The Year That Was

Yet another year has passed. The year began with ghastly images of the death and destruction left behind by the Boxing Day tsunami. And at the end of the year, only 20% of the tsunami - affected has got its shelters back. Meanwhile, Sania shone, first in Australia and then in Hyderabad, Dubai, Wimbledon and New York. The Indian cricket team lost the one day series to their Pakistani neighbors at home.

Elsewhere, after the euphoria of Liverpool’s win in Europe died down, 7/7 shook London and the stiff British upper lip was not stiff anymore. All Muslims were not terrorists, but all terrorists were Muslims. London returned with a bang, bagging the bid for the 2012 Olympics. The England cricket team won the Ashes, but not many are optimistic about their ability to retain it next winter.

The French rejected the EU constitution. And a few months later, Paris burned with race crimes. More cars were destroyed in Paris suburbs than GM could produce in Detroit in a day. The auto major, along with Ford and Chrysler suffered losses as Toyota and Nissan beat the Americans in their own auto garage. The American optimism was further dented by Katrina, Rita and mildly by Wilma. These female namesakes were the most problematic since Monica and Paula troubled a certain Mr. Bill Clinton.

Indians had their fair share of deluges - first Mumbai and then Chennai. At least we managed the flooding better than the Americans. Chennai is now facing problem of plenty of water, after being on the fringes for the last four summers. Another place that finds the proverbial problem of plenty is the BCCI. Somebody in the BCCI felt that Greg Chappell email deserved a mention on its notice board, verbatim. Sourav Ganguly was ditched and taken back in the team according to the whims of a Marathwada MP – minister turned BCCI president and an ex – wicket keeper whose clown – like antics were imitated by Javed Miandad 13 years ago in Sydney.

Meanwhile, Javed Miandad’s daughter married the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s son in Dubai, right under the noses of secret agents from India and the CIA. The latter continued to hog the limelight for all the wrong reasons. WMD is an old story now. It is now about flying the terrorists through the European airstrips. Talking about flying, GateGourmet strike at Heathrow affected many. Skyrocketing crude oil prices took care of the rest. All this happened while Iraq continued to see blood bath everyday and Afghanistan started harvesting poppy.Iraq, Volcker and the crude oil triumvirate nailed Mr. Natwar Singh.

The Indian politicians were caught accepting money to ask and also not to ask questions in the Parliament. But, the thick skinned ones sang the Billy Joel number, “We didn’t start the fire, it’s always been burning, since the world’s been turning…”

Peter Drucker passed away after making people believe in the philosophy of management for the last 60 years. The Greenspan era is heading to a close. As is this fairly long post, about a year that deserved one.

Flurys' Flavors

I walk into Flurys.
Attendant: “Good afternoon, sir.”
The attendant walks away. I have come to expect that in Calcutta- dismal service.
The maitre d walks up to us- my parents and me.
”Sir, can I have your name please.”
“Mr. Joshi.”
“You may have to wait for some time. The tables are not free.”
“Ok.”
“Please be seated there.”
“How long?”
“Ten minutes.”
We are at a table within the next five minutes. The service is slow. It gave a nice chance to soak in the sights and sounds of Flurys.

To my right are seated a mother – daughter pair. They are admiring my mom’s sari. My mom cannot see them, and the ladies do not know that I am watching them watching my mom’s sari.

A wedding cake is placed atop a centre table. A lady walks towards it and snaps a picture of the cake. I am reminded of the wedding cake at Donald Trump’s second wedding with Melonia, where the cake was 3 feet wide at the base, and Donald was so busy drinking, a joke goes, that he forgot to taste his own wedding cake.

Somewhere behind my back are seated a group of ladies (or girls, I do not know, I cannot see them) in the waiting area.
A female voice behind my back: “You are not supposed to smoke here. This is the family zone.”
Another female voice, the smoker: “How does it matter? There is nothing to separate the family zone from the non family zone. The smoke will anyway reach the other side.”
Intelligent female. Did I create an oxymoron?

To my left is a couple with their baby. The man appears to be an ABCD (American Born Confused Desi). ABCD Jr. is crying out loud. Mr. ABCD picks up the baby and starts walking around. He is now Mr. BACD – Back As Child’s Dad. Mrs. ABCD (now Mrs. BACD) starts eating her chocolate pastry.

By this time, I have received my order. I play it safe at Flurys after my first visit when I ordered something called Cheese Quiche. (Sorry, I cannot pronounce it; neither can half the Flurys service staff). And when that thing arrived, I was literally searching for it. So tiny. And I have spent more than $1 on it (accounting for purchasing power parity).After that bout of massive post purchase cognitive dissonance, I have stuck to familiar names.

I have finished eating. It takes some more time for the check to arrive. The place is crowded by now. I cannot distinguish the sounds. But the mood is cheerful. That’s what makes this place so wonderful, for the last five generations.

