Of vision & voyeurism

Yes...'world cinema' still allures me....& I happenned to watch Kieslowski's polish classic 'A short film on Love' recently which had a profound impact on me. The movie tells the story of an obsessed lover who ogles at an elderly neighbour's private life through his personal telescope & is quite unapologetic about it. However, there's hardly anything sexual about this attraction as is also portrayed in Buddhadedb Dasgupta's bengali film " AMi, Yasin r amar Madhubala" aka " The voyeurs" & this essence of pure love resembles Wong kar Wai's classic " In the mood for love". The remarkability of the film lies in the fact that while showing the seemingly sexual act of " Voyeurism" , it portrays platonic love. ...& that's how I'll end this post amidst my 'writer's block' & will name it " a short post on a film".

A New World: TimeLapse 2020

A lockdown-time meme said " Year is 2020, but life is like Test" Indeed, last year was undoutedly the biggest game-changer of human history in recent times....2020...the year of Pandemic...the year of Corona...& how it has led us to a "New normal!". But it has remained hardly a temporary affair. We are already into 2021 , & still in partial restrictions...awaiting complete vaccination...plus apprehending a 3rd wave with terror & uncertainty. On a personal front,initial phase of lockdown didn't bother me much, being already used to staying in a remote township, ...rather i was curious about how my urban friends react to the ordeal. But, yes....a lot changed. MNC's realized that WFM is more productive,....layoffs/ salary-cuts re-implied security of Govt jobs, ...........e-learning industry got a boost, while tourism sufferred....& Mask/santizers became the new Gold/silver. & of course, Health Care Workers reaffirmed themselves as the real Gods. But, what did we learn from the entire scenario...& its sheer unprecedentedness? 1. We can stay indoors & still have a good time. 2. Never take time for granted & postpone plans. 3. The skeptical are actually realistic, not paranoid. Well...easier said than done as after all,"Man is a social animal". Even today as I see pics of religious gatherings...irrespective of community...in respective festivals...from the eid-crowd to counting days for Durga Puja...we can never live alienated....at least in a country like ours. So, even as I myself miss weekend outings,fortnightly home-visits via train , yearly trips,....yes, I do feel claustrophobic....but then I keep nurturing the pending parties, travel plan, meetups...very secrelty...somewhere inside this exhausted heart.

Feminism Flip-sides

'A man's world'...that's what a female colleague of mine named the industry where we work...the Power Sector.Indeed, it is a male-dominated work-area as I've also seen in the last 3.5 years...but, wait...isn't the entire world ...however unfortunate that is?
But, is a man's world actually adverse to a woman or the other way round?...For instance, in my organization, females are quintessentially that endangered species who'll get favorable postings/transfers, if not on joining, invariably post-marriage( in case they are not marrying a colleague),continue in that posting for time unknown...maybe life-long...in a transferable job... & also get the 'favorable job-area'...something which is noticeable specially in my stream HR....as girls are the 'soft entities' for whom it's not safe to deal with workers.
I have absolutely no problems with legal obligations as Women not allowed to work in evening/night shifts in a factory( though recently amended in Maharashtra)...or much-needed welfare measures as Maternity leave, Child Care leave. But, when paying the same salary, equal designation & simultaneously permitting option to exercise choice w.r.t job-area is nothing but sheer discrimination...period!
Yes, we need feminism...but by over-protecting a female at work-place, we are neither empowering them nor ensuring ubiquitous safety for them.

Spontaneous Slangs: 2

Amidst all the applause surrounding Virat Kohli's dream-run with the bat,I suddenly chanced upon a video on youtube titled" Virat's MC/BC compilation". Indeed,if any Indian cricketer can give the Australians a run for their money in terms of on-the-field sledging , it's Virat, though as I heard,of late, Sachin Tendulkar has played an active role in calming down this 'Angry young man'of Indian Cricket.But , not everyone can necessarily remain as composed as a Sachin or Rahul Dravid under truly enraging provocations....not just in a cricket-field ,....but also real life.

But, is such spontaneity actually natural,instinctive reaction or just an exhibition of restlessness,mistaken for machismo??

Even the 'bhagvad geeta' says one who remains level-headed under all circumstances is the 'Ideal man'...but any normal person, who's not a hermit would say that's 'eutopian man'....or a senseless robot who remains indifferent to even worst of insult aimed at one's family-members.

