Macaulay , Pioneer of Indian Modernization- Zareer Masani

After the history books in school where one became acquainted with British officials Robert Clive, Warren Hastings, William Bentinck, Thomas Macaulay - I revisited that part of my history again thanks to Harsha who insisted that I read about Macaulay. Zareer Masani's book recreates the person that Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) was and the impact he made (if I am writing this blog in English and if you're an Indian reading it in English, we...

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The Ideal PM

It was interesting to see Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's endorsement of Rahul Gandhi as the ideal PM after 2014. I am not aware if Mr. Singh  elucidated any special qualities that Rahul Gandi possesses which make him the ideal PM of the largest democracy in the world. For someone in such a responsible post to endorse someone so strongly, specially someone as erudite as the present PM, it takes a lot. It is the kind of a statement that forces us to think about two things - whether there are some unknown factors about Mr. Rahul Gandhi's leadership...

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Story idea - The Hypocrites

The Hook:It is about a land filled with Hypocrites. They say one thing, do one thing. A new bunch of people who come to that land by mistake find out why this abundant land is stuck where it is. But can they get away?Pic courtesy: Prarthana NargundkarThe Story:A group of adventurers chance upon a land of plenty. Everything about this land is perfect. The people make all the right noises and they all seem perfectly sane too. The new bunch cannot figure...

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The Beggars Mafia

It's aggressive. It's in the face. But  what makes it most distressing is the fact that you know that its an organised racket.The Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar junction is a big junction these days. It has grown bigger over the years and one can see a large number of vehicles restraining themselves on all four sides, pedestrians trying to sneak off to the other side, with not an inch available for the good old push carts. These days you cannot even stand edge ways on that road.In the old days there used to be a couple of old men and women beggars,...

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Story Idea - Love Affair With Luck

Hook:Man who has been unlucky all his life decides to have a love affair with luck. Now all his living moments are spent wooingStory:Pitch in the regular guy full of bad luck stories. Take it to a limit where he breaks. But he wakes up on the other side - he feels that something he has always wanted, something that has rejected him all the time, this Lady Luck, must be wooed, if that's the last thing he does. Now how does one woo luck - that's what...

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Teachers Day - Teachers I Remember

On Teachers Day I remember with gratitude all the teachers who have taught me and made me. More so the teachers who left a lasting impression on me by their words and deeds, their intensity to teach and impart knowledge by being themselves. 1) L.T. Ramasarma: My first teacher at Eluru, when I was all of five. He would come home in his dignified yet friendly manner, well dressed, clear about all he wanted to teach, strict when he needed to be. Perhaps...

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Anjali - We Don't Know What Will Happen In the Future

I guess I got what I was asking for. In one quiet moment between a game of cricket with the young lady I asked her - "Anjali, when you grow up, will you fight with me?" I would not be telling the truth if I said I did not expect her to say that she would not fight and that she would love me forever and all that.But she took a rather simplistic view of the whole thing. "We don't know what will happen in the future na?' she said very practically. "We...

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In Bruges - Movie Review

Fantastic stuff. I loved it. There's not a moment when you feel you know what's going to happen and its the weirdest plot, the most original of characters and motives. And its dark comedy which I love. Super stuff.Two hit men are sent to Bruges (where's that?) in Belgium, by their boss. One older, Ken (Brendan Gleeson), and Ray (Colin Farell), a new recruit who has just botched his first attempt at murder, killing  a little boy by accident....

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Thought For The Day - Slow Down But Don't Stop

"Slow down but don't stop", is one of my favorite lines from 'The Men Within'. And I experienced the full meaning of that recently. Aren't we learning all the time?Recently I set myself a one hour walk-jog routine for 21 days. Typically one of my main excuses to skip the walk (and thereby muck up the whole program) is the time constraint on days when you hit the park late. "I can't do the entire one hour if I go now. Let me go in the evening," is...

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Story Idea - Egoistic Lovers

Hook:Two super egoistic lovers and the lengths to which they go to boost their ego after a petty fight.It's about two people who go to great lengths to prove they are in love and finally find out that they are not. They are in love with themselves!Story:The story dives headlong into the romance and makes it sizzle. Its the ideal romance, and the two lovers are so pleased with themselves. But all through this romance there are indications that give...

