The CP terminology

Every generation have a lingo which differs from the the previous one and would differ from the generations to come. A little thought more given, every institute/colleges etc will have lingos different from each other. As per my belief lingos appear in the day to day spoken conversations
a) as a tool to look hip
b) distinguish one's alma mater from others to show superiority in some sense
There could be other reasons as well, but the point being they do exist and will keep on existing.

Now our insitute too has a whole range of words which are used here. Not concentrating on all of those I would focus more on the branch and subsidiaries of just one term - "CP".
Without being verbose I hereby give you my analysis of CP. :)

CP: Class participation - The act of putting across one point to (a) genuinely agree/disagree with whatever teachers have said, or (b) get into the eyes of the teacher in anticipation of a couple of extra marks. Youth has distorted its verb form to a noun form referring to a person who does this act.
DCP: Desperate CP - A person with a worm of 'pick me-pick me' syndrome while contributing to the topic discussed in the class. These people need to say something else some underworld Don somewhere would shoot some beloved of theirs.
e.g. - A person keeping his/her hands up until the teacher notices and still keeps the hands in the air until given a chance to speak.
ACP: Arbit CP - A relatively milder form of 'pick me-pick me' syndrome wherein the person while trying to contirubte something to the topic might deviate from the topic. At times they need to show off their knowledge in other topics and hence the digression.
e.g. - A person co-relating the social contracts and harmony in which corals of East coastal Australia live while talking about the communication between the employees in an organization.
SCP: Solo CP - A person who single handedly keeps the baton of CP and runs alone in the 4X100 race. Often such incidence happen when the lecturer is so sleep inducing that most of the class is sleeping and since someone has to say something our SCP comes to the rescue.

As of now I have been able to identify only these many forms of CPs. I hope I would be identify more through my stay at my institute. :)

The 3 E’s by Manish Sabharwal: Entertaining, enlightening evening

Yesterday we had talk by Mr. Manish Sabharwal arranged and organized by Prof. Rajeev Gowda under a course we are undergoing this term. A brief introduction of Mr. Sabharwal would include his graduate degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce, an MBA from Wharton School of Business, venturing into entrepreneurship with setting of India Life (which was sold to Hewitt to be christened into India Life Hewitt Ltd.) and eventually setting up TeamLease, a major staffing company which provides temporary and permanent manpower solutions to their clients. He is also plays the advisor for almost half a dozen states in India.

Some of my friends were already talking about him because of his presentation during EXIMIUS – The entrepreneurship summit, held earlier this week. I missed on his talk because the first talk I attended was so boring that I had to leave it midway and then could not resist the temptation of taking a small nap when I was back in my room. Well, that small nap spanned over a couple of hours and I missed all the subsequent talks of the summit. My friends who did manage to pass the storm of boredom where rewarded with a talk by Mr. Sabharwal, at least that is what I could infer from the way they told me about the speaker. I got a second opportunity offered by Prof. Gowda and there was no way I could have missed it.
He spoke about topics like current scenario in labor market arena, the policies prevailing, what his company TimeLease aims to deliver and eventually about what entrepreneurship is all about. Starting with the 5 ways with which the labor market has transformed, he went ahead talking about the failure in the 3 E’s, namely: Education, Employability and Employment. He then talked a whole stretch about the causes and effects of these three E’s in the Indian labor market. My aim for this post is not to dump the lump of gyaan he gave about the labor market, but to magnify the incidences of his life he shared with us, the fundoo quotes he used during the presentation and what my small brain could make out of them(in some of the cases). Now, I do not recall of them but a few which I could hold on to is what follows.

Here we go.

• On changing relationship between employer and employees – “It has changed from Mai-Baap to Taxi-cab relationship. It is crisp and animated but often includes no emotions”
  
• On initiating a change (applicable to entrepreneurship as well) – “Good is not the enemy of Great”. Which later was rephrased by Prof. Gowda as “Good is not the enemy of Perfect”. In other words, don’t be a procrastinating perfectionist rather be the change you want to be, which also means to choose wisely between the ‘Intelligent Design’ and ‘Evolution’.
  
