Kahaani and The State Of Bollywood

Sunday I watched this delightful Hindi movie called Kahaani. The best thing about Kahaani is that it had a kahaani (story), something very rarely seen in mainstream Hindi movies these days. The second best thing is that the story is told in a technically competent way in a brisk pace with tight editing and without any loose threads hanging (as far as I could notice). Third best thing is the casting that is excellent. From the lead character of Vidya Balan to the minor characters, all are convincing. From last few years more such movies are being made and most importantly watched. We had movies like Bheja Fry, Tere Bin Laden, Udaan and DevD that were artistically and technically competent and at the same time appealing to common people.

If we observe the kind of movies that are made in Hindi, one thing that strikes is the extremes. On one side such small movies like Kahaani are being made and on other side we can see established movie directors and stars, sans a few like Bhansaali, Rajkumar Hirani or Aamir Khan going the commercial way spending huge amount for set piece actions, foreign locales, songs and dances. While the former turn out to be the delight of critics,  latter gets blasted by them. Still many of these movies go on to become huge money grosser making the same critics to swallow their words. The latest bench mark is Rs 100 crores, set in the style of 100 million line in Hollywood. In last few years many movies crossed this mark like Dabaang, Bodyguard, Ghajini, Singham and Ra-01 most of them hated by critics.  Long back such a thing had happened when the biggest money spinner of all times, Sholay was released. Critics predicted that the movie will be a colossal failure, but audience thought otherwise. But the recent trend seems to be the result of another reason- the entry of the concept of marketing into the movie world.

bollyguide.com 

Previously when a movie was released, the producers were the most anxious people because they had more to lose. The biggest chunk of investment is made by them and till the movie recovers the entire cost and makes profit, they have sleepless night. Now most of the movies are released by corporate, who hire specialized experts to see that all or at least most of the money is recovered before the movie hits the scene. This is done by selling the audio, overseas and satellite rights and by product placement in movies. Also maximum numbers of prints are distributed so that maximum profit can be squeezed out before any bad mouth publicity can affect the run. Then pressure is on releasers who use the promotion campaigns made along with producers to create the hype and sell it to exhibitors. Exhibitors take more risk in most of the cases, but the advent of multiplexes has reduced this also. At a time all the movies released are exhibited (with premium ticket rates) and the loss gets offset in most of the cases. So this is a win- win situation for all.

So the situation is like this. Whatever they make in the name of a movie, all involved are in profit. By the time the initial madness sets down and revelation comes to the movie goers that they have wasted their money on absolutely forgettable stuff, the profits are made. And this is the story behind many of the 100 crore movies made these days.

But there is a plus side also to this trend. As the risk is less, if a director is interested in making a good movie, he has all the opportunity to go on with it. Production houses will back novel ideas if the budget is in control, because they can make a small profit even if the movie runs for a week. So we also have a pack of young directors, mad about good movies, making what they like with minimum interference from the people financing the movie.  This is one reason why small, creative ventures like Kahaani are made these days.     

Exploiting Bloggers..

Recently many corporations has found out about the potential of blogs in promoting their products. Blogs can be effective in sending a message out and enhancing the brand value by mouth to mouth publicity. So many of them organizes meets and contests for bloggers, making them write posts about their products. The publicity that blogs   give for their products may be worth thousands or even millions, but mostly what the blogger gets is a pittance. A lunch for a meet or a consolation price. I have seen many sites offering money for writing about products. Most of them are American and European sites. In India, this trend has not caught up yet it seems. Though I have seen many who condemns it, I personally feel there is nothing wrong in doing it provided it is mentioned in the post that the blogger has received a remuneration for his service. But I had received some offers by mail where the promoters wants it cheap. I will reproduce one such email conversation below. I wanted to get the promoter's final response before posting it, but I don't think he will reply me. If any reply come I will update it later. 

The First Mail:

Hi Harish,

This is about the bollywood film brought about by ***** – the first ever bollywood film auditioned on facebook. You have been approached because your blog fits into our consideration set of auto / gadget / film / youth category. We would like to reach out to our target audience through your blog.

This is an example of how everyday people like you and me were given an opportunity to star alongside one of the bollywood heart throbs – ***** . Shooting of this project is complete and the film is scheduled to release within the next 1 month.

If you are interested in covering the story, please get in touch with me. We would provide images and teaser videos to go along with the content. We could also discuss benefits for you and your readers.

Regards,

******.  

My Reply:

Hi *****,

Thanks for considering my blog for your requirement. If what I know is

right, this is not a regular feature film, right? It is a short movie.

If I am promoting it in my blog what is in it for me?

Harish

His Reply:

Hi Harish,

Yes, it is a short film, first of its kind in Bollywood.

What’s in it for you? 

 ****’s PR mechanism is working full time to ensure that the ******* gets a super duper release. This film is a world’s first, first time that a bollywood film was auditioned on faceboook, first time that many aspiring middle class youth got an opportunity to act in mainstream cinema and experience the whole process of movie-making first-hand – this campaign will not only help ***** to promote the contest and itself but it will also help you to get a better visibility and search ranking.

As a token of appreciation we would like to offer merchandise like T-shirts for you and your readers. Additionally, we can offer limited number of premiere passes for you (depending on availability) and first hand updates, pics and the rest!

Please note that we will also be releasing an official trailer for the movie in the coming weeks.

Regards,

****** 

My Reply ( The Final One):

Hi *****, 

I have a problem in doing it. One thing is that it is backed by ***** and ******, heavy duty PR works spending lakhs of rupees are going on and you want me to put a promotion in my blog free of cost. I am not interested in your T shirts or passes. Second thing is your assurance that I will get more visibility and search ranking which is just a hoax. If I want more visits, I have lot more better options than this. 

You guys are exploiting bloggers by luring them into doing thousands of rupees worth of promotional activities for a pittance.

