Snapshot Moments: The Lollypop Days

There are some incidents that will never leave your memory. You will always be reminded of the lesson that you learnt from such incidents. I call them “snapshot moments”

This incident happened a long time ago. When I was in primary class. When trivial things were more exciting… like beaches, lollypop, bicycle… There is this employees social and cultural organisation in our township in Kalpakkam. It organises a lot of events, festivals etc through out the year. This particular one was organised for Pongal (Tamilnadu’s harvest festival) that is in January. One of the program was a mimicry show by a local talent. The guy was awesome!!! No wonder right? If a lollypop can excite me no wonder this guy with multivocal talent impressed me. He did voices of actors, animals and as the last item he mimiced crackers (Diwali crackers). Well, that was not upto the mark… even for my lollypop standards, I was a little disappointed.

After his show the guy came down the stage and straight to where we were sitting (me, my parents and their friends). Apparently he was a friend of my father. I was already planning to boast how I got to talk with this mimicry guy to my friends (after all I am an Indian as well). He was beaming with joy and was acknowledging all the wishes and praises that were showered on him. With all his earnestness (I stil vividly remember his face) he asked me, “How did you like the show?” I was such a jerk that I said,”The cracker part was bad… ” (He was crestfallen) and I continued.. “but others were very good.” He smiled and said thanks. My dad did not express anything to me then. We returned home in his cycle (yeah it was that time when we had bicycle for transportation)

Once we reached home.. my dad told me something that stuck with me forever:”whenever someone is asking you for a comment… or feedback.. never say the negatives first. Always begin with the positive. When you said others were very nice you were honest and honest you were, when you said about the crackers. But, the order made all the difference. Even if there are not any positive, try to generate some interpretation that will sound positive. Then give your criticism.” I could not understand my dad then. It was way too complex. I just nodded, understanding that I have done something wrong. But this lesson was stuck to me forever.

Now, today… actually yesterday, we had a class in communication for managers. Our professor explained that there are three states of pscychology in which we operate under: Child, Adult, Parent. And that when we are to give feedback we need to follow the Parent+Adult approach. Well my dad did not know all these then. But he precisely had explained me this.. around 18 years ago.

Always be on the lookout for such snapshot moments. They are the ones that will shape you in your life… those are the moments that will dictate your values, your beliefs and your personality.

Leia Mais…

Eve Teasing

We are going for team lunch today and I am writing this as my team mate is pulling my shirt to make me move. Its a theme based restaurant called "serengeti." Its named after the wildlife park in Tanzania (as revealed by google guru ;) ). I always get an itch to know about whatever I come across that I dont know (most of them). So I browsed and found the official website of serengeti (www. serengeti.org).

I came across this beautiful writeup about a day in the life of lionesses at Serengeti. I thought this is a classic parallel case of molesting and eve teasing in our "civilised" world. Women: something to ponder over for you
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Lying beneath a small bush on the Serengeti Plains, five lionesses and their cubs are snoozing the day away. From time to time, an eye is opened and scans for trouble. When it comes, the five lions are awake in an instant. On the horizon, walking closer is a big male lion.
Male lions are much larger than lion females and will fight to control lion prides (groups). When a new male lion takes over a pride, he will kill all of the young cubs so that the females will rapidly become fertile and be able to breed with him. A male lion may control a pride and live off of its hunting successes, but it works hard to defend the pride from other lions that might try to establish themselves as dominant male and kill the cubs.

For these five lionesses, there is trouble. Their resident male is away and there is a new male on the horizon. The male moves closer, stops, sits, and then moves closer again. The females wake the cubs and move off at a trot under the hot midday sun. The new male follows them at a distance.

After a long walk, the females are hot and exhausted, but have found a new shade tree. The male moves closer, sits and moves closer. The females are nervous, and watch his approach through wide, yellow eyes. The tension in the air can be cut with a claw.