• On facing competition in entrepreneurship – “It is like a beauty pageant. You don’t have to be Cleopatra, you just have to be less ugly that you competitors”
  
• On perception of corporate world about the policies – “Policies for the corporate world is a thorn in the flesh and not a dagger in the heart”.
  
• On entrepreneurship – “Entrepreneurship is the art of being lucky”
  
• On luck and on ‘Ovarian Lottery’ – “Luck is not to be lived on but to be built on’
  
• On MNC’s attitude to think them as being able to compete with any other company because of the immense capital surplus they have –“In the French revolution it was said that God is not in the side of the biggest army but in the side of the army with best shots”.
  
• On dealing with his international competitors – “I can’t outspend them but I sure can outsmart or outrun them. In Olympics horse riding is the only sport where a woman can compete with a man and this is because horse riding is considered as an all technique sport. Same is applicable to business”
  
• On how carefully regulatory arbitrage can be leveraged he requoted Paracelsus – “The dose makes the poison”
  
• On government bureaucrats –“They are too small for big things and too big for small things”
  
• On government spending treasure of money on policies –“Government is deploying more cooks in the kitchen rather than trying a different recipe”
  
• There was this short story he told, I can’t recollect however the context on which it came into the picture- “A man died with his two wives behind. One of them was crying and screaming ‘mere pati ko vapis le aao(Bring my husband back) while the other one was calm and sipping coffee. Someone asked her how are you so compose then she replies back ‘Arre uska aayega to mera bhi aa jaayega’ (if her husband comes so will mine)”
  
• On life –“Life is painting of a picture and not solving of a sum. Don’t let it be an extension of a straight line”
  
• On change –“You can’t boil the ocean”
  
• On customers –“If people don’t want to pay for what they want then they don’t really want it”
  
• On IIMB –“Better place to be at than to be from”
  

As enchanting a speaker he is, I enjoyed the evening spent in the auditorium listening to this man. Hope you had fun as well while going through the post.

Photo Courtesy: http://www.mbauniverse.com/innerPage.php?id=oi&pageId=44

Movie Review - Rescue Dawn

Rescue Dawn

The movie is an adaptation of a real life story of capturing and then escaping of german born American Dieter Dengler as a POW in the villages barricaded by dense forest of Vietnam after his aircraft is hit. Audience might expect gunshot rounds, rivers of blood, mutilated dead bodies etc (remember Rambo IV) but these elements of violence have been kept aside in the movie. The movie does show torture and piteous condition of the prisoners but has avoided blood bath. The difficulties faced by these POWs have been shown with good liveliness though. Prisoners live in bamboo prisons, are handcuffed to each other in the nights, have little to eat and got nothing to do the whole day also portrays the notion of mental torture they are going through. Especially when the audience comes to know that some of them have been in that situation from past 2 years. Some of them do hope that they will be set free some day or the other. Dieter however believes that it is they who should try getting free rather than things to happen by their own. He befriends Duane, who by Dieter’s ability to do few things which the others never tried, starts believing in him. Dieter then conceives a plan and they finally run away from the prison. It is but just the beginning for them. Wandering around the jungles trying to find their way to Thailand without food or shelter or rest is what they face. Eventually it is just Dieter who is able to make the escape successfully.
Director Werner Herzog has deliberately avoided special effects and stuck to basics. He has concentrated more on the difficulties and hardships faced by prisoners rather than showing bullets fired from firearms mutilating living human body to dead. He has also given a keen eye on the mental trauma faced by these prisoners. The scene where Dieter offers the shoe to Duane when he says that he is feeling cold, without realizing that he has been killed, shows the mental weariness leading to inability to differentiate between dream and reality. Breaking down of Duane asking Dieter to leave him and go in a scene earlier shows what physical overdrive can do to a person. Making their ways through 7 feet high bushes in the jungle is one such hardship. All these without food make the situation from bad to worse. The shooting locales are fantastic (I should mention that I love greenery). The mountains, waterfalls reminded me that some greenery is still left in the planet.
The one thing which I hated about the movie is that the director has made everybody except the Vietnamese who have captured them talk in whispers. I mean, when they are inside the prison it is understandable to whisper their escape plans to each other, but Dieter and Duane keep on whispering even when they have escaped in the jungle. There might be a logic that people might be following them and that voices travel long in the jungle but whatever the director has in his mind, the execution of it did annoy me. Moreover the pace of the movie also is a little slow which might kill the interest of some audiences.
Post ‘The Machinist’, I always keep on expecting more from Christian Bale. This was one movie which shows how much he is dedicated towards whatever work he does. I don’t understand how but he seems to have developed the ability to lose and gain weight at his will (Watch ‘The Machinist’ if you really wish to learn what I mean). The same prowess is visible here as well. He has lost quite a bit of weight for the role as the movie climaxes. Chewing on live worms and snake show Bale’s dedication to whatever he does (assuming that the worms and snake were real). I would really like this actor to get more good projects to show is abilities more to the audience.
The opening as well the ending scenes are great. When the movie opens in slow motion with scene of aircrafts bombing villages in Vietnam, it strikes upright the irony of visually beautiful but destructive bombings. The ending scene is when Dieter is cheered and when asked to give some words of advice, says: “Empty that which is full. Fill that which is empty. If it itches, scratch it." These were the words of a POW who, with great hardships, has managed to pull himself out of the misery. It shows no patriotism, no bravery, no boastfulness but the reality.
My Rating: 8.00/10.00

