As time progressed, its MF was more pronounced in creating more unlawful society and once these people became majority then there was no stopping for them. Every flaw in the law created uproar in the enlightened society and multiplied it's effect in delivering innumerable historic judgements even before proofs were discussed in the court of law.Every thief created many more after being criticised by law, every scandal and scam became more popular after they came under scathing attack of law and one flawed law created many more - an extraordinary example of MF.
Last but not the least is the MF of a liberalised mind and soul. Every such soul gives rise to innumerable such others and a force to sustain this brute marching. As souls became more liberated they lacked humanity and power of rationality (quite natural as these poor souls have limited space for all these qualities and no wonder that liberty and education has taken the maximum leaving little for others) and one such fertile soul created many more. These mindless souls enjoy brutal deaths as well as holy wars, they conceptualize the downfall of someone and later desert them multiplying the number of such soul. Liberalized mind lacked tolerance and showed its MF in fragmented society (more known as nuclear family), a fragmented society created callous citizens and a self conscious social animal with an immense power of fertility.
Hence, the effect of those are what we are today and what we will create tommorrow.
In physics, we were taught that all matter always tries to be at its lowest state of energy and sociology later showed that the only exception of that rule is known as "Homo sapiens sapiens". Economics taught that multiplier effect is omnipresent and money market is probably the slowest example of that.However, there is only one fear lurking in the corner - called "conservation of mass". When the so called torch bearers of the MF crosses the critical mass, the atom bomb might explode any time, anywhere - wiping out the rest and spare a moment to think what lies ahead if conservation of mass" holds true.
Once more should physics lose to economics, but this time for the benefit of humanity and with a higher MF.

** The writer acknowledges the inspiration of this piece to a recent post in ibnlive blog.

Highs and lows of my cricketing romance

2006-12-22T02:13:00.000+05:30

There have been two completely contratsing feelings during the last few days and I must admit that probably the romance with cricket is taking a back seat for me. There is a lurking danger that in the long run when cricket starts loosing some of its glorious and flamboyant characters or hard fighters, I might not call it a gentleman's game anymore.

At a time when whole of India is busking in the glory of one of the most comprehensive victrories overseas,let me also go berserk. This has been especially a special one and for obvious reasons pumped a deep sense of relief within. On a day when everybody is talking about how great this victory has been, how the team has shown character and fighting spirit after being down in the dumps there would be probably few like me (seriously speaking, sometimes I guess I become too much cynic to handle, but there is this old wine which seems to gush the wrong feelings) who would like to beleive this victory as a different story all together.

There were times when cricket seemed to be the worst game on the planet, Indian team was nothing more than a group of 11 foreign players whom I didn't recognize and kept up the charge only with the false belief that this team doesn't represent a foolish like me. But probably with this victory I would mix in the majority again, slowly but surely. Probably that's why this game is called a great leveller.

The next essay of Indian saga would start on the Boxing day at the Kingsmead stadium, Durban - where India will again start from 0/0. Who knows, they may put up a repeat of the shameful overseas capitulation, they might go down without a semblance of fight which is so natural to this mercurical group or may be to all of our surprise they could pull out one more unbelievable win again.

But whatever happens, I would congratulate a small player in this galaxy of stars to be able to carry successfully my hopes and come out winner against all odds to instill a sense of pride within a community.

This must be one of those days in the history of this great game that after few more days one would like it not to appear at all. But, even as we continue to mourn the loss of arguably one of the most charismatic characters on the cricket field, the truth remains that till date we have been fortunate enough to be mesmerised by the sheer magical power of this wizard.

Lets pay a homage to Shane Keith Warne, the greatest leg spinner ever to grace the cricketing arena. As we prepare to bid farewell to this flamboyant magician, who has been charming to say the least (both on and off the field) - our mind would be reliving those magical moments that he had delivered throughout his illustrious career. The ball of the century, the duel with tendulkar, the famous talk with ganguly (after which he became tempted and got stumpted and India lost the game), the honest confession about the nightmares, the spellbound final over of the 1999 WC semifinal, the innumerable webbing spells of spin magic which enabled australia to be the victorious side - each and every instance would be a part of the folklore which would continue to encourage and inspire children in the future to be a leg spinner.

He is the reason for the popularity and craze behind the leg spin, he is the epitome of all fighting spirit and like phoenix has come alive after every thrasing - be it personal or professional. One of the rare talent who probably has not ever been dropped because of poor form, one of the rare character who sometimes pushed the line too much yet the player who has provided the purest and wildest entertainment to viwers around the world. The scene of him spinnig the red cherry in his magical fingers, the vicious spin which would put any groundsman to utter shame and disbelief and the fear amongst the batsmen across the world about facing him at any time are testimony to his greatness.

He has enviable record against all big cricket teams and unlike some other players has not increased his tally by merely taking wickets against minnows. Also, he has been generous enough to give credit to batsmen when it was due. All these make him a character to remember for ever.

No doubt that cricket would be less attractive from a day in near future and except batsmen, nobody inside or outside the field would enjoy the game unlike it has been till date.

Tribute to an unsung singer...

2006-12-04T13:25:00.000+05:30

Few days back during a chat with one of my close friend I happened to say something about some famous singer (who is no doubt one of the best playback singer world has ever produced) which offended him as it was against popularity and as most would say showed my inept understanding about music and art. However, as I have described so many times through numerous blogs (on my page obviously) that in most of the cases I happen to swim across the tide and current. Whether that's good or bad only time will judge.
However, through this writing I would pay tribiute to my favourite female singer in indian film domain, who unfortunately is not as frequently remembered as her famous counterparts.