The male is edging closer and closer and then it happens. The male has stepped over some invisible boundary and the females are sparked into action. Four of the lionesses trot out towards the approaching male, ears flattened, eyes squinted, and mouths open showing their long, yellow fangs. The male stops, then flinches. The females break into a sprint, bodies close to the ground, and connect with the surprised looking male. A cloud of dust obscures the fight, though snarling faces and bared claws can be momentarily made out.

When the dust settles, the females are standing and panting in a ring. At the center is the terrified male, bleeding and lying on his back in the ultimate sign of lion submission. A moment, then they attack again, and another cloud of dust rises around the writhing figures. Again, as suddenly as it started, the fight is over. The four females are sitting, shoulders together. The male runs away as best he can, holding a sliced paw to his chest, and bleeding from innumerable vicious bites, rips, and slashes.

The females return to their tree as if nothing has happened and tend to their cubs. The sun beats down, the flies drone on, and another day passes on the Serengeti Plains.

Leia Mais…

Jai Ho

There was a post on this very blog with a title "Jaya hey". This post has got nothing to do with that post. This is about..., YES!!! You guessed it right (at least after seeing the pic, I hope), Slumdog Millionaire! First let me tell you about my views on the movie. Contrary to popular appreciations, I did not like the movie so much and hence I will not give a perfect score for it. I liked the movie for the way it was handled however the story line was as old as (Indian) cinema itself. The same old rags-to-riches story and the protagonist takes it all in the climax. What made the movie special was its screen play, cinematography and music. Now, the movie earned a 3 out of 5 for story and direction. 5/5 for screenplay, cinematography and music. 5/5 for casting (especially the children). So on the whole it scores an impressive 4/5.

Now what is this excitement about slumdog winning oscars, golden globe and ambi mama award. For the uninitiated, ambi mama is the 'know all-curd rice eating' uncle in agraharam. So is this coming of age of Indian cinema? Is this an award for Mumbai? Should we celebrate? Here are my views on the movie and the drama that followed:

--> Its an Oscar for Indian cinema:
Duh! Now, come on! Even Ambi mama.. I mean, ask ambi mama.. he knows its not an oscar for Indian cinema. Its a british director and a US producer. For all you know, the film would not have reached the nomination stages had it been an Indian production. Even our own audicence might have neglected it... Rajiv Masand might have given 2/5 or may be a 3/5 for the movie. This is an american production and hence an american Oscar. Yes, there were Indian technicians who won the oscar like Resul and Rahman. Those are of course, something to be proud about. A hindi song being performed on Oscar stage and Rahman speaking in Tamil are something to be proud of. In fact I had goose pimples when I heard (saw) his speech on TV.

--> Its coming of age for Indian cinema:
Read and re-read paragraph above until you are convinced! If you still have a doubt ask Ambi mama... Just to clear any residual doubt.. read on.. NO! Our technicians are top-notch but Indian cinema is not yet ready. It will not be ready until Anbe Sivam is a hit and Sivaji is a flop! (ha ha ha!!!). Remember Salaam Bombay?? It was a movie about Indian slums (many consider it to be better than slumdog)... but in Hindi and did not get this reception, even in India.

--> ARR had better renditions than Jai ho:
So?! They were not for an international audience. This is! Though the Mozart from Madras has record sales on par with Madonna he was not recognised internationally till this movie. Even I feel this is not his best. If this has fetched him an oscar, then wait till the westerners hear to Roja, Bombay, Taal etc... So this is just a ticket to showcase.

--> Slumdog portrays the ugly side of India:
Yes it does! But it has portrayed what is real India. It has portrayed what majority of India is... at least majority of Mumbai is (65% still live in slums). So those who cry foul can come for free tuition on "India: The Real Picture" classes will be handled by Ambi mama on first come first served basis. I dont see anything wrong about the portrayal. However there is one other tuition exclusively for Danny... "America: The Real side" (for the scene where the amrican tourist says "We'll show what real america is" and gives Jamal a 100 dollar note).

