MAINTAIN THE BUBBLE

SM to marry SM after breaking up with SM

This news was the talk of the town yesterday... no, actually the talk of a country or two... Sania Mirza after her recent breakup with her beau Sohaib Mirza is going to marry Shoaib Malik... 


The news hungry media feasted on the news... There were comments like "SM broke with SM because she wanted to marry SM"... Or, "Will she will play for India or Pakistan here after" and the second one came with a stinging reply -- "With the way she is playing nowadays, who cares?"... and the last one "Out of 600 million Indian men, she had to find a Pakistani to marry?", the last one coming from none other than yours truly...


But, really, who are we to talk about these 3 SMs... The main SM here is a tennis player, who has given a few (agreed, not a lot, but definitely a few) happy moments on the tennis courts. She has won accolades for her feisty nature and gutsy game. She stood her own against some higher ranked opponents and made us proud... In an otherwise barren desert also known as Indian Womens Tennis, she gave us an oasis... 


Can you name any other Indian woman tennis player? Forget about someone who has earned her name on the ATP circuit, can you name ANY Indian woman tennis player? The only other players I know are the Oberoi sisters and Sunita Rao -- all these girls are representing India in spite of growing up in the US only because they are not good enough to represent the US and there is a very evident paucity of resources here.


She has been clean so far -- no controversies at all, sports or otherwise -- in her entire career. She has had a lengthy battle with injuries but injuries are a part and parcel of professional sport today, especially in an high intensity sport like international tennis... And please note, these are injuries, not fitness issues. She is not someone like those young cricketers who lose his fitness due to lack of focus and unhealthy social agendas... 


Ask any athlete today if they would work doubly hard to get over injuries and they will say that they are ready to work three times harder to have a injury free career... Sadly, the mind is willing, but the body is not... 


She has had no affairs, no party life, no performance enhancing drugs, no drunken binges... She has done her bit to encourage hundreds of young girls to think of tennis as an option in life... She has been a role model for so many in this country, deprived of heroes... 


This is what both the SMs, that matter, have said today -- 


Sania told TOI: “This is the biggest day of my life. I have been in the media glare for too long, and would appreciate a little privacy at this very personal moment in my life.’’ 
Shoaib has pledged his support: “I fully understand what it takes to be an international sportsperson. I’ll support Sania in her career as long as she wishes to play. Representing India at the 2012 Olympics is very important to her, and I will be the proudest husband if she can win a medal for her country,’’ he told TOI. 


They have displayed dignity and sense... But have we? Instead, we have failed her... and have failed her rather miserably... 


We do not know how to treat a sportsperson... Michael Phelps who has had the BEST EVER OLYMPICS performance is no one today in the US... The football quarterbacks and ace baseball hitters get their space in off seasons or during their injury time offs... They get their space from the public glare to go about their business and work on their game and achieve better heights in their careers... 


But not in India... Anyone who is anyone, is hounded by this crazy media... And we cross the boundaries without thinking twice... 


Soon, we will have to train young sportspersons how to evade the evil eye of the media before we teach them how to return the service of a Rafael Nadal or how to evade a punch of a Cuban boxer... 


We need to let all the 3 SMs her live their life... Let us not encroach their personal space... Lets maintain the sacred bubble... 

TOUCHING

A very touching yet brave story of a cricketer. I read it here and it originally came from Harsha Bhogle. Just could not resist from posting it here.

WHOPPER!!!

1700 crores for a club cricket team? Sahara group has paid 1700 crores for a team which will be primarily based out of Pune. There are talks about having the team based closer to the Amby Valley, with an eye on Mumbai crowd.

Along with this amount of 1700 crores, they have to pay for the actual team and the support staff. The team needs to have super stars and few internationals. The support staff is not cheap any more. Add to it, the costs of their accommodation, food and transportation etc. They also need to rope in a few Bollywood celebrities to add a touch of glamour. Rumor mill says that the Bachchans will be called in to counter the aura of SRK, Preity and Shilpa Shetty. There are ground rentals, security costs and all other costs that my naive, non business minded brain cannot fathom?