On 23rd of November, I happened to take a look at almost all the main newspapers in mumbai (thanks to our enriched library) and to my horrific surprise found that not a single line was mentioned about the fact which I had expected. It happened to be the birthday of my most favoured female singer - Geeta Dutt.
Geeta Roy was born in Faridpur District in East Bengal in 1930. In 1942 when she was just twelve her parents shifted to Mumbai. Over there in their modest flat at Dadar music director Hanuman Prasad heard her singing casually. He gave her two lines to sing in the film Bhakt Prahlad ( 1946 ). "I gave playback for some children." she said. But her rendering of those two lines stood out and astonished everybody in the recording studio. A minor incident became the genesis of a great musical career. Her major assignment come the following year, 1947, with Filmistan's Do Bhai. Music Director S.D. Burman had heard the song in Bhakt Prahlad and he promptly got hold of her address and met her to use her voice in the film. The music of that film clicked in a big way particularly 'Mera sundar sapna beet gaya.' Geeta Roy had arrived. Disc scales of the song rocketed to new heights. 1947-1949 saw Geeta Roy rule as the number one playback singer in the Mumbai film industry as she moved from strength to strength.
As time progressed, Geeta Roy started gaining new grounds but the fight started in 1949 when "Mahal" got released. A young singer, till then unknown to most of India, swang to stardom with only one song of "Mahal" - it was 'Aayega aanewala' and everything after that is history. She went on to become the greatest playback singer the Indian screen has ever seen. Only two singers managed to survive the Lata onslaught in the 1950s. Shamshad Begam and Geeta Roy. Geeta managed to hold her own against Lata for more than a decade and she and Lata were the premier two female playback singers of the 1950s.
To her own credit, Geeta Roy had created a popularity which was unique like her songs. Each and every song of her, even if as I listen them today was a boquet of emotions ranging from sad to bar music. The turning point of her career came in 1951, when Bazzi got released. This was the film which brought Geeta and Guru Dutt together and created a confluence which gave indian film industry some of the best productions in conjunction with S.D.Buman and O.P.Naiyaar. The song in this film "Taqdeer se bigdi hui" is one of the most verve song I have ever heard.
The first thing that strikes one when you hear Geeta Dutt sing was that she never sang. She just glided through a tune. Of all her contemporaries her musical training was perhaps the sketchiest but what she lacked in training and technique, she more than made it with her ability to breathe life and emotion into any song she was singing. In the recording room there was no matching Geeta's vivacity, vitality and spontaneity, her sense of rhythm unparalleled. Her capacity to be both sensual yet sensitive gives Geeta Dutt's voice a unique ethereal quality.

S.D.Burman and Geeta Dutt:
S.D. Burman was among the earliest to discover the magic in Geeta Dutt's voice. In 1947 with Filmistan's DoBhai. S.D. Burman effectively used the Bengali lilt in her voice memorably in films like Devdas and Pyaasa. Thesong 'Aaj sajan mohe ang lagalo' from the latter is one of the finest examples of the Bengali kirtan put over on the Hindi screen. No female singer has better articulated the spirit of Burmanda's music in its early years. In fact in 1957, when he fell out with Lata, Burmanda was looking to make Geeta his main singer rather than the upcoming Asha Bhonsle. After all by then Geeta was a mature singer while Asha was still raw. But due to her troubled marriage Geeta was not free to practice in the style required by S.D.Burman who was a hard taskmaster in matter of rehearsals. He joined O.P. Nayyar in shaping Asha rather than wait for Geeta. Some memorable songs sung by Geeta under S.D. Burman's baton are:

'Mera sundar sapna beet gaya' (Do Bhai - 1947 )
'Woh sapnewaali raat' (Pyaar - 1950 )
'Tadbir se bigdi hui taqdeer' (Baazi - 1951 )
'Aan milo aan milo' (Devdas - 1955 ) with Manna Dey
'Aaj sajan mohe ang lagalo' (Pyaasa - 1957 )
'Hawa dhire aana' (Sujata - 1959 )
'Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam ' (Kaagaz ke Phool - 1959 )

O.P.Nayaar connection:
Geeta suited O.P. Nayyar's ebullient themes to a T. He developed the side of Geeta which had emerged with Baazi. Under his freewheeling baton Geeta developed into a really hep singer who could belt out any number - soft, sultry, happy, snappy, romantic, teasing or tragic. It was Geeta Dutt's rare gift that she could effervescently sing for both the doll and the moll.Some immortal gems sung by Geeta Dutt underO.P. Nayyar's baton :

'Zara saamne aa'( Baaz - 1953 )
'Babuji dhire chalna' (Aar Paar - 1954 )
'Thandi hawa kali ghata' (Mr. & Mrs 55 - 1955 )
'Jab badal lehraya' (Chchoomantar - 1956 )
'Mere zindagi ke humsafar' (Shrimati 420 - 1956 )
'Chor, lutere, daku'( Ustad - 1957 )
'Mera naan chin chin choo' (Howrah Bridge - 1958 )
'Kaisa jadoo balam tune dara' (12 o'clock - 1958 )

This is not to say that Geeta Dutt was less effective with other music directors. Her songs in association with Hemant Kumar in Anandmath ( 1952 ), Bahu ( 1954 ),Ek Jhalak ( 1957 ), Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam ( 1962 ) bear testimony to this. It's just that for the sheer volume and the scaleof popularity that the songs of S.D. Burman and O.P. Nayyar reached make them special in Geeta's oeuvre.

Some comments on Geeta Dutt:
As O.P.Nayaar puts it: "..........Who will deny there is a unique quality to her singing. Give her a blatantly westernized tune this momentand a complex classical composition the next, and she will do equal justice to both with an ease of expression which a singer can only be born with. She is particularly good for songs accompanying boisterous jamborees. With that tantalizing lilt and fascinating curves she puts into her singing,she is the ideal choice if it is seductive allure you want in a song........Geeta Dutt is an asset to any music director. "

To quote Raju Bharathan, Music critic in Filmfare February 1-15, 1985 Page 89,
" Geeta Dutt was thandi hawa and kaali ghata rolled into one. The moment she came, you got the refreshing feeling of aa hi gayi jhoom ke. There was a rare swing in her voice. She hit you like a thunderclap..........This made Geeta Dutt the one singer that Lata Mangeshkar really feared. In training and technique Lata was way ahead but neither training nor technique was of much use when pitted against Geeta in the recording room........This put Lata on the defensive and I think she avoided singing with Geeta as far as possible. (They have sung few duets) I vaguely remember Lata acknowledging this fact when Geeta died on July 20, 1972."

