I had initially set out to write a blog post panning the Millennium City. However, after my two previous posts panning certain musicians, I secretly wished to write about something positive (mainly due to the fear of being typecast as a Ranting Outrage Uncle).
Thanks then, to the Gods, for ensuring a day of glorious weather. The morning started with an invitation from my uncle to gatecrash a wedding. A pretty nice North Indian - South Indian fusion ABCD wedding it was then. I got to witness a "Baraat" in this part of the world.
Mare-Not Horse
The wedding rituals were mostly South Indian, and one sweet touch was to hand out a small booklet explaining the significance of each ritual in the (abridged) wedding. Given the increasing number of North-South weddings happening in India, it may be a good idea to hand out these booklets in such weddings.
The wedding was held at the Hyatt Regency by the Hudson, and I can affirmatively say that no other place can offer such a breathtaking view both of Midtown and Downtown Manhattan. One of the advantages of living in Jersey City and Hoboken is the view of both the skylines (especially from Exchange Place), which you obviously can't obtain in Manhattan itself. :-)
Midtown Madness
Downtown
Note the 3 tallest buildings in the midtown pic (from left to right) - (a) 1, Bryant Park - Bank of America Tower (b) 432, Park Avenue - One of the tallest residential buildings in the world (c) Empire State Building Mandatory Boastful Comment: The green building right beside 1, Bryant Park is where I spend most of my waking hours. :D. From the entrance of the building (below), it does look pretty amazing. (Credits for this photo: Souvik Roy).
1095, AoA
I then found this interesting attraction outside the Hyatt Regency.
Jantar Mantar #6
Location: Amdavad of the Western Hemisphere
This is a sun dial, very similar to the ones at the 5 Jantar Mantars in India. At 3 pm, the dial showed the time as 2 pm, possibly because we are still on Daylight Savings time until next weekend.
There was a "Indian festival of lights" celebration at Exchange Place, hosted by yet another Indian cultural association. While most gigs involved kids dancing to "Barso Re", there was this amazing performance by a fusion band called Mind Mind Motion, which had 4 guys, one each on guitar, sitar, tabla and percussion.
Sitar and Guitar: They rhyme well
On the walk back home, I could see that the hangover of Super Bowl XLVIII still lingers (somewhere at Grove Street)
Still a very Super Bowl
I then came across the JC downtown Halloween bash. This was an interesting fair near Grove Street, because, apart from the usual food stalls, we had dentists, massage parlours, petting zoos etc. set up shop. And, I sighted a Llama.
Location: Not Ecuador
To wrap up things, there was a rock concert at a cemetery / graveyard.
The Dead shall arise (thanks to all the Rock)
No seriously, there was a concert stage near the yellow and blue flags on the pic. In fact, there was this banner outside the cemetery. So much for All Souls day, Souls resting in peace etc etc.
Next Event - Tales from the Crypt: Halloween Walking Tour, Oct 31
Walking tour? Not of the cemetery please. I don't think that's a good way to spend a Friday.
A good day's work then.
Cheers
Disclaimer: Jersey City Improvement Council has not paid me to write this blog post.
So, on to the second edition of Lyrical Ludicrousness, starring Yo^2 Honey Singh (who loves to be addressed as Yo!). I needed to do quite a bit of research on this guy, since I have only heard two of his songs: Lungi Dance (Subject of a previous blog post) and the Woofer-Amplifier song......
Wait, the Woofer-Amplifier song is not sung by Yo! ?? Turns out that Its some Pak-Dutch singer named Imran Khan, though, looking at the two images below, you'd be tempted to believe that they are brothers-in-arms roaming through the myriad malls of Gurgaon.
So, more research then. Google search, and there is a website which shows the lyrics of all his songs. At the very first glance, the songs all have a common underlying theme:
Location: Some awesome party in some god-forsaken location in Gurgaon. Subject: Some beautiful, well-dressed girl Topic of Discussion: Make-up used -> Drink which she is having -> Next Steps Next Steps: Shit like penthouse / top floor; calling "father-in-law" blah blah. (I am not going to elaborate on this) Notable Song titles: Alcoholic, Love Dose, Chal Mere Ghar, Chaar Bottle Vodka, Weed Pila de, Main Sharabi
Safe to say that if certain sections of NCR youth actually start believing / getting inspired by this stuff, we are in a mess. Last I heard, Yo^2 songs are being sung at birthday parties of 10-year old kids.That, if true, is even scarier news.
