HANG HIM TILL DEATH !!

I suffer from himeshophobia !!! My worst nightmare is to get caught in a room with Himesh reshammaiyas songs on and the doors get jammed. Damn I can’t even imagine what I will do in that situation… ill definitely need a shock treatment later in the morning!! So heres a post dedicated to all the crap happening n the Indian pop music scene… its flighting with baba sehgal in the late 1990’s and decline in the early years of this decade

I remember my brother used to have these huge stacks of cassettes filled with pop songs and Indian pop industry was at its peak with players like Shaan, Daler mehndi, Sunita Rao, Anamika . Bollywood music was badly hit by the arrival of this genre of music. Singers like lucky ali, silk route, euphoria were like a real rage. But then Punjabi birds flocked together – Sukhbir, Mika Singh … it was as if Punjabi was our national language and every where, all kinds of people popped up to become a pop singer … it felt really awful, well being a Punjabi my self I could never relate to Punjabi music reason being it all sounded so same!!!

Then came along something that ruined music as a whole “REMIXES”. It seems Indians always run behind things, which are easy… just put some bass, increase the tempo, and here you have the song ready. Get some half clad women dancing and it’s a major hit!!. So the pop industry has failed … we rarely hear some strings, euphoria, lately heard silk route is all ready to come up with its new album… Mann I am a big fan of them and all the best to the crew.. I believe they are the most modest and the best group band India has ever had!!

The biggest reason that can be attributed to the fall of pop industry is PIRACY. I read somewhere that the music industry was reduced to Rs. 500 million from Rs. 1000 million in one year in 2005. so who are the culprits its “us” . Where do we get our music from nowadays? Internet, prated Mp3’s and nowhere else and mainly who is the major target audience these pop singers is “the youth”. If their main target audience is lost out, for whom would they make music then? That’s why these pop singers are left with no option to either get into playback singing or get into production. So that’s why we saw this huge eruption of remixes. Who bought them Auto wallas and Truck wallas they are quite loyal to their singers and they buy original cassettes!!!

One more reasons that could be attributed here is: easy money in the playback-singing world. Most of the pop singers have ran into that kind of world. Likes of KK, Mohit Chauhan, well they are paid well here and also the risk of taking the whole album on their shoulder doesn’t lie here, so less risky and more money.SO the next time you buy a pirated CD or download music from the net …think of the sad state of indian music scene …think of the west and artists like enrique, madonna, metallica, bob dylan and compare it to the quality of music produced here, Himesh Reshammaiya awful comparison, isn’t it?SO bottom line is “either become pop singers urself or reduce piracy or Himesh Reshammaiya, hang him till death!!!

The Hunt is on …

Cricket has always been a key interest area and it’s quite surprising this is my first post pertaining to this topic, yeah like all avid cricket fans I have the patience to watch a whole test match ball by ball, so If I haven’t scored well in my college or degree here’s the biggest culprit, I loved cricket more than exams, quite obvious!! Rather that was something I concentrated more than anything else, so if I were to write down my favorites in the cricketing world they would be  

• Favorite batsmen – VVS Laxman, Ricky Pointing, Rahul Dravid
• Favorite Bowlers- Shane Warne, Glen Mcgrath, Anil Kumble
• Favorite fielders- Ricky Pointing, Mohd. Kaif
• Favorite captains- Ricky Pointing, Stephen Flemming, Saurav Ganguly

           Enough of my likings, this post I want to discuss with a real serious problem facing our country’s cricket. Anyways we’ve not been doing great overall but heres an issue that’s really important and needs to be addressed quickly. 

 All the while we’ve been known to be great players of spin, batsmen like Ganguly ,Laxman, Azhar, Sidhu, Tendulkar have been nightmares for the likes  Shane Warne and others. But if we see the present day players… Yuvraj Singh can’t even dream of playing spin, Dhoni is too risky a player, Sehwag thinks spinner is a 2 year old bowling at him loses concentration and in turn loses out . So is there a reason behind the downfall?? Yes there is, last 5 years we’ve seen this sudden downfall in quality of spinners available in the country. 

