CARTS - Yes this elective by Prof B Shekar has been a revelation...
From music (the essence of which is 'contrast' - subtle vs obvious, continuous vs discrete) to films, and imagery, creativity in all its aspects is covered. Artwork being a primary area (we were studying Escher's artwork including Metamorphosis and Ascending and Descending and many others). Mathemetical concepts are yet to be covered. Concepts in music have been the main focus area with concepts such as shadows, reflection, gesticulations etc were new things I learnt. The notes - Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni - are based on ratios to the Golden Ratio (approximately 1.614).
FACTOID: Upto a max of 12 notes or 8 notes are decernable to the human ear.
ESCHER's BIRDS - Developed taking snatches from Escher's 'Liberation' - copied during class ...
Currently listening to CONVERSATIONS by Ulhas Bapat & Narayan Mani - deadly combination of Santoor and Veena... Heady Music! Heaven! Hooked to this track called 'Yaman Chakra' ...
The other ones incuding Bhimpalasi - Carnatic styles in accompaniment of the tabla and mridangam.
Watched Vijay Tendulkar's play 'Silence the court is in session' (English version of the Marathi original Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe) by a budding and getting quite adept troupe called VODO - http://www.vodo.blogspot.com/ - at the Rangashankara on 11th June 2009.
Currently hooked to: Song - 'Tere Naina' from the movie 'ChandniChowk to China'
Currently watching: Movie - 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'
Inspired by artworks of pop art gurus such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol - the quality no where near them in terms of the fine art work - however a decent start in my view. Need to work harder on the sketching part - this one was done in like 10 mins, and then heavy digitization and touchup...
The end goal was to make a Pop Art style art piece and very, very colourful - a tattoo on the female form make for a appealing combination, perhaps a tattoo parlour... Listening to the Delhi 6 title track helped make the overall piece as vivid as it has got! How would the end product look on the wall of a pub or a restaurant?
The writer Ernest Hemingway in one final moment of insanity shot himself.
Is L K Advani going to do the same? The drubbings in the elections - I have to give it to him that he managed to escape an attempt yet – poor guy his party’s SMSes extolling him as the next PM itself would have turned off the electorate – I am sure that is the reason. ‘Theory of the errant SMSes’ from my end – yet another absurd reason for the BJP’s (NDA) setbacks and King Cong, UPA’s (Ulta Pulta Alliance as per BJP – Ravishankar Prasad must be kicking himself on his rear end now) unwittingly thumping victory (they were themselves surprised it’d seem).
Also no such escape hatch for us, IIMB PGSEMers – our batch of 2008 after having stretched and strained to snapping point finally touch finish line. One full year completed! Almost two more to go... With ups and downs (an understatement given the accompanying volatile job scene in the IT sector) – a volcano of activity last one year it was with studies (sleep-reading, last minute mugging??) – marketing (Prof T & Damodar Mall in the mall…:D), economics (Prof D and Prof V), operations (not one of those done in a hospital), unaccounted number of accounting courses, finance (among high-profile banks collapsing left, right and centre), business events (Convergenz & Vista) and cultural events (Pehel, Unmaad etc), ecstasies (the Outliers and acad King Kongs aka Toppers), disappointments (GPAs - Grades eluding A), gung ho about assignments at the beginning and then 'pillion riding' towards the end of the year for some assignments, a drain on the academic nerves like nothing prior. Also mails and chain mails and more mails from professors and students and certain super-enthusiast 'inbox jesters' – mails of the nature from the erudite to those bordering on the very naughty with dollops of humour thrown in – all memories to be cherished forever...
Unlike our full-time on campus PGP students brethren we working folks only get to meet each other during the weekends, unless you happen to work in the same campus/company etc - so our only means of interaction is through phones, Skype etc and primarily the email!
The overall IIMB experience till now has been like the taste of a semi-ripe Totapuri mango – just ripening: sweetly sweet yet as sour as to make you jump in surprise!
And yeah Rahul Gandhi - the kid is punching his fists in the air like Federer does after he wins a grand slam! Sweet victory!! And the sly Oxonian retains the PM’s chair! Let’s hope a mandate for five-year stability without coalition squabbles as is being projected (it is another issue that a baffled BJP forgot to focus and highlight the painful price rises of the most exorbitant nature and terrorist strikes and all the national issues) will lead to greater economic stability and a peaceful social scene. Bangalore seemed to have gone along the BJP way completely (poor, poor Capt Gopinath lost his deposit, having got 14000 votes in all) and the arrogant Left goons have finally tasted bitter defeat at the politico demi-goddess Mamata’s altar!