I would have done a free promotion if a groundbreaking movie was made by a bunch of struggling movie aspirants with no money to spare for  promotion. Just out of my passion for movies... But not for a big corporation trying to promote its business using its brand ambassador. Definitely not for free. 

Get me an offer that I cannot resist or count me out...

I am still waiting for his reply.... 

Allianz of Crooks

An email made my day...! Today I received an email from an international figure. Some one, if not for the strict and religious upbringing in which she was brought up, would have been as influential and popular as Winnie Mandela or Hilary Clinton. Someone whose better half controlled the destiny of a nation for decades. But as Lady Luck was not in the favor of this lady, her husband was murdered in a coup and she is orphaned. Alone and with her husband's huge treasure in her custody, she want to relocate and settle in my country doing any business. And she has chosen me for guarding her money of which I will get a small share... 

Ladies and Gentlemen, please lent your ears for the wails of this lonely lady... wife of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi:

Greetings in the name of Allah,

am the  wife of the late Libyan president Gadafi who was killed

by rebels on Thursday 20th  oct 2011, please my life is in big

danger and I would like to use you as my contact to move a huge

some of money and start living a free life in your country. for

I have been on veils as a Muslim since he married me, which is

our religious rights, nobody has seen my face or known me except

my children and himself and I thank Allah for this.

I cannot be identified by anybody in the world now that things

has gone bad. Am taking refuge in Algeria. I and my children

can't go back to Libya for now.We are afraid that our life could

be in danger in Libya.The death of my husband was a broad day

murder by the Libya rebel.he was captured and was killed not by

stray bullet as the would was made to believe.

I want to relocate to your country,to start up a new life. I

have some money in my possession which i will like to invest in

any profitable business in your country.I want you to guard me

through the business i will invest.I will reward with 20 percent

of the total money.

Please,I will give you more information as soon as I hear

from.kindly send your reply to my private id:

mrs.safia-gadafi@hotmail.com

Waiting to hear from you.

Mrs. Safia Gadafi

My only problem with this wonderfully drafted letter is the spelling mistake in the name of this widow. The height of internet scam... 

But now a days these things never bother me. In such cases my stand is that, if someone is fooled by these schemes, they deserves it. What bothers me is perfectly legitimate business houses doing robbery on broad daylight legally. And helpless public falling for sweet promises and parting their hard earned money. If you check the title of this post, you will know who is this party about whom I mentioned. 

When an insurance adviser, who was rather close to my family and who had helped us in past approached me to take a policy, one with a very reasonable premium and which is in no way a burden for me, I was only glad to oblige. The most attractive thing that he told was that after paying three year's premium we can withdraw the amount at any time as we chose and even if we never pay the premium, it will never lapse. That was how I took my first ULIP plan. After paying three year's premium, I never thought of it again as I was planning to withdraw the money in case of any urgent requirement. And the need struck now. 

That was how I found myself at their office last day morning. The person at reception was much helpful. He listed out the required forms and proofs for surrender of the policy. He even suggested waiting for a few more days to withdraw, as the market was not healthy right then. He filled the form for me and shown the places where I should put my sign. Then he lead me to another officer sitting in a cubicle. This guy checked my policy number, typed it in his system and after a few minutes of calculation, announced the total amount due to me if I surrendered the policy then. 

I was startled. It was almost 45 % less than my fund value. May be he made an error while telling me. I tried to correct him. But he confirmed the amount and told the difference is due to the surrender fee. A surrender fee amounting to 45% of the total amount due to me? My knees got weak. Blood rushed to my head. He was  telling me to wait for more time as with time the surrender fee will reduce incrementally and at the end of 20 years it will be zero. I told why I was not told about the surrender fee, if it was this huge. All I was told by everyone was that after three years I can withdraw the money at any time. There was a formula for surrender fee in their policy document, a bizarre one which did not made any sense to me or any of my much experienced friends to whom I showed it. I collected all the copies and documents on the desk, stuffed it in my bag all the while telling him how big a cheat his organization was. And while coming out of his cubicle, I gave my parting address.

"Look my friend, if you guys think that you and your firm can do this New Year party with my hard earned money, I am not game. You all can go to hell, I am not going to give you a paisa of it. See you after 20 years."    

How to be a successful blogger a la Govind Tiwari...

I was checking news today when I came upon this Indian blog that hit the bull's eye by becoming an overnight sensation on Twitter and Facebook. He is even featured on leading newspapers as a human interest story. So how did Govind Tiwari managed to be a mini celebrity? What are the techniques adopted by this blogger to get an enormous traffic hike in just days?

For answers have a look at his blog govindtiwari.blogspot.com and you will come to know that for getting attention in today's world you need not do any hard work. What you need is a blog with a really freaky template, some of your crazy, in literal sense, photos, basic knowledge in photoshop to screw them up, a demo version video making software, an absence of imagination or a sense of aesthetics and lot of love, for yourself...!

I have been wasting my time, thinking of interesting topics to write in this space, of new words and of making situations just to show them off, of how to promote it so that some unsuspecting reader finds me and read what I have to say. This guy, like that Brahman, who challenged the circus performer, who jumped through a ring of fire, to jump without ring or even fire like he did, became the winning horse on whom no one cared to bet.

Wishing Govind Tiwari best of luck in future endeavors and a happy blogging life...

Turn Petrol Price Hike to Your Advantage..

Gas price is increasing sky high and along with it the price of anything and everything remotely involving transportation. The common man's already stooped spine is now looking like a rainbow with a single color- Black. But as you know Conscientious Reflections always advocates optimism in any pitch black circumstances. And to follow up with this tradition, I am putting up this post to show some ways in which you can turn the hike to advantage. 

