Thoughts...

Curtains 2011.. !!

2011-12-31T10:49:00.000+05:30

Its a strange feeling, and certainly one that is difficult to describe, that one gets on the morning of the 31st of December and on the day after that. There is, of course, nothing different in the way nature treats both these days. The sun rises and sets at approximately the same time and the weather remains generally the same. Yet, as far as the human mind is concerned, these two days are as different as chalk and cheese. On the 31st December, most of us, I suspect, have this feeling of relief and of a burden being removed from our shoulders. For those of us (and I guess that is a majority) for whom the year has not really gone the way it should have, 31st December finally seems to be end of it all. We think to ourselves, let this one day go and from tommorow, I will behave myself and the world will be alright. But before that we allow ourselves one 'final' chance at doing things we want to avoid henceforth. So a final day of no-holds-barred boozing before we start moderating ourselves. One final binge on our favourite food before we embark on the diet. One final day of sleeping late before we hit the gym from tommorow morning. And this repeats every year on 31st December, no matter if the year has been good or bad.

But 2011 has been a different year in many senses. Here I will not dwell on the many events, good or bad, that have taken place around us this year. Of course, some stand out : the Lokpal saga, India's World Cup win, the many gems that death took away from us etc. But remembering those is best left to the media. From a personal viewpoint, the year was somewhat a mixed bag. As always, it started off well as far as my new year resolutions were concerned. Was very regular in the gym in January and to add to that, had a personal best finish in the Mumbai Marathon. In fact, the gym is the one place with which I have kept my date throughout the year. Cannot say for sure it has made me stronger or fitter, but still, feels good to see one major resolution being achieved in the year. But for the other ones, the less said the better. Finished 2011 without still getting a car, a decision that I somehow seem to always push. Plans of learning a new language started of well but then had to stall that since 'Ich war sehr beschäftigt'. Financially, it was a nightmare year. The sensex dropping off by 25% this year meant that some of my stocks were reduced to pulp. Thank God for the good ol fixed deposits !!. The political and social environment around us did little to spark encouragement. In fact, politics kept touching new lows during the year, finally culminating in the midnight farce at the Rajya Sabha a few days ago. Surely we cannot go any lower than this, or can we ?? The government was in a virtual coma throughout the year. Thus, in 2011, it was left to the individual to make the year special for himself/herself. The world certainly did not help ! :(

But all these negatives were washed away by that one moment !. When at half-an-hour past midnight on the 29th of March, I held a tiny human life for the first time, the world changed forever. And, of course, me as a person too. And for that moment itself, 2011 would be a year to remember !!. After that day, life was thrown out of gear. I have hardly had a six-hour sleep at a stretch since, but all this minor discomforts pale when I see the smile on her face when I return back from work !! (speaking of which, work-wise it was a decently good year, hoping for different things in 2012). So I thank the Almighty for giving this precious gift to me in 2011 !!. In fact, if I were to describe this year in three words (as is trending today on Twitter) it would be 'Me Daddy Cool' !!!.. :-)

And so on to 2012 !! I will talk more about it in a subsequent post. But one of my 2011 resolutions was to keep blogging regularly. And with a grand total of less than 10 posts on both my regular and cricket blog combined, this has been a most spectacular failure. And I carry forward this resolution for 2012. And just to spur myself on, I have decided to move the blog to a new place. Henceforth, I would be blogging on 'Thoughts Along the way.. ' (http://conversewithamit.blogspot.com/). Let us see if the change of name and address improves things as far as the updation of the blog. I have done a similar thing with my cricket blog as well, which is now at http://amitoncricket.blogspot.com/.

So with this, I sign off and bring down the curtains on 2011 as well as on this blog !!

Hope to see you all at my new blogspace. Keep following there !!!

Cheers

Amit

A mid-winter day's trek

2011-12-27T13:30:00.000+05:30

The title of this post might sound suspiciously similar to a play written by a certain Mr. Shakespeare, but let me warn you that the content does not contain any fairies or Athenian lovers. Instead, this simple post is about a trek that I went on last Saturday. It was my first trek in quite a while (more than a year infact). And when the idea of this trek was floated by Ali, I jumped on it. I thought it will be more than just a good outing over a Saturday. I saw in it a chance to test out my fitness in handling the demands of a trek. And so it was, that last Saturday (24th December), a motley group of 12 (linked together only by their common acquaintaince with Ali, and most meeting the others for the first time) assembled together for a trek to Sarasgad.

Sarasgad is situated near the temple village of Pali, which is famous as being one of the eight Asthavinayak temples of Lord Ganesh. Pali, in turn, is around 25km off Nagothane on the Mumbai - Goa highway. Our group of 12 (in two vehicles) started off around 6.45 am. After the usual time spent in waiting for some of the members to show up, we went out of Mumbai and onto the Goa highway. Before that, we stopped at the Datta Snacks outlet after Panvel, only to see a mob of Mumbaikars at the place, all stopping by while leaving the city for the X'mas weekend :) We managed to get vada-paos for ourselves, thanks to Vinay who (allegedly) reached the kitchen. Going on, we had another stop at the Kamat outlet after the Karnala bird sanctuary. This was a more leisurely stop with Idlis, Vadas and Dosas being gorged upon. Of course, the downside of this is that we got late in reaching Pali (also thanks to the omni-present traffic jam at Vadhkal Naka - from where to road to Alibaug splits from the highway). Reaching Pali nearly at mid-day, as we got out of our vehicles in the parking lot near the temple, the first sight we saw was that of our destination. The twin peaks of Sarasgad (around 1500 ft high) stood imposingly over the car-park and, indeed, the entire village. I would be lying if I said that, on first glance, nobody had any second thoughts in going ahead with the trek. But thankfully, any apprehensions were quickly dispelled and off we went, exactly at 12 noon by my watch.

Sarasgad is relatively a simple trek. However, the obscene time at which we started the trek more than made up for the gentleness of the track. After about half an hour, the distance within the group started widening. To the credit of those behind, they showed great strength of character (more than fitness) in continuing with it. Mostly, the trek consists of a mud path with small natural steps. There is a small plataeu (with a torn down hut) about halfway up. However, the absence of any big trees with their shade meant that we could not escape the sun, now scorching right above us (even though it was mid-winter). After about an hour and half of pushing and constantly motivating each other, we all reached the base of the two peaks that are so characterisitic of Sarasgad. There are a series of steps in between those two peaks that finally take you to the entrance (darwaaza) of the fort (now almost non-existant). We stopped before the stairway to recharge ourselves and then set out for the final phase of the ascent. Managed to reach the fort entrance just before 2 pm.

There is precious little on the fort by way of things to see. There are some caves with fresh-water natural tanks around. Actually, Sarasgad is not so much a fort as it is a vantage point. Hence, there are none of the sights that you would normally see on the better-known forts (e.g. fort ramparts, cannons, temples etc). Though, being a vantage point, it gave us wonderful views of the surrounding hills. The village of Pali at the foothills could be seen in detail (including a cricket match from 1400 feet up !!). Nevertheless, we were overjoyed to have made it and quickly found a place near the caves and sat down for lunch. The group lunch was a delightful and delicious assortment of fruits, sandwiches, theplas with cheese and even Maggi :). After a lot of gup-shup over lunch, the more enterprising of us set out to go the summit of the peak (a couple of hundred feet up) while the others opted for a snooze besides the cave in the cool afternoon breeze . This was a short 15-20 minute climb that took us finally took us right to the top. On reaching there, we found a big group of TCS people who had come for a trek. After surveying the summit for 10-15 minutes, we started our descent only to find a big traffic jam caused by this group who were just beginning their descent. It is said that the commercialization of Mount Everest has meant that there are traffic jams at 25000 feet plus too. As we awaited our turn to start descending, I could partly imagine what it must be to have a traffic jam near Everest :) We rejoined our team that we had left behind just below the summit. After the mandatory photo-session and after refreshing ourselves with the ice-cool (even in the afternoon !!) water from one of the tanks, we set out for the descent. The descent was relatively easy, although we did make it interesting by following a couple of local boys who took a different route (also to avoid the TCS guys). Starting off at 3.45pm, we were back at the Pali village in just under an hour. Then it was time to hit the watering hole i.e. the many juice stalls that are situated near the temple. As just rewards for our exertions, each one of us had nearly 3-4 glasses from amongst nimbu-paani, kala-khatta, kokam etc. Finally, we started back at around 5.30 pm. Taking a different route (Pali to Khopoli and then onto the Expressway) we were back much quicker than expected (even after taking a dinner break at Chaat Ke Thaat in Khargar - highly recommended !!). I was home at 9.30pm, having loved every moment of the day and excited at getting back to trekking and looking forward to more such times ahead !!

I have put up snaps from the trek (snap courtesy others in the group) on my Facebook profile.

Some info:

Difficulty level: Easy to moderate. Only be mindful of the start time. If one starts early morning, then it should be a comfortable trek even for first-timers. There are a couple of spots where one has to be careful though.

How to get there: From Mumbai, taking the Khopoli route is better. The road from Khopoli to Pali is quite good. The traffic on the Goa highway can be bad.

Facilities avaliable: None at the top. But Pali has places for basic snacks etc. Advisable to carry your own food.

Duration: Easily completed in a day from Mumbai or Pune

Cheers

Amit

What's in a name ???.. A whole lot. if you ask me....

2011-05-02T21:45:00.000+05:30

This is my first post after a long while, and certainly my first after an event that has changed my life forever. Just past midnight, as the 29th day of March dawned, we were blessed with a baby daughter. Its been more than a month now, but am still getting used to life as a father now. In fact, with the baby still at her grandma's place with her mother, it will be a couple of weeks more before the reality fully sets in. And with so many of my friends never failing to remind me of sleepless nights and soggy beds, I cannot say that I was not warned.

But more than changing diapers and trying to pacify the new-born, there is another activity that I am currently running very scared of. I guess it would qualify as of one of our first duties as parents (after having actually given birth of course !!). And that is naming the new-born !! Unlike in the West, where you do not leave the maternity hospital without naming the infant, here our traditions give a full month and a quarter (before the naming-ceremony) to parents for discussing, debating, arguing, agonizing and even fighting over the name to be given to the child !!. And to make things all the more difficult, astrology limits you with a letter(s) by which the name ought to start. And the sheer enormity of the task is mind-boggling. Firstly of course, I am confronted with a fundamental dilemma: how can a person's name be decided by someone else, even if they are as close as parents ? Sometimes I feel there should be a easier provision in the law for a person to change his/her name on turning eighteen. Imagine being named Mahendra Singh just because you happened to come into this world on the 2nd of April 2011 around the time that six was hit ? Talking of naming after celebrities, I feel it also sometimes burdens them for life. On the other hand, there are names which, though beautiful to utter and hear, have unpleasant associations. For example, I really like the name Aarushi but the association with the Talwar case is so strong that I simply cannot seriously consider it. And then there is the danger that parents might choose a name that reflects their own aspirations and expectations from the new-born. Nothing wrong in that, but when it becomes obsessive behaviour on the part of the parents, it can turn out to be painful for the child while growing up.

Anyways, I have about a couple of days before time runs out and my little princess finally gets a name that she has to live with all her life. May God give me the strength to choose the right name for her !! The bard might have said 'Whats in a name ?' but I wonder how he would have named his own children !!

Cheers

Amit

Sundays from a different era...

2011-03-06T15:35:00.000+05:30

Today has been a relaxing day. The kind of day a Sunday ought to be. Wake up without the sound of the alarm clock, have the leisurely chai-paper, tune into the two World Cup games on offer today and have a princely lunch of Aloo Paratha, Pulao and Gulab Jamun. In between found the time to update my cricket blog as well. As I sit down to write, India is off to a good start against Ireland. All in all, it looks to be a perfect, relaxing Sunday. But the reason I write this is because the Aloo Paratha for lunch reminded me of Sundays in an era long gone by, Eight years to be precise. Sundays that were, just like today, meant to be only spent on relaxing and recharging, to be spent without a care in the world. It were the Sundays on the IIM Bangalore campus.

In fact, the stage for a Sunday on campus was set by what happened the night before. Saturday nights (most of them) were the time for the famous L^2 parties on campus. The action started before midnight on Saturday and went on (sometimes) till the sun came up. And even a person like me, who fell somewhere in between the retire-after-two-pegs and dance-till-you-drop categories, used to go back to his room not earlier than around 4.30am. With this background, the Sunday usually did not start till 10am. And the first thing to look forward to on Sunday morning was the aloo paratha for breakfast in the mess. Aloo paratha was the de-facto breakfast dish on most Sundays and served unlimited, and with dollops of butter, it was a great start to a lazy day. And accompanying it were cups of coffee and the Sunday newspaper. After this lavish breakfast, it was either straight back to bed (to catch up with the balance sleep) or take a stroll around the campus (especially during winters). By this time, the mates on the floor had also woken so it was just the ideal time for gup-shup.

Around lunch-time came the musical attraction. Every Sunday, between 12pm-4pm, Radiocity 91FM used to play old Bollywood numbers around a theme each week. For a musical aficionado like me, this was music to my ears. Hosted by the vivacious Sheetal Iyer, this was something to look forward to for me and my floormates. After the heavy breakfast, lunch was generally a light and sedate affair, though sometimes we would drive down to Jayanagar to have 'kheer' at a small joint simply known on campus as 'Aunty's place'. Afternoons generally meant either another snooze or a time to catch up on the latest movie on the campus network. Around tea-time was another trip to the mess, and this time it was (generally) sada dosa on the menu. By this time, the hard-core party animals had woken up for the day and would make their way to the mess for their first meal of the day. And finally, evenings were spent catching up, finally, on some assignment or the other and to prepare for the week ahead.

As far as campus memories go, a lazy Sunday was definitely something that I remember vividly, after more than 8 long years. Here's looking forward to one more such Sunday on campus !!

Cheers

Amit

Another time, another race...

2011-01-21T21:41:00.000+05:30

Sunday was the day again. The third Sunday of the year. A day that is eagerly awaited by many runners, professional and otherwise, and enthusiasts like me who get to put their bodies through the 21km grind that is the half-marathon. And although this was my fifth year at the half-marathon, there were butterflies in the tummy. What if I do not improve on my time last year? What if the weather gets too hot ? And worst, what if I cramp up and have to give up? The extra couple of kilos that I gained over the past month did not help either. So, inspite of getting ample rest on Saturday, there was more than a niggle of doubt as I awoke early on Sunday morning and left for Bandra.

The nip in the early morning air atleast partially allayed my fears on the weather. Mumbai is having a good winter and that, I thought, would certainly help. As I reached the starting point, the infectious enthusiasm around cheered me up. As the clock ticked past 6.15am and the starting gun sounded, I was off alongwith nearly 11000 fellow runners !! The first couple of kilometers before we hit the sea link were quite adventurous. BMC had, in its own wisdom, switched off the street lights and since the sun had not yet appeared, it was a unique experience of running in the dark. I almost collided with one of the advertising hoardings. Once we touched the sea link, things became much better. By then, my initial jog had been converted into a brisk walk, alternately looking at my stop watch and the next kilometer post. Following this ‘short jog-brisk walk-short jog’ routine, I managed to reach the 8km mark in 1h02min. At this point, a quick calculation told me that I needed to cover every km in around 9 minutes to have a sub-3 hour finish. It is said that the marathon is run in three parts: the first with the body, the second with the head and the third with the heart. I followed that advice and concentrated on achieving the km-wise objectives. And to my joy, discovered it was working well. As I passed the Worli Sea Face and reached the half way marked well within 1h30min, hopes began to rise. Still, I was mindful of the fact that something needed to kept in the tank for the end, so I kept at the strategy rather than being over-ambitious. The tough incline at Peddar Road and Kemps Corner was negotiated without any substantial decrease in speed. Egged on by the wonderful people that line the Peddar Road every year, ever generous with their water and biscuits, I entered the Marine Drive stretch (17km) at around 2h20min. This is where things have turned tricky in the past. With the morning sunlight growing in intensity, not to mention sheer fatigue, cramps are quite common here. When I reached 19km at 2h36min, I resolved to have a final dash for 1km, and then crawling the final kilometer and a bit if needed. Thankfully no crawling was required, and I arrived at the finish line in 2h53min, 10 minutes better than my best timing. More than that, I was pleasantly surprised to see myself in decent shape after the race (no cramps, no blisters). In hindsight, I could have been 10 minutes faster but then, there is always a next time. All in all, it was a race to remember !!!

A final word on the organization: the marathon was very well organized. Water was available at more places along the route and the Lucozade energy drink was very useful. Thanks to this, and the benign weather, many personal marks were broken. For me, the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2011 will always remain special. It was, quite nearly, the perfect race for me.

Kya line maari hai.....

2011-01-01T12:13:00.002+05:30

A couple of days back, I was browsing through the Times Crest edition, and came across an article (unfortunately, not available online) that made the point that lately, Hollywood has hardly given us memorable one-liners. Of course, I do not watch much of Hollywood so cannot comment on that. But to substantiate its claim, it referred to the list of top 100 movie quotes, compiled by the American Film Institute in 2005, that hardly had any entries of recent vintage. The top one, for the record, is the memorable 'Frankly, my dear, I dont give a damn' from 'Gone With the Wind' (ironically, the line ran into trouble with the censors for the usage of the word 'damn'.. what times they were !!) . Anyways, reading that article set me thinking: if such a list was made for Bollywood, then how would it look like ?

Bollywood has always provided with superb one-liners through the ages, but the period of the 70s and 80s can be regarded as the golden-age of dialogue writing. In fact, I am hard-pressed to remember any memorable line from the 60s and before that, as also, from the last 10 odd years (and would gladly stand corrected on the same, readers can please fill me in). In my opinion, it might be because in the 70s, Bollywood movies started become more larger-than-life (thanks in no small measure to a lanky 6 footer from Allahabad). And to supplement the larger than life characters, Salim-Javed and his co-writers needed to come up with larger than life dialogues. And not the just the hero, in fact, the most memorable one-liners came from the villians. To name a few, Ajit ('Saara shehar mujhe lion ke naam se jaanta hai') or Amrish Puri ('Mogambo khush hua') delivered famous one-liners. And given the influence of Bollywood on the masses, more so then, the public lapped it up, incorporating them into everyday conversations. So much so, that even after nearly 40 years, one still hears them at every street corner. Of recent movies, maybe only Paresh Rawal and Hera Pheri comes close.

So which is the greatest of 'em all ?? The contenders are many. Sholay, is of course, a gold mine for dialogue lovers. Almost every character, including Jagdeep, Asrani and Viju Khote, had his/her place under the sun. But it was Gabbar who walked away with most of the taalis and ceetis in the theater. And while 'Kitne Aadmi The' is undisputedly the most famous, and most used and abused, one-liner in Bollywood, my vote goes to four words from a movie released in the same year. Those four words directly touched the heart of movie-goers. It elevated the first woman in everyone's life to a heavenly pedestal, above all material needs of the world. One need not even have a roof over his head, but her presence in one's life meant that the world was his. When Inspector Ravi Verma uttered 'Mere paas maa hai', an entire nation was hooked for generations to come. Nothing more needed to be said to silence the pompous older brother. It went to the core of all things Indian. Kudos to Salim Jaaved !!

So whats your favourite one-liner of Bollywood (except the generic and hackneyed ones like 'Kutte kamine...' and 'bhagwaan ke liye chhod do....'). Do post your comments !!!

Cheers

Amit

PS: Wishing all readers, their family and friends a Happy, Safe and Prosperous New Year !!!... With a new visual look, I hope you will see more of me here in 2011....

Engineers: More the merrier ??

2010-12-21T20:13:00.000+05:30

Time for a quick rant on one of my pet subjects. Came across this news article in Mint today, which talks about the Government considering increasing 200000 engineering seats across the country, ostensibly to address the 'growing shortage of engineers' in India. This assumes that just increasing the supply of engineering seats (to satisfy the growing demand of such seats within the student community - which I am not sure is that true today as it was maybe a decade ago) would resolve the shortage of engineers in the country. What, of course, nobody bothers to look at is the quality of such engineers and how 'employable' they really would be once they get their degrees and diplomas.

To illustrate the point, consider my case. I went to a top-3 engineering college in Mumbai University to 'study' mechanical engineering. And I did fairly well, if the yardstick for that is securing a first class throughout and a first-class with distinction in the final year. Then, as with the majority of my ilk, I joined the software industry, then riding on the Y2K boom. As I strung together pieces of codes, I drifted further away from the 'knowledge' gained during those four years. So much so that, ten years down the line, I admit, with more than a tinge of sadness, that I only vaguely remember the workings of an internal combustion engine or what the Bernoulli principle is. If that is my story, coming from a college that had decent infrastructure and some very good professors, I can only imagine the plight of the tens of thousands of engineers today that graduate from the hundreds of non-descript, two-classroom-two-professors colleges that are present throughout India.

I guess the key question to ask is : shortage of engineers FOR WHAT ? At the time I left engineering college, I was told that the logical and analytical skills were the assets that made me fit for work as a programmer. So if the shortage of engineers is primarily to work in the tech and other sectors, then maybe increasing the number of seats might reduce the resource crunch that is being faced. However, it the shortage of engineers is in the R & D or maybe even the teaching fields, then increasing 20000 seats is simply not the answer. What amazes me is that I never come across the headline that reads: "Government to recruit 5000 teachers for higher education". As long as teaching is not made a lucrative career option, especially in higher education, it will only attract people who could not make it elsewhere. Even during my engineering years I could sense it, where the younger profs were ordinary at best and the experienced ones used to add value to our knowledge. I shudder to think what the situation is now. As long as the standard of teaching is not improved, then adding 2000 or 200000 seats would not make any difference. The students that will come out would be engineers only in name.

Regards

Amit

Change is in the air....

2010-12-07T20:01:00.000+05:30

Today it finally happened. It started off early morning, when I left for my workout at around half past six. As soon as I had gotten out of my building, I felt the unmistakable chill in the air. While coming back an hour later, though the sun had come out nice and bright, the temperature did not seem to have increased much. And when a brisk 20-minute walk from Santacruz station to my office resulted in not more than a couple of drops of sweat, it was official. Winter had finally arrived in Mumbai !!

Now the arrival of winter in Mumbai, unlike in the West, does not result in too many ooh-s and aah-s from the local populace. Nor can it be captured on film and posted on Facebook, unlike the many snaps of the first snowfall. But it is an important event nevertheless. For a city that has suffered for nearly ten months in 30+ C temperatures and 90%+ humidity, the onset marks a welcome relief to the millions of Mumbaikars. For one, the daily commuting becomes less of a nightmare. No longer are you subjected to various odours while travelling in the suburban locals. And neither do you arrive in office fully drenched in sweat. I reckon that, in itself, should account for an increasing in productivity at the workplace. No wonder winter is so soothing and pleasant.

For me, the only flipside to winter is the reduced duration of daytime. Unlike most Cancerians (who are creatures of the night as described by Linda Goodman), I am more of a diurnal person. So I do not particularly like it when, by the time I leave office usually at 6.30pm, it is already dark outside. Sometimes, I wonder how people in the northern latitiudes manage to live in the extreme colds and just a few hours of sunlight. Of course, they do get, by way of compensation, pleasant temperatures and eighteen hour days a few months later. Would'nt it be great to have mean daily temperature of 20 C and 15-hour days throughout the year ??.. If wishes were horses.. :)

Till that time, these two months of the winter chill are the ones to enjoy in Mumbai....

Cheers

Amit

The season of scams..

2010-10-18T16:23:00.008+05:30

Well, the title above seems a misnomer, since in a country like ours, there isn't really a season for scams. They seem to be happening left, right and center and throughout the year. But even by those lofty standards, these are heady days indeed.

The CWG mess, of course, is garnering all the headlines and it is really gratifying to see that no sooner had the Games ended than the media knives were back out. This time though, the GOI obliged and promptly set up a committee under the CVC (Chief Vigilance Commissioner). But again, in a country like ours, probe committees are dime a dozen, and how quickly it completes its probe is the question on everyone's lips, followed by, of course, action against the culprits. But as Mr. Kalmadi and Ms. Sheila Dikshit trade allegations, there is hope for the common man that finally, there might be some action at the end of the tunnel, given how vigorously the media has been pursuing this.

But while the government has shown unusual alacrity as far as the CWG fiasco is concerned, it will surely find itself in more than an embarrassing position as regards the other huge scam of the day, the 2G spectrum scam. The Mint cover story today bought out the grim details of the scam as exposed by the CAG probe. In terms of sheer numbers, this is almost unparalleled. What, of course, catches the eye is the loss to the national exchequer: a mind-boggling, eye-popping, gut-wrenching etc etc Rs 1.4 trillion !!! It took me a few seconds just to convert this into something comprehensible: Rs 140,000 crore !!!. To put this in perspective, the entire 3G auctions recently bought the government only Rs 68,000 crores. Or, to drive home the point like a bulldozer, the budget estimates in FY11 for personal income-tax collections are approx. Rs 120,000cr. Which means, that the loss to the exchequer is more than what the individual tax-payers of this entire country pay in a year !!!. And all of this just because Mr. A Raja and the DoT followed arbitary procedures while allocating 2G spectrum (of which what took the cake was this: a press release on the DoT website at 2.45pm asking prospective bidders to submit their demand drafts by 3.30 pm !!!). And while the CWG attracted the media attention because of the international prestige at stake, this is far superior (?) in magnitude. And, as a last thought, are not these things taken through the Prime Minister atleast ?? Beats me that the PM was not aware about such an arbitrary way of allocating spectrum so crucial to the government coffers.

As these two incidents make us hang us head in shame, one hopes that the culprits are bought to book without any mercy !!

~ Amit

Lets talk about life....

2010-09-29T20:24:00.000+05:30

Now that the title has (hopefully) got your curiosity going, let me assure you that this post has nothing to do with philosophy or with unraveling the great mystery that is life. After all, neither am I any great shakes in talking about the philosophical and nor do I want to have this post (my first after over a month – the blogging tempo needs to be pushed every now and then !!) to talk about something that I myself am not very adept at. Anyways, before I digress, the title of the post is a close translation of ‘आयुष्यावर बोलू काही..' a musical evening presented by the well-known music director Dr. Salil Kulkarni and the poet Sandeep Khare.

And Salil-Sandeep do a great job of talking of about life in various hues and colours. I had seen the show on TV a couple of times but, to my great delight, got a chance to see it in person during the recent Ganesh festival at my in-laws place (Shastri Hall), as part of their Sarvajanik Ganpati. For about three hours, Salil-Sandeep take the audience through the complete variety of life. Starting with the title track (‘आयुष्यावर बोलू काही...’), they wind their way through the various human experiences, be it romance (‘ढिपाडी ढिपांग....’), pathos (‘नसतेस घरी तू जेव्हा...’), the joy of nature (‘सरीवर सर ...’) or the playful joy of childhood (‘Superman’, ‘अग्गोबाई ढग्गोबाई ...’ – this seems to be their particular specialty). Interspersed with the songs is the poetry recitation by Sandeep in his deep baritone, often adding that extra zing. The show has been going strong since 2003 and it held its 500^th show last June in Pune. In fact, the one that I saw in Shastri Hall was the 650^th.

Some of my personal favourites are:

a. ‘मी पप्पांचा ढापून फोन ….’: Don’t all children like cellphones and often sneak their parents phone and start playing with it ? Here, Salil-Sandeep bring alive the playfulness of a child randomly calling people with his Pappa’s phone. Watch especially how the mood of the song changes from the playful to the dead-serious in the last stanza (without any change in the background music) when the child accidentally dials the Almighty and asks for his ‘Appa’ (grandfather) to be sent back.

b. ‘मी मोर्चा नेला नाही......’: A poem dedicated to most, if not all, members of the audience: typical middle-class Maharashtrians, content with life has given them and not having the slightest inclination to show aggression, either real of feigned. Sandeep presents the view of ‘just another common man’ with such conviction that the audience instantly identify with it. Note especially the comparison with the inanimate in the last stanza.

c. ‘दमलेल्या बाबाची कहाणी ….’: Probably the high point of the show. Salil-Sandeep take the show to its zenith in terms of raw emotional appeal by describing the gut-wrenching emotions felt by a father unable to devote time to this darling daughter. The lines of the poem are absolute gems, so much so that the audience almost seems shell-shocked by the end of it. Not to mention, hardly any dry eyes around.

'झेंडा' engages you..

