I must have attended around 15-20 training workshops in the last 4-5 years, I have been in this industry... Generally the most boring ones are the non - technical ones... eg.. Quality, Processes, Leadership management, Time Management... They are all drabby.. and all that I care for while attending such summons is the lunch from the hotel or maybe whether the presenter has good enough "vital" stats herself to keep me awake from post lunch.
I had the same thots when I had submitted an "ayes" to the coordinator, (and after many threats ) regarding a Competency Based Interviewing Workshop about a week back. Though we are a growing institution, and we have to have a head count of this and that and we have to scientify and objectify.. and transparentify .. and efficientify... and blah-blah-ify our interviewing process... the fact that I have 2 consecutive project deliveries lined up the next week... made me much irritated about the prospects of losing out on 1 full day..
So I reached the venue quite a bit late... and was thanking myself to have missed out on a couple of sessions. The co-ordinator was some big shot, IIT-IIMs combined... had a jewelled "past history" and as is usual with these ppl.. an orator and a word juggler more than a teacher of the topic at hand... Of course agar idhar udhar kii baatein nahi karega to ek puura din kaise khatam hoega..
We were a group of 12 people during the day long exercise; people from all verticals of our industry and good names from our company.. from both an IT background and domain scientists.. So I was rest assured.. I could play my sleep away to oblivion card.
The presentations and the general discussions went along fine.. By 'fine' I mean the way expected... even the nice chick had "done her act of the day" :) :)
Then came the most loathed part... the part where the trainees are to perform.. You would have to mutter something... get corrected in the process.. the trainer will have the "see I told you so" smug look on his face ...
He divided us into 3 groups of 4 each with Ages, height and color seeming the only arbitration... and declared.. "You 3 panels will now interview .. 3 different candidates.. from different backgrounds and for different posts.. and at different stages of the interview.. " Each 'interview' was to take an hour or so.. With an hour more of post analysis, and objective evaluation, and eventually panel evaluation and statistics plotting..
We read up our matter.. The resumes, the directions.. the evaluation tables, the rating indexes... the roles to play.. for the technical or the behaviorial round.. or te stress round. or any other.. and how to develop questions..
But then came the unexpected...
Suddenly, out came 3 of our own senior managers themselves !!. They were to be the candidates.. We had no clue that this is going to happen.. Till before we were discussing .. "Let the buggers come.. We will flay them... " ... And now we could hear all the panels including ourselves murmuring "Sh*t, we're screwed" ..
Anyways.. this was hardly the time for goosebumps or a change of gameplan... The managers made it easy themselves .. with lots of laughing around.. and joking that this is the time when we could settle all our scores... etc..
The first panel went inside the "glass room " .. We were watching from outside...
This was a second technical round case.. and our manager was just awesome.. He made up a perfect.. UP waala accent.. in some touches... a Bihari one.. and he screwed up his conversation totally... he gave the impression .. that he knew the whole thing technically... but stuttered at every step while explaining it to the guys... and on top of it.. it was hilarous to see such a dignified and senior manager acting like the UP waala bhaiiya.. and with the "yes.. sir.. i know everything sir.. ho jaayega sir whatever you say sir.. " image .. but being equally clever, in poise and true to his task at the same time.. Everything that the candidates would ask him was replied with "yes sir, ok sir." At one time it got a bit out of hand.. the very first question.. instead of anil Patel.. the interview misread his name as Anil Patil.. and our manager gave an impromptu " no sir.. me Patel sir.. . but whatever u say sir".. We all burst out laughing from outside.. . At the end of it.. technically anyone couldnt ruffle a feather on him.. He was good... But he almost irritatedmost of the panel so much into not taking him for his communication skills.. a fact which was not required for his job profile at all...
Our group was next..
We had demarcated our job roles.. and also positions... One of us would be the Applications and Solutions Head, one for the Products and Systems, one the Services person, and finally the Quality and Process guy... 3 HRs had joined our training and one was therefore added to our group too... Since I was the youngest (in fact the next older guy in the whole group must have been 3-4 years my senior) ..., and because I had no interviewing experience in this company, I was made the Quality and Processes guy, as that was something I WOULD definitely have learnt all through my 3-4 years in the industry and cos they were quite independant of technical jargon I might have to ask. in case we were told to interview for a technical round..
We faced one of our very good scientists.. She was being quizzed for a position in shop floor manager for a transformer factory after doing something similar in the automobile industry... THis was going to be her semi final round .. . And Man was she haughty... She kept complaining about some smell... and the fact that she had already given 5 rounds.. and when was it to end.. She kept harping.. "But I have told this to you before" and again.. she was again a stunner in technical aspects... more a tall speaker... But in this case.. we at the end of the round could not really get an inch from her.. cos she would talk tall about everything else.. in absolute extravagance and pomp about the way she handled herself and her roles in her current company... and we ppl were were not at all experienced to handle any such candidate.. She conducted the whole of the interview, controlled the flow.. and we ended up talking more about her role about our company and about the onsite options.. than what we could gain from her...
The 3rd one was equally horrible from the panel point of view... For the post of a SQA, TQM guy.. the candidate ( Himself our Processes and CMM-i manager (LOL !!! ) ) was very rigid.. spoke only in terse words.. asked clarification.. from any question posed to him.. .. never spoke more than 4 lines... It was surprising that all 4 technical persons.. gave a positive feedback for him.. because.. this is exactly what you require from quality people. Just do a job in black and white.. if there are no procedures.. I am not doing the job.. etc.. Some lines that he spoke were even dumb and rash, foolhardy.. with a I dont care what happens. to the next cubicle person attitude .. but thats the characteristic required... But when thats was done.. he totally changed his attitude with the HR !! for the HR .. within moments.. he got himself a 2 months.. joining. with a 15 day leave.. with a separate round of negotiation .. later separately for the salary.. he avoided a direct bargaining to his salary in his technical round..
Interviewing is a tough job.. especially in a company.. where above 7-10 : 1 is the sucess ratio..
From the behaviorial aspects.. to evaluate the entry to the exit was itself was a handful , the hand shake (whether limp, finger tip, fleeting, persistent, soft, arm pumping !!) , the posture (slouched , cross legged , stiff, casual, relaxed ).. General Talking ( too much, little , to the point , nowhere near the point, "Ummm"s , "Actually"s, "You know"s, "aaaa"s,) the no of superlatives... ,eye contact , Past employers (negative, positive , sarcastic, euphemistic, indifference), The slabs and sheets itself took 1/2 and hour to fill.. and by time we started writing the detailed reasons.. it was already a tiresome task...
Anyways.. Had a good time.,. The best part is when you realize that these managers know exactly the way they could shape / regulate their own interviews.. control their 'panel' of inexperienced interviewers.. and in the process.. also demonstrate to us themselves.. what are the traits.. how to handle extreme cases.. how not to have any pre-conceived notions.. and how to put the cause of the company in a positive way before the candidate.. Their experience of handling 100s of interviews themselves came to the fore.. 'twas a wonderful experience..
Since this is my last post.. of 2004.. I wish every one reading this a very happy new year 2005
Plan to spend the year end at Akhil's place .. with a bunch of other friends.. food , drinks,Spaghetti , balloons, music are being stashed up... Hope to have a good time..
Adios..
Currently on the jukebox...
"I would die for you , Climb the highest mountain ..
Baby, there's nothing, I wouldn't do...
I was standing, all alone against the world outside
You were searching, for a place to hide
Lost and lonely... Now you've given me the will to survive
When we're hungry...love will keep us alive"
Love Will Keep Us Alive - The Eagles (Hell Freezes Over)
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Monday, December 27, 2004
Tsunamied...
Its really heart-rendering...
A staggering magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter Scale, walls of water more than two stories high across the Bay of Bengal, slamming into coastal communities 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away, Sumatra struck by a series of powerful aftershocks, hours after the quake.
The following is compiled from CNN and eweek...
The Destruction ....
The toll right now is 4300 for India and running .. .another 500 fishermen still missing and thats still a conservative estimate...
Some 8,800 people killed in India and Sri Lanka alone... Total count till now 13000
First step ... Join the watchdogs ..
A) An international warning system started in 1965, administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Member states include all the major Pacific rim nations in North America, Asia and South America, was well as the Pacific islands, Australia and New Zealand. It also includes France, which has sovereignty over some Pacific islands, and Russia.
b) However, India and Sri Lanka are not members because tsunamis are much less frequent in the Indian Ocean. Tho Thailand belongs to the international tsunami warning network, its west coast does not have the system's wave sensors mounted on ocean buoys. The instruments are very expensive and countries like Thailand and Sri Lanka might not have the money to buy them. They are no tidal gauges. There are no buoys present in the Indian Ocean.
c) The warning system analyzes earthquake information from several seismic networks, which is fed into computer models that model how and where a tsunami might form. It dispatches warnings about imminent tsunami hazards, predicts how fast the waves are traveling and their expected arrival times in specific geographic areas. As the waves rush past tidal stations in the ocean, bulletins updating the tsunami warning are issued. Other models generate "inundation maps" of what areas could be damaged, and what communities might be spared.
Not all earthquakes generate tsunamis. The warning center typically does not issue warnings for earthquakes below magnitude 7.0, which are still unusually powerful events
Some facts ...
a) A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of traveling ocean waves, generated when geologic forces displace sea water in the ocean basin. The bigger the earthquake, the more the Earth's crust shifts and the more seawater begins to move.
b) Most are triggered by large earthquakes but they can be caused by landslides, volcanoes and even meteor impacts.
c) Waves typically radiate out in directions opposite from the seismic disturbance. Tho most tsunamis occur in the Pacific because the ocean basin is rimmed by the Ring of Fire, a long chain of the Earth's most seismically active spots .
d) A single wave in a tsunami series might be 160 kilometers (100 miles) long and race across the ocean at 1,000 km/h (600 mph). When it approaches a coastline, the wave slows dramatically, loses its power due to the friction.. but it also rises to great heights because the enormous volume of water piles up in shallow coastal bays.
This can happen again ..
Indonesia comes in between the Eurasia and the Australia tectonic plates.. Any seismic activiy will almost always affect Indian and Sri Lankan shores..
The fault line was deep off the Sumatra coast, running north and south for about 600 miles or as far north as the Andaman and Nicobar islands deforming the sea floor all the way along this rupture, and initiated the tsunamis. Analysts talk about a 10 - 30 m vertical shift in the plates.. over a 600 miles shelf... thats huge..
In a tsunami, waves typically radiate out in directions opposite from the seismic disturbance. In the case of this quake, the seismic fault ran north to south beneath the ocean floor, while the tsunami waves shot out west and east. Hence.. India Sri Lanka or even Somalia came under its range
The Local Tamil channels show far more gruesome and horrifying images the the DD channels or BBC.. I hope the Govt. can bring relief to all those who have been injured.. or have lost their loved ones.. are without homes and have lost their source of living...
A staggering magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter Scale, walls of water more than two stories high across the Bay of Bengal, slamming into coastal communities 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away, Sumatra struck by a series of powerful aftershocks, hours after the quake.
The following is compiled from CNN and eweek...
The Destruction ....
The toll right now is 4300 for India and running .. .another 500 fishermen still missing and thats still a conservative estimate...
Some 8,800 people killed in India and Sri Lanka alone... Total count till now 13000
First step ... Join the watchdogs ..
A) An international warning system started in 1965, administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Member states include all the major Pacific rim nations in North America, Asia and South America, was well as the Pacific islands, Australia and New Zealand. It also includes France, which has sovereignty over some Pacific islands, and Russia.
b) However, India and Sri Lanka are not members because tsunamis are much less frequent in the Indian Ocean. Tho Thailand belongs to the international tsunami warning network, its west coast does not have the system's wave sensors mounted on ocean buoys. The instruments are very expensive and countries like Thailand and Sri Lanka might not have the money to buy them. They are no tidal gauges. There are no buoys present in the Indian Ocean.
c) The warning system analyzes earthquake information from several seismic networks, which is fed into computer models that model how and where a tsunami might form. It dispatches warnings about imminent tsunami hazards, predicts how fast the waves are traveling and their expected arrival times in specific geographic areas. As the waves rush past tidal stations in the ocean, bulletins updating the tsunami warning are issued. Other models generate "inundation maps" of what areas could be damaged, and what communities might be spared.
Not all earthquakes generate tsunamis. The warning center typically does not issue warnings for earthquakes below magnitude 7.0, which are still unusually powerful events
Some facts ...
a) A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of traveling ocean waves, generated when geologic forces displace sea water in the ocean basin. The bigger the earthquake, the more the Earth's crust shifts and the more seawater begins to move.
b) Most are triggered by large earthquakes but they can be caused by landslides, volcanoes and even meteor impacts.
c) Waves typically radiate out in directions opposite from the seismic disturbance. Tho most tsunamis occur in the Pacific because the ocean basin is rimmed by the Ring of Fire, a long chain of the Earth's most seismically active spots .
d) A single wave in a tsunami series might be 160 kilometers (100 miles) long and race across the ocean at 1,000 km/h (600 mph). When it approaches a coastline, the wave slows dramatically, loses its power due to the friction.. but it also rises to great heights because the enormous volume of water piles up in shallow coastal bays.
This can happen again ..
Indonesia comes in between the Eurasia and the Australia tectonic plates.. Any seismic activiy will almost always affect Indian and Sri Lankan shores..
The fault line was deep off the Sumatra coast, running north and south for about 600 miles or as far north as the Andaman and Nicobar islands deforming the sea floor all the way along this rupture, and initiated the tsunamis. Analysts talk about a 10 - 30 m vertical shift in the plates.. over a 600 miles shelf... thats huge..
In a tsunami, waves typically radiate out in directions opposite from the seismic disturbance. In the case of this quake, the seismic fault ran north to south beneath the ocean floor, while the tsunami waves shot out west and east. Hence.. India Sri Lanka or even Somalia came under its range
The Local Tamil channels show far more gruesome and horrifying images the the DD channels or BBC.. I hope the Govt. can bring relief to all those who have been injured.. or have lost their loved ones.. are without homes and have lost their source of living...
Friday, December 24, 2004
A Fogged up journey and other stories
Here is wishing everyone a very happy christmas , and a happy new year 2005 (in advance)
The Delhi Fog has accounted for my parents trip to Kolkata.. and with no more non-pocket emptying flight tickets available right now.. they just could grab a 2nd AC reservation in one of the not so good trains that latitude across the country ... would be a loss of three days from their itinerary..
They say that the SLK Merc 350s arrived in Mumbai and available for a cool 5.6 million..Thats pretty good.. !! I am also waiting for the new Mits Lancer 2005.. I hope they release that in India along with the US as well in Feb... Awesome 300 horsepower.. and with the much talked Evolution 8 MR...
Bangalore is in a holiday mood.. I am sure.. all the cities are .. anyways.. . 1/2 the ppl in my office are on leaves.. Not much work being done.. and Lots of lighting on the roads.. here and there...
My close friend Mridul reaches the city on the 27th from Delhi.. so plan to enjoy with him for a day.. before he leaves for Kerala trip...
Pranay my flatmate... leaves for his new rented acco by the start of the year... . His office has shifted to the Airport Road from M.G. Road.. and I think its a tough ask commuting to his office everyday from the place where we stay... Will miss him @ home.
Anyways.. its pack-up time for this year... 2004 been warm to me... I have had my share of ups and downs.. I have progressed in life.. I have learned loads of stuff and become more mature.. well maybe.. .. .I have travelled places...and have started ventures.. met up with many new friends.. and most importantly .. I think I have learned from some of my mistakes.. and setbacks as well..
I hope 2005 follows the same trend.. I hope it gives me ample joyous moments to remember.. good places to visit and new people to meet and befriend... I hope I have a bit of failures and setbacks to learn from and then succeed. But I also hope I have a fare share of Lady Luck and the blessings of God. :)
Ciao.
Current Song: Sajjad Ali - "Sohni Lag Di"
Current Occupation : Consumption of Dual Voltage patterns and Modelling Regulation Windings :)) (Never Mind)
I look Forward to : Watching Swades at the Innovative Multiplex tomorrow ..
Current Book : Douglas E Comer.. Internetworking with TCP - IP
The Delhi Fog has accounted for my parents trip to Kolkata.. and with no more non-pocket emptying flight tickets available right now.. they just could grab a 2nd AC reservation in one of the not so good trains that latitude across the country ... would be a loss of three days from their itinerary..
They say that the SLK Merc 350s arrived in Mumbai and available for a cool 5.6 million..Thats pretty good.. !! I am also waiting for the new Mits Lancer 2005.. I hope they release that in India along with the US as well in Feb... Awesome 300 horsepower.. and with the much talked Evolution 8 MR...
Bangalore is in a holiday mood.. I am sure.. all the cities are .. anyways.. . 1/2 the ppl in my office are on leaves.. Not much work being done.. and Lots of lighting on the roads.. here and there...
My close friend Mridul reaches the city on the 27th from Delhi.. so plan to enjoy with him for a day.. before he leaves for Kerala trip...
Pranay my flatmate... leaves for his new rented acco by the start of the year... . His office has shifted to the Airport Road from M.G. Road.. and I think its a tough ask commuting to his office everyday from the place where we stay... Will miss him @ home.
Anyways.. its pack-up time for this year... 2004 been warm to me... I have had my share of ups and downs.. I have progressed in life.. I have learned loads of stuff and become more mature.. well maybe.. .. .I have travelled places...and have started ventures.. met up with many new friends.. and most importantly .. I think I have learned from some of my mistakes.. and setbacks as well..
I hope 2005 follows the same trend.. I hope it gives me ample joyous moments to remember.. good places to visit and new people to meet and befriend... I hope I have a bit of failures and setbacks to learn from and then succeed. But I also hope I have a fare share of Lady Luck and the blessings of God. :)
Ciao.
Current Song: Sajjad Ali - "Sohni Lag Di"
Current Occupation : Consumption of Dual Voltage patterns and Modelling Regulation Windings :)) (Never Mind)
I look Forward to : Watching Swades at the Innovative Multiplex tomorrow ..
Current Book : Douglas E Comer.. Internetworking with TCP - IP
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Piece of mind for the peace of mind
The accounts section of my center has not been able to pay my US apartment Bills, credited through my Amex card .. over a lakh in rupees.. of arrears.. for over 3 months. They are too lethargic to do it.. and it doesnt matter to them that the company is incurring thousands of Rs .. in late payment surcharges...
