ZAPPed

One day after Saap had narrated an exceptionally fantastic tale of her adventure, Zapp was unusuallly more ecstatic and in disbelief asked, "Do these things really happen?"
"You should go to such places and find out for yourself, dear," replied Saap.
"Myself? How can I visit these places on my own? I am just a little kid and these places are so far away."
"Far away? How can you know they are far away till you go there? Then once you are there it doesn't matter how far it is, because you are already there."
"But I don't know the way?"
"I wouldn't worry about that either."
"Where do I start, which direction?"
"That shouldn't matter, you haven't seen any direction."
"And how far do I go?"
"Until you think you have found something."
"What if I don't find anything for long?"
"Do you have anything to find here?"
"What if I find something and I don't like it?"
"That should be the least of your concerns. Ultimately none of it will make any difference," said Saap, looking into a blank space.

ps: Taken from the book 'ZAPP:The Squirel who wanted to fly' by Rachit Kinger. link
About the book:
Set in the jungles amid nature's weirdest animals, "Zapp" is an allegory about individual freedom in contemporary society wherein a happy-go-lucky squirrel travels across the world in search of meaning, freedom and ironically, a sane society. Join Zapp, the brave squirrel, on an adventurous journey across the forests of Pinegrove, on a quest for life.

Incidentally Rachit has done his MBA from IIML. Finally I have found one good book that is written by an IIM grad. Highly recommended.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull for a second time a couple of days back. It's an inspiring story. I needed it desperately given the stress levels that I had touched just prior to the final placement process.

This final placement process is supposedly the time of reckoning for all of us here. We have been God's favorite child. Be it the change in program structure, the recession, change in placement process and many more such things - we have seen the most challenging of times. And mind you, we have come out strong every time. Sometimes I wondered if it would have been better if I had joined a batch earlier or a batch later (if I had an option!). Well, who knows. I did what was the best for me at that moment. And I have really enjoyed each and every moment from then onwards. I am happy with my results and achievements and that is more than enough for me.

Coming back to placements, it indeed is a very critical moment for each one of us. You may say it is the reward for the efforts we have put in. It can also be an indicator of evaluation of the efforts. Whatever it is, the fact remains that it is the stepping stone into a new world. We are about to leave the 'comfort' of this campus and enter the real world of business where we are expected to deliver results. From the word go. When all eyes are on you, it's a scary feeling. It's not that we are not ready to take up challenges and rise up to those expectations. It's more about finding a reason to do what we are expected to do. The reason. Jonathan's story is about the same. Finding reasons and not just doing things for survival. Kungfu Panda has a similar theme when the Panda tells to himself that 'I am not here to survive... I am here to live.'

Honestly speaking, today I feel that I have got what I wanted. That's my achievement. And my reason to live. Challenge myself and then achieve that goal - I have done it many a times.And the kick that life gets from it is just too amazing. I am in the hangover mood now. There is a lull now. It takes time to find a new goal, you know!
Till then, let me get senti about my last few days in this campus. :(

ps: Nokia to YesKiya. :D

Spiderman

Learnt one very important lesson today...

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibilities and Greater Humility.

I am Pritesh and I just did not like MNIK

Yesterday, I had this very interesting discussion on why MNIK is a bad product advertised well. I totally believed in what I said and the more I think about the more I am convinced as a consumer and as a marketer.

This movie has dealt with a very sensitive issues of discrimination and ill-treatment of Muslims in America and other countries in western world post 9/11. From whatever I read and heard about it in the media, the treatment of events that happened come out very much believable. However, that was not what the movie promised through it's trailers and publicity. It talked about triumph of a human in such a negative environment to bring some hope. SRK as the lead character was to share his dream of how to bring that change. How to do that small bit which will tell us 'Don't think it was end of the world. We can still make a difference.'

