From text to Life - Harry Potter

I never feel like reading books of which I have seen the movie. This statement holds true for Harry Potter. Though most of Potter's fans around me exclaim that the books are of a different genre compared to the movies, I never felt like reading the books after watching the first 2 parts in the big screen. I went to watch the movie "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" with the thought that I'll be the most ignorant among my group of friends with respect to Harry Potter. But surprise awaited me at the theatre.

First, the "text to life" title that I have given to this blog does not only signify the making of the movie from the novel. It also signifies my meeting with some of my online friends. Frankly, after meeting them I didn't get the feeling of having met someone new may be because I have got to know them after many months of chatting.

Getting back to Potter, the movie began in a grand way with amazing graphics. For once, it made me happy that I was watching the movie in the big screen and not on pogo channel But as the movie progressed, things changed. The graphics that followed did not create the awe that the initial graphics aroused, though the ones in the first and second challenges were well made. Also, the story changed from that of a thriller to that of a children's movie in the middle part. I didn't get the logic in few places like the first challenge where the dragon maneuvers across the side of a building to get the strangled Potter. Did the dragon forget that it could fly? I also didn't get the role of the initial world championship in the movie. Later my cousin told me that the print version of the book has a clue coming out of the world championship. I'm not sure if the director forgot to put the clue in the movie, or if I missed it. One more thing that surprised me in the movie was the number of Asian characters in it.

On second reading, the above description of the movie seems to suggest that the movie wasn't good. I'm sorry about that. The movie is in fact a nice time pass. It is just my anguish of not having read the book that is showing off in the previous paragraph. Throughout the movie I was of the feeling that I was missing something by not reading the book. After all, they cannot condense a 700 page novel into a 2.5 hour movie without missing quite a few nuances. Alas, the thought of having to read 6 books in the series will anyways not let me go near them.

Revisiting Honesty?

Blogs all over are paying homage to Manjunath. It's nice that a person who stood for ethics is receiving recognition, though late.

Though I adore Manjunath's act and feel a pain in my heart due to the incident, this blog is not about him. It is about the change that his demise is bringing about. What are the changes? These are what I can infer under the context:-
a) The oil mafia in UP is under the scanner
b) IIM grads are moving away from PSUs
c) Some guys are reconsidering their stand on honesty

It is the third change that is hurting me. Some people I have known well like Govar and Ravi are among those who are revisiting their ideals on ethics. But is this what is to be taken out of the incident? Is this the change that Manjunath would have wanted to arise? I know that my friends are not going to become dishonest just because of this incident. Their blogs might be out of sheer exasperation caused by the news. But I would definitely like them not to even consider the other way.

Manju gave his life for his principles. I believe we have better lessons to learn from him than to shy away from honesty. I found a comment, in the blog setup to condole Manju's death, that gives the way I would have liked people to take Manju's demise - "u sacrificed ur life for a good cause and we'll just make sure ur initiative to fight against corruption doesn't go waste. U are and U'll be an inspiration to many to come"

I know that not everyone can be a Manjunath, but atleast we can stick to honesty in whichever small way that we can.

Shower Games

Over the past month and a half, I had been bragging that I brought rains with me to Chennai. The way things are going, I would have been happier leaving the rains back in Mumbai itself. As I look outside the window in my bus, I find vacant lands disguised as lakes. I wonder how people reside in the houses that look as if they are floating in the middle of a river. But don't think that the situation is that bad in Chennai. It's just that I pass through the worst affected places. Every time it rains, these areas are the ones to find their names in the news channels immediately. Anyways, I've been informed that my office bus route will be changed from tomorrow onwards.
Amidst the rains I hear cries. Not that of the heaven falling on them, but that of the heavens spoiling their cricket match. I can understand the anguish of the people in other states as the only way the Chennai rains have affected them is by cancelling their cricket match. What I don't understand is, why are the Chennai-ites more worried about the match rather than the struggle that they are going to face travelling in the roads where potholes have taken intermediate assignments as water storages?
News channels showed angry spectators who were complaining about not getting their ticket fee refunded. The organisers were stating that they had informed about this earlier itself. I am left wondering, isn't there an insurance for cricket matches?

Importance of Brands: Dying?

An editorial in Business Today claims that branding is loosing importance. The reason given is interesting. BT says that the lack of information of products makes people go for recognized brands. But since information on products is nowadays available online, branding is loosing its importance.
I am not able to accept this argument. For one, the websites of companies tend to brag a lot about their own products. Also, the huge volume of information available in the websites don’t make sense to a normal consumer in most cases. For example, if I check for a television or a digi-cam in different company websites, I get the info that one brand has ABC technology and another has DEF technology. Neither of the sites is concerned about explaining what ABC or DEF is. In the end my decision is deemed to be based on inputs from friends and by the respect that the brand commands from me.
White goods on one side, let us think over apparels. Even the other day I saw a television program where a guy was talking to some big shot of Lee. The guy said that Lee should increase the price of its jeans as that would make him feel more proud to wear the jeans then. Is branding/ brand consciousness dying? I don’t think so.