Movie Review - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Man, do I love the way the movie opens?
Absolutely!!!
The movie frame filtered with the single twilight color and Paul Newman walking into the bank. I immediately assumed that it is going to be a great movie experience. I loved Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the movie, the chemistry between them is awesome, especially when the secrets of either of them are revealed to the other. However the two fail to parallel what was there between Eastwood, Van Cleef and Eli Wallach in ‘The good, the bad and the ugly’. As I mentioned, the movie starts brilliantly but some way between the story line makes you think about the relentlessly extending chase sequence by the police. To be said, the movie is about their flight and finally their fall but it might get into your nerves. Katharine Ross looks beautiful in the movie but does not have much to do as the movie revolves totally around the male protagonists. Both of them are great but for me the best ever performance in any western genre movie would be Eli Wallach as Tuco; no words to describe his brilliance; wickedness is so visible in his face that I doubt if anyone other than him could have portrayed ‘the ugly’ better than he did.
Director George Roy Hill has done a fairly good job for a good script. It is the events in the movie and the actors who make the movie enjoyable. For instance the scene where they learn Spanish to rob the bank made me smile. In fact there are many instances which will make you laugh. Specifically the incidences with the Woodcock did give me a good loud laugh. Overall I should say that it is indeed an enjoyable movie given that you don’t get sick of somewhat slow pace of the movie. If you are used to western movies like ‘The magnificent seven’, ‘For a few dollars more’, ‘A fistful of dollars’ etc it is recommended that you watch this movie. It has the elements of western genre movies with some tinge of comic.
My Rating: 8.50/10.00

Movie Review - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

The only reason I wanted to see the movie was because of Humphrey Bogart and it was a good experience watching him perform middle aged paranoid Fred Dobbs. The movie is a film adaptation of B. Traven’s novel of the same name in which a middle aged down-and-outer with a younger man(played by Tim Holts) joins hands with a fast talking experienced old-timer(played by Walter Huston) to try their lucks in finding gold in the mountains of Sierra Madre. The story will seem an obsolete affair to someone of this era but it’s not the theme of the story which captures one’s attention but the sequences in the story and the stellar performances by Walter Huston and Humphrey Bogart. Director John Huston has done a good job in bringing out one of the best performances by Bogart and his father Walter Huston. In my opinion Walter Huston has outshone Bogart in many a places. Bogart gets a chance in the last half an hour of the movie and he does create an impact in that duration and a fundamental one too. The movie is not actually about the gold, it is about one’s character and how it goes on depleting with greed which has been shown brilliantly by Bogard’s character Dobb. It is breath taking to see Bogart perform once the paranoia goes into his head about owning all the gold; it is just his just his brilliance which captures the whole screen. His portrayal of a selfish, frightened, greedy paranoid colors the screen. His revered monologue, the ‘conscious’ scene, after he commits murder is an absolute masterpiece where he says "Conscience. What a thing! If you believe you got a conscience, it'll pester you to death. But if you don't believe you got one, what could it do to ya?" Shaffer makes a justice by giving him a tragic end nearing the climax of the movie. Walter Huston on the other end has been very efficiently taking care of the acting department. His performance is uniformly brilliant and his screen presence automatically makes you more attentive towards the movie. That’s the kind of effect he creates. The movie is very much about the quote he speaks – “I know what gold can do to men’s souls”.

