Write Stuff

Mitchell Johnson does a mini Zidane

abhishek — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:11:07 +0000

No more a gentleman’s game, but a little bit of Zidanesque head butt will not hurt cricket. Entertaining stuff.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sidewalks anyone?

Adwait — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:46:06 +0000

There are no adjectives to describe the traffic scenes in the cities we live in. There is no scope for lying and praising it or justifying how crazy it is. ‘Seeing is believing’ as it is said and everyone who has been a traveler for a day at least, has seen the traffic.

How it works.
How it moves.
How it breathes.

They say, if you can drive on Indian terrain, you can drive anywhere. I believe that is true. You don’t drive on Indian roads. The roads carry your vehicle especially if you are on your mo-bike. Sometimes it gets a bit frustrating. When you are driving and have a roof over your head, with music playing, and the air conditioning on, it makes things easier… gradually taking one away from the road. The ultimate separation is sipping coffee, reading the newspaper or a magazine, sitting in the back seat, with a designated driver doing his job.

What we forget all the time, is that traffic doesn’t affect only the people with vehicles. But it encroaches on all its surroundings. The buildings off the roads are victims to pollution, dust and noise: the three major departments where the traffic and roads take a toll on the surrounding structure, whether they are residential or commercial. Obviously, the poor residential buildings are the worst hit; they are situated directly off certain main roads.

Apart from the buildings, the traffic is also ruthless to the pedestrians. It is physically impossible to cross roads in Indian metropolitan cities, even with working traffic signals. Ideally speaking, the roads and layout should be in such a way that a pedestrian shouldn’t be scared or harmed while walking or crossing the road. But neither is guaranteed in India.

There are no pedestrian friendly roads in our country. Half the roads’ footpaths are either too small, or they are dug up and forgotten or ignored to be re-laid. The other half simply do not have side-walks leaving the people no choice but to make it harder for the vehicles to drive.
But what about those nice big footpaths with good tiling? Sure they are not an extinct breed, but no one seems to see them. University road in Pune (where I live) has a footpath and adjacent to that has a cycle path, which is a nice 5 feet wide. This makes the so called non vehicle zone a 10 feet wide path. But sadly no one chooses to use it.

When I drive by, I try explaining to a few of my pedestrian citizens. The conversion rate of my explanations I think is in negative figures. Some people ask me to mind my own business. Others ignore. As far as I can remember, there was only one occasion when an uncle came in my way while I was taking a turn on my bike and I gestured, that he shouldn’t be here and that he should be walking on the path. He smiled and admitted his mistake.

So this is the sad story of footpaths. It’s not like there is a shortage of footpaths. But no one wishes to walk on them. Side-walks make pedestrian life much easier. So next time you see a side-walk empty, make sure you put someone on it!

A tribute to Mr Vodafone

Adwait — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:03:52 +0000

Creating brilliant ads is quite a challenge. They are not like movies. They aren’t three hours long and most of them aren’t even aired start to end on television. They are short. They need to capture your intelligence long enough so you would go and buy that product. They have to be eye-catching. A good ad is judged by its repeat value and whether you look for your remote to switch channels when the first ad pops out in the middle of a serial that you might be watching.

If an advertisement can keep the attention of the viewer and if it still re-plays in a person’s head, much after the television set is turned off, then I think that the copywriter has done a great job. My personal favourites have been the Vodafone advertisements. But the one’s before the Zoozoo’s. The one’s were Irrfan Khan stole the show.

Since the ads are hammered on every channel, either you will reach saturation and nauseate every time it starts on television or you will appreciate it so much, that when you’re having coffee in the evening you’ll suddenly burst into laughter remembering that advertisement (Well if it was a humorous one).