On a parting note, I heard that the movie "Xpose", which released recently, featured both HimeshBhai and Yo!, which features Himesh as an sacked-cop-turned-actor........
Credits: Pramath Verma, For letting me use the name of his blog as my blog post title without permission.
This post has been in the works for a long time. It had been lying in draft mode for as long as my blog has been in hibernation. Many thanks to Souvik, Tahmina and Sanchita then, for bringing up the topic of the two most _______ (fill with inappropriate adjective) Indian musicians of the 21st century. We start first, with the senior music director-turned-singer-turned-actor-turned..........
Himesh Reshammiya:
Turns out that Himesh Bhai did start off pretty early in Bollywood (1998, to be precise, courtesy Wiki). He really took off, though, (at least in terms of movie soundtracks / per year), somewhere around 2004. Thank goodness then, for IITJEE coaching (never thought I'd say this, ever), for keeping me preoccupied through this period. Though, being honest, he was okay as a music composer. Eventually, along came 2005, BITS Pilani....and yes, Aashiq Banaya Aapne, and THAT cap.
This song became a major hit for some reason (Whattay singing debut). This popularity can also be attributed partly to Emraan Hashmi (adulation, envy, whatever you can call it). I found it pretty irritating though (major understatement, this). To start with: The Werewolf sound. And then, Lyrics. So now, you have three words, (Aashiq Banaya Aapne). How do you manage to fill 15 seconds of air time 10 times in a song? Simple. REPEAT.
(Aashiq Banaya) * 3 ....aapne. (And repeat this wherever possible in the song).
At the height of the mania, comparisons with the legend Mukesh began to be made. (Nasal Twang and all Ok, but seriously?). Neil Nitin Mukesh, were you listening?
Along came 2006, another song by Himesh, in a movie starring (you guessed it) Emraan. Song in question: Jhalak Dikhla ja. And this is how it goes:
(Jhalak Dikhla Ja) * 4
Ek baar (Aa jaa) * 5 (Ironic isn't it? Ek baar....followed by a five-fold repetition).
There, a pattern emerges. Now, for some reason, there were other songs he had sung, but the only ones running on TVs and hostel rooms were these gems. In the same year, one more gem, from a movie named "Rocky-the Rebel". And this song starts as:
Junoon * 12. One word....12 times.
At this point in time, I had to check the follower and hater groups for ARR and Himesh on orkut (RIP). ARR's followers outnumbered Himesh's, and there were multiple anti-fan groups for Himesh, vs one really small one for ARR (Yes, someone actually did not like ARR). But still, all was well with the world.
Anyways, I do not recall any memorable albums after this period. He did make his acting debut, and acted in movies such as Aap Ka surroor, Karzzzz (some problem with the keyboard, no doubt), and most recently, the Xpose. I have seen none of these movies, so I shall refrain from commenting further.
Ahh wait, I totally missed Hookah Bar, the only song which he has written, apart from singing it too.
Tera (Pyaar)*3 Hookah Bar.
So someone's love has been compared to a .....Hookah Bar. Umm, let me know if any of you got this comparison.
So that's a long enough post. Next musician, up next, in another post, which will hopefully be published soon. Cheers!
Disclaimer: This blog post is a humorous take on the Lok Sabha elections due over the next month and a half. There is no intent to hurt anyone's feelings (By the looks of it, debates are getting more heated day by day) or to comment on party manifestos / policies.
The Great Indian election - that once-in-a-5-year event, is upon us. This means different things for different people-For economists, its the chance to give economic forecasts and predict bond yields for the next 5 years, for the news channels, its showtime, for the poll analysts, its (number) crunch time, for the cricket fraternity and IPL, it is "shift-this-damn-tournament/film festival-to-another-country" time. In the past, we have seen the people either suffering from clogged roads (due to election rallies), or obtaining the once in a 5-year-bonus electrical appliance (TV/Mixer/grinder) around this time. All said and done, this is one of the most keenly followed elections in a long time, and the level of debate and interest shown by everyone, especially the youth, is good to see.
Generally, the fortunes of the movie industry have not shown much correlation with elections (at least as far as I can remember). Movie stars, however, have shown more inclination than cricketers to jump into the electoral fray. (As far as I am aware, the grand total of ex-cricketers contesting elections this time is 3, Mohd. Azharuddin, Kirti Azad and Mohd. Kaif).