How will Subroto Roy recover the funds he is pouring in? 

One of the biggest source of income for this business model is merchandizing. But I am not sure that club loyalties in India can score over fans of role models. Do you ever see anyone paying 1000 rupees for a Pune Patriots branded T shirt or a Kochi Killers Jacket?

They are talking of buying Sachin in the next auction. And Sachin will be cheered wherever he goes, be it Kochi or Kokata. No one will ever reach his stature, even after he retires. But Sachin turns 37 next month and he might not play after a couple of years. The business model should deliver consistent (if not ascending) revenue for 10 years, just to break even.

TV revenue is a big beast in India, but unless Lalit Modi renegotiates the broadcasting contracts and blows more hot air into an already over floated balloon, TV revenue can not guarantee recovery of 200 crores every year.

All in all, I am really looking forward to how this money is recovered. And where breaking even is a challenge, even if they achieve it, it is going to be a failure. You invest 2000 crores and after 10 years, if you end up with 2000 crores, then it is a BIG failure. Banks will yeild more interest.

I am really more glued to the business aspect of IPL than the cricket. I am more interested to the fries and the soda instead of the whopper burger.

Update -- And when I thought my business mind was finally working, S sent me this link which makes me look like a naive B.Com student at an IIM Alumni convention. Read it here. No wonder, everyone who is has a trunkload of money is jumping on the IPL bandwagon.

MAYA MEMSAAB

Today's our country has ample WTF moments.


Here is one more. On the 25th anniversary of her party's birthday, her party workers gave her a garland worth crores in cash. How did her party get the funds in the first place? No one knows and no one dares to ask.


After a lot of criticism in the junta about the super-garland, she had another one gifted to her, just to rub it in. Talk about adding insult to injury.


And when there were bees at the function, there was a FIR logged and cops are investigating possible conspiracy to ruin the function.

A few years back, Maya Memsaab had asked her party men to collect funds to celebrate her birthday. One engineer who declined to donate was murdered. The same cops, who have not investigated anything about the murdered engineer, are now on a bee hunt.

Surely, our country does not cease to amaze sane people a bit.

IT HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA

I was reading this article today and it got me thinking. What is going on in the background with these 2 entities?

Lets talk about Indian Airlines first -- No one opts for this airline travelling domestically, unless the airline is forced upon by the employer. Given a choice, no one will travel by Indian Airlines. Jet, Sahara, Indigo, Kingfisher, Go Air etc etc are more popular with travellers and easier on the wallet. The service sucks and the staff is so unfriendly.

Air India -- Even Indians do not choose this Airline to travel abroad, forget about non-Indians. Again, no one uses this airline, unless someone is getting free tickets or it is the only airline available for that itinerary. The staff gets crazy benefits, good salaries and the management gets free business class travel for life for the entire family. F-in entire family travels first class unlimited for life. What the heck?

The breakfast and lunches and dinners at the Air India kitchen are virtually free (breakfast = 25 paise, lunch and dinner are 75 paise -- YES, I am not kidding. I have eaten the amazing meals at that canteen). They get the money spent on those meals as pre-tax coupons. The cabin crew really carries bag full of loot (drinks, juice, chocolates etc) after every flight. Me and my friends really ate more Toblerone at one friend's place (whose dad is a flight pursuer) than I ever purchased in my life. His dad got more drinks home than I have seen at one time in any wine store. And this is going on for the last 20 years.

How are these two airlines ever going to break even? Forget about making a profit. And then this happened.

This entity has made a loss of 7200 crore rupees in the last 2 years -- 2200 crores in 2008 and 5000 crores in 2009. So, 130% increase in loss and what does the government do? They give them an additional 800 crores. When this bill was being approved by the government, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said that it will be atleast 5 years before this entity can turn around.