2010-08-26T19:32:00.001+05:30

As continuing evidence of the comeback of Marathi movies (not withstanding the current row over ticket sales and show timings), ‘Jhenda’ (The Flag) (released earlier this year) takes the not-so-uncommon political movie genre but gives it a different treatment in terms of the issue that it seeks to address. Written and directed by Avadhut Gupte (more known for his Jai Jai Maharashtra Majha number), Jhenda has as its backdrop the famous uncle-nephew rift that was the talking point of Maharashtra politics a few years back. However, Avadhut Gupte uses that only as a reference point and instead focuses on the political foot soldiers (the कार्यकरते ) that, in many ways, are the heart and hands of the party. The turmoil that the rank and file of the party experiences as a result of the games played by their leaders is the point of focus here and the movie is refreshingly different because of that.

The movie begins with the grand patriarch (shown only via his feet and his rudraksha-bearing trembling hand) anointing his son as his political heir (and thus overlooking his nephew who is seen to be a more natural successor). The political fallout of this on the lives of the people lower down in the party hierarchy is what is depicted. Specifically, there are four main characters (all portrayed by relative newcomers – another plus point) that are affected because of this. Santosh and Umesh are best friends living in one of the many chawls in Mumbai from where the parties get their manpower. While the former is a devoted follower of the partriach and his party (Jan Sena), Umesh is enamored of the fresh ideas and appeal of the nephew and his breakaway party (Maharashtra Samrajya Sena - MSS). Needless to say, when Umesh joins the new party, their relationship is put under severe strain. Then there is Avinash, the youth leader of the MSS in Kolhapur. Well educated but wanting to make a career out of politics, he begins with high hopes from the breakaway party and of his own political ambitions, but ends up being used by his political bosses for their own ends. And finally, there is Aditya. Working in a media company, he begins as wholly dismissive of, and uninterested in, politics. But when his job puts him close to the charismatic nephew (RAJesh Sarpotdar) he gets drawn in the political whirlpool and, towards the end of the story, emerges a completely different man. In fact, all four of them undergo a seismic change in their lives, mostly a result of excessive devotion, followed by disillusionment, towards their ‘jhenda’. Finally, the question of ‘कोणता झेंडा घेऊ हाती ?’ (‘Whose flag do I pick up ?’) - part of a brilliant title track - becomes largely rhetorical, underlying the fact that in politics, everyone is the same at the end.

As a first effort, credit is definitely due to Avadhut for taking up a sensitive subject (and he had his share of pre-release controversies) and handling it well. By taking up the issue of the ‘karyakarta’, the movie conveys the basic point, which is, ‘नेता कोणीही असो, शेवटी मारतो तो कार्यकर्ता आणि मारतो तो ही कार्यकर्ता !! ’ (‘Whoever is the leader, the people who kill are the workers, and the people who die are the workers !!’). The performances are all good, especially Santosh Juvekar (as Santosh) who convincingly shows the pain and disappointment of a soldier unable to come to terms with the changes in the party he so much adores. The music is passable, however the title track stands out. All in all, a good directorial debut by Avadhut Gupte.

The book review trilogy: 'THE IMMORTALS OF MELUHA'

2010-08-07T12:28:00.000+05:30

Welcome back in time about four millenia. In around 1900 BC and in the kingdom of Meluha (where Kashmir is today). The kingdom of the Suryavanshi (followers of the sun). The ideal kingdom and the ideal way of life established by Lord Ram centuries earlier, but which is fighting a losing battle against their natural adversaries, the Chandravanshis. And the legend goes, only one person can save the Suryavanshis. And that person happens to be 'a rough-hewn Tibetan immigrant'. A person who we all worship today as Lord Shiva !! The neelkanth !!

'The Immortals of Meluha' is of the racy thriller kind, cleverly marrying mythology and fiction, though there is, probably thankfully, less of the former and more of the latter. The first in the a trilogy of books by Amish (who, incidentally is not a priest or a religious person but a 35-year old IIM Kolkata grad with a day job in the insurance business), the central point of the book is to tell the 'story of the man, whom legend turned into a God'. So the book starts of with Shiva as a tribal leader of his clan living near Mount Kailash, spending his time battling his rival tribe the Pakritis and smoking marijuana through his chillum. Until a chance meeting with a foreigner from the land of Meluha reveals to the latter Shiva's great secret, his blue throat, the neelkanth. From that moment on, he is revered as the saviour of the inhabitants of the kingdom of Meluha, the Suryavanshis. The crux of the book (and of the forthcoming books of the trilogy) is to describe his life and times in the kingdom of Meluha and how he carries out the task assigned to him. And Amish does a good enough job of it.

As mentioned, the book takes us back four millienia and offers us a glimpse of the imaginary kingdom of Meluha, with its ideal way of life. However, and in a pleasant surprise, the tone and the language of the book is modern (imagine Shiva saying words like 'dammnit' !!!). That is probably what makes the book a page-turner. As also the fact that the references to reality do not hamper the narrative, thus allowing fantasy and reality to live in harmony. And the book has all the elements of a Bollywood potboiler: fast-paced action, flashbacks and, definitely not the least, romance between Shiva and the princess of Meluha, Sati (later to be called Parvati) !! Undoubtedly, would be adapted to the silver screen sooner than later.Also, the way of life of the Meluhans is described very well, allowing the reader to visualize vividly how the kingdom, its people and their way of life would look like.

So if you are a lover of Indian mythology and do not mind a good fantasy woven around it,'The Immortals of Meluha' is for you. So go ahead and lap it up !!!!

Cheers
Amit

The book review trilogy: 'THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS'

2010-07-20T15:30:00.001+05:30

At first, I almost dismissed it as yet another book on the Mahabharata. I have read quite a few of those and did not really look forward to discovering anything new in Chitra Banerjee Divakurni's 'The Palace of Illusions'. But then,a small caption on the cover said 'Panchali's Mahabharat' and that got me hooked. Draupadi has always been an enigmatic character in the epic, and yet, I believe, has been sidelined as far as popular literature on the subject is concerned (considering that most major characters have their own interpretations of the Mahabharata). In fact, that seems to have been one of the reasons for the author to write this book. As she admits in her preface that she was 'left unsatisfied' by the portrayal of the women of the epic, though the women were 'powerful and complex characters that affected the action in major ways'. And so, Chitra Banerjee delves into the mind and heart of Draupadi, probably one of the most powerful characters in the story. And some might say, may be even the driver of the entire epic itself !!

The story begins with Draupadi's birth from the ceremonial fire along with her brother Drishtaduymna ('she was as dark as he was fair'). As soon as she emerged from the fire, she was destined to change the course of history. The book is a decent journey through Panchaali's life, from her swayamvar (where she was specifically told by her brother and Krishna to reject Karna), going on to describe her life with her five husbands, the incident where Duryodhan falls in the pond thinking its solid marble (interestingly, the book claims that it was not Draupadi, but one of her maids, that said those fateful words :'a blind man's son will be blind'). the the disgraceful events during the game of dice at Hastinapur and finally, culminating in the terrible massacre at Kurukshetra. Each of these events are well described from Draupadi's view and her, the author is faithful to the generally-accepted version of the Mahabharata. There are not too many factual deviations.

However, it is not the factual events, but the inter-personal relationships that Draupadi had, that enliven the book. Firstly, Draupadi's relationship with Kunti comes across as a typical saas-bahu relationship, both trying to hold their own against each other with an undercurrent of tension beneath. The book does not talk much about the Pandavas and how Draupadi regarded each of them. Krishna is shown as her friend, philosopher and guide, always there for her, not least during the vastra-haran. But the sauciest portions of the book are reserved for Draupadi's fascination for Karna. That is probably the only genuine new insight that the book gives us. Draupadi's longing for the eldest Pandava is always spoken of in hushed tones in popular literature, but here, Banerjee portrays Draupadi as being almost head-over-heels in love with Karna. As Draupadi says in the book of her five husbands : '"I see that I didn't love any of my husbands in that way... even during the best of times, I never gave it (her heart) fully to them. How do I know it ? Because none of them (her husbands) had the power to agitate me the way the mere memory of Karna did". Throughout, the book is littered with examples of Draupadi's longing for Karna. And towards the end, Karna too confesses to Bhishma on his bed of arrows, that while the promise of the throne and power never tempted him to switch sides and join the Pandavas, when Kunti offered him Draupadi as almost a bait, he was truly tempted and had to use all of his famed willpower to keep him from deserting Duryodhan !!. All in all, this is one heck of a fascinating relationship, and just for this one, the book is well worth a read !!

So finally, what does one make of Draupadi after reading the book ? Apart from her extra-marital longing for Karna, Draupadi is portrayed as mostly a character bounded by her destiny ('to change the course of history') and most of her actions are portrayed as a natural outcome of the way her destiny plays out. Probably the only issue that one might have with Banerjee's Draupadi is that she is portrayed in lighter shades of grey than probably what is popularly imagined.

Cheers

Amit

The book review trilogy: 'OPEN'

2010-07-07T19:47:00.001+05:30

Most sports autobiographies that I have read belong to one of two categories (and that, I suspect, is true of most books in this genre). On the one hand you have books that chronicle the life and times of the sportsman, without really giving good insights into the finer aspects like his/her personality, eccentricities etc. On the other hand, there are those autobiographies that are a delight to read, either because of the personal circumstances surrounding the athlete (Lance Armstrong) or because the biographer/athlete has taken that extra step in going beyond mere recounting of public facts to presenting a very different face of the subject to the readers. Andre Agassi’s autobiography ‘OPEN’ belongs to this category. To put it in a few words, ‘OPEN’ is not to be missed, especially if you are a sports buff. Agassi fans, of course, would need no invitation.

‘OPEN’ begins with Andre lying on his back in the change room, receiving medical treatment after winning a tough five-setter against Marcos Baghdatis at the 2006 US Open (his last grand slam). Andre then takes readers to his childhood, dominated by his almost-dictatorial father and the tennis court he had built for his children in their backyard, in the middle of the Vegas desert. His father had one ambition of his children, to become No.1 in the sport. And the methods he adopted to ensuring this (forcing hours of practice on the Agassi kids) took their toll. Andre survived this, but his brother quit, no longer able to withstand his father’s incessant pressure. From here, Andre moved to the Nick Bolleteri academy at age thirteen (‘a glorified prison camp’). This is where the rebellious streak, that came to symbolize much of his playing career, set in. The book is refreshingly open on many aspects of Andre’s personal and professional life. For example, he admits candidly that when he saw one of his contemporaries during junior days (he was a star even then), he openly declared that the boy would not even make it to top-notch tennis. That boy, of course, turned out to be Pete Sampras, later to be Agassi’s principle nemesis. Another rival that is prominent in the narrative is Boris Becker, with whom Agassi shared a particularly personal and venomous rivalry. In fact, Andre admits to having tanked a semi-final match so that he would not need to play Becker in the final (he was not at his fittest then). His playing days are otherwise well chronicled and his special moments, like winning his first slam at Wimbledon 1992 are well recreated, almost giving the reader a court-side view of the action. The book also talks at length of the relationship Andre shared with people close to him, especially his physical trainer Gil Reyes (who almost comes across as the father figure Andre wished to have) and his long-time coach Brad Gilbert.

And of course, who can forget his two high-profile romances ? ‘OPEN’ dwells at length on the Agassi-Brooke Shields relationship, both during its rise (on how they exchanged faxes across continents – no cellphones then- during their courtship) and then, during its fall (on how they drifted apart after marriage, not able to handle the stress arising from dual celebrity lives). And then comes Steffi Graf into his life (a pity that she makes her entry with three-fourths of the book done). Rather, it’s the other way around. Andre again goes into detail on how he wooed the supposedly ice-cold Ms. Graf, finally culminating in a dream marriage. Ten years on, and with two children in tow, it has indeed become a dream marriage.

On the whole, ‘OPEN’ stood out for me for being candid and for describing Andre’s journey from just another Vegas kid to the holder of all four slams. That it does so without ever resorting to self-flattery and excess glorification is indeed commendable. Credit of course, goes to Andre’s collaborator JR Moehringer, who does a great job of converting endless taped transcripts into a near 400 pages of smooth prose. Andre was not my favourite during his playing days, but after having read ‘OPEN’, I have to admit a new-found respect for the man. What more could one ask for from his memoirs ?

Cheers
Amit

PS: You might ask, why a book review trilogy ? Well, simply because I have read two more fascinating books, and hope to review them next. So stay tuned…..

Trekking resumes..

2010-06-20T13:03:00.002+05:30

The first monsoon showers bring the Sahaydris alive. Rejuvenated by the rains, the hills take on a picturesque coat of green. And following the monsoon showers to the Sahaydris are hundreds of groups of trekkers of all ages and ability, eager to soak in the magical moments of nature at its best. Though calling myself a regular trekker would be stretching it a bit too far, I have always been wanting to go myself on some of these treks myself. I had done a handful of treks a few years back, but then the habit died a natural death. So it was wonderful to revive it yesterday when me and a few friends went to trek the Tikona fort near Lonavala.

Tikona fort is situated around 15 kms from Lonavala and is, in fact, a group of forts (Tung, Lohagad and Visapur being the others) with the Pavana lake situated almost in between them. In fact, it may be a good idea to set base at Lonavala for 3 days or so and do all treks. Anyways, coming to our trek, we started from Andheri at around 7.30 am in mostly clear weather and set off on the Expressway. After getting out at the Talegoan exit, we joined the NH4 and then moved towards the Kamshet junction. On the way we encountered a great sports cafe (of course mostly empty at the time), which was ideal to fill ourselves with aloo-paratha and omlettes and two rounds of tea. With content tummies, we approached the base of Tikona fort (a village called Tikona Peth) by around 11.30 am. The weather was fluctuating between sunny and cloudy with, unfortunately, not much sign of rain. After parking our cars outside the village temple, we set out by foot. After walking for about a couple of km, the hike started.

Oh yes, before that,something about the fort. The name Tikona actually should be Trikona (triangle in Marathi) and is so named because it is almost like a equal pyramid (hence the front view being a triangle). This means that the ascent to the fort is short but steep at places. Doing a trek after a couple of years offered me the opportunity to test my stamina and fortunately, after some initial hiccups (as a result of the burning sun and the heavy breakfast), I managed to last the distance well. The ascent is part in steps and part in trails created by fellow trekkers. After about an hour and a half of exertions, we were at the top at around 1.30 pm, which was slightly late in the day, since we saw quite a few groups who were on their way back. On the top, there is not much to see, except the fort ramparts and the mandatory temple and water tank. Another omnipresent part of the fort is the friendly locals serving 'pithla-bhakri'. This traditional rural Maharasthrian dish can be found on almost all forts and is a big hit with all trekkers. This particular family, in fact, sells almost 100 plates on a typical monsoon weekends !!. And we enjoyed in thoroughly, more so because the clouds finally opened up (through not as heavily as we wanted).

After about an hour at the top, we set to a quick descent (almost 30-45 minutes) back to the base village. By dinner time, I was back home, extremely happy to add to my limited trekking experience and promising myself to add a few more in the coming weeks.

Regards

Amit

Heady cocktail of politics and epic, but...

2010-06-13T11:54:00.002+05:30

In hindsight, it seems almost ridiculuous that Bollywood did not think of this mix before. Politics is, after all, an omnipresent theme in Hindi cinema, being contemporary in every generation. And then on the other hand, you have the country's greatest poem, which, of course, is all about politics and the struggle for the throne. Thus, it seems unlikely that Bollywood would never have thought of marrying the two, weaving the Mahabharata into the cesspool that is modern-day politics in India. But then, whoever would have thought of this earlier would have realized that it is not so simple as it seems. A thought that Prakash Jha can testify to. And while he gets more than full marks for attempting a mix as potent as this, in the final analysis, Rajneeti could have been better.

Prakash Jha goes back to the heartland of India and this time, rather than taking up any particular issue (unlike his earlier movies like Gangajaal and Apharan), he paints a grim, but a near-realistic picture of modern Indian politics with all its shades (violence, bribery, seduction et al..), And in doing so, he anchors his characters (a fantastic ensemble of gifted actors) in the Mahabharata, thus elevating it from just another Hindi potboiler to a story that the audience can readily identify with (and in the bargain, heightening expectations). So you have the present-day Kunti, who lets go of her new-born in order to escape social ridicule. The new born (Ajay Devgan) then grows to become a Dalit leader and a vital cog in the wheels of the political machinery. Then there are the two warring cousins, Arjun Rampal (sketchy characterization, it was none of the Pandavas) and Manoj Bajpayee (outstanding as Duryodhana), hotly contesting the rights to lead the state's premier political party in the upcoming assembly elections. There is also the all-knowing Krishna (Nana Patekar), acting almost as the narrater of the movie. And finally, you have the modern Arjuna (Ranbir Kapoor) who, like the hero in the epic, is pushed into a war he would rather not fight. But once he is into it, he plunges himself headlong into it, a war that finally culminates in him eliminating Duryodhana and, unknowing to him, his elder brother. In the end, like in the epic, he is left to savour a near-pyrrhic victory, left only with his former lady-love (Katrina Kaif in a vastly improved performance).

So does this mix work ? That is the million dollar question, In my opinion, to a large extent, it does. Lets admit it, the task in front of Jha was not simple by any means. He does give his level best and his cast gives him more than stellar support (Bajpayee, Ranbir and Nana Patekar stand out), But then, whether because of cinematic compulsions or the effort to make the movie more like epic, the script resorts to some filmy moments in the name of cinematic license. While the Kurukshetra war was certainly epic and gruesome, to make broad day-light killings of politicians (albeit regional level) so commonplace in the movie is stretching it a bit too much. So too is the gory display of blood at various points in the movie (was surprised to see only a U/A certificate). And at the end, how Ranbir Kapoor walks scot free to the US after having killed his political rivals was certainly beyond me. All in all, the movie slightly went off track in the last half an hour so. Plus, some other key moments in the Mahabharata could have been portrayed too. For e.g. to watch the Gita unfolding with Nana trying to cajole Ranbir into taking up arms would have been interesting. Here, the transformation of Arjuna is too dramatic.

But these are occasional flaws in an otherwise good movie. In the end, Rajneeti is a heady cocktail of politics and epic, but falls short of intoxicating.

Cheers

Amit

Sky gazing begins...

2010-06-05T11:20:00.000+05:30

So the month of June is upon us. In our country, the transition from May to June does not just mean a flip of the calendar. With the arrival of June, the collective gaze of the nation is transfixed to the sky, looking to see the first glimmer of grey cloud, feel the first whiff of the south-westerly winds and, finally, hold the first droplets of the monsoon. The sky gazing has thus begun in full earnest....

The monsoons transform India perhaps like nothing else does. And no one is immune from the sky gazing. People living in the high rises in the cities await the onset of the monsoon in order to alleviate their water woes, but on the other hand, the people living besides them in slums actually dread the rains, not knowing when their homes would be flooded (memories of a July afternoon five years ago are still fresh). The civil contractors gaze at the sky and perhaps hope that the monsoons, like all things Indian, would arrive later than expected, thus giving them precious time to complete their long-delayed projects and thus escape the citizen's wrath. Teenagers welcome the arrival of the monsoon and off they go on their treks to various hills in the Sahyadris. And of course, who can forget the real India living in the rural areas ? For them, the monsoon does not sustain life, it is life itself !!!.

The first rains transfer the landscape into a nice cover of green. The smell of the earth after the first rains is simply the most beautiful aroma one can hope to savor. And although it does bring about the occasional havoc in the cities, there is no denying it resuscitates life, quite literally, after a hot and sizzling summer.And this year, the monsoons are more important than usual. With Mumbai reeling under its worst water crisis and the rural areas having faced drought-like conditions, it remains to be seen if this season, the monsoon acts as the elixir that they always have been.

So here's praying for great monsoons (especially in the fields and the water reservoirs :))

Cheers

Amit

The years keep passing by...

2010-05-20T10:17:00.000+05:30

So another year has gone by. Tuesday marked the completion of another year of my employment with Asian Paints, the count of which now stands at six. Needless to mention, I am now part of an extremely small minority within my MBA batchmates that are still with their first job. And I admit that I do get the occasional look of disbelief, sometimes laced with a tinge of sympathy or fascination, when I tell people I am still attached to my first company. More often than not, the inevitable statement follows: "You must be having a near-dream job, and working in a great organization, in order to put up with it for so many years, isnt it ?". And to be very honest, I still don't know the answer to that one.

But I have wrestled with this question for quite some time : "What binds people to their jobs ?". Especially on evenings after a rough day at work, I have spent considerable time trying to come up with a reply. And of course, since I cannot speak for others, I will only answer that for myself. Strange as it may sound, I feel what actually 'binds' me to my job is the fact that I don't bind myself to my job !!!!.. Let me explain. By this, I mean that if one treats his/her job as nothing more than a source of livelihood (उपजीविका), then one will not develop that emotional attachment with his/her current job. More importantly, there will also not be that attraction towards the greener grass outside. And therefore, all jobs (current as well as prospective) would seem the same. This is, of course, not to suggest that one should not love his/her current job. And I am also not talking about being disinterested or, even worse, disloyal to the job. But then, lets face it, how many of us are in the jobs that we truly want to do ??. So my mantra, don't attach undue importance to a job and you will be fine. Here I am reminded of that great Marathi personality Pu La Deshpande's words "नोकरी म्हणजे लग्नाच्या बायको सारखी, दुसरी चांगली म्हणून पहिले सोडायची नाही !!, शेवटी सगळ्या नोकरया, आणि सगळ्या बायका, सारख्याच !!!" (A job is like your wife, you don't leave her just because some one else looks good. Finally, all jobs, and all wives, are the same !!). Of course, I would also like to acknowledge my luck in getting a good employer, great compatriots and, above all, being in my home city. To be living with parents, and having most things given to me on a platter, is a joy and help one can never forget. I could not have imagined myself lasting six years if I was living alone in some other city.

Finally, I would like you sign off with the thought (especially for those who are compulsive job changers) that if one has a life beyond a job (even at the cost of slightly less money) and finds time to pursue his other interests and ambitions, then that person is better off and will really not bother what he does, or where he works, between nine to five daily.

Cheers
Amit

Timelessness of the Epic !!

2010-05-08T15:03:00.000+05:30

The Mahabharata continues to remain an enigma to us. Over time, I have developed more than a passing curiosity about this great epic. For me, the beauty of the epic is the fact that it is open to interpretation i.e. there is no black and white in it. And over the years, there have been multiple interpretations of the story seen through the eyes of its various characters. Refer to my earlier post regarding Duryodhan. Before and since then, I have also read other books related to the epic, notably 'Mrityunjaya' and 'Yugantaa' by Iravati Karve - that takes a matter-of-fact look at some of the events as well as views the epic from the point of view of the principal women in the epic. And each time, I learn something new about the Mahabharata.

The latest in the series of books about the Mahabharata that I am currently reading is the near provocatively titled 'The Difficulty of Being Good' by Gurcharan Das. Here, the author of India Unbound talks about his discovery of the Mahabharata over the course of his three year sabbatical in the US and how the moral questions it raised are as relevant today (though it talks less about the present than about the epic itself) . At the core of the book is Gurcharan's discussion on the true meaning of the word 'dharma' (धर्म). It brings to the fore Yudhisthir's dilemma on what the true 'duty' (synonym of 'dharma' ?) of the king is ? Whether to practice ahimsa and peace or to engage in combat if only for the benefit of his subjects ? In arguing that 'dharma is subtle', the author drives home the point that there are no easy answers to the question 'what exactly is dharma' ?' The book also talks at length about Arjuna's despair when he is forced to take up arms against his own elders. Another interesting essay from the book is regarding Karna's status anxiety. Here the author argues that all of us suffer from some sort of status anxiety that often frequently results in us making the incorrect choices (as when Karna sides with Duryodhan just to get his place amongst the kshatriyas), sometimes with disastrous consequences. All in all, an interesting book and a must-read for all those who are into the Mahabharata at more than a superficial level.

To add to the 're-discovery' of the epic comes Prakash Jha's forthcoming movie 'Rajneeti'. Said to be the story of Mahabharata applied to contemporary Indian politics, it sure promises a lot. Of course, Prakash Jha is not the first one to get inspired by the epic. Nearly three decades ago, Shyam Benegal had made an all-star cast 'Kalyug' that set the Mahabharata in the corporate world (with Shashi Kapoor playing the unfortunate Karan/Karna). At the time, it may have got lost in the parallel cinema movement and hence not endeared itself to the general public. Hopefully, Rajneeti will not suffer a similar fate. I, for one, would be queuing up at the ticket counter (sigh, these days there is no such thing, Book My Show takes care of everything !!). And I hope to be back real soon with the movie review.

Cheers

Amit

Local v/s national ?

2010-04-10T13:04:00.000+05:30

So, are local loyalties more pronounced than national loyalties ?? I have put this question as my status update on Facebook, but felt it deserved some more elaboration, hence writing a few lines. The genesis of this is, of course, the IPL. As I watched the Mumbai Indians display another patchy batting performance and lose, I felt the same feeling as when India loses, but, surprisingly so, the magnitude of that feeling was higher. As a supporter, it probably pained me more to see MI lose than to see India lose. (In fact, i had raised the same issue two years ago in my cricket blog, Read it here).

Which then, bought me to the next question. A question, that I feel, is more relevant than the question above. And that is: Why do I support the Mumbai Indians in the first place ??. For starters, the team is just a franchise that happens to have my city's name in its team name. Beyond that, there is hardly anything to link them to Mumbai. Excepting, of course, that their captain is a true-blue Mumbaikar and their owners have made the city their 'karmabhoomi'. But apart from Sachin, none of the XI yesterday can claim to be a bonafide Mumbaikar (Zaheer was born near Aurangabad and has played for Baroda in the past). To put the question in another way, had this team been called 'Reliance XI' for instance, would it have received the same support at the Brabourne last weekend ? I wonder. To me, it is those six letters in the team name that stand for my city that give the team my support. In that sense, the IPL has pulled off a masterstroke by calling them 'city-based' franchises rather than 'club teams'. The dilemma would be even more pronounced next season, when, in all probability, Pune and Kochi will have hardly a couple, if any, local players in their team !! So will a Punekar or Kochiite support their teams ? They still will, because the city and its fans have been tied unextricably to this team solely by adding the city name in the team.

Till that time, here's offering more of my support to the MUMBAI Indians !!...

Cheers

Amit

Where are those serials today ?

2010-03-30T09:11:00.001+05:30

Have been away from the blogging scene for a quite while, but yesterday, the thoughts (and words) could not be held back.

It happened thus:

A typical scene in most middle-class families these days, and no different at our place. We were having dinner yesterday watching, as usual, the Marathi soap operas (given that we stick to having dinner together, Marathi serials - which my parents prefer - score over the IPL as well !!!). Anyways, the scene in the prime-time serial was this: the typical joint family (the patriarch, sons, bahus, grand children et all) are celebrating on the eve of their grand-daughter's wedding. Then, as it so often happens, disaster strikes. It turns out that, unknowing to the others, one of the sons has taken a business loan with the family house as security. When the business fails, the money lender arrives at the door telling them to vacate the place. The usual melodrama follows: the son is ostracized, the patriarch collapses in grief etc. etc. Quite the typical soap opera you would say, typical in any language. Even during the breaks, the trailer of another serial showed a person threatening another on the phone, warning him of dire consequences once he breaks free from jail et et.

Now why am I narrating all this ? This is definitely not a tirade against the quality of today's TV serials. But just that yesterday, my eight year-old niece was also watching all of the above, and about as intently as anyone else. Quite what her mind made of all this I do not know, but looking at her, I moved back in time about two decades ago. At a time when I was about as old as she is today, or slightly older. And I tried to recollect what kind of television programmes we used to see then. And the difference was stark. And I fondly recollected one serial that was made specifically for people of my age then: secondary school-going children. The serial was 'Sanskaar'. Set in the famous King George school in Dadar and starring Mohan Joshi as the Principal Ballal, this delightful serial showed how a school, provided it was guided by the right person with the right ideas, could inculcate strong values in the children. It had characters of all kinds: the cane-happy teacher, the upper-class and well-off child, students from the poorer sections of society, variety of parents etc. And it did not resort to sermonising. It connected big time with its primary audience: school-going children like me and their parents. No wonder I looked forward to watching it every week.

The point that I am trying to make is that while we complain that today's kids watch too much of cartoons etc, do we really ask ourselves: What other alternatives do they have ? How much of television today tries to address the future generation by communicating the right kinds of messages in a way their minds can easily understand ? Except for reality shows, there is hardly anything a kid can look forward to (and we all know the other controversies the reality shows create !). What about some good old-fashioned serials for a change ? Serials like 'Sanskaar' and, for example, 'Bharat Ek Khoj' (surely no better way to teach Indian history ?) are the order of the day. But the question is, will the television production houses listen ????

