The RICHNESS of POVERTY !!

So History has been created on 23rd February. Danny Boyle and Co. have finally placed Mumbai and " aapun ka story" in the world map and world of Oscars.

Prima facie brings just a shrug and " so -what " expressions but just have a look at the following glaring statistics:
800: is the number of movies produced per year in Bollywood( Hindi mainstream) alone. Coupled with these is similar number of movies produced in 10 other regional languages ( and most of the times, its the regional languages movie which spearhead and direct the next stage of cinematic evolution/revolution of Bollywood).
600: The number of Hollywood movies made in year 2006, 2007 ..
1896 A.D: Is the suggested year in which Indian film Industry was started (with an Advertisement in Times of India for a play). This definitely doesnt help us in highlighting that we are amateurs in Enetertainment Industry.
1906 A.D : Los Angeles predates Hollywood in setting up a studio.

Can we claim that we had more movies per year and been there longer ? If so just compare the number of Oscars belonging to each camp.. Its Hillarious... Its Sad....

We have been ZERO all the while.. And what gives us an Entry point is a movie made by Danny Boyle.. Well I dont have shades of Xenophobia but just cant evade this :--->" The much awaited Oscar for an Indian movie, based in an Indian story of Indians depicting the Indian background, and Indian mindset, about an Indian Television show and its interaction with Indian juntaa in an very Indian ecosystem ( the starcast and crew were all Indians), goes to some one who is on tourist visa while in India".

So... are we Indians so much deprived of Creativity or is it the other way round, Creativity eludes us ? While I cant comment on behalf of a billion people, but yes could ponder on what made this movie guide Bollywood from ages of Darkness and unknown to the glitz.

so what makes Slumdog special? Is it the Actors ? Is it the Director ? Is it the musician ? Is it the banner in which it was sold ? Every logic gets beaten up here ..
But if one looks from the business point of view one gets startling answers

Is it because the target segment for the movie ? Is it because the lives it touched? Is it because of the content of story which touches a billion life hence the motivation for them to have a look at it? Yes, to some extent. May be Hollywood has realised later but better, that Slumdog has tapped the yet untapped but a huge customer segment. So we could see more videshiz coming 2 Indian cities and making lives about us than selling their livestories, their history to us. Brand India clicks.. but then again why doesnt a movie from shelves of Karan Johar or Chopra banner, staged in Switzerland with an Indian cast ( and most of the time its our beloved, national heart throb Regular Badshah and Shahenshah) and crew ( including A.R.Rahman)succeed? Is it more than Brand India ??

Also heard this from some quarters that there is definitely a shade of sadism, running in the viens of the Oscar haunting crowd, who want to see more of dirty side of poverty, of mis rule, of anarchy, of being in dark ages in some third world country... And when you look at that along with the acceptance of movies like Water, Bandit Queen, Lagaan, you are forced to contemplate and toe the same lines of thought.. well then this is dangerous but again an opportunity. Its thus ironical that Poverty is Richness...... Jai Ho..

Stocks withers..... Love Blossoms ..

The best part of year 2008 is that its over..

The year that saw catastrophes like 158 year old Investment Bank Lehman Brothers going bankrupt, once booming bank like northen rock left with begging bowl and some lucky ones like Bear Sterns humilated in their rescue by governmental efforts. It also saw commotions like ascent and then descent of oil prices, housing prices going south , spiralling Inflation just to stop at a bigger devil of stagflation and deflation, a dent in boominig economies like China and India ( layoffs, companies closing down) and even unrests like sponsored terror by Porkistan ( mumbai attacks). So in one word.. year 2008 ... should be forgettable and if remembered it was only for recession when everything was going wrong.. Well did everything went wrong ??

Yeah the Stocks withered and national stock exchanges had to be closed more often than usually done.. and office goers had the axe of uncertainity hanging right over their neck by silken twig..
well but infact that created an environment which bred love ...

Employees ..mostly with reference to Indian IT sector who had become more demanding and had very low breakeven point for attrition suddenly lost their mobility. The stickiness to job came not because they loved what they were doing inside but because they hated more to be outside... Inside even if you were a dog ,, you were paid and thats more than enough in these troubled times..

This meant that there were few faces fading away with resignation mails. this meant that for people like me .. the girls whom we (romeos) eye.. were in our radar for a longer time..
more time to eye.. more time to catch a glance... more time to spread a smile.. more time to recieve the forwn... more time to stare again . more time to spread a smile.. more time to wait for the smile back... more time for a coffee together ... more time to walk beside the lake .. more time to talk .. more time to come closer .. more time to be in the path to start the new life..