The only reason I can think of the delay is that my settlement documents included dozens of taxi bills.. , customized apartment and car bills.. and detailed settlement reports.. or maybe they think that this payment is too small to have a priority.. they must have had far more important things and far less hefty docs to have settled in the last 3 months.. So there.
Each of these credit card companies.. have their own money extraction ( read extortion ) squads.. ohh yes they outsource that too.. .. and well .. pestering payment defaulters is justified to a large extent ... maybe disabling of the cards is too.. but.. as the days go by .. the surveilance and requests turn to ... scolds, shouts and abuses.. and proper threats...
Today was a day when the Amex extractionist outfit operating sumwhere from Delhi crossed the line that separates decent taunts and muffled protests to Bashi-Bazouk mouthing..
And I got red.. looked like a blo*dy 2nd grade Delhi police verification.. starting from insisting my personal address., to the permanent one.. to proper threats... and he went on for 15 minutes.. and it was hard to even convince him that i was not in position to give him a post dated cheque today since the book was at home
2 minutes after the call.. and bearing in mind what all the adjacent cubicles from here and afar had heard of my part of the conversation... I went to the accounts section.. and gave them my piece of mind..
A Royal Piece o' Ma Mind.
and never mind the age difference with the auditor or the ratifier.. or the head... or any of tiddly piddlies who had assembled there
Maybe the voice was a bit too loud.. cos I saw the guy sitting at the farthest area at the other end of the floor stare at me later... but then .. its really hard .. to get abused for sumthing you are not responsible for.. and be smiley faced lovey dovey its-a-part-of-life I- can- understand about it.. .
Have had a talk with 2 of the senior managers.. and the investigations have definitely revealed 2-3 seriously profoundly critical reasons why the payment couldnt be done.. and obviously.. I feel the need of laughing the demons laugh again so that all and sundry can hear not just in this floor by right across the GMs office two floors below......
But maybe the peace of mind hemisphere of my brawny brain has prevailed over the piece of mind side this time around.. and the only thing I can picture right now is how easily the faces of all the accountants and their printed tie bosses perfectly fit into any thickest of the thick skinned animals that wander around this planet..
every one is back to merry making and internet gossip.
So hope fer a better day tomorrow.. I am leaving office... I dont have any inclination to work late today..
The only reason I can think of the delay is that my settlement documents included dozens of taxi bills.. , customized apartment and car bills.. and detailed settlement reports.. or maybe they think that this payment is too small to have a priority.. they must have had far more important things and far less hefty docs to have settled in the last 3 months.. So there.
Each of these credit card companies.. have their own money extraction ( read extortion ) squads.. ohh yes they outsource that too.. .. and well .. pestering payment defaulters is justified to a large extent ... maybe disabling of the cards is too.. but.. as the days go by .. the surveilance and requests turn to ... scolds, shouts and abuses.. and proper threats...
Today was a day when the Amex extractionist outfit operating sumwhere from Delhi crossed the line that separates decent taunts and muffled protests to Bashi-Bazouk mouthing..
And I got red.. looked like a blo*dy 2nd grade Delhi police verification.. starting from insisting my personal address., to the permanent one.. to proper threats... and he went on for 15 minutes.. and it was hard to even convince him that i was not in position to give him a post dated cheque today since the book was at home
2 minutes after the call.. and bearing in mind what all the adjacent cubicles from here and afar had heard of my part of the conversation... I went to the accounts section.. and gave them my piece of mind..
A Royal Piece o' Ma Mind.
and never mind the age difference with the auditor or the ratifier.. or the head... or any of tiddly piddlies who had assembled there
Maybe the voice was a bit too loud.. cos I saw the guy sitting at the farthest area at the other end of the floor stare at me later... but then .. its really hard .. to get abused for sumthing you are not responsible for.. and be smiley faced lovey dovey its-a-part-of-life I- can- understand about it.. .
Have had a talk with 2 of the senior managers.. and the investigations have definitely revealed 2-3 seriously profoundly critical reasons why the payment couldnt be done.. and obviously.. I feel the need of laughing the demons laugh again so that all and sundry can hear not just in this floor by right across the GMs office two floors below......
But maybe the peace of mind hemisphere of my brawny brain has prevailed over the piece of mind side this time around.. and the only thing I can picture right now is how easily the faces of all the accountants and their printed tie bosses perfectly fit into any thickest of the thick skinned animals that wander around this planet..
every one is back to merry making and internet gossip.
So hope fer a better day tomorrow.. I am leaving office... I dont have any inclination to work late today..
Monday, December 20, 2004
Live and Let Die...
Sample these.
a. A person crippled with Alzheimer's or some 3rd state terminal cancer.. the whole body is crumbling white with months of chemotherapy.. tho not on a support system..but in a half vegetate state.. the only sounds that come out are groans.. But since only voluntary suicide is acceptable in his nation, there is no question of relieving him of his misery, till his body cant take it anymore... and relieves itself.. maybe in a couple of months.. or maybe in a year.. .
b. A well known scholar .. yet inmate of a mental asylum for 5 years knocks on the doors of justice.. "If I have the right to Live... why cant I have the right to die? " You confine me . to the strait jacket ... inject sedatives.. chain me against 4 walls day and night.. make me mad .. and still.. dont allow me to kill myself...
c. Venkatesh, a muscular dystrophy patient, expresses his wish to be removed off the life support for the last couple of months, so that he can donate his organs to the needy. His argument is that the organs would deteriorate if he were not allowed to commit euthanasia within a month. The High Court rules that under the Organ Transplantation Act only brain dead or natural death allows for donation of organs. The patient dies after some time and the organs now cant be donated.
Lets now see what standing .. the legal and social governance in nations worldwide profess...
a) In the UK there is a possibility of up to 14 years imprisonment for anybody assisting a "suicide". Oddly, suicide itself is not a crime. Only the US State of Oregon has legalized euthanasia. Direct killing by euthanasia is a crime in Germany.. Denmark has no law.. while France has banned euthanasia journals..
b) Japan has legalized euthanaisa since 1962... while an Australian state.. first upheld and then repealed the right of euthanasia..
The republic of India also doesnt give individuals the right to euthanasia..
My question to anybody is... do we really have the right to deny self willed death to people? Do we really care for the person if we prolong his/her pain for weeks and months .. just to see him breathing and reconcile ourselves? Just try staying in the same posture.. lying on the bed .. for a week ... you will feel the pain...just try imaging the pain caused by a single bed sore.. leave aside any other suffering for weeks.. .. So why cant people be given the right to alleviate themselves of suffering..
The crux of the debate is in being able to gauge for sure the difference between euthanasia and suicide.. Thinking out aloud... Assisted Death in which of the above 3 points.. can be termed Euthanasia or needs to be indentified as criminal offence (assisted suicide) according to Penal Codes Worldwide... ? the 2nd point (the case of the lunatic scholar maybe) can come under the abetted suicide clause.. Ohh !!for sure, huh??... .. .but do we really feel that its not correct to let the lunatic die? Are we sure?
Most of the reservations against practising euthanasia seem pretty solid .. Legal experts question.. a) How do you really define terminal? Most doctors are themselves not sure. .how much time the patient has... so how much is a good enough.. or rather a bad enough time in this case? a week? a month? 6 months? Cant say for sure..
b) Non Voluntary Euthanasia? The child asking for it? Ahhhaa..... I know why.... cos a lethal drug takes 1000 rupees while you can end up spending half a million in six months.. for your half dead mother.. who isnt worth a tuppence herself ...
c) Every one wanting to commit suicide will apply for euthanasia.. Its the perfect condition for people to exploit, what is forced suicide and mercy killing... killings can be doctored...
BUt The most important contention against these arguments I have is that.. in the first place.. is it really an issue to be resolved through the dictums of Penal Code and by its ostiaries worldwide? The main reason told to Venkatesh and his supportive mother in the ruling against his claim for self death was... "Sorry... we cant change the rules for a single person"...
So tell me Mr. Chief Justice.. .does everybody suffering any ailment.. get the same amount of pain.. as a death bed patient?And do you really know of acute shortage of kidneys donors in our country and the fact that kidney donation can only be done by living persons ? Or maybe can you help the medical profession generalize in a single paragraph...all the terminal causes that lead to death.. and therefore your judgment can hold good for any citizen...any patient and in any case... But If not, how can you generalize rules governing death .. for any person.. regardless of what state / condition he is in?
Yes, The main fallacy of Laws and Penal Guidelines... that render them unavailable for exercising proper jugdement in such issues is .. is that they are actually just 10 line paragraphs inside a black book... that are wanting to capture all the nuances of the profession of medicine.. or economy.. or society.. They give any wig toting individual sitting with his hammer and board.. the right to decide without any iota of forethought critical issues that the profession of medicine still finds itself wanting to present viable solutions for ... The 10 lines that Law makers doctrinate generalize the whole spectrum of medicinal research.,.. and it seems .. that we easily accept the blind lady of law.. on a higher pedestal.. than the torch bearers of the hippocratic oath.. in matters it definitely shouldnt have a preference for...
IT is the whole and sole responsibility of the Medical fraternity and intelligensia in any society.. They know. .whether they are capable enough in comforting the patient. they see lying on the bed.. and if he/she can get any better... thats only after days of medical analysis of the patient.. and not a court hearing...
Legal experts should be assisting the doctor .. if required at all.. for each of the individual cases.. and not the other way around.. and considering.. the jet pace of court summons and hearing dates.. it can be said for sure.. that many other Venkateshes will wait their futile wait for their appeal to be upheld.. and to leave this world with pride,, or without suffering...
Besides, I think from whatever I read about the matter. the medical fraternity's support for mercy killing is pretty overwhelming..
In the words of the most celebrated doctor of the 20th century.. and in case we remember our school text books... Dr. Christian Barnard, the first heart transplant surgeon :
"Doctors often make that mistake, they think their job is to prolong life but they've got it wrong there, It is to give a better quality of life. What society does not accept euthanasia, cannot believe god, a god of love and compassion would allow that.
I would not preach the practice of death, but death is many-a-times the better treatment.. ".
Its time Indian society legalizes euthanasia like many of the western and far- eastern societies wordwide.. Here is what i think of the contentions against mercy killing.
We can create a Legio-Medical organisation.. ANy appeal for euthanasia can be first studied medically .. by a panel of doctor(s).. Legal experts can measure.. whether its really a cost saving matter.. a suicidal case.. or its really a no hope situation... I think even some suicide candidates.. will themselves come up with their problems.. and be counselled... if this kind of a body comes up.. and it definitely can be a Government funded one with a amount to be tendered by the applicant.... then...if its a genuine case... even if its a non voluntary appeal... i.e. by the patients peers /relatives/well wishers.. then allow the person the right of euthanasia.
Our society and its rules. .are based on eons old pillars of tolerance and fair justice.. evolved and tested over centuries.. and far mature in many aspects than other modern societies... We proudly uphold thousands of social and medical treatises. But at the same time, in pace with the modern times.. and in pace with humanity.. we need to respect the individual and his desicion.. allow this choice that he can take for himself, maybe help him get either way... either convince him that there are better days in his life.. or help him relieve his agony ... alleviate the suffering.. once and for all...
The right to live surely needs a new addendum... the freedom against suffering.. when you can hope for something even after exhausting all your hopes... the freedom of releasing yourself...
The freedom to die...
I support making euthanasia legal in India.
a. A person crippled with Alzheimer's or some 3rd state terminal cancer.. the whole body is crumbling white with months of chemotherapy.. tho not on a support system..but in a half vegetate state.. the only sounds that come out are groans.. But since only voluntary suicide is acceptable in his nation, there is no question of relieving him of his misery, till his body cant take it anymore... and relieves itself.. maybe in a couple of months.. or maybe in a year.. .
b. A well known scholar .. yet inmate of a mental asylum for 5 years knocks on the doors of justice.. "If I have the right to Live... why cant I have the right to die? " You confine me . to the strait jacket ... inject sedatives.. chain me against 4 walls day and night.. make me mad .. and still.. dont allow me to kill myself...
c. Venkatesh, a muscular dystrophy patient, expresses his wish to be removed off the life support for the last couple of months, so that he can donate his organs to the needy. His argument is that the organs would deteriorate if he were not allowed to commit euthanasia within a month. The High Court rules that under the Organ Transplantation Act only brain dead or natural death allows for donation of organs. The patient dies after some time and the organs now cant be donated.
Lets now see what standing .. the legal and social governance in nations worldwide profess...
a) In the UK there is a possibility of up to 14 years imprisonment for anybody assisting a "suicide". Oddly, suicide itself is not a crime. Only the US State of Oregon has legalized euthanasia. Direct killing by euthanasia is a crime in Germany.. Denmark has no law.. while France has banned euthanasia journals..
b) Japan has legalized euthanaisa since 1962... while an Australian state.. first upheld and then repealed the right of euthanasia..
The republic of India also doesnt give individuals the right to euthanasia..
My question to anybody is... do we really have the right to deny self willed death to people? Do we really care for the person if we prolong his/her pain for weeks and months .. just to see him breathing and reconcile ourselves? Just try staying in the same posture.. lying on the bed .. for a week ... you will feel the pain...just try imaging the pain caused by a single bed sore.. leave aside any other suffering for weeks.. .. So why cant people be given the right to alleviate themselves of suffering..
The crux of the debate is in being able to gauge for sure the difference between euthanasia and suicide.. Thinking out aloud... Assisted Death in which of the above 3 points.. can be termed Euthanasia or needs to be indentified as criminal offence (assisted suicide) according to Penal Codes Worldwide... ? the 2nd point (the case of the lunatic scholar maybe) can come under the abetted suicide clause.. Ohh !!for sure, huh??... .. .but do we really feel that its not correct to let the lunatic die? Are we sure?
Most of the reservations against practising euthanasia seem pretty solid .. Legal experts question.. a) How do you really define terminal? Most doctors are themselves not sure. .how much time the patient has... so how much is a good enough.. or rather a bad enough time in this case? a week? a month? 6 months? Cant say for sure..
b) Non Voluntary Euthanasia? The child asking for it? Ahhhaa..... I know why.... cos a lethal drug takes 1000 rupees while you can end up spending half a million in six months.. for your half dead mother.. who isnt worth a tuppence herself ...
c) Every one wanting to commit suicide will apply for euthanasia.. Its the perfect condition for people to exploit, what is forced suicide and mercy killing... killings can be doctored...
BUt The most important contention against these arguments I have is that.. in the first place.. is it really an issue to be resolved through the dictums of Penal Code and by its ostiaries worldwide? The main reason told to Venkatesh and his supportive mother in the ruling against his claim for self death was... "Sorry... we cant change the rules for a single person"...
So tell me Mr. Chief Justice.. .does everybody suffering any ailment.. get the same amount of pain.. as a death bed patient?And do you really know of acute shortage of kidneys donors in our country and the fact that kidney donation can only be done by living persons ? Or maybe can you help the medical profession generalize in a single paragraph...all the terminal causes that lead to death.. and therefore your judgment can hold good for any citizen...any patient and in any case... But If not, how can you generalize rules governing death .. for any person.. regardless of what state / condition he is in?
Yes, The main fallacy of Laws and Penal Guidelines... that render them unavailable for exercising proper jugdement in such issues is .. is that they are actually just 10 line paragraphs inside a black book... that are wanting to capture all the nuances of the profession of medicine.. or economy.. or society.. They give any wig toting individual sitting with his hammer and board.. the right to decide without any iota of forethought critical issues that the profession of medicine still finds itself wanting to present viable solutions for ... The 10 lines that Law makers doctrinate generalize the whole spectrum of medicinal research.,.. and it seems .. that we easily accept the blind lady of law.. on a higher pedestal.. than the torch bearers of the hippocratic oath.. in matters it definitely shouldnt have a preference for...
IT is the whole and sole responsibility of the Medical fraternity and intelligensia in any society.. They know. .whether they are capable enough in comforting the patient. they see lying on the bed.. and if he/she can get any better... thats only after days of medical analysis of the patient.. and not a court hearing...
Legal experts should be assisting the doctor .. if required at all.. for each of the individual cases.. and not the other way around.. and considering.. the jet pace of court summons and hearing dates.. it can be said for sure.. that many other Venkateshes will wait their futile wait for their appeal to be upheld.. and to leave this world with pride,, or without suffering...
Besides, I think from whatever I read about the matter. the medical fraternity's support for mercy killing is pretty overwhelming..
In the words of the most celebrated doctor of the 20th century.. and in case we remember our school text books... Dr. Christian Barnard, the first heart transplant surgeon :
"Doctors often make that mistake, they think their job is to prolong life but they've got it wrong there, It is to give a better quality of life. What society does not accept euthanasia, cannot believe god, a god of love and compassion would allow that.
I would not preach the practice of death, but death is many-a-times the better treatment.. ".
Its time Indian society legalizes euthanasia like many of the western and far- eastern societies wordwide.. Here is what i think of the contentions against mercy killing.
We can create a Legio-Medical organisation.. ANy appeal for euthanasia can be first studied medically .. by a panel of doctor(s).. Legal experts can measure.. whether its really a cost saving matter.. a suicidal case.. or its really a no hope situation... I think even some suicide candidates.. will themselves come up with their problems.. and be counselled... if this kind of a body comes up.. and it definitely can be a Government funded one with a amount to be tendered by the applicant.... then...if its a genuine case... even if its a non voluntary appeal... i.e. by the patients peers /relatives/well wishers.. then allow the person the right of euthanasia.
Our society and its rules. .are based on eons old pillars of tolerance and fair justice.. evolved and tested over centuries.. and far mature in many aspects than other modern societies... We proudly uphold thousands of social and medical treatises. But at the same time, in pace with the modern times.. and in pace with humanity.. we need to respect the individual and his desicion.. allow this choice that he can take for himself, maybe help him get either way... either convince him that there are better days in his life.. or help him relieve his agony ... alleviate the suffering.. once and for all...
The right to live surely needs a new addendum... the freedom against suffering.. when you can hope for something even after exhausting all your hopes... the freedom of releasing yourself...
The freedom to die...
I support making euthanasia legal in India.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Scribbles over last coupla weeks
Recent most Film: "Mughal-e-Azam" - Awesome Awesome film ... My First film at the first PVR in Bangalore @ The Forum Mall.. Reminded me of good ol' Delhi.. Hadnt visited a proper good hall in 3 years..inspite of watching loads of movies (Bombay Halls are a pity.. Even the city's best halls are cramped and Bangalore halls are village class. They dont comply to even 10% safety and cleanliness norms.. ) This was a good treat I gave myself.
Too Good Dialogues...