Cheers

Amit

PS: I have shared on my FaceBook profile, the wonderful title song of 'Sanskaar' (by Sudhir Phadke).

Call of the Wild !!

2010-02-20T15:52:00.006+05:30

A couple of weekends ago, I was in Nagpur to attend a family wedding (my first taste of the big fat Indian wedding - ceremonies all through the weekend, lavish resorts, a few thousand attendees at the reception etc etc.). Anyways, that is not the point of this post. Getting to Nagpur (which has, believe it or not, a spot that marks the geographical center of India) gave me the chance to go visit one of the several wildlife sanctuaries that are not more than a few hours drive from the place. After evaluating the options (Kanha, Tadoba etc), we finally settled on a visit to Pench National Park (about 90 kms from Nagpur on the Maharashtra - MP border).

It seems that the best chance of seeing animals in the wild is in the morning safari, so that is what we decided on. This involved starting from Nagpur at around 4 am (in the February cold), sipping hot chai on the way and making sure we reached the park by around 6.30 am. When we reached, the open-air jeeps were already lined up, ready to cross the gate and into the wild. After paying for the entrance and the jeep (I believe 750 bucks each), the nine of us got ourselves into two jeeps. And once the jeeps entered the park, a wave of emotions swept through the body (especially since it was the first time I was in an open jeep in the jungle). There was, of course, excitement (after all, don't all of us want to get in the shoes of the guys on NatGeo n all ?) and fear (to think of what would happen if a tiger happened to cross the road ?). But on that day, it was the feeling of getting frozen that dominated everything else. Although it was early morning, the cold temperature (must have been around 7-8 C) and the open jeep made us especially cold.

The initial hour or so was pretty uneventful. Most of if was spent seeing deer, monkeys and the odd jackal. The other jeeps that were doing the rounds also did not have better luck. Information related to the possible whereabouts of the big striped cat was being exchanged regularly (to put in perspective, about 290 sq km of the park is open to tourists and it is said to house 22 tigers, so the chances of seeing one were actually not that great). After about an hour and half, with patience thinning, we got to hear the news that a couple of tigers had been sighted (by forest officials on elephant who navigate the thick interiors of the jungle). So , after a small break, promptly the jeeps went in that direction. After going as close as the jeep would take us, we then moved over to the elephants. Then the elephants went inside the vegetation to find the resting tigers (they had, apparently, hunted the previous day and hence could be counted on to behave themselves ;-). After around 10 minutes or so, we finally got our money's worth !!. Hidden amongst the bushes were three of the 22 tigers in the national park !!. I could make out that one was still feeding while the other two, at some distance away (tigers are generally not social animals). The excitement in our camp was palpable. Of course, the elephant and tiger did not come too close for comfort but we did get those precious few minutes to savor our encounter with the tiger in the wild (at just about 30 feet or so ;-).

The day's objective being achieved (and we were told later that we were quite lucky - people have gone there thrice or so and returned back empty-handed each time), everything that followed was almost an anti-climax. But we did get to see a lot of peacocks, sambhar etc etc. That included a wonderful moment when a peacock glided from one side of a small lake to the other: I did not know peacocks could glide that far. The flora was also very good, most notable amongst them were the so-called 'ghost trees' which are so-named because in the dark, their white trunks give them a ghostly appearance.

After about 3.5 hrs of travelling we finally arrived back and where we started. I personally was delighted with my first experience in then wild and will definitely visit some other and more famous wildlife parks.

Cheers
Amit

Natrang : Movie Review

2010-01-30T12:24:00.011+05:30

As mentioned in my last post, Marathi movies have, of late, been refreshingly different in their themes, the issues they address and the stories they tell. The first release of this decade was 'Natrang' directed by Ravi Jadhav. I saw the movie last Sunday in a packed mutiplex screen at Goregoan with my wife and parents (a complete family outing after a lonnnggg time !!) and came out highly impressed.

The movie opens with an award ceremony (sponsored by Zee Marathi no less - the producers of the movie !!). An ageing Gunya (Atul Kulkarni) is offered the lifetime award for his contribution to the dance form of 'Lavni' (traditional rural Maharashtrian dance form). As he accepts the award to a standing ovation, his mind goes back in time to his roots, a small village near Kolhapur.....

A place where a virile and muscular Gunya works as a daily labourer in the fields. He has a family to tend to (his old father, wife and a son) but visualizes himself as his own master, never to bow down to anyone. And his pet addiction is the 'Lavni', where a lot of his hard-earned money is spent, much to the chagrin of his family. Finally one day, when he loses his job due to mechanization, he dreams of starting a Lavni group with his other jobless friends. They soon realize that the heart of the lavni group is the lady dancer. After finally getting Naina (the beautiful cat-eyed Sonalee Kulkarni - different from the Sonali Kulkarni seen in Dil Chahata Hai,Mission Kashmir etc), they think that they are all set to go. But then she drops a condition - the group should also have a 'Nachya' (the traditional character in a Lavni who is a man dressed as a girl and who provides the comic relief in between the narrative). After no-one else agrees to play Nachya for obvious reasons, its finally Gunya who turns himself into Nachya. A 'pehelwan' who dreamt of being the king of the Lavni group is reduced to playing the feminine Nachya !!.

The rest of the movie is a commentary on the social prejudices at the time. Almost universally is Nachya reduced to the butt of jokes and ridicule. As his act and the group become bigger by the day, he finds it more and more difficult to get out of Nachya's body. His father dies heartbroken, his wife and kid leave him. Even his companion Naina refuses to marry a Nachya. All alone, he yearns for freedom. He also becomes a pawn of local politician-thugs, ultimately ending in a chilling sequence where Nachya is 'raped'. Having lost everything, he slowly rises from the ashes and wins everything back, finally culminating in him winning the lifetime award and complete respect from society.

While Ravi Jadhav has done a commendable job in handling a difficult subject (based on a novel by Dr. Anand Yadav - and it was nice to see due credit being given right at the start ;-), the two stars of 'Natrang' are Ajay-Atul (the music composers) and, of course, Atul Kulkarni. The music transports the listener back to the Lavni era, albeit with a modern touch. Most songs are current chart-busters (generous credit for which goes to Zee for its incessant promotion on its channels) and I particularly loved the title song. Ajay-Atul (who have recently entered Bollywood) are certainly a name for the future. The only grouse that I had with the movie was that the end was far too abrupt. Nachya / Gunya's journey towards redemption could have been detailed - it directly went to the award ceremony.

And finally, Atul Kulkarni excels in the role of a lifetime. Non-Marathi readers will remember him as the right-wing Laxman Prasad in 'Rang De Basanti', the wronged Muslim doctor in 'Khakee' and the crime reporter of 'Page 3'. Remember his thin frame at the time ?
Well, the man went through a rigorous routine (that lasted for a few months) in which he first gained muscles and weight (about 16 odd kgs) to play the masculine pehelwan Gunya in the first half, and then lost all of it in order to look the feminine Nachya. Needless to say, this meant that he was working full-time on this project only (word has it that he refused Mani Ratnam and Ram Gopal Verma, amongst others, because he could not work on any other movie). A small aside here: he was trained by Shailesh Parulekar, whose gym I go to, so I am personally proud to see the transformation (though it is definitely not the healthiest thing to do !!). But finally, it is said that the results justify the means. And the results are definitely mind-blowing !! Of course, it is not all about the body-transformation. Witness the scene where his fellow group member makes a pass at him, after which Nachya, desperately trying to break free, suddenly starts doing 'surya-namaskars' and then breaks down. That one scene is enough for the audience to be convinced of Atul's acting abilities.

If not for anything else. Natrang is watchable as a tribute to one of the finest contemporary actors around.

Cheers
Amit

PS: Natrang is running with English sub-titles in select theaters in Mumbai.

Natrang : Another step in the right direction for Marathi cinema !!...

2010-01-26T13:59:00.003+05:30

Till about a few years back, Marathi cinema was, to put it bluntly in a word, dying. Of the little movies that were made, most were of the slap-stick comedy variety and the very few different films that were made suffered due to lack of publicity. The Marathi public had generally shown their back to Marathi cinema, resulting in the chicken-and-egg problem of low audience, reduced number of screenings leading to still lower audiences (not to mention the advent of the multiplex, we middle-class Maharashtrians are thrifty when it comes to spending 100+ bucks in a mutliplex :-)). Till 2004, only one Marathi movie had won the Golden Lotus at the National Awards, and that was way back in 1954 ('Shyaam chi Aai') !!

Things probably began to change in 2003. Then 'Shwaas' happened. It won the Golden Lotus award and then went to the Oscars. And the publicity it gained on account of this led to a revival of interest in Marathi cinema. And most importantly, the money started coming in. Theaters like Plaza and Bharatmata (bastions of Marathi cinema) came back from near extinction (in fact, there is a movement to save Bharatmata from being razed down to make way for a multiplex). Along with the money came the publicity. Simultaneously, channels like Zee Marathi, E TV etc started becoming popular, creating a vital publicity medium for new releases. New talent came in (e.g. composers like Ajay-Atul), bringing with them new ideas. No longer were Marathi movies only about wise-cracks. Then recently came two breakthroughs: 'Harishchandra chi Factory' became India's entry to the Oscars and last week, Marathi cinema bagged five awards at the National Film festival, including best actor for Upendra Limaye.

To add to this feeling of optimism is 'Natrang', the very first Marathi release this decade. And it has been a spectacular success (going by the full houses at multiplexes past Sunday, when I saw the movie). Will post a review of the movie soon, but for now, suffices to say that if this continues, there is no reason for Marathi cinema not to regain its glory days (V Shantaram, Prabhat Movies etc) and claim its place besides Bengali and the movies from the South as one of India's premier movie industry. Way to go !!

Check out http://www.marathimovieworld.com/ ... an informative and comprehensive look at today's Marathi movie industry.

Cheers
Amit

2010 will be the year of....

2009-12-31T18:56:00.003+05:30

1. Showing you care for the environment

I have always cared for the environment, but 2009 has told us, in no uncertain terms, that you have to walk the talk. Terms like 'carbon footprints' have become part of normal usage. The recent (near) non-event in Copenhagen has shown us that while nations slug it out over coming to a common understanding over carbon emissions, it is we ordinary people who have to make a start, whether it be reducing our fuel consumption, conserving power at home or exploring alternate sources of energy. For me, this means watching my carbon consumption closely and seriously evaluating solar-powered appliances at home.

2. Writing more often

I started the year with a target of 50 blog posts for the year, and have been spectacularly off the mark, this being my 36th and last post of 2009. Hope that next year is better both in quantity and quality. And hopefully, I will actually write my first genuinely funny post !!!

3. Eating healthy

2009 has been an entirely forgettable year in terms of health. Have been down with fever on four separate occasions. And the cause in two instances was stomach upset. So this year will hopefully see me cutting down on the roadside vada-pao's and instead opting for more of home-made food, which leads me to.....

4. Cooking a few dishes

For a foodie like me, I hardly know cooking, besides tea/coffee and Maggi. This year, I resolve to make atleast five dishes at home (not the simple variety). Who knows, some hidden talent might come out ? ;-)

5. Working out

This has become almost a passion for me and this year will be no different. Have set myself ambitious targets at the gym, and the forthcoming half-marathon will tell me where I stand.

6. Being discrete in cyberspace.

Many of us fail to realize how time flies when we are hooked on to the Net. Whether its checking the latest score or chatting away with friends, it is mostly unproductive use of a wonderful medium (besides earning the wrath of my wife). So this year would be all of making more productive use of my time online, exploring new worlds and learning all the time. Even one article a day on Wikipedia is good enough for me !!

7. Being aggressive with finances

I have realized that this is the age to be aggressive with your investments. To take small but calculated gambles as far as money goes. If one does not take risks now, it will be never. After all, how else would your dream retirement holiday fructify ?

8. Learning a new language

I strongly believe that learning a new language broadens your horizons, besides giving you an unparalleled sense of fulfillment. And with so many learning resources (books, CDs etc) avaliable on the Net, it has become much easier than before. So here's to getting to know a new language this year. And that one of my blog posts in 2010 would be in that language.

9. Read 10 books

To many, it may sound like a ridiculously easy target to set. But for me, getting quality time is a challenge. So finishing ten decent-sized books in a year would be a challenge, The list is almost ready, have to get cracking...

and last but definitely not the least,

10. Learning Swimming !!!

Something that I should have done long time back, but better late than never !!!. This is one resolution I will definitely keep. After all, who knows which would be the day when it can save me ?

See you in 2010..

Cheers

Amit

3 Idiots: An endearing experience !!

2009-12-27T20:56:00.002+05:30

I start with a question to all engineers reading this: Can you truly claim to have seen this movie and not felt, somewhere deep down, a tinge of sadness thinking about how those four years could actually have turned out ? Rajkumar Hirani's latest offering definitely touched a nerve somewhere. And which is why I, an engineer having a degree that says 'passed with distinction' but who does not do much beyond changing light bulbs at home, call '3 Idiots' an endearing experience.

More than a laugh riot, it is one of the first movies that takes on India's illogical, high-pressure, learn-by-rote centric higher education system. A system that venerates the cuckoo who begins life by destroying his competition. A system where the teachers pet is the guy who can reel off text book definitions without even pausing to think on what he is blabbering. A system into which many people end up trying to like what they are doing, rather than doing what they like. Into this system, at one of the country's premier engineering colleges (located at our IIM Bangalore campus ;-)) comes Rancho. A non-conformist, an iconoclast. Right from the beginning, when he wards off his seniors at the ragging sessions (seems to have become a Hirani patent) with an ingenious use of common physics (hopefully it will not be repeated at engineering hostels across the country), he comes across as someone who does not want to be part of the rat-race, even though he ranks first. Someone who is at the college because his heart wants to be there. And it is this that endears him to his two room-mates, Raju (who is one of the millions of young men for whom an engineering degree is the passport to prosperity) and Farhan (who has simply been bulldozed by his father into studying engineering while his heart lies in the jungle). But this also causes Rancho to cross swords with the tough-as-nails dean of the institute Veeru (Boman Irani in another repeat Hirani character). What follows is a sequence of events through which Hirani addresses various ugly facets of higher education in India, whether it be the unfortunate student suicides, or the emphasis on learning by rote (the hilarious teachers day speech).

For me, what stood out about the movie was that Hirani gets his message across without restoring to melodrama or heavy histrionics. In fact, there is always the danger of the audience missing the message amidst all the gags and comedy. For example, he could have ended the movie with Rancho delivering a lengthy monologue on the ills of the education system. Instead, he chose to portray the ultimate triumph of the protagonist, who, as a scientist, not only opens a school with a scientific bend of mind for young children, but also acts as a consultant to the firm in which his former geek batchmate works. And throughout the movie there is a strong undercurrent of the serious and contemporary (note the jibe made by Rancho about engineers going on to do MBAs and then working in banks - am sure quite a few would have felt offended). And the cast supports him brilliantly. Sharman Joshi is outstanding. Boman Irani, as expected, is first-rate. The newcomer Omi registers a strong impact. Kareena stands out in a brief role. And which other seasoned actor would have got away with playing a character half his age ? Anyways, I need not comment on Aamir's performance here.

To be fair, the film is not without its flaws and exaggerations. Veeru Sahastrabuddhe, I thought, was badly caricatured. Made almost stereotypical of senior professors: curly-haired, eccentric and wearing trousers upto his belly. And a new born baby responding to 'All Izz Well' was pushing the limits of cinematic liberties a bit too far. But these are minor blemishes in an otherwise superior product. In fact, the government can do well to screen this as a part of the induction of wannabe engineers at all institutes. Even if a few 17 year olds get inspired by it and choose to be Idiots - I Do It On my TermS, the movie would have done its job.

Till then, if you havent seen the movie already, go ahead and be inspired. While all of us might not build schools in Ladakh, at least some of us can be in the place where we want to be, rather than the place where we have been pushed to.

All Izz Well...........

~ Amit

AR Rahman : My top 5 !!!

2009-12-03T21:47:00.002+05:30

Ever since that March night in LA when AR proudly held aloft the Oscar (for admittedly a below-average number) have I been wanting to write this. Today, when he has been nominated for the Grammy for Jai Ho, I have finally decided to take the plunge and list my all-time top 5 AR Rahman favourites. So after spending a few hours listening to a shortlist of 20+ songs (And yes, Jai Ho was not amongst those :-), here are my top 5. Feel free to shoot your agreements and disagreements :)

1. Dil Hai Chhotasa (Roja - 1991)

The gem that started it all. The first AR composition that I listened to. I clearly remember the day. I came back from school (must be in 8th grade then) and my elder cousin had bought an audio-tape (remember it ? :)) of Roja and told me it contained music of a kind that was completely unheard of and refreshing (those were the days of Nadeem-Shravan and Aashiqui). So I played it, the first voice was Chitra starting this wonderful number and the rest, as they say, was history.

2. Bombay Theme (Bombay - 1994)

By a distance, the best theme score for a movie. Right from the first few seconds (when the flute begins) this haunts you. Then suddenly in the middle, the flute gives way to a more disturbing kind of sound (indicative of the riots) and then a fantastic violin crescendo. This theme touches you straight at the heart.

3. Ishq Bina / Kahin Aag Lage Lag Jaye (Taal - 1999)

AR and the showman of Bollywood combined for the first time and came up with a classic. All songs in Taal were hits and I have taken two of my favourites. The first one, because of the soothing effect it had on me when I heard it the first time (and it came when I was in college, when you identify better with these things). On the other hand, 'Kahin Aag Lage Jaye' was A-A-A magic (AR, Asha Bhosle and - even though I am not her greatest fan - Ash). Also, it still holds a place in my heart.

4. Chale Chalo (Lagaan - 2001)

If 'Chale Chalo' cannot charge you up for battle, very few other things can. While his other compositions in Lagaan were also good, this made it to my list because of its attitude ('dharti hila denge, sabko dikha denge, raja kya praja kya ho.'.) and, of course, AR Rahman the crooner.

5. Title Song - (Rang De Basanti - 2006)

The song that proved AR could do bhangra-style as good as anyone else. A fantastically infectious number, gets your feetitapping almost by themselves :).

Note that this is AR Rahman's top 5, hence I have omitted gems like 'Tu Hi Re' (Bombay) and 'Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera' (Swades), wherein I felt that Hariharan / Kavita K (in the former) and Javed Akhtar (in the latter) were the men-of-the-match. Some others that were worthy of mention were 'Humdum Suniyo Re (Saathiya)', 'Piya Haji Ali (Fizaa)' and 'Kehna Hi Kya (Bombay)'.

Cheers
Amit

Play a sport, reveal your character ...

2009-11-19T20:53:00.001+05:30

For a long time, the sports page of the Times of India had a line on the top 'Sport does not build character, it reveals it' (I do not subscribe to the Times, so do not know if the line is still there !!!). But it still remains one of my favourite lines. And I was reminded of it on reading about the infamous Thierry Henry goal that propelled France to the 2010 World Cup on the back of a hugely controversial win and knocked Ireland out of the sport's quadrennial extravaganza.

'Sport does not build character,it reveals it'. How very true !!. Sporting history is full of instances where controversial incidents have played important roles in deciding the outcome of matches, careers and tournaments. Whether it be Maradona's 'Hand of God' in the 1986 World Cup, or the controversial catches claimed by the Aussies on the last day in Sydney in 2004 or yesterday's night most shameful incident, we always have occasions when individuals (or even teams) have behaved in the most un-distinguished manner. And frequently, the mis-deeds by the sportsmen have got to do with their character. This, of course, is not to say that Henry or others of his ilk have a fundamentally bad character. But the question now being asked is, how will be look in the mirror henceforth ? In a few seconds, he has lost much of his reputation to his millions of fans and has also bought disrepute to his national team. To me, that is the beauty (or tragedy depending on how you look at it) of sports. They frequently test your character and reveal it. And most often than not, you have absolutely little control over your actions that come back to haunt you later. To give Henry the benefit of doubt, he would have thrust his hand forward almost instinctively, since the pace of the game gave him absolutely no time to think. So the bitterness against him, as against other sportsmen who have been accussed of similar acts, is not that he handled the ball. The uproar is over him not admitting his guilt then and there, especially since it was so blatantly obvious and seen by millions on live television. He can apologize a thousand times now, but that is not going to take the Irish to South Africa next year. So while committing the misdeed is not an indication of your character, since even the best of people can fall prey to temptation,especially when carrying their nation's hopes on their shoulders. But realizing their misdeed and then trying to correct it whatever way possible tells much about the true character of the sportsperson. And while that character is largely a function of the values and upbringing that each one of us have, in no other facet of life is this character so much tested as in the sports arena.

Which is why the line is my favourite. Of course, I missed the chance of playing any sport with any distinction when I was young. But one thing is for sure, my kids will definitely be encouraged to play one sport at a competitive level. Hopefully, it will help them mould their character.

Cheers
Amit

PS: I read one article which said that apparently Henry told the referree that he had handled (not sure when) to which the ref told them 'I am the ref, not you'. If that is true, then I take back some of what I said above.

Stop making mountains from molehills !!

2009-11-17T11:30:00.003+05:30

As my recent status messages on Facebook indicate, I am quite disappointed at the recent controversy involving Sachin Tendulkar and the Thackerays. The disappointment stems not just from the statements given by the two 'opponents' in this controversy, but more so from the needless manner in which the media has not just ignited the fire, but also fanned the flames.

So how did it all began ? It began with the press conference held to commemorate the Master Blaster completing two glorious decades in international cricket. It was meant to be a QnA session related to Sachin's glittering career, his achievements, his favourite moments etc etc. So ideally it was meant to be cricket and life related to cricket. But the media could not hold themselves asking Sachin the question of how he felt about the Marathi-Mumbai-Indian debate. And for one who has always been at more than an arm's length from any political statements and controversies, Sachin un-characteristically edged the wide swinging half-volley bowled by the media. That is where I am, frankly, disappointing with Sachin. I buy the point that he, like all of us, is entitled to a point of view and the freedom to express it. But then, is Sachin like all of us ?? A celebrity as revered as him should know that each statement of his is like gospel to his millions of fans. Hence, someone like him has to use his words carefully, especially on issues as topical and sensitive as these. Two words, "No comment" would have helped.

In any event, he just mentioned his point of view, which happened to be different from that of Raj Thackeray. The media got what they wanted. Now the headline that appeared in the media was to the effect that 'Sachin snubs Raj'. Now tell me, if you have a different view point from me, does that mean that you are snubbing me or vice-versa ? Or that one of us is more right than the other ? But the media portrayed it as if Sachin had virtually shown the finger to Raj, much to the delight of Raj's blood-bayers. If this is not fanning the fire, then what is ?

Then, just as everyone was waiting for Raj's reaction, there appeared a riposte from a different, though not entirely unexpected source, the Shiv Sena. Not wanting to be left out of this opportunity to get some political limelight, the Sena supremo replied through the Samna editorial. Now I have not read the editorial, but the statement that was highlighted on NDTV last evening was that Bal Thackeray had advised Sachin to 'stick to the cricket field and not play on the political field'. Leaving emotions aside, is that so wrong a thing to say ? I suspect that Sachin's coach might have said something similar. And not suprisingly, all sorts of political leaders jumped on the 'anti-Bal Thackeray' bandwagon, including the Maharashtra CM who appeared on NDTV yesterday for his reactions, as if he had nothing better to do.

All in all, a needless controversy !!. One only hopes the next time the media goes to Sachin for his reaction, he leaves the ball outside the off stump in the finest traditions of his batting.

Regards
Amit

PS: I read in the DNA today that Marathi bloggers were divided on blogosphere in their support of Sachin and Thackeray. Wonder if that was the media's intention ??????

No longer a 'crack'ing Diwali !!!

2009-10-12T20:31:00.003+05:30

The year's biggest festival is around the corner, and the festive spirit can be seen and felt everywhere. Most shops on the street are all lighted up, displaying a range of dry fruit boxes and lanterns outside. Shopping malls are choc-a-bloc with people making their Diwali purchases and I am currently getting a SMS every couple of hours or so informing me about the latest deals and discounts on my credit card purchases. Closer home, we spent the Sunday on the traditional Diwali-eve cleaning of the house and Mom has started making the Diwali menu ('pharaal'). All in all, Diwali has well and truly arrived.

But amidst all this, there is one notable difference that can be observed. And that is, the relative in-conspicuousness of fire crackers. And it is not just this year, but has been there for some years now. The DNA newspaper yesterday carried a news story about how the younger generation has turned 'green' and is keeping away from fire-crackers altogether. In fact, it mentioned about how a kid actually did not allow its parents to buy crackers for themselves (the parents !!), much to the latter's annoyance. Not surprisingly, such behavior has badly affected the fire-cracker industry, with a wholesaler estimating sales to go down by as much as 50% this year. In a few years, we might no longer have a fire-cracker industry the way we know it today.

I, for one, welcome this change in attitude in today's generation (quite a change from my generation that pestered their parents to buy the latest atom bombs and flower pots and which started off as early as 5 am on the first day !!). For me, the most beautiful sight in Diwali is to see a home lit by dozens of earthen lamps ('diyaas') and having an even more beautiful 'rangoli' drawn at its entrance. Add to that the wholesome 'pharaal' and other Diwali sweets, and my festival is made. The one Diwali in recent times I remember was during our first year at IIM Bangalore. Then, we had an inter-hostel block decoration competition and about twenty of us spent all afternoon adorning the hostel block building (all three floors of it) with literally hundreds of small 'diyas' and some big ones. The more artistically inclined ones made a lovely rangoli at the block entrance. And then, as the day gave way to the twilight hour, we lighted all the diyas and the hostel was a memorable sight. (unfortunately, I have misplaced the snaps :(. This was followed by a sumptuous dinner at the mess to round off a wonderful day (What is your favourite Diwali moment ??).

So, Diwali has never been about crackers for me. Whenever I have burst crackers, I have always felt that they were, quite literally, like burning hard-earned money in thin air. Their light and noise is fleeting, not to mention the disturbance they cause to elders , babies and animals around us. Contrast this with the glowing light emitted by even the smallest diyaa, that spreads happiness in the heart of whoever sees it. Bring many such diyaas together, arranged in a variety of shapes and positions, and you get a sight to behold. What better way to light up your Diwali ??

So before I sign off, here's wishing a Happy Diwali and Prosperous New Year to all my readers and their families and friends. May you all have a safe and fun-filled Diwali and a fantastic new year ahead !! And yes, try and stay away from the crackers ;-)

Cheers
Amit

The race to Mantralaya !!

2009-10-10T11:03:00.006+05:30

Under 72 hrs to go before the first vote is cast in the Maharashtra assembly elections, and things are hotting up. All major parties are having their last election rallies in Mumbai this weekend (Shivaji Park has suddenly become the epicentre of all Maharashtra politics) and we are hearing the familiar noises (having said that, as compared to the slogan-shouting of yesteryears, this hardly seems like an election campaign). The tiger continues to roar, albeit not as forcefully as he used to do a decade back, and the hand is back asking for votes in the quest for a third successive term (a rarity in modern-day politics). But the one gathering the most steam, and therefore chugging along to forefront of the political stage, is the railway engine.

Whether you like him or hate him, you cannot ignore him. And whether anyone living in the state (Maharashtrian or otherwise) likes it or not, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the keys to the next Vidhan Sabha are firmly in the hands of Raj Thackerary. Even though he has fielded only 145 candidates (half of the assembly strength), he is virtually certain to get the third lagest number of seats. And the quantum of seats he gets (opinion polls predict anywhere between 10 to 35) will probably decide the composition of the assembly and more importantly, who will form the next state government. And the man is certainly basking in the limelight. Yesterday's speech at the Shivaji Park was vintage Raj Thackeray and his uncle's stamp could be seen all over (especially when he spoofed Sonia Gandhi). In fact one smart thing that Raj is doing is sticking to Marathi in all his interviews, even if it is with NDTV 24*7. It was quite amusing to see Rajdeep Sardesai interview Raj, both of them knew each others language fully well and yet both were speaking different languages without an interpreter !!. Seeing Raj speak in Marathi (and thus reinforcing his Marathi agenda) would have surely made a small portion of the Marathi electorate see him in a new light (I confess I was impressed !!). As the 13th of October draws close, he is likely to steadily pull many more Marathi votes.

