My opinion

I was watching James Caan (of Santino Corleone fame) being interviewed on Hollywood shootout and I was quite surprised to learn about some of the roles he had turned down in his career.


1. Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (eventually performed by Brando)
2. Hans Solo in Stars Wars (Harrison Ford)
3. Kramer in Kramer vs Kramer (Dustin Hoffman)

These were roles that eventually became milestones in the careers of these actors. The interviewer asked him about any regrets that Caan had on turning these down. Caan's classic response - "See....If I had had your opinion, I wouldn't have turned them down. But I had my own opinion on these roles, and they weren't good. They still aren't."

Now that's what I call attitude.

Great Indian Arranged Marriage!

The concept of a typical South Indian arranged marriage has always intrigued me. When parents are busy looking for a life partners for their children, they are entirely dependent on 1 sheet of paper - the horoscope. Once horoscopes match and other criteria are met, the families meet..more importantly, boy meets girl. This meeting lasts anywhere between an hour and a day(this happens if the both families are pretty liberal and the boy and girl hit it off pretty well). Once this is done, the boy and the girl need to think things over and accept ot reject the proposal. The deadline for this is usually a day...2 days if you get lucky.

Needless to say, I had my reservations about this system. But I knew arranged marriage was the best option...given my dashing appearance and charming nature, finding a life partner on my own was pretty much ruled out. So I signed up for this, hoping I would eventually trick some girl into saying yes. But yeah...whoever said beggars can't be choosers, needs to study the concept of the Great Indian Arranged Marriage. I got to list down the specifications regarding the type of girl I wanted to meet. My requirements were simple - I wanted somebody with professional qualifications, and with interests in some extracurricular activity. And I requested to be kept out of the process till both families were ready to meet each other...after this the decision would be only mine.

And that's how I ended up meeting Varsha. I travelled to Coimbatore and we chatted for a couple of hours. I was looking for somebody who was more outgoing than me... somebody who would not take life too seriously... somebody more childlike in nature... somebody who was passionate about some thing in life... I realised that Varsha was all this and more. And I said yes. More importantly - she said yes!!

So, I did trick somebody into saying yes....and on my first attempt! Now my days of bachelorhood are numbered.

Southeast Asia

Phew!! So many things have happened in my life since my last post. But I've been wanting to write about my SE Asia trip for quite sometime now. So I've decided to get that out of the way, before writing about more recent (and very important) developments in life.

I travelled to Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand with a couple of friends - Pradyot and Swaroop. During the trip, Swaroop and I made a list of interesting observations about the people and places we had seen. Here are a few


KL is not for backpackers on a shoestring budget - I don't mean you can't find cheap places to eat or stay. What I mean is that you feel like a loser, looking at the opulence all around you. One look at the malls and you realise that this city is for shoppers with lots of money.


SE Asians don't sweat - During summer, Malaysia and Thailand are hot and humid like Chennai. Surprisingly, Southeast Asians just don't sweat. The SE Asian males have absolutely no facial or body hair. Not surprisingly, they are very particular about personal hygiene. Being the three hairy South Indians that we were, we had a tough time staying fresh. I've never used as much talcum powder and body spray in my life, as I did during those 3 weeks.


Forex scam in Cambodia - After landing in Siem Reap Cambodia, the three of us exchanged around 500 USD for local currency. We became "instant lakhpatis", since we got 3750 riel for a dollar. Feeling pretty happy, we ventured out into the city, only to discover that we had been taken for a ride. Cambodia is so starved for dollars that people prefer to deal in USD and not in local currency. All prices are mentioned in dollars..even the tuk-tuk drivers negotiate in dollars !! And to get rid of the local currency, we had to shell out 4000 riel per dollar..not 3750!


Gogo bars - The hotel we stayed in Pattaya was bang in the middle of a street full of gogo bars. For the uninitiated, these are the dance bars for which Thailand is pretty notorious. Every time somebody walks past these bars, he is subjected to cat calls (and what not)!! The worst part is being hit upon by lady boys (she-males). Needless to say, I felt pretty embarrassed initially. Once I started enjoying the "limelight", it was pretty funny. But more than everything else, what impacted me the most was the pathetic life these bar dancers lead. More on that later.