The heat is on! It never ends! What did you expect right in the middle of May – heights of summer! Sakkath Hot Magaa…
Currently Looping: Hooked to the song Arziyan from Delhi 6 with its Sufi Qawwaali feel rendition and ARR’s music and invigorating lyrics! Also just watched ‘Luck By Chance’ – nice movie I must say – top class acting overall! Konkana is also that - Sakkath Hot Magaa… :)
We didn’t have the voter ID cards made, but we had voted in the last assembly elections for Karnataka (and it was a breeze back then - no hassles, no delays; also the parties had distributed the slips containing details beforehand, which was not the case this time). So our names were for sure in the electoral rolls. The key problem injected this time was the fact that the part no. or book number had changed and the old set had got distributed among 2 fresh sets of book numbers which created tremendous confusion. Everyone and his brother were busy searching for their names. A search of close to 2+ hours resulted in finally finding the names and a sigh of relief. I’ve got to get my voter ID card made sometime soon, but even those with cards had to face the same laborious searching process.
The entire electoral list outside the polling booth where the searches were being done was in Kannada here for the Yelahanka assembly constituency which falls under the Chikkaballapur constituency (some confusion here - apparently it's part of Bangalore North according to some - this is not true). Also guess what? Being illiterate in Kannada it was I who spotted the names although many others helped me search the list for my name; I was looking for a different alphabet, when someone I know informed me on the right Kannada alphabet and I figured it out (the ‘chi’ of Bag‘chi’) based on sheer pattern matching prowess!
The process can be made more streamlined to avoid chaos and the impatient ones don’t bother and just end up leaving without voting. I realized that it is all about persistence… Well I’ve got the mark on my left index finger and I exercised my right to vote again which sure feels good! Some adventure and headache that’ll help me remember the occasion of the Lok Sabha Elections, 2009… May the party I voted for (or the best one) win and come to power!
Addendum: Seems like I made the mistake of not checking the online electoral rolls. That has the details although the names are spelt wrong - Bhagji instead of Bagchi - all spellings messed up.
Star of the Quarter Award is given to an individual who has significantly contributed to PGSEM community through extra curricular activities in an academic quarter, as part of various activities done by PGSEM-SAC and committees.
SAC members will nominate significant contributors for the Award and the voting will be conducted among the current batches to decide the Star along with SAC members' points. SAC member is not eligible to be nominated for this award.
You will be getting a mail on voting for Star of the Quarter - Q3 2008-2009.
Please take your time to vote for and decide the Star.
A voting happened (to decide amongst 11 equally strong and capable contestants) and guess what? I polled 32.65% of the votes and yes I won!!
My immense gratitude towards one & all who felt I was worth it!! It takes an institute of IIMB's stature and star students to recognize a STAR! :D Also have to appreciate the members of SAC for having painstakingly collated data and made this possible - a great new start with the Star of the Quarter (SoQ) Award.
Remarks for my nomination mentioned the following:
Designing of posters, banners for NASSCOM event, Convergenz 2009
Orkut.com/iimb - made it possible with frequent interactions with Srikanth (Google)
Honeywell representation in Panel Discussion on Convergenz (Y V Prakash)
Contributed for Alchemy business plan event in Convergenz
High creativity coefficient. Quick to decide and do things.
Ah! The last one was a pleasant surprise...
From the SAC mail announcing the winner:
It gives us immense pleasure to declare "Shamit Bagchi (PGSEM 2008 - Section A)" as the winner for "Star of the Quarter Award" for Q1 of year 2009. Shamit was awarded the certificate for the same by Professor Shankar Venkatagiri on 19th April in front of an applauding PGSEM fraternity.
Shamit has been a unanimous choice amongst the votes polled by Students and the members of the SAC.
Please join us to congratulate Shamit Bagchi for winning this award and simulatneously achieving peer recognition in the PGSEM fraternity.
My inspiration would probably be the Onion that you peal as an analogy to uncovering a person's core personality/values... right from the hereditary traits to the true personality that he finally attains - like a lotus blooming.
The new art format used could be described as the concept of
JUSTIFICATION: Where in I justify the sketched object based on certain thoughts looming in my subconscious mind.
Justed finished watching the 2007 movie from Dreamworks 'Bee Movie'. Lately watched Pixar's 'Wall-E' and 'Kung Fu Panda' too... Also 'Madagascar 2' - Wall-E was the best in terms of realism and sheer graphics (won the best animation Oscar 2009, having beaten Kung Fu Panda), Kung-Fu Panda was absolutely hilarious and Bee Movie the cutest of them, including some cool music by Hans Zimmer...
