Happened to sneak a peek on a TV soap on India's no 1 Channel. For the last 4 episodes or so, the prime theme has been the plotting done by a girl to ruin and screw up a marriage that's about to happen. The marriage is of the girl's best friend. Who has been her best friend since her childhood. They have been living under the same roof since childhood for Krishna's sake!
So a logical person should ask "Why then would she even think of such a heinous act of destroying her marriage?" But by now everyone should have guessed that logic has no place in melodrama.
So the reason according to the serial is like this. The guy had originally come to "see" the other girl for arranged marriage but due to some miscommunication (my my, how surprising) ended up picking up her "best friend". This has led to the original girl abandoning all sense, of friendship or of everything human etc etc.
This is the stuff that drives the imaginations of millions of ladies of our country. And it is not just any program, it is one of the most watched program. It is the love of the audience that has made the channel to take the decision of converting it from a 4 days a week show to 5 days a week. So I can make a fair statement (backed by a lot of empirical evidence) that this is what drives a woman's fantasy. Ok, an Indian woman's fantasy. If my mom, who has absolutely nothing to relate to the serial (no big bungalows, no huge joint families, no couple of daughters of marriable age) can also watch it, then I am sure the serial has hit the right spot just like the hundreds of other serials on TV suffering from the same symptoms.
So if this is what women like watching, how can those same women treat the act of their men watching internet porn like criminals? Don't get me wrong, I am not justrifying porn, but I am just correlating the two and deducing that both are equal. Whether equally bad or equally good is for every individual to decide.
After all, the reason given by women of why they absolutely hate, abhor, loathe, despise this sick act of watching porn that men enjoy is that "It is so sick. How can anyone be so sick to enjoy even think of such fantasies. It makes me wanna puke". Then by the very same reasoning, even men can ask the same question to women who watch these soaps. If this is justified, then that is too.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
just for the records
Even after I die, my spirit will have the satisfaction that some remote server owned by Google will continue to hold my likings and dislikes. Call this narcissism or some sort of ego massage or another of those offbeat ways to achieve "immortality" but this post will have only my likings and dislikes in the important matters (read matters that I consider important).
Thanks to an application on Facebook that gave me this idea to store it "offline".
Machu Picchu, Ladakh, New Zealand, Brazil and Greece
The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions, The Lord of the Rings, Eragon and Eldest (Inheritance, Books 1 & 2), Deception Point and The Alchemist
SportsCenter, Friends, The Simpsons, Tom and Jerry and Globe Trekker
Behind the Sun, A State Of Trance 2008, Deep Forest, Enigma - MCMXC a. D. - The Complete Album Dil Se
Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, david villa, Lewis Hamilton and Justine Henin
Ana Beatriz Barros, Ana Ivanovic, Ana Hickman, Giorgia Palmas and Bipasha Basu
Spanish, swimming, Shaolin Kung fu , Become a professional DJ and Skydiving
Titanic, The Jungle Book, The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King, The Matrix and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Lionel Messi, Armin Van Buuren, Adriana Lima, mithun chakraborty and Bipasha Basu
Thanks to an application on Facebook that gave me this idea to store it "offline".
Places I want to visit
Machu Picchu, Ladakh, New Zealand, Brazil and Greece
my top 5 favorite books :)
The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions, The Lord of the Rings, Eragon and Eldest (Inheritance, Books 1 & 2), Deception Point and The Alchemist
5 best tv shows by Abhishek
SportsCenter, Friends, The Simpsons, Tom and Jerry and Globe Trekker
Albums I can listen to from beginning to end...
Behind the Sun, A State Of Trance 2008, Deep Forest, Enigma - MCMXC a. D. - The Complete Album Dil Se
My top 5 Favorite Songs (At the moment)
Falling in and out of love - Armin Van Buuren featuring Sharon Del Aden, Beauty Hides In the Deep - Doppler effect, Sirens Of The Sea - OceanLab, Please Don't Go - Dobenbeck and sasural genda phool - Delhi 6All-Time Favorite Athletes
Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, david villa, Lewis Hamilton and Justine Henin
Stars I would love to be stranded with on a deserted Island :)
Ana Beatriz Barros, Ana Ivanovic, Ana Hickman, Giorgia Palmas and Bipasha Basu
5 Things I Want To Learn
Spanish, swimming, Shaolin Kung fu , Become a professional DJ and Skydiving
Favorite movies of all time
Titanic, The Jungle Book, The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King, The Matrix and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
1 athlete, 1 musician, 1 celebrity, 1 actor and 1 actress (hmm maybe the subconscious bengali bias is because of my recent 68 day stay at Kolkata)
Lionel Messi, Armin Van Buuren, Adriana Lima, mithun chakraborty and Bipasha Basu
Monday, June 22, 2009
Even when there is no competition!