For the time being I am waiting for my chance to see Bogard’s ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and ‘The African Queen’ and a revision of ‘Casablanca’.
My Rating: 8.75/10.00

Movie Review - Sleuth

SLEUTH

This was my first opportunity to watch a movie which has been adapted from a play. To say, I don’t have much of an experience with theatres; had been very lazy to go and savor the creativity they offer but would really want to be regulars at some nearby theatre some point of time. This leaves me with quite a limited knowledge to comment on which nuances of histrionics were caught in the movie and which went unattended. When it comes to movie however, it was a great experience.
The movie starts a little low and the first few minutes give an idea as if it is yet another slow boring movie. At least that is what I was feeling at the beginning. Once it starts with the pace it takes you for a joy ride. Laurence Olivier is a mystery books rich old writer whose wife is in love with a young salon owner played by Michael Caine. Olivier summons Caine to his home in order to decide on how should the whole process of letting go her wife should go. This however is a disguise; what Olivier actually wishes is to humiliate Caine for the act of stealing his wife. The story then seems to take a paradigm shift when both Olivier starts a battle of wits with Caine eventually manipulating him to do play a game between both of them. The movie then takes a couple of major twists which leaves audience glued to their seats and just like the storyline. To be honest, I possibly can’t talk anything more about the plot otherwise it will be no fun watching the movie.
The movie is an adaptation of the play ‘Sleuth’ by Anthony Shaffer. After running successfully this movie was conceived and as from my opinion full justice to the original play has been done by the movie/director. The whole movie revolves around just two characters and so they had to be absolutely fantastic thought the movie. Olivier, no doubt one of the finest thespians of the 20th century plays it brilliantly to be matched very well by the then young Caine. The chemistry between the two is absolutely stunning proving the mettle they have in theatre and also justifying the need of it in the movie. The number of games scattered around in the house might give an uncanny feeling thereby giving a mysterious environment to the whole plot. Shaffer has done a great job to write good dialogues delivered in even better way. Olivier’s “Sex is the game, marriage is just the punishment” not only made me smile but made me wonder how well he had said it to perfectly suit the character when it could have very well been said in so many different manners. This was my first encounter with Olivier and I would like to see more of his works. It is a disappointment that Caine did not get many opportunities to work in classics like this; it would have been great to see him perform in such mesmerizing roles.
If you are a fan of David Fincher’s ‘The Game’, ‘Se7ven’ etc, this movie is highly recommended because after seeing what Shaffer has been able to produce a few decades earlier these movies just look like the predecessors of a suave reclusive cult. This movie comes under my list of one of those movies which I would want to see time and again in my life.

My Rating: 9.25/10.00

SHER - Uski Khaatir

Don't remember when I started writing 'Sher's and when I stopped. I do remember that it all started with liking towards rhyming duplets :) [My nursery teacher would have left no stones unturned to make me learn nursery rhymes :)]. Slowly started writing rhyming duplets and eventually graduated to self learn more about Shayari thought internet and started composing some more Sher with fewer people being able to grasp what I meant by each of them.

Down the line, I somehow forgot that I used to have a passion. O the inricacies of 'Roti, Kapdaa aur Makaan' which made me join the rat race and made me forget what I sometime back used to enjoy so much. As tough it is to squeeze out time for anything today, I believe that attempts to revive one's soul should always be made.

Following is a Ghazal I wrote sometime back.