Most of today's generation have not even probably heard of her let alone listening to her charming voice. I found it appealing to say the least. The depth and freshness in her voice is unmatched till today. She might not be as successful as others but who cares. For connoisseurs she was as brilliant as anybody else and for her small fan club she is unmatched in her moods and portray of sadness in the songs. Never ever has any singer touched the rawness in her singing as much she did due to her unmatched quality.
I still remain awed by those mesmerising moments she had created long back through her voice.

Thanks to: http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/ducksoup/26/GeetaDutt.htm

Opportunism, Hypocrisy and Obiter dictum...

2006-11-28T00:26:00.000+05:30

Once my mom asked me - "What do you think you enjoy by creating controversies and being on the other side when you know that majority is a force to be reckoned?"
I, like so many other times, to be very honest, was speechless and dumb enough to find no answer. Even after so many years I cannot fathom what my mom later told me - that it was only an "obiter dictum" and not something to be worried about. I was clueless at that time too.
As a child, like most of others in our motherland, I was taught to be rightful, justified and rational as well as humanatarian in all my actions which I perform consciously or unconsciously. But, as I grew and tried to balance the rope with finnesse I found it impossible to maintain a balance without rocking my own conscious mind. Even today, reasons and justifications come instantly from within even before I fathom what I have actually meant. That means anti establishment again and as my mom told me once - I take all these as an "obiter dictum".
My views, in most of the popular cases has been weird to say the least (that's what most of the people, who know me, say) and difficult to digest. My friends told me long back to shut my mouth up or face consequences which could be rather disturbing or unnerving to this pour soul. So I do practice that. I practice speaking less and not to speak unless forced to do so, I try not to pass any judgement consciously (though in the heat of the moment I do comment and face consequences) on any subject under the sun and have least knowledge about things which are publicly discussed. I try to act smart (remember, try to act) even though I look horrible on the face.Even after so many testing years I try to remain an "obiter dictum".
So what if I find that I cannot justify each and everything that Rama did against ravana but people call ravana a demon and Rama a god so easily. So what if I find that under no circumstances I could justify the death of Karna just because he fought for his friend, so what my conscience priks me when I feel utter pain at the death of Indrajit under abnormal circumstances. Majority says all is fair in the war and in the name of dharma.
As my mom told, majority is a force to reckon with grace, so do I.
I still cannot understand how indian history conveniently forgot eastern part of India (infact it has forgotten everyone except a few luckier souls who successively ruled India from back or front), how successive central governments found it difficult to handle the refugee problems in Bengal (mind you that the same problem was faced by Punjab) and how citizens of India got divided into east, west, south and north (I, for sure, know that people would brand me as a moribund,regional,anti-national dead intellectual and I think they are partially right, but so be it. If 99% of India could be regionalistic and believe in hegemony what's the problem with a minority like me ?).
It is difficult for me to crack the majority logic that because our economy is growing at 8%, we are a major force to reckon with and even though we have more than 40% of our people living in abject and unfathomable conditions we should be proud of what we have achieved after independence.There has to be an immense prudence in the majority to change logic at the least opposition so that they remain a majority to conveniently change everything (from constitution to social and logical followings) to suit them.
They are not opportunistic even if they support Bivhisana but hate Mirzafar (my head is surely up for grabs as I compare Bivhisana with Mirzafar), they are absolutely right when they justify the death of Karna and Duryodhon but show their muscle when we speak about Abhimunya. They cry for those who died at the concentration camps in Germany but ignores Hirosima/Nagasaki in public forum.
I was told that winners only get the chance to create history and hence they are absolutely right in judging what is right and what is wrong. Hence, I am not surprised that majority was, is and will always remain the winner.
And, I, as my mom told, still struggling to remain an "obiter dictum" for all practical purposes in whatever I see and talk about.

Popcorn and Indian cricket..

2006-10-28T17:57:00.000+05:30

Today was one of those days when u hv nothing to do and so surfing and getting bored somehow keeps u back in the office till the time the clock ticks the 6 pm mark. While doing this, I came across two articles. One by one of my favourite colmnist Mr. Harsha bhogle and the other in TOI.
The first one is no doubt a gem of an article which describes the undecided, unprofessional and unhealthy manner in which BCCI is being run while the spat between ICC and BCCI continues to pinch all cricket lovers. Cricket, as it is getting more and more commercialized has taken a backstage and somehow the romance is getting lost. It is now a revenue earner for the organizers and the players, a timepass for a mad nation and an anarchic battleground to settle personal scores and vendetta. In all these hulla-bullahs the genuine cricket lovers are missing and shying away from the field, are giving the telecast a miss. That's not probably going to cost neither BCCI nor players, as this money earning saga will continue till economy is booming and India continues to win one or two matches occassionally. Then there is media to put the final icing. The same panel of self proclaimed experts give confusing and reversing judgements on different channels to make a mockery of the sport and showing their prudence only in choosing which side of the fence they want to be.
I couldn't help but read repeatedly the last paragraph of the wonderful article by Harsha, which probably would offend some modern cricket lovers and new found cricket enthusiast. Like Harsha I also hope that this great game survives this turbulent phase in India.