A word for movie producers:
Focus on the script.
"8 X 10 Tasveer" had 2 months without competition, but couldn't do any business
"Kal Kissne Dekha" (original spelling retained) had no competition as it was the first movie released after the multiplex producer saga, but couldn't do any business. So did "Aa dekhe zara".
Core reason?
Focus on the script.
"8 X 10 Tasveer" had 2 months without competition, but couldn't do any business
"Kal Kissne Dekha" (original spelling retained) had no competition as it was the first movie released after the multiplex producer saga, but couldn't do any business. So did "Aa dekhe zara".
Core reason?
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Yin Yang
What is life?
No I am not even attempting to find out the meaning of a subject so complex and so revered. A question that many greats have devoted their lives to answer. But I will touch upon one aspect of it. What the orientals call Yin and Yang, or what the westerners call duality.
Let's start with my favourite, Nature. Nature is beautiful, but comes with its fair share of "ugliness" as well. Complementing the gorgeous mountains are the zillions of creepy crawlies. Coexisting with fruits, grains and nutrition for all are the bacteria, virus and diseases for all.
Another favorite, The Matrix, which has many zen and oriental philosophies embedded in it. Agent Smith continues to exist as long as Neo is in the system. The only way to remove agent Smith from the system is for Neo to die.
Religion has its duality as well. With Gods exist the Devils. With deities, ghosts are present as well.
Similarly, with love comes the feeling of intense pleasure and severe pain.
So when we are afraid of the negative, why leave the entire experience altogether? Just for the fear of experiencing pain, why discard the chance to love? Just for the fear of leeches, why forgo the wonderful experience of trekking through the woods?
So to live life is to experience it in its full glory
Live. Experience. Embrace
No I am not even attempting to find out the meaning of a subject so complex and so revered. A question that many greats have devoted their lives to answer. But I will touch upon one aspect of it. What the orientals call Yin and Yang, or what the westerners call duality.
Let's start with my favourite, Nature. Nature is beautiful, but comes with its fair share of "ugliness" as well. Complementing the gorgeous mountains are the zillions of creepy crawlies. Coexisting with fruits, grains and nutrition for all are the bacteria, virus and diseases for all.
Another favorite, The Matrix, which has many zen and oriental philosophies embedded in it. Agent Smith continues to exist as long as Neo is in the system. The only way to remove agent Smith from the system is for Neo to die.
Religion has its duality as well. With Gods exist the Devils. With deities, ghosts are present as well.
Similarly, with love comes the feeling of intense pleasure and severe pain.
So when we are afraid of the negative, why leave the entire experience altogether? Just for the fear of experiencing pain, why discard the chance to love? Just for the fear of leeches, why forgo the wonderful experience of trekking through the woods?
So to live life is to experience it in its full glory
Live. Experience. Embrace
Monday, April 20, 2009
The 35 Watt principle
When you want to buy a bulb, out of the two which would you prefer - a 35 W or a 100 W? 35 W obviously. Why?
1) 100 W runs expensively
2) It goes bust very soon
When organisations would like to hire somebody, they would want a 35 W bulb. One that gives a mediocre output, but an output that lasts. They would want you to give sustained output.
"The McKinsey way" tells you to 'take one base at a time rather than trying to hit home runs all the time'. If you hit a home run, everyone's expectations about you are unnecessarily raised. If you can't perform to the standards you have raised, you will get a lot of flak, negative reviews.
When it is about studies, the person that learns the most (not necessarily scores the most) is who studies in short bursts, but regularly. People who clear certifications are those who study regularly rather than those who study intensively at the end.
1) 100 W runs expensively
2) It goes bust very soon
When organisations would like to hire somebody, they would want a 35 W bulb. One that gives a mediocre output, but an output that lasts. They would want you to give sustained output.
"The McKinsey way" tells you to 'take one base at a time rather than trying to hit home runs all the time'. If you hit a home run, everyone's expectations about you are unnecessarily raised. If you can't perform to the standards you have raised, you will get a lot of flak, negative reviews.
When it is about studies, the person that learns the most (not necessarily scores the most) is who studies in short bursts, but regularly. People who clear certifications are those who study regularly rather than those who study intensively at the end.