Jodhabai : "Humaara Hindostan tumhaara dil nahi , koi laundi jispar hukumat kare"
Salim : "To humaara dil bhii aapka Hindostan nahi, jo aap uspar hukumat karein"
And Anarkali when she is given the thorns whilst Bahar gets the rose,
"Kaanton ko murjhaane ka khauff nahi hota"
Never thought I could see the hundred Madhubalas Sheesh Mahal scene in a hall.. I dont think Indian cinema has till date produced any rival to the scene..
Recent most excursion : Ooty Botanical Gardens and Lake
Breathtaking trees , well maintained conservatories, good fountains, carpet-ish lawns , exotic plantations... and a lovely weather.. Ooty has it all.. I plan for a longer vacation there...
Recent Most Book: "Indira : An Autobiography" by Katherine Frank
Chose this one over the one by Pupul Jayakar.. since I thought being a friend herself.. Pupul's view might be biased ...
Katherine does a tremendous job. There are thousands of things which you didnt know about the Iron Lady of India.. and are present from her childhood days , to her letters to her Dad, at Shantiniketan, her marriage problems, her psyche during the rise and fall of Sanjay, the wars , the emergency and the crude politics.. about Operation Bluestar and how she could sense her impending doom.
Recent Album : "Greatest Hits of Ustad Zakir Hussain" (The SaReGaMa Label one)
Love his Drut TeenTaal played during his world famous 1986 concert. Also , you can clearly distinguish the sweetness in Ustad Vilayat Khan's sitar.. as compared to the ups and downs and the question answers of Pandit Ravi Shankar.. Ustad Vilayat Khan used to say.. "Alla Rakha and Zakir dare not try that sawaal jawaab stuff with me. They know that they will pay dearly".. And for sure .. Zakir sounds pretty subdued with with the ustad !!
The Present
Current Song: Sonu Nigam's "Tanhaayee"
Current Debate: " Employee PF hiked to 9.5% . "
Current Technology: Mobile Gaming
The Future
Place To Go: Bannerghata National Park.. The closest park tpo Bangalore and I havent Been there yet
Book To Read: Where on the earth am I ? Confusions of a Travelling Man Book .. (I have to
get this Jug Suraiya book from sumwhere)
Work Stuff : Project Delivery this Monday
Ciao.,
Meanwhile :
Vinod as Duryodhan holding Draupadi: "Maine Draupadi ka cheer haran karne ka idea drop kar diya hai"
Ahuja as Gada Dhari Bheem: " Abe oye !! Tu kaun hota hai bolne waala.. Hum bhii Draupadi ke shareholder hain !!"
Vinod (Naseeruddin Shah) and Ahuja (Om Puri) fighting over the the dead saree wrapped D'Mello (Satish Shah) The "Draupadi Cheer Haran", Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (1983), !! LOLOLOL !! Can it get any better?
Too Good Dialogues...
Jodhabai : "Humaara Hindostan tumhaara dil nahi , koi laundi jispar hukumat kare"
Salim : "To humaara dil bhii aapka Hindostan nahi, jo aap uspar hukumat karein"
And Anarkali when she is given the thorns whilst Bahar gets the rose,
"Kaanton ko murjhaane ka khauff nahi hota"
Never thought I could see the hundred Madhubalas Sheesh Mahal scene in a hall.. I dont think Indian cinema has till date produced any rival to the scene..
Recent most excursion : Ooty Botanical Gardens and Lake
Breathtaking trees , well maintained conservatories, good fountains, carpet-ish lawns , exotic plantations... and a lovely weather.. Ooty has it all.. I plan for a longer vacation there...
Recent Most Book: "Indira : An Autobiography" by Katherine Frank
Chose this one over the one by Pupul Jayakar.. since I thought being a friend herself.. Pupul's view might be biased ...
Katherine does a tremendous job. There are thousands of things which you didnt know about the Iron Lady of India.. and are present from her childhood days , to her letters to her Dad, at Shantiniketan, her marriage problems, her psyche during the rise and fall of Sanjay, the wars , the emergency and the crude politics.. about Operation Bluestar and how she could sense her impending doom.
Recent Album : "Greatest Hits of Ustad Zakir Hussain" (The SaReGaMa Label one)
Love his Drut TeenTaal played during his world famous 1986 concert. Also , you can clearly distinguish the sweetness in Ustad Vilayat Khan's sitar.. as compared to the ups and downs and the question answers of Pandit Ravi Shankar.. Ustad Vilayat Khan used to say.. "Alla Rakha and Zakir dare not try that sawaal jawaab stuff with me. They know that they will pay dearly".. And for sure .. Zakir sounds pretty subdued with with the ustad !!
The Present
Current Song: Sonu Nigam's "Tanhaayee"
Current Debate: " Employee PF hiked to 9.5% . "
Current Technology: Mobile Gaming
The Future
Place To Go: Bannerghata National Park.. The closest park tpo Bangalore and I havent Been there yet
Book To Read: Where on the earth am I ? Confusions of a Travelling Man Book .. (I have to
get this Jug Suraiya book from sumwhere)
Work Stuff : Project Delivery this Monday
Ciao.,
Meanwhile :
Vinod as Duryodhan holding Draupadi: "Maine Draupadi ka cheer haran karne ka idea drop kar diya hai"
Ahuja as Gada Dhari Bheem: " Abe oye !! Tu kaun hota hai bolne waala.. Hum bhii Draupadi ke shareholder hain !!"
Vinod (Naseeruddin Shah) and Ahuja (Om Puri) fighting over the the dead saree wrapped D'Mello (Satish Shah) The "Draupadi Cheer Haran", Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (1983), !! LOLOLOL !! Can it get any better?
Monday, December 13, 2004
Things I miss from Bombay
In General:
a) Marine Drive, during the rains, The Sea Breeze at Band Stand, Carter Road... etc..
b) The local train: One hand on the Middle rod at the door,both feet on either sides, the other hand on the Top of the door and the cool breeze on your face as the train gains speed between each station.. Belapur and Vashi Railway Stations!! The Clock at Bombay VT.
c) Egg Bhurji - Pav (Scrambled Eggs with bread) with friends at 1 am in the morning at Thane Station..
d) The 500 mtr. sprint from Sterling Cinema or the Taxi flagging at Rex after watching the last show that ended at 12:40, to reach Victoria Terminus, buy tickets at the counter and catch the 12:50 last train on the Central Line thats already begun moving out.
e) Good Plentiful Rains... sometimes ...
f) Ganpati Bappa ! ( but defintely not the 100s of orchestras, synths and drums that used to play till 1 am right beside our apartments)
g) Small 50 seat movie halls...
h) The sugary Marathi accent, and of course the screwed up yet so funny and pleasing Hindi that ppl speak.
i) Finding 100s of busy people at even 1:30 am in the night...
j) All the Birthday Bashes !! Right through the year. From the Mongini Cakes @ Office to parties thrown by close friends and myself
k) Occaisional Song sessions in the bus while on the way home from office..
More Specifically:
a) Some Friends and loads of time with them: Akhil, Himanshu,Mridul, Maheep, Sameer, Aparna, Abhishek, Nachiketa, Aumkar, Dipsy, Shalaka, Julie
Unforgettable fun and laughter at the Vasant Leela apartments with Akhil and Himanshu,
b) The everyday dinner after office with Akhil, Himanshu, Abhishek, Aparna and Dipsy.
c) The C.B.D. Belapur duplex penthouse with a view to the Thane creek on one side and a hill on the other with Mridul and Maheep
d) Career Talks with Nachiketa, Kishore Kumar with Aumkar,Just about anything talks with Shalaka !!
e) Unforgettable Outings like Matheran, Lonavala-Khandala
f) The deep breaths of Hot Chocolate everyday (lasting just 300 metres) while passing through the Cadbury's factory flyover @ Thane
g) The Mulund Bandra AC bus !!
h) The 2 hour swimming sessions and Tennis with Akhil and Abhishek on the weekends
i) The workplace: Not exactly, but some colleagues definitely.
j) Some of the few theatres and shows and concerts watched.
k) The walk from my home at Shubharambh to the office bus pick up spot on the July with the clouds descending over the hills beyond Tikuji-Ni-Wadi resort
l) Some other attractions @ Shubharambh : "Tilwali" , "Shabbo", and "Bedkar (the Society President) ki Beti" 's long hair :)
m) The Company Quiz club's everyday quizzes and rankings..
n) The Chitochat with Office Pals. Sameer..
And almost all of the Last 3-4 months .
a) Marine Drive, during the rains, The Sea Breeze at Band Stand, Carter Road... etc..
b) The local train: One hand on the Middle rod at the door,both feet on either sides, the other hand on the Top of the door and the cool breeze on your face as the train gains speed between each station.. Belapur and Vashi Railway Stations!! The Clock at Bombay VT.
c) Egg Bhurji - Pav (Scrambled Eggs with bread) with friends at 1 am in the morning at Thane Station..
d) The 500 mtr. sprint from Sterling Cinema or the Taxi flagging at Rex after watching the last show that ended at 12:40, to reach Victoria Terminus, buy tickets at the counter and catch the 12:50 last train on the Central Line thats already begun moving out.
e) Good Plentiful Rains... sometimes ...
f) Ganpati Bappa ! ( but defintely not the 100s of orchestras, synths and drums that used to play till 1 am right beside our apartments)
g) Small 50 seat movie halls...
h) The sugary Marathi accent, and of course the screwed up yet so funny and pleasing Hindi that ppl speak.
i) Finding 100s of busy people at even 1:30 am in the night...
j) All the Birthday Bashes !! Right through the year. From the Mongini Cakes @ Office to parties thrown by close friends and myself
k) Occaisional Song sessions in the bus while on the way home from office..
More Specifically:
a) Some Friends and loads of time with them: Akhil, Himanshu,Mridul, Maheep, Sameer, Aparna, Abhishek, Nachiketa, Aumkar, Dipsy, Shalaka, Julie
Unforgettable fun and laughter at the Vasant Leela apartments with Akhil and Himanshu,
b) The everyday dinner after office with Akhil, Himanshu, Abhishek, Aparna and Dipsy.
c) The C.B.D. Belapur duplex penthouse with a view to the Thane creek on one side and a hill on the other with Mridul and Maheep
d) Career Talks with Nachiketa, Kishore Kumar with Aumkar,Just about anything talks with Shalaka !!
e) Unforgettable Outings like Matheran, Lonavala-Khandala
f) The deep breaths of Hot Chocolate everyday (lasting just 300 metres) while passing through the Cadbury's factory flyover @ Thane
g) The Mulund Bandra AC bus !!
h) The 2 hour swimming sessions and Tennis with Akhil and Abhishek on the weekends
i) The workplace: Not exactly, but some colleagues definitely.
j) Some of the few theatres and shows and concerts watched.
k) The walk from my home at Shubharambh to the office bus pick up spot on the July with the clouds descending over the hills beyond Tikuji-Ni-Wadi resort
l) Some other attractions @ Shubharambh : "Tilwali" , "Shabbo", and "Bedkar (the Society President) ki Beti" 's long hair :)
m) The Company Quiz club's everyday quizzes and rankings..
n) The Chitochat with Office Pals. Sameer..
And almost all of the Last 3-4 months .
Friday, December 10, 2004
After Thoughts of an incident
Went to the Cauvery Water Sanctuary a couple of weeks back... and had the experience of my lifetime
Saw my friend Rahul get sucked in a tremendous whirlpool of water .. and inside of the rocks of a mountain while we were enjoying a lovely afternoon bath at one of the tributaries of the Kaveri.. across a cascade of small large water falls.. falling from heights... forming pools... merging togther... and away..
The water seemed pretty placid.. just some occaisional turbulence... and now when I think of it... it looked calm on the surface.. but was almost like how you see boiling water.. churning water from down to up.. yet.. pretty calm on the surface...
The last thing that he told me was.. "The water seems deep... " Then I just saw him suddenly take a dip in... then at the next instant I saw his head at the farthest corner of that waterpool... and then again a dip.. and then Underneath the rocks and he surfaced at the bigger pool... exactly in the opposite direction of where he had been headed first... then then into the huge boulders.. as if he was some small insect who had been sucked in into a basin .. or a drain... right inside of the rocks of the mountain ...
I had no clue.. what had gulped him.. where had he disappeared.. just saw the river . with its swirling currents of the mini pool.. Negative thoughts came to my mind immediately.. and then concern about whether i would even be able to even see him again .. in whatever form fate had left him? was there a huge water body inside the mountain.. where was this water going?
I scaled the rock to see the other side.. and I saw the water merging with other smaller bigger streams... a 10 foot fall... and a bigger pool..
Was he there in that pool? No... This one was pretty scary, I could see rough edges all throughout the pool bed.. a fall could have ripped any man apart..
Then again ... i could see no exit.. but even here the water seemed to have an outflow.. from somewhere inside of the rocks... I hoped that I could get a better calmer pool ahead but the dreadful realization was.. if he hit any part of his body on the rocks.. with the speed of the torrents.. he would be sliced into shreds..
I was stunned.. I didnt know how to react.. I shouted at my other friends..Akhil and Kalpana.. to come along.. and ask for help (which was atleast 15 mintues away.. ) but they were equally in a shocked state.. in the melee Kalpana tried to move towards the direction of the boatmen / fishermen.. and her foot hit a sharp rock and split it open. with blood gushing out of her foot..
I somehow summed up courage to scale this higher bigger hill-of-sorts in front of me.. and see what was there at the other end... I scaled up around 60- 70 feet..
and looked the other side..
And then I saw him,
A Big pool.. with a half of the whole waterfall's water... coming from all directions... with waves.. showing the depth and volume of water that lay underneath... and a massive flow into the biggest waterfall of that area ... maybe a drop of a 100 odd feet.. ending up in a big lake.. from where we had started our climb to see these cascades.. the dinghymen were at the other side of the lake.. Even If we motioned at them from the cliff tops.. it will take them 15 minutes to cross the lake and then start scaling the cliffs and come to any rescue.. I was uncertain they would even attempt to help him..
But then i saw him going along with the flow... towards.. his doom... the biggest waterfall...i started shivering at the summit.. just looking at him downbelow at the pool.. flowing with the current.. just crying out hoarse.. his name..
being hysterical... I didnt know what to do.. I thought I would just see him fall.. and disappear.. I muttered what all prayers i knew..
But then it started to happen .. I sincerely feel it was something impossible...
He made deft moves... fought against the current... He fought for 5 minutes and reached a shore..
Believe me.. there was ONLY ONE possible foot hold.. a rock jut out in that 100 meter radius pond... and the rest were all sharp perpendicular cliffwalls.. and he managed to swim right next to it.. It was God's Grace.. Nothing else.. The whole water body didnt have even a single other hold... it was all huge mountain walls.. and water inflows...
he heard me ... infact for the first time now... telling him that the rock was just 4 hands to the left... and then he managed to grab it with his left hand.. and as soon as he did that.. he took a dip...
I couldnt see him anymore...
seconds went..
half a minute.. or maybe 20 seconds.. or so..
Then I saw him again... his head came up.. and he grabbed the rock with both hands...
I asked him
"Rahul , theek to hai?"
He nodded...
I shouted back..
"Can you hold on?"
He motioned that his head was spinning and then gestured.. 2 .. he spoke for the first time
"2 mintues"
I couldnt understand why two minutes... I thought that was it... I kept shouting to him.. to keep holding on.. to the rock... to grab more of it...
then with a final thurst.. he put half his body.. till his stomach... on the rock... and lay there motionless on his chest..
there was a moemtary sense of relief. I now knew he wouldnt be drowned... unless he had some spasms or sumthing.. . constant attempts to keep him at conversation.. were done.. sometimes i felt he had blacked out... anything internal could have happenned..
I realised the real threat...
Then from that cliff itself.. I started waving frantically to the fishermen.. maybe 1/2 a km away.. and across the shores of the lake below.. Akhil was doing the same.. from a different hilltop They saw us.. 5-6 men came..
in 10minutes...
with their circular dinghys...
An old 60 year old was one of them.... and I have seen loads of AXN mountain climbers on the telly.. but I dont think any of them could have the deftness or even the guts to do what he did...
With awesome dexterity... he scaled from the cliff head... the 60 feet height that separated me from Rahul... Sometimes relying on thorny shrubs for foot hold or just small crevices where he could place his fingers.. and swing there looking for the next foothold down below..
He reached rahul.. placed one of his foot on the rock...
Moistened his small everfamiliar.. checkered towel with the cold water of the river... and started massaging my friend...
I felt as if God had worked the miracle.. now he had sent the angel....
He massaged him for close to 15 minutes... slowly.. Rahul came back to about normal... He told us from down below.. .. there was no head injury... he managed to stand
35 minutes after the incident.. the fishermen took Rahul to the place I was standing and shouting him advices... cheers.. questions and all junk talk.. from... up the hill cliff
And when he met. me.. He just broke down... I felt like too... The overwhelming feeling I could get was of joy .. that he managed to overcome every peril that I had seen before my eyes ... and innumerable times in this half an hour, at every stage,at every moment, when I, far away from danger myself, just a hapless spectator, had given up my hopes, had despaired, he had overcome it..
And it was only then I realized the importance of his "Just 2 more minutes" answer ... His calf muscles had become big hard rocks... They were Red.. and had protruding veins... The main reason for this dip once reaching the moutain wall was cause he had had a fit of cramps.. and that had brought him down... and still he had managed to rise up.. His feet were a pity.. contusions everywhere.. but that was what had saved him maybe when he had gone under the rocks the middle pool to the bigger one.. He must have gone feet first...
Kalpana is okay now.. maybe her wound required a couple of stitches.. or could do without.. he blood loss stopped after sometime.. she managed to cover it up properly... We were in no position to help her...
Me and Akhil still remember the incident... and feel we thought we had lost him forever...
Rahul has gone to his parents at Alwar... he could get the next day flight itself... He needs a bit of a rest .. atleast for sometime.. and I am amazed at the force he would have put inside of him to fight the current... Human strength is unimaginable.. .These incidents bring them out time and again.. He described how in the first moments when he was inside of the big pond ... how he saw his whole life.... and his parents.. and everyone... and how the whole life flashes before you.. when you are at the brink... at the corridors.. and when you still put in your best.. .collect all your energies.. for the glimmer of hope that you see... maybe the hue of sunshine.. from deep beneath the waters... And how Hanuman chalisa or any other devotion .. can power your mind and with it your body... to achieve the unachievable..
