Mixed Bag

I like to move it, move it

2006-11-29T20:25:00.000-08:00

The blog, I mean.

Pliss to updates your links and RSS feeds if you're linking/using RSS readers

- I'm now at www.mixedbag.in and, yes, on Dreamhost.
- The RSS Feed is at http://www.mixedbag.in/feed/, for now.

May install all those Feedburner, Digg etc things, though I think they mess up the design.

The design of the new blog will evolve, but, as always, will be minimalist. This is the fifth host (after buildpage, brinkster, blogger, wordpress) and once it's finished - will be the sixth original design, not taking into account the two I'd done for Motif.

The shift to wordpress was attempted earlier, but http://nikhil.wordpress.com just didn't have the designing flexibility I want. This blogspot blog will remain because I don't want the URL to be hijacked (like what happened with Rahul at http://rhymebawd.blogspot.com).

Would like to thank Viv for helping out after the payment confusion, pencilled faxes and what not...I'm expecting lots of Wordpress tips and tricks from you guys - either in the comments of this post, or (preferably) here.

Also - what kind of content would you like to read...not that I'm out of things to write about. :D

"Ducks are female" says Aishwarya

2006-11-27T09:23:00.000-08:00

Aishwarya has completed two years of blogging at Kaleidoglide, where she blogs about random feminist stuff. Mixedbag.in caught up with Aishwarya and spoke to her about stardom, exposing and ducks:

In pic- Aishwarya, woman of mystery. Behind park bench: mystery.

Nikhil: So, how does it feel to have completed two years of blogging?
bluelullaby: amazing. I never thought I could do it! I thought it would be so hard to expose my inner thoughts and fillings
Nikhil: And do you feel sufficiently exposed after two years of doing this?
bluelullaby: yes, I an now very comfortable with exposing myself.
Nikhil: How have people reacted to it?
bluelullaby: the response from my juniors in college has been fantastic!
Nikhil: Have you been emulated? Is a full college planning to expose themselves online?
bluelullaby: only a few people. The rest prefer to watch
Nikhil: And those who do not know you personally...those who know you only via your blog - how have they reacted?
bluelullaby: their response has been very encouraging. sometimes people are abusive, but I realise that's only jealousy
Nikhil: Do you think their reaction is representative of society in general - that people aren't quite ready for this sort of a thing?
bluelullaby: possibly. we live in a very conservative society, but if you think about it indian culture gives an important place to women!
Nikhil: Metaphorically speaking, why did you paint that duck pink?
bluelullaby: *giggles *
Nikhil: No really. The world needs to know...
bluelullaby: a girl has to have SOME secrets!
Nikhil: You're just ducking the issue. We've already tried our level best to find out... but the duck just wont quack.
bluelullaby: ...well.Pink is such a feminist colour, no?
Nikhil: I wouldn't know..but go on.
bluelullaby: and ducks are female
Nikhil: But not all ducks are female
bluelullaby: yes they are. You see, male duck are called drakes
Nikhil: rumour has it that the duck promised to make you a muwi star, and hasn't delivered yet
bluelullaby: *gasp * who told you?
Nikhil: we have our sources.
bluelullaby: All lies, I tell you! The tabloids will say anything. Just because I am willing to expose myself they want to ruin me
Nikhil: Also, have you recently received any emails telling you that you've won the Euro Clubs Promo Org prize?
bluelullaby: none, why?
Nikhil: Because I just did. Just checking...anyway, back to you. How does it feel to have completed three years of blogging?
bluelullaby: two, but
Nikhil: Oh yes. And we've already covered this question, haven't we. That's about it, then. Thanks for talking to MixedBag.

Aishwarya also mentioned that she has curly hair. Next, we shall try to get Jai Arjun Singh to talk about Aishwarya's fillings because, as she puts it "everything must be about MEEEE!"

Jazz Utsav 2006 (Woohoo!)

2006-11-24T21:17:00.000-08:00

Well, I'd been wondering about the Jazz Utsav... had a wonderful time last year, and even if I did rant about some of the performances (here, here and here)- I remember it fondly; it was, by far, the best experience of live music I had last year...and I went for some 34 gigs in all. No such luck this year, even though the number of live events has increased.

Over the past week or so, I've been pestering both gupta_anuj (:P) and Prakash Thadani of Silkworks for details of the Jazz Utsav. While this years line-up doesn't seem as kickass as last years was, and the tickets/passes for Delhi are much more expensive (no students tickets at Rs.50?) - it still should be a memorable experience...but, as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Though I wish I was in Bombay - the venue looks awesome, unlike stuffy Sai Audi in Delhi. I've only heard Jazz in a closed environment, and the acoustics at Kamani last year were awful. The consolidated details of the Jazz Utsav 2006 are as follows:

Delhi
Venue: Sai International Centre, Lodhi Road.
Time: 6 pm to 10 pm
Schedule:
1st Dec: HFT (Delhi), Kirsti Huke Quartet(Norway), Martin Dhanukar (Swiss)
2nd Dec: Wolfgang Haffner (Germany), Maria Sadowska (Poland)
3rd Dec: Pierre Favre (Switzerland), Sidewinders (India), Amit Heri Group (Bangalore, Mumbai)

Tickets: Rs. 500 and Rs.300, available at The Music Shop – Khan Market; Steakhouse – Jorbagh; Turquoise Cottage – Adchini; Haze Blues & Jazz Bar – Vasant Vihar; RSJ Office – Shahpurjat (Ph: 26497945). Available tomorrow, and at least Khan market can be expected to be sold out by the afternoon.

Tips:
- Get your tickets ASAP. People tend to hoard them...last year, Shivangi and Sam of RSJ had kept several passes for me (and some of you).
- Only 4 passes per person allowed, so I can't pick 'em up for you like last year. Anyone care to join me?
- Parking space around Sai Auditorium is at a premium, unlike Kamani Auditorium last year

Mumbai
Venue: Amphitheatre at Landsend, Bandra
Time: 6:30pm to 10pm
Schedule:
1st Dec: Gary Lawyer (Mumbai), Emanon (India)
2nd Dec: Sidewinder (Denmark/Australia/India), Pierre Favre (Switzerland), Kirsti Hukke (Norway)
3rd Dec: Martin Dhanukar's Blood System (Switzerland), Maria Sadowska (Poland), Wolfgang Haffner (Germany)
Tickets: Thadani House, 329/A. Worli Village, Worli Sea Face End. Next To Naval Coast Guard Headquarters, Mumbai- 400 025. ph: 24373385, 24379841, 24229986 and Time: 12 noon to 4pm. Available from 27th November Till 30th November, 2006.

p.s.:
- Also, in case you're wondering why the name Wolfgang Haffner sounds familiar (I did) - it's because 'Hafner' is a symphony by Wolfgang Mozart.
- If this sounds like a plug...it is. I'm not being paid for this, or getting free passes (should I?)...but I like to, as they say, evangelize live music. :)
- A ppt I received about the event refers to Gary Lawyer as the Frank Sinatra of India. *grin*
- Pls don't tell too many people until Monday...I should have my tickets with me by then.

Bangalore Divides Them

2006-11-23T08:26:00.000-08:00

link

Hu is the President of China

2006-11-21T02:42:00.000-08:00

- Who is the President of China?
- Yeah.
- Who?
- Yes. Hu.
- Thats what I asked. Who is the President of China?
- Yeah. Hu.
- I don't know. Thats why I asked...Who?
- Exactly, it's Hu.
- Who?

...and so on.
(With apologies to Monty Python and President Hu of China)

Also possible: Watt is the unit is Power

On User Generated Content

2006-11-12T00:51:00.000-08:00

Laughter, like yawning, is infectious. I'm not sure of when this was rolled out, but I recently noticed a potent YouTube feature that allows users to post video responses to videos at YouTube. At present, there are 783,938 views and 27 video responses to the above video (some reponses in the sidebar here). Once this becomes popular, I suppose YouTube will start listing posts with max responses as well. I've written, in the past, about the Coke & Mentos viral, which I came across on Arun Katiyar's blog. At MIPCOM this year, it was said that the viral got an estimated $10 mil worth of free advertising for Mentos. Also see this.

Different people define Web 2.0 in their own way, but I tend to think of it as the participatory business model. The aforementioned feature takes participation to a whole new level and it will be interesting to see how it develops. The Coke & Mentos viral and its success is a sure sign of things to come because it forces its way through the clutter like nothing else. How many advertising agencies could have thought this up?

I think User Generated Content (UGC) is going to give large movie studios sleepless nights (if it isn't already), much like what Wikipedia, Dictionary.com and wordweb must have done to publishers. UGC is going to beat the crap out of 'created for new media' initiatives by studios; two in India that I am aware of are by Kaleidoscope Entertainment and, more recently, by Rajshri Media. I've seen a preview of Seedhe Siddhu Se by Kaleidoscope, and I found it boring and amateurish. Rajshri's mobile content plans are still in the works, though. While I agree with the assessment that all media will exist simultaneously, I do believe that digital content will take over the world simply because of lower distribution costs and instant gratification. When advertising is going to be spread across all available channels, it will be spread thin and therefore the weaker players will struggle and probably be bought over.
Update: Hungama Mobile and Dev Benegal's 24x7 Making Movies held a contest last month. They gave 35 selected contestants a video camera, and 24 hours to shoot a movie. That content is intended to be sold online and made available for download on the mobile. Benegal acts as the filter for UGC, and Hungama the distributor. Interesting way of monetizing UGC...

UGC isn't constrained by budgets and issues of scripts, and there's a greater creative pool in case of UGC; isn't Reality TV bigger than anything else on TV right now? And what about Bus Uncle (the angry old man?):

(Note: abusive language)

"The famous quotes of Bus Uncle are now frequently used, mimicked, and parodied in Hong Kong, particularly by teenagers. The catchphrases also appear on Internet forums, posters, and radio programmes. Various "remixes" and parodies have been created, including versions tuned to Cantonese pop songs, "reenactments" of the incident with video game characters, composite pictures, and movie posters." - [Wikipedia]

Aggregators of quality UGC will probably do better than hosts of such content themselves. You might actually find studios scouting for quality UGC and buying rights to show on TV. Cause that's one medium that has sold out (mostly) and people accept that and still watch it. Who's game for creating a marketplace for such content?

Credibility of the medium is a big issue, though - the reality being reflected in this content is what catches peoples attention. If someone makes an ass of himself because it's in a script, people might not buy it anymore. But if an ass (not what you're thinking) is on screen, it's a lot more amusing. But if tries to fool all the people, it won't last long and the condemnation is swift and vicious. That will keep people honest, I think, but the A-listers will have to be careful about their slants. Some useful links:

WOMMA Ethical Blogger Contact Guidelines, via Verbum. More importantly, read about the Edelman-Walmart controversy (I've not been able to track it)

For mobile content in India, the floodgates opened with the infamous MMS that was passed around from phone to phone via Bluetooth - I'm sure it created a huge market for mobile phones with cameras, and people began exchanging photos and videos. The mobile is more potent because one can post immediately, but there are issues of access availability and cost. A convergent device and a device independent network with mobile access will solve that problem eventually. The real problem, and I'm sure there are lots of people trying to figure this out - is how long can this last? Why? Because:

- The system is (mostly) unmoderated and completely unpredictable
- Any marketing gimmick that tries to hoodwink the masses will eventually be spotted by a merciless audience
- Push wont be as effective, but can survive if it is obvious as a push initiative.
- A pull, if not a viral but a search-dependent pull, will be painstakingly slow (but often worth it)
- Defining context that sells for contextual advertising for video content is going to be difficult

Anyhoo, more on UGC when I think of something else.

A disclaimer: I've linked to posts at paidContent and ContentSutra, which are owned by Content Next Media; I write for Content Next Media.

From gloom to glory

2006-11-11T23:00:00.000-08:00

Someone in the almost-immediate family passed away recently, in another city, and we've had a quite a few elderly visitors over the past few days. The week has ended today, and with that will probably end the period of mourning for most. As someone who hardly knew the deceased, I have been watching over the proceedings at home- disconnected and unemotional.
It reminds me of an email discussion I had with Mungo Jerrie on growing old, almost five years ago...the question of burning out versus fading away, and how we don't want to ever grow old, infirm and dependent. Never thought much about death anyway. There's a certain sense of...a mix of fatalism and carpe diem! about how many people I come across go about things; Carpe Diem! both in the sense living in the present and taking risks and not worrying about the future. Makes me feel a little older than some of the others (Yes A, you may continue to call me ancient), but I am aware that there will be days of both financial (what, with the kind of inflation this country has) and physical dependency; the former, one can and tries to prepare for, and the latter one ignores. What many don't prepare for, since it is seems out of our control, is the latter: the two are linked, what with the progressively rising cost of healthcare in this country, which will increase with further corporatization.
I usually choose pubs over discotheques, primarily because of the kind of music played in the latter, but I was at a discotheque last night largely on the insistence of some friends from college. Also needed a break from the gloom that had pervaded the week. I was felicitated at my convocation ceremony (well over a year late, but...whatever) yesterday for academic excellence, so it was a celebratory outing of sorts. Gave an extempore speech, during which I was bloody nervous (but I'm told it wasn't obvious). Very formal occasion, and no one laughed at the allusive jokes so I cut it down to two and a half minutes. People did thank me later for being the only one who didn't bore them with a long speech. 'Twas nice to meet old friends, including teachers. One said: "Your hair hasn't grown for three and a half years!" I was tempted to say 'yours too', but one didn't want to be impolite to bald teachers. Another (not bald) teacher thought I've got a bankers haircut (there are variants of close crops?). One thought that my biggest achievement wasn't a 4.0 GPA, but actually managing "that lot". Ours was a particularly difficult class to manage for most teachers, but I still maintain that had it been half as boring as other classes, we wouldn't have had the freedom to innovate, or the experience of handling strange questions in presentations. Photos later.
Some thoughts on the afterparty - it's crazy how late things begin: 11:30pm seems to be the norm in Delhi. The cover charges are insane - Rs.1000 and above- and sometimes even money can't get you in... but if you know the right people (or, in my case - know the people who know the people who know the right people), you can. The music sucks, and the DJing seems random, but people are usually too drunk to notice. Fights invariably take place (as told to me by someone who knows), and two did last night. I heard that someone smashed a Merc in the parking. Also, there's serious money in this pub business...some of these pubs spend crores on interiors and paying off the people who need to be paid off- and recover their money in a few months. One heard that Rs. 20L of profits on Saturdays is par for course, because of the margins in liquor. And of course - business is discussed after the music stops. Frankly, though I did have a nice, somewhat inebriated time, the gig at Haze would have been more to my liking. Nothing beats the right music, live music and a discerning audience...but that's just me. Most people prefer to drive from discotheque to discotheque at 3am.

P.s.: Would like to thank Smits and Anita for helping out with the speech. I had it all printed out, and eventually decided to do it extempore.

On Shrimant and the Indian state recognizing royal titles

2006-11-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

I was rather shocked to see this mentioned on the front page of the Times of India, frankly, though I am no constitutional expert, I do believe that the following goes against the spirit of the constitution, wherein all citizens must be equal in the eyes of the state:

More than 55 years after royal titles were abolished under the Constitution , the BJP government in MP has said that one of its ministers will be officially addressed as 'Shrimant' — a title of the Scindia royal family.

On October 19, the MP government approved tourism minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia's demand. It slipped out an official gazette notification that 'Srimati' Yashodhara Raje Scindia, sister of Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, henceforth be addressed as 'Shrimant' Yashodhara Raje Scindia.

"In the list of cabinet ministers, honourable minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia's name will be replaced as Shrimant Yashodhara Raje Scindia as per the notification of 19.10.06," the order said.

While the state (and the people) often do not go by the constitution, I see a major difference between someone being addressed as 'His/Her Royal Highness' because of his/her lineage (for example, in the case of Madhavrao Scindia, Jyotiraditya Scindia or the Wodeyars from Mysore) informally, and the state officially recognizing these people as royalty (which doesn't exist in India post independence).

If Yashodhara Raje Scindia is officially and legally (by filing an application in the court) changing her name to 'Shrimant Yashodhara Raje Scindia', then it is another matter altogether.

No! to royal titles, I say.

Weird Interview In The Hindu Business Line

2006-10-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

Major WTF stuff in this interview in The Hindu Business Line:

Sources say that Suguna has sold more than 53 crore birds since 2000, which is enough to circle the earth four times, at the rate of one bird per foot! The company's Managing Director, B. Soundararajan, whose heart is in chicken, is far from chicken-hearted when taking on a dozen questions from Business Line.

And some questions:

After hatching, when a chicken emerges from the eggshell, does it say `hello world'*?
Somewhere around 100 plus chicken take birth in the same berth, I mean, a single tray. They do greet one another, in their own way.

Your view on `chicken soup for the soul'*.
Whether soup goes into the soul or not, it does go into the system for rejuvenation.

Why did the chicken cross the road*?
Otherwise you would not have known about the chicken! It would still be in the backyard of a rural house. Now, it has crossed the road to climb into the corporate house.

Should chicken be used in fight scenes for movie villains to fall amidst?
Wish they didn't bother the chicken.

Lastly, which came first, egg or the chicken*?
I leave it for the person who can answer, to whom we shall offer several million... May be, eggs/chicks!

The rest of it isn't weird, but this interview really shouldn't be in the 'Agri Biz & Commodies Section'. A section on humour would be more apt. I wonder what Suguna Poultry Farms' MD B. Soundararajan must have been thinking while answering these questions.

* - Wikipedia links added by me.

Foot in mouth during cricket shows

2006-10-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

Three instances of foot-in-mouth from Charu Sharma:

1. Last week, during one of the cricket asides, there was Mandira Bedi trying to look like a pretty young thing, and Charu Sharma, her co-host spoiled it for her by mentioning that she has three kids

2. The very next match (I think) he said something on the lines of "Mandira, it's great to have you back on the show. I know they didn't bring you in for the last few series but its great to have you back."

3. A few minutes ago: "...like seeing Pollock do the Ms. World." He meant act like her, but the eerie silence that followed indicated that everyone else thought he meant something else.

There must have been more, but I haven't watched much TV of late.

So, advertising on Railway Tickets, eh?

2006-10-22T20:37:00.000-07:00

This is a presentation that I'd done in college last year (around 20/05/2005, according to my email):

see slide 16 (of 19)

We were supposed to prepare marketing plans for shaving systems, and I conducted an email survey (some of you may remember the questionnaire) on issues with disposable razors. No offence, but the presentations by the girls and my sikh friend Mahapavit were hilarious since they've never used a razor. :D

Anyway, there were no budget constraints for the marketing plan, so I thought - since we're repositioning the disposable razor as a travel razor, why not advertise on railway tickets and have counters on platforms for impulse purchasing (razors are essentially impulse purchase products)

The Famous Levi's Slim Commercial and Happy Dent's "Muskarale"

2006-10-19T23:07:00.000-07:00

Notice how the story is built up, right till the end - which is where the plug for the jeans comes in - the Levi's logo is thicker/bigger than the jeans itself. Very subtle...love the music. This won a golden lion.

Contrast this with the Happy Dent commercial, which is definitely among my all time favourites. I'd mailed it over to Ad Rants, my favourite ad blog, which you should check out too.

Only in India?

2006-10-19T04:28:00.000-07:00

Pepsi's New Campaign

2006-10-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

Have to admit that as much as I had disliked Pepsi's Oye Bubbly campaign, was quite impressed with the way they executed it- the song, the airtime, the on ground activities.

This time I think even less of the 'Hu Ha India, Aaya India' campaign (or is it the orgasmic 'Ooh Aah India, Aaya India'?). The post conceptualization activities, however, have been similar to that of Oye Bubbly.

Got a concept, get Shah Rukh Khan and other celebrities (this time, even the sidelined Saurav Ganguly) to plug it on TV.
Appeal to people at an emotional level, and then follow it up with a song (as heard on Radio) and finally on ground activities: "one Indian blogger" was ~~on a~~ waiting for a Pepsi Blue Train to Jaipur for the India-England match and at 6.22am, messaged that he had spent 2 hours on the platform waiting for Shah Rukh Khan. So, either he loves the Indian cricket team, or he loves Shah Rukh Khan. :P Update: Neither? He bailed out! Very disappointing!

Don't you think that if they spend enough money and conduct enough activities and offer goodies in India, with lots of people looking out for freebies or even just a sight of a celeb, such activities will always be successful? What's Pepsi looking for, apart from 'Top of Mind' and positive recall?

Not really a Dreamhost

2006-10-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

So, Dreamhost really seemed like a dream host, with their packages and the massive first year discount. Ankit is using Dreamhost, and has had no problems. My cousin Vivek also recommended it; he's using it for a few of his portals.

So, I signed up for a Dreamhost and paid.

Next thing I know - Dreamhost informs me that I need to fill out a form, make a pencilled impression of the credit card and fax it to them for a confirmation. Now, I don't know anyone here who uses a fax machine, or even has a fax machine with a phone that has international calling facility. Plus, why the hell should I pay for an international call when I'm already paying for the account?

Also, there was no mention of the faxing requirement during the sign-up stage, so Dreamhost are ensuring that you make a payment, cause the faxing requirement could put some people off. This way, you're more inclined to fax cause you've already paid. I had other means of payment, so would have chosen other means if only they had mentioned it.

What really irritates me is the fact that DreamHost actually charged the card for the payment and THEN asked for a verification. It's common sense that the card should be charged after the card has been verified.

I don't have that kind of time to look around for a ISD fax machine, so I asked dreamhost for an alternative solution. They offered me none.