Pattaya - If you are a male, more than 50 years old, have a lot of money and want to splurge it on women and booze, Pattaya is the place for you. If not, don't even bother going there. There are lots of cheaper destinations with better beaches.


Kanchanaburi - This is one place I fell in love with. One can find pretty cheap accommodation...and you get floating rooms on River Kwai! There's nothing better than chilling on the river, with Leo or Chang beer. The Erawan national park is great for a day trek and the waterfalls there are straight out of one of those desktop wallpapers. And then there's the tiger temple, which is a must-see. Apparently, there's at least one tourist who's been seriously mauled by the tigers. I came to know about this only after my visit.

Great trip in all...but of course, the best part of the trip was when Swaroop's underwear got stolen by monkeys!! :)

Suprises galore!

I joined work on May 16th. I was supposed to take charge as a product manager (marketing) and take over from a guy who was supposed to move to US in a month. I was supposed to handle a "market appropriate" product. Dangerous name, since it kinda insinuated that all the other products were market inappropriate. What it actually meant was that this product had been designed for markets like India, China and Russia.

Two weeks in to the job, I was still clueless as to what my predecessor had been doing for the past 8 months, besides travelling to remote places like Bagalpur and Imphal. Then I realized that he was selling the product, not marketing it. He had an entire sales force at his disposal, but they weren't too excited about this product. Bottomline - not enough incentive for the sales force to invest time on selling this product.

In two weeks, I had kinda formed a very vague idea of where I wanted to take this product in a year's time. That's when the bombshell was dropped on me (and my predecessor). His assignment to the US was indefinitely postponed. So he had to stay back and continue doing what he had been up to for past 8 months. As for me - I was asked to head the Mumbai metro sales team. I was pretty pissed. It's not everyday that a company changes your job profile drastically, 2 weeks into the job. But I thought about it for 3 full days before accepting the new role.
Upside - I won't be spending my life in airport waiting lounges; I will be handling a team of 8 managers; Opportunity for turning around Mumbai metro; Young, fresh team.
Downside - Mumbai metro is in a mess; Veterans in team have quit; no marketing role till 2009 end.

So I'm back in sales!! And this is pretty much what I'm going to write about my job, for a long time to come.

Next post - Experiences in SE Asia.

Back to the grind

Successfully graduated from ISB on April 5th.
Went on a 3 week backpaacking trip to Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand.
Returned to Chennai and spent a couple of weeks at home - doing absoultely nothing worthwhile.
Shifted base to mumbai on 10th May. Found a house in 3 days. (yup...3 days..no kidding!)
Joined work on 16th. Got my laptop, phone and my blackberry.
Have lots to write about.
Determined to write regularly.

He was happy

He was happy.

His eyes were closed. He was leaning back in his chair. The room was dark. Pink Floyd was playing "High hopes". He had listened to this song several times before, but only now could he make out every note and chord that was being played....only now could he understand the meaning of the song. There were tears in his eyes.

He was happy.

He wanted to share this revelation with the three others in the room. But he was afraid they wouldn't be impressed if he disturbed the reverie. He opened his eyes to check. He was right....they wouldn't have been impressed. It had been more than an hour since the first song had started, but right now, there was no hurry to get anywhere. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

He was happy.

He thought it was unfair that he could actually understand and enjoy these songs only at this level of intensity. He envied the artists who had created these songs...and all the other artists who had become immortal through their creations. He imagined the kind of elation they must have felt while creating such works of art..the level of intensity at which they must have operated. He felt blessed to have been given a chance...a brief moment to experience that elation.

He was happy.

This fickle life

My dad's sashtiabdhapoorthy function was a grand success. This function is like a renewal of wedding vows – a second wedding that happens when the husband turns 60. It's a function conducted by the children, for their parents. It is said that blessed are the few who get to witness their parents' marriage. The function was preceded by chanting of the vedas for 5 days.

But alas, our happiness was short lived. Sundu sastrigal, a good family friend and the purohit who was instrumental to the success of the "veda paaraayanam" and the sashtiabdhapoorthy function, passed away 2 days after the event. He suffered from a sudden brain haemmorhage and succumbed to it. He was the person who had conducted all functions in our family, including my brother's marriage.

It need not have been him...it need not have been at this young age...it need not have been this way.