I mean, really, WTF? Where else can this be allowed. You lose 2200 crores in 1 year, 5000 crores in the next and say that you will continue to make losses for the next 5 years and then you get additional 800 crores.

The minister - Praful Patel - is in the cabinet only because he is the only other person in NCP who is worthy of national recognition, after Sharad Pawar. But seriously, there is no justification for the whole royal mess that has been going on for last few years. 

Can someone explain what is going on? Is anyone every going to answer these questions?

WELL SAID

Continuing this series...


Dreams are not something which you watch when you sleep, Dreams are something which does not let you sleep.


-- Rajkumar Hirani when he received the 2009 Filmfare Award for Best Director for 3 Idiots.


How true!!!

UNDERCOVER BOSS

I had a chance to watch this new series on CBS, just after Amazing Race. One of the best episodes I have seen, ever.


The whole idea of this show is to have a CEO or a President of a company visit the lowest level company location - a franchise or an outlet or an office - as a regular worker. The employees at that location do not know about this undercover operation and the big boss can see what is going on at the grass root level of his company.


This is such a good idea, especially for organizations with a fat management structure. The biggest reasons for good corporations to fail is because the uppermost management layer never knows the ground reality. The real information is filtered out by the middle management and they just get to hear what they want to hear. Bad decisions are made which ruin the reputation and eventually, the business.


The "Undercover Boss" operation is a very sure way of leaping over this middle management information filter. Sometimes, the ground reality is harsh and other times, the information that comes out of such operations is really heartening. Most important part though, is what action the management takes out of such unsolicited feedback.


The episode I saw featured the 7-Eleven chain. The CEO Joe DePinto changes his identity to "Danny" and visits 4 stores in NY and Texas. These stores are one of the most successful ones for 7-Eleven in the entire nation and CEO wanted to see the truth that made these stores stand out.


The journey was really fascinating. From each store, Danny befriended at least 1 employee who he saw was critical to the successful functioning of the store. He got down on the floor cleaning toilets, cleaning trash bins, brewing coffee and baking donuts at every location he visited. He tried to understood the ground realities and challenges faced by his employees on a daily basis. He was amazed by the passion and dedication of the key employees which drives these locations on a day to day basis. How cheerful and happy the lowest level of employees were in spite of low wages, personal issues, health issues and career challenges, made his very emotional.


Then came the best part, he returned back to his office and set an action plan based on all his findings. He set people in charge for those items and said that he is going to undertake more missions like these to ensure that the corrective measures are implemented actually.


For e.g. All the donuts / bagels / pastries etc which are 1 day old and can not be sold, should be given to charity. These were being thrown, every single day and every single shop. Hundreds of them. Joe ensured that this program is implemented strictly. Just imagine, hundreds of baked goodies will now be fed to orphans instead of throwing them down the drain.


But then, he ensured that the real good employees are rewarded. He called all the good employees to the head office and revealed his true identity. He not only rewarded them with what they really wanted -- 
1 - A student who thought that he had no career in 7-Eleven is now a head of 10 franchises.
2 - A baker who was an excellent artist has now a professional portfolio with 7-Eleven's ad agency and a possible alternative career in advertising.
3 - A truck driver who can not meet his wife every day has a franchise of his own. And he sent the couple for a week long vacation, just so that they can spend quality time together.
4 - A coffee maker who has kidney problems now has a kidney donor awareness program and $150000 for her kidney operation once a donor shows up.


It was a touching ending to a beautiful program. But more importantly, the employees of 7-Eleven will now look forward to the day when Danny shows up at their store undercover. They will treat every Danny as a Joe DePinto and those Danny's will show up every day, day after day, and ensure more business and more profit.


If every CEO or, for that matter, every highly placed officer does this in his organization, there is no reason why the company can not turn the tide.