One good thing about this hike is that gasoline products- Petrol, LPG and Kerosene will totally get eliminated from households,  thereby reducing the domestic violence against daughter in laws considerably. If you cannot even afford LPG for frying potatoes, it does not make sense to make a scheme for frying your Bahu! If we are lucky, may be there will be a truce between Saas and Bahus, till the petrol price comes down or the unlucky son's/husband's income increases drastically to accommodate the above said products in the kitchen again, though both the options seems unlikely in the prevailing situations. And there is an additional bonus being the stoppage to Saas- Bahu tele serials, causing the whole family audience, right from kids to grant parents, to enrich their vocabulary and cultural background by watching reality shows where young no-good teen agers and non existent celebrities abuse each other mentally, verbally and physically.   

To prevent the nation from going back to bullock cart days, the petrol barons of India can lead the way by introducing new schemes for tempting and promoting people to buy petrol. Ambani's Reliance can be the front runner in this venture as already they have made such a revolution 10 years back by offering mobile phones for 500 Rs, thereby making the most ordinary of the citizens vulnerable to prostate cancer and depression. Give the customer a vehicle free of cost, or with a minimum down payment ensuring they will buy the fuel from you for a stipulated period of time. Giving out Hummers will be the most profitable thing to do. 

Get a Nano for just Rs 500, if you buy it through your nearby Bharath petroleum gas station*.     Conditions Apply...

Financiers can start loaning money against petrol, like Muthoot financiers and Manappuram do using gold. You can go to the nearest office with a can of petrol, diesel or kerosene or a cylinder of LPG and get a loan for that. All this within 5 minutes. 

The Ad will look  something like this:

Muthoot Finance introduces Muthoot Petrol Loan. Loan within 15 minutes.. 

Or 

Manappuram stands for you... or drives...

On a serious note, at least now if we start curbing the dependency on fossil fuels and look out for more green energy sources, we can make earth a better place. 

I already started the endeavor with my new solar water heater. It does not work on cloudy days and early mornings, when I really need hot water to bath, but it is at least a start. 

Attack of the killer cucumbers..!

The world is struck by E coli scare. Many European nations- Germany, France, Spain, Czech republic, UK... are in a state of high alert following the news of the outbreak that caused the death of more than 30 people. The shocking news to the vegetarians is that, they have to take care of the diet this time, for a change. Previously we had seen such a turmoil on the dinner tables of non- vegetarians when bird flu and  mad cow disease struck the world. 

And primary suspect among the lot is cucumber, which is a pity because it happens to be the most harmless looking vegetable in the whole world- tasteless (not in a bad way), odor less, watery (a summer delight)... there is no need to even cook it. Imagine someone wearing a mask while handling a cucumber. But as I am typing this word is coming out that may be sprouts or lettuce can be the culprit. 

Spanish MEP with cucumber

Spain is the worst hit. Whole Europe blamed Spain for exporting E coli affected vegetables, which resulted in tons of cucumber, lettuce and tomatoes being dumped by farmers. An angry Spanish MEP declared in European parliament that they have to restore the honor of cucumber. Ultimately Spanish cucumbers were tested and declared free of the bacteria though E coli strains were found in cucumber waste in trash bin in Germany. It is not yet established whether vegetable was contaminated  or it came from other vegetables in the bin. Every where in Europe cucumber sales have come to a halt. EU has offered compensation for the farmers who are the worst hit by the scare. Still experts could not specifically identify the real villain behind the outbreak. 

Criticism is mounting against the way Germans, who are the worst hit, are tackling the problem. No leads are made yet in asserting the real cause. Instead an international blame game is being played, where producer countries are defending their products and buyers getting paranoid and avoiding them like plague... 

   

Reading in Bangalore...

I have always been passionate about reading, which is evident if you have been visiting this place often. I should thank my parents and relatives who have brought me up by supporting this passion. If I get a book about anything, I will sit in a corner and devour it without caring a hoot about the world. In my childhood it was those Malayalam children's weeklies like Balarama, Poompatta and many of them like Chandamama that I used to satisfy my pang for the written word. In fifth class, I joined in two libraries near my home and serious reading began.

And what a coincidence! Now after decades, in Bangalore I have joined two fantastic libraries and am juggling my spare time between the books supplied by them. Both are professionally managed ones with an impressive catalog.

Before joining them, I had been getting my regular supply of books from peddlers on street. You can buy two books for Rs 140, and if after reading, when returned you can get half your money back or one book of your choice. Bargain was ok, but quality of books are really bad and the choice is limited to popular ones, which I do not have much interest in reading.

Then I happened to see the site of Librarywaala, and checked out the plans. I just tried to join and left half way. You have give some personal details and can join by paying through net banking. I just gave the details and left it there. Next week someone called from their office and they had a new year offer. So I opted for a 3 book plan per month and joined. Mr Manjunath came all the way (around 80 kms up and down) to my office to collect the payment and  deliver the first set of books. And from then on I am regularly getting 3 books every month delivered at my home. Service is good, you can order by internet, no fuss... The collection is also quite good. I especially love the non-fiction segment. They have a variety there! Fiction is also good, but limited to popular ones. I cannot get much of Camus, Kundera or Marquez there.  

Then I discovered that there was another library just behind my home. It is called Just Books. They too have a site and you can order books and get door delivery, but for preferred memberships only. I took a membership for unlimited number of books for Rs 150. The main attraction is the kiosk on the entrance where you can place your book and membership card and issue or return your books. You can search for titles and if they are not available in that branch, it can be ordered from any other branch, where it may be available. Here, non fiction department is not so strong, but fiction part is impressive. You name it and it is there. 

So things are going pretty strong in the reading front and you can see the result in blog. 

Spoilt for choice...

Last day the office canteen boy asked me, "Sir, when are you going to Kerala next?"

"Next week maybe, or the week after that."