The Shout Box

The Shout box on the left side, as you scroll down is something that I had been trying to get for quite some time now.I am delighted to have it at last.Now its easier to post messages and comments.You dont have to create a login id with blogger to post a comment.Just use the box.It has smilies too!!

What do consultants do?

The answer to the question is as difficult as the Freud's legendary doubt-what do women want?
One of the more common diatribes that one regularly gets to hear is “Those who can do they do, those who cannot, they consult.”
Same can be said for the legendary Freudian doubt. Tomes have been written, acreage of newsprint wasted, photographic reels spent by moviemakers in trying to understand the Freudian doubt. And I am not in the same league as those writers and moviemakers nor do I have the patience to write on what women want.
But as to what consultants do, the answers are so convoluted – ranging from strategy to management to technology to boutique, and everything else that smells vaguely of beautifully articulated jargon is associated with consulting.
Add to that the exclusivity that these consulting firms believe in. And charge obscene sums as fees for consulting to justify equally obscene pay packages given to the consultants.
The key to be a successful consultant, I guess, is to be an ace in making sense out of ambiguity. And THIS is definitely easier than understanding what women want. Any day!!

Lazy City

The other day I was just thinking how lazy this city of Calcutta is. The shops here open at 5pm after shutting down for lunch at 1 pm. Four hours of no business, that too in a metro! But, I realized that the people here are just as indolent, that nobody ventures out at in the afternoon to shop. The cause and effect relation is hard to establish in this particular case. This is as good as the “which came first - chicken or egg?” question.
But the new retail stores have created an interesting situation. People actually swarm these stores at all times of the day. If the retailing boom picks up further steam, it will, in all probability create problems for the laggard store keepers all over the city. No wonder, the Left is opposing the FDI in retail so vociferously!!

Timepass

I read “The Soyuz Affair” by Stephen Coulter. It’s a book about the death of the cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz. A nice book, though sluggish at times. It gives a nice feel about the life in Athens.
Yesterday I watched “The Bourne Supremacy” for the third time. Very slick, and each time it gives a new thrill. The car chase is awesome. It beats the car chase sequence in “Ronin” hands down.

Yuletide Shopping

Its been quite some time since I last saw Christmas in a big city. And Christmas shopping in Calcutta was very nice and colorful. All the streets from Esplanade to New Market to Lindsay Street to Free School Street and to the Park Street were beautifully decked up for the occasion. Shopping was great fun. As was the ice cream at Flurys!!

Very funny!!!

This incident is described in "From the Pavilion End" by Harold "Dickie" Bird.

"Bomber" Wells, a spin bowler and great character, played for Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire.

He used to bat at No.11 since one couldn't bat any lower. Of him, they used to paraphrase Compton's famous words describing an equally inept runner; "When he shouts 'YES' for a run, it is merely the basis for further negotiations!"

Incidentally, Compton was no better. John Warr said, of Compton "He was the only person who would call you for a run and wish you luck at the same time."

Anyway, when Wells played for Gloucs, he had an equally horrendous runner as the No.10. During a county match, horror of horrors.......both got injured.

Both opted for runners when it was their turn to bat. Bomber played a ball on the off, called for a run, forgot he had a runner and ran himself. Ditto at the other end. In the melee, someone decided that a second run was on. Now we had all four running. Due to the confusion and constant shouts of "YES", "NO", eventually, all of them ran to the same end.

Note - at this point in time, the entire ground is rolling on the floor laughing their behinds out. One of the fielders - brave lad - stops laughing for a minute, picks the ball and throws down the wicket at the other end.

Umpire Alec Skelding looks very seriously at the four and calmly informs them "One of you buggers is out. I don't know which. You decide and inform the bloody scorers!"

Mourinho's Men

Arsenal lost yesterday. Arjen Robben and Joe Cole led Chelsea to a 2-0 win at Highbury. Life is at its rosiest best for Mourinho’s men. The air of nonchalance and the chutzpah that his players display in their play is worth seeing. It appears that there is nothing to stop the Chelsea juggernaut, at least in the EPL. Champions League might be different story. Barcelona is currently living “Chelsea – like” life in Spain and the mainland European teams might prove a tough nut to crack for Chelsea.