From the film industry, we have quite a few names this time around, as usual. We have Shotgun Sinha as usual from Patna. Many a noisy situation in the Lok Sabha can be controlled with Shotgun just saying "Khamossh". Hema Malini has kept up the family representation by contesting from Mathura, thereby upping the glam quotient. The "Dream Girl" tune should be enough to capture the entire 40+ votebank.
We do have some new names in the political fray this time around. The celebrity contest of this season is Kirron Kher versus Gul Panag from Chandigarh. And the celebrity twitter war is already on. Refer to the link below:
Through the link above, we also now know which side Tusshar Kapoor is on.
From Serampur in West Bengal, we have...wait for it....Bappi Lahiri. So yes, presence guaranteed (musical or otherwise). Given the amount of gold he wears, one should question Bappi Da on the need to increase duty on gold imports. On a side note, we have a magician (Yes, an actual magician) contesting elections, from West Bengal. PC Sorcar, in a lighter vein, has wished to use his magic to make bad politicians disappear. Oh well!
I hereby promise not to import any more gold for my personal decorative purposes.
From Ahmedabad East, its Paresh Rawal aka Babu Bhaiya aka Teja contesting the elections. I wonder if the voting mark will be placed on the cheek, instead of on the finger, in this particular instance.
As far as the South goes, politics and cinema have an almost symbiotic relationship. A complete discussion may warrant a separate post, which I shall desist from. However, it is important to know that DMDK aka Gaptane's party is now a part of the NDA. This implies that The Gaptane can actually end up becoming the defence minister, if the NDA comes to power. And that, ladies and gentlemen, shall be a great day in the history of India.
For the uninitiated, Gaptane Vijayakanth is the one person who can send villains flying simply by doing this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKcfIY5sFIM
The other major development south of the Vindhyas is the supposed division of a family in Andhra Pradesh, which is anyways going to be divided this June. (Too much division I say). Power Star Pawan Kalyan (different from Power Star Dr. Sreenivasan), has launched his own party, and will be in direct competition with his elder brother Mega Star Chiranjeevi. Ohh well, this is still better than Giridhar Gamango and his wife being on opposing camps in Orissa. A mega powerful starry battle awaits.
You know that there are enough Indians / people of Indian origin in New Jersey when Tamil movies not starring Rajini or Kamal are running in local theatres. Two Pongal release movies, Jilla and Veeram, being screened in NJ is enough incentive to put enthu and enjoy all the unreal fistfights, random storylines, family sentiment, punch dialogues etc., not to mention the cheers in the theatre which accompany the fistfights and punch dialogues.
As I figured out from the trailers, the main characters in both the movies subject the movie watchers to all of the above. They are local overlords/dons, who don't think twice while thumping 20 people at a go for justice/business/family/spectator entertainment (and making Newton turn in his grave for the nth time). Cue: Book your tickets, keep your brains at home, grab a seat and enjoy. However, as things turned out, there was a slight departure from the usual script.
Now, we have seen enough "Don" / "Dada" / "Thalapathi" movies over the years in tamil movies (Too many of them to name, I will leave it to the reader to look up on wikipedia). The hero, named/nicknamed will play the role of a mafioso, which of course is his retaliation against a corrupt society, devoid of morals. Additionally, the hero has suffered personal tragedy as a child (mostly death of parent, in unjust circumstances). The title character, with his henchmen, resorts to activities such as beating up rival gangsters, small time ruffians and thieves (not innocent people, mind. The title character is on the good side of morality). His occasional big ticket to fame and subsequent controversy / rival retribution will be bumping off some corrupt minister's / bureaucrat or their sons indulging in a life of debauchery. He will never, I repeat, never solicit flesh trade or any other form of harm to women folk (protector of women, thangachi / amma sentiment of course). Drug smuggling mostly falls in the prohibited category, though exceptions do exist.
The two aforementioned movies, however, marked a slight departure from the above trends, where the title characters are.....er....reformed by different sources, instead of glorifying their righteous (?) causes. The storylines are as under: (Spoiler alert, but then, who cares, you know what to expect in the movie within the first 10 minutes).
1) Jilla: We have the title character who has, in one case, witnessed his father's death at the hands of a policeman as a young boy, and subsequently brought up by his father's boss, the mafioso. He becomes the (adopted) father's right hand man, and the adopted eldest sibling to his father's real children. He also grows up despising everything about the police force to the extent of not wearing khakhi shorts as a school boy. However, things take a twist when the father asks his son to become a policeman, so that he is able to control the police force. The son witnesses a major incident that reforms him (aided no doubt by his lady love, who is a policewoman). From then on, he tries to dismantle his father's empire, though the presence of a third party common enemy within the family is standard fare.