 This is the same place that has produced E. Prasanna, Bishan singh Bedi, Anil Kumble who have more than 1500 wickets together. Our recent spinners have struggled real hard. Murli Kartik has been given countless chances, Romesh Powar has got less chances, Piyush Chawla is too young to comment, so what went wrong !! suddenly we have countless fast bowlers- Zaheer, RP singh, Shreesanth, Munaf Patel and none of them are bad. I remember this quote by Abdul Qadir he said “ in Pakistan players like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis are idolized, that’s why we have always have good fast bowlers lined up.” well in our country we have batsmen who are idolized that’s why we produce good batsmen. So what’s wrong with the spinning wizards, or is it that too much politics is keeping behind the real talent behind….Think about it

Some Cricket news !!

Yeah the recent times have been really exciting- Indian cricketers turning to drugs, we have a big competition to BCCI and I am sure Mr. Subhash Chandra has great plans for the Indian Cricket league, he’s my favourite entrepreneur! Also lately Graham Ford has turned down the offer to coach India !!! wow the richest Board in the world has been ditched !! Great work Mr. Ford !!

 Two BIG series coming up !!! Ireland is going to be tufff mann theyve got great bowlers and we are chicken at pace… ENgland is going to be a nightmare!! we dont have a stable team to fight england… twenty20 cricket well austrralia is a big favourite there !!

Let’s see how well you can predict the Indian cricketing scene, with no coach, no good captain, best of luck to the players

TESTING TIMES…

19^th July 2001, a day I will always remember in my life, the reason: it was my 10^th standard board exam results and just this Tuesday my cousin had the most memorable day in her life, last Tuesday 29^th May, 2007 was her 10^th standard board results, I had scored 78% then and she scored 85%, great, round of applause to her! Board exams a great experience, the anxiety, the excitement helps you grow as a person.  But there was this one strange thing about her results. My cousin was ill rather down with fever around the results, really very scared and cried a lot, well yes there is a lot of  pressure , but four days of illness, real mental trauma, stress and even after all this she scored a good 85%. She didn’t eat well, sleep well, her face had become as small as a mouse’s face   

             When I sit back and remember my 10^th days, things were completely different, well if you don’t know, in Mumbai you complete school after 10^th so 11^th and 12^th are college days, so a week around the results I was quite busy buying admission forms for myself, I remember I saw lagaan just a day before results and cricket was the top priority I used to play a hell lot, it was as if the clear blue skies were there forever so I never felt the tension or the pressure, I even remember on my D-day I was busy buying forms of few colleges sharing the fear and angst of the similar peers in a queue and wait for a long time, my mummy had taken my seat number and when I went home she was ready with the percentage!!! She had gone to this local cable waala who had the results of all the people. so at home, i had kept the door open waiting for her, those were ”ABSOLUT SCARY” 15 minutes ever, lift reached the fifth floor, door opened she quickly came out, happy with a really wide smile on  and said “Nikhil 78% haii, i was like 78!! shhee i lost out. i expected more than 80 . wow ! Quite an experience it was!!             

 Well what I want to convey here is these are two very different experiences, even though I was low on the percentage  I was more relaxed and took it as a really good experience, I would say it was my personality that kept me floating on the situation and and just laugh it off, but my cousin almost froze out like a small chicken I personally was really shocked looking at her state of mind, how can you ever take so much tension, yes it is an important exam but why the tension during the results, its been more than a month since you gave an exam, nothing’s gonna change now, no matter how much you cry or you are scared.  

            So lets go down memory lane and look at your experience, remember the day of your 10^th results or your 12^th results, write down the tension the anxiety that went in that day … my word it was a great learning experience, if government is thinking to scrap 10^th standard board exams they shouldn’t do it, 10^th actually helps you a lot!

INDO-VATION at its best !

                 Yes its right
India is shinning, our country is really beginning to glow like a neon bulb, high growth rate, higher disposable income, huge market to reach.. I believe everybody would have read this many times now. Yes it’s true to some extent we are getting bigger and better with every month, but we still have a long way to go, not in terms of the size but at the mental sphere as well, its time we become a bit more professional in our approach. So while sitting idle last afternoon with less work at hand I was wondering at some things that have made quite an impact in the last few years, some business that have done quite well, surprisingly!So the below listed businesses have caught my attention not because they are new in terms of the novelty in the concept but also the face that it is really startling to see these kinds of businesses really doing well in a not so innovation friendly country like ours . I believe that INNOVATION has been the corner stone of the success of our country and for any country to do well, it has to be open and ready to face and accept innovation, it really helps a nation to reach new heights in all respects. To name all the business they are

· ONLINE NAUKRI PORTALS- timesjobs.com, naukri.com, monsterindia,com there are so many and almost every one having a 25 lakh users under their kitty, that’s huge user base and huge money as well. Its surprising to see people having such a lot of trust in these portals !!