"Will you bring banana chips for me?"

"No"

He was offended, though I told it in a light vein. If I say yes, and even if I never brought him the chips, he would have been happy. My telling no was unexpected and he was upset. But he also had to think that he gave me a choice. It was a yes or no question that he asked and logically he do not have any right to be upset when my answer is negative. He was supposed to be prepared for that. Because there was  50% chance for a negative answer.

So the moral of the story is that, never ever give a choice to anyone when you want only one outcome as an answer.

Speaking about choices, I wanted to write a post on them from long time back. But this incident last day prompted me to start it.

I started browsing through channels in TV last day and was flicking the remote for an hour or so without watching a program for even a minute fully. I see a movie playing and feel that on the other channel I thought I saw a better one, but by the time I reach that channel, advertisements had started. Then again I continue surfing.. Same thing happen when I am in the library. A long array of books and I keep moving from one rack to another, from one genre to another, takes a book at first and then browse some more. Put it back and grab another one... Making a choice is tough. especially for these small  things like watching a movie or choosing where to eat. Is it all the perils of modern technology? Bombarding our simple every day life with so many choices? 

Last day I watched this ad for iphone telling that if you do not have an iphone, you don't have one. (Of course I never bought an iphone, but after watching the ad, now I am sure I don't have one.) They say you can choose form 30000 applications!!!! 30000... What were they thinking?!!! Just to chose one or two from them will be like searching a  needle in Sahara desert. In my phone I have four applications, Opera Mini, Snaptu, Newshunt and Kakuro (a fine game that can give some good exercise to brain). Except for the first and the last one, I opens them only once in a blue moon... I cannot imagine what I will do after downloading 30000 applications... Same thing about that 5 TB hard disk my good friend boasts about. 5 TB is a lot of space. If I fill it with movies, I will not be even able to watch it all in my life time, especially being in my current job. 

So the world is hell bend on spoiling us with choices. Remember the good old days of Doordarshan? We used to wait for a week to watch a Malayalam movie, Rangoli or Chitrhaar! Once in DD national they started this top 10 song show called Ek Se Badhkar Ek. We were quite impressed by the show because all the popular songs were shown on a single episode. The hitch came during the second episode. My parents did not like it. They were asking what fun is there in watching the same 10 songs consecutively for two weeks. And next year we bought cable. Now around 5 channels played the same songs every half hour. And worst part is that we got used to it. 

You know what I am longing for now? A world that is not so complicated, giving us infinite choices for every options that we have. For important options, it is good, a better job, a better study course, I don't mind a lot of options for these things. But for trivial needs do we require these much? Call me demented. I don't mind. I want only one TV channel that shows one quality program at a time. A library that issues one book selected randomly without telling me to choose from 50 titles of fluorescent colored jackets written by Danielle Steel. A movie theater with a single screen. An election  candidate list with just two contestants to select from..  

Peter VS Dilbert: Principles Of Promotion

Last day I was reading this article, thanks to the link shared through my blogger friend Nona's tweet. At one juncture, there is a mention about Peter Principle, which is regarding promotions in work place. I found the thought very striking and then started reading some more on that from Wikipedia and some other sources. I thought I will share what I came to know about Peter Principle as the idea can provoke some thought process. 

Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull wrote a book in 1969, called Peter principle, in which they started a study of hierarchy or hierarchiology as they coined it. They came to this conclusion that, in any hierarchy every employee raises to his ultimate incompetency level. So after a period of time, the whole order will be a collection of incompetent members causing a downfall, unless fresh blood is not induced. 

Pic Courtesy:  frontierpsychiatrist.co.uk

Take the case in a work shop. A worker who performs very well in his job will be promoted to the next level, may be as a foreman. If he shows good skill as a foreman he will be promoted to a supervisor. But if he does not perform as a foreman, he will stay in that job for eternity. There is no way he may be willing to go back to his former level in which he excelled. So we have an incompetent foreman instead of a skilled worker. This same process happens in all levels. A good supervisor gets promoted to a manager, but gets stuck in the same level from then on, as he may not be having the guts to take a hard decision. So ultimately, promotions become a tool to lock people in a level where they are incompetent and employees in every level turns out to be people who are incompetent to perform. 

Some months back I was reading Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert comic strip). Dilbert principle postulates that promotions in work places are a way to take out incompetent people from the front line, pushing them to upper levels where they will not have a scope to inflict much damage, so that the work will be carried on without obstruction by competent personnel who will never reach any managerial positions because, 

in many cases the least competent, least smart people are promoted, simply because they’re the ones you don’t want doing actual work. You want them ordering the doughnuts and yelling at people for not doing their assignments—you know, the easy work. Your heart surgeons and your computer programmers—your smart people—aren’t in management.

 Pic courtesy: hannibalis.blogspot.com

The main difference between Peter and Dilbert principle is that in former it is assumed that a person was competent in doing some work in the past. But latter says that even without showing any level of competency in any past endeavors, one can get promoted and even goes as far to say that experts in a field will not get promoted as they are required to keep the work moving.   

I feel that Dilbert principle is one way to cure the harms caused by Peter principle... 

GYM VILLE... Now in FaceBook

Always aspired for that six pack figure? Wanted to be a size zero model and sport a sexy bikini? Here is a chance to do that! Hit Gym Ville in Face book and earn the body figure that you always yearned for! Without sweating a drop or enduring muscle pain. 

Gym Ville is the latest social networking game that has hit the Face Book. You can develop your own virtual multi gym, with every kind of virtual accessories available in a regular, real world gym and more. You can choose your Avatar, make your own schedule with the help of a virtual trainer, work out and earn points for every pull up, push up and anything you choose to do! As you pile up the points, you can buy more equipments, decorate your gym or increase the size of your gym.

