Dreamzzz, Desires n Desperation...: August 2007

Aug 30, 2007

"The Great Indian Media"

Orkut was recently banned by most of the educational institutions in India and in some states like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh speculations are ripe that they will issue directions to all the cyber cafes to impose a ban on social networking sites. Well, the major trigger was the kidnapping and murder of Adnan who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by his 'Orkut' friends. I don't know but by banning Orkut the only people who will be happy is microsoft people and I am sure that the ban is not for parents or for the benefits of the masses. It's sheer lack of wisdom and may be just a byproduct of the generation gap.

In India, we are trying to ban the social networking site whereas recently Tony Blair expressed his interest to join one popular networking site after his retirement. Can we think such a thing about Mayawatis, Sharad Powars or even for Manmohans? Anways, your police department is inefficient, ban Orkut, You have no control over other media like news paper and Tele vision then ban the websites. Talking about indecent content I guess that advertisements and the kind of news items getting highlighted as breaking news contains more derogatory content than the Orkut. Look at the classifieds carefully you will find numerous advertisements of "friendship clubs" and "massage parlours". Well, I don't know but may be the next step will be to ban "I don't know what, our enforcement officers are sick". In India more people die of heart attacks due to poor performance of cricket team or due to Stock market crash. I have a solution, ban them.

Let me highlight the major reasons for the two recent happenings.
Murder of Adnan -> The story goes that Adnan made friends with some people on Orkut who envied his lavish lifestyle and for that they planned to kidnap him. All went well but then the news of kidnapping spread like wild fire and kidnappers who were amateurs panicked under police pressure and murdered the boy. So, to stop somebody from making friends ban Orkut. Nice solution.
Everybody is pointing fingers at Orkut but then the actual reason for the murder was not the Orkut but our Great Indian Media who were breaking news after every 3 minutes and were interviewing Toms Dicks and Harrys about what they think is right. There is so much competition for news these days that news channels are fighting to go on air first and once they go on air, they just keep hanging there. They will show 20 seconds footage for 20 times to make it look like a 7 minutes video footage. Anyway, the real reason for the murder as quoted by Bombay police was
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Sixteen-year-old Adnan Patrawala may have been alive if his kidnappers had not panicked after hearing of the story making headlines across news channels.

Adnan's parents share that view and even the police are now trying to identify who leaked the news to the media. "The police office should be investigated who leaked the news to the media,” says Adnan’s father Aslam Patrawala.

To ensure that similar situation doesn't arise again, the police have formed a new strategy to handle kidnappings.

The FIR will now be lodged much later than usual to maintain complete secrecy. Instead, a written complaint will be taken down with the family's consent.

Instead of informing the Control Room, the Crime branch, which investigates sensitive cases, will be called in immediately.
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Well, Mumbai police is taking proactive steps to counter these happenings but Media will not learn its lesson.
Public Lynching of a Thief - As I said, they were showing a 20 second video footage for more than 20 times showing the public bashing of a chain snatcher. No mention of the lady, whose life was endagered by this thief. There have countless cases where chain snatching can end into a life threatening act. You can just imageine a gold chain tied around your neck being pulled out by full force. So they kept saying that its a human right violation act. Agreed. But its a case of public fury and its the culture of a place. There has been a similar news on the same news channel's website about an Indian man whose one arm and one leg was chopped off because he stole a pizza.Go on, great Indian media, fight it.
Bring it to public that what is happening. But no, how can you? You are too busy to show human right violation. Its right that theythey have brought the issue to light but have also given it a communal angle. I don't know whether the public asked his name first and then started beating him but the journalist made it sure to enquire the name and established that he was a minority. Wow! and what happened next is that a crowd gathered and stoned a police stone because a minority boy was beaten up by the mob and police helped them. So soon everybody forgot the chain snatching act and communal tension is slowly building up in the town. Tomorrow some people will catch a hindu thief and lynch him to death and then something bad will happen.
Media is great and when it come to creating controversies, they are really wonderful. Perhaps the latest hit "Chak De India" has tried to capture the stupidity of media in true light.

Aug 22, 2007

The league by Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Subhash Chandra has tried to give India an option and its irking many. BCCI is worried about its cash flows because now they have to compete for the advertisement time and rate and its going to be difficult for them to compete because they follow a top heavy bureaucratic system where even for a simple decision they might have to go through a couple of meetings. So that means that for an action of ICL they might not be in a position to revert back quickly and that erodes their competency. Kapil Dev backing this effort is another nail in the coffin of BCCI because he is also the chairman of National Cricket Academy (he was sacked recently) and now Brian Lara has also joined it.

Anyways talking about competition, BCCI is really worried and the frustration was evident from the way they announced crisis control measures likeputting a life time ban on the players who will become a part of the league. The other day, top officers were bragging about the fact that nobody will pay attention to these stars of the yesteryears but my dear friend, thou shall not speak when you are not sure. Atleast you shouldn't make forecasts like this which you know are bound to fail.

