Ulta Pulta World

I have always had a soft spot for laughs. My favorite movies/ TV shows have always been comedies.  Even now on weekend evenings, my elder daughter and I cuddle up on the sofa when a particular Malayalam comedy show starts on the telly. Whatever be the quality of the comedy dished out, we switch on the telly every week – without fail.

Early this morning news trickled in that last night Jaspal Bhatti passed away tragically in a car accident.  Bhatti has been my favorite Hindi comedian.  On the sole TV channel we had in the late eighties, we would yearn to watch the ‘Flop Show’ and ‘Ulta Pulta’.  Bhatti’s humor was self depreciating and he would deliver his lines with a straight face.  He chose topics of social interest and his skits/shows made you laugh, yes but also made you think.  There have been many satire shows since but the king of satire will always be Bhatti.

Even after the satellite channel explosion in the nineties, Bhatti kept at it, sometimes popping up at the street corner with a play, sometimes in a short film, sometimes on the telly – but always with a social message delivered with a jab of humor!

A few years back he addressed a press conference and announced the formation of a mock political party. The promises in the manifesto were hilarious. I was taken back in time to my college days when in the final year, a few friends include myself got together and formed a mock group to ‘contest’ the college elections!

Bhatti Saab – thank you for all the laughs and for the messages.  I am sure you will start performing the ‘Flop Show’ in heaven for the denizens there having a go at the powers that be there. But you leave us mortals in an ‘Ulta Pulta’ world. 

Moved

Finally after 4 years of waiting (and a lot push and pull with the builder), we formally moved to our new (old ?) apartment earlier today. Feels a bit awkward to be in Trivandrum and yet not to be spending the night at 'Aiswarya'. Since 1987 (the year the house was built) whenever I have been in Trivandrum (either studying /visiting parents on vacation / staying with wife and kids since 2006), home meant 'Aiswarya'. After the furniture was loaded on to the truck and transported to new place, I had to go back 'home' to take care of a few things. It was awkward walking into a near empty home.


Thankfully it is only a temporary phase. Parents are planning to be partially based in Tvm. Which means I will get to see more of them as well as 'home' sweet home....

As for the new place, the kids seem to love it. They have already made some friends - as has the wife. They all seem excited at the prospect of staying here. That's a good thing - as of now it is our 'apartment' ...it is up to us to make it our 'home' ... as we did with Aiswarya. We are looking forward to it.

Covey

Stephen R Covey - the famous self help guru passed away on July 16th. Best known for his immensely popular book - The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey built on the success of his book founding the Franklin Covey institute and extending his business to motivational speaking and co-authoring several other books.

Through his books and seminars Covey touched the lives of millions of people. Like most others, my first encounter with Covey was through his most popular book. The messages were simple and straight forward, the ideas detailed in the book were peppered with real life examples from Covey's life and from what he had observed. Probably that's why the book was such a big hit.

A few years later, I came across one of Covey's videos on the internet. If Covey sounded great on paper, the audio-visual seminar was even more impressive.

Though Covey is no more, he made a lasting contribution to humanity and his ideas will live on.

Stephen R Covey, Rest in peace.

PS - If you are too busy to read the 7 Habits book, follow this link to get a short synopsis - 

http://www.quickmba.com/mgmt/7hab/

Wife vs Girlfriend !

My elder daughter Nandu left for her grandma’s place the day her school closed for summer. The past two months, she has been having a grand time in Aluva with other kids of her age.

While I missed her, during this time, I have got to spend more time to spend with Niya, my second born – especially during weekends like this one. Earlier when Nandu was around, weekends meant Nandu and I would be together for most of the time – be it going out to get groceries / going to the park / playing games at home / even just lounging around watching TV.

Now that Nandu’s return is just a week away, I am wondering how to balance things once she is back. In a way my situation is like that of the chap whose wife is returning from vacation while he had a gala time with his girlfriend!

