After the hundreds of meetings that I have been attending in the last few months or so, I get the impression that I am working at NASA. The kind of discussions at work really makes me think that if I err even by the thinnest of margins, the satellite that is scheduled to take off on the next production install night is going to miss the moon's orbit by 1/3 degrees and will not relay the video signals from the suspected terror camps to the optimum accuracy and the military will not be able to chalk out their "Operation Eliminate Cobra" perfectly.
WTF!!! Seriously...
We work on a product which computes pensions. Everyone gets it mostly once in their life. Probably twice. It might be a few decades before today's IT generation, who believes in hopping jobs every 2 years, reaches retirement age. And by then, pensions will be history.
So, what does one do? Do I play tow and pretend that we have the most important work in the world after UN security council? Or do I what I believe in and put my foot down and say it out loud in the team meetings that all these discussions are useless. Just go back to your desk, bury your head inside your laptop and wait until 5 pm and walk home just like any clerk in the 1950s used to do.
Then, some wise man said -- Think all you want with your heart... Decide with your brain...
And there I am, arguing with fellow managers how paying 1 penny more to every employee is going to cost the organization, of 10000 employees, $1200 annually when this meeting itself is costing them $3800...
Until the next time I get frustrated, life is so good...
COME ON...
One of the most sensitive topics faced by the country for at least 20 years... The whole country is worried about which way the verdict goes... If it goes one way, 15 million people are going to be hurt and if it goes the other way, then 80 million people are going to be upset... And just so you know, status quo is going to hurt everyone...
Clearly, the Supreme Court has postponed its verdict due to security reasons. The government is preparing itself to counter a backlash.
And what does this newspaper do?
Just one Q -- why?
When I grew up, Times of India had captured Mumbai like anything. There were so many competing newspapers -- Indian Express, Asian Age, Hindustan Times -- but none of them could even remotely match the popularity of Times of India. Bombay Times was the connoisseur of who's who of town.
In fact, if you carry any other newspaper in the train, you were looked down upon. The only exception was Economic Times -- carrying it meant that you are least interested in what is happening in the city and you are concerned only about money.
When I moved to Bangalore, I missed the Mumbai TOI because Bangalore edition of TOI was really cheap. It was a masala newspaper to the core but whenever I was back in Mumbai, I could still feel that Mumbai TOI had retained its class.
But now, TOI is no longer "the" newspaper. It is caught in the whirlpool of TRP / ratings / market reach etc that they have just lost the class that set it apart from rest of the pack. It is not that the rest of the pack has caught up with TOI, rather it is the other way round, TOI has stooped down to be just one of the pack.
Everyday, I used to get irritated to see sleazy headlines meant to just a few more hits on the homepage. But today was the epitome. I give up on TOI at this moment.
Hopefully, TOI will get its act together and retain its prior glory. And I will start visiting the TOI website 20 times a day, like I did a few months back... I really hope... Against hope...
Whats going on...
AR is coming to town... On 29th September, AR is going to perform at the RBC Center... Initially, the show was supposed to be in the first week of August... Then due to this, the show was rescheduled for first week of October... Then, he was invited to perform at the CWG opening ceremony and hence the show was finally rescheduled for 29th September... We were actually happy that the show was not cancelled and that we will still get to see the AR show, albeit on a weekday...
Then I eventually got thinking about the song that AR would make for such a grand show... He has never disappointed me, since the days when I was recovering from a bout of chicken pox in 1994 March listening to Roja... Eventually, when it was released, it turned out to be like this --
And even before I could analyze it and make an opinion as to whether I like it or not, I read this interview of Sukhvinder Singh... It surprised me, to say the least... I was thinking how anyone could say something like this about one of the most humble and level-headed artists ever from India...
Then I hit a bunch of other articles criticizing anything and everything from TOI, a comprehensive list of which can be found here... All the articles were very critical of the games -- preparations, Organizing Committee, Athletes, Politicians, Brand Ambassadors, Corruption, Mismanagement, Allegations... Everything...
I was stunned... How did a newsgroup which has reinvented itself to be a glossy candy shop magazine suddenly become a responsible journalists' abode? What really happened that TOI has become such a good newsprint candidate...
And thats when, courtesy Prem, I landed at this post... Read it atleast 10 times...
How a power hungry newsgroup go rogue so that they can leverage their market reach for a share of the huge pie that is being looted every day for the past year or so... Its to disappointing and shocking...
Where is our country going to be in 10 years from now... The way we are degrading ourselves with every passing day...
Then I eventually got thinking about the song that AR would make for such a grand show... He has never disappointed me, since the days when I was recovering from a bout of chicken pox in 1994 March listening to Roja... Eventually, when it was released, it turned out to be like this --
And even before I could analyze it and make an opinion as to whether I like it or not, I read this interview of Sukhvinder Singh... It surprised me, to say the least... I was thinking how anyone could say something like this about one of the most humble and level-headed artists ever from India...