Finally, fed up, I had to ask them to close my account, and cancel the payment. They've "issued a refund", which means that the payment had already been processed before verification.

One good thing: They cancelled the account on request immediately, and there were no processing charges.

Some Indian Rock Music Available For Download

2006-10-09T04:05:00.000-07:00

The new stuff:

1. Menwhopause have uploaded an album for download at The Pirates Bay, here. This is similar to what TAAQ did, and I kinda hope it catches on and more bands upload their music. I'm skeptical about most Indian rock music, but if I like it - I always buy the CD.
You shouldn't have a problem downloading the Menwhopause album cause I'll be seeding it. Will comment on it after I hear the music.

2. Indus Creed/Rock Machine:
Sid Achrekar of long defunct band Colourblind has uploaded music by Indus Creed/Rock Machine for download, here.

Indian Rock Music available for download (some posts, some links):
- TAAQ
- Them Clones
- Colourblind
- MP3's at RSJ Online
- MP3's at Split Magazine

Also, just noticed that the Motherjane site has switched to Flash, and have removed the demo singles. Bah. The Skinny Alley site has turned bright yellow and is being redesigned. Zero's new site is also in Flash. Why this fascination with Flash?

Who thinks up these things anyway?

2006-10-08T23:10:00.000-07:00

From the Delhi Book Fair (had gone on three days, once with Jai and Aishwarya)

Umm...not what immediately comes to mind.

I'm not sure if I clicked this one for the title related to chocolate sex or a name like Marsha Mellow

Go figure

The photo isn't clear: it's called "The autobiography of an ex-coloured man." Black or white?

No comments, really.

"Finding a girl in America" :S

Aishwarya: what was his next book called?

A directory of Alcoholics Anonymous members? :P

uhh

"My Darling My Hamburger?" Anyone heard of My Beloved, My Vada Pav?

:S

And from Darya Ganj (a couple of weeks before that)

Judgement Day?

Since you asked for it :)

Chasing Angelina Jolie

2006-10-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not.

An FTII based team of filmmakers is making a documentary on how to get within three feet of Jolie and speak to her for three minutes. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are in Pune, staying, it seems, at Le Meridien. The paparazzi of the world are on a stake-out in Pune.

So, how is this FTII team different from the reporters and the paparazzi? Well, they're going to try to reach her by ethical means, and document the entire process.

I'm going to be blogging for them, so if you have any questions - let me know.

Update: I've set up a blog for this, since, erm, it's not really a Mixed Bag kind of thing. It could be, but its not. Whatever. See http://chasingangelinajolie.wordpress.com

Tags: Angelina Jolie | Brad Pitt | FTII | documentary | pune | India

More Blog Pimping

2006-10-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

Shyam writes about a comment pimping Jhanki.com. I deleted the comment pimping ilaaka.com and onyomo.com here at MixedBag. Blogger didn't stop it, but at ContentSutra, the Akismet spam plugin caught the post and put it where it belongs - in the Spam section, alongwith comments advertising weight loss phentermine, valium and other strange things.

The details of the comment:

Name: rajeev | E-mail: allpropellers@gmail.com | URI: http://www.ilaaka.com | IP: 61.17.76.30 | Date: October 5, 2006

Hi,

Nice blog!

Why don’t you consider writing about some of the new “India 2.0” sites that are creating a little buzz as well?

Eg: www.ilaaka.com

www.onyomo.com

Thanks!

Rajeev

A Google search reveals that your friend Rajeev has been quite active. He's also got a blog here.

I've given ilaaka.com some feedback. If you've been spammed, you should too.

There's also a possibility that since this means of promotion is counter-productive, this "Rajeev"could be ilaaka or onyomo's competitor. Unlikely, but possible.

Why it's better to pick stocks based on your own assessment...

2006-10-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

[link]

So, it seems that Mathew Easow has been fined just Rs.20lakh for advising people to buy stocks which he himself sold. Big Brother SEBI was watching, or was tipped off.

We all take recommendations when buying shares, yes? Not everyone has perfect knowledge of each and every company, which is where taking a broad range of opinions is a good idea. Analyst reports, and suggestions based on research and reason are the best, but some of these reports run into 10-15 pages for a single company and again you go back to your broker.

Most brokers will also recommend stocks (which is why people stick to a brokerage firm, rather than trading online themselves), but often brokers too can be under pressure to meet targets and could give incorrect advise. My advice?

- Don't day trade unless you're at the terminal throughout the day or your brother is a broker managing your money.
- If you can't track specific stocks, go for mutual funds
- Corroborate all advise with news. A Google/Google News search throws up enough information.
- Subscribe to analyst reports if you're getting stock specific
- Play the percentages game on tip-offs...don't look at making money in absolute terms. Rather put in 10k to make 10%, than Rs.50k to make Rs.5000. Same percentage, but the latter is riskier since you can also lose more.

Anyone (if whitelight still reads this blog) tried Moneycontrol's Power Your Trade or Power India Bulls?

Musings on TV & Newspapers

2006-10-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

If I wanted to watch exclusive coverage of the navratras/Durga Puja/Dussehra, I would have watched NDTV 24x7 or CNN-IBN. To avoid that useless coverage I switched to CNBC-TV18 for business news - if not from India (national holiday and all that), then the global markets. And I found similar coverage during India Business Hour.

That stupid show 'News of the loose' also irritates me...wastes my time. If I want comic relief, I'll switch to Star Plus/SET/Star World.

About time someone at CNBC-TV18 realised that by showing what other channels are showing, you don't really stop people from switching. Instead, you're robbing the audience of the one thing they do switch to your channel for - uninterrupted, quality business news. Stick to your core competence, and not dumb down like CNN-IBN has done over the past five months.

My cable wallah doesn't show BBC, CNN, NBC. That's a case for DTH or IPTV.

Did you get a newspaper to read in the morning today? No? That's a case for reading news on the net.

Enough bhaashan, I'm off.

At Home with Zero (Sept 16 2006)

2006-09-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

"Sharp! Sharp! Sharp!" was what Isheeta's reminder for the "At Home with Zero" gig at the Garden of 5 senses said. So Adi and I rushed, and the gig started late. Now Zero's a band that's famous for not just their music. There's also Warren's guitaring that was perhaps amongst the few things noteworthy, apart from the Freak Kitchen performance at GIR earlier this year. The other thing is that they really have a lot of fun on stage, something that also spills over to the other band drummer Sid is in - Helga's Fun Castle.

While walking to the gig, we overheard one chap suggest that the gig could be washed out. The other patted his pocket and said "Toh kya hua? Idhar seh bhi pi lenge, aur udhar se bhi." (We'll drink from here (booze flask in pocket), and there (sky))

The At-Home series has historically attracted a sane crowd, and that's not necessarily a good thing. People tend to sit their asses down on the grass, and allow the band to play. A polite round of clapping follows after every song. Not. The. Kind. Of. Thing. Zero. Were. Expecting. From. Delhi.

Hence, repeated requests asking for people to get up, stand up, and come closer to the stage followed. Most were fun, and they cracked a lot of jokes. Quite a bit of mimicry, and strange accents. If you've heard "Thank You Come Again" by Helga's Fun Castle, you know what I mean. Great fun, almost as much fun as the music.

The gig was fun. No Warren, I suppose he's left the band. The new guy was good at times, slightly off tune on other occasions. Zero ended strongly, but three songs before that had all been botched up and were off tune. One was new. My grouse - they're only carrying copies of Procrastrination, which I already have. No Hook.

Some photos, courtesy Adi:

Adi clicked more photos. The slideshow- here.

Another band that I've wanted to hear, TAAQ, (songs from their album Plan B available here) played at IIT Delhi Blitzkrieg. Couldn't go because it's for students only. It seems that the Stephens gig has been cancelled, but I wouldn't have been able to go there anyway, even if it is next door. Would probably have sat in my garden, sipped tea and heard TAAQ.

Really hate this - I'm willing to pay for the gig, and they keep it free and students-only.

Phishing sites on Geocities? What's Yahoo! doing about them?

2006-09-30T02:06:00.000-07:00

I should think that attempts at phishing violate Yahoo!'s Spam Policy, and Yahoo! obviously doesn't seem to be doing enough to check on how their service is being used.

Five to six emails everyday that get by Gmail's spam filters carry a message similar to the following:

In accordance with our terms please visit here to verify your information on our secure, private site to ensure our records are accurate.
http://mx.geocities.com/Grace32_e820/

That is a phishing message, attempting to fool me into giving away my details. mx.geocities.com is a Yahoo! owned Geocities site for Mexico. Anyone can register a page, and this one redirects to a home loan/mortgage website. Other addresses in other similar mails:

http://hk.geocities.com/Kitty12_g402/
http://es.geocities.com/Bacon40_p776/
http://sg.geocities.com/Fiona70_c70/

The senders email address is always different, and from different domains. GMail's spam system isn't able to stop these, so my only recourse is to set a filter. All mails with the word "geocities.com" will now go directly to Trash.

Unfortunately, some messages from Yahoo! Groups also carry a mention of geocities, so that goes into trash too. I've already got enough to read/scan and write every day, and I can't deal with spam coming directly to my main mailbox. GMail, otherwise is most efficient.

Also, seems like this isn't new:

Admartinator gets mails for diet pills from sites hosted on Geocities
Spamcop.net has this discussion. One message: "SpamCop's Parser says "geo-abuse[at]yahoo-inc.com does not wish to receive user-copied reports.". I think this makes this Yahoo! message on spam at Geocities redundant.

Tags: yahoo | spam | phishing | geocities

On how Orkut became a rage in India

2006-09-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

Note: This is my last blog post here for the next six days. There's already lots that I want to/have to/been asked to blog, so kindly bare...erm...bear with me.

Around three months ago, I got an email from Orkut; someone I hadn't heard from for almost a year had sent a private message. I responded, and added a "switch to mail" line at the end of the email. I got another private message in response.

That has been my problem with Orkut - I have to log in to read messages, but at the same time, the wait is enticing, in a strange way. As the suspense builds, one feels almost compelled to respond - even if it is to just subject others to the same kind of suspense. That's silly, I know, and my messages almost always are silly: that now famous evil grin is plastered across my face whenever I send a message via Orkut.

Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO and founder of Rediff, at the TiE-ISB Connect summit which is being covered by Rajat Gupta for ContentSutra, said that he really has no clue about what works for sites featuring user generated content, and what doesn't. There are several sites with user generated content (I prefer to use the term 'participative business model' for Web 2.0) which don't get the traffic or business. One can blame the lack of marketing for the same, but that isn't always the case. Different tipping points for different successes.

So, what worked for Orkut in India?

I think it was the integration with Google Accounts, which served as a reminder that - Hey! You'd registered here.

Lots of people I know tend to sign up with social/business networking websites, and then forget about them. I signed up at Orkut, Everyone's Connected and Hi5 (and maybe others) when was invited, only to see what they were all about.

With the reminder, and aided by the GMail sign in, lots of people might have gone for a second look, all around the same time. They must have messaged old pals, and all of a sudden, the number of conversations taking place would have shot up. The word of mouth followed, and Orkut usage in India increased.

The Google Account integration took place around a year ago, and one began hearing about Orkut becoming popular around eight months ago.

One thing to note about the Orkut reminder mail is that unlike Ryze or Everyone's Connected, one doesn't get frequent reminders from Orkut. So, a once in a year system message from Orkut gets noticed while a weekly message from Ryze gets deleted. People noticed that mail, read it, and visited Orkut to give it a second shot.

Agree/disagree? Let me know.

Dog

2006-09-20T02:27:00.000-07:00

Don't call him Zulu
(Photo by Adi)

P.s.: Good gig by Zero at the garden of 5 senses. Will post about it once I get work done, and there's no eye fatigue and related blurring.

I have four passes for a kickass gig on the 30th to give away. They're free and were being distributed free at the Zero gig. So I'm saving you the trouble of picking them up at other gigs. Also, Helga's Fun Castle are playing at DV8 this Friday (22nd), and they're a fun band. RHCP kind of music. Details of september gigs @ DoingDelhi.

Update:

Dog Contemplates Life
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Since you thought the last pic wasn't silly enough...

2006-09-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

see this.

(Note: Last day of college. Hence crazy. We're all acting. Tagline for that particular photo: "Making full use of the facilities")

(Clarification: no, we don't go for group pee'ing sessions. Also, in case of the chap in the white shirt - that's his hand)

Did you see it? Did you? Did you?

2006-09-14T03:48:00.000-07:00

I took a break to watch the last six overs of the Indian innings...and wow. I'm not going to go and on about how well Tendulkar batted, or how he managed to get a century in conditions where the other great player in this team failed. One shot:

A good length delivery, and Sachin leans ever so slightly forward, transfers his weight on to the front foot and lifts the ball over point, and over the boundary ropes. With. Effortless. Ease.

A couple of things made this shot different from any other that he played before or after it, or for that matter, any shot I've seen for quite some time:

He hit the ball almost too soon, midway up the bat: he judged the length early.
A straight batted, languid follow through. He didn't hit the ball too hard. All timing

Nothing after it was as good. It's just great to have Sachin playing again, and I'm glad that this puts an end to all those speculations about the end of his career. He may not score as quickly as a Sehwag or a Dhoni, be as fluent as a Lara, as bludgeoning as a Gilchrist or a Jayasuria, or as picture-perfect or patient as a Dravid - but he is one person who can do any or all of these things when he wants to, and more.

Okay. I'll stop gushing now. I didn't realise how much of a Tendulkar fan I am until today, seeing him bat after so long.

The Vulture Fund Concept, in brief

2006-09-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

I can't find the link now, but I'd read recently in either one of the newspapers or one of the three billion websites I go through daily that Vulture Funds are looking at opportunities in India. The article made it sound as if this is a bad thing, and I'm not too sure if thats the case.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say on Vulture Funds:

A vulture fund is a financial organization that specializes in buying securities in distressed environments, such as high-yield bonds in or near default, or equities that are in or near bankruptcy.

As the name suggests, these funds are metaphorically like circling vultures patiently waiting to pick over the remains of a rapidly weakening debtor.

Vulture funds target not only companies but also whole countries. In the recent case of Argentina, for example, vulture funds bought up a large part of the public debt at very low prices (sometimes only 20% of their nominal value), and then attempted to cash them when the Argentine economic crisis exploded in 2002. A single vulture fund run by Kenneth B. Dart, heir to the Dart Container fortune, claimed 700 million USD in a lawsuit against the government of Argentina.

Not all Vulture funds are bad: almost a year ago, I was told about the PATF TEP Fund, which, conceptually, I found very interesting. I think it qualifies as a Vulture Fund, but I could be wrong.

Suppose someone needs to exit an insurance policy: the no-claim bonus is lost and an exit load has to be paid. The insurance company also loses out on a regular, otherwise assured ,investment. The Insurance company informs the PATF TEP Fund, which, for a lower (or no) exit load, offers the customer his money back. The Fund then pays for the entire duration of the policy, and collects the returns and the no-claim bonus. Everyone benefits. The money for paying off the original insurer comes from those who invest in the fund.

On the face of it, returns may not be as attractive as those for mutual funds, but this looks like a less volatile investment, and can be a part of a diversified portfolio. I'm not sure of the risks involved, though, or even if there are other, similar products.

Note: The above post is based on hearsay and hence could be incorrect. I don't endorse any Vulture Fund or the PATF TEP Fund. Its up to you, in consultation with your financial advisors, to make your decisions; Financial consultancy is not my area of expertise.

Funny Pic Meme

2006-09-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

Me, me, was tagged by the Smitten Kitten, and I have to post a funny pic of myself. But it's not as funny as the pic of her dancing. :))

A year ago, I was at a get-together at Deepan &Priya's place and had brought along my digicam (which is working erratically now) to show to Harneet. He told me about a concept of an "Anti-portrait", and hence the attempt at a devilish, evil grin. Okay, not exactly an anti-portrait for those of you who bear the brunt of my jokes/pranks, but I do look silly in the above pic...which, thankfully, is blurred and dark, despite Harneet's mastery over photography. Now it's your turn:

I hereby tag - Aishwarya, Adi, Jay, Shyam, Ken , Shreya, Acrosticbard, Harneet and YOU if you're reading this. (double tag, if you're already in the list; triple if you read it again - Mwhahahaha)

Mayhem at TC

2006-09-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

Naah, not what you're thinking - Sunday's gig at TC (Update: TC is Turquoise Cottage at Adchini...sorry Reeta :) wasn't called "Mayhem". It just turned out to be the craziest f'in gig I've ever been to. I know, I know - I'd said that earlier about the Numero Uno Rock Out last year, but this just beat everything before it. The neckache from headbanging still persists, somewhat aggravated by yesterdays sneezefest...but, man - what a gig.

I reached TC around 9:10pm, and wasn't let in while Levikitus was playing because - TC was full. And there were around 15 people waiting outside, and that grew to around 30 by half past nine. KK, at the door, thankfully let me and Shyam in. There was hardly any room for maneuvering inside, and we made our way close to a corner, beers in hand. Bhayanak Maut took stage, and at TC...at tiny little TC, packed to capacity, moshing began. Now, it's a completely different scene at Hamsadwani in Pragati Maidan, where there's enough space. In TC, something's going to give. The speakers next to which Shyam and I were standing were the first to go. Then the speakers at the opposite end. A fight broke out later in the mosh, and was ended by the bouncers. After a couple of songs, the moshing resumed, prompted by Bhayanak Maut. I've moshed before, but this time, I chose to stand by the side. Given the number of people there, there was hardly any place to stand. Here's a video, courtesy Shyam (clearer picture of moshing midway through the clip)

I'll put up pics once they're put up at RSJ.

Bhayanak Maut, as always, were tight - great bass, and occasionally some deep sounding lead (strange). I don't care much for the growling (no singing), but it's fun when heard live. The rhythm is just too powerful and bass gets you headbanging. Unfortunately, with my limited knowledge of death metal and related genres, I can't tell you which songs were played.

The chap taking care of the speakers was a hilarious sideshow, as he struggled to keep four speakers piled on top of each other, together. The wires got pulled out, and then he struggled to get them in. He actually dozed off in the middle of a Bhayanak Maut song. Here's a clip of him sitting on top of one set of speakers and holding on to another, during a Them Clones song.

Them Clones were on next, and I have to compliment Gucci for a stellar job on the bass, as well as Dev on drums. Prithwish seemed to lose his voice towards the end. They began with Zephyretta, and played some from their original set, and a few new songs too. Damn it, I don't have those with me, and TC are taking too long to release their album. They played some RATM, as usual. The gig was sponsored by Yamaha - they had some bikes on display, and a projector that displayed an advert on a screen.

More gigs this month, including a big one at the end of the month at Hamsadwani that is free. Details here. I'm going for Zero this Saturday, so if you want to come along for a much much milder experience, let me know. I have one Zero album - Procrastination. Plan to buy Hook, which I've heard is great.

Keano's coaching Sunderland !

2006-09-09T02:53:00.000-07:00

Whoa!

Been a while since I wrote about football...and this is interesting. Roy Keane's taken over as coach of Sunderland...not that Mick McCarthy did much. Given the history that Keano's had with Mick, I'm sure he'll push himself to do better.

What's in Keano's favour? He's passionate about winning, and hates to lose. The windspeed in the Sunderland dressing room should rival the famous ManUtd hairdryer. The difference is that Keano's always been a player who's lifted his team by giving it his all on the football pitch. Being a coach could be even more frustrating for him than sitting on the bench. I'm going to track Sunderland now, and see how he does.

Also, I'm wondering what Glasgow Celtic got from signing up Keane - he was out injured for almost the entire season, and I think he only played in his own testimonial at Old Trafford. Though I'm a fan of his, the Roy Keane signing looks like a waste of money for Celtic to me; the fans shouldn't be too pleased.

Sunderland fans must be edgy - they got relegated with hardly a win, and Keane comes in as a very experienced player, but an inexperienced manager; the best players don't always make the best managers - and football is a lot about man management. Keane should know - he must have been very tough to manage with his mercurial temper.

And what has he done, just days after taking over Sunderland? Signed up some big names - former ManU striker Dwight Yorke from Sydney FC, Irish international Liam Miller (who was supposed to be the new Roy Keane, but hardly ever got a game), Kavanagh from Wigan, Stanislav Varga from Celtic.

Do you see a trend? Reminds me of what Manuel Pellegrini did with Villarreal by signing up some talented players who weren't getting their due in their respective clubs. Give the importance, the belief and the opportunity and watch them fight against the best. Now Kavanagh and Varga are both big, imposing figures in the midfield. Perfect buys for Sunderland, imho, since they will not be easy to push, or run around. Also in are Ross Wallace from Celtic and David Connolly, another Irish international. So, that's Yorke and Miller from Keane's association with ManUtd; Kavanagh and Connolly from Ireland, and Ross Wallace and Varga from Celtic. All players with whom Keane has been associated in the past. Will it work? Well, as Keano said: "I am here to win football matches. When you do that, everything thing else takes care of itself."

Beedi Jala Le, IIT style

2006-09-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

Not that I think much of the song, but I found this video made by some guys from IIT Delhi quite amusing. (Link from Prashant)

How not to sell exclusive products: The Audi A6 and A4 in India

2006-09-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

The Audi A6 is being sold in India at an EMI of Rs. 77885* and the Audi A4 at an EMI of Rs. 47980*, according to this advert on the front page of today's Economic Times (PDF of epaper):

I don't think this is very smart.