Yes...Of Course,,,,Jesus passively forgived those who crucified him & Gandhiji proclaimed "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"...but is it good enough for one's own persona & spine to leave everything to Karma & be just a silent onlooker??

That reminds me of one of the most celebrated chapters from 'Sri Ramkrishna Kathamrita'...where a docile snake fedup with children disturbing it continuosly by hurling stones, gets the supremely valuable advice 'Don't bite,but hiss.'

Hence, one doesn't need to go over-board with anger & bring oneself down to the level of the assaulter.on the contrary, true resilience lies in dignified retaliation. people say, bell the cat at 1st night. Truly, it's much better to reply to a nudge with another & end things there than smacking after several nudges. Scores settled.

A peon with a Phd!

After two years of working as an Officer in a Psu, I've finally got an assistant who is younger that me.It has happened just when it was getting increasingly difficult to deal with sub-ordinates, older in age. Since one can't be too harsh & too docile either, respectful professionalism is what I found most effective in getting the job done. Nevertheless, handling someone junior in designation as well as age/experience is supposedly easier. The young executives coming in PSUs also is a good sign for the ageing organizations. But, keeping aside factors like age & experience, what about qualification. If formal education is deemed to be a testimony for merit/eligibility/capability/intellect & other such qualities, then candidates with degrees like engineering/postgraduates opting for clerical posts is definitely a mismatch.But the highest shock came from the news of Phd s appearing for peon post in Govt-recruitments in states like Bihar. There,surely is a paucity of jobs in the entire country, compared to the huge number of applicants...a big demand-supply gap.But, if this lacuna has to expose a shocking inference like an inverse relation between education & money, it's scary.As the world turns more & more consumerist with every passing day, college-kids adhering greater importance to easy-money than long-term education, the dignity/gravity of higher studies fear risk of diminishing fast. It's like....more you study,your eligibility incereases, but your employability reduces. Private companies, till date the mainstay for recruitments, would want cheap resources with basic qualifications to do a particular job, and hence, folks with extra alphabets after their names, lose out...or do they??
I remember considering myself superior(foolishly enough!)to my peers studying in general streams, as I was doing a professional degree myself.But,even though I bagged a job before them, 10 years down the line, I see them all settled in the States, earning in dollars, while I have managed just a few hikes in INR. So, indeed the importance of higher study can't be undermined even today, but post-graduates/doctorates need to be guided properly about career-prospects properly by their guides, and not exploited so that thier years of hard work in classes don't become futile. Also, moral support from family is extremely essential so that one doesn't become insecure enough to join 'any job' for raw money just to compete with the next-door guy/girl, if the latter is buying a flat/car at 25.Higher study certainly is pain-staking , often gets dragged, but the seeds of struggle sown in one's prime truly makes one reap all the benefits in the long run. Therefore, getting into 'any job' is a trap, but patiently waiting for the 'right thing at the right time' is what makes a real winner!

Spontaneous slangs

'Banspree'....a hashtag-ed word which caught my attention in a friend's FB-post sometime back.It was referring to the successive ban imposed on several recent ' allegedly outrageous'cultural ventures like 'AIB-roast' & "Fifty shades of grey". The respective reasons for such flak are 'excessive use of expletives' & 'obscenity'.Now, the big question is "Why now?".Such exhibition of unabashed emotion is definitely not unprecedented. Author EL James has predecessors like D.H.Lawrence who literally shook the world with his super-sensuous 'Lady Chatterly's Lover' which adorns bookstore-shelves even today...& so does Indian renditions of the 'Sex,truth & books'-genre like 'kamasutra'. However,in this post, I would be focussing on the topic of 'use of slangs in public medium '. There was a time when censor board was skeptical on the said issue & F-words in Martin Scorsese-Gangstermovies & suchlike would be silenced & replaced by 'hell'/4-stars in subtitles. Even today, expletives used by participants of reality shows like 'Roadies'/'Splitsvilla' are carefully 'beeped', though the uncut versions are readily available on Youtube. Likewise, Raghu Ram, the ideator behind these MTV-shows, in reply to stern criticism from Aamir Khan, pointed that 'AIB-video's are released only on the internet, with viewer-discretion advice, & also argued on Aamir himself condoning random 'gaali-galoj' in his own production 'Delhi belly' .Indeed,on celluloid, a far more flexible stand is taken, especially in bengali films, as directorslike Buddhadeb dasgupta, Goutam ghosh, Rituparno ghosh, Anjan Dutta, Kaushik Ganguly, Srijit Mukherjee ,Mainak Bhowmik & Raj Chakraborty have made films, inundated with swear-words that have worked wonders with a conceding audience. In fact, it started with as long back as Tapan Sinha's 'Raja' about anti-socials in the 70's & the culmination can be said to have been achieved by director Q, who have actually ended up making a film, with the title itself being an expletive, not to mention many more throughout the film. Now, the mastermind makers behind these so-called 'work-of-art's, when questioned about the suitability of such abundant usage of 'beepable's , have readily justified " We thought such characters would be talking like that only, in our real lives". Fair enough! as long it's the genuine reason & the whole ordeal is not for garnering bigger TRPs. While ideators behind such films/shows continue to coin 'censorship' as 'moral policing' & a threat to freedom-of-expression, it is also very important for creative people being aware 'Where to draw the line' .Even Satyajit ray used slangs in a couple of his films, but they never felt contrived, as they were demanded by the situations , hence spontaneous!