And what about the two main alliances ? The Cong-NCP combine should count themselves extremely lucky (did someone say third-time lucky ??) if they somehow manage to squeeze their way to the 145 mark. A decade of largely unimaginative and ineffective state governance (no major industries coming, farmer sucides, power problems, the vexed migrants issue in Mumbai) has led to a significant anti-incumbency wave. Now, in most cases, this would have meant that the opposition gallop towards the seat of power in Mantralaya. But is the Sena-BJP combine ready to get power ? More importantly, will it get somewhere close to a majority ? Its biggest challenge, of course, would be to reclaim Mumbai, Thane and Pune, on which it has been steadily loosing its grip. If it can achieve that, it can justifiably harbour hopes of forming the next government. But for those hopes to get translated into reality, they would need that man again. And so too would the Congress. And Raj Thackeray has kept his cards close to his chest, only revealing that he will support any one who forwards his agenda. If he is true to his word, and if it does transpire that the next government would be dependent on him, he is very likely to demand more than his pound of flesh for himself and the 'Marathi speaking public of the state' (note carefully that he does not say Maharashtrians, thus presenting a more inclusive agenda). Of course, what all this translates to for the Marathi speaking public on the ground after the next government is formed remains to be seen.

With the counting votes to happen on 22nd October, it is going to be a nervous Diwali for politicians and their supporters all over the state. But maybe one man will sleep more peacefully than the others !!.

Cheers

Amit

A week straight from heaven !!!

2009-09-10T18:16:00.002+05:30

Am thankful to the Almighty for this week, which seems to have come straight from heaven !!. I am attending a training program the whole of this week, which itself is reason to rejoice. But to top that, I can leave home after 8 am (instead of around 7.30 am normally), reach Hotel VITS (earlier Lotus Suites) in Andheri before 8.45 am (thankfully, the traffic on Andheri-Kurla road is not that bad. Then I find time to got through my mails before the training starts at around 9.30 am. The training itself (on Enterprise Process Management) is also quite good. Of course, the best part of the day is the lunch at VITS. It is, by a distance, one of the best buffet lunches I have had. Lots of variety (Indian, Oriental, Continental) followed by plenty of desserts (ice cream, cakes, brownies n all that). In fact on Tuesday, I had just too much which kept me drowsy almost till dinner time !!. The afternoon sessions of the training typically involve some practical excerise instead of a long monologue and this helps to keep the juices flowing. And surprise surprise, the day is wrapped up at 5.30 pm. This allows me the opportunity to beat the notoroius Andheri E traffic on my way home and be back by around 6 pm. Then finally, I hit the gym at around 6.30 for an hour and a half to round off an almost-perfect day !!. After posting this, I will be off to the gym for a fourth straight day, a near-achievement for me.

Next week might turn out to be bad, but what the heck !! Live in the present and savour the good times !!!
Cheers
Amit

Come September !!!..

2009-08-31T19:53:00.004+05:30

It has not been the greatest of months, and thankfully its going to be over in a few hours !!.. What a relief !!.. Its been a month of travelling and more travelling. I have been away most of the month, visiting our manufacturing facility in Ankleshwar, Gujarat on a process improvement project. And while I have managed to come home during weekends, thus becoming a regular on the Mumbai - Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express (the new rakes are quite sophisticated by Indian Railways standards), the thought of being away from home and family was depressing. And not to forget the fact that daily routines are completely disrupted. I have to now re-start my workouts and my preparation for the marathon (less than five months away) has taken a couple of steps back. In addition, reading has taken a hit. With a pile of books now on my reading agenda, hopefully I will get more time to pursue one of my favourite hobbies.

There is, of course, another reason why I look forward to September. The start of the month is marked by a family dinner to celebrate Mom's birthday !!! For most of us, unfortunately, it is the only the day where we really honour the lady who has shaped our lives like no-one else. So here's wishing Many Happy Returns of the day to the most sweetest lady on the planet !!. And here's raising a toast to the month of September, in anticipation of more visits to the gym, more of catching up with friends, more of gorging on books and more of generally having good and productive days. Cheers !!!!

Swine Flu and the failing monsoons...

2009-08-12T00:09:00.002+05:30

So there are two immediate crises facing the country today, which therefore find a lot of mention in the media and daily newspapers as well as in random conversations. While one crisis is more direct and has people worried, the other is slowly looming in the background. Of course, I am talking about the Swine Flu crisis as well the monsoons, which now seem to be well and truly deficient.

Till a few weeks back, many people, including me, used to think that swine flu was a epidemic mostly confined to those travelling to the West (Mexico) and hence common people need not worry much unless they came into contact with such persons. But the last week has shaken that belief completely. Ten deaths and counting is India's toll today. Suddenly, it seems that no one is immune. And the government seems to have been caught napping. Our honourable Health minister, fresh from his insights on how to control population growth via television, now has a growing problem on his hand. Especially with huge congregations of people expected in Mumbai and Pune in the coming Ganesh festival, one can only hope that things do not get much worse from here. Pune especially, is in danger of turning into a ghost city if all public places start to close down. As individuals of course, all we can do is to take adequate precautions.

The other crises is the monsoons, or rather the lack of it. This could have significant medium-term ramifications. In the twenty odd years that I remember of, I have never seen such a dry August in Mumbai. And currently I am in a town called Ankleshwar in Gujarat. This time last year, the place was full of muck on the (so-called) roads. This time around, the roads are completely clean and dry and the sun beats down like any other summer day. While the lack of rains is already affecting parts of Mumbai (30% or more in water cuts), the more significant implications would be reduced agricultural output, resulting in higher prices and smaller rural incomes, with potential downside for many industries. Already the stock market is nervous thinking of this possibility. If that comes anywher close to a reality, we are sure to have a wider crises staring at us.

Regards
Amit

A tale of two movies... !!

2009-07-31T22:05:00.000+05:30

In the past month or so, I have got the opportunity of watching re-runs of two of my favorite Hindi movies. Of course, I have seen and loved them in the past. But then, there was no blog to pen down your thoughts about them. But now, one just needs to start putting (digital) pen on (artificial) paper. And the fact that the two movies are as different as chalk and cheese made it all the more imperative that I write about them. So here goes...

The first one is Yash Chopra's poetic 'Kabhi Kabhi' (1975). Actually this movie is actually a series of different stories that merge together at the end. At the start of the movie is the unforgettable sight of Raakhee reciting 'Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Main' on her wedding night. A poem that is symbolic of her past and of the man she loved, the poet Amit (one of the Big B's most understated performances). Then who can forget her husband ??. One of Indian cinema's most endearing characters is Vijay Khanna (Shashi Kapoor). A man that lives life kingsize and has a heart of gold. One who is unapologetically flirts with his to-be samdhan (Simi Garewal) and tries his hand at poetry ('Aap ki aankhen itni haseen hai jaise.... garib ke ghar main lantern jalta ho !!'). Then there are the love-birds in Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, whose romance provided Yash Chopra the opportunity to capture the stunning beauty of Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh like never before. And to add further spice to the surroundings was the immortal music score by Khayyam. Whether its 'Kabhie Kabhie mere dil main khayal aata hai' or 'Main pal do pal/har ek pal ka shayaar hoon' or 'Tere chehre se nazar nahi hatati', Sahir Ludhianvi and Khayyam(along with Mukesh, Lata and Kishore's vocals) simply create magic. In my books, one of the best music scores in Hindi film history. And a must-watch movie as well !!!

If Kabhie Kabhie had sublime poetry and romantic moments in plenty, the other movie that I am talking about is almost diametrically opposite in content (though it also has decent music). Violent and hard-hitting, N Chandra told the story of the transformation of a bright and idealistic young man to a gangster, who then, by the end of the movie, expels all the acid inside of him and returns to his rightful place in society. And quite fittingly, the movie was called 'Tezaab'. The reason I liked that movie was because it somehow exuded a raw and no-holds-barred energy, that was evident in the fantastic dialogues written by Kamlesh Pandey (even Madhuri had lines that were too rough for the leading ladies of that time). Each of the characters in the movie were well etched out, whether it be Chunky Pandey (the scene of the marwari at the restaurent is still remembered), or Lotia Pathan (Kiran Kumar) or Anupam Kher or Suresh Oberoi playing the good cop. To add to that was Madhuri looking a million dollars and 'Ek Do Teen'.But the film, of course, belonged to Anil Kapoor. Right from his entry ('Tumhari zindagi aur maut ke beech ka faasla Munna ki chaaku ki dhaar se zyaada nahi hai'), Munna dominates the movie. And Tezaab still remains one of Anil Kapoor's best performances. In fact, Tezaab was one of three very good movies of the same genre but dealing with different topics within it, that released around the same time (1988-89). I have already written about Parinda in a previous post, and the third movie was JP Dutta's little-known gem 'Hathyar' (Dharmendra, Sanjay Dutt and Rishi Kapoor). Though I remember little about the movie (except Sanjay's death at the end in the toy shop surrounded by all the guns and pistols that, during his childhood, prodded him onto the road of violence), it somehow has stayed with me and I will watch it in full someday.

So that was about two very different yet very good movies in their own right !!

Cheers
Amit

Four Years on ....

2009-07-25T21:59:00.001+05:30

Tomorrow, it will be four years to the day. But it does not seem to far back in the past. The day that brought my city to its knees. While the other tragedies that Mumbai has witnessed in the recent past have been far more heinous and barbaric (they were man-made after all), in terms of the casualties and the breadth of people that it affected, there is quite nothing to rival what happened on 26 July 2005. After all, Mumbai received the highest recorded 24-hour rainfall for a metropolitan area in human history. And I vividly recall the day....

In fact, I recall the day before that as well. I had gone out with friends to a dinner party and came back late and crashed. Following morning, I was ready to face a fresh day at work. Outside, there was the typical July shower. One which the city had faced thousands of times before. Outwardly, there was nothing to suggest that the day was going to be any different. People rushed out, caught their daily lifelines (the local trains) and went to work like any other Tuesday. The drizzle continued, slowly increasing in intensity but never ceasing. By early afternoon, as we finished our lunch and got back to work, there were the first indications that this was not the usual monsoon day. The showers refused to subside and suddenly multiplied in intensity. This went out for about a couple of hours. By around 4 pm, offices had started shutting down. We were asked to leave at 4 pm. Even then, people did not anticipate what was in store, since there are always a couple of days like that every monsoon. But as we were leaving, news of a massive traffic jam on the Western Express Highway trickled in (our office is in Santacruz East). With no foreseeable alternative, me and a colleague set out of office on foot. And before we knew it, we were in waist deep water in Vakola (to put things in perspective, when our office closed early a couple of weeks back, the water at the same spot barely covered my toes !!). The highway was a sight to behold. Cars stuck bumper-bumper, abandoned by their owners and pedestrians wading along the divider in waist deep water. As the sun went down, power went out in most areas, giving the surroundings an eerie look. The rain, of course, was relentless. In fact, about three hours later, as we reached Andheri, it was raining so hard that the rain drops started hurting. With all shops closed, it was tough to even get a pack of biscuits. Finally, after nearly five hours of walking through mostly knee-waist high water, I reached home at Goregoan (about 12 km in all). There too, it was a dark reception.

For a city that prides itself on getting back to work the day after any tragedy, Mumbai was completely shut down for two more days. In fact the power in our office was not restored even on Friday, hence we got the rest of the week off. And the tragedy affected everyone, from the rich and famous stuck in their cars (some even lost their lives) and going without power and essential foodstuffs for three days right down to the less-fortunate slum dwellers who watched helplessly as their houses, belongings and their very lives were washed away by Nature's fury. Nearly 1000 people were killed in Mumbai and other areas in Maharashtra on that fateful day. The Mithi River, till then regarded as nothing more than one of the many nallahs that wind their way through the suburbs, suddenly was the center of all attraction. Mumbai's century old drainage system, rather the inability of the authorities to suitably augment it, came in for much flak. Four years down the line, while some things have changed for the better, there is still that lurking fear, exploited to the hilt by the media, in the heart of every Mumbaikar each day the monsoon showers appear heavier than usual: what if today turns out to be another 26/7 ??. All I can answer to that is, if there is ever another 26-7 in the city, then the phrase 'lightning does not strike twice' would have proven false !!.

So what is your 26/7 story ?

~
Amit

Face the truth !!.. Indian television enters taboo territory !!

2009-07-15T20:45:00.003+05:30

In a couple of hours from now, Star Plus airs the debut episode of its much-hyped reality show 'Sach Ka Samnaa' and with it, Indian television enters into completely virgin territory. Readers in India who regularly watch the idiot box need no introduction to the show. But for the benefit for people abroad, here's the deal in this reality show (it is the Indian version of 'Moment of Truth') :

Contestants will be asked, off-line, a set of questions. Now the questions are not GK or primary school arithmetic. These are real questions of the 'ouch' variety ("Have you ever thought of cheating on your spouse ?", "Did you ever feel jealous of your brother's/sister's success?" etc etc). The contestants will be wired to a lie detector while answering , so that their 'real' answers are recorded. Some of these contestants will then be asked the same questions on live television. And, the person who can completely bare his/her soul on live Indian TV (with their near/dear ones in the audience) and give the same answers as what is there in his/her heart wins. So the ones most likely to win are the ones either with the blandest lives or the ones with not a tinge of remorse or hesitation !!. And is there any one of us who belongs to either of this category ?? That is what the shows seems to ask us.

Already, the show has raked in controversy even before the first episode. Vinod Kambli apparently has revealed his not too friendly side with Tendulkar, causing a media storm. Of course, much of the show itself might be staged, but the thought of other people facing their inner demons on live television is an enticing one, sure to get eyeballs. It would seem that Star Plus has a winner, provided of course, it is sustained after the initial hype.

Regards
Amit

PS: I do not intend to follow the show, in case anyone was wondering :-)

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.. !! Another season, another grand climax !!

2009-07-04T11:28:00.002+05:30

Another season of the hugely popular Marathi musical show 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' is coming to an end with the grand finale scheduled for next Sunday (12th July). I had written about the same show in its last season (read here), in which the hunt was on for the voice of the future. This time around, the focus is on the present. For those who, for various reasons, are not able to follow this season, this season has seen ten of the brightest professional singers take center stage with two stalwarts namely Pandit Hridayanath Mangeshkar and Suresh Wadkar judging them. And with ten talents to start off with, we are now down to the last three, who will fight it out (doesn't it seem to harsh a word to use for a singing competition ?) for the right to be called 'Maharashtra cha aaj cha awaaz' (Today's voice of Maharashtra). And the final three are Madhura Datar, Amruta Natu and Hrishikesh Ranade. My previous favourite, Vibhavaari Apte, was the last to get eliminated last week. But all three of the finalists do pack a serious punch. Check out some of their performances on You Tube (search for 'srgmp aa') . Especially do check out Madhura Dataar (who seems to hold a slight edge) in 'Mi Radhika Mi Premika'. While the last season was made memorable by the young prodigies, this time it is nothing but raw talent that has viewers glued to their televisions every Monday and Tuesday evening. And as the show approaches its finale, one can again hope that the best person finally emerges as the voice of Maharashtra. All the best to all the three !!!..

Cheers
Amit

Raigad: In the Chhatrapati's Kingdom - Part Two

2009-06-30T19:49:00.007+05:30

After a good afternoon's rest followed by refreshing cup of tea (machine tea I might add, since there is no kitchen at the top - everything is bought from the foothills), we set out to further explore the fort. After about an hour of revisiting the 'Balle Killa' and the market place, we rested for a while to catch the sunset. And it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. The pictures,of course, speak for themselves. By this time, the clouds in the sky had cleared, but the clouds below had not, giving rise to a fabulous sunset in which the sun setting over the hills was actually above the clouds in the valleys below. Not many places where you would see such a sight. Totally transfixed, we simply kept clicking, not wanting to let go the opportunity of preserving the moment for posterity. Once the sun went down, it was time to beat a hasty retreat back to the rooms since there are no lights inside the fort. So once it gets dark, it can be quite scary even with a torchlight (not to add the frequent steps where one can easily trip). We, of course, were back in our rooms in time. A typical 'thali' dinner followed (served quite early at around eight). After that was a 'gup-shup' and a card session that went way past midnight. After that, we resolved to go back to the fort in the pitch of darkness with nothing but a small torch. After going up about a dozen steps, we looked back to take a picture of the resort amidst the darkness, with the clouds still giving us company. We sat their for a few minutes. Unfortunately, the clouds deprived us of a chance to do some star-gazing, so we returned to the rooms to hit the sack.

The morning was clear as we woke up just before and set out for the Shivaji samadhi and the temple adjoining it. As if to show us the way, the sun rose almost exactly behind the samadhi itself. Reaching the samadhi made one's heart swell with pride and emotion. To offer homage at the place honouring the great warrior was a moving experience. Besides the Chhatrapati's samadhi was the memorial of his favourite dog. The last major point to visit was the Takmak Tok. Set apart from the other attractions on the fort, the Takmak Tok was used to throw off serial offenders during Shivaji's reign. Once I reached the place, I understood why. The steel fencing on both sides offered some comfort. But take them out of the equation and it is a scary affair. At the furthest point, the 'tok' (edge) is barely a couple of feet wide with deep ravines on both sides. Reaching there without the comfort of fences would have taken some courage three centuries ago.

After a breakfast of 'Pohe', it was time to leave the fort with fond memories. The return trip had a detour to the village of Pachad near the foothills, where the samadhi of Shivaji's mother, Jijabai stands. The trip to Raigad, apart from offering a much-needed respite from the daily routine, was also a throwback to the great history and legacy of my state. !!

Cheers
Amit

PS: Dear Reader.... This marks the 100th post on my blog !!!.. With your continued patronage, hope to score several centuries more !!.. Thanks a lot ;-)

Raigad: In the Chhatrapati's Kingdom - Part One

2009-06-25T23:06:00.005+05:30

There are some places that you visit just to get away from your daily drudgery. Such places may not have the best sights in the world, but that is never the point. With nothing really particular to visit, all you plan to do is relax, take a stroll and generally take whatever comes your way. On the other hand, there are some places that you visit with a pre-determined purpose. Such places have a particular magnetic attraction and an aura that invites thousands from near and far. For me, and most people in Maharashtra, the fort of Raigad is one such place. The capital of our state’s favourite son, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, has long held a fascination for me and last weekend, I finally managed, along with my B-school group, to reach the fort, which is literally the heart of Maratha pride.

Saturday early morning saw us (Anjali and me) jumping in the hired car and, picking others along the way, off we went on NH-17 towards Raigad. With the monsoons especially playing truant this year, we all were sceptical of the weather we would get there. Nothing we saw on our way there really gave us any relief. It continued to alternate between sunny and partly cloudy, with not a drop of rain in sight. And we could see many fields, all ploughed and sowed, ready for the showers. We were praying for the rains to give us relief, they were praying for their livelihood !!. We reached the foothills of Raigad by around noon, after a five hour drive. There we went to the base station of the famous Raigad Ropeway for a quick ride to the top. One tribute to Raigad’s prowess as a fort (it is sometimes called ‘Gibraltar of the East’) is that there is still no motorable road to the top. And before the ropeway started, the only way to reach the top was to walk the 1500 odd steps, as in olden days. Two of our group members did take that route, whereas the rest of us took the easy way out and were at the top within five minutes. Contrary to what I had read beforehand, the ropeway ride was a smooth one (though thankfully there was no wind at that time). And by around 12.30, we had reached the back door entrance of the fort.

The operators of the Raigad ropeway have accommodation facilities (strictly functional, I might add) besides the ropeway station. Hence, we checked in, freshened up and went off to explore the fort. And it is a big fort to explore!! It was certainly one of the biggest forts that I had visited (a walk from one end to the other is a good couple of km). And literally, each square foot of the fort smelt of history. The ‘Balle Killa’ (Main Fort) had the main ‘darbar’ with the Chhatrapati’s throne at the head (with his statue still proudly holding court). One could easily visualize a court session in progress, with the ministers deliberating over matters of strategic and social importance along with Maharaj himself. Behind the darbar were Shivaji’s main chambers and behind that, the chambers for the queens. Walking further ahead from the darbar, we saw the main market place of the fort. The market place consisted of a wide walkway in the middle flanked by shops on both sides. Again, the scene of a typical market day with traders (who all used to endure the three hour climb of the staircase everyday)* selling their stuff to the fort occupants arose vividly in my mind. At around this time, the weather started changing for the better !! Grey clouds started building up, the wind picked up and the approaching rain could be smelt. We stopped by at one of the few huts on the fort for a quick meal of traditional ‘zunka-bhakar’ prepared by the locals. This again was different experience for us. Sitting in that dark hut (no electricity at the top except for the two ‘resorts’), with eyes watering because of the smoke of the ‘chulha’, we had a satisfying lunch. And as we left their hut to return to our rooms, the rains hit us, with the clouds in tow. And within a few minutes, the entire scenery was transformed. The market place suddenly seemed a different place with visibility reduced to not more than 15-20m (see pic). The rains had finally come to our rescue !!!. Enjoying ourselves in the drizzle and feeling on top of the world, we returned for a good late afternoon rest.

- More to follow….

Cheers
Amit

* Regarding the traders, the most famous story is that of Hirkani, a lady living at the foothills of the fort who used to come to the top everyday to sell milk. One day, she was late in finishing off in the evening and consequently, when she reached the gates of the fort in order to go back to her place, she found that the gates had closed for the day. With her infant waiting in her village at the foothills, she scaled the fort walls and then literally descended a steep cliff and got back to her village. Shivaji Maharaj named the cliff ‘Hirkani Buruj’ in her honour and looking at that, the mind boggles as to how she could have even attempted it.

Random thoughts on today's headlines !!

2009-06-14T11:47:00.004+05:30

With my blog being dormant for nearly three weeks now, and with nothing really particular to write about, I figured out the best way to keep the writing habit alive is to comment on some of the day's headlines. Not only is this a good way to ensure that newspapers are read (I subscribe to four different ones - including two business dailies - and hardly read anything), but it also a good way to develop your writing skills, especially for first-time bloggers. So on a lazy Sunday morning, I finally got down to reading today's DNA and found some really interesting articles, some of which I thought of commenting on (after all, dont we all have an opinion on everything ?).

Mirch Masala in Australia: This, of course, was the front page headlines and talked about how Indians down under are arming themselves with chilli powder and pepper spray to fight off potential attackers (taking a cue from Ketan Mehta's movie in the 80s). I really think this is getting uglier and scarier by the day. A few days more of this senseless violence and we would have a full fledged diplomatic row between the two nations, spilling over to all fields. Already, some bars in Mumbai have stopped selling Fosters beer and more are expected to follow suit !!! And while the Australian cricket team's tour to India is some months away (October), if this continues, their team can expect more than a hostile reception here. The other thing, of course, is that an eye-for-an-eye policy rarely brings with it any positive results. So here's hoping that all this hostility on both sides quickly becomes a thing of the past, else we might have to see full-blown clashes on the streets of Melbourne and Sydney.

Black Leopard spotted after 67 years: This was the headline that really cheered me up. To think that a species of leopard, hitherto thought of to be nearly extinct, can be seen after so many years in the Sahyadris is quite heartening. Just goes to show that there are still tracts of forest here in India that can still harbour big animals like this without the outside world seeing them for so long. This, in itself, is fantastic.

Call of the Sahyadris: With the monsoons round the corner (and hope they finally arrive this week), the Sahyadris is the place to go. With a myriad of forts dotting the landscape, the onset of monsoons signals the start of the trekking season. Especially during the first few rains, when the ground is still not soft enough to be dangerous for trekking, there are plenty of opportunities for avid trekkers to enjoy nature at its best. This year, I hope to have a few weekend outings there, starting with a visit to Raigad coming weekend.

Want your area cleaned ? You can make it happen !!. This is another novel idea to improve our local governance. Once this act is passed, each polling booth will have an Area Sabha with the councillor as the chairman. All registered voters would be members of this Sabha. This Sabha would have the right to suggest priority of schemes and development programmes to be implemented in the area. The only question is, who is going to listen and take appropriate action ??. Also, as with most good intentions, the success of this idea lies in its execution. For example, in any case only half (or even less) of the registered voters actually vote. So how many of them will voluntarily turn up to be members of this Sabha and, more importantly, participate in it regularly. I do not mean to sound pessimistic, but I do sincerely wish this idea a lot of success, since it is neccessary to give more teeth to the lowest level of the government that most directly interacts with the general public.

So these were some random comments of today's headlines !! Hope to make this a regular feature henceforth...

Cheers
Amit

Even the mightiest fall !!!!!!!!!

2009-05-26T20:03:00.004+05:30

Today, I heard those lines again. And as always, they bought a lump to my throat. Forget even hearing, even when I hum those lines in my mind, they touch somewhere deep down. But today, I also read a complete translation of those lines. And in the midst of reading it, the view of the screen got blurred… So here is my tribute to probably my favourite poem of all time.

The opening lines go like this:

“hue naam warr benishan kaise kaise
zameen kha gayi naujawan kaise kaise

aaj jawani par itaranae wale kal pacthtayega - 2
chadhta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain dhal jayega - 2
dhal jayega dhal jayega”

“(See) how the famous have now lost their signatures
The earth has eaten up quite a few heroes..
So (you) who today prides himself on his youth, will regret it tomorrow..
The rising sun will eventually set”

At this point, readers who have listened to this qawaali need not read further. Since having once listened carefully to this masterpiece in shayaari that is so depressing yet so very true, no one will ever forget it. But for those who have never heard of it, I will just sample a few verses, though listening to the entire eleven-minute narration will drive home (very badly, I might add) the point. Of course, a slight understanding of Urdu would definitely aid.

So here are some other gems from ‘Chadta Suraj Dheere Dheere Dhalta Hai, Dhal Jaayega’ (pardon my inaccurate translation in some cases)

“maut ne zamane ko yeh sama dikh dala
kaise kaise us gum ko khak main mila dala
khak main mila dala khak main mila dala
yaad rakh sikander ke hausle to aali they
jab gaya tha duniya se dono haath khali they
dono haath khali they dono haath khali they
apna woh halaku hain aur na uske saathi hain
jung ko chu woh porus hain aur na uske haathi hain
aur na uske haathi hain aur na uske haathi hain
kal jo tanke chalte they apni shano shaukat par
shamma tak nahi jalti aaj unki purbat par”

“(See) what seasons has death shown the world
(See) how it has reduced the once mighty to dust
Remember that Alexander was the greatest
But he was empty-handed when he left the world
Neither was his strong army around nor were his comrades
And neither did he leave with his enemy (Porus) or his elephants
(The person) who till yesterday was proud of his fame and power
Today not even a candle burns on his grave’

And sample another one…

“maut sabko aani hain kaun isse chuta hain
tu fana nahi hoga yeh khayal jhutha hain
yeh khayal jhutha hain yeh khayal jhutha hain
saans tutate hi sab rishtey tut jaayenge
baap, maa, behan, biwi, Bachhe choot jayenge
bachhe choot jayenge Bachhe choot jayenge
tere jitne hain bhai waqt ka chalan denge
chin kar teri daulat do hi gaj kafan denge
do hi gaj kafan denge do hi gaj kafan denge”

“Death has come to all, no one has escaped
That you will not be destroyed
Is but a delusionary thought
The moment you take your last breath, all relationships would snap
Father, Mother, Sister, Wife and Children, you would leave all behind
Your so called ‘brothers’ will quietly bid their time
And then (after your death) steal your wealth
And leave only two yards of grave for you”

Of course there are several other such profound lines in this qawaali, so go ahead and listen. If you cannot find it, you can always mail me at amitg13@gmail.com, will send the MP3 version.

Cheers
Amit

PS: Thanks for Amitabh Iyer's blog for a good attempt at translating this..

Dear Dr. Manmohan Singh !!!...

2009-05-16T17:41:00.006+05:30

Dear Hon. Prime Minister

I write to you on a day that is perhaps the most significant days in recent Indian history. Over the past month, the people of India have, after nearly two decades, voted almost decisively for a pre-poll alliance. (In fact, I read on one television channel that this is the most decisive result since your party was thrown out in 1977!!). As a result, today you find yourself having an almost obstacle-free path to the PM’s seat. And I for one am pleasantly surprised. Yesterday, I wrote on my blog, fearing for the kind of games our politicians would be playing in order to get to that 272 mark. Thankfully, the nation would not be seeing those now and your party along with its allies (plus some minor support here and there) should be able to comfortably occupy the treasury benches in the Lok Sabha. Here I also admit that you are not one of my favourite leaders (though I have the highest respect for you from amongst your breed). But anyways, what I feel matters the least today.