The second article indicated that probably the old adage of "completion of the cycle" is coming near for some "dynamic duo". If I remember correctly, I have come accross some articles a few days back when everyone was going ga-ga over the master strategist in the indian dressing room and how his "no-nonsense, you-are-not-bigger-than-game" kind a attitude is helping India win matches after matches consistently. Suddenly all hunky dories are over and the Indian team is finding themselves in a slightly patchy pitch before all important South Africa tour or World cup. All is not over yet as one win will change everything as it happens in this part of the world, but but something is pinching somebody. In a spate of few matches the blue eyed boys are finding their cricket bats less wider to cover the swing of the ball or the bowling a little bit more to their unliking. The future all rounder is looking a fish out of water at no.3 position and a section is getting worried over the future of "_____way".With due respect to "resurgent Indian team" I fear that a few more defeats would not be very pleasent for them, as already a poor fellow sitting outside the ring is asking supporters to cheer "Huu-haa india" kind a slogan. The game has stooped so low that even exploiting emotions of a few doesn't matter as long as it generates profit for the treasurer. These days the stadiums are not getting choc-a-block, the passion is missing in the team (vide newspaper reports) and fielding is not a satisfied department to talk about.
How I wish these things had not happened. How I tell that these things are not new in Indian cricket and how dearly I know that athleticism or no athleticism, the cricket played in India is different from the one down under.
I had stopped myself till this date to write anything related to cricket but couldn't beat the proverb of "an idle brain is an evil's workshop". I wish India all the best for the World cup (don't bother about being gobbled up in SA tour, that's a routine story guys) and pray for a pleasent end to one of my most cherished and loved cricketer.

Refreshing breaks and...

2006-10-23T16:24:00.000+05:30

It was destined to be two tuff months brushing with corporate offices and doing something for which all of us toiled hard for the past one and a half years. Instead it turned out to be two beautiful months of hard work and wonderful breaks.The first one came during the Dussherra and the next one during grand Diwali. Both these breaks were refreshing to the core and I was thrilled to be wavering in the lap of mother nature.

The climax of the first tour had to be the rafting from shivpuri to ramjhula through Ganges. It is unexplainable to say the least and the only way to explain it should be to ask to take that trip. Never knew that ganges is so beautiful (people like me, who are used to see ganges at Kolkata can only dream about such clean water) and could be so exciting. Each and every rapids, the slogans, the unique way of sitting and the fun of jumping in the river were just icing on the cake.
The second break was during diwali and a sudden plan to visit dharamsala somehow materialized at the last moment. We had a deadly combo of an Indica crusing at 90-100 kmph with a sleepy man behind the wheel while cruising through national highway. Never in my life have I thanked Indian government so much. Just because of the dividers we managed to be back safely to delhi. So many times our car had kissed the back of a 32 feet huge truck with whispering wind between death and us. The best thing we did in this trip was not to take a camera. Fortunately we had enough memory space to fill our soul and eyes.
On both this fun and thrill filled trip I had come across incidents which I am afraid, should not have happened. The first one was when we were coming back from our first trip and the second one during our visit to Amritsar.How could one explain a national highway being blocked and the entire traffic being diverted just because some wealthy person is getting married? Such people who are insensitive to the core and put humanity to utter shame should be banned.
If this was not enough then the scene in amritsar had given a rude shock. Thanks to our wonderful public and tourists, the famous (or infamous?) Jalianwalabug place has been turned into a virtual picnic spot. People are enjoying their evening at a place which was bathed with bloods of their innocent countrymen few years ago. An incident which compelled Tagore to give up his knighthood, an incident which shook the entire India, now only gives way to evening walk and entertainment. Never before I have hated commercialization so much as I have during my visit to Amritsar. If we cannot respect our hsitory the least we could do is not to defame it.

My wonderful country !!! How on earth could we be so insensitive to its needs and glorious past. I fear to dream of an India where probably battlefields could be made a tourist spot and roads could be put on rent for social functions. And my biggest fear is that I am not too far fetched from truth.
May thy god save all of us...

Jibonanonder proti...

2006-07-31T00:39:00.000+05:30

Tomar sathe amar porichoy hotath sedin
borosa bhora soghono bihono ratri
Hoyto tomay ageo dekhechi swapone
Buhjini mora je eki pother jatri..

Tomake dekhechi tarpore bohubar,
Jenechi tomar asha bedonar bhasa.
Tomar kobita se ki nirob ohonkar
Nirala e buke ajo se jagai asha..

Jotobar ami proshno korechi ghure
Uttor jeno esheche batashe boye
Milemishe geche tomar amar chobi
Amar proshno tomar proshno hoye

Gangur,shalik o behular sei bhela
Bonolota r nirob premer nesha
Poka kata sei jiboner akibuki
Ajo tara sob moder rokte mesha

Edeshe keno je abar elena tumi
Ei banglar dhongshabrito pathe
Tomakei jeno gorbo prachir mora
Manusher joye premer jibon rathe.

Saalam Bombay...Showed me the way

2006-07-13T00:55:00.000+05:30

In the past one week I have witnessed so much carnage,carnage by nature and some man made,that sometimes I really feel that I am becoming numb, that my feelings are getting senseless and that I have stopped caring for others. I have really feared about that situation when I remain untouched while somebody beside me is in visible trouble and I would mourn that day when people would stop responding to pains of fellow ones.
But, thank god that I saw mumbai yesterday, the day of Mumbai's tryst with terror. I saw a city full of courage, a city with unflinching resilience and a city which would put even the safest and best city in the world to utter shame. I have never been out of India, but can safely claim that there can never be a better city than this one as far as resilience and camaraderie in the troubled time is concerend. We all saw how New York reacted to 9/11, we saw how Madrid gripped in fear after it was bombed and I saw Mumbai after it was shattered with serial blasts. The sheer attitude of these people should make any coward terrorist die in its bed.
For the statistics, almost 200 people died and 800 injured in a serial blast of 7 bombs on the western subarban railway line during the most peak and rush hours. But it hide the other side of the story. The story of inimitable courage, of a never say die attitude, of a city which when hit by a calamity, stopped and gathered itself and then again started running. I salute mumbai and all its people from the core of my heart for what I have seen in the past week.