IPL Ads

That India is a cricket crazy nation is stating the obvious. Major cricketing events like the World Cup attract record Television audiences. These events are like an advertiser’s dream. You may have noticed that the major brands plan their big bang advertising campaigns around such events.
 If events like World Cup or a bilateral one day series are an advertiser’s dream, IPL would be paradise for them. One, the events spans over almost two months. Two, no risk of India getting knocked out and viewers losing interest! Three, the slam dunk colourful format ensures plenty of leeway for plugging your brands (strategic time outs, DLF maximums, Citi moments and Karbon Kamaal catches, Vodafone star …)

Besides being a cricket fan, I am an old student of marketing. I have during the past IPL seasons looked forward to viewing the latest advertising campaigns.

One of the brands that never lets us down has been Vodafone (the advertisements my friend, I am not talking about the actual product). You might remember Cheeka the pug during Vodafone’s previous avatar as Hutch. During IPL 2 they came out with the ZooZoo ads which were a big hit. They innovated each year thereafter (with and without the ZooZoo concept) managing to wow the audience and at the same time ensuring brand recall.

This season however Vodafone seem to have a hit a low. The first time I watched the ‘tele match’ style ad which on purpose has been voiced over by Javed Jaffrey-ish voice, I was partially interested. Now after watching it like almost after every over, it’s irritating to say the least! At least that’s how I felt.

Idea in the past has been another brand full of ‘ideas’. The ‘What an Idea Sirji’ campaign with a major star (Abhisekh Bachan) has always been intelligent and interesting. However this year, the addition of the ‘after life’ angle and the somewhat stale jokes/puns has not gone down too well with me. At least the Idea ads are not as obnoxious as the Vodafone ones.

The saving grace has been the simple (dancing girl) bijli ko bachaao ad from Havell’s. Don’t know what’s special about it – a simple setting and an even simpler line - yet it never fails to bring a smile each time it is played out.

When I watch the Vodafone ads I am tempted to shout out ‘Viewer, viewer – viewer ko bachaao’!

Another Bandh

This weekend I was away from Trivandrum visiting my hometown for my second daughter's chorunu ceremony when I heard that most likely there will be a bandh on Tuesday.

Yet another bandh, yet another massive loss of productivity for the nation, yet another occasion when the common man will be too scared to venture out, leading to a "successful" bandh.

Funny thing is - not many people will actually know what the bandh is for ! Does it matter ? As far as I am concerned, a bandh is an occasion when I dust out my rarely used but (still) faithful Hero Honda Passion! The only concession I give a bandh is that I swap four wheels for two for my daily commute!

Speaking of Bandhs/Strikes reminded me of a joke I heard on FM radio the other day. The compeer mentioned that one politician was unhappy that he was not properly invited for the inauguration of a coach factory. He went on to say, don't fear, this is Kerala. One month after the inauguration, there will be red flags outside the gate and the strike will be officially inaugurated. The compeer was sure that for the strike, the leader would be properly invited!!! Speak of sarcasm at its best ….

Passion for India

Last month I travelled to Bangalore for training. No, this post is not about the training I attended, but about the trainer and some thoughts triggered by what he said during the course of the training.


The trainer is an American who has been staying and working in Bangalore for the past decade or so. An out and out Indophile, he loves India – warts and all. One of his favourite hobbies is to hunt for Chola Bronzes - bronze sculptures built during the Chola period.

Now, I have been living in India all my life and yet I know very little of the Chola period, much less of the bronze sculptures made then!

However what interested (and impressed) me was the passion with which he spoke (about not just the bronzes).

He went on to speak of the history and heritage of India and where we could be if we put our minds to it. In the last sentence I stressed the word ‘we’ for that was the word he used. He was enthusiastic about the creative potential of India and its people. He genuinely believes in and identifies with India and was quite optimistic about where we are headed. How many of us Indians feel the same with the same amount of passion?

The gentleman also had an interesting perspective on the way we (folks in the software industry) perceive and deal with people. He was dead against the term ‘resources’ used while referring to software engineers. In his view, the word resources dehumanizes the work performed. For him resources refer to non human resources like coal, oil, computers etc. He advocates the usage of the word ‘people’ while referring to software engineers.

Does make sense, doesn’t it?!?