Mozhi!!

I actually can’t believe it, but I managed to catch this movie in Madurai of all places. It’s not that I have anything against Madurai, but it’s been almost ten years since I visited that place and the time just stopped there and I quite pictured Madurai to be just like it was ten years back. There has been an ocean of changes but quite a few things remain even today.

Mozhi (language) is a movie about 4 people, 4 different people essayed by Prakashraj, Pritviraj, Jyothika and Swarnamalya. Let me be pretty upfront here, I loved the movie and I give a … for what the critics might say!! I didn’t think the movie was one bit boring, I didn’t think it was slow (my cousin thought it was). It was a clean movie with absolutely no violence and with a brilliant timing for comedy.

If Prakashraj was his usual best, Jo was wonderful. Not a single word through out the movie, but her expressions said it all. Kudos to her for that!! Its not easy to act without speaking a single word and am a little curious to know how many retakes were there when she acted.

A simple concept, very nicely interwoven with everyday life. It doesn’t quite tackle a few questions that might come up in reality. Prakashraj may have to come up with a sequel addressing the couple might face post marriage.

An Alaipayuthe captured the problems faced post (love) marriage and it still stands out there freshly etched in your mind. If Mozhi has to be fresh in our mind, probably the sequel would do the trick. Till then, please do watch this movie if you are up to it!!!

Take your pick!!

It is actually not appropriate to include the E50 in the comparison but then being ‘Blackberry’ Compatible and also being positioned at the entry level as a business phone, I feel it should be included in the comparison.

Right then, we’ll start with the E50, it’s definitely a slim genius. The E50 comes in silver and black. For all those people who croon over the black colour, this is one awesome pick!! The phone is loaded with features like office, PDF reader, SMS reader, 1.3 Mega Pixel camera and to top it all it comes with 70 MB shared memory. I am not sure about this one, but there was this feature where you can separate the personal numbers from the official ones and either of the ones can be switched off. It comes with an alpha numeric keypad with a joystick.

The E61, well I fell in love with the phone and after a lot of research and deliberation recommended the same to one of my senior colleagues. Why the deliberation, because I found it a little too wide for my comfort. Actually way too wide!!! But it’s a sexy phone and comes loaded with features like the WCDMA and the ‘Qwerty’ Keyboard (they say dedicated keys) apart from being ‘Blackberry’ Compatible. The one thing I quite miss on this phone is the camera. Can’t quite figure out the rationale, but Nokia could have provided the E61 with one. The rationale of business phones not sporting a camera does not hold good as the E50 comes with one, the I-Mates and O2’s also sport cameras on few of their models.

Now, last but not the least the Sony Ericsson M600i. I did fall in love with the E61 but that was until I saw the M600i. It sports the same ‘Qwerty’ keyboard but differently. It doesn’t quite have dedicated keys, but it serves the purpose brilliantly. It’s a ‘Blackberry’ compatible phone and one of the first few phones sporting what they call the ‘3G’ (third generation) technology. Has a 64 MB shared memory and comes with an extendable memory that can be extended upto 1GB as of for now. I do have a complain though, the memory card is micro in nature and absolutely differentiates itself from all other memory cards including the ones Sony uses on its other phones. So, if you have a memory card that you thought you can use it in the M600i, well sorry about that, you just can’t unless it’s an M2. Again I don’t understand the rationale, no camera!! Especially when its big brother the P990i sports one and its father the P900 and the P900i sported one. The M600i is supposed to be a scaled down version of the P990i. Apart from this, the phone features a touch screen and a scroll button (just like in the P990i) to access the menus. Apart from this, the phone can also be used as a Walkman phone as it has a good media player. The M600i comes in sexy black and lovely white. This phone however has a drawback the battery just doesn’t last. Sony may have to do some R&D on that one. For all those people who want to move to the next level of the so-called ‘PDA’ (personal digital assistant), this is the one. It’s slim, sleek and sexy!!!

Disclaimer: Evaluation is purely my view on the phones. Please do your homework when you buy phone as criteria’s and priorities differ when it comes to buying phones!!!

Strong Leader

With greater powers comes greater responsibility.

There are leaders, there are good leaders, there are bad leaders…..but the need of the hour is a strong leader. A strong leader is not one who needs to have amazing communication skills, not one who is a great team man, not one who does not give his own interests top priority….but one who is able to put his foot down when needed, who’s able to take the blame to shield his peers, who has the sense and the vision to see long term and not compromise on a few things just to satisfy short term goals.