--> Are we neurotic?:
To an extent YES! This is not only in popularly media championed news. This is true in our everyday life. When someone makes it big in life you can see at least one person who will try to relate to the biggie through the most complex of relationship chain (uncle's wife's brother's inlaws'... yawn!!!!) So extend that to the more popular "INDIAN" scene. Everybody wants to believe that India succeded when Boby Jindal won the elections (for heavens sake he is working for american people and is an american citizen). The heights of this is when Congress claimed that the success of Slumdog Millionaire is due to UPA's governance (ha ha ha... this is better than Calvin's lines... my god!!!)

--> Bottom line:
Its just a movie which is better than others that were released in the same year. Some of our national talents were given an opportunity to become international and they proved that they are upto it. On a business note, this might open up another wave of outsourcing. Outsourcing in entertainment industry. With such talent coming cheaper than hollywood counterparts, I believe there will be more opportunity for people with talent in movie/entertainment industry. So be happy about this and lets use this!

Thats it! Period. Nothing more and nothing less. In a period when unemployment is increasing, recession is looming large... there are better things to concentrate on.. so lets move on.. (geee!!! Thats an irony... I wasted (used) half an hour on this piece!).

Leia Mais…

Muggle Groups

While I was talking to one of my colleagues, she degraded Harry Potter as a "Kids book". Oh! What a shame! So, I thought of taking the underlying factor of the book to show how "adult" (no pun) it is. The underlying fact is that it states love is universal, love and hope will win over evil in life. So keep the love flowing and hope growing. So what is it for the muggles out here?

For you (muggles) to keep up the hope you need to know how to keep it up. I shall tell you who to keep in touch with and who to avoid. The entire muggle race can be split into two groups without the help of conventional divisions like sex, caste, creed, color etc. Most of them belong to one of the groups and some of them have a leg in each of them moving the other leg depending on the situation. So, Ladies and Gentlemen its time to introduce the two new groups... The Saps and The Supps. I know the names are funny! I always like to have the bad news first, so let me introduce the negative group first.

The Saps
Saps are the people who exhaust the energy in you. Whatever the situation may be they can easily find the negative part of it and take the air out of you. You come across these people in everyday life, in every office, in every neighbourhood. The easiest to spot are those who go for morning walks in groups just to get de-motivated (funny isn't it?). As far as they are concerned nothing is good in this world, everythig is wretched and people are bad, government is bad, their neighbours are bad, sky is bad, earth is bad and so on. When India loses selectors are bad and when they win it was fixed by bookies.

These people are like the Dementors in our world. For the muggles, dementors are deadly creatures that can suck out hope from you and they gaurd the prison of azkaban (Thihar jail in muggle world is azkaban in magical world). What are you without hope? a living vegetable! So beware of these people they can suck the hope out of you and make you feel miserable. Some of the managers urhm... hrmmm.. belong to this category (report from kekran and mekran consulting co.) So it is advised not to take your manager seriously ;)

Now you might be asking how to avoid such people. In magical world there is a spell - expecto patronum. According to famous translators there are more than one meaning to this spell in muggle world. tow of the most important, closest and useful ones are: "Make fun of them" and "run like hell" :D


The Supps
Supps is the shortened (and hence sweetened ;)) version of "Suppliers". These guys can pull you out of any situation and provide you with energy, hope, confidence etc... Mostly these are the people who have succeeded in the leadership arena. They can keep the energy of the group/team high with their high spirits (non alcoholic thingy). They have a positive outlook to everything, like this Wharton prof who claims recession is good! or the sociologist who sees even the drug mafia as a useful social element (claim is they provide employment to anti-drug forces).

These people prop up the image of Hagrid or may be Dumbledore. For the muggles, Hagrid is the gamekeeper of Hogwarts and (late) Dumbledore was one of the celebrated head masters of the school (Hogwarts is like DPS or Don Bosco school in India). Kekran and Mekran company has surveyed and found that Supps are scattered everywhere with no particular majority in any type or sector. However they offered an extra tip saying that most people who tend to be supps in younger age (read: in college) degrade and move into saps category in due course of time.

Now you might be asking how to stop supps degrading into saps? While there are no such example or aid from magical world, supps can hang together when they feel like their energy is going down. More like, thinking about the good things while doing the patronum charm. It helps... It really helps.

Leia Mais…