Tour de Malleshwaram!

Among the many areas I like in Bengaluru, M'waram is one of them. Wide roads, huge trees, 'known' people(the genre that is!) etc makes it something like a cosy little home! Met some junta one after the other. Some i keep meeting, some it had been more than a year. Well, it was a nice time I had and I shall stop talking about the fun and all that just about n0w :)
Interesting things happen on the road, and just after the ice-creams at Amrith (divine/heavenly!) , i had some time to kill. I walked on the 4th main, where i saw a couple having a very interesting discussion. I would love to describe them, but this new species is difficult to understand. The gaarl probably was planning to buy a car, and our baay saw the opportunity and swooped in, talking about the physics of power, pick-up etc. Giving suitable gyaan at the right times, he grew in confidence, not that he knew, but probably because she did not understand! The last I heard was "Tum AutoCar India nahi padti ho?" accompanied by a baay's sheepish grin and a giggle from the gaarl.
I walked along thinking, is selling everything :) Even aliens make progress, only by selling !!

Mediocrity

"Mediocre!", she mentioned before the movie ended. Quite puzzled and inquisitive to know the reasons for her judgments, he snapped back saying, "The movie has been running for 5 weeks and houseful". "But that is popular opinion and that need not mean that the people watching this 70 mm are right", said she almost responding. "Popular opinion does count." he argued. "It does?" she questioned. Then they left the theater.

Once into his shell, he never bothered to look outside. Disconnected and disjointed from the rest of the world, he seemed prehistoric. Minimal, in terms of words and fashion, he was neat in his own way. When he walked on the busy roads, people did not notice him, partly because he walked as if he never existed. He talked only, when was spoken to. Arrogant, some scoffed, shy, others concluded.
Neighbors knew little of him. Gossip mongers had news about him floating in air. It had hit him many times, making him smile.
Once, somebody questioned his marital status, who was reading a book by Mr. Chandrasekhar.
"How do you like the book" he replied.
"I love all of his books. But you did not answer the question?" he chuckled.
"Married with 2 kids. " he said. "BTW, I don't know why Mr. Chandrasekhar writes these books anyway. Moron! ", he walked away.

Giving up

"It feels like giving up" she mentioned before she bought the Diesel Honda City 1.3, her first car.
A friend of her and the sales person had a confused glance at each other, neither understanding, nor questioning her.

The Journey

"We've been through a lot together" she said, looking disoriented. He nodded, rather vigorously, not speaking a word in disagreement. He noticed, she wore plain clothes and looked much more dull than before. "We have to part ways" he said breaking the uneasy silence. "Yeah" she sighed. He looked taller than the first time she saw him, she concluded.
The journey was over they agreed in silence.
The train hooted again and soon started moving inch by inch and then a little faster. "Bye" she whispered with a smile known to him. "Take care" he mentioned.
"Until next time"!
They had reached their destinations. Only the journey remained, the 10 PM to 5AM next day, with the spiced Chai and the early morning!

You cannot break me, coz you did not make me !

Plagiarism. Flicked the topic from a movie 'The Hurricane' which i watched yesterday. Well, the movie could have been better but it still good enough to show the human spirit. Also, in a very sensitive way it portrays the mechanics of the weak human mind even when the spirit is so strong, that it raises beyond the human and physical barriers. Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter is a boxer who is charged and proven guilty for the alleged murder of a group of 'white' people in a bar in New Jersey. Innocent , he is, but the manipulation of witnesses and the erstwhile law sees him lose two trials in the State court if New Jersey and is sentenced for life imprisonment. Initially, he refuses to accept the rules of the prison, and solitary confinement is what he gets for the rebellion. He confronts himself and stays away from reaching a mental deluge.
He starts to 'do the time' refusing to be one amongst them. Writing becomes his new weapon; eventually he publishes a book, about his life and his innocence. He says, 'the only to survive this prison is to not want or need.' Denzel Washington is at his best here, looking less human with every passing minute of the movie and every passing year in Rube's life.
Then, an inspired kid, reading his book and just believes in his innocence meets Rube. This weakens him, wanting him to get out. The human side of him returns to him. For the exact details, watch the movie, it is gripping to say the least. Then, there is a Canadian trio who help him to get new witnesses and build up a strong case. Threatened, they work up a nice case, which is eventually presented in the federal court, making it make it or break it kind of scenario. Innocent he is proven in the end. A little cliched, i got to agree. But the climax is not what makes the movie to be good. It is the characters and the sensitive way of handling of them, which takes the cake.
Self pity and self obsession is made to look silly which is true in the real sense as well. Greatness comes to those who get out of such mundane behavior. Again greatness has no scale, nor no measure. Maybe greatness is a wrong word. The true value of self, freedom, knowledge and dimmed and distant commodities like power, obsession and ego; one can call it !