We have seen many leaders…..have we seen strong ones???? We have had a Gandhi, a Bose, a Hitler, a Lincoln, etc…..Are they good leader or strong leaders??? I wouldn’t have probably even thought about this six months back, but am forced to now…

No one realizes the worth of an individual when he/she’s there. This applies across dimensions and ages. I probably miss this person very much, not because he was a great or a good leader, but because he was a strong leader, strong enough to give you the credit you deserve, strong enough to preserve his resources, strong enough to put his personal agenda behind, and more importantly shield you when required. I really miss such a leader….

Another Leaf !!!

I loved the way she looked, I loved the way she looked at others, I loved her eyes (always thought they were beautiful), I loved her hair, I loved the way she walked, I loved the way she dressed up (mostly in black, she was stunning when she did), I loved her lost look, I loved her intellectuality!!

She was always a mystery to me and I loved mysteries. In the whole process of unraveling this mystery I stumbled across probably one of the most rebellious of women by thought and by actions. Everything she did and everything she spoke, everything had a hint of a nonconformist – a maverick!!

But this just didn’t last that long. On a day when France celebrates its independence day, we had to separate. The whole affair was short and was over in minutes. There she went from my life. Mysteriously as she came she went.

- Girish Vaithyanathan

Commercialization!!

Commercialization has reached dizzying heights particularly in this age of science and technology. Everything you can think of is now being commercialized and India is well catching up or should I say is very much in the lead.

Call it the western influence, call it what you want, but I feel this is ridiculous. Mother’s day, father’s day, Valentine’s Day, freaking hell, I am sure there will soon be a sex day (a day of sex and only sex and more sex)!!!

I am not an expert on the western culture but as far as I know, the concept of looking after your parents is a culture that stems from India and the westerners are not known for this. I just don’t understand, all your life you don’t give a shit about your parents and then on mother’s day and father’s day you go tell them you love them….what crap!!!

You don’t have to wait for a particular day to tell anyone you love them…. Call me old fashioned, call me what you want, but I still feel this is ridiculous. I wanted to just have a quite dinner with a friend as it was my special day, my freaking birthday and can you guess what I was told by the hotel guys, ‘sir, stags not allowed’. I just freaked out (not that my friend was a guy, but still), WTF!!!

If this wasn’t enough, all these so called hotels were charging the heaven. On a normal day, it would cost at a maximum of INR 1,500.00 to dine at the TAJ but on the 14th, the charges were INR 5,000.00 per couple. Freaking hell!!! All I wanted was to enjoy a quite dinner with a friend and this is what I get.

I probably wouldn’t have been so irritated if it was not my birthday, but still!!! Grrr!!!

Anyways belated Valentines Day!!!

Madai Thirandu !!

The most happening song at the discs now a days....

I am 27 today. Well its not a great achievement to be proud off, since it does not require any big effort. I have learnt quite a few lessons, won some, and lost some… whatever!!! My uncle actually fell off his chair when I told him am 27.

I am working today, atleast am supposed to, I was just thinking about my last few birthdays and how I sort of spent it. I quite remember my 23rd birthday. Made so many plans, fixed every thing up and then my ex CEO calls me and says meeting in Calcutta, come over!! Well what can I do, but go. My first birthday in my first company and I spent it on a train. Can you believe that!!

Well, if 23rd was disaster, my 24th was worse. I was again on the train in an unreserved compartment on my way to Hyderabad L my butt was sore without adequate blood flow.

My 25th was not that bad considering the fact that I was not on the train. Funnily this time around too I had a sore butt thanks to both my batch and my senior batch giving me bums!! A few friends wishing me and that’s about it…

My 26th birthday was again in college. All my good friends were there to wish me, actually hung on only to wish me J Managed to save my butt this time as everyone wanted to get on with the movies, it was the BIM Talkies night!!
Well, today don’t seem to be having any major plans. Probably should go out for lunch with a good friend. The hotels are charging the heaven here and at some places they are very clear that no stags allowed, what the… the valentine day has taken the sheen away from my birthday….whatever!!!

Leafs from Girish’s diary!!!

We haven't spoken for quite sometime now, almost 2 months to be precise, courtesy me Girish Vaithyanathan!! I didn't see a valid reason as to why we should.

Renuka Shaseedaran and I have been friends for almost 2 years now. This friendship I must admit has gone places, from a time when we just refused to put the phone down to not knowing what to talk now other than the usual what’s happening and nothing much, the conversations stagnates just there.