And this post is but yet again an attempt...

meeloN ka safar, us per urooj-e-kohasar
dauDen ya parvaaz bharein manzil ke khaatir

[urooz-e-kohasar=height of mountain]


un qatloN mein kahiN mujrim mai bhi tha
khanjar tez ki thi humne hi us qaatil ke khaatir


jidhar dariya chala,saath le chala apne qaedi ko
na ho saka humse kuch zamaanat-e-saahil ke khaatir

[qaedi=prisoner,zamaanat-e-saahil=bail for shore]


har lafz khat ke rote haiN khoon ke aansooN aur hum
padhte haiN 'sab khair hai' us jaahil ke khaatir

[jaahil=illiterate,ignorant]


har simt andheraa,aakhir-e-shab ka pataa nahin
duaa karte haiN hum hayaat-e-qandil ke khaatir

[simt=direction,aakhir-e-shab=end of night,hayaat-e-qandil=life of candle]

Movie Review - Star

Star

Would you expect anything out a 7 min movie, rather a promotional movie for a world renowned car brand? What would you expect if I tell you that the movie is directed by Guy Ritchie? Well Ritchie does a fantastic job to weave together a short story of an arrogant rock star with fabulous action stunts by ‘The Hire’ (the movie is also know as 'The Hire').
To keep it short and crisp just as the movie itself is, the performances by Clive Owen and Madonna are magnificent and the car chasing action sequences are comic and action filled at the same moment. Clive Owen has proved himself to be natural actor with some great performances in some of the movies he has worked on. This shortie just adds to his brilliance. Ritchie manages also manages to show his talent in such a short duration of the movie. The movie might actually leave you laughing for a few minutes.

The BMW owners are sure to enjoy it :)

Movie Review - Die Hard with a vengeance [Die Hard III]

Die Hard with a vengeance

I might have got a little late in watching this movie in the sense that I watched other parts of the Diehard series before I watched this one. But I should say that I am pleased that I did not miss altogether on this one. Being a Bruce Willis fan I was looking up to this movie but with a mindset of not liking this movie just because it is a Willis movie. I tried to keep the bias aside and saw this one trying to maintain a degree of neutrality. And well, Willis doesn’t fail me. I liked the movie for what it promises to deliver. Some sensible brute action with bits and patches of dark humor the superhero way (and not the way where the protagonist makes you laugh the slapstick way)
The movie starts with an explosion taking place and the culprit, the criminal asking for John McClane to be called upon. The criminal proposes to play a game with him wherein he would give clues to the location and diffusion of the dreaded liquid bombs he has placed in various parts of the city. As the story unfurls itself the audience and McClane come to know what exactly is behind all the havoc.
The direction is good and the screenplay awesome for a movie of its period. Samuel Jackson as always is great in his role (can’t forget what he did in Pulp Fiction, would always admire him for that). The chemistry between the two not only keeps audience glued to their seats but also make them laugh at times.
Some of the action sequences are good but if you haven’t seen this movie yet and have already watched quite a few recent action movies [read, The matrix and blah and blah and blah which have got great special effects in the name of action sequences] you might not so well appreciate it. In fact some of the sequences have been tried and tested for audiences’ taste so many a times that they have gone obsolete and one might find them clichéd. But isn’t that the irony of action movies, the more you watch them less are the chance so you finding something new in a new action flick. Well for me it worked because I always keep in mind the time frame which movie represents, either if the way in which it depicts the era where the story is from or the releasing year of the movie.
All in all, a good action movie and for the audience who like action there is no way this movie is going to fail them. So, if you have got a taste for good action movies, go ahead watch it without any fail.
Guess this is how much can be written about an action movie :)

My Rating: 8.5/10.0

Movie Review - Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi

Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi:

