Poochte hain wo ki Ghalib kaun hai… koi batlaye ki hum batlayein kya
May 29, 2007 Leave a comment
Just to break the silence
Every time I look at Sunshine
There’s something that tells me
What the last night must have been like
How the evenin is going to be
Hold me sunshine for a moment too long
Let me live in what matters to me
May 21, 2007 2 Comments
Well.. I’ve been missing.. from the scene!
Just to give you guys an update, I was out at my village for a week or so, and then at Chicago the last week. Spent half a day at Heathrow watching people fight over ManU and Chelsea. Back at Mumbai this morning, and still feeling a bit of the lag!
Nevertheless, all ye folks. I shall be right back from tomorrow! keep watching the space out!
“Kaasid payam-e-shauq ko dena na bahot tool
kehna fakat unse ki ye aankhein taras gayeein”
April 26, 2007 2 Comments
Overheard
“What’s there tomorrow, that’s not there today?”
“Today!”
Said –
“Even though I am a rash driver, If I die in a car crash, my girlfriend would kill me!”
Recalled –
The ties severed are not forgotten. Its funny how broken strings keep tugging at you!
April 20, 2007 1 Comment
And some light reading through the night….
Can an idle weekend be better than this?
March 22, 2007 Leave a comment
1992 World Cup, where a great captain Imran Khan brought Inzamam’s heroics to the fore, and the world saw him mark his stamp of arrival into the cricketing world (the great innings against New Zealand in Semifinal), 22 year old Inzamam was all about grace, style and ease when it came to batting. I have never been able to figure out how he managed to have so much time to play his shots (especially, with his bulk).
His 378 matches, 11000+ runs, 39.72 average and 10 centuries don’t tell you the real magnitude of his impact on the game. Usually the smiling Buddha of Pakistan team, Toronto is the only place where someone saw him loose his temper.
Faras Ghani talks about his 5 best innings, while Osman Samiuddin bids him an emotional farewell. But nobody talks about one of the biggest banes of subcontinental cricket – the enormous pressure it puts on all cricketers. Houses are vandalized, effigies burnt, and slogans shouted everytime they lose a match. Why? Because they bring shame to the nation? Those slogan shouters forget that these are the players who put a lot of heart and soul behind those matches. That it hurts them as well when they lose. That when you lose, you want your supporters to rally behind you, urging you to keep the chin up. Inzy has lived through his own set of pressures and boiling moments. And has come out calmer all the way.
And if he seems soft, lets remind the cricket world about the walk-off Pakistan team did under his captaincy at the Oval. It takes a lot of courage to take such decisions.
So Long Inzy Bhai The generation of cricketers to come would not forget that batting might be science, but it’s the artful craft of players like Inzamam-Ul-Haq that makes cricket such a delight to watch. We will not forget those effortless sixes, delicate late cuts, fearsome pulls and elegant drives.
March 19, 2007 Leave a comment
TeriI SadiYOn meIn jii rahaA hooN maaiN
SAans lene ki kise fursat haii
MujhKo hairAani se mat dekhaA karo
Mera visAal hi aE dost merii furqat haii..
JAane do lamhon mein kyaa kyaa yahaan bikhraa paaya
JAane kis kis ki tamanNaon ka silaa paaya
Do ghadii ruk gaya to waQt badal jayega
Ajnabi aasmAan merii pehchan, merii jaroorat haii
Baandh lo mujh ko merii Umr ke viraAne meIn
TumSe firr mil sakooN bas itni merii hasrat haii…
March 18, 2007 Leave a comment
An ensemble cast full of losers, largely loser performances, mediocre editing, average music, and an ok storyline. Chef Comment – Passable Movie!
The story is about the lead couple Fardeen and Esha having gotten married (arranged marriage) and going on their honeymoon where they are staying with 4 other couples (Bikram Saluja-Perizaad, Mukul Dev- Sadia Siddiqui, Raj Zutshi-Tarina and Satish Shah-Kiron Kher). Each of these couples has its own story, set of highs and lows, and a love & hate relationship. Finally love is supposed to triumph, and so it does!