I am proud of my friend.. I am sure he wouldnt have realized the extent of this battle.. but from above the cliff ... whatever I saw of him and his fight for his life... made me sumhow think of the magnificient inner strength and the will power he has in his person... to survive... to make it... to achieve it.
Life is back to the normal... I promise not to be that foolish anymore... Fun and Frolic are the essence of my life now.. I have excursions every weekend.. but its important to have the extra step of caution.... and that is what we overlook all the time... I have some resolutions and learnings:
a) Never Underestimate the Power of Mother Nature.. Anywhere.. anytime
b) Local people... in tourist locations.. might be poor people and hagglers.. greedy ppl who want to empty you of any money the think they can get out of you... but always ask them for advice.. and pay heed to those... say when on a mountainous terrain.. near the sea.. inside of a jungle... or even religious or crowded places...
c) Learn Swimming Properly
Its been some time now.. I hope and wish Rahul all the best.. Its a second life of sorts.. for him..
And for me... the experience of a lifetime.
Saw my friend Rahul get sucked in a tremendous whirlpool of water .. and inside of the rocks of a mountain while we were enjoying a lovely afternoon bath at one of the tributaries of the Kaveri.. across a cascade of small large water falls.. falling from heights... forming pools... merging togther... and away..
The water seemed pretty placid.. just some occaisional turbulence... and now when I think of it... it looked calm on the surface.. but was almost like how you see boiling water.. churning water from down to up.. yet.. pretty calm on the surface...
The last thing that he told me was.. "The water seems deep... " Then I just saw him suddenly take a dip in... then at the next instant I saw his head at the farthest corner of that waterpool... and then again a dip.. and then Underneath the rocks and he surfaced at the bigger pool... exactly in the opposite direction of where he had been headed first... then then into the huge boulders.. as if he was some small insect who had been sucked in into a basin .. or a drain... right inside of the rocks of the mountain ...
I had no clue.. what had gulped him.. where had he disappeared.. just saw the river . with its swirling currents of the mini pool.. Negative thoughts came to my mind immediately.. and then concern about whether i would even be able to even see him again .. in whatever form fate had left him? was there a huge water body inside the mountain.. where was this water going?
I scaled the rock to see the other side.. and I saw the water merging with other smaller bigger streams... a 10 foot fall... and a bigger pool..
Was he there in that pool? No... This one was pretty scary, I could see rough edges all throughout the pool bed.. a fall could have ripped any man apart..
Then again ... i could see no exit.. but even here the water seemed to have an outflow.. from somewhere inside of the rocks... I hoped that I could get a better calmer pool ahead but the dreadful realization was.. if he hit any part of his body on the rocks.. with the speed of the torrents.. he would be sliced into shreds..
I was stunned.. I didnt know how to react.. I shouted at my other friends..Akhil and Kalpana.. to come along.. and ask for help (which was atleast 15 mintues away.. ) but they were equally in a shocked state.. in the melee Kalpana tried to move towards the direction of the boatmen / fishermen.. and her foot hit a sharp rock and split it open. with blood gushing out of her foot..
I somehow summed up courage to scale this higher bigger hill-of-sorts in front of me.. and see what was there at the other end... I scaled up around 60- 70 feet..
and looked the other side..
And then I saw him,
A Big pool.. with a half of the whole waterfall's water... coming from all directions... with waves.. showing the depth and volume of water that lay underneath... and a massive flow into the biggest waterfall of that area ... maybe a drop of a 100 odd feet.. ending up in a big lake.. from where we had started our climb to see these cascades.. the dinghymen were at the other side of the lake.. Even If we motioned at them from the cliff tops.. it will take them 15 minutes to cross the lake and then start scaling the cliffs and come to any rescue.. I was uncertain they would even attempt to help him..
But then i saw him going along with the flow... towards.. his doom... the biggest waterfall...i started shivering at the summit.. just looking at him downbelow at the pool.. flowing with the current.. just crying out hoarse.. his name..
being hysterical... I didnt know what to do.. I thought I would just see him fall.. and disappear.. I muttered what all prayers i knew..
But then it started to happen .. I sincerely feel it was something impossible...
He made deft moves... fought against the current... He fought for 5 minutes and reached a shore..
Believe me.. there was ONLY ONE possible foot hold.. a rock jut out in that 100 meter radius pond... and the rest were all sharp perpendicular cliffwalls.. and he managed to swim right next to it.. It was God's Grace.. Nothing else.. The whole water body didnt have even a single other hold... it was all huge mountain walls.. and water inflows...
he heard me ... infact for the first time now... telling him that the rock was just 4 hands to the left... and then he managed to grab it with his left hand.. and as soon as he did that.. he took a dip...
I couldnt see him anymore...
seconds went..
half a minute.. or maybe 20 seconds.. or so..
Then I saw him again... his head came up.. and he grabbed the rock with both hands...
I asked him
"Rahul , theek to hai?"
He nodded...
I shouted back..
"Can you hold on?"
He motioned that his head was spinning and then gestured.. 2 .. he spoke for the first time
"2 mintues"
I couldnt understand why two minutes... I thought that was it... I kept shouting to him.. to keep holding on.. to the rock... to grab more of it...
then with a final thurst.. he put half his body.. till his stomach... on the rock... and lay there motionless on his chest..
there was a moemtary sense of relief. I now knew he wouldnt be drowned... unless he had some spasms or sumthing.. . constant attempts to keep him at conversation.. were done.. sometimes i felt he had blacked out... anything internal could have happenned..
I realised the real threat...
Then from that cliff itself.. I started waving frantically to the fishermen.. maybe 1/2 a km away.. and across the shores of the lake below.. Akhil was doing the same.. from a different hilltop They saw us.. 5-6 men came..
in 10minutes...
with their circular dinghys...
An old 60 year old was one of them.... and I have seen loads of AXN mountain climbers on the telly.. but I dont think any of them could have the deftness or even the guts to do what he did...
With awesome dexterity... he scaled from the cliff head... the 60 feet height that separated me from Rahul... Sometimes relying on thorny shrubs for foot hold or just small crevices where he could place his fingers.. and swing there looking for the next foothold down below..
He reached rahul.. placed one of his foot on the rock...
Moistened his small everfamiliar.. checkered towel with the cold water of the river... and started massaging my friend...
I felt as if God had worked the miracle.. now he had sent the angel....
He massaged him for close to 15 minutes... slowly.. Rahul came back to about normal... He told us from down below.. .. there was no head injury... he managed to stand
35 minutes after the incident.. the fishermen took Rahul to the place I was standing and shouting him advices... cheers.. questions and all junk talk.. from... up the hill cliff
And when he met. me.. He just broke down... I felt like too... The overwhelming feeling I could get was of joy .. that he managed to overcome every peril that I had seen before my eyes ... and innumerable times in this half an hour, at every stage,at every moment, when I, far away from danger myself, just a hapless spectator, had given up my hopes, had despaired, he had overcome it..
And it was only then I realized the importance of his "Just 2 more minutes" answer ... His calf muscles had become big hard rocks... They were Red.. and had protruding veins... The main reason for this dip once reaching the moutain wall was cause he had had a fit of cramps.. and that had brought him down... and still he had managed to rise up.. His feet were a pity.. contusions everywhere.. but that was what had saved him maybe when he had gone under the rocks the middle pool to the bigger one.. He must have gone feet first...
Kalpana is okay now.. maybe her wound required a couple of stitches.. or could do without.. he blood loss stopped after sometime.. she managed to cover it up properly... We were in no position to help her...
Me and Akhil still remember the incident... and feel we thought we had lost him forever...
Rahul has gone to his parents at Alwar... he could get the next day flight itself... He needs a bit of a rest .. atleast for sometime.. and I am amazed at the force he would have put inside of him to fight the current... Human strength is unimaginable.. .These incidents bring them out time and again.. He described how in the first moments when he was inside of the big pond ... how he saw his whole life.... and his parents.. and everyone... and how the whole life flashes before you.. when you are at the brink... at the corridors.. and when you still put in your best.. .collect all your energies.. for the glimmer of hope that you see... maybe the hue of sunshine.. from deep beneath the waters... And how Hanuman chalisa or any other devotion .. can power your mind and with it your body... to achieve the unachievable..
I am proud of my friend.. I am sure he wouldnt have realized the extent of this battle.. but from above the cliff ... whatever I saw of him and his fight for his life... made me sumhow think of the magnificient inner strength and the will power he has in his person... to survive... to make it... to achieve it.
Life is back to the normal... I promise not to be that foolish anymore... Fun and Frolic are the essence of my life now.. I have excursions every weekend.. but its important to have the extra step of caution.... and that is what we overlook all the time... I have some resolutions and learnings:
a) Never Underestimate the Power of Mother Nature.. Anywhere.. anytime
b) Local people... in tourist locations.. might be poor people and hagglers.. greedy ppl who want to empty you of any money the think they can get out of you... but always ask them for advice.. and pay heed to those... say when on a mountainous terrain.. near the sea.. inside of a jungle... or even religious or crowded places...
c) Learn Swimming Properly
Its been some time now.. I hope and wish Rahul all the best.. Its a second life of sorts.. for him..
And for me... the experience of a lifetime.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Boss Kaun Hai... Malum hai kya?
Theme : Say it with Songs #9 ( As per Sam's request.. tho its totally different from the previous songs..)
History: Compilation of RD Songs over half a year.. just to select my best .. Some history tidbits n cookies.. from the internet and otherwise..
Name : Rahul Dev Burman... a.k.a. Pancham...
Resume: Sagar, Amar Prem, 1942 a Love Story, Yaadon Ki baarat, Sunny, Love Story, Ijaazat, Masoom, Parichay, Teesri Manzil, Anamika, Satte Pe Satta, Ghar , Aandhi, Sholay, Hum Kissi se Kum Nahin, Namak Haram,Khel Khel Mein,Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Kati Patang,Padosan, GolMaal... I CAN GO ON!!
Job to Do : Please help me select the best 10 out of these 50... I have failed repeatedly... Can you? :-) All comments welcome..
Here is the list of my favs.. Just have a look at the myriad of moods.. and the variety of music.. Just humm the first line itself... and you will get to know what I am saying :)
RD is All About Guitar !! And Soft Beats !!
1) Chura liya (Yaadon Ki Baaraat):
Asha at her best, and Zeenat too !!
2) Dum maro dum (Hare Krishna Hare Rama):
The beats, the start!! the ambience... its just awesome..
3) Ek main aur ek tu (Khel Khel Main):
It is one of the best songs of the young and naughty Rishi Kapoor-Neetu Singh pair!
4) Saagar Jaisi Aankhonwaali.... (Saagar)
Just look at the guitar piece at the start of this song !! Gives you goosebumps !!
5) Mehbooba Mehbooba (Sholay):
The strings, the beats and the vocals! Mehbooba was all about vivacity. And the icing is Helen... Just think about it... Sholay wouldnt have been sholay without this song.. No way.. Its still a super hit.. and will still be.. Just try pitting this against any of the item numbers that we have nowadays.. or for the last 15 years... and you wont have to decide ...
6) Jaane kaise (Shakti):
This upbeat romantic number was further enhanced by the use of 'wop wop' sounds in the orchestration. Trust RD to make music out of a racket.
RD is the depths of Passion..
1) Yaad aa rahi hai (Love Story):
This is Amit Kumar's best number.
The song even made (father) Kishore Kumar cry when he was recuperating at a hospital following a stroke.
" Yaad aane se, tere jaane se... Jaan... Jaa rahi hai..."
:)
Lovely.... Optimal Orchestra Utilization in this song....
Or if you want me to list "Kya hua .. tera waada" ,,, :) which onez better?
2) Saagar Kinaare ... (Saagar)
3) Kya yahi pyaar hai (Rocky): Mushy, sweet and melodious. Sanjay Dutt owes his first and most memorable love song to R D.
4) Mera kuch saamaan (Ijaazat):
This has a haunting melody. One of my all time favorites.. It is unbelievable how RD missed the National Award when
Asha Bhosle and Gulzar bagged it for this song. Ijaazat's songs cant be beaten.. I can never start listening to Ijaazat and not finish it totally before doing sumthing else..
"Ek akeli Chhatri mein jab aadhe aadhe bheeg rahe they"!!
5) Aise na mujhe tum dekho (Darling Darling):
For those who have only been exposed to the pathetic remix by Vikas Bhalla,
you must check out the original. It is mind-blowing.
6)Tere bina zindagi (Aandhi): All the songs of this film are great hits from the winning combination of lyricist Gulzar and RDB. Its immortalized by the phenomenal Suchitra Sen as the politician.. and Sanjeev Kumar as the estranged lover..
7) Jaane do naa (Saagar):
If a girl sings this way, who would let her go? LOL!! This song is among the most sensual ones.
8) Tumse milke aisa laga (Parinda): One of the most melodious compositions from RDB.. Suresh Wadkar at his best.. My friend, Akhil's fav song..
RD is melody personified in his songs
1) Jaane kya baat hai (Sunny):
What an immortal classic in Lata Mangeshkar's voice! I think this is very close to my best.. definitely in my top 10
2) Aapke aankhon mein kuch (Ghar): Even today, you can feel the freshness of RDB's music through this song.
3) Pyar hua chupke se (1942: A Love Story): All songs of 1942 are good .. Ek ladki ko dekha, Kuch na kaho and Yeh safar .. RD 's personal fav was "yeh Safar" !! Kavita Krish won the Filmfare for Pyar Hua.. remember?
4) Katra katra (Ijaazat): R D and Gulzar at it again. Asha Bhosle's beautiful voice and R D's zingy melody . The 2 Ashas singing effect is awesome
5) Tumne mujhe dekha (Teesri Manzil):
Although "O haseena zulfonwali" and "O mere sona re" were a rage, my personal favourite is the elegantly composed Tumne mujhe dekha.
6) Naam Gum jaayega !! With BHupinder and the immortal Lata.... (Kinara)
7) Diye jalte hain (Namak Haram):
One of the most beautifully written songs on friendship treated with complete justice by R D's gentle melody. This can be dedicated to your best friend anyday.. it says it all.
Just Remember kakaji singing and Big B with the mike.. two super heroes, and truly melodious
The Classical Rahul Dev
1) Beeti na bitaye raina (Parichay):
This song won Lata Mangeshkar and Bhupinder National Awards. From the famous Raag Behag..
2) Raina beeti jaaye (Amar Prem): Dont know the Raga
An unforgettable melody. Truly classic!
Please dont forget "Kuchhh to log kahenge..." and "Chingari Koi" !!
3) Mere naina sawan bhadon (Mehbooba)
Raag Shivaranjani.. one of the only semi classical songs sung by Koshore Kumar.. after days and days of practice..
R D captured the reincarnation theme of the film by lending a haunting touch and a sense of incompleteness to this song.
4) The essential Yaaman kalyan.. in "Huzur is kadar bhii na itraa ke chaliye..
5) Ghar aaja Ghir aayi.. in Raag Maalgunji... superb superb song :) too melodious ... RD's first hit with lata...
RD is subtelity
1) Do naina aur ek kahani (Masoom): Everything about Masoom rocks. Tujhse naraaz, Lakdi ki kaathi and Huzoor iss kadar are marvels in their own right. But the bedtime lullaby in Arati Mukherjis voice is a personal favourite.
everybody else's personal fav: Huzoor is Qadar i guess !!
2) Tu, tu hai wahee (Yeh Waada Raha):
This is a beautiful romantic duet. the film is okay too. Even the pathetic remix sounds good sumtimes! I remember how Rishi Kapoor got angry and retaliated.. when he first saw the pathetic remix..
3) Tujhse naaraaz nahin (Masoom): Another great hit from RDB.
Gum hai kisike pyaar mein (Rampur Ka Lakshman)
4) Iss mod se (Aandhi):
RD is Party !!
1) Pyaar me dilpe maar de goli (Mahaan):
Try and sing this song and you will see how charged you can get! One of my top dance hungama songs !!
2) Jahaan teri yeh nazar hai (Kaalia):
The perfect party track. Slow pace, yet it gets you to your feet!
3) Pyar karne waale (Shaan):
I remember my friend Yashodhara thru this song
4) Aaja aaja main hoon pyaar tera (Teesri Manzil):
The breathlessness of the singers was used as rhythm for this song. it made the legendary music composer Anil Biswas say, 'Had Pancham not been younger to me, I would have touched his feet.'
5) Aao twist karein (Bhoot Bungla):
The king of classical numbers Manna De sang this fresh pop number.
truly classic...
6) Dekha na (Bombay To Goa):
Fast-paced, foot-tapping and at times crazy, Dekha na had Amitabh Bachchan and the nation dancing to its tune! even now .. i guess.. people singing Hindi film songs together in any group anywhere sing this song...
7) Chadthi jawani teri (Caravan): Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle at their best under RDB, with foot-tapping music... Please dont listen to the remix..
8) Piya tu (Caravan)
:) Helen.. helen .. Helen...
RD is the whole spectrum moods.... (ALL MY BEST SONGS)
1) Kiska rasta dekhe (Joshila):
The song is a great blend of Kishore Kumar's voice and the haunting music of RDB. One feels the pain by simply listening to it.
"Bhooli duniya tujhe bhii mujhe.
Phir kyon aankh bhar aayi!!"
2) Kisi baat par mein kissi (Bemisaal): One of my favourites , a true proof of versatility... R D's brooding tune, Anand Bakshi's eloquent lyrics and Amitabh Bachchan's mysteriously sulky disposition make together this perfect song.
3) Phir Wohi Raat hai..
I cant explain this song.. Dont know the lyricist.. but amzing amazing words.. and only RD could put justice to the lyrics...
4) Musaafir Hoon Yaaron...
Aumkar, my friends.. song.. Aum Bhai, wont forget the road trip to Goa when you sang this
5) Jaane jaan doondtha (Jawani Deewani): Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle at their best, in this evergreen hit from lyricist Anand Bakshi.
6) O manjhi re (Khushboo): O manjhi re was more an experience than a song. It is so easy to imagine yourself on a boat philosophising about life and its musings.
7) Rimjhim Gire Saawan ! Sulag sulag jaaye man .. Bheege aaj is mausam mein... !!
Basu Chatterjee's classic Manzil.. I loved the film.. Amitabh at his best..
RD is Innovation
1) Ek chatur naar (Padosan): Who can forget this song? It's the greatest funny song composed in Hindi music.. Reach out for Kishore Kumar and Manna De, interspersed with Mehmood's Tamil touch..