There is one such advertisement that I simply love. When I’m with my friends, I always imitate the act. When someone does a better imitation, I laugh so loud, people think I’m crazy. But every time it comes on television, by default, I end up smiling after the advertisement finishes. It’s a complete package. There aren’t a hundred people on screen to concentrate on. There are no flashy backgrounds, and neither is there any background music, leaving the actor or as I would like to put it, Irrfan’s voice perfectly audible. The advertisements are set up in simple back-drops. Nothing hard to understand. The dialoge is also simple. Getting to the point immediately. Whether it is STD call rates or SMS rates. Irrfan Khan gets to the point within a sentence or two. Not causing any confusion. This is a very viewer friendly technique used by Vodafone. Irrfan Khan started out when Hutch changed its name to Vodafone in India. Ever since he has been the face of the Vodafone tele-commercials. His latest one being, the slashed call rates after 10pm, where he is woken up in the middle of the night.

Irrfan employs his acting techniques that he learnt here at FTII, Pune. In the ad world, I believe he is Mr. Vodafone. Someone has said that advertising is an art of creating prejudices and if you have folks like Irrfan doing the job for you, it’s a treat.

Living for that one day

Adwait — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:34:52 +0000

A routine sets. Invariably.
School. College. Work. We all have one.

After getting up in the morning, there is this imaginary list in our sub-conscious mind which eventually we start ticking off.
Bathroom : done. Breakfast : done. Newspaper : done. And so on subjectively according to our own lives. After some time. Once you set into college, or you get comfortable at work, this checklist is completed effortlessly and unconsciously. You don’t think while carrying out your routine after a certain period of time. Again not set in stone, but something which needs a personal touch.

A certain significant break in the routine, even the smallest one’s can cause great upset. No sugar in the morning coffee, or not getting the paper on time to read the tabloids before leaving the house disrupt the day, well not completely, but it does to a certain extent. This is ‘your’ life. The routine, the small nuances of life. Your evening plans, the route you use to commute to and fro from work. All included. When something changes in the ‘oh-so-perfect’ setting, it strikes everyone. This makes us think. BOOM. ‘Is this a good thing or bad ?’ Is the first question comes up when its a matter of choice.

All this takes the bench every week. Once a week. On that day we all love to call Sunday.

On Sunday what happens is. All this routine, check list and timings are all conveniently forgotten. Sunday is all spontaneous. There are no solid plans. Nothing is concrete. It is a day where all the ‘wants’ are satisfied as opposed to the ‘needs’ being satisfied on the other six days of the week.

It is one day everyone looks forward to. I’m guessing the only day in the week we all look forward to. So is it true ? Do we live for that one day?

Idiots

Kate Winslet - The Spiritual Seductress

Akhilesh — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:06:52 +0000

The first time I came to know about Kate Winslet’s existence on this planet was through her very famous topless scene in the “Titanic”. That scene was my motivation to go to watch the second Hollywood Film of my life (after Jurassic Park). Once I watched the movie, I felt that the actress had played her part well.

I never imagined at that time that the same actress will transform herself into performer of such an extraordinary caliber that will be indescribable. If anybody has seen “The Revolutionary Road” and the ““Reader” (We all know she got an Oscar for the Reader in the category of the Best Actress. And I am surprised how she did not bag one in revolutionary Road) would know what I am talking about.

Both the films have a very somber mood and Kate has to perform some incredibly sensitive as well as ruthless scenes. Not even a moment, in those two films, I felt, that she did not live the character. She energized herself as an Aphrodite to make love to a teenager in the “Reader” and essayed the role of a depressed/ disturbed wife in “The Revolutionary Road” with equally depressing energy. Her spirituality and detached nature is very visible in her performances as she completely loses herself to bring the character alive. Her nude and explicit scenes are also completely devoid of her and completely in to the character which is quite an extraordinary feat (according to me).It felt as if she has been meditating on the roles like a Yogini.

In fact after watching The Revolutionary Road I was unable to sleep for a week. I was in contemplation if I had played the role of the wife in “The Revolutionary Road” would I have been living a normal / daily life after that (The contemplation was after an assumption that I had realized similar acting prowess). I am sure I would have had real difficulty adjusting to a daily routine after playing that role and resuming my off screen family life. Mind you she is married to the Director Sam Mendes and has one daughter too. It makes me understand the emotional stresses of an actor’s profession. It is not only a physically demanding skill but it sure plays havoc with your emotional energy (especially if the performance is on the extreme side).

