Movie Review: Kahaani

* NO SPOILERS!* :-)

Watched this movie over the weekend and seriously I have all praises for it!! It's probably one of the very few women centric movies in Bollywood, which has a compelling script, good plot, well directed and amazing performance by Vidya Balan. She has carried off the entire movie on her shoulders and has done a darn good job at it!

Since the plot is a mystery, I would dare not write much about it and spoil the readers' experience! As shown in the trailors, all I knew when I went to watch it was that the story is about a pregnant woman who goes to Kolkatta in search of her missing husband and how she struggles to find his wherabouts. There was not a single point during the movie where I felt it was boring or the climax was given away. It kept me guessing till the last scene and boy was I taken by surprise with the climax!

It's no doubt a MUST watch!! Very rarely Bollywood comes up with such substantial movies! And Vidya Balan's performance is something you would not want to miss. The fact that there are few songs included (even those that are there are pretty much in background or intro) and the duration is just about 2 hrs, makes it all the more easy to watch, without wasting time on adding in an unnecessary item number just to get a box office hit! When there is a strong story line and a great performance, a movie really would not need a hot n sexy chic doing a guest appearance with an item number just to hit the box office records, isn't it?!

After the movie got over, I could actually draw a lot of paralles between this and the movie "A Wednesday". They seem to be giving a common message but with a different story...What do you say?

Incredibly Believable!

I came across this book written by Late Dr. Sunny Satin (Ph.D, C.Ht) when I was doing my Level 4 Hypnotherapy workshop at CHII . Having discussed the topic of "Ascension" and the "2012 changing Earth" concepts in the class, I was curious to get my hands on this book! And as it was available there itself, I immediately grabbed a copy. It has never happened before that I have finished reading a 300 page book in just 3.5hrs! I was amazed at my own speed of reading and the level of concentration.. But the book itself is such that once you start reading, you just cannot keep it down :)

It's an amazing book if you are interested in knowing what is happening to the world, the reason behind increase in natural calamities, death & violence, the huge shift in attitude with the current younger generations, about the Crystal and Indigo children, the increased focus on spirituality and alternate healing therapies, why and how the Mayan civilization could predict what is going to happen in Dec 2012 but could not predict anything beyond that! And above all... what exactly is going to happen in Dec 2012.! It's not the end of the world but the beginning of a new phase... the 4th dimension! Read it and you will know what I am talking about :)

Here is a brief synopsis about the book, taken from the cover page

Ask yourself: “Do you feel there are major changes occurring in the world?”
If the answer is ‘No’, you do not need to read this book.
But if the answer is ‘Yes’, then this book will provide you insights into your feelings, and provide many answers to questions that you did not know whom to ask.

Around the world, there has been a lot of talk lately about the major “Shift” that we, as Mankind, along with Planet Earth, are experiencing. Beyond the well-documented geophysical changes, like major increases in the number of earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes and other natural phenomena, there are also major changes in every area of life that affect each and every one of us.

This is an absolutely interesting and informative hard covered book written about the changing earth and humanity, often known as THE SHIFT of 2012-2029. Dr. Sunny Satin combines the background of the shift, guides one through the transition, and provides a description of the New World after upon completion of the shift. Definitely a page-turner, written in simple language and great for EVERYONE to understand!

Important topics include:
1.- Energetic and Scientific Look on the Dimension Shift
2.- Sources of Universal Information
3.- Body Changes (chakra, DNA etc) during the Transition
4.- Indigo and Crystal Children
5.- Masters and Helpers
6.-Timelines for Reaching the Dimension shift

Now that I have a music system in my car, I listen to the radio at least 2 hours a day while commuting to work, thanks to bangalore traffic! So recently, I heard this ad on Radio One about 'Privilege Matimony', which is supposed to be a "personalized" special matrimonial service offered by Bharatmatrimony for all the busy and young professionals who have no time to find a suitable partner for themselves... and of course it comes with a premium cost. Hmmm... I am still unable to find a logical reason behind this concept.....extremely stupid and silly! How can a relationship manager decide whether you are compatible with someone or not? Searching the profiles online can be done personally on any of the regular matrimonial sites, so I dont understand this "personal relationship manager" concept at all. One of the basic and most important decision of people's lives is being treated like a mere business transaction...