Fights were regular but well spaced, but over a period the gap just fell drastically and now we end up hurting ourselves more than required. Renu by nature never makes any decisions like ending a relation, but then someone has to. For the betterment and peaceful living and to save each other from the agony, I decided to end this relationship, a relation I tried hard to save!!

It’s been two months now; suddenly she decides to call me, why? Because it’s my birthday in two days and she wants my address to send me a gift. I don’t understand why? What have you achieve, where are we going from here and where is this whole thing heading. I just don’t understand.

Either I just don't understand the women clan at all or I just don’t understand some one in particular from that clan or both. Am I the only dumb f**k around or do I have company??

I am ninety today and my wife eighty-nine. She lies beside me as pretty as ever. Her eyes still sparkle as they did seventy years back. Renuka Vaithyanathan, I love you!!

- Girish Vaithyanathan

All characters in the above story are a work of fiction, any resemblance to anyone dead or alive is pure coincidence.

What a day!!!

What a day it has been??? Everything was going all right till that nail decided to enter my rear tyre tonight. Two bags, a helmet and a 180 cc bike with a flat rear tyre is not easy to deal with, every revolution of the wheel is like eternity!!!

The only puncture shop on that road was closed for the day and I had to push my bike at least for a km to hopefully get to an open one. Finally had to disturb my mom to get the guy near my house to come over to get it done and what do I get, a drunken idiot!! Trust my luck!!!

Well I must admit though that he did manage to get the tyre running and goes on to say that he had to do a lot of job on the tyre… I don’t know, will have to check on the tyre tomorrow morning to see if it’s a job well done. I hope its ok tomorrow, that’s the last thing I want early in the morning!!!

Anyways God Bless that guy!!!!

Grrrrr....!!! @#$%^& ..........

Either I just don't understand the women clan or some of them from that clan or both. Am I the only dumb f**k around or do I have some company????

I am Chevrolet

This was the ad campaign that GM India carried out just before the introduction of the Chevrolet brand of cars in India. This was similar to the campaign carried out in the US as an ‘American Revolution’.

GM India tired the same concept here. Incorporate the culture of India and touch a cord with the Indian population. The concept again here is called ‘Emotional Advertising’ where one uses advertisements to appeal to certain emotional desires.

Now I just love this ad simply for the way it was taken, simply for what it conveyed (or atleast what I understood at that point in time), for an automobile lover ‘The Chevy’ is the brand to own.

I couldn’t get my hands on the storyboard and hence it was not a part of my all time favourite ads list…. But nevertheless this one was always there in my mind and hence is an all time favourite too.

Apparently the whole idea of the ‘I am Chevrolet' campaign is to make the brand culturally relevant so that it meets the need of the Indian market. Now how far this ad made an impact I really don’t know, I sort of went into wilderness for sometime ;-)

Trivia !!

One of the take aways at the play was this 'Durex' Trivia. Found it pretty interesting, have a look....

My all time favourite Ads!!

10.

9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.

No specific ranking, it's just I like them in the same order ....

Source: www.agencyfaqs.com

Love Letters!!

If you’re wondering if this is one my usual how, where and why about love letters, well you’re wrong this time, its not. In fact it’s actually about this play by EVAM. My third play and well quite an eye opener especially if it is not an adaptation of a pretty famous novel.

This particular play actually has a very nice concept. How two childhood friends keep in touch with each other till the others death through letters. Through every important event in their life is shared through letters.

Aptly named, the story actually shows how the two characters love each other without realizing the same. The play is about 90 minutes with a 10 minute recess and the only thing that they do is read letters, of course as theatre artists you expect them to emote and its there in just the right quantity. Could get a little boring, but it's not an absolute waste of time. Its definitely better than watching two people running around trees!!

Nevertheless, every play has been a new experience and looking forward for more. Till then do watch these guys in action.

www.evam.in

The Countdown has begun......

Should I or Should I not???

I was reading this article about quality written by one of my friends. You can find the article at http://eaglezview.blogspot.com/2007/02/made-in-india-is-it-of-good-quality.html. I am and am sure a lot of people will agree with the fact that one doesn’t hesitate to pay that much extra for quality, be it a mp3 player or ‘quality’ of service at the so called star restaurants.

I was just wondering, I am ready to pay for quality which stems from the brand name, but should I pay for safety. Safety is something that has to be a part of any product or service offered at the same cost.