Adam and Eve

Genesis 1 and 2 contradict each other. Many rabbis over past 2000 thousand years have tried to read between the lines to explain the flaw. Genesis 1 states that God created man and woman, while Genesis 2 clearly says that God created woman after Adam complained of loneliness, from Adam’s rib.
So, many rabbis claim that there was another woman before Eve came into the Garden of Eden. She was apparently called Loeth (from Lily or Lileth, meaning “stormy wind”, an Assyrian word???).
But where did Loeth go? The Bible experts say that she could not surrender her influence and power to a man and hence left him (within a day??).
Whether Loeth knew the existence of the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden is open to speculation. At the same time, existence of a woman before the arrival of Eve can also explain the following paradox (??) – If Abel and Cane were the only two children of Adam and Eve, then how did the human race progress?
To counter this paradox some historians also say that Adam had a few children (or a child, at least a girl child) from Loeth. Or may be Loeth procreated with one of Adam and Eve’s children. Even this possibility cannot be discounted, given that she left Adam within a day and Adam went onto live for 900 odd years.
All said and done, the story of Adam and Eve delivers a powerful message. The message that is relevant even today.

“God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.”

Law of Averages

Do consistency and the law of averages go hand in hand?
I do not know how else to put this thing? I mean, how long can one continue to perform at his optimum to achieve desired results, till something results that is not commensurate with his effort? At some stage, the person realizes that the things are not what he thought would be. I assume a fair amount of luck is involved in anything you accomplish. You can call it whatever you feel like- providence, destiny, whatever. Is the law of averages some sort of a nomenclature for “what goes round, comes round” - “advocated” by a person obsessed with the “laws”?
I think that’s right. You can try and equate it with the Karmic cycles. The realization of the happenings around you will be the same. Well, the psychological implication of the law of averages on a person is quite overwhelming in many cases. But the secret of being consistent lies in being able to stretch the winning streak as much as possible before the wheel turns.

Non sense

The stuff that they show these days on the umpteen number of news channels is full of non sense. The sheer number of news channels has over crowded the air waves. In an effort to differentiate their content from the other news channel, the channels resort to gimmickry in the name of “being the first to report”.
Just the other day a Hindi news channel (can’t remember the name, all appear the same) went gung – ho over Sachin’s 35th hundred that they forgot everything else (except for the commercial breaks; thank god, I needed that badly).
Yesterday, after the news of sacking of Ganguly came out, a particular news channel displayed Wasim Jaffer’s photo (the guy who will be replacing Ganguly) and the anchor announced “Is photo ko dhyaan se dekh le, yahi woh batsman hai jo Saurav da ki jagah lene wala hai” (take a look at this photo, this is the batsman who will replace Saurav)!! It was as if I was watching “India’s Most Wanted”!!!

The news channels are, I guess, trying to break away from the 80/20 rule of the media. 80 percent of the news comes from the 20 percent of the people. But the channels are disguising it badly. It’s the same newsmakers, but the channels present it, full of frills, complete with a on-spot reporter, a film song to suit the occasion,blah,blah….
Again it’s the film stars, the politicians, the sportsman, the same bunch of people creating the news. Most of the viewers are now forced to watch the news as the channel “sees” it!
Very bad, but then that’s the essence of democracy. You shout from the top of the mountain, you get to hear only the echo.

BLUFFMASTER

This is one movie that is just rightly packaged. Its got that oomph written all over it. Though its yet to be released, the songs seem so great. Especially " Right Here, Right Now". This song has got that classy R&B feel to it, never seen before in Bollywood. The styling is solid. The models, Pia Trivedi,Carol Gracias,Aanchal Sharma and Sherry Shroff really bring alive groovy rhythm of the song.
Wonder how the movie will turn out to be? I hope its not yet another case of "beautiful from far, but far from beautiful".

Frailties of the Human mind

Last week I came across an interesting thing, a question actually.
1. If you were asked to study in the world's best university and not be awarded a degree as a proof that you studied there.
2. You were given a degree saying that you studied in the world's best university, even without having to study there.

Which of the above would you choose?
Interesting? Confusing?
I found the hint in "Signaling Theory". This theory states that it is enough to signal that you are good enough even though you may not be. For example, take a product whose advertisement you see. An ad hardly tells you enough about the product, but the very realization that the company is spending such a lot on ads makes one believe that the product must be good.
What else can explain the brand value of a product like an aerated drink? What makes us drink it, even though we very well know that it hardly has any benefits to offer?
Coming back to the question, the answer largely depends on what I want to use the education / certificate for?
But it raises a vital question of tactic vs strategy. What will hold me in good stead in the long run, the experience of having studied at the worlds best university without having any certificate to show for it or having the certificate but no experience of having studied there?
There are many who can market themselves well, and they only need a break to jump onto the bandwagon of go-getters. And some like to cherish the experience of having satisfied an innate desire, of having achieved a non-hedonistic goal.

Travelling

I am back home after 4 months. Back in Kolkata.And I can see the sun here. The train journey was the longest I had undertaken ever - 29.5 hrs, spread across 4 states.
First I got to see the rain ravaged fields of Tamil Nadu.The dry and dusty hinterlands of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. And also the longest platform in the world at Kharagpur. 3 trains can stand one followed by the other on the platform!!
I have big plans of relaxing this month...just relax!!
And churn out blogs!!