Well, I believe, if you are so busy that you dont have time to invest in finding someone special, then you probably dont need that special someone in your life!

I am not sure if anyone has *actually* benefitted from this, but to me, the concept itself sounds hollow and like just another money making tactic...

India sings Phir Mile Sur..

There is probably no Indian who wouldn't have heard of Mile sur mera tumhara. Most of us grew up listening to it on Doordarshan. It brings back the childhood memories. I vaguely remember starting to watch this on DD when I was 7-8 yrs old and knew the entire song, with lines in all languages (I still do). Released in 1988, this video about national integration which was pretty much like a national anthem and brings out a medley of the country's languages and diversity, is definitely a legend....

But the question is, can we recreate the legend? Well, you can surely try but probably cannot! The new contemporary version - Phir Mile Sur premiered today on TV on the account of Republic Day. Zoom TV has been airing nothing but this since morning and I've watched it a zillion time already... It was a good thought and effort by Vodafone/Times Group and it is no doubt beautiful. The setting, screenplay, direction are truly brilliant. It presents India in its true glory but according to me, it failed to create the magic. First of all, the song/video is way toooo long (16mins) and seems like a drag. It doesn't sound all that melodius like before, coz of a too many additions. And above all, it's supposed to be a national integration video, so what are SO MANY bollywood stars doing in there?!!! Most of them look very superficial, especially Ash and Deepika Padukone. To me, the best part of the video was that of AR Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Amitabh Bachchan...I feel more diversity in the artists chosen would have looked better.

Phir Mile Sur is no doubt good, but Mile Sur Mera Tumhara still remains immortal for the impact it created on the nation....old is gold..

Here is the Part 1 of the video...and full video is available HERE

A movie and the book...

Watched 3 idiots today.....I had read Five Point Someone (FPS) by Chetan Bhagat years back and had loved it. This was one book which I had thought would make a base for an entertaining movie. When I heard that 3 idiots was based on FPS, I was quite eager to watch it but I read a lot of reviews since its release last week which say that the director claims the movie plot is just 5% of the book...So today I started the movie with an expectation to see something new and more than just FPS. I was quite suprised to see almost 70% of the movie adapted from the novel and the sad part is that there has been no credit given to Chetan Bhagat anywhere.

I quickly visited his blog and found this post and this one as well. I still remember the book quite well coz I've read it twice...the characters, settings, drama, emotions, love story, everything is the same and a lot of scenes like Raju's (Alok) suicide, Rancho (Ryan) helping Raju's father and his family, Raju moving out the group, Rancho falling in love with Pia -the professor's daughter, stealing papers from the professor's office, Pia's brother committing suicide and she hiding it from her father till the end, the ragging scene at the beginning of the movie...and I can list a lot more...which are straight from the novel..

Agreed that Hirani has a great sense of humor and he has added his own flavor & twist to the plot and adapted from FPS quite well. The catchline "All is well" does make it sound like another Munnabhai movie with a social message. Everything about the movie is good, it's well made, entertaining and has the right amount of comedy and emotions...I am not undermining the authenticity. But the point is, the movie is not just 5% of the book...its much more than that and the fact that the director/producer is not giving the due credit to the author is quite un-ethical, unmerciful and shameless!! If I were the writer, I would have screamed at the top of my voice saying its my story! Bollywood churns out a lot of movies which are "inspired" from different things and the least they could do is give the due credits to the sources...

Watch the movie and then read the book..am sure anyone can see a whole lot of similarities...

