Yosemite.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Gujarati Naatak.

Watched a Gujarati naatak today "Baa-ay maari boundary" (daadi ne maara chauka). I actually am in the midst of bone-crushing work deadlines but decided to screw it all and go for the naatak. My second naatak. First one was when I was like fifteen. Remember it to be very engrossing even at that age. But somehow never saw a naatak again. Saw a lot of junk but never naataks. Watching a naatak was not cool (read gay) back then. But now, being gay is so cool. So watching a naatak is not uncool anymore. I digress.
The drama starts with the narrator announcing to shut off mobiles and kids. The first scene starts, the main characters are acting. A minute goes by and the crowd in the back seats raises a storm. Avaaj nathi! (can't hear you!) , mike! mike! The actor continues acting as if nothing happened. The crowd does not relent. The actor gives up and starts convincing the crowd that once your noise dies down you will hear everything. He starts testing the mikes. In the spirit of the moment, one aunty decides to take the lead and screams "ben no avaaj check karo" (let the lady also test the mike). At this point the crowd cracks up. The actor is visibly irritated. He says, don't shout, I can shout louder and funnier than you. A little tu tu main main ensues between the actor and the audience which is pretty hilarious. In the end they all settle down and the actor resumes the play. After fighting with the crowd he ends up giving a good performance for the very same crowd.
The drama was basically about a plain-jane housewife treated miserably by her family because she knows nothing and then tansforms, with the help of her grandson from America, into this model for various ads and regains her identity and ego. The drama was mostly slapstick comedy (pretty funny in Gujarati though) interspersed with true desi style emotionally charged dialogues about how you should respect your parents and how any sad and lonely person has hidden talent and can change overnight into something great. They hit the right chord with the audience because a majorty of them were housewives. In the end they all unite and live as one big happy family forever. The drama has been performed 335 times. Imagine doing the same role over and over again.
Anyways, it was a good break from work and junk movies. For reasons unknown I'll see the next drama after ten more years pass by.

Promise

Just re-read the beautiful gems that I've been writing. What a lousy bitter cynical bitch am I. I promise to write good stuff.

Mumbai Dabbawallas

Enough with the dabbawallas already. A million and forty seven articles have been written in excruciating detail about their greatness. All management schools practically worship them. If you are an MBA student you gotta have atleast one picture of you wearing a gandhi-topi and posing with them. Prince Charles invited them for his wedding or something. What are they getting in return? Are they charging any fees to distribute their wisdom? Can they increase their charges for dabba delivery? Do people give them more room in trains to ease their discomfort? Do cars stop by to let them pass on the streets? Is the Mumbai public really enamoured by them? Are their standards of living getting better? Are they taking real advantage of the so called "skill" that they have? Will they be able to afford good education for their kids? No. The rude reality is that they are poor and will remain poor. The world will keep praising them and they will keep getting poorer. Its like a consolation prize, "hey, we won't we won't make it any better for you but we will write about you and treat you like God". Majboori ka naam Mahatma Gandhi.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Newton's law of inertia

I am thoroughly convinced that Newton was correct. Not only in physics but in all aspects of existence. What is happening currently will keep happening unless something drastic is done to change it. Rich will get richer, poor will get poorer. Happy people will get happier, sad people will get sadder. Developing countries will get all the problems of the world and the developed ones will get all the benefits. Escalating violence in poor but oil-rich countries will make the wealthy countries wealthier. Heck, in one report even global warming is supposed to bring in a fortune to rich countries (because it makes the weather in colder places milder, increasing tourism, economy, etc.) and will make the poor countries suffer. Natural disasters will hit poor countries more often and more seriously than rich countries. In terms of people I know, the poor ones always seem to have more problems than the rich ones (and I mean real problems, not flimsy issues like love, heartbreak, etc.).
Basically if you are lagging in a race in the beginning you will typically lag forever. If your grades are not good in the first few semesters of your education, they will not be any different in the future. If you are fat you will continue to grow fatter. If your company is struggling for business , it will continue to struggle. If its doing well, it will continue so.
.....unless something drastic happens to change the course of your progression (and some companies and people can do that) you will not get out of your misery (or opulence) anytime soon. Newton rocks.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Work, Work, Work

Its Friday evening. My wife is with her aunt. She is supposed to pick me up later. I have 2 hours and nothing to do. A lot to be done but nothing to do. I see some people running around the hallway looking important. There are always people running around at work. I don't recall ever running around. I wonder why. Is it because I just work better or is it because I work lesser? There are times when I absolutely do not work. 2 hours (sometimes more) per day. I wonder if they all have times like these. I want to ask them but since I've just started the job I can't act stupid. Maybe later.
I wonder how many people love their jobs. I mean really love their jobs. Like every morning they get excited about work and have everything planned out for the day. How must that feel. Looking forward to work. Having a thousand ideas for improvement, to be more productive, faster, better. Out of all the people I know, I can say a total of one may fall in that category. Everybody else I know is just doing a job. Considering you spend 75% of your waking time at work, and considering that I have about 30 more years of work left, can life really be that boring? Does it have to be? Are you wiling to take a risk to change it? Do something you like to do? Be one of those shiny, happy people? Work as if thats what you were born to do?
Naah.

You have great potential

I can't remember the exact place, time or occasion when I finally accepted the fact that I am not going to accomplish anything ground-breaking or life-changing in my life. Kaun bola thaa, this guy has great potential? Uski tho !