But, during a freewheeling chat with one of my friend and even after that I was thinking an even more basic question. A question which I must answer for myself to come out of the grief, a question which I shouldn't dodge for a better and safe life, a question which transforms the basis of our life. It is this question with which I started off this writing. With no contribution to the fight (we went to donate blood but by that time it was too late and the requirement was met), with no contribution to the good work what we can claim to be a part of? I am still in trouble to find out about the apathy that we show towards these happenings. We would forget everything about this after a week and attribute it towards resilience. Is it so? Think of those who has lost their near and dear ones in this massacare. For them life will never be the same, for them there is no consolation and there is no word or praise. We would forget them also and probably like some celebrity or political leader would say that - "the show must go on". But is that so easy to happen for everybody? This is where I fear we have become senseless. We are living a so short and selfish life that till the time we are not affected by something we don't care.
We need to change our short sightedness. Can we all do something for those who have been really affected by yesterday's blast? The show should go on, but with everybody playing a part for every other person. We should not suddenly jump the gun of humanitism one fine day due to a terrorist attack, but should carry this caring attitude throughout our life. We all can contribute towards a better and caring India, an India where everybody can depend on others and where everybody is ready to help others on all occassion.
I put to rest my small rufflings by again saluting the common man (mumbai kar) of this city who has showed me what potential lies ahead of us if and only if we care for each other throughout our life.

An ode to my girlfriend

2006-07-02T21:48:00.000+05:30

On sunny days and moonlit nights
Through the rains and in the droughts;
You keep coming and you keep coming
In dreams, in sleeps and in endless thoughts..

So many times I have been asked
All the times I could not answer
So many times I thought I would call you
All the times I didn't have your number.

I am too shy to have you,
I am too nervous to be smart.
Yet I owe so much to you
That you come in my dreams and flirt..

Friends come and they come with you
With perfect pictures and happy smiles
They bug me that I don't have you
And they laugh and pity at my immature styles..

I am not photogenic and I can not sing
I can not play and neither am I outstanding
You know that I fumble often than I talk
How could I then ask you to go for a walk?

You know that I am not fit for a date
And you know that I don't belive in fate.
You know That I need space and I need mind
To talk, to share and to help me unwind..

I have seen my friends and I know myself
I owe you a million thanks for all your help;
Through thicks and thins, through summers and through winters
You have been there, you have been there - in dreams and in shatters.

You are my genie and you are the whole
You are in my dreams and you fill in my soul;
You are a genious and a perfect magician
As you can change my life with magic wand..

I am happy with you and I am happy without you
I am happy with your presence beyond sight
I never have to fight and I never have to moan
I can always meet you in a state of delight..

Stay there as you are
Right in my wishes and in my sweet dreams
I pray that you remain pure and perfect
Till I can touch you and make you scream..

Its Carnival Time on Earth Folks...

2006-07-01T16:35:00.000+05:30

Isn't soccer beautiful ?

Soccer with Angels...Who says Germany is not beautiful ?

Netherlands fans at their colourful best...

Look at me...Soccer fever or...

God -make me colourful...Else teach me Samba...

Deutschland Deutschland ....March to Berlin...

Fighting in the battlefield –from Delhi to Luxembourg

2006-06-29T01:35:00.000+05:30

For the last few days all eyes in the business sector in India were riveted to the news of takeover of one of them by the other. For once, people thought of having a giant Indian corporate house to take on the global challenge, for a short duration we thought of playing global and challenging some global corporate in that field. But, alas that was not to be. It turned out to be a bohemian flirting rather than any long term relationship. It became the story of an affair going sour before marriage. It once again became a story of a failed Indian saga.
Yes, I am talking about the much publicized Jet and Sahara deal which was cancelled in bizarre circumstances under unknown pretexts. This is not the right forum to talk about such matters, neither I am competent to analyze such a big deal in business. But what I felt at the falling of the deal is not something economic or business related. It was purely a feeling of a pain, a pain of unfulfilled promise, a pain of being unprofessional in a professional world. Its not first time in history that an acquisition has been cancelled at the last moment, neither is it the first case of an attempted takeover going awfully wrong. But what was wrong was the approach, the faulty valuation and moreover the mudslinging which continued (and still continues) after the deal turned backward. This once again showed the darkness of our system, the immaturity within our business as well as our political class and at the same time the unprofessional approach of some of our best brains in the respective field.
The Sahara airlines takeover, valued at Rs.2300 Crore was initially Okayed for acquisition by the Jet board of directors (read Mr. Naresh Goyel) and was duly notified by both the companies. Then the normal process of takeover started. Jet even went to the extent of overseeing day to day activities of Sahara and started giving change over training to erstwhile Sahara employees. Suddenly came the spanner in the spoke. Jet asked for revaluation of the airlines which Sahara rejected and the whole episode became tipsy turvy. Litigations, counter accusations, political pressures and legal proceedings followed one after another with stupendous indignity, and media coverage made the whole affair a public maasala rather than any business news. It then followed the same path as of the famous Ambani brother feud which only resulted in bad publicity and showed immaturity on their part. Events did not stop here. Tug of war started for the money deposited in the escrow account (Rs.1500 crore). The political clout followed and nothing was left to imagination.
The whole episode not only marginalized the goodwill of both the companies, it also showed how under prepared we are in business. We don’t have any business ethics and neither do we follow any business logic. We don’t have any long term strategy or vision to grow – be it business or be it politics. In the whole episode Jet got away scot-free due to its big brother status and Sahara was left in the lurch to fend almost a sure death (Sahara airlines has to pump in Rs.1200 crore for survival). A slow but untimely death (if and when happens) for Sahara would probably mean monopoly for the other. Sahara on its part was guilty of not evaluating Jet’s offers properly; they went into the deal hastily and paid the price. Now, there is nothing left in the wings of the Indian aviation. A booming industry with immature players showed how even with liberalization, we would not be a super power. This much was for an acquisition which went almost through.
But, in these gloomy days there was another battle being fought by another Indian. Another story of fierce board room discussions, competitive bidding and confident stride of a person, who, on his own has showed the world how to do business and how to turn around a sick plant. Year after year, through innumerable takeovers L N Mittal has showed his resilience and wisdom of doing business and his latest takeover of Arcelor is the latest feather in the cap. The whole thing started way back last year and after much deliberation, laws and discussions by the EU, it was decided to be allowed. Then came the crunch moment. Mittal approached the board of Arcelor with his new but elegant master stroke. He presented a mixed cash n share deal for Arcelor with higher than expected share price for existing shareholders. The result – the deal created the largest steel behemoth, 3 times larger than nearest competitor. There were some concessions made by Mr. Mittal himself in order to see the deal through, but he maintained a rationale attitude and gave preference to business logic rather than any silly market suggesstions.