On a different note, I loved Aamir's performance. Though he is 44 and playing a 22 year old college kid, he gets away with it and totally fits in! Sharman Joshi, no doubt was perfect for his role though Madhavan did seem a bit out of place...Whatever the quirks, 'All is well' in the end and the movie is definitely worth a watch!

How I met your mother..

I recently started watching this sitcom and surprisingly have been quite addicted to it so far; 2 seasons,45 episodes in 3 days (currently watching season 3)......that's how interesting it got!

Honestly, in my opinion it's nothing very different or classy. It's like any usual laugh-track-with-romance-filled-show that you can think of.... but again, this recipe is what makes it click I guess! I've enjoyed watching FRIENDS, SCRUBS and SEINFELD a lot and though 'How I met your mother' doesn't fall in the same league, it does come pretty close..

The first episode starts off sometime in the future (like the year 2030 or so) with Ted Mosby (the architect) narrating the story to his son & daughter of how he met their mother. I think the 5th season is getting aired currently and till now who actually the 'mother' is, is not revealed. So, that's one concept that keeps the suspense on and the show going...Am not sure how far they can actually keep this concept going. Am curious to watch :) I absolutely love the character of Barney....a very interesting and super cool guy, who is the main attraction in the sitcom; he surely does manage to tickle that funny bone a lot!

Definitely worth a watch...it's one of the new funniest sitcoms of this season..

I have a lot more shows lined up to watch...

- One Tree Hill

- 24

- Lost

- Boston Legal

that's quite a lot to keep me busy for months! :)

Wake up Sid!

A must watch, preferably in the theater!

I don't have to think much on giving a 5 star rating for this movie. I've been waiting to catch this movie since the time I saw the promos in August; so am glad that I watched it today

I dont know where to start my review - acting, screenplay, music, direction, dialogues...I loved every part of it. It's a mainstream bollywood movie, nothing extraordinary nor is it off beat yet it strikes refreshingly different. The entire movie is shot in Mumbai...You can smell the freshness in it, just like those rain drops in the first showers of the Mumbai monsoons shown in the movie. You can feel the love for the city, which every Mumbaiker holds dearly in his heart. Debutant director Ayaan Mukherjee has done an awesome job with his screenplay, casting and direction! The dialogues are very simple and in a casual conversation style which you can well relate to and you will be ready to emotionally invest through out the movie. Well, am sure you got my point by now... you walk out of the theater "feeling good"..

The story is probably a one-liner and predictable yet you cant complain! When the movie goes deeper, you dont need words to describe the story. The more I watched Sid (Ranbir) and Aisha (Konkona), the more I wanted to know them better. The 'nice'ities of their relationship is well depicted; the screen time is shared well to show how their friendship develops, how they grow fond of each other etc..

One striking part of the movie was the acting. Ranbir turned out to be a total surprise package. I really disliked him as an actor till I saw this one! I was awestruck. He just spellbinds you with his acting, making a flesh and blood character out of Sid; so natural, so effortless and very impressive, I must say! He is well complemented by Konkona. There is truly no doubt about her acting skills, she is as good as ever! The casting is quite unusual with a lot of new faces playing important roles, and they totally fit in...

Last but not the least, the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy create magic with their music again. I loved all the songs...but the title song and "Iktara" are extremely catchy and lovable...it definitely adds to the whole movie experience.


You can draw comparisons to Dil Chahta Hai at quite a few parts, but heck, so what?! Similarities always exist but this one still maintains its own identity at the end...


A very competent effort by a first time director and the movie definitely has its heart in the right place...

Music or Reality?

I strongly feel that MTV should change its name to RTV! (Reality TV). A channel that was started more than a decade back, whose sole purpose was to play quality music is now showing everything other than music....It's almost as if they feel there is a dearth of good music in this world and they are doing everything to fill up the 24hours with these chain of reality shows...

