In one of the nine cases the alleged culprit businessman Padher has been acquitted for want of evidence. However, the servant has been given the death sentence. The details are here. Hope justice is done in the rest of the alleged cases of depravity and beastliness in a serial murder case that shocked the nation.
Frankly, I didn’t know cases such as the “Silence of the Lambs” existed in India, too. The extent of man’s depravity!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
I Love to Write... but I Won't Self Publish... and Other Things
I love writing, the whole process, and my day is not complete without writing a few lines on my blog. Some days I don’t have anything to write, so, um, I bum around, today is one of them. Am working on another novel, is it another exercise in futility? I don’t think so, because I love to write. There’s this character in a movie I saw who says, “I know people have differing views on my writing skills, but I write because I love to, I am at peace when I am writing.” Ditto here. People should do what they love to do. At least it keeps them away from frustration, depression and downright decrepitude.
Is the first novel published? No. several publishers offered to print it if I paid them. No, I say. I don’t mind my novel not being published, but I won’t pay money to get it printed. I have to be paid for my efforts and not the other way around. The money should flow from them to me not the other way around.
But some publishers are persistent. I guess there’s great vanity at play here, much more than what Tom Woolfe wrote about in “Bonfire of the Vanities.” I don’t know of a single author who self-published and achieved some fame and name, they have all descended into anonymity. They are even embarrassed to talk about it. I guess, quite unashamedly at that, I want a little recognition. I am not there yet, but soon I may be. So, meanwhile, I continue to tap my keyboard with my light fingers, drawing out my thought, my feelings, my imagination, the essence of my life....
Is the first novel published? No. several publishers offered to print it if I paid them. No, I say. I don’t mind my novel not being published, but I won’t pay money to get it printed. I have to be paid for my efforts and not the other way around. The money should flow from them to me not the other way around.
But some publishers are persistent. I guess there’s great vanity at play here, much more than what Tom Woolfe wrote about in “Bonfire of the Vanities.” I don’t know of a single author who self-published and achieved some fame and name, they have all descended into anonymity. They are even embarrassed to talk about it. I guess, quite unashamedly at that, I want a little recognition. I am not there yet, but soon I may be. So, meanwhile, I continue to tap my keyboard with my light fingers, drawing out my thought, my feelings, my imagination, the essence of my life....
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Technology, the Monster, the Goblin, Works!
During various employment changes I have worked as a web content writer, technical writer, and search engine optimiser (it's food on the table and fire in the hearth, you see). Therefore, I can say (modesty be conveniently ignored) that I am not a technology goblin. No sir! So when it works I am the happiest of persons, as it did twice today.
x - x – x
Morning: as I was entraining this morning, I realised my pass had expired yesterday. Dang! I decided on my options: should I go ahead (not advisable considering they are checking more strictly these days), the ATM was a few kilometres away. If I go there I will be late to office and maybe lose half a day. Not a good option.
Anyway, I start walking and then I remember that withdrawal is possible from every bank ATM, so I walk to the bank nearest to me, just opposite CBD Belapur station. In goes the card, punch pin, I wait a nail-biting moment, whirr... clakety... clack... there’s my money. I pocket the cash, come back and purchase my pass and – hallelujah – I am in time for 8.52 a.m. train which will take me to the office in time.
x - x – x
Afternoon: today is the last day to pay my credit card due, or, they would levy a fine. So I go to the nearest ICICI bank ATM, that damn thing doesn't have a drop box. Then I go to Churchgate where I thought I had seen a drop box; but, that space has been usurped by a music shop. Desperate, I call Justdial for the address of the nearest ATM. The operator (must be one of those celestial beings) identifies me by name (imagine!), and asks me a few details. I give these and he SMSes me back the address of the nearest ATM. I go there and drop my credit card payment. It saved me a fine and a few minutes of walking about.
In both above cases technology worked. But don’t take that for granted, no, not even from me. Well, technology, when the monster is in its right mind, is a blessing. But when it doesn’t... gr....
x - x – x
Morning: as I was entraining this morning, I realised my pass had expired yesterday. Dang! I decided on my options: should I go ahead (not advisable considering they are checking more strictly these days), the ATM was a few kilometres away. If I go there I will be late to office and maybe lose half a day. Not a good option.