The difference between these two stories has been the business acumen, the resilience of the concerned person(s) and also the maturity of the board of directors. This showed we are still way behind in the race of building a nation which can feed itself on its own, both politically and economically.

India and Indians...

2006-06-04T01:28:00.000+05:30

I was really confused and questioned myself before starting off this blog. But I appreciate those who asked me to touch few finer points on the reservation issue. Hence I have decided that I will write about a broader perspective and try to fit in the reservation issue in that context without trivializing its importance.
I start off with asking some basic and fundamental question that is staring our generation for quite some time. Its time that we start introspection and stop avoiding our responsibilities. We should ask ourselves – are we sincere enough to contribute in building our country? Are we concerned about anything other than our own career and life? Are we so much a confused generation that we dare not ever put a mirror in front of us so that we don’t have to face our selves?
I guess all the above answers are known to us. It’s a syndrome which is visible across India. We are ready to curse everybody, we are ready to support from the wings, we are even ready to sponsor the crusade against reservation but we cannot be a part of the protest. We want all facilities at our doorstep but don’t want to bear the responsibility. We want latest knowledge, latest technology and what not!! But never ever we have realized that we also have some responsibility towards the society, something to be given in return for our country and society. We are vehemently opposing any cut in the existing seats in higher education as it would cut into our privileges. But never had we looked back at our country and society where we live in. Never have we questioned ourselves, never have we fulfilled our responsibilities.
It’s said that learned and literate citizens are the backbone of any country. Are we so? Responsibility does not end at paying taxes on time, it only starts there. We need to contribute in every possible ways to develop our nation. India is not only about IT and ITES; it is not only about IITs, IIMs or AIIMS, it is not only about 3 or 4 metros, it does not start or end with one Mumbai or Bangalore. India is also a country where 35% people are below poverty line, where more than 50% population are illiterate and where even an IAS or IPS officer never shies away from asking for bribe or dowry and where qualified doctors take money to kill children (read girls) in mother’s womb.
Are we dedicated to our nation? There is still division within our country; we still believe economic strength determines the respect and where money decides social status. Is this what educated India should be? We prefer corporate jobs than teaching as it is a less paid job; we hate research as it is not glorified; doctors are more interested in private hospitals and private practice rather than actual service as that pays off more. We are all running behind money knowing very well that “money can buy everything” in our country. If this is true that what difference is there between us and the bunch of politicians who have passed the bill for reservation?
No doubt political system in India has lost its respect and glamour. Indian political parties never prefer any authority which can curb their power. They are power mongers and they therefore clash with the SC, the EC and even with the president to safeguard their vested interests. But are we also not doing the same?
Have we ever seen any protest against rapes (which by now have become like daily news bulletin), have we ever protested against female fetocide, have we ever vehemently opposed them who take and give dowry even after being so called elite and educated? We have not because we don’t believe in introspection, we don’t believe in correcting ourselves. We are much better off criticizing others but never take the pain to clean up the mess for our own country. We love our country but would die to go onsite (and if possible get a green card). Media does not cover these as they are neither money spinner nor attractive massala news. We love India but not the Indians.
As it is told in the famous Rang De Basanti film: “Koi desh mahan nehi hota hain, usse mahan banana parta hain”.
We need to change. We need an India where everyone has access to better education, where social respect is not determined by money or bank balance, where youth is ready to contribute to the building of the society. Same is the case with reservation. Let’s accept we have a problem in hand. Let’s realize that we need to do something for some sections of the society. They may be OBC or other castes. But they are Indians who are being denied the basic infrastructure. Let’s not play into the hands of politics. Let’s take our vote seriously. We need more primary schools, less child labour and an equitable and justified society to remove hatred amongst ourselves. Let’s unite to build an inclusive society and an India where the caste becomes irrelevant and where one fine day even the reservation would be inconsequential.
Probably on that day we would be able to justify our glorious past and the sacrifices made by our brave soldiers at the border to save us.