SURPRISINGLY REFRESHING

I love to try out new things (cuisines, books, articles, movies etc) and in other aspects I am inertia personified. There are certain things that I do not want to change. I do not mind living in oblivion of existence of those changes.


Technology is one such piece -- I still use a cell phone which I bought in 2005. According to S, the museums are going to bid for it soon because it is an antique piece which even Cavemen will refuse to use. Until a few years ago, I thought that Blackberry is just a company that makes amazing trousers. (Try those trousers in Lifestyle in Bangalore, you wont regret). I am very possessive about Windows and am not ready to move on to iMac. And from the days of Netscape Navigator, I was a staunch follower of IE.


On the other hand, S is pretty open to change. She toggles between Firefox, IE and Chrome just like switching between popcorn and soda during an movie. She is already bored with her smart phone and wants to try out Android now. And she has plans to gift me a Macbook (that she has craved for last 1 year) for my birthday.


Things are changing now though. I am switching over to a real Blackberry now. I love the Chrome browser and have dropped IE as my primary browser for good.


In the midst of this mini-tech revolution in my life, my laptop started acting really weird. It was running on Vista and I hated it. It was just so annoying, to say the least, and I was waiting for an opportunity to switch back to the old school XP.


Fortunately for me, my laptop did not recognize the XP bootable CD in my collection and it got so angry with the other XP bootable that I borrowed from Me2 that the OS crashed for good.


So, another friend of mine graciously offered me a Vista Ultimate and Windows7 Ultimate CD from his CD library. For once, going back a few years was not an option. So, I decided to take the leap forward. What the heck? Vista sucks so bad, so Windows7 can not be any worse. Taking the nothing-to-lose approach, I installed Windows 7. 


And what a pleasant surprise it was!!!


The installation was done in about 30 minutes. Customization was very easy. And other than finding a valid antivirus program, I had everything working in about an hour -- with all installations done.


Everything looks good -- in fact, it looks great -- on the new OS. Some annoying features from XP and a lot of thorns from Vista have been dropped. The new features function better, faster and most importantly, there are no irritating popup messages.


For the layman -- I love the Chess game here, primarily because there are no hints and I have to rack my brain. The desktop changes its wallpapers on its own every few minutes and you can customize the pictures you want to see as your wallpaper. A lot of the options and features are customizable and very flexible.


From a techy angle, the only drawback I see is that it occupies too much space on the hard disk. But hey, HDD are so cheap nowadays, just grab an addon and you are good to go. So far, have not found any software incompatibility issues and drivers are easy to find. There are clear instructions if you want to upgrade from XP to Windows 7 without having to format the system.


As I play around more and more, I am sure there will be some flaws unearthed, but well begun is half done. Microsoft, for a change, has launched a very good product and made inert people like me embrace a big change. They are even giving the Home version to students for just $10 and about $25 to select organizations for a trial period of 6 months.


I have been working on XP for almost 6 years now and was very cozy on XP. But I do not feel out of place with Windows 7 and for that matter, I am liking it.


Now waiting for my workplace to switch over to Windows 7 as well ;-)


For my 4 readers, give it a shot. You will not regret it, even if you are old school like me.

REALLY WTF

Had a glimpse of Rahul Mahajan's show -- Swayam-vadhu -- and the only Q that popped in my brain was WTF?


Why would any girl think of marrying Rahul Mahajan? Who is he? What are his qualifications?


-- divorced within a year of getting married
-- Caught doing drugs and drinking champagne when he was on his way to immerse his father's ashes
 -- Has behaved foolishly and cheaply on national television on another reality show
 -- His only ticket to success (his father) is dead 5 years ago and his family has no political future
 -- And all these are his known vices. No one knows how many skeletons are in that closet.
 -- Most of the "candidates" are atleast 10-12 years younger than him. Some are even 15-16 years younger than him.


In spite of all this, I can not understand, why? Really, WTF!!!