A financial option, though perfectly acceptable (and understandable) for people across segments, still has a social stigma (in the Indian context) of 'not being able to afford the full amount' attached to it.

So, while the Audi does qualify as a 'status symbol' in India - it has a presence when on Indian roads, and is expensive enough (the EMIs are for a period of 5 years), advertising the EMI makes no sense, even though offering the EMI to a customer who walks in, does. It's something you don't mind one customer communicating to another, but you do mind it being flashed on the front page of a popular financial daily.

A sales promotion should be a marketers last option; the price of a brand that banks on exclusivity is strictly off limits. In this case, the perceived price drops drastically and becomes affordable, and non-exclusive.

The following two parts of the ad work against each other:

(OR - you will be looked up to by your peers) , and

(OR - You ain't got the money, but want to show that you do? We'll help you out cause you need our help)

I can imagine a few CEO's sitting down and downing their Blue Labels, and one pointedly asking the other - So, you got your new Audi A6 at 77k a month on installments or did you pay the full amount?

Harneet adds that this is probably not Audi advertising this, but Euro Motors. I hope Audi is aware of this advertisement.

Blogger Beta Problem

2006-09-01T03:21:00.000-07:00

I have a problem with Blogger Beta - the integration with Google accounts sucks.

Mixed Bag (this blog) has not yet switched over to Blogger Beta; in fact, if I have to redo the entire design, I'm not too keen. Ankit looks like he had to do away with his excellent design, and settle for an all black look.

Every time I go to www.blogger.com while I'm signed into my gmail account, I'm signed into Blogger with my gmail ID. When I choose to sign into Blogger, for posting on Mixed Bag, I get signed out of Gmail. I can't believe Google didn't foresee this problem, or aren't aware of it.

Many people post on multiple blogs, including collablogs, so this very irritating.

Skinny Alley at The Garden of Five Senses

2006-08-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

First gig in...three months, I guess. Last that I remember was the last day of GIR, waaay back in Feb. I've missed quite a few good gigs since then cause, well, didn't feel like going alone, and the usual suspects no longer want to go for gigs. Went alone for the Skinny Alley gig to The Garden of Five Senses, though.

Perhaps an indication that I overdid the gigs last year is I didn't think yesterday's gig at was that great. In fact, I don't remember the last time I really enjoyed an entire gig. Yesterday, I felt that Jayashree's voice was a little off- the pitch was little high; Jefferey Menzes and Gyan were in fine form, and Amit Datta was great, as usual. In fact, in the middle Amit even donned a cowboy hat and played a nice tune on the acoustic. Fortunately (or unfortunately), he didn't sing. :D

Prospect (and Isheeta) had done a professional job, as always - open air, adequate seating, lovely location, and enough signboards to guide us to the gig. There was even someone stationed at the gate to tell us how to get to the gig. If I have any grouse - it is that The Garden of Five Senses is almost 30km from my house. The gig went off without a hitch. This was a part of the At Home series, which features Indian rock groups playing only/mostly original sets. I'd missed TAAQ at India Habitat Center a few months ago.

Unfortunately, though Skinny Alley have great skill their original songs aren't as good as the covers they usually do. And I'm not just saying this because I'm familiar with the covers, and not with their originals. They mostly do Steely Dan covers, and I've not heard Steely Dan. Also, I've heard the Skinny Alley originals thrice now, and I think their songwriting isn't up to the mark. I mean - I really don't want to hear a song called "Child Bride", or "Little Sister" about sibling rivalry. I can almost hear Jayashree sing 'Child Bride'. Cringe. Their lyrics just don't fit their sound. At the end, they played 'Green Earring' by Steely Dan, which rounded off an enjoyable evening...I may criticise their music, but I did like it. :)

Thankfully, this time they'd brought CD's, and I picked up one. Heard it last night, and found it a little disappointing because the songs on the disk are too soft for my liking - soft particularly on the drums and lead guitars. Live, the drums and the lead guitar is much louder and audible, and Amit Datta gets more airtime with his solos. Jayashree sounds better on CD, though.

Link from the blogger formerly known as codey: K was also there and had a better time than I did.

To the Congress Party

2006-08-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Today, you will lose my vote for the rest of my voting life.
Nikhil

(Not the Urban Indian matters in the Indian context, as Jayanti Natarajan discreetly pointed on 'The Big Fight' on NDTV)

What is this about?
1. Photos
2. Full Coverage
3. Homepage
4. I've already said all that I had to...almost:

Domain Name search sites or cybersquatting?

2006-08-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

It seems that there's a difference between domain name search sites and cybersquatting. Y'know...the kind of sites with lots of links for popular keywords on its page, and seem mostly like typos? I always thought they were squatters. But apparently it's a business, and there are some big names getting into this business. "It (NameMedia) now employs some 75 people, and owns 650,000 domain names.' More:

Now these companies are different from cybersquatters. They only own generic names like Softdrinks.com (a generic name) as opposed to Coca-cola.com (a trademark domain name). But these generic domain names can be highly valuable. Recently, Diamond.com was sold for $7.5 million.

So, there are companies with domain name portfolios, and domain names are being traded at an exchange. Crazy. Sahad has more details at ContentSutra, here. He's going to discuss the Indian scene tomorrow...looking forward to it.

(note: I write for ContentSutra too, but this isn't a plug. I just thought I'd share it with both of you. There's just two of you, right?)

Paskistan? What's next - Undia? Lazy, lazy

2006-08-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

This is ridiculous - One agency (UPI) carries a report with a typo, calling Pakistan, "Paskistan". And then it spreads:

Starts from here - UPI.
Then: The Washington Times, The Daily India, Political Gateway, Monsters and Critics, North Korea Times

You do a google search for Paskistan, and... this

It's understandable for a random website to make a mistake, but for online publications to make such stupid, lazy mistakes, of just copy-pasting a UPI report, is ridiculous.

CII Marketing Summit '06: Madison CMD Sam Balsara's Mantras for Marketers

2006-08-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

Sam Balsara began by rattling off figures. He specified 5 factors for change:

1. Demographics: 60% of india will be in 15-54 by 2010, 38% of indians will be in urban India. 75% of Tamil Nadu will be urban. 61% of Maharashtra will be urban.
2. Easy finance: People are willing to incur 30% interest for impulse buying using credit cards. Currently 40% of pantaloons and shoppers stop sales are by credit card
3. Organised retail boom: 120 million sq feet by 2010
4. Media exposure: 300 tv channels, 12 fm stations, 40k publications. more upmarket publications. The Internet is a gold mine for promotion (Note: Arvind Rao of OnMobile hadn't presented yet)
5. New sectors are driving growth: BPO, Retail...

People have more money and there are young people with higher disposable incomes without spending habits properly formed. They have higher disposable incomes, are more optimistic about future.

So, what changes can we expect?
Customers will have less time more money, will be more demanding, more fickle, individualistic, selfish, spendthrift and difficult to reach*.

Balsara gave 5 mantras for marketers.
1. Deliver experience, intice the customer to live the brand experience before selling. imagery is critical, aspirational. For Brittania, serve tea to a customer sitting on a sofa and make her relive the experience of having tea in her own home...Mont Blanc - replicate the Oval Office for a customer, make him sit in the leather chair and place that pen so the consumer feels important. For a brand like Speed (petrol) that associates itself with technology and racing, have girl in a leather jacket dispensing petrol. Marketers do not pay attention to point of sale
2. Deliver value - add percieved value - imagery, creativity, confidence to meet social needs. He feels that travel gifts will become big
3. Deliver convenience - product packaging (sachets), 100% uptime, easy replacement, do it yourself kits
4. Entertain customers - example - dirt is good (surf), Asian paints, cadbury, coca cola deliver entertainment
5. Engage the customer - shotgun approach will not work.

* - I disagree with the 'Difficult to reach' bit.

Posts on the CII Marketing Summit:

The Inaugural Session
HLL CEO Douglas Baillie on Global-Local dichotomy
HCL’s Ajai Chowdhry Discusses Consumption Trends (ContentSutra)
OnMobile Eyes Mobile Advertising Space (ContentSutra)

CII Marketing Summit '06: Tamar Kasriel, Head Knowledge Venturing, Henley Centre Headlight Vision UK

2006-08-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

I missed the beginning of Tamar Kasriel's presentation since I was searching for HCL's Ajai Chowdhry to ask him about his plans for the IPTV LCD screen monitor. When I returned to the conference, Tamar was talking about urban society, and needs and wants. From a purely economics perspective - very interesting. Unfortunately, it seems not many people know about the difference between needs and wants, as we found out later during Q&A.

Tamar said that in an urban sample, most needs are largely met. That's something that is happening in urban India as well - wants are driving indian economy, with most needs met. Hence, this is the desire economy. On example of the desire economy is the desire to buy candles. Where there is electricity, where's the need for candles? Yet, in the UK and Europe, candles are in great demand. There are shops full of candles. She gave the example of a particular candle that is very exclusive, and people are still lapping it up, even though it is just a (scented) candle!

India, she said, is very brand conscious, but how long will this last? She showed a diagram that explained that a population becomes more and more brand conscious with time, as there an increase in the level of developement of the society. Then, it brand consciousness starts decreasing as people become more individualistic, and perhaps expect more for less. With development, peoples focus shifts from money to time and to energy. Earlier they were okay with seeming busy and that made them seem important. Now they want to show that they're able to manage their time.

We're all consumers now. I shop therefore I am. Shopping is a need...even a political statement, and with development, ethics will become important. She showed examples from india - Surf ad with Shabana Azmi about water conservation by using a detergent that uses less water. Ethics is a hygiene factor, and in india it remains to be seen if ethics are adopted or implemented by the government. One great example of segmentation by ethics in the UK is that people prefer to buy dolphin friendly tuna, because it is a political statement.

An interesting presentation, and among the more focused of the lot.

The Inaugural Session
HLL CEO Douglas Baillie on Global-Local dichotomy
HCL’s Ajai Chowdhry Discusses Consumption Trends (ContentSutra)
OnMobile Eyes Mobile Advertising Space (ContentSutra)

CII Marketing Summit '06: Britannia MD&CEO Vinita Bali on Marketing to the New Indian Consumer

2006-08-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

Vinita Bali said that she thinks marketers are focusing too strongly on just numbers, and failing to understand consumers. What they don't realise is that there are essentially two kinds on consumers in India: There are those from the pre-liberalisation days where there were limits to consumption - you booked a vehicle and forgot about it for a couple of years. These consumers still are amazed at the pace at which development has taken place, and are still held back by their past experience. The other group, the post-liberalisation consumer is highly consumption oriented. He's not straddled with the guilt associated with consumption that the pre-lib consumer is. This is a very large segment - and it will grow.

By 2020, the average age will be 29, and most of these consumers will be used to the digital space. A huge degree of changes are expected in a short period of time. How much of this change has been internalised by today's marketers, who seem to be focused on the pre-liberalisation lot, still?

Also, why are marketers continuing to pay lip service to the rural consumer? Have they tried to understand the rural consumer, or is he just an extention of urban India? The rural consumer has had an upbringing different from his urban cousin, and needs to be looked at separately.

Modern trade has changed the consumer. Today, BPO's work 24x7, and there lies a 24x7 consumption opportunity (ed: HCL's Ajai Choudhry spoke of co-creating with consumers, including in the BPO space). Small packages are driving consumption.

Also, marketers are becoming lazy, using celebrities for endorsement. Differentiation is the name of the game - how products fit consumers. The marketers need to connect with consumers, understand the life of the people, and fit into their life. There is a need for 360 degree activation. (ed: what's 360 degrees activation? somebody explain pls). The market is going to be full of choices for consumer, and hence fragmentation will increase.

Posts on the CII Marketing Summit:

The Inaugural Session
HLL CEO Douglas Baillie on Global-Local dichotomy
HCL’s Ajai Chowdhry Discusses Consumption Trends (ContentSutra)
OnMobile Eyes Mobile Advertising Space (ContentSutra)

CII Marketing Summit '06: HLL CEO Douglas Baillie on Global-Local dichotomy

2006-08-20T05:46:00.000-07:00

Douglas A. Baillie began his keynore address with an icebreaker - 'teaching my grandmother to suck eggs' is an idiom most at this summit might not understand, because it's not used in India. That is the problem with global branding.

For branding one has to focus on value, not price, and there just isn't enough investment in value ( no one reminded him of the time P&G and HLL both slashed detergent prices). Brands need to be useful, consistent, coherent and easily identifiable. Imagine a newspaper without a title - people would have to read each article to understand its slant. Brands belong to consumers, and their image is their reputation. Brands are about relationships - they're complicated, slippery, half real and half virtual.

The issue is not with making global brands local is not of global or local, but of both; one needs to strike the right balance. For detergents, one needs to understand the consumer and their washing needs and address them. To emphasise that point, he showed various images of people washing clothes from various countries - in rivers, buckets, huge vessels (cambodia). One also needs to take cognisance of the fact that often the poorest consumers are the most discerning. He also showed various pictures of the Rexona brand which once was hopelessly local - with different packaging for different countries. He said that was killing the brand, and HLL had to unify the packaging to make it a stronger brand, which has helped.

He also showed a series of advertisements featuring the global "Dirt is Good" campaign, to explain the theory of adding value to brands. The advertisements focused on the fact that one need not be afraid of getting dirty. That they were essentially targeting the LSM 5+ category. In India, the focus was on children learning through experience, being independent, sociable and achieving. He also elaborated on the origins of the campaign, and the first ad in this series, in Brazil. In Asia they had a problem with the translation of 'Dirt is Good' to local themes. (In India they used 'Daag Acche Hain', or 'Stains Are Good'). They positioned "The Brand as an enabler that allows consumers to live the Dirt is Good idea".

HLL also used below the line activities in India, like setting up recreational areas for children, and linking up with educational institutions. He said that they broke ground by not focusing on the functionality of the product. Did it work? In 2005, they had a growth of 18% after 5 years of negligible growth.

Two themes that he repeated often throughout the presentation:

Strong Brand Idea <--> Innovation through the prism of the brand <--> Brilliant Brand Advertising <--> Brilliant Brand Activation <--> Strong Brand Idea
Awake --> Inspire --> Provoke --> Engage

Q&A:
During the Q&A he was asked about brand extension vs brand dilution (wrt different brand names that their detergent has in various countries). Ballie said that it's a part of localisation. He said that one of the brand names for the detergents, if used in South Africa would be a cuss word in in colloquial. So, Handy Andy it remains. So, it's about choosing a name that is right for that country.
Another question on celebrity endorsers - Javed Habib who is their brand ambassador has his own competitive line, and yet endorses one of HLL's brands. Baillie said that that decision was taken before he joined, so he cant comment on it. On the face of it, he doesn't agree with the strategy.
S.D Saxena from BSNL asked about Nirma vs HLL, and Baillie responsed that as prices go down, the market share of the discount sector reduces and people prefer aspirational brands.

Posts from the CII Marketing Summit:

The Inaugural Session
HLL CEO Douglas Baillie on Global-Local dichotomy
HCL’s Ajai Chowdhry Discusses Consumption Trends (ContentSutra)
OnMobile Eyes Mobile Advertising Space (ContentSutra)

CII Marketing Summit '06: Inaugural Session

2006-08-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

I covered the CII Marketing Summit '06 for ContentSutra, held at the Taj Palace Hotel on 17th and 18th August. The theme of the event was "Marketing in a Global World: New Rules for an Old Game". At MixedBag, I shall be posting the non-techie, marketing posts analysing the new Indian consumer, and the presentations on developing India as a brand. I'm also linking to all posts on the summit, at the end of each post on the summit (once they're all done).

The summit saw some high-profile participation, but, in my opinion, the techies stole the show - they seemed to be much more clued in to future trends (or what I think are future trends), or were more comfortable talking about them in detail. Particularly impressive was OnMobile's CEO, Arvind Rao, whose presentation I found both very intriguing and very disturbing. I feel watched, and I'm sure this will give rise to some serious legal issues in the future. I also liked the presentations by Prasoon Joshi and Piyush Pandey, although they were more like motivational speeches. I missed the session on Retail, and was told that it was an eye opener. Bummer!

Now, on to the Inaugural Session, then:

The minister was late, not unexpectedly. On his arrival, CII President R. Seshasayee began: he said that India has changed, but not "arrived": It is now among the top 5 global destinations: India is one of the top 5 global destinations, but which Indian brand is in the top 5? Looking back to the pre-liberalisation days, he remembered the emergency meetings before liberalisation, where they were thinking of ways to spur exports. They were thinking of slogans to coin to get SME's to export, and someone suggested "Export or Perish". The same SME's are setting up and exporting without any nudging, and Indian companies have become much more aggressive.

Kamal Nath, Minister for Commerce and Industry took stage. He said that the New York Times recently published an article called "The Myth of the New Indian". But is that really a bad thing? There was a time when the New York Times didn't know that India existed. At least India is being noticed. Referring to the Incredible India campaign, he said that what is needed is not just an Incredible India, but also a credible India. Earlier a foreigner would come to visit India's National Parks, and now we want him to come and visit the National Stock Exchange. We have to build that credibility - we have implemented patent now, and protection of IPR is critical for India. (Note: There's an IPR conference in Delhi, later this month. Will be covering that too)

He said that we still have to keep on our toes, cause other countries are catching up - Bangladesh today supplies more to Walmart than China. But India has its strengths, that lies in its knowledge base. Manufacturing is essential for growth, and there needs to be a change - currently, mfg is only 17% of GDP, while services is 52%. He acknowledged the efforts of the India Brand Equity Foundation.

My take? Well, nothing new, nothing interesting so far. I honestly wonder how much of the money put into building Brand India is actually used...The entire brand building process must be a combination of things - a nation must be built as a brand, then companies and the government must justify that impression that marketing creates. Also, development of technology for India is a must - otherwise, we tend use foreign investment to fund purchases of technology from abroad and hence develop little of our own.

Posts from the CII Marketing Summit:

The Inaugural Session
HLL CEO Douglas Baillie on Global-Local dichotomy
HCL’s Ajai Chowdhry Discusses Consumption Trends (ContentSutra)
OnMobile Eyes Mobile Advertising Space (ContentSutra)

P.s.: I really wish Taj would reconsider naming the Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi. I'm not the only one who finds this irritating, but one often ends up at Taj Mahal Hotel on Mansingh Road instead of Taj Palace at Dhaula Kuan, or vice versa. Why not go back to 'Taj Mansingh', which is just as grand sounding a name as Taj Mahal (if not more), and easily distinguishable because it's on Mansingh Road?

In Case of Emergency

2006-08-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

I don't usually post forwards, but one that I got today looks useful, so I'll summarise it for you:

What to do: Save your emergency contacts as ICE1, ICE2, ICE3... on your mobile phone. ICE standing for "In Case of Emergency"
Why: It has been found that in case of accidents, paramedics often cannot identify whom to call from the contact list on the victims mobile phone. If the ICE campaign catches on, it can help.

Good idea - useful and simple. I've already done it and suggest that you do too. Might not work in India, but who knows...Also, spread this around. It could help someone.

But what about Nix?

2006-08-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

This is partiality. If Charon can be made a planet, then why not Nix? I protest!

Blogger Beta: We have categories !

2006-08-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

The Bewra Kekra informs me that BLOGGER FINALLY HAS CATEGORIES. So I might not shift to my own domain.

From Blogger Buzz:

With the beta you can:
Categorize your posts with labels
Control who can read your blog
Change the appearance and content of your blog with your mouse instead of HTML

Take the tour here. Still in beta, so it's available to only a select bunch. (I'm not one of them. Bah). You can also sign in/sign up with your google account. Here. I'm signing up to test it out. Here.

Some Changes (apart from those listed in the tour):
1. The post timing and date has been simplified. Just type it, instead of using a dropdown menu.
2. No link can be added yet to the post title
3. Just two comment options to each post - allow/don't allow comments. Simplified.
4. No option for backlinks yet.
5. You can edit the post after you've published it. No need to go back to the post listing and then editing it. Simple usable changes.
6. Drag and Drop page editing
7. Lots of widgets (they haven't called them widgets, but they're widgets all right) - lists, link lists, pictures, html/javascript.(screencap)
You can actually display external feeds! I've added one for ContentSutra
8. A WYSIWYG page editor. You can change colours of the links, background, the site by clicking on a colour in the grid. (screencap)
9. You can subscribe to RSS feeds for comments to specific posts.

So, lots of changes. What else do I want?
1. A sync with Technorati/ del.icio.us
2. A search script
3. Display latest comments on the side
4. A calendar for navigating the archives

Okay, so I want blogger to be like Wordpress...but thankfully, one can edit the blogger template, unlike the wordpress.com templates.

Update:

Amit Agarwal has also written about the changes.
Brett informs me that there's a blogger hack that allows you to add a list of comments on the current page to the sidebar. Not exactly the recent comments to the site, but it's still an option.

Rant: WTF is wrong with NDPL?

2006-08-15T01:03:00.000-07:00

Seriously - what is it with NDPL? All day today, every hour, the power has been cut at least once. Light goes, I quickly save stuff and switch the pc off. After 10-45 min, power supply resumes. 20-40 minutes and another power cut. Can't get any work done...Now my UPS has given up, and I get around 10 seconds to shut the PC and end up losing whatever I have written...

I know there's a power problem in Delhi, but why can't they just publish a schedule so we can plan accordingly? They used to do that in Pune - we knew that there would be a four-five hour power cut post lunch every thursday during non-peak season, and daily power cuts for two hours from 11am to 1pm and 2 to 4 during peak season.

Why 10-15 min every hour? Ridiculous. I thought NDPL had good management, based on past experiences. Things seem to be falling apart, now.