Development vs Employment

“Necessity is the mother of all inventions”-Plato.
We all move forward…at least that’s what we wish to…try to. However, with advancement, often comes the burden of sabotage, in some form or other. Recently, I happened to watch a couple of films, which addressed this issue, though in very different ways.
“Xagoroloi bohu duur”(It’s a long way to the sea”) one of the most critically successful works of Assamese movie-giant Jahnu Barua, tells the story of an old boatman , entrusted with the indispensable job of carrying inhabitants of a remote village across a river to the city-life on the other side, & how his life gets shattered when a bridge gets constructed on the river. The film portrays how in course of making a convenient way of crossing the river for the villagers, the livelihood of the poor boatman gets snatched away. Collateral damage, as people say! Small sacrifices for a larger cause. Ironic indeed!
I watched the newly colorized version of ”Naya Daur”, B.R.Chopra’s vintage saga on the theme ‘Man vs Machine’ & was amazed to see, how within the ambit of making a mainstream song-&-dance hindi-flick, the director has put forward a strong message, that of endorsing/patronizing the peaceful as well as useful co-existence of manual labor & machine-driven efficiency.
Even in our daily lives in a country like India, we witness a similar scenario with Rickshaw-pullers & Auto-drivers operating along the same route. Passengers opt for the former if the latter is not available. So what do the poor labourers do? Remain as men at the mercy of machines?
Even, in the organized industrial landscape, automation has led to umpteen job-cuts, resulting in organizational-development, but at the cost of creating unemployment. Being an erstwhile IT-professional, I get disturbed at the lame manual modus-operandi followed in the PSU, I presently work for. However, a potential ERP-implementation , though held up owing to the severe digital-divide prevalent in the half-old workforce, would invariably put the relevance of the staff working in the file receive-despatch section at stake….& had it not been a PSU, probably they would have been handed pink-slips. So, how do we solve the bottle-neck? The way-out is pretty linear. Man only has created machines….hence, it shouldn’t be the practice that machine destroys men & their lives. If we need machines, we also need work-force to operate them. Therefore, let there be mandatory development, but it must not throw people out of jobs, rather, bring more of them in!

Manager ‘Babu’