A very simple example is that of an automobile. OEM’s charge extra for airbags, ABS, sensors, etc, etc. All these safety features are standard fitments of cars in the D Segment (Read Laura, C Class and above, Mondeo, Scoda Superb). Till some time back, rear seat belts were also not available on the base variants until they were made mandatory.

I wonder why these features are monetized. I understand that the average Indian gives more emphasis to fuel economy and price, but still aren’t we entitled for better things in life. Why are we the dumping ground? I love Honda for introducing the same variant all over the world. Of course, cars are tailor made to suit the local conditions, but still over all they are the same. Unlike a few other car makers who sell outdated cars in India.

I am still trying to figure out any other product or service where I pay for the safety…not quite been able to though, but am sure there exists many such products!!!

I am sure about one thing though, you pay dearly if you don't wear a helmet!! Now that is one aspect of safety I don’t mind paying for...

Anyways, so….should I or should I not????

I must be crazy!!!

I just took this test Which Led Zeppelin Song Are You? Quiz , I must admit...its quite funny...and i like the henchmen and killing part!!

You Are When The Levee Breaks

You are a dominating person. People don't stand in your way. Everybody basically does what you say. And if they don't, they better start, or you just might have one of your henchmen kill them.

Just like "When the Levee Breaks" dominates Led Zeppelin IV, you dominate your world. You don't have time for nonsense (it's surprising you even took this quiz) and you would love to be dictator of the world someday.

You are dark and scary, and you probably don't at all care about this quiz, if you even bothered to read your results.

Its all about credibility honey!!

Have been working for almost a year now. In this short span, I have worked on quite a few proposals. Fortunately or unfortunately for me, some of them didn’t happen, quite a common phenomenon in the industry.

They didn’t happen due to various reasons, may be because of exposure norms, top management not comfortable, non-identification of proper cash flows, un-comfortable security, etc, etc. The most important reason of all this is the credibility of the promoter.

Now, Credibility is a function of two variables.

1. Ability to pay


2. Willingness to pay

Now, I would be a fool to lend money to a person who does not have the willingness and the ability to repay the facility. Then there are people who have the ability and the willingness and hence we do not foresee any problems with the facility. So who in the end becomes a defaulter?

As can be seen, a person with the willingness and yet lacks the ability is a defaulter as his business may have run into problems due to a slump in the industry. If one trusts the industry and the capabilities of the individual, he will pay you back every penny once he turns his business around, its just the question of time.

Now last but not the least, the person with the ability but absolutely no willingness is a wilful defaulter. He might have the capabilities to turn his company around, but still not want to honour his commitments. Its madness and a cardinal sin to pursue with someone like him, but some times one is so short sighted that they miss out on this one important component.

At the end of the day, his financials may be great, top class but if he doesn’t want to pay…. He just won’t pay. So, all this credit analysis of the company and its financials fail, if the credibility does not exist right from the very beginning.

Net net, when one takes a call on the proposal, it has to be done based on various factors and one of them being, credibility!!!

Ads that caught my attention..

There are quite a few advertisements that appeal a lot to me. There is this latest one by surf excel bar. Have not been able to get my hands on the storyboard. The ad is shot in a marriage set up where you have people eating in the traditional way – on the ground, from the banana leaf and by the hand.

You have a foreign kid also eating and making a big mess of himself by wiping all over his kurtha. The parents see and are like oh god he’s eating with his hands. Now there is this old lady eating next to the boy and she immediately pips, ‘ we eating withu handsu and washing with handsu’ and she turns to the kid and says, you eating you eating….

Nothing great about the ad, but its cute, it appeals to you. Similarly, the new SBI Life Insurance ad (pension scheme I guess) built on the concept of “you’re young when you’re old” is brilliant simply because of how the whole ad is taken.

A gang of old retired men playing cricket continuously disturbing young children trying to play video games (I think, am not too sure) by hitting the ball into their house and how the kids admonishes them by saying, you guys keep paining us like this. We can’t enjoy two minutes of peace with you guys around and says I can’t give you the ball.

Another oldie peeps out of the next window and says, that old fellow is always like that 'grumpy', here take I have a spare ball and then you have the voice over saying blah blah old life enjoy blah blah…a brilliantly executed ad. Hats off to the guys who did it.

Story Board Courtesy: www.agencyfaqs.com

Customer Satisfaction!!!