Update (5pm): Happened again. And again. And again. NDPL says that there's a problem with the grid for the north zone. So why not just shut off supply for a few hours and fix the damn problem?

Media Bias: Israel vs Lebanon

2006-08-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

"Oh, please. Have a slightly longer memory than four weeks." - George Galloway, a British MP

The video.

What do you believe? A brilliant, brilliant discussion. A must, must watch. A media bias exposed. A word of thanks to Husain (some of you might remember him as the Kafka obsessed fellow from FLS) for sending this over.

~~Note: I want to download this video. How?~~

Update:
The YouTube version

(credit due to Ankit for pointing this out. How could I have forgotten YouTube? Must be the lack of a business model. Heh.)

Things (for you) to do: RTI Act

2006-08-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

1. Read this notice on amendments to the Right To Information (RTI) Act, and/or the summary below. Also read some of news stories listed here.
2. Spread the Word: Blog about it/Write to the media about it.
3. Join the protests: Go here and sign the petitions. Maybe even troop down to Jantar Mantar.

A introduction to the RTI Act and the procedure with samples is here. Read about the proposed amendments here.

A brief summary:
The RTI Act allows Indians to question their government and the bureaucracy for its actions/lack of action. The authorities have to respond within 30 days with written (hence legally admissable) answers, else face penalisation. The proposed amendments to seek to dilute the act in the following manner:

Decisions by the bureaucracy are based on observations/recommendations to proposals by bureaucrats, called file notings. It is intended that file notings should not be made public, hence there will be no individual public accountability of bureaucrats.
Only developmental and social issues shall be liable for the RTI. That limits its scope.
(I'm told that) with the amendment, answers to queries will only be given to you after the task you're asking about has been completed. Makes the RTI less potent.

What's the hurry?
A journalist informed me yesterday (so this is hearsay) that the RTI Amendments will be tabled within 10 days (before 22nd August), and it is intended that it will be passed by a mere voice-vote (whether Aye or Nay is shouted loudest).

Some observations:
I was discussed the RTI Act with AJ, a lawyer in the making. She made some interesting observations:

The RTI Act is not a fundamental right, hence can be diluted/amended.
The RTI Act has been around for only 10 months, so for a majority of our population, it has hardly made any difference. We wont miss it. Most of us haven't yet felt the difference it can make, and had it been around for 10-12 years, the government wouldn't have dared to consider amending it, fearing the backlash
The media is airing stories that don't impact the urban consumer, so s/he wont react.

So whatcha gonna do?

The Future of Social Networking Sites

2006-08-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

I might as well go public with my views on this, since I've been talking about it offline for a few weeks now...you've probably read someone else who's said the same thing, but I haven't come across anyone yet. Here goes...

Social Networking and "Web 2.0" sites are in vogue. The attention isn't unjustified because of the following reasons:

Web 2.0 sites involve the users, who help it grow
Credibility gets transferred from the users to the site, and word-of-mouth is the chosen mode of promotion
Because of relatively greater involvement, these sites have greater advertising potential, as well as (usually) more demographic data to support advertising allocation.
Web 2.0 sites are addictive. Period.

Consmer Trends:
Revenue models vary. There're a large number of Web 2.0 sites around, particularly in the social networking space. Consumers will display the following trends, particularly in the social networking space:

For general purpose social networking, they will flock to the larger sites. I mean - how many social networking sites would you like to be a part of?
From these will develop social networking sites based on the policy of exclusion because it won't be possible to compete with the big guys in the general social networking space. Exclusion will be either by:

Segmentation on a monetary basis - VIP rooms, Super Deluxe packages etc.
Segmentation based on other critera - Occupation; Specific facility provided by a site (like freelance work, event info etc); Specific interests like art, cars or movies; Sexual Preferences etc.

Again - how many social networking sites would you like to be a part of? Point two above relates primarily to segmentation, which is a direct consequence of growth where no one really wants to be a me-too site. The more the number of sites, the greater their need for differentiation, (update:) hence the development of other Web 2.0 sites that don't rely on social networking. However, there's always the threat of successful social networking sites (particularly Orkut) of providing additional facilities to their users.

Eventually, because several sites are in direct competition, consolidation is bound to take place. Niche advertising revenue split across five sites doesn't help any. So, for example, four mobile development social networking sites on Windows, Symbian, J2ME and Palm OS might join together to form a mobile enthusiasts Web 2.0 group.

In the end, only large general players like Orkut and Hi5 will remain, or focused, smaller, exclusive and consolidated groups like a Carpentars United (silly example, but you get what I mean).

Anyway - this is just a theory, and is open to questioning, discussion and ridicude. I'm thinking of starting a little blog that reviews my favourite online businesses to help improve my understanding of the online space...

Update:

wrt software development, Narayan Murthy says that there's opportunity in niche, because one can't compete against those with financial muscle. For the social n/w space, I've observed a similar trend (but for different reasons) in point 2 of consumer trends (above).
Business 2.0 gives you a Web 2.0 tour. Nice. Note that very few of the sites featured are social networking sites...

Omkara

2006-08-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

Wonderful cinematic experience. Apart from a couple of songs, not a boring moment in the movie. Both Saif Ali Khan and Konkana Sen Sharma are brilliant...the chap who played Roderigo, the one whom Saif's Langda Tyagi (Iago) manipulates was also very believable. Can't get enough of Konkana Sen Sharma - she had even made Mixed Doubles watchable. She's hot. Echoing Jai's words - is there nothing she can't do?

I didn't like:
1. Omkara/Othello's character was not allowed to develop. He's their leader and exercises hierarchical dominance. Apart from that, he's no different from the rest.
2. Omkara's half-caste (moor) reality could have been exploited in the UP context, but sadly, is hardly touched upon.
3. Keshu/Cassio does very little to justify his position as bahubali. He seems too naiive/confused a kid, and perhaps some element of gallantry would have helped make him believable. A miscast? Was he scripted an impotent character...cause Cassio wasn't one.
4. The snake-in-yellow-stuff was the only scene that felt over the top. Omen's are a part of Indian culture, but it didn't have to be as explicit as this. Omkara stepping out was good enough.
5. Bipasha Basu as 'Billo Chamanbahar' could have been more believable if she had excess, badly put make-up...she looked like a prim and proper star straight out of Bollywood, and didn't do justice to the rural setting.

I loved the final shot, and the silent rolling of the credits. Catharsis was made believable, so kudos to the director for a splendid job. Possibly the most memorable scene is where Saif puts the kamarbandh around his head- he looks powerful and consumed with evil...a snake. The devil. Then there's a scene where Konkana Sen Sharma looks mad with rage, like Kali.

This is definite must must watch...at least twice.

A complete review here. Jai's is here.

P.s.:
PVR Naraina Rant:
What spoilt the last 30 odd minutes of the movie for me was incessant wailing from two ends of PVR Naraina. I hate that theater and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Every time I go there (and only because a friend of mine books tickets for that useless theater only), there's some dumb f**k who's brought in the kids for a serious movie, and then spends half the f**king movie placating the kid or ignoring it. This woman, two rows ahead of me, kept pacing up and down the hall with the wailing and jumping kid, obviously distracting the audience. I mean, if your kid is crying non-stop and you can't manage it - get out!!! Why spoil the fun for the rest of us?
This was an adult movie, so how come PVR let in (at least) 4 kids?
Frankly, I think these theaters should have a no-kids policy, or separate timings. If my cousin sis is reading this (she's started reading blogs, heh), she'll say - once you have kids, you'll get to know.
*sigh* I guess I'll have bear with idiots in cinema halls until I can afford a big screen TV with a home theater system, and a kid-disintegrator at the entrance.

Suhel Seth on Pepsi Coke and Pesticides

2006-08-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

(running slight temperature, and beset with allergic sneezing fits, so this is going to be short)

CSE's out with another report on pesticides. The companies had not been cleared, but the issue had been forgotten for a while. Buried. Last time around, I agrued for the companies in a college debate and won...even though I felt they were guilty, because it was my task to argue in their favour. I used the Outlook reports, and put the onus on the consumer - if the consumer is so worried, then the consumer should stop.

Suhel Seth (representing the cola companies) faced off with Sunita Narain of the CSE on CNN-IBN today. During the debate, he accused, incorrectly, Ms. Narain of making logical errors while voicing her views.

Those who haven't studied logic might have believed him, just because he mentioned something like 'logical errors'. Here's a list of errors, some logical, that Mr. Seth himself made during the debate:

* He said: companies are global and follow international standards. They have a large customer base who trust that the products are safe. Logical fallacy: common belief
* He said: The companies care for their customers. Why would they do this? Logical Fallacy: begging the question
* He said: There are no global standards (therefore India cannot have one). Fallacy: dont remember which fallacy it is, but - this doesn't mean that one country cannot set standards for herself
* He said: Outlook sent samples to London, independent test and no problems in the drinks. Fallacy: Does not hold valid until the same samples from the same bottle are tested by two different agencies
* He said: They have same standards as their parent companies. Fallacy: doesnt mean that those standards are being adhered to in India.
* He said: this is an attempt by one small NGO (or one person) to gain fame by targetting large companies. Logical Fallacy: Ad hominem (attacking the person).

Blocked again...

2006-08-02T01:02:00.000-07:00

My access to blogspot blocks is blocked. Since I'm able to access blogs via proxy-sites, it seems that the blog block has been reinstated. I'm on MTNL Delhi. A few mails have already been posted on Bloggers Collective. In case your access is blocked, go to the Bloggers Collective Wiki for assistance.

Some pakistani bloggers had warned us not to be too gung ho, since this decision to allow access could be reversed any time, without provocation or reason. Most of us, I guess, were as cynical of this, as we had been when we had first heard the news of acess to blogs in Pakistan being blocked.

Yesterday, a news channel carried news of a blog that encourages suicide. I'm told that someone in the report said that these type of blogs ought to be banned. Hope the gourment hasn't taken up that offer. My views on all forms of censorship are here.

I've already shot off a mail to an MTNL engineer (we exchanged mails during the last block), and lets see what he has to say, if anything at all. Expect updates.

Update: The gentleman from MTNL sounded worried about this issue. He's assured me that he'll look into the matter, and emphasised that the problem could either be from Reliance. He asked for tracerts. I've sent them across. According to codey, this looks like a VSNL problem.

Update 2:
Shyam confirms that this is a VSNL problem, which gets its connection via Reliance. Airtel gets its connection via Singtel, and seems to be working fine.

Update 3: Able to access blogs now. That was quick.

NDTV Blogs go live

2006-07-31T01:35:00.000-07:00

post page at NDTV Blogs

NDTV's response to CNN-IBN's blog initiative, has gone live a few hours ago. Observations:

* Blogs on a domain separate from NDTV.com: In an attempt to get ahead of IBNLive which had initially intended to allow users to post, NDTV allows you to register and host your blog at www.ndtvblogs.com. In my opinion, that's a mistake because the nature of the blogger is that he wants to own his space. He might want contribute to the media, call himself a part of the new media, but he wants to own his space. I'm not shifting bag and baggage to NDTV or IBN, just because it gives me greater visibility, and sacrifice the freedom to post stupid posts. My space will be mine, and I don't want to have to sign into two blog sites and post.

I liked the IBN Your Voice concept (now in hibernation) better, but that's probably a real pain to update because it means having to read a lot of blogs.

* Tagging and Advertising: the link at top lists tags/categories. These lead to a page with aggregated posts (ala Technorati). That means that better targeting for Google Adwords (once they're implemented), and hence possibly greater revenue, or even tieups. The advertising model seems, on the face of it, to be well thought out. Try Asbestos as a category sometime. *grin*

Add RSS feeds to tags, and you're good to go (IBNLive listening?)

Also, there's lots of whitespace on the right (encircled in the image above), obviously for advertisements.

Tags/Categories aggregation page

* Post Moderation: So, I might get the opportunity to blog alongside Barkha Dutt (not that I want to), but my posts will be moderated. What are the moderation policies? Will I be allowed to diss NDTV on their blogs? Also, dont get fooled by the random posts that they have allowed. They're just there because they need posts initially while they're developing the portal.

* Dashboard Confusion: Click on 'post', and you're taken to a page that asks you for Blog Title, not Post Title, and 'Description' instead of something like 'Post Content'. So how many of those developing this have ever blogged?

Question - why not tie up with an experienced Blog host (if you want to go Indian) like Rediff to develop the same?

* Allows users to host multiple blogs

* Allows you to host 10240 kb of video/audio/photo, but - per post, per attachment or per blog? I don't know. I got signed out automatically.

I'm not sure of what they're banking on - getting new users to blog or making bloggers switch to NDTV Blogs? (I can imagine Vikram Chandra saying on TV that - now you can host your blog at NDTV Blogs and we will make sure it doesn't get banned)

Anyway, this is cliche'd Web 2.0. A post on Web 2.0 and the crowded social networking website segment, next.

A different version crossposted at ContentSutra. My first there. :)

Roz and the Schnoz (Frasier) and now accepting puns on my name

2006-07-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

"We couldn't get a straight take, it's wonderful that way."

Roz and the Schnoz is the punniest episode of Frasier, which is why it's among my all time favourites. The plot: Roz is pregnant with the child of her boy-toy, and though they've split, his parents (Paula and Steve) want to meet her. They come over to Frasier's place, and both of them have a very very large beaks. The boy-toy had had a nose job. Several puns and jokes on the nose follow. Samples:

Paula: You know, Steve and I went to that a few years ago. We just love dogs! We have two giant Schnauzers.
*
Paula: Yeah, I'm just a little nervous. I hear the Parisians can be kinda snooty.
*
Steve: [o.s., re: quiche] Mmmm, what's that I smell?
Martin: [whispering] Probably Japan!

Read the script here. I suggest you begin from the middle, when Paula and Steve enter. Nothing in YouTube, sorry, but you may buy the DVD and get me my first referral cent, heh. This goes up on my wishlist when I create one.

Also, look at what tops the list in this Amazon search for Frasier: The Fifth Season. Heh...Which reminds me - searched for Frasier at Palika, but they all tried to offer porn titled Fresher. No M*A*S*H either. I switched entirely to the News/CNBC/VH1 combo once Star World took Frasier off the air, preseason.

Other all time favourite shows: M*A*S*H (not the movie, though), Whose Line is it Anyway, The Drew Carey Show, Seinfeld, The Simpsons. Is there a trend? I never liked Everybody Loves Raymond. While on comedy, Russell Peters will be in Delhi in September-October...I'll put up the details as soon as they're announced.

*

While on puns, I'm sure you'll agree that my name (pronounced Pa-wa with a hint of an h) is very punny. So far:

1. 'I've got the Pahwa': Began in school, in 10th, when some showed signs of rudimentary intelligence and bad taste in music. I used to react quite often when some of the classmates said "I've got the Pahwa", but that was because none of the girls ever said it, and to prevent any rumours - the guys never got the Pahwa. After a while, I stopped reacting and they ran out of ideas.

2. Powwa: Next, a gregarious teacher in school came up with 'powwa' which is collquial for a quarter of alcohol. I think I was, for once, sleeping on the last bench. Powwa became very popular, and it gave the guys much to act drunk about. It spread to the rest of the school and someone even once asked a group I was with, who powwa is, much to everybodys delight.

3. Poha/Powa: College in Pune added another pun to the list though, surprisingly enough, no one used any pun to my face there. One usually expects the opposite in a hostel. Not that I scared them, but by then I had developed a reputation for wordplay myself... Of all the puns, this was perhaps the least intelligent.

4. Ravi came with phrases with the 'power' connotation one bored afternoon, a couple of years ago - I've got the Pahwa, Pahwaful and, as a ganglord from Delhi - Vulgar Display of Pahwa [context]. He kept apologising, expecting me to feel bad. Quite the opposite - I was laughing. :D

*

The world seems to have run out of puns on my name, or so I think. Prove me wrong. To some, this is asking for trouble...I'm looking for a possible tagline for my blog. :D

So far: I've got the Pahwa, Vulgar Display of Pahwa, Pahwarotti - a tenor.

P.s.: Both parts of this post owe their existence to Shekhar. He's been repeating old jokes on Pahwa, and asked me to search for Frasier DVD's...which I intend to buy for myself too

Osian's Cinefan Film Fest: The Scream of the Ants by Mohsen Makhmalbaf

2006-07-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

The basic message of Makhmalbaf's latest, The Scream of the Ants (Shaere Zobale-Ha) is as follows:

The Scream of the Ants starts promisingly enough: An Iranian couple wait, with the wife sitting on a chair and the husband loitering about, in the middle of a railway track. The wife has a glove stuck to her face (attached to her sunglasses, we later find out), to keep the sun out: a quirky beginning. They stop a train, get on, and sitting by the window, argue about God and religion. A seemingly lecherous journalist butts in and starts a conversation with the wife about tourists in India. All tourists who come to India are stupid, he says prudently.

The journalist informs the couple that the train is headed straight for a baba, a holy man, who can supposedly stop the train with his eyes. Sure enough, the journalist and the couple hang out of the train, and spot a half naked sadhu with his hands raised, The train slows to a halt near him, and to celebrate the baba's miracle, a few thousand beggars converge on the train to accept alms from the passengers.

His secret: none. One day, disillusioned, he had squatted on the track to commit suicide, and the driver stopped the train himself. The beggars caught on, and proclaimed it a miracle to collect alms. Since then, the poor old man is a hostage to the beggars' greed, and the drivers don't take a risk and stop the train. The couple then try to rescue him, but are powerless against the crowd. A remarkable beginning. This is going to be fun, I thought. I couldn't have been more wrong.

The scene shifts to Rajasthan where the wife and husband quarrel over religious beliefs, and the want of a child. He doesn't want to bring a child into this miserable world, he says, and walks out,straight into the arms of a prostitute with a call center accent.

What follows then should go down in history as the weirdest scene ever (you're free so disagree and tell me about weirder scenes) where our man talks weird religious mumbo jumbo to the prostitute, makes her his table (no, seriously). He drinks alcohol from a glass kept on her naked back, and then talks about the cow god. Now drunk or mentally retarded (or both, for his sake), he proceeds to pour alcohol on a statue of the cow god and drinks it. Don't believe me? See this:

Click to enlarge

No prizes for guessing who this fascination with cows reminded me of?

We suddenly switch to a scene in the desert. The wife is in search of the Perfect Man, and it seems, everyone has heard of him.

Wife: Do you know where the Perfect Man lives?
Random Person: He lives there. (points)

Wife: Do you know where the Perfect Man lives?
He-Man: By the power of GraySkull. There (points)

(Note:I made the last one up, but I wouldn't have put it beyond Makhmalbaf to add that scene to this movie. Probably cut it in the editing)

The taxi driver is willing to forgo a fare tells them that they ought to walk to him. How often have you seen the perfect man? they ask the Cow Man, a buddhist by the looks of it, as he takes them to the Perfect Man. Very few times, he tells them. When they reach the cottage, it seems that The Cow Man = The Perfect Man, and he only has seen the perfect man very few times because he doesn't keep a mirror. Right. Mr. Perfect Man, as the wife calls him, writes something on a piece of paper and tells the wife to heat it in the holy city, over fire, after three days.

In the Holy City, they meet the Shit Man, who thinks everything is shit. We're subjected to images of burning bodies, and decayed corpses flowing in the Ganga, as people take dips to purify themselves. There's lots of philosophical, psychotic gyan, and the Shit man keeps saying that everything is shit, with a German accent. The two thirds of the film (post the baba stopping the train) is full of religious mumbo jumbo about life, sex, birth, rebirth and possibly the result of reading too many Osho magzines. Some old woman says that she wants freedom from the birth-rebirth cycle, and the audience goes - What shit? in a German accent. Everything is shit anyway.

Somewhere, the wife remembers that she's got a letter to read, and with some more philosophical religious couplet, the movie ends.

Is it just a co-incidence that the direct tranlsation of the movie's title in arabic is 'Poet of the waste'?

*

P.s.:
One of many reasons for the Congress government to protest the screening of this movie: There's talk about Gandhi's sex life, that he had sex with his wife all night long the day his father died. How anti-national. One of many reasons for the BJP to protest the screening of this movie: The cow god and the alcohol. What an insult to our Hindu Gods! Secondly, it's Nandhi the bull, and not a 'cow god'. Malkmalbaf got his facts wrong.

P.s.2:
During the scene with the nude prostitute as a table, several cops came into the theatre. Others noisily went to call the rest, repeatedly disturbing those who sat close to the exits. No probs. After all, cops also have a right to watch sex scenes while on duty.

Tags:
| Cinefan Film Fest | Film Fest |

Osian's Cinefan Film Fest: Cilmates (Lklimler) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

2006-07-28T02:41:00.000-07:00

[Note: spoilers, but this storyline has been used ten trillion, sixty seven thousand times, approximately]

As much as I'd like to be critical of Climates' predictable storyline, and seemingly restrained performances, I really liked it. At the Cinefan film fest, most of the movies that I enjoyed featured characters who were mature and somewhat subdued: a marked change from the movies I end up watching in theaters in India (most of my college friends watch movies that I call 'dhinchak'). So, I suppose I ended up cutting Climates some slack because I was comparing it with the regular fare.

We begin at a beach resort, where Isa (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) breaks up with Bahar, his wife/lover of several years. His reasons for breaking up may be summarised as follows: he's bored. Bahar breaks down, sobs, and is quiet as Isa drives on a scooter across the hills, with the sun setting on their relationship. Suddenly, Bahar, from behind, closes Isa's eyes, and they fall down. When he leaves her in the bus, he says that he still wants to be friends. She declines, and tells him not to contact her.