The annual business fest ‘Convergenz’09’ conducted by the IIMB-PGSEM student fraternity happened on 15th March 2009. The pre-lunch session in the morning saw the finals of the business plan - Alchemy (judges panel consisted of Venture Capitalists and Professors of the NSRCEL, IIMB) and Case presentation competition (on the topic of beating Nokia’s market dominance in the Indian mobile handset market); with the finalists vying for the top slot; the sessions were thoroughly contested and interesting pitches were made. The ‘Turing Test’ business/technology quiz finals were conducted by Prof Rajeev Gowda in the afternoon after the written elimination rounds and Arul Mani the VP of Karnataka Quiz Association was also present for the show.
The panel discussion at the end of the fest, in the late evening was well attended and consisted of panelists of repute from the IT Industry including Srini Rajam, CEO Ittiam Systems and Y V Prakash, Director R&D, Honeywell Technology Solutions and established entrepreneurs from the PGSEM lineage moderated by Professor Sourav Mukherjee. Prof. Pankaj Chandra, Director, IIM Bangalore, started with his inaugural address which was followed by the Keynote by Srini Rajam; on the topic of ‘Innovation: Leading the way’ which was also the overarching theme of Convergenz’09.
The panel discussion centred on the theme of finding the next business model for the Indian IT industry and the unanimous conclusion was that a more collaborative model of interaction and technology development among the various IT industries was the need of the hour. The panelists agreed that the sector would in the next few months successfully counter the recessive storm in the global economy to emerge stronger. The valedictory address and concluding remarks were made by Prof. Shankar Venkatagiri, Chairperson, PGSEM who stressed on the importance of industry-academia interactions and stressed the point that students of the PGSEM through Convergenz were leading this initiative!
The event was sponsored by eLitmus and Samsung and online and media partners included PagalGuy, MBA Universe, YourStory.in, Orkut, Doohm and IndiaEducation.net.
Poetic Soul ---------------------- The poet sings a merry tune, Verses flow and maidens swoon. A tingle in the air makes me rhyme, I sing in carefree joy, all the time!
The newspaper DNA (Daily News and Analysis - http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore) seems to have involved in not verifying its sources of photographs and having used my photographs (does this amount to plagiarism? I think it does) after it carried some of my pictures in the 'After Hrs' section of its newspaper on 31st January 2009, which I had taken at the IIMB Yamini 2009. It is good that they covered the event but they should have cited/verified the sources of the photographs. In all probability they or their sources just picked up the photos from my blog, with the belief that no one would notice anyways - seems they could not escape as luck would have it, I spotted them in the DNA paper on Saturday. It was early in the morning when as I flipped open the last page of the supplement that I was stunned to see my pics, which I was able to recognize immediately - however there were no credits anywhere in sight!
Please check the photos below from the e-paper version on their website (All 3 photos under the TREAT OF THE MELODIES heading on the left hand side are from my camera - a Nikon S10 taken on 25th/26th Jan 2009 - and have been cropped) and my previous entry covering Yamini 2009. The photographs are exactly the same and I don't see any reason for doubts (I cannot think of the same angle, the same pose and everything else resembling my photograph and yet the photograph being taken by some one else in real time at the exact time - these are exactly the photos I clicked!!). The clinching evidence is the first one in this image - now compare it with this image - observe the silihoutte of heads obstructing the view of my camera are also in exactly the same positions. Essentially boils down to the fact that the DNA newspaper used my photographs - without permissions and without publishing due credits! Doesn't this amount to plagiarism?
Would like to know your views on this - use the comments link below to leave your comments. Even after two mails to editoronline[at]dnaindia[dot]com email ID I have not got any reponses from their end.
Click on the image below with the highlighted section in red - it has the three images:
(All the images above have been captured from the DNA e-paper website - http://epaper.dnaindia.com - Bangalore section, After Hrs section dated 31st January, 2009)
PHOTO PLAGIARISM UPDATE - Feb 04, 2009: Called up their number and I spoke to a DNA executive and placed my demands. I was also told that their people would get back to me. Nobody called back. Second time I called up in the afternoon and spoke again with the same and extremely courteous sounding lady, some positive noises were made and then they are yet to get back with concrete details. Given the fact that three (3 not just one) digital images were taken and was subsequently published in the paper and this paper was sold (naturally for commercial purposes) the gravity of the situation is much more serious and damaging.
The DNA folks have been rather courteous and professional in their behaviour, and have accepted and apologized immediately within 24 hours - although I must add that the copyright infringement is a serious offense and they should be aware of it under Section 63 it is a punishable offence and damages of upto 2 lakhs and 6 months imprisonment is possible if an FIR is filed.