This league might not benefit the senior players or the Board as such but then it has a lot to give to Indian cricket and to almost all the other stakeholders.

We the public who waste the share of our time on watching our senior players either running after the ball or sitting in the dressing room with a towel draped around their shoulders want to see some players in action. We want something different. We want our men in the thick of the action, we want an identity separate from Indian team, we want to watch cricket and want to identify with these players because we don't treat you as just players, we treat you as our little symbols of heroism and we try to find happinness in your game. We need change.

For domestic cricketers - It will mean a lot to them. In most probability these players will be kept out of the system due to the presence of senior (read OLD) players and also because of political affiliation or due to halo/horn effects Look at the list, try to identify who are they? Deep Dasgupta was in prime when Ajay Ratra replaced him who in turn was replaced by Parthiv patel, whose career was spoiled by Dinesh Karthick and then Dhoni took it all. Kaarthick made it back due to his batting but then everybody is not Kaarthick and even if they are only 11 can play for India at a time. Shalabh Srivastava and Mritunjay Tiwari were the part of under 19 squad who won the world cup. They contirbuted as much as Yuvraj and Kaif contributed but then in India they dont make pitches for fast bowlers and their career is cut short due to the extra hard work they need to put in to extract bounce from a dead pitch. Shalabh has joined and hopefully after one successful season or two Mritunjay will also join provided he has some cricket left in him.

I don't know they will achieve something or not but then they will get to play quality cricket because their compensation will be linked to their performance. They have to entertain public and as they don't have ICC backing they might not care for their records in the long run. In short they don't have to play for the wrong reasons. They don't have to prove it again and again that they are capable of playing cricket. All they have to do is to go on the ground and play cricket.

For Foreign Players - They will bring the much needed experience and expertise into the system. Look at some of the names. Abdur Rajjak's I guess is fitter than some of the fast bowlers of India and perhaps generate more pace too. Nicky Boje is obviously fitter most of the present crickets. For Lara and Inzamam, they quit the game at the last time and as they will be able to operate in a free environment far away from Red-Tapism and bureaucracy, I guess they will flourish under the condition. Meanwhile, getting financial independence is another issue which will definitely bring in some seriousness into the game.

For Advertisers
- It gives them option to put their money in. Most of the companies are taking cautious steps after the world cup debacle which will reflect on their balance sheets next march. They are still scared but now atleast they can take baby steps or in marketing terms can test market this ICL which can be aptly titled as league of Extraordinary Gentlemen. They will be having more options for merchandising and sponsorships. And we can see some happy faces there.

ICL will bring in goodies for grounds and small centers also which are solely dependent on BCCI for their bread and butter and the only other option they have is to rent out their facilities to private parties for priavte functions. Now, they will be in the thick of the things because to start at this time, ICL has to contract the grounds and support facilties. Given the kind of hiccups that are expected I guess that the long term viable solution is to develop grounds facilities and this is where BCCI has to depend on the ICL.

Its not like ICL is without the disadvantages but then, on the face of it advantages seems to be outweighing the disadvantages so let's support it as true cricket fans. I am sure that may be our senior players will draw some inspiration from this league of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Aug 17, 2007

What was wrong with Godse?

What really was wrong with Nathuram Godse? Looking some sixty years back I can tell that we haven't ever tried to find for the answer. As a management student I am tempted to look about his motivation to kill a personality like Mahatama Gandhi. But well, Nathuram is braced as he is not alive to take a 120 questions questionnaire of MBTI or FIRO B type and all I have to be contend with is secondary data which is far too rare. Cogress government made is sure that nothing substantial should come out. But well, most of the politicians and policy makers are web illiterate and even if they are web literate they have no control over web content monitoring so some people have put up some important piece of data on web. Among the few rare documents there is a confession statement of Nathuram. and an analysis into it which you can access by clicking on this link.

I might not be able to get much insights from this because its practically of no use to me because HR people like face to face interviews and as I can;t get an interview in this life, I have to wait for my chance. Maybe in next life I will invite Gandhi and Godse both for a panel discussion with Mandira Bedi as the moderator. What do you say?

Aug 14, 2007

Villains of Modern India.. An "OUTLOOK"

Call it cheap publicity, call it a publicity stunt or call it a competition for news Outlook has managed all that in its latest edition where it has enough Masala about the villains of Modern india. Bal Thakrey, Sanjay Gandhi, Narendra Modi, Azharuddin and Godse have been portrayed as modern villains. I don't know who murdered Keneddy but I guess the whole of the Indian media had made a hero out of Godse.

