Happy Hour ... and Me

Recently, I was watching a documentary on ‘Save the Tiger’ campaign. This campaign has gained a lot of popularity in the recent few months, with hoardings shouting out the number 1,411 and celebrities’ popping up in your television screen urging you to join this campaign. I felt it was effective to gain attention, as I saw many of my friends who usually don’t care too much about things actually join this movement. So kudos to the effort. However, I have my doubts about how my contribution especially the monetary one is going be of any help as poaching business in India is deep rooted, highly corrupt, and widespread, far worse than what we can imagine. So coming back to the documentary, apparently it said that the Government of India had increased the imprisonment duration from 7 years to 10 years if found guilty conducting poaching activities. I found this extremely amusing as its said there hasn’t been a single person who has been booked under this law or suffered any form of imprison...

It’s after a long time that I got back to writing. Not that I wasn’t writing or anything this while, infact I was writing more than ever. However they weren’t any blogs, but lots of infra solutions and RFP responses. Anyways, after a really long time I had the weekend to myself where I didn’t need to take back work with me. So I did what I loved to do on a lazy weekend, watch some movies, snuggle up with a book and endlessly surf through the television channels. When watching TV, I stopped by some of saas-bahu serials that have been on our usual Star,Zee etc. Initially I got a little confused that had the usual Star,Zee etc got changed into some Bhojpuri channels, as all the programs seemed to be based in Bhojpuri. Then I discovered that these channels seem to have the following type of shows, either Bhojpuri background or village based, or based on some child protagonist or child protagonist in a village set up or Bhojpuri village child based. Period. This is what most programs revol...

I have been meaning to write this blog for a while now but somehow got caught into a series of events. Anyways, about a month ago one of my roomies, Swati left for her hometown for good. Over dinner, a common friend of ours who has been struggling to get a transfer out of Chennai, congratulated her and jokingly said “Tere paap dhul gaye aur tu Chennai se ja rahi hai” meaning that your sins have got erased and so you are leaving Chennai. We all laughed at this statement, but I quietly wondered if Chennai is really that bad. I distinctly remember how scandalized my friends were I broke the news that I had got my posting in Chennai. Some of them actually told me that I was out of my mind that I agreed to go to Chennai. Most of their concerns were actually revolved around the fact that after living all my life in a city like Mumbai, it would be exceedingly unimaginable to stay in Chennai and suspected that the place and its culture would be harsh on me. Honestly, in a way it scared me a bi...

When I heard that there was a going to be play on Hamlet in Chennai directed by Rajat Kapoor, I immediately warned my friends against it, stating that it would be super super boring to watch tragedy. It’s not that tragedies and serious plays are bad, but somehow I don’t seem to enjoy that so much. Anyways, coming back, one of my colleagues still went for the play and returned with raving praises for it. He said, it down right funny and hilarious and was something very good we missed. Funny, that’s right. I was equally surprised, as to how can a tragedy be depicted as funny? So next time this group came back to Chennai, we made sure that we didn’t miss it. And am extremely glad about it, as after 2 hrs of Hamlet, I found myself exhausted with all the laughing I did and had a smile on my face as I left the theatre. This definitely was one of the best plays that I had seen so far. The play revolves around 6 clowns who are basically tired of doing comedy and therefore decide to enact trage...

I have been off and on following the Indian version of a popular American show ‘Moment of truth’ called ‘Sach Ka Samna’ on star plus. Well, when I watched some episodes of “Moment of truth”, I never imagined that this show would actually work with our Indian audiences. We Indians are so inter-wound to the society fabric, that most decisions of our lives are taken considering the impact it would have on the society that we live in. However, now this show actually got people to come up on national television and without any hesitation confess on extremely personal issues This business of honesty is a little tricky, as there are some grey aspects of life for the sake of your loved ones you may want to keep it locked partially or entirely. And let’s face it, not everyone can live life in pure play manner. What baffles me is how much people are willing to put on stake to make some money out of. People have confessed to have cheated on their spouses, slept with women younger than their daugh...

Last time Imtiaz Ali made a movie called Jab We Met, it entered my MBA class as a case study for memetics. Before starting the case study, my professor told us that he selected this movie as a case for memetics cause it’s a movie that has been watched and re-watched ‘n’ number of times by most people in the class, making it easier for a majority to pick minute nuances from the movie. In short, that was the kind of impact that J.W.M had, and personally for me, it’s an all time favourite and can watch it any number of times. That movie simply makes me very happy. So naturally just like many others I too eagerly waited for Imtiaz’s next movie to release, which after weeks of its release, I finally finally managed to watch it. Now, as far as Love Aaj Kal is concerned, I liked the way the story-telling was done and the excellent grip that the movie had on its screenplay. What was also refreshing was the bluntness the dialogues had. ‘Less is more’ concept was put to use effectively, ...

I just finished reading the White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and here is what I felt about it. The book revolves around Balram, who hails from a typical rural set-up and is a classic story of one who rose from rags to riches. During one of his school inspections, he is labeled as a white tiger, a rarest creature in the jungle, only coming along once in every generation. He was labeled so, as he was one of the only students who could read and write. He enjoyed studying but his family borrows money from one of the landlords to pay for a cousin's dowry resulting which he has to leave school and start working in teahouses. However, he takes this also as an opportunity to learn which opens another avenue for him. He takes on the driving after convincing his grandmother to pay Rs 600 for his driving lessons. From then on begins new journey for his destiny with each chapter unfolding newer experiences that take him a step closer to a prosperous future. When Balram moves into Delhi with his ma...