They must cease and desist from such unprofessional behaviour given that they are an established media house whose Ads you see all over the place - such incidents will only tarnish their own reputation.
Today evening I was sent a mail to the tune of:
Dear Shamit Bagchi,
We have taken note of your observation and would like to inform you that it was just an error and therefore apologize for the same. Since this was an error, we will be carrying an apology with a photo credit in After Hrs. Henceforth, we will seek your permission before publishing any material from your blog and reveal the source of the information.
Thanks and regards,
Editor, For After Hours.
Although the just an error thing seems lame and funny, I wish all the very best to DNA ahead!! Being a subscriber to their paper I hope their reporting standards only improve.
Let's see what they do ahead - and stay tuned for the credits/errata etc.
PHOTO PLAGIARISM UPDATE - Feb 06, 2009, Friday: Three days have gone by, but no apology or photo credits - not only do these guys involve in online theft they seem to be far away from truth too! Sweet and pleasant words on the outside, something very different on the inside, these guys lack professionalism it seems very clear now. Guess the gumption - they are refusing to even speak nowadays; with the receptionist informing me they are not available or busy in some meeting. Pertaining to the plagiarism itself, having claimed acceptance and suggesting an apology/photo credits is not sufficient - conveniently claiming an error as if they are not aware of the legal consequnces, absolutely irresponsible approach. Apparently even freelance photographers are paid for their photography, so the fact that my photographs were stolen (online theft) and sold as part of the newspaper, the basic courtesy of compensation should have been extended. I could have put a legal notice but have desisted from such a decision. No clue when the photo-credit/apology will be published.
By the way the KK concert during Unmaad @ IIMB yesterday was just amazing with serpentine crowds, loud music and cheering fans - a great evening it was indeed!
Close to 8 hours of classical arts (music and dance) on a single day – usually people watch one recital in a day we watched four of them back to back. I have gone to a couple of classical recitals till date but something of this nature was a dream come true! Not that I am bragging, but then the sheer experience of it all was stupefying to say the least. Let me start from the last item which got over at 4:30 AM, yes 4:30 AM on 26th Jan, 2009, that's today, our Republic Day. The dusk to dawn musical concert 'Yamini 2009' in association with the Spic Macay chapter at IIM Bangalore was an experience for me like never before.
The last item - the flute recital by Pandit Ronu Majumdar reached its crescendo in a Druta Teentaal at around 3:30 AM, when the speed of play along with Sudhir Pandey on the tabla reached so high that it was just impossible for me to keep track of the tala, which I had been trying to keep track of throughout the recitals – so I just sat in silence soaking in the musical tornado, drenched completely. It was absolute 'rogue play' of the instruments, as mesmerizing as intimidating if I may put it in jest. The ending was reached through the Shudh Bhairav - 'Jaago Mohan Pyare', Raag Bhatiyar - the strains of which are so soulful, 'Payo ji maine Ram ratan dhan paayo' – Raag Desh I guess (Pandit Ronu also sings well as he did for these two). The actual ending was 5 minutes of Raag Bhairavi – which even in deep slumber has the capacity to wake you up as your whole body is rejuvenated with the tingles of the fresh, mellifluous strains of the flute and the magic of the tabla. There were many other flute pieces (midnight ragas) earlier to that too, after an initial glitch in the monitor and sound settings. Sheer Magic. Period.
Earlier it started off at around 6:30 PM on 25th Jan 09 as we sat squatting on the mattresses layed out on the ground enjoying the performances. The first was a Carnatic classical vocal recital by the Jayanti sisters, Ranjini & Gayatri – one with a slightly smooth voice and the other with the coarser tonal quality, who brought out the Abhang at the end of the recital to life, by the force of her aural tones. The abhang (Marathi) had this concept of being a 'Nindastuti' - wherein the semi-classical bhajan is a praise for the lord even though it sounds humorous or slightly taunting. In between were 2 songs set to Adi taala, and compositions of Saint Thyagaraja and many other Tamil, Telugu and Carnatic compositions for close to 2 hours. Extremely competent artists and sometimes brilliant. The sisters were not only competent artists but equally articulate in explaining and interacting with the audience.
Next was the Mysore Brothers with their violins, jumping with ease from the most high pitched to the most low pitched, gliding from the fastest pieces to the slowest ones from number to number in a disciplined show of violin prowess. The violin maestros truly deserve an applause, for I remember one piece in which the speed of playing the violin was just mind-blowing fast along with the accompanying Mridangam, Ghatam and the Tampura.
