Saturday Saturday Faraday Faraday

If you have seen the AIB video on Youtube about Alia Bhatt's transformation, you will know what the title is.
Why do I have it as a title? No reason really.

Wait....wait....here is a connection. Today is a Saturday, in Bangalore, as elsewhere. Today an important verdict is expected on a very prominent politician. There is a certain amount of apprehension in the air.
Faraday invented dynamo....Dynamo sounds like Dynamite....which is what everyone is apprehensive the situation will turn into.

A great friend of mine from Kerala once told me about the story of a student preparing for one of two essays he was told to prepare on - The Cow and The Coconut tree. He prepared for the former and took his chances. However, as luck would have it, the essay he was asked to write in the exam was on the coconut tree. So he promptly brought the cow, tied it to the coconut tree and wrote about the cow :-)

Speaking of cows, I've started wondering about Cloud Computing a lot these days. People talk about a lot of jazz around virtualization and providing everything as a service. That is what milkmen / dairies have been doing. They moved out the cow from every home and built an off-premise model. They then virtualized the model. You get milk everyday. You just don't know which / or how many cows it is from. So, you get milk as a service (MaaS).  You don't need to bother about maintaining / upgrading / adding to your asset base. You don't need to worry if your requirements go up and down - you accordingly order more / less MaaS. Also, you can buy upgrades / add-ins (butter and cheese) separately as and when required!

Speak of the IT industry to create terminology and jargon around concepts that have anyways existed.

Ok, random change of topic once again (and this time I am not even going to feign some kind of a linkage). Saw "Thalaivaa (The Leader)", a Tamil film starring Vijay, dubbed in Hindi. This is yet another Godfather inspired movie. I can't believe the number of movies that have been Godfather inspired:

Mani Ratnam has made two -
        - Nayakan (which still is the best made inspired movie till date, nearly 27-28 years after the movie was released). Incidentally, the movie picked up some elements of style, including Kamal Hassan's take on Marlon Brando in the later part of the movie. I don't recollect scenes / storyline being lifted off. Except for probably the one where his house is attacked and how the retribution takes place.

        - and Thalapathi (Supposedly his claim to fame (not asserted by himself, obviously, in this movie, being that he could even make Rajinikanth act). The inspiration in Thalapathi was more subtle, and elements of Mahabharat were very strongly picked up.

Prakash Jha - Rajneeti: God Father + Mahabharat combined in one go.

RGV: Sarkar, D and maybe Company

Now, let's come to the joker in the pack. There is an old movie called Atank hi Atank. It stars Aamir Khan as Michael Corleone, and ...hold your breath....Rajinikanth as Sonny Corleone. For those of you who think Rajinikanth cant act, or for that matter, Aamir Khan can act, please go watch this one. This is closest / directest / unabashed / probably also the most poor copy of the great movie.

One book and one movie has created, probably a half billion dollar franchise purely by way of inspirations!

Signing off, and have a great weekend!

Jumpcut from 2009 to 2014

4JOW IS BACK!

Not that too many people would be shaken and stirred by this.
But to me, it matters. I somehow over the last 5 years stopped writing. I started off writing a separate blog on movies somewhere else. But that has also pretty much stopped over the years.

Now 4JOW gets back full steam.

As of now, I have no idea what I want to write about. That has been the bane for this blogger. The inspiration comes at a time, when I dont have the time and space to write. And when I do, I hit blogger's block.

Its time to move on. I am now starting to write at break-neck speed. In fact if I analogized my current typing (if that word exists) to driving on the road, I am right now driving like a maniac without knowing where I am going or why I am headed there. But then I have always liked driving, and I have always liked writing. So getting back full steam

I have used the word full steam twice....sorry thrice now.

Now to topics, what is the first thing that comes to my mind - "Carrots". I have no idea why Carrots came to my mind. Probably something freudian :) ......I was referring to my deep depressed intellectual connect with Bugs Bunny. Dont know what you were thinking off.

Coming back to Carrots, and more importantly to vegetables. Has anyone ever seen how the fruits and vegetables market has changed in India (specifically Urban India) - it is maddening. Let us break by parts what I mean:

1. Supermarkets have become the place of choice for Urban aparment living upper middle class consumer.

2. There is a certain snootiness that I now see in fruits & veggie buying. Even if there are two shops selling practically the same vegetables, the upper middle class and their army of maids / plumbers / drivers / guards / electricians seem to shop at different places. The english speakers (for want of any other term) shop at the place where fruits are stacked much more attractively, and shop-keeper is more urbanely dressed.
...just before some of you start cringing - I am not passing any judgements here. Merely recollecting anecdotally wat I observe.

3. Online groceries. This is one convenient option. Thank you online people. You have ensured that now I dont need to take the elevator / stairs and cross the road. You would do that for me. Now I can stay better connected to my anti-social networks even better - as I am doing right now.

4. The old huge markets - mandis - I see one every day while commuting. But just dont stop. I know I will get things cheaper, and more importantly ...."fresher". But No, that is not as convenient as doing thumb-yoga on my android.

People, I know I am boring you with my emotions - but you have no idea, how good this feels. It is just that over the past few years, I got focussed on things took my energies, and leaving me to do things I loved to do.