Sachin Mania

Sachin finally scaled the once-unassailable peak of 200. He thoroughly deserved to scale the peak just way he planned his innings that day, just the way he managed his stamina that day and just how everyone else played around him that day. More impressively, he was back on the field in the second innings right from the first over.


But, I am really amazed how everyone went crazy writing anything and everything about him that day and for the entire week. Some called him "God", some called him "Sun" and so on... 


There are no doubts that he is one of the best cricketers who have played the game. Sheer statistics prove it and the fact that he has been playing the game for 21 years without any major controversy seal the deal. But does that make him a god? He is a model player, probably the best India has ever produced and still so humble and down to earth. A thorough family man and an ideal citizen.


The Q is -- does this make him a god? If you ask me, plain No.


His achievements in the field of cricket are great and probably, no one might ever surpass him. But so are the achievements of Vishwanathan Anand in Chess, Leander in Tennis and probably Dhanraj Pillai in hockey. They have done so much to make India proud in their respective fields. They might not be the best in the world, but they are the best in India (or atleast "were the best"). Are Abhinav Bindra or the other Olympic Gold Medallists any less important?


Why do we make him a god? Because, he himself says it -- This is a game which I love to play. The day I think I am not enjoying it, I am going to stop playing it. -- So, are we going to make him a Mango Man (Aam Aadmi) once he retires?


Atleast he is enjoying what he is doing. And, even if he loses a match, a series or the World Cup Final, he is going to come back to his palace of comforts. If he does not earn even 1 penny more, his next 2-3 generations can live a life of luxury.


For me, the soldier who is facing crazy weather, deadly terrorists and weird international politics in Jammu Kashmir is more praiseworthy. He is doing something which he does not enjoy, would love to do something else any day, and still does it with utmost sincerity. He does not know if he is going to survive that day or if some bullet has his name written on it. If he dies, his immediate family gets 2 Lakh rupees (after paying half of it as a bribe) and then has to struggle for existence for ever.


What abt Sandeep Unnikrishnan who died in 26/11 Mumbai attacks? What abt so many soldiers who died in Kargil?


But still, I would not term the soldier as god. For all their great deeds, I would not call them a god. Because, the term GOD is too sacred.






So Sachin. Great? Oh, Yes. God? No way. And let him stay that way. Please!!!

The Loan...

There is this school going boy N and his elder sis M goes to the same school. M is elder than N by a couple of years or so, and is 2 classes ahead of him.


N is in 8th standard and M is in her 10th standard. She has to go to her coaching classes which is pretty far away (for a 15 year old to travel all alone), so her parents give her more pocket money than usual for a rainy day. N is wondering, what does M do with all her money?


N is now in 9th standard and M is in junior college (PUC). As a college kid, M gets more pocket money compared to N. M is a darling and always keeps on lending money to her kid bro N without ever asking it back. She even gets surprise gifts (pens / T-shirts) for N once in a while, and still manages to save some money. N always spends off all his cash and keeps wondering, what does M do with all her money?


N now goes to junior college (PUC) and M is now attending her graduation school in the University. Her pocket money is still more than N and she continues to be the darling money lender. Sometimes she gives money even without N asking for it. N's wallet is thicker miraculously to sponsor his Friendship day, Rose day and Annual day. M saves more and N spends more. N still wonders, what does M do with all her money?


N is now pursuing Engineering and M is working. She stops taking pocket money from her parents and instead, asks them to give all of it to N. N travels more than 70 km every day by train and hence is remunerated appropriately by his parents. Still, its not enough for him. M gives a good chunk of her salary to N and never mentions it to her parents. M is now saving more than ever and N is spending even more. And still he wonders, what does M do with all her money?


N now has a job and M is back in school, pursuing law. She manages her expenses very carefully with her pocket money and her savings. N does not make a lot but is very prompt on spending everything he earns within the first weekend. Every time he sees M with enough savings, he wonders what does M do with all her money?