Performances
Fardeen and Esha – Its surprising how Fardeen can make Esha look like an actress! Fardeen is pathetic as usual. With 70% of the dialogues being delivered by Fardeen (explicitly or through a voiceover), it reminds me of how li’l kids participating in elocution competitions are supposed to memorize the lines by rote with no real importance to the emotional punch. The only difference being – Fardeen is worse! He does not have the kiddish innocence required to carry that off!
Esha (even without the Deol) is supposed to giggle, shy away, look confused and act dumb. She is given minimal dialogues, and I wonder if that was Meghna Gulzar’s (the director) mega strategic maneuver. Asking lousy actresses to just stand there and do whatever they feel like doing is a good way to save time and energy.
Bikram Saluja has still not realized that for anything beyond the Grasim and whatever suiting shirting ads he does, some importance is attached to how you act. People are supposed to have a bit of variation in their dialogue delivery. I wonder if his fights with his girlfriend(s) have the same tone as the romantic evenings!
Perizaad Zorabian (and sadly) Irani is wasted as she tries to put some semblance of credibility in this movie through her character. Pity, she didn’t get to build on the tragic side of her story. That she looks good and can act is something that we know!
Mukul Dev and Sadia Siddique are like a TV couple. Sadia knows how to play those small roles well and she does, and one look at Mukul tells you why he was thrown out of movies’ world!
Fourth couple – Raj Zutshi and Tarina Patel – is also a good for nothing, and I don’t know why you are there in the movie couple. Raj has few dialogues. Tarina- fewer
Saving grace of the movie – Satish Shah and Kiron Kher. They rock! Their banters as a couple, their comic timing, and the fact that they are the only ones who add what the real element this movie should have been – Comedy! The scene where both of them are sleeping with their monkey caps and mufflers on is cute and funny. While the continuous “phir bus beech mein rukwaoge” kinda comments are hilarious. And the fact that their concluding sentiment is the only message that this movie could have stood for – You need to stand by your life partner, whatever may happen!
I wonder if Meghna Gulzar identifies and relates more with that generation more than this. While her current day couples are stories that you probably can find in your lifetime, the treatment of what their problems are and what they go through is extremely shallow, her treatment of Satish-Kiron couple is just perfect!
Any other high points- can’t remember!
Overall – Watch it if you have nothing better to do. Or, if you get a free DVD or something, keep skipping to the parts where Satish Shah and Kiron Kher are! You’ll think you watched a gun movie!
March 12, 2007 2 Comments
Subhra just pointed me to this post quoting Mr. (We cant do anything wrong) Pointing
I am not a great supporter of Mr. Gavaskar.. but Ponting should know the (cricket) history (at least!) right, and should not link two extremely unrelated issues without establishing the six degrees of separation!
Gavaskar was pointing to Asutralian team’s behavior on the field, and not their success rate. And Ponting, epitomising the truly defensive attitude that the whole team has about their big cavities, starts blabbering. The only equivalent that he has for his big mouth is Andre Nel!
And if the big mouth has a correlation with being victorious and good, I don’t remember the whispering deaths of 1970s (West Indies team) ever having to swear at someone to prove their point. But the pansy li’l babies of current Oz team cant help whining everytime someone slams a boundary! And I am sure the 5 consecutive one-day losses are not helping their wet pants.
Back to the quoted incident, it was more about the number of bad umpiring decisions than anything else that prompted Gavs to walk off! But of course, li’l Ricky wont remember those things.
And hmmm… isnt it high n mighty of Mr. Ponting to remind Gavaskar of what’s right n wrong!
March 7, 2007 2 Comments
Few snippets that’ve been lost in the sands of the last few (phew!) weeks –
1. Double deal – I decided to catch up with this fairly well known play. Experience – 4-5 out of 10.
Sandhya Mridul looks very beautiful. But Mahesh Manjrekar acted better. Even if I am the only person to think so – I always got a feeling that both the people are acting at 2 levels – 1. when they are trying to have this continuous conversation in English (I find it normal for Indians to intuitively think in their native tongue and then translate before conversing), and 2. The play itself.
It must be difficult to pull these multi-stor(e)y acts!
Also, its a one-act play split into 2 halves. 2 characters. Talking continuously.
Sense of humor – ok. Sense of drama – average. plot – good. Use of stage – minimal. Use of props – minimal. Characterization – could be better. Background music used- average.
Final comment – Its that one thing you dont want to do for fun when you want to do something for fun.