2) Kasme wade nibhaayenge hum (Kasme Wade):
The reason i put this in this category is cos did you know this was composed in the kitchen of lyricist Gulshan Bawra. Even without much concentration, Pancham could compose such immortal tunes. But have a look at the simplicity yet the melody of the composition
3) Baahon mein chale aao (Anamika):
Check out Lata Mangeshkar's voice. Can one get any naughtier? And Jaya Bhaduri didnt have to show any cleavage and oomph like the remix girl does.. the song and the picturization .. (with Sanjeev Kumar) are really beautiful..
The remix and the original really bring out the change of taste of film directors..
4) Na jaa jaane jaa (Joshilay):
R D sang this song for Sunny Deol. He sang the mukhda in all possible permutations and combinations.
Just awesome .... Javed Akhtar??
5) Mamaiya kaiero mama (Arjun):
This song signifies youth. What attitude! Loved the young sunny deol..
6) Hum kisise kam nahin (Hum Kisise Kam Nahin):
Talk of qawwali, here comes the king.
The hit combination -- Majrooh Sultanpuri and RDB and Nasir Hussain. HKKN along with Yaadon Ki Baaraat and Zamane Ko Dhikhana.
7) Lalla lalla lori (Mukti):
This was the nation's lori (lullaby) composed by the legend.
8) Yeh dosti (Sholay)
Teri jeet meri jeet teri haar meri haar.. aisa apna pyaar. :)
The song that captured the whole theme of the mega movie..
9) Kaanchi re Kaanchi (Hare Rama Hare Krishna)
Lovely Pahadi theme interspersed with the film's screenplay..
10) Pyar humein kis mod (Satte Pe Satta):
:) One of the funniest.. . "Battiyan bujhaane waali jaane kab aayegi " ;-) ;-)
11) Yamma Yamma..
Lovely combination with Rafi Sa'ab.. RD with his Hoo - Haa !! a Blast-Off start to the song and the awesome pace...
Some other numbers (not so favorites personally , but huge hits):
1) Pyar diwana hota hai (Kati Patang)
2) Bade achche lagte hain (Balika Badhu)
3) Dilbar mere (Satte Pe Satta)
4) Hamen tumse pyaar (Kudrat)
5) Aane wala pal (Gol Maal)
6) Ek din bik jaayega (Dharam Karam)
7) Aanewaala pal (Golmaal):
9) Jiss gali mein tera ghar (Kati Patang): Mukesh and RD !!10)Yeh jo mohhabbat hai
11)Pyar diwana hota hain
12) Kehdoon tumhe (Deewar):
13) Hum bewafa (Shalimar):
RD is still the best... Even 5 films like Jhankaar Beats are not enough tribute to him..
I hope we have such a genius again in our lifetime.. or I will spend my life listening to his compositions only.. !!
History: Compilation of RD Songs over half a year.. just to select my best .. Some history tidbits n cookies.. from the internet and otherwise..
Name : Rahul Dev Burman... a.k.a. Pancham...
Resume: Sagar, Amar Prem, 1942 a Love Story, Yaadon Ki baarat, Sunny, Love Story, Ijaazat, Masoom, Parichay, Teesri Manzil, Anamika, Satte Pe Satta, Ghar , Aandhi, Sholay, Hum Kissi se Kum Nahin, Namak Haram,Khel Khel Mein,Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Kati Patang,Padosan, GolMaal... I CAN GO ON!!
Job to Do : Please help me select the best 10 out of these 50... I have failed repeatedly... Can you? :-) All comments welcome..
Here is the list of my favs.. Just have a look at the myriad of moods.. and the variety of music.. Just humm the first line itself... and you will get to know what I am saying :)
RD is All About Guitar !! And Soft Beats !!
1) Chura liya (Yaadon Ki Baaraat):
Asha at her best, and Zeenat too !!
2) Dum maro dum (Hare Krishna Hare Rama):
The beats, the start!! the ambience... its just awesome..
3) Ek main aur ek tu (Khel Khel Main):
It is one of the best songs of the young and naughty Rishi Kapoor-Neetu Singh pair!
4) Saagar Jaisi Aankhonwaali.... (Saagar)
Just look at the guitar piece at the start of this song !! Gives you goosebumps !!
5) Mehbooba Mehbooba (Sholay):
The strings, the beats and the vocals! Mehbooba was all about vivacity. And the icing is Helen... Just think about it... Sholay wouldnt have been sholay without this song.. No way.. Its still a super hit.. and will still be.. Just try pitting this against any of the item numbers that we have nowadays.. or for the last 15 years... and you wont have to decide ...
6) Jaane kaise (Shakti):
This upbeat romantic number was further enhanced by the use of 'wop wop' sounds in the orchestration. Trust RD to make music out of a racket.
RD is the depths of Passion..
1) Yaad aa rahi hai (Love Story):
This is Amit Kumar's best number.
The song even made (father) Kishore Kumar cry when he was recuperating at a hospital following a stroke.
" Yaad aane se, tere jaane se... Jaan... Jaa rahi hai..."
:)
Lovely.... Optimal Orchestra Utilization in this song....
Or if you want me to list "Kya hua .. tera waada" ,,, :) which onez better?
2) Saagar Kinaare ... (Saagar)
3) Kya yahi pyaar hai (Rocky): Mushy, sweet and melodious. Sanjay Dutt owes his first and most memorable love song to R D.
4) Mera kuch saamaan (Ijaazat):
This has a haunting melody. One of my all time favorites.. It is unbelievable how RD missed the National Award when
Asha Bhosle and Gulzar bagged it for this song. Ijaazat's songs cant be beaten.. I can never start listening to Ijaazat and not finish it totally before doing sumthing else..
"Ek akeli Chhatri mein jab aadhe aadhe bheeg rahe they"!!
5) Aise na mujhe tum dekho (Darling Darling):
For those who have only been exposed to the pathetic remix by Vikas Bhalla,
you must check out the original. It is mind-blowing.
6)Tere bina zindagi (Aandhi): All the songs of this film are great hits from the winning combination of lyricist Gulzar and RDB. Its immortalized by the phenomenal Suchitra Sen as the politician.. and Sanjeev Kumar as the estranged lover..
7) Jaane do naa (Saagar):
If a girl sings this way, who would let her go? LOL!! This song is among the most sensual ones.
8) Tumse milke aisa laga (Parinda): One of the most melodious compositions from RDB.. Suresh Wadkar at his best.. My friend, Akhil's fav song..
RD is melody personified in his songs
1) Jaane kya baat hai (Sunny):
What an immortal classic in Lata Mangeshkar's voice! I think this is very close to my best.. definitely in my top 10
2) Aapke aankhon mein kuch (Ghar): Even today, you can feel the freshness of RDB's music through this song.
3) Pyar hua chupke se (1942: A Love Story): All songs of 1942 are good .. Ek ladki ko dekha, Kuch na kaho and Yeh safar .. RD 's personal fav was "yeh Safar" !! Kavita Krish won the Filmfare for Pyar Hua.. remember?
4) Katra katra (Ijaazat): R D and Gulzar at it again. Asha Bhosle's beautiful voice and R D's zingy melody . The 2 Ashas singing effect is awesome
5) Tumne mujhe dekha (Teesri Manzil):
Although "O haseena zulfonwali" and "O mere sona re" were a rage, my personal favourite is the elegantly composed Tumne mujhe dekha.
6) Naam Gum jaayega !! With BHupinder and the immortal Lata.... (Kinara)
7) Diye jalte hain (Namak Haram):
One of the most beautifully written songs on friendship treated with complete justice by R D's gentle melody. This can be dedicated to your best friend anyday.. it says it all.
Just Remember kakaji singing and Big B with the mike.. two super heroes, and truly melodious
The Classical Rahul Dev
1) Beeti na bitaye raina (Parichay):
This song won Lata Mangeshkar and Bhupinder National Awards. From the famous Raag Behag..
2) Raina beeti jaaye (Amar Prem): Dont know the Raga
An unforgettable melody. Truly classic!
Please dont forget "Kuchhh to log kahenge..." and "Chingari Koi" !!
3) Mere naina sawan bhadon (Mehbooba)
Raag Shivaranjani.. one of the only semi classical songs sung by Koshore Kumar.. after days and days of practice..
R D captured the reincarnation theme of the film by lending a haunting touch and a sense of incompleteness to this song.
4) The essential Yaaman kalyan.. in "Huzur is kadar bhii na itraa ke chaliye..
5) Ghar aaja Ghir aayi.. in Raag Maalgunji... superb superb song :) too melodious ... RD's first hit with lata...
RD is subtelity
1) Do naina aur ek kahani (Masoom): Everything about Masoom rocks. Tujhse naraaz, Lakdi ki kaathi and Huzoor iss kadar are marvels in their own right. But the bedtime lullaby in Arati Mukherjis voice is a personal favourite.
everybody else's personal fav: Huzoor is Qadar i guess !!
2) Tu, tu hai wahee (Yeh Waada Raha):
This is a beautiful romantic duet. the film is okay too. Even the pathetic remix sounds good sumtimes! I remember how Rishi Kapoor got angry and retaliated.. when he first saw the pathetic remix..
3) Tujhse naaraaz nahin (Masoom): Another great hit from RDB.
Gum hai kisike pyaar mein (Rampur Ka Lakshman)
4) Iss mod se (Aandhi):
RD is Party !!
1) Pyaar me dilpe maar de goli (Mahaan):
Try and sing this song and you will see how charged you can get! One of my top dance hungama songs !!
2) Jahaan teri yeh nazar hai (Kaalia):
The perfect party track. Slow pace, yet it gets you to your feet!
3) Pyar karne waale (Shaan):
I remember my friend Yashodhara thru this song
4) Aaja aaja main hoon pyaar tera (Teesri Manzil):
The breathlessness of the singers was used as rhythm for this song. it made the legendary music composer Anil Biswas say, 'Had Pancham not been younger to me, I would have touched his feet.'
5) Aao twist karein (Bhoot Bungla):
The king of classical numbers Manna De sang this fresh pop number.
truly classic...
6) Dekha na (Bombay To Goa):
Fast-paced, foot-tapping and at times crazy, Dekha na had Amitabh Bachchan and the nation dancing to its tune! even now .. i guess.. people singing Hindi film songs together in any group anywhere sing this song...
7) Chadthi jawani teri (Caravan): Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle at their best under RDB, with foot-tapping music... Please dont listen to the remix..
8) Piya tu (Caravan)
:) Helen.. helen .. Helen...
RD is the whole spectrum moods.... (ALL MY BEST SONGS)
1) Kiska rasta dekhe (Joshila):
The song is a great blend of Kishore Kumar's voice and the haunting music of RDB. One feels the pain by simply listening to it.
"Bhooli duniya tujhe bhii mujhe.
Phir kyon aankh bhar aayi!!"
2) Kisi baat par mein kissi (Bemisaal): One of my favourites , a true proof of versatility... R D's brooding tune, Anand Bakshi's eloquent lyrics and Amitabh Bachchan's mysteriously sulky disposition make together this perfect song.
3) Phir Wohi Raat hai..
I cant explain this song.. Dont know the lyricist.. but amzing amazing words.. and only RD could put justice to the lyrics...
4) Musaafir Hoon Yaaron...
Aumkar, my friends.. song.. Aum Bhai, wont forget the road trip to Goa when you sang this
5) Jaane jaan doondtha (Jawani Deewani): Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle at their best, in this evergreen hit from lyricist Anand Bakshi.
6) O manjhi re (Khushboo): O manjhi re was more an experience than a song. It is so easy to imagine yourself on a boat philosophising about life and its musings.
7) Rimjhim Gire Saawan ! Sulag sulag jaaye man .. Bheege aaj is mausam mein... !!
Basu Chatterjee's classic Manzil.. I loved the film.. Amitabh at his best..
RD is Innovation
1) Ek chatur naar (Padosan): Who can forget this song? It's the greatest funny song composed in Hindi music.. Reach out for Kishore Kumar and Manna De, interspersed with Mehmood's Tamil touch..
2) Kasme wade nibhaayenge hum (Kasme Wade):
The reason i put this in this category is cos did you know this was composed in the kitchen of lyricist Gulshan Bawra. Even without much concentration, Pancham could compose such immortal tunes. But have a look at the simplicity yet the melody of the composition
3) Baahon mein chale aao (Anamika):
Check out Lata Mangeshkar's voice. Can one get any naughtier? And Jaya Bhaduri didnt have to show any cleavage and oomph like the remix girl does.. the song and the picturization .. (with Sanjeev Kumar) are really beautiful..
The remix and the original really bring out the change of taste of film directors..
4) Na jaa jaane jaa (Joshilay):
R D sang this song for Sunny Deol. He sang the mukhda in all possible permutations and combinations.
Just awesome .... Javed Akhtar??
5) Mamaiya kaiero mama (Arjun):
This song signifies youth. What attitude! Loved the young sunny deol..
6) Hum kisise kam nahin (Hum Kisise Kam Nahin):
Talk of qawwali, here comes the king.
The hit combination -- Majrooh Sultanpuri and RDB and Nasir Hussain. HKKN along with Yaadon Ki Baaraat and Zamane Ko Dhikhana.
7) Lalla lalla lori (Mukti):
This was the nation's lori (lullaby) composed by the legend.
8) Yeh dosti (Sholay)
Teri jeet meri jeet teri haar meri haar.. aisa apna pyaar. :)
The song that captured the whole theme of the mega movie..
9) Kaanchi re Kaanchi (Hare Rama Hare Krishna)
Lovely Pahadi theme interspersed with the film's screenplay..
10) Pyar humein kis mod (Satte Pe Satta):
:) One of the funniest.. . "Battiyan bujhaane waali jaane kab aayegi " ;-) ;-)
11) Yamma Yamma..
Lovely combination with Rafi Sa'ab.. RD with his Hoo - Haa !! a Blast-Off start to the song and the awesome pace...
Some other numbers (not so favorites personally , but huge hits):
1) Pyar diwana hota hai (Kati Patang)
2) Bade achche lagte hain (Balika Badhu)
3) Dilbar mere (Satte Pe Satta)
4) Hamen tumse pyaar (Kudrat)
5) Aane wala pal (Gol Maal)
6) Ek din bik jaayega (Dharam Karam)
7) Aanewaala pal (Golmaal):
9) Jiss gali mein tera ghar (Kati Patang): Mukesh and RD !!10)Yeh jo mohhabbat hai
11)Pyar diwana hota hain
12) Kehdoon tumhe (Deewar):
13) Hum bewafa (Shalimar):
RD is still the best... Even 5 films like Jhankaar Beats are not enough tribute to him..
I hope we have such a genius again in our lifetime.. or I will spend my life listening to his compositions only.. !!
Friday, November 19, 2004
Translating a genius, on love
What is anxiety my friend? Oh playmate, what is agony?
You all say day and night, 'love, love,love'
Tell me my playmate, what is love? Is it only torment?
It is only shedding tears? Is that only sorrow's breathing?
Why then, in what expectation of joy, people hopefully embrace such sorrow?
In my eyes all is handsome, All fresh, all spotless.
The blue sky, darkgreen wood, Liberal moonlight, the soft flowers - every thing like me.
They only smile, only sing,
and wish to die after a sportive game
(love) knows no pain, knows no crying, its above all kinds of agony.
Flowers laugh while they get shed, the moonlight smilingly disappears,
In the sea of light the star, all smiles, does his form abandon.
Who is happy like me? Come friend, come near to me
The joyous song of a happy heart will feed your mind with solace.
If everyday you cry, why not laugh for a single day
Forget all sadness for at least a day, let us sing together.
A Translation of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore's "Sakhi Bhavana Kaharey Bale"
--- The adolescent knocking on the doors of womanhood, to her confidante, about her overwhelming yet ambivalent feeling of love...
Picturised on a early 20th century newly wed 16 year old girl talking to her friend who has come to visit her at her inlaws, over a moonlit gardenside...
You all say day and night, 'love, love,love'
Tell me my playmate, what is love? Is it only torment?
It is only shedding tears? Is that only sorrow's breathing?
Why then, in what expectation of joy, people hopefully embrace such sorrow?
In my eyes all is handsome, All fresh, all spotless.
The blue sky, darkgreen wood, Liberal moonlight, the soft flowers - every thing like me.
They only smile, only sing,
and wish to die after a sportive game
(love) knows no pain, knows no crying, its above all kinds of agony.
Flowers laugh while they get shed, the moonlight smilingly disappears,
In the sea of light the star, all smiles, does his form abandon.
Who is happy like me? Come friend, come near to me
The joyous song of a happy heart will feed your mind with solace.
If everyday you cry, why not laugh for a single day
Forget all sadness for at least a day, let us sing together.
A Translation of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore's "Sakhi Bhavana Kaharey Bale"
--- The adolescent knocking on the doors of womanhood, to her confidante, about her overwhelming yet ambivalent feeling of love...
Picturised on a early 20th century newly wed 16 year old girl talking to her friend who has come to visit her at her inlaws, over a moonlit gardenside...
Friday, November 12, 2004
Mobile Musings
One of the biggest revolutions the past decade that has been a benchmark of the technological and social progress for all economies in both developed and developing world has been the mobile revolution. Over the last 5-6 years, we are witnessing a n exponential growth of cellphone users, and that’s exactly what was expected. I checked the statistics for the current Indian cellphone subscribers the other day, and the number is 350 lacs and counting. The reach has been widespread, over all realms of society, over rural and urban lifestyles and for both personal and work based necessity. People now term it almost as successful as the great television revolution of the 80s that helped the society take great strides towards progress. Communicative media has undergone huge changes, long distances don’t matter that much anymore, and people are relishing the power of a 24 hour anyplace anytime connectivity.
“The Effects of Feel-Good Fashion” : Are we listening?
The mobile revolution apart from taking the large strides in reaching out to the masses, has also fuelled a greater usage and dependence on phone calls. Over all countries people can be found spending increasing amount of hours on the mobile, at the workplace, in transit or just to call a person for a cup of tea.
But are we listening to the scientific reports and the research labs statements that are coming up year after year? They persistently indicate that cellphone users need to actively worry about the health hazards to using cell-phones and take apt precautionary steps to avoid bad consequences.
Here are some of the facts as I have read on the internet and on papers:
a) Heavy Mobile Phone users are at high risk of Emanating Radiation.. It has been tested using animals and some human cells as well. There are substantial evidence to these results..
b) Not only physical distraction in case of driving, crossing the road, mobiles affect concentration. They affect short term memory and therefore can affect stablility.
c) The Radiation volume is not negligible. Also long heavy usage can lead to permanent loss of concentration and can affect the safety of the human being.