However when I see the execution, It really breaks my heart. I had huge expectations from this movie post reading the reviews (specially from some so-called movie critics). When I went to market (cinema hall), I had this perceived expectation from the movie (or if I can say brand MNIK) that I felt was left unsatisfied by the product. The movie as treated the issue at very trivial level, specially the 'i have a dream.. that i can bring a change' part. For most part of the movie, I felt the same self-indulgence that Anurag Kashyap had shown in No Smoking. It was all about SRK, who atleast to me, did a pathetic job as an actor. It was another 2012 for me where the protagonist is the center of the world and we as an audience are supposed to be fooled in being a slave of his adventures for 2 hours or so (much longer in the case of MNIK). Though he actually gets to meet the president (elect) but he missed his 'mission' altogether. There is only one message in the movie that 'I am Rizwan Khan and I am not a terrorist.' Mind you that he had said in first 10 minutes of the movie. I have said something similar as the title of the post. I think I have achieved a big mission too.

That was about the product. However, I feel the advertising did a great job making the buzz about this movie. Controversies regarding SRK, IPL and Shivsena's threats added on to the masala. In recent time it has become very clear that marketing has become an important element in success of any movie. 3 idiots showed us what wonders can good marketing strategy do to a good product. However, I am becoming a little skeptic regarding the controversies that are generated in media just before release of many a big banner films. My heart says they are just a co-incidence and need to come out as they show us the reality while my mind makes me believe that they are just orchestrated marketing gimmicks to create the big buzz for the movie. We all know now the low shelf life (movies in a theatre) that a movie enjoys due to piracy and rise of private entertainment channel. So may be the buzz is necessary to skim the market. I wish that is not the case, coz I as a marketer will never relate to that kind of exercise.

This post I think is as random as my discussion yesterday was. Sometime it is difficult to bring structure to an issue that also involves emotions. I think that is one of my weakness. I hope I am not the only one.

Countdown

I don't really believe in countdowns. A deadline is a deadline is a deadline. Be it fixed externally or set internally to keep up the challenge.

Still I am using a countdown right now. To keep an eye on the end goal. To keep reminding me that how close I am from the destination. Needless to say I am enjoying the journey too. It's like the Great Himalayan Expedition. Your end goal is to reach the summit (and of course come back alive) but you can not ignore the pleasure and pain that you experience in your journey. Each and every moment teaches you something. I am learning a lot of new things now. About myself. About things around me.

I remember the joy I had while preparing for my IIM admission interviews. It's more or less the same feeling now. My AIM is all set. I just hope the luck favors at the right moment.

It's all about dreams

ps: Raghu Dixit's music is very fresh (the album is old, just that I heard it now). Check out his full album call The Raghu Dixit project. You will surely enjoy most of the songs.

Indian Ocean live

Indian Ocean performed in DAIICT last night. It was going to be my second chance to see them live. It's been three years since their mesmerizing performance at Palace Ground as part of Bangalore Habba. A long enough gap to be yearning again for some more of them. So here I was - desperate, ready to go all the way to Gandhinagar, in spite it being the d-day (the day when I was to start my prep) for me. PooCh, as usual, came to my rescue and became my partner in crime. This was a brave and generous move considering the fact that one of his friends is in town. :)

5 of us - PooCh, Megs, Pissu, Anushree and me - started the not-so-long drive in PooCh's car at around 8:30 pm. A change of drivers for safety reasons, a long pit break at 'healthy che' for its yummi veg momos, random discussions on restaurants on SG highway and we reached the vanue - DAIICT campus. Once there, it was Anushree's territory. After all she is an esteemed alumni of this institute.

Talking about alma mater, I feel I have not been a good alumni of any of the institution that I belonged to. Sarafa and then RV - I never looked back. My relation with my work-places has been relatively better. I am at least in touch with people who really mattered and had been to office to meet them even after leaving the company. I feel, it's people, more than the building that give you compelling reasons to come back to a place. With WIMWI, I hope the bonds are stronger coz I really want to come back to this red brick temple again and again.