But the best part is that you can invite your friends to join you in work outs, hang around with them, visit their gym, help them in their work outs (extra points will be credited for this!), and even gift them a dumbbell or two!  

So what are your waiting for? Hit Gym Ville right now, and sport that six pack figure that you always wanted...!

Now to decorate your Gym walls, we have made available the wall posters of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Khali, Rajni Kanth (morphed), Mamtha Banarjee and the likes... A wall poster will cost you only 10 points. (This option is locked for beginners. It starts from 3 packs onwards only.)

The Working of Multi Level Marketing Business for Dummies

Last day one of my friend excitedly told me about a new scheme to make money. There is this company that sends us online surveys about various consumer products. You get Rs 500 per survey that you participates. You can earn up-to Rs 4000 a month. For starting you have to pay Rs 11000 and subscribe for their e magazine. So calculation is very simple, 4000 per month and from third month you are in profit. You can even have up to 7 IDs by paying 11000 each time you enroll again. That makes a cool 28000 per month. Also they have a referral scheme where you can refer friends as a chain below you and earn commission. Wow! I was bitten... There is at least one person I know who is really earning through it. Adverts are shown in news papers, on TV in between cricket matches. I am a fool if I let go this chance... After all, sitting idle and making dough is the best career option possible!

But after some moments of delusional thoughts of idle days, comfortable wears and sufficient funds to dine and lead a lavish retired life, my rational part of brain took control. Who will pay 500 rupees for a survey?.. I tried the maths once again. This time noted every thing down. And what I found was this:

Click to enlarge

What I did, was to assume a hypothetical situation where a company starts from scratch, with zero investors. On first month they make 100 members, who pays 11000 each, which makes a total of Rs 11 lakh. That month company need not pay anything. Surveys are distributed, and received back. Next month, the promised money is given to members. More people are referred by existing members. Considering each person makes two people to join the scheme, there are 200 more members in the end of second month. 

The company collects Rs 2,200,000 out of which, it paid back 400,000 to previous month's members for taking surveys. Also as referral remuneration  company pays some amount to those who referred new members. I am not very sure how much each person may get for this. But in this case, I take it 50% of the joining fee, which I feel is a huge return for the members. That makes it 5500 per new member. Total in second month 200 persons joined. A referral remuneration of Rs 1,100,000 is redistributed to 100 members. By second month company has earned for itself a total profit of Rs 12.5 lakh. 

By this time you may feel that we can believe them. Isn't it? Out of 33 lakh rupees they collected, they returned back 20.5 lakh to the members. 62%...! Okay, let us move on till ten months, every month assuming double the amount of new members join through referral, surveys are filled promptly by members, money for  surveys and referrals are distributed promptly by the company. By ninth month end, company made a profit of 8 crore change. But they have redistributed 48 crore change to its 51000 subscribers... 

How do you feel now? A completely believable revenue model? An honest company that promptly pays its dues and delivers on its promise? Quite good. But, assume in the end of tenth month, they chose to close the shop, without paying a single paisa for its subscribers, and abscond with all collection done on that month. That month alone company gets 56 crore as fees from new members.  With the 8 crore profit made in nine months, that is a whopping 64 crore rupees. 

You may have noticed that I never mentioned in the table, the revenue generated to the company through the Online Surveys, which are filled by its members and which they are supposed to deliver to their clients. Well that is because there are no online surveys...! That was just a cover for the entire operation. All survey forms you filled out are resting in piece somewhere in the recycle Bin of the company server. Online surveys make the whole scam believable. We suppose that the company paid us for participating in surveys, but, actually they are returning just a portion of the money collected as the initial start up fee. With every new start up company gets a buffer time for 3 months. By the end of 3 months new members pump in more money. This will not go on for long. The bubble will burst some day. So before that happens, the company dissolves with all the funds...

Foot note: You might already have known the scheme about which I mentioned here. It is very popular these days. My intention here is not to tarnish the firm, as I have no personal enmity to any one involved in it. My intention is  just to prove to the public that, the cover of online surveys that this company takes the help of IS A LIE. It IS possible to return the money back to the members or panelists as they calls them, ( bakras as I decipher the word) without generating a single paisa from online surveys or any other source. And if they are prompt in paying your remuneration back now, it is because they are waiting. They already told you a lie, and they won't be reluctant to cheat you. If they don't abscond by the tenth month, they may do it at twelfth, or may be in the second year. Because that the later it goes, it may get riskier, but the wealthier they becomes (as is evident from the table). 

Take Your Cross, Follow Me.. On Twitter!

After reading my last post on writing bestsellers, one blogger friend suggested writing about Tweet craze... and follows this one..

"This post is dedicated to all the leaders dethroned in Egypt and Tunisia, thanks (partly) to twitter campaigning and to one leader from India who ranted on twitter forgetting his position and got kicked out sometime back." 

Jesus had just 12 followers... whereas I have 1.2 million of them...- Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen holds the Guinness world record for reaching 1 million followers in record time... Charlie Sheen! Of all people.... Where the world is heading?  Sheen, who is considered the bad boy of Hollywood, who went on from acting in classics like Apocalypse Now and Platoon to B graders like Terminal Velocity to C graders like Hot Shots and Scary movie 4, (not even the first part, mind it!) entered televised serials and managed to get kicked out of even there, has more than a million followers. Not only that, he gets paid for tweeting.. and his followers earns him money reading his product endorsements... (These days I believe about apocalypse in 2012.) 

Followers used to be disciples who closely observe a teacher, living with him, learning from him, imbibing his philosophy into their life and using their life to spread his message. Like Vivekananda, 12 disciples of Jesus, (ottukodutha Yudasum, thallipparanja Pathrosum adakkam) and Asoka, they are special, dedicated individuals, hell bent on a cause. But in Tweet-world, (most of the) followers are peeping toms, getting Voyeuristic pleasure in observing the private life of celebrities and ogling. And tweet wisdom, as I had mentioned in an earlier post, is like a droplet on the leaves of an early morning... dies when sun shows up. Forgettable...

