MJ-LOTD: Can you 'Beat It'?

Those frequenting blogs would have known him. But for those who don't - let me take the honor of introducing Dr. K. Chaudhry as 'The Unbeatable'. Check out the Hindi version of Michael Jackson's Beat-It in Dr. K. Chaudhry's voice at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrVEa356SQM

MJ-LOTD

Why did people so religiously watched Super Hit Mukabala? Why did people feel nostalgic when a reference to Chitrahar is made? Why is Archana Puran Singh still known as the lady who hosted Lux Kya Scene Hai? Why is Philips Top 10 still remembered? Despite having tens of Gbs of music in your music player, why do you still tune in to FM while driving back home?

The answer to the above question is “unexpectedness”. In all the above programmes, the songs or the scenes which were to come next were unexpected. Not only that, they were ,supposedly, hand picked. I am starting a similar thing on Mundane Journey: MJ-LOTD

Mundane Journey Link of the Day (MJ-LOTD) – would be one link which i would recommend to my readers. It could be a song, a scene, a gag, a news article or anything on the Internet. It would be the most interesting or 'touchy' thing i stumble upon on the Net that day. However, it may not be everyday as there are days i don't get a chance to browse the web or on the weekends when i just don't want to see the computer screen.

I must acknowledge Sagar for this. Everyday, he shares a link to a different song on his Gtalk status. He call it 'Aaj Ka Gana'. I really liked the 'long-lost' songs he shared. So, i thought it would be useful to my other readers as well. I just extended it to scenes, new articles, etc.

I would also be tweeting a lot more often from now on. I'll share the MJ-LOTD on twitter as well. However, I'd be sharing a lot of other unorganized thoughts (and of course, links). To join me on twitter click here.

As always, do let me know your views on MJ-LOTD.

Cheers!

Loss Booking

People who have tried their hands at the share market would know what booking loss is. It's basically part and parcel of optimal use of resources – money in this case. When the price of the share you purchased is going down and you sense that it may go further down and not going to go up in the timeframe you selected, it's best to sell it and book losses because there may be another stock which could be going up. It's best to release your resources from that 'losing' stock and put it on the 'gaining' stock. So, though you have encountered losses, you have saved yourself from bigger losses and given yourself a chance to make profits by investing the resources in a gaining scrip.

You must be wondering why am i talking about share market as what i mentioned is pure common sense and that i am no trade guru. This share market anecdote applies well to various activities we do in our lives. One example from the medical field which comes to mind is that of amputation. To prevent 'poison' from spreading to other parts of the body, we cut the affected part. It doesn't mean that we don't like/love the part we are cutting and that we don't feel the pain in cutting the leg that we pampered so delicately. It means that we are ready to trade it off for a larger benefit of our body.

Problems. This is one word every human being can associate with. A lot of people say that we should address problems heads on and that we should take them as challenges and resolve them. According to me this is partially true. Sometimes, the resources required to solve a problem may be huge and the gain by solving the problem may not be enough – in that case, an easier workaround and using the resources to serve better purposes may be better than trying to solve the problem completely. It's like you exit form the problem by booking losses and invest that money into some other scrip.

A lot of 'intelligent' people have this ego problem - “how is it that i can't solve this problem”? This is really grave. Haven't you seen it screw up that very important board/competitive exam? The time (resource) ran out while you were busy solving a 5 marks problem and in turn left 50 marks unanswered. Don't you 'pass' (or guess the answer to) the question in the rapid fire round in a quiz competition?

The trick is to estimate the effort required to solve a problem and whether it is worth putting in that effort. For this principle to work, the goal you are working toward should be clear – else the “worth” of the effort may not be correctly estimated. It's best not to honor our ego, book losses and come out and do something worth the time.


Think...

Kambakkht Ishq: After-thoughts

I am not going to talk about how bad Kambakkht Ishq is. I am not going to talk about how loose the plot is. I am not going to talk about the senseless songs which pops in without any reason or season like eunuchs in sleeper class bogies of Indian Railways. I am also not going to talk about the just-for-the-heck-of-it 'item fight' (analogous to item song) sequence done by the great Sylvester Stallone. I am not going to talk about any such things. These are characteristics of most so-called main stream commercial cinema. And also, these are highlighted by most reviewers (and I am not going to play Anu Malik, Pritam or a software engineer here) . I would bring to forth things that make this film truly different.