Then at around 11:30 PM started the Bharatanatyam recital by Urmila Sathyanarayana. This started off with a Varanam, and then went into the core pieces depicting scenes, involving both Abhinaya (facial gestures and hand movements) and Nritya/Natya. One mandatory scene as is the case in most Bharatanatyam recitals the play between Radha and Lord Krishna – this was very interestingly depicted. Then one which I liked best was the one in which Kaushalya sees her son Lord Rama take his first baby steps and knows no limit of her joy – the accompanying singing 'Thumaka Chalat Ram Chandra' by the group and the flute was all very high quality. One also was a romantic sketch where the female is telling her lover to be patient and restrain himself from displaying his affection in the public, quite sensuous. It ended with a short Bharatanatyam format sketch of 'Vande Mataram' at around 1:30 AM.
Soul piercing music it was (though my technical knowledge of ragas and taalas is very less I enjoy the package as a whole - akin to chaos theory); is all I can say and only an experience will get you the feel of the accompanying joy – bliss... Me, IndraD and ShashiA were there till the end.
May the sovereign, socialist, democratic republic - INDIA stay alive till eternity...
Bangalore, India – 14 January, 2009 -- The Post-Graduate Program in Software Enterprise Management, IIMB, in partnership with NASSCOM conducted the first IIMB-NASSCOM Leadership Summit with a panel discussion where eminent panelists, the finest minds in the industry discussed and debated on the topic: "Managing risk in the emerging business environment"
The Panel Chair was Mr. Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman, NASSCOM and the panel consisted of: Mr. Sharad Sharma, CEO, Yahoo! India. Mr. Aravind Sitaraman, MD, Cisco India. Dr. G Venkatesh, Exec Director, CTO & CSO, Sasken. Dr. Kamlesh Bajaj, Chief Executive Officer, DSCI Mr. Sridhar Jayanthi, Head, McAfee India Centre
The entire gamut of relevant topics and thoughts were the highlights of the panel discussion including business risks, financial risks, technological risks, security risks and the overall impact of risks on the Indian IT industry and steps taken to mitigate the same.
The key points raised included those of long term business continuity, which was said to be long with finding liquidity and most important and focusing on the root causes and eliminating them in the long run. Key learnings: Organizing and managing an event of this scale calls for lots of dedication and passion, a outcome is a directly proportional to the effort as for anything - and everyone needs to work independently as much as together. More at: http://pgsem.net - MORE PICS HERE.
THE GOOGLE CHALLENGE 2009
The Google Bangalore team conducted the Google Challenge 2009 @ IIM, Bangalore (Product Management Workshop and Idea/Concept presentation competition) on 18th january 2009, in which the topic given was:
"Promoting Internet using Television Mass Media"
The first set of 55 teams were filtered to choose the final 20 (we got into Round 2) and among them 4 were selected for Round 3 by a team of Google Product Managers (we did not get selected into this round) – after this a democratic voting got the top 3 teams the final positions. Overall a pretty competitive round; key takeaways include: work withing constraints, and go for a data driven approach during presentations.
Well, firstly let me wish you a Happy New Year! For a month or more I have not blogged much due to the presence of many things on my plate. Finished with PGSEM Q2 exams last Nov end, after which we had a round of events at the workplace. The Aero Week celebrations which saw us making a movie, with a little kid in it, it came out good and we won the runners up trophy. For the Newsletter contest also our team got the runners up. Our domain won the overall Aero trophy along with another domain. Also in parallel was running the 'HTS Annual Day' celebrations, in which I managed to participate only in a Fine Arts and Mind Sport medley event with four sub-events involving Dumb Charades (mirroring), Mad Ads, Pictionary and blind folded acting, and 20 Questions. The last round got us to loose several points and we could not win the event. The culmination was the grand Annual Day event with stalls, group dance and music shows by our in-house music band, near our new campus at Marathalli (near the Intel campus) on 20th Dec.
In the meanwhile I had been to Kolkata (6-14 Dec, 2008) to attend a ceremony and was visited by all my cousins and we even went out on a trip to Swami Vivekananda's ancestral house, with the house now converted into a museum. The Jorashakho Thakur Bari – house of the bard, Rabindranath Tagore which we also visited also is very well maintained, and had paintings, pictures and paraphernalia from that day and age – accompanied by a guide who went around with us explaining the various phases of Gurudev's life from the mementos and photographs – as mild Rabindra Sangeet played on the speakers. The last stop was the massive Indian Museum of Calcutta with sections from zoology to architecture and much much more, which we glanced at in a hurry and we just got one and half hours to explore this – need to go again someday.
The last quarter at IIMB saw a very charged up Prof. L Prasad teaching us Organization Theory with anecdotes, jokes and a detailed set of sessions on Organizational Politics which seems like his forte.