Communicate

"He does not get me!" said the lady to another. "These estranged relationships" sighed the other. After the vicious circle of discussions on the understanding and observations of the marital mechanics, they parted. Next day, they discussed their boss and his recent divorce.
Communicate, their boss told the team in a recent team meeting. The business will go good, the boss after the talk and smirked to himself.
Their ever so unhappy client remarked, "These guys know the business better than we do. I wonder, why things are in such bad shape.", she mentioned to them along with her peers in her weekly update meeting.
A minute later, her phone rings. Her mother screams, "It was important to me." A moment later the phone goes of line. She was to attend a play with her grandson in it.
"Ajji(Grandma), please come to the play tomorrow." he had reminded quite energetically.
"Concentrate on Modes of Communication" his dad had screamed, trying to teach, irked at his son not concentrating on the text book.

Barren and uninhabitable lands, sweeping across his tired and watery eyes mocked his intellect which seemed like the only viable companion in such harsh weather. Desert, he managed to conclude after applying some thought to his otherwise already engaged Grey matter. Water was the next desire of his living needs, completely out of frequency with his being. They seemed to be on their own, whims and fancies he murmured to himself. With the misery of survival mounting, he felt liberated from all the pain within. Like a flashback of sorts his entire life screened to a solitary audience, applauded and criticized, all at the same time. He cried, loud and uninhibited, at his past with moments of humor entangled with the present. Only the pounding of his heart reminded him that he had to walk, destination unreachable, journey beautiful, but all alone. He looked at the high skies hoping for a storm, just for the change as he felt boredom would soon kill him before the hostile environment would. Mirages, then he remembered were common for the ones in the desert and decided he would look out for them and would not fall for them. But invading these thoughts, he tried not to think about how he landed in the desert. He had planned his journey, all to excellent detail. The Great Savannas he began to imagine almost childlike. Raining, it was, just around the corner. The 'others' waited. He gave up. U-Turn was what he chose!!

"She left me", he wailed, remorse and regret engulfed him, giving him an aura, pale; almost making the senses repel his very being. Years, he said it took him to realize the absence of her in his life, making the descent quite bumpy and ignorant. Descending, he never could comprehend. Older and wiser, he felt but time was something he had wasted and disrespected, he cried again at the very thought of it. "How do I go back to her" he wondered. Approaching her was in itself was a demanding exercise for the one who felt absolutely nothing when she left had left him. He shuddered, on what awaited him in the future, it seemed meaningless, the existence without her. Myopia had consumed him, the realization hit him. Past pursuits now put him to shame he felt. He had hit upon, hard times like this bouncing back to his everyday life. This time he knew, it was here to stay for good. Nightmares filled the voids of his otherwise peaceful sleep, most of the time she leaving him in all the ways she could, giving him a glimpse of his creativity. He had to get back to his normal self, who looked like a distant cousin, unseen and absconding for years!

He had to wake up, startled and disturbed. He wanted to get back to her, fall at her feet, worship her as he did as a 14 year old. He smiled, went up to the attic, picked the dusted book. Reunited and rejuvenated he resigned from his activities the next day.

She laughed. For one last time!
Only silence followed later, uneasy and cold. Years and years of autumn, dry winds blowing at her face, leaves crumbling under her legs as she walked in the same deserted lanes, yet foreign. The loneliness chilled her spine and shook her core, weakening her, suffocating her. She did not remember when was the last time she felt alive. She sat, all by herself, in never ending room, dark and moist, with rays of light hitting her eyes, hurting 'em.

She heard a distant voice. Clearer, "Darling, Happy 32nd Birthday!". She then answered many calls from her friends and attended her own party.
She laughed. Every single time.

Confusion prevails

Ugadi, the new year, was unusual in many respects. One, I had office, but did not stay much there anyway. Second, met the silent, into the shell sorts of Unkill Swallow, which was strange and I almost never expected that. So, we walked, aimlessly and pointlessly, just like many of our efforts with the ideas, leading nowhere, only promising! Generally, we talk, but that day was silent with a certain uneasiness, which made Jayanagar a little strange. Finally I pestered unkill to tell me something interesting, which he tried and that lasted for about 20 words. Unkill tried and failed to start some 'interesting' conversation. After the Kapi at Daily Bread with summaries of ideas taken on a tissue paper, which we decided should be parked for a while, and before the walk we had snacks at the road-side-near-the-park-healthy-food, which was one third of the price of the Kapi at DB, and 100 as tasty as the 'Kapi'!

