Life goes on...with or without freedom

From childhood, this day has been just another holiday where I could sleep for some more time. But I am just wondering the reason behind this celebration. Are we independent? To be more precise, are we more independent than our forefathers? Did our forefathers really suffer under the Britishers??? If anyone says "yes" over here, then they should visit Aushwitz, read about apartheid in South Africa, or visit Afghanistan. I feel that Indians have been a very lucky nation, unlike popular opinion.

If we are a sad nation today, its because of our own discrimination based on race, caste, and religion. We are a country with our unity shattered by our diversity and we are individualists within a psuedo-collectivist culture. Nations across the world identify themselves by their races. The Germans call themselves huns, the Norwegian call themselves Vikings, and what do we Indians call ourselves? For us, being an Aryan or Dravidian is not enough. We need so many criteria to identify ourselves like religion, mother tongue, varna, gothras, sub gothras... and so much more.

Do we really need all this to identify ourselves. How can we have unity between all this clutter? This is what my professor called "individualists among collectivists". He said that all Asian cultures are collectivist cultures, except India. We Indians can never think as collectivists because for us it is always "Us versus them". Its always the Marathis against the Punjabis, the OBCs against the SCs and STs, the Vanniyars against the Dalits and so on. We Indians love differences so much  that we carry them with us even when we change religions! The brahmin converted Christians sit in a special reserved area in the front and the dalit converted Christians sit at the back in the church.

I just hope that in future, our children get recognized only by their father's name and nothing else. This is for our freedom from discrimination, which we are still devoid of.

Adventure Capitalist: Truly capitalist

The book, "Adventure Capitalist" is definitely a must read. It provides an eagle's eye view of different nations in the present time. I really didn't know anything about sex tourism, until I read the book. The author's time in African countries was an eye-opening account. I found out that the western countries definitely have a propaganda to keep Africa poor. That is the only way they can remain rich.

Even today, the rich west,consisting of countries like, US, Germany, and France dumps its surplus food grains in African nations through NGOs. Due to this, African farmers cannot continue to farm for a living. This is also done by America in countries like Mexico and Puerto Rico. Due to this, jobless farmers from Mexicans and Puerto Ricans come to US as cheap laborers.

But the author has a lot of surprises when it comes to describe India and China. He feels that Shanghai is a beautiful place and worth investing , which it quite true. The author gave detailed account of how Chinese churches and monasteries are flooded with devotees. But he does not talk about the human right violations and the restrictions towards freedom of speech practiced by the local government.

The author, to my surprise, feels that India is not worth investing! All he could say about India was that it will break into several states, because of language and culture diversity. Well, he is right to some extent. But I feel that a country, which has survived, the 70s(emergency, violent clashes on state formations,riots etc) can survive anything. India definitely has shown very slow growth due to the infamous Hindu Rate of growth. But the Indian growth is sustainable unlike the Chinese ultra supersonic growth. The Chinese economy has flourished by focusing outward like Japan. But India has always focused inward, and worked on self sufficiency.

Anyways, as I finish my review, saying I learnt a lot about the present social and political conditions of many nations, from this book.

Burka or Bikini??

The newspapers today blared with the news about the Burka ban in France, where citizens voted for a ban for women wearing veils. For Indians, there are two ways to look at it. This ban will also move on to the turban ban which would affect fellow Indians abroad. For the Muslim states, this is being deciphered as a political statement by the west. I feel that the ban is justified because in Muslim countries, women who are foreign nationals are also forced inside the veil and slight exposure of their skin leads to stringent punishments. So every country has the right to enforce laws on citizens and foreign nationals in that country. The sad fact is that women are always a soft target for the west as well as the east for showing their political muscle power.
In today's Hindu, there were eight letters to the editor, where six men (Hindu names) welcomed the ban and two men (Muslim names) decried it. Another image was from Pakistan, where several men were on the streets again decrying the ban.
WHY THE HELL ARE MEN SO CONCERNED WITH WHAT A WOMAN SHOULD WEAR AND SHOULD NOT?????
This reminds me about the incident where Shreya Saran was accused of disrespect towards the Tamil Nadu CM in a function, where she was wearing a knee length skirt while receiving her award.
And again, the women groups outside Mamta's house accusing her of wearing indecent clothes.
If I get a chance, I would definitely line up these morons and send them to hell.
AGAIN WHY DOES ONLY A WOMAN'S ATTIRE AFFECT THE SENSIBILITIES OF THE LOCAL CULTURE????
On burka, I personally feel that it demeans the identity of a women as a human, separates her from the society, and makes her responsible for her physical safety through the burka. The truth is that anyone of us can be physically abused, irrespective of the fact of how we dress.
My second concern is on the self appointed Hindu groups that are increasingly becoming a menace for Indian women. If these groups are so committed in protecting the Hindu culture, they can instead concentrate on:

• Domestic violence
• Child abuse inside the family
• Child marriages
• Honor killings
• Dowry deaths

But then what Shreya Saran or Mamta Kurkarni wear is so much more important than these things!! How can these groups work on the petty stuff that I listed above?? After all, the essence of Hindu culture, according to these people is keep women subjugated. And we as Indians, need to tackle these problems, instead of talking about the Burka ban.