Anyway, I start walking and then I remember that withdrawal is possible from every bank ATM, so I walk to the bank nearest to me, just opposite CBD Belapur station. In goes the card, punch pin, I wait a nail-biting moment, whirr... clakety... clack... there’s my money. I pocket the cash, come back and purchase my pass and – hallelujah – I am in time for 8.52 a.m. train which will take me to the office in time.
x - x – x
Afternoon: today is the last day to pay my credit card due, or, they would levy a fine. So I go to the nearest ICICI bank ATM, that damn thing doesn't have a drop box. Then I go to Churchgate where I thought I had seen a drop box; but, that space has been usurped by a music shop. Desperate, I call Justdial for the address of the nearest ATM. The operator (must be one of those celestial beings) identifies me by name (imagine!), and asks me a few details. I give these and he SMSes me back the address of the nearest ATM. I go there and drop my credit card payment. It saved me a fine and a few minutes of walking about.
In both above cases technology worked. But don’t take that for granted, no, not even from me. Well, technology, when the monster is in its right mind, is a blessing. But when it doesn’t... gr....
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Advertising: “Daag Achhe Hain” and “Have a Happy Period”
As an advertising practitioner, former Executive Secretary of the Advertising standards Council of India (ASCI), I am clued in, rather aware, of the trends that Indian advertising is going through.
There used to be a time when advertising copy and concepts used to be subtle, created by people with refined tastes, and wasn’t as brutally commercial as it is today. Today's mantra seems to be, "Anything goes, even guerrilla tactics." I would like to point out two instances that have riled me no end in the past few months:
“Daag Acche Hain”
Are stains (daag) good because that means good sales for your products? In that case it is selfish and biased and not at all good advertising copy. This is guerrilla form of writing copy. I have been told that the lines originated abroad, in that case is it okay for us to blindly imitate even wrong concepts?
If it is aimed at the social realm implying that “stain” is good, the connotations are even worse. You mean to say anything/anyone who is stained is good. (Meaning, the mole of a gangster can appear in a reality show and can be appreciated and applauded; and, obviously, the one flirting with her is the drug addict son of a former politician. Ergo, whoever is stained by “bad morals” and “bad behaviour” is, what shall I say, good?) I am shocked. I think it violates the code of the ASCI which states that “Ads should not be against public decency.”
Have a Happy Period
Oh God! Look what the cat dragged in here? Who gave you (meaning whoever made the ad) the moral authority, nay, who are you to tell a woman to have a happy period? Huh? Does it mean that periods are meant to be unhappy times for a woman? Who? What? Have we gone back again to the dark ages? Oh Almighty!
Every mother should tell her daughter that periods are normal times (at least, the modern ones, I know, I know, there used to be times when a girl with period was made to spend her days in a corner of the house and was not allowed to touch anything or anybody) for a woman. I guess that’s what every modern woman living in a progressive age should be made to think and feel. But here’s this ad by its very implication saying that using their product leads to having “a happy period” and implying that not using them means having an “unhappy period.” Who are they to judge what is happy and unhappy and who are they to associate a woman’s period with unhappiness?
Again, in bad taste. Guess advertising has become more and more aggressive and the ASCI is not doing its job of self regulating the business. The way the above advertisement concepts have impinged on my senses (for that matter any good thinking, good feeling human being’s senses) shows an utter lack of social concerns, even of propriety.
The two instances mentioned above are only tips of the clichéd iceberg. There’s more. What’s ASCI doing about it, sitting and eating hot batata wadas and samosas, which I used to be served when I was attending a complaints committee meeting in an advertising hotshot’s office?
There used to be a time when advertising copy and concepts used to be subtle, created by people with refined tastes, and wasn’t as brutally commercial as it is today. Today's mantra seems to be, "Anything goes, even guerrilla tactics." I would like to point out two instances that have riled me no end in the past few months:
“Daag Acche Hain”
Are stains (daag) good because that means good sales for your products? In that case it is selfish and biased and not at all good advertising copy. This is guerrilla form of writing copy. I have been told that the lines originated abroad, in that case is it okay for us to blindly imitate even wrong concepts?
If it is aimed at the social realm implying that “stain” is good, the connotations are even worse. You mean to say anything/anyone who is stained is good. (Meaning, the mole of a gangster can appear in a reality show and can be appreciated and applauded; and, obviously, the one flirting with her is the drug addict son of a former politician. Ergo, whoever is stained by “bad morals” and “bad behaviour” is, what shall I say, good?) I am shocked. I think it violates the code of the ASCI which states that “Ads should not be against public decency.”