· ONLINE MATRIMONY- Imagine getting married in India on the net, yes it’s possible and it has a huge market too. Shaadi.com has around 7 lakh success stories; bharatmatrimony.com has 7 million registered users. This is probably the logical assumption that this generation is a lot innovative and we rather easy diffusers of innovation.

· RETAIL BANKING – The banking revolution would not have taken place without this, bank has become a grocery story, e-banking, home loans, car loans, personal loans, debit cards, credit cards all in one stop… money everywhere. was banking so prevalent a decade ago ? Now my dad goes to a bank almost everyday, while a couple of years ago it was merely a weekly affair.

 · SALON’- we all want to look good, feel good,   so in the age of makeovers we have seen a heavy makeover to the hair cut n styling industry, its added dimensions, now u get facials, body massages, make up’s and every cosmetic giants have put their act together n now got in. Lakme, L’oreal, Marico’s etc. ask your mother if she ever wanted to become a hair stylist, their parents would have laughed it away

So what I mean is all these businesses that have more than a Rs. 100 crore market each wouldn’t have done well at all say 10 years ago. The above mention business were also light on investment .INNOVATION is here to say and more we innovate more we get ahead. So we still need innovation in infrastructure, governance, human resource operations and I guess we are slowly getting there. Think about it and list down more businesses you think have done well which couldn’t have proliferated say a decade ago.

IN A CLASS OF ITS OWN …

            So here I am entering a world which looks totally different, it has an aura of quality about it, that probably you will not find anywhere across the country. It should be named as the 3^rd wonder of our country after the Taj mahal and the Red Fort at least I am sure that people who have been here have never seen anything of this sort. Probably this is the symbol of things to come, India is getting to the world and things like these will help us reach places …

            Damn I think I have bored you much now, so here I am down the escalator I take out my card and punch in then I walk a bit more reach this spotless clean place where people are waiting for something really special…. It comes ….doors open, everybody gets in as if this is going to be the best party they will ever have, rush in to sit down, the door closes. Cool AC breeze hits you across the face and you are quite content to realize that you’ve come to the right place, inside here life is so simple, there are steel seats to sit down, there are people staring at each other, wonderful poles in the middle in case you didn’t get place to sit, so if you are wondering what I am talking about .hmm let me break the ice, it’s the best ride in the country it is the Delhi Metro.  

            It is really amazing to see a place so clean in India, freaking well maintained, the staff here is doing a commendable job in keeping the things so flawless and up to the mark. So this is how I travel everyday from home to work and back home I wonder it would have been a hell lot difficult if metro weren’t there. Its beautiful, its sleek, its well planned and it is much more that all the adjectives it deserves. So after all the positives comes one negative which is ….personally I found it a bit confusing, twice I have entered the wrong train from the same platform I get in everyday. Also  people here are not disciplined, its difficult to come out, heap of people clog the door as if there are tones of butter chicken waiting for them inside and it becomes a trouble getting on, guys easy chance maro chicks, I request any Delhite reading this “please stay away from the yellow line when the train comes, people inside have to come out”

            So this was all about the Delhi metro, we mumbaites have a lot to learn and lot to expect from the authorities and ourselves, delhi metro is like a benchmark let see how far do we reach, or we surpass it .I am quite confident of the latter .I donno if I have done justice to the description, but metro rail was a topic edged in my mind since I got my summer placement in Delhi its for you to tell me

             So for people to know what I’ve been doing here: well I have attended two major events one was the REEBOK RUN EASY which my company was handling, had to get up at 5: 30 am and travel a 30 kms . Mann the confusing route made me n my team late, though the event was good, I didn’t get the shoes yet, that’s okay you get the freebies only if you do the basic thing right. The other big one was the recently held Press Conference, where Akshay Kumar was chosen as the new brand ambassador of Grasim SUITINGS, So I get a chance to see Akshay Kumar and click a snap with him, so its been fairly eventful  I guess, a  lot to learn and more to come …. So Delhi metro makes my wait even longer I hope the as the saying goes “the fruit of patience is always sweeter”

Mai thha aur thhi dilli buss !!