The most amazing thing about her performances has been her dramatic transformation from the first film (not that she had done badly in her first film). It is quite evident that she has been improving with each film of hers, exponentially. It reiterates the infinite capability of human potential to develop his/her skill. Though, I am yet to see her in a free spirited or a comic role.

I am sure even in years to come; Kate Winslet will keep us mesmerized by her incredible work and bring the silver screen to life.

PS: This write up is not a critical analysis of Kate Winslet. These are just my thoughts.

On the Operation Table

Adwait — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:31:41 +0000

Generally, all of us fit humans, only hear about operations and surgeries. We hear about them from friends and family, see them in the movies and on television. They generally look all slick with the doctors saving the day in the end, well in most cases. I was a never big fan of these operation table stories, but as luck would have it, I was in one just a week ago.

I hate hospitals and everything that has anything to do with them: the smell, injections, medicine, stretchers and basically everything you would find in a functioning hospital. I have to confess that all of it did intrigue me, but I was never attracted to it! I always wanted to stay away from these medical institutions. But then the day came. My doctor told me if I ever wanted to play football again, I would have to get my ruptured ligament reconstructed. That meant surgery… which meant hospital… leading to anxiety.

So the operation was scheduled for the 1st of February. I was asked to get in the hospital by the Jan 31st to complete various formalities with insurance and small check-ups such as blood and sugar. So there I was, watching the United Arsenal game on Sunday night, in my hospital room. I had no idea what was going to happen. A couple of my friends had already undergone this surgery but both of them had different details. I didn’t know which applied to my surgery. So there I was happy, that United had thumped Arsenal in London, at the same time anxious to what was going to happen tomorrow morning.

So the day came. February 1st 2010. I got into the funny smelling hospital gown and shirt and was stretchered all the way down to the operation theatre. Then came the big nervous breakdown moment. I signed in a big thick book, and then I found myself sitting in the theatre, well actually sleeping on the bed inside. The next ten minutes where more like movie scenes. I remember a saline being injected into my left hand, then an injection in my lower back, made my feet go all numb. By the time I was completely lying down, there was another mask out over my mouth to make sure, I wouldn’t move during the operation. And the last thing I hear were some drilling noises. The amusing thing here is, though I was knocked out, not in my right state of consciences, my eyes were open. I could see a group of doctors constantly hovering around me, with various little shiny metal objects in their hands. But vision was the only sensory function working for those 47 minutes (the time the surgery took). I couldn’t feel anything. Nothing at all. There was absolutely no sound. It was as if someone had pressed my internal mute button. There was no question of taste, thankfully.

The next I remember was waking up in the recovery room. With two thick blankets over me. The doctor woke me up. We spoke briefly. He told me the surgery went well. I was still a little drowsy, so I couldn’t catch everything he said. But I’m sure nothing went wrong.

And here I am, sitting, five days later, writing this little experience, hoping to get well, hoping to get back to playing sport.

What’s common between a JK Rowling and a Raju Hirani?

IPL3: A Shameful Start

Adwait — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 06:42:45 +0000

Who knew that in auction round of the third IPL season, the reigning world champion Pakistan, would have their players completely ignored? It was a moment of shock and disgust, when the hammer was hit after Shahid Afridi was announced, followed with a monotone, ‘Not Sold’, by the auctioneer. Surprising and equally shocking was the behaviour of the franchise owners at the third auction of the Indian Premier League.

When different subjects clash, it becomes ugly. For instance, no one likes politics interfering with Bollywood. Neither is religion and society entertained. Such encounters make things ugly. Something similar happened in the auction of the third DLF Indian Premier League. No Pakistani player was bid for. They were completely ignored, as if they were invisible, or moreover not meant to be a part of this.

Now what can be the reason for such an act? Was it incognito? Did the Board of Cricket Control in India plan this and later forced the franchises not to buy them? Was it a coincidence that just out of the blue, no one wanted to buy a certain pool of players who turned out to be from the same country?

I don’t know the answer, if you do please let me know, asap. But still, I never thought that this would happen on our country. India boasts being the largest democracy. A secular nation. But still, even in the game of cricket, which as stereotype as it sounds, is a semi-religion in this country, politics played a role. A dirty one.