2) Veeram: Title character Thala Ajith, (not exactly a mafioso, but someone ready to resort to violent ways quite often), has devoted most of his adult life to bringing up his young brothers (Cue: Heavy caring non-marrying elder brother sentiment). He (and his four younger brothers) are violent, without being morally wrong, and bash up wrongdoing businessmen, rival dons etc. Thala Ajith's resolve to stay unmarried is broken by a girl who looks 20 years younger, and has a name used by our great-grandmothers (to add to it, he falls in love because she has the same name as his childhood "sweetheart").
Here, the twist in the tale comes in the form of the lady love's father being a non violence adherent. Cue: The brothers end up shaving for a change, and promise never to raise their arm on anyone. However, third party villains now have their eyes on the peaceful, close-knit large family of the lady love. The job of the hero is to now protect the family against the evil forces attacking them, while letting the family sleep peacefully at night, since "they have reformed us, they have shown us rustic blokes what family means" . After this, standard fare prevails, with the lady love's family finding out, banishing him, and he hero (+his brothers), redeeming themselves at the death.
This makes for an interesting paradigm shift in Kollywood. Not sure about whether the masses are impressed, but these two movies sure do get a few brownie points at least for "not negatively influencing the youth".
NOTE: This post is a light-hearted take on this years' Pongal releases. There is no intention to hurt anyone's sentiments about the movie or about the actors themselves.
Tam Glossary for the uninitiated: Thalapathi: Commander / Ringleader Thangachi/Amma Sentiment: Sentimental scenes involving the Younger sister/Mother of the title character, often causing flooding in cinema halls. Thala: Head (Both in the physiological and leadership context)/ Boss / Leader
The greatest batsman, after Sir Don Bradman, the most worshipped cricketer ever, will exit the stage after 24 years (almost to the day, depending on when his last test match finishes). Few men have....wait, no other cricketer has ever commanded the sort of adulation, respect, love and frenzy, which the little master has commanded.
A summary of his cricketing journey, from a boy who was first exposed to cricket with the word "Sachin".
Pre-1993: Too young to remember anything
1994: Yaar, Sachin kya khelta hai
1996 World Cup - Sachin lost us the match....he was dismissed on 90. (Ind - Aus match, Brabourne Stadium)
1996 World Cup - Semifinal: Sachin scored 65 out of 120 runs...the team is useless.
1996-Titan Cup - Sachin, what a captain, what a batsman!!
Early 1997 - India's tour of SA.
Sachin is as amazing as usual, it takes a catch like this to dismiss him. He is the best, by far, in this team. But wait, this lad called Rahul Dravid seems suited to test cricket.
1997- Independence Cup: The team is no longer playing well. Sachin is not a good captain.
1998 - Silver Jubilee Independence Cup, Dhaka
The captaincy is gone, the master is back. He bats like a dream, he bowls well, he fields like a terrier.
1998 - Australia's tour to India: Chennai
The master is in full flow....takes Shane Warne and Gavin Robertson to the cleaners. Subsequent talk of nightmares for a worn-out Warne.
1998 - Sharjah - Desert Storm.
_/\_ is all I can say.
1999-2000 - Captaincy 2.0, A not-so-savoury experience, leading to a premature resignation
Glenn McGrath conjuring a new dismissal, ABW - Arm before wicket.
2001-2002: A crucial contributor in India's newfound resilience abroad. By this time, Rahul Dravid, VVS and Dada, the Captain have stepped in to share the workload.
2003 World Cup - The top scorer, 1 century, 6 scores in the 90s, player of the tournament.
And of course, those two sixes against Caddick and Shoaib.
2004 - Restrained batsmanship, but no less effective.
(ii) Multan 2004 - Sachin Tendulkar 194*, Virender Sehwag 309
Late 2004-Late 2007: The years of the slide. Injuries took their toll, his form was inconsistent, Greg Chappell also had a part to play. And all of us believed at that point that Ricky Ponting has to overtake the Master Blaster.
How wrong we were! :)
(i) SCG 2008 - 154* against Australia, albeit in a losing cause
(ii) 163* (Retd. Hurt): This may have been the first ever double century in ODIs;
Never Mind, that moment wasn't far away
(iii) In IIMB, 90% of the students had bunked their classes to watch this match.
The canteen was, well, in delirium.
(iv) Dale Steyn vs. Sachin Tendulkar: A battle for the ages.