Rabbi shergill with his song DILLI has given Delhi what it clearly deserved, but just sometime back I had this staunch ‘no no’ for this city. Delhi being my native place I’ve been a regular visitor here so all I felt about it was … It had major electricity problem, water too, evening’s are quite boring, difficult to commute, people here are damn self-centered and self- interested, they don’t have courtesy, all brats shoving off their father’s money. So I come here again, this time I have a different agenda: WORK, yeah surprisingly it has become my 1^st work place. Till last year I never wanted to come to Delhi again, but as they say “Sometimes you got to do things you never expected, but this time you might just like it”.Yeah, that’s what’s quietly happening; I am starting to like Delhi a bit(just a bit). It’s cleaner, larger and eventful in political terms and with the Delhi metro on, it’s quite a cake walk commuting around the city now. But let me talk about the other beautiful things I like about the city, some of them I’ve always liked, while some I’ve started to like during this trip…

One thing I’ve always loved about Delhi is the “names people have here”, they stand out, north Indian people have generally wonderful names, I would rarely get a chance to spell out names like “ palak, shobhit, rashi, anshuman” in Mumbai where names are very common, we are filled with sunil’s, rahul’s and kunal’s. So keep it up guys,that’s something I have always looked upon when I come to Delhi and the other northern planes. Also the fact that, I’ve never seen more beautiful girls anywhere, I have traveled almost everywhere in the country, but none can beat Delhi chicks, Hats off to you…keep up the colors, the flashy outfits, no one in India carries them as well as you do

Food!! Mann it’s amazing here, everywhere you have something or the other frying, baking, you might easily gain a couple of kgs in a while. I remember when I was here in the vacation after my SSC (10^th boards) I gained around 4 kgs. in one and a half months. So people, who are calorie conscious, you need to be careful about this place, resist all the food you get here!!

Now its time for things I have started liking starting this trip: spanking clean Delhi, extreme large roads, freakin easy commutation thanks to Delhi metro. It’s as good as anything in the country (I will dedicate a special post on it later) and it makes me really excited about the prospects of the Mumbai metro which will start in around 3-4 years time. Delhi now seems to have the new effervescence. As rabbi Shergill rightly says “bhatakta iska vidhan hai”. People in Delhi try to be as modern a; undoubtedly they have the best fashion quotient in the country. While on the other side Delhi has a distinct history, it’s the Hasthinapur of India; it has the old Qutub Minar, Nizamuddin tomb and the Red Fort so people and the place are still together getting their modernity quotient right.

So for me the first few days at Delhi have been surprisingly cool, never before I’ve been to GK, Connaught place, Gurgaon, karol bagh Palika bazaar in the first ten days. Thanks to work and some relatives. Yeah but let me briefly touch upon things I still hate about it: surely people here are extremely conscious about themselves ,probably that’s the history relation of this place, big maharajas have lived here some centuries ago and ego still lives on for ages and will always. Also the fact that Delhi as a city is quite confusing, the same kind of buildings everywhere difficult to understand this place even after a lot of efforts by the government, everything looks the same, difficult to set landmarks.

There are a lot things Mumbai needs to learn from Delhi now; first of all we have to get stringent on the encroaching and the rehabilitation issue. Even after huge opposition Delhi govt. was able to carry out the sealing plan and they’ve done quite a formidable job.. yeah at the end of all, if someone would ask me would you want to settle in delhi, I would say ‘no’ coz I love Mumbai so much. Yes we clearly say that Mumbai is not as good as Delhi today but I am sure we will easily beat you as soon as the commonwealth games get over. So delhietes and mumabites alike its your turn to think and write down things you like about each other and something you hate about your own city or the latter city ….get set go!!!

OPENING SPELL…

This is the 8^th time I am deleting what I wrote and starting all over again….coz what you will just read is something very vital and significant to me: My first day at work. Here I am describing you the strange day I just had….