This time we have another senior professor Prof P N Thirunarayana – another amazing professor teaching us 'Marketing Managament' (we have Kotler's book for reference). Just yesterday he was teaching us on figuring out consumer behaviour for which he explained the concept of receptivity and reflection. The class sat in rapt attention as in his unique style the Prof defined 'receptivity' as:
The insatiable curious approach to life
Continuous refinement of senses
Listening to micro-tones; that which is not explicit or visible
Whole brain thinking – ambidextrous work
We also had marketing guru Harish Bijoor last Friday visit us in our class and talk on the topic of rural marketing – amazing insights and a charged up speech followed. He spoke of why the rural market is less understood and also more profitable. Also he traced the dichotomy between marketing to the 'Fundamentals' and 'Sentimentals'; emphasizing that catering to the 'sentimentals' was a sure path for future disaster, citing the the US recession as evidence.
Met up with Vinay K, Darshan C, Praveen, (after 12 years since school) at the CCD, Cunningham Road on 25th Dec. People have changed a lot and all of them are on the look-out for brides and it seems some having evaluated a few dozens.
Well today I was reading about a discussion/opinions on the three letter taboo word during the first date in the newspaper (DNA – which started mid-December'08 in Bangalore). The concept of dating itself is not prevalent in our cities/culture, forget such complications; it would come across as a purely western social demon to even think of such an occurrence.
In the context of marriages/proper relationships (obviously different from flings) I think it has to be mutual and need not even pass through the filters of dating etc – getting to know a person, and in the course of time, each other and then if something clicks the mutual attraction culminating in mutual affection itself will propel things into the next concrete level. If not, it is a game of opposite sexes and not worth a relationship that can build up and will automatically collapse.
Of course getting to know the likes and dislikes and some form of expectations on either side do exist and hence this mode of knowing each other sometime before marriage may be a better way – that's a personal opinion - not that arranged marriages have not flourished in our country with the lack of knowing each other before, a given, fact.
With the new year 2009 having started things seem very, very upbeat although the recession fever and gloom still looms large. Some events are on the anvil from our PGSEM program as well as on the IIMB event schedule in 2009 include an upcoming panel discussion with the finest minds in association with NASSCOM, the 'Convergenz' event - a one day business event with many sub-events and of course 'Unmaad' the best cul-fest in the country from IIMB.
In books, a fabulous & must read book that I am currently reading is 'THE ART OF POSSIBILITY' by Rosamund & Ben Zander. My recommendation is: do read this book – it is very emotional yet of a very, very positive nature. Some statements will inevitably get tears to your eyes.
Watched the movie 'Memento' yesterday - the latest Hindi flick 'Ghajini' seems a copy of/heavily inspired by the former (or the Tamil one is - since the Hindi one is the copy of the Tamil one) only with some good Bollywood music and masala added, apart from the lead roles played by Aamir and Asin. By the way loved this Ad for Tanishq featuring Asin! Especially the way the setting seamlessly merges with the remixed old Rafi song! The progression of the ad-film and of course gorgeous Asin add to the ad's appeal... Brilliant. [Direction : Gauri Shinde, Red Ice Productions]:
Also apparently Aamir Khan, Madhavan etc are in the IIMB campus for the shooting of 'The 3 Idiots' adapted from Chetan Bhagat's 'Five Point Someone' - should go and meet them!! Some of my classmates spotted them today and some spotted Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani yesterday.
UPDATE: We went over to the IIMB campus today and spotted Aamir and Madhavan playing badminton.
Songs that I am hooked to currently:
'Tere Naina Talaash' the semi-classical Manna Dey – SD Burman classic
'Dildariya Re Tore Kiser Katha Koi' from the bengali band, Bhoomi
'Manamohini Morey' sung by Vijay Parkash from the movie Yuvraaj – Rehman's magic here
'Jaane Kyun' from Dostana
'Beheka', 'Latoo' and 'Aye Bachchu' from Ghajini – maestro ARR again.
The brand new IIMB PGSEM quarterly newsletter 'thoughtEDGE' was released last week on 20th December 2008. This first release had the theme of 'Career Planning' with articles by alumni, professors and on continuing studies after an MBA, along with event updates etc.
After those extra classes, that too on a Saturday evening; 'imagine' - numb brains yet charged up minds!! Discussion time folks...
Amit Bhalotia is explaining something in great detail, observe Karthik like the perfect disciple - listens... D'Souza (green T) is at his argumentative best. Naufal is like having fun, and absolutely oblivious - Parashar starts texting his girlfriend. :)
Shashidhar is not bothered, he concentrates on checking the % complete of his movie downloads from Spidi.