What's your status?

One of my favorite pastimes has been observing others' status messages on G-talk. On the eve of yet another exam, here are a few funny ones from my distinguished batch mates.

Invaat lagne waali hai (reference to the impending INVA - investments analysis exam)

Tired of being BSed (Bull-shit)

I've lost it!

Bored with studies; wanna go back to work.

Don't these professors have to stick to any honor code? (Honor code is a set of rules at ISB that govern student conduct)

Madness gaining topmost order

Better days are yet to come

Exams - a proscriptinve anathema be declared against this.

ACOMODADOR - there is always an event in our lives that is responsible for our failing to progress (Looks like this guy really lost it)

I need a parrot...quick!

Like lambs to the slaughter

In the bigger scheme of things, does it F****ng matter?

It doesn't F*****g matter!! (reply to previous status message)

We should remember our dying and try to live so that our death brings no pleasure to the world.

I'm watching LOTR (That's my status. I gave up studying, cos it doesn't F*****ng matter!)

Hehe

Just finished a 2 hour exam in corporate finance. Only after getting out of the hall did I realise that I had been humming some song or the other, during the course of the two hours. Some of the songs were



1. My Sharona by The Ramones

2. Thimsukatta (from some Vijay movie)

3. Ballelakka (from Sivaji)

4. Annaatha aadraaru (Apoorva Sagotharargal)

5. Abhi na jao chod kar (WHAT WAS I THINKING???!!)



Now I realise - on my way to the cooler to get some water during the exam, I had matched my steps to the beat of the song in my head. No wonder the invigilator was amused. I must've looked funny!!



All this has a significant amount of correlation to the songs I was listening to on my Walkman phone, just before the exam. Looks like I need to change the playlist.



As for the exam - don't even ask!

The Children of Hurin - a review

A tale started by J.R.R. Tolkien and completed by Christopher Tolkien. This book is darker than "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit". The story occurs about 6500 years before incidents in LoTR, when the Dark Lord Morgoth (aka Melkor) is at his peak. The brave Hurin (pronounced as Hoorin), a leader of men (Edain), joins the Elves (Eldar) in the war to overthrow Morgoth. Unfortunately, the alliance is brutally crushed by the dark forces and Hurin is captured. But even as a prisoner he refuses to acknowledge Morgoth's supremacy, thereby earning the Dark Lord's wrath, who curses Hurin's children - Turin and Nienor. The rest of the story mostly follows the tragic fate Turin and that of Nienor towards the end.

I liked the book a lot because, unlike in LoTR, a lot of the characters in the book, including the protagonist, are imperfect. This adds an element of reality to the proceedings. Better sense does not always prevail, which later leads to regret and grief. For instance, Turin briefly joins a bunch of outlaws who attack and rob men (besides orcs and elves) for a living. He slays his best friend Beleg. Mim the petty dwarf, despite taking a liking to Turin, betrays him to the forces of Angband. There are many more such instances, which bring out the sinister side of many characters.

Once again, Tolkien's fascination with dragons comes to the fore in this novel. Glaurung is one of Tolkien's most interesting villains, arguably even better than Smaug (from The Hobbit). Sample this line for instance, when Glaurung enchants Turin with his hypnotic gaze to prevent him from rescuing Finduilas, manipulating him to go in search of his mother instead.

'Nay! At least you are valiant. Beyond all whom I have met. And they lie who say that we of our part do not honour the valour of foes. See now! I offer you freedom.'

The book was so gloomy that I was left hoping for a tragic ending, as anything otherwise would've been total misfit. Even in LoTR, the part I liked the most was "The scouring of the Shire", where Frodo and team, inspite of having saved the Middle Earth, still have to fight a small battle to reclaim the Shire. Tolkien doesn't disappoint.

All in all, it was a story about a classic anti-hero, who, after making one disastrous decision too many, redeems himself at the end with tragic consequences. Finally, the message that children are sometimes forced to carry the burden of the curse laid on their parents, isn't lost on the reader.

Everybody needs solitude!

"Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god." - Aristotle

I cherish my solitude. I don't know if I'm a beast or a God, but it does help to take some time out for myself, to figure things out. But apparently, my solitude comes at price - I'm told that I'm aloof..that I don't reveal much of what's going on inside my head. When in college, a frustrated friend tried (a lot) to get into my head, by constantly asking me what I was thinking. She finally gave up! But if everybody were vocal and forthcoming with their thoughts, the world would be such a loud place to live in.

That's exactly what's happening now at ISB. Everybody has something to say. Some rarely think before voicing their thoughts. Sometimes it gets too loud, making it mandatory to tune out. That's exactly what I've been doing since yesterday evening. I put my books away, went for long walks, listened to a lot of music, finished reading "The Children of Hurin" (more on this later) and also managed to wash my clothes. Not surprisingly, I was quite relaxed before and during the exams today.

Wish people enjoyed their solitude as much as I do.

That's the question!

Should I? Or should I not? Wish I knew the answer to this question.

Phunny country! (part2)

After literally endorsing Ms.Prathiba's name for presidency, Mr.Kalam does a volte-face and decides to contest for a second term, but on the condition of "certainty" (not to be confused with consensus among opposition parties) that he will win. The NDA and the UNPA meet up and try to arrive at a "certainty" but fall woefully short of it. Mr.Kalam realises his blunder and voluntarily withdraws from the race.
Mr.Kalam was probably tempted to try for a second term, going by the overwhelming public response in favor of it. But he should've known better than to trust our politicians to back him.

Would you give up.....??

The other day, a friend asked me what would make me stop smoking. My answer - love! At some point in time, every smoker faces a situation where he has to choose between smoking and something else. For me, that something is love. I spent quite sometime explaining the reasoning behind my answer. She argued that there were already enough people in the world, who genuinely cared for me. Going by my logic, I should've already quit. But genuine care isn't the same as love, is it?





I don't think she was entirely convinced because she was willing to bet INR10000 on her prediction that I would still be smoking 10 years from now. So much for my persuasive skills!

I miss driving in the rains

It's been raining for the past two days here. I was reminded of my numerous long drives during the monsoon season in Kerala, over the past 2 years. I wish I hadn't sold Mr. Dirty Black. Wonder how he's coping without me!

Phunny country!

1) A Tamil daily owned by Mr.Kalanidhimaran (of Sun TV fame) conducts a survey and reports that, of Mr.Karunanidhi's two sons, Mr.Stalin has a much greater chance of succeeding him as the CM of TN, than Mr.Azhagiri. Mr.Azhagiri's supporters within the party are incensed after reading this and resort to burning the newspaper's office in Madurai. 3 people are burnt alive. Mr.Karunanidhi is also incensed, but not about the death of innocent people. He expresses the usual anguish and condolences, but doesn't reprimand his truant son. He takes out his anger on his protege and Kalanidhi's brother -Dayanidhimaran, central minister for IT and Telecom. He is kicked out of the cabinet and suspended from the party. What I found really amusing (and apalling) was Mr.Karunanidhi's reaction to the violence in Madurai - "I asked them not publish the survey results." Wonder when TN will be rid of these Dravidian parties.

2) Ms.Prathiba's name is announced as UPA's choice for next occupant of Rashtrapathi Bhavan. President Mr.Kalam says Ms.Prathiba is an excellent choice for President. The third candidate, Mr.Shekhawat, thinks Mr.Kalam ought to be given a second term. The political parties supporting these candidates are left scratching their heads!

Snapshots

* Snaps Courtesy - KK, Swaroop, Pranav and others.

A penny for my thoughts!

It’s only been a fortnight since the shift to ISB happened and I’ve already experienced a lot!
I went without sleep for 48 hours straight and then slept through a Financial accounting class. I’m still trying to decipher the notes that I took during that class; I got drunk and went for a walk around the campus at 3am; I got drunk (another occasion!) and repeatedly traded insults with another drunk; I even got to slap a drunken friend repeatedly, in an effort to get him to his senses. He didn’t recall it the next day! Too much booze on campus.
Barely 2 weeks into the course, I’ve decided to quit smoking “for the time being”. More than the health concerns, it was the thought of spending so much on cigarettes that prompted this decision.
Interestingly, most people on campus have become a part of a group, where they feel most comfortable. And quite a few feel irritated to no end when they are forced to leave this group and put up with members of their study group (put together by ISB). Some feel intellectually superior while interacting with their study group mates; others feel like beating up them up. Shanthi!!
I’m no exception and I’ve found a quite a few interesting “characters”, whose company I seem to enjoy. Fortunately for me, my study group is also quite chilled out. Cool!
As usual, there are the loners, who prefer their solitude and will have nothing to do with groups as long as it isn’t necessary. Then, there are those few unfortunate folks who, in spite of their best efforts at socializing, never quite manage to break the ice. It probably doesn't matter much to them but I feel sorry every time I see them.
And I’ve seen quite a few going out of their way, just to be seen in the company of certain others. They end up trying to be exactly the opposite of what they are. Irritating!