The Indian FMCG story

When I was in college, studying advertising, ad making for FMCG brands was such a big deal. It was separate subject in itself and client servicing for these brands was a big deal. But recently, when I was doing my MBA, I came to know that the whole game has changed. Today, FMCG's are looking out for survival tricks and so are the ad agencies, who serviced them long back. The new FMCG trends we saw in India are:

Brands like Himalaya and Dabur setting up their own retail outlets
This move has been due to shortage of shelf space in Supermarkets. Whether it would be a smart will be decided by time, because this move involves investing in infrastructure and store manpower.

Giants like HUL, ITC and P&G going rural
The whole jazz about reaching out to rural India was done so well that it gained a CSR sympathy for these companies. But the reason behind this move for completely different. Our professor explained to us that these giants used to bully local kirana shop owners, decades ago for pricing and delivery. The influx of malls and supermarkets changed the story for these brands. When FMCG players used their muscle power with supermarkets, they retaliated by bringing their own store brands. Alas, the FMCG profits came down big time in India in the early 2000s. Remember HUL doing a revamp for its product lines some years back. So, the only option these brands had was to go rural and show their muscle power to small store owners in the rural India. Well, luckily it has been a success for them till now. We will have to wait and watch till supermarkets enter rural India!

Now coming back to our ad agencies, where many of my classmates might be working... Today ad agencies are looking for different opportunities like social networking, Public relations, corporate communications and consumer analytics. This is because billboards are history, magazines are becoming paperless, TV is also going to be history and radio is just for emergency entertainment. These were the bread and butter for ad agencies a few while ago. But now, due to recent changes in consumer habits, everything is gone for a toss.
I remember my group discussion for getting a B.M.M seat in SIES college, my topic was "Is Advertising important for the industry?" and  I debated for NO, its not important!

Rajneeti: Complete stunner

Finally, I watched the only movie worth watching in 2010, well at least so far.
Rajneeti is an absolutely brilliant movie to the core. I have watched Prakash Jha’s movies earlier and enjoyed them but this one is a stunner. I am impressed in the manner he has sketched each character in the movie, and Ranbir’s was the most striking part in the movie. The film is said to be a paralleled with the story line of Mahabharata, with

• Nana Patekar as Krishna
• Ranbir Kapoor, as Arjun
• Arjun Rampal, as Yudhisthir
• Manoj Bajpai as Duryodhan and
• Ajay Devgan as Karna

I found all the roles perfectly executed except for Yudhishtir. Arjun rampal’s charater was shown as fickle minded, intolerant, unforgiving, and a rather stupid one. Whereas Yudhishtir had none of these qualities except that he had taken some stupid decisions. I applaud Ajay Devgan’s work. I think this has been his best role so far. Nana and Manoj were as splendid as they always are. Ranbir’s part was the best because he is the mastermind of the game but has the power to exit the game and go back to his previous way of life. This is impossible in the real Indian politics that we see today. I feel that once a person gets the taste of unrestricted power, it’s hard to be normal again.
And not to forget our dear Sonia oops... Katrina who did a wonderful job in the small role that she got. I felt like I was watching Sonia Gandhi.
Naseer had a really small role, damn I am disappointed. He made the communists look good which was not necessary! Even Sara's role was aptly sketched with her Irish background. And I think this is the first time an American is shown to be sensible in an Indian movie. :)
Once again, I am totally dazed to watch such a brilliant movie after a long time. Kudos to Prakash Jha and all the actors who did a superb job!

Of Maamis and Mamiyaars!

Maamis are an Indian species,  who have a unique possession called "vaith erichal" or in other words, "green eyes", with which they emit envious radiation on children and youngsters. You come across these species when you are dragged to family functions, marriages, and get-togethers. Their rays can affect you from spoiling your mood till making you really frustrated in the end. But the truth is that we all have to face these species in this Indian society. They also possess other avatars like chitti (maasi), perima (badi maa), etc.
My encounters with such species have been pretty interesting, so far. When I was a kid, I did not understand their techniques and methodologies. For example, one maami would often tell my mom, how tanned I have become. After a point of time both my mom and I got irritated, but when we saw her kids, they were really tanned! Then, one always wanted to create a complex in me. So, she would always praise my cousin sister in front of me.
Another one, the most irritating of all, whom I have learned to ignore, would be ready with her advices. She is one hell of an agony aunt, who would give free advices to everyone around. She would tell me that you kids are so spoilt, you see MTV all day, don't learn good manners. Ahem, her girls dress like MTV VJs and even put on accents, and she is advising me! Once, when all maamis made a gang, ya gang :'(... and started to pressurize my mom to get me married, this one started advising me on how should I change my manners and all. I was so tempted to talk back "Why don't you advise your gals? They change boyfriends like their nail paints, go out with guys, sit in their lap, drink with them and even put the photos on Facebook and orkut. They need your free advises more than me!"
Recently, when I had to meet this maami, she came to know that I was doing my MBA. She told me about a girl who was also doing MBA in a college with less fees. As usual, I ignored her. :)
In the end, how ever tempted to talk back you are, its best to ignore these people. But what I have observed so far, is that these maamis are jealous because their girls are not doing that well as I am. So they take out their frustration in this way. So long, my dear maamis......

