Caricature - Company Structures

Got this in a mail from a friend. It reads, When the top management looks down, they see only shit. When the employees look up, they see only a$$ holes.

Even though some may find the language offensive, its depiction makes an undeniable sense. That’s how the system is setup and we need to live with it. For eternity.

Try to bear the $hit when you are at the bottom and as you move up, learn to drop the same $hit down.

Review - Blue

After having burst crackers, wanted to end the day with a movie. Headed for 'Talkie Town' and surprisingly tickets for 'Blue' are available over the counter. It takes two to tango, so got two tickets. Who'z going? me and my bro.

The movie starts in a good note which tries to give us a dim picture of falsh back - Ship with treasure, caught in a storm, sinks to the bottom and captain swims to nearest shore. The way titles were presented is impressive. However, once the movie starts, audience felt that movie is not as interesting as the titles are. Story line is strong, to rediscover and bring back the lost treasure from fathoms of sea. But, screen play and script lacks substance in it and failed miserably to carry it forward. Rapport between characters of Akshay and Sanjay didn't gel well. Director failed to portray how and when they met and how they become close friends. Also, the pairing of Sanjay and Lara Dutta looked very odd. Some with en elderly look like vidya balan would have been a good match for sanjay. Lara Dutta looked very younger for sanjay and she is too hot to play as a wives role for a boring role of sanjay. Akshay's role depiction is very bleak and no one really knew what he does and how and where he gets money for all the luxuries he is enjoying.

Character of Sanjays brother is another incomplete and blur role in the movie. Audience were puzzled as to why he ran away from his brother and what he has done in Bangkok for 5 years before returning to his brother. In the titles, name of Kylie Minogue came fourth only after Akshay, Sanjay and Lara dutta and she appears only for a song and is not seen on screen even for four minutes. The song is not good either and it definitely doesn't deserve her presence.

The movie Blue essentially runs around a fateful ship 'Lady in Blue', which sinks near the coast of Bahamas while bringing back treasures of India from erst while British empire. In the movie sanjay keeps telling that the ship is a myth and many people lost their lives in pursuit of it. Audience projected it in a big way and thought it is very scary. However, there is nothing scary about it and looks just as another artificial coral reef. Nothing to fear about. Also, sanjay's flashback related to him and the Lady in Blue is very silly and lacks any justification for it. Even my two and half year old nephew will not take it serious.

Movie ends in a very dull note with silly underwater fights and flashy display of lights in the form exploding yacht (must be Diwali special). Suddenly towards end of movie villian starts portraying Akshay as a negative character when he says he and akshay are business partners but akshay kills villian and causes no harm to anyone. Even after ending titles started rolling, no one is really sure if akshay is good or bad.

Movie doesn't satisfy Rehman fans either. Even though back ground score is good and well suited, songs are not impressive. The only plus in the movie is photogaphy. Photographer has really worked hard to shoot underwater and he is very successful in that. Also, actors did well acting underwater. I deliberately omitted Katrina kaif in the review because she is really a one that can be omitted and whose presence or absence doesn't make much difference in the movie.

Overall, in the movie, story line is good, screen play and edition department flunked miserably. Photography is good, music and character depiction is bad. On a scale of 10, Blue scores only a mere 5, that too because of excellent photography and a reasonably good back ground score. If you have really nothing to do this Diwali holidays, have already covered all other movies, no shopping to go and no friends to meet; then buy tickets for Blue. Otherwise, just go ahead as they will be more interesting than this film and you can very well skip this movie. If some one asks whether you have watched this movie, you can say with your head held high, 'NO'.

Taking up photography - A thought coming into reality

I always have a thought of taking up photography as a serious hobby. I
am pretty sure I will be good at it. Today morning, hours before I
start for movie - Wake up Sid, I have decided to start taking snaps of
things around me and appreciate the beauty of subtle things in my
surroundings. (Co-)incidentally, its in the same photography that sid
finds a career in the movie. I see it as a sign of consent from God for my
decission on photography.

I have taken many photos earlier also, with my NOK 6300. However, they
all turned not so encouraging. Part of the reason is that NOK 6300 is
not a perfect device to take photos and I cared very little about
cleaning its camera lens. However, now that I have decided to take up
photography seriously, I will try to shop for a new , affordable and
easy to operate digi cam. I also have an option to dust the old
Olympus digital camera which I have gifted my brother. He uses it very
seldom anyway.

Hope you will like my photos. Wish me good luck.

- Try my other blog Hail India

Noble Peace Prize is not so 'Noble' this time around

Yesterday was a busy day for me at office. So much so that I didn’t even have time to beam a smile. I have this naive feeling that work has changed color of my life. In fact, this has been the case since the past couple of weeks. Just as my day was about to get passed with usual cliché, I happen to hear the breaking news. This particular news has me the much deprived smile back to me. In fact, I was actually laughing out loud, much to the attention of my team mates who later joined me when they heard of it.

If you are making a wildest guess that I might have heard of a joke from a latest movie or the news of the Raj Thackrey (bare with the spelling, I don’t know what’s the exact one) making mockery of her highness Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, your guessing sucks. The joke I heard actually is about Noble peace prize being awarded to US President Barak Obama. His qualification - working towards nuclear disarmament, thereby reducing the chances of deadly future wars and his proclamation that US will work towards disarming the world from nuclear weapons.

Talking about the facts first. It’s the United States which used nuclear bombs during the WWII. This has ultimately resulted in the surrender of Japan and the world war came to an end. Who knew how long the war might have continued if this has not happened. Has the WWII continued for some more time, world might have gone back to the Stone Age. This war has also revealed the catastrophe these ruthless weapons can cause to humanity. When it was considered so deadly, so much so that its possession is seen as endangering peace, why has the US built stockpiles of it in the first place? It’s them who used it indiscriminately without any remorse and now it’s the same ‘They’ who is preaching the world not to have nuclear weapons.