But I am not writing just to congratulate you, your party and allies for winning the election. I am sure that you realize the enormity of the task ahead of you. By decisively giving you a mandate, the billion strong population of this country has placed the highest expectations from you. And I am no different. Your future government is already being called the first real Congress government since 1989. Meaning that you have now virtually a free hand in running the government, at least the finances. To add to that, the presence of a former finance minister at the helm will further raise hopes. One hopes that without the interference of the Left and other allies, your government would be able to carry out its financial agenda and tackle the real issues head-on. Of course, I am hardly qualified to inform you on the real issues that face us, but I cannot resist !!. Security of course has become numero uno for some time now and I hope your government is able to provide reassurance to its citizens that visits to shopping malls and travelling in local trains need not be accompanied by doubts on whether one would return home safely. On the finances front, its now time to reverse all those populist policies that have caused a nearly 10% fiscal deficit last year. With the Left and the others becoming less relevant, I sincerely hope that subsidies are reduced to the extent that people pay a fair price for the petrol they use and the power they consume. Then there is the question of bills in crucial areas like insurance, retail, women representation etc. that were stuck up because of political opposition within the former government. One last area that I would like to mention is agriculture. It is about time that Indian agriculture is made into an investment-worthy sector, so that one day people from the cities would look to the villages to invest, directly or indirectly, in agriculture. And while I do not expect your government to deliver overnight, you now have five solid years to deliver good, decisive and growth-oriented governance. The budget due next month would definitely be your first chance to make your intentions clear. The country would await that.

To sum up, today’s verdict has given birth to a new wave of optimism throughout the country, atleast amongst the urban sector. (CNBC is already predicting a circuit breaking rally on Monday !!). How much of that optimism is misplaced will only be clear in the following weeks. But it is now time to assert yourself (and I was pleasantly surprised to see you during the campaign, where you were unusually blunt, especially while reacting to LK Advani’s remarks). Now is the time to carry that decisiveness to the PM’s chair. Freed of the shackles of coalition governance, the years 2009 to 2014 have the potential to go down in history as the period in which India started its march from a developing nation encumbered by populist policies and underperforming governments to being one of the economic powerhouses of the world. And my generation, nearing or crossed thirty, eagerly look forward to these five years.

I sincerely hope that your government meets the expectations that the common people right from Mumbai to Manipur and from Srinagar to Sivakasi now have from you. All the very best !!!!!

Yours truly,

A common Indian citizen

Let the games begin !!!!!

2009-05-15T20:07:00.002+05:30

Tomorrow dawns the big day finally !! When the bigger IPL (Indian Political League) is played out, captured live by the many news channels catering to the millions who would be practically glued to their television screens (I know I would be) since morning. And by all indications, this IPL is certain to match yesterday's IPL (the bat-ball variety) match for sheer drama and intrigue. With neither of the main alliances coming anywhere close to the magic 272 mark, it looks pretty certain that the formation of the next government could take a few days more. And in that interim, one has no doubt that all sorts of games (the good, the bad and the downright ugly) would be played. Suddenly, ideologies would take a backseat (if they haven't already), political pariahs would be sought after and each elected independent would be worth his or her weight in gold (and I daresay, might also be paid so !!). In all this maneuvering, the thoughts that would be the furthest in the minds of the netas and mantris would be on how to best serve their constituencies, whether in power or in the opposition !! So people like you and me who have cast their votes to bring these men and women to power would ultimately be at the receiving end of another five years of ordinary governance.

So all eyes focussed on tomorrow morning when the grand finale of the world's largest democratic exercise takes place !! As for people like us, we can only pray that whoever stumbles across the finish line tomorrow would have a stable government to start with, since that atleast would enable it to take some strong decisions without having to worry about someone pulling the rug from under their feet. As they say, 'sar salaamat to pagdi hazaar' !!

And finally, hats off to those lakhs of returning officers and polling officials who have made such a mammoth exercise possible !!

Cheers

Amit

'2 minute' karte karte 25 saal !!!!!

2009-04-23T20:47:00.002+05:30

Urban India's favourite snack is turning 25 !!!! And Nestle, rightly so, is celebrating it by inviting people from all over to write in their memorable Maggi moments.. see here. Looking back now, a childhood with Maggi seems almost unimaginable. Right from the time I used to come back from school and get treated to a bowl of piping hot Maggi Chicken by Mom to today, when my wife still serves up Maggi Masala in a jiffy for breakfast, Maggi has always been part of my, and indeed, all our lives. And all of us have our memorable Maggi moments. For me, the one I remember most was during my B-school stint, where Maggi was the hot favourite at the night canteen. Well past midnight, when the world was asleep, the hostels were buzzing with activity, and very few were as active as the guy at the night canteen. With an almost un-ending demand from the hungry night owls to contend with (till about 2 am), he used to simply process a batch of a dozen packs a time in a big vessel and around it would gather the students, eagerly waiting to lay their hands on those beloved strands of yellow flour. Just went to show how universally liked Maggi was, and still is.

So whats your favourite Maggi Moment ???

Cheers

Amit

Post script to my previous post..

2009-04-11T12:03:00.002+05:30

In my previous post, I had made the point that as a community, we Maharashtrians need to be more inwardly looking in order to address the shortcomings within us. Especially in the area of enterpreunership and running business, there is a lot that we need to learn. Two incidents regarding this which I myself have observed:

a. On more than one Saturday morning, I have got out of home trying to find a good Maharasthrian breakfast (Misal Pao, Pohe, Khichdi etc). Now there are three decent eateries serving the above-mentioned items (and more) within walking distance from my place. However, much to my dissapointment, I have discovered that these eateries do not open before 9 am, whereas the idli-wallahs and vada-pao stalls are out in force before 8 am !!!!. Surely, 8 am is not too early a time to expect people to have their breakfast at !!

b. Last Saturday, I encountered a unique incident. I had gone to a famous Maharashtrian restaurent in Girguam along with my wife. The restaurent had recently opened an AC section (presumably to attract more non-Marathi customers, since most of us would think twice before going to an AC restaurent, but that is a different point !!!). So attached to that AC section was the rest room, with tastefully designed wash basins and three toilets. However when I went to use the rest-room, I found out that the toilets were locked !!. On inquiring with the waiter, I could not believe my ears when he said that there was a common key to those toilets that had been misplaced !!!!. I simply could not comprehend why anyone would like to : a) Keep a loo under lock and key and b) have a single key for all. And if this story was indeed true, then god alone knows for how many days the toilets were lying unused while customers had to look to someplace to lessen their misery. And if this was a made up story, it is even sadder for it showed that the management was not keen on customers using those places. So why were they built anyways ???. Needless to mention, I left the place not wanting to return (even though the food itself was great) simply because of the complete lack of customer sensitivity on view. And I could not help myself wondering that such a thing could have been made possible only at a Maharashtrian owned business !!!. I hope so much that I am wrong !!!..

Regards

Amit

Marathi pride awakened ??? Not quite..

2009-04-08T09:36:00.001+05:30

The plot could hardly have been better.

- A community that has long felt marginalized and has been reduced to a minority in the capital of its own state.
- A community that has seen the winds of progress blow past it, while it has been busy leading a typical life: working in a bank as a clerk, earning enough to enable the family to survive, bringing up their children with all the right values, investing whatever little savings they have in good old fixed deposits and pension funds and then finally retiring peacefully.
- A community that harbours more than a grudge against the so-called ‘outsiders’ perceived to have taken over their city and livelihood but fails to realize that somewhere most of the blame lies inside
- A community that prides itself on its simplicity and loyalty but has somehow not really translated that into success and prosperity

So who better to awaken this community from its deep slumber than the person whom they regard as closest to God? A warrior, who by his exploits more than three centuries ago, still holds complete sway over the heart and mind of every member of that community ? In trying to bring this plot to life, ‘Mi Shivaji Raje Boltoy’ had everything going for it. However, to put it in a nutshell, while the movie does raise some valid questions, it does not go the full distance. And I, as a proud member of the above-mentioned community, confess to being more than disappointed.

Dinkar Bhosale epitomizes the middle-class Maharashtra community in modern Mumbai. He is a common man with not so uncommon problems in life. His ancestral bungalow in the heart of Mumbai has caught the eye of a builder who, of course, is willing to go to any lengths to get it. His nagging wife never ceases to remind him of their dull existence. His son resents him for neither having the will nor the resources to pay the donation required to get him into an engineering college. And his daughter is willing to get her ‘down-market’ surname changed so that she can be ‘accepted’ into Bollywood and fulfil her acting ambitions. And for Mr. Bhosale, his daily life is confined to dutifully going to his bank each day, longingly staring at the shirt in an upmarket store which he likes but cannot afford, bringing the same ordinary fish for dinner rather than the prized ‘paaplet’ and finally listening to his family members ranting about how insignificant their lives are. After one particularly rough night at the bar, Dinkar comes home bruised and beaten and longs for inspiration to rescue him from this non-consequential existence. And inspiration finally comes in the form of his namesake and Maharashtra’s demi-god, Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhosale.

At this juncture comes the movie’s high-point. Dinkar is transported into the Chhatrapati’s darbar atop Pratapgad fort. And the Chhatrapati gives him an earful about how he himself is to blame for his ordinary life. There the king (and through it, the director) makes the right noises. One particularly hard truth is the fact that most Maharashtrian restaurants and sweet-shops take pride in announcing ‘Aamchi kuthe hi shakha nahi’ (‘We have no other branch’) where in fact, they should be looking at expanding their business and generating income. Having made these, and other, painful truths clear to the audience, one was hoping that the remainder of the movie could been utilized for sending a powerful and hard-hitting message to the Maharashtrians as to how their own lack of ambition is partly responsible for the state they find themselves in, and further forcing them to introspect and possibly revive the ‘Marathi asmita (pride}’ within them (albeit in a constructive way !!).

Sadly, the remainder of the movie does not have anything specific to Marathi or the Maharashtrian community. It details how Dinkar (taking inspiration from the deeds of the Chhatrapati) transforms himself to a social crusader, fighting the powerful builder-politician-goon lobby and of course, his own internal demons. The common-man-fighting-the-system plot has already been revisited again and again by Bollywood. Hence, to that extent, the post-interval movie does not have anything significant to offer. Both the Bhosales are reduced to just any other names. And that, to me, is the movie’s biggest letdown. The first half of the movie has a strong Marathi connection which is simply let go of in the crucial second half. I have a sneaking suspicion that the makers might have been unnerved by the strong political and social reactions that an out-out ‘Marathi awakening’ movie would have generated and hence opted for a typical common man v/s system saga with only the principal characters being Maharashtrians. Whatever be the reason, it finally diluted the impact of what could have been a great path-breaking movie into just another good movie. As for the performances, Sachin Khedekar is excellent as the protagonist, conveying both the pathos of the middle-class weakling as well as the steel of the born-again Dinkar in the second half, with equal ease. However, Mahesh Manjrekar does not quite look the part of the Chhatrapati. For one, the get up makes him look too old. A younger Chhatrapati might probably have looked better (remember that he was only 53 when he died). And it also reinforces the notion that known actors do not make good historical characters since the audience ends up looking at the actor rather than the character.

To sum up, ‘Mi Shivaji Raje Boltoy’ is worth a watch if you enter the movie hall with lesser expectations. And if you can leave the hall with a desire to awaken the Marathi manoos in you, it will be worth the experience.

Regards
Amit

Wall Street in the 80s: unplugged and unravelled !!!

2009-04-04T09:54:00.002+05:30

Wall Street in the 1980s was, by all accounts, on hell of a place to be in, provided you were at the right place at the right time !!.. Commonly reffered to as the 'decade of greed' , this was the heyday of new and esoteric financial wizardry (or 'conning' depending on where you stood) that seemed to engulf the American financial system. The "glory times" of the 80s have been portrayed in several forms of media, notably amongst them the 1987 movie 'Wall Street' starring Micheal Douglas and Charlie Sheen ("Greed, for want of a better word, is good") and in several books including 'The Bonfires of the Vanities' and Micheal Lewis's brilliant semi-autobiographical story ("Liars Poker") of his days as a bond salesman in Saloman Brothers ("Never before in the history of humanity have so many people become so rich with so little"). One amongst the several phenomenon that came into prominence was that of the leveraged buy-outs (LBO), wherein a group of investors take over a company using large amounts of borrowed money (hence leveraged buy outs). The second half of the decade saw numerous such deals, none of which was bigger or attracted more attention than the late 1988 takeover of RJR Nabisco. And the fascinating battle for control of RJR Nabisco has been chronicled in the all-time classic book 'Barbarians at the Gate', which I have just finished reading the second time (the first one was during my B-school days).

Written by then Wall Street reporters John Helyar and Bryan Burroughs, 'Barbarians at the Gate' has been widely regarded as one of the best business books ever. And few real-life events in the business world have been depicted so throughouly and thrillingly. However, along with the drame involved in the takeover battle, the authors also give us a glimpse into the mind of Wall Street in those days, where a number of so-called 'investment bankers', brokerages and lawyers made millions of dollars as fees advising Corporate America on everything including take-overs and LBOs. Also, it focusses on the king-size egos that the leading players in the drama had, none more evident that when the warring factions (the management team, Shearson Lehmann Hutton and Saloman Brothers on one side and Kohlberg Kravis and Drexel Burnham on the other) were close to joining forces, an otherwise minor detail on who should run the junk bond offering required to finance the deal resulted in a collapse of talks and resuming of hostilities. And as the hostilities increased, the bid value zoomed from $ 75 a share to almost $ 110, making it the costliest takeover of a company in American history (at $ 25 billion). All this and much more has been put to paper in a most engaging yet simple way, so that one need not be a finance graudate to understand the technicalities of the goings-on.

'Barbarians at the Gate' is one book that no one should miss !!..

Regards

Amit

Jaane Bhi do, a movie like this will never come again !!!!...

2009-03-19T12:33:00.001+05:30

Very occasionally does it happen that some of the finest talents in any particular field (let alone film-making) come together to pitch in their collective expertise and create a product. Usually, such a collaboration leads to an outcome that falls way short of the sky-high expectations from it. However, in the rarest of rare cases, the outcome is nothing short of spectacular and becomes close to immortal. In 1983, a fresh batch of out-going students from the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) got together, persuaded their alma mater to fund a movie on a less than shoe-string budget and came out with a movie that is universally regarded to be one of the finest ever to grace Indian cinema.

Surely, the names that came together to create that cult classic called 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron' is staggering. A bunch of remarkable actors (Naseer, Ravi Baswani, Bhakti Barve, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapoor, Satish Shah et al ) and equally adept technicians (Kundan Shah, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Binod Pradhan, Sudhir Mishra and Renu Saluja to name a few) blended beautifully to carve out a masterpiece of a movie (am sure it will appear on any movie buffs top 10 movies of all times). And if ever can one movie define a whole genre, then surely JBDY epitomizes the black comedy genre. In fact, making subtle comedies (as opposed to the usual slapstick fare) is such a risky business than there have less than a handful of such movies that Bollywood has made !! . Which makes you marvel even more at the subtle references throughout the film to social life and the corruption therein. For me, the greatest beauty of JBDY is that while you are bursting at the seams with laughter one moment, the next scene immediately drives home the pathos associated with living life as a common man amidst a web of deceit and corruption. For example, sample this: the climax of the movie, as everyone knows, is that classic 'Draupadi-Vastraharan' scene from the Mahabharat (kudos to Kundan Shah and Sudhir Mishra for this gem of an idea and for its execution that led to a scene that is unparalleled in movie annals). Now this scene of course, gets you ROTFL (to use the SMS lingo ;-). But after that climax is the final scene when the two protagonists are shown walking on the streets of Mumbai dressed as prisoners with 'Hum Honge Kaamyaab' in the background !! . That scene causes a lump-in-the-throat moment, reminding the viewer that finally it is the common man who always ends up on the losing side while everyone else goes scot-free (in fact, kudos again to Kundan and Sudhir for ending the movie this way instead of the run-of-the-mill ending in which the conspirators go to jail and the protagonists become heroes).

The other endearing aspect of JBDY is the liberal references to real-life characters (Bhakti Barve's character named and modelled on Shobhaa De) and incidents (the flyover collapse in the movie mirrored the collapse of the Byculla flyover in the 80s). These make it easier for everyone to identify with the movie. Also the subtleties in the movie are impossible to ignore, for e.g. the corrupt builder bribing the BMC commissioner while high up on the pickup crane and looking down on the slums of the city, the dog peeing on the street in the opening scene illustrating the plight of the common man etc etc. The power of the screenplay along with the performances make Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron a must-see for generations to come !!.

Cheers
Amit

** ROTFL: Rolling on the floor in laughter

India Shining Again ?????

2009-03-16T17:12:00.003+05:30

Recieved an SMS some time back from none other than the BJP !!! Yes, this is the new-age communication channel wherein political parties (though only the BJP so far has latched on it) reach out to their voters through the cellphone. Anyways, the SMS informed the voter that LK Advani had unveiled 'BJP's grand IT vision for transforming India !!'. And what does it entail ?

- Rs 10K laptop to over 1 crore students
- Internet-enabled education in every school
- E-Banking for every Indian
- 1.2 crore new IT-enabled jobs in rural areas alone

Now these are some numbers !!! And using IT, the BJP is all set to transform India (if it comes to power that is). Forget even how they are going to set about achieving this grandiose vision, one can legitimately ask where this is indeed the solution to the problems that plague the country ??

- Does giving Rs 10K laptop to over 1 crore students really help when a sizable proportion of them have to drop out of school because either their fathers have committed suicide or they are sucked into the family occupation to support a growing family ?

- Of what use is Internet-enabled education in every school when we cannot even find enough teachers to teach at those schools (not because we lack quality teachers but because teaching itself has been made into a singularly unattractive career option)

- How can a person who has not even completed basic schooling ever get on the Internet banking website and enter his account number and password ??

But it seems nobody in our political class has thought of this. Of course, you will turn around and say that this is all pre-election mumbo-jumbo and come June, everything will be forgotten. But then if this is so, I cannot comprehend whom the BJP is trying to win over by these announcements. Surely not the educated urban elite, who do not get to benefit by this and who, of course, can see through them anyways !!. Or is it India's 60 odd crore rural population, whom this vision promises to transform ? But then, I can hazard a guess that a school-going child in any of the thousands of villages across India will be more relieved to find a good teacher waiting for him/her in school rather than a laptop and broadband connection !! And a farmer would also be happier to get credit with reasonable terms from his neighbourhood bank rather than an Internet banking kit.

Hope the BJP realizes this or this might end up as another 'India Shining' campaign that cost them so much last time around.

Cheers
Amit

Jai Ho, India !!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-27T08:40:00.003+05:30

It has been a remarkable week. Possibly each day of the week has bought, atleast for me, an event or a piece of news that in itself is significant enough for this country. And to use the flavour of the season, and the so-called 'anthem of the world' (as per NDTV yesterday), one can only say 'Jai Ho, India !!!!!'. Or you can call it the 'Jai Ho Bulletin' !!!...:)

Monday, Feb 23: Thousands of Indians awoke, switched on their TV sets (atleast the lucky ones like me who had a holiday on account of Mahashivratri) , tuned into Star Movies (which otherwise hardly 5% of u ever watch) and watched with bated breath the 'coming-of-age' of Indian cinema on the world stage. And when our very own Mozart from Madras won not one but two golden statuttes (and very deservingly so), the Indian media and the country celebrated in their own inimitable style. And the success of Slumdog Millionare was also celebrated in no less measure. In fact, I am surprised that no one in the government has thought of conferring the Bharat Ratna on Danny Boyle for 'successfully bringing the real India on to the world stage' !!. But atleast for AR Rahman, this was truly a 'Jai Ho India !!!' moment.

Tuesday, Feb 24: In another stimulus package, the UPA govt reduced the excise duty and service tax by 2% each. The media made it appear as if most things in the world were going to be cheaper (as if a 2% reduction in my mobile bill seems much). While this in itself is not objectionable, what went unnoticed is that the total fiscal deficit (centre+state) has now touched a disastrous 10% of the GDP. No wonder that the country was downgraded (in a credit rating sense) to a level just above junk !! Which now means that Indian companies will have to bear even higher interest costs for overseas loans. And while I am no financial expert, I can only say 'Jai Ho, India !!!' to the profligate spending policies of the government that has bought us this far.

Wednesday, Feb 25: Watched an NDTV report saying that the preparation for the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi are way behind schedule and at this rate, there is a very serious possibility that we would not be capable of holding the games at all. Now imagine if that happens. I shudder to even think of the thought. A country that bid and won the right to host the games, had more than 4 years to get the facilities in order but still could not deliver. That will some national embarrasement which, ironically, a completely new establishment would have to face !!!!. I can imagine the Royal Queen (head of the Commonwealth) saying 'Jaeee Hoo.. India !!'.

Thursday, Feb 26: Exactly three months since the day the country witnessed its most audacious and deadly terrorist strikes, the chargesheet for the same was finally filed. Now all eyes would be on the trial itself and how swiftly our famous judicial machine can get around to announcing a verdict and, more importantly, how quickly the verdict would be executed. Preliminary estimates say the whole process can take about 6-8 months (if this seems long, consider that the 93 Mumbai blasts case took more than 12 years to reach a conclusion). So if we can see everything done and dusted by the end of this year, it will be some kind of improvement and maybe some of us can say 'Jai Ho, India !!!'.

Friday, Feb 27: This is a personal incident and possibly the most important in my eyes. As I was going to work in the morning, the train stopped for its regular halt at Vile Parle station. In about half a minute, I saw five people spitting across the tracks. While I was walking from Santacruz station to my office (about a 15 minute walk), I saw another six people spitting on the road as if it was their own big bathroom (oh sorry, they must be keeping their bathrooms spotlessly clean !!). And atleast one of those was dressed in a crisp shirt and matching trousers, probably having a white-collar job. So if anyone is under the impression that lack of civic sense is synonymous with poverty and illiteracy, think again !!. I was so disgusted at the time, and when I saw a billboard announcing Rahman's achievement, the thought of writing this post occured to me. To the lack of civic sense in my fellow countrymen, I can only sadly say.. 'Jai Ho, India !!'....

- Amit

PS: Talking of 'Jai Ho'.. I have just finishing downloading the movie that first made those two words famous. Remember that immortal final sequence of the Mahabharat ???... 'Jai Ho, Jai Ho, aisi sati ki Jai Ho !!!'.. yes, it was that unforgettable cult movie 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron !'.. more about that movie, in my next post !!..

PARINDA: Reliving a classic !!!!

2009-02-16T13:06:00.001+05:30

In every genre of movies, there are some that stand the test of time. In fact, there are some that are ahead of their times, thus growing on their audience as the years roll by. The underworld has always been one of Bollywood's favourite themes. In keeping with the truism that movies are a mirror of social life, the 'gangster-n-underworld' movie genre rose into prominence in the 1980s, about the same time when the word 'underworld' itself became part of Mumbai life (movies like 'Mujhe Jeene Do', 'Zanjeer', 'Dharmaatma' etc before that were either 'daaku'-movies or Godfather wannabes). Once the genre started growing in popularity, there followed a flood of movies depicting the goings-on in the underworld. But one of the first such movies made remains an all-time classic. In late 1989 came Vidhu Vinod Chopra and his brilliant take on life in the underworld.

About two decades on, Parinda remains a classic not just of its genre, but in the annals of the Hindi movie industry itself. And for people of my age, who first saw it while at school (never mind the A certificate then ;-), seeing it again invokes more than a standing applause for Chopra and his team. At our age now, we are able to better appreciate the finer nuances in the movie which would have escaped us before. Of course, I hardly need reiterate the storyline !!. But what stands out about the movie is its technical brilliance (even when compared to today's movies) and the performances. Some of the scenes remain imprinted on your mind forever. Everyone remembers the final scenes of the couple's horrible end on their wedding night (when I watched that a couple of days back, I could feel the lump in my throat**) and Kishen's subsequent revenge on Anna. But some other gems are the killing of Inspector Prakash at the famous Kabutar Khana and the subsequent killing of one his assailants Abdul (Suresh Oberoi) at that very spot. The other scene that I absolutely adored is the Jackie-Anil confrontation scene when Anil asks his elder brother about his activities. The reply given by Jackie ('Bas us din jo bhaaga to aaj tak bhaag raha hoon'.. and some other wonderful lines) touches you deep down somewhere. Also, bear in mind that throughout the movie there are no scenes of groups of people weilding AK-47s and killing each other by the dozen. Apart from the pivotal killings that are integral to the storyline, there is hardly any graphic violence in the film. But still, the power of the movie hits you hard. In fact, forget the violence, the movie has one of the finest music scores ever for a gangster movie. RD Burman gives us wonderful gems like 'Tumse Milke', 'Pyaar Ke Mod Pe' and 'Kitni Hai Pyaari Pyaari Dosti Hamari'. Truly remarkable music tracks for what is neither a love story or a musical !!!

Of course, what elevate Parinda to its height are the masterful performances. It would still rank as Jackie's finest performance (he received his only Filmfare award for this movie) and you have to see him in the scene mentioned above. Anil Kapoor was also amazing, conveying not just the vulnerability of a young man coming face-face with the turbulence his life undergoes in an instant, but also the ruthlessness of a man taking revenge of his friend's killing. While Madhuri was relegated to the backseat, she still managed to leave an impression, while of course looking a million bucks !!!. The movie also boasts of splending cameos, right from Anupam Kher and Suresh Oberoi all the way to Sameer Khakkar (more famous as the 'bevda' from Nukkad) as the one-legged Iqbal. And how I can forget Anna !!!.. It still beats me why Anna is not spoken of in the same breath as Gabbar and Mogambo when one considers the best of the anti-heroes of Indian cinema. In his first major role in Hindi cinema, Nana Patekar announced himself in no uncertain terms as a talent to reckon with. Inspite of his subsequent achievements, Nana and Anna are linked together not just as anagrams but as a gifted actor and his finest portryal.

Are you still reading this post ??? If so, drop it and get the DVD of this awesome movie on torrent right now (I got it from there..) !!! Download it and enjoy reliving the experience !!..

Cheers
Amit

** One of the nuance I missed earlier was that the last line spoken by Anil before the couple is massacred is: 'Siddarth.. (refering to his would-be kid's name)... woh is duniya main shaanti laayega'.. Dreams of a peaceful life in one instant, the elimination of life itself in the very next !!!!!...

More on the missed delivery by Fedex !!!!

2009-02-07T10:49:00.004+05:30

Over the past week, have been browsing through blogosphere and have been heartened by some of the blogs put up by friends, acquantiances and others about the Australian Open final. More than the match itself, the presentation and Federer's tears seem to have struck a raw nerve somewhere. Felt good to know that apart from great writing talent that many of us have, Fedex has not lost one bit of his fan base. Some of the posts are:

1. Ketan Kulkarni has written a nice short piece (in Marathi too !!) about the tears, Read it here.

2. Kaumudi has written a moving letter to the champion herself !!. Get that here.

3. Read another piece here.

Would love to read more about a most extraordinary tennis match and its aftermath !!

Cheers
Amit

A match and rivalry to cherish........

2009-02-01T19:53:00.003+05:30

This is my first post on tennis. This is a sport that I used to follow regularly as a kid. While in school, I used to regularly watch the Grand Slam finals on Doordarshan (no cable TV back then). I even used to stay up to watch the US Open finals at 1.30 am !!. Those were the days of guys like Lendl, Becker, Wilander, Agassi, Courier , Graf, Sabatini, and of course, my all-time favourite, the cool Swede Stefan Edberg. Then the Pete Sampras era began in the mid-90s, and as Edberg and his peers bid adieu, I lost interest in tennis. This was also about the age when the power players like Safin, Hewitt began to prosper, services started getting faster and the good ol' serve and volley game became an endangered species even at its native Wimbledon.

Then in 2003, Roger Federer came on the scene by winning Wimbledon, a title that he would not relinquish for five more years. With him, touch play was back in demand. As FedEx went about dominating world tennis, it seemed that the sport was once again going back to being a one-man show. Then from Spain came along Rafa and set about creating one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history.

