Category: Social Commentary

  • World Chup

    Yup, fnally, after a month long rollercoaster ride of ecstasy, agony, joy, sorrow, and skimpily attired female fans who gave rise to myriad other emotions that transcended geographical boundaries, the world has awakened to a day after the world cup… its exactly like the day after any mela, when all the crowds and the small shopkeepers have left, and the grounds are empty, not yet ready to start the countdown for the next show…
    for a month now, a lot of people across the world have been glued to their television screens, watching the drama unfold.. a lot of people, not all, because there were some like me.. i watched only the england – portugal match just in time to see Rooney being shown a redcard for kicking a ball (actually, two, thats why he got sent off).. and while the world was chanting ZZ, i was going ZZZZ… but yes, most of the world ate,drank slept football..
    the newspapers were writing about the social impact also, as old friends who had no interest in football were forsaken, new friendships forged, and loads of other games were played all in one big frenzy thats the FIFA world cup…in a sense, its the story of our lives, because if we get down to the nuts and bolts, all of us are living our lives in anticipation of something, it could be as simple as going home in the evening, a good dinner, the release of a music album or film, or an F1 race or as complex as getting a new job, getting married, having a kid..
    and when the moment passes, theres a feeling thats quite like the empty grounds.. an eerie silence that says that the free kick is over, and its time to move on… and we move, and wait for the next one, hoping that it will be as good as or better than the last one..

    until next time, hope, skip and jump, thats the way forward…

  • Reel…

    That was exactly what Bangalore did in reaction to the death of Dr Rajkumar… no, correction,that was what it was made to do… in a city where less than 50% of the population is not native of the state, it is difficult to imagine that the death actually made the entire city mourn… rather, it was fear that made the city come to a halt…a halt which almost got the bachelor population go hungry for a day, which forced all forms of entertainment to be out of access – that included all the shops, malls, theatres and the staple cable TV!!…
    and which all but killed the long anticipated weekend.. although most parts of the city was peaceful there was an ‘anything could happen’ air about, which hampered the regular functioning of the city.. and after the scenes aired on the news channels (which weremercifully spared from the entertainment ban), not many people would have wanted to open their shops for the few people who might actually dare to venture out…
    two millenia after Jesus died, when his followers make up the largest religion in the world,i wonder what would happen if the same logic were to be adopted by his followers every Good Friday.. Perhaps its because of the knowledge that He would be back on a later day, and that,i guess, is the difference between a god and a demigod.
    until next time, end of reel
    (yup, delayed by almost a fortnight, but am almost settled, so from now i should be on normal mode)

  • They may be dead…

    But they still send me messages.. The last one i got was from Kishore,and a few days before that, i had got one from RD Burman… both of them messaged me for the same reason, that their songs were now available as ring tones, and all i had to do to was sms my choice to a certain number..i guess heaven must be a very costly place, for them to be actually selling tunes after their death… The mobile service providers must be surely making money out of this, and i guess they would be paying the record labels..
    Now, do you think the above two eminent personalities, got anything from the record labels for the revenue their work would generate in the future.. because even royalties would be paid only on short timeframes like a year… but that left me wondering, we are now in an age, where we actually pledge our anticipated incomes for different purchases, in the form of EMIs.. so do you think that the artists, writers etc of this age are getting any money for the revenue their work would accumulate in the future.. what i’mtrying to say is that could RD Burman have anticipated the internet ormobile phones in an age when even telephones were a gizmo??so though JK Rowling has a share in the earnings on the internet, movies,palmtop devices etc, would she (for example) anticipate the revenues from ‘Customised psychiatric sessions with your favorite fantasy character’..and even if she did, how many could she imagine?? thats what, i guess, they call loss in profit…
    until next time, even royalty has limits….

  • Its Party time…………..

    ..but its nothing to celebrate, because its only a poliical parties we are talking about…
    the first one is the proposed party by the CITU whose members would be from the IT and ITES communities.. and the name that i believe would reflect their objective best would be be SHIT workers – Stop Harassment of IT workers..now i am totally for the formation of an entity to protect the interests of the IT guys, but theres no need for CITU to be involved in it….
    the second one has just happened at home, and the fact that its origins are in kerala is not the only thing that caught my eye.. while the founder, ex-congressman K.Karunakaran had initially wanted the name ‘Indira Congress’, the election commission felt it was too similar to existing parties, and therefore refused to give him permission to use that name for his party.. so, our man, not to be undone,tried to get permission for a new name, and got it!! and that resulted in the Democratic Indira Congress.. and the media went ahead and proclaimed that DIC was here,and in case there was a shadow of a doubt, there was a photo of a beaming Karunakaran, and just so it would be clear to everyone, as to who had founded the party, he made a minor modification to his party name, in contemporary style, and its now officiallyDIC(K) !!
    and while speaking of acronyms, with the email scandal, injuries and the challenger series coming up, me thinks its not going to be easy being Bored of Control for Cricket in India..
    until next time, GTG..:)

  • Ad Mad World…

    Advertisements, that which are used to market things we may or may not want… but now, television commercials have become a source of entertainment all by themselves, irrespective of whether theproduct/service is interesting to us at all.. and so, that got me thinking, do we relate to ads in the same way that we relate to fellow humans also…
    We have the ads that are about the things we have to live with the mobiles and service providers,which are essential for us on a routine basis… kinda like relatives.. dont necessarily have to like them, but not exactly disposable either.. of course, among these we might find some ads that we love, just like some cousins/aunts/uncles etc who are special to us and nice people who happen to be relatives…
    and then there are ads, which may not have any relation to what we want, but we still like them and may even adopt the product/service because of this liking.. like friends… of course, the friends hopefully last longer than the particular ad campaign…in general, we most usually like the ads that have a bit of humour in them, or the ones that give an emotional tug, or the ones that remind us of us… i guess we relate to people in a similar kind of way…
    yes, i am into marketing and am working a lot these days, work which includes ads… and yes, it would have been still okay if it reflected only in the posts i write, but when, during introductions, when i respond to ‘Hi, i am Xyzee’, with a ‘Hi, I am stressed’, i guess there is a problem somewhere 😉
    until next time, does it all add up??