The only good thing about tweets is that fame seeking celebrities can use it as a platform to stay in limelight. When you don't have work to show tweet something outrageous. And it is splashed all over the next day. This  has made many a  gossip mongering journos virtually jobless. Previously stars did not have a platform to tell their part of the story. There was every possibility of whatever they say being convoluted to suit the requirement of press. Twitter is a swift blow for them.   

These days another bad trend is catching up- of Trending topics. Many people think trending topics are the pulse of thought of people all over the world. They makes their marketing strategies based on them, makes news stories out of them only to be fooled when the interest fades and they fall into oblivion. Last few days the leading trending topic is a 13 year old singer, Rebecca Black, who shot to some fame after posting songs on Youtube. then the parents planned to cut a video of the singing child and it backfired. The song was so bad and idiotic that tweets has not stopped flowing from all over the world condemning the poor child. Some even mentions killing her... Gross...

Art of/and Understanding

"Modern art is just some colour thrown on a canvas."

"The book is a classic one. I could not follow it."

"These movies are not made for public, who can understand these?"



Pablo Neruda



Certain comments I have encountered in many places!

My doubt is that, is an art form bad or good just because it is some thing that is difficult for you to comprehend? Or is it necessary for a work of art to be simplistic that every one can identify with that, the moment they encounters it?



My opinion is that every work of art needs a certain level of understanding, an effort from the viewers side to appreciate it. For some it may be minimal, like a screwball comedy movie, or a hip hop song. But for some, you need some preperation, some back ground knowledge of the times it was made or on many times, a second effort to appreciate it fully, like a novel of Kafka, or a piece of classical music. Many people are very allergic to give an exercise to their brain and when they comes up on something for which a minimal cerebral effort is required they lap it up.

I was reading Neruda some times back. I am not much into poetry, but this one was fascinating, though a bit tough to visualize the imagery used. Then I happened to read his biography and was amazed to know that the laymen of his country Chile, took these anti capitalist anthems to heart because the images in the poetry was taken from their day to day life and Pablo Neruda worked among them. So it is not a universal law that such art form, intellectual, if I can say so, has a very less patronship. With strategical marketing the appreciation level of public can be raised.

Abstract art

Another of my doubt is whether art should mimic life? Like is it necessary for a picture or a verse to show reality as it is, or even it should give a meaning? Like an instrumental music is not natural and if vocals are not added to it, it never emulates a meaning. But it is an art form. Like wise is it necessary that a pattern on a canvas to give a meaning to spectator? Or can I just appreciate it for the mix of colurs or the intricate design it shows. Or even a collection of words that does not make any sense, but feels good to hear... ?

If my knowledge is correct, abstract art borders on these concepts. I think it was Burgess who said that if he is writing about a Bengal tiger, what is wrong if it has five legs or talks, after all it is a figment of his imagination...

The Son Rise

Title is not misspelt. I precisely meant what I typed! These are the days of son rises. In politics, business, movies- sports seems to be an exception. May be because talent is a must there!

A son rise happens when a successful person, mostly who built up his own life by talent and hard work, promotes his son (or daughter)  to continue his legacy. On paper this may sound fair and fine. But, in reality?

Last week I happened to read an admission by Rahul Gandhi, scion of Nehru family, (I think attaching a Gandhi title to their family name is not a fair thing to do) touted as the next Prime Minister of India, in a meeting with students, that his family back ground has helped him in coming up in political circle. The story also mentioned that this candid admission did not go down well with audience. 

Now if an average person has to come up in politics, he should start from being an ordinary party member and then show sufficient leadership and organizational skills to slowly  make his way among the crowd to the top. It takes years of hard work and toil in different levels- from grass root to national. When the son of a political leader enters politics, he gets a top position automatically. On what basis can we ensure that this person deserves the position?

This situation makes me think of the origin of caste system. With division of labor, classes originated. Then after years, came a situation where it became impossible to a man belonging in one class to migrate to another, better class, socially or economically. Son of King remained King and son of cobbler remained cobbler. And society was plunged deep into caste system for centuries.

Are we going back to the same period...? When sons occupy the position of their rich fathers, there is no scope of outsiders to come in.

A reason to live or An option to die?

My post on Guzaarish, the latest movie on Euthanasia, has attracted a fair amount of comments, with lot of different views being presented. The only unanimous view was regarding the movie, every one thrashed it. Now I feel some further explanation is needed about my view on the subject.

Many people supports the idea of awarding death to some one who is suffering from some fatal disease or injuries. Several factors that favors such a thought are pain, suffering, dependability, disability, dignity, mental anguish, causing pain and suffering to relatives and friends.

Now my view is that for any decision involving the life of a person, utmost care has to be taken, so that there is no margin for error. If there is any chance of an innocent getting executed, better not to have laws that favors capital punishment. A life taken is irreversible. Definitely there are people who deserve to die, but what if someone who is wrongfully accused gets a death sentence? It is a severe situation and don't tell me our, or any other constitution and laws are error free. I propose the abolishment of capital punishment for this one reason alone.  

Coming back to Euthanasia, a decision has to be taken that causes a damage, that can in no way be corrected afterwards. So on what basis can a system guarantee that a right decision is taken?. If a totally paralyzed person is decided to be awarded mercy killing, doesn't it matter that his consent is not taken? Or if a suffering person want to die, what way does it makes him eligible to exercise his wish? There are people who went on with their life even in a paralyzed state providing inspiration to millions around the world. So shall we encourage him to embrace death or shall we provide him enough support and motivation to embrace  life and go on with it.  From  my own post:

Brain dead patients whom doctors had certified dead has returned back. It may be a minority case, but still valid. If  the sufferer loses hope and decides to die, what makes it different from a suicide? How can the border line be drawn between a case of mercy killing and suicide? After all I believe suffering is a response to a situation by an individual. It is not a situation itself. Another person may, in the same circumstances fight with his will power to his fate and emerge victorious. (Imagine Stephen Hawking). There are plenty of cases where people with sever first degree burns throughout their body, went on to get cured and lead a normal life. There are cases were quadriplegic patients, bedriden for more years than the protagonist, bounced back .