Gate-crashing has its own fun. Still, being the proud student of WIMWI, we decided to do the right thing - let the lady from the institute do the talking. And rightly, she arrange the guest entry for the gang. A quick bite at Dominos and we set off to watch the performance of the day. I must admit, it was a very lively crowd outside and near the cafeteria but as we approached the field where performance was to be held, I felt that the energy was missing. Supposadely 3000 plus guests were present there, but somehow the crowd seemed much smaller and dispersed. It is one of the disadvantage of having such a huge venue (which is not even lit properly) for such an event. Comparing it with our own LKP, I really see remarkable advantage of having a closed enclosure. It also helped us with lights and sounds during Chaos. So while the crowd seemed low on energy (or atleast lesser than I expected), the band itself also looked a little mellowed down version of what they used to be. Aseem da's unfortunate demise is really a big loss to world of music. I could feel his presence on the stage. The band did well to entertain the crowd playing all the popular numbers like bandeh, ma reva, leaving home, kandisa as well some other not so popular songs. Another comparison that I am taking liberty to make is about the stage presence.  I remember seeing them in Bangalore Habba and the way they involved crowd. That clearly lacked today. One of the reason to it was mentioned about the band that they could not see the crowd because of darkness. I agree. Unless an artist see the result of his magic, he can not reach the next level of involvement himself. On an overall basis, an ok ok performance. I am an Indian Ocean fan so I enjoyed all the songs. Still, it could have been better.

During Chaos, I argued with IKyu about why we did not invite Indian Ocean instead of some other artist. And his argument was that they have a very limited fan-following. So true. Sitting in my dorm room, I can count 10 kandisa fans but my mom always find them lot of chillam chilli. Clearly they can never be show-stoppers for the event like Chaos. Jo bhi hua acha hua. Sonu came and he rocked the stage and everyone loved him. Aal izz well - we heard one of our esteemed faculty say later that night when Sonu performed in LKP. That's the magic of a star.

Our date with food continued to Manek Chowk where we relished on some chocolate sandwiches and hot and spicy pav bhaji. This place reminds me so much of Sarafa in Indore (incidently, Manek Chowk is actually situated amidst the Sarafa bajar). Just a couple of months and I am going to be back to Indore. Enjoying my share of garadu and bhutte ka kis (or kiss?) :)

Till then, Muggo tucche muggo...

He is back

Lucky Ali is back...
With a new album XSUIE...
I have not heard the full songs yet  but listening to the previews I can tell you they are good.
Gosh... I can not believe it.

Thanks Saurabh for the info and link. :D

Chaos continues

I am amidst the biggest Chaos of all time. Sonu Nigam (don't know how he spells his name at this moment) rocked the show last night. At least that is what people say. While he was at it, I was peacefully sleeping in my room. :) :( Lucky Ali ka ek gana mujhe aaj yaad aa raha hai.. 'jab sara jag ye sota nahi.. neend hame kyun aati hai?' Or was it the other way? Well who cares. I was sleeping and that is the truth. I was tired like a dog. And my sleep is the dearest thing to me in such situation.

Earlier in the day also I had a wonderful sleep of few minutes. Really comforting and refreshing. The workshop with RJ Devaki was wonderful experience. Though I regret that the turnout was not great. Her enthusiasm and passion was really remarkable.There is something in her personality that made me her fan today.And I am pretty sure that it is not her beauty that did this magic.

This year, my Chaos has been very limited and I am really missing the fun I had last time. All the four days, my camera and me had seen and captured each and every moment of the fest. This time my camera is silent. However the excitement of getting things in place is something different altogether. Workshops have been a mix of an experience so far. I have had my learnings from this experience. Will share them sometime. For now, it's time to go to mess to have breakfast (which in all probability my only meal of the day) and then set the stage rolling for Tango workshop. I had hoped to attend this workshop with her. Alas, she is not here and thus I give it a skip too. :(

Chaos in my life

Hold your breath...
Chaos is here...

Tonight Nomadic Band NOW with artists from Rajasthan, Haryana and Egypt kicks off the 4 day long cultural fest. Pt. Vishva Mohan Bhatt's performance will be the attraction of this Classical Night. Lot more exciting things lined up for next 3 days. Keep watching this space for more update (that is if you are not coming to Chaos). If you happen to see this post and arrive at Chaos, do give me a buzz/sms.

Ishqiya is just around the corner and that is one movie I would love to watch first day first show. Tab tak I will keep listening to 'dil to bacha hai jee'...

Watched 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' finally. Lovely movie. I would want to read more about it, hoping to get time for that soon.

Time to go now. See you at Chaos...

Social Media and Me

This blog gets an average of 25 page visits a day. For a quite long time, Technorati refused to rank this blog in its list. The comment count on this blog is even more low currently standing somewhere close to 1.12 comments per post. This blog is not the only crib I have. My facebook status update is no bigger success either. How much ever wannabe title/status I put, it just fails to attract any comments. Forget comments, people don't even bother to click on the 'like' button. I don't blame it on lethargy. They are just too quality conscience now a days. I am sure if there was a 'dislike' button, things would have been quite different.