They part, and Isa soon finds himself with nothing to do in the evening, as opposed to his friend, who teaches at a college with him. Isa 'accidentally' runs into a friend and his girlfriend. Later, he lands up at the girlfriends house, and we're subjected to a longish rough sex scene that seems to be there only for titillation.

From Serap, later, Isa learns of Bahar's whereabouts, and follows her to a town that is snowed in, where she's with a team to shoot a TV serial. There he tries to make up with her, but given the cold parting, she obviously declines. The movie meanders along, and while Isa tries to placate her, she refuses to comply. Eventually they meet one last time, and then part ways. The movie ends abruptly, and there isn't much to take from this film, apart from Isa's character being defined by the way he behaves - a bored university professor without scruples, who breaks up with is girlfriend so that he can liven up his life, which he tries to do by sleeping with his ex-mistress and then trying to woo his girlfriend back. All this without the song and dance. On the plus side, there are no wasteful dialogues, and long moments of silence and render a serious feel to the movie.

I also wonder how Nuri Bilge Ceylan would have been able to assess his own performance, since he was both starring in the movie, and directing it. A wholly unremarkable movie with a weak storyline, but with some fairly composed, confident and realistic acting. It's a story that you would have come aross a thousand of times, just that it doesn't end happily.

Tags:
| Cinefan Film Fest | Film Fest |

Osian's Cinefan Film Fest: When Fish Fall in Love by Ali Raffi

2006-07-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

A sleepy, seaside Iranian town. A successful restaurant being run by four feisty, independent women. Everything is running smoothly until one womans lover gets arrested for anti-national activities, and anothers returns after being in prison for 25 years for the same charge, possibly to reclaim the house in which the restaurant is being run.

Aziz, a recently released convict who is on his way home, makes friends with Reza, a young man working on a fish farm. The cab is stopped, and Reza is arrested. The look at Reza gives Aziz reminds him of his own arrest 25 years ago. He reaches town to find his old home to find that it is now a restaurant, and walks in.

The scene shifts to inside the kitchen, where Atieh, Aziz' ex-lover is busy preparing meals, assited by three other women, one of whom is Atieh's daugther and Reza's lover. The sky seems to fall on their heads as, though a pane in the door, Atieh spies Aziz in disbelief. The house is his, and they're squatters. If they lose the restaurant, they lose everything.

Aziz is the central character of the film, even when he is not on screen. Everybody's talking about him and wondering about his next move. Will he sell, or won't he? He takes it upon himself to get Reza freed, and asks his rich friend who wants to buy the house, to get him a lawyer. This fuels rumours that Aziz is planning to sell the restaurant to his friends, and the women of the restaurant do whatever is possible to prevent it: mostly, of feeding him the most delicious looking food that you will ever see on screen, and of making him feel a part of the family.

The movie is, above all, about food. Watching it makes you regret having that rajma chawal or chicken biryani at the canteen, as dish after this is prepared with appetising sauces and photo-perfect garnishing. My mouth waters even as I think about that food. Must go to north Iran some day, and see if that food tastes as good as it looks.

Throughout the film, a lack of communication between two former lovers, Atieh and Aziz, confounds the issues. Atieh is full of pride, and unwilling to request Aziz to not sell or claim the house, even though he has not once asked for it. In fact, that he hardly speaks about it makes things confusing for the four women, as they try to get him to no sell it. There is also veiled criticism of a social practice - when men are sent to jail, their lovers are simply informed that they have skipped town. That happened when Aziz was arrested and Atieh was lied to, and when Reza was arrested. Also of young men who are forced into (supposedly) transporting arms because alternative occupations don't yield enough money.

When Fish Fall in Love (mahiha ashegh mishavand) has a tight, small script centered around few characters and few events, but the suspense, the excitement and the emotions ensure that there's not a dull moment. The title, though, doesn't make much sense to me. The picturisation is rich in colour, with food that makes you want to chew at the screen, green mountains, colourful fruits and even the sea splashing against a precarious cafe on the rocks. I'm glad that Makhmalbaf's 'Sex and Philosophy' was housefull.

The Fish Fall in Love (or When Fish fall in love - two names in use) won the Best Film award at the 7th Aubagne International Film Festival. What surprises me is that this is Ali Raffi's first film, since it has the touch of a veteran. Many more beautiful stories to come, I hope.

Update: Another review, with spoiler (here). I disagree with the review that Aziz should not have been emotionless and confused, since that actually creates the suspense that runs through the movie. Secondly, Ali Raffi is a veteran theatre director and this is first film. His next is based on Romeo and Juliet.

Tags:
| Cinefan Film Fest | Film Fest |

Pimping your browser

2006-07-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

If you're using Firefox (and you should be. No excuses), install the Pimpzilla theme for a browser with bling. I've always preferred the functional look for my broswers, but this is amusing without being in your face; ironic for a theme that supposedly pimps your browser. I laugh out loud every time I see that peach (thanks Aishwarya) fur. This isn't just another Mac theme clone, and my guess is that it will spawn a whole set of pimpzilla themes - for Winamp, for Windows. Let's wait and see.

Click to Enlarge

I like:

1. The bling - gold buttons that shine on mouseover
2. Gold scrollbars
3. The fur - peach fur all around, and cheetah fur as a tab-background.
4. The way the icons blend into the fur background

And what's pimping, you ask? Wikipedia to the rescue:

Wikipedia:

Pimp can also be used as a verb such as "You're pimped up!" or "Pimp my ride". The latter example refers to customizing an automobile, made popular by the show Pimp My Ride on MTV. It can also be used as an adjective connoting the same, i.e. "Man, that car's pimp!"

Either use was originally a derogatory term, implying that the subject was overly decorated and tacky (referring to the stereotype of pimps with excessive jewelry, flashy clothes, or brightly colored cars with animal-print upholstery and crystal chandeliers). It was eventually reclaimed as an American slang term for being unique, "cool", or socially desirable, in much the same way as the term "ghetto fabulous". It's even used to describe a young teenage male as "cool" or who is very popular with teenage girls, and can meet and talk to them with ease.

So what are you waiting for? Download the theme (here). To see more screenshots, click here.

Peach, yeah. That's the fruit.

[Note: I suppose the title of this post will get a lot of people searching google for sex to this blog. Oops...mentioned the 's' word. That'll triple the count...]

TAAQ this way...

2006-07-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

TAAQ, rather, Thermal and a Quarter are a jazzy, bluesy Bangalore based band that had quite a successful tour of the UK this year. Their music , for the want of a better description, isn't the kind that'll make you headbang, but one that'll make you sway. In 2001, they'd opened for Deep Purple in Bangalore. One of my regrets this year is that I missed the two shows that they played in Delhi, one of which was at the India Habitat Center, and the other at TC.

A three part interview with TAAQ is here: part 1, part 2 and part 2. An audio interview is here at NPR.

Their album, Plan B, was available for download online, but discontinued. The torrent has only one sourse, so your risk.

The ensuing publicity made PLAN B one of the Internet's hottest properties, at least for the first two weeks. Our website was slash-dotted and we overshot our bandwidth by gigabytes.

PLAN B was downloaded and shared copiously -- we have estimated over a million downloads based on our poor arithmetic. The album also won rave reviews.

We are now discontinuing the download of PLAN B on our website. You may still find free copies on the Web. But here's the beef: we will soon re-release PLAN B with extra cheese.

How to get the album:
1. A torrent is still active, but with only one seed. Hurry!
2. Do a google sitesearch for MP3's at the Thermal and a Quarter website. The files are there, but I don't think they'll appreciate you costing them bandwidth.
3. Mail me (nixxin at gmail dot com). I can send the songs across one by one. Tried to upload them to my eSnips folder, but that isn't working out. Other file hosts don't keep files for more than a month.
4. You can buy the album from CDPlay or iTunes to support the band. I will buy a CD, the next time I see it at a gig.

Update: Ankit suggested that I try the Coral Cache (the one I'm using as a site mirror) for the song files.:

The Thermal And A Quarter Open Music License (hereafter mercifully called TOML) is designed to enable rather than restrict your use of our music. We want Plan B to be one big happy epidemic, and your role as vector is vital. We recognise you as ambassadors who will listen, download and enthusiastically share this great music. However, since we have invested considerable time, labour and creative effort into making this album, we wish to guide you on its ethical and responsible use.

According to TOML, you are completely free to:
a. REPRODUCE: Make as many copies as you have friends.
b. DISTRIBUTE: Share the copies enthusiastically with friends, pets, spouses, relatives and enemies. Especially enemies. Plan B has a way of making friends out of them.
c. PERFORM: Play it on the stereo. Play it on the radio. Play it at a rock show. Just play it, yo!
d. NON-COMMERCIAL USE: This music is yours to share and enjoy, not yours to sell. Please don't make money from it in any way. However, you may charge the price of the blank CD on which it is copied.
e. MP3 FORMAT ONLY: Please do not alter the original format of the songs (MP3) into any other audio, video or data format. This includes audio-cassettes, video-cassettes or any other type of media file (including but not restricted to *.DAT, *.wav, *.wma, *.asf, *.ra, etc).
f. ATTRIBUTION: Whenever you perform the songs or pass them onto someone else, please credit Thermal And A Quarter. Also, please do not change file names, or song or album names.

The songs (7/10):
* Bend the World
* Chainese Item
* Paper Puli
* The Steal
* I Live Here
* Dead Inside
* Cynical World
* Galacktiqua
* Motorbykle
* Intermission

(Also, funnily enough, their site has photos of their performance in Delhi under the heading 'Doing Delhi'. And, just to clarify, if you think I'm doing this as PR work - I'm not. I just like their music, and try to do my bit for creating awareness about good Indian bands)

*

Another Bangalore based band that I like is Liquid Groove. They've got two vocalists - Abhijit and Lakshmi. Anirban (interview) deservedly won the Best Guitarist award at GIR in 2005.

4 songs are available for download here. I reccomend that you try out Dreams and Step Inside. I have two more songs and can mail those across, but it's been a year and a half. Interestingly, Abhijit sounds better live than he does in the album, and for Lakshmi, it's the other way round.

*

Still waiting for the Them Clones album. Was supposed to be released in June. The EP that I have has old songs, which are available for download here. The new set, which I've heard live, is much much better.

Tags:
Indian Music

MoMoDelhi

2006-07-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

If you're a mobile or tech enthusiast, head over to the Adobe office in Noida next Saturday (5th of August) for Mobile Monday Delhi. The theme of the event is Mobile 2.0: Future Trends and Technology.

Among the talks planned (anyone can present, and anyone can attend), is one by Joshua D'Souza and Ashok Datar on Koolpool, the world's first ever SMS enabled car-pool service. You might remember my post on Pink Ladies, where the mobile is used for informing the client that her ride has arrived, thus ensuring that she doesn't have to wait for her cab on the street. That's two businesses which use mobiles for travel related services, though while one uses mobiles for ensuring security, the other acts as a facilitator:

(click to enlarge)

The above diagram is applicable to any market or trading exchange, whether online or offline.

Also, Sunandini and Ekta shall be speaking on 'Usability on small screens', which is an area of interest for me. (Related: Arun had recently debunked user-perceptions of browsing using mobile phones)

One of the topics that isn't being focused on specifically, but I suppose will be covered, is Branding Mobile Communications. If not covered, then I shall probably step in. I have a few ideas, most of which have already been discussed while consulting on business ideas with a j2me firm last year. I'll probably think up a few more possibilities once I get down to brainstorming, but those attending seem to be involved in the businesses, and I expect them to be a couple of steps ahead of me.

It should be fun, or so I hope. Never attended a techie get-together before. At least five people I know shall be attending, though I do get along quite well even among strangers.

Date: 5th August, 2006
Venue: Adobe Systems India Private Limited, Adobe Towers, I-1A, City Centre, Sector 25A, Noida - 201301. (Tel # 91-120-2444711)

Schedule:
Switch On! - 9.30 am
Morning Tea Break - 11.30 am (15 min)
Lunch - 1.30 pm (45 min)
Afternoon Tea Break - 4.00 pm (15 min)
Open Panel Session - 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Switch Off! - 6.30 pm

List of talks:
* A talk by Amit Ranjan (www.uzanto.com)
* Mobile 2.0 - What is it? Sunil Goyal
* Problems With Mobile Web -Prashant Singh
* Convergence Revolution and mLearning - Saurabh Jain
* Media centric Mobile Community - Lomesh Dutta
* A talk by Jitender Singh (www.adobe.com)
* A talk by Girish (www.neomagic.com)
* A talk by Aman (www.infosys.com)

Entry: Free. Bring a Laptop/Memory Stick/thumb drive for transfering presentations, demo code, etc. If you have T-Shirts, Corporate pens, Trial softwares, free accounts (for the cool service you just launched) etc that you want to share, this is probably a good place.

Wiki (for more details): MoMoDelhi

Tags:
| momodelhi | Mobile Monday |

Right to Information Act under threat

2006-07-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

Please post this on your blog, email and spread the word. The Right to Information Act might be amended to suit the needs of politicians, and we need to spread awareness and prevent a repeat of what they did with the Office of Profit and Delhi Demolitions issues. I've made important portions bold, so you may skim through it.

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO INFORMATION
NCPRI
PRESS NOTE

There is news that the Cabinet has decided to amend the Right To Information Act to exclude file notings from the Act. NCPRI categorically states that this is a completely retrograde step which seeks to curtail the Citizen’s fundamental right in an unacceptable manner. If file notings are exempted, it is a sure method of obfuscating the existence of arbitrariness in the decision making process, which enables fixing accountability on specific officers. It will encourage corrupt and arbitrary practices and be a sure way to kill the spirit of the Act. The Ministers have been ill-advised in going back on the promise to Indian Citizens of transparency and accountability.

NCPRI and all other Civil Society organizations will strongly oppose this move which encourages opacity in the decision-making process, since this would encourage corrupt practices. We recommend that the Government should stop this move to dilute the Act. Citizens from all strata of the Nation are using to it with great hope and faith to monitor and curb arbitrary and corrupt practices in the Governance.

The preamble to the Act had recognised:

“AND WHEREAS democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Goverments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed;

AND WHEREAS revelation of information in actual practice is likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the Governments, optimum use of limited fiscal resources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information;

AND WHEREAS it is necessary to harmonise these conflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of the democratic ideal; …”

Thus it accepts that after careful thought by the Parliament and Citizens, a careful harmonizing has been done of the conflicting interests. It was after a lot of deliberations that this Act was framed, which codifies the Citizen’s fundamental right under Article 19 (1). An elaborate process was undertaken from August 2004 to December 2004, when the bill was first tabled. Since various stakeholders felt that there were some important deficiencies, a Parliamentary Committee was set up in January 2005, which went into an elaborate consultative process with the Government functionaries and Citizens groups. After a meticulous and detailed exercise, the final draft was prepared by the Government and tabled before the Parliament. After due debate, this bill was passed by both houses of Parliament and assent given to it by the President. Making changes in this law, seems to make a mockery of the entire democratic law-making process, the Government’s promise and actions, and the Parliamentary Committee and Citizens who contributed to this law.

NCPRI suggests that the Government desist from attacking this fundamental right of Citizens. Citizens believe this Act will take the Nation towards a true participative Swaraj, and the Government should focus on how to strengthen the implementation of the Act. This move coming in the wake of an all-India, Antibribery Citizen’s Campaign using Right To Information, would send a signal to them, that this is a move to curb their rights, since it threatens certain undesirable practices.

We call on all Indians to join with us to oppose any move to curtail our fundamental right to know and to work together to insist this retrograde step is not take. Citizens and organizations are requested to write to the Prime Minister and all Political parties and register their opposition. Citizens across the Nation should also organize themselves in meetings to explain to others and register their protest against this assault on an important right, which is important for their Swaraj.

Shailesh Gandhi (Satyameva Jayate)
Convenor

Ajit Bhattacharjea; Anjali Bhardwaj; Angela Rangad; Aruna Roy; Arvind Kejriwal; Balraj Puri; Bharat Dogra; Debu Bandhopadhya; Harivansh; Harsh Mander; Jagdeep Chhokar; Jagmohan Singh; Jean Dreze; Maja Daruwala; Nikhil Dey; P Wangchuk; Prabhash Joshi ;Prakash Kardaley; Prashant Bhushan; Prabhash Joshi; V.Suresh; Venkatesh Nayak; Vinay Mahajan; S R Sankaran; Samir Acharya; Sandeep Pande; Trilochan Sastry; Shekhar Singh; Suman Sahai; Vishaish Uppal
Working Committee of NCPRI

NCPRI
C 17A Munirka, New Delhi 110 067, India
Telefax: +91 (0)11 26178048; Phone: 26168759,
email: ncpri.india@gmail.com

Osian's Cinefan Film Fest: Paradise Now by Hany Abu-Assad

2006-07-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

[Note: No spoilers]

"If I could go back in time, I wouldn't do it again. It's not worth endangering your life for a movie." - Hany Abu-Assad, Director.

Said and Khaled are two young men who work for a car repairman in the West Bank. There are few jobs, and they have little interest in the job or in keeping the customers. Though Said’s family is barely able to make ends meet, life goes on. That’s when Jamal, a family friend, visits Said to inform him that he and Khaled have been chosen for a very important task. From then on, we’re led into the world of the underground, of terrorists who prey on impressionable young men, and sacrifice them for the cause, in exchange for a place in paradise.

Paradise Now is a movie about how the humiliation of the occupation of the West Bank by Israel drives jobless youth to sacrifice themselves to keep a cause alive. The movie seems critical of both sides – of Israel with mentions of the occupation of the West Bank and the constant fear of bombardment, and of Palestine with its storyline that questions repeatedly the suicide bombing tactics employed by the Palestinians. There is justification from the terrorists too: Jamal reasons that if the Palestinians accept the rule of might and forsake their liberty, then they would be no less than animals; to survive, they must fight, and the freedom of a people is more important than the life of individuals.

The making of this film was as troubled as the land where it was filmed: the location manager was kidnapped during the shoot and an Israeli missile blew up a car near the set. The flick is slick, with some smooth camerawork and picturisation. Khalid, played by Ali Suliman, is the slightly comical, less mature and more enthusiastic of the two. Said (Kais Nashef) is the quiet and thoughtful one who repeatedly questions their motives, and the concept of paradise. Most importantly, the two are projected as innocent, naïve and impressionable young men, caught between what they see and what they’re told to believe. As outsiders, we tend to believe that there are schools where children are brainwashed and trained to kill. Hany Abu-Assad disagrees, and presents a more humane, sometimes comical picture - there’s a scene where Khalid, with a gun in hand and a flag around his shoulders, speaks first dispassionately into a camera, reading from a text, and then, speaking from the heart, looks at his parents through the lens and apologises to them. On inquiring about how his performance was, he is told that the camera didn’t work and he’d have to give it another shot. Though emotionally spent, he tries again.

The two scraggly boys are shaved and dressed in smart suits. Explosives are stuck to their bodies and they’re brought to barb wire fence through which they make their way into Israel.

From then on, the film comes into its own as the plot takes several turns with one of the two on the loose in Palestine with explosives that could blow up if not deactivated properly, and the other, searching for him. En route to the end, we’re subjected to several, though unfortunately forced, arguments on how Palestine should respond to the humiliation of occupation, and whether the kamikaze course of action is justifiable or not. Eventually, the side you agree with depends on whether you believe in Paradise or not, and how you can get there. Hany Abu-Assad has probably ended up offending both sides by presenting a balanced viewpoint.

Tags:
| Cinefan Film Fest | Film Fest |

Osian's Cinefan Film Fest: Grain in Ear (Mangjong) by Zhang Lu

2006-07-25T05:19:00.000-07:00

[Note: No spoilers]

For most part of Grain in Ear, I was considering walking out of the theatre. I'm glad I didn't. Until a few minutes before the end, it is painful to watch as director Zhang Lu carefully constructs for us the life of a Korean minorty woman in China, whose husband is in jail for murder, and who is strugging to making ends meet.

Cui, played by Lianji Liu lives with her child in a non-descript building by a railway junction, in a room next to one occupied by a group of prostitutes. She supports herself by selling kimchi, a pickled Korean dish, to factory workers and train drivers. At night, she unsuccessfully attempts to teach her son the Korean alphabet.

One day, Cui’s unregistered food stall gets confiscated. Kim, a factory worker who is also of Korean origin who had earlier attempted to make polite conversation with her helps her. He is a married man with an overbearing wife. He takes her to a bar, and then a karaoke booth where he forces her to drink. One of the prostitutes warns Cui about him as a strictly sexual relationship develops between the two. “The men who come to us,” she says,” are not good men”. The prostitutes are like overgrown kids, playing games among themselves and with Cui's son during the day, and walking the streets at night. They get bruised and battered regularly, and talk dreamily of the harvest season back home in the village.

Wang, a policeman takes pity on Cui and suggests that she get her food-cart registered. There is a pointless, light moment as the lady in charge of registrations requests Cui to teach her Korean dance, and for a brief moment we see some emotion from Cui as she loses herself in the dance. Dance seems symbolic of the dream world that the inhabitants of this industrial town have lost, and is contrasted with the realities of their difficult existence: In the beginning, as Cui makes her way to the station to give lunch to train drivers, her quiet, almost mechanical existence is contrasted with a group that is practicing for annual festivities. Later, at the end of the movie, as Cui returns from the clinical execution of her murderous plot, the same dance group goes by her.