It started off with Roadies and now there is Splitsvilla, Teen Diva, Fast & the Gorgeous, Airtel MTV Connected (some new show about twins).. I might have missed out quite a few here!! More than being entertaining, they are all just bitchy, full of drama and fake. But I can understand why people end up watching these... Having watched 2-3 episodes, I myself have got hooked onto Roadies/Splitsvilla just to see how stupid people can behave...Sometimes there is nothing good to watch on TV over the weekends and you just end up seeing this crap!! Whatever the reason, MTV's TRP seems to be soaring high...

But I sometimes wonder, even if MTV stops making these reality shows and gets back to playing music like good 'ol days, will people still watch it?? I guess 10-15yrs ago people used to wait in front of this channel to see their favorite song/video (when tapes and CDs were expensive to buy)... but with technology at our fingertips, we probably can get any music online and any video on youtube. So MTV probably did have to rethink its strategy and do something else other than playing just music! It's fairly obvious that it can no longer be a primary source of music like it had been for years. But I dont think they can afford to change the channel name either... "MTV" as a brand has built a great value over decades and changing it would only mean losing this entire brand value...

So I guess all they can do is to try and increase their viewer base and TRP with these stupid-fake-quasi-reality shows...

Rehman does it again!

I have always been a big fan of Rehman's music, from the days of Roja. I can never forget the songs 'Chinna Chinna Aasai..' and 'Pudu Vellai Mazhai...' They'll always remain in my favorite list..

I feel he is one such guy in the industry who has something fresh and unique in every piece of music that he composes. Hmmm...some people are just gifted in life! Waiting for his music does seem worthwhile to me...

After working his magic with 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi...' in JTYJN and winning the Golden Globe award for Slumdog Millionaire, Rehman is back again to pour his charm in Rakesh Mehra's Delhi-6. It has about 10 tracks which is a fusion of various genres. He is never scared of experiementing... you can see a dash of rap, hip-hop, alternative rock and jazz in his compositions. That's the best part of his music, u get variety...!

The promos of Delhi 6 opened with the song 'Masakali..Matakali'. Obviously then it was thought to be the best of the 10 songs... I absoutely loved it!! The music is very playful and chirpy with a fluttery sensation and Mohit Chauhan's (front man of the band Silk Route at one point) voice adds a rustic charm to it and makes it even more desirable...It's sometimes impossible for me to proceed into the album to listen to the rest of the numbers, without playing this on Repeat mode...I just love listening to this over n over again...

I also loved the song 'Arziyan...' which has a Sufi touch to it. It's simplicity, melody and lyrics impeccably echo it's heartfelt emotion... Now, it's kinda difficult to choose the best between these two :)

Let's just hope the movie is not a let down and does as good as it's smashing sountracks!

The moment of truth

One more addition to the band of reality shows these days! I watched this new show which premiered in Asia on star world yesterday. Hosted by Emmy nominated Mark Walberg, the show is all about telling the truth and winning money - upto US$500,000!! Well, who wouldn't want to take a shot at this then? ;-) The hitch here is that the contestants are strapped to a lie detector to validate the answers. Prior to the show, each contestant is asked about 50 qns by a polygraph expert who records the answers but its not revealed to the contestants. During the actual show, 21qns out of these 50 are asked randomly and for each answer that is TRUE the contestant wins money and moves ahead. The questions get more and more embarassing and personal, as you move up the ladder.. Also, there will be a surprise guest who can come and ask the question to the contestant... that could be the person's father, mother, friend, wife..or anyone for that matter and ask just about anything.... good opportunity to get the truth out? :)

Though it seemed like some new concept, how real can this reality show get?! Everyone of us have our own secrets; everyone of us would have lied to people close to us at some point...maybe for the good or bad.. So would someone be willing to expose their deep down dark secrets on national television, infront of their family and loved ones?? Yesterday's show had some questions like -
- Have you ever cheated on your wife?
- Have you flirted with other women after marriage?
- Have you ever lied to get a job? etc...
Even though its a game show, the fact that they claim there is a lie detector does make it sound authentic... The show does get uncomfortable and shocking at times. I wonder would someone be willing to risk their precious relationships in life for about 1.5millions?!! Especially when trust forms such an important aspect of any relationship.....Well, am sure there are people who would, for whatever reasons...coz the show is on :)

Well here's something that Walberg has to say -
“Many times I ask them if the money is worth the pain you are causing. And they would say it’s not the money. I think people come on the show to reveal things they won’t say at home"


Interesting!!