Today's epic 4hr-23min, 5 setter between the two greats surely marks the zenith of the rivalry. Just about six months back, they gave us what many still call 'the greatest final in history' (another epic 5 setter at Wimbledon). I was unfortunate enough to miss that match, but if that was better than what I watched today, then I missed something really special then. But, coming back to today, the standard of tennis in the 3rd and 4th set was out of the world !!!!! (and it was really sad to see Federer falling apart in the decider). Incredible angles were constructed, lost points were won, balls that could hardly be reached by lesser mortals were converted to winners !!. And speaking of winners, we finally had the most deserving winner. Though I was rooting for Federer, I doff my hat off to the way Nadal plays. Those who dismiss him as a power player completely miss the point (of course, you do not win 6 Slams by just being a powerhouse). Nadal's greatest strength is his coverage and his ability to 'boldy go where no one has gone before' (in terms of court coverage). Its this ability that makes him so tough to beat. And Federer, even after playing as well as he could, finally succumbed to Nadal's resilience in the final set. To point out on observation (though I am no expert in tennis), Federer's best phase in the match came when he started coming to the net more often. He could probably have continued this in the last set, since you cannot sit on the baseline and beat Nadal in a slugfest from the back. And the tears at the post-match ceremony probably told a tale. It was as if Federer was acknowleding that as long as he keeps bumping into the same man of the other side, his dream of equalling and beating Sampras's record will remain just that. So someone else needs to do the job for Federer !!. As for Nadal, he is now well on his way in the journey from being just a clay-court specialist to an all-round performer. Another couple of years of this and he will be mentioned in the same breath as the former greats of the games !!!

Till then, let us remember this special match today and savour a classic tennis rivalry. Can these two gladiators treat us to something even more special ????? It would be worth miles to travel and worth a fortune to spend watching !!!

Cheers
Amit

The Li'l Champs finale is here !!!

2009-01-30T16:15:00.002+05:30

After about four months of high-quality competition, the Marathi singing contest show Idea Sa Re Ga Ma approaches its grand finale. I have been an avid follower of this show (as an earlier post would indicate) and have been captivated by the level of performance on display. And now there are five contestants remaining, each one of whom has gone through many rounds and has consistently given his/her best. This week's episodes were especially wonderful, given that Republic Day was celebrated by invoking the best of patriotic numbers in Marathi. I, for one, cannot wait for the finale (and am irritated by Zee Marathi's delay in holding the mega finale !!).

Anyways, coming back to the finalists, in my opinion, the slight front-runners are Prathamesh Laghate from Sangameshwar near Ratnagiri and Pune's very own Aarya Ambekar. Both have been simply outstanding throughout most of the shows. Prathamesh has made classical and semi-devotional numbers his own, effortlessly crooning them in his own style. On the other hand, Aarya's cute smile and personality perfectly compliments her sweet voice, thus giving her that extra edge when it comes to soft romantic numbers. In fact, one of the highlights of the show has been that each of the finalists seems to have made a particular genre his/her own. Apart from these two, there is Rohit Raut who, with almost a rock-star personality, makes fast numbers even more rocking !! . And then there are the two little ladies, Mugdha Vaishampayan and Kartiki Gaikwad who seem to have left everyone else behind in the popularity charts. They will have the public support behind them (since SMSes sent by the public would have half the say in deciding the final winner).

Inspite of however wins the finals, I would forever remember this season of the show as one that bought me closer to the rich musical traditions of my mother tounge (which I admit I had never appreciated before). And once having got a taste of that, I hope to enrich it further. May the best participant win !!!

Cheers
Amit

PS: For those abroad who cannot watch the show, all the songs are avaliable for download on the Zee Marathi website: here . Recommended especially are 'Dayaghana' and 'Tya Phulaanchya Gandhkoshi' by Prathamesh, 'Malmali Tarunya Majhe' by Aarya. For non-Marathis, listen to 'Paan Khaye Saiya Hamaro' by Aarya (that I bet would have made Asha Bhosle proud) and 'Laga Chunari Main Daag' by Rohit !!! Although I admit, that the actual versions sound better the downloaded versions.

Things that I learnt yesterday...

2009-01-19T10:47:00.002+05:30

Initially, I had planned to write my account of the Mumbai Marathon 2009 with the usual stuff : how did I get there, how did it start, the enthusiasm of the people, the color and sound that accompanied the event etc etc. But then I realised that not only would that description be similar to what you would normally read in the newspapers the next day, it would also be a virtual copy-paste of my earlier posts on the Marathon. So this time, I decided to focus on something else and share what I learnt about the marathon yesterday. For the record, though, I managed to complete the 21km Half marathon course in 3 hrs 09 min, three minutes more than last year. Given that my target this time was a sub-3 hour finish, the final time was a bit dissapointing. But then again, I was happy enough just to complete it given the unfavourable conditions (it was a more than a couple of degrees hotter this time, though that is not an excuse). And I would like to thank my old engg friend Srivatsa for responding to my request on Orkut and giving me the requisite documents so that I could participate in his name (given that I had missed the registration deadline this year).

Anyways, here is some quick gyaan that I got yesterday.

a. Marathons are all about competing against yourself: Hence, it is not a question of how many of your friends are participating, how ahead are they, what is going to be their time etc. In endurance tests such as these, you only compete against your own body and resistance. What should only matter is your own targets.

b. Having a running companion helps: Now this might sound contradictory to the point above, but having a partner (of roughly the same ability as yours) helps a lot, especially in the middle stages of the course. The two of you can alternatively go past each other and set the pace for the one following. In fact, there are professional pacemakers in such races whose job is to set the pace for the race leaders. For example, between kms 8-14 yesterday, I had my IIMB friend Ketan for company, which helped a lot. Being alone in the race is quite bad. And if you have nobody, you can always befriend a handsome/attractive co-participant ;-)

c. Performance on the treadmill is not the final indicator: If your treadmill is telling you that you are not upto the mark, do not take it too seriously (of course, do not completely ignore it either). My observation is that your performance on the actual track and day is much better than the best you can manage in the gym (provided of course, the weather is not unfavourable !!). Some possible reasons are of course: the mass of people around you that provides the adrenaline rush, the fact that on the road you can set yourself tangible targets e.g. 'I will run from Chowpatty to Wilson College', 'I will walk the next km briskly' etc etc. Running on the treadmill is monotonous and hence boring.

d. The heart carries the body in the last few kilometers: By the time you come to the final stages , your body has almost completely given up. Thereafter, its only the spirit that keeps you going. The sight of the finishing line pushes the body past its limit against all odds.

And finally, a reinforcement:

d. There is no city like my city !!!: The sheer number of people who lined the streets yesterday was overwhelming. Not only were there more people, their support and enthusiasm was exemplary. The so-called elite of Peddar Road and Marine Drive came down in their thousands on a Sunday morning, armed with water, trays of glucose biscuits and more than a word of encouragement. But for them, I guess many would not have crossed the finishing line. A friend of mine who ran a 10km race in Bangalore was saying that there was hardly anyone on the road there. Similar was the case in the recent Delhi half marathon. My city has once again made me proud !!!!..

So as I give myself a day's rest today to allow my feet to recover, here's looking forward to 2010 !!!!...

Cheers
Amit

My previous posts on the Marathon...

2009-01-17T10:16:00.002+05:30

As D-day approaches tomorrow, here is a flashback to some of my previous posts on THE event of Mumbai...

Marathon - 2008
Marathon - 2007 (Part 1)
Marathon - 2007 (Part 2)

The next post in this series would be out soon !!!!...

Cheers
Amit

SATYA(m)NAASH !!!!!

2009-01-09T11:25:00.003+05:30

India Inc.'s worst fears have come true and what a start it has been to 2009, that too on the back of a depressing 2008 !!. January 7, 2009 would be forever remembered in the annals of Indian corporate history as the day of shame not just for one man and his company, but indeed for corporate India in general. And this is not any fly-by-night company that has its image in tatters. Till about a few weeks back, Satyam was one of the poster boys of the Indian IT industry : Over $ 2 billion in revenues, NYSE listed, over 50000 employees and, ironically, a recent winner of the Golden Peacock award for, amongst all things, corporate governance !!! All that now virtually lies in ruins.

The Satyam employees now face a bleak future in an already bad job market. With most clients virtually certain to pull out of their contracts (and these include diverse names like the World Bank and FIFA) and new business obviously impossible, these employees face a difficult task to finding new jobs. They are amongst the first to pay a direct price for all the misdemeanours of the Satyam top brass. I for one find it impossible to believe that Mr. Raju was the only one doing all this, as he stated in his letter. No doubt the auditors and the board of directors have a lot of difficult questions to answer.

For the market, this could not have come at a worse time. The last few days had seen the market holding on important support levels (3000 on Nifty and 10K on Sensex) and in fact, was trying hard to move up. All that hard work is now undone in a couple of hours of mayhem. As the market trades today (Friday) the carnage continues. And while the Satyam investors obviously have been shattered, a lot of other investors are seeing their portfolios shrink more rapidly than the polar ice caps. Even government owned and well performing stocks are getting a beating (BHEL down more than 3%, SBI down 2% etc). Of course, the market is slaughtering those companies that are seen as not having a particularly high reputation on corporate governance. Clearly, the market expects some more skeletons to come out of the closet. Now that the tide is running out, the world will see who is swimming naked !!. On the other hand, well-reputed stocks like TCS and Infosys have actually gained since Wednesday (of course, partly because the market expects them to perform well now that one big player has fallen) . This hopefully is not just a knee-jerk reaction but a sign of things to come, wherein companies would need to have good standards of internal controls in place in order to provide a fair return to their shareholders.

And what of India Inc. ? Hopefully, there will be the proverbial silver lining in this dark cloud. New and tough measures of auditing and internal controls would be in place. Corporate Governance would not be restricted to just making grandiose statements in the annual reports. Appointment of independent directors and the role that they play would be subject to even greater scrutiny. And hopefully, the corporate world would be able to come out of this mess stronger and better and prove to the investors, public and the world at large that there will be no more instances of satya(m)naash !!!

Cheers
Amit

A Sunday well spent..

2009-01-05T19:04:00.004+05:30

My recent Sundays have been as different as two McVeggies from your neighbourhood McD's. Unless I am attending a marriage or some such function, I usually have spent my Sundays doing the same things over and over again: wake up at leisure, skip the gym, take a shower at about noon, gorge myself on the sumptous lunch prepared by Anjali and mom. have my favourite afternoon siesta, then spend half the evening thinking where to go out to in the remaining half, come back for a relatively light dinner and then, of course, end the day cribbing about how the weekend has just sped past !!!. This, I guess, is the way most of us spend our Sundays. But for me, 2009 has started on a different note and I have spent its first Sunday in a different and highly satisfying way.

Yesterday, Anjali and me went to her mama's farmhouse near Karjat alongwith her mama and mami. I have never been to many farmhouses before so it was a new experience for me. We had to wake up at 5 am in order to go to Dadar and get the connecting local to Karjat. I had planned to counter this lack of sleep but catching up with it in the train to Karjat. But any such hope was quickly dashed as the train got packed at Dadar and we were thankful to get a good place to stand, let alone sit. And the train was full of groups of teenagers going to the various picnic spots near Karjat and of course, good ol Matheran. We reached Karjat at around 9 am and after a quick breakfast of vada-pao (possibly Karjat's only snack ;-) and tea, we took an auto to go the village nearest to the farmhouse which is around 10km from Karjat. The last half a mile or so was a good old fashioned walk through the village, the nearby fields and a stream with knee-high water.

After we settled ourselves in the farmhouse, her mama took us around for a tour of his farmhouse. And what followed was a hugely enlightening session in Botany. Now, Botany has never been my cup of tea. I am more interested in fauna (in fact, I was trying to spot any snake, lizard etc in the farm). Come to think of it. why does Discovery or National Geographic have hardly any plant-focussed shows ? Anyways, the bottom-line was that my knowledge, and hence appreciation, of various trees and their flowers n fruits increased by leaps and bounds (to the extent that I imagined myself doing full-time gardening/farming and quite liked the idea !!!). One of the discoveries that I made yesterday was that in some plants, there is also the concept of gender !!. After the tour and lesson was over, we took a quick tea break followed by a hands-on session in gardening. Right from gathering the fallen leaves on the ground, collecting and disposing them in the pit, cutting of old branches et al, we spent almost an hour literally getting our hands dirty. It reminded me of the social service camps that I used to go in school. After the clean up activity, it was time to water the different trees. Lunch happened thereafter, with a nearby village household serving us the most amazing home-like meal you can ever expect to have !!. And for once, my Sunday afternoon siesta was more because of exhaustion from the shram-daan rather than overeating.

As the afternoon sun began to move towards the horizon, we went on a quick tour of the adjacent surroundings before finally getting back to Karjat in time for the 6.24 pm train. Another three hours later and we were back home, having spent a Sunday unlike any other and one to remember for a long time !!!..

Cheers
Amit

A new beginning !!

2009-01-01T08:35:00.003+05:30

As they say : 'Start as you mean to go !!'. Therefore, with the objective of having a more active blog this year, I begin by writing on the first morning of 2009 !!. And, as is mostly the case, I don't have anything particular to write about :-(. Therefore, I will just wish everyone a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year !!! As we leave behind what has definitely been a very difficult year, we look forward to this year with new hope and anticipation !!. May all your dreams and wishes be granted but more importantly, I pray to God to give everyone the strength and discipline needed to pursue their dreams to the fullest !!!!.

Now coming back to my blog, I have had a relatively quiet year. 26 posts in 2008 as compared to 34 in 2007. So this year, I hope to be more prolific in my writing, both in terms of quantity and (hopefully) quality as well. And hopefully write on a greater variety of topics, especially on lighter topics because I acknowledge that this is what my blog has been lacking so far. It has been mostly serious and contemporary stuff that I talk about. I wish 2009 would be different in that sense and, as I mentioned above, I pray to the Almighty for the ability (in terms of writing skill) and discipline (in terms of finding time regularly to blog) to fulfill both these wishes.

So once again wishing all readers and their near and dear ones a happy and prosperous new year !!!

Cheers
Amit

The media gets it back .. !!

2008-12-17T08:47:00.002+05:30

Last night, the media got a taste of some of its own medicine !!.. The setting was the debate between Arun Jaitley and Kapil Sibal on CNN-IBN on the proposed anti-terror law tabled in Parliament. The debate was conducted by our man Rajdeep (who seems to be getting louder with every passing day !!). Before that, I had heard Arun Jaitley speaking on two seperate occassions (one of which was a couple of minutes on that same debate) and confirming that the BJP would support the new bill even though they felt that the bill was incomplete in some aspects (most notably, the clause that confession before the police would not be admissible as evidence). That clause apart, he had clearly mentioned that this party would go ahead and support the bill. But it seems our man Rajdeep is either hard of hearing or was conducting a debate without even listening to what the speakers were saying. So a couple of minutes later, he asks Arun something on the lines of : 'So because of this clause, you are not going to support this bill ??'. I mean, did he not hear him firmly saying that they will support the bill ?. To which Arun replied: 'Sorry to dissapoint you Rajdeep, I have already stated a couple of minutes back that the BJP is going to support this bill even in its incomplete format'. Now I am no great fan of Arun or any of the politicians, but I would have loved to see him add a few more lines of admonishment.

Sometimes, the media needs to be taken to task....

Amit

Media bashing, anyone ???

2008-12-03T19:54:00.002+05:30

A friend of mine has put it very well in his Google Talk tagline : 'The media is busy indulging in politician bashing, but who will indulge in media bashing ??'. And today, in the DNA, people have spoken up against the media for their coverage of the 60 hours last week. Finally, people are waking to the quality of the coverage. For the Indian media, it was the first time that they were covering a semi-battle in almost their own backyard, so to speak. And they did manage to make a horibble mess out of it !!!!

Firstly, I would like to point out the fine distinction between 'news' and 'information'. As per me, news is something that people want to hear, while information is something that helps people in making decisions. Therefore, all information becomes news, but all news is not necessarily information. And in times of crises, what we expect from the media is information. But, throughout those 60 hours, what we got was an endless torrent of 'news' with hardly a fraction of it being really informative. In fact, some of it was counter-informative. First at the Nariman House on Friday and then at the Taj on Saturday, the media informed us that the operation was over (based on a few commandoes coming out of the buildings with a V-sign), only to be later told by the NSG that the operation was far from being complete. And in all those 60 hours, not even once did I see or hear any channel asking people not to come near the battleground. As if there was some filmy shooting going on !!!.

Then there are the usual sought-after sound bytes from relatives of the dead/injured. And on this, the relatively better-off NDTV took the cake (and that too because I did not bother seeing the others , especially the Hindi channels). On Friday evening, it 'interviewed' one of the relatives of the dead/hostages. After answering a couple of questions, the relative suddenly went quite and was on the verge of breaking down. At this, the news anchor nonchalantly said: "I'm sorry, we seemed to have disturbed you". How disgusting ??? I absolutely do not see any point in having the grieving relatives and family appear on national television, only to be asked: "aap ko kaisa lag raha hai ??" How I wish that one of the relatives actually bars the media from entering his/her house, just the same way that Major Unnikrishan's father barred the Kerala CM. And most of the media journalists covering the event need urgent lessons in voice modulation. For example, on Sunday (a full day after the saga was over), a Star News reporter went to the police HQ to interview the cops who had slain the terrorists who killed Karkare, Salaskar et al. While the cops were answering in a quiet and restrained manner, our good reporter friend was screaming at the top of his voice. almost as if he was seeing another encounter in front of his eyes.

And then post the attacks, there is the favourite media occupation of making mountains of molehills. I mean, does it really matter who accompanies the CM to the Taj ??? Is Mr. Ram Gopal Varma persona non-grata ??? Then, why the big deal about the whole thing ??. The media needs to grow up and hopefully after this incident, even they will introspect and be better off for it.

Cheers
Amit

A nightmare that lasts three days !!

2008-11-29T09:46:00.002+05:30

Quite appropriately, Mumbai awoke to a dark and overcast Saturday morning. It was an apt reflection of the general mood in the city, and elsewhere, since for the third consecutive morning, we switched on our televisions to find that the nightmare that began on Wednesday evening was showing little signs of ending. Finally, at around 8.30am came the news that the last of the terrorists had been downed and thus, the encounter part of the operation was over. The final act of cleanup of each and every room in the Taj is still going on, as I write this. And, quite appropriately again, the sun has broken through the clouds to give us a sunny morning !!!!

Unfortunately, I cannot get myself to share the jubiliation that I saw yesterday at the Nariman House. The celebrations out there were as if we had won a decisive battle. We might have won this battle but we are nowhere near winning the war. Before I come to that, I want to comment on a couple of things about this whole episode:

a. I found it quite odd that the whole nightmare was reffered to as 'Mumbai's tragedy !!'. Mumbai and the Taj were just symbols. I bet that any Indian waking up today anywhere in the country feels equally unsafe. Make no mistake, this was much more than an attack on Mumbai. It was an attack on India itself. Today it was the Taj, tommorow it might be any other place in any other city. And therefore, I cringed when I saw senseless comments on 'where Raj Thackeray was at this time when his Mumbai was attacked'. Apart from showing the immaturity of the people making the comments (and these were not just some idiots writing on Rediff, even NDTV and a fellow-IIMBian have raised this question), it also reflects their complete lack of understanding the whole issue and its gravity. I would have hoped that atleast this time, we would refrained from these comments. But it seems that sometimes, people are ahead of the curve as compared to our politicians.

b. In many ways, this episode is quite different from any terrorist attack before. It is being called India's 9/11, but it bears not much resemblence to the twin towers tragedy. For the first time, terrorists have siezed (not bombed) iconic places in an urban megapolis for almost three days. While earlier, they used to plant bombs at key places with an express desire to cause as much loss of human life as possible, this time they have attempted something more daring and audacious. Almost as if to say to us : 'this is what we can do, can anyone stop us ??'. And sadly, as of now, we have no answers to that one.

So now, as the operations wind down at the Taj, Mumbai (and India) tries to come back to normalcy (whatever state that might be) and the heroes of the operation are given they send off they so richly deserve, the focus now shifts to New Delhi. And the governments (both central and states) will now have to fight a different battle, which is as significant as the one which is just concluding on the ground. The world will be watching them now.

~ Amit

A must read for History buffs !!!

2008-11-23T17:53:00.002+05:30

If you have a passion for history as I do, then reading cannot but be a natural hobby. A love for history and reading go hand in hand. This is because much of the love for history is realized by reading (and of course watching movies and documentaries to an extent). History, as a hobby, is obviously not something that can you can practise like, say, music or cricket. So therefore, the more of the great historical works you read, the more your love for history is intensified. The book that I am currently reading is definitely one of those works.

William Shirer's 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' gives a detailed account of the German Third Riech under Adolf Hitler. At a colossal 1040 pages, this book (in PDF format) is certainly a magnum opus in terms of size. It essentially follows the life of the German dictator, right from his birth and early life, then his rise in German politics and the formation of the Nazi party which further leads to his becoming the Chancellor in 1933. Then it talks about the change from Chancellor to Fuehrer (a word that I quite liked ;-) and of how he prepares his nation for a confrontation with Britian and France. Then in 1939 of course, WW II breaks out. And the book chronicles this great war in great detail, right upto the fall of the Third Reich in 1945 that signalled its end. The author uses a virtual mountain of captured German and Allied documents and his personal experiences (he lived in Germany at the time) to breathtakingly reconstruct not just the events leading to the war but the actual war as well. The great detail in which the events are laid down makes the reader feel like a fly on the wall of every meeting related to the war whether it be in Berlin, London, Paris or Moscow. One can almost visualize Hitler arousing German passions in one of his long speeches in his immitable oratorial style. Or one can imagine personally listening to Winston Churchill addressing the House of Commons during the war. Also, the books has been beautifully arranged as well so that the reader does not have to flip back and forth between the pages. He can read the entire book in sequence much like a crime thriller. And this book is much better than any crime thriller !!. I have come to about 700 pages now, and each time I feel like finishing off the remainder of the book at one go. However, other duties come in the way ;-).

So for all history buffs, this is something not to be missed. Go ahead and grab a copy !!!!...

Cheers
Amit

Double standards, anyone ????

2008-11-18T14:14:00.004+05:30

As a society in general, we like to instantly voice our dissaproval, anger et al at any perceived wrongdoing. Take racism for example. Everyone remembers what happened during the Indian team's tour to Australia last winter. The Indian media made it sound as if the whole country (not just Harbhajan Singh) was wronged against and therefore, it was made an issue of national pride (never mind that nobody till date knows whether Bhajji said 'monkey' or something else back at Symonds). But anyways this post is not about cricket or that stormy incident. The point I am trying to make is that while we made such a hue and cry about that incident (in which we were the apparent 'victims'), we have so shockingly overlooked a scene in a recent movie that shows racism and its stark reality.

I am talking about Madhur Bhandarkar's latest 'Fashion'. Everyone who has seen it will recollect the scene in which the movie's protagonist finally hits rock bottom in her fall from grace. And when does she realize this ? When she finds herself in bed with......... ??? Yes, a black man. Now the director could have chosen any stranger (Indian, white etc) in this case. But he simply played on the racisim that we, as a society, practise as well. So he chose a brawny but black man (and for good contrast, the sheets on the bed were white if I remember !!). As if trying to say that there is nothing more demeaning and disgusting in life than sleeping with a black man. And, answer me honestly, how many of you in the audience cringed when you saw that person besides Ms. Meghna Mathur ????.

Now, not for a moment that I am posing as a 'holier-than-thou' person. I admit that I myself was made aware of this when I read about the scene a couple of days back. So I am not at all distancing myself from the rest of the audience or society. But having read that piece, it has stayed with me since, And the more I thought about it, the more surprising it appeared to me that no one ever thought of that scene as objectionable. Neither our self-proclaimed guardians of morality, the media, and nor even the censors who otherwise were happily chopping away shots of cigarrette-smoking, drug use etc. Now substitute Fashion with a Hollywood movie, Priyanka Chopra with a top Hollywood actress (white, of course) and the man with an Indian-American actor. I am sure the media here would have bought the house down with their protests. But when our media does the same thing, no one even notices.

Quite strange, isnt it ??

Cheers
Amit

The Li'l champs shift a gear !!!!

2008-11-13T12:25:00.003+05:30

The fight of the Li'l champs is on in full swing and it has been a treat to watch !!!! Well, for the unintiated, I am referring to 'Idea Sa Re Ga Ma Little Champs', the Marathi singing competition show telecast on Zee Marathi at 9.30 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays. The current season of this hugely popular (across all sections of Marathi households) show features young prodigies treating the audience to a feast of popular and classical Marathi songs. And as the show approaches its climax (with only 7 Li'l champs left), it seems to show no signs of viewer fatigue or waning popularity. An indication of its popularity can be seen from the fact that in Vile Parle, there is actually a board put at a busy street intersection exhorting the public to send as many SMS'es (the new-age way of judging talent ;-) as possible in favour of the local favourite. And Ms. Mughda Vaishampayan from Alibaug, one of the youngest contestants and certainly the cutest ;-), has already won over everyone's hearts. And all of this does not take away from their singing prowess. Some of the numbers rendered by them can put some so-called 'proffesional' singers to shame. And having got such a wonderful platform so early in life, they can only scale greater heights. One only hopes that inspite of the instant fame that this show has so deservedly bought to them, their feet remainly firmly planted on the ground.

Till them, we, as viewers, can just sit back, relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of these young little crooners performing to the best of their ability !!! May the Best Li'l Champ win !!!!

Cheers
Amit

It just gets worse by the day..

2008-10-24T21:48:00.002+05:30

Just to mention that the numbers in my previous post seem so insignificant now... It seems now that there is no end in sight to this fall.. would be really interesting to see the mood on Dalal street during the 'muhurat' trading during Diwali the coming week.. hopefully we will atleast see some buying then !!!

Amit

Confidence shaken !!!!

2008-09-29T20:51:00.002+05:30

As the markets were on their downward slide over the past few weeks (the minor upsurges in between proved to be nothing more than false starts), I continued to hope, in fact I believed, that terra firma would be found sooner than later and once it had, the markets would bounce back, slowly but surely. In order to profit during the recovery, I kept on investing at every little milestone that the Nifty broke on its way down.

But today, after another horrible day on D-street, the confidence seems no longer there. A 135 point fall today, close on the heels of an equally bad day on Friday, has sent shivers down the spines of ordinary investors. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, figures of 3400 and 3200 are being tossed about as next 'support' levels (mind you, 3800 was supposed to offer good support, but the market broke that effortlessly today). But now, I doubt if anyone knows what is going to happen next. As I write this on Monday 2100 hrs IST, the US markets are not looking good either. So expect another dissapointing day tommorow !!!

I, for one, can't wait to open the good ol Fixed Deposit offered by my friendly neighbourhood bank !!!!

NO Cheers
Amit

Change is inevitable !!!

2008-09-28T14:14:00.002+05:30

A poignant article in the Mint Lounge yesterday (read here) on how the telegram is slowly becoming a thing of the past. The part in the article that particularly moved me was the one where the clerk at the telegraphic office, on realizing that he has sent only 37 telegrams during the day, says "We will send more today. We are open 24 hours for your service you know. Maybe some more people will come.....".

A reminder of the fact that change, however bitter and however evaded, finally catches up with everyone !!!

So, before the good ol 'taar' (that has delivered many a good and bad news to its recipients) breathes its last, I offer my tribute in acknowledgment of its great services.

Cheers
Amit

An Oasis of peace in the concrete jungle !!!

2008-09-01T10:30:00.005+05:30

One of the big questions that confronts me every weekend is the issue of how and where to spend quality time outdoors. Till some time, the only apparent place to go was your neighbourhood mall with its usual consituents: a Shoppers Stop or a Pantaloons, the four-six screen multiplex and a food court with its hotch-potch of cuisines. But then, if you want to go a mall on a weekend, you must brace yourself for traffic snarls, non-avaliability of auto's to take you back and of course, dealing with the vast multitude of mankind there. This hardly is the way to spend quality time. The other option is to go to a nearby park which can allow you the freedom and privacy needed. But in Mumbai, most of the open parks were again, either too crowded and dirty or hardly had the kind of amenities that you would want in order to spend a couple of meaningful hours there. But, over the past couple of Sundays, I have been pleasantly surprised to see a couple of good and well-maintained parks, so essential to the well-being of a megapolis and its few million inhabitants.

The previous Sunday, I had been to the privately-maintained garden near Mithibai College at Vile Parle. With a nominal entry fee of Rs 5, one can enjoy good and clean surroundings, a jogging track for the fitness freaks (though on a sunday evening, doing one round of the park without bumping into anyone would qualify as an achievement !!). Add to that ample playing area for children, a seperate section only for senior citizens and sufficient benches for people to relax and chat, and you have a park that has something on offer for everyone. But if that experience was good, then the park that I visited yesterday was even better. This was the Mindspace Garden behind Inorbit Mall at Malad (West). The first thing that impresses you about that park is its size. It is bigger than most parks in Mumbai that I have seen. Then its close proximity to the sea assures a cool breeze at most times as well as a good sunset view. It is also well-maintained and you would be hard-pressed to find garbage around (thankfully, eatables are neither allowed nor sold inside !!). It also has more than ample benches and enclosures for people to sit and relax. And this is not a privately-maintained garden. I gathered that this maintained by the BMC itself and they too, charge only a nominal entry fee of Rs 5. It offers you just about the perfect spot to spent a couple of good hours with your spouse/family/friends. And not to mention, a refreshing alternative to the scores of malls and multiplexes that seem to be every other family's idea of a weekend evening.