I was gazing at a 12 storey tall building which will be edged in my memory for ever and ever. “Ashoka estate” a place I went to work for the first time. I got into the lift pushed 10 and was standing as if this was the longest lift ride ever in my life, I was numb. The door opened on the left was a signboard staring at me “IPAN”. Yes this is it, my 1^st work place, a PR agency, said to be the first professional PR agency in the country. So I went in, the person sitting there asked “yes?” I replied “I am the summer trainee n I know I am quite early!” it was 9 am and the office starts at 9:30. So I sat there waiting …

It was 9:45 somebody asked me to come in I walked along a passage, a lot of people staring at me…then there was a sound “Here’s your desk” hmm quite surprising I have my desk, my workstation too!!. So I sat there and was amongst 5 girls, they were quite chirpy, and it was good in way I felt light there. Then came a phone call, my boss on the line, yes we had interacted earlier on email and now I was talking to her on phone… she said “ Welcome to IPAN I will be in office in a while till then somebody will be briefing you about the company and the work here.” So then I was called by ASEEM Sir who called me and he asked me to wait in the meeting room number 1. I went there had a brief conversation he asked me questions about me, my work before and so on and said we’ll create work for you, don’t worry.

So my boss arrived at around 10:15 and I was called in…her name Mrs. Surekha Pillai, she wore a salwar kameez brown in color, she had real expressive eyes, she made me sit I waited for 2 minutes. I was gaping at the things around me, a glass cabin, people all around it. Then she said “so Nikhil, I don’t even remember … except your email id. Yes I’d sent her a mail a month ago where my email was nik_thegreatone@yahoo… So she said yeah it was unusual and made you stand out. I replied I have changed it, which is supposedly boring. She then asked me about myself and why I was here, I was supposedly an advertising person, so I went on n on, on the three major reasons that have called me all the way here…Delhi, PR and a women boss. Then she made me familiar with the company, the work they’ve done n so on. Then I was given a task, IPAN were pitching for a major client and I was asked if I could ideate something for the pitch…damn the room was freaking chilling and I couldn’t sit there any more.

So that was the work I did that day …at my own desk woking on an IBM workstation, was fun working on it and I prepared a small document and sent it to my boss, looked like college stuff but I thought the ideas were good, the language too simple. She called me asking “what is this?” though she’d liked a couple of them and she called other people to brain storm…was interesting ideating with people who had worked in the field for some while. So she asked me to work on the ideas and mail them the next day n I did, no idea she liked it or no…the clock ticked 5 30 and I went into her room, she asked again so how was the day , my reply fine, quite a novel one.i came back home amazed on how the day went by.

This was my 1^st day at work, all in all it was a fine experience, strange as well as exciting and yes I will probably never forget it… so if you guys remember your first day at work, I’m sure u will…just jot down how it was and share the sentiment. Till then have fun

Twist in the tale …

 

I bumped everywhere but couldn’t do it,
From the right to the left, I tried it all,
Notions kept baffling me all the time,

 

I struggled to make it to the end
I strived harder, but I failed.
Will I be able to make it there?
Or will have a tuff time later
I shall have to decide promptly

 

Tension rose as each minute passed by,
There was no sign of it far and wide,
Is it so tuff, I asked my self?
Its just hours away! My mind replied

 

Find it quickly, my eyes cried,
My head went tumbling with pain and fret,
That night I woke, I tried n tried
I lost my sleep a night I cried,

 

4 a.m. the clock ticked by,
No signs of sleep, no forty winks,
But soon came the light from the east,
No sun no moon it was my mum,

 

Sleep you sly! She shrieked high,
But sleep won’t come, no forty winks
That night I woke, I tried n tried
I lost my sleep a night I cried

                                                         – Nu-anse

YEH THI MUMBAI MERI JAAN II

 

So here’s the much awaited sequel, a lot of my friends had criticized my previous post saying that it was rather an irresponsible post, people can just talk ,its how you give solutions to a problem that matters… so here I am

First all let me start off with telling you about an average Mumbaikar- he’s young, he’s busy, he’s passionate about work, he loves the glamour around, he loves movies and he also loves his city very much, no matter how bad or good it is, the city probably holds the 3^rd place in his mind after his work and family. But he is fed up with the government officials for an unplanned cityscape. At one side he’s proud of saying that he hails from the dream city, city of opportunities, city that pays the highest income tax in the country while on the other side he faces power cuts ranging from 3-5 hours a day, filthy roads and imperfect planning of the city…. as a citizen of this city I would like to ask the government bodies…. You guys have to help the city as well and not just your pockets

Anyways enough of howling….