So, we talked after the daring try of Unkill. We talked about the most silly stuff, I must say, it feels rather good after that. Clarity as unkill calls it :-)

As i write, i am listening to a song, with words, 'Utopia high in the sky'; probably some of us just want that and there is just no explanation, to why not the same things everyone else wants!

P.S: Unkill you scared me, but that is normal behavior :P
P.P.S: I generally don't write on things like this :)
P.P.P.S: Hopefully I write more, for the better or worse, who knows!

VD

Surrender to thy

Calm,
It did seem
Deafening and Ridiculous.
Noise,
Screaming at the face
Scared and Direction less,
Reality,
Or was it, pale and unknown,
Darkness...

Confusion,
In the eerie laughter
Darling in a rapture,
Nose-dived,
Sure and Clear
Superficial yet real,
Road to perdition,
Only woke up, me with me
Dawn...

Pyaasa

Pyaasa literally meaning Eternal Thirst was made in 1957, starring GuruDutt, Waheeda Rahman, Mala Sinha is included in Time's top 100 movies of all time and rightly so. A compelling story about Vijay (GuruDutt) as the protagonist who goes on from being the love struck college student to a unsuccessful poet to a ir(responsible) son, a burden on his kith and kin, the mad man, the servant of the ex-lover's husband etc. On the other side, he strikes success, he becomes the all important brother, a loving and caring son, a very popular and successful public figure posthumously and the most significant of all, the hero of Gulabo(Waheeda Rahman).
Well, this story was told in about 2 1/2 hours with some amazing screenplay and great cinematography, wonderful lyrics and some soulful singing by GeetaDutt, Hemant Kumar and Mohd Rafi and not to forget music by S.D Burman, There is this wonderful cohesion between all the elements of the movie, that one cannot take their eyes on from even a single frame of the movie.
What strikes one when watching Pyaasa, is the limited appearance of Gulabo, but her lingering presence throughout the movie. Nothing is ever spoken between her and Vijay, but there is an amazing spark or whatever between the two. Even the villains and the vamps played mainly by Vijay's ex-girlfriend Meena(Mala Sinha) and her husband Mr. Ghosh(Rehaman) are so realistic to say the least. Mala Sinha plays the role beautifully, not at all over doing it, by marrying Mr Ghosh and citing reasons of poverty and the unsuccessful career of Vijay. Even towards the end when Vijay declines fame, money and recognition, Meena is telling him to go get all the of those passionately as if it is some medicine or some repenting for her doings. Though the rich and the poor theme has (over) used in a lot of movies there is a certain sensitive way the theme has been handled here.
But what amazes me is though the world is against Vijay his mother is so supportive and loving even though her other children are materialistic, rude and insensitive. Ironically, Vijay does not perform the last rites of her mother.
The presence of Johhny Walker in the movie keeps the story balanced which otherwise might become depressing for some. Also he plays a valuable role in getting Vijay out of the asylum and acts as a link between Gulabo and Vijay.
At one point when Vijay gives his coat to poor old man and the old man dies in coming in the way of a speeding train and dies; people recognize the dead to be the poet Vijay. Gulabo, on the other hand gets these poems of Vijay printed by none other than Mr. Ghosh who is the editor of a popular newspaper. And then there is fame for Vijay, mourning of his death, the opportunistic use of the dead Vijay for money by his brothers, praises from Mr Ghosh who had rejected Vijay's poems initially and instead hired him as a servant and following of people who adore his poems. There are some finer intricacies, deeply insightful which sadly cannot be summarized here(So watch the movie!).
Finally when Vijay denies recognition and fame and goes to Gulabo and together they leave the town, it gives a sense of how success is perceived. The significance of the ending can be thought of as a simile between life and how we live it. Gulabo gets Vijay all the fame and recognition he sought which he always wanted but finally takes Gulabo, giving up many other things which have are ( portrayed to be) hypocritical and ephemeral.
Its a movie to watch and one should have it among the favorites!

For more links and info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyaasa

VD

A Case of Choosing a Market

Banking in Urban India has changed, to say the least. Private players, technology playing its part has created some ripples in the business of banking. People/Customer centric service seems to be the direction in which the business is heading. I shall address the way two players one local and the other international has influenced the change and how they have chosen the market.