Then I hit a bunch of other articles criticizing anything and everything from TOI, a comprehensive list of which can be found here... All the articles were very critical of the games -- preparations, Organizing Committee, Athletes, Politicians, Brand Ambassadors, Corruption, Mismanagement, Allegations... Everything...
I was stunned... How did a newsgroup which has reinvented itself to be a glossy candy shop magazine suddenly become a responsible journalists' abode? What really happened that TOI has become such a good newsprint candidate...
And thats when, courtesy Prem, I landed at this post... Read it atleast 10 times...
How a power hungry newsgroup go rogue so that they can leverage their market reach for a share of the huge pie that is being looted every day for the past year or so... Its to disappointing and shocking...
Where is our country going to be in 10 years from now... The way we are degrading ourselves with every passing day...
BHAAV -- BHAVANA
This is the time to be in Mumbai when everything is about Ganpati festival... Idols, flowers, decorations, sweets... The streets carry the perfume of festive spirit...
If I was in Mumbai today, our evenings would have been only about planning for bringing the Ganpati home and our days would have been about executing those plans... I was thinking about this today when I read this article about preparations of Ganpati festival in Mumbai...
Believers are donating, sometimes even anonymously, gold and silver when the bullion prices are sky rocketing like crazy... Amidst the entire article, this line caught my attention -- Its not about the BHAAV but about the BHAVANA -- Its not about the rate, its about the faith...
There is no better way of saying my feeling...
If I was in Mumbai today, our evenings would have been only about planning for bringing the Ganpati home and our days would have been about executing those plans... I was thinking about this today when I read this article about preparations of Ganpati festival in Mumbai...
Believers are donating, sometimes even anonymously, gold and silver when the bullion prices are sky rocketing like crazy... Amidst the entire article, this line caught my attention -- Its not about the BHAAV but about the BHAVANA -- Its not about the rate, its about the faith...
There is no better way of saying my feeling...
GANGSTER
Finally, after numerous futile attempts of catching this movie, I successfully saw this movie completely... I had heard a lot of good reviews of this movie and the movie did not disappoint me...
I always believe that the success of the actor lies in the success of the character... If you hate the villain so much that after the movie -- if the villain was in front of you in flesh and blood, then you would not hesitate to separate the flesh from the blood -- then the villain was successful... If you like the lady in the movie so much that you would date / love / marry her without a second thought, she is successful... If you feel like lining up shoulder to shoulder with the protagonist in his mission, irrespective of whether his mission is to defend his country in a war or expose the corruption in a project or elope with his girl, then the actor is successful...
Thats why I hate the Tej Puri in Monsoon Wedding... Thats why I hate Shrikant Pandit in Astitva... Thats why I feel like getting Bipasha Basu out on bail in Corporate and why I was so sad to see Kareena die in Omkara... I was ready to jump in the battlefield with Hrithik in Lakshya and help out Kajol wiggle her wrist out of Amrish Puri's fist in DDLJ...
And this movie made me jump out of my seat and somehow, somehow, yell out to Kangana Ranaut about the trap that was being set up for her... Thats why I felt like giving a gun to Shiney Ahuja when he was being beaten up... and I felt like pulling Emraan Hashmi's eyeballs out at the end of the movie...
When I feel something like this, I know that I liked the movie... Not the actors, but the characters... In fact, S was actually able to see some emotion out of me... She was seen scurrying for a camera but before she could grab her cell, I had come back to my poker face...
In the meanwhile, my quest for such stirring movies continues... And if you have not seen Gangster yet, catch it soon... Its a good one...
I always believe that the success of the actor lies in the success of the character... If you hate the villain so much that after the movie -- if the villain was in front of you in flesh and blood, then you would not hesitate to separate the flesh from the blood -- then the villain was successful... If you like the lady in the movie so much that you would date / love / marry her without a second thought, she is successful... If you feel like lining up shoulder to shoulder with the protagonist in his mission, irrespective of whether his mission is to defend his country in a war or expose the corruption in a project or elope with his girl, then the actor is successful...
Thats why I hate the Tej Puri in Monsoon Wedding... Thats why I hate Shrikant Pandit in Astitva... Thats why I feel like getting Bipasha Basu out on bail in Corporate and why I was so sad to see Kareena die in Omkara... I was ready to jump in the battlefield with Hrithik in Lakshya and help out Kajol wiggle her wrist out of Amrish Puri's fist in DDLJ...
And this movie made me jump out of my seat and somehow, somehow, yell out to Kangana Ranaut about the trap that was being set up for her... Thats why I felt like giving a gun to Shiney Ahuja when he was being beaten up... and I felt like pulling Emraan Hashmi's eyeballs out at the end of the movie...
When I feel something like this, I know that I liked the movie... Not the actors, but the characters... In fact, S was actually able to see some emotion out of me... She was seen scurrying for a camera but before she could grab her cell, I had come back to my poker face...
In the meanwhile, my quest for such stirring movies continues... And if you have not seen Gangster yet, catch it soon... Its a good one...
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