Listlessness pervades Grain in Ear - every character, apart from Cui's son, is almost like a zombie, quietly accepting the blows that life and men deal them with a sense of ‘moving-on’. Kim's wife has Cui arrested as a prostitute, and Wang, the policeman who had earlier helped her, gets drunk and rapes here in the police station. The camera remains outside the room, and as with the sex-scene with Kim, focuses on the door frame and the wall beyond it. In fact, even other scenes, often the camera switches only after the characters have exited the frame, instead of following them.

Tragedy follows tragedy, but Cui takes each blow and moves on. Every time a rat consumes the poison carefully spread across her room, it is replaced by another one. Throughout the film, her son fearlessly picks up the dead rat and deposits it outside while Cui keeps as far away as possible. The final blow justifies the slow pace of the movie: it is quick, emotionless and efficient and makes the wait worth it. Symbolically, she herself picks up the dead rat and throws it out.

Tags:
| Cinefan Film Fest | Film Fest |

Osian's Cinefan Film Fest: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring by Kim Ki-Duk

2006-07-24T23:42:00.000-07:00

[Note: Spoilers, but it doesn't matter]

The theater was empty and slowly filling up since, like me, most others were unable to get tickets for Rituparno Ghosh’s Dosar, and Sudipto Sen’s The Last Monk.

Spring, Summer... begins in spring, and we are introduced to a monk and his young ward, living on a monastary floating in a lake surrounded by mountains.

One day, the young boy ties a stone each around a fish, a frog and a snake, and laughs at their agony while his master spies on him from a rock above. That night, while the boy is asleep, his master ties a heavy stone around his back, and removes it only after the boy releases the animals that he had burdened. "What goes around, comes around" seems to be the message.

The humour in the film often stems from the use of animals: The appearance of a snake makes the audience fear for the safety of the child, only for him to casually pick it up and toss it away. Later, the master pulls the boat in towards the floating monastary using a rooster, and even paints the sutra on the floor using a cats tail while it mews in protest.

In Summer, the young monk is introduced to lust, by the introduction of a sickly young woman to the monastery. Eventually, his lust takes care of her ailment. On her leaving, the young man runs away, unable to handle the lack of the satisfaction of his lust, as opposed to leaving because he loves the young woman. In consonance with Buddhist philosophy, all such demands are shown as mental manifestations of bodily needs.

The once young man returns in the 'Fall' of his life, after having killed his lover because she chose another man over him. His master accepts him, and gives him the arduous task of chiseling a sutra on the monastery floor, which the master had painted with the tail of a cat. The policemen, who are the only characters actually named in the movie, wait in the cold for their captive to finish, and end up assisting the monk in painting the letters. Respect for the monk and his power over his ward seem to supersede standard operating procedures.

In Winter, the convict returns, no longer young. His master had ended his own life when he felt that his time had come, and a snake has taken his place, perhaps explaining the concept of rebirth. A child is brought to the monk by a young mother, and with Spring, begins another Buddhist cycle of life.

Two things in the movie stand out: The first and most obvious one is the beauty of the surroundings. Whether you agree with, or even care for the philosophy and the excessive moralizing, you’re likely to be amazed by the shots of the mist as it flows across the valley lake, of the temple, and the green, sometimes iceladen mountains. The second thing, and I didn’t notice it till much later in the movie, is that there are almost no dialogues. Materialistic life isn’t condemned as much as it is shown as mental weakness, and there are no ‘Bad Guys’ whom the Buddhist defeats with his will, or martial arts. The lessons in Spring, Summer… are in the actions.

Tags:
| Cinefan Film Fest | Film Fest |

Post First Servicing Performance of the Wagon R

2006-07-21T04:28:00.000-07:00

Have been reminded that I'd forgotten to post the post-servicing review of the Wagon R

Before I took it in for servicing to Rana Motors at Wazirpur in Delhi, I made the following list of complaints:

1. Poor acceleration of the car with the AC, and the car slows down very fast if one doesn't accelerate while the AC is on.
2. Door Alarm beeping whenever the car is switched off, even if the door is closed
3. Poor power steering
4. Occasional Gear slippage and the gear getting stuck in neutral occasionally
5. The car becomes a little uneasy at high speeds (90kmph) - one gets the feeling of a loss of grip
6. Occasionally, the car stalls at slow speeds on startup, or while reversing
7. The boot and the back doors have to be slammed shut, else they don't close properly and rattle while driving
8. The central locking alarm keeps going off even with the slightest touch (had to turn it off 8 times in one day)
9. Number plate is loose and the screw on one side keeps slipping off.
10. Apparently low average (though I didn't think so, my dad did)

Post servicing, points 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 had been addressed. Since the car is high, they suggested that we get a spoiler installed for lack of grip at high speeds (pt.5), otherwise - no solution. The steering wheel was loosened (pt.3)- that was the best that they could do because according to them, the Wagon R has electronic power steering, not hydraulic. They suggested that we check the average methodically and then get back to them.

Since then problems 1, 2 and 6, which had been the main problems apart from 8 have resurfaced.

On the whole, the car drives well, feels spacious, changing gears is a little iffy, accelerates rather well when the AC is off, is a little noisy, but very comfortable.

Link: I'd reviewed the design of the car after I'd bought it, here.

How can a few people decide what we view online?

2006-07-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

If news reports are to be believed, the list issued by the government contained those sites that they considered propagandist; some wrote against the Government, Islam and Christianity. Of these, four were blogspot blogs, and one was on typepad. That's just five of 17 in this list (there are reports of others that have been blocked in the past) that made me, and the world, aware that access to sites was being controlled in India.

On the face of it, even a thousand is but a drop in an ocean of millions of websites, but it also seems to be a case of 'Have power, will use' - the list seems arbitrary since one is a blank blog, another aggregates news related to the word 'Hindu' and yet another is a blog with two harmless posts, both posted in 2004. The IT act has given the Ministry of Communications and CERT-IN the right to block access, hence they will do so. Of course, not many would have noticed this ban had it not been for incompetence across the board - the Indian ISP's simply blocked domains instead of specific sites.

But there are positives to take from this problem - Bloggers have grouped to fight this gagging, and a massive information gathering and disseminating exercise was undertaken as ISP after ISP began blocking access. The biggest positive is that many bloggers have filed RTI petitions and asked for answers, and shall probably do so for other issues even after this is dead and buried. The veil of secrecy, the security blanket that the government hides beneath, has been lifted just that little bit more.

What this issue has also brought to the fore is the right of the government to curtail free speech, and whether citizens are to be viewed as individuals or groups. Should responsibility lie with those who make inciting speeches, or with those who believe them? In my opinion, and I may be in a minority here, all forms of propaganda, whether anti-national or anti-community is fine as long as individuals are held responsible for their actions.

Free speech allows for debate, and then the decisions are based on thinking and not mere impressions. How can a few hundred people in ministries and committees decide for us what we should view on the internet, what we read, or what we watch on TV? Should our access depend on the lowest common denominator, or should he/she be given the education and the right to decide? Or is our society collectively naïve that we should allow it to remain ignorant and monitor their access?

There is a larger, fundamental issue at stake here - should retribution by the state be delivered unto a community or an individual? At the end of the day, you and I, not the community that we belong to, are responsible for our actions. How politicians view this reflects on the level of intelligence that they reason on.

Here's a simple test to see where you stand on this issue; choose the option you think is right:

a) Some sites are propagandist; hence some sites need to be banned
b) Some sites are propagandist; hence all sites need to be banned
c) All sites are propagandist; hence some sites need to be banned
d) All sites are propagandist; hence all sites need to be banned
e) None of the above

Options 'a' and 'd' are logically proper, though I go with option 'e'. What do you think and why? Also, try again after replacing the word 'banned' with 'monitored' in the above question.

[crossposted on IBNLive.com. To borrow a statement from a more prominent and popular blogger (the star of Everybody Knows Jai :P) - Line breaks not mine]

unCERT-IN reasoning = Blogger Blockage

2006-07-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

Choose the right option:

a) Some bloggers are terrorists, hence some blogs need to be banned
b) Some bloggers are terrorists, hence all blogs need to be banned
c) All bloggers are terrorists, hence some blogs need to be banned
d) All bloggers are terrorists, hence all blogs need to be banned.

Logically, the only two options that are correct are a) and d). Practically, a) is the only option that makes sense since I'm no terrorist, and neither are most Indian Bloggers. Since the 14th of this month, I have been unable to directly acces any blogspot blogs, including my own. I wrote to MTNL and they replied with a vague and grammatically incorrect message, and sent the linesman to check my phone line.

Yesterday, I met Amitava Sanyal and Mayank Tiwari from HT, who confirmed from their source in the government that there is an official blockage. HT Delhi, has a short news story on this, though it is toned down.

ET also carries the news, as does Times of India, Mumbai (I'm told).

According to the Indian Express, one of the blogs banned is - http://www.princess-kimberly.blogspot.com [mirror]. A sample of dangerous terrorist propaganda:

hello again.
i had an awesome day with my family.
i love my family. :)

mummy just gave me this diamond earrings.
wow.. it looks so pretty. i love it.
thank God for more than a pair of ear holes. haha.. i can keep mommy's and kevin's earrings on my ears. i love both of them sooooo both.. :)

okie.. tmr is gonna be busy busy. but i am expecting Good things. :) cos my Jesus is goooood. :)

ahhh. i am so happy, i am so glad.. i cant contain it.

baby, i miss you.

Lot's happening, and this has reached a groundswell -

A forum - Bloggers Collective
A Wiki (I-heart-wikis) - Bloggers Against Censorship [Update: the Wiki has been moved]

From the Wiki:

List of ISPs that seem to have blocked blogger
Protests By Bloggers - Listing of Blogposts about the ban
Quotes by Bloggers
Bypassing The Ban
Press Coverage of The Ban

You may display either of these two images, and link to the Wiki:

< img src="http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/2057/iconcopyib2.jpg" border="0" >
or

< img src="http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/3303/icon2gv0.jpg" border="0" >

A few months ago, I felt glad that the Indian government wasn't doing to us what the Pakistani government did to the bloggers from Pakistan. So much for that, eh?

Update:
Scoble's posted about it here.

Update 2:
Got a call from an MTNL official from Delhi who is agitated that
his name was mentioned on the internet by one 'Shivam Vij' on Rediff [here]. I've sent MTNL a couple of mails with screencaps of pings since the
14th. He feels that they're not to blame.

About the situation, he first denied that they'd received any directive
from the government. When I mentioned a journo's chat in my presence
with someone in the government last evening, he said that they received
a list of websites from CERT-IN in May, and these are exonding
(offending???) websites, and my site (http://mixedbag.blogspot.com) is
not on the list so it can't possibly be blocked.

He was unable to understand the difference between *.blogspot.com and http://banned.blogspot.com, in spite of my best efforts.

According to him, he is able to access all blogs so the problem must be
from my end, not realising that he might be accessing the net from a
different line. On being told that other users are facing the same
problem, he said that there must be some problem from Reliance (Flag
Telecom) because that's where they're getting the data from. Kept
clarifying that they've not blocked anything, and have done no wrong.

He is also extremely pissed that Shivam mentioned his name in the
article on Rediff ('Kis haisiyat se?', 'Kya matlab hain' and similar
utterances). [*] He's probably afraid of being made
a scapegoat. He did sound agitated.

[*]- edited 19/7/06, as per request.

Still with Cinefan

2006-07-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

Today was disappointing. I think I should now go through storylines before selecting films, though I'd hate killing the suspense. Sadly, Dosar was sold out by the time I reached, and I settled for Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...and Spring Again, which was visually very appealing. Hardly a dialogue in the film. Unfortunately, it was Buddhist, and hence too moralistic and biased. But the visuals..wow. Next was the first ever movie out of Saudi Arabia, Today and Tomorrow. Very Hindi movie-like, but the directors explanation greatly lowered my expectations, hence it was only a little disappointing. Couldn't even leave early because I, by mistake, sat next to all the delegates, and I thought it would be rude to get up in between. Also didn't help that the gentleman to my left, an Arab VIP, kept laughing at all the jokes, some of which I didn't get, and kept looking at me, expecting me to laugh as well. Met Rohit, Amitava, Deepan and Priya. Last was Grain-in-ear, which was slow and seemed pointless until the end. Should have watched the Stanley Kwan film instead. Reviews tomorrow.

Osian's Cinefan Film Fest: Everlasting Regret by Stanley Kwan

2006-07-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

[Note: I went for this movie because I was told that a Stanley Kwan movie would at least be better than the last two that I had seen. Anyway, I didn't want to give up on the Cinefan Film Fest after watching only the Indian films, which had given me a headache]

Stanley Kwan's Everlasting Regret is the story of Qiyao (Sammi Cheng), a quiet young girl who becomes Ms. Shanghai in pre-communist China, quite by chance. She is naive to begin with, and nagged often by her schoolmate Lili (Yan Su), who considers herself far more beautiful than Qiyao. However, Cheng (Tony Leung Ka-Fai), a photographer of some importance, chooses Qiyao over Lili much to the latters disappointment. Cheng asks Qiyou her to enter the Ms. Shanghai competition. Officer Li, an officer of some importance, takes a liking to her at the competition, and with his influence, she becomes Ms.Shanghai. Important people seem to like Qiyao.

The movie then jumps to a remarkably different looking Qiyao who is the mistress of Officer Li. The two are deeply in love with each other. Everything is hunky dory until the communist revolution begins: Officer Li has to go underground, Lili eventually flees to Hong Kong and gets married. Only Cheng remains as a faithful friend to Qiyao. The screenplay jumps as abruptly as Qiyao does from one relationship to another, and I found myself quite lost in bits, trying to understand what was going on. ( With frequent hairstyle changes, and the relative inability to distinguish between various Asian characters, this was a difficult film to watch. I guess I need to watch more Asian cinema. )

Qiyao is told of Li's death by Cheng, which he immediately confesses as a lie that Li had asked him to tell her. She has to give up her beautiful apartment to the People's Republic of China. At some point, Cheng leaves for rural areas to help in reconstruction, and returns briefly. When Lili comes over from Hong Kong, Qiyao is involved with a young man, Ming, the son of a businessman. Qiyao has a child off him, and is forced to arrange for a fake marriage because Ming is unable to marry her. He leaves for Hong Kong, but continues to send her money. Officer Li, she's told, owns a ranch in Brazil, but she never pursues him. Qiyao's daugther gets married at a young age, and flees to the US with her husband. Then a black-marketeer called Kela falls for Qiyao, while Cheng, who introduced the two, watches on haplessly. That relationship ends disastrously too.

I loved the whole sepia-tone feel of the movie, and the music. At times, the music was most pleasant when the scene was most grim: Qiyao went into pangs of anguish on being told by Cheng about Li's death; the anguish could have been best depicted by allowing Qiyao's screams to reverberate through the theatre in isolation. Unfortunately, a happy-happy jive tune kills the pain.

Tony Leung Ka-Fai, who played Cheng was the most powerful presence on screen. Sammy Cheng as Qiyao was disappointing only because Qiyao's character wasn't explored. The scene jumped from one segment to another without a connection, or an adequate follow up.

In fact, the only relationship that is developed in the novel is that which remained unfulfilled - between Qiyao and Cheng. They remained friends, and either because of Qiyao's unwillingness to take it further, or Cheng's need for survival and apparent lack of financial resources, the 'Everlasting Regret' in the film is that of Cheng, the narrator. It must have been a wonderful book, but was a disappointing movie.

(Also: On the way out, I overheard one middle aged woman telling another about how Qiyao managed to look so young through the ages and attract men much younger than her.)

Update:

Tags:
| Cinefan Film Fest | Film Fest |

Osian's Cinefan Film Fest: It Could Be You

2006-07-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

YES! It could be you who gets stuck watching this film. It could also be you who walks out of the theatre twenty-thirty minutes into the film. Unfortunately, it was me who stayed for the entire length of the film, and me, who got a once-in-a-blue-moon headache while watching this disaster.

Taranjeet Singh, the director of the film, told us before the screening that we'd be experiencing ground breaking performances from Naseeruddin Shah and Kirron Kher. Always a dangerous ploy, but even if he hadn't said that, I would have classified their performance as ground breaking - the kind that breaks the ground and goes under, hopefully never to be seen again.

The storyline: Naseerudding Shah plays Dhillon, a baggage clerk at the airport whose daughter is getting married in typical Punjabi style. He's got extremely loud friends and family coming over from all across the globe. His daughter is marrying a good-for-nothing good-for-nothing, the other daughter wants to get into films and is dating someone who's trying to bed her and get her to do a porn flick, one of his sons is as good-for-nothing as his going-to-be brother in law. He's also got a nagging wife (Kirron Kher) who keeps cribbing how her fledgling career was cut short because Dhillon decided to move to England. There's also Dhillon's beer loving, overtly religious, don't-give-a-damn-about-the-world-but-love-my-son-anyway father. And there's his friends son from Canada who likes his daughter, but no one pays attention to him so they cut him out of most of the film. And there's Dhillon's other son who is more worried about his career and his overbearing wife.

I feel the onset of a headache just thinking about this movie, so I'll keep this short: Dhillon fills a lottery ticket every day with the same number. One day, he wins and gets a heart attack, but nobody knows because his wife is at the gym, his son's fooling around stealing food from fast food joints, his daughter's fooling around with the supposed movie producer, his father's downing beers at the pub, and his wife is working out at the gym. His other daughter quarrels with greedy her in-laws and finds him on the floor and takes him to the hospital. He has the winning ticket, but while his father spends all his time there, his wife comes over only to get him to sign cheques. Eventually, he collects the prize and the money gives him the authority to order his family around. Things get worse from here on, as we jump from one predictable outcome to another, and it all ends very stupidly.

The only enjoyable part of the movie is Kirron Kher's ridiculous accent, and her acting as a overbearing , nagging punjabi wife/mother. Sample of her accent: she's probably say Oi think ki ji this-a is-a movie that ju would like. She has this accent throughout the movie, and it is hilarious.

At some level, this is a confused movie - it would work rather well as an out-and-out parody of Monsoon Wedding, but they've messed things up by bringing in some element of seriousness. They should have gone the whole distance in either direction, instead of attempting to flit between the two genres. The scenes with the hitman and the grandfather are really very stupid.

The film gets three stamps - one that says CLICHED, another that says DUMB, and the third resembles the sole of my shoe. Man, I got a headache, just writing about the film.

Addendum: Jai zips through three of the four that I watched. About 'It Could Be You', he adds:

[...] after just 20 or so minutes I was crying out for the restrained, tasteful sensibility of a Govinda-David Dhawan movie. It meanders from unfunny slapstick comedy to unintentionally funny morality tale about the relative importance of family and money, to an inept hired-killer yarn with a family solemnly planning the demise of their patriarch (in a scene that’s around 15 minutes longer than it needed to be).

Tags:
| Cinefan Film Fest | Film Fest |

Osian's Cinefan Film Fest: Faltu

2006-07-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

Anjan Das' Faltu , which means 'useless' in Hindi, is a story that could have been told better. Adapted from Bengali author Syed Mustafa Siraj's novel Ranirghater Brittanto, Faltu is set in rural Bengal, in a small village called Ranirght that has a population of 148, according to the census mentioned in the movie.

A visit from a census officer to the village (Ranirghat) after over twenty years sets the cat among the pigeons, when he asks about a pregnant madwoman called Surikhepi who had been there the last time he had visited. Surikhepi, at that time, had been in the village for over a year, and it was thus obvious that someone from the village had impregnated her. He also asks about Faltu's father, the fathers name being essential for the census.

As the story unfolds, we're told, not to discreetly, that Faltu has many fathers, and a majority of the village men and a dacoit had had their way with the mad woman. Unfortunately, while the audience can easily come to this realisation by the time a quarter of the movie has lapsed, the writers emphasise and re-emphasise this fact by repeatedly showing bits and pieces of how each major character went about this sin. In between, we get glimpses of how the entire village (and possibly all of Faltu's guilt-afflicted fathers) has helped bring the young boy up, and how the dimwitted lad of around 20 goes from guilty person to guilty person in the village, trying to find out who his father is. Ibrahim, the dacoit, also remembers him on his release from jail, and offers him some sweets.

Beyond a point, this entire exercise becomes pointless and the movie is at least three times longer than it could have been. I amused myself by cracking jokes, calling the congregation of Faltu's fathers 'Surikhepi Anonymous', among other jokes. Also wondered if Arindam Chaudhary had done a cameo in the film (his company Planman, produced it), and tried to spot him in various scenes. If things get really boring, which they might, you may also joke about the subtitles.

It's sick and amusing that everyone knows what the they've all done, and since they're all guilty, no one is open to talking about it. No one makes a confession, no one accuses, and they all share responsibility. There is one scene where three of Faltu's fathers dote over him as he eats a meal, and all talk lovingly to him about his marriage to Tuktuki, the village belle. And all turn silent when Faltu asks them about his father. The suspense of what will happen when young, dumb Faltu finds out who his fathers are, runs through the entire movie. Given that there was no DNA testing at the time, it's impossible to zoom in on one. There is also an additional problem of the village being destroyed to construct a bridge, but that's inconsequential to the main story.

Fortunately, the acting was quite good- even Faltu played the dumb village guy role quite well (intentionally, I hope). But the two characters on the promos and posters were the weakest actors of the lot. The story was stretched, and hence very boring and repititive beyond a point. I liked the camerawork, the way it zoomed into trees, the river and rice fields. Jabberwock thought it was gimmicky. I'm a noob.