N gets a very good job and earns more than he needs. Still, he does not save anything. He gets an opportunity to go abroad. M has just passed out of her law school and has purchased a T-shirt for N out of her first salary. At the airport, M gives him this T-shirt with her best wishes.


N learns a very valuable lesson. He saves everything he earned out of his onsite stint. His saving habit does not change even after he is back in India.


Within 1 year, M gets married. Anything and everything that M wanted in her wedding -- the wedding sari, the reception sharara, the mehendi lady, the make up lady, the food menu, the wedding hall, the decoration for the reception, the gifts to the guests -- was fulfilled. N exhausted all his savings till date for the wedding.


A couple of days after the wedding, when M met N, she said -- "N, I always wondered what does N do with all the money I give him? But today, you repaid everything back at the right time".


N replied "I just paid the interest back, the loan will stay with me forever".

Something nice to see

There was a fire in Carlton Towers on Old Airport Rd in Bangalore. 9 people died and several injured. Blood is of utmost importance for a speedy recovery.


But in India, the hospitals require that the patient's relatives arrange for a replacement donor before any blood transfusion request is entertained (yes, thats true). If you can convince the authorities that you will get a replacement donor later, then they allow the blood transfusion to happen. Else, the clock keeps on ticking.


So, for the ppl injured in today's fire, there needed to be immediate blood donors available. Intelligently, there were lots of requests sent via twitter and responses were immediate. And within an hour, there were enough volunteer donors at all Bangalore Hospitals. Actually, more than enough, because soon enough, there were tweets sent to stop volunteers rushing to the blood banks.


Feels good to see technology used for a good cause for once. Instead of all MMS scandals, this is one instance of good usage of technology.


Reminds me of something similar by Shashi Tharoor. He met a kid who needed funds for education and instead of helping the kid himself, he just tweeted about it. In less than a day, there were more than enough funds for the kid to not only complete basic education, but even to do his post-graduation.


And the only tweets from Shashi Tharoor that received publicity were Cattle-class.

Contradiction theory

Ever wondered how some things contradict themselves? Here are a few examples which have kept me guessing every time I hear / see / read anything abt -- 


1 - Auto Insurance -- Every company who offers auto insurance always claims that they charge 200-300-400... even 1000 dollars less than its business rivals. Still, everyone thinks that they are overpaying on their auto insurance.


2 - Cosmetics -- Every cosmetics company in the world claims that their products make the user look younger and more beautiful. If women keep on using cosmetics every day, then by now, the only cosmetic products that would be needed would be baby skin products. Because every existing product makes a woman look even younger. So, after years of using these products, the skin should be like a baby's skin right?
        Still, they keep on making newer products. To make the user look even younger.


3 - A SC Johnson Family company -- This company makes so many home use products -- room fresheners, candles, cleaning wipes, dusters and sprays. And they really have no competition. So, in most of their ads, they end up belittling their older products and prove how their newer products are better.


4 - US Government -- Every Councillor, governor, senator, congressman and president promises to cut spending across the ranks while campaigning for the election. Yet the federal budget continues to grow, leaps and bounds. Every time Mr. President makes an announcement with some initiative to add new jobs, the unemployment goes up by atleast 10 points.


Some things are so self-contradictory.

STRENGTH OR NUISANCE VALUE?

The Tiger is turning senile. Desperate to prove his clout, he is trying to flex his muscle to the point that it might snap.


It is difficult to accept the fact that you are no longer strong. Right, "no longer strong". The superlative forms of this word "stronger" and "strongest" do not apply to ShivSena any longer. Long gone are the heydays of mid-1990s when it was at its crowning glory with power in the state and center. Today it is a political party struggling hard to justify their existence. And Bal Thackeray is not helping by farting like a someone with an overdose of beans.


There were strong indications of his idiosyncracies when he named his son as his successor instead of his well-groomed nephew. Hey, if you want to run your organization as your home, feel free. But remember, Shivsena is a public company and, sooner or later, your shareholders are going to drop you like a hot potato if you fail to deliver. Remember, yeh public hai aur yeh sab jaanti hai... 