‘Management’…the buzz-word in contemporary educational & industrial landscape! After all, what is so enticing about the concept of ‘Management’ that attracts people, irrespective of age & class??...Actually, being a ‘manager’ according to popular belief, is akin to being someone important, someone whom people look up to. However, this glorified image of a ‘Manager’ is fairly a recent phenomenon. It was not like this always , specially the feudal era , when the real leaders were the landlords, whereas their affairs used to get managed by the ‘Nayab’s , a refined version of a clerk, which during the British era, started getting framed by the ‘Euphemism’ called ‘Manager’, followed by a typical ‘desi’ suffix…’babu’!
Truly, even today how much of the job done by so-called managers is ‘managerial/strategic’ in the true sense of the term , & how much of it is actually outright clerical?? 1000s of management-schools across the world, umpteen MDPs happening round the year, self-help books propagating ideas on ‘how to manage your life’ becoming bestsellers & their authors, consequently, getting termed as ‘Management Gurus’…are all these actually worth it or….adherence of over-importance to ‘Management’ as a concept??
Even MBA-students themselves confess, after passing out of b-schools & joining the industry, that two years of studying management-theories & organization behavior is hardly of any use at workplace. Popular opinion says that ‘management’ is an inherent trait, as fundamental as any other emotion like bravery or laziness or hypertension. Going by the said theory, Home-maker Mom’s can be perceived to be the best managers! Indeed, if it’s all in the mind , & everyone has it to greater or lesser extent, why an ‘MBA’?....Is it just glamourizing or packaging??
The answer, according to me, is a definite ‘No’ if an individual/professional is engaged in assignments strategic enough necessitating analytical insights & managerial acumen. But, often specially in govt organizations , Mba’s holding managerial positions are working as ‘glorified clerks’ only, doing mundane routine-jobs, without having any opportunities at all, to add values to their organizations. Many of them are possessing experiences of woring on challenging case-studies in their MBA-course, & winning award in national-level competitions…but, are just lost in the dreaded ‘Tunnel-vision’ of PSU’s. What happens invariably after that is that, the fresh-minds from b-schools become like the typical ‘Manager-Babu’s of the feudal era , spending useful working-hours reading newspapers, gossiping about transfers & DA-hikes & anitipating a fat salary-rise in the next pay-revision. But, this is remotely close to the classic concept of a ‘manager’. Prior to the feudal era, there was the age of kings & emperors when, the minister of state, was actually the most intelligent, at times, cunning person working as the personal advisor to the ruler. Even in the game of chess, the minister has the greatest power, more than the king. Also, the hindu mythology projects the shrewd ‘Chanakya’ as a manager, who was actually a philosopher as well.
A manager, I feel, sould actually be an Ideator, someone who innovates & leads. Regardless of how much any goddamn facilitator or co-ordinator likes the tag of a “manager”, even in the guise of a hotel-caretaker or a head-clerk, the term ‘Manager’ has to be reserved for someone who truly deserves to be at the tip of a pyramid, by dint of foresight , intuition & humanism.

Confessions of a non-shopaholic

Marriage on the cards=shopping has its effect of your credit/debit cards.Indeed, ever since my wedding has been fixed, one of the patent questions that has come my way ...'So, have you stared shopping?'..Though, I've never been a shopaholic ,I've observed broadly two kinds of shoppers:
1. who shop with an impulse
2. who shop with an agenda
For the first group, more often than not,it's just shopping for the sake of it...they don't have to wait for ceremonies or festivals or end-of-season sale's, for them it is a perennial extravaganza that goes on throughout the year. However, to be a passionate shopper like this , one needs to have a fat bank-balance, so that any amount can be shelled out anytime for anything that catches one's eye in stores.
But, for the second group, buying things come into the picture only when they are needed...actually, only when they are indispensable.
The big question is, which group is better?
definitely, it's not advisable to be extravagant for one's passion for shopping & pick up anything & everything that comes in the way. Also, it's not right to be miser enough to use things till they become unusable & only then go for buying a new substitute.In fact, very often it's seen that in such situations owing to the urgency of a purchase, the buyer has to compromise in buying whatever is available at that moment, which if not up to the mark gets damaged very soon & has to be replaced again resulting in double investment.
Shopping, I feel should be a balance between need & want , and a well-estimated manifestation of one's affordability combined with desire to fulfill one's own satisfaction.

Why attrition is good for companies??

As I embark on the verge of completion of 1 year in a Govt job, the greatest cause of disbelief to me has become my change in mindset, regarding my job....while I was determined to leave this job as soon as possible since the time I joined, gradually I'm finding myself entangled in the Psu-life & culture. In fact, it is the case with 99% govt employees as hardly any have left or want to leave because they neither want to forego their job-security nor their post-retirement financial security(read 'pension') ,& understandably so. But, is Zero-attrition actually good for companies?? Maybe, on paper, it is the dream for any organization to boast of such utopian retention-stats...but there's also many flip-side's to it. Every organization, big or small, has a pyramidal structure of growth, which invariably narrows towards its tip.Hence, if there's no attrition at all , then the wide base of fresh-recruits are all going to be vying for the topmost position of the company 30 years down the line.Also, zero-attrition implies no mid-level recruitment which means the same employees who join as trainees & stay back at the same place for their entire live, being unaware of the outer world , hence leading to a myopic & claustrophobic organization-culture.Therefore,companies... let some employees leave if they want to , let them look for greener pastures....alongside, let some willing others come in...in short, let the fresh air come in !