Friday, March 6, 2009
The reign of ruin
Colors, from the Viacom 18 stable, is all set to overtake Star Plus as the number one channel in India after already displacing sony and zee. What's sad is that the driving force is a serial called "Baalika Vadhu".
If the soap that has had the last 6-7 episodes of every character weeping and wailing because of a tragic death is what is captivating the imaginations of the Indian viewer, then there is something seriously wrong with us. This is the serial that skyrocketed to fame by showing a 10-11 year kid being locked up in a filthy basement and howling throughout the night at the torture (which I am told took a neat 3 episodes). How can it represent the "Entertainment" and "Variety" positioning that the channel did when it launched itself? Colors had shows like "Khatron ke Khiladi" and "Big Boss". It then moved on to the 'universally Indian' likes of "Jai Shri Krishna". But where does "Baalika Vadhu" fit in this image?
Viacom has always been associated with MTV; youthful, vibrant, crazy, uncontemporary. I am afraid even they have taken the Balaji route to the depressing fantasies of the Indian housewife. How can something so depressing with so much negative focus be called entertainment? To make things worse, the serial is making people stay inside their homes till 8:30 pm, so the business of malls, restaurants etc is also effected (just like the KBC effect we saw around 8 years back).
It is high time that Indian women move on from wasting their time with this non sense called "soap" churned out in dozens by dozen channels every day. If the fantasy of an average Indian 'domestic engineer' includes multiple affairs, illegitimate children, squabbling family members all living and plotting against each other in the same house, handling a 500 rs crore "business" without any prior experience whatsover, then it is nothing short of an epidemic. If they get "entertainment" by listening to the preaching lectures full of Indian mythology delivered by sari clad "pavitra" women (who are later known to have done everything "apavitra") with full make up on even when they are cooking food or waking up, then I am afraid it is a mental sickness of the scale of an endemic epidemic.
Jaago India Jaago!
If the soap that has had the last 6-7 episodes of every character weeping and wailing because of a tragic death is what is captivating the imaginations of the Indian viewer, then there is something seriously wrong with us. This is the serial that skyrocketed to fame by showing a 10-11 year kid being locked up in a filthy basement and howling throughout the night at the torture (which I am told took a neat 3 episodes). How can it represent the "Entertainment" and "Variety" positioning that the channel did when it launched itself? Colors had shows like "Khatron ke Khiladi" and "Big Boss". It then moved on to the 'universally Indian' likes of "Jai Shri Krishna". But where does "Baalika Vadhu" fit in this image?
Viacom has always been associated with MTV; youthful, vibrant, crazy, uncontemporary. I am afraid even they have taken the Balaji route to the depressing fantasies of the Indian housewife. How can something so depressing with so much negative focus be called entertainment? To make things worse, the serial is making people stay inside their homes till 8:30 pm, so the business of malls, restaurants etc is also effected (just like the KBC effect we saw around 8 years back).
It is high time that Indian women move on from wasting their time with this non sense called "soap" churned out in dozens by dozen channels every day. If the fantasy of an average Indian 'domestic engineer' includes multiple affairs, illegitimate children, squabbling family members all living and plotting against each other in the same house, handling a 500 rs crore "business" without any prior experience whatsover, then it is nothing short of an epidemic. If they get "entertainment" by listening to the preaching lectures full of Indian mythology delivered by sari clad "pavitra" women (who are later known to have done everything "apavitra") with full make up on even when they are cooking food or waking up, then I am afraid it is a mental sickness of the scale of an endemic epidemic.
Jaago India Jaago!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Resonance
....and as the three wheeler; that I was riding alone; sped at the maximum permissible speed allowed by traffic; my mind was in a world other than this one. Surrounded in an epic rhythm and an acoustic melody; enchanted by a mesmerising soul captivating voice. As her last words rang my ears; I realised that there was but one thread connecting me to this world. Those words were, "Follow me yeah let's go"
The epic was ending and the male metallic voice was booming the familiar countdown. As he began "5.....4....." I saw that the traffic signal was also counting down in the exact order....5.....4.....3.....
Which is when I got the message. Loud and Clear. The world inside my bloodrushed head is not different from the "outside" world. There is resonance.
The epic was ending and the male metallic voice was booming the familiar countdown. As he began "5.....4....." I saw that the traffic signal was also counting down in the exact order....5.....4.....3.....
Which is when I got the message. Loud and Clear. The world inside my bloodrushed head is not different from the "outside" world. There is resonance.
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