A Root Cause Analysis : OverIndulgence ? Or is it the need of the times?
When it started, mobile culture was hep. In my college times, you were cool when you got a ring in the campus. It made you look important, and you would always “Excuse Me” your way out of your group, your current occupation and animatedly talk your way out into a distance while the others gaped on. Remember the days of 16 rupees outgoing and 8 rupees incoming? Nowadays I see neighborhood mothers swear by how important her freshman daughter’s mobile call after every class in the varsity is to her, to let her know that she is safe. Others nod their heads in approval. There have been protests from guardians when schools principals disallowed cellphone usage in schools. It requires 4 cell-phones in a family of a housewife, father of two running a shop 4 blocks away, a college and a just joined office employee. Somewhere down these few years, inadvertently the luxury has transformed into a necessity. And why not, after all aren’t Raju Plumber and Manjunath Electrician legit entries in my own cellphone? What the heck, the carpenter is also there for just in case. Does my mother need to go in person to the grocer for the monthly this and that? Naah. She calls the number instead.
Off late the mobile is also the most apt testbed for technical gizmos. Its never just a phone. Mridul, my friend, recently showed me the whole Price of Persia game developed in Java downloaded to his mobile.. My colleague Kiran has recently bought a Nokia N-GAGE and I got to see the whole of Adnan Sami’s “Lift Karadey” on his mobile running a 1K MB Memory card. Fantastic. Anything on the work fronts ? Ashok, another colleague tells me of how Invensys worked on database secure calls over phone sms to its systems from the UNIX Administrator’s cell phone.
So where is the youth without a mobile? Its no-more just to make/receive calls. It’s a camera for the times you need one, it’s the extended PDA with Mailbox, web browsing capabilities. Its your organizer, your calculator, and even your entertainer.
As companies dole out new models one after the other, spare some time to look at how much time the city youth spends with his mobile, either gaming away or talking to friends, or maybe just like that.. So for these handset companies who are laughing their way to the bank shouldn’t there be any moral responsibility to safeguard health interests of its customer?
Twist my arm or bend my back : It’s the Corporate’s World
Not a long while ago, Coke India successfully rubbished up a medical institution’s claims that their concentrate/liquid contained pesticides. The director of that small institution was shown as having ulterior motives, claims were made about 99% quality and “we’ll look into the matter” and as usual the topic lived its own course and died in a month.
Here is some more read up information:
a) More and More government agencies are issuing warnings against the excessive usage of cellphones. But they cant admit a “general risk” for cellphone users. Governments themselves are hesitant to admit the problem cos it will blow the matter out and inside their inner corridors, the corporates have enough muscles to flex on their own.
b) The mobile industry is deemed “unfit” to participate in an open discussion. Every handset manufacturer claims that there is a lack of proper evidence and testing.
c) “Legal Liability prevents industry to enter into a co-operative effort to solve a problem they don’t even recognize. Precautionary Steps therefore are also being blocked.”
d) New technology will make the cellphone costlier on the purse and a direct loss of great future markets of China and India will ensue. If cellphones are to undergo the sort of procedures e.g. followed by drugs it will be far costlier for the companies.
You point at us.. why don’t you give a feasible solution
The fight will be really between the economic bigwigs. The capitalist corporate that has over the years made the phone cheaper and easier to use on one hand, with all the advantages that I describe before, and the socialist medical and research organization that thinks this to be a health danger, that thinks that the consumer ought to have the right to judge and the information about the potential consequence (that the corporates can deftly hide) but alas doesn’t have the standing and clout to fight out his cause. The solutions are in an active participation of organizations like TRAI, the ISI, the MRTPC and the Consumer Courts, the foreign counterparts FDA and other public health authorities. They should oblige and take a stern posture for these reports.
Its not easy to embed biochips for diagnostics or implement the EMX standards so widely talked about and give it to the common man, but atleast, we shouldn’t just coffin up this issue. For you can maybe do without your Coke everyday, will you be able to leave the phone? And if you cant prevent or stop the radiation, why prevent an active participation on statutory warnings on cellphone usage, or give health messages for need based use of a mobile and its safe handling. But I guess, then you enrage the other section of corporate giants who have been the other money churners - the cellular service providers themselves. Why would they want a reduction of phone calls? Hutch just announced a whole new east India package yesterday. It can eat out these research organizations 50 times over and not even burp.
What I think ….. : But who am I anyways..
I have an everyday average talk time of 45 minutes. I have my daily mp3 sessions over the earphone for 3 hours. I generally find me correcting myself for speaking too loudly sometimes, and remember the days when I could speak slowly into the speaker and the caller on the other end could hear but the person three paces away couldn’t.. :)
My Mother had called me a few months back saying.. “Don’t put the phone on your trouser pocket. People are becoming impotent” . Thats not utterly hilarious anymore. I can say I am veering towards the superstitious line too. Should I keep it in the chest pocket or the trouser one?
ATMs have warning boards, the air hostess gives her customary interfering with airplane systems announcement atleast 3 times on the flight deck, precaution in petrol pumps is the thing to abide by, some gentlemen also take care to switch their phones off before hospital medical gadgets, but why cant we be aware of our own biological system that’s in danger and take positive steps in this regard? I think this is a far dangerous and widespread customer quality issue that needs to be addressed, maybe more than anything else in city world..
All the same, its mostly us that have made ourselves overtly dependant on the gadget. People might disagree but its more Indians who I find chatting away on the local Mumbai train or across Marine drive than whatever I could see of the busy New Yorker walking past me at Manhattan. I have seen my American colleagues switch off their mobiles while at work.. keep it at entirely personal basis and more importantly.. I didn’t find the left hand of their youth always grabbing the gadget while at the theater.. or the mall or place it on the table during the office meet , maybe its generally put inside of the handbag or inside of any other carrier.. But never does it occupy one hand always as it does to the young in our cities…
Most of us remember the Nokia Handsfree advertisement that used to show a city full of neck-craned people due to over exposure to the tilted cellphone posture. Maybe some Human Rights Organizations should portray deaf and dumb people walking past in each other in the year 2015.. I don’t know the way to bring this matter to the notice of the people and start some corrective action. but can only plead or urge the capable..
My phone’s playing Guns and Roses’ Sweet Child o’ Mine at a distance. That means Akhil must have called.. I gotta take this.. :) Bye for now..
“The Effects of Feel-Good Fashion” : Are we listening?
The mobile revolution apart from taking the large strides in reaching out to the masses, has also fuelled a greater usage and dependence on phone calls. Over all countries people can be found spending increasing amount of hours on the mobile, at the workplace, in transit or just to call a person for a cup of tea.
But are we listening to the scientific reports and the research labs statements that are coming up year after year? They persistently indicate that cellphone users need to actively worry about the health hazards to using cell-phones and take apt precautionary steps to avoid bad consequences.
Here are some of the facts as I have read on the internet and on papers:
a) Heavy Mobile Phone users are at high risk of Emanating Radiation.. It has been tested using animals and some human cells as well. There are substantial evidence to these results..
b) Not only physical distraction in case of driving, crossing the road, mobiles affect concentration. They affect short term memory and therefore can affect stablility.
c) The Radiation volume is not negligible. Also long heavy usage can lead to permanent loss of concentration and can affect the safety of the human being.
A Root Cause Analysis : OverIndulgence ? Or is it the need of the times?
When it started, mobile culture was hep. In my college times, you were cool when you got a ring in the campus. It made you look important, and you would always “Excuse Me” your way out of your group, your current occupation and animatedly talk your way out into a distance while the others gaped on. Remember the days of 16 rupees outgoing and 8 rupees incoming? Nowadays I see neighborhood mothers swear by how important her freshman daughter’s mobile call after every class in the varsity is to her, to let her know that she is safe. Others nod their heads in approval. There have been protests from guardians when schools principals disallowed cellphone usage in schools. It requires 4 cell-phones in a family of a housewife, father of two running a shop 4 blocks away, a college and a just joined office employee. Somewhere down these few years, inadvertently the luxury has transformed into a necessity. And why not, after all aren’t Raju Plumber and Manjunath Electrician legit entries in my own cellphone? What the heck, the carpenter is also there for just in case. Does my mother need to go in person to the grocer for the monthly this and that? Naah. She calls the number instead.
Off late the mobile is also the most apt testbed for technical gizmos. Its never just a phone. Mridul, my friend, recently showed me the whole Price of Persia game developed in Java downloaded to his mobile.. My colleague Kiran has recently bought a Nokia N-GAGE and I got to see the whole of Adnan Sami’s “Lift Karadey” on his mobile running a 1K MB Memory card. Fantastic. Anything on the work fronts ? Ashok, another colleague tells me of how Invensys worked on database secure calls over phone sms to its systems from the UNIX Administrator’s cell phone.
So where is the youth without a mobile? Its no-more just to make/receive calls. It’s a camera for the times you need one, it’s the extended PDA with Mailbox, web browsing capabilities. Its your organizer, your calculator, and even your entertainer.
As companies dole out new models one after the other, spare some time to look at how much time the city youth spends with his mobile, either gaming away or talking to friends, or maybe just like that.. So for these handset companies who are laughing their way to the bank shouldn’t there be any moral responsibility to safeguard health interests of its customer?
Twist my arm or bend my back : It’s the Corporate’s World
Not a long while ago, Coke India successfully rubbished up a medical institution’s claims that their concentrate/liquid contained pesticides. The director of that small institution was shown as having ulterior motives, claims were made about 99% quality and “we’ll look into the matter” and as usual the topic lived its own course and died in a month.
Here is some more read up information:
a) More and More government agencies are issuing warnings against the excessive usage of cellphones. But they cant admit a “general risk” for cellphone users. Governments themselves are hesitant to admit the problem cos it will blow the matter out and inside their inner corridors, the corporates have enough muscles to flex on their own.
b) The mobile industry is deemed “unfit” to participate in an open discussion. Every handset manufacturer claims that there is a lack of proper evidence and testing.
c) “Legal Liability prevents industry to enter into a co-operative effort to solve a problem they don’t even recognize. Precautionary Steps therefore are also being blocked.”
d) New technology will make the cellphone costlier on the purse and a direct loss of great future markets of China and India will ensue. If cellphones are to undergo the sort of procedures e.g. followed by drugs it will be far costlier for the companies.
You point at us.. why don’t you give a feasible solution
The fight will be really between the economic bigwigs. The capitalist corporate that has over the years made the phone cheaper and easier to use on one hand, with all the advantages that I describe before, and the socialist medical and research organization that thinks this to be a health danger, that thinks that the consumer ought to have the right to judge and the information about the potential consequence (that the corporates can deftly hide) but alas doesn’t have the standing and clout to fight out his cause. The solutions are in an active participation of organizations like TRAI, the ISI, the MRTPC and the Consumer Courts, the foreign counterparts FDA and other public health authorities. They should oblige and take a stern posture for these reports.
Its not easy to embed biochips for diagnostics or implement the EMX standards so widely talked about and give it to the common man, but atleast, we shouldn’t just coffin up this issue. For you can maybe do without your Coke everyday, will you be able to leave the phone? And if you cant prevent or stop the radiation, why prevent an active participation on statutory warnings on cellphone usage, or give health messages for need based use of a mobile and its safe handling. But I guess, then you enrage the other section of corporate giants who have been the other money churners - the cellular service providers themselves. Why would they want a reduction of phone calls? Hutch just announced a whole new east India package yesterday. It can eat out these research organizations 50 times over and not even burp.
What I think ….. : But who am I anyways..
I have an everyday average talk time of 45 minutes. I have my daily mp3 sessions over the earphone for 3 hours. I generally find me correcting myself for speaking too loudly sometimes, and remember the days when I could speak slowly into the speaker and the caller on the other end could hear but the person three paces away couldn’t.. :)
My Mother had called me a few months back saying.. “Don’t put the phone on your trouser pocket. People are becoming impotent” . Thats not utterly hilarious anymore. I can say I am veering towards the superstitious line too. Should I keep it in the chest pocket or the trouser one?
ATMs have warning boards, the air hostess gives her customary interfering with airplane systems announcement atleast 3 times on the flight deck, precaution in petrol pumps is the thing to abide by, some gentlemen also take care to switch their phones off before hospital medical gadgets, but why cant we be aware of our own biological system that’s in danger and take positive steps in this regard? I think this is a far dangerous and widespread customer quality issue that needs to be addressed, maybe more than anything else in city world..
All the same, its mostly us that have made ourselves overtly dependant on the gadget. People might disagree but its more Indians who I find chatting away on the local Mumbai train or across Marine drive than whatever I could see of the busy New Yorker walking past me at Manhattan. I have seen my American colleagues switch off their mobiles while at work.. keep it at entirely personal basis and more importantly.. I didn’t find the left hand of their youth always grabbing the gadget while at the theater.. or the mall or place it on the table during the office meet , maybe its generally put inside of the handbag or inside of any other carrier.. But never does it occupy one hand always as it does to the young in our cities…
Most of us remember the Nokia Handsfree advertisement that used to show a city full of neck-craned people due to over exposure to the tilted cellphone posture. Maybe some Human Rights Organizations should portray deaf and dumb people walking past in each other in the year 2015.. I don’t know the way to bring this matter to the notice of the people and start some corrective action. but can only plead or urge the capable..
My phone’s playing Guns and Roses’ Sweet Child o’ Mine at a distance. That means Akhil must have called.. I gotta take this.. :) Bye for now..
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
The Festival of Lights !!
Its Diwali !! The Festival of Lights !!
Wishing all visitors a very happy and prosperous Diwali and a happy Eid !!
Enjoy with your family n friends ! Eat lots of sweets !! Burst Crackers , light up your house and wish everyone you find :)
Have a safe diwali folks !!
Wishing all visitors a very happy and prosperous Diwali and a happy Eid !!
Enjoy with your family n friends ! Eat lots of sweets !! Burst Crackers , light up your house and wish everyone you find :)
Have a safe diwali folks !!
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Back @ Bangalore !!
Life in Bangalore is back to normal… My cubicle at office, meetings, Heated discussions, the stroll after lunchtime, coping with the ever changing one way roads of the city and the fluctuations in climate.. the friendly evening drizzle, the haggling autowallahs.. and the ever pleasing Kannada brethren… It feels good to be back here and I am already tingling at the prospect of a good outing outside of the city in the coming long weekend and holidays.. I have ten places on my mind, but have to catch up with lots of personal work and commitments all the same..
Lots of spare time in the US made me used to the idiot box more than I had expected I would.. News channels there are a farce. They are biased and have closed views, demeaning to other cultures and are over obsessed with Security, Lawsuits and Celebrities. Good ol’ Discovery did help a lot but I didn’t mind watching old re-runs of Friends and Everybody loves Raymond… Some talked about serials were watched too , during cooking time.. like, Smallville, and 7th Heaven..
I am back to watching Shaan’s SaReGaMaPa., or EnCounter at CNBC,or HARDTalk at BBC, or Rendezvous with Simi, Unluckily, my Sunday 5:30 Formula One appointment will have to wait till the start of the next season..( I missed all the last 8 races ) but could get a bit of the Champions league (UEFA) and the Chennai Test vs Australia I am happy about that..
Some nice Adverts on air too :) especially liked the Old couple in the SBI life Insurance Ad :)) .. love it when the gentleman says “Hire ko kya pataa tumhaari umr kya hai ?” :)
The Saif – Tiger Pataudi Lays ad is pretty hilarious too :) .. so is the new Pepsi comm, with Big B and Arshad ‘Circuit’ Warsi !!
But perharps the most refreshing one was when I heard the first “Babbar Sher” on Radio City after 4 months !! And I went “Oh yes Babe !! I missed this.. !! And I am back” :) :)
Bangalore is as green as it gets.. Also Its fall time still and some pavements are littered with shedded seasonal flowers and leaves.. The KGA Golf Course on my way to office looks an awesome sight… and maybe it’s the laid back pleasant climate that goads you to occasional indulgements and keep a happy demeanor.
I don’t think many people can boast of having a cubicle with such a beautiful view of the city as I have.. From one side of my seat, I can view the entire Bangalore Race Course. If youre tired of your work, just go to the window sill with a cup of coffee and watch the thoroughbred bangtails being pruned.. cleaned meticulously or the occasional trot they are given .. or just the orderly rambling about ..
On the other side toward the canteen end.. is a full blown panoramic view of Central Bangalore.. You can see the majestic Vidhana Soudha (the General Assembly) jutting its head from amongst the tree blanket.. and to the right, what you would call Downtown Bangalore.. the buildings across / about M.G.Road .. other taller buildings can be seen in a distance,, but what is the most pleasing is the rich abundance of flora the city presents you.. cap it with a light breeze and a drizzle here and there.. and it makes up for a pretty artistic setting.. Refreshing too..
I have started with V.S.Naipaul’s India- A Million Mutinies now.. Looks a good book, the first chapter was a pretty interesting read, and such is the power of these exceptional writers and such is the command over the language, that they can make you believe in anything they say.. He has begun by presenting what he understood Mumbai as when he visted the city in the early nineties. And you are shocked at his interpretations and awestruck with the dexterity at which he describes the city. at the same time.. I had been late for his speech at the Crosswords, Bangalore and he had left minutes after I had reached there.. but I had heard. I hadn’t missed much since he was disgusted at the way people were moving about while he was reading about excerpts from one of his recent books.. (dont remember the name) and that he had cut it short..
Right now, its both hands full for me … I have loads of work and many project deliveries lined up.. Have to meet loads of friends.. some relatives.. Some old acquaintances have added themselves to the ever growing populace of this IT city and they demand quick meetups.. I wouldn’t mind less.. Have to catch on with what has been happening here over the past months as well.. plus its festival and holidays time.. so.. I’d better finalize the plans… and the reservations and the booking that are needed alongside
They say you should that change the smile and greets from your face to the omnipresent Indian frown to be more at ease when you land in India.. Thankfully it hasn’t been the case for me. Instead of arching the lower lip backwards.. I find people getting more glimpses of my teeth than ever before.. I am back to motherland.. for the time being.. and I am happy about it..
The smiles don’t cease… and I pray to God , and hope that they wont.. J
Meanwhile, some overheard raillery from across the picket fence
Wife to Husband.. “You look like a Saint”..
Husband : “Thank you :) Which saint?”
Wife: “A Saint Bernard”
Cheers !! :) !!