Raha, ONGC, Government - subverting business

2006-05-26T09:12:00.000+05:30

It was announced on Wednesday, 24th May 2006 that there would not be any extension of the tenure of Mr.Subir Raha, CMD of ONGC India even though he has still almost 2 years of service period left. This is not quite the normal norm which is followed in the PSU sector where the government is charged with delay in action and going with the status quo. This was a rare case in point where they removed a head of a company even though he had time on his side.
Government said in business terms, Raha’s contract as CMD of ONGC has not been extended. They also said that this was nothing unusual and was not done to teach him a lesson for his past acts. We as law abiding citizens and passive followers of events have not uttered anything as this is neither illegal nor immoral. But, I guess there is something more to look into this from a totally different perspective to judge government’s action.
This was a case where government has terminated the responsibility of a CMD who has been credited with transforming the business of the organization he headed. ONGC earnings had increased from Rs.22,841 Crore (approx) to almost Rs.50,900 crores during these 5 years. Profit has become more than double (from Rs. 6,197 crore to Rs.14,175 crore) and also it has transformed itself into one of those behemoths in the Indian industry which generated enough funds for the country. Also he has been responsible for transforming ONGC Videsh Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ONGC into a successful venture (having generated a streamline cash flow of Rs.4.19 billion for the next 4-5 years from 21 different countries), which, before his tenure was on the verge of shut down. These are in business terms real achievements and do not vanish like promises of political parties in India. The amount of wealth he generated for our country and especially for the PSU in question is real and through fierce competition.
Alas, government turned the other way and put emphasis (unofficially though) on his differences with higher authorities (read, former oil minister Mr.Manishankar Ayer and the then Oil secretary) as he rubbed them the wrong way. This was done because Raha, as a CMD, thought he owned his decisions and asked the minister not to interfere in business.
Any novice in business would understand that this is how business leaders work and make their company world class. To create a world class business behemoth you need to have business acumen and also strong mind. All business people would vouch for that. But our government is more concerned with meek subordination of bureaucrats to the ministers and is against building the country to a stronger, wealthier nation. This also shows their inflexibility and short-sightedness on their part. We expected better deal from a prime minister who understands economics and business much better than most of us and prefers to be known as an intellectual rather than politician.
Time and again government has acted on whims and vendetta, over the years they have shifted and altered the bureaucracy according to their personal choice to suit their political goals and never thought of excellence and competition for betterment of PSUs. They prefer to have rather underperforming but blind "jo huzurs" instead of excellent and straight minds. This has once again proved why best brains do not prefer to work in PSUs and also why performance oriented people does not like the set up we present to them as a country and society.
It is time we strive for excellence and performance instead of typical government clerical mentality of just surviving somehow through the odds by increasing salary and trade unions. It is time we pause and take a calculated look at our future to get a rude shock. Else we would be in real danger of loosing all the glories we are generating as an effect of globalization.
Probably, that would not be the India we would want to live in.

Dividedly united !!!!

2006-05-25T02:01:00.000+05:30

For the last few days India has been witnessing a nationwide furor over the reservation issue in all central (and consequently state) aided or governed educational institutions. Other than serious difference in whether to promote merit or social equity the larger issue has been the division that it has created within the society. Our political fraternity has been of the opinion that caste system has created a social divide in India for the past numerous years and hence social upliftment of these sections through reservation is a necessary process. As expected, the supporters of merit are opposing it.

Up to now whatever I have written is not a precursor to my subject. I am not going to debate on this issue as I am neither competent nor neutral enough for that job. There could be an element of biasness in case I dwell upon this and hence natural justice doesn't allow me to do that. But my main concern is to look at how much as a society we are divided and what conflict of interest could do. I would try to paint a picture which many of us might not agree with as I am not the best person to write about these. Yet, I am penning them down as they came to my mind.

If we look back through indian history (of which, I am a follower but not an expert), then it is quite clear that almost from the time of starting of history, the division within the society was present in India. Even during the gupta periods or at the time of mughals this division was clear and visible. Precisely because of this reason the anti Hindu movements and propagation of Buddhism or Jainism has come into our history. The idea of "exclusively inclusive" society made the habitat segregated based on cast, if not religion. Later during the Muslim era this phenomena gathered more strength even under tremendous religious pressure. These were possible because there were no conflict of interests as Lord Buddha or mahavir or Tansen was never judged on the basis of percentage of population they represented. Neither were they given concessions.

IF we flip through the 18th-20th century period under British raj the division was quite clear. The British made a concerted effort to fuel this and more so, on the basis of religion than probably caste. Even today, at the beginning of 21st century we are yet to conceptualize the concept of inclusive society. This might sound bad but then truth has always been bitter. Let’s face it squarely.

Now that I have hopefully succeeded in implanting some ideas about existence of division within society from long past let's face the other side of the coin. I would divert the attention in judging how much this has hampered the progress of the backward caste or society as a whole.

I will start with the presumption that we believe indian civilization or history is better than most of the others. I will dwell upon some of my views and thoughts (which I think are similar situations, "not same") to arrive at a more confused state so that people who read this have something to think.

I believe the division between north and south, between dravids and aryans, between foreign attackers and son of the soils has contributed to our richness. Both these cultures, as they were totally opposed to each other, developed on their own indigenous ways and flourished to our advantage. We should keep in mind that even though they lived in the same country and aryans initially had a superior social status or power, neither of them ever encroached upon each others (though political invasion was always there) social territory. Precisely because of this we are fortunate enough to have great gupta or magadh dynasty sharing the limelight with the cholas, chalukays or Vijaynagar kingdoms. Same is the case with anti hindu reformist movements. These religions as well as hindus have lived and prospered enough to come to today's state in india. History has showered equal praise on these vastly opposing and different cultures and has not measured their impact on how much percent of a society they represented.

If we look at the British period, which in my view, showed tremendous bonding across religious lines because of national sentiments had its share of divisions within society. Hindus and muslims became nearest and dearest even though social difference and tension was there. Dalits and other backward people contributed as much as the upper castes in freedom movement and never was caste an issue in independence struggle. In fact, reservations for different caste and religions were the reason behind the split up of the social fabric and weakening of the freedom struggle. People respected merits and excellence and never measured contribution in percentage terms. Probably this was the reason why we had fewer riots during those days than we have today even though now on paper we have a better system in place.

There is bound to be a division when people of different socio economic background exist in the same horizon. Even within a family people having different earnings do not live the same way. But these things never contribute to the lesser person being handicap or in his/her progress.

What my contention is that we cannot erase division neither should we try to put everyone on the same path, because that is not for us to direct or decide. What we need to do is to form an inclusive society where hatred is excluded. Variations and divisions have contributed to richness in terms of language, literature and history. We have different dialects and habits because we are different.

Government representing India should not propagate hatred by favouring some caste over the others in the name of social justice as history has proved this to be counter productive. What we need is a broad based society where people are not judged by the mass of the population he/she is representing. If we believe that our divided past has not produced any results in terms of social upliftment then we are dangerously disrespecting a huge contribution of rural India. We are presuming that economic upliftment would erase social tension, which I am sorry to say is a proven wrong, because otherwise more than half of India by this time would have been living in a social heaven. Our history and society is all about contradictions, divisions and confrontations. These have added to our richness and aptly represented all sections irrespective of caste and religion. We need to remove the hatred not the caste.