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The Best of Maupassant - Book Review

Another one that I got from Indialog's nice collection of classics. "The Best of Maupassant" has 37 short stories of the most delightful kind, each with a gentle twist at the end that stays with you. Guy de Maupassant, born in 1950, died young,  at 42. Having served in the army in the Franco-Prussian war, he has a few stories set in the war time. His body of work includes 300 stories, six novels, three travel books and one volume of verse, according...

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Thought for the Day - Match Ability With Belief

If you have ability, but no belief, you will under perform. You will be seen as talented but not good enough for the big league. A loser.If you have no ability but have belief, you are better off than the first lot. You will use your limited ability to its maximum and do better than you are expected to. You will rise above your weight. You will be successful.But if you have ability, backed by equal or more belief, you will soar. You will be a champion.(Assuming...

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Anjali - Art of Gratitude

Once again a knock on the head. Ever since my barber for the last three decades passed away last year, I have been on the quest to find a suitable and convenient replacement. Not having found one who fit my exacting requirements (i.e. my old barber), I have been complaining, cribbing since then. The saloon near my home does a fair job but unfortunately they get the most of my cribbing.But I went there again last week and got my hair cut. On my return...

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Story Idea - The Three Men Who Forget

Hook:Three death row criminals are given a choice of three states of mind in a scientific experiment that knocks out that part. One chooses not to think of the past, one about the future and the third about the present.Story:Three criminals on the death row. One way to get out (ala Clockwork Orange) is to participate in the scientific experiment. What happens when they lose memory of the past, the  capacity to think of the future and the inability...

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Thought For The Day - Moult The Past Away Like A Snake

What if we could get up each day without the baggage of yesterday? What if we can suddenly start afresh, slate clean, smiles in place, people not judged? What if we could shed it all like snakes do and move on?Nice inviting roadSounds heavenly. Life an...

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Is India A Safe Place For Women?

I keep seeing these polls on websites and tv channels? Is India safe? What do you think?I don't know how the poll is supposed to change anything but I suppose the answer is quite obvious in view of the latest happenings. It's not.I recently saw a CNN report based on an American student's report of her three month stay in India and the report was quite shattering and hard hitting. It points at all the things we take for granted with our so called 'freedom' - leching at women openly, making passes at them passing lewd comments, taking pictures and...

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Story idea - Cancer Ward

Hook: How a bunch of terminally ill guys decide to take one last shot at redemption.A coupleStory: Six guys in a cancer ward for terminally ill get talking. They all know they have not more than a month to live. While talking at night they think of the one big regret they had all their lives. If there was one way to set it right how would they do it? As they share their stories the six come up with different plans, different attitudes, to their last...

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Our Big Problem - We Condone Easily

I agree with Ramaraju on this. While walking and discussing the other day as we normally do over weekends, Ram pointed out how we take our hypocricy to a new level. On one hand we all condemn and crib about all that is wrong and on the other hand we condone the same criminals and hobnob with them in our personal capacities. It is not about forgiving a crime - it is about giving social sanction to it and saying that this is okay. Fine by me. Hypocrite!Pic....

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Best Kept Secret - Jeffrey Archer

It is a well kept secret till the end. This book follows a couple of books in this series called the Clifton Chronicles which made it difficult for me to figure out why certain events were being discussed as if the others had already seen the movie. But it did not matter because the book never rose above the kind of a bar that I would normally reserve for Mr. Archer. It looked like bored writing. A job had to be done and was done. Ho hum. Same here.For...

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Office Space - Movie Review

Watched this movie after I read a post on the internet on the top 10 office movies to watch. It's a 1999 movie about an IT company in the US. They already had an Indian as a main character even then! Anyway its satirical and very true in its depiction of how dumb organised behavior can get especially in offices. And its light hearted and funny.Three friends, Gibbons, Samir and  Michael Bolton, working in an IT company are struggling with the...

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Demise of Another Irani Cafe - Industrial Cafe, Sanathnagar

Industrial Cafe Sanatnagar was bang opposite the Allwyn factory. A spacious, high ceilinged, big-hearted affair, Industrial cafe lived up to its name and catered to the chai and time pass requirements of the workers and passersby in the industrial area of Sanatnagar. Being close to a number of large sized industries including some of the units of Allwyn, the Hyderabad Industries, Bakelite Hylam and a host of smaller units around it was always bustling...