Infact, the BMC would do a great service to the citizens of Mumbai if they could have parks like these come up in every suburb. That would really work wonders for the city's health.

Cheers
Amit

Yeh soundtrack kisise kam nahi.. !!!!

2008-08-24T12:09:00.001+05:30

On a lazy Sunday morning, as is usually the norm, I switched on the PC and searched for songs to play. While doing so, I remembered Sunday mornings at IIM Bangalore, wherein from 12pm onwards, one of the radio stations played 4 hrs of Hindi film music based on a common theme (with a female RJ that some of my floor mates almost fell for !!!). Anyways, taking a cue from that, I decided to play my own theme-based playlist. And the theme I chose was songs from the same movie. Now this is a quite difficult choice. In my estimation, there would be only a handful of movies which have more than three songs that are remembered. And to find a movie in which ALL (or atleast five) numbers are popular is a thankless job. But finally, I managed to find one and now I find myself listening to one of the all-time great soundtracks in Hindi movies. Each song of the movie is not only remembered more than 30 years old, and particular song has also made it as the title of a recent Bollywood movie. Yes, I am talking about the 1977 classic Hum Kisise Kam Nahi.

(As an aside, while on the subject of all-time great movie soundtracks, I hope to shortly name FIVE such soundtracks whose ALL-ROUND qualities set them above the rest. Apart from the above-mentioned, I know Kabhie Kabhie will find a place in my list. I invite readers to help me out with possible candidates).

Coming back to Hum Kisise Kam Nahi, while I confess to not having seeing the movie itself, the richness of the soundtrack is mind-boggling. Composed by that genius RD Burman at the height of his powers and assisted by the vocal chords of Asha, Kishore and Rafi, the soundtrack has the requisite variety to offer and more: a qawwali, fast-paced tracks, the mandatory tear-jerker etc. Just for the record, let me put down the jewels in the crown, in no particular order:

a. Kya Hua Tera Vaada
b. Chaand Mera Dil Chandni Ho Tum
c. Hum Ko To Yaari Teri Yaari
d. Tum Kya Jano Mohabbat Kya Hai
e. Aa Dil Kya, Mehfil Ye Tere
f. Yeh Ladka Hai Allah Kaisa Hai Dewaana
g. Bachna Ae Haseeno Lo Main Aa Gaya
h. Mil Gaya.. Humko Saathi Mil Gaya
i. Hum Kisise Kam Nahi (qawwali)

Now, frankly, need I say anything more ?? Anyone with even an average knowledge of Hindi film music would remember ALL of the above nine songs (can I call them the navratna ?? ;)). And as I said before, they offer more than the required variety. Some of my personal favourites are’ Kya Hua Tera Vaada’ (beautifully written by Majrooh : sample ‘nasha daulat ka aisa bhi kya, ke tujhe kuch bhi yaad nahi’, and equally well rendered by Rafi saab), ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ (and it has been my favourite even before Ranbir Kapoor and his three deviyaan made it known to the new millinenium generation), and ‘Yeh Ladka Hai Allah’ (another peppy duet from the Asha-Rafi-RD team), not to mention that ‘Chaand Mera Dil’ would rank amongst the finest in soft romantic numbers.

Listening to the above soundtrack has definitely made my Sunday morning. And anyone who doesn’t have the CD with him/her , waste no more time. Go to the nearest Music World/Planet M and grab the CD !!!!

Happy Listening !!!

Cheers
Amit

Some food for thought !!!...

2008-08-05T08:56:00.002+05:30

Though the reference for this post is to cricket, the takeaway from this is more than cricket, which is why I have put it in this blog..
This refers to an article by former England captain Micheal Atherton (who is turning out to be one of the better cricket writers around) in the Times regarding Micheal Vaughan's resignation (read the article here). One line in the article made very good sense, and I could instantly identify with it. It goes:

"If you take the job seriously, as Vaughan has unquestionably done, then there comes a time when you simply don't want to do it any more"

I simply loved the line, and how very true !!!!... And it applies to any job, not just cricket captaincy. Anyone who takes his or her job seriously will always find a time where you want to quit it all. So all readers who are feeling frustrated with their job, maybe they are taking it too seriously !!! Think about it..

Cheers
Amit

Strange ways of Indian politics !!!

2008-07-22T09:40:00.002+05:30

So the d-day in Indian politics has finally dawned !!!! By the time the sun sets over Delhi today, we would possibly come to know whether the present government has survived or not. And by all accounts, as the cricketing cliche goes, it is going to come down to the final over, maybe the final ball. While all the drama that has happened over the past week has kept everyone enthralled (much like the IPL), it is still a sad commentary on Indian politics (not that it had a good reputation anyways) and on Indian public life in general.

While I have no great sympathy for the Congress and their handling of the N-deal, it is still disappointing to see a government being pushed to the brink over a particular issue. And it also sets a dangerous precedent. This era of coalition politics means that the main party in power (the Congress in this case) has to constantly watch its back and keep its allies happy. Tommorow, any one coalition partner can withdraw support over a particular issue (it can even be a major regional party pulling out over some petty regional issue). One such instance and the government is reduced to a minority and has to fight for survival. The present situation might not be that serious in that the elections are anyways scheduled next year. So a negative outcome for the Congress today might, at best, only advance the elections by a few months. But imagine any government in its first or second year of power risking its survival on pushing through some deal or reform process. Hard to imagine, right ?

This brings me to my central question: Why does support for a particular deal/bill/reform process have to be synonmyous with support to the government ? After all, when the UPA combine came to power in 2004, the N-deal was not even on the horizon. Hence, the CMP (common minimum programme) that formed the basis of the UPA coaliation did not contain anything pertaining to the N-deal. Given this, why cannot any member of the ruling coalition (the Left in this case) say "Sorry, we will not support you on this particular issue, but support to your government will continue". In my view, they can disagree on a particular issue which is not part of their common minimum programme and, at the same time, remain a part of the government. Put in another way, why does every bill or act tabled in Parliament need to be a vote on the government's survival. Had the Left not withdrawn support, then we might have seen just a bill being tabled for approval by Parliament rather than a trust vote. And irrespective of the result, the government would have continued. Going ahead, we cannot afford to have a trust vote, followed by mid-term elections, each time an important bill is to be tabled in Parliament.

Quite a few things about Indian politics defy logic for me !!!

Cheeers
Amit

Jaane Tu....Ya Jaane Na !!!

2008-07-19T15:49:00.002+05:30

Yesterday, I finally got to see the movie !! Over the past couple of weeks, several friends had recommended the movie. To add to that, the box office collections were simply going through the roof, with Indiafm.com officially declaring it as a blockbuster. With a background, expectations were heightened as I entered the movie hall (my first visit to the PVR here in Goregoan). By the time I left the show, the feelings were mixed.

Clearly, for me, the movie was not upto the mark. Sure, it was something that all teenagers could identify with and hence, were bound to love. (Maybe I saw the movie 10 years too late :-). So anyone who viewed it as a peek into the lives of college-going teenagers would have liked it. But anyone who went to see good cinema (though I am getting subjective here, good cinema for me merely means a decent story line alongwith good entertainment) would, I guess, have been disappointed. No doubt the movie has a plot, but I thought it was too thin to be stretched over 2.5 hrs. Finally, it was all about two best friends who first deny they are in love but then finally come around to accept the fact !!! Not enough, I say, for a full-length movie (and neither was the plot new). The first half was terribly slow and I expected the movie to pick up steam in the second half. However, that did not quite happen. And very frankly, I would like to commend the director for even attempting another climax at the airport !!!! I could not bear to watch that.

Not all is bad though. The young star-cast most definitely worked. I thought Imran Khan had an impressive acting debut, even though his baby-face might restrict his choice of roles. But still, he looks good to go places in Bollywood. Genelia D'Souza, after a couple of false starts, finally has come into the limelight and the movie hopefully would give her fledgling career a big boost. The others in the group also did their object fairly well. And of course, champs like Naseer, Paresh and Ratna Pathak Shah did an excellent job. Another big plus was A.R.Rehman's peppy music score.

So as I said, quite mixed feelings from my end !!!

Cheers
Amit

Hard times ahead !!!

2008-06-21T20:43:00.004+05:30

So finally, double-digit inflation is here to stay. And while it was expected to some extent because of the fuel price hike, but no-one expected it to touch 11%, as was announced on Friday. Certainly not the markets, which had factored a 10% figure. And when lightning struck, the indices took a big beating and ended well below the crucial 15000/4400 levels. And this time, not many analysts are taking a call on the next 'support' levels. What that means is that how long and deep the market falls is anyone's guess. Now with Ms. Behenji withdrawing support to the UPA, the stage might be set for another tumble at the markets this week.

But for the common man who is more concerned about how much one kg of onions cost rather than how much the Reliance share fell, things are becoming increasingly difficult. With the fuel price already hiked (and once oil crosses $150 by July, as is widely expected, one can expect further pressure on the government), most essential commodities are likely to go up sooner or later. And rest assured, you can expect public transport to be dearer as well. This will lead to decreased consumer spending and hence falling demand for a variety of goods, thereby hurting many a company's bottomlines and, in turn, their investors, many of whom are the same consumers that are not spending !!! So it ends up at a double whammy, the common man/retail investor has not only to deal with higher spending on what is essential for him, but on the other hand he also is witness to falling returns from his various investments !!

And the sad part is, no-one is sure how long will this last. Till then, one can only wait and watch...

Cheers
Amit

Clinging on for dear life !!

2008-06-18T21:11:00.002+05:30

A sad story in today's DNA (read here) about a woman who fell off a running suburban train in Mumbai and died subsequently. While many people would think it is possibly the freakiest way to lose your life, in Mumbai it is reality of everyday life and commuting. It is estimated that nearly 8-10 people slip off running trains every day and some of them never rise again. Just that Swati's case got highlighted (as was the case of Naseeruddin Shah's son a few months, though thankfully he was saved). And having travelled in Mumbai local trains for quite a few years now (and in the so-called 'peak flow direction' from the suburbs to the city every morning) I can testify as to how risky it is. I remember one day about a year back when I was in almost the same condition as Swati. With only my fingers and the front part of the feet touching the train and the remaining part about a foot outside the door with no-one behind for support, I was in an awkward ")" position. And boy, did I cling on to dear life !! From the time I 'boarded' the train at Goregoan till Andheri (where a few people got off from the opposite door and I was able to get more of a foothold), I was actually praying for my life. One push or shove from the people inside and I would not be typing this today. It was definitely one of the most terrifiying experiences that I ever had. From that day, I swore never to board any train unless there was somebody behind me for support, and definitely no hanging business. But to think that there are people who take these risks on a regular basis really shudders me. I can only pray to God to guard their lives !!!!

Amit

The Sea Link is finally coming !!!

2008-05-30T08:34:00.006+05:30

Looks Impressive enough !!!!!!!!!

But is it going to be worth the wait, effort and money ?????

Wait until January 2009 to find out !!!!

Till then, you can get the background of the project and track its project at:

http://www.bandraworlisealink.com/

Cheers
Amit

A long hiatus !!

2008-05-27T08:58:00.002+05:30

It has been 51 days since my last post on this blog !!!. For the couple of ppl who have inquired as to why this is so, and I am so glad that someone asked, it is just a combination of many things: lack of time (as usual - given that I have spent a large part of the past couple of months shuttling between Mumbai and Delhi), lack of opportunity (have been away from my laptop for a major part of the time) and most pertinently, lack of things to write about !!!! With nothing much happening in life or around me, am not too sure what to write about.

So would like to ask my fellow bloggers, how do you guys decide what to write about ?? Is it just instinctive, you write whatever you feel like (even if it is a 2-line post) or does every post involve some kind of ground work ?.. Would love to know :-).. BTW my cricket blog (http://mycricketview.blogspot.com) is barely alive, with the latest post coming today (27th May). As far as this blog is concerned, till the time I find something good to write about (or if someone suggests something good), take care and have fun !!!

Cheers
Amit

The Cola War hots up... but advertising standards go down !!!

2008-04-05T21:01:00.002+05:30

With the weather turning on the heat, the cola wars are too gathering some steam. And as is typical of the advertising in that industry, the latest commercials churned out are mostly lousy and in-your-face.

So starting the slide was the latest Pepsi commercial featuring SRK, Ranbir and Deepika. Watch the video here. Released in December (a month after Sawaariya and OSO thrust the Ranbir-Deepika pair into the limelight). This ad is probably the latest example of the generally mediocre commercials that Pepsi dishes out (Remember the largely forgettable SRK and John commercial anyone ?). They have certainly slid a long way from the first Pepsi ad in the late 1980s (remember Juhi and Remo ? or even Mahima, Aamir and Ash ? Compared to those standards, the 'Youngistan' ad certainly does not register.

Not to miss a chance, Sprite seems to have taken full advantage via its latest commercial (watch it here). A delightful spoof on the Pepsi ad, it drives home the point that for a large section of the viewers, simply having hot stars but little else does not work, be it a 3 hr movie or a 50 second commercial.

Amidst all this, the two other big brands have identified their brand identity and have accordingly maintained a consistent theme through the commercials. Coke's latest ad (with Hrithik as the sole star) has a sweet little jingle running through it and conveys the feeling of celebration quite well, something which Coke has been associated with it (recall the Diwali ads with Hrithik and Aishwariya). On the other hand, ThumsUp continues its projection as the young man's drink and accordingly has Akshay Kumar as its ambassador (though Akki not really the young Khiladi :).

Hopefully the next offering from Pepsi would be something to look forward to !!!

Cheers
Amit

Our life-time companion !!!!!

2008-03-14T18:02:00.000+05:30

No, I am not talking about your respective better halves (and not-so-better halves for all the ladies reading it). It is the humble cellphone. And just like invaluable things, we miss them when they are not around. So it happened to me today when, for possibly the first time in almost 4 years since I have started using one, I left home without my faithful companion. And since I was not in office today but on the road, I almost fell lost and cut off from the world. Isn't it incredible to think what a difference the mobile phone has made to our lives ?. Any time we are not with it, its as if we have nothing to do to while away our time. No more sending of SMS's, no more playing games while in a bus or train and no more random phone calls to friends. On the brighter side though, it helped that I could not get any phone call from office and hence could pass my holiday in peace. And of course, I did not need to respond to 'Ms ABC from XYZ Bank informing me about the Rs 265,000 pre-approved loan'. A day without the cell phone makes you feel like a fish out of water, does it ? Would love to hear from you.

cheers
Amit

Jodha Akbar: Much ado about what ????

2008-03-07T21:55:00.000+05:30

Finally on Thursday, I got a chance to see Jodha Akbar. And given all the controversy (inevitably) surrounding the movie, the fact that there was a proven director at the helm, not to mention my keen interest in historical and period movies, I went with somewhat high expectations. And that was possibly the reason that I had to return a dissapointed movie buff. Frankly put, and I still remain a Gowarikar fan, the movie is not a patch on the rivetting Lagaan and neither it is in the same league as a Swades, which atleast forced us to introspect about our country. Incidentally, true Gowarikar fans might remember the first movie that he directed, a murder mystery called Pehla Nasha (starring Dipak Tijori, Raveena Tandon and Pooja Bhatt). I would even venture out to say that Jodha Akbaar would probably rank somewhere alongwith Pehla Nasha in Gowarikar's oeuvre.

Now, you might ask, am I so dissapointed ? The reasons are quite a few. Fine, granted the visuals are stunning, sets are lavish and bring to life the Mughal and Rajput era of the 16th century, Hrithik looks the part as the Emperor, Aishwariya looks charming and does a fair job of acting and AR Rehman is pretty much in form with his music (Khwaja Mere Khwaja and Azeem-O-Shah-Shahenshah pull up the otherwise average score). However, glittering sets and handsome leading pairs cannot keep the viewers engrossed, certainly not for a period of 3.5 hours (I lost track of the no. of times I looked at my watch, especially during the first half). To sustain viewer interest, a movie requires that essential backbone: a story and a screenplay to accompany it. And I thought that the movie faltered in those crucial departments. Firstly, it is not a historical in the sense we understand it, which means it is neither a biography of a historical figure nor does it narrate any historical event. It is not much than a love story set in a historical context, not very different from the Titanic. And its not even that historians celebrate the love between the Rajput princess and the Mughal Emperor. In fact, they are not even certain that the eldest daughter of the king of Amer, Raja Barmal, was even called Jodhaa. We have never heard Jodha Akbar mentioned in the same breath as Mumtaj-ShahJehan or NoorJehan-Jahangir. Given this, one wonders whether there really was any historical substance to the Jodha-Akbar love story. At the end, the narrator (Amitabh's baritone now part of every other movie) says that the Jodha-Akbar love story is largely forgotten in history. To which, one might ask, why should it be remembered ? Now, having taken upon the task of potraying a love story made largely out of scattered historical information, Ashutosh needed to fill the movie with a lot of tender moments between Hrithik and Ash. But apart from a few (the sword fight between the two is excellent), the chemistry is not much on display. And some cinematic liberties seem far-fetched, most notably the anomaly that although Jodha is supposed to be Akbar's third wife, neither of his first two wives are even mentioned in the movie (Can someone fill in me here ?).

All in all, I am in no way suggesting that Jodha Akbar is even an average movie. It is, by all standards, a good effort and definitely worth watching once (in the theater of course !!!, the sets and visuals deserve nothing less than that). But given the Gowariker name, I think he should have done better.

Cheers
Amit

Cold Wave's here, the Metro is coming !!!

2008-02-09T11:14:00.000+05:30

Just a couple of days after the mercury slid to a single-digit figure (as in my last post), it has reached a new low. The weather bureau has actually raised a cold wave flag in the city. This after the minimum temperature recorded in the city was 8.5 deg, a good 7 deg below normal. With such weather expected to continue over the next few days, the lowest ever mark (of 7.4 C) is well and truly under threat.
So, in Mumbai, two things are officially dipping: the BSE sensex and the minimum temperatures !!!!

But one event that might have warmed the hearts of many Mumbaikars is the construction work starting on the Mumbai Metro Rail project (Read Here). While it may take atleast till 2010 for the first train to run on the 1st corridor (Andheri-Ghatkopar), the work starting atleast is a start. However, there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. We have seen enough high profile projects starting, only to get embroiled in court cases, litigations, builder-government disputes etc with working grinding to a complete halt. For the sake of my city, I sincerely hope and pray that work continues unninterrupted on this prestigous project.

Cheers
Amit

Blow Cold, Blow Hot !!!!!!

2008-02-07T08:48:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, the almost unthinkable happened in Mumbai. The signs were ominous and for once, people had been warned. Still, not many (me included), thought it would come down to that. As I left office today, saw the DNA headline: ‘Its 9.4 degrees in Aamchi Mumbai’. So after a long time, the mercury has finally dipped into single digits. It is still well clear above the lowest mark: a truly bone-chilling 7.4 deg set in January 1962. Outdoors, the repercussions of this ‘abnormal’ climatic behaviour are hard to miss. As I leave for office at 7.30 am, I have never seen so many people clad in sweaters, mufflers, monkey caps etc. If you are a woolens retailer, it is like finding El Dorado. And for once in the Mumbai local trains, people are actually avoiding those prized standing spaces at the doors. Climatic changes are happening at a rate far faster than any seen before and the effects are there for all to see: not just in Mumbai. Delhi had come close to seeing its first snowfall, China is in the grip of severe snowfall and many other places are seeing unprecedented winters. We are moving towards a climate of extremes. I would not be surprised if, exactly three months from now (May 7^th), the newspaper headline were to read: ‘Hottest May Day in 40 years !!!’. We seem to be getting what we deserve.

But amidst all this chill, the self-proclaimed ‘powers-that-be’ have found innovative ways of beating the cold and seeing some action. So the old ‘Marathi v/s North Indian’ saga has been reopened again. That there has always been an undercurrent of tension is undeniable. It just needed a spark to ignite the flame. In this whole controversy, I have just two points to make:

The role of the media: The day after this whole thing flared up, I happened to watch a few channels on TV. And if you were sitting somewhere in Delhi or Kanpur, one look at the visuals being shown and you would have thought that there is rioting all across Mumbai. No wonder few of my office colleagues whose familes are up North received immediate calls inquiring about their well-being. The justification apparently was that these were staged attacks especially for the camera. So now does the media take orders from some small-time mischief-mongers on what to broadcast ? Or was it solely for the extra eyeballs that such visuals (shown repeatedly over) catch ? When will we a bit more responsible in bringing news, especially on such sensitive topics ?
Stopping migration: While it is true that Mumbai is for everyone, the parties that are now acting as aggrieved and victimized should do well to realize the cause of the migration that is at the heart of this controversy. Almost non-existing infrastructure, large-scale corruption and breakdown of law and justice are largely responsible for the sorry state that some of India’s states find themselves in. Instead of shouting hoarse on how Mumbai is no-one’s private property, the leaders there need only look at their backyard and try and improve the state of affairs there.

Finally, in all this, I was reminded of a wonderful line about this great city:

“ The great beauty of Mumbai is that it welcomes anyone with open arms”……..

And the great tragedy of Mumbai is………………………..

“it welcomes everyone with open arms !!!!!”

Cheers

Amit

Civic Sense: Whats that ???

2008-01-31T20:58:00.000+05:30

While coming back from a trip last week to Goa, I saw a most heartening, and at the same time, a depressing sight. I was coming back from Goa to Mumbai by train (AC chair car in the Shatabdi Exp). On the other side of the aisle were seated two young women, foriegn tourists (mostly European) who were probably coming back from a holiday in Goa. One of them took a plate of Idli-Chutney and after finishing it, kept the paper plate on the train floor. A sudden gust of wind caused the plate to turn upside down, with the result that the left-over chutney spread over the floor. Now the spilled chutney was quite far from her seat and hence could not have any discomfort to her or other passengers. But to my amazement, the lady took a couple of paper napkins and began cleaning the chutney on the train floor (and we all know how dirty our trains are anyways, although it was an AC compartment). It took her a good couple of minutes to clean the mess caused, following which she dutifully took the plate and went in search of the nearest waste bin and promptly put the plate in its rightful place.

The fact that someone would actually clean the plate on the floor was something that amazed me. What depressed me was the realization that not many of my own countrymen would have bothered to do it. We would have just shrugged it off saying 'the railways will clean the mess'. Which is why our trains are so pathetic in their appearance today. Getting to a bigger question that bugged me, and always does: Why dont most people in India have even basic civic sense ? The sense to keep their surroundings clean. What could be the possible reason ?? Initially I used think poverty was it, but then you find well-to-do people happily throwing their litter in our public parks and gardens. Similarly, civic sense does not automatically come from good education, though there might be a strong co-relation there. Then what causes us to not have even an iota of civil sense ??

Would love to know the answer.

Cheers
Amit

Another Year, Another Marathon !!!!!

2008-01-28T17:13:00.000+05:30

It was that time of the year again. If its the third Sunday of January in Mumbai, then it must be the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. It is the day when the city changes itself. It literally comes to a halt (what with no traffic plying on Marine Drive, Peddar Road and outside CST) and it celebrates the spirit of human endurance which overcomes all physical and mental odds to reach that coveted finishing line. Having debuted in the 2007 edition (and managed to do decently for a first-timer), I was looking forward to the 2008 edition last Sunday (20th Jan). And with some amount of training in the gym (although the maximum I managed to run at a stretch was a paltry 2 km), I secretly hoped to improve on my last year's time.

Getting to Azad Maidan was also not without its fun. Took the train from Goregoan at the unearthly time of 5.12 am and immediately saw groups of people in the train going to the same destination as me, all with their running nos. proudly displayed on their shirts. At Jogeshwari, a big contingent (about 15 in all) of Gujratis strode in, all men and women in their 40s, and full on enthusiasm. They were participating in the half-marathon (same as me), and if they did manage to complete it, then hats off to them !!!! And, of course, like others from that part of the world, they could not resist opening a bag and helping themselves to fruits on the way !!!

I reached Azad Maidan in time for the race start at 6.45 am. About 8000 runners took part in the half marathon, which was the earliest race to start (and thank god for that, since it meant that we were more than halfway through by the time the heat begin to play its part). The race started at CST amidst great roars, cheer-leaders and blaring music, all fit for a great occassion such as this. For the first 2 kms or so (till Air India bldg via Churchgate) most people were either on a light jog or were just ambling along (the contenders, of course, had gone way ahead). After taking the U-turn at Oberoi, the field began to split up. The ones more serious started to run at a brisk pace while the ones more intent on just finishing the race, or atleast have a good morning's workout, continued their gentle trot. Marine Drive, as usual, was a splendid sight. With no traffic on the road, a nip in the air (it was slightly cooler than last year) coupled with a gentle mist, it was the perfect setting for a morning walk or jog. By the time I neared Chowpatty (about 6 kms in 50 min), the leaders passed me on their way back (must have completed about 15km !!). The leaders were well appluaded by the hundreds of people lining up the course,

I continued on through Babulnath temple, Kemps Corner flyover and touched the 10km mark on the Haji Ali stretch in about 1 hrs 20 min. At that time, the roads were partly cleared for the arrival of the full marathoners (who had covered the same distance as me in about 45 minutes less, a fantastic achievement !). But I was pretty well satisfied with my effort so far, given that last year those guys crossed me just after the 8km mark. Nevertheless, the body was beginning to grumble. The run-walk-run-walk routine also did not help. Turning near the Mela Restaurent at Worli (to start the return journey) was a great high, since it meant now that I was running towards the finish line rather than away from it. By that time, the sun had appeared over the Mumbai sky-scrapers in the East and the heat was beginning to show. Thankfully though, good arrangements had been made to provide water and energy drinks throughout the course. To add to that, good samaritans from the neighbouring buildings (esp along Peddar Rd) also provided water and biscuits to the participants. By the end of 2 hours, I had done about 14.5 kms and was in good shape, except for the legs. Evidently, the preperation in the gym was paying off. In fact, I kept on running in bursts even between the 19th and 20th km (unlike last year, where I only walked after the 8 km mark). And it was that energy and adrenaline that kept me going all the way to the finish line, which I crossed in 3 hrs 6 minutes, a significant improvement over the 3 hrs 45 min last year. And there have been no big injuries afterwards, apart from a bad right heel which has sinced healed. It was one of the most satisfiying days of my life !!!

Mumbai Marathon 2009, here I come !!!

Cheers
Amit

Nano Aaya Re !!!!

2008-01-17T21:18:00.000+05:30

So the people's car has finally arrived !!!! Unveiled last week by Ratan Tata last week at the Delhi Auto Expo (with a cleverly used dash of sentiment : "a promise is a promise"), the Tata Nano seems to have got everyone talking and admiring. And by all accounts (since I am no auto expert), Tata Motors seem to have got a winner on its hands. It sure does look good. It initially reminded me of the Daweoo Matiz (one of my earlier favourites). Compactly built, but it still supposedly has about 20% more inner space than the Maruti 800. And the mileage of 20kmpl sure is a cracker, since this will mean that it will not be too much of a burden on its owner even with petrol. What is still open to debate though, is the safety aspect. With such a compact body and no front bumper, the occupants have to be extra cautious. And what might also go against it is the perception that it is suitable only for short intra-city distances. But all said it done, one can already see the queue forming. And the people lining up might not be your usual suspects. The day after the launch, a friend told me about his conversation with a auto rickshaw driver, in which the latter cursed the high maintainence cost of his Bajaj Auto model and was fascinated by the Nano (mostly by its price tag, I imagine). And yesterday, there was an article stating the Taximen Association in Mumbai is actually going to hold talks with the Tatas with a view to modifiying the Nano to be a taxi (CNG version etc). Maybe the Tata's have stumbled on a different kind of market, and couple of years down the line, we might see black-and-yellow Nano's all over Mumbai's streets. And oh, not to forget the thousands of college kids, not-so-affluent bread-winners who might take to the Nano just because of the sheer satisfaction of owning a car (note I am not talking status symbols since I dont think the Nano can be the benchmark for one).