I discovered that MANkind knew this phillosophy right from their inception and started practising this as soon the recession blossomed.. so the recent months have seen lots of love birds in the campus and outside... more tied to each other for fear of not getting another than for love of each other.. Recession has done one great job .. it has created an environment to help ripen love..

Flavors of Uncertainty

Generations after Generations, right from time man discovered (and not invented) fire and invented the use of stones to hurl at animals for protection and attack, have learnt , corrected, learnt. One of the learning has been in areas of Uncertainty.

For zillion long recorded years, we know, that the tussle between the domination of “Uncertainty” over “man’s refusal to be what he is, or to accept things as it is “, has become bloodier with each wave of assault.

So mankind, the ones that go to school and get good marks, believes that Uncertainty is ignorance and everything happens for a reason, and these mini clones of “ Einstein” formulate the problem. Dissect the formulae in known and unknown, and then conquer the road to unknown step by step.

But for hundreds of others, who get rebuked and labeled as dumb, fully agree that
“The only thing which is certain is Uncertainty”. And since last week I have been become more vehement supporter of this other camp. The newly injected momentum happens because of triggers of events that unraveled at office since last week.

December, 15th, 2008: According to popular belief “the most widespread disease is not Jihad but Monday Blues”. As I was still beating the Monday blues with the third cup of coffee, news walked in, at the café that MY BOSS HAS RESIGNED.

While lot of surveys says, that these news, bring smiles, for me the state of affairs, were contradictory. My Boss had been more of leader than a manager, who inculcated in me, and replicated in me, his unfettering enthusiasm, motivation, creativity, and absolute dedication towards work and team.

How could one predict this event? BOSS had been busy actively promoting the new projects, working on existing business plans and reinforcing the customer support since last day. He was in mid of discussion with me regarding initiatives close to his heart. And for past few weeks, he had been engrossed working late night, on an all important, IT strategy framed for the organization. Was it then the right time to quit? Was it then the right way to quit? Was then the Quit unplanned? Shouldn’t then the Quit have been known to people who would be affected by it?

I no longer needed the Coffee, now that I was awake and bleeding within. And it was then that the unremitting confrontation with uncertainty dawned upon me. It was so much unexpected and recursive spiral of a volley of further uncertainties, of different hues, crisscrossed, that I was lost in its translation, like a clear drop of water gets in a turbulent ocean.

SO while I munched the news that Boss could be putting down the papers, along with the now cold Coffee, a thought strayed my mind, of reasons that could have made this happen. Was it the BOSS of BOSS, was it the call from home which got louder, was it the lure of living abroad, was it the dirty politics that engulfed the board room here, was it the team which he lead, so many uncertainties, so many more questions and yet no answers…

There was a BITTER revelation that an uncertain, higher up in the authority, had been taken aback not by losses suffered to department but by recent spate of success, secured by my BOSS. How could you define those learned morons, then? Pathetic? Yes to some extent. But even pathetic has some stability. You expect pathetic from pathetic, but these bunch of graduates from top consulting companies, were fake, and had the shade of pathetic, camouflaged with suave-the depoliticized look.

It was SPICY to learn that further dissection of the issue revealed that the race for the post of next man to lead, was heating up among, friends of yesterday, and that their PR lobby was working round the clock, to devastate the other. So the last week saw lots of discourses, meeting the common folk program initiated by the level A managers, lots of fake smiles being showered, and scores of other signals which reflected sudden change of heart and character.

The sham week was overkill, and generated more confusion, questions, than ever before. All those happy memories that were long preserved were awoken by circumstances, and the uncertainties have turned them sour. Was there any “Team spirit” in real? Did the higher ups really live by the principle and values? Do they really lead? Do they have work ethos?

So I fiddle with these questions, and some day, I might get a chance to encounter the truth, but the whole week had driven me one short message” we don’t live around uncertainties, we live in it. “

Obama's speech on winning the election

Hello, Chicago. If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain. Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton ... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years ... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady ... Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia ... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us ...to the new White House.
And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe ... the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best _ the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod ... who's been a partner with me every step of the way. To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics ... you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.
It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy ... who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.
"I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime, two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
"Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
OBAMA : There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years _ block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers. In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self - reliance and individual liberty and national unity. Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
For that's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons _ because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America _ the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE : Yes we can.
OBAMA: When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA : America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves _ if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.