Are our metros still standing?

Are our four glorious metros: Delhi , Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai as great as they were during the British era?
My answer is that these metros have only been successful in changing their names so far. Mumbai, my favorite city, when it comes to bashing, is so broken today.
The underworld threats, political problems, pollution, fully non-functional infrastructure, and the overgrowing population have harmed the city so badly that future development in the city is uncertain. Kolkata's political non-development agenda to keep the people poor and businesses away has been successful so far. Today, it is not even considered a metro. Chennai, is better than Kolkata, as it has attracted the IT and and a reasonably functional infrastructure. But I foresee social squabbles because of the increasing influx of immigrants. And it has a closed culture due to which it is not preferred by expats.
Delhi is the only survivor because it is the capital. It has managed a reasonable infrastructure, a pretty good influx in businesses, planned suburbs and a quality life. And Delhi is slowly usurping the title of financial capital from Mumbai, as financial businesses are moving their head offices to Delhi.
In the end, the fact remains that today tier 2 cities like Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad have a better quality of life compares to these metros. And tier 3 cities like Ahmedabad, Mysore, Coimbatore and Jaipur are also joining the bandwagon.
Hence, the so-called metros need to do a reality check and see where they are. For all that I know, It will take a century before Mumbai becomes Shanghai ;)

Review on Raavan

Highlights:

Prithviraj is hot without moustache!

Ash and Vikram have done a good job.

Storyline and direction are pretty good, but dint feel Mani Ratnam's oomph factor.

Good music!

Things I did not like:

Long poetry like dialogs

Karthik flying like "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"

Prabhu- He irritates me....

Well the story is around Tirunelveli, but I doubt its shot there....its more like Ooty and Kodai, cos lots of mountains around. Ash is perfect for the role of Sita. ;) Married but still makes any guy go mad for her!

In all a good entertainer, but not worth spending money at Inox to watch this.

A pirate that I was meant to be!

Well for those who know me will also know that I must be talking about a game ;). The game is "The curse of monkey Island". Never guessed that a point and click game can be so interesting and challenging. Nevertheless this game is awesome and so funny.

The main character in the game is a wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood. He rescues his lover Elaine from the Zombie pirate Lechuck. The characters that Guybrush meets during his quests are very interesting and the clues are also planned brilliantly.

I got stuck in this game so many times that I have finally started using hints from the web. I know that sucks but I am not that intelligent to solve all the puzzles by myself. The scenarios in this game are also very fascinating. This game is so made for me.


All in all, a very adventurous game for all wannabe pirates. :)

Corporate Sheman!

Women make a bad example, when they try to ape men. One such example was Priya. When she laughed, her team mates would get scared. People in the office kept as far from her as possible. Whenever, someone joined her team, they would get the “best of luck” from people around. She was one great example of people who liked to drop their shit on others and penalize them for that.

She had scraped her way through promotions by her family influence and became a team lead. So, she was very insecure about her abilities. Once, a new project manager joined the company. When Priya got introduced to her, she introduced herself as a project manager!

She had her harassing techniques in place. Whenever she received a storyboard, she would make a hell lot of edits and tell the content writer that it was a poor quality work. Whenever people replied in mail for doubts clearance and verification, Priya will never mail back to them. She would go and sort it out verbally. This was her strategy, because later whatever was wrong would be shoved back to the person and she would be on the safe side. Her motto was to never make anything formal from her side so that she will not be held responsible.

She had no hint about the word professionalism. She thought that her team members were puppets and she can behave however and talk anything to them. She would demand formal birthday treats from her team members in the name of team activity. She would call people names, under the pretext of being friendly. Whenever someone would tell her politely to stop doing it, she would get back at them and say that they are not cooperating as a team.

Her best tool was that she was irritating to the core. People would do anything to make her go away. Therefore, she was a difficult person to handle. When someone would get the strength to confront her, she would just confuse them. They would give up and she would prove them wrong.

Phew, never thought I would meet such people. But only when you meet such people, will you know the worth of good people.