The Training Burn

The word 'Education' is undoubtedly one of the most 'pious' words in the English Dictionary & 'Knowledge' is widely hailed as one of the biggest virtues of mankind.What makes 'Knowledge' so ubiquitous is invariably its free-flowing nature...the way it gets transferred from one entity to another.However,the quality of knowledge spread/imparted depends entirely on the source.....how well it is taken is incumbent strongly on the way it is given.Therefore, comes the importance of 'Training'....a core-area of Human Resource Management.Though,the term 'training' is too pervasive & is omnipresent in our life...maybe more often coined as 'learning',what's haunting me more nowadays is 'forced-learning' for professionals at workplace,coined as 'training'. Every Company is investing big-time on training these days.After all,what impact does it have on the work-force? For the few interested,it might be 'learning'...but for the reluctant many,it's just a break from work...more so in case of outstation-trainings.Hence,comes the challenge of designing better training programmes & content so as to avoid the potential 'fish-out-of-water's.equally important becomes a proper training-need-assessment exercise which is largely absent in psu's.But,when it comes to fresher-training s in IT-companies it's a different ball-game altogether.Some software-biggies have the creepy provision of firing trainees if they can't clear the much-dreaded exit-tests.Probably,those companies can afford the loss...which the trainees who get sacked can't.Training,by definition is imparting knowledge,not an elimination process.Still,if it turns out to be so then the actual selection process has to be deemed faulty.lastly,I'll come to 'Behavioural Training'.MDPs or programmes on 'Team-building& Leadership',however enjoyable they can be,hardly stay back with the participants...as they leave with the mindset..."Asif we didn't know all these'. Therefore,comes the importance of preparing specific training-material for the particular group/organisation/industry catering to in order to make it relatable & follow up with seeking feedback after some time so as to gauge effectiveness of the training at workplace. Training is in every way a team-work,and it is not only as good as the trainer but also the trainees.

Unstability in diversity?

I believe there can be a broad utopian classification of people based on how they want to lead their lives as follows:
i. people who want to earn lots of money
ii. people who want to have diverse experiences
However,the first group consider themselves as steady& reliable while they look at the second group as unstable.On the other hand,the second group consider themselves as diverse ,their life as an adventure and the first group-people as a boring lot who lead the most mundane life.
But,the big question is 'Are these two groups mutually exclusive?...don't they overlap?'
Someone might want to have a life full of varied experience,and at the same time,earn decent money,if not lots!
In reality,there are plenty of them! In fact,the people who earn in crores are the one's actually having an extraordinary life...filmstars,sportspersons,business-tycoons.
So,do the normal office-goer's lose out...both on the monetary & experience-part?
Maybe,yes...but I'm sure even they must have had lofty goals as children ...while growing up...before settling down to fit into the image of 'Responsible Adults' precisely the aforementioned Group 1 people,even if that doesn't make them filthy rich.They just are not risk-takers.Fair enough! But ,what about the other lot who are creative,want to live life the 'Zindegi na milegi dobara' style,at the same time,like everyone else have responsibilities to carry out & families to take care of. Does just the experimental ways of leading one's life make one unstable or it's excused if he/she earns enough money to compensate?
and,where exactly does one draw the line in terms of experimenting with one's career?
A chequered career-graph can be viewed from both angles...it can be either diverse or unstable...simply lacking any focus or direction?
In our generation,attention-span has reduced a great deal.There's a tendency to get satisfied with anything we get hold of & start thinking 'So,what next?'
In a developing nation,where opportunities are manifold,the somewhat financially stable are all part of this race...engineers want to leave their jobs to become MBA's...MBA's want to leave their jobs to become entrepreneurs....& so on & so forth.After all,what is it?...upgrading yourself...or complying with the vicious cycle of eventually making a successful career?...Maybe the next generation will be able to find the answer...hopefully!

sophistication ,or the lack of it?