Trust Thy Bread and Butter

Lawyers burned effigies to oppose something that they felt to be wrong says DNA.
When those who learn, practice and supposedly respect law don't turn to it, what are they conveying to the public? That we shouldn't believe courts, and they do not need work?

Surprises from the Indian Railways

The Indian railways keeps surprising me. The last time I went to Bangalore from Chennai, the train was late by an hour. When I came back, it was exactly on time - 5:00 on the dot. This time again my train to Bangalore was late, though by a mere 15 minutes, and my train back was on the dot. So by statistics, we are 50% accurate and 100% consistent.
What surprised me more was the local train timing. When I entered the suburban railway station ticket counter, the time was 4:12 and a train just arrived. Standing in the queue, I glanced through the train schedule. It read "4:12 4:27 ...” I was greatly surprised at the precision of the 4:12 train and decided to check the time of the next train. More precision - the train stood in front of me as the digital clock in the station showed 4:27. Way to go railways!!!
While traveling in the train I noticed the names of the stations in-between, written in 3 languages - English, Tamil and Hindi. I have been viewing these boards for 20 odd years now, but this is the first time that the letters in Hindi made sense to me. I'm still an illiterate in my country's national language, but I can recognize quite a few letters and make a fair guess out of them. The point, however, is from the surprise that the Hindi names revealed. They just spell the Tamil names. If you are wondering what's wrong with that, then let me quote an example. There is a station by name "Park". Park translates to "Poonga" in Tamil. While I was expecting the literal translation in Hindi, they had just put "Poonga" using the Hindi script. It didn't take me long to understand my mistake and the railways' correctness. If a person with only Hindi knowledge reads the name of the station as “udyaan” or “upvan” and asks for it, no one would be able to direct him/ her there. Now, anyone can ask for 'Poonga' and get to know the details from the locals.

Caste in Death Announcement?

"K. R. Narayanan Dies at 85; 'Untouchable' India President" says NewYork Times. That's not the only media to state the demise in this manner. The headlines that I heard from couple of news channels also proclaimed the death of a 'Dalit' President.

Personally, I would have preferred the passing away of Mr.Narayanan being announced with his achievements rather than his caste. A headline like "Mr.K.R.Narayanan, one of India's most outspoken presidents, passes away" would have been better than emphasising on his origin. Why should a person get to know of Mr.Narayanan's birth rather than his education that was enriched with scholarships and led him to the London school of economics? I am not able to subscribe to the fact that a person's birth is making news on his death, when he has done so many things between the two.

After spending some time in googling I am yet to find Mr.Narayanan's achievements/ significant deeds as the president. I am sure there would be ample material in these lines submerged under the low-caste blanket that is being spread over most of the sites. But I am not sure on the number of people who would persist with their search engine to dig them out.

Interesting Interview - II

From an interesting telephonic interview to an interesting direct interview. Once again it was not the interview by itself that was interesting. The interesting part is the run-up to the interview.

A MNC bank asked me to attend a direct interview in their office in Fort (does that give away the name of the bank?) at 8:30 pm on a working day. My association with 8:30 pm seemed to continue from the previous interview with the financial products firm. Anyways, this time I was given enough time to plan for the interview. I decided to leave from my office at 6:00 pm and reach Fort well before time. Then I would change my shirt and wear a tie in some restaurant and attend the interview. Simple and nice plan. But as always the tale had its twists.

I reached Churchgate as planned, and went inside the first restaurant that I could see. Before taking a seat, I looked around for the rest room. There wasn't one!!! Wasting no time, I left the place and kept searching for rest rooms in the nearby restaurants. To my surprise and shock, none of them had one. After roaming around for few minutes I came across THE place. I smiled at the fact of entering it. Yes, it was one place that would definitely have a rest room. It was perfect for my need. But it was also the last place where anyone would hope to see me at any time, leave alone before an interview. It was a bar!!!

I entered the bar, took a seat and opened the menu-card to search for the cheapest item available. That turned out to be a lussi for Rs.40!!! The waiter was surprised to see a guy order a mere lussi in a bar. And then, his face expression went to the other extreme of confusion when I immediately asked for the restroom. I went into the restroom and took my own time to dress-up. When I came out, the waiter's confused look turned into a smile as he noticed me in the formal attire sporting a tie. I guess he would have understood the context. After sipping my costly lussi, I moved out of the bar wondering if, by any chance, I had caught the aroma of the place. Everything seemed fine, but I was still smiling at the thought of having been to a bar before an interview.

The interview went on better than my expectations and I was invited for another round of interview. But I guess once again I will remember the incidents leading to the interview more than the interview itself.