Today, the only time Shivsena or MNS are heard of is when they create some sort of ruckus. Their tirade against North Indians or insistence of Marathi or ridiculous bans on movies or sports. Ask them to show even one constructive act in the last decade and the debate ends then and there.


It is very heart wrenching for someone who grew up as a hard core Shiv Sainik to write this blog. If someone would have foretold this to me 15 years ago, I would have never believed it. But today, a progressive India led by Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram and Montek Singh Ahluwalia feels more magnetic. Rahul Gandhi's educated speech is more charming than Udhhav Thackeray's artificially pumped argument.


Someone needs to explain the difference to Mr Thackeray (any of the 3 Thackerays) that there is a very subtle difference between strength and nuisance value. Strength is something that empowers weak people and brings them closer. Nuisance value is something that helps no one, makes the society weaker and alienates you from your followers.


Open your eyes and face the harsh reality before its too late.

SMELLS FISHY

(Heads up -- Pls do not click on any links until you read the entire posting. Click on the links after reading the posting once to reveal the hidden players.)


This is the story of a small village, one of the most prosperous, amongst all other villages in the vicinity. This village represented the stuff dreams are made of and everyone craved to eventually live in this village.


In this village, there were 3 doctors (Doc1, Doc2 and Doc3). These "original" doctors were born and brought up in this village, local "sons-of-the-soil". They lived together happily, taking care of the villagers whenever anyone needed help. They were loved by everyone and everyone was proud of them. They were considered icons of this prosperous village and served as an example to the rest of the villages.


Then slowly, as the "land of the dream" beckoned, more and more doctors came to this village to ply their trade. A few of them never made it big, a bunch of them cracked it big. The ones who cracked it big were "specialists", who mastered a particular branch of medicine.


Slowly, two specialists (One and Two) started encroaching the space owned by the originals. And why not, they gave better service for lesser fees. Whenever any patient visited the originals, they used to fall ill soon. But instead, if they visit these specialists, they never fell ill again or at least not for a long time.


Gradually, the reputation of these specialists overshadowed the love and pride for the originals. The specialists were icons of success and originals were the icons of failure. Villagers from far and wide used these examples in their day to day life to quote success and failure stories.


The originals were out of business and out of money. They eventually asked the villagers to get them some money so that their hospitals can survive for some time at least. They promised to work hard, charge less and give good service in return for the financial assistance. The villagers had no option but to lend a helping hand to their one-time pride icons.


But as soon as the money came in, the villagers started demanding a recovery plan. The doctors were threatened to shut shop unless a recovery plan was put in place and there were enough signs of the recovery plan working. The game was slipping away from the originals and something had to be done to restore parity.


And then, one of the super-successful specialists committed a mistake. It was something which was not as serious, but then the scavengers pounced on it. It was made to look way bigger than it actually was. The local news reporters played their part hype up the whole thing.


Suddenly it was found that the other super-successful specialists committed a mistake as well. The media feasted on these specialists with an aim to subdue these specialists and create enough space for the originals to grow again. Slowly, there will be equilibrium and all of them will graze in the green pastures of the village for next few years.


Until, the neo-specialists threaten the survial of the neo-originals and commit a mistake... 

WTF!!!

This one qualifies (and might win) the award for the laziest person in the whole world...


And if that one was not good enough, here is another one... 


Both these, courtesy S... Enjoy!!!

WELL SAID - 2

This one comes from Randy Pausch in his last lecture. The whole lecture qualifies under this series, but one sentence particularly captured the gist of the "last" lecture.

We can not change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

How apt in that scenario!!!

Logged in to www.timesofindia.com to check out the latest news and this is how the page looked.

1 - Something terrible happened 14 months ago and even today we have not done anything about it. There is 1 fellow caught, he denies everything he was caught doing and we are spending crores to protect him.