I really need help from some social media expert. :D

Dance workshops @ Chaos 2010

Why you should be coming to Chaos 2010?
Here are reason number 2 and 3:

Salsa Workshop
The most popular among the Latin ballroom dances and a rage that keeps growing in India: Salsa. Let loose your inhibitions and set up a date for the one thing you’ve been planning to do for a while: master the basics of Salsa at the workshop on Sunday, 30^th January. Tease your flexibility with the “123..5678” routine and more. Spice up your dancing skills!

Date: 30th Jan. Time: 10:00 am to 12:00 noon

Tango Workshop
Fascinated by those sweeping movements that you saw in “Chicago”? Confused by the words “caminada”, “arrastre” and “enrosque”? Dying to learn but don’t know where? Or just love to dance and are up for trying anything new? Rush to the “Tango” workshop at Chaos 2010. Saturday, 10 am.  A two hour workshop where you get to learn the basics so that you can show off at the next party!

Date: 31st Jan. Time: 10:00 am to 12:00 noon

Man in the Mirror

It's that time of the year when you want to be in IIMA. Why? Here is one reason:

Chaos 2010 presents -
Man in the Mirror 
A Performing Art Workshop by RJ Devaki
 
A 4 hour intensive and entertaining workshop designed to discover the performer within you. Get set for a series of techniques, games and exercises that will sculpt you into a better performer. The workshop is open to everyone and it is a must for those who want to be an actor, RJ, model, singer or a public speaker.

Date: 30 Jan. Time: (2 pm - 6 pm)

To book your seats or for more information
Contact:
Pritesh Jain - 9726646191 (8priteshj@iimahd.ernet.in)

EuroTrip memories...

Finally I got time to some work. To preserve my memories.
Here is a glimpse:

Why I want to become Sarkar

I have had one full dose of Sarkar duology (if there is any such word) and one third of Godfather trilogy in last couple of days. Best of the two worlds - I must say. I have been a big fan of RGV and really liked some of his earlier work and still look forward to see him come back to form. Sarkar, to me, is his best work. It inspired me to become Sarkar (in a similar way Godfather by Mario Puzo inspired me to become Godfather). It's a world filled with power and responsibilities. Spiderman had a superb line in this context - with great power comes great responsibilities.

Here is some of the reasons why I love the movie Sarkar.
1. Sarkar has just one lesson - power is not given, it's taken and it stays with you as long as you use it to join others and not break.

2. It does not lack emotions. In fact there are all the emotions - faith, trust, love, lust, anguish, guilt, pride. However, the characters are very much in control of their emotions. To an extent it is an ideal world. Shankar kills his brother, goes to father and tells him that 'meine bhaiya ko mar diya hai'. But nobody reacts as you would have expected them too. Take a different example and this is my favorite - scene where Rasheed dies. There is no guilt, no fear in his eyes. He keeps looking in Shankar's eyes and then vanishes.

 3. Rasheed's character somehow has been a very not-so-bollywood type for me. He is a respectable villain unlike most others (in fact most other villains in even Sarkar are very mediocre). From his entry to his death - he comes out as a strong character who knows what he is really upto.

4. Love is an inseparable element of bollywood cinema. But this movie has been able to not let notions of love distract the main storyline. I am not a fan of Katrina's acting but I can tell you she did a marvelous job in whatever small role she was given in this movie. Tanisha on the other hand is done a remarkable role. Rukhsar as Amrita has done a superb job too. Their role are so well woven in the story and characters given so much emphasis that I really feel they are part of the soul of the movie.

5. The camera moves very slowly and is very much focused on faces. Their expressions actually talk. I really loved seeing Amitabh's expressions throughout the movie. He is just out of the world.

6. I don't recall seeing such a good camera work in any other movie. Lighting is peculiar and shadows have been given a good screen presence. To add to that silence rules and gives so much scope to actually think about what the characters might be thinking.

And last but not the least... 
7. There is chai all over. Sarkar loves chai, so does Chote Sarkar. And now even the lady Sarkar too. I just love it.

ps: Time for chai. :)
raambhai me aa raha hoon....