Here's a small clip of one of the contestant's game - watch it...its fun!

The New Champ

Increased heart rate, high blood pressure and a bit of acidity - the effects of yesterday's Nadal v/s Federer match!! I can't remember being so nerve wrecked for a tennis match before...This Wimbledon final, supposed to be the longest men's final in the history of wimbledon, didn't let me sleep a wink till the last serve of the match, irrespective of multiple rain delays. (This didn't seem like an unwanted interruption though, coz I got to watch the replay of another enthralling wimbledon final - Borg v/s McEnroe. I was just a couple of years old when this happened, so I was glad I got to see that match :-) A pair of true champions undoubtedly!! )

This was one match where I didn't know whom to favor, both seemed to be my favorites and I would be disappointed if either of them lost, coz Federer is undoubtedly one of the best players i've seen, and winning a 6th wimbledon title would re-iterate that..and Nadal is the only guy who has really tried hard to give a tough fight to Federer over the last couple of years. But finally I was delighted that Nadal managed to win, coz I think he truly deserved the trophy...right from the first set, you could see his 200% effort in each and every single shot that he played - he was there to just WIN and that's what he achieved finally!! Nadal, on being asked how did he feel on collapsing on the center-court after defeating the five-time-champion, said "It's impossible to describe it no?"... am sure it is, absolutely no words!!

Oye! Amritsar...

This restaurant on church street(located above Ruby Tuesday), is something that I'd heard of a lot and been recommended even more.... I read loads of reviews about it before going there for lunch today, and that set the expectations high...and I surely was not disappointed. A very small place, with hardly 10-12 tables and no hi-fi ambience(a mock roof-top dhaba), all this place has to offer is its awesome authentic punjabi food which is it's USP (unique selling point). The very first thing that I can think about, when I think of this restaurant is it's lassi, served in a monstrously huge glass.... very tasty.. and it can almost compensate for a full course lunch, coz I had to almost eat the lassi rather than drink it :)

(Photo courtesy: google search)
The food was extremely good,a treat to your taste buds.....it defnitely leaves u craving for more! They have a wide variety on the menu but I would recommend the lunch buffet coz it reduces the pain of ordering and you get to taste a lot of their good stuff. The service was very good and fast even though the place was very crowded, but if you go without reservations, then you have to bear with the agony of a long wait.

The buffet was 175Rs and with a-la-carte, a meal per person will be about 250Rs (without drinks). The price is slightly towards the higher side but considering that they are offering a cuisine which is not so common (and authentic ofcourse!) in b'lore, it doesnt seem expensive and it's definitely worth it!! Something you shouldn't miss for sure...

You can read a really good review about this place on Bangalore Metblogs (with nice pictures)

All About Ads...

I've been watching NDTV profit for the last few days and I really feel it's a pretty neat channel.. very informative and they have some real good shows like Just Books - a show for book lovers which hosts interviews about authors and other celebrities talking about their choices of books...Gadget Guru -gyan about all the latest and happening gadgets and Car and Bike show - the name says it all..

Watched another cool show yesterday (Sunday) called 'All About Ads' for the first time. When I saw it I wished i hadnt missed the previous episodes... It's all you want to know about indian and global advertising. Yesterday's show was about branded entertainment; how it's the in-thing in advertising/branding these days. For those of you who are not sure what it is, it's about product placements in the entertainment channels such as movies... The best and recent example is Om Shanti Om (OSO). I think with the release of OSO, shopper's stop and maybelline really made some big bucks... These days most of the movies seem to be doing product placements.. it's just that few of them are done so subtly that they don't really catch the eye.... but some are so heavily done that u just cant stop noticing it and cant forget even after the movie! e.g Optolabs for the movie Sarkar ... almost every single character in the movie was wearing spectacles unnecessarily... Am sure you can find loads more if you think about it...