2 - A person with dubious history of financial dealings gets Padma Bhushan simply because he supposedly facilitated a very important deal between India and US, though he did nothing really.


3 - A political party surviving for existence is trying to squeeze one more drop out of an issue which has already been chewed to death. Apparently with an election due in 2 years.


4 - A celebrity craved for publicity does another act, just to stay in the limelight.


5 - Tips to get a gun.


6 - Finally, one achievement for India -- and immediately someone else has to comment on it.


7 - Another publicity hungry celeb gives a "byte"


8 - No comment on children and pornography. They just dont fit in the same world.


9 - One stupid player bites the ball and creates news. Its called "Bite-gate".


10 - A home minister can not guarantee safety of the countrymen promises security for Australian cricketers.


11 - Stray dogs reach black bucks before Salman-Saif can.


12 - One family likes its d-i-l and it makes news. Thats 2 times in the day for the same family. Target achieved for the day, lets think abt making news tomorrow.


What is there to look forward to read when you open the website? (Read it as -- what is there to read when you get the newspaper in the morning?)


Reminds me of a very good article I had read many many years back. How true can an article be, even 10-15 years after it is published!!! How I wish I could get a picture of that article?


Those were the days when Yasser Arafat was alive and Israel-Palestine were going at each other fiercely. Just one day ago, there were 2 suicide bombings in Jerusalem claiming the lives of at least 20 odd civilians. Try taking a guess that the day's newspaper headline.


The headline was about how an old couple had grown a beautiful garden in their backyard in spite of the terrible summer that year. It had elaborate pictures of all the rare flowers they had grown in spite of all the water problems. A smiling picture of the old couple sharing was at the top center of the page.


And no, that newspaper did not live in denial. The details of the blasts from the previous day, the names of the victims and other grim details were listed on page 2.


But that article at the forefront of the newspaper ensured that anyone who opens the newspaper starts to read it with a sweet smile. The smile will survive the scars of page 2 for sure. More importantly, the reader will enjoy reading the newspaper. Even after the newspaper is folded and kept aside, the happy news will keep on showing up and continue to soothe even the quickest of glances. And most importantly, the reader will look forward to reading the newspaper the next day... every day... 


How I wish I could get a picture of that article? Not only for my blog readers, but for the news reporters and newspaper editors of tomorrow.

This was then





And this is now





So much has changed in the meanwhile. Or not?

MORE FLICKS

S and I continued on our movie mania in the new year. This weekend we saw 2 new movies -- one which I wanted to see from some time and the other one was totally unexpected.


S and I were at a local grocery store when we accidentally bumped into a Red Box kiosk. We had been contemplating for a while to try it out. So, we start browsing on the movies available for pickup. After rejecting a bunch of unattractive ones and a few already seen, we zeroed in on this one.


This movie is a remake of a 1956 film noir movie. It was gripping from the start and never let the grip loosen. Every sequence kept us interested and the ending was very good. Considering that we had never heard of the movie and picked it out of the blue, it ended to be a very pleasant surprise.

Even though we knew the ending (at a high level), it was the "how" that kept us glued to the sofa. And that is the sign of a very good movie. If a movie has the capacity to hold you interested even when you know the ending, then the director has succeeded in his act.


After the movie, I read more about the movie online. It turned out that this movie has just a 4% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Something must be definitely wrong with the people who rated this movie. From my end though, totally recommended at least for one time viewing.


The second one was something which I wanted to see for some time. Have been hearing from many that this one is hilarious. And it did not disappoint even an ounce. Every minute of the movie ended up cracking us like crazy. Reminded me of my crazy adventures in Mumbai especially Saturday nights when we used to end up wasted at Carter Road near the Sea Face.


Today, coincidentally, I was talking to a friend and found this movie's DVD at her desk. The DVD mentioned in bold -- "KILLER FUNNY". Could not agree any more.