Have a Happy Period
Oh God! Look what the cat dragged in here? Who gave you (meaning whoever made the ad) the moral authority, nay, who are you to tell a woman to have a happy period? Huh? Does it mean that periods are meant to be unhappy times for a woman? Who? What? Have we gone back again to the dark ages? Oh Almighty!
Every mother should tell her daughter that periods are normal times (at least, the modern ones, I know, I know, there used to be times when a girl with period was made to spend her days in a corner of the house and was not allowed to touch anything or anybody) for a woman. I guess that’s what every modern woman living in a progressive age should be made to think and feel. But here’s this ad by its very implication saying that using their product leads to having “a happy period” and implying that not using them means having an “unhappy period.” Who are they to judge what is happy and unhappy and who are they to associate a woman’s period with unhappiness?
Again, in bad taste. Guess advertising has become more and more aggressive and the ASCI is not doing its job of self regulating the business. The way the above advertisement concepts have impinged on my senses (for that matter any good thinking, good feeling human being’s senses) shows an utter lack of social concerns, even of propriety.
The two instances mentioned above are only tips of the clichéd iceberg. There’s more. What’s ASCI doing about it, sitting and eating hot batata wadas and samosas, which I used to be served when I was attending a complaints committee meeting in an advertising hotshot’s office?
Monday, September 07, 2009
Bombay's Own Bakers' Street - Dhobi Talao
The Parsi Dairy Farm in All Resplendent Glory (Note the Trademark Blue Colour)
Went to what is called Dawa Bazar around Dhobhi Talao to buy homeopathic medicine for a colleague and the Parsi Dairy Farm was nearby. So, out came the camera, focussed on the venerable institution and “click”, it went.
The Parsi Dairy Farm has been around as far I have been, and I have been hearing about its saccharine offerings since childhood. It is well-known for its halwas, barfis, rasmalai and what have you. On the way to it, we pass another institution – Kayani - which sells undoubtedly Bombay’s best brun maska.
Quite close is Sassanian, also famous for its cakes, another yummy eating place, now though showing the wear of years. Quite close is dark temptations, with its delightful pastries and cakes.
I would name the entire area “Bakers’ Street” or something going by the cakes and goodies on offer, or, for that matter “Cake Street” would do fine. The Parsis like their food and they cook it well, I mean, they use the best ingredients. Hats off to this enterprising community.
Satchi-sir in Russia; Rise of the Russian Mafia
Noted Malayalam poet and writer K. Satchidanandan (fondly called Satchi-sir) is in Russia attending a book fair. He has also done a reading of his poems. According to a post on his Facebook Page, “Was at the Writers' Union and Moscow State University. Leaving for St. Petersburg tomorrow. This is a different Russsia where money alone rules. Is there no way between totalitarianism and the market horror?”
Understand his angst. In a reply I wrote:
“I guess Russia went from totalitarianism to market greed because their leaders and intellectuals didn't forsee what was coming. Hope the same doesn't happen in India.”
In this regard I came across this Wikiwhen I was coasting along the net with my mouse as my surf board (I guess, a mouse's back is quite a slippery place, that's beside the point!). It gives the reasons why society gives rise to the Mafia as it did in Sicily and Russia:
“Excessive Bureaucratic Power
“In general, excessive bureaucratic power and discretion provide the basis for corruption -- for bribery, shakedowns, and extortion -- especially when the criteria for bureaucratic decisions are unclear and difficult to monitor and evaluate. The corruption of a bureaucratic agency may begin with the clients of the agency, such as the members of a regulated industry. In the Soviet Union bribes were necessary to secure everything from drivers' licensee to medical care and even higher education, as well as goods.
“Illegal Markets
“Illegal market enterprises generate a good deal of cash that can be used for bribes and investment in other industries. It is easier for legal authorities to overlook voluntary trade among consenting adults, even if illegal, than it is to take bribes to permit crimes that involve victims. Law enforcement agencies may be able to meet their quotas for arrests more easily if they cooperate with the market leaders in illegal industry. Illegal drug markets have been a major factor in the virulence of the Sicilian mafia in the last several decades.”
Rings a bell? In this regard don’t say I didn’t warn you about what I mentioned in para 3 above. The Indian Mafia, too, needs to be controlled.
Understand his angst. In a reply I wrote:
“I guess Russia went from totalitarianism to market greed because their leaders and intellectuals didn't forsee what was coming. Hope the same doesn't happen in India.”
