Friday, August 22, 2014

Touching Cows



A cow had roamed to the middle of the road, attracted by speck of greenery on the median strip. As she was busy dealing with the grass, a car zoomed past her. As soon as it passed besides her, the driver brought his hand out and touched the cow on her back. It is a Hindu custom where it is considered sacred to touch a cow. We can guess that the purpose of this custom would be to encourage people to serve cows, to feed and protect cows who give us milk second only to our mother’s milk. So does this casual touch-while-you-go business serve any real purpose? 

This gesture is indeed ‘symbolism’. At the very moment the driver was touching the cow, he must have felt reverence for mother cow; at that moment he must have had pious thoughts in his mind; and hence I think this custom though symbolic in nature would still help preserve some goodness in the hearts of practitioners… 


Sunday, August 17, 2014

Merry Go Round



In our neighborhood park there is a small merry-go-round which runs when pushed manually. Once a mother was seen pushing it while several kids enjoyed the ride. But she was holding the ride and also running round and round as the ride moved. I wondered why could not she stand at one place and simply push the ride to get it running! Why take the pains to run along with it? On second thoughts I could get it - She was not moving with the ride but in fact she was moving with her kid! If she stood at one place and pushed the ride, she would need to let her kid go out of her hands which she did not want to do... Tells how difficult it is to judge others from our own frame of reference. Also how parents take emotional decisions to protect kids while kids can judge them logically and consider them wrong...



Saturday, August 16, 2014

Car's Windshield


Cab driver stopped the car and went on to clean the corner of wet windshield. The moist and hazy surface was not getting perfectly clean. He kept trying and wondering what was wrong... I suggested to try cleaning from inside. He tried and it was done in a moment. That is how we keep trying to solve problems from outside while at times key may be to try from inside...




Friday, August 15, 2014

Happy Independence Day!



Independence of our country was earned at a great price and is ensured everyday by great sacrifices. If we could follow some bullet points from the wonderful speech by our great PM Sri Narendra Modi, our country will attain greater heights:

(1) Avoid imported goods and buy more ‘made in India’ items.

(2) Impart good values to sons so that daughters remain safe.

(3) Keep our localities neat and clean.

(4) It is our responsibility to build the nation our freedom fighters dreamed of.

Happy Independence Day India! Long live 15th August!



Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Vistara - Luxury Airline from Tata

Why all airline companies in India should have English names? (e.g. Air India, Jet Airways, Indigo, GoAir, SpiceJet). Here comes Vistara - newly launched airline, majority owned by Tata and it is called "Vistara" - word derived from Sanskrit word 'Vistaar'.

Here are some glimpses of Vistara:




Brand Vistara having a premium positioning has been designed elegantly:


All images courtesy the airline's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AirVistara



Saturday, August 9, 2014

Parikshit Sahni


Happened to spot Parikshit Sahni in one of the old movies and observed how good looking he has been! This picture shows him with his father Balraj Sahni . And what to say of their acting skills!!!





Sunday, July 27, 2014

Do Big Budget Films Make Economic Sense?

These days a lot of big budget super hero films are being made. But do such movies make better sense economically? 

The most profitable film of year 2013 was Aashiqui 2 with production cost: Rs 9 Crores; Earnings: Rs 110 Crores; Return on Investment: 1122%! 

Second most profitable was YE Jawani HAI Diwaani (cost 45 Crores; Earning: 190 Crores; ROI: 322%). 

Big budget Dhoom:3 The Movie did pretty less (Cost: Rs 150 crores; earning: Rs 500 Crores; ROI: 233%). Krrish 3 with prod cost of Rs 115 Cr, earned only 160% returns. But relatively small budget films like Ram-Leela (cost 35 Cr); ABCD - Any Body Can Dance (cost 12 Cr); Grand Masti (cost 31 Cr); all earned more than 200% return on investment. Even production time of big budget films would be much higher. 

To me big budget films look like keeping too many eggs in the same basket. Even from social point of view, most big budget action films are pure entertainment, almost in the league of video games, while small budget films with strong story lines have both soul and a good social message most of the time...

Saturday, July 26, 2014

When all the wars are over...

“and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.” - Ruskin Bond



Friday, July 25, 2014

You can be the Moon

"You can be the moon and still be jealous of the stars." - Gary Allan


Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Bolt and Zest from Tata Motors

If you are planning to buy a car; you have two new options: Bolt (small car) and Zest (compact sedan) from Tata Motors. Excited to see a few more "Made in India" Brands! Way to go!

Check out: Bolt: http://tatamotorsbolt.com

and






Sunday, July 20, 2014

Ego impacting our behaviour

How ego works and how our behavior changes because of our ego-association with things can be seen in what happened a few months back. 

I was at our hometown after a long time. Normally father does all the shopping for the house. I am not used to buy things for the house in presence of father as it looks awkward. This time my nephew and niece were at home. Father used to buy for them ‘Kurkure’ snacks which they are very-very fond of and demand all the time. Once I went to market and bought them one pack of ‘Kurkure’ each. They were enjoying it when another kid from the neighborhood came and demanded some snacks for herself too (all kids are mad fans of Kurkure). My niece offered her the same, but the kid grabbed almost all that was in the packet and quickly started eating. Realizing the ‘loot’, my niece cried. Father became angry saying I should either have also bought one more pack for the neighborhood kid too since I knew about her presence, or else I should not have allowed my niece to eat it in the open in front of other kids. I noticed that I protested against this position and made my point bluntly that rather my niece should learn how to protect herself and same situation could have appeared even if I brought one pack for the neighborhood kid and yet she tried to rob my niece. While I had a valid point, but the manner in which I asserted myself in front of my father even surprised me. Why did I raise my voice and asserted myself on such a trivial issue? 

In a moment it became clear to me that my behavior was so because I felt “I” had right of opinion since “I” had bought the packets of snacks for the kids. This ego generating from “I” surprised me. I was ashamed of my behavior but by that time harm was already done. Though I don’t think father felt bad about it or remembered it afterwards but I knew I was wrong and I had a guilt feeling...

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Floating

“When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown.” - Alan Wilson Watts