Arbit Scratchpad

Downloadable Link (.doc format) Gangs of Misguided Youth The room was dimly lit and a strain of strange music wafted in from one corner. The music indicated that they were not gone for too long. The room was in a big mess. There were clothes, magazines and other knick knacks strewn all over the place. A cricket bat with peeling stickers, along with an old Hawaiian guitar stood at the corner of the facing and right walls, at the end of the room. The walls were littered with posters of film actresses, and those of weapons, a rifle, some Russian pistols and a red grenade. Inspector Ghorke yanked off some pajamas from a thick wooden chair, to find some colorful CDs with no covers and underneath the bed were a couple of masks. At the end of the room was a PC, an old beige monitor now turned off, the CPU cabinet seemed sparklingly new though - a recent upgrade. The music was coming out of the speakers. A DVD cover lay open beside the monitor – ‘Russian CatCrow Tunes’ read the co...

Here are a few raves about stuff I liked in the past few days. I was reading a book ‘Mavericks at Work’ by William Taylor and Polly LaBarre, a brilliant book on strategy and the way a company can make itself stand out. One area of emphasis is the values that the company stands for, and advocacy as strategy. Another area is utilizing external innovation for creating products eg: P&G’s Connect + Develop where they have a system in place to make use of innovators such as individuals or other organizations. Examples in the book range from strategies of ING Direct, Southwest Airlines, a low-cost airlines service in the US , Cirque de Soliel – a performing circus company. Another area of focus is disruptive innovation, daring to do things that other competitors would not dare to, and aligning the employees with the overall strategy of the company. Creating areas of products/services that never existed, competition is absent – touching upon Blue Ocean strategy - Google. Filled wit...

Big city, morning light; No time anywhere in sight. Everyone's hurrying, to where? Kids, cars, men and women, Whether at eight or ten; Some destination, somewhere. Late evening, lights on; And bright, noisy honks. The same flight, to where? Life’s all a hurried flight; Of climbing steps, greater, higher right? Everyone wants to reach there! But where to? Slow down, please will you. Before it’s a bit too late. Feel the wind in that swaying tree. Where there’s calm and free, Wouldn’t you like to be there? Not a great piece of poetry, nevertheless expresses what I felt traveling to work one day and felt I need to capture the same.

Today I watched the Satyajit Ray classic ‘Pather Panchali’ (Song of the Little Road) for the very first time. It is based on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay’s novel of the same name. Now I know what all the hype is all about. I was on purpose postponing viewing this famed movie, perhaps building up expectations and for sure I can confess: I wasn’t disappointed. It is undoubtedly one of the best films ever made, a brilliant almost lyrical exposition of a rather poor family in a village, in the hinterlands of Bengal . Here was a film, back when it was made, with no melodrama, no violence, no romance or song and dance sequences, simple and plain. An uncomplicated, unadulterated straight-forward story, told from the depths of the heart, yet very potent and full of analogies and with a focus on the human condition of poverty. The screenplay is beautiful and evokes a sense of warmth within – for example, at times, you almost feel you want to hug Apu! The little Durga and later the grow...

I again watched Satyajit Ray’s ‘Jai Baba Felunath’ today on the Zee Studio tribute series that's been going on for the past two months, where they feature a film by the genius every Sunday at 3PM . What a brilliantly crafted movie it is! Not sure if that same mastery, or that form of brilliance will ever be captured again. However Sandip Ray has done a great job with a fast, slick and a more contemporary format for ‘Kailashe Kelenkari’ (A Killer in Kailash) which I managed to watch at the INOX, City Center, Kolkata recently with all my cousins. Just as Sonar Kella was a showcase of Rajasthan (Jaisalmer in particular), ‘Jai Baba…’ seemed like a showcase of Kashi, ‘Kailashe…’ is a showcase of the enigmatically beauteous caves of Ellora. All the three stories in their fiction format are absolutely fabulous and their cinematic versions, including the latter one will definitely reach public glory. The way the movie starts, after an aircraft crash and the clever ending is crafted we...

(C), SHAMIT BAGCHI, Dec 2007. A DESCRIPTION: More from the realm of the absurd, the sketch depicts two people involved in a brawl in the middle of a street. And it seems like one person has succeeded in giving the other a fatal blow. But which one ? Or have both succeeded .......... Are they different people? Or is it man fighting with himself? As always.