World Cup 2011: Well, everyone won the World Cup for him. Richly deserved for the greatest ODI cricketer there ever has been, and there ever will be.
After World Cup 2011, the path hasn't been as glorious. Maybe, you may have retired a few months earlier. Having said that, we do have the joy of watching you twice. Hope you give us a parting century Sir.
There may be allegations placed on him, such as playing for records, not rising to adverse circumstances and 4th innings chases, non - payment of taxes on the Ferrari (which, by the way, was gifted to him, and not purchased. This is why he had asked for the waiver).
Sachin, while being close enough to godliness, still is a human being. Everyone would cherish a century, or a landmark, such as playing 200 tests. What matters is that he played for the team. And speaking of not playing under adverse circumstances, one can only count the number of occasions, when he has laid the platform for his teammates to score, only for them to collapse like a pack of cards, once he is dismissed.
Above all, his style of play, an all round game comprising all the shots in the book have provided joy to innumerable Indians for a quarter of a century. And all this has been achieved with utmost grace and humility. Guys like me first heard the name "Sachin" in conjunction with the game of cricket.
Thank you SRT for all the joy and memories, and farewell!
Further to my previous post on the Chennai Express, I still fail to understand why SRK had to add a "Thalaiva tribute" at the very end. Is it because:
1) The movie is named "Chennai Express"?
2) He is simply making fun of the Phenomenon?
3) This is actually an earnest tribute gone wrong?
4) None of the above.
The song goes as follows:
"Moochon ko round ghumaake" (Now, when did Rajini do that? That can be done by "Gaptane", and "Gaptane alone")
"Anna ke jaisa chashma lagake (Ok, part of Rajini's mannerisms, but why "Anna"? Standard male south Indian name?)
"Coconut mein lassi milaake....... (Need I say more? How do you mix a coconut with lassi? Or do they mean coconut water?)
.....................
All you Rajni fans, don't miss the chance...........Lungi dance (x100)
"
"Facepalm"
Rajini is widely perceived to be the Indian Chuck Norris (though he has recently been usurped by HRH 10008 Sir Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja), who can kill 2 goons with one bullet, prepare class notes now called Wikipedia blah blah. While his mannerisms, (the swirling of the cigar/chewing gum, the salute, the raised index finger) form a core part of his acting, he is more than just his mannerisms, and has a great volume of good movies to show for. I may have hardly seen a few of his classics, but would recommend "Thalapathi" to everyone (with subtitles for non-Tamil speakers"). He stood his own ground in the movie, in the presence of stalwarts such as Mammootty, Anupam Kher. He has a strong background in theatre, and has, in the past, acted in comic roles, and also as a negative character in his first few movies.
Rajini Sir is by a fair distance the most bankable star in India, you wouldn't see tickets pre-booked for 2 weeks in advance for any other movie anywhere in India, or for that matter, the world. This level of adulation is down to portraying a relatable character on-screen, amazing screen presence (better than any current actor, in my opinion), energetic performances (better than most 20-30 year olds on screen), together with his occasional mannerisms. In cinema-crazy TN, where cinestars are worshipped, it does help that he has remained humble, down-to-earth, appreciative of fellow film star.
I am a recent convert to the Rajini cult. In fact, I wasn't even willing to watch "Sivaji the Boss" in Telugu (I was in Hyderabad then), and was forced into watching the same by Mandu. It didn't matter which language I saw the movie in, the effect remained the same. That's the charisma of Thalaiva.
SRK has some distance to go before attaining the levels of adulation of Rajini Sir (relative levels of course). There is quite a bit scope to make it large. Using the lungi dance, coconut lassi, and other such gimmicks as a "tribute" to Rajini Sir, simply ain't funny.
The best part about this movie is that I had gone in with sub zero expectations, that it will end up blatantly using every other stereotype about tamilians/south Indians. The presence of Kathakali dancers had prepared me for 'sab south hai yaar' stereotype. Thank goodness that the movie did not resort to any such gimmick, and the kathakali was just a 5 second sequence in some song. You cannot feel let down with such low expectations, an exception being the movie 'Shaadi No. 1'.
The good thing was that the tamilian actors spoke in Tamil, and not Mehmood-ian Hindi. Having said that, sub titles for the Tamil portions were definitely required.