The discussion gets more intense, Karthik starts to expound his hypothesis. I get Naufal distracted with my mobi-cam/my antics. As others listen, Parashar continues to exchange messages with his girlfriend... ;) ;)
Ah! I have got the pack disturbed, but look at the concentration level of Bhalotia - he goes on and on ..... :)
Far from the maddening crowd -Get Away! I am too saturated to discuss any more....
The Mumbai attacks are a grim reminder for taking the dignity of an Indian citizen's life more seriously. Of course a systemic lapse and failure on all parts of the administration prior to the meticulously planned attack goes on to show how there are large chinks in our security armour. The Intelligence gathering framework, the coast guard, the state police apparatus (cant blame their bravado and valour given the fact that they have to make do with WW II era carbines and Lee Enfield rifles) and every other bandobast seemed to have been brought to naught by the terrrorists as has been happening time and again.
Firstly how did so much ammunition not get detected, then the terrrorists themselves playing, fiddling and moving around with impunity from one spot to another, and not even getting detected at the very entry point and then the complete failure of the state police in averting the violent carnage given the fact that IB had provided prior intelligence - all are evidenty most shocking. Seems the terrroists were from the LeT and the ammunition used had been provided by Dawood Ibrahim's men from within Mumbai and suburbs - a clear Pakistani ISI handy work, otherwise these kind of operatives cannot be produced. Unless trained rigourously, given endurance training - as some reports claim the Pak Navy trained them. Check out the kind of sophisticated handhelp GPS navigation equipment they had from Garmin etc. There are several questions unanswered (the biggest joke was the resignation of Shivaraj Patil; dont forget who put him there firstly need to be held responsible) and the immense anger and sorrow after close to 200 people were killed and more than 300 injured in the brutal attacks.
Citizens will have to become more alert and certainly less indifferent, as this scourge of terrorism spreads like never before and is no longer restricted to a Kashmir or a Punjab. A mandatory military training for all citizens as Israel does may be a feasible option if introduced at the college levels and implemented as a de facto measure. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary action.
We cannot sit mum and take things as they strike us - the US has not had a single event of terror strike post 9/11 - surely an indication of how tight their security has got. A federal security body independent of the meddling of the political pack, in command of someone like KPS Gill will need to be created and bestowed with adequate authority to fight these and tighter laws as is also being articulated.
Also most importantly we - the intelligensia cannot turn their face away and claim as if nothing has gone wrong - we as members of the corporate, the so called elite, the educated and empowered will need to do our bit - 'what can we do?' is to be thought out and not used as a escape device - creative ways and mechanisms will have to be generated. Getting on with life as if nothing happened, mindless and irresponsible 'mall culture' and 'pub culture' and other frivolous pursuits which we all often indulge in, will have to end - the youth will need to come together (this is the right time to galvanize as a nation together) and do something, anything feasible be it in the social, technology or media space or even through using programs and reality shows like 'MTV Roadies' to actually impart training than to restrict them to mere entertainment and bitching and mindless nonsense talk shows.
We will have to start today! The 'who-cares-a-damn' attitude could cost us our lives or those of a near and dear one - no this is absolutely not a joke it is in the very realm of the possible - clear and present everywhere, capable of engulfing anyone at anytime.
We will have to make the change happen - as the saying goes - if not we, who? If not now, when?
NOTE: My point was essentially to get more alert and ready for averting the next event of this magnitude. As citizens we often feel helpless and thus are triggered into thinking what we can do/contribute in times of crisis such as this. We got to see both sides of the picture, but despondency does set in with the ineptitude the govt displays time and again in the prevention angle - no one is blaming the NSG for the cure - it's the occurrence of such large scale violence/attacks that causes a groundswell of anger and doubt among the public. The NSG, MARCOS, RAF commandos, and the policemen require a tribute from our end but we cannot always depend on them for everything.
Also the following is a riposte from a friend of mine - a Squadron Leader (IAF) - whom I shall not name here (I respect his views against a knee-jerk reaction):
Should we, as the public, play into their hands by training all our guns on the instruments of the state? The post-mortems and the blame-games have already started. Indian politicians are venal and nincompoop. India doesn’t have an internal security policy. The police is worthless. It is an intelligence failure. We are doomed as a nation.Are these really true...?
Politicians are the easiest targets, the softest ones and they rightfully deserve a major share of the blame for the mess we find this nation in. But can we wait a wee bit longer before going all out against them?