I am bloody impressed!! This one little act has ensured that I’ll endure with this bank for some more time now, not that I am unhappy but this is not an indication of the bad things that might come up. Ok let me stop being pessimistic here.

This little pamphlet came to me today morning. I was wondering what is this early in the morning. I was quite surprised to see what was written on it. I must admit am trying desperately to cut down on my credit card spending and the bank is trying double hard to ensure that I use their card more and what a way to make me to that… double points during the whole of this month…hmmm….

I actually felt good when I saw this, the bank is actually playing with my emotions here. Whether I like it or not I will be anyway using my card for a few things like fuel but the bank has made sure I will only use theirs and not anyone other card.

Incidentally am also cursing the bank for sending this to me so late as I had used some other card for booking some train tickets and have ended up with 35 points less. Grrrr…

Nevertheless, I am, as of for now, a pretty satisfied customer and also impressed with their marketing strategy!!! Have been trying quite hard to find out what marketing strategy it is called. My eminent friends from my college don’t seem to recollect and I just don’t have a clue…ya ya its only been nine months. Have been googling all morning amidst my other work and finally have landed up with what it’s called… its called “Emotional Marketing” …Sigh!!!!

Blood Diamond

Don’t know why, but have always carried this impression that Hollywood and emotions don’t go together even though there have been a slew of movies with a swing of emotions. The more recent Transporter II was evident of the same.

Have been hearing quite a few reviews on Blood Diamond and got an opportunity to watch it yesterday. For the first few minutes of the movie I was like what have I got myself into. The movie hadn’t even started. The movie unfold beautifully showing the family ties of the Africans before how the families are separated and how the young children are taken by the rebel camp where they are trained to kill, kill even their own family if they come before them.

How the so called developed countries were using them to get the diamonds at dirt cheap prices and also how they toyed around with the demand supply of diamonds to make their business fare better.

Di Caprio as the diamond smuggler trying to get his hands on that big diamond with Jennifer Connelly as the journalist trying to get a story out of him with facts to make people stand up and take notice of what is happening out there. The subtle romance in between them is shown so beautifully with neither openly confessing but giving each other ‘hints’.

I could go on and unveil the whole plot but that wouldn’t be fair on the people who haven’t yet seen the movie, so I would just conclude by saying it was a movie well made, guess that should enough.

Oh yes, just not me to say nothing of the lady in the movie. Have always had a liking for Spanish women and now have added Irish to the list. :)

Punctuality!!

“No one important is ever present to appreciate punctuality.”

--unknown--

At six thirty in the morning, my mom goes.. Jei elzhu mani aachu, elzhundiri (Its seven in the morning, get up!!!)…..I would take a look at my mobile phone and go back to sleep but very soon my mobile phone alarm would scream loose control…how much I like that song, but I hate it at seven in the morning.

By the time am out of bed and finished with the morning routines, am running behind schedule and it’s already 8.20 am and I had to get to work by 9 am. We do have a grace deadline of 15 minutes, but I prefer getting to work by 9. I get my breakfast packed too and am off to work, rather am rushing to work. It’s going to be a mad day and it starts from the time I start running behind schedule.

Pushing the bike to the limit, through the small lanes, treating bikes and buses alike – with disdain, cursing co motorist for travelling at 35 kmph when am trying to push my speed to 70 kmph, cutting through traffic at neck breaking aggression, timing the traffic signals just to be on time. Wonder if it is worth it after all.

After all this, I get the feeling we are off today as the whole office is empty. Heaving a sigh, I go to my desk wondering about what has been said about punctuality – “ The only thing about being punctual is that there is no one to appreciate it” – how so true!!!

Appraisals!!!

There was a light flurry excitement at work today. Appraisals forms had come by mail. It has to be filled in consultation with our boss. Appraisals are that part of the year where the employees are truly under some kind of stress. It starts from today in our organization.

Within the next 15 days we would be rated anywhere between FE to BE. Sometimes I wonder if this at the end of the day is an actual reflection of my capabilities. What if I have not been utilized to the maximum, what if I am a very low profile person who shies away from human interaction, what if I have rubbed the wrong person on the wrong side. So where do I stand, well that I guess only time will tell.

We‘ve studied so much about appraisals as a very important and effective form of evaluation an employee. What we have not been taught is the actual human angle to appraisals. Of course there are things that cannot be taught and there are people who will not learn unless put through the grind, but prior knowledge always helps. J

I will have to go through the painful process of an appraisal now. I quite anticipate how ugly it’s going to be… Wish me luck!!!