As I complete one month of being in a government job,working in a not-centrally-AC office and staying in a village,to my surprise I find little reaction within me towards these changed circumstances.The change was not overnight though...I was an IT-professional once working in big state-of-the-art facilities,amongst an young crowd
& attending office-parties in banquet-halls.But,is it my stint as an mba-student in a govt b-school that has made me prepared for a de-galmourised lifestyle or I've matured€ as a person on a whole with increased tolerance & openness??But,the that's what management education imparts inclination towards taking up new challenges,exploring new opportunities and having a broader & unbiased perspective.It's equally intriguing how priorities change for an individual with time.At 21,when I decided to take up an IT-job was lured just for the taste of earning raw money,irrespective of the amount & also by the hip-lifestyle of an MNC-worker.But,5 years later ,equipped with a post-graduate qualification,my primary satisfaction lies in getting the ROI of my education,and not offices with glass-doors & AC-cubicles or an all-young-work-group with whom I could party on weekends.But,then is the temptation of leading a so-called glamorous life an illusion of early 20's?? I can't help borrowing from one of my rare same-age-colleagues,who said,"Glamour is within me!who cares what the surrounding is like?" Indeed,these are signs of growing up...when one realises that there's more to the meaning of life than what we often perceive when fresh out of college.Especially,working in a village makes one experience what rural India is like & what being in poverty means. For me,the starting month itself as a govt employee was eventful...had to manage a visit of 18 IAS-officers at our plant....also got the chance to interact with an young officer who incidentally has done his engineering & mba from premier institutes & then worked in a global consulting firm in a happening city like mumbai before cracking the civil services exam which has landed him in a remote village in bengal ,yet he seemed pretty chilled-out about all of it.Meeting him kinda' inspired me...to take on the ordeal I'm facing for the times to come...afterall,a challenge is a challenge & it's all part of the bigger world,where all of us live!

Customer-branding:the new face of 'Service-Marketing'

Post Employer-branding & Employee-branding, here comes a new concept in Service-marketing..."Customer-branding". Customers or end-user's are really the people who build a business's brand...by dint of satisfactory results & feedback.....& branding of the individuals with such results has become an indirect way of branding your own business.
Visit any big hospital & you'll find walls adorned with smiling faces of cancer-survivors who got treated there along with a write-up of their stories of recovery.
Go to any Entrance Exam Coaching institute...passport-size photos of toppers produced from there, lined up on the walls will welcome you...almost with an indirect affirmation that 'You've come to the right place, baby!'
Or just travel through the busy city-roads...you are bound to be distracted by hoardings showing happy family-portraits with a picture-postcard residential complex in the backdrop & a bite from any of the family-members mentioning how wise a decision they have taken in buying an apartment in such a complex.
Now, it’s not that models were never used earlier to advertise products but they used to be celebrities or professional models. But, over the years, we’ve come to an age when being a celebrity has become relatively easier….& people have realized that it’s no longer a ‘taken-for-granted’ thing that celebrities advertising products will make them sell. Rather, it’s the age of creating celebrities out of common people …the age of ‘reality Show’s where an apparently ordinary person can become a star overnight….it’s all about creating heroes out of people in the crowd &,thereby entice the crowd….which actually has led to so much importance being adhered to the concept of ‘Customer-branding’…that has made the ‘Service-marketing’ landscape undergo a paradigm-shift.

Pleasant Pains

Recently I read in a facebook post about a yoga-teacher asking his trainees to feel the 'pleasant pain' while exercising. Now, that's an oxymoron indeed. Pain is supposed to hurt us, not please us!....But, must say in our times, it has become a luxury, a way of celebrating 'how tough you are'. Otherwise, why would youngsters flock towards gymn's & tattoo-parlours....or reality-shows like 'Survivor' ,'Fear Factor' & 'Roadies' notch up such great TRP's. It's all about how much pain you can endure....that defines your 'Toughness Quotient'. But,at times it's also about lack of strength…& vulnerability. I remember, some time back, during one of my post-breakup post-mortem's, I was told by a friend that ,it was the 'Pleasant pain' or 'Meetha dard' of reminiscing about my ex that was not letting me get-over my past affair.I have also heard some people say that 'tension' & 'anxiety' works benefecial for them before exams & suchlike. I guess in such cases, we create pains for ourselves as it makes us believe that it will make things our way…& such pains are worth tolerating I believe…as they not only help us getting the work done but also prepare us for such pains when they actually happen in the future. As wise people say,’Today’s pain is Tommorrow’s gain’.