Stephen Hawking is in an increasing state of paralysis and assisted by a speaking wheel chair for support. Now, what if he decided to end his life? There are inspiring stories of men and women who had fought disabilities and made their life worthwhile. (Please see the link in the above quote.) Instead of debating on whether to take a life legally, let us find out a way to support them and make their short life on earth better and joyful.  

This lady recovered from being in a vegetable state.

For almost 70 days, she was totally unresponsive. Doctors finally pulled her feeding tube. And, for eight days, she was dying.

Then Ms. Adamson began responding on her own. Doctors quickly put the feeding tube back in, and she recovered.

See this page for links to more stories like this. What shall we do? Provide a reason to live, or an option to die?

Enough of serious talk, enjoy these two great songs, Send Me an Angel and Losing My Religion:

Why I may never watch Guzaarish?

This time no review... I did not wach the movie.

And I never felt like watching it after seeing the promos, or hearing songs (songs are good, actually). After reading the reviews, I just gave up. Not that I believe reviews, there are times when I decide to watch a movie when a particular critic blasts the crap out of it. What may be the reason...?

I am no Hrithik fan.. Not that I hate him, I don't mind him being in a movie. Like, I watched Kites for Anurag Basu. But Hrithik being the hero alone is not a motivational factor to watch one. And Aishwarya... I can never accept that prettiness gives someone a right to act with the best of directors consistantly. But still I watched Raavan and hated it. Aishwarya is not a deterrant. "Kabab mein Haddi" rightly express my feelings towards her. Just spit out the bone, if you get what I meant.

That takes us to our directer Bhansali. I lost the respect to this man after watching Devdas. Pathetically unwatchable.. Khamoshi was too better with a dumb Nana. Although he redeemed himself with Black, I still  felt a bit put off by the European setting. Was that necessary?  Saawariya was a drag. Sony corporation's Bollywood dreams where shattered by this one. They closed their Indian movie making firm after it's debacle. Promos clearly indicates this latest movie is an assortment of all the worst things from his past movies- Devdas' silly sentiments, Black's aliens and Saawariya's fakeness.

And then the theme,  (after reading the first reviews) on euthanasia. It seems a magician is quadriplegic after a fatal accident and he wants to use his right for a dignified death. But is it a correct stand? For a theory we can assume that it is not wrong to award death to some one, who dont have much time left and is suffering very seriously by handicaps or severe pain. It sounds very convincing. But my question is this, who will decide that a man has no hopes or no future? Himself, his doctor or his family? Who is qualified for that? And if someone affirms it, what guarantee is there that he is right?

Brain dead patients whom doctors had certified dead has returned back. It may be a minority case, but still valid. If  the sufferer loses hope and decides to die, what makes it different from a suicide? How can the border line be drawn between a case of mercy killing and suicide? After all I believe suffering is a response to a situation by an individual. It is not a situation itself. Another person may, in the same circumstances fight with his will power to his fate and emerge victorious. (Imagine Stephen Hawking). There are plenty of cases where people with sever first degree burns throughout their body, went on to get cured and lead a normal life. There are cases were quadriplegic patients, bedriden for more years than the protagonist, bounced back.

The argument on Euthanasia will go on with lot of points argued for and against it, but I don't think I have to watch a movie with a loser deciding to commit suicide because life was unfair. (I still regret watching another loser, who drank himself to death some years back, courtesy our Bhansali)  I am satisfied with watching Andy Dufrane hoping to get out of The Shawshank Prison and working towards it for twenty years against all odds.         

Do the Earth a favour: Gypsum

I was going through this news paper suppliment today while I came upon this article about using gypsum for construction of buildings, minimising the usage of bricks, wood, sand and water. I am feeling thats great because dependency on all these things- sand, water, wood especially is creating hell a lot of ecological problems. In Kerala, I have heard, Government has made the laws on buying sand so stringent that it is having an adverse effect, sand mafia, that deals with underground buying and selling of sand! Ultimate effect is more price for sand and increased raping of seashores and rivers... We cannot reduce construction of buildings, we cannot ignore our rising population's basic need of sheltor, and the only way to deal with it is find alternate sources of construction...

The article about which I mentioned earlier puts forward gypsum as a proper substitute.

• It has great insulation properties making it fire, moisture and impact resistant.
• More savings in electricity, due to the less electrical conductivity.
• Light weight and very flexible, making it suitable for dry walls and false ceilings.
• Fast to construct.
• Durable- seems the pyramids where made out of it. Any more proof ?
• Green, recyclable!
• Better aesthetics.
• Helps in water conservation.
• Not messy as is the case after using mortar and bricks.
• Better material substitute for sand cement plasters.

I am not sure if it has any disadvantages. But after reading the article, I feel it cannot be used for the outside walls, because it is not tough.. Some one please correct if I am wrong.

Bonus

My new indiblogger rank has jumped to 73. After debuting with an impressive 72, it was a let down to plunge into 48. 3 months of a non blogging period... Thanks to all fellow bloggers for the support..  On that note, enjoy this great song...

Drinks first, food next...