The example discussed in the show was about the movie 'Cast Away' (which i havent seen) in which Fed-ex was the associate brand... it's said that it was almost as if the brand was the character and it made the story happen... interesting!! So that's going to be the next movie on my list... :)

Music that grows....

All of us wud have experienced at some point, the kind of music which when heard for the first time may not sound good, but it just grows on us as we keep listening to it. The music from the movie 'Life in a Metro' is one such good example. Here are the songs that I am talking about

• Alvida (the best song in the movie)
• Rishtey..
• Baatein kuch ankahee si...
• In dino..
• O meri jaan

The first time I heard these songs was when I watched the movie in the theater. I just found it to be very boring and all the songs seemed quite similarly composed. But I started listening to it about 2-3 weeks back and I've fallen in love with each and every song. It seems to create a magical effect on my mood everytime I listen to them, even today!

One unique thing is that the movie has "all male" singers. KK has done an awesome job again. The guitar work in "Alvida..." is superb... and I am falling short of words to appreciate the lyrics of this song apart from the lovely music..

Highly recommended, if u still haven't heard them... If u dont like them in the first shot, keep listening and u might start loving them, just like I did :)

After a long break....

I am back to blogging after a long break! Off late lotsa people have asked me why I stopped blogging. Well... there has been no particular reason. My new job had kept me occupied enough in addition to a whole lot of other things happening in life.... and now I am back! :)

One thing I would definitely want to write about is my new 30gb video iPod ! When I was planning on buying this, lots of friends suggested that I go for other brands like Creative, which comes with the same set of features or more, for a lower price. I was almost convinced till someone said that iPod is one of its kind - you cant get the look and feel of it with anything else and now I am glad I bought it! Some of the good and bad things about it.. according to me..

Positives - It has an amazing sleek design (you'll feel great operating it!), good battery life, bright screen with great clarity, lots of accessories that can be bought , and overall truly value for money.

Negatives - No FM radio, recording, wireless, a different USB cable (cant use the generic cables used to connect other USB devices), very specific video formats (converting is a pain) and the screen, though clear, is too smalll to make movie viewing a good experience.

Who's next?

As the tenure of the current president APJ Abdul Kalam comes to an end in July'07, the nation is now wondering who's going to be the next President.That's the hot news that I see floating around in all news pages these days. As a common man, there is no say whatsoever in the election of a president.Yet there are polls to see what people desire. Apart from the current VP Bhairon Singh Shekawat, some of the choices that are floating around are Narayan Murthy, Amartya Sen and Amitabh Bachchan... becoz people now want a non-politician to be the President!

Well..NRN could be a good choice but I wonder if moving him to Indian politics from being a successful entrepreneur, is the right thing to do?! He's the man who built the Infosys brand...zillion software professionals look up to him as an idol... he is a man of vision and mission.. a man of ethics. He has helped his organization to reach greater heights and the Indian economy in general. So won't his talents and enthusiasm to do such outstanding things be curbed by entering the indian politics... I feel he is good at doing what he's doing now.. and shud continue to do so... let the country benefit...

Abdul Kalam's tenure has been good... he is well qualified and has left a good mark.. why not re-elect him? But I guess that's not going to happen. Waiting to see if a non-political person will actually make it to the President's post!

More Koffee...

In continuation with my previous post on Koffee with Karan....