Citibank, a leading banking firm was one of those banks which entered the market somewhere in the 90's has been instrumental in getting 'technology banking' like internet banking etc into the Indian market. So the target audience(Customers) have always been the ones who rub hands with the latest like the techies/ the ones who use are coherent with the changes the bank gives them.
For many the idea of banking without a teller and the others is quite unimaginable. A visit to the nearby bank is something that is almost habit that seems to have caught most. As an example, E-transfer, E-shopping though a huge market still fails to attract an everyday businessman/shopper! Conservative customers is what we can say to generalise the audiences who do not seem to be the market the bank we are referring to. Citibank typically works at the corporate level, salary accounts we can call them and hence advertising at the individual level is never a concern to them.

But I got to admit as an E-banking Customer of the bank, their website seems to be designed so well with some amazing security features(deduced by the look and feel of it:-) ), hence removing certain fears we all generally have while using these technological tools, making life a lot easier!!
We also have to see the clear target which they have in mind making it easier to satisfy the customer.

ICICI bank, a pioneer we can say, in changing the way banking was done in Urban India. Unlike Citibank, ICICI bank seemed to target everyone. The salary account, an account for the retired talking about the ease at which banking can be done. The onus on their executives in their advertisements can be quite easily seen in their branches as well, generally! They too have E-banking options to the customers, but unlike Citi the weightage on Internet banking is not much. They have caught a bit of all the market share, substantial in some cases. Result being crowded banks, ATM's.

Customer satisfaction is something that the bank always aimed for, and they have managed it well till now. They have managed to capture various markets with all the features which Citi provides, but they have much more to offer than what Citi does. But the long waits at the ATM's is something people are not ready to do.

Markets chosen, markets captured, but the question is sustainance! Competiton from other banks, even the nationalized ones to a great extent is something which needs to be looked at when restricting oneself to a specific market. Markets captured, but the banks/ATM's choking with volumes of customers which they cannot handle is also something which requires to be addressed. Their are many fish in sea and fishermen just move on in case the fish not unavailable!

P.S: Please correct me in case of any factual errors!!

VD

Issues

Sample Headline:
Ash-Abhi to be married soon.
Sachin and Dravid take a vacation after the world cup debacle.

All this sounds familiar, doesn't it?

News in detail(includes the news reported and also my own!!):
Ash and Abhi are getting married!! Sorry folks, this news may terribly dissapoint you, but we are getting confirmed news from the Bacchan family that its happening sometime very soon. Now we shall go across to our correspondant ________ outside the Ash's residence.
After some obnoxious and irrelevant questions, the correspondant is bid goodbye, but not for long, he/she is found at Abhi's residence, again with the same Q&A session with news reader, who is bothered with the sudden dynamicity in the newsroom thanks to the many important events happening all over Mumbai(India). After a while, when the sensational parliament walkout news was being aired, the dance programme at the wedding starts(hurrah!!!), so our dear correspondant is standing at the gates again highlighting upon what the guests wore, how they walked, what they carried in their hands(radioactive elements??), did they look constipated after the the dinner/lunch:P etc. This goes into a loop for any activity which takes place inside those lofty fence. Once the ordeal is over hopefully peace should prevail.

Dravid today was seen at a beach resort somewhere in South West Pacific Chinese islands(if that exists)! Our very own journalist @#$$#!@#!$!@ caught up with the Indian skipper and enquired about all about the world cup which lasted 33.89 seconds after which we talked about his plans for endorsements for the entire time(halfway through which our correspondent dozed off!!). We have some excerpts from the interview(a slideshow comes up and display of the next discussion/debate on the the comments is shown!!)

In the meantime, as some relief come the commercials, or is it(its the same cricket team , the same old movie stars, who don't even know what the products are!! )????

Certain politicians made, certain statements, which many don't even care which made the opposition make certain comments, but then the (un)certain party people came to the rescue of the politicians, who refused to have made those (un)certain comments, which brings us to the end of this news cast. Please watch weather forecast and temperatures across India. After which we are going to show you some electronic gadgets/automobiles which most of you can never own(hence watch) after which we shall SEE how poor people are in some part of the world and how much these people are struggling. Meanwhile we shall keep you updated on Shaadi No.1 and other stories!
Only Questions arise looking at all this.
Whatever happened to privacy?
Journalism in the real sense(News, or maybe the defination of news has changed)??
Responsible media???

VD

Train and the Railway Station

Figures of Speech, we all use, making the un-speakable to be spoken, though indirect; yet conveyed. Somehow i stumbled upon the train, the railway station theory:P probably the only reason being the floating population emulating the way of life.
We still have a lot of choices, we can 'choose' to be train, a passenger, the 'see of' person, the clock on the truss, the hooting engine or the railway station(no choice here!). As its famously quoted,'We are what we choose to be' which is true in all senses.