The feud between India and Pakistan is evident. How many ever peace talks and agreements are signed, there will always be some sort of tension, visible or not, one cannot deny the fact. It seems like there is absolutely no possibility of a peaceful coexistence between the two neighbouring nations. On the one hand there are the staunch nationalist political powers, who are busy shouting their lungs out, the only words coming out of their words are, ‘Hindutva’. They believe that all Muslims are terrorists (Again a cliché. This one I really hate. It’s utterly stupid. Some of my best friends are Muslims) and that no good can come out of Pakistan. On the other side, we have our secular and more broad minded political powers whose voice is so soft, it is drained amongst the riot of the masses. Completely ignoring the fact, that we must not hate Pakistan, but instead the certain individuals, who trash the name of Pakistan. The fight shouldn’t be against Pakistan, neither should it be against Pakistanis or Muslim’s. Rather against individuals like Ajmal Kasab who deserve to be hated.

We should not feel proud, that the Pakistani players have been omitted from the 3rd season of the IPL. In fact it is our loss, not watching ‘Boom-Boom Afridi’, or Sohail Tanvir playing in our country. I believe IPL 3 is going to miss some great players, something which we will be regretting for quite some time.

Money is what Money does

Akhilesh — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:49:05 +0000

Eureka! I found the fourth dimension of our Universe! And the fourth dimension is none other that our beloved MONEY! Physics tells us that we are trapped in a three dimensional universe which comprises time, space and causality. We live, breathe, eat, drink and smoke in the constraints of the above three factors. Though, metaphysically speaking, we have infinite dimensions in the Universe but our eyes are not adjusted (to their frequency) to see them. But one dimension that pervades all the physical dimension of our Universe is MONEY.

I say it because all the above three constraints of the physical universe have started to talk in the language of money. “Time is money”; “Only if I had enough money; I could have been making a trip abroad”; “We need money and investment for exploring whether there is water on moon or not for future human settlements” are few of the very common statements that we hear in our everyday life. So I got tempted to rechristen MONEY as the fourth dimension pervading all the other three.

In Some Economics books, money is defined as a Medium of Exchange, a unit of account, a STORE of value. The definition provides us with a very interesting piece of information of MONEY being a store of VALUE. “Value” for any commodity, service or any work is the ‘value’ that we perceive in our minds. So do we decide whether we want to part away with that much ‘value’ in exchange of goods, services or commodity that we are acquiring. A very simple example for such exchange of value that I discovered was when I paid Rs 800 to watch Avatar in 3D at PVR cinemas in Bangalore. I found the experience was very ordinary as compared to a Red Lounge in Mumbai where I just paid Rs 300 for similar kind of movie viewing. My mind created a perception that Rs 800 did not justify the service I received in exchange and hence I found that VERY EXPENSIVE. So according to above deduction- MONEY is a store a value, a value that our mind perceives for the exchange of good and services.

Our Indian Hockey Team chose not to come to practice sessions because they perceived that they were not being paid their dues (read: value) in exchange of the service they were providing to the country. It reminded me of a mutiny kind of a situation. It also made me reach a conclusion that MONEY (in present times) had the power of creating a mutiny.

No one of us hesitates to pay our very friendly Traffic Havaldar when we are caught driving without a license or any other similar offence. We do that without giving a second thought and take pride if we negotiated well on the bribe. It is also a part of our dinner table conversations. So again MONEY came into a picture, as a tool of rescue for the offender, and as a symbol of upholding of power for the Havaldar.
Money rules our lives from making the decisions of what we are going to study and what career we are going to choose. From creating a perception of deprivation and poverty (the lack of it) or creating an image of being Super Rich, MONEY is DOING something or the other to all of us. We have given it the power to create a sense of security or otherwise within ourselves.

Oh! This all pervading dimension is forcing us to create songs like – ‘Na baap bada Na Bhaiya , the whole thing is that ki bhaiya sabse bada rupaiya’-howsoever funny it may sound but many people believe it from core of their hearts.