In this regard I came across this Wikiwhen I was coasting along the net with my mouse as my surf board (I guess, a mouse's back is quite a slippery place, that's beside the point!). It gives the reasons why society gives rise to the Mafia as it did in Sicily and Russia:
“Excessive Bureaucratic Power
“In general, excessive bureaucratic power and discretion provide the basis for corruption -- for bribery, shakedowns, and extortion -- especially when the criteria for bureaucratic decisions are unclear and difficult to monitor and evaluate. The corruption of a bureaucratic agency may begin with the clients of the agency, such as the members of a regulated industry. In the Soviet Union bribes were necessary to secure everything from drivers' licensee to medical care and even higher education, as well as goods.
“Illegal Markets
“Illegal market enterprises generate a good deal of cash that can be used for bribes and investment in other industries. It is easier for legal authorities to overlook voluntary trade among consenting adults, even if illegal, than it is to take bribes to permit crimes that involve victims. Law enforcement agencies may be able to meet their quotas for arrests more easily if they cooperate with the market leaders in illegal industry. Illegal drug markets have been a major factor in the virulence of the Sicilian mafia in the last several decades.”
Rings a bell? In this regard don’t say I didn’t warn you about what I mentioned in para 3 above. The Indian Mafia, too, needs to be controlled.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
On Recession's Glitzy Offsprings - Bernie Madoff and Dina Wein Reis
In Mint Lakshmi Chaudhry writes about how the recession has produced colourful swindlers who led snazzy, high-profile lives tainted by the tawdry gliz of tinsel:
“Recession-lit’s most popular character is undoubtedly Bernie Madoff. The colourful, flamboyant [alleged] swindler-broker who conned not only his investors but all of Wall Street is an author’s dream come true. In Betrayal: The Life and Lies of Bernie Madoff, Andrew Kirtzman paints the picture of an insecure teenager “rejected by girls who deemed him mediocre”, spurring him to conceive “a spectacularly ambitious path to conquer Wall Street at an early age”. Low self-esteem leads to hunger for money by all means necessary, creating the requisite conditions for the inevitable fall. It’s melodramatic, predictable and Gatsby-esque. Why read Kirtzman when we have Fitzgerald?”
In another article I read about Dina Wein Reis another alleged swindler now facing charges, a tomboy in younger days, who had amassed USD 300 million worth by diverting good meant as free samples back into the consumer chain. How did she do it? It appears that she promised executives of large companies like Roche and Unilever jobs of CEOs in her fake companies and got them to sell her their products at huge discounts.
What’s common to both Bernie Madoff and Dina Wein Reis? Recession and a high-glitz lifestyle. Wein Reis’ Manhattan townhouse was featured in Architectural Digest and she owned artworks and rare collectibles (a pair of Louis XVI footstools, two Bugatti throne chairs, a pair of Empire sleigh beds, and a 1920s cast-iron vanity) worth over 30 million.
What? In this recession? Anthonybhai is away on vacation in Goa. But, a good friend that he be, he has SMS-ed me his reaction: “What men, these Americans as corrupt-birrupt as we beggers?”
"Yeah, men," I say.
“Recession-lit’s most popular character is undoubtedly Bernie Madoff. The colourful, flamboyant [alleged] swindler-broker who conned not only his investors but all of Wall Street is an author’s dream come true. In Betrayal: The Life and Lies of Bernie Madoff, Andrew Kirtzman paints the picture of an insecure teenager “rejected by girls who deemed him mediocre”, spurring him to conceive “a spectacularly ambitious path to conquer Wall Street at an early age”. Low self-esteem leads to hunger for money by all means necessary, creating the requisite conditions for the inevitable fall. It’s melodramatic, predictable and Gatsby-esque. Why read Kirtzman when we have Fitzgerald?”
In another article I read about Dina Wein Reis another alleged swindler now facing charges, a tomboy in younger days, who had amassed USD 300 million worth by diverting good meant as free samples back into the consumer chain. How did she do it? It appears that she promised executives of large companies like Roche and Unilever jobs of CEOs in her fake companies and got them to sell her their products at huge discounts.
What’s common to both Bernie Madoff and Dina Wein Reis? Recession and a high-glitz lifestyle. Wein Reis’ Manhattan townhouse was featured in Architectural Digest and she owned artworks and rare collectibles (a pair of Louis XVI footstools, two Bugatti throne chairs, a pair of Empire sleigh beds, and a 1920s cast-iron vanity) worth over 30 million.
What? In this recession? Anthonybhai is away on vacation in Goa. But, a good friend that he be, he has SMS-ed me his reaction: “What men, these Americans as corrupt-birrupt as we beggers?”