Lots of spare time in the US made me used to the idiot box more than I had expected I would.. News channels there are a farce. They are biased and have closed views, demeaning to other cultures and are over obsessed with Security, Lawsuits and Celebrities. Good ol’ Discovery did help a lot but I didn’t mind watching old re-runs of Friends and Everybody loves Raymond… Some talked about serials were watched too , during cooking time.. like, Smallville, and 7th Heaven..
I am back to watching Shaan’s SaReGaMaPa., or EnCounter at CNBC,or HARDTalk at BBC, or Rendezvous with Simi, Unluckily, my Sunday 5:30 Formula One appointment will have to wait till the start of the next season..( I missed all the last 8 races ) but could get a bit of the Champions league (UEFA) and the Chennai Test vs Australia I am happy about that..
Some nice Adverts on air too :) especially liked the Old couple in the SBI life Insurance Ad :)) .. love it when the gentleman says “Hire ko kya pataa tumhaari umr kya hai ?” :)
The Saif – Tiger Pataudi Lays ad is pretty hilarious too :) .. so is the new Pepsi comm, with Big B and Arshad ‘Circuit’ Warsi !!
But perharps the most refreshing one was when I heard the first “Babbar Sher” on Radio City after 4 months !! And I went “Oh yes Babe !! I missed this.. !! And I am back” :) :)
Bangalore is as green as it gets.. Also Its fall time still and some pavements are littered with shedded seasonal flowers and leaves.. The KGA Golf Course on my way to office looks an awesome sight… and maybe it’s the laid back pleasant climate that goads you to occasional indulgements and keep a happy demeanor.
I don’t think many people can boast of having a cubicle with such a beautiful view of the city as I have.. From one side of my seat, I can view the entire Bangalore Race Course. If youre tired of your work, just go to the window sill with a cup of coffee and watch the thoroughbred bangtails being pruned.. cleaned meticulously or the occasional trot they are given .. or just the orderly rambling about ..
On the other side toward the canteen end.. is a full blown panoramic view of Central Bangalore.. You can see the majestic Vidhana Soudha (the General Assembly) jutting its head from amongst the tree blanket.. and to the right, what you would call Downtown Bangalore.. the buildings across / about M.G.Road .. other taller buildings can be seen in a distance,, but what is the most pleasing is the rich abundance of flora the city presents you.. cap it with a light breeze and a drizzle here and there.. and it makes up for a pretty artistic setting.. Refreshing too..
I have started with V.S.Naipaul’s India- A Million Mutinies now.. Looks a good book, the first chapter was a pretty interesting read, and such is the power of these exceptional writers and such is the command over the language, that they can make you believe in anything they say.. He has begun by presenting what he understood Mumbai as when he visted the city in the early nineties. And you are shocked at his interpretations and awestruck with the dexterity at which he describes the city. at the same time.. I had been late for his speech at the Crosswords, Bangalore and he had left minutes after I had reached there.. but I had heard. I hadn’t missed much since he was disgusted at the way people were moving about while he was reading about excerpts from one of his recent books.. (dont remember the name) and that he had cut it short..
Right now, its both hands full for me … I have loads of work and many project deliveries lined up.. Have to meet loads of friends.. some relatives.. Some old acquaintances have added themselves to the ever growing populace of this IT city and they demand quick meetups.. I wouldn’t mind less.. Have to catch on with what has been happening here over the past months as well.. plus its festival and holidays time.. so.. I’d better finalize the plans… and the reservations and the booking that are needed alongside
They say you should that change the smile and greets from your face to the omnipresent Indian frown to be more at ease when you land in India.. Thankfully it hasn’t been the case for me. Instead of arching the lower lip backwards.. I find people getting more glimpses of my teeth than ever before.. I am back to motherland.. for the time being.. and I am happy about it..
The smiles don’t cease… and I pray to God , and hope that they wont.. J
Meanwhile, some overheard raillery from across the picket fence
Wife to Husband.. “You look like a Saint”..
Husband : “Thank you :) Which saint?”
Wife: “A Saint Bernard”
Cheers !! :) !!
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Miracle on Mumbai Matinee :)
India defended at paltry target of 106 runs sucessfully the last test against Australia !!
And I can believe it.. The expressions on the faces of team members of both sides was worth watching...
The despair on Matt Hayden squatting on the pitch when he is done in by Bhajji :) from behind his legs ..
The "Get-Back-To-The-Pavilion" gesture by Murali Karthik to Clarke when he clean bowled him with an arm ball..
The ecstacy of Harbhajan and Kartik
But Most Important of all , Awesome support given by the 40K strong Mumbai crowd.. They were loud boisterous.. on one hand.. and supportive of good work done by both sides on the other...
Everyone was shocked at the Ricky Ponting stunner of a catch to dismiss Dinesh Kartik.. (the replay detected a .48 secs reaction time ) and a movement of 1 mtr. Only the best can do that...
I like Michael Clarke as well.. He has quite a bit of cheer and freshness.. in his attitude. Always smiles... People say he is the Future captain of Cricket Australia.. but I feel there is a lot to learn, a lot more path to tread.. to make him capable enough to handle the best side of the world.
Kumble was awesome , so was Zaheer.. and Bhajji.. Our Bowlers were a revelation..
But equally pathetic were the batters..
One magestic innings cant account for the fact that VVS botched up innnings after innings in the previous 7 tries.. They kept changing the opening slot and I think Tendulkar and Ganguly should be taught about their roles again.
However I dont think its fair to criticise these sportsmen the way the media and a section of the players have been over the last year...
There seems to be a set strategy by the ex-players as well..
I heard a days commentary at DD Sports .. Given by Krishnamachari Srikkanth and half the time he spent in Ganguly bashing..
If you see the Bangalore TImes of India.. It keeps harping about how dravid should be made the captain.. and The Mumbai times of India.. speaks of how Ganguly was in Mumbai .. and attended a Photo shoot when he was sposed to be playing..
The media knows exactly where to tap into the sentiments of the local crowd.. and they have been doing that for years..
eg. An Aaj Tak interviewer to Saurav Ganguly.. " How do you think your bad form should affect your captaincy? Its said that your selections are causing a rift in the team.. "
No prizes for guessing the euphemisms heaped on Saurav Ganguly at the Kolkata TOI..
I remember seeing one of the papers.. which gave full credit to Ganguly for the Test Rahul Dravid won in Pakistan !!
Anyways. its time we perform again as a unit.. Its No disgrace to be No 2. and also like the top slot... its one thing to be No. 2 .. by 10 times as difficult to keep that position..
There are plans for cricket going on at my end too. .. plus plans to diwali.. and various other plans ,.... Lets see.
And I can believe it.. The expressions on the faces of team members of both sides was worth watching...
The despair on Matt Hayden squatting on the pitch when he is done in by Bhajji :) from behind his legs ..
The "Get-Back-To-The-Pavilion" gesture by Murali Karthik to Clarke when he clean bowled him with an arm ball..
The ecstacy of Harbhajan and Kartik
But Most Important of all , Awesome support given by the 40K strong Mumbai crowd.. They were loud boisterous.. on one hand.. and supportive of good work done by both sides on the other...
Everyone was shocked at the Ricky Ponting stunner of a catch to dismiss Dinesh Kartik.. (the replay detected a .48 secs reaction time ) and a movement of 1 mtr. Only the best can do that...
I like Michael Clarke as well.. He has quite a bit of cheer and freshness.. in his attitude. Always smiles... People say he is the Future captain of Cricket Australia.. but I feel there is a lot to learn, a lot more path to tread.. to make him capable enough to handle the best side of the world.
Kumble was awesome , so was Zaheer.. and Bhajji.. Our Bowlers were a revelation..
But equally pathetic were the batters..
One magestic innings cant account for the fact that VVS botched up innnings after innings in the previous 7 tries.. They kept changing the opening slot and I think Tendulkar and Ganguly should be taught about their roles again.
However I dont think its fair to criticise these sportsmen the way the media and a section of the players have been over the last year...
There seems to be a set strategy by the ex-players as well..
I heard a days commentary at DD Sports .. Given by Krishnamachari Srikkanth and half the time he spent in Ganguly bashing..
If you see the Bangalore TImes of India.. It keeps harping about how dravid should be made the captain.. and The Mumbai times of India.. speaks of how Ganguly was in Mumbai .. and attended a Photo shoot when he was sposed to be playing..
The media knows exactly where to tap into the sentiments of the local crowd.. and they have been doing that for years..
eg. An Aaj Tak interviewer to Saurav Ganguly.. " How do you think your bad form should affect your captaincy? Its said that your selections are causing a rift in the team.. "
No prizes for guessing the euphemisms heaped on Saurav Ganguly at the Kolkata TOI..
I remember seeing one of the papers.. which gave full credit to Ganguly for the Test Rahul Dravid won in Pakistan !!
Anyways. its time we perform again as a unit.. Its No disgrace to be No 2. and also like the top slot... its one thing to be No. 2 .. by 10 times as difficult to keep that position..
There are plans for cricket going on at my end too. .. plus plans to diwali.. and various other plans ,.... Lets see.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Chaddha's First Impressions And the Viewer's Prejudice
Its astonishing sometimes how much leeway bad directors and dumb politicians get just because of hype created around them... Money can account for any mistakes, any crime or misdeed, any anomaly or fault, in our society and nowadays it can also gain you the license of forcing any amount of crap down the throats of the city-movie goer under the garb of “conventional / off stream” cinema. A rank ordinary movie can generate good sales, even when critics have repeatedly panned it, just because.. the director can flex his financial muscles for creating all interest and hype and that they know how to flash their glitzy banners, the well oiled marketing machinery and tug into the heart strings of the young aspirations filled crowd, themselves torn in a dilemma between media blaring out western culture the and the age old family values .
I had a chance to see the much talked about movie Bride and Prejudice yesterday.. and it just strengthened my belief about really how much unwanted attention we are giving to some foreign based puppet directors and their films instead of taking our home cinema to better quality and backing them for their forays abroad .
It seems Talent or creativity doesn’t seem to be the litmus for a director and cinema aesthetics, screenplay, lyrics and subject handling the corresponding for the film anymore..
Here is what I think Bride and Prejudice represents in Indian Cinema,
Who really is the Bride ?
The current Mississippi Masala cult of directors who are in the profession of doling out Indian –touch foreign cinema, who claim to be capturing India as it is.. but really cater to showing foreign audiences what they expect and want to view India and its culture as...
Mira Nair, Gurinder Chadha to name a few. Some Bollywood colleagues do dream of joining the league, they do the hanky-panky and dabble around with the East Meets West funda, but the coffers haven’t been ringing for them as yet. Entrée…. Big Banners like Karan Johar and Subhash Ghai
So what Constitutes a Nair -Chadha movie?
Some very basic things.
a) The Punjabi Family or the Punjabi guy
A Punjabi family and its culture is always what constitutes the whole of India... 4 basic essential ingredients. It has to have Bhangra.. and the Karva Chauth.. and the sugarcane field and the Sarson ka Saag..
The only time when it can't be a Punjabi family is when its a Gujrati family.. but the condition is that the Garba is done everyday...
b) Marriage
Marriage and Dowry are the only pillars of the Indian Culture... They keep marrying their daughters and haggling for the price.. They keep arranging marriages where the groom is always the scum of the earth.. its either the vain and contemptuous Apoorva of Pardes, or Killer Khalsa the fat greedy wrestler who can give the father in law a business deal in Bollywood Hollywood, or Mr. Kohli of BnP who flaunts his mannerisms at the dinner table.. The bride groom always has to be bad, sloppy , old, a jackass, (Mira Nair doesn’t spare even kings in this regard) Its just to keep reminding .. “The Indian father in law will still give his daughter” and that’s how blind arranged marriages are... .. Father in Laws keep asking other people for money, they keep salivating over NRIs , stooping as low as they can for that cause..
And they can marry off their daughters to as weird a person.. only if he is from the states or from the UK.
c) The imposing issue
There is always a Indian who has been wronged in the film.. He is the victim of racist abuses in England but stayed on to the Foreign land and fought for his honor, or the American Dreams care-a-damn-for-my-country brat.. or the old lady of Canada who has lived her age , and remembered the sugarcane fields and Vedic texts with all the time.
Or more importantly, she is the sexually molested child that always seems to be commonplace in our homes.. Or if not the above, there is always the sexually debauched woman .
d) The East meets west culture
What if??
The Western fantasy pasted tastelessly on the Indian .. Lets see some of the topics that these films have tried to depict.
Lesbianism in the Temple City of our Country (Fire)
Circumcision and Muslim Brit ( East meets East)
The Love with the Western Guy refuting the ongoing attempts for an arranged marriage (B and P, BILB, East meets East)
These are the issues directors like these produce.. film after film , year after year..
Do you think they reflect the persona of our culture? Or the way its evolving.. ?
No..
The are exactly the kind of shit , that would appeal to the outsider to cater to his own beliefs.. to make sure, he is self assured in his position, that his culture is right, he is going the right way and that the older historic civilizations are also paying heed to his way of living.. they are taking to his ways.. cos that’s cool ..
And Who are the prejudiced?
The Indian audiences themselves.. they keep salivating on Gurinder Chadha... and her likes...
"they are the different ones.. Look how Mira Nair was bold to do KamaSutra.. or Fire.. "
" And its actually a western director.. and look how she is really showing how an indian family is like there...or how they like to keep their traditions " or
"this is exactly what happens in a Punjabi family.. This is how they show off.. .. "
I heard a friend come up and say.. . look at how She portrays Ash doing the America bashing… how “Lalita” handles the high nosed Yankee, She gives him a mouthful ... shows him how their perceptions of India are totally wrong.. That Darcy guy is sposed to have realized how Indians really are.. and that you cant be hippocrites , and blah and blah
Madam, its you who is at fault.. Thinking an American will see this movie.. Just search for a review for this at any of the web papers of America.. There is none.. except one.. and look at the disdain and the number of lines at which the movie review has been finished.
Is it really the Populist Sentiment?
We fail to realize that all creative effort is always confined to the handful of showpiece skits that these directors shell out time and time again All the above films and the handful of ideas they cater to are exactly similar to what we now term the Bollywood formula of Separated brothers or ReinCarnation or the Rich Guy Poor Girl themes.
Yes. The above points ARE the formulae of these Mississipi Masala Cult for making a successful Indian film to be marketed in Hollywood or UK . And they don’t have to have the talent of a Manmohan Desai or a Yash Chopra for success. Only Financial Strategy is what is needed. No wonder you see a scum of a film in the Top 10 charts of the UK right now. And that’s exactly the mass these people plan to cater
a) The High nosed brit ever eager for pointing the finger at the Indian Diaspora , cos now apart from doing his menial jobs, these dark skins are staking claim at the very jobs he owns cos they are better equipped and more intelligent.
And ??
b) The immigrated Indians.. who are the most sizeable business population especially the Gujraties and the Punjabis, technologists, ppl from all over India, And maybe is a self realization, a self assurance of these expatriates as well.. who left their communities and roots a long back.. Those people who grew up and were made capable by the milk and grain of this homeland.. but are servile workers to econo-social welfare and leisure of the others.. . Its them who are barely sure of their roots.. have forgotten their culture.. have their kids fooling around in all directions.. and they themselves.. have never been accepted in the same pedestal ever in the country they are servicing .. are still racially abused and looked down upon,, it pains them to come back to their country,, cos they wont be able to adjust here as well., They keep reminding themselves.. “We are still sure of our culture”, “India is facing the same cultural degradation back home as well” .. This is exactly the sentiments you can find in any NRI .. Go to any of their houses… or just in any of the transit airports.. Their talk reeks of their unsurety, about their discomfiture when they see people staying closer and actually caring for their elders back in India, and still being extremely successful and walking tall and servicing in THEIR own society , living their own life. With Pride.
"First Impressions" was the original name of this legendary Jane Austen English classic. It took Jane Austen 15 long years to and a considerable revision to bring it to the classic as we know it today..
Bride and Prejudice has nothing creative, nothing intellectual and nothing thought provoking. Its not even an proper transfiguration of the classic to an Indian setting, take aside editorial efforts. What could you expect from a copy cat anyways…
Sometimes I feel, that even as these self-styled torch-bearers of Indian culture to the outside world cry hoarse at every small provocation and comments at their work and swear to fight by their birthright of the freedom of speech, commercial mainstream cinema should still warrant a basic censuring of quality in films, and should be guided by certain laid down rules by eminent and knowledgable persons in this artistic line, to set certain boundaries which you shouldn’t cross, and more importantly exhibit a bit social responsibility. As the citizens of a nation where films are the generally only way to fantasize, to leisure about, for the poor who can barely make ends meet.. , Our Censor Board should do lot more to guard gullible minds against .. this ridicule of our culture.. Don’t block the freedom to express.. but then don’t take such a blasphemous distortion of our culture lying down. The KamaSutra is a scientific treatise, not a 3rd grade porn flick, Lesbianism is not a product of our society and therefore cant be imposed as commonplace.. Our Girls Don’t Fall for Foreign People at the first sight and NO
We don’t wed our daughters to any Bald Fat Americanized expat.,
Not Anymore.
Me is back to my old workplace... back to Bangalore City... it feels good to be back at my desk.. Everyone says I have put on weight.. and that US has been bad on my health.. perhaps its the frequent chicken nuggets at Bojangles..... or the daily dose of butter I used to have ... or the lack of exercise... or maybe they all are the culprits .. But I desperately plan to get back into shape... I have the will, hope I can get the discipline.
I will play cricket... jog a lot.. do some stomach crunches, and build on the free-hands slowly, many such things on the checklist.. but at present I am just happy to be back home..
Ciao.
I had a chance to see the much talked about movie Bride and Prejudice yesterday.. and it just strengthened my belief about really how much unwanted attention we are giving to some foreign based puppet directors and their films instead of taking our home cinema to better quality and backing them for their forays abroad .
It seems Talent or creativity doesn’t seem to be the litmus for a director and cinema aesthetics, screenplay, lyrics and subject handling the corresponding for the film anymore..
Here is what I think Bride and Prejudice represents in Indian Cinema,
Who really is the Bride ?
The current Mississippi Masala cult of directors who are in the profession of doling out Indian –touch foreign cinema, who claim to be capturing India as it is.. but really cater to showing foreign audiences what they expect and want to view India and its culture as...
Mira Nair, Gurinder Chadha to name a few. Some Bollywood colleagues do dream of joining the league, they do the hanky-panky and dabble around with the East Meets West funda, but the coffers haven’t been ringing for them as yet. Entrée…. Big Banners like Karan Johar and Subhash Ghai
So what Constitutes a Nair -Chadha movie?