On the platform we stand many times, some trains pass you by, some stay with you, then move on, some just hoot around and move away in an instant. Some pass you without an announcement and for some it feels as if the entire platform has been waiting for the train's arrival. We look over at another platform and see another of your kind, but one cannot get there. And after sometime its over and our train arrives and we know we have to get onto it, some of us do get on, some of us choose not to, eventually we find one to hop onto.

Eventually you make the journey, again trains pass you by, only much faster, then you realise you are the train, passing people, stopping at some platforms and watching those on them, laughing at some, crying with some... Sometimes another train comes along parallelly, moves along for a while, then stops, joins again, but you lose track of it with time.

Sometimes the unlucky ones derail, some crash head-on. The lucky ones get the signals right at times and know when to stop or start al the time. Some retire, some go on and on...

In all this we get into the roles of many others, the clock-the time teller, the signal-guidance, the platform-support, the rails...

In all this the only thing we know is the journey has to be made...

VD

Mistakes

Ever wondered, why we make mistakes; the encounter with the hot pan resting on the flame, the ever revenge hungry needle when meddled, the axioms followed but yet not, words not to be told and yet spoken, actions unneccesary, expressions uncontrolled, mistakes all of them. We still make them knowing them to be mistakes, yet done, so in the future one can refer to them as mistakes and rue over the fact that you commited them. But why did we commit them, myopia?
Or plain dumbness(time is a teacher though). One decision, one word, one signature, one mistake is all it takes to take is in 'that one' direction(maybe a mistake).
A hopeless romantic is the closest i can get to describe the person who keeps making mistakes; mistakes commited, yet not...

Greater things

The birth of one's learning is the recognition of his/her failures, errors, misinterpretations, wrong assumptions. Its the mere short sightedness which stagnates life and makes one 'satisfied'/'learned' and stops them from doing greater things(what are they?). Very few do not fall under the purview of the above lines and meeting them is quite a deal(Imagine being one of them).
Greater things, when pondered on, raises many questions like for whom, why and that's the time one should know that he/she has crossed the intial barrier of looking at things positively. Some never stumble upon these kind of questions and just leap over to do those 'Greater things'(Intitution/Luck?). Many take a longer route, detour after detour, many in circles(the unlucky ones?). What is that they reach, what is it they have achieved? Many propogate the age old 'Life is like an icecream, so enjoy it before it melts'. Assuming it to be true(I do too!!!), why stop doing other 'less enjoyable stuff'?
I failed again, I am closer to where I had to be. Late or early, I will be there!
And again! I want to quit(but I will not).
Am there or am not?
The journey is beautiful though, i complain, i laugh, i cry, i fall, i rise. The compatriots are the ones who make it so special. To lift me when i fall, to cry, laugh and share the pain, the ecstacy or the just their company when i walk(the greater thing and towards it)...

VD

Success

A year back, i wrote the engineer's escape route(thats how it is presumed to be), CAT.
It did involve quite a bit of preparation, writing all the mock-CAT's, reading, some catching up etc. Finally the D-day was there. I had to make a trip from Suratkal to Bangalore(home) to take up the test. The test ok( and i mean okay!!!!). How the test went; after i went back to the college became secondary to me, as faced the ugly yet very true fact. My close friend had also taken up the test, Once i got back to the college, there was a general enquiry on how the test went. I gave the standard ok's( as i really didn't know).My close friend had also taken up the test( could not clear it), also came to my room and asked for the question paper(demand seems to be appropriate). He wanted to see whether i have belled the CAT. I the ever optimistic did not want to check up the answers online.
But later on persuaded me to do so( he checked them all), and as luck would have it, I missed one section cut-off by a long shot. The sadness of failure was hindered by the face and words of the 'friend' who was 'SUCCESSFUL'. I had tasted success in my success:( This is success for some people- somebody's failure...

soft sklills

Very recently i had to attend a session on some soft skills. Though i did enjoy it, it was quite a shocker just looking at its repurcussions or the effect of the session, on some of the people. It was just an addition to innumerable fundas we having been hearing throughout our student lives. "We are not good; We need to suffer to help others; Entertainment is bad(good:))(god knows what is entertainment now;HOW CAN WE IMPROVE OURSELVES FOR OTHERS SAKE?????????????? These are just indicative of the false satisfaction of one's own good, but these will not do no good. These, the escape mechanisms from responsiblities or things related to it. A strong implicit belief that humans are no good, which makes oneself less capable of doing the greater things which the one can achieve. unluckily i strongly believe in the opposite, which makes it rather compulsary on my part to do something... a something which i don't even know... but i dream... as of now i am in a very shitty phase.... so slightly confused... (but not as usual)........... skills which do not carry any meaning when u cannot help yourself.