"Yeah, men," I say.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Michael Jackson Interred
So it’s official, it can lay to rest speculation about how his brain was given for research, how his genius was being cloned, et cetera. This is the news story published on kansascity.com. Apparently it was a private ceremony in which only his close family and friends were present. The funeral service was conducted at Forest Lawn Glendale and was closed to the public and the press.
His genius of course will live on through his songs and videos in which he performed with rare energy and élan. I guess he is the last in a line of great performers of type of – Elvis, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jim Morison, and such like.
An era, an age has passed. People of his generation, such as yours truly, took note of the phenomenal rise and fall. Amen!
His genius of course will live on through his songs and videos in which he performed with rare energy and élan. I guess he is the last in a line of great performers of type of – Elvis, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jim Morison, and such like.
An era, an age has passed. People of his generation, such as yours truly, took note of the phenomenal rise and fall. Amen!
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Stray Vignettes from the Streets of Bombay
Seen on a tee-shirt:
In Peace and Strenght
For
Avery Time
No, it’s not my spelling goof up, but someone seemed to have mucked up the spelling of “strength” and “every” on the above tee-shirt. Who said “I am okay if the gist is conveyed?” I am sharpening my instruments for you and your tribe.
Seen on a Parsi medicine shop:
Parsi medicals will remain close for reno-vation.
“Ha reno-vation soo che?” I would like to ask the ancient Parsi lady banging away on her antique typewriter inside.
Also in the same Parsi Medicine Shop
“Swine flu preventive medicine available. Three times every day for five days only.”
Parsis have a way with words, I say.
At Victoria Terminus
The steel garbage bin chained to the pillar has been stolen. People still throw rubbish, spit against the pillar unmindful of the stink it is creating.
What about a replacement? Is one coming soon?
In Peace and Strenght
For
Avery Time
No, it’s not my spelling goof up, but someone seemed to have mucked up the spelling of “strength” and “every” on the above tee-shirt. Who said “I am okay if the gist is conveyed?” I am sharpening my instruments for you and your tribe.
Seen on a Parsi medicine shop:
Parsi medicals will remain close for reno-vation.
“Ha reno-vation soo che?” I would like to ask the ancient Parsi lady banging away on her antique typewriter inside.
Also in the same Parsi Medicine Shop
“Swine flu preventive medicine available. Three times every day for five days only.”
Parsis have a way with words, I say.
At Victoria Terminus
The steel garbage bin chained to the pillar has been stolen. People still throw rubbish, spit against the pillar unmindful of the stink it is creating.
What about a replacement? Is one coming soon?
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Caferati’s Fifth Anniversary – Some Impressions
Caferati is five years old. Can’t believe that. It was five years ago that a few writers met beside the sea at Bandra Bandstand and a network of writers was born. So the Caferatii (as we call ourselves) met for the fifth anniversary on the beach of Kihim hosted by the lovely couple Hashim and Priya who run a corporate adventure outbound venture called “ Wanderstruck.”
I attended Dan’s workshop on performing ones writing. Yes, it is important these days to be able to stand before an audience and perform your work. (Even, these days, publishers ask you if you can perform, or, read to an audience.) And Dan being inimitable Dan, was the best person to teach us how to perform. I have been completely floored by his Dastangoi performance at Kala Ghoda and I wonder why such a hugely talented actor is languishing in the depths of anonymity. True, merit is never rewarded in Mother India.
Dan talked of “owning your work”, of “making that much effort to get across a single idea to the audience”, to “remember to perform like an actor, improvise,” to “be a good listener, if you want to be a good performer”, to “believe in the integrity of your work”, to “create the moment the audience will take home with them.” I understand. I understand. I read a piece from “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and the feedback was: “I should improve my accent (my Mallu accent that is)”, “You begin well and then peter out (true, true!)”. I worked on these suggestions during a break and later in the section for performing our own work I read my poem The 8.30 a.m. Train Girl, into which I feel I put every emotion I could muster. The reports aren’t out on that one, yet!
Wild Winds, Priya and Hashim’s bungalow is located right on the golden sands of Kihim beach and we had a whacky time watching the sun, the surf and the crashing waves. The sound of the sea was like music, the sun flitted in and out of clouds producing alternate rain and bright sunshine. What a divine, glorious, satiating day we had in this getaway with a charm all its own along with some people who were the best company.
Today is Onam, so happy Onam everyone!
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