We have seen that having a common vision makes the strongest division irrelevant. But at the same time partition of India has shown what conflict of interest could do to us, and I fear, that is the path we are treading ahead.

That would probably not be the India where even the backward classes would like to stay.

My 1st year @ MBA

2006-05-22T01:09:00.000+05:30

A MBA is so common now a days in India that after a few more years it would probably lose its charm. Before I joined my alma matter a year back I had never thought of doing MBA that too from one of the top b schools in India. Even now I do not know how I have landed here and if it has added any value to my life except probabaly and hopefully when I vie for a job in some corporate houses next year. But it has taught me something other than academics in life. It has presented life to me as a tuffer proposition than I thought and challenged me to come out with flying colours. Time would tell if I have succeded in doing that but I have till now enjoyed my journey here.
So much has been written and said (U cud find n number of blogs also) about life of any B-school graduate that there is nothing new to be added. Yet the fact that life presents itself differently to different people makes it all the more interesting to us. And this is where I can add value.
Yuppiee...I have already started using MBA lingo. This is one area where all MBAs could not desist temselves. Hence no apology.
My first year started with tests,quizzes and assignments. As the time progressed only the volume and frequency of these things increased and pour souls like me, who have spend their whole past life (including engg degree years) without even knowing what an assignment means started worrying about submissions, deadlines and GPAs. Thank god that I knew swimming else drowning would have been the inevitable under this pressure.
Even though I had decent results, I never knew that I was such a hopeless student until the concept of relative grading bombed before me and before I could realize or react I had alrady joined the rat race to beat my fellow class mates (though I was unsuccessful in beating most of them). I have hated this concept of result throughout my life as I always thought that teachers never gave me marks that I wanted and never realized what did they do with those marks they took away from me.
The day used to start at 8 o'clock in the morning and end was nowhere near the usual sleeping times. We were constantly getting sandwiched between exams and submissions and the only time we used to sleep was during the lectures. It meant that we never heard what was taught and hence it became compulsory to stay awake till late night to catch up with the prof. No wonder that still we do not know the city very well except few resturants and multiplexes. If I had given half the effort during my engg days that I have been forced to during the past 1 year, I would have broken all academic records there. So much so for something which was not planned in my life. No wonder people with meticulous plans succed in life.
Other than normal study we had to do a lot of other works. All students were part of some activity commitee or the other and these things were graded. Hence no escape during weekends too. I have probably looked at the calender only three - four times during the last 1 year. I only realised that I have grown older when the results came out a few days back.
People work here harder than they could have imagined in worst dreams yet there are cases of failures and not so good results. They have tried as much hard as we have but probably luck was not with them. I realised how lucky I was when I saw the admissions of my juniors and even luckier that till now I have sailed through without any hiccups.
God must have been partial to me during the unplanned journey of my life. Now I need to know how to thank god in simple terms because I have forgot simple speaking and jargon less chattings.
Hope thy god remains with me throughout this journey to bring me back where I was as a person before I came here...

Me and my Kolkata

2006-05-21T23:25:00.000+05:30

Kolkata erstwhile known as Calcutta is in mumbai terms "thora hatke" city. It is not half as fast as mumbai,neither it is as plush as other metros in India. Yet it remains very close to my heart and I miss my city very much. Not because I am a die hard calcacian but there is something I always like about my city. Its warmth, its relentless effort to embrace everybody in and around and also its own way of creating life and fun out of nothing is invaluable. These are probably not valued or required in morden life but then I have never been a die hard fan of present condition of life. It taught me to enjoy every small things in the world, it showed me that festivals have colours which can paint everybody's world irrespective of cast,creed, religion and gender. It gave me a great history and also a not so great present. Yet it never stopped surprising me by throwing small presents every now and then.
I have travelled at least to all metros and big cities in India but nowhere I found such appreciation of things which is of no value in life. it has its own share of negatives and problems but then that is part and parcel of every city in India. Everybody loves his/her own city and I think it should be so because we sould never forget our roots but somewhere I feel my love for my city is different.
Calcutta is changing too now a days and trying to be like others. But I detest that change. You do not need to be changed to New York to be NY.
Probably nobody could answer this as change is inevitable. But I wish my city could have remained the same at its core.

Life

2006-05-21T20:12:00.000+05:30

Life is a huge yet beautiful subject to speak about. It crosses everybody in all its form.Sometime it showers purity but at times it sparkles black to suggest a yawning hole around. It started for me almost a quarter century back and till date I must say it has by and large fascinated me. It embreaces all who comes in its path and dares to challenge death in all its glory. From the time we scream for the first time till death does us part life serves us like a genie who grants ur wishes meagerly yet throws enuf surprises to carry along.
Life is not gene, life is not chromosome. It is neither a challenge nor a childs play. It can never be a dull movie but at times it might put someone tantalizingly close to desparation. I have experienced some of these and I admit that its better if we all experience those finer moments. It throws us in a sea to swim across knowing that there is nothing to be attained at the end of the journey. Life is for those who asks nothing from it, life is for those who sails not to survive but to enjoy the swimming. Life is for those who belives in nothing yet knows there is a reason behind everything. Life is for those who knows how to stop yet never stops. To enjoy life we must enjoy the journey more that its destination. To enjoy life we must ensure purity in whatever we do and belive in what we say.
It does not behave equally to everyone and manifestes its cruelty in its ugliest form to shatter myths around it. Yet it remains the greatest friend forever and becomes the best friend, philosopher and guide.
Its been a great teacher and I must admit that none has bettered life in teaching the nuances of it. With almost little knowledge of spirituality and human kind it still remains a wonderful journey for me.