The lesser-known 'gems' of Maniratnam

In a country like India where national cinema is synonymous with 'Hindi Films'....it's no mean feat for any regional language film-maker to make his presence felt across the country by having his films known about,if not shown throughout the nation.Satyajit Ray,Mrinal Sen,Tapan Sinha,Adoor Goapalkrishnan,Buddhadeb Dasgupta,Gautam Ghosh,Rituparno Ghosh,Aparna Sen have done that... through subtitled prints/dubbed versions(Chokher Bali,Antarmahal,Khela)/hindi remakes of their bengali originals(Zindagi Zindagi,Sagina).
But all of them have been from Parallel or Middle Cinema.But,in the last three decades,a South Indian mainstream film-maker has been able to do it in style....none other than Maniratnam.I'm calling him a mainstream film-maker only because unlike the others I mentioned,his films have songs,dances,action and all other elements of popular cinema.But,still he's one film-maker who has been able to make superbly-crafted & socially-relevant films within the ambit of commercial cinema for more than 30 years,as a result of which his films much like the films of Ray,Tapan Sinha & Rituparno Ghosh have been well-received by audiences & critics alike & have also won accolades at national awards & international film festivals alonside breaking box-office records.
And,when it comes to box-office, going back to where I started,it's imperative to mention that his films have not just been limited to tamil/telugu audience....but dubbed versions of his films like 'Roja'& 'Bombay' have been seen,loved & appreciated by audiences all across India....to such an extent that They have become 'Cult' films in the history of 'Indian Cinema'.However,there are some earlier films of his as well which were dubbed into hindi or subtitled & got some viwing outside South India.I saw three such films recently 'Nayakan',Geetanjali' & 'Anjali'.Though I liked all,still can't say they reached the excellence of 'Roja' & 'Bombay'.Only,'Nayakan' can be said to be very well-made & well-crafted film where action,drama,social commentary,humanity were all wonderfully interwound into a magnum 'biopic'.Supposedly based on Francis Ford Coppola's 'Godfather',it showcased one of the finest performances by one of the fines Indian actors,kamal Hasan & is included in Time magazine's list of 'All-time great 100 Movies'.
The other two films 'Geetanjali' & 'Anjali' are relatively softer films devoid of too much action & emphasizing on human relationships. 'Geetanjali' shows the romance between two terminally-ill people....shot in the picturesque 'Ooty',it featured action-hero 'Nagarjuna' for the first time in a romantic role.'Anjali' tells the story of an autistic chld who changes the lives of people around her....it is regarded as one of the best Indian Children's films ever made.
All these films & also 'Roja' & 'Bombay' showcase Maniratnam's mastery over the language of Cinema,his eye for innovations & his concerns for under-served people & his ability to tell their story in simple & engaging way.According to me,he is also one of the best directors of child-artists as is evident from the performances of children in his films like 'Nayakan','Geetanjali','Anjali','Roja','Bombay' & 'Kannathil Muthamittal'. Watching a Maniratnam film is always a heart-warming experience & I eagerly look forward to watching more of his films.

Mumbai darshan

Yeah,as the title suggests,last week I had my first trip to Mumbai,the city which I had just seen in Movies & I wanted to visit for long.But,since I went for an interview,didn't have the bandwidth to travel around much.All I went to was Marine Drive & Inorbit mall...but within the short stay,I was bowled over by the tremendous glamour of the city.While going across the Sea-link,the worli-skyline looked akin to Dubai from a distance & felt the same from marine-drive as well.While CS-staion was like a heritage-spot, LTT station resembled an airport...it does come across as a city with contrasting features.Moreover,the sheer cosmopolitan nature of the city's crowd made me feel like I was in Kolkata only,but 10 years ahead.Indeed,the bustling of the traffic,the breeze from Arabian Sea,the smell of Vada-pao...all such nuances make the composite hodge-podge called Mumbai.....a city so much like other metro's...yet with a character oh her own!