Some very basic things.
a) The Punjabi Family or the Punjabi guy
A Punjabi family and its culture is always what constitutes the whole of India... 4 basic essential ingredients. It has to have Bhangra.. and the Karva Chauth.. and the sugarcane field and the Sarson ka Saag..
The only time when it can't be a Punjabi family is when its a Gujrati family.. but the condition is that the Garba is done everyday...
b) Marriage
Marriage and Dowry are the only pillars of the Indian Culture... They keep marrying their daughters and haggling for the price.. They keep arranging marriages where the groom is always the scum of the earth.. its either the vain and contemptuous Apoorva of Pardes, or Killer Khalsa the fat greedy wrestler who can give the father in law a business deal in Bollywood Hollywood, or Mr. Kohli of BnP who flaunts his mannerisms at the dinner table.. The bride groom always has to be bad, sloppy , old, a jackass, (Mira Nair doesn’t spare even kings in this regard) Its just to keep reminding .. “The Indian father in law will still give his daughter” and that’s how blind arranged marriages are... .. Father in Laws keep asking other people for money, they keep salivating over NRIs , stooping as low as they can for that cause..
And they can marry off their daughters to as weird a person.. only if he is from the states or from the UK.
c) The imposing issue
There is always a Indian who has been wronged in the film.. He is the victim of racist abuses in England but stayed on to the Foreign land and fought for his honor, or the American Dreams care-a-damn-for-my-country brat.. or the old lady of Canada who has lived her age , and remembered the sugarcane fields and Vedic texts with all the time.
Or more importantly, she is the sexually molested child that always seems to be commonplace in our homes.. Or if not the above, there is always the sexually debauched woman .
d) The East meets west culture
What if??
The Western fantasy pasted tastelessly on the Indian .. Lets see some of the topics that these films have tried to depict.
Lesbianism in the Temple City of our Country (Fire)
Circumcision and Muslim Brit ( East meets East)
The Love with the Western Guy refuting the ongoing attempts for an arranged marriage (B and P, BILB, East meets East)
These are the issues directors like these produce.. film after film , year after year..
Do you think they reflect the persona of our culture? Or the way its evolving.. ?
No..
The are exactly the kind of shit , that would appeal to the outsider to cater to his own beliefs.. to make sure, he is self assured in his position, that his culture is right, he is going the right way and that the older historic civilizations are also paying heed to his way of living.. they are taking to his ways.. cos that’s cool ..
And Who are the prejudiced?
The Indian audiences themselves.. they keep salivating on Gurinder Chadha... and her likes...
"they are the different ones.. Look how Mira Nair was bold to do KamaSutra.. or Fire.. "
" And its actually a western director.. and look how she is really showing how an indian family is like there...or how they like to keep their traditions " or
"this is exactly what happens in a Punjabi family.. This is how they show off.. .. "
I heard a friend come up and say.. . look at how She portrays Ash doing the America bashing… how “Lalita” handles the high nosed Yankee, She gives him a mouthful ... shows him how their perceptions of India are totally wrong.. That Darcy guy is sposed to have realized how Indians really are.. and that you cant be hippocrites , and blah and blah
Madam, its you who is at fault.. Thinking an American will see this movie.. Just search for a review for this at any of the web papers of America.. There is none.. except one.. and look at the disdain and the number of lines at which the movie review has been finished.
Is it really the Populist Sentiment?
We fail to realize that all creative effort is always confined to the handful of showpiece skits that these directors shell out time and time again All the above films and the handful of ideas they cater to are exactly similar to what we now term the Bollywood formula of Separated brothers or ReinCarnation or the Rich Guy Poor Girl themes.
Yes. The above points ARE the formulae of these Mississipi Masala Cult for making a successful Indian film to be marketed in Hollywood or UK . And they don’t have to have the talent of a Manmohan Desai or a Yash Chopra for success. Only Financial Strategy is what is needed. No wonder you see a scum of a film in the Top 10 charts of the UK right now. And that’s exactly the mass these people plan to cater
a) The High nosed brit ever eager for pointing the finger at the Indian Diaspora , cos now apart from doing his menial jobs, these dark skins are staking claim at the very jobs he owns cos they are better equipped and more intelligent.
And ??
b) The immigrated Indians.. who are the most sizeable business population especially the Gujraties and the Punjabis, technologists, ppl from all over India, And maybe is a self realization, a self assurance of these expatriates as well.. who left their communities and roots a long back.. Those people who grew up and were made capable by the milk and grain of this homeland.. but are servile workers to econo-social welfare and leisure of the others.. . Its them who are barely sure of their roots.. have forgotten their culture.. have their kids fooling around in all directions.. and they themselves.. have never been accepted in the same pedestal ever in the country they are servicing .. are still racially abused and looked down upon,, it pains them to come back to their country,, cos they wont be able to adjust here as well., They keep reminding themselves.. “We are still sure of our culture”, “India is facing the same cultural degradation back home as well” .. This is exactly the sentiments you can find in any NRI .. Go to any of their houses… or just in any of the transit airports.. Their talk reeks of their unsurety, about their discomfiture when they see people staying closer and actually caring for their elders back in India, and still being extremely successful and walking tall and servicing in THEIR own society , living their own life. With Pride.
"First Impressions" was the original name of this legendary Jane Austen English classic. It took Jane Austen 15 long years to and a considerable revision to bring it to the classic as we know it today..
Bride and Prejudice has nothing creative, nothing intellectual and nothing thought provoking. Its not even an proper transfiguration of the classic to an Indian setting, take aside editorial efforts. What could you expect from a copy cat anyways…
Sometimes I feel, that even as these self-styled torch-bearers of Indian culture to the outside world cry hoarse at every small provocation and comments at their work and swear to fight by their birthright of the freedom of speech, commercial mainstream cinema should still warrant a basic censuring of quality in films, and should be guided by certain laid down rules by eminent and knowledgable persons in this artistic line, to set certain boundaries which you shouldn’t cross, and more importantly exhibit a bit social responsibility. As the citizens of a nation where films are the generally only way to fantasize, to leisure about, for the poor who can barely make ends meet.. , Our Censor Board should do lot more to guard gullible minds against .. this ridicule of our culture.. Don’t block the freedom to express.. but then don’t take such a blasphemous distortion of our culture lying down. The KamaSutra is a scientific treatise, not a 3rd grade porn flick, Lesbianism is not a product of our society and therefore cant be imposed as commonplace.. Our Girls Don’t Fall for Foreign People at the first sight and NO
We don’t wed our daughters to any Bald Fat Americanized expat.,
Not Anymore.
Me is back to my old workplace... back to Bangalore City... it feels good to be back at my desk.. Everyone says I have put on weight.. and that US has been bad on my health.. perhaps its the frequent chicken nuggets at Bojangles..... or the daily dose of butter I used to have ... or the lack of exercise... or maybe they all are the culprits .. But I desperately plan to get back into shape... I have the will, hope I can get the discipline.
I will play cricket... jog a lot.. do some stomach crunches, and build on the free-hands slowly, many such things on the checklist.. but at present I am just happy to be back home..
Ciao.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
It's HomeComing Time
This is the last day of this trip here at the United States. Home is still 2 days and 35 travel hours away. Will be meeting my folks after a long time.. And Would be attending Durga Puja at home after 4 long years.. Cant wait for it.. ITs starting to get pretty cold here.. Am glad I am escaping the extremes .. .
Shane Keith Warne just overtook Muralitharan as the highest taker of test wickets.. He is an awesome leg spinner.. The best ever... I still remember seeing the ball of the century bowled by him to clean bowl Mike Gatting out from behind his legs.. (though I would contest this ball with the Alan Donald stunner of a off cutter that ripped off Sachin's woodwork during the first trip to ProteaLand) .. Warnie is true class.. The oNly thing that has detterred him is injuries .. and sporadic controversies.. But its the kind of control in flight and the deception in turn that they say make him a truly special bowler..
But An Average of 54 vs India is really noteworthy.. given the fact the against all the others its less than half of this... India has been the only big thorn in the crown.. I think he desperately wants to perform well here .. After All India over the recent years have repeatedly proven to be the nemesis for Australians, both as a team and as individuals. The team they lost their 16 match winning streak too... The elusive Border Gavaskar for years.. the Spoilt Steven Waugh Party... And a captain willing to give one back by the mouth.. they have had it all.. I dont think it gets better than this..
However it amazes me how much.. professionalism these cricketers put into the game.. I dont thnk any country can come close to them in this regard. Most of the players are not exceptional players.. but together they gel to form the unbeatable unit...
What can the Indians learn from these
a) Training Regimen..
b) No Ones the "God" in my team. No Ones "God" in the other.
c) Total belief In the captain -> "I will run into a brick wall if Steve tells me to" - > Justin Langer speaking to the media about Steve Waugh
d) Relentless. Ruthless..The Killer Instinct
e) Very good Inter State Cricket and a transparent selection policy.
f) Belief that they can win almost anything,That they are the best.
g) Endorsements are not the biggest part time activity.
Anyways.. I do hope The Chennai test is won and we square the series.. I will be in India to watch the 3rd one at Mumbai .. Lets hope for good quality cricket from both sides..
Shane Keith Warne just overtook Muralitharan as the highest taker of test wickets.. He is an awesome leg spinner.. The best ever... I still remember seeing the ball of the century bowled by him to clean bowl Mike Gatting out from behind his legs.. (though I would contest this ball with the Alan Donald stunner of a off cutter that ripped off Sachin's woodwork during the first trip to ProteaLand) .. Warnie is true class.. The oNly thing that has detterred him is injuries .. and sporadic controversies.. But its the kind of control in flight and the deception in turn that they say make him a truly special bowler..
But An Average of 54 vs India is really noteworthy.. given the fact the against all the others its less than half of this... India has been the only big thorn in the crown.. I think he desperately wants to perform well here .. After All India over the recent years have repeatedly proven to be the nemesis for Australians, both as a team and as individuals. The team they lost their 16 match winning streak too... The elusive Border Gavaskar for years.. the Spoilt Steven Waugh Party... And a captain willing to give one back by the mouth.. they have had it all.. I dont think it gets better than this..
However it amazes me how much.. professionalism these cricketers put into the game.. I dont thnk any country can come close to them in this regard. Most of the players are not exceptional players.. but together they gel to form the unbeatable unit...
What can the Indians learn from these
a) Training Regimen..
b) No Ones the "God" in my team. No Ones "God" in the other.
c) Total belief In the captain -> "I will run into a brick wall if Steve tells me to" - > Justin Langer speaking to the media about Steve Waugh
d) Relentless. Ruthless..The Killer Instinct
e) Very good Inter State Cricket and a transparent selection policy.
f) Belief that they can win almost anything,That they are the best.
g) Endorsements are not the biggest part time activity.
Anyways.. I do hope The Chennai test is won and we square the series.. I will be in India to watch the 3rd one at Mumbai .. Lets hope for good quality cricket from both sides..
Friday, October 15, 2004
Live Like you were dying
"He said, I was in my early forties, with a lot of life before me
when a moment came that stopped me on a dime"
" and I spent, most of the next days, looking at the x-rays
Talking bout the options and talking bout sweet time"
I asked him, when it sank in, that this might really be the real end
hows it hit you when you get that kinda news, man what'd you do?...
And he said ...
"I went sky diving ...
I went Rocky Mountain climbing ...
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named BluManchu ..."
"and I...
loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying"
And he said ...
" Someday I hope you get the chance....... To live like you were dying."
To live like you were dying. To live like you were dying.
Lovely Lovely Song.. Its just been the last 2 years since I have begun listening to US Country.. and boy Tim McGraw rules.. He does. Seriously. No wonder its the hottest thing on the radio charts right now. for months now. The best part is ... I have the uncanny knack of starting my car radio exactly half a minute before this plays... and the song simply makes me take in a breath of fresh air.. and shoo my lethargy of the morning or the tiredness of the evening away...
What do you think? What If.. you came to know.. You have just 30 days to live... What will you do? ... And I know you would definitely say.. I will enjoy life.. and I will roam around.. I would do this , that .. things I had kept for myself.. to be done later... I will shrug off all animosity.. all hate n jealousy..
This Song equates to images of the evergreen Kakaji In Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand.. .. his brisk strolling down a twilight red beach.. a bunch of balloons in hand.. .. and Manna Dey Crooning "Zindagi... Kaisi Hai Paheli.... Haay... "
It takes a time line for us to know .. and realize how important the small things of the world are .. It took "Anand" the protagonist, terminal cancer to appreciate the importance of bringing cheer and fun to his life and of others...
It takes disability for people like Hellen Keller to teach us repeatedly.. how to grasp the beauty of mother nature..
And here we are, millions of us.. sitting at our cubes.. day and night.. servicing Across Atlantic MNCs.. taking the project leader's order.. that "Oh .. You HAVE to do a Night - out today cos we have the delivery lined. up" ...
Most Germans in my company dont work after 3 pm on friday.. The holidays begin almost at Thanksgiving.. to "prepare for the Chistmas festivities" ... I know my American colleagues who would take out half a day out to attend his 8 year old's school baseball match, or his daughters presentation.. at university.
Can we Indian's deserve take some time for us ? e.g. Put our foot down and say.. THIS IS THE TIME FOR THE FAMILY UNION... All brothers from the US.. and the sister in Hyderabad, or the cousin in Bombay can maybe meet up..
To Give up our huge imposing professional burdens for a while.. and meet loved ones.. . Or to spend time for yourself.. say read a good book .. walk by the beach.. trek a mountain.. or in fact whatever you want..
"Skydiving , I went... Rocky Mountain Climbing.. I went 2.7 Seconds.. on a bull named.... "
:)
Anyways, for anyone in Bangalore reading this.. There is one more way .. to bring cheer to your inner self..
Its a pity the Silicon City of the world with billions of revenue generated and fatter paychecks than anywhere else in the country cant bring forth its residents to foster 1.1 million children living in abject poverty.. for a better life .. and education.. Bangalore boasts of a 30% illiteracy rate which is horrible in any urban standards of the world.. Do Check out the websites of Parikrama, the Human Foundation.. at http://www.parikramafoundation.org/halfday/htm They have come across a novel idea of providing Nutrition, Health Care and above all Education to the under - priveleged slum dwellers' children of the city.
As they say, provide these children a level - playing field.. and just sit back and watch what they will do to the country. I am going to donate half of my day's salary to them .. Cos thats just what they want .. from us for their cause.. ( THere is also apparently a 30th October Rock fest ticket that you get for this)..
The last line of the song is what gives ppl the goosebumps..
" Someday I hope you get the chance....... To live like you were dying."
Enjoy life pals !! Party hard.... Take a nap in office :) watch a movie.. play a prank on your boss :) (thats taking it too far I spose)
Enjoy every moment.. Cos you wont get back the time that you just spent..
when a moment came that stopped me on a dime"
" and I spent, most of the next days, looking at the x-rays
Talking bout the options and talking bout sweet time"
I asked him, when it sank in, that this might really be the real end
hows it hit you when you get that kinda news, man what'd you do?...
And he said ...
"I went sky diving ...
I went Rocky Mountain climbing ...
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named BluManchu ..."
"and I...
loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying"
And he said ...
" Someday I hope you get the chance....... To live like you were dying."
To live like you were dying. To live like you were dying.
Lovely Lovely Song.. Its just been the last 2 years since I have begun listening to US Country.. and boy Tim McGraw rules.. He does. Seriously. No wonder its the hottest thing on the radio charts right now. for months now. The best part is ... I have the uncanny knack of starting my car radio exactly half a minute before this plays... and the song simply makes me take in a breath of fresh air.. and shoo my lethargy of the morning or the tiredness of the evening away...
What do you think? What If.. you came to know.. You have just 30 days to live... What will you do? ... And I know you would definitely say.. I will enjoy life.. and I will roam around.. I would do this , that .. things I had kept for myself.. to be done later... I will shrug off all animosity.. all hate n jealousy..
This Song equates to images of the evergreen Kakaji In Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand.. .. his brisk strolling down a twilight red beach.. a bunch of balloons in hand.. .. and Manna Dey Crooning "Zindagi... Kaisi Hai Paheli.... Haay... "
It takes a time line for us to know .. and realize how important the small things of the world are .. It took "Anand" the protagonist, terminal cancer to appreciate the importance of bringing cheer and fun to his life and of others...
It takes disability for people like Hellen Keller to teach us repeatedly.. how to grasp the beauty of mother nature..
And here we are, millions of us.. sitting at our cubes.. day and night.. servicing Across Atlantic MNCs.. taking the project leader's order.. that "Oh .. You HAVE to do a Night - out today cos we have the delivery lined. up" ...
Most Germans in my company dont work after 3 pm on friday.. The holidays begin almost at Thanksgiving.. to "prepare for the Chistmas festivities" ... I know my American colleagues who would take out half a day out to attend his 8 year old's school baseball match, or his daughters presentation.. at university.
Can we Indian's deserve take some time for us ? e.g. Put our foot down and say.. THIS IS THE TIME FOR THE FAMILY UNION... All brothers from the US.. and the sister in Hyderabad, or the cousin in Bombay can maybe meet up..
To Give up our huge imposing professional burdens for a while.. and meet loved ones.. . Or to spend time for yourself.. say read a good book .. walk by the beach.. trek a mountain.. or in fact whatever you want..
"Skydiving , I went... Rocky Mountain Climbing.. I went 2.7 Seconds.. on a bull named.... "
:)
Anyways, for anyone in Bangalore reading this.. There is one more way .. to bring cheer to your inner self..
Its a pity the Silicon City of the world with billions of revenue generated and fatter paychecks than anywhere else in the country cant bring forth its residents to foster 1.1 million children living in abject poverty.. for a better life .. and education.. Bangalore boasts of a 30% illiteracy rate which is horrible in any urban standards of the world.. Do Check out the websites of Parikrama, the Human Foundation.. at http://www.parikramafoundation.org/halfday/htm They have come across a novel idea of providing Nutrition, Health Care and above all Education to the under - priveleged slum dwellers' children of the city.
As they say, provide these children a level - playing field.. and just sit back and watch what they will do to the country. I am going to donate half of my day's salary to them .. Cos thats just what they want .. from us for their cause.. ( THere is also apparently a 30th October Rock fest ticket that you get for this)..
The last line of the song is what gives ppl the goosebumps..
" Someday I hope you get the chance....... To live like you were dying."
Enjoy life pals !! Party hard.... Take a nap in office :) watch a movie.. play a prank on your boss :) (thats taking it too far I spose)
Enjoy every moment.. Cos you wont get back the time that you just spent..
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