I had seen this bizarre new theory on the origin of civilization while browsing on Gawker.com... Before going to details, let me take you back to some history lessons. We all had learned that some where at the end of stone age, humans, who till then survived by hunting and collecting berries from wild, found cereals and started cultivating them near river banks, settling there permanently and biding good bye to the nomadic life of their ancestors. This one event caused the civilizations, and ultimately we ended up in the present way of living. This taming of cereals, (rice, wheat and other grains) as we learned in our history classes, was basically for food.

If you have studied the Kerala board high school syllabus, some time around late nineties, you might be remembering a chapter about a Russian village, which had surplus rice and the devil teaching those villagers the art of brewing vodka and finally bringing them all and under his grip. So we all came to conclude that surplus grain made men brew alcohol and all of us innocent beings thus became possessed by the evil.

But a recent theory by Brian Hayden, a Canadian Archeologist, totally refutes our innocence and postulates that, cultivation of cereals was in the first place meant for  fermenting beer and not the other way around, making beer responsible for making us live the way we live now... . In a way it makes sense. If it was for food, why should one cultivate cereals, when other edibles like fruits and berries are available? To get rice or wheat to a dining table is quite a cumbersome process, and to think that our ancestors wanted to take all this risk just for that seems unconvincing. But bringing beer to the equation makes the whole problem seem solved. People can go to any length for a drop of alcohol...

In the beginning was the 3G...

While looking at the profile of a fellow Indi blogger, I noticed that a recent post by him has won an absurd lot of votes, and many previous posts that I personally enjoyed and would have voted twice if the rules permitted where lying very low in the vine... Then I did some research, and found the reason, it was a post for the TATA Docomo 3G Life Blogger contest. Hm.. great idea, contest posts gets more votes, meaning, more visitors as opposed to other ones.. Thus I, who never contested with fellow bloggers, is up to enter this thing... if I lose I will end up with some visitors, if I win there will be some prize.. What is it?.. Rs 50,000! That is a nasty lot of money for a blog post.. Fellow contestents beware, I have entered the arena!!!!!

In the beginning was the 3G, and 3G was with God and 3G was God... Now you might have got a rough idea how much big this 3G thing is... 3G is coming to India powered by TATA Docomo... They have even booked his flight ticket in advance. Before 3G, obviously there was 2G, who came on Economy class of Air India and there was 1G, who was  called by friends, Romans and countrymen as G affectionately, (also may be because then they did not knew he will begot 2G), came in a ship that delivered rotten sheep skin from Ghana to a Nawab. (Why would a Nawab require rotton sheep skin from Ghana is still a mystery and historians are on the work...) This pretty much sums up the history part.

This 3G guy, will come to India and change our life, like how Coca Cola came and changed our life. (I am not sure how. I will find out and tell you another time, we should not miss our focus.) 3G life is going to be awesome, you can download lot of movies pretty fast.. (that is what they give in the contest page, in a blink of an eye, they wrote.) You can make lot of money bootlegging them and selling underground... And it seems marriages will  happen by video conferencing..(again from the same page). They did not write anything about the things after that... No, no, not that! I meant shopping for furniture, arranging kitchen. There was something about cars in that page, which I cannot recollect. Hm.. then.. Actually... Finally... So there are many benifits and our life won't be the same...

I am sure you are not satisfied with the advantages of 3G para, but thing is that I am not able to google, to collect more info, because I don't have internet connection right now and I am typing on Word... you know...! I will add them when I upload this thing on blog later when I manage to get somewhere there is connection. (If I does not forget it by then.) But in next segment I will tell you what 3G has done to other countries...

3G was in Dubai when they made Al Bhurj, the tallest building on the planet. There are unconfirmed reports that he was present in France while Eiffel tower was being erected.  Some secret CIA dossiers suggests his presence even when they were building Statue of Liberty... All the US presidents till George W Bush have sighted 3G in their dreams and Nixon was so scared that he wired the Watergate complex, resulting in that scandel... what was its name? I forgot!

3G gives colour to the butterflies, scent to the flowers, depth to the ocean, height to Everest, vastness to the sky... 3G is responsible for sun rising in East and setting in West, for the universe standing in the space and not falling down, for tides, black holes and tiny spot on moon... In short 3G is just second to Chuck Norris.... I think this para makes up to all that goof ups happened initially...

So guys, it is your duty to vote me and get me my 50,000... I am also ready to deal in a profit sharing basis with individual voters, commision agents are welcome to make a bulk quantity of people vote for me and earn some percentage of prize money...  

To crack or not to crack: Psychology of crackers

Its Diwali time. One half of the Indian population is busy buying crackers and the other half is busy condemning the former for that. Those who are for crackers considers others as chicken hearts and the chicken hearts thinks cracker lovers are inconsiderate. 

I don't want to pass any judgment here. I used to love crackers as a young kid, but these days I never crack anything noisier than a joke. But I don't hate them too. I love watching a good cracker show on TV, where I can increase or reduce the sound according to my convenience. I would watch one more for the visual part. The one in the movie, Lord of the Rings:Fellowship of the Ring, comes into mind.

Now, crackers can be broadly divided into two, those that make sound and those that make a little less sound. In short, sound comes with the package. Unavoidable.. And taking sound out of a cracker show would be like watching a silent movie starring Nana Patekar. I would strongly advise against that dull  and boring exercise.

Why do some people love crackers, while some abhor it ? I had closely observed both the kinds, and the biggest difference that I have come up, between them is that former bursts crackers...(That paragraph was just meant to show that some serious effort is put on making these posts, like character study, observation and the kind.)

The answer becomes very clear, if we look at the reactions when a cracker bursts. In such a situation our brain enters a flight mode. Shock, excitement, blood rushing to central nervous system... Same things that happen when you watch an action piece or a horror movie, or when you booze or do bungee jumping or while on a roller coaster ride... Kick... that is the answer in one word... Any stress that is produced in a controlled environment with adequate safety measures give enjoyment...

Wish you all a safe Diwali...