The only person actually speaking Mehmood-ian Hindi was Deepika, and it was atrocious. No, atrocious is an understatement, though it did improve towards the ending portions. Surprise, surprise, her Tamil lines were decently delivered (without dubbing). And yes, she did look gorgeous. Wonder why Karan Johar chose Alia Bhatt for playing the role of a tamilian girl in the movie adaptation of '2 states'. Deepika looks more intelligent, more like a Tamil girl, and can pull off Tamil lines too.
That apart, nothing exceptional about this movie. Typical Rohit Shetty-keep-your-brains-at-home timepass movie, with cars being blown up, ruffians being roughed up by an idealistic hero blah blah, and the aruval being added to the mix. The storyline was evident from the trailer itself, so no rocket science there. And some SRK PJs delivered by SRK himself.
The worst bit about the movie is the ending 'Lungi Dance': pathetic and unnecessary. Rather than being a tribute, it pokes fun of Rajini, saying things like 'moochon ko round ghumake', 'coconut mein lassi', which are 1) not characteristic of Rajini, 2) sound excessively stereotypical. What else could you expect from Honey Singh though? He gets lesser respect than Tusshar Kapoor, which is an achievement in itself.
On a parting note, has SRK joined some citizen's forum? During the course of the movie, he says : 'Never underestimate the power of the common man.' at least 240 times.
As I sit here in an auto at the bandra Kurla complex (Read: Mumbai's New business district) signal for 30 minutes now, I can't help but liken the traffic situation to a noisy classroom gone fully out of control. Refer to this video
In so many ways, the traffic refers to the chaotic manner of functioning Indians are used to in general. While thriving in chaos is a positive on your cv, it doesn't imply that we should face chaos and only chaos in order to thrive.
Picture this: There are the traffic lights, which are of no consequence in the morning rush hour traffic, as policemen seek to stamp their authority. Unfortunately, those who cannot see the policeman in control assume that the traffic lights have been breached, and start honking. (A typical disease we are afflicted with). As they near the signal itself ( close to 20 minutes for a 50 m distance), they understand the reality, and honk even more, (in order to force the guy to crash into someone).
However, there are 2 policemen here, giving absolutely contradictory instructions. In fact, each guy is allowing vehicles from 2 perpendicular roads to move on. Note that there is no confusion, simply because the vehicles being asked to move don't simply care about what's going to (or can) hit them. I am astonished that such a thing hasn't happened so far.
No point blaming the policemen though, or for that matter, the few Samaritans who care to help in major traffic milieu. It's somewhere a general lack of respect for the fellow citizens and for the rules, which leads to the absolute anarchy on Indian roads, and causes / can cause accidents, deafness, roadside fights with abuses galore on the female relatives, and loss of peace of mind.
Hoping that someday, the people can show some sense, traffic order can be maintained, even in the midst of a large number of vehicles.
It’s been 6 months since my last post and my first post
after entering the corporate world. My days in employment have been pretty
‘happening’ (for want of a better word) so far, with the 6 weeks training in
Kuala Lumpur being the high point. Presenting to you, 6 anecdotes from an
awesome time in KL:
Dooba Dooba: 21
Hours, One crazy performance
12 Midnight – Decide to sing a song for the gala night, the
token Indian “cultural performance”.
2 am – 5 Tam Brahms, 1 Guitar, 1 Flute...singers 1-2 are
tired, singer 3 doesn’t know how to sing, guitarist is irritated, flutist is
trying to keep the others awake
5 pm – Borrowed Guitar is taken back; flutist’s talents have
been noticed, encore requests putting paid to any fruitful practice; Singer 4, the
only non Tam-Brahm, enters the mix.
6.30 pm - Some rehearsal in the hall.....with permutations
of singing pairs tried out. Meanwhile, the just-mollified guitarist is offered
unsolicited tips on playing the guitar, and gets back to uttering expletives.
7 pm – All dressed for the “gala nite”. Guitarist pulls off
a stunner and unleashes the Tam Brahm within him. An explosive mix of the
guitar and the Veshti (South Indian dhoti for the uninitiated) earn him the
moniker of Remo Mama 2.0.
9 pm – Performance exceeds all expectations......no need to
sing at the end, for all South Asian IGs step on to the stage and join in the
singing at the end. Three cheers to SAARC Unity. J
Demolition Dinner:
Hotel Saravana Bhawan
A day long trip to Genting Highlands, which is like Nandi
Hills, except for cable cars, amusement parks, casinos etc. developed at the
peak. Fully famished and tired, 5 Tam Brahms land up at HSB for the first
semblance of South Indian food after arriving at KL. What follows is absolute
carnage. Within 5 minutes, the first order, comprising an assortment of the
major items on the menu is swept off. The Hotel Staff run out of breath trying
to catch up with our speed. The other Indian IGs, following about 10 minutes
after us, are shell shocked. And to round it off, “C’mon Iyer, lets put filter
coffee”.