"My mother goes weak in her knees everytime she sees you on TV!", said Karan Johar as he welcomed the heartthrob Richard Gere on his show on Sunday. But I wonder why he was wearing a P I N K shirt and a white coat!!! Anyways... this was one of the rare episodes which was extremely good, like a couple of previous ones with Konkana Sen/Rahul Bose and Amitabh/Abishek Bachchan. It was a pleasure to watch Gere talk for an hour on the small screen. He spoke a lot about his inclination towards Buddhism, Tibet as a nation and about The Gere Foundation - fighting for a cause and how he continues loving to do what he does. For once, Karan asked the right questions and led a meaningful discussion! In the rapid fire round, Gere made sure he was politically correct with all his answers - I think he's already too much in news :-) He also said he wants to act in a bollywood movie - with song and dance sequences! Guess he doesnt know what he is getting into if he wants to do that ;-)

He blushed as he said these words... "I was making a movie recently and there was a little press conference so that everybody would know what we are doing … and there was this young reporter there … so she came up to me and said, Mr. Gere, “Three generations of women in my family love you…. my grandmother, my mother and me”, … and I started blushing.."

Air Deccan woes - a low cost model?!!

I was travelling from B'lore to Chennai yesterday after a really long time (15 yrs!) to attend a couple of weddings. I was very eager to see the new look of the city and it was time to testify all that I had heard about it. Becoz of the low ticket prices, we booked air deccan and still thought we could make it to the reception that evening, coz the flight was in the noon. Well, I guess it was a lot to expect from this supposed-to-be-low-cost airline in India. To our horror, we see that the 14.25hrs flight was delayed and now supposed to leave at 17.40hrs. After cursing and swearing to our heart's content, which didnt make any difference to the deccan staff there, we decide to hang-out nearby and get back to the airport at 16.15hrs. We are told that the flight is "on time", so we check-in and wait to board. The time is 17.20hrs. The waiting saga continues....

Each one of us taking turns to make trips to the information counter, we were told that the boarding would start in 5 mins, each time!! @17.55hrs.. I go and start yelling my guts out and I get this as a reply - "Mam, we are still waiting for the plane to arrive, we will take off as soon as it comes" (!!!!) So what the @%&^# were they saying all this while?! Anyways, I guess by then even they were tired of answering to passengers, so they let us go to board the bus. It was 18.15hrs and there was no sign of any bus there. By now we had just given up on being able to show up at the reception. Frustrated passengers hound the ground staff and start abusing them. Some were even ready to take off their slippers to hit them!! We three, as observers noticed that not even a single abuse made "any difference" to these guys. I think rather than these guys being trained for CRM (Customer Relationship Mgmt), they are trained to be thick-skinned so that they can take abuses of any degree!! It was even more irritating to see them stand like statues when they were being questioned. Anyways, the bus leaves at 18.20hrs and after taking us all around the airport, we see 3 deccan flights parked wing-to-wing in some crappy-inaccessible-corner that I had never seen before! We board the flight at 18.35hrs with a relief that it wasnt cancelled at least (those tickets are f***** non-refundable). The waiting still continues in the flight.. and it FINALLY takes off at 19.00hrs!!!!

When we used to talk about the low-cost airline models in our MBA classes and any of us would say that their cheap marketing campaigns are one of the favorable factors, the Prof would say, use "less expensive" or "low cost" instead of cheap... its not the right word. But I guess "cheap" is the most suitable word for Air Deccan... its true in every sense of it! It is supposed to be the Southwest airline model for India... but does low-cost mean no-hospitality, no-manners and service levels on the negative scale?? How can being low-cost translate to compromise on the service levels? Are they going to pay less to their staff 'coz they need not be courteous to the passengers anymore?! I don't understand how this fits in the model in anyway! Having no-frills with no free food, water and other stuff to cut costs definitely makes sense... but horrible-service makes zero sense to me! If they are trying to imitate the Southwest model, why not adopt the entire model completely, rather than taking some aspects of it and screw up the most important parts... like service quality (obviously we are not expecting something like Kingfisher or Jet airways... but the basic courtesy is all that is wanted). There is absolutely no value for our precious TIME. Even though you end up saving significantly on the ticket price, we realized that the opportunity cost of flying with them is more!