This film gives us a new way to get people to shut up. You must have wished to shut your ever-complaining spouse when you forget to get that special ingredient while coming from office. Or you forget to make sure that his suit is pressed before that very important meeting. You also would have wished to shut your boss up when s/he gives some illogical reasons for not giving you that hike/promotion/leave/onsite-offer which you think you deserve. Kambakkht Ishq shows you a way. When Kareena (Bebo) was shouting at Akshay on the 'characteristics' of men, Akshay shut her mouth, literally, with his. So, now you know what to do when you want to shut Rakhi Sawant up!
Well, if you think this is cheap and rickshaw-wala standard, I'd leave that to you.

Kambakkht Ishq, also, shows us a new way to make an otherwise short dress look hotter. If you want to look hot, bend down by 37 degress. Make sure the camera is focused at those parts of the body which wouldn't have been otherwise visible had you not bent down and give a shake your garment the way you would do an almost-full-container so that it (the container) can have room for more flour. And do it just before you want to look hot. The effect may be lost after some time. Reminds you of some B grade movie? Well, if you think this is cheap and rickshaw-wala standard, I'd leave that to you.

This movie also helps us in cost cutting. A metal watch with alarm is 'left' into Akhshay's belly when Bebo operates him. Even then, Akshay doesn't have any 'side effects'. The next time you get a cut through some metallic object, don't rush for an antiseptic or tetanus injection. Chill. Nothing will happen. Just as nothing happened to Akshay. If you find this illogical, I'd leave it to you.

There are movies which are good and there are movies which are bad. There are good movies which you may not like and there are bad movies which you may like. Kambakkht Ishq falls into none of these category. If you feel the treatment of the illogical subject illustrated with very ordinary acting and intermixed with uncalled-for songs was cheap and rickshaw-wala standard, I'd leave that to you. It's your prerogative.

Cheers!

New York - A Review

New York, the first big release after the IPL and the T20 World Cup and the rift between the multiplex owners and the producers, elicits mixed reactions.

The plot of the movie is pretty fresh. It takes a fresh look at the impact of 9/11 on innocent citizens. The world dynamics irreversibly changed after 9/11. The movie depicts innocent people like Sam (John Abraham) becoming victims of the FBI's suspicion. It brings to forth the irony that in an endeavor to curb terrorists, the US is unknowingly creating new ones - the ones which has its origins linked to the 9/11. [I had referred to something similar in my post Live to die]The sub-plot of the victimized Muslim employee who was helped by Maya (Katrina Kaif), a human rights activist is very poignant. It shows the emotional reaction to the torture. Sam, on the contrary, gives an aggressive and a well thought of response to the torment. The theme of the movie – 9/11 ke side effects - is very novel for a bollywood movie. Aditya Chopra, the writer of the movies, deserves full points.

The NYSU part was a bit boring – it was like a conventional big budget movie. But the movie started gaining pace once we found that Sam was suspected to be a terrorist. The movie, then, went Don-way. The FBI appoints Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) as an undercover agent to gather evidence against Sam. The RDB style ending was good. Sam and his wife, Maya (Katrina Kaif) are killed by the federal forces even though Sam throws the bomb trigger and surrenders.

Despite having a very strong plot, the movie lacks in keeping up the pace. At times it was just getting too boring. The director, probably, wanted to show that the 'normal' American, NYSU life Sam was leading and how Omar became friends with Maya and Sam. Also, after the disclosure of the fact that Sam was a terrorist, the pace broke down again. Things become too predictable until the end is reached which is pretty unpredictable by the standards of the the series of predictable events preceding it.

The songs are good. It gels well with the movie. They are broken into smaller fragments and are timed such that they appear like background scores and aid the flow of the plot. The songs do not reduce the pace of the movie – the movie is self equipped with sub-plots to do this (slowing of pace).

John, Neil and Katrina did a decent job. Irrfan was playing in his home ground and so was obviously brilliant. Remember him in A Mighty Heart and Slumdog Millionaire?

The best part about the movie was the neutrality in tone it maintained through out. It was very easy for a movie on such sensitive issues to go on either sides. The movie admitted the mistake done in accusing innocent people, however it doesn't encourage the extremist path taken by those impacted. The movie, like any Yash-Raj movie, is very politically correct.

All in all, the movie has a good plot but not so good portrayal of the plot.

CAT – A National Pastime

As a person grows (in age), his desires, craze and hobbies change. Running in the field, playing chain-chain, playing 'pakda pakdi' – basically any simple game which is physically demanding - would attract a primary school student. As he grows up, he take up games like cricket, basket ball and TT. When he enters the college, his hobby becomes grabbing the best girl around. And this continues until he reaches the pre-final year where he takes up a new pastime called CAT. Similar sequence holds for females – from dolls to singing/dancing to boys to CAT. The pastime for most graduates in their mid twenties is CAT.