I can't tell you how it ended because we got up before the end to switch to a greater disaster - It Could Be You.

[Note: Images here are taken via Google Imagesearch. If an image is yours and you mind, let me know and I'll remove it. This applies to the rest of the blog too.]

Tags:
| Cinefan Film Fest | Film Fest |

Thoughts on Osian's Cinefan Film Fest

2006-07-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know, The 8th Osian's Cinefan Film Festival is on in Delhi. 10 days and lots of films at Rs.20/film, unless you have a press pass or complimentary passes.

Went today. Met Jai, his friend Shougat, Annie and bumped into Sushil right at the end. The last time I met Sushil was at the end of the Jazz Utsav. Saw four films from 2:00 onwards - Faltu, It Could Be You, Everlasting Regret and Paradise Now. The first two were awful, the third was nice, and the last was fantastic. Zonked out..reviews later. Based on my experience today:

1. Even though there's now a place to keep mobile phones (they're not allowed inside unless you're a delegate or a journo), it's best to park close to the entrance and leave your phone there. Give the queue for reclaiming mobiles, you're better off walking into the carpark to check for calls.

2. If you know what to watch, buy tickets well in advance, especially if the film is in Siri Fort 2, which has very little space. This applies to evening shows, and popular films (like Siddhartha, Little Buddha, Being Cyrus and Valley of Flowers). Don't forget to grumble about lack of tickets whenever you're near an organiser. I'd prefer it if they had had a day pass, or general tickets so you could squat in the aisles to watch a movie that you really wanted to.

3. Careful about the water - strange policy changes at the fest. Sometimes they allow water bottles in the auditoriums, and sometimes they don't.

4. Based on my experience today, most of the Indian films are avoidable. Asian and Arab films seem to be much better.

The schedule is here

Tags:
| Cinefan Film Fest | Film Fest |

Rants: MTNL and Airtel

2006-07-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

MTNL blocks blogspot...or maybe it's the other way round, though I doubt it. I've been unable to access my blog since yesterday. I'm able to post via www.blogger.com, but can't read other blogs. Shekhar, Gautam, Dan and Minx in Delhi all use MTNL and can't access URL's ending with blogspot.com . Aditya in Mumbai, with an MTNL landline connection, can't access his blog or even this one. Both Ankit who's using Sify and Amit (not Varma) who's using Airtel, can access blogs.

So it's an MTNL problem. Their response:

Dear Sir,

All the below mentioned site are accessible from MTNL, ISPs network.
Pl. check again at your end.

Bah.

I wonder how the planets are aligned for customercare executives, or for Telecom companies. Airtel is the latest to do something extremely stupid.

If you've been following the news, you must be aware that the Indian Government has asked mobile companies to verify user details. Sunil Bharti Mittal commented on TV that the Government was asking mobile companies to do it's job - each citizen should be registered, and a social security number should be sufficient for mobile companies for such verifications. He's right. Ration Card numbers or PAN numbers could have been sufficient, had it not been for Governmental efficiency (an oxymoron, by the way).

So Airtel, alongwith other mobile companies, has the task of verifying all details. And they botch it up by follow an incredibly stupid procedure -

First, sometime last month, I got an SMS from Airtel, this time not a promotional one, asking me to SMS my details. I'm aware of the government order, so I message them the details.

Again, early this month, someone called me up from Airtel for my details. I informed him that I'd already SMS'ed 'em. Oh! says he, could you repeat them? I do. He thanks me and disconnects.

And today, I get a form from them for further verification, asking for all the details that I'd already submitted to them when I took the account, when I'd SMS'ed them, and when they'd called up.

If you want a re-verification, why not just call up to confirm the address and send the form?

The dumb customercare executive can't explain it. Tells me I have to fill the form, else face disconnection. Interesting 'threat'. So...how are Idea and Hutch in Delhi? If I have to submit the forms again, might as well evaluate operators and choose whichever's the best.

Oh, and before I forget - Promotional Calls and messages from Airtel. I got mine stopped by calling up customercare and telling them to stop them. In case of banks and credit card companies, either tell them that you're unemployed, or a reporter*.

* Will link to the reporter post once I'm able to access blogs. Else, just look through http://knownturf.blogspot.com

Tags:
| mtnl | airtel |

Chortling...

2006-07-13T23:43:00.000-07:00

Sample One:

Her eyelashes fluttered like the windshield wipers of an eighteen-wheeler on the Ohio Turnpike when the weary-eyed driver is trying to have at least some vision in a heavy August rainstorm that is like an Appaloosa urinating on solid asphalt.

Sample Two:

"I know what you're thinking, punk," hissed Wordy Harry to his new editor, "you're thinking, 'Did he use six superfluous adjectives or only five?' - and to tell the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement; but being as this is English, the most powerful language in the world, whose subtle nuances will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' - well do you, punk?"

Sample Three:

"It was a day, like any other day, in that Linus got up, faced the sunrise, used his inhaler, applied that special cream between his toes, wrote a quick note and put it in a bottle, and wished he'd been stranded on the island with something other than 40 cases each of inhalers, decorative bottles, and special toe cream."

Sample Four:

He loved her like no other, their romance developing quickly, like the rapid growth of farm swine which grow from 2 to 4 pounds daily until they're fully grown and put to market for slaughter, or like the rapidly growing cells that produce moose antlers until they fall off in early spring, and suddenly Bill sensed the imminent doom of his romance lying in wait.

Link from Shekhar: The results of the 2006 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Go read. :)

The Headbutt

2006-07-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Via email and SMS, I'm told that Materazzi asked Zidane 'Hum Chlormint Kyun Khaatein hain?'

Then there's Materazzi who claims that he did not call Zidane a terrorist (ref: Zidane's Algerian descent). The joke? Materazzi clarifies: "I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word (terrorist) means."

It has also been claimed that this headbutt was more accurate. I still think that Zidane's headbutt was beautiful, and didn't impact the result as much as most people think. The game would have meandered towards a 1-1, imho, and Zidane's sending off just made things a little difficult for the French. There's no telling if they would have scored if Zidane hadn't been sent off. And David Trezeguet would have still taken a penalty.

I think Zidane deserved the Golden Ball, and Materazzi the headbutt. Another rumour is that Materazzi insulted Zidane's mother, who had been admitted to a hospital the morning of the game. Lots here. Fifa's also investigating the incident, though I think it'll probably be an eyewash. Materazzi or Zidane might get fined a few thousand dollars, less than a day's wages for them. A good idea for Zidane would be to claim that Materazzi insulted Sepp Blatter's wife and mother. Heh.

(From PPrune: Materazzi was heard muttering afterwards, "and his wife gives better head")

Just in case you feel like headbutting Materazzi, go here. Or even if you feel like being Zidane. :)

Or you can watch this tribute to Zizou:

Point-counterpoint on the use of crematorium walls for advetising

2006-07-10T00:17:00.000-07:00

Deepan informs me that Devangshu Datta has written a counterpoint of sorts to my post on the commercial use of crematorium space in Delhi, though I don't think he's read this quiet little blog of mine.

He writes:

The place has a long “frontage” on the main road and the MCD has a commendable attitude towards frontage; it believes in using it to generate revenue through the judicious placement of billboards advertising anything under the sun

[...]

Most people will not register the incongruity of the location and there’s no point being offended if it helps the MCD balance its budgets and continue to offer subsidised cremation rates.

It’s a healthy attitude: In the midst of death, enjoy consumerist existence while you can.

And finally:

And the crassness quite pales besides that of the funeral parlour on Mumbai’s SV Road, where the billboard says, “When you drop dead, drop in!”

If his article is satirical, then it is subtle. Just in case it isn't satirical, a few counter points:

1. From the advertisers perspective, I don't see much use of this space - the road is crowded only during peak hours. At others, it's an 80kmph zip down the flyover, and what with lanes coming in, you wouldn't really stop and glance at the adverts.

2. Secondly, as shown in the photos I've posted, to whoever is waiting for the traffic to get a move on, it is quite obvious that this is a crematorium wall. Only, one isn't sure whether it'll register with most that this is in bad taste, which it undoubtedly is.

3. Thirdly, is the the MCD or the NDMC's responsible for this. I don't know whether the MCD is strapped for cash, but if you've been living in Delhi, you can probably guess that the revenues from parking alone should help the municipal corporations (both of them) get into the green. Of course, there's gross mismanagement of that, but (lots) more on that later.

4. If this is about creating another source of revenue, then there are other sites on the same route that could have been developed for the same purpose. It is a long, busy road. A possible site is a where the road goes over a stinky nullah, right next to the 'Ferns and Petals' shop.

I know that saying that it's 'not in good taste' doesn't make much sense when the argument is countered with the economics of the thing, but I don't like this at all.

Have any of you come across something similar in your city? Do tell.

So, will you try this at home?

2006-07-08T00:27:00.000-07:00

I will.

Immediately makes me think of The Tipping Point. YouTube, Google videos, the online videos space has created this craze. As this becomes more and more popular, more people will want to try it at home, maybe repeatedly. A chain reaction. The question is - will this impact sales of Diet Cola and Mentos? Looks like it takes quite a few attempts before one gets it right.

Nevertheless, it is crazy, and it looks like it's great fun. I first came across this at Marginal Post.

He's posted the best of the videos.

The song - Thunder by AC/DC (thanks Shyam)

Aditya adds, after googling: a whole roll of Mentos, (13 candies) dropped into a bottle of room temperature Diet Coke will produce about an 18 foot eruption.

So, will you try this at home? Mind you, it ain't easy. Difficult to get the cap closed, and then you have to get the angle right....but looks like it's worth the effort. Heh.

Rockstar Supernova: Lithium by Dilana

2006-07-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

Wow. Really - WOW.

Buckle up. Turn up the volume.

Haven't ever heard a performance that was so in sync, both in spirit and sound to the original...not as raw as the original...more sinister...but MAN that rocked...goose pimples and feel like headbanging and jumping up and down....wish I was in the crowd...Rockstar Supernova rocks. (Thanks R, for the recco)

So, now I get the same intuition about Dilana as I did about J.D. Fortune whose original composition 'Pretty Vegas' for Rockstar INXS is better than any he's composed with INXS. Afterglow comes close, but this is the best:

Umm..is it just me or does that kickass Pretty Vegas performance pale in comparison with Dilana's Lithium?

In comparison, American Idol is a snorefest.

(Please: Could somebody (Harneet? Bewra Kekra?) please send me a reminder before the next show...Like during Rockstar INXS, I tend to forget to watch the show and then have to wait for reruns)

A Cock and Bull Experiment: Tristram Shandy

2006-07-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

[Note: Spoilers in this review]

Lawrence Sterne's Tristram Shandy [Google Books preview] was a difficult read, to say the least. It defied conventions of writing: probably the most frequently mentioned example is that a single black page in the book signifies the death of the parson, Yorick. Some chapters are just a short paragraph. The book begins with Tristram as an adult, a few pages later he is an infant; he is born in the middle of the novel, after which the rest of the novel concerns events that took place before his birth. It was amusing, though language didn't make it an easy read. So when I read in a review that the book was considered unfilmable, I wasn't particularly surprised.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, directed by Michael Winterbottom is, unexpectedly, not a movie based on the novel, but about the filming process and the difficulties faced during film-making. It was similar at times to Topsy Turvy, but not half as amusing, and a lot more realistic. It is likely that a less informed audience might mistake this movie for a 'Behind the Scenes' preview, and could be left waiting for an hour and a half for the adaptation of the novel to be screened, lest they leave sooner. This is a movie made for the film fests.

Steve Coogan plays Steve Coogan in the movie, and Tristram Shandy and Walter Shandy (Tristram's father) in the movie within the movie. Rob Brydon plays Rob Brydon in the movie and Toby Shandy (Tristram's uncle) in the movie within the movie. It's a similar scenario with the rest of the cast. There are two Jenny's; rather - one is Jennie and the other Jenny - and both characters are constantly after Steve. Jennie is a runner, who's supposed to assist Steve Coogan. Jenny is Steve's girlfriend.

The film depicts the complexities of film making and pressures that actors face, juggling both a career and a family life. At one point, Steve is simultaneously caught between ego problems due to the addition of Gillian Anderson to the cast (hence, another "star"), the expected increase in Rob Brydon's role vis-a-vis his own, the problem of handling the movie-crazy Jennie, the runner whom he has made out with, a possible scandal concerning Steve and a lap dancer, and the demands of his girlfriend Jenny who's travelled a couple of hundred miles with their baby, just to have sex with Steve. Not a comfortable situation to be in, you'll agree. There's also a question of the height of Steve's boots, which he wants increased in comparison to that of Rob, since Steve is the star. He also considers a nose job, and wonders whether he has a character actors nose or a leading mans nose.

For me, the standout performance was from Naomie Harris as Jennie the runner, playing the part of a naive film-struck assistant to perfection. She lapses into glorification of scenes in movies, elaborating on their beauty, the symbolism and the metaphors - something we're all guilty of from time to time. (No?) She also falls for Steve Coogan, which most of us are not guilty of, and exchanges a few star-struck kisses, only for Steve to suddenly realise that with one scandal not yet suppressed, he can't really afford another. Jennie is made fun of behind her back, as probably most film crazy people are by the people who make films. Kelly MacDonald as Steve's girlfriend plays the domesticated girlfriend to perfection.

There's subtle humour, a few faux pas', Groucho Marx references and brushings off. Steve Coogan is helped while practicing a scene where a hot chestnut drops down the protagonists pants by actually having a hot chestnut dropped down his pants. He also hangs upside down in a gigantic womb, in the nude.

Then there's a little about attraction between actors when Rob Brydon learns that Gillian Anderson might play his Toby Shandy's love interest:

Rob Brydon: The thing is, I can't act...
Steve Coogan: I know that.
Rob Brydon: ...with Gillian Anderson. I have proper a sexual thing for Gillian Anderson. I covet her. If I have to do a love scene with her, I will...blush.

The perfectionists and experts are also parodied: an expert on history asks the cast about a particular battle scene. Not sure of how to respond, they play it safe and say that the battle scene was quite good, only to be shot down with a Shite. It was shite from beginning to end. Woefully inaccurate. We wouldn't be interested in doing a pantomine like that. This was in addition to a lecture on how to make the battle scene in Tristram Shandy more realistic (give the actors names of actual men who fought the battle, and have them shout it out in the movie), all of which seems inconsequential to the final film.

In Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, there are few obvious links with the book - a few scenes from the movie as well as their filming is shown, the filming of the black page is discussed, even though Yorick doesn't feature in the movie. The real connection with the novel is in the complexity and the biographical nature of the movie. It's more engaging than entertaining, while the book was exactly the opposite.

The most remarkable thing about this movie, strangely enough, is its website. Even if you don't see the movie, or read the book, just go through the site for its sheer inventiveness. Looks exactly like a desktop, with all the icons. In true Tristram Shandy style, you're greeted with windows with email messages from those who're behind the site. Click on the recycle bin to see samples of discarded designs for the site and movie posters. Click on the MS Outlook icon for 'email' to read informal messages sent to the designer. A click on 'Tristram pix' lets you see captures from the movie. A desktop feel and functionality, and a brilliant concept and design.

Lifebuoy se nahao, nahih to shamshan jao

2006-07-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

Ironic, innit? That's not all. Even the walls of the Electric Crematorium are being used for advertising. This is prime advertising space on the ultra busy Mathura Road in Delhi. The irony of the above pic was noticed by my friend Abhinit, while I pointed the rest of the adverts out to him.

(Will substitute this, once I get a better image from Abhinit.)

Right next to is, on the walls of the crematorium are three others The other advert, with the Brazillian tee is of Sportstar (Special World Cup issues for Rs.8 only).

Actually, it might do a lot of good...might distract those mourning:

"He was such a kind soul. Why God, why? Why why wh...Oi! World Cup issues at only Rs.8? WOW! I must go and get me one of those"

Well, it is a bargain at Rs.8, y'know.

Pick Your Mugshot, Media Culpa and a brilliant ad campaign

2006-07-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Two sites.

The first is the Brand Reporter website where they're asking readers to vote for their favourite mug design. Some interesting mug designs, here. I like the barcode design by Austin D'Souza, cause I like my tea mugs (I don't drink coffee) as black as possible. It's a difficult choice, though I like the one by Hitesh Mehta and think that the one by Kedar Naik is the cleverest. Your pick?

The second is a blog dedicated to spotting media mistakes, called Media Culpa. According to the site:

This blog is meant to let journalists know that readers/viewers do see through mistakes — both errors of omission and errors of commission. This blog is meant to be a veritable record of just that.

I don't know about you, but I think that it's limited in its scope. It would have been better as just a section of the host site, newswatch. Still, it's an interesting initiative by Newswatch and Arun Verma's Creativegarh. Let's see how things go.

*

Oh yeah, not to forget the brilliant ad campaign- this.

Compendium of Lost Words

2006-07-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

So you think that habroneme isn't English? Or obrumpent. Ah, you foppotee, you should be pudified. You need to see this.

Dicaearchies, though, are just a figment of our imagination.

Kieron Dyer vs Lee Bowyer

2006-06-30T23:31:00.000-07:00

Man, I love YouTube! In sure you must have seen clashes between opposing teams in football, but this is something else:

This happened over a year ago. But if you think this is unique, here's more.

Half time musings

2006-06-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

Germany look as if they're afraid to give Argentina any space to move forward, and playing as negative as they are, not taking many risks with tackles, they're allowing Argentina to dictate terms and control around 80% of the pitch. Tevez and Riquelme are particularly impressive and Sorin is getting in some impressive pushes in.

The way it's going, it seems that a goal is going to come either from an Argentinian foot or a German head (from a set-piece).... Which is unfortunate because the way Argentina is controlling the game, one would love to see more of them in this World Cup. I also loved the way some of the Argentinian players are dribbling with the ball at the German defense - that's the part of this game I love most, and it's something we've seen very very little of in most matches.

Now rooting for Argentina, and waiting for things to get Messi.

btw- is anybody watching the Cricket or the Tennis.

Update: Since Argentina's goal unexpectedly came off Ayala's head, maybe the German goal will come off a foot.

How to beat Brazil

2006-06-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I can't think of a tactic or a formation to beat Brazil, and I wonder if any manager can, when faced with a team that plays so instinctively, and with such fluidity; as I write this, Ghana is a goal down against Brazil and Cafu, a right back was just in the box, about to attempt a shot on goal.

There is, however, one factor that comes to mind- something that's troubled me ever since the first match- the Fear Factor. This Brazillian team is as good as the last and the one before that; whether it is better is debatable. Still, it has been hyped to such an extent that teams are actually afraid of taking them on. They go into the game believing that they have to prevent Brazil from scoring at all costs. Think back to what the Aussies did against Brazil - they played with a low back line, often with as many as five at the back afraid to move forward, thus allowing the seven of ten Brazillians to forge forward beyond the halfway line. A low back line also makes the offside trap difficult, if not impossible. Ronaldo had three players around him when he passed the ball to Adriano who scored against the Aussies.

The Fear Factor costs many a team the game because they attempt to keep players of the quality of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and Adriano quiet, which, over a period of 90 minutes seems improbable, if not impossible. The way to go about it is to assume that you're going into the game a goal down and attempt to score two to win. If, in the process, Brazil score one, you're still in the clear. An attack against Brazil will force them to opt for counterattacks instead of moving forward with numbers, and you're always safer against two forward instead of seven. Ghana, a goal down, has started attacking Brazil, and had their finishing been better, could well have beent two up on Brazil. Their attacking play has put Brazil on the defensive, which is what happened when Australia started attacking too.

So, the way to have a chance against Brazil is to go into the game believing that Brazil are as effective in attack as France have been so far. Which is where a team like Argentina could beat the Brazillians, because they've got quality players who are in form and high on confidence. They won't be afraid and they can win.

Tags:
| brazil | fifa 2006 | football |

YouTube for promotions

2006-06-27T02:31:00.000-07:00

Interesting use of YouTube for promotions. This was just forwarded to me today, and as requested, I am spreading the word. Those of you in Chennai, do go for it and review it for us. Here's the cool promo:

So what does the promo remind you of? Reminds me of Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, of when we are introduced to the the actors/players. More on that later.

Fill in the blanks

2006-06-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

Q1. Watch the following video and fill in the blanks:

Fabio Grosso is a c__t (Hint: Not cleat, and not a cuss)

The ref is b___d (Hint: Bold could suffice, but not quite).

Unrest in Space !

2006-06-25T01:47:00.000-07:00

Whoa!

(info via SMS from Adi)

That Beckham Goal

2006-06-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

Yep. That goal. Audacious and magical.

A web of email addresses

2006-06-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have already implemented a similar email structure, but I thought I should list it for the benefit of those who might have not.

Instead of creating a single email address and using it for all my email, I've created a star network topology. I've got a central email id (listed on this blog), and have a number of email addresses that forward email to it. I have separate email addresses for newsletter subscriptions, forums, GMAT and MBA, work etc. All mails received by, say, newsletter subscriptions are forwarded to my main ID (using GMail filters) where I delete the email after reading it. This way, the main mail ID only stores personal mails and the peripheral ID's hold the rest. It also allows me increased email space, and if ever an ID gets congested (if I finish my GMAT and MBA and have no use for it), I can just delete the filter and disconnect the email address from the network. I got this idea from the term 'web of companies', allegedly created by him.

Favourite Team?

2006-06-17T23:17:00.000-07:00

Finally, someone asks the right question (or so I think) - which is your favourite team - instead of asking which team you think will win. As we have seen so far, on their day, anyone can beat anyone. So while you can have a favourite team, but you can't say which team you think will win.