Can these TV anchors turned arm-chair experts suggest the way ahead rather than merely decrying the system and the nation? Media acts as a force multiplier for the terrorist. A similar incident in the heartlands of Bastar would have achieved little except a byline in the inside pages of a national newspaper after two days. If this kind of media coverage provides oxygen to terrorism, then the electronic media and the society needs to introspect about the role of media in the Indian society today. It is about TRPs and revenue figures for the media while it is about pandering to voyeuristic tendencies in each one of us.
Comparisons to the US during 9/11, although not very exact, will continue to be made. Let us look back at another famous siege in India that happened nearly a quarter of a century back. Was Operation Blue Star less gruesome or worse than these Mumbai attacks? The terrorists inside the Golden Temple had even laid mines and shot down army tanks with anti-tank weapons. But it wasn’t a media spectacle and the mood in the nation was not of despondency and vexation. The nation then said — let’s fight and eradicate terrorism. What is the feeling in the nation now — let’s berate the government and eradicate this system of governance.
If that be true, then the terrorists and their ideology have already won. Let us be cautious and careful in venting our emotions. Each one of us has a right to be angry, but at the right target — the terrorists and our countrymen who, wittingly or unwittingly, further the terrorists’ agenda for their petty, selfish gains.
The immediate goal of neutralising terrorists inside Mumbai has been met. There is an urgent need to identify and lay out a short-term plan for ensuring internal security, along with a long-term vision for restructuring the internal security system in this country and a medium-term strategy that bridges the short-term plans and the long-term vision.
Until then let the common man enjoy his mall and pub, its required for the nation to stay cool, thats the strategy "the opponent gets his share of joy in a fight only if you show him that you are hurt; any indifference to this would take him off the driver's seat in the fight". So much so for 300 wounded and 200 dead....
What started with a minor mishap on Sunday 9th Nov, 2008, ended up as quite an enjoyable trip with the seven of us, including TausifK, RamD, ShantanuG, VinayB, ShomaB and SmitaN. Leaving Bangalore at around 8:00 AM we reached the Cauvery Nature and Fishing camp at Bheemeshwari (about 100 KM from Bangalore via Kanakapura, Sathnur and Muthathi) around 11:00 AM to find that white water rafting had been stopped there from Nov 02, as the fishing season had started.
We immediately headed to Galibore, about 60km from Bheemeshwari in our cars – a Hyundai Accent and a Maruti 800. We came back to Sathnur (23 KM from Bheemeshwari) and then headed towards the Galibore Fishing Camp (36 KM from Sathnur). Galibore itself is about 95 KM from Bangalore, if directly reached. Mekedatu and Chunchi falls are all reachable in the nearby vicinity.
The last 10 KM stretch of reaching Galibore was a pain as the jungle road is absolutely un-tarred. Once we reached there we had lunch at around 2 PM and then started the rafting expedition where a jeep took us and the raft to a spot 5 KM upstream and then we rafted for about 20 minutes in the river Cauvery at the end of which we were left to play in the waters for about 30 mins.
There were 2 guides and one additional guide in a kayak all by his own, all for safety purposes. We had to sign an agreement and were all provided with the life jackets, paddles and helmets. Later a joke by me proved to be costly and the guide got me to show them a demo by pushing me off the raft ;) As I held on to the lifeline - a thick rope tied around the raft (capacity of 9); the others were asked to get off the raft one by one and then were lifted by the guide just using the life-jackets, a demo of sorts for rescue.
Later we were taken to a slightly more active and swirling waters of the river rapid and were back to the base camp after another 15 mins of rafting through, a total of about 1.5 hours of fun (charged at Rs 600) came to an end with the sun on the horizon, we all changed and had warm cups of coffee as the sun set and then headed back home.
Recently we had an Extended Leadership Council meeting within out Aersopace domain at work, as part of which a video clip was shown from the movie 'Dead Poets Society' - the dialogues towards the end of the clip were stirring and brought tears to my eyes. The following are the stunning dialogues which Robin Williams utters in the role of the teacher (got to watch this whole movie!) :
We don't read and write poetry because it's cute.
We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.
And the human race is filled with passion.
And medicine, law, business, engineering -- these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life.
But poetry, beauty, romance, love -- these are what we stay alive for.
To quote from Whitman O me! O life! of the question of these recurring, Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish... What good amid these O me, O life? Answer That you are here--That life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
"That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse." What will your verse be?
Yet another portion where two teachers are conversing (this clip I got from the person who had prepared the presentation for the meet - thanks to Sumit Rishi):
McALLISTER: "Show me the heart unfettered by foolish dreams and I'll show you a happy man."
KEATING (Robin Williams): "But only in their dreams can men be truly free. 'Twas always thus, and always thus will be."