Finally, there's been so much buzz about consulting as a career, that I couldn't resist taking a dig at it. So here goes -

"A consultant died and, as luck would have it, went to heaven. There were millions of people ahead of him in line to see St. Peter. To the consultant's surprise, St. Peter rose from the heaps of files and papers at his desk by the Gates, strolled briskly down the long line to where the consultant stood, and greeted him warmly. He walked the consultant to the front of the line and ushered him into a comfortable chair by his desk. St. Peter sat on the other side and stared at the consultant wonderingly.After a moment, the consultant said, "I have to say I appreciate all this attention, but what makes me so special?"St. Peter replied, "I'm simply amazed by your apparent good health. I've added up all the hours for which you billed your clients, and by my calculations you're 214 years old!"

Some snaps with my new mobile!

Maha Rudra Homam

First day of (dis)orientation week at ISB

Welcome dinner

The crazy rush for free advise

Team building exercises (yeah...right!)

Too many late-night parties can do this to people

Student Village (hostel sounds so banal!)

Movies, movies and more movies!

During the couple of months before shifting to Hyderabad, I became so lazy that I drove only about a 1000 km. That’s something, taking into account the fact that I drove 50000 km over the past 22 months. I’ve noticed that the more time I have to kill, the less I get accomplished. I did watch quite a few movies – the best form of escapism!

Match Point – This Woody Allen movie left a lasting impression. It's a gripping tale of a tennis coach, who hits it off with a wealthy female student and marries her. Just when he's beginning to enjoy the trappings of high society, he gets romantically involved with his bro-in-law's girlfriend. The affair threatens to ruin his new life he has now come to enjoy, and leaves him with some hard choices to make. The movie is all about how a single incident can change a person’s fortune – for good or bad. The master director is at his manipulative best - well, towards the end, I found myself rooting for the bad guy.

Good night and good luck – It’s a b/w movie, which depicts a TV journalist’s crusade against McCarthyism. The highlight of the movie is the usage of actual historical footage of McCarthy. Some critics, who were unaware of this complained that the “actor” playing McCarthy had gone overboard with his histrionics.

Memoirs of a geisha – I loved this movie for its cinematography. The story was very interesting but the movie was not powerful enough. The novel probably is. I’m yet to read it though.

Snatch – A movie set in London, about a bunch of thugs, a boxer, a dog and a diamond. Hilarious!

Cars – A really good animated movie after quite sometime. One thing which really struck me about the animation was that the cars’ windshields (instead of the usual headlights) were replaced with eyes. This made all the vehicles quite endearing. Ka-chow!!

Happy feet – I still cannot figure out if I actually liked the movie or if I was won over by the experience of watching it on big screen, in a really good cinema hall.

Veyil – Not the usual Tamil movie. The screenplay could’ve been tighter but otherwise it was good, especially the parts which resembled “Cinema Paradiso”. I loved the song “Veyilodu Vilayaadi”. The lyrics were spot on!

Pan’s Labyrinth – I picked it up because somebody told me it was a fantasy. I was in the mood for something like LOTR, but it turned out to be something else altogether. The movie is a fairytale meant strictly for adults. It’s about a little girl who tries to escape the war torn world she lives in, to a kingdom where she would be princess. Her wish is granted finally, but in a tragic sort of way.

Amores peros – I watched this because I heard this is the movie that inspired Mani to make Aaytha Ezhuthu (Yuva). I personally consider Aaytha Ezhuthu to be one of his better movies. There was nothing similar between the two, except for the fact that three parallel tracks are connected together by one common scene. The Mexican movie is way darker and more powerful than the Tamil one.