There are three major problems facing Mumbai

• Cleanliness
• Population
• Infrastructure

To solve all the three I have one single plan …. START A TELEVISION CHANNEL for MUMBAI.. It will be a government owned channel, they with the help of the film industry will have to make it popular but putting some masala, its what is required now. This television channel will only be about Mumbai and the people of Mumbai. Now how will this help. Media has greater influence on people than anything else; the television channel will have the following things

• Compare Mumbai to other world class cities- any Indian gets angry when he is compared to any another person, in school if you got less grades you parents always said look at rohan or kunal who has scored more why couldn’t you .that hurts a lot, compare our city to other cities in the world, emphasize on cleanliness, population, discipline …these are things we should learn from the west and not the skimpy clothes and beer bars

• This channel can work as a tool for the government to showcase the plans they have for the city, for example talking about the metro rail the government can dedicate a whole series describing, what the metro will be all about, how it will help people and I know Mumbai people are helpful, they will come forward to help the government as well. promote the program using hoardings at various important places, make it a KBC or Mahabharata in simple words the biggest attraction for the viewers

Cleanliness can be dealt with increasing the number of dustbins in the city, the police and the BMC will have to get strict here and charge a fine on the people littering the place, stations are the dirtiest, people lying there, spitting pan throwing tickets, hit them bad with the danda and ask for a fine of minimum Rs. 100. If we don’t get strict now, we would never

Also we can have movies where there can be many scenes which can condemn spitting on the road or throwing waste around. Say a shahrukh gets caught for spitting or a sachin tendulkar.

Population Mann! Here again the officials have to do the following

• Limit on immigration! Seriously think about it

• Limited children per couple, make it mandatory, or else, higher fees in school, more taxes, ration card with less quantities.

• Restriction on people residing in a sq.km of area, Chandigarh is a best example of this …well designed

We can start in Mumbai and will set an example for other parts of the country; we must make sure that the execution is as stringent as the plan

Infrastructure, well all I can say here is increase the shifts, we already have a lot of labor in the city, its time we got into double shifts, Japanese once said we build bridges in one month flat! I believe we can reach those heights as well, have awards for the best worker group, get back to the 1^st in school 2^nd in school systems; organizations like AGNI can help here ….and have planned new structures coming up … please we need our city to look a balanced see saw and not just a one sided one

Well I have tried to pen down all the points I could have, if any government official reading this, please take a queue ,there are a lot of youngsters around ready to help you at every path till its better for the city ……also if u have any suggestions always welcome!

 

 

YEH THI MUMBAI MERI JAAN!

Yes I confess, Mumbai, yu are no longer beautiful, you are no longer as stunning as you used to be, I am sad today, now when I look at you,I see scars on your face, you seem tired, you seem tainted, the wrinkles have opened wide. What went wrong?

Its true, people all over the country think that Mumbai would be like a foreign city, there will be some magic in it, the tall sky scrappers, the deep blue sea… the clean large roads and all the facilities in the world. That’s the thing of the past, we are now the highest populated city in the world, 1.4 crore!! Whopping 1.4 crores. About a 60 % of the city lives in slums. Yeah we also have the largest slum in the world. We have the biggest gas chamber in Asia; we also have highest traffic jams in Asia. I believe have I busted most of your dreams? Yes I want to. Coz that’s the truth.

We are soon going to face power cuts, the property rates are soaring sky high, water problems as always make you crib everyday, trains are freaking crowded dare to stand on Dadar station at 7 pm in the evening its better than a nightmare, people travel by road say we have added 5 minutes every week to journey to office and 10 minutes traveling back home, hopelessly crowded.

The bandra worli sea link is half done and doesn’t seem to get the finishing touches before 2009. Chembur – santacruz link road which was to be completed in 2006, is not even half done, metro rail is said to be completed by 2009 but an average mumbaite thinks its going to take at least a couple of more years than the deadline.

So I sincerely request people from other parts of the country not to think of coming to Mumbai and settling down here and similar people who have just started staying here just F****** pack your bags and get back to your town. I don’t believe in god, but I do pray for a Tsunami to hit Mumbai or another 26^th July, may be in 2007