The worst part is... every other person who experiences this, talks about it but nothing can be done to change this....... coz people crib and still continue to fly air deccan, becoz of low cost. Anyways, we could finally make it for the dinner at the reception... straight from the airport.....Phew! I wish I can sue them and get refund of my tickets! Hmmmm....... High hopes!

Koffee or Karan?

I am not a big fan of either... so I'm really not gaga, unlike a few others, about this bollywood-chat-show that comes on star world every week. I've watched a few episodes of it during the first season and everytime I've conveniently switched channels after a while. Till now I've seen just 1 good episode of it, the one with Amitabh and Abishek, with a decent and a good conversation which was worth watching.

Yesterday I just sat down to watch another episode of this, with the 2 mother-daughter pairs , Jaya bachchan and shwetha with hema malini and Esha. I had to really try hard to hold myself from picking that remote and changing the channel, coz I wanted to see how stupid this show can actually get! This is just 1 episode.. most of them are on the same lines. I wonder how people find this entertaining. All he tries to do is to pick his favorite stars, demean the others, ask the guests about who they like/dislike, what they have for breakfast, which other stars they find sexy and more nonsense.. And not to forget, trying hard to get that gossip of their personal lives, which am sure none of them would ever reveal infront of a camera (puhleez!).. Everything there is sugar coated and cliched. And.... then comes the "prestigious coffee hamper" as he calls it to be. If one of them is his favorite, that person gets the hamper.. .if both are his favorites and he is really in good terms with them, they get to share the hamper, irrespective of how the celebrities have answered the supposedly-rapid-fire questions. To say the least, his effeminate ways are also quite annoying!

Anyways, I really wonder what he is trying to do with this show. Obviously I'm not comparing it with other talk shows like the ones with Vir Sanghvi or Karan Thappar etc. They are different! I feel, if you really want to watch this show, you need to keep your brains aside and stop analyzing it, else you might end up pulling your hair, just like I did! :-)

Retaining talent and corporate culture...

Attrition, today, is definitely one of the main concerns for a lot of companies. Though getting good talent in the current era is not so tough anymore coz of the better quality education that is available, retaining that talent is the biggest challenge. We may all agree, that corporate culture does play an important role in achieving this objective. Considering in an IT company, on an average each one of us spend about 8-10 hrs a day, the kind of set up that we work in and the kind of people we are surrounded with, does matter a lot, to keep that spirits high!

Well.. what triggered these thoughts in my head? I was just reading the "Great Places To Work Survey and Rankings" for the year 2006, in the current issue of Business World. This article describes in detail about the study conducted, the insights and the implications. A nice to read. What was striking was, one of these quotes that I came across while reading this cover story that says........"If you can't get wait to get to office, then you are in a a great place to work for sure"...

What it's referring to is "that monday feeling" that most of us go through, when we gotto get to office on that monday morning after a nice weekend's break. So if your office can really instill that feeling in you that you are eagerly waiting for the monday morning and cant wait to get to work, then whoa! you are definitely at one of the "best places to work" :) I really wonder if I would ever feel like this. At least I haven't come across anyone so far, irrespective of how good the company he/she works for, actually feeling so. Am sure, it's every organization's objective to get here, to help retain their best people!

Times have changed. There are plenty of lucrative opportunities everywhere and the current generation is definitely more ambitious and career oriented. I remember my mom, dad, uncle, aunt etc. who work(ed) in any government services, when asked how long do you plan to stay here, would say .. "till I retire". At that time it was usually one job, whatever it paid, job security mattered. But now, ask the same question to any professional and he/she would probably say... "I would stay here for a long time" or "till this job favors my career growth or keeps my interest"...

Well, am not trying to give any conclusions here but just putting across the idea that corporate culture plays a very important role in retaining the employees, coz I have seen among my friends, who have switched good jobs, coz they just hate the whole environment, the people around and mostly coz its boring to work there!