The title of the movie, ‘Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi’, is an excerpt taken from the ghazal of the same title by Mirza Asadullah Khan, popularly known by his pseudonym as ‘Ghalib’. The most famous duplet (‘Sher’ as we know them popularly as) of the ghazal, which also is the opening duplet of the ghazal, is as follows:
“Hazaaron khwahishein aisi ki har khwahish pe dam niklebahut nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle”
A crude translation of the above duplet would be – “...thousands of desires, each worth dying for...many of them I have realized...yet I yearn for more...”, and this meaning of the duplet or ‘sher’ parallels with the flow of events in the movie.
The movie begins with Pandit Nehru’s speech on the day of Indian Independence, showing him in a black and white movie snippet speaking the famous words ‘…on the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to light and freedom…’. The director then displays the message that after his death in the 60’s the baton was passed to his daughter, Indira Gandhi, and that the movie is about his imaginary siblings’ lives in those times, when India was pulled in a thousand directions.
The first half an hour of the movie gives a sneak peek into the college life of 70’s, and with such a frivolous ease but yet so believable and amiable way that one might fall in love with the portrayal of the college life then. The college life picture constitutes the rock n roll culture, the enthusiasm over the Naxalite movements, discussion of various prominent ideologies, passion to touch and live that affluent high class luxurious life and many other ideas with vibrant lustrous emotive colors. The posters of Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Plant gives an idea as to what a Delhi university student in that era must have in his mind. Students with bongs in their palms also give a hint of the Hippy culture having an impact on the students’ lives. The rest of the movie spans over the shows us the plight of not only those people who were directly involved in the movement but also of those who did not perform any act of violence.
The movie doesn’t answer the questions of ‘Why Naxalism’ or ‘Why violence as a method’, it merely shows the plight of the people trapped in this movement. It however does leave many a questions to ponder upon by the end of the movie.

It is the love story embedded in the movie which unravels it's intricacies along with the flow of the movie which says about the title. The protagonists of the movie have desires to mark their presence, be it the political arena or social arena, but they also have personal desires, their love interests. All the protagonists being ready to shed their lives for the fulfilment of their desires which are so different from each others.
Overall I would say I had a great movie experience with this movie. The movie shows us where we are coming from. Be it the issue of Naxalism, bureaucracy and corruption in government hierarchy, atrocious-autonomous police system, and political unrest, whatever we have today is just a continuation of the history we have had. The movie has covered one and all, giving us a question to ponder “Are we ever going to change?”

My Rating: 8.5/10.0

Movie Review - The man fron Earth

The man from Earth:
The title of the movie, and for that matter the sites on the internet, might suggest that the movie is another sci fi tale embedded with awe striking special effect and jaw dropping action sequences. The movie, however, is an insight into various into various aspects of human existence. For the audience who has watched the movie without any prior prejudices and who loves a good script/story, this movie is just too excellently written to be forgotten. It begins with a man asking a question ‘what if a man from Upper Paleolithic survived until the present day’, and the story begins to unfurl as the characters come to join in, rather getting involved in the story of that 14,000 year old man. The story is fabulously written by Jerome Bixby, who conceived the idea of the story in 1960’s but the story eventually came to its shape in his death bed 40 years later. Kudos to the director, Richard Schnekman, to achieve the task of keeping all the elements of the script intact and stark, the way they were supposed to be skipping the temptation for any visual effects which could have easily been introduced in the garb of flashbacks. And he does it keeping the audience absorbed in the story. ‘Blockbuster audience’ might get bored but for the audience who enjoy some serious intellectual work, it’s a masterpiece.
The movie is about a professor resigning his post and leaving his house suddenly without telling his friends and colleagues know of it. His colleagues however plan a small farewell get together for him and assemble just as he is moving his luggage. On questioned why he is leaving all of a sudden, he starts with the story of a 14,000 year old person who has survived from Paleolithic age to the present era. As the story continues, his colleagues comprising of anthropologist, biologist, Christian literalist, historian and psychiatrist keep on questioning him to know more and more about the man. The story turns out to be of the professor and the debate blankets all these fields and talk about the possibility of such a thing happening. Their conversations include historical events, theology and existence of God, physical possibility of regeneration of cells so that a man can stay vernal forever, conditions of immortality and many other topics. For an audience who likes the story and the ‘action’ which in can bring intellectually and not necessarily physically, this is going to be great movie. This is a movie where the script writer rules and the role of a director is just to ensure that he doesn’t ruin the intention with which the story has been written. Both the tasks are done with great excellence. For the audience who loved ‘Before sunrise’, ’Before sunset’, ‘Adaptation’ etc (read movies with good script) this movie is going to be a joyride.

My Rating: 9.25/10.00