The Indian impact:
Bus delay in Malaysia
Getting taxis is pretty easy in Malaysia, in Melaka, it was
not. Wait for taxi: 30 minutes. Time left for last bus departure: 30 minutes.
Time required to get there: 45 minutes (accounting for an unexpected traffic
jam). Amidst tension, repeated phone calls to the others, unsolicited advice to
the cabbie, and of course, the final 5 minute sprint to the bus in a crowded bus
station. Of course, the others contributed by holding up the bus for 5-10
minutes with repeated requests.
As they say, Indians leave their mark everywhere.
Arbaaz “Banga” Khan –
The Entertainer
Never more evident than that night in Langkawi.....Banga searches
for alcohol all around the place. Despite his claims of “not being high”, he barges
into our (Mahesh, Bharath and I) hotel room, entertains us for the greater part
of 3 hours. His antics include singing some kindergarten-ish song about
dancing, sky and stars (Refer to Banga for the exact lyrics), makes us dance to
the song, even though Mahesh and I are almost on the verge of dozing off. But
the killer dialogue is:
Banga takes a washroom break, Bharath has ‘somehow’ dozed
off, Mahesh and I are ROTFLing (ok, not on the floor). Banga comes out and asks
“Kya, tum logon ne mujhe lock nahi kiya toilet mein?” [We were actually contemplating the same].
Surrealistic: Siem
Reap, Cambodia
It’s not every day that you get to see an airport
constructed to suit the traditional architecture of that country. It’s not
every day that you get to visit a somewhat “off-beat” tourist location. It’s
not every day that you visit the world’s largest religious structure, and be
overawed by its sheer grandeur and magnificence. It’s not every day that you
visit a fully functional “village-on-water”, encompassing floating shops,
monasteries and restaurants. It’s not every day that you sleep off like a baby
on the boat in the floating village, under the burning sun.
It’s not every day that you are unable to single out any one
experience as the best in a trip. It’s not every day that you get to go to
Cambodia.
Crazy Cabbies
Drinking and driving don’t go hand in hand.....try telling
that to this crazy taxi driver in Phuket. Mr. Cabbie stops thrice on the way to
the Phuket Airport, blabbering excuses like “drank a lot of water, gotta
pee”... and still manages to get us to the airport in double-quick time by
taking us through smaller roads at 120 km/hr, thereby avoiding the traffic jam on
the main highway. Some roller-coaster ride it was.....and we weren’t done. 3
hours later, the cabbie in KL zips through the highway at 140 kmph.
Today, Li Na, the diminutive Chinese tennis player won the French Open, thereby creating history by becoming the first Chinese and Asian-born player to win a singles grand slam. This feat is quite significant, given the fact that China has hardly any background in tennis, where players from the USA, Russia and Belgium have dominated (on the women's side) over the past decade. This victory brings to my mind a matchup between Sania Mirza and Li Na sometime in 2005, about the time when both the players had a ranking of somewhere close to 60-70. Since then, Sania Mirza has gone as high as #27 on the WTA Rankings to as low as #141, reached the 4th Round of the US Open (2005), courted controversy over every action of hers, from attire to husband to advertisements. Her achievements pale in front of Na Li, who will now move to #4 on the WTA Rankings, and has reached both grand slam finals this year.
Somehow, the freedom of the 4th estate has played its own part in Sania Mirza's underachieving career. From the moment she stepped on to the tennis arena, she has been followed by the media, drooling male fans, religious groups, advertising agencies and others alike. For her male following (there is at least some following I presume), it may be attributed to the fact that she is the first prominent Indian woman sportswoman in the era of the internet. She is also perceived as glamourous (for want of a better word). The glamour quotient explains the actions of the ad agencies. The Muslim religious groups have targeted her once too far, for reasons ranging from attire to playing with Shahar Peer (an Israeli) to playing tennis itself. And, her marriage to Saqlain Mushtaq clone Shoaib Malik has only added to the attention around her. And the media, for all these reasons, as also its own joblessness, has followed/stalked her.
It may be said that these myriad distractions, coupled with injuries, can wreck any sportsperson's career. Censorship in China, though a bane for that country, may have benefitted Li Na in her rise to the top, even though it may be argued that China has enough women superstars in badminton and table tennis for Li Na's rise to make an earth-shaking difference.