Getting back to Writing, Photography, Reading  and Watching great, good, average, bad, ridiculous movies [I am serious, Shera, Dada, Trumpcard, are just a few of the movies that I have watched with rapt attention...I dont even want to talk about Gunda. For the bad movie snob like me, Gunda is pretty much pre-school stuff]

Getting to pre-school, I am now a Dad of a pre-schooler. Now you can understand what kept me away :)

Again, digressing back. See, the best part of writing is you start inventing concepts on the fly... "digressing back" as opposed to digressing and "focussing back". "Focussing back" is an example of deterministic and directed behaviour. Digressing back would be a random brownian intellectual movement, where you suddenly realize that you've come back to the original spot. So, digressing back to carrots, to fruits and veggies, to online shopping, the mobility+social+e-commerce thing has caught on so much.

The best part is none of what you see are original trend-setters. They are India-specific great copies (but copies, nevertheless) of highly success trend-setters from the Western hemisphere - Amazons, Ubers, Craigslists, and I dont know what else. In fact, they are not even original copies. The early 2000 Indian dotcoms went bust, along with the term "dotcom".

But then I realized today Naukri is probably the only "dotcom" that has been in continuous and public scrutinized existence for the past 15 years or so. That must take some capability. They are probably the only "Dotcom" from 1990s/2000s to still survive and lead or closely lead the pack, that I can remember.

Baaki, all well at my end. You will hear from me on my favourite topics - what I observe in the urban public arena, movies, photography, travel - the works. I want to make this blog work this time around.

P.s. The title says "Jumpcut". Been a while since I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey. Remembered the pre-historic throwing the bone - Jumpcut to 2001 - bone metamorphosizes to some kind of longitudinal space station.

P.p.s: Btw, which country would Commander James Bond fight for after September 18, if the Scots opt out.
 

As seen from my in-laws' balcony at dusk

Public Republic

Republic Day is just around the corner....

With it comes another mystery....why is it that the day we got our independence is observed in a rather sombre manner and the day we figured out what to do with this independence by writing a nice big book, celebrated with so much fanfare??

Beats me is all I can say.

Another mystery is: how is it that a culture which breaks in song and dance and gaiety at the drop of a hat, has such a serious-even-a-smile-is-not-my-middle-name rendezvous with anniversaries that are probably the most memorable in its long existence.

It probably has to do with the fact that the establishment has never let go of its "Company" roots in its appearance, although it has taken on a definitely desi hue in its actions, and more importantly its inactions.

But whichever way - this nation is truly great. I love it.

The month is going past quite fast and there has been some bit of action - a trip to Mumbai; Pongal; as is fast becoming the norm, a scary level of tempo at the workplace; a trip to Purana Quila; Ghajini in a movie hall; Dostana & Fashion [Backlogs :-( ] on the DVD.

It is really ironic that after living for 12 years in Delhi and that too barely a mile away from it, it took me such a long while to visit Purana Quila. So to make amends I need write about this literally old fort (with much of the ammo which is bound to come from the wikipedia window which is opened next to this). Going along with the wife and my new girlfriend (my "robust" camera), I think I got some really good snaps of the place.

Trivia -

1. The site has been occupied by someone or the other since 1000 bc [so it is just 3009 years old :-) ]

2. Humayun initally built the fort, which was later, literally fortified by Sher Shah Suri

3. The primary structures within the complex are:

• Qila-i-Kuna Mosque
• Sher Mandal (Which is an Octagonal multi-stories mound like structure)

The whole place is well maintained, with a small museum being run by the Archeological Survey of India, which showcases pre-historic artefacts primarily discovered in and around Delhi.

Enough of Purana Quilla - time for a hop-skip-&-jump --> Russia --> Russian dolls.

Here's a photo of the rather ubiquitous albeit full of character dolls...

2009

Hi!!

Here's wishing everyone a Rocking New Year ahead.

2008, if I look back for me at least was the year of Travel - by the sheer no. of places I went to this year. I've traveled like crazy before but never to so many places. This is a personal record:
- Delhi, Chandigarh , Kasauli , Barog , Baddi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad , Mumbai , Lonavla , Goa , Chennai, Kolkata, Asansol, Dubai
Lets see how 2009 turns up - I already have something lined up in the next few days!
2009 is going to be different - there are going to be more posts - ok, enough of me trying to promise myself about this - but 2 things I'm intend to pursue with a lot more passion is going to be blogging and photography - 1 Blog every week and 1 photo every month!! Now that's a simple, measurable commitment :-)

My erstwhile companion

My erstwhile companion

A life where nothing moves but life
is a ship of tragedy, painted
in colors of tranquility

A life lived but in itself
is coerced company
to be enjoyed ill

Happiness – my erstwhile companion
Where art thou? Where art thou?
Where is thy true smile that
shining through a thousand
false laughter

Life smiled, smiles lived
Now life lives, smile smiles

Where are your urgings to lead you
at terms of my own not yours

Singur - the other perspective

Just chanced upon this article...Its veracity is debatable...but given the way things function here, it may not be way off the mark
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=25c3d8e9-74e5-43e8-94d3-dd1d2be21992&&Headline=Whose+brakes+failed%3f