CAT is interesting. But reasons why people want to take CAT are much more interesting. Bapi wants to take CAT because his mother's kitty party friend's son Bappa is taking it. Sanjay is taking it because his cousin is an MBA and supposedly minting money. Sarvanan is taking CAT because he doesn't know how to play (and hence is not interested in) cricket. Priyanka is taking CAT because her boyfriend is taking it, while Amit wants to take CAT because he doesn't have a girl friend!

Yeah, that is correct. A lot of people are taking CAT because they have nothing else to do. Taking CAT obliges you to be at CITE or any other such place. Haven't heard of CITE? CITE stands for Career Launcher, IMS, T.I.M.E., Erudite. Now, CITE give a great competition to CCDs, Baristas, Aqua Javas and the likes.

People who have 'partners' - hang out at/outside CITE, go to CITE together, come back together, “discuss” the solution of x-3 = 0 together and attend classes together. Not only this, they can go to each others house and study together. This is a really innovative way to get parents' approval. Imagine that your girl friend comes to your place and you go to hers frequently – and that you both are able to impress each others parents! Wouldn't that be great? Isn't it a more realistic and toned down version of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge? For people who are single (and who hate paying hefty stag cover charges) can find that someone special in the class. Now, as mentioned in Dil To Pagal Hai, that someone somewhere is made for you - if they (CATers) don't find anyone that rings a bell in their hearts in a batch, then they can shift batches until they find someone. In case they don't find anyone in any batch, they look out for the staff. They are also good.

Does any of the coffee shops offer these facilities? CITE may be more expensive than the coffee shops but they don't have the 'cool' factor that is associated with the CITE. C'mon, isn't it cool for the mom to tell her friend that her child cannot make it to the french poodle's birthday bash because she has to go to CITE? Can she say the same thing if her daughter is going to CCD or Barista?

As per Miss Lucy – 'adat agar waqt pe na badali jaye toh zaroorat banjati hai' [If you don't know who miss Lucy is you should revisit DDLJ]. This translates to – if habits are not change in time, then they become necessities. So, after going through the rigorous 1.5 yrs course, at CITE a lot of students get 'used to' it. Now, after getting astronomical ranks, they decide that they should give it another shot and enroll for CITE again! They may change from X to Y where X and Y are elements of CITE and X!= Y. They try and try. Year after year. Changing from X to Y. This goes on till he/she gets married. The marriage, however, could be with either one of the 'friends' found in one of the iterations at CITE or, in worst case , a family found one.

Mahatma Gandhi said that the process or journey is more important than the end results. Looks like a lot of people have taken this really seriously. They seems to be enjoying the process of “preparation” of CAT. CAT seems to have become the national pastime you indulge in after your college and before your marriage.

Disclaimer: There is a section of students who know what to do in life and how MBA can help them to achieve that goal. To those, CITE can be really helpful in getting them crack the CAT and hence get an MBA and reach their goal. The above is for those who don't fall in that section.

Nothing Fishy

Having stayed in Kolkata for about a couple of decades, I am asked by a lot friends/colleagues - 'why do Bengalis like fish (to the extent of being a fish outside water in case they don't get to eat fish) so much?' More often than not, it's the third question they ask me when i lunch with a new 'friend'.

BTW, a lot of bengalis (humorously) say that fish is vegetarian! A few people, (irrespective of their degree of Bong-connection) however, are not sure if it's vegetarian, non-vegetarian or semi-vegetarian! [see this].

Anyway, getting back to the question at hand: I could just give the 'new friends' the obvious/clichéd environmental/availability/historical reasons [I am not going to say that in detail here]. George Bernard Shaw gave me another reason for Bengalis' love towards fish. The reason being - the word, currently spelled as ef-eye-es-eych and pronounced as 'fish', can be spelled as 'ghoti'!

[As per Wiki] Ghoti is a constructed example used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling. It is a respelling of the word fish, and like fish is pronounced /ˈfɪʃ/. It has,
gh, pronounced [f] as in tough;
o, pronounced [ɪ] as in women; and
ti, pronounced [ʃ] as in nation.

[Again, quoting from Wiki], The Ghotis are the people of western Bengal, who have a culture, traditions, and cuisine distinct from their Bangal counterparts of Bengal.

However, a section of the society believes that the first reference to fish being spelled as jee-eych-oh-ti-eye (ghoti) was seen before Shaw [Link]

In any case, i have got yet another answer to the third question a 'new' friend generally asks - though it is just half an answer.

Looking for a way to spell 'fish' as Bee-ay-en-jee-ay-el to complete my answer.