However, Sania's fellow Hyderabadi Saina Nehwal has had relatively lesser attention on her through her rise from the junior ranks, culminating in her reaching the #2 spot in the BWF Rankings. Even though she has appeared in advertisements for Airtel and Omega oil over the past year, attention on her off-field issues has been pretty minimal (no religious groups and celebrity marriages you see). I remember just one article in Times of India (which HAS to publish a glamorous article on ANY woman it 'deems' to be a celebrity). For some reason, Saina Nehwal hasn't been perceived to have a glamour quotient on par with that of Sania, though the reason may be due to the glamorous nature of women's tennis and the smaller following of badminton in India (Even if badminton tournaments are telecast, there is lower fanfare/marketing around them). ToI, (sigh), however would have you believe otherwise:
Whatever it may be, the lack of media attention/distraction has definitely benefitted Saina Nehwal, and India as well, for we can count on her to bring many more laurels to the Indian nation in the future.
As I sign-off, a question:
Li Na is the first Asian-born player to win a singles grand slam event. Who is the first player of Asian origin to do so? (Answers on your comments please)
Cheers!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
TEMPLATE FOR A COMPANY PRESENTATION
20 months of B-school life has given me an exposure to an innumerable number of presentations, from peers, seniors, juniors, professors and companies. Company presentations i.e. 1 hour sessions (duration dependent on the verbosity of the presenter or the hyperactiveness of the students) show up 1-2 months prior to the placement processes. Here is how a standard B-school company presentation (ppt) proceeds:
Prologue:Students chattering outside the ppt room, while the presenters decide what to speak. A brief welcome to the company, and here we go.
Presenter (P): Thank you so much for your time..........(occasional fillers to get the audience to laugh/show interest/wake up)...........we have a ppt (file) for the presentation, but would prefer more of a discussion...........(you have the license to interrupt us and ask (stupid) questions).
NOTE: If P is an alumnus, he/she first duly mentions the same, and talks about the fact that he dozed off on the same benches as us, leading to applause.
(P resumes): We are a $xyz billion enterprise, and have a base in ____ countries. We have been steadily growing over the past few years (words like fortune 500 clients, market share along with bright colored pie charts etc).......our business model is blah blah........(high probability of words like customer/client focus, synergy, end-to-end solutions, implementation, business strategy coming in)...............
P will try to reduce the vagueness of the presentation by stating 3/4/5 (any more and it gets confusing and verbose) tenets on which it operates (which would mean words like management, quality, innovation, customer, organization etc in various permutations and combinations)
Having eulogized the virtues of the company, P now tries to ‘market’ the company to the students/prospective companies, which would involve jargon like career growth, flexibility of roles, work-life balance, challenging work, client-facing...note that the word “role” may be repeated up to a 100 times in a span of 15 minutes at this point.
NOTE: P will speak a lot more, and the talk will be 100 times less structured than this blog post, which is where the attempt at tenets comes in (refer to para above). The marketing of the company is interspersed with the rest of the ppt. However, the words most likely used still remain the same.
At irregular intervals during the talk, Hyper-Enthu Nutcases (HENs) will ask questions, which may range from perfectly relevant (salary, location, interview process) to the absolutely irrelevant (‘which product will you be launching in 2030?’, ‘Will you also conduct a case study competition next year?’). The questions flow in after the 25% duration mark, and mainly after the 75% mark, until about 90% of the ppt is done, by which point everyone would be having one eye on the door and another on the clock.
(P concludes):Any more questions? (2-3 times)...... a few prospective questions thrown in..........thank you for attending the presentation, we look forward to interviewing you/making the mistake of recruiting you/suffering the torture of working with you thereon.
NOTE:If any HEN asks a question during this phase, he/she will be subject to dangerous glares/chappal-on-the-butt treatment or plain simple ostracization, depending on the duration of the subsequent answer and also whether the student is a repeat offender.
EPILOGUE:A subset of the HENs will ask the same questions in a different manner, thereby initiating the process of ‘reverse-marketing’ i.e. marketing themselves to the company. Meanwhile, the others will walk out of the room, criticizing the verbosity of P and the hyperactivity of the HENs.
And so it goes.........
DISCLAIMER: This post is a light-hearted take for generating a few laughs. It does not point to any person/company in particular, and shouldn't be taken in the wrong sense by anyone.