The only constant

Change.....one word which immediately steers a variety of emotions in one's mind....excitement,apprehension,fear,restlessness....& so much more!
But,then its also probably the most universal phenomenon in our life.Change means moving on & 'Lack of change' implies stagnation,something highly undesirable.
People seeking variety in life as much as possible, are actually obsessed with density...ie "How much one can squash in into a life-span of 60-80 years"....in terms of experiences,learnings & takeaways.But,where do we take it to?....is there anything at all called 'After-life'?...It's doubtful....so all we are aware of is 'This Life'. Hence,reaffirming the thought "One lifetime,One chance"....Whatever one has to do...this is the time...drink upto the brim.
However,variety & seeking new experiences is as enticing as much it is challenging.It brings with it the baggage of fear of the unknown,& threats to the existing comfort levels,if any.Human beings are generally bound by status-quo,all we look for in life by default,is happiness & once we get hold of it in some form,its difficult to let go.But,then 'life is not a voyage just about sticking to one particular shore,not because we have live & loved enough there,but maybe for the sail flows better in another direction'.If this had not been true, then people with cushy jobs would not have taken the plunge to become entrepreneurs or writers or hitchhikers.The transition phase is tough actually,you lose your safety-valve,your schedule goes haywire & you get into a life of uncertainty.One struggles in such a phase,but comes out stronger.
To get something,one has to lose something & that's why it is said,"Today's pain is tomorrow's gain".

Variety was his spice

If there was any Indian film-maker who never repeated himself,someone who’s awe-inspriringly wide body of work can only be compared with someone like Satyajit Ray, someone whose repertoire spans 5 decades & 40-odd films to his credit ,he is none other than Tapan Sinha, the grand old man of Indian Cinema.
Though it remains a catastrophe, that very few people actually know properly about this master of movie-making as is evident from the lukewarm celebrations today, ie his birthday. However, this lack of awareness can be attributed to his long ouvre of work itself & the lack of branding of the same done by the connoisseurs of cinema that leaveas an audience confused whether films like Kabuliwala, khaniker Atithi, Jhinder bandi, Nirjan Saikate, jatugriha, Galpo Holeo Satyi,Apanjan,Sagina mahato,harmonium,Safed haathi,Bancharamer bagan ,Atanaka, Ek Doctor Ki maut,Antardhan,Wheelchair,Ajob gayer ajob kotha all belong to the same director. Writer Nabanita Deb Sen has rightly said,”Perhaps we like watching his films, but somehow forget the man behind them”.
But it’s not just the audience, but the critics have also perhaps failed to categorize him as a film-maker sometimes he’s included in the same bracket with Satyajit Ray,Mrinal Sen,Ritwik Ghatak ,some other times with his more commercial copunter-parts like Tarun Majumder,Ajoy Kar,Asit Sen while some other times in neither of the two. The reason behind this probably is that Tapan Sinha is the real father of “Middle Cinema”, films which are thought-provoking & entertaining at the same time ,a genre which unfortunately is credited to someone like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who has actually been a plagiarist of Sinha’s films at times, yet managed to win the Dadasaheb Phalke Award 10 years before Sinha.
Tapan Sinha was not just a man, an institution. Not just a film-maker, he was a music-director, lyricist, script-writer & story-writer as well. But, it’s really disheartening to see why even after his demise he has not got his deserved respect & recognition.

Good Things come in Small Packages

Every management-student does an internship-programme as a part of his/her cirriculum...I was lucky enough to do two of them...that too in diametrically opposite companies & sectors.
My first internship was with a manufacturing-biggie & the second one was with a midcap IT-firm with 200-odd employees.While the former had hardly anything to offer apart from the big brand on my certificate....the latter,despite being a much samller organization offered me such hands-on experience which I had'nt received even in formal 20 months of work-experience before in an IT-giant.
This differential experience brings me to a fundamental question:
"Which is better...a big brand with its name & fame or a small firm with the much-needed personal touch?"
Must say.....both have their merits & demerits.
As young people,as freshers....we tend to suffer from a certain amount of brand-consciousness which in turn,makes us myopic.I remember,one of my ex-colleagues who himself hailed from a small company told me"what one learns in 5 years in a large company is equivalent to what the same person learns in 1 yera in a smaller company...because there one has to do everything starting from designing to developing to testing to business analysis".My experience of working in a small company as an intern was also similar as I found out HR's taking up a more generalist role & handling a large gaut of functions including recruitment,PMS,employee-engagement & so on.probably,tha's why a small company is always such a good traiing-ground for any junior-professional at the beginning of his/her career.But,then it ultimately bolis down to getting p;aid for your work...somewhere bigger companies win hands down with their transparency & reliability.Nevertheless,it's all really dependent on where one lands up initially & how one makes the most of it.