Amidst all this, does anyone spare a thought for the roads and infrastructure still, as I had done a few months back ?? Only time will tell.
Cheers
Amit

31st December and all that !!!!!!

2007-12-31T08:51:00.000+05:30

'So where are you partying on 31st nite ??' is a question that has been thrown at me repeatedly over the last few days. And after answering (always with a straight face) that I am going to be home, like almost all other evenings, I get back a look of surprise that seems to say 'Here you are, all of 28, recently married and doing decently well in life: You should be in Goa atleast !!'. But frankly, sitting at home is what I have been doing for the past 3 year-ends and I see no reason for that to change. Infact, I firmly believe that the '31st December' concept is highly over-hyped, created by smart marketing gurus just to have people spending more and more (I read of a couple's package worth Rs 25K and more just to go to a New Years Eve party and see some Bollywood stars performing and have a few drinks). It all has become quite obscene, if you ask me.

So in answer to the above question, this is the counter-question that I would put: 'What is so special about 31st December and 1st January ???'. And the possible answers that I might get:

1. "Its the start of a New Year, silly !!!!" : Oh yes, of course, how could I forget ???. A new year is dawning on us !!! Ring out the old, ring in the new !! Probably the sun will look different when it rises tommorow morning. Seriously, what in your daily life changes on the morning on 1st January ??? I will still take the same train to work, get the same salary credited to my account as on 1st December and get back in the evening to the same wife and family ;-). And what about the rest of the world ??? Poverty and global warming will continue to be as important issues as they were on 31st December, and the Aussies will continue to bully every opposition in cricket !!. Nature does not make a big deal about changing of years, so why should be ??? Just as it would be wrong for Anil Kumble to think that things would change just because it is 2008 and not 2007, we would be deluding ourselves to think that the morning of 1st January will bring new wonders to our lives.

2. "Its time for new beginnings and resolutions !!". Ah, the New Years resolutions !!! Haven't we heard those before ?? "I will lose 10kgs", "I want to get a new job with 25% hike", "I will leave office at 6 pm everyday". And we also know how devoted we are to these resolutions. Trust me, it is no different making resolutions on 1st January than it is on 24th March or 2nd July or 12th October !!! Waiting for the New Year to start afresh is simply comforting yourself and postponing something which you know is very difficult to achieve, You assume that things will change on New Year's day and, as I have mentioned before, they do not.

3. "Forget the New Year man, I just want to forget all worries and party !!!!". Then why spend double the money partying alongwith the whole world ?? And honestly, your worries are your own creations. Lead a good life and you will find time everyday to party !!!!

So, for everyone getting ready for their big bashes tonight, I would simply say that use this day not for wild celebrations but for deep introspection. Take stock of where you are today and where you want to be next year-end, and the years after that. And I bet you will find ways to reach there.
To sign off, for the record, Wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year !!!!

Cheers
Amit Gokhale

Post Card from Germany - Snow Ahoy !!!

2007-11-18T08:59:00.000+05:30

Wednesday evening (14^th Nov) would be marked by a small footnote if ever I get down to write my memories in about half a century from now. This is because that was the day when I actually saw and felt real snowfall. Upto then the only snowfall I had seen was only in movies and the Nat Geo/Discovery documentaries. It may sound quite suprising, but the fact that I have lived in Mumbai throughout my life, where the word ‘chill’ reminds people more of chillies rather than the feeling of low temperature, and have not traveled anywhere close to the North (forget abroad) puts things in perspectives. It also serves to explain why I am making such a fuss about it (enough for it to deserve a separate blog post).

So on Wednesday evening here in Nuremberg, after having lunch at an Indian restaurant here with our German hosts (the food was excellent when compared to the crossiants and French fries I had been having the past ten days), we stepped out, only to find to our utter astonishment that our car was covered in a layer of white. I looked at the skies to see, for the first time, flakes of snow raining down. It may sound extremely childlish, but the feeling I had was quite similar to that when you get the first monsoon rains in India. Just as the earth smells different then, the air had a different feeling to it. The locals too were surprised. Germany is having an unusually cold November this year and they say it is not quite common to see snowfall so early in the winter. Anyways, like a group of excited school kids, me and my three colleagues immediately got to work: out came the cameras, the posing started and we happily played the old game of (snow)ball throwing, all near the middle of the road. It was all as if a sudden rush of juvenile adrenaline had been injected into all of us. It also felt good in the snow. Armed with three layers of clothing, the snow outside was not causing any problems at least to the upper body. But after about 15 minutes of playful activity, the realization that our palms were still bare dawned on us rather rudely. The palm and fingers went absolutely cold, as if the entire circulatory system running through them had been switched off. We had no recourse but to rush to the nearest heated shelter and nurse our frosty fingers back to health. The merriment ended with a cup of hot chocolate brownie with (would you believe it !!) ice-cream.

So this trip to Nuremberg will be remembered, if not for anything else, for that hour on Wednesday evening !!!

Cheers

Amit

Post cards from Germany - 1

2007-11-10T13:58:00.000+05:30

Its been almost a week here in Nuremberg, Germany but life has already become a routine, just as if I have come down to settle here. And its far more one-dimensional here than back home in Mumbai. Each of the last 5 days have been almost a carbon copy of the other. Wake up at 6.30 am, have the same breakfast everyday (bread, cornflakes, juices etc), catch the same train to our training venue (no car pickups and drops J), eat the same kind of lunch as well (corn, vegetable rice and salads gulped down with 500ml of Coke), come back to the hotel by around 6.30 pm, spend the rest of the evening in some mall (since its too cold outdoors) and then have something to pass of as dinner at a nearby McDonalds or Burger King.
Hopefully the weekend should be more interesting !!

One thing which is really new to me is the cold here. I have lived in Mumbai for all but two years of my life and hence, anything less than 20 C was cold in my books (even when I was studying in Bangalore, the minimum I can remember was 12 C). Here in Nuremberg, the maximum is about 9 C !!!. Last evening, while traveling to the underground railway station from my training venue, I experienced my first hail. All of a sudden, small bits of ice started raining down from nowhere. Thankfully, they were not that big and I had to cover a short distance to the underground (have heard the hail can hurt you). Even with all the protection that I had come equipped with, it has been a novel experience.

However, all said and done, Nuremberg is a beautiful city. Not too large (only half a million people, I imagine about the same as Borivali and Andheri !!) but at the same time quite modern. It has a historical past (think Nuremberg and you think middle ages, Nazi times and the famous Nuremberg trials) and the history can be seen in almost every street of the city. One of the most lovely places is the Burg, or the Imperial Castle, which we had visited the day we landed. A castle dating to about 1200 AD, it has survived through a lot over the centuries (Nuremberg suffered a lot in the WW II) and still retains the charm of a castle. The towers there give a panoramic view of the city. Hope to cover a few more places over the next week.

Also, another new experience for me was to get a taste of English soccer madness, On Thursday, Everton clashed with the local club FC Nuremberg. Near our hotel was some English pub presumably showing the action. But that pub was way too small for the hundreds of English fans who had crossed over from England to see the match. The fans were all over the street in front of our hotel. Banners were waved proudly, beer was flowing at will and people were high even two hours before the match. The German police were, of course, on standby to ensure things did not ugly, which can happen fast as historical evidence suggests. But to walk down that street (and avoid bumping into a group of rowdy fans or tripping over a crate of beer lying on the road) that day was some experience. And yes, Everton won that game, so I can imagine even wilder partying that night. Thankfully, by next morning, the street (alongwith the thrash on it) was clear.

The saddest part of the trip is, of course, missing Diwali !! Anyways, here’s wishing all the readers of this blog, and their friends and families, a fantastic Diwali !!! May the lights of Diwali illuminate your road to happiness and prosperity !!!

Cheers
Amit

The Perils of credit...

2007-11-05T02:11:00.000+05:30

‘Recovery Agent claims another life’ said one of the headlines today. This was not an isolated case. I remember having read at least three such headlines over the past month. The thread is common: someone takes credit for varying reasons, cannot pay up the bank and is hassled by recovery agents (sometimes to the extreme). When this crosses the limit, the ‘poor’ soul has no way but to take his life. The recovery agents are then taken to task, the banks are warned against indulging in such practices and life goes on, until the next such incident.

Having read these different cases, I most definitely condemn, as the media has done too, the methodology of hiring recovery agents and the acts committed by these agents. But somewhere, what has gone unnoticed is the root cause of all this: why to take credit in the first place ? At least today’s case seemed genuine in the sense that the guy had probably taken credit to start his own shop and business. But I am sure that are also cases of people taking credit to buy the next big thing, the next gadget, the next status symbol; and then landing themselves into trouble. This is no doubt abetted by the ease with which credit is available in these days. Today, hardly anyone ‘applies’ for a loan. The banks do the needful. Given that, it comes as no surprise that a small proportion of the borrowers turn defaulters.

In fact, these recent cases are also connected with the recent book that I finished: “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyoaski. For those who have not read this so far, this is an extremely thought-provoking book in which the author tries to bring out the difference in the basic thought philosophy (when it comes to money) between the rich and the rest. He brings out a number of key points during the course of the book, one of them being that the rich use their money to buy real assets (not those assets as defined by accountants) whereas the middle class uses their money to buy ‘book’ assets (which actually are liabilities because they suck money in the form of maintenance instead of generating money for their owner). I believe this is truer in today’s world where I find a lot of the people I know rushing to buy the latest fad or gadget (especially at my age where one can afford to be more adventurous in investing their well-earned money). As Robert Kiyoaski rightly diagnoses, it is the dearth of ‘financial literacy’ that is responsible for this state of affairs. Most people, he says, are simply not aware of how to make their money work for them. This results in a never-ending rat race where people continue to work hard, get their increments and promotions only to invest them poorly and find themselves short of money after some time, followed by some more hard work.

I strongly recommend that every reader of this piece gets a copy of ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ as soon as possible and experiences the power of financial literacy, thus enabling him to harness the power of money and make it his slave rather than his master.

When Television Rocked !!!!

2007-10-24T17:38:00.000+05:30

A few days back, doing the usual channel-surfing on TV, I came across three serials playing at almost the same time on different channels. And the three serials were remarkably similar in their content and the characters. In fact, it was a typical case of ‘seen one, seen all’ variety. And not to mention that the drama levels in the serial were so high that one could not bear it after a while. Going through that ordeal, I was suddenly reminded of the golden age of television in India (atleast according to me). The latter half of the 1980s. An age when serials were limited to 13, 26 or maximum 52 episodes, as compared to today where production houses think in terms of years. An age where there was only one channel and hence no channel surfing. And for a change, the monopoly was actually not a bad thing to have. It ensured that the same kind of serials, talk shows, talent competitions were not replicated across channels. It was also the time when some of the finest serials graced the small screen. While most of them were top class, five of my favourites were.

‘Honee Anhonee’ : It may seem an odd choice to many. For those who remember, this serial dealt with the paranormal (ghosts, re-incarnation and other eerie stuff). Though it aired at 10pm on Thursdays (late night in that age), I still managed to catch a few episodes. And for a boy in primary school, some of the stuff was quite scary. More than once, I remember not having a good night’s sleep after watching that.

‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ : (Sundays 11 am) Being a history buff, this serial remains close to my heart. Shyam Benegal was brilliant in the way he adapted Nehru’s book to the small screen. Anchored by Roshan Seth playing Nehru himself, the serial traced India’s history right from the Mauryas to Independence. A galaxy of small-screen superstars played various historical characters in this mega-series. And yes, there was the wonderful title track (‘Shrishti se pehle kuch nahi tha’ – have the mp3 version, contact me if you want).

Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi: Arguably the most famous of the laugh-riots. Friday evenings at 9pm were a time to look forward to. An arraw of wonderful comic talent (Shafi Inamdar, Satish Shah, Rakesh Bedi etc) made this serial an absolute joy to watch.

Malgudi Days: Possibly the serial that appealed the most to people of my age then (and I suspect that adults were no lesser fans). What I remember most about the serial was the way Malgudi was created and depicted. A village was bought to life in full splendour and one actually imagined oneself living there. And Master Manjunath was absolutely adorable as the protagonist.

And last, but definitely not the least:

Mahabharata (Sundays, 10 am): For me, it is quite simply the greatest story ever told. Even after a few millennia, the epic remains as relevant today as it was then. And BR Chopra did an almost flawless job in bringing it alive on the tube (no wonder the streets were empty on Sunday mornings). And he was backed by brilliant performances all the way through. Stars like Pankaj Dheer (Karna), Mukesh Khanna (Bheeshma), Nitish Bharadwaj (Krishna), Roopa Ganguly (Draupadi) became super-stars of the small screen. A definite one for your collection (and I am going to buy the DVD collection soon).

In addition, there were plenty of other quality shows on TV during those times (Mr. Yogi, Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne, Khandaan etc etc etc). And not just Hindi, even the regional channels did amazingly well. Two Marathi serials that immediately come to mind are Dwidhaata (Vikram Gokhale was superb in the central role) and Swami (based on the Peshwai Sawai Madhavrao).

How I wish all these serials were re-run again by Doordarshan !! It would beat all the Zee’s and Sony’s of the world hands-down in TRP ratings.

Cheers
Amit

Lets be a sport....

2007-10-17T21:06:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, NDTV aired a story on how sportspersons who have represented India internationally in various sports (and who are employed by the Indian Railways) have been reduced to managing car parking outside New Delhi station. While it was absolutely shocking to hear that, it was another story in an ongoing controversy i.e. cricket v/s all other sports. While this rivalry, and the feeling of step-motherly treatment nurtured by other sportsmen has always been around, ever since that nearly vulgar display of celebrations post the T20 win, the battle between cricketers and the rest has come sharply into focus. It began with the state governments and associations awarding cash prizes as if there was no tomorrow. Then some of the hockey players threatened a hunger strike against the double standards shown by the administrators when it came to appreciating success in cricket as compared to others. In between, Viswanathan Anand added his own cheque-mate move, quipping about the reception he expected to get on landing home after the World Championship win. All in all, the events of the past month would not have bought to the genuine Indian sports-lover.

But if you really ask yourself, how many genuine Indian sports-lovers are there ? And who is to blame for the sad state of neglect that all Indian sports still find themselves in ? (including hockey, even after Chak de !?) We might point the fingers at the governments, corporate sponsors and the media for glorifiying cricket at the expense of other sports, but it is equally true that we ourselves are party to this preferential treatment. Some time back, an opinion poll on NDTV showed that 86% of people felt that the media was not fair in its coverage of cricket vis-à-vis other sports. But is it just the media, or is its audience also to blame ? How many of us watched the Asia Cup Hockey final that we won just a few days before the T20 win ? Or atleast read the newspapers the next day to know who scored the winning goals ? Indeed, how many of us know who is India’s current hockey captain is ? To expect the corporates to sponsor a hockey match that nobody watches is, in my opinion, a bit too much. And I am not preaching here. I take the blame for the neglect that other sports find themselves in. Today, about 40000 people in my city have packed themselves at the Wankhede to see a match which has little relevance to the series. Till the time we start to care about football and volleyball and badminton, things will never change.

My car's dream home !!!!

2007-10-02T21:28:00.000+05:30

The following article in Monday’s DNA serves to reinforce a belief that I have been holding for quite some time now. Namely, that in the years to come, traffic management is going to be single biggest issue facing mega-cities like Mumbai. Nariman Point can now proudly claim to have the most expensive office and parking space in the world. Spending a few lakhs a year on parking space is obscene enough. To add to that, every time you actually take the car away from its expensive resting abode, you have to contend with ever-increasing traffic as well. That is why I firmly believe that addressing this issue should be the topmost priority for the governments, municipalities and urban planners. We are, of course, at making plans and announcing them with much fanfare. Almost every alternate day, Mumbai wakes up to read of the next grand plan which claims will cure the city of its traffic asphyxiation. Be it several dozen new flyovers, or the recent announcement of 20 skywalks to avoid pedestrian congestion outside the suburban stations (which, if done well, is actually quite a decent idea); the plans always look very seductive. But when it comes to execution and management, it is completely a different story. The much-hyped Bandra-Worli sea-link still has to see the light of day. Earlier it was end 2007, then 2008 and now 2009 is finally supposed to be the year when this is supposed to be opened. We will continue to see more of it in the movies than in real-life. Such delays are common with most big projects. The work on the Metro Rail was supposed to have started already, now it will not be sooner than January next year. More than conceptualizing and announcing new plans, what is required is an iron hand supervising the execution of such grand projects, freeing them of government red-tape and legal hassles. The authorities owe this much to the people of Mumbai.

The quiet little getaway !!!

2007-09-28T21:16:00.000+05:30

A couple of weeks back, I finally got the chance to say goodbye to work and its associated drudgery and headed to a weekend away from everything. Actually, I had planned the weekend in June itself but heavy rains in Mumbai on the last weekend in June washed away my plans. Thankfully, I could reschedule my resort bookings and hence got the holiday during the monsoon season itself. The choice of place was not easy. I had already decided to avoid Lonavala and its crowd (see one of my previous posts) and therefore, was searching for options. Then I read on the web about a place where you could go if you wanted to do nothing. That was exactly the sort of place I was looking forward to. A place where you could simply unwind and relax, a place that neither had a dozen tourist spots that you spent your time visiting nor a market that resembled any street in Mumbai during the weekend. The choice was made and I headed towards Bhandardara.

Bhandardara is a quiet little hill-station tucked away in the district of Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, about 185 kms away from Mumbai. It is actually not a hill-station in the sense that we understand it, neither does it have an array of spectacular view points nor is it a mini-town with a flourishing tourist industry. It is actually a small village whose main attraction is an artifical lake formed by the Wilson dam built by the British in the early 20^th century. Having said that, the dam is quite a sight. Unfortunately, during our weekend there, the gates of the dam remain closed, thus depriving us of the apparently breath-taking sight of the water gushing through the open gates of the dam. There is a small garden very close to the dam from where you can actually feel the force of the water as it drops down the face of the dam. Apart from that one main attraction, there are a few trekking spots near Bhandardara, most famous amongst them being Mount Kalsubai (at 1646 m above sea-level, the highest peak in Maharashtra) and the Vishalgad fort (one of Shivaji’s favourite forts). But if you ask me, the real beauty of Bhandardara is actually that it does not have many distractions in the form of tourist spots. It is actually a place where one can just sit and forget about the world (the fact that cell phones do not work there makes this all the more easy ;-)). The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has built a decent, functional resort right next to the lake with each room facing the lake. There is also a good lake-side restaurant serving food that, given the lack of choices, is pretty delicious. There is also the opportunity to go on long walks besides the lake and the hills.

So if you are looking to run away from the world and have just the hills and the water for company (besides your loved one of course !!), then this is the place to go. A weekend in Bhandardara serves as an ideal dose to get people back in their best spirits and in the mood to face the world again.

Cheers

Amit

How to get there: Mumbai-Bhandardara is a 185km drive, first along the Mumbai-Nasik highway and then taking a right after Igatpuri. Or you can take the train and get down at Kasara/Igatpuri and catch a bus/jeep (45 kms from Igatpuri).

To stay: MTDC is the most conveniently located resort. In addition, there is also a private resort (Anandvan resort) that is some distance from the lake.

Anything under 'Freedom of Speech' !!!

2007-09-10T21:18:00.000+05:30

Came across this article in Rediff, Please retire, Mr Bachchan !!!. It is written by a gentleman (I assume) called Mr. K S Shekawat. Now, I regularly read movie reviews from Rediff (not that they are very great or unbiased) and I do not recollect having seen a review by this gentleman. So I cannot comment on his ability to judge good cinema or performances. But one look at the article and you can assume only one of two things: either the writer has a personal vendetta against Mr Bachchan or he was just plain drunk while writing this piece.

Now, I am no big fan of Amitabh Bachchan. I used to be at one point of time, but I agree that he has over-exposed himself, acting in all sorts of run-of-the-mill movies, that too, in special appearances here and there. And apart from Black, there have not been many recent performances to shout about. And not to mention his innumerable ads that keep popping up in every break on television. And I can hazard a guess that he has lost quite a few fans because of this. But to say that 'the cast in Nishabd had no clue how to act' and 'dance with those enunch-like steps' (I have not seen enunchs dance quite like that) is plain degrading. What is however, more appalling to see is that this article has not appeared on some personal blog (where it is perfectly entitled to be) but on a national website that is watched by millions every day. Either the Rediff editorial board (if it exists) was blissfully sleeping during this or it conveniently turned a blind eye to all this. If the latter is true, it serves to merely cement my belief that such websites have become nothing more than cronies of certain powerful celebrities. Either way, I would love to see Mr Shekawat answer all the questions posed by the irate Big B fans (see comments below the articles) and write a follow-up article. One cannot simply write anything under the garb of freedom of speech and get away with it.

A New Cricket Blog...

2007-09-02T09:08:00.000+05:30

Raghuveer Yadav says in that ad for Star Cricket, "Cricket hamari ragon main daudta hai, aur hume haq hai ek aise channel ki jo sirf is junoon ko dikhaye !!" (Cricket runs in our blood, and we are entitled to have a channel which shows only this obsession !!). Not that cricket is anywhere near my obsession, but the fact is that I, like most of the billion Indians, have an arm-chair critic view on every shot Sachin plays and every decision Dravid makes. Therefore, the thought of having a seperate blog for airing these views. Immodest as ever, I hope to express those views more coherently and logically and enhance my writing skills !!..

So, dear readers, go ahead and have a look:

http://mycricketview.blogspot.com/

Cheers
Amit

Aaaagg... bujh gayi ????

2007-09-01T12:44:00.000+05:30

So the ignition has been done. Ram Gopal Verma has finally unleashed his fire on the audience. Originally thought of as his tribute to Ramesh Sippy's Sholay, it might have finally ended up as just another vendetta flick with an uncanny resemblence to the original masterpiece. And if the reviews are anything to go by, this aag would burn as fiercely as a candle in a storm. Four unbiased and independent reviewers have given the movie a star each. ( read Indiafm, Rediff). Even given the fact that all of the reviewers supposedly were unabashed fans of the original Sholay (who isnt ?) and therefore, were not as biased as they should have been, these are still quite damning reviews. In fact, the reviews make it seem it is RGV's worst work till date. Quite dissapointing for admirers of good cinema. RGV seems to be steadily slipping from a glorious past to a mediocre future. His early works (Shiva, Raat and Rangeela) were cases of good cinema. Infact, I still watch the initial reels from Shiva each time I catch the movie in its numerous re-runs. From those high days, it has been downhill mostly (even his last hit, Sarkar had mostly the AB Sr-Jr combination as its novelty).

But coming back to Aaaaaggg..... It still begs the question: Why go on this path in the first place ? As I see it, remaking any movie, much less 'the' definitive landmark movie in Indian Cinema (even though there are surely better movies than Sholay), is only fraught with danger. It is simply a lose-lose situation. Make a good movie which sells, and the credit goes to the supreme quality of the original. Make a bad movie, and you are crucified not just for making a bad movie but for trying to tarnish the legacy. So either ways, RGV, despite his sincere desire to pay homage to Sholay and his best efforts, would have ended up gaining nothing. Sadly for him, the latter seems to have happened. And just a few days back, Pritish Nandy jumps in the bandwagon and has purchases the rights from the Sippys to make yet another remake !!!!.. 5 years from now, the original Gabbar Singh might be asking from up there...'' Arre O Samba, Kitne Sholay the ???"

Cheers
Amit

A dramatic turn of events !!!

2007-08-12T12:22:00.000+05:30

Things have taken quite a dramatic turn since my previous post, as far as the Indo-English series is concerned. From being freed from jail by the English weather at Lords, the Indians have stormed back in style and are now looking at back-back wins at Trent Bridge and The Oval. And most hearteningly, the comeback is not due to a couple of individuals, but due to a whole-hearted team effort, with every member chipping in. Proof of this is the fact that there has been only one century from an Indian blade this whole series. And what a romantic century it was !!!!. After 17 long years as an international cricketer, Anil Kumble finally added a very significant feather in his illustrious cap (does he have space to put in any more feathers there :-)). I daresay that this century might have given him more satisfaction than most of his bowling feats. For one who was quite a capable batsman till about 5-6 years back, and then suddenly lost that touch, it has been quite an achievement. And not to forget Zaheer Khan !! After Sourav's exploits last year, another fine example of a player being left out in the cold more because of attitude than inability, and then bouncing back again in style (maybe Sehwag, Bhajji and Pathan can take a leaf out of his book). Whats most striking about Zaheer's bowling in the last two games is his accuracy and perseverance, two adjectives not formerly associated with him. Thanks to these two, and ofcourse, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Jaffer, Karthik and everyone else, India stare at a prospect of a 2-0 win against an English side, which by no means can be labelled weak. The series is ample proof of the team shedding the 'poor travellers' tag. Hopefully, things will only improve from here.

Cheers
Amit

Another series.... same story !!!

2007-07-25T19:37:00.000+05:30

So finally the rain gods came to the rescue of the Men in Blue at Lords, and we managed to leave London with the series level. For Indian fans though, the fragility of the Indian batting lineup is nothing new. The first test of any series outside the subcontinent has always been our Achilles Hill. Examples are plenty: Edgbaston 1996, Lords 2002, Bloemofontien 2001, Port of Spain 2002. (have not counted Brisbane 1999 and the series against New Zealand in 2002 since we lost everything there). The only abberations have been Johannesburg 2006 and Brisbane 2003 (thanks to Dada's ton and partly the weather there as well). We invariably surrender the intiative in the first test itself, from where it is very difficult, if not impossible, to bounce back (especially in today's 2-test and 3-test series). In light of this, it is truly staggering to have the BCCI reject Dravid's request for extra practice matches before the 1st test of the Australian tour later this year. One can only imagine the plight of India's famed willow-welders having been told to bat first on a quick MCG pitch in front of the Boxing Day crowd. While the BCCI's inclination towards commerce are long known (one famous Marathi scribe always referred to the former BCCI/ICC president as 'Dollarmiya'), denying your team the chance of getting good match practice tantamounts to absolute insensitivity towards the players as well as the fans who invest their time and money in watching good and competitive cricket. Hopefully, Santa will give the Indian batsmen the gift of quick adjustment come this Christmas !!!

Its also quite ironic that the 3 fifties from the Indians in the Lords test came from the supposed weak-links. The 'famed quartet' had a highest score of 40 in the 8 combined innings that they had. So much for the myth of the best line-up in the world !!!

***

One great joy of watching the India-England series on Star Cricket (apart from the great picture quality) is to listen to Ian Chappell. Easily one of the best commentators in the business, it is a pleasure to listen to him air his views candidly and unbiasedly (well mostly). In a good article here, he describes how the increasing referrals of decisions to the third umpire are a) robbing the credibility of the two gents on the field and b) again being in batsman's favour (since the bowler cannot request for an lbw appeal turned down by an umpire to be referred). Quite good stuff.

Monsoon Trip !!

2007-07-21T13:06:00.001+05:30

Finally managed to get a break last weekend. Took Friday off from work and went with Anjali on a 3-day extended weekend trip to Lonavala. The start was more dramatic than the trip itself. Was a bit lazy in leaving home on Friday morning and then got stuck in Mumbai traffic (always an emotional topic for me - refer previous post) while going to Dadar station. When finally the cab stopped outside Dadar station, the train had arrived on the platform and the announcement asking passengers to board and take their seats was already blaring. As we started descending the railway bridge taking us to the required platform, the train started moving. And just as u miss the local train, I missed an outstation train for the first time in my life (thankfully, decided not to do anything filmy by trying to catch a moving train as it happens in the Bollywood movie climax - in any case, the lady to run after was besides me and not in the train :)))

Thankfully, we were going to Lonavala and had the option of buses readily avaliable. So that was not a problem and we reached Lonavala by bus at almost the same time as the train would have taken us. Lonavala on Friday morning was comparitively quiet. But come Saturday morning, and it changes completely. Suddenly, thousands of people descend over the town like a swarm of locusts, especially in the monsoon. Restaurents are full and the roads are jammed just like in Mumbai (we took an hour to cover a 4km stretch between the Valvan Dam to Lonavala station). While Lonavala is certainly beautiful (check out the pics), the abuse it bears every weekend certainly does not do it any good. It must be acknowledged though, that its economy is very much dependent on Mumbaikars and Puneites and the money they bring in. That said, it is still quite distressing to see garbage (prime amongst them were the left-over corn cobs) thrown nonchalantly on the road. Which is why I believe that the Taj being amongst the seven wonders will do us no good until we have an attitude that respects nature and our heritage.

So the next time you plan to go to Lonavala, do Lonavala and yourself a favour. Avoid the weekends !!

Cheers
Amit