The rule that only US, Russia, France, UK and China are allowed to have nuclear weapons and not others is just unfair. How are these so different from others? Every country has its own threat perceptions and they have every right to protect themselves. It’s just that these so called nuclear powers want to continue their hegemony over the world and are not willing to change the current world order. We are also forgetting the fact that it was the fear of these nuclear weapons that averted war between India and Pakistan. It is the same fear of nuclear weapons which is stopping US from waging another oil war on Iran and why do you think US is still thinking twice about attacking NoKo?

Another funny fact here is that they are not willing to renege their nuclear war heads or talking anything towards that direction, but want other nations not to have them. When President said 'US will strive to disarm nuclear weapons from the world'. It makes me feel if US is out of this world? I knew that only Men, and not US, are from Mars. Had president Obama ordered an immediate dismantling of stockpiles in US before preaching the world to do so, I would have been more than happy for his nomination. If he has ordered US to back off poking nose into others internal issues, he would be doing more good towards a peaceful world. Interestingly, most of the world’s major conflicts so far have US’ involvement in it. The Gulf war, Soviet – Afghan conflict, US – Vitenam war are to name a few. If Mr. President really wants to see a better world, he should order immediate pullout of troops from other countries and stop aggravating and cornering its perceived enemies. Only then will we see real peace flourishing across the globe. Now, the question is, has Obama done any of these to deserve a peace prize? Answer is a big NO. As simple as that.

Noble prize till now stood as a token for true appreciation in the face of mankind and its selection norms are considered as being very stringent. However, to the disappointment of many, the current verdict this time around has only tarnished this long reputation that it has. It is clear that they acted in haste without proper validation of facts and also took decission in the heat of attaining political benefits. So, Noble prize is not so ‘Noble’ this time.

Perils with the perverted minds

Two years back, when I am posted in chennai, many told me that people here are good at heart if not in looks. I saw the same to be true and my past 2 years stay here in chennai is pretty comfortable one and made me feel that it is indeed a warm and welcoming place for all. However, my weekends visit to a nearby restaurant proved I am wrong.

Some great thinker said once, Chastity is not a dignity, its lack of oppotunity. How true it is! Untill last month, the restaurant used to have only local waiters. Almost all of them males. Every thing looked fine untill few weeks back, when suddenly I started seeing new faces, not of local type, but of the north eastern corner of our country. For a moment, I felt proud. I felt proud as I can see the true colour of India. Different races working together, living together, sharing equal opportunities, what a delight to see my India shining.

Everything seemed so perfect only to be proved wrong this weekend. I started to see the true colour, with my all-is-so-good lens removed from my eyes. It all started when I see the way the local waiters are moving with their north east peers. I never saw this over enthusiasm in the local workers earlier when it was all males around. I never knew that this restaurant has a supervisor who encourages his female workers by keeping hands around their shoulder. I never saw these local waiters mocking their peers earlier when it was all locals and I also never knew that we can work as a team only when one touches unneccessarily.

The way the staff is moving with the new female staff made me feel very sad and for a moment made me feel ashamed. They are literally taking advantage of thier helplessness. Expressions on thier faces is clearly showing their displeasure, but can't utter a word because of thier helplessness. They came all the way from north eastern states to down south in search of lively hood and a decent life, not to be abused like slaves. We should remember that they are our fellow citizens, guests and their women are as sacred as ours. Just because they look different doesn't mean your attitude and behavior towards them should change.

Now its very clear that the traits gentle men here show towards women are not because of chastity but because of lack of oppotunity. Given a chance, these guys are no different from wild beasts.

I am not a feminist, but anyone with a pinch a conciousness will condemn these barbaric acts. Hope God bestows these perverts with some sense and courage to those poor women to face these wild beasts.

Floods on one Side and drought on the other!!

Till few weeks back, every one is worrying about a weak monsoon this year. All of a sudden, tables are turned. Now every one started worrying about floods. I wondering how helpless our people are and how shameless our administration is. Year after year we are facing the same problem of drought when no rains and floods even for an above average down pour. Why cant the elected govt take necessary action so that we can deal both these situations effectively. Its very strange to learn that when one part of the country is suffering with drought, other part is drowning in floods. Past is past, at least now, our govt.'s should wake up and start so something.

Direct interlinking of rivers which can be linked with minimum possible environmental impact should be taken up first. Then a separate piped interlinking of distant river and canals should be taken up. These piped interlinks has a dual advantages. One, it can be used to supply drinking water to distant dry areas and two, the same can be used to pump and distribute excess water in case of a flood. These pipes should have a drain point to lakes, ponds and finally seas. This way, water can be better managed and also flood like situations cab be mitigated.

There should be a central water management body instead of state controlled irrigation and canal boards. A clear set of quotes and sharing terms needs to be stipulated so that there will be no water quarrels arise among the states.

Farmers needs to be educated on making best and effective use of water for irrigation. Best and effective ways of cultivation, which produces more yield with less use of water needs to taught to them. This way, they will be able to make less use of under ground water resources there by helping the nature as well as being non dependents on rains.

Also, rain water harvesting system needs to be extensively implemented so that even in case of less rainfall, water scarcity won't arise.

All these are not so difficult to implement provided we have the will to do.

Welcome note

Hey there,

Thanks for visiting my blog. Here in this space, I will post my views, my thoughts to share and discuss on a gamut of topics ranging from social, scientific, defense, political as well as personal.

Hope you will like it.

Regards...