Cases in point are below-par performances from Brazil, England, The Netherlands, Italy, Sweden and several other 'big' teams, and excellent performances from T&T, Ghana, Ecuador and Australia.

My favourite team is England; I've been a ManU supporter for four years now, and it is particularly because I'm familiar with most of their players that I am supporting England. It is easier for me to form an opinion on who should play and the formations that the team employs, so while I'm more likely to criticise them, I'm also supporting them (if that makes any sense).

England, I believe, are a middle centered team - they've got great players in the midfield and in defence, but lack in quality up front and in goal. This explains the difficulty they've had in scoring recently since Sven has surprisingly held the midfield back. Rooney isn't a striker in my book and works best in a poaching role, ala Van Nistelrooy and Paul Scholes. I've never rated Owen highly either, and you just have to compare his performance with that of a Drogba, Henry, Crespo, Forlan or even a Ronaldo to see that he just isn't up to the mark.

Before the World Cup began, I'd jokingly suggested to Aishwarya that England should play a 4-6-0 formation, given how strong their midfield is. Now, I think it would help for them to put their best 11 on the field, and maybe dispense with Crouch and Owen (sacriligious as that sounds). I can crib that a Sean Wright Phillips or a Darren Bent should have made it to the squad, but that's pointless. That said, I think Crouch has been excellent as a supporting striker, but he just doesn't have the finishing touch. Walcott, unfortunately, has been a spectator. Joe Cole has been showboating, and Mourinho would have taken him off for all the useless display of skill, and lack of result. England, unfortunately, isn't playing well as a team and I'd rather have a John Terry or a Gerrard as a captain because if you can't have a manager who can fire the team up, you should at least have a captain who can.

I have a slightly unusual game plan in mind:

Formation:
4-3-2-1

My starting 11:

Paul Robinson (GK)

Gary Neville (LB)
Rio Ferdinand (CB)
John Terry (c) (CB)
Jaime Carragher (RB)

Joe Cole (LW)
Owen Hargreaves (CDM)
Frank Lampard (CAM)
Steven Gerrard (CAM)
David Beckham (RW)

Peter Crouch (A)

Subs:
Wayne Bridge
Wayne Rooney
David James (GK)
Aaron Lennon
Theo Walcott

The Explanation:

Crouch as a striker is there to win the ball, and to set up a scoring opportunity for either Gerrard, Lampard or Joe Cole who'll play in a floating role - one of the three will fall back when the other two strive forward to support Crouch, so you switch to a 4-3-3 in attack from a 4-3-2-1 in defence. Beckham will flit between RW and CDM depending on the situation. Lampard and Gerrard are the key players while attacking and Terry and Ferdinand in defence.

In case of an attacking substitution, Lennon replaces Beckham or Rooney replaces Crouch, and Gerrard drops back.

About 'the favourites to win':

Here's something you've probably not heard elsewhere: the team that gets through the second round with minimum yellow cards are the favourites to win.

Otherwise, on current form, Argentina look the best team on the field. But a few days ago, the Czech's looked just as good, if not better, so form isn't permanent and almost all teams are brimming with class. Still, keep an eye out for the Portuguese and the Spanish. Particularly the Spanish.

Tags:
| world cup | germany 2006 | fifa | football |

Car Review: Wagon R

2006-06-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

Taking a test drive and driving a car once you've bought it are two very different experiences; if you're not happy with what you've got, then it's termed 'post-purchase dissonace', and it usually does affect everyone. We bought the Wagon-R Vxi 20 days ago, and though it is rather premature to do a review on the maintenance of the car, I thought I'd list my design likes and dislikes, and the problems I've faced so far:

Likes:
1. Dashboard: probably the most convenient thing about the Wagon-R's design is the Dashboard - lots of spaces for keeping keys, chewing gum, mobile phone, organiser, spare glasses etc. There's also a cup holder on the drivers side if you want to drink while driving (though I don't recommend it). It's a major improvement over the old zen Lxi that I switched from, where I was forever seeking a place for my mobile phone. There's also a hook in the dashboard, in case you're carrying plastic packets and need a hook to hang them around. This is a clear indication of the length to which Maruti went to make this care driver-friendly.
2. Magazine/Newspaper racks on all doors
3. Reclining seats: All four seats can recline, and almost fully. In fact, I've devised a way by which the seats can be re-positioned to make a bed, in case you're on a long trip and there's no hotel in sight: Push the front seat right in front, remove the headrest and recline it (correct grammar?). Then recline the back seat fully, and you have a slightly uncomfortable bed ready.
4. Extra dumping space underneath the front two seats: Something I didn't notice before I bought the car. The space under the front seats is slightly lowered so you can keep even a laptop easily. Useful if you want to hide something from the parkingwallah, or thieves.
5. Back windows are not electronic: Well, some can look at this as a disadvantage, but given a few instances of the central locking and power windows getting jammed, I think it's quite useful to have manual windows at the back in case of a similar emergency.
6. Low turning radius: or should it be high turning radius? Anyway, the car turns quite sharply, a necessity in the city and its cramped parking.
7. Seatbelts at the back: I don't know about you, but I now feel uncomfortable in cars without a seatbelt. It's almost instinctive for me to reach for a seatbelt when I sit in a car.

Now to the post purchase dissonance bit; the things I did not like:
1. Unreliable electronics: If at a traffic light, I've to stop for more than a minute, I switch the car off. Maruti has a key reminder feature that emits a beep when you leave the key inside and open the door. Unfortunately in my case, for some unexplainable reason, the beep is emitted even when the door is closed and the car is switched off. I went back to the dealer and there was no such problem with the demo car, so it's an electronics problem with the piece that I received. I'd have accepted this as a minor irritant and a design mistake, but since it happens inconsistently (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't), so I consider it an electronics malfunction. More on the service advisor later in this post.
2. Power Steering: Frankly, WHAT POWER STEERING? Maruti's power steering is designed such that it reduces in strength as your speed increases to prevent accidents in case you execute a sharp turn at high speeds by mistake. Unfortunately, the power steering seems non-existent to me. The steering is only a fraction easier than the Zen, and lacks as much power at slow speeds as at high. It's almost not there. Or maybe it's an electronics problem with the car I've got.
3. Unlocking is injurious: I like to rest my elbow on the window, and its rather irritating that the locks are next to where the window comes up from, and not lower in the door, ala the Zen. What's worse, the moment you switch the car off (I do regularly at traffic lights) the car unlocks automatically and the lock jabs you in the arm. Very very irritating.
4. Auto windows: There's a switch next to the door on the drivers side for 'auto' window lowering and raising. What the salesman doesn't tell you (didn't tell me) is that it is only for auto down, and not for automatically raising the window. Not too much of a problem, but I think it should have been clarified.
5. Childproof rear windows: Like I've mentioned above, I like to rest my elbow on the window. On the only occasion that I've sat at the rear, I've been uncomfortable because the rear windows do not lower fully. Their minimum limit is around 2 inches above the base of the window, in order to make them 'childproof'. I don't know how Maruti does their research, but there can be people in this country who don't have kids, and who might like a fully lowered window to rest their elbow on. I'd have preferred a button for switching between the childproof and the childless options. The moment the front seat became empty, I switched.
6. WHERE DO MY SPEAKERS GO? I honestly don't know. There's space for the tweeters in front, but no space for the speakers at the back. What Maruti offers you is a flimsy, seemingly breakable, board that you've to attach at the back. The problem - your back seats can't recline because of the board that rests between the seat and the boot. So, there's so space for speakers at the back, unless you want to put two large boxes of speakers in the boot, which you can't fix anyway without cutting the interiors of the car.
7. Useless side view mirrors: They're high instead of being long, so you can't really assess the traffic at either side. Very difficult to drive without a long side view mirror in Delhi, though a majority of the people don't care enough to use them.

I went back to the dealer with a few of the electronics problems that I felt could be addressed. I didn't know that the automatic windows were only for lowering the window, so that problem was dispensed with. The power steering and the incessant beeping were not addressed. What was strange was that Maruti's service advisor didn't know of the cars features, which is ridiculous. He had no idea about power steering, and only on demonstration of the problem in comparison with the demo car did he agree that there 'could' be a problem.

What really irritates me, always, is the fallacious reasoning that he employed to try to make you accept inadequate performance of the car-
1. No other customer has complained about this car
2. I (the service advisor) have never noticed these problems
3. These things (the poor steering, the beeping in spite of a closed door and the auto window) are features of the car.

I'm sorry, but no one else having a problem does not mean that my car can't have a problem. Or no one else bothering to complain doesn't mean that a problem doesn't exist. The service advisors poor observational skills (he hardly knew anything about the car anyway) doesn't mean that my car doesn't have a problem. And when the features are clearly specified in the manual (because of which I accepted the poor design of the auto window) , how can you claim otherwise? He repeated his fallacious reasoning again after stating 'Main aapki baat maanta houn, par...' (I agree with what you're saying, but...), and I clarified again. He couldn't counter it, so suggested I talk to the salesman who said that the issues would be addressed at the 30 day servicing.

The car goes for its 30 day servicing soon. Let's see if things improve or not.

P.s.: I've to buy a music system, so I'm open to suggestions on MP3 music systems and speakers, and on how one can fit them in a Wagon-R with minimum inconvenience.

Crossposted with modifications at Mouthshut.com, here.

Update: Post first service review here.

Quotable Quote from the World Cup

2006-06-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

So far, it has to be the following statement by the commentator on ESPN during the Sweden vs Trinidad and Tobago game:

"The hopes of Trinidad and Tobago have been written off more times than the Mexican national debt"

Had me LMAO. Excellent game. Every other game so far pales in comparison - including the Germany vs Costa Rica scorefest and the England vs Paraguay game where Peter Crouch was, surprisingly, outstanding.

We also wish Harsha Bhogale would curb his enthusiasm and perhaps allow others, especially the experts, to speak. Get John Dykes back, pliss.

More Useless Fun

2006-06-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

Again, courtesy Aditya, a link that might make you laugh so hard that you'll fall off your chair:

'The killer facts that you might have made up' thread, and

Sample:

I.R. Pirate: A polar bear, when standing on the north pole, faces south, no matter which direction he faces. A polar bear, when standing on the south pole, faces north, no matter which direction he faces.
stue: What happens when he looks at the ground??
I.R. Pirate: he sees his feet sir
stue: Clever Clogs! Anyway, did you know that polar bears dont have any feet?
I.R. Pirate: Polar bears call their paws feet
steynvcants: polar bears have feet but they dont have yards
[...]
ex_matelot: Polar bears should always be seated to the left of an archbishop at a dinner party.
[...]
ILS32: Polar bears only rides a bicycle when there's an R in the month.
[...]
taildragger: Polar bears eyes cannot recognise the colour beige. Many penguin varieties have therefore taken to wearing cardigans for camouflage. Polar bears sometimes hide their black nose behind a pawful of snow when sneaking up on eskimos. The smarter eskimos have taken to strewing pepper on the snow and listening for sneezes. Polar bears are not interested in glacier mints. They prefer polor mints.

Sounds fun.

Black Horse and the Cherry Tree

2006-06-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

I found the video of Black Horse and the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall rather cool. Decent song with excellent improvisation. KT Tunstall first creates a sound and then plays it on repeat. She creates another sound and then both sounds are on repeat...well, it's useless describing it. Just watch the video. (Thanks to Aditya for introducting me to this song)

Coo !

2006-06-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

A vine/creeper just outside my door. Nothing spectacular so far, eh?

A closer look.

Blogworthy? Maybe. There are three there: hairless with yellowish beaks that are always open and chirping.

Nice sewing job, eh? Unfortunately, the leaf is fragile and one will now have to be careful while opening the door. Stupid sparrow, nonetheless. Will leave extra bajra closer to the nest from now on.

Bars, Beer and Balls

2006-06-09T06:24:00.000-07:00

Just a few hours to go now for the World Cup to begin. I don't know about you, but I find the hype rather stifling, and a little irritating. I quite like the previews and the info on the various teams, but going and asking just about every celebrity who they think will win is something like asking them which is their favourite book - they might not really be interested, but they choose the popular ones because they cant seem ignorant. So, like everybody says The Da Vinci Code or The Alchemist, just about everyone is rooting for Brazil.

No team has the upper hand; on their day, anybody can beat anybody. This isn't like the EPL where Chelsea can buy a truckload of hugely talented players and dominate on the basis of sheer depth of squad and talent that sustains them over the entire season. For every Didier Drogba, they have an Hernan Crespo as backup. Sean Wright Phillips, who, for all my money would have it to Germany had he not spent most of the year in the Chelsea reserves, got just a handful of first team appearances.

Each team has its strengths, but the great thing about this game and this event is that you just can't predict who's going to win. A lot of people (self included) were caught off guard by Korea and Senegal last time. In the formers case, they played much above their level at home, and there were a few contentious decisions that went their way in the quarter finals. So telling someone who your favourite team is isn't the same as telling them whom you think will win. I see weaknesses in Brazil's centre midfield if and when they need to rest Kaka and/or Cafu, but it is likely that with a floating wingers in Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos, and strikers like Ronaldo and Adriano, they'll.

Anyway, where are you going to watch the games? I'm probably going to watch at home, or at a cousins.

Around four years ago, during the last World Cup, my cousin, a friend of his and I walked into a five star group hotel in Lutyens Delhi. A game was being projected on a large screen in the coffee shop (or was it a restaurant doubling up as a bar?). The screen was of rather poor quality, the sound was off and the game was unwatchable. What's more, the bar was empty, and well lit (hence badly lit). So we decided to sit closer to the screen, have a beer each, and then move on. We ordered.

The waiter walked in with beer in some oddly shaped football glasses...cups, actually. Y'know the oversized coffee mugs that curve inwards at the top? Similar to thoset. They were smaller than held a little more than a pint. After joking about the mugs for a bit, we requested that they be replaced with normal, regular beer mugs, or even beer glasses - anything but those mugs that made you feel like you were sipping khaasmadhu (a cough syrup*).

The waiter looked at us, a little embarrassed. He said that he had been given strict instructions to serve beer in only those ridiculous mugs. He apologised and informed us that this was only till the World Cup lasted, and this is the managements idea to appear more football friendly because they have a large number European patrons who would like to watch football. No wonder the bar was empty.

The one place where I'd love to watch the game is Cafe Mondegar (Mondy's) (Photos: outside/inside) in Bombay. Last I went there was four years go. Italy were playing Croatia. I was waiting for Hum Do Harami Do, with Rohan. It's the sort of place you wish existed in Delhi, and then shudder at the thought of 'mummy, papa, bunty and munni' walking in and ordering maa ki daal and naan, or even makke di roti and sarson da saag (feel free to diss me on my political incorrectness): they serve beer, not inordinately expensive, they have a large, loud jukebox which has rock songs, cane cafe chairs. There were several football fans around, mostly foreigners, and they were sitting in two separate groups that were regularly taunting each other jokingly.

Update: Just remembered another case of the minnows unexpectedly winning. Greece, some of you might remember, won the Euro 2004. If I remember correctly, they were the most tenacious of all the teams, and the least flamboyant.

Save the Internet, okay, but from whom?

2006-06-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

There are two sides to the proposed legislation on the internet -

One, as Indiatimes tells us (link via AlooTechie) is against ISP's charging websites for providing their content faster to the user, effectively creating a payment structure wherein each site can possibly be graded according to the speed of content delivery and charged accordingly. Unfair? Possibly.

Google, Microsoft Corp and other major Internet site operators are not ok with the ‘pay to get fast’ scheme that the ISP’s have proposed but the wesite owners are against it and are all for ‘net neutrality’ as this issue is dubbed.

The other side argues that with costs of regular upgradation and maintenance going up, and charges of providing internet access decreasing or, at best, stagnant, somebody's got to pay. Either the consumer, or the website. According to this presentation, the big corps like Microsoft and Google make the money, so they should be willing to pay, instead of the consumer being forced to face increased accessing charges. Do they have a point? I guess they do.

My real problem is with the regulation of the internet. Call me cynical, but once you let the Government in, things can only get worse. I'm more comfortable with consumers holding companies accountable, than the government doing that. When ISP's gang up to charge corporates for access, I see it as a monopolistic practice, but it still leaves space for someone to take advantage of the situation. Slow my speed down and I'll look for a better ISP, so there is an opportunity in the problem. I find Sergey Brin's attempt to ask the US Congress for this change in legislation unfortunate. Do see Hand off the Internet

*

And since we're talking about Google, see this.

Particularly interesting is this series of questions:

1. Rep. Tom Lantos: Can you say in English that you're ashamed of what your company and what the other companies have done?
Google: Congressman, I actually can't, I don't think it's fair for us to say that we're ashamed.

2. Lantos, to Microsoft: Is your company ashamed?
Microsoft: We comply with legally binding orders whether it's here in the U.S. or China.

3. Drawing parallels with IBM's collaboration with Nazi Germany, Mr Smith said: "US technology companies today are engaged in a similar sickening collaboration, decapitating the voice of dissidents." He added: "Women and men are going to the gulag and being tortured as a direct result of information handed over to Chinese officials."

And Finally:

4. Lawmakers were generally unmoved by this last argument. "If the secret police asked half a century ago where Anne Frank was hiding, would the correct answer be to hand over the information to comply with the local laws?" asked Rep. Chris Smith, the New Jersey Democrat and chair of the subcommittee on human rights.

While I agree with the US Congress' stand in this case, I think it's rather hypocritical coming from a system that has, in the past, financed coups and wars to further their own interests. I don't think it's beneficial for Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! Businesses should have a long term perspective; their "compliance with Chinese law" is going to hurt them in the long run.

Update:

From: Yahoo clear winner in Chinese censorship race

... While yahoo.cn censors results as strictly as baidu.cn, search engines google.cn and the beta version of msn.cn let through more information from sources that are not authorized by the authorities. In fact both Google and Microsoft, though certainly not squeaky clean in the eyes of Reporters Without Borders, come up in a relatively favourable light compared to their competitor Yahoo.

Reporters Without Borders says it is particularly shocked by the scale of censorship on yahoo.cn, which is even higher than local Chinese search engine Baidu. It found that the search results on “subversive” key words are 97% pro-Beijing. It is therefore censoring more than Baidu. The media watchdog was able to show that requests using certain terms, such as 6-4 (4 June, date of the Tiananmen Square massacre), or "Tibet independence", blocked Yahoo.cn for an hour before the service could be used again. According to Reporters Without Borders, this method is the same technique used by Baidu, while it is not used by any other foreign search tools.

Coleridge, and the Craft of Selling Art

2006-06-06T03:41:00.000-07:00

I know several persons from Porlock. They are most infuriating, conspiring to rob this world of the benefits of inspiration. They call on my phone, send me an SMS, knock on my door, ask me the time, ask me for directions, and end up, though often unintentionally, to shatter my fragile moment of inspiration. You, probably, are from Porlock too.

The term 'Persons from Porlock' is synonymous with anyone who destroys that moment when you are 'in the zone' and have received a 'revelation from above' or 'caught an idea virus'. The term is derived from the prologue to Coleridge's Kubla Khan.

In the prologue, Coleridge claims that he had dreamt the poem in an opium dream, and had woken up brimming with excitement at being able to remember the entire poem, word for word. He sat and penned down what we have available to us today, before he was disturbed by a person who had come from Porlock on some business. The person from Porlock took up an hour, and that hour supposedly robbed the world of the rest of the brilliant poem.

This is now believed to be hogwash, and that Coleridge was trying to give an excuse for the seemingly incomplete nature of the poem (though that doesn't take anything away from the poem). Of course, this false revelation made the poem immensely popular and brought Coleridge much attention. Kubla Khan represents a moment of inspiration and persons from Porlock represent disturbing elements. Now you know why authors and poets sneak away to cottages in the hills or lock themselves in their rooms - they're afraid of people from Porlock.

But the fact remains that the prologue was a fabrication, and what can be called a marketing tactic.

*

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to organise an art exhibition with a team that was very low on experience. It was also the artists first exhibition. Added to that, we had all of twenty days to do it. We managed it rather professionally, if I may say so myself, and it was a success, especially in terms of return on investment.

But even now I hesitate before calling her an artist because, for me, the 'art-work' was craft, not art. The final products were contemporary and classy; if I could afford them, I'd have bought at least one piece for my room, if not ten. Each piece was unique, but it wasn't 'inspired'. They were essentially showpieces, which is how both the creator and the buyers eventually viewed them, and no thought, no feeling had gone into making them. They were furniture accessories: dhe has a great sense of style and knows what a socialite would like in her living room. But the original names of some of the art pieces were off-putting and, well, lumpen- Transparent Horse 1, Transparent Horse 2, Small Transparent Horse, Multicolored Eye, 5 Heads in Yellow, Yellow Ganesha, Red Ganesha....you get the picture.

There are several little things that go into the marketing of an art exhibition - from the creation of a portfolio, brochure, invitation card to the compilation of a mailing list; from organising the press coverage, press package and a chief guest to telecalling prospective clients and design houses. And though marketing is the least of your worries, it is critical to the success of your project. But first, you've to market the craft as art, lest it be considered a showpiece to complement the furniture, and hence warrant a lower price.

We sat across the sketching table in her 'factory' where she creates the design and two of her workers create the finished product. I explained to her the need for renaming the pieces and of making the buyer think about her work in order to establish a connect, to create a relationship between her work and her prospective clients; to, metaphorically speaking, make them look beyond the brush-strokes. Intermittently over the next week, we sat in that claustrophobic room and made art of her craft.