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Story Idea - The Secret Weapon

Hook:Chap has a wonderful talent to charm people but he feels guilty about using his charm to get the woman he loves because he feel he has an unfair advantage.Pic courtesy: Prarthana NargundkarStory:Chap has the gift of charming people off their feet, specially the fairer sex. But he has never really found the love of his life. After many many dalliances he finally finds the one he has been yearning for. She shows signs of liking him too and is...

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Thought for the Day - Intensity of Forever, In the Now

How to do a job well? Simple. Put the intensity of forever into whatever you are doing now.More simply, if there was one way you'd do a thing before it went out from you into the world, do it now in the seemingly mundane things you are doing. If I am writing this blog, I am to write it as if it's the last communication from me. I put the 'forever' element into this now. Bring the 'forever' intensity of your big potential, the energy you save for...

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Anjali - We Didn't Discover The Zero, They Did

While playing cricket with Anjali the other day, the topic went to 'zero'. In a bout of mischief she started yelling that her score was now zero or something like that. After a couple of her trademark jigs, she turned to me and impishly said - 'We Indians only discovered the zero na nanna!' and went on in that we-are-the-greatest vein for a while. We'd read about this 'zero' business in a book last week.Not me!After playing a couple of balls though,...

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P. Kalyanasundaram, Man of the Millennium - Heartwarming and Inspirational Story

I first saw a post on facebook and then I dug a bit deeper into the anonymous life of P. Kalyanasundarma of Tiruneveli who was awarded the 'Man of the Millenium' award of Rs. 30 crore by a US organization. What did he do? Paalam Kalyanasundaram did what he does best with money - he donated the entire amount to the service of the needy. That's not all. He also was named as one of the 'Outstanding People of the 20th Century' by the United Nations Organization and was recognized as one of the 'noblest of the world' by The International Biographical...

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The Best of O. Henry - O. Henry

37 of O. Henry's short stories collected from over 600 of his stories. A real treat to read. This was one of those many classic collections that I picked from my publisher Indialog's office in Delhi last year - they do have a fine collection of classics. It was with great anticipation that I started reading this book and I really enjoyed reading all those stories that impacted me in my schooldays, again.Indialog Publications, Rs.145, 271 pI most...

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Anjali - The Art of Handling Money

Two instances in the recent past got me thinking about the art of handling money. My concept of money as opposed to an almost-six year olds.Contribute - However Small In the first instance Anjali she decided to give a handsome contribution of Rs. Seven to her aunt on her wedding anniversary. This was Anjali's money of course, that she saved up, but she decided to give what she could to her aunt. 'She told me she has no money,' she said as she packed in the money in a hand made card for her aunt. As simple as that. Someone needs something and I...

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Story Idea - The Supporter

Hook:Chap spends all his life passionately supporting people and teams and whatever he is part of. Will he get support back in return when he has to finally turn into the leader?Pic courtesy: Prarthana NargundkarStory:An earnest chap learns early in life that to support others is a great thing. He puts it into practice and fully supports everyone and everything, with all his might. He turns out to be the unseen bond behind every success story, something...

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Talk at Advanta - Transferring Ownership

The one question that we started with but never got down to answering by the end of it all was this - how does the owner transfer / inculcate a spirit of ownership among his group?This is easier said than done. But it can be done.A Secure Leader Firstly of course we must start with the owner. The owner must truly believe in the concept of sharing ownership. Which means that he must feel secure enough to share the ownership. Most owners feel threatened about this part - of sharing ownership. Since they are insecure themselves, they end up dictating...

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Chennai Express - Movie Review

Been a long time since a movie was seen at the 10 a.m. show. But I saw the huge hit that Rohit Shetty made with Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in a theatre that had about 20 people including Shobhs and me. Not many takers for the early morning shows I guess.I saw some reviews ripping this movie to shreds. Ratings of 1 star on 5 and so on. Then I heard rave reviews from those who found it extremely funny - I did not - there are jokes but not one...

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