We can call MONEY with different names, assign values to it, call it a medium of exchange or even imagine it to be a fourth dimension but it still remains the pivotal and most important decision makers of our lives. This makes me conclude that Money is nothing but what it does to various people, Nothing More, Nothing less. MONEY IS WHAT MONEY DOES.

Making the difference - Part III

Adwait — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:54:48 +0000

…And again, a continuation to the small environment chain written. Part one was about garbage, part two was about plastics and this is probably the last one in the series. This one aims at simple ideas or thoughts, which everyone should follow. To make a small personal difference to clean up the environment. Here are some notes which I’ve been compiling. Something very simple, but very effective :

Segregation of wet and dry garbage. It is a must.
Try home composing. For further details visit http://www.dailydump.org. I’ve started this in my home.
Make sure that your garbage is dumped where it should be and not in any empty plot in your neighbourhood or on the road-side.
Re-cycling of paper. Don’t throw away old one sided print outs and old envelopes. They come in handy for a quick scribble. Especially envelopes. I got my first pay check in a Hyundai envelope, when I was not remotely connected to the car company.
Complete eradication of plastic bags. As a substitute, carry cloth bags.
If the shop owner insists on polythene bags, tell them it’s against the law. Just the other day, the local grocer in my locality paid a fat fine.
Make sure no-one burns the trash collected in the local bins. The municipality will come pick it up. It is their duty. Burning will harm the environment even more.
There are various organizations which collect waste plastic. This includes all waste plastic, biscuit rappers, milk packets, old plastic bottles etc. It is used in creating tar roads. This is an active practice in Bangalore, but haven’t yet found anything in Pune.

The above are some very simple points to remember. Following these can make a huge difference to the society. Spreading this word around will surely make a difference to the environment. Even if it doesn’t spread, we must make our own personal contributions to save it.

Plastics!

Adwait — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:32:08 +0000

Are plastics really that bad eh’?
Oh yes sir / ma’am, they really are!

I want to write this as a continuation, to the garbage article I have written earlier. Again, my ‘environment crusader - alter ego’ probing me to write this one.
At the end of the little garbage story, I requested the readers to stop using polythene bags. Here’s why:

There are some natural factors, we aren’t in control of. Global warming, the biggest visible example. It is a natural phenomenon aided by a number of human activities. Global warming is basically, the heating of the earth’s surface temperature. So why is it harmful?

This heating causes the sea levels to rise. Changes in the rain patterns around the globe and the most harmful of all, melting of the Arctic and Antarctic glaciers. This process is catalysed by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. This is an environmental issue, where it is quite hard for one individual alone to work alone. It requires the collective co-operation of all the citizens to make a difference.

But there are certain areas where individual effort is recognized, appreciated and most important of all, makes a difference. If we eradicate the usage of all sorts of plastic bags, then you and me, as individuals can make a big difference.

But why stop the polythene bags? They’re so convenient!

Very convenient they are, yes. But as convenient as they are to us, they are equally harmful to our environment. Polythene bags are included under the wide hood of plastic. All plastic materials are harmful to the ecosystem.

Plastics are widely used all around the world. This is because, they are easy and cheap to make and they last for a very long time. Because plastic is so cheap, it is discarded so easily, leading to nothing less than environmental problems.

So what are the actual problems caused?

Plastics are durable. They aren’t easily decomposable. This is an environmental threat. A simple polythene bag can take up to 1000 years to simply decay completely. This is harmful. Animals eat it and die of indigestion (One can’t digest plastic); it creates a voluminous amount of waste. More the plastic, more the environmental damage.

The plastic we dispose, kills animals. Yes. More than 75% of the waste found at sea is composed of plastic materials. In Australia more than 10,000 whales, turtles and bird deaths have been reported every year, just because of the plastic waste found in their environment. Animals suffocate and cannot digest plastic, which eventually kills them.

Plastic bags are not bio-degradable. It is a fact. Thus the only way to get rid of them is to burn them. Burning of plastic is not the best thing for the environment and us. It’s cancerous and since plastic isn’t natural, the chemical toxins released have adverse effects and leave the air polluted. This takes the air pollution levels to a great level.

So please stop using plastics. They are indeed very ‘cheap and useless’. Not at all meant for human consumption!