Mohd. Azharuddin's case is still in court and though nothing substantial has been proved against him, he was victimized by press, BCCI and media. Poor he, his advisors asked him to make reference to his minority status and that spelled doom against him. Even his non-muslim fans vented their anger on him and his effigies were burnt in different part of the country. Well, he is now fighting a life long battle against the BCCI. I wonder that when people like Kapil Deo, Prabhakar, Jadeja were braced then how come a magazine like Outlook can portray Azhar as a villain. We have seen his craftsmen like cricketing skills and if you takes into consideration his contribution towards Indian cricket then for a moment you might be tempted to think that he was innocent. Well, that is a matter of court's jurisdiction and I feel that its completely unfair for Outlook to take a position against him. Perhaps he was the only sensible Indian middle order batsmen who use to play with run a ball strike rate. Rest we all know about Shastris and Vengsarkars of yester year.

Godse, was hanged in the morning and cremated at unknown place. Even his ashes were not made available to his family members and as alleged were dumped in a river and the place where he was cremated was ploughed evenly so that people can't build a monument at that place. The story goes like that the book he authored was confiscated from the press and his ashes were dumped in a river from where a fisherman actually recovered the eathen pot and claimed that it's godse's ashes. His brother Gopal was freed after serving a life term in jail and in one of his interviews which was sensored, he mentioned that Gandhi didn't utter the word "Hey Ram" because the revolver they used didn't give you that much reaction time after the bullet hits you. Anyways the whole thing appears messy because I haven't even heard any assasination victim uttering even a word like "Oh god". We have seen the Gandhi side of the history but not the Godse side. His confession statement were never made public and I wonder that no Right to Information activist have take up the cause. Well, this is a country where being anti Gandhi is a crime and most of the people who opposed Gandhi's philosophy they died a painful death. Had it not been the courage of Bhagat Singh and a slew of movies made on Bhagat Singh his story might also have ended in dumps. We all know about Subhas Chandra Bose. Government never had the courage to put the papers relating to the investigation about his deaths on the table. Neither they asked Japan or Zermany to provide more information.

I am not compairing, Godse with any of these great leaders but the fact that there is not enough writing in the public which is enough for a magazine to take a stand. Anyways was hunting on google and this is what Nathuram's Court Confession document. Click Here

Sanjay Gandhi was arrogant brat but he wasn't able to match his mother in terms of arrgance and dictator like attitude. Seriously he was nothing. But probably the magazine can go ahead with Sanjay's character and can't take the present government head on by publishing anything against Indira or for that matter Nehru. Congress very easily shrugged off "Nehru Was Naive" comment from American diplomat but the fact is fact. He brought on us the three wars. We still have lot of ground to capture against these two countries. Sanjay could be a villain but we had bigger villains in congress itself.

Modi is a dictator (alleged) but atleast he lead Gujrat to Glory in less than 10 years. What about Lalu Rabri combine who plunged Bihar into a state of poverty and illiteracy. The growth figures were negative and the state became a hub for kidnapping, ransom and daylight murders. Gujrat is still way safer than Bihar and way more developed. Bihar got divided into two states and the state of law and order went to mess. Cattles roam freely on road filled with potholes whereas Gujrat added more than 50000 kilometers of highway. I have no doubts that Modi is acting as a tyrant and is against freedom of press and practicing a politics of hatred but still his sins are of lesser intensity than that of Lalu. By not taking any proactive measures to stop a riot is genocide but what about allowing law and order to fall down to a level when no one feels safe. MCC, Ranveer Sena in their dual killed 1000s of people in these 15 years of Lalu's regime but nothing much happened. And can you beat this that the top brass of Ranveer Sena (the private army of landlords) was a 75 year old man who was a follower of Gandhi and participated in freedom struggle?

About Bal Thakrey, I don;t know much but I know this thing for sure that to get cheap publicity you need to poke into something big and they have hit the target this time. Given the tolerance level of the Shiv Sena I guess that at-least they will take this issue further and will storm the news paper's office at some more places. Though the government is of opposition but still Shiv Sena has powers to break a few window panes to scare even the influential people. Well, now they can be sure of enough text against the Shiv Sena.

God bless them, I guess the biggest villain for modern India have been media which instead of focussing on bringing existing issues to the light is dishing out some exotic flavours to sell more copies. Great

Aug 2, 2007

The writing is on the wall.. Smoking kills..



Amazing Creativity.. this poster is on the ceilings of one of the IT firms..

Aug 1, 2007

Communication is an important tool, my dear friend!

Read the job description -

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Candidate aged around 35 years would stay in companys colony having all facilities and must be able to handle senior people executives intellectuals etc. whose habit is to make excuses followed by arguments instead of admitting and improving thus wasting time and energy. Person who is not tough and able to take strict action (like & live wire) need not apply.
No softness or looseness and not giving attitude or supporting employees ignoring the interest of the company. No side business or further studies will be allowed.
Attractive salary besides free furnished accommodation and conveyance offered.
Apply to Jt. Managing Director.
Candidate should be backed by engineering degree.
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Can you make out that this job description suits what post the most? Surprise, surprise, surprise, its for the CEO yes my dear friends CEO of Jindal Aluminium (yes you are reading it right of Jindal Group). Now what is funny, the use of the language or the candid confession?

Communication is really an important tool my dear friend..