2. Ghostrider – Again.. Pathetic! Of all the comics turned movies, I have ended up liking X-men and Spiderman. Superman- the older ones. The recent one was not quite there.
Ghostrider is that Ajay Devgan action movie where even if he jumped from the 50th floor to land on 2 bicycles, there would be some B-grade movie watchers hooting for him. And the director would still say – my movie is different. It appeals to a different class of people.
Nicholas Cage, and Eva Mendes disappoint. Cage looks like a doped patient of running-stomach-syndrome. I want to go somewhere but I am too doped to understand where I want to go kinda looks! The devil is useless – does not evoke a laughter, definitely does not scare. Villains are more funny with their frozen white makeup!
Action sequences are basic, stuff that can be seen in every third movie.
High point of the movie – Emraan Hashmi, the serial kisser of Bollywood, was standing next to me in the washroom. And I realized that he is shorter than me (for those who havent seen me, someone has to be extremely extremely short to be shorter than me). God bless Indian Cinema!
3. Chennai – the city deserves a mention. I was in Chennai for 3-4 months in 2003. While talking to Bonnie and Tushar, we all agreed on two things –
a. Anyone who stays here for more than x months, should be a given a certificate of appreciation. X is a function of how far north of chennai the person is from.
b. If you see a beautiful girl in Chennai, then most probably she is a tourist. And its not about them not being good looking. They just dont have the attitude to look good.
In 2006, with probably 60% of educated families having one family member who is/has been abroad, the city is down in the pits with its conservative nature. The autowallahs havent changed in the last 40 years it seems. The roads continue to be messy (though definitely better than Mumbai roads). People on the street still cannot come out of the north-south divide and their biases. Extremely unfriendly. And any johnnie can become a hero down south!
4. Saving the best for the last – Prithvi Theater– Celebrating Poetry. I was there on a saturday when they were showcasing the emergence of progressive poetry. However, the story went back to as far as Bulle Shah, Kabirdas and covered Ghalib, Nirala, and contemporary Nida Fazli sahab as well. Beautiful collection of poetry. Couple of the actors could have done better by memorizing their lines completely.
Final suggestion – The Babbar family kids (Raj Babbar’s son and daughter) – they should stay away from theatre. Those who cannot act in movies, will never be able to act on a stage. and especially, if the stage is like Prithvi!
March 1, 2007 2 Comments
Another Phoebe-ism
Oh, oh, but y’know, you always see these really beautiful women with these really nothing guys, you could be one of those guys.
1. The practical theory of relativity – Those guys are really “nothing guys”. They just look like “nothing guys” because they are with these awe”some” women!
and usually, if you like the girl, you are better off believing that she made a wrong choice!
2. An analogy I use – “Just because their is a goalkeeper on the goalpost, that does not mean you stop shooting at the goal” and “Just because you are a goalkeeper, that does not mean you cannot score goals”
3. Another MBA quip – Everyone who graduates out of the IIMs in this country, wants to replace the CEO of his company. Their hopes are high, but hopes from them… low! (Unhe badi umeed hoti hai, lekin unse.. badi kam!)
4. Norman Vincent Peale – with due apologies to all his lovers.. all those who have seen small town book shops at the bus-stations lined up with titles like “Dont say yes when you want to say no”, “You can be a winner” and blah and bah.. This Phoebe-ism is definitely inspired by that. I mean, come on! There are these losers going out with these babes! But they are not complete losers like Chandler 😉 They have cars, money, or girlfriends who think with something that’s kinda below the knees.
5. A phrase I love – Night is always darkest before the dawn.
and
Nothing is something, and the not the lack of everything!
February 25, 2007 2 Comments
I just realized that in my friend circle (especially the IIMB one), a lot of us have this habit of cracking one liners from friend. And I thought I should pay homage to Friends through this episodic writing on some of the most amazing one-liners I’ve seen people pick.
Phoebe has a knack of cracking phenomenally universally applicable statements like this one –
I didn’t have anything on that topic, so I went another way. (Context: Season 1 – Ep. 6 -The One With the Butt…. Chandler narrating the story of his date with the Italian girl Aurora who is married to Rick and has another boyfriend Ethan and the “friends” are discussing about the uncomfortable feeling around going out with someone who is going out with someone else. Joey cracks the landmark – When I’m with a woman, I need to know that I’m going out with more people than she is )
What does that remind me of?
1. ACP – Arbit Class Participation – a phenomenon that every MBA has definitely been through, and especially in courses where faculty members/professors have additional weightage for participating in class discussions. People come up with such garbage CP as “In the multidimensional and prospective interest of the economy, its important for organizations to add value to the pet allowance of the third strata of economically imprudent and strategically deprived dogs sleeping in the garbage cans of south mumbai.” (Background questions could have been something as simple as “Do you think Maneka Gandhi and her animal activism is the way to go?”
This ACP reminds me 2 more things – First, A2Z CP where people had explanations of A to Z of CP, e.g. BCP – before class participation, CCP- creative class participation, DCP – Desperate class participation and so on.
And the second was bullCP – where backbenchers would float 5 random keywords which had to combined in a single participation – whoever does that successfully, gets to float the next set of keywords. Example – Intoxicating, Aliens, Titan, Paradigm Shift, Professor – There are organizations known to have made paradigm shifts in their strategy without realizing any benefit because a bad strategy could make a customer feel like an alien, say something like customers perceiving Titan not as a brand of watches but as a company that is disposing intoxicating wastes in space simply because they agreed to a professor’s suggestion of coming up with a brand called Titan WaistLine. Beat that!
2. Wheel of Fortune – and hence, Shilpa. I have associated WoF with a random turn of wheel leading to a random topic on which someone asks questions, etc. Shilpa has a knack for that – On a table where strong discussions on credit cards is happening, she can end up asking a question like – who killed Lala Lajpat Rai.
3. The way people live their life – like defeated warriors. I could not change the tide of things, so I decided to do something else. I tried a couple of times, but realized that I cant change this. So I decided to do something else.
4. The need to be counted- A lot of people have this problem. I have that. I feel a little left out when I dont have anything to say on a topic. Either I try to paraphrase. Or, I go back to the drawing board and learn something new. But most of the people have an urge to be counted.
There are so many things that you can read in this …
February 15, 2007 Leave a comment
I had not quite liked the WOW advertising Windows vista folks had done with Coffe day tie-up.
But here I am sitting at the MUmbai Airport, and suddenly the usually paid Tata Indicom Wi-Fi Service is being offered free by WOW. Catch – you have to download and view a demo which takes about 15-20 seconds. Takes you through some catchy sections and walks you through the features. Even though you are in a hurry to get through the demo, you end up walking into their hands and notice a few nice features like instant network, 3D flip windows, instant search, etc.
But the baseline marketing problem – how do you catch the attention of a customer effectively, has been answered pretty effectively! Hit the pain point (need to be connected) of a user segment (corporate travellers/ with wi-fi enabled laptops) at a location where they need it (airports in India- minimal connectivity, high idle time if you reach in time). Bingo!
The interesting bit would be –
1. given that the websites visited via this gateway is an information that would (hopefully) be available with Tata Indicom, and can be snapped by WOW. Can they effectively use this data?
2. More simply, whoever registers with this access code, also ends up providing an email id (maybe a personal one). Here, you are talking about people who have already seen a demo of the product. Can you think of the next stage marketing strategy for these guys?
February 13, 2007 Leave a comment
Nice post by Seth.
The frontrunner paradox is not something new. However, from a totally experiential perspective.. I have seen the big become bigger with consummate ease. Small becoming big is news item, yes. but big becoming bigger is the most obvious thing to happen!
The big question is – are the front runners, who more often than not, lose (as per Seth), lose so hard that they cant win again? Or, is it a vicious cycle of winning and losing?
February 12, 2007 Leave a comment
Valued at $19bn, hutch gets sold to Vodafone (link) – average valuation of every hutch customer is $778, and Airtel is $900 plus! 🙂
Reminds me of the INR1.8MM annual salary that MBAs were getting after graduating from IIMs back in 2001. And when I graduated, I had a feeling that I belong to the bottom 1 percentile of salaries! 🙂 .. This time, I feel like the top 1 percentile! I knew I wanted to go up.. but certainly not here!
February 9, 2007 Leave a comment
Great Bong writes this hilarious piece on salam-e-ishq here
If only we were like Dhritrashtra’s